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NYC is pressed to settle Central Park jogger caseBy COLLEEN LONG
The Associated Press | April 07,2013NEW YORK New York is a safer, less fearful place than it was in 1990, when murders hit an all-time high, race relations were raw and the city felt under siege from drug dealers and gangs on wilding sprees.
But one major piece of unfinished business from back then still hangs over the city and its legal system: the Central Park jogger case.
Five black and Hispanic boys were convicted that year in the rape and grisly beating of a white woman jogging in the park, and they went on to serve six to 13 years in prison before their convictions were thrown out in 2002 because of evidence linking someone else to the crime.
They sued police and prosecutors for $250 million. But the lawsuit has languished for a decade with no resolution in sight.
Now, a growing chorus of lawmakers is asking New York City to settle with the five men. And the pressure is likely to build in the coming weeks with the broadcast of a documentary on the case by filmmaker Ken Burns. It airs on PBS on April 16.
All of us want this over, but its about someone taking responsibility for what they did to us, said one of the five, Yusef Salaam, now 38. The money cant buy back our lives.
The attack on 28-year-old investment banker Trisha Meili occurred on April 19, 1989. It was one of the most notorious crimes in New York City history and it mesmerized the nation, serving as a lurid symbol of the citys racial and class divide and its rampant crime. It gave rise to the term wilding for urban mayhem by teenagers.
Drugs. Guns. Gangs. New York City was just crime central at that time, said former New York Detective Kirk Burkhalter, recalling an era so blood-soaked that the city had a record 2,245 homicides in 1990, compared with 414 last year. You were scared to ride the trains after dark. It was such a different place.
When Meili was found in the brush, more than 75 percent of her blood had drained from her body and her skull was smashed. She was in a coma for 12 days, left with permanent damage, and remembers nothing about the attack. The Associated Press does not usually name victims of sexual assault, but Meili later went public as a motivational speaker and wrote a book.
Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson, both 14 at the time, Antron McCray and Salaam, 15, and Korey Wise, 16, were rounded up and arrested. After hours of interrogation, four of them recorded confessions on video, in some cases with the boys parents in the room. At the trials, their lawyers argued the confessions were coerced. At the time, DNA testing was not sophisticated enough to make or break the case.
In 2002, a re-examination of the case found that DNA on the victims sock pointed to Matias Reyes, a murderer and serial rapist who confessed that he alone attacked the jogger. Then-District Attorney Robert Morgenthau stopped short of declaring the Central Park Five innocent but withdrew all charges and did not seek a retrial. (The statute of limitations for charging Reyes had run out; he is serving a life sentence for other crimes.)
Roger Wareham, one of the lawyers for the five, said the DNA was the key.
There was never any forensic evidence that tied them to this case, he said. In 1989, everybody might not have been forensic savvy, but now, after Law and Order, everybody knows if theres no DNA, they didnt do it.
But an overturned conviction does not automatically mean there was any wrongdoing by prosecutors or police. Legal experts say the case is taking a long time in part because of the money and reputations at stake. If it were to go to trial, lawyers would have to prove police and prosecutors acted improperly. A settlement could be reached without the city having to admit wrongdoing, but so far the city hasnt offered.
And no trial date has been set.
This is an embarrassing chapter in the citys history, which is why I think the city would be anxious to settle it, said Richard Klein, a Touro Law School professor who recently hosted a panel on the documentary. Even if you have a different mayor and a different DA, there are so many people who look so bad.
Celeste Koeleveld, an attorney for New York, said the city did nothing wrong in prosecuting the case.
Nothing unearthed since the trials, including Matias Reyes connection to the attack on the jogger, changes that fact, Koeleveld said. Indeed, it was well known at the time of the trials that an unidentified males DNA was present.
The two-hour documentary, The Central Park Five, makes the case that the men were wrongly convicted. Burns, acclaimed for his documentaries on Civil War, baseball and Prohibition, put the project together with his daughter Sarah Burns and her husband.
Sarah Burns worked as a summer paralegal in the office of one of the lawyers handling the lawsuit and wrote a 2011 book on the case, The Central Park Five: A Chronicle of a City Wilding. The documentary was released last fall in some theaters.
It was my daughters passion and my daughters outrage for this, Ken Burns said. I was in New York at the time that this crime took place and was shocked as everyone else. ... And then I was aware when they were exonerated and I was angry that there was so little coverage. But it was Sarah who really ran with this.
The film uses extensive interviews with the men and their families, and lawyers for the city went to court to demand outtakes for use in the civil case. A federal judge earlier this year refused the request. Burns said the city was just stalling, hoping that the five will run out of patience.
The city Law Department said the move didnt hold up anything.
City Comptroller John Liu, who is running for mayor, and other state and city politicians, including members of the City Council, have all spoken out in the past six months, demanding City Hall settle.
We are approaching 10 years, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis, who is presiding over the case, said recently. Somebody ought to get their day in court.
The defendants lives since they got out of prison have not been easy. Wise was recently re-arrested. McCray moved away. Santana sold drugs and was sent back to prison, but now, along with Richardson and Salaam, has become the public face of the case, speaking out against wrongful convictions and racial profiling.
We are over being angry. Now its about helping others, raising our own families right, said Santana, now 38.MORE IN This Just InFree lecture about Full StoryMIDDLEBURY — Operators of a holistic health center are planning a grand opening from 4 p.m. Full StoryCastleton State College present a production of the drama "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad... Full Story
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Well we don't want those of us in the social media space to be left out of the conversation.
That said, here is some light information to help ease you back into the work world after a long weekend. The following infographic is an attempt to take a snapshot of an industry that is changing as I type this introduction. It comes from Wishpond via Media Bistro. Have something to add? Let us know in the comments.

subset: commoncrawl


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Domino's® Nutrition Facts
12-inch Hand-Tossed Wisconsin 6-Cheese Pizza
robust tomato sauce, cheeses made with 100% real mozzarella, feta, provolone, cheddar, parmesan, asiago and sprinkled with oregano on a parmesan and asiago crust
Hand-Tossed Dough:
Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Vegetable Oil (Soybean), Sugar, Salt, Yeast,
Vital Wheat Gluten, Less than 1% Dough Conditioners [Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Whey, Enzyme (with Wheat Starch), Ascorbic Acid, L-cysteine, and Silicon Dioxide added as processing aid].
Pizza Sauce:
Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Sugar, Salt, Spices, Garlic, Soybean Oil, and Citric Acid
Pizza Cheese: Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese (Pasteurized Milk, Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Modified Food Starch, Cellulose (Added To Prevent Caking), Nonfat Milk, Whey Protein Concentrate, Flavors, Sodium Propionate (Added as a Preservative).
Feta Cheese:
Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Cheese Culture, Enzymes, Potato Starch (Added To Prevent Caking)
Cheese, Provolone - Shredded:
Provolone Cheese (Pasteurized Milk, Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Nonfat Milk, Sodium Propionate (Added As A Preservative).
Cheese, Cheddar - Shredded:
Pasteurized Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes,
Annatto (Vegetable Color), Powdered Cellulose Added To Prevent Caking, Natamycin (A Natural Mold Inhibitor).
Parmesan & Asiago Cheese:
Parmesan Hard Grating Cheese (Pasteurized Part-Skim
Milk, Salt, Cheese Culture, Enzymes, Asiago (Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Cheese Culture, Enzymes), [Potato Starch and Powdered Cellulose (To Prevent Caking), Natamycin (A Natural Mold Inhibitor)].
Butter Flavored Oil:
Liquid and Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Natural & Artificial Flavor, Beta Carotene (Color), TBHQ And Citric Acid (Added To Protect Flavor), Dimethylpolysiloxane, An Anti-Foaming Agent Added.
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Yellow Corn.
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The Secret World trailer has spiky dogs, evil swamps, haunted houses
There's a lesson in this trailer somewhere, I can feel it. Something to do with not digging up ancient Indian burial grounds? Perhaps. Maybe it's more to do with not building giant creepy houses and leaving them unattended for decades near an swamps full of tentacle monsters? No, I've got it. The lesson is: don't go to Blue Mountain under ANY circumstances. Even if a man with a giant floating "!" mark over his head asks you to because it's full of ghosts and spiky dogs.
The Secret World's mix of mad monsters and modern guns is a pretty appealing and genuinely different place to set an MMO. There will also be lots of proper puzzles in it, some of which will require players to do some research outside of the game. Owen found it intriguing, but a little frustrating when he got his hands on it for our Secret World preview. We'll have more on The Secret World soon.
Tags: MMORPG, Funcom, The Secret World,


