text:
Progressive Communal Health and Economic Policy, Invasive Police State, or Just A Starkly Different Culture?
The line may be blurry on this one.
Japan, Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Millions - an effort to prevent diabetes and obesity from the Japanese government by strictly imposing waistline limits on the population, with penalties for corporations and local governments that do not meet guideposts…
New York Times
June 13, 2008
Japan, Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Millions
AMAGASAKI, Japan — Japan, a country not known for its overweight people, has undertaken one of the most ambitious campaigns ever by a nation to slim down its citizenry.
Summoned by the city of Amagasaki one recent morning, Minoru Nogiri, 45, a flower shop owner, found himself lining up to have his waistline measured. With no visible paunch, he seemed to run little risk of being classified as overweight, or metabo, the preferred word in Japan these days.
But because the new state-prescribed limit for male waistlines is a strict 33.5 inches, he had anxiously measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. "I'm on the border," he said.
Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.
Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education after six more months.
To reach its goals of shrinking the overweight population by 10 percent over the next four years and 25 percent over the next seven years, the government will impose financial penalties on companies and local governments that fail to meet specific targets. The country's Ministry of Health argues that the campaign will keep the spread of diseases like diabetes and strokes in check.
The ministry also says that curbing widening waistlines will rein in a rapidly aging society's ballooning health care costs, one of the most serious and politically delicate problems facing Japan today. Most Japanese are covered under public health care or through their work. Anger over a plan that would make those 75 and older pay more for health care brought a parliamentary censure motion Wednesday against Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the first against a prime minister in the country's postwar history.
But critics say that the government guidelines — especially the one about male waistlines — are simply too strict and that more than half of all men will be considered overweight. The effect, they say, will be to encourage overmedication and ultimately raise health care costs.
Yoichi Ogushi, a professor at Tokai University's School of Medicine near Tokyo and an expert on public health, said that there was "no need at all" for the Japanese to lose weight.
"I don't think the campaign will have any positive effect. Now if you did this in the United States, there would be benefits, since there are many Americans who weigh more than 100 kilograms," or about 220 pounds, Mr. Ogushi said. "But the Japanese are so slender that they can't afford to lose weight."
Mr. Ogushi was actually a little harder on Americans than they deserved. A survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found that the average waist size for Caucasian American men was 39 inches, a full inch lower than the 40-inch threshold established by the International Diabetes Federation. American women did not fare as well, with an average waist size of 36.5 inches, about two inches above their threshold of 34.6 inches. The differences in thresholds reflected variations in height and body type from Japanese men and women.
Comparable figures for the Japanese are sketchy since waistlines have not been measured officially in the past. But private research on thousands of Japanese indicates that the average male waistline falls just below the new government limit.
That fact, widely reported in the media, has heightened the anxiety in the nation's health clinics.
In Amagasaki, a city in western Japan, officials have moved aggressively to measure waistlines in what the government calls special checkups. The city had to measure at least 65 percent of the 40- to 74-year-olds covered by public health insurance, an "extremely difficult" goal, acknowledged Midori Noguchi, a city official.
When his turn came, Mr. Nogiri, the flower shop owner, entered a booth where he bared his midriff, exposing a flat stomach with barely discernible love handles. A nurse wrapped a tape measure around his waist across his belly button: 33.6 inches, or 0.1 inch over the limit.
"Strikeout," he said, defeat spreading across his face.
The campaign started a couple of years ago when the Health Ministry began beating the drums for a medical condition that few Japanese had ever heard of — metabolic syndrome — a collection of factors that heighten the risk of developing vascular disease and diabetes. Those include abdominal obesity, high blood pressure and high levels of blood glucose and cholesterol. In no time, the scary-sounding condition was popularly shortened to the funny-sounding metabo, and it has become the nation's shorthand for overweight.
The mayor of one town in Mie, a prefecture near here, became so wrapped up in the anti-metabo campaign that he and six other town officials formed a weight-loss group called "The Seven Metabo Samurai." That campaign ended abruptly after a 47-year-old member with a 39-inch waistline died of a heart attack while jogging.
Still, at a city gym in Amagasaki recently, dozens of residents — few of whom appeared overweight — danced to the city's anti-metabo song, which warned against trouser buttons popping and flying away, "pyun-pyun-pyun!"
"Goodbye, metabolic. Let's get our checkups together. Go! Go! Go!
Goodbye, metabolic. Don't wait till you get sick. No! No! No!"
The word metabo has made it easier for health care providers to urge their patients to lose weight, said Dr. Yoshikuni Sakamoto, a physician in the employee health insurance union at Matsushita, which makes Panasonic products.
"Before we had to broach the issue with the word obesity, which definitely has a negative image," Dr. Sakamoto said. "But metabo sounds much more inclusive."
Even before Tokyo's directives, Matsushita had focused on its employees' weight during annual checkups. Last summer, Akio Inoue, 30, an engineer carrying 238 pounds on a 5-foot-7 frame, was told by a company doctor to lose weight or take medication for his high blood pressure. After dieting, he was down to 182 pounds, but his waistline was still more than one inch over the state-approved limit.
