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Evaluating Medical Research Findings and Clinical Trials
Hardly a day goes by without a story on television, in the newspaper, or on the Internet about new medical research findings. You might hear about a new drug to treat Alzheimer's, a promising "cure" for cancer, or a breakthrough discovery in Parkinson's disease. Or you might see articles about particular foods or dietary supplements that are said to promote health or prevent or slow the course of illness. Should you try to get these drugs for a family member who is sick? Should the person change his diet? Take more vitamins?
It's confusing when research findings are contradictory. Conflicting health news stories—for example, drinking a glass or two of wine is good or bad for you, taking vitamin A may prevent one form of cancer but cause another to worsen—leave everybody, caregivers and health professionals alike, wondering what to do next.
It is possible to find your way through the massive amounts of information and misinformation and make informed decisions about your health, and the health of your loved ones. Reaching that point takes effort, awareness, and trust in your own powers of perception.
Before deciding whether to investigate news reports further, consider the following:
- Is the headline or story presentation sensationalized—a tactic used mainly to grab attention?
- Is there "context" for the story—for example, background information that can help you evaluate the importance of a new finding?
- Is there "fair balance" in the reporting—that is, presentation of varying points of view?
- If the story is on television or radio, does it somehow tie in to one of the show's advertisers? If on the web or in print, is the story positioned near a related advertisement? On close inspection, is the story identified as an advertisement? Does the story's originator also sell the product?
If, after considering these factors, the new finding or treatment seems possibly helpful to a loved one, then it's time to get more details. The following guidelines can help you evaluate the research, separate fact from hype, and identify stories that may be misleading, inaccurate or incomplete.
General Guidelines for Evaluating Medical Research
First, try to find the original research article by contacting the website, newspaper, radio or television station responsible for the news story. This may be easier to do online or at a library, or by calling the institution that sponsored the research; a journalist may or may not get back to you. Once you locate the article, read it thoroughly. Keep in mind that understanding articles written by physicians or scientists for their peers (other members of the scientific community) can be a challenge. The writing style is often technical. Many of the words will be unfamiliar, and you should be prepared to look them up in a medical dictionary or glossary.
Here are some questions to help you assess whether an article might be of interest.
- How was the study conducted? In the laboratory, with animals, or with people? Laboratory research, or research with animals, is usually years away from use in a clinic. The results of research with people are more likely to be meaningful to you and your loved one.
- Where was the article published? If it appeared in a peer-reviewed medical journal, it has more credibility than if it is posted only on the investigator's web site or in a company's brochure. If the study is reported at a medical meeting, but has not been published in a journal, then the treatment probably needs to undergo further study.
- Who conducted the study? A group of researchers based at a reputable university or research institution, or an individual without clear affiliations? Be particularly cautious about accepting claims about treatment effectiveness in articles by people who intend to sell the treatment.
- Who funded the study? If a researcher received funding from an independent granting agency that uses a peer-review process for evaluating and awarding funds, the findings may be more credible and less subject to bias than if the funding agency has a vested interest in the results. If a study is sponsored by a commercial entity, this should be disclosed. But although sponsorship may influence the authors' conclusions in some instances, this is not always the case. There are many research partnerships among industry, university-based researchers, and institutes, so this can be a difficult issue to assess.
- How many people were tested? How many completed the study? A small number of participants does not mean the study is invalid, but the small number could lead to questionable results. In most cases, particularly when investigating causes and treatments of chronic illnesses, researchers need to study a large population over a long period of time to ensure that any observed differences are not simply the result of chance.
- What were the characteristics of the people who participated in the study? Sometimes, treatments are effective only for certain groups of people—for example, a particular age group, or those whose disease is at a particular stage. Did the researchers study people like your family member? Studies of groups of people who differ from your age, gender, health status, and ethno-cultural background may or may not apply to you.
- Have the results of the study been repeated by other investigators? If this is the only study of its kind, then further research is needed to validate and/or repeat the results.
- If a drug was tested, were there any sideeffects? If so, do they outweigh the potential benefits of using the drug? Has the drug been approved by the Food and Drug Administration? If not, are clinical trials of the drug underway? When does the manufacturer estimate that the drug will be available? It often takes many years of testing before drugs are deemed safe enough for use by the public.
Getting Information from the Web
A news story about a treatment may lead you to do additional research on the web. Perhaps you'll go online to find more about a family member's illness, or to join a support or discussion group in which people like you discuss how they are coping and what treatments seem to help their loved ones.
Assessing health information on the web can be complicated. A few years ago, users could safely be told to steer clear of sites with commercial sponsorship. But that is not necessarily true today. Some commercial sites offer good health content for patients and professionals, and many nonprofit and university-run health sites accept commercial sponsorship in order to remain viable.
Although much of the information you find on the web will be valuable, it is important to remember that websites can spring up rapidly, and just as quickly disappear, leaving no one accountable for the false or misleading information that may have been posted on the site. Therefore, it is important to carefully assess any website that offers health or medical information. Following is a checklist to guide you.
- Who runs the site? It should be easy for people to learn who is responsible for the site and its information. Check the "About" section carefully for the names, credentials and contact information of the people in charge. Be sure that the site author is qualified to develop and distribute the information you've found. Be aware that if the people responsible for the site are selling a commercial product or service, this may influence the content on the site or the context in which the content is placed.
- What is the purpose of the site? Generally, the purpose is related to who runs and pays for the site. The "About" section should clearly state the purpose and help users evaluate the trustworthiness of the information offered.
- Who funds the site? Websites should state their advertising and sponsorship policies, and how their editorial policy relates to these policies—for example, if a site receives funding from a commercial company, are the funds "unrestricted," meaning that, in theory at least, the site editors are not influenced by advertisers or sponsors? If there are no such policies, or they are difficult to find, you should assume you're reading "advertorials" (content that is really advertiser-driven).
- Where does the information come from? Many health and medical sites post information collected from other websites or sources. If the person or organization in charge of the site did not write the material, the original source should be clearly identified. Be aware that information developed for some government sites and publications is not copyrighted, so anyone can post this material on any site. Therefore, a site that is promoting bogus treatments may try to look "legitimate" by including related information from—and links to—government sites such as the National Institutes of Health. The presence of articles from a government source or links to websites of respected organizations does not ensure that all the content on a website is reliable.
- How do you know if the content is valid? In addition to identifying the original source of the material, the site should state the evidence upon which the material is based. Medical facts and figures should have references (such as citations of articles in medical journals). Opinions or advice should not be presented as "evidence-based" (that is, based on research results).
- How current is the information on the site? Sites should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis. It is particularly important that medical information be current, and that the most recent update or review date be posted. Even if the information has not changed, it is helpful to know that the site owners have reviewed it recently to ensure that the information is still valid.
- How does the site choose links to other sites? Some medical sites do not link to any other sites; some link to any site that asks or pays for a link; others link only to sites that have met certain criteria, which often are posted on the site.
- What information does the site collect about users, and why? Who, if anyone, has access to this information? Many health sites ask the user to "subscribe" or "become a member." In some cases, this may be done so that they can collect a user fee or select relevant information for the user. In all cases, the subscription or membership will allow personal information about the user to be collected by the website owners. If sites intend to provide users' contact information to third parties, or to send announcements or advertisements, users should have the choice of "opting out" (refusing to allow their information to be used for these purposes).
- How does the site handle interactions with users? There should always be a way for users to contact the site owners with problems, feedback and questions. If the site hosts a chat room or other online discussion areas, it should state the terms of using the service. It's a good idea to spend time reading the discussion first, without joining in, to feel comfortable with the environment before becoming a participant.
Participating in Clinical Trials
