text:
by Daniel Wilkinson
Published in:
The New York Review of Books
August 19, 2010
For decades, the Castro government has been very effective in repressing
dissent in Cuba by, among other things, preventing its critics from
publishing or broadcasting their views on the island. Yet in recent
years the blogosphere has created an outlet for a new kind of political
criticism that is harder to control. Can it make a difference?
There are more than one hundred unauthorized bloggers in Cuba, including
at least two dozen who are openly critical of the government. The best
known of their blogs, Generation Y, gets more than a million visitors a
month and is translated into fifteen languages. Its author,
thirty-four-year-old Yoani Sánchez, has won major journalism awards in
the US and Europe and in 2008 Time magazine named her one of the world's
one hundred most influential people. Sánchez has set up a "blogger
academy" in her apartment, and she helped found the website, Voces
Cubanas, which hosts the work of thirty independent bloggers.
Like other government critics, these bloggers face reprisals. Last
November, for example, Sánchez reported being detained and beaten by
Cuban security agents. Weeks later, her husband and fellow blogger,
Reinaldo Escobar, was subject to an "act of repudiation" by an angry mob
of government supporters on a Havana street. Such public harassment, as
Nik Steinberg and I reported in our recent New York Review piece, is
commonly used against "dissidents" on the island, along with police
surveillance, loss of employment, and restrictions on travel.1
(The Cuban government requires its citizens to obtain permission to
leave the island, and those marked as "counterrevolutionaries" are
generally denied it.)
And then there is the perennial fear of the "knock on the door"—as
Sánchez puts it—announcing the beginning of an ordeal that has been
endured by countless critics: arrest, a sham trial, and years of
"reeducation" in prison. Cuba has more journalists locked up than any
other country in the world except China and Iran. (In early July, after
the archbishop of Havana and the Spanish foreign minister interceded
directly with Raúl Castro, the Cuban government announced that it would
release fifty-two political prisoners who have been held since 2003.
However, that group does not include any of the many other Cuban
dissidents arrested since Raúl Castro took over from his ailing brother
in 2006.)
Policing the Internet, however, is not so easy. The Cuban government
controls the island's Internet servers, just as it controls the printing
presses and broadcasting transmitters. But the inherent porousness of
the Web means that anyone with an Internet connection can disseminate
new material without prior approval. The government can block the sites
it does not like (it blocks Generation Y in Cuba, for instance), but it
cannot stop other sites from springing up to replace them.
The biggest challenge for Cuban bloggers isn't outright censorship. It's
simply finding a way to get online. To set up a private connection
requires permission from the government, which is rarely granted. Public
access is available only in a few government-run cybercafés and tourist
hotels, where it costs approximately five US dollars an hour, or one
third of the monthly wage of an average Cuban. As a result, bloggers
often write their posts on home computers, save them on memory sticks,
and pass them to friends who have Internet access and can upload
them—for example workers in hotels and government offices. Others
dictate their posts by phone to friends abroad, who then upload them
through servers off the island.
No amount of resourcefulness, however, can change the fact that most
people in Cuba are unable to access even the unblocked blogs. Indeed,
the bloggers themselves are not always able to read their posts online.
Some have never even seen their own sites.
Still, by reaching large audiences abroad, the critical blogs pose a
threat to the Cuban government's international image—which explains why
the government and its supporters have reacted so virulently, attempting
to discredit the bloggers as pawns or even paid mercenaries in the
service of US imperialism. Granma, the official state news organ,
published an article in its international edition dismissing Generation
Y as "an example of media manipulation and interference in the internal
affairs of a sovereign nation." The editor of the pro-government blog
Cubadebate put it this way: "The United States has been waging economic
and political warfare against [Cuba] for the past 50 years. And this is
just the latest form of that warfare."
Yoani Sánchez herself, when asked by another blogger about the "external
factors" that had contributed to Generation Y's popularity, acknowledged
that attention by The Wall Street Journal and other foreign publications
had helped bring new visitors to her site. "But," she went on, "what
happened was the readers came and they stayed. Users could have come
once and not come back. Press coverage doesn't make a website."
So why do the readers come back?
I asked the Cuban novelist José Manuel Prieto what the bloggers' appeal
was for Cuban exiles like himself. "First, it's their moderation," he
said. "They criticize the Cuban government without calling for its
overthrow." Indeed, Sánchez, Escobar, and others are unequivocal in
their condemnation of the US embargo against Cuba, a position that until
recently was taboo within much of the exile community. In late May, for
example, a group of Cubans, including Sánchez, Escobar, and several
other bloggers from Voces Cubanas, signed a public letter to the US
Congress, urging support for a bill to lift travel restrictions to Cuba.
But more than their politics, Prieto said, what's appealing is their
measured tone. Sánchez herself puts it this way: "I have never used
verbal violence in my writings. I have not insulted or attacked anyone,
never used an incendiary adjective, and that restraint may have garnered
the attention and sympathy of many people." Ironically, the bloggers'
moderation may be their most subversive quality. It makes it harder for
the Castro government and its supporters to dismiss them as right-wing
If these blogs are to serve as a catalyst for change, however, it will
not be by influencing Castro sympathizers, who are less likely to read
them anyway. Instead it will be their growing audience within the exile
community, whose leaders have largely shaped US policy toward
Cuba—policy that, as Steinberg and I have observed, is widely seen as a
failure and in urgent need of a new direction. Like the Cuban leaders,
the anti-Castro hard-liners have sought to discredit opposing views by
questioning the motives and allegiances of those who hold them. They
accuse critics of the US embargo of ignoring the Castros' repressive
policies. But this charge does not work with the independent bloggers in
Cuba who question US policy. For not only are these writers themselves
victims of the repression, they are today among its most credible witnesses.
Whether the bloggers can ultimately influence US policy is an open
question. In any case, their objectives appear to be more modest—and
more profound. They are not polemicists or pundits so much as poets and
storytellers. They are less concerned with proposing new policies than
chronicling the costs to ordinary people of the repressive policies
already in place. The bloggers' ability to evoke the realities of daily
life in Cuba, Prieto says, is another principal source of their appeal.
Here is Sánchez describing one of Havana's many sex workers:
With a tight sweater and gel-smeared hair, he offers his body for
only twenty convertible pesos a night. His face, with its high
cheekbones and slanted eyes, is common among those from the East of the
country. He constantly moves his arms, a mixture of lasciviousness and
innocence that at times provokes pity, at others desire. He is a part of
the vast group of Cubans who earn a living from the sweat of their
pelvis, who market their sex to foreigners and locals. An industry of
quick love and brief caresses, that has grown considerably on this
Island in the last twenty years.
Here she recounts the daily chore of getting water:
On the corner there is a hydrant which, at night, turns into the
water supply for hundreds of families in the area. Even the water
carriers come to it, with their 55 gallon tanks on rickety old carts
that clatter as they roll by. People wait for the thin stream to fill
their containers and then return home, with help from their children to
push the wagon with the precious liquid….
I still remember how annoyed my grandmother was when I told her I
couldn't take it anymore, having to use the bathroom when there was
nothing to flush with. Then we had to pull up the bucket on a rope from
the floor below, helped by a pulley installed years before on the
balcony. This up-and-down ritual has continued to multiply until it has
become standard practice for thousands of families. In their busy daily
routine they set aside time to look for water, load it and carry it,
knowing that they cannot trust what comes out of the taps.
Another blogger, the forty-year-old novelist Ángel Santiesteban, records
the struggle over scarce bread outside a bakery:
When the bread comes out of the oven, the mobilization starts,
disorganized shoving…. Everyone shouts, offended if someone tries to
join an acquaintance in the line or tries to sneak into a possible gap
with the objective of cutting in; but the violators don't listen, the
insults don't matter, hunger is worse than shame, and they keep on pushing.
Claudia Cadelo, the twenty-seven-year-old author of the blog Octavo
Cerco, begins a post with this account:
I met him when I was eighteen: intelligent, tall, good-looking,
mulatto, bilingual, and a liar. He said he was an Arab and that was a
lie, he told me he had traveled and that was a lie, he told me he had a
"yuma" girlfriend who was going to get him out of the country, and that
too was a lie. But I liked him anyway, I like dreamers. We became friends.
Then life took us on two different paths: I got tired of waiting
for a way to leave the country; while he chose the infinite wait. Once
or twice a year we see each other, every time we are further apart: I
deeply enmeshed in the thick of things, he waiting and waiting.
The post then takes us up to the present. The friend, now fifty, is
still waiting, his old lies exposed, his charm long gone:
He is not alone, the "infinite waiting" has claimed almost all of
my friends—the petition, visa, permit to leave, permit to live abroad,
permit to travel or scholarship—everyone is waiting for that paper that
will take them far away, very far from The Land of No-Time…. I have come
to define it as a physical and spiritual state: you haven't gone, but
you are not here.
