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- platform dwell times, or how long it takes passengers to get on and off;
- interoperability between two train systems, Caltrain and HSR;
- accessibility for the disabled and people carrying bulky items (luggage, strollers, bicycles);
- the available options for procuring affordable, off-the-shelf train designs.
Level Boarding
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that all new rail vehicles and platforms provide level boarding, with the height of the train floor within 5/8" (16 mm) of the height of the platform, a tight specification that is quite difficult to achieve in everyday practice. The grand staircase that greets most Caltrain passengers will no longer be allowed because the ADA requires "the most integrated setting reasonably achievable." Caltrain got by until now by using a hodge-podge of grandfather clauses and band-aid solutions allowed under ADA law, but as the system transforms from an old-style diesel commuter railroad to a modern, fast and frequent transit system, level boarding and full accessibility is no longer a negotiable feature. Indeed, level boarding features prominently among the goals of Project 2025, Caltrain's blueprint for reinventing the peninsula commute.
That does leave the question unanswered: exactly which height is appropriate for this level boarding to take place? As we will see, this question has far-reaching implications for the peninsula corridor.
Caltrain's Plan
Caltrain has for many years harbored the desire, if not the financial means, to operate swift electric multiple unit (EMU) trains. These trains would increase service speed and frequency, especially at those stations that saw service cut back to make room for Baby Bullet service.
Going back many years, Caltrain's studies invariably conclude that such EMUs should necessarily have two levels (an upstairs and a downstairs), much like Caltrain's existing fleet. The reasons have to do with providing a certain passenger capacity under a cost trade-off between service frequency and train capacity, fitting within platform and train length limitations, taking full advantage of the ample vertical clearances that are available... and last but not least, perhaps also the sheer Strength Of An Idea.
Caltrain wishes to procure its new trains on the global marketplace. A sampling of various European bi-level EMUs under consideration, with corresponding entry floor heights:
- France - Alstom Coradia Duplex: 600 - 645 mm (24 - 25")
- Germany - Siemens Desiro: 600 mm (24")
- Switzerland - Stadler Dosto: 570 mm (22")
Enter HSR
While HSR on the peninsula corridor has long been a dream, the increasing tempo of events (Proposition 1A, the federal stimulus, environmental planning for the San Francisco - San Jose HST project) has made it increasingly likely that Caltrain commuter trains will mingle on the peninsula corridor with a steady flow of long-distance high speed trains linking the region to the rest of California. Caltrain and the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) have signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a broad framework for sharing the peninsula corridor, which envisions "mixed traffic from Caltrain commuter rail and the high speed train service capable of operation on all tracks."
The MOU identifies the urgent need for a systems engineering integration plan, a detailed technical framework for how Caltrain and HSR will mesh together. Importantly, this plan will have to address the issue of level boarding, and whether "mixed traffic" also applies to platform tracks.
The global HSR marketplace, from which the CHSRA will procure its trains, clearly tends toward so-called "high floors" about four feet above the rails: the floor of the rail car's entry vestibule is built high enough to fit the train's wheels underneath. A sampling of various HSR makes and models, with entry floor heights:
- France - Alstom AGV: 1155 mm (45")
- Germany - Siemens Velaro: 1210 mm (48")
- Japan - Kawasaki / Nippon Sharyo / Hitachi 700 Series Shinkansen: 1250 mm (49")
- Spain - Talgo 350: 755 mm (30")
Regulatory Considerations
Platform heights in California are governed by the federal Department of Transportation and the California Public Utilities Commission. There are many laws on the books, and yet more undergoing approval. Taken together, they form a complicated regulatory thicket that has previously, and probably will again, produce odd solutions. The key regulations that govern platform height include the following:
- Platforms must be within 5/8" of the height of the train floor (36CFR1192.175 and 36CFR1192.93) for level boarding
- HSR trains must use high-platform level boarding (36CFR1192.175), typically understood as about four feet floor height
- Commuter platforms must provide full-length level boarding (DOT guidance)
- There may not be steps down into a train (DOT guidance)
- Commuter platforms may not exceed 8" above top-of-rail (CPUC General Order 26) to provide clearance for freight trains.
- New commuter cars must have a 15" floor height for compatibility with Amtrak (see proposed change to 49CFR37.85, effectively already law)
These regulations not only contradict each other, but also lead to the strange notion that HSR and commuter rail are inherently incompatible and must therefore be built to differing platform heights. Regardless of this legal mish-mash, it is unlikely that the CHSRA will choose a platform height with Caltrain compatibility in mind; they will choose whatever suits the high speed rail system. That leaves Caltrain to follow their example... or not.
One can easily see where this is all headed, based on the figure at left: with bi-level EMUs, Caltrain is likely to end up with an entry floor height in the low twenty inches, while HSR will end up in the forties. The non-negotiable requirement for level boarding would result in two different and incompatible platform heights. Does that even make sense?
The Consequences of Platform Incompatibility
If one considers the peninsula corridor as a transportation system rather than two independent services simply sharing a right of way, platform compatibility emerges as a key enabler for realizing the potential synergy between HSR and Caltrain, with one serving as a feeder for the other. HSR can operate as a Flight-Level Zero airline with enormous parking garages and rental car facilities, or it can be deeply integrated into an efficient network of transportation where riding the train to your destination anywhere on the peninsula corridor is not only possible, but convenient and desirable.
One of the greatest opportunities currently facing rail planners is the provision of cross-platform transfers between Caltrain local and express trains. Under this operational concept, a local and an express show up simultaneously, on opposite sides of the same platform, and exchange passengers. In effect, the express overtakes the slower local at the platform, rather than somewhere between stations, allowing passengers to switch conveniently from one to the other. Such exchanges, operating on regular clock face schedules, would enable fast and frequent service to and from all the stations currently under-served by Caltrain, such as Belmont, Burlingame or San Antonio, and would greatly magnify the utility and efficiency of Caltrain as a feeder to peninsula HSR stops. Caltrain to Caltrain cross-platform transfers, the key to this highly desirable operational concept, inherently require the same boarding height on both sides of the platform as shown in the figure at right.
Proceeding with two incompatible platform heights would have the following negative impacts:
- A cross-platform coordinated transfer between local and express commuter trains would be precluded at peninsula HSR stops, unless additional platforms were built. As shown in the figure under Option B, the two key transfer points on the peninsula corridor (Millbrae and Palo Alto / Redwood City) would preclude cross-platform transfers precisely where they are most needed, permanently crippling Caltrain's development potential.
- If cross-platform Caltrain transfers were nevertheless implemented at the Millbrae and Palo Alto HSR stops, these large stations would have to be further expanded with additional platforms (shown in the figure under Option C) and up to six tracks (if HSR infrastructure were completely secured). Such enormous stations, approaching the size of an aircraft carrier, would be out of scale with the surrounding community.
- San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center would be operated as two independent mini-terminals, with four HSR platform tracks and two Caltrain platform tracks. The loss of redundancy from the inability to assign any train to any platform would (a) exacerbate traffic jams in the station approach (by limiting the available paths and thus curtailing terminal capacity); (b) allow small incidents that delay a train (e.g. a medical emergency or law enforcement activity) to propagate to other trains; and (c) prevent spare capacity (unused platform tracks) from being re-allocated between Caltrain and HSR in response to actual travel demand, as opposed to ridership projections made decades into the future.
- The resulting inability of the Transbay Transit Center to support a full Caltrain rush-hour schedule would require the existing station at 4th & King streets to be retained indefinitely, thus confusing commuters, contradicting San Francisco's 1999 Proposition H, and occupying many acres of land that would be more usefully developed for other purposes.
- The San Jose train station, already planned as a massive double-deck structure, would require dedicated tracks and platforms for each service. With compatible platforms, it is likely that a single-deck configuration could meet the various needs of Caltrain, HSR, ACE and Amtrak.
- Under delayed or otherwise unusual traffic conditions, high speed trains could not stop at a Caltrain platform to discharge passengers.
If a common, compatible platform height specification for both Caltrain and HSR is the desired outcome, how do we get from here to there? One of the key requirements for the development of the peninsula rail corridor is to do so without interrupting Caltrain service, to avoid dumping another 20,000 cars on congested roads. Furthermore, changing the height of station platforms, or procuring and commissioning new trains, are not done at the flip of a switch: each would last many months. Under those conditions, converting Caltrain to a different boarding height will be tantamount to changing the wing of an airplane... while in flight. That's not to say it is impossible, but it will require some very creative solutions from Caltrain, an issue that we will revisit later.
In the meantime, now would be a fine time for Caltrain to initiate the waiver process for GO-26D, since it is sure to encounter stiff opposition and delay from certain entrenched interests.


