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Editor's Note: This story, originally printed in the July 2007 issue of Scientific American, is being posted in light of two new studies showing that angiogenesis inhibitors, discussed in this article, may actually make tumors bigger, not smaller.
More than 500 million years ago a set of specialized enzymes and proteins evolved to defend our primitive ancestors against assaults from the outside world. If a microbe breached the shell of some Cambrian-era fauna, the members of this early vintage immune system would stage a savage but coordinated attack on these interlopers—punching holes in cell walls, spitting out chemical toxins or simply swallowing and digesting the enemy whole. Once the invaders were dispatched, the immune battalion would start to heal damaged cells, or if the attacked cells were too badly damaged it would put them to rest.
This inflammatory immune response worked so well that many aspects of it have been preserved during the protracted aeons of evolution. We know this to be true because studies have found that we share many of the same immune genes as the lowly fruit fly—and vertebrates and invertebrates diverged from a common ancestor in excess of half a billion years ago.
For years, immunology researchers have paid relatively little attention to this thuggish innate immune system, basically thinking of it as a crew of biochemical bouncers that pummel anything able to penetrate the tiniest opening in a living being's skin or shell. They lavished their attention, instead, on the more advanced adaptive immune system, which can marshal antibodies and other weaponry that identify and then target an intruder with a specificity lacking in the untamed innate system.
In the past 15 years, innate immunity has come into its own. Inflammation, its hallmark characteristic, has gained recognition as an underlying contributor to virtually every chronic disease—a list that, besides obvious culprits such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease, includes diabetes and depression, along with major killers such as heart disease and stroke. The possibility of a link with a third major killer—cancer—has received intensive scrutiny in this decade. "The connection between inflammation and cancer has moved to center stage in the research arena," notes Robert A. Weinberg of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, who has highlighted the changing emphasis in a revision of his leading textbook, The Biology of Cancer (Garland Science, 2006).
This transformation recognizes that the immune inflammatory state serves as a key mediator of the middle stages of tumor development. Cancer begins with a series of genetic changes that prompt a group of cells to overreplicate and then invade surrounding tissue, the point at which true malignancy begins. Eventually some tumor cells may break off and establish new growths (metastases) at distant sites. That much has been understood for a long time. But cancer biologists and immunologists have begun to realize that the progression from diseased tissue to full-blown invasive cancer often requires cells that normally participate in healing cuts and scrapes to be diverted to the environs of the premalignant tissue, where they are hijacked to become co-conspirators that aid and abet carcinogenesis. As some researchers have described the malignant state: genetic damage is the match that lights the fire, and inflammation is the fuel that feeds it.
In this rewriting of the textbooks, a tumor is not just a clump of aberrant cells; it also includes a support system, a tumor microenvironment, which encompasses a multitude of varying immune cell types and crisscrossing chemical signals, along with a network of blood vessels. The tumor assumes the status of an outlaw organ that exists not to pump blood or rid the body of toxins but to serve only its own ends.
This new view implies that rooting out every last cancer cell in the body might not be necessary. Anti-inflammatory cancer therapy instead would prevent premalignant cells from turning fully cancerous or would impede an existing tumor from spreading to distant sites in the body. Cancer sufferers might then be able to survive, in the same way that new drugs have let HIV patients live longer. "I don't think a cure is necessarily the goal. It doesn't need to be," comments Lisa M. Coussens, a cancer biologist at the University of California, San Francisco. "If you can manage the disease and live your natural life span, that's a huge win."
Multiple Lines of Defense
Comprehension of the link between inflammation and cancer requires knowing how the body reacts to invaders—and how normal healing is then subverted into promoting cancer when the inflammatory state lasts too long. After you step on a nail, the bacteria that invade the sole of your foot receive a welcome from an array of proteins and white blood cells that resemble rejects from central casting for the movie Creepshow 2. Just one example: Some 20 complement proteins, so called because they complement other bodily defense mechanisms, chemically spritz pathogens until the invaders explode into a big protoplasmic mess. While the complement system slimes the area, an assemblage known in immunology textbooks as professional phagocytes—literally "expert eating cells"—goes to work.
Lacking table manners, these Pac-Man-like macrophages and neutrophils proceed to engulf and consume the uninvited guests. Other members of the attack brigade include natural killer cells, mast cells and eosinophils. Healing represents more than launching an offensive against invaders. Blood platelets involved with clotting migrate to the break in the skin from an inner layer infused with blood vessels. Enzymes direct the repair of the extracellular matrix, the protein-based mortar in which the cells are immobilized. A scab forms, the skin grows back and the whole process of inflammation ends. Sometimes, though, inflammation does not stop. Any tissue (not just skin) that is chronically inflamed because of the persistent presence of pathogens, toxins or genetic damage helps to spur illness, from heart disease to cancer.
Beyond this first layer of defense, vertebrates are equipped with additional weaponry. The adaptive system learns an invader's specific molecular signature and then uses it as a target for killing. Among the protagonists are B cells, which produce antibody molecules able to neutralize pathogens or mark them for destruction, and T cells, which prompt infected cells to kill themselves or secrete chemicals that direct the activities of other immune players.
In recent years a body of evidence has accumulated to show that chronic inflammation can play an important role in the progression of some types of tumors from a premalignant state to full-blown disease. A link between cancer and inflammation has long been suspected. In 1863 the prominent German pathologist Rudolf Virchow noted the presence of so-called lymphoreticular infiltrate (white blood cells) in malignant tissue. As early as 1978 Alberto Mantovani of Humanitas Clinical Institute and the University of Milan had observed that innate immune cells tend to congregate around some tumors. Cancer biologist Harold F. Dvorak of Harvard Medical School remarked in 1986 that tumors are "wounds that do not heal." The status quo, though, lay elsewhere. Even a decade ago many biologists still hewed to the idea that the immune system serves not only to eliminate pathogens but to ferret out cells that are the abnormal precursors of cancer. But a closer look at the microenvironment surrounding tumors found the unexpected.
Hunting Pigeons
In the late 1990s Frances Balkwill of the Institute of Cancer at Queen Mary, University of London, had been doing research on a cytokine (a hormonelike immune signaling molecule) known as tumor necrosis factor (TNF), which was named for its ability to kill cancer cells when administered directly into a tumor at high levels. But when TNF lingers as a chronic, low-level presence in the tumor, it acts very differently. Balkwill's lab turned off the TNF gene in mice so that the rodents could not produce the protein: to their surprise, the mice did not contract tumors. "That really put us as the cat among pigeons," she recalls. "All the people who were working on TNF as an anticancer agent were horrified. This cytokine they thought was a treatment for cancer was actually working as an endogenous tumor promoter."
The ready availability of knockout mice, in which the effects of selectively switching off genes could be tested, helped to highlight the cancer-inflammation link. Coussens and her U.C.S.F. colleagues Douglas Hanahan and Zena Werb reported in 1999 that mice engineered with activated cancer genes but without mast cells (another type of innate immune cell) developed premalignant tissue that did not progress to full malignancy. In 2001 Jeffrey W. Pollard and his co-workers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine described mice that were genetically engineered to be susceptible to breast cancer tumors but that produced precancerous tissue that did not turn fully malignant unless it enlisted the assistance of macrophages.
The altered picture does not completely overturn the old one. In fact, it reveals that the immune system functions as a double-edged sword. The network of molecules and cells, second in complexity only to the brain, remains a paradox: sometimes it promotes cancer; other times it hinders disease. Some types of innate immune cells, such as natural killer cells, can actually protect against tumor growth. Others may nurture a malignancy only when the microenvironment is "polarized" into an inflammatory state; when not, they may blot it out. Inflammation, moreover, produces tumors in many organs, but not all—and its link to blood-borne cancers is not well characterized.
When looking for culprits, researchers have often focused their microscopes on macrophages, which occupy a meaningful spot among the white blood cells in the tumor microenvironment. The macrophages are capable of killing tumor cells or sending out an alarm to T cells of the adaptive immune system that something is amiss. But work by Pollard and other researchers has detailed how macrophages are "reeducated" by cancer cells to do their bidding. They become factories for cytokines and growth factors that nurture tumor development.
Turning the macrophages into traitors begins when tumor cells send out help signals that attract cells that become macrophages once they reach the tumors. Inside the tumors, proliferating cells grow so quickly that they begin to die for lack of oxygen. A combination of hypoxia and messages from the tumor cells initiates a process whereby the newly arrived macrophages assume their bad-body identity as tumor promoters. Cancer biologists give the name tumor-associated macrophages to these mutineers that congregate in and around the tumor.
