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Increasing Prevalence of Parent-Reported Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Among Children --- United States, 2003 and 2007
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobehavioral disorder that typically begins in childhood and often persists into adulthood. ADHD is characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention and hyperactivity resulting in functional impairment in academic, family, and social settings (1). ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed neurobehavioral disorder of childhood, with previous reports documenting increasing trends in prevalence during the past decade and increases in ADHD medication use (2,3). National estimates of the number of children reported by their parents to have ever been diagnosed with ADHD and the percentage of children with ADHD currently taking ADHD medications were published in 2005 using data from the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) (4,5). This report describes results from the second administration of NSCH in 2007 (6), which indicated that the percentage of children aged 4--17 years with a parent-reported ADHD diagnosis (ever) increased from 7.8% to 9.5% during 2003--2007, representing a 21.8% increase in 4 years. The findings in this report help to further characterize the substantial impact of ADHD on families.
The 2003 and 2007 NSCH were national, cross-sectional, random-digit--dialed landline telephone surveys used to estimate the prevalence of health and well-being indicators among children aged <18 years in the United States (5,6).* One child was selected randomly from each household to be the focus of the parent or guardian interview. Information about the design and response rates of the 2003 NSCH have been published (5). The design of the 2003 and 2007 surveys were similar. During April 2007--July 2008, a total of 91,642 interviews were completed for the 2007 NSCH (overall response rate = 46.7%; cooperation rate = 66.0%).† In 2007, data, including complete information on ADHD and sex, were obtained for 73,123 children aged 4--17 years. Data were weighted to account for unequal probabilities of selection of households and children, nonresponse, and households without landline telephones, and to reflect the demographic distribution of noninstitutionalized children in the United States.§
In both 2003 and 2007, parents were asked whether or not a doctor or other health-care provider had ever told them that their child had "attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactive disorder, that is, ADD or ADHD." In 2007, parents who reported an ADHD diagnosis (ever) also were asked whether the child currently had ADHD and to describe its severity (mild, moderate, or severe). The question about medication use in the 2003 survey differed from that in the 2007 survey. Current medication treatment for ADHD was asked about children who ever had ADHD in 2003 and about children with current ADHD in 2007. Estimates of parent-reported ADHD (ever and current) among children aged 4--17 years, current medication use, and ADHD severity were calculated overall and by sociodemographic characteristics (Table 1) using 2007 data and NSCH survey weights. Rates of ADHD by sociodemographic characteristics using the 2003 survey data have been published (4) and were compared with 2007 data for the present analysis (Table 2). Estimated rates of children medicated for ADHD were calculated by dividing the weighted estimate of the number of children with current ADHD who were being medicated for the disorder by the total weighted estimate of the number of children aged 4--17 years. Prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated to compare ADHD prevalence (ever diagnosed, current ADHD diagnosis, and currently taking medications for ADHD) of sociodemographic subgroups to referent subgroups (Table 1), and across the two surveys (ever diagnosed; Tables 2 and 3).
Prevalence of ADHD diagnosis (ever) was compared between the two surveys using weighted logistic regression, predicting ADHD from survey year, while controlling for sociodemographics. Statistical interactions of survey year by sociodemographics were tested. The average annual percentage difference was calculated by dividing the 2003 to 2007 percentage difference by 4.¶
In 2007, the estimated prevalence of parent-reported ADHD (ever) among children aged 4--17 years was 9.5%, representing 5.4 million children (Table 1). Of those with a history of ADHD, 78% (4.1 million, or 7.2% of all children aged 4--17 years) were reported to currently have the condition. Of those with current ADHD, nearly half (46.7%) had mild ADHD, with the remainder having moderate (39.5%) or severe (13.8%) ADHD. ADHD (ever) was more than twice as common among boys as girls (13.2% versus 5.6%). High rates of ADHD (ever) were noted among multiracial children (14.2%) and children covered by Medicaid (13.6%).
Among children with current ADHD, 66.3% were taking medication for the disorder. In total, 4.8% of all children aged 4--17 years (2.7 million) were taking medication for ADHD. Among boys, the prevalence of medicated ADHD (current) was highest for boys 11--14 years. The rates of medicated ADHD (current) increased with age among girls. The proportion of children taking medication for ADHD increased with severity, from 56.4% among children with mild ADHD, to 71.6% among children with moderate ADHD and 85.9% among children with severe ADHD (p<0.0001). The national prevalence of ADHD (ever) increased significantly between the two surveys (from 7.8% to 9.5%; Table 2), even after adjustment for sociodemographics, equating to a 21.8% increase in 4 years, or an average annual increase of 5.5%. The national estimate of children aged 4--17 years with parent-reported ADHD (ever) increased from 4.4 million in 2003 to 5.4 million in 2007, an increase of approximately 1 million children. Compared with 2003, the 2007 rates were significantly higher for each subgroup, with three exceptions: among households with less than a high school education, "other" (not white or black) races, and those living in the western United States. The magnitude of increase was largest among older teens, multiracial and Hispanic children, and children with a primary language other than English. A significant interaction was identified for age and survey year, with the rate of ADHD diagnosis (ever) increasing more for those in the oldest age group (15--17 years). The national increase in ADHD (ever) was reflected in significant increases within 12 states (Table 3).
Reported by
SN Visser, MS, RH Bitsko, PhD, ML Danielson, MSPH, R Perou, PhD, Div of Human Development and Disability, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities; SJ Blumberg, PhD, Div of Health Interview Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC.
Editorial Note
The findings in this report demonstrate a substantial increase in the percentage of children ever diagnosed with ADHD (according to parent report), with nearly one in 10 children aged 4--17 years diagnosed with ADHD by 2007. The overall estimate for the prevalence of children with a history of ADHD diagnosis in 2007 was higher than a recent estimate (8.4% of children aged 6--17 years) based on annual data from the 2004--2006 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) (2). The NHIS report documented an average annual increase in diagnosed ADHD (ever) of 3% from 1997 to 2006; this present report documents a greater average annual increase (5.5%) over a slightly later period (2003--2007). The differences might reflect the inclusion of more recent data in this present report or differences in survey methods.
The increase in ADHD diagnosis (ever) over time was seen among all sociodemographic groups studied. The increases among Hispanic children and older teens were of particular interest. Although rates among Hispanics remained lower than non-Hispanics, the prevalence of ever receiving an ADHD diagnosis among Hispanic children was 53% higher in 2007 than in 2003. This might indicate a shift in the cultural acceptance of ADHD or changes in access to care (7,8). The magnitude of change by age over time was greatest among the oldest children (ages 15--17 years). Additional studies are needed to explain why increases in the prevalence of ADHD among older children are outpacing those of younger children. Twelve states had significant increases in ADHD (ever diagnosed). Changes in the sociodemographic composition of states or state-based policy or practice changes, such as widespread behavioral health screening, might have contributed to the increasing rates.
The findings in this report are subject to at least five limitations. First, ADHD status was based on parental report, requiring that the parent correctly recall a past or current ADHD diagnosis and make a judgment as to the disorder's severity. Second, current ADHD, which might have incurred less recall bias, was not added to the survey until 2007, making it impossible to compare current ADHD prevalence across time using these data. Third, comparing estimates of ADHD medication treatment across time also is problematic, because questions about ADHD medication treatment were asked of different subgroups (ever diagnosed in 2003 versus only current ADHD in 2007) across the two surveys. Fourth, the survey sample did not include families without landline telephones or those who elected not to participate; however, noncoverage and nonresponse bias was reduced through sampling weight adjustments. Finally, the annual rate increases noted in this report represent an average for the 4-year period between surveys rather than observed annual rate increases because annual data were not available.
