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Thursday, June 17, 2010
Can UTMB provide constitutional levels of healthcare after prison staffing cuts?
I find it hard to understand how the agency could let go so many nurses, dentists, and other on the ground personnel and still provide constitutional levels of care. If they do not, I further doubt the Justice Department under Obama/Holder will be nearly as reticent to intervene in Texas as was DOJ under Bush/Gonzales (that is, if the Administration would ever nominate any US Attorneys for Texas).
Slashing medical personnel at prisons forces UTMB to rely even more on telemedicine, but UTMB also laid off thousands of healthcare workers in Galveston after Hurricane Ike, including 124 professors whose firings this week earned them censure from the American Association of University Professors. Those post-Ike layoffs left UTMB overall financially in the black, despite losing money on prison healthcare, but I've never heard anyone adequately explain how UTMB's telemedicine program could still operate after losing so many docs and specialists on the main campus.
It's an open question whether UTMB's scaled back staffing actually meets the terms of their contract with TDCJ, much less surpasses the minimum threshold for providing constitutional levels of care under existing federal court precedents. Rumor has it prison administrators aren't happy with UTMB over the cutbacks, but TDCJ doesn't appear to have a lot of leverage. That said, UTMB's threats to pull out of the contract also ring false. They're a state institution. If the Legislature commands them to perform the services, by God they're going to do it.
So there's a sense in which both sides in the contract dispute can make only empty threats. Unless the feds intervene before then, the ball is basically in the Legislature's court, and I wouldn't expect them to weigh in until their 82nd session next year.
57 comments:
My husband has Lyme's Disease, which is serious when untreated and severe low blood sugar problems, which is treatable through a healthy diet. Neither of these medical problems are being treated. TDCJ will not accept medical information from the free world but refuses to provide adequate medical attention. Cutting medical staff has nothing to do with their decision to ignore his conditions, they ignored them before the cuts. They just don't care and neither does anyone else! I've read many stupid comments on here about doing the crime, doing the time, they don't deserve medical attention, blah, blah, blah. Idiots!
But I do have a question for those who reply sensibly and with a desire to be of assistance. Who can tell me for real about whether trustee camps keep inmates who have skills they want and deny them parole in order to continue using them. I read a older blog from Dec 31, 2007 indicating that to be the case. Who can answer from personal experience or actual knowledge. Please say how you know what you say. Thank you. - 6/17/2010 08:17:00 AM
You may want to refer to the book "Raped by The State", at Authorhouse.com. Similiar situations where the state ignores and refuses treatment of inmates and in many cases makes the inmates worse than when they arrived for confinement. Hense - Raped by The State.
I agree with your assessment of the TDCJ--UTMB shotgun wedding relationship. Both seem to have a need for each other and I expect the lege will keep the shotgun on both parties to "work something out". I doubt any single extant prison health provider other than UTMB could reasonably take over TDCJ care anyway.
Enjoy your excellent blog.
--Prison Doc - 6/17/2010 12:37:00 PM
Thanks for suggesting the book. I'll get it.
Grits -You asked about telemedicine and how they can continue offering it....... UTMB CMC has mid level providers (one of which is Steve Smock's wife) and Docs on the payroll who provide telemedicine.
UTMB CMC laid off mid level type management positions (AAs),Dental and RNs. UTMB CMC recently sent out notice to the mid levels and docs that they would have to take up the slack when the RNs are let go and help the LVNs. Many providers see this as having to "oversee/monitor" the LVNs. I am sure the nursing board will not be too happy with this......
The following is from an email providers recently received..Due to significant underfunding for this biennium, UTMB CMC has had to implement a reduction in force ( RIF), resulting in the loss of more than 360 of our fellow employees. To avoid a negative impact on quality of care, Unit providers have been spared in this RIF. However, the loss of ancillary staff and other healthcare professionals (especially RN's) requires that providers "step up to the plate" and provide support to other disciplines – especially to our LVN's who will no longer always have an RN on site for guidance and assistance
Bottom line, the leaders of UTMB CMC do not care if people are practicing outside of their scope. They do not care if providers do not have the admin support they need.We can not afford to lose any staff, we are already working short handed. As a provider, I am looking elsewhere for employement. - 6/17/2010 05:32:00 PM
So in essence, we'll end up with a less skilled medical workforce doing things that they really aren't qualified to do, which always results in medical screw ups, which then results in lawsuits, which cost far more to pay off/settle than the salaries would have cost. Well played, TDCJ.
Ok people, get it right. Many of you keep blaming TDCJ, but they are not in the business of providing medical care. They are strictly security. This is all UTMB. They are responsible for the RIF's and responsible for the provision of medical care. This is what they are paid to do. I'm with 05:32, I can't wait to see what the BON thinks of the position UTMB is putting the LVN's in. Evidently, they don't care about scope of practice.
Someone called our unit medical and asked them how many staff members would they need if we were at maximum capacity? This is after they gave notice to 3 medical staff - 1 with over 15 years at our unit.
This occurred last week, so someone at UTMB has probably been considering this constitutional level of health care already. - 6/18/2010 09:22:00 AM
- Angee said...
Annie, I don't know how it is possible to prove such a thing. I have a 70 year old friend that has served 23 years of a 30 year sentence for shooting and killing a man who was beating him in the head with a gun. Police officers took him to emergency to have his wounds sewn up and charged him with murder.
He has never has a case against him, is months away from receiving a double college degree and was a trustee at the unit until such titles were taken away and everyone was put back in with the rest. He has been eligible for parole since 96 but he is also over electrical and plumbing for that facility and is on call 24 hours a day. Both knees need replaced but I don't know if he even attempts medical care since he would not have surgery inside. But we have a model prisoner that has paid for his own schooling the entire time he has been in prison, has trained a crew and saved large amounts of money for the facility over more than 2 decades. He has spent all of his time at one facility and I don't think they will let him go easily. The next parole hearing is about a year away and he will have an attorney that is experienced in parole release. Does anyone know of one near the Navasota area? - 6/18/2010 10:07:00 AM
Thanks Angee for your experience. Does an inmate have a choice whether or not they are sent to a trustee's camp? If sent there, can they transfer out? Isn't it sad that these questions are even being asked?
- Angee said...
Annie, I know absolutely nothing about trustee camps or how one gets in or not. Recently we had an article here about trustees walking to Walmart to buy cigarettes and then returning to the unit. Until then I thought trustees were scattered throughout the system. TDCJ must trust them more than Parole does.
The answer to this is NO. There is no way certain things will get done in a timely manner since most employees will now have to cover multiple units.
I agree with you. This is not TDCJ laying off employees, it is all UTMB.
@R.Shackleford - that is exactly what it means. LVNs will be underpaid , over worked and practicing outside of their scope. It is not the job of providers to monitor LVNs.
@ 6/18/2010 09:22:00 AM - I am not sure who called your unit and asked how many employees were needed in medical if you were at maximum occupancy, but about 2 yearsTDCJ spent tons of money on consultants to come in and determine how many staff was needed to effectively run the units. It would have added 800 additional jobs just in medical alone. The legislator thought it was not necessary. NOW instead of adding 800 jobs, UTMB is cutting right at 400 jobs. - 6/21/2010 06:50:00 AM
OK Iknow i'm not on the stream, but it happened. My husband was sent to a trustee camp W-6 Chasefield Center. There is no information online about it but the address. What can anybody tell me about it?
I know I can call but where else can I find information about this place? - 6/21/2010 12:07:00 PM
Rumor has it today that Tx A&M is going to take it over...What are the chances of that????
Well that would be interesting if A&M took it over. I have not heard that one.
What 5% additional cut?
The number we heard was about 160 more people..mostly clerical...
I wish I could say that I am shocked that they are planning another lay off, but I AM NOT. I wonder if they are going to lay off any of their precious Senior Leaders?
Prior to the start of the UTMB pillage back in 1996, TDCJ called the shots. Under TDCJ, health care was more compartmentalized since there were separate departments for Psychiatry, Psychology, Social Work, Dentistry, etc. And, there was medical autonomy which occurred as a function of the Ruiz lawsuit. During this period in time, universities were hurting for funds. So, UTMB, like any opportunistic psychopath, offered their services. And, TDCJ bought them. Yes, UTMB had a cash cow. UTMB could deliver the worst medical care and not receive little protest from Joe Public. I believe they knew they could get by with substandard medical care. Initially, they knew that this reduction in care would have to be a gradual process. Joe Public frequently stated that offenders received better medical care. And, this was partially true for some people.
The first split between the two agencies occurred after the head man, Little Leon, put #30 million profit into his own pocket. Oink, oink, oink. But, he did not know the game or did not care about playing it. Reportedly, he was supposed to have returned this money to TDCJ or to the state of Texas. Things started getting rough after this happened.
