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Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping
Total TimePrep: 20 min. Bake: 35 min.
Makes6 servings
- 1-3/4 pounds sweet potatoes (about 3 large), peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons cold butter
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans
- Place the sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
- Drain and place in a food processor. Add the eggs, butter, milk and extracts; cover and process until smooth. Pour into a greased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish.
- In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and flour. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over sweet potato mixture; sprinkle with pecans. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until set.
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Nov 14, 2014
I make this every year but add a touch of maple syrup to the potatos and 2 tablespoons more butter to the topping. everyone loves it!!
Oct 27, 2014
It was OK but not fantastic. I liked the idea of not having sugar in the sweet potatoes but on instead. My potatoes turned out very fluffy. I will try this recipe again but not in the food processor. I will try mashing with a hand mixer. They just turned out too thin. The topping was ok but I think I would prefer melting the butter and mixing with the sugar and flour rather than cut butter for more of a crumb topping. I will also add cinnamon.
Sep 18, 2011
This recipe won everyone in my family over. Nothing else will do during the holidays now. I manage a kitchen for a summer camp, & we make this to serve 70. The Campers love it!


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Product ID Number: uk2748
NDS Pink Replacement Console Shell Product Features Mod your console today with this stylish replacement case Refresh the appearance and performance of your NDS New Replacement Clear LCD Covers. (Get rid of those nasty scratches) New Replacement buttons & rubber internal fittings All screws and new springs included. Allows your buttons to feel like new New rubber console feet Fits 1st generation of the NDS only A perfect fit for your NDS Console Quality 3rd Party Product Retail Packaged
What's in the box1 x NDS Pink Replacement Console Shell

subset: commoncrawl


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War Is Too Easy, but a Draft Is Not the Solution
Conscription won't save money. It will abridge young people's freedom.
In yesterday's New York Times, Thomas Ricks penned an op-ed calling for the draft to be reinstituted. Ricks offers that under his plan for military conscription, libertarians who object could opt out provided they don't partake of Uncle Sam's other goodies such as federally subsidized mortgages, Medicare and college loans. As a libertarian who objects to a draft but who also received an NROTC scholarship in exchange for an active-duty commission, I think that Ricks is offering conscientious objectors a raw deal.
Those opting out, of course, could not refuse to pay the taxes that are used to fund government programs. That would be great for the government—compel people to pay for services that they will never use—but it is profoundly unfair, especially to young adults.
Mr. Ricks's plan will certainly cost more money than our current all-volunteer force, especially in the near term. For example, we can expect tuition to skyrocket as soon as college administrators realize that the taxpayers are on the hook to pay for these new conscripts' secondary education. The long-term savings that Ricks anticipates from changes to the military retirement are likely to prove equally elusive; past attempts to rein in costs for military retirees, including changes to eligibility rules, have repeatedly failed. There are sensible ideas for fixing the problem, but the politics are still really tough.
A draft is unlikely to save us money, but it will certainly abridge young people's freedom. It is unfair to older adults, too, who would see their taxes rise. To add insult to injury, many older adults would see their tax dollars go to pay low-wage workers who would then be competing with them for jobs. Mr. Ricks thinks it's outrageous that a fifty-year old janitor earns $106,000 a year, plus overtime; the janitor would disagree. Others who would suddenly be forced to compete with a taxpayer-funded horde of eighteen-year-olds include day-care providers, nurses and construction workers.
Libertarians want minimal government, as Mr. Ricks claims, but his plan would dramatically expand government power, abridge individual liberty and distort the labor market. Despite his claims that the draft would be beneficial to the economy, economists long ago concluded that the all-volunteer force is superior to conscription. Conscription is a superficially great deal for the government but a net loss for the taxpayer and draftee in hidden costs and lost freedom.
I am sympathetic to Mr. Ricks's desire to avoid rushing headlong into other foolish wars. It is too easy for the United States to wage war and send resources—drones, special operations forces—to low-level conflicts. Congress has abdicated its responsibility to declare war and deficit spending kicks the monetary costs down the road. But the draft is not the answer. Instead, let's begin our search for a solution by forcing the advocates for such wars to a higher standard of proof and holding them accountable when their rosy predictions of quick success prove erroneous.


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On the heels of Microsoft open sourcing .NET, self-styled "digital delivery" firm ironSource has announced the launch of installCore for Mac. The technology is intended to give Apple Mac OS developers access to a cross-platform install option optimized for "all leading" operating systems.
Hailing from Tel Aviv, ironSource calls installCore an "installation platform", and the technology handles the distribution, delivery, and monetization of web, desktop, and mobile applications.
The company claims to enable over five million installs per day, and is set to take an even greater marketshare with this latest development.
"Today's software developers and vendors need to be able to use every platform to distribute their applications to the right users," said Sagi Bakshi, GM of installCore. "installCore was designed to ensure that developers can have their applications successfully installed by as many target users as possible, and now they are better equipped to do so."
installCore has a customizable UX and after "four years of success" (the company's own claim) with the Windows Installer, the Mac Installer was developed in just half a year.
installCore clients track performance and gain insight with real-time installation analytics and BI tools, incorporating performance data from both their Mac OS and Windows OS traffic in a single dashboard.
Leading publishers such as SourceForge have started using the new installCore installer for Mac OS and are enjoying relatively high take rates.


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Category: Business Line, Companies, Events, Lockheed Martin, Military Aviation, Northrop Grumman Corp., Press Releases, production program | RSS 2.0
Longbow LLC Delivers 400th Longbow Fire Control Radar to the U.S. Army
ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — The LONGBOW Limited Liability Company, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), marked the delivery of the 400th LONGBOW Fire Control Radar (FCR) at a ceremony held today at a Lockheed Martin facility in Orlando, FL. The combat-proven LONGBOW FCR is fielded with the U.S. Army and eight international customers.
"The LONGBOW FCR is a true battlefield force multiplier," said Col Shane Openshaw, U.S. Army program manager for Apache. "The system's advanced air and ground targeting capabilities provide critical support for ground troops while limiting the aircrew's exposure to threats."
"As operational missions change, the LONGBOW FCR continues to meet the needs of the Warfighter," said Jerry Garman, LONGBOW LLC president and director of LONGBOW programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "High system reliability and low-cost, two-level maintenance ensures the fire control solution is readily available to the Apache aviator."
"The LONGBOW FCR provides our nation's warfighters with enhanced situational awareness and actionable intelligence – critical capabilities required to engage on today's battlefield," said Steve Considine, LONGBOW LLC vice president and director of LONGBOW aviation programs at Northrop Grumman's Land and Self Protection Systems Division.
The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command awarded the initial LONGBOW FCR production contract in 1995. Work is performed at Lockheed Martin facilities in Orlando and Ocala, FL, and Northrop Grumman facilities in Baltimore, MD. Delivery of an additional 25 systems currently contracted will be complete in 2012.
For more than a decade, the LONGBOW FCR has provided Apache aircrews with target detection, location, classification and prioritization. In all weather, over multiple terrains and through any battlefield obscurant, the radar allows automatic and rapid multi-target engagement. The LONGBOW FCR integrates with the LONGBOW HELLFIRE missile, enhancing the Apache's lethality fourfold and increasing survivability sevenfold.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 133,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation's 2009 sales from continuing operations were $44.0 billion.
For additional information, visit our web sites:
SOURCE Lockheed Martin


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Ghost Rider Two Trailer
Nicolas Cage Is Seriously on Fire in the Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Trailer
The Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance trailer is really something you have to see to believe. The sequel to the 2007 action flick has Nicolas Cage reprising his role as Johnny Blaze (aka Ghost Rider), and this time he's taking on the devil, played by Ciarán Hinds, in Eastern Europe. Idris Elba and Johnny Whitworth (Empire Records alert!) also star.
Like most action trailers, Ghost Rider gives you a lot of intensity from high-speed chases, explosions, and menacing villains, but this installment really goes one step further, with a flaming Cage riding his motorcycle like he did in the first film — but this time he's doing more, uh, everyday things while on fire, too. Even if you're not planning on seeing the film, slated for release in February 2012, it's worth it to see the trailer's jarringly silly final image. Watch when you read more.


