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"Better Than Hawaii"
It's 3:43 in the morning and Cyndi and Shana are coloring.
They're dressed for comfort in sweat pants and tee shirts; long hair pulled into ponytails. Markers and crayons are scattered about them on the living-room carpet, and it's easy to imagine them as little girls, playing. Except little girls don't often grind their teeth when they color. They don't sweat, and their eyes don't twitch.
Cyndi and Shana aren't little girls.
They're tweakers.
The East Valley housemates, both 20, have been high on crystal methamphetamine--and wide awake--for 106 hours and counting. All they've eaten is baby food and high-protein diet drinks.
Both took the week off--Cyndi's an office assistant, Shana a retail clerk and waitress. They planned this speed binge for months. It's their idea of vacation.
"This is better than Hawaii," Cyndi says. "It's better than water skiing, or Space Mountain. It's better than anyplace I've gone."
Her speech is soft, slow and solemn. She never looks up from the color-by-numbers poster--an intricate fantasy scene of a warrior battling a dragon. Shana makes a tiny mistake, and Cyndi blots it out with Liquid Paper.
The friends have been working on the picture for three hours. Eighteen others, all impeccably done, hang in precise rows on the living-room walls.
All the window blinds are closed. Cyndi explains that's so the shadow people can't see inside. The shadow people usually go away at night, Shana adds, but why take chances?
A stereo plays a techno CD at low volume. A singer's voice pierces the electronic beat. "Everybody thinks I'm high, and I am," the singer whisper-screams. "I don't think I can come down. I really don't."
The poster is done.
Cyndi and Shana tack it up next to a car-race scene and disappear into a bedroom, where the last of their meth--six lines of coarse, off-white powder--awaits on the glass top of a dresser.
Cyndi returns several minutes later. Shana won't be coming out for a while, she says. Shana's dry-heaving over the toilet.
"I pretty much wish I never tried crystal," Cyndi says suddenly. "It's bad for me, I think."
She's reminded that minutes ago, she said the drug was better than Hawaii.
"Yeah," Cyndi says. "That's pretty much the problem."
A Quiet Epidemic
Crystal methamphetamine is a drug straight from science fiction of the apocalypse. It's a cheap mega-stimulant, often made with drain cleaner, that jacks you up for days, not hours, and is addictive as hell.
Authorities say Arizona is one of the nation's meth capitals. It's been the hard drug of choice in the Valley for about three years, during which time untold thousands have quietly descended into its netherworld.
Many have gotten hooked on the stuff, and their lives have suffered accordingly. Others continue to use it in relative moderation, considering it a terrific party drug and a tool to allow them to work harder, longer and faster at their jobs.
A few have committed horrific crimes while under its influence.
A truth about meth is that the high is fantastic.
Twenty dollars' worth of meth makes 20 dollars of cocaine feel like a double latte. Meth makes the timid bold, the lazy motivated, the weak strong, the tired alert, the fat thin, the sad happy, and the mundane profound. Meth markets itself. It has something to offer anyone.
But it's a devil's bargain: What meth gives, it takes away--eventually. Sometimes more. Sometimes everything.
"Crystal steals time," says a 19-year-old Mesa woman who lost four years. "You're not really alive when you're on it. What it does to you, inside you, you just age faster. The only thing I learned from crystal is not to do crystal."
Methamphetamine is a cruel teacher in that respect. It can take its sweet time with you. Some tweakers take a year or more before meth sets the hook. Others go down fast.
Most tweakers don't behead their children or gun down co-workers. They just wither in miserable anonymity. Some land in jail. Some go crazy. Many keep on tweaking, long after the fun is gone.
They may join the Valley's night tribe of grotesque speed freaks, or they may manage to maintain a façade. The nature of meth is such that savvy users can fool the uninitiated.
Either way, those who work the front lines--cops, prosecutors, doctors, counselors, judges--agree that the use and production of meth in Arizona is at crisis levels, and it hasn't peaked.
"We're just starting to get a feel for the impact this drug has on families and society," says Otis Thrasher, a recently retired Arizona Department of Public Safety officer. "I worked drugs for 27 years, and nothing is worse than meth."
New Times interviewed more than 40 people, traveled the state and read thousands of pages of public records in preparing this special report. Among the findings:
* Methamphetamine overtook cocaine in 1995 as the No. 1 drug of addiction reported by Valley treatment centers. Those numbers continue to increase.
* More meth "labs" are popping up in the Phoenix area. Local police have busted 27 labs since October 1, one every three days.
* Meth is as commonplace in rural Arizona as it is in the cities.
* Mexican drug lords have taken over the bulk of the meth business in Arizona, and are funneling unprecedented amounts of the drug into this state.
* The meth being sold in Arizona is stronger--and more poisonous--than ever.
* Meth is not just a "white-trash biker" drug anymore. Professionals use it, housewives use it and lots of white, suburban teens use it.
Arizona is trying to cope with the crisis in unprecedented ways--including the nation's first "meth czar" and first multiagency unit devoted solely to busting meth labs. Yet, as is the case with most drug epidemics, authorities remain behind the curve. Despite meth's explosion, little solid empirical evidence of the drug's proliferation is available.
"A key issue in this war is that we started out with a garbled set of statistics about where we are and where we're going," says Alex Mahon, the director of the Governor's Methamphetamine Control Strategy--also known as the czar.
"Some of the stats we're working with right now are old and misleading. I think methamphetamine caught us unaware. All we can say for sure is that we know we have an exploding problem out there."
Spun Out
I'm having trouble trying to sleep
I'm counting sheep but running out
As time ticks by
And still I try
My eyes feel like they're going to bleed
Dried up and bulging from my skull
My mouth is dry
My face is numb
Fucked up and spun out in my room
On my own, here we go . . .
--Green Day, "Brain Stew," 1995
Black Widow Drug
In its pure form, methamphetamine is a crystalline, sparkling white powder. But most street meth isn't pure. Far from it. Clandestine meth labs aren't known for their stringent quality control. As a result, street meth comes in assorted colors, each because of a different type and level of toxic contamination.
Most Valley street meth is off-white or pale yellow. Light pink and brown also are common. Exotic strains include violet, black, maroon and bright green. Some polluted strains are assigned slang names--Lemon Drop, Candy Apple, Rocky Mountain Red--by users who don't know or care that color means poison.
Ten milligrams of meth--1U100th of a gram--is enough to get a first-time user high. A typical line, or recreational dose of meth, is usually 30 to 50 milligrams. Tolerance builds quickly: Meth addicts often ingest one, or even two grams a day.
The street price of meth in the Valley is $20 to $25 for a quarter-gram, and $100 to $125 for a "teener," or about 1.75 grams.
Like cocaine, there are four ways to get high on meth: snort it, swallow it, smoke it or inject it. Also like coke, meth comes in two forms: powder and rock.
What's the difference? Not much.
Technically, the term "crystal meth" refers only to rock meth. As use of the drug has exploded, that street-level distinction has been lost. "Crystal" now means anything from a fat, white rock to a pinch of colored powder.
Meth users prefer to buy rock, because dealers usually "cut" meth powder with look-alike substances like caffeine or B-12 vitamin crystals to increase profit.
Also, meth rocks aren't only for smoking. Users may easily crush a small "pebble" into powder or shave a line off a larger rock using a razor blade, credit card or even the side of a matchbook.
Unlike cocaine, which quickly numbs the nasal passage, snorting meth burns. No wonder, considering two common ingredients in street meth are Red Devil lye and drain cleaner.
The dirtier the meth, the worse your pain. Your face turns red. Your eyes tear. If you're lucky, the speed will kick in before acrid chemicals ooze down your throat. You'll still taste them if you're high, but you probably won't care as much.
Once in the body, meth artificially triggers a massive release of two chemicals in the central and peripheral nervous systems:
* Dopamine, associated with pain suppression, appetite control and the brain's self-reward center.
* Norepinephrine, which activates a body's fight-or-flight response in emergencies.
Basically, meth's a trickster. It fools your body and mind into behaving like you're in danger, that you've just eaten a full meal, and that you should feel satisfied with life.
Methamphetamine takes effect about five minutes after snorted, or less than half-hour after eaten. The effects from smoking or injecting meth are instantaneous.
However you cut it, the drug's short-term results include a sudden boost in energy, alertness and self-esteem, along with a feeling of euphoria and increased sexuality. Your pupils dilate and your heart rate increases, along with blood pressure, body temperature and lung capacity. Time flies. Overall athletic performance may improve notably.
But methamphetamine is a black widow drug. The honeymoon is wonderful.
What follows is nasty.
Three to four hours after their first dose, users will experience a gradual decline in mood and energy, followed by a nose dive. How hard you crash depends on how high you were flying.
If the meth you took was dirty--quite likely in Arizona these days--you've been poisoned, and once the speed starts to wear off, you'll know it.
All negative symptoms can be reversed with another dose. But the more meth you take, the worse you'll feel once you finally do stop.
Veteran tweakers consider two- and three-day runs to be bush league. Five days are common. Nine days seems to be the outer limit for most, but some meth users say they never catch more than snatches of sleep.
Meth isn't a psychedelic, but sleep deprivation causes delusions that rival anything that LSD may induce. Experts say sleep deprivation often works with methamphetamine to produce profoundly disturbing hallucinations--including the oft-mentioned "shadow people," a typical meth-induced delusion.
"You don't see shadow dogs or shadow birds or shadow cars," a Tempe bartender says. "You see shadow people. Standing in doorways, walking behind you, coming at you on the sidewalk. It's freaky, scary shit, man, because it doesn't feel like you're hallucinating."
Explains psychiatrist Jack Potts: "You can hallucinate because of sleep deprivation alone, but the hallucinatory phenomenon that comes with methamphetamine has a conspiratorial component."
And it's most often unpleasant, Potts adds.
"I stayed up so long one time that I saw eight giant chickens jump out in the road," he notes. "I braked for them, and no drugs were involved. If I'd been on meth, those eight chickens would not only have been there, they would have been out to get me."
Many tweakers lock into what mental-health types term "stereotypic behavior."
Obsessive cleaning is big.
So is organizing, rearranging and dismantling things.
Putting them back together again often is another story.
Tweakers say that you can tell a meth-head's house because the kitchen is spotless, while the yard is littered with half-finished projects.
A Tempe guitarist in his 20s says he did meth for the first, and only, time last summer.
While he was high, he recalls sheepishly, he dismantled his stove. Then he took apart his dishwasher. Then the toaster oven. Then he labeled 26 moving boxes with a letter of the alphabet--jeans in the "J" box, spoons in the "S" box, and so on--intent on boxing up everything he owned.
His wife came up in the middle of that project, the man recalls, and threw a fit. He managed to get the dishwasher back together. The stove, however, was a total loss.
Another popular meth pastime is wild, marathon sex.
But the drug's aphrodisiac effect has a dark side. Health officials in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego attribute an increase in HIV-infection rates to methamphetaine use--especially in the gay club scene, where it's called "Tina."
Don Walsh, director of the Phoenix-based agency HIV Care Directions, says there's a direct correlation between meth and HIV infection in the Valley.
"Part one is people on meth tend to be loose about safe sex," Walsh says. "Part two is people who are infected with HIV and are getting sick . . . do meth because it makes them feel good again physically and takes away the depression . . . but it also makes them get sick faster. Meth seems to fuel the virus.
"I lost five clients in September, and every one of them was a crystal-meth user. One of them was so sick he couldn't get out bed, and he still asked his home-health aide to drive him to his dealer."
Tweakers sleep like the dead when the time finally comes, often for a day or more, as their bodies recover.
Meth users occasionally suffer heart attacks, strokes and other maladies while binging. But compared to heroin and cocaine, methamphetamine poses little danger of overdose. Valley hospitals report meth-related emergency-room admissions are almost all psychiatric.
Medical journals indicate meth is more likely than crack cocaine to cause brain damage. If you have a substantial fissure in your psyche, chronic meth use is likely to crack it open and let out the demons.
Heavy users may lose their teeth to poor nutrition and incessant grinding. Users are pale, because meth raises blood pressure and constricts blood vessels at the skin's surface. They sweat profusely because their body temperature runs hot, and they neglect to bathe, so body odor becomes an issue. They may have scabs or sores from picking at themselves. Their kidneys may falter. Because they don't eat much, and meth sends the body's metabolism into overdrive, they're usually rail-thin.
Tweakers have a name for this condition--"meth rot."
Not all tweakers, however, let the rot take hold.
The Valley's meth-using population includes many functional addicts, able to maintain jobs and relationships, even a healthy appearance. Exercising on meth isn't a problem. Although the appetite is nil, many longtime users train themselves to eat while high, and to remind themselves to complete basic hygiene tasks. If the user learns not to fidget and ramble in public--no small task--the unknowing will often have no clue.
One giveaway are the eyes. Tweakers can't control their pupil dilation and how their eyes rapidly track even slight movements.
Says a Tempe man who has dabbled in the drug: "The peepers always give them away."
Dan doesn't tweak anymore. For one thing, his employer at a Valley manufacturing firm--where he's an engineer--does random drug testing these days. And, after snorting meth a half-dozen times, he knew he couldn't keep using and hope to stay in one piece.
"I'm a big fan of the fun, but there's a downside," says the 27-year-old Tempe man. "You take a pummeling."
Dan spins an entertaining but cautionary tale of a weekend meth dabbler. He says he first used the drug in mid-1994, between engineering jobs.
It started when a friend told him he knew two girls who wanted to score meth. Dan was game. The four drove from Tempe to a mobile-home park in Apache Junction, where they bought $50 worth of meth--enough to last a weekend--and snorted on the spot.
After the requisite burning, crying and gagging, Dan says, "My breathing seemed suddenly very clear and strong. I decided that felt pretty good, so I did another line. Then I felt my whole body sort of lurch forward, and I broke out in a sweat, and I just started talking shit."
Dan and company went party-hopping for hours.
"At this point, I still felt like Superman. We killed a half-ounce of pot and we were slamming beers, and I didn't feel anything but the speed. I said to myself, 'Why didn't I ever do this before?' and I started wondering what I could actually accomplish."
He lost track of time. "It was night, then it was day."
By Saturday afternoon, Dan "started feeling a little rubbery. I noticed my pee was orange. My pupils were extremely dilated, and my vision was weird."
It didn't stop Dan from doing more meth early that Sunday morning. He spent much of the day watching sports on television, wired.
On Monday morning, one of the young women went to work.
"She worked at Motorola, assembling modems. She didn't even blink an eye. It was like seven in the morning. She did a line and said, 'Gotta go.'"
Dan says he did his last line of his inaugural binge that Monday morning. "By now, I'm really tired. My vision is distorted. My skin is very dry. I kept grinding my teeth, and realized I'd probably been grinding them all along."
His friend took him home that afternoon.
"I stayed up all night. I just chilled out with my dog. I took a shower, and it was awesome. And then I finally went to sleep about four [Tuesday] morning."
Dan says he slept for 14 hours, then slept some more. He estimates he repeated his meth binging about six more times before quitting.
"I got some bad-quality stuff. It was fun for three or four hours, then you'd start feeling crappy. Your gumlines itch. [I said], 'I'm never going to do it again because it makes my body feel too bad.'"
And, he says, he hasn't.
Note From the Underground
Of all the separate realities, legal landscapes and metabolic metropolis that thrive beneath the surface of the Cleaver's USA, no subculture seems as pervasive or uniform as the nation's wide-eyed, high-dosage methamphetamine club. . . . This group is a tribute to the idea that some things stay the same across time and space. The members come and go, some leave quietly, to go snitch, croak or disappear, some hang in there after their lights have gone out, and quite a few are dragged off at 6 a.m. Friday morning by blue Windbreakers with yellow writing.