Biologists have now been able to follow the inflammation link down to the level of individual signaling molecules, providing harder evidence for a connection to carcinogenesis. For example, nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-KB) is a complex of proteins that acts as a master switch for turning inflammation genes on and for controlling cell death. As biological pathways go, NF-KB's is world-famous, having been discovered and patented for use in drug development by scientific stars that include Nobelists David Baltimore and Phillip A. Sharp and having subsequently become the object of multimillion-dollar patent litigation.
In 2004 Yinon Ben-Neriah and Eli Pikarsky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and their colleagues reported that mice engineered to develop hepatitis (which can cause liver cancer) contracted precancerous lesions that did not progress to full malignancy when NF-KB was curtailed through a genetic alteration or when the proinflammatory TNF signaling molecule was shut off. In the latter group, a neutralizing antibody blocked TNF and prevented it from binding to a receptor on the premalignant liver cells; loss of the receptor prevented the TNF from triggering a molecular cascade that turns on the NF-KB master switch. Blocking NF-KB prompted the precancerous liver cells to initiate apoptosis, or programmed cell death. In a related finding that year, Michael Karin and his collaborators at the University of California, San Diego, found that inhibiting NF-KB in mice engineered to develop colitis, which can lead to colon cancer, also promoted apoptosis. And shutting down the pathway in inflammatory cells, such as macrophages, deterred tumor development as well.
So far the clearest evidence of a link between cancer and inflammation is the data demonstrating that inflammation encourages the conversion of precancerous tissue to full malignancy for many cancers. But the biological response may also be involved in initiating the disease and in advancing metastasis. Infections with Helicobacter pylori bacteria induce inflammation that greatly increases the risk of gastric cancer, and the hepatitis C virus can bring on liver cancer, to name just two cancers. Pathogens may also generate free radicals, which can damage DNA. But although inflammation may be involved from the outset, few studies have shown yet that an inflammatory condition actually alters DNA to provide the initiating spark.
The case for a role in metastasis is stronger—and recent studies lend credence to this hypothesis. Karin's group reported in the April 5 Nature that inflammation, not genetic changes in cancer cells, spurs metastasis in mice engineered to acquire prostate cancer. The research suggests that a cytokine produced by inflammatory cells near a prostate tumor induces tumor cells to decrease production of a protein that blocks metastasis. This result, Karin notes, may explain the puzzling observation that cutting into tumors, such as for a prostate biopsy, sometimes seems to encourage metastasis. If he is correct, the inflammation generated by the intervention could be at fault. Around the same time, Pollard's group reported in Cancer Research on a study in mice that observed that macrophages accompany breast tumor cells in their migration toward blood vessels that will transport them to remote sites, all the while sending chemical messages to their partners.
The innate immune system has received the most attention in explorations of how inflammation might cause cancer. As with innate immunity, the adaptive immune system—the T cells and antibodies produced by B cells that target specific molecules on invading cells—contributes to pathology or may also fight against it. For decades, immunotherapies designed to enhance T cell responses against cancer have been explored, though often with disappointing results.
Furthermore, an emerging picture has begun to reveal an intricate cross talk between innate and adaptive immune cells that may participate in the promoting of malignant disease. Researchers working on cancer vaccines may need to take account of these interactions in designing their treatments if they are ever to prove effective. One study showed that ovarian tumors produce a signaling molecule that serves to attract regulatory T cells, a subclass of adaptive immune cells responsible for quieting other T cells [see "Subduing Suppressors," by Lisa Melton; Scientific American, December 2002].
Meanwhile Coussens and her colleagues at U.C.S.F. found in a 2005 study published in Cancer Cell that the removal of antibody-making B cells from mice engineered to be prone to skin cancer prevented the tissue changes and angiogenesis that are prerequisites for disease progression. In their normal role as pathogen fighters, B cell–produced antibodies circulate through the bloodstream and mark viruses and bacteria for destruction by innate immune cells. In response to a signal from precancerous tissue, however, the antibodies induce the innate system to collaborate in cancer development. An open research question is how this process starts. One possibility suggests that a cancer cell may send a message to innate immune cells, perhaps dendritic cells, that then activate B cells. Signaling may involve toll-like receptors, which have emerged as prominent intermediaries in innate immune messaging [see "Immunity's Early Warning System," by Luke A. J. O'Neill; Scientific American, January 2005].
Cancer Blockers
The recognition that cancer is more like an organ than just a clump of cells with DNA mutations in cell nuclei may also explain why some of the previous approaches to chemotherapy have met with limited success. "People have taken cells and then transformed them in culture and stuck them into animals," Pollard says. "They grow as little balls. They do certain things there. But they are not complex tissues, whereas a naturally occurring tumor is a very complex tissue."
Instead of just killing cancer cells—the goal of current drug therapies and radiation—new approaches may supplement existing drugs by slowing inflammation. Without the involvement of macrophages and other innate cells, the premalignant tissue would remain in check.
Cancer could, in essence, become a chronic disease akin to rheumatoid arthritis, another inflammatory condition. "Keep in mind almost no one dies of primary cancer," says Raymond DuBois, provost of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and a researcher of anti-inflammatory agents for cancer. "A patient almost always dies from a metastasis."
A pharmaceutical against chronic inflammation represents a more alluring proposition than massacring malignant cells (and, unavoidably, healthy ones), a consequence of existing chemotherapies. Taken alone, such an agent might be benign enough to use every day as a preventive for high-risk patients. Epidemiological and clinical studies have shown some promise for the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin to stave off the onset of some solid tumors. Investigations continue on more selective blocking of the production of prostaglandins, the regulatory molecules that are curtailed by NSAIDs. In particular, drugs that inhibit production of prostaglandin E2 may curb inflammation and tumor growth, while avoiding the cardiovascular side effects of drugs such as Vioxx and the gastrointestinal problems of the earlier class of NSAIDs [see "Better Ways to Target Pain," by Gary Stix; Scientific American, January 2007]. The anti-inflammatory effects of the ubiquitous statins used to lower cholesterol are also being contemplated.
Some treatment options already exist. The drug Avastin inhibits production of the angiogenesis- promoting VEGF, although oncologists must contend with other molecules in the tumor microenvironment that promote blood vessel growth. Drugs developed for more familiar inflammatory diseases may also fight cancer—and these medicines might be combined into HIV-like drug cocktails, that also include angiogenesis inhibitors and cell-killing agents.
Inhibitors of TNF have received approval for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and other disorders and are now in clinical trials for both solid tumors and blood cancers. The drug Rituxan, a monoclonal antibody that represses B cells in rheumatoid arthritis and B cell lymphoma, might prevent the inflammatory response that fuels formation of solid tumors. Other cytokines and related molecules (IL-6, IL-8 and CCL2, among others) are also potential targets, as is NF-KB.
Some existing compounds, including NSAIDs and even one found in the spice turmeric, exert at least some of their effects by inhibiting NF-KB. But major pharmaceutical laboratories are investigating highly selective inhibitors of this molecular linchpin, many of them targeted at the enzymes (such as I-KB kinase) that regulate NF-KB activity.
A Chemical Trojan
One group is contemplating a radically ambitious treatment, a molecular Trojan horse of sorts. Claire Lewis and Munitta Muthana of the University of Sheffield in England and their colleagues have designed a drug delivery scheme that takes advantage of the natural attraction of macrophages to the oxygen-starved areas in tumors. They have engineered macrophages to deliver a therapeutic virus to hypoxic tumor regions, which respond poorly to conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation because of an insufficient blood supply. Once the macrophages arrive in a tumor (grown in culture so far), each one releases thousands of copies of the virus, which then infect the cancer cells, after which a protein in those cells activates the therapeutic gene in each virus. This action then directs synthesis of a cell-killing toxin. "The macrophage is migrating into a site and doing what we want it to do rather than driving tumor development in a normal way," Lewis says.
The exact outlines of an anti-inflammatory strategy against cancer have yet to be elucidated. Tweaking immune cells that form a defensive barrier against pathogens bears its own risks. "It's a very complicated issue," DuBois notes. "If you magically shut down the immune system, you will have problems with opportunistic infections, just like with AIDS." Use of TNF blockers in other inflammatory disorders has been linked to tuberculosis and other infections, even potentially lymphoma. Moreover, inhibiting the NF-KB pathway can paradoxically promote cancer in some instances. Constraining NF-KB can at times lead to tissue damage and a process of abnormal regeneration of that tissue that can foster cancer.
Still, it seems likely that a new generation of anti-inflammatory agents will join the chemotherapeutic arsenal. Chronic diseases—and their underlying inflammatory conditions—are hallmarks of an aging population. "We're all a little bit overinflamed," Pollard observes. Treating the smoldering embers that surround the tumor rather than just mutant cells could make cancer a disease we can live with.


