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Nov. 10, 2010
The Schedule
Friday, November 12, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
UC Santa Barbara at Pepperdine (0-0)
at Pepperdine's Firestone Fieldhouse (3,104)
Series record vs. the Waves - 13-12
Streak - Lost 2
Last time out vs. the Waves - L, 56-49 (12/20/09)
Game broadcast live on AM 990 KTMS
Friday, November 12, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
UC Santa Barbara at No. 15 UCLA (0-0)
at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion (10,337)
Series record vs. the Bruins - 2-15
Streak - Lost 2
Last time out vs. the Bruins - L, 61-49 (12/15/09)
Game broadcast live on AM 990 KTMS
Get Your Tickets
Season tickets to catch every minute of exciting Gaucho basketball are still available. Get the best seats in the house for 14 home games by clicking here.
The Intercollegiate Athletics Ticket Office has two parking spaces adjacent to the building and is now open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., making it easier than ever for fans to purchase tickets. The two parking spots, designated specifically for the Ticket Office, are also available during weekday hours, which are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
On The Radio
All UC Santa Barbara basketball games are broadcast live in Santa Barbara on AM 990 KTMS and will stream live online at UCSBgauchos.com. Josh Suchon is the voice of the Gauchos, performing the play-by-play, while former Los Angeles Lakers and UCSB star Don Ford will handle the color commentary. On select road games, much to the chagrin of the listening audience, yours truly, Matt Hurst, will provide color commentary. For Starters ...
UC Santa Barbara is coming off its first sub-.500 season in 18 years (1989-90). However the Gauchos went 9-7 in the Big West Conference, continuing its streak of over-.500 conference seasons. The Gauchos have not had a below-.500 mark in the Big West in 20 straight years.
The Opponents
at Pepperdine, 11/12 UCSB opens its season at Pepperdine, a team the Gauchos have not defeated since a 65-63 victory on Dec. 17, 2007. The Waves have won the past two meetings by a combined 31 points. Pepperdine won its exhibition game, 98-56, over Santa Barbara's neighbor Westmont on Nov. 1 as five Waves scored in double figures, led by Shay Cooney-Williams' 21 points. Junior Jazmine Jackson is the team's returning leading scorer after posting 11.5 points per game last year.
at UCLA, 11/14 The Bruins are the first ranked team UCSB has faced in the regular season since Nov. 23, 2007 when the Gauchos dropped a 75-71 decision to No. 3 Maryland. While the Gauchos are just 2-15 all-time vs. UCLA, it must be noted that one of those wins came when the Bruins were No. 24 - which is also the last time UCSB knocked off a ranked opponent (Dec. 17, 2005). UCLA topped Vanguard, 79-43, in its exhibition game, led by Jasmine Dixon's 23 points.
Probable Starters - Quick Fact
G 10 Emilie Johnson - Led the team in scoring with 13.8 ppg last season
G 24 Angelei Aguirre - 4 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists in exhibition game vs. CSUMB
G 2 Kelsey Adrian - Played just 18 minutes vs. CSUMB because of foul trouble
F 32 Margaret Johnson - 2 years ago, team was 20-5 in her starts
F 44 Mekia Valentine - Had 11 points, 17 rebounds in exhibition vs. CSUMB
Probable Reserves - Quick Fact
F 1 Sweets Underwood - An All-Big West Freshman Team pick in 2010
G 3 Nicole Nesbit - Freshman had 5 points in 16 minutes vs. CSUMB
G 11 Stefanie Corgel - Scored career-high 7 points in BW tourney win over UOP last year
F 15 Adaeze Okolie - Freshman adds depth to forward/center spot
G 22 Melissa Zornig - Scored over 2,000 career points in high school
G 33 Destini Mason - Played 10 minutes in exhibition - her UCSB debut
Welcome Back
The Gauchos are returning three all-conference players from a season ago as Second Team All-Big West picks Emilie Johnson and Mekia Valentine return as does All-Freshman Team selection Sweets Underwood.
Leading Lady
Johnson led Santa Barbara in scoring last season with an average of 13.8 points per game, becoming the first sophomore to lead the Gauchos in scoring since 1,000-point scorer Jenna Green did so in 1995-96. Johnson also led the Big West in minutes played a season ago, totaling 1,191 or an average of 37.2 per game. The Loomis, Calif. native also paced the team in assists (107; 3.34 per game) and steals (57; 1.78 per game). Johnson was the second player in as many years to lead the Gauchos in those categories after Lauren Pedersen did so in 2008-09. Pedersen, however, was the first UCSB player to accomplish the feat since Iesha Smith in 1993-94.
Swat Team
Last year's Gaucho squad set a school record with 202 total blocks. UCSB ranked sixth in the nation by averaging 6.3 blocks per game (Baylor led the nation with 7.5 per contest). Mekia Valentine's 120 blocked shots were a school record and she finished the season ranked third in the nation with an average of 4.0 blocks per game. The school's top three single-game team blocked shot marks - and six of the top seven - were all established last season.
More Mekia
Valentine holds eight of the top-10 single-game UCSB shot blocking marks, including the top spot of 11, set against UC Irvine on Jan. 2, 2010. The Greensboro, N.C. native is also fifth all-time in career blocks after just one season in the blue and gold. She trails school record-holder Lindsay Taylor (2000-04) by 123.
Welcome to the Thunderdome
Six players are expected to make their UCSB debuts in Thursday's exhibition - 2009-10 redshirts Kelsey Adrian, Angelei Aguirre and Destini Mason, as well as freshmen Adaeze Okolie, Nicole Nesbit and Melissa Zornig.
Tough Losses
While top scorers Johnson and Valentine return, the Gauchos lost seven letterwinners - including five seniors - from last season's squad. In all, UCSB lost 49.5 percent of its points, 44.4 percent of its rebounds, 56.8 percent of its assists and 53.0 percent of its steals from 2009-10.
Tenacious D
In each of the past two seasons, UCSB has led the Big West in opponent's field goal percentage. Last season the squad ranked 31st in the nation with its 36.3 percent defense. In 2008-09, Lindsay Gottlieb's first year as the head coach, the Gauchos ranked eighth in the country with a 34.6 percent clip.
Phreshman Phenom
In her first season in a UCSB uniform, Sweets Underwood averaged 3.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game - 2.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per conference game - which earned her a spot on the All-Big West Freshman Team. It was the fourth straight season that a Gaucho has been named to the All-Freshman Team and the eighth time in the past nine seasons a UCSB frosh received All-Freshman conference honors.
It's Just a Rebound
Valentine pulled down an average of 9.7 rebounds per game last season, which led the Big West. It was also the most by a UCSB player since Erin Buescher pulled down 9.7 in the 1999-2000 season and the last player to have more than that was Erika Kienast, who averaged 10.6 boards per contest in 1991-92. Valentine holds the second and third-most single-game rebounding totals in school history when she grabbed 22 vs. UC Riverside on Feb. 11 and 21 at Cal State Bakersfield on March 6. Leslie Ford holds the school's all-time mark of 25 rebounds, set against Cal State Northridge on Jan. 21, 1977.
Might As Well Be a Layup
Here's some advice for all the coaches using this release as a scouting tool - don't foul Emilie Johnson. The junior holds two of UCSB's top-five single-season free throw percentage marks. Johnson hit 84.3 percent of her freebies last season, ranking her fifth in school annals. In her freshman season of 2008-09, Johnson nailed 94.3 percent of her charity stripe shots. Johnson's 87.1 career free throw percentage currently leads everyone who has ever put on a Gaucho uniform.
In-N-Out Has Nothing on These Double-Doubles
Last season Valentine had 12 double-doubles, which tied for the most in the Big West and was the most by a Gaucho since three-time All-American Kristen Mann had 14 in 2004-05.
On The Mark
Another portion of Valentine's tremendous 2009-10 season was that she shot an incredible 57.4 percent from the field, which counted as the second-highest mark in UCSB single-season history. Only Kira Anthofer's 59.6 percent in 1985-86 is higher than Valentine's percentage from last season.
Off The Mark
As a unit, UCSB hit just 28.3 percent of its shots from beyond the three-point line a season ago, the sixth-lowest mark in school annals. However, Emilie Johnson's accuracy from downtown hasn't played much into that. The guard ranks fifth all-time - after just two seasons - in UCSB history in both three-pointers made and attempted.
Dynamic Duo
Johnson and Valentine proved to be a lethal pair last season, combining for 811 total points, or an average of 26.2 points per game. While that is impressive, it doesn't rank among the school's top-10 one-two punches. The No. 10 slot is held by Patty Franklin and Nadine Ramirez, who combined for 905 points in 1980-81. The best one-two punch was Amy Smith and Erin Alexander who tallied 1,144 total points in 1996-97.
Vista Del Mar
Senior Margaret Johnson battled through various injuries in 2009-10 and played in 25 games - her fewest since she was a freshman. While Johnson's stat lines rarely seem to catch people's eyes (she has career averages of 2.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game), there is one thing people should know - when she started 25 games in 2008-09 and UCSB made the NCAA Tournament, the Gauchos were 20-5 in Johnson's starts.
The Lindsay Gottlieb File
Lindsay Gottlieb is in her third season as the Gauchos' head coach, and she is just the fourth head coach in UCSB women's basketball history. Last season Gottlieb guided the Gauchos to wins in seven of the squad's last eight games, taking a team that finished 9-7 in the Big West to the conference tournament's semifinals, keeping alive a streak of 20 years that UCSB had finished Big West play with a record above .500. In her first season at the helm, Gottlieb led the team to a 22-10 overall mark (15-1 in the Big West) and the Big West regular-season and tournament championships. Named the Big West Coach of the Year, Gottlieb became the first coach in Gaucho history to win at least 20 games and the Coach of the Year award in her first season - and one of only seven coaches nationwide to do so. Gottlieb led the Gauchos to their 14th consecutive postseason appearance and the team won 20 games for the 12th time in the past 14 years. In her first two seasons with the program, Gottlieb has guided the Gauchos to national prominence, leading the conference in field goal percentage defense both years while having her team set a school record in free throw percentage (08-09) and blocked shots in a season (09-10).. No stranger to success, Gottlieb was formerly the associate head coach at Cal, helping the team to a 68-28 (.708) overall mark in her time there. Prior to that, Gottlieb was an assistant at the University of Richmond, where she helped the Spiders to three straight 20-win seasons.
The Gaucho Fund, launched as part of the Dare to Be Great strategic plan, is UCSB Athletics' annual giving program to provide vital funding support for scholarships, academic success and leadership development for Gaucho student-athletes. The Gaucho Fund is the anchor to the Dare to Be Great campaign.
GKids is the official kids club of UCSB Athletics. Members receive a free GKids t-shirt, free admittance to tons of Gaucho games, opportunities to be ball boys and girls at games, a special birthday greeting from Olie (the GKids mascot) and much, much more! For more information on GKids, or to become a member, please click here.