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By Jeremiah Norris
In global health, there is no other percentage that has so captured the public imagination and dominated media coverage than the relationship of national health expenditures to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the US, the current figure is 18% of GDP. When published, this percentage ignites a perception that often takes on the value of reality. It is followed by hand-wringing comments in the press and among policy-makers that we spend more than double what other developed countries do and get less in return. This assumes that there is an equivalency within the various components which comprise GDP from developed countries with socialized medicine when compared to a capitalist system. Moreover, the expenditure rate is seen as a resource flow which dissipates into a dark hole in space, notwithstanding the fact that health care itself is a central contributor to the economy, particularly on employment, even in recessionary times.
The US Government's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) defines GDP as "the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States. As long as these are supplied by US residents, they may be located either in the US or abroad."
That is the accepted definition of GDP. But it doesn't mean that health expenditures within a socialist economy where it is funded through general taxation is measured by the same yardstick as those in the US where it is financed by an equal percentage of public-private sources and delivered almost exclusively through private provision.
These are some items counted towards US GDP but not in socialized medicine countries:
- the cost of mal-practice insurance and awards to plaintiffs;
- the accelerated depreciation on 5-year schedules of plant and equipment;
- health care employer and employee payroll contributions to Social Security, Medicare, 401 (k) retirement plans, and Workmen's Compensation Insurance;
- and, in most developed countries, capital investments are publicly funded and accounted for through ministries of public works; in the US these same investments are charged against GDP for health.
Canada has a single payer system. When an annual national health budget is passed, it is then divided among the provinces according to population. They can consume the amounts specified in their budget allocations—and then no more. Yet, Canadians spend more on health care than what is accounted for in their national budget. In 2012, more than 40,000 Canadians sought specialty care in U. S. institutions, where their expenditures were charged against US GDP and deducted from Canada's.
The capital assets in hospitals and medical equipment in the EU are publicly owned, thus there is no need to apply for tax relief on depreciated values. This is a substantial sum in the US as "almost one-third of health care spending pays for hospital services". EU health care cadres pay one tax into the Treasury for all social services, obviating payroll taxes as in the US for, pension, Social Security, Workmen's Compensation and Medicare.
Over the past five years, health care jobs in the US have outpaced employment trends overall. They account for one out of every six jobs created by 2012. As jobs disappeared during the Great Recession, health care companies continued hiring. They "added 428,000 jobs throughout the 18-month recession from December 2007 until June 2009 and have continued to grow at a steady rate since the end of the recession."
The percentage of health care expenditures is lower in "all other developed countries [which] rely on a large degree of direct government intervention and rate-setting to achieve lower-priced medical treatment for all citizens". For instance, on pharmaceuticals, France and Italy directly regulate prices at launch and subsequent rate of price increases. Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark operate reference price systems of reimbursement and thereby exert strong pressure on prices charged by manufacturers. The UK operates a system of profit regulation that constrains prices to yield no more than a target overall rate of return on capital. One effect of this regulatory environment is that one of its a major producers maintains a paper registration of corporate ownership on the London stock exchange, but conducts its main manufacturing operations in the US where it can price products on the open market. The Canadian government monitors price levels at launch and rates of increase to assure they are "reasonable". If US pharmaceutical producers want to be in these markets, then they have to lower their prices and conform to EU regulations, though the same product is available in US markets, often at double the price. Regulated prices in the EU translate into lower health care expenditures relative to GDP; in effect, they also mean that US citizens are subsidizing health care for their counter-parts in the EU.
To change this perception we have to change the reality. Objective-based research is needed on the relationship of GDP and health care spending since policy-makers allocate resources on the basis of comparisons between developed countries. The measurement has to be of like-things to like-things. There can be little doubt that it isn't equivalent to compare socialist economies with capitalist economies. On one simple indicator, if EU countries permitted market pricing of drug products, then their ratio of health care expenditures to GDP would be far higher than presently reported in the 8-10% range.
The Upward Arc from an Unknown Expenditure to 18% of US GDP for Health
By Jeremiah Norris
The upward thrust of events that have shaped healthcare in America since 1900 when national health expenditures were unknown to 18% of GDP in 2013 constitutes a study often lost in the mist of time, and one that is illustrative of the long road to the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA). The 18% is seen as expenditure within a seamless, integrated 'system', rather than the amorphous components which comprise a public-private cottage industry. At the advent of the 20th Century, population was 76m with a life expectancy of 47 years. Health insurance wasn't available, nor published reports on health expenditures until the mid 1950s. Now, we have 317m with a life expectancy of 78.2 years, and 84% is covered by health insurance.
The beginnings of organized medicine weren't in place until the Flexner Report of 1910, funded by Carnegie Foundation. The Report served as the catalyst for establishing a standard curriculum in medical schools, their accreditation, and the licensing and certification of practitioners. Up until that point, there were proprietary medical schools, mainly operated as private businesses. Approximately one-third of them closed in the decade following publication of this Report. From 1910 – 1928, the Rockefeller Foundation funded a momentum for change through the reorganization of medical education within twenty-four universities.
Since then, the major drivers on the upward expenditure curve have been government initiatives. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, patients had difficulty paying hospitals for services. The government stepped in, offered community hospitals non-profit status in return for a fixed percentage of their income over expenses to cover uncompensated care. This was the birth of Blue Cross-Blue Shield Association.
In the late 1950s, the government established wage and price controls in private businesses. It then permitted employers to substitute health insurance as a covered benefit in lieu of wage increases.
In 1965, the Congress passed Medicare, which provided healthcare for those aged 65+. In 1972, legislation authorized the End Stage Renal Disease Program under Medicare. It now covers 90% of all US citizens with severe chronic kidney disease, regardless of age. In 1997, the Congress added a new component, the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly. It provides comprehensive care for individuals age 55 and older who are sufficiently frail to be categorized as "nursing home eligible" by their state's Medicaid program. Disability insurance was added in the 1970s for those under age 65, some as infants. In 2006, the Prescription Drug Benefits Program was added.
In 1966, the Congress enacted Medicaid, a program for the provision of health services to the poor. States provide up to one half of the funding. Those with disabilities who do not have a work record and receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), are enrolled into Medicaid as a mechanism to provide them with health insurance. Medicaid payments currently assist nearly 60% of all nursing home residents and about 37% of all childbirths in the US. The federal government pays on average 57% of Medicaid expenses.
In 1997, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was enacted by the Congress as a partnership between federal and state governments. It is administered by HHS and provides matching funds to states for health insurance to families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid.
In 1960, Congress enacted the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHB). The government contributes 72% of the premium of all plans offered to active and retired federal employees. FEHB is administered by the US Office of Personnel Management.
The Military Health System is under the US Department of Defense, while the Veterans Administration is a separate Cabinet post. They provide healthcare to active duty, retired military personnel, dependents, and veterans from all service branches.
The Indian Health Services was established in 1955, and is operated through HHS. In 2011, its budget was $4.3 billion, covering 2,700 nurses, 900 physicians, 400 engineers, 500 pharmacists and 300 dentists. Other health professionals bring total staffing to more than 15,000. Indians are also eligible to apply for health care provided by Medicaid.
For the period 2013-2022, these health spending differences per enrollee can be seen in 2013 and 2022:
Medicare spending per enrollee $11,829 $16,914
Medicaid spending per enrollee $7,784 $10,777
Employer-sponsored Private Health Ins. $5,435 $8,204
Other Private Health Insurance $2,434 $5,587
A central premise of ACA is that it will bend the cost curve downward on national health expenditures. Excepting Medicaid, the other programs mentioned will be outside of ACA's specific domain, though they cover some 100m people. For those enrolled into Medicaid, the Federal government will pay States its full costs for the first three years, and 95% thereafter. There will be no deductibles. This will accelerate the present differential between government and private spending, assuring that the HHS's actuary prediction of health expenditures rising to 20% of GDP by 2022 will be realized.
The World Bank's Fierce Grasp of Yesterday
by Jeremiah Norris
Advocates of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) believe that the key to success can be seen in the World Bank's new vision as stated by its President in his address to the World Health Assembly in May 2013. He said: "We must be the generation that delivers universal health coverage … warning that UHC could become a toothless slogan".
Senior policy-makers at the Bank, and its sister organization, the IMF, should take this warning seriously. In 1999, the Bank conducted an audit of 107 of its health projects, finding: 1) "the Bank does not adequately assess borrower capacity to implement planned project activities; 2) notably lacking is an adequate assessment on demand for health services; 3) we know little about what the Bank has 'bought' with its investments".
In 2009, it conducted another internal audit based on corrective measures it had set in place, finding: one-third of World Bank health, nutrition and population program loans met with unsatisfactory outcomes. The Bank spent $17 billion on these initiatives.
Subsequently, the Guardian Weekly drilled deeper into the Bank's audit, determining that: "despite the Bank's raison d'être to end poverty, that was the specific objective of only 6% of projects and a secondary objective of 7%. Even when this was a stated objective, there was little monitoring of outcomes. Where it was done, few projects had achieved that goal … and much of the spending aids [the] richest 20% of people".
The Bank conducts annual reviews through its Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). In a 2006 evaluation of a subsample of 25 Bank-assisted countries for which outcomes had been assessed, "only 11 reduced the incidence of poverty between 1990s and the early 2000s, while poverty either stagnated or increased in the remaining 14 countries".
In 2007, the IMF published a report on health aid and infant mortality. It found that "despite the vast empirical literature considering the effect of foreign aid on growth, there is little systematic empirical evidence on how overall aid affects health, and none (to our knowledge) on how health aid affects health".
The Bank's funding is directed mainly to the public health sector of developing countries. Here, it is burdened by high transaction costs, lack of ownership, and interest payments. It competes with private resource flows, often without these operational liabilities. Official Development Assistance (ODA was once the dominate form of assistance to developing countries. But today, according to Hudson's Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances, "Nearly 80% of all DAC donors' total economic engagement with the developing world is through private financial flows."
An October report by the Bank on global remittances has estimated that they are "expected to reach $414 billion in 2013, and $540 billion by 2015". These flows often are used to purchase health and educational benefits. Sooner or later, every remitted hard currency ends up in a country's central bank where it is used to purchase goods and services which can only be procured through the use of scarce foreign exchange.
In the post-colonial world of the early 1960s, most countries emerging into independence had virtually no private health sectors. In that environment, it was perfectly logical for the World Bank to lend into their public sectors. That world has changed dramatically. For instance, in the largest countries, private expenditures on health as a percent of total expenditures on health show that it is 69% in Bangladesh; 81% in Cambodia; 64% in China; 76% in India; 65% in Indonesia; 55% in Mexico; 75% in Nigeria; 73% in Pakistan; 62% in South Africa; 70% in Uganda; and 73% in Viet Nam.
The successful implementation of UHC is dependent upon: "1) removal of direct out-of-pocket payments); 2) [a migration from] employment-based and contributory insurance models … to the public health sector; and 3) financial support through general government revenues". Given the choice between low cost private resources for healthcare and heavily burdened ODA for UHC, it shouldn't be surprising that ministries of finance would choose a resource flow which would provide them with increased levels of foreign exchange at least cost to their societies, while at the same time improving their international credit ratings for borrowing.
The Bank's president is prescient in his caution that UHC could end up as a slogan. Yet, when used in his new vision To End Extreme Poverty by 2035 during the Bank's Annual Meeting in October, it indemnifies donors from performance accountability. Who could be against such a laudable goal! When cast against an ocean of inconsequential Bank and IMF audits and their leadership in debt forgiveness of $93 billion for 40 poor countries through the Jubilee Program—the same countries which would be the main subjects of UHC, an embrace of these concepts by the Bank can be seen as a continuous tight grip on slogans in a retracing search for yesterday's icebergs.
WHO's Global Health Programs vs Independent Initiatives
By Jeremiah Norris
At Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, in 1977, WHO was charged with a new program initiative, "Health for All by the Year 2000" (HFA). Broadly, its aims were to "bring health within reach of everyone in a given country. By 'health', it is meant a personal state of well being, not just the availability of health services. [it implies] A state of health that enables a person to lead a socially and economically productive life."
Subsequently, bilateral and multilateral agencies, as well as numerous non-governmental organizations, supported its goals and funded them extensively from that date through 2000 with billions of donor dollars. In 2001, WHO published "Macroeconomics and Health: Investing in Health for Economic Development" (MH). It was written by an impressive list of Commissioners, headed by Prof. Jeffery Sachs, then with HarvardUniversity, and funded at $2.5 million by WHO. The basic thrust of this new initiative is a formulaic expression: "expanding coverage for essential health services to the world's poor through scaling up resources, poverty would be reduced, economic development accelerated, and global security advanced. This could save at least 8 million lives each year by the end of the decade, and assuming that each DALY saved "gives an economic benefit of 1 year's per capita income of a projected $535 in 2015, the direct economic benefit … would be $186 billion per year, and plausibly several times more".
A critical component of HFA was Multisectoral Planning, in which WHO would engage all line ministries in its global effort. It re-emerged in MH as a recommendation for the formation of National Macroeconomic Commissions, co-chaired by ministries of finance and health. There isn't any public record of these Commissions having been formed. MH is completely absent of any references to HFA in the main text, in Appendix I listing the Commissioners; their Biographical Sketches; or Reports and Working Papers; or Appendix 2; or References; or even in the Glossary!
It calculated an economic benefit for the 8 million lives saved annually by essential health interventions. The Commissioners walked away from the downstream implications by making an assumption that those saved would go on to a life of suspended animation, free of noncommunicable diseases (NCD) and the costs associated with them. Once a child makes it beyond age 5, the unerring arrow of a costly NCD morbidity will strike somewhere along life's path. Not much else in healthcare is certain. This is.
WHO never published a final report on HFA. This would have generated a wealth of 'lessons learned'. Applied to the Commissioners 2001 work, this valuable resource could have substantially grounded its proposal in a legitimacy otherwise difficult to obtain.
Notwithstanding the lack of progress on these two initiatives, the 2005 World Health Assembly resolution and the 2012 UN General Assembly resolution supported the concept of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Proponents of this concept believe that universal health coverage means "that people should have access to all the services they need, of good quality, without suffering financial hardship when paying for them".
A key financial barrier to this coverage is co-payments by patients. At the 66th World Health Assembly in May 2013, the President of the World Bank said: "anyone who has provided health care to poor people knows that even tiny out-of-pocket charges can drastically reduce their use of needed services. This is both unjust and unnecessary".
His statement was in contravention to the Bank's report of 20 years ago, titled: "Investing in Health". It proposed the implementation of user fees, a policy which was adopted by many Member States. It is also contrary to WHO's ranking of Members on healthcare. In every category, "Singapore is either the very best in the world or near the very top. Its out-of-pocket healthcare costs are the highest in the world".
The predominant form of health financing in most developing countries is in their private sectors. Out-of-pocket payments include co-payments for those covered by health insurance plans, government retirees under medical care through social security-type systems (it is 65% of total public health expenditures in Bolivia), and private health plans. Their removal under UHC would require approval from ministries of finance, causing them to impose additional sources of funding for public health via new taxes.
Alongside these two global initiatives, other programs were launched independent of direct WHO management. Two of the largest are PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria) launched in 2003 with a $15 billion grant from the U. S. It was renewed in 2008 with an additional grant of $53 billion. It works closely with the Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria, "which in its recent replenishment was able to obtain $18.9 billion in new pledges". Together, these two organizations expect to have 10 million AIDS patients under ARV treatment by the end of 2013. For the first time in the global fight against AIDS, the number of new infections has declined.
Rather than leading the way forward on global health, the two WHO initiatives followed past remedies: pour in money and stir. Money was used as a product for consumption when experience informed PEPFAR and the Global Fund that it needed to be used as a medium with a command power to create something of value between partners.
Fire in the Blood, a film by Punjabi-Irish writer-director Dylan Mohan Gray was first released at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013. Since then, it made blood boil on at least several continents. In Global Health Check February 2013, Araddhya Mehtta blogs that the documentary film covering Africa before HIV/AIDs mass treatment programs got underway "tells a harrowing story of inhumanity and heroism" and details how "millions upon millions of people, primarily in Africa were left to die horrible, painful deaths, while the drugs which could have saved them were being safely and cheaply produced and distributed just a short airplane ride away."
She goes on to tell how the film accuses multinational drug companies and Western Governments of collaborating "to keep low-cost generic AIDS drugs out of the hardest hit countries." According to Mehtta, film director Gray described the story as a "real-life David vs. Goliath tale, full of incredibly interesting, daring, courageous mavericks, who took on the world's most powerful companies and governments to do what virtually everyone else at the time said was impossible (i.e. mass treatment of HIV/AIDS in Africa), and against all odds they won…"
Mehtta and Gray fail to mention some pertinent facts that present an altogether different picture.
First, the global health community and the Clinton Administration throughout the 1990s did not fund any HIV/AIDS overseas treatment programs. They advocated only preventive programs, such as testing, counseling, and condoms. The notion that Africans would agree to testing for the HIV/AIDS virus with the associated stigma and no available treatment was always puzzling to me. President Thabo Mbeke in South Africa was in denial of the entire AIDS epidemic. According to Roy Caroll, "He questions the link between viruses and AIDS, and believes that the correlation between poverty and the AIDS rate in Africa was a challenge to the viral theory of AIDS." So it's hard to see who the real "courageous mavericks" were in the 1990s and early 2000s.
It wasn't until George W. Bush came into office and completely reversed the U.S. Government position against treating AIDS that the global health community changed its tune. President Bush ushered in treatment and created the well-known PEPFAR program in early 2003 which combined prevention and treatment for the first time for patients in poor countries hardest hit by AIDS. Only then, in December of 2003, did the WHO initiate its own program which included treatment for the first time.
Secondly, for Mehtta to proclaim, without any examination of the evidence, that there were "safely and cheaply produced" drugs just a short airplane ride away is misleading. She seems to be referring to Indian companies that were producing knock-off HIV/AIDS drugs for export. It's safe to say that the drugs were cheap, but not that they were safe since India requires no bioequivalence testing on drugs for export. The chickens came home to roost in May of 2004 when the WHO recalled 36 Indian drugs from the market and mainly in Africa because the Indian companies could not provide proof of bioequivalence. And, while India was the epi-center of low cost production of ARVs, it had as difficult a time of providing treatment to its own patients as to those in the global arena. In October 2006, the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition criticized India for having 785,000 patients eligible for ARV treatment while only 6% of them were receiving it.
What Mehtta and the film do not acknowledge is the role of the U.S. Government's FDA, which in May 2004, in an effort to increase AIDS drugs for poor countries, offered to accept any ARV drug file for review from companies in any country that wanted FDA certification to confirm that their drugs were valid ARV generics. In turn, U.S. companies, also wanting to increase AIDS drugs for poor countries, did not challenge the Indian companies for violating their patents. This made it possible for the U.S. Government to purchase these drugs and expand distribution even though the price differentials between the Indian and U.S. ARVs were not that significant.
This successful and innovative program between the U.S. Government and companies resulted in the number of AIDS patients being treated increasing from 400,000 in 2004 to more than 8 million patients by the end of 2012. Eighty percent of these patients were receiving Indian drugs, but this time, they were drugs that had been tested for safety and efficacy. And finally, even before President Bush allowed treatment of AIDS patients in U.S. programs, and the global health community followed suit, U.S. companies spun into action with multi-country and single country HIV/AIDS programs for vulnerable populations overseas. From 2000 through 2011, companies donated some $76 billion in drugs – often ARVs, and $9 billion in cash donations including capacity building and physical infrastructure. These contributions are greater than the combined health budgets of the World Bank, WHO, and USAID over the same time period.
The story of HIV/AIDS deserves a better documentary than Fire in the Blood if we are to ever learn from our mistakes for future pandemics. Yes, the story of HIV/AIDS is a sad story of unnecessary human suffering, but the film is missing the chapter on how global health experts endorsed only preventive programs without treatment for over a decade. Yes, ARVs were blocked from reaching Africa but primarily by health policy makers, not in a conspiracy of governments and companies. Yes, it did take some courageous mavericks to set it right, but not the ones generally mentioned, rather President Bush, the U.S. FDA, Dr. Paul Farmer who was the first to demonstrate that AIDS treatment could work in resource-constrained environments, and NGOs that stood their ground on the importance of both prevention and treatment. Documentary filmmakers should at least provide a balanced story and "do no harm" when they turn their cameras to life and death matters.
On May 26, 2012 the World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted a resolution calling for an inter-governmental meeting to examine the proposals made in April by the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG) to initiate a Global R&D Convention. It called for "open approaches to R&D, pooled funds, direct grants to companies in developing countries, prizes for milestones and end products, and patent pools". The main recommendation of the CEWG was, however, more far-reaching: "to start multilateral negotiations for the possible adoption of a binding convention on health R&D".
The concept of a Global Convention rests on three main premises:
- 1) "the current R&D model, based on patents and market-oriented research, fails to generate new health technologies to face global challenges arising from existing health needs, particularly in developing countries;
- 2) it is necessary to secure product access and affordability by delinking R&D costs from the prices of products; and
- 3) voluntary financing cannot be the main or unique source of funding—a better, more sustainable and predictable financing model is needed".
In April 2012, Medecins sans Frontiers (MSF) stated: "the current R&D system is driven by market forces, not health needs, and relies overwhelmingly on the patent system to recoup costs by via high prices".
How relevant are these premises to issues to the the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? In both cases, WHO was designated by the UN as the operative agency in September of that year.
Ten years ago, researchers showed that "from 1975-1999, only 1.3 percent of new drugs and medicines were developed for neglected tropical diseases and tuberculosis despite the fact that these diseases accounted for 12 percent of the global burden of disease".
Yet, when adopting the eight MDGs in September 2000, WHO dismissed both neglected tropical diseases and TB. In Goal #6, the only one with a specific disease target, it read: "Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases". The urgency now being expressed in the high burden of tropical diseases by the CEWG was curiously absent in 2000 when WHO relegated them to a global potpourri of 'other diseases'.
Is the low percentage of new drugs and medicines as important a factor in subsequent access and affordability, or is the number of drugs that actually came on the market in this period to diminish tropical diseases more important? Let's look at a few examples.
In 1978, an R&D company introduced Ivermectin to combat an age old scourge: onchocerciasis or river blindness. It made this therapy available at no cost into perpetuity. This disease is the world's second leading cause of infectious blinding, leading to reduced agricultural output. A World Bank evaluation looked at riverine communities that had left the land due to endemic blindness. Once this disease "was controlled, 25 million hectares of land were returned to agricultural production, enough to feed 18 million people".
In the 1980s, USAID sponsored a program to introduce Oral Hydration Salts (ORS) as the treatment of choice for diarrheal disease. The product was developed by an R&D company, and considered by some to be "possibly the most important advance of this century".
Although the R&D companies patented their respective therapies, neither enforced them when other non-R&D companies massively produced these products. Today, ORS is the preferred treatment for diarrheal diseases, saving the lives of millions of poor children.
In 1987, when the global AIDS epidemic was beginning its ascendancy and no interventions were in sight, one R&D company developed the first therapy for effective treatment: AZT. This sparked a revolution in product innovation by others: today MSF records that there are 26 different therapeutic classes of ARVs, all of them covered by extant patents. Most are being produced by Indian firms as generics without fear of legal challenge from their right-holders. MSF has designated India as "pharmacy to the developing world". (9) WHO records in 2012 more than 8 million AIDS patients under life-extending ARV treatment, up from less than 50,000 in 2003.
In 2006, the Congressional Budget Office published a study on average costs and times to successfully develop a new molecular entity. "In 2000, the total cost was $802 million, with an average time of 11.8 years to bring a product to market". By 2012, that average costs has risen to $1.3 billion and the time to 12+ years.
All new drugs that reach the market after FDA approval don't necessarily find a market. In 2006, one R&D company introduced a new inhaler for asthmatics. By 2011, it had to conclude there was no market for it, writing down $2.3 billion in losses. An R&D Convention would most certainly produce some losers; how would they be covered?
The first order of business for the CEWG should be: in a global health community increasingly focused on evidence-based programming, can the concept for an R&D Convention be sustained by its founding premises?
If these answers can provide confidence to continue with the concept, then advocates need to propose a new regulatory agency with extraterritorial enforcement authorities. It would have to address this question: is there a scientific justification for the retention of FDA/EMEA pharmaceutical quality requirements more stringent than those of the proposed R&D Convention? Investors, public and private, would want assurances of this nature before they expend untold billions in the absence of a proof of concept.