--Speed Phreak magazine, 1995
Drug Court
My first use of chemicals was 21 years of age. The drug was cocaine. I used it on weekends for five or six years. . . . Since moving to Phoenix--the methamphetamine capital of the world--I have used meth.
--a 35-year-old electrician's "autobiography," completed earlier this month for county drug court
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has filed felony methamphetamine charges against about 2,500 people this year, a record.
On one mid-November afternoon, the docket for the county's "drug court" lists 74 defendants. They cram into Superior Court Commissioner Carey Hyatt's courtroom, filling the gallery, jury box and available floor space. Some wait in the lobby.
The court was established to give certain drug offenders a chance to erase their felonies, provided stern conditions are met. Those who've sold drugs or been violent don't qualify for drug court; they're lumped in with the rest of the felons.
The drug court offenders enter into "contracts" with the court, vowing to complete drug testing, community service, counseling and other requirements. Those who complete the program are awarded "diplomas" in front of their peers and, more crucial, have their felonies erased.
Commissioner Hyatt and her drug court counterpart, Judge Susan Bolton, heap praise on those who do well and chide those who fall short. Sometimes, the jurists do more than chide.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't want to go there," begs an emaciated methamphetamine user from Glendale after the commissioner orders her to jail for the weekend. A sheriff's detention officer slaps handcuffs on the woman, who broke her contract by missing drug tests.
New Times perused the files of the 74 defendants scheduled to appear. Of that number, 27 have pleaded guilty to meth-related offenses. That's about 36 percent, a ratio drug court officials estimate is the norm since 1996. All but a handful of the meth users are white, and most are employed.
Among those on today's docket:
* A 21-year-old Camp Verde resident busted after police stopped her vehicle because of a broken taillight. The unemployed woman turned over a plastic bag containing meth. "Do it every day," she told police.
* A 44-year-old west Phoenix father of four on whom police found meth during a traffic stop. The housepainter said it was his wife's, but admitted he also uses the drug heavily.
* A 39-year-old Avondale man, stopped on yet another traffic violation. A search revealed meth. He's been on welfare for three years, since hurting his back at work. In lieu of prosecution, the man agreed to be a snitch for Avondale police. He then failed to contact his handlers, which led to the charges against him. Married for 15 years, the man has a 12-year-old daughter.
* A 26-year-old man nabbed by Phoenix police in a church parking lot. He had meth and drug paraphernalia in a pants pocket. He claimed he'd found the items in a Dumpster. The man described his mode of employment as "skippin' by." Now, he's a construction laborer, and seems to be doing well.
* A 38-year-old northwest Phoenix sheet-metal worker who police stopped after seeing his car lacked license plates. A search produced two vials of meth and a glass pipe.
* A 41-year-old diesel mechanic arrested near a west Phoenix park. He told police he used speed about once monthly, but considers himself a boozer, not a druggie.
* A 32-year-old west Phoenix single mother stopped because she'd forgotten to turn on her car lights. Police found 1.3 grams in her fanny pack, which she claimed belonged to an ex-boyfriend.
* A 28-year-old Tolleson construction worker stopped on a traffic violation. The man admitted spending up to $200 a week on meth in 1996, but claimed he'd never been addicted.
* A 20-year-old Phoenix man who is an assistant manager for a large retailer. Police seized four grams of meth during a raid of the man's home, and arrested him. His employers have written glowing letters of support to the court: "He is very industrious, a real 'go-getter,'" one letter noted.
* A 26-year-old Glendale factory worker who hired a prostitute and drove her to a desert location. Sheriff's deputies happened upon the pair near the Agua Fria River. A search uncovered meth, which the man claimed wasn't his.
"I know the number of meth cases in front of me are exploding," Commissioner Hyatt says. "This hasn't been gradual--it's been boom! Something is obviously happening out there."
The Tweaking Life
"I'm a 50-year-old grandmother, and I been doing speed--rocket fuel--on and off for 25 years," says a Phoenix woman we'll call Janie. "I can do an awful lot of the stuff, but I never saw things like some people do. The mailbox was always a mailbox, even when people around me said it was a cop."
Janie smiles. There are gaping holes where teeth used to be. There is little flesh on her bones, her face is craggy and her forearms are pocked with needle scars. She looks much older than 50, but says she's healthier now than since she last quit using October 1 (court-ordered drug tests confirm this).
She and four men, all between the ages of 35 and 43, sit around a table at the Maricopa County probation offices on North Central Avenue. It's 5 p.m. on December 11. Two of the men have arrived in their work clothes--one's a welder, the other works at a car wash.
They are friendly, well-spoken, and not prone to using buzz words--"enabling," "co-dependent," "issues"--when referring to themselves. They seem haunted, to varying degrees, by what they've done to themselves and those around them.
"I feel most guilty about the good times I have lost with my wife and family--not caring about nothing but getting drugs," says the welder, a burly 43-year-old named Kirk who once had a two-gram-a-day habit. "I've always had a job and made good money. But I've been an addict pretty much since I was a kid in Ohio stealing Mom's diet pills. They tell me I'll need a liver transplant someday from the speed I've done. But I'm still alive. No AIDS, even with all those needles."
Kirk knocks on wood, or, rather, on the metal table. His attitude is, what he's done, he's done, ugly though it may be.
All five people are here for mandatory group counseling, which is part of their contract with Maricopa County's drug court. Each previously pleaded guilty to methamphetamine-related felonies.
Each has been an addict for years.
Some are doing better than others: Kirk, for example, says he's been straight since May 1996--with one glaring exception earlier this year, when he scored and smoked a $20 rock of crack cocaine. Jimmy, on the other hand, says he failed his most recent drug test less than a week ago.
"I twiddled my thumbs and did a lot of nothing--as usual," he says. He's a laconic, 35-year-old father of one who lives in Phoenix's Sunnyslope neighborhood. "It just took me away from wherever my head was. I was bummed because someone took my truck. So I got high. Whoopee."
Bobby nods in agreement. Also 35, he's an aspiring electronics technicican who's wearing a black-leather tassled jacket and a large crucifix. He says he first used "chemicals" when he was about 21, and was a cocaine addict for much of the 1980s in his native Pennsylvania.
Bobby says he got into methamphetamine when he moved here a few years ago--"You can't escape meth in the Valley of the Sun," he pronounces.
Then a mechanic, he recalls his workmates would "chip a little bit"--snort a small line of meth--in the morning, as though it were coffee. He, too, started chipping, and beyond.
Earlier this year, Bobby says, he started injecting the drug. It was a stressful time, he explains, with his wife in a difficult pregnancy with her first child, and money pressures.
"The needle took over my entire life," he says. "My wife was bedridden, and I had to take care of everything. Our relationship sort of distanced itself a lot."
His wife, whom Bobby says doesn't use drugs, watched from her bed as he deteriorated.
"I had all the regular stuff that meth addicts have," he says. "I thought people were coming into my room. The shadow people were running around in my head. I had a window cardboarded up to keep them away, just in case."
She left Bobby shortly before their daughter was born last June 7.
"She didn't want me around a baby when I was like I was," he says. "I had basically lost my mind. I would talk for hours straight, about nothing. One reason I'm here is because I want my wife back, my kid, my life."
Another reason is that police busted Bobby for meth possession. He spent eight days in jail, and, later, was accepted into drug court. He says he slipped about a month ago--"Got some stuff and shot it up"--but insists he can kick his habit.
"I have to," Bobby says.
Kirk, the welder, says he's tried any number of times to quit drugs. Kirk is in drug court with his wife, whom he says he introduced to methamphetamine.
"We've been around a bunch of people in drug court who are young enough to be our kids," he says, "but I don't get preachy with them. I remember how I was at that age. I remember how I am at this age."
Kirk announces to the others that he and his wife are scheduled to collect their "diploma" on December 19 from Judge Susan Bolton.
"Being in drug court saved my life, saved my ass, saved my marriage," he says. "Now comes the hard part, the staying straight part."
No one adds anything to that.
Dr. Charles Shaw has finished processing a new patient into a chemical dependency unit of St. Luke's Hospital. Friends brought the man into the East Van Buren Street clinic a half-hour ago. He's strung out on methamphetamine, and his frenzied eyes and constricted arm muscles provide a clue to the mayhem inside.
The middle-aged man is wearing a tee shirt that says, "Set the Night on Fire."
For Shaw, the unit's chief physician, it's business as usual.
"Two and a half, three years ago, there was all this fuss about heroin making a comeback, and it was very frustrating," he says. "I remember thinking to myself, 'You've got it all wrong. It's not heroin we should be worried about. It's crystal.'"
By 1995, Shaw says, meth overtook cocaine as the most popular drug of addiction reported by those seeking treatment at St. Luke's--a report echoed by the directors of other Valley drug-treatment centers.
Meth, he adds, still rules.
"We're seeing more and more of it. We're starting to see a lot of women who began using meth for weight problems. I expect that to get worse, now that phen-fen's off the market. We see a lot of single, working moms, who were taking care of the kids and working a job or two, and meth lets them get it all done. For a while. We see all kinds."
To illustrate his point, Shaw jabs a thumb over his shoulder: "I've got a 40-year-old accountant [patient] next door who's psychotic as hell."
The word "psychotic" means a difficult treatment problem.
"A lot of the time, when these people come in, it takes three or four days before we can even talk to them," says Jim Corrington, director of the Valley's Charter Hospitals. "You've got to get them on some antipsychotics and tranquilizers to stabilize them, so they don't run through a plate-glass window, thinking all the staff members are FBI agents."
About 20 percent of those who suffer from methamphetamine-induced psychosis don't recover, studies indicate.
"Most come back to reality," says Charles Shaw. "Sometimes it takes two to three days, sometimes it takes a year, sometimes they never come back."
That comports with the experience of counselor Leslie Roth, who works at Maricopa Medical Center's crisis-care unit.
"It's much more crystal coming through here now, and much more in the way of meth-induced psychoses," says Roth. "They hear things, see things, they swear there are cameras in the air vents--all induced by chemicals. A brain is a brain is a brain, and can only take so much substance abuse."
Roth's unit--run by Southwest Behavioral Health Services--may keep patients only up to 23 hours before deciding to send them home, to a rehab clinic or to a mental hospital.
"We see people who have been selling their bodies for dope," she says, "people selling dope for dope, people who have money, families. People who have ruined their lives and are desperate. People who are either going to die or find a new way to live."
Hard-core tweakers won't die if they quit cold turkey, and withdrawal from meth isn't as perilous as, say, heroin or alcohol.
But most experts say methamphetamine is one of the most psychologically addictive drugs around: A 1992 study rated only nicotine and crack cocaine with more addictive potential than meth. Meth was deemed more addictive than heroin, powdered cocaine, alcohol and marijuana.
Scientists have discovered that chronic methamphetamine use burns up the brain's supply of dopamine--the all-important natural mood elevator that meth stimulates the body to overproduce.
Recently publicized studies suggest that once a meth freak does quit using, the dopamine doesn't replenish itself for a few years. The lack of dopamine can send the addict reeling emotionally.
"They go into a deep, black hole of depression," Charles Shaw says, "and they know that just one hit of meth will bring them out. That's the challenge."
Mercifully, this first stage of withdrawal also is characterized by long periods of heavy sleep.
Many recovering meth addicts report that, once they stop using, they've felt sluggish and mildly depressed for months. Many have vivid nightmares about using meth.
Almost all heroin addicts eventually relapse, Shaw says, but he estimates a meth addict's chances at about 50-50 once they endure the first few days. That's why he argues for inpatient treatment for newly recovering meth addicts. But most insurance companies won't cover that expense, Shaw adds, since meth withdrawal specifically requires no medical attention.
Shaw says some of the hardest meth addicts to treat successfully have been those using the drug for hyperactivity--just as Ritalin (an amphetamine) is prescribed to hyperactive children: "Those people, they try crystal and, for the first time in their life, they feel normal, so they keep using."
Laurie Gossard, the director of New Horizons--a Phoenix-based outpatient treatment center--says about 25 percent of the meth addicts she sees began using the drug for depression.
"If they pay close attention to controlling their [meth] dosage," she says, "it works for a while. But it's a tightrope walk without a net, and, eventually, they fall into addiction."
Like her peers, Gossard says her clinic treats more meth addicts than any other drug:
"The typical profile for someone seeking treatment is . . . they've been a user for about two, two and a half years. The first year was recreational, with occasional use leading to binges. Sometime in the second year, they sink into daily use, and go hard-core for about a year, during which time they try to quit by themselves several times and fail. By the time they come to us, they're really sick of themselves. They're tortured, and they're still using."
Gossard says her meth clients span all walks of life.
"I work with a lot of attorneys on meth, and a lot of nurses," she says. "We get a lot of blue collar, too, but executives have walked through our door. Meth makes no class distinction."
Rich is a 33-year-old luxury-car salesman for a Valley dealership with money to burn. He looks like a pro volleyball player, a tall, sturdy blond who wears choice threads.
The Scottsdale native and college graduate says he's been selling cars for more than five years, and loves his job.
He loves meth, too, and says he works and plays better when he's on it.
Rich's relationship with meth started, by his account, in early 1996.
"It gave me everything coke had . . . for less money, and no trips to the men's room every 30 minutes."
On the night he first tried meth, he hit the Scottsdale clubs, then went home and played chess on his computer for hours. The next morning, he asked a girlfriend for some Valium so he could sleep.
"Things started to get a little jagged when the sun came up, but I'd suffered through much worse crashes from coke. When I woke up the next day, I'd pretty much decided the stuff was way, way better than coke."
He did more meth the following weekend, buying "clean" white meth from a trusted source. He says his sole brush with bad meth came earlier this year.
"When the rush started to wear off, I felt like someone had removed my brain from my skull, stuck it in a boiling vat of glowing, green goo, then put it back. That scared me off the stuff for a few weeks."
Until several months ago, Rich says, he was a sporadic user. Then, last spring, he decided to snort some meth before work.
"It was totally spontaneous. I just woke up one Friday morning and, instead of eating breakfast, taking a shower and going to work, I dug out the bindle, cut up a line, snorted it, took a shower, then went to work. I just decided to have meth for breakfast instead of Cheerios."
Rich says he sold two cars that day and hooked a third customer.
"I was on point. I was absolutely at the top of my game. It didn't even really feel like I was on anything. I just felt really sharp, really confident, smooth, everything I needed to be."
Rich says he works under the influence at least one day per week: "Not all of my best [selling] days are meth days, but more are than not."
He says he's using about half again as much meth as a year ago. But Rich seems convinced that, because he buys the drug in small quantities, he still has things under control.
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Rich has a new girlfriend, and says he hides his habit from her. He explains that she might think it was "low class," even though she'll occasionally get high on cocaine herself.
Lately, Rich says, he's snorted a line of meth before even going to the bathroom in the morning.
"That's a little scary. But so far, I wouldn't say I have a problem. I wouldn't recommend meth to anyone I didn't know. But for me, it's only done good things."


