text:
By Paul Lonardo
Baseball is arguably America's national pastime, and especially children play it all around the world. For 9 to 12 year-olds, Little League, which has spread across the globe, is a big reason why. The Little League World Series, the popular international tournament held in South Williamsport, PA every summer, always garners a lot of media attention, and as a result some people place a big emphasis on how far a team gets in the tournament.
John Sharkey, the President of Lincoln Little League, is proud of the town's reputation for its competitiveness in the tournament each year and the success they have enjoyed, including being a 14-time RI state tournament qualifier and earning 8 state championships in the major baseball division since he took over the league in 1995 season. He stresses that youth baseball in Lincoln is meant for every level of play, for boys and girls to enjoy the game and experience the valuable life lessons that can be taught on the baseball diamond.
A father of four, John got into volunteering his time at the Lincoln Little League when his kids were young and playing the sport. At the time, he didn't know how much the organization would become a part of his life.
"It so happened that our house was next door to Bob Witherspoon, the then-president of the league," John says. "Being neighbors, he initially pulled me in as a coach, and the following year I became the equipment manager. Next thing I knew, he stepped down and I took over for him as president."
At the beginning of John's tenure, it was not a very big operation, requiring minimal administrative assistance; his wife ran the concessions. But the league quickly grew in leaps and bounds with the infusion of more families and children into the town during the mid and late 1990's. Along with this growth, the league expanded and a board of directors was created, peopled by all volunteers who had specific roles. And that is what John believes drove the success that Lincoln Little League began to enjoy in all-star tournament play around that time.
"The kids were competitive with the other towns in the state right from the get-go," John says about the time he took the helm in 1995. "We eventually broke through in 1999. That was the year we won our first state championship, and I'll never forget it because my youngest son, Rob, was on the team."
John doesn't believe any real secrets can be credited for Lincoln's success, at least not anymore, with all the towns essentially doing the same things.
"In the early years we introduced things like fall baseball," he says. "We had never done that before, but that was something we got into heavily. We would stress to all the kids, but especially to the 11 and 12 year-olds who were coming back for their last year, or thought they had a chance of making the all-star team the next year. We would try to convince them to play baseball in the fall. It was a good way to get a group of kids ready, knowing that we would have to pick twelve or fourteen of them for the team in the summer."
After all John's children graduated from the league, he continued on as league president, finding that it was something he really enjoyed. Now, entering his 23rd year in the position, John doesn't show any signs of slowing down.
"It's not something you would keep doing it if you didn't love it," John says. "There's good and bad. The best part is the interaction with the kids, although I didn't get to do as much coaching as I would have liked to."
For a long time, league presidents were restricted from coaching a team, although that official Little League rule has been recently changed.
Baseball is a tradition that is often passed down from father to son, and it is no different in the Sharkey family. John's dad was a Little League coach and a board member, including a stint as president in Johnston, when John was a kid. His father also umpired for many years, in youth as well as schoolboy and adult baseball leagues around the state.
John followed in his father's footsteps, including umpiring beginning at the age of 16. Now John's son, Rob, whom he coached in 1999, the year Lincoln won its first state championship, is coaching his own team in the Lincoln Little League.
Baseball isn't just a game for the young, it's for the young at heart, and that's why this summer you are likely to find John at the various baseball parks around Lincoln, interacting with the kids, working on the fields and coaching, from early spring through the fall.


text:
Don't Miss
- KARON BURTON "LEGENDS WEEK" (Talks growing up in CHESTER, HS, college experience, & more!)
- CUTTINO MOBLEY "LEGENDS WEEK" (Cat tells some NEVER HEARD BEFORE STORIES!! MUST SEE!!!)
- SCHEA COTTON "LEGENDS WEEK" (The Manchild speaks about MATER DEI, College, Documentary, & more)
- KAREEM REID "LEGENDS WEEK" (The Best Kept Secret talks St. Raymond's, Arkansas, MCDAA, Pro, & more)
- DONNIE CARR "LEGENDS WEEK" (talks Roman Catholic HS, La Salle, & classic KOBE•GARNETT•ARTEST stories)
- MARVIN O'CONNOR "LEGENDS WEEK" (Talks Simon Gratz, Scoring 18pts in 59sec in college, and more)
- MARC JACKSON "LEGENDS WEEK" (Talks growing up in drug infested home, Temple, NBA, and more)
- ALVIN WILLIAMS "OFF THE COURT" LEGENDS WEEK (Germantown Academy, Villanova, NBA)
- RONALD "FLIP" MURRAY "LEGENDS WEEK" (talks Philly Summer leagues, HS, Shaw University, and NBA
- JOHN "TOOTIE" ALLEN "OFF THE COURT" LEGENDS WEEK (Coatesville Legend tells unbelievable stories)
VIRGINIA UNION vs LINCOLN UNIVERSITY (10/12/19)
- Updated: October 14, 2019
Big Star & Raw Sports presents 2019 CIAA Black College Football featuring VIRGINIA UNION UNIVERSITY vs LINCOLN UNIVERSITY. This game took place on 10/12/19 at LU's Homecoming.
← Previous Story SUSQUEHANNA TOWNSHIP vs RED LAND (10/11/19)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Coaching to Change Lives: A one day masterclass in coaching and trauma
Why come to this event?
Your coaching with some clients gets 'stuck'. The client is making little progress. You keep returning to the same issues, all of them seeming superficial. The coaching feels draining or pointless. You blame yourself – or perhaps you blame the client. What's going on?
The answer could be that you are working with the client's 'survival self', the self that is apparently protecting the client after an earlier trauma, probably in childhood. Yes, we know that the word trauma is enough to alarm many coaches. Isn't that the territory best left to therapists?
The answer is yes and no. It assumes that we don't meet the impact of trauma in the coaching room, yet we often do, even if it is well disguised.
One of the problems in talking about trauma is the word itself. Trauma and traumatised are used to mean so many different things that it can be confusing and off-putting. It can raise questions such as 'What are we dealing with?' 'Can I cope with it?'; and 'What does it mean for coaching?'
Understanding the dynamics of trauma enables us to respond appropriately and fully within the framework of coaching, without becoming therapists or counsellors. Many people, successful or not, carry the internal scars of trauma. Some carry a considerable trauma burden and others less so. While much of the trauma memory is in the unconscious, the impact shows up behaviour and in the relationships to work, ourselves and with others. We will show you how to recognise this and how to respond safely in the coaching context. We will also explore the boundary between coaching and therapy.
Here is Guardian Journalist Deborah Orr writing about the impact on her:
"People tell me I'm 'intimidating'. I've been told that for all my adult life. I've accepted it without understanding it, sometimes explaining what a shy child I was, how endlessly susceptible to bullying, in every context I ever found myself it. I've always been too scared really to question how it could be that other people saw me so differently to how I really felt (I even intimidated myself). I told myself it was just because I was someone from a working-class background in a middle-class milieu. Anything to protect me from my secret shame – that I found everything intimidating. I find it hard to show that I'm hurting… Anything rather than acknowledge my debilitating fear, of the world and the people in it".
What we will cover
In this one day Masterclass, we will clarify the terminology and theory, addressing the practical implications for coaches and coaching. We find that the nature of trauma and its impact on the individual and on their ways of relating is much misunderstood. And yet we know how widely prevalent psychological trauma is. In this masterclass we will help bridge that gap. We will
- Clarify the meaning of 'trauma' and 'traumatised'
- Introduce the theory about the causes of trauma and the consequences; drawing on the work of Professor Franz Ruppert and from the neuroscience of attachment.
- Describe how this relates to the work setting and to coaching
- Offer practical ways of coaching beyond the 'survival' strategies
- Explore how you as a coach may fall into your survival strategies with particular clients
- Suggest how coaching can contribute to a move out of surviving to thriving
- Give practical help about how to respond if a client tells you deeply personal material about their past or is caught up in a trauma memory in the session
- Give guidance about working with those who are profoundly affected by their trauma and where the boundary between therapy and coaching sits
- Provide a short overview of how people can recover from trauma with therapy and the limitations of coaching in some situations.
Previous participants on coaching and trauma workshops have responded enthusiastically to the ideas and practical strategies we have offered:
"This work has proved both fascinating and significant in taking my coaching to another level. The insights I've gained from defining what trauma actually is and how this shows up in a coaching partnership, either in myself or my client, has made a profound change to how I work.
Shirley Greenaway, Executive Coach
After the workshop
You may find that the workshop has alerted you to the needs of specific clients or has raised more general issues about your practice as a coach. If so we will be pleased to offer either one-off or continuing supervision sessions. Please call us to discuss. Jules: 07780666508; Jenny: 07767265953


text:
Question about 1995 Volvo 940
Car hesitates after 1st mile. Won't respond to gas pedel then shoots forward 1 second then almost stalls/ shoots etc.
Car runs well for a couple of days after fixes then acts up again. Fixes:
injector cleaner, spark plugs, fuel filter, mass air flow sensor.
113 - short term fuel trim (Lambda control) too rich/ lean
212 - HO2S signal absent or faulty
232 - adaptive fuel trim too lean or too rich at idling.
Posted by dmacdougal on
All the fuses under the ashtray look good. Would the error codes tell if a fuse blows?
Thank You!
I found the fuel relay switch. Is that the same thing?
There are two black boxes marked A/B for displaying error codes.
The car is running alright now. I'm going to replace the muffler tomorrow hoping the back pressure helps keep it running. Can back pressure make a big difference?
I did not find any bad fuses, but the car is running well now except that it is running very rich with black soot and getting10mpg !
error codes:
113 - short term fuel trim (Lambda control) too rich/ lean
212 - HO2S signal absent or faulty
232 - adaptive fuel trim too lean or too rich at idling.
What do I do now??
My car is starting to stall and go lunging again. I'm trying to find the PCV valve because it keeps blowing oil out of the cap. I've also tried to find a thermostat in the air filter housing that would prevent very hot air from burning out another lambda sensor in the MAF sensor. Is that correct?- is the lambda sensor the wire in the MAF Mass Airflow sensor. I'll also check the price of the egr, It sounds like I need a special air pump to test it. Thank You very much! Peace!
