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MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT Arctic Glacier
On November 29th the Christian Science Monitor and multiple news outlets reported that there is yet again evidence of increasing environmental degradation due to global warming. According to the Monitor, "Fueled by global warming, polar ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are now melting three times faster than they did in the 1990s, a new scientific study says."
Meanwhile, an August New York Times (NYT) article is headlined "Satellites Show Sea Ice in Arctic Is at a Record Low": "The amount of sea ice in the Arctic has fallen to the lowest level on record, a confirmation of the drastic warming in the region and a likely harbinger of larger changes to come."
There is hardly a sliver of hope to be taken in the accelerating devastation of the planet. "It's hard even for people like me to believe, to see that climate change is actually doing what our worst fears dictated," Jennifer A. Francis, a Rutgers University scientist who studies the effect of sea ice on weather patterns told the NYT. "It's starting to give me chills, to tell you the truth."
But a faster pace in destructive planetary climate change means likely increased profits for the fossil fuel behemoth corporations and their natural resource extraction cousins.
In fact, on September 19 the NYT ran a candid account of the riches to be made off of global warming entitled "Race Is On as Ice Melt Reveals Arctic Treasures"
The NYT dispassionately informs us:
Here, as well as in Alaska, Canada and Norway, oil and gas companies are still largely exploring, although experts estimate that more than 20 percent of the world's oil and gas reserves are in the Arctic. Warmer weather has already extended the work season by a month in many locations, making access easier.
At one point this summer, 97 percent of the surface of Greenland's massive ice sheet was melting. At current rates, Arctic waters could be ice-free in summer by the end of the decade, scientists say.
The stakes are high, involving military build-ups, the wooing of previously ignored nations by superpowers, and the battle over extraction rights. But, according to the NYT, "experts say boundary disputes are likely to be rapidly resolved through negotiation, so that everyone can get on with the business of making money."
Yes, global warming is leading to a whole new profitability frontier: as islands are threatened with extinction due to rising waters, hurricanes and tornadoes run amuck, and temperatures become increasingly volatile, the vulture capitalists see dollar signs not calamitous ruin.
Sovereign nations, acting on behalf of business interests, are, as noted earlier, circling the carcasses exposed by a rapacious industrial appetite, showering the likes of Greenland with promises of wealth, according to the Times:
Western nations have been particularly anxious about Chinese overtures to this poor and sparsely populated island, a self-governing state within the Kingdom of Denmark, because the retreat of its ice cap has unveiled coveted mineral deposits, including rare earth metals that are crucial for new technologies like cellphones and military guidance systems. A European Union vice president, Antonio Tajani, rushed here to Greenland's capital in June, offering hundreds of millions in development aid in exchange for guarantees that Greenland would not give China exclusive access to its rare earth metals, calling his trip "raw mineral diplomacy."
The decline of the earth's viability will make it easier and less expensive for the extractive and fossil fuel industries to profit from the natural resources and oil and natural gas previously not accessible to them. It is seen as a positive development for their future bottom lines.
Over the Arctic, there's a bad moon on the rise.
(Photo: Banyanman)


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Skrillex Wins 2012 Best Dance Recording + Best Dance Album Grammy Awards
Skrillex swept both dance awards at the 2012 Grammy Awards, winning Best Dance Recording and Best Dance/Electronica Album in succession for 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.' The wins followed his earlier victory for Best Remixed Recording, giving him three awards in just over an hour.
When the DJ, born Sonny Moore, took the stage to accept his trophy for Best Dance Recording, he gave thanks to award presenters OK Go, pointing out how that band's viral success with online music videos help open doors for artists like himself to rise to fame via the Internet, without the backing of a powerful record label.
Skrillex was especially surprised to win Best Dance Recording because 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' is not exactly radio-friendly. "I'm super-proud of this song. It was like the least commercial thing I ever thought I could create, and now we got a Grammy," he said during his acceptance speech. "It's over four and a half minutes, there's no verse-chorus, verse-chorus, but people connected with it."
Just seconds later, Skrillex beat out David Guetta, Robyn and others to win Best Dance/Electronica Album. "Man, I can't take this anymore. This is the most surreal day of my life," he exclaimed. "I don't feel like I really deserve this. This is really crazy."

subset: commoncrawl


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|Sammataro, Diana
|Cicero, Joseph - University Of Arizona
Submitted to: Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/23/2010
Publication Date: 11/20/2010
Citation: Sammataro, D., Cicero, J.M. 2010. Functional morphology of the honey stomach wall of European honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 103(6):979-987.
Interpretive Summary: We examined the structure of the honey stomach (or crop) of the honey bee using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). This is the first time that this organ has been viewed using SEM, and the complexity of the structure was revisited since first described by early anatomists. The crop is surrounded by muscles that help to confine the underlying tissues which are pleated to form and expand as the crop is filled with nectar. During engorgement with nectar, the muscular enclosure relaxes to larger and larger diameters. Correspondingly, pleats unfold and flatten out as needed. When the nectar is expelled from the crop, the muscles contract, returning the crop to its smaller state. We also found that beneficial bacteria are living in the crop and could visualize them in the crop.
Technical Abstract: The honey bee crop, or honey stomach, is designed with cords of muscles that are numerous enough in both latitudinal and longitudinal directions to fully enclose and confine the underlying, cuticle-lines epithelium. Although appressed against the inner wall of this enclosure by the crop's contents, the epithelium is essentially free of ligations that would immobilize it. It is therefore capable of sliding on the inner wall and undergoing extensive compound pleating as needed to conform to the diameter of the enclosure regardless of the extent of contraction or distention. Further, the two primary components of the epithelial layer, epidermal cells and procuticle, are capable of undergoing extreme compression to maintain pleats while enduring the pressure exerted by the volume of crop contents. During enforcement with nectar, the muscular enclosure relaxes to larger and larger diameters. Correspondingly, pleats unfold and flatten out as needed. During dispensation of nectar in the hive, the muscular enclosure contracts and forces the epithelium to pleat itself again. Pleats are present in even the most grossly distended crops, indicating that capacity is not a limiting factor in the volume of nectar a bee can accumulate during foraging.