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i first saw this mix at fred flare: "you warm my heart hot cocoa mix" for $8, and figured it could probably be easily made ... so i googled heart shaped marshmallows and came across a few articles and blogs, like the martha stewart living article which had a cute idea for cutting out marshmallows with a tiny little cookie cutter. i came across another blog which sadly i can't fin the link anymore for it. but anyway, there's lots of articles out there about it.
anyway, all these things can be purchased locally so that's why this is so great - you can put it together real quick. here's what you need:
wilton heart cut outs : can be purchased at joanns or michaels.
and of course, hot chocolate mix : i bought the Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate Mix - Double Chocolate. but there's lots of simple and easy recipes to make your own hot chocolate mix with things you may already have in your household like sugar, cocoa powder, creamer. i don't have any of these things so the quick stuff worked for me.. it's up to you ;) this blog also has some extra tips on things you can add into the mix.

subset: commoncrawl


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Capital: Victoria
Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Splendor without diminishment)
Flower: Pacific Dogwood
Population(2016): 4,648,055
The Land: The variety of its landscape is the main reason for British Columbia's distinctiveness: its 947 800 km2 offer remarkable topographical contrasts. Where the Pacific Ocean reaches the continent, it meets a chain of islands, large and small, running from north to south. Some of these islands are nestled in fiords carved in the majestic Coastal Mountains, which rise more than 2 000 metres above sea level.
The People: British Columbia continues to attract Canadians and foreigners alike: 22 000 persons settled in the province in 1998, and its population now exceeds 4 million - 13 percent of Canada's total. Nearly 60 percent live in Vancouver and Victoria, the province's capital. Vancouver, the largest dry cargo port on the Pacific coast of North America, is home to more than two million people, which makes it the third largest city in Canada.
About three fourths of BC's population live in the southwestern corner of the province. The majority of B.C.'s inhabitants are of British origin, but the population includes immigrants and descendants of immigrants of all nationalities. More than 100 000 British Columbians are of Chinese origin, Vancouver has North America's second-largest Chinese community. In addition, more than 60,000 of B.C. inhabitants are from India and over 16,000 from Japan. The Aboriginal population of British Columbia is growing in numbers and is over 200,000 people
Economy: Tourism is an important economic sector in British Columbia. With over five million hectares of parkland, the Rocky Mountains remain the biggest attraction. Coastal B.C., with its beaches, and other attractions, is also popular. Each year, about 15 million people visit British Columbia.
Agriculture and fishing, especially salmon fishing, are two other key sectors of the economy of British Columbia. Manufacturing in B.C. is still largely resource-based, but is being gradually diversified by high-tech and computer-based industries related to telecommunications and the aerospace and sub-sea industries. British Columbia has the most balanced export market of all Canada's provinces, with the United States, Japan, the European Union and the Pacific Rim countries as its clientele.


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Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert demonstrated real leadership by rehiring coach Mike Brown — after firing him two years ago — and admitting the firing was wrong. "Sure, it was a mistake," Mr. Gilbert told the media. The leadership lesson here is not about whether Mike Brown should or should not have been rehired; rather, it's about Mr. Gilbert admitting his mistake. This type of accountable leadership goes a long way in developing high-performing businesses in which employees don't fear reprisals if they take an unpopular position. Leadership like Mr. Gilbert's fosters a culture that allows employees to be committed to decisions because they know mistakes happen — and are OK. When a business owner openly acknowledges a "mea culpa," he's showing that he's putting the good of the business before ego. He's also demonstrating that the good of the team comes before what's best for the individual. Mr. Gilbert's rehiring of Mr. Brown illustrates yet again that we are a country of second chances; we often embrace people who admit their mistakes. It is not surprising then that another Gilbert-led business, Quicken Loans, is No. 10 in Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For (2012). Great leaders are hard to find. Have you ever been around a leader who is unwilling or afraid to admit a mistake? What are the consequences on the company, culture and employees when leaders hide behind their egos?
Guest Blogger
How Dan Gilbert's 'mea culpa' on Mike Brown is a sign of strong leadership
Companies where the leader has to "be right" are ones where "games" are prevalent and that also have lots of unproductive and unresolved conflict. Below are a dozen obstacles that can prevent teams from winning—and companies from succeeding. And all of these attitudes start at the top: 1. There is a risk of losing 2. People are defensive 3. There is little commitment to decisions 4. The focus is on the individual and not the team 5. People hesitate to disagree with others rather than be honest about themselves and others 6. There is lots of drama, mainly blame and excuses for why things don't get done 7. A lack of commitment to the company 8. A lack of focus 9. A lack of buy-in to decisions 10. A belief that things will never change 11. Conflict avoidance 12. Focus is on status and ego before results In the book, "Great by Choice," author Jim Collins says that decision-making depends on conflict. "What we found in companies that make good decisions is that the debate is real,'' Mr. Collins writes. "It is real, violent debate in search of understanding." This can only happen if there is trust and mutual respect and where leaders are able admit their mistakes to the team. If the leader can't be honest with himself, he can't successfully lead. Mr. Gilbert took a vulnerable leap hiring Brown back. It might just be the step the Cavs need to bring back a winning team.
Steven Shaffer is president of Shaffer Consulting Group.


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"Valar Dohaeris"
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Back in January, one of my goals for the year was to 'cozy-up' our master bedroom. It is a beautiful room with great natural light. But it has been needing a few more layers to feel finished. And these red lampshades kept catching my eye- in a bad way.
I bought the lamps and shades at Hobby Lobby when I was in my red phase. Since then, I have been moving towards a more neutral palate. They are great lamps, red just isn't my thing right now. I read somewhere that in order to do neutrals right- you need to vary the textures. That way you don't end up with that 'white padded room' look.
So while I was doing my grocery shopping, I wandered into the craft aisle at Wal-mart. (Don't you just hate that they got rid of their fabric department?!) I found some unbleached muslin that was $5 for 2 yards. I liked the color and price, so I bought 2 packages. Then I went home and heated up the glue gun. One thing popped into my mind "Texture = Ruffles".
First I ripped off all the cording and bead work on the lamp shades.
Then I glued one layer of the muslin over the red fabric.
Next, I cut the muslin into strips that are 3 inches wide.
And then I ruffled,
and ruffled,
and ruffled.
(For ruffle instructions- see here. Or set your machine to a straight stitch and adjust the length and width to the maximum. The machine pretty much ruffles the fabric for you!) |
Finally, I glued all those ruffles on to the shades.
And 'ta-da'- new lampshades!
I love how frilly they are with the ruffles and raw edges.
And for some reason they make me think of this:
Pin It
UPDATE: I had a reader email with a question about her lamp shade glowing pink after she completed this tutorial. SO beware that if your lamp shade is really dark (ex red) and your muslin is very thin, there is a chance that when you turn on the lamp in the evenings, the ruffled lampshade might appear pink! I used thick muslin-- so keep that in mind when fabric shopping :)
Linking up with these great DIY parties:
Tip Junkie
Shanty 2 Chic
Thrifty Decor Chick
Tatertots and Jello
Lettered Cottage
Be Different Act Normal
A Beach Cottage


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Beautiful products and countless more coming in every day! Come in and take a look around!
This store funds the rescue and rehabilitation of people in Lee County enslaved by human traffickers.
SWFL Human Trafficking Coalition.
Thank you for your support
1056 NE Pine Island Rd Cape Coral, FL 33909
Call for Details 239-829-0367, Have a blessed day!


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User talk:Crocrocks
From the Croc Wiki, the Croc encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Hi there!
Welcome to our wiki, and thank you for your contributions! There's a lot to do around here, so I hope you'll stay with us and make many more improvements.
- Recent changes is a great first stop, because you can see what pages other people have been editing, and where you can help.
- Questions? You can ask at the Help desk or on the "discussion" page associated with each article, or post a message on my talk page!
- Need help? The Community Portal has an outline of the site, and pages to help you learn how to edit.
- Please sign in every time you edit, so that we can recognise you!
I'm really happy to have you here, and look forward to working with you!
- CrocadoodleDoo! 13:25, 4 July 2008 (UTC)


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Comment Policy
The Augusta Press encourages and welcomes reader comments; however, we request this be done in a respectful manner, and we retain the discretion to determine which comments violate our comment policy. We also reserve the right to hide, remove and/or not allow your comments to be posted.
The types of comments not allowed on our site include:
Threats of harm or violence Profanity, obscenity, or vulgarity, including images of or links to such material Racist comments Victim shaming and/or blaming Name calling and/or personal attacks; Comments whose main purpose are to sell a product or promote commercial websites or services; Comments that infringe on copyrights; Spam comments, such as the same comment posted repeatedly on a profile.