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I hope all our Victoria members are safe and snug again now.
Reports of a 5.2 magnitude earth quake lasting up to 40 seconds have been going crazy.
Stay safe everyone! Hopefully that will be the last of it now.
Did you feel anything? What did you think it was or did you realise straight away?
Hubby asked if the dog was under his chair because it was shaking and then I heard the plates rattling. I told him it could be another earthquake (remembering the feeling from the 2009 earthquake) and he looked at me and laughed. I jumped on facebook and sure enough, everyone was talking about an earthquake. He ate humble pie rather quickly :-)
We were sitting on the couch watching Packed to the Rafters. At first we thought it was someone shaking our newly built pagola then we realised the whole house and couch we were sitting on was shaking too. It was weird and scary at the same time. Our one year old was up at the time sitting on my lap he thought it was quiet amusing!! Hopefully we don't get anymore earthquakes anytime soon.
We sure felt it! I was home with the girls and being the only one awake, to tell you the truth I was alittle scared. I just kept thinking, what next.........
I didn't feel a thing, and then my sister gave me the news, we had no idea
The Facebook funnies have begun already....
This was the damage caused in NQR Grocery Clearance Store in Morwell...
Image sourced from 3AW.com.au
Yes, we were in bed (flu has invaded our house) watching Bikie Wars.... and the t.v started shaking... lasted for about 30 secs at our house. i grabbed hubby's arm and said "omg, that would have to be a 5 on the scale".... hubby said "no way, dont think it'll be that big'.... turns out i was right.
Luckily, no major catastrophe for Victorians this time round
I was just getting out of the shower, when I heard the sliding door rattle for quite a while.
I called out to hubby cause I thought he was playing funny bunnies. But then he came over & asked did i feel it.
Hey BTW, nice to know who some of my fellow Melbournian kidspotters are
I was sitting at my computer (ebay again!) & my chair moved backwards, I thought my partner was behind me & I looked & nobody was there. I jumped up thinking it was a ghost (I know, I'm an idiot!) & it seemed to stop. A few seconds later the rumbling started & the windows started shaking. It was then I realised it was an earth tremour. We have a new crack in the wall & I'm not sure if I'd not noticed before or if it's a result of the earthquake, but one of the window surrounds is a bit unsquare. My daughter slept through it though.
I'm in SE suburbs and didn't notice a thing. What time did it strike????????