I have a 1994 Volvo 940 with very similar issue. The error codes here are 122, 212, 222, 232,242, 214. My mechanic says the HETED 02 Sensor Signal is Missing. Do I simply need to replace the 02 sensor? He also is saying the Adaptive Fuel Trim is too rich. How do I fix that? Also the RPM Sensor is absent. Can I order this part? Is this a major problem? The tranny seems to lunge into gear at lower speeds, and the gas mileage seems pretty poor.
Check the fuse to the injector. If it is out or got wet, it could mimic these conditions. let me know what happens. I have an 85 model.
Posted on Jan 15, 2009
This fuse is not in the fuse block, it will be in the engine compartment. You say you have a 940 DL, is it not a 240? On my 240 the fuse is mounted on the driver's side fender under the hood.
Has the engine gotten wet?
You've done a lot of work. That tells me this is something simple. Check all the ground wires leading from the battery. One will lead you to that fuse, one will lead you to the mass meter. Either could be bad if they appear to be corroded. I once paid for a meter when all I needed was the wire replaced.
The relay should be checked but it's not the same. I found a 940 in a wrecking yard yesterday and it looks like the injector fuse is housed in one of two black boxes on the driver's side front fender.
Let me suggest that you get a Chilton or Haynes guide if you feel strongly about going further on your own. They will describe how to test the O2 sensors for functionality. My suspicions are on a faulty sensor, but you can spend a fortune changing them all. Could also be a bad EGR valve, which is a cheap fix. Are there any vacuum hoses that you haven't checked? I had a van that did this and it turned out to bad sensor in the air intake at the throttle body. Are you sure you didn't unhook something when you cleaned the throttle body that didn't get put back right? I would also double check the spark plug gap. You may need to pull the plugs and clean them anyway since it is running so rich.
Tips for a great answer:
Jan 01, 2016 | Cars & Trucks
Sep 21, 2014 | Cars & Trucks
Aug 02, 2017 | 1996 Chrysler Concorde
Oct 28, 2011 | 1994 Volvo 940
Jun 28, 2011 | 2003 Dodge Neon
Mar 14, 2011 | 1995 Volvo 940
Oct 03, 2010 | Nissan Sentra Cars & Trucks
Sep 20, 2010 | 1997 Ford Escort
Apr 18, 2010 | 1997 Honda Prelude
Apr 12, 2010 | 2000 Honda Civic
Jun 24, 2014 | 1995 Volvo 940
Mar 25, 2014 | 1995 Volvo 940
1,823 people viewed this question
Usually answered in minutes!
Level 3 Expert
85239 Answers
Level 3 Expert
22485 Answers
Level 3 Expert
8984 Answers
Step 2: Please assign your manual to a product:


text:
Your shopping cart is empty!
3,150 Ft 1,990 Ft
Ex Tax: 1,990 Ft
2,330 Ft 1,200 Ft
Ex Tax: 1,200 Ft
2,800 Ft 2,200 Ft
Ex Tax: 2,200 Ft
This ESP SLIM LINE rig wallet is a slimline design which makes for easy srorage of all your rigs. It..
9,390 Ft 4,900 Ft
Ex Tax: 4,900 Ft
This Drennan ESP Rig Wallet features a slimline design which makes for easy storage of all your rigs..
10,690 Ft 4,900 Ft
Ex Tax: 4,900 Ft
It is a slightly more powerful choice than the Carp Feeder range but retains the nice, progressive, ..
44,900 Ft 39,990 Ft
Ex Tax: 39,990 Ft
The Series 7 Puddle Chucker 12ft Competition Feeder is a beautifully balanced model that will allow ..
42,490 Ft 37,990 Ft
Ex Tax: 37,990 Ft
The Drennan Wind Beater Fleece is a high-performance garment that serves as an effective block to wi..
50,730 Ft 36,900 Ft
Ex Tax: 36,900 Ft
Designed with the modern angler in mind, these trousers are incredibly waterproof, highly breathable..
47,500 Ft 38,900 Ft
Ex Tax: 38,900 Ft


text:
This is the S-Video Audio/Video Cable for the Super Nintendo SNES system, Nintendo 64 & Nintendo GameCube.
You can use this cable to connect to both old-school CRT or Tube Televisions and new Flat Screen Televisions, as long as they have an S-Video Input.
The S-video input provides superior video quality to composite input, and the housing reduces static interference. This cable connects your console to any equipment with S-video or RCA input jacks.
For instructions on how to connect this cable to the Super Nintendo SNES system click HERE.


text:
COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. – The next addition to the core beer line-up from Perrin Brewing was crafted in the true American way with the session-able beer drinker in mind.
Introducing Perrin Light Lager, a refreshingly clean, crisp beer with a perfect balance of malt and hops. This combination succinctly melds together to ensure its insatiable drinkability.
Perrin Light Lager is available in 15-packs and on draft across Michigan.
Just in time for the holidays, the 15-packs make a great dish to pass, gift to give, or the pack of beer to always have freshly stocked to share with those unexpected guest visits.
Light Lager can be purchased from Perrin Pub and grocery/liquor stores in the market.
Crisp. Clean. Craft.


text:
Boretti Principale Cooker 100cm Gas
Mail dit product?
Vul het onderstaande formulier in en laat het ons weten.
Boretti Principale Cooker 100cm Gas
Only the highest quality materials are used for Boretti cookers. Think of professional burners, robust cast iron pan supports and heavy-quality oven racks. These materials make a Boretti Linea Principale unique. This cooker is available in a wide range colours, and with one, two, or even three ovens.
A Boretti cooker in your kitchen
With six professional burners ?including two wok burners? and choice of a multifunctional oven, a conventional oven or a gas oven, this Linea Principale is perfect for anyone who enjoys cooking large meals. In addition, this Boretti has XL burner distance, so it won't be a problem to use multiple large pans next to each other. And because safety comes first, all ovens feature doors that always remain cool.
Technical specs
- Dimensions: 100cm
- Collection: Principale
- Cooker Type: Gas
- Number Of Cooking Zones: 6 burners
- Number Of Ovens: 2
- Dimensions Oven 1: 60cm/60L
- Dimensions Oven 2: 40cm/43,7L
- Type Of Oven Panel : Puro
- Fitting: Stainless Steel
- Dripcatcher: Stainless Steel
- Dual Fuel Standaard/Optioneel: Optioneel
- Cast Iron Pansupport: ja
- Professional Burners (Brass): ja
- Number Of Wok Burners: 2
- Power Wok Burner: 4,3kW
- Burner 2,6kW: 3
- Burner 1,8kW: 1
- Lighting: ja
- Koele deur: ja
- Digital Timer: ja
- Quick-start for fast heating: ja
- Storage Space: Ovenlade
- Features Cooker: Rotisserie
- Connection value: 5,00kW
- Energy: A/A
Technical specs
Stove Functions


text:
Sarkodie & Korede Bello ask hot armed robber girlfriend not to go 'Far Away'
Music video by Sarkodie performing 'Far Away' ft. Korede Bello of the "Highest" album. Sarks is all chilled up while Korede is seen all playful. Song produced by T'Spize. Video directed by Sesan down in the UK.


text:
The Kook is a rare and interesting type of topiary. Homeowners who choose to display them are clearly creative and talented gardeners. This example is like a cross between the Stacker, the Grimace, and the Swirl.
This one is maybe my favorite shrubbery ever! It is all Kook, all the way.
05 July, 2007
The Kook
Posted by deerseason87 at 11:09 PM
Labels: photo projects, plants, topiaries
No comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
: Denphone Digest :: March 2011 :: Volume 3, Number 2 :
March 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami Issue
For many of us the earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunami and nuclear disasters have come as a huge shock. We hope that you and your friends and family are safe and coping with the events.
As a result of the nuclear accidents, Denphone has setup a radioactivity monitoring system outside our office in Azabujuban. We have also connected this to the phone system and understand that this will be of some use to the members of the Japan Federation of the Blind. Whether you use the web version (Denphone Tokyo Office Geiger Counter) or the phone version, we hope you find this service useful.
In this issue we have an interview with Dan O'Brien from Take Tokyo - Japan's leading social network and media relations company - and his experiences of the quake. We also take a look back at an interview with Gary Binda - An Introduction to Business Contingency Planning (BCP). We hope that interview is of use - the information contained being even more relevant after recent events.
As ever, if you would like to see something featured in Denphone Digest, feel free to contact us and we will see what we can do for you.
If you are having trouble reading this email version, click to read the web version: Denphone Digest March 2011.
In this issue:
- Presidents Corner - Huw Williams
- Denphone Systems - Current System Status
- Denphone Tokyo Office Geiger Counter
- Take Tokyo - Shakers and Movers
- An Introduction to Business Contingency Planning (BCP)
- Tokyo VoIP & Asterisk Lounge (April 14 2011)
- Around the Internet: Useful Links
Presidents Corner
We are now two weeks into the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis and the story is still unfolding. Thankfully, there has been progress in bringing the reactors and used fuel ponds under control, but the focus has now shifted towards possible contamination of food and water supplies. Hopefully there will be some progress in identifying and mitigating these new risks very soon.
One aspect of this whole situation that has been highlighted is the attitude of management towards Business contingency planning (BCP) and Disaster recovery (DR). There really needs to be fundamental change in attitudes. Before these recent events BCP/DR budgets were being cut back and plans delayed. It was almost as if little had been learned from 9/11, when the same pattern unfolded. Immediately after 9/11, BCP/DR budgets were doubled or tripled, but then after a few years interest waned, and the budgets were again severely cut. A major Japanese bank being unable to process transactions for several days should be a real wake-up call for better BCP/DR in Japan.
It remains to be seen whether that happens though, we can only hope so.