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Mason Mania Ends! With the NCAA Tournament within their grasp, Championship Week sensation (and reigning Cinderella) George Mason uncharacteristically choked it away – or, more accurately, VCU stole it away.
Two backcourt picks erased a 5-point lead late and earned VCU the Colonial's auto-bid, leaving George Mason to be a headline team in the NIT. VCU's Eric Maynor was the hero, making the steals and scoring 9 points in the final 2 minutes. Absolutely clutch.
But it was a hell of a rousing way to spend the Monday night of Championship Week, that nebulous moment between the end of the big-conference regular season and the big-conference tournaments.
It is the end of the epilogue for George Mason, whose Cinderella story that began a year ago on Selection Sunday turned them into a college hoops icon – a team you can't help but tune in (and root) for.
More Madness: Gonzaga tops
Psst! Sign up for the "Daily Quickie Readers" group of ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge!
NCAA Uniforms Madness: No, seriously: Madness. What the hell is this? I'm all for radical experiments, but – really – on the eve of the NCAA Tournament? Is this a joke?
(OK, who remembers -- god, this must have been 15 years ago or more -- when NC State used similarly tight, form-fitting uniforms? It looked like they were in the Tour de France. The look lasted one game, I believe.)
Thanks to UniWatch's Paul Lukas for sending me this link to NC State's old "unitard" unis. Or is that "uni-'tard"... here's the link. Shorts went over the one-piece uniform.
Artest Arrest: He's off the Kings indefinitely, but it looks like his troubles are a lot worse than that after his arrest yesterday. This might be The Big One for Ron-Ron. (But, to look at the bright side, he's a shoo-in for a starting spot for the Cellblock D All-Stars.)
Dwyane Wade wants to come back, rather than have season-ending surgery. He obviously feels like the risk of aggravating his injury into something much worse is less than the potential reward of returning and leading the Heat to a conference title in the mediocre East. His call, but it's not what I would do. (I also just released him from my fantasy roster, where he was my anchor star, picking up Willie Green from the waiver wire. But, no, I'm not bitter or anything.)
NFL Free Agency: RB Travis Henry's fantasy stock just shot up, after he signed with the Broncos as a free agent. In their system, he should be good for consistent 100-yard games and an improvement in TDs. (It's so awesome that the biggest subplot of this signing that everyone seems to want to talk about is its fantasy implications.)
NFL Trade: Jets get RB Thomas Jones and a 2nd-rounder from the Bears for a higher 2nd-round draft pick. Jones gives the Jets an instant starter at RB, which they presumably think is better than the RB they would get in the early second-round of the draft (or via free agency). For the Bears, this means the running game is entirely in the hands of Ced Benson.
UNC-Duke Fall-Out, Cont'd. Let's rank the reputations that were tarnished, in order of how badly: (1) Billy Packer (2) Coach K (3) Gerald Henderson.
MLB: Prior sucks in return. 3 ER in less than 2 IP means that the Cubs are either glad they picked up Lilly as insurance or sad their rotation isn't what they thought it would be.
On the other end of the spectrum, there is Boston's Jon Lester, who returned to the mound after battling cancer that was caught late last season. He had chemo as recently as a few months ago. Comeback to track.
More NBA: Someday, LeBron vs. Yao might be a perennial Finals matchup (don't bet on it). Last night, it was an intriguing matchup. LeBron went over 30 for the 4th straight game and
Beckham Update: Out for only a month. MLS breathes a sigh of relief, then continues printing up Galaxy jerseys with his name on it.
Ron Borges, Suspended Two Months for Plagiarism. When the story makes the AP wire, you're done. Borges was banned from writing for two months (without pay... and without being able to go on TV); it makes you wonder how he himself would cover an athlete given a similar type of suspension for a similar type of "cheating" infraction.
(At the very least, Borges should be kicked off the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee immediately, an idea inspired by an insider's tip to ProFootballTalk. In PFHOF terms, Borges has become the Alex Karras of journalism.)
Meanwhile, kudos to the AP for citing them, but even bigger kudos to the stout-hearted geniuses at ColdHardFootballFacts.com for helping to bust this story wide open. Here's a phenomenal "24"-style recap.
I'm totally intrigued by the "notes exchange" that is apparently at the heart of the scandal. The exchange is where writers share tips and info and are allowed to pull liberally from it.
Is trolling a glorified message board what passes for the crackerjack "reporting" that mainstream sports media is always proclaiming it's so good at?
Seriously: A notes exchange might have been useful as recently as 10 years ago, but what self-respecting reporter or columnist can't use the... um... INTERNET to quite easily do his own research?
Have you signed up for the "Daily Quickie Readers" group of ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge? What are you waiting for? Last year's group was the largest single office pool in the country. Let's do it again!
Don't forget: Catch me and your other favorite NYC-based bloggers reading at the Varsity Letters
Do you have kids? Do you think you're going to have kids? Are you simply curious about the future generations of sports fandom? I'm quietly ramping up my new Varsity Dad blog, but readers on this blog get a sneak preview until I'm ready for a real launch.


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The bone-thinning disease called osteoporosis is a big problem for women past menopause. It causes painful spine fractures and broken hips that plunge many women into a final downward spiral.
So it seemed to make sense to monitor older women's bones on a regular basis to see when they need to start taking drugs that prevent bone loss and fractures. Since Medicare will pay for a bone-density scan every two years, that's what many women have been getting.
But a new study says it's not necessary for perhaps half of women over 67.
These women show no bone loss, or very little, on their first bone density scan. For them, the study says, it's not necessary to do another scan for 15 years.
For women whose initial bone scan shows a moderate level of bone loss, the study indicates another scan in five years. And for those with pronounced bone thinning – but not yet at a level considered osteoporosis – scanning should be done once a year to predict when a fracture may be imminent and drug therapy should begin.
The study appears in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Margaret Gourlay of the University of North Carolina, who led the study, told Shots her team didn't expect older women with normal or near-normal bone density would take so long to develop osteoporosis. Of the 5,000 women in the study, half were in this low-risk group at the age of 67.
Only 10 percent of them developed the disease over about 15 years. But for women with moderate bone loss at age 67, it took about five years for 10 percent to develop osteoporosis. And for women with the greatest degree of osteopenia, as this pre-osteoporosis condition is called, it took only a year for 10 percent of them to turn the corner into osteoporosis.
"We knew there would be a difference," Gourlay says. "We didn't expect that much of a difference."
The use of bone density scans has been controversial. Two years ago, NPR's Alix Spiegel reported that the test was originally promoted by drug maker Merck as a way of expanding the number of women using its drug Fosamax, which prevents bone loss.
Whatever its origins, bone scans have become an established part of medical practice. So the new federally financed study has important implications for older women and their doctors. "This paper provides useful guidance on how frequently people might need to be screened," says Anna Tosteson of Dartmouth Medical School.
Dr. Cliff Rosen, a bone specialist at Maine Medical Center, put it more bluntly. "This is going to make us think long and hard about what we 'know' from our data," he told Shots. "Like many things in medicine," he added, the prevailing notion that older women should have bone scans every two years "didn't come from anything scientific."
Many have argued, Rosen says, that "we're not going to wait for somebody to fracture before we start treating. We want to know how we can prevent those fractures. And we have good drugs. So tell us the time interval before we see people dropping into the danger zone. And that's what this paper tells us."
He predicts health care spending on bone density scans will go down "because we don't need to do the automatic every-two-years scan, which is what most providers are recommending.
"It will save Medicare dollars and target those people who really need closer monitoring and intervention," Rosen says.
Study author Gourlay isn't so sure about that. She acknowledges that many women are getting bone scans every two years "because Medicare will reimburse every two years."
But Gourlay points out that only 13 percent of Medicare-eligible women get a bone density scan in a given year – a sign that many aren't getting the baseline test that would inform their doctors what risk category they're in, and thus how often they should get a repeat scan.
"The main thing (this study) will do is not drastically cut down on bone density tests," Gourlay says. "We're hoping that people will just think about the test and that patients will ask for a first test more often. This is forgotten by both patients and primary care physicians."
She also says the bone density scan is not a perfect predictor of when a person is entering the osteoporosis danger zone. For example, it can't detect more subtle changes in the architecture of the bone.
So doctors need to pay attention to other osteoporosis risk factors, such as family history of osteoporosis, prior fracture after age 50, regular alcohol use, and medications such as steroids that cause bone loss.
Gourlay cautions against over-generalizing from the nearly all-white study group to other ethnic groups. And she stresses that the study doesn't apply to women under 67, who may have a different pattern of bone loss that will require a different schedule of bone scans. (For now, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force does not generally recommend routine bone density scans until a woman reaches 65; it is silent about the frequency after that.)
The North Carolina group hopes to mine other data sources for clues on whether and how younger women should be screened for early signs of bone loss.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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This interview was originally broadcast on April 23, 2012.
Actor Jack Black is best known for his comedic performances in films like Nacho Libre and School of Rock. In his film Bernie, Black goes to a darker place: He plays a serious small-town funeral director who murders his live-in companion, a wealthy widow played by Shirley MacLaine.
The film is based on a true story. In 1996, 39-year-old Bernie Tiede of Carthage, Texas, murdered his 81-year-old companion, Marjorie Nugent, shooting her in the back four times with a rifle. A lengthy Texas Monthly article about the case notes that "what made the story peculiar was that Mrs. Nugent had been dead for almost nine months before people began searching for her. What made the story truly bizarre was the way many of the townspeople rallied around the 39-year-old man who had admitted to killing her and stealing her money — the soft-spoken, chubby-cheeked Tiede, the former assistant funeral director at Hawthorn Funeral Home who had gotten close to Mrs. Nugent when he supervised her husband's funeral."
Tiede, currently serving life in prison, met with Black for 45 minutes at his maximum-security prison before filming began.
"What was crucial was that he was really likable," Black tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "You could really believe that the whole town could be in love with Bernie."
Black has made a career of playing likable characters, from a substitute teacher in School of Rock to a superficial man obsessed with physical beauty in Shallow Hal. He has also simultaneously pursued a music career, performing as one-half of the satirical rock band Tenacious D.
The band's new album, Rize of the Fenix, is a heavy metal-influenced album about the power of redemption. It includes tracks like "How to Be the Best," an upbeat song reminiscent of the Flashdance theme that Black says is supposed to "inspire you to do push-ups and sit-ups and run around like Rocky."
"All those great '80s rock things — there's something so funny about that now," he says. "No one's really doing that particular brand of cheese, so we thought the world needed that right now."
The album is heavily influenced by bands like Led Zeppelin and Van Halen. Black says he grew up listening to Van Halen, but also enjoyed the vocal scat stylings of Bobby McFerrin, who became famous for his ability to sing various voices and instrumentations.
"I was obsessed with him, because I had always imagined going out on stage by myself and blowing people's minds just with the power of my singing voice," says Black. "Long before [McFerrin made] 'Don't Worry, Be Happy,' he was blowing people's minds with incredible covers of Beatles songs. ... His voice would sound like all of the different instruments."
Black says he went to every McFerrin concert he could, even running onstage when McFerrin asked for audience volunteers.
"I think I was a little too aggressive with my enthusiasm," he says. "Because he did one time tell me to tone it down. Not with words, but just with a look in his eye and a shake of his head. I knew that I had crossed the line and I wasn't supposed to be slapping my chest. That's his job."
Interview Highlights
On music
"I don't have any real spirituality in my life — I'm kind of an atheist — but when music can take me to the highest heights, it's almost like a spiritual feeling. It fills that void for me."
On Tenacious D
"It's comedy folk rock. We're two acoustic guitars at our core and singing like Simon and Garfunkel, but then we're most heavily influenced by heavy metal bands of the '80s. And we used to make fun of the devil because the devil's influence on '80s metal is so prevalent, and now it just seems so ridiculous and hilarious. But [our] new album is more about redemption. It's a comeback-themed album."
On comedian stereotypes
"The real challenge is if you don't look super sexy, like a Brad Pitt, you're going to have to try harder. You're going to have to make up for it in other ways. You're going to have to charm the pants off them. You're going to have to make them laugh. But those are good hoops to have to jump through. You're going to have to do some writing. Let's face it, the great comedians now that are handicapped in the looks department are tremendous writers."
On his first role in a commercial for a video game
"That was my big break, my first paying gig. I was so proud of that. Before I got that commercial, I just prayed to the heavens that if I could just be on television and the kids could see me from school, that would be the answer to all my prayers and I wouldn't need anything more. And I got it. I went on the auditions, and I got the part in an Activision commercial for the Atari 2600 — the original video-game system. It was for a game called Pitfall. And I remember all the lines still, to this day. I was only 13 years old."
On Billy Joel
"I've had so many hot, cheesy, corny loves of music in my life. I had a very intense Billy Joel period. So once you've really Joeled it up — there's some good periods of Joel; it's not all hot cheese. But I can't judge anyone else for their cheese. I've deep-sea dived in the Gouda."
Copyright 2021 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.


