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Divinity || Florence
An intense thunderstorm rolls through the ancient city of Florence as lightning strikes all around.
Misty Melody || Tuscany Italy
Colors and light blend beautifully as soft fog rolls through the enchanting hills of Val d'Orcia Tuscany.
Breath of Dawn || Tuscany
A brilliant dawn breaks in the misty hills of Tuscany and La Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta.
Tuscan Dreams || Italy
In the morning twilight, soft fog sweeps through the beautiful rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany, Italy.
Colors In The Sky || Pienza Italy
The sky above Pienza in Tuscany ignites with beautiful colors.
A Textured Path || Tuscany Italy
Ancient Skylight || Siena Italy
Sunset Over Chianti - (Tuscany, Italy)
A Stunning View || Siena Italy


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The Department of Health and Aged Care
A collection of Casemix-related information in the Health website.
Page last updated: 04 October 2023 (this page is generated automatically and reflects updates to other content within the website)
08 Dec 2022
Final Report of the Private Hospital Data Collection Review
16 Dec 2008
Development of clinical prompts to enhance decision support tools related to the National Outcomes and Casemix Collection
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This form uses a CAPTCHA to ensure that it is submitted by a person, instead of a machine or automated software.
Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback. It will be used to make improvements to this website.
© Commonwealth of AustraliaABN: 83 605 426 759

subset: commoncrawl


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Tuesday, April 21st 2020
Morgan A
This friendly writers' group, which meets the first and third Tuesdays of the month, is for writers who are serious about their craft and in getting their work published. Writers of any genre, from mysteries and contemporary relationship fiction to creative non-fiction and children's literature, are welcome. Anybody interested in joining the group must talk to Lis King, the group's leader, before attending their first meeting. This will ensure that the expectations of the group and the individual are met. She will be handling registration for the program and can be reached at 717-299-9368.
We see this as a critique group meeting in a friendly and relaxed environment. There are many talented writers in our area, and we know that feedback from others is extremely important to them. The group follows a concept that has proven invaluable to the writing community. Participating writers take turns submitting work in progress, not to exceed a certain number of pages. Manuscripts are emailed to members in advance of meetings so they can be read at members' leisure and the meeting hours are reserved for constructive criticism. This helps writers present their work correctly to agents and publishers. But even more importantly, writers tell us that this format also helps them sharpen their focus, harness their creativity and give them ideas.


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Microsoft confirms self-publishing on Xbox One
Microsoft has confirmed that it will allow self-publishing on Xbox One as well as confirming earlier reports the console will double as a dev kit.
Microsoft had previously stated games could not be self-published on its new Xbox One console, and that even independent developers would need the backing of a publisher. But like with its DRM policies, the firm has once again done a 180-degree turn on the matter.
"Our vision is that every person can be a creator," said Microsoft's Marc Whitten to Engadet. "That every Xbox One can be used for development. That every game and experience can take advantage of all of the features of Xbox One and Xbox Live.
"This means self-publishing. This means Kinect, the cloud, achievements. This means great discoverability on Xbox Live. We'll have more details on the program and the timeline at gamescom in August."
Earlier today, a Game Informer report stated that Microsoft was posed to announce a new policy which will allow independent developers to self-publish. The changes would allow developers to set release dates, pricing, and the certification process is said to be similar to iTunes in that certification will last around 14-days.
This wasn't the first report we'd seen on the matter, nor the second and earlier this month, Lionhead Studios' creative director Gary Carr, said Microsoft was "passionate" about indies and that corporate VP Phil Harrison would be unveiling the firm's strategy "very soon".
Today's report also stated that standard Xbox One units at retail would allow users to covert it over to a debug console to play pre-release code. This would be implemented via Microsoft authorizing specific consoles to play said pre-release codes and for large-scale beta testing. However this option will not be available at launch.
Looks like gamescom will be the place to be when it comes to more Xbox One information.


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Our Focus and Our Purpose: Students
What role does the College of Arts and Sciences' offices of Academic Advising serve in the success and engagement of our students? How do we engage them in discussions about their academic and individual goals? What do we do to aid in efforts of retention, recognition, and high achievement? Consider these elements of involvement we have with our students!
- We Advise 27 Majors within the College. All Freshmen and Sophomores have a Professional Advisor. Upper-class students in most Majors are given a Faculty Advisor. (except PS, IS, MAECO, ECO)
- All advisors are trained to support, engage, and serve every major but we try to have an area of focus or specialization in either Humanities, Social Science, Math and Natural Science, etc.
- We focus on a 4-year graduation plan. We take an educationally purposeful and developmental approach to advising, teaching students how to successfully plan out their academic goals.
- We are very resource oriented, providing students with meaningful connections within and exterior to the college.
- We provide student focused best customer service.
- We strive to be involved and engaged in innovative new processes to support our students and their goals, such as new events and initiatives such as .our new Career Development Unit, Pre-Professional Advising for A&S Students and the Peer Advising Program.
- We provide assistance on issues and tasks across a vast array of student needs, including, but not limited to, course planning, probation, reinstatements, mid–term grade issues, career and internship questions, transcript and record issues, the Early Alert System, non registered Students, degree auditing, responding to student inquiries via email and other forms of communication, etc.
Our Partnerships
We are honored to work with a vast array of other offices and departments on campus and those include, but are not limited to partners such as the Hive, Enrollment Management and all the Academic Departments on a myriad of issues ranging from overrides to advertising.
Through these partnerships, we continue to focus on our goal of high levels of student satisfaction and continuing to focus on strengthening retention.
Please send your students to our new front office located in 202 of Patterson Office Tower.
We look forward to continuing to engage and serve our college and its student populace.


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Visit Website
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McKernan Packaging Clearing House is dedicated to providing quality packaging at a discounted rate. McKernan's global presence is stronger than ever with customers worldwide looking to McKernan for their packaging needs. McKernan helps small businesses, start-ups and larger corporations find quality packaging components at a fraction of the cost. Since most of our stock is stored in our warehouse, McKernan is able to ship most orders in less than 48 hours.
