text:
The Croc Epidemic
How a heinous synthetic shoe conquered the world.
In the demi-monde of footwear, the term croc was once synonymous with elegance—the reptile skin covering a pair of stiletto sling-backs. Today, it's synonymous with an entirely different—and altogether vegetarian—phenomenon. In just a few years, the exquisitely ugly shoes known as "Crocs" have spread around the world like a Paris Hilton sex tape, giving rise to an epidemic of croc babies and their more egregious counterparts, croc parents. The shoe looks adorable on sun-kissed toddlers, but, alas, the fad did not stop there. For such a modest item (a typical edition sells for $29.99), the Croc has traveled in high places, disgracing the extremities of such celebrities as Mario Batali (who prefers the bright orange variety) and George W. Bush (who paired them with shorts and dark socks).
As fans will tell you, Crocs aren't just footwear; they're the closest thing to religion that the foot has experienced. The company's stock has skyrocketed in value over the past year, and Crocs is now poised to launch a new product line this fall. Yet Crocs are heinous in appearance. A Croc is not a shoe; it is a Tinkertoy on steroids. How did this peculiar shoe-manqué achieve ubiquity—and can it possibly stick around?
In the interest of science and as a defender of fashion, I went to Paragon Sports in New York to buy my first pair of Crocs—the shoes were a bright patch in a sea of sportswear. A woman with petite feet may discover that the smallest size in a popular edition, such as "Cayman" (the Crocs aesthetic is eco-beach), will not fit her; instead, she will have to head to the kids' section—piling ignominy upon ignominy. The Crocs palette tends toward the bold: orange, primary green, bright blue, periwinkle. Having selected a periwinkle pair, I was approached by a young salesclerk, who had noticed my skeptical look. "These styles are very popular," he said reassuringly. "Can I help you with anything?" Yes. Would he be kind enough to reveal if he would ever wear a shoe like this? "Me?" he said, stepping backward. "Nah, they're too ugly. The flip-flop, maybe—but these go too far for me."
A first-time Crocs wearer will indeed find that the shoes are springy and light, as their fans aver, and cushion the feet with what some have called a "marshmallow fluffiness." On a muggy New York day, the holes punched in the toe box allow for a soothing breeze to cool the sweating foot. Even so, the ratio of shame to comfort was extreme. When everyone else on the avenue is garbed in proper footwear—even something as unpretentious as flat sandals or ballet flats—an adult, it seemed to me, must blush at the sight of her bulbous feet. But those who wear Crocs all day long swear that the springy material holds up like nothing else; one painter reported that his chronic shin splints disappeared after he began wearing Crocs. Thus was born what one blogger has labeled the "Croc conundrum": Crocs make you look absurd, but they can change your life.
Comfort and function were always the main Crocs pitch. The shoes' original home was Boulder, Colo. The early Crocs customer was probably a Pacific Northwesterner who liked to boat or garden—this was a niche shoe, after all. He or she was drawn in by the "no slip" grip on the sole, by the aerating holes, and by the featherweight heft of the thing (a pair weighs a mere 6 ounces). The clunky look was not a drawback (this is the region, after all, that brought us grunge), and many customers were pleased that the shoe was made of a proprietary nonplastic resin formula (known as Croslite)—it was, as one testified, "vegan." Because the material is soft, bacteria-resistant, and has a strangely "natural" feel, the Croc fits in with the Northwest's typically green and mildly counterculture ethos. Soon nurses, doctors, cooks, painters, and other workers who stand on their feet all day had discovered Crocs and found them to be life-changing. The company is careful to play up its shoes' supposed orthotic benefits, to the distress of some skeptical podiatrists; a new line for diabetics is in the works.
In the meantime, the company cleverly positioned itself as an eco-conscious no-frills-attached corporation. Crocs was conceived by three friends—Scott Seamans, George Boedecker, and Lyndon Hanson—on a trip in the Caribbean, when Seaman showed his friends the extraordinary slip-resistant clog he was wearing; learning that it was made by a Canadian company called "Foam Creations," the friends spotted an opportunity. Soon they had licensed and were trying to "develop" the shoe (by adding a strap to the back); the name was the first thing that had to go. They realized the tops looked like crocodile snouts from the side. Presto! Crocs was born. In 2002, the company earned a gross profit of $1,000 from sales in America. By 2006, following a series of strategic licensing deals (you can now get NASCAR and Disney Crocs, for example), it was earning more than $200 million a year from sales in 40 countries. (I even spotted knockoffs called Rockies in Jerusalem's Muslim quarter.) Nor have consumers' appetite yet been whetted: During the first quarter of 2007, the company's sales had increased 217 percent from the same period the previous year.
In moving from a niche shoe to widespread wear, Crocs capitalized on its several strengths. The first is that the shoes are ideal for kids, who like their brightness, their lightness, their squishiness, and the strange holes in the front, in which charms can be placed. (Perhaps the only thing uglier than a Cayman Croc is a Croc adorned with "Jibbitz," as the charms are called.) Meanwhile, their parents like that they are dishwasher-safe, waterproof, and odor-free. Their amorphous shape may be an aesthetic crime, but it lends the shoes a jovial quality that appeals to the knee-high and the anti-bourgeois everywhere. (One Slate contributor and early Croc-adopter reports that when she went to her daughter's school dressed in Crocs, the kids all wanted to know why she wore "clown shoes.") And the Croc fad, like the Ugg fad, benefits from the shoe's appropriation of an ethnic look (in this case, the Dutch clog) that one could deem "authentic." Ugly is OK, it would seem, as long as it's imported; then it's considered "practical" and earthy. In a classic cultural inversion, Ugly becomes Good: It represents an authentic critique of the marketing and branding that surround us every day. (Think of Ugly Dolls.) And so Crocs even ran ads in Rolling Stone proclaiming "Ugly can be beautiful." Finally, whereas Uggs were embraced by the fashion world, and became a status symbol, Crocs are a bottom-up brand, embraced by ordinary Americans everywhere. It is a democratic purchase. It looks painful to wear—like something you might find in the rock-bottom bins at Kmart—but is actually soft and high-tech, defeating class-based assumptions.
Footwear has always been particularly susceptible to fads, as the fashion authority Colin McDowell observes in Shoes: Fashion and Fantasy. Shoe fashion tends to swing dramatically on the pendulum from practical to beautiful, largely because shoes are even more utilitarian than clothes—and stylish clothes are rarely as uncomfortable as stylish shoes. Since everyone needs shoes, they are particularly susceptible to the tipping point phenomenon: When enough people are wearing ugly but comfortable shoes, others jump eagerly on the bandwagon, thrilled to be released from the bondage of straps and buckles. And so Crocs represent a kind of rebellion—a vanguard of the comfort movement. As footwear retailers reported this spring, shoe sales are unpredictable this year, with one exception: what retailers call "fashion comfort" styles—including ballet flats, shoes like Geox (which are popular among businessmen), and, of course, Crocs. One retailer called them "a category of their own."
The popularity of Crocs has also led to the inevitable backlash. Croc-mocking is rampant. The Web site Ihatecrocs.com chronicles its proprietors' attempts to destroy Crocs (using fireworks, scissors, and lighter fluid). According to Maclean's, some hospitals have decided to ban Crocs, citing the fact that they do not protect against infection (the toe box has open holes). Meanwhile, there are reports of mysterious "Crocs shocks" shorting out crucial medical equipment; allegedly, the resin formula doesn't just keep out bacteria, it stores electricity. This sounds like urban legend, but one nurse who was skeptical of such accounts did tell Maclean's that when she started wearing Crocs she began giving her patients small electric shocks. Tales have come in from Crocs-haters in Sweden about children whose Crocs melt on escalators or get otherwise stuck in the cracks between steps; the most horrific of these involves a little boy whose toe got "pulled off" when his Crocs got stuck. A crock? Probably.
What is more certain is that some podiatrists are alarmed by their patients' fanatical embrace of Crocs; most Crocs, doctors point out, provide only moderate support. "I'll get people with strained arches because they've been running around in Crocs for five days," said Arnold Ravick, a doctor of podiatric medicine in Washington, D.C., and a spokesman for the American Podiatric Medical Association. "When it comes to shoes, people mistake comfort for support. Comfort is fool's gold—a soft gushy shoe that makes your arches collapse," he told me. "Crocs are popular because they're inexpensive and interchangeable. For people with certain problems, they can be a good shoe. Are they good for your foot, in general? No."
Crocs may be popular, but it's the rare Croc lover who considers them fashionable. As Kim France, the editor in chief of Lucky, the shopping magazine, told me, "Uggs I can make an argument for. Jellies also had their moment of being cute and cool. Crocs are just a pox." The first time she saw a male friend in them, she recalls, she asked him, "Are you really going to make me walk down the street with you?" And so today, the company is at a crossroads. The public's affection for shoe styles is notoriously fickle. (Remember earth shoes?) In June, 50 percent of Croc's shares were sold short by short-seller investors who think that the company's stock will plummet soon. Though the company has made a series of strategic licensing deals and partnerships with subsidiaries, it is still largely dependent on its signature clogs and now flip-flops. Striving to position itself for a fall-off in demand, Crocs plans to launch new clothing and shoe lines this fall that will depart from its signature resin formula and will feature pieces costing between $70 and $100. Who knows whether this strategy will succeed, but at Paragon, one employee was waiting eagerly for the shipment of new flip-flop styles. "I hate the way the old Crocs look," he said. "But they are comfortable."
History suggests that Crocs are more likely to be a passing fad, like Dr. Scholl's, than a true innovation, like the sneaker. The very thing that has made them such a huge hit, after all—their ugly duckling distinctiveness—is also likely to make it hard for the company to go mainstream in any enduring sense. On the other hand, the trademarked Croslite material is an ace in the hole: If the traditional Croc clogs I tried on felt too confining on a summer day, the Croc flip-flops were delightfully springy. The company's sporty Sassari wedge suggests that when it comes to summerwear its designers may be developing at least some aesthetic sense.* But for now, my old platform flip-flops will do.
*Correction, July 13, 2007: This piece originally misspelled the Croc model Sassari.
*Correction, July 13, 2007: This piece originally misspelled the Croc model Sassari.