Sánchez tells the story of a man who made his living repairing damaged
books. One day the man opened a large volume that had been sent for
restoration and discovered inside a "detailed inventory of all the
reports that the employees of a company had made against their
colleagues." It was, Sánchez writes, a "testimony, on paper, of betrayals."
As in the plot of Dangerous Liaisons, in one part it could be read
that Alberto, the chief of personnel, had been accused of taking raw
material for his house. A few pages later it was the denounced himself
who was relaying the "counterrevolutionary" expressions used by the
cleaning assistant in the dining room. The murmurs overlapped, producing
a real and abominable spectacle in which everyone spied on everyone.
Maricusa, the accountant—as witnessed by her office mate—was selling
cigars at retail from her desk, but when she wasn't involved in this
illegal work she turned her attention to reporting that the
administrator left some hours before closing. The mechanic appeared
several times, mentioned for having extramarital relations with a woman
in the union, while several reports against the cook were signed in his
own hand.
On concluding the reading, one could only sense an enormous pain
for these "characters" forced to act out a sinister and disloyal plot.
So the restorer returned the book after having done the poorest
[technical] job his hands had ever performed.
Some of the most telling posts probe the bloggers' own reactions to the
limits the government has placed on their freedoms. In one, Sánchez
describes how she was unable to obtain copies of her own book, a
compilation of her blog postings published in Chile, which she had hoped
to distribute among her friends on the island. Instead, she received a
note from the customs office explaining that the shipment of books had
been confiscated on the grounds that the "content goes against the
general interests of the nation." In the post, she imagines what might
have gone through the minds of the agents who confiscated the books and
If three years of publishing in cyberspace would serve to bring my
voice only to these grim censors, I would have sufficient reason to be
satisfied. Something of me would remain inside them, just as their
repressive presence has marked my blog, pushing it to leap toward freedom.
Here Cadelo reflects on her failed effort to obtain a visa to travel abroad:
Today I look at my refusal of permission to travel and it gives me
peace: I was not hurt, not surprised. It is the long line that I have
been drawing of my path, it's the certainty that I wasn't wrong, it's
the proof that the Cuban government has taken the trouble to tell me so
I will know—despite the Party and its State, the security forces and
their impunity—that I have managed to live as a free woman.
The paradoxical satisfaction both bloggers describe reflects a sense of
vindication: the government's confiscation of Sánchez's book and denial
of a visa for Cadelo confirm their work—not only the truth of what they
write but the fact that, in the government's own estimation, their blogs
Yet there appears to be something even more basic here: the satisfaction
of discerning the value of things as perhaps only someone who is
deprived of them can. To a large extent this is what these blogs are:
chronicles of deprivation. What appears to affect these bloggers most
acutely is being deprived of ways to discuss and disagree about their
country's problems. When they manage to initiate such debate—even if it
takes place in a forum that is inaccessible to most Cubans—their
enthusiasm is palpable.
Here is Sánchez's answer to the question of why readers of her blog keep
coming back:
They feel that Generation Y is a public place or a neighborhood
where they can sit and talk or argue with a friend. And they have stayed
there, right up to today. In this very moment my blog is alive, while I
am sitting here, talking to you. People are recounting, narrating,
publishing, and that is the most important kind of wealth there is.
Indeed, the posts on Generation Y routinely elicit thousands of comments
from readers, most of them abroad. Some are angry diatribes. Some
display the familiar intolerance of ideologues insisting on adherence to
their beliefs. Most, however, are from people eager to contribute their
own observations and commentary—and their own stories and vignettes—to
this new "public place." This open dialogue is a historic achievement
for Cuba, and it is only possible thanks to the Internet. Yet the
bloggers themselves have only limited access to this conversation, and
most other Cubans on the island still have none.
One of the more moving passages I've come across in Generation Y follows
an interview with a Spanish journalist who visited Sánchez's apartment
in Havana earlier this year. Here is Sánchez, one of the world's more
influential bloggers, describing what appears to be her first encounter
with the iPhone. The passage conveys the playfulness and yearning that
make her voice of moderation so appealing:
Between the walls of this house, which had heard dozens of Cubans
talk of the Internet as if it were a mythical and difficult to reach
place, this little technological gadget gave us a piece of cyberspace.
We, who throughout the Blogger Academy work on a local server that
simulates the web, were suddenly able to feel the kilobytes run across
the palms of our hands. I had the desperate desire to grab [the Spanish
journalist's] iPhone and run off with it to hide in my room and surf all
the sites blocked on the national networks. For a second, I wanted to
keep it so I could enter my own blog, which is still censored in the
hotels and cybercafés. But I returned it, a bit disconsolate I confess.
For a while on that Monday, the little flag on the door of my
apartment asking for "Internet for Everyone" did not seem so unrealistic.


text:
Lawrence O'Donnell is the host of "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" on MSNBC. O'Donnell brings his extraordinary background in politics, entertainment and news to the nightly program, providing the last word on the important issues and most compelling stories of the day.
O'Donnell was an MSNBC political analyst since the network's launch in 1996 and had previously appeared as a frequent guest host on MSNBC's primetime programs.
O'Donnell was an Emmy Award-winning executive producer and writer for the NBC series "The West Wing" and creator and executive producer of the NBC series, "Mister Sterling."
From 1989 through 1992, O'Donnell served as Senior Advisor to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. In 1992, he was Chief of Staff to the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. From 1993 through 1995 he was the Chief of Staff of the Senate Finance Committee. He first began working with Sen. Moynihan as Director of Communications in the Senator's 1988 re-election campaign.
A writer prior to entering politics and government, O'Donnell published the book Deadly Force (1983), which was adapted as a CBS movie in 1986. He was a political columnist for New York magazine and has written essays and articles for several publications including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, People, Spy, and Boston Magazine. O'Donnell has also appeared on NBC News' "Nightly News," "Today," "Good Morning America," "Nightline," "Charlie Rose," and several other programs. Suffolk University awarded O'Donnell an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, in 2001.
Born in Boston, O'Donnell is a graduate of Harvard College.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
List of schools in USA
Travis El
2700 Ave K, 77471-3743 Rosenberg
Telephone: (832) 223-2500Fax: (832) 223-2501E-mail: tgarzalcisd.org
TX.ListofSchools.us is the largest online school database in the Texas and is becoming increasingly popular among students.
The visitors can find, there, information about all types of schools – from kindergarten to universities.
Operator just4web.cz s.r.o.
© 2009-2016
Site map | Partners


text:
DeLoreans getting 'Back to the Future' makeovers
HUNTINGTON BEACH, California (AP) — It may not time travel, but the DeLorean sports car is finding its way into the future.
People are spending thousands of dollars to have DeLoreans outfitted to resemble the one that starred in the 1985 movie "Back to the Future" starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd.
About 9,000 DeLorean DMC-12 cars were produced from 1981-82 before the original company went bust. About 6,500 are believed to still exist, easily recognizable with their boxy, stainless steel bodies and gullwing doors.
The current brand owner, DeLorean Motor Co. of Huntington Beach, handles everything from oil changes to full reconstructions. But as the 30th anniversary of "Back to the Future" approaches in 2015, there's been an increase in requests to recreate the movie's iconic car, according to the Orange County Register.
"I've grown up around DeLoreans my entire life. I was dropped off to kindergarten in the actual 'Back to the Future' car. A DeLorean was my first car at age 16," said Cameron Wynne, DeLorean Motor Co. general manager. "'Back to the Future' has been a huge part of the business. The car is so well known from a 90-year-old person to a 4-year-old because of that movie. That shows how timeless the car and the brand is."
Some replicas have been ordered for movie cameos, corporate appearances and even as the ride for a newlywed couple.
DeLorean Motor Co. mechanic Danny Botkin has built six movie replica cars so far, relying on photos he took when he helped restored the original "Back to the Future" car.
"'Back to the Future' is getting bigger and bigger, especially among kids who watched the movie in 1985 and now have enough money to own a piece of it," Botkin said.
Each replica costs about $45,000. Passengers can punch in a "destination time" on the control panel and pull a lever to activate the pulsing lights of the time circuit. The parts are recreated using military surplus and other equipment, such as a jet engine oil cooler.
"We've never advertised that we build these," Botkin said. "It's just been a side thing we do. If people ask us to do it, we'll do it."
The current DeLorean Motor Co. was started by Wynne's father, Stephen Wynne.
He bought the original company's remaining parts. The parts, including 1,000 gullwing doors, fill 40,000 square feet (3,700 square meters) of warehouse space in Houston, Cameron Wynne said.
Seven years ago, DeLorean began re-manufacturing the sports car using donor cars that are stripped and fitted with remaining or remanufactured parts.
"We constantly have customers calling us that have had their cars in storage for 10, 20, 30 years, and they want to get rid of it," Cameron Wynne said.