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In my photo illustration work, I love to display beautiful colour. If fabric could talk... I would "shoot" it in a way that you could hear it speak.
- Christine Lobsinger
Copyright for these photos belongs solely to Christine Lobsinger. Images may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way without the expressed, written permission of the photographer.

subset: commoncrawl


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Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum
Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum
Making Meaning in Literature: A Video
Library, Grades 6-8
Individual Clip Descriptions
1. Introducing the Envisionment-Building
2. Building a Literary Community
3. Asking Questions
4. Facilitating Discussion
5. Seminar Discussion
6. Dramatic Tableaux
7. Readers as Individuals
8. The Teachers Role
in a Literary Community
9. Whole Group Discussions
effective reader knows that engaging in literature brings
many rewards. Literature's words and images are great cultural
storehouses, affording readers a glimpse into the things centuries
of people have thought, experienced, and valued. Through its
poems, plays, short stories, and novels, readers can escape
their own lives if only for a few moments and
become a part of things past, present, and future. As they
live within the world of the text, readers can also consider
a host of possibilities, stretching their minds to acquire
an acute awareness of what they are and who they might be.
key to this process is active involvement. Readers who interact
with literature, experiencing the emotion of the plot with
the characters and identifying elements both familiar and
strange in the story are better able to enjoy the true fruits
of a text. Effective readers both expect and seek out this
textual encounter, creating meaning by comparing the literary
world to their own thoughts and experiences.
decade of research conducted by Dr. Judith Langer, Director
of The National Research Center on English Learning &
Achievement at the State University of New York - Albany,
has clearly demonstrated that this kind of experience with
literature is something capable readers do as a matter of
course. Dr. Langer talks about this process as one of creating
an envisionment of the text. Envisionments are constantly
evolving, painting rich pictures of understanding that effective
readers construct as they make sense of what they are reading.
In the workshop series Conversations in Literature,
readers from all aspects of the educational community exemplify
Dr. Langer's findings through their thoughtful conversations
in literature. You may want to consult this workshop series
and its Web site at www.learner.org/envisioningliterature/
to learn more about envisionment building and its implications
for the classroom.
In the workshop series Conversations in Literature,
readers from all aspects of the educational community exemplify
Dr. Langer's findings through their thoughtful conversations
in literature. You may want to consult this workshop series
and its Web site at www.learner.org/envisioningliterature/
to learn more about envisionment building and its implications
for the classroom.
her research, Dr. Langer found that students in all stages
of learning and at all ability levels can and do create envisionments
if they are scaffolded by teachers who create an atmosphere
in the classroom where they are supported to do so. In such
an atmosphere, teachers expect that, as they read, students
will probably have more questions than answers. They anticipate
that the time they spend together will be a time for talking
through these questions, working together as a literary community
to dissect, unravel, and move forward within the text. In
such a community, each learner is expected to offer a particular
perspective on the text, and is respected for doing so, not
only by the teacher, but also by his or her peers.
this approach to interacting with literature, the teacher
is no longer the sole source of information about a text,
or the arbiter of what is a correct or incorrect interpretation
of its words. The text itself is not looked at as a source
of information, where readers go about their work trying to
find the names of characters, a plot event, or validations
for a generally-accepted interpretation of the text that long-ago
literary critics have offered. Rather, in an envisionment-building
classroom, the task before readers is more open-ended. They
read to explore the entire universe of the story world, seeking
possible meanings and alternative interpretations. Simply
put, they read literature as literature, not as a nonfiction
article or a "how to" book, where the sole purpose
is to converge on kernels of information.
this library series, you will visit with language arts teachers
and their middle grade students, all working together to construct
the kind of literary communities where envisionment building
flourishes. With the help of our advisors, we have chosen
these eight classrooms to represent as many geographical,
ethnic, social, and student achievement levels as possible.
The eight teachers you will meet have found a variety of ways
to respect and support their students as they work. These
classroom visits were captured as they occurred, offering
a glimpse into some innovative ways of establishing and nurturing
a literary and highly literate community in which all members
move forward as diverse and respected voices.
Word about the Educational Focus of the Project
this library series, active and engaging literary education
is promoted. In celebrating these practices, these teachers
have made these basic assumptions about their work and their
students' work:
Audiences, Different Purposes
Meaning in Literature: A Video Library, Grades 6-8 can
be used by many members of the educational community to promote
engaging, interactive involvement with literature in and out
of the classroom.
teachers can use this library series:
teachers can use this library series as a practical resource
to observe actual classroom events. They can see how teachers
present materials related to literature, and the ways they
react as students deal with these materials. Because these
experiences were recorded as they occurred, viewers will see
a complete picture of what happens in an actual class, a stage
where the plays aren't scripted and the actors are exuberant
improvisers. In this way, these video experiences give flesh
to the bones of educational philosophy in a way texts never
educators can use these video clips to enhance their instruction,
introducing preservice teachers to the realities of the classroom
focused on teaching literature. Each clip could be used as
a case study to examine and assess teacher planning and implementation,
teacher and student attitudes, the ways in which each lesson
succeeds, and the reasons behind its success.
including supervisors, principals, and content
or team leaders, can use this library series:
educators can also use these materials for community
outreach, sharing models of sound classroom practices with
educationally-oriented organizations, such as the PTA. Through
them, they can see how students excel when they are encouraged
to develop and depend upon their own mental acuity to engage
in works of great literary merit.
library series can also be used to show families successful
language arts classrooms throughout the country. Teachers
can use the video clips as models for appropriate ways to
support their children's education at home, either as a partner
with a school or in a home schooling situation. Activities
or discussion questions from the guide can be reproduced as
handouts to spur parent participation.
the Contributors | Credits
© Annenberg Foundation 2017. All rights reserved. Legal Policy


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The polarizing chanteuse and self-described "gangster Nancy Sinatra" Lana Del Rey is the face of H&M for fall, and the retailer actually shot a whole music video of this "Blue Velvet" cover she performs, though the clip here is just a snippet.
The neo-noir David Lynch vibe of the ad is actually really appropriate. When you think about it, Del Rey's Saturday Night Live performance owes a lot to Audrey's dance in the diner on Twin Peaks.
[via Hollywire]


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Rich Apodaca needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 468 designs submitted by 69 freelance designers.
Metamolecular, LLC
We build websites that help chemists share and manage their work. Our mission is to bring the best of the consumer Web experience to chemical information systems.
Our industry is dominated by older companies that haven't embraced the Web or highly collaborative solutions. Desktop software is the norm, and much of it hasn't aged well. Information silos abound. Collaboration is stifled.
We want to stand out as the forward-looking company that 'gets it', and we're hoping our logo will help us do that. I'm not sure if a logo can communicate all of this, but if it does - that's the one we'll pick.
Our customers come to us tired of the same old products, services, and business practices. They'll be looking for something fresh, something that represents the future.
Our customers can also be a little confused and apprehensive about going in a different direction.They're buying products and services that not many of their associates have used before. They need some assurance that we know what we're doing and take our work seriously.
The most important thing to us is that someone who sees the logo should think two words: "web" and "chemistry".
"Web" can also be represented with graphics suggesting "collaboration" or "connectedness"
The graphic should emphasize connectedness and collaboration over chemistry. Our company name is highly suggestive of chemistry, but not of these other qualities. We want the graphic to convey this message.
The graphical element that makes us unique from other Web development companies is the chemical structure - those hexagons, pentagons, wedges, and zigzag lines that chemists draw.
For examples of chemical structures, see our site Chempedia:
Incorporating a chemical structure (or part of one) into the logo would be great, but is not required.
Technical requirements include:
- The company name "Metamolecular" should be used
- The same case should be used for all letters
- "meta" and "molecular" should not be distinguished by contrasting colors or font weight.
- The "LLC" part should not be used
- SVG as output format
- Usable on Web pages, in presentations, and on business cards
- No licensed fonts or graphics. You must own copyright to entire logo contents.
In terms of the look, colors, graphics, we leave that entirely to you. There's nothing we're trying to match our logo to.
Things we like:
- collaboration
- open
- simple
- clean
- agile
- elegant
- motion
- energy
Things we dislike:
- rigid
- static
- old
- information silos
- tradition for tradition's sake
- sharp corners
- clutter
- stuffy
I will assign a start rating and specific feedback for every design submitted.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Saturday, April 28, 2007
art like everyone else's vs. mine
Saturday, April 28, 2007
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I am an artist, freelance writer/reviewer and art teacher.
I write articles and product reviews for Craft Critique as well as book reviews for several major publishing companies.
I also love creating art for the Creative Troupe at C & T Publishing.
I'm a proud member of the Fiskateers.
I also teach visual journaling classes and children's art classes.
Interweave Press
F + W/My Craftivity
Chronicle Books
Thomas Nelson
C & T Publishing
Anova Books
Abrams Books
AMMO Books, LLC
Stampington & Company
Ryland Peters & Small
There are several choices for following this blog. Pick the one that's right for you!