ADHD has a multidimensional effect on a person's daily life functioning, and can culminate in significant costs attributable to greater health-care needs, more frequent unintentional injury, co-occurring psychiatric conditions, and work loss (9). ADHD medications can reduce symptoms, but might be associated with side effects and might not completely address functional impairment. Earlier reports also have noted increases in ADHD prevalence (2); However, this study demonstrated an increase in parent-reported ADHD prevalence across time for every demographic group studied.The highest rates of ADHD diagnosis (ever) in 2007 were among multiracial children and those with Medicaid coverage. Increasing rates of estimated ADHD prevalence might indicate an actual increase in the number of cases of ADHD or changes in diagnostic practice over time, which might have been influenced by increased awareness of the disorder over the period of study. Additional studies are needed to understand other geographic or environmental risk factors associated with rates of ADHD diagnosis, such as state-based policy and health-care provider characteristics (10). Ongoing surveillance is critical to understanding the public health effect of ADHD and the needs of a growing number of families affected by this disorder.
This report is based, in part, on contributions from the Maternal Child Health Bur, Health Resources and Svcs Admin, US Department of Health and Human Services.
- American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2000:85--93.
- Pastor PN, Reuben CA. Diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disability: United States, 2004--2006. Vital Health Stat 2008;10(237).
- Castle L, Aubert RE, Verbrugge RR, Khalid M, Epstein RS. Trends in medication treatment for ADHD. J Atten Disord 2007;10:335--42.
- CDC. Mental health in the United States: prevalence of diagnosis and medication treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder---United States, 2003. MMWR 2005;54:842--7.
- Blumberg SJ, Olson L, Frankel MR, Osborn L, Srinath KP, Giambo P. Design and operation of the National Survey of Children's Health, 2003. Vital Health Stat 2005;1(43).
- Blumberg SJ, Foster EB, Frasier AM, et al. Design and operation of the National Survey of Children's Health, 2007. Vital Health Stat;1(in press).
- Eiraldi RB, Mazzuca LB, Clarke AT, Power TJ. Service utilization among ethnic minority children with ADHD: a model of help-seeking behavior. Adm Policy Ment Health 2006;33:607--22.
- Rowland AS, Umbach DM, Stallone L, Naftel AJ, Bohlig EM, Sandler DP. Prevalence of medication treatment for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder among elementary school children in Johnston County, North Carolina. Am J Public Health 2002;92:231--4.
- Matza LS, Paramore C, Prasad M. A review of the economic burden of ADHD. Cost Eff Resour Alloc 2005;3:5.
- Fulton BD, Scheffler RM, Hinshaw SP, et al. National variation of ADHD diagnostic prevalence and medication use: health care providers and education policies. Psychiatr Serv 2009;60:1075--83.
* The 2003 and 2007 NSCH were directed by the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal Child Health Bureau and conducted by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics through the State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey. Additional information about NSCH is available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/slaits/nsch.htm.
† The response rate represents the percentage of households that completed interviews among all eligible households, including those that were not successfully contacted. The cooperation rate is the percentage of households that completed interviews among all eligible households that were contacted. NSCH attempts to minimize nonresponse bias by incorporating nonresponse adjustments in the development of the sampling weights.
§ Demographic distributions were based on the 2007 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau.
¶ The time between the two surveys was calculated from the survey midpoints, which were September 2003 and August 2007.
What is already known on this topic?
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurobehavioral disorder of childhood and often persists into adulthood. A 2003 survey found an estimated 7.8% of children aged 4--17 years had ever been diagnosed with ADHD.
What is added by this report?
The prevalence of parent-reported ADHD among children aged 4--17 years increased 21.8% during 2003--2007, from 7.8% to 9.5%. Among older teens, the increase was 42%, and among Hispanic children the increase was 53%.
What are the implications for public health practice?
Health practitioners should be aware of changes in the national, state, and demographic patterns of ADHD in the United States, and that an estimated 1 million more children were reported with ADHD in 2007 than in 2003.
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firstname.lastname@example.com, for successes & recognition in relation to academic "matters"
The Butte College Academic Senate Constitution clearly identifies its purpose and mission: to promote the development and maintenance of high standards of teaching and education; to share in the determination of the goals of the college and in the fulfillment of these goals; to promote the welfare of the entire faculty and to represent the entire faculty in its academic and professional relations with the district; to facilitate communication among the entire faculty, classified personnel, student body, college administration, and the governing board of the district; to make recommendations to the college administration and governing board concerning the academic and professional matters enumerated in the Title V of the Educational Code; to concern itself with any legislation relative to the welfare of the college; and to do all that is necessary and proper to achieve a realization of the purposes of this Association. At the core of the college's mission is our desired outcome: to create a student-centered, community-based learning environment that empowers students to become productive, literate, and responsible members of a diverse society.
According to California State Educational Code, an Academic Senate is an organization whose primary function is to make recommendations with respect to academic and professional matters. "Academic and Professional matters" refers to the following policy development matters:
1. Curriculum, including establishing prerequisites.
2. Degree and certificate requirements.
3. Grading policies.
4. Educational program development.
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6. College governance structures, as related to faculty roles.
7. Faculty roles and involvement in accreditation processes.
8. Policies for faculty professional development activities.
9. Processes for program review.
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11. Other academic and professional matters as mutually agreed upon.
Thus, the Academic Senate of Butte Community College is the voice of the faculty in support of student success. All faculty are invited to attend meetings and forums, and to become meaningfully involved in this crucial organization.


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Five Things News Outlets Should Know About The Newest Same-Sex Parenting Study
Written by Carlos Maza
Conservatives are abuzz over a new study on same-sex parenting slated to appear in the July issue of Social Science Research. According to the study's lead investigator, associate sociology professor Mark Regnerus, children of heterosexual married parents score better on a number of measures of social, emotional, and relationship outcomes than the children of same-sex parents. Anti-gay groups like the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and Family Research Council (FRC), along with conservative news outlets like National Review Online and The Washington Times, are hailing the study as proof of the dangers of same-sex parenting.
In reality, the study suffers from a number of serious methodological flaws, and the political motivations of its backers should raise concerns about the survey's findings.
1. The Study Doesn't Compare Married Gay Parents To Married Heterosexual Parents. One of the most obvious flaws of Regnerus's study is that it fails to compare married same-sex parents to married heterosexual parents. Instead, the study lumps together the children all family types that include a gay parent -- regardless of the family's structure, history, marital status, etc. -- and attempts to compare them to children raised in a "still-intact biological family" (IBF). As Slate's William Saletan wrote, this grouping method is extremely problematic:
This loaded classification system produced predictable results. In his journal article, Regnerus says respondents who were labeled GF [child of a gay father] or LM [child of a lesbian mother] originated most commonly from a "failed heterosexual union." As evidence, he observes that "just under half of such respondents reported that their biological parents were once married." Most respondents classified as LM "reported that their biological mother exited the respondent's household at some point during their youth." Regnerus calculates that only one-sixth to one-quarter of kids in the LM sample—and less than 1 percent of kids in the GF sample—were planned and raised by an already-established gay parent or couple. In Slate, he writes that GF kids "seldom reported living with their father for very long, and never with his partner for more than three years." Similarly, "less than 2 percent" of LM kids "reported living with their mother and her partner for all 18 years of their childhood."
