text:
Summary: Some present-day humans derive up to ∼5% [ 1 ] of their ancestry from archaic Denisovans, an even larger proportion than the ∼2% from Neanderthals [ 2 ]. We developed methods that can disambiguate the locations of segments of Denisovan and Neanderthal ancestry in present-day humans and applied them to 257 high-coverage genomes from 120 diverse populations, among which were 20 individual Oceanians with high Denisovan ancestry [ 3 ]. In Oceanians, the average size of Denisovan fragments is larger than Neanderthal fragments, implying a more recent average date of Denisovan admixture in the history of these populations (p = 0.00004). We document more Denisovan ancestry in South Asia than is expected based on existing models of history, reflecting a previously undocumented mixture related to archaic humans (p = 0.0013). Denisovan ancestry, just like Neanderthal ancestry, has been deleterious on a modern human genetic background, as reflected by its depletion near genes. Finally, the reduction of both archaic ancestries is especially pronounced on chromosome X and near genes more highly expressed in testes than other tissues (p = 1.2 × 10−7 to 3.2 × 10−7 for Denisovan and 2.2 × 10−3 to 2.9 × 10−3 for Neanderthal ancestry even after controlling for differences in level of selective constraint across gene classes). This suggests that reduced male fertility may be a general feature of mixtures of human populations diverged by >500,000 years.Sankararaman et al., The Combined Landscape of Denisovan and Neanderthal Ancestry in Present-Day Humans, Current Biology (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.037
Monday, March 28, 2016
Higher than expected Denisovan admixture in South Asia
We've seen a lot of papers in recent years on South Asian genetic history. Unfortunately, most of them have not been very useful. The only way to remedy this sad state of affairs is with at least a few prehistoric genomes from the Indian subcontinent. If this ever happens, we'll probably be treated to some surprises. A new paper at Current Biology suggests that inflated Denisovan-related ancestry in South Asian hunter-gatherers will be one of them:
PC/nMonte open thread
Below are a few nMonte models of ancient individuals based on 25 principal components (PCs). The relevant datasheet and nMonte R script can be downloaded here and here, respectively. here. It should be more useful in modeling South Central Asians, especially the Kalash. However, as far as I can tell, using just 9 dimensions, like in the version here, is faster and produces more accurate results.
Friday, March 25, 2016
Epic Bronze Age battle near the Baltic
There's a fascinating feature at Science about a surprisingly large-scale Bronze Age battle in present-day North Germany. It's great to see ancient DNA being tested. Can't wait for the results.
Ancient DNA could potentially reveal much more: When compared to other Bronze Age samples from around Europe at this time, it could point to the homelands of the warriors as well as such traits as eye and hair color. Genetic analysis is just beginning, but so far it supports the notion of far-flung origins. DNA from teeth suggests some warriors are related to modern southern Europeans and others to people living in modern-day Poland and Scandinavia. "This is not a bunch of local idiots," says University of Mainz geneticist Joachim Burger. "It's a highly diverse population." As University of Aarhus's Vandkilde puts it: "It's an army like the one described in Homeric epics, made up of smaller war bands that gathered to sack Troy"—an event thought to have happened fewer than 100 years later, in 1184 B.C.E. That suggests an unexpectedly widespread social organization, Jantzen says. "To organize a battle like this over tremendous distances and gather all these people in one place was a tremendous accomplishment," he says.Source: Andrew Curry, Slaughter at the bridge: Uncovering a colossal Bronze Age battle, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4033 Some more details about the project:
The human skeletal material from the Tollense Valley, Mecklenburg West-Pomerania, represents an unparalleled archaeological discovery: the anthropological and biomolecular preservation of the bones is remarkably good, and the large number of individuals from a putative Bronze Age battlefield context is a rare find. A pilot study carried out by the applicants confirmed that the preservation of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA is excellent. The latest developments in DNA sequencing technology (next generation sequencing, NGS), and especially the progress in modeling prehistoric population structure through computer simulations, enables the precise reconstruction of the population history of such a large coherent site. Additionally, the hypothesis of intergroup conflict can be tested. Previous studies on Holocene population dynamics focused on the Neolithic transition. The prevailing hypothesis suggests that the European gene pool resulted from a complex and regionally differentiated admixture pattern between local hunter-gatherers and immigrant farmers. Bronze Age populations are the key to testing this hypothesis, which we propose to do using our newly-developed multi locus system of 319 neutral chromosomal markers. Furthermore, the excellent preservation of these samples will allow us to conduct a population- genetic analysis of paternal lineages. Not least, this is an opportunity to retrace evolutionary adaptation processes (e.g. Calcium- and Vitamin D metabolism) originating in the Neolithic transition. We plan to use mitochondrial and nuclear aDNA capture essays and next generation sequencing technology to generate the most comprehensive prehistoric DNA data set to date. This study will be the first to combine multi locus aDNA capture assays and spatially explicit coalescence analyses of prehistoric DNA, and will undoubtedly set a new standard for human population genetics. The relevance of these results will extend far beyond the archaeological site of the Tollense Valley, and our data will be interpreted within the diachronic and supra-regional context of European population history.Source: Population genetics of the Bronze Age site in the Tollense Valley, Mechlenburg-Pomerania
Monday, March 21, 2016
R1a in Yamnaya
Do you ever get the feeling when reading some of the ancient DNA papers that the authors know more than they're willing to admit? That's probably because they do. It looks like Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a has already been found in Yamnaya remains, which, I believe, was something that was hinted at by David Reich and colleagues last year. It's just that, for some reason, the result hasn't yet been published. Crank up Google translate and navigate to here.
Что касается различий в преобладании R1a у Corded Ware Culture и R1b у ямников, то хочу напомнить — в статье приводится всего 5 определений гаплогрупп ямников, что конечно же мало! И уже после выхода статьи мы получили новый образец уже гаплогруппы R1aдля ямного погребения. Все определения, которыми мы сейчас оперируем получены из маленькой и далёкой территории – северной части степного Поволжья. Я же с большим оптимизмом жду определений ямников из Причерноморских степей. ... Александр, дорый день! Надеждинка — это погребение 1 кургана 1. Оно основное. В глубокой яме лежал подросток — мальчик: Y-hapl. R1a1a1d2a. Лежал на спине, ноги подогнуты, руки не сохранились. Голова была посыпана тёмно-красной охрой, у левого плечал стоял круглодонный сосуд, лежала створка раковины. И обряд и инвентарь — типичные для ямной культуры Поволжья. Курган стоял на берегу р. Б.Иргиз (левый приток р. Волга) — N 52 град 12 минут, Е 48 град 39 мин. Должен заметить, что Восточное крыло ямников (Волго-Уралье) охватывает период 3400 — 2900 ВС. Западное крыло 3100-2400 ВС. Александр, а где вы встретили информацию о гаплогруппах энеолитических хвалынцев? ... Уважаемая Елена, результат прислал Девид Райх (David Reih). Он возглавляет департамент в медицинской школе Гарварда. Увы, он ещё не опубликован. Ваш КПYep, the Corded Ware people were closely related to the Yamnaya folk. No doubt about it. I'd say it's just a matter a time before an early Yamnaya or proto-Yamnaya group is found on the steppe with R1a lineages ancestral to those present among Corded Ware males, and indeed many millions of present-day Europeans.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Rakhigarhi ancient DNA paper probably a while away
Back in December The Guardian published an article saying that ancient DNA results from the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi, northern India, "may come within weeks" (see here). I'm guessing now that it was just a slow news day feature, because we've seen nothing since, and the Korean team entrusted with doing the paleogenomics work has just come back from another dig at Rakhigarhi (see here). Best case scenario, it'll take them months to process the remains, analyze the DNA, and get something published. On a more positive note, National Geographic is now backing the effort, I'm guessing with funds and/or equipment, which might mean more sophisticated outcomes, like hopefully a few full genomes.
My lab performed excavation in Rakhigarhi/India for Feb 19 to Mar 8 (Hong JH); Mar 4 to Mar 13 (Shin DH), 2016. The excavation is supported by National Geographic Foundation. ... As regards our plans for the relevant human remains, they will be collected via a procedure specifically designed to minimize contamination by modern DNA. They will then be moved to and maintained at Deccan College. Subsequent anthropological analyses will proceed as follows: 1) gross anthropological study (determination of sex and age, identification of any pathological signs in bones, forensic investigation for race determination, etc.); 2) paleoparasitological study (analysis of soil sediments on hipbones, determination of any presence of parasite eggs, drawing of tentative conclusions on parasitic infection of Harappan people); 3) aDNA mitochondrial, Y-chromosomal, autosomal and stable-isotope analyses (obtainment of information on maternal and paternal lineages); 4) first-ever facial reconstruction of approximately 4,500-year-old Harappan person, a member of one of the greatest civilizations in human history (based on DNA and forensic data obtained in this study). It is anticipated that by the proposed research and the various advanced techniques entailed, a full and very detailed biological and anthropological picture of the Harappan people will be obtained.Source: Excavation in Rakhigarhi on March Update 25/03/2016: However, this talk will be presented later this year at the WAC-8 conference in Kyoto, which suggests that a paper with ancient DNA results from some of the Rakhigarhi remains is basically ready.
Harappan Burial Sites in India: Recent Research Trends Astha Dibyopama1, Vasant Shinde1, Dong Hoon Shin2, Chang Seok Oh2 and Nilesh P. Jadhav1 1Department of Archaeology, Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, India 2Institute of Forensic Science, Seoul National University, Korea Harappan civilization flourished mainly in northwestern province of Indian subcontinent, roughly between 4000 to 1500 BCE. There are about more than fifty burial sites of the Harappa Civilization discovered so far. Of them, Lothal, Kalibangan, Rupar, Rakhigarhi, Farmana, Tarkhanwala Dera, Sanauli, Bedwa, Puthi Seman, Bhorgarh etc. are major sites yielding the remains of Harappan burial. Until the early 1980's, the study of human skeletons was primarily focused to answer specific questions pertaining to establishing the ethnic or racial identity of the concerned population and was used primarily to complement archaeological hypotheses of cultural migration or diffusion. Recently, however, more efforts are also made to study diet, health and genetics of Harappan population. The aim of present paper is to show how these scientific methods that are recently applied to Harappan burial studies are useful for the complete reconstruction of Harappan civilization and its people.Source: Papers presented in WAC8, Kyoto