As many of you already know, we launched a free radiation monitoring service on our website last week. We recently added a dialin phone service too. The radiation levels we have measured in Azabu Juban have been low, and this aligns with the low levels in Tokyo generally reported in the press.
We are glad to report that all our staff were unharmed during the earthquake and we sincerely hope that all our readers and their families are safe. We did not suffer any damage to our systems or infrastructure and have been able to avoid any outages or disruption to client service.
Huw R. Williams
Denphone K.K.
Denphone Systems - Current System Status
Our phone and network services have stayed up throughout, and continue to do so. Our monitoring systems are operating as normal. We are responding to client issues as required.
Due to the damage (and on-going situation) at the nuclear reactors in Fukushima and elsewhere, Tepco - the electric power utility, has been scheduling rolling power outages. These have not as yet affected central Tokyo. If your office is in an area that is effected by the rolling power outages you may suffer loss of connectivity. Mobile phones should remain operational.
Power outages can cause hardware failures due to stress on equipment. As ever we recommend you have a tested backup strategy in place in order to recover any data that may be lost due to such failure.
Loss of power to critical systems can be mitigated through the use of universal power supplies. Please contact us if you want more information regarding this.
Denphone Tokyo Office Geiger Counter
Denphone has installed an Awere Electronics Corporation RM-70 geiger counter at their office in Azabujuban, Tokyo. Results from the counter can be seen online here: Denphone Tokyo Office Geiger Counter.
We have also connected the output to an IVR (interactive voice response) system so people can call in to get the latest readings. The system can be reached at the following numbers:
Tokyo: 03-4577-3311
Osaka: 06-4560-3202
Yokohama: 045-670-9002
Here are outputs from the Geiger Counter (if you refresh these images you will be able to see the latest data):
4 hour reading
24 hour reading
One week reading
The units are micro sieverts per hour. See here for an explanation of sieverts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sievert.
The geiger counter is on the fourth floor and faces north.
Take Tokyo - Shakers and Movers
Simon Gibson - 22-03-2011
Simon Gibson
You can visit their website here: www.taketokyo.com.
Take Tokyo is Japan's leading communications consultancy helping foreign companies bridge the language and culture barrier in Japan. Adept at communicating with the Japanese people through both traditional media as well as social media such as Mixi, Twitter and Facebook, Take Tokyo is in a unique position to help companies during these difficult times.
Simon Gibson: First of all, could you introduce yourself, and tell us a bit about what your company does here in Japan?
My name is Dan O'Brien. I am from the USA, where I studied Japanese at the University of California at Berkeley before coming to Japan in 1985. I started my career in Japan as a writer and translator, including writing in Japanese for local media. After a few years as a writer at an investor relations firm, I started off on my own. In 1995, I started an international communications consultancy in Tokyo. After this company was acquired by a multinational advertising group, I started the company that is now Take Tokyo Inc. This is also a communications consultancy with a heavy emphasis on media relations and events planning for multinational companies operating in Tokyo.
Simon: What was your experience of the earthquake?
Our office is in an old building which always shakes during earthquakes. We knew this one was different fairly quickly. The building swayed alarmingly, and we left in a hurry. People from Take Tokyo and a few other little companies in the neighborhood all gathered in a little park right across the road from our building. The earthquake was a long one and increased in severity as the seconds passed. Tall buildings were quite visibly swaying from side to side. There was a bit of screaming and shouting, but the loudest noise was from the quake itself. It sounded a lot like what you hear in a violent typhoon. I doubt I will ever forget that sound.
Simon: How has the catastrophe effected your business?
The initial reaction by clients has been to pull back on public relations activities in Japan. This might be a natural reaction, but now is actually the time to step up both business activities and communications. The country is still reeling, just starting to take stock of what has been lost. The logistics infrastructure remains a mess. So much is needed now and will become necessary in the weeks and months ahead. This is a time when multinational companies should be working their hardest to make sure the Japanese economy does not suffer any more lacks than it has to.
Simon: How has your IT infrastructure stood up to this catastrophe?
Because of the age of our building, we temporarily closed our office until we could be sure there was no unseen damage. Thanks to a very strong telecommunications infrastructure in Japan, we were all able to stay connected while working at home. Our Asterisk based VoIP system has remained up and functional without a pause. Calls were forwarded to my mobile phone until we got back to the office. All in all, keeping the business going has been a remarkably smooth job.
Simon: Is there anything you have learned from this event that might make future disasters more manageable?
It all came down to Internet access, especially WiFi. The Internet and Web were by far the most reliable methods for communicating in the hours and days after March 11.
One of the most notable "shocks" of this calamity was the lack of mobile phone service for many hours after it happened. People take their mobile phones for granted, and we certainly expect them to be usable after a disaster like this one. But the lines were dead for both voice and SMS messages for far too long. Also thanks to mobile phones, the number of public telephone booths is on the decline. The once prized telephone card is no longer present in every wallet. There were huge lines for the public phone booths around our office after the initial quake.
There are understandable technical reasons why mobile service just stopped, but the inability to communicate quickly with loved ones has been noted by the Japanese media. There will be changes made, I am sure. Personally, I think the best thing for Japan now would be to get rid of mobile phones and make the whole country a WiFi spot. The gap in reliability between 3G and WiFi was just too obvious.
Simon: You have been active in consulting on how Japanese companies can use social media for the public affairs and branding. What has the response been like in Japan? Has social media played a role in helping people deal with the disaster?
Twitter has been a success story in Japan for a while. The micro blog style and ability to "tweet" under an assumed name fit in well with the Japanese social network psyche, and Twitter has been an invaluable tool for disseminating reliable information to a wide audience. However, only six months ago Japanese media were wondering whether Facebook had a chance at success here. I would say this single disaster has answered that question for good. Those with a network connection were able to reassure their loved ones quickly via social networks such as mixi and Facebook. Volunteers began gathering on Facebook within hours of the tragedy, organizing themselves and figuring out what was needed and how the needs could be met. They could create ongoing conversations more easily than with Twitter, and there is no limit on the length of posts.
I have not seen the most recent data, but I would bet Facebook has seen a rapid jump in the number of registered users in Japan. On March 22nd, Prime Minister Naoto Kan's office even opened an official page on Facebook. The social network is in Japan to stay.
Simon: How can companies more effectively use social media to deal with events such as the Tohoku earthquake and the resulting tsunami and nuclear disasters? Are there any lessons to be learned going forward?
Social media are tools for communicating. But you have to have a presence, and setting up a mixi group or Facebook page is not something you want to have to do after the worst happens. The Prime Minister's office might be commended for creating a Facebook page, but it took them 11 days after the disaster to do it. The best thing to do is to have a social media presence before a disaster occurs. Once that presence is established, it can be quickly adapted for use as a bulletin board to inform the public or as an interactive tool for communicating with the public.
An Introduction to Business Contingency Planning (BCP)
This interview ran in the May 2009 issue of the Denphone Digest. We are reposting it here as it is pertinent to the current situation.
Posted: 2009-05-12 3:43 pm by Simon Gibson.
Denphone's Simon Gibson spoke recently with Gary Binda about the work he has done in the field of Business Contingency Planning (BCP). Gary has worked for many years in the BCP and telecom industries and joined Denphone to help kickstart Denphone's BCP and Nortel PBX support services.
With the recent outbreak of Swine Influenza, many businesses have been given cause to rethink their contingency plans, so we thought it would be helpful to give an in-depth overview of Business Contingency Planning with a focus on Japan and companies in Japan, and including a look at BCP for small and medium size enterprises. Many companies run their BCP operations out of Hong Kong or Singapore, however there are Japanese-specific factors which also need to be looked at.
Simon: First of all, could you tell us a little about your experience with BCP?
Gary: Well, I started out in BCP with Morgan Stanley in 2000 just prior to 9/11. This was the period when BCP started to raise its head in the banking industry, and Morgan Stanley was one of the first to seriously take on BCP in Japan as part of their overall risk management program. As far as I am aware, they implemented the first fully-blown disaster recovery site in Japan.
At that time BCP was quite haphazardly managed throughout Asia, and working in BCP meant taking up what was basically a completely new role within the organization.
Simon: Can you give us a short overview of what BCP means for an organization?
Gary: There are two main thought process or strategies when considering BCP - namely "Guardianship" and "Going Concern".
Firstly, let me define what these are. A Guardianship strategy allows any company during a disaster to close their position, manage their risk and meet any regulatory obligations they might have. This means that they would need to understand and agree before-hand how they would want to recover the business.
A going concern strategy generally focuses on recovery and maintaining certain level of services to clients and getting the organization back on track after an emergency.
For a company such as Morgan Stanley, the benefits of a soundly implemented BCP plan were easily recognizable. It allowed Morgan Stanley to reassure their employees that they would be safe and their clients that they would be able to recover from a disaster - when you are asking any company to manage your assets, you really want to be assured that your assets are safe. It is therefore very important for any organization, both big and small, to understand that it takes years to build a reputation but seconds to loose it.
Simon: Was there much resistance to the BCP system when you started getting involved?
There was some initial resistance to the implementation of the BCP program - this mostly came from people on the floor, and was mainly due to lack of interest, and I would guess lack of understanding of how vital this program was to the reputation of the organization. Senior management understood the risks to the organization all too well. Once business leaders started to communicate about the BCP program to their staff the resistance subsided. It highlighted one of the really important factors in the building of an effective BCP program - this is true for any organization - good communication between all stake holders within the organization is critical when it comes to planning, building and testing your BCP plans.
Simon: Things must have changed in regards to BCP as a result of 9/11?
Yes, that certainly was a huge wake up call for a lot of organizations. I think up till that point, a great many people were quite blasé about BCP - especially outside of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom of course was very aware of the need for BCP programs as a result of the IRA's terrorist campaigns.
9/11 caused a lot of movement within the BCP industry - and a lot of chaos. One thing it did do from our perspective, was prove that the BCP program worked - we were back up and running within a few days because of the processes we had put in place during the planning and testing of the firms
BCP program. We were very busy coordinating the recovery process, this was a 24 hour job so we took it in turn regionally to coordinate to whole process.
