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Auburn Hills, MI – With a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line, the fifth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth Rams and the fourth-seeded Michigan Wolverines meet in third-round action at the Palace of Auburn Hills in the South Region of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
VCU improved to 27-8 on the season and advanced to the round of 32 for the third consecutive season with a dominating 88-42 triumph over Akron in the second round, the largest win by a No. 5 seed over a 12-seed in NCAA Tournament history. Not only did it outshoot the Zips from the field, .538 to .349, but it forced 22 turnovers while coughing up the ball just seven times itself in the 46-point win. Troy Daniels shot 6-of-11 from beyond the arc for 23 points, Juvonte Reddic tallied 21 points and six rebounds, while Rob Brandenberg and Melvin Johnson netted 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Michigan (27-7) opened the tournament with a second-round bout against South Dakota State on Thursday night and also came away with a relatively easy victory, as it shot 50.9 percent from the field en route to a 71-56 win. Leading the way for the Wolverines was Glenn Robinson III and Tim Hardaway, Jr., who both tallied 21 points while combining to shoot 8-of-10 from 3-point range. Mitch McGary added 13 points and nine rebounds to the winning effort. The Maize and Blue enjoyed a strong win despite a poor performance from star guard Trey Burke, who shot just 2-of-12 from the field for six points.
This marks the first-ever meeting between these two schools on the hardwood.
The Rams' offensive explosion on Thursday night was hardly an accident, as they average 77.6 ppg on better than 45 percent efficiency from the field, and it is heavily-reliant on the 3-pointer, making 278 treys (7.9 pg) at a 35.4 percent clip. Despite scoring just six points in the second-round matchup, Treveon Graham usually leads the way with 15.2 ppg, adding 5.9 rpg for good measure. Reddic, the only true forward in VCU's starting five, is an anchor in the low post with 14.6 ppg on 56.7 percent from the field to go with 8.2 rpg, 1.4 spg and 0.9 bpg. Daniels (12.4 ppg) is one of the busiest 3-point shooters in the nation, draining 123-of-299 from long distance (.411), while Brandenberg brings 10.5 ppg to the table. Darius Theus scores fewer than seven points per game, but he has an outstanding assist-to-turnover (166-62) ratio while also logging 2.4 spg. As shown against Akron, VCU has made a habit of dominating the turnover battle, leading the nation with a +8.2 differential.
Despite his lackluster performance in the second round, Trey Burke has been the Wolverines catalyst all season long. The Big Ten Player of the Year has been extremely high-efficient en route to 18.8 ppg, boasting strong percentages from the field (.471), 3-point range (.389) and the foul line (.796), and he is also one of the nation's top floor generals with 229 assists (6.7 pg) compared to just 69 turnovers. Hardaway, Jr. is also in the midst of a strong campaign with 15.0 ppg while grabbing 4.7 rpg as well. Nik Stauskas (11.4 ppg) is lethal from 3-point range, connecting on 72-of-162 from long distance (.444), while Robinson III, a freshman, tallies 11.0 ppg and 5.4 rpg while making nearly 57 percent of his field goal attempts. Michigan has flirted with the elite this season by playing extremely well at both ends of the floor, scoring 75.0 ppg while yielding just 62.7 ppg.


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Android Games – Racing
Tiki Kart 3D« Games - Racing « Downloads
|January 1, 1970
|436 times
|Games - Racing
Extreme 3D Kart Racing, now with Multiplayer!
Extreme 3D Kart Racing, take complete control over the vehicle! Extreme physics, speed, crashes, weapons and more!
Tiki Bobby has been making friends, enemies, and has even contacted some old buddies from way back, and they have decided to go racing!
From the depths of the volcano there has emerged some of the zaniest vehicles one could imagine. Ever thought of slapping some wheels on a giant piece of fruit and taking it for a spin? How about racing around in a turtle shell? Why not go a step further and race around in a fruity tropical drink, umbrella and all. If you would rather be the big bully on the road, why not ride around in big heavy log or a volcano powered lump of rock? We did not forget our traditionalist with a sleek powder keg powered drag racer and Tiki Bobby's take on what a traditional kart should be.
Go deep into the world of Lonlo's Volcano like never before. Enjoy the vistas as you barrel down the raceways of 15 fun filled tracks. Hold on tight to your seat as you encounter death defying jumps, spiral through corkscrew turns, speed through boost pads, and go full speed through gravity defying loopedy loops.
Snag a power up pineapple and shuffle through the available gifts to torture your opponents. Send a fireball right up the tailpipe of that guy who cut you off. Plop a puddle of oil or a big glob of goopy tar to discourage the person tailgating you. Fire off a mighty missile to plow its way through the competition. Drop off a mine to create a waiting danger zone. Swipe another drivers kit to anger him then send him to into a rage as you use the item of destruction on him instead. You can even be awarded an extra punch of nitro booster.
Bullet points –
– 8 karts
– 15 tracks
– Boosts
– Rockets
– Land Mines
– Fireballs
– Oil slicks
– Sticky Tar
– Fast paced
– Springs
– 3 Levels of difficulty and speed
– Each Kart has its own handling and abilities
Acceleration, Top Speed, Traction, Boost power, Off-road ability.
XPERIA PLAY Optimized
- Asphalt 4 Free
- Traffic Racer for Android
- Asphalt 5 FREE
- Road Warrior - Top Free Game
- Potty Racers Free
- Asphalt 7 Heat Game For Free
- Real Racing 3 (North America)
- Gran Turismo
- Asphalt 8: Airborne - Fun Real Car Racing Game
- Real Racing 4
- StickMan BMX Stunts Bike for Android
- Drag Racing
- Death Rally FREE
- Helidroid Battle: 3D RC Copter for Blackberry 10 and Playbook

subset: commoncrawl


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Fasser, Georg (d. 1537?)
Georg (Jörg) Fasser, an Anabaptist martyr, was a preacher of the Hutterian Brethren and with his wife belonged to Jakob Hutter's inner circle and after Hutter's death was closely associated with Leonhard Sailer (Lanzenstiel). He was a native of Kitzbühel, Tyrol, Austria. Nothing is known of his earlier life. His name is listed in the table of Anabaptists who escaped from Tyrol and whose property was confiscated.
The statement in this list, that "Georg Fasser has no possessions," must refer to real estate. For in connection with the dissension between Jakob Hutter and Siegmund Schützinger in 1533 it is known that Fässer put all his possessions (beds, chests, etc.) into the common room; his wife, who tried to reserve some money for her children, was severely reproved and expelled from the brotherhood, but was later reinstated, as Hutter expressly states in his letter of November 1533.
Valentin Luckner (Urgicht, 6 October 1533) reports that Georg Fasser conducted a service in the woods behind Michelsburg; 20 or 30 persons were present, among them the notable Anabaptist names of Hans Amon and Onophrius Griesinger.
Fasser was also a friend of Hieronymus Käls, who sent him greetings from prison. In 1533 he stayed in Moravia and watched the disagreement between Hutter on one hand and Philip and Gabriel on the other, and Hutter's ultimate success in creating order in the brotherhood. In the next two years he experienced the bitter persecution of the Anabaptists in Tyrol and in Moravia; this did not, however, deter him in carrying out his mission as an apostle.
In 1536 he accompanied Lanzenstiel to Austerlitz in Moravia. In Neudorf, Austria, they found several sisters and other good persons; in the tavern, however, "an immoral crowd." They found another inn, and people from the tavern followed them with violent derision. "As far as we were concerned, the matter was easy; but when they began to blaspheme we were moved with zeal to call their attention to their rascality."
The two were then captured and on the following day taken to Mödling (south of Vienna) and tried under torture. To Hans Amon they wrote, "We gave testimony to the truth in such a manner that they were all shocked and answered not a word." In the prison they lay "with ungodly and shameful people, whose company was very repulsive."
From May 8 to June 9 they sent at least six letters to Amon, to which he replied with comforting expressions. From the first letter we learn that "a dear brother from Vienna" was with them. The second letter expresses their desire to hear the worst concerning their fate and to depart from this world. With the fourth letter Lanzenstiel sends Amon Jakob Hutter's washcloth, apparently a keepsake from Hutter, concerning whose end Amon had told the prisoners. The fifth letter they thought would be their last, for the judges and council were threatening them with torture if they did not recant. The next letter says if they had not mentioned that Hieronymus Käls and his companions were their brethren they would have been released. An important personage had been with them and told them they must renounce certain articles if they wanted to be free. On 25 May a rich merchant's wife had visited them and described Hutter's death to them.
The news of the capture of two such proved brethren as Lanzenstiel and Fässer filled the brotherhood with dismay, since they had recently been deprived of their most capable leaders. Therefore Amon wrote them four letters expressing his concern, and urging them to "fight bravely to the end, for our beloved Jakob (Hutter) and Hieronymus (Käls) are waiting with the elect." His second letter was disconsolate, for he had received no word from the Puster Valley. In the fourth he admonished them to be faithful and think of dear Jakob who was true through all the torture. Fasser's Ursula had recently fallen asleep and had entered into her eternal rest.
After Fässer and Lanzenstiel had been in prison almost a year and were prepared for death they were mysteriously released. They went first to Trasenhofen in Lower Austria near the Moravian border. Fässer at once gathered a congregation at Peckstall in Austria. But he was betrayed by a man pretending to seek instruction and he was imprisoned again. The chronicles give two conflicting accounts of his death. According to one he was killed with the sword after severe torture in 1537; according to the other he was burned at the stake in 1538. His converts joined the brotherhood in Moravia.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. I, 633 f.
Loserth, Johann. Der Anabaptismus in Tirol. Vienna: F. Tempsky, 1892.
|Johann Loserth
|Date Published
Cite This Article
MLA style
Loserth, Johann. "Fasser, Georg (d. 1537?)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 25 Sep 2023. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Fasser,_Georg_(d._1537%3F)&oldid=144117.
APA style
Loserth, Johann. (1956). Fasser, Georg (d. 1537?). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 25 September 2023, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Fasser,_Georg_(d._1537%3F)&oldid=144117.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pp. 313-314. All rights reserved.
©1996-2023 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.