With the new law, Matsushita has to measure the waistlines of not only its employees but also of their families and retirees. As part of its intensifying efforts, the company has started giving its employees "metabo check" towels that double as tape measures.
"Nobody will want to be singled out as metabo," Kimiko Shigeno, a company nurse, said of the campaign. "It'll have the same effect as non-smoking campaigns where smokers are now looked at disapprovingly."
Companies like Matsushita must measure the waistlines of at least 80 percent of their employees. Furthermore, they must get 10 percent of those deemed metabolic to lose weight by 2012, and 25 percent of them to lose weight by 2015.
NEC, Japan's largest maker of personal computers, said that if it failed to meet its targets, it could incur as much as $19 million in penalties. The company has decided to nip metabo in the bud by starting to measure the waistlines of all its employees over 30 years old and by sponsoring metabo education days for the employees' families.
Some experts say the government's guidelines on everything from waistlines to blood pressure are so strict that meeting, or exceeding, those targets will be impossible. They say that the government's real goal is to shift health care costs onto the private sector.
Dr. Minoru Yamakado, an official at the Japan Society of Ningen Dock, an association of doctors who administer physical exams, said he endorsed the government's campaign and its focus on preventive medicine.
But he said that the government's real priority should be to reduce smoking rates, which remain among the highest among advanced nations, in large part because of Japan's powerful tobacco lobby.
"Smoking is even one of the causes of metabolic syndrome," he said. "So if you're worried about metabo, stopping people from smoking should be your top priority."
Despite misgivings, though, Japan is pushing ahead.
Kizashi Ohama, an official in Matsuyama, a city that has also acted aggressively against metabo, said he would leave the debate over the campaign's merits to experts and health officials in Tokyo.
At Matsuyama's public health clinic, Kinichiro Ichikawa, 62, said the government-approved 33.5-inch male waistline was "severe." He is 5-foot-4, weighs only 134 pounds and knows no one who is overweight.
"Japan shouldn't be making such a fuss about this," he said before going off to have his waistline measured.
But on a shopping strip here, Kenzo Nagata, 73, a toy store owner, said he had ignored a letter summoning him to a so-called special checkup. His waistline was no one's business but his own, he said, though he volunteered that, at 32.7 inches, it fell safely below the limit. He planned to disregard the second notice that the city was scheduled to mail to the recalcitrant.
"I'm not going," he said. "I don't think that concerns me."
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text:
Inhabitants in 1991: 3.103
municipal territory of Buonconvento extends for 64,78 square kilometres
on the low hills at the influx of the Ombrone and the Arbia rivers. It
had its origins as a Medieval Podesta office with jurisdiction
on a territory of vast dimensions.
The first news of Buonconvento goes back to the end of the XII century,
when the village which had developed on the via Francigena acquired importance
as a stopping place and centre of commerce; always under the protection
of Siena, it became an important strategic point for the control
of the area, in so much that in 1270 it was already Seat of Podesta office.
Devastated in 1289 by the exiling Siena Ghibellini, in 1313 Buonconvento
was occupied by the Imperial troops of Arrigo VII (who died there
in the same year) and again in 1315 by Uguccione della Faggiola. Conquered
for a brief time in 1358 by Perugia fighting against Siena, it was
walled by the latter between 1371 and 1385, even if its fortification
was only completed in the middle of the 1400s. In 1480 the privilege of
Siena citizenship was conceded to the inhabitants of Buonconvento.
Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Translated by Ann Mountford
Polimedia di Laura Fumoni
Via Landucci 39 - 50136 - Firenze - P.IVA 06790950486 - REA C.C.I.A.A. FIRENZE N. 656544
Press registration n. 5528 10/11/2006 - Editor Polimedia

subset: commoncrawl


text: Free antivirus programs such as Microsoft's Security Essentials (MSE) have now supplanted more complex paid software as the antimalware defense of choice for millions of consumers, figures from certification company OPSWAT have suggested.In its quarterly analysis of the security software running on 43,000 computers around the world between March and May 2011, OPSWAT found that well-known brands such as McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro are continuing to be pushed down the popularity tables by mostly European rivals marketing on the basis of either a free-to-use or "freemium" (free with paid upgrades available) model.Globally, the two most commonly encountered brands were Czech companies Avast Software and AVG, tied with being detected on 12.3 percent of systems each, ahead of Avira of Germany on 12.2 percent, Microsoft on 11.2 percent, and ESET Software, also of Germany, on just under 10 percent. Traditional security brand leaders, Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro were found on only 8.77 percent, 4.5 percent and 2.15 percent of systems respectively.In terms of individual products, the most popular program was Microsoft's Security Essentials with 10. 