text:
Things to Do in the Woods Hole and Falmouth Area
Arts, Music & Cultural Resource
» Arts-Cape.com
» Cape Cod Conservatory
» Cape Cod Theatre Project
» Connect with Arts in Falmouth
» Falmouth Artists' Guild
» Falmouth Cultural Council
Woods Hole
» Woods Hole Film Festival
» Woods Hole Folk Music Society
» Woods Hole Historical Museum
» Woods Hole Public Library
» Woods Hole Theater Company
» Woods Hole Village Market
Places to Visit
Buzzards Bay Coalition Learning Center and Outreach Office
21 Luscombe Avenue • (508) 540-6222
The Buzzards Bay Coalition is a membership-supported non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration, protection and sustainable use and enjoyment of our irreplaceable Bay and its watershed. The Woods Hole Learning Center is an interactive exhibit center with a touch tank and tons of information on how to enjoy and protect Buzzards Bay. Summer Hours: Tuesday- Saturday, 10-4:30.
» Woods Hole office
Marine Biological Laboratory Robert W. Pierce Visitors Center
100 Water Street • (508) 289-7423
The MBL is a leading international, independent, nonprofit institution dedicated to discovery and to improving the human condition through creative research and education in the biological, biomedical and environmental sciences. Founded in 1888 as the Marine Biological Laboratory, the MBL is the oldest private marine laboratory in the Americas.
» MBL Gift Shop
National Marine Fisheries Service Aquarium
Albatross Street • (508) 495-2001
The Laboratory houses a public and research aquarium that is often open to visitors year round and is also home port for two research vessels, the R/V Albatross IV and R/V Delaware II.
Woods Hole Historical Museum
579 Woods Hole Road • (508) 548-7270
The Woods Hole Historical Museum is a lively small museum with changing exhibits and diverse programs appealing to people with wide interests. Founded as an adjunct to the Woods Hole Library "to establish and preserve a collection of objects and materials of cultural, historical, and artistic value," it has grown to a campus of several buildings housing exhibit, workshop, and archival space, as well as becoming an active publisher of works of local and historical interest. Admission is free.
Woods Hole Public Library
581 Woods Hole Road • (508) 548-8961
The Woods Hole Public Library strives to meet the informational, educational, and recreational reading needs of its diverse year-round and seasonal community in Woods Hole and the Town of Falmouth. It serves as an access point for reference and interlibrary loan services for those who live, work, or visit in Woods Hole. The Library reaches out to the community with regular programs for preschool groups, a homebound delivery service, and special recreational and cultural programming for adults and children.