The second split between these two mutant agencies occurred years later when UTMB managed to slither from beneath Ruiz. TDJC was still under the Ruiz gun with their Administrative Segregation situation. And, the stripping of services, ever so gradually, occurred after the initial pillage in 1996. UTMB did not know much about adult corrections. So, they winged it. For instance, instead of buying medical software for electronic charting, they bought a system and forced it to work. What a joke. At one point, they attempted to operate the software without the support of the company who owned it. They let the contract go. Employees in the bottom of the Viking ship soon realized that they were not going away. So, when people ask about the whether medical care is "constitutional", I want to laugh. Please, are you that stupid? The Texas legislature changed the laws concerning "frivolous lawsuits." Under these new rules, even Ruiz would have drowned. And, I don't think UTMB fully realized the cost of treating aging psychopaths who had wrecked their bodies. They whined to the legislature to no avail. Now, they want out? Oddly enough, some of these budget shortfalls have been blamed on hurricane Ike. So, the prevarication continues. You see, UTMB has attempted to market their bare bones medical treatment for other populations: indigent care in Fort Bend County; medical care in Saudi Arabia, etc. They were so full of themselves. Now, they are attempting to pay the Piper in counterfeit bills. - 6/24/2010 11:15:00 AM
Now, I want to comment about the family member whose spouse has Lyme's disease. It does not take a great deal of intelligence to understand that prison is not an optimal environment for treating Lyme's disease. So, please tell me, why did your spouse break the law & put himself in medical jeopardy? I don't have much sympathy either. "You play, you pay." Yes, TDCJ does "red tag" folks, but this has nothing to do with the parole process. The parole and institutional division of TDCJ don't work well together. I am reminded of a three-legged donkey running across a burning tightrope.
While I am thinking of it, I am going to suggest a read for those who don't understand the mind of a psychopath. Please, read this one.
When I've been asked about offenders being the "victims of society" I've wanted to retch. Some offenders are the "victimizers of society." SOTP uses the criminal thinking error approach for treating pedophiles despite the fact that Stanton Samenow, Ph.D. clearly stated that this method did not work with this population. I know this because I heard his comments at a seminar in Houston several years ago. SOTP was sitting in the audience when I asked this question. Did they hear what he said? No, it flew over the tops of their pin heads. - 6/25/2010 09:27:00 AM
- Angee said...
"I know this because I heard his comments at a seminar in Houston several years ago." One individual stating his personal beliefs convinced you of "the truth"? How about some valid and unbiased studies like the DOJ and Human Rights Watch? Did this man explain why all of our laws are based on stranger abduction, rape and murder when these cases make up less than ½ of 1% of incidents? And in such cases there is no flood of new laws pertaining to the murder but there is always more sex offender laws. One would think our society puts a higher price on honor than on life.
As a survivor of child sexual abuse I have to carry it through life because I get slapped in the face with it daily. I am told by the media and many individuals that I am an emotional cripple. Public opinion would have preferred that I had been murdered as well since I am a non-person but I will not lie down and die to suit your fancy.
You want revenge but you will not use me and thousands of other children to get it. These are children that you don't give a damn about. These are children that are locked into environments of abuse because the alternative is too costly. It is better to be abused in one's own home than in a foster home.
Debbie Riddle says that those who aren't willing to give up a loved one for 20 years deserve what they get. Maybe she is right. We get to walk away from all of it in a few years without the stigma and a 20 year sentence that is actually a life-time sentence thanks to vigilant citizens such as you.
The laws are about the harshest punishment possible for offenders. If it ever becomes about the children there will huge changes that include forgiving, kindness and helping children find closure and a new beginning. We will not be used as political fodder and an excuse to hate. That is as far from a solution as one can get. But you spend your life hating and I will spend my life to help in healing. You have numbers on your side but I have children I can actually point to and know that I have made their lives better.
Nobody grows up wanting to be a sex offender and there are some that can't be changed. Unlike you I don't think prison is the solution for every problem. Annie's husband is probably in prison because he screwed up and got caught. Perfection doesn't exist in the human race but inability to take personal responsibility and the need for scapegoats to look down on is running rampant. All of this is taking place in a nation that is screaming for a return to the Constitution but has no concept of equal rights. Your screen name is appropriate for the killing of America. - 6/25/2010 12:19:00 PM
My husband's parole was revoked on a dismissed misdemeanor. He was trying to prevent his 16 year old daughter from continuing to be sexually abused and exploited by her 18 year old cousing and her 26 year old boyfriend, who were giving his daughter drugs, alcohol and taking pornographic pictures of her and themselves.
His parole hearing was February 14. The parole hearing officer was mad because she missed her 8 year old daughter's Valentine's Day party. Did she care about what had been done to my husband's daughter. No, she didn't. She called the pornographic pictures "party pictures", said that my husband was "upset because his daughter was dating boys to old for her".
Angee, also as a survivor of sexual abuse, I would not wish that on any child; having said that, I hope that parole hearing office's daughter, now 16, is making her mother's life a "living hell".
DeathBreath: Put your head in a paper bag and breathe deeply. Some people are stupid and others open their mouth and everybody knows it. - 6/25/2010 01:51:00 PM
First of all, TDCJ does not provide the medical care for inmates. UTMB does this. Secondly, UTMB providers send off for free world medical records ALL THE TIME. Neither the inmate nor his/her family may bring in records on their own. Records must come directly from the hospital, MD office or whatever facility has the necessary medical information. Medical records personnel on each unit has the inmate sign a release of information form and the inmate gives the medical records person the name, facility, and if possible, the address from where records may be released. Unfortunately, inmates will tell their families things that are not true, to get family sympathy, which in turn keeps families upset and angry.
You may call the Director of Nursing on any unit and that person will tell you free world medical records can and are ordered by the providers all the time, when they are needed. - 6/28/2010 05:07:00 PM
Check out these comments:
Apparently Annie's not the only one who thinks free world records aren't ever requested. - 6/28/2010 08:25:00 PM
Records are ordered, obviously by providers who care, and those who care may be few in number.
5:07 I did talk to the Director of Nursing on the unit he was on at the time. That's where I got my information. I even offered to pay for the prescibed treatments myself and have all medications sent directly to him from the companies that manufactured them. They refused to allow him to be treated by the methods he was receiving prior to being returned to TDCJ and, they themselves have yet to offer any treatment for either problem.
Do some actually care? Let them stand up and identify themselves and force change by exposing the lack of the "constitutional level of healthcare" that our tax dollars are paying for. Stop being a "team player".
That term is from a book, "Raped by the State", that was recommended to me on this post. That's what it calls those of you who are working for TDCJ or UTMB and justifying their negligence. Try exposing them and see if they don't cut you off at the knees. But of course, you already know that, don't you? That's why you're "team players"! - 6/29/2010 02:14:00 PM
- Angee said...
Does UTMB obtain such records or maybe a unit doctor? Who is in charge of medical records for inmates? Who gathers the info on former treatment providers, gets a release from an inmate and actually puts a file together for someone to read and follow up on?
Someone that really cares is limited to giving shoddy treatment. I am grateful for the nurses I have encountered that battle the odds on a daily basis. I have helped check out many medical complaints and have never come across a doctor that seems to give a damn. Maybe they did once. Those inside should be exposing the horrors that take place on a daily basis. - 6/29/2010 09:02:00 PM
Those of you who are quick to condemn all the providers/nurses in the UTMB system.......have you worked in the facilities yourselves? You have no idea what hoops the providers jump through to get healthcare for the inmates. They meet obstacle after obstacle. There are many who fight to get the proper care for an inmate and don't stop until the healthcare is given or they are blatantly told by superiors to cease and desist.
Lumping all the providers/nurses into a basket labelled "BAD", is like labelling all teenagers "BAD". What's the old saying.....don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his mocassins.
Granted, not all providers care, it's the same in the free world....but the ones who do continue to plug right along fighting for the patients/inmates rights. - 6/30/2010 12:30:00 PM
Has anyone thought of this..........if you don't like prison healthcare, food, facilities....don't commit a crime and be sent to prison.
Why is your husband in prison? Obviously not because he made good choices. - 6/30/2010 12:41:00 PM
To 12:41 WOW. "if you don't like prison healthcare, food, facilities....don't commit a crime and be sent to prison." How original!!!! I am so impressed. Undoubtedly, YOU and every other DA out there has thought of that!
To 12:30 I do believe some care! Unfortunately, TDCJ just won't tell me who there are so I can make a reservation for my husband to run on over there and see him. Darn!
However, look at what you just said "You have no idea what hoops the providers jump through....obstacle after obstacle..many fight to get the propert care for an inmate.....OR ARE BLATANTLY TOLD BY SUPERIORS TO CEASE AND DESIST....." You just proved our point!!! WHO ARE THOSE SUPERIORS??? Blow the whistle on them. Or don't whine because you're lumped in the same cowpile as the rest!
In the free world, if we get lousy healthcare, we switch providers. Inmates don't have that option, do they? - 6/30/2010 01:37:00 PM
A provider must order free world records to be requested. This order is placed in the chart and usually says "request fwr re: kidney stones" (for example). The medical records clerks then call the offender in, gather all information like Dr./Clinic/Hospital/ER/Date range/etc. A release of information is signed, copied and mailed off. Once records are received back, they are scanned into the electronic medical record and emailed to the provider for review. These are then viewable by any provider at any unit during any medical visit during any incarceration. Records are requested ALL THE TIME! - 6/30/2010 08:14:00 PM
Ironically, I have insurance provided for by the state. A) I have to pay $30-$40 a visit. B) I have two doctors to "switch" to/from. C) I have to pay $10-$20. PER prescription (after I meet a $100. deductible.