McKernan's Best Value line contains top quality, unbranded packaging components at discounted prices. Our buyers excel at negotiating the best deals, and we are able to pass on these extra savings to you. With new shipments arriving daily, there is always something new to find in our Best Value line. However, you may need to move fast as these deals sell out quickly.
McKernan continues to grow its diverse inventory, and with millions of components in stock and ready to ship, you have unlimited opportunities to create your perfect package. Get started today! Search our extensive online inventory at McKernan.com where you can order a sample, and most samples are free of charge. For details, call 1-800-787-7587 or 775-356-6111.
McKernan's mission is to give companies a profitable alternative to clearing their excess packaging. McKernan PRECYCLING®, which is pre-consumer recycling, buys unused, unbranded excess/surplus inventory, such as bottles, jars, closures and more. Plus, McKernan pays for the freight to move it out of your warehouses, saving even more. McKernan is an environmentally responsible and smart solution to scrapping or traditional recycling. When you need to clear inventory in a short amount of time, call McKernan. For more information on this program, visit WeBuyPackaging.com or email email@example.com.
Whether you are buying or selling packaging, when you call McKernan Packaging Clearing House, you will speak with a real person. Call 1-800-787-7587 or 775-356-6111 and the friendly staff at the front desk will connect you with a knowledgeable sales representative or surplus specialist for further assistance.
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Author Note: Jesse Ferreras is the associate news editor for The Huffington Post British Columbia. He has never watched The Real Housewives of Vancouver before now.
Do not read on unless you've seen The Real Housewives of Vancouver Season 2, episode 1 (or if you don't mind spoilers).
Welcome. You've made it past the title so you've already earned my respect. To willingly subject yourself to the RHOV is to endure a pain threshold that rivals some medieval torture instruments. Nah, I'm kidding. The first episode wasn't too bad. But it certainly gave us a glimpse of the gathering storm that will blow these Botoxed baronesses onto our TV screens for the next two months. I envy those of you who don't have Slice.
Season 2 actually begins on a sombre note. We meet Ronnie Negus as she presides over a lavish property that looks out on to B.C.'s Howe Sound, the water body that separates the Lower Mainland from the Sunshine Coast. Ronnie's in a sentimental mood after revealing last season that her special needs daughter Remington nearly died after choking on a piece of steak. Ronnie wants to throw a barbecue for the emergency responders who saved her daughter's life ... and, in the process, bring the housewives back together.
And in walks Jody Claman (the noted "bitch" from last season), a shrill villainness in a leopard print jacket. I'm no fashion expert, but the leopard print jacket hasn't been cool since Edith Prickly wore it on SCTV. Wasn't cool then, either. Anyway, we meet Jody and her daughter Mia, who looks to have gotten a nose job in the off-season. In profile she looks a bit like Lady Gaga, with one key difference: it doesn't look out of place on Mother Monster's Face. Mia looks just plain monster.
Jody and Ronnie left on a bad note last season but they seem to have made up while no one was looking. Jody was there for Ronnie when Remington was in the hospital and Ronnie is intent on bringing her to the barbecue. Which wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for...
Mary Zilba. This alleged former "pop star" (with cheek implants so obvious it looks like she's a chipmunk storing nuts for the winter) has an ongoing beef with Jody from the first season and she's reticent to confront her again. Ronnie, beginning to break down, convinces Mary to come. We then follow Mary as she goes to meet with art consultant Ioulia Reynolds, who just happens to be one of the new housewives! (Clever segueway there, producers!)
The two meet at Vancouver's Blanket Art Gallery, where Ioulia is showing off works by Heiltsuk artist Shawn Hunt. Hunt's paintings have taken traditional indigenous forms and warped them into pornographic imagery, like naked women and handcuffs. Ioulia seems to know what she's talking about when she describes the paintings in the fluid language of an art dealer. Conversely, Mary makes an ass of herself trying to match her intellect:
"Yeah it kind of gives a different texture or textile ... kind of ... um ... indigenous ... to their natural habitat, right?"
Points go to Mary for using the word "indigenous" over "Indian." But when she said "natural habitat" I hope she was gunning for "traditional territory." Otherwise, Ioulia's unimpressed reaction as she walked away is the only thing saving the Slice network from an Idle No More demonstration.
Then we're back to Ronnie again, who takes Remington riding at Vancouver's tony Southlands Riding Club. There she meets Robin Reichman (of course, another new cast member), a Texas transplant who calls her horse a "German gigolo." She mounts the thoroughbred using a Prada saddle she bought with the money from a divorce. So she's probably one of the few people who can tell you what it's like to squeeze a designer handbag between your thighs.
Ronnie and Robin hit it off after the latter relates her own struggle: Robin had twins born prematurely and one of them died shortly after being born. At 26 weeks, Remington was also born prematurely, and Ronnie connects with Robin right away.
I began to like Robin until the cameras show her in her own home. Her sole source of income is her ex-husband and it allows her to own a horse worth $130,000 - $200,000, a Humvee and a personal hot tub. The ekphrasis of her blonde, sun-charred body does little to win one's sympathy.
Finally, we meet Amanda Hansen, a friend of Mia's who's an alcoholic-turned-sex-addict ... in other words, she's turned in a thirsty palate for a hungry ... never mind. She meets with Jody for advice on running a tea business. Amanda wants to sell Kombucha tea, a blend of yeast and bacteria that has been promoted as a cure for conditions such as AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis, according to the American Cancer Society.
(That, by the way, is a more detailed summary of the tea than even Amanda can provide, who doesn't appear to have even done a Google search on her own product.)
Jody is unimpressed with her pitch but tolerates her nonetheless, needing an ally against the other housewives. Then it's off to the party. Slowly the housewives arrive at Ronnie's sprawling Howe Sound property and renew their petty rivalries. Jody's arrival is treated like that of a Nazgul in Lord of the Rings. She arrives like a stormcloud without saying anything controversial. Flowers seem to die, and bodies turn to stone in her presence.
Jody gets off on the wrong foot with Robin, telling her she has a friend from Texas.
"Oh, what part of Texas?"