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International relations
International relations, the study of the relations of states with each other and with international organizations and certain subnational entities (e.g., bureaucracies, political parties, and interest groups). It is related to a number of other academic disciplines, including political science, geography, history, economics, law, sociology, psychology, and philosophy.
Historical development
The field of international relations emerged at the beginning of the 20th century largely in the West and in particular in the United States as that country grew in power and influence. Whereas the study of international relations in the newly founded Soviet Union and later in communist China was stultified by officially imposed Marxist ideology, in the West the field flourished as the result of a number of factors: a growing demand to find less-dangerous and more-effective means of conducting relations between peoples, societies, governments, and economies; a surge of writing and research inspired by the belief that systematic observation and inquiry could dispel ignorance and serve human betterment; and the popularization of political affairs, including foreign affairs. The traditional view that foreign and military matters should remain the exclusive preserve of rulers and other elites yielded to the belief that such matters constituted an important concern and responsibility of all citizens. This increasing popularization of international relations reinforced the idea that general education should include instruction in foreign affairs and that knowledge should be advanced in the interests of greater public control and oversight of foreign and military policy.
This new perspective was articulated by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (1913–21) in his program for relations between the Great Powers following a settlement of World War I. The first of his Fourteen Points, as his program came to be known, was a call for "open covenants of peace, openly arrived at" in place of the secret treaties that were believed to have contributed to the outbreak of the war. The extreme devastation caused by the war strengthened the conviction among political leaders that not enough was known about international relations and that universities should promote research and teaching on issues related to international cooperation and war and peace.
International relations scholarship prior to World War I was conducted primarily in two loosely organized branches of learning: diplomatic history and international law. Involving meticulous archival and other primary-source research, diplomatic history emphasized the uniqueness of international events and the methods of diplomacy as it was actually conducted. International law—especially the law of war—had a long history in international relations and was viewed as the source of fundamental normative standards of international conduct. The emergence of international relations was to broaden the scope of international law beyond this traditional focal point.
Between the two world wars
During the 1920s new centres, institutes, schools, and university departments devoted to teaching and research in international relations were created in Europe and North America. In addition, private organizations promoting the study of international relations were formed, and substantial philanthropic grants were made to support scholarly journals, to sponsor training institutes, conferences, and seminars, and to stimulate university research.
Three subject areas initially commanded the most attention, each having its roots in World War I. During the revolutionary upheavals at the end of the war, major portions of the government archives of imperial Russia and imperial Germany were opened, making possible some impressive scholarly work in diplomatic history that pieced together the unknown history of prewar alliances, secret diplomacy, and military planning. These materials were integrated to provide detailed explanations of the origins of World War I. Among such works several are particularly noteworthy, including Sidney Bradshaw Fay's meticulous The Origins of the World War (1928), which explored prewar diplomacy and alliance systems; Bernadotte E. Schmitt's The Coming of the War, 1914 (1930) and Triple Alliance and Triple Entente (1934); Pierre Renouvin's The Immediate Origins of the War (1928); Winston Churchill's The World Crisis (1923–29); and Arnold J. Toynbee's The World After the Peace Conference (1925). There also were extensive memoirs and volumes of published documents that provided much material for diplomatic historians and other international relations scholars.
The newly created League of Nations, which ushered in the hope and expectation that a new and peaceful world order was at hand, was a second subject that captured significant attention. Some of the international relations schools that were founded in the interwar period were explicitly created to prepare civil servants for what was expected to be the dawning age of international government. Accordingly, intensive study was devoted to the genesis and organization of the league, the history of earlier plans for international federations, and the analysis of the problems and procedures of international organization and international law.
The third focal point of international relations scholarship during the early part of the interwar period was an offshoot of the peace movement and was concerned primarily with understanding the causes and costs of war, as well as its political, sociological, economic, and psychological dimensions. Interest in the question "Why war?" also brought a host of social scientists, including economists, sociologists, psychologists, and even mathematicians—all of whom were pioneers in the intellectual movement known as behaviourism—into active participation in international studies for the first time.
In the 1930s the breakdown of the League of Nations, the rise of aggressive dictatorships in Italy, Germany, and Japan, and the onset of World War II produced a strong reaction against international government and against peace-inspired topics in the study of international relations. The moral idealism inherent in these topics was criticized as unrealistic and impractical, and the academic study of international relations came to be regarded as the handiwork of starry-eyed peace visionaries who ignored the hard facts of international politics. In particular, scholars of international relations were criticized for suggesting standards of international conduct that bore little resemblance to the real behaviour of nations up to that time. As the desired world of peaceful conflict resolution and adherence to international law grew more distant from the existing world of aggressive dictatorships, a new approach to the study of international relations, known as realism, increasingly dominated the field. Nevertheless, the scholarly work on world affairs of the early interwar period, despite the decline in its reputation and influence, was extensive and sound, encompassing the collection and organization of large amounts of important data and the development of some fundamental concepts.
Some topics of study in international relations that are still considered novel or of recent origin were already being vigorously explored in the interwar period. Indeed, a brief review of these topics tends to undermine the image of the interwar period as one dominated by moralistic ideas. The topics include the causes of wars; the relationship between international affairs and the problems of racial and ethnic minorities; the effects of population change on foreign policies; the effects of nationalism, imperialism, and colonialism; the strategic aspects of international relations, including the importance of geographic location and spatial relationships (geopolitics) for military power and the influence on governments of what later was called the "military-industrial complex"; the implications of economic inequalities between countries; and the role of public opinion, national differences, and cultural orientation in world affairs. Although these earlier studies tended to be somewhat short on theory and long on description, most of the topics examined remain relevant in the 21st century.
The scholarly contributions of some individuals in the 1930s were particularly noteworthy because they foreshadowed the development of international relations studies after World War II. Harold D. Lasswell, for example, explored the relationships between world politics and the psychological realm of symbols, perceptions, and images; Abram Kardiner and his associates laid the groundwork for an approach, based on a branch of anthropology known as culture-and-personality studies, that later became a popular but short-lived theory of international relations; Frederick L. Schuman, setting a style that is still followed by interpreters of foreign policy and by journalists, synthesized analytic commentary with accounts of current international events; Quincy Wright investigated numerous aspects of international behaviour and war as head of one of the first team research projects in international relations; and E.H. Carr, Brooks Emeny, Carl J. Friedrich, Schuman, Harold Sprout, Nicholas Spykman, and others developed the main lines of what became the "power-politics" explanation of international relations, also known as realism. In 1937 the Spanish poet, historian, philosopher, and diplomat Salvador de Madariaga, founder of the College of Europe, relied upon his experience in working with the League of Nations Secretariat in Geneva to describe the gap between what was being said or written about international relations and what was actually happening.
The broadened definition and scope of the study of international relations were among the fundamental contributions of scholars of the interwar period. Many of these innovators were enlisted by governments during World War II for work in intelligence and propaganda, as well as other aspects of wartime planning. In this respect the war stimulated systematic social-scientific investigations of international phenomena. It also led to important technological advances—notably the computer—that would later have a major impact on the study of international relations.
In other ways World War II was a divide for academic international relations. The war itself brought about a drastic change in the agenda of world politics, and the postwar intellectual climate was characterized by a marked shift away from many earlier interests, emphases, and problems. In the early postwar years there was a quest for analyses that would cut through the details of studies of myriad international topics to produce a general understanding of common elements and a clear view of the fundamental nature of international politics. There was also a growing interest in developing theories that could help to explain the major issues of the changing international scene. New security issues emerged, including the issue of nuclear weapons, which led to extensive writings on deterrence as a basis of strategic stability. Bernard Brodie's treatise on nuclear deterrence was highly influential, as was the work of Herman Kahn, Glenn Snyder, Thomas C. Schelling, Henry A. Kissinger, and Albert Wohlstetter. Other issues that were addressed in the vast literature of international relations include international, and especially European, integration; alliances and alignment, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); ideologies; foreign-policy decision making; theories about conflict and war; the study of low-intensity conflict; crisis management; international organizations; and the foreign policies of the increasing number of states that became part of the international system in the mid- to late 20th century.
The postwar ascendancy of realism
Hans J. Morgenthau's Politics Among Nations (1948) helped to meet the need for a general theoretical framework. Not only did it become one of the most extensively used textbooks in the United States and Britain—it continued to be republished over the next half century—it also was an essential exposition of the realist theory of international relations. Numerous other contributors to realist theory emerged in the decade or so after World War II, including Arnold Wolfers, George F. Kennan, Robert Strausz-Hupé, Kissinger, and the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.
Although there are many variations of realism, all of them make use of the core concepts of national interest and the struggle for power. According to realism, states exist within an anarchic international system in which they are ultimately dependent on their own capabilities, or power, to further their national interests. The most important national interest is the survival of the state, including its people, political system, and territorial integrity. Other major interests for realists include preservation of the culture and the economy. Realists contend that, as long as the world is divided into nation-states in an anarchic setting, national interest will remain the essence of international politics. The struggle for power is part of human nature and takes essentially two forms: collaboration and competition. Collaboration occurs when parties find that their interests coincide (e.g., when they form alliances or coalitions designed to maximize their collective power, usually against an adversary). Rivalry, competition, and conflict result from the clash of national interests that is characteristic of the anarchic system. Accommodation between states is possible through skillful political leadership, which includes the prioritizing of national goals in order to limit conflicts with other states.
In an international system composed of sovereign states, the survival of both the states and the system depends on the intelligent pursuit of national interests and the accurate calculation of national power. Realists caution that messianic religious and ideological crusades can obscure core national interests and threaten the survival of individual states and the international system itself. Such crusades included, for Morgenthau, the pursuit of global communism or global democracy, each of which would inevitably clash with the other or with other competing ideologies. The attempt to reform countries toward the ideal of universal trust and cooperation, according to realists, runs counter to human nature, which is inclined toward competition, conflict, and war.
Realist theory emerged in the decade after World War II as a response to idealism, which generally held that policy makers should refrain from immoral or illegal actions in world affairs. As no impressive new formulation of political idealism appeared on the international scene to reply to realist theory, the debate between realism and idealism gradually faded, only to be revived in a somewhat different form in the final decades of the 20th century in the disagreement between neoliberal institutionalists and neorealist structuralists.
Many international relations scholars neither rejected nor embraced realism but instead were engrossed in other aspects of the broadening agenda of international relations studies. Beginning in the 1950s, as the United States became more fully engaged in world affairs, the U.S. government made large sums of money available for the development of area studies, especially studies of regions that were important in the intensifying Cold War with the Soviet Union. In order to understand the major forces and trends shaping countries such as the Soviet Union and China or the regions extending from Africa to Northeast Asia, the United States needed to recruit greater numbers of specialists in the histories, politics, cultures, economies, languages, and literature of such areas; the Soviet Union did likewise. Theoretical concerns generally played a marginal role in the growth of area specialization in the West. Although many scholars agreed with Morgenthau's statement that theory and research should have a "concern with human nature as it actually is, and with the historic processes as they actually take place," they did not uniformly believe that realism was capable of providing an adequate explanation of international behaviour.
The behavioral approach and the task of integration
In the 1950s an important development in the social sciences, including the study of international relations, was the arrival of new concepts and methodologies that were loosely identified in ensemble as behavioral theory. This general approach, which emphasized narrowly focused quantitative studies designed to obtain precise results, created a wide-ranging controversy between theorists who believed that the social sciences should emulate as much as possible the methodologies of the physical sciences and those who held that such an approach is fundamentally unsound. In addition, the great number of new topics investigated at the time—including cognition, conflict resolution, decision making, deterrence, development, the environment, game theory, economic and political integration, and systems analysis—provoked some anxiety that the discipline would collapse into complete conceptual and methodological chaos. Accordingly, much of the intellectual effort of the mid-1950s to mid-1960s—the so-called "behavioral decade"—went into the task of comparing, interpreting, and integrating various concepts from new areas of study, and the scholarly goal of the period was to link theories, or to connect so-called "islands of theory," into a greater, more comprehensive theory of international relations.
This task proved to be a difficult one. Indeed, some scholars began to question the necessity—or even the possibility—of arriving at a single theory that would explain all the varied, diverse, and complex facets of international relations. Instead, these researchers suggested that a number of separate theories would be needed.
At the same time, theories that trace the forces of international relations to a single source were increasingly viewed as unsatisfactory. The struggle for power, for example, was accepted as a fact in past and current international politics, but attempts to make all other factors subordinate to or dependent upon power were thought to exclude too much of what is important and interesting in international relations. Similar assessments were made of the theory that asserts that the character of a nation—and hence the character of its participation in international relations—is determined by its child-rearing practices, as well as of the Marxist theory that international relations are solely the historical expression of class struggle.
The general attitude of the behavioral decade was that the facts of international relations are multidimensional and therefore have multiple causes. This conclusion supported, and in turn was supported by, the related view that an adequate account of these facts could not be provided in a single integrated theory and that multiple separate theories were required instead. By the 1960s, for example, studies of international conflict had come to encompass a number of different perspectives, including the realist theory of the struggle for power between states and the Marxist notion of global class conflict, as well as other explanations. At the same time, conflict theory coexisted with economic and political integration theory and game theory, each of which approached the phenomena of international conflict from a distinct perspective.
In keeping with the multiple-theory approach, by the end of the behavioral decade there was a growing consensus that the study of international relations should encompass both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Whereas quantitative methodologies were recognized as useful for measuring and comparing international phenomena and identifying common features and patterns of behaviour, qualitative analyses, by focusing on one case or a comparison of cases involving specific research questions, hypotheses, or categories, were thought to provide a deeper understanding of what is unique about political leaders, nations, and important international events such as World War II and the Cold War.
The use of quantitative analysis in international relations studies increased significantly in the decades after the 1960s. This was a direct result of advances in computer technology, both in the collection and retrieval of information and in the analysis of data. When computers were introduced in international relations studies, it was not readily apparent how best to exploit the new technology, partly because most earlier studies of international relations were set forth in narrative or literary form and partly because many of the phenomena examined were not easily quantifiable. Nevertheless, exploratory quantitative studies were undertaken in a number of directions. A growing body of studies, for example, developed correlations between phenomena such as alliances and the outbreak or deterrence of war, between levels of political integration and levels of trade, communication, and mobility of populations, between levels of economic development and internal political stability, and between levels of internal violence and participation in international conflicts.
The later 20th century
Foreign policy and international systems
The influence of behaviourism helped to organize the various theories of international relations and the discipline into essentially two principal parts, or perspectives: the foreign-policy perspective and the international-system-analysis perspective. Within each of these perspectives there developed various theories. The foreign-policy perspective, for example, encompasses theories about the behaviour of individual states or categories of states such as democracies or totalitarian dictatorships, and the international-system-analysis perspective encompasses theories of the interactions between states and how the number of states and their respective capabilities affect their relations with each other. The foreign-policy perspective also includes studies of the traits, structures, or processes within a national society or polity that determine or influence how that society or polity participates in international relations. One such study, known as the decision-making approach, analyzes the information that decision makers use, their perceptions and motivations, the influence on their behaviour of public opinion, the organizational settings in which they operate, and their intellectual, cultural, and societal backgrounds. Studies that analyze the relations between the wealth, power, or technological level of a state and its international status and role provide other illustrations of the foreign-policy perspective.
Comparative foreign-policy analysis first appeared during the mid-1960s. By comparing the domestic sources of external conduct in different countries, using standard criteria of data selection and analysis, this approach seeks to develop generalized accounts of foreign-policy performance, including theories that explore the relationship between the type of domestic-external linkage a country displays and its political and economic system and level of social development. Some research also has explored the extent to which certain patterns of behaviour, such as violent demonstrations or protests, may spread from one state to another.
Whereas foreign-policy analysis concentrates on the units of the international system, international-system analysis is concerned with the structure of the system, the interactions between its units, and the implications for peace and war, or cooperation and conflict, of the existence of different types of states. The term interactions suggests challenge and response, give and take, move and countermove, or inputs and outputs. Diplomatic histories feature narratives of action and response in international situations and attempt to interpret the meanings of the exchanges. Balance-of-power theory, which asserts that states act to protect themselves by forming alliances against powerful states or coalitions of states, is another example of the international-system perspective. Still other examples include explanations and descriptions of bargaining in international negotiations and studies of arms races and other escalating action-reaction processes.
The general-system perspective
The so-called general-system perspective on international relations, which attempts to develop a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of the relations between states, may be compared to the map of a little-explored continent. Outlines, broad features, and a continental delineation are not in question, but everything else remains in doubt, is subject to controversy, and awaits exploration. The Russian-born mathematician and biologist Anatol Rapoport once remarked that general-system theory is not really a theory but instead "a program or a direction in the contemporary philosophy of science."
The concept of a system can be used to study patterns of interaction within and between units of foreign-policy decision making; by exploring such patterns, one can determine how foreign policies are formulated and how states or other units interact with or are related to each other, as opposed to how they interact with outside units. The members of a family, for example, interact with each other in ways that clearly differ from the ways in which they interact with other persons, such as colleagues in a place of employment or fellow members of a church. Although systems are definable in terms of units that exhibit certain patterns of interaction with each other, there also may be interaction between a system and its subsystems. A national political system, for example, may interact with subsystems such as interest groups, the media, or public opinion.
Systems and subsystems exist in a hierarchical setting. A department is a subsystem of a corporation, for example, just as a corporation is a subsystem of an industry. In international relations states are considered subsystems, or components, of the entire international system. In analyzing the international system, researchers often posit distinct political, economic, cultural, and social subsystems.
Although interactions between states have varied over time, by the latter decades of the 20th century they had become global in scope and unprecedented in their number and in the types of actors they involved. The volume, velocity, and types of interaction had expanded to include not only the greater movement of people but also trade, investment, ideas, and information—all of which were shaped by technology.
Structures, institutions, and levels of analysis
Since the 1970s the study of international relations has been marked by a renewed debate about the relationship between structures and institutions in international systems. On one side of the controversy was a revival of the school of realism, known as neorealism, which emerged with the publication of Kenneth Waltz's Theory of International Politics in 1979. Neorealism represented an effort to inject greater precision, or conceptual rigour, into realist theory. While retaining power as a central explanatory notion, Waltz's neorealism also incorporated the idea of structure as it is reflected in alliances and other cooperative arrangements among states of varying sizes, strengths, and capabilities. A bipolar system, for example, is a structure in which two states are dominant and the remaining states are allied with one or the other dominant state. According to Waltz and other neorealists, the structure of the international system limits the foreign-policy options available to states and influences international institutions in important ways. The United Nations (UN), for example, mirrors the structure of the existing international system insofar as it is dominated by leading powers such as the permanent members of the Security Council. Changes in international structure, including the rise of new powers, eventually lead to changes within international institutions. Thus, some neorealists have suggested that the Security Council's permanent membership will eventually be expanded to include countries such as Germany, India, Japan, and others.
On the other side of the structures-institutions debate have been the neoliberal institutionalists, who contend that institutions matter beyond simply reflecting or codifying the power structure of the international system. Although neoliberal institutionalists accept the realist conception of states as the principal actors in a fundamentally anarchic environment, they argue that state behaviour can be modified by interaction with international institutions such as the European Union (EU), NATO, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the UN. Such interaction, they contend, reduces the long-term potential for international conflict.
Although neorealist structuralists and neoliberal institutionalists generally agree that international cooperation is possible, neorealists are much more skeptical of its chances for long-term success. According to neorealist logic, NATO should have dissolved in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the bipolar structure that had led to its formation. Instead, NATO was transformed in the decade following the end of the Cold War, taking on new tasks and responsibilities. This contradiction may be apparent, however, only because such adaptation can be viewed as reinforcing the neorealist thesis that institutions reflect the existing international structure: when that structure changes, they must change accordingly if they are to survive. Thus, NATO was able to survive because it underwent a transformation. At the same time, NATO's adaptation reflects the neoliberal-institutionalist contention that international organizations can modify national interests through the process of cooperation. Thus, NATO countries have altered their policies to take account of the needs of other members, and potential members have undergone rigorous internal reform in order to qualify for membership. Consequently, each theory appears to offer useful insights, and both together can form the basis of a unified approach to the relationship between structures and institutions.
Central to neorealist structural theory is the levels-of-analysis question—i.e., the question of whether international inquiry should be focused at the individual, state, international-system, or other level. Introduced in the 1950s as part of an attempt to make research in international relations more scientific, the levels-of-analysis question provided a conceptual basis for addressing issues such as the effect of structure (bipolar or multipolar) on the behaviour of states or other units. At the same time, it offered a means of distinguishing between different sources of explanation and different objects of analysis. Thus, assuming that the international system shapes the options available to states as actors, it is plausible to suggest that the way in which decision makers respond to such options depends on how they perceive them and on the related opportunities and constraints created by domestic-level forces. In the 1980s this perspective was reflected in the burgeoning literature on "democratic peace theory," an approach that President Wilson undoubtedly had in mind when he called on Congress to support an effort "to make the world safe for democracy." Democratic peace theorists appealed to the internal characteristics of democratic states in order to explain why democracies tend not to fight each other. According to them, the peaceful norms that democratic states have developed for resolving differences with each other are an outgrowth of their domestic traditions of law and order, compromise, due process, protection of individual rights—including property rights and the right to freedom of speech—and an independent judiciary. In The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919–1939: An Introduction to the Study of International Relations (1939), E.H. Carr contended that individuals' interest in the creation of a peaceful world could determine the foreign policies of democracies. A world constituted entirely of democracies, according to this view, would be peaceful.
By the late 1990s neorealist structuralist theory had been supplemented, in what was termed neoclassical realist theory, by explorations of the implications of structure, not just at the international-system level but also at the state level and within the state at the individual and group levels. Realist theory continued to be marked by major disagreements, however, a situation that supporters claimed was a reflection of rich intellectual resources and that detractors cited as an indication of fractured conceptual foundations. In any event, the contemporary effort to update, refine, and broaden realist theory, as well as the ongoing debate between neorealism and neoliberalism, may represent a trend toward a synthesis of the various realist schools of thought.
Recent perspectives
In the late 20th century the study of international relations was increasingly influenced by constructivism. According to this approach, the behaviour of humans is determined by their identity, which itself is shaped by society's values, history, practices, and institutions. Constructivists hold that all institutions, including the state, are socially constructed, in the sense that they reflect an "intersubjective consensus" of shared beliefs about political practice, acceptable social behaviour, and values. In much the same way, the individual members of the state or other unit continuously construct the reality about which policy decisions, including decisions about war and peace and conflict and cooperation, are made.
Some constructivists contend that gender is socially constructed. On the basis of this thesis, feminist theories of international relations have attempted to address the fundamental question of the extent to which gender-based role differentiation is socially rather than biologically determined. In so doing, they have sought to answer questions such as: Are men more prone than women to aggressive, warlike behaviour? If gender roles are socially constructed, then according to feminist theory it would be possible to reduce male aggressiveness by changing beliefs or values regarding what it is to be male. On the other hand, if aggression is the product of male biology, then such change becomes impossible, or at least considerably more difficult.
Part of the newer intellectual landscape in the study of international relations is formed by postmodernism and critical theory. According to postmodernism, the international structures posited in realist and other international relations theory are social constructions that reflect a worldview that serves the interests of elites. Critical theory was developed from the 1920s by the Frankfurt School of social and political philosophers, especially Jürgen Habermas and Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979). For critical theory the essential issue is how to emancipate human beings from social institutions and practices that oppress them. Although inspired by Marxism, critical theorists recognize forms of domination other than class domination, including those based on gender, race, religion, ethnicity, and nationalism. Because each of these forms has been in abundant evidence in the global landscape, critical theory was thought to provide important insights into the study of international relations at the start of the 21st century.
International political economy
Nothing is more illustrative of the inherently interdisciplinary nature of international relations inquiry than the nexus between economic and political factors. Although politics and economics have been studied separately for analytic purposes and as academic disciplines, and although each has its own paradigms, theories, and methodologies, it has long been recognized that economic factors shape political decisions, just as political factors may have a decisive influence on economic choices. Writings on political economy proliferated from the rise of the modern state in the mid-17th century until the mid-19th century. Much of the literature emphasized mercantilism, the notion that economic activity is, or should be, subservient to the interests of the state. Influenced by the work of Adam Smith (1723–90), David Ricardo (1772–1823), Richard Cobden (1804–65), and John Stuart Mill (1806–73), political economists of this period developed a fundamentally different approach, known as economic liberalism, that held that a system of free trade supported by government policies of laissez-faire would lead to economic growth and expanded trade and make an important contribution to international peace. In the latter 19th century a third approach, based on the writings of Karl Marx, argued that an increasingly poor proletariat and an increasingly affluent bourgeoisie would eventually clash in a violent revolution resulting in the overthrow of the latter, the destruction of capitalism, and the emergence of communism.
Each of these sharply differing approaches has left its imprimatur on contemporary theories of international political economy. The earlier mercantilist approach influenced contemporary economic nationalism, which is characterized by several important assumptions: (1) states cannot remain powerful in an anarchic setting without a strong economy, (2) economic strength must be preserved by protecting key industries and jobs, (3) such protectionism may require tariffs and governmental subsidies, (4) low-priced imports may threaten domestic jobs and industry, (5) the state can and should remain sovereign in economic matters, and (6) membership in international economic organizations such as the WTO and agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement may have adverse consequences for national strength.
Contemporary economic liberalism shares with classical liberalism the contention that the only way a state can maximize economic growth is by allowing markets to operate free from government intervention. They maintain that tariffs—which have the effect of distorting the allocation of resources, production, and trade—restrict economic growth and should be abolished. Accordingly, they support the creation and expansion of regional and international free-trade organizations. Citing Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage and earlier ideas of Smith, they also argue that national specialization is essential to world prosperity because it entails that countries will produce only those goods and services they are best equipped to make, which thus maximizes overall efficiency and minimizes overall costs. More generally, liberals maintain that the basic units of the global economy are now so closely integrated that efforts on the part of states to restrict trade with other countries are bound to fail. Debate between economic nationalists and liberals centres on the extent to which the state, even if it can do so, should halt or reverse the forces leading to economic globalization.
The third basic contemporary approach to international political economy is rooted in Marxism, though the collapse of nearly all states with Marxist economies greatly undermined Marxist-inspired theories of international relations. Focusing on the relationship between wealthy states and impoverished ones, this approach, known as dependency theory, rejects the assumption that capitalism is the best means of economic development for impoverished states and instead argues that participation in international capitalism by poorer countries traps them in relationships of dependency and subordination to wealthier states.