An inmate pays $3.00 (if it's not a chronic ailment). - 6/30/2010 08:17:00 PM
WTF? This article is about good, hard working, honest people being laid off from their jobs! How did it get turned into another inmate sob story?! If you want your loved one/family member to get adequate care, stop bitching about how they have it so rough and do more to advocate to keep the staff! Each employee cut makes it harder and harder to properly care for the patients. UTMB just RIF'ed 363 people and more are to follow...if you think it's bad now, just wait!
As a UTMB employee AMEN to the above comment. Care is going to be hard to access once this RIF takes place. How does one expect to get dental care when most of dental got slashed..How about when the LVN's get sick or need vacation time?? who then?
What is "Constitutional HealthCare"? Is it beyond that which people in the "FreeWorld" have? Yes it is! In other words it is "Entitled/Mandated HealthCare". Prisoners know this, and they are going to be sure that it is delivered to them. Case in point, look at Medicaid in the FreeWorld. The rates are going to go down, so more and more Doctors are not going to take Medicaid and/or only be selective to the types of Patients they do take. But a Prisoner's expectation is that they will have the abosolute best "quality of care" and if they do not get "what they expect" they are going to go after the Provider responsible. This happens everyday. So the Poor/Working Poor are SOL. Another case in point. A 25 year old black male that has abused drugs (Meth, Crack, etc) is now with COPD and a weak heart, soon to be discharged from TDCJ. In reality he might want to stay in Prison so he can still get adequate HealtCare.
And just one more comment ref the UTMB RIF: while all the RNs in TDCJ are transferred or RIFed, TYC (even though with declining population) are untouched. For example at a TYC Unit (will not name now) has 10 (yes-ten) RNs for a Patient poulation of about 250 teenagers. Where is the justice here within the same UTMB/Correctional Managed Care? - 7/14/2010 09:26:00 AM
- Gritsforbreakfast said...
9:26, if it bothers you so much, call your elected representatives and demand that they incarcerate fewer people!
Are you serious? Elected Officials are not incarating People. People commiting "crimes against Society" and the Justice System are incarcerating People. In fact, my "elected official" Joe Barton thought that Obama was performing "a 20 billion dollar shakedown on BP", forget about anything else related to that situation. But seriously, elected officials, please!
- Gritsforbreakfast said...
10:57, I'm dead serious. Watch the legislative process. They're making decisions about who to incarcerate for what and how long all the time. Incarceration levels are about 25% a function of crime rates and about 75% a function of policy decisions, which is why incarceration continued to increase long after crime levels dropped from historic levels 20 years ago. We're an anomaly among other countries - the US has 5% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners - and it's because of policy decisions by elected officials, not because we have so much more crime than everybody else.
Well, I will admit I do not know alot about the Criminal Justice System. My comments are specifically about UTMB/CMC and what should properly be called Prison HealthCare, especially in this New Age of HealthCare Reform. If you do not terribly mind (and I mean this sincerely) I would love to comment about Prison HealthCare. Maybe you might even know of a better "blog" to make comment on. I hear from People in this area (East Texas) that your "blog" can be "interesting" at times reference UTMB.
Im hearing today that the the UT Board of Regents have forced UTMB to reverse the July 21st RIF??? Any truth to this??????? What? An "Oooops, we were just kidding"!!!! Sorry about all the upheavel this may have caused. Sounds like lawsuit city and yet another way to screw people out of unemployment as well?????????? Know anything about this Grits? Lots of nervous people want to know!
I know that UTMB (more correctly CMC) has done it before. It could likely be a "scare tactic" to the LEGE, that is to stay "well who else can do it" (ie take care of a failing Prison HealthCare System). A "Conspiracy Theorist" might say that they are doing all of this on purpose to slowly grind Prison HealthCare below "Constitutional Standards" (whatever that is). That whole concept needs to be redefined and not by TDCJ Health Services or UTMB/CMC because the "Enterprise" is being run by a "handfull" of "well paid" Depotist.
The latest from our "CMC Leaders" (can you name them)that "Security" can no longer use the "Million Dollar DMS Equipment" to present Patients to the (most correctly termed) "RN after hours HUB"; and Security can call Providers at Home when they are on Call (or not) to present Patients. Now this edict was dictated by the "Dictator" TDCJ Health Services and CMC Leaders "fell in step". You might wonder who the "TDCJ Dictators" are, they are - Dr Lannette Lithicum, Dr Robert Williams and Mr Crippen. But the worse part about this is that the Senior Leadership of CMC (can you name them yet)"wagged their tails behind them" and let it happen. Now who are "they" - Dr Owen "Oh Boy" Murray, Dr Charles "Danny Boy" Adams, Dr Glenda (though she might likely have been the only dissenting opinion), Mary "Golden Girl" or just "Gotcha" Gotcher, Gary "Good Guy" Eubanks, Steve "Slick" Smock and Tony "Tiny" Williams, and John "Little Dog" Pulvino. They are the ones that are making these decisions about RIFs, Staffing, Procedures, Nursing Protocols, Access to Care (ATC) (ie Inmate drops Sick Call, Inmate gets seen within 24-48 hrs, no matter what the complaint is or was, never heard of that in the FreeWorld, have you?: and they can still get in the Clinic near anytime they want by saying-- CHEST PAIN!), Chronic Care, Annual Physical Exams on everyone over 50 yrs old, etc. Oh, the new "focus" is ATC now takes a back seat to Chronic Care and Annual PEs; whoops, no one told the Inmate, let alone the TDCJ Dictators (or did they, doubt it). Check it out Lannimous! - 7/15/2010 05:58:00 PM
Well shiver me timbers! CMC has just added back the "Million Dollar DMS Equipment" for the "RN after hour HUB" that Security can use again - go figure. An email was sent out at 9AM today that put the DMS equipment back into action. It was most likely some miscommunication between the Despotist (spelling corrected from last comment - for definition) as opposed to anythng else. Our District Director is such a great Communicator the way he forwards all the emails he gets - otherwise you do not much here from him.
Another correction - Lannemous (for identification purposes).
Check it out Lannemous! - 7/16/2010 02:21:00 PM
Almost forgot - also (related to the comment dated 7/15 at 2:16 PM, not me) CMC has put out a notice with a weekend deadline (must be in by Monday AM) that they have put out 30 brand new RN slots (supposedly in very critical areas) that must be filled immediately. OMG! Is this how a UTMB "appendage" operates (ie CMC is an "appendage" of UTMB)? In fact, I think Dr Callendar, President UTMB, likely thinks of CMC as an "appendage" as opposed to a "full fledged division" and I really do not blame him. CMC has a long history of "knee jerk reactions" to "unexpected crisis", and I have told you who those Despotist are; To include Lannemous (ie Lannette Lithicum).
So today the latest is that UTMB has rescinded some more of their RIF. The word I heard from the Dental People is that the Dentist are being brought back. The RIF was to take place this week on Wednesday. Well someone must have blinked. Interestingly also, a top CMC Leader, ie Mary "Gotcha" Gotcher, has been working at Coffield as a Provider for several days last week. Wonder what is up with that, when she used to be such a "Golden Girl" and she was also even on CMC "Executive Committee". Hmm, interesting!
Today UTMB CMC provides information for all those to be RIFed tomorrow. And the Units will now go to provide only for 12 hour coverage. The Services provided under "Constitutional HealthCare" are being redefined.
You know Grits, you really might like to talk more about just what the heck is "Constitutional HealthCare". And in doing that you might want to ask CMC what "Access to Care" (ATC) means. And while you are at it why don't you ask CMC how much time, energy and resources are used at the Unit level to ensure ATC is met. Also who are those responsible for defining ATC as something that has been defined for over a decade as "Constitutional HealthCare". And once you get a responce from UTMB CMC and publish the comments I will tell you the rest of the Story from the "Trenches".
You might want to ask Lanette "Lannemous" Lithicum at TDCJ-Health Services. - 7/23/2010 04:17:00 PM
Dental (not just dentISTS but the hygienests) were UNrifted. But not the RN's, CMA's Admin Associates, etc...WTF? So they opened up 30-RN positions down south, and...? Our RN's here in Gatesville, just got told they're moving to another unit, with different shifts/hours, or else. So, it's like "you get to keep your job...as long as you move to where we tell you to..."
Good riddance UTMB CMC. You did me a favor by handing me my pink slip. I no longer have to deal with all of the idiot so called Senior and District leaders who only care about themselves. No longer will I have to watch you stab each other in the back ,party and drink at conferences,walk around like you are demi gods.
Good for you, now expose their names and behaviors to the public and make them accountable. Expose them. Embarrass them. You are not they only one harmed by them. They are not doing what they are being paid to do! See to it that they get their "pink slips" too.
- Angee said...
I completely agree. Somehow I think you will gain a lot of additional help from others who shared the same experience. You can be the one that gets the ball rolling.
Give your info to Grits and let him feature it and give it wings. - 8/01/2010 12:28:00 PM
I was a UTMB CMC nurse LVN. I quit because of freezes in raises, hiring freezes and knew something was fixing to go down. I was already disgruntled about some things. Was there for 2 yrs and had intended on retiring from there.
With all the cutback I can assure you quality of care will be affected. We already had gone without an RN on site for some time. They were available by phone.
Assistan nurse mgrs were layed off also putting more workload on the nurse managers. They've made some full time positions part time now and pretty much cut their staff in half.
I was doing 3x's the work than the other nurses, was also CID nurse which you don't get paid extra for.
Complaints about other staff not doing their job properly were not addressed. It's hard to pass meds when the person in charge or taking inventory and ordering stock meds doesn't do it and the meds are not available.
It's hard to work on CID when you have fight physicals, PHD physicals, ER's, walk in's and the other nurse working with you is nowhere to be found.
All in all I have to say I felt the offenders got pretty good health care. You have to realize often these people have lived hard lives and abused their bodies or out of lack of education or healthcare in the freeworld are a mess physically. I didn't allways agree or understand some of the procedures HG approved and some they didn't approve.
It will be interesting to see what happens, if someone else gets the contract, if dept. of justice comes in and forces them to increase the staff ratio.
Just my opinion.
Nurse - 9/08/2010 06:27:00 PM
Concerning UTMB/CMC cutbacks.
As of today I know of two units.
1 unit which has 600 inmates has only ONE LVN working the whole weekend by herself and possibly a med aide if she's lucky. Another unit of a population of 1300 has TWO LVN's and a med aide for the whole unit!!!!!!!
Somebody call the Texas Rangers, the governer or somebody. I'm calling somebody just don't who yet.
You know this is all well and good until something happens such as an emergency. Yep, they can call an RN from a hub unit which is 60 miles away. - 9/11/2010 06:55:00 AM
When you figure out who to call that actually cares, please be sure to post it. I wrote the governor. My letter was deflected to Rissie Owens and I was told that he defers to TDCJ and what they decide. Obviously, he takes no responsibility for what they are doing to inmates. Call the Texas Rangers, the FBI. None of them responded either. The truth is: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. None of these agencies represent truth, justice or what used to be the American Way anymore. The whole system is either corrupt or just don't care.
And just so you know, when you blog on this site, you receive Trojans that attack your site. I exposed the mistreatement of an inmate and received 5 trojans back to back within 24 hours. Make sure your system is well protected. Even then, beware before you blog any way other than anonymously, and yet still, either way, they will come after you. All in the name of their version of "justice". After all, they can lie, cheat, do drugs to set people up, beat people without justification, anything they want to get their "criminal". Nothing is too dirty for them, nor is it illegal when they do it.
Even my email is corrupted. They somehow managed to erase all my emails between myself and another who was providing me with extremely helpful information on who to call and what to do. Since that time, this email address is attached to some name, other than mine. So, I figure, their monitoring everything I write. As a matter a fact. I can't comment directly to the Grit for Breakfast straight from their blog site because my computer warns me against it. So, I'm going to try a direct response to someone else's comment. If it goes through, let it be a warning to everyone out there and especially Grits for Breakfast. People who respond to the issues you post are at risk personally. And nobody cares enough to do a thing about it. - 9/14/2010 05:58:00 AM
Here is the response I got back from the individual I blogged:
Angee said:
What should people be reporting? And unless you identify yourself and present facts nobody is going to take the comments of an anonymous poster seriously. Neither will any state agency. You might do some good if you were to openly fight for what you believe in. And do you know how to keep from being targeted? Spread your information far and wide.Make it public with a real identity. Your enemies seem to know who you are. You have set yourself up for being targeted.
And here is my response back to her, not anonymously:
I am the first blog on this article. annie. Now I'm an email called annie gennacaro. I didn't set up this name. Have you noticed that my blog that you responded to is not listed in that article. That's because I am blocked from commenting. And not by grits for breakfast. I'm surprised you got it. My husband's lymes disease is worsening. He is a S-2 minimum out trustee, no threat to society, is a professional builder who contributed jobs and asset to our community, but as of Friday, the decision was made to keep him. They'd rather keep him in prison and the public pay his room and board than let him out and admit if it had been for a pathetic parole hearing officer's biased report, his parole probably would not have been revoked in the first place. They do not admit or correct their mistakes. He just received "prescription glasses". $1.99 probably and the bifocals started at the inside of the eyes to the center. In other words, they're cross eyed. Looks like Buddy Holly's - only I guarantee Holly's cost more than $1.99. That's just one example of the medical care inmates get, when they get any at all. He has received no medical attention for the lyme's, although they were made aware of his condition when he re-entered TDCJ.
I appreciate your response. You've had good responses to my blogs. You care. Most are just on here to gripe. I'm not. I've blogged the truth of several situations simply to make it known. I even had a cop impersonate another person who is a friend of mine to discredit what I was saying, because I exposed him. That's when I received the trojans and now can't blog out. I blogged about another person who refused to plea. Now, his only supporter, his sister, died Aug 2 and his own attorney, court appointed of course, told him they aren't even going to let his case come up for trial because he passed 2 polygraph tests and have eye witnesses willing to testify for him.
Read today's Grits for Breakfast about Anthony Graves. LOTS of people are in prison or jail because of corrupt DA's, cops and a host of dirty attorney's who even though they are defense attorney's are best friends with the DA and help force plea bargains, instead of protecting the consitutional rights of their clients. So, how does anyone get justice? How many years are people supposed to rot in jail. For every one good elected official, how many corrupt, disgusting officials are elected? Why the corruption? Because their hand's in the cookie jar! - 9/14/2010 06:07:00 AM


text:
Francalacci et al. reconstructs the phylogeny of European Y-chromosomes based on a huge sample of 1,200 Sardinians. Naturally, Sardinians don't have every haplogroup in Europe or the planet, but with such a huge sample it was possible to find almost everything, minus obvious newcomers such as Uralic haplogroup N.
Poznik et al. build a human Y-chromosome phylogeny from 69 male genomes. The main thrust of their paper is to reconcile the "younger" Y-chromosome vs. "older" mtDNA in humans. In my opinion, that ship has sailed with the discovery of Y-haplogroup A00 which now makes the Y-chromosome MRCA of humans ("Adam") much older than the mtDNA one ("Eve").
And, indeed, the fact that the two are of different ages is not particularly troubling or in need of remedy, since for most reasonable models of human origins we do not expect them to be of the same age. Well, unless you believe the latest archaeological models that have early proto-sapiens perfecting their craft by scratching lines and perforating beads in some south African cave before spreading out to colonize the planet in one swift swoop.
The issue of the "discrepancy" aside, Poznik et al. resolve the issue of the binary structure of Y-haplogroup F, by showing that Y-haplogroup G (which is the Iceman's haplogroup, and the lineage most strongly associated with easly European farmers) branches off first from the tree.
Haplogroup G is an unambiguously west Eurasian lineage, so the fact that it is basal within F surely has implications about the origins of this most successful Eurasian group. The pattern is not quite clear, however, because the next most basal branch is H, which is unambiguously South Asian, and the next one after that is IJ vs. K, with IJ again being west Eurasian, with most east Eurasians nested within K. But, if we go up the tree, we see the split of C (Asian) vs. F (Eurasian), and further up DE (African+Eurasian) vs. CF (Eurasian). It seems to me that apart from the unambiguous African rooting of the entire tree, the rest of the topology paints a picture of a complex peopling of Eurasia, rather than a simple model of successive founder effects.
Another interesting finding of Poznik et al. is the discover of deep substructure within Y-haplogroup A-L419 (bottom of the picture).
The authors arrive at the following mutation rate:
Using entry to the Americas as a calibration point, we estimate a mutation rate of 0.82 × 10−9 per base pair (bp) per year [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.72 × 10−9 to 0.92 × 10−9/bp/year] (table S3).This is notable for being lower than the directly estimated mutation rate of 1x10-9 of Xue et al. (2009).
The usefulness of "archaeological calibration" eludes me, which brings us back to Francalacci et al. who also archaeologically calibrate their mutation rate and find:
Considering that our analysis focused on approximately 8.97 Mbp of sequence from the Y chromosome X-degenerated region, this rate is equivalent to 0.53 × 10−9 bp−1 year−1.So, the Francalacci et al. mutation rate is about half that of Xue et al., with that of Poznik et al. being intermediate. The Francalacci et al. rate was calibrated by "the initial expansion of the Sardinian population". Now, whether the current Sardinian population is descended from that initial expansion or from a later successful founder remains to be seen. In any case, using their ultra-slow mutation rate, these authors suggest that:
The main non-African super-haplogroup F-R shows an average variation of 534.8 (±28.7) SNPs, corresponding to a MRCA of ~110,000 years ago, in agreement with fossil remains of archaic Homo sapiens out of Africa (7, 18) though not with mtDNA, whose M and N super-haplogroups coalesce at a younger age (13). The main European subclades show a differentiation predating the peopling of Sardinia, with an average variation ranging from 70 to 120 SNPs (Table 1), corresponding to a coalescent age between 14,000 and 24,000 years ago, which is compatible with the postglacial peopling of Europe.I am personally skeptical of all such archaeological calibrations and I'd like to see the mutation rate directly estimated using a well-behaved process (say, a 1,000-year old deep pedigree between two modern males separated by 60 meioses). It seems that there is no escape from mutation rate controversies in human genetics.
The most striking piece of data from this paper is the following figure:
Going from left-to-right:
- R2 in Sardinia! This is extremely rare in Europe and underscores the importance of large sample sizes. It'd be wonderful to study it in the future in the context of, say, South Asian R2 which is much more numerous.
- The clear "explosive" expansion of R1b-related lineages
- A very deep common ancestry of haplogroups L and T.
- Quite deep coalescences within Y-haplogroup J
- "Explosive" growth of I2a1a1; this "southwest European" lineage attains its maximum in Sardinia and looks like a clear founder effect. It should definitely be visible in the ancient DNA record of the island.
- Fairly deep splits within G2a. It would be interesting to see how G2 compares with Caucasian G1. We now know that G is very old lineage in West Eurasia (being the first split in haplogroup F), but how much of its present-diversity dates back to splits shortly after the haplogroup's appearance?
- Finally, the deep splits within African haplogroup E correspond to the likely varied origins of these lineages
DOI: 10.1126/science.1237619
Sequencing Y Chromosomes Resolves Discrepancy in Time to Common Ancestor of Males Versus Females
G. David Poznik et al.
The Y chromosome and the mitochondrial genome have been used to estimate when the common patrilineal and matrilineal ancestors of humans lived. We sequenced the genomes of 69 males from nine populations, including two in which we find basal branches of the Y-chromosome tree. We identify ancient phylogenetic structure within African haplogroups and resolve a long-standing ambiguity deep within the tree. Applying equivalent methodologies to the Y chromosome and the mitochondrial genome, we estimate the time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) of the Y chromosome to be 120 to 156 thousand years and the mitochondrial genome TMRCA to be 99 to 148 thousand years. Our findings suggest that, contrary to previous claims, male lineages do not coalesce significantly more recently than female lineages.
Science 2 August 2013: Vol. 341 no. 6145 pp. 565-569
DOI: 10.1126/science.1237947
Low-Pass DNA Sequencing of 1200 Sardinians Reconstructs European Y-Chromosome Phylogeny
Paolo Francalacci et al.
Genetic variation within the male-specific portion of the Y chromosome (MSY) can clarify the origins of contemporary populations, but previous studies were hampered by partial genetic information. Population sequencing of 1204 Sardinian males identified 11,763 MSY single-nucleotide polymorphisms, 6751 of which have not previously been observed. We constructed a MSY phylogenetic tree containing all main haplogroups found in Europe, along with many Sardinian-specific lineage clusters within each haplogroup. The tree was calibrated with archaeological data from the initial expansion of the Sardinian population ~7700 years ago. The ages of nodes highlight different genetic strata in Sardinia and reveal the presumptive timing of coalescence with other human populations. We calculate a putative age for coalescence of ~180,000 to 200,000 years ago, which is consistent with previous mitochondrial DNA–based estimates.

subset: commoncrawl


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Vicente Padilla (2-2, 5.05) vs. Chris Volstad (4-7, 4.45).
COMMENTS: Do you want to know the terrifying truth? Or do you want to ogle some Marlins Mermaids?
1: Marc Serota/Getty Images
Random rantings and ravings about the Los Angeles Dodgers, written by a small consortium of rabid Dodger fans. With occasional comments on baseball, entertainment, pop culture, and life in general.
I wonder how the Dodgers do when you post mermaids pics on Game Threads.
Josh, do you have a spreadsheet on mermaid GT posts?
That's an impressive display! I think that the disembodied hand in photo #2 is somewhat terrifying, though.
Speaking of which, I'll probably drop by the Hooters in Burbank to see LA Sports Live tomorrow.
Mermaid spread what now?
A lot of pent-up anxiety from not being able to post yesterday, I see.
Right, Mr. C. I need to let this shit OUT, man!
*howls at the moon*
where is glenda?
I demand Manatees.
Using the Marlins tag, I only found one other GT with Mermaids pics (from earlier this season). A few PGTs, and lots of posts ABOUT the Mermaids, but one solitary GT.
So, the record stands at 0-1.
I was going to say something articulate and insightful, but I forgot.
How 'bout those Mermaids?
@Josh I stopped watching Notting Hill to do some research and this is what I found:
When the Mermaids appear, the Dodgers have one win and two losses. When the Manatees grace the posts of this blog, the Dodgers have one win and no losses.
Way is clear and numbers don't lie, gentlemen.
My bad, I counted PGTs.
Go Nats! And mean it even more than usual given that they are playing Pod Rays.
Something about a photo of three smiling mermaids stuffed in a locker enchants me.
And is that their road oranges they're wearing or are they honoring the Netherlands' win?
@karina 4:32 PM -
That suggests that in times of sorrow we look to the Mermaids for comfort yet in times of joy we prefer to celebrate with the Manatees.
The team with the lowest attendance rates in baseball is also the only team to employ a dance squad.
Yes. Yes, it is.
EK in a Game Thread? Cats and dogs, living together!
EK mentioned the Netherlands. Perhaps he thinks this is the World Cup thread.
If they comfort all of you in times of sorrow, let the mermaids be.
what do we have the girls to take comfort in?
@Josh the dutch soccer team deserve praise everywhere.
That GT does nothing for me! Where's the eye candy for Karina, me and the rest of the ladies?
What, are we not worthy enough? You have us and our plentiful banter and wit. Throw in a snark or two as well. Hell some of us are practically bilingual too!
I've noticed a trend. I only seem to post in game threads when I'm out of town.
On a possibly related note, I'm in Texas. Today's note from Texas: Rangers games are apparently on FM radio, not AM.
No guays left in the World Cup? What is a guay to do?
Yesterday I missed a Dusty tribute to Fresnans or at least this Fresnan and a Dusty Gin Song.
Damn you Blogger!!!
At least I didn't miss a free Flaming Menudos concert.
I might elaborate on the gin song and re-post in its enhanced form at a later time.
@Neeebs if it wasn't for your banter, wit and snark, we wouldn't bother to come back every day. I adore all of you!
@Karen Joe Mauer has graced this blog. In fact, I asked for him in the campaign and got his picture. Suggest some eye candy! (if you're reading this, Betsy, I encourage to do the same)
I'll support whatever you decide. If you want more confidence, search for older Mermaids posts. Very funny comments, I admit, but one feels left out :(
Epale karen! (and everyone else!)
Why is CC Sabathia being replaced by Jered Weaver in the ASG? (Other than he deserves it.)
Is CC pitching on Sunday?
Holy shit is this new pitcher rule ever dumb!
Weaver is replacing CC because CC is scheduled to pitch on Sunday. BUT...Weaver is also scheduled to pitch Sunday, so Girardi will need to name someone else. Weaver was named just to be named. (Plus he gets a 50,000 dollar All-Star bonus.)
I think the prettiest boy out there is Andre Either. I vote for a Dre thread, what do you think?
Congratulations, Jered, enjoy your $50K bonus!
Put up a picture of Merman for Karen.
I heard Flaming Menudos are headlining Ozzfest.
It's good to see XP back in the starting lineup.
I blame yesterday on Mexican food and the conundrum.
Had to get all that in before Blogger takes a crap again.
p.s. pictures of cheerleaders in lockers is muy caliente.
Time to kick some NL East ass
Can I just say I hate Cody Ross. And pretty much anyone named Cody.*
*Unless anyone who posts here is so named, in which case I don't hate you and I apologize.
VPad is already sweating like...Sax.
Tad early for a plunking, no?
Nice throw Russ
It's never too early for a plunking or a beer, Josh.
That CS was a bailout. I hope Battletoad settles down.
VPad will be fine. He just had to calibrate.
Epale, everyone!
Made it home from work in time to actually be watching in real time.
Volstad is one big ugly mug.
Plus, Volstad reminds me of the Volstead Act.
I beat Vinny to the punch re Volstead!
Vin will pop into this GT and say "DAMMIT"
God dammit, Blake. You can't watch that go by with a runner ISP.
Nice spear by Kemp.
Wait a minute, is Blogger down again? Or is everyone gone?
Thank heavens i'm not alone!
Testing, 1...2...3
Vin: "DARNIT!"
Ain't no party like a blogger party cause a blogger party don't start!!!
I don't know but my Safari keeps closing itself :(
Karina, I'm convinced your Safari is haunted. That is my technical assessment.
I thought it was a Scranton party that doesn't stop.
What version of this haunted Safari are you running? I'm using Version 5.0 (6533.16) and it's flawless. Mostly.
A Scranton party doesn't stop blogger parties are hard to start or continue or finish.
@Dusty Baker I upgraded when I was told to. I don't know if it has to do that I'm working on Illustrator and Photoshop at the same time.
Raffy this is a wonderful time for RBIs
The Adventures of the Sons of Steve Garvey Volume 22: The curse of the Safari ghost.
Spoiler alert: The Ghost is a Giants fan.
I'm guessing it has a LOT to do with that, as both of those take up a lot of memory.
@Karen I support whatever you want! but I'll refrain about discussing the attractiveness of any Dodgers player.
Furcal you are the awesome. Curse me for cursing you early this year and last year and the year before that.
LFP gets a Kemp gift!!!
I'm liking this pitcher!
"Half way up the pavillion" Vin
We could say that about everyone, from time to time.
@Dusty Baker I think I have enough RAM memory, but I'm working on large files.
Josh, did Kemp's bomb land on your doorstep?
sweet jesus he crushed that
Ramiro, Vin?
One thing I've noticed re Safari is that if you leave it open for a long time, the memory it's using grows. Closing it and waiting a few seconds before re-opening will clear this out. I have this problem b/c I usually have a lot of tabs open and if I want to remember to read an article, I just leave that tab open. Doing so overnight or a long period of time eats up a lot of memory.
It says 49 comments on the outside, but 83 on the inside. Oh Blogger, you toy with our hearts.
4-0 Dodgers! Whoo hoo!
Kuo wearing a poncho just cracks me up every time I see it.
Blogger can toy with my ass.
If you'll forgive the IT talk in the GT, Abobe programs are notoriously memory-hungry. On PC version, you can change the "scratch disk" settings. I don't know the Mac equivalent, if there is one.
@Dusty Baker I think you're right. I had a video to watch later, because it runs 76 minutes and had that tab open all day long.
So, how nasty is VPad? or the Marlins want to go to bed early?
Thanks for listening to the constructive comments I had for you earlier in the GT, Casey!
Bordering on a beatdown. Keep it coming.
Damn! I just got home from the market and missed Beard's homer while I was rewinding to see Kemp's.
Cards whacking the Rox, per VIn. And per the scoreboard I just looked at.
Thanks, Mr C. I'll try to find the equivalent on Mac...if I can remember what "disk scratch" is.
Thank you very much to both.
Oh XP...
GAARP could have done that.
This conversation makes me want to scratch some vinyl.
@Mr LASF but we can count on XP to have decent at bats
MSTI is complaining about Xavier Paul in Twitter too.
It was that bad?
No, it wasn't that bad at all. Some of those whiners need to just calm down. It's the time of day where there's weird light and it's understandable that X lost the ball.
Sent you a link.
I just ran into my wall.
DB you gonna break out the SP1200s?
damn you Cody Ross, get out already
I hate you, Cody Ross.
I walked away and he was still at the plate when I returned. Go away, Cody!
there we go
OK lets give VP some time to rest with a long bottom of the inning
No damage! I'll take it!
One question: it's almost 9 pm and it's still sunny in LA?
Actually, it's a bit past 8:30, as the time stamps will tell you, and the sky is a very dark blue.
If you going to use California Sun All Star people at least use the Ramones cover
No more Volstad.
it's after 11:30 and it's still 91 in New York
"No more Volstad."
So we can drink now?
Volstad Act: repealed!
New York has been freakishly warm lately.
Speaking of freakish weather, this was my view of Downtown L.A. from my office parking lot this morning.
I'm not in front of my TV at the moment...DeWitt stole a base?
Come on Kemp. Eye of the Bison baby.
That's funny b/c back in April I took a similar shot with the same app (posted here: http://span.posterous.com/15473224)
Technically he didn't steal it because he was out, but we'll take it. So yes, a stolen base.
Huh? Gameday says he stole it.
Ah, well, doesn't matter now.
Why does the Andre figure fart?
While you all have been distracted by Mermaids, I've snuck up a post recapping last night's Q&A with Ned Colletti.
I'm sorry - I was not clear. He appeared to be out but was called safe, so yes he stole it.
Only you erudite gentlemen would reference prohibition in a GT.
Let's go, V-Pad
clap, clap, clap clap clap
Speaking of Pads, Pods lost to Nats on a walkoff Zimmerman HR.
Going to vote for him and Konerko another 100 times now.
We've been cheating.
I didn't cheat! I mentioned it before Vinny did.
Nah, I heard Vin reference it too. I just wanted to give you guys the cred'.
That's our All Star right fielder there!
My boy E!!!
Boom Dre!
Third HR of the game
why couldnt this have happened last night?
This is plenty for the Battletoad.
Shot of Ackbar in the dugout there, makes me worry about why the Fish have spotted us six runs...
It's a trap!
Prepare yourselves, ARod hit his third Grand Slam this season. He's done that 4 times, the only player with the same numbers is Jimmy Foxx.
Do you think you're going to hear that info more this week?
3 Hrs in a game! I'll take it!
Ackbar looks like a lobster so he knows the fish better.
How does Jeter fit into the ARod stat, though? The media will figure out how to make it about Jeter.
Think Joe will start Reed Johnson tomorrow, so there can be a Johnson vs Johnson sword fight?
California Love coming up.
Pasadena, where you at?
Can't stand that song very much
Maybe Jeter scored in all three slams.
Oh, FB, meant to give you props earlier for the SP1200s reference.
Dre lost the funk somewhere during Doggystyle
DB cut it up so def
Bad K for XP
still 6-0 Dodgers
I prefer to think he was saying how they couldn't resist firepower of that magnitude.
Proposal behind home plate? It was Larry King, wasn't it?
FJL with the nice snag
I am already dreading Padilla using that curve in some crucial game in September and having Ryan Spilborghs or somebody similar take it way out
Padilla kind of looks like Landos co-pilot Nien Nunb. I had to look that up.
I hear ya re: Dre, but I do kinda dig on California Love and Tupac's collaboration with Dre on it. Mainly because Pasadena receives a shoutout at the end. Coincidentally, Mr. C and I happened to be in a drinking establishment the other morning and looked up to see a sticker on the bar that said "Pasadena, where you at?" I couldn't tell if the sticker was a reference or what. Had to be.
VP's rebound after coming of the DL is refreshing. I had become used to pitchers going on the DL just because they suck.
Karina's Son with the strong slide to first - makes it in safe! Good hustle, Pornstache!
Russell Martin hasbeen driving me crazy lately, but that slide at second rocked the house.
i thought that was going to dunk in too, Cody
Shows how much contact Raffy is making these days
Almost, Kempy
I don't much like Cody Ross
inglewood always up to no good. It is so funny it makes the song memorable.
summunabich that was close
Mrs Dusty will note that it is physically impossible for me ever to say "Inglewood" without also saying "always up to no good."
@DB it had to be. Was there a sticker with some Jan and Dean lyrics on the other side?
I say Inglewood with the emphasis on the "wood"
West Up!
Love Battletoad's nice blue glove.
Padilla's glove looks like he got it from Sears
haha awesome timing DB
Glad you liked something about my son's performance
Not wild about the blue glove, but it certainly works for VP.
Ramon Martinez had a good blue glove too
Why do the Cards suck at the one time I'd prefer they wouldn't?
So 'toad is over 100 pitches. Who'll come in?
Okay, now I am starting to hate Cody Ross, too
@Mr C
What the shit happened there?
DP coming up, have faith.
6 effing runs in the bottom of the 9th? screw you Cardinals
I'd like to underscore my comment of 7:13pm in which I expressed my hatred for Cody Ross.
Franklin happened.
Just devoured one of those single-serve Jello pudding cups.
Man, those are great. They should make those cups bigger, though.
Oops. One pitch too many.
goddamm Ryan Franklin
I hate Mike Stanton
I hate Sherman Oaks
I hate Notre Dame Academy
Local boys always get their moment here, don't they?
Good outing though V-Pad!!!
BattleToad done for the night
One pitch too long, but nicely done by the battletoad.
*claps for V*
I can't hate on anything blue, even if it is a Sears-lookin' thing.
True story: I wear blue clothes or clothes that have blue somewhere in them to work virtually every single day. I do so on purpose to represent Dodgers and Chelsea. My secretary freaks out if I ever wear, say, a white or yellow shirt.
Some consider me absolutely insane, and their assessment may be fairly accurate.
*flips bird to Ryan Franklin*
We don't have Tron, so now it's Sherrill all the time :(
How the fuck did the Rox score NINE runs in the bottom of the ninth to win 12-9?
uhoh George vs a righty
Mrs. S saw that Sherrill was in and, without saying a word, turned to me and made this face:
Hopefully Ned's belief in Flat Breezy is well founded.
4/3 vs. SF (W, 5-4): Sax
4/15 vs. WSH (L, 4-6): Dusty, Orel, Sax
5/6 vs. MIA (W, 6-3): AC, Sax
5/16 vs. CIN (L, 2-7): AC, Sax
6/12 vs. TEX (L,2-3): Sax


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Sun-dried from the environmentally protected national treasure, Ise (ee-say) Shima, Japan. Essential for miso soup and delicious in salads. It turns a happy bright green when soaked. A good source of magnesium.
Eden Wakame is cultivated off the shores of Ise (ee-say) Shima, Japan where it thrives in cool and mineral rich Arctic currents. The sea there is surrounded by National forests and mountains and is known as the 'Ocean by Mountains' area. Rivers nourish the bay adding to a mineral rich environment. This area leads all of Japan in ecology movements. Development is forbidden to ensure future generations the legacy of this famous edible seaweed resource. This wakame is hand harvested from January to the end of April by farmers in boats using long poles with blades attached to cut the fronds loose from the ocean bottom. Long rakes are used to gather the wakame as it floats to the surface. The wakame is taken ashore, washed, hung on ropes and left to sun dry before trimming, grading and packaging. Unlike most commercial wakame, Eden Wakame is not treated with softening agents such as enzymes or monosodium glutamate (MSG).
Wakame Undaria pinnatifida is a species of brown algae with long, delicate leaves that resemble feathers. Its size and tenderness varies depending on where it grows as temperature and ocean conditions create a variety of plants. Wakame first became known in the United States as the green in Miso soup, and is one of the most popular sea vegetables in Japan and the United States today. Eden Wakame is quickly restored to tenderness when soaked and is a favorite in soups, stews, marinated dishes, and salads.
Eden Wakame is low calorie, fat and cholesterol free, and a good source of magnesium. Like kombu and other brown algae, wakame contains glutamine, a sweet amino acid that acts as a flavor enhancer and softening agent when cooked with other foods. Its alginic acid, a polysaccharide similar to pectin found in land plants, protects the plant from bacteria and fungi. Scientific research conducted by McGill University, in Canada demonstrated that 'alginic acid binds with heavy metals in the body, from all sources, renders them insoluble and causes them to be eliminated.'


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Frequently asked questions
- How do I benefit from using Manage My Booking?
- What can I do through Manage My Booking?
- How do I access Manage My Booking?
- If my booking contains flights, which are not with British Airways, can I still access Manage My Booking?
- If I made my booking with a travel agent, can I use Manage My Booking?
- Are there any restrictions to which bookings I can access with Manage My Booking?
- If I make changes to my booking, how do I know that my changes have been stored in my booking?
- If I make seat and meal requests, are they guaranteed?
- Why can't I request a special meal on my flight?
- Can you tell me about the service where customers are able to print their own boarding pass?
How do I benefit from using Manage My Booking?
As a British Airways customer, Manage My Booking is a self-service online initiative designed to assist you by:
- Giving you reassurance about your booking by being able to view booking details 24 hours a day at any time up to when you travel for each flight.
- Eliminating the need for you to check your booking details and request booking services by phone.
- Reducing time spent in airport check-in queues.
- Providing travel information relevant to your booking to help you plan and prepare for your travel.
What can I do through Manage My Booking?
Manage my booking allows you to:
- View details of your travel itinerary.
- View your seat and meal requests.
- Make seat requests from an interactive seating plan.
- Make meal requests from a list of available special dietary meals.
- Provide Advance Passenger Information (e.g. passport and other details).
- Apply for an ESTA if you're travelling to the USA or Puerto Rico.
- Add an Executive Club or partner frequent flyer number to ensure receipt of Tier Points and Avios.
- Email your itinerary to colleagues, friends and family.
- View check-in times and information about Online Check-in and Self-Service Check-in kiosks.
- Check in for your flight online and print your boarding pass before going to the airport.
- Obtain baggage information including allowances or restrictions.
- View city guides and other useful links.
- Access real-time departures and arrivals information.
- Change your flights, upgrade your cabin class and claim refunds.
How do I access Manage My Booking?
To access Manage My Booking, you just need your booking reference and last name. Regardless of where you made your reservation, your booking reference can be found on your ticket (in an area called 'PNR code' or 'Locator') or on your e-ticket itinerary receipt. The reference is a series of six characters containing letters and numbers.
If you are an Executive Club member and you are logged in to ba.com, you will be able to automatically list your booking references, which contain your Executive Club number.
If you are unable to see this reference on any of your documentation, please contact the company from where you purchased your ticket who will have a record of it.
If my booking contains flights, which are not with British Airways, can I still access Manage My Booking?
You can access Manage My Booking to view any flights on your booking, provided there is at least one flight with a British Airways flight number.
Seat and meal request services, the Advance Passenger Information service, Online Check-in, if available, can only be used on flights with a British Airways flight number.
If I made my booking with a travel agent, can I use Manage My Booking?
If you have booked through a travel agent and your booking contains at least one flight with a British Airways flight number, then simply use your travel agent's booking reference to access the Manage My Booking service.
There are two key service limitations, which may apply to a travel agent booking:
- You may not be able to view all of your flights in Manage My Booking. If this is the case, then this is because British Airways does not own the booking and is normally allowed to view it's own flights plus with preceding and succeeding connecting flights (regardless of airline).
- Changes made through Manage My Booking to British Airways flights will normally not be passed back to your travel agent booking.
Are there any restrictions to which bookings I can access with Manage My Booking?
You will be unable to access Manage My Booking for any bookings that:
- were made through our Group Bookings team or via a travel agent for a group, which includes any booking for 10 or more passengers
- are for flights that have been flown or cancelled
- include hotels, cars, experiences or transfers booked on iberia.com
Please contact us instead.
If I make changes to my booking, how do I know that my changes have been stored in my booking?
You will be notified of any change to your booking by email, where an email address has been provided.
If I make seat and meal requests, are they guaranteed?
Whilst we will do all we can to satisfy your request, the delivery of seat and meal requests cannot be guaranteed.
Why can't I request a special meal on my flight?
Special meal requests cannot be made for travel on any UK Domestic flight. Special meals requests cannot be made on some Euro Traveller flights.
Check where you can request a special meal
If you are travelling on a standby or waitlist ticket you will be unable to request special meals on any route.
Kosher meal requests are not available on all services. Please check here to see where kosher meals are available. Special meal requests are unavailable on all other routes if your flight is due to depart within 24 hours.
Please note: Special meal requests on British Airways flights operated by our partner airlines may differ from above. Flights operated to/from London City airport have complimentary catering.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Can you tell me about the service where customers are able to print their own boarding pass?
From selected locations, customers using Online Check-in can print their own boarding pass at home or in the office and go straight to the central search security area on arrival. This then saves the customer visiting a Self-Service Check-in kiosk at the airport to collect their boarding pass.
The Online boarding pass needs to be printed on plain white A4 or letter paper and includes a unique 2D barcode, which will be scanned by airport security staff and checked off against information already in the system. When travelling from the UK, customers will need to provide photographic ID in the form of a passport, identity card or driving licence, along with their Online boarding pass, before they will be allowed to pass through security. At all other airport locations, the passport/identity card check will be carried out before boarding the aircraft.
The technology that is being used, along with the requirement for an approved type of photographic ID, means that customers can be reassured that security is in no way being compromised.
Customers with onward flights
If the Online boarding pass service is not available from the location that your onward journey or return journey departs, customers will need to collect their boarding passes for their onward/return journeys from a check-in or a Self-Service Check-in kiosk where available.


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by Tragik November 27, 2003
Dr.Dre is not only the most influential producer in hip-hop, he is probably the reason that hip-hop will have to redefine what it means to be a producer. Today, everyone thinks that hip-hop means "beat-maker". But many Producers of music are not beat-makers. Instead they are the brains behind those who make the music and develop the lyrics. This is Dre...and he's a beatmaker. Every artist who has worked with Dre seems to testify that Dre does much more than bring in tracks and records with them. Dre seems to be involved with every element from blueprinting the "layout" of the album, to helping the artist write and arrange their lyrics for the tracks, to editing tracks done by other beat-makers, to making his own beats for the artist. That's a producer -- and that is what Dr.Dre brings to the table of not just his labelists, but the hip-hop industry as a whole.
by odd man out March 7, 2005
Dr. Dre was first known when he started making music in a group known as the ''World Class Wreckin' Kru''. He then moved on to the gangsta rap super group called N.W.A. Here it was made obvious that he was a much better producer than a rapper and after the group split up, he made his own music with the help of Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight and many other producers and artists. After making albums like 'The Chronic' and '2001' he was known as the best rap/hip hop producer ever, and still is today, the only other producer who would stand a chance against his skill is DJ Premier, but in my eyes he still is and always will be the best producer ever.
by Kronik 05 May 29, 2005
by J 0 K A November 15, 2005
With Easy-E and Ice Cube in NWA back in the day, CREATED this whole game. Everything from 50 cent to DMX, whatever rap u listen to, wouldn't EXIST without Dre and NWA starting the gangster rap scene.
by f uck tha police June 21, 2004
by Beotch! November 21, 2003
by herman July 4, 2003


text: In this course, you'll learn the key components of modern-day investment strategies which utilize fintech. Professors Natasha Sarin and Chris Geczy of the Wharton School have designed this course to help you understand the complex structure of payment methods and financial regulations, so you can determine how fintech plays a role in the future of investing. Through analysis of robo-advising and changing demographic forces, you'll learn how basic elements of trust underlie complex choice architecture in investments and impact investing. You'll also explore payment methodologies and how fintech is emerging as an entrepreneurial solution to both investments and payment systems. By the end of this course, you'll be able to identify different financial technologies, and understand the dynamic between the innovations and regulations, and employ best practices in developing a fintech strategy for yourself or your business. No prerequisites are required for this course, although a basic understanding of credit cards and other payment methods is helpful.


text:
ORSON WELLES: Of course, there are all sorts of fountains. Some are beautiful, some are purely mythological. Some are silly fountains. Of course, the silliest of all, is the fountain of youth. Old Ponce de Leon thought that one was somewhere down in Florida.
Well, actor Orson Welles never found it, but lots of Floridians claim that the Fountain of youth is in their town - Punta Gorda, for instance. Margaret Baumhardt, who lives nearby in Charlotte Harbor, may not be totally convinced, but she is a big fan of the Punta Gorda fountain. She remembers how popular it was around 40 years ago.
MARGARET BAUMHARDT: Oh yeah, you had to wait in line to get the water.
STAMBERG: But in the 1980s, the Punta Gorda water was tested using guidelines set by the Clean Water Act. What they found almost closed the fountain for good. It turned out the water contains an unusually high level of radium - around 9 picocuries. That's about double the EPA's recommended maximum. In other words, the water is radioactive. After that discovery the town of Punta Gorda put up a sign to warn visitors.
BAUMHARDT: Well, I think a lot of people have been scared off by the sign on the well. I don't know anybody else who actually gets the water there anymore.
STAMBERG: Well, that sign may be scary but it seems a little bit of radioactivity might not be all bad.
ZOLTAN SZABO: Having a glass of water from the fountain is certainly not dangerous or even very risky.
STAMBERG: That is Zoltan Szabo, a researcher at the U.S. Geological Survey. He has tested thousands of wells around this country. He says the radium level in the Punta Gorda fountain is high, but that does not mean it's not safe.
SZABO: If that was your drinking water well and that was the only source of water you had and you drank it for 70 years, even then you'd only have the one in 20,000 risk.
STAMBERG: But Margaret Baumhardt has been drinking it for over 40 years.
BAUMHARDT: I'm 88. Well, I just drink it and I cook with it, and I make a coffee and a tea and things like that.
STAMBERG: But according to Szabo's math, even she is not in danger. In fact, the water may have something that helps prolong life: magnesium sulfate, which is very good for your blood pressure, your heart. Doesn't smell that great though.
BAUMHARDT: Well, it has that sulfur smell, you know, that smells like rotten eggs.
STAMBERG: But Baumhardt says the smell goes away in a few days. And the water is just too good to give up. It may not be the fountain of youth, but she still loves that water.
BAUMHARDT: You know, I get a lot of flak about getting the water, but I still like to go get it. The only way I can describe it is refreshing and invigorating.
STAMBERG: This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


text:
Project Members
- Donald Stilo
An Atlas of the Araxes-Iran Linguistic Area
The Atlas of the Araxes-Iran Linguistic Area covers the languages the South Caucasus, eastern Turkey, northern Iraq and northern Iran, an area involving heavy contact phenomena leading to many shared features among the following five different language families, and two genera of Indo-European:
- KARTVELIAN: colloquial Georgian, Georgian dialects; Laz; Megrelian;
- INDO-EUROPEAN, Armenian: colloquial Yerevan, widely variant dialects of Armenia, Iran and formerly Turkey;
- ALTAIC: Azerbaijani dialects of Azerbaijan and Iran; Iraqi Turkmen; eastern Turkish dialects;
- SEMITIC: Neo-Aramaic (highly divergent dialects of various Christian and Jewish communities of Kurdistan); Arabic dialects (Turkey, Iraq);
- NORTHEAST CAUCASIAN: Udi (a Daghestanian language of Azerbaijan).
- INDO-EUROPEAN, Iranian: Tati, Talyshi, northern Kurdish (Turkey, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan); Central Kurdish (Iraq-Iran), Zazaki (Turkey), Gurani (Iran-Iraq); Caucasian Tat (Muslim, and Jewish communities in Azerbaijan/Daghestan (Russia); colloquial Persian;
The Atlas provides background on the history and distribution of 65-70 languages and dialects investigated and demonstrates their shared phonological, grammatical and lexical features which are displayed on individual maps consisting of data points, color-coded according to family, where value responses for each of 330 features in each language are entered. Each map will have an accompanying descriptive text explaining the general issues of the given feature. On the accompanying CD-ROM, each data point on each map is then linked to the database providing additional discussion and multiple examples for the given language.


text:
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Curious about how social media sped up news cycles, amplified trivial events on the trail and enabled Washington's "worst tendencies" during the 2012 presidential race, one of the nation's top young political reporters decided to take a deeper look.
In a 95-page paper written at the conclusion of his spring fellowship at Harvard's Shorenstein Center, CNN's Peter Hamby explores the complaint political practitioners and the people who follow them have made for ages: Campaign coverage is shallow, solipsistic and possibly doing a disservice to voters tasked with making serious decisions for our democracy.
Hamby concludes that Twitter — and insta-sharing platforms like it — offer voters abundantly more choices for getting their information, but that the information often lacks a critical element: context.
"Washington has always had the worst tendencies toward myopia," Hamby says. "Twitter just exacerbates that. We're all just talking to each other and deciding, well, that must be important."
Below, excerpts from our conversation about the promises and pitfalls of Twitter-reporting and what it means for 2016.
Your premise is that YouTube, Twitter, have really changed the political journalism ecosystem. But my first reaction is, has it really changed? People have been complaining about how echo-chambery campaign coverage has been for years. Is it fair to blame Twitter?
"The tendency of political reporters to focus on process and gaffes and conflict is as old as time itself. But I do think the explosion of platforms has incentivized political reporters to fill a lot of space. To be first. To enhance their 'brands,' to use a terrible social media cliche. And just from talking to the campaigns, they think it changed. Just the speed of it. I remember in 2008, I was an embed on Hillary Clinton's campaign and Hillary would come back and drink with us on the back of the plane. And we would take pictures and those pictures would kind of hit the AP wire maybe an hour or two later, or maybe we would file a story half an hour after we landed. Today, that filter, that delay, has completely evaporated. So it just makes campaigns more guarded and cautious around reporters. And that's one thing that's changed."
How does the prevalence of Twitter actually affect the information voters get?
"It's not just that Twitter accelerated the whole news cycle, it's that it changes the content that is covered. With the Romney campaign, they were really sort of anxious and frightened every day that any little teeny misstep could become a full blown controversy in a matter of minutes. I'm thinking of war on women, etch-a-sketch, binders full of women, and all these memes that went out there and actually drove a news cycle. So [former Romney campaign manager] Matt Rhoades used the example of the orchestra pit theory to frame how campaigns are covered. He was like, 'The back of the plane now is just reporters waiting with iPhones, waiting for Mitt Romney to fall into the orchestra pit.' I think we know what takes off in the Internet-driven news universe and it's not a 59-point plan for the economy. It's a gaffe. It's something about what Mitt Romney's wearing or what President Obama said about Jay Z. It changes somewhat the incentives of reporters."
So headed toward 2016, is there a mechanism you see where things can improve? Or are we just going to get more incremental and more incremental?
"Look, I think there's no turning back. I think it's absolutely going to get more incremental. Journalists aren't really a humble bunch, but I was surprised by how many people in the media generally expressed regret about how Twitter changed the speed of the cycle and also the content of what was actually covered because everyone was trying to chase and confirm the same stuff. The 2016 race is likely to draw in a larger bunch of candidates, it's an open race, it might be as dramatic as the 2008 campaign. The 2012 race was a negative hothouse and a lot of people didn't want to go out in the Romney bubble. That might be different in 2016 if it's Hillary versus Christie and the campaigns flood the zone with their guys. That would give us more to write about. The weakest part of my paper might be the recommendations section because it's aspirational. And we don't know what technologies are going to be in play."
How could we improve?
"There was broad consensus among press and political people that there's a real hunger for longform stuff, rich, detailed reporting. Just distinctive storytelling beyond just the ephemera that gets thrown out there. So I think hopefully we'll see a lot more of that in 2016 from magazines, newspapers, television networks."
You proposed new beats, which I thought was interesting. But whoever's doing the day-to-day coverage is probably still going to get rewarded with prominent placement, which is an organizational/institutional decision, not the individual reporter's.
"Instead of chasing and confirming everything, it would be useful to let people own their scoops. We'll get one next week. Let these guys have this this week. Really have the confidence to unleash your reporters and take a calculated bet that covering what others are covering might not be the best way to do things. You'll get rewarded for playing off the ball a little bit."
So not all hope is lost.
"Not all hope is lost. I really do care about politics and the minutiae of this stuff because it's hard for me to be critical. I like process stuff too. But process helps determine how these guys are elected. Getting behind the scenes of how campaigns work is part of it in addition to covering big issues, temperaments and biographies of these candidates."
What's the antidote to this as a voter if you recognize a lot of what's covered is BS, in the big picture?
"I don't want to sound too sanctimonious. The thing is, voters can do what they want because they have so much information at their fingertips at all times. Facebook was a valuable way for campaigns to reach voters this time. I don't know how to advise voters, but in the course of researching this paper, one troubling aspect of the proliferation of news sites is that you can bury yourself in your own world. It's important to step out of what your social network is saying and preferred ideological news channel is saying. And read as much as possible."
Read Hamby's full report, below.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
Arsenal's transfer strategy this summer has left the vast majority of their fans perplexed. While the seemingly interminable Luis Suarez saga has grabbed most of the attention, allied with the failure to secure Gonzalo Higuain when the deal appeared done and dusted, the stark reality is that Arsenal have not bought anybody yet, let alone the marquee signing that the supporters crave. Yes, they have acquired the services of French U20 international, Yaya Sanogo, but he arrived on a free transfer from Auxerre in the French second division..
So, what is the magic figure Arsenal have as a transfer fund? Given all of the variables described above, it's safest to quote David Bowie, "It ain't easy", when trying to pin this down, but the oft-quoted £70 million is a reasonable estimate. If funds from property development and future commercial deals are also made available, then it could be as high as £100 million.