Then Robin meets Amanda, the former alcoholic who treats her condition like it's a disease. Robin is unimpressed: "Alcoholic, eh, eh, stop drinking!" I'd love to hear her opinion on safe injection sites...
The housewives part on a (somewhat) happy note when Ronnie gives an emotional speech, thanking emergency responders for saving her daughter's life. The wives get even more emotional when Remy gives a speech of her own, telling her saviours, "you guys are my superheroes, and that's why I'm here today. Thank you."
And for a moment, all seems well in Lotusland as Ronnie remarks, "I have a feeling we're all going to get along just fine." It's a hope that dies very quickly when you see the catfighting to come in the next few episodes.
Stay tuned for more! I'm back every week to recap the ladies' wild antics. You can catch The Real Housewives Of Vancouver every Tuesday night at 10 p.m. EST on Slice.


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Gasoline Prices Rise 34 Straight Days: Are Speculators to Blame? If Not, Who Is?
Mish Moved to MishTalk.Com Click to Visit.
Given a two-day plunge in crude futures, gasoline prices may have hit a temporary peak.
Nonetheless, consumers feel the pinch as pump prices have risen 34 straight days. For only the fifth time in history Gas prices topped $4 a gallon in District of Columbia.
Nationwide, the price of a gallon of regular gasoline climbed to $3.78 a gallon, up 47 cents in the past month, the AAA said.
In parts of California, Gasoline Prices Topped $5.00 on February 5. CNN Money has an interactive Gas Price map to check prices in your state.
Republicans Cry Foul
Yahoo!News reports Politicians Cry Foul Over High Gas Prices, Urge Action on Keystone XL
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., posted a "Keystone Clock " on his House Energy Committee's website Wednesday. The chairman states more than 1,615 days have passed since TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline proposal sought approval. Joining Upton's call to build the pipeline is Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio. Executives at TransCanada have tried a different tactic to try to get approval from the Obama administration by claiming the pipeline won't affect global warming.Speculators to Blame?
The tug of war between economics and environmentalism is escalating thanks to 34 straight days of rising gasoline prices.
Boehner posted a "Running on Empty " graphic Tuesday. The Speaker of the House complains gas prices have "soared $0.43 since Jan. 17" before remarking with his own Keystone clock, "How long will Americans have to wait?"
Boehner cites several sources, including nine Democratic senators, who want Obama to approve the project quickly. The pipeline may not see a decision until mid-June. Around 20,000 jobs and nearly a million barrels of oil a day are at stake for American oil companies.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports Spike in gasoline prices points to speculators
"Like locusts ravaging fertile crops, gasoline prices are soaring again and eating away at the purchasing power of ordinary Americans. And again, financial speculators appear to be a big part of the story."
Refinery Closures
In Recovery Killer? Gas Prices Barrel Toward $4 a Gallon CNN notes refinery closures.
Five dollar a gallon gas "is a real possibility" said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York. "This is partly being driven by the lost refinery capacity of about one million barrels per day...that's a lot."Speculation Nonsense
Kilduff cited Hess's (HES) closure of a key refinery hub in Port Reading, New Jersey in January as a major factor that has sent gas on a tear. "Prices haven't looked back since," he said.
"It's one of about eight refineries that have announced closure. Now the East Coast is heavily reliant on [gas] imports when it used to be self-sufficient," Kilduff stated.
Refinery closures are one part of the puzzle. If speculators have driven up the price of oil (and that is debatable) it's not the speculators who are to blame, but rather the Fed.
By providing massive liquidity and negative real interest rates, the Fed encouraged speculation in the stock market, in junk bonds, and in commodities.
I believe there is a bubble in all of those areas. The Fed's intent was not to foster bubbles per se, but rather to stimulate housing and spur job creation. On the job creation front, the fed failed miserably, and bloated its balance sheet to over $3 trillion dollars in doing so.
Fed policies have destroyed those on fixed income for the benefit of the banks and wealthy, as I wrote on Wednesday in Reader Asks Me to Prove "Inflation Benefits the Wealthy" (At the Expense of Everyone Else).
The Bernanke Fed is so out of line that the House Subcommittee on Economic Growth Demands Answers From Bernanke on Fed's Exit Strategy; Fed Must Reply by March 5
Yet the media blames those evil speculators. Get real.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
"Wine Country" Economic Conference Hosted By Mish
Click on Image to Learn More


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Celebrating what remains: A review of The Dog Stars
Award-winning adventure writer Peter Heller sets his debut novel, The Dog Stars, in an apocalypse-stricken Colorado, where Hig, one of the planet's few survivors, flies around in an antique plane with a dog as his copilot. To this compelling frame, Heller adds adrenaline-pumping adventure, deep philosophical undercurrents … and a bit of love.
In the dangerous aftermath of a world destroyed by a combination of environmental disaster and disease, Hig, a small-craft pilot, has found refuge in an airfield hangar. He cooks his meals in the hangar and sleeps out under the stars with Jasper, a blue heeler mix, and a single airfield neighbor, Bangley, a gun-loving grouch with a stash of ammo. The trio must rely upon each other to stay alive, scavenging supplies, hunting and fishing. Regularly, Hig and Jasper go up in a 1956 Cessna 182 to patrol the perimeter of the airfield for intruders, whom Bangley then shoots. But after nine years of merely surviving, Hig risks all he has left and flies outside the secure perimeter, beyond the point where he has enough fuel to return, to see what he can find, to look for hope and possibility.
Such sky-high adventure might be expected from Denver-based Heller, a contributing editor at Outside magazine and Men's Journal and the author of several action-packed nonfiction books. But what's stunning about The Dog Stars is that it accomplishes the aim of its narrator, Hig, who sets out to "animate somehow the deathly stillness of the profoundest beauty. Breathe life in the telling." Sometimes Hig's words come out straight, sometimes in a tumbling stream, but Heller's descriptions arrive on the page filled with breathing life: "Tall grass here," Hig says, carefully cataloguing his surroundings, "tiny white asters like daisies, Indian paintbrush. Wild strawberry, penstemon. Huge ponderosas, the smell of cold wet stone and vanilla."