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As we do each month, we asked a handful of our top analysts across sectors for one stock that looks especially compelling right now. Here are the companies they singled out.
Brendan Mathews: Innovations in drilling techniques have opened massive new energy fields in the United States, particularly in natural gas. These resources need to be transported, and the near future should, according to energy experts, produce a wealth of profitable transport projects. That's where Kinder Morgan (KMI -0.54%) comes in.
Kinder Morgan is an energy infrastructure and pipeline giant in holding company form. It owns a mix of midstream assets including general or limited partner interests in Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP) El Paso Pipeline Partners (EPB), and Kinder Morgan Management (NYSE: KMR). Ownership of a pipeline is a tollbooth business. Once a pipeline is in place, competitors have little motivation to build competing capacity -- in fact, regulations forbid it without a "demonstrated economic need." As such a pipeline is essentially a monopoly with prices set by regulatory agencies. Thus, Kinder Morgan has a very strong competitive position.
It also has great management. Kinder Morgan is led by its eponymous founder, Rich Kinder, who has been described as an industry visionary, having built the Kinder Morgan system from the ground up. He owns 23% of the company, and collects $1 per year in salary with no bonuses or options. He maintains strict control on costs, and the company is focused on rewarding shareholders. Last year, it paid a healthy 4.8% dividend yield; management plans to increase the dividend by 8% in 2014.
Travis Hoium: Apple (AAPL 0.30%) may be a boring stock to most investors at this point, but in a market where value and stability are hard to find I think that makes it a great stock to buy right now. Consider the fact that Apple had $158.8 billion in cash and investments at the end of last quarter, has generated $37.0 billion in net income over the past year, and just sold more iPhones and iPads than it has in any quarter in its history.
As much as I like the value Apple gives investors at 8.2 time earnings after pulling out cash, I like it even more because it contains what I like to call upside risk. If Apple introduces any number of game-changing products this year the stock could go for another wild ride higher as market sentiment changes. I think the TV market is ripe to be upended by a company like Apple and wearable devices certainly present a major opportunity for the company. These products would be pure upside for investors.
The market is pricing Apple as if it's a dying company but millions of users (including myself) are locked into an ecosystem that will generate new device sales and recurring music, movie, and app revenue for years to come. The downside risk is low and the upside potential is tremendous, which is why this is my top stock for February.
Patrick Morris: Like Travis, I'm also interested in Apple right now. The stock is down nearly 10% year to date, and down nearly 30% from its peak seen in September 2012. This is all while it has steadily reported phenomenal results quarter after quarter, and in the six reported quarters since then has had $58.3 billion in net income on $265 billion in sales.
Certainly Apple has changed and it may not be the high-flying growth stock we thought it could be -- it has a $450 billion market capitalization after all -- but it still remains radically inexpensive when compared to the market with a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.6 versus an 18.7 seen by the broader S&P 500, and the 31.6 held by Google. Even if Apple is never able to put out another great product and simply stays the course with its current offerings -- which is highly unlikely -- at the prices it trades at today, it still remains as an attractive investment consideration.
Jim Mueller: Homebuilder Meritage Homes (MTH -1.18%) reported what I consider to be a solid quarter earlier this week and the drop in price would give you a nice chance to enter the stock. The price drop is likely due to a year-long slowdown in year-over-year orders growth. In 2013's first quarter, it grew orders by 35%; in the just-reported Q4, that had dropped to 3% and management is expecting flat Q1 results year-over-year.
Last year's comparables are a tough hurdle, but there is still a lot of pent-up demand for homes. The economy is continuing to improve (slowly, I'll grant) which helps that demand. Home prices climbed a lot last year, but with that growth moderating, unit sales should be quite healthy (as people don't get scared out of the decision to buy).
Besides, as a Fool, I'm looking to own shares for the next several years, not the next quarter or two, unlike Wall Street and other traders. A trailing P/E of 15.4 is a quite reasonable price to pay for a management team led by CEO Steve Hilton (he founded the company nearly 30 years ago and owns 4% of the company). If you're looking to add a housing recovery company to your portfolio, you could do a lot worse than Meritage Homes.
Daniel Ferry: This February I'll be taking advantage of General Motors' (NYSE: GM) current unloved status to double down on shares before the market gets wise to how well the new GM is executing. General Motors has basically done everything I'd hoped it would do since emerging from bankruptcy protection: introduced award-winning new vehicles, improved its cost structure, got out from under government ownership, and installed forward-thinking new leadership. It reinstated its dividend last month.
Yet despite these signs of progress the market is still heavily discounting the company's stock, with GM's forward earnings valued at less than half the S&P 500 average. It's true that the company hasn't solved all its problems, with a tough sales environment in Europe and a looming pension obligation yet to be tackled.
However, 2014 looks to be an excellent year for the company nonetheless, with GM expecting total U.S. auto sales to be at their highest level since 2007. GM's aggressive moves toward making its product line more profitable will allow the company to generate outsized earnings from a bounce in the U.S. market, leaving the company a buy at this price despite some headwinds.
Maxx Chatsko: You may not want to steer your portfolio toward the sea of uncertainty called biofuels, especially considering the across-the-board proposed volume reductions announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but the rock-solid management team and balance sheet of Renewable Energy Group (REGI) will anchor you through any potential storms. The nation's largest biodiesel producer had $136 million in cash and $567 million in shareholders' equity at the end of the third quarter, representing a book value of $15.88 per share. While the company's cash position has decreased and share count has inflated by 14% after the acquisitions of Syntroleum and LS9 since the third quarter, both acquisitions will set up long-term growth opportunities in higher-margin products.
Management's focus on the long term -- rather than on making knee-jerk reactions to counter short-term uncertainties to please Wall Street -- is one of the biggest reasons investors should consider adding shares of Renewable Energy Group to their portfolio. Sure, the expiration of the blender's tax credit in 2014 will squeeze margins, but the same situation unfolded years ago, only for the credit to be retroactively reinstated in 2013 -- sending profits skyward. A lot of people panicked, but a buy-and-hold strategy would've netted you at least a double.
Today, a lot of people are panicking over the recent acquisitions. Are they right? Let's put it this way: if investors assume the recent acquisitions result in no net gain in shareholders' equity and account for the additional shares, then Renewable Energy Group still sports a book value of $13.94 per share. Factor in the growth ahead and the company looks like a long-term steal.
Simon Erickson: Now is the time to buy Stratasys (SSYS 3.03%). Yes, I know; it's been a bad week for 3-D printing stocks. A poor earnings report from 3D Systems (DDD 6.28%) and recent short-seller comments have helped knock down Stratasys' stock price by 18% already this year. But let's not mistake the forest for the trees. Earnings reports are backward-looking, and forward guidance is only for a one-year period. If we widen our lens a bit, we'll see that many industries – health care and energy, for example – are just starting to figure out how 3-D printing could be applicable to them. Stratasys is a first-mover in the space and already has an extensive installed base with customers. That installed base will give them not only years of recurring revenue (from consumables and service contracts), but also a technological edge with preferred customers. And there are growth opportunities all over: Stratasys can now print using multiple materials and colors, and it recently partnered with Dell to improve distribution. I'm a believer that the 3-D printing game is still in the very early innings.
Tim Beyers: For as much as we talk about the death of radio at the hands of premium services such as Sirius XM and Spotify, it's easy to forget that advertisers spend more than $30 billion a year on pitches delivered via radio.
Imagine if a fraction of that -- even 10%, or $3 billion -- were to shift to audio streamer Pandora Media (P). The stock commands about $7 billion in market value on $600 million in sales as of this writing. A material gain in ad share could drive the stock sharply higher from today's prices.
And yet the beauty of Pandora isn't so much that it's a radio replacement as it is a personalized tool for music discovery that travels with you. That's important when you consider that users are consuming more data than ever on mobile devices, including using smartphones to broadcast streams to bluetooth-connected speakers such as the Beats Pill.
The risk, of course, is that Pandora isn't cheap and even a slight miss of Wall Street's targets could send the stock plummeting. Thursday's 10% intraday slide is partly attributable to weaker-than-expected guidance and a slight sequential decline in active listeners from December to January.
So be it. Pandora is still best positioned to profit from the various shifts from terrestrial radio to streaming, and on air to mobile advertising. In fact, mobile ad revenue soared 60% in the fourth quarter versus 39% overall for ad revenue. Expect the trend to continue now that management has lifted limits on listening hours for mobile users.
Or in simpler terms: This sell-off couldn't have come at a better time.
Andrés Cardenal: Fashion is usually considered a fickle and competitive business. However, it can also be enormously lucrative for companies with strong competitive advantages positioned on the right side of the trend. Michael Kors (CPRI -0.21%) is one of the most explosive growth stories in the industry over the past years, and the recent earnings report confirms that the company is truly firing on all cylinders.
Michael Kors sells handbags and accessories in the "affordable luxury" segment of the pricing spectrum. Brand value and exclusive designs generate competitive differentiation for the company, and pricing power means gigantic profit margins for investors in the area of 34% of sales at the operating level.
While many other companies linked to the consumer are reporting lackluster financial performance lately, Michael Kors delivered a blowout earnings report for the last quarter of 2013: Sales jumped by 59% and earnings per share soared by 73% versus the same quarter in the prior year. Both numbers came in substantially above analysts' estimates.
The company has plenty of room for expansion, both in the U.S. and in global markets, especially considering that demand remains as hot as it gets. Michael Kors trades at a forward P/E ratio near 25 times earnings estimates for the year ending on March 2015, hardly an excessive valuation for such an extraordinary growth company
Matt Frankel: If I had to choose one stock to buy right now, it would have to be Citigroup (C -0.17%). The financial sector as a whole is trading very cheaply right now, and Citigroup is cheaper than most. Shares are currently trading for just 86% of their tangible book value, which is unheard of on a historical basis. To put this in perspective, consider that Citigroup traded for between 3.5 and 4 times its TBV up until the financial crisis, and its current valuation pales in comparison to competitors like Bank of America (1.25 times TBV) and Wells Fargo (2.12 times TBV).
The current stock price is simply too low considering the kind of money Citigroup is making and the kind of growth that analysts are projecting. Citigroup's 2014 earnings are expected to be 15% higher than 2013's, and are expected to climb another 16% in 2015.The company has also done an excellent job of improving its asset quality, and has done a great job of winding down Citi Holdings, its riskiest assets, which produced a loss of just $171 million in the most recent quarter as compared with more than $3.6 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
So, while it is true that Citigroup is not quite out of the woods yet in terms of lingering fallout from the financial crisis, I think the current valuation more than makes up for any risks involved.
Justin Loiseau: Spectra Energy Corp. (SE) just beat estimates on its Q4 earnings -- and it's hardly a fluke. This natural gas company has been steadily growing sales and assets since Duke Energy (DUK -0.47%) first spun it off in 2007. A subsequent spinoff of master limited partnership Spectra Energy Partners (SEP) put this company in a unique position to capitalize on natural gas while staying diversified and enjoying low tax rates.
Spectra Energy is in the midst of $25 billion worth of near- to mid-term growth projects, giving this dividend stock significant growth potential. It's consistently increased its dividend distribution (up 34% in five years), while saving sales for profitable projects. The company and its subsidiaries currently transport around 12% of all natural gas demanded in our nation, and hold 7% of our nation's storage capacity. As natural gas infrastructure continues to build out across America, Spectra will be there to continually collect its midstream "tollbooth" revenue, padding dividend stock investors' portfolios along the way.
Tamara Walsh: The market's love affair with Tesla Motors (TSLA 1.56%) is far from over. Therefore, what better month to own the electric-car maker than the month of love? Tesla has a lot of momentum heading into the new year, particularly as it enters the world's largest auto market (China) and readies its crossover Model X for delivery by year's -end. On top of this, Tesla kicked off February having officially connected its East Coast and West Coast Supercharger network. This means that Model S drivers can now make cross-country trips without ever needing to stop at a gas station.
Tesla's Supercharger technology delivers the fastest electric-vehicle charge in the world today, and it does so without costing Tesla drivers a dime. Moreover, on Feb. 2, Tesla finished a coast-to-coast drive that took approximately 76 and a half hours -- a feat that could set EV speed records in the Guinness World Records. As Tesla continues to add more Supercharging stations throughout the U.S. in the year ahead, investors can expect the company's value proposition to grow as well.
Anders Bylund: The Walt Disney Company (DIS 1.15%) looks unusually juicy right now. In fact, this is more than a mere recommendation --- I'm backing this up with real dollars, having bought Disney shares just a few days ago.
Disney crushed the market in 2013 with a 55% share price gain, despite a seemingly lackluster box office slate and a massive flop in Gore Verbinski's Lone Ranger.
Iron Man 3 carried the Marvel banner surprisingly well, and Frozen became a surprise hit with nearly $900 million in global ticket sales so far. There's always another title to shoulder the load when one of Disney's big bets turns out to be a stinker. And the company hasn't even begun to reap value from its $4 billion Lucasfilm buyout yet.
These titles are the lifeblood pumping through Disney's massive money machines, ranging from ticket and Blu-ray sales to theme park rides, lunch boxes, and themed cruise ship getaways.
On top of all this fundamental business strength, Disney shares look cheap compared to less accomplished industry rivals. The stock had been down year-to-date prior to its earnings report this week. The long-term value and current discount on this stock are undeniable in my eyes.


