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Hello and welcome to "WHO'S ON THE SHELF?" with yours truly, Nonnie Jules! Since we are a book club, we had to offer something that included a book shelf. A lot of interviews merely cover an author's work or an individual's career stories. Here on this "SHELF," we get down and dirty and ask the questions no other interviewer dare ask. We ask the questions that you want to open up a book and find the answers to on your favorite authors and fellow book club members, but no one has dared to cover them. WE get personal! Because when you sit on the RRBC "SHELF," YOU are an open book!
Today, I have with me on the "SHELF" our Current "SPOTLIGHT" Author, GORDON BICKERSTAFF! Gordon comes bouncing in to the tune of JAILHOUSE ROCK (with Elvis, of course), because of some info he shared with me during our interview. I just want him to feel comfortable…and at home here.
NJ: Before we get started, how does the "shelf" feel to you? Is it comfy?
GB: So far so good. I've taken my acrophobia pills, headache pills, truth serum, done my exercises, and I have a large glass a of Shiraz at the ready!
NJ: Well, that all sounds great so, here we go! Let's start by confirming whether or not your author name is your birth name or a pen name?
GB: Birth name Gordon Ferguson Bickerstaff. No pen name, unless you mean my STATE PEN, prisoner #987654321 aka Tricky Bicky III.
(Not sure what Gordie aka Tricky Bicky did, but my buddy here, Quickfinger Bill, is on standby!)
NJ: Tell us where you were born? Do you still live there now? If not, what city and state are you calling home these days?
GB: Born in Glasgow, central Scotland, and currently living about 15 miles from where I was born. Glasgow used to be in a terrible state but it is much better now.
NJ: Are you married or single?
GB: Married to Emily for 40 years.
NJ: (I wonder if Emily knows about his stint in STATE?) Kids or no? If yes, how many? Sons or Daughters?
GB: I have two daughters. One is a physicist and one is an accountant. I am proud of them but also greatly relieved. I know when I am no longer here, they have everything they need to live good lives. Both are well balanced, confident and kind. They have a good mom who guided them well. They are both married, and I have one granddaughter and one grandson. One from each daughter. Like me, they believe in everything in moderation!
NJ: Well, aren't you a proud Father?! I always love to hear dads go on and on about their kids, especially their daughters. I have one of those dads at home. And Gordon, since you have a granddaughter, you should definitely gift her mom with a copy of "THE GOOD MOMMIES' GUIDE TO RAISING (ALMOST) PERFECT DAUGHTERS!"
It's an awesome guide! So, out of the two daughters, which is your favorite? (And be honest…I'm sure they're not reading this interview).
GB: I most certainly do have favorites. My favorite physicist is my oldest daughter, and my favorite accountant is my youngest daughter. It's tough.
NJ: What a great response! I was holding my breath there, for a minute. So, any pets? What kind?
GB: None at the moment. For 18 years we had a West Highland terrier, and a couple of years ago she had to be put to sleep after a stroke. It took us almost a year before we could walk again down the pet food lane in the supermarket. Naturally, in my first book, "DEADLY SECRETS," I created a special role for her, and even used her real name, and some of our experiences with her.
NJ: Oh, how sad. We have a couple OF 4-legged babies and one is nearing that age, where, sometimes I'm afraid to go upstairs to her room…you know? But, glad you were able to keep yours alive in your book. So, share with us your favorite food.
GB: Emily cooks a fantastic fillet steak with fried mushrooms, a few French fries, some greens, home-made tomato chutney. I love it.
NJ: OK, and your favorite color?
GB: I live in Scotland so the weather is often cloudy and wet. I love sky blue because it is such a treat – we don't see enough in our part of the world. Sky blue = lovely day.
NJ: Gordon, I don't think any of us get enough of those beautiful days, no matter where we live. What's your favorite sport?
GB: For doing, I used to do judo and was on the university team when I was a student, and even won a Scottish Universities team championship medal. I think I've still got a bruise from when we beat Edinburgh in the final – they weren't expecting to lose. When we lived in Carnoustie, I ran a judo club in a local school for kids. For watching – I watch football (soccer) and tennis. During the Olympics I'll watch the judo and dream.
NJ: What a great story! Would you like to share with us your favorite TV Show?
GB: 'FRINGE' was my kind of show. I like 'HOMELAND' and 'GOT' and my eldest daughter recently introduced me to 'SONS OF ANARCHY'. I didn't fancy it, but she gave me the first season, and it is good. I bought all the remaining seasons. Still watching and enjoying 'THE WALKING DEAD' – it's not the zombies you need to worry about – it's the humans! Great stuff.
NJ: Well, I've never heard of FRINGE and GOT or even SONS OF ANARCHY, for that matter, but HOMELAND, I've heard mentioned and as far as THE WALKING DEAD, nope, for me, it's the monsters that keep me awake at night. I don't fear humans at all. So, Gordon, who's your favorite Actress/Actor?
GB: I like Morgan Freeman and Sean Connery – I like quality. I like Rachel Weitz and Judi Dench. When I read James Paterson's Alex Cross books – I hear Morgan Freeman in my head speaking for Alex Cross, and telling me the story. Almost like an audio book.
NJ: I haven't read nor seen Alex Cross in a movie yet, but have heard good reviews. Maybe I'll check it soon. Are you a couch potato or workout nut? Be honest
GB: I exercise daily to nourish my body. I am a great believer of 'everything in moderation'. Too much exercise wears cartilage in my joints, and too little makes my circulation sluggish. I have a small one meter trampoline, and I jog for three songs once or twice every day. I like to jog to the music of ABBA – Mamma Mia – here we go again! It is enough exercise to push my blood to every corner of my body to deliver oxygen and nutrients, and remove carbon dioxide and waste (the real value of exercise).
NJ: Biggest pet peeve that makes you want to stomach-punch somebody?: (For the record, NJ does not condone violence but she does believe in being honest so she has to admit that there are times when she feels like some friendly stomach-punching is a little necessary).
GB: Big peeves such as child and animal cruelty upset me, and would be worth a punch. Smaller peeves don't bother me. Life has made me tolerant. Now, I don't care – if someone is an idiot – why bother about other people's shortcomings if you can't do anything about it?
NJ: Are you neat or messy?
Emily likes the house clean, neat and tidy – I know my place! I do make a mess when I'm doing DIY (no not deliberately – it just seems that way) but thankfully Emily sees it as her job to clean up the mess. If I had to do the DIY work, and then clean up the mess – I'd probably do less DIY.
NJ: Facebook or Twitter?
GB: All of this social media stuff is new to me. Only started Twittering a year or so ago. Don't do FB. One of my daughters set up FB for Emily so we can see photos of the grandkids. I'm getting the hang of Twitter, but it does consume time, and I'd rather be out walking, reading or writing.
NJ: Everyone knows the names Mark Twain and Stephen King but how about you give us two names of some INDIE authors that you favor:
GB: Up until this year I didn't read indie writers. I read mainstream paperbacks. I have read a lot of James Paterson, Lee Child, Patricia Cornwell, Tess Gerritsen, and similar writers. So I am behind the curve with indie writers. RRBC has opened my eyes, and I have started to read indie on a Samsung tablet. I've read and enjoyed several, but if you only want two – Kim Cox, Maggie Thom.
NJ: What is it about them that you've come to like?
GB: Publishers require most traditional published writers to stick to the formula. So I have noticed repetition. Indie writers can publish equally well crafted stories, plausible, good characters, entertainment, and not be channelled into repetition. In that way they are more refreshing.
NJ: Name two favorite INDIE books that you've read:
GB: 'REVENGE' by Bill Ward and 'PROGENY OF A KILLER' by J. M. Shorney.
NJ: ONE good INDIE book you read that was so good you wished the entire world would read it:
GB: I've read very good indie books but there is only one book that would definitely appeal to everyone in the whole entire world. It's called… em… Oh dear… I've deleted it from my tablet.
NJ: What was so great about it?
GB: It was free, and it had a really lovely cover.
NJ: After you read books, do you post reviews?
GB: Having read a lot of paperbacks – I didn't. Now, I'm reading indie, I have and I will. I still read mainstream paperbacks, but don't review them.
NJ: What do you think readers should base their reviews on?
GB: What they have enjoyed. Characters, story, ending. I don't like books with vague or unresolved endings. I don't dwell on the negativity.
NJ: Are you one of those who are afraid to be honest in their reviews lest the author gets upset with you, or is honesty your best policy, especially in reviews?
GB: I don't worry, and I'm sure most authors accept that reviews are subjective. Give ten people a book to review, and you will get ten different perceptions. I am honest, but never overly critical. I spent over 30 years assessing students, and I know that negative comments and criticisms are worthless. Positive does produce improvement. If a book is rubbish I wouldn't bother to review. If I bother to write a review it is because I liked the book. I don't delve in nitty gritty specifics. I accept that on one reading, I will not know/understand every nuance in a book. I enjoy my reading, and I don't want to be bogged down with nit-picking. Time is too precious to waste.
NJ: Read any poorly written books lately?
GB: I have started a couple that I didn't finish. I am a bit fussy about what I like as a reader, so a book should not be condemned as poor because I personally couldn't get into it.
NJ: Well, from all the mentions above, we know that you are an author. How long have you been writing?
GB: I've done two academic books. Three fiction novels with a fourth on the way! Academic stuff for 30 years, fiction for 5 years. I hear all my former students shouting, '… and we thought it was all fiction.'
NJ: What books have you written?
GB: First three books are a trilogy. 'Deadly Secrets'/'Everything To Lose'/'The Black Fox'. Although each one is a stand-alone story in its own right, there are story arcs that move through the trilogy. Available on Amazon, Nook.
Deadly Secrets Amazon US
Everything To Lose Amazon US
The Black Fox Amazon US
NJ: Which one do you think is the best?
GB: 'THE BLACK FOX' brings story arcs from the first two books to a satisfactory conclusion. I like good endings. I played around with several endings. Took advice from a few people, and created an ending that I am very pleased with. I think I've done a great job with main character Zoe Tampsin. She is a Wonder Woman, but with human flaws. Anyone interested in my experience of writing a trilogy can find more here http://www.pinnacleeditorial.co.uk/2015/02/writing-trilogy/
NJ: Do you have a blog or website?
GB: Yes, click here. A small repository for sample chapters etc.
NJ: Name three great online resources or organizations that every author should belong to:
GB: RRBC, Twitter, and Facebook.
NJ: Which online resource or organization has helped you as an author the most?
NJ: How were you helped by them?
GB: See my piece 'WHAT RRBC HAS DONE FOR ME'… here
NJ: Since you're sitting on the SHELF, you're obviously a RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB member, so what do you think of the club?
GB: Supportive, and encouraging. Every author should join.
NJ: I agree, Gordon. RRBC IS the place every author should join! Have you come across any other online entities like it?
GB: No.
NJ: Would you recommend it to your friends and family?
GB: Yes.
NJ: OK, this shelf is getting hard on my hiney, so we're going to wrap this interview up. Any final words?
GB: Thank you for having me. It has been a great experience. PS… I haven't really been in the STATE PEN!
"UH, Tricky, our research proved otherwise. Now, you take care and stay out of trouble, ya hear?"
NJ: Gordon, thank you for joining me ON THE SHELF today. I'm sure you had a good time (being as though you didn't end up on the floor…hehehe). To my guests, please support Gordon by picking up a copy of his book below. You can also support by visiting his blog stops on his tour which ends on Saturday. You can find the tour line up here.
Have you joined Rave Reviews Book Club yet? Well, here's your chance! And since Gordon was on the "SHELF" today, tell them he sent you. Take care and we'll see you next time, right here on the shelf, with another AMAZING RRBC member!
If you missed Gordon's RAVE WAVES BLOGTALK Radio interview on BRING ON THE SPOTLIGHT, catch the archived version.
John Fioravanti always does an awesome job with these interviews, and this one is no different so you want to check it out!