In short, these people aren't the products of same-sex households. They're the products of broken homes. And the closer you look, the weirder the sample gets. Of the 73 respondents Regnerus classified as GF, 12—one of every six—"reported both a mother and a father having a same-sex relationship." Were these mom-and-dad couples bisexual swingers? Were they closet cases who covered for each other? If their kids, 20 to 40 years later, are struggling, does that reflect poorly on gay parents? Or does it reflect poorly on the era of fake heterosexual marriages?
What the study shows, then, is that kids from broken homes headed by gay people develop the same problems as kids from broken homes headed by straight people. [emphasis added]
2. The Author Admits The Study Doesn't Establish Causation Between Same-Sex Parenting And Negative Outcomes. Despite the right-wing media's celebration of the study, even Regnerus admits that none of his findings actually establish causation between same-sex parenting and negative outcomes for children. In response to a number of commentaries that will be published alongside his study, Regnerus wrote:
I recognize, with Paul and Cynthia, that organizations may utilize these findings to press a political program. And I concur with them that that is not what data come prepared to do. Paul offers wise words of caution against it, as did I in the body of the text. Implying causation here—to parental sexual orientation or anything else, for that matter—is a bridge too far. [emphasis added]
3. The Study Arbitrarily Ignores Overlaps In Its Subpopulations. Another problem with Regnerus' study is that it fails to distinguish between particular subpopulations of gay parents. In order to maximize the size of the group of gay and lesbian parents, Regnerus lumped together divorced families, step families, single parent families, and a number of other varying family structures into the LM and GF categories, while excluding them from the IBF comparison group. The result is an extremely heterogeneous sample of gay parents being compared to a relatively homogenous sample of heterosexual parents. As Box Turtle Bulletin's Jim Burroway noted in a comprehensive takedown of the study:
Regnerus's decision to arbitrarily force his sample into non-overlapping categories results in a method is based solely on a desire to increase the size of the smaller group, a goal which has nothing to do with the study's larger goal of comparing children of gay and lesbian parents to those of intact biological families. In fact, he makes choices which, by their very nature, run explicitly counter to that goal. With each transfer of a subject from the Divorced, Step Families, Single Parent or "All Others" categories into LM or GF, the less those LM and GF groups are designed to look like intact biological families. Especially if you consider some of the possibilities that might exist in the "All Others" category.
4. The Study Doesn't Accurately Define Gay And Lesbian Parents. The study not only fails in defining families headed by same-sex parents -- it also fails in accurately identifying what constitutes a gay parent in the first place. Regnerus labels any parent who has, at one point, been involved in a same-sex relationship as either a gay father or lesbian mother. Professor John Corvino pointed out the absurdity of this approach in a column for The New Republic:
Question: What do the following all have in common?
A heterosexually married female prostitute who on rare occasion services women
A long-term gay couple who adopt special-needs children
A never-married straight male prison inmate who sometimes seeks sexual release with other male inmates
A woman who comes out of the closet, divorces her husband, and has a same-sex relationship at age 55, after her children are grown
Ted Haggard, the disgraced evangelical pastor who was caught having drug fueled-trysts with a male prostitute over a period of several years
A lesbian who conceives via donor insemination and raises several children with her long-term female partner
Give up? The answer—assuming that they all have biological or adopted adult children between the ages of 18 and 39—is that they would all be counted as "Lesbian Mothers" or "Gay Fathers" in Mark Regnerus's new study.
Regnerus himself admitted that this approach to identifying alleged gay parents severely limits the study's scope:
In the results section, for maximal ease, I often make use of the acronyms IBF (child of a still-intact biological family), LM (child of a lesbian mother), and GF (child of a gay father). It is, however, very possible that the same-sex romantic relationships about which the respondents report were not framed by those respondents as indicating their own (or their parent's own) understanding of their parent as gay or lesbian or bisexual in sexual orientation. Indeed, this is more a study of the children of parents who have had (and in some cases, are still in) same-sex relationships than it is one of children whose parents have self-identified or are ''out'' as gay or lesbian or bisexual. The particular parental relationships the respondents were queried about are, however, gay or lesbian in content. [emphasis added]
5. The Study's Author And Funders Have An Agenda. One final issue with Regnerus' study -- though there are many more -- is that both its lead investigator and its funders are known for their conservative political leanings. Regnerus has a history of making right-leaning comments about marriage and sexuality. The study was primarily funded by the Witherspoon Institute, a right-wing think tank in New Jersey with close ties to a number of prominent anti-gay groups and activists. Although the study states that the Institute played no role in crafting the report, it's worth noting that it was primarily sponsored by a group that would rather not see gay and lesbian couples raising children.


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Director: Mike Cahill
On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth in our solar system, the lives of a bright young student and a brilliant composer are irrevocably intertwined in a tragic accident. Through these compelling characters, ANOTHER EARTH explores the issues of identity and redemption, raised by the possibility of encountering a parallel reality from an alternate universe. Join us for a discussion of theories predicting the existence of multiple universes with Kyle Dawson, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Utah, following the screening.
Winner, Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize – 2011 Sundance Film Festival; Winner, Special Jury Prize: Dramatic – 2011 Sundance Film Festival
Presented in partnership with


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And the trees have a silver glare;
Past the chimneys high see the vampires fly,
And the harpies of upper air,
That flutter and laugh and stare.
For the village dead to the moon outspread
Never shone in the sunset's gleam,
But grew out of the deep that the dead years keep
Where the rivers of madness stream
Down the gulfs to a pit of dream.
A chill wind weaves through the rows of sheaves
In the meadows that shimmer pale,
And comes to twine where the headstones shine
And the ghouls of the churchyard wail
For harvests that fly and fail.
Not a breath of the strange grey gods of change
That tore from the past its own
Can quicken this hour, when a spectral power
Spreads sleep o'er the cosmic throne,
And looses the vast unknown.
So here again stretch the vale and plain
That moons long-forgotten saw,
And the dead leap gay in the pallid ray,
Sprung out of the tomb's black maw
To shake all the world with awe.
And all that the morn shall greet forlorn,
The ugliness and the pest
Of rows where thick rise the stones and brick,
Shall some day be with the rest,
And brood with the shades unblest.
Then wild in the dark let the lemurs bark,
And the leprous spires ascend;
For new and old alike in the fold
Of horror and death are penned,
For the hounds of Time to rend.


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It might be easier for a company to buy the van out after the lease is over. For more information on company leasing, please visit this page http://www.car-finance-company.co.uk/finance/company/staffordshire/adbaston/ With a PCP lease plan, you need to pay a deposit and month-to-month instalments like you would with a loan but these sums are often small compared to various other types of leasing.
The monthly instalments are extremely low cost, due to a huge payment must be paid prior to you owning the vehicle.
Finding the best used van finance deals for you can seem daunting at first, as there are many different options to choose from. Its key to consider what the van will be used for when thinking about used van finance deals, as this will help you to narrow down your final decision. Additionally, consdering your budget is also important as many used vans tend to be cheaper than buying new.
Although many individuals invest numerous hours looking at and contrasting various models and after that haggle hard to get the pricing down, the amount of individuals that invest time to search the marketplace for the very best vehicular financing deal is a lot smaller for that reason.