text:
SECTION27 and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) welcome the results of the Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Initiative (iPrEX) trial. Published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the study is the first to establish that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) – taking antiretroviral (ARV) medicines before sex – reduces the risk of HIV infection. It follows closely on the heels of the CAPRISA 004 trial, which demonstrated that the use of tenofovir 1% gel reduced the risk of HIV infection amongst women at increased risk.
The iPrEx trial enrolled 2499 men who have sex with men (MSM) at 11 sites across the world (including Cape Town). Half of the trial participants were randomly assigned to take a daily dose of two ARV medicines – tenofovir disproxil fumarate (TDF) and emtricitabine (FTC) – combined into a single pill. The other half, also randomly assigned, received a daily placebo. All received a comprehensive package of HIV prevention services, including regular HIV testing, risk-reduction counselling, condoms, and the treatment of symptomatic sexually transmitted infections.
In summary, the iPrEX trial showed that –
Whilst a significant breakthrough, iPrEx does not address all the questions that need to be answered. For example –
Some of these questions are being addressed in other ongoing PrEP studies – including amongst heterosexual men and women, and in follow-up studies in MSM. It is estimated that up to 20,000 trial participants are currently or expected to be enrolled in PrEP trials across the world, including in South Africa.
Globally, MSM are at increased risk of HIV infection. Even in South Africa, with its generalised HIV epidemic, MSM have the highest rates of HIV infection. SECTION27 and TAC will work with our partners to ensure that the iPrEx results lay the foundation for an enhanced response to the epidemic amongst MSM. And armed with this knowledge, we look forward to the results of other PrEP trials. We now have every reason to believe that PrEP may indeed offer protection to all people who – for whatever reason – are unable to use condoms consistently and correctly.
The iPrEx results underscore the urgent need for the development in South Africa of a comprehensive evidence-based prevention strategy that takes advantage of all we now know about effective HIV prevention tools. Amongst other things, an effective prevention strategy should include a focus on communications, including plans to disseminate the results of HIV prevention clinical research to the population as a whole. Almost 30 years into the epidemic, we cannot continue to accept the absence of a comprehensive and effective prevention strategy. With just a week to World AIDS Day 2010, SECTION27 and the TAC call for the development and implementation of such a strategy to be made an utmost priority in early 2011.
For further information:
At SECTION27, contact Jonathan Berger on 083 419 5779
At TAC, contact Victor Lakay on 072 134 5346 or Nono Eland on 078 456 3842

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Cleaning the Hood
|Cleaning the Hood
Sweet telling Carl Johnson to rid the Grove Street Families of drug dealers
|GTA San Andreas
|Ganton, Los Santos
|3 Respect
|Unlocked by
|Tagging Up Turf
Cleaning the Hood is a mission in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas given to protagonist Carl Johnson by his brother and Grove Street Families leader Sweet from his home in Grove Street in Ganton, Los Santos, San Andreas.
Ryder, Big Smoke and Sweet are inside Sweet's house and talking about the dealing with crack in the city as CJ arrives. After an agreement, Ryder and CJ decide to take care of business and deal with some of the crack dealers that supply the Grove Street gang members with drugs. They first go to see B Dup as CJ wants to recruit some of his old friends.
Upon arriving, B Dup angrily tells the two to stay out of his place and Big Bear is seen as his "crack slave" while CJ tries to convince him to return to the Grove Street team. Ryder and CJ both go outside and spot a crack dealer nearby selling drugs to a Grove Street gang members. They kill him, who Ryder recognizes and notes that the dealer's home is not far away. The pair then drive to the crack den in Idlewood and confront every Ballas gang member inside. After finishing off all their attackers, they head back to Ganton.
(Sweet is talking to Big Smoke.)
Big Smoke: Hey, you gotta keep it real, man.
Sweet: Man, nobody give a shit about the hood.
Big Smoke: I do!
Sweet: All they do is sell yay and ruin the place. No crack ever made a gang tight.
Big Smoke: I dont know man.
(CJ walks in.)
Carl Johnson: Whassup, y'all?
Sweet: Whassup, CJ?
Ryder: What's cracking?
Sweet: Man, all they care about is smokin' and money.
Big Smoke: You can't knock a homie's hustle, Sweet.
Sweet: Them marks ain't soldiers. They're idiots trying to be business men.
Big Smoke: Yeah, but they're down with us, man.
Sweet: All they down with is money. CJ, go down there and show these fools you mean business. These chumps from the Ballas are sweating the homies. Go put pressure on them. Just do it.
Carl Johnson: We been putting time in the hood, but we gotta get the homies back together....Like the old days.
Ryder: Yeah.
Sweet: Yeah, you right! So you and Ryder go handle your business! Man, they'd slang to their own momma. They don't care about nothing.
Big Smoke: You're naive, my friend. We gotta keep our focus.
(CJ talking to Ryder)
Carl Johnson: We need some back up. You seen B Dup?
Ryder: Nah, but him and the homeboy Bear they'd be good to have on our side.
Carl Johnson: Oh! Big Bear? Yeah, them base slangers going to be sorry now.
(Ryder and CJ go outside and start driving towards B Dup's house.)
Ryder: Hey, B Dup is only a couple blocks away.
Carl Johnson: The hood's all messed up, huh?
Ryder: Yeah, you try to get any of these crack head's to help you out.
Carl Johnson: No wonder the Families ain't up on it.
Ryder: Apart from Smoke, Sweet, and you know, yours truly, Grove Street don't bang no more.
Carl Johnson: Yeah, just get blow.
Ryder: For sure
(The two arrive inside B Dup's house.)
Ryder: Hey, slow down, fool. You don't even know which door it is.
Carl Johnson: Whatever, man. This it?
Ryder: Yeah, this it right here.
(CJ knocking.)
Carl Johnson: Open up! You sure he still live here?
Ryder: Fool, I told you this it.
(CJ knocks on the door again.)
Carl Johnson: Open up!
B Dup: Who the fuck is it? (Door opens) CJ? What the fuck you want? Get the fuck outta here.
Carl Johnson: Wait, hold up man. What happened to 4 life, nigga?
B Dup: The only that matters is the hood, homie, but you'll never understand what getting this money is like. You know what, man? Get the fuck outta here before you be laying on your back. Big Bear, come check this fool.
Carl Johnson: Hey, Bear? Big Bear, that's you? Hey, you still from the hood, homie, or what?
B Dup: Nah, the only thing Bear give a fuck about is smoking and keeping my house clean. Ain't that right, Big Bear?
Big Bear: Hell yeah.
B Dup: Hell yeah, what?
Big Bear: Hell yeah sir!
B Dup: Now go make that motherfucking toilet sparkle.
Ryder: Oh no man.
Carl Johnson: No man. Bear! Come on.
Big Bear: Everyone likes to party sometimes, CJ. I'll see you around.
B Dup: Stay the fuck from around here..Punk.
Carl Johnson: Hey, nigga, fuck you!
(B Dup closes his door and Ryder & CJ both head outside.)
Ryder: Damn...this shit's fucked up.
Carl Johnson: I see what you mean now, man. If crack can do that to Big Bear, turn him into a base slave, the average motherfucker ain't got a chance.
Ryder: Damn dope fiends and drug addicts everywhere in this city. Piss me off.
Carl Johnson: Look like it's up to us then.
(The two head outside and start cruising around the hood.)
Ryder: Let's just cruise through the hood and find us somebody selling
(A drug dealer is selling to one of the homies.)
Ryder: Hey, check it out! Somebody's selling to one of the homies.
Drug dealer: Hey partner I'm working man, what you need, what you need dog? Man, I got quality shit right here.
(Ryder and CJ kill the drug dealer.)
Ryder: Man, I know this cat! He a punk, used run with a Front Yard Balla OG from Idlewood. I know his place, it's just across the tracks there. Let's check it out.
Carl Johnson: Eh, ain't that Front Yard turf?
Ryder: Man, are you a busta?
Carl Johnson: No, I'm down homie!
Ryder: Hey! Grab hold of that bat over there!
Carl Johnson: Man, we on a serious mission now.
Ryder: Man, don't sweat it homie, everybody in the hood knows Ballas are pussies.
(Ryder and CJ both arrive outside the crack den.)
Ryder: Oo-ee! Man you can smell a crack den a mile away!
Carl Johnson: Yeah, let's shoot through and introduce ourselves.
Ryder: Good afternoon, Balla dope pushers! Grove Street OG's come to do damage!
(Ryder hits one of the Ballas gang members on drugs.)
Drug Dealer: Fuck them Grove Street fools.
Balla: Grove Street's going down.
Ryder: Ninja these motherfuckers!
Carl Johnson: Now Ballas know Grove Street Families on their way back up.
Ryder: For sure, homie and what's more, you didn't even run out on me. Time's changing...
Carl Johnson: Aww man, they gonna be mad at us.
Ryder: Man, I'll warn the gang later. For now, let's just bask in the silence of victory, motherfucker.
(Ryder and CJ arrive at Grove Street.)
Ryder: Now that the base ain't getting pushed up in their faces... Maybe these fools should be up for some real bangin'!
Carl Johnson: Yeah, Grove gonna get back on it's feet now for sure though.
Ryder: Later, homie!
- The song featured in the pre-mission Cutscene is called "Funky Worm" by Ohio Players, which could also be heard on Bounce FM.
- The song featured in the cutscene at B-dub's apartment is "Hood Took Me Under" by Compton's Most Wanted. This song can also be heard on Radio Los Santos.
- During a cutscene in the Crack Den before Ryder hits the Balla with a baseball bat, in the back of the house a prostitute is giving a Balla a blow job.
Carl Johnson suggests to Ryder asking B Dup for help.
CJ and Ryder try to convince Big Bear to join them.
See also
Video walkthrough
|PC Version - GTASeriesVideos