But the DeLorean isn't resting on its laurels. The company, which has a handful of locations nationwide and one in the Netherlands, is working on an all-electric version. The company wants it to travel 100 miles (160 kilometers) on a charge and accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 96 kph) in under 5 seconds.
However, it won't need the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity required by Doc Brown's version.
Information from: The Orange County Register, http://www.ocregister.com


text:
This is historical material "frozen in time". The website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work.
The White House
March 28, 2009
President Obama Announces Launch of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate
Office of the Press Secretary_____________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release March 28, 2009
President Obama Announces Launch of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate
The President is pleased to announce today the launch of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate.
The Major Economies Forum will facilitate a candid dialogue among key developed and developing countries, help generate the political leadership necessary to achieve a successful outcome at the UN climate change negotiations that will convene this December in Copenhagen, and advance the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
President Obama has invited the leaders of 16 major economies and the Secretary General of the United Nations to designate representatives to participate in a preparatory session at the Department of State on April 27-28 in Washington, D.C. The preparatory sessions will culminate in a Major Economies Forum Leaders' meeting, which Prime Minister Berlusconi has agreed to host in La Maddalena, Italy, in July 2009.
The 17 major economies are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Denmark, in its capacity as the President of the December 2009 Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the United Nations have also been invited to participate in this dialogue.


text:
There were five houses of religion in a small town:
The Presbyterian Church,
The Baptist Church,
The Methodist Church ,
The Catholic Church and
The Jewish Synagogue.
Each church and Synagogue was overrun with pesky squirrels.
One day, the Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about the squirrels. After much prayer and consideration they determined that the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will.
In the Baptist Church the squirrels had taken up habitation in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a cover on the baptistery and drown the squirrels in it. The squirrels escaped somehow and there were twice as many there the next week
The Methodist Church got together and decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creation. So, they humanely trapped the Squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.
But — The Catholic Church came up with the best and most effective solution. They baptised the squirrels and registered them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday and Easter.
Not much was heard about the Jewish Synagogue, but they took one squirrel and had a short service with him called circumcision and they haven't seen a squirrel on the property since.
With thanks to Brighid for the story today.


text:
I can't apologize for your guy. I can't fix whatever it was that he did. I can't even promise I wouldn't side with him if we were buddies. But as a far-from-perfect man, I might be able to answer the "Why?" that echoes in your mind when he pisses you off. Here's what's really at work when he makes…
1. The honest mistake. This is the best-case scenario of screwing up, because nobody (like you) gets too mad and nobody (like me) gets the stink eye for three days. It usually involves something that is more or less out of your guy's control and/or was well-intentioned. For instance, in an attempt to avoid yet another plumber's bill, he tried to fix the leaky toilet and ended up flooding the bathroom and creating a watery hellscape next to your home's only shower. He meant to help! His heart was in the right place, even if his monkey wrench wasn't. Sure, in trying to save you $75, he caused $500 worth of damage, but… intentions, effort, initiative. They count. The minute I hear my wife, Karel, utter the words, "I understand, it was an honest mistake," I know I'm in the clear. So the faster you get to those magic words, the faster the mopping up starts. And we can handle that part, probably better than we can fix a toilet.
2. The stupid mistake. The honest mistake is 80 percent best intentions and 20 percent stupidity; flip that and you have the stupid mistake. These are most common when a guy is so preoccupied with something that he forgets basic common sense. Case in point: In my extreme nervousness about buying our first house, I made a joke at our mortgage-approval meeting about whether it was "okay to run a meth lab out of the basement to help offset some of the costs of home ownership." Our lending agent was not amused. We almost lost our loan. Stupid mistake. Pregnancy is another time when things go cross-wire in a guy's head. The dad-to-be's brain feels like his wife's ankles—swollen and heavy with concerns. This was one of mine: What if the baby is one of those genius Doogie Howser babies and it's smarter than me by the time it's 6? How will I discipline it or have any credibility in its eyes if it's studying to be a doctor while I work on my funny marriage column? Such worries make normally intelligent men do idiotic stuff. Without checking with Karel, I got a giant bunk bed for our newborn. We had a crib, but I thought it would be a great idea to just go ahead and plan for the future, because if there is one thing you need in the swirling chaos of being a new parent, it's an extra bunk bed in your tiny house. I even set it up as a surprise. And then I took it down. The only consolation when it comes to the stupid mistake is that nothing you can say or yell at us is as bad as how we feel about ourselves.
3. The social faux pas. Honestly, we make these mistakes because our brains simply do not get it. I know you've patiently explained that I wore the "wrong pants" to my best friend's rehearsal dinner so I shouldn't pull them back out for your niece's first communion. I heard you. But can I be frank? How can you wear the wrong pants somewhere? What are the wrong pants? Okay, skiing in gym shorts: Those are the wrong pants. Double-front Carhartt work pants on the hottest day of the year: also the wrong pants. But wearing 501s with a plain black T-shirt to a rehearsal dinner seems totally reasonable to me. And no, I don't care that the waiters were dressed fancier than I was, and Steve's parents always give me that look. You can keep trying to explain to me what I did wrong, but there is a good chance that it won't sink in, becauseI don't really care. Besides, I didn't swear once during my toast to the bride and groom. Celebrate the little victories, honey.
4. The lazy mistake. This is the result of not wanting to get off the couch to deal with a problem or thinking that we can ignore it until it goes away—as when a stubborn procrastinator believes that because he doesn't agree with those parking tickets, he can let them sit there, unpaid, in a silent protest until the city caves. And then he's surprised to find a boot on the car. Or when a guy waits until April 15 at 6 a.m. to do his taxes, only to discover he's missing several important forms. The good news for you is that after we've screwed up due to sloth or denial, we tend to try to handle the mess all by ourselves. We will go to great lengths to not involve you, simply to avoid the inevitable chorus of I told you so's.
5. The catch-22 mistake. When your guy has to make a decision between what he wants to do and what you want him to do, a mistake is inevitable. For instance, what if that first communion falls on the Phillies' opening day, which your husband bought tickets for a very long time ago? If he goes to the game and you're stuck dragging the kids to your niece's communion alone, he's going to worry about your being quietly pissed at him for the next week (as you will be), which will ruin what could have been a glorious day. He'll be sweatily checking his watch, wondering just how long he can push it before rushing back home to make up for his absence. On the other hand, if he goes to the communion, no matter how hard he tries to stay positive, he'll be miserable. He doesn't feel he needs to be there, but you feel like his absence will be obvious. He feels like that's a dumb, self-serving argument. You ask him if he just called you "self-serving," and you haven't even left for the church yet. Every road leads to disappointment and a fight, and there is no right answer except not to schedule important family moments on Opening Day. That's the real mistake, and it was made by Father Mike, who manages the church's communion schedule. So now you can stop fighting and focus your frustration on organized religion. See, didn't I make it better?


text:
ICD-10-CM Code M14.80
Arthropathies in other specified diseases classified elsewhere, unspecified site
Billable CodeBillable codes are sufficient justification for admission to an acute care hospital when used a principal diagnosis.
| ICD-10 from 2011 - 2016
Manifestation CodeCertain ICD-10-CM codes identify an underlying condition known as an etiology code. Conditions that arise as a result of an underlying condition (etiology), are referred to as Manifestations. In ICD-10-CM, etiology codes must be coded first, followed by the manifestation codes. When a condition requires etiology and manifestation codes, there is a "use additional code" note following the etiology code and a "code first" note following the manifestation code.
M14.80 is a billable ICD code used to specify a diagnosis of arthropathies in other specified diseases classified elsewhere, unspecified site. A 'billable code' is detailed enough to be used to specify a medical diagnosis.
The ICD code M14 is used to code Arthropathy
An arthropathy is a disease of a joint.
|MeSH Code:
|ICD 9 Code:
MS-DRG Mapping
- DRG Group #553-554 - Bone diseases and arthropathies with MCC.
- DRG Group #553-554 - Bone diseases and arthropathies without MCC.
Related Concepts SNOMET-CT
- Arthritis due to alkaptonuria (disorder)
Equivalent ICD-9 Code GENERAL EQUIVALENCE MAPPINGS (GEM)
Arthropathy associated with other conditions classifiable elsewhere (approximate match)
This is the official approximate match mapping between ICD9 and ICD10, as provided by the General Equivalency mapping crosswalk. This means that while there is no exact mapping between this ICD10 code M14.80 and a single ICD9 code, 713.8 is an approximate match for comparison and conversion purposes.
Parent Code: M14.8 - Arthropathies in other specified diseases classified elsewhere


text:
Buttermilk, Beetroot and Apple Muffins
I saw some gorgeous muffins over at the Great Big Vegetable Challenge and was immediately intrigued. Charlotte, who has completed an A-Z of vegetables with her son Freddie has now moved on to healthy packed lunches for her children. Freddie is still marking dishes out of 10 and these muffins gained a massive 9 out of 10! That is recommendation enough for me.
