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50 Simple Tips for Improving Your Website
This checklist provides 50 simple ways for you to make your website even better!
1. Use .htaccess to redirect the non-www version of your website to the www version.
2. Extend the registration of your domain for at least five years.
3. Make sure that when a visitor clicks your website's logo, they are taken back to the homepage.
4. If you think your font is too small, make it bigger!
5. Remove widgets that aren't directly enhancing your website.
6. Include an easy to find contact link, e-mail address or phone number on every page of your website.
7. Use a CSS stylesheet to make your website printer friendly.
8. Fix or remove broken links (external and internal).
9. Add ALT tags to all of your images.
10. If your website is using frames, get rid of them!
11. If you don't have a robots.txt file, create one.
12. Provide the same basic navigation menu on every page of your website.
13. Use the same color for links throughout your website.
14. Spell check your content.
15. Format your content so that it is easy to scan.
16. Add at least one picture to every page of your website.
17. If you don't have an About page, create one.
18. Use your About page to show your brand's personality.
19. Include at least three pictures on your About page.
20. If your website has pop-up windows, get rid of them!
21. Link to relevant social media profiles from your About page.
22. Add a search box near the top of your website's layout.
23. Create a privacy policy page.
24. Place a link to your privacy policy at the bottom of every page.
25. Use dashes in filenames instead of underscores.
26. Add a link to Google Maps on your Contact page.
27. Add internal links from one piece of content to another.
28. Write a unique META description for all of your main pages.
29. Validate your source code and correct any errors.
30. If you have a link exchange page, get rid of it!
31. Add a site search box to your 404 page.
32. Create a sitemap for your website.
33. Add a link to your sitemap at the bottom of every page of your website.
34. Add a copyright notification to the bottom of every page of your website.
35. Underline your links throughout your website.
36. Turn off music that automatically plays.
37. Get rid of any flashing GIF animations.
38. Include your website logo at the top of every page.
39. Register the .net and .org versions of your domain and redirect them to your website.
40. If you don't have a help or support section, create one!
41. When you answer a question via e-mail, add the answer to the help/support section.
42. Look at your contact forms and see if there is any information you don't have to request from your visitors.
43. Add your analytics code to every page of your website.
44. Get rid of any pages that automatically resize visitors' browser window.
45. Create a favicon for your website.
46. Only use email address that include @yourdomain.
47. Label each box of any forms on your website.
48. Show a confirmation any time a visitor completes a significant action on your website.
49. Create one new piece of quality content for your website every week.
50. Leave a comment with your suggestion for the fiftieth tip!


text: DescriptionDitch the heavy garden tools and make your yard work an absolute cinch with the Amazing Portable Chainsaw. Delivering 360 degrees of sawing flexibility, the Amazing Portable Chainsaw can cut through small tree limbs, shrubs, and the like with extreme precision. Its unique design lets you work in tight spaces, and its steel alloy blades are designed to last. Plus, without the need for power cords or fuel, this innovative saw can go wherever you need it.

subset: commoncrawl


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Each day this month, I'll be spotlighting a song that seems particularly appropriate for the season.
The arrival of new wave and punk rock in the late 1970s introduced an exciting cast of talented and sometimes intimidating female performers like Chrissie Hynde, Deborah Harry, Annie Lennox, Siouxsie Sioux, and Nina Hagen. In 1979, Lene Lovich, a singer with a passion for bizarre outfits and even more bizarre hair, released the frightening "Bird Song" as a single on Stiff Records. While the lyrics don't mention anything too diabolical, Lovich's high-pitched warble, the song's gothic arrangement, and an ominous-sounding male chorus create a nightmarish ambience. All the while remaining catchy enough for the dance floor. Basically, this is a dark twist on the old expression, "A little bird told me," in which a scheming feathered creature steals a woman's boyfriend by tricking her into thinking he's been untrue. "So with the bird, one day, you flew away/I woke up too late, you had gone/Fading on . . . with this song/Of the hurting little bird." Lovich delivers these lines, and others like, "Such a cold bird, so hard, captured your heart/Does it matter I am falling apart" with a Nora Desmond like intensity. Later, she mentions the flesh "Of the dead little bird," but it's unclear whether she killed it. The whole avian thing seems to be a metaphor until you see the startling rock video Lovich created for "Bird Song," which is executed in the style of a vintage European horror flick. She plays a runaway bride, leaving her guy at the altar while she runs outside to challenge a raven to a staring contest. The male chorus becomes a choir of priests or deacons, one of whom pounds away at the pipe organ like Lon Chaney. Maybe Lovich did lose out to an actual bird. "Still I watch the sky/Still I wonder why/Still I hope that I can carry on." Regardless of whether the villain is animal or human, Lene Lovich's "Bird Song" record and video are genuine Halloween classics.


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The organisers have negotiated exclusive rates at the hotels listed below. Bookings at these hotels can be made via the Symposium registration process.
Millennium Hotel Rotorua
1270 Hinemaru St
Millennium Hotel Rotorua is perfectly situated, with rooms offering views over Lake Rotorua, the city or the hotel's garden courtyard. All guests receive unlimited free WiFi. Facilities include a heated indoor swimming pool, private and communal hot tubs, a day spa with a sauna, and a fitness centre.
Superior Room $190.00
Quest Rotorua Central
1192 Hinemoa Street
Quest Rotorua Central serviced apartment style hotel rooms offer a relaxed and comfortable accommodation experience. Studios units are the perfect alternative to a hotel room each with a fully equipped kitchenette. Quest Rotorua is close to the thermally-heated central city alfresco dining zone known as Eat Street, as well as a number of other food options.
Studio Room $220.00
Check in: 2.00pm / Check out: 10.00am
Novotel Rotorua Lakeside
9-11 Tutanekai Street
Set on the shores of lake Rotorua, Novotel Lakeside offers luxurious accommodation with lake or city views. It features a day spa, a Maori cultural centre, and use of the unique geothermal hot pools. Relax in the sauna, or exercise in the well-equipped fitness centre. Atlas Café and Restaurant offers an extensive range of meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Clarke's Bar serves classic cocktails and local beers.
City Facing Room $199.00
Information and terms & conditions
Rates are per room per night and include 15% GST (goods and services tax).
Credit card details are required at the time of booking as a guarantee only, your card will not be charged. All accommodation charges must be settled directly with the Hotel prior to departure. No invoice will be issued.
In case of your non arrival or late cancellation the hotel will be given access to your card details to charge the appropriate cancellation fee.
If you wish to charge back your accommodation this can be done at check-out if your organisation has made an arrangement directly with the hotel concerned. If a charge back has been arranged, please notify Conference Innovators.
Please do not hesitate to contact Rosanna Carleton email@example.com or +64 3 379 0390 should you have any questions regarding accommodation at the Conference.
Alternative accommodation
If you wish to book your accommodation independently, please find below some alternative options:
Regent of Rotorua
1191 Pukaki St, Rotorua
A gem that stands apart from the crowd as Rotorua's most stylish hotel, this central city hotel has been designed with the modern traveller in mind. Prepare to be wowed by an eclectic mix of stylish spaces. Refreshingly original, the Regent marks the epitome of chic, luxury accommodation in the city.
To complete the offering you can enjoy award winning dining in the Regent Room restaurant- open seven days serving; breakfast, tasty tapa's, lunches, coffees (yes we do takeout coffee) a la carte or a full degustation dinner experience. Regent Room is also available as a private venue by arrangement for weddings, special occasion dinners, conferences and lunches.
If you wish to book the Regent of Rotorua please click here to visit their website.
At Booking.com, we connect travellers with the world's largest selection of incredible places to stay, including everything from apartments, vacation homes, and family-run B&Bs to 5-star luxury resorts, tree houses and even igloos.
If you wish to book via Booking.com please click here


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Changsha office market entered oversupply supply from 2014. CBRE initiated a tenant survey adapting to the changing market landscape and latest trends of office tenants in Changsha. We aim to shed light on the tenant structure and advance some strategies for market stakeholders according to data and analysis.
- Finance, service and real estate & architecture sectors ranked as top three demand drivers. The contribution was 37%, 20% and 16% respectively.
- Foreign MNCs remained prudent in real estate strategy, whereas China home-grown companies rose to dominate, accounting for more than 90% of total occupied space of Grade A offices.
- The number of companies occupying 300 sq. m and below space accounted for 47% of total number, and 300-500 sq. m. 19%. 2,000 sq. m. and above accounted only 7% in terms of number of occupiers, among which over 50% were traditional finance companies.
- Hexi Riverside expected to emerge as a new office cluster second to Wuyi Ave. and Middle Furong Rd. Co-working and TMT industries anticipated to serve as new impetus to drive office demand.


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LAKE CITY, Fla. – Antorria Jackson's ceiling collapsed under the weight of an old oak tree that fell on top of her home as a fast moving system of rain and wind pushed through downtown Lake City.
"I slept right where the tree fell at this morning. That's where I slept last night," she said.
Inside, Jackson said, practically everything she owned will have to be replaced.
"It damaged the entire roof, the walls," Jackson said. "I had about $5,000 worth of remodeling done recently, too. The furniture, carpet, sheet rock -- all that was $5,000."
Jackson said her three kids had left the house for school not more than 15 minutes before the wind and rain knocked the tree down.
A local tree cutting company was taking it apart piece by piece, trying not to cause any more damage.
Jackson said she estimates the wind speed Tuesday morning was nearly 60 mph. She said she's thankful no one was home when the unexpected happened.
"I can't question God's work," Jackson said. "I just say thank God my children are alive. It's materialistic. I wish it wouldn't have happened, but everything happens for a reason. All I can do is pray and move forward."