text: Brent Meersman Brent Meersman is a political novelist (Primary Coloured, Reports Before Daybreak). He has been writing for the Mail & Guardian since 2003 about things that make life more enjoyable – the arts, literature and travel and (in his Friday column, Once Bitten) food. If comments on the internet are to be believed, he is a self-loathing white racist, an ultra-left counter-revolutionary, a neo-liberal communist capitalist, imperialist anarchist, and most proudly a bourgeois working-class lad. Or you can put the labels aside and read what he writes. Visit his website: www.meersman.co.za Read more from Brent Meersman @Brent_Meersman

subset: commoncrawl


text: Godspeed, Yves Rossy, Godspeed! All 180 miles per hour of it, flying over the Alps with your four jets, guiding your carbon fiber and kevlar wings using just your body, and landing with your parachute on some boozetastic jacuzzi party on top of Mont Blanc. Then get drunk like a Japanese astronomer and fly away to the stars. We envy and admire you, Mr. Fusion Man, so here's a song just for you.


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Forum Post: We are Awash in Public Stupidity ~ This is a Microcosm
Posted 6 years ago on July 24, 2013, 10:27 p.m. EST by WSmith
from Cornelius, OR
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
The Violence of Organized Forgetting [& Specious Cynics/Indies]
Monday, 22 July 2013 00:00 By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/17647-the-violence-of-organized-forgetting
[ Forgetting (genuine or feigned) how we got here & who brung us, that the POTUS "proposes" and Congress "disposes," that our form of government is "democracy" NOT "autocracy," that without public (99%) participation democracy gets exploited by (1%) tyrants, that elections are NOT just held every four years, seems epidemic, is by design and a huge victory for the 1% and their class war on the rest of us. ]
The United States Is Awash in Public Stupidity, and Critical Thought Is Under Assault ~ this Forum is a Microcosm.
"People who remember court madness through pain, the pain of the perpetually recurring death of their innocence; people who forget court another kind of madness, the madness of the denial of pain and the hatred of innocence." - James Baldwin
Learning to Forget
America has become amnesiac - a country in which forms of historical, political, and moral forgetting are not only willfully practiced but celebrated. The United States has degenerated into a social order that is awash in public stupidity and views critical thought as both a liability and a threat. Not only is this obvious in the presence of a celebrity culture that embraces the banal and idiotic, but also in the prevailing discourses and policies of a range of politicians and anti-public intellectuals who believe that the legacy of the Enlightenment needs to be reversed. Politicians such as Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich along with talking heads such as Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Anne Coulter are not the problem, they are symptomatic of a much more disturbing assault on critical thought, if not rationale thinking itself. Under a neoliberal regime, the language of authority, power and command is divorced from ethics, social responsibility, critical analysis and social costs.
Also See: Henry A. Giroux | Hoodie Politics: Trayvon Martin and Racist Violence in Post-Racial America
These anti-public intellectuals are part of a disimagination machine that solidifies the power of the rich and the structures of the military-industrial-surveillance-academic complex by presenting the ideologies, institutions and relations of the powerful as commonsense.[1] For instance, the historical legacies of resistance to racism, militarism, privatization and panoptical surveillance have long been forgotten and made invisible in the current assumption that Americans now live in a democratic, post-racial society. The cheerleaders for neoliberalism work hard to normalize dominant institutions and relations of power through a vocabulary and public pedagogy that create market-driven subjects, modes of consciousness, and ways of understanding the world that promote accommodation, quietism and passivity. Social solidarities are torn apart, furthering the retreat into orbits of the private that undermine those spaces that nurture non-commodified knowledge, values, critical exchange and civic literacy. The pedagogy of authoritarianism is alive and well in the United States, and its repression of public memory takes place not only through the screen culture and institutional apparatuses of conformity, but is also reproduced through a culture of fear and a carceral state that imprisons more people than any other country in the world.[2] What many commentators have missed in the ongoing attack on Edward Snowden is not that he uncovered information that made clear how corrupt and intrusive the American government has become - how willing it is to engage in vast crimes against the American public. His real "crime" is that he demonstrated how knowledge can be used to empower people, to get them to think as critically engaged citizens rather than assume that knowledge and education are merely about the learning of skills - a reductive concept that substitutes training for education and reinforces the flight from reason and the goose-stepping reflexes of an authoritarian mindset.[3] [Not to mention the inapt privatization of the NSA]
Since the late1970s, there has been an intensification in the United States, Canada and Europe of neoliberal modes of governance, ideology and policies - a historical period in which the foundations for democratic public spheres have been dismantled. Schools, public radio, the media and other critical cultural apparatuses have been under siege, viewed as dangerous to a market-driven society that considers critical thought, dialogue, and civic engagement a threat to its basic values, ideologies, and structures of power. This was the beginning of an historical era in which the discourse of democracy, public values, and the common good came crashing to the ground. Margaret Thatcher in Britain and soon after Ronald Reagan in the United States - both hard-line advocates of market fundamentalism - announced that there was no such thing as society and that government was the problem not the solution. Democracy and the political process were all but sacrificed to the power of corporations and the emerging financial service industries, just as hope was appropriated as an advertisement for a whitewashed world in which the capacity of culture to critique oppressive social practices was greatly diminished. Large social movements fragmented into isolated pockets of resistance mostly organized around a form of identity politics that largely ignored a much-needed conversation about the attack on the social and the broader issues affecting society such as the growing inequality in wealth, power and income.
What is particularly new is the way in which young people have been increasingly denied a significant place in an already weakened social contract and the degree to which they are absent from how many countries now define the future. Youth are no longer the place where society reveals its dreams. Instead, youth are becoming the site of society's nightmares. Within neoliberal narratives, youth are mostly defined as a consumer market, a drain on the economy, or stand for trouble.[4] Young people increasingly have become subject to an oppressive disciplinary machine that teaches them to define citizenship through the exchange practices of the market and to follow orders and toe the line in the face of oppressive forms of authority. They are caught in a society in which almost every aspect of their lives is shaped by the dual forces of the market and a growing police state. The message is clear: Buy/ sell/ or be punished. Mostly out of step, young people, especially poor minorities and low-income whites, are increasingly inscribed within a machinery of dead knowledge, social relations and values in which there is an attempt to render them voiceless and invisible.
How young people are represented betrays a great deal about what is increasingly new about the economic, social, cultural and political constitution of American society and its growing disinvestment in young people, the social state and democracy itself.[5] The structures of neoliberal violence have put the vocabulary of democracy on life support, and one consequence is that subjectivity and education are no longer the lifelines of critical forms of individual and social agency. The promises of modernity regarding progress, freedom and hope have not been eliminated; they have been reconfigured, stripped of their emancipatory potential and relegated to the logic of a savage market instrumentality. Modernity has reneged on its promise to young people to provide social mobility, stability and collective security. Long-term planning and the institutional structures that support them are now relegated to the imperatives of privatization, deregulation, flexibility and short-term profits. Social bonds have given way under the collapse of social protections and the attack on the welfare state. Moreover, all solutions to socially produced problems are now relegated to the mantra of individual solutions.[6]
Public problems collapse into the limited and depoliticized register of private issues. Individual interests now trump any consideration of the good of society just as all problems are ultimately laid at the door of the solitary individual, whose fate is shaped by forces far beyond his or her capacity for personal responsibility. Under neoliberalism everyone has to negotiate their fate alone, bearing full responsibility for problems that are often not of their own doing. The implications politically, economically and socially for young people are disastrous and are contributing to the emergence of a generation of young people who will occupy a space of social abandonment and terminal exclusion. Job insecurity, debt servitude, poverty, incarceration and a growing network of real and symbolic violence have entrapped too many young people in a future that portends zero opportunities and zero hopes. This is a generation that has become the new register for disposability, redundancy, and new levels of surveillance and control.
CONTINUED: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/17647-the-violence-of-organized-forgetting


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You would not force Everest in snowstorm. You would wait for skies to clear up.
You have seen the current crypto rates and the news. The consensus view is that things will clear up in Spring. Moreover McFly.aero Consortium members will have so much more out of labs by then making McFly.aero case even stronger. Therefore the Token Launch Phase 1.2 is rescheduled to start on the 5th of April 2018 — exactly the middle of Spring.
This affects the expected time when those who hold McFLY tokens on Waves Platform (including most of the core community) will be able to swap 1:1 into ERC20-type McFLY tokens on the Ethereum platform. This will only become technically possible once the TLP 1.2 is over.
Taking this opportunity to share news, Keith Teare (known to many as a co-founder of TechCrunch) is our advisor now, but shhhh, we will make a more formal introduction within shortly. Stay tuned, many more developments await!
In the meanwhile you can continue to order McFLY tokens and get them into your wallets with bonuses to the TLP 1.2 rate by clicking GET TOKENS button now and following the steps.