I have converted Charlotte's recipe into cups, but it is essentially still Charlotte's recipe. I made no changes except for the buttermilk. I didn't have any, so I made some with milk and a tbsp of lemon juice, filled up to the quantity and then left for a few minutes to develop, as it were.
Buttermilk, Beetroot and Apple Muffins
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup buttermilk (or milk and 1 tbsp lemon juice)
1/2 stick/4tbsp/50g butter, melted
1 eating apple, peeled, cored and finely diced
2 small beetroot, cooked and finely diced
1/2 cup Demerara sugar
1 tablespoon of maple syrup (or runny honey)
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 and a half tsp of baking powder
For the topping
1 tablespoon of porridge oats
1 tablespoon of Demerara sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 180C. If you are using a deep muffin tray, cut out six squares of baking parchment 15 cms by 15 cms. Line each muffin tin with a square of paper. You can use paper cases if you prefer. Melt the butter, allow to cool slightly and in a bowl stir in the sugar, beaten egg and buttermilk. Mix well. Add the finely diced cooked beetroot and diced apple and spoon of maple syrup. Sieve the flour and baking powder and roughly stir in so the flour is distributed but don't over mix. Spoon the mixture evenly into each lined muffin tin. Mix together the ingredients for the topping and sprinkle evenly over the top of each muffin.
Cook in the oven for 30 minutes.
Makes six large muffins or 12 smaller ones
We really enjoyed these muffins, but we both preferred the beetroot in these muffins, when they were still warm. I have since tried these without the beetroot and they are still great. I used the same recipe, but added more blueberries and some cinnamon to the muffins.
I encourage you to visit Charlotte's blog, which is packed with great recipes and some very amusing stories! Even better, buy a copy of her book - Great Big Veg Challenge: How to Get Your Children Eating Vegetables Happily. It is a beautifully produced book, that is a joy to flick through.
I am entering these muffins into Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. Ruth holds an event every Monday called Bookmarked Recipes .....where you can blog about a recipe you have bookmarked from a cook book, food magazine, food blog, food website or from TV and then make it and submit it to her weekly roundup.
Oh, I nearly forgot! I sprinkled these muffins with Angie's sugar topping. The most gorgeously aromatic sugar mix (another kind gift). I will post the recipe, once I have checked all the ingredients. Angie did tell me, but I was too busy sticking my nose in the tub and breathing deeply, to pay attention.
23 comments
Those muffins look so moist and good! I would not have thought to use beets in muffins.ReplyDelete
Gosh, these are really pretty. Really not a beetroot fan but I do like it in chocolate cake. Suspect it'd taste too beetrooty in a white sponge for me. Still, may make these just to look at! ;)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSaturday, 31 January, 2009
Mmm yum! I've made a chocolate beetroot cake and it was yummy and moist. these look delicious and the beetroot looks like berries! :) very clever ;)ReplyDelete
As much as I love beetroot, I'm not sure about them in this context. I like your idea of adding e.g. blueberries and cinnamon instead.ReplyDelete
I have seen loads of sweet baked goods with beetroot in recently - I really must try them. They look delishReplyDelete
Holler, that's a fab shot of the inside of the muffin...a rainbow of goodness!ReplyDelete
Holler, those look great and sound so different. I'll have to give them a try. You're right The Great Big Veg Challenge is a brilliant blog and one of the first I followed regularly.ReplyDelete
Wow - what beautiful-looking muffins. Like Wendy, I'm not really a beetroot fan but think I could perhaps handle it in muffin form!!ReplyDelete
Love that photo! And beetroot goes so very, gorgeously well with chocolate in cakes so I'm definitely willing to try this myself. In fact I have beetroots in my fridge right now...ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSaturday, 31 January, 2009
Wow. The muffins looks so tasty.ReplyDelete
These look wonderful. I've bookmarked this recipe.ReplyDelete
I would never have dreamt it up either Kevin.ReplyDelete
It does taste more beetrooty in these muffins Wendy, but quite sweet too.
Chocolate beetroot cake is my very favourite chocolate cake Lorraine. I just can't see beyond it!
Hi Spaghetti If you are not sure, then the blueberry and cinnamon version is a good one to try instead.
I love beetroot Beth, so I am always tempted :)
Thanks Peter, I was quite chuffed with it :)
I agree with you Silvie, it is a great blog to follow!
Why not try it in a chocolate muffin first Antonia, just to ease yourself into the idea.
Thanks Pia :)
Thank you Two Vegan Boys :)
Glad you like it Jules :)
- AnonymousSunday, 01 February, 2009
I saw that recipe too, and thought, "I have to try those!" Okay, you've both convinced me. :)ReplyDelete
I'm yet to try beetroot in a cake - I so want to but my mind keeps screaming at me "it's beetroot, woman!"ReplyDelete
Let me know what you think Ricki!ReplyDelete
Try this Chocolate and Beetroot Brownie Cake first CC and then there will be no going back! You will fall in love with it after the first slice!
Ooh, buttermilk is such an enticing word for a muffin name! I'm bookmarking this one!ReplyDelete
Just brilliant! I am so making these!ReplyDelete
Well fake buttermilk im my case Lysy :)ReplyDelete
I am glad you like them Lisa :)
These look delicious. It's always good to find new things for beetroot, and different varieties of muffins. Thanks for contributing to Bookmarked recipes!ReplyDelete
Like Kevin, I would never have thought of adding beets to muffins either. But the muffins sure do look beautiful!ReplyDelete
I wonder what would happen if the beets were grated and added to the muffin mixture without being par-cooked first. Red muffins??
- AnonymousSaturday, 14 March, 2009
brownies with beetroot and muffins with beetroot...who would have thunk it? But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense...beetroot is dense and sugary and mashes well. i'm not much of a cook, but i am a baker, and you've got me inspired...ReplyDelete
- Emily SmithSunday, 26 February, 2012
These came out fantastically! Pink muffins and the family looked at me like I was nuts but they really loved them. Followed the recipe exactly however added some cinnamon in the main muffin mix as well!!ReplyDelete
Thank you!!Replies
Cinnamon was a good idea Emily. I am glad they worked out well and you enjoyed them. I really appreciate you stopping by to let me know you enjoyed them. Jac :)Delete
I love reading comments, so thank you for taking the time to leave one. Unfortunately, I'm bombarded with spam, so I've turned on comment moderation. I'll publish your comments as soon as I can and respond to them. Don't panic, they will disappear when you hit publish. Jac x


text:
Save Our Snow
Can Aspen and other Western towns put a dent in a global problem?
ASPEN, Colorado — On an evening in early January, the back streets of Aspen are slathered with ice; not slush, not snow, but a beefy layer of solid ice. It's slick stuff, but Aspenites are thankful for what it represents. Without a reliably cold winter, this storied ski resort would have no champagne powder, no steep-and-deep expert runs, and no reason for tourists to fill its plentiful hotel rooms, restaurants and theatres from Thanksgiving through March. Aspen, in short, is a genteel company town, and that company owes its life to the climate.
So it's no real surprise that on this frigid night, local citizens are packing into a well-appointed auditorium on the edge of town, doffing their down jackets and settling in for the evening. They've come to hear what global climate change means for them, and for their collective economic future.
This is no lightweight lecture. Gerald Meehl, a lanky scientist from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., has spent most of his career testing and refining computer models of future climate. Though global climate models are fiercely complex, they've long yielded only very coarse forecasts, treating the Rocky Mountains, for instance, as a vague hump in the middle of the continent. In recent years, climate scientists have produced much clearer snapshots of the future, and Meehl describes some of these views for the citizens of Aspen.
Aspen's wintertime average temperatures, he says, are projected — according to conservative estimates — to rise a little less than 1 degree Fahrenheit in the next 20 years. That might not sound like much, but it is equivalent to the warming that Aspen experienced over the last half-century, when the typical number of frost-free days in town increased by about a month.
In the dark auditorium, the intake of breath is audible.
By mid-century, Meehl adds, the predicted rise in local average temperatures hovers between 2.7 and 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
At a community meeting the next morning, a team of researchers supplies more details. Mark Williams, a snow scientist from the University of Colorado, translates the previous evening's grim predictions into the local argot: skiing conditions. Aspen, whose main street sits about 7,900 feet above sea level, has an advantage over lower-lying ski towns, he says, because typical wintertime temperatures on its mountains are far below freezing. "We have a technical term for this," he says. "It's butt-cold." If average temperatures do rise as projected over the next century, he says, there will be far fewer frosty days in town, but his preliminary results show that all except the lowest slopes of the Aspen ski areas will remain skiable.