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Monk takes basics of Buddhism behind bars at Jefferson County's federal pen
The sound of a prison gate closing is distinctive and final, according to Bhante Kassapa Bhikkhu, a Buddhist monk who travels to the federal prison in Beaumont each week.
But by passing through that door over the past year, the monk has nurtured a relatively small but dedicated number of inmates who want to participate in the weekly meditation sessions. The group has grown in number from about seven to around 15 and sometimes more, said Kassapa, an American-born monk who lives and practices at the Buumon Buddhist Temple in Port Arthur.
"I don't think many of them would have been Buddhist before they came," he said.
Prisoners have a lot of time to fill, he said, which encourages some to explore new ideas and faiths. Any faith, he noted, is likely to make incarceration more bearable, but some have found that the solitary, reflective nature of Buddhism suits their circumstances particularly well.
"There's solitude and quietness found in Buddhism," he said.
"One of the reasons I think why it works for them is that in the beginning, Buddha had to take himself out of society for a number of years while he discovered who he was and these guys have a similar situation."
Kassapa said he attended a conference in Oregon where one of the subjects discussed was Buddhism behind bars.
In India, he said, officials have found that encouraging inmates to practice meditation has had a calming effect.
Studies have found that in general, inmates who practice Buddhism tend to have lower recidivism rates - less than 40 percent - than the average rate for the population as a whole, Kassapa said.
Services, which begin at about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, include rituals, group meditation and discussions about Dharma, the guiding principles of the Buddhist faith.
Kassapa estimated that probably about 20 to 25 percent of visitors to the Buumon Buddhist Temple are considering changing their faith to Buddhism. By contrast, he said, probably only one or two of the inmates at the prison meditation group are not interested in the spiritual aspects of the sessions.
"In the years I've been here (in Port Arthur), about 15 people have become Buddhist that come here all the time," he said. "(At the prison) it's really reversed. They are seriously becoming Buddhists."


text:
You are also suggested to read:
Canary Diamond Rings (10)
Canary diamonds are valuable for the color, and this is a great choice for a ring of stones. Let's say here are some tips about buying cheap canary diamond ring.
Can Reduce a Canary Diamond Price Factors
The most important factors that affect the price of a canary diamond the intensity of color, carat weight, clarity and level. Having important characteristics about this in mind, here's some to Buying cheap canary diamond ring tips included:
You should focus on when looking for a cheap canary diamond ring is made the main factor band, metal and its setting.
Here are some tips to find a cheap ring is as follows:
Platinum Metals
Platinum diamond ring is a popular metal for, but the most expensive is one of the options. Cheaper to buy a Canary diamond ring, white gold select a band-Platinum but will cost less. If you want to make some money over the ring, but high karat yellow gold, also note that relatively soft and therefore very durable if yellow gold is another option.
Simple Design Settings
You will be the King of the setting affects the price for Canary diamond ring. Usually more complicated settings to make it more expensive. Buying cheap canary diamond ring to drive down the price, make a relatively simple setting. For example, these are very popular and the fork settings are among the most affordable.
If you want a more secure mounting, however, is a good choice for a frame setting? Depending on the design, a fork of the setting may cost more, but make it less likely to fall into the frame secure the canary diamond rings.


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There was the day when Deputy Dan Corwin left the San Clemente police station to get a haircut. He drove onto a side street to avoid a construction zone and noticed "a frequent customer of San Clemente Police Services" along the street.
The deputy decided to strike up a conversation.
The chat – some of Corwin's colleagues call him "Columbo" because of the folksy, clueless manner that he is known to exude in the style of a TV cop named Columbo – led to recovery of a cache of stolen property and a felony arrest.
Another time, deputies in Dana Point arrested a woman in possession of credit cards that had been stolen in San Clemente. The suspect's car was towed, loaded with bags from Nordstrom and Macy's. Corwin, following up on the credit card case, went to the tow yard, noticed the bags, wrote a search warrant and presented his inventory of the clothing to store security. A security video showed the suspect making repeated purchases, accompanied by a man Corwin recognized from earlier sheriff's dealings in San Clemente. A further look at store security videos revealed him stealing clothing. Arrests resulted.
Those are among stories that San Clemente's chief of police services, Lt. John Coppock, told Thursday at a luncheon where the San Clemente Exchange Club and San Clemente Chamber of Commerce saluted Corwin as San Clemente's Deputy of the Year.
"I love doing police work," Corwin said. "I love working with people. It's really a rewarding job."
Corwin has worked for the Orange County Sheriff's Department since 2001, following nine years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He transferred to San Clemente four years ago and called it "the greatest place I have ever worked."
He lives in San Clemente with his wife Chandee. They have four daughters.
"My favorite part of police work is probably making a positive impression on the citizens, people who don't usually have a lot of police contact," Corwin said. "When they do, I want that contact to be positive. A lot of times people perceive us as being negative, and I'm trying to change that. Only maybe 5 percent of the people are bad people who do criminal activity. Most of the people are law-abiding citizens."
Tom Arzate works for the Orange County Fire Authority out of Station 50, along Camino de los Mares near Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in San Clemente. It's the right spot for him. As an emergency transport technician, he handles accidents and calls for medical aids from the north end of San Clemente as far south as I-5 at Las Pulgas.
The ambulance handles a wide spectrum of calls – traffic accidents, train incidents, surfing mishaps, construction traumas and people suffering all sorts of medical conditions. Most common, Arzate said, are falls, chest pains and shortness of breath.
"There's something challenging in every call," he said. "My favorite thing about the job is the camaraderie with the guys at the station. We're close-knit type of people."
He was formerly an ambulance operator for the city of Long Beach and was inspired to seek a position in San Clemente in 2008 by San Clemente firefighters he had met at the academy.
"A buddy of mine said it would be life-changing, and it has been," Arzate said. "I've started to surf. I've started to learn about the ocean."
Now Arzate, his wife and their son reside in San Clemente.
Contact the writer: firstname.lastname@example.com or 949-492-5127


text: Well, I've really been enjoying this amp lately but the need for studio upgrades forces me to sell it. Excellent+ condition. It just came back from Fryette w/ the latest updates and a fresh set of preamp tubes (documentation will be included). Comes with footswitch and manual and will arrive in original packaging. I'll take $1300.00 thru Paypal shipped in the US (may ship outside the US but not for that price). You can check my years of great feedback under supercharged-350 on e-bay. Pics available from any angle on request. Get a great amp at a great price.


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Inside iPhone 2.0: the new iPhone App Store
A smartphone software price comparison
The first 40 iPhone apps we downloaded cost us a grand total of $32. In comparison, a quick look at Windows Mobile software offerings found $444 worth apps at the top of the charts that simply aren't necessary with the iPhone:
- $110 of popular titles that are completely unnecessary on the iPhone, including a memory manager for optimizing the tiny bit of RAM installed on those phones, a system cleanup and maintenance tool, a file backup utility, and interface patches for correcting problems in Windows Mobile itself.
- $334 of top selling Windows Mobile apps supply functions included on the iPhone for free, such as a world clock, a "real email client" for replacing Microsoft's Pocket Outlook, a photo browser, a contacts app, an MP3 player, a movie player, a TV player, a calculator, a full screen keyboard, a PDF reader, and a notes application.
Even worse, there was really very little exceptional software available for Windows Mobile, particularly among anything that was free. Other platforms have similar problems with overpriced, underwhelming software. Qualcomm and Verizon try to sell low quality BREW applet games to their mobile users for a monthly rental fee. Palm OS titles range from $15 for a basic Soduko game to $37 for the "Pocket Tunes" MP3 player.
The problem with mobile software is that there has never been a functional market to pay developers enough to keep them interested in refining their apps or doing anything really valuable. When useful mobile apps have appeared, they end up being very expensive because developers have to recoup the most they can from those with no price sensitivity because everyone else simply steals their work. The DRM Apple uses in iTunes allows developers to set low prices that bring in a reasonable return when titles are sold in volume, and virtually eliminates casual piracy. That means users and developers both win, at the expense of thieves who would prefer to steal apps instead.
As an example of what you get compared to what you pay for, here's Texas Hold'em for Palm ($20, below left), for Verizon BREW ($8.50, below middle) and for the original iPod ($5, below right).
iPhone as a handheld game console
The iPhone version of Texas Hold'em costs the same $5, but plays in both portrait mode with video of animated characters (below left), or in landscape in a table view (below right). You can swap between game styles by tilting the device. It also supports multiplayer gameplay.
The iPhone's apps (and in particular games) are really well beyond the league of most smartphones, and can readily be compared to handheld console games. That idea the the iPhone would be a competent alternative to the Nintendo DS, Sony Playstation Portable was received as highly controversial just a few months ago, but gaming legend of John Carmack of id Software recently described the iPhone as "more powerful than a Nintendo DS and PSP combined," and has noted that his company has multiple titles in development.
That being the case, the typical $5 to $10 price point for iPhone games is particularly amazing when compared to existing handheld console games, which usually sell for closer to $20 to $40 or more, and can rarely be downloaded over the wire for immediate gameplay.
Sega's Super Monkey Ball, a popular $10 game for the iPhone, was at least $20 for the sidetalkin' NGage (Nokia's failed attempt at delivering a hybrid game console and mobile phone), but NGage reviewers still complained, "The choppy animation and lack of analog controls really suck the fun out of the game." The game costs $40 on the Sony PSP and $20 on the Nintendo DS. The game's graphics on the iPhone (below middle) are similar to the PSP console version (below bottom) rather than being in the league of other smartphone games like the NGage (below top left) or the simplified "Super Monkey Ball Tip N Tilt," $10 mini-game version that plays on regular Symbian smartphones such as the Nokia N95 (below top right).
What about the web?
The greatest disappointment in the Apps Store is that it only lists standalone Cocoa Touch apps. While it's certainly nice to be able to install new apps that can work offline, many or perhaps most of the iPhone apps require (or desire) a network connection. That makes them only slightly more advantageous than the wide selection of free web apps available for the iPhone, which remain unlisted in the Apps Store.
Even more oddly, Apple only provides a listing of these 2,000 web apps on its strangely non-iPhone optimized web apps page (below), which can be somewhat clumsily browsed via Mobile Safari on the iPhone, but not with the slick polish of the Apps Store.
Apple should immediately add a listing of these highly functional apps to a special web section of the Apps Store, making it easier to setup links to these useful, iPhone-savvy web pages. Doing so would fill out some missing holes and might remove some of the interest in dumping junk apps into the App Stores' paid listings.
Among the iPhone-optimized web apps available are nearly all of Google's online offerings, including a Docs reader, Talk IM, News reader, RSS feed Reader, Gmail, Calendar, and Photos (below). There's also plenty of unit and currency converter tools and specialized calculators; over 500 online games; a variety of mobile-optimized news and sports sites; lots of dictionary and reference sites; and plenty of search, shopping, travel, webcam, and weather related sites.
With iPhone web app utilities, you can test your Internet access speed, track packages, and O2 (but not AT&T) even provides an MMS reader. Setting up a web app doesn't require any fees or approval from Apple, and properly developed web apps should work on any standards-compliant web browser (not just the iPhone). Why the pundit community has blackballed iPhone web apps is nearly as puzzling as why Apple has hidden them behind a really poorly conceived, iPhone-hostile web page that users have to seek out.
We'll be reviewing individual iPhone apps in greater detail in the future. Coming up next, we'll look at the last major feature unlocked in iPhone 2.0: push messaging.