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Indo-European phylogeny + Y-DNA R subclades
Here's one of the most sensible Indo-European phylogenetic trees of this type that I've seen to date. It comes from a recent paper from Tuebingen University (see here). I added the red Y-chromosome haplogroup R subclade labels. Can something like this work as well, or even better, with other haplogroups? here). The rest of my choices should be self explanatory. Citation... Taraka Rama, Ancestry sampling for Indo-European phylogeny and dates, InProceedings (Aufsatz / Paper einer Konferenz etc.), 2016-03-07
Friday, March 18, 2016
New insights into human adaptation and population structure thanks to ancient genomes
Open access at Nature Communications:
Abstract: The influence of positive selection sweeps in human evolution is increasingly debated, although our ability to detect them is hampered by inherent uncertainties in the timing of past events. Ancient genomes provide snapshots of allele frequencies in the past and can help address this question. We combine modern and ancient genomic data in a simple statistic (DAnc) to time allele frequency changes, and investigate the role of drift and adaptation in population differentiation. Only 30% of the most strongly differentiated alleles between Africans and Eurasians changed in frequency during the colonization of Eurasia, but in Europe these alleles are enriched in genic and putatively functional alleles to an extent only compatible with local adaptation. Adaptive alleles—especially those associated with pigmentation—are mostly of hunter-gatherer origin, although lactose persistence arose in a haplotype present in farmers. These results provide evidence for a role of local adaptation in human population differentiation.Human adaptation and population differentiation in the light of ancient genomes. Nat. Commun. 7:10775 doi: 10.1038/ncomms10775 (2016). See also... Lactase persistence and ancient DNA
Extracting Neandertal and Denisovan DNA from the genomes of present-day Melanesians
Open access at Science:
Abstract: Although Neandertal sequences that persist in the genomes of modern humans have been identified in Eurasians, comparable studies in people whose ancestors hybridized with both Neandertals and Denisovans are lacking. We developed an approach to identify DNA inherited from multiple archaic hominin ancestors and applied it to whole-genome sequences from 1523 geographically diverse individuals, including 35 new Island Melanesian genomes. In aggregate, we recovered 1.34 Gb and 303 Mb of the Neandertal and Denisovan genome, respectively. We leverage these maps of archaic sequence to show that Neandertal admixture occurred multiple times in different non-African populations, characterize genomic regions that are significantly depleted of archaic sequence, and identify signatures of adaptive introgression.Vernot et al., Excavating Neandertal and Denisovan DNA from the genomes of Melanesian individuals, Science 17 Mar 2016, DOI: 10.1126/science.aad9416
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Sintashta, BMAC and the Indo-Iranians
I'm perusing the online archives of Harvard Sanskrit Professor Michael Witzel. The links below are worth checking out for some background info on the prehistory of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. There's a very cool map on page 6 of the second PDF.
Sintashta, BMAC and the Indo-Iranians. A query. Linguistic Evidence for Cultural Exchange in Prehistoric Western Central Asia. The Home of the Aryans. Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts.Looking back, these old school linguistics articles make a lot more sense than most of the supposedly cutting-edge population genetics papers coming out at around the same time dealing with the Indo-Aryan question. Many population geneticists back then took the view that the ancestors of the Indo-Aryans could not have spread from the European steppes to India because Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a apparently showed the greatest haplotype diversity in the Indus Valley. Well, what a load of crock that turned out to be. See also... The Poltavka outlier
Friday, March 11, 2016
D-stats/nMonte open thread
I'll start the ball rolling with a 9-way mixture analysis of 93 European, Near Eastern and Central Asian present-day and ancient populations. The relevant datasheet and R script are available here and here.
- Karasuk outlier RISE497 (the most eastern Karasuk individual) is surprisingly important for Near Eastern populations - Nordic LNBA and Sintashta look very similar in terms of overall ancestry proportions, suggesting that they perhaps derive from the same ancestral population - The effects of postmortem deaminantion or DNA damage appear to be expressed in many of the non-UDG treated ancient samples as minor Sub-Saharan admixtureCan anyone put together a better model for West Eurasians? Also, I'd really like to see a well thought out D-stats/nMonte analysis of South Central Asia. See also... Yamnaya = Khvalynsk + extra CHG + maybe something else D-stats/nMonte open thread #2
Sunday, March 6, 2016
D-stats/4mix tour of ancient Eurasia
This 4mix experiment is based on a series of statistics of the form D(Chimp,Reference_pop/Test_pop)(Mbuti,X), where X represents one of 9 ancient and present-day outgroups. The input data is available here. Feel free to try it yourself and post your models in the comments below. Yamnaya = Khvalynsk + extra CHG + maybe something else PC/nMonte open thread
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Irano-Turko-Slavic roots of Ashkenazi Jews?
As far as I've been able to discern, Ashkenazi Jews are very similar to Sephardic Jews, except with minor admixture from Central and Eastern Europe, and perhaps Central Asia (via the Silk Road). So the hypothesis presented in this new paper at Genome Biology and Evolution doesn't work for me:
The Yiddish language is over one thousand years old and incorporates German, Slavic, and Hebrew elements. The prevalent view claims Yiddish has a German origin, whereas the opposing view posits a Slavic origin with strong Iranian and weak Turkic substrata. One of the major difficulties in deciding between these hypotheses is the unknown geographical origin of Yiddish speaking Ashkenazic Jews (AJs). An analysis of 393 Ashkenazic, Iranian, and mountain Jews and over 600 non-Jewish genomes demonstrated that Greeks, Romans, Iranians, and Turks exhibit the highest genetic similarity with AJs. The Geographic Population Structure (GPS) analysis localized most AJs along major primeval trade routes in northeastern Turkey adjacent to primeval villages with names that may be derived from "Ashkenaz." Iranian and mountain Jews were localized along trade routes on the Turkey's eastern border. Loss of maternal haplogroups was evident in non-Yiddish speaking AJs. Our results suggest that AJs originated from a Slavo-Iranian confederation, which the Jews call "Ashkenazic" (i.e., "Scythian"), though these Jews probably spoke Persian and/or Ossete. This is compatible with linguistic evidence suggesting that Yiddish is a Slavic language created by Irano-Turko-Slavic Jewish merchants along the Silk Roads as a cryptic trade language, spoken only by its originators to gain an advantage in trade. Later, in the 9th century, Yiddish underwent relexification by adopting a new vocabulary that consists of a minority of German and Hebrew and a majority of newly coined Germanoid and Hebroid elements that replaced most of the original Eastern Slavic and Sorbian vocabularies, while keeping the original grammars intact.Das et al., Localizing Ashkenazic Jews to primeval villages in the ancient Iranian lands of Ashkenaz, Genome Biol Evol (2016), doi: 10.1093/gbe/evw046 See also... Khazar shmazar Khazar shmazar #2
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ALBANY — For years, many have dreamed of the completion of the Bay Trail, encircling San Francisco Bay, giving complete, unbroken access to joggers, bicyclists and others. One key portion of the Bay Trail, a strip of land behind the grandstand of Golden Gate Fields, is the subject of an eminent domain action by the East Bay Regional Park District and the next court date, although not set yet, appears to be coming up soon.
"The district has been in discussions and negotiations with Golden Gate Fields over the last 10 or 15 years to get a trail outside of the racetrack area," said Ted Radosevich, district counsel for the EBRPD. "We've had promises that the district would be given the trail at no cost. They'd give it to us as part of some kind of development. After 10 or 15 years of no progress we decided to move forward."
Representatives of the racetrack see the situation differently.
"Golden Gate Fields would very much like to work with the parks district," said John Briscoe, lawyer for Golden Gate Fields. "But if that's not possible, we're hopeful that the court of appeal will lay down the rule that environmental review must be done before project approval and not when the project is underway, in which case it would be done to justify a decision already made and implemented."
EBRPD has negotiated with various owners of Golden Gate Fields for years to acquire the land for the trail. A license was agreed to in 2003 but was not renewed. The racetrack has allowed the public to use its land to access the beach pretty much since the track opened but there is no formal agreement currently.
In 2011, the regional park district began eminent domain actions. It said in filings that Golden Gate Fields was trying to tie any resolution to its plans to redevelop the land. Golden Gate Fields is the last full time racetrack still operating in the Bay Area but has been the subject of several development proposals, including a proposed second campus for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that ended up being awarded to Richmond a year ago.
"Golden Gate continues to persist in the frivolous explanation that it wants the Bay Trail to be designed in concert with the development of the balance of the property," EBPRD lawyers wrote in a legal filing. "Time and time again, the owners of GGF have promised to provide for the Bay Trail in connection with a planned development, but none of the development schemes has ever materialized."
Attorneys for Golden Gate Fields objected on two main points: That no Environmental Impact Report was done before beginning the eminent domain process and that the legal requirements for eminent domain were not met.
Attorneys for EBRPD have argued that an EIR is not required in this case. An Alameda County Court ruled in May, 2012 that an EIR is required. But it also refused to throw out EBRPD's approval of the project, something that usually happens when an agency is found in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act. Golden Gate Fields has appealed the latter part of the ruling. Written briefs have been filed and oral arguments should be scheduled in the next few months.
While the park district has since completed an EIR, Golden Gate Fields has claimed the intent of CEQA is to force officials to consider alternatives before approving projects and that, therefore, doing an EIR after approving a project is incorrect. The district maintains that no specific project has been approved and a further EIR will be done once it finalizes plans for the land.
EBRPD has been accused of violating CEQA on two fronts — it also has been sued by a group called SPRAWDEF, which claims that the EIR filed regarding plans to renovate and restore Albany beach is inadequate.
In the meantime, the state Legislature is considering whether to amend CEQA. Pro-development lobbyists have claimed the law has been misused as a tool to delay or stop all development. Several environmentalist group representatives have countered that the law should be strengthened.