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Cohen Financial secures $15M in loans for two property acquisitions
The local office of Cohen Financial played an instrumental role in financing two commercial real estate acquisitions in Grand Rapids and in a re-financing transaction in Midland.
The Cohen office, which is headed by Cathy Bronkema, secured a $5 million SBA 504 loan for the new owner of the Ramada Plaza Hotel, LOF Grand Rapids LLC, and a $10 million acquisition loan for Franklin Partners LLC for its purchase of 99 Monroe, a 13 story Class A office structure located in the heart of downtown.
Bronkema said she teamed with Dan Rosenberg, who directs the Cohen office in Chicago, for the office building, which has Comerica Bank as a major tenant. Franklin Partners has its headquarters in a Chicago suburb. Bronkema said a local bank was involved in the hotel transaction.
"Since I established the Cohen Financial Grand Rapids office in 2011, I have been actively securing financing for all CRE property types and, more importantly, with a variety of lenders," said Bronkema, partner and executive vice president at Cohen.
In just her first few months at Cohen, Bronkema was able to help clients secure $10.2 million in loans and did so through a partnership with Colliers International of West Michigan, also located in Grand Rapids. The Grand Rapids office is Cohen Financial's eighth regional office.
The re-financing transaction in Midland involved a Home Depot store and was worth $6.5 million. Bronkema secured the loan from a life insurance company.
The three transactions totaled $21.5 million and have closed. Bronkema said her clients were out-of-state borrowers.
The Ramada Plaza Hotel, at 3333 28th St. SE in Kentwood, has 181 rooms and features a giant indoor waterslide. Grand Rapids Hospitality, a Midland-based firm, had owned the hotel since 2009, and the hotel's State Equalized Value is $2.85 million, according to Kent County records. LOF Grand Rapids is a national operator based in Fargo, N.D.
Franklin Partners, which is in the process of upgrading the office building that opened in 1985, bought 99 Monroe from the building's lender last summer. The structure offers 200,000 square feet of space, is connected to the downtown Skywalk and has earned a LEED Gold certification and two Energy Star certifications. In addition to Comerica Bank, McShane & Bowie and Miller Canfield also are lead tenants.
"We really like downtown Grand Rapids. There is a dynamic going on there, and the future of it looks great," said Donald Shoemaker, a partner in Franklin Partners, last July. "We just like the fundamentals of downtown. It was kind of an easy decision (to buy 99 Monroe), actually."
Bronkema is a native of the area and returned here to direct the local Cohen office after spending nine years at the firm's corporate headquarters in Chicago. Before that, she worked for 10 years as a portfolio manager at Lowe Enterprises, an investment management firm and pension-fund advisor in Los Angeles.
"The commercial real estate market in Michigan continues to trend upwards, and lenders have a growing appetite to finance more properties in this region," said Bronkema.
"In 2013, I expect the positive momentum to continue in the Michigan CRE market and a continuation of attractive financing available for all property types."


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KEEP LOUISIANA BEAUTIFUL OFFERS GRANTS TO GROUPS (August 31)
Keep Louisiana Beautiful (KLB), the state's non-profit organization dedicated to litter prevention and waste reduction, is now accepting grant applications for its 2011 KLB Healthy Communities Grants Program. The deadline to apply is August 31. KLB awarded close to $200,000 in grants to groups around the state in 2010. Grant applications can be submitted via the KLB website and awards will be announced September 12.
The KLB Grants Program is designed to help community organizations, governmental agencies, and educational groups implement projects with a specific focus on litter abatement through community education, recycling programs, enforcement and more. All grantees are required to participate in the annual Great American Cleanup held March through May each year or in America Recycles Day, held on November 15th each year. To learn more about the KLB Healthy Communities Grant Program, two technical assistance conference calls are available in August for interested grant applicants. Visit www.keeplouisianabeautiful.org for more submission information. A complete list of guidelines, terms and conditions and eligibility requirements, as well as application information are available on the KLB website. Find KLB on Facebook by searching "Keep Louisiana Beautiful" and on Twitter @keeplabeautiful.
Grant Opportunity: Gulf of Mexico Community-based Restoration Partnership (September 15)
The GCRP is a multi-year, regional partnership between the Gulf of Mexico Foundation (GMF), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Community-based Restoration Program (CRP), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Gulf of Mexico Program (GoMP), and the Gulf States and Caribbean Territories. The purpose of this partnership is to strengthen the conservation efforts of the NOAA CRP and EPA GoMP by supporting on-the-ground restoration activities and fostering local stewardship of ecologically significant areas.
For project ideas, you can see what other Community Based Restoration recipients have done across the gulf and elsewhere by visiting the NOAA Restoration Atlas at: http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/restoration/restorationatlas/index.html
For details, visit: http://www.gulfmex.org/contact-us/ Submittal Due Date: September 15, 2011
Coastal America International Student Ocean Art Contest
Contact a Coastal Ecosystem Learning Center (CELC) near you to learn more. The "Coastal America International Student Art Contest" draws upon young people's artistic expression to convey the importance of the ocean, coasts and Great Lakes. The Ocean Art Contest encourages students to learn about marine issues we face as a nation by creating art based on the National Ocean Policy and "Essential Principles of Ocean Literacy". Beginning in Fall 2011, students from primary school to university will have a unique opportunity to participate on the Ocean Art Contest. CELCS will host Regional Art Contests and support local student artists. Winners of the Regional Contests will travel to Washington DC for the International Competition. Don't miss this opportunity to express your love of the Ocean through art!
For contest rules and guidelines and information about Coastal America go to http://www.coastalamerica.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1563&Itemid=182
Contestants must submit their artwork to the CELC closest to them. For more information on CELCs and their locations please visit http://www.coastalamerica.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1591&Itemid=202
LPBF's 2011 Beach Sweep is Saturday, Sept 17th!!
Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation's 22nd annual Beach Sweep, LPBF's Beach Sweep 2011 will be held Saturday, September 17th from 9am-noon followed by a thank-you picnic for registered volunteers. Visit www.saveourlake.org for more information. The theme this year is "Trash Free Lake." As in the past, we will work with the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), www.oceanconservancy.org. Come out and join us!
Email email@example.com if you can be a zone captain and bring out a group. Your responsibilities will include gathering volunteers, and attending a zone captain meeting the evening of Thursday, September 1st to pick up supplies and get your clean up zone and information. On Beach Sweep Day you will go out with your group, hand out data cards and trash bags, work in your assigned zone, turn in your group's data cards and fill in your summary card. Then you are all invited to come to celebrate at a free picnic from 11:30am-2:00pm at Pontchartrain Beach or with one of our partners (Friends of LA Wildlife Refuges, Keep Covington Beautiful, Keep Madisonville Beautiful, Keep Mandeville Beautiful).
This year in Orleans and Jefferson Parish, we will be putting storm drain curb markers on storm drains that say "No Dumping, Drains to Lake." We will also clean street curbs, storm drains and ditches as well as some lakefront areas in parishes around Lake Pontchartrain. Please see our 2011 Beach Sweep flyer. Please distribute to office and civic groups, school clubs, scout troops and neighborhood friends. Remember a group can be as small as 3 or as large as you like. RSVP by to JoAnne Burke at (504)836-2238 or email@example.com.
Elmer's Island Summer Beach Sweep Volunteers Needed (August 18, 8am -1pm)
Elmer's Island Refuge is a barrier island located in Jefferson Parish southwest of Grand Isle, Louisiana bordered by LA 1 and the Gulf of Mexico. The area includes a tidal zone, natural and restored dunes, and an expanse of open area leading to the Back Bay. The island is well known for the excellent fishing opportunities it has provided over the years for many popular species such as speckled trout, white trout, flounder, redfish, channel mullet, black drum, croaker, spanish mackerel and many other species that frequent the State's coastal beaches and passes. It also provides non-consumptive outdoor opportunities to observe wading, shore and seabirds as well as coastal marine life. There are no buildings or facilities on the island, and any visitors are required to carry out everything they bring onto the property. It will be extremely hot and there will be limited shade. Elmer's Island is remote; the Back Bay area is very wet and muddy. Bring sunscreen, bug spray, and a smile! Lunch, water, and gloves will be provided. For more information please contact Julia Lightner, at email@example.com or 504-913-7849.
Louisiana Environmental Education Commission (August 9, 1pm)
Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries – Baton Rouge Office, Louisiana Room
Meeting agenda is attached.
Louisiana Girls Collaborative Project Information Meeting (August 16)
Program managers, guidance counselors, business partners, technical professionals, teachers, and representatives from professional organizations and higher education are invited to join us at an informational meeting announcing the implementation of the Louisiana Girls Collaborative Project. This initiative will provide mini-grants, professional development, and other free resources to project participants to help increase the participation of girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Join us to learn more about the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) model, how this initiative can help your program or organization, and to network with colleagues to identify collaboration opportunities. The Louisiana Girls Collaborative Project will be sponsored by Sci-Port: LOUSIANA'S Science Center.
The meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 16 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana (5525 Reitz Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA 70809) in Conference Rooms CSC 2A& 2B. A map and directions are located here: http://www.mapquest.com/?version=1.0&hk=1-P5Z1jicp. An event agenda is attached. For more details and to register: http://www.ngcproject.org/events/events.cfm?eventid=203. Pre-registration is required. Contact Amy Foster, National Program Manager (email@example.com), with questions about the National Girls Collaborative (http://www.ngcproject.org).


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Summary Meeting Notes: October 24, 2012 Watershed Health and Environment PEG
Summary Meeting Notes
Watershed Health & Environmental Policy Expert Group (WHE PEG)
Meeting Date: October 24, 2012
Time: 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
PEG Attendees: Judy Bluehorse Skelton, Claire Carder, Corky Collier, Ben Duncan, Sallie Edmunds (BPS), Renee Hackenmiller-Paradis, Marla Harrison, Mike Houck, Roberta Jortner (BPS), Maryhelen Kincaid, Noelwah Netusil, Bob Sallinger, Jonathon Soll, Jennifer Thompson, Marie Walkiewicz (BES)
Invited Attendees: Marty Stockton (BPS), Paul Ketchum (BES)
Other Attendees: Shannon Buono (BPS), Chris Scarzello (BPS), Nan Stark (BPS), Joan Frederiksen (BPS), Peter F. Fry, two members of the public
Facilitator: Dena Marshall, Solid Ground Consulting
View the original agenda, including materials, for this meeting.
Key Points and Outcomes
- There was general support for citywide policies to address cumulative environmental impacts (negative and positive), with policies identifying focus areas/topics by watershed. Environmental zones aren't sufficient. Need to look at the whole watershed not just significant natural resource areas.
- PEG members recommended that the City address issues in addition to, and related to, cumulative impacts, including social and public health impacts of development. The PEG encouraged City staff to address non-regulated issues in its analysis of the policy choices (i.e., air quality), and to include such discussion in a general "Decision-Making" chapter.
- There was general support for policies that call for ongoing monitoring of watershed conditions, use of best available information in decision making, and tracking of trends to inform programmatic updates (aka adaptive management). "It's good to have targets so we know where we want to head."
- Having current data and targets in place is important, but be wary of relying on complex models and data intensive approaches to establish policy direction. Instead, have strong policies in place and use data to support common sense decisions.
- See below for specific recommendations on language and policy.
Introduction and Review Agenda (15 minutes)
Presenter: Dena Marshall, Solid Ground Consulting
Summary: Dena welcomed the group and kicked off the meeting.
Updates on the Comprehensive Plan Process and Other Updates (10 minutes)
Presenter: Sallie Edmunds, Watershed Health and Environment PEG Lead
Summary: Sallie provided an update an update on the Comprehensive Plan process, "equity discussion" topic for next month, and efforts of the Industrial Lands Working Group, a joint WHE and Economic Development group, convened for the purpose of examining technical questions related to the industrial lands.
- Recommended policies from PEG members were submitted to the "Comp Plan" team on Oct. 1. These Draft Policies are currently in the process of being combined with the policies on other topics. A second Draft Policies is expected in December, followed by a series of public workshops and outreach events through January and February.
- Next month's meeting will be on the topic of equity. All PEGs will be focusing on equity in the month of December. Judith Mowry and Desiree Williams-Rajee (Equity Coordinator) will help lead the meeting which will be about looking at watershed health and environment through an equity lens.
- IndustrialLandand Watershed Health Working Group is in the process of being formed. Will be facilitated by Joe Hertzberg. Group to consist of several PEG members, possibly some other community members, and Economic Development PEG members. The group will report back. Their agenda includes building a shared understanding of why we are working so hard for watershed health and industrial land development. They will look at options to increase supply of industrial lands and possibly create new options, and will advise on how to present materials to the public.
Comprehensive Plan Update Public Workshops (20 minutes)
Presenter: Marty Stockton, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
Handout: Process Diagram and Workshop Proposal for CIC Review
Summary: Marty summarized the staff thinking and planning around engaging the broader public in review of the Discussion Draft, including informal connections that will happen in November ("Fix It Fairs"), December (malls), January (Community Centers) and more formal connections that will happen at Community Workshops in February. Also, the Community Involvement Committee is promoting community-sponsored events which may take place in addition to the City sponsored events.
PEG comments/questions:
- Are there analytics about how many people are using and accessing the website?
- Not sure. We are capable of accessing that information and can get that to you.
- Who and what will determine the topics or key issues/choices that will be discussed in the breakout groups at the workshops with the public?
- That is still being determined.
- How are you imagining the feedback that will be gained from the public engagement process to be incorporated?
- PEG members will help with the analysis of the feedback and incorporating it into the draft. The plan is to thoughtfully summarize the feedback gained during the public process and share it in the next phase—outreach is currently anticipated for May.
- Have community organizations already expressed interest in hosting the community-sponsored events?
- The CIC has drafted an invitation letter. We will be sharing this invitation and feeling this out with partners (Citywide Land Use, Diversity and Civic Leadership) soon. There is also hope that interest and initiative may arise from PEG members.
Other comments:
- When the working draft is issued in December the workshops will be announced.
Cumulative Impacts
Presenter: Roberta Jortner (BPS), Marie Walkiewicz (BES) and Paul Ketchum (BES)
Handouts and Presentation materials: Cumulative Impacts Discussion Paper and Map
Summary: Roberta introduced the topic of cumulative environmental impacts, highlighting the opportunities through the Comprehensive Plan Update to improve how the City manages the cumulative impacts of development inPortland. Marie presented a map that was created from a watershed health perspective to inform the discussion. Paul Ketchum shared a series of new tools that are being developed to assess and understand cumulative impacts.
Questions for PEG:
- Is there support for explicit comprehensive plan policies that call for addressing cumulative impacts through City long term planning and potentially through the review and permitting of new development projects? (PEG members provided a unanimous "thumbs up" to this question, indicating support for addressing cumulative impacts through long-term planning policies.)
- What are your views of the options presented in the paper? Is there support for the policies and actions named in the paper that would address cumulative impacts?
PEG comments:
- New tools could really help us make the right decisions and policies because we can now actually define where we want to be.
- What are the set targets for these tools?
- Still working on setting precise targets, a range has been set. Some targets may be aligned with ODFW standards, using our best professional development to determine targets.
- It makes a lot of sense to incorporate this way of thinking into long range planning with both large projects and small things too– we need to be looking at development patterns and how they play out and look at the effects. Don't we already do this? We do this qualitatively but not quantitatively.
- How much of the city is represented through these tools?
- All of it (including public and private lands). Looking at all six watersheds. We need to get a better handle on terrestrial environments and their biological communities.
- We should be working to coordinate monitoring with upstream jurisdictions, in order to understand and account for all the impacts on our watershed health that may be originating in other jurisdictions. This is true for Willamette mainstem and Johnson Creek. This affects how we interpret the data collected from these areas.
- If we are studying watershed health site by site by site and looking at impacts, are we taking into consideration and monitoring what has failed in the past because of bad planning?
- Consider defining and prioritizing the parameters when dealing with different watersheds and microenvironments. It is important to have policies that adapt and are flexible to deal with different variables.
- Do other municipalities have similar systems and are they incorporating them into their long-range planning?
- These tools are especially useful for gathering baseline data that can frame adaptive management policies and lead to better decision-making for the health of our watersheds. How do we really integrate this into the comp plan now? How do we create valuable policies? Valuable policies can also be vulnerable to swings in priorities.
- We should use the data we have, the best we can, but we also need to be careful of overemphasis on data. We can use common sense too. Also consider: A data intense approach might be difficult to sustain over time. Maybe some subset of data is less reliant on in depth funding. Agree with previous point made about flexibility
- When we build in flexibility (in policies), the environment can be compromised (i.e. city's tree targets). We should be careful not to build in too much flexibility.
- Budget priorities can shift and "go off course" to accommodate another goal. How do we really get into the budget cycle so our priorities actually get prioritized? Could funding get tied to a specific outcome that is connected?
Specific Recommendations on Cumulative Impacts Discussion Paper Language or Policy
- Engage planning on a watershed scale. Portland is served by 6 distinct, and inter-related, watersheds: monitor, evaluate, and plan by the watersheds, rather than the jurisdiction.
- The success criteria should relate to specific watershed functions (such as "no net loss of function…") Current success criteria are not related to watershed health or measurable.
- Include a link between the economic benefits that occur when we make exceptions to a regulation.
- Success criteria should include: "preventing degradation" and "improving watershed conditions".
- Add a reference for the need for adaptive management.
- Consider using term "cumulative effects" given the negative connotation associated with the word "impacts". OR use "cumulative impacts" (not effects) because we are really talking about the negative impacts.
- Tree canopy and impervious surfaces seem like good indicators for addressing this issue.
- Broaden to include all NEPA aspects, not just natural resources.
- Measure City efforts against the other regulatory entities (Metro, County, State, Federal) to look at cumulative impacts.
- Create clear standards – relying on discretionary review and conditions of approval tend to allow for more negative impacts.
- Agree with removing qualifier after definition.
- The city has the authority to be more stringent than other jurisdictions.
- Include "health" as part of the analysis.
- Make sure these policies are consistent with other jurisdictions' overlays – County, Metro, State, and Federal. Can be more stringent than other overlays?
- Striving for positive impacts of development is important but preventing negative impacts is still key.
- Mitigation of environmental impacts should take place in the same watershed. We're seeing trends of moving mitigation to other watersheds and outside the City.
Pg 1:
- Encourage an even more robust analysis that looks at human health benefits.
Pg 6:
- 6.2: Is that in reference to neighborhood plans and natural resource management plans? Aspirational language is not enforceable. Plans and policies need to be enforceable and have a reason for being.
- 6.8: Add that it is important to consider them – this may lead to pushing back on the other jurisdictions that regulate them.
- Confusion about 8 points on page 6.
- Success criteria should include relationship to watershed functions, "no net loss of function" etc.
Pg 7:
- Clearly define "Cumulative impacts" term. Remove application language from definition.
- In the Policy Statement, add something that gets at the data that will be so valuable. "Understand and consider the cumulative impact…"
- (7.2.a) Delete "to the extent practical" from policy statement. Extraneous?
- (7.2.a) Long range plans need to be effective / enforceable, Re: Land Use Review – reign in administrative and policy decisions that influence cumulative impacts.
- Review periodically for triggers and corrective actions.
- Include "effectiveness/usefulness" language.
Pg 8:
- City should consider the cumulative impacts; City is not a regulatory entity for all types of impacts.
- (8b) Add a time sensitive directive to update programs "on a regular basis" and look at data "before it gets too late".
Public Comment
- None
Next Steps
- Next meeting is Nov. 28, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Topic: Equity
For more information, please contact Sallie Edmunds, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability at 503-823-6950 or firstname.lastname@example.com or Dena Marshall, Facilitator at 503-249-0000 or email@example.com.