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In the last post I showed the kind of quilt that has given crazy quilts a bad name amongst certain quilt afficianados.
Here are some crazy quilts from online auctions that are, shall we say, "More interesting visually." Compostition counts.
"We used a 60 degree triangle ruler and painter's tape. That way you can make your hexagons any size. I am working on one for [my granddaughter] made from a honey bun. It may be for her doll! "

subset: commoncrawl


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We accept all major credit/debit cards for payment as well as PayPal. If your credit/debit card is rejected by our online payment processing systems, please double-check that all the details you entered on the website were correct. Your name and address details must match the cardholder address details held by your card issuer. If the problem persists, please contact your credit/debit card provider.
If the payment is not authorised by your bank or card issuer then the order will not be complete and we will not be able to fulfil the order. Please note that some issuing banks may still reserve your funds for a period of time.
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All of our deliveries are fully insured.
Our standard delivery times are as follows:
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Next day delivery and Saturday delivery can be arranged at an extra cost. Please contact us for further details.
Baths £95
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Vanity units £39
Shower trays £39
Taps £9.95
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If you are ordering several products you will only pay one delivery charge (The higher amount)
All deliveries are to your door if you have a clear pathway and is a flat surface. For insurance purposes, we can not bring the product into your home. No baths will be brought up or down outside steps.
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A new and innovative take on our signature Picasso Bath, The Picasso in Charcoal is part of our groundbreaking silk range. Our artisans have created a version designed for compact spaces in our signature Picasso style. Perfect for either end bathing, the Picasso 1650mm freestanding bath merges impeccable comfort with a decadent design to form a piece that's captivating in every sense. This is a truly stunning example of more earthy neutral tones combined to create an elegant and modern look, accentuated by our gunmetal grey bath taps to offer industrialised elegance.


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Artist: Xzibit
Album: 40 Dayz and 40 Nightz
Song: Chamber Music
Typed by: email@example.com
Verse One:
The official representative, LAC
This is phrophecy manifested by X to the Z
Victory, strike a B-Boy stance in khaki pants
Never get along like red and black ants, advance
When your staring and this concrete that move like liquid
Like a nigga withouth legs, I ain't tryin to kick it
To much to finish, a menace, without enought time
My mind only give punchline, you probably thinkin of the wrong kind
Cause if it jokes, nigga know
The kind that drop on your eyes, your ears, your nose, and your throat
I promote self-defense not dollars and sense
Kick it with scholars and pimps, you just the last part over the fence
Assed out in the open, while you was hopin that Xzibit was second rate
But I refuse to make; just another record in the crate
I think not, got bee-bops
I bring it to your house like pizza
"Today we are on the streets of South Central Los Angelos, a fight for
"We have people that are conditioned not to expect to live past age thirty.
They no longer. Once they no longer care they're extremely dangerous."
Verse Two:
Stand at attention, make sure you keep your piece clean
When I release steam, police crime scenes to guillotines
Hit and decapatate the bird case, featherweight
Critical thinking, while you at water that concentrate
Xzibit crash the gate, heavyweight, box em in
Seal off the exits, then cut off your Oxygen
Xzibit run with a regiment of veterans
I only like to come out Late Night, like Dave Letterman
Time for some medicine, cause niggas bout to get sick
Callin me a hater cause I don't ride dicks
Read my lips, we got problems like Bloods and Crips
Love the sound of clips when I know my shit
Chamber Music, this is for the ones with stone-face
That catch you at the right time in the wrong place
We unsafe, One-fifty-one with no chase and no ice
Take away your life like three strikes
Yeah, come on, Chamber Music
Verse Three:
So now Xzibit got a little money, I think its funny
How motherfuckers think I'm supposed to Cher/share like Sonny
Clarify, you don't work you don't eat, I repeat
You don't eat you get weak, catch a fragile physique
Accomplish more in one day, than you can do in a week
The X-Man, Wolverine, one swing to make the cut clean
And the wrong things manifested in flesh
Fuck the game, I take the test, graduate, pass to the S-Class
Catch a roadrash, all you smell is hash
Chronic mix, bumpin the Liks
And dick you like a Hebron fix
Bear-arm from here to a hundred-tweny meters
Get black-walled, modern day Lee Harvey Oswald
The assassin, brother who came blastin
Take it without askin, rappers is all fashion
Xzibit keep mashing through
Got any lost words? I got two
Drive up, on you like that!
Once again Chamber Music, what what, yeah, what the deal? It's Xzibit.
Get on the ground, get on the ground! Hands on the back of your head, Don'
Move Don't Move! Get on the ground! * beat to fade *


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Power Platform Labs and Challenges
Hands-on-labs and Challenges used in the Ignite Pre-Day workshop for Microsoft Power platform app in a day» Další informace
Hands-on-labs and Challenges used in the Ignite Pre-Day workshop for Microsoft Power platform app in a day» Další informace
In this blog, we build a custom admin dashboard experience with PowerApps and the admin custom connectors we announced recently. See full blog post here https://powerapps.microsoft.com/…» Další informace
We're excited to share that many of the items in the October Release Notes are now beginning to roll into preview environments and in some cases are already available in production! We've focused across the board on quality, more powerful CDS capabilities, more productive makers, great end user experiences, and improved admin visibility.Další informace
We're very excited to announce new screen templates, which allow you to build an app in a matter of minutes! These new screens make it easier than ever to add Microsoft Office capabilities to your custom apps.» Další informace
This blog post highlights how one can create a PowerApps Canvas app to create an editable table to interact with the data in the database quickly without having to connect through a separate interface.» Další informace
Power Summit is an upcoming live conference featuring high-level insider knowledge from Microsoft and user-produced education on how to maximize the performance of the Microsoft Power Platform, covering Power BI, PowerApps, and Microsoft Flow.» Další informace
Want to learn how to build PowerApps, but don't know where to start? This how-to guide will take you step-by-step through the process of building various Microsoft Office components in PowerApps.» Další informace
PowerApps User Research wants to hear from YOU! We are building a user research panel of participants who have experience with PowerApps and want to make it better for all customers. Join our panel today by taking this 10-minute survey.» Další informace
Microsoft used PowerApps to create a a suite of employee engagement mobile apps that have been deployed worldwide to 100,000+ employees. These applications have a clean and modern UI and connect to a variety of backend services, including cloud-based APIs and legacy on-premise systems. This blog post takes a deeper look at this set of apps, that are branded as the Thrive suite. It describes the partnership between the HR and IT departments at Microsoft, the decision to use PowerApps, the app functionality, and the solution architecture.» Další informace
This post provides a high level overview of the PowerApps Support experience.» Další informace
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President Barack Obama coupled a call for $4 trillion in long-term deficit reductions with a blistering attack on Republican plans for taxes, Medicare and Medicaid on Wednesday, laying down markers for a roiling debate in Congress and the 2012 presidential campaign to come.
Obama said spending cuts and higher taxes alike must be part of any deficit-reduction plan, including an end to Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy. He proposed an unspecified "debt failsafe" that would go into effect if Congress failed to make sure the national debt would be falling by 2014 relative to the size of the overall economy.
"We have to live within our means, reduce our deficit and get back on a path that will allow us to pay down our debt," the president said in a speech at George Washington University a few blocks from the White House. "And we have to do it in a way that protects the recovery, and protects the investments we need to grow, create jobs and win the future."
Obama's speech was salted with calls for bipartisanship, but it also bristled with attacks on Republicans. They want to "end Medicare as we know it," he said, and to extend tax cuts for the wealthy while demanding that seniors pay more for health care.
"That's not right, and it's not going to happen as long as I am president," he vowed. Medicare serves 47 million seniors and disabled people.
Obama spoke to an audience that included Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., author of the House Republican budget that drew repeated presidential scorn. The Budget Committee chairman later told reporters he had been excited to receive an invitation to the speech, believing the administration was extending an olive branch.
"Instead, what we got was a speech that was excessively partisan, dramatically inaccurate and hopelessly inadequate to addressing our country's pressing fiscal challenges," Ryan said. "What we heard today was not fiscal leadership from our commander in chief. What we heard today was a political broadside from our campaigner in chief."
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, noted that the administration has asked Congress to raise the debt limit, but said, "the American people will not stand for that unless it is accompanied by serious action to reduce our deficit. More promises, hollow targets and Washington commissions simply won't get the job done."
The president spoke less than a week after he reached a compromise with Boehner on an unprecedented package of $38 billion in spending cuts for this year just in time to avoid a partial government shutdown. Both houses of Congress are expected to pass the measure in the next 24 hours or so, closing the books on the current budget year and clearing the way for a far more defining debate about the size and shape of the government.
Obama stepped to the podium at a juncture when tea party-backed Republicans are relishing early victories in the House, the 2012 Republican presidential field is just beginning to take shape and moderate Democratic lawmakers are charting their re-election campaigns in swing seats. His emphasis on deficit reduction marked an appeal to independents as well as other voters who are eager to stem record annual deficits as well as gain control over a national debt that is more than $14 trillion.
At the same time, he sought to keep faith with liberals and other supporters.
To opponents of revisions in Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security, he said, "I guarantee that if we don't make any changes at all, we won't be able to keep our commitments to a retiring generation that will live longer and face higher health care costs than those who came before."
Of $4 trillion in cuts, Obama said $2 trillion should come from spending, $1 trillion from overhauling the tax system to eliminate some tax breaks and loopholes, and the rest recouped from lower interest payments on the national debt
Obama also wants to allow Bush-era tax cuts to expire for individuals making $200,000 or more a year and couples making $250,000 or more. The revenue that would generate is not counted in his $4 trillion in deficit reduction.
Administration officials said military spending would be reduced by $400 billion through 2023, domestic programs would absorb $770 billion in cuts and mandatory programs such as agricultural subsidies another $360 billion.
An additional $480 billion would be saved from Medicare, which provides health care principally to 33 million seniors, and from Medicaid, a state-federal program that covers lower-income families and is ticketed for a huge expansion under the health care program Obama signed into law last year.
In line with the wishes of Senate Democratic leaders, the president made no recommendations for savings from Social Security, which he said is neither in a crisis nor "a driver of our near-term deficit problems." He said he supports unspecified steps to strengthen it for the long term, but ruled out any attempt to privatize it.
The president also urged Congress to pass tax changes, and he suggested he was open to curtailing a homeowners' tax deduction that can currently be claimed by filers at all income levels.
Obama's plan relied on some of the same deficit reduction measures proposed in December by a bipartisan fiscal commission he appointed. The president is scheduled to meet Thursday at the White House with the co-chairmen of the commission, Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson.
Neither Obama nor his aides distributed any detailed accounting of the effect of his recommendations on the deficit, which is expected to top $1.5 trillion this year, or the debt, now more than $14 trillion.
Obama saved some of his sharpest rhetoric for Republican proposals to end traditional Medicare for anyone currently under 55, and to give the states near-total control over Medicaid.
For Medicare, he said, "It says instead of guaranteed health care, you will get a voucher. And if that voucher isn't worth enough to buy insurance, tough luck – you're on your own."
He said the Republican budget could cost 50 million Americans health care coverage in all, including grandparents needing nursing home care, children with autism and kids "with disabilities so severe that they require 24-hour care. These are the Americans we'd be telling to fend for themselves."
The debt has grown for much of the past few decades, with the exception of a brief period after President Bill Clinton and Republicans in Congress reached a compromise that permitted payments to reduce it.
Even a recounting of the debt's history had a political subtext.
Beginning in 2000, the president said, "we increased spending dramatically for two wars and an expensive prescription drug programs, but we didn't pay for any of this new spending. Instead, we made the problem worse with trillions of dollars in unpaid-for tax cuts." That was a reference to policies pursued by President George W. Bush and the Republicans who controlled Congress for six of his eight years in office.
Obama made a glancing reference to the 2012 presidential race, saying that some of his potential Republican rivals had signed onto the budget House republicans are advancing.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, one likely GOP candidate, issued a statement that said Obama had "dug deep into his liberal playbook for solutions highlighted by higher taxes."
Another, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, said that with his speech, the president showed a "lack of seriousness on deficit reduction.


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Curaçao's best kept scuba secret: Eastpoint
Rud-gr posted a topic in Trip Reports and TravelIncredible reefs at Eastpoint. It has been a Caribbean island's best kept secret for years - maybe you've heard some stories but not too many people have found a way to actually get there. Curaçao 's incredible east point diving has been talked about for years - no, call it: bragged about for years as the best diving site of the region. An area the size of St. Martin (St. Maarten) on the south-east tip of this island has been in private hand by the Maal family for centuries. Despite the fact that they would like to develop it for tourism purposes they have continuously been blocked doing so by the Curaçao government. What stayed is a huge wilderness area and supposedly almost unspoiled coral reefs, a rarity in this part of the world. Since the area is private property and outside access is rarely allowed by the family, the only way to get here is by boat. Niels Jorissen from DiveCharterCuracao has been the first to do so on a commercial basis, bringing small groups of 7-8 divers by Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB). Since conditions have to be good for diving the east (rough seas are the main spoiler) he also does trips to more common destinations like the famous Mushroom Forest and Wata Mula, always in small groups in order to maintain a good diving experience. But as he says "the best is east". It's mid-December as I join Niels from Caracasbaai, a famous and very popular area among tourists and permanent residents. Dark clouds gather in the distance, but according to Niels we'll be floating in sunshine in less than an hour; "what falls now, won't fall later at open sea". Once his RIB is in the water, we check our belongings, gear up and set everything up at the boat. With 7 divers things are tight but comfortable. The power handle is opened, the warm breeze floats across my face and I close my eyes in anticipation and excitement. After plenty times of diving with Niels the past years I finally make it to the Eastpoint, on a glorious day as well! Roughly half an hour later we are ready to go, it turns out there is hardly any current, a bit of a rarity. Good for us! The dive plan is simple: Love Cave to Tarpon Bridge, the first aptly named after a couple of mating Nurse sharks found here a few years ago, the latter after a massive underwater bridge frequented by schools of Tarpon. "Take it easy if you see them, let them come to you and you'll be almost within touching distance if lucky" Niels says before we finally enter the water. Unfortunately there are no Nurse sharks to be found in the cave, but it is still a wonderful sight to see, nicely overgrown with soft corals in the front. Just lying still to enjoy the view is the best way to experience it, even when diving with 7 others. Once the group has left I just silently enjoy it a little more. 24 hours ago I was stuck in an airplane for eleven hours, now I am totally zoned out on beauty. The Love Cave. Corals in abundance. Tarpon Bridge without the tarpons. Because of rougher conditions, hard corals are much rarer to find here, but soft corals are plentiful. Since nobody has the means of killing off Lionfish in this area they seem to be around in huge numbers. Funny enough: so seem the schools of small fish. I guess they mostly prey on the species that are close to the corals, the huge number of Damselfish seem to be able to escape the slaughter taking place all over the Caribbean. After arriving at the Tarpon bridge it turns out to be an amazing sight as well. However, lucking out again: no Tarpons to be seen. I guess they're out with the Nurse sharks. Time to end the dive and relax a little. Relaxation is literally around the corner where a very shallow lagoon protects us from the (small) waves, it's time for lunch and drinks and to enjoy the unspoiled beauty of the East. The Maal family may call it rubbish-bush in need of development, we kind of think the opposite. Perhaps it is a good idea to leave it like it is, there are plenty of hotels already and the pristine nature and reefs could do with the current low-key attention. Underneath our boat some huge Starfish seem to have gathered "it's the only place on the island where you find these in numbers" we are told. It certainly makes for a great photo-opp and our surface interval turns out mostly submerged. Surface interval. Loads of big starfish. Since there are only so much sandwiches you can eat, it is time to head out "we've kept the best till last, that's why we named it Best Reef" Niels tries to add to our excitement. And as soon as we enter the water we understand why. "Shark!" is called before we're even ready to descent. A massive 7 feet Nurse shark is lying at 30 feet, totally relaxed and we all manage to take a photo turn by turn without the animal even raising a fin. I've never been able to get close to one that was full out in the water so this one makes up for all the times I've tried and failed miserably. I'm literally lying next to it, dwarfed at least by a full foot. What a stunning creature. The reef itself is even more mind-blowing: row after row of soft corals in perfect condition. It seems to be a never ending field of softly waving jungle out here. No matter how far we try to look ahead: it's just corals, corals and more corals. With the light coming in from the right angle it is hard not to burst out in tears or shout your enjoyment. This is what you dive for, this is what want to see. This is truly Curacao at its best! Hello Nurse shark! Corals, and more corals. Best reef diving on the island, no doubt about it! © 2012 Rudgr.com (Facebook, Instagram) Equipment used: Canon 5D (mkI) Canon 15mm f2.8 fish-eye lens UK-Germany housing 2x Inon Z240 Strobes


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Detalles de las ofertas
Whether it's a birthday, a thank you, a wedding, a Christmas gift, a personal purchase or a family getaway to your favourite NZ destination, an AwaytoGo hotel voucher is available to suit your budget and taste.
At AwaytoGo, we offer exclusive hotel deals, not available anywhere else! It's secure to buy and quick to find a deal for someone special, yourself or your family and friends. View all our hotel deals.
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Valid at all participating Millennium, Copthorne and Kingsgate Hotels throughout New Zealand.
We also offer Corporate Vouchers. Find out more about our corporate hotel deals.


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UC Controller
Annual Financial Reports2013-2022
Medical Center Annual Reports2013-2022
Single Audit Reports2007 - 2022
Reports on audits of financial statements and on federal awards programs, in accordance with OMB Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200 Subpart F.
Retirement System Annual Reports2013-2022
Reports for the UC Retirement Plan and Retirement Savings Program
Business and Finance Bulletins Link
Published by the Universitywide Policy Office. Browse the "Business and Finance" subject area or do a search for "BFB" to view all bulletins.
Reporting Transparency Link
Intended to provide the UC community and the public, including investors, with easy access to a variety of financial information about the University of California, in support of similar transparency efforts undertaken by the state of California.


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Enter an election-themed video contest
The UUA's Standing on the Side of Love website is seeking short, compelling, election-related videos. For example, videos might focus on voter registration, a moral budget, reproductive justice, or marriage equality. The prize for the best video is $1,000. The top five will receive $100 worth of Standing on the Side of Love gear.
The videos should be no more than four minutes long and should be based on UU values and a vision of the future. They should not endorse a particular candidate or political party. They should also not use copyright-protected images or music.
The deadline for submissions is September 23. More information is available here.


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ATLANTA – Julio Teheran pitched 8 1-3 strong innings, Dan Uggla hit a three-run homer and the Atlanta Braves won their fourth straight game with a 5-1 victory over the struggling Minnesota Twins on Monday.
Teheran (3-1) gave up five hits, one run — Josh Willingham's homer in the ninth — and one walk. He struck out four, throwing 80 of his 123 pitches for strikes.
Cory Gearrin earned his first career save by retiring pinch-hitter Oswaldo Arcia on a flyout.
Minnesota has lost six straight.
The previous longest career outing for Teheran was seven innings, a mark he reached in a no-decision April 29 against Washington and a May 9 victory at San Francisco.
After rallying in late innings to win three straight from the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend, Atlanta jumped on Twins starter Kevin Correia (4-4) early.
In the first, Jason Heyward singled, advanced to third on Justin Upton's single and scored on Freddie Freeman's RBI single. One out later, Uggla hit his eighth homer, a three-run shot that made it 4-0.
Juan Francisco led off the fourth with a double, moved to third on Teheran's sacrifice bunt and scored on Andrelton Simmons' sacrifice fly RBI for a 5-0 lead.
Correia had his shortest outing in nine starts this season. In four innings, he allowed eight hits, five runs and one walk.
Correia had no strikeouts for the first time this year and the first time as a starter since April 29, 2012, when he and the Pittsburgh Pirates lost at Turner Field.
Ryan Pressly pitched the fifth and sixth for Minnesota, allowing one walk and striking out one. Caleb Thielbar, recalled from Triple-A Rochester earlier in the day, worked the seventh and eighth, giving up a single and striking out three.
Teheran allowed a single to Justin Morneau in the first, faced the minimum in the second and gave up a leadoff single to Aaron Hicks in the third.
Morneau singled to begin the fourth and moved to second on Trevor Plouffe's walk, but Teheran ended the threat on Chris Parmelee's flyout and Pedro Florimon's flyout.
Teheran, a 22-year-old in his first full season, held Minnesota to just one base runner — Willingham, who was hit by a pitch in the sixth — over the next four innings.
In his past five starts, the 22-year-old right-hander is 3-1 with a 2.41 ERA with two homers allowed. He gave up a combined four homers over his first three starts.
Teheran retired Morneau on a flyout to begin the ninth, but Willingham hit his sixth homer and Plouffe singled to end the pitcher's night.
Luis Avilan faced the next two batters. Parmelee singled and pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit flew out before Gearrin retired Arcia.
Notes: Minnesota made its first regular-season visit to Turner Field and its first trip to Atlanta since the 1991 World Series. ... The Braves announced during the game that LHP Eric O'Flaherty will undergo season-ending elbow ligament replacement surgery on Tuesday. The news wasn't unexpected for O'Flaherty, the eighth-inning specialist who went on the disabled list Saturday with a torn ligament. ... Atlanta RHP Tim Hudson, Tuesday's scheduled starter, is 0-2 with an 11.42 ERA in his past two starts. ... RHP Mike Pelfrey will pitch for Minnesota and is 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA in his past two starts. ... Francisco began the game hitless in his past 10 at-bats with seven consecutive strikeouts. He finished 2 for 3 with one walk and one strikeout. ... Twins LHP Pedro Hernandez was optioned Triple-A Rochester to make room for Thielbar on the 25-man roster.


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AGH Presents Awards
BERLIN – Atlantic General Hospital (AGH) recognized several individuals for going above and beyond in patient care during National Nurses Week. Awards were bestowed based upon votes submitted by the nursing staff.
The Nurse of the Year award was given to Jenny Taylor, a patient care supervisor at AGH. She is an active member of the stroke team at Atlantic General Hospital's award-winning Stroke Center. She has been employed at AGH since 2005, after receiving her associate's degree in nursing from Wor-Wic Community College. She received her bachelor's degree in nursing from Western Governors University in 2012.
Clinical Associate of the Year was presented to Jason Williams, Emergency Room Technician at AGH. He is an American Heart Association CPR/BLS instructor and holds a position with the town of Ocean City as an EMT/Fire Fighter and a rescue swimmer. He has been with AGH for two years and becoming a nurse is one of his career goals.
Other awards presented were Transformational Leader of the Year, Jill Rolleston; Friend of Nursing, Dr. Atif Zeeshan; and Retired Nurse of the Year, Joyce Brittan
Advisor Attends Conference
BERLIN — Financial Advisor Carrie Dupuie recently attended the National Conference for Professional Development, hosted by Raymond James Financial Services.
The conference, which is held annually, offers independent financial advisors the opportunity to participate in a broad range of educational sessions and presentations made by subject matter experts and industry leaders, and also gives them a forum for networking and sharing best practices with their peers.
Dupuie, whose office is located at 11042 Nicholas Lane- South Gate of Ocean Pines, found the content of this year's meeting to be of particular value.
"The theme for 2012 was 'the power of independence.' We explored the unique position we're in as independent advisors – the freedom we have to not only build unique businesses but to serve our clients' best interests exclusively – and the many ways we can maximize that power, whether by incorporating new products and investment strategies or by learning from our fellow advisors' successes," she said.
New Showroom Opens
BERLIN — Royal Plus Incorporated celebrated the Grand Opening of its new showroom on Tuesday.
The ribbon cutting attendees included Chamber of Commerce representatives from Ocean City, Ocean Pines, Berlin and Salisbury.
"The grand opening of this showroom is the recognition of how our company began, which was by providing various services to homeowners in the greater Ocean City and Berlin area," said Royal Plus President Matt Odachowski said. "We are still loyal to the market that gave birth to the company we are today and are still committed to providing plumbing, heating, air conditioning and flooring services to homeowners right here in Worcester County." The new showroom, located next to the flooring store, will feature the latest in energy efficient products from major manufacturers, such as Carrier, Mitsubishi and Rinnai as well as other quality plumbing, heating and air conditioning products.
Royal Plus Inc. specializes in the restoration of homes and businesses that have been damaged by unforeseen circumstances. The company also provides flooring, plumbing, heating and air conditioning products and services. A network member of Disaster Kleenup International, Royal Plus has been helping families and businesses for 29 years and is recognized throughout the Gulf Coast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States as a leader in the property restoration industry.
Education Program Attended
BERLIN — Deborah A Brown-Collins, sales professional with the Prudential Insurance Company of America's Penn-Delmar Agency in Berlin, recently completed Prudential Special Needs Solutions…For All Ages, an educational program hosted by the company in New Jersey.
The program provides participants with the necessary skills and knowledge to help families plan for the financial future of someone with special needs.
Brown-Collins is one of a select number of financial professionals who attended the training that covered a variety of important topics including government benefits, insurance planning and special needs trusts.
"The training provided me with the most up-to-date information about planning for the future of someone with a disability," said Brown-Collins. "I am looking forward to truly making a difference in the lives of these families."
Top Producers Named
BERLIN — For the Month of May, Broker Dr. Carl E. Ortman of RE/MAX Premier Properties announced the top producers in listings and sales.
Marlene Ott is the top producing listing agent and Mary Ann O'Malley is the top sales agent.
In addition, the broker announced joining the team is real estate professional Joanne Ortman.


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(visited by Ross Finlayson)
28-Dec-2002 -- Central California is sloped in a 45 degree angle (north-west to south-east), and it turns out that the three confluences - [37,-121], [36,-120], and [35,-119] - lying on this 45 degree line have very similar geography: rounded grassy hills, on the western edge of the Central Valley.
[35,-119] is easy to reach; the hardest part is finding the correct access road. To reach it, take the Laval Road West exit from I-5. Get to the frontage road (drive beside the Petgo store and the Best Western motel), drive north, and look for the narrow, rough gravel side road on the left that loops back up the hill (beside some oil wells). Follow it until it turns into a straight road heading westward. Continue on this road; it passes about 0.35 miles south of the confluence. (There's a USGS marker here.) From this point, it's an easy hike up the grassy hill to the confluence.
At the confluence, I did the traditional "confluence dance" around some cow patties, until I got all zeros - for the first time in my many confluence visits!


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The New Orleans Saints' five draft picks can only hope that the elation they felt when they were drafted less than two weeks ago lasts through this weekend.
METAIRIE, La. (AP) - The New Orleans Saints' five draft picks can only hope that the elation they felt when they were drafted less than two weeks ago lasts through this weekend.
The club's 13 undrafted rookies who signed as free agents, and others invited for tryouts, aim to hold Sean Payton and his staff to their word - that every player will have the same chance to make the team.
The Saints designated Thursday as reporting day for rookie camp, which will feature five practices from Friday through Sunday. The players participating will be limited to draft picks, undrafted rookies who signed as free agents and other young pros invited for tryouts.
"Once you get here, you aren't in a different locker room. You're a part of our team, competing to make the team," Payton said. "We have cut draft picks and kept free agents in that same year. We are looking for the best guys. So hopefully that helps us. I think it does."
The Saints' 2013 draft class was headlined by first-round choice Kenny Vaccaro, a safety out of Texas. He'll take the practice field against a familiar college foe, former Oklahoma receiver Kenny Stills, who was taken by New Orleans in the fifth round.
New Orleans had no second-round choice, the last of the sanctions the club had to endure because of the NFL's bounty findings more than 14 months ago. But the club traded one of its most successful former undrafted free agents, running back Chris Ivory, to obtain add a second pick in the third round.
New Orleans used its original third-round pick on 6-foot-5, 306-pound offensive tackle Terron Armstead of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, then used its additional pick in the round on Georgia defensive tackle John Jenkins.
After selecting Stills, the Saints - who had no picks in the fourth and seventh rounds - closed out their draft class by taking a chance on Rufus Johnson, a defensive end out of Division II Tarleton State in Texas. He'll line up as an outside linebacker in New Orleans' 3-4 defense.
"You are always hopeful that this is one of those classes that you can look back on and look at as a building block of what you are doing and what you are trying to do," Payton said.
The practices are closed to the public and only one practice on Saturday morning will be open to media.
Vaccaro said he is hoping to showcase the versatility for which the Saints drafted him. Vaccaro can play both safety spots, and in college also played nickel cornerback, helped on special teams and even lined up at linebacker sporadically.
"I've played everything in college, so honestly, I'm comfortable," Vaccaro said. "That's what I can bring to the team. I'm comfortable in any position they put me in."
Johnson, meanwhile, hopes to make the Saints look smart - again - for drafting players out of Division II. Back in 2006, Payton's first season as a head coach, New Orleans drafted guard Jahri Evans out of Division II Bloomsburg. He has started since his very first game and is now an All-Pro.
"I know a lot of people really haven't heard about me," Johnson said. "But having this opportunity, I really think I have a chance to showcase what I really can do at the top level."
Among the undrafted free agents are quarterback Ryan Griffin, who Saints personnel know well not only because he played at Tulane, but also because his coach last season, Curtis Johnson, was the Saints' receivers coach from 2006 to 2011.
"When I figured out that I wasn't going to get drafted I was set on the Saints," Griffin said. "We've practiced at the facilities and played at the Superdome while I was at Tulane, so that part really isn't new to me. Obviously it's a different jersey and different team, but the same playbook and setting which helps the whole process."
The other undrafted players at Saints rookie camp will include tight ends Keavon Milton of Louisiana-Monroe and Josh Hill of Idaho State; linebackers Eric Martin of Nebraska, Kevin Reddick of North Carolina, Rayford Shipman of Central Florida and Chase Thomas of Stanford; defensive end Glenn Foster of Illinois; running back Shawne Alston of West Virginia; cornerbacks Ryan Lacy of Utah and Rod Sweeting of Georgia Tech; center Elliot Mealer of Michigan; and guard Tim Lelito of Grand Valley State.
The players coming in for tryouts include Brent Leonard, who was Louisiana-Monroe's leading wide receiver last season.


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Southern California Edison's replacement of IT workers with H-1B workers is getting attention from one U.S. lawmaker who is in a positon to influence immigration law.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who heads the Senate's immigration subcommittee and has emerged as a strong critic of the H-1B visa, cited SCE's layoffs in a speech in the Senate on Thursday.
"Apparently, Southern California Edison -- a power company rooted in the United States of America... [and] a quasi-almost-government entity under the regulatory powers of the State [is] terminating the employment of people who have been with them for a number of years," said Sessions.
The utility, Southern California's largest, is cutting about 500 IT workers, 100 of them through voluntary departures and others through layoffs. The layoffs have been happening in phases since August. A group was due to be laid off today, and another group is scheduled to go on March 6. The company says the layoffs will be completed by the end of the March.
SCE "is transitioning those positions to foreign employees who have come in under the H-1B visa program for the sole purpose of taking a job. They are not coming under the immigration policy where they would move from green card into permanent residence and into citizenship. They come solely for a limited period of time to take a job, and they work for less pay too often," said Sessions.
The layoffs began after SCE began transitioning some of its IT work to two India-based IT services firms, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services.
Sessions, on the floor of the Senate, read parts of Computerworld's story about the workers -- along with some of their quotes -- while adding in his own observations.
Sessions criticized President Barack Obama's support for an increase in the H-1B cap, but some in his own party support an H-1B cap hike.
"What is in the interest of American workers at a time when we are laying off large numbers of workers -- skilled and unskilled?" said Sessions. "Do we really need massive increases in foreign workers? Do we need to pass legislation that would double the number of guest workers that come into the country at this time? I think not."
Here is a partial transcript of Session's remarks from the Congressional Record:
"Here is a dramatic article in Computerworld about the big power company in California--Southern California Edison. What have they done recently? Information technology workers at Southern California Edison are being laid off and replaced by workers from India. Some employees are training their H-1B visa-holding replacements, and many have already lost their jobs. The employees are upset and they say they can't understand how H-1B guest workers can be used to replace them since they are already doing the job now.
"Apparently, Southern California Edison -- a power company rooted in the United States of America -- is converting, laying off, and terminating the employment of people who have been with them for a number of years. Southern California Edison is transitioning those positions to foreign employees who have come in under the H-1B visa program for the sole purpose of taking a job. They are not coming under the immigration policy where they would move from green card into permanent residence and into citizenship. They come solely for a limited period of time to take a job, and they work for less pay too often.
"This is what one person said: 'They are bringing in people with a couple of years' experience to replace us and then we have to train them,' said one long-time IT worker. 'It's demoralizing and in a way I kind of felt betrayed by the company.''
"I bet he did. Continuing to quote from the article:
"SCE, Southern California's largest utility -- which is a quasi-almost-government entity under the regulatory powers of the State -- has confirmed the layoffs and the hiring of Infosys, based in Bangalore, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in Mumbai. They are two of the largest users of H-1B visas.
"Apparently, what happens is these companies sign up workers in -- in this case -- India, and they call up the big power company and say: Look, we have all these young people who have an education, and your salaries are real generous to them, they like your salaries, and we will just send them over on H-1B visas. They can stay 3 years and then return to their country and you can get rid of all those American workers. Maybe you will not have to pay such high retirement or health care benefits.
"The article goes on to say: Computerworld interviewed, separately, four affected SCE IT employees. They agreed to talk on the condition that their names not be used. The IT employees at SCE are 'beyond furious,' said a second IT worker. The H-1B program 'was supposed to be for projects and jobs that American workers could not fill,' this worker said. 'But we're doing our job. It's not like they are bringing in these guys for new positions that nobody can fill.'
"It goes on to say: 'Not one of these jobs being filled by India was a job that an Edison employee wasn't already performing,'' he said.
"It goes on to talk about this. Professor Ron Hira, who studied this in great depth and has written about this problem for some time, made some comments on it, too: The SCE outsourcing 'is one more case, in a long line of them, of injustice where American workers are being replaced by H-1B's,' said Ron Hira, a public policy professor at Howard University, and a researcher on offshore outsourcing. Adding to the injustice, American workers are being forced to do 'knowledge transfer,' an ugly euphemism for being forced to train their foreign replacements.'
"He goes on to say: 'Americans should be outraged that most of our politicians have sat idly by while outsourcing firms have hijacked the guest worker programs.''
"So the guest worker program is supposed to help businesses. If they can't get people to work, then they can apply to this program, which has some limits. Yet the President proposes doubling the number of people who can come in with H-1B visas to work. He wants to double that number. He has been demanding that. But Mr. Hira said:
"'The majority of the H-1B program is now being used to replace Americans and to facilitate offshoring of high wage jobs.'
"So this is a pretty thorough article in Computerworld, and it is a growing problem in the high-tech industry."


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A leaked report by staff at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission paints an ugly picture of Google as a bullying monopolist and adds credence to complaints from rivals who have long criticized its business practices.
The report, which was mistakenly provided to the Wall Street Journal as part of a public records request, reveals that FTC staff concluded in 2012 that Google's business tactics had caused "real harm to consumers and to innovation," and the staff recommended a lawsuit against the company.
The FTC's commissioners ultimately decided not to take action and closed their investigation of Google. But the conduct described in the 160-page critique paints a damaging picture of the company and seems to vindicate rivals such as Yelp that have complained about its tactics.
The findings reveal, in staggering detail, the lengths to which Google went to maintain its dominance in search and bolster its lucrative advertising business.
Google typically ranks sites based on metrics like the number of links that point to a site and how often users click on those links. But at times the company boosted links to its own properties even when rival services might have better served its users, according to the report.
If a comparison shopping site from a competitor should have ranked highest, for instance, Google Shopping was sometimes placed above it. And when Yelp was deemed a more relevant result, Google Local would appear on top, the FTC staff wrote.
Google also copied, or "scraped," content from rivals such as TripAdvisor and Amazon.com, and threatened to remove those sites from its search listing if they objected, the Journal reported. In one instance, Google used Amazon's sales rankings to determine how it ranked products for its own listings, it said.
In so doing, Google sent a message that it would "use its monopoly power over search to extract the fruits of its rivals' innovations," the FTC staff wrote.
The evidence paints "a complex portrait of a company working toward an overall goal of maintaining its market share by providing the best user experience, while simultaneously engaging in tactics that resulted in harm to many vertical competitors, and likely helped to entrench Google's monopoly power over search and search advertising," the FTC staff wrote.
In a statement Thursday attributed to Kent Walker, Google's general counsel, Google said its competitors are thriving and that consumers have "more choice than ever before."
"After an exhaustive 19-month review, covering nine million pages of documents and many hours of testimony, the FTC staff and all five FTC Commissioners agreed that there was no need to take action on how we rank and display search results," Walker said. "Speculation about potential consumer and competitor harm turned out to be entirely wrong."
Yelp refers to itself today as the 'de facto local search engine,' he noted, and has grown dramatically in the last four years.
Still, the staff report paints a damaging picture of a company that once pledged to "do no evil."
According to the staff report, Google responded to the FTC's concerns by giving rivals the choice to opt out of having their content used in its listings, but to remain in its core search engine.
In advertising, they concluded, Google violated antitrust law by restricting advertisers from running campaigns on rival search engines like Bing or Yahoo. Specifically, it blocked advertisers from using data gathered from Google ad campaigns to run campaigns on other sites. The commission did not secure commitments from Google to change its policies here, the Journal reported. One FTC commissioner cited a lack of evidence.
For its investigation, the FTC collected 9 million pages of documents from Google and other parties, and took sworn testimony from Google executives.
The FTC staff conceded there would be "many risks" in bringing a lawsuit against Google, the Journal reported, including the "substantial innovation" that Google would be able to demonstrate had taken place, and the intense competition it faces from Microsoft and others.
The Journal said it had viewed parts of the report after the FTC inadvertently disclosed it as part of a Freedom of Information Act request. The FTC declined to release the remainder of the report and asked the Journal to return the document, but the Journal did not.
The agency closed its investigation of Google in 2013, after the company agreed to make changes to some of its practices. Findings by the FTC staff helped to inform the FTC commissioners' final decision.
Meanwhile, Google has continued to expand its own services. Just this week it announced more comprehensive listings for hotel searches, and earlier this month it launched a new service to shop for car insurance in California, with other states on the way.