subset: commoncrawl


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Where the ancient Indian tradition of treating a guest like a spiritual master carries on in an atmosphere of warmth and friendliness.
Ideally located on the edge of the ridge the Master is only 4 Kms from the centre, namely Connaught Place and close to both the Railway Stations.
"Staying here is your best opportunity to rub shoulders with sophisticated, down-to-earth, extremely knowledgeable Delhiites. Avnish and Urvashi Puri are the hands-on owners who've put their immense energy and creative panache into making this one of Delhi's most satisfying experiences."
New York Times, 2011
"Don't expect hotel-like amenities, however, but rather a genuine opportunity to dip into local life. You'll stay in one of four immaculate guest rooms - each with comfortable bed, writing table, and carefully sourced artwork."
Frommes India, 2011
"You'll have no hassles whatsoever at this calm guesthouse, run by a lovely couple who have a genuine passion for helping travellers."
Lonely Planet India, 2011
"What a great place! Really well decorated rooms, the subtle scent of flowers,provided by the fresh flowers in the room. The owners are extremely helpful and friendly. And, very helpful in India, they speak English fluently. The guesthouse kitchen is really good too."
Virtual Tourist, 2011
+ 91 (11) 28741089
+ 91 (11) 28741914
+ 91 (11) 65479947 (mobile)
R-500 New Rajender Nagar
New Delhi 110060 India
near Sir Ganga Ram Hospital


text:
Adobe Flash Professional 184.108.40.206
Adobe Flash Professional CC is the industry leader for creating and delivering state of the art animation and multimedia content across multiple platforms and devices. Completely re-engineered with a 64-bit architecture and simplified user interface, Flash Pro CC is a stunningly powerful tool that allows you to work and publish faster than ever before. Create HTML content with improved HTML5 support, export rich content in full HD without dropping frames, work with unlimited pasteboards where you can manage neverending backgrounds and preview your designs instantly with real time drawings. New key additions to timeline and drawing tools will dramatically increase the workflow efficiency particularly for designers and animators.
- Distribute objects on Stage to individual keyframes each with the click of a button
- Swap multiple symbol instances or bitmaps with any other symbol or bitmap preserved in the library or created on Stage
- Simultaneously set properties to multiple layers
- Mark multiple layers as guides or masks
- Work in full screen mode without the distraction of panels or toolbars
- Proportionally expand or contract timeline ranges
- Move Timeline ranges across the timeline with the length intact
- Preview colors live when using drawing tools and color picker
- Use the time-saving in-line controls for graphic filters
Flash Pro CC is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud which gives you the ability to snyc your settings and work across multiple computers allowing for a more natural, seamless and connected creative working process
Homepage: www.adobe.com/products/flash.html


text:
Ahead of the iPad 4 release, new Apple rumours have suggested the company's next-generation tablet will follow in the footsteps of the iPhone 5 and land with a 16:9 widescreen display.
Tipped as the first widescreen iPad, industry analysts have cited "people close to Apple" in claiming that a revised iPad 4 is currently in the works, with the 9.7-inch tablet reportedly set to come in for a dramatic redesign. With an iPad 4 release date expected to be held in March or April 2013, it has been suggested that in a bid to offer a more immersive viewing experience, a new widescreen aspect ratio could be handed to the market dominant tablet device.
Speaking with the Examiner on the as yet unconfirmed iPad 4, Los Angeles based industry analyst Paul Mueller has suggested the iPad 3 and follow-on and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 rival will boast a "16:9 aspect ratio."
He said: "I have talked to at least three people close to Apple who say that there are new iPad prototypes that have a 16:9 aspect ratio. They aren't talking about the upcoming iPad mini either."
Whilst Mueller has suggested he will have more information on the eagerly awaited iPad 4 specs in "the next couple of weeks," an unnamed Apple source added: "I haven't really heard much about the iPad 4, but it appears that Apple is no longer against widescreen devices."
Hitting UK and US retailers late last week, the recent iPhone 5 release date saw Apple launch its first portable iDevice with a widescreen display, as the in-demand handset made the jump from its former 3.5-inch form factor, sporting a new 16:9, 1136 x640p, 4-inch Retina display.
iPad 4 Rumours
With the iPhone 5 now a thing of reality, the Apple rumour mill has already kicked into overdrive with a raft of rumours and claimed iPad 4 news currently doing the rounds. Whilst it is claimed that the iPad 4 will do away with its current 4:3 aspect ratio in favour of a longer, narrower 16:9 design, it is expected this is not the only change it will take from the recently released iPhone 5.
Set to be brought into line with Apple's new connectivity standard, the iPad 4 is expected to do away with its longstanding 30-pin connector in favour of the iPhone 5 and 2012 iPod touch found Lightning port.
Elsewhere it is believed that the Google Nexus 7 competitor will run the recently launched iOS 6 mobile operating system, whilst the dual-core A6 processor found within the latest-generation iPhone has also been mooted for inclusion.
What would you like to see Apple incorporate within its next-generation iPad 4 tablet? Would a new 16:9 aspect ration feature near the top of your list? Let us know via the Trusted Reviews Twitter and Facebook feeds or through the comments boxes below.


text:
A Study of NP001 in Subjects With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01281631
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : January 24, 2011
Last Update Posted : November 22, 2012
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Condition or disease
|Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
|Drug: NP001 Drug: Placebo
|Phase 2
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|136 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Parallel Assignment
|Quadruple (Participant, Care Provider, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|A Phase 2 Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multicenter Study of NP001 in Subjects With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
|Study Start Date :
|February 2011
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|September 2012
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|September 2012
Experimental: Low dose NP001
Low drug dose
Drug: NP001
Low dose of NP001
Experimental: High dose NP001
High drug dose
Drug: NP001
High dose of NP001
Placebo Comparator: Placebo
normal saline
Drug: Placebo
normal saline
- To evaluate the effects of NP001 on measures of clinical function [ Time Frame: over 9 months ]
- Safety and tolerability in ALS [ Time Frame: duration of study ]
- Pulmonary function and biomarkers [ Time Frame: over 9 months ]
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|21 Years to 80 Years (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Subjects with sporadic or familial ALS classified as definite, probable, or laboratory-supported probable ALS according to the revised El Escorial criteria. A list of key criteria is listed below:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Onset of symptoms less than 3 years prior to study entry.
- Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) at least 70% of that predicted for age and height.
- Stable dose of riluzole if undergoing treatment with this agent.
- For females: Not be of childbearing potential or agree to use adequate birth control during the study.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Unstable medical condition(s) other than ALS.
- Life expectancy of less than 6 months.
- Require life-sustaining interventions for the 6 months following randomization.
- Have a tracheotomy or be using ventilatory assistance [including Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure (BiPAP) or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)].
- Active pulmonary disease.
- Immune modulator therapy within 12 weeks of study entry or participation in studies of other agents within the last 4 weeks prior to the randomization.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01281631
|United States, Arizona
|Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale
|Scottsdale, Arizona, United States, 85259
|United States, California
|UC, Irvine
|Irvine, California, United States, 92868-4281
|Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095
|California Pacific Med Center Forbes Norris MDA/ALS Research and Treatment Center
|San Francisco, California, United States, 94115
|United States, Florida
|Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville
|Jacksonville, Florida, United States, 32224
|United States, Georgia
|The Emory Clinic
|Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30322
|United States, Kansas
|University of Kansas Medical Center, Landon Center on Aging
|Kansas City, Kansas, United States, 66160
|United States, Kentucky
|University of Kentucky, Department of Neurology
|Lexington, Kentucky, United States, 40536-0284
|United States, Massachusetts
|Massachusetts General Hospital
|Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States, 02129
|United States, New York
|Columbia University
|New York, New York, United States, 10032
|SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse
|Syracuse, New York, United States, 13210
|United States, North Carolina
|Carolinas Medical Center
|Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, 28207
|Duke University, Dept of Neurology
|Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27705
|United States, Ohio
|Cleveland Clinic
|Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44195
|United States, Oregon
|Providence ALS Center
|Portland, Oregon, United States, 97213
|United States, Texas
|Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Methodist Neurologic Institute
|Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
|United States, Washington
|Providence Saint Peter Hospital
|Centralia, Washington, United States, 98531
|Principal Investigator:
|Robert G. Miller, MD
|Forbes Norris ALS Treatment and Research, California Pacific Medical Center
|Responsible Party:
|Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01281631 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|First Posted:
|January 24, 2011 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|November 22, 2012
|Last Verified:
|November 2012
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Motor Neuron Disease
Pathologic Processes
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Nervous System Diseases
Neuromuscular Diseases
Spinal Cord Diseases
Central Nervous System Diseases
TDP-43 Proteinopathies
Proteostasis Deficiencies
Metabolic Diseases