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Joe Raedle / Getty Images file
Russell Waddley of Miami received a flu shot in early December from Alina Pastoriza Garcia at a CVS pharmacy's MinuteClinic. Government health officials say new data show that the flu vaccine is about 62 percent effective at preventing illness this year.
Flu activity remains high across the United States, but there are signs this year's bad season may be waning in some areas, government health officials said Friday.
Forty-seven states reported widespread flu activity as of the week ending Jan. 5, up from 41 the previous week. Twenty-four states and New York City reported high levels of flu-like illness, but that was down from 29 states and NYC the week before, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Still, flu is unpredictable and illness could rebound or worsen, said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden.
"Really, only the next week or two will show whether we have, in fact, crossed the peak," Frieden told reporters in a conference call. "Nationally, it's likely that influenza will continue for several more weeks."
Flu activity was elevated all across the U.S., except in the far west region that includes Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii and Nevada, the new report showed.
More than 3,700 people have been hospitalized for the flu since October, and 20 children have died, the CDC says. Most of the hospitalizations have been in people older than 65. For the first time this season, deaths associated with the flu rose into the epidemic category, though just barely, CDC officials said.
Vaccines given to fight this year's flu appear to be about 62 percent effective overall , according to data from some 1,155 children and adults with acute respiratory infections. Of people who got the flu, 32 percent were vaccinated. CDC officials characterize that level as "moderate" effectiveness and infection control experts say it's about what they expect from the shots.
"That's normal," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. "It's a good but not a perfect vaccine."
This year's vaccines appear to be about 55 percent effective against influenza A strains, which are responsible for most illness and more severe cases, and about 70 percent effective against influenza B, which is usually less serious, the report showed.
That helps explain why some people who've received flu shots -- which are recommended for everyone older than six months -- say they've still gotten sick. It argues in favor of using antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu to help bolster vaccine effectiveness, or VE, CDC's report said.
"These early VE estimates underscore that some vaccinated persons will become infected with influenza; therefore, antiviral medications should be used as recommended for treatment in patients, regardless of vaccination status," the report concluded.
Related stories:
- Flu jab isn't perfect by a long shot, officials admit
- Bioethicist: Don't be selfish. Get a flu shot.
- Nasty flu season sparks spotty vaccine shortages
- Not always the flu; some may have other viruses
- Who gave you the flu? New app, docs help place blame


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Ceramic Tile Coasters
Our 4.25" x 4.25" ceramic tile coasters add color to any room. 1/6 inch thick. Felt pads protect your tables and countertops. Dishwasher safe. Not for use with abrasive cups and mugs.
Shopping from A to Z - To find you just the right gear!
Custom Ceramic Tile Coasters beginning with the letter "O"
10keveryday.com is a
groovynet production
© Copyright Stacy Beatty, 1998 - 2008


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At Higgins Chiropractic, we're committed to doing what is best by our patients. Chronic ear infections are one of the many conditions less commonly treated with chiropractic care; however, in many cases, patients respond well to chiropractic treatment.
We'd like nothing more than to work with you to develop an effective treatment plan that will allow you to function at a high level.
To contact us to learn more, please call (920) 882-4000 or submit the form below.
Contact Us
"Working in an office and looking at a computer all day, I didn't realize how much my neck was bothering me until I started getting adjusted. Dr. Higgins let me know that chiropractic is not just for people with back injuries, but also regular adjustments lead to better health and wellness. My sporadic headaches lessened, my upper shoulder soreness began to go away, and I noticed better rotation in my golf and softball swing. Dr. Higgins is very accommodating on appointment times and always available for advice."Kurt, age 28
"I am so pleased with your treatments. Since we started, I have been almost completely pain free, and my back hasn't felt so loose and flexible for years! Thanks for doing such a good job of listening to me describe the problem. I really think that the time you spent asking questions about my condition was more important than the adjustments. Now I'm back to doing the fun things – all because of you."Tim, age 64
"I've had 25 years of on- and off-again chiropractic care. Four years ago I had back surgery on my L5, requiring a cage. Since then, I've felt great; that is until recently when I developed pain in my hips during sleep. My first thought was to find a chiropractor, someone I could trust. I found that in Dr. Higgins. I knew I had chosen well when he professionally showed and explained in simple terms what my issues were. After only three visits and some recommended exercises, along with the encouragement to continue with swim classes, I noticed an improvement within a week. I no longer have the pain and my mobility has improved a great deal. His convenient hours allowed me to pop in for adjustments as needed, and he always made time for me. I am a true believer in what chiropractic care has to offer, and I believe Dr. Higgins brings that to the table each and every time."Lori, age 51
"Gavin started seeing Dr. Dan with hope that it would help his ear infections, a problem he suffered from approximately four times each year. Gavin has always been a little shy when meeting someone, but he took to Dr. Dan very quickly. In fact, during our second visit after being adjusted, he asked if he could 'go again.' So he seems to enjoy his visits and treatments, which is not an easy feat for most children when going to a doctor! He's seen Dr. Dan about six times in the last few months, and has had no signs of an ear infection (which as history goes, would have occurred by now). We are thrilled with our decision to see Dr. Dan, and will continue to do so!"Gavin, age 3 (written by Kris)
"I recently began seeing Dr. Higgins for headaches and an inner ear issue. The efficient and painless adjustments to my upper back and neck have taken away my pain. I have not felt this good in a long time. I really appreciate Dr. Higgins' calm confidence and the way that he listens to the patient. Dan explains the treatment and what to expect in the individual visit, as well as the longer-term goal. Higgins Chiropractic is my go to for headache control!"Karen, age 55
"I'm 36 years old and had never been to a chiropractor. I am a runner and was having some hip pain, so Dr. Dan gave great explanations of process, treatment and ways in which he thought he could help me. He was very clear about his philosophy and honest about his plans for me. Treatments were painless and I started feeling relief when running after only about a week. I like that I never felt locked into a yearlong treatment plan, but I know that I can call Dr. Dan should any similar or new pains arise. He is very family-oriented, and I feel comfortable talking to him about other medical concerns that I have as well. His welcoming and outgoing personality makes our visits really enjoyable. I highly recommend Dr. Dan for any chiropractic care needs!"Kyle, age 36
"I can't say enough about how awesome Dr. Dan is with children! From our first consultation we were made to feel welcome, and he took time to learn about our whole family. I brought our 10 month-old in for adjustments to help maintain and boost his immunity. Even with a baby, he knew just how to make our son smile and feel comfortable enough to have Dr. Dan hold him and do his gentle adjustments. Our little Johnny is a chiropractic adjustment pro now and doesn't even flinch when he lays on the table to be adjusted! As a mom, I was skeptical and a little nervous about how the process works for little kids, but Dr. Dan made me feel completely comfortable and explained everything he was doing. We will always use Dr. Dan for the chiropractic needs of our entire family!"Johnny, 10 months old (written by Beth)


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Stephen Amell & Emily Bett Rickards Share Romantic On-Set Kiss!
About Photo #1116210: SPOILER ALERT - CLICK AWAY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SPOILERS FROM THE FLASH & ARROW CROSSOVER! The casts of Arrow and The Flash are currently hard at work on… Read The Post Here
Posted to Arrow, Candice Patton, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, Grant Gustin, Stephen Amell, The Flash


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Ohio One Step Closer To Ending In-State Renewable Energy Mandate
Bill headed to Ohio Gov. Kasich for his expected signature; Michigan mandate still in effect
Legislation that would unplug Ohio's in-state renewable energy mandate and require a re-evaluation of the entire law is headed to Gov. John Kasich.
And it appears that Gov. Kasich plans to sign the bill.
The issue could be significant for the region because Michigan also has an in-state renewable energy mandate that outlaws it from being able to buy renewable energy from surrounding states, which could lower costs for Michigan taxpayers.
Renewable energy in Ohio and Michigan mostly refers to electricity produced by wind turbines. Ending Ohio's in-state mandate would allow the state's utilities to shop for cheaper wind-produced energy from states that produce more wind, such as Minnesota and Iowa. That, in turn, would force wind energy producers in Ohio to compete or find other markets.
On Wednesday, the Ohio House passed Senate Bill 310 on a 53-38 vote. The Ohio Senate followed up by agreeing to some minor changes to the legislation made by the House and then sent Senate Bill 310 to Gov. Kasich's office.
After passage of the bill, a spokesman for Gov. Kasich characterized the legislation in positive terms as a compromise between those who want to eliminate the energy rules and those who want no change.
In addition to ending the in-state mandate, Senate Bill 310, would freeze the state's renewable energy and energy efficiency standards in place for two years. That's the aspect of the bill that is receiving the lion's share of news coverage in Ohio.
"The freezing of Ohio's renewable energy mandates sets an important precedent for Michigan legislators and Gov. Rick Snyder," said Kevon Martis, director of the Interstate Informed Citizens Coalition, a non-profit organization that is concerned about the construction of wind turbines in the region. "Even in the windiest states, wind typically arrives at times of lowest demand for electricity which sharply diminishes its value. The Brookings Institution's latest study demonstrates with certainty that wind and solar are among the most expensive and least effective means of reducing power plant emissions, bar none.
"But in states like Ohio and Michigan, wind energy's pronounced failings are amplified by an anemic wind resource," Martis continued. "Gov. Kasich showed tremendous courage in staring down the same environmental juggernaut that stands in the way of sound energy policy in Michigan. ...It is clearly time for Michigan to take the baton from Gov. Kasich and dump renewable energy mandates and simply set a policy that rewards cost effective clean energy from any source."
Tom Stacy, a self-described, "Ohioan for Affordable Electricity," said he would remain guardedly optimistic until he knows for sure that the bill has received the governor's signature. He said he has high hopes for what the bill might accomplish.
"This is a win for ratepayers, Ohio's economy and even the environment," Stacy said of the bill's passage by the Ohio general assembly. "This bill has the potential to raise political and public awareness of not just electricity choices, but the very closely related choices between socialism and capitalism. What we need is an 'all of the competitive' energy policy, and Ohio has taken a small step in that direction through the passage of SB 310.
"It would be really meaningful for the study committee (which would re-evaluate the state's renewable energy mandates) to propose an end goal measured in PPM (parts per million) and cents per KWh (Kilowatt hour) instead of just mandating large percentages of somebody's favorite technology and then taking their word that it will magically cure all ills."
The Ohio Environmental Council, which supports the mandates, was not pleased with the news that Gov. Kasich might sign the bill.
"Contrary to the reassuring tone of yesterday's statement by the governor's office, the final bill as approved by the General Assembly did not land 'at the right spot' for Ohio and does anything but assure that Ohio will 'move forward in a balanced way,' " the group said in a statement. "Rather, Gov. Kasich's anticipated approval of this recklessly imbalanced legislation will not simply 'freeze' but all but annihilate clean energy standards."
See Also:
In-State Renewable Energy Mandate Could Be Eliminated In Ohio
Michigan's Renewable Energy Mandate Causing Harm, Probably Unconstitutional
Energy Company At Odds With County Over Safety of Wind Turbines
Lawsuit Alleges Wind Power A Threat To Health and Safety
Most of Michigan Is 'Poor' or 'Marginal' For Wind Energy
Effort In Lansing To Override Voters' Rebuke of Higher-Cost Energy Mandate
Federal Judge: Michigan Renewable Energy Mandate Unconstitutional