subset: commoncrawl


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As a finale to the two previous posts about brain evolution, let me end by referring to this study by Mekel-Bobrov et al in Science. If you have followed blogs such as John Hawks, Gene expression or The Scientist you have probably heard about this story before.
The study "Ongoing Adaptive Evolution of ASPM, a Brain Size Determinantin Homo sapiens" has the following abstract:
"The gene ASPM (abnormal spindle-like microcephaly associated) is a specific regulator of brain size, and its evolution in the lineage leading to Homo sapiens was driven by strong positive selection. Here, we show that one genetic variant of ASPM in humans arose merely about 5800 years ago and has since swept to high frequency under strong positive selection. These findings, especially the remarkably young age of the positively selected variant, suggest that the human brain is still undergoing rapid adaptive evolution."
So the brain has developed significantly during the past 6000 years or so? That is indeed an interestring finding. So what does the ASPM do? What is it related to? Let me recap a brief survey of Hubmed search for "ASPM and brain".
- It is related to microencephaly and seizures (1)
- It is also related to cortical malformation (2)
- The pathological changes are caused by deficient neurogenesis within the neurogenic epithelium (3)
- It has been strongly positively selected since the divergence from our common ancestor to the chimp (4)
The list goes on and on, but these are maybe the most prevalent reports and topics.
But listen: we're back to discussing brain size again, right? As I claimed in my first brain-evo post "brain size" can mean a lot of things. Since the brain does not evolve like an inflating balloon, it would be much more interesting to know what parts of the brain that increase in size. I'll bet a dollar that we find the prefrontal cortex driving much of this evolution, but that should also mean that the PfC-connected areas would increase in size, too.
I'm diving more into this matter now, and immediately find some interesting and critical remarks by other blogs: again, John Hawks and Gene Expression share their view in the most eloquent way. Read and learn, and don't forget to speculate about what that ASPM haplotype world map actually might mean.
(1) ASPM mutations identified in patients with primary microcephaly and seizures. Shen J, Eyaid W, Mochida GH, Al-Moayyad F, Bodell A, Woods CG, Walsh CA. J Med Genet. 2005 Sep ; 42(9): 725-9
(2) Cortical malformation and pediatric epilepsy: a molecular genetic approach. Mochida GH. J Child Neurol. 2005 Apr ; 20(4): 300-3
(3) Autosomal recessive primary microcephaly (MCPH): a review of clinical, molecular, and evolutionary findings. Woods CG, Bond J, Enard W Am J Hum Genet. 2005 May ; 76(5): 717-28(4) Adaptive evolution of ASPM, a major determinant of cerebral cortical size in humans. Evans PD, Anderson JR, Vallender EJ, Gilbert SL, Malcom CM, Dorus S, Lahn BT Hum Mol Genet. 2004 Mar 1; 13(5): 489-94


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Facebook's national roadshow comes back home to the Bay Area Friday, just down the street from where the company got its start.
Mark Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg and CFO David Ebersman are all scheduled to attend a noon time affair at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Palo Alto to try to convince investors that the company's soon to be public stock is a good buy.
The event is closed to the public but it is a meeting meant for venture capitalists, who will be in attendance.
It is an opportunity for Zuckerberg to put his stamp on the long-term vision of the company that he controls and to convince potential investors that he is the right man to lead the company public.
"There's an impression among the people I've spoken to on background that these attendees will be particularly interested in hearing from Zuckerberg about his long-term vision of the company - perhaps more than say money managers in Boston," CNBC's Julia Boorstin said.
She said that might be the reason Facebook has Zuckerberg sitting out that presentation and instead be front and center at Friday's presentation.
The Palo Alto leg of the roadshow is expected to be smaller than similar presentations in New York and Boston.
About 200 people are expected to attend.
Facebook is largely expected to begin selling shares of its company starting next Friday.