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Serving Size: 4
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
so i made this to accompany the vinegar/sugar cabbage to cool off my tongue from the panang. (i've tried panang before ...it can get spicy). Next time I'll eat with rice, i bet that's good. i thought the panang would overpower the meatball, but i could actually taste the cilantro/soy/fish sauce, etc. in the meatball. the key to this meatball might have been the cilantro...i'm not sure. i just know it was good & worth commenting on. i'm going to experiment with other types of meat...maybe chicken.


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In real life, there's nothing funny about identity theft, as anyone who's gone through it can attest. (Believe me, I learned the hard way.) Unfortunately, if the new comedy "Identity Thief" is anything to go by, there's nothing funny about it on screen either.
OK, not nothing funny. Let's be generous to director Seth Gordon and screenwriters Craig Mazin and Jerry Eeten and say there's not very much funny here. It's a film built around a simple log line: average nice guy must share a road trip with the resourceful sociopath who has destroyed his credit rating (and pretty much everything else in his life).
The basic notion — two people unwillingly on the road together are forced to get along, eventually realizing each other's worth and learning life lessons — is ancient. In movies, it goes back (at least) to Frank Capra's 1934 romantic comedy "It Happened One Night," which spawned a number of cookie-cutter imitations. While initially showing strictly male-female pairs, the genre for the last few decades has shown up primarily as male-male films — call them "bromantic comedies." (There's a doctoral dissertation to be written on why the culture created this gender switch.) "Rain Man" may be the most acclaimed, but the two best remain "Midnight Run" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." (To his credit, producer/star Jason Bateman openly cites these two films as models.)
Apparently "Identity Thief" was originally conceived in accordance with the predominant gender preference, but, following Melissa McCarthy's breakout success in "Bridesmaids," someone had the very good idea to cast her as the thief. This significantly shifts the tone and some of the themes running throughout. For one thing, the opening really emphasizes Sandy Patterson's beautiful wife (Amanda Peet) and children, to minimize the chance of awkward romantic feelings between Sandy and Diana (McCarthy).
The issue of Diana's largeness — and our cultural assumptions and biases — always lurks in the background, as it often does in McCarthy's roles. (The grand exception would be John August's underappreciated "The Nines," where it's confronted head-on rather than lurking.) If Sandy were not married, the audience would assume that he fails to respond to her because of her size. In fact, within the story, people take them for a couple and then interpret Sandy's hostility toward her as weight-related.
Luckily, the way the plot is set up, Sandy is hostile for the most legitimate possible reason — Diana is a truly awful person for much of the film. In Sandy's position, most of us would throttle her within five minutes. Of course, she can't stay that way, and the script predictably sets up her redemption. The most impressive element in the whole thing is McCarthy's ability to make us accept her conversion from horrible jerk to sympathetic misfit.
Bateman is certainly the go-to actor these days for pleasant, likable guys in the mold of early Tom Hanks, but he has stronger hints of something less pleasant beneath the surface. ("Juno" would be the best example.) He's a grade-A straight man, and McCarthy is more than madcap enough to provide him with stuff to react to. If only the rest of "Identity Thief" were up to their standard.
ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on "FilmWeek" on KPCC-FM (89.3).


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Geometria Impura
Like most countries, much of Brazilian art seems to be located in and produced by artists living in the largest urban centers, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Geometria Impura, a traveling show from Belo Horizonte aims to shorten the distance from satellites to center. Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica in Rio de Janeiro is the latest exhibition stop, which was inaugurated in Belo Horizonte[…..]


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The reader is rather slow and low in contract if you use the out of the box font size. Actually I think it's nicer in a larger font anyway (the contrast is a lot better with a larger font for some reason) and it's also faster to switch pages. But, at least in the PDFs I tested (on a microSD card) the reader didn't remember that I opened them, it didn't save bookmarks, didn't remember where I was in the book etc. It's a freshly opened book every time. But it works with a pretty good/acceptable speed. In any case the speed seems to the a software problem as switching rotation works in less than a second, meaning the display hardware can handle more.
Another note on the reader function: unencrypted PDFs are much faster than any epubs. This is kind of funny considering the device was originally built for epubs. There is definitely some more hacking necessary there. You can use Adobe Digital Editions to copy any files your bought anywhere in Adobe DRM Epub on the device. It works fine. That's a nice thing to know you're not locked into the vendor and something that is not a given considering that the device is probably subsidized or at least with a very low margin considering the low price tag of 140 €.
The audio player works pretty well but just like the text reader it doesn't organize using the folders you created, making it all a big mess. Installing all your ebooks on the device is certainly not a good idea right now. Also because it seems to hang up trying to read and create an index of all your books and audio files if you plug in an SD card. It works much better if you plug it in while the device is still off and then switch it on.
Generally it can be highly annoying that there is sometimes a long wait, as when you open the browser or add new books, but no sort of animation or progress bar informing you that something is still going on. This gives the impression the device has hung which can be quite annoying.
But the web browser is actually pretty fun on the device. You can comfortably read and navigate mobile web pages - with a few hickups here and there. But the fact you can touch links pretty precicsely makes the browsing experience rather enjoyable. Also the speed is rather impressive and much faster in my case than page turning in books (often below 1 second). Though, as noted below, with some serious drawbacks as of now.
The battery loaded quite quickly (under 2 hours) and hasn't lost a bar so far. I've been listening to music and reading for about an hour. After about two hours of listening and reading and two more in standby one bar was missing... let's see. But it's definitely nice to listen to your music and read with the same device. Update: The third battery bar is almost a fake it seems, it was pretty much skipped directly in my test.
Speed: PDFs on a larger font take about a second to change pages. Epubs really, seriously take 3-4 seconds. I actually took my watch and stopped the time because I couldn't believe it. Webpages often load much faster than the epubs. I have a feeling there might be an Android system on there and Epub is the only part that Google *didn't* program. That would explain why the more complicated format of PDF is read faster than the epub format which is based on simple html, which itself is much faster than epub again.
When you put your ear right next to the device, you can hear a slight hiss. The USB-connector it comes with is not any standard usb plug I have ever seen. So (for no apparent good reason) you always need the exact cable in order to load the device.
So the funny result is: It's not a device for web surfing at the moment, neither for reading epubs. But it's pretty good and good value for reading while listening to music in the background - music that never skips. The smallest and default font size it comes with is in my opinion too small for low lighting considering that the contrast of the display is rather low due to the greyish background color and seems even lower with small fonts. I think the device has quite a lot of potential, though. Some proper firmware updates could make it a very serious competitor in the ebook reader market. The main low points right now are the (comparatively) low display contrast -- though it's fine with larger fonts) and the *much* too slow page turns in many cases. But the speed for the display when surfing the web shows that there is much potential to improve the speed. Of course the contrast won't improve.
I guess I'm not keeping it after all. Main point is the short battery time. I can just read a single day right now on a single charge. That's below 1000 screen updates and it's simply not enough. Especially since you have to include that wear will add to that and eventually it will only be half a day you can read on a single charge. Imagine that! It wouldn't even last a single day. Though I'm convinced they can enhance this by a lot, I rather be careful and use my right to return it now. I can always buy it again later. ;-)
- Good ergonomics. Nice next /previous page buttons make it easy to read with just one hand, leaving you another hand for other purposes. (though currently only for right-handed people)
- The only (affordable) device with touchpad (like the new Sonys, but not the Kindle) and Wifi (like the Kindle, but not the Sonys)
- Cheaper than any other electronic ink device with full touch screen & wifi (AFAIK)
- Audio player (though little base, only mp3)
- Precise, very responsive touch screen (but yet badly responding OS)
- Nice web browser (though still feature-weak), surfing in landscape mode is pretty cool.
- Many supported ebook sources -- Adobe DRM platform and integrated ebook shop.
- Good value.
- Short Battery time: Below 1000 screen updates -- barely a single full day of reading (With current Firmware and the slow Energy Saving Mode off)
- Display contrast is sub par.
- Still quite a few bugs (see below)
- Energy saving functions still flaky. (see below, makes page turns very slow)
- No folder handling.
- It seems you can save a lot of battery without getting the slow page turn times if you manually set the orientation in the menu (instead of auto). This seems to save quite some battery power in my case. I guess it disables the orientation sensor just as the energy saving mode does, without the changes that make page turns slower.
- With energy saving mode it's too slow, without it it'll only last about a day.
- There is no folder handling. All (book s and audio files) files are listed recursively completely ignoring any folder structure. This means already with more than about 50 books it becomes and effort to browse through them.
- The energy saving mode shouldn't decrease page turn times. In power saving mode the battery time is pretty good, but the page turning times are slow and the rotation sensor is off. Without power saving mode the battery time is much shorter. When listening to music and reading at the same time, the battery time could be better (currently about 10-12 hours I guess).
- If you make a software-upgrade, all your DRM protected books will no longer work afterwards.
- The webbrowser does not save cookies. You can use Gmail and Reader, but you have to log in every time. Ok, answering does not work, because the entire conversation is pasted into your text editing field, making it rather unusable. The webbrowser has no user bookmarks. You can't even work around this by creating an html file with links in it. They simply don't open. It doesn't zoom far enough / starts with too small zoom.
- Files on the microSD card are not saved when closing (bookmarks, reading progress). They work fine on the internal storage, though. So you can't really use MicroSD for books yet.
- Sound playback does not resume after suspend.
- There is usually no status indicator when something is happening and the device becomes completely unresponsive (the opposite of multi-tasking). Many people seem to misinterpret this as a badly responding touch screen. But I believe it's the software.
If you have many music files, they are not all found.
- With many files on the microSD it takes forever to load and there's no progress indication, just the frozen "please wait...". You can circumvent this by powering down, then inserting the card and booting again.
- When you go to the audio player out of the reading menu, then press back afterwards you end up in the main menu and need to reopen the book afterwards. Better would be a small play/skip/volume button inside the book menu.
The touch screen doesn't always respond properly, esp. as well as you'd expect from a capacative touch screen.This is actually wrong, the touch screen responds extremly well, but the sometimes lagging OS often gives the impression that it didn't. Really, I can activate the screen without actually touching it, having about half a millimeter in between seems to suffice for a response. So when it doesn't respond just be patient for the OS to follow.
- My touch screen is misaligned slightly to the left I think. A calibration would probably be good.
- After booting (with status indicator!), the screen is frozen for several seconds until the battery indicator fills up. Then all your previous touches are executed at once. It should keep showing the startup logo while it's actually still not ready to be used.
- There is usually no touch recognition feedback. You should know you hit something and the device is working if it is working for a longer time.
- Rss Reader application (best with download for later reading)
- Application SDK, so you can build your own applications.
- Saving passwords for the web browser.
Update: There are some oddities in the manual. Though loading takes only two hours, you shall charge the device's battery for 8 hours for the first time. This is not inside the printed quick introduction, but only inside the manual that's on the device, meaning you can actually only know that once you've started the device.
Another nice fun factor is that the manual warns you not to use the device in bright sunlight. Well, then, what exactly is an ebook-reader for? One thing you notice, too, is that the display might have potential for more contrast, as while changing pages the black goes darker than during normal use.
Looking at the manual and the hardware information of the device my impression that at least Linux is used are more and more confirmed. A GPL notice is included in the manual as well as a reference to the Linux kernel's usb "library". I somehow doubt they would port the library to another OS, but rather think they would've modified the kernel maybe -- if it's not Android-based anyway, which would make a lot of sense and save a lot of developing work (esp. with things such as the browser and power management). Wow, I'd love to have Android apps running on it. :)
Update3: With landscape mode for browsing it really is a lot of fun! You can definitely use it quite nicely as a surfing tablet for mobile websites! (Firmware R2150)
It's definintely clear the Oyo runs on Linux now. Some users managed to copy the firmware image. It seems a first software update is "probably" due before Christmas.
Update5: I've worked over the bug list, sorting it more by importance and updating the background information.
Update6: I've returned mine as I didn't want to wait, see and hope that they will fix the firmware issues. If they do, maybe I will buy it again! :)