This forecast, other researchers at the meeting report, makes some ski-area managers heave a sigh of relief. They might have to make more snow, shave a few days off the ski season, or even pack skiers into the gondola to carry them over the bare slopes near the bottom of the mountain. But with money and luck, Aspen ski areas will be open for Christmas in 2100.
Yet many listeners aren't reassured by this apparent good news: Isn't there an increased likelihood of extreme drought years? Where will the water come from for extra snowmaking? What if floods, storms or disease disrupt the global economy, and tourism in Aspen slows to a trickle? What if, as lower-elevation ski areas near the coast lose their snow, fewer people learn to ski, and the sport itself becomes obsolete?
It's a messy discussion. There are countless subtleties and caveats, and few straightforward answers. But this conversation, by its very existence, is modestly astounding. There's no discussion here of whether global warming is "real," and caused in large part by human activities; the scientists, and their small knot of listeners, obviously accept both conclusions. The morning's most pressing question — and it's a big one — is how this small town can possibly change its forecast.
On Thanksgiving weekend of 2004, during a long drive to Salt Lake City, Aspen city attorney John Worcester tuned in to the Rush Limbaugh show. Limbaugh, as it happened, was discoursing on the lack of evidence for global warming. "Like a lot of people who tend to disagree with him, I took it on faith that he was full of crap," says Worcester. "But then I realized that I really didn't know much about global warming myself."
Worcester, who trained as a chemical engineer before becoming a lawyer, decided to give himself another education. "I wanted to be able to take an honest position on the issue," he says. When he returned home, he downloaded a copy of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report — widely considered the most authoritative scientific source on climate change — and read the scientists' summaries of their findings.
He learned that over the 20th century, the globe's average surface temperature increased by more than 1 degree Fahrenheit, a rate of warming greater than in any other century for the last 1,000 years. The 1990s were the warmest decade of the entire millennium in the Northern Hemisphere, and the early 2000s have continued to break various temperature records. "There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities," the IPCC reported. The panel also predicted that global average temperatures will rise anywhere from 2.5 to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit between 1990 and 2100 — a rate of warming very likely without precedent in the last 10,000 years.
Such numbers convinced Worcester, as they have many others, that global warming deserves serious attention. Yet Worcester didn't call his senator, or visit his representative's local office, or put on a suit and tie and storm Capitol Hill. Instead, he stayed home.
Worcester surmised that his town probably had more to worry about than many other places in the country. Temperatures in snow-covered areas are expected to rise more quickly than those in lower-lying places, and Aspen's climate and snow-dependent economy make the community particularly vulnerable to change. Though federal attempts to deal with global warming were bogged down in partisan politics, Worcester became convinced that progress could, and should, be made on the local level. "The more reading I did," he says, "the more it dawned on me that the city of Aspen really ought to be addressing the problem."
Worcester enlisted the assistance of John Katzenberger, who, as the director of the nonprofit Aspen Global Change Institute, convenes international meetings of climate experts in Aspen each summer. Worcester and Katzenberger devised a city program called the Canary Initiative, named for the proverbial canary in the coal mine. It included a $120,000 scientific assessment of the particular impacts of global warming on the city, a $20,000 inventory of the greenhouse gas emissions produced by Aspen as a whole, and a full-time staffer to help the town and its citizens reduce their contribution to global warming. When Worcester took the idea to the city council, it wasn't a hard sell. "The council understood immediately that this is a global problem," he says, "but that we have the inclination, and the resources, to do something about it."
With the Canary Initiative, Aspen joined a growing roster of communities grappling with global warming on the local level. Before it began its search for solutions, though, Aspen had to understand its own role in changing the climate — and that required an unsettling look in the mirror.
"Because of the kind of community we are — for the most part, we have very clean air, clean water, and everything looks wonderful — we could have gone on forever saying, 'We're fine,' " says Mayor Helen Klanderud. "Well, maybe we're not as environmentally fit as we should be."
Thirteen years ago, Portland, Ore., became the first city in the country to adopt a strategy to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. Last summer, the city and its surrounding county attracted national attention by shrinking their overall annual emissions almost to 1990 levels. City- and countywide emissions have now declined for four consecutive years. By 2010, they expect their emissions to be 10 percent lower than they were in 1990, exceeding the demands of the international Kyoto Protocol agreement, which the United States has refused to join.
The reductions, Portland officials say, have been surprisingly painless. Some, like those that resulted from energy-efficiency measures, immediately saved money for local governments and residents. Others, like those that accompanied light-rail construction or land-use planning programs, were side benefits of already popular efforts. "We believe all actions to date have been low to no cost," says Michael Armstrong, conservation program manager for the city's Office of Sustainable Development.
During the national debate over the Kyoto Protocol in the late 1990s, the Energy Information Administration estimated that compliance with initial protocol targets would cost the nation as much as $437 billion. Portland's results suggested a very different, and much more pleasant, future.
Following in Portland's footsteps, towns and cities throughout the West — and around the country — have adopted similar emissions-reduction programs. Most of these communities are part of a program called Cities for Climate Protection, an effort of an international association of local governments with the unflattering name of ICLEI (which stands for the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, and is pronounced "ick-lee").
Usually, one enthusiastic city leader or employee, such as Aspen city attorney John Worcester, convinces his or her town to tackle the issue. Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) members follow a well-established template: First, they assess the sources of their emissions. Then they set their own reduction goals, make a plan, and, with the assistance of software and guidance from ICLEI, begin the complex business of shrinking their emissions.
As in Portland, local emissions reductions usually come in modest, pragmatic packages. Efficient LED bulbs replace conventional traffic signals; a few gasoline-electric hybrids join the city fleet; the city council votes to purchase wind power for municipal operations; a handful of families receive public funding to get new insulation or doorjambs. Some cities purchase carbon "credits" by donating to organizations such as the nonprofit Climate Trust, which in turn uses the donations to fund emissions-reduction efforts or to plant and preserve trees, which absorb carbon dioxide. These actions are far from dramatic, but their impacts, when multiplied over several years and hundreds of cities, do add up. Plus, their appeal is so broad as to make them almost apolitical: No one has ever lost an election because she fought for better household insulation, or knocked $100,000 off the city's annual electric bill with a new set of traffic signals.
On the national stage, global warming remains one of the bitterest, most polarizing political issues of our time. But on the local level, the debate loses its hysterical edge, and the whole issue starts to seem refreshingly — well, refreshingly boring. And there, in those long, dull columns of carbon dioxide equivalents and kilowatts and dollars saved, lies this nascent movement's political strength.
Since the Cities for Climate Protection Program began in 1993, it has grown to 166 member cities in the United States, and more than 700 cities worldwide. In the United States alone, its members' annual reductions in emissions are now equivalent to about 23 million tons of carbon dioxide, a load roughly equal to the entire annual greenhouse gas production of the Philippines. ICLEI estimates that these efforts also net more than $535 million in yearly savings. "There's not one city we've worked with that has not seen some level of cost savings," says Michelle Wyman, the executive director of ICLEI's U.S. office. "It's guaranteed."
The list of member cities in the West includes many progressive strongholds — Portland, Seattle, Berkeley, Boulder and Aspen, among others — where the majority of citizens are already aware of, and worried about, the effects of global warming. But the program also appeals to more conservative sensibilities.
Ray Martinez, the former mayor of the Colorado university town of Fort Collins, is a former sergeant in the city police force and a longtime Republican. When a citizen advisory group first proposed that Fort Collins join the Cities for Climate Protection in the late 1990s, he was skeptical. "I knew that much of the science was still being debated," he says. "But I realized that it doesn't really matter what climate change might mean 100 years from now — what matters are things like whether your kid has respiratory problems from the particles in the air. What matters is creating clean air today."
The bulk of Fort Collins's greenhouse gas emissions — about 47 percent — come from electricity generation, with transportation a close second. Emissions are still on the rise, partly because of the city's population growth, but through its participation in CCP, Fort Collins kept an estimated 241,000 tons of carbon dioxide — equal to 9 percent of its total output — out of the atmosphere in 2004, according to its most recent report. Purchases of renewable energy, promotion of recycling programs, and the installation of an additional methane gas collector at its wastewater treatment plant all contributed to the savings. With the help of grant funding, Fort Collins also runs a program to encourage energy efficiency in businesses and institutions, ranging from the local Ben and Jerry's franchise to Colorado State University. The local public school district recently invested in natural lighting, solar panels, and other energy-saving features for a new high school building, making it one of the most efficient high schools in the country.
"Some mayors, in some cities, still see (emissions reduction) as a political disaster, as something that takes an environmental, liberal view," says Martinez, who stepped down because of term limits last spring. "But I say, just look at the money it saves. Isn't that part of the Republican platform, to save taxpayer dollars?"