text:
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Tim Tebow never will forget his first meeting with Mike Westhoff, the New York Jets' special-teams coordinator. He shook Westhoff's hand and, quicker than a punter's hang time, Tebow was on the dry-erase board in the coach's office, diagramming plays.
Specifically, gadget plays they could run with Tebow as the personal protector on the punt team.
"We threw around a bunch of ideas," Tebow said. "It was a lot of fun."
Tebow hadn't played a down of special teams in his life, but he was able to speak the language, taking concepts he knew as a shotgun quarterback and applying them to the up-back position. They took turns at the board, the young star and the old coach, jamming like two gifted guitarists from different generations.
Finally, Ben Kotwica, Westhoff's assistant, spoke up, tactfully raising a delicate issue.
You do realize, Kotwica said to Tebow, that if we punt it here, you have to run down, get involved in the coverage and tackle.
There was a moment of awkward silence, followed by The Look. Tebow answered with his eyes, no words necessary.
"It was the greatest," said Westhoff, recalling the moment with a laugh. "He looked at Ben like, 'I can play this game. I can block, I can run, I can catch, I've run people over, I've run around people and I can throw. I'm a football player and I'll do whatever it takes.'"
The two coaches got all that from one glance.
"He answered our question," Westhoff said matter-of-factly.
So here we go.
While Tebow's projected role on offense has generated most of the headlines -- read: Wildcat -- his job on special teams also has people talking. It's not often that a former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback with an NFL playoff victory on his résumé lines up on the punt team.
But Westhoff is known for thinking outside the box -- he might tell you he invented the box -- and he was cooking up ways to use Tebow as soon as the trade last March with the Denver Broncos was finalized.
"I'm not afraid to try things," he said.
The Jets are sure to be questioned for exposing their No. 2 quarterback to potential injury, but Westhoff believes the upside is greater than the risk. From all indications, Tebow has embraced the role, with Westhoff calling him "one of the most unselfish individuals I've ever come across."
How many cultural icons would be willing to cover a punt?
From Tebow's perspective, the job is somewhat similar to playing quarterback. He said punting is like playing offense, just on fourth down. He identifies the front, counting the number of defenders at the line of scrimmage. He has the freedom to change the play, based on what he sees. If it's a direct snap to him, he does his thing, running a designed play -- or throwing it.
In theory, his mere presence will force opponents, concerned about a possible fake, to dial down the rush, giving punter T.J. Conley more time for a directional punt and allowing the coverage to get downfield quicker than usual.
"To a certain extent, it's just X's and O's and understanding what front they're in," Tebow said. "Are they in a six-man front? An eight-man front? Are they doubling the gunners or are they leaving him single-covered?
"A lot of that I feel like I can translate from offense, especially from what we did at Florida, so many unique looks and formations. We saw so many defensive fronts to stop what we were doing in certain situations, so you feel like you've seen a lot."
This isn't foreign territory to Westhoff. During the 1980s, with the Miami Dolphins, he used the multidimensional Jim Jensen, a former quarterback at Boston University, as the personal protector. Jensen earned the nickname "Crash" for his aggressive style of tackling.
With the Jets, Westhoff had Brad Smith until 2010, another former college quarterback who did just about everything. Westhoff believes Smith's presence as the personal protector was a big reason Steve Weatherford tied an NFL record in 2010 for most punts inside the 20 -- an opinion that Weatherford, now an ex-Jet and Westhoff critic, probably would dispute.
Nevertheless, Westhoff is confident Tebow will change the complexion of the punt-coverage unit. He noticed a difference in the preseason, with opponents rushing more conservatively than usual.
"They have to get the aspect of the [potential] fake covered before they get involved in a rush or a punt-returning look," Westhoff said. "Tim takes it to a different level because of his ability as a quarterback."
Despite his accuracy issues, Tebow is more of a passing threat than Smith ever was, so opponents will have to think "fake" on almost every punt, especially around midfield or in the opponent's territory. At some point, Tebow will have the freedom to call a fake on his own, according to Westhoff. For now, all he can do is audible out of a fake call -- if, for instance, he notices the other team has stacked the box.
Critics of the Tebow plan will argue that the Jets are sacrificing coverage ability by using a player with no experience as a tackler. Tebow, used extensively in the preseason, didn't make a single tackle.
"Do we think Tim Tebow will be our leading tackler? No, of course not," Westhoff said. "But I don't feel like [we're losing anything]. He's been very much involved in the physical part of the game."
At 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, Tebow has linebacker size with better-than-linebacker speed. But is he willing to put his face in the fan, as football coaches like to say? That's the question. His next tackle will be the first of his career. Asked how he'd respond -- a celebration, perhaps? -- Tebow laughed.
"I'll probably get up and run to the sidelines, I don't know," he said.
If Tebow isn't thrilled with this whole special-teams thing, he hasn't let on. He's been a good soldier, beginning on that first day in Westhoff's office, where he started drawing up shifts and motions and fakes -- techno-speak that sounded like beautiful music to Westhoff.
Then, of course, there was The Look. Yes, Tebow remembered it.
"It was probably a bigger impact on them," he said, "than it was for me."


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Robert Chisholm, administrator of Clan Chisholm DNA Project has posted an update on the ScotDNA mailing list about significant results from his project.
Robert states that the Chisholm DNA results would appear to back up the clan origin story of a Norman origin, via the conquest, marriage into Roxburghshire, and "conquest via marriage" into the Highlands.
"Identified Old Chiefs line via several documented genealogies (modern Chief's line is female descent from 1888) , classic I1 Norse type identified by Ken Nordeveldt. Within Clan Chisholm this single type is representing 30-40% of Chisholm named project members. Large DNA footprint traceable back through England, a small amount in Normandy, and back to Scandinavia. Several large family groups (English) who match and would represent sibling lines of Norman family prior to the first representative to found the new surname de Cheseholme, in Scotland, during reign of David I."
"Other DNA in Clan: the majority represent R1b, but with some smaller family groups, predominance of British, but still significant numbers with Gaelic ancestry. Overall the Highland part of the Clan is likely to exceed 50% celtic base, as the I1 Norman type does include the Borders branch which has over time spread
throughout the lowlands and back to Northumbria (whence it originally came, as oral histories have the first de Cheseholme being a Norman Knight from Tindale)."
"So overall, a good result for DNA, proves beyond doubt the favoured origin foundation story, and all those origin myths about the men of the north, the Earl of Orkney, can be dispensed with."
The full original post can be read at SCOT-DNA/2011-07/1310603008