There were a lot of lessons learnt from that experience, too much to cover in this interview, however, if you asked me to choose one, then that lesson would be Dependency Failure. What I mean by Dependency Failure is that while you may have great plans, if you do not know the recovery strategy for the people you depend on, be it vendors, clearing houses, telecom service provider etc, your plan will still fail since you have not factored in or planned for the failure of those entities. Service providers BCP programs' must be factored into any BCP planning program.
Simon: What were the major changes in BCP that you experienced during your time?
I think the biggest change is that BCP moved from being something that people wanted but didn't have budget for, to something that they had budget for and that was taken very seriously and incorporated into the corporate culture as a whole. It was clear to all that without a proper recovery strategy it was quite possible for businesses to fail. This was especially true with investment banks and clearing houses, but also many of the larger corporations based in Japan began to move in this direction.
Simon: Many people have an image of BCP being only for banks. How do you think BCP works for smaller businesses?
A lot of small companies think that it will be easy to recover because of their size, and to most small business owners it doesn't seem like something they need to think about in too much detail.
Here at Denphone we provide a service we like to call the circle. The "circle" is the process we use to help leaders in any organization think through the business processes, we then work with company appointed personal to assist in creating a Business Contingency Planning program. There are instances where disaster recovery is left to the information technology department, but it is essentially a business problem that requires a business process as its' solution. There needs to be a realization that DR applies to the organization as a whole. Awareness, training, participation and competence are required across the entire organization in order to survive and recover from any disaster. It is essential even in the smallest of companies that senior management sponsor disaster recovery planning from inception for it to succeed. It takes a few hours to sit down with a company to get an understanding of their systems and to better understand the type of recovery strategy that would work best for each company.
Simon: Are there any Japan specific considerations that need to be kept in mind when thinking about BCP?
Japan being very prone to earthquakes, is something that comes to mind. Companies do need to think this through carefully as different earthquakes damage different buildings in different ways. Depending on the building you are in, including what kind of material it is made of, how tall is it, when was it built and to what earthquake standards, dictates some of the thought process that one would need to consider before a plan can be made. However, since earthquakes are unpredictable and will more that likely affect everyone it would be a good idea to have have a good communication strategy in place as well as ensuring that all vendors and business counterparts BCP plans are known.
In general though, and this covers all the process that incorporate a BCP strategy, regardless if it is being implemented in Japan or elsewhere, a Sponsorship Strategy by which the DR plan can be implemented with full cooperation from senior management should be created. Initiate a Facility Risk Assessment to identify various risks to a company's business facilities. Direct input is required from external sources including building management, utility companies and public services.
The information gathered during this phase will be a sub-set of the more comprehensive Business Impact Analysis. Initiate a Business Impact Analysis or BIA. This is done with the co-operation of a DR representative from each internal department. It also includes all external vendors and counter-parties that are critical to a company's' business model.
Develop feasible and timely Business Continuity procedures, also known as Business Recovery Operating Strategies, to guarantee continuity of business when there is either an interruption at a site or when critical internal or external dependencies are disrupted. This section provides logistical support for recovery that would be difficult to assemble on-the-fly in the wake of a disaster. This process also helps to determine whether a separate facility is necessary for a variety of disaster scenarios.
Information gathered during the Facility Risk Assessment and BIA stages are used to create effective strategies.
Define how the business organization should react to safeguard life and property immediately following a disaster, also known as Emergency Response and Recovery Operations. Information that is gathered needs to be prepared in a variety of formats to meet the needs of regulators, employees, clients and shareholders. It is best to begin planning for the time required to create Documentation from the inception of the DR program. Execute a company-wide Disaster Awareness and Training Campaign, with assistance from your DR team, to increase awareness and encourage participation. Schedule a Disaster Recovery Test with employee participation to allow them to confront the possibility of disaster and to be better prepared to respond rationally to the chaos that often accompanies a crisis. The knowledge gained from this initial experience should lay the groundwork for subsequent tests that must be planned throughout the year. Complying with these eight standards will help to ensure successful recovery of critical business areas when a disaster or prolonged disruption of services occurs.
Simon: Obviously with your background you must have a good understanding of how phone systems fit into the BCP picture. Could you tell us a bit about that?
First of all identify as part of your Crisis Management process a call tree program, this is used to contact and communicate all across the organization.
Other things to think about include programs such as Denphone's own Voiceblast system, ensuring that your recovery site is on separate voice grid to your main office. Implement an effective communication program which should be tested regularly to contact employees, clients and counter-parties - a system like Voiceblast can automate this. Another recommended solution may include satellite phones which provide one to one communication. Satellite phones are expensive, but if they are only used once a year then the cost is not that great, and only select senior management require them.
Simon: How do you see the future of BCP developing?
It is quite interesting to look at the way most companies are moving to more of a campus computing environment and how this removes the need for dedicated backup data centers for BCP - as the data is replicated within the campus environment.
This also helps with reducing the costs involved with BCP and gives you greater peace of mind regarding the applications and assets that your BCP plan identifies. So the focus has switched more from equipment to identifying the people necessary to recover the systems. This is better than a per building piecemeal recovery solution, and can be run out of any site you choose.
From a small business perspective, cloud computing provides a great, inexpensive solution and from my point of view provides the future of BCP for small organizations and also for how they build data centers in general. Denphone can assist any organization large or small with their BCP requirements, from helping organization with specific studies, (BIA, BCP Plan building program, infrastructure analysis) to building programs from the ground up.
Tokyo VoIP & Asterisk Lounge (April 14 2011)
As a result of the Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami, April's special event with Nakayo has been postponed to May 12. Please check back for more details. Our normal event in Azabujuban will be held instead.
The Tokyo VoIP and Asterisk lounge is a chance for Asterisk and VoIP enthusiasts to get together to discuss topics of interest in a relaxed informal atmosphere.
The VoIP & ASTERISK LOUNGE is a monthly event held on the second Thursday of each month, or the third Thursday if the second Thursday is a public holiday in Azabujuban, Tokyo.
This event is attended by both English and Japanese speakers and everyone is welcome to attend.
Date: 14th April 2011 6pm - 10pm
Location: Café Marché - formerly Cafe Lolita (map). Café Marché , 1F Mademoiselle Bldg, 1-4-8 Azabu-Juban. Minato-ku. Tel: 03-6234-0122. Open Mon-Thu 11:30am-2am, Fri-Sat 11:30am-4am, Sun & hols 11:30am-midnight.
Cost: Free Entrance. Drinks are between 500 and 900yen.
Directions: From Azabu-juban Station it is 1 minutes walk from Exit 7. Go up the stairs and turn right and Café Marché is on the right. Azabujuban is on the Namboku and Oedo subway lines. It is bit of a walk underground from the Namboku line ticket gates.
If you get lost on the night give Denphone a call on 03-4550-1405 and we will point you in the right direction.
Enquiries: firstname.lastname@example.com
We look forward to seeing you there!
Around the Internet
Useful Links
Japan Meterological Agency Earthquake Information
Bureau of Waterworks - Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Road Status after the Earthquake in Sendai, Japan
Japan Railway East (there is a lot of information in Japanese on sites such as jorudan.co.jp regarding what is running, sadly not so much in English)
Official NHK WORLD TV live on USTREAM
This months picture is from: The United States Navy.
SENDAI, Japan (March 12, 2011) An SH-60B helicopter assigned to the Chargers of Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron (HS) 14 from Naval Air Facility Atsugi flies over the city of Sendai to deliver more than 1,500 pounds of food to survivors of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami. The citizens of Ebina City, Japan, donated the food, and HS-14 is supporting earthquake and tsunami relief operations in Japan as directed. (U.S. Navy photo/Released)
Mailing List
If you are not already subscribed to our mail magazine you can do so by sending us a quick message via our contact page.
Mailing List Removal
At Denphone we aren't believers in the idea of spam - we face enough of it on our servers everyday - and are sending this magazine to you in the belief that you will find something in it interesting and of use. If you don't wish to receive a further free magazine from us next quarter, just send us an email with unsubscribe or something of that nature either in the title or body of your email.
Suggest to a Friend
If you think one of your friends or contacts would be interested in subscribing to the Denphone Digest, send us a quick email via our contact page.
About Denphone
Denphone K.K. is Japan's leading provider of open PC based VOIP Telephone PBX systems. Denphone supplies Digium / Asterisk solutions, Cisco, Polycom, Nortel, snom and Grandstream phone and video systems as well as our own bespoke solutions.
Contact Denphone
Denphone is centrally located in Tokyo's Minato Ward in Azabujuban. We can be contacted by telephone on 03-4550-1405, via this contact page or by reply to the address this magazine was sent from.
Our postal address is: #402 Azabu Nagasaka Bd, 1-4-8 Azabujuban, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0045 Japan.


text:
MIAMI – Their big early lead was gone, the Miami Heat were trailing with 3 minutes remaining and the two-time defending champions seemed very much in trouble.
They didn't let Boston score again. That's how to snap a defensive slump. LeBron James scored 11 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, Chris Bosh added 16 and the Heat beat the Celtics 93-86 on Tuesday night at the AmericanAirlines Arena in downtown Miami, finishing the game on a 9-0 run after trailing 86-84 with 3:08 left.
"It's difficult doing what we do," Bosh said, "but that's why we're the champs, to do the difficult thing again and get the job done. Tonight was a good start. We just have to build off of it."
Chris Andersen scored 13 points, making all five of his shots for Miami, which gave up at least 100 points in four of their last six games. The Heat are 25-1 when allowing less than 100 points; 5-11 otherwise. Brandon Bass scored 15 points, Kris Humphries had 14 points and 13 rebounds and Jeff Green had 12 points for the Celtics, who enjoyed a 46-33 edge in rebounds but shot only 39 percent.
And, when it was over, Celtics coach Brad Stevens had a simple assessment of the final 3 minutes: "LeBron James happened."