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Serviço de Apoio ao Cliente:
Sobre nós
INÍCIO DE SESSÃO/Alojamentos
Mediterrâneo (Adana, Antalya, Mersin, Kahramanmaraş, Tarsus)
Antalya (Alanya, Manavgat, Serik, Kumluca, Gazipaşa, Kemer)
Konaklı (Antalya)
Alojamentos Konaklı (Antalya)
Hotel Anitas
Royal Vikingen Resort & Spa Hotel
Standard Room 20m²/ Family Room 25m² Orthopedic Bed, Satellite Broadcast, 55 Screen TV, Direct Line Telephone, Minibar, Central Air-Conditioning, Carpet Floor, Bath - Room, Hair Dryer, Safety Box, Balcony Pool & Beach The hotel has activity pool with three water slides, main pool, children's pool and indoor pool with heating. You can also enjoy the sea with 100m beach and do watersports. In the pool and at the beach daybed, cushion, parasol, shower and changing cabin are provided free of charge. Pools Outdoor Pools 600m² Indoor Pools 110m² / Heating Children Pools 20m² Pool With Slides 110m² Activities
Titan Garden Hotel
Location: Konaklı, Westside of Alanya 12 Km, from Antalya Airport 110 Km, 200 m. from beach Our Hotel which was built and opened in 2003 benefits in every way from the long years of experience gained in our orginal Club Titan. We are well equipped to meet guest from all age categories with a similar concept. Our success is proof of our expertise. We have 298 guest room available. 28 of those are family suites, 46 are triple rooms, 227 Standard Double and 22 Family rooms, 2 Rooms are especially equipped to cater for guests with disabilities. All our comfortably appointed and brightly furnished rooms have bathroom with bath and toilet facilities, hairdryer, individual air-conditioning, balcony with seating arrangement, satallite TV, minibar, safebox and your valuables, telephone and emergency phone (in the
Beach Club Doğanay
Distance from Airport 95 miles, Transfer Time 120 minutes, The Doganay Hotel is opposite the beach, just outside the centre of the resort, with a good selection of watersports available including jet-skis and banana boats (extra charge). Alanya sits on a rocky headland between two long sandy beaches facing the Mediterranean. The area around the harbour has many boutiques selling everything including clothes, jewelry and leather goods. Right Choice This hotel will appeal to families and couples looking for a good standard of accommodation in Turkey with a wide variety of on-site facilities. Location and Resort The hotel is 4 miles west of Alanya and the beach is accessed via a tunnel that goes under the coastal road. The beach is a mixture of fine sand and rocks. The hotel has a free shuttle to Alanya 4 times per day or a minibus passes the front of the hotel every 15 minutes( certain times). The cafes around the harbour are popular with tourists. Swimming Pools The hotel has 2 outdoor swimming pools, a children`s pool, an indoor pool and an aquapark with slides. Eating and Drinking The hotel has 4 restaurants including Italian and fish restaurants, a pool snack bar, a lobby bar and a beach bar. The hotel operates an All Inclusive programme which includes breakfast from 7.30am to 9.30am, late breakfast from 9.30am to 10am, lunch between 12.30pm and 1.30pm and dinner from 7pm to 9pm, all buffet style, served in the main restaurant. During the summer season three A la Carte restaurants are also at the disposal of the AI guests; Ottoman, Italian and sea food, all between 7pm and 9pm (daily special menu). Snacks such as hamburgers, hot dogs and French fries are available at the Aqua pool bar (summer season) from 11am to 5pm as well as salads, fruit, macaroni, pitta bread and pizza at the beach bar. Midnight soup (self service - soup, bread and spices) is offered between 11.30pm and midnight at the restaurant. Tea and coffee are available at the cafe from
White City Hotel
CAPACITY: 113 Rooms; 300 Pax. LOCATION: 7 Km To City Center, 110 Km To ANTALYA Airport. RECEPTION: Exchange, Wake-Up Call, Safe Box (Paid), Laundry Service (Paid). ROOMS: Shower/Wc, Hair Dryer, Air Condition, Satelitte Tv, Direkt Telephone (Paid), Minibar (Paid), Balkony, Seaview. LOBBY: Paid: Shop, Hair Dresser, Internet Cafe SUMMER: ALL INCLUSIVE SERVICE. Open air swimmingpool with aquapark, children pool, day and evening animation. PAID: Sauna, Massage, Peeling. FREE: Fitness Center, Hamam. WINTER: HALF PENSION SERVICE. Indoor Swimmingpool. PAID: Sauna, Massage, Peeling. FREE: Fitness Center, Hamam. BEACH: To Get To The Privat Hotel Beach... Through A Tunnel, At The Beach Sun Umbrella And Sun Bed and Mattress Without Paid. Our rooms have been specially designed to offer our distinguished guest a relaxing and comfortable vacation. Standard Room 20m² Satellite Broadcast, 51 Screen TV, Direct Line Telephone, Minibar, Split Air-Conditioning, Bath - Room, Hair Dryer, Safety Box, Balcony *Most of the standard rooms have sea view. You can refresh yourself at the outdoor pools and have fun at the slides of the Aquapark. Kids! Our animators are waiting for you for an unforgettable vacation. Enjoy your vacation with aqua park and pool entertainments, different games and activities. You can enjoy sea and beach at our long sand beach, take part in various activities during the day and have exciting time at the water sports center. Water sports, langırt, billiards, table tennis, volleyball, dart, internet cafe... are only some of your alternatives to have a vacation that is full of sports and fun. You can have enjoyable time at our discos and bars while having your drink and watch all interesting shows of our animation team. Activities & Entertainment Enliven your holiday with different sports and leisure activities led by our animation team. Experience the beauties with the privilege of
Club Dizalya Hotel
Room Features Club Dizalya Hotel consists of 196 rooms with 470 beds in total. Including 82 main house rooms, 26 family bungalows, 1 handicapped rooms and 88 club house rooms. All rooms are equipped with hair dryer, direct dial telephone, satellite tv with music broadcast, air condition, shower, safety box, mini fridge. Room Views: Club Dizalya Hotel Alanya has Garden and sea views are available. Dining and Wining: Club Dizalya Hotel Alanya Antalya has a main restaurant with 450 pax Indoor and 500 pax Outdoor capacity offers delicious tastes as a feast. Snack bar, Beach bar and Pool bar offers cool drinks with great atmosphere. Disco bar with full on parties waits for you. Meetings: Dizalya Hotel supplies for you a meeting room for 120 people with fully equipments. Facilities and Services: Club Dizalya Hotel's staff is here to make your visit as entertaining and enjoyable as possible with shopping services, fax and copy, laundry, doctor and nurse, exchange, hair dresser, beach and pool towel (out of charge), 24 hrs reception service. Leisure and Recreation: Things to see and do in Dizalya Hotel were numerous. Looking at the quality of its attractions, It is interesting. 1 indoor swimming room with children section, beach volley, table tennis, night club, animations, tv room, massage-sauna-Turkish bath,fitness center. Extras: At a night time, when you arrive in Alanya, meeting brilliant Alanya Castle which people call necklace is impressive for your first feelings. Priority of people who come here is the sea, beach and the sun. Alanya has enough properties to meet this expectation. Here is almost a beach town. Sea season to December until March... Boat tours, volleyball on the beach, hiking at the quay, dancing until the morrning...If you aren?t exhausted , you should see amazing Medieval Castle. Alanya is a very hot place in summer months. You should take preventions not to be harmed. Stay close to watery areas where you can
Arancia Resort - M.C Arancia Resort Hotel
Our hotel is situated in Konaklı, a district of Alanya. It is 110 km to Antalya Airport, 50 km to Side, 5 km to Avsallar and 10 km from Alanya. The closest health center is 500m and the closest hospital is 10 km away. For short distance travelling to Antalya and Alanya taxi and minibus are prefered. Our premises are all inclusive. We have a large garden and a 300 m long fine sanded beach. Our hotel is a one block building of seven floors. There are four panaromic lifts, one big outdoor swimming pool, one indoor swimming pool, two children`s swimming pools, one water slide, children`s playground, children`s club, sports center, Turkish bath, Finnish bath, sauna, beauty center, spa center, internet cafe, bowling, billards, table tennis, one conference room, three small meeting rooms (200, 300 and 500 people capacity), amphitheater, disco, tennis court and beach volley and a beach football area available at our premises. An unforgetable holiday is waiting for you... We have planned everything for you to have maximum comfort during your stay with us. Thus, the following equipments are available in our rooms: smart card lock technology, central air conditioner, TV, satellite, mini bar, music service, safe (available for rent), hair dryer, telephone, bathtub, WC and a balcony. There are 458 standard rooms, 333 of them are with seaview and 130 are with park and swimming pool views. There are 5 rooms for our physically challenged guests and 22 family rooms, which make 485 rooms in total. All of the family rooms have two rooms and one balcony. All of our family rooms have amazing seaview. Entertainment & Activities Animation: Our animation team starts the day with various games at the swimming pool and gymnastics and finish off the day with Show- Time, where our guests will have the opportunity to enjoy a different show every night. Activities: For you to enjoy your stay with us we offer the following activities at our premises: One big
Royal Garden Hotel
Hotel Royal Garden Welcome to Hotel Royal Garden. Our aim is to offer you an unforgetable holiday and make you feel as comfortable as you do in your own home! We work with a professional understanding and an enthusiastic spirit. No detail is considered too small in our quest to make you happy. Our hotel is located in Konakli, in the outskirts of the Taurus Mountains, along the beautiful Mediterranean coastline and only 110 km from the Antalya International Airport. The historical town of Alanya lies 14 km from Hotel Royal Garden. Rooms Royal Garden has 151 modern suites, 21 standard double rooms and 55 apartments. Each unit has costless AC, and is equipped with mini bar, satellite TV, phone, desk, safe and hair dryer in the bathroom. Activities For your convenience and enjoyment we offer different activities during the day and evening. Our entertainment specialists organize activities day and night, while being mindful of the needs of visitors who are looking to enjoy a little peace and quiet on their holiday. In our Wellness Center with a trained staff you can enjoy the sauna, Turkish bath and massage. Beach volley, tennis, table tennis and beach football are some of the sports you can enjoy during your stay. Our shopping center has hair stylist (male/female), watch store, cosmetics store, jewellery store and a market. We have an Internet Cafe/Game Room where you can take care of your contacts, and play pool or computer games. Our Health Room is staffed with a nurse and on-call doctor to meet every medical need. The hotel uses the services of Private Alanya Can Hospital. An international hospital with all main branches and accepting international
Titan Select Hotel
250 meters to the shore, private beach with pebble and sand, shower, WC and changing rooms Room Capacity 175 rooms, Open swimming pool, covered swimming pool and 2 kids pool. Programs : Day-long various sportive activities, TV room, play room, ,beach- volleybol, pool games, Boccia, water gymnastics, Step, Aerobics, Darts, tournaments, whole day animation program. Nights : Animation shows, Turkish night, surprise shows, soft disco in the program. For Kids : Kids club for 4-12 year olds (10:00-12:30 / 14:00–17:00), games, mini disco, mini video, mini cinema, mini show, children's playground All our rooms were decorated with style and elegance for the comfort of our guests. Standard Room : Two twin beds or one french bed, TV (satellite broadcast and radio channel) , air-condition, bathtub, hair dryer, direct phone, minibar, safe (for fee), smoke detector, laminated floor,sitting room furniture, balcony. Family Room : Family room with one french bed annexed by a separate room with two twin beds, TV (satellite broadcast and radio channel), air-condition, bathtub, hair dryer, direct phone, minibar, safe (for fee), smoke detector, laminated floor,sitting room furniture, balcony. Room for Disabled : Two twin beds, TV (satellite broadcast and radio channel), air-condition, special bathroom, hair dryer, direct phone, minibar, safe (for fee), smoke detector, laminated floor,sitting room furnitıure,
Hotel Timo
Timo Resort Hotel is situated 500 meters from Konaklı, 12 kilometers from Alanya and approximately 115 kilometers from the Antalya Airport. All 211 standard rooms in our hotel are equipped with TV, phone, money safe, air conditioning, bathroom, toilet, blow dryer, minibar and balcony. With the addition of 12 family rooms, 2 disabled rooms, 13 suites and 1 royal suite, the total number of rooms becomes 239. Timo Resort Hotel Konaklı was established with the concept of serving the domestic and foreign guests in a thoughtful and creative way in a romantic ambiance of the candle lights on the tables and an accompanying soft music.
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Ohio State University expects to save nearly $1 million on its energy bill this year with the help of more than 100 spinning wind turbines in northwestern Ohio.
Ohio State University expects to save nearly $1 million on its energy bill this year with the help of more than 100 spinning wind turbines in northwestern Ohio.
Ohio State signed a 20-year agreement in October to buy 50 megawatts of energy annually from Blue Creek Wind Farm, Ohio�s largest commercial wind farm, which has 152 turbines in Van Wert and Paulding counties.
A megawatt of electricity can light about 300 homes. Fifty megawatts are enough to power about a quarter of the Columbus campus.
�Together, we will make Ohio State a national leader in sustainability, while investing in renewable energy produced right here in Ohio,� President E. Gordon Gee said when the deal was signed.
The contract will help the university reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral. Ohio State employs more than 400 researchers on energy issues, and energy was recently named one of three priority focus areas for universitywide teaching, research and community outreach over the next 10 years.
Ohio State had long been interested in using more renewable energy, but it cost too much until now, said Scott Potter, OSU�s senior energy adviser. �We were willing to pay a premium for clean energy, but we still had to be good stewards of taxpayers� dollars.�
The university has been spending about $35 million a year for enough electricity to power a city the size of Westerville, Potter said.
Blue Creek is equally pleased. �This is the largest university purchase of wind power in our company�s history, and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership,� said Barrett Stambler, a vice president with Iberdrola Renewables, which owns Blue Creek.
Wind farms began popping up nationwide after the federal government started offering a tax credit equal to 2.2 percent of each kilowatt-hour a wind farm generates. The tax break expired at the end of last year, but a one-year extension was part of the last-minute tax bill that Congress enacted.
�No one was interested in Ohio until recently because they thought we didn�t have enough wind,� Potter said. �We do have wind. It�s just a lot higher.�
Blue Creek started generating power in June. At a total height of 476 feet, its turbines are taller than the Statue of Liberty; they also have blades that have a larger radius than the wingspan of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, Potter said.
Instead of just buying renewable-energy credits, as most other non-utility companies do, Ohio State is buying wind energy directly from Iberdrola and contracting with American Electric Power to deliver it. The university has negotiated a price of $46.50 a megawatt, plus a 2 percent annual increase, Potter said. The school expects to save about $1 million in energy costs for each of the next two years.
In a first-of-its-kind provision, OSU researchers will have access to Blue Creek Wind Farm, and to market data from the company, for their research, he said.
Potter said Ohio State already is the only U.S. university studying all areas of wind energy, including gear, rotor-blade and turbine design; wind modeling; noise optimization; and ecological, environmental and policy concerns.
Wind is one of the most-environmentally friendly alternative-energy sources available, said Jose M. Castro, an OSU industrial- and systems-engineering professor.
But to compare favorably with the cost of more-traditional energy-generation methods, the turbines need longer blades, Castro said. He and his graduate students have been trying to improve blades� strength and performance by using glass-reinforced nanocomposite materials and nanopapers. Icing of the turbines poses a significant threat.
�It makes sense to do this kind of research, given the national-security concerns related to production of oil in unsafe areas of the world, and for the well-being of our environment,� Castro said.