text:
President Barack Obama said Friday that more than 500,000 Americans had obtained health insurance through the HealthCare.gov website in December and "tens of thousands" were enrolling each day as the Monday deadline for selecting insurance that's effective Jan. 1 fast approaches.
The surge in sign-ups on the troubled federal website and continued strong activity on state-run marketplaces have pushed combined enrollment under the Affordable Care Act to more than 1 million people, Obama said at his hourlong final news conference of the year.
Add to that another 800,000-plus people who'll have coverage next year through Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, and, the president added, "I now have a couple million people, maybe more, who are going to have health care on Jan. 1. And that is a big deal. That's why I ran for this office."
While even those numbers are well below original administration projections, the December enrollment spike is a clear indication that HealthCare.gov has turned the corner on the technical problems that marred its October debut and slowed enrollment activity through November.
"All told, millions of Americans, despite the problems with the website, are now poised to be covered by quality affordable health insurance come New Year's Day," Obama said.
The president's positive enrollment news came on the heels of the administration's latest health care rule change, which allows people whose coverage was canceled because it didn't meet new minimum standards to obtain cheaper catastrophic coverage. That usually requires policyholders to pay initial medical costs of up to $6,000 before comprehensive coverage kicks in.
Under the rule change, if that catastrophic coverage is also too expensive, individuals with canceled policies also could receive an exemption from the law's "individual mandate," which requires most Americans to have coverage or face a fine next year.
The change resulted from a request by six Democratic senators for greater flexibility to deal with people whose individual policies were canceled after the president repeatedly had promised Americans that the health law allowed them to keep their coverage if they liked it.
That false promise triggered a wave of public anger and political pressure that caused Obama to allow canceled policies to be extended for another year if insurers and state regulators allow it. But only about half the states decided to implement the president's "fix," which led the six lawmakers to seek the hardship exemption.
Administration officials don't expect many people to request the exemption, because they estimate that fewer than 500,000 people with canceled policies will lack coverage on Jan. 1. The vast majority have been enrolled in new coverage, senior White House officials said.
Obama defended the rule change as a necessary adjustment to an unforeseen problem.
"When you try to do something this big, affecting this many people, it's going to be hard," he said. "And every instance, whether it's Social Security, Medicare, the prescription drug plan under President Bush, there hasn't been an instance where you've tried to really have an impact on the American people's lives and well-being, particularly in the health care arena, where you don't end up having some of these challenges."
He said the numerous changes to his signature legislation didn't negate the fact that the law was working.
"Despite all the problems, despite the website problems, despite the messaging problems, despite all that, it's working," Obama told reporters assembled in the White House briefing room. "And, again, you don't have to take my word for it. We've got a couple million people who are going to have health insurance just in the first three months, despite the fact that probably the first month and a half was lost because of problems with the website and about as bad a bunch of publicity as you could imagine."
The president, again, shouldered the blame for those problems, saying: "Since I'm in charge, obviously we screwed it up."
Consumers who've put off selecting policies because of technical problems with the federal and state marketplaces are expected to jam exchange websites and call centers in the next few days, trying to beat the Monday enrollment deadline to have coverage in effect Jan. 1.
In anticipation, the Obama administration has added 800 staffers at its call centers, bringing the total to more than 12,000 trained customer representatives at 17 sites nationwide. After more than two months of nonstop repairs and improvements, the federal insurance marketplace portal, HealthCare.gov, can handle more than 800,000 online visitors a day and up to 50,000 simultaneous users, according to senior administration officials, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity as a matter of administration policy.
That capacity will be sorely tested over the next few days as insurers increase their marketplace advertisements to lure last-minute policy buyers.
"We do believe that we will be able to handle the volume and capacity that we will see over the course of this approaching deadline," officials said.
Many states also are seeing enrollments soar as the deadline approaches. California is reporting more than 15,000 new enrollments a day in qualified health plans. New York is enrolling about 5,000 per day, Kentucky is logging 3,000 and Connecticut is averaging nearly 2,000 per day, administration officials said.
Federal marketplace usage likewise has seen a significant uptick in December.
Many of the recent visitors are people who couldn't complete their enrollment in October and November because of technical problems with HealthCare.gov. Many feared that those people would never return, out of frustration. But that apparently hasn't been the case.
In fact, about 73 percent of recent enrollees surveyed are return visitors from October and November. The Obama administration made a concerted effort to reach these people and invite them back, sending more than 2 million emails, making 600,000 phone calls and mailing several hundred thousand letters.
To make enrollment easier for those who sign up no later than Monday, most insurers will make coverage retroactive to Jan. 1 if the first month's premium is paid anywhere from Dec. 31 to Jan. 10. The deadlines vary by state and by insurer, so consumers are urged to contact their insurers to find out how much grace period they have.
Lesley Clark contributed to this article.


text:
Sweet Summer Peach, Almond and Rosemary Honey Tart
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Author Notes: I'm on holiday at my parent's country house with the whole family, meaning 12 to 17 every day. I make the desserts, my sister and my son the savoury dishes. This is a blessing, just being in my pastry world. Wi-fi and computer connection is surreal, half an hour to get connected with the world, but that's fine with me, I need a break. But last night, I needed one of my recipes posted on food52 and had to sum up all my courage to borrow an internet connection and a computer. THEN, I saw the peach tart contest and it blew my mind – my all time favourite thing, the family's favourite dessert. How could I not make one? I've been making fig and peach tarts because that's about all the fruit we have left in the trees. Apart from those two fruits we have almonds and blackberries in the forest. Then I remembered that our neighbour had brought in, as a gift, some fabulous rosemary honey. So, out of these fruits and the honey, this tart was made, with few utensils, proving that I can still make things without all the gimmick of tools I have (but which I love!!!). —Maria Teresa Jorge
Serves: 8
Almond Honey Cream
ounces rosemary honey
ounces soft butter
ounces almond meal
tablespoon all purpose flour
pinch salt
pinch baking powder
teaspoon almond extract
- Sift flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.
- Beat the butter and honey until very pale and fluffy. Add the almond extract and incorporate.
- Add the eggs, one at a time and beat very well until mixture is very light and airy.
- • Fold in the almond meal and the flour mixture.
- Put the mixture in the fridge until needed. Any leftover cream can be kept in the fridge for 1 week.
sheet of puff pastry
1 1/2
cups Almond cream ( see above)
4 to 5
sprig fresh rosemary
- Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Roll out the puff pastry sheet so it's quite thin. Cut the sides with a sharp knife so the pastry raises well. Put in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Peel and slice the peaches.
- Spread a thin layer of almond cream on the pastry leaving a 1 inch border. Cover the cream with slices of peaches.
- Fold the borders of the pastry over the cream and peaches, enough to contain them.
- Sprinkle with rosemary and cook until golden brown.
- Decorate with blackberries if you wish.
- This recipe was entered in the contest for A&M Smackdown / Your Best Peach Pie or Tart
More Great Recipes:
Fruit|Dessert|Pie|Serves a Crowd|Summer


text:
By Guest Author Linnea Schmidt
By Guest Author Ethan Guthman
By Guest Author Emily Larson
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Por Autor Invitado Katie Arnolds
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Por Autor Invitado, Merlin Ariefdjohan
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Por Molly Terhune
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Por Autor Invitado John Soltys
By Nicole L. Garneau, PhD
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By Guest Author, Kelsey Repine
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Por Autor Invitado, Molly Terhune
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Autor Invitado, Lyndsay Krisher
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Autor Invitado, Katie Arnolds
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Autor Invitado, Merlín Ariefdjohan
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Autor Invitado, Katie Arnolds
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Autor Invitado, Veronica Searles Quick
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Guest Author, Dr. Jessica Metcalf
Guest Author, Michael A. Bagley
By Chelsea Corser-Jensen
Conversations in Local Health Research
By Brian J. Kempf, PhD
By Rhea May, PhD
By Daniel Raible
By Katherine Lee, PhD
By Audrey Bergouignan, PhD
Thanks to ASMcue for the invitation to speak this year and to all the great educators and scientists in attendance!
By Katherine Brandao, PhD
Congrats to Bruce Randolph School for winning the [email protected] competition sponsored by LiveWell Colorado!
By Jennifer Marie Stratford, PhD
Member Response, Lactose Intolerance
A special thanks to the many readers who sent in comments and questions about "Today's Paleo Diet" recently published in Catalyst.
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Guest Blog Post, Dr. Ernesto Salcedo
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By Nicole Garneau, PhD
By Nicole L Garneau, PhD
How to Give Veggies a Competitive Edge with Kids By Melissa Wdowik, PhD, RD
By Ernesto Salcedo, PhD
By Keely Sudhoff, PhD
By Yo Pearl the Science Girl
By Devin Walecka
BY Devin Walecka
Message from the Health Sciences Team
By Bridget Coughlin, PhD
By Meghan Sloan, MA
By Jonathan Grudis, MA
Invite from the Health Sciences Team
Our Genetics of Taste laboratory is first and foremost a
community lab with the goal of making real scientific research
accessible to the public, something we take pride in here at the
Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Although we only study one
small part of taste- the ability to taste specific bitter
compounds- we are interested in bringing all aspects of flavor
perception to our Museum guests and volunteers. To that end, we are
so lucky to have a group of taste and smell scientists right here
in the Denver area, The Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell
We recently invited three of the head researchers and their
laboratory scientists and students over to the Museum to tour the
Genetics of Taste lab and to learn more about our community-based
study. As you'll see from the following pictures, a visit to our
lab is directly proportional to an increase of blue tongues
world-wide and an increase in a love for science (no stats to prove
this, but I'm sure it's statistically significant).
As you can see, Dr. Ernie Salcedo's lab most definitely had a good
time. When not posing with their blazing blue tongues on display,
they spend their time studying the sense of smell, or olfaction.
They are interested in understanding how the chemical information
of odors from the environment is converted into an electrochemical
signal that our brain can recognize.
An additional six tongues, from Dr. Linda Barlow's laboratory,
were swabbed for the full effort of the tour. If you've ever
wondered how we get the unique pattern of bumps on our tongue, this
is the group to explain it. The Barlow lab studies how the taste
system develops in embryos, and how this system is maintained and
regenerated in adults.
Finally, Dr. Tom Finger's group visited after the joint lecture he
and I presented recently with Chef Ian Kleinman, called "Genes and
Cuisines that Reign Supreme". There we learned about one of Dr.
Finger's research interests, and of course its one we have in
common, taste. While we in the Genetics of Taste lab are working
toward understanding taste and health at the population level , the
Finger lab is looking at how we detect chemicals in our environment
and in our food at the molecular level and how the brain then
processes this information.
For more information about the Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell
Center, click


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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While antidepressants are commonly given to people with autism, there is no evidence from clinical trials that the drugs are helpful for children with the disorder, and only limited evidence that they benefit adults, a new research review finds.
The analysis, reported in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, adds to doubts about the use of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in autism.
Last year, a U.S.-government-funded study found that the SSRI citalopram (Celexa) was no better than a placebo at improving repetitive behaviors in children with autism. At the time, experts expressed surprise at the lack of benefit and said the results illustrated the need to test antidepressants against placebos in people with autism.
For the new review, researchers evaluated the findings of the Celexa study, along with those of six other — much smaller — clinical trials in the medical literature.
Overall, they found no evidence that SSRIs were better than placebos at improving repetitive behaviors or other symptoms in children with autism. And there was only limited evidence from two small clinical trials that certain SSRIs might improve anxiety, depression and other symptoms in autistic adults.
On the whole, there is no basis for recommending the routine use of SSRIs in treating autism, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Katrina Williams, a pediatrician at the University of New South Wales and Sydney Children's Hospital in Australia.
However, the researchers are not recommending that people with autism who are already on an SSRI and doing well stop taking their medication.
As it stands, no medications are specifically approved for treating autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), a group of developmental disorders that hinder people's ability to communicate and build relationships. The conditions range from severe cases of "classic" autism to the relatively mild Asperger's syndrome.
Behavioral and educational therapies that target the social, developmental and communication problems are the mainstay of autism treatment. But SSRIs are often prescribed to aid with certain symptoms; by one estimate, up to 40 percent of children with autism have been treated with an antidepressant.
In the U.S., three SSRIs - sertraline (Zoloft), fluoxetine (Prozac) and fluvoxamine (Luvox) — are FDA approved for children older than seven.
Part of the rationale for SSRI use in ASDs is that the drugs can be effective for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, conditions whose features are similar to some behaviors seen in autism. For example, repetitive behaviors — such as repeating specific words or actions, or obsessively following a routine or schedule — are a main feature of autism.
In addition, SSRIs enhance levels of the brain chemical serotonin, and serotonin is thought to influence sleep, mood, aggression and other brain processes that are often altered in autism, Williams told Reuters Health in an email.
But few clinical trials have been done to test the drugs' effectiveness in improving the symptoms of children or adults with autism.
Williams and her colleagues were able to find only seven small, short-term trials where people with autism were randomly assigned to take an SSRI or a placebo for comparison.
The Celexa study, by far the largest, included 149 children with ASDs who were given either the SSRI or a placebo for three months. Roughly one-third of the children in each group showed improvements in repetitive behaviors during the study period, with no advantage from the antidepressant.
All of the other studies Williams and her colleagues found were quite small, with the largest including 39 children. None went beyond three months.
Overall, the five studies that focused on children and teenagers showed no benefits of SSRI treatment, according to the researchers; the trials tested the drugs fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, and, in the two oldest studies, fenfluramine — a medication that has since been pulled from the U.S. market.
Two studies included adults, with one testing fluoxetine and the other fluvoxamine. The trials found improvements in SSRI users' obsessive behaviors, anxiety, depression and aggression versus placebo users. However, the studies were very small — one included six participants, the other 30 — and treatment lasted eight to 12 weeks.
Moreover, SSRIs can have side effects, and concerns about adverse effects are greater with children and teens. In the citalopram study, one child given the drug developed seizures that required hospitalization, and continued to have repeat seizures after being taken off the drug. Children on the drug were also more likely than placebo users to show impulsive behavior, sleep problems and difficulty concentrating.
No increased risk of side effects was seen in children given Prozac; the study that looked at Luvox provided little information on side effects, according to Williams' team.
Given the lack of effectiveness and potential for side effects, SSRIs cannot be recommended for children with autism, the researchers say.
For adults, Williams told Reuters Health in an email, there is "preliminary information that suggests effectiveness" for alleviating depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behavior and aggression. Decisions on whether an adult with autism should try an SSRI should be made on a case-by-case basis, according to Williams.
That said, some people with autism currently on an SSRI may be doing well.
"If children or adults are on an SSRI or other antidepressant and it has improved the problem that it was prescribed for and is not causing side effects, they should continue on the medication," Williams said.
Larger, well-conducted trials of SSRIs in the treatment of autism are still needed, according to Williams. That includes studies of other SSRIs that have yet to be put to the test in clinical trials but are being prescribed to people with autism — such as sertraline and paroxetine (Paxil).
Larger studies, Williams and her colleagues point out, might allow researchers to find out whether certain subgroups of people with autism respond better to SSRIs than others.
SOURCE: link.reuters.com/kat93n Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, August 8, 2010.


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3rd Annual Alabama Real Estate Law Conference
Presented by Alabama Law Weekly
Presented on: Friday, November 4, 2016
Birmingham Marriott
Order your materials from this information-packed event, and get the latest word in Alabama real estate law.
Alabama attorneys who practice real estate law, including litigators, closing attorneys, and attorneys who work for title insurance companies and lenders attended this one-day learning and networking event.
In just one day, we covered:
- How an easement or right-of-way can be terminated
- What are the essentials of closing a commercial real estate transaction – pre-closing, closing, and post-closing
- What disclosures are required by TILA and RESPA – before, at, and after settlement
- How to screen and qualify tenants
- How to handle the landlord-tenant relationship, including inspection of the property, security deposits, late fees, terminating the tenancy and more
- How to cure title problems prior to commencing a foreclosure action
- How to pursue guarantors before a foreclosure sale and how to collect a deficiency judgment after the foreclosure sale
- Who has the power to zone
- How to deal with the Board of Zoning Appeals
- How to negotiate with a pro se tenant at court
- And much more!
This event was loaded with the very latest on laws, decisions, and developments affecting your practice and your clients:
- Commercial real estate transactions. Karen Johns will guide you through a commercial real estate transaction – pre-closing procedures, the closing, and post-closing procedures.
- TILA-RESPA. Patrick Smith will update you on the integrated disclosure rule, clarify statutes, and recap enforcement procedures.
- Residential landlord and tenant law. Sarah Taggart will review the obligations of landlords and tenants under the landlord and tenant law.
- Foreclosure. Ellis Brazeal will discuss the foreclosure process, the foreclosure sale, the pursuit of guarantors, and deficiency judgment issues.
- Easements and rights-of-way. James Bradford will discuss basic principles when dealing with easements and rights-of-way and common problems that arise.
- Land use law. James Griffin will take a comprehensive look at land use law, including the ins and outs of the Board of Zoning Appeals.
- Ethical considerations. Lee Teague will explore ethical situations that may arise in landlord-tenant law, including conflicts of interest and fee arrangements.
Attendees got an insider's perspective on the most significant recent developments in Alabama real estate law:
- Closing commercial real estate transactions
- TILA/RESPA disclosures
- Residential landlord and tenant law
- Foreclosure, pursuit of guarantors, and deficiency judgment issues
- Easements and rights-of-way
- Land use law issues, including ubiquitous manufactured housing, the zoning appeal process, and environmentally driven zoning law
- Ethical considerations in landlord and tenant law
Your Outstanding Faculty
James Bradford, a partner in the Birmingham office of Balch & Bingham, LLP, has over 35 years of experience in representing individuals and companies in a wide range of litigated matters. In recent years, his practice has become more concentrated in the area of real estate law, including the law of titles, title insurance, real estate information services, eminent domain, and land use and planning. A significant portion of his practice is now devoted to eminent domain proceedings on behalf of condemning authorities and to the evaluation and resolution of coverage issues and claims on behalf of a number of title insurance underwritets, title agents, and providers of real estate information services, including the defense of first-party and third-party actions and the pursuit of negotiation and litigation to cure or establish title. He established and remains an active member of the Real Estate Litigation Focus Group. Mr. Bradford has served as trial counsel in dozens of cases in federal and state courts on behalf of condemning authorities, title insurers, title agents, and insured lenders and owners. He has also represented real estate appraisers and real estate inspectors in suits arising from their involvement in real property transactions. In addition to handling appeals on behalf of clients, Mr. Bradford has represented the American Land Title Association, the Alabama Land Title Association, the Business Council of Alabama, title insurance underwriters, and public utilities in amicus curiae submissions to the Supreme Court of Alabama.
C. Ellis Brazeal, III, is a partner in the firm's Business & Commercial Litigation Practice Group and practices from the firm's Birmingham office. He has more than 25 years of experience in commercial litigation, including all levels of state, federal, and bankruptcy courts. His areas of experience include the representation of financial institutions, construction and surety litigation, and environmental law. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America®, and regularly lectures on bankruptcy and creditors' rights issues. Mr. Brazeal's representation of financial institutions has involved a specific focus on creditors' rights in bankruptcy. In the construction arena, he has represented owners, contractors, and suppliers, both in negotiating contracts and in litigating and arbitrating disputes. His practice in the environmental field includes litigation; administrative proceedings; and providing counsel to owners of real property, as to both greenfield and brownfield sites, and operators of businesses. In the past, Mr. Brazeal served as an adjunct professor at the College of Engineering for The University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he taught courses in Engineering Law and a course in Environmental Law.
James B. Griffin, with James B. Griffin, LLC, in Birmingham, has represented cities, development authorities, counties, sheriffs, school boards, state agencies and universities, and private parties in litigation and regulatory matters in Alabama and Georgia. He has appeared before governing boards over a broad spectrum of issues such as zonings, variances, restrictive covenants, employment, Section 1983, eminent domain, and state and local taxes and fees. Mr. Griffin has advised clients regarding ethics laws, civil rights, labor and employment, government immunities, contracts, real property, nuisances, law enforcement, public health, and environmental law. He has drafted state legislation and revised city and county codes in areas such as historic preservation, annexations, sign regulation, nuisances, and the delivery of public services. More recently, he has been applying his knowledge of property and natural resources to estate-planning matters. Mr. Griffin earned his B.A. degree from Gordon College, his M.A. degree from the University of Alabama, and his J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University Law School. He is admitted to practice in Alabama and Georgia; and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama and the Northern and Middle districts of Georgia. James B. Griffin, LLC is based in the Birmingham metro area. He speaks to groups large and small about law, property, constitutions, ethics, education, history, and literature.
Karen Johns is special counsel in Jones Walker's Real Estate Practice Group and practices in the firm's Birmingham office. Her practice primarily involves banking and transactional law, commercial real estate law, and corporate law. She has significant experience in all types of commercial loan closings, including SBA loans, acquisition and development loans, and workouts. She also advises clients on real estate acquisitions and financing, and represents both lenders and borrowers in a variety of transactional capacities. Ms. Johns advises clients in the banking, financial services, and real estate industries, and her clients include developers, retailers, and government entities.
Ms. Johns is a member of the Alabama State Bar and the Birmingham Bar Association. She is also a member of the Birmingham Chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW).
Patrick F. Smith is President of TitleSouth and General Counsel for RealtySouth in Birmingham, Alabama. TitleSouth and RealtySouth are wholly-owned operating subsidiaries of Minneapolis-based HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire-Hathaway affiliate. Prior to joining TitleSouth /RealtySouth, He was a partner in the Birmingham law firm of Dominick, Fletcher, Yeilding, Wood and Lloyd, P.A., and at Strickland, Smith & Wagnon. He. is a frequent speaker at title insurance and real estate industry conferences and seminars. He has addressed Stewart Title Guaranty Company's Alabama/Mississippi agent's conference on numerous occasions on various topics. He has addressed the Alabama Bar Association's Annual Meeting on the topic of law office management software and the Birmingham Bar Association on the topic of automating the real estate closing practice. Mr. Smith also has served as a speaker for the American Land Title Association ("ALTA"), the Real Estate Services Providers Council ("RESPRO"), Cumberland School of Law CLE, CLE Alabama, and has also presented at seminars on "Complex Section 1031 Transactions" and "Boundary Law and Boundary Dispute Resolution." He serves as an adjunct instructor in the College of Business at Athens State University. Mr. Smith holds the Juris Doctorate and Master of Laws in Taxation degrees from the University of Alabama School of Law, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration (Accounting) from Auburn University.
Sarah Leopold Taggart, with Sarah Taggart, P.C., in Huntsville, graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. She attended Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri, on a full academic scholarship. She returned to her hometown of Huntsville after graduating from law school and founded the law firm of Sarah Taggart, P.C. Her law firm is a boutique practice which is specifically tailored to meet the needs of residential and commercial landlords throughout the entire State of Alabama. She is a frequent lecturer throughout the state on issues pertaining to landlord-tenant law and is often interviewed about landlord-tenant issues by local news and media outlets. She is on the board of the Alabama Apartment Association and serves as a legal advisor to the Apartment Association of North Alabama. Ms. Taggart also publishes a monthly educational newsletter and blog with issues relating to residential and commercial rental property. She has authored a widely popular Alabama-specific book of legal forms for the Alabama landlord which is available for purchase.
Alto Lee Teague, IV, of Engel, Hairston and Johanson, P.C., in Birmingham, practices in the areas of collections, commercial litigation, creditors' rights, and bankruptcy. Mr. Teague is admitted to the Alabama State Bar and is also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern districts of Alabama. He was recognized as a Rising Star® in 2010 by Alabama Super Lawyers® and is a member of the Birmingham Bar Association's Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Section, Continuing Legal Education Committee, and Civil Courts Procedure Committee. Mr. Teague received his B.A. from Samford University and his J.D. from the Samford University Cumberland School of Law.
AGENDA for Alabama Real Estate Law Conference
Friday, November 4, 2016
Understanding Easements and Rights-of-Way
8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
James Bradford
Balch & Bingham LLP
- What is an easement or right-of-way?
- Rights of grantors vs. rights of grantees
- Creation of easement/right-of-way
- Scope of use and maintenance of easement/right-of-way
- Obstruction of/or interference with easement/right-of-way
- Enforcement of easement/right-of-way
- Termination of easement/right-of-way
Closing Commercial Real Estate Transactions
9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Karen Johns
Jones Walker LLP
- Pre-closing procedures
- Pre-due diligence deadline
- Post-due diligence deadline
- At the closing table
- Escrow closing
- Round table
- Preparation
- Procedure
- What to do when good closings go bad
- "Deal breakers"
- Remote closings
- Post-closing procedures
- Disbursement of funds and escrow items
- Preparing the closing package
- Release of liens and encumbrances
- Recorded documents from the recorder
- Other post-closing items
10:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
TILA/RESPA Disclosures: Necessary Information and New Requirements
10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Patrick Smith
TitleSouth, LLC/RealtySouth
- TILA and RESPA fundamentals
- The TILA-RESPA integrated disclosure rule
- Requirements at the time of loan application
- Disclosures before settlement
- Disclosures at settlement
- Disclosures after settlement
- Statutes clarified: Consumer protections and illegal practices
- Kickbacks, fee-splitting, unearned fees
- Seller required title insurance
- Limits on escrow accounts
- TILA-RESPA enforcement
- Civil lawsuit
- Loan servicing complaints
- Other enforcement actions
- Filing a complaint
LUNCH (on your own)
11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Landlord and Tenant Law: Rights, Obligations, and Agreements
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Sarah Taggart
Sarah Taggart, P.C.
- Negotiating lease agreements you want
- Enforcing a lease agreement
- Inspecting the property
- Screening and qualifying tenants: Fair Housing, discrimination, and background checks
- Third parties not on lease who are living with your tenant
- Security deposits and personal guarantees
- Late fees: How much is too much?
- Handling repairs
- Terminating the tenancy
- Demands, notices, lockouts
Foreclosure Issues
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Ellis Brazeal
Jones Walker LLP
- Curing title problems prior to commencing the action
- Foreclosure timeline
- Demand Letter
- The foreclosure action – lis pendens, parties named, summons, complaint
- Foreclosure/sheriff's sale – notice requirements, bidding process, closing, etc.
- Pursuit of guarantors
- Before foreclosure sale?
- Checking percentage guarantees
- Deficiency judgment issues
3:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Take a Comprehensive Look at Land Use Law
3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
James Griffin
James B. Griffin, LLC
• Who has the power to zone? How does it affect you?
• The ins and outs of the Board of Zoning Appeals
• Ubiquitous manufactured housing: Implications for your community
• What quasi-judicial decisions usually involve
• Navigating the appeals process
• What is environmentally driven zoning law?
• Determine the impact of current land use law
Ethical Considerations in Landlord-Tenant Law
4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
Lee Teague
Engel, Hairston and Johanson, P.C.
- Negotiating with a pro se tenant at court
- Conflicts of interest, unrepresented, dual representation, and competency
- Fee arrangements and getting paid
- Ethical situations


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Events Calendar
Perspectives at Pequot: U.S. Immigration Today
Migration Now, the newest art installation at Pequot Library, is a portfolio of 37 silkscreen and letterpress prints illustrating the power art has to engage people in informed conversation about immigration, and the broader global theme of human migration.
The collection highlights a variety of reasons why people migrate, from helping family, to escaping persecution, to alleviating financial burdens, or to finding personal fulfillment. Co-organizers Favianna Rodriguez and Roger Peet explain that "When it comes to migration, the discourse rarely focuses on the stories of real people trying to succeed; instead, the frame is dominated by criminality and punishment. We believe that when we share our images and tell our stories, we illustrate the human struggle and win over broad audiences."
Location : Auditorium
Contact : (203) 259-0346 ext. 15
Category Legend
- Show events from all categories


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WHaT u DoN'T NeeD 2 KNoW aBouT Me
AGE * TiMeLe$S (i SToPPeD CouNTiNG WHeN i HiT 18)
LOCATION* aLWaYS Lo$T SoMeWHeRe, aT the WoR$T PLaCe @ THe Mo$T iNCoNVeNieNT TiMe
CheCk TheM oUt
TRYiNG 2 GeT MoRe oF
PaST WriTiNGS
BR@!N SQueeZe(sarcasm and cynism galore)
i don't know who said this but i agree:
"Hell is empty and all the devils are here."
"Lately, I have come to believe that the principle difference between heaven and hell is the company you keep there."
-- Simon Illyan, from A Civil Campaign by L.M. Bujold
from The Devil's Dictionary by the ultimate cynic Ambrose Bierce :
"Patience: a minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue."
"Diplomacy: The patriotic art of lying for one's country."
"Politics: The conduct of public affairs for private advantage."
"Bride, n.: A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her."
"Lawyer, n.: One skilled in the circumvention of the law."
"Year, n.: A period of three hundred and sixty-five disappointments."
"Pleasure, n.: The least hateful form of dejection."
"Reverence: the spiritual attitude of a man to a god and a dog to a man."
"Admiration, n.: Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves."
"Corporation, n.: An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility."
"Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion."
"Acquaintance, n.: A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to."
"Admiration, n.: Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves."
"Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen."
"Quotation, n.: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another."
"Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)"
"Brain, n.: an apparatus with which we think we think."
"Calamities are of two kinds: misfortunes to ourselves, and good fortune to others."
"Painting: The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic."
"Politics, n.: Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles."
"There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don't know."
"Politeness, n.: The most acceptable hypocrisy."
"Truth: An ingenious compound of desirability and appearance."
"Mad, adj.: Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence."
"Love, n.: A temporary insanity curable by marriage."
"Egotist, n.: A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me."
from Mark Twain:
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." "Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please."
"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."
from Voltaire:
"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."
WHaT'S oN MY SH3LF???
Tuesday, April 26, 2005Message: These are just some of the famous break-uplines... Alin ba dito ang narinig o nasabi nyo na? rated PG to ",)


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Links mentioned on air for March 26, 2013
Links mentioned on air for March 26, 2013
3M has recalled some Filtrete air purifiers because of a fire hazard. Learn more about the recall: here
If you have not yet read the Kansas City Fire Department's official report about the J.J.'s restaurant fire and explosion, you can find it here.
Woods Chapel Church is offering prom dresses to help out families who can't afford to buy one. Learn more about the program here.
Wondering about the "cold weather rule" for Kansas City Power and Light customers that's about to end for the winter? Read about it here


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Globally recognized Stanford virologist Dr. Jose G Montoya* explains how we know ME/CFS is a REAL disease. He describes patient case examples, then cutting edge research by his team and other researchers that daily increases clues to the cause of ME/CFS and hope for its cure. Our sincere thanks to Stanford Hospital for so generously posting this free video on March 11.
* Dr. Montoya directs the Stanford Chronic Fatigue Initiative (http://chronicfatigue.stanford.edu), and is a pioneer in antiviral research for treatment of ME/CFS and other chronic diseases at Stanford's Infectious Disease Clinic. For information about their current studies of possibly infection-associated chronic diseases, including links to participating researchers, go to http://chronicfatigue.stanford.edu/about/projects.html


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Popular Applications:
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Home / Texas Schools / Charter Schools
Subchapter D charters are often referred to as open-enrollment charters. This page covers the application process for a Subchapter D open-enrollment charter.
The types of entities eligible to hold a Texas open-enrollment charter are as follows:
Churches and other faith-based organizations are not eligible to apply for a charter. These applicants will need to establish a separate, nonsectarian 501(c)(3).
Public colleges and universities may also apply for Chapter 12, Subchapter E charters.
The Generation Twenty-Three application cycle is now closed.
Applicants should complete the Application Information Session Form (PDF, 153 KB) to register for one of the mandatory information sessions; these sessions will be held on September 15th and 22nd. The Instructions and Guidelines (PDF, 471 KB) document provides the complete timeline and detailed information pertaining to the completion of an application in response to the Generation Twenty-Three Request for Application (RFA).
Applicant Information Sessions
Applicants whose sponsoring entity holds a Texas 501(c)(3) are to complete and submit the Generation Twenty-Three Charter Application (PDF, 2,163 KB) and required attachments (PDF, 453). Please note an error on the application cover sheet. It requests the CEO of the Sponsoring Entity's signature twice; the second signature should be for the Application Preparer.
The following attachment links are applicable to ALL
applicants and provide additional necessary information for submitting an
Any applicant proposing to partner with a Charter Management
Organization (CMO) shall also complete the Charter Management Organization Addendum (PDF, 508 KB). A CMO is any third-party
entity, whether nonprofit or for-profit, that provides comprehensive education
management services to a school via contract with the school's governing board.
The Scoring Rubric (PDF, 249 KB) for the Generation Twenty-Three Open-Enrollment Charter application will be used by external evaluators to assess and score the strength of each application. This document is not to be filled out by applicants. It is provided to serve as a resource for aligning application material with Agency expectations.
Please note: An application must describe an education program that is unique to the applicant. An applicant that plagiarizes or copies any other application does not meet this standard.
You can sign up for updates about the open-enrollment charter application process by email through our GovDelivery link.
The links below reference some of the laws and rules that apply to charters:
If you have questions, please contact the Division of Charter School Administration by e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com or by phone at (512)463-9575.


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EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Watching Sam Bradford at training camp is a thing of beauty. The third-year quarterback might throw the prettiest pass in the NFL. The ball comes off his right hand smoothly and swiftly, often squeezing through windows no bigger than a defender's hand. He makes it look so simple, so effortless, that you begin to wonder if the Rams might have gotten off cheaply when they guaranteed him $50 million after drafting him No. 1 overall.
Unfortunately for Bradford and the Rams, the picture has not been as mesmerizing during actual games. St. Louis has managed just nine wins over the past two seasons, and Bradford has been beaten up badly in the process. According to Football Outsiders, he was sacked or hit 83 times as a rookie, fifth most in the league. He would have shattered that mark last season had an ankle injury not sidelined him for six games. Even so, he was knocked down 76 times, which put him on pace to have hit the turf 122 times.
"You can say what you want, but if somebody comes up and punches you in the face, the first time you might shake it off, the second time you'd probably blink and the third time common sense is kicking in and you're looking to avoid it," said new Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. "Hits on the quarterback is not something you worry about with just Sam Bradford; everybody is worried about it with their quarterbacks. There's such a big emphasis on these pass rushers -- obviously blitzes have gone to a high level. Everybody is being creative with the blitzes they're throwing at offenses, and we have to adapt with the way we design our protections, the way we call games. We have a few things that we can use to our advantage, like our cadence and screens. But if any coach said 'I don't worry when my quarterback gets hit,' he's lying to you. Over time if you get hit enough it's going to affect you, just like if a corner gets beat a couple of times on deep routes early in the game. You can say what you want, but it's going to affect him. Maybe not consciously but subconsciously it's in his mind."
The Rams will seek to protect Bradford by leaning heavily on the run game and utilizing safer, smarter play-calling that won't consistently look for the big play in 3rd-and-long or leave overmatched linemen in one-on-one situations. New coach Jeff Fisher's strategy is apparent in his coaching staff, which on the offensive side is loaded with assistants with ties to strong running games.
Schottenheimer coordinated the Jets' ground-and-pound attack that ranked first and fourth in rushing in 2009 and '10, respectively. Line coach Paul Boudreau was with Atlanta the past four seasons when the Falcons ranked 11th or higher in rushing attempts, including twice finishing in the top five. And tight ends coach Rob Boras spent the past two seasons in Jacksonville, where Maurice Jones-Drew finished first and second in rushing the past two seasons.
By running the ball effectively with Steven Jackson, who is seeking his eighth consecutive 1,000-yard season, by staying out of 3rd-and-long and by not trying to make a big play in every long-yardage situation, the Rams can minimize the hits that Bradford absorbs. The Texans failed to do that after drafting David Carr No. 1 overall in 2002, and he became a shell of himself after being sacked at least 49 times in three of his first four seasons. As a rookie he was sacked a league-record 76 times, and in his fourth season he was dropped another 68.
Bradford is far from gun shy, but during his film study in the offseason he was surprised to see that the hits had affected his play.
"You can come out and say it doesn't affect you, but subconsciously you start to be a little more aware of what's going on up front," he said. "You probably start to drop your eyes a little bit, or escape the pocket just half a count earlier instead of sliding to avoid pressure. The more I went back and watched the tape after the season, I saw myself doing that more than I [noticed] during the year.
"It's one of those things that just comes with trusting your guys up front and them trusting me. We're starting with a clean slate and for the next five weeks in training camp we are going to build that trust. I'm going to learn to trust my guys and trust that they're going to do their job and keep guys away from me, and they're going to learn to trust me that I'm going to get the ball out on time and do my job and help them when things are messed up.
"By building that relationship it makes you better and stronger as an offense. Building that trust now is what carries you through the tough times in the season, if there are tough times. If there's no trust between me and them, or them and me, when we do face tough times what are we going to do? Everyone starts to do their own thing, trying to compensate or make up for it instead of just relaxing and doing their job and letting things come naturally."
Bradford and the Rams were in a tough spot last season. The lockout prevented them from getting a head start on installing Josh McDaniels' complicated new offense. It didn't help that some linemen reported to training camp out of shape. Injuries also took a toll, with tackles Rodger Saffold and Jason Smith missing time because of concussions, and Saffold being placed on injured reserve in November because of a torn pectoral muscle.
Bourdreau, the long-time line coach, turned a group of overachievers into a formidable run unit in Atlanta. He has more talent in St. Louis, which should put smiles on the faces of Bradford and Jackson. The Rams lack an established No. 1 wideout, but Schottenheimer doesn't see that as a problem if the team is able to establish the run, which would force a safety into the box and create more one-on-one matchups on the outside.
"When you look at our group, we don't have a name that everyone is going to say, 'Wow, that's a premier receiver,'" he said. "But we've got a good core group of guys. Danny Amendola has a chance to be as good of a slot guy as there is in the league. Brandon Gibson, who I think is underrated, is a terrific route-runner and has excellent ability to create yards after the catch. Danario Alexander, boy he can really stretch the field. He's had big plays here in the past; he just has to battle some injuries. And [former Giant and Eagle] Steve Smith was a great addition.
"Then you go and look at Greg Salas and Austin Pettis, guys we drafted last year. We've got young players with talent; we've just got to continue to develop them, which we'll do. We've got one of the best receiver coaches in the game in Ray Sherman. Then you add the guys we drafted this year in Brian Quick and Chris Givens. As a core I'm very, very happy with the group. if people don't see us as having a premier No. 1 receiver, that's fine by me. I'd rather have a core group of guys because it's easy to double one guy and take him out of a play. What we're figuring out now is what each guy does well, and it's going to be our job to plug them into those spots and feature what they do well."
This much is certain: If the Rams give Bradford time and options, he'll capitalize. He wasn't voted Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2010 by accident. Fisher knows it. After watching Bradford dissect the defense on the opening day of training camp, Fisher sat in the shade outside the locker room and leaned over to a visitor.
"Sam's really good," he said. "No, I mean
The look in his eyes was more telling than the words from his mouth. Watching Bradford in practice can do that to viewers. Now it's time to carry it into games.


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September 12, 2008
The Age of Engagement
Patient marketing—as a catchall phrase for engaging patients with a brand—is extremely varied and diverse in practice. Patient marketers utilize everything from traditional TV and print DTC to online social communities, unbranded disease awareness websites and product sites, to elaborate adherence programs across scads of media outlets.
In considering the phrase itself, it has become evident that the former term, patient, is where the singular emphasis lies. The latter term, marketing, is increasingly shaped, not by product managers and account directors, but by empowered consumers no longer satisfied by brand soliloquies and one-size-fits-all content. Being able to first identify individual patient needs, and second, pinpoint how, when and where to meet them, is crucial in designing and executing a successful patient marketing campaign.
"It's all about customer needs defining the brand experience, especially since the number of voices that are weighing in and impacting the dialogue…have multiplied," says Ann Friedman Ryan, SVP, director of CRM and interactive at CommonHealth's consumer group EvoLogue. "What we really need to do is be able to be an active part of that dialogue and to engage our consumer base on their terms—to make sure that we understand their needs."
Therein lies the challenge of patient marketing: patients have different needs based on diverse personalities, and ultimately, different lives. So, how can marketers effectively engage a target audience of insomniacs, for example, since individuals comprising that group can be as different as night and day? A state-of-the-art online campaign won't reach the Luddites among us, just as a 15-second TV spot might not impress the most tech-savvy connoisseur of online healthcare content. On top of that, patient classifications—age, gender, astrological sign—aren't necessarily good indicators of how an individual makes decisions about health. "There isn't a cookie-cutter solution," says Ryan. "Emerging channels are proving themselves effective for certain brands, depending on how well they're done," adds Shelagh Brooke, EVP, chief strategic officer at EvoLogue, but there isn't any one approach that's effective on its own.
In terms of content, health literacy is an important area to consider, according to Susan Eno Collins, SVP, health education, at HealthEd. "In order to drive any kind of action or change, [patients] have to understand the information that's in front of them," said Collins during an MM&M webcast on patient education. In that respect, explains Ryan, it's necessary to provide diverse content so that patients can access the information that's relevant to them on an individual level. "A brand journey and a customer experience is not a linear experience. All of our messages and all of our content and education are going to be relevant at some point to all of our customers.
In addition to tailoring educational content and branded messaging to patients' needs, generating awareness for a specific condition and facilitating the conversation patients have with their physicians are two key areas in a successful patient marketing initiative. Brooke cites Lilly's campaign for Cymbalta as a good example of driving awareness for a differentiated problem. "[Lilly] launched 'Depression Hurts' unbranded, and it focused on the problem and the patient experience as a way to connect with what people were feeling and noticing. They executed it in a way that allowed them to send those patients to content either online or offline, where [Lilly] was able to tell a larger story about depression in a way that led to their differentiation," she says. "If you present a differentiated problem—which you can do well with an unbranded campaign—it leads to a differentiated solution. Cymbalta is for depression as well as aches and pains associated with depression. Now, Cymbalta is also indicated for fibromyalgia, and pain is certainly one of the most pressing symptoms that people feel. That was very successful for Cymbalta."
Brooke says Sanofi-Aventis is doing something similar with its "Know Your Rooster" campaign for Ambien CR. "They're creating a different problem, and they're doing it in a way that's very engaging and that grabs people's attention. It's not that you just have trouble going to sleep. It's that you have trouble staying asleep, that you wake up in the middle of the night, says Brooke.
Online social networking and user-generated content is an important part of the new media landscape, according to Ryan. "It allows us to go where our customers are, and to integrate into their lives, as well as to benefit from a halo of credibility just by the nature of the medium," she says, citing "friends" in a social network or relevant content in a contextual placement. "By using those kinds of channels, we're able to keep our finger on the real-time pulse of what's going on with our target audience, and not just as it relates to them as patients, but their lives—the context in which their condition may affect their needs," says Ryan.
Both Ryan and Brooke underscore the complementary role of DTC in providing initial contact and interaction with a brand. Brooke offers the example of Wyeth's "Know Menopause" site. Once online, women are then able to have a full discussion. "That's where you get that engagement and interactivity—but [Wyeth] still did traditional unbranded DTC to drive people to the site," says Brooke.
Drugs don't work in people that don't take them
Believe it or not, some people just don't like taking medications. That can be dangerous not only for a patient's health—as evinced by former US surgeon general C. Everett Koop's quote—but also for a manufacturer's bottom line.
Stanley Wulf, chief medical officer at InfoMedics, a service provider offering self-reported patient feedback to improve patient-physician communications as well as provide brand insight to manufacturers, describes the situation as a leaky bucket syndrome. "For the last decade or two the pharma industry has had such a healthy, robust pipeline, that the amount of water coming in the bucket—income from new drugs and blockbusters—has been so much greater than the loss due to non-compliance, that in a way there hasn't been a need to look at what is being lost through the holes at the bottom of the bucket," says Wulf. "Now, as the pipeline has been drying up, suddenly the losses through the holes in the bottom of the bucket are depleting the bucket. That's one of the reasons pharma is saying, 'hold on a second, it's not good enough any more that one-third of prescriptions are never filled, it's not good enough any more that 50% of chronic medications end up non-compliant. Half of the time the sales are lost to non-compliance. Those are huge losses."
In order to drive adherence and compliance, it's important, again, to understand patients as individuals. According to Wulf, 20% of patients will be adherent no matter what kind of hoops they're made to jump through. Conversely, another 20% are stolid non-adherents regardless of what measures are taken. The remaining 60% "is where you really can influence a change in behavior and adherence," says Wulf.
Wulf identifies the barriers to adherence in several ways. "Reveal barriers" are barriers that can be directly addressed with a patient. "You can say to a patient, 'Do you sometimes have problems remembering to take all your medicine?' and that's very clear and it's easy for a patient to say, 'You know, I do," and you can deal with that," says Wulf. "Derived barriers," on the other hand, are barriers such as the denial of a condition, mistrust of a medication, and comprehension issues.
Another division to consider when promoting adherence is whether a condition is symptomatic (asthma) or asymptomatic (high cholesterol). "When you have symptoms that drive adherence, your issues are when the symptoms get a little bit better, people start forgetting," says Wulf. "With an asymptomatic condition, you can scare people—'if you don't take your cholesterol medication you have a higher chance of having a heart attack'—and that lasts for a while but then it dissipates." These patients need a flexible adherence approach, for when adherence starts to wane between the third and sixth month, says Wulf.
A dialogue is at least a two-way street
In order to comply with and adhere to a medication, it must first be prescribed. "Our point of view," says Brooke, "is that all communications should be working toward modeling and making it easier for patients to actually present the story of their lives, whatever it is, to their physicians." A product site is a great place to start in facilitating patient/physician dialogue. "If you look at a brand like Detrol LA, they make the point about the importance of talking to your doctor and having a Detrol discussion," says Brooke. "[Detrol LA's] campaign directs people to a website where there's an actual dialogue tool of 'here's how to talk to your doctor."


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Re: Krugman considers catfood for breakfast
Step Three, if you are keeping track,
"STEP THREE: Many progressives – ones who are not persuaded that these cuts are less than draconian or defensible on the merits – will nonetheless begin to view them with resignation and acquiescence on pragmatic grounds. Obama has no real choice, they will insist, because he must reach a deal with the crazy, evil GOP to save the economy from crippling harm, and the only way he can do so is by agreeing to entitlement cuts. It is a pragmatic necessity, they will insist, and anyone who refuses to support it is being a purist, unreasonably blind to political realities, recklessly willing to blow up Obama's second term before it even begins."


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Hello, Steve Brill, Get Me Rewrite
Thinking about his doomed plan to build a pay wall around newspapers.
Alan Mutter spun a memorable catchphrase earlier this year when he called publishers' decision to distribute content on the Web for free their "Original Sin."
In Mutter's view, feeding the masses content at no charge for the last 15 years has helped to wreck their publishing business model. As he wrote in 2004, "If a newspaper gives away its costly and valuable product for free on the Internet, it may win friends and influence people in cyberspace, but it won't gladden the advertisers who pay the freight back here on Mother Earth."
If giving it away helped cast publishers out of the garden of profit, the man who has a plan to return the publishing industry to grace is Steve Brill. Brill, founder of the American Lawyer and Court TV, announced this week with partners Gordon Crovitz and Leo Hindery Jr. a plan to build efficient pay walls around publishers' content with their new company, Journalism Online. According to PaidContent.com's Staci D. Kramer, Journalism Online will release at least one e-commerce product by the fall.
Brill's strategy appears to be similar to those expressed in his November memo, Kramer adds, with micropayments for individual articles and all-day passes for a flat fee—as well as monthly and annual passes for publications that sign up with Journalism Online.
While I wish Brill and his clients the best of luck, this thing can't possibly smuggle newspapers back into the garden. Even if Brill recruits 95 percent of the top newspapers and magazines in the country, welds digital-rights-management security bracelets onto all content, and assassinates hackers who redistribute copy without authorization, the idea can't work.
Here's why. Let's assume, quite generously, that Journalism Online convinces 95 percent of the best publications to join its program and that all content is walled in. The exceptions would be a few free pieces for readers to taste, as in the model currently favored by the WSJ.com and FT.com, which are paid sites.
What's to prevent such Web enterprises as the Huffington Post, Nick Denton's Gawker enterprise, or some startup (Shafer and Manjoo?) from purchasing the most expensive all-tiers pass from Journalism Online and rewriting or otherwise encapsulating the best and most noteworthy walled-in articles in real time—and then selling ads against it? This is essentially what Henry R. Luce and Britton Hadden started doing in 1923 as they rewrote newspapers on a weekly basis for Time magazine. It is what the Week continues to do today.
What legal recourse will Journalism Online and its hypothetical client/partners at the New York Times, Newsweek, Esquire, The New Yorker, and Fortune, et al., have if Gawker's rewrite aces observe both copyright law and the "hot news doctrine"?
While you can copyright a news story, you can't copyright the news itself. In fact, under the fair-use provisions of the Copyright Act, reproducing portions of copyrighted work for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research are all considered "fair use." It's hard to imagine the New York Times waging a successful legal battle against the condensation of its top news stories as long as the condensers go about their work artfully. Such a news digest could give its distillations of Times stories extra legal protection by enveloping them in criticism, making them available to teachers, and adding a wee bit of their own reporting.
Publishers might try to beat back the news distillers by invoking the "hot news doctrine" devised by the Supreme Court in 1918 to prevent William Randolph Hearst's International News Service from rewriting and reselling the contents of the Associated Press. The decision essentially bestowed upon content creators a special set of property rights, subject to a lawsuit if:
i) a plaintiff generates or gathers information at a cost;
ii) the information is time-sensitive;
iii) a defendant's use of the information constitutes free riding on the plaintiff's efforts;
iv) the defendant is in direct competition with a product or service offered by the plaintiffs;
v) the ability of other parties to free-ride on the efforts of the plaintiff or others would so reduce the incentive to produce the product or service that its existence or quality would be substantially threatened.
Joe Mullin, writing about a current hot–news-doctrine case in his blog, The Prior Art, reacts to the five-part test this way. "Personally, I can't see how all five of these don't apply to any news organization that's writing a story that follows a 'scoop' by a competitor." He continues:
It's quite common for editors to ask reporters to "match" a story that has been published or broadcast by a competitor by re-tracing the facts, and often the sources, of the "scoop." As long as it's all re-reported and re-written, that's fair game. But the criteria of a "hot news" claim are still met; because newsgathering still costs money, the information is still time-sensitive (that's why we're rushing to get the second-day story), and it could still be thought of as "free-riding" if the second news outlet is just publishing a do-over of the themes, sources, ideas, in the first article—and such second-day stories could reduce the incentive to get scoops. (Although "substantially threaten" might be a reach.) It's all a bit theoretical, since individual scoops aren't really worth that much money, but it does seem like "hot news" misappropriation claims could allow any scooper to sue the still-competing "scoopee."
In other words, any success Brill and his clients have in shutting down the Gawkers of the world that distill their contents will only generate legal blowback that they'll live to regret.
Brill, like so many journalists, overestimates the value any one, two, three, or four news articles may have to the average or even above-average reader. The greatest value overestimate on record was pointed out to me in the mid-1990s by Suck.com co-founder Joey Anuff, who noted that LATimes.com was charging readers more to read an archived review of a movie than it cost to rent the movie itself!
Other Brill blind spots: Long before the nasty old Internet arrived to teach readers that the news was "free," the newspaper industry had already spoiled its customers by heavily subsidizing the product with advertising. If we're talking original sin, we should talk more about this ancient newspaper "transgression." The cash you pay for a subscription to the Washington Post covers only a fraction of the paper's $120 million-plus editorial budget. And while the idea of "free" media may startle Brill, broadcasters have done exceedingly well for themselves with the business model for many decades.
Still other Brill blind spots: He obviously knows the media landscape has changed since the original sin was committed, so he can't possibly think that readers are willing to return to 1995. People were losing their taste for newspapers then! National circulation had been falling for a half-decade. And because Brill won't get 95 percent of top publications to throw in with him at the beginning, his initial clients will suffer a first-user disadvantage: If the Washington Post takes most of its act behind Journalism Online's wall and the New York Times doesn't, Times readership will grow and the Post's will decline, and the Post's new direct-from-online-reader revenues probably will not make up the difference from losses in online advertising.
Brill's approach to getting back to the garden by walling it off from the free Web contains just a whiff of the notion that the news should be secret—and if not secret, then closely held, confidential information—and read by only those who pay full freight. His ideas run against the long-standing views of an industry that has always wanted its market power measured by how many people read newspapers, not by how many buy them, as illustrated by this Washington Post's media kit page, where the paper boasts of having 1,599,900 daily readers, even though circulation stands at just 633,100.
Maybe Brill's business model should find a way to start billing the millions of free-riders who pick up pre-read copies in coffee stores or family members who share newspapers at home.
How many New York Times articles would Shafer-Manjoo have to summarize each day to satisfy a just-give-me-the-facts readership on the Web? The June 8, 2007, edition of the eight-page TimesDigest (discussed in a previous Press Box column) contained 12 news stories, two editorials, one editorial column, two sports stories, a weather column, the crossword puzzle, a stocks box, and nearly a dozen shorts, so I'm guessing about a dozen. Maybe Manjoo and I could tweet our summaries to the Web? Send your reflections via e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com. (E-mail may be quoted by name in "The Fray," Slate's readers' forum; in a future article; or elsewhere unless the writer stipulates otherwise. Permanent disclosure: Slate is owned by the Washington Post Co.)
Track my errors: This hand-built RSS feed will ring every time Slate runs a "Press Box" correction. For e-mail notification of errors in this specific column, type the word Brill the subject head of an e-mail message, and send it to firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Information for parents, carers and guardians of Bristol students.
Resources, information and guidance for staff supporting students including consistent responses to students at risk guidance.
Help for NHS staff and DSA assessors looking for information and to liase with fellow professionals at the University.
The Vulnerable Students' Support Service provides support to the most vulnerable students, including assisting staff managing crises and emergencies.
See the A-Z list of support and resources available to you as a current student.
Learn about how we support wellbeing as part of Student Life at Bristol.


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Hello everyone --
- Karina's Favorite Recipes
- My (Big!) Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Recipe Index
- Zucchini Recipes
- Baking Tips + Substitutions
- Muffins
- Cake + Cupcakes
- Dinner Ideas
- How to Cook Quinoa in a Rice Cooker (+ recipes)
- How to Go Gluten-Free
- Slow Cooker Recipes
- Vegan Recipes
- Soups for Soul + Body
- Comfort Food
- Low FODMAP Recipes
- My e-Book: Gluten-Free Goddess - best loved recipes
- GF ABCs
- How I Got Here
Update... from Alex
Hello everyone --
51 comments:
Oh, gosh! I hope you are better soon and back to writing your Fabulous blog.ReplyDelete
Prayers going out for Karina and for a speedy recovery!ReplyDelete
Wishing you a speedy recovery, Karina. I'm sorry about your fall. Get well soon!ReplyDelete
ay yay yay...I'm so sorry to hear about this!! I hope you feel better soon...I'll be sending much love and good energy you're way...xoxo!ReplyDelete
Wha?!!! NOOOooo! *sigh* Can't wait til' she's back! :)ReplyDelete
Big Hugs to you all,
Oh! Your poor mom! May your recuperation go more easily than you expect, Karina.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous21:32
Your blog has been a godsend for me since my doctor told me to follow a gluten-free diet. Your cheery intros and wonderful recipes are indispensable. I have you on speed dial on my browser. Please get well soon and return to your adoring fans!ReplyDelete
PS Has your doctor made sure you can get enough calcium in your very restricted diet?
Oh Karina, I wish you a fast recovery! ~LiReplyDelete
Oh no!....wishing you a quick recovery. I'll be praying for speedy healing. You have been such an inspiration to me.ReplyDelete
All best wishes for a speedy and painless recovery!ReplyDelete
I'm so sorry that you're hurting, Karina! We'll be praying for your surgery and recovery. Take extra good care of yourself!ReplyDelete
So sorry to hear about this latest setback, Karina. I will be perusing my cookbooks to come up with a recipe for you to help speed your recovery when you come home. Thinking of you....ReplyDelete
Oh Karina,ReplyDelete
My heart and prayers go out to you for a quick and virtually pain free recovery. Let those around you pamper you. You deserve it for all the good you have done for so many of us.
Karina, My thoughts and prayers are with you!ReplyDelete
Slacker Mom
Sending you lots of hugs, positive vibes, and prayers from me, the Prince and the Professor.
Rest and feel better soon.
- Gina22:00
Ahh, the lessons of patience and healing...of watching where we place our feet...of grace under pressure (otherwise known as courage)...of silence and smiles...of knowing somewhere inside of your self that all things work for good somehow and eventually. Breathe and be grateful and know that many are sending you love and light. :-)ReplyDelete
Thank you all for your incredible kindness.ReplyDelete
with love,
New comments are not allowed.


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Buy Happy at our Northern VA Subaru Dealer serving Alexandria & Fairfax
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text: Create a cohesive work surface by combining modular cooktops and ventilation appliances controlled by front mounted, stainless steel knobs. Each cooktop is designed to fit together to form a greater whole and be flush- or surface-mounted within a stainless steel frame. The induction, gas and the more specialised: electric grill, steamer, Teppan Yaki and deep fryer, all combine with table and downdraft ventilation to offer a vast array of configurations.


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I remember ...
Tired of being the baby of the class.
Make sure to have lunch and school books.
Hope it's peanut butter & jelly. Really don't like lunch meats. They get slimy! Yuk!
Warmer coat. Mom says it's really cold. Oops ... where are my hat and gloves?
Mom reminds me to get milk money.
Look at clock ... better get going.
Walking to school can be such a pain!
No talking with neighbors or looking in store windows.
Mom says "straight to school!"
Catch up with friends.
Head in school building. Make sure not to run. Walk.
Hang up coat ... quietly to desk.
Stand to say "The Pledge of Allegiance".
Mrs. Zavodny takes attendance.
Go over subjects ... head to lunchroom.
Coats back on ... out to the playground.
Principal came into the room. Talks with Mrs. Zavodny. They are both crying.
Something happen to a parent? To another teacher?
Our parents will have something to discuss once we arrive home.
Coats back on.
Start waking faster ... start to run.
Sitting in front of the television with a box of tissues. What is wrong?!
"Someone shot The President."
"He has died."
Sitting in living room ... November 24, 1963. Mom is in the kitchen.