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4 affordable cutaway dreadnought acoustic guitars
Over the last few years smaller-bodied electro acoustic guitars, notably folk-derived OMs and 000s, have seen an upsurge in popularity, not least for their versatility and relatively compact handling comfort. However, when it comes to performance muscle - both acoustically and powered - it's still the big-bodied dreadnought (and its cutaway variants) that rules the roost.
Pick a price, any price, and there's a plentiful choice of cutaway dreadnought electros available from a host of brand names. One of the most significant areas is instruments hovering under £500. This is what our four big-name contenders aim to prove, all priced, coincidentally, at £419, allowing direct comparisons as far as value is concerned.
The foursome are superficially similar – gloss-bodied, square-shouldered, Martin-style dreads with Venetian cutaways and under-saddle strip transducers. At the heart of each, however, lies a different preamp system.
Electro acoustic preamps
Takamine's EG360SC carries a three-band TP-4T; the Baggs-designed LR-T-4T on Crafter's DE-8/N adds a mid scoop and phase reverse to a similar EQ array; a significant feature of the three-band System 55T preamp on Yamaha's FGX720SCA is an ultra-wide-range (80Hz-10kHz) mid sweep; the Vintage VEC1100N, meanwhile, has one of Fishman's latest systems, the Aero+ with four-band EQ plus phase and notching.
All the systems handily incorporate an auto-chromatic tuner; the Vintage, build-wise, theoretically earns extra brownie points for its all-solidwood specification. The others have solid tops with laminated backs and sides. Will they suffer as a consequence? Let's find out then shall we?
First up: Crafter DE-8/N price and spec
Crafter DE-8/N price and spec
Price: £419
Origin: Korea
Body: Solid Engelmann spruce top, laminated mahogany back and sides
Neck: Mahogany, 649mm scale, 42.5mm nut
Fingerboard: 20-fret cream-bound rosewood
Bridge/spacing: Rosewood/54mm
Hardware: Amber-button chrome die-cast tuners, bottom strap button
Electrics: LR Baggs Element undersaddle pickup; LR-T-4T preamp – three-band EQ plus 'scoop', phase and a tuner
Options: DE8-12E 12-string (£469)
Finish: Gloss natural body, satin neck
Next: Crafter DE-8/N acoustic guitar build and features
Crafter DE-8/N build and features
Build and features
Unlike the others' Sitka or German spruce tops, this Crafter is Engelmann and is predictably whiter in hue, though more wide-grained and with little obvious cross-silking. That, however, doesn't detract from the instrument's overall smartness and the neatly executed trim includes an abalone-inlaid rosette, cream body-matching fingerboard binding and a mosaic centre strip along the mahogany back.
Amber-coloured tuner buttons are an attractive touch up top. In common with its rivals, the DE-8/N's satin-finish mahogany neck is a three-piece scarf-jointed affair. The average width and string spacing are allied to a comfortable, shallowish 'C' profile, the only minor detraction being slightly abrupt fret ends - nothing a little extra dressing wouldn't take care of.
As on all our contenders, the low-ish action set-up is very good.
Next: Crafter DE-8/N sounds, pros and cons
Crafter DE-8/N sounds, pros and cons
The underlying acoustic tone is a mite dry and the highs a tad splashy in texture, but it's a willing performer with easy dynamics and up-to-par dread-like punch. Though relatively low in gain, the LR-T-4T preamp does an accomplished powered job, respectively warming and cleaning up the unplugged traits for a natural, quality palette of sounds.
The dual facility for mid-range tailoring is especially beneficial - the main cut/boost slider centred at 500Hz, while 'scoop' fine-tweaks up to -6dB at 1kHz. The system also scores well for its under-saddle output balance, and the neat way that the tuner's LCD screen changes colour when a string is adjusted to pitch.
Pros: The very well-voiced preamp system.
Cons: Slightly sharp fret ends.
4 out of 5
Verdict: One of best pickup systems on test is a definite enticement.
Next: Takamine EG360SC price and spec
Takamine EG360SC price and spec
Price: £419
Origin: China
Body: Solid Sitka spruce top, laminated rosewood back and sides
Neck: Mahogany, 644mm scale, 43mm nut
Fingerboard: 20-fret white-bound rosewood
Bridge/spacing: Rosewood/53mm
Hardware: Pearloid-button gold diecast tuners, bottom strap button
Electrics: Under-saddle pickup; TP-4T preamp with three-band EQ and a tuner
Options: Similar EG361SC in gloss black - same price
Finish: Gloss natural
Next: Takamine EG360SC acoustic guitar build and features
Takamine EG360SC build and features
Build and features
Despite its plain black rather than tortie pickguard, the Sitka/rosewood EG360SC is the most cosmetically plush of our quartet. The cross-silked Sitka top carries abalone purfling and rosette; the white-bound fingerboard sports diamond markers also made of abalone, the effect being only slightly marred by some filler here and there.
It's capped off by white pearloid-buttoned gold tuners and a gloss-laquered finish. The 'C'-profile neck, slightly shorter in scale than the others, is the deepest on test (24mm towards the heel turn), though this merely provides more of a traditional grip, not a bulky handful. In typical Takamine fashion, string spacing at the nut and at the bridge is on the tight side, though this doesn't inhibit fingerstyle.
Our sample's medium-thin fretting is immaculately dressed, making it a fast, slick player.
Next: Takamine EG360SC sounds, pros and cons
Takamine EG360SC sounds, pros and cons
Surprisingly perhaps, given its rosewood back and sides, the EG has the brightest unplugged timbre, though it's by no means a cold sound. The treble is pleasantly singing and transparent, a controlled yet firm low-end delivers some nice attacking snap when played hard and the overall delivery has an easy sustain and response.
The gainful TP-4T system reproduces these characteristics very well, albeit with a few notes of caution. The highs can be searingly oversparkling unless reined back; similarly the mid-range merits some cut to avoid nasalness. Get that done, though, and the guitar offers a rewarding powered performance, with plenty of warmth on tap from the bass slider.
Pros: Luxury trim; buoyant, sustainful sounds.
Cons: Mid/treble happy preamp
4.5 out of 5
Verdict: EQ may need a firm hand, but there's much enjoyment to be had here.
Next: Vintage VEC1100N price and spec
Vintage VEC1100N price and spec
Price: £419
Origin: China
Body: Solid German spruce, solid rosewood back and sides
Neck: Mahogany, 649mm scale, 43.5mm nut
Fingerboard: 20-fret bound rosewood
Bridge/spacing: Rosewood/55mm
Hardware: Chrome die-cast Grover tuners, bottom strap button
Electrics: Fishman Sonicore undersaddle pickup; Aero+ preamp with four-band EQ, notch, phase and a tuner
Options: Try the similarly powered VEC900 (£349) with laminated rosewood back/sides
Finish: Gloss natural
Next: Vintage VEC1100N acoustic guitar build and features
Vintage VEC1100N build and features
Build and features
As if to mirror the brand name, this rosewood-backed Vintage has a more traditional, Martin-like vibe. The spade peghead is one aspect, so is the clean German spruce top's herringbone purfling, a theme repeated in narrower style as the back's centre strip.
The fingerboard's rosewood binding - as opposed to the others' cream or white plastic - also conveys a discreet, retro-style cosmetic approach. Like the Takamine, the VEC's livery is all-gloss.
By a small degree, the neck at the nut is the widest on test, though at 43.5mm it still falls comfortably within the medium-span category. We again find an easy-playing 'C' profile, of moderate depth, and it's partnered by Takamine-like medium-thin fretting, which is once more very well dressed and polished.
Next: Vintage VEC1100N sounds, pros and cons
Vintage VEC1100N sounds, pros and cons
First strums reveal the VEC lagging behind for acoustic oomph. It feels tight, but as with so many new all-solid-wood acoustics, gradual playing-in is required to unlock more resonance. Aptly, the guitar's relatively rich tone reflects its rosewood build, with a warm, even slightly dark low-end and a fluid overall balance.
The Aero+ proves plain sailing for powered duties and is generally well voiced. All four EQ bands are smoothly graduated, while phase and notching add further versatility. Apart from the need for discretion with treble and brilliance to avoid papery, brittle highs, the only arguable reservation is that the preamp's (black on black) rotary controls, though centre-notched, don't provide the ata- glance settings reference of a slider-based system.
Pros: Warm, rosewoody tone; versatile preamp.
Cons: Dynamics need more playing in.
4 out of 5
Verdict: Once its acoustic sound fully opens up, this is a quality guitar.
Next: Yamaha FGX720SCA price and spec
Yamaha FGX720SCA price and spec
Price: £419
Origin: China
Body: Solid Sitka spruce top, laminated nato back and sides
Neck: Nato, 650mm scale, 43mm nut
Fingerboard: 20-fret cream-bound rosewood
Bridge/spacing: Rosewood/53mm
Hardware: Chrome die-cast tuners, bottom strap button
Electrics: Under-saddle pickup; System 55T preamp with three-band mid-sweepable EQ and a tuner
Options: Rosewood-backed FGX730SCA (£489) with ART underbridge sensor system
Finish: Gloss natural body, satin neck
Next: Yamaha FGX720SCA acoustic guitar build and features
Yamaha FGX720SCA build and features
Build and features
Introduced in 2006, the FGX720SCA is one of a rapidly diminishing number of Yammy electros still loaded with an under-saddle pickup as opposed to an under-bridge ART sensor system.
Construction-wise, the guitar follows the company's familiar FG-dread formula of a solid Sitka top - a close-grained, richly cross-silked example here - with laminated back and sides, in this instance of mahogany-like nato. Like the Crafter, the body is gloss, the neck satin.
With its fingerboard edged in body-matching cream binding, the medium-width neck has an obliging, shallow 'C' profile, a little broader at the octave than the others. String spacing at the bridge, however, is Yamaha's usual slightly tight arrangement - the same as the Takamine's. Again, though, this doesn't feel unduly cramped for picking, and you quickly adapt.
Next: Yamaha FGX720SCA sounds, pros and cons
Yamaha FGX720SCA sounds, pros and cons
The balance of tone and acoustic punch is very agreeably sorted. Dynamics are supple and sustainful, there's a pleasant smooth clarity to the lows and pervading everything is a fluid, sweet-edged brightness that's typical of Yamaha. One plugged-in criticism is the preamp's low gain - it really is pretty modest - but the system nevertheless does a fine job.
Inter-string balance is spot-on, the voicing is generally sympathetic and, thanks to the preamp's broadrange mid sweep, tonally very adaptable. The top end, for instance, can sound papery and a little over-excited but is easily tamed by the relevant slider and/or via the sweep range, which extends well into the treble realm.
Pros: Quality sounds, acoustically and powered.
Cons: The weedy system gain.
4.5 out of 5
Verdict: A great all-rounder, but let's up the preamp beef please.
Next: The verdict - which guitar is best?
The verdict - which guitar is best?
In round-ups there's usually one instrument that stands out above the rest, or the judgement has to be qualified to take account of models configured for specialist playing styles. Here, however, there's barely a cigarette paper between the four in terms of build quality, playability or value - all of which are pretty much consistently excellent.
What makes this even more of a photo-finish is not just their identical pricing, but the fact that all four are dread electros designed for general duties, with mainstream neck profiles that aren't appreciably different to one another. Aside from subjective cosmetic preferences, there are, of course, nuances of sound - both acoustic and powered - which will sway you one way or the other.
Unplugged, the Takamine and Yamaha share the gold star - the former for its ringing exuberance, the latter for its balanced overall resonance and sweet poise. That said, the Crafter's subtly earthier tone is far from shabby, while the Vintage has a lot of warm, rich-toned promise even if it isn't quite yet there in full. In a powered context, the Crafter's LR-T-4T preamp puts in a very convincing showing.
It smooths out any acoustic shortcomings, the EQ ranges eschew extremes and it's simply a very enjoyable, musical system to work with. Much the same can be said of the Vintage's Aero+ and Yamaha's System 55T, though like the Crafter unit, the Yamaha's is low on gain, to the extent that you may well be plugging the FGX into your amp's high-gain input to ensure enough outfront level.
That irritation certainly doesn't afflict the Takamine's gutsy TP-4T, though the system suffers from being too gung-ho in the mids and treble, so it needs tailoring to offset that. But let your own ears be the final judge on all this.
In the meantime, treat this round-up as a ready-made sub- £500 shortlist and you won't go far wrong, because one thing's for sure: we'd be more than happy to take to the stage with any one of them.
Buy from our recommended retailers:
Yamaha FGX720SCA is currently available from Andertons Music Co. or Thomann
Takamine EG360SC is currently available from Thomann