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Sunday, September 27, 2009
Watching Events
Short political rant that can safely be ignored now. Why is health care insurance (in the USA) handled essentially through employers and employment contracts? They simply don't belong to each other. The time base is wrong, the administration is wrong, the result is wrong.
End of rant!
I think a little naming context would be helpful here. This will be greatly simplified - just so that the essence is laid bare.
E is an event publisher
E has an output queue onto which itpublishes. This is called EQ
E publishes events of type V1, V2, V3 and V4. Individual events are named v1-1, (the first event of type V1), v1-2 (the second event of type V1), etc.
C1 is a consumer of events - it can consume events of type V1, V2
C2 is a Consumer of events - it can consume events of type V2, V3, V4
C3 is a consumer of events - it can consume all kinds of events.
Each consumer has an input queue - C1 has an input queue C1Q, C2 has C2Q, C3 has C3Q
The event network behaves as follows:
E publishes v1-1. The event network must transfer v1-1 to C1Q and C3Q. C1Q and C3Q. C1 and C3 are now able to process the events by reading their respective queues.
Thinking about the outcome possibilities (assuming E was successfuly able to publish) v1-1.
Both C1 and C3 receive the event v1-1
C1 receives the event v1-1, but C3 does not.
C1 does not receive the event v1-1, but C3 does
neither C1 nor C3 receive the event.
Question for the reader. Where should the responsibility lie in taking action for recognizing that one of these conditions obtains. The possibilities are:
(a) E
(b) C1
(c) C3
(d) none of the above
My answer is (d) - none of the above. It isn't any of these players' responsibility to do this. E's job was to publish the events. C1 and C3's jobs are to handle the events on behalf of their scope. But C1 and C3 are autonomous, so they can't be dealing with each others' failures.
So if it is (d), then there must be some other partcipant - yet to be identified that takes the responsibility. That something else is a proxy for the overall business policy. It needs to exist independently of everything else - and therefore needs to have the proper information fed to it.
Now imagine that C1 in some sense "fails" - it completes, but delivers an exception condition. If that condition is serious enough then something has to know. So it would be sensible C1 were to notify something of its own outcome.
Likewise C2 and C3.
So we have a kind of triplet of notifications (which expand into greater complexity for real sized problems).
E says, "I sent e1-1"
C1 says, "I got e1-1"
C1 says "I handled e1-1 with a normal result"
C3 says, "I got e1-1"
C3 says, "I couldn't do e1-1 - I failed because of a business problem."
So we could then implement a policy rule about what to do under these circumstances. That rule could of course inject new events into the "system." That however is a subject for another time.
Bottom line is that we have a three part system now for handling events. There is the standard pub/sub behavior (and don't get too hung up on the specific technologies). There is the abilty to send out content references using a mechanism that is not part of the event channel (quite RESTful really), and then there is the ability to act on non-receipt or improper handling of the event by one of the event subscribers.
A nice compact model that seperates concerns, so that the individual components can be focussed on their own responsibilities and not prying into each others' business.
A new twist on the Taj Chaat process...
restaurant will probably be intrigued on yesterday's twist.
We were buying some appetizers to go. In this case 2 samosas and an order of golgappe. Normally the process (at least for dining) is to write the items on a form, be assigned a number and given the vibrating pager to let us know when ready. Collect food, eat, check out by handing over the pager so they could locate the items to be villed from an accordian file.
For take-out, the process is very different. Again I fill out the little 2-part form. But before handing it over to central oredering, I take both parts of th3e form to the cash register. I pay for the order. Both parts of the form are stamped paid. I take the form back to central ordering where I am given the a number and a vibrator. The order is prepared, vibrator goes off and now what? I go to the station to pick up the order, but since the collection point of the vibrators is the cash register how do I return the vibrator?
This is made harder because the worker at the cash register is a different person from the one I paid. So there is no session state anywhere. I have a vibrator that has vibrated and a cashier who expects to take cash. She can't find the form parts in the accordion file.....
So why is this important?
Again seeing how non-IT organizations think about the processes that run their own businesses makes us aware that we shouldn't be overengineering. There are exceptions - things that don't follow the normal path that we just have to work around. Of course each workaround decreases efficiency, but if they are sufficiently rare, then the overall efficiency is not decreased by having work arounds. However, if the workarounds do become cumbersome, expect them to be worked on without negatively affecting the frequent path activities.
Oh, and by the way yes the golgappe and samosas were worth it! The whole bill was $6.56!
Processes and events
We chose an example from the airline industry - and from our experiences of being travelers. Not from any great insights from the internals of the business. The focus was the check in process at the airport itself.
Clearly we see interesting policies at different places and for different carriers. For example at Mumbai (at least time I went through there), they seal your bag with some kind of security strap. So it can be seen whether the bag has been tampered with. That is less common in the USA. However, at Miami International Airport when I went through a month or so ago, I saw the ability to wrap the bag in a kind of cling wrap. I presume that can be done elsewhere too. That is all by way of background.
Airlines nowadays can and do charge fees for checking baggage. All of the rules require that checked bags undergo a security check. Bags are subject to weight limits. Passengers are subject to bag limits (no more than n per passenger). Ignoring further complexity like whether actually to collect the fees (elite passengers are exempt, for example) there are some quite interesting process decisions to be made.
If the airline chooses to impose the bag fee immediately that the passenger offers the bag for checkin, then there may be some undo logic if the passenger decides not to check the bag after all. It is worse though. Imagine that the bag is too heavy. When is that discovered? For example if the passenger has checked in (and been charged) at a kiosk, then on presentation of the bag it is discovered to be too heavy so an extra collection is made - that could make the passenger decide not to check it after all, so a refund is in order. Or perhaps the passenger may decide to open it and remove some of the heavier items, and get it to the correct weight. That's fine - but what if it has already been secured with tape or wrapped in a cling wrap. Kinda tricky to undo...
Then there is security. Another opportunity for the passenger to open the bag and remove things if they should not be in checked baggage. And so it goes.
Different airlines and different jurisdictions will implement the Policies - "maximize revenue for bags", "make sure the passengers' possessions are safe", and "transport passengers safely" with different process paths. Those paths need to be orchestrated. It isn't clear how an event network will really help that orchestration. In fact I would go so far as to say it complicates it. However at each step of the various process steps (or sub-processes), it would be very useful to spit out an event that provided useful (possibly actionable) information to trigger some other behaviors.
For example, if during the security screen a weapon were found, we would expect an event to be raised to trigger a whole raft of other processes. We would be jumping outside a process domain into another domain. That of airport behaviors to criminal behaviors. So looks like a terrific event.
Even the mundane events may be interesting to somebody. That a passenger decided not to check the bag after a fee was assessed can be helpful when looking at the behavior as a whole for market and planning purposes. Opportunities for process improvement abound.
The weight of the checked luggage is also useful for "weight and balance" on the aircraft. Necessary so proper takeoff parameters can be computed, proper fuel calculations can be performed, etc. So the event raised as a result of successful baggage check-in is quite a handy event to have.
So bottom line, it seems from this (and a whole raft of other possible examples) that we will typically see events being generated as a result of a process step happening - at least when in a process.
Of course there are lots of other ways of generating events, we don't need to formalize processes so that events can be generated. Relatively random behaviors give rise to events too.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Event and Content
I set out to describe the separtion that I am seeing in VPEC-T especially around P-E-C. In my definition, I was thinking of Content as being everything about the Event. I was merrily proceeding down this path, thinking that the view was shared until Nigel spoke. We realized simultaneously that the word covered several concepts. There is the "stuff" about the event itself - the event properties like when it happened, what kind of event it is, what channel it was communicated on - essentially a kind of tag cloud for the event. I suppose in the current vernacular this might be the event meta-data. There is also the "state" that exists as a result of something doing a piece of work and generating the event. That may well need to be made available somehow. So for example, in my sales system the "event" of a sale being made has something useful like when it happened, however there is a whole lot of other information like who the parties to the sale were, what the value of the sale is, who the sales team is, what was sold... - in other word the "business document" representating the state as perceived by the event emitter.
In the Chris world, the tags (event meta data) were part of content. In the Nigel world they aren't part of content per se. Actually that is unfair, they aren't ONLY content. In other words, the event meta data can easily travel with the event. But the state information typically won't.
Reversing that point of view for a second, we get the notion that there is definitely a content "store" somewhere that the processor of the event might go to get the contents, and an event store - somewhere the event data would be stored. The content store doesn't have to be explicitly created by the event creating component, it could equally be some external source (e.g. a weather forecast). The event store's job is to store the events (duh) so that they can be replayed for a variety of reasons:
- An event processor has been out of the loop for a hour and wants to catch up "get me all the sales events for the last hour"
- A simulation wants to be done using some "live" state. What would the impact be if we had decided to close this airport at 2pm yesterday? So inject a new event into the event store and then replay forward with the existing events after that point. Of course there will quickly be diversion from the reality as processed, but that is OK. We have been able to run the simulation with a known starting point
Considering the second bullet above, it is quite convenient to use the same semantics for processing "missed events" as for processing the events in real time. Kind of rule - never pass the content with the event, always pass a reference to content, but make sure that the event tag (meta-) data do come with the event. Make the event store readable so that the event sender isn't responsible for hanging on to the event, and having to remember who has received it and who hasn't
At the end of our time together on this call we were, as expected, in agreement that for a proper separation of concerns, we should treat content as being the state data and the event store as being the place where the events and associated metadat are stored to allow for retries and simulations (among other things).
The Policy part of the call will come next.....


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I've been searching through old, unanswered (i.e. zero answers) in the ``mysql-error-1064` tag (just as an example), and I've across several questions that:
- have been answered in the comments
- could be answered by making an assumption or two
- could be flagged as poor-quality questions.
If I'm confident of a solution to a question like this, is it acceptable to answer the question to the best of my ability, or simply leave it alone? I would prefer not to make assumptions about what the OP intended, but in questions like this one, the answer in the comments seems to have interpreted the error message well enough to solve the problem.
How should I approach this? If I post an answer detailing the content of the comments, that reputation shouldn't belong to me (in my opinion) but I still feel the question should be answered. Other discussions about a similar issue don't fully answer my question because I'm specifically referring to old questions. Should I still flag old questions, or forgo it to prevent the flag queue from building up?
EDIT: One possible example of this would be this question, since the answer was basically already in the question and comments. It's not a great example and perhaps not completely necessary, but I marked the answer as community wiki so it can be edited, deleted, etc. as seen fit.