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Friday, May 8, 2009
Calvin Borel is set to become the first jockey to jump from Derby winner to fresh shooter for the Preakness since the conception of the universe.
The problem herein rests in whether there is some form of Derby and some form of horse racing in other places in the universe. In which case there could very well be a Derby-winning space jockey jumping off his space horse onto another fresh space shooter.
But that is neither here nor there.
3 comments:
While the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe can and should be debated, the mere suggestion that entities even closely resembling man and entities even closely resembling horses exist is absurd. Then supposing that these "space-men" decided to ride these "space-horses" for the purposes of entertainment and wagering is beyond any concievable logic. In conclusion, your assertion that this is the first time this has happened since the conception of the universe is a valid one. For more information on the possibility of trans-galactic equine pari-mutualism, visit my website at www.ihavetoomuchtimeonmyhandsperhapsishouldgetarealjobandpossiblyprocreate.com
- May 8, 2009 at 5:03 PM
- Brendan O'Meara said...
You didn't like my "space men" joke? I'm still laughing.
Maybe the Tralfalmadorians have some sort of intergalactic horse racing where they race through the 4th dimension. Kurt Vonnegut would be proud.
Since you were gracious enough to provide me with your Web site, I came across another you may be interested in: www.moonexacta.com.
Thanks for the comment.
- May 8, 2009 at 5:12 PM
Latest local news....
- May 10, 2009 at 5:26 PM