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The missions were built by the Spanish starting in 1769 in order to "colonize" the territory of Alta California, which they had discovered over two centuries earlier. There had been various proposals over the years to do something with this territory, but it was hard reaching the coast of Alta California from New Spain (Mexico) in those days, sailing against the wind and currents, and Spain had other priorities. What finally moved them to act was the fact that Russian fur trappers were moving farther and farther down the Coast (from their bases in Alaska) and were spotted near present day San Francisco in 1760s.
You might ask why they didn't send settlers. They did send a few, but not very many people wanted to go to this "wilderness." The Spanish also had good results previously using missions to settle other parts of their frontier-in Arizona and Texas, for example, and in the Rio de la Plata region of Latin America.
I should also point out that the Franciscan padres were motivated primarily by the opportunity to convert the Native Americans to the Catholic Faith.
The mission system required that Indians brought into a mission be baptized into the faith and "civilized." This was considered another big plus supporting the use missions as the central element in colonization.
Ultimately, the Spanish built several pueblos (towns), the largest of which became Los Angeles. Almost ten of the original missions had towns grow up around the mission.


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Leukemia SPORE Grant
The Leukemia Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant (CA140158) was awarded to The Ohio State University by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Titled "Experimental Therapeutics of Leukemia," the funding supported five highly translational research projects that were designed to improve understanding of how adult leukemia develops, improve risk stratification and develop novel, individualized therapies for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
The grant also supported five core services, including a Career Development Program geared toward young women and minority researchers, and a Developmental Research Program to recruit innovative pilot projects.
A major thrust of the Ohio State Leukemia SPORE was translating basic-science findings into potential therapeutic targets for anti-leukemic drug discovery, and each project involved clinical and basic-science studies.
The Leukemia SPORE is in the process of submitting a competitive renewal for the next five years of funding. This will present the opportunity for new investigators, projects, pilot projects and scholars to continue the excellent growth set forth by the SPORE grant.
Leukemia SPORE Projects
The Leukemia SPORE grant supported five highly translational research projects that were designed to improve understanding of how adult leukemia develops, improve risk stratification and develop novel, individualized therapies for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
Project 1: Early Predisposing Genes and Risk Stratification for CLL
Project Leaders: Albert de la Chapelle, MD, PhD; John Byrd, MD
Project 1 Aims:
- Extend findings from a co-authored paper published in the journal Cell showing that DAPK1 silencing is associated with CLL development in a family with a high frequency of this disease. This aim investigates the function of DAPK1 in B-cells and the leukemogenic role for DAPK1 silencing in CLL. It's expected that this work will lead to identification of new biomarkers to predict CLL outcome in Aim 2 and potentially to innovative treatments using novel compounds that could be designed by investigators in Core D.
- Examine the clinical relevance of promoter methylation of genes involved in initiation (DAPK1, FOXD3) or progression (ID4), expression of initiating genes (TCL1A) and other molecular markers (global hypomethylation) with disease progression and clonal evolution.
These investigations should provide a significantly better understanding of early events in CLL transformation and, concomitantly, improve strategies to risk-stratify and treat lgVH unmutated CLL.
Project 2: Molecular Characterization and Risk Stratification of AML
Project Leaders: Clara D. Bloomfield, MD; John Byrd, MD
This study examines whether epigenetic, microRNA and gene expression profiling can predict treatment outcome and identify specific patient groups that will best benefit from targeted therapy in AML. This study examines novel molecular markers, multi-gene expression signatures and multi-microRNA expression signatures in the context of newly diagnosed AML patients enrolled on CALGB clinical trials to facilitate risk-stratified and molecular marker-stratified treatment. Additionally, this project will potentially identify new dysfunctional signaling pathways that are amenable to therapeutic targeting in AML.
Project 3: Lenalidomide As an Immune Modulating Agent for CLL
Project Leaders: John Byrd, MD; Kristie Blum, MD; Amy Johnson, PhD
Project 3 explores the mechanism of action of the unique agent lenalidomide in CLL and seeks to develop new strategies to optimize its efficacy in this disease. Three different lenalidomide studies have demonstrated clinical activity but also the atypical toxicity of tumor flare in CLL patients. To date, the mechanism of action and toxicity of lenalidomide in CLL remains unknown. This project is derived from clinical and laboratory studies published by this group of Ohio State investigators showing that lenalidomide promotes CLL-cell activation and potentially life-threatening tumor flare. Concurrent with ongoing laboratory studies, a phase I clinical trial of lenalidomide will be pursued in patients with symptomatic, previously treated disease and those with minimal residual disease immediately following treatment.
Project 4: Preclinical and Clinical Investigation of MLL-PTD AML
This translational and clinical study investigates epigenetic therapy for a rare subset of AML with MLL-PTD. Dr. Blum explores a discovery made in the laboratory that the well-characterized partial tandem duplication (PTD) of the MLL gene in a single allele occurs in a subset of AML patients. Importantly, the lab also discovered that the wild type MLL allele in this same subset of patients may be silenced by epigenetic regulation, presenting an opportunity for drug-induced re-expression of the gene.
The translational research group at Ohio State has been one of the leaders nationally in developing drugs that target epigenetic changes in leukemic cells. This project will incorporate both preclinical and clinical aims. Notably, creation of a MLL PTD knock-in mouse demonstrated that the lesion described does not alone produce AML. Additional abnormalities such as FLT3 over-expression resulted in development of leukemia in this mouse model. Thus, Project 4 will further characterize/validate and utilize this MLL PTD/FLT3 mouse as a preclinical model and also develop drug treatment strategies targeting epigenetic and genetic aberrations in patients with AML.
Project 5: Preclinical and Clinical Development of Silvestrol in CLL
Project Leaders: Michael Grever, MD
Project 5 focuses on a new therapeutic target that inhibits protein translation, in CLL. This project utilizes the novel natural-product silvestrol that is derived from the Indonesian plant Aglaia foveolata and was identified and characterized in part by Ohio State investigators. Drs. Grever and Lee have been working to translate silvestrol to clinical trials for patients with CLL. It has been shown that silvestrol is selectively cytotoxic toward CLL cells and that the mechanism involves inhibiting the translation of the anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1.
Ohio State Leukemia SPORE members and others have validated the Mcl-1 target as a critical anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member whose reduction directly results in apoptosis in CLL cells. The Leukemia SPORE project team also extended these in vitro studies to show in vivo activity of silvestrol in both the ES-TCL1 CLL model and an alternative lymphoid leukemia xenograft model.
Preliminary pharmacokinetics studies suggest that silvestrol has a relatively short half-life in vivo. To improve the pharmacokinetic parameters of silvestrol, a nanoparticle-encapsulated formulation was developed by Dr. Lee that maintains in vitro activity and will greatly improve the in vivo pharmacology and efficacy. Preclinical studies to test in vivo the toxicity and the pharmacologic activity of silvestrol nanoparticles are ongoing.
Leukemia SPORE Cores
The Leukemia SPORE grant supported five core services, including a Career Development Program geared toward young women and minority researchers, and a Developmental Research Program to recruit innovative pilot projects.
Core A: Leukemia Tissue Bank
Core Leader:
Laboratory Manager: Donna Bucci, MS
Validating laboratory findings in human tissue is crucial to understanding their relevance to human disease. Core A provides SPORE researchers with simplified access to a large repository of leukemia patient samples and accompanying clinical information. This multi-tiered effort is essential to the overall goal of this SPORE group to bring their findings to the practical benefit of patients with leukemia.
The core provides researchers in and outside The Ohio State University Leukemia SPORE access to a large repository of uniformly prepared and fully characterized leukemia patient samples. The well-established Ohio State University and CALGB Leukemia Tissue Banks (referred to as SPORE LTBs) are the backbone of Core A and contribute crucial experience and infrastructure to this effort. The SPORE LTBs are centralized banks of blood, bone marrow specimens and non-leukemic material procured from leukemia patients enrolled on CALGB or Ohio State treatment protocols.
Aims of the Leukemia Tissue Bank:
- Provide a state-of-the-art repository and centralized collection and processing, for samples collected from leukemia patients treated on clinical protocols related to The Ohio State University Leukemia SPORE.
- Provide processed clinical samples to investigators within and outside Ohio State's Leukemia SPORE who study the cellular and molecular properties of leukemia and correlate these properties with clinical or population-based outcomes and who commit to sharing the data derived from their research efforts.
Core A will integrate with Cores B (biostatistics) and C (bioinformatics) to maintain a detailed, current database of samples and accompanying clinical information. In addition, Core A will regularly validate sample quality, conduct molecular characterizations and prepare derivatives (protein, DNA, RNA).
Core B: Biostatistics
Co-Leader: Susan Geyer, PhD
Co-Investigator: Soledad Fernandez, PhD; Lianbo Yo, PhD; Lai Wei, PhD; Xiaoli Zhang, PhD
Significant Contributor: Michael Radmacher, PhD
The Biostatistics Core provides statistical support for the Ohio State Leukemia SPORE. It offers expertise in experimental and trial design, statistical genetics, multiplicity problems, microarray analyses, modeling for population studies and trials and maintenance of data quality.
Aims of the Biostatistics Core:
- Collaborate with project investigators in the formulation of hypotheses and hypothesis-testing strategies and in the design of experiments, phase I trials and population studies.
- Conduct statistical analyses of data generated by project investigators, including descriptive summary statistics, data modeling, hypothesis-testing and methods of discovery.
- Ensure that the following statistical principles are adhered to in all studies:
- Modeling nuisance or block effects
- Controlling type I error to produce reliable conclusions
- Using adequate sample sizes to control type II error and avoid inconsistent conclusions
- Use randomization of conditions to avoid systematic errors
- Decrease measurement error to enhance precision
- Provide design expertise and oversight for phase I trials and support the design of possible future phase II trials.
- Collaborate with the bioinformatics core for all microarray analyses.
- Investigate or develop new statistical methodologies to directly address difficult data or design problems.
- Provide design and data analytic support from senior biostatisticians for the new investigators responsible for the pilot projects.
Core C: Bioinformatics
Leader: Philip Payne, PhD
Co-Leader: Jeffrey Parvin, PhD
The Biomedical Informatics Core facilitates the collection, management, integration and analysis of a wide range of information required for the efficient operation of the SPORE's projects, pilots and other cores. This information includes structured and semistructured data sets resulting from:
- High-throughput and other experimental studies;
- Biostatistical analyses;
- Tissue core and administrative operations;
- Shared resource services;
- The asynchronous collaboration of SPORE participants.
The core uses a combination of biomedical informatics best practices and advanced technologies already in use or under development within Ohio State's Department of Biomedical Informatics and the OSUCCC – James. These technologies include:
- The service-oriented caGrid middleware for electronic data interchange between heterogeneous biomedical data sources and analytical services;
- Advanced database management systems optimized for the storage and query of rapidly evolving biomedical data sets;
- Centralized ontology services and ontology-anchored knowledge discovery/management tools;
- Multiple task-specific Web-portal applications that support the discovery, integration and analysis of large scale, multidimensional data sets;
- Web-based collaborative team-science tools.
Aims of the Biomedical Informatics Core:
- Develop and support extensible database management systems for use by Leukemia SPORE participants.
- Enable electronic data interchange between SPORE-related data sources.
- Support task-specific Web-portal applications that allow end-users to discover, integrate and analyze SPORE-related data sources.
- Support the execution of SPORE-related clinical trials through the facilitation of access to the OSUCCC – James enterprise-grade clinical trials management system.
- Implement and support a collaborative Web-portal intended to serve as a medium for both team-science and public dissemination activities.
Core D: Medicinal Chemistry
The Medicinal Chemistry Core translates laboratory findings from the Leukemia SPORE research projects into therapeutic options for leukemia patients.
The core provides expertise in synthetic medicinal chemistry and structural biology/computational chemistry and uses it to translate basic-science findings into small-molecule agents for hypothesis testing. Molecules with therapeutic potential are structurally optimized for phase I trial evaluation.
The core integrates the expertise of the Chen laboratory (medicinal chemistry, molecular and cell biology and molecular pharmacology), with the Li laboratory (computational chemistry and structural biology). This program has already developed agents that target different molecular defects that are clinically relevant to leukemogenesis. Two of these agents entered clinical trials in 2009.
Aims of the Medicinal Chemistry Core:
- Carry out lead optimization of lenalidomide to develop specific immunomodulatory drugs for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) therapy (in collaboration with Project 3).
- Carry out structural optimization of FTY720 to develop novel PP2A-activating agents (in collaboration with Pilot Project 2).
- Provide many aspects of medicinal chemistry service including custom synthesis, sample preparations, computational chemistry and structural biology to interested investigators of this SPORE application (all Projects) and other NCI SPORE and P01 investigators. An example of this is providing OSU-HDAC42 to investigators in Projects 4, 5 and Developmental Project 1.
Core E: Administrative
SPORE Program Director: John Byrd, MD
SPORE Program Co-Director: Clara D. Bloomfield, MD
Core Co-Investigator, Business Manager: Sara K. Guster, MS, MBA
Program Accountant: Sheryl Baker, BA
The Administrative Core provides centralized administration, communication processing, operations oversight, budget management and guidance to all aspects of the Leukemia SPORE grant.
The core promotes collaboration and helps prioritize resources and resolve program issues. It also amalgamates the investigators, their experimental findings and ideas and the evaluation of research efforts. In addition, the Administrative Core oversees a formal program to enhance woman and minority participation in the scientific programs and also accrual to proposed clinical trials.
Aims of the Administrative Core:
- Provide administration and leadership for investigators, including management of project resources, development of critical support memos, recording of meeting minutes and management of communications covering all SPORE operations, including publications.
- Organize monthly meetings of the Leukemia SPORE Executive Committee to facilitate communication and decision-making to accelerate translational research of this organization. This Executive committee shall consist of the Program Director and Co-Directors, Project Leaders, Core Leaders, Executive Advisor, Dr. Carlo Croce and Diversity Enhancement Advisors Drs. William Hicks and Electra Paskett.
- Organize an annual External/Internal Advisory Review meeting where the external and internal panel of experts will assess the Leukemia SPORE effectiveness and experimental progress, research directions, technical approaches, statistical and informatics evaluation and administrative effectiveness.
- Organize weekly Leukemia SPORE Project meetings for all SPORE investigators and laboratory members.
- Provide overall fiscal review, accounting and real-time budgets analyses for projects, cores, developmental research projects and career development projects within the Leukemia SPORE.
- Maintain integration activities that include data sharing, rapid publication and identification and institution of other activities critical to maintaining and strengthening the translational aspects of the Leukemia SPORE as new information, results and clinical outcomes develop.
- Maintain within the SPORE a pipeline of high-quality translational projects via the Developmental Research Program (DRP), with oversight by Drs. Bloomfield and Grever (see DRP write-up for specifics).
- Support a robust Career Development Program (CDP) that is integrated with the mission of the Leukemia SPORE, with oversight by Dr. Bloomfield (see CDP write-up for specifics).
Development Research Program
Project Leaders: Clara D. Bloomfield, MD; Michael Grever, MD
The Development Research Program (DRP) was a critical component of the Leukemia SPORE. It effectively demanded the exploration of new ideas as pilot projects, the development of new resources and the implementation of new technologies that drive translational research.
Aims of the DRP:
- Provide Leukemia SPORE investigators with a source of new projects to replace completed SPORE projects or projects that have not fulfilled translational expectations.
- Fund a broad range of proposals that will enhance existing SPORE Projects, including basic-science investigations, population science; innovative approaches toward prevention, diagnosis and prognosis; and experimental therapeutics.
- Arrange co-mentoring to funded DRP investigators to provide input from basic, clinical and biostatistical leaders and optimize the likelihood of developing the project into a full SPORE project or other nationally funded independent grant.
Career Development Program
Project Leader: Clara D. Bloomfield, MD
The Career Development Program (CDP) was an important component of Ohio State's Leukemia SPORE and of the national SPORE program because it assured a cadre of academic translational scientists who are dedicated to discovering new approaches to understanding the etiology, epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure of patients with leukemia.
The goal of the CDP was to recruit, train and guide (i.e., mentor and develop) and retain academic, faculty-level physician-scientists, clinician-investigators and laboratory-based scientists who would dedicate themselves to leukemia translational research.
The program's success will be judged by the quality of the science generated by the awardees, their success in obtaining external peer-reviewed funding, their success in academic advancement and their retention in academia and leukemia translational research.