James made seven free throws in the final 2:33, the only other points down the stretch coming on a jumper by Ray Allen that put the Heat up for good. James did the rest, while the Celtics missed their final four shots.
Rajon Rondo, still coming around after returning from knee surgery, missed all eight of his shots, plus a pair of free throws with the Celtics down four with 44.4 seconds remaining. Avery Bradley, the Celtics' other starting guard, was lost in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle.
"LeBron got a bunch of calls down the stretch," Bass said. "We expect that. We just wished we could have kept him off the line."
The Celtics rallied from a 10-point deficit to win 111-110 in their first trip to Miami this season. They seemed poised for a bigger comeback this time, steadily chipping away at a big Miami lead by getting it down to 11 by halftime, then four entering the fourth.
And a dunk by Humphries with 3:08 left – about a half-minute after James tried a reverse dunk that rimmed out – put the Celtics on top for the first time since the opening minutes. Thus ended Boston's offense for the evening.
"It's the only way we're going to be able to win games: If we defend," James said. As if playing without Dwyane Wade isn't difficult enough for Miami – he was out for the 12th time this season – the Heat found themselves facing a sticky situation at his position just 71 seconds after tip-off.


text:
- Other Media Review
- Open Access
- Published:
Paleontology and Evolution in the News
Evolution: Education and Outreach volume 3, pages481–487(2010)
714 Accesses
1 Citations
This paper is a review of recent publications and journal articles about human evolution and paleontology.
In keeping with the rest of this issue devoted to human evolution, this issue's column covers some of the recent media stories and scientific papers related to human fossils and evolution. We will start with the opening and a few reviews of the new hall of human evolution at the Smithsonian Institution, the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins. The new exhibit, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the museum on the National Mall, is based on a decade of cutting-edge research by Smithsonian scientists and is the result of an international collaboration with over 60 research and educational organizations and over 100 researchers from around the world. The exhibit "offers an immersive, interactive journey through 6 million years of scientific evidence for human origins and the stories of survival and extinction in our family tree during times of dramatic climate instability," according to the museum's website. http://www.mnh.si.edu/calEvents/Summer_2010_Event_Calendar.pdf The new exhibit opened March 17 in a 15,000-square-foot space. As one might expect, the exhibit was reviewed by a large number of newspapers and other outlets. Here are the sources of a small sample of reviews: The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/arts/design/19museum.html) "Searching Bones of Our Shared Past" by Edward Rothstein, The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/18/AR2010031800820.html) "Smithsonian's Natural History Museum opens its Hall of Human Evolution" by Michael O'Sullivan, The Voice of America (http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/science-technology/Smithsonian-Opens-New-Exhibit-on-Human-Origins-91541824.html) "Smithsonian Opens New Exhibit on Human Origins" by Rosanne Skirble; PBS NewsHour (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/04/exhibit-asks-what-does-it-mean-to-be-human.html) "Natural History Exhibit Asks: 'What Does it Mean To be Human?''' by Murrey Jacobson, and in The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704446704575206081151018608.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines) "Our Species Rediscovers Its Cousins" by Julia M. Klein. In The Wall Street Journal review, one of the best, the author comments that it is startling to learn that, as recently as 70,000 years ago, there were at least four human species that coexisted including the tenacious, long-lived Homo erectus and diminutive, hobbit-like Homo floresiensis found in Indonesia in 2009. The sensational 1974 discovery in Ethiopia of "Lucy," resembling an ape but walking upright, placed human origins 3.2 million years ago. The fabulous store of fossils in these deposits has given up even older erect-standing ancestors as far back as six million years ago. At this time, there are more than 6,000 human fossils—a collection which at the time of their individual discoveries forced revisions of old timelines and theories. So our species, Homo sapiens, seems to have had an abundance of long-lived cousins providing the basis for the ongoing discussion of how they are related to each other. The new exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History provides an overview of this ongoing investigation into human origins. In addition to reviewing the substance of the exhibit, Ms. Klein comments on the exhibit presentation itself. Dull browns and the lack of natural light in the $20.7-million hall mean it "is not the greatest-looking space. Its exhibits contain enough repetition to suggest that they could have been made more compact." In addition, she suggests that the near lack of actual specimens diminishes "the sense of wonder the real thing always inspires." But the real things are extremely fragile, and placing them on display not only makes them unavailable for study but also may jeopardize their integrity. "Overall, though, the Hall of Human Origins is an educational triumph. With lucid labels and a well-conceived mix of art, touchable casts, video, and touch-screen computers, the hall ably explains the state of the science and manages the often-elusive feat of engaging both children and adults." The halls contain two major themes: What does it mean to be human? And how did climate change affect human evolution? "It's long been accepted that different human species were adapted to thrive in specific climatic niches. Neanderthals had short, compact bodies to conserve heat and large nasal passages to warm frigid air, while our African forebears had long, skinny frames suited to hotter climes. But this exhibition contends that the evolutionary concomitant of incessant climate change was human resilience—the flexibility to make it almost anywhere, thanks to large, sophisticated brains and social networks." Thus, just as today, versatility was characteristic of our oldest relatives. "Walking upright did not preclude climbing trees and this characteristic is strikingly made clear in the diorama of 'Lucy' (Australopithecus afarensis) where she has one foot on the ground and one on a limb symbolizing her straddling of the two environments." The reviewer was also impressed with other aspects of the exhibit, for example, "John Gurche's remarkable forensic reconstructions of a variety of early humans." Included in the exhibit are free-morphing stations, where visitors snap photographs, watch themselves acquire early-human features, and e-mail them home. "The most innovated, effective exhibits, 'Snapshots of Survival,' cleverly merge old and new: simulated fossil beds with casts, interactive video featuring museum scientists, and animations…the three presentations illuminate the tales that bones and artifacts tell, allowing us, in a modest way, to play anthropologist."
Educators and anyone else interested in human evolution who cannot visit the museum will be gratified to know that an extensive website has been made available by the Smithsonian (http://humanorigins.si.edu/). The website is divided into six major sections: Human Evolution Evidence, Human Evolution Research, Human Characteristics, Exhibit, Education, and Resources. Within each segment are clear and abundant illustrations and photographs as well as text to support the introduced concepts. For example, the segment on Human Evolution Evidence is subdivided into the following categories: Behavior, 3D Collection, Human Fossils, Genetics, Dating, and Timeline Interactive. The Behavior segment is further divided into Primate Behavior, Footprints, Stone Tools, Getting Food, Carrying & Storing, Hearth & Shelter, Burial, Recording Information, Making Clothing, and Art and Music. In keeping with this journal's education and outreach mandate, it would be remiss not to include the education segments: Teachers Forum, Education Network, Lesson Plans, Educators Guide, For Students, and Fun Facts. Included is an "Educators Guide for Grades 5–12," 41 pages in PDF format that can be downloaded and is worth a look. Although it is prepared as a guide to the exhibit, there is enough material provided to make the effort to retrieve it useful even if a visit to the museum is not possible. There is enough material on this website that can be used as the basis for at least a semester course in human evolution, and it is a model for what an educational website can strive to be.
The Wall Street Journal also published a Saturday Essay, "Humans: Why They Triumphed" on May 22, 2010 (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703691804575254533386933138.html) by Mark Ridley, an author who writes about evolution and genetics. "How did one ape 45,000 years ago happen to turn into a planet dominator? The answer lies in an epochal collision of creativity." Here is part of what he wrote about the puzzle of human evolution, which is that "Nothing seems to explain the sudden takeoff of the last 45,000 years... all of the ingredients for human sucess...seem to have been in place a half-million years before, and nothing happened." Why did culture explode in Africa? "The answer lies in a new idea, borrowed from economics, known as collective intelligence: the notion that what determines inventiveness and rate of cultural change of a population is the amount of interaction between individuals." He believes that scientists have been looking in the wrong place. "Most have been expecting to find a sort of neural or genetic breakthrough that sparked a 'big bang of human consciousness,' an auspicious mutation so that people could speak, think, or plan better..." Continuing the thought, he proposes that "the sophistication of the modern world lies not in individual intelligence or imagination [but in] collective enterprise....[And] once human progress started, it was no longer limited by the size of human brains. Intelligence became collective and cumulative."
You may recall that in 2009 a fossil named Ardi received worldwide attention. To summarize, it was to be a scientific breakthrough. First discovered in 1992, Ardipithecus zamidus, the 4.4 million-year-old female skeleton took 17 years for scientists to reconstruct and analyze the remains. Numerous articles followed including a special Discovery Channel program: "Discovering Ardi." The discovery of the skeleton rewrites the story of human evolution and provides strong evidence that bipedality is the oldest defining characteristic of human ancestors. The Discovery Channel posted several videos about Ardi, including the Ardipithecus Handbook, an "interactive guide to the oldest skeleton from our branch of the primate family tree." Notable in the presentation is how the skill of scientific illustrator Jay Matternes gave face and form to Ardi. Also worth looking at is the extensive article in the New York Times on October 2, 2009 by John Noble Wilford, "Fossil Skeleton From Africa Predates Lucy" (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/science/02fossil.html) as well as the October 2, 2009 issue of Science (http://www.sciencemag.org/ardipithecus/) which contains 11 papers by a diverse international team of scientists and is free to download.