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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) � Large nonprofit hospitals in North Carolina are dramatically inflating prices on chemotherapy drugs at a time when they are cornering more of the market on cancer care, an investigation by two newspapers has found.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) � Large nonprofit hospitals in North Carolina are dramatically inflating prices on chemotherapy drugs at a time when they are cornering more of the market on cancer care, an investigation by two newspapers has found.
The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer of Raleigh (http://bit.ly/Ok9eEX ) found hospitals are routinely marking up prices on cancer drugs two to 10 times over cost. Some markups are far higher.
It's happening as hospitals increasingly buy the practices of independent oncologists, then charge more � sometimes much more � for the same chemotherapy in the same office.
Asked about the findings, hospital officials said they are relying on a longtime practice of charging more for some services to make up for losses in others. Hospitals have a name for this: cost-shifting.
"The drug itself may just be the vehicle for charging for the services that are provided (elsewhere)," said Joe Piemont, president of Carolinas HealthCare System, a $7 billion chain that runs about 30 hospitals.
The rising price of cancer treatment has financially devastated many families, while driving up insurance costs and causing some patients to put off needed treatments.
"If you have enough money or good-enough insurance, it may not be an issue for you," said Donna Hopkins, CEO of Dynamic Medical Solutions, a Charlotte-area company that audits medical bills. "If you're somebody who doesn't have that, it can be a death sentence."
After examining chemotherapy bills collected by the Observer, Hopkins called the markups "outrageous."
Some of the largest markups are made by nonprofit hospital chains that generate millions of dollars of profit each year and have billions in reserves.
The newspapers obtained and analyzed a private database with information on more than 5,000 chemotherapy claims to get insight into pricing for cancer patients, a group that faces some of the nation's highest medical bills.
The drug data, along with scores of interviews, help explain why hospitals have become so expensive � and why health care spending now makes up 18 percent of the national economy.
Among the markups found:
� Levine Cancer Institute, owned by Carolinas HealthCare, this year collected nearly $4,500 for a dose of irinotecan, a drug used to treat people with colon cancer. The average sale price: less than $60.
� UNC Health Care collected $228 for nine units of cisplatin. That was 14 times the drug's average sales price.
� Duke University Medical Center received $19,420 for a course of rituximab, used to treat lymphoma and leukemia. Medicare would have allowed a maximum payment of $6,420.
� Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, owned by Novant Health, collected about $680 for 50 milligrams of cisplatin. The markup: more than 50 times the average sales price.
Chuck Moore, the patient in the Forsyth case, got nine weeks of chemotherapy for cancer at the base of his tongue in 2008 and 2009. Though he had good health insurance, he still paid about $15,000.
"I've never had a business where I could get a markup like that," Moore, now an assembly plant supervisor now living near Atlanta. "It seems almost predatory."
Increasingly, private oncologists are under financial pressure to sell their businesses to hospitals. When they do, hospitals often charge more.
In a review of claims for seven cancer drugs, the newspapers found that charges for all but one drug were significantly higher at hospitals and hospital-owned clinics � usually more than 45 percent higher.
Insurers have found similar patterns.
At the newspapers' request, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, the state's largest health insurer, examined data from thousands of 2011 chemotherapy claims and found that hospital-owned facilities in the state tend to be paid 50 to 150 percent more for cancer drugs than independent oncologists.
Dr. Ira Klein, assistant to the chief medical officer at Aetna insurance company, said he believes the acquisitions of oncology practices by hospitals have increased costs without improving the quality of care.
"We're essentially enriching people and getting nothing for it," he said.
Hospital officials defend their pricing.
Unlike many independent clinics, they say, hospitals suffer losses from treating patients without insurance and patients covered by Medicaid, the government program for the poor and disabled. Some independent oncologists acknowledge that they often refer such patients to hospitals.
Hospital officials say they provide counseling and many other cancer services that insurers don't cover.
Officials for Carolinas HealthCare and Novant Health emphasize that they provide free care to many financially needy cancer patients.
Piemont, of Carolinas HealthCare, said charges for chemotherapy drugs may be used to cover costs of other money-losing services, such as the emergency department, which treats a high number of uninsured patients.
"We cannot be compared to (an independent doctor) who can just overtly select who they see," Piemont said. "We take everybody."
Size has given hospitals major advantages.
When hospitals merge into large systems, they gain leverage to negotiate higher payments from private insurance companies.
Hospitals can also save money when they purchase drugs in bulk. And more than 40 N.C. hospitals are able to obtain deep discounts on outpatient drugs under the federal 340B program, which requires drug manufacturers to provide price breaks to hospitals that treat large numbers of financially needy patients.
Cancer costs more per patient, on average, than any other medical condition.
New drugs have given hope to many cancer patients. But some of those drugs come with annual price tags that rival those of a small home.
Treating a cancer patient with Avastin, for instance, costs about $90,000 a year, doctors say.
No one feels the financial pain more than patients. In a 2010 survey commissioned by the American Cancer Society, 21 percent of people under 65 undergoing cancer treatment said they had used up all or most of their savings. And 19 percent said they or their family members had put off getting a recommended cancer test or treatment because of cost.
Information from: The Charlotte Observer,http://www.charlotteobserver.com


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Canucks coach John Tortorella suspended 15 days by NHL for fanning Flames (with video)
Why did team engage in brawl? Bench boss to have no contact with club for six games
Vancouver Canucks players talk in support of head coach John Tortorella in the wake of Saturday's fight-filled game against the Calgary Flames.
VANCOUVER — The day began with reporters, like so many forensic investigators, revisiting the scene of the crime at Rogers Arena: checking doorways, calculating camera angles, speculating how fast John Tortorella must have been travelling as the buzzer sounded to end the first period.
To get from his own bench, down the hall, cut through the Vancouver Canucks' medical room, dodge the dentist's chair, and emerge through a connecting door within a few feet of the Calgary Flames' dressing room before the visitors had even filed into their quarters ... that's some serious foot speed, right there.
He'd have graded very high on the 40-yard sprint at the coaches' combine. High also for desire and courage, though somewhat lower for self-control.
Alas, it will be a while before he gets a chance to reprise his feat, unless he just does it to keep in shape.
The National Hockey League suspended the Canucks' head coach for 15 days (six games) on Monday for his ill-advised joust with Flames players and staff on Saturday night.
It may not be reasonable to suspend a coach for merely hoping to achieve the sort of mayhem all coaches routinely send their players out to perform (with the nudge-wink endorsement of the league), but the NHL expects its coaches to confine their nefarious activities to the bench and their own dressing room, with occasional side trips to watch video or address the media herd.
Oddly enough, charging at Calgary coach Bob "Who, Me?" Hartley with the intent to throttle him, though certainly a sound idea in the circumstances, was considered outside the bounds of acceptable behaviour.
So Torts will sit, and rightly so.
But here's the real question about Saturday: why did the Canucks engage?
What did they have to prove to a bottom-feeding club that advertised its intentions the minute Hartley filled out his lineup card?
Yeah, I know what Tortorella said. He wasn't going to put out his skill guys to get murdered by the Brian McGrattans and Kevin Westgarths, so he started his own fourth line, with tough guys Tom Sestito and Dale Weise and 6-foot-6 rookie Kellan Lain.
To paraphrase Sestito, "Torts said they were starting their idiots so we had to, too.
"He walked into the room and said he didn't want to put us in this situation but didn't really have a choice. I definitely wasn't going to have a choice. I knew McGrattan was going to drop his stuff. When I saw Westgarth taking the faceoff I knew everyone was going. If you look at the tape, you can see he doesn't even go for the puck, he already had his gloves off, so I think everybody was fighting no matter what."
But ... why did it have to be either/or? First line or fourth?
OK, so it's a manhood issue when the visiting team starts its goon line. The Code, a tome with so many chapters it makes War And Peace look like a Twitter entry, demands a response.
"We don't like to see our players be put in harm's way. The game's a violent game as it is, I don't think as coaches we need to manufacture it," said assistant coach Mike Sullivan, who will probably be handling the bench duties while his boss is on the shelf.
But is it truly not permissible to send out, say, the third line with instructions to ignore the muscle-heads on the other side of centre and assume the fetal position if attacked, and simply attempt to play hockey?
"There's two ways to go about it," said Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa. "We just watched a clip, actually on YouTube of (Canuck defenceman) Dan Hamhuis in 2004 when Nashville started their somewhat-skill guys vs. Calgary who had five of their goons on the ice, and they just all beat the crap out of them, so ... who knows if their guys would have had the same reaction if they'd seen the (Sedin) twins coming over the bench? But you can't put those guys in that situation."
Bieksa actually tried to defuse the inevitable, stepping in front of Lain and waving the rookie away, and taking the opening faceoff against Westgarth.
"At first I just thought the two big boys (Sestito and McGrattan) would go at it, and that would be it," he said. "Then I saw Westgarth talking to Kellan, and ... I didn't feel it was fair for him to fight Westgarth, being his first game, flying his parents across — I'm sure his mom didn't like that — it just didn't seem like it was a fair fight, so I tried to get in the way of that."
To no avail. Eight of the 10 starting skaters got tossed. Lain played two seconds of his first NHL game.
"I'm not going to put 100 per cent blame on (the Flames), because we could always just stand there and take the penalty, take the punch to the face, but unless you're in it, it's a hard situation," Bieksa said. "You can say that you're just going to stand there and take it, but once you see five guys that want to fight coming after you ...
"It was just clear, when you see (Calgary's) Blair Jones asking a guy to fight — and he's afraid of his own shadow — you see (Ladislav) Smid and a couple of those guys just looking for it, it's hard to say no."
Tortorella's decision to respond with his fourth line, which he discussed with his assistants before he wrote the names on the lineup card, was popular in the Canucks' room — and so was the coach's foray behind enemy lines between periods. Despite Tortorella's harping on the need for discipline, his own lack of it didn't seem to bother his players.
"I don't know how this embarrasses the organization," Bieksa said. "I think you respect a coach more when you see that he has your back, and see how much he cares, that we're not just pawns out there, we're not just guys he's sticking out there to fight, he cares that we had to go through that."
And the brawl? Tsk, tsk.
"That was obviously not our intention. It was their intention," Bieksa said. "They won't admit it, and I don't really care either way, but I loved it. I thought it was a blast. I just wish I could have played the rest of the game.
"The reaction around the league I think was that it was pretty entertaining. You don't want too many of them, it's not the best image for the league, but every once in a while ... the fans enjoyed it."
Yep. Hard to deny it.
The old Conn Smythe line from 60 years ago still resonates:
"We've got to stamp out that kind of thing, or people are going to keep on buying tickets."