6 percent market share, ahead of Avira's Antivir Personal Free with 10.2 percent, Avast Free Antivirus with 8.66 percent, and AVG Antivirus Free with 7.92 percent.The most common subscription antivirus programs were Eset Software's Nod32 Antivirus with 7.25 percent, Kaspersky Lab's Internet security with 4.31 percent and Norton Antivirus with 4.3 percent. The rise of Microsoft Security Essentials has been particularly striking in North America, where according to OPSWAT it is now found on just over 15.7 percent of PCs, ahead of AVG on 10.4 percent and Avast on 7 percent. Even here, however, the European upstarts have gained traction, with ESET Software, Avira, and AVG easily making into the top 10 of most common antivirus applications.But what is making the free-to-use and freemium programs so popular all of a sudden? After all, free antivirus suites have been around for years but have tended to be seen as the poor relations to paid software. One answer is simply the influence of Microsoft Security Essentials, a totally free program launched by Microsoft in 2009 after fitful and generally failed attempts by the company to sell paid antivirus protection going back to the days of Windows XP. The software has been given generally good reviews, despite a recent independent test that put it near the bottom in terms of its ability to detect zero-day software exploits. Many users might see it as a zero-cost way of getting perfectly adequate protection from a brand that is guaranteed to stick around.A second and intriguing possibility in an age where fake antivirus programs have become one of the biggest malware issues of the Internet, is that there has been a flight to the safety of better-known brands that don't demand a subscription fee. Certainly, the market remains hugely fragmented and confusing for consumers, which could be fuelling a gradual consolidation."In North America, fifty-one different antivirus vendors were detected in this report. The top five of those vendors combined to control 62.8 percent of the antivirus market," OPSWAT's analysis notes. "The worldwide market is slightly more distributed, with sixty-two vendors and 58.2 percent of the antivirus market controlled by the top five vendors."With the popularity of PCs now waning in developed countries, and a growing number of consumers unwilling to pay for protection, the future of paid antivirus software now looks bleak. The brands that survive the likely shakeout will need to carve out niches in new markets such as mobile and smartphone protection, or by selling more advanced encryption and online backup security. Some might follow McAfee's fate, and be bought by larger companies that see security and antivirus protection as strategic rather than profitable in its own right.Founded in 2002, OPSWAT makes its money selling a range of malware testing tools and SDKs of the sort that would be used by security vendors in software development. It also offers free tools to consumers, including the App remover utility to fully de-install antivirus software, and Filterbit, an online tool that scans suspicious files.


text:
The drums, as Sonic Youth might say, pound an expressway through your skull. The bass forcefully walks the divide between rhythm and melody. Guitars throw a curtain of dirt over everything, and then smear it around. Beneath all the mayhem, melodies emerge and fight for room in the hectic mix.
It's not a new formula, one that dates back to at least theElectric Prunes''60s garage-rock nugget "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" through the chainsaw-guitar pop hooks on the Jesus and Mary Chain's mid-'80s debut. But the Chicago quartet Radar Eyes reinvigorates that formula as well as anyone on "Radar Eyes" (HoZac), the band's unofficial debut.
Radar Eyes' 2010 album was a limited-edition cassette-only release that isn't available anymore. Singer-guitarist Anthony Cozzi went the cassette route because, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
"I used to have a pickup truck when I was working in construction, and it only had a tape player," Cozzi says. "I was buying tapes at Reckless (record shop) for 50 cents: old punk tapes, tons of great stuff really cheap like the first tapes from (Chicago bands) Disappears and Cave. It gave me the idea to do our album that way as well."
The antiquated media, with its hissy, degraded sound, suited the music.
"It squishes all the sounds together," Cozzi says with a laugh. "If you're doing a driving, psychedelic thing, it's perfect."
Radar Eyes followed with a couple of singles on HoZac and built a reputation as a kicking live act, building anticipation for its debut on CD and vinyl -- HoZac's specialty.
The release brings Cozzi full circle in his relationship with HoZac cofounder Todd Killings, who ran a record store and was part of the music scene at Illinois State in Bloomington-Normal during the mid-'90s. Cozzi, who grew up in south suburban Alsip, was playing in bands while attending Illinois State, and he and Killings struck up a friendship. After college, he kept playing guitar and writing songs in private, but found himself drifting.
"I started a lot of drinking and partying, and that became the focus of my life through most of my twenties," Cozzi says. "It was depressive. When I quit drinking, a few friends of mine were forming a band and needed a guitar player."
The band, Night of the Hunter, played a dark, noisy brand of punk with an unhinged lead singer. It fell apart when the quartet tried to record an album. "We had a reel-to-reel eight-track recorder that kept breaking," Cozzi says. "The machine kept breaking and the band finally broke up, too"
Before the end, one of the band members, bassist Nathan Luecking, began writing songs with more of a pop feel, drawing on the Jesus and Mary Chain's first album as inspiration. "On a whim we started working together on these basic, garage-pop songs, and one night we brought them into a Night of the Hunter rehearsal," Cozzi says. The singer didn't show, so only drummer Shelley Zawadzki was there. Soon after, the three split off to form Radar Eyes.
Luecking, who contributes several songs to Radar Eyes' HoZac album, left the band last year to move with his wife toWashington, D.C., and Cozzi took over as the band's primary singer with Zawadzki, bassist Lucas Sikorski and guitarist Russ Calderwood. The album was recorded over two years in two less-than-ideal locations: the living room in Cozzi's old apartment, and the basement below his current place in Logan Square.
Apparently he has really tolerant neighbors. "We do a lot of daytime recording," he says.
As charming and rough-hewn as that do-it-yourself approach may be, "Radar Eyes" stands as an excellent reminder of the inspired chaos that two guitars, bass and drums can still stir up.
"I feel really good about how far this band has come," Cozzi says. "Everything from here on out is just a bonus. All I ever wanted was to have a record out on a label I liked. I was a teenager when my dad taught me a few chords on the guitar and I learned to play along with the Ramones' 'Loco Live.' Now we're all in our thirties, and it's a little harder for all of us to take three months off our day jobs and tour. It might be different if we were an Internet sensation."
They're not exactly an Internet-friendly band, with the bulk of their music released on non-digital formats. But Cozzi is still hoping to make a living off the love of his life. He recently received a degree from Columbia College in arts entertainment media management.
"I hate the idea of this being a 'hobby band,' " he says. "The connotation is that you don't take it seriously, and that gets under my skin. At the same time I can't dedicate to this full time. I wish I had this opportunity when I was 21, but I'm grateful that I finally have it now. I'm trying to find a balance. There's that nagging voice in your head about what a responsible 35 year old should be doing. Maybe I should find something that gives me the stability that I don't have. But for now I have to have a little faith that things will be alright."
Radar Eyes with Night Beats, 10 p.m. Saturday at the Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Av., $8; emptybottle.com.


text:
Posted by Editoress on 01/14/11
Clara Hughes. Speedskating Olympic gold medalist, Olympic flag bearer, Right To Play spokesperson, Officer of the Order of Canada, member of Canada's Walk of Fame ... Clara Hughes is a true Canadian superstar. But, before all that, it was: Clara Hughes, cyclist.
Clara retired from speedskating in 2010 after winning her sixth Olympic medal in Vancouver. She is the only person in the world to have won multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Olympics, with four in speedskating (a gold, a silver and two bronze) and two in cycling (bronze).
"Snowshoeing in our backcountry backyard in Utah!"
We heard from Clara last summer that she was thinking about getting back into cycling, but it became official in mid-November, and it was big news, with all the Canadian media giving it prime coverage.
The impetus for the return was the inclusion of the Team Pursuit to the women's Olympic track program, and the chance to race with Canada's new star of women's cycling, Tara Whitten - the pair have also become friends.
Clara Hughes won gold in the Women's ITT at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
We have now had a chance to have a lengthy chat with Clara, from her new home in the mountains of Utah, where she has been working to build the level of cycling fitness she needs for this next challenge.
Canadian Cyclist: It was certainly big news, when you announced that you were coming back to cycling, with a goal of competing at the 2012 Olympics.
Clara Hughes: I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be a big deal, but it didn't work out that way. French CBC [television] was doing a story on the Team Pursuit team, and they did a part on me. It didn't send the right message, I thought, so I ended up contacting Randy [Starkman] at the [Toronto] Star, because I knew he would get the right message out. I really don't like talking about what I want to do; I have so much respect for those already training on the team.
CC: After Vancouver, most people thought your retirement from speedskating meant that you were finished with competition.
CH: I've been thinking about it [returning to cycling] for a long time, because there are lots of considerations. It means nothing less than commiting your life to sport. I can't compare myself to ten years ago [when Clara left cycling], I've matured so much since then. But I knew that I would have to make major changes to my life.
After Vancouver it was pretty chaotic; for three months I didn't see my husband! I was pulled in so many directions, with the media and my charity work. So, I have put all that on the shelf, because I have to live a certain lifestyle [to be an athlete], it's mostly an emotional commitment and I have to focus my energy. It takes a lot of discipline to say no.
Basically, I've retired from public speaking and stepped back from Right To Play. This means that I have had to give up a huge source of income, but sponsors have stepped up. Also, my husband Peter has had to sacrifice so much; he gives up a lot of things we like to share.
But I look at it as ... Wow, I have a chance to apply myself to this; what a gift.
CC: So where are you now in preparing for your cycling comeback?
CH: That's a good question. I'm still changing my energy system and capacity. I have trained my system for a four minute and an eight minute effort. Coming back Hughes at 2002 Commonwealth Games
to cycling is very interesting, because I have been able to bring in other training techniques.
Clara Hughes on her trainer
I see cycling is still pretty old school, and I have some different ideas. I'm interested in how I can bring speedskating ideas to cycling. I have found a coach, Chris Rozdilsky, of the PowerWatts Premier Studio in Montreal. I feel that he really gets me, and he can work with my schedule. It is motivating to find someone I click with.
After the Olympics, I sat in a kayak for two months [on a trip with husband Peter]. I felt really out of shape after that. I went to the Los Angeles velodrome for five days with the national team; I was there on a rented track bike.
Richard Wooles [national track coach] was very generous to let me try out during the testing, and I did terrible! I didn't get picked for the training camp. But I don't have a problem earning my spot, and I was able to pay my own way to the first camp, and after that I was selected for the second camp.
So, right now, I don't know when I will be ready [for competition], I'll have a better idea in February. Right now, I'm doing a lot of really hard intervals on the Computrainer in the mornings, and snowshoeing in the afternoon, and I'll be doing my own ten day warm weather training camp in Tucson. Plus, I live at altitude, 7500 feet, which helps.
CC: You said elsewhere that you aren't finished with cycling.
CH: I don't think that I've done the best ride that I have in me. On the track I'm looking forward to riding with Tara, and I really want to do the time trial at the Olympics. I dream of having a race on the bike where, when I roll across the line and I look at the clock and I think 'That's it, I'm done.'
CC: What about a team? Have you considered joining a team for road racing?
CH: I really don't want to be on a team. I did that for ten years, on some of the best teams in the world. My first team was yours, I remember getting my first bike! [Editor's Note: The Editoress and I ran the Specialized women's team in the 1980s and early '90s, which Clara started her career on]
Now I want to do my own program and work with the national team. I kind of hope I can give back some of my experience and knowledge as well.
I've had some tremendous support from the industry, from Larry Koury [Specialized Canada] and Shimano; they have come fully on board, and there are some private individuals who are helping.
I feel really lucky that there are people who believe in me.
Clara Hughes on the Bromont Track in 2002
|Return to Cycling 4 Women homepage | Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


text:
Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some fantastic articles on cool things to do with hotel amenities, free ways to say 'I love you,' and how to make an interviewer like you.
8 Cool Things To Do With Hotel Amenities — Use the hotel soap you scored on your last vacation to make detergent. [SavvySugar]
6 free ways to say 'I love you' on Valentine's Day — Send your Valentine a love letter for Valentine's Day. It's free and shows them how much you care. [Living on the Cheap]
How to Make an Interviewer Like You — If you want your interviewer to like you, only say what needs to be said to seal the deal. [Free Money Finance]
6 Ways to Beat the Social Security Tax Increase — Beat the social security tax increase by refinancing your home. [Dollar Stretcher]
Getting Others On Board With Your New "Spending Less" Lifestyle — To get others on board with your "spending less" lifestyle, point out the end date of your new lifestyle. [And Then We Saved]
5 Things You Can Learn from Your Explanation of Benefits — Your explanation of benefits can tell you why a claim was rejected. [Money Smart Life]
3 Reasons to Switch your Gas & Electricity + DIY Utility Savings — Turn off appliances you aren't using to save money on your utility bill. [Girls Just Wanna Have Funds]
Burglary Prevention: Common Sense Advice to Avoid Becoming a Victim — Setting up lights that are on a timer or putting up a "No Soliciting" sign can help protect you from becoming a victim of burglary. [Money Under 30]
4 Tips for Tackling Those Never-Ending Kid Messes (Plus $1 off coupon!) — To tackle never-ending kid messes, take things one room at a time. [Parenting Squad]
35 Secret Uses for Coconut Oil — Did you know you can use coconut oil to reduce the itch of mosquito bites? [Bargain Babe]
Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.
Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.


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My Sky is Falling image courtesy of Reboot Stories, from the Envision 2013 playthrough
The elevator doors open. As I step out, a woman in a hazmat suit and surgical mask steps forward as our guide, offering surgical masks to our group. Masks firmly in place, we're guided to a classroom liberally strewn with backpacks and jackets. There are already a handful of people milling about in the room without the dubious protection of our masks, grabbing sandwiches and chips from the front of the room. A dissonant hum serves as disconcerting accompaniment to the otherwise silent room. Finally, we're welcomed by our guide and offered a choice: leave the mask on and remain a silent observer, or take it off and step into the strange world in which we found ourselves.
Over the next hour, my fellow participants and I progressed through a dystopic science fiction world designed to leave us disoriented, confused, and isolated as part of the interactive theater experience My Sky is Falling. The performance, a fictionalized retelling of filmmaker Lydia Joyner's own experiences in the foster care system, was brought to light by creative director Atley Loughridge through the startup Reboot Stories. The project was also a collaboration with Reboot Stories co-founder Lance Weiler's New Media Producing class at Columbia University and the Orange Duffel Bag Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to helping teens transition out of the foster care system. Representatives from the United Nations went through the experience at Envision 2013, while I experienced the performance as part of DIY Days NYC, a free conference that took place at The New School at the end of April.
DIY Days exists as a celebration of the rapid prototyping and iteration process, organized around three themes: Learn, Do, and Share. The morning session kicked off the "Learn" section with a series of keynote addresses. Little Bets author Peter Sims kicked off the morning by presenting a series of anecdotes on the importance of innovation through iteration. Sims drew attention to the slow transition of Pixar from the high-end computer hardware business into animated film studio through a series of calculated risks. Next, Alexa Clay argued that our current search for innovation is hampered by our blindness to "the Misfit Economy" — the collective of black market, grey market, informal market hustlers written off for their unsavory activities. Clay challenged the audience to explore how to learn from the often overlooked corners of society, and how to repurpose their efforts for more productive purposes. How would the skills garnered executing Nigerian 419 scams transfer into providing IT support?
Brian Clark shifted the conversation to a more theoretical bent, presenting his manifesto calling for a return to phenomenology in experience design. Clark challenged the audience to look back at the philosophical musings of Kant and Husserl to inform creative works. Focusing purely on the objects we are creating ignores the reality that those objects only gain meaning through the audience's experience of it. Can fans truly experience Netflix's House of Cards when the company's insistence on treating their stories as a DVD forces audiences to experience the series out of sync with each other? Ele Jansen continued to explore the theory behind creation, presenting an ethnographic look at the iterative design process that informs her collaboration on Reboot Stories projects like Laika's Adventure.