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Property Details
Whiffen Spit
7047 West Coast Rd, Sooke, Near Victoria, British Columbia, V9Z 0S4, Canada
NEW PRICE! Wow, you've just got to see this stunning garden paradise! Set on a gently sloping, private and south-facing sun-drenched quarter acre lot, this updated, sparkling-clean, and stylish 2400 square foot home is sure to please. Set well off the road for peace and quiet, this 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home comes complete with a mortgage-destroying 2-bedroom suite in the basement, and many updates throughout. As you enter the main level, you'll love the gleaming parquet floors and wide open foyer. Step into the large living room with oversized picture windows overlooking the manicured front landscape. A cozy granite wood-burning fireplace sets the mood, and the room flows effortlessly into the dining room - big enough for large family get-togethers, yet intimate enough for day-to-day dining. The updated kitchen will please any chef; you'll enjoy the stylish black appliances, recessed lighting, ceramic tile, and real butcher-block counter tops. There is plenty of space for your small appliances, storage, and food prep. Off the dining room is a large entertainment-sized sun deck - it faces south for maximum sun exposure and is perched high above the exquisite rear yard. Rounding out the upper level are two bedrooms and a den/office, which could be converted back into a bedroom. Downstairs is a self-contained 2 bedroom suite. It features new paint and carpets, a newer kitchen, good-sized rooms (including a huge living room), storage, and an updated bathroom. Such a large suite would command a good deal of rent each month, or would keep an extended family member very happy. The home is heated and cooled by an energy efficient heat pump. Outside, you'll be amazed at this tranquil oasis of a back yard. Choose from several sunny or shady spots, there are plenty of each. Despite being beautifully landscaped, the yard is fairly low-maintenance, with the majority of the garden being hardy perennials. Sit in the shade and enjoy the tranquillity of your own water garden as you laze away on a hot summer day. This wonderful property is ideally located, on the bus route to Victoria, and just a short stroll from beaches, parks, and world-renowned Sooke Harbour House. It's also just down the street from the new Prestige Resort and Conference Centre, so stroll down and have a drink on the waterfront patio! Be sure to check out the menu above to see pictures, video and a floor plan, or to book a showing.
Listing Provided By
Tim Ayres P.R.E.C. - Royal LePage Coast Capital Realty
- Tim Ayres
- 250-885-0512
- 250-642-6361
- 1-800-461-5353
- email@example.com
- Royal LePage Coast Capital Realty - Sooke
- PO Box 369 - 6739 West Coast Road
- Sooke, British Columbia


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adidas Stan Smith
adidas stan smith shoes are an out and out tennis icon in their own right, named for the Grand Slam winner who rose to prominence wearing them. Snap up a pair today and make your own impact on the court.
"Some people think I am a shoe."
Stan Smith
The Stan Smith model wasn't always called the Stan Smith. In fact, the eponymous silhouette was first named after French tennis star Robert Haillet. Haillet's shoe ushered in a new era of tennis footwear, becoming the playing shoe of choice for players worldwide—including rising star Stan Smith.
Smith would go on to win the 1972 Wimbledon Grand Slam and become the new ambassador for the Haillet shoe. Soon after, it became so synonymous with Smith that it would take on his name. And soon, a classic was reborn.
Now worn over four decades, Stan Smith has become a worldwide sneaker staple. The classic silhouette has been chosen for numerous high-profile collaborations, from Pharrell Williams to Raf Simons.
Our clothing and shoe categories
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- Grey Tracksuit Bottoms
- Girls Jerseys
- Yellow Shirts
- Womens Winter Shoes