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Intel's first 'Arrandale' 32/45nm Core i CPU+GPUs for laptops will debut during H1 2010, but the chip giant may be easing back on its introduction schedule.
Back in July 2009, roadmaps suggested seven of the processors would arrive during the first half of 2010, but the latest information from notebook makers, by way of a DigiTimes report, suggest only three will be released in that timeframe.
They are the 1.06GHz Core i5-520UM, the 1.06GHz Core i7-620UM and the 1.2GHz Core i7-640UM. They are said to be priced at $241, $278 and $305, repectively. That's when purchased in batches of 1000 CPUs - single-chip prices will be higher.
The chips will be aimed at the top end of the ultra-thin laptop market at which Intel is currently pitching the Core 2 Duo SU9400 and SU9600.
At Intel Developer Forum this past September, the chip giant claimed real-world tests show that Arrandale will deliver a significant speed lead over a comparably-priced Core 2 Duo system. Tests included importing photos and decompressing a 256-bit AES-encrypted file archive. Arrandale has extra instructions for processing AES algorithms, the basis for many data security products, including Microsoft's BitLocker.
When Arrandale ships, it will contain a 32nm processor. But its graphics core will be a 45nm unit that also includes the memory controller. So, unlike other 'Nehalem' architecture derivatives, the memory controller will here sit on the IGP die rather than the CPU die.
The three Core i chips will be dual-core parts that use HyperThreading to operate as four-thread devices.
The processors' IGPs will incorporate Clear Video HD, the next generation of Intel's video processing technology, which supports two HD video streams, allowing media player apps to do picture in picture. The IGPs will support DirectX 10 but not DX 11. ®


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[ Ref. 56100 ]
8 sockets with socket rail
Tapered design holds the bolt or nut without magnets and prevents it being lost
Socket Sizes (mm): 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19
Manufactured from Chrome Vanadium
[ Ref. 3593A ]
This special Alldrive Socket Set has a unique V type profile that fits HEX/MM/AF/STAR and SPLINE fixings: Mirror finished in chrome vanadium this set comprises: 18 x 3/8"D Sockets 6/7/8/9/10/11/12/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/24mm on a rail
[ Ref. 4039A ]
Sockets in 3/8"D Chrome Vanadium include: 10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17mm. A quick release socket rail and new style packaging complete the presentation
Large, easy to read markings for fast identification gives this deep metric socket set the edge.
[ Ref. 4984A ]
When access is difficult this socket set is a great time saving tool
The sockets allows access to difficult pipe connectors and wired sensor units (not lambda)
Useful loosening ABS pipes/ Master cylinder pipes/ Diesel injection pipes and wired sensors (i.e coolant sensors etc)
[ Ref. 3501A ]
Contents: 8mm / 9mm / 10mm / 11mm / 12mm / 13mm / 14mm / 15mm / 16mm / 17mm / 18mm / 19mm / 20mm / 21mm / 22mm / 23mm / 24mm.
This Bi-Hex Socket Set has been introduced by popular demand and features 17 essential sockets complete with rail in 3/8"D
Contains a blend of surfactants and natural citrus solvent
Designed to be an effective hand cleanser, whilst also gentle and pleasant to use
The perlite abrasive works to loosen ground-in dirt and grime effectively


text:
Contact Airtel Karnataka – Find below customer care details of Airtel in Karnataka for prepaid or postpaid mobile queries. You can also contact the same for new connections or complaints on Airtel services.
– If you are calling from Airtel mobile, call 121 for queries like Scheme/Bill Plan/VAS Information.
– For complaints or service call the toll free number at 198.
– If calling from any other number dial 9845012345 for Postpaid and 9845098450 for Prepaid.
Bharti Airtel Limited
Enterprise (Corporate) Team
Prestige Technology Park ,
Jupiter (2A) Block,
Sarjapur-Marathhalli Ring Road ,
Kadabeesanahalli Village ,
Varthur Hobli,
Bangalore 560087
Airtel Customer Care Phone
Toll Free: 1800 102 002 (accessible only from Airtel fixed line and Mobile phones) or 0120- 4319696 (accessible from any fixed line and Mobile phones)
Recharge Prepaid
To recharge Airtel prepaid number click here Airtel Recharge. You can even call 543219 (toll free) for the same.
Airtel Postpaid Bill
To pay your postpaid Airtel bill click here. you can even call 543219 (toll free) for the same.
About Airtel
Airtel was founded by Sunil Bharti Mittal in the year 1995. It is a leading telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. With over 207 million subscribers, Airtel today is India's largest cellular service provider and fifth largest mobile provider in the world. Airtel offers mobile voice & data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and national & international long distance services to carriers. For more details on Airtel products click here.


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This helps the patients, the doctors and the manufacturers in the medical world.
The EMEA or the European Medicines Agency in Europe develops and maintains the pharmacovigilance database of probable serious adverse effect medicines in the market. This system is called Eudra Vigilance.
Similarly, the US medical society has its own pharmacovigilance branches namely; the FDA; the academic and non-profit organizations like RADAR and Public Citizen and the pharmaceutical manufacturers. Several companies like Aris Global, Relsys and Workflow have developed pharmacovigilance software to keep track of safety applications in the market.
Kinds of pharmacovigilance software
PV Works for example is a pharmacovigilance software system that records report safety data keeping track of adverse event reporting. It is a commercial workflow engine providing management control of pharmacovigilance processes. Flexible data entry, risk management, safety system assessment, evaluation and submission of regulatory reports are some of its important features.
PV Works (Vet) is another software system made to support veterinary pharmacovigilance business and technical processes meeting the necessary safety standards. Data entry, reporting, audit trail are some of its main features.
The outsourced pharmacovigilance software develops drug development expertise, safety rules and regulatory necessities, securing client access to data and regular tracking and status updates to clients or to the authority. It is an economical project development process making using of the electronic medium for handling management purposes.
The Assured pharmacovigilance software provides Internet access to the server for the client's use and operation of the system for management and customer use. This software meets the standards of pharmaceutical companies, regulatory authorities and medical personnel.
How effective is pharmacovigilance software?
Pharmacovigilance software minimizes the risk of adverse events (ADR) by using genetic profiles.
It makes accurate determinations as to whether a product is safe or not.
It determines the benefit-risk ratio quickly.
It overcomes the challenges that small firms face as far as limited financial and personnel resources are concerned.
Pharmacovigilance software helps maintain regulatory compliance and improve operational efficiency.
Global information can be easily shared by means of this software.


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For those of you that watch Tennis on TV, can you assess what's been going on with Jelena Jankovic within the past year? Abut a year ago, this young woman was #1 in the World and now can't seem to get past the Qtrs of anything. She just lost in the West Bank Classic against Bartoli who she should never lose to.
Jelena has a fantastic game, very strong baseline Player but is completely off her game as of late. Can anyone tell me what you think is her problem?