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As you may be aware, it is a common practice that when you visit our consumer applications, we may collect data involving your usage through the use of "cookies" (i.e. small text files placed on your computer by consumer applications), web server logs, and other web tools. This technology allows us to customize your online experience as well as track your use of our system so that we can improve your experience. The tracking data we collect may include, but is not limited to, the date, time and location of your visit, the time you spend, the web pages you view, the other consumer applications you visit, your search queries, and basic information about your computer, such as your Internet Protocol ("IP") address, your domain name, your browser type, and the name of your internet service provider. You may deactivate cookies if you do not want your browsing to be tracked, but doing so may hinder your online experience.
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Say Goodbye to Your Mother's Girdle! SPANX has women across the nation abuzz. We've all been there, trying to find the perfect undergarment to wear under that special dress - shapewear that won't bulk or bulge or make you feel like you're sucking it in all night long. The prep and planning to cover up and trim your problem areas is a nightmare. Until now.
SPANX creator, Sara Blakely, has forever changed the way you will dress by inventing a one-stop solution to some of your most common undergarment concerns: eliminating visible panty lines (VPL); controlling your tummy, thighs, hips, and rear; and erasing visible bra lines; and all within a comfortable and affordable product.
SPANX shapewear trim your waist, tummy, hips, and rear with no unsightly "muffin top". They stay in place, won't ride up or pinch, and, best of all, they are invisible under your clothes. Forget the girdle and corset of your grandmother's era. SPANX body shapers, bras, panties and tights are made for today's modern woman. There's no wonder why so many celebrities and news outlets across the country, including Oprah Winfrey, have touted the benefits. Simply put, SPANX are revolutionary.
Freshpair offers the full selection of unique products including pantyhose, bras, panties, and shapewear such as:
The SPANX Story
It all started in 1998, when creator Sara Blakely wanted to wear her favorite pair of cream colored pants with open-toed shoes. Like many women, Blakely wasn't a fan of g-string underwear nor visible panty lines, so she did what any independent and driven woman facing a fashion dilemma would do, she improvised! Not to have her shoe selection foiled, Blakely simply cut the feet off her pantyhose to create footless pantyhose. Just like that, SPANX were born. The original concept grew quickly into a full line of undergarments. Including:
- Panties
- Tummy Control
- Shapewear
- Hosiery
- Bodysuits
- Bras
These undergarments are all engineered to slim and smooth with support that has an invisible look under clothes. No more VPLs!
The media loves the SPANX line because it is so unique. These products have been featured by many magazines and newspapers all over the country. But the best publicity they get are the testimonials of the real women whose wardrobes have been freed from the constraints of sheer fabric, clinging clothes, lines, and bulges. Be sure and read all of the Spanx reviews!
Shop for SPANX at Freshpair and get free shipping on all U.S. orders and money saving Flat Rate Shipping on all International orders!


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Michigan State University
In this course you will learn to create a photo-real game prop using modern game art production techniques. You will gather reference, generate a base model, create a high polygon model, bake details onto a low poly model, and then texture and present a final portfolio piece. This course is aimed at students who have some knowledge in 3d and game art and would like to learn more advanced techniques employed in the creation of modern game assets. We will be using Maya, Zbrush, Marmoset, and Substance Painter extensively throughout the course. When you are finished you will have your own model based of of a real-world prop suitable for use in modern game engines.
Specific details
Category of Education
Computer Sciense and IT