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Geology is the study of the origin, history, and structure of the earth. This is usually taken to mean the formation of the fossil record or geologic column and other major features like mountains, rivers, lakes and the erosion that bodies of water cause as well as similar natural features of earth. The word comes from the Greek word geo meaning earth and logy which means "the study of."
From the creationist point of view, geology provides clear evidence of the global flood described in the Biblical book of Genesis. It is asserted that the flood-based interpretation of geological formations strongly supports a young earth and goes against the long ages the theory of evolution requires.
History and Development
One of the most prominent geologic thinkers was Niels Steensen (1638–1686) who was responsible for the development and observation of superposition. The term superposition describes the process of sedimentary rock deposition in a successive, mainly horizontal fashion. In his book entitled, Forerunner (1669) Steensen implied a roughly 6,000-year-old Earth and that fossils within the rock strata laid down through superposition were deposited by Noah's Flood. The century after Seensen's death saw several prominent authors stand firm in the principles put forth in Steensen's book. The English geologist John Woodward (1665–1722) and the German geologist Johann Lehmann (1719–1767), to name a few, wrote books ultimately reinforcing that view.[1]
The idea of an old earth is based on the principle of uniformitarianism, which is the doctrine that geologic processes have acted in the same regular manner and intensity throughout geologic time. This concept was begun in 1795 by James Hutton and further developed by Charles Lyell who is considered the father of modern geology. Charles Darwin took Lyell's book "Principles of Geology" during his historic voyage on the Beagle. Lyell's book inspired Darwin to form his theory of slow biological change known as gradualism.
Flood Geology
- Main Article: Flood geology
Flood geology is the field of geology that deals with the effects of catastrophic flooding, and how such events have shaped geologic formations. Creation geology is based on the assumption that the Biblical flood described in the book of Genesis was a real and historical event of global magnitude, and is therefore also known as flood geology. Creation geologists seek primarily to show that Earth's geologic features are best interpreted within the scope of this Biblical cataclysm; including sedimentary strata, fossilization, fossil fuels, submarine canyons, plate tectonics, salt domes and frozen mammoths.
Flood geology is a historical science that is premised on catastrophism and the rejection of uniformitarianism. Creation geologists develop models based upon the historicity of the global flood, which are testable and falsifiable. Interestingly, the difference between flood models and the interpretations of naturalistic geologists is largely just one of intensity. All geologists today accept the view that allows for major catastrophes interspersed among large time periods of near stasis. In contrast, Creation model put a series of closely related cataclysmic events into a short period of time. Flood geologists explain strata with reference to catastrophes like the eruption of Mount St. Helens, which carved out enormous canyons and laid down large amounts of rock strata within the space of a single day.
There are two main components of geologic science, which are physical geology and historical geology. Physical geology is the study of the materials that make the various rock formations and structures of earth and the processes or mechanisms that shape them. Historical geology is the study of earth's history with the study of sedimentary rocks, their relation in geologic time and the study of fossils and locations within the rocks.[2]
Stratigraphy is the study of rock strata, especially the distribution, deposition, and age of sedimentary rocks. William Smith advanced stratigraphy around 1815 when he mapped out strata of England and drew a geological map that is almost unchanged today.[3] The following principles of stratigraphy are held as the basis for much of historical and physical geology.
- Main Article: Principle of superposition
The principle of superposition, now known as the scientific law of superposition, is an axiom that forms one of the bases of the sciences of geology, archaeology, and other fields dealing with stratigraphy. It was first put forth in the 17th century by the Danish scientist Niels Steensen.
- Main Article: Principle of continuity
Strata are formed from sediments in a fluid. Therefore, when any stratum forms it must be bordered on its sides by another solid body, or else, the sediments will continue around the earth.
Original horizontality
- Main Article: Principle of original horizontality
When a stratum is formed, the lower surface and surfaces of its sides, corresponded with the surfaces of the adjacent bodies. The upper surface was parallel to the horizon, as far as that is possible. With the exception of the lowest stratum, all the strata were contained in two parallel planes to the horizon and were at one time parallel to the horizon.
Geologists (also know as geoscientists) study the composition, structure, and other physical aspects of the Earth, and the Earth's geologic past and present by using sophisticated instruments to analyze the composition of earth, rock, and water. Many geologists help to search for natural resources such as groundwater, minerals, metals, and petroleum. Others work closely with environmental and other scientists to preserve and clean up the environment.[4]
Creation geologists interpret the Earth's fossils and rocks based on the assumption that the Biblical flood described in the book of Genesis was a real and historical event, and seek primarily to show that Earth's geologic features are best interpreted within this worldview. The following are geologists who hold to this view, which is commonly called flood geology.
- Steve Austin
- Clifford Burdick
- Brent Carter
- George Gilder
- Harold Coffin
- Bill Hoesch
- John Woodward
- John Mackay
- Trevor Major
- Joseph Meert
- Collin Mitchell
- John Morris
- Terry Mortenson
- Adam Sedgwick
- Emil Silvestru
- Andrew Snelling
- Tas Walker
- John Whitmore
- Kurt Wise
- John Woodmorappe
- ...Edit list
Sites of Geologic Interest
- After originally refusing to issue a permit to creation scientist Andrew Snelling so he could collect rocks at the Grand Canyon, National Park authorities relented and issued a permit, June 30, 2017.
- Robot Sub Finds Surprisingly Thick Antarctic Sea Ice Not only is the amount of sea ice increasing each year, but an underwater robot now shows the ice is also much thicker than was previously thought, a new study reports. Accu Weather, November 30, 2014
- Rare Diamond Confirms That Earth's Mantle Holds an Ocean's Worth of Water Subterranean waters that have been long-held as the source of the global flood have been confirmed by recent research. Scientific American, March 12, 2014.
- Brazilian diamond hints at vast water reserve deep inside Earth Diamond found in Brazil is yielding new information about the composition of our planet.Reuters March 13, 2014.
- In the Canadian Rockies, a Major Fossil Find Intensifies the Object of Darwin's Doubt Sudden appearance of complex body plans mystified scientists in Darwin's day, and continues to pose a severe challenge. Evolution News & Views, February 13, 2014.
- Algae to Crude Oil: Million-Year Natural Process Takes Minutes in the Lab With the use of heat and pressure biotechnologists are converting a wet algae slurry into oil, a process likely similar to how oil formed rapidly during the global deluge. Science Daily, December 18, 2013.
- LA Times bans letters from climate skeptics Ban on discourse stirred outrage among scientists. Fox News, October 18, 2013.
- Climate change report's 'temperature hiatus' fuels skeptics Latest IPCC report affirms science of global warming but at pains to explain 15-year warming plateau. CBCNews, Sep 26, 2013.
- How to Solve the Cambrian Explosion: Turn Up the Evolutionary Speed Dial Media trumpets paper's assertions as the answer to all the critics, the scientific "findings" to finally rescue Darwin from his dilemma. Evolution News and Views, September 20, 2013.
- Reservoir deep under Ontario holds billion-year-old water Search is on for signs of microbial activity isolated in Earth's crust. Nature, May 15, 2013.
- A one-in-a-billion dinosaur find Rare dinosaur extracted from a cliff in a working mine, which is thought to have been washed out to sea during a flood then quickly covered in mud and silt. The Guardian, May 13, 2013.
- Ancient Fossil looks like Today's Acorn Worms Fossils were found in some of the deepest fossil-bearing rocks to be virtually unchanged in 505 million years. ICR News, April 9, 2013.
- Dr. Easterbrook's presentation on climate change At Washington State Senate hearings of the Energy, Environment & Telecommunications Committee scientist challenges claims that global warming is a recent phenomena that is due to industrial activities. Doug Ericksen Washington State Senator. March 26, 2013.
- Triceratops Horn Soft Tissue Foils 'Biofilm' Explanation dinosaur fossils challenge conventional explanations and offer testimony of recent sedimentary deposits from a global flood recorded in Genesis. ICR News, March 18, 2013.
- ↑ Mortenson, Terry. "Where did the idea of millions of years come from?" June 21, 2007. Accessed August 20, 2008.
- ↑ Geology by Wikipedia
- ↑ Stratigraphy by Wikipedia
- ↑ Geoscientists and Hydrologists U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistica, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition. Accessed November 25, 2010.
External Links
- Analysis of the Main Principles of Stratigraphy on the Basis of Experimental Data by Guy Berthault
- Assessing Creationist Stratigraphy with Evidence from the Gulf of Mexico by Carl R. Froede Jr., and John K. Reed, Creation Research Society Quarterly 36(2) September 1999.
- Flood Geology Links Northwest Creation Network
- Flood models: the need for an integrated approach by A.C. McIntosh, T. Edmondson & S. Taylor, Journal of Creation 14(1):52–59, April 2000.
- Geology and the Flood by Henry Morris, Acts & Facts Aug 1, 1973
- Geology and the Flood of Noah PowerPoint presentation by Chris Ashcraft
- Geology Sinks in the Mud by Creation-Evolution Headlines
- More Creationist Research Part I: Geological Research by Duane Gish, Creation Research Society Quarterly 25(4):161 March 1989
- Stratigraphic Evidence of the Flood by Stuart E. Nevins. A Symposium on Creation (Vol. III), pp. 32-65
- Geology history History.com
- US Geologic Survey
- Geology Photo Gallery by Wikimedia Commons