A clinical trial is a research study with human volunteers to answer specific health questions. "Interventional" trials assess whether experimental treatments or new ways of using known therapies are safe and effective. "Observational" trials address health issues in large populations.
All clinical trials have guidelines about who can participate in a study, based on such factors as age, type of disease, medical history and current medical condition. Some trials seek volunteers with specific illnesses or conditions, while other trials need healthy volunteers.
Factors that allow you to participate in a study are called "inclusion criteria" and factors that keep you from participating are called "exclusion criteria." The criteria are used to identify appropriate participants and keep them safe, and to help researchers ensure they will be able to answer the questions they plan to study.
Clinical trials are conducted according to strict scientific and ethical principles. Every trial must have a protocol, or action plan that describes what will be done in the study, how it will be conducted, and why each part of the study is necessary. It should include details such as criteria for patient participation; schedule of tests, procedures, and medications; and length of the study.
Clinical trials in the United States must be approved and monitored by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to make sure the risks are as low as possible and don't outweigh any potential benefits. An IRB is a committee of physicians, statisticians, patient advocates and other members of the community which reviews the protocol to ensure that the study is ethical and the risks are minimized.
People are recruited to clinical trials in various ways, including advertising, announcements in newspapers and other publications, and on the web. Caregivers and family members who use the web to locate clinical trials are faced with two important decisions: Is a clinical trial appropriate for the family member with a chronic illness? And if so, how do you locate a clinical trial in your area?
Clinical trials are sponsored or funded by different organizations, including medical institutions, universities, foundations, voluntary groups, pharmaceutical companies and federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health. Trials can take place in different locations, such as hospitals, universities, doctors' offices and community clinics.
If you think a clinical trial might be appropriate for your situation—for example, your loved one seems to meet the inclusion criteria and the trial is taking place at a respected nearby institution—here are some points to consider:
- Make sure you are clear about your reasons for participating in the trial and aware of what is involved. Is your family member really well enough to participate? Be aware that if your loved one has illnesses or conditions in addition to the disease for which a treatment is being tested, he or she might not be accepted in a drug study.
- Weigh the potential benefits and risks of participation. Clinical trials may offer access to new treatments before they become available, as well as expert medical care during the trial. However, there may be unpleasant or serious side effects to the new treatment; the treatment may not work for the participant (or, in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial, the participant may not receive the new drug); the time involved may be more than you originally anticipated and may include travel, hospital stays or complicated dosing schedules.
- Before signing the informed consent document, know:
- The purpose of the study.
- Who will be participating, and for how long.
- Whether the treatment has been tested before and if so, what were the results?
- The number, types of tests, treatments involved, and whether hospitalization is required.
- Potential risks and side effects, and how they compare with current treatments. This is critical information, and must be explained to you in clear, direct language.
- Who pays for the treatment, necessary travel and complications from side effects.
- What type of follow-up is involved, and how you will be informed of trial results.
Websites that have been developed to help people more easily locate and enroll in clinical trials should be assessed in the same way that you would assess any medical website, using the criteria discussed above in "Doing Research on the Web." As noted, the following information should be readily accessible: the site's mission, funding sources, advertising and editorial policies, privacy policy and feedback mechanism.
Additional considerations include:
- Where do the site's clinical trials listings come from—federal agencies, academic medical centers, or private organizations? Does the site state how it compiles listings?
- Are companies or organizations who run the trials required to pay to be listed on the site? Does the site have any exclusive agreements with any trial sponsors? If so, then you may not have access to all trials of a new treatment that are currently underway.
- Do trial sponsors pay a fee for each participant who signs up for a trial through the website? (Note: users should not be charged a fee to participate in a trial.)
- Can you search the site anonymously for trials, or must you provide personal information before you gain access to the listings?
- Are trial listings up to date? Do you know which trials are still enrolling, versus those that are closed because they have met their enrollment goals?
- Does the site clearly explain what you must do and whom to contact to be considered for a trial? Trial information should include:
- Location of the trial
- Eligibility criteria
- Understandable summaries of the research
- Potential risks and benefits of the trial
- The trial phase (I, II, III)
- Full contact information, including phone number, of those in charge of the trial.
If the site offers a clinical trial, how and by whom will you be contacted? How soon after your inquiry will you be contacted? Is there a phone number or e-mail address provided for you to call if you are not contacted?
Talk with Your Healthcare Provider
Before taking action—that is, before purchasing an over-the-counter remedy you heard about on the news or on the web, for example, or taking steps to enroll in a clinical trial—be sure to discuss the information with your healthcare provider. Decisions to try new treatments should not be made in a vacuum. Someone familiar with your family member's medical and family history can provide valuable assistance in decision making. Your provider may also be able to answer some of your questions and give you information that was not included in the material you heard or read.
Your healthcare provider may be a researcher and suggest that your loved one participate in a trial. Make sure that the provider has no conflict of interest—such as a relationship with the trial's funder—that might influence his or her recruitment practices. However, many researchers do have relationships with pharmaceutical companies which they are obligated to disclose to potential research participants.
Be aware that not every provider is up to date on the latest research, and that providers may also be influenced by previous clinical experience, personal bias, or links to pharmaceutical companies. Also, some providers are more receptive than others to discussing information you've found on the web.
To prepare for a visit with your healthcare provider, consider:
- Informing your provider in advance that you would like to discuss a new treatment, and trying to gauge his or her receptiveness.
- Printing out and bringing with you all relevant information, including, if applicable, the web addresses or names of the discussion groups where you found the information.
- Making a list of questions to ask, and being prepared to write down or tape record the answers.
- Keeping an open mind during the discussion.
Remember, researchers are working continually to find cures or more effective ways to manage symptoms of serious health conditions. As a valued member of the care team, you are in an excellent position to follow up on promising leads, evaluate whether a new treatment might help your loved one, and work with your provider to decide whether participation in a clinical trial is warranted. Stay abreast of the latest treatment news, get the facts, and don't give up hope!
Internet Resources
There are many good resources on the web for information and support. The following sites are good starting points. Be sure to check the "links" section on these sites for other potentially useful sites. Also, many of the organizations listed offer a wealth of materials in print.
General Health/Medical Websites
Health on the Net Foundation
Medline Plus
National Institutes of Health A-Z Guide to Health Information
Chronic Illnesses
Alzheimer's Association
Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center
American Cancer Society
American Diabetes Association
American Heart Association
American Lung Association
American Parkinson Disease Association
American Stroke Association
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Food and Drug Administration
National Cancer Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive &
Kidney Diseases
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institute of Neurological Disorders
and Stroke
National Parkinson Foundation
Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center
Clinical Trials
AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service
Clinical Trials.gov
ECRI: Should I enter a clinical trial?
Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services
Clinical Trial Web Sites: A Promising Tool to Foster Informed Consent
Evaluating Health Information
Consumer's Guide to Taking Charge of Health Information
How to Evaluate Health Information on the Internet
Sites for Caregivers
Family Caregiver Alliance
Administration for Community Living
ElderCare Locator
National Council on the Aging: Benefits Checkup
National Family Caregivers Association
National Institute on Aging
Family Caregiver Alliance
National Center on Caregiving
(415) 434-3388
(800) 445-8106
Website: caregiver.org
Email: [email protected]
Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA) seeks to improve the quality of life for caregivers through education, services, research and advocacy.
Through its National Center on Caregiving, FCA offers information on current social, public policy, and caregiving issues and provides assistance in the development of public and private programs for caregivers.
For residents of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, FCA provides direct support services for caregivers of those with Alzheimer's disease, stroke, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's and other debilitating health conditions that strike adults.
This fact sheet was prepared by Family Caregiver Alliance in cooperation with California's statewide system of Caregiver Resource Centers, and reviewed by Jean E. Coleman, R.N., M.S., N.P., University of California, Davis Alzheimer's Disease Center. Funded by the California Department of Mental Health. © 2004 Family Caregiver Alliance. All rights reserved.