Find out more about vehicles leases here http://www.car-finance-company.co.uk/leasing/vehicle/staffordshire/adbaston/ Nevertheless, paying out too much to borrow the money to buy a vehicle can simply wipe out any reduction you get on the value paid making the automobile cost a lot more overall. Simply because you may pay thousands of pounds more than you should, it is important to investigate the different leasing companies, offers and rates of interest.
Hire Purchase or HP will involve spreading instalments over a 12-60 month period and often putting down a 10% down payment initially. Personal Contract Hire for used van finance deals is set up by the vehicle dealer and is often quite competitive for brand new vans on finance.
The loan is secured against the car, which means you don't own it until the last payment is paid. Personal contract hire is among the most common types of getting a car leased.
As you assess van finance deals no deposit, there are some key things to do before making a last choice. The most important thing to take into consideration is the monthly instalment costs; it is essential that you can afford these so you don't get in financial trouble or even get the vehicle took off you.
Don't forget to compare and contrast rates of interest by looking at the APR (annual percentage rate), which includes all the charges you have to pay. If you put more cash down initially, you will generally have a lower rate of interest. Examine the total cost of borrowing, which includes all charges across the credit.
Numerous insurance covers may be costly and offer restricted cover - you should consider this before selecting PPI and GAP cover. GAP cover is a type of insurance which will pay out if you have wrote off your vehicle and the value of the vehicle is less than the instalments that are still remaining.
Avoid early repayment or additional prices that start working if you exceed the forecast mileage in PCP (as well as personal leasing). We also offer amazing bike finance deals in Adbaston - https://www.car-finance-company.co.uk/type/bikes/staffordshire/adbaston/
If you would like more information regarding vans on finance in Adbaston ST20 0 then please, do not hesistae to ask!


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Assist your students with their skip counting and multiplication facts with these stunning pastel skip counting posters for your classroom!
Made with a gentle, muted rainbow color palette, to perfectly match my Spotty Pastels classroom decor collection, just minus the spots!
This stunning and minimalist design is sure to enhance your student's learning without creating an over-stimulating classroom environment.
Design 1: Numbers 1 to 12 with their multiples in a muted, pastel rainbow color palette
Design 2: Numbers 1 to 12 without their multiples in a muted, pastel rainbow color palette
Design 3: Numbers 1 to 12 with their multiples in Black & White version to print onto colored card
Created to fit a standard A4 however you can enlarge to A3 by adjusting your printer settings!
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Recent animal studies have shown that clioquinol — an 80-year old drug once used to treat diarrhea and other gastrointestinal disorders — can reverse the progression of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. Scientists, however, had a variety of theories to attempt to explain how a single compound could have such similar effects on three unrelated neurodegenerative disorders.
Researchers at McGill University have discovered a dramatic possible new answer: According to Dr. Siegfried Hekimi and colleagues at McGill's Department of Biology, clioquinol acts directly on a protein called CLK-1, often informally called "clock-1," and might slow down the aging process. The advance online edition of their study was published in Oct. 2008 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
"Clioquinol is a very powerful inhibitor of clock-1," explained Hekimi, McGill's Strathcona Chair of Zoology and Robert Archibald & Catherine Louise Campbell Chair in Developmental Biology. "Because clock-1 affects longevity in invertebrates and mice, and because we're talking about three age-dependent neurodegenerative diseases, we hypothesize that clioquinol affects them by slowing down the rate of aging."
Once commonly prescribed in Europe and Asia for gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea and shigella, clioquinol was withdrawn from the market after being blamed for a devastating outbreak of subacute myelo-optic neuropathy (SMON) in Japan in the 1960s. However, because no rigorous scientific study was conducted at the time, and because clioquinol was used safely by millions before and after the Japanese outbreak, some researchers think its connection to SMON has yet to be proven.
The exact mechanism of how clioquinol inhibits CLK-1 is still under investigation, Hekimi said. "One possibility is that metals are involved as clioquinol is a metal chelator," he explained. Chelation is a type of binding to metal ions and is often used to treat heavy metal poisoning.
Hekimi is optimistic but cautious when asked whether clioquinol could eventually become an anti-aging treatment.
"The drug affects a gene which when inhibited can slow down aging," he said. "The implication is that we can change the rate of aging. This might be why clioquinol is able to work on this diversity of diseases that are all age-dependent."
However, he admits to being concerned about how people may interpret his results.
"The danger is that you can buy a kilogram of this compound at a chemical wholesaler, but we don't want people to start experimenting on themselves. Clioquinol can be a very toxic substance if abused, and far more research is required."


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- This event has passed.
Spokane- New Year Eve's Meditation with Sahaja Yoga Meditation
December 31, 2022 @ 6:45 pm - 7:45 pm
FreeAbout this Event
Life can be joyous when you are with people like you- spiritual and seekers of peace and higher purpose in life.
So join New Year Eve's meditation session to learn and practice meditation and also unwind with some socialization towards end of session with fellow meditation practitioners and learners.
How to join?
We recommend joining by laptop for better experience.
You can join up to 15 minutes before start of event if you have some queries or would like some one to one help before meditation session starts.
When to join?
Saturday, 31 December 6:45 PM PST
Want to stay in touch?
Join us on WhatsApp
What's Next?
Join us for regular weekly meditation sessions in 2023. Sahaja Yoga is always free. Meditation is a journey and we like to support you all the way, if you have that desire to make 2023 the year of peace and evolution for yourself.
Please feel free to email or WhatsApp following in case you have more questions or face difficulties joining Zoom session. We will try to keep you informed about more meditation events.
Stay safe and keep meditating!
New Year's Eve Meditation with Sahaja Yoga Meditation. Learn , practice and unwind.
About New Year & Meditation by Founder of Sahaja Yoga- Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Every year, New Year comes and keeps coming. But, the spirit of observing the New Year, that people are not able to understand. Other than that, on the day of the New Year, new clothes will be worn, will be celebrating. No one will think in a way that the New Year is coming, what is the new thing that we will do. The way life is passing, it will continue in the same way and in the same vein everyone will be wished for the New Year. In Sahaja Yoga, when we are so collective, we need to think as to what new we need to do in Sahaja Yoga. You have entered quite deep into meditation. You understand meditation and you have established your state. But in the New Year, what is the new thing we should do, our attention needs to be on that. In reality, first we also need to think that what are the questions affecting our nation and what are the questions of the entire world and how do we bring solutions to those problems
Let's Meditate: Free Guided Online Meditation Class
#free # guided #meditation #class #course #center #retreat # meditate #kundalini #social #language #culture #sahaja #transformation #peace #meditation #stress #depression #wellness #international #guided #experiences #sahaja yoga #Shri Mataji #Nirmala Devi #review #anxiety #center #Yoga


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Algae-based fuel is one of many options among the array of possible future energy sources. New University of Virginia research shows that while algae-based transportation fuels produce high energy output with minimal land use, their production could come with significant environmental burdens.
For farmers looking to maximize profits, algae would produce considerably more transportation energy than canola and switch grass for every hectare planted and can also be grown on poor-quality marginal land that cannot be easily used to grow food crops such as corn, according to a report by Andres F. Clarens and Lisa M. Colosi, both assistant professors of civil and environmental engineering in the university's engineering school, and Mark A. White, professor in the business school.
From an environmental impact standpoint, however, algae-based fuel has mixed performance, compared with other biomass sources. Algae-based biodiesel production uses more energy – in the form of petroleum-powered processes – than production of other biofuels does. Additionally, algae-based biodiesel and bioelectricity production processes also require substantial amounts of water and emit more greenhouse gases.