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While everybody's attention is focused on the emergence of a "media monster" and the threat to the nation's democracy, other developments behind the scenes are raising equally troubling questions about the government's commitment to freedom of information.
The dangers of media monopolization and undue influence by China in local media are well-known, and need not be repeated. Rather, the focus should also be on recent moves by the government and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that reveal the role President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) administration sees itself playing is that of a regulator of information.
Free-market advocates can say what they want about the virtues of an unchecked economy, but history shows that information — its uses and accessibility — is not a normal commodity, and therefore deserves special protections that can only be ensured through government supervision. It goes without saying that governments will on occasion be tempted to abuse that prerogative by censoring information or erecting barriers to critical information. What is needed is a healthy equilibrium between government regulators, the courts and the media to ensure that information is accessible and used responsibly.
Based on recent moves, there is reason to believe that the government sees things differently.
The first, seemingly innocuous, development is the release of a poll by the Taipei City Government yesterday that evaluated residents' satisfaction with the city. In an Orwellian twist, the survey only asked respondents to discuss what they liked and skirted questions on what was bad about the metropolis. Explaining the decision, the city government said it sought to focus on the positive aspects of Taipei, which is akin to asking a victim of domestic abuse to focus only on her husband's skills in the kitchen, while preventing her from mentioning that he beats her regularly. Consciously selecting inconvenient information is the basis of censorship and presents a false picture of reality.
A second worrying incident occurred on Monday, when the legislature passed an initial screening of a draft amendment to the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) that would force media organizations to correct any "false" information they publish on disease prevention measures during an epidemic. While this makes sense on paper, the proposed amendment raises the specter of the government — perhaps in collusion with pharmaceutical companies — having final say on what constitutes "true" or "false." As the SARS outbreak in 2003 made clear in China and Hong Kong, governments sometimes cannot be trusted with providing accurate health information, and Beijing only changed its policy after investigative reporters and a handful of daring scientists told the international community that the outbreak was far more severe than the authorities would admit. This newspaper, for example, ran a series of articles in 2010 about the A(H1N1) vaccine produced by Taichung-based biotech company Adimmune Corp which raised questions about the safety of a vaccine that had seemingly gone through an expedited process and was about to be injected into large numbers of people in Taiwan.
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) was right when she said that the media have a social responsibility to ensure the public is correctly informed, especially since media excesses have often been problematic in Taiwan. However, leaving it to government alone to decide what information is correct is also problematic, especially in a country where government and corporate interests are so intimately related. To wit, the chairman of Adimmune was Steve Chan (詹啟賢), who was also then-deputy secretary-general of the KMT and deputy executive director of Ma's presidential campaign.
The role of the media is not to be right all the time, but to serve as a platform where different views that are necessary for the citizenry to make informed decisions are aired. Censoring reporters or only providing "optimistic" opinion polls are not indicative of a government that values such a role for the media.
Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Forward Forum in Taipei, former Singaporean minister for foreign affairs George Yeo (楊榮文) proposed a "Chinese commonwealth" as a potential framework for political integration between Taiwan and China. Yeo said the "status quo" in the Taiwan Strait is unsustainable and that Taiwan should not be "a piece on the chessboard" in a geopolitical game between China and the US. Yeo's remark is nothing but an ill-intentioned political maneuver that is made by all pro-China politicians in Singapore. Since when does a Southeast Asian nation have the right to stick its nose in where it is not wanted
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has released a plan to economically integrate China's Fujian Province with Taiwan's Kinmen County, outlining a cross-strait development project based on six major themes and 21 measures. This official document by the CCP is directed toward Taiwan's three outlying island counties: Penghu County, Lienchiang County (Matsu) and Kinmen County. The plan sets out to construct a cohabiting sphere between Kinmen and the nearby Chinese city of Xiamen, as well as between Matsu and Fuzhou. It also aims to bring together Minnanese cultural areas including Taiwan's Penghu and China's cities of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou for further integrated
During a recent visit to Taiwan, I encountered repeated questions about "America skepticism" among the body politic. The basic premise of the "America skepticism" theory is that Taiwan people should view the United States as an unreliable, self-interested actor who is using Taiwan for its own purposes. According to this theory, America will abandon Taiwan when its interests are advanced by doing so. At one level, such skepticism is a sign of a healthy, well-functioning democratic society that protects the right for vigorous political debate. Indeed, around the world, the people of Taiwan are far from alone in debating America's reliability
As China's economy was meant to drive global economic growth this year, its dramatic slowdown is sounding alarm bells across the world, with economists and experts criticizing Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for his unwillingness or inability to respond to the nation's myriad mounting crises. The Wall Street Journal reported that investors have been calling on Beijing to take bolder steps to boost output — especially by promoting consumer spending — but Xi has deep-rooted philosophical objections to Western-style consumption-driven growth, seeing it as wasteful and at odds with his goal of making China a world-leading industrial and technological powerhouse, and


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== Source code browsing ==
== Source code browsing ==
You can browse the coreboot Git repository online using
You can browse the coreboot Git repository online using [http://review.coreboot.org/gitweb?p=coreboot.git gitweb].
== Repositories on coreboot.org ==
== Repositories on coreboot.org ==
Revision as of 02:42, 13 July 2011
Note: These snapshots are for people, who use Linux as operating system and are able to build software from the source code.
There is no easy to install package for people who want to quickly try out a new BIOS on their computer, yet. However, we provide some images for the QEMU emulator to test coreboot (and some payloads) on your Linux, OS X and Windows computers (without having to do any hardware changes). But please note that these images can not be used on any mainboard, they will only work in QEMU!
There is an archive of coreboot snapshots available at qa.coreboot.org. A new tar.bz2 file is created whenever the repository changes.
coreboot has switched to using Git for version control. Please see the Git page for much useful information on how to work with Git and Gerrit.
Old subversion repository references that still apply will continue to be kept here.
Git clone
coreboot keeps its development tree in a Git repository.
Anonymous access
To clone the coreboot repository (ca. 210 MB data as of 07/2011):
$ git clone http://review.coreboot.org/p/coreboot
If you want the obsolete, unsupported, and experimental coreboot v3 tree (ca. 18 MB data as of 11/2009):
$ svn co svn://coreboot.org/repository/coreboot-v3
If you want the old, unmaintained and unsupported coreboot v1 tree (ca. 47 MB data as of 10/2008):
$ svn co svn://coreboot.org/coreboot/branches/coreboot-v1
Developer access with write permission
Please see our wiki page about Git for all the details.
Source code browsing
You can browse the coreboot Git repository online using gitweb.
Repositories on coreboot.org
coreboot current Git tree:
- http://review.coreboot.org/p/coreboot
coreboot v1 (obsolete):
- svn://coreboot.org/coreboot/branches/coreboot-v1
- https://svn.coreboot.org/coreboot/branches/coreboot-v1
coreboot v3 (obsolete):
- svn://coreboot.org/repository/coreboot-v3
- https://svn.coreboot.org/repository/coreboot-v3
- svn://coreboot.org/filo/
- https://svn.coreboot.org/filo/
- svn://coreboot.org/buildrom/
- https://svn.coreboot.org/buildrom/
Distributed and Automated Testsystem:
- svn://coreboot.org/testsystem
- https://svn.coreboot.org/testsystem/


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Enterprises: Google wants you. That's the message coming out of the first keynote address at the company's Google Cloud Next conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. The tech titan's cloud team really wants enterprises to know that it's serious about serving their needs.
Diane Greene, the senior vice president of Google Cloud, showcased a suite of partnerships and customer announcements that provided concrete results for the enterprise-focused strategy that Greene kicked off when she joined Google in 2015.
Google hasn't always focused on the enterprise. The announcements showcased on Wednesday show that the company's initiatives to make its G Suite productivity service and public cloud platform offerings have been resonating with customers it may not have reached in the past.
The difference between where Google is now in regard to the enterprise and where it was is "night and day," Gartner Vice President David Mitchell Smith said in an email.
For example, Colgate-Palmolive migrated 28,000 of its employees to G Suite last year, and Verizon plans to move 115,000 employees to G Suite this year. Disney, eBay, and Home Depot highlighted their use of Google's cloud platform services to power components of their businesses, as well.
Last year was Home Depot's busiest Black Friday in terms of customer load on its services. The company was running "reasonable portions" of its e-commerce infrastructure on Google Cloud Platform, said Paul Gaffney, the retailer's senior vice president of information technology. According to him, it was the smoothest Black Friday ever.
While those wins provide a useful glimpse into what Google has been up to, the company also announced a set of new partnerships aimed at helping serve the needs of large customers.
Greene revealed a new partnership with SAP aimed at boosting Google's enterprise software capabilities. The enterprise software vendor's HANA relational database management system is generally available on Google's cloud as of Wednesday, including an express edition for developers that can be purchased on-demand.
Google is also working on building tools for compliance and data governance to help large businesses move to the cloud in partnership with SAP.
One of the key announcements the company made to appeal to enterprises and businesses of all sizes was around customer support. The company is overhauling its support tiers for GCP, charging customers flat fees per user per month, based on the level of support each user needs.
That means engineers who can wait up to eight hours for a response will be able to get that level of service for US$100 per user per month, those who need a one-hour response time get that for $250 per user per month, and those who need a 15-minute, 24/7 response time pay $1,500 per user per month.
Companies can mix and match support tiers for each user inside their organization. That means it's not necessary for business users to pay companywide for the fastest support if only one project needs that much help.
Greene also announced a pair of partners aimed at helping to scale that support to more customers. Pivotal is working with Google to make sure that customers using GCP and Cloud Foundry build applications that are highly reliable.
Rackspace has become the first managed services support partner for Google's cloud service offerings. It will provide customers with a variety of services, including help with migration, cloud architecture, and ongoing support for Google Cloud deployments.
Wednesday's news comes after a host of announcements Tuesday aimed at boosting Google's cloud partner ecosystem. The company is offering its partners a set of new fiscal incentives to help grow their businesses, along with changes to its program to reward third parties for working with multiple product areas.
The Next conference will continue Thursday and Friday with more Google keynotes. Greene said that Thursday will bring a host of product news across Google Cloud's offerings. One announcement will likely be the company's Meet enterprise videoconferencing service.


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- This event has passed.
Grief Support Group
August 10, 2022|3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
|Recurring Event (See all)
An event every month that begins at 3:00 pm on day Second of the month, repeating indefinitely
An event every month that begins at 3:00 pm on day Fourth of the month, repeating indefinitely
The Grief Support Group meets from 3:00 to 4:30PM on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month. This group offers participants nurturing, confidential support as they journey through the grieving process.
For more information or to receive the Zoom link, call Bonnie Jaffe, RN, at (651) 497-8248 or email her. The Grief Support Group is a partnership between JFS and Sholom.


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|Boateng, Akwasi
|Mullen, Charles
|OSGOOD-JACOBS, LOGAN - Swarthmore College
|CARLSON, PEREGRINE - Swarthmore College
|MACKEN, NELSON - Swarthmore College
Submitted to: Journal of Energy Resources Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/12/2012
Publication Date: 10/19/2012
Citation: Boateng, A.A., Mullen, C.A., Osgood-Jacobs, L., Carlson, P., Macken, N. 2012. Mass balance, energy and exergy analysis of bio-oil production by fast pyrolysis. Journal of Energy Resources Technology. 134/042001-1-9.
Interpretive Summary: The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy are committed to achieving the country's energy security through the development of domestic renewable energy and advanced biofuels which will at the same time create opportunities for the farm and rural communities. Of the various biomass conversion technologies being studied, fast pyrolysis has received the farmers' attention due to its small footprint and potential ease of deployment on-farm. At ARS, a bench scale unit has been developed to test this process on many sources of biomass, including dedicated energy crops (e.g. switchgrass), crop residues (e.g. corn stover, straw) and other waste materials. For the pilot scale system, small size, the high viscosity of bio-oil and the variability of feedstock make it difficult to achieve a balance of the material flows in and out. Therefore, a mathematical mass balance model was developed which can take data generated from test runs and determine how much of the carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen in the biomass is ultimately found in each of the products from this process. It can also help researchers determine the amount of each material that is not collected because it is stuck in the system or escaped the system prior to collection. These losses will be minimized in scale up to a production system, and this model allows for prediction of product yields on a larger scale. Another model was then developed which takes the outcome of the mass balance model and data from testing on the products and determines the exergy efficiency of the system. Exergy is an advanced theory which is related to energy, but measures the "real world" work which can be done by a material. The exergy results for the system can be incorporated into a larger context where the process is part of a system where biomass is grown, converted to fuel and then consumed as fuel and be used to determine the sustainability of the entire system. This information will be useful to those developing and commercializing biofuel products via pyrolysis and those studying sustainable biofuels development.
Technical Abstract: Mass, energy and exergy balances are analyzed for bio-oil production in a bench scale fast pyrolysis system developed by the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) for the processing of commodity crops to fuel intermediates. Because mass balance closure is difficult to achieve due, in part, to the system's small size and complexity a linear programming optimization model is developed to improve closure of elemental balances without losing the overall representation of the pyrolysis products. The model results provide an opportunity to analyze true energy and exergy balances for the system. While energy comparisons are based on heating values, exergy flows are computed using statistical relationships and other standard techniques. Comparisons were made for a variety of biomass feedstocks including energy crops and various byproducts of agriculture and Bioenergy industry. The mass model allows for proper accounting of sources of mass loss and suggestions for improved system performance. Energy recovery and exergetic efficiency are compared for a variety of pyrolysis product utilization scenarios including use of biochar and non-condensable gases as heat sources. Exergetic efficiencies show high potential for energy utilization when all the pyrolysis product streams can be recycled to recuperate their internal energy. The exergy analysis can be beneficial to developing exergetic life cycle assessments (ELCA) for the fast pyrolysis process as sustainable technology for advanced biofuels production.