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Anti-gay flyers violated hate law, Supreme Court rules
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled a Saskatchewan anti-gay crusader violated the province's human rights rules when he distributed pamphlets denouncing homosexuals.
But the high court also refined the definition of hate speech by striking down some language in Saskatchewan's Human Rights Code as unconstitutional.
In a unanimous 6-0 decision, it found two of four flyers William Whatcott distributed to mailboxes in Regina and Saskatoon in 2000 and 2001 violated the provincial code, while two others did not.
The self-described Christian street preacher produced leaflets with titles such as "Sodomites in our Public Schools" and called same-sex relationships "filthy." They urged residents to lobby the government to prevent homosexuals from working as teachers.
The handouts prompted complaints to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, and a tribunal decided Whatcott had violated the provincial code.
But in 2010, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal reversed the lower court ruling, saying that the leaflets might have been crude and offensive, but they didn't promote hatred.
In Wednesday's ruling, the Supreme Court found that passages in two of the documents did violate the provincial code because they sought to incite hate by portraying homosexuals as "carriers of disease, sex addicts, pedophiles" who prey on vulnerable children and cause their premature death.
The offending passages portrayed homosexuals "as a menace that threatens the safety and wellbeing of others," and used "vilifying and derogatory representations to create a tone of hatred," the court said.
The flyers also "expressly call for discriminatory treatment of those of same sex orientation," the justices added.
"It was not unreasonable for the tribunal to conclude that this expression was more likely than not to expose homosexuals to hatred," they said.
The Supreme Court explained that prohibitions on expression that expose anyone to hatred "is a reasonable limit on freedom of religion and is demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."
But the justices also struck down prohibitions of the provincial code that banned publications that "ridicule, belittle or otherwise affront dignity of persons."
Such offences do not meet the definition of inciting hatred, and are unconstitutional because they "unjustifiably infringe freedom of expression," the court said.
The Saskatchewan tribunal had directed Whatcott to pay the four original complainants a total of $17,500. He must pay one complainant $2,500 and another $5,000.
Whatcott told CTV News he was "profoundly" disappointed by the court's decision.
"I see today as a dark day, not only for myself personally, but for religious freedom and freedom of speech in Canada," he said.
Whatcott said he will not tone down his message.
"My faith in Jesus Christ takes precedent over seven liberal justices that clearly don't know what right or wrong is."
Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission chief commissioner David Arnot told CTV's Power Play that he was pleased with the decision which he called strong, unambiguous and unanimous.
It's a "very strong judgment outlining what hate speech is, how it's to be analyzed in the future, it's very helpful," he said.
"Hate causes real harm to real people and when hate occurs it needs to be sanctioned," said Arnot.
While the decision applies to Saskatchewan, Arnot said other legislatures in Canada should be looking at the judgment because it is so direct.
Since a number of other provinces use similar language in their human rights codes, the ruling could have implications for other human rights commissions in Canada.
The court offered guidance to human rights tribunals, saying even if an expressed idea is repugnant, that doesn't justify restricting its expression -- unless the publication or speech is likely to expose the targeted person or group to hatred.
"The repugnancy of the ideas being expressed is not sufficient to justify restricting the expression, and whether or not the author of the expression intended to incite hatred or discriminatory treatment is irrelevant. The key is to determine the likely effect of the expression on its audience, keeping in mind the legislative objectives to reduce or eliminate discrimination," the court wrote.
Lawyer Mark Freiman, former president of The Canadian Jewish Congress, said he hoped the ruling would serve to clarify the definition of hate speech.
"It reaffirms the case law as we have understood it for the last 25 years," Freiman told The Canadian Press." It reaffirms that there is a very high standard in order for communication to qualify as hatred."
However, David Koschitzky, co-chair of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said much more work must be done to prevent ongoing discrimination and abuse.
"Canada's hate speech protections need significant overhaul in terms of both content and process to ensure a proper balance between freedom of speech and protection from hate," Koschitzky said in a statement.
"The Jewish community of Canada understands all too well the corrosive impact of hate speech on vulnerable minorities."
The Canadian Constitution Foundation condemned the ruling, telling The Canadian Press it silences free speech.
"The Supreme Court missed an excellent opportunity to rein in the power of various human rights commissions and tribunals to censor the expression of unpopular beliefs and opinions," said foundation director Chris Schafer.
"Free expression is the lifeblood of democracies and all forms of expression, especially the offensive kind, needs to be protected."
The court's decision also disappointed John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. While he disagreed with Whatcott's views, he said it would be better to explain why Whatcott was wrong rather than prosecuting him for his opinions.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, while condemning the content of Whatcott's pamphlets, said such provisions in human rights codes do little to prohibit hate speech.
"We certainly don't agree with what Mr. Whatcott has to say and we strongly condemn what he put in those pamphlets," Cara Zwimbel, director of the fundamental freedoms programs at the CCLA, told CTV News Channel.
"But we've had experience with these human rights provisions prohibiting hate speech for many years, and in our view they don't work. And they do put a chill on freedom of expression."
With a report from CTV's Richard Madan