"We're looking at the entire landscape of biofuels, and asking 'What are the options?'" Colosi said.
She hopes the research will inform public policy debates, allowing people to make the best decisions about alternatives to petroleum.
"It comes down to value-driven questions," Colosi said. "Do we value driving long distances in SUVs that require a lot of fuel? If so, we need to look at algae so we can produce as much fuel as possible. If we are concerned about energy use, climate changes and water supply, then we need to think more strongly about how we can best use canola and switch grass."
The researchers relied on what is known as a "well-to-wheel" life-cycle assessment of algae-based biofuel and bioelectricity production for transportation fuels. The research began with examining how the source crops are grown and continued through the point of their transformation into useable fuels for vehicles. They expressed energy output of the various biomass sources by showing how many kilometers a car could travel per the amount of energy harvested from a hectare of land.
The paper builds on the modeling results the team reported in a 2010 paper in Environmental Science and Technology. In that work, they looked at the inputs such as fertilizer, water and petroleum power used to produce algae-based biodiesel. They compared this data to the amount of energy produced by other biomass stocks. The current paper accounts for variables throughout the entire production process.
Another important finding in shows the relative favorability of using biofuels to generate electricity rather than liquid fuels (i.e. biodiesel) for internal combustion engines. The process has a higher energy return than other algae-based biofuels because it involves fewer steps to transform the biomass into a usable energy form. Energy generated in this manner could power electric vehicles, but the authors acknowledge that the limited number of those vehicles currently in use could reduce the overall benefit of bioelectricity for transportation.
For the next phase of their research, the team plans to monetize environmental costs and benefits associated with production of the various bio-fuels.
"Ultimately there is no silver bullet for replacing petroleum as a transportation energy source," Clarens said. "We've seen that alternatives typically come with unforeseen burdens. We saw it with ethanol, and we're seeing it now with shale gas. Our hope is that work like this will help us avoid similar pitfalls if algae-based fuels are ultimately deployed on large scale."
This free educational webinar will provide a detailed process for climate-driven "pre-response" in a variety of key areas including: Supply Chain Disruptions, Employee Safety and Productivity, Regulatory and Compliance Risks …and many more areas.


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This article was originally published on CommonDreams.org, from TheNation.com.
This weekend, US Uncut chapters in Georgia, New York, Washington, Pennsylvania and California staged actions (a much larger nationwide protest is planned for March 26. Thus far, thirty cities have signed up). I spoke with Kevin Shields, the founder of US Uncut Philadelphia about the protest and also his wish to close the divides between three groups: members of the lower classes, US Uncut's predominately white movement and minority communities and also domestic efforts and the anti-austerity resistances in other countries.
A senior in high school, Shields decided to start his own US Uncut chapter simply because the need to protest is in his DNA. "For me, protesting and getting involved in activism is just something you do. If you don't do it, you're really missing out, and you're participating in your own exploitation. So when I saw this, I thought, okay, I'll do that."
He tells me what happened at Saturday's protest. It's a familiar story for the newer branches of US Uncut: a small, peaceful protest during which the activists staged a "teach-in."
"We explained [to customers] that if you take half of the money the IRS paid [Bank of America] in 2009 you'd be able to pay for every single cut Governor Corbett is proposing…. We just educated everyone there about what's going on."
For an example of a teach-in, here is a video from Uncut Boston:
As usual, the staff of the bank was not amused. "The security guy was kind of stressing out,'" says Shields. But then a funny thing happened. Security called the police, and when an officer arrived to the scene, he didn't seem to know what to do. The protest was peaceful, and the activists clearly weren't looking for a fight. Shields said the officer lingered in the bank for fifteen minutes before approaching him. "Finally, he walked up to me and was like, 'They really want you to leave. I don't want to tell you to leave, but they really want you to leave.' It was really weird to have a cop at a protest be so polite to me," he says.
I witnessed similar behavior at New York's day of action. Protesters spoke with police officers and explained they were engaging in civil disobedience on their behalf. Under Mayor Bloomberg's leadership, firefighting staff will fall to its lowest ranks since 1980, and the police force will be slashed to its 1992 level, according to an Independent Budget Office's report. Bloomberg also intends to fire 5,000 teachers. The cops seemed sympathetic with the protesters, who after all, were outside shivering and clinging to cardboard signs partly to save their jobs.
It's trickier to form the same bonds of solidarity in Philadelphia because of a shrewd maneuver by Governor Corbett. Shields launches into an explanation of Corbett's tactic by telling me a story about former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
"There was one part of the government that Maggie spent more money on, and that was police, and of course she needed them for the miner strike. Corbett is doing the exact same thing here. He's actually increased funding on police by about $40 million."
By heavily funding the police, Corbett is removing the possibility of a serious, unified backlash from unions in the wake of his other austerity measures (about $1 billion in cuts). He has successfully managed to squash solidarity.
However, Shields has some ideas for how to counteract the Corbett-style wedge. Now, this must be stressed (namely because he emphatically emphasized it): Shields is by no means calling the shots. Unlike an astroturfing campaign like FreedomWorks, US Uncut is a 100 percent genuine grassroots movement. As such, it's completely democratic. The members decide where the agenda goes. That being said, Shields does have some good ideas he wanted to convey to me.
He wants to capitalize on the overwhelmingly positive response he's gotten from the protests thus far. Tax dodging, unlike abortion or gay marriage, isn't really a super-divisive issue. For the most part, people agree that rich corporations should pay their fair in taxes, namely because citizens have to pay taxes, so why should the lavishly wealthy get to avoid them?
"It's amazing because we're actually getting a positive reaction from everyone that walks by. The only people who don't like it are the bank managers."
Since the issue of corporate tax dodging is such an enormously unifying cause, he wants to seize upon that spirit of solidarity and extend a hand to the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), an organization that oftentimes adopts conservative stances on issues. For example, the FOP opposed the Employee Free Choice Act.
"I want to explain and say I know they're spending more money on you, and your comrades, but the teachers and firefighters are getting totally screwed over," he says, adding that other innocents can be hurt, too, like when two children in Philadelphia died from rolling brownouts, a process of closing fire stations on a daily rotating basis in order to save the city money.
Shields stresses the link between firefighters and police officers. Since his father is a cop, he goes to a lot of parties at firehouses where he sees firefighters and cops mingling. "So we want to get that message through to them, and say, look, Corbett is trying to bribe you. He's trying to make you feel like you're separate from them, but you're not. You're all part of the same class. You all have to work together, or else you're all going to be brought down."
All of this talk of budgetary cuts reminds Shields of crime-ridden Camden, where nearly half the police force was just laid off. "My parents won't let me go to Camden, and I don't want to go," he says. "It's scary what happened there. It's so weird, ever since that happened, there's been this shock."
But he wants to educate people that the austerity pirates won't stop at Camden. They won't stop until all the middle-class wealth is gone, and the poor have been stripped of their rights to collectively fight back. "If we use [Camden] as an example and say they're coming for you eventually."
I asked him about one of the major criticisms I've heard lobbed at US Uncut: it's an overwhelmingly white movement, which is a problem for a group that is about economic exploitation. Who has been more victimized by class inequality and a regressive taxation system than poor minorities? I asked Shields if US Uncut plans to do any outreach in the inner-city.
"Oh yeah. Pretty huge outreach," he quickly responds. He tells me about the Taxi Workers Alliance, a group he clearly admires. "They're a really interesting and inspiring group. Eight-five percent of them are immigrants."