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Tallahassee, Florida - November 10, 2012
A committee of seven school district superintendents completed a series of recommendations, at the request of Governor Rick Scott, on ways to cut through red tape and regulation in Florida's education system and lead to more instruction time for students.
During his September statewide education listening tour, the Governor and Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart heard from educators across the state about the amount of time spent on unnecessary or outdated state regulations. The Governor asked a committee of seven superintendents to work with the Department of Education and come up with some specific recommendations.
Governor Rick Scott said, "When I toured schools across Florida and heard teacher's views on how we can improve learning, cutting burdensome regulations was something we were asked to do in almost every visit. We sought the input of seven superintendents on regulatory areas that need streamlining. We will closely review this report with a focus on removing burdensome requirements to help educators spend more time in the classroom teaching."
In addition to input from the seven superintendents selected by the Governor, the Department of Education also gathered ideas and suggestions through a statewide survey of the remaining 60 district superintendents. The result was a matrix of recommendations ranging from eliminating the requirement to report how certain documents are disposed of once they are destroyed, to revising the way districts adopt instructional materials. Some recommendations would require changes to statutes, but others only require changes of rules.
"I look forward to continuing to work with the Governor and school leaders to increase student achievement," said Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart. "When we provide relief to school districts from unnecessary regulations that allows them to free up resources and provide more learning time for students. That is a win for students and for Florida's education system."
Senator Bill Montford said, "Florida superintendents are very encouraged by, and appreciative of, Governor Scott's initiative to identify and eliminate outdated, unnecessary and burdensome rules and statutes – many of which ultimately hinder optimal operations within the school district and waste taxpayer dollars. Most of the recommendations focus on reporting requirements and we expect to add other statutes and rules to the list as the dialogue continues to move forward. Gov. Scott has made it a priority to address regulatory burdens, and superintendents not only welcome the opportunity to be part of the process, they look forward to working with the Governor and all stakeholders as we take a comprehensive look at ways to minimize burdensome regulations, with and end-goal of further enhancing Florida's public education system."
The seven superintendents selected to recommend regulations for elimination were:
· William Husfelt, Superintendent, Bay County Public School District
· Robert Runcie, Superintendent, Broward County Public School District
· Dr. Douglas Whittaker, Superintendent, Charlotte County Public School District
· Wallace Cox, Superintendent, Highlands County Public School District
· Dr. Barbara Jenkins, Superintendent, Orange County Public School District
· Dr. Joseph Joyner, Superintendent, St. Johns County Public School District
· Dr. Margaret Smith, Superintendent, Volusia County Public School District