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Romney is right
When a U.S. Embassy gets stormed by protesters overseas, it's usually a matter of public concern. It might occasion headlines and commentary. Even debate between presidential candidates.
Unless one of the candidates is President Barack Obama and the other is Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Then, everything changes.
Story Continued Below
In the immediate aftermath of the deadly attacks on U.S. diplomatic installations in Egypt and Libya, the political debate fastened on the propriety of Romney criticizing the administration for its initial response. You know — important stuff.
Forget the dead body of our ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, who had been instrumental in aiding the rebellion. Forget the desecration of the embassy's flag in Cairo. Forget the question of what we're going to do to find the perpetrators or respond to two governments unable or unwilling to fulfill their most basic international responsibilities.
The reports from earlier this week about how Obama would use foreign policy as cudgel against Romney had barely faded when the media pack turned around and declared politics must stop at the water's edge, thank you very much.
The old complaint about Romney was that he didn't talk about foreign policy. The newly minted complaint about Romney was that he did talk about foreign policy. He gets it coming and going, and everywhere in between.
As demonstrators gathered on Tuesday — supposedly in response to an anti-Islamic film promoted by Pastor Terry Jones of Florida — the U.S. Embassy in Cairo released a statement that was atrociously weak and unabashedly stupid.
The release condemned "the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions." Further, it rejected "actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."
The first thing to say about this is that it shamefully aped the reasoning of efforts to restrict free speech in order to protect Muslim sensibilities. As Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute wrote of the statement, "It essentially upholds the Muslim anti-blasphemy standard that the Egyptian government applies in its ban on 'insult to heavenly religions,' and that has long been championed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in U.N. resolutions calling for the universal criminalization of religious defamation and in its campaign against all forms of 'Islamophobia.'"
The second is that if the statement was meant to appease the mob, it didn't work. Mobs usually don't check out the websites of their targets on the off-chance that something just posted there might dissuade them from trying to burn the place down.


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The Latest from NFL stadiums around the country on the third Sunday of the season (all times EDT):
10:45 p.m.
Another milestone for Manning.
Peyton Manning has become the second player to complete 6,000 passes in the NFL. Manning reached the mark with a 5-yard pass to Jordan Norwood in the third quarter Sunday night. Manning's Denver Broncos led Detroit 14-12 at the time.
Only Brett Favre (6,300) has more completions than Manning, who reached the 6,000 mark with his 23rd completion Sunday.
Matthew Stafford, Detroit's quarterback, isn't having quite as good a night. He actually caught his own pass in the third quarter for a loss of 6 after the ball...


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Sunshine Coast Craft Beer Tours provides a range of personalised tours and event experiences on the Sunshine Coast, Noosa and Hinterland regions.
They pride themselves on providing a truly local experience by focusing on local food and produce including , craft beer, breweries, wineries, markets, local bars and scenic tours. Join a behind the scenes tour to meet the local growers and producers of the amazing food and produce that the Sunshine Coast and Hinterland has to offer. The small and personalised tours take you to explore the hidden gems of the local region on a private or shared group in an air-conditioned bus.
Brewery Tours provide a fun and professional experience with the opportunity to meet the brewer, get behind the scenes of a working brewery, and taste locally crafted beer and cider.
A range of tours from half to full days are offered, and can also be booked for private groups.
Touring through the following areas - Caloundra, Mooloolaba, Moffats Beach, Maroochydore, Maleny, Noosa and Cooroy. Pick ups are available from most areas.
Sunshine Coast Craft Beer Tours offer a true craft beer experience by providing you the opportunity to get behind the scenes and meet the brewer, learn about how beer is made and visit the best local breweries and craft beer bars on the Sunshine Coast.
Join them on a craft beer experience featuring locally brewed craft beer at breweries from the coast at Mooloolaba, Maleny in the Hinterland, and to Pomona in the north. They also incorporate bars that focus on craft beer and have a range of tapped and bottled beers that aren't available anywhere else on the Sunshine Coast.
Join one of the set tours that includes lunch, beer tasting and tours of breweries, or create your own custom tour for your private group.
Note: Information on listed products and services are provided by the operator and were correct at the time of publishing. Rates are indicative based on the minimum and maximum available prices of products and services. Please visit the operator's website for further information. All prices quoted are in Australian dollars (AUD).