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Vacuum is naturally associated with the hostile environment of deep space. To achieve such an environment in an artificial setting here on Earth is a very challenging task, and it turns out one cannot even come close to the low pressures of an interstellar vacuum. It is at these low pressures that molecular flow occurs.
Many High-Tech Applications Require Vacuum Technology
Where can we find applications that require a vacuum on Earth? For one, manufacturing of computer chips wouldn't be possible without vacuum-based processes. Turns out, there are actually quite a few high-tech applications where vacuum technology is critical or beneficial. These include mass spectrometers, molecular beam equipment for doping of semiconductors, chemical vapor deposition for thin optical coatings, electron microscopy, particle accelerators, and satellites. There are, of course, also more "everyday vacuum" applications such as that of a thermos bottle's insulating layer or an incandescent light bulb.
For high-tech vacuum applications, engineers use a range of specialized high-vacuum pumps to pull out air molecules from a tightly enclosed vacuum chamber.
Typical vacuum chamber in a research lab.
Engineering Problems with Vacuum Systems
Now, to get a high vacuum you cannot just pump for a while and then shut the pump off. Your pumps need to be running all the time. Why? Gas molecules have a way of seeping into the chamber in a number of different ways, and more molecules means increased pressure — and then the vacuum is destroyed. So where do these gas molecules come from? One source could be that the chamber is not perfectly sealed. In that case, you get gas molecules into your chamber from the fact that almost all materials naturally release gas molecules to its surroundings. For instance, the very metal and glass materials that make up your vacuum chamber might be the culprit in destroying the vacuum (not so much an issue for high-end systems).
Additionally, sealants, adhesives, and lubricants are releasing a lot of molecules. You probably know the smell of rubber; that smell comes from released gas molecules, and if you have a smelly rubber material in a vacuum chamber it will destroy your vacuum. The phenomena of unwanted molecules being released into your vacuum system is called outgassing and is one of the most challenging engineering aspects of vacuum technology: you need to pick the right materials that don't release so many molecules. Take your chamber walls for example. You cannot use just any steel; it has to be stainless steel. The list of nonpermissible materials is long. Some spectacular cases of outgassing problems have involved deep-space probes, such as the Stardust comet sample return probe where condensation of an unwanted substance on the camera sensor reduced image quality.
Another fascinating engineering problem with vacuum systems is that when you open your chamber up for servicing your equipment, water vapor will get in. The water vapor has a tendency of condensing on the walls as water and then slowly releasing water molecules into the chamber. Engineers then bake the vacuum system overnight by heating the system up so that the water evaporates and can be pumped out.
Once the achieved pressure is obtained, the chamber can be used for its technical application purpose, like doping of a semiconductor material using an ion beam. An ion beam is too fragile to be directly sent through air — the ions will collide with the air molecules and be dispersed, so a high-quality vacuum is necessary. Precisely what quality vacuum is needed depends on the application, but this table will give you an idea:
Application | Molecules per cm3 (approximate) |
Atmospheric air | 1019 |
Light bulb | 1015 |
Thermos | 1013 |
High-tech vacuum chamber | 106 |
Interstellar space | 10 |
Rarefied Flow Simulation Tools for Complex Vacuum Systems
To understand and engineer a complex vacuum system, the rarefied flow simulation tools of the COMSOL® software can be used. Rarefied gas flow occurs when the mean free path of the molecules becomes comparable with the length scale of the flow. The size of your equipment, in other words. The mean free path of a gas molecule is simply how far it travels, on average, before hitting another gas molecule. To quantify this, you can compute the Knudsen number, which gives you a quick indication of what type of flow you're looking at. The Knudsen number, Kn, is the mean free path divided by a typical length scale. Let's look at the four flow regimes characterized by the Knudsen number:
- Continuum flow (Kn < 0.01)
- Slip flow (0.01 < Kn < 0.1)
- Transitional flow (0.1 < Kn <10)
- Free molecular flow (Kn > 10)
These flow regimes are shown in the figure below:
A plot showing the main fluid flow regimes for rarefied gas flows. Different regimes are separated by lines of constant Knudsen numbers. The number density of the gas is normalized to the number density of an ideal gas at a pressure of 1 atmosphere and a temperature of 0°C (n0).
Free Molecular Flow Regime
Typical vacuum systems will feature gas pressures well within the Free Molecular Flow regime. The COMSOL® software also has tools for the transitional, slip, and (of course) continuum flow, but let's leave that topic for a future blog post. If you examine the above Knudsen number plot closely you will notice that if a gas has a more "normal" pressure than that of a vacuum system but is confined to flow in a very narrow channel, say nanometer sized, then the flow is also in the free molecular flow region. This means that to investigate gas flow through porous materials where the pores are very narrow, so called nano-pores, you will also need free molecular flow simulation capabilities. One such application area is shale gas exploration.
With the dedicated Free Molecular Flow simulation tools you can, for example, compute the number of molecules per unit volume at each point in your system. You can then examine the number density along the intended trajectory of an ion beam and decide if the vacuum system needs to be changed in any way to lower the number density. In the Free Molecular Flow regime, the molecules are traveling along straight lines, bouncing randomly against the walls of the vacuum system. This means that the flow of molecules behaves similarly to light beams and that you can engineer the geometric configuration of your system to achieve shadowing effects and exploit those to lower the number density. Indeed, the numerical algorithm used for free molecular flow in COMSOL Multiphysics® has many things in common with that of infrared radiation, or heat radiation, computations. It is, however, a tad bit more advanced in order to accurately represent the flow.
For a practical example of a molecular flow calculation, see this model tutorial of an ion implanter.
Simulation of a semiconductor ion implanter to minimize the pressure along the ion beam path using the COMSOL® software. The plot shows the pressure on the surfaces of the vacuum system; two walls have been removed so that the inside of the chamber is visible.
Comments (2)
Molika Linkolnli
January 9, 2019Dear Bjorn,
Do it work on liquid flow?
for example, water flow in (nano) porous media.
Daniel Smith
January 9, 2019Hi Molika, this is for gases only and does not apply to liquids flowing through very small scale structures.


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For the last little while I have had some pretty big cravings for Mexican flavours and over the weekend I certainly did indulge them. Although the salmon tacos with blueberry salsa were really good, they did not completely satisfy my cravings and I was looking for more. With dinners and lunches already planned for the week that left breakfasts and I knew just the dish to make! I came across this recipe for Mexican baked eggs on Kalyn's Kitchen a while ago and as soon as I saw it I knew that I would have to make it as it uses so many of my favourite Mexican ingredients and flavours!
In addition to being nice and simple and easy, this recipe is also really tasty! You start by making a sauce with a base of onions, garlic, cumin and chipotle chili powder which is filled out with the tomatoes and black beans and finally finished off with some fresh cilantro. This sauce is then poured into a baking dish and topped with eggs and cheese and then it is baked in the oven until the eggs are cooked and the cheese is all melted and good! As you can see by the ingredients, this dish is also hearty and yet pretty healthy. This recipe will make enough for about 4 servings but you do not have to bake them all at once. The tomato and bean sauce will keep well in the fridge and you can make one or two servings at a time if you prefer and spread it out over a few days.
Mexican Baked Eggs
Eggs baked in spicy black bean and tomato sauce topped with melted cheese.
- 1 tablespoon corn oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
- 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
- 2 jalapeno peppers, diced
- 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes or 4 cups diced fresh tomatoes
- 1 (19 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained (or 1 1/2 cup cooked beans, from 1/2 cup dry)
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 handful cilantro, chopped
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup grated cheese such as jack and cheddar
- Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
- Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the garlic, cumin, chipotle chili powder, and jalapeno saute until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the tomatoes, black beans, oregano, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 20 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro.
- Place half of the mixture into one or more baking dishes, top with the eggs and spoon the remaining mixture around the eggs.
- Bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until the eggs just start to set, about 5-8 minutes.
- Top with the cheese and broil until it melts, no more than a minute or so.
Black Bean Chili Omelette
Brussels Sprout Hash with Sweet Potato and Bacon
Tomato and Feta Baked Eggs
Huevos Rancheros
Huevos Motulenos
Asparagus Huevos Rancheros
Italian Style Baked Eggs
Chorizo Scrambled Eggs Breakfast Tacos
Chipotle Sweet Potato and Black Bean Hash with Guacamole
Quesadilla Huevos Rancheros
Huevos Rancheros Breakfast Sandwich
Chipotle Sweet Potato Noodle Bowl
Baked Chicken Santa Fe
Mushroom and Brie Baked Eggs
Baked Chicken Enchilada Casserole


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University of Iowa School of Art MFA Exhibition
Traditionally, the work of candidates in the University of Iowa's Master of Fine Arts programs is shown at UI's Museum of Art every spring. Due to the flood of 2008, last year's MFA exhibition was held at the newly renovated Studio Arts Building on campus. However, the faculty, along with the students, recognized the importance of participating in a museum exhibition. Since UI already had collaborated with the Figge to temporarily house its collection, the Figge seemed the ideal venue to host this spring's MFA candidates' exhibition.
The annual exhibition showcases the students' work in painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, intermedia, metals, ceramics and photography. Visitors will be impressed by the tremendous depth and diversity, both technically and
conceptually, of UI's graduate studio arts program.
Four of the artists in the exhibtion will speak about their work at Thursdays at the Figge. Learn more.
Read artist Andrew Moller's 'thank you' to all who collaborated with him recently on his painting project at the FIgge.
Images from the project can be viewed at www.andrewmoeller.blogspot.com.