Shields intends to invite the alliance to the next US Uncut day of action. "You can't get any more diverse than taxi drivers," he says. "Their union meetings—they don't have a hall or anything—they meet outside the airport, but it's like the United Nations…. They all have to translate for each other…. We're going to do outreach to them, and if they're interested—and a lot of them are—it definitely won't be a white movement in Philly."
Finally, Shields says that he wants to bridge the US and UK Uncut movements. "I want to…have an international day of action where we go after Verizon and Vodafone, collectively." (To see how Verizon uses Vodafone to dodge taxes, read my last blog post).
"I think it would sort of tie the whole thing together…. With all the austerity the world governments are making it would be really amazing if we could have international resistance to international austerity."
He lists some countries experiencing austerity: Portugal, Spain, and Ireland, and adds, "It would be cool if we could…draw a line across the Atlantic where we show there's a common enemy of the international working class…. It would be good to show solidarity. Being part of an international movement is really an exhilarating thing, and it would excite a lot of people."
© 2011 The Nation
Allison Kilkenny is the co-host of the progressive political podcast Citizen Radio (wearecitizenradio.com) and independent journalist who blogs at allisonkilkenny.com. Her work has appeared in The American Prospect, the L.A. Times, In These Times, Truthout and the award-winning grassroots NYC newspaper The Indypendent.


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(Most photos in this blog appear courtesy of Stephanie Casey at Frugal Foodie Dallas, who live-blogged our menu for us! Thanks, Stephanie!)
We've been wanting to do Mexican FRANK for a very, very long time. Since the beginning, in fact. BUT…when you live in a place like Texas, which is oversaturated with both TexMex AND traditional Mexican food, it's not a menu to venture into lightly. So we were waiting until the moment felt right. And when Adrien Nieto called us up and told us he had just finished opening up a new restaurant in San Francisco and was free for a month, we knew the moment was right.
For those of you who didn't watch MasterChef, Adrien was in the final 2 of our season, and many (if not most) viewers who watched it believed his menu was far superior to the final winner. But if you're a regular reader of my blog, you know that MasterChef isn't real anyway. Suffice it to say that Adrien blew us all out of the water from the first instant we met him. He was born and raised in Ventura County, but his parents are first generation Mexican-Americans and he grew up absolutely steeped in both traditional Mexican cuisine, as well as the fresh, produce-centered cuisine of California. This guy is brilliant. And Jennie and I both felt like we'd be doing our diners a disservice if we did a Mexico FRANK without him.
As we began to conceptualize the menu, it was funny to discover that all 3 of us had very similar ideas. We wanted to keep the focus squarely on the cuisines of central Mexico, rather than on the TexMex that so many Dallas folks are familiar with. Don't get me wrong, there's a LOT of authentic Mexican restaurants here, but they tend to be small, neighborhood dives tucked away in strip malls and patronized mostly by Mexicans and adventurous folk who don't mind a menu that's all in Spanish and servers who barely speak English. (My kind of places, and I've eaten at dozens of them.) But there's very little upscale, refined, authentic Mexican food in Dallas, and we wanted to fill that gap, even if only for 2 weeks.
After many hours of back-and-forth, along with research to find out if we could even get some of the ingredients, the menu was finalized:
We named it "Con Gusto" at Adrien's suggestion, because this means "with pleasure." That carries many, many connotations in Mexico depending on the context, and I'll talk about that at the end of this blog.
We ALL wanted ceviche ("say-VEE-chay") on the menu, and it's one of Adrien's favorites. Ceviche is raw fish and/or shellfish marinated in a highly acidic citrus dressing. The acid "cooks" the fish by performing the same chemical process that happens to meat when heat is applied to it…the protein strands in the meat denature, or unravel, in the presence of either or heat or acid, and the normally translucent meat becomes solid white. Our ceviche contained whitefish and shrimp, along with cucumber, serrano pepper, and shallot, marinated in lime and orange juices and tequila. However, we put a bit of a spin on it by adding "sangrita." Spanish for "little blood," sangrita is a condiment that is usually served alongside a high quality sipping tequila to cleanse your palate between sips. In the US at most fancy tequila bars, sangrita is made with a tomato base, but this is a bastardization. In the Mexican state of Jalisco, where the vast majority of the world's tequila is produced, sangrita was originally made with reduced pomegranate juice, giving the liquid a dark red color. So our sangrita was made traditionally by adding orange juice and chile to the very reduced pomegranate "molasses" and we topped the ceviche with it. Its pungent, dark, sweet, spicy flavor was a perfect compliment to the bright, fresh flavors of the ceviche. And we served it with a welcome cocktail made of champagne, cactus water, pineapple juice, jalapeno simple syrup, and a candied jalapeno. A perfect start!
Next up was another dish we each wanted on the menu, but only discovered this when we began pow-wowing. Stuffed squash blossoms, or "flor de calabeza." Squash blossoms appear in many unique ways across the vast culinary landscapes of Mexico, from salads to casseroles to tacos, even to dessert. But when was the last time you saw them on a Mexican menu? We decided to stuff ours with an ingredient we were all VERY eager to introduce to our diners: huitlacoche. ("WHEET-la-COACH-eh")
This unique ingredient results when a corn field becomes "infected" with a fungus called ustilago maydis, or, in the US, "corn smut." It causes the individual kernels of corn to swell massively in size and turn gray, looking like…well…like a mushroom. In the process, it transforms the flavor of the corn into something that's still unmistakeably corny, but also earthy and rich, like a mushroom. In Mexico, when a corn farmer sees these "mushrooms" growing out of his ears of corn, he falls to his knees and thanks God, because it means he'll fetch 10 times more for his corn that year. Huitlacoche is a delicacy.
In the US, however, it's a very different story. Corn smut is considered a deplorable disease, and the USDA has spent many millions of dollars trying to eradicate it. When a US corn farmer notices these gray mushrooms growing from his corn, he sets his fields on fire, files for crop insurance, and prays it never happens again…not realizing what a valuable treasure he had been gifted.
Needless to say, finding huitlacoche can be daunting. Yes, every Mexican market sells canned huitlacoche…but have you ever had canned mushrooms? Same principle. Gross.
There is 1 farmer in all the US who is smart enough to deliberately innoculate his corn fields with ustilago maydis and intentionally raise huitlacoche. His name is Roy Burns and his farm is in central Florida, and he is kept almost completely out of stock of his huitlacoche because in-the-know chefs like Rick Bayless and Jose Andres take shipments every week. Huitlacoche is highly perishable, so Roy freezes it as soon as it's harvested, which preserves its delicious flavor. (Though the texture does suffer a bit with freezing. However, you're not likely lucky enough to taste fresh huitlacoche unless it happened to your corn.) I called up Roy and begged him to ship me some, and thankfully, he did. It arrived overnight in a cooler…at extraordinary cost, of course! But completely worth it.