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You're not so much jumping to conclusions as you are huffing paint and stumbling onto themDecember 16, 2012
The most cogent and needed advice is always the most unheeded because it is not profitable…
One of my friends recently stated (and I'll paraphrase here) that it's a fucked world when someone asks "Did you hear about the shooting?" and the first thing you reply with is "Which one?"
After the primary tragedy – in this case, the school shooting in Newtown, CT – comes the secondary tragedies of the event wherein people draw the absolute wrong conclusions from the primary tragedy.
The biggest of these wrong conclusions is that if only someone else at the school had a gun and they had gone all Bruce Willis on the shooter, which is a dumb idea and is even dumber coming out of the mouth of an elected official – Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX):
"You know, having been and judge and having reviewed photographs of these horrific scenes and knowing that children have these defensive wounds — gunshots through their arms and hands as they try to protect themselves — and hearing the heroic stories the principal, lunging trying to protect — Chris, I wish to God she had had an M4 in her office locked up. So, when she heard gunfire she pulls it out and she didn't have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands, but she takes him out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids."
"Because headshots are so easy to score in the midst of a nerve-wracking life-or-death situation…" says Tina the Lesbian, shaking her head. "He sounds like one of those idiots after 9/11 bragging that he'd never let some Arab with a box-cutter take him out, and he would have totally saved the plane singlehandedly too. And if he had a time machine, he totally would have kicked Hitler in his ball and stopped the Holocaust."
"Well, the mother of the shooter had guns in her house and they didn't do her a bit of good," says Anonymous Doug, referring to the shooter's first victim (from this ABCNews story – the shooter killed her then took her car and at least three of her guns to the school). "What's the honorable goober from Texas's wish about her? If only she slept with a gun under her pillow? If only she had a gun glued to her hand for just such a deadly occasion? If only she had been made out of guns?"
"The congressman obviously didn't heed any of the lessons of the shootings in Tucson where his colleague Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords got shot in the head," says Avonia the Wiccan Pimp. "One of the guys who helped subdue the gunman had his own gun on him, and he almost drew his weapon and shot the guy who had wrestled the gun away from the shooter. He said he was lucky he didn't draw his gun, especially since then he may have been confused by others as the shooter. He could have shot the wrong person and then have gotten shot himself. When chaos happens, do not add to it."
From there, the wrong conclusions depart from the tangible facts of the shooting, looping into other topics that people advocate for. For example, former Arkansas Governor/current FOXNews personality/person who says horrible things but in a kind voice to sound reasonable Mike Huckabee opined on television:
We ask why there is violence in our schools but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage? Because we've made it a place where we don't want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability — that we're not just going to have be accountable to the police if they catch us, but one day we stand before, you know, a holy God in judgment. If we don't believe that, then we don't fear that. And so I sometimes, when people say, why did God let it happen. You know, God wasn't armed. He didn't go to the school. But God will be there in the form of a lot people with hugs and with therapy and a whole lot of ways in which I think he will be involved in the aftermath. Maybe we ought to let him in on the front end and we wouldn't have to call him to show up when it's all said and done at the back end.
"So because you can't force the Jewish kids in public schools to say Christian prayers, we have massive shootings?" says Ninja Vicki. "Everyone wants God in their schools as long as it's theirs. If a public school held Muslim prayer time, Huckabee would go fuck-all nuts about it."
"So the 'wrong God' rule is why those people at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin or the Unitarian Universalist church in Tennessee got shot," says Bernie the Half-Cyborg Cat. "Only the real deal Christian God who passes the Pepsi Challenge can protect you from being gunned down."
"Yes, God was not armed, BECAUSE HE IS FUCKING GOD!" says Tina the Lesbian. "God didn't have to go to the school BECAUSE GOD IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUCKING EVERYWHERE! Why is it I know more about God than this fuckstain when I'm supposed to be hellbound?"
The third wrong conclusion drawn from this is that the tragedy occurred because of video games, a view espoused by this genius on FoxNews – Lt. Col. Dave Grossman:
What you saw in Newtown is just the beginning! This is a sick, sick culture feeding sick movies and sick video games creating very, very sick kids!
…We have raised a generation of children who have learned to kill and learned to like it. When we get a sick kid in past years, they were chewing gum and talking out in class. Now we create a sick kid and they're gonna come kill you. If you're the parents who let your kids play these sick games, the blood is on your hands and, by the way, you might be the first one to die.
"If first-person shooter games like Doom and Quake and Mass Effect can train me to be a cold-hearted gunman, then why hasn't my 25 years of playing Street Fighter transformed me into an unstoppable martial arts machine?" says Mikka. "Oh right, because that's not how the universe works when it comes to acquiring skills and talents. Dungeons and Dragons didn't turn anyone into a goblin-cleaving warrior and Tecmo Bowl didn't turn me into Joe Montana either."
"Wait, this guy is a member of the US Military, right?" says Samurai Cathy. "If video games teach people how to become stone-cold killers, then why are there no XBoxes or Playstations at boot camp? Eight weeks of physical training, eight weeks of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, then off you go to defend our nation. If anything this guy said had any basis in reality, we could end the amorphous War on Terror with a battalion of top Halo players."
"To be fair, all the good video game players in the military are probably piloting our drones," says Anonymous Doug. "The controls are choppy and you only get one life, but instead of having a high score you can get money for college through the G.I. Bill."
There are plenty of other wrong conclusions being drawn from this latest mass shooting, but sometimes there's just too much bullshit to sort out and you have to prioritize what needs mocking.


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Revamped Street Fighter 2 HD Remix Screens, Art
Showcasing newly redrawn stages and concept art, the media reflects the revamped art style that was recently unveiled by Capcom.
Access to an eight-week beta of the game will be granted to Xbox Live Gold subscribers who purchase the Xbox Live Arcade edition of Capcom's upcoming Commandos 3, which hits this spring. HD Remix is due on both the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store this fall.
Speaking to Game|Life, Capcom expanded on comments that the game's file size would not be a problem on Xbox Live Arcade. Microsoft has granted special clearance to exceed the typical 150MB XBLA file size limit with HD Remix and Bionic Commando: Rearmed, quelling concerns that size limitations would hamper the Xbox 360 editions.


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Thi'sl (St. Louis Rapper) - Motivation "My Hood Loves Me" [Full Ride Music Group Submitted]
"St. Louis Rapper Thi'sl (thizzil) drops first video, "Motivation" from his new album
"Free From The Trap." (debuted at no. 8 on Itunes HipHop Charts)
"Free From The Trap" Available on Itunes Now! Follow Thi'sl online:
Twitter @thisl (get a free download instantly)
Instagram: Thisl"
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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Butterfield, Jacob K › Page 57
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About this Publication TitleMormon Battalion Pension Files
Pension files of the Mormon Battalion are arranged alphabetically by name of veteran. Files typically contain survivor pension documents, affidavits by the claimant and witnesses, correspondence, medical reports and related documents supporting each claim. These records often provide enlistment and discharge dates, disability, details of service, witness affidavits, marriage and family information.
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What can The Walking Dead teach us about the role of public health in society? Can Rick Grimes lead us in a better understanding of infectious disease? And can walkers and biters give us a better understanding of nutrition in a post-apocalyptic world? The University of California, Irvine thinks it can.
UC Irvine will offer a course in "Society, Science, Survival: Lessons from AMC's The Walking Dead" this fall in an online course.
The course materials will consist of seasons 1-3 of the hit AMC zombie show with an active discussion of season 4, which premieres October 13.
"There will be measures in place to prevent spoilers before the new episode airs in later time zones," course coordinator Melissa Loble said.
The course is open to the public. Loble says, "It will be a course students can sink their teeth into."
The course will include a look at a number of topics, including managing stress in disaster situations, social order and public health and infectious disease.
"In The Walking Dead, there is a tragic absence of any semblance of public health agencies, expertise, or communications for the surviving members of society," reads the course catalog.
The syllabus includes "thriving on a post-apocalyptic diet."
Yes, there will be a quiz.
In "modeling a zombie outbreak," the class will "explore how mathematics help study the dynamics of disease spread within a population. "Using the walker world as an example, we will begin dividing the population into different groups (human, zombie/walker, and permanently dead) and then use the interactions among these groups to formulate and utilize our mathematical model."
"It's a serious course," Loble said, though she acknowledges zombies tend to draw attention.
"You can take the principles we teach and apply them to the post-apocalyptic world and the real world around you," Loble said.
It's been done before: a spoof posting by the Centers for Disease Control about "zombie preparedness" was so popular it crashed government servers. The CDC used the opportunity to teach those interested in end of the world scenarios how to better prepare -- whether that be the undead or a run-of-the-mill earthquake.
The first day of the eight-week online class is October 14.


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Of grief
by Shaun Chamberlin on December 21st, 2012
Let me tell you a story.
It's a story about our land – our home – and our ability to live peaceful, harmonious, respectful lives upon it and in partnership with it.
And it's a story about the big bad political structures and corporate institutions that conspire to stop us doing so, using the unspeakable, impenetrable black magic of bureaucracy and backhanders to bind our best efforts with frustration and fatigue.
Oh, you already know that one?
Ok, then maybe you're ready for the next chapter, about what comes after?
Fine. Sit down, make yourselves comfortable.
Read more »