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It is not unusual for behavior problems to develop in older pets, and often there may be multiple concurrent problems. Some of the changes associated with aging may not seem significant, but even a minor change in behavior might be indicative of underlying medical problems or a decline in cognitive function. Because early diagnosis and treatment can control or slow the progress of many disease conditions, be certain to advise your veterinarian if there is any change in your pet's behavior.
Blood tests and a urinalysis may be needed to rule out organ disease and endocrine imbalances, especially in the older pet.
Because early diagnosis and treatment can control or slow the progress of many disease conditions, be certain to advise your veterinarian if there is any change in your pet's behavior.
What are some of the causes of behavior changes in senior pets?
Behavior problems in senior pets can be caused by:
• Changes in routine or home environment
• Physical problems such as illness or degenerative disease
• Senility or cognitive dysfunction
Changes in the household, changes in the environment, and new stressors can lead to problems regardless of age. For instance, moving, a change in work schedule, a family member leaving the home, or new additions to the family such as a new spouse or baby can have a dramatic impact on the pet's behavior. However, older pets are often more resistant or less able to adapt to change.
As pets age, they are susceptible to an increasing number of medical and degenerative problems. Problems with one or more organ systems may play a role in the development of a wide variety of behavior problems. For example, diabetes or diseases of the bladder, kidneys, liver, or intestines can lead to house soiling. Diseases of the endocrine organs such as the thyroid gland and pituitary gland can lead to a variety of behavioral and personality changes.
A decline in the senses (hearing and sight), painful conditions, and those that affect mobility may cause the pet to be more irritable or more fearful of approach and handling.
Many pet owners feel that perhaps nothing can be done for their dog or cat.
As with other organs, the brain is susceptible to age-related degenerative processes that can affect the pet's behavior, personality, memory, and learning ability. When these changes occur, the pet may show varying degrees of cognition or cognitive dysfunction and in pets that are more severely affected, this might be referred to as cognitive dysfunction or senility decline. Many of these changes are similar to what occurs in aging humans. In fact, the amyloid deposits that are found in the brain of dogs with cognitive dysfunction are similar to what is seen in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease in people.
How can I find out why my pet's behavior has changed?
Regardless of age, every behavior case should begin with a complete veterinary physical examination and a clinical and behavioral history. In addition, blood tests and a urinalysis may be needed to rule out organ disease and endocrine imbalances, especially in the older pet. Sometimes a more in-depth examination of a particular organ system may be indicated. Additional laboratory tests, radiographs, ultrasound, spinal tests, brain scans, or perhaps a referral to a specialist may all be appropriate. A decision on which tests are needed would be based on the pet's age, previous health problems, any ongoing drug or dietary therapy, and an evaluation of all of its medical and behavioral signs and the findings of the physical exam.
My pet is quite old. Is there any point in doing these tests?
Many of these signs are subtle in their early stages and may only be noticed in the home environment.
Unfortunately, many pet owners do not even discuss behavior changes with their veterinarians because they feel that the changes are a normal part of aging and perhaps nothing can be done for their dog or cat. This is far from the truth. Many problems have an underlying medical cause that can be treated or controlled with drugs, diet, or perhaps surgery. Hormonal changes associated with an underactive or overactive thyroid gland, diabetes, diseases of the pituitary gland, and testicular tumors can all lead to dramatic changes in the pet's behavior, and many of these problems can be treated or controlled. Degenerative organ systems can often be aided with nutritional supplementation or dietary changes. High blood pressure, cardiac disease, and respiratory disease may be treatable with medication that can dramatically improve the quality and even length of the pet's life. Drugs and dietary therapy that are useful in the treatment of age-related cognitive dysfunction are also available.
What are some things to look out for?
Some of the common things that should be reported if they develop in your pet include changes in behavior (see checklist below), an increase or decrease in appetite or drinking, an increased frequency or amount of urination, loss of urine control (dribbling urine, bed wetting), changes in stool consistency or frequency, skin and haircoat changes, lumps and bumps, mouth odor or bleeding gums, stiffness or soreness, excessive panting, coughing, changes in weight (increase or decrease), and tremors or shaking. The checklist on the next page can be used to determine if your pet has any changes that might need to be reported to your veterinarian. If any of these signs arise, they could indicate an underlying medical condition, a sign of stiffness or pain, a sign that your pet's senses are beginning to decline, or a sign of cognitive dysfunction.
As mentioned, sometimes a change in behavior is the first sign of pain, illness or degenerative disease. However, the cause and significance of these signs cannot be determined unless they are reported to the veterinarian, since many of these signs are subtle in their early stages and may only be noticed in the home environment.
Can problems be treated?
Many of the problems of senior pets can be controlled or even resolved. Early detection and intervention with drugs, diets, or supplements can control or greatly slow the progress of many disease conditions, improving the pet's quality of life and perhaps even longevity. The checklist below can help your veterinarian diagnose causes of behavior problems.
Checklist for Behavior Changes in Senior Pets
Clinical signs
Severity Mild = 1
Moderate =2
Severe =3
1. Weight: Increased ____ Decreased ____
2. Appetite: Increased ____ Decreased ____
3. Vomiting ___ Diarrhea ___ Constipation/straining ___
4. Drinking: Increased ____ Decreased ____
5. Urination: Increase ___ Decrease ___ Straining ___
6. Coughing___ Weakness after exercise___ Panting ____ If yes describe:
7. Lumps / tumors ___ If yes describe:
8. Skin problems ____ If yes describe:
9. Mouth problems: Bad breath ___ Decreased chewing ___
10. Weakness ___ Incoordination ___ Muscle tremors/ shaking ___ If yes, describe:
11. Pain/stiff ___ Slow rising ___ Problems climbing/jumping ____ If yes describe:
12. Vision changes: At night ___ During the day ___ If yes describe: Hearing changes: Less sensitive to noise: ___ More sensitive to noise___ If yes describe:
13. Disorientation (confusion) Gets confused or lost___ Goes to wrong side of door ___ Gets stuck and cannot navigate around or over obstacles ___ Less responsive to stimuli (sights, sounds) ___ Does not recognize familiar people, pets, places ___
14. Interactions (Relationships) Petting or contact: Increased ____ Decreased ____ Greeting behavior: More enthusiastic ___ Decreased ___ More irritable or aggressive with family people ____ pets ____
15. Sleep-wake cycles Sleeps more during day ___ Restless sleep ___ Wakes at night ___ If yes, describe:
16. Housesoiling – Indoor elimination Stools ___ Urine ___ Spraying/marking (vertical) ___ Signals more but no elimination ___ Does not signal anymore ___
17. Activity: Decreased ___ Increased ___ Pacing/wandering ___ More playful/exploratory ___ Less playful/exploratory ___ Repetitive/unusual activities e.g. licking, staring ____ If yes, describe:
18. Anxiety (fears/phobias) Newly emerging fears or anxiety ____ Increased agitation/restlessness ____ Increased vocalization ____ Separation anxiety ____ If yes describe:
19. Learning and memory Forgets name ____ forgets previously learned commands ____ Decreased ability to learn new tasks ____ Decreased ability to do working tasks ___ Agility ____ If yes, describe:
This client information sheet is based on material written by: Debra Horwitz, DVM, DACVB & Gary Landsberg, DVM, DACVB, DECAWBM © Copyright 2013 LifeLearn Inc. Used and/or modified with permission under license.