The Cities for Climate Protection program isn't without its problems and risks. It's entirely voluntary, and commitment to it varies. Tracking emissions and reductions, even with the help of groups like ICLEI, requires time, money and attention, and the universe of options for action can, at times, seem overwhelmingly large. And while cost savings and emissions reductions come easily at first, they can soon begin to require more up-front investment and political chutzpah. "You can't do it all by just changing lightbulbs," says ICLEI outreach officer Susan Ode. "You have to do things that seem more dramatic. Going to the next level does require some kind of courage."
It can also require patience. Some measures, such as the purchase of renewable energy, may need the approval of only a handful of city leaders. Others, such as changing commuter habits or shrinking household energy use, require sustained public education campaigns, and a much more significant commitment by the citizenry.
But supporters say such campaigns also help turn a global issue into a local one. "They begin informing people," says Randy Udall, a regional energy expert and the director of the nonprofit Community Office for Resource Efficiency in Aspen. "People will say, 'Jesus, you mean that when I drive my car, I'm putting a pound of this stuff out every mile, and some of it will be there a century from now? Wow.' "
For some Western leaders, evangelism within their own city limits isn't enough. In 2002, just before the Olympic Winter Games opened in Salt Lake City, Mayor Rocky Anderson promised that the city government's greenhouse gas emissions would drop to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 — the goals that would have been set for the United States had it signed the Kyoto Protocol. City operations are already more than three-quarters of the way to their goal, thanks to the use of methane emissions from its city landfill and wastewater treatment plant for electricity generation, the purchase of wind power, and other measures. The city is now signing up local businesses for an energy-efficiency program, and will soon expand its efforts to individual residents, aiming to extend the government's accomplishments to Salt Lake as a whole.
In February of last year, on the day the Kyoto Protocol became law for the 141 countries that signed it, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, D, upped the ante. The Pacific Northwest was in the midst of one of the driest winter months on record, and Seattle's water and hydropower supplies were threatened. Climate change, Nickels remembers, "suddenly went from being an issue that was somewhere else, a long time from now, to one that's here and now."
Not only would his entire city meet Kyoto targets, he said, but it would also challenge other cities and towns throughout the country to do the same. He announced the "U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement," and said he wanted 141 mayors to sign up before the meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors the following June (HCN, 6/27/05: This mayor sees a different shade of green).
He got what he wanted, and more: As of Feb. 17 of this year, 205 mayors had signed the agreement, each pledging to "strive to meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets" in their city operations and communities. The liberal West Coast and the Northeast boasted the heaviest participation, but the list also includes the mayors of Norman, Okla.; Bellevue, Neb.; Billings, Mont.; Laredo, Tex., and many other more conservative burgs.
Seattle is making good on its promises at home. Its city-owned utility, Seattle City Light, announced late last year that it had reduced its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero, thanks in part to its purchase of wind power and divestment from coal. The utility's reductions, combined with various energy-efficiency measures, have helped overall city operations cut their greenhouse gas production to more than 60 percent below 1990 levels. To help chart a path toward Kyoto targets for the city as a whole, Nickels appointed an 18-member commission of local business, nonprofit, and government leaders; their recommendations are due to the mayor this month.
For the most part, these local efforts operate independently from the increasing number of statewide emissions-control plans and policies. But both Seattle and Salt Lake City have made some inroads into state politics. Nickels actively supported Washington's Clean Car Act, passed last spring, which adopts California's standards for greenhouse-gas emissions from new vehicles. This past December, news of Salt Lake City's accomplishments and cost savings encouraged Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, D, to call for the creation of a climate-change advisory group in his state.
The influence of local efforts may reach even further: Cities such as Seattle, Salt Lake, and Portland, with their demonstrable results, could help break the national political impasse on climate change, leading to a more coherent approach to reducing emissions. "Ultimately, what we want to do is shape national policy," says Nickels. "We want to see the federal government step up and rejoin the community of nations."
Nickels says he hasn't spoken with President Bush or anyone in the White House about his campaign, but he recently received an award from the federal Environmental Protection Agency for climate protection, an honor he says is a bit ironic. "I'm kind of tempted to go to the ceremony and say 'You know, if you guys were doing your job, if the federal government were doing its job, there would be no place for leadership from me,' " he says. "But I may not do that."
This past December, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal, ICLEI organized a parallel event for mayors, city staffers and activists. More than 300 people attended, including both Nickels and Pam O'Connor, the mayor of Santa Monica, Calif., an early supporter of Nickels' effort. The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail gushed over Nickels, calling him a "national folk hero" with "the quintessentially American way of coming up with the right idea at the right time."
The municipal leaders issued a declaration committing their cities to an ambitious set of long-term emissions-reduction targets: 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 percent by 2050. On Dec. 8, just before the end of the U.N. conference, the city of Montreal hosted an address by former U.S. President Clinton, who applauded the mayors and their nuts-and-bolts approach. "My plea is that … we do what we would do if we were all mayors," Clinton said. "If you can't agree on an (international) target, agree on a set of projects so everybody has something to do when they get up in the morning."
The U.S. delegation to the Montreal conference, meanwhile, stuck to its opposition to mandatory targets for greenhouse gas reductions. The chief U.S. negotiator at the conference even walked out of an informal discussion on emissions reductions. The best the delegation could muster was to agree to nonbinding talks about international action on climate change beyond the year 2012, when Kyoto expires.
KC Golden, a former special assistant to the mayor of Seattle who attended the conference, says the mayors' efforts helped buoy the spirits of the international community. "People throughout the world have been very down at the mouth about continuing the (Kyoto) process while the United States — the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases — sits on the sidelines," says Golden, now the policy director for the nonprofit group Climate Solutions. "But in Montreal, state and local leaders were able to say, 'It's worth the effort — we'll meet you down the road once we get past this impasse at the national level.' I think they've been instrumental in creating enough confidence on the international level for the process to continue."
Last month, on Valentine's Day, the Aspen Canary Initiative presented its citywide emissions inventory to the town council. The next evening, the city's global warming project manager, Dan Richardson, delivered the results to the public.
The good news, Richardson reported to a handful of listeners — on the other side of town, bestselling novelist Ann Patchett was speaking to a sellout crowd — is that Aspen's greenhouse gas pollution isn't nearly as bad as it could be. Over the past several years, the city has made major investments in renewable energy, public transportation and recycling, and implemented stringent, energy-efficient building codes; in the process, it has already kept a substantial dose of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.
As part of the Canary Initiative, the Aspen city government has made a legally binding commitment to reduce its operations' emissions by 1 percent each year, and it now offers bonuses to employees of city departments that meet their reduction goals. Mayor Klanderud's signature on the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement made a nonbinding but citywide commitment to Kyoto targets. Over the next several months, town officials and residents will help develop a so-called Canary Action Plan, also likely to include specific — and perhaps more ambitious — reduction targets.
But the inventory contained bad news, too. It showed that, despite its progressive measures, Aspen's per-capita emissions in 2004 were almost twice the national average. The town's commercial and private air traffic, which accounts for a whopping 41 percent of the total emissions, topped the list of contributors. Second was ground transportation, producing about 25 percent of emissions; the majority came from vehicles traveling to and from Aspen on crowded Highway 82 — the main artery for Aspen's service workers, many of who live in more affordable communities down the valley.
Most cities don't include air travel in their emissions inventories, so Aspen was unusually thorough. But even when the analysis removed air travel and commuter and tourist driving, Aspen's per capita emissions remained well ahead of the average U.S. citizen's. "I've seen the enemy, and it is me," Richardson told his listeners.
To compensate for its airport emissions, Aspen could pay for the capture of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from nearby coal mines, or support other climate-friendly projects in surrounding towns. The Aspen Skiing Company may soon encourage its visitors to buy "Green Tags," which — for the price of about $20 per 1,000 miles of flying — fund various emissions-reductions projects. Yet offsets, no matter how numerous, won't change the fact that Aspen is an isolated ski town without enough affordable housing for its workers; a lot of people burn a lot of fuel flying and driving to it.
So Aspen, and many other towns, are likely to face dilemmas in coming decades. The scale of these dilemmas could be monumental — especially considering that even the goals set out by the Kyoto Protocol are not enough to stop current warming trends, according to most scientists. Restoring climate stability will require much more dramatic reductions, probably similar to those the mayors called for in Montreal: 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 percent by 2050. Getting there will surely require a lot of conservation and innovation, and not a little risk.
"It's not just resort economies that will have to change," says Auden Schendler, director of environmental affairs for the Aspen Skiing Company. "We, as a society, are going to have to change how everything operates. We're going to have to address some of the stickiest issues."
The challenges are great. But so are the rewards. In the midst of one of the global-warming meetings in Aspen, University of Colorado snow scientist Mark Williams points out two curves on a graph. One is the projected snow cover at the base of Aspen's mountains in 2100, assuming the world does little to change its ways. The second, far above, represents skiing conditions in a time of stringent international greenhouse-gas limits. Fewer emissions equal more snow, and better skiing: In Aspen, at least, this is an equation everyone can understand.