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Go meatless with these veggie-loaded chilis packed with hearty flavor.
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Cool Couscous with Fruit and Nuts
Photo: Douglas Mirriam
Vary this side salad with whatever type of dried fruit and nuts you have on hand—dried apricots and toasted hazelnuts, for example, or dried cherries and pecans. Serve with grilled jerk-style chicken or pork.
Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 1/2 cup)
More From Cooking Light
Nutritional Information
Amount per serving
- Calories: 197
- Calories from fat: 19%
- Fat: 4.2g
- Saturated fat: 0.8g
- Monounsaturated fat: 2.2g
- Polyunsaturated fat: 1g
- Protein: 4.2g
- Carbohydrate: 35g
- Fiber: 2.2g
- Cholesterol: 0.0mg
- Iron: 0.6mg
- Sodium: 258mg
- Calcium: 24mg
- 1 cup uncooked couscous
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups boiling water
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1/2 cup dried mixed fruit
- 2 tablespoons dry-roasted cashews, chopped
- 1. Combine couscous and salt in a medium bowl; add 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Cover and let stand 8 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Combine juice and oil; stir into couscous. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Stir in fruit and cashews.
My Notes
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Cool Couscous with Fruit and Nuts Recipe at a Glance
- COURSE: Side Dishes/Vegetables
- CONVENIENCE: Entertaining, Make-Ahead, Quick/Easy, 5 Ingredients or Less
- CUISINE: American
- MAIN INGREDIENT: Rice/Grains
- DIETARY CONSIDERATION: Low Cholesterol, Low Saturated Fat
- PUBLICATION: Cooking Light
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SCR Chemicals (PTY) Ltd
was established in 1999 largely
to export Raw Materials used in the manufacture
of Paints and Adhesives.
At that time our unofficial slogan was: "We
supply everything to manufacture Paint except
the packaging". Several successful years later,
and with growth and enhancements to our
business, we now supply the packaging as well as
a full range of laboratory equipment. Since we
opened our doors originally in Randburg, we
still have our original staff members - an
established and effective team providing
excellent service.
Mirmac Paint and Research
opened in December 2011 we have
given basic/advanced training over 15 times in
South Africa, training over 100 people in Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Zambia and
Tanzania. We provide tailor made technical
training, combining practical and theory in Waterbased & Solvent based paints, advanced
training for technical personnel, as well as Raw
Material evaluations, Product Formulation,
production de-bottlenecking, problem resolution, Site Visits and more.
SCR Chemicals (Pty) Ltd and Mirmac Paint and
Telephone SCR Chemicals:
+27 (11) 708
1299/65 | Fax: +27 (11)
708 6999 | email:
Telephone Mirmac Paint & Research:
+27 (11) 708 7251
| Fax: +27 (11) 708 6999 | email:
Unit 35, APD Industrial Park, Elsecar Street, Kya
Sands, Northriding, Johannesburg, South Africa


text:
Click to read about Advertising on UKC
Carreg y Foel GronGwynedd, WALES
Climbs 27 – Rocktype Welsh igneous – Altitude 430m a.s.l – Faces SW
Crag features
The main crag is visible from the road with the slabs of 'tiger feet' and 'elephant crawl' on the left, a central massive detached pinnacle with the climactic route 'inspiration' and then the overhanging arete of 'sickle cell' detached off to the right.
Follow the miner's track around the left side of the crag and a second crag comes into view, overhanging wildly on the left before breaking up into a series of aretes and corners. The routes here are generally excellent although are a fair bit dirtier than the main crag as they receive a lot less traffic.
Access notes
Weather forecast
Climbs at this crag
Find Classifieds near to this crag (Indoor Walls, Outdoor Shops, Accommodation, etc)
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No more clock
CHASKA, Minn. – As it stands now with the leaders on the back nine Saturday, Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington would play again tomorrow in the final pairing.
One thought on that: I'll bet anyone a million, and give 10-1 odds, that no official will put them on the clock.
Chuck Norris doesn't have guts that big.
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Copying multiple verses
Posted 09 December 2013 - 03:55 PM
How do I do it?
Blog: The Renewed Mind.
Posted 09 December 2013 - 04:10 PM
David, hold down the verse reference until the popup window appears. Up near the top near the reference you'll see arrows. Tap the right or left arrows to include the verses you want to highlight or copy, and then tap the appropriate button underneath for what you want to do.
Let me know if that's not clear.
Posted 09 December 2013 - 04:14 PM
Never mind. I see what I was doing. I was trying to do it on a search result. I have to be on the actual bible.
Mystery solved!
Edited by davidmedina, 09 December 2013 - 04:15 PM.
Blog: The Renewed Mind.
Posted 09 December 2013 - 04:15 PM
Hmmm...are you holding down on the references as opposed to words in the verse?
Great! Glad you got it!
Edited by R. Mansfield, 09 December 2013 - 04:15 PM.
Posted 09 December 2013 - 04:16 PM
Mystery solved!
Blog: The Renewed Mind.
Posted 09 December 2013 - 04:17 PM
By the way, David, let me commend your efforts as a new user to really learn Accordance inside and out. I've read in your posts here in the forums where you regularly refer to having watched the tutorials/podcasts or read the Help files.
You ask very good questions here in the forums. I know you've been frustrated a couple of times, but I'm really glad you've stuck with it, and it's refreshing to see the effort you've put into learning the program. If all new users had your diligence!
One day, you'll be the one answering the questions for the new users!
- JohnK and Abram K-J like this
Posted 09 December 2013 - 04:21 PM
I am glad that I stuck too.
I am also glad that there are so many people willing to help. I am also thankful to Helen. She did spent sometime with me answering my questions and helping me through the learning curve.
The more I learn the more I appreciate it's way of doing thing.
Blog: The Renewed Mind.
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"As anyone thinking about enrolling in a college or university knows, tuition is not cheap. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) notes that since the early 1980s, tuition has risen by approximately 7 percent a year, causing two-thirds of students to borrow to complete their degrees," Truthout News reports. "Although grants and outright scholarships exist, part of the problem, NASFAA's website explains, is that 'in 1975 the states picked up 60 percent of the tab while families shouldered 33 percent' and the federal government picked up the balance. Thirty-eight years later, the states pay approximately 34 percent and the feds pay 16 percent, leaving students and their families to shell out - often through loans - the remaining half. And it's getting worse. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, since the start of the recession in 2008, 'cuts to higher education have been severe and almost universal.' As a result, every state except North Dakota and Wyoming spends less on student aid than it did five years ago. Worse, as staggering as these numbers are, when gender enters the mix, the impact is heightened. There are two reasons for this: First, there are more women than men on campus - 56.4 percent vs. 43.6 percent nationwide. Secondly, females earn less than men in virtually every occupation, from business to medicine to the arts, but pay the same amount to go to school, making any outstanding loans a larger repayment burden."
NASFAA's "Financial Aid in the News" section highlights media coverage of financial aid to help members stay up to date with the latest news. Inclusion in Today's News does not imply endorsement of the material or guarantee the accuracy of information presented.