Now a number of critics have published in the journal Science for May 28, 2010 reevaluations of the original interpretations, among them Thure E. Cerling et al. "Comment on the Paleoenvironment of Ardipithecus ramidus" (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/328/5982/1105-d.pdf). For comparison also, here is the reference to a John Wilford Noble update article in the New York Times for May 27, 2010, "Scientists Challenge 'Breakthrough' on Fossil Skeleton" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/science/28fossil.html?ref=john_noble_wilford): "The fossil skeleton known as Ardi, hailed in some quarters as the scientific 'breakthrough' of 2009, has now drawn critics who dispute the claims" that the species lived in a dense woodland rather than grassy open plains. Grassy plains have long been interpreted as the probable habitat of early prehumans, a habitat that perhaps created the environment that stimulated the impetus for upright walking. Also challenged was the interpretation based on fossil material that Ardi was a member of the human lineage. In other words, Ardi appeared after the divergence from African apes. But the challenge is that the primitive anatomy indicates it is a species that came before the common ancestor of the human and chimpanzee family trees. Thure E. Cerling, a geochemist at the University of Utah, and seven additional geologists and anthropologists dispute the woodland scenario. Using data from the original teams' study of the soil and silica from ancient plants, they conclude that the environment can be described as a tree or bush savanna, that is, a grassland with about 25 percent tree canopy. They describe a woodland environment as one that contains 60 percent or more trees and shrubs. This is important because savannas are associated with the evolution of the upright walking characteristic that sets humans apart from ancestral apes. Francis H. Brown, also a Utah geologist and co-author of the paper, said in an interview, "We are trying to set the record straight—we don't think open savanna grassland is what Ardi lived in, nor is it a closed woodland environment." Esteban Sarmiento challenged the identification of Ardi as a hominid—a species of the human lineage that arose from an ancestor in common with the branch leading to modern chimpanzees. He said Ardi's skeleton contains primitive aspects and that molecular and anatomical studies suggest that Ardi predates the humans of Africa. A few anthropologists, such as Richard S. Klein of Stanford University, said in an interview, "I frankly don't think Ardi was a hominid or bipedal." A middle ground was expressed by Daniel E. Lieberman, a paleoanthropologist at Harvard, who said "he was convinced that Ardi is a hominid." Everybody has questions about the kind of hominids it is and about what this has to say about the last common ancestor of hominids and chimps. Tim D. White of the University of California, who led the team that discovered the fossils in 1992, said that the interpretation "was bound to generate some give and take. So from that point of view, this is just part of normal science." In a published response, Dr. White said that the critics ignored "the totality of the fossil, geological and geochemical evidence." He said that there was a grassland at the site, but the abundant fossils there were mammals adapted to woodland life, and this established Ardi as "a denizen of the closed habitat," not the open savannas. Regarding the objections based on biomolecular estimates of the hominid—ape divergence as 3.5 million years ago, these dates are unreliable. Other fossil discoveries have pushed the divergence back sometime before six million years ago.
On May 8, 2010, Google News (http://news.google.com/news/) reported that 469 articles and stories appeared in a variety of news outlets about the "Neanderthal in all of us" in the first two days of its release. The scientific study discovered that humans living today have Neanderthal genes and that for some people it is up to four percent. Not only was the story compelling but there were considerable materials available for use by the media. The scientific paper was published in Science on May 7, 2010 by Richard Green et al. (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/328/5979/710), "A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome," accompanied by a special section, which turns out to be not only a treasure trove for the news media but also for teachers and students. The special section is composed of four parts, each one of which includes a video commentary from the senior author and director of the Neanderthal Genome Project, Svante Paabo, and also geneticist Sarah Tishkoff (University of Pennsylvania) and paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer (Natural History Museum, London) as well as a timeline of discoveries and a collection of related articles and websites. Part 1: Background includes a map of the range of Neanderthals from Europe to southern Siberia and the Middle East and a graphic of a timeline of discoveries starting with the first fossils of Neanderthals discovered in 1829 in Engis, Belgium. Included with the timeline are references to the discoveries. Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) are currently believed to be our closest evolutionary relatives, who first appeared in the fossil record about 400,000 years ago and disappeared about 30,000 years ago. The website also directs the reader to the full text of "A Neandertal Primer" by Michael Balder, published in Science, February 13, 2009, vol. 323, no. 5916, page 870 (http://www.sciencemag.org). This one-page summary provides concise answers to ten questions that students would ask such as: When and where did they live? How are they related to modern humans? What did they look like? Could they talk? And why did they go extinct? Part 2: Methodology discusses the process of sequencing the Neanderthal genome and the difficulties of extracting and analyzing the ancient DNA. To make the comparisons, the genomes of five present-day individuals from different parts of the world—southern Africa, West Africa, Papua New Guinea, China, and western Europe—were compared to the genomes of the Neanderthal and a chimpanzee. Part 3: Human-Neanderthal Comparison examines the evidence of admixture and implications for human origins. The findings that Neanderthals are on average closer to individuals in Eurasia than to individuals in Africa present a challenge to the strictest version of the "Out of Africa" model. Part 4: Related Resources includes papers published in Science, as well as additional commentaries by the researchers and a list of excellent web resources. The MailOnline (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1273904/) reported the discovery by indicating that Neanderthal man is "alive and well—and is living happily in Britain…." David Derbyshire writes that the study "found that our ancestors couldn't resist the charms of the Neanderthals tens of thousands of years ago." The result is that "Neanderthal genes have been passed down to us today." (Here one should note that the spelling of Neandertal in the scientific papers is referred to above as in this sentence, but in this and other articles, it is spelled as Neanderthal, which is probably the result of the spelling that is found in word processing spell checkers.) However the results of the study "showed that up to four percent of the DNA of non-African people alive today is Neanderthal….The two species lived alongside of each other in Europe and Asia until Neanderthals vanished around 30,000 years ago, possibly driven to extinction by the smarter and more competitive modern humans." Professor Paabo said, "Since we see this pattern in all people outside of Africa, not just the region where Neanderthals existed, we speculate that this happened in some population of modern humans that then became the ancestors of all present-day non-Africans. The most plausible region is in the Middle East where the first modern humans appeared before 1,000,000 years ago and where there were Neanderthals until at least 60,000 years ago." The article includes excellent downloadable images including a group of early humans dressed in furs that came from a scene in a film, some of the Neanderthal bones used in the study, Dr. Svante Paabo with a reconstructed Neanderthal skull, an annotated map of the interaction of modern humans and Neanderthals, and a labeled skeleton of a modern human and a Neanderthal skeleton. Nicholas Wade wrote the story for the New York Times, "Signs of Neanderthals Mating with Humans" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/science/07neanderthal.html), which contains an image of the Vindija Cave in Croatia where the three Neanderthal bones were found. The researchers report that Neanderthal DNA does not seem to have played a great role in human evolution. Scientists, however, believe that the human genome sequence they are decoding (about 60 percent up to this time) will be of extraordinary importance because it will lead to an understanding of human evolutionary history. The article quotes Dr. Ian Tattersall, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, referring to the genome study described in Science, "This is a fabulous achievement…. This is probably not the authors' last word, and they are obviously groping to explain what they have found." But he and other archeologists questioned some of the interpretations put forward by Dr. Paabo and his chief colleagues, Richard Green of the Leipzig Institute and David Reich of Harvard Medical School. "Geneticists have been making increasingly valuable contributions to human prehistory, but their work depends on complex mathematical statistics that make their arguments hard to follow." Extra precautions were undertaken not to contaminate the DNA sequences by human DNA, which apparently happened in previous studies. These studies show that it is incorrect that everyone comes from the same population out of Africa. Robert Lee Hotz wrote the story for The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703686304575228380902037988.html) on Friday, May 6, 2010, which contains a photo of Svante Paabo in an excavation in the cave in Spain and other images. He reported that "Most People Carry Neanderthal Genes." Although previous studies, based on more fragmentary genetic samples, did not find any evidence that Neanderthals left any traces in the modern human genome, the new findings are based on new technology along with powerful computational statistical tools and other techniques to divulge the genetic makeup. From the attained pattern, the researchers deduced that prehistoric humans encountered their Neanderthal mates in the Middle East as small human bands first migrated out of their African homeland. "A little interbreeding would have spread those genes far and wide," said British Anthropologist Chris Stringer of London's Natural History Museum. "Their laboratory work is impeccable," said molecular anthropologist Todd Driscoll at New York University, who studied the findings but was not involved in the project.
"Seafood diet behind big brains" is the headline in Times of India , June 11, 2010, (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5998115.cms) reporting on a study published in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences (PNAS) for June 1, 2010, vol. 1017, no. 22, pp. 10002–10007 (http://pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1002181107) "Early hominin diet included diverse terrestrial and aquatic animals 1.95 Ma in East Turkana, Kenya" by David R. Braun et al. This team of scientists from Kenya, the United States, the U.K., Australia, and South Africa discovered a 1.95 million-year old site in northwestern Kenya in 2004. The site is located in the northern part of the Koobi Fora Formation on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. It provides the oldest in situ evidence that hominins predating H. erectus feasted on the carcasses of terrestrial and aquatic animals they butchered in a well-watered habitat. Preservation of the excavated site was so remarkable that the team was able to develop a detailed reconstruction of the environment. Over four years, the scientists excavated thousands of fossilized bones and stone tools and were able to determine that at least ten individual animals, and perhaps many more, were butchered by early humans at this site. Many of the bones showed evidence of cut marks made by early human ancestors as a result of using sharp stone tools to cut meat from the bones or crush long bones to access the fat-rich bone marrow. In an interview, the lead author of the research, David Braun of the University of Cape Town in South Africa said, "At sites of this age we often consider ourselves lucky if we find any bone associated with stone tools, but here we found everything from small bird bones to hippopotamus leg bones." The study of the plants at the site revealed that the environment these early humans were living in was wet and probably marshy. These early humans were relatively small and not suited to compete with the large carnivores that lived at that time. "Gaining access to smaller animals like turtles and fish may have allowed these early human to increase the protein in their diet without the danger of interacting with dangerous carnivores, such as lions and hyenas." Thus living in an area with brain-fueling food may have been a fortunate side effect of finding foods at lakes and rivers. "Lead zooarcheologist Jack McCoy of Rutgers University identified bones of various animals including turtles, fish, crocodiles and large antelopes that ended up as the meals of these early humans." Although animal tissues provide nutrient-rich fuel for the growing brain, aquatic resources (e.g., fish, crocodiles, turtles) are especially rich sources of the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid and docosahexaenoic acid that are so critical to human brain growth. "Therefore, the incorporation of diverse animals, especially those in the lacustrine food chain, provided critical nutritional components to the diets of hominins before the appearance of H. ergaster/erectus that could have fueled the evolution of larger brains in Late Pliocene hominins.... The presence of overlying layers of volcanic ash helped the team pin down the ages of the site." Geologists on the team used a combination of techniques to estimate the age of the site as close to 1.95 million years. Reporting by the National Geographic Society on June 2, 2010 (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100602-early-humans-evolution-crocodiles-big-brains-science/) used a catchy headline, perhaps to entice one to read it, "Eating Crocodile Helped Boost Early Human Brains?" Not quite the same emphasis as other reports, but the article went on to say briefly and succinctly that the animal bones bore cut marks from simple, sharp-edged stone tools and that this early hominin diet is what may have boosted brain size. The article reports that Dr. Braun indicated Kenyan hominins were no crocodile hunters. "Instead, early humans likely scavenged carcasses, bringing the meat back to the kitchen to carve up and—in the pre-fire era of human history—eat raw."