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BAYFIELD Bayfield High School head coach Todd McMenimen and the Wolverines got a close look at the No. 1-ranked wrestling team in Class 3A on Friday.
And coach McMenimen liked what he saw.
After all, whats not to like about the deep and experienced defending state champions from Centauri, a fellow member of the Intermountain League.
But McMenimen was much happier with what he saw from his upstart Wolverines, who wrestled five matches away from the powerhouse Falcons during a rescheduled midafternoon matinee match at BHS.
I was very, very pleased with the effort we came out with, McMenimen said after the Wolverines won five of the 10 contested matches but lost the IML dual to top-ranked Centauri 45-18.
The Falcons, who also won five matches, picked up 18 points from three Bayfield forfeits.
We had to go through some really tough kids. But even in the matches we lost, we wrestled well, said McMenimen, who acknowledged Thursday nights loss to No. 3 Alamosa helped prepare the Wolverines for a strong showing against the Falcons.
The way we wrestled (Friday) is exactly what we wanted to see going into regionals next week, he said.
The coachs son, Colter McMenimen, started the early BHS momentum with a dramatic 7-6 decision over Ethan Tater Combs of Centauri in their 126-pound match. Teammates Allec Rodriguez and Drake Rhodes followed suit with two more tense, crowd-pleasing Bayfield decisions 5-3 and 4-3.
Heavyweight Matt Eckstein recorded the Wolverines only pin of the match, finishing Greg Martinez of Centauri early in the second period.
But the most stunning victory for BHS came at 220 pounds when Matt Cerdas scored two points on a reversal with 1 second left in his match, beating RJ Ruybal of Centauri 4-3.
I knew I needed two points to win, said Cerdas, who trailed 3-2 with the clock winding down.
Ive worked that side roll the last three years. Coach (Herb) Stinson taught me that my sophomore year, he said of Bayfields former head coach, who retired this year after 12 at BHS.
Thats been my go-to move, he said.
Cerdas ... waited a little longer than I would have liked, McMenimen said.
We know what move hes going to go to. He tried it in the second period, and he got the escape point. Then, he wore him down and got the side roll at the end.
We wrestled a lot better than (Thursday against Alamosa), Cerdas said of the Wolverines.
We didnt wrestle with intensity (Thursday). A few of us did. But (Friday), I felt like as a team, we wrestled tougher, said Cerdas, son of Katherine Cray.
Colter McMenimen agreed.
I think we went out and wrestled with all we had, said McMenimen, who needed an escape with 27 seconds left to edge Combs 7-6 in their 126-pound match.
We knew they were tough. I knew I would have a tough match, said McMenimen, son of Missy and Todd McMenimen. He also said he knew he couldnt make a mistake against Combs, ranked third in 3A at 126 pounds by coloradopreps.com.
A good wrestler like that will take advantage (of any mistake), he said.
Rodriguez had to wrestle under similar pressure in his low-scoring bout against Christopher Allen of Centauri at 132 pounds.
With a 2-1 lead, Rodriguez controlled Allen from the top position for the entire 2 minutes of the second period. He used a key takedown in the final period to preserve the 5-3 victory.
Rhodes had an even closer match against Shane Wilson of Centauri at 138 pounds. Tied 2-2 going into the third period, Rhodes scored two near fall points on a tilt to beat Wilson 4-3.
In other matches Friday:
Angelo Martinez of Centauri beat Tyler Beebe of BHS 14-5 at 120 pounds.
Jason Buhr of Centauri, ranked No. 1 in the state at 145 pounds, scored a 15-9 decision over Joe Zink.
Jensen Hamilton pinned James Young of BHS (170) in the third.
Jarid Aziz of Centauri, the No. 2-ranked 182-pounder in 3A, pinned Michael Goodman in the second period.
Tyler Pavlovsky of the Falcons pinned crowd favorite Dom Brittain of Bayfield in 51 seconds (195).
Centauri picked up forfeit victories from the Wolverines at 106, 152 and 160 pounds; neither team fielded a 113-pounder.
This is as good a tune-up as I could ask for heading to regionals, coach McMenimen said.
Thats the top team in the state. Several of our guys knocked off guys who were ranked ahead of them. That will be huge for regional seeding and huge for confidence, he said.
Eckstein, his coach said, likely will be seeded No. 1 for the 3A regional tournament next weekend at Monte Vista High School.
I think were going in the right direction, McMenimen said. Im tickled.
dstrode@ durangoherald.com


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Dove Springs: Turning the Corner
Southeast Austin's Dove Springs is a neighborhood in transition.
Bound by Ben White, William Cannon, Pleasant Valley and Interstate 35, the area was originally a predominantly middle-class suburb. But after the closure of nearby Bergstrom Air Force Base in the 1990's, Dove Springs became a community marked by juvenile gang violence, drugs and poverty.
While some of that crime has dissipated, Dove Springs still has one of the highest reported crime rates in Travis County. Two-thirds of the neighborhood population is Hispanic, making it one of the most rapidly growing immigrant neighborhoods in Austin.
On Oct. 31, 2013, Dove Springs was faced with an additional challenge: part of the neighborhood was submerged underwater during the Onion Creek floods. More than 600 homes were heavily damaged and 200 students were initially displaced.
When KUT began this series, the goal was to document the neighborhood's successes and setbacks. "Dove Springs: Turning the Corner" looks at how local, state and educational policies affect the neighborhood – everything from city council representation to childhood obesity. And while it will continue to examine those ideas in-depth, it will also follow the community as it rebuilds from the floods.


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Craving a captivating kitty-centric caper? Cambridge resident Clea Simon has written just the series for you.
Craving a captivating kitty-centric caper? Cambridge resident Clea Simon has written just the series for you.
Simon's latest mystery novel, "Cries and Whiskers," follows music critic Theda Krakow as she investigates the hit-and-run death of an animal rights activist who cared more for wild animals than for people. But, as is usually the case in a good mystery, there's much more to the activist's death than initially meets the eye.
Interested yet? It gets even better: "Cries and Whiskers," like the two Theda Krakow mysteries preceding it, takes place in none other than Cambridge.
"They're set in Cambridge because I love that it's a liberal and literate place," Simon said. Among the topics dealt with in the book are animal rights vs. animal welfare, the city's struggles gentrification, and how singles feel their way through relationships and friendships.
"There are a lot of mystery series about exotic places like Venice or New Orleans, but I think people from outside the area should know about Cambridge," Simon said. "It has a cool history and a cool, happening culture. I think the greater Boston/Cambridge area is as fascinating as any place on earth and deserves to have its own stories brought to life."
Simon grew up on Long Island and attended Harvard, where she studied English, American literature and novels of the early 1800s. "I really fell in love with the city," she said. She lives near Inman Square, although her heroine, Theda, lives in Cambridgeport, as she did for many years.
A full-time writer and journalist who currently writes a radio column for the Boston Globe. Simon said she "kind of fell into journalism" and worked as a rock music critic for years for publications such as Rolling Stone, the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and the Phoenix.
"At 46, I still go out to the occasional [music] show, but I no longer regret that Boston has a 2 a.m. closing hour, and I no longer drive to New York for a show, drive back when the show's finished and stop in Connecticut for breakfast," she laughed.
Simon has written three nonfiction books: "Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings," "Fatherless Women: How We Change After We Lose Our Dads" and "The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats." "I started writing nonfiction because, having been a journalist, it was a natural extension," Simon said.
But then, a few years ago, Kate Mattes of Kate's Mystery Books on Mass. Ave. invited Simon to a holiday party for writers. Simon protested that, although she loves reading mysteries (she grew up reading "Encyclopedia Brown"), she had never written one. Mattes informed her that there is often an overlap between people who have cats and people who read mysteries and urged her to attend.
So Simon went to the party. "At the end of the night, [Mattes] said, 'Clea, you should write a mystery.' I swear I started the next day. She gave me permission," Simon said.
In her first mystery, "Mew is for Murder," an elderly woman who takes in cats is killed. The book deals with the issue of animal hoarding and was styled after the case of a local woman who considered herself a breeder, but had so many cats that the environment was not healthy for them, Simon said.
Her second mystery, "Cattery Row," was based on a real set of crimes in New England when somebody was stealing high-end cats from breeders. "To me, that raises the question, why would anyone steal pedigreed cats?" Simon said. "It also gave me the chance to raise the question, should we be raising [high-end cats] at all when there are lovely animals in the shelter?"
In "Cries and Whiskers," I really wanted to ratchet up the suspense," Simon said. "One of the things that really interests me is how much we love our pets, and the different roles friends and pets play in our lives. Theda has to question her friends and their loyalty. Who do we care for? The innocent animal who depends on us, or the adult who made bad choices? In the real world, you can't be everything for everyone — so who do you save?"
Theda's cat, Musetta, also goes missing during this book. Not coincidentally, Simon also has a black-and-white cat named Musetta. However, "even though it's my cat in them, [the books] are not cute… they're almost like pet noir," Simon said.
"I would never, ever hurt a cat in my books because the people who read books with animals in them don't want that," she added.
Simon stressed that, although she and Theda share much in common, they are not the same person. For one thing, "I've never found a dead body!" she said.
Simon's not slowing down: she's already drafted another book, this one a non-Theda mystery starring a Harvard graduate student. But fear not, cat-centric fans: "I definitely have more plans for Theda and Musetta."Meet Clea Simon Friday, Dec. 7, 5:30 p.m.
Holiday party, book signing with dozens of authors and book discounts. Simon is signing from 5:30-6:15 p.m. Kate's Mystery Books, 221 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, 617-491-2660.Friday, Dec. 7, 7 p.m.
Book launch party for "Cries and Whiskers" at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, 617-661-1515.Tuesday, Dec. 11, 7 p.m.
Reading and signing with Simon and mystery author Karen Olson. Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St., Brookline. 617-566-6660.


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BICYCLE BELL RaceBicycle Bell Bicycle Parts
For racing bike. Plastic housing and mounting bracket, aluminium cover.
Bicycle parts and accessories
Take a look at Dresco's entire range of bicycle parts and accessories. Whether you're using a standard bike or roadster, an electric bike, tour bike, mountain bike or children's bike; Dresco supplies everything you need for care-free cycling. All Dresco products are easy to fit so you can maintain, accessorise or change your bike easily yourself. You'll find the entire well-presented range in a shop near you.


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Opposition members in Syria gained access to the personal email account of dictator Bashar Al-Assad, revealing a secret cache of... iTunes receipts?
Due to download restrictions in Syria, the dictator had to use a separate email account and an American Express card linked to a New York address to make his purchases. Assad had downloaded Chris Brown's single Look At Me Now as well as LMFAO's Sexy And I Know It. Damn right.
Assad also had a taste for country tunes, grabbing Blake Shelton's God Gave Me You on February 5. That one he sent to his wife – one day after bombing Homs, and the day before 300 rockets were lobbed into the city.
Other totalitarian recommendations include The Cover Girl's We Can't Go Wrong and Hurt performed by Leona Lewis.
Assad also downloaded one Harry Potter film, several Potter apps, the Steve Jobs bio, and Real Racing 2. [The Guardian via The Daily What]
Image credit: Ammar Abd Rabbo from flickr