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MMA News
Thursday, 10/03/2013, 11:42 am
VIDEO | UFC Primetime: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos 3 – Episode 1
Heavyweight king Cain Velasquez defends his crown against the only man to ever defeat him, former champion Junior Dos Santos. Get an all-access look at two UFC superstars as they prepare to culminate their historic trilogy.
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The newest post by Kyuubi (of the Nine-Tailed Shiba blog) links back to my tweet last evening about Aki the Shiba, who's not feeling well. Kyuubi added a beautiful little poetic paragraph at the end of the post.
You should go read that post in full, and then follow the link there to read about Aki's sudden health problems. And, of course, cuddle with your humans and send out your shiba love.
COUNTDOWN: three days + a few hours!
to explain, in three days + a few hours (friday night), my humans and i are hopping a flight to san francisco to go visit zuko and his pack. long time readers of this blog may remember that i won a prize (carrier+human ticket+doggie ticket) from PEOPLEpets & southwest airlines to take a dream vacation. i said that, if i won, i would go to san francisco [read the prize-winning blog post here, which zuko's mom helped me write], and that's exactly what we're doing.
as part of our trip, we're going out to the northern california shiba fanciers' annual shiba party. should be pretty awesome, like an even bigger shibapalooza, which is the southern california shiba club's annual picnic (see our pics from last year's shibapalooza). we've also heard that we're likely to see some other famous internet shibas. i don't want to jinx it by listing them here, but i've talked to some of them, they know who they are, and i totally hope to see them all!
in the photo above, i'm in the carrier that my shiba friend tokyo gave me. she had grown out of it and was nice enough to send it my way (hooray for being tiny!). she also gave me some awesome treats. thanks for helping make our trip possible, tokyo!
i'm still getting used to being in the carrier for long periods of time. sometimes i'm great and sometimes not so much (like when i found a way to escape in the car yesterday!). like my humans have been saying… 'on our plane trip we hope there's more of [the above picture] and a whole lot less of [this picture].'
and a note to all you thieves who want to invade my den while i'm away: our human house-mate *trick will still be in phoenix. so don't even dream of taking my toys or my himalayan yak milk chews!
but i'm still on the blog for the next three days, so keep checking back this week!
(Prince) Zuko the shiba and I were fast friends.
He's awesome to play with, especially if the game is tug-of-war.
And I love to chase him on the beach (he's an off-leash beach shiba!).
Here's a pic of us together—I already can't wait to share a rental home with him in Huntington Beach this July!
I'm sleeping straight through the day and my humans are working, so I can't share all my cool new photos from my san francisco vacation just yet.
However, to sate your shiba photo appetite, I present to you the cover of issue #1 of the not-yet-real comic: The Adventures of Taro & Zuko.
Photo taken on iPod touch and modified with toonpaint app.
One more note: I totally miss my big shiba bro, Zuko.
Only cure for my post-hanging-with-Prince-Zuko-the-shiba depression?
A play date with shiba siblings, Mika and Rinji (@shiba_rinji)!
We had tons of fun tonight. Rinji and I sure ran each other hard and we tired quickly in the warm Arizona afternoon. And tired shibas = happy humans!
taro the shiba chasing prince zuko the shiba on a beach in san francisco.
from my humans, a brief description of what it was like to watch us there:
during my trip to san francisco, we spent quite a bit of time in the car.
above, you can see a pic of me listening to zuko's mom as she talks about the city (also on flickr).
we had to drive up to novato for the northern california shiba party, but we got rained out.
here's a pic of me, very unhappy that i'm so wet and so cold.
(see my earlier post about being rained out or see this photo on flickr)
after a while though, i was just happy to be on a car ride.
this is a pic my human tra took of kai & i, hanging out in the backseat.
but zuko is the ultimate heart stealer on car rides! look at this pic of him pretending to be camera shy!
and what about those adorable eyes? how can you not give him treats every two seconds for being that adorable?
we drove alone on the last day, but i sure was tired. see how i was inventing new and creative ways to sleep?
more to come from my vacation later this week. you can see what's already available online in my flickr set: san francisco.
it's a taro shiba advertisement for lastolite & for jonathan fleming photography!
as i reblogged from misaki's world last week, when i was in san francisco with zuko we met up with a very famous shiba named suki. suki's famous for being beautiful and for being a wonderful shiba model for her human dad's awesome photography.
if you've never seen it before, you really must see the 52 weeks of suki set on flickr. it's superb.
we asked jonathan to take photos of all the shibas together, which he did, along with lots of help from his wife, bridget. the photoshoot, however, made for a very busy morning and early afternoon.
our schedule:
busy day, right?
well, jonathan did a wonderful job of documenting the whole experience in this blog entry, which is an absolute must-read/must-see. dozens of shiba pics and a great telling of how many humans it took to get good shots. it also includes this stunning picture of me:
so, getting back to the taro shiba advertisement…
jonathan had lots of equipment, including some lastolite equipment that work with his flash (i think; all that equipment is kind of confusing). and, with all his skill, if he trusts lastolite, then i am happy to pose for a couple of shots for that brand.
here's an additional shot:
(see the three taro shiba lastolite ad pics on flickr: 1, 2, & 3)
you may notice that i don't have a pic of me posing with a jonathan fleming logo, which is a usual staple of my taro shiba ad series. instead of the usual visual, i just want to gush about my experience with him and then provide you with links to back it up.
my endorsement of jonathan:
jonathan is an awesome photographer with a great eye, real talent, and plenty of patience when it comes to working with shibas (his wife, bridget, does too!). he takes great photos of non-shibas, as well. to see for yourself, follow links at the bottom of this post to his blog, website and flickr. so, if you're in the bay area and need photos of your dog or anything else, jonathan's the person to contact.
jonathan has set up a gallery of shots on his photography website (with more to come as they're done being processed). please go check it out. they're amazing and available for purchase. to see these photos…
i hope you enjoyed these photos and enjoyed getting to know a bit more of what i did in san francisco.
here are some additional shots that you may enjoy:
stay tuned… more from my trip to san francisco is yet to come!
Even More Links! roundup:
UPDATE: zuko already got some prints in the mail!
it's a special extended taro shiba hipstamatic/retro wednesday!
above, i'm sleeping in the car just after zuko and i ran on the beach. as zuko's dad drove, i was sleeping in the arms of tra (aka my human mom).
kai also captured this pic of tra holding me as we drove through san francisco:
i'm making this a special extended post where we're sharing non-shiba hipstamatic pics from our trip. it's not something i normally do, but we have some good shots to share. and, i promise: if you get to the end of this post, you'll see a special hipstamatic pic of my big shiba bro, zuko!
the pics i shared last wednesday of zuko and i were taken in a park called sutro heights. (if you don't remember the posts or the pics, see taro's hipstamatic pic here & see zuko's hipstamatic pic here)
below are a few more pics in sutro heights park, which was beautiful as the heavy rain clouds (the same ones that made us leave shibapalooza) gave way to clear blue skies.
my human tra in sutro heights
ocean view from sutro heights, 1
ocean view from sutro heights, 2
right after we went to sutro heights park, we drove over to alamo square.
kai took some hipstamatic pics of the painted ladies. you humans might recognize them from the opening credits of the TV show 'full house'.
kai's hipstamatic pic of tra taking a photo of the painted ladies
color hipstamatic pic of the painted ladies
black and white pic of the painted ladies
on the day of the shiba photoshoot…
we met at philz coffee, where kai had amazing iced mint mojito coffee (or so he says. unlike in my famous starbucks pic, he didn't give give me a lick).
coffee and rayban aviators, at philz coffee
on the photoshoot: bridget, suki the shiba & yours truly
the photoshoot pack travels through mission creek park in SOMA
and that's it! congrats for making it to the end!
as promised, here is the special hipstamatic pic of zuko:
even on big, strong shibas like zuko, shiba butts are pretty cute, right? ;) and that fuzzy shiba butt marks THE END of our special extended post of our hipstamatic/retro pics in san francisco! hope you liked it!
more of taro's trip to san francisco can be seen in his san francisco photoset on flickr.
it's another edition of taro-around-tempe thursday!
today's pics are a selection of pics my humans took during my last playdate with the other famous tempe shibas: shiba siblings rinji & mika.
as rinji has matured, we all continue to get along really well. and even though we may want to play a little bit of rough chase now and again or even quarrel over delicious, delicious pecans, no contact has ever been even close to serious or worrisome. (in that photo of rinji and i with our paws to paws, we're actually both sorting out some pecans on the ground. we both got some, so no worries.) and since rinji and i play so well, mika doesn't have to regulate our rough play too often. so win-win-win!
you can see the full set over on my flickr.
note: just because i'm continuing our taro-around-tempe thursday series doesn't mean i'm out of san francisco pics; in fact, i still have lots and lots and lots. and with my humans' help, i'll continue to post them as i can.