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experienced sales staff is eager to share its knowledge and enthusiasm with
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Help us protect Louisiana's children. Report Child Abuse & Neglect: 1-855-4LA-KIDS (1-855-452-5437) toll-free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week
About Us
Executive Division
The Executive Division supervises, manages, and supports the Division of Management and Finance, Division of Child Welfare and the Division of Family Support within the Department of Children and Family Services. The Executive Division exercises supervision and control over all functions, staff, and services within DCFS and directly supervises Emergency Preparedness, Communications and Governmental Affairs, Bureau of Audit and Compliance Services and the General Counsel.
Programs and Services
- Communications and Governmental Affairs - Coordinates all public and media relations for the department and serves as liaison between the Department and the Governor's Press Office, lawmakers, other state agencies, federal regulatory and budgetary agencies, the public and the media.
- Bureau of Audit and Compliance Services - Independently appraises activities of DCFS.
- Bureau of General Counsel - Provides legal services and counsel on litigation. Also includes the Bureau of Civil Rights, which ensures that equal access and delivery of services and equal employment opportunities exist in all activities administered by DCFS.
- Emergency Preparedness - Provides planning and implementation for DCFS' ESF-6 Emergency Response duties.
Executive Division Directory
Strategic Plan
- FY 2017-2018 through FY 2021-2022 DCFS Strategic Plan
- FY 2014-2015 through FY 2018-2019 DCFS Strategic Plan
DCFS Fact Sheets
- DSS Report to the Commission on Streamlining Government (08.18.09)
(Click Part 2 to view DSS' report)


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Trumbull turns back Norwalk
NORWALK -- Bob Maffei had a sound game plan for his Trumbull High football team Saturday: Get a nice lead so Norwalk would have to abandon its potent ground-and-pound offensive attack. It worked all right ... far beyond Maffei's expectations.
Thanks to a terrific performance by quarterback Nick Roberts, the Eagles jumped to a15-point halftime lead. But Norwalk's slim hopes of a comeback were further complicated when the Bears' quarterback and star running back left with injuries.
"It was imperative for us to get the lead," Maffei said after Trumbull's 28-6 victory. "With (running back Clifford Joseph), Norwalk is a pound-the-rock kind of team."
In other words, the Bears' strength is not overcoming large deficits. The Norwalk offense at its best was displayed in the second quarter when the ball control-minded Bears marched 74 yards on 18 plays in 10:42 to cut Trumbull's lead to 14-6. That was Bears football. Coming back from a 15-point deficit -- after Roberts hit Quentin Brunetti with a 29-yard touchdown as time expired in the half -- is not Bears football.
"We wanted to pound the ball, which we did," said Norwalk assistant coach Nick Pia, who took over head coaching duties Saturday because coach Sean Ireland was attending his mother-in-law's funeral service in Long Island. "Then (Roberts) throws one up before the half and the kid goes and gets it. It could've been a different game without that, but it didn't work out. It's been a tough week for us."
Besides not having their head coach, Bears' starting quarterback Jeremy Linton left for good on the first play of the second half with an ankle injury. Then Joseph, who had 136 yards rushing (625 yards through four games), injured his ankle on the second play of the fourth quarter and did not return.
Those injuries came between a Roberts-to-Tom Hayduk 28-yard, deflected TD pass that gave the Eagles a 28-6 lead. Things got worse for Norwalk with 5:12 remaining when cornerback LJ Harris suffered a neck injury. The game was halted for 25 minutes and Harris was taken to Norwalk Hospital. Harris was able to move his arms and legs and the hope was that it was a strained neck.
Roberts finished 16 for 25 for 228 yards and three touchdowns. He has 820 yards and 11 TDs in four games. After Marc Cesare gave Trumbull (3-1, 3-0 FCIAC) a 7-0 lead with a six-yard run, Roberts then hit Hayduk with a 33-yard score before Linton ran in from one yard out for Norwalk (2-2, 1-2). Roberts then came up with the big play to Brunetti to end the first half, and added a 28-yarder to Hayduk that was first deflected by Trumbull's Hunte Wnukowski and then by Norwalk's Dakari Eason.
"Nick spreads it around and throws to the open man," Maffei said. "When he's throwing like that, it's really fun to watch. If we protect him, he's a force to contend with."
T--Marc Cesare, 6 run (Lance Bragg kick)
T--Tom Hayduk, 33 pass from Nick Roberts (Bragg kick)
N--Jeremy Linton, 1 run (kick failed)
T--Quentin Brunetti, 29 pass from Roberts (Bragg kick)
T--Hayduk, 28 pass from Roberts (Bragg kick)
Records: Trumbull 3-1 (3-0 FCIAC), Norwalk 2-2 (1-2)


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Featured Donation
The gold specimen on the left, simply labeled "Gold wires on quartz, Colorado," entered the Mines Geology Museum when the Colorado legislature transferred custody of the Colorado State Historical Society collection to the museum on Oct. 25, 1965. This specimen was collected by ex-governor of Colorado, John C. Vivian, who served from 1943-1947.
During a visit to the museum, a cousin of the ex-governor (with the same exact name) felt this specimen was unflattering and promised to donate a far nicer piece.
In June of 2008, the cousin donated the specimen featured at the right, which he found near Breckenridge, Colo.
The matrix on each specimen is approximately the same size and both specimens are currently on display.
To make a donation to the Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum, please bring your materials to us and we are happy to help you fill out the necessary documentation.


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Chris Cornell Stalker Arrested in Florida
Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell and his wife can breathe a little easier as one of his stalkers has been arrested in Tampa Bay. According to TampaBay.com, Jessica Leigh Robbins was arrested Friday (July 25) for allegedly stalking and making threats to the vocalist and his family.
According to the report, Robbins may have tried to enter the couple's Miami home last fall. An FBI agent stated the information came from an Internet post obtained during an investigation, in which the author stated that she had driven seven hours to talk to the singer, "but was unable to enter the elevator in his residence because she did not have the elevator key." The band's website administrator turned over a collection of hostile posts and tweets believed to have been written by Robbins.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas G. Wilson has barred Robbins from going within 1,000 feet of the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater where Soundgarden is performed to play next month. She's also been ordered not to have any contact with the family or members of Soundgarden. Robbins was released on $50,000 bail, ordered to wear an ankle monitor and to also stay off the Internet.
FBI Special Agent Bradford Price said she used the Internet to put the family "in fear of death or serious bodily injury." He reported tracing posts to an Internet address registered to Robbins' mother, while other posts were linked to her because of similar content.
Robbins had previously approached Cornell at a fan event, asking if a manuscript she had sent had been helpful. Later, it was learned that Robbins had posted videos of herself discussing the encounter and alleging that the frontman had plagiarized her writings. The investigation also uncovered that she claimed to be the mother of one of Cornell's children and that she had also called in a complaint against Cornell's wife for child abuse.
Sadly, Robbins is not Cornell's only stalker. In February of this year, a Seattle woman was charged for allegedly tweeting death threats to the singer. For more on that case, click the button below. Cornell has reportedly received death threats dating back to 2004 when his wife was pregnant with the couple's second child.


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Sep 9; Michael Snyder (Nancy Best backup) WPULL Wheels-B
Entries 7-8 am
Pull 8:30 am
Sep 10; Michael Snyder (Nancy Best backup) WPULL Wheels-B
Entries 7-8 am
Pull 8:30 am
DOS $15; PE $10 received by September 3, 2006
Enslen Park; From Hwy 99 Northbound: Take the Central Modesto/San Francisco exit. Exit turns into 6th St. Stay north to K St. Turn right on K St. Go left at 15th St. through signal light that crossed Needham. 15th St. then turns into Sycamore. At 4 way stop on Stoddard turn left. Go to the second street make a right. Park located on right. From Hwy. 99 Southbound: Take Carpenter/Briggsmore exit. Go east on Briggsmore for approximately 4 mi. Turn right at McHenry Ave. Go east for approximately 1 mi. turn right on Morris Ave. Park on corner of Morris & Enslen.
Chairperson: Phil Leanes (559) 696-6028 email@example.com
Event Secretary: Ruth Kramer, 21576 Road 68, Tulare CA 93274 (559) 303-7360 firstname.lastname@example.com
Hey Sabrina are you still going? See if you can take pics please