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by Hugh Gilmore
"Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me."
– Emily Dickinson
The day before New Year's eve, a Friday, was warm and mild and the Avenue was filled with people who seemed happy to be alive and enjoying the sunshine.
While I walked up to Chestnut Grill to meet and have some lunch with Greg Welsh I wondered if I should first walk down to Ardleigh Street and see my friend Richard. On Wednesday night, or Thursday, I wasn't sure, Richard's 55-year old daughter died unexpectedly in her sleep. She lived in another town. Preparations were being made.
Richard is a fairly private person, and I wasn't sure whether I should just pop in on him when he might not be ready for someone to stop and pay respects. I decided I'd wait and see if the spirit moved me after lunch.
I know Greg Welsh from the Chestnut Hill Book Festival, which he founded as head of the Chestnut Hill Business Association. He also owns and operates the Chestnut Grill, which is where I met him for lunch. Greg is a fun person to share a beer with. He's filled with energy and ideas, likes to laugh, reads books, and doesn't mind getting into "heavy" conversation. It's also fun for someone like myself, who hardly knows anyone and seldom goes anywhere, to see him in action with the wide and interesting bunch of people who come over to say hello. I'm the fly on the wall at such times.
Today, however, Greg has gout. His toe is throbbing. Hesitation is hobbling him. But, it's a beautiful day, warm enough to open his outside tables for al fresco dining, and he's in a good mood. We both order and drink a single malt scotch and toast the New Year. I rarely drink anything before the crack of 5 p.m., but The Macallan is sweet and warm and before I know it I'm a bit "up."
I told Greg about my friend Richard's daughter. How unpredictable life is. You never know. Save a little, spend a little and hope for the best.
Oh, don't I know it, he says. He tells me of the time he was with a dining party downstairs, right below where we sat right now when death came in out of the blue. Greg was being visited by a dear friend, one of his oldest friends, who had brought his bright, handsome twenty-something son along. Whap, out of the blue, the boy had a cerebral aneurysm and died at the table, almost instantly. Everyone present was devastated. None of their lives was ever the same.
"I'm intense about life," Greg says, "but I really don't sweat the small stuff anymore. The only thing that really matters to me is my family."
We talked for a bit. Normally at this point I would go home. After all, I'd had lunch, and more work awaited me. Last work day of the year.
"Want to walk up and check out Iron Hill Brewery?" Greg said.
Sure, why not. I heard it was beautiful. But secrecy surrounded the place in that final week before it opened. Private invitation only. Politicians, businessmen, fellow restaurateurs. But with Greg to lead the way, even I could go in. So, sure.
We walked into the large bright, newly polished place and of course, who was the first person we saw at a table of people but Ann Standish, the world's leading volunteer and bright spirit.
"Hugh," she said, "look, I have your book on my iPhone." She hit a few buttons and spun a wheel or two and showed me my book. Proof. Everyone kissed everyone on the cheek and saluted the table and we said good-bye and sat at the long, smooth, handsome bar.
Two scotches please. The bartender cracked a new bottle and Greg and I sat and talked some more about "life and lit."
The old year was leaving us. The New Year, filled with bright promise and putting on new makeup, was getting ready to come downstairs and greet us. Work could wait, I guessed. I hadn't been so lighthearted in a while. Greg turned to look around after a while and two people at the end of the bar waved to him.
He went down and talked to them. He pointed at me, explaining who I was, I guessed, so I got up and went down and joined them. They were middle-aged, she a small attractive blond, he a large guy whose salt-and-pepper hair was in a ponytail. He wore a Vikings T-shirt. Not the football team, "the" Vikings. He's of Scandinavian ancestry. Everyone joked. Everyone was in a good mood today. The year was ending, taking its nastiness with it. A bright new year awaited us.
Greg and I returned to our spot and finished our whiskey. Greg told me the couple we'd just talked to had been at his restaurant, sitting nearby, the night his friend's son died. She was a therapist and out of kindness had offered free crisis counseling to any of Greg's staff who were psychologically upset by what they'd witnessed that night. Since then, they and Greg had been friends.
Amazing. How do you ever know who's who, or what, when you look down the long sweep of a bar? Especially in a town like Chestnut Hill. The grim reaper, and those who clean up after him, seems to wait everywhere.
The talk changed. What a beautiful bar.
"Have you ever seen the bar at the Mermaid Inn?" Greg asked.
"No," I said.
"Let's go."
I really should go home, I thought. But I couldn't think why. Habit. My wife would be out till dinnertime. I didn't feel like going back to work. I said, "Sure, lets go. Jail break." We started walking down the avenue.
Greg made as if to cross the street. "Let's stay on the sunny side," I said.
"I was going to get my car."
"We can walk. It's nice out."
"Walk? It's about three miles down to the Mermaid."
"No, a mile, maybe. It'll do you good."
"My toe hurts. I have gout."
"Let's walk anyway."
He looked at me as though he wondered how he'd hooked up with a madman, but laughed and came along.
"We'll walk off the whiskey this way," I said.
Every twenty feet we passed a person whom Greg knew and stopped to say hello with. It was like walking with the eighth-grade class president.
Finally we crossed the street and walked up to the door of the Mermaid.
"Yikes," he said, " I forgot they don't open till sundown."
We stood there for a while and Greg told stories of the legendary Mermaid Inn and then we turned to go back up the hill, feeling like two schoolboys who've bunked school to go to the movies and found the theater closed.
Not so fast, though. A pebble's toss from the Mermaid, right where Mermaid Lane meets Germantown Avenue, is a large memorial cross. I'd never passed this place on foot, so I'd never read its inscriptions. We went over and walked around the base. What a wonderful thing I'd have missed if we hadn't walked down here.
The cross marks the memorial spot for Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy men who died in the First World War, mostly in France. Their names are inscribed, many of their surnames still carried by some of our neighbors today. Their dates of death are inscribed. Many of them were winter deaths.
More touching still, their place of death, their final battlefields, were noted – many of them places of now-legendary fame: Chateau-Thierry, the Argonne, Belleau Wood. So far away. So long ago.
We crossed over to the little park across the street and sat on the cold stone benches near a wall of Chestnut Hill fieldstone, a substance that has long preceded and long shall outlive us – till it, too, turns to dust. What a sight. What a great way to end the old, nasty year of 2011.
Except we weren't done yet. We walked back up the Avenue, heading home, I thought, but Greg said, "Have you see Chestnut 7 yet?" I hadn't. We went in. We'd walked off half the afternoon's whiskey and had the other half blasted away by the death memorial, so we ordered final farewell scotches.
Chestnut 7 is another handsome addition to the local scene. I told Greg that I'd proposed to my wife, Janet, here, back when we courted, and it was named Albrecht's. Right out on the back porch. (Actually, what I'd really done was say "I love you" for the first time, but this was boys' night out and not the time to get sappy.) "Here's to second marriages, the happy ones," he said, and we clinked glasses and drank some whiskey.
A third man walked up and began kibitzing with Greg. I was introduced to Jack McGann, who owns the building we were in. He goes to Cuba eight days of every month. That sparked me. I love Cuban culture and I'd just read "Hemingway's Boat."
"What do you do in Cuba?"
"I'm a businessman."
That's it? A man of secrets. Maybe I could get a little more. I asked, "What kind of business?"
"Import/export." Back to his drink.
Oh boy, that told me to stand back. In academia, where I come from, the problem works the other way: trying to get people to shut up about every little detail of their work.
It was dark out by now. The place was filling up and getting a bit noisy. It was exciting for me. Other men came and joined us, we stood in a circle talking, titering our drink input, feeling good but staying away from sloppiness, laughing. I noticed that not once had anyone looked at a cute waitress or pretty woman. Those days of seeking a date or a mate were over. This was the old boys' clubhouse. Very liberating.
Oh my gosh, I thought, this must be what they mean by "Happy Hour." I guess it's okay. Was my wife home yet? If so, she wouldn't mind if I stayed out. A fellow who knew me from my columns sent over a drink. Holy cow. Shades of Hemingway coming into Sloppy Joes!
A good friend of Greg's, Frank DePace, came in, looking for Greg. Introductions all around. The conversation turned to Billy Murphy, a man I never knew, who ran a popular tavern in East Falls, where "everybody" stopped by – sports figures, politicians, businessmen, bookies, newspaper guys, you name it. "Yeah, died in his car. Heart attack, driving home." They all talked with respect about Mister Murphy for a while and what a grand old-style gent he'd been.
"Let's go up to my place," Greg said. We traipsed in the dark up to the Grill and stood near the crowded bar. Another round for everyone. I was feeling incredibly happy. I'd shucked off the tyranny of my self-assigned duties for the afternoon, hung out with the boys and was feeling free as a bird, my spirit lifted from having laughed more in a day than I usually do in a week.
We were laughing, despite the terrible news that my friend Richard's daughter had died, and that Greg had told me about his friend's son, and that we'd gone up the Avenue only to run into the nice therapist who'd helped with grief counseling at the restaurant, and then walked away from that to go down the Avenue and wind up at the war memorial, and then back up the Avenue to Ch 7 and learn about Billy Murphy's heart attack. What's to do? You pay your respects, you listen to "Taps" and you have some fun talking sports or joking.
And just as we'd settled in at the Grill, Greg took a quick phone call and then turned to us and said, "I've got to go." His mother-in-law had stopped breathing and was being rushed to the emergency room.
2011 was mean that way, wasn't it?
The other two fellows and I talked a bit more and then said goodbye. I can't describe the way I felt as I walked home, but I can say I haven't felt that way since I was a boy. I'd met a bunch of fun kids and we'd all rolled around in a sand pile for a while, and now I was walking home. Like Wally Shawn in "My Dinner with Andre," I couldn't wait to get home and tell my "girl" all about my night out with Andre, and Greg, and Jack, and Frank, and all the boys.
Postscript: I want to dedicate this column to my wonderful friend, Ned Coale, who died peacefully in his sleep beside his loving wife, Joan, on the very next night, the last night of 2011.