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Spin Doctor Rescue HV Mini Pump
Item: 40-0187
Save $15.02 (43%) $19.97 MSRP $34.99
Designed for high volume urban and mountain tires, the Rescue HV mini bike pump inflates up to 80 PSI and requires fewer strokes than conventional hand pumps. Telescoping hose with Hi-Q head fits securely to Presta or Schrader valves.
- Large barrel design supplies a higher volume of air with fewer strokes
- Hi-Q self-adjusting head fits Presta and Schrader valves
- Inflates high volume tires up to 80 PSI
- Telescoping hose provides easy access to valves
- Lightweight and strong CNC machined aluminum construction
- Includes mounting bracket and hardware

subset: commoncrawl


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Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Movement
Matt Garcia
In September 1962, the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) held its first convention in Fresno, California, initiating a multiracial movement that would result in the creation of United Farm Workers (UFW) and the first contracts for farm workers in the state of California. Led by Cesar Chavez, the union contributed a number of innovations to the art of social protest, including the most successful consumer boycott in the history of the United States. Chavez welcomed contributions from numerous ethnic and racial groups, men and women, young and old. For a time, the UFW was the realization of Martin Luther King Jr.'s beloved community—people from different backgrounds coming together to create a socially just world. During the 1970s, Chavez struggled to maintain the momentum created by the boycott as the state of California became more involved in adjudicating labor disputes under the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA). Although Chavez and the UFW ultimately failed to establish a permanent, national union, their successes and strategies continue to influence movements for farm worker justice today.
Latino Environmentalism
Sara C. Fingal
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. Please check back later for the full article.
Since the 1960s, Latinos have played prominent roles in the environmental justice movement and organizations that defined their members as Latino environmentalists. Organizers created their own groups in response to their alienation from mainstream environmental movements that were predominately white and focused on wilderness preservation and government conservation policies. Latino community activists related social justice and grassroots democracy to struggles over public parks and beaches, clean air, clean water, pesticide exposure, and high environmental risks. Eventually, mainstream environmentalists and federal government agencies responded to calls for diversity with increased attention to environmental justice in the late 20th century. In recent years, the National Park Service has attempted to engage with Latinos via American Latino heritage projects. The U.S. Forest Service also started a campaign entitled "Descubre el Bosque" (Discover the Forest) in an effort to connect to a Spanish-speaking audience. It featured advertisements and a Spanish-language website encouraging people to "Reconectar tu familia con la naturaleza. ¡Descubre un bosque o parque cerca de ti!" (Reconnect your family with nature. Discover a forest or park near you!). These campaigns are a response to the predominance of white visitors to national and state parks and the increasing percentage of Latinos under the age of eighteen. Previous calls for environmental justice and this shift in demographics have made many mainstream environmental organizations aware of the need to engage with Latino communities, but there are still persistent stereotypes about Latino disinterest in access to public lands and conservation. Newer organizations such as the National Hispanic Environmental Council have worked to engage community members, young people, and departments in the federal government. Latinos have and will continue to be critical actors in conversations about local and global environmental issues.


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To Accomplish this Mission:
The complete agricultural education program will target students through:
We aspire for excellence as we recruit, prepare and encourage individuals to pursue agricultural careers in life skills through agricultural education.
We serve the community and inform them about agriculture, its needs, opportunities and challenges, as well as provide life long career skills.
Agricultural Education programs will respond to community needs and Kansas' agriculture needs. It will prepare students to be College and Career Ready and to participate as leaders and managers in a global economy.
The pathway design sheets listed below include a list of the course options within each pathway and the competency profiles for each of those courses. These design sheets are good for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years unless otherwise noted.
AFNR College and Career Ready Skills and Competencies
These are to be included in all Agriculture Pathways and courses. Agriculture Pathway Concentrators shall be able to meet at least 80% of the College and Career Ready Skills competencies. The College and Career Ready Skills will be phased out of the individual course competencies as course competencies are revised. This competency profile provides the standards for all Agriculture Pathways for College and Career Ready Skills. Click the link below to access the complete list.
Career & Technical Education Quick Links:
CTE Main Page
CTE Table of Contents Page
CTE Listserv Sign-up
Kansas Civil Rights
Kurt Dillon
(785) 296-3956
Deputy Commissioner
Division of Learning Services
Brad Neuenswander
(785) 296-2303
Career, Standards and Assessment
Scott Smith
(785) 296-3142
Assistant Director
Career and Technical Education
Stacy Smith
(785) 296-0979
Assistant Director
Branden Johnson
(785) 296-2078
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Beth Fultz
(785) 296-2325


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Paintings by
Simran Singh Gleason
Over and over I find myself drawn to painting the landscape. Land and environment have always evoked strong emotions for me and I have been struggling, thoughout the time I have been making art, with trying to convey some of the feeling of being in a place. I feel this is, ultimately, an impossible task; yet so often I cannot stop myself from stopping by the road, setting up my easel, and scribbling away.
In my ongoing efforts to learn to draw I spend a lot of time (not nearly enough!) drawing landscapes representationally (voyeuristically, I have been told), where I am simply trying to hone my drawing skills. Are these drawings high art? Art at all? Does it matter if I am good at drawing or not? Is landscape painting a valid artistic expression for me at all? I would like to address these questions in a little more detail in my Landspaces artist's statement.
| Coastside | Stanford | Bay Area | Michigan | About... |
- The San Mateo Coastside: Where I live
Stanford University & some phunky sandstone buildings!
More pictures from the San Francisco Bay Area
Northern Michigan: Where I grew up