text:
Government cutbacks increasingly threaten disabled people's right to work. It is now more difficult to qualify for resources from Access to Work; in addition, those with agreed packages are now being systematically examined irrespective of routine review dates with a view to reducing support.
Access to Work is a government programme set up to support people who face barriers to employment as a result of their health or impairment through provision of advice and support with extra costs to both disabled people and their employers. The programme is critical in upholding the right of disabled people to access mainstream employment and it actually makes a profit for the government: the amount invested in the programme is exceeded by the amount brought in through the taxes of working disabled people and through savings made in benefit payments, social care support and care, and medical costs. The Sayce report into supported employment: "Getting In, Staying In and Getting On" (June 2011) found that for every £1 spent on support through Access to Work, the government recoups £1.48. The Department for Work and Pensions nevertheless has a budget to cut and at a meeting in March 2011 the head of the Access to Work team, Steve Lismore, confirmed that the direction of travel for Access to Work is to reduce resources.
The personal experience of disabled people shows that Access to Work advisors are, in line with this strategy, adopting an attitude as guardians of public money more preciously than ever before. The onus is on the disabled person to prove beyond question the genuineness of their support needs. This is not only intimidating for the disabled person but also counter-productive for the supposed government agenda of getting disabled people off benefits and into work. Many people rely on Access to Work support and without any guarantee of receiving that support would be unable to take up employment offers, however you cannot apply to Access to Work without a guaranteed job and start date. For many disabled people the programme is therefore irrelevant.
For some disabled people Access to Work has traditionally been one of the most supportive and accessible support streams. The programme takes an approach in line with the social model of disability where individual applications are considered on a case-by-case basis and there is an avoidance of policy statements that treat disabled people in groups according to impairment. Members of the Newham Action Hub reported that they received a better service from their Access to Work advisors than from their care managers. For other disabled people, particularly those with more complex support needs, the programme fails to meet their needs. Moreover, as resources are being reduced the wider experience is already less positive, for example, with people being told that Access to Work might possibly not be providing equipment such as wheelchairs in the future. There is a revised list of equipment that has been included in the Access to Work guidance in order to assist advisers in making operational decisions. The effectiveness of the programme is only going to be further compromised under current conditions.
Individuals with impairments with which advisors are not familiar have less chance of being able to make a case for support that is accepted; people with learning difficulties or mental health support needs are frequently told by individual advisors that they are not eligible for ongoing support costs, rendering them unable to stay in or take up employment. In one example a woman was told that people with mental health support needs could not get support costs from Access to Work but could only "be referred to Mind for counselling to get better". In another example a young man with a learning difficulty was told that Access to Work cannot provide full-time support costs and that he would not be able to get more than 6 hours support per week past the first 6 weeks of his employment, irrespective of any evidence of genuine support need. Experience suggests that current Access to Work policy disadvantages applicants with mental health support needs or learning difficulties. The DWP continues to deny this link but failure to recognise the importance of being seen to be able to provide ongoing support costs means that this under-representation will continue.
As part of a tightening up of resources, Access to Work are contacting all those currently in receipt of support through the programme and reviewing their packages with a view to identifying possible reductions. This is un-nerving for disabled people as, for many, any reduction would mean having to leave their job. People with learning difficulties had to fight to be accepted as eligible for the programme in the first place and advisors have continued to struggle to understand how a person with a learning difficulty can be capable of doing their own job and have support needs at the same time. Pressure to identify reduction therefore brings with it much anxiety. In one example a man's support worker was contacted without his knowledge to find out from her a task list of things he "can do on his own". There are very few people with learning difficulties in paid employment – the Office for Disability Issues calculates 6.4% of people labelled moderate to severe. The figure for those who have meaningful jobs with real wages will be lower still. It should be a right of disabled people to work, moreover it is in the taxpayer's interest to raise the employment aspirations and expectations of disabled people. For Access to Work to risk the few ground-breaking jobs there are for people with learning difficulties in meaningful employment is irresponsible.
The Sayce Report acknowledges the value of the Access to Work and calls for further investment. Let's hope the government responds to this and uses the programme to effectively support disabled people into work instead of focusing on squeezing support off disabled people to the detriment of the economy.
———-Ellen Clifford
2 Responses to "Government cutbacks and Access to Work"
That sounds typical. I too am visually impaired and have postgraduate qualifications and like your daughter needed some technical adaptions on a lap top. It was done but I had to pester the IT team to get this done. Once it was I was fine.
My daughter is suffering from the cuts in Access to Work, having a new job to go to but being told that she will only be allowed 8 hrs not the 15 to 20 h of support worker that she needs. she is severely visually impaired & has studied long & hard to get qualified – is busy writing up her MSc dissertation now, but is very worried she will not be able to actually DO the job. then she will have to go back on Incapacity Benefit, another statistic no-one cares about! HELP?!


text:
The summer before Katey Tryon's senior year of high school, she got pregnant. Recently split from her boyfriend, she was sad and vulnerable when she hooked up with her older brother's friend. They had sex once. Six weeks later, she was tired and her period was late.
"It was terrifying," Tryon said. "I'm from a small town in Oregon. My parents are pillars in the community. I was born and raised here, fourth generation. So my sin was very apparent." Tryon's parents, both believers, rallied around her. Abortion was out of the question. Two days before high school graduation, Tryon gave birth to a girl and gave her up for adoption.
Tryon enrolled in a Christian college in Portland, determined to turn her life around, but still felt vulnerable. "I started dating a guy who embraced me for what I had just gone through, who understood that I didn't want to have sex until I got married," she said.
But they started sleeping together, and one night the condom didn't work. Over spring break, at an intercollegiate softball tournament, Tryon found out she was pregnant again. Her daughter was nine months old. "My world came crashing down tenfold from the first time," she said.
Abortion was never a serious option, she said, although "trust me, it went through my mind. I recognize why other women go there. You want to get away from your situation. We want to cover up our mistakes and have them all go away."
Tryon found support at a local pregnancy center, which sparked in her a fresh sense of purpose. She gave birth to a boy and gave him up for adoption. She went back to college, double majoring in social work and sociology. Eventually she became the development ...1
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View all Pratika
PratiKa socket - fast - straight - 32A - 2P + E - 100...130 V AC - panelShow more characteristics
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Main rangePratiKa product or component typeSocket device short namePratiKa socket plug, socket categoryLow voltage poles description2P + E network typeAC outlet standardIndustrial Complementary mounting modePanel-mounted plug, socket, control station shapeStraight [In] rated current32 A [Ue] rated operational voltage100...130 V network frequency50/60 Hz ground lug clockwise position4 h plug, socket materialHousing: self-extinguishing engineering polymer contacts materialSleeves: brass connections - terminalsFast connection cable cross section2.5…6 mm² net weight0.2 kg base dimension90 x 100 mm height100 mm width95 mm depth127 mm colourGrey (RAL 7035) voltage colourYellow Environment standardsIEC 60309-1IEC 60309-2 IP degree of protectionIP67 conforming to IEC 60529 IK degree of protectionIK08 conforming to EN 62262 fire resistance850 °C conforming to IEC 60695-2-1 relative humidity50 % at 40 °C70 % at 30 °C90 % at 20 °C ambient air temperature for operation35 °C ( 86400 s ) Offer Sustainability Sustainable offer statusGreen Premium product REACh Regulation EU RoHS DirectivePro-active compliance (Product out of EU RoHS legal scope)
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Mercury freeYes RoHS exemption information China RoHS RegulationChina RoHS declaration
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Food & Drink
Oregon vintner taps into delights of zin
When Ed Fus arrived in Oregon in 1997, he was intent on getting into the wine industry. His path ended up being a little different than most.
By 2001, the Penn State grad found a cherry orchard in the Eola-Amity Hills. After clearing the blackberry bushes, he planted pinot noir. But his first love was zinfandel, something you don't find much of in Oregon. So Fus looked north when he decided to launch Angel Vine.
But Washington, while it has a warmer climate, doesn't have a lot of zinfandel — fewer than 100 acres. In 2006, he bought a little zin from the Walla Walla Valley and began his quest to focus on the grape most often associated with California's Dry Creek Valley.
Today, Fus crafts no fewer than five zinfandels — and one primitivo, which is a clone of zin — making him the only winery in the Pacific Northwest to put such focus on the red grape. His red blend The Hellion also is primarily primitivo and zinfandel.
Rare is the Oregon winery that seeks the majority of its grapes from north of Columbia River. But Fus, who makes his wine in the tiny Yamhill County town of Carlton, does just that. His lone Oregon wine uses grapes from his estate vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills, but his other nine wines all come from Washington.
Here are a few Angel Vine wines we've tasted in recent weeks. Ask for them at your favorite wine merchant or order directly from the winery.
Angel Vine 2011 Alder Ridge Vineyard Zinfandel, Horse Heaven Hills, $20: This wine produces aromas of raspberry-chocolate sauce, black cherry reduction, plum skin and white pepper. On the pour is a rich entry of raspberry, plums and pomegranate.
Angel Vine 2011 StoneTree Vineyard Petite Sirah, Columbia Valley, $22: The aromas for this big red come with hints of ripe dark plum, blackberry, black licorice, moist earth, crushed walnut and black pepper. There's a bold core of dark fruit with tannins akin to Western serviceberry skin and an undercurrent of boysenberry acidity.
Angel Vine 2011 Primitivo, Columbia Valley, $20: This produces gorgeous aromas of black cherry, raspberry and dark chocolate. On the palate, it shows elegance and richness with Bing cherries and dried strawberry amid refined chocolaty tannins. Accents of minerality and black pepper extend the finish.
Angel Vine 2011 StoneTree Vineyard Zinfandel, Columbia Valley, $20: Classic Zin aromas of strawberry fruit leather along with black cherry, dark chocolate and violets lead to complex flavors of Bing cherry and raspberry. The brightness of the structure provides a pleasing contrast to many California zins.
Angel Vine 2011 Avery Vineyard Zinfandel, Columbia Valley, $20: This vineyard near Goldendale produces some of the Northwest's best zin grapes. The nose is reminiscent of black cherry, black pepper, pipe tobacco and toasted oak. The drink is bright and straightforward with dried strawberry, cherry and pomegranate.
Angel Vine 2011 Zinfandel, Columbia Valley, $19: Loads of aromas of raspberry, pie cherry, home-canned President plums and strawberry candy and sarsaparilla give way to flavors of raspberry and strawberry juice with good acidity. Mild tannins, good length and dialed-in alcohol make this a bright and delicious zin.
Angel Vine 2011 StoneTree Vineyard The Sweet One, Columbia Valley, $25: This port-style red uses petite sirah and zinfandel. The nose is filled with hints of a freshly opened can of pie cherry filling, backed by plum, raisin and Tootsie Roll. It's a plump and sweet drink of cherry and plum, and the structure shows sturdy tannins and skillful integration of alcohol.greatnorthwestwine.com


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Everyone knows there is a football game. But that isn't the only contest each year... The Superbowl has become the biggest venue for advertisers each year... ok, ONE of the biggest venues. Along with the Daytona 500 (next week) and the Olympics, the Superbowl is looked to for the best in TV advertising.
Honestly, I'm not that much of a football fan. I have watched the Vikings since I was a kid (Fran Tarkenton, Alan Page, the Purple People Eaters...), and I manage to catch about 30 minutes of football a year. But I record the Superbowl so that I can catch the ads.
I stumbled across something on Twitter tonight that gave me a little joy... ALL of the Superbowl ads. I don't know how I missed a couple of these (some might have been regional...). But I got the chance to watch them all again.
Which ones are YOUR favorites?