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Find accommodations in Fairhaven with the hotel list provided below. Search for the cheapest discounted hotel and motel rates in or near Fairhaven, MA for your personal leisure or group travel. We list the best Fairhaven, Massachusetts hotel and motel rooms. Browse the Fairhaven area hotels to find the perfect lodging! Please use the provided map of the Fairhaven hotels. Planning a group? Lock in Fairhaven Group Hotel Deals
The Fairhaven center is around 1 mile east of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and 2 miles southeast of Madeira Field.
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This post is for the soon-to-be author. I was just like you, until I hit that terrifying 'publish' button. It took me a long time to overcome the 'I can't' that was holding me back. I spent a lot of time reading Joe's blog, sponging off his knowledge and twiddling my thumbs until I overcame the resistance to finishing the book. I know there are lots of people who read his blog who were just like me, waiting for that final push to get it all done. My final push came from a comedy blog and the knowledge that success was possible as a self-published author (Thanks, Joe!)
What can I do to help the soon-to-be authors out there? Not much, I'm afraid. "Based on my experience," are the most terrifying words an Army 2nd Lieutenant can say to his Soldiers. I do feel like a 2nd Lieutenant again, I've got the authority (the book is published), but none of the credibility (the market hasn't decided if the book is any good). So here are a few things I've learned:
-- Write a detailed outline. My outline helped me see which characters did very little and could be combined/removed. My outline had three (three!) flashback sequences. I hate flashbacks, and because of the outline I saw that I could remove them all and turn them into a short story prequel for the novel. That short story became The Caliban Program. Plus, the outline showed me where I could combine characters and which slow chapters needed to be cut.
-- Write the book that only you can write and what makes you excited. I have a long list of novels I want to write, but I got excited about what became Into Darkness. I'm a two tour combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I could boil down those thirty miserable months into a thrilling war novel. I can get more out of my time downrange than a bunch of war stories and a nagging case of PTSD. As a reader, I'm always interested when an author can draw on wartime experiences for their works. By my logic, perspective readers would be interested in an Iraq War novel written by an Iraq War vet. Yes? No? What is it that you, soon-to-be author, can write? You're the only person in the whole world that can tell that story! Get cracking!
-- Don't be in a rush to publish. When I finished The Caliban Program, Into Darkness was nowhere near done. A work-mate talked me out of putting the short story out months before the novel was ready, and he was right. It is a lousy tease to get someone interested in a story, then promise that story at some point in the future. If someone likes what they see in the teaser, the novel is available.
Do I still have lots to learn? Yes. The whole marketing angle is something I have to work on. My next book should come out faster and smoother. Independent Publishing is a tide that raises all boats and if you don't believe me go read what Joe says on this blog and Michael Bunker has to say.
Into Darkness is available now, and I enrolled it in Prime. Smart idea on the Prime enrollment? I don't know yet, I'm still learning.
Thank you, Joe. If it wasn't for your wisdom I don't know if this book would have ever seen the light.
Thanks for showing me where I could aid Alzheimer's research and for the chance to darken your door with this blog post.
Stay Safe,
Richard FoxTwitter
Joe Sez: Thanks for serving our country, Richard, and thanks for the guest post.
I agree with your points, but I'd like to expand on one. No one should be in a rush to publish. But if you have something that's ready to go--even if it as a short story or a prequel--I advise you to publish ASAP.
I know it's hard to send your work off into the world. I know it could always be edited a bit more, tweaked a bit more. But the days of waiting for book release dates are in the past.
I can't think of a single reason, if your work is ready to publish, to wait. If it's a true teaser--meaning it's a cliffhanger without a beginning, middle, and end--try to make it free and say what it is in the product description. But if the story functions on its own, release it when it is finished, even if it is a prequel to a larger work.
Ebooks are forever. Every day you don't publish something is a day of sales and readers you missed. Maybe you'll find them later. Maybe you won't. Make your forever start as soon as you can.


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Today we have a couple of photos that were sent in to us by Dave Hamilton.
Many Thanks, Dave :)
Werneth Low 1990's
The Hare and Hounds 1990's
In the foreground you can see the brown roof of the Louvolite boxing club that stood behind Hyde Baths on Union Street, in the middle is the James North Douglas Street Building seen from Nelson Street side and behind that to the right is the back of the main James North (Slack Mills) building as it would have appeared from Queen Street..
If anyone else has any photos they would like to share please send them to us at firstname.lastname@example.com with a brief description, date and your name (if wanted).
Many thanks !!


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A Chat with Bob Newhart
He's been making people laugh for more than 50 years, and now he's coming our way.
Bob Newhart will be on stage at Grand Falls Casino in Larchwood, Saturday night at 8:00pm, all part of Grand Falls' Comedy Weekend.
Bob has an unmistakable style that's been a part of classic comedy for more than five decades, but he told me certain things have changed in comedy since he first started:
And while some comedians have made a living doing a healthy amount of political humor over the years, it's never been a big part of Bob's shows. He says that was a decision he made years ago - and he's stuck to it:
Bob Newhart burst onto the national scene in 1960 with the release of his album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart'. That album, featuring classic bits like 'Driving Instructor' and 'Merchandising the Wright Brothers', went to #1 on the charts and earned Bob a Grammy for 'Best New Artist' in 1961.
The premise of all of the material on that record was a series of one-sided conversations, requiring the audience to use their collective imaginations to fill in the blanks. Nobody else was doing that kind of humor at the time, but Bob didn't see the risk:
Bob's next stop was television.
So did he seek out a TV career, or did TV find him?
Armed with the lessons of that first TV experience, Bob was ready the next time TV came calling - and it did in 1972,
Producer Grant Tinker and his wife, Mary Tyler Moore, asked Bob to star in a show about a Chicago psychologist. That show eventually became 'The Bob Newhart Show' and ran for six seasons on CBS.
Bob says the success of that show, and later his second sitcom 'Newhart', was built on the strength of the cast, not just him trying to hog the spotlight as the star of the show:
After four years away from TV, Bob decided it was time to try another show, and in 1982 'Newhart' made its debut on CBS.
And while was Bob was a household name and a proven sitcom performer by then, there was no guarantee that audiences would accept him as a Vermont innkeeper, rather than a Chicago shrink.
So did that make doing show number two easier or harder?
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the success of those two shows was a lack of Emmys for either. Bob says a number of factors played a part in the Emmy drought, but he finally got his this year, winning for 'Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series' for his recurring role on 'The Big Bang Theory':
But Bob admits, it's not the awards that give him the greatest satisfaction, it's the impact he's had on people over the years:
Bob turned 84 last month, and says he's seen a lot over the years, from magical times with Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin, to his successes on television.
One thing he says hasn't changed over the years is his definition of success:
No Bob, we were the lucky ones.
Thanks for all the laughs!


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Whitney Houston Will: Bobbi Kristina Inherits Singer's Fortune
While much chatter has ensued following Whitney Houston's death regarding her estate and how properly she provided for her only child, daughter Bobbi Kristina, it has been confirmed that Houston did indeed update her will and left everything to her sole heir. Not surprisingly, ex-husband Bobby Brown, who is Bobbi Kris' dad, was left entirely out of the will.
According to Inside Edition, Bobbi Kristina, who turned 19 on March 4, stands to inherit the entirety of her mother's estate, including money and property when she turns 21. The cash will be held in a trust for the next two years. When she turns 25, she will have access to a greater sum of money. Upon her 30th birthday, she will be receive what's left. Clothing, jewelry, furniture, personal items and cars are all bequeathed to her.
Brown is mentioned in the will, but he is not a recipient of any of his ex-wife's assets. Houston did make a provision for Brown in case Bobbi Kristina pre-deceased her. In that situation, Brown, her mother Cissy and other relatives would split the remainder of the estate. Cissy is named the executor of the estate, with her brother Gary and sister-in-law Patricia serving as the trustees.
Houston first signed the documents in Feb. 1993, a month before her daughter was born, so she was apparently thinking ahead. She amended it in 2000.
It begs the question, however. If Houston provided for Bobbi Kris, why did the family resort to selling funeral footage for her financial benefit? It makes one wonder just how much Houston left behind, as she was reportedly deeply in debt.


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Lawful Permanent Residence (LPR)
What is Lawful Permanent Residence?
Lawful permanent residence (LPR) gives a foreign national authorization to live and work permanently in the United States.
What is the procedure to sponsor an individual for LPR?
Whether to sponsor an individual for LPR is a UNCW decision. The Office of International Programs processes LPR applications only at the request of a department, not at the request of the foreign national employee. No outside attorneys may file or sign petitions for foreign nationals on behalf of UNCW.
UNCW only sponsors employment-based petitions in two categories:
I. Special Handling for College and University Teachers:
To be eligible for this category, the foreign national must hold a teaching position, the hiring department must have conducted a competitive recruitment process for the position, and the labor certification must be filed with the Department of Labor within 18 months of the foreign national being selected for the position.
- Step 1 - Labor Certification (UNCW does this)
- Step 2 - Filing the I-140 Immigrant Petition (UNCW does this)
- Step 3 - Filing the I-485 for Adjustment of Status (the foreign national does this)
- Step 4 - The Adjustment Interview (the foreign national does this)
II. Outstanding Professor or Researcher Category
To be eligible for this category, the foreign national must: (1) have at least three years experience in teaching or research in the academic field, (2) be recognized as Outstanding* in the academic field, and (3) hold a tenured or tenure-track teaching position or a permanent research position in the area of expertise.
- Step 1 - Filing the I-140 Immigrant Petition (UNCW does this)
- Step 2 - Filing the I-485 for Adjustment of Status (the foreign national does this)
- Step 3 - The Adjustment Interview (the foreign national does this)
*Being Outstanding in the academic field must be evidenced by at least two of the following:
- Receipt of major prizes or awards
- Membership in associations which require outstanding achievements of their members
- Published material in professional publications written by others about the alien's work
- Serving as a judge of the work of others in the same or allied academic field
- Authorship of scholarly books/articles with international circulation
- Evidence of the alien's original scientific or scholarly contributions to the field.
Here are the LPR forms and more information.