We combined the huitlacoche with some wild mushrooms and garlic, and stuffed the squash blossoms with it. Then we made a batter similar to a tamal using masa harina (ground corn flour treated with alkaline water) and cornmeal, and dipped the blossoms in this before frying. The result was similar to a tamal, but crispy on the outside. We served the blossom on a lovely chilled sauce of crema de Mexicana (Mexican sour cream) with roasted poblano peppers and tons of cotija cheese, which is similar in flavor to Parmigiano-Reggiano. (I still have dreams about that sauce, it was SO GOOD.) And on the side was a little slaw of red cabbage, jicama ("HEE-kah-mah") which is a root vegetable with a crisp texture like an apple and is lightly sweet, and epazote ("eh-pah-SOAT-eh") a bitter herb whose flavor is unlike anything you've ever tasted. One of our diners exclaimed, "It tastes like tarragon and basil with some rosemary and juniper berry and hops thrown in, along with kale and spinach." We dressed the slaw with a vinaigrette of mint and jalapeno. This may, in fact, be my favorite course we've created at FRANK thus far, and it was the runaway favorite at most of our seatings:
The next course was created solely by Adrien. While he had his fingerprints all over the entire menu, we wanted to give one entire course to him, to let him run wild. And it turned out to be very special, indeed. The protein was octopus, or "pulpo" as it's called in Mexico. Octopus is a tricky meat. The vast majority of Americans have only experienced it at sushi restaurants, where the Japanese treasure its ability to be INCREDIBLY chewy when steamed or boiled. THEY love it that way. Americans, of course, do not. So most Americans who've eaten octopus have eaten it that way, and said, "No thanks…don't need to try that again." Which is a shame, because, when cooked properly, octopus is one of the most delicious, tender, succulent meats out there. I didn't know this until MasterChef, when I tasted octopus from both Adrien (who made it in the semifinals) and from Mario Batali, who is the executive chef at Joe Bastianich's Los Angeles restaurant Osteria Mozza. Eating octopus from them was a revelation. I actually cried. (Seriously. Yes, I know I cry all the time, but very rarely does the flavor of a dish make me cry. Properly cooked octopus did.)
So Adrien did it the right way…first pounding it like crazy to tenderize the meat, then a braise in the pressure cooker to infuse it with delicious Mexican flavors and make it melt-in-the-mouth tender, then a sear on cast iron to give it a nice crust. Adrien is no stranger to pulpo. In fact, it is the very first memory he has…in his entire life. He remembers being on the ocean in Mexico with family, going to a food stall that was famous for seafood stew. He remembers his Aunt buying a bowl of the stew and passing it down to him. He remembers seeing the funny-looking tentacles sticking out of the spicy broth. He remembers tasting it, with its tender texture and rich, spicy flavor. That was the VERY FIRST THING he remembers in his life. And, as so much of FRANK is about storytelling and truly special dishes, this was as FRANK a dish as any we've ever served.
The octopus sat atop a puree of black beans that were cooked with 2 different stocks, the stock from the octopus and the stock from our short rib from the main course. He pureed this into a thick soup consistency, then topped it with some chayote squash sauteed with chorizo, lightly dressed arugula, a salsa verde with avocado, and then the octopus. It was garnished with pickled radishes, one of his very favorite things to eat. Any time we serve octopus at FRANK, some of our diners get VERY nervous…but just like always, after one bite, they were completely sold:
Next it was time for our traditional "boozy sorbet" course, and all 3 of us are crazy about mezcal right now. Mezcal is similar to tequila, but instead of being made from the blue agave plant, it's made from the maguey or American agave plant, which is more commonly know as Century Plant. You see these in people's yards from Texas to California, they are very popular ornamentals. The tough spines are sheared off the plant to expose the heart, which is roasted over an open wood fire, crushed, and fermented into a lightly alcoholic substance that is distilled twice. The open fire roasting gives mezcal an intense smokey flavor, like a very peaty Scotch. Most mezcal is made in Oaxaca. (Side note, mezcal was popular for awhile because some of the cheaper bottles came with worms or scorpions in them. NONE of these brands is worth trying, avoid them. A delicious mezcal that is widely available is called "Vida" sold by the brand Del Maguey which markets many varieties of mezcal.) Mezcal is become VERY trendy right now, and clever barkeeps are discovering all sorts of delicious cocktail combinations. (One I keep seeing everywhere is mezcal with chartreuse and grapefruit.) We wanted to keep our flavors authentic, so we made our sorbet with tamarind (a bean pod with an intense sweet/sour flavor, popular in many cuisines around the world), grapefruit, and orange. Many of our diners were trying mezcal for the very first time, and the sorbet actually got a few votes for best course on the entire menu!
Now, the main course. This one was inspired by a breakfast that Jennie recently had in Mexico City, where she was offered grilled cactus and cheese. She was so taken with the flavors and textures that she really wanted to put it on the FRANK menu. The pads of the prickly pear cactus, called "nopales," are delicious and have been a staple in Mexico for millenia. They have a tart, astringent taste, almost as if they'd been marinated in vinegar, which most people are shocked to discover. The cheese commonly paired with cactus is called "panela," which is confusing to some people because panela is also the name of an unrefined raw sugar cake that is common in Central and South America. But Mexican panela is a cheese with a strong, chewy structure, so it can be grilled to a nice delicious crust without melting and losing its shape. For the protein on the plate, we chose beef short rib, one of our favorite cuts, and also popular in Mexico. We were able to get USDA Prime short rib from our friend Clark, whose family runs Vintage Beef farms and consistently produces the best beef we've ever worked with. One of the things we love about short rib is that it's the beef version of bacon…it has that remarkable ability to be both crispy and succulent and juicy at the same time due to its fat content and its high level of collagen. We braise our short rib for 10 hours at low temperature until it is so tender it's almost hard to work with. Then we remove all the meat from the bone and cartilage (very laborious!) and reserve the fat. Then, just before serving, we saute that meat in the fat, so it's crispy on the outside, and tender and juicy on the inside. A perfect meat to place beside the tart, crisp cactus and the grilled cheese. To round out the plate, we put our famous 63.5 degree shell-poached egg on the plate. It always impresses folks who've never had an egg cooked at the proper temperature of 146F or 63.5C. (Most poaching and boiling is done in water that's 200F or higher, which means the white is overcooked and the yolk is still raw. When you cook an egg at a much lower temperature for much longer, you get a uniform, silky, custard-like texture throughout the white AND the yolk.) We also passed homemade tortillas around the table, both white and blue corn, and we had made a homemade butter with ancho chile in it to spread on the tortillas, and also offered passion fruit margaritas in addition to wine. (We squeezed more than 60 pounds of limes over the course of 2 weekends to make these dinners…not an easy task, nor cheap, since the lime shortage has driven the price of limes sky high!)
And last but certainly not least…dessert. I had a hard time selling my idea to Jennie and Adrien, because neither of them like flan. And neither do I. But several years back, just before I left for MasterChef, I was introduced to a version of flan that blew my mind at my favorite local Mexican food restaurant, Agave Azul. The texture was nothing like a traditional flan…it was more like a ricotta cheesecake. I kept prodding their chef to tell me how he made it, and he never would, so I had to embark on my own experimentations to recreate it. I finally settled on a Mexican cheese called "requeson," which is very similar to ricotta. It gave the flan a rich, irregular texture, removing the jelly-like texture that turns many people off from flan. After describing it to Jennie and Adrien and assuring them they'd love it, they still weren't entirely sold. So I made a batch and took it to Jennie's place and left it in her fridge for them to taste. And one bite was all it took. Our flan was flavored with reduced tequila and vanilla, and we used piloncillo ("PEE-lone-SEE-yo"), the rawest form of sugar, and tequila to make the caramel. Piloncillo is a fabulous ingredient…it comes in little brown cones which you'll often see in the produce section at Latin American markets. They squeeze the juice from sugar cane, boil it down until it's syrupy and thick, and pour it into cone-shaped molds to set. Sugar doesn't get any more raw than this, the flavor is intense and dark and rich. On top of the flan we put some candied pepitas, or pumpkin seeds, which have been an important food in Mexico since long before the Spanish conquistadores first set foot on its shores. We also put some raw cacao nibs on the plate…cacao is the pod that chocolate is made from, but in its raw form, its crunchy, bitter, and intensely flavored. And I can't tell you how many people said, "I hate flan and was scared when I saw it on the menu, but this was DIVINE."