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A Baltimore based photographer, librarian and occasional pontificator.
All of the images you see here were taken by me unless noted otherwise (and in those cases, a link to the original artist is always made).
Check out my photo books on MagCloud...
I mostly shoot with older mechanical or minimally electronic film cameras, though I also shoot digital at times. To see more photos, go to my flickr page. You can also find a more manageable portfolio on my web page. I've also created a page on facebook.
Prints and licenses of my work are always available. Please contact me for more information.
If you like my Baltimore photographs, check out my wife's tumblr, Glitter Beneath the Rot, to get her perspective on life in Baltimore City schools.
See my work on...
Baker Artist Awards Nomination
They Shoot Film, Don't They? interview


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American Society of Safety Engineers Brings NAPO to the U.S.
DES PLAINES, Ill. (November 21, 2013) – Move over Smokey Bear. Make room Mr. McGruff. There is a new educational character hitting U.S. classrooms to teach kids about the importance of playing it safe, even while you are working.
His name is Napo, and he is an animated character created by a consortium of European safety and health organizations. The American Society of Safety Engineers have secured the sole rights to his national distribution in order to help teach U.S. primary school students, in imaginative and fun ways, the value of staying safe. And while Napo doesn't speak, each of his silent animated short films is a visual lesson that's easily understood by kids 5-years old and up.
"We are proud to bring Napo to American children," said Craig May, an ASSE spokesperson. "European occupational safety professionals have had enormous success in educating students on the difference between a danger sign and a prohibited sign. They learn how to protect themselves against harmful chemicals by understanding warning symbols on glue or cleaning products, for example."
Educators may download these short films at http://www.napofilm.net/en, as well as lessons to help discuss different topics. The films are available, free-of-charge, to schools, teachers and parents on ASSE's website for education, training and awareness raising activities and events.
Last year, Napo enjoyed extraordinary popularity with kids K through 4, compiling more than 450,000 visits and over eight million hits. The website is available in 27 languages including French, German, Brazilian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and English.
Founded in 1911, the Des Plaines, Illinois-based ASSE has more than 32,000 occupational safety, health and environmental professional members who lead, manage, supervise, research and consult on safety, health, transportation and environmental issues in all industries, government, labor, health care and education. For more information please go to www.asse.org/newsroom.
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Physical Exam And Hiv Test For Life Insurance
Here's a taste of what TheBody.com has to offer on this topic:
Ask the Experts
Life insurance medical examI've been working at the same job for three years. They do not know I'mhiv+. They are giving life insurance now as a benefit and require that Itake an exam with this new company. Will they give me a test for HIV? Ifso, should I just say I...
Response from Nancy Breuer
WorkPositive, Inc.When applying for life insurance, the insurance company can ask if youare HIV+ or require a test for HIV. The questionnaire, if completed,should be sent directly to the insurance carrier not delivered to thecompany so the company should not be... Read more »
physical for life insurancei work for an organization which has only 5 employees. Can they terminate my employment if test... Read more »
Life Insurance medical exam/Similar symptoms to HIV/AIDSHello I have 2 questions:1) What happens if an individual has been declined for life insurance due... Read more »
This Positive Life: An Interview With GaryTable of Contents HIV Diagnosis Disclosure in Work and Family Life Dating and Loss of Libido After Prostate Cancer Connecting to Care for Prostate Cancer and HIV Keeping Healthy, Following New Paths Turning 60: Aging With HIV ... Read more »
This Positive Life: In the Midwestern U.S., Forming a New LifeThough it happened 26 years ago, Tommy Chesbro remembers his HIV diagnosis -- and the circumstances that led to it -- like it was yesterday. In 1986, a positive HIV test meant something fundamentally different than it does today: It meant, in short,... Read more »
Including HIV Testing as Part of Routine Medical Exams Could Help Curb Spread of HIV, Editorial SaysCDC 's expected recommendation to implement HIV testing as part of routine medical exams is "doable, cheap and could do more to stem new transmissions than almost any other available option," a Los Angeles Times editorial says. Although the... Read more »
New British Insurance Association Guidelines Say Questions About Sexuality Cannot Be Asked to Determine HIV RiskBritish life insurance agents cannot ask male applicants questions about their sexual practices in order to determine HIV risk, according to new guidelines from the Association of British Insurers that went into effect on Saturday, the Financial... Read more »
Connect With Others
Life Insurance
Posted by Anonymous, 1 ReplyHello everyone! I am looking a buy a policy, i have two children and i would like to leave them something other than bills. I live in new york ( my job does not offer it) IF any one has any knowledge of a company that will allow me to buy a policy... Read more »
Life Insurance for people who areHIV+
Posted by AnonymousI just received information about Life Insurance that might be helpful to someone who is HIV+. I have located a High Risk Insurance Company which is called IMPAIRED RISK SPECIALIST INC. The company has a plan called E.Z. 123 HIV.
The requirements... Read more »
found out june 24, first test results next week
Posted by ruralguy, 8 RepliesI found out in the course of a normal annual physical exam. Everything was fine and then I got an HIV positive result on June 24. I saw a specialist on July 3 and I get my first test results next week on the 16th. I'm 56 and I just be totally... Read more »
life insurance?
Posted by alive2, 3 Repliesim wondering if anyone can tell me something about life insurance for those who have hiv, and if it exsists, thanks for any information. Read more »
Guides for People With HIV