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St. Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
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The St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College is an Orthodox Christian seminary located in Sydney, Australia. It is a full-member school of the Sydney College of Divinity, a conglomerate of theological schools run by different Christian denominations. St Andrew's is an institution of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, and the current dean is Archbishop Stylianos (Harkianakis) of Australia.
Priestly vocations
The Bachelor of Theology degree is the principle means of training bilingual clergy for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, and admission is limited to those who aspire to the clergy or males to actively serve within the archdiocese. Said aspirants are expected to complete a year of further study, either an honours year or a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry.
Degree programs
St Andrew's currently offers the Bachelor of Theology (with an honours programs available), Master of Arts in Theological Studies, Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry, Master of Theology, and Basic Unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) in Aged Care. Honours programs for the Master of Arts, Master of Theology and doctoral programs can be done through the Sydney College of Divinity.
- 1930s: Metropolitan Timotheos of Australia and New Zealand contemplates possibility of establishing theological institution.
- 1950s: Ordinations of clergy take place in Australasia. Metropolitan Theophylactos of Australia and New Zealand considers possibility of establishing an ecclesiastical seminary.
- 1959: Archbishop Ezekiel of Australia gives thought to establishing an ecclesiastical seminary. Appoints a committee for the St Andrew's War Memorial Theological College Fund, which receives a donation from Sir Arthur George and Michael Papsalis; however, nothing becomes of this, as it is out of the reach of the Greek Orthodox in Australia at that time, and the donation is used to cover ongoing operating costs.
- 1975: Archbishop Stylianos of Australia, on arrival in Australia, focuses on establishing a tertiary theological college.
- 1981 Jan: At the Fourth Clergy-Laity Congress, Sydney, Archbishop Stylianos requests and gains support for the beginning of a theological college.
- 1982: During the official visit to Australia of Constantine Karamanlis, president of Greece, Archbishop Stylianos asked help to establish a church seminary. Karamanlis asks for a feasibility study to be done by the end of his visit. However, the Speaker of the House, A Kaklamanis, ignored, then rejected the letter on the grounds that the Church should care for ecclesiastical education, not the government. In response, Archbishop Stylianos decided to reenergise the St Andrew's Brotherhood, so that all clergy, making annual donations, would set an example for the laity.
- 1984 May: Archbishop Stylianos appoints an interim committee to consider and suggest ways of beginning the college, and to prepare the curriculum.
- 1984 Dec: On receipt of the report of the interim committee, three committees are established (building, administrative and academic).
- 1985: Archbishop Stylianos sends letter to 1000 friends and acquaintences asking for $1000 donation. $350000 was collected and allowed the Archdiocese to make a deposit on a property in Caringbah.
- With enough academically qualified and already-lecturing Orthodox, Sir Arthur George signed an agreement at the 5th Clergy-Laity conference (Brisbane) to provide the funds for the first stage of development. The donation of $250000 was used to renovating and modifying buildings at the Archdiocese by creating lecture rooms, domitories for interstate students, an office, a library and a common room.
- 1986 Feb: College opens. Metropolitan Maximos of Stavropoulos (Dean of Halki) and Premier Neville Wran (NSW) are present. Tuition is conducted for residential male students only. No fee is charged, and (by agreement) no wage is paid to the lecturers. The Bachelor of Theology is a four-year degree, in line with equivalent degrees in Greece.
- 1995: Bp Seraphim becomes new Sub-Dean of St Andrew's.
- 1990s (late): College changes structure of Bachelor of Theology degree to a three-year degree (in line with equivalent degrees in Australia) with a compulsory fourth year of honours or postgraduate work.
- 2001 Jun: St Andrew's Orthodox Press established to produce The Greek-Australian Vema, the newspaper of the Archdiocese, with thelong-term view of publishing works of the faculty.
- ~2003: St Andrew's begins to offer two intensive courses every semester for all members of the public, to the achievement of a Graduate Certificate of Theology (after four subjects, the equivalent of one semester full-time study), a Graduate Diploma of Theology (after 8 subjects) and a Masters of Arts in Theological Studies (after 12 subjects).
- Missiology offered as minor.
- 2005 Feb: School of Byzantine Music established under the auspices of St. Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College.
- May: St Andrew's Orthodox Press employs Publishing Director.
- 2006: Missiology minor no longer available.
As the sole Orthodox theological college of its kind in the southern hemisphere, St. Andrew's has taught not only the clergy of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, but also a sizeable number from other jurisdictions in Australia, most numerously of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese.
Recent News
The College recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.
- Archbishop Stylianos (Harkianakis) of Australia, BD, DD, ThD HC. 1986-present.
- Dean of St Andrew's, 1986-Present, Full-time lecturer in Systematic Theology.
- Bishop Seraphim (Ginis), BD (Hons). 1991-present.
- Sub-Dean of St Andrew's (1995-present), Full-time lecturer in Liturgical Studies and Canon Law.
- Philip Kariatlis, BA, BTh, MTh.
- Former Registrar, 1995-1999.
- Academic secretary
- Full-time associate lecturer in Systematic Theology, 2000-present.
- Dcn Sophronios Konidaris, BTh. 2005-present.
- Chaplain
- Anastasios Kalogerakis, BBus, BTh. 2000-present.
- Registrar
- James Athanasou, LittB, MA, PhD, DipEd, MAPS.
- Editor of Phronema, 1995-present.
- Sessional lecturer in Christian Education, 1999-present.
- Rev. Dr. Doru Costache, BA, PhD. 2005-present.
- Sessional lecturer in Patristic Studies.
- Guy Freeland, BA (Hons), PhD, CertHist&PhilSci.
- Sessional lecturer in Liturgical Studies (Church Symbolism and Iconography) and Hermeneutics, 1986-present
- Rev. Alan Galt, MA. 1990-2001; 2003-present.
- Part-time lecturer in Pastoral Theology and Practise
- Rachael Goth, BA (Hons), MTh. 2001-2003; 2005-present.
- Sessional lecturer in New Testament Greek
- Dimitri Kepreotes, BA, BTh, MTh.
- Former Registrar, 1992-1994.
- Part-time associate lecturer in Modern Greek and Christian Education (2001-present).
- Gerasimos Koutsouras, BA, MA, MTh.
- Lectures in Church History, Byzantine Music (2003, 2005-present) and Modern Greek (2005-present).
- John Lee, BA (Hons), PhD. 1986-present.
- Sessional lecturer in Advanced New Testament Greek.
- Rev. John McSweeney, STB, SSL. 1999-present.
- Sessional lecturer in New Testament Studies.
- Ken Parry, BA (Hons), PhD. 2002-present.
- Sessional lecturer in Church History (Early)
- Very Rev. Steven Scoutas, BD (Hons). 1995-present.
- Sessional lecturer in Pastoral Theology and Practise (Priestly Formation)
- Rev. Constantine Varipatis, BComm, BTh, MTh (Hons). 2004-present.
- Lectures in Pastoral Theology and Practise
- Rev. Dr. Raymond Williamson. 1992-2002; 2005-present.
- Chris Harvey, AssocDipLibPract. 1997-present.
- Librarian
Former Faculty
- Fr. Themistocles (Adamopoulo) (Monk). Lecturer in Biblical Studies, Early Church History and Biblical Hebrew, 1986-1999.
- Mr Vasilios Adrahtas. Lecturer in Patristics and Missiology, 2002-2004.
- Mr Stavros Agoroudis. Librarian, 1995-1996.
- Mrs Julie Anthony. Lecturer in Modern Greek, 1986-1992.
- The late Mr Antonios Aristodemou. Instructor in Byzantine Music, 1986-2000.
- Mr Francis Charleton. Librarian, 1987-1989.
- Rev. Fr. Anastasios Bozikis. Lecturer in Patristics, 1997-2001.
- Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis. Sub-Dean, Lecturer in Church History and Patristics, 1986-1995.
- V. Rev. Miltiades Chryssavgis. Lecturer in Liturgics, Byzantine Music and Pastoral Theology, 1986-1995.
- Miss Crystal Condous. Honorary Librarian, 1986.
- Rev. Paul Connors. Registrar and Lecturer in Church History, 1988-1990.
- Prof. Dimitri Conomos. Visiting Professor of Byzantine Music, 1986-1987.
- Dr Chris Forbes. Lecturer in Early Church History, 1999.
- Archimandrite Joseph (Harkiolakis). Lecturer in Modern Greek and Liturgics, 1987-1990.
- Rev. Clement Hill. Lecturer in Homiletics, 1996-2000.
- Miss Anne Hocking. Librarian, 1989-1995.
- Prof Vasilios Istavridis. Visiting Professor of Church History, 1992.
- Dr Alexandros Kariotoglou. Lecturer in Patristics, Missiology and Hermeneutics, 2002-2004.
- Dr Vivenne Keely. Lecturer in Early Church History, 2000-2001.
- Prof. Markos Orphanos. Visiting Professor of Patristics, 1995-2002.
- Dr Vrasidas Karalis. Lecturer in Church History, 1995-2003.
- The late Archimandrite Leonidas. Lecturer in Canon Law, 1986-1992.
- Mr Francis Livesey. Registrar and Lecturer in Church History, 1987.
- Miss Niki Papadopoulos. Lecturer in Modern Greek, 1993-1994.
- Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Peterson. Lecturer in Pastoral Theology, 1987-1989.
- V. Rev. Dr. Gabriel Popescu. Lecturer in Pastoral Theology, 1986-2001.
- Mr Basilios Psilacos. Instructor in Byzantine Music, 2001-2002.
- Dr Harry Simmons. Lecturer in Church History and Orthodox Spirituality, 1986-1987.
- V. Rev. George Vassiliadis. Lecturer in Canon Law, Patristics and Modern Greek, 1993-2005.
- Mr Jacob Yiacoumi. Lecturer in Systematic Theology and Patristics, 1996.
- Mr Asterios Zouriakas. Instructor in Byzantine Music, 2004.
External links
- St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College (official site)
- Sydney College of Divinity
- School of Byzantine Music under the auspices of the College.
Other sources
- The Vema
- Bilingual booklet in March 2006 of the Vema, Η Θεολογικη Σχολη του Αποστολου Ανδ