Besides celebrating the beauty of what remains of the natural world, The Dog Stars is also a tale of startling courage. At the same time, it's both sad and funny –– and frighteningly believable, giving readers the sense of having survived a scrape with death that provokes a renewed and powerful thirst for life.


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Simpson was an eyewitness to many momentous events, and several times found himself under fire. One time at Balaclava he kept sketching while being shelled. He had a strategy for dodging bullets. "If a shell is coming to you," he said, "it becomes instantly visible as a black speck against the white smoke of the gun which fired it, and before it reaches you, there is plenty of time to go under cover."
Image from Circus No Spin
Book: Visions of India: The Sketchbooks of William Simpson, 1859-62


text:
This article is more than 1 year old
Tomkitten's first poop immortalised
A work of art
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (aka TomKat) have kept 19-week-old daughter Suri well out of the public eye, but the world was given an unusual preview of the much-speculated over sprog with a bronze cast commemorating her first poop popping up on eBay.
The life-size replica poop, a work of Daniel Edwards, the same artist that brought us the controversial nude Britney Spears birthing sculpture, is currently being shown at the Capla Kesting gallery in Brooklyn, New York, while the auction is taking place.
At time of writing, bidding for the repro stool stood at $7,000. The auction is running till 9 September, with all proceeds of the excretion going to charity.
According to Stuff.co.nz, gallery director David Kesting said: "A bronzed cast of baby's first poop can be a meaningful memento for the family. A baby's first meal of solid food may be a baby's first meal at the dinner table."
The Capla Gallery insists the sculpture - which was also reportedly based on the popular children's book Everybody Poops - has great depth and is actually a social comment on the culture of celebrity.
A spokesman told the site: "It's partially a statement on modern media that 'celebrity poop' has more entertainment value than health, famine or other critical issues facing society and governments today."
For the record, one eBayers question as to whether the sculpture actually is Suri's poop that has been encased in bronze, was answered thus: "Unfortunately, organic material burns in the heat required to cast bronze. Therefore, Daniel Edwards rendered her first solid defecation as close to the artistic eye as possible." So, we guess that means this is more of tribute poop than anything else.
For those that miss out on the auction, a limited number of plastic replicas will also be up for grabs. ®


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What is Homework?
Homework: (Noun) a punishment given to students by evil teachers after the students have already put in 7 hours of hard labor. (See
my satan teacher gave me crap
You go to school for fucking 6 1/2 hours, constantly taking it up the ass (figuratively) from dickhead students and fucktard teachers. Then you go home, which SHOULD be time that doesn't involve learning shit you don't care about. But no, these cunt-ass teachers will not accept only 6 1/2 hours of torturing you. They crave more. So they unload a huge amount of this ass discharge they call homework on you. It can range from a simple math worksheet with joke you must fill in when you're done (no biggie) to a fucking ton of work containing bookwork, projects, unfinished classwork, studying for a test you know you're going to fail either way, and book reports on a book you didn't care to read. And these teachers are clever too. If you spent fucking hours on this shit and ended up going to sleep at 4 in the motherfucking morning, these assrammers won't even check the damn homework the next day. Oh, but if you forgot to note down the homework, did the wrong page, or just didn't give two shits about it and didn't do it, the assholes will ask you turn it in. All in all, school sucks, classwork sucks, teachers suck, students suck, and homework is the fucking scum of the earth.
I'm supposed to be doing my homework right now, which is a research paper on a book I didn't have the time to read (assigned by old bitch Goodman) and to study for a math test I'm probably going to bomb anyway (given by fat slut Preston). Except I don't give two shits about it, so I'm writing a definition for Urban Dictionary. What? You think I should be doing my homework instead of writing this wordy definition that probably no one will read? Well fuck you then, you can kiss my ass.
Homework is a form of suppressing a child's individual interests so that they do not develop any ideas of individual worth and proceed to fill a job that is needed to keep everything functioning properly when he or she is not at school. Like
Go to school. Do your homework. Get a job. Retire. Die. You won't be remembered. You didn't make an impact. But you did help keep America's economy functioning (yes, I did intend to start a sentence with "but," and despite what some moronic English teacher might have told you, that IS okay). Good job.
buisy work that deprives students of valuable sleep hours.
You look tired, yeah I had a 5 page paper due yesterday.
An excuse to get your girlfriend over for a quicky.
Can you come over and help me do my homework?
Great to procrastinate to. Usually half assed.
"I spent six hours doing my chem homework and didn't finish."
"It was that long!?"
"No, I was watching paint dry."
an unreasonable torturous device that teachers who dont like their students use to bring them pain and cause them to lose sleep
I was up all night doing that homework... UGH!


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In their third and final game at the Clarke Cochrane Christmas Classic in Ketchikan last week, the Homer Mariner girls battled against the Craig Panthers, the defending 2A state champs, for fourth place and lost by a narrow-two-point difference. Then, the watchful eyes of Homer at-home fans viewing the live-streamed version of the game on the Web reported a timing discrepancy that would bump the Mariners into fourth-place. Or not.
At the end of the game's first quarter Homer led 16-12. At the half, they were still ahead, 27-23. Mariner fouls and injuries in the third quarter left the door open for the Panthers to tie the game, 34-34.
With 4:44 remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter, Homer held a four-point lead, but turnovers and fouls by the Mariners resulted in the Panthers narrowing that lead to a single point. Then, with only seconds left in the game, Craig scored a three-pointer and secured a 49-47 victory, making the Panthers fourth-place winners and putting the Homer girls in sixth-place.
"After the game, Homer parents who had watched the live-streamed game alerted the coaches to a discrepancy in the clock in the waning minutes of the contest," said Connie Akers, head coach of the Mariner girls team. "With 1:25 remaining, the clock was not started after a dead ball until about 20 seconds had passed."
After reviewing the video, the tournament's Game Committee confirmed Homer was ahead when the buzzer should have sounded and that Craig's three-point basket came afterwards.
"But Craig was awarded the basket and the win since a discrepancy with time keeping can only be adjusted during the game," said Akers. "So, Homer closed the tournament with an official sixth-place finish and an unofficial fourth-place."