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From the verb to crack. Hard "bread/biscuit" sense first attested 1739, though "hard wafer" sense attested 1440.
Sense of computer cracker, crack, cracking, were promoted in the 1980s as an alternative to hacker, by programmers concerned about negative public associations of hack, hacking ("creative computer coding"). See Citations:cracker.
Various theories exists regarding this term's application to poor white Southerners. One theory holds that it originated with disadvantaged corn and wheat farmers ("corncrackers"), who cracked their crops rather than taking them to the mill. Another theory asserts that it was applied due to Georgia and Florida settlers (Florida crackers) who cracked loud whips to drive herds of cattle, or, alternatively, from the whip cracking of plantation slave drivers. Yet another theory maintains that the term cracker was in use in Elizabethan times to describe braggarts (see crack ("to boast")). An early reference that supports this sense is a letter dated June 27, 1766 from Gavin Cochrane to the Earl of Dartmouth:
I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia, who often change their places of abode.[1][2]
cracker (plural crackers)
- A dry, thin, crispy baked bread (usually salty or savoury, but sometimes sweet, as in the case of graham crackers and animal crackers).
- A short piece of twisted string tied to the end of a whip that creates the distinctive sound when the whip is thrown or cracked.
- A firecracker.
- A person or thing that cracks, or that cracks a thing (e.g. whip cracker; nutcracker).
- The final section of certain whips, which is made of a short, thin piece of unravelled rope and produces a cracking sound.
- Synonym: popper
- The final section of certain whips, which is made of a short, thin piece of unravelled rope and produces a cracking sound.
- A Christmas cracker.
- Refinery equipment used to pyrolyse organic feedstocks. If catalyst is used to aid pyrolysis it is informally called a cat-cracker
- (slang, chiefly Britain) A fine thing or person (crackerjack).
- She's an absolute cracker! The show was a cracker!
- 2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, "Man City 4 - 3 Wolves", in BBC[1]:
- And just before the interval, Kolarov, who was having one of his better games in a City shirt, fizzed in a cracker from 30 yards which the Wolves stopper unconvincingly pushed behind for a corner.
- An ambitious or hard-working person (i.e. someone who arises at the 'crack' of dawn).
- (computing) One who cracks (i.e. overcomes) computer software or security restrictions.
- 1984, Richard Sedric Fox Eells, Peter Raymond Nehemkis, Corporate Intelligence and Espionage: A Blueprint for Executive Decision Making, Macmillan, p 137:
- It stated to one of the company's operators, "The Phantom, the system cracker, strikes again . . . Soon I will zero (expletive deleted) your desks and your backups on System A. I have already cracked your System B.
- 2002, Steve Jones, Encyclopedia of New Media, page 1925:
- Likewise, early software pirates and "crackers" often used phrases like "information wants to be free" to protest the regulations against the copying of proprietary software packages and computer systems.
- 1984, Richard Sedric Fox Eells, Peter Raymond Nehemkis, Corporate Intelligence and Espionage: A Blueprint for Executive Decision Making, Macmillan, p 137:
- (obsolete) A noisy boaster; a swaggering fellow.
- Shakespeare
- What cracker is this same that deafs our ears?
- Shakespeare
- (US, derogatory, ethnic slur) An impoverished white person from the southeastern United States, originally associated with Georgia and parts of Florida; (by extension) any white person.
- (US, Florida, slang, derogatory) A police officer.
- A northern pintail, species of dabbling duck.
- (obsolete) A pair of fluted rolls for grinding caoutchouc.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)
- (white person): corn-cracker, honky, peckerwood, redneck, trailer nigger, trailer trash, white trash, whitey, wonderbread
- (dry, thin, crispy, bread): biscuit (UK)
- (twisted string on a whip): popper, snapper
- (one who defeats software security): black-hat hacker, black hat, hacker
Coordinate termsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit


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Join us to learn the techniques and treatments for upper and lower extremity issues. This class will include hands on demonstrations of the techniques you can use in your office the next day. You will learn the tests and assessment protocols for all extremity problems which will then lead to the correct manipulative therapy to best treat the patient. Specific techniques will be demonstrated throughout the day including techniques for shoulders, knees, IS, hips, ankles, feet and more.
After the techniques are demonstrated, proper kinesiotaping methods will be taught for each problem area. You will learn the proper taping techniques to decrease muscle tightness and fatigue, increase joint stability and proprioception, relieve pain, correct joint problems and edema reduction. You will have the opportunity to practice these taping methods in class so you are ready for your first patient the next day!
12 CE Hours for
*Includes 1.5 Boundary Hours
Sponsored by Texas Chiropractic College
$249 per DC
*Rate increases to $299 week of seminar
Cancellation/Refund Policy: Registrations are fully refundable up to 1 week prior to the date of the seminar. Within 1 week of a seminar,
fees are nonrefundable.
We make every effort to not cancel a seminar. However, if there are less than 20 doctors registered for a seminar one week prior to the date of the seminar, Fetterman Events may opt to cancel or reschedule the seminar. If this happens, each registered doctor will be notified via email and any registration fees paid will be refunded in full unless the doctor chooses to attend a rescheduled seminar or switch to a different seminar altogether. Once a seminar has reached the minimum 20, it will be indicated on this website.
Must have at least 20 registered one week prior to avoid cancellation
Fetterman Events reserves the right to change topics and/or speakers if absolutely necessary. Registered doctors will be notified if this change is to occur as soon as possible and attendee will have the option to opt out of the seminar. If a change is necessary, we will ensure that the change includes CE approval.


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Me oh my, aren't these lovely? We are so excited about this suite (for many reasons!). Here are a few:
- it's in Spanish and our first invitation in another language. And it's Royalty sized! And there is gold ink!
- there are painted edges!
- it has a custom postage stamp with matching lined envelopes!
We love it, but we'll let you be the judge…;)


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Migrants who try to come to the United States legally have suffered a blow from the U.S. Supreme Court that is indicative of the utterly confusing and unfair immigration system.
A key part of the conversation on immigration reform has inevitably turned to immigrants waiting their turn in line.
Last year, in his pitch for an overhaul of the immigration system, President Obama stressed a reform that would require those in the country illegally to go to "the back of the line" behind other immigrants already in the legal process.
If only it was as simple and fair as it sounded.
Waits for those applying for immigration visas — a step in gaining citizenship — are sometimes more than a decade long, and Monday's Supreme Court ruling has made them even more absurd and shown how confounding the system can be.
A divided court ruled that children who waited in line with their parents for a visa will have to go to the back of the line when they turn 21.
The case revolved around Rosalina Cuellar de Osorio, a Salvadoran immigrant who was in line for seven years with her 13-year-old son, Melvin.
By the time they got to the front of line, it was November 2005. Less than six months before, her son Melvin had turned 21. Even though he had waited with his mother for years, he no longer qualified as an eligible child. That means he would have to start the application process anew and wait, again, for years since there are only a finite number of family green cards issued each year under a per-country limit set by the United States.
Even though Cuellar de Osorio thought she was doing everything right, her son got left behind in El Salvador. She immigrated without him.
Congress had attempted to remedy the problem of splintering families back in 2002 by passing the Child Status Protection Act, which allowed children to keep their places in line. But immigration officials argued it didn't apply across the board, but only to parents who applied for immigration visas for sons and daughters. The officials won.
In the case of Rosalina de Osorio, her mother sponsored her immigrant visa. Since Melvin was a grandchild of the sponsor, he didn't qualify.
It's ridiculous they had to wait more than a decade to figure this out, and they aren't the only ones.
What makes immigration rules so maddening is just how difficult they are to decipher in the first place, and how often the messages sent to immigrants already here don't match the rules.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the majority opinion that these regulations were "through and through perplexing." That line had a footnote to the actual text of the rules, which she added for "the masochists among this opinion's readers."
The laws are so confusing that would-be legal immigrants can think they are taking the right steps but wind up out in the cold. Or they can take their chances on avoiding the system and remaining in the United States for years without consequences.