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Target and Bruno Mars Pair Up to Offer Exclusive Deluxe Edition of "Unorthodox Jukebox"
Target and Bruno Mars Pair Up to Offer Exclusive Deluxe Edition of "Unorthodox Jukebox"
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Target® Corp. (NYS: TGT) and GRAMMY® Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and musician Bruno Mars are teaming up to deliver an exclusive deluxe edition of the hit maker's sophomore album, "Unorthodox Jukebox." Available only at Target and at Target.com starting Dec. 11, the exclusive album features five bonus tracks. Pre-orders are available now at Target.com/ExclusiveArtists.
Target and Bruno Mars Pair Up to Offer Exclusive Deluxe Edition of "Unorthodox Jukebox" (Photo: Business Wire)
Bonus songs on the exclusive Target deluxe edition of the album include, "Old & Crazy," an original duet with fellow Grammy Award-winner Esperanza Spalding; two demo versions of album tracks "Young Girls" and "Gorilla;" and remixes album tracks "Moonshine" (with The Futuristics) and "Locked Out of Heaven" (featuring Major Lazer).
"Bruno Mars is a creative force and his new album is another exciting example of his tremendous talent and versatility," said John Butcher, vice president of entertainment, Target. "Target's exclusive partnership offered him room to develop additional new content and play with remixes of existing songs - which we know his fans and our guests will love."
"When creating my new album, I experimented with different sounds and styles and really pushed myself," said Bruno Mars. "I'm honored to partner with Target for this exclusive edition, where I get to share a little bit more with my fans."
Bruno Mars is a 13-time Grammy Award nominee who has sold more than 45 million singles worldwide and has 1 billion views on YouTube. Bruno's debut album, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans," was released in October 2010 and has been certified 39-times Platinum worldwide. The album, which was named "the year's finest pop debut: 10 near-perfect songs," by Rolling Stone, included the 12-time platinum blockbuster single, "Just the Way You Are," which hit No. 1 in multiple countries across the globe and won the critically-acclaimed artist a Grammy Award for "Best Male Pop Vocal Performance." "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" claimed two additional hit singles, the 10-time platinum "Grenade" and six-time platinum "The Lazy Song." Mars has received an abundance of accolades to date, including ASCAP Song of the Year, a Billboard Music Award for Top Radio Song for "Just the Way You Are," a BRIT Award for International Male Solo Artist, an American Music Award for Favorite Male Artist in Pop/Rock, two MTV European Music Awards including Best New Artist, and the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Artist. In 2011, Mars was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. Bruno's latest single "Locked Out Of Heaven," from his forthcoming sophomore album "Unorthodox Jukebox," marks his twelfth single to enter the top-10 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
About Target
Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYS: TGT) serves guests at 1,782 stores across the United States and at Target.com. The company plans to open its first stores in Canada in 2013. Since 1946, Target has given 5 percent of its profit through community grants and programs; today, that giving equals more than $4 million a week. For more information about Target's commitment to corporate responsibility, visit Target.com/hereforgood.
For more information, visit Target.com/Pressroom.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20121205005505/en/
Target Public Relations
Erica Julkowski, 612-761-6641
Target Media Hotline, 612-696-3400
KEYWORDS: United States North America Minnesota
The article Target and Bruno Mars Pair Up to Offer Exclusive Deluxe Edition of "Unorthodox Jukebox" originally appeared on Fool.com.
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McManus writes: "When it comes to national security, Michael V. Haydenis no shrinking violet. As CIA director, he ran the Bush administration's program of warrantless wiretaps against suspected terrorists. But the retired air force general admits to being a little squeamish about the Obama administration's expanding use of pilotless drones to kill suspected terrorists around the world - including, occasionally, US citizens."
President Obama discusses drone strikes against al Qaeda and other militants in Pakistan during a 'virtual interview' via GooglePlus and YouTube, 01/30/12. (photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Who Reviews the US 'Kill List'?
05 February 12
There has been remarkably little public debate in the U.S. about drone strikes, which have killed at least 1,300 people in Pakistan alone since President Obama came to office.
hen it comes to national security, Michael V. Haydenis no shrinking violet. As CIA director, he ran the Bush administration's program of warrantless wiretaps against suspected terrorists.
But the retired air force general admits to being a little squeamish about the Obama administration's expanding use of pilotless drones to kill suspected terrorists around the world - including, occasionally, U.S. citizens.
"Right now, there isn't a government on the planet that agrees with our legal rationale for these operations, except for Afghanistan and maybe Israel," Hayden told me recently.
As an example of the problem, he cites the example of Anwar Awlaki, the New Mexico-born member of Al Qaeda who was killed by a U.S. drone in Yemen last September. "We needed a court order to eavesdrop on him," Hayden notes, "but we didn't need a court order to kill him. Isn't that something?"
Hayden isn't the only one who has qualms about the "targeted killing" program. The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), has been pressing the administration to explain its rules for months.
In a written statement, Feinstein said she thinks Awlaki was "a lawful target" but added that she still thinks the administration should explain its reasoning more openly "to maintain public support of secret operations."
As Hayden puts it: "This program rests on the personal legitimacy of the president, and that's dangerous."
There has been remarkably little public debate about the drone strikes, which have killed at least 1,300 people in Pakistan alone since President Obama came to office. Little debate inside the United States, that is. But overseas, the operations have prompted increasing opposition and could turn into a foreign policy headache.
It's odd that the Obama administration, which came into office promising to be more open and more attentive to civil liberties than the previous one, has been so reluctant to explain its policies in this area. Obama and his aides have refused to answer questions about drone strikes because they are part of a covert program, yet they have repeatedly taken credit for their victories in public. After months of negotiations, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. won approval from the White House to spell out some of the administration's legal thinking in the Awlaki case. But his statement, originally promised for last month, has been delayed by continued internal wrangling.
When it is issued, officials said, the statement is likely to add a few details to the bare-bones rationale the administration has offered in a handful of public statements and court proceedings. The administration has said that strikes against suspected terrorists are justified for two reasons: First, that Al Qaeda is at war with the United States, which makes any participant in Al Qaeda operations an enemy combatant; and second, that anyone directly involved in terrorist plots against Americans poses an "imminent danger" to U.S. security.
Holder may also shed light on an issue that has been less clear: Should a terrorist suspect who is a U.S. citizen get special treatment? Some in the intelligence community argue that the answer is no - that a U.S.-born member of Al Qaeda is no different from an American who joined, say, the German army in World War II. But civil libertarians argue that in a murky war against terrorism, an American such as Awlaki deserves some kind of due process before his name goes on the CIA's "kill list."
In fact, officials say, Awlaki did get more due process than most Al Qaeda suspects on the list. They say the administration made a point of naming Awlaki publicly as an Al Qaeda leader - putting him on notice, in effect - before he was killed. And they say the Justice Department held that Awlaki could be killed only if it was not feasible to capture him. The administration has refused to release that legal opinion, in part because it's not sure it wants those standards to turn into a binding precedent for later cases.
But there are questions that go beyond the legal underpinning for targeted killing. Who puts names on the "kill list," and who reviews them? And is the process rigorous enough to withstand outside scrutiny?
In the case of a U.S. citizen such as Awlaki, Obama makes the final call. Or so said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who offered a rare bit of on-the-record clarity in an interview withCBS' "60 Minutes" last week. "In the end, when it comes to going after someone like that, the president of the United States has to sign off," Panetta said.
There's also scrutiny from Congress. "There is no intelligence activity the [Senate] Intelligence Committee follows more closely, or conducts more oversight on, than CIA counter-terrorism operations along the Afghan-Pakistan border," Feinstein said, studiously avoiding the word "drone."
But congressional oversight comes after the fact, and it is divided between Congress' intelligence committees, which review CIA operations, and its armed forces committees, which review military operations.
That's one reason some former officials argue that the administration needs to set up a clearer, more rigorous system of internal review - for its own good. John B. Bellinger III, who served as the State Department's top lawyer during the Bush administration, believes a good solution would be to expand the jurisdiction of the judges who currently authorize wiretaps to cover targeted killing cases as well.
But most intelligence officials hate that idea. "Why on earth would you want to get a judge involved?" asked one. A better solution, he said, would be appointing a special review office made up of seasoned officials who can't be fired, to insulate them from bureaucratic pressure. But that would still invest life-or-death power in a secret corner of the intelligence community, without a clear constitutional foundation.
The biggest problem with this newly invented form of clandestine warfare is that its rules have been made on the fly. The Obama administration, like the Bush administration, has made crucial decisions with little outside review and virtually no public scrutiny.
The administration says it has the authority to kill U.S. citizens who are active in Al Qaeda, but it's never explained how that squares with the Constitution's guarantee of due process. It's past time that it did so.
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This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar
All the latest kit reviewed and rated
HTC's 'One' range of Android smartphones represents the company's great hope of a 2012 financial comeback, and we've now reviewed all three models.
The HTC One V is the most affordable of the three, and you should check out our review if you're looking for a premium handset for a reasonable price.
Elsewhere it's been another exciting week in the world of cameras so do check out our cameras channel.
Bringing impressive specs to a more entry-level friendly price point, the HTC One V is a smartphone that will help push user expectations of competitively priced handsets to a new level. Far from a beige device that will simply blend into the highly competitive crowd, the HTC One V features enough standout specs and impressively simple user interface characteristics to separate it from the throng of devices all vying for the same limited custom.
Although not perfect, the handset's 1GHz Qualcomm CPU keeps the device zipping through content at an impressive pace, with little lag when jumping between apps, menus and the selection of heavily skinned home screens.
The Panasonic HC-V700 has some really stand out features to remind you that smartphones and small Sony Bloggie-style cameras can't do everything a bigger unit can. With its wide-angle lens, massive zoom and image stabilisation, it's easy to see the technological advantages of the HC-V700. Unfortunately, it proved to be only competent at actual image quality, and at £450, that inevitably knocks it down from being an essential purchase.
It's great to find that the D800 isn't just a triumph of numbers, and that the 35.3Mp sensor actually delivers on its promise – capturing bags of detail. The surprise bonus is that noise is actually pretty well controlled and the dynamic range is very impressive.
For those interested in stepping up to a full-frame camera, the D800 represents a good investment. You get pretty much all of the best features of the D4 in a more compact and lighter body, with a much higher pixel count for just shy of half of the price.
Three years after making its first entrance into the compact system camera arena with the PEN E-P1, Olympus has gone back to its roots again to produce the OM-D, with its retro styling owed to its analogue predecessor.
The Panasonic Lumix TZ30 is quite an expensive compact camera, although when you take into account the raft of functions it starts to appear good value. Features are one thing, though - image quality is quite another. Although the Panasonic Lumix TZ30 is capable of capturing good pictures, we don't feel the camera's images match the high levels of performance it delivers elsewhere.
Other reviews this week:
Home cinema systems
Acer Aspire Timeline M3 review
Samsung Series 3 NP300E5A review
Logitech m600 Touch Mouse review
Mobile phones
Trendnet TEW-692GR Dual Band Wireless Router review
Asus RT-N66U Dark Knight review
D-Link DHP-1565 Wireless N PowerLine Gigabit Router review
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 review
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One course
Two credits
To increase students' understanding of individual and group differences (e.g., race, gender, class) and their knowledge of the traditions and values of various groups in the United States. Students should be able to evaluate the United States' historical and contemporary responses to group differences.
Critical Thinking
The practice of critical thinking skills required for clear understanding of human diversity, including the ability to gather and apply factual information, analysis of logical connections between facts and assumptions, skill at recognizing and articulating the value assumptions made by ourselves and others.
Student Competencies
Students will be able to:
- understand the development of and the changing meanings of group identities in the United States, history and culture.
- demonstrate an awareness of the individual and institutional dynamics of unequal power relations between groups in contemporary society.
- analyze their own attitudes, behaviors, concepts and beliefs regarding diversity, racism, and bigotry.
- describe and discuss the experience and contributions (political, social, economic, etc.) of the many groups that shape American society and culture, in particular those groups that have suffered discrimination and exclusion.
- demonstrate communication skills necessary for living and working effectively in a society with great population diversity.
Courses that satisfy this goal area include
ANTH 2100 Native North Americans (3 credits)
*ED 2007 Anatomy of Hate (3 credits)
ENGL 2350 American Literature, to 1865 (3 credits)
ENGL 2355 American Literature, 1865 to Present (3 credits)
GEOG 1400 World Regional Geography (3 credits)
GEOG 2200 Introduction to Human Geography (3 credits)
*HLTH 2800 Multicultural Health in America (2 credits)
HST 1114 United States History I, to 1877 (3 credits)
HST 1115 United States History II, since 1877 (3 credits)
HST 2610 Minnesota History (3 credits)
HUM 2150 Hawaiian Monarchy and the Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement: Field Projects (1-3 credits)
INST 1107 Introduction to Indian Studies (3 credits)
INST 2201 American Indians: Precontact to 1887 (3 credits)
INST 2202 American Indians: 1887 To The Present (3 credits)
MASC 2100 Minorities in the Media (3 credits)
MASC 2190 International Communication (3 credits)
MUS 1120 Introduction to Folk, Jazz, and Rock Music (2 credits)
MUS 3120 The History of Jazz (2 credits)
MUS 3130 The History of Rock and Roll (3 credits)
OJIB 1100 Ojibwe Culture (4 credits)
PHIL 3340 Twentieth-Century Philosophy (3 credits)
PSY 2200 Human Sexuality (3 credits)
SOC 2230 Race and Ethnic Relations (3 credits)
SOC 2240 Men, Women, and Society: A Sociological Interpretation (3 credits)
*SOWK 2110 Intercultural Communication (3 credits)
SPCM 1090 Interpersonal Communication (2 credits)
THTR 3704 American Indian Theatre (3 credits)
THTR 3709 The Performance of Race and Gender in America (3 credits)
WSGS 2220 Women's Issues (3 credits)
WSGS 2600 Women and Diversity: Crossing Boundaries of Race, Class, Gender & Sexuality (3 credits)
All-University course numbers 1955 and 2955 are available to any department for use as study-travel courses, subject to approval, and will satisfy this goal area.
*This course will satisfy Liberal Education at BSU, but does not qualify for inclusion in the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum as currently interpreted by MnSCU, and may not be accepted as a Liberal Education course at other MnSCU institutions or the University of Minnesota.


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If minor iOS updates are your jam, then it's time to hit the old Software Update button, because iOS 7.1.2 has arrived for iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. The Monday update fixes some minor bugs and also patches security vulnerabilities.
Among the tweaks made in the update are improvements to iBeacon connectivity and stability; a fix for a bug involving data transfer from some third-party accessories, such as bar code scanners; and the correction of a known issue with the data protection in Mail attachments.
Not yet detailed are the included security patches, which should be expanded upon later on Monday.
As always, the update is available for free, via Software Update on your iOS device or via iTunes.


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Johnnie Walker Black Label is a true icon, recognised as the benchmark for all other deluxe blends. Created using only whiskies aged for a minimum of 12 years from the four corners of Scotland, Johnnie Walker Black Label has an unmistakably smooth, deep character. An impressive whisky to share on any occasion, whether you're entertaining at home or on a night out with friends.
Take in the luxurious scent of rich and tropical dark fruits with hints of sweet vanilla.
Savour the depth of flavour developed from maturation in oak casks, combined with creamy toffee notes that come from grain whiskies.
This iconic whisky delivers a smooth and warming smoke finish, characteristic of all Johnnie Walker whiskies.
This is the world's leading premium Scotch Whisky with a multi-dimensional taste that makes it really versatile: the flavours of rich fruits, vanilla and smoke shine through whether served on the rocks or mixed with soda in a highball.
Find a new way to enjoy your favourite Johnnie Walker whisky by exploring our whisky cocktails. Serve a measure of Scotch over ice, topped up with soda for a refreshing and universally popular Highball. Alternatively, pair with amaretto for a Godfather cocktail – a mix not to be messed with.
There's no end to the list of incredible combinations that can be made, so get creative with a bottle of Johnnie Walker and your preferred mixers, or have a look at our suggestions below.
Johnnie Walker Black Label is a smooth and beautifully balanced whisky with a distinctive smoky flavour, expertly crafted using an unrivalled selection of Single Malts and Grains each aged for at least 12 years.
Discover the best ways to enjoy Johnnie Walker Black Label with our How to Drink Whisky guide.
Have you tried Johnnie Walker Double Black? Based on Johnnie Walker Black Label, it's an intense combination of flavours best enjoyed with water to unlock its many layers. An impressive blend to share, whatever the occasion.
Have you tried Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve? A luxurious and smooth whisky with notes of vanilla and dark fruit – it's ideal for cocktails and moments of celebration.


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Kids Books
View by age group
|4 5 6
|7 8 9
|10 11 12
|Interrupting Chicken, by David Ezra Stein
It's time for the little red chicken's bedtime story-and a reminder from Papa to try not to interrupt. But the chicken can't help herself! Whether the tale is Hansel and Grettel or Little Red Riding Hood or even Chicken Little, she jumps into the story to save its hapless characters from doing some dangerous or silly thing. Now it's the little red chicken's turn to tell a story, but will her yawning papa make it to the end without his own kind of interrupting? Energetically illustrated with glowing colors-and offering humorous story-within-a-story views-this all-too-familiar tale is sure to amuse (and hold the attention of) spirited little chicks.
A favorite joke inspires this charming tale, in which a little chicken's habit of interrupting bedtime stories is gleefully turned on its head.
|Splat the Cat, by Rob Scotton
It's Splat's first day of school and he's worried. What if he doesn't make any new friends? Just in case, Splat decides to bring along his pet mouse, Seymour, and hides him in his lunchbox. The teacher, Mrs. Wimpydimple, introduces Splat to the class and he soon starts learning all his important cat lessons. But when Seymour escapes and the cats do what cats do (they chase mice!), Splat's worried again. Maybe now he'll lose all his friends, old and new! Just in time, wise Mrs. Wimpydimple takes charge and teaches everyone an important new lesson. Maybe Cat School is going to be okay after all!
|Tumford the Terrible, by Nancy Tillman
Tumford isn't really a terrible cat. He just has a way of finding mischief-tracking dirt into the house, knocking over breakable things, and disrupting fancy parties. But even though he feels bad, he has a hard time saying, "I'm sorry.†Will the fact that his owners love him, no matter what, help Tummy say the magic words?
|The Quiet Book, by Deborah Underwood
There are many kinds of quiet:
Quiet can be delicate
. Quiet can be thundering!
Quiet can be sweet,and cozy,and can most definitely help you fall asleep.
With kid-centric descriptions and irresistible artwork, this gentle picture book explores all the different quiets that can fill a child's days from morning to night.
|More books for this age group...
| The Red Book, by Barbara Lehman
| Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst
| Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
| I Just Forgot, by Mercer Mayer
| Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum, by Meghan McCarthy
| Fancy Nancy and the Late, Late, LATE Night , by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser
| My Mommy Hung the Moon, by Jamie Lee Curtis
| Sector 7, by David Wiesner
| The Lion and the Mouse, by Jerry Pinkney
| Art & Max, by David Wiesner
| Knuffle Bunny Free, by Mo Willems
| Splat the Cat, by Rob Scotton
|The Lemonade War, by Jacqueline Davis
As the final days of summer heat up, so does a sibling showdown over a high-stakes lemonade stand business. Jessie and Evan Treski compete to see who will make $100 first off of their respective lemonade stands. Full of surprisingly accessible and savvy marketing tips for running a stand (or making money at any business) and with clever mathematical visuals woven in, this sensitively characterized novel subtly explores how war can escalate beyond anyone's intent.
|Friendship According to Humphrey, by Betty G. Birney
After a long winter vacation, Humphrey the hamster can't wait to see his friends in Room 26 again. But on the first day back he gets a big surprise: Room 26 has a new class pet, Og the frog! Humphrey can't wait to be friends with Og, but Og doesn't seem interested. To make matters worse, the students are so interested in Og, they almost stop paying attention to Humphrey altogether. Luckily he still gets to go home with different kids on the weekends and help them out with their problems. Humphrey knows that friendship can be a tricky business, but if any hamster can become buddies with a frog, Humphrey can!
|The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale, by Jeanne Birdsall
This summer the Penderwick sisters have a wonderful surprise: a holiday on the grounds of a beautiful estate called Arundel. Soon they are busy discovering the summertime magic of Arundel's sprawling gardens, treasure-filled attic, tame rabbits, and the cook who makes the best gingerbread in Massachusetts. But the best discovery of all is Jeffrey Tifton, son of Arundel's owner, who quickly proves to be the perfect companion for their adventures.
The icy-hearted Mrs. Tifton is not as pleased with the Penderwicks as Jeffrey is, though, and warns the new friends to stay out of trouble. Which, of course, they will-won't they? One thing's for sure: it will be a summer the Penderwicks will never forget.
Deliciously nostalgic and quaintly witty, this is a story as breezy and carefree as a summer day.
|LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, by Simon Beecroft
The Visual Dictionary elucidates, illuminates, and excites even the most discerning LEGO Group, Star Wars™, and minifigure fans around the world.. Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Yoda, Luke Skywalker, and more are brought to life with dozens of little-known facts and hundreds of photos, as are accessories, vehicles, weapons, and even the Death Star! Learn about the history, manufacture, and construction of the minifigures of the Star Wars galaxy, and come away a LEGO® Jedi Master.
|More books for this age group...
| Dog Days (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 4), by Jeff Kinney
| The 39 Clues, Book 10: Into the Gauntlet, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
| The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
| For Boys Only: The Biggest, Baddest Book Ever, by Marc Aronson
| Master of Disaster , by Gary Paulsen
| Where the Mountain Meets the Moon , by Grace Lin
| The Adventures of Nanny Piggins , by R.A. Spratt
| Late for School , by Steve Martin
| The Old Woman Who Named Things, by Cynthia Rylant
| Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun, by Maria Dismondy
| My Name is Not Isabella, by Jennifer Fosberry
| LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, by Simon Beecroft
|Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life, by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts
Rafe Khatchadorian has enough problems at home without throwing his first year of middle school into the mix. Luckily, he's got an ace plan for the best year ever, if only he can pull it off: With his best friend Leonardo the Silent awarding him points, Rafe tries to break every rule in his school's oppressive Code of Conduct. Chewing gum in class-5,000 points! Running in the hallway-10,000 points! Pulling the fire alarm-50,000 points! But when Rafe's game starts to catch up with him, he'll have to decide if winning is all that matters, or if he's finally ready to face the rules, bullies, and truths he's been avoiding. Blockbuster author James Patterson delivers a genuinely hilarious-and surprisingly poignant-story of a wildly imaginative, one-of-kind kid that you won't soon forget.
|Lunch Money, by Andrew Clements
Greg Kenton has two obsessions -- making money and his long-standing competition with his annoying neighbor, Maura Shaw. So when Greg discovers that Maura is cutting into his booming Chunky Comics business with her own original illustrated minibooks, he's ready to declare war.
The problem is, Greg has to admit that Maura's books are good, and soon the longtime enemies become unlikely business partners. But their budding partnership is threatened when the principal bans the sale of their comics in school. Suddenly, the two former rivals find themselves united against an adversary tougher than they ever were to each other. Will their enterprise -- and their friendship -- prevail?
|Another Whole Nother Story , by Dr. Cuthbert Soup
The plan was simple. Ethan Cheeseman, along with his three smart, polite, and relatively odor-free children, would travel back in time to end an ancient family curse and save their mother. Now that the LVR (a super-secret time machine) is in working order, it should be easy peasy. Except they didn't account for one basic rule of science: Murphy's Law, where everything that possibly could go wrong, does. So the Cheeseman family finds themselves on another madcap adventure, this time through stormy seas and haunted castles. And though their narrator, Dr. Soup, has a ton of unsolicited advice to offer young readers, he doesn't have much to say to help the Cheesemans. Just this one thing: Good luck!
|The Name of this Book Is Secret , by Pseudonymous Bosch
This is the story about a secret. but it also contains a secret story.
When adventurous detectives, Cass, an ever-vigilant survivalist, and Max-Ernest, a boy driven by logic, discover the Symphony of Smells, a box filled with smelly vials of colorful ingredients, they accidentally stumble upon a mystery surrounding a dead magician's diary and the hunt for immortality.
Filled with word games, anagrams, and featuring a mysterious narrator, this is a book that won't stay secret for long.
|More books for this age group...
| Dork Diaries - Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous-Life, by Rachel Renee Russell
| Big Nate - In a Class by Himself, by Lincoln Peirce
| The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan
| Infinity, by Sherrilyn Kenyon
| Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, by John Grisham
| SPHDZ, by Jon Scieszka
| The Toymaker, by Jeremy de Quidt
| Reckless, by Cornelia Funke
| The Atlantis Complex (Artemis Fowl, Book 7), by Eoin Colfer
| The Pumpkin Head Mystery (Boxcar Children Mysteries), by Gertrude Chandler Warner
| Justin Beiber: First Step 2 Forever, by Justin Bieber
|The Gift, by James Patterson and Ned Rust


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Deaths from sudden cardiac arrest can be reduced by proper training of race medical staff and provisions for adequate equipment, according to research published in the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. This study, in the October edition of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise®, shows that early use of an automatic external defibrillator (AED) can dramatically improve survival following sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).
The authors distributed a survey requesting the number of sudden cardiac arrest incidents, treatment, and outcome to all U.S. marathon medical directors. Eighty-eight of the surveyed medial directors responded, indicating that most sudden cardiac arrest events occur near the end of the race, and resuscitation is most successful when there are early responders and an AED is used. In addition, the majority of SCA occurred in men during the fifth decade of life.
"Emergency planning with availability of AEDs throughout the race course is recommended, and if resources are limited, focus should be placed in the last four miles of the race, where the majority of sudden cardiac arrests occur. It is also important for all runners to establish a relationship with a primary care or sports medicine physician, prior to marathon participation." said the primary investigator, David Webner, M.D., of the Crozer-Keystone Health System.
Though the risk of experiencing sudden cardiac arrest during a marathon is very low – about one in 57,000 – this survey gives further insight into the importance of medical staff during a race and the crucial role of response time and AED use in treatment of sudden cardiac arrest victims during marathons.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise® is the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, and is available from Lippincott Williams & Wilkins at 1-800-638-6423. For a complete copy of the research paper (Vol. 44, No. 10, pp: 1843-1845) or to speak with a leading sports medicine expert on the topic, contact the Department of Communications and Public Information at 317-637-9200 ext. 133. Visit ACSM online at www.acsm.org.
The conclusions outlined in this news release are those of the researchers only, and should not be construed as an official statement of the American College of Sports Medicine.
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Industry walks a fuzzy line between preservation and extortion
Gas company offers millions for permission to maximize drilling
Last year, natural gas companies extracted a lot of gas from the sagebrush country around Pinedale, Wyo. — about $3 billion worth.
The drilling continues at a fast pace. But energy companies, government agencies and environmentalists are struggling over a key issue: how to extract the gas while protecting a spectacular wildlife community that includes sage grouse and tens of thousands of pronghorn (HCN, 8/18/03: Where the Antelope (and the Oil Companies) Play).
Now, one energy company has made an unusual proposal. EnCana Oil and Gas USA Inc., which pulled about $600 million worth of natural gas from local fields last year, says it is willing to pay to improve wildlife habitat in areas around Pinedale where it isn't drilling. The company would spend up to $21.85 million over the next decade, for measures such as habitat studies and the restoration or preservation of up to 70,000 acres of land.
There's a catch, however: In return for its money, EnCana wants permission to carry out one of the most intensive drilling proposals in the West, damaging much of the remaining habitat in the 30,500-acre Jonah Field.
The proposal shows that "EnCana is committed to developing the Jonah Field at a net positive impact to the environment," says Jeff Johnson, a project leader for the company.
But critics say the company just wants to buy its way out of regulations that call for preserving habitat in gas fields. Peter Aengst, in the Northern Rockies office of The Wilderness Society in Bozeman, Mont., says the offer is "almost extortion."
Better than perfume on a pig
The Jonah Field, which lies about 30 miles south of Pinedale, contains an estimated 13.7 trillion cubic feet of gas, worth more than $5 billion at today's prices. EnCana and a few other companies have already drilled about 600 wells in the field. EnCana has proposed another 3,100 wells to be drilled over the next 12 years, two-thirds of them by the company itself. To extract as much gas as possible, wells would be spaced an average of 10 acres apart; some would be as close as every five acres. The drilling would result in "surface disturbance" on at least 16,200 acres.
The company developed its proposal in more than a year of talks with state officials and the federal Bureau of Land Management, which controls most of the land and mineral rights in the Jonah Field. The Bush administration has encouraged the BLM to consider such "offsite mitigation" proposals, says Don Simpson, a deputy state director of the BLM.
The BLM released a draft environmental impact statement in February, listing nine alternatives for public comment. While some of them call for hundreds fewer wells than EnCana proposes, the BLM's "preferred alternative" would allow the 3,100 new wells.
The preferred alternative doesn't give EnCana everything it wants, though. To protect grouse nests, the agency effectively recommends 40-acre well spacing in half of the field. That would require the use of "directional drilling" — diagonal wells — from existing well pads, a process EnCana says would cost more, while extracting less gas. EnCana says that if it has to use directional drilling, it will pay only $1.4 million for habitat mitigation, enough to preserve up to 4,000 acres.
The preferred alternative would allow up to 11,000 acres of surface disturbance. Simpson says habitat would be improved near the Jonah Field to provide a "safe harbor" for wildlife. Once the drilling tapers off, he says, some of the damaged habitat within the field would be rehabilitated, and wildlife would eventually return.
But Gov. Dave Freudenthal, D, says the habitat in the Jonah Field has already been "debilitated," and that more drilling will consume what's left. The BLM's preferred alternative, he says, amounts to "a futile attempt to 'perfume the pig.' " Instead, he supports EnCana's proposal for maximum development in the field, combined with the highest amount of offsite mitigation.
And the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish wants to combine the best aspects of both the BLM's and EnCana's proposals — the maximum amount of offsite mitigation, together with an attempt to preserve some habitat in the field.
No quid pro quo
Environmentalists are "conflicted" about EnCana's offer, according to Aengst. The Jonah Field "is already pretty trashed," but it's difficult to evaluate EnCana's offer because it lacks specifics, he says. He would like to see EnCana commit to preserving land in key migration corridors for pronghorn and deer.
Offsite mitigation is worth considering, says Gwen Lachelt, director of the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, an industry watchdog based in Durango, Colo. But, she adds, "It should never be used as an excuse for not utilizing best practices and preventing and reducing impact at the well site."
Erik Molvar, a biologist who heads the Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, says his group may sue the BLM if it allows any new well pads in the Jonah Field. "EnCana is basically trying to produce as much gas as it can, as cheaply as it can," he says, while other companies in the area do expensive directional drilling, disturbing less land per well.
Environmentalists are also worried that the "extortion component" will set a precedent for other companies, Aengst says. The offsite mitigation money, he says, "should be mandatory, and completely divorced from some sort of quid pro quo of 'We get what we want.' You don't get to buy what you want in an (environmental impact statement)."
The public comment period on the project ended in April; the BLM says it will analyze the comments and reach a final decision later this year.
The author is the environmental reporter for the Casper Star-Tribune, based in Jackson, Wyoming. Ray Ring, HCN's editor in the field, contributed to this story.