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Nils Hasselmo, 1988-1997
When Nils Hasselmo came to the University as president, it was a homecoming. He had joined the faculty in 1965 as a professor of Scandinavian languages and literature. Subsequently, he became associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and vice president for administration and planning. He left the University in 1983 to become provost and senior vice president at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
After the controversies that ended the Keller presidency, Hasselmo's first job was to restore public confidence. Accountability became the watchword of his administration. His native Swedish accent helped to make him popular with Minnesotans. He embraced Keller's "Commitment to Focus" and reframed it in his inaugural address as "Access to Excellence." Hasselmo's plan emphasized themes such as enhancing undergraduate education, increased attention to technology transfer, and continued planning and priority setting within individual colleges and campuses.
In 1991, a state budget shortfall led to one of the most difficult decisions of his administration: closing the Waseca campus. The campus offered two-year technical education programs. The rationale for this action was that there were other educational institutions in the region that students could attend. Knowing the pain the closing would cause, Hasslemo went to the campus to deliver the news in person. Between 1995 and 1997, there were also tense debates about the University's tenure policy, which at one time pitted the president and the faculty against the board of regents. With the help of the dean of the Law School, E. Thomas Sullivan, who would later be appointed senior vice president and provost in 2004, a tenure code satisfactory to both groups was ultimately developed.
Other priorities of Hasselmo's administration included K-12 initiatives, international education, and intercampus telecommunications. Systemwide planning, which dated back to the late 1970s, began to pay real dividends. Class sizes became smaller, and more introductory classes were taught by senior faculty. Students arriving at the University came better prepared, with more from the top 25 percent of their high school classes. Graduation rates improved and registration lines diminished as more students registered online.
In an article written for the Minneapolis Star Tribune published his last day as president on June 30, 1997, Hasselmo observed, "We must all understand the unique nature of Minnesota's only research, land-grant university. It should not and cannot be exactly like any other institution." He also urged the importance of both collaboration and mission differentiation among Minnesota's higher education institutions. If this happens, he suggested, "all people can be served without one system trying to be all things to all people."
In an editorial the same day, the Star Tribune praised Hasselmo's persistent efforts to improve undergraduate education, noting, "No university can neglect its undergraduates and still achieve national acclaim." The editorial also commended him for helping Minnesotans better understand the strategic importance of the University:
Much more than they did so eight years ago, Minnesotans accept that the University of Minnesota is unique among the many state higher educational institutions. They see more clearly that if the University fails to play its role well, no other institution can fill what would be a woeful void.
Hasselmo left the University in 1997. He subsequently became president of the American Association of Universities in Washington, D.C.
Sources: Nils Hasselmo, "Access to Excellence," The Inaugural Address of University of Minnesota President Nils Hasselmo, October 20, 1989; "President's Report to the University of Minnesota Board of Regents" (January 8, 1992): 5; "That was Then This is Now: Progress at the University of Minnesota, 1986-1996," University Relations, University of Minnesota, February, 1997; Nils Hasselmo, "A President's Farewell," Minneapolis Star Tribune (June 30, 1997): A-11 and "Nils Hasselmo: Better Education is His Legacy," Minneapolis Star Tribune (June 30, 1997): A-10.


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out of the gate
Through Friday
Joe Talamo / 30
Tyler Baze / 24
Drayden Van Dyke / 22
Edwin Maldonado / 17
Corey Nakatani / 16
Doug O'Neill / 22
Peter Miller / 15
Jerry Hollendorfer / 14
Richard Baltas / 8
Robertino Diodoro / 7
Ronald Ellis / 7
Mark Glatt / 7
•$400,000 Grade I Shoemaker Mile, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile (turf)
•$300,000 Grade I Vanity Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 1 1/8 miles
•$75,000 Desert Stormer Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 6 furlongs
•Television ratings for last Saturday's Belmont Stakes were the second highest ever, behind only Smarty Jones' failed run for the Triple Crown in 2004. Nielson reported that California Chrome's bid for history attracted 20.6 million viewers from 3:23 p.m. PDT to 4:15 p.m. PDT. The Smarty Jones Belmont was watched by a record 21.9 million. There were 7.5 million more people who watched this year's Belmont than last year's edition. Viewership for the California Chrome Belmont showed a 57 percent hike over 2008, the year Big Brown took a shot at history. Big Brown's Belmont drew 13.1 million viewers.
•Churchill Downs is not the only track owned by CDI that is struggling. Arlington Park near Chicago has announced an across-the-board purse cut beginning last weekend because of a sharp decline in all-sources handle. Purse cuts range from $2,500 at the top end of the scale to $500 at the bottom end. "We hope that this is temporary," Arlington general manager Tony Petrillo told the Daily Racing Form. Petrillo told the DRF that the drop in handle was because of short fields. Attendance and on-track handle have been positives during the meet, which began May 2. However, average daily overall handle dropped 24.4 percent through the first 16 days of the meet.
•Trainer Christophe Clement, who saddled Tonalist for the upset victory over California Chrome in the Belmont Stakes, will send out Summer Front in today's $400,000 Grade I Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita Park. Summer Front, a 5-year-old War Front horse, has five victories and a third in six career starts at the Shoemaker distance on turf. The victories came at different tracks — Aqueduct, Gulfstream, Belmont, Saratoga and Calder. Seven horses will go in the Shoemaker, including 9-5 morning-line favorite Obviously with Joe Talamo aboard. Eight fillies and mares were entered in today's co-feature, the $300,000 Grade I Vanity Stakes. Let Faith Arise is the 2-1 morning-line choice.
–Art Wilson


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All of the Art on this site is one of a kind, created by CHARLES PONSTINGL, for the sheer joy of it.
He intended it as loving homage to the Great Comic Artists of former days.
The images are based upon the work of many, including some that were created by, and are
Copyright The Walt Disney Company. The writing and photography is Copyright Mel Birnkrant.


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Understand that easement contract before you sign it
Representatives from Clean Line Energy Partners have recently been contacting local landowners seeking to acquire easements upon which they can construct an overhead high voltage direct current transmission line to deliver 3,500 megawatts from northwest Iowa and the surrounding region to communities in Illinois and other states to the east (the Rock Island Clean Line (RICL)). Landowners facing such offers should make sure that they understand the terms of the proposed agreement, understand the rights they would be giving up, and seek to negotiate the best terms possible. It is advisable that landowners obtain legal counsel before signing such an agreement.
For example, landowners should be aware that in a standard contract offered by RICL:
• Although the plan may be for monopole construction, RICL is authorized to construct whatever is deemed "necessary and desirable" by the company within the boundaries of the easement.
• The easement granted is twice as large as the standard eminent domain easement, although there would be a procedure under eminent domain law for the company to petition for a larger easement.
• The damages clause gives RICL the option of repairing or paying damages to the landowner for damages to the landowner's "improvements, livestock, or crops." There does not appear to be a provision for compensation for damages stemming from soil compaction, interference with GPS, injury to pasture ground, etc.
• Under the contract, the landowner may not access the property for any purpose during the period of construction or when any major work on the facilities is being done. There are no limits to this restriction. Conceivably, the landowner could be shut-out during key planting or harvesting times or for many months at a time.
• RICL does not agree to indemnify or hold harmless the landowner for injuries incurred by RICL employees or contractors if those injuries stem from the landowner's breach or negligence. In other words, landowners would be subject to premises liability for those entering the property to construct or maintain the transmission line.
• RICL is granted very broad ingress and egress (access to the line) rights, thus subjecting other property of the landowner to potentially heavy use (during periods of construction or maintenance).
• The abandonment clause is general, not requiring RICL to completely remove the poles or other installed fixtures from the ground.
Roger McEowen and Kristine Tidgren of the Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation have created a presentation to give landowners a general understanding of these and other issues regarding proposed easement agreements. This presentation is intended to educate landowners and to suggest questions they should ask in evaluating these proposed agreements. It is not intended to serve as legal advice or to serve as a substitute for obtaining legal counsel (which is recommended).
To access the presentation, visit http://www.calt.iastate.edu/article/understand-easement-agreement-you-sign-it [1].
Kim Junker
New Hartford
[1] http://www.calt.iastate.edu/article/understand-easement-agreement-you-sign-it
[2] http://www.hamptonchronicle.com/category/section/opinion


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ReleasesBack to
Herbie Hancock
Considering the extraordinary talent assembled for Tony Williams' second Blue Note date as a leader, this could have been a landmark session. Unfortunately, it's not. Spring isn't totally forgettable; on the contrary, the fire expected by members of the Miles Davis Quintet (Williams, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter), all thoroughly influenced by "the new thing," were unleashed completely from Miles' tight rein. Add tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers and Albert Ayler bassist Gary Peacock into this mix and that influence thrived. However, the five Tony Williams compositions (including the drum only "Echo") often failed to provoke the musicians into reaching crucial unity, making Spring haphazard, falling short of the expected goal. Following Spring, Williams would not release another solo date for four years, returning on the Polydor label with the groundbreaking electric rock trio recording Emergency!