Michelle Nijhuis is High Country News contributing editor.
The following sidebar articles accompany this feature story:
- States tighten rules, challenge feds to follow
- Facts about greenhouse gas emissions
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text:
An Interview with Stanley the Adult Baby
Stanley Thornton Jr., America's most prominent Adult Baby, is, in his own words, an open book. He became an internet sensation last year with his first TV appearance on National Geographic's Taboo after the episode featured the 30-year-old drinking from a bottle and getting his diaper changed. Just week's after the show aired, Stanley was investigated for Social Security fraud. (He was later cleared of all charges.) Almost a year to the day later, Stanley returned to TV on an episode of TLC's nightmare factory, My Crazy Obsession.
What is so interesting about Stanley, despite the obvious, is his openness and complete willingness to share his experiences with strangers. The My Crazy Obsession post drew the usual onslaught of asshole commenters, but an undaunted Stanley engaged with as many commenters as he could, answering questions candidly and thoroughly. So we reached out to Stanley via email for more insight into his strange world.
Interview has been edited for length and readability.
When did you first notice you had the urge to act like a baby? When did you first fulfill those urges?
Well, the first time I found I had the urge to act like a baby was about age 14. I began to wet the bed at 13 and decided to try diapers about three or four months later. At first I didn't like diapers. But after about four months or so in diapers I got used to them. I was just about 14 years old when the first urge to act like a baby came up. The next time I was at the store to buy diapers I got a pacifier and a baby bottle. That afternoon I was home alone and decided to role-play a bit. I had a baby bottle of milk and watched cartoons while sucking on the pacifier. It was great. But that was the first time I acted on the urge to be a baby.
How have your family and friends reacted to your lifestyle?
Family, they didn't take it well. I did my best to keep it all secret, but every now and then my "stash" would be found. Normally, I would come home to find my stuff had been thrown out. My mom found my stash of diapers once and told me if she found them again she would throw them on the front lawn and tell everyone they were mine. She never actually did it, though. She and my brother had the most issues with it. My dad, outside of one incident, didn't care. The one time he found my diapers he called me into the room and had me watch him throw the diapers in the trash and told me, "I am NOT raising another fucking baby!" and sent me to my room. That was the only time I clashed with him on the role-playing. My grandfather on my mom's side told me as long as I am wearing diapers I am not welcome in his home. Seeing as I wear them for incontinence and not just role-playing, I don't see me ever being welcome in his house.
Basically, the family has never really liked me. Even before the baby stuff. By the time I began role-playing as a baby the only ones in the family I had contact with was my grandma on my dad's side, my parents, my brother, and some limited contact with my two godfathers when they wanted me around. But I have mostly been the black sheep. Today, the only family member I still have contact with is my mom, and that's limited. It's a work-in-progress.
As for friends, 99 percent of my friends are Adult Babies like me, or Diaper Lovers. So they already understand and are fine with what I am into. Those friends I have who are not into the AB/DL community accept me as I am. When I am visiting my non-AB/DL friends, the topic comes up every once in awhile, but mostly we just shoot the breeze. When visiting AB/DL friends, we often have a "Play Date" and role-play together.
Are you able to maintain your life as an adult baby outside the home as well? Does it interfere with work/social interactions?
When I leave the house, I am as adult as anyone else. I only role-play in the privacy of my home. The one place in public where I role-play is when I am playing in the park. But I only visit the park when it's empty, such as in the early morning when it first opens, as I don't approve of role-playing in front of children. I think it would confuse them to see adults acting as a toddler or small child. But anyway, that's the only time I role-play in public. Many people I interact with are aware of my adult baby role-playing, but it doesn't really get in the way of things. My therapist knows, my medical doctor knows. And especially since the episode, many of those I interact with know about the role-playing. But no, it doesn't cause any social problems.
Do you role-play with other adult babies or is it more of a solitary activity? Do you ever engage in parent-baby role-play?
Role-playing with others depends on who's close by. It's of course a lot more fun when you can role-play with others. I have been lucky to been able to attend get togethers or what are called "AB Parties" where a group of AB/DL's and caretakers come together. I attended an AB birthday party for a friend once and we played pin the tail on the donkey and musical chairs and other kids games. Then I attended an Easter party and we had an Easter egg hunt. In the past, I have been able to be babied by Mommies. That's my favorite.
Back in 2002, I moved to New York to live with an AB Mommy full time. Mommy Pam. She would tuck me into bed each night. She would feed me bottles. We would play blocks, color, and do other fun stuff. Being babied by a Mommy is my favorite role-playing. Thanks to the TLC show, I connected with an AB female who saw me and felt a connection to be my Mommy. We talked and we really hit it off. She currently lives in New York, but she is saving up to move out to California to live with me full-time. We want role-play with us both as babies and also with her as my Mommy. Right now we talk twice a day on the phone and role-play online. It's too early to tell 100 percent, but there might be a possible boyfriend/girlfriend relationship there. We will see. We have tons in common. To date, we only clash on two topics, politics and religion. But those are hot topics anyway.
Those are hot topics. So when you do have sex, are you then having sex with "your" mother? Is the "role-play" a mother and baby having sex?
When we have sex, it would be as two adults as boyfriend and girlfriend. The AB parts of us are separate from such a adult activity as sex. It's done that way to keep our kid side as pure and innocent as possible. Plus I think it would be ewww if it was Mommy/Baby sex. Yuck.
Have you thought about having children together?
The subject has not come up yet. Very early to think about that.
You mentioned before that adult baby role-play, at least for you, is not sexual. What impact has it had on your sex life? If and when you have have sex, do they understand? Do they engage in role-playing?
No, my role-play is not sexual at all. That's correct. It hasn't had a impact on my sex life. The issue is I have never had the desire to have sex. It's not due to not having the chance, it's just that I have no desire to. Never been interested my whole life. I understand sex for procreation, but not much beyond that. And the female I met back east who may be a girlfriend in the coming months, feels the same way I do. She has no desire to make love. Instead of the relationship being based on sex, it's based on our relationship in other areas. We enjoy talking about all kinds of different topics. Sex just isn't one of them. When sex does take place, she would have to either be a adult baby or Mommy herself, or at least be accepting of it. Right now, the woman I am seeing is a baby and a Mommy herself. So the role-playing won't be any issue for us. But for most AB/DL's who are in a relationship, the role-playing doesn't impact their sex life. My friend was married and had three kids. So clearly sex and being AB/DL doesn't create any problems.
Do you have any interest or connection to diaper fetishism?
I believe your speaking of DLs or Diaper Lovers. I guess in a way, ABs are also Diaper Lovers as well. For me, diapers are a big part of the role-playing. You want a babyish diaper to make the role-playing feel more real. For me, I was able to track down the pattern that was on the front of Pampers back when I got into role playing back in 1994. So I print out the pattern on sticker paper and using clear packing tape I attach it to the front of the adult diapers and now they look nearly exactly like the Pampers I wore as a teen, making the baby feel more real. So I guess I am a DL in that aspect. But in the area of being turned on or excited by diapers themselves or wearing them, no, that's not something that happens to me. Not that there is anything wrong with those who do find diapers a turn on or exciting. To each their own, is how I feel. As long as it doesn't harm them or others and doesn't break any laws, to each their own.
And the website you run, www.bedwettingabdl.com? How is that going?
Yea, I am still running it. The site's going OK, I guess. Two more people asked to be moderators on the message board, so that's cool. That frees me up to put more time into replying to all the e-mails. But yea, it's going all right.


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Among several firms literally hammering away at this prospect is Rocketplane Limited, Inc., an Oklahoma corporation. The company is eager to make space travel as safe, convenient, and routine as air transportation, with work ramping up on their Rocketplane XP design.
The spaceliner's first commercial passenger flight is projected to be early 2007.
The plan calls for Rocketplane XP to depart from the Oklahoma Spaceport located in Burns Flat and whisk customers skyward to over 60 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth. At that height, a spectacular view is promised, along with "over the top" weightlessness for up to four minutes. The company also envisions transporting innovative scientific experiments and valuable payloads to sub-orbital space and beyond.
Rocketplane XP and the space tourism business were highlighted here at the Space Technology & Applications International Forum (STAIF), held February 13-17.
Cool ride
"It's going to be a cool ride...the world's largest roller coaster. And you get your astronaut wings too," said Charles Lauer, co-founder of the company and director of business development.
Lauer said the Rocketplane team has spent some $4 million over the last 10 months on the project. Total investment is $30 million to get the first XP built, through flight test, and nudging its way into revenue-generating service, he said.
Rocketplane Limited, Inc. has obtained from the State of Oklahoma a $13 million face value Investment Tax Credit to develop a re-usable sub-orbital tourist business at the Oklahoma Spaceport. Rocketplane's main office and engineering center are based at Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City, and quite appropriately located on Amelia Earhart Lane.