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China is staring at the dark side of double-digit growth. Blackouts roll and factory lights flicker, the grid sucked dry by a decade of breakneck industrialization. Oil and natural gas are running low, and belching power plants are burning through coal faster than creaky old railroads can deliver it. Global warming? The most populous nation on earth ranks number two in the world – at least the Kyoto treaty isn't binding in developing countries. Air pollution? The World Bank says the People's Republic is home to 16 of the planet's 20 worst cities. Wind, solar, biomass – the country is grasping at every energy alternative within reach, even flooding a million people out of their ancestral homes with the world's biggest hydroelectric project. Meanwhile, the government's plan for holding onto power boils down to a car for every bicycle and air-conditioning for a billion-odd potential dissidents.
This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Contact firstname.lastname@example.com to report an issue.
What's an energy-starved autocracy to do?
Go nuclear.
While the West frets about how to keep its sushi cool, hot tubs warm, and Hummers humming without poisoning the planet, the cold-eyed bureaucrats running the People's Republic of China have launched a nuclear binge right out of That '70s Show. Late last year, China announced plans to build 30 new reactors – enough to generate twice the capacity of the gargantuan Three Gorges Dam – by 2020. And even that won't be enough. The Future of Nuclear Power, a 2003 study by a blue-ribbon commission headed by former CIA director John Deutch, concludes that by 2050 the PRC could require the equivalent of 200 full-scale nuke plants. A team of Chinese scientists advising the Beijing leadership puts the figure even higher: 300 gigawatts of nuclear output, not much less than the 350 gigawatts produced worldwide today.
To meet that growing demand, China's leaders are pursuing two strategies. They're turning to established nuke plant makers like AECL, Framatome, Mitsubishi, and Westinghouse, which supplied key technology for China's nine existing atomic power facilities. But they're also pursuing a second, more audacious course. Physicists and engineers at Beijing's Tsinghua University have made the first great leap forward in a quarter century, building a new nuclear power facility that promises to be a better way to harness the atom: a pebble-bed reactor. A reactor small enough to be assembled from mass-produced parts and cheap enough for customers without billion-dollar bank accounts. A reactor whose safety is a matter of physics, not operator skill or reinforced concrete. And, for a bona fide fairy-tale ending, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is labeled hydrogen.
A soft-spoken scientist named Qian Jihui has no doubt about what the smaller, safer, hydrogen-friendly design means for the future of nuclear power, in China and elsewhere. Qian is a former deputy director general with the International Atomic Energy Agency and an honorary president of the Nuclear Power Institute of China. He's a 67-year-old survivor of more than one revolution, which means he doesn't take the notion of upheaval lightly.
"Nobody in the mainstream likes novel ideas," Qian says. "But in the international nuclear community, a lot of people believe this is the future. Eventually, these new reactors will compete strategically, and in the end they will win. When that happens, it will leave traditional nuclear power in ruins."
Now we're talking revolution, comrade.
Known as China's MIT, Tsinghua University sprawls across a Qing-dynasty imperial garden, just outside the rampart of mirrored Blade Runner towers that line Beijing's North Fourth Ring Road. Wang Dazhong came here in the mid-1950s as a member of China's first-ever class of homegrown nuclear engineers. Now he's director emeritus of Tsinghua's Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, aka INET, and a key member of Beijing's energy policy team. On a bright morning dimmed by Beijing's ever-present photochemical haze, Wang sits in a spartan conference room lit by energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.
"If you're going to have 300 gigawatts of nuclear power in China – 50 times what we have today – you can't afford a Three Mile Island or Chernobyl," Wang says. "You need a new kind of reactor."
That's exactly what you can see 40 minutes away, behind a glass-enclosed guardhouse flanked by military police. Nestled against a brown mountainside stands a five-story white cube whose spare design screams, "Here be engineers!" Beneath its cavernous main room are the 100 tons of steel, graphite, and hydraulic gear known as HTR-10 (i.e., high-temperature reactor, 10 megawatt). The plant's output is underwhelming; at full power – first achieved in January – it would barely fulfill the needs of a town of 4,000 people. But what's inside HTR-10, which until now has never been visited by a Western journalist, makes it the most interesting reactor in the world.
In the air-conditioned chill of the visitors' area, a grad student runs through the basics. Instead of the white-hot fuel rods that fire the heart of a conventional reactor, HTR-10 is powered by 27,000 billiards-sized graphite balls packed with tiny flecks of uranium. Instead of superhot water – intensely corrosive and highly radioactive – the core is bathed in inert helium. The gas can reach much higher temperatures without bursting pipes, which means a third more energy pushing the turbine. No water means no nasty steam, and no billion-dollar pressure dome to contain it in the event of a leak. And with the fuel sealed inside layers of graphite and impermeable silicon carbide – designed to last 1 million years – there's no steaming pool for spent fuel rods. Depleted balls can go straight into lead-lined steel bins in the basement.
Wearing disposable blue paper gowns and booties, the grad student leads the way to a windowless control room that houses three industry-standard PC workstations and the inevitable electronic schematic, all valves, pressure lines, and color-coded readouts. In a conventional reactor's control room, there would be far more to look at – control panels for emergency core cooling, containment-area sprinklers, pressurized water tanks. None of that is here. The usual layers of what the industry calls engineered safety are superfluous. Suppose a coolant pipe blows, a pressure valve sticks, terrorists knock the top off the reactor vessel, an operator goes postal and yanks the control rods that regulate the nuclear chain reaction – no radioactive nightmare. This reactor is meltdown-proof.
Zhang Zuoyi, the project's 42-year-old director, explains why. The key trick is a phenomenon known as Doppler broadening – the hotter atoms get, the more they spread apart, making it harder for an incoming neutron to strike a nucleus. In the dense core of a conventional reactor, the effect is marginal. But HTR-10's carefully designed geometry, low fuel density, and small size make for a very different story. In the event of a catastrophic cooling-system failure, instead of skyrocketing into a bad movie plot, the core temperature climbs to only about 1,600 degrees Celsius – comfortably below the balls' 2,000-plus-degree melting point – and then falls. This temperature ceiling makes HTR-10 what engineers privately call walk-away safe. As in, you can walk away from any situation and go have a pizza.
"In a conventional reactor emergency, you have only seconds to make the right decision," Zhang notes. "With HTR-10, it's days, even weeks – as much time as we could ever need to fix a problem."
This unusual margin of safety isn't merely theoretical. INET's engineers have already done what would be unthinkable in a conventional reactor: switched off HTR-10's helium coolant and let the reactor cool down all by itself. Indeed, Zhang plans a show-stopping repeat performance at an international conference of reactor physicists in Beijing in September. "We think our kind of test may be required in the market someday," he adds.
Today's nuclear power plants are the fruits of a decision tree rooted in the earliest days of the atomic age. In 1943, a Manhattan Project team led by Enrico Fermi sustained the first man-made nuclear chain reaction in a pile of uranium blocks at the University of Chicago's Metallurgical Lab. A chemist named Farrington Daniels joined the effort a short time later. But Daniels wasn't interested in bombs. His focus was on a notion that had been circulating among physicists since the late 1930s: harnessing atomic power for cheap, clean electricity. He proposed a reactor containing enriched uranium "pebbles" – a term borrowed from chemistry – and using gaseous helium to transfer energy to a generator.
The Daniels pile, as the concept was called, was taken seriously enough that Oak Ridge National Laboratory commissioned Monsanto to design a working version in 1945. Before it could be built, though, a bright Annapolis graduate named Hyman Rickover "sailed in with the Navy," as Daniels later put it, and the competing idea of building a rod-fueled, water-cooled reactor to power submarines. With US Navy money backing the new design, the pebble bed fell by the wayside, and Daniels returned to the University of Wisconsin. By the time of his death in 1972, he was known as a pioneer of – irony alert – solar power. Indeed, the International Solar Energy Society's biennial award bears his name.
But Teller's advice was ignored in the rush to beat the Russians to meter-free electricity. Instead of pursuing inherent safety, the nascent civilian nuclear industry followed Rickover into fuel rods, water cooling, and ever more layers of protection against the hazards of radioactive steam emissions and runaway chain reaction. To try to amortize the cost of all that backup, plants ballooned, tripling in average size in less than a decade and contributing to a crippling financial crunch in the mid-'70s. Finally, partial meltdowns at Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986 pulled the plug on reactor construction in most of the world.
Even where the pebble-bed concept took root, the industry's woes conspired against it. In Germany, a charismatic physicist named Rudolf Schulten picked up the idea and by 1985 a full-scale prototype was online – too large, in fact, to meet Teller's inherent safety test. Barely a year later, with Chernobyl's fallout raining over Europe, a minor malfunction at the German reactor set off nightmare headlines. Before long, the plant was mothballed.
The twin disasters in Pennsylvania and Ukraine proved Teller's point and inverted his hopeful formulation: The Union of Concerned Scientists pronounced nuclear power "inherently dangerous." The industry, already staggered by overbuilding and runaway budgets, ground to a halt. The newest of the 104 reactors operating in the US today was greenlighted in 1979. And there our story might have ended, except
Even as the nuclear establishment was putting all its efforts into avoiding the klieg lights, scientists in two faraway places were carrying the torch for a better reactor. One was South Africa, where in the mid-1990s the national utility company quietly licensed Germany's cast-off pebble-bed design and set about trying to raise the necessary funds. The other was China, where the Tsinghua team pursued a Nike strategy: Just do it.
Frank Wu's glass-walled ninth-floor office at Innovation Plaza offers a commanding view of Tsinghua University's leafy campus. That's no accident: The university co-owns this complex of gleaming silver towers, designed as a magnet for high tech startups. Likewise Wu's company, Chinergy, is a 50-50 joint venture between Tsinghua's Institute for Nuclear and New Energy Technology and the state-owned China Nuclear Engineering Group.
"I just had a call from a mayor in one of the provinces," says Wu, who came on board as CEO after a decade spent running financial services companies in the US (where he adopted the English first name). "He asked me, 'How much do we have to pay to get one of those things here?'"
If Wu's pebble-bed "thing" is, well, hot, it's because Chinergy's product is tailor-made for the world's fastest-growing energy market: a modular design that snaps together like Legos. Despite some attempts at standardization, the latest generation of big nukes are still custom-built onsite. By contrast, production versions of INET's reactor will be barely a fifth their size and power, and built from standardized components that can be mass-produced, shipped by road or rail, and assembled quickly. Moreover, multiple reactors can be daisy-chained around one or more turbines, all monitored from a single control room. In other words, Tsinghua's power plants can do the two things that matter most amid China's explosive growth: get where they're needed and get big, fast.
Wu and his backers aim to have a full-scale 200-megawatt version of HTR-10 by the end of the decade. They've already persuaded Huaneng Power International – one of China's five big privatized utilities, listed on the NYSE and chaired by the son of former premier Li Peng – to pick up half of the estimated $300 million tab. Concrete is scheduled to be poured in spring 2007.
Five to 10 years ago, a lot of today's China was little more than blueprints. And Wu, who likes to tell visiting Americans how one of his previous companies beat Sun Microsystems for the contract to wire West Point, has distinct advantages. The INET team, some of whose members studied with Schulten in Germany, has been prototyping pebble-bed designs since the mid-1980s. Also courtesy of the Germans, they have the best equipment in the world for what is probably the stickiest technical problem: fabrication of fuel balls in quantities that could quickly grow to millions.
Too good to be true? Not according to Andrew Kadak, who teaches nuclear engineering at MIT (including a course titled "Colossal Failures in Engineering"). Kadak is a big-nuke guy by background. From 1989 to 1997, he was CEO of Yankee Atomic Electric, which ran – and ultimately closed – the '60s-vintage plant in Rowe, Massachusetts. Now he's helping INET refine its fuel ball technology and working with the US Department of Energy to build a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Research Lab.
"The industry has been focused on water-cooled reactors that require complicated safety systems," Kadak says. "The Chinese aren't constrained by that history. They're showing that there's another way that's simpler and safer. The big question is whether the economics will pay off."
In May, British eminence green James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis that Earth is a single self-regulating organism, published an impassioned plea to phase out fossil fuels in London's The Independent. Nuclear power, he argued, is the last, best hope for averting climatic catastrophe:
"Opposition to nuclear energy is based on irrational fear fed by Hollywood-style fiction, the Green lobbies, and the media. … Even if they were right about its dangers – and they are not – its worldwide use as our main source of energy would pose an insignificant threat compared with the dangers of intolerable and lethal heat waves and sea levels rising to drown every coastal city of the world. We have no time to experiment with visionary energy sources; civilization is in imminent danger and has to use nuclear, the one safe, available energy source, now, or suffer the pain soon to be inflicted by our outraged planet."
Coming to terms with nuclear energy is only a first step. To power a billion cars, there's no practical alternative to hydrogen. But it will take huge quantities of energy to extract hydrogen from water and hydrocarbons, and the best ways scientists have found to do that require high temperatures, up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. In other words, there's another way of looking at INET's high-temperature reactor and its potential offspring: They're hydrogen machines.
For exactly that reason, the DOE, along with similar agencies in Japan and Europe, is looking intently at high-temperature reactor designs. Tsinghua's researchers are in contact with the major players, but they're also starting their own project, focused on what many believe is the most promising means of generating hydrogen: thermochemical water splitting. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories believe efficiency could top 60 percent – twice that of low-temperature methods. INET plans to begin researching hydrogen production by 2006.
In that way, China's nuclear renaissance could feed the hydrogen revolution, enabling the country to leapfrog the fossil-fueled West into a new age of clean energy. Why worry about foreign fuel supplies when you can have safe nukes rolling off your own assembly lines? Why invoke costly international antipollution protocols when you can have motor vehicles that spout only water vapor from their tail pipes? Why debate least-bad alternatives when you have the political and economic muscle to engineer the dream?
The scale is vast, but so are China's ambitions. Gentlemen, start your reactors.