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As I knew would be the case, Cataclysm's release and the massive changes to all of the classes has put me in a huge leveling craze. I've leveled my "main" characters, the one's that had been at 80 for months during Wrath, and I've done a lot of rerolling of my remaining mid-level characters and also a lot of rolling new toons.
My intentions going into Cataclysm were to strictly stick to leveling brand new toons so that I could explore all of the new zones, check out the completed versions of all of the new racial starting zones, and experience the classes with their new talent trees. For the most part I stuck with that, though I haven't done nearly as much exploration into refinished zones as I had planned, and I've spend way more time on my high levels than I ever anticipated.
As usual though, I have to fill your screen with other bits of slightly relevant information before I get to the point of this post. So go ahead and carry on reading, the titles give a fair description of what each section is about.
Psynister Breaks His Intentions
After playing around on a number of new toons I ended up leveling my Druid (Balance/Resto) to 85. The main reason, initially, that I did this was to check out the new high level zones a bit and level my professions (Herb/Inscription), and then I stumbled onto Deepholm and the insane number of herb nodes there and I went farm-crazy. Hundreds upon hundreds of herbs were mine to collect and they were everywhere It was insane seeing up to 9 herb nodes on my minimap at a time, and I loved it. At least until it got nerfed.
Once I had my Inscription maxed though I couldn't just pass up the opportunity to level other professions and that led to me focusing on my high levels far more than any others, especially with the professions node nerfs that hit right in the middle of me doing all of that. Professions took priority over leveling for a while and that led to making gold.
My Mage came next so I powered his Alchemy from the herbs I hadn't milled yet, and then I got started on powering his Enchanting when I suddenly ran out of mats and just didn't want to spend that kind of gold on mats in the AH. I know that the easiest way to get those mats though is to hit up a Jewelcrafter (my wife), so I switched over to my 80 Death Knight (Miner, Blacksmith).
I started leveling him so that he could mine ore so that I could have my wife prospect it and turn it into jewelry and fist weapons. I then decided his Blacksmithing wasn't worth the investment so I swapped him over to Skinning instead and got it to 525 in no time. I got my ore and was sending it over and making a lot of progress. The Mage's enchanting hit 525 and I was making some great money selling the blue quality items that my wife was making for me.
My Alchemy was bringing in good money from transmutes so I decided to drop the 525 Skinning on my DK and make him an Alchemist as well. Goodbye 7,000g, I barely knew ye.
Skinning was profitable, but I could do better farming with a different toon, so I transferred my Paladin from a horde server over to my Alliance server and made him a human. He was a 525 Mining, 535 Enchanting and I knew I didn't need the mining since the DK had that covered and there was no point in keeping the Enchanting since my Mage had it covered, so I dropped both of his professions and he became a Skinner/Tailor. He's been a tailor before, so before you scoff at my Prot Paladin's knitting hooks you might want to consider how much faster I can grind cloth with my extra 50% chance at cloth drops than you can…yeah, I thought you'd see it my way.
Psynister Makes a Boo Boo
I had spent a lot of gold on various things, none of it gear, and my gold had gotten really low. I managed to get it back up to around 17,000 total and then I made a stupid error on one of my addons. This error happened before I brought the Paladin over, and I think it was just before the DK switched his BS for Skinning, but I might be a little bit off. Not important to the story, though.
Auctioneer has a wonderful little feature called the Snatch List that helps you buy materials in mass by setting a price and then buying everything that's under that price. I've used it for months to make a lot of gold. Once you tell it to buy everything you have to confirm every purchase by clicking the OK button, but I'd grown so familiar with it that I clicked on the Purchase All button and then just put my mouse over OK and started clicking away while I read some blog posts on the other monitor.
I glanced back in between blog posts to see how many more items I needed to buy when I saw a message flashing up on the screen, "Not enough gold. Not enough gold. Not enough gold." My eyes went wide, my skin went pale, and I looked at my gold count: 117g.
Yeah, I set the snatch list price higher than I had intended to and instead of spending a couple thousand on a few stacks, I blew all 17,000g on Obsidium Ore for prices WAY over what it was worth.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't make that money back. I made about 12k back over time, but I still didn't have my Mage's enchanting maxed just yet and I still had to buy all of the extra recipes from TH as well. I also gave a lot of enchanting mats to my wife so that she could level her enchanting as well. Did I get my money's worth? Well, probably. But I didn't get the money back.
I consider that to be the dumbest mistake I've ever made in my WoW career. The addon did exactly what I told it to, I just didn't bother watching what it was doing and instead just click-click-click'ed my way to bankruptcy. I recovered well enough, all things considered, but it was still a dumb mistake.
Psynister Finally Levels Alts
After getting back on my feet a bit, all professions maxed across all toons, I decided I had had enough of making a fool of myself and got back on track with my original plan of leveling alts.
I'll be honest with you here, I don't even remember all of the alts that I've rolled since Cataclysm went live a month and a half ago. I do know that I have leveled every class to some extent since the expansion went live, but I've rolled so many I couldn't give you an honest count as some classes I've even rolled and rerolled multiple times already.
I wasn't expecting any changes to the Death Knight starting area since it was Wrath content, and that's just what happened – no changes to the experience. I did find that I still love the Frost tree more than the others, but oddly I found that I don't care much for playing Unholy anymore. I'm not sure what it is really, it just feels a little off. I have a Blood offspec on my 84.3 DK, but I haven't really played with it much yet.
I've done a lot of playing around with different low level Druids in this expansion, but they just aren't holding my interest very well at all right now. I'm having fun on my 85 Druid still, but leveling the new ones just isn't happening. I've started to level four that I can think of right away, but I don't think any of them made it to level 20 before they got deleted.
I've had a lot more fun than ever before with the Hunter class, but something always comes up that makes me lose interest for a couple of weeks and then I just can't get back into them. I reached a new personal record for Hunter leveling of 32, but I'm just not feeling it. I like the new Hunter a lot, but it just doesn't seem to be able to hold my interest long enough just yet. I'll give it another shot once the craze starts to wear off a bit though.
The Mage still continues to be one of my favorite classes, and my wife and I have both done a lot with Mages since the expansion was released. They did an excellent job of making low level Mages feel a lot more powerful and far less boring than they once were and my wife has really enjoyed playing one for the first time. We both created Recruit A Friend accounts with the expansion so that we could both get the rocket mount to fly each other around on, and most of the toons she's leveled on the RAF accounts have been Mages because she just enjoys them that much. High level Magery is fun right now too, though I've set Arcane aside for the time being as I'm having a blast with both Fire and Frost.
And out of nowhere, the Paladin has reemerged as my favorite class to play. When I do get back around to feeling like spending a lot of time with high level toons, there's a good chance I'm going to be a Paladin tank. I haven't decided on the offspec just yet, though I'm leaning towards Holy. I know Prot inside and out, and I'm fairly comfortable with Ret, but I think I'd rather him roll a tank/heals setup. I love how well Blizzard changed the Paladin leveling experience; they've really done a fantastic job of turning boring into a blast.
Right now I am focusing on a Priest because I really want to level one and I'm getting a ton of questions and comments from readers regarding Priests. Shadow is the hot topic and Shadow is having a lot of problems right now in the leveling process, primarily in the way of mana. I've had five different Priests so far in this expansion, rerolling a lot to try different specs and different approaches, but this time I'm going to stick with the one…as best I can. It's a female Dwarf, so I might reroll if I just can't stand playing the race, but otherwise I intend to take her all the way.
Rogues really aren't doing it for me right now. I deleted my level 70 Rogue that I was putting a lot of time and effort into prior to 4.x being released, and then after it hit I just lost interest in him. I've tried leveling new Rogues twice now, and I made one of them a twink that I still have, but…I'm just not digging it. I think the Rogue I still have is getting deleted tonight. I don't know what changed, but I just don't care to play them anymore. Maybe later?
Shaman is my odd duck right now. I'm enjoying them, but I'm not. I want to play them, but I don't. I want to roll a new one, but then I delete before logging in. I don't know what's going on with me and Shamans right now. I had a Resto twink that was doing fantastic, but I decided I wanted to level him instead so I got him to 20 and then stopped. I switched him to Elemental because I really want to play that, ran a few BG's and dungeon and had a good time with him. And then I stopped again. It's like I want to play the class when I'm not playing them, but once I start playing them I lose interest. Not giving up on this one yet though.
The Warlock keeps weaving back and forth in my list of wants and don't wants. I have a level 14 Gnome that I rolled last week and had a ton of fun on, but I think he's about to get deleted. I think it's the fact that he's a Gnome, I just don't do well with Gnomes and I knew that before I rolled him. But still, I want to give the Warlock another shot. I've considered having my 80 Warlock restored, but…I don't know, I'm not sure yet.
I've had a blast playing on low level Warriors this expansion, and it's one of the few classes that I've actually spent some time with in all three talent trees. The only tree I've given a decent amount of time to is Fury, but I don't think it's the spec I really want to play. I'm more interested in going for a Prot Warrior than the other two specs. I did enjoy them all, though.
Psynister Pseeks Pfeedback
Alright, the three P thing didn't really work in that title, but whatever. I'm the author here so I've got creative license and all that jazz. Or, something.
Anyway, I'm looking for some feedback from you all on what classes you've had fun leveling, or which classes you've struggled with. Or even the ones that you're curious about from things you've heard, read or seen.
What kind of impressions have you had with leveling in this expansion, whether it's 80-85 or any other level range.


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Zimmer's Service Center
Cars to 18 Wheelers, Let Us Keep Them All Rollin'
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Our Service Center is located in West Springfield Pennsylvania on Route 20 near Interstate 90 and serves the Tri-State areas of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Please reference the map below for detailed directions to our facility.
Zimmer's Service Center
14027 Ridge Road P.O. Box 103
West Springfield, PA 16443
(814) 922-3706
Tuesday through Saturday 8:00 to 5:00
Images provided by SuperMedia are for personal, non-commercial use.
Republication, retransmission or reproduction of images provided by SuperMedia is strictly prohibited.
We Support Transverse Myelitis
Transverse Myelitis is a rare neurological disorder caused by inflammation across both sides of one level, or segment of the spinal cord, resulting often in paralysis. The Zimmer family is acutely aware of this disease because our niece Maria Hoge was diagnosed with it at the young age of six months. With years of hard work by her family, physical therapy, and some surgeries, Maria has evolved into a bright, energetic thirteen-year-old, but she is confined to a wheelchair. We realize the uphill climb that families must endure when faced with this disease. Therefore, one of our missions at Zimmer's Service Center and a goal of our KraZ racing team is to increase awareness of this devastating disease and garner support for the Transverse Myelitis Association in their drive to assist TM families and help find a cure. For more information, access the Transverse Myelitis Association website at www.myelitis.org.
(814) 922-3706