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[Continue reading "Homemade Pomegranate Molasses" →]
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Homemade Pomegranate Molasses
April 12th, 2013 | Category: Fruit, Preserving, Turkish Cuisine, Vegetarian
Pomegranate molasses, which is made by reducing freshly-squeezed pomegranate juice into a thick, sour and sticky syrup, isn't really molasses. It is simply reduced pomegranate juice. And if you're adding sugar, you can even call it an extremely sour pomegranate jam. Pomegranate jam - one that is prepared by just pomegranate juice and sugar - doesn't thicken that much, so you may as well call it a ...
Pomegranate Recipes
October 14th, 2010 | Category: Fruit
It's that time of the year again: Pomegranates everywhere. Well, at least in Istanbul. I consider myself very lucky as Turkey is one of the native lands of the pomegranate. And you're lucky, too. Because if you're looking for ideas on what to do with pomegranates, you've come to the right place. Here are a few pomegranate recipes from Cafe Fernando archives as well as some of my favorite ...
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Calling a deal approved by the House on Tuesday to avert the so-called fiscal cliff "far from perfect," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) said in a statement after the vote that the legislation at least prevents what surely would have been a "body blow" to the economy.
The House voted Tuesday to roll back income tax increases on the vast majority of Americans, finalizing a deal on the so-called fiscal cliff after weeks of gridlock.
The L.A. Times reported that the approval, in a session that stretched late into the New Year's holiday, came after hours of closed-door debate among Republicans, with conservatives threatening to derail a bill that had overwhelmingly passed the Senate in the early hours of the morning.
"This bipartisan package is far from perfect, but it does protect middle class tax cuts, raise important new revenues and make the tax code more progressive," said Schiff, who voted in favor of the legislation. "Most important, it avoids the body blow to the economy that would have accompanied going over the cliff."
Once signed by President Obama, the bill will allow taxes to rise for those with incomes above $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples. It also will renew tax credits aimed at low-income households and college students, extend unemployment benefits, delay automatic spending cuts in defense and other government programs for two months, and resolve several other issues that Congress had left hanging.
What it will not do is match the ambitious goals set by Obama and Boehner for a "grand bargain" that would put the government on a path to a balanced budget. Instead, the compromise sets up another deadline two months hence for Congress to once again deal with the government's budget.
Referring to the new deadline, Schiff acknowledged there was much still left to do in the months ahead, but he hoped Congress would avoid the "brinkmanship" that characterized last year's fight over raising the debt ceiling, which led to a credit rating downgrade that "cost our economy so dearly."
'Fiscal cliff' plan clears House with GOP divided
'Fiscal cliff' legislation explained
Obama wins 'fiscal cliff' victory, but at high cost
Los Angeles Times staff writers Lisa Mascaro and Kathleen Hennessey contributed to this report.
-- Jason Wells, Times Community News
Follow Jason Wells on Facebook, Google+ and on Twitter: @JasonBretWells.


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Enrollment Deposit
International Students
Once admitted to Barry University, you will be required to submit an enrollment deposit of $1000(USD). This enrollment deposit will secure your place in the incoming class. The refund deadline for the fall term is May 1 and for the spring term the deadline is December 1.
If you require on campus housing, you will need to submit a separate application and a deposit of $200(USD). The housing application is only available after your enrollment deposit is received.
The deposit(s) will be held in an escrow account and applied toward tuition during the first semester at Barry.
Paying the Enrollment Deposit
Online: Accepted students may pay their enrollment deposit online through their myBarry account. The enrollment deposit can be paid alone or in combination with the housing deposit.
By Mail: Once a student is admitted, they will receive an acceptance letter in the mail. This letter will include a New Student Verification form they can return with a check or credit card information.
On Campus: If an accepted student is located near or is visiting Barry University, they can stop by the cashier/business office and pay the deposit.
The enrollment deposit needs to be paid prior to registering for New Student Orientation. Attendance at orientation is an important step for new undergraduate students prior to starting classes at Barry University.


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Browse by Medical Category
In 2007, Massachusetts General Hospital's Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellowship was one of the first programs in the country to achieve certification by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
Our one-year program is accredited for six fellowship positions in adult cardiothoracic anesthesiology. The Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine and our Cardiac Anesthesia Group consider the training of fellows as one of our primary missions along with patient care and safety. We recognize that a strong combination of didactic education and clinical training, with progressive responsibility and independence, leads to strong clinicians and patient care.
The Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellowship is a 12-month program begun after successful completion of an ACGME-accredited anesthesiology residency program.
The Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital follows all minimum selection criteria as delineated in the Institutional Policy on Selection (PDF). As a prerequisite for entry, all applicants for the fellowship must be a graduate of one of the following:
Applicants must have also completed an anesthesia residency program accredited by one of the following:
All residents, clinical fellows, research fellows and staff who are not United States citizens and do not have a green card must have the appropriate visa in order to receive a Mass General appointment. For questions regarding a J-1 visa, please call the Mass General Registrar/Credentialing Office at 617-726-5316. Questions on all other types of visas should be directed to the Partners International Office at 617-726-9211.
The Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital prides itself on the education of fellows both in the operating room and lecture room setting. The didactic curriculum includes:
The Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital provides fellows with hands-on clinical experience in the operating room, cardiac catheterization suite, electrophysiology suite and Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit (CSICU).
The Cardiac Anesthesia Group covers five dedicated cardiac operating rooms. Approximately 1600-1800 cases are performed each year. Fellows perform a variety of challenging procedures including:
All fellows rotate for a two-week experience in the care of patients undergoing non-cardiac thoracic surgery. Fellows work under the guidance of an attending anesthesiologist who is trained in adult thoracic anesthesia. Cases include lung resection and airway surgery.
The echocardiography experience consists of approximately eight weeks of dedicated intra-operative transesophageal echocardiography training. Fellows perform echocardiography exams for potentially any of the above surgical cases, guiding surgical management of these patients. Echo is also being used more frequently for non-cardiac cases, including organ transplantation, vascular surgery, neurologic surgery, and trauma. Expertise in echo is an important component to the success of a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist. Our fellows easily meet the 300 examinations interpreted and 150 examinations performed as required for advanced perioperative certification by the National Board of Echocardiography.
Our team provides anesthesia coverage in the cardiac catheterization lab where the fellow will participate in the anesthetic management of percutaneous closure of atrial and ventricular defects, high risk coronary interventions, percutaneous mechanical support, and percutaneous removal of intravenous thrombus. The electrophysiology suite places nearly 1,000 pacemakers and defibrillators annually in addition to performing pulmonary vein isolation, ablation of ventricular tachycardia, and percutaneous placement of devices to exclude the atrial appendage.
Fellows rotate through the cardiac surgical ICU (CSICU) for a one-month experience in the perioperative care of heart patients. The Blake 8 CSICU is an 18-bed unit devoted to the pre- and post-operative care of cardiac surgical patients. The patient population includes individuals who have undergone any of the above operations as well as those on mechanical support devices.
The ACGME encourages fellows to pursue additional expertise in other disciplines of heart surgery. We have established electives in:
Selection to the fellowship is highly competitive. Only completed applications are reviewed.
Please submit the following documents electronically to email@example.com:
Complete these items in the SF Match Application database:
The Program deadline for completed applications is March 1, 2019. The SF Match deadline is March 20, 2019. Interviews will be conducted from February to the end of May 2019.
The Massachusetts General Hospital Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellowship Program is participating in the SF Match, www.sfmatch.org Registration for the 2020-2021 academic year opens on November 13, 2018. Letters of recommendation should be submitted to the SF Match.
Match Day is June 17, 2019.
Michael Andrawes, M.D., Program DirectorAlexander Kuo, M.D., Assistant Program Directorc/o Tina Toland, MHA, Program ManagerMassachusetts General Hospital Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellowship Program55 Fruit Street, White 437Boston, MA 02114
Email usPhone: 617-643-2652Fax: 617-724-6981
Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellowship
Michael Andrawes, MD, fellowship director
View additional information on policies and resources for residents and fellows through Partners HealthCare
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ymjody needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 151 designs submitted by 31 freelance designers.
Salem United Methodist Church (http://www.salemmethodist.org)
Description of Salem:
-we are a United Methodist Church located in Simpson, NC
-we are a small, diverse church connected to a very big God
-we are saved through Jesus Christ
The desired audience is a church body made up of infants through senior citizens (there's a large population of older members in the church so the design must appeal to them as well as young families to unite everyone together).
Our church is made up of members from different races and ethnic backgrounds.
The church would especially like to appeal to young families in the mid 20's to mid 40's age range to continue growth of the church now and into the future.
Looking for a stand alone symbol and wordmark
The United Methodist cross and flame (see it at http://www.umc.org) is important to some in our congregation so integration of the national United Methodist logo in some way (ex. background, shadowing, or other creative integration) would be a plus, but is not necessary.
Logo must have the ability to be used in multiple ways (print, collateral, web, digital video, signage, t-shirts, etc..)
Characteristic/Attributes to consider:
Simple, clean looking
Timeless, ageless - longevity
A place of purpose
Not a building, it's about people
The youth ministry of Salem UMC recently developed a logo for their name, Reach 42. See the design for possible (but not necessary) connection at their facebook page:
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Every week, Joseph Begley is out and about visiting a different street in Lincolnshire and Newark, asking some (not so) probing questions! You could hear yourself in the morning after 8am if he comes and chats to you.
Here's where he'll be over the next few weeks (please note locations are subject to change):
If you'd like Joseph to come and visit you - get in touch below!This form could not be found
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Get more with the Listener Club!
Space CowboyJamiroquai
Who Do You LoveThe Chainsmokers Fea
With Every HeartbeatRobyn
Who's That GirlEurythmics


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Girls will begin budding breasts at around ten or eleven years, her hips will start to become shapelier. Some girls may begin to menstruate at eleven or twelve years, although this is generally regarded as an early start and it's likely that at this age that she won't be emotionally prepared for these changes - particularly if she's still in primary school and maturing faster than her friends.
The commencement of menstruation can be a complicated time when the emotional and physical wellbeing of your daughter come together. While she may be excited that she's maturing, some girls experience feelings of anxiety about this irrefutable proof of approaching adolescence and a more independent life.
It's very important at this stage, that you present an attractive picture of womanhood and that you work hard to keep the channels of communication open with your daughter. While she will, no doubt, become more private about her life, make sure that she knows that you are proud of her and excited that she's growing up (even if a little part of you is mourning for the tetchy toddler you had only minutes ago).
While the physical changes and emotional challenges may not be as dramatic as girls at this age, boys are still undergoing change. Boys do tend to physically mature later than girls but around 12 years, they will experience masturbation and nocturnal emissions. He may at this age also become exceptionally competitive and judge his social status as being tied to his sporting prowess.
What can I do to encourage physical development?
- Encourage your child to engage in some regular physical activity that will help maintain a good body image.
- If your child plays sport, make sure that you watch their games as often as possible and be supportive of their efforts.
- Pay attention to how your child feels about the changes in their body.
This article was written by Ella Walsh for Kidspot. Sources include S.A. Govt's Parenting and Child Health.