The next article, "Humans evolved to walk upright 'because it was hot near the ground," was by Niall Firth in MailOnline for June 10, 2010 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1285270/New-evidence-humans-walked-upright-hot.html). Interest peaked almost immediately, and in a short time there were 31 published news stories—here are some other headlines derived from the paper cited below by Benjamin Passey and others:
"Did humans evolve to be long-distance runners. No."
"Ancestors of humans learned to walk in trees."
"Pre-humans in Africa evolved to beat the heat."
"We evolved to walk on heels in order to save energy while out hunting–gathering."
"Humans learned to walk on two legs because it's more efficient."
"Bipedal humans descended from trees, not up from the ground."
An article by Emily Sohn in Discovery News, June 11, 2010, "Why Humans Have No Fur—Explained" (http://news.discovery.com/human/humans-lost-fur-hot-climate.html) ascribes the furless condition of our ancestors to the fact that, because they lived somewhere really hot, it would have made sense for us to lose body hair, start sweating more, become slender, and even walk upright to create distance between our bodies and the hot ground. A study by Benjamin H. Passey, a geochemist at Johns Hopkins University, and his colleagues show that the key cradle of human evolution in East Africa has indeed been really hot for at least four million years. To find out how hot it was in the past, the scientists analyzed dated soil samples from the Turkana Basin in Kenya. It turns out that as temperature drops, a rare carbon isotope, carbon-13, tends to clump together with a rare isotope of oxygen, oxygen-18, within the soil. Through a fairly simple relationship, the more clumping together these scientists detect, the colder the temperature the samples were formed in. The results show that the soil in the Turkana Basin has remained over 85 degrees Fahrenheit with spikes above 95 degrees Fahrenheit over the past four million years. Today the air temperature in the Basin regularly exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with nighttime temperatures in the 70s creating a landscape sparse in grasses, shrubs, and bushes. Given this unrelenting heat today, one would think that had humans evolved here, the area would have been a much nicer, lusher place. But the study shows that it was just as hot. Passey said that "No one knows for sure when we became proficient at sweating and when we lost our fur." See Benjamin Passey and others on "High Temperature Environments of Human Evolution in East Africa Based on Bond Ordering in Paleosol Carbonates" in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), vol. 107, no. 25, pp. 11245–11249 (http://www.pnas.org/content/107/25/11245.full.pdf+html).
A fragment of flint believed to be carved by human hand that was found at Westcliff High School for Girls in Westcliff-On-Sea was reported by The Sun, June 21, 2010 (www.Thesun.co.uk/sci/homepage.news/3022555/html). Ken Crowe, an archeology expert at the Central Museum, said, "The flint is very small, only about one inch or so long. But it's the earliest evidence we have of occupation in Essex, England." It is believed to have been used by a species of human known as Boxgrove Man, the remains of which were first found in a quarry near Chichester, West Sussex, in 1993. It is believed to be the second oldest discovery pointing to human settlement in the country. The oldest discovery, in 2000, was in Pakefield, Sulfolk, dating back about 700,000 years. "The discovery means early humans were living here before the River Thames took on its present form." Originally, the Thames flowed in a more northerly direction, but during the glaciation the river was diverted southwards to its present location. Boxgrove Man, or Homo heidelbergensis, is believed to have lived in groups and roamed the countryside hunting and scavenging for food.
A number of new hominid fossils have been found at the UNESCO World Heritage site called the "Cradle of Humankind" because it harbors a large number of hominid fossils, including some of the oldest, dating back to 3.5 million years ago. Located about 35 miles northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, in Gauteng Province, the region is composed of a series of dolomitic limestone caves spread over about 180 square miles. Even those with a limited knowledge of human paleontology will probably recognize the cave names Kromdraai, Sterkfontein, and Swartkrans. Not only are these caves famous for hominid fossils, they have yielded numerous fossilized remains of animals and plants. Originally coral reefs, the calcitic limestone was converted in part to dolomite; then after geological uplift, groundwater dissolved the calcitic material to form caves that often display stalagmites and stalactites, as well as shafts that reached the surface. Plants, animals, stones, and hominids all fell into the caves with no real exits and became trapped and died. More than 850 hominid fossils remains have been found at the cave sites, perhaps the richest concentration of such fossils. Following are two recent discoveries from the Cradle of Humankind.
On May 26, 2010, National Geographic News posted the following article by James Owen, "Oldest Human Species Found: May Have Been Cannibal?" (http://news.nationalgeographic.com). He writes that there is a good chance it was a tiny little cannibalistic tree swinger, but the newly identified Homo gautengensis is family, our family, according to a new study. "The creature is the oldest named species in the human genus, Homo," says study author Darren Curnoe, anthropologist at the University of New South Wales, Australia. The new species designation is based on pieces of skull, jaws, teeth, and other bones found at the Sterkfontein caves complex. Although the skeletal parts are fragmentary, the author believes that H. gautengensis walked upright, was three and a half feet tall, and weighed about 110 pounds. Media reports on the story include those from the Herald Sun, May 28, 2010, (http://www.heraldsun.com.au) and the MailOnline (http://www.dailymail.com.uk), but by mid-June, 2010, the story was no longer available to view on the National Geographic website at the time of this writing. The new species emerged more than two million years ago and died out approximately 600,000 years ago. Marks on the skull show "that it was de-fleshed, whether for ritual burial or cannibalistic consumption…. Along with burial bones, the marks suggest that man was certainly on the menu of Homo gautengensis." Although the new species had teeth apparently adapted for eating plant material, it evidently also ate meat. Compared with modern humans, the new species had proportionately long arms, a projecting face somewhat like a chimp's, large teeth, and a smaller brain—although not too small for verbal communication. Dr. Curnoe said in an interview, "while it seems possible that Homo gautengensis had language it would have been more rudimentary than ours, lacking the complex tones and lacking a grammar, as all human languages have." For further information about this species, probably the earliest recognized species in the human genus, refer to "A Review of Early Homo in Southern Africa Focusing on Cranial, Mandibular and Dental Remains," with the description of a new species (Homo gautengensis sp. nov.) in HOMO—Journal of Comparative Human Biology, vol. 61, pp. 151–177 (http://www.elsevier/de/jchb) by D. Curnoe.
Also from the Cradle of Humankind is the discovery of two skeletons, a young male and an adult female–a new species, Australopithecus sediba. Studies of the skeletons indicate that this new species walked upright and shared many physical traits with the earliest known human species. Named Karabo after a naming competition that included 15,000 submissions, the 1.95 million-year-old juvenile male is thought to have been between nine and 13 years old when he died. Mali Wiederkahr is one of the numerous writers who reported on this discovery. The article appeared in The Johns Hopkins Newsletter (http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2010/04/22/ScienceTech/New-Hominid.Ancestor.Among.First.To.Walk.Upright-3912389.shtml) on April 22, 2010. "Lee Berger, a paleontologist at the University of Witwatersrand and the lead author of the scientific study, believes that Australopithecus sediba is either an ancestor of Homo or a member of a close branch of Homo." One of the reasons some anthropologists argue against this interpretation is that the male skeleton was young and had not reached its mature growth, indicating that the skeleton might not be an accurate representation of the species as an adult. "Another reason to believe that A. sediba is not a Homo ancestor is that Homo species were already established before A. sediba emerged." According to the paper, the first known Homo species emerged 500,000 years before A. sediba. The research was published in Science, April 9, 2010, vol. 238, pp. 195–204 (http://sciencemag.org). The paper's abstract reads: "Despite a rich African Plio-Pleistocene hominin fossil record, the ancestry of Homo and its relation to earlier australopithecines remain unresolved. Here we report on two partial skeletons with an age of 1.95 to 1.78 million years. The fossils were encased in cave deposits at the Malapa site in South Africa. The skeletons were found close together and are directly associated with craniodental remains. Together they represent a new species of Australopithecus that is probably descended from Australopithecus africanus. Combined craniodental and postcranial evidence demonstrates that this new species shares more derived features with early Homo than any other australopith species and thus might help reveal the ancestor of the genus." The article contains a few excellent illustrations that can be used in the classroom.
In the same issue of Science on pages 154–155, Michael Balter reviews some of the claims made by the team in "Candidate Human Ancestor From South Africa Sparks Praise and Debate." The big one, he states, is that the authors believe that the new species may be the best candidate yet for the immediate ancestor of our genus, Homo. "Few scientists are ready to believe it themselves just yet." So are the new fossils Homo ancestors or a side branch? That remains to be seen, but researchers agree the well-preserved fossils offer vital new clues to a murky area in human evolution. Meave Leakey of the National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, says, "They are a remarkable find" and thinks the species is an australopithecine, while William Kimbel of Arizona State University, Tempe, thinks they are "very lovely specimens" and they are a species of Homo. Balter says such different views of how to classify these fossils reflect a still-emerging debate over whether they are part of our own lineage or belong to a southern African side branch. Paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson, also of Tempe, says, "The transition to Homo continues to be almost totally confusing." Others indicate that the characteristics shared by A. sediba and Homo are few and could be due to normal variation among australopithecines. Tim White of the University of California, Berkeley, and others also think the "new fossils might represent a late-surviving version of A. africanus or a closely related sister species to it, and so will be chiefly informative about that lineage." The research team "thought long and hard about putting the fossils into Homo but decided that given the small brain and other features, the hominin was australopithecine-grade."