Closing out the morning's "Learn" session, Colleen Macklin exposed the audience to non-traditional types of games ranging from Budgetball, a game that pits the Congressional Budget Office staffers against students in an annual competition of fiscal responsibility and play to JS Joust, a game that coopts Playstation Move controllers for a console-free competition. Macklin highlighted the highly political nature of games as a communication medium, reminding the audience that the New Games movement's parachute games were a commentary on the Vietnam War that actively sought to subvert symbols of war. Similarly, Monopoly's earliest incarnation as The Landlord Game was a political critique on unbridled land grabbing.
In the afternoon, talks gave way to experiences with the "Do" phase. In addition to the My Sky is Falling interactive theater experience, the audience had the opportunity to experience a host of improvisational storytelling experiences and games. With so many events going on, there was only time to get a small taste. I wasn't able to stay for all of DIY Day's inaugural Creative Sparks pitch competition, but did drop in long enough to clap, stomp, hoot, and holler along with Benjamin Ryan Nathan's tap-dancing pitch for his documentary I Can Dance in an interactive pitch that was reminiscent of Jane McGonigal's Top Secret Dance Off experiment. I also had the pleasure of witnessing the Creative Sparks winner Alexander Reben show off BlabDroid, a tiny cardboard robot programmed to travel around asking people probing questions. The tiny robot made quite an impression at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier that week, taking advantage of the ELIZA Effect to elicit deeply personal and unexpected responses. I also made it out to Mark Harris' post-mortem of his immersive film The Lost Children. After the formal presentation, he gave the audience a chance to play the working prototype of a game he's planning to use for an upcoming post-apocalyptic narrative.
For the final "Share" segment, the conference circled back to My Sky is Falling, which leveraged real-time measurement and analysis from the Harmony Institute to provide insight into our experience exploring a dystopic future for the foster care system. Select individuals were hooked up to Q Sensors throughout their My Sky is Falling session. The devices assessed engagement and arousal through the participants' movements, skin temperature, and electrodermal activity from one moment to the next. When combined with pre- and post-event survey results, the team was able to assemble an on-the-spot presentation deconstructing which elements of the performance worked, and which would need to be tweaked for the next iteration. The team at Wicked Solutions then described a proposal for addressing some of the issues highlighted in the experience that emerged in large part from participants who emerged from the foster care system, soliciting volunteers from the audience to help execute that vision.
I've been to DIY Days in New York three years in a row, and every year I am amazed Lance Weiler and the Reboot Stories team is able to put it on for free in locations around the world. According to Weiler, the New York event was delivered on a budget of only $2,500 thanks to generous in-kind donations. The day was a rush of insightful speakers, intense events, and powerful ideas that has left me still reeling from the experience.
Head over to diydays.com to find out if there will be a DIY Days in your area. You can also find archives of past panels online to get a taste for the experience.


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First let us see some details about this new voip service : Jumblo Voip Calling!
Jumblo is now the cheapest calls provider to India. ActionVoip and SmartVoip also offer cheap calls but the cheapest tag is now held by this new provider Jumblo. Seems that betamax keeps on switching rates between various voip providers, with one being offering lower rates and other increasing their call rates. And its time for Jumblo now !
If you are using Jumblo for making cheap calls to India, then you have to pay just 1 cent per minute for calling Indian mobiles and 1.4 cent per minute for calling Indian landlines.
Yeah the rates are too low and I just hope that this time betamax (Jumblo Voip) keep these rates stable for atleast sometime. I would suggest you guys to buy the minimum credit from Jumblo (always buy min credit from betamax) as they can increase their calling rates anytime. Also keep a watch on Jumblo, it may increase their calling rates to India anytime, so don't get surprised.
Jumblo also offer SuperDeal, that is you are entitled to make free calls to listed countries (about 40) for 90 days (all this once you buy some credit). We will talk about this in the section below.
How to make calls using Jumblo
Jumblo Free Download | Download Jumblo to PC | Jumblo in browser | Pc to Phone Calls
- Download Jumblo voip software PC application. It is free to download. Download Link.
- Configure SIP on SIP client / Voip Device
- If you don't want to install the Jumblo sotware, you can set up a Jumblo call directly, Jumblo offers an in-browser solution for calling. That is Phone to Phone Calls. First Jumblo calls you then connect you to your destination.
SIP settings of Jumblo
- SIP port : 5060
- Registrar : sip.jumblo.com
- Proxy server : sip.jumblo.com
- Outbound proxy server : leave empty
- Account name : your Jumblo username
- Password : your Jumblo password
- Display name/number : your Jumblo username or voipnumber
- Stunserver (option) : stun.jumblo.com
Jumblo on Mobile | Jumblo Mobile Voip | Jumblo iPhone, iPod Touch, Android Apps
- You can directly download and install Jumblo voip apps on iPhone, Android phone or Symbian phone. Smartphones Jumblo App.
- You can use Low Caller Mobile app on any phone to make calls from Jumblo.