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Paris Blues
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|Two jazz musicians, one white, one black, strive for success in Paris and become involved with American tourists who want to take them back to the States. Score by Duke Ellington and an appearance by Armstrong make it a must-see for jazz fans.
|Directed by:
|Martin Ritt
|Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Joanne Woodward, Diahann Carroll, Louis Armstrong, Barbara Lange


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Terri Stevens and volunteer Faye Bray were putting the finishing touches on the Classroom Closet�s new space this week.
It is bigger than the old location in the Burlington Outlet Village and now full of bins of pencils, rows of scissors hanging from pegs and shelves full of binders.
The Classroom Closet will be open next week after moving into its new location at 2377 Corporation Parkway in the Burlington Outlet Village after a flood at its old location.
�We are so glad this is over with,� said Stevens, director of the Classroom Closet. �But the community has really come through. We�ve had up to 20 volunteers a day in here.�
The store, sponsored by Alamance Citizens for Education, allows public, private and charter school teachers who pay the $25 membership fee to shop for supplies every nine weeks by appointment, for free.
The store had donated more than $37,000 of supplies to more than 300 teachers at the time of the flood.
Stevens said Bray pays for one membership for a teacher every year.
Stevens said volunteers had almost finished packing everything up for the move to the larger store in the outlet village when a fire sprinkler went off.
She said a volunteer was helping move a large shelving unit when the top of a shelf hit the sprinkler. Water streamed from the ceiling for about 45 minutes, until the fire department could turn off the water to the building.
Most of the paper products were ruined, Stevens said, complicating the move.
After a delay, the Classroom Closet opened last week to allow teachers a chance to get supplies, but has remained closed this week to finish painting and installing shelves.
Stevens said the week off has been good since she is expecting a couple of big shipments this week from Carolina Biological Supply Co. and Kerr Drug, and needs the time to find room for it all.
Burlington Outlet Village supplies the space for the store free of charge.
�They have been so gracious,� Stevens said. �They have been wonderful to us.�
Across the state, Stevens said, there are only five teacher supply stores serving their counties.
Stevens said the store always needs community support since ACE can cover only about 10 percent of its budget.


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Drew Barrymore: A 'Fancy, Girly' Name Wouldn't Suit My Daughter
(LOS ANGELES) -- Drew Barrymore chose her daughter's name -- Olive -- when she was three months pregnant, and, she says, it was more perfect than she ever could have predicted.
"If I had named her some very fancy girly name, it wouldn't suit her," she tells chef Eric Ripert on a recent episode of On the Table with Eric Ripert. "She is an Olive."
Barrymore, who just launched her own wine collection, Barrymore Wines, explained that the inspiration for baby Olive's name came from a pregnancy book that she and husband Will Kopelman had been reading.
"It always compared the size of the baby to a food item," she says. "At one point we had just found out that it was a girl and it said, 'Your baby is the size of an olive.' And I was like, 'Cheers! Done!'"
And since giving birth to Olive in September, the actress says she's developed an obsession with cooking.
"I want to be able to throw things together for her in an effortless fashion," says Barrymore. "I'm still at the stage when I'm cooking -- there's like, flames going off behind me and alarms and I'm nervous and I'm not sexy, so I hope by the time that she's ready to eat my food that I make it look like, 'Sure honey, you want this? You got it.'"
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio


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Items where Person is "Wongs-Aree, Chalermchai"
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Number of items: 1.
Yahyaoui, Fikri E. and Wongs-Aree, Chalermchai and Latché, Alain and Hackett, Rachel and Grierson, Donald and Pech, Jean-Claude. Molecular and biochemical characteristics of a gene encoding an alcohol acyl-transferase involved in the generation of aroma volatile esters during melon ripening. (2002) European Journal Of Biochemistry, 2. 2359-2366. ISSN 0014-2956


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Jay-Z dabbles in performance art during 'Picasso Baby' event
Right now, Jay-Z is probably wishing art critics had reviewed his latest album "Magna Carta . . . Holy Grail." While many pop-music critics panned the 16-song album -- with its garish Samsung partnership and redundant themes -- the art world has giddily accepted the track "Picasso Baby." And many in the upper crust were in attendance Wednesday at the Pace Gallery in New York to witness the rapper sample from the performance art medium. Why? Because everyone who's anyone in art was name-dropped in the song.
On Wednesday, Jay-Z became Barnum yet again, inviting curators, critics and artists to his surprise act. They arrived to find themselves engulfed in a six-hour event mimicking the style of superstar performance artist Marina Abramovic, who showed up midway through. Cameras circled the duo, shooting footage for what will likely become a music video. All in attendance dutifully tweeted the happenings as Jay-Z repeated the song over and over. And over.
But it's possible no one was actually listening to the lyrics. Otherwise, they might have objected to Jay-Z's objectification of the art they love, depicting the collector as conqueror. Had they been listening to the words, they would have heard the powerful line about the Basquiat in his kitchen and his instructions to his daughter: "Go ahead lean on that s--, Blue/You own it."
Can you hear the poor curators gasping? Please don't do that, little Blue.
Dueling narratives often appear in the contemporary art world: art is at once for everyone and no one. Some Rothkos belong in museums; others belong in storage at the Singapore airport. Jay-Z somehow embodies both narratives, himself marvelling at his own success story of how a one-time drug dealer could rise to own Warhols and Basquiats. But Jay-Z doesn't seem to be rapping about art so much as assets, Bugattis to park outside Art Basel shows where he can acquire more and more.
The art world didn't seem to mind embracing this theme. The song is fun, and hey, it's a Jay-Z video.
"Christie's is delighted to be mentioned in good company with all of Jay Z's art world favorites -- from Leonardo da Vinci to the Louvre," said Erin McAndrew, a spokeswoman for Christie's. Indeed, Christie's has partnered with Jay-Z for years now on short films he's posted on his Life+Times website.
Even critics seemed thrilled to be there. Jerry Saltz, the art critic for New York magazine, wrote that the song might be good for art education.
"The thought that this might entice kids, intimidated by museums, to give them a visit? Come on! Whether it was going to be weird, cringe-worthy, or what: I was there."
Artsy folks in Washington -- not invited, of course -- weren't as overwhelmed by the immediate starpower of the event, affording them the ability to analyze this spectacle with clear heads. Jeffry Cudlin, professor of curatorial studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art, liked the song, and pointed out that it's more about money and race than contemporary art. As for the art world, it's pretty used to the asset vs. art conundrum.
"The art world is very good at the wink and nod," Cudlin said. "You can't have ivory tower without big money types that want to be able to talk about the marvelous things in their houses. Art people are immune to that kind of criticism."
"When I hear him talking about art, I hear him talking about it as a new collector," said Holly Bass, a performance artist who has worked in Washington for more than 15 years. "Even among the collector set there are people who really cultivate artists, like the Rubells, and then there are people who have a lot of money and want a prestige of owning a piece . . . that's what Jay-Z represents."
Adrian Parsons, a performance artist who's worked in Washington for eight years, thinks Jay-Z and the fans are probably in on the joke.
"They see the parody inherent in it," he said. "Jay-Z has an understanding of art as market and art as art."
Still, some weren't so thrilled by the event's "performance art" label. The art website Hyperallergic called it "The Day Performance Art Died." (Bass and Cudlin assure us this is not the case.)
Eames Armstrong, curator of Supernova performance art festival in Rosslyn, noted the irony of ironies: there's a performance art festival in Brooklyn happening this month.
"It's more exciting than Jay-Z at Pace but not getting nearly the same coverage," Armstrong said. "That's what happens with Marina Abramovic or Tilda Swinton. The celebrity is more important than the work itself."
At least one spectator kept his head about him. Klaus Biesenbach, director of New York's MoMA PS1, gave a thoughtful critique of the performance on Facebook: "Which visual artist or performance artist could have brought everybody there on a Wednesday afternoon? It was a strange but revealing observation of the art world's fascinations, albeit most probably not intended."


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Easter is less than a week away—time for the bunny to be on high alert! No need to stress, though. You still have time to think "outside the basket" and create some cool personalized Easter treats.
Here are some clever ideas for out-of-the-ordinary Easter baskets, for both kids and adults alike.
- For Preschoolers: No need for a whole basket full of candy. Instead, fill a sand pail with water-friendly books, toys and bubble bath. Plastic eggs and a traditional rubber ducky can add inexpensive play to bath time.
- For the Gardener: In lieu of a basket, use a watering can or decorate a terracotta pot. Add vegetable seeds, an herb plant and patterned gardening gloves. For a personalized touch, share your favorite family vegetable recipes.
- For the Chef: Buy a colander in a spring hue like green or pink. Line it with a cheerful kitchen towel and add a jar of sauce, pasta, and olive oil. For an added touch, buy Easter-shaped pasta from a gourmet food store.
- For the BBQ Aficionado: Line the bottom of a metal grill basket with charcoal. Fill it with barbecue sauces, marinades, rubs and grilling tools. Buy a plain apron from a craft supply store and have your kids decorate it.
- For the Family: Get a popcorn bucket from your local movie theater. Add a family-friendly flick and this crowd-pleaser: Coat plain popped popcorn with melted chocolate or caramel, bake on a greased cookie sheet until you reach desired texture, then add toppings like nuts or marshmallows.
Final Word: In addition to baskets, there are other fun and creative ways to celebrate Easter this week. Find us on Pinterest for some of our favorites.


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Specifies the relative path combined with the web server root to form the fully qualified endpoint address for a web service endpoint. This is a required element for EJB endpoints and an optional element for servlet endpoints.
For servlet endpoints, this value is relative to the web application context root. For EJB endpoints, the URI is relative to root of the web server (the first portion of the URI is a context root). The context root portion must not conflict with the context root of any web application deployed to the same web server.
In all cases, this value must be a fixed pattern (no "*' allowed).
If the web service endpoint is a servlet that implements only a single endpoint and has only one url-pattern, it is not necessary to set this value, because the web container derives it from the web.xml file.
webservice-endpoint (sun-web.xml, sun-ejb-jar.xml)
none - contains data
If the web server is listening at http://localhost:8080, the following endpoint-address-uri:
results in the following target endpoint address: