text:
Upgrade Siding
When your siding has seen better days, upgrading it just might be one of the best investments you can make for your home, no matter what the economic climate. Since siding functions as a shield for the materials it covers, the better siding you have, the longer those materials are likely to last. Renovation Magazine's Cost vs. Value report revealed that installing fibre-cement siding generally recovers over 87% of construction costs in added resale worth. This makes upgrading from vinyl or aluminium to fibre-cement the best investment nationwide when it comes to recouping your costs!
Bathroom Enhancements
Though often the smallest rooms in the house, your bathroom can have a dramatic impact on your day-to-day life. Bathrooms also pack quite a punch when it comes time to put your property on the market, and renovation your bathroom can mean the difference between a home that's sold quickly and one that stays on the market for years.
While not technically a renovation, an inspection is a sound enough investment in shaky economic times that we had to include it in this list. The beauty of an inspection lies not in what it does for your property, but what it prevents. For instance, a chimney cleaning will often cost around $310, where a chimney fire can cost you thousands in property damage. Inspections are available for many of your home's systems (roofing, foundation, waterproofing, etc.) and can either identify small problems before they become large or give you peace of mind that your home is in good shape!
Enhance Flooring
Few things can make a room shine like good flooring. Fortunately, flooring upgrades are also an excellent investment in just about any home. One of the nice things about replacing a floor with a more durable material is that you can really get your money's worth. For instance, while carpet remains the least costly flooring material, the National Home Builder's Association puts its life expectancy at 8 to 10 years "with appropriate maintenance and normal foot traffic." Though definitely more costly, natural hardwood's life expectancy is "100 years or more." So, by upgrading, you might be spending a little more in the short term, but you can rest easy knowing that you (or even the next owners of your property) won't have to bear the expense of flooring replacement!
Small Kitchen Remodels
In much the same way as bringing a bathroom up to par is almost always a good investment, minor kitchen improvements are generally a safe bet. Unfortunately, going overboard during a kitchen remodel is common, and many folks end up spending way more than they planned before the job is finished. To keep your investment budget-friendly, focus on the things that really need attention, and leave the elements of the room that are functioning just fine intact.
General Guidelines for Recession-Proof Renovation
During uncertain economic times, the adage "If it's not broken, don't fix it" is certainly appropriate in many cases. However, to be completely accurate, you may want to add something to the effect of "If it's slightly broken, fix it now." "If it's employed fine, but it's costing you plenty to operate, get a better model" might be another good phrase to live by. Basically, any renovation project runs the risk of being more trouble than it is worth, but, in a nutshell, hard times call for projects that will not only make your property look better, but will help it function more efficiently for years to come!
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February 22, 2013
Great start to the weekend
This morning, I woke up and checked the weather on my phone while I was roasting under the electric blanket.
I thought about putting it off until tomorrow, but then I would just dread it all day today and be mad that I was being such a baby about it, so I decided to just get up and run on the treadmill. All 12 miles. I put Sons of Anarchy on Netflix, set the treadmill to 6.8 mph, and just started running.
I really like Sons of Anarchy, so it certainly helped to pass the time, but I was still looking at the distance way too often. I made it through two full episodes and one partial episode of the show--that's a long time to be on a treadmill! But I was SO happy to be done, and I felt good.
Jerry was off work today, and the kids were off school (all week), so we wanted to take them somewhere fun for their last day of winter break. They wanted to go up to this jungle gym place, but it's an hour away, and the roads were really bad from the snow. Instead, I took them (and Jerry) to the ice skating rink and dropped them off. While they were skating, I went to the store to buy the groceries for Sunday (my Oscar's viewing party!). I'm trying out a few new recipes, so I have no idea how they will be, but I bought lots of wine, so it shouldn't matter ;)
I picked the boys up, and we ate lunch at Wendy's (a large chili is only 7 PP and very filling!). Then we went to Mrs. Fields so I could spend my activity PointsPlus on something fun. I earned it after 12 miles on a treadmill! I got the same thing as last time--the Peanut Butter Dream Bar.
Calories- 670
Fat- 42 g
Carbs- 70 g
Fiber- 3 g
Protein- 10 g
PointsPlus- 19
It's kind of amazing that they can pack so many calories and so much fat into one tiny little rectangle! I used to eat two of them back in the day.
I had the worst headache ever today, and I'm sure it was from dehydration--that usually happens when I run in the heat or run on the treadmill--I get overheated, dehydrated, and my head throbs all day.
Yesterday was my last day on call for Jury Duty--and thankfully, I never had to report! I had to call an 800 number every day after 6 PM, and they told me whether or not I'd have to report the next day. It was kind of nerve-wracking, wondering if I'd have to go, but yesterday I was told that I'm no longer on call. I think it would be kind of fun to serve on a jury, to learn more about the whole system, but I'm a little relieved I didn't have to go.
15 comments:
Wow, you burned a LOT of calories! You really earned that peanut butter bar, glad you enjoyed it.ReplyDelete
Dang, girl! Enjoy that Peanut Butter Bar, you deserve it!ReplyDelete
Sons of Anarchy is a great show and Jax is easy on the eyes ;)ReplyDelete
I agree, chocolate and peanut butter are a killer combination! Today I went to Menchies and had chocolate frozen yogurt with crushed reeses' on top. *DROOL*ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 22, 2013
12miles on the treadmill - amazing! My order from David's Tea arrived today and already enjoyed the RedVelvet. My goal is to drink more tea instead of my current coffee habit. Thanks for the recommendation of David's Tea, didn't know about the company before I read your blog.ReplyDelete
I'm following ww on the uk site and it lets me change my daily and weekly pp in the settings for the tracker. If you can do the same you could always up your weekly points to add on your activity points?ReplyDelete
I've done 12 miles on a treadmill and it is no easy feat - get so bored mentally! Nice work and I bet you're waking up today feeling so relieved it's done!!ReplyDelete
I just want to say thank you for your blog, I really appreciate your honesty! I look forward to reading it every day!ReplyDelete
I am thankful I live no where near a Mrs. Field's.ReplyDelete
So jealous that you have a treadmill at home! Amazing run - the longest I've ever spent on a treadmill was an hour, and I had to distract myself by watching "Lost" on my phone. Which is no easy feat. LOLReplyDelete
I hope you share some of those recipes you're trying out at your Oscar party. Are they from Pinterest? I have a love/hate relationship with that sight. I try NOT to pin those calorie-laden dessert recipes I find, but they sure look good, don't they. I get so hungry when I'm "pinning."ReplyDelete
I feel so uneducated when I watch the Oscars, even though I love them. I haven't seen any of the nominated movies, but maybe I will go out today and buy Argo, I think I heard it's available on DVD now. It seems to be the favorite to win "Best Movie."
Good job on your run. The Mrs. Field's cookie looks amazing!
I'm starting to struggle with the "rewarding" myself for exercising. It's like YEAH I earned it but then I feel like I'm self sabotaging.ReplyDelete
Yeah, ok....Could you run to FedEx and send some of that here?! Thanks! :)ReplyDelete
Hey Katie!ReplyDelete
This is totally unrelated to your post, but I just wanted to say WOW. I spotted some 22W pants today at the mall, and holy shit, girl... You have lost a lot of weight. You must be super proud of yourself! You look so awesome in all your pictures... I just can't imagine teeny tiny Katie fitting into those pants!
You are amazing and inspiring. :D
I love that you do long runs on Friday so that you feel good all weekend!ReplyDelete
Feel free to leave a comment! I had to turn on comment moderation due to a ton of spam comments, but I will approve your comment ASAP.
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subset: commoncrawl


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A new study published in JAMA reveals that estimating the treatment outcomes in meta-analyses depends significantly on the method of analysis strategy used and could lead to major alterations in the conclusions derived from the analysis.
Meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are generally considered to provide among the best evidence of efficacy of medical interventions. They should be conducted as part of a systematic review, a scientifically rigorous approach that identifies, selects, and appraises all relevant studies. Which trials to combine in a metaanalysis remains a persistent dilemma. Meta-analysis of all trials may produce a precise but biased estimate, according to background information in the article.
Agnes Dechartres, M.D., Ph.D., of the Centre de Recherche Epidemiologie et Statistique, INSERM U1153, Paris, and colleagues compared treatment outcomes estimated by meta-analysis of all trials and several alternative strategies for analysis: single most precise trial (i.e., trial with the narrowest confidence interval), meta-analysis restricted to the 25 percent largest trials, limit meta-analysis (a meta-analysis model adjusted for small-study effect), and meta-analysis restricted to trials at low overall risk of bias. The researchers included 163 meta-analyses published between 2008 and 2010 in high-impact-factor journals and between 2011 and 2013 in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews: 92 (705 RCTs) with subjective outcomes and 71 (535 RCTs) with objective outcomes.
"In this study, we compared meta-analysis of all trials with several 'bestevidence' alternative strategies and found that estimated treatment outcomes differed depending on the strategy used. We cannot say which strategy is the best because ... we cannot know with 100 percent certainty the truth in any research question. Nevertheless, our results raise important questions about meta-analyses and outline the need to rethink certain principles," the researchers write.
"We recommend that authors of meta-analyses systematically assess the robustness of their results by performing sensitivity analyses. We suggest the comparison of the meta-analysis result to the result for the single most precise trial or metaanalysis of the largest trials and careful interpretation of the meta-analysis result if they disagree."(doi:10.1001/jama.2014.8166;
Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Editorial: Meta-analysis as Evidence - Building a Better Pyramid
Jesse A. Berlin, Sc.D., of Johnson & Johnson, Titusville, N.J., and Robert M. Golub, M.D., Deputy Editor, JAMA, write in an accompanying editorial that "findings such as those in the study by Dechartres et al reinforce concerns that journals and readers have about metaanalysis as a study design. Those findings deserve consideration not only in the planning of the studies but in the journal peer review and evaluation. They also reinforce the need for circumspection in study interpretation."
"Meta-analysis has the potential to be the best source of evidence to inform decision making. The underlying methods have become much more sophisticated in the last few decades, but achieving this potential will require continued advances in the underlying science, parallel to the advances that have occurred with other biomedical research design and statistics. Until that occurs, an informed reader must approach these studies, as with all other literature, as imperfect information that requires critical appraisal and assessment of applicability of the findings to individual patients. This is not easy, and it requires skill and intelligence. Whatever clinical evidence looks like, and wherever it is placed on a pyramid, there are no shortcuts to truth."(doi:10.1001/jama.2014.8167; )
Editor's Note: The authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported.
Source: Eurekalert


text:
- Editorial
- Published:
Closure of the NCBI SRA and implications for the long-term future of genomics data storage
Genome Biology volume 12, Article number: 402 (2011)
11k Accesses
23 Citations
27 Altmetric
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in the US recently announced that, as a result of budgetary constraints, it would no longer be accepting submissions to its Sequence Read Archive (SRA) and that over the course of the next year or so it would slowly phase out support for this database http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra. There seems to be a certain amount of confusion in the community about what effect this decision will have. At Genome Biology we feel that the free availability of data is an important concept for science, so we asked the views of various interested people on what the short-term implications of this announcement will be, and also how they envisaged the future of data storage in the long term. These people include those involved in the running of the databases (David Lipman (DL) from the NCBI and Paul Flicek (PF) from the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI)) and users of the data stored in the database as well as data producers (Steven Salzberg (SS) from the University of Maryland, Mark Gerstein (MG) from Yale University and Rob Knight (RK) from the University of Colorado).
1. Why did the SRA close? How widely used by the community was it?
DL: NCBI was facing budgetary constraints and presented a range of options to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) leadership, who chose to phase out the SRA along with other resources. One factor in making the determination was the understanding that because the raw sequence data within the SRA are processed into derived forms in order to answer the underlying biological questions, as methods mature, the SRA was seen as a transitional resource. The SRA primarily has been used by a relatively small community of project analysts and researchers working on methods development in genome scale research projects.
PF: The SRA isn't closing. It started as a joint venture between the NCBI and the EBI, so the NCBI ceasing to accept submissions doesn't meant that the SRA is closing, merely changing and the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) at EMBL-EBI will remain. The NCBI's decision was based on budgetary constraints. It should be noted that most people don't realize that storage space is only a minor fraction of the budget of the database; the bulk of the cost is associated with the staff who maintain the database, process the submissions, develop the software and so on.
SS: From the outside, it appears that the SRA is closing because of NIH budgetary considerations. One problem is that the amount of sequence being generated is growing at an extraordinary rate, probably faster than increases to the budget. My group uses the SRA a lot. Due to the nature of our work, we rely on it maybe more than others. We download data reasonably frequently, but because of the size of the datasets we try not to do it too often.
RK: The SRA was widely disliked by a lot of users, in particular because it was hard to get data. Partly that was because of poor standards for metadata associated with the data entries. This makes it hard to find the samples you were looking for. It wasn't set up for projects that were generating many samples at a time, and multiplexing with barcoded samples was also not supported. This made it particularly unsuitable for metagenomics data. It's possible that other communities, such as the cancer genomics community, had better experiences.
MG: I don't really know the details. I've heard some speculation that it might be a bit of brinkmanship.
2. What are the alternatives now to the SRA?
DL: Our partners in Europe at the EBI and in Japan at DDBJ will continue to archive raw sequence data in their SRA repositories.
PF: Well, the ENA [via the EBI].
SS: GEO can be used for RNA-seq data. For whole genome sequencing, the alternatives are a little unclear, but it may be that groups that are generating the sequences will have to store the data themselves. Funding agencies may have to consider funding not just the sequencing projects but storage of the resulting data too.
RK: For metagenomics data, there are a number of community-led databases such as the Metagenomics Analysis Server (MG-RAST, http://metagenomics.anl.gov/), Integrated Microbial Genomes/Metagenomics (IMG/M, http://img.jgi.doe.gov/cgi-bin/m/main.cgi), Community Cyberinfrastructure for Advanced Microbial Ecology Research and Analysis (CAMERA, http://camera.calit2.net/) and Visualization and Analysis of Microbial Population Structures (VAMPS, http://vamps.mbl.edu/). Other communities probably have their own databases.
MG: We've heard that the ENA will remain open. We've also heard that the NCBI will continue to accept submissions from some of the large established projects, such as ENCODE, at least in the near future.
3. Will other repositories/alternatives provide a suitable replacement for archiving short read data, now and in the future?
DL: The NIH institutes are investigating alternatives to the SRA for archiving sequence read data for its grantees.
PF: The EBI will continue to accept submissions. In order to cope with the increase in submission numbers, we're working on extending ENA's 'ecosystem' model with various groups or organizations acting as brokers, or a single submission pipeline, for data submission. The EBI is working on implementing 'reference-based compression', which will drastically reduce the amount of disk space per stored sequenced base and hence the cost of that storage. Some communities haven't been well served by the way the SRA was organized, with the metagenomics community being a good example. The EBI is working on ways to address that.
SS: If the ENA's SRA is going to be stable, that would be a good alternative. The 1000 Genomes project has been investigating using the cloud. One alternative might potentially be, rather than keeping the sequence data, as sequencing is getting so cheap, to instead just store the DNA and re-sequence it as needed. Certainly for bacterial genomes, that's currently a feasible option. This also avoids the problem of changing formats for digital storage. DNA won't change, but computer disks will.
RK: The EBI's SRA has a better data submission pipeline than NCBI's, and I understand the EBI is keen to involve communities to ensure the database is better tailored to individuals' needs. In the long term it is probably better to just store the samples and then resequence them with improved technology.
MG: It's extremely important that there is a proper archive to put things in. The European archive could be a good place to store data, but it seems to me that it is not good for the US not to have a national archive. It seems strange to me that we would have a situation where the US is paying to generate all these data - probably the majority of genomics data is coming from the US at present - but where it's not prepared to meet the cost of archiving the data.
4. Should we store short reads at all?
DL: As the performance of next-generation sequencing machines continues to improve in terms of speed, cost, accuracy, and length, and as computational processing continues to improve, the need to access the underlying reads decreases. This will vary depending on the application (such as RNA-seq, metagenomics, cancer genomics, and so on). For all of these applications, however, there needs to be more attention focused on the specifications/guidelines/requirements of the derived data, which will become the primary object of study, exchange, and archiving.
PF: As with any archiving project, one needs to consider the cost of storage relative to the potential future reuse. In the course of the 1000 Genomes project, for example, the raw sequencing reads have been realigned and reanalysed many times. Different short read types will have different requirements for storage. For instance, RNA-seq and ChIP-seq datasets probably require less information to be stored than genome sequences where the goal is identifying variants.
SS: It's very hard to get researchers to agree to not keep their raw reads! Even if it's not a case of deleting the data, but just moving it to some sort of less accessible back-up storage. We definitely need to store the short reads in the short term. For instance, if you're comparing differences between two genome assemblies you need to be able to go back to the raw reads to check if the differences are real or if it's just an assembly problem. It's also important for other groups to be able to verify or replicate reported results. Perhaps data will be stored for a few years in a readily available format, then moved to back-up storage, before finally being deleted.
RK: If there is a good chance that the data are going to be used by others, then yes, there is a good case for storing them. Just storing the raw data for the sake of it, however, is probably not worth it. Higher-level data can sometimes be more useful.
MG: I strongly feel that the data should be archived. A lot of the genomics community would feel that generating data just to be thrown away would be anathema.
5. What is going to happen to the back catalog of data currently stored in the NCBI SRA?
DL: NCBI believes that it has the resources to support a static, unmonitored public archive for 12 months. After that, NCBI will re-evaluate. We can also transfer existing data to new providers by tape or disk. All publicly available data are accessible through EBI and DDBJ.
PF: It will continue to be available from the EBI. The data are currently mirrored.
SS: I don't know. We've downloaded some datasets so we'll be able to access them in future.
RK: I don't know in general, but the subset of the data useful for metagenomics is rapidly finding its way into other resources (for example, we have already deposited all our SRA data into MG-RAST).
MG: My impression is that they're certainly not going to delete all of that.
6. How will other data repositories fare in the future given the data deluge that is occurring? Will central repositories become a thing of the past?
DL: For most of the assembled sequence entries in GenBank, including the reference human genome sequence, the underlying sequence reads are not readily available. The phasing out of the SRA, while somewhat accelerated because of budgetary constraints, should not be unexpected given the evolution of next-generation sequencing applications. While the growth in the volume of data derived from next-generation sequencing will be steep, this can certainly be accommodated by the approaches the centralized databases have taken for several decades. So we believe we'll continue to see a mixture of distributed and centralized repositories in the biomedical and life sciences.
PF: I think the community wants something relatively simple. They want somewhere to store their data, and to be able to access it easily. There will always be a role for central repositories. The storage costs are similar whether data are stored centrally or in dispersed locations, but there are economies of scale involved in handling the data associated with a central repository. It is also more convenient for users such as journals and other researchers to have a central point to access the data.
SS: Central repositories are far more efficient. It's not clear if governments will be prepared to fund them, but they should do because it's cheaper. It would be a mess to have different data in different places, perhaps with duplications, with each database having different formats or policies for data access, different reliabilities and so on. GenBank, ENA and DDBJ have been hugely valuable for the community, not least because they have had strict policies for free availability of the data.
RK: In some ways a central repository doesn't make sense. It is hard to envisage a situation where a user will want to access both cancer genomics data and metagenomics data, for instance. The economies of scale with centralized databases are in some sense false. It is cheaper to have user-friendly resources tailored to the needs of the community they're serving. It costs money for users to spend time trying to work out how to access the data. It is likely that any central repository will run into similar problems to the NCBI SRA.
MG: Due to the huge size of the files, uploading and downloading data from a central repository is not easy. The model of a central archive may need to be revisited and we may see in the future an increased use of cloud computing resources.
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Cite this article
GB Editorial Team. Closure of the NCBI SRA and implications for the long-term future of genomics data storage. Genome Biol 12, 402 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2011-12-3-402
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2011-12-3-402


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- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups blue cornmeal* or yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed, drained
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, pine nuts, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl to blend. Whisk milk, vegetable oil, eggs and buttermilk in medium bowl to blend. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and whisk until just blended. Fold in corn kernels. Pour batter into prepared dish. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cut bread into 2-inch squares and serve warm.
*Blue cornmeal is available at natural foods stores and specialty foods stores.
Makes about 28 pieces.
[For Printable Recipe Click Here]
Substitutions: I halved the entire recipe, used two eggs, 1% milk instead of whole, 1% milk+lime juice in place of buttermilk, did not have any pinenuts, used applesauce in place of oil, 100% whole wheat flour in place of all-purpose.


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I personally don't give a damn about this gimmicky piece of software, but if you have a jailbroken iPhone 4 now you can add full Siri functionality using a Cydia program called H1Siri. Unfortunately, there's a catch.
Vizio's Latest TVs Go All Quantum
Grant Paul has detected that the hack sends your personal information through a server in China. And with personal information I mean email, SMS, calendar, contacts and location. Good luck with that.
And to top it all, it uses copyrighted Apple code. Don't install this stuff. You are not missing much. [Twitter via iDownloadblog via TechCrunch]


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Bristol planners OK one firehouse site, reject the other
BRISTOL — The Bristol Planning Commission on Tuesday took a look at the final two proposed sites for a new firehouse and determined that one aligns with the town plan and the other does not.
Commissioners voted for the West Street site, and against the North Street site.
The group was not comparing the two sites against each other, but rather evaluating each individually according to their adherence to the Bristol Town Plan. Only the selectboard has the power to choose a site.
All eight members of the planning commission were present. They voted 5-3 to recommend the West Street site, with Katie Raycroft-Meyer, Susan Kavanagh, Kris Perle, John Elder and Chico Martin in favor, and Bill Sayre, Walter Hellier and Ken Weston opposed.
"I can't think of a better site — it's obvious it fits in the town plan," Martin said.
The West Street site is located on Bristol Recreation Club property, and also encompasses the adjoining Shepard property. The Recreation Club is a private organization that is separate from the Bristol Recreation Department. The total holdings of the club at that location are 10.29 acres, though that entire space would not be used for a new firehouse.
If the site is eventually chosen, however, The Hub teen center and skate park would have to be demolished and relocated. It is unclear whether the home located on the Shepard property would be razed. According to a presentation made by the fire committee to the planning commission on Nov. 18, the West Street lot is listed at $363,400.
Weston urged his colleagues to look out for the teens in town who would be affected most if The Hub and skate park are demolished.
"Kids are sometimes disenfranchised because they don't get to vote for their interests," he said.
Perle also cautioned the town against building on the site of the teen center and skate park without a plan for relocating them.
"We need a comprehensive plan for relocating both of those facilities," Perle said.
In the second vote, on the North Street property, the body voted 6-2 that building a new firehouse on that location did not align with the town plan. Weston and Perle voted in favor, while Raycroft-Meyer, Kavanagh, Elder, Martin, Hellier and Sayre voted against.
The North Street site includes the lot where the existing firehouse sits, plus the adjoining Vince and Bilson properties. The lot is 0.70 acres and is listed at $359,500. If the site is chosen by the selectboard, the homes on both properties would be razed.
Members of the Planning Commission debated the merits of building a new firehouse on the North Street site, which is zoned for High Density Residential use.
"What keeps together great little downtowns is to have people who live near the core, walk back and forth from the core to downtown," Raycroft-Meyer said. "This transition zone is fragile."
Raycroft added that she believed building a new firehouse on North Street would "inhibit the ease of people using downtown."
Elder expressed his opposition to the site on the grounds of historical preservation.
"Wrecking two historical buildings and putting a new firehouse there would upset the balance of the town," Elder said.
Kavanagh said in an interview Wednesday that she felt the fire committee had adequately prepared the planning commission to vet the two sites.
"We feel we were able to participate fully in what we were asked to do," she said.
Kavanagh, the vice chair of the planning commission, said she was in the process of writing a letter to both the selectboard and the fire committee to report the results of Tuesday's meeting.
Weston expressed disappointment that the Fire Facility Site Selection Committee only presented two sites to the planning commission at their Nov. 18 meeting. From an original list of 33 sites, the fire committee narrowed the sites down to six in October, and then two in November.
Fire Facility Site Selection Committee member Brett LaRose said last month that the committee was not planning on seeing a new site proposal voted on at the next town meeting in March. He said he hoped the process would be complete in time to be put in front of voters on Election Day in November 2014.
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Comedian David Brenner, 'Tonight' favorite, dies
LOS ANGELES (AP) — David Brenner, the lanky, toothy-grinned "Tonight Show" favorite whose brand of observational comedy became a staple for other standups, including Jerry Seinfeld and Paul Reiser, died Saturday. He was 78.
Brenner, who had been fighting cancer, died peacefully at his home in New York City with his family at his side, according to Jeff Abraham, his friend and publicist.
"David Brenner was a huge star when I met him and he took me under his wing. To me, historically, he was the godfather of hip, observational comedy," comedian Richard Lewis said in a statement. "He mentored me from day one. ... His passing leaves a hole in my life that can never be replaced."
The tall, thin and always sharply dressed Brenner became one of the most frequent visitors to Johnny Carson's "Tonight" in the 1970s and '80s.
His 150-plus appearances as guest and substitute host turned the former documentary filmmaker into a hot comedian, one who was ubiquitous on other talk shows and game shows.
He also briefly hosted his own syndicated talk show in 1987 and starred in four HBO specials.
Brenner moved with the times, trading routines about the humor of everyday life for jokes about social and political issues, and appearing on MSNBC and Fox News Channel cable programs.
Although his career faltered, he worked steadily through 2013 doing standup. A four-day gig last December included a New Year's Eve show at a Pennsylvania casino-resort in which he showcased young comedians.
Brenner, who was raised in working-class south Philadelphia and graduated with honors from Temple University, was "always there helping a bright young comedian, whether it be Richard Lewis, Freddie Prinze or Jimmie Walker, and he was still doing it until the very end," Abraham said.
In a statement, Walker called Brenner "a true comic genius" who was "my mentor and taught me about life and comedy."
Although Brenner took a brief stabs at TV fame, with the 1976 sitcom "Snip" and the talk show "Nightlife" he hosted in 1987, he didn't achieve the success of Seinfeld's self-titled NBC sitcom or Reiser's "Mad About You," and he saw Jay Leno follow Carson as "Tonight" host.
Brenner's take on his career path, as he described it in a 2000 interview with The Associated Press, was that he put family before stardom.
He said a long custody battle with a girlfriend over their son, Cole, forced him to curtail his TV appearances and visibility beginning in the mid-1980s, when Brenner lived in Aspen, Colo.
"In a nutshell, I couldn't work more than 50 nights a year (out of town) or I'd be an absentee father," he said. "That was when they were giving out the talk shows, the sitcoms."
He was asked if he regretted his decision.
"I didn't even make a decision. I didn't even think about it. How could you not do it? I don't mean to sound noble," Brenner said. "Besides, I come from the slums of Philadelphia and everything in my life is profit. My downside is what most people would strive a lifetime to get to."
Decades ago, he had burned out on filmmaking — "You don't change the world by doing documentaries," he told "CBS This Morning" in 2013 — and decided to give comedy a try. He was on the verge of quitting when his effort to impress talent bookers at "Tonight" worked.
His career soared after his first appearance in January 1971. He went from being nearly broke to overwhelmed by a then-hefty $10,000 in job offers the day after he was on the show.
"I never thought this was going to turn my life upside down and give me my whole future," he told "This Morning."
He also recalled how hard Carson made him work on "Tonight," asking Brenner to do a monologue each time he appeared. Other veteran comics headed straight for the couch to banter with the host.
Carson's explanation was "I like to sit back, smoke a cigarette and laugh for six minutes," Brenner recalled.
In a 1995 interview with the AP, Brenner imagined a different path with "Tonight."
"I really believe that had ... Johnny Carson retired in the early '80s, then I would be sitting behind that desk," he said. "I don't think there's any doubt."
Brenner wrote five books, including the post-9/11 "I Think There's a Terrorist in My Soup," published in 2003. His last HBO special, "David Brenner: Back with a Vengeance," debuted live in 2000.
In a statement, his family said he left a last laugh: A final request that $100 in small bills be placed in his left sock "just in case tipping is recommended where I'm going."
Besides son Cole, Brenner is survived by his wife, Ruth, sons Wyatt and Slade and a grandson, Wesley, according to a family statement.
To his knowledge, Abraham said, David Brenner wasn't married to Olympic skating champion Tai Babilonia, despite reports that she was his widow.
Funeral plans were not immediately announced.


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Review: BeeS Putty Plastic
by Raffa
today I like to talk a little bit about a relatively new sculpting putty and give you the opportunity to try out some of it for yourself... along with the chance of winning some other goodies!
Around 10 days ago I received a pretty packed parcel by Masq Minis.
I also got one cigar smoking gorilla figure, pretty awesome! :D
Before I really start with the review I want to explain some basic properties of this putty:
- A one component, oven baked, polymer sculpting clay
- Can be baked at around 120-130°C for 30 min (depending on thickness and size of the sculpt)
- Different colors aviable
- Different firmness levels aviable (Normal and Firm)
- Comes in packs of 100g for 6 Euro (= 6 Eur / 100g)
- In a bigger pack of 360g for 18 Euro (= 5 Eur / 100g)
- Or a big pack of 1,5kg for 45 Euro (= 3 Eur / 100g)
First, let's compare that to other wide spread polymer clays.
Fimo: 56g for around 2,50 Euro (= ~4,45 Eur / 100g)
Super Sculpey Firm: 454g for around 11 Euro ( = ~2,40 Eur / 100g)
The easiest thing to compare when checking out clays is the price.
BeeS Plastic is a bit more expensive compared to other clays, but to be honest, 100g of clay is very much when sculpting miniatures or "small" busts. Especially for 28mm or 54mm figures a 100g pack of clay will last you very long!
So the price is not a real killer argument, especially when you get the 2kg pack it almost beats the very cheap Super Sculpey Firm.
But more important than the price (at least for me) are the properties, so let's check them out.
Let's start easy ... with the stamps, a good first try for the material and I found the idea of stamping gaming bases pretty interesting.
After baking
I made some more test shapes from grey and black putty and baked it all at around 120°C for 25 min.
I also shaped two very thin "banners" and a horn.
I wanted to test the properties of the material, so I made different shapes to test out stability, flexibility, hardness and how well it can be cut and sanded.
Describing a sculpting clays properties is kind of difficult.
Comparing it to other sculpting clays is a bit easier but this stuff is pretty unique, before and after baking. When baked it is very "plastic" like (hence the name).
It's very strong and almost "impossible" to break. It's very hard, but at the same time flexible.
As you can see with the horn, cutting and sanding it is very easy and you can really polish it back up.
But still you can bend it in a very strong angle without breaking and after bending it returns to it's original position.
I really like that property, it's makes the clay very good to make original miniatures or busts that will be casted as the sculpture can take quite a beating before breaking or chipping.
Before baking
Now for the properties before baking - the sculpting qualities. For sure the second most important part (at least for me, if a clay is brittle or unstable after baking I cannot use it for my sculptures as they have to be solid enough to be casted or carried around and be painted).
How to describe this clay? It's kind of soft-rubbery, a bit like fimo, but on the other hand very different - It's a lot more wax-like.
It sticks very well to itself and to wire, it can get very soft using a microwave and it's very "flexible".
You can get a very good impression in these videos:
Properties of BeeS Plastic
Sculpting a 32mm Miniature (part 1)
Sculpting a 32mm Miniature (part 2)
To test it out for myself, I started sculpting a bust.
Just took some thick wire, stuck it into a piece of cork and go!
No greenstuff or other stuff is needed to make the putty stick to the armature, really nice :)
At the moment I have a lot of work in progress projects going on with other sculpting clays, but I think when they are done I use BeeS Putty Plastic in more projects.
Some more impressions of my bust experiment after baking, you can also see the surface gets really matte and nice:
The putty holds detail very well and is very easy to smooth using some kind of balm (eg. Petroleum Jelly/Vaseline) or using white spirit, turpentine or orange-turpentine (just smells awesome and is less aggressive). But the properties of the putty allow it to also smooth it very easily with the normal sculpting tools.
Overall, I am really happy with this new option at my arsenal, I really like the properties it has while sculpting and even more after baking... it's really hard to break the sculpt at all! And I didn't find any negative sides about it, maybe one thing that I have found worthy of saying it here in the end: the putty get's very soft when baking it, so I advise you to watch out for "floating" parts, they need some kind of support or they will bend in the oven.
You can get your BeeS at the website of Masq Mini, they also offer a lot of great sculpting tools and other nice stuff, be sure to check it out if you are into sculpting or conversions.
Now to the part you have all been waiting for, getting free stuff!
You can win:
- 10 packs of BeeS Putty Plastic
- 5 funky Gorilla figures
- 3 very exclusive "early access" casts of the "Jamal" bust shown below
All the prizes are sponsored by Masq Mini! Thanks a lot Stefan!
So, how do you participate?
Very easy this time, just post a comment here with your reason why you want to have this stuff.
Try to be creative!
The best 10 answers will be chosen, top 5 will get a gorilla figure and top 3 will get a Jamal bust additional to a pack of BeeS Putty Plastic.
The winners will be announced in 1 week from now!
Good Luck and have fun sculpting!
PS: Find this review linked up in the review section!


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Shakespeare's plays, Einstein's theories — and porn queen Jenna Jameson's steamy online sexcapades.
New Yorkers can take their pick at the city's public libraries, thanks to a policy that gives adults the most uncensored access to extreme, hard-core Internet smut this side of the old Times Square.
The electronic smut falls under the heading of free speech and the protection of the First Amendment, library officials say.
"Customers can watch whatever they want on the computer," said Brooklyn Public Library spokeswoman Malika Granville, describing the anything-goes philosophy that's the rule at the city's 200-plus branches.
And that has religious leaders and library patrons — even some librarians — hotter than an XXX flick.
"What they're doing is publicly funding an appetite for the most debased fare available," said Catholic League President Bill Donohue. "It's not like a Playboy centerfold anymore — it's far worse."
Library patron Daisy Nazario, 60, said she was grossed out when she discovered she was sitting next to an elderly porn watcher in the Brooklyn Central Library recently.
The looker was using library-provided extensions on the sides of his computer to block the view of his screen — which was featuring a threesome at the time — "but I could still hear the voices," a disgusted Nazario said.
"It is very disrespectful to the children."
Approached by The Post, the dirty old man skulked away, saying, "I don't want to talk to you. Leave me alone."
Under US law, all libraries that take federal funding only must install filters on publicly used computers to block content containing illegal obscenity and child pornography, and New York City officials say they comply to the letter.
If localities want to further restrict viewing, they must specifically enact a policy, although the move almost certainly brings with it legal challenges.
But even with the filters, anyone 17 or older can turn them off and troll for whatever sexual content floats their boat — no matter how deviant.
"The library cannot and does not guarantee that the filtering software will block all obscenity, child pornography or materials that are harmful to minors," the policy says.
Library officials and civil libertarians say it's a free-speech issue.
"In deference to the First Amendment protecting freedom of speech, the New York Public Library cannot prevent adult patrons from accessing adult content that is legal," said New York Public Library spokeswoman Angela Montefinise.


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Skyhook introduced on Wednesday a new version of its location engine for mobile apps that it said will allow smartphones to determine a user's location once a minute throughout the day without draining the battery.
Maintaining constant location information can be very demanding of a device's battery power.
Skyhook's SDK (software development kit) interprets information about the Wi-Fi access points and cellular towers a smartphone has contacted and combines it with the phone's GPS interface to plot the device's current location. Skyhook has developed its own database of Wi-Fi and cellular locations.
Some location services query a server each time they update the user's location. Skyhook downloads compressed information about Wi-Fi access points and cell towers in a 5-to-10-mile radius the first time a smartphone registers a particular location. As long as the user remains in that radius, the device can determine location without calling a server. Fewer server calls means longer battery life.
The SDK version launched Wednesday also reduces power use by optimizing how the software interacts with the hardware, including how the directory of Wi-Fi access points and cellular towers is stored, said founder and CEO Ted Morgan. Morgan was coy on the details, but said Skyhook was able to apply what it had learned about hardware through recent work with Sony to enable constant location services on its gaming consoles.
Skyhook hopes its battery-life achievement "will open up a whole new class of location apps," Morgan said in an email.
Developers have been reluctant to build apps that rely on constant location information because of the battery-life problem, he said.
Yet apps have begun to emerge that use location in innovative ways. Social apps can use up-to-the-minute location data to inform users when people they know or might like to meet are nearby. They might also notify the user of a discount at a nearby restaurant. Or, like the iOS Reminders app, they might generate notifications based on the user's location.
The latest SDK from Skyhook comes with one other novel feature: Constant location on a plane. Users who are connected to Wi-Fi on an airplane will now be able to track their own location rather than relying on the pilot. Skyhook had to tap different directories than those that work on land to be able to determine where a plane is, Morgan said.
Android is currently the only major OS to make available to third-party developers the interfaces the SDK needs to work optimally, according to Morgan.
Cameron Scott covers search, Web services and privacy for the IDG News Service. Follow Cameron on Twitter at CScott_IDG.


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|Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister
reptileby reptile (Monk)
|on Feb 05, 2000 at 11:28 UTC ( #2905=user: print w/replies, xml )
|Need Help??
Maybe I should put something here. I'm an ex-student in syracuse, NY who will soon be moving to socal if I have my way and getting a really nice job programming in perl and saving enough money to move to new york city. Strange plan, you say? It's not; my gf lives in socal and that's our plan, not mine. I've probably gone into more detail than you care to know, but that's your problem, not mine. I'll keep my known health and mental problems to myself to spare you from that misery. Aren't I a nice guy? That's what they say. If only they knew.... who's 'they' anyway?
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Aliverti Dawn CPA
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Aliverti Dawn CPA
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Dawn Aliverti
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Foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad
22 September 2006
Remarks by His Highness the Aga Khan at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad
Your Excellency the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh,
Honorable Ministers,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies And Gentlemen:
Let me begin by thanking all of you for honoring us by joining in this celebration – at this truly magnificent site. We are most deeply grateful to all who helped to make this site available to our Academy program. Your generosity will be a continuing inspiration to us all.
Our celebration today is part of a long, unfolding story. It is, for me, a highly personal story – growing out of my family's active involvement through the years in the field of education – especially in the developing world.
It was just about a century ago that my grandfather, Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan, began to build a network of educational institutions in places where the Ismaili community had settled. This network would eventually include some 300 schools – 200 of which my grandfather opened personally.
In addition, he was the founding figure of Aligarh University, and I have continued that tradition through the establishment of the Aga Khan University and the University of Central Asia.
The tradition I am describing, however, goes back much further than one hundred years. For it was some one thousand years ago that my forefathers, the Fatimid Imam-Caliphs of Egypt, founded Al-Azhar University and the Academy of Knowledge in Cairo. For well over a millennium, the pursuit of knowledge has been a central element in our tradition.
Against this background, you can understand why this new educational beginning means so much to us.
But even while we renew a rich tradition inherited from the past, we are also looking deeply into the future. What we begin here may not have its full impact in any of our lifetimes. But the beginnings we undertake today may well be among the most important things we will ever do.
I would like to speak initially about the logic behind the Aga Khan Academies program – to look at its philosophical underpinnings. For unless those foundations are sound, whatever we build will be inherently vulnerable.
We are taking our time in laying those foundations. We are designing for the long-range future and we have thought long and hard about our goals and how to achieve them. We have launched research projects and surveys. We have done our homework.
At the very heart of our conclusions – is one, central conviction: the key to future progress in the developing world will be its ability to identify, to develop, and to retain expert and effective home-grown leadership.
In our lifetimes, the developing world has looked in various directions for the key to progress. For a while, it was thought to be enough that indigenous peoples simply throw off the yoke of colonialism – which for some was the most important barrier to fulfillment and progress. This viewpoint often evolved into a hope that reasserting cultural identity would unlock the future – and education sometimes became mainly a matter of tapping into ancient wisdom, expressed in distinctive languages. In many places, the promises of a charismatic ruler also captured the public imagination – the mystique of the romantic hero – and public education sometimes slipped into relative insignificance.
Over time, as frustration mounted, other cures were entertained in parts of the developing world. Ideologies of the left and the right came into vogue – ranging from the siren songs of state socialism on one side to the allure of unrestrained capitalism on the other. The demands of dogma came to replace the disciplines of reason – and education too often turned into indoctrination.
But none of these approaches proved adequate to the demands of their times – and all of them seem increasingly inadequate to the demands of the present. A different approach has been needed. I would note that the people of this city and this region were among those who first came to realize this fact – and to respond impressively to the challenge.
That response – here and elsewhere – has had, as its centerpiece, a distinctive intellectual style and a creative approach to leadership. As the pace of history has accelerated, agility and adaptability have become more important qualities than mere size or strength, and the race of life has gone increasingly to the nimble and the knowledgeable.
As the economic arena has been globalizing, openness and flexibility have become prerequisites for progress, and success has gone more and more to those who can connect and respond.
Specialized expertise, pragmatic temperament, mental resourcefulness – these are increasingly the keys to effective leadership – along with a capacity for intellectual humility which keeps one's mind constantly open to a variety of viewpoints and welcomes pluralistic exchange.
In such a world, the most important thing a student can learn is the ability to keep on learning.
What these developments mean is human resources have become more important than natural resources in determining the wealth of a society. And yet, there are still too many communities in which the true potential of the human resource base is sadly underdeveloped.
Too many of those who ought to be leading their communities in the hopeful world of tomorrow, are being left behind in the real world of today. Because good schools are not available to them early in life, they are often blocked from such opportunities as they grow older. And even those who do break through, into a world of wider educational opportunity, too often also break out – and leave their home regions. The result is a widening gap between the expert and effective leadership these communities need – and the leadership their educational systems are likely to deliver.
Am I saying that we should focus only on educating a leadership elite? Not by any means. Broad public education is still an essential obligation of a just society. But I also believe that the best interests of every society will be best served if its future leaders can be adequately prepared for an unusually demanding future – if its outstanding students, in short, can be given an outstanding education.
Every society develops and depends on some set of leaders – but the great question is how those leaders are developed and chosen. For much of human history, leaders were born into their roles, or they fought their way in – or they bought their way in. Elites were normally based on physical power, or accumulated wealth, or inherited claims to authority.
But social progress can be greatest when aristocracies of class give way to aristocracies of talent – or to use an even better term – to meritocracies.
The well-led society of the future, in my view, will be a meritocracy – where leadership roles are based on personal and intellectual excellence.
Our goal, then, is not to provide special education for a privileged elite – but to provide an exceptional education for the truly exceptional.
This is the fundamental philosophy undergirding our Academies program.
How, then, will these goals be realized in practice? In all candor, some of our plans may have few precedents in this country and may strike some observers here as new and distinctive. But we have seen them tested in other contexts and believe they represent worthwhile challenges.
Our plans begin with the realization that governments alone cannot meet the educational challenges of the 21st century. Nor can private institutions which are constrained by the necessity to earn a profit. The answer lies in the expanding role of civil society – in voluntary institutions which are not governmental but which are nonetheless dedicated to community values and the public good. We hope that the Aga Khan Academies will become leading exemplars of civil society's potential role.
Access to these schools (each of which will enroll 700 to 1200 young men and women) will thus be based solely on merit – not on financial resources. Intellectual capacity and intrinsic character will determine not only who is admitted, but who is actively recruited – for matriculation at these schools must go beyond passive selection and include an active outreach effort.
Once admitted, students will pursue a diverse and balanced curriculum, one which will evolve constantly as learning expands at an unprecedented pace. The best schools of the future will be those which select wisely just what learning will best help prepare students for an unpredictable future.
Our curriculum will be designed to qualify students for the widely-respected International Baccalaureate degree – and beyond that, for admission to the very best university programs that may interest them – in India and in every part of the world.
The International Baccalaureate program will help us prepare students to meet world-class standards – joining a community of some 1800 other schools who use the IB framework, including highly respected institutions here in India. Using that framework, we can ensure that the education we provide will be tied to global concerns and keep pace with global developments.
But the Aga Khan Academies will also have their own areas of special emphasis, including: an explicit concern for the value of pluralism, a strong emphasis on the ethical dimensions of life, a more specialized knowledge of how global economics work, and a focus on comparative political systems.
We are often told these days that tension and violence in much of the world grows out of some fundamental clash of civilizations – especially a clash between the Islamic world and the West. I disagree with that assessment. In my view, it is a clash of ignorances which is to blame. The Academies will seek to remedy such ignorances through the broad study of a variety of world cultures, including the Study of Muslim Civilizations, a subject which is often overlooked in some parts of the world today.
The principal language of instruction will be English – today's primary language of global connection. But connectedness will also be enhanced in other ways. Every graduate will at least be bilingual, for example, and many will be trilingual. In his or her home Academy, a student will not only meet other students from a variety of cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds – but they will get to know one another as friends and neighbors – something that residential schools are well-equipped to foster. And many will study for at least a year outside their home cultures, as well.
Each of our Academies can be thought of, in sum, as a center for cross-cultural education. And the City of Hyderabad, with its rich history as a meeting point for different cultures, including the Christian, Hindu and Muslim traditions, will provide a particularly appropriate setting.
The spirit of pluralism will be further enhanced by the fact that each Academy will be part of a larger network. All of them will be linked electronically and will serve students and faculty throughout the system through video-conferencing and other distance learning technology--as well as through programs whereby teachers and students will work for a time in a distant setting.
Building a global network of Academies will enable us to pursue simultaneously two sometimes divergent goals. On the one hand we want our students to understand and appreciate the variety of the world and the diversity of its peoples. On the other hand, we want to ensure a certain consistency in the quality of instruction and in the pursuit of core values. Building a wide network of schools around the same fundamental principles will allow us to pursue both of these objectives.
There will be one teacher for about every seven students at our Academies, and the teachers will not only be actively recruited, carefully selected and equitably compensated, but they will also be expertly trained and continually retrained. World class standards are ever-evolving standards—staying on the cutting edge is a not a static process. Not only will we need highly professional instructors, but we must also be sure that our instructors are well-instructed. State-of-the art teaching technologies will help our faculties as they reach for this goal.
In short, we seek not only to train the next generation of expert leaders, but also to develop a professional corps of world-class teachers. Emblematic of this commitment is the fact that a Professional Development Center, focused on the improvement of teaching, will be part of the central Academic Building on each of our campuses. If all goes well, teachers at the Aga Khan Academies will become role models not only for their students, but for other teachers in their communities.
We also realize, as I have already suggested, that much of what our students will learn over time they will learn from one another – not only in formal classroom settings but in residential and social contexts, in a wide range of extracurricular activities and in community service projects, as well. The Academies will be concerned with the whole of the human being – mind, body and spirit – and with the broad range of human aspiration – intellectual, moral, artistic, physical and spiritual. The fact that these are residential academies will contribute enormously to these broad objectives, encouraging students to identify more completely with the school, to help lead it and shape its environment.
We envision that our graduates will emerge as well rounded men and women, enriched by their participation not only in rich learning communities but in rich living communities as well.
All of these commitments imply a special emphasis on the quality of our physical resources – on the built environment, as it is often called – including the quality of architectural design. As it has so often been said, we first shape our buildings, and then they shape us.
In sum, the Academies will be serious, focused, rigorous environments – but at the same time they will be spacious and joyous places. They will operate on the cutting edge of knowledge and pedagogy, but they will be rooted in history and steeped in tradition.
It is such an institution that I hope to bring to the city of Hyderabad.
Thank you.


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Job Applicant Privacy Notice (compliant with GDPR)
As part of any recruitment process, Natus Medical Incorporated (Natus) collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants so as to assess their fit for an open position. Our organization is committed to being transparent about how we collect and use that data as well as meeting the data protection obligations set forth under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) effective the 25th of May, 2018.
What information do we collect?
Natus collects a range of information about you. This includes but is not limited to:
- Your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number
- Details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history
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Natus may collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, CVs or resumes, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment.
We may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers. We will seek information from third parties only once a job offer to you has been made and will inform you that we are doing so.
Data will be stored in a range of different places, including on your application record, in HR management systems and on other IT systems (including email).
Why does Natus process personal data?
We need to process data to take steps at your request to assess appropriate fit for a position prior to entering into a contract with you. We may also need to process your data to enter into a contract with you. In some cases, we need to process data to ensure that we are complying with our legal obligations.
Natus has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants allows us to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate's suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. We may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.
Natus may process special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion or belief, to monitor recruitment statistics. We may also collect information about whether or not applicants are disabled to make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability. We process such information to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
If your application is unsuccessful, Natus may keep your personal data on file in case there are future employment opportunities for which you may be suited. We will ask for your consent before we keep your data for this purpose and you are free to withdraw your consent at any time.
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Your information may be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the HR and recruitment team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, managers in the business area with a vacancy and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.
We will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with third parties to obtain references and any employment background checks needed for your employment.
How does Natus protect data?
We take the security of your data seriously. We have internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties.
How long does Natus keep data?
If your application for employment is unsuccessful, Natus will hold your data on file for 6 (six) months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. At the end of that period, or once you withdraw your consent, your data is deleted or destroyed. You will be asked when you submit your application whether you give us consent to hold your details in order to be considered for other positions or not.
If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your Human Resources file (electronic and paper based) and retained during your employment.
Your rights.
As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:
- Access and obtain a copy of your data on request;
- Require Natus to change incorrect or incomplete data;
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- Object to the processing of your data where Natus is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights or have any questions, please contact our Human Resources Department at email@example.com
If you believe that Natus has not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner.


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Late Night Consoling
Regarding Ryuhei Kitamaru directing the Metal Gear Solid flick, I don't think there's a better choice. I'm sure plenty of you had passed on MGS: The Twin Snakes on the GameCube, but I think the cut-scenes he directed are worth the price of admission alone. My jaw actually dropped during a couple of the sequences, primarily the first encounter of Snake and the cyborg Ninja. The sequences just completely oozed style and polish; the fight scenes rivaled anything you've seen in one of his feature films. In any case, it appears a rapport has developed between him and Hideo Kojima and it would appear good stuff is in the works. Now, who should play Solid Snake? I hope it's that hunky Colin Farrell. <3
|Midway Buys Paradox Development Midway acquired another developer today with their purchase of Paradox Development, the studio that is currently working on Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks for the publisher. In actuality, Midway swapped stock with Paradox to acquire the company, whose previous titles include the just-released Backyard Wrestling 2 and the never-released Thrill Kill. It wasn't long ago when Midway bought Inevitable Entertainment, makers of Area 51, and turned them into Midway Austin.
|Metal Gear Solid Movie Rumblings On tonight's episode of The Screen Savers, Ain't It Cool News co-founder Moriarty had a special announcement for the viewers. Ryuhei Kitamura, director of the cult-hit Versus and of the upcoming Godzilla: Final Wars, will direct a movie adaptation of Metal Gear Solid for an American audience. Series creator Hideo Kojima and the director have formed a bond as of late and Kojima will have a hand in the production of the film. Kitamura has experience with the franchise as he directed the cut-scenes for the GameCube exclusive Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, a remake of the PSone original.
|Game Console Sales Down Consoles aren't doing as hot as they were doing back this time last year. Market research company In-Stat/MDR forecasts that 19.3 million copies will ship by the end of the year, down from 35 million in 2003. "At this point, the market is much closer to the saturation point, even with the price cuts," said analyst Brian O'Rourke. He predicts that in the next-generation, Sony will remain #1 with Nintendo and Microsoft battling for #2. "Xbox has done really well in North America, but it hasn't gotten very far in Japan and the rest of Asia. The (Nintendo) GameCube has a solid presence in all three (regional) markets, but they're not really knocking them dead in any of them."
|2.2 Million in Two Days for Dragon Quest VIII Known as Dragon Warrior in this neck of the woods, the latest entry in the Dragon Quest series has been selling like hotcakes in Japan: 2.2 million copies sold in just two days. Dragon Quest VII, released in 2000 for the PSone, sold 1.8 million in the first two days. Square Enix plans to sell 4.5 million overall.
|Misc. Q&As/Features Planet GameCube talks with members of The Treehouse, the product development arm of Nintendo of America. Experience Gaming chats with a designer at Ninja Theory about their next-gen title, Heavenly Sword.
|Misc. Media/Previews
|More gameplay footage of Dragon Warrior VIII rolls in from GameSpot.
|GameSpot has a mech profile for GunGriffon: Allied Strike.
|Screens of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA) can be found at GameSpy. IGN puts up some video for Hot Shots Golf (PSP).
|Game Informer shares impressions of Mega Man X8 (PS2, GCN). GameSpot has a first look at Cold Fear (PS2, Xbox).


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Remember the exciting announcements about a nationwide high-speed rail network that Obama made in 2010? And remember how several Tea Party governors killed high-speed rail in their states? Well, if it wasn't painfully obvious before, Angie Schmitt of Streetsblog recently wrote a great post on the lies these Tea Party governors of FL, OH, NJ, and WI used, and the actual facts. Here's that post reposted in full:
Wisconsin, Ohio, New Jersey, Florida — the Republican governors in each of these states recently aborted a major rail project claiming it was too expensive. Their methods were remarkably similar; their justifications aligned. In many ways, it was like they were all working from the same playbook.
Now that the Government Accountability Office has exposed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's distortions (a.k.a. lies) to justify killing the ARC rail tunnel project to Manhattan, it makes you wonder if similar investigations in Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida would reveal the same.
Today James Rowen, who writes The Political Environment blog out of Milwaukee, reminded readers that he was pointing out the distortions put forward by Wisconsin Governor Scott "No Train" Walker more than a year ago. In August 2010, Scott Walker, then a candidate for governor, told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that the train would cost Wisconsin $8 million annually to operate.
Meanwhile the newspaper reported the actual cost to the state would be less than one-tenth of his claim:
Operating costs are projected at $7.5 million a year, not counting the part covered by fares. But [WisDot official Carl Anne] Renlund said the state is already using federal funds to cover 90% of the Hiawatha's $5.2 million annual operating cost – leaving $520,000 a year for state taxpayers to pick up – and hopes to do the same with the new line. That would mean state taxpayers would be paying $750,000 a year for the service to Madison.
In Ohio, Governor John Kasich also relied on half-truths or worst-case scenarios in his campaign to kill Ohio's 3C Rail project. Kasich repeated over and over that the train would be too slow to attract passengers, traveling at an average speed of 39 miles per hour. "The 39 mph high-speed train is dead when I become governor," he told Ohio reporters.
Kasich did not change his tune when the plan was altered to raise the average speed to 50 miles per hour, as reported by Martin Gottlieb of the Dayton Daily News in October 2010:
Average speeds will be higher in the middle of the route: 61 mph between Columbus and the suburbs of Cleveland. All told, the Cincinnati-Cleveland run will be 90-minutes shorter than originally projected. The average approaches car speeds, figuring traffic delays and stops.
That prompted Gottlieb to assert that "Kasich's pitch on trains [was] not really about speed" but about "philosophy."
Meanwhile, it was more of the same over in Florida, where Governor Rick Scott said that HSR would have cost state taxpayers $1 billion to build. Scott told a Tampa television station: "They offered, the federal government, here's the deal… I'm going to give you $2.4 billion — that sounds nice right? You've got to put up a billion dollars to finish the project. And you are going to lose money every year. And if you decide, gosh I'm tired of losing that money, you've got to give the $2.4 billion back. It's a bad deal."
Politifact rated Scott's claim an unequivocal "false," reporting that the feds actually expected Florida to pick up $280 million in construction costs:
So why did the state say the rail line would cost the state $280 million to construct but Scott said $1 billion? The answer is because Scott's source of information isn't state transportation officials. It's the libertarian Reason Foundation.
On Jan. 6, 2011, the Reason Foundation released an analysis about Florida's rail project, which concluded that capital costs to build the project would be higher than anticipated and ridership would fall short, leaving the state with operational shortfalls. Scott relied on the Reason analysis in killing the high-speed rail project.
Polifact went on to question the study's "methodology and objectiveness." It was written by pseudo-libertarian Wendell Cox, who has made his career railing against transit and urbanism.
Relying on the Cox "study" — which was really more of a survey of transportation projects all over the world, not limited to HSR — Rick Scott predicted the project would come in $1.2 billion over budget and assumed the majority of those costs would be borne by the state, which Politifact said "likely wasn't true."
Sound familiar? Earlier this week, Governor Chris Christie was called out by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office for using similarly deceptive rhetoric when he killed New Jersey's ARC tunnel. Christie claimed that the state would pick up 70 percent of the project costs. The GAO pegged the real figure at 14.4 percent. And Christie also justified changing his mind about the project by saying overruns would bring the total cost to $14 billion. But as the New York Times reported earlier this week:
…the range of estimates had in fact remained unchanged in the two years before he announced in 2010 that he was shutting down the project. And state transportation officials, the report says, had said the cost would be no more than $10 billion.