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caste [Port., casta=basket], ranked groups based on heredity within rigid systems of social stratification, especially those that constitute Hindu India. Some scholars, in fact, deny that true caste systems are found outside India. The caste is a closed group whose members are severely restricted in their choice of occupation and degree of social participation. Marriage outside the caste is prohibited. Social status is determined by the caste of one's birth and may only rarely be transcended. Certain religious minorities may voluntarily constitute a quasi-caste within a society, but they are less apt to be characterized by cultural distinctiveness than by their self-imposed social segregation. A specialized labor group may operate as a caste within a society otherwise free of such distinctions (e.g., the ironsmiths in parts of Africa). In general, caste functions to maintain the status quo in a society.
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- Castes in India
- Bibliography
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Anthropology: Terms and Concepts


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Showing the single result
Product categories
- Adult Section
- Chocolate Boxes
- Cone Bags
- Event Favors
- Featured Event
- Fruit
- Gift Baskets
- Hand Crafted
- Holidays
- No Sugar Added
- Nuts
- Specialty Products
Chocolate of the Month Club
The panning method is used almost exclusively at Chocolate FX as the 'gold standard' of artisan excellence in chocolate making.
Chocolate FX has it
Whether you're looking for a gift basket, event favors, coated nuts or fruits, a cream-filled favorite, or just browsing to get ideas. We can even customize your order or work with you on a unique idea of your own.


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The Central Connecticut softball team blasted six runs in the top of the sixth inning to claim their eighth-straight win on Sunday afternoon over Bryant in game one of a doubleheader in Smithfield, RI before dropping game two 7-2.
With the split, the Blue Devils record moves to 21-12 (7-3 NEC) while Bryant closes the weekend at 22-15 (8-2 NEC).
Junior Laura Messina pitched both games for CCSU for the second day in a row. She tallied eight strikeouts in game one while allowing five hits and just one earned run. In game two, she added eight strikeouts, allowed nine hits and walked two. She closes the weekend with a 17-9 record.
Game #1
Central put the first run on the board in the top of the second on an RBI bunt from sophomore Evie Rentzel, only to be tied up again in the bottom of the inning on a CCSU throwing error.
Bryant took the lead in the bottom of the fourth on a lead-off homer from Elle Madsen making it 2-1 Bulldogs.
The Blue Devils responded in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Eileen Purcell. Purcell drove in freshman Alexis Debrosse, who singled up the middle, to tie the game 2-2 before CCSU broke the game open in the sixth.
Central posted seven hits and six runs leaving just one on base in the sixth with a two-out rally sparked by a Tessa Brown single up the middle to drive in sophomore Hannah Cooper, who singled. Junior Kat Malcolm blasted a two-run single to left field before Purcell singled down the right field line to bring home another. Freshman Sarah Drazin wrapped it up with a double to right center to score Purcell and Malcolm.
CCSU added two additional runs in the top of the seventh to clinch the win.
Central posted 17 hits in 38 at bats while leaving 11 on base and committing two errors. The Bulldogs notched just five hits in 25 at bats, leaving six on base and registering one error.
Blue Devil offensive leaders included Malcolm with three hits, one run and three RBI along with Cooper (three hits, two runs) and senior Arielle Bruno (three hits, two runs). Each member of the CCSU squad registered at least one hit in game one.
Game #2
Bryant rebounded in game two for a 7-2 win over the Blue Devils. CCSU got on the board first in the top of the second on a single through the left side by freshman Sami Duffy. Duffy drove in Malcolm who reached base on error.
Bryant scored three in the bottom of the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.
CCSU added one more in the top of the sixth before Bryant exploded in the bottom of the inning for four more to seal the game.
Sophomore Evie Rentzel lead CCSU on offense going 3-for-3 at the plate. Cooper added two more.
The Blue Devils posted eight hits in 29 at bats leaving seven on base while the Bulldogs registered nine hits in 28 at bats, leaving nine on base. CCSU tallied three errors compared to one for Bryant.
Central returns to action this Friday, April 18 when they travel to Saint Francis U for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.


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The soul, the immaterial "breath of life", was originally thought (I believe) to be where most of our thoughts, feelings, and personality originate. However, a lot of the functions of the brain, like cognitive thoughts, aggressiveness, generosity, attribution of your actions as being self initiated, and happiness have been shown to either have a biological basis or correlates. A lot of these functions overlap with what I would have attributed with being the immaterial soul.
For example, I would have thought that trust would be something that would originate in the soul, however, oxytocin can make someone more trusting. It also seems to play an important part of maternal love and long-term relationships. Morality is also attributed to the soul, but alcohol can inhibit moral actions. I don't see how alcohol can make it more difficult to be moral, unless there is some biological component of being moral. Perhaps, only the conscience is a part of the soul, but acting on the conscience is either a function of the physical brain or a close collaboration between the soul and the physical brain? Also, attributing an action (such as your hand moving) as being self-initiated versus involuntarily initiated (such as uncontrolled shaking of the hand) seems to rely on subcortical areas and people with schizophrenia (presumably a biological disorder) are unable to correctly attribute their actions to themselves. I would have thought that the soul be able to distinguish actions that it initiated? Or does the soul even responsible for initiating conscious actions?
Are there Christian scholars who propose ideas of the different roles that our biological brain and souls play and how do they interact?
Note 1: This question may challenge your preconceived notions of the soul, but it does not challenge the idea that there might be an immaterial soul. I'm just curious about details of such conjectures; detailed to the extent that they might form testable hypotheses. Some of which will inevitably be wrong, there is nothing wrong with this.
Note 2: While the soul may be immaterial, if it affects the biological brain, then it is at least theoretically possible to study it with science. For example, gravity still remains a black box to us. There are hypotheses (such as the graviton), but we don't really know. But this has not prevented us from studying the effects of gravity and learning a lot from it. Likewise, behaviorists treated organisms as a black box, but that didn't prevent them from making a lot of discoveries about learning.


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HERMES Scheduler allows to manage, distribute and report field force schedules.
With HERMES Scheduler, a remote call center or a manager can schedule optimized appointments more efficiently. The user friendly interface simplifies the scheduling process and allows to collect all technical or sales information required for a successful customer meeting.
When connected to WEBFLEET, the tasks are automatically sent to the field force navigation devices and the planning is updated in real time according to the progress of the tour.
Nomattitude provides innovative software solution to manage, distribute and report field force schedules, with matching location based services and scheduling technologies.


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Space-Saving, Stackable Incubator Shakers
I 26 and Refrigerated I 26R
Eppendorf now offers two new space-saving incubator shakers. Based on the design concepts of the industry leading Innova® Shaker Series, the new I 26 and refrigerated I 26R offer excellent performance, value priced.
These advanced shakers feature NBS' Innova Triple-Eccentric Drive for dependable operation under even the most extreme conditions. Each I 26 shaker is independently controlled, so you can vary temperature, speed and agitation. Heavy-duty construction ensures that units can be safely stacked without vibration.
NBS' I 26 Shakers can be stacked up to three units high in about the same space normally occupied by a single shaker! As configured above, two shakers on a medium-height base.
• Dynamic Speed and Temperature Range for culturing shear-sensitive cells as well as robust bacterial cultures. Temperature from 5°C above ambient to 60°C for I 26 and from 15°C below ambient for I 26R. Speed 25 to 400 RPM with a 1" (2.5 cm) diameter orbit.
• Microprocessor Control to Regulate Speed, Temperature and Running Time. Timer can be set up to 99.9 hours or operate continuously.
• Audible and Visual Alarms alert user of setpoint deviations. Audible alarm may be muted.
• User-Friendly Keypad with Large Display. Easy to enter setpoints and view operating conditions. Display is clearly visible from all angles, across the room and in all lighting conditions.
• Smooth and Quiet Running for a more favorable work environment.
• Cool-Running Brushless Motors never require lubrication and provide years of long life.
• Large (18" x 30") Interchangeable Accessory Platforms slide out easily while accommodating a wide range of accessories and flasks up to 2.8 liters.
• Powerful Fan and Heater provide rapid heat up and temperature recovery after door opening.
• RS232 Interface for Data Logging directly to your PC.
• Sub Platform Protects Components by deflecting liquid from accidental spills.
• Comprehensive Warranty - Two years on parts and labor.
• Celtus Certified - Meets CSA, UL and CE standards.
• Platforms, Clamps and Racks sold separately.
• Stacking Kit - Used to join two shakers. One kit required for two shakers. Two kits required for stacking three shakers.
• Bases - Used to raise height for easier access.
o Short Base - recommended for three shakers.
o Medium Base - recommended for two shakers.
o Tall Base - recommended for one shaker.
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Former prosecutor charged in wrongful conviction case
Prosecutor accused of concealing evidence that sent Austin man to prison for 25 years in death of wife
GEORGETOWN - A former district attorney acted improperly when he prosecuted an innocent man who spent nearly 25 years in prison, a Texas judge ruled Friday as he ordered the former prosecutor's arrest on criminal contempt and tampering charges.
Ken Anderson was in the courtroom as Judge Louis Sturns issued his ruling and turned himself in afterward. Sturns said there was sufficient evidence that Anderson was guilty on all three charges brought against him for his handling of the case against Michael Morton: criminal contempt of court, tampering with evidence and tampering with government records.
"Mr. Anderson consciously chose to conceal the availability of the exculpatory evidence so he could convict Mr. Morton for murder," Sturns said. "This court cannot think of a more intrinsically harmful act than a prosecutor's intentional choice to hide evidence so as to convict a defendant facing a murder charge and a life sentence."
Morton, 58, was released from prison in October 2011 after new DNA tests showed he did not fatally beat his wife, Christine, in their north Austin home in 1986. Another man has been arrested for the killing. Anderson, who has been a judge in Williamson County since 2002, has apologized to Morton for what he called failures in the system but said he believes there was no misconduct in the case.
Plans to appeal
Anderson sat motionless as Sturns issued his ruling, leaning forward on his elbows. He then surrendered at the courthouse, where he now serves as an elected district court judge. Anderson's lawyer, Eric Nichols, said he plans to appeal the decision and said he believes the judge overstepped his authority.
Morton, dressed in a gray sport jacket, listened intently to the proceedings.
"I don't want Ken Anderson's head on a stick, and that's true, but the system is going to do what it's going to do," he said. "We can't change the past, but we can prevent this from happening again."
Attorney Rusty Hardin, who served as the fact-finder in the Court of Inquiry, said Sturns granted Anderson $2,500 bond on each count. No trial date was set.
The special court is a rarely used hearing that is held when officials or public servants are accused of wrongdoing. The process is similar to a grand jury proceeding, but people can defend themselves against the evidence presented.
Evidence kept away
During the weeklong Court of Inquiry, the special prosecutor, Hardin, presented witness testimony and other evidence to show Anderson kept evidence from Morton's attorneys at his trial.
Among the evidence Morton's attorneys claim was kept from them were statements from Morton's then-3-year-old son, who witnessed the murder and said his father wasn't responsible, and interviews with neighbors who told authorities they saw a man park a green van close the Morton home and walk into a nearby wooded area before the slaying.
In a videotaped deposition played during the Court of Inquiry, Anderson said he couldn't remember if he had evidence at the time of the trial that could have cleared Morton, but if he had had such material, he would have turned it over to the defense team.
Bloody bandanna
The new DNA tests, which were conducted on a bloody bandanna found near the Mortons' home, pointed to another suspect, Mark Alan Norwood, who was arrested for the killing in November 2011 and found guilty of murder in March. Norwood also has been indicted in the 1988 slaying of a woman who lived near the Mortons.
Anderson also is being sued by the State Bar of Texas for his conduct in the Morton case.


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French toccatas
I sometimes get so caught up in a piece of music that I listen to is several times per day for weeks. My most recent obsession is a toccata by the French composer Maurice Durufle. I have a Virgil Fox recording to play in the car but really prefer it played here on Youtube by a young, new organist named Nathan Laube.
The strange thing about this recording is that it is not made in a cathedral, as it seems. Instead, it is an organ that has been outfitted with the sounds of a great French pipe organ and is here played...in a living room. Note the feet of the people on the right.
And yet the sound is mighty.
This piece ("songs" are ditties people sing, works like this are "pieces") is angry, cacophonous and emphatic. I could listen to it all day for its sheer raw power.
The sounds here are stolen from one of the Cavaille-Coll organs in France. Cavaille-Coll organs were so excellent, so revolutionary, that they actually shaped organ composition rather than the other way around. The above tocatta would not have been composed if the Cavaille-Coll instruments had not been built, just as Chopin's works would not have been written if he hadn't the luxury of the modern piano (a luxury not afforded Beethoven, Bach, and even Mozart).
Here, perhaps for the second time on this blog, is a more popular piece, also a French tocatta, this one by Charles Marie Vidor. It, too, was written in response to the instrument Cavaille-Coll made available to the composer, a master work that produces a growling sound which, unless called into being by Mr. Cavaille-Coll, would never have entered the human experience.
I hope the organ manual (keyboard) on this organ has electronic assist to help pull the key down. Otherwise, the sheer strength it would take to open up to twenty or more pipes with each finger stroke would prevent most people from ever hoping to play this piece at full volume. There is an organ in St. Paul, MN which sounds great, but which has no electronic assist in a stupid attempt to keep it historically authentic. The organist is a slight female of great accomplishment, but she lacks the bulk to play the Vidor tocatta with all the stops pulled without lifting herself off the bench.
OR, if you want to indulge in even more emphatic, angry modernity than the Durufle toccata, here is Messaien's legendary Dieu Parme Nous played on the same organ. I can't resist posting this piece again in case it snags just one person. Modern classical music can be eye- and ear-opening. But you've got to be patient with it.


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EVENT DATE: Nov 06, 2016
To raise awareness and funds for Bright Pink, Studio Three is excited to partner with the charity to host a challenge on Sunday, November 6 from 6 - 10am at the studio's location in River North. The 80 kilometer challenge is designed to be a fun and full-body workout that utilizes all three studios. Studio Three members and non-members are invited to sign-up for the challenge by forming teams of threes. A total of 39 teams can sign-up for the challenge and are encouraged to raise between $350-$500 in order to participate (for a great cause!).
Each studio/station will host a 45- to 50-minute challenge: rowing in the Yoga studio, cycling in the Peloton studio, and running in the Interval studio. Participants will have 10 minutes between each station to hydrate and get ready for the next challenge. Some fun activities will be set-up on Studio Three's main level for teams to engage with. Teams will be tracked on a leaderboard on the main level. The teams who complete the challenges in the fastest amount of time will win a prize! For full details, please see below.
The 80KM challenge is broken out in following manner:
- 10KM row in the Yoga studio (the equivalent of 10,000 meters)
- 10KM run in the Interval studio (the equivalent of ~6 miles)
- 60KM cycling class in the Peloton studio (the equivalent of ~1,000 combined team output)
Participants will be asked to arrive at 6 a.m. for registration at Studio Three.
Our sample timeline is below (please note that each studio will host 13 teams during each challenge, so 13 teams will start in Yoga for rowing, 13 teams in Interval for running, 13 teams in Cycle for the ride, and move to the next station/studio from that start point).
The timeline is as follows:
- 6 a.m. - Registration begins at Studio Three
- 6:30 a.m. - Teams arrive at the Yoga studio on the upper-level
- 6:45 a.m. - Introductions and challenge overview, along with a 15-minute stretch led by a Studio Three instructor
- 7 a.m. - Teams begin in the Yoga studio on the rowers and challenge commences
- 8 a.m. - Teams take a 45-minute Cycling class in the Peloton studio
- 9 a.m. - Teams end the challenge in the Interval studio
- 10 a.m. - Challenge ends and winning teams are announced


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I am pretty certain that my 8 year old daughter is ADD. I am not sure about getting her tested because of all the stress she has been under lately with the school testing her for pull out help. They are pulling herout of class 2 times a week for 30 minutes (a joke) to help her with comprehension. My daugter has troublewith:
Paying attention, sitting still, staying on task, very insecure, no confidence and can never complete herschool work. She is very slow and really struggles with school. She has a brother (4 years old) withautism. She has alot of bladder infections and took her to a childrens specialist and they said she hasa high count of calcium in her urine. We are limiting her calcium intake to 100 mg. a day. I wonder ifthis is a sign of food allergies. She is such a special little girl but has a problem with weight gain (only inher stomach). My speech therapist that works with my son is working with her now and trying to help her.She thinks since my daughter is so sensitive that I should not do any more testing on her and she willtry to help her. Not sure if giving her the label (ADD) is the right thing.
I was wondering if anyone could give me advise on food allergies. Her brother is on a GF/CF diet and is doing great on it (really has helped him). When I talk to her about this diet she cries and begs me toplease not make her do this diet. She loves dairy products (milk, icecream, cheese and cottage cheese).
Would love some advice if this calcium in her urine is a indicationg of possible food allergies.
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Baby outfit Winter time pistacchio green
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Clinical outfit in extra soft chenille to the touch. Material: 80% cotton 20% polyamide. Pistachio green colour.
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Read in the following articles and clinical cases how CLEARstent supports interventional cardiology procedures.
- CLEARstent - A Useful Tool Not Only to Document Stent Expansion 0.9 MB
- Clear Visualization of Stent Placement with CLEARStent 0.9 MB
- Evaluation of In-stent Restenosis Using CLEARstent 0.8 MB
- New Tools to Enhance Stent Visualization 0.1 MB
- Stent Deformation in Bifurcation Stenting with Final Kissing Balloon Inflation 0.9 MB
- A Powerful Combination for Coronary Interventions 1.2 MB
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We've written numerous times about Scott Turow during his time as head of the Author's Guild, and the amazing thing to me is that despite the fact he's been getting blistering criticism from a variety of people -- including tons of authors -- he never, ever seems to even acknowledge the points of his critics, but continues to just say the same debunked crap over and over again. Last week, for example, we did a point-by-point debunking of his error-laden, factually inaccurate and totally misleading op-ed in which he argued that pretty much everything on the internet was harming authors. I was gratified to see our debunking picked up widely -- with many of the tweets in support of our response coming from authors (including a few best selling authors). It made me wonder what sort of organization Turow is running.
Best selling author Barry Eisler penned an interesting response to Turow on JA Konrath's blog, in which he pointed out that Turow's position has consistently been in favor of "Legacy Publishing," (i.e., the big five publishers in NY) rather than authors. A similar reply from author David Gaughran pointed out that Turow seems to be so focused on propping up the legacy publishers that he directly called for an antitrust investigation into price-fixing by those publishers to be dropped, regardless of the facts of the case. Yes, even though such price fixing would harm authors, Turow immediately sided with the publishers. Incredible.
But, perhaps more telling is how the Authors Guild has now completely shut itself off from the outside world. Gaughrin also notes that right before Turow's NYT op-ed, he had also published a silly blog post about Amazon buying Goodreads, and got torn apart in the comments for the post. But if you look at the Author's Guild blog post about the NYT's oped, you'll see there are no comments and that "comments for this thread are now closed." Eisler notes that it was not always this way. In fact, he had submitted a comment to the blog post, apparently with a link to my piece, saying:
"That Scott Turow refuses to respond to this demolition of his facts, his knowledge of the law, and even his baseline logic tells you all you need to know about his integrity. And about the true function of the "Authors Guild" of which he is president."Eisler received notification that his comment was "awaiting moderation," but obviously that comment never ran, and instead, the Authors Guild shut down comments entirely. It appears that not only are they unwilling to respond to the large number of authors who are complaining about how ridiculous Turow's position is, they also want to stick their hands over their eyes and ears to pretend it's not even happening. That's not leadership. That's cowardice.
In the meantime, even the libraries are punching back. The American Library Association responded to Turow, "taking issue" with his op-ed and pointing out how Turow is wrong about libraries and about the law.
The failure to respond speaks volumes. And it says that the Authors Guild does not represent authors at all, but rather the legacy publishers, and a very small number of authors who succeeded under the old system. Turow's actions have done massive damage to the perception and credibility of the Authors Guild. And the Guild's decision to stop hearing from critics, especially authors, is quite telling about how it views the world. It's amazing any modern author thinks it's worthwhile to be a member of such an organization.
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Double-Sided 4 x 9" Seed Paper Gift Certificates
Not only will someone appreciate the thoughtful gift certificate they received, but also the added gift of flowers it will grow. Once they spend it, just mark it or tear it in half and give it back to them to grow. Simply send us your gift certificate codes and custom full color artwork, and we'll print everything directly onto the seed paper.
Pricing includes up to 30% ink coverage. Please note that if your design exceeds this, a price increase may apply.
Size: 4 x 9 inches
Wildflower Seed Mix: Grows a blend of colorful wildflowers including Bird's Eye, Clarkia, Black Eyed Susan, Sweet Alyssum, Catchfly and Snapdragon.
Artwork Set-up Fee: $50
Shipping: The standard lead time for promo orders is 5-10 business days from proof approval.
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Make sure to include planting instructions in your artwork. For details on file set-up, please download the artwork guidelines or contact us for more information.
Variable data imprint, rounded corners and other seed types available for additional charge. Contact us for details.
Planting Instructions
Plant seed paper under 1/8" of soil. Water thoroughly. Place in a sunny corner and keep moist during germination.
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Overview of Otitis Externa
Otitis externa is inflammation of the external ear canal distal to the tympanic membrane; the ear pinna may or may not be involved. It may be acute or chronic and unilateral or bilateral. It is one of the most common reasons for small animals to be presented to the veterinarian. Clinical signs can include any combination of headshaking, odor, pain on manipulation of the ear, exudate, and erythema. It can be seen in rabbits (in which it is usually due to the mite Psoroptes cuniculi) and is uncommon in large animals.
Etiology and Classification System:
Causes of otitis externa are now defined as primary or secondary, with factors that contribute to or promote disease. It is also standard of care to determine whether the cause is curable or lifelong management is required. Primary causes of otitis externa are those that create disease in a normal ear. They can cause otitis without any other cause or factor and can be subtle; they often go unrecognized by owners and veterinarians until secondary causes develop. Primary factors alter the ear environment, which allows secondary infections to develop. The major primary causes of otitis externa are allergy, autoimmune (eg, pemphigus), endocrine, epithelialization disorders, foreign bodies, glandular disorders, immune-mediated (eg, drug reactions), fungal (eg, aspergillosis), parasites, viral (eg, canine distemper), and miscellaneous (auricular chondritis, eosinophilic diseases, juvenile cellulitis, proliferating necrotitizing otitis of cats). Secondary causes are those that cause disease in an abnormal ear. These causes are relatively easy to eliminate and include bacteria, fungi, medication reactions, overcleaning, and yeast overgrowth.
Factors are elements related to the disease or pet that contribute to or promote the otitis externa by altering the structure, function, or physiology of the ear canal. Factors are subdivided into predisposing factors, which are present before the development of the ear disease, and perpetuating factors, which occur as a result of the inflammation. Predisposing factors include conformation of the ear, excessive moisture, obstruction of the ear canal (eg, polyp, feline apocrine cystadenomatosis), primary otitis media (eg, primary secretory otitis media, otitis media due to neoplasia or respiratory disease), systemic diseases (eg, catabolic states), and treatment effects (eg, alterations of normal microflora, trauma from cleaning). Perpetuating factors include changes in the ear epithelium (eg, failure of migration), ear canal (eg, edema, stenosis, proliferation), tympanic membrane (eg, dilated, ruptured), glandular (eg, sebaceous hyperplasia), pericartilaginous fibrosis (eg, calcification), and middle ear (eg, filled with debris, otitis media). This system is currently referred to as the PSPP classification system. A prognosis should be given for otitis externa. Curable means that the component of the problem is readily resolved with treatment (for weeks) or via surgery. Longterm management indicates that the component of the ear problem may be resolvable, but it can take months of treatment. Lifelong treatment indicates that the owner will need to play an active role in management for the life of the pet.
Clinical Findings and Diagnosis:
There is no recognized sex distribution for otitis externa. Young animals may be more commonly affected. There are clear breed predispositions for otitis, which directly reflect the breed predispositions for skin disease (eg, allergies in retrievers and terriers). The most common historical findings are headshaking and aural pruritus.
The first step in physical examination is determination of the severity of pain. This can be done by gentle palpation or petting of the animal. If the ear is painful or the degree of discomfort is high, the animal should be sedated before performing any further diagnostic testing. The second step is gentle palpation and manipulation of the ear canal and pinna to determine the presence of swelling, pruritus, fibrosis, or calcification. The presence or absence of these findings will help determine whether advanced diagnostics are needed, specifically imaging of the ear canal. Next, the outside of the ear should be examined, noting erythema, edema, crusts, scale, ulcers, lichenification, hyperpigmentation, or exudate. The pinnae and periauricular regions should be examined for evidence of self-trauma, erythema, and primary and secondary skin lesions. Pinnal deformities, hyperplastic tissue in the canal, and headshaking suggest chronic otic discomfort. If the otitis is unilateral, the unaffected ear should be examined first to prevent iatrogenic contamination of the unaffected ear with organisms (eg, Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Proteus mirabilis) that may be present in the diseased ear. The unaffected ear may, in fact, be diseased, meaning that the differential diagnosis list should also include causes of bilateral otitis.
Otoscopic examination is often not possible because the ear is painful, swollen, or filled with exudate; sedation is usually required. Swelling of the ear canal often makes it impossible to see the tympanic membrane. A handheld otoscope must have enough light and magnification to clearly visualize the external canal to the level of the tympanic membrane. Disposable otoscopic ear cones are recommended, because studies have demonstrated contamination of cones. Handheld otoscopes are available with a variety of heads, including magnification options and surgical operating heads, that allow for visualization of the ear canal while inserting another instrument. The surgical head is used when biopsies, foreign body removal, or deep flush of the canal is anticipated.
A video otoscope provides magnifcation of the ear canal and tympanic membrane. Most have a working channel through which biopsy instruments, catheters for flushing debris from the canal, and laser tips can be passed. Video otoscopes allow visualization through water and saline to determine the integrity of the tympanic membrane and to facilitate sampling and culture of the middle ear.
During an otoscopic examination, the ear canal should be inspected for changes in diameter, pathologic changes in the skin, quantity and type of exudate, parasites, foreign bodies, neoplasms, and changes in the tympanic membrane. The tympanic membrane should be examined for evidence of disease or rupture. However, in many cases of otitis, the character of the ear canal and tympanic membrane cannot be visualized at all until the exudate is gently flushed from the canal. Samples for cytologic evaluation and culture should be obtained before the ear is flushed. Examination is attempted again after the ear is dried. In chronic cases, the canal may be too stenotic, either from hyperplasia or edema, to be examined. Systemic glucocorticoids given daily for 1 wk may reduce swelling enough to allow examination.
If sedation is not needed, samples for ear diagnostic tests should be collected: skin cytology from the external and inner pinnae, cytology of any exudates present, hair trichograms and skin scrapings for Demodex, and ear swab cytology with mineral oil in young and adult animals (especially cats, because feline demodicosis can present as pruritic otitis). Wood's lamp examinations need to be done with care, keeping in mind that the key color is apple-green fluorescense and that sebum can glow yellow. Dermatophytosis affects the hair of the pinnae and hairs in the concave surface of the ear canal.
Cytologic evaluation of exudate or cerumen taken from the horizontal ear canal may provide immediate diagnostic information. The external ear canals of most dogs and cats harbor small numbers of commensal gram-positive cocci. These organisms may become pathogenic if the microenvironment is changed and encourages their overgrowth. Exudate obtained with a cotton-tipped applicator can be rolled onto a glass slide, stained with a 3-step quick stain or modified Wright's stain, and examined under a microscope. (A study has shown that heat fixing is not necessary for ear swab cytology.) Smears should be examined microscopically under 4x, 10x, and oil immersion to look for numbers and morphology of keratinocytes, bacteria, yeasts, and WBCs; evidence of phagocytosis of microorganisms; fungal hyphae; and acantholytic or neoplastic cells.
A stained smear can quickly determine whether microbial overgrowth is present. Coccal organisms are usually staphylococci or streptococci. Rod-shaped organisms are usually Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, or Proteus mirabilis; their appearance in large numbers indicates that a bacterial culture with antibiotic sensitivity should be performed because of their known resistance to many antimicrobial agents. The presence of many neutrophils phagocytizing bacteria confirms the pathogenic nature of the organisms.
The yeast Malassezia pachydermatis is found in low numbers in the ear canals of many healthy dogs and cats. Because yeasts colonize the surface of the ear canal, they are most easily found adhered to clumps of exfoliated squamous epithelial cells. M pachydermatis is identified readily on microscopic examination and its numbers easily assessed. There is no specific number that indicates yeast overgrowth. The key determining factor is whether the ears are pruritic. In addition, if previous treatment did not include antifungal therapy and if otitis externa is recurrent, antifungal therapy is warranted.
A dark exudate in the canal usually signals the presence of either Malassezia spp or a parasite but may also be seen with a bacterial or mixed infection. In addition to stained cytology, otic exudate should be examined for eggs, larvae, or adults of the ear mite Otodectes cynotis and for Demodex mites in dogs and cats, and Psoroptes cuniculi in rabbits and goats. Smears are made by combining cerumen and otic discharge with a small quantity of mineral oil on a glass slide. A coverglass should be used, with the smear examined under low-power magnification. Rarely, refractory ceruminous otitis externa may be associated with localized proliferation of Demodex sp in the external ear canals of dogs and cats and may be the only area on the body affected.
Microbial cultures are taken before otoscopy is completed and before any cleaning is done. Samples for culture should be taken with a sterile culturette from the horizontal canal (the region where most infections arise) or from the middle ear in cases of tympanic rupture. A bacterial culture and antibiotic sensitivity and an antibiotic mean inhibitory concentration should be done.
Histopathologic changes associated with chronic otitis externa are often nonspecific. Histopathologic evidence of a hypersensitivity response may support a recommendation for intradermal allergy testing or for a hypoallergenic diet trial. In addition, biopsies from animals with chronic, obstructive, unilateral otitis externa may reveal whether neoplastic changes are present.
Radiography of the osseous bullae is indicated when proliferative tissues prevent adequate visualization of the tympanic membrane, when otitis media is suspected as a cause of relapsing bacterial otitis externa, and when neurologic signs accompany otitis externa. Fluid densities and proliferative or lytic osseous changes provide evidence of middle ear involvement. Unfortunately, radiographs are normal in many otitis media cases. CT or MRI, if available, should be performed for cases of severe, chronic otitis.
Key to treatment is a discussion with the owner regarding the suspected or known cause of the otitis externa, whether the otitis is curable, and whether treatment must be longterm for resolution or lifelong management will be required. All primary and secondary causes and predisposing factors need to be identified, managed, and treated. Management of pain or pruritus must be included in the initial treatment protocol. Tramadol for the first 5–7 days at 5 mg/kg, PO, tid, may be especially beneficial. In addition, otitis externa is one of the few dermatologic conditions in which glucocorticoids are beneficial in the face of concurrent antimicrobial use or sepsis. Glucocorticoids decrease swelling of the ear canal and may be key to successful treatment. Prednisone or triamcinolone is used most commonly. Duration depends on the severity. Ear hygiene is important; in particular, the hair from the pre- and periauricular area should be clipped, as well as hair from the surface of the inner pinnae and ends of the ears. This facilitates cleaning and treatment of the ears. Plucking of hair from the ear canal is controversial but may be needed to adequately resolve the ear infection. Hair plucking is painful and should be done under anesthesia.
The first ear cleaning should be done in the veterinary clinic, and owners should be instructed not to clean the ears until recheck in 5–7 days. Owners are often unable to clean the ears and/or are too aggressive, causing further damage. Owners should initally focus on administration of topical and/or systemic drugs and can begin to clean the ears after the first recheck and if the otitis is resolving. It is important to remember that topical medications are inactivated by exudates, and excessive cerumen may prevent medications from reaching the epithelium. The ears should be gently cleaned with an ear cleaner that will remove the debris in the canal. Thick, dry, or waxy material requires a ceruminolytic solution such as carbamide peroxide or dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DSS). If rods are seen, the ear cleaner should contain squalene, because one possible cause is Pseudomonas, which can produce a biofilm that protects bacteria from antibiotics. The ears should be thoroughly rinsed with warm water to remove residual ear cleaner. If the tympanic membrane is ruptured, detergents and DSS are contraindicated; milder cleansers (eg, saline, saline plus povidone iodine, Tris EDTA) should be used to flush the ear.
Effective treatment may require both topical and systemic antimicrobial therapy, along with pain medications and glucocorticoids.The duration of treatment may vary from 7–10 days to >30 days, depending on the diagnosis. In treatment of acute bacterial otitis externa, antibacterial agents in combination with corticosteroids reduce exudation, pain, swelling, and glandular secretions. The least potent corticosteroid that will reduce the inflammation should be used (see Corticosteroids).
Most commercial topical products contain a combination of antibiotic/antifungal and glucocorticoids. The volume of the ear canal in most dogs is 1 mL, and adequate treatment requires instillation of at least this volume twice daily. Products with an aqueous base or those that have a thin film should be used; ointments are to be avoided.
Irritating medications (eg, home remedies and vinegar dilutions) should be avoided. They cause swelling of the lining of the ear canal and an increase in glandular secretions, which predispose to opportunistic infections. Substances that are usually not irritating in normal ear canals may cause irritation in an ear that is already inflamed. This is particularly true of propylene glycol. Powders, such as those used after plucking hair from the canal, can form irritating concretions within the ear canal and should not be used.
Systemic therapy should be incorporated into the treatment regimen in most cases of chronic otitis and in any case in which otitis media is suspected. The most common cause of recurrent otitis externa is undiagnosed otitis media. Failure to use systemic antimicrobial therapy is an important cause of chronic ear disease in dogs. Systemic antibiotics should be used when neutrophils or rod-type bacteria are found on cytology, in cases of therapeutic failure with topical antimicrobial agents, in chronic recurring ear infections, and in all cases of otitis media. (Also see Systemic Pharmacotherapeutics of the Integumentary System.) Yeast infections in dogs can be treated with oral ketoconazole 5 mg/kg/day, PO, for 15–30 days. Ketoconazole should not be used in cats; itraconazole 2–3 mg/kg/day for 15–30 days or one week on/one week off is recommended.
Duration of treatment will vary depending on the individual case but should continue until the infection is resolved based on reexamination and repeat cytology and culture. Animals with bacterial and yeast infections should be physically examined, with cytologies evaluated weekly to every other week until there is no evidence of infection. For most acute cases, this takes 2–4 wk. Chronic cases may take months to resolve, and in some instances, a therapeutic regimen must be continued indefinitely.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus intermedius and Pseudomonas otitis (caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa) have emerged as frustrating and difficult perpetuating causes of otitis because of the development of resistance to most common antibiotics. These infections are often chronic in course (>2 mo) and associated with marked suppurative exudation, severe epithelial ulceration, pain, and edema of the canal. Successful treatment is multifaceted and should include the following steps: 1) identify the primary cause of the otitis and manage it, 2) remove the exudate via irrigation of the ear canal, 3) identify and treat concurrent otitis media, 4) select an appropriate antibiotic from the results of culture and mean inhibitory concentration on the organism and use it at an effective dosage for an appropriate duration, and 5) treat topically and systemically until the infection resolves (weeks to months).
The best treatment of chronic otitis is prevention. In addition to identifying the cause of acute otitis, topical and/or systemic medications should be chosen based on cytology or culture; they should have a narrow spectrum and be specific for the current condition. Aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolone antibiotics should not be used unless absolutely required for successful treatment but are the most common ingredients in topical otic medications. Because many topical products contain a combination of glucocorticoid, antibiotic, and antifungal medications, it is imperative to educate the owner on proper use (frequency and duration). Many owners discontinue treatment when the ear "looks better" before the infection is resolved. Polymyxin B and fluoroquinolone antibiotics have shown the best success in controlling Pseudomonas infections in cases in which resistance has been identified through culture. However, resistance is developing to fluoroquinolones.
Maintenance Care:
Owners should be shown how to properly clean the ears. The frequency of cleaning usually decreases over time from daily to once or twice weekly as a preventive maintenance procedure. The ear canals should be kept dry and well ventilated. Using topical astringents in dogs that swim frequently and preventing water from entering the ear canals during bathing should minimize maceration of the ear canal. Chronic maceration impairs the barrier function of the skin, which predisposes to opportunistic infection. Preventive otic astringents may decrease the frequency of bacterial or fungal infections in moist ear canals. Clipping hair from the inside of the pinna and around the external auditory meatus, and plucking it from hirsute ear canals, improves ventilation and decreases humidity in the ears. However, hair should not routinely be removed from the ear canal if it is not causing a problem, because doing so can induce an acute inflammatory reaction.


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Congress holds hundreds of hearings each year — and most generate more yawns than fireworks.
But the plan to hold hearings on the danger posed by radical Islam in the United States has inspired protest, counterprotest, debate, editorials, petitions and even pray-ins, before the first witness takes the stand.
The goal of the hearings, the first of which is being held Thursday, is "to establish and show the American people that there is a real threat of al-Qaida recruiting and of homegrown terrorists being self-radicalized within the Muslim community," according to Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the new chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.
He also charges that Muslim Americans are not doing enough to discourage extremists in their midst.
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Opponents say King is stoking anti-Islam hysteria at a time when the Muslim American community is already besieged by attacks on mosques, hate crimes and overzealous surveillance by law enforcement.
Many have compared these proceedings to the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, which fed on fears of Communist subversion.Slideshow: The many faces of Islam in America (on this page)
But King has not budged. He accused critics of being in deep denial of the threat, chiding them for seeking some sort of "kumbaya moment" with extremists and vowing not to bow to what he calls "political correctness."
Now the question is whether the hearings will produce a more secure nation or further alienate the roughly 2.5 million Muslims living in the country.
Check back for streaming video, live reporting and commentary on the hearing
"I think it's legitimate to hold hearings on any aspect of radicalization, and I'm not dismissing these hearings out of hand," said Charles Kurzman, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "At the same time, I would be concerned if an intentionally provocative approach to the hearings reduces cooperation with Muslim American communities, which is the opposite of Congress' intention."
'Going after radicals'
Proponents of the hearings insist that they are but one security discussion among many — in this case focused on young Muslim men who become radicalized and then pursue terror plots — not about all who practice the faith.
"He's not going after mainstream Muslims," said Steve Emerson, executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, who has long warned about the danger posed by home-grown terrorists. "He's going after radicals."
But many Muslims, as well as leaders of other religious and legal advocates, reject the premise of the discussion — that Islam can be singled out as more prone to engender radicalization and violent extremism than other religions.
"By framing his hearings as an investigation of the American Muslim community, the implication is that we should be suspicious of our Muslim neighbors, co-workers or classmates solely on the basis of their religion," Rep. Michael Honda, D-Calif., wrote in a Feb. 28 op-ed piece in the San Francisco Chronicle.
He compared the move to the roundup of Japanese Americans during World War II that led to the three-year internment of his own family. Many civil rights groups also say the hearings set a disturbing precedent.
"Congress should not be focused on First Amendment-protected beliefs and activities," said Farhana Khera, executive director of the San Francisco-based Muslim Advocates. "To the extent that you have Congress exploring violent extremism, it should be focused on criminal behavior. … What faith somebody practices or whatever variant someone practices would not be the proper scope for congressional review."
A coalition of 50 human and civil rights groups, religious organizations and Muslim advocacy groups appealed to King to cancel the hearings or frame them to look at all forms of violence motivated by extremist beliefs, but he rejected their call.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sent a letter sent to King on Tuesday urging him to "reconsider holding the narrowly focused and reckless hearings."
King and Muslims in his Long Island district say the congressman used to be a champion of the Muslim community, visiting mosques and attending their weddings and dinners. He was also one of a handful of Republicans who supported efforts to protect Muslims in the Balkans from aggression by Serbian Orthodox Christians.
But the congressman says he became bitterly disillusioned after 9-11, when some of the local imams rejected the idea that Muslims were behind the devastating attacks.
'Moral myopia'
They later recanted and denounced terrorism, but for King the events unveiled the "moral myopia … of the Muslim leaders and their apologists in the media."
In op-ed piece in Newsday, the congressman describes his transformation.
King argues that the threat from Muslims in the U.S. has increased because anti-terrorism measures overseas have made it more difficult for al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations to attack the United States from abroad. As a consequence, he says, the terrorists are now focusing on indoctrinating American Muslims to carry out attacks.
In an interview with NBC's Meredith Vieira on the TODAY show, King defended his belief, telling the anchor, "this is the same message that president's deputy national security advisor gave the other night. He said that al-Qaida has changed its strategy and it is now attempting to recruit and radicalize the Muslim American community. That's where the threat is coming from."
He points to recent plots: The failed Times Square bombing and the Fort Hood massacre, which were perpetrated by American Muslims influenced by Anwar al-Awlaki, who was born in the United States to parents from Yemen.
After coming under scrutiny by U.S. authorities for contacts with suspected terrorists, including several of the 9/11 hijackers, he moved to Yemen in 2002 and began broadcasting his extremist views over the Internet.
Nidal Hassan, the Army major accused of shooting to death 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, was a U.S. citizen born in the United States to parents who emigrated from Jordan. Although Hassan had exchanged email with al-Awlaki, experts have said he acted on his own.
Faisal Shahzad, who admitted attempting to detonate a car full of explosives in New York's Times Square, is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Pakistan. Shahzad trained with terrorist groups in Pakistan but told authorities that he was inspired by al-Awlaki through the Internet.
King maintains that 80 to 85 percent of mosques in the United States are led by fundamental Islamists — a figure that is broadly disputed — and thus set the stage for radicalization of young Muslims.
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"Al-Qaida is recruiting right under our radar screen," King said last month in an interview with The Associated Press.
As soon as King became chair of the House Homeland Security Committee in December, he put the issue of Muslim radicalization at the top of his security agenda. He has said he intends to hold a series of hearings on the subject over the next 18 months.
By the numbers
The warnings about the threat of homegrown terrorism have grown louder over the past few years. But Kurzman, the UNC professor who specializes in Islam, said the data doesn't support this view.
In a report published in February, Kurzman compiled the number of Muslim Americans who took part in known terror plots — both carried out and disrupted — since 2001.
There were 47 such plots in 2009, twice the number as the year before. But after that spike, the number fell again to 20 in 2010, within the range it had been in for most of the decade.
The study found that Muslims engaged in terror plots at a higher rate than non-Muslims, though still at a low level compared with overall violence in the U.S. — 33 deaths in the decade compared to 150,000 homicide deaths over the same period.
Kurzman has described the issue of radicalization as a serious but limited problem, involving a few dozen individuals over the past decade.
And he notes that of the terror plots that were disrupted, one-third to one-half of the tips to authorities came from others in the Muslim community.
"The problem of Muslim American plots has come from the fringes of the fringes of Muslim American communities," said Kurzman. "These are lone wolves and small groups, mostly disaffected from the mainstream of the local Muslim community. In some cases they have been kicked out or made to feel unwelcome in their local mosques."
"I would like to see them turn down the security paranoia," he added. "Muslims around the world are the best bulwark against terrorism, and we need to be cultivating them as allies, rather than maligning them."
John Esposito, a professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, offered a blunter view: "Peter King is an ideologue who has hounded Muslims for years … (and) sees no reason to let facts or evidence get in the way."
Skirmish over the lineup
What comes out of the Homeland Security proceedings will in part depend on those testifying.
King bypassed all the Muslim organizations that have traditionally spoken for and about the Muslim community in the United States, including the Islamic Circle of North America, the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Muslim American Society, to name just a few.
Emerson, the terrorism analyst who is a strong supporter of King's hearings, charges that the exclusions are appropriate because these organizations are not "mainstream."
"Mainstream generally means moderate," he said. "The groups that purport to represent the 'mainstream' Muslim community are dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood" — the world's oldest and largest Islamic political organization.
He also accused the media and Muslim organizations of stirring up fear over the hearings.
"I think there's been an extraordinary McCarthyistic attack on (King) by the media and 'mainstream' Islamic groups," he said. "They are the ones sowing panic … and the media is the prism by which this panic has been magnified."
But detractors note that King also has not tapped a single imam or social service provider, or a representative from numerous "anti-radicalization" programs that Muslim American organizations have created in the past decade to keep disaffected youths from embracing terrorism.
King also took flak as it became clear that no law enforcers would be taking the stand to substantiate the claim that Muslim Americans have been uncooperative in intelligence gathering operations. He said it was not a position that his sources wanted to state publicly, because of the sensitivity.
But the lineup will include Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who will say just the opposite — that he has nothing but excellent cooperation from Muslims in his community. He was invited to testify by minority Democrats on the committee.
A Muslim from the right
King has instead arranged for testimony from the heartbroken father of Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, aka, Carlos Leon Bledsoe, responsible for the 2009 attack on an Army recruiting center in Little Rock, Ark., that killed one and wounded another.
And he will call Zudhi Jasser, an America Muslim of Syrian descent and a physician in Arizona.
Jasser set up his own nonprofit, which seeks "to shake the hold Islamist organizations and mosques have on organized Islam in America."
Jasser believes that to counter radicalization of young Muslims, Islam should be purged of Islamist politics that he says fuel anger in people like Nidal Hassan, the Fort Hood gunman.
"To measure (the threat) you can't approach it scientifically," Jasser said, referring to the data on violence committed by radicalized Muslims. "It's about countering an ideology that is at odds with Western ideals."
Jasser is a controversial figure among Muslims because of his frequent appearances on Fox News and his key role in the production of "The Third Jihad," a documentary alleging that "cultural Jihad" is being carried out by Muslim groups in the United States.
The New York Police Department used the film for training, but ended that because of complaints from both inside and outside the department.
Jasser, a Republican and former naval officer, is accustomed to the backlash against his views, but claims that there are many well-educated Muslims who share his views beliefs.
"Americans need to see that there is an anti-Islamist movement within the Muslim community," he said.
King interviewed dozens of people as candidates to testify. Many were dropped amid furious opposition: They included Ayaan Ali Hirsi, a Somalia-born Dutch woman and atheist who has declared that there is no such thing as moderate Islam; and Walid Phares, a conservative terrorism scholar and Fox News analyst.Slideshow: The many faces of Islam in America (on this page)
Critics were relieved when King announced that for this first hearing, at least, he would not be bringing in two prominent pundits on Islam who have large conservative followings but are seen as hostile by many Muslims — Emerson, and Robert Spencer.
Spencer is a prolific writer on Islamic terrorism and the director of Jihad Watch, a blog that focuses on "Islamic jihadists, the motives and goals of whom are largely ignored by the Western media, to destroy their societies and bring them forcibly into the Islamic world."
Nonetheless, the line-up still points to hearings that will argue radical Islam is a clear and present danger within U.S. borders.
"Peter King's hearing is a staged event that will do little to shed light on the causes of domestic terrorism," said Esposito, the Georgetown University professor. "Instead the hearing will be a platform for Islamophobia draped in the American flag, reinforcing ignorance, stereotypes, bigotry and intolerance in the name of national security."
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In advance of the hearing, some were attempting to tamp down the rhetoric.
On Sunday, the White House dispatched National Security Adviser Denis McDonough to a Washington-area mosque known for its cooperation with the FBI and its rejection of terrorism.
"Being religious is never un-American. Being religious is quintessentially American," McDonough said.
But as the hearings drew near, the volume surrounding them only seemed to build.
In New York's Times Square on Sunday and in front of King's office, hundreds of people gathered to speak out against the hearing, criticizing it as xenophobic and divisive.
"Peter King, we are onto your game," said one protester. "Using fear and intolerance and targeting an entire community does not make any of us any safer."
Click here to follow Kari Huus on Facebook.
© 2013 msnbc.com Reprints


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LORAC Pro Palette Giveaway
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Anyone who knows me or has regularly perused my blog will be well aware that I'm a huge fan of the silent comedy from the 1910s to 1930s. Of course this isn't entirely true though. My love and knowledge only extends as far as the two behemoths of the era, to Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Aside from the occasional foray into the likes of Laurel and Hardy and non-Chaplin Keystone, my understanding is limited. For a long time I've wanted to get a hold of some of the films of Harold Lloyd, the man who probably came closest to Chaplin and Keaton both then and now. Unfortunately, unlike my two comedy heroes, his oeuvre is harder to come by and much more expensive. I've started then with what is in my opinion his best known work; Safety Last! A film famous for its iconic still of Lloyd hanging from a clock face several stories up a skyscraper, I thought I'd start with the obvious and work my way back.
The movie opens very strongly with a set up that seems to suggest that the lead character, named Harold Lloyd, is behind bars and being visited by his sweetheart and a priest. In the background, a hangman's noose looms. As the camera zooms out though, we learn that he's merely behind a fence and is in fact awaiting the arrival of a train that will take him to the big city in search of his fortune. Lloyd promises to make good within the year in order that he and his girl (Mildred Davis) can marry. The establishing scene expertly sets up the next sixty-five minutes by introducing us to the characters and their motivations as well as giving us a great sight gag. From then on, the film goes from strength to strength.


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Community Service
Wright State University is about service to the community. For four consecutive years, Wright State University has been named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for its support of volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement. Student Involvement and Leadership encourages all students and student organizations to become involved in community service.
Participation in services initiatives helps you to connect with meaningful community service opportunities, build new service initiatives in Dayton and the surrounding area, and develop a sustained commitment to service that lasts beyond your years at Wright State University. Keeping in line with the University mission, we transform the lives of our students and the communities we serve by engaging in significant community service.
Get Experience!
Students who perform community service gain experience by working for nonprofit or other agencies. You will get exposed issues facing our community, learn specific tasks, and get work experience before graduating from college. You will:
- engage in activities that will enhance your work skills on your résumé or graduate college applications
- meet people you wouldn't otherwise meet, which will help you in a variety of situations you may not have encountered yet
- gain skills in working with diverse individuals, which will help you in the global work environment
- obtain an understanding how various systems work and get to know people who might be able to help you get a job later
- develop a greater understanding of your community, which will help you make more informed decisions when you vote
Report Your Service Hours
To assist us in our efforts to record Wright State involvement in the community, please report your community engagement for all of the service projects for which you or your organization performs. This includes philanthropy activities as well. The report is comprehensive and the first time through it will take a bit longer, but after the first time, it is easy. Please report any community engagement/service/philanthropy after the event is over so that the information reported is always current. Thank you in advance for all you do to help Wright State University and the surrounding community.
Annual Events
Service Events
- Make a Difference Day
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Additional Resources
Please visit the Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement to learn more about getting involved with the community.


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Barclaycard has launched a proximity-payment token embedded in a sticker, ideally sized for affixing to the back of a mobile phone, as a stop gap until the handsets catch up.
The Barclaycard PayTag is a sticker about a third of the size of a credit card, but does not have the chip contacts or magnetic stripe. It is linked to an existing Barclaycard account and can only be used for pay-by-bonk transactions, but Barclaycard will back the launch with a huge publicity drive in the hope of convincing more people to pay that way.
We're told that there are already 100,000 terminals in the UK which will accept pay-by-bonk, which is already embedded into the majority of traditional cards in circulation. Those figures are easy to believe; take a careful look next time you see a chip-and-pin machine and you'll likely see the word "contactless" printed on the face – even if the staff don't know what that implies.
The problem is that no one is using them. Barclaycard reckons that will change this year, with London buses accepting bonks later in 2012, and the Tube following within 12 months, not to mention that supermarket giant Tesco is already on board and Asda is today announcing its own pilot, so the terminals will certainly be in place.
Barclaycard is already available as an application on the Orange QuickTap service, which runs on a handful of smartphones (well beyond the two quoted by Barclaycard when announcing the sticker), but there still aren't enough NFC phones – which is what's prompted the decision to go for a sticker solution.
It's a long way from being the first such solution: Dexit launched a sticker system in Canada almost a decade ago, and even got Telus Mobility (a local operator) to promote it as a handset enabler. More recently, Bling Nation tried the same thing in San Francisco, but both those simply used an RFID tag as an identifying token, which compromised security, and more importantly they didn't have the backing of a brand as big as Barclaycard.
Stickers can work: US bank Citi offers a very similar sticker-based implementation of its credit cards, using MasterCard's PayPass technology. Citi also reckons the back of a mobile phone is the ideal place to put one of its stickers, though the technology should work anywhere.
Barclaycard has already sent out invitations to key card-holders, and reckons it will have the first stickers in use over the next month or so. Bonking is currently limited to £15 a pop, but that will rise to £20 in June, and users will be asked for a PIN every now and then just to make sure.
In presenting the technology, Barclaycard pointed out that a phone will probably be missed quicker than a wallet, and that a thief will probably have a harder time committing any serious fraud with the sticker than they would with a traditional card. We've written about the limited range of induction-powered cards many times before, but many people will probably still worry about long-range listening. Of course there are legitimate concerns should the thief get close enough.
But at least those people uncomfortable with the tech can simply refrain from asking for a sticker, which is a lot easier than trying to get a credit card without the technology built in these days.
The launch of Barclays PayTag is not a big deal, providing a wireless-payment capability to customers who already have that capability in their back pockets; what really matters is how effectively Barclaycard can educate customers to use that capability, and how much money it's prepared to spend doing that. ®