In the same issue of Science (vol. 328, pp. 205–208, April 10, 2010), Paul H.G.M. Dirks and others in the "Geological Setting and Age of Australopithecus sediba from Southern Africa" describe the Malapa Cave, containing the Plio-Pleistocene deposits from which the new species was retrieved. The cave is formed in a stromatolite-rich dolomite of Late Archaean Age, 2.64–2.50 billion years old, much like the other caves in the Cradle of Humankind. The Malapa was formed at the intersection of two fractures in which there are vertical shafts that formed deathtraps. Deposits within the cave are cone-shaped accumulations of debris transported to a final resting place within the cave by the flow of water, perhaps from a storm, burying the fossils found in the ten-foot-deep excavation. The superb preservation of the skeleton indicates rapid burial, limited transport distance, and most importantly, out of the reach of carnivores. Chemistry of the debris flow, laminar in structure, indicates that cementation occurred soon after deposition. In addition to the hominids, 209 nonhuman fossil specimens were collected that represent a macro fauna assemblage that existed in Africa between 2.36 and 1.50 million years ago. The deposit rests on a flowstone that has been dated as 2.026 ± 0.021 million years old. The two hominin specimens were buried together in a single debris flow.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Horenstein, S. Paleontology and Evolution in the News. Evo Edu Outreach 3, 481–487 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12052-010-0256-7
Issue Date:
- Human evolution
- Fossils
- Human origins
- Survival
- Extinction
- Paleontology
- News media


text:
Students at Bates Technical College and community members in need will soon have a new location to obtain free perishable and non-perishable food items. The Nourish Pierce County Mobile Food Bank is now parking at the South Campus, 2201 S. 78th St., in Tacoma on Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
"We are excited to bring this much-needed resource to our college community, which will augment the student government-led food pantry efforts at each of our three campuses," said Bates Technical College President Lin Zhou. "The college cares about the health and well-being of our students, and this partnership will make a difference in the lives of our students and their families."
To learn more about Nourish Pierce County and the mobile food bank, visit nourishpc.org. To learn more about Bates Technical College, visit BatesTech.edu.
House leadership has appointed the following members of Congress to the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, which is chaired by Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and vice-chaired by Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA).
The Select Committee was established to study, investigate, and develop recommendations on modernizing Congress, including recommending rules to promote a more modern and efficient Congress; procedures, including the schedule and calendar; policies to develop the next generation of leaders; staff recruitment, diversity, retention, and compensation and benefits; administrative efficiencies, including purchasing, travel, outside services, and shared administrative staff; technology and innovation; and the work of the House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards.
The congressional members are: Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Susan Brooks (R-IN), Rob Woodall (R-GA), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), William Timmons (R-SC), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), and Mark Pocan (D-WI).
"It's clear now, more than ever, that the House is a fixer-upper," Kilmer said. "Americans deserve a government that works. I am excited to get to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who got appointed to the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. My colleagues bring diverse backgrounds and perspectives to the Committee, and they have a proven track record of increasing transparency in government.
Soon the Committee will work across the aisle to create bipartisan, lasting change to modernize Congress and get it working for the people again."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the entire Democratic leadership on Feb. 11 condemned Rep. Ilhan Omar for suggesting that Israel's allies in American politics were motivated by money rather than principle. Omar's tweet, "It's all about the Benjamins baby," referencing $100 bills — drew immediate denunciations from Republicans and Democrats. Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the leadership issued a joint statement calling Omar's "use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters" deeply offensive and insisted on an apology.
Congressman Denny Heck (WA-10) released the following statement:
"First of all, I think it would do a lot of good if many of my colleagues refrained from spreading hate and intolerance, as well as any insults and personal attacks, via tweet. It sounds obvious, but it needed to be said. We need to be role models and treat everyone with respect, even if we don't always get it.
"And none of us, including Representative Ilhan Omar, can be effective if we choose to create division and target particular groups of people with our statements. I stand with our Jewish-American neighbors, and that does not mean I am beholden to any particular group. I do it because it's the right thing to do. I'm relieved Representative Omar apologized, and I know we can all move on from this and get to a place where we can respect each other and make progress together."
Chamber Luncheon, featuring the WorkWell Awards, is a Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber awards program that recognizes and celebrates local employers who are committed to making health and wellness a priority in their workplaces.
Congratulations to this year's award designees:
Gold Designees: Received by an employer who has implemented changes to all three categories – healthy eating, physical activity and tobacco cessation: CHI Franciscan, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, MultiCare Health System and The Doty Group.
Silver Designees: Received by an employer who has implemented changes to two of the three categories – healthy eating, physical activity and tobacco cessation: Better Business Bureau Northwest & the Pacific, City of Tacoma and TrueBlue.
Bronze Designee: Received by an employer who has implemented changes to one of the three categories – healthy eating, physical activity and tobacco cessation: Harts Services and HopeSparks.
Active Transportation Advocate Designee: Received by an employer who provides encouragement and incentives to their employees for using active transportation: GeoEngineers and SiteCrafting.
Happy Heart Designee: Received by an employer who demonstrate a broad and long-term commitment to employee health and well-being: Better Business Bureau Northwest & the Pacific, CHI Franciscan, City of Tacoma, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, MultiCare, The Doty Group and TrueBlue.


text:
Autodata 3.45 free download latest version for PC and Windows 32bit and 64bit operating system with the complete offline full setup and enjoy the best analyzing environment of the cars. This is the most powerful and best application for the analyzing of components and the parameters of the car in order to understand the latest mechanism of the cars which help you to express the ideas in a very clean and easy environment. If You are a car lover and want to know about the latest mechanism about the latest technologies in car development then this will be the best option for you. FileMoro is back with the latest version of AutoData Download which is best for an understanding of the parameters of the Cars. Millions of users have downloaded millions of applications from this website and they always love to download PC games and Software from this website because we always help them by providing the actual content for which they are searching for. Almost 3k plus users have downloaded this application from this website which is 100% working on their side. Our mission is 100% working and legal content which does not contain any virus or junk. You can download this Tool from this website without any worry.
Autodata 3.45 Overview & Review
Autodata 3.45 free download full setup 2019 for Cars is the best tool for you which offer you the analyzing of each component of the cars, and it is the most comprehensive environment which can successfully explain the complex component of the cars you can also perform many different repairing tasks with the help of this tool. Autodata download comes with the simple user-friendly interface which is divided into many different components of the cars into the understandable values, Then you will be able to understand the novices easily. This application is a bit heavy on your system means when you get installed because it provides the whole information and detailed structure about the cars and then it can also provide the details for repairing of the cars. You can also try Solidworks download and present your ideas in graphical form.
Autodata net Software 3.45 Free Download 32bit & 64bit is a very powerful tool which allows you to check many different components of cars such as, petrol injection, air conditioning, air bags, and many other different components. It also helps you to understand the installation of belts as well as help you to understand many different fixing tools for air conditioning, different motors, air bags, and many other things. With the help of this tool, you can successfully create and design a different diagram which is the best feature of this application. All In All, If you among the peoples who love to create and design images and diagram for their dream cars then it will be the recommended tool for you to do so. Autodata Download 2019 Is the best application for fixing and modification of Modren cars.
Features of AutoData 3.45 For Cars 2019:
Autodata software for Cars is the best application which helps with their best features. A huge range of features of this tool is always ready to help you and some of the features of this tool i have told you above but if you want to learn more about the features of this tool then you can read them from below section.
- Provide the environment for the analyzing of the car.
- It can create and generate different diagrams.
- It provides complete working and structure of petrol injection.
- There are different fixing tools for Air bags and air conditioning.
- You can understand the installation and adjust of belts easily.
- Provide many parameters and advanced tool.
- It can make various outlines.
- It finds parts and parameters to check.
Autodata Software 3.45 Free Download Latest Version For PC:
Here is a download link for the Autodata Software 3.45 Free Download Latest Version For PC and windows 32bit and 64bit operating system with the complete offline installer and enjoy the best analyzing of the car. If you want to download then click on the download button and your downloading will automatically start.


text:
Capri Border Mold
Capri Border Mold – Ribbed Bead Border for Elegant Cakes
The Capri Border Mold from the Marina Sousa Collection features equally sized, ribbed beads to create a simple, but sophisticated trim on all your cakes. If you like the simplicity of a pearl border but just want to add a touch more elegance, Capri offers the perfect blend of both penchants. Quickly unmold a cleanly cut design with flawless symmetry for top and bottom cake borders or beads draping down the sides of cakes.
Dimensions: 6.3125" L x 0.5" W
Continue Shopping
Find more Molds or additional Marvelous Molds products.


text:
The American Dental Association advises you to have a routine checkup performed by a dentist twice each year. Each of these basic appointments is designed to clean away tartar and other bacterial matter, while also examining your mouth for any early signs of gum disease and cavities.
If you have a bad habit of procrastinating your regularly scheduled dental checkups at Dr. Stephen Henry DDS's clinic, a latent area of tooth decay could worsen and spread deeper into the sensitive core structures of the tooth. As this start to occur you might notice gradually worsening sensitivity and discomfort or increasing toothache pain in the affected tooth.
If you have a distressed tooth, the wisest course of action is to seek treatment from a dentist like Dr. Stephen Henry, as soon as possible.
After diagnosing the severity of the problem he will recommend the best method of treatment method to alleviate the pain and restore the tooth. This might call for him to perform a root canal to fully remove any infected or compromised structures. Then he will create an abutment capable of securing a dental crown restoration.
If you live in the Foster City, California, area and you have a sensitive or distressed tooth, you should not delay in calling 650-341-5656 to have it examined and treated at Dr. Stephen Henry DDS's clinic.