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Archive for the 'News' Category
Haiku Alpha 2 Released
Stephen B. - May 26th, 2010
As everyone has probably already read on half a dozen other sites, the Haiku Project recently made the second Alpha version available, officially dubbed "Haiku R1A2" (R1 Alpha 2). Here's the announcement on the Haiku website, IsComputerOn, BeGroovy, and OSNews.
The release can be obtained, in various formats & via various download methods, from the main Get Haiku page. The most notable changes since Alpha 1 are the inclusion of Wifi support (with support for WEP encryption and several common wireless chipsets) and, of course, WebPositive – a Haiku-native browser based on webkit (and with a GUI based on NetPositive).
Playing around with the release for a few hours should bring a warm glow to any old BeOS user's heart (or at least the nostalgia center of the brain). A few quick first impressions: the installation has seen a few improvements, and it's as painless as always. WebPositive is already stable and functional enough for most day-to-day usage, and it's quite pleasant to use. And, even more so than Alpha 1, it is noticeably faster & more responsive than R5 on the same hardware.
QT Ported to Haiku
Stephen B. - November 2nd, 2009
The big news of this past week was the announcement that the QT toolkit has been successfuly ported to Haiku, thanks to developer Evgeny Abdraimov. A development release, with a collection of sample apps, is already available for anyone interested in giving it a try – it can be downloaded from BeOSFrance (or from this mirror).
The biggest immediate implication is that the QT & webkit-based browser Arora (one of the included sample apps) can now run on Haiku – a very nice bonus, given that BeZilla development has largely stalled and a Haiku-native webkit-based browser will (evidently) not be ready for some time. Arora works quite well in Haiku, based on some quick testing – it's also very fast, I'd go so far as to say it's the closest we've seen to a functional, modern NetPositive equivalent (a screenshot is included in the "Read more" section of this post).
BeOSFrance was (so far as I know) the first to break the news, followed by IsComputerOn and OSNews. And particularly in the OSNews comments, the announcement has sparked a lively debate over whether or not the presence the QT port is beneficial to Haiku.
Read on for some quick impressions and screenshots of the various sample apps (and a note on installing the dev release).
Read More »
BeOSRADIO Entering its Tenth Year
Stephen B. - October 23rd, 2009
Back on October 10th, we received an EMail from Dane Scott announcing that BeOSRADIO has now entering its tenth year on the air. It seems like only yesterday that it first went on the air – and as users, developers, applications, etc have come and gone, BeOSRADIO has remained one of the most consistent fixtures of the BeOS community. Happy birthday to BeOSRADIO and a big "thank you" to Dane!
Read on for Dane's announcement.
Read More »
TuneTracker Running Under Haiku
Stephen B. - October 22nd, 2009
I just received some excellent news from Dane Scott, of TuneTracker Systems (and LeBuzz, and BeOSRADIO, and probably many other things that I'm forgetting): the TuneTracker radio automation software works under Haiku. This means that TuneTracker will be able to run on an underlying OS that fully supports modern hardware, and Haiku already has a porential commercial application – not something that can be said for many Alpha hobbyist OSes.
Read on for the news release from Dane, it also contains some good news for SoundPlay fans.
Read More »
Haiku Alpha 1: One Month Later
Stephen B. - October 21st, 2009
It's now just over a month since Haiku's first Alpha was released – and so far, the reception online has been overwhelmingly positive. On the official Haiku website, "nielx" posted "Alpha 1: A Week Later" (also noted on ICO) with some very encouraging stats. The number of times that the Alpha release has been downloaded is especially impressive – more than 32,000 at that point (closing in on 53,000 at the time of this writing).
More recently, OSNews has posted two separate reviews of the Alpha release. First up was Kevin Miller with his article "Seven Days in Haiku," which focused mainly on hardware compatibility (running Haiku on a netbook) and includes an account of his experience testing out the experimental wifi support. Next was Alfonso Martinez with his "My 7 Days Using Haiku Alpha Release 1" review, which focuses on software compatibility.
And on a personal note, I'm in the process of finishing a (probably) 3-part review of the Alpha release. I've focused primarily on topics that should be of interest to long-time BeOS users, hopefully avoiding duplication of Kevin and Alfonso's efforts. Stay tuned!
Haiku Alpha 1 Available Now!
Stephen B. - September 13th, 2009
A few hours ahead of schedule, the Haiku Project has released – the announcement & the download page. And, coinciding with the release of Alpha 1, snazzy new Haiku website has been launched.
It's amazing to think that it was only a few years ago that simply getting Tracker & Deskbar running on Haiku was viewed as a huge accomplishment – and now a full-featured, stable release looks to be right around the corner. Everyone involved in getting Haiku to this stage deserves a huge congratulations.
Release Date Announced for Haiku Alpha 1
Stephen B. - August 20th, 2009
We haven't had many updates lately, but I had to get this one posted – a release date has been announced for the first Haiku Alpha release: Monday, September 14th. It appears that OSNews was the first to spot the announcement, followed shortly by IsComputerOn.
Here are the details of the release schedule for the Alpha 1 release:
The schedule appears to be fairly tentative, so the release could (presumably) be delayed if new critical bugs are found. But at present, everything appears to be on track for a Sept. 14th release.


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For the launch of its new TPS portable speaker, Nixon has teamed up with PLAN B skateboards on a special limited edition series.
As part of the collaboration a skate deck, skate wheels and a matching Nixon TPS mobile speakers have been produced in 5 colorways, one representing each of the 5 pro team riders of PLAN B – Paul Rodriguez, Ryan Sheckler, Danny Way, Colin McKay and Tory Pudwill.
The collaboration will release at select boutiques on October 15th. Check out a video that was produced for the collaboration here below.