The three-day Clarke Cochrane Christmas Classic was an opportunity for the Mariners to officially break into their basketball season. Participating teams included Chugiak, Craig, Klawock, North Pole, Oregon City, Seward, Thunder Mountain, West Valley and Wrangell, as well as Ketchikan and Homer.
"The boys played really well," said the Mariner boys Head Coach Mark Casseri.
Akers acknowledge the challenge just to fly to the Southeast community on Revillagigedo Island.
"Getting to and from Ketchikan is no easy feat in itself," said Akers in an email to the Homer News late on Sunday. "The team left Homer on Christmas evening and will be returning in the early hours of Dec. 31."
In the first game of the Clarke Cochrane Christmas Classic, the Mariner boys faced tough competition from the Klawock Chieftains, defending 2013 Region V 1A champs. The first quarter saw some fast back-and-forth action and the Mariners ended the eight-minute period with a 14-12 lead. By halftime, Klawock had edged ahead, 19-18. The action continued through the third quarter, with Klawock gaining a 47-44 lead. The fourth quarter brought the teams to a 56-56 tie before the Chieftains gained the lead and a 69-64 victory.
The Mariner girls were pitted against the Kings in their first game on Friday and suffered a loss of 60-24.
"The game was a great learning experience for the HHS squad as they battled the tall, aggressive Ketchikan Kings for rebounds, shots, defensive stops and clean passes," said Akers.
On Saturday both the boys and girls Mariner teams hit the court fired up. In a game against the Craig Panthers, the boys led 26-15 at the end of the first quarter and continued to maintain the lead through out the game. A final score of 70-58 secured the Mariners' shot at fourth place on Sunday.
"Homer is coming out hot," Bill Whicker, announcer of the live-streamed game, said more than once as he kept up with the fast-moving, play-by-play action.
Later on Saturday, the Homer girls faced the Klawock girls team. Like their male counterparts, the Klawock girls also are defending 2013 champs.
After Friday's defeat to Ketchikan, the Mariners weren't about to lose the game.
"They handily won with a final score of 48-33," said Akers.
With the girls team short on players for the holiday event, Akers dipped into the freshman ranks, and Sofia Clark, Desiree Cleary, Uliana Reutov and Mariah Hendrickson "all received significant court time and did well protecting the team's lead, passing the ball and defending against a team that refused to accept defeat," said Akers.
Saturday's win put the Mariner girls in line for Sunday's game against Craig and the battle for the classic's fourth-place title.
In the boys' Sunday game against the Seward Seahawks, the Mariners not only met their goal of not giving up 15 points a quarter, but also claimed a 53-39 fourth-place victory, something the team was "very happy with," said Casseri. "They were disappointed with the game Friday that we lost by a couple of points to Klawock, which was the defending state champ for 1A, but all three games we played were fantastic. We got better every game and have some really smart basketball players."
In spite of the long travel time, Casseri said the away games "were a good bonding experience" for the players as they get the 2013-2014 basketball season underway.
Mariner fans have an opportunity to see some at-home action next week:
• Jan. 7: Skyview,
• Jan. 10: Houston,
• Jan. 11: Cordova.
"It would be great to get the home crowd involved," said Casseri, hoping to see the gym filled with cheering fans.
McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Exploring 'Hidden' Jobs, From Coal Miner To Cowboy
This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. We flip a switch and take the light for granted. We expect the shelves to be filled with groceries every day. We bite into an apple without thinking about who picked it or who makes the core vanish after we throw it away.
GQ correspondent Jeanne Marie Laskas had her first interaction with what she calls the hidden America in a cramped, dark, coal mine in Caddas, Ohio. She realized how much we depend on those men and how little we know about what they do and why. In a new book, Laskas rides along with a long-haul trucker, visits a migrants' worker camp in Maine, explores the lives of cowboys in West Texas and other unseen workers who make our stuff or move it or haul it away.
So what don't we appreciate about your invisible job? Tell us your story, 800-989-8255. Email us, firstname.lastname@example.com. You can also join the conversation at our website. That's at npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION. Later in the program, we'll conclude our Freshman Reads series with Brooke Gladstone and her book "The Influencing Machine."
But first, Jeanne Marie Laskas joins us from member station WESA in Pittsburgh. Her new book is "Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work." And it's good to have you back on the program.
JEANNE MARIE LASKAS: Great to be here.
CONAN: And I wanted to ask you about the time you spent in the air traffic control tower at LaGuardia, where you discovered the controllers are under enormous pressure, working for better conditions, and still love their work. This dump rocks is one of their slogans.
LASKAS: Yes, the tower at LaGuardia, it was a - the working conditions were not so easy. It was quite dilapidated. But those workers, in particular, regarded themselves really as public servants. They guide our airplanes, make sure they get up in the air at the right time and land without bashing into each other.
And they found it to be work that mattered, and that mattered to them.
CONAN: Some of the interesting parts of your book are the - is the terminology. Every job has its own, you know, special lingo, swivelheads for example.
LASKAS: Yeah, air traffic controllers because they're constantly moving their heads around and around like owls. You know, it's - they're physically watching in those towers you see surrounded by glass. They're physically needing to watch everything that's happening out of the periphery of their vision sometimes - swivelheads.
CONAN: And plugged in.
LASKAS: Plugged in, they wear earphones so they can talk to each other, as well as talk to the pilots. And it's a zone. You know, it's a way of specifically living that they do when they're working. When you plug out, you're back in the real world. When you plug in, you're in that mode.
CONAN: I have to say I read that chapter on an airplane.
LASKAS: Oh dear.
CONAN: Exactly.
CONAN: And oh dear because it leaves the impression that we are on the precipice of what could be a dramatically bad situation.
LASKAS: Well, here's the good news. They - we have to be really thankful that there are people like Brian(ph) and Lars(ph) and some of the other characters I introduce in that book who are in those towers. The problem is that they're overworked, and there aren't enough of them, and there are not enough of them in the pipeline coming up to be trained. And this is a bit of a crisis.