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Fox Still Pushing Falsehood That Half Of Americans Are "Not Paying Taxes"
Fox & Friends recently cited data from the conservative National Taxpayers Union to claim that half of Americans pay less than 3 percent of all taxes received by the government. In fact, while the bottom 50 percent of wage earners pay little federal income tax, they still pay payroll and sales taxes, and in many cases, state and local taxes as well.
Fox & Friends Suggests Half Of Americans Don't Pay Any Taxes
Kilmeade: "There's A Lot Of People Not Paying Taxes." On the April 12 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade interviewed Rep. David Camp (R-MI) about GOP and Democratic budget proposals. During the interview, Kilmeade claimed that "[a] lot of people are not paying taxes" while referring to two graphics based on data from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU):
KILMEADE: I just want to go through some things. Before people raise taxes on the somewhat so-called fortunate people in this country, because that's how they were labeled over the weekend, let's take a look at this chart: 97.11 percent of the taxes comes from 50 percent of the wage earners. There's a lot of people not paying taxes. And also, about who pays taxes, only 2.7 percent of taxes come from the bottom 50 percent of wage earners. So of course they're not -- the burden's not going to be on them. It's going to be on the people that are paying most of it anyway. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/12/11]
During the segment, Fox & Friends aired the following graphics:
[Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/12/11]
But While Nearly Half Of U.S. Households Pay No Federal Income Taxes, "[V]ast Majority" Pay Other Taxes
AP: "[V]ast Majority Of People Who Escape Federal Income Taxes Still Pay Other Taxes." In an April 7, 2010, article, The Associated Press cited a Tax Policy Center (TPC) statistic finding that "47 percent of tax units [owed] no income tax in 2009," but went on to note: "The vast majority of people who escape federal income taxes still pay other taxes, including federal payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare, and excise taxes on gasoline, aviation, alcohol and cigarettes. Many also pay state or local taxes on sales, income and property." [Tax Policy Center, 6/29/09; The Associated Press, 4/7/10]
NTU Statistics Referred To Income Taxes, Not All Taxes. The data from NTU that Fox & Friends used refer to income taxes, not all taxes. NTU published these numbers for the tax years 1999-2008 on a page called "Who Pays Income Taxes and how much?" Data for each year show what percentage of "federal personal income tax" was paid by each income bracket. As Fox & Friends correctly indicated, the bottom 50 percent of wage earners paid 2.7 percent of federal income taxes paid in 2008. [National Taxpayers Union, accessed 4/12/11]
TPC: In 2006, Married Couples At Poverty Level Paid 7.7 Percent Of Wages In Payroll Taxes. According to the TPC, married couples at the poverty threshold paid an average 7.7 percent of their wages in payroll taxes in 2006. [Tax Policy Center, accessed 4/12/11]
Fox Has Relentlessly Propagated This Falsehood
Hannity Falsely Claimed "Half Of Americans ... Don't Pay Taxes." On his August 30, 2010, Fox News show, Sean Hannity said, "If half of Americans now don't pay taxes, and the other half are the beneficiaries of the tax that the other half pay, at some point you say, OK, you got a full voting block and it seems like the Democratic Party ... caters to that." Hannity has repeatedly claimed that 50 percent of Americans don't pay taxes. [Fox News, Hannity, 8/30/10, 4/15/10, 4/12/10, 4/9/10, 4/8/10]
Beck Falsely Claimed That "49 Percent" Of Americans "Don't Pay Any Tax." On the April 16, 2010, edition of his Fox News show, Glenn Beck said: "How do we get people that are not paying taxes -- I mean, I saw this -- did you see this poll this week? There was like 48 percent say that they pay their right amount of taxes, and 49 percent don't pay any tax. So, I mean, you know, how do we get those people to understand, no, no, we gotta shut this system down and change it dramatically?" [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 4/16/10]
Carlson: "40 Percent Of The Country Does Not Pay Any Tax." On the August 3, 2009, edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson said, "Here's the other figure that makes me scratch my head a little bit -- the fact that 40 percent of the country does not pay any tax." But as guest Pat Caddell pointed out, that number refers to income taxes. Caddell added: "Now, people do pay sales and local taxes. They pay Social Security." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/3/09]


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Shutterstock.com / Leszek Glasner
The number of middle and high-school students who have tried so-called "e-cigarettes" has tripled in the past three years, and is doubling the number of youth who say they will begin smoking regular cigarettes too, according to a new survey.
The study from the 2011-2013 National Youth Tobacco Survey, released Monday in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, showed that the number of middle and high-schoolers who've tried e-cigarettes, but never conventional cigarettes, shot up to 263,000 in 2013, up from 79,000 in 2011. Even more significant, almost half of those kids surveyed said they planned to smoke regular cigarettes within a year.
The study is likely to add pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to begin regulating those tobacco-like products.
Anti-smoking advocates like the American Lung Association said that study shows "e-cigarette use among youth will be kids on a lifelong addition to nicotine and tobacco products," according to Harold Wimmer, national president of the ALA. He called on the Obama administration and the FDA to finalize new regulation to control use of e-cigarettes by the end of 2014 "so that we do not lose another generation of kids to tobacco-caused death and disease."
Federal laws prohibit traditional cigarettes from being marketed to people under 18 years old, but there are no federal limits for e-cigarette makers. Unlike tobacco products, e-cigarettes carry no child-warning labels.
Moreover, major tobacco companies Altria Group /zigman2/quotes/208895754/composite MO -0.57% , Reynolds American and Lorillard have all started producing e-cigarettes and recent e-cigarette commercials feature TV personality Jenny McCarthy and actor Stephen Dorff .
E-cigarette use triples among the youth
A new study from the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research shows an increase in the number of middle and high school students who have used e-cigarettes.
The FDA proposals — which also cover pipe tobacco, hookahs and cigars — will outlaw the sale of e-cigarettes to children and, like alcohol, require people to show identification to prove they are 18 years of age or older when they buy them. In the first such regulations for the e-cigarette industry, companies will also have to apply for FDA approval before marketing their products, which critics say vary wildly in quality; they also won't be allowed to distribute free samples.
The FDA has already found that e-cigarettes vary widely in reliability and quality, and didn't always do what they said on the package. "The FDA found significant quality issues that indicate that quality control processes used to manufacture these products are substandard or nonexistent," the agency's consumer advice page states. Cartridges labeled "no nicotine" did contain nicotine, for instance, and three different e-cigarette cartridges with the same label emitted a markedly different amount of nicotine with each puff.
Amazon buys Internet game video channel Twitch
Amazon has acquired Twitch Interactive, a popular Internet video channel for broadcasting and watching people play video games. A look at the rapid growth of video games as a spectator sport.
The FDA also proposes warnings related to packaging and advertisements. The FDA has authority to issue further regulations to restrict online sales of all regulated tobacco products, an FDA spokesman told Marketwatch.com in May.
Currently, about 28 states prohibit "e-cigarette" sales to minors, and legislation is pending in several others.
Both the FDA and the American Lung Association notes that e-cigarettes marketed with flavors "can be especially attractive to youth," including cotton candy, bubble gum, or to mimic the candy Atomic Fireball or even the popular kids' cereal flavor Froot Loops.
Earlier this year, a group of 11 Democratic members of Congress released a report that said e-cigarette flavors such as "Cherry Crush," "Chocolate Treat" and "Peachy Keen" appeal to minors and should also be restricted. "E-cigarette makers are starting to prey on kids, just like the big tobacco companies," said Henry J. Waxman, a Democrat from California.
Between 2011 and 2012, e-cigarette use nearly doubled from 0.6% to 1.1% among middle school students and from 1.5% to 2.8% among high school students, a 2013 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found
Also see: 10 things e-cigarettes won't tell you
For its part, the e-cigarette industry says it supports federal regulation — up to a point. The Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association, which represents the vapor products industry, backs proposals to restrict the sale of e-cigarette products to minors, and says it will support any effort made by legislative agencies and organizations to keep vaporizers out of the hands of underage consumers.
But Cynthia Cabrera, executive director of the association, says e-cigarettes are markedly different from other tobacco products, and should not be classified as such. "These products do not contain tobacco, but may or may not contain nicotine derived from tobacco," she told Marketwatch earlier this year.
This article has been updated from a previous version.
Other articles by Quentin Fottrell:
Diet soda may trim your lifespan
Treating hangovers is now a billion-dollar industry


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16/1, Sokak, 48300
Duygupension is a homely little place and a popular family run backpackers inn. It has a great location on the west of the harbor. If you wish safe,clean,friendly,quiet,comfort and family place then welcome to Duygupension We welcome guests from all around the world from backpackers, to seniors,to juniors and basically anyone who is looking for a great family ambiance and relaxing place to stay.We will always try our best to make your stay as comfortable and memorable as possible. Our pension is only 8 minute walk from Fethiye harbor and center of town. A peaceful and relaxing environment that is what Duygu pension is all about enhancing its hideaway ambiance. Duygu pension has spectacular bay views from the rooftop terrace and Breakfast served on the rooftop terrace with panoramic sea views. Duygu pension has a pretty swimming pool.We have a choice of rooms which include air-conditioned double rooms en-suite double,twin,triple and single rooms.[air-conditioned extra 6.00 euro].Visit Duygupension with your family and with your friends for an unforgettable experience and many warm memories to the back. We make all kinds of tours with special discounts.[Blue cruise fethiye olympos,diving,paragliding,12 island daily boat trip,rent a scooter,saklýkent tour,ghost town and ect.]Car parking available [free],internet access[FREE] and laundry[6 euro]. If you are looking for budget pension[guest house]in the Fethiye area of Turkey you will come to right place.We look forward to welcoming you to our pension.
La cancelación es posible hasta las 11 de la noche 3 días antes del día de llegada sin cargo.
La cancelación después de las 11 de la noche 3 días antes del día de llegada hasta cualquier momento del día 1 día antes del día de llegada es posible sin cargo.
Un no-show o una cancelación en el día de llegada tendrá un cargo de 1 noche de estancia.