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I braved it to the markets yesterday and survived! Waded myself through the now melting snow and fought the overcrowded aisles to get my provisions for Christmas. Every year – year for year it's pretty much the same scenario.
One would think that the Earth was being attacked my hungry aliens, filling up shopping trolleys to the brim. I crack up at the sight! As I wait for a trolley to get free, I push in the ear-pieces of my iPod and get swept away by the music. It's my way to keeping sane and myself in a good mood.
Have you noticed how many aggressive people are out at this time of year? It's rather ironic really! It is after all supposed to be the season filled with joy, happiness and good cheer, right? So I wonder who let all these nasty people out?
Like that guy in the parking lot yesterday, who showed me his middle finger because I was waiting, with blinkers on, to get into the parking space that just became free. I was not blocking any traffic. So, I smiled and blew him a kiss! Then we met again between lettuce and beetroots and I looked at him and once again put on my most cheerful smile. Yes – I think he really was ashamed after that but he did manage a weak smile back!
We are really looking forward to the next few days. My menu is perfect and I just finished making dessert for Christmas Eve dinner. If you want to know how we spend Christmas here, you can read my article A Christmas in Germany, over at the Daring Kitchen. It's a magical time of year and Soeren helps us to see it through the eyes of seven year old.
The kitchen has been the most used room in the house for the past few weeks and we've been baking and enjoying some scrumptious treats. One of those treats were these Christmassy rolls made with some lovely mincemeat I brought back from London. I had planned on making my own mincemeat, but when in England why not make life easier and buy a jar, I thought.
For those new to mincemeat – it has nothing to do with ground meat nor does it contain meat, at least not anymore. In actual fact mincemeat is a traditional preserve made with dried fruits, spices and suet (one can substitute with vegetable suet). Finally alcohol, usually brandy or rum is added to preserve the mixture. Mincemeat pies and tarts are very popular in the UK around the winter holidays and one will find large variety of different ready made mincemeat in the stores.
Hilda took me to Waitrose in London and I was able to grab a jar of their cranberry & port mincemeat with the intention of making some mincemeat tarts for little Christmas presents. However, it did not happen. Instead I got a little idea in my head and went experimenting again. Brioche dough wrapped around the mincemeat and then cut into swirls – perfect breakfast treats that disappeared far too quickly!
Cranberry Port Mincemeat Brioche Rolls
Printable version of recipe here
For the dough
400g all-purpose flour
1 packet (7g) dry yeast
1/4 l milk
75g butter
100g sugar
1 vanilla bean – insides scraped
1 egg
salt300g cranberry mincemeat – see recipe here. Substitute brandy with port wine.
- To make the brioche dough mix together the yeast and flour in a bowl.
- In a saucepan gently heat the milk,with the vanilla bean and the innards and butter. Set aside to steep. Pour luke warm butter-vanilla milk into the flour and add the sugar and egg. Either using the hooks on your electric mixer or your hands knead into a smooth and sticky dough. Then cover with a damp cloth and place in a dry warm place for 40 minutes until the dough rises to double it's volume.
- In the meantime preheat oven to 200 degrees C and line a baking tray with some baking paper.
- Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for a bit, then roll into a rectangle approx. 30 x 35 cm.
- Spread the cranberry port mincemeat leaving approx. 1 cm free around the edges. Then roll the dough from the long side into a log shaped roll. With a serrated knife cut slices about 3 cm thick.
- Place each roll on the tray and leave to rise for 15-20 minutes. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Take out and allow to cool on a wire rack.
You can sieve some powdered sugar on top or make a glaze using 75g icing sugar and mixing it with 2 tablespoons water then brushing the glaze on the completely cooled rolls. You can simply sprinkle with large sugar crystals like did.
I am pretty glad I changed my plans from pies to brioche rolls. It was a great take on the traditional version and they went down extremely well. Soeren and Tom enjoyed theses for breakfast with honey milk or coffee, while I took them to work and enjoyed them as a tea time treat. I love the slightly tart, spiced and sweet flavors of the mincemeat against the lovely yeasty vanilla scented brioche. Perfect!
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text:
I visited a Herbalife nutrition club in Queens. There is plenty wrong with this company – but this is not a post about the things that are wrong with the company (most of those I will leave for other people to think about). This is simply a post about what I observed and the implications for Bill Ackman's Herbalife thesis.
(a). There are a lot of Herbalife nutrition clubs in Queens. This is an Hispanic area and within the US Herbalife is mainly an Hispanic phenomenon. If you use Google satellite navigation on your phone you will find lots Herbalife clubs (dozens are listed around Corona Queens) though some of the ones you try to locate will not be there any more (suggesting they have either moved or closed).
(b). I was told the best time to visit a nutrition club was between 7 AM and 9 AM so I dutifully arrived at about 7.15. The club was empty. I was told to go with a Spanish speaker because the clubs were pretty close to mono-lingual Spanish. The club was not signposted from the street and coloured paper made opaque the windows so a passer by would not know what was in there.
(c). I was served "all three" meaning an aloe drink, a diet suppressing tea and the protein shake.
(d). This was the first time I had drunk a protein shake. I can tell you they suck - so does the tea for that matter. This stuff tastes unbelievably bad. It is flat-out-gross. I sent an email (with the trusty smart-phone) to a friend in Asia explaining where I was and told him how gross it was. He puzzled: he asked if I was a virgin. He explained that when he was a competitive lightweight rower (he rowed for an Ivy League university) he used to live on protein shakes as he had to keep his weight within the limits. And he exercised extensively on them. Exercise and protein shakes is a well-worn and proven weight loss combination. But they do taste gross. [I have been informed that Herbalife taste slightly better than some protein shakes at the cost of adding some sugars – also I have been informed the texture is much improved by blending in a banana or even a mango....]
(e). There were no visitors prior to 8 AM. By 8 AM I was going to sell my entire Herbalife long and give up on the position. My Spanish translator talked to the guy running the place and he told us roughly how many visitors he got a day and told us the time they came in – and that it really started by about 8 AM.
(f). The translator was correct. The visitors started around 8 and in the next 75 minutes over twenty came in. They came in roughly to his schedule suggesting that they were regulars. They spoke in Spanish and he spoke to them as friends. Most of them were either no longer obese or in the transition from being morbidly obese to (merely) rectangular shaped.
(j). The key product: the proprietor/distributor greeted the visitors as friends and offered moral support as they drank the tea and the shake.
(k). There was a series of before and after photos on the wall. They were impressive – many of the customers – and the husband and wife team that ran the club – had gone from balloon shaped to roughly rectangular. [I gather before and after photos are impressive at other weight-loss groups such as Weight Watchers - however in this case there were a lot of impressive photos for a very small club.]
(l). The husband and wife who ran the shop had been Herbalife customers for about five and a half years and had been running the club for about eighteen months. They were true believers in the product – extolling its virtues and also repeating mostly in Spanish but also in Spanglish the benefits of the Herbalife system. [In their case they also also extolled the virtue of replacing the fat-and-cheeze laden meals that were non Herbalife with something more nutritious and the virtue of some exercise even if it was just walking further.]
(k). The benefits of the Herbalife program in the wife's case were real. The wife had gone from a three insulin shot per day diabetic to a half insulin shot per day diabetic. [Statistically this should add over 15 years to her life expectancy.] Her prior body was balloon shaped.
(l). On the wall was a list of the seventy odd people who regularly attend this Herbalife club. There was a list of gold stars against the names with weight-loss and Herbalife consumption targets on them. Clearly the gold stars were part of the reward system. This looked a little like primary school.
(m). We asked if he had any "downline". He explained to us that every one of his core customers was also a distributor – and they were a distributor to get the 25 percent discount on stuff they took home.
This club was not a club selling diet drinks (but it clearly did that). It was a club selling the social support group necessary to drink diet drinks. These diet drinks work (especially when combined with a modicum of exercise). What happens though is that normal people do not have the will-power to maintain a diet drink and exercise regime. My friend in Singapore did – but then he rowed competitively and people into rowing are austere driven people (think all those 4 AM starts).
But I am a fairly disciplined person and - without social support I could not drink these shakes.
In the richer-parts of our society we have a solution to diet-and-exercise will-power problem. We hire a personal trainer (usually someone cheerful, younger and good looking) and they cajole us into weight-loss. This is a "for-hire" personal support group.
But Herbalife is another valid mechanism of getting personal support – and it clearly worked on the customers I saw. Personally I find it very difficult not to endorse a product that reduced to one sixth a person's insulin injection requirement. If Bill Ackman thinks America would be better off without Herbalife he could politely explain that at the woman's funeral.
I will - in the interest of fairness - include the main negative observation: the man who ran this shop covered his rent (we worked that out) but he was cheerful man working hard (80 plus hours a week) and making an amount that was less than minimum wage. I gather than many (possibly a majority) of Herbalife clubs do not cover rent (consistent with the observation that there are lot of Herbalife clubs in Google maps that no longer seem to exist). Minimum wage appears to be the upside.
This showed both the benefit and problems with multi-level marketing. The benefit is that it allows a company (in this case Herbalife) to get deep into a community and that is a necessary part of the product – the product they are selling is community support for weight loss and they can't do that without getting into the community. The problem is that the company actively recruits distributors to the point that it is impossible for the distributors to be good businesses. Indeed as the rewards to many people in the chain are on recruitment (and you can't make it up the chain without a substantial "down-line") it is likely that recruitment will continue until the distributors make nothing (or less than nothing when convinced to sign up by hard-sell rather than rational argument).
There were so many Herbalife clubs around Queens that I suspect on average the Herbalife shops make something near nothing or less than nothing. The profile of a Ferrari driving Herbalife distributor that Mr Ackman presented was – at least compared to what I saw – ludicrous.
I wrote once about income distribution in the US by working out how cheap my laundry was in Brooklyn and working out that it was being done in a sweat-shop with illegal Chinese workers paid under minimum wage. [I got a lot of flack for that post from my libertarian readers.] The Herbalife distributor I met (who may also have been an illegal) had a better life than those illegal sweat-shop workers. He did not earn much more money – but his job was community based and he interacted as a friend with a great many customers. That I think was personally satisfying and he clearly was happy with his lot. And the product saved his wife's life which trumps most things.
Herbalife as exploitative in a Marxist sense
Herbalife is clearly an exploitative system in the Marxist sense. The head-honcho is paid well over $70 million derived from a vast network of people earning minimum wage or less. Dan Loeb (who now controls 8 percent of Herbalife) is someone who often attacks excessive salaries for senior executives. This could become quite amusing.
Some comments on Bill Ackman's thesis
It was striking how totally Bill Ackman's thesis fell apart from observing for just a few hours in a nutrition club.
The best way of analysing Herbalife that I can find is as alcoholics anonymous for fat (and very often Hispanic) people. I joke: "my name is Jose and I am fat".
Herbalife works in the same way as alcoholics anonymous – by supplying (and in this case selling) a support group to help you kick the "fat addiction".
Like Alcoholics Anonymous it has millions of members and looks – at least externally – a bit like a cult.
Herbalife like Alcoholics Anonymous has millions of members because it works. It does not work because one nutrition powder is better than another (indeed some nutritionists argue soy based powders are inferior). Herbalife works because of the support group.
AA is probably the single most effective way devised by humanity to cure alcoholics. It is far more effective than any drug developed by pharmaceutical companies and if a drug were devised as effective as and as free of side effects as AA then it would be worth tens of billions of dollars. Even then AA probably fails a majority of times. Herbalife is among the more successful ways of curing morbid obesity (but even then it probably fails a majority of times). [I shudder to think what a weight-loss drug as effective as the Herbalife support system would be worth though - considerably more than Herbalife's market cap.]
The biggest difference that I can see between AA and Herbalife is that Herbalife is (emphatically) a for-profit institution (and possibly quite an exploitative for profit institution) whereas AA is just a club.
Lets run through Ackman's presentation by section
Ackman on Herbalife as a commodity
From Page 21 to 26 of the presentation Bill Ackman "demonstrates" that Herbalife's products are not unique – and from that he argues that they do not maintain their price position by being a "proprietary product". He compares the product to GNC and other brands and notes the price per serve or the price per calorie is higher.
This is a complete misunderstanding of Herbalife's product. GNC and other brands are sold as commodities. Herbalife is sold with a community support mechanism.
In Central Park anyone can go and have a run. It is free. It costs you $20 an hour if you exercise with a personal trainer. Comparing the price of Herbalife (sold through a network) to the GNC (sold without a network) is like comparing the cost of a run through the park without and with a personal trainer.
Bill Ackman has just missed the point.
Ackman on Herbalife's lack of advertising
From pages 27 to 31 Bill Ackman notes the lack of advertising expense on Herbalife (which he argues is very little) and says that they cannot maintain their price premium that way.
This is of course garbage. Herbalife has the best advertising possible – word of mouth. People will pay huge sums to Facebook for the hope of getting someone to "like" a product online and hence endorse it to their friends. Herbalife has far more powerful advertising support than that – it is deep in the community.
Alcoholics Anonymous has 2 million members and I have never seen an advertisement for the product. However like you I have heard of AA. Brand recognition for community based products is (naturally) very high. I suspect almost every reader of my blog has heard of Alcoholics Anonymous without ever seeing an advertisement.
That said Herbalife does sponsor one of the biggest football teams in the world (Barcelona). It also sponors LA Galaxy but nobody cares about them!
Bill Ackman on Herbalife's research and development
From page 35 to 50 Bill Ackman tells us all about Herbalife's (very thin) research and development program.
He is of course right that relative to its claims Herbalife has a very thin research and development program. So what: Alcoholics Anonymous – relevant to its claims – has a very thin research and development program. And yet it is known to work for a lot of people and the results are well known.
There is plenty of research that says social cues are important in whether you take drugs or not, whether you drink. And social cues are important as to whether you stay fat or not.
You don't need a lot of research to tell you that.
As Bob Dylan says: you don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.
The main Bill Ackman mistake
Page 164 of the Bill Ackman presentation lays out the key criteria for determining whether Herbalife is illegal. Here is the slide:
I will quote this as it is the core criteria for determining whether Bill Ackman is right:
The critical question for the FTC is whether the revenues that primarily support the commissions paid to all participants are generated from purchases of goods and services that are not simply incidental to the purchase of the right to participate in a money-making venture.Bill Ackman spends most of his presentation arguing that Herbalife's product is the business opportunity. He argues for instance that most the product is sold to "distributors". This was clearly true in the Herbalife club I visited. Almost every customer was also a distributor. They however were clearly customers - they came in - they paid their money - they drank their shake. They look like customers because they were customers.
Bill Ackman calls these distributors victims of a false "business opportunity". Facts on the ground: they are customers.
That fact is very inconvenient for Bill Ackman because if they are customers then Herbalife is legal and Ackman's thesis falls apart totally.
Bill Ackman's logic as to why these distributors could not be customers is disarmingly simple - and amazingly erroneous. Bill Ackman argued that it was illogical for someone to sign up as Herbalife distributor for the 25 percent discount because even with a 25 percent discount the product was more expensive than commodity product available from GNC and other suppliers. [My Spanish translator came back to me with an errata on this point: he says that some of his downstream were considering the business opportunity - but the majority were distributors without any plans at all on the business opportunity.]
That is true. But it misses the point.
Remember those gold stars and the support group. If you buy weight loss shakes from GNC you do not get the gold stars. Buy the product from GNC and you are not part of this Latino self-help group. By not understanding Herbalife as a social support group for weight loss and by analysing the product as a commodity Bill Ackman has failed to observe what globally would add up to millions of customers. Real customers. The customers that make Herbalife legal.
What this story is really about
Herbalife is a company which combines a lot of good (think the life-saved diabetic above) with some pretty ugly features.
But this is not really a story about Herbalife - Herbalife will survive globally. Like all multi-level marketing schemes it will have its ups and downs. There will be all sorts of problems (such as tax compliance throughout the scheme, cash handling, perhaps even using Herbalife accounts to launder money).
What this has (deservedly) become is the story about how Bill Ackman can be so wrong. He spent (by his own admission) a year and a half analysing this company and his thesis can be falsified by visiting a few clubs in his home city. Bill Ackman's thesis is the most easily falsified bear-thesis I have seen from a major hedge fund ever.
You have to wonder how this happened. So I am going to tell you:
Bill Ackman a Harvard educated (magna cum laude) billionaire New York hedge fund manager bet over a billion dollars on a short position (imperilling his fund and his reputation) without checking the facts.
And he did not check the facts because he was so rigid with a misplaced silver spoon that he could not stoop to sit on a subway for thirty minutes and talk with poor people for ninety minutes.