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Ten Things About Today's Game
Ten Things About Today's Game
10. This morning when I woke up, I had this weird feeling. Its the same feeling I have on mornings when I wake up and have to go to the dentist. I hate going to the dentist. You know that even if there's no bad news, you're going to get turned on your head, be uncomfortable, and wind up beat up and bloodied when they get done cleaning your teeth. After the game today, I didn't want to write anything immediately. I wanted to think about my experience today, and try to be clear headed and objective. It bothered me -a lot- that a day like today, which is one of the eight days a year I should be able to look forward to as a fun day, would feel like a going to the dentist day. And like going to the dentist, is wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it still wasn't much fun. The weather was cool and crisp, the skies were sunny, and the CP plane was buzzing over the parking lot. I snapped a picture with my cellphone. Not a very good pic, but you can see the plane hovering above the Arrowhead lot:
9. First let me say, the Ravens were horrible today. I would think if they play that game against 90% of the NFL, they lose. Ravens had less than 300 yards total offense. They were 3 for 11 on third down. They had two turnovers and lost time of possession by almost eight minutes. Flacco threw for zero TDs, was sacked four times and had a QB rating of 55.6. Yet, they won the game. How? They won because our offense could not convert in the red zone, period. They won because Casshole's QB rating was 38.1. Casshole averaged six yards per completion. Six yards. He had two picks. He fumbled on a first and goal on the one. Given time after time after time to grab the game by the horns and show some leadership, he failed time after time after time. He ended up doing his best Damon Huard impersonation to remove himself from the game during crunch time, and leave any potential heroics to Brady Quinn. More on that later.
8. Let's talk about offense first. It was clear that the goal today was to run the ball, and run the ball, and run the ball, so that Casshole would not be put in a situation where he would have to win the game with his arm. And KC did run the ball effectively. Charles had more than 100 yards in the first half, and finished with 140. But as the game went on, the play calling got more predictable. I haven't gone through the game series by series, but I'll bet you we ran off-tackle on first down at least 80% of the time. Here's another thing: First quarter, nine and a half minutes into the game, Charles busts a 25 yard run, his longest run of the day, gets the ball across midfield into Ravens territory in a 0-0 game. What does Daboll do? He pulls Charles out of the game. Gives the ball to Draughn three times, including on a 3rd and 8 draw that went nowhere. Drive stalls, punt. What is this deal where Daboll thinks he has to get every player in the game like its Pop Warner? I understand not overworking Charles, but feed the man the ball when he has the hot hand. We ran no screens. We ran no reverses, or slants, only one naked bootleg -which was actually a Casshole scramble on a busted pocket. Only two of our wideouts had catches today, Bowe and Baldwin, and Baldwin only got one that he had to fight over the top of a defensive back to bring down. No catches for a tight end. How can that happen in an NFL game? It seemed to me the entire offense today was geared around protecting Matt Cassel's self esteem. And that's no way to run a railroad.
7. Major props to the defense today holding Baltimore to nine points and no TDs. You can't ask for better. Baltimore was quite generous as well. I don't know how many passes they dropped for sure first downs or better, but it had to be a half dozen. Tackles were spread around, and Hali and Houston had two sacks each. Flowers had a sweet pick. Tyson Jackson continues to be a disappointment. You know who was credited for as many tackles as TJ? Matt Cassel. They both had one tackle. He is such a waste of a high first round pick, it boggles the mind. But at least he was on the field, more than we can say for Glenn Dorsey. Stanford Routt continues to draw untimely penalties, he had a bad holding call that sustained a Baltimore drive for their first field goal. Belcher is still getting beat bad on pass coverage on backs in the flat. Berry played better today, he allowed a couple catches by Baltimore's tight end, but nothing game breaking. All in all, a very good defensive effort today against a very dangerous offense. It was effort good enough to win.
6. Special teams were good today as well. Colquitt had five punts, averaged over 47 yards and pinned three inside the 20. Draughn had three good kick returns. Copper had a great day. He got a fumble strip on the opening kickoff of the second half, and made a heads up play on a punt touched by the Ravens and advanced the ball 25 yards. Succop hit on both his chances. Greenwood had a stupid penalty on a punt in fourth quarter that cost ten yards of field position at a critical point in the game. Other than that, specials did their jobs reasonably well. It was an effort good enough to win.
5. The more I watch Kung Pao Panda as a head coach, the less I think of him. Like Haley, he may be a very good coordinator who has Peter Principled out as head coach. RAC reminds me a lot of Herm on the sideline. He just kind of waddles up and down the sideline, looking at his playbook placard like a menu at Denny's. I saw him have one sideline conversation with Hali in the second half, otherwise, he doesn't do a whole lot during the course of the game. His post game news conference was disturbing too. He didn't sound like a coach that was particularly upset that his team was now 1-4 and winless at home. He shined this off almost as a "quality loss," the same way Ned Yost talks about "quality starts" when the Royals lose 5-3. The sad truth is, five weeks into the season, we have not had a lead in regulation in a single game. That's pathetic, especially for a team that was supposed to contend for an AFC West title.
I had to go back to 2007 to find this picture of Damon Huard. This was in a game vs Denver, where the Chiefs and Huard got bitch slapped around. Huard took a hit in the pocket, then took himself out of the game for the rest of the day. He had no more heart to play. That was game ten of the 2007 season. Brokie Croyle started the final six games, of which we won none. It was a 4-12 year. The next year, we went 2-14. The next year, we got Casshole/Pioli, which is where we are now three years in. I think the pressure has finally gotten to Matty. He has regressed, a lot. Here's two screen shots of the play that put him out. The first is the swing pass to Charles. He gets rid of the ball clean:
Then, the two rushing Ravens get to him, he ping pongs between them, but neither hit him in the head. You can see Charles has caught the ball in the lower left corner, Casshole falls on his ass:
Now, it was hard to tell from TV if he hit the back of his head on the turf when he went down, but for sure his ass took the majority of the fall. When he came to bench, he was holding one of his arms like he had a dislocated shoulder. But they said it was his head. He sat on the bench, just looking all glazed over like Damon Huard circa 2007:
Point of all this is, it looked to me like the guy was looking for a way out at crunch time. Maybe he did whack his head and was seeing little tweety birds. The hit didn't look that bad to me. Seriously. And when Quinn zipped a pass to Bowe to convert on third down, the CIA looking Chiefs dude whisked Cassel up off the bench and down into the tunnel. Cassel seemed to be moving OK. He never returned. So take what you will from that whole episode. I'm skeptical, leave it at that.
3. I'd also like to address the blow up that Winston had in the locker room after the game, saying that fans were "Cheering Cassel getting hurt." Well, that is about 98% bullshit. The main reason you heard a cheer after the hit was because Charles caught the swing pass, ran for sixteen yards and converted a first down. You can hear the stadium announcer call first down and the crowd cheers. Nobody even realized Cassel was down until way after the play was complete. When they did pick him up and walk him off the field, people cheered for him, as good fans will do for any injured player, home or visitor. There may have been a few nimrods who were screaming "I'm glad you're hurt" or "Stay Down, Bitch." But if so, it wasn't many. I applaud Winston wanting to have Cassel's back, but saying 70,000 people were happy he got hurt is a big fat lie. Also in the post game, Lilja was wanting to take the blame for the fumble on the one yard line. If you look at the replay, he got the ball back to Cassel, who stepped forward to sneak the ball before he had a handle on it, it squirted out of his hands and got kicked towards the goal line in the scrum. Ed Reed found the ball literally at his feet and picked it up. Botched exchange, very similar to what happened to Phyllis Rivers here two years ago. It was a turning point in the game. We lose first and goal at the one, Baltimore turns the ball around and kicks another field goal. That's a ten point swing, and ball game.
2. Many times in these ten things I've talked about the Chiefs in the 1980's under Bill Kenney. This game could have easily been 1983. Back then, the Chiefs had great defense. Guys like Art Still, Gary Green, Spani, Burruss. And the Chiefs had good special teams with Nick Lowrey. But way too often they settled for three points instead of seven on drives, because they could not succeed in the red zone. Today was deja vu all over again. The 1980's were EXACTLY like today's game. So if you're a young guy, and want to know what it was like to be a Chiefs fan 25 years ago, today was it, baby.
1. Stick a fork in it. It's sort of like last year, without the devastating injuries to our play makers. This year, it's just the Cassel Confidence Crash, the turnover machine that is the Chiefs offense, and the clueless efforts of this coaching staff to "figure it out and turn it around." A third of the season is gone. Look on the bright side; we won't have to spend any Christmas money on playoff tickets this year. And at least when you make a trip to the dentist, they give you a calendar or a toothbrush when you go home. Last home win here was against Green Bay, and that's just two months shy of being one year ago. It sure seems like an eternity. At least we'll have next week's soap opera, "Brady Quinn, Medicine QB." It'll be interesting to see what happens now.
Last edited by gblowfish; 10-07-2012 at 10:04 PM..
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There's no chance for a WR to impact the game when you only throw the ball 5 times a half.
"Its more complicated than that." -- Andy Reid
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Mismanaging the clock.
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I also wasn't real excited about making Crennel our HC after last season. But hey, he did do a decent job as interim coach. So, I was just going to support him and see what happens. It is looking like the Peter Principal, for sure.
In the end, Pioli's major failures have been not getting quality depth in the secondary and QB positions and, of course, sticking with a crappy starting QB. That and always going back to his New England friends (Crennel) instead of trying something new. That being said, he did try something new with Haley. IMO, Haley was screwed over when he wanted to get rid of Cassel.
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There really isn't anything about this team that I like right now. Romeo's approach to the game makes Herm look like a riverboat gambler. Romeo honestly seems happy to lose close games. Down 20 points in the 4th quarter, lets punt from the oppositions territory.
I haven't determined if Daboll is just following Romeo's lead or if he is just as gutless and clueless.
Mismanaging the clock.
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There is no credit to be given there.
And Kendrick Lewis hasnt even played a down this season yet. Lots of help he is. Oh we can just wait til next year when he is healthy maybe we will have a good season then.
I am not a glass half full guy. I don't like WAITING for guys to develop or perform. There is good talent in their prime right now on this team in DJ, Flowers, Hali, etc and you are just going to give Pioli credit for getting a bunch of developmental players that maybe good seasons from now. That does not help this team today in the present day, at all. Four seasons of that.
And Pioli's failures are lot more frequent that his minimal successes.
Jake O Connell
Alex Magee
Donald Washington
Colin Brown
Queintin Lawrence
Jarvis Williams
Cameron Sheffield
Gabe Miller
Shane Bannon
the list goes on and on.
So he hit on Justin Houston and Eric Berry. And then no other play maker after that. Just a bunch of role players.
I am really excited he went out and brought in FA talent over the years like Mike Brown, Bobby Engram, Zach Thomas, Steve Breaston, Peyton Hillis, Kevin Boss, etc. I mean those FA trash heap over the last 4 years really put this team over the hump didnt it.
Don't spend money to keep homegrown Chiefs talent in house but will bring in any cheap average veteran to just be a guy. The Scott Pioli Way
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clay has the Pioli fail doc in his sig, so just read that
you can get way more in depth on how bad Pioli has been at drafting versus the few bright spots hes had, but I mean why waste anymore time on it. Pioli sucks, he was brought in to be this genius upgrade over Carl and you can make a solid argument that in 4 years he is worse for this franchise than Carl's 20 years.
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A portion of the fanbase demonstrates some questionable judgment for 30 seconds.
Compared to a team that has demonstrated questionable judgment for 19 years.
Damn those fans and their impatience!
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Carl had winning seasons, made big trades, drafted play makers, even with settling for veteran QBs.
Pioli has shown NONE of that. He will only settle for his buddies back up QBs. If you think Pioli is drafting Geno Smith you better wake up. Because when draft day comes you will be very, very, very disappointed, The Patriots Way.
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April 25, 2008
For a chance to have today's 6S Art Piece sent directly to your mailbox, just leave a comment! Today's piece is marker on paper, and measures 4 x 6 (click the photo for a closeup view). One lucky commenter will be selected at random to receive the piece. It will arrive along with a free gift, and a self-addressed, postage-paid envelope. If you love the piece, use the envelope to make a donation to 6S! Now get in the game by leaving a comment... and Good Luck!