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In an effort to increase the number of New Jersey children tested for lead poisoning, a Department of Health pilot project is using portable screening devices to give families rapid results and prevent lifelong health and learning problems.
Using the LeadCare II Blood Lead Testing System, nine local and county health departments are expected to test more than 2,000 children and identify lead poisoned children earlier and link them appropriate medical treatment. Testing conducted as part of this pilot is free of charge. Lead exposure often occurs with no obvious symptoms-in the absence of testing, it frequently goes unrecognized.
"Early diagnosis is critical-it allows children to get treated sooner and serious health and learning consequences can be avoided,' said New Jersey Department of Health Commissioner Mary E. O'Dowd. "Blood lead testing also guides lead remediation and enforcement actions to eliminate lead contamination in housing, consumer products, and the environment."
This new pilot project provides rapid results, which means public health officials can educate parent about the results and begin intervention immediately. In the past, getting results would take up to a week and public health offices often found it difficult to get back in touch with families to report the results and begin intervention if the results were elevated.
"The benefit of the pilot program is that families are able to have their children's blood lead level explained by a nurse or health educator on-site," said Deputy Commissioner Dr. Arturo Brito. "All of our pilot participants are equipped to provide education about the effects of lead, lead poisoning prevention, and can work with primary care providers to ensure treatment as necessary."
Today, Deputy Commissioner Dr. Arturo Brito launched the pilot in the City of Passaic with Mayor Alex Blanco. During the event, the Passaic City Health Department unveiled its new mobile health van, which will be parked across the street at the WIC clinic, that will provide lead screening throughout the day. The Passaic Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) office also collaborated in the event by encouraging mothers who visit that day to have their children tested at the mobile van. This announcement was held at 11:30am on the steps of the Passaic City Hall located at 330 Passaic Street.
The Passaic Health Department will receive $159,250 from Department of Health to address lead issues in the city-on top of the new equipment they received.
The Passaic Health Department is one of nine health department that were chosen to participate based on: having a population at-risk for lead poisoning, capacity to carry out testing and current rates of screening.
Nine pilot program participants:
1. Camden County Dept. of Health and Human Services
2. City of Hackensack Department of Health
3. Town of Morristown Department of Health
4. Cumberland County Department of Health
5. Monmouth County Department of Health
6. City of Jersey City Dept of Health and Human Services
7. Middlesex County Department of Health
8. City of Passaic Department of Health
9. Salem County Dept. of Health and Human Services
The LeadCare II Blood Lead Testing System is a portable Point-of-Care testing device by Magellan Diagnostics (www.leadcare2.com/). The significance of this new portable, point of care test, which was developed in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is that children can be screened for lead wherever they receive health services. This allows rapid diagnosis and the opportunity for follow-up, all in one visit. To carry out the test, health officials prick the finger of the child and take a small sample of blood, analyze the blood with the testing system and get results within three minutes. If the blood is taken from a finger and the blood lead level is 10 or more micrograms per deciliter of blood, which is the blood level of concern in the state, the child will undergo further testing with a blood sample from a vein.
The state negotiated with Magellan to take out older equipment the state had purchased to re-invest in software through this pilot project to bring the new equipment to nine public health departments. Some private doctors' offices, federally qualified health centers and local health departments are already using the test in New Jersey.
Low screening rates continue to expose children to the effects of lead poisoning. Although New Jersey has a universal screening law, which requires all children to be tested for lead poisoning by age one and age two or at least once by age six, there are still some children who are not tested for lead poisoning. In New Jersey, by age 3, 76 percent of children have been tested-this new pilot seeks to improve rates.
Lead-based paint and lead contaminated dust are the main sources of exposure for lead in U.S. children, according to the CDC. Lead-based paints were banned for use in housing in 1978. All houses built before 1978 are likely to contain some lead-based paint. However, it is the deterioration of this paint that causes a problem. It is important to determine the construction year of the house or the dwelling where your child may spend a large amount of time if the housing was built before 1978, assume that the paint has lead unless tests show otherwise.
Children under the age of 6 years old are at greatest risk because they are growing so rapidly and because they tend to put their hands or other objects, which may be contaminated with lead dust, into their mouths. Children are exposed to lead by swallowing leaded dust or soil that gets on their hands or other objects that they put into their mouths such as toys; swallowing leaded paint chips; breathing leaded dust or lead contaminated air; and eating food or drinking water that is contaminated with lead.
To prevent your child from being exposed to lead take the following steps:
- Make sure your child does not have access to peeling paint or chewable surfaces painted with lead-based paint
- Regularly wet-mop floors and wet-wipe window components
- Regularly wash children's hands and toys
- Prevent children from playing in bare soil
- Create barriers between living/play areas and lead sources
Overall, the Department of Health dedicates more $2.2 million for lead screening, case management, abatement and investigation reflecting the state's commitment to preventing childhood lead poisoning.


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Peter Hill
The world-renowned Messiaen interpreter on why he's branched out to Bach with his latest recording
Pianist Peter Hill has made a name for himself as one of the foremost performers of the music of Messiaen. But his new recording – out now on Delphian – is of the Second Book of JS Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier. So what's behind the change of tack?
Why did you decide to record this disc?
I'm better known for doing contemporary music but I've always played Bach – it goes right back to childhood. I remember at home we had the old Czerny edition of the 48 Preludes and Fugues (The Well-Tempered Clavier), which is now regarded with horror by everybody because it's so inauthentic. I grew up with Bach and he's always been a kind of summer holiday composer for me – somebody whose music I would play for fun. I got more and more fascinated with the keyboard works and started to play a few pieces in concerts. Then I had a meeting with Paul Baxter who runs Delphian and said 'One thing I'd love to record one day is Book Two of the 48' – and I suppose he saw the glitter in my eye, the light of battle. And here it is.
What have been the particular challenges of recording this work?
I think it's by a long way the hardest thing I've ever tried to do – much harder than Messiaen's Vingt Regard sur l'enfant-Jésus or Beethoven's Diabelli Variations or Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in the four hand version, this is all very difficult music of course but it's nothing compared with the 48. I think it's because you have to completely dedicate yourself to this music and you have to have a view about every single note – there are no shortcuts with Bach. It is so full of meanings, connections, geometries and you have to be a master of all of them. How you make a synthesis out of all your study into a performance is another great challenge.
But how important is an element of intuition in your approach?
All the time you're listening to your intuition – any performance is a kind of collaboration between the performer and the composer. And you're entering the lift at a pretty high level if you're entering into a collaboration with Bach – every time you open a copy you get a masterclass in composition. You have to listen to your intuition and try to see what it is in the music that is sparking you in a particular direction, try to understand it and then hopefully you'll then go further. Of course you educate your intuition – one's not born with a musical aptitude for Bach, you acquire it as you study.
How did you go about making this recording?
I hate recording in short bits because I think they always sound like short bits when you edit them together. If you are going to edit it's much better to edit from complete performances, because they have the ebb and flow that you get in a true performance. The difficulty of performing in short bits is that they're all recorded at the same level of intensity – you can always tell, I think, when recordings have been made that way – they sound terribly hyper-active, whereas true performance has its peaks but also its moments of relaxation as well. So we recorded everything in complete takes – usually we recorded each piece three times and then selected the best of the three.
Did you come across any common ground between the contemporary music you're known for performing and Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier?
I've been struggling to find a good musical connection with Messiaen. Messiaen of course knew Bach very well through his work as an organist – and they were both the great composers of sacred music of their age, no doubt about that. But one struggles I think to find clear stylistic or musical connections between them. But there are enormous connections between Bach and the music both that came before him and the music that comes after – he's to my mind the great time-traveller of music. He seems to be this almost universal spirit that encompasses all humanity.
So will you be recording Book One of the 48?
We are indeed planning to record Book One probably in about a year's time – it's another enormous job. When the CD of Book Two arrived I looked at the time – 2 hours and 38 minutes. No wonder it was exhausting to do – but a wonderful thing. I think it's something to do with passing the age of 60. You can, at a certain point of life, go on doing what you're known for – go on doing the same things. But I think sometimes one has to strike out in a completely new direction and see what you'll find – and I'm very glad I did.
Peter Hill's disc of Bach's 'The Well-Tempered Clavier', Book Two is out now and will be reviewed in a forthcoming issue.
Audio clip: from Prelude XXIII in B major