text:
I was really sad a few days ago... My sister is growing up and doesn't care about me anymore – the sister who, as a little girl, would be around me 24/7; the same sister who would grab my legs if I got the car keys. Feeling her so distant breaks me heart... :õ(
But life brings us great surprises – one day after calling my sis and hearing "I'm busy now" I met a reader of the blog that put a smile on my face: she's 17 and adorable! She's one of my coworker's daughter and wanted to meet me while dropping by the office. Her name is Marina and she made me blush with so many kind words about the blog. After that I even got a lovely email and a beautiful book. I've told her mom that I would like to "adopt" Marina as my little sister. :D
I made these cookies for her (after my macaron disaster) as a way to thank her for being so generous.
Marina, dear, it was a great joy meeting you and your tenderness made my heart warm again.
slightly adapted from here
1 1/3 cups (233g) dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids or more, chopped
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2/3 cup (134g) sugar – I used vanilla infused sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (35g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (175g) dark chocolate chunks or chips
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Melt the 1 1/3 cups chocolate with the butter in a small saucepan over low heat – stir constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Mix eggs, vanilla and sugar in a medium bowl. Combine thoroughly. Set aside.
Sift flour and baking powder together in a small bowl.
Add melted chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and slowly add your dry ingredients. When stirred, add the cup of chocolate chunks/chips and stir.
Scoop 1 ½ tablespoons of dough onto prepared sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are firm on the outside (dough loses its sheen). Leave to cool completely on sheets.
Makes about 18


text:
Due to the end of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Food and Nutrition Services benefits will decrease for all households effective November 1, 2013. This cut will affect all 47 million recipients across the nation.
In 2009, the maximum monthly amount of Food and Nutrition Benefits a household could receive increased to a greater amount due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) also known as the "Stimulus Act". The part of this law that allowed this increase was limited to five (5) years, which ends November 1 of this year. This is the reason your benefits will decrease.
The decision for this action is based solely on federal requirements. Because this is change in federal law, you do not have the right to a fair hearing to dispute the fact that your benefits were reduced as mandated by federal law effective November 1, 2013.
If you have other concerns about how your benefits were calculated, you can request a fair hearing by letting your local Food and Nutrition Services office or County Department of Social Services know of your request. You may request the hearing in person, by telephone, or in writing. Please call 703-3800 if you would like to request a hearing, or mail requests to: DSS, 741 N. Highland Ave., Winston-Salem NC 27102.


text:
Fresh Guarantee
Freshness Guarantee
We are proud to offer this 100% Fresh Quality Guarantee. Stock is received in small batches every month to ensure product freshness. All our products are manufactured within a year (depending on the brand). If you received a product 6 months from expiry, you qualify for up to 50% off!*
If you found we miss a product:
1. Exchange and receive 30% off a new replacement.
2. Get 50% off the product and keep the item without going through exchanges.
Please contact us for instructions to ship, return, or exchange product. When you return the product to us, please include all the original packaging and any accessories.
Receiving your refund
If you're returning the item through shipping, we'll arrange for a refund. If you return it to our store, you can choose either a refund, credit statement or an exchange. We'll refund your money in the same way you paid for your product. Your money will go back onto the same card. Allow 3-7 working days for the refund to show in your account.
Credit Statement
We'll give you the equivalent value to your credit statement. If your item was purchased at an offer price, your refund will be based on that promotional price. Any member points earned on a returned item will be deducted from your account.
*Subject to certain brands
Certain brands do not have a long manufacturing date, in this case we do not have control over how long the manufacture date can be.


text:
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