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REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
Several summers ago, in order to work at a poultry plant in rural Alabama, I had to pass three tests. The first was the standard pee-into-a-cup routine (standard, at least, when applying for punishing work paying poverty wages). Next, the nurse instructed me to exhale deeply into a Breathalyzer to prove I had arrived at the job interview sober (that was a new one). But the toughest test, at least for drug-free people in the habit of getting through the morning without alcohol, was yet to come. It was time to learn to live with pain.
"It's fast, and it's hard, and your hands are gonna swell and ache," a friendly woman told us during orientation. "You'll be using muscles and nerves and tendons that you normally don't use." That wasn't entirely accurate—we use our hands every day, after all—but it was certainly true that we were about to put our hands through a whole new type of hurt. I was soon tearing through more than 7,000 chicken breasts each night (I worked the graveyard shift), while nearby workers sliced up countless birds with knives and scissors. The massive plant was capable of killing and processing nearly 1.5 million birds a week, and the pace was as relentless as such numbers suggest. We often didn't even have time to wipe bits of chicken flesh from our faces, and I took to popping ibuprofen during breaks to quell the swelling in my hands. (Pilgrim's Pride, the poultry giant that owned the plant, was nice enough to line one wall of the break room with dispensers filled with painkillers; it wasn't nice enough, however, to provide them free of charge.)
Not surprisingly, more than half my orientation class was gone within the first week.
It was also not so surprising, after having worked at the plant for a month, to meet a number of people who had come down with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) like carpal tunnel syndrome or tendinitis from the repetitive nature of the work. One was unable to hold a glass of water; another had three surgeries on her wrists; a third had discovered, after a visit to the doctor, that her thumb joint had almost disappeared after twelve years of line work. She told me her doctor had taken a vein from her leg and wrapped it around her thumb in an attempt to replace the missing cartilage. "Everyone on the line had hand problems," she said.
But here's something that I did find surprising: when the government set the maximum line speed at poultry plants—currently it's ninety-one birds a minute—it failed to take worker safety into consideration. Instead, the limit was determined by the US Department of Agriculture, based on food safety concerns. And here's something even worse: in January the USDA proposed a new method for poultry inspection that would allow plants to run lines at 175 birds a minute. That's nearly double the current limit. According to the USDA, over three years the new approach will save $90 million in taxpayer money by cutting the number of online inspectors, while also reducing dangers to the public.
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It sounds counterintuitive that an inspection system that permits faster line speeds and decreases the number of government inspectors would create safer chicken, but the USDA argues that it can do more with less if it alters the current arrangement, which has been in place since the 1950s. Today USDA inspectors spend much of their time sorting carcasses with obvious physical defects—generally considered by the agency to be issues of food "quality" rather than safety—and instructing poultry plant staff either to pull these carcasses or remove blemishes to make them passable. Under the new plan, poultry workers would be responsible for conducting such tasks before the bird's arrival at the USDA checkpoint, increasing the chances that the birds will pass. According to the USDA, the fact that inspectors will pass more birds allows for an increase in line speed, as time spent ordering alterations will be minimized. And with the need for fewer online inspectors, the USDA argues, it would be free to focus more staff attention on the largest cause of food-borne illnesses—pathogens like salmonella and campylobacter—which can't be detected by a visual examination, by ensuring plants are following the proper sanitation and antimicrobial programs. Big Meat—which stands to save $257 million a year operating at higher speeds—was immediately on board. "We commend USDA for embracing science," cheered the American Meat Institute. "Poultry industry supports modernization and flexibility to improve food safety," echoed the National Chicken Council.
Yet while the USDA is proposing to increase line speeds dramatically, a growing body of evidence points to widespread dangers already faced by poultry workers. In 2007 a study by Duke University found that 43 percent of poultry workers surveyed reported symptoms of MSDs. The following year, the Charlotte Observer published a six-day series based on a nearly two-year investigation into poultry work. The Observer found that companies failed to record injuries accurately, and spoke to a South Carolina doctor who estimated that he had seen 1,000 poultry employees. "I don't know a single worker who doesn't have some sort of pain in their hand," the doctor told the paper. And in February a study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that Latino poultry workers were two and a half times more likely to suffer from carpal tunnel than their peers in other blue-collar occupations.
Sara Quandt, a professor of epidemiology and prevention at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, directed the study on carpal tunnel. "One of the concerns with increasing the line speed is that it will increase injuries to workers who already fail to report them or whose reports aren't taken seriously by employers," she tells me, pointing out that many poultry workers are undocumented immigrants. "That's what I worry about with this. Workers are making the same motions over and over again. Those are the ones that really get slammed by the line speed."
* * *
When it announced the rule, the USDA promised to work with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to evaluate what effects the line speedup would have on workers and "consider the available data" when implementing the changes. Normally it would be difficult to study the potential effects with any accuracy—how can we say what the effects of a future rule will be?—but in this case there is a whole group of workers to study. That's because the proposed rule is actually an expansion of a current program, the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points-based Inspection Models Project (HIMP), which involves a group of twenty plants that have been running at faster line speeds since the late 1990s, and which have increased their attention to "off-line" monitoring of programs to prevent food-borne pathogens. A recent risk assessment of HIMP plants conducted by the USDA found that they actually decreased the rate of pathogens like salmonella and campylobacter. But while the food might be safer, no effort has been made to figure out how workers at these plants have been coping with the increased pace.
The United Food and Commercial Workers—which represents poultry workers—opposed the rule change precisely because the USDA introduced it before determining its potential effects on workers. "No comprehensive effort has been made to determine the effect faster line speeds and changes in safety protocol will have on the health and safety of the workers in these plants," states Tim Schlittner, a union spokesman. "[The] USDA should pull this rule entirely until an exhaustive study on injuries and illnesses is completed."
A few people following the issue said they expected the rule would go into effect as soon as this fall. But when I asked NIOSH how long its evaluation might take, it was unable to provide specifics. "We don't have a start date," said NIOSH spokeswoman Christina Spring. "We're still waiting for FSIS to identify sites." FSIS is the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the USDA. Identifying sites wouldn't seem to be overly difficult: the agency certainly knows which plants have been allowed to run at faster speeds. When I asked why the process was taking so long—and why such an evaluation wasn't done before the rule was proposed—Spring suggested I put those questions to the USDA. The USDA, however, declined to comment, citing concerns about the "slanted phrasing" of my questions.
* * *
Would the new inspection program produce safer chicken? The USDA thinks so, and estimates that within two years the rule will prevent 20,000 people from contracting salmonella. The Center for Science in the Public Interest put out a lukewarm statement, advising the government to "proceed cautiously"; the Consumer Federation of America has argued that an independent review of HIMP is needed before taking the program national. The most vociferous critic of the rule has been Food & Water Watch, an offshoot of Public Citizen, citing the findings of its recent Freedom of Information Act request, which discovered that company inspectors in HIMP plants regularly miss problems like "fecal contamination" on the carcasses.
Shortly after the rule was introduced, the USDA received 4,000 e-mails from people concerned about food safety. And recently ABC News ran a critical story about the proposed change, which included a damning interview with a USDA inspector in one of the HIMP plants, who has been trying to keep up with the new line speed. "You just kind of watch them fly by," the man, whose identity was hidden, told ABC. "We're not inspecting anymore; we're kind of monitoring. We joke. We pat them on the butt and let them keep on going." In response to ABC, the USDA announced that it would extend the comment period for the rule by an additional thirty days (the previous period was to end April 26).
The way food safety has dominated this debate highlights how, in a country obsessed with food, we still fail to appreciate the people whose work brings the food to our table. While the government has responded to public demands for better inspection processes, tens of thousands of poultry workers may soon find their already dangerous job becoming much more so, with almost no public debate. We consider a food product safe if it's something we can feed our children. But what if producing the food does so much damage to the hands of workers that they are unable to hold their own?


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SiriusXM's Two Star App Plagued with More Mysterious OnDemand Downtime
It's not just you — the SiriusXM OnDemand feature has been down for over 12 hours and no one seems to know when it will be fixed.
When notified about the issue all SiriusXM would say was "We're currently having issues with the app, but all the content should return when it's fixed. There is no ETA at this time, sorry." They don't seem to know what is wrong and they never know when it will be fixed.
I spend anywhere from 4 to 8 hours listening to SiriusXM and its OnDemand features during the course of the day so, it is likely that I run into issues more than the average user but, as of late, the downtime for this paid service, is raising some eyebrows.
We all know when it comes to the internet, streaming anything can be flaky but, this isn't a one off issue, there is a pattern here… it's happening constantly. There were at least four times that I contacted support in January (in addition to the OnDemand takedown for Howard Stern's Birthday Bash), twice in February, and now here we are again, down for over 12 hours in March.
Why isn't SiriusXM more forthcoming with reporting these outages? Why do they keep happening? Why aren't they doing anything to compensate their loyal subscribers? What do you think about the lowly two star rated app and how the company has been handling it? Sound off in the comments below.


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Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Release: Chicago Fed National Financial Conditions Index
The Chicago Fed's National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI) provides a comprehensive weekly update on U.S. financial conditions in money markets, debt and equity markets and the traditional and "shadow" banking systems. Positive values of the NFCI indicate financial conditions that are tighter than average, while negative values indicate financial conditions that are looser than average.
The adjusted NFCI (ANFCI). This index isolates a component of financial conditions uncorrelated with economic conditions to provide an update on how financial conditions compare with current economic conditions.
For further information, please visit the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's web site: http://www.chicagofed.org/webpages/publications/nfci/index.cfm
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Chicago Fed Adjusted National Financial Conditions Index [ANFCI], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ANFCI, September 20, 2023.


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ALBANY, N.Y. -- Court records unsealed Monday show federal investigators were looking for pornography that could be used "to sexually arouse or groom young males" for sex when they searched the home, office and locker of former Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine.
Fine was fired Nov. 27 after three men accused him of molesting them when they were boys.
Search warrants show investigators also were looking for documents, pictures, computer records and travel records that would detail Fine's contact with boys. The investigators took computers, cameras, compact discs, film and phones, among other things.
The 65-year-old Fine has denied wrongdoing, calling the allegations "patently false." He has declined further comment.
Authorities are investigating whether Fine took minors across state lines for sex, which is a felony. He could be charged should investigators find child pornography in his possession.
Federal prosecutors and investigators have declined to comment publicly in the ongoing investigation. Fine's attorneys were not immediately available Monday.
Two former ball boys told ESPN last month that Fine molested them decades ago. Bobby Davis, now 39, said that Fine molested him beginning in 1984 and that the sexual contact continued until he was around 27.
Davis, a ball boy for six years, said the abuse occurred at Fine's home, at Syracuse basketball facilities and on team road trips, including the 1987 Final Four.
Davis' 45-year-old stepbrother, Mike Lang, who also was a ball boy, told ESPN that Fine began molesting him while he was in the fifth or sixth grade.
The university fired Fine after a third accuser stepped forward and ESPN played an audiotape, recorded by Davis, of an October 2002 telephone conversation between him and a woman ESPN identified as Fine's wife, Laurie Fine, in which she says she knew "everything that went on."
The third accuser, 23-year-old Zach Tomaselli, of Lewiston, Maine, emerged last week. He said he told police that Fine molested him in 2002 in a Pittsburgh hotel room after a game.
Tomaselli, who faces sex abuse charges in Maine, told The Associated Press on Monday that he sexually abused a boy when the victim was 13 and 14 years old. He said he knew the boy and worked as a counselor at a camp he attended.
He has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges but told the AP he anticipates that he'll plead guilty. He said he doesn't want to hide behind an attorney anymore.
"The only thing that transpired was the same stuff that happened to me," Tomaselli said of his relationship with the teenage boy in Maine. "This kid has been through a lot because of the way I controlled him and abused him."


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