In fact, it's been recognized for several years. Now, we need to talk to the FAA about that, not our controllers who are - you know, they're doing it. They're doing the job and doing it, you know, heroically.
CONAN: And you actually go to two different places: the tower at LaGuardia, which of course handles the planes on the ground and right as they come in to land and right after they take off; and what's called a TRACON facility, which it picks them up after they're let go by LaGuardia control.
LASKAS: Yes, after the tower, they're passed off to the TRACON, which covers a wider area, all with radar. And so the very different environment: dark warehouse, practically no light except for the light coming out of the radar scope. Those folks are working in extremely tense conditions anyway, without the labor disputes.
But they are then passing the planes off from their radar scopes to the next level, which goes even further, wider.
CONAN: And one of the questions you ask is: How can such a system work where there is such friction between the union and the boss - in this case the FAA and the air traffic controllers union - at loggerheads? And indeed you have a lot of the workers you talked to say fie on both your houses, not that they're not supportive of the union if they're in it, but they recognize the union has problems, too.
LASKAS: Oh yes, it wasn't so much yay, we love our union. You know, if anything, they saw themselves as sort of trapped in - the workers themselves trapped between, you know, arguing parents, you know, battle, battle, battle over this contract negotiations while the kids have to do their homework. You know, it was that sort of, you know, that sort of environment where they're just doing the worked because, you know, they're decent human beings, and they don't want planes to crash but living under this cloud of bickering, bickering, bickering and the conditions, you know, getting - deteriorating.
CONAN: Have you been back since they moved into the new tower at LaGuardia?
LASKAS: I passed it, and it's beautiful, and it's amazing, and I'm so happy for them. But I have not been in it.
CONAN: We're talking with Jeanne Marie Laskas, whose latest book is "Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work." And you picked these various professions as people who are vital to our society, who we literally take for granted.
LASKAS: Yes, we take for granted. We don't think about how, for example, you know, you sit down for breakfast, and you have blueberries on your Corn Flakes. You expect your blueberries. Where did they come from? Who picked them? Whose fingerprints are on those berries?
That is a thought that we no longer have any more if we ever had it, you know, previous generations - maybe. But we are long separated from that kind of thought or conversation. And what I think I'm doing in these stories is trying to maybe reinvigorate that conversation so we have a personal relationship with those migrant workers who we so easily argue about on the political stage.
It's like, well, who are we even talking about? I mean, who actually are these people? That was my really simple question.
CONAN: There's a little paragraph you write in that chapter: The migrant workers I spoke to were well aware of the disconnect. They labored to support a culture they had virtually no part in, for people who had no part in theirs.
LASKAS: Yes, and no easier was that to see at the beautiful blueberry festival in Machias, Maine, that happens every summer. You know, it's happened for generations, and it still goes on today. And they have a tour. You can get on a bus and take a tour to the actual blueberry barrens. You get on that bus, you go out, who are you seeing? You're seeing these migrant workers who don't go to the festival, who don't have time to go to the festival.
They're the ones who are, you know, laboring right there under the noses of, you know, everyone - the consumer. We don't think about that.
CONAN: And this is, you point out, a five-star migrant labor camp. Maine is one of the best examples of the places where migrants are treated best in and around the country. Maine is where they make the best money they make, all on that trip up the Eastern Seaboard from Florida to Maine, from spring until the end of August, before they start heading back south again and repeating the pattern.
But nevertheless, as you point out, it used to be a community that went out and harvested those blueberries and then celebrated in that blueberry festival, and they don't harvest it anymore.
LASKAS: No, and you know what? It's really easy to sort of get romantic about this or to romanticize this situation and think yeah, community, what's the matter, how come you don't come out to those fields anymore. You know, it's sort of like a dying culture, and isn't that sad.
But then you go OK, well, wait a minute? How much are these people getting paid to pick these blueberries? And who has time? And what's the matter with that farmer who's not paying enough money to pick the blueberries? Well, take it the next step: Who - where does that cost translate, that translates to us, the consumer. Are we really willing to pay $30 a pound for blueberries? No, we want them affordable. So that's who's eating the cost, the worker.
CONAN: We want to hear about your invisible job, 800-989-8255. Email email@example.com. And we'll start with Leah(ph), and Leah's with us from Englewood, Colorado.
LEAH: Hi, how are you?
CONAN: Good, thanks.
LEAH: Yeah, so one thing I know people get so sick of campaign season, they get so sick of politics, but one job that I have I think a lot of people don't appreciate or even don't see is that of a field organizer. I knock on doors. I make thousands of phone calls for week, you know, me and my fellow co-workers, just so that people are informed.
Everyone says I want to know who's running, I want to know who's going to be my representative. Well, we're the ones knocking on your door, giving you the information, you know, supporting the candidate...
CONAN: And there must be some frustration in that job.
LEAH: Well, it's a little frustrating, but, you know, at the end of the day, the good conversations outweigh the bad, and there's always going to be someone who disagrees with you. And I think the important thing for people to remember is that's OK. It's not my job to tell you who you have to vote for. All my job is to inform you and give you every piece of information that I have and then move on to my next door, you know, or move on to my next phone call.
And, you know, supporting your candidate, supporting your field organizers, volunteering, it's so, so, so important because you really see what goes on behind the scenes. And every advertisement takes months and months to prepare, every speech, every event takes so much time and energy that people like me - I mean, I'm 23. I'm, you know, in graduate school, and I'm just out of college, and my fellow field organizers are around the same age.
And it's young people like us, it's people who have time and who are willing to give their day just to help someone they believe in and, you know, just appreciating that and respecting that people don't get paid a lot, but we're working for a cause that we believe in and a person we support, so...
CONAN: Leah, it must be hard on the feet, too.
LEAH: I just bought new shoes, so things are better.
CONAN: Well, stay with it; we appreciate it.
LEAH: Thank you.
CONAN: Thanks very much for the call. And Jeanne Marie Laskas, I'm not sure the country would come to a screaming halt if politicians weren't elected, and I'm not sure people would think that would be a bad thing, but I guess in a way it would be.