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Zoo animals remain hot at the box office. Singing stars and Adam Sandler are not.
Ben Stiller and his voice co-stars of "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" held on to the No. 1 spot again, with $35.5 million for the animated sequel's second weekend in domestic theaters.
Studio estimates Sunday put Ridley Scott's sci-fi adventure "Prometheus" at No. 2 again with $20.2 million.
"Madagascar 3" and "Prometheus" held off two under-achieving newcomers. The star-studded musical "Rock of Ages," whose cast includes Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Alec Baldwin, flopped at No. 3 with $15.1 million.
Sandler's "That's My Boy" bombed with $13 million, the worst showing for one of his broad comedies since the mid-1990s. "That's My Boy" came in at No. 5, behind the $13.8 million for "Snow White & the Huntsman," a film that's been out for three weekends already.
"Sure, we would have liked to have done more," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony, which released "That's My Boy" and most of Sandler's past movies. "But you've got to give it to Adam. He mixes it up. This is a really off-the-wall comedy."
"That's My Boy" stars Sandler as a guy who became a fleeting teen celebrity after getting his seventh-grade teacher pregnant and now is a middle-aged loser trying to reconnect with his son (Andy Samberg).
As with most Sandler movies, the reviews were bad, but that usually does not stop his audience of young males from showing up.
The R rating for "That's My Boy" may have cut into the movie's business, prohibiting those under 17 from seeing it without an adult. Sandler's comedies usually are rated PG-13.
But Sandler has plenty of fans in their late teens and 20s, and that crowd had little interest in "That's My Boy."
Among Sandler's mainstream live-action comedies, it was the worst debut since 1996's "Happy Gilmore," which played in far fewer theaters than "That's My Boy" and came as Sandler was just climbing to stardom. And factoring in today's higher admission prices, "That's My Boy" sold fewer tickets than "Happy Gilmore."
Some of Sandler's handful of comic dramas and other more serious movies did less business than "That's My Boy." But even his 2000 bomb "Little Nicky" opened bigger, with $16.1 million in its first weekend.
Sandler has been one of Hollywood's steadiest earners since the late 1990s, with hits such as "The Longest Yard," ''Anger Management," ''Big Daddy" and "Grown-ups" opening with more than $40 million and becoming $100 million hits.
Sony remains high on Sandler, backing his upcoming animated comedy "Hotel Transylvania," along with "Grown-ups 2."
"It's a good business to be in, the Adam Sandler business," Bruer said.
Warner Bros. had its own dud with "Rock of Ages," adapted from the stage show built around 1980s rock hits and featuring an ensemble that includes Cruise, Zeta-Jones, Baldwin, Julianne Hough and Mary J. Blige.
Dan Fellman, the studio's head of distribution, was not ready to pull the plug on the movie, saying he hoped it might hang on in subsequent weekends. "Rock of Ages" drew mostly older, female crowds, an audience that does not necessarily rush out to a movie over opening weekend.
"Musicals, there have been a couple in the summer like "Hairspray" and "Mamma Mia!", that tend to have good holding power as counter-programming. We're hoping we can get back on track," Fellman said.
"Rock of Ages" added $4.1 million in a handful of overseas markets.
Between "Rock of Ages" and "That's My Boy," Hollywood fell back into a pattern that persisted at the start of summer season in May as new movies debuted weakly, unable to dislodge strong holdovers.
The superhero tale "The Avengers" has dominated so far, remaining in the top-10 after seven weekends, its $8.8 million take raising its domestic total to $586.7 million. The film has taken in $1.4 billion worldwide.
There have been only a few other hits, including "Men in Black 3," ''Madagascar 3" and "Snow White & the Huntsman."
"That's My Boy" and "Rock of Ages" have joined Johnny Depp's "Dark Shadows" among star-driven releases that fell flat.
"It doesn't always follow that big stars bring in the big bucks," said Paul Dergarabedian, analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "'Madagascar' and 'Prometheus' tell you that it's about the concept more than the stars."
DreamWorks Animation's "Madagascar 3" raised its domestic total to $120.5 million after two weekends. The movie added $53 million overseas, bringing its international receipts to $157 million and its worldwide haul to $278 million.
"Prometheus," released by 20th Century Fox, lifted its domestic total to $88.9 million after two weekends. With $25.5 million overseas, "Prometheus" pushed its international revenue to $128.9 million for a worldwide haul of $218 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday:
1. "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," $35.5 million ($53 million international).
2. "Prometheus," $20.2 million ($25.5 million international).
3. "Rock of Ages," $15.1 million ($4.1 million international).
4. "Snow White & the Huntsman," $13.8 million ($31.2 million international).
5. "That's My Boy," $13 million ($1.4 million international)
6. "Men in Black 3," $10 million ($19.7 million international).
7. "The Avengers," $8.8 million ($3.9 million international).
8. "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," $2.2 million ($160,000 international).
9. "Moonrise Kingdom," $2.18 million ($700,000 international).
10. "What to Expect When You're Expecting," $1.3 million ($1.5 million international).
Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:
1. "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," $53 million.
2. "Snow White & the Huntsman," $31.2 million.
3. "Prometheus," $25.5 million.
4. "Men in Black 3," $19.7 million.
5. "The Dictator," $4.7 million.
6. "Rock of Ages," $4.1 million.
7. "The Avengers," $3.9 million.
8. "Royal Concubine," $3 million.
9. "Dark Shadows," $2.7 million.
10 (tie). "All About My Wife," $1.8 million.
10 (tie). "Lockout," $1.8 million.


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HAGERSTOWN — The array of solar panels all facing south give the appearance of a shimmering lake. And by late December, the 300,000 solar panels, each roughly the size of a 46-inch flat screen television near the Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown off Roxbury Road, are expected to generate a peak of 20 megawatts of power per hour.
The solar farm annually will produce enough electricity to power 4,000 to 5,000 single family homes, according to an estimate by an official at First Solar Inc., the company leasing the land from the state to run the plant.
The solar farm, which is spread over 160 acres, will be the largest in Maryland, and represents one more step toward the state's goal of generating 20 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2022.
Electricity generated from solar power is growing in the state.
In 2006, Maryland generated less than 0.1 megawatts of power from solar powered plants.
That number has grown to 70 megawatts and is expected to grow to 100 megawatts by the end of the year, according to a farewell statement by Malcolm Woolf, the former director of the Maryland Energy Administration, on the agency's website.
Officials who work for First Solar, and Belectric, the company involved in the construction, said that an average of 160 workers have been working on the project every day since the summer.
About 75 to 80 percent of those workers are local, said Peter Seidel, regional project manager for First Solar.
Seidel said the rolling terrain around the state prison and the hard sub-surface rock presented challenges to the construction.
"Ideally, we like to have it on flat, level ground," he said.
The project was approved in October 2011, and construction on the $70 million plant began over the summer.
Gov. Martin O'Malley was part of a groundbreaking ceremony for the project in July. At that ceremony, he said the country could either surrender to the forces of globalization and global warming or welcome renewable energy.
The solar panels are known as thin-film photovoltaic modules, which are manufactured by First Solar.
Electricity generated from the plant will be sold to FirstEnergy Solutions, and will then be fed into the state electricity grid, Seidel said.


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Egypt's Chief Archaeologist Resigns
Amid Looting of Antiquities
by John Van Auken
Zahi Hawass, Egypt's longtime Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and renowned Egyptologist, has gotten entangled in the uprising and turmoil in his country. On January 31, former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak incorporated the SCA into his struggling-to-hang-on government, forming the Ministry of Antiquities and appointing the well-known Dr. Hawass as its Minister. Then, when Mubarak fell from grace and power, a countrywide breakdown in controls and security occurred, including among the Tourist Police who are charged with safeguarding archaeological sites, stored antiquities, and the spectacular Egyptian Museum. With no formal protection, looting and night-time excavating began to occur unchecked. The museum and many storage sites were looted, and digging in known sites to find valuable artifacts became a widespread activity of desperately poor citizens who could find no other work to support themselves. The activity became so out of control that on March 5, Hawass resigned as Minister of Antiquities, writing on his blog: "I cannot stay in Egypt and see antiquities being stolen when I cannot do anything to stop it! This situation is not for me! I have always fought to return stolen artifacts to Egypt." On March 6, the Egyptian caretaker Prime Minister Essam Sharaf dissolved the Ministry of Antiquities and reestablished the SCA, putting it back under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, which will now be led by Emad Abou-Ghazi, a history professor from the University of Cairo. Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo, argues that Egyptian archaeology will continue much as before. "The idea that Egyptian archaeology is Hawass is just something made by TV," she says. The new secretary general of the SCA has yet to be officially named but it is expected to be Mohamed Abdel Maksoud, head of the SCA's Lower Egypt division. "He is a senior scholar, of the right age and experience," says archaeologist Ikram. "He is not an enemy of Dr Zahi. He is not walking in and taking over, it is a regular sequence of inheritance, and one hopes that Dr. Zahi had some say in the appointment."
The problem remains: How does the new government safeguard the ancient one-of-a-kind artifacts with no payroll or trained personnel? Hawass says that sites all over the country have been damaged. Storage warehouses in Dahshur, Abu Sir, Giza and the Sharm el-Sheikh area have been broken into, often by armed looters who overpowered guards. Tombs have also been targeted. The tomb of Ken-Amun in Tell el-Maskhuta, the only 19th-Dynasty tomb known in Lower Egypt, has been completely destroyed. Inscribed blocks have been stolen, and illegal excavations and construction have been reported at several sites. Another problem facing the new Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities is the question of how one soothes the country's unhappy, underpaid archaeologists? Hawass's offices have been surrounded daily by disgruntled archaeologists complaining about unfair pay and the lack of opportunity. Hawass counters, "It is not possible to provide everything that everyone is asking for. We need money to protect sites and to restore buildings and objects too. We need the money brought in by tourists who visit our sites and museums to fund these things and, at the moment, there are no tourists."
Dr. Hawass has been a controversial figure for many years. His regular appearances on TV documentaries raised the profile of Egyptology and brought in funding for ambitious science projects, including X-ray scanning and DNA analysis of King Tut's mummy. He developed touring exhibitions of the pharaoh's treasures around the world, which brought cash flooding into Egypt. But he has been accused of courting the media to boost his own profile, and his last days in office were marked by protests about jobs and pay for the country's growing number of Egyptology graduates. However, many Egyptologists believe that he did more good than harm. "There were certain problems," says Jaromir Malek, head of the Griffith Institute at the University of Oxford, UK. "There was a big ego involved, and his own career flourished as a result. But he genuinely cares about Egyptian antiquities." Malek acknowledges that Hawass's "personality, drive and energy" will be hard to replace.
Dr. Hawass has also had a quiet tolerance of Edgar Cayce's Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) and our activities in Egypt searching for an ancient Atlantean Hall of Records buried near the Sphinx. The loss of Dr. Hawass in this key position may curtail such expeditions for some time to come. The new SCA leader's openness to A.R.E.'s research and even his ability to protect such expeditions remains uncertain. Even so, Cayce's own readings stated that the ancient Hall of Records will only be entered when the time and people are right.
John Van Auken
John is an internationally renowned speaker, longtime staff member, and current director at Edgar Cayce's A.R.E. A popular leader of A.R.E.'s life-changing tours to Egypt and other sacred sites, he is also the author of several best-selling books, including his latest Edgar Cayce and the Kabbalah, and the presenter in several best-selling DVDs, including the recently released Edgar Cayce's Tour of Egypt. He is also a regular contributor to A.R.E.'s Membership publications Venture Inward magazine and Venture Inward Newsletter. His extensive knowledge of the Cayce readings, the Bible, world religions, and ancient mysticism is combined with years of experience as a teacher and retreat leader to bring deeper understanding to today's spiritual seeker.


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Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State head football coach Doug Martin announced Thursday that Don Decker has been hired as the Aggies' Head Football Strength & Conditioning Coach. Decker brings over 22 years of experience to the NM State football program.
"Coach Decker has a lot of experience as a former SEC strength and conditioning coach at Arkansas and at Ole' Miss," Martin said. "He brings a wealth of experience in speed and strength to our program and I think his knowledge of football in general having played the quarterback position in college really adds to his ability to be a top notch strength coach for us."
"I'm really excited about the opportunity to be the next head football strength and conditioning coach at NM State," Decker said. "I'm excited about the vision that Coach Martin has for the program, the leadership he provides and I'm thankful to be a part of that."
Decker spent four years at Ole Miss as the Head Football Strength & Conditioning Coach. His career of excellence was honored in the spring of 2010 as he was named the 2010 Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year from the Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society.
Before heading to Oxford, Decker was at Arkansas for 15 seasons, including the last 10 as the head strength and conditioning coach. He served as assistant strength and conditioning coach for five years before being promoted.
In 2004, Decker earned the designation of master level strength coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association. He is one of just 70 strength and conditioning coaches in the world to earn that honor.
While football was his first responsibility in Fayetteville, Decker oversaw strength and conditioning for all men's sports. He was in charge of the basketball weight program for eight years and was also in charge of baseball.
During his tenure with the Razorbacks, Decker went to the Final Four twice, including 1994 when the Hogs won the national championship. He also worked with the 1995, 2002 and 2006 football squads that won SEC Western Division titles.
In his first year as head strength and conditioning coach in 1998, the Razorbacks won a share of the SEC Western Division title and played in the Florida Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day. It would be the first of eight bowl games under Decker's watch. In addition, the Razorback baseball team won the Southeastern Conference regular season crown in 1999.
He came to Arkansas from Kent State where he was head strength coach for football during the 1991 and 1992 seasons. Before going to Kent he was a graduate assistant in the weight room at Arkansas. He worked with the 1989 football Razorbacks, who won the Southwest Conference crown and played in the Cotton Bowl. He earned a master's degree in exercise science from Arkansas in 1991 before leaving for Kent.
Decker was a high school football standout at Perry High School in Masillon, Ohio, where he graduated in 1984. He went to Evangel University where he was all-district, all-conference and an honorable mention All-American at quarterback. He received his degree in physical education from Evangel in 1988.
Decker and his wife Stacey have been married for more than 20 years.


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Full name David Gallaher
Born October 30, 1873, Ramelton, Ulster
Died October 4, 1917, Gravenstafel (aged 43 years 339 days)
Major teams New Zealand
Position Wing-forward
|All Tests
|Test debut
|Australia v New Zealand at Sydney, Aug 15, 1903 match details
|Last Test
|France v New Zealand at Parc des Princes, Jan 1, 1906 match details
|Test Statsguru
|Main menu | Career summary | Match list | Tournament list
Dave Gallaher was the inspirational leader of the All Black "Originals" that toured the British Isles and France in 1905. Already assured his place within the annals of All Black history due to his prowess as a leader on that hugely successful and historic tour, Gallaher has passed into legend due to his tragic early death.
He was killed on October 4, 1917 whilst serving as a company sergeant major in the fighting at Passchendaele. He was 43. He was buried at Nine Elms military cemetery in Poperinge, with his headstone bearing the silver fern. A visit to the site of Gallaher's grave has become a fixture of All Black tours to France in recent years.
Gallaher was born in County Donegal, Ireland in 1873 and emigrated to Katikati in the Bay of Plenty with his parents at the age of 5. His parents eventually settled in Auckland, and it was here that Gallaher's career in rugby began to take shape.
He was unusually large for a player of that era, standing at 1.83m tall and weighing 84kg. His size was married to an astute and diligent rugby brain however, and his tactical awareness was second to none. Between 1896 and 1909 he played 26 representative matches for Auckland, including the first ever Ranfurly Shield match against Wellington.
His career at club level was interrupted by his service in the Boer War in 1901 and 1902 and also his lengthy absences with the national side, particularly during the 1905 season.
Gallaher began his playing career as a hooker, but migrated to the flank during the 1905 tour to Great Britain. His switch to the more combative and complex back-row position allowed the intelligent Gallaher to study back-row play and become an expert on the spoiling tactics employed by teams, especially England's merciless killing of second-phase ball.
Gallaher was handed the captaincy for the tour, but his appointment was met with derision by certain members of the side. He had not been included in the team for the previous tour of Australia, and there was also considerable anti-Auckland bias to contend with.
Gallaher resigned his post whilst on the boat journey to the UK, only for the matter to be put to a vote by the coaching staff. He won the vote by a slender margin, and proceeded to lead the tour with distinction.
Gallaher's side, the first to be known as the All Blacks, lost only once on tour to Britain and France. Their 3-0 loss to Wales in Cardiff still causes some controversy amongst scholars and fans over a disallowed All Black try.
Following the end of the tour Gallaher co-wrote a book called The Complete Rugby Footballer, in which he details many of his theories and ideas garnered from his playing career, served as Auckland selector between 1906-16 and national selector from 1907-14. He played only occasionally following his return to New Zealand.
Gallaher's age meant that he was exempt from conscription during the First World War, but following the death of two of his brothers in the fighting he falsified his age and joined up. Following his death his memory was honoured by Auckland in the shape of the Gallaher Shield, introduced as a competition for regional sides in 1922.
In 2005, his profile was raised even higher when Letterkenny RFC, the club closest to his birthplace, renamed their ground "Dave Gallaher Memorial Park". The opening was attended by the 2005 All Blacks, led by Tana Umaga.
Huw Baines
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What if Facebook were a country, and all its apps and fan pages were its fiefdoms? It would look a little something like this. Oh, and it would be filthy, filthy rich.
Because Facebook's a private company, it's impossible to know how much the site itself makes. But the value of fan pages alone is staggering, to say nothing of app giants like Zynga and CrowdStar.
Me? I'll just take some oceanfront property in Causes. I hear the winters are incredibly mild. [Visual Economics via The High Definite]


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Honda's 500bhp Element-D (for Drifting)
November 1, 2006 The Honda Element-D ("D" for drifting) racecar shows what can happen when enthusiastic Honda associates raid the company parts bin. It's not all that long ago that racecar meant something with low frontal area and aerodynamic efficiency, but in the new sport of drifting, being as aerodynamic as a brick is an advantage. Built for the racing sport of drifting, the Honda Element-D racecar replaces the stock 4-cylinder/Real Time 4WD drivetrain with a custom-designed and longitudinally-mounted 3.2-liter Honda V6 and rear-wheel-drive. Producing 500-horsepower, the lightweight twin-turbocharged powerhouse is guaranteed to light up the rear tires and accelerate sideways at full opposite lock. Associates from Honda R&D Americas in Ohio plan to campaign the Element-D in the 2007 Formula Drift Series.


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According to Gallup Business Journal, fully engaged customers deliver a 23% premium in share of wallet, profitability, and revenue.
Weather alerts create meaningful touchpoints with your customers, building trust, brand loyalty and customer retention.
Dashboard reports show the impact of your alerts so you can create a strategy that makes future touchpoints increasingly valuable to customers.
IBM enables companies to scale and adapt quickly to changing business needs without compromising security, privacy or risk levels when using IBM cloud offerings.Learn more about IBM Cloud security


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Then, in the top of the sixth, as it began raining, we saw the home team Isotopes turn a triple play! Eric Stults began the sixth by walking Brian Barden and giving up a single to Mark Shorey. With runners on first and second, Matt Pagnozzi grounded to shortstop Chin-Lung Hu near second base.
Hu tagged Barden, who was slow off the bag (we had moved back under cover, but I believe the ball was semi-lined and Hu played it on a short hop, so Barden was wary of straying too far off second), stepped on second to force Shorey and threw to first for the third out! There was a bit of confusion, but the umpires eventually got the play sorted out correctly.
A few minutes later, a huge clap of thunder scared the absolute shit out of most of the players -- I've never heard an actual bomb go off, but I'll bet it sounds a lot like that thunder -- and the grounds crew raced for the tarp. It was 8:52.
Having gone on two long hikes earlier in the day and knowing we had to get up at about 5:30 AM for our first flight on Thursday, we headed back to the hotel -- and got thoroughly soaked in the driving, windy, cold rain trying to find our car. I assumed the game was called, but now that we are home, I see that it was played to completion after a 2:21 delay. No more than 100 fans stayed to the end. Memphis won game one of the PCL's American Conference Finals 6-2.
Memphis Redbirds - 220 010 010 - 6 12 1 Albuquerque Isoptopes - 000 000 200 - 2 3 0Redbirds starter Jaime Garcia, in only his fifth AAA start, retired the first 13 Albuquerque batters (including striking out five of the first six) before an infield single by Jamie Hoffmann in the fifth.
A foul ball, a triple play and a perfect game was perhaps too much to ask for!


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Ask the Critic: Best Murray Hill Eats; How Much Do I Tip a Bartender?
You have restaurant questions? We have answers. Where to take a dinner date? Restaurants good for parents or picky eaters? Food etiquette? Food and restaurant writer Carey Jones answers your questions. Email [email protected] to submit.
Editor's note: Here to answer your questions is senior managing editor, former SENY editor, and frequent author of our NYC restaurant reviews Carey Jones. We'll take a few of your questions each week and give you the New York restaurant advice you're looking for. Email [email protected] with the subject line Ask the Critic to submit your question!
This week on Ask The Critic: the best bites in Murray Hill and figuring out how much to tip a bartender.
Tipping In Bars
I remember when I used to tip a dollar on every drink... because every drink I had was a beer, or maybe a gin and tonic if I was feeling classy... But nothing fancy and nothing that cost more than $5 or $6. But now, when I'm going to nicer bars and just more expensive places, I'm never sure how much to tip. Help a guy out?
I'm of the opinion that a dollar-a-beer is still fine in many cases: You order a beer, you're poured a beer, you hand the bartender a $10, you get back $5 (in ones, if he's any good at his job), you leave one on the bar. Even if the beer is $2–3; are you really gonna be that guy who left two quarters on the bar? (Please don't be that guy.)
In any kind of nicer bar, when the bartender is doing something more complicated than pouring Jack in your Coke, I tip closer to what I would at a restaurant—18% for decent service, 20% for good service. (And if you're putting a lot on one tab, some cocktails and some beers, please tip on that whole total. Don't go counting up the beers and tipping a dollar each of those.)
Once you're getting into the cocktail world, you're not just paying for someone to hand you a drink. You're paying for their knowledge, for them to point you to Whiskey A instead of Whiskey B. For their skill in making your cocktail. (For their skill in getting you 4 different cocktails each with six ingredients at the same time.) And more.
20% is my rule, but there are exceptions.
Tip more if:
1. You're getting a deal. If you're getting $12 for $6 at a happy hour, tip as you would on the full bill.
2. The bartender did something particularly nice. Topped off your wine glass without asking; found you seats when there were no seats to be found; made an off-menu cocktail because you asked; got the kitchen to make you a burger even though they were about to close.
3. You're asking for something complicated. Ever watched someone make a Ramos Gin Fizz? Ever timed it? A bartender could've made four drinks in the time it took him to shake yours. Be nice.
4. They comped you a round. Might happen if you're ordering a few rounds, or if you strike up a friendship with the bartender, or if you're just really cool. Tip on what the full bill would have been, and then some.
Are there situations when you can tip less? For bad service, obviously. I also tend to think it's okay to tip less if you're ordering something way more expensive than the bar's average. If you're drinking a $100 Hirsch Reserve 16 Year, and your friend is ordering a $10 Baker's, I don't quite think you should be paying $20 tip while she's paying $2. (I might get jumped on in the comments for this.)
I'm not sure what I'd tip on the more expensive bourbon—maybe $10?—though I have to say, if you're drinking alcohol that expensive, why on earth would you be stingy with the tip?
Murray Hill Eats
I just moved to Murray Hill, which isn't exactly known as a mecca of food. Where should I eat/shop/order from?
The way some people talk about Murray Hill, you'd think the entire neighborhood were an overgrown frat house—and, sure, there are plenty of bars on Third Avenue that could give you that impression. But you've actually got many options within a short walk.
In fact, in terms of food shopping, you're better off than much of the city. There's super-supermarket Fairway, the envy of many a Manhattan neighborhood. And there's Kalustyan's, one of our favorite food shops anywhere, where you can find any spice under the sun, and prepared foods and ingredients from all over Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Between those two, you're in the best of hands.
The area's Indian food is well-known; try kati rolls at Desi Galli, or dosas at Saravanaa Bhavan; there's vegetarian Gujarati cooking at Vatan, the super-cheap all-you-can-eat Tiffin Wallah, South Indian Chennai Garden. And a whole lot more.
Fan of Turkish cuisine? Ali Baba. Into Afghan? Bamiyan. Sandwiches at Lamazou or the classic Defonte's. Classy barbecue at Blue Smoke or classy tacos at Salvation Taco.
There's meat and more meat at Resto and The Cannibal. Bar food at Waterfront Ale House—SE staffer Ben Fishner wishes to note that "it's a great to grab just a drink (free popcorn with blackening seasoning!) and also a great place to eat (the specials board is almost always where its at, and the cajun chicken salad is a contender for Best In City grilled chicken salad)." And while we're talking about drinking, two of the city's excellent bars have opened branches in the area: Terroir Murray Hill and Middle Branch (from the Little Branch team).
Fine dining? You're one of few neighborhoods convenient to the excellent Riverpark, all the way east. And you're not far from Maialino, either.
Serious Eaters: any other Murray Hill recommendations?
Ask Us!
Email [email protected] with the subject line Ask the Critic to submit your question. All questions will be read, though unfortunately not all can be answered.
Your Thoughts?
Have more advice for these folks? Jump in, in the comment thread!
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Brian Vickers could not have asked for a better backdrop for his childhood as an up-and-coming NASCAR racer. He was born in Thomasville, NC, near the major hub of the NASCAR universe. So far during his budding career, he's tackled two of the three NASCAR divisions -- the Busch Nationwide Series and the Nextel Cup Series. He is a promising young racer that is sure to be a name to follow in the coming years of this popular motorsport.
Like many racers, Vickers got his start early. After saving his allowance, Vickers bought a yard-kart when he was 8 years old. Thanks to a recommendation from a family friend, Vickers moved on to competitive go-kart racing in the World Karting Association (WKA). With all the success in the WKA, Vickers decided to move on to three-fourths scale stock cars in the Allison Legacy Cars Series. Vickers proved to be good competition in that series and soon moved on to Late Model Stock racing in NASCAR's Weekly Racing Series in 1999. Next on Vickers' to-do list -- conquer USAR Hooters ProCup Series. He did that by nabbing the Rookie of the Year award and making several impressive wins. The only obvious move from there was the NASCAR Busch Series [source: Toyota].
In the Busch Series, Vickers eventually became the youngest Busch Series champion in 2003. Vickers earned a full-time NASCAR Nextel Series spot in 2004 as the No. 25 car for the Hendrick team. Vickers, not a timid rookie, held the fastest speed that year at Richmond, checking in at 129.235 mph (207.97 kph).
He has driven the No. 83 Toyota Camry for Team Red Bull since the 2007 season. In October 2008, Brian Vickers' car was found in violation of a few NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulations. As a result of the findings of the inspection, NASCAR suspended and fined Vickers's crew chief, suspended the car chief and fined and penalized Vickers and the owner. This was only a temporary setback for Vickers and crew [source: USA Today]. Vickers remains one to watch in NASCAR.
For more information on stock car racing and related topics, visit the links on the next page.


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Quickly and easily frame your pictures and photos and turn them into Polaroid style photos with the Instant-Photo Creator Kit. The kit comes with everything you need to create great looking Polaroids. Add your own captions, accessories and and photo effects. Transform your photos into vintage pictures with the use of the vintage polaroid frame and retro photo effects.
Further Details:
- - Polaroid frames are made from vector shapes and are completely resizable.
- - Various shadows included are made from large size smart objects.
- - Easy to customize. Simple folder set-up with named layers.
- - Help File Included.
- - Images used are for preview purposes only and are not included in the download. Credit to Goran Kolacko.
What you get: A layered Photoshop file with all five Polaroid arrangements and accessories. A Photoshop ATN file to allow you to produce retro photo affects.
UPDATEChanges to version 2 include: Improved texture, improved spherical pins, addition of paper clips.
UPDATEChanges to version 3 include: Improved push pins, addition of flat pins.


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Failover Management Service Level Agreement (SLA)
|1. A preferably documented and specific expectation or constraint that describes one or more of the minimum and/or maximum performance measures, such as but not limited to quality, timeliness and/or cost, of a specific Failover Management Service and which is often part of a greater Agreement, such as a Failover Management Service Contract.
Read More
|1) The Semantic Root Noun for this term is: Failover
2) Semantically Related Terms: The "Failover Management Glossary"
3) The Failover Management Home Page covers much more about other related terms and concepts associated with this term or phrase.


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A Gallup poll released Tuesday suggests the Affordable Care Act is significantly increasing the number of Americans with health insurance, especially in states that are embracing it. It echoes previous Gallup surveys, and similar findings by the Urban Institute and Rand Corp.
In the latest survey, the percentage of uninsured Americans dropped from 18 in September 2013 to 13.4 in June 2014. States that chose to follow the health law's provisions most closely, by both expanding Medicaid and establishing their own health insurance marketplaces, saw their uninsured rate drop nearly twice as much (as a group) as states that declined those opportunities.
"So there's a clear difference in the states that have implemented those mechanisms versus those that haven't," says Gallup's Dan Witters.
Arkansas saw the biggest decline in its uninsured rate, from 22 percent to 12 percent. Kentucky, Delaware and Colorado also saw significant declines.
"To drop 10 percent in the uninsured rate within really just six months is really an incredible achievement," says Dr. Joe Thompson, Arkansas' surgeon general. Thompson lobbied for his state's unique, bipartisan Medicaid expansion, which uses federal funding to buy private insurance for people with low incomes. He says about 80 percent of those with new, private insurance in Arkansas purchased it with Medicaid subsidies.
"Those other states that have chosen not to make something good happen out of the Affordable Care Act," Thompson says, "are missing that opportunity on behalf of their citizens."
Those states include Georgia, Indiana and Mississippi, all of which saw their own rates of uninsured residents drop less than 2 percentage points.
Sam Mims, a Republican state legislator from southwest Mississippi, says the Affordable Care Act is still not the right way to go for his state.
"Access to health care is not expanding Medicaid," he says. "Mainly from a financial standpoint we simply cannot afford to expand Medicaid and we will not expand Medicaid." Mims says the Legislature is taking steps to expand access to health care, such as allocating more money to federal clinics, opening access to mental health clinics, and working on programs to get more doctors and dentists to the state.
Not all states that expanded Medicaid saw big drops in the percentage of uninsured. Massachusetts and Hawaii, for example, saw declines of less than 1 point. Witters says that's because those states already had very low rates of uninsured residents prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act. California, which fully embraced the law but has a higher number of uninsured than any other state, saw a decrease of 5.3 points in its uninsured rate, according to the survey.
The telephone poll was part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index; it included more than 178,000 people interviewed in 2013 and more than 88,000 people surveyed in the first half of 2014.
This story is part of a reporting partnership between NPR and Kaiser Health News. Additional reporting by Jeffrey Hess, of Mississippi Public Broadcasting.
Poll numbers are starting to confirm what a lot of healthcare analysts have been predicting. The number of people with health insurance in America is growing, and levels are up significantly more in states that have embraced the Affordable Care Act. Eric Whitney reports on the latest Gallup survey.
ERIC WHITNEY, BYLINE: Late last year when the healthcare.gov website was having big problems, Republican congressmen like Cory Gardner of Colorado were on the attack. Here's Gardner on MSNBC in November talking about how many people had received cancellation notices telling them their current health coverage didn't meet the law's new standards.
CONGRESSMAN CORY GARDNER: It's 250,000 people in Colorado who have lost their insurance thanks to Obamacare. The president's bill is not working, and it's time that we replace it with something that will work.
WHITNEY: Fast forward to today and the release of a new Gallup poll on the number of uninsured now. Dan Witters works for Gallup.
DAN WITTERS: Colorado's had a net decline in the uninsured as has the United States.
WHITNEY: Witters says the uninsured rate nationwide is about four and a half percent lower now versus a year ago. That was before Americans were required to have health insurance. But the Gallup poll shows a lot depends on where you live. Some states chose to impliment two of the health care law's major but optional mechanisms - to expand Medicaid and to set up their own health insurance marketplaces or exchanges.
WITTERS: Those states that have not embraced those two major mechanisms have had about half of the decline in uninsured. So there's a clear difference in the states that have implemented those mechanisms versus those who haven't.
WHITNEY: States like Mississippi, Missouri and Indiana, which are resisting the law, saw only small declines in the number of uninsured. Kentucky, California and Delaware saw larger drops. The state with the biggest reduction in the number of uninsured was Arkansas which saw a 10 percent drop. Doctor Joe Thompson is Arkansas' Surgeon General.
JOE THOMPSON: So we clearly are having an impact that benefits our citizens, and those other states that have chosen not to make something good happen out of the Affordable Care Act are missing that opportunity on behalf of their citizens.
WHITNEY: Colorado Congressman Cory Gardner declined to comment for this story. Colorado ranks fifth among states that have seen the biggest drop in the number of uninsured, according to the Gallup poll. Gardner is in a close U.S. Senate race and continues to campaign on repealing the federal health care law. Gallup and other polls show that nationwide, most Americans continue to disapprove of the law. For NPR News, I'm Eric Whitney.
BLOCK: This story is part of a reporting partnership of NPR and Kaiser Health News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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William Hunter and William Smellie commissioned a regular supply of corpses so they could study the physical effects of pregnancy, argues a respected historian
Denis Campbell, health correspondent The Observer, Sunday 7 February 2010
They are giants of medicine, pioneers of the care that women receive during childbirth and were the founding fathers of obstetrics. The names of William Hunter and William Smellie still inspire respect among today's doctors, more than 250 years since they made their contributions to healthcare. Such were the duo's reputations as outstanding physicians that the clienteles of their private practices included the rich and famous of mid-18th-century London.
But were they also serial killers? New research published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (JRSM) claims that they were. A detailed historical study accuses the doctors of soliciting the killing of dozens of women, many in the latter stages of pregnancy, to dissect their corpses.
"Smellie and Hunter were responsible for a series of 18th-century 'burking' murders of pregnant women, with a death total greater than the combined murders committed by Burke and Hare and Jack the Ripper," writes Don Shelton, a historian. "Burking" involved murdering people to order, usually for medical research.
According to Shelton, the two men were between them responsible for the murders of 35-40 pregnant women and their unborn children.
Acting separately, and using henchmen to deliver their supply, they organised a killing spree in London between 1749 and 1755 and, after a period of inactivity enforced by mounting suspicion about the source of their corpses, resumed between 1764 and 1774.
Motivated by ego, personal rivalry and a shared desire to benefit from being acclaimed as the foremost childbirth doctors of their time, Hunter and Smellie sacrificed life after life in their quests to study pregnancy's physical effects and to develop new techniques, the author says. "Although it sounds absolutely incredible, the circumstantial literary evidence suggests they were most likely competing with each other in experimenting with secret caesarean sections on unconscious, or freshly murdered, victims, with a view to extracting and reviving the babies," Shelton told the Observer.
Shelton examined the men's anatomical atlases, containing detailed images of pregnant women who had been opened up, and medical literature and the causes of death in London at the time. Glasgow's Hunterian museum and gallery is named after Scottish-born Hunter, who in 1762 became physician to Queen Charlotte, wife of George III. He helped her to deliver the future king, George IV.
Smellie, a fellow Scot, is no less distinguished. From Witchcraft to Wisdom, a textbook on the history of obstetric and gynaecological medicine, hails him as "the greatest obstetrician in the history of British obstetrics". He has also been called "the father of British midwifery".
Shelton, though, regards the duo as on a par with Burke and Hare, who murdered 17 citizens of Edinburgh in 1827 and 1828, selling their remains to a local anatomist. The London of Hunter and Smellie's time was unhealthy and semi-anarchic, and early death from disease was widespread, as was grave robbing.
In his JRSM paper, Shelton claims to prove that the rival doctors could not have obtained their supply of corpses by any other means than murder. It was rare for mothers-to-be to die or be murdered soon before they were due to give birth, says the historian. People from poorhouses who died were usually old, unwell or children. Thus the grave robbers of the time could not have fulfilled the obstetricians' need for such a specific type of female, concludes Shelton.
Each used an assistant to commission killers, he says, naming Dr Colin Mackenzie as Smellie's accomplice and John Hunter – William's brother, who was a celebrated anatomist – as his helper. Young women from the countryside were apparently favourite targets in a city where plenty of people "disappeared".
"There is great suspicion about the abundance of undelivered ninth-month corpses procured, dissected and depicted in the anatomical atlases of Smellie and Hunter," writes Shelton. "The impossibility of supply from random resurrections, taken with a careful analysis of events, and of 18th-century medical literature, shows compelling evidence for burking."
By 1755 rumours were circulating that the women in Smellie's journal had been murdered, and associates began pressing him on their origins. "As a result Smellie and Hunter both halted their research, both presumably fearing trial and execution," although Hunter – who used his links to powerful families to ensure no investigation was ever undertaken – resumed ordering murders, about once a year, in 1764, Shelton adds.
Anthony Kenny, a gynaecologist in London for 40 years until his retirement in 2007, said: "These two guys are my heroes. The idea that they could have been involved in the murder of subjects is absolutely staggering." Kenny is now the curator of the museum of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. "They were the first proper obstetricians in the country because of their pioneering work practising what was then still a new branch of medicine."
While Kenny describes Shelton's paper as "extremely impressive" in its research, he cannot believe that his heroes were guilty of such terrible crimes. The trade in corpses was very lucrative and probably attracted unsavoury, unscrupulous characters, he pointed out. "And it could be that they didn't make proper inquiries as to the origins of the bodies, and so may not have known that the women were murdered."
Ludmilla Jordanova, a professor of modern history at King's College London who specialises in the history of medicine, says Shelton's assertion that Hunter and Smellie could not have come across so many dead pregnant women from any other source as "a striking claim. Important research… is revealing the complexities of anatomical activities in 18th-century London. This is an exciting and controversial area of historical investigation, and it invites more meticulous research and judicious research."
Shelton says his research "turned out to be a bit like a thinking person's Da Vinci Code, but in this case involving facts, not fiction. Although the conclusion of burking is shocking, to quote Sherlock Holmes, 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, is the truth.'"