- Local Access Number : Use a cheap local access number instead of the expensive international number you're trying to reach
- Mobile SIP Calls
Jumblo Calling Rates | Jumblo Rates
- India : 1.2 cents per min (mobile)
- Pakistan : 4 cent per min (landline)
- Bangladesh : 3.6 cents per min (mobile)
- Mexico : 3.3 cents per min (landline)
- Philippines : 12 cents per min
Jumblo Login Problems | Jumblo Problems
Q2 : Jumblo Voice Problem : Unable to hear sound, delay in voice, call failed due to voice error, voice not heard at destination.
Ans : There is compatibility issue of the Jumblo voip software with the Microsoft windows version. The issue is with the sound card. Follow these steps to solve this jumblo voice problem :
- Look for Jumblo in My computers --> C Drive --> Program Files
- Find Jumblo.exe
- Right click >> Properties >> Compatibility
- Check (Select) compatibility mode with windows xp (Service pack2)/Windows 7 etc.
- Restart the application.


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No EnemiesCourtesy of Ken G.
All women should live so long as to be this kind of old lady!
Toward the end of Sunday service, the Minister asked, 'How many of you have forgiven your enemies?'
80% held up their hands.
The Minister then repeated his question.
All responded this time, except one small, elderly lady.
'Mrs. Neely?', 'Are you not willing to forgive your enemies?'
I don't have any.' She replied, smiling sweetly.
'Mrs. Neely, that is very unusual. How old are you?'
'Ninety-eight.' she replied.
'Oh, Mrs. Neely, would you please come down in front and tell us all how a person can live ninety-eight years and not have an enemy in the world?'
The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, faced the congregation, and said:
'I outlived the bitches.'


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- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 16 packaged wonton wrappers
- Cinnamon and sugar
Preheat oven to 400F. Mix pumpkin, maple syrup, brown sugar and pumpkin pie space in medium bowl. Place a wonton wrapper on flat surface. Spoon 1 teaspoon of filling into center. Moisten edges of wonton with water & fold in half to form a triangle. Press edges to seal. Repeat with remaining wontons.
Arrange prepared wontons on an ungreased baking sheet. Lightly coat dumplings with non-stick cooking spray and sprinkle them with sugar and cinnamon. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Turn over and bake another 2 minutes.
Substitutions: I used granulated sugar instead of brown sugar and cinnamon in place of pumpkin pie spice. I did not lightly coat the dumplings with non-stick spray. I also did not dust the dumplings with cinnamon and sugar because they were served as an appetizer.


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I'm gona go ahead and buy some here ....
If this thing fills that gap I'm gona flip out....still pissed my 3.97 sell didn't go thru mon PM
Printable View
I'm gona go ahead and buy some here ....
If this thing fills that gap I'm gona flip out....still pissed my 3.97 sell didn't go thru mon PM
Anyone see the takedown yesterday in ZLC? Down 15%. My buy didn't go thru. Up 15% today. They reported this am. What a BS takedown.
Just noticed this on my etrade account:
NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky is investigating the Board of Directors of Sirius XM Holdings, Inc. ("Sirius XM" or "the Company") (NasdaqGS: SIRI) for possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law in connection with the proposed sale of the Company to Liberty Media Corp., a majority shareholder.
Put an order for some PHOT for .20
Wellllll where do we go from here??? I'm forced to move my buys from 3.69 to 3.59 after today's action.
Wolf ....I agree holding this thing is bad for your health. Gotta trade it
I've sold off all but about 10% of my SIRI shares earlier this week. I think we're going down more before we go up. Wouldn't be surprised if we fill some gap next week.
Homer has written a lengthy comment to a 'Spencer" article titled, 'To C or not to C...'
The article AND the comment from Homer are worthy of review IMHO.
go to top left portion of this page and click on "all news"
look for article with title ref'ed above. GL


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BOSTON, MA – Bat Boy is outraged over the postponement of the Red Sox home opener.Bat Boy was scheduled to attend his first baseball game at Fenway Park this evening. However, officials have cancelled the game due to heavy rain. Dressed and ready to go in his newly purchased fan gear, Bat Boy was very disappointed when he showed up at the stadium unaware of the game change.
After arriving at Fenway Park, Bat Boy decided to join other outraged fans who had decided to camp out overnight and wait for the highly anticipated home opener. The game against the Tampa Rays was rescheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
Bat Boy and his new friends strolled over to Who's On First to meet up with other loyal Sox fans.
Italian Sausages and lemonade were the items of choice for Bat Boy while others consumed multiple PBR's. I can only imagine – a few PBRs and the night will be flooded with tunes of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline".
Nothing like some Sox spirit for Bat Boy's first game debut.


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Tiny variants in a protein that alerts the immune system to the presence of infection may underlie the rare ability of some individuals to control HIV infection without the need for medications. In a report that will appear in Science and is receiving early online release, an international research team led by investigators from the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MIT and Harvard and from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard describe finding that differences in five amino acids in a protein called HLA-B are associated with whether or not HIV-infected individuals can control viral levels with their immune system only.
"We found that, of the three billion nucleotides in the human genome, just a handful make the difference between those who can stay healthy in spite of HIV infection and those who, without treatment, will develop AIDS," says Bruce Walker, MD, director of the Ragon Institute and co-senior author of the Science article. "Understanding where this difference occurs allows us to sharpen the focus of our efforts to ultimately harness the immune system to defend against HIV."