LASKAS: Oh, I love hearing stories like that, where you get to, you know, just even that tiny glimpse of what goes on, the amount of work that goes into things that we just, you know, flashes by our eyes, like commercials in a campaign season.
I think when you start hearing that there are, like, these people behind it, you know, actual people, there's a grad student, you start feeling like you are maybe participating in the process a little bit more than if you're just receiving, as a consumer, constantly. You know, I like hearing that.
CONAN: Short email from Mark(ph): I'm a blacksmith and ferrier. My job is kind of cool. If a racehorse isn't within one-16th of an inch of balance, a horse can lose a race. So the people who takes care of a horse's hoof and puts on the shoes that they race in. Stay with us. We're talking about "Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work." It's the TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.
CONAN: This is TALK OF THE NATION; I'm Neal Conan in Washington. And we're talking about unseen jobs with Jeanne Marie Laskas. For her new book, she spent time in a coal mine, a big rig, on a ranch and an oil platform, among other job sites. She did it to give us a glimpse of some of the people and jobs that tend to be invisible.
And she also writes about her visit to an NFL stadium, a place where she went to talk with the cheerleaders. She writes: With all the cash floating around, people assume NFL cheerleaders are within some vague sniffing distance of the good life. But a Ben-Gal is paid 75 bucks per game. That's correct, 75 bucks for each of 10 home games.
The grand cash total per season does not keep most of them flush in hairspray, let along gas money to and from practice. The cheerleader is pure, the one actor in our most celebrated entertainment empire who gets nothing tangible in return. She is nationalism at the most basic level. Every Sunday, embodying the American contradiction, she parades around on our biggest national stage wearing the characteristics America loves about itself: loyal, devoted, confident, optimistic; and loathes, shallow, egocentric, materialistic, loud.
She does not question her role, and she does not stop smiling. You can read more from the book, including her first trip to a coal mine 500 feet underground. That's at our website, npr.org. So what don't we appreciate about your invisible job? 800-989-8255. Email is firstname.lastname@example.com. And you can join our conversation on our website. Go to npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION.
And let's go next to Trace(ph), and Trace is with us from Houston, Texas.
TRACE: Hi, Neal, how are you doing today?
CONAN: Good, thanks.
TRACE: I just wanted to let you know that us steeplejacks, AKA towerheads - shock towers(ph), blackout towers(ph), television, radio, cellular sites, including I've done a job with the sub-atomic clock. We take it granted just the - we take advantage of that, because every morning we wake up, we turn on our television, we get in our car, we listen to our radio. We use our cell phones in our daily lives. Our clocks are using the sub-atomic clock to set the time right for every device that we have electronically. And this goes without notice sometimes overnight.
CONAN: And this must be difficult work.
TRACE: It's very difficult work. Years ago, we did the first high-definition antenna in '99, which is now a standard broadcast for - of the nation.
CONAN: Steeplejack, though, the term is ancient.
TRACE: Yeah, that's a term that I use. That's traditionally used for us towerhands(ph). The National Tower Erector Association sometimes uses that. Steeplejacks, years ago, used to put the bell inside the steeplejack on top of the church.
LASKAS: Oh my goodness.
TRACE: But what we do - but what I do now is, you know, we go from 1,000 to 2,000 feet in the air, erecting (unintelligible) structures, you know, on multi-broadcast antennas that people don't even realize what they are, how they got there. But they know that as soon as their television or their radio isn't working, their whole world's upside-down.
CONAN: And Jeanne Marie Laskas, if you think about it, that bell sent out signals of various sorts over a broad area. That's why it was up there in the first place. And I guess that was the harbinger of all those broadcast antennas.
LASKAS: I find that just so fascinating. I would - that's a hidden America right there, a way that it's wonderful, especially, to hear - to think about that one. I've not thought about that one, where you're connecting us. You know, you're - our communication wouldn't even be working if it weren't for you guys. That's just fascinating. Thank you for letting us know.
TRACE: I think the neatest experience I've ever had with that job was actually having a conversation on Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado, with a parasailer.
CONAN: With a...
LASKAS: Good conversation.
TRACE: I was on the tower having a conversation with a parasailer, somebody that's putting on the thermal waves, the thermal airwaves.
CONAN: Oh I see, as they were floating by?
TRACE: Yes, yes, exactly.
CONAN: Oh my goodness.
TRACE: And this is something that - you know, it's very dangerous, but it's crucial to our country because we have to have some sort of communication, whether it be in AM, in FM, including the station we're listening to now.
CONAN: Well, thank you so much for your work, Trace.
TRACE: Hey, you bet, and I'll talk to you next week.
CONAN: That is fascinating.
LASKAS: That's wonderful.
CONAN: Here's an email from John Woodling(ph): The public has no idea what it takes for water agencies to deliver clean, safe water to their homes and businesses for pennies per gallon, then make sure the waste goes away. A vocal minority comes out of the woodwork when water rates rise, yet people will pay exorbitantly for bottled water at the corner gas station.
So that reminded me, though, of the vital public service your friend Herman(ph) provides for us. He works at the huge landfill outside of Los Angeles. He's the last, he points out, the last - his entire eighth-grade graduating class of 1954 who has not yet retired. Why would anyone retire from a place like this, he asks? Why would you?
And that's one of the characteristics, not just at a garbage dump. You would think, well, people would run away from that.
LASKAS: I - the whole life of that landfill, the Puente Hills Landfill in Los Angeles County, was so oddly delightful and surprising. Those people loved their jobs. They loved their landfill. They were proud of their landfill and the science behind it, and the engineering feats that were figured out right there at that landfill, turning gas - turning landfill gas into energy, for example.
That - everyone from the top of the - you know, the charts of the engineers down to Herman, who dumped the trash, they were proud of that place. That was just amazing.
CONAN: And it seems pride, going back to the Ben-Gals, the cheerleaders, pride is an enormous part of their business, too.
LASKAS: Well, and even though our steeplejack friend who just called, you know, he was proud of that work. I think that so much of this is, you know, this is one of the take-home messages for me, that, you know, we just walk around with this narrative in America that everybody wants to be rich and famous, that that's why people do what they do.
And, you know, all through these pages you learn, over and over again, no, actually, no, not even NFL cheerleaders are doing it for fame and fortune. There is another motivation going on here that is so pure and human. That to me was an eye-opener in a really wonderful way.
CONAN: Let's go next to Debbie(ph), Debbie with us from Oxford, New York.
DEBBIE: Hi, how are you today?
CONAN: I'm well, thank you.
DEBBIE: Well, thank you for taking my call.
CONAN: Sure, go ahead.
DEBBIE: I was calling - well, I'm a rural mail carrier, and I am in Upstate New York, out in the farm country. My job entails about 95 miles a day driving, about 500 mailboxes, and it's - until mail is mis-delivered, nobody even notices us. But if something gets mis-delivered, we know about it. But we have - each home nowadays usually has more than one surname in it.
At this point I probably have about 1,500 surnames to remember. And the roads are bad. Most of them are dirt roads: potholes, snow. I've been in so many ditches. I carry kitty litter and a shovel with me.
CONAN: We all remember that neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
DEBBIE: Yeah, and, you know, we love it. All mail carriers, to do it, you've got to love it to do it. You really do. Otherwise you don't last. And most new people don't last. It's very demanding.
CONAN: It strikes me that there's some similarities, probably, working for an enormous bureaucracy like the post office, between that and working for the FAA.
DEBBIE: Probably.
DEBBIE: There's a lot of bureaucracy, and, of course, now, you know, we're going through the let's-privatize-it-again routine that we went through, what 20 years ago. So, of course, we're all a little fearful, but we just keep doing our job. It's what we - it's what I love.
CONAN: Debbie, thanks very much, and stay with it.
DEBBIE: Thank you very much; I enjoy your show.
CONAN: Thank you.
LASKAS: What strikes me about one of the points that Debbie brought up was, you know, we don't hear about these people unless they mess up, very similar of course to the air traffic controllers. You know, these - and in America, one of the things I see is people don't want to be noticed because if they're noticed, it means they messed up.
CONAN: They've done something wrong.
LASKAS: Yeah, hidden for them is actually just great.
CONAN: This is an email that we have from Heather(ph), I think: My father has an invisible job. He sharpens and repairs surgical instruments. People don't realize that somebody has to keep those items in great repair. He also modifies them for doctors on a regular basis. We put our lives in the hands of the doctors. They put their reputations in the hands of my father to rely on his hidden craftsmanship. He thinks his job is nothing; I think it's awesome and astounding.
LASKAS: Wow, I would have never even thought of that one. You know what's so great? Everybody has the same - everybody always has the same way of talking about this stuff: people don't realize; people don't realize; people don't realize. It's true.
CONAN: It's true. When you were talking about the coal miners, for example, you quote people saying: we still have coal mines? Well, maybe they're not the bright sparks of your acquaintances and friends, but yeah, we do have coal mines. It's a huge business.
LASKAS: It's a huge business, and we're entirely dependent on it. We think it's sort of quaint and antiquated, but it's actually going on all the time. Yeah.
CONAN: I wanted to ask you about a particular subject that you took rather personally, and this has to do with sitting in a cab and listening to the radio.
GRETCHEN WILSON: (Singing) I work a double shift on Monday. Tuesday, I get up before dawn. Wednesday, pouring coffee. Thursday night, I'm tending the bar. Well, when Friday finally rolls around, I call my rough and rowdy friends, and we're honky-tonk loud. I work hard. I play harder. I'm a good-timing American daughter, redneck, blue collar, and I party down to my last dollar. I work hard. I work hard. I work hard. I play harder.
CONAN: Gretchen Wilson there. And, Jeanne Marie Laskas, can you tell us where you first heard that song?
LASKAS: Oh, that brings back such good times. That's the favorite song of a trucker I traveled with across the country. Her name - her nickname was Sputter(ph). Everyone calls her Sputter, and that was her favorite song.
CONAN: And why is it her favorite song, do you think?
LASKAS: Oh, because she works hard.
LASKAS: She's a - and she's a woman in a man's world, proud of it, and, you know, not an easy life whatsoever.
CONAN: You've traveled with her and kept falling asleep, napping for long stretches of time while she kept driving.
LASKAS: I did. That - she was so kind about it. You know, that was the one - that's - this is the one chapter in the book where I really take a personal turn, sort of inevitably because that trip, that long-haul trucking trip happened to occur in between my parents' funerals. One died - my mother died. Ten days later, my father died. And in between that, I was in this truck with Sputter, which turned out to be a remarkably healing place.
CONAN: You also talk about her sister, who works with old people, as she put it, the people who are in nursing homes.
LASKAS: Yes. Elaine. Her sister worked doing the - sort of the same job I had been doing, caring for my parents. And so that was quite a interesting experience to talk with her, and I needed to believe sort of as a daughter of a - of patients. I needed to know that this woman liked her job, working with old folks, because I spent so much time with those people, and it was almost like it was put in front of me like a test. Here, I'm going to hear this live, because I did not tell her about my parents. And when she told me she loved her work, it was the best words I could have heard.
CONAN: When I think about the women of "Hidden America," writes Jeanne Marie Laskas, all the labor that traditionally falls on the shoulders of women, I think they are an enormous army of soldiers hidden in camouflage: the caretakers, the nannies, the maids, the sisters and the surrogate sisters, the mothers and the surrogate mothers, all those people tending hearts.
You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. And let's see if we can get Josh(ph) on the line, Josh with us from Murrieta, California.
JOSH: Hey. How's it going?
CONAN: Good. Thanks.
JOSH: Hey, thanks for taking my call.
CONAN: Go ahead.
JOSH: I heard on the top of your skit here, that you said that everybody expects their groceries to be on the shelf when they go in in the morning and throughout the day. And that's what spurred me to call because that's my job. I go in in the middle of the night to go to stock the shelves for everybody throughout the day.
CONAN: So you take the groceries that people like Sputter deliver in the middle of the night, and make sure they're out on the shelves by morning time.
JOSH: Absolutely. It's a lot of work, a lot of heavy lifting in the middle of