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Police in Calgary say 41-year-old Brian Ludwig died after a fight in a parking lot outside a bar early Sunday morning. And Robert Hooser, 27, allegedly landed the blow that killed him. Here's the Calgary Herald:
Witnesses say Ludwig suffered a "sucker punch" to the back of the head when a fight broke out in a parking lot, sending the six-foot-three contractor to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The fight began over a disagreement about pitching on a Toronto Major League Baseball team, said police Tuesday.
"It was in regards to pitchers in the (Toronto) Blue Jays," said St. Sgt. Doug Andrus with the homicide unit.
[Calgary Herald, via Twitter]


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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The space shuttle Atlantis made its last scheduled departure from the International Space Station on Sunday.
Leading up to the undocking, the crews of the two spaceships shared hugs and laughs. "Take care," the International Space Station's skipper, Oleg Kotov, told his shuttle visitors.
"We'll see you all on the surface of planet Earth again soon," shuttle commander Kenneth Ham replied. The two commanding officers shook hands twice and laughed heartily, then embraced. Their crewmates — representing the United States, Russia and Japan — followed suit.
Aboard the space station, NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson rang a bell as Atlantis pulled away, in accordance with naval tradition. "Space shuttle Atlantis departing," she declared.
Earlier in the morning, Ham told reporters the two crews had fun. He said all 12 spacefliers bonded through hard work and worked as a single team.
The space station is bigger, thanks to Atlantis and its crew. They're leaving behind a new Russian compartment packed with supplies, as well as six freshly charged batteries and other equipment that was hooked up during a series of spacewalks.
Its total mass exceeds 816,000 pounds (371,000 kilograms), and it's 98 percent complete in terms of living space.
"This place is now a palace. It's huge, and I've had great fun exploring it," said shuttle astronaut Piers Sellers. "We're seeing station in pretty much its final form, and it's really magnificent."
Atlantis is due to return to Earth on Wednesday. Just two shuttle missions remain to wrap up NASA's share of construction. Discovery is scheduled to fly in September, followed by Endeavour in November.
Atlantis' swan song ... or maybe not
As it currently stands, once Atlantis lands, it will never fly in space again.
NASA and some politicians are pushing hard for another mission, however, so Atlantis can haul up a final load of supplies in June 2011. The White House — which wants NASA concentrated on getting astronauts to asteroids and Mars in the coming decades — would need to approve any extra flights.
On Sunday morning, a journalist asked the Atlantis astronauts where they would like to see their ship wind up. Pilot, Dominic "Tony" Antonelli pointed out that none of them gets to decide. But if he got to pick, Atlantis would retire to his back yard in Houston.
"I get plenty of letters from my home owners' association about leaving my garbage can out and not keeping my grass trimmed, but if I got Atlantis parked in my back yard, that would make all those letters just kind of disappear," Antonelli said with a smile.
Inspection on the agenda
As for Atlantis' more immediate future, the astronauts still need to survey its wings and nose in search of any damage. They'll perform the job Monday using the newly repaired inspection boom. A spacewalking crewman untangled a cable on the boom last week, allowing the TV camera on the end to tilt properly.
Over at the space station, meanwhile, three of the six residents soon will be checking out. Russia's Kotov, NASA's Timothy (TJ) Creamer and Japan's Soichi Noguchi will depart June 2 in a Soyuz capsule and aim for Kazakhstan.
After more than five months in orbit, Creamer said Sunday he can't wait to drink something without sipping through a straw and to eat food that stays on the plate. Noguchi yearns for a hot springs bath.
This report includes information from The Associated Press and msnbc.com.
© 2013 msnbc.com


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If drought is playing out your pasture, Rick Rasby, University of Nebraska beef specialist, offers the following feeding and supplementation advice for those looking to feed corn:
In limit-feeding corn to cattle in drylot, be sure to allow plenty of bunk space to ensure all cattle have the opportunity to feed (24-36 in./head, perhaps more with bigger cows).
The following ration recommendations are based on feeding situations where no pasture is available. The concentrate part of the ration supplies the energy and protein needs, while a low-quality forage ensures that rumen health isn't compromised.
If using a low-quality hay for the forage source, Rasby recommends including a supplement with an ionophore calibrated to deliver 200-250 mg/head/ day to each cow. The ionophore will help reduce digestive problems and increase feed efficiency.
Because these rations are supplying all of cattle's daily nutrient requirements, Rasby recommends feeding twice/day - mornings and evenings - for the first week, feed half of the ration at each feeding to allow cows' rumens to adapt. After a week, it's likely more economical to feed the ration once/day, he says.
If corn gluten feed or soy hulls are substituted for grain, an ionophore isn't necessary. The corn gluten feed may be dry or wet, but account for the moisture if feeding wet product. Corn gluten can replace corn or milo on a pound-for-pound basis, but be sure to account for the product's moisture. Half the grain part of these rations could be replaced with soy hulls. If using distillers grains, feed a maximum of 7 lbs./head/day on a dry matter basis. When using gluten or distillers, phosphorus supplementation isn't needed; if fed instead of corn, a protein supplement isn't necessary.
If feeding gluten or distillers, Rasby says a high-quality forage such as alfalfa isn't necessary.
When feeding whole corn, include 10-12 lbs.,/head/day on an as-fed basis, along with 2-2.5 lbs. of a 38% supplement (with ionophore), 6 lbs. of low-quality hay, and salt and mineral free-choice, for a 18-20 lbs./head/day total ration.
For cows whose calves have been weaned, Rasby recommends 10-12 lbs. of whole corn/head/day on as as-fed basis, with 2 lbs. of a 38% supplement, 6 lbs. of low-quality hay, and salt and mineral free-choice, for a total ration of 16-18 lbs./head/day.
The low-quality hay can be any of last year's carry-over hay, but if the hay is very low quality, protein will be needed. If 6-8 lbs./head/day of alfalfa is included in the whole-corn diets, a protein supplement isn't needed.
Because the diets are limit-fed, it may take time for cows to adapt to the feeding program, Rasby says, so add 3-4 lbs/head/day of a low-quality forage as a filler.
-- Rick Rasby, University of Nebraska-Lincoln animal science professor


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"Safe House" stars Denzel Washington as rogue ex-CIA agent Tobin Frost, who finds himself in the cross-hairs of a small army, and runs into the open arms of an agency safe house manned by Mat Weston, played by Ryan Reynolds. Weston is an inexperienced and over-matched junior agent, and when he finds himself under siege, Frost is quick to remind him that Agency protocol requires that his first priority is to protect his house guest.
Ever since winning an Oscar for the seminar on scenery chewing he gave in "Training Day," Washington has specialized in playing half-mad men. Frost is another seasoned crime fighter who's gone to the dark side, and serving as a mentor to a newbie, but Washington plays him completely differently. Frost possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of CIA procedures, which, coupled with an icy cool, renders Weston a sweaty mess of doubt. Like Liam Neeson, Washington is a gifted actor who brings a gravitas that can lift up a mere genre film and make it something more. Reynolds is well cast as Weston, his innate naiveté and eagerness conveying the agent's sense of being overwhelmed by the situation at hand. While "Green Lantern" and "The Change-Up" went a long way toward erasing the memory, Reynolds gave a great turn in 2010's "Buried," as a truck driver who awakens in a coffin six feet underground, and here again he taps into a similar sense of fear and resolve.
The specter of Jason Bourne looms large over the action-thriller genre. While Doug Liman did a great job directing the first "Bourne," Paul Greengrass' subsequent chapters completely re-imagined the genre, spawning a generation of imitators. Director Daniel Espinosa's vision of "Safe House" bears many of Greengrass' stylistic hallmarks, from the quick cuts to the jiggling camera, with a touch of Tony Scott's trademark grainy, over-saturated coloring.
The action in "Safe House" is significantly elevated by the sound mixing—guns crack like bones, punches land with a meaty thwack, and cars crashes with the rip. Espinosa's fistfights don't just look great, they look and sound like they hurt deeply. And the film features one of the best car chases in recent memory, as Weston speeds through the streets of Cape Town with a baddies in hot pursuit and a very angry and desperate Frost locked in the trunk.
First-time screenwriter David Guggenheim script also owes a heavy debt to "Bourne." As you watch the film unfold you start ticking off the similarities--there's Vera Farmiga as Joan Allen, and Sam Shepard as David Strathairn--but for most of the film, they're general enough to be forgivable. Unfortunately the "Bourne" plot points that flood the conclusion of "Safe House" will have you rolling your eyes, no matter how much you've enjoyed the rollicking good time that proceeds it.


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama told a small group of supporters on Monday that he wants to address federal procurement rules for information technology in the wake of a problematic launch of the website for his signature healthcare insurance program.
"There are a whole range of things that we're going to need to do once we get this fixed to talk about federal procurement when it comes to IT and how that's organized," Obama told an invitation-only group of activists, community organizers at donors at an Organizing for Action meeting.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland; Editing by Eric Walsh)