In addition to the XP spaceplane, the company is delving into future space vehicle activity that is expected to have a high return on investment, Lauer explained.
Real hardware
"There's real engineering going on," Lauer told the STAIF gathering. "After 10 years of working on this project, now we've got real hardware."
The fuselage of the Rocketplane XP is a modified Lear 25 series using the same General Electric CJ-610 turbojet engines found on the standard business jet configuration. Those powerful engines are used for takeoff and then shut down after rocket engine ignition.
The XP jet engines would be restarted at high altitude after reentry, as the craft makes it way on the approach corridor to the Oklahoma Spaceport. Those jet engines, by the way, are the non-afterburning version of the J-85 engines that Scaled Composites uses on the White Knight carrier craft that totes SpaceShipOne to release altitude.
Lauer said Rocketplane engineers are building a new delta wing that attaches to the Lear jet fuselage - on the same keel plate used to mount the current wing structure. In addition, a new aft fuselage structure is being fabricated to accommodate the rocket engine thrust loads, as is a new vertical tail structure.
Orbital Technologies Corporation of Madison, Wisconsin is providing the main rocket motor that incorporates patented vortex engine technology.
Gas and go for the up and going
Lauer told SPACE.com that the suborbital craft will undergo an extensive series of shakeout test flights next year. "We're going to have a lot of data before we start commercial service."
Runway rollout of the fully operational XP is slated for the middle of 2006. The welcome carpet for paying customers is to be rolled out the following year. The going rate for the up and going passenger is now targeted in the $150,000 to $160,000 range, Lauer explained.
The "gas and go" traffic model for the XP starts at about 200 people a year, Lauer said. "Our capacity is a lot more than that."
Given two XP vehicles, flights would be dedicated primarily to tourism, as well as microgravity research, Lauer added.
Marketing space: lessons learned
Last year, Rocketplane and Incredible Adventures of Sarasota, Florida announced a marketing agreement in which both companies will begin taking reservations for the XP space flights.
Taking adventure to a higher level is what space tourism is all about, said Jane Reifert, President of Incredible Adventures.
"I'm starting my own little campaign to change the phrase space tourism," Reifert told the STAIF audience. "To me a tourist is somebody going to Disney World with a camera and blocking traffic when I'm on the way to work...somebody getting in the way."
Reifert said that those hungry to fly into space are highly educated and highly motivated individuals. They are risk takers, space thrill-seekers, and adventurers, she said, and shouldn't be associated with someone just camera-clicking away.
There are a number of lessons learned that Reifert and her company have already chocked up in the adventure tourism business.
"Marketing space will not be easy. Fun haters are everywhere. Most of them are lawyers, insurance agents and government officials. Anyone marketing space to civilians must be prepared to meet obstacles," Reifert reported.
A suborbital flight is no vacation, Reifert noted. "Adventurers are fulfilling a lifelong dream. They will pay premium price to see their dream come true...but they expect a premium product in return. Be prepared to deliver everything you promise and more," she advised.


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High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are made from corn syrup. The syrup contains glucose (a simple sugar) which is then converted to another more sweeter type of sugar, fructose. Both glucose and fructose are simple sugars that are sweet, colorless, and odorless.
HFCS are commonly used as a sweetener in commercially available foods and beverages. Soda, cereals, candies, and bread are some of the food that use HFCS.
HFCS in food and drinks is said to be one of the major reasons for the rise of obesity in children.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. 95% of adult diabetes cases are Type 2. Obesity is a major factor for the cause of type 2 diabetes.
With type 2 diabetes, the body rejects or does not respond to the insulin generated by the body. Without insulin, glucose in the blood stream cannot be transferred into the cells for storage. This results in high levels of glucose in the blood stream which can cause hyperglycemia, a condition there nerves, blood vessels and other organs such as the heart are damaged.
There is no cure for type 2 diabetes but there are therapies and treatments such as (blood sugar monitoring and insulin shots) that controls and regulates the disease to manageable levels.
High Fructose Corn Syrup and Diabetes
A new study by University of Southern California (USC) and University of Oxford researchers indicates that large amounts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) found in national food supplies across the world may be one explanation for the rising global epidemic of type 2 diabetes and resulting higher health care costs.
The study reports that countries that use HFCS in their food supply had a 20 percent higher prevalence of diabetes than countries that did not use HFCS. The analysis also revealed that HFCS's association with the "significantly increased prevalence of diabetes" occurred independent of total sugar intake and obesity levels.
The article, "High Fructose Corn Syrup and Diabetes Prevalence: A Global Perspective," is published in the journal Global Public Health.
Video: High Fructose Corn Syrup
"HFCS appears to pose a serious public health problem on a global scale," said principal study author Michael I. Goran, professor of preventive medicine, director of the Childhood Obesity Research Center and co-director of the Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. "The study adds to a growing body of scientific literature that indicates HFCS consumption may result in negative health consequences distinct from and more deleterious than natural sugar."
The paper reports that out of 42 countries studied, the United States has the highest per capita consumption of HFCS at a rate of 25 kilograms, or 55 pounds, per year. The second highest is Hungary, with an annual rate of 16 kilograms, or 46 pounds, per capita. Canada, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Argentina, Korea, Japan and Mexico are also relatively high HFCS consumers. Germany, Poland, Greece, Portugal, Egypt, Finland and Serbia are among the lowest HFCS consumers. Countries with per capita consumption of less than 0.5 kilogram per year include Australia, China, Denmark, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.
Countries with higher use of HFCS had an average prevalence of type 2 diabetes of 8 percent compared to 6.7 percent in countries not using HFCS.
"This research suggests that HFCS can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, which is one of the most common causes of death in the world today," said study co-author Professor Stanley Ulijaszek, director of the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oxford.
The article proposes that this link is probably driven by higher amounts of fructose in foods and beverages made with HFCS. Fructose and glucose are both found in ordinary sugar (sucrose) in equal amounts, but HFCS has a greater proportion of fructose. The higher fructose content makes HFCS sweeter and provides processed foods with greater stability and better appearance because of the more consistent browning color when foods made with higher fructose are baked.
In a previous related study, the authors found that the fructose content in some U.S.-produced soft drinks, especially the most popular, was about 20 percent higher than expected, suggesting that some manufacturers might be using HFCS with more fructose than previously estimated. Such differences could "potentially be driving up fructose consumption in countries that use HFCS," the researchers said. The study notes the difficulty in determining the actual amount of fructose in foods and beverages made with HFCS because of "a lack of industry disclosure on food labels."
Growing evidence reveals that the body metabolizes fructose differently from glucose. Among other things, fructose metabolism occurs independently of insulin, primarily in the liver where it may be readily converted to fat, which likely contributes to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a condition on the rise in Hispanics in the U.S. and Mexico.
"Most populations have an almost insatiable appetite for sweet foods, but regrettably our metabolism has not evolved sufficiently to be able to process the fructose from high fructose corn syrup in the quantities that some people are consuming it," said Ulijaszek. "Although this syrup can be found in many of our processed foods and drinks, this varies enormously from country to country."
The U.S. is the single largest consumer of high fructose corn syrup. By the late 1990s HFCS made up 40 percent of all caloric sweeteners and was the predominant sweetener in soft drinks sold in the U.S. However, since 2008, exports of HFCS from the U.S. to Mexico increased "exponentially" after trade restrictions were removed, the researchers said. They call for updated public health strategies requiring better labeling of fructose and HFCS content in processed foods.
To explain the varying degrees of HFCS consumption in the European Union, the researchers note that trade and agricultural policies set quotas for HFCS production, and while some countries, such as Sweden and the U.K., do not take their assigned quotas, other countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, are able to purchase extra quotas from countries that do not accept them. The findings of the paper thus have important implications for global trade policies that may affect public health.
"If HFCS is a risk factor for diabetes—one of the world's most serious chronic diseases—then we need to rewrite national dietary guidelines and review agriculture trade polices," said Tim Lobstein, director of policy for the International Association for the Study of Obesity. "HFCS will join trans fats and salt as ingredients to avoid, and foods should carry warning labels."
University of Southern California - Health Sciences
Global Public Health
Childhood Obesity Research Center
Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oxford
Obesity Crisis Made Worse By Food Industry Policies and Practices
Research Into Better Treatments For Obesity Induced Diabetes
Exposure To Phthalates Such as Those Found In Plastic Bottles and Cosmetics Doubles Risk of Acquiring Type 2 Diabetes
Excess Amount of Visceral Fat Increases Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Countryside Folk More Likely To Be More Obese Than City Dwellers
Eating Schedule and Biological Clock Important Factor In Obesity
The Supermarket May Influence One's Own Weight And Obesity
Poor Eating Habits At Work May Lead to Obesity, Diabetes and Other Disease


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Kyle Metcalf
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