And we served the dessert with some Mexican-style hot chocolate, rich and intense with heavy cream, coffee, vanilla, cinnamon, and chiles.
This was a truly fabulous dinner, and as I mentioned in the beginning, Adrien named it "Con Gusto," which has many contextual connotations in Mexico. Not only does it mean "with pleasure," it also means "welcome, what is mine is yours." And it also means "with passion." If you've never ventured beyond the border towns of Mexico, or the Americanized beach resort towns, you have yet to experience the single most striking thing about Mexico…the hospitality of its people. And food is ALWAYS the first and most important symbol of hospitality there. If you recall the Thanksgivings of your childhood,when all the relatives gathered for an over-the-top feast…this happens almost weekly in Mexico. ANY occasion warrants the gathering of the generations, and a ridiculous overabundance of food. Food is how the people of Mexico show their love for each other, it occupies a MUCH more sacred place in their culture than it does here in the US. As Adrien spoke about his family's heritage and what food means to him, he brought things full circle by saying, "It has been so interesting to see what Ben and Jennie are doing at FRANK, because it reminds me so much of my family dinners as a child. This isn't a restaurant. You don't get this at a restaurant. These guys are sharing their love with you, and you are sharing it with each other…with all these new friends you've made tonight. Food has the power to make these kind of connections, but a restaurant robs it of that kind of power. That's what makes FRANK so special, and so exciting to be a part of."
I usually spend so much time blogging about the food at FRANK that I don't often talk about this, which is REALLY what FRANK is all about. Our diners sit at an 18-foot long table that we built ourselves out of lumber reclaimed from an old farmhouse in Ft. Worth. The table is narrow, so the people across from you are very close. We sit 18-20 per night, so the people sitting next to you are actually touching shoulders with you. It's not a roomy experience, to say the least. But this, combined with a little wine for lubrication, and a few plates of delicious food cooked with love, are all it takes to break down those ridiculous social barriers we've put up, to keep our interactions with our fellow man superficial. "How are you today?" "I'm fine, thanks, how are you?" After 2 or 3 hours of dining with complete strangers in this setting, people have discovered new best friends. I joke at the beginning of FRANK, "Sit next to someone you came with, but across from someone you've never seen before until tonight…I promise you'll be best friends on Facebook by the end of the evening." But it's actually true…deep friendships have been forged around our table. Occasionally Jennie and I will be walking around Dallas and we'll come across groups of people who met at FRANK, and now dine together regularly and have become very close. And while we both love to cook…THIS is why neither of us could ever be chefs in a conventional restaurant, because our love for cooking is born out of our love for PEOPLE, not for our love of ingredients and techniques.
And FRANK has been an extraordinary and rewarding place to let that love run wild!!


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Online Learning Webcast: Drafting Skills For Mediators
We offer exceptional family mediation training to launch your family mediation career. Please contact us to discuss how our training can meet your professional needs.
Please complete this form to be part of our Newsletter which will keep you up to date on developments in the mediation world and future specialized course offerings.


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Today's Google Doodle honors British crossword inventor Arthur Wynne, as this weekend marks the 100th anniversary of the first crossword puzzle, which was published in the Dec. 21, 1913, edition of New York World. As crossword constructor Merl Reagle explained the design in The Washington Post:
he drew a diamond-shaped grid with numbered squares and numbered clues. It contained 32 words, and his simple instruction read: 'Fill in the small squares with words which agree with the following definitions.'
Reagle designed a custom puzzle for today's Google Doodle, which "is save-able as you go, the team notes, so you can leave the screen and return," The Washington Post reports. And fun fact: he created it at the last minute after another crossword creator published a homage to Wynne that was too similar, according to the newspaper.
To honor the anniversary, NPR has also published a version of the original puzzle grid with updated clues and words with the cheeky headline "100 Years of Solvitude." And in an interview with The Atlantic published this morning, New York Times crossword puzzle writer Deb Amlen talks about how the game "brings people together" and the way technology has transformed the way people play: "I think that some people, who are called speed solvers and who like to time themselves to see how fast they can solve, like solving on a computer, because most of them can type faster than they can write."
There is also a documentary called Wordplay (2006) about renowned New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz that focused on the 2005 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and featured celebrities such as Jon Stewart and Bill Clinton. Here's the trailer, in case you consider renting it this weekend:
LIST: The Most Popular Google Doodles of 2013
MORE: Who Needs Sodoku?


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Privacy Policy
Cobb Galleria Centre Privacy Policy Statement
This Privacy Policy applies to the Cobb Galleria Centre web site, cobbgalleria.com. When you use this web site, you consent to the use of your personal information by us in the manner specified in this privacy policy. The primary purpose of this Web site is to provide information regarding the Cobb Galleria Centre, not to gather personal information. We do, however, gather information that is described below. The information we collect is used to improve the content of our web page, to notify consumers about updates to our web site, to process consumer purchase transactions and to contact consumers for marketing purposes.
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National Archives Welcomes Former First Lady Laura Bush June 23
Press Release · Monday, May 9, 2011
More Information
Washington, DC…On Thursday, June 23, at 7 PM, at the National Archives, former First Lady Laura Bush will speak with Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero about her memoir Spoken from the Heart, her role with the George W. Bush Institute, and her involvement in the planning of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
This program is free and open to the public, and will take place in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance, located on the National Mall at Constitution Ave. and 7th Street, NW. Metro accessible on the Yellow and Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter station.
Due to the popularity of this program, seating will be very limited, and will be on a first-come, first-served basis. No reservations will be accepted. Free tickets will be distributed at the National Archives special events entrance on Constitution Avenue, beginning one hour prior to the start time. You must be present to receive a ticket. Theater doors will open 30 minutes prior to start time. The saving of seats is strictly prohibited.
The National Archives is fully accessible. To request an accommodation (e.g., sign language interpreter) please e-mail email@example.com or call 202-357-5000 two weeks prior to the event. To verify the date and times of the programs, call 202-357-5333, or view the Calendar of Events online.
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Get Ready for Smallest U.S. Investment in Budget in History
Infrastructure, education, research spending at all-time lows as share of GDP.
Non-defense discretionary spending. God, what a hideous term. The tip of the tongue takes a trip of ten steps and falls on its face at the -ding . In fact, it's such a revolting sequence of consonants, maybe that explains why politicians think we can cut it to the bone without anybody noticing.
Here is the case for noticing.
When government talks about spending as "investments," they're talking about this category, mostly. NNDS is everything that isn't Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, defense, and mandatory spending on programs like unemployment benefits. It's everything that is infrastructure, education, training, disaster relief, environmental protections, international affairs, scientific research, and employee salaries.
In other words, it is the bulk of what we have historically called "Government." And in both President Obama and Rep. Paul Ryan's budgets, "Government" gets cut to a historic low as a share of, well, government. Here's the graph of non-defense discretionary spending ("Government") since 1970. After 2013, Obama's budget traces the orange line and Ryan's budget traces the blue line.
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