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I found this card in the chapel of my school today, and I thought it was the perfect way to start off reflections for Holy Week.
This is a week unlike any other in our year of faith. At least, it's supposed to be. Unfortunately, it's easy to get sidetracked by the fact that lots of people are on spring break (or like us, wildly anticipating spring break). It's easy to get caught up in studying for tests and being slammed by homework. It's easy to get caught up in making prom plans (who even invented the group text on iPhones anyway?!). Or, it's easy to just get caught up doing nothing.
To truly enter into Holy Week, we must make the effort. Whether that's attending Daily Mass or just finding the daily readings and reflections online, it's a time we can embrace as an opportunity to grow closer to Christ.
One of the most intimate and beautiful ways we can do this is by uniting our small, daily sufferings to that of His. It's a practice that we're supposed to do all year long, but Holy Week is like the "spiritual bootcamp" time for our soul. It's a time to totally surrender that which holds us back from Him. And for many of us, this means offering up our sufferings.
I'm reading The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis right now (it's a classic…I'm talking like 1418 A.D.) One of the passages that struck me today was entitled, "Temporal Suffering Should be Borne Patiently After the Example of Christ."
MY CHILD, I came down from heaven for your salvation and took upon Myself your miseries, not out of necessity but out of love, that you might learn to be patient and bear the sufferings of this life without repining. From the moment of My birth to My death on the cross, suffering did not leave Me. I suffered great want of temporal goods. Often I heard many complaints against Me. Disgrace and reviling I bore with patience. For My blessings I received ingratitude, for My miracles blasphemies, and for My teaching scorn.
It absolutely addresses the core of Holy Week. The simplest way we can grow in love this week is to offer EVERYTHING (our prayers, our works, our joys, and especially our sufferings) to Christ. Whether it's small or big, rather than dwelling upon what burdens us, we can humbly offer it to the Lord.
To be continued.
As always, love and prayers,


text: Triathlete Laurel Wassner's desire to come from behind and keep pace in any race seems instinctive when you learn that she was born five minutes after her twin sister Rebeccah, herself a former triathlete champion. Cervélo is incredibly proud to support Wassner, who is nothing short of amazing; having been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at age 23, she survived to become the first professional triathlete who has overcome cancer. "I am extremely lucky that I not only survived, but now compete as a professional athlete after having Hodgkin's disease. So many others are not as fortunate," Wassner has said of her battle with cancer. Wassner's athletic spirit was evidenced at age four, when she began swimming in meets in Maryland and attempting to race alongside cars as she ran home from kindergarten. Throughout junior high, she ran undefeated in cross-country, with not even Rebeccah – the 2009 USA Triathlon Athlete of the Year – able to beat her. In high school, Wassner turned her attention to swimming and went on to swim distance and freestyle for George Washington University. The incredibly resilient Wassner started competing in triathlons in 2006, and won her first triathlon that very same year. During her first year as a professional, she was named 2008 USA Triathlon Rookie of the Year. Wassner's first professional win came in 2010 at the Columbia Triathlon, and she has subsequently won five more events. Also in 2010, she had the joy of coming in second after Rebeccah in the New York Triathlon. "It was a dream come true for us," she said of the experience. "We're very close, and we're very competitive." The Wassner twins were then profiled by O, The Oprah Magazine as part of its "10 Women on the Rise." She told the magazine her mantra was "fight," and that, "the only way to get through life is to keep looking forward." Wassner is a member of Nike's Team LIVESTRONG, and also works with the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults to raise awareness for the 70,000 young adults diagnosed with cancer each year. Now living in New York, she has just completed her first Ironman riding atop a Cervélo P3 bike. Race Calendar Date Event 09/03/2012 HyVee Traiathlon


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Custom Admin Quick Icon
JoomLadds has always subscribed to the 'KISS' philosophy. We try to keep every extension we build, simple. While there are more than a few extensions available that do the same thing very nicely, we offer this module to help keep your life simple.
Quick Icons are used in the administrator back-end for quick and easy access to installed components. This module allows you to create quick icons that you can configure for any of your components including external links. We have included a few popular component icons such as:
- Agora
- LyftenBloggie
- JComments
- FireStats
- Hot Property
- DT Register
- Any Calendar Component (like jEvents)
- and phpMyAdmin
You simply choose a Custom Icon or a System Icon from the list and enter the URL to that component. The nice thing is, you can point it to any part of the component that you want. For instance, do you have an area in a favorite component that you have to navigate through to find every time? Instead, create a quick icon that links directly to that page. (ie; instead of: index.php?option=com_lyftenbloggie, use: index.php?option=com_lyftenbloggie&view=entries and you will end up at the entries page)
We have also included a feature in this module that allows you to create a tabbed divider to easily seperate your quick icons.
[Click an image to enlarge]
Please take a look at our tutorial to learn how to configure this module. (This tutorial is for our Joomla 1.5 module only, please be patient while we work on our documentation for the new Joomla 2.5 version)
Joomla! 2.5 VERSION HISTORY:
--Updated: Joomla 2.5 Component.
Joomla! 1.5 VERSION HISTORY:
--Updated: Added two new icons (JComments & Survey).
version 1.0.2
--Updated: Added Tab/Divider with additional parameters.
--Released: First version released. Please see Description Tab for complete features list.
Please use our Support Forum to request help or report a bug.


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The Nissan Rogue might have flown below the radar, but that hasn't stopped Nissan from giving the SUV a refresh for 2011. On the exterior, the Nissan gets the unusual egg crate grille, similar to what we find on the Murano . The foglamps get new surroundings that help the front get a more stylistic look.
On the SL and S Krom Edition, you can choose 18-inch wheels for the first time. With those massive wheels and the chrome grille, this is one shiny machine. Not to mention it looks far better than the old models.
There are also other changes that nobody will likely notice. There are new spats in front of the wheels and a new underbody tray that will cut aerodynamic drag and give a 1-mile per gallon fuel increase. That increase helps the front-wheel drive Rogue get 22/28 mpg, while the all-wheel drive version will manage 22/26.
We will get our first glimpse of the new 2011 Rogue at the Z Car Convention in Nashville, TN which started on the 28th and will continue until August 1.


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Qatada freedom blocked by judge
May 28 2012
Abu Qatada's bid for freedom has been blocked by a judge due to Britain's terror threat at the Olympics.
Allowing the radical preacher free on London's streets would be "exceptionally problematic" during heightened security at the Games, ruled a Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) hearing.
Qatada, who is accused of involvement in several bomb attacks, will remain in a British prison for at least another five months as he launches fresh action against the Government's bid to deport him.
Mr Justice Mitting cited "the very high level of demand in resources" highlighted by Home Office barrister Robin Tam QC.
"There will be a very high level of demand in those resources in order to protect the UK during this period," said Mr Tam. "As a matter of logical inference, if Abu Qatada were to abscond, either resources would have to be diverted to finding him or finding him would have to be accorded a lower priority."
Qatada's lawyers said they would take his fight against deportation back to Europe if Siac rules against him at a tribunal in October. Qatada was not present as the judge told a central London courtroom of his frustration that the case had already taken so long.
He said: "This case has gone on for an unconscionable amount of time and must be brought to a conclusion one way or another."
|Page 1 of 2


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Romney takes a break from campaign, attends church
August 20, 2012 - 1:47 AM
WOLFEBORO, N.H. (AP) — Mitt Romney is attending church Sunday and relaxing with family as he prepares for a campaign sprint towards next week's Republican convention in Florida.
The presidential candidate attended the Mormon church in Wolfeboro, N.H., with his wife, Ann. Their son Tagg, his wife, Jen, and several of their young children joined them.
Romney is resting at his lakefront home here after several days of heavy fundraising.
He will join his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, Monday for a session with voters in Manchester, N.H.
(Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Featured Video


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Camp stove griddle was better than expected and even kitchen worthy!
StanSport Aluminum Camp Stove Griddle
Item # WX2-578673
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- Heavy-gauge aluminum with nonstick coating for even heat and easy cleaning
- Covers grate area of 2 and 3 burner stoves
- Handles on both sides
- Cast iron lip.
- 18 x 10 1/2 x 1" thick. 2 lbs.
!!! Limited Quantities !!!
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Richland County School District One is administering Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), a state-aligned computerized adaptive assessment system. With a computerized adaptive test, the difficulty of the test is adjusted to the student's performance. MAP tests have the ability to identify skills and concepts individual students have learned, monitor academic growth over time independent of grade level, and provide teachers with information they can use to enhance teaching and learning. Currently Richland One students in grades 2-10 may be tested in the content areas of Mathematics, Language Usage and Reading.
Richland County School District One
Office of Accountability, Assessment, Research and Evaluation
Coordinator: Andress Carter-Sims
MAP Coordinator
Richland County School District One
1616 Richland Street
Columbia, SC 29201
Phone: (803) 231-7621
Fax: (803) 231-7458
E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
For additional handouts and information vist the Accountability, Research and Evaluation site link on the left.
Each test takes students about one hour to complete and detailed test data is available to teachers within 24 hours after the test session has been completed.
To learn more details concerning the MAP testing process feel free to browse the "Parents" link provided on the Accountability, Research and Evaluation site.