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Status Report
From: Goddard Space Flight Center
Posted: Thursday, February 7, 2013
Technicians encapsulate NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite in its payload fairing in the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is NASA's eighth satellite in the Landsat series and continues the Landsat program's critical role in monitoring, understanding and managing the resources needed for human sustainment such as food, water and forests. As our population surpasses seven billion people, the impact of human society on the planet will increase, and Landsat monitors those impacts as well as environmental changes. Image credit: NASA/VAFB
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External - Pencil Elevation
St Stephen's Restoration and Preservation Trust received English Heritage's Award for the best rescue from the 'Heritage at Risk Register'.
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2019 to be confirmed
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Jazz musicians listen with open ears, accept with open minds and respect with open hearts
Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face—and What to Do About It is a recently released book that's worth a look. Penned by Harvard Business School professor, Richard Tedlow, this excellent book covers a critically important topic that has led to the failure and downfall of many projects, missions and campaigns throughout history. Some of the most well-known leaders in history have made stupid decisions in the face of evidence and advice that should have led them to choose another path. In collaborative situations there exists the opportunity to avoid such pitfalls by diversifying a team's collective experience, knowledge and opinions but there are also instances in which groups can collectively make the wrong decision.
In the Jazz Process, the cycle of execution is modeled on John Boyd's OODA loop. In my book I dedicated an entire chapter to this cycle and pretty everything else in the Jazz Process relates to this method of execution. Why is this cycle and the concept of execution so important? The ability to effectively execute is an all-too-rare skill. While many people can talk, plan, strategize and theorize, there simply aren't enough people who know how to get things done and deliver quality, innovative solutions on time. Additionally, a thorough understanding of execution allows leaders to create strategies that are more likely to succeed.
Before performing any action, individuals in a team activity must observe the situation, analyze the data and make an informed decision. There are shortcuts to this sequence of steps but it's the most common path and the one that is most likely to lead to success for any specific action. There's nothing simple about these tasks. Two people can be in the same situation and observe different things. Even if they observe the same things they can interpret their observations differently. One reason for this is the behavioral traits that affect observation and orientation and ultimately decision-making. One of the most dangerous tendencies that we all have is the proclivity to see what we want to see. When we face a situation with preconceptions we may tend towards information that confirms our preconceptions. The psychological term for this is confirmation bias. We may also avoid or discount information that contradicts our preconceptions which is disconfirmation bias. In the context of an execution loop and the tasks of observing and orienting, these and other cognitive biases can be manifested in a number of ways:
- We observe and then orient and then failing to find what we seek, loop back and re-observe in the hope of finding evidence that supports our hypotheses. In the worst case, we may even invent things that are simply not present in our situation. Alternatively, we observe and orient and then finding something we would really rather not see, we pretend to ourselves that we never saw it in the first place. This is known as selection bias.
- We observe and then orient with a skew. In other words, we interpret information to suit our needs. This is known as assimilation bias.
- We observe and then orient and decide to skip a decision and act by feeding forward based on a recollection of a previous identical or similar situation. Unfortunately the recall is flawed. We either invent the previous situation or skew its characteristics or its outcome. Selective memory is a form of this kind of bias.
These kinds of cognitive biases can often result from cognitive dissonance which is the uncomfortable tension that results from simultaneously considering two conflicting thoughts. Cognitive dissonance increases with the importance of a decision and the difficulty of undoing it. In an attempt to resolve the tension our judgment can become skewed. It's interesting to note the recent work of Roger Martin, Dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. In his book, The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking, Martin defined integrative thinking after interviewing more than 50 highly successful leaders (Martin 2009, 6):
"They [the leaders Martin has studied] have the predisposition and the capacity to hold two diametrically opposing ideas in their heads. And then, without panicking or simply settling for one alternative or the other, they're able to produce a synthesis that is superior to either opposing idea."
Martin describes people who are not only comfortable with the simultaneous consideration of opposing ideas but actually use it to their advantage.
There are many other cognitive biases that can affect our ability to execute. Information bias is when we spend unnecessary time in observation and orientation even though acquiring and analyzing more information will have no effect on our decision. This can happen if we are fearful of making a decision or we're trying to avoid a specific outcome. The opposite of this is premature termination of search for evidence which is the tendency to accept the first alternative that looks like it might work. Not Invented Here or NIH is the tendency to ignore an existing solution that is seen as inferior or unreliable simply because it was developed by another party.
Biases are not just limited to individual behavior. Group polarization is the tendency for people to make decisions that are more extreme when they are in a group. One form of this is the so-called risky shift or cautious shift, which is the tendency to choose a course of action with either greater or lesser risk when making joint decisions or when making decisions alone after a group discussion. This can be a good thing in some situations but it can also lead to the groupthink. In military circles the term incestuous amplification is used to describe the individual behavior that may contribute to group polarization. In such situations each person's execution loop becomes increasingly more dysfunctional as their orientation overrides their observation. This leads to decisions and actions that are further misinterpreted. Thus there is an amplification of behavior that becomes increasingly disconnected from reality. Research has shown that group polarization is more likely to occur in online discussions when participants are in distributed locations and can't see one another or when they are anonymous and cannot identify one another. That's of concern given the increased use of online collaboration.
As individual human beings, our thinking is invariably skewed by good and bad experiences, likes, dislikes, fears, aversions, preferences, beliefs and so forth. There is no escaping this. What's important is that we each understand our own thought processes, including when, how and to what extent our individual behavioral traits affect our observations, interpretations and decision-making. If we understand our biases we are in a better position to appropriately compensate for them. Understanding the cognitive aspects of decision-making allows us to adjust our actions to compensate for the biases of others.
Herbie Hancock has been quoted as saying "The spirit of jazz is the spirit of openness." When jazz musicians perform they listen with open ears, accept with open minds and respect with open hearts. In highly improvised jazz performances, anything can happen. If they want to create a unique and creative offering, the musicians must be willing to accept and react to the ideas offered up by others and incorporate them into the collective output. Their reactions to these ideas must be made in real time without the luxury of stopping the performance to ponder at length. They must do this even if the ideas offered up by others are completely diverse from their own. In fact the most innovative jazz musicians are not content to always play with the same musicians. They will constantly search for new collaborators, inviting them to perform as guest artists with their existing ensembles or engaging with them in new ensembles. They will specifically collaborate with musicians who have instruments, playing styles and musical approaches that differ from their own. They will even collaborate with artists in other disciplines such as dance and the visual arts. Diversity and openness are two of the most important concepts in high performance teams. The best jazz musicians and performances can serve as great examples in this regard.
The views expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not reflect those of the author's employers and/or clients or any of their respective clients. Your use of this content is governed by this site's Terms of Use.
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It is possible that the main title of the report Jansen Type Metaphyseal Chondrodysplasia is not the name you expected. Please check the synonyms listing to find the alternate name(s) and disorder subdivision(s) covered by this report.
Jansen type metaphyseal chondrodysplasia is an extremely rare progressive disorder in which portions of the bones of the arms and legs develop abnormally with unusual cartilage formations and subsequent abnormal bone formation at the large (bulbous) end portions (metaphyses) of these long bones (metaphyseal chondrodysplasia). As a result, affected individuals exhibit unusually short arms and legs and short stature (short-limbed dwarfism), findings that typically become apparent during early childhood. Abnormal cartilage and bone development may also affect other bones of the body, particularly those of the hands and feet (i.e., metacarpals and metatarsals). Infants with Jansen type metaphyseal chondrodysplasia may also have characteristic facial abnormalities and additional skeletal malformations. During childhood, affected individuals may begin to exhibit progressive stiffening and swelling of many joints and/or an unusual "waddling gait" and squatting stance. In addition, affected adults may eventually develop abnormally hardened (sclerotic) bones especially in the back of the head (cranial bones), which, in some cases, may lead to blindness and/or deafness. In addition, in some cases, affected individuals have abnormally high levels of calcium in the blood (hypercalcemia). The range and severity of symptoms may vary from case to case. Most cases of Jansen type metaphyseal chondrodysplasia occur randomly as the result of a spontaneous genetic change (i.e., new genetic mutation)
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This is an abstract of a report from the National Organization for Rare Disorders, Inc. ® (NORD). A copy of the complete report can be obtained for a small fee by visiting the NORD website. The complete report contains additional information including symptoms, causes, affected population, related disorders, standard and investigational treatments (if available), and references from medical literature. For a full-text version of this topic, see http://www.rarediseases.org/search/rdblist.html
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For additional information and assistance about rare disorders, please contact the National Organization for Rare Disorders at P.O. Box 1968, Danbury, CT 06813-1968; phone (203) 744-0100; web site www.rarediseases.org or email firstname.lastname@example.com
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A couple of months ago, Dickinson contacted me, stating A-EON wanted to send me a package. It's taken a little longer than expected, but that's the package which arrived just now, on my doorstep. I know that said package would have something to do with the processor inside the AmigaOne X1000, but that's it.
Dickinson asked me to video or photograph the process of me opening the package. I actually made a nice HD video while opening the package, but sadly, since that camera is broken, the video file ended up being a 0kb dummy file. In other words, we'll have to settle for photos.
And here they are. Feast your eyes on this.
I literally nearly died of laughter when I 'read' the cake. I'm sure there are very few who will understand this (other than a small few in the Amiga community), so let me explain. It's crazy.
You see, about a year ago, there was a considerable amount of speculation going on about what processor would be used inside the AmigaOne X1000, the new high-end Amiga A-EON Technology is working on together with Hyperion (the company behind AmigaOS4). All the rumours and discussions always led to one candidate: P.A. Semi's PWRficient PA6T processor - the dual-core 16xxM to be exact.
Considering P.A. Semi had been bought by Apple about a year prior, I figured it would be impossible for A-EON to get their hands on this exotic PowerPC processor. "I can assure you all, with 110% certainty, that the X1000 will NOT carry a processor from PA Semi," I wrote on Amigaworld, "If it turns out it does, I will eat my socks, and post the video as proof. You may hold me to this."
So, when I opened the box just now, I really couldn't stop laughing. I think this is quite possibly the coolest and most original way any company has ever announced which processor they will use for their computer. Of course, evidence has been stacking up the past year, and I was getting ready to do something with the sock-remark anyway once A-EON would make it official, but still - this is way cooler.
Another fun fact is that the cake has been made by Nina Goudsblom, a local cake artist here in my hometown, which makes this all the more special to me because despite years and years of friends calling me crazy, I refuse to move away from my small hick town in the middle of nowhere. I'm sending Nina an email to thank her for her beautiful work.
So, the AmigaOne X1000 will be powered by a PWRficient PA6T 16xxM dual-core processor. Thanks, A-EON en Trevor for the wonderful cake - I'll be sure to enjoy it with my family over Christmas. I'm not sure if this constitutes a blogging breach of ethics, but if it does - hah, at least it's a tasty breach!