"Earlier studies had showed that certain genes involved with the HLA system were important for HIV control," adds Paul de Bakker, PhD, of the Broad Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital, co-senior author. "But they couldn't tell us exactly which genes were involved and how they produced this difference. Our findings take us not only to a specific protein, but to a part of that protein that is essential to its function."
It has been known for almost two decades that a small minority – about one in 300 – of individuals infected with HIV are naturally able to suppress viral replication with their immune system, keeping viral load at extremely low levels. To identify genetic differences that may underlie this rare ability, Florencia Pereyra, MD, at the Ragon Institute established the International HIV Controllers Study (http://www.hivcontrollers.org/) in 2006, with a goal of enrolling 1,000 HIV controllers from medical clinics and research institutes around the world. That goal was expanded to 2,000 controllers in 2008, and thus far over 1,500 controllers have been enrolled.
The current investigation began with a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of almost 1,000 controllers and 2,600 individuals with progressive HIV infection, through a collaboration with the AIDS Clinical Trials Group. The GWAS, which tests variations at a million points in the human genome, identified some 300 sites that were statistically associated with immune control of HIV, all in regions of chromosome 6 that code for HLA proteins. Further analysis narrowed the number of gene sites to four but could not indicate whether those differences actually affected viral control or were just located near the causal variants. Fully sequencing that genome region in all participants was not feasible, but a process developed by Sherman Jia – a medical student in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program, working with de Bakker at the Broad – pinpointed specific amino acids; and directly testing those sites associated five amino acids in the HLA-B protein with differences in viral control.
HLA-B is essential to the process by which the immune system recognizes and destroys virus-infected cells. Usually HLA-B grabs onto viral protein segments called peptides that are inside the cell and carries them to the cell membrane where they essentially flag the infected cell for destruction by CD8 "killer" T cells. The portion of the HLA-B protein that grabs and displays viral peptides is called the binding pocket, and all of the five identified amino acid sites are in the lining of the binding pocket.
"Amino acid variation within the HLA-B binding pocket will impact its shape and structure, probably resulting in some peptides being presented effectively and others not," de Bakker says. "Our work demonstrates that these variants could make a crucial difference in the individual's ability to control HIV by changing how HLA-B presents peptides from this virus to the immune system."
Walker adds, "HIV is slowly revealing its secrets, and this is yet another. Knowing how an effective immune response against HIV is generated is an important step toward replicating that response with a vaccine. We have a long way to go before translating this into a treatment for infected patients and a vaccine to prevent infection, but we are an important step closer."
The investigators note that these findings would not have been possible without the participation of the hundreds of HIV controllers, many of whom traveled to Boston for testing, who have enrolled in the study. "The enthusiasm among the patients we have enrolled and the HIV providers who referred them has been amazing," says Pereyra. "They tell us that being part of this collaborative study means a lot to them."
Original support for the International HIV Controllers study came through a 2006 grant from the Mark and Lisa Schwartz Foundation, and the study was expanded in 2008 through the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Additional supporting agencies include the Harvard Center for AIDS Research and the National Institutes of Health.
Walker is a professor and de Bakker an assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Under the leadership of Pereyra, more than 300 investigators at over 200 institutions around the world contributed to the Science study. Study co-authors include, among others, Steven Deeks, MD, University of California, San Francisco; Amalio Telenti, MD, PhD, University of Lausanne, Switzerland; Mary Carrington, PhD, National Institutes of Health; Vincent Marconi, MD, Emory University; David Haas, MD, Vanderbilt University; John Fangman, MD, AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin: Martin Markowitz, MD, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center; Richard Harrigan, PhD, British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS; James Braun, DO, Physicians Research Network, New York; Ronald Nahass, MD, I.D. Care Associates, Hillsborough, New Jersey: and Otto O. Yang, MD, University of California. Los Angeles.
The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard was founded in 2003 to empower this generation of creative scientists to transform medicine with new genome-based knowledge. The Broad Institute seeks to describe all the molecular components of life and their connections; discover the molecular basis of major human diseases; develop effective new approaches to diagnostics and therapeutics; and disseminate discoveries, tools, methods and data openly to the entire scientific community. Founded by MIT, Harvard and its affiliated hospitals, and the visionary Los Angeles philanthropists Eli and Edythe L. Broad, the Broad Institute includes faculty, professional staff and students from throughout the MIT and Harvard biomedical research communities and beyond, with collaborations spanning over a hundred private and public institutions in more than 40 countries worldwide. For further information about the Broad Institute, go to www.broadinstitute.org.
The Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard was established in 2009 with a gift from the Philip T. and Susan M. Ragon Foundation, creating a collaborative scientific mission among these institutions to harness the immune system to combat and cure human diseases. The primary initial focus of the institute is to contribute to the development of an effective AIDS vaccine. The Ragon Institute draws scientists and engineers from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise across the Harvard and MIT communities and throughout the world, in order to apply the full arsenal of scientific knowledge to understanding mechanisms of immune control and immune failure and to apply these advances to directly benefit patients. For further information visit www.ragoninstitute.org.