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The Usos vs. Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre (with Heath Slater)
Jimmy and Mahal start things off. They take turns taunting. Jimmy gets a big shoulder knockdown. Mahal comes back with some strikes. Jimmy lands a hit to the chest. Jay comes in. He attacks Mahal's arm and whips him. McIntyre pulls Mahal to the outside. The Usos dive over the top rope and take them out as things go to commercial. Back from commercial and Jimmy is sent outside. McIntyre drives him into the barrier and apron several times before sending him inside.
He boots Jimmy in the head. Mahal comes in and they double team Jimmy. Mahal drops a knee. Jimmy fights to his feet, but Mahal lands a leaping knee. McIntyre comes back in and stomps on Jimmy. McIntyre lands a chop. Jimmy reverses into several chops of his own. McIntyre lands a dropkick. He clubs Jimmy in the back. Mahal comes in and kicks Jimmy in the head. He then locks Jimmy in a chin lock. Mahal keeps the attack up.
McIntyre comes in and tries to attack. Jimmy comes back with several strikes and kicks. He kicks McIntyre, who's on the apron. McIntyre falls outside. Jay and Mahal both come in. Jay takes the lead. He hits Mahal with a Samoan drop. Jay hits his running back bump. McIntyre breaks up the pin attempt and then gets back dropped to the outside. The Usos hit a double Superkick. Jimmy comes in and hits a splash on Mahal for the win.
Winners: The Usos
Next, the contract signing between Daniel Bryan and John Cena from RAW is shown.
Then, CM Punk and Paul Heyman's segment from RAW is shown.
Layla vs. Alicia Fox
Fox lands a kick to the gut. She tosses Layla into the corner. Layla trips her and lands a dropkick to the chest. She drop toe holds Fox and then does her butt bump. Fox goes to the apron. Layla follows and hits another butt bump. Fox goes back inside and then dropkicks Layla off the apron. Fox sends her back inside for a pair of two counts. Fox ties Layla up in the ropes with her leg twice and then slams her to the mat. Fox locks in a head scissors. Layla gets out. Fox goes to kick her in the corner, but Layla moves. Layla gets a one count. Layla keeps the attack up and gets a crossbody for a two count. She charges Fox, who counters into a backbreaker.
Fox goes for what looks like a scissors kick, but Layla moves. Fox hits a back kick. She tries for something else, but Layla counters with a kick to the back of head for the win.
Winner: Layla
A Total Divas promo is shown next, followed by a recap of the events that have happened so far in the John Cena/Daniel Bryan SummerSlam feud to end the show.


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end of section
The mission of the N.C. Office of Science, Technology & Innovation is to improve the economic well‐being and quality of life of all North Carolinians through advancing science, technology, and innovation.
To achieve this mission, the Office develops and administers policies and programs that accelerate both the development of next-generation technology companies and the adoption of technology across existing industry. Working with organizations across the state, it identifies and communicates emerging opportunities in science and technology and prepares and publishes analyses outlining the competitive position of North Carolina's businesses and research institutions in these areas.
To see the Office's latest innovation report, see Tracking Innovation 2017 (pdf).
For a comprehensive review of the Office's programs and impacts, see its March 2012 Continuation Review Report (pdf).
end of section


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Hersey, MI (PRWEB) January 19, 2013
The delivery truck had barely pulled away when staff members Jeremiah Phelps and Marjie Wirth began making plans for the first fitness room orientation at Eagle Village. Thanks to Rogers Athletic Company out of Farwell and their generous donation of a treadmill, two exercise cycles, a hipster machine, several other pieces of equipment and free weights, exercise education and convenient fitness opportunities will be a benefit staff and youth alike can enjoy for years to come.
"Their generosity is truly a blessing. They gave us an amazing selection of machines that will allow for staff to do a variety of different exercises focusing on almost any area of physical fitness desired," commented Phelps.
Owner David Rogers and Vice President of Marketing and Product Development Kyle Camp visited and toured Eagle Village early in 2012. They were impressed with the organization's ability to impact so many lives and decided they wanted to be involved.
Camp shared, "Eagle Village stirred Rogers Athletic by its desire to work with youth who need direction and confidence to improve and take control of their lives. We feel that Eagle Village works passionately to build youth up, and we think that they have the ability to do so not only in mind and soul, but also physically - a visible manifestation of the changing individual. Also, the opportunity for staff to be physically strong and work on their own wellness will put them in a position to best serve the youth of Eagle Village."
Rogers Athletic took much time and care helping Eagle Village staff evaluate their fitness needs and plan what equipment would best fit the space. Because of this donation, Eagle Village now has two fitness areas and is working toward a campus-wide wellness program that will provide staff and youth with all the resources needed to meet each individual's needs.
The Rogers Athletic Company has roots back to the early 1920's where the founder mended leather goods for the local high schools. From then till late 1960's the company continued on with refurbishing and cleaning equipment until O. David Rogers was approached by the then head Coach of the Detroit Lions to help design and build a blocking pad to protect the athletes during practice. This sparked the evolution of the Football training equipment, designed to protect and improve the youth involved in football.
Eagle Village is a non-profit family treatment center providing Intervention Services and Camps, Residential Treatment, Foster Care and Adoption services for all counties in Michigan. If you know of a family in crisis that may benefit from these programs contact Eagle Village at 231-832-2234 http://www.eaglevillage.org


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posted by Thom Holwerda on Wed 17th Apr 2013 23:30 UTC
"While much of the tech world views a two-year-old smartphone as hopelessly obsolete, large swaths of our transportation and military infrastructure, some modern businesses, and even a few computer programmers rely daily on technology that hasn't been updated for decades." Back when I still worked at a hardware and plumbing store - up until about 4-5 years ago - we used MS-DOS cash registers. They are still in use today. If it works, it works.


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People might think it's unusual for The Citadel to offer a program designed to educate the campus community about the needs of gay students and faculty members, said Julie Lipovsky, the military college's assistant provost for diversity initiatives.
But the program, called Safe Zone, demonstrates the school's commitment to non-discrimination, and to providing a safe campus for everyone, she said.
It's part of the school's larger diversity initiative, she said.
Jen Bennett, who earned a master's degree in clinical counseling from the Citadel Graduate College, launched the program last year.
It consists of a workshop with a panel presentation on issues lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face, and how best to help them, she said. The program also includes a website of campus and other resources.
Bennett said she doesn't think it's surprising that the school is offering the program. The world has changed in recent years, and many people are more accepting of others who might have a different sexual orientation. "If you told me 10 years ago that they were doing this at The Citadel, I could have been surprised," she said.
But the school last year started a Gay Straight Alliance group on campus, she said, and it seemed appropriate to also develop and offer the Safe Zone training.
Lipovsky said people who are members of sexual minority groups sometimes need help finding resources. They often are victims of violence, she said, and are at higher risk for suicide.
"We know the reality of life for sexual minorities," Lipovsky said. "An uninformed campus is potentially unsafe."
She said she didn't know whether Citadel students faced a greater or lower level of risk than students at other colleges and universities.
Bennett said that about 100 people, mostly faculty and staff members, have participated in the three training sessions the school has offered. She is planning to hold another training session in late October, and she expects more students to attend that event.
Lipovsky said many people attend the training simply to learn about the needs of lesbians and gays. The school focuses on training principled leaders, she said. Graduates need to know about many different kinds of people to lead in a diverse world.
"This is not advocacy," Lipovsky said. "We are not trying to change people's beliefs." The school simply is trying to create a safe and inclusive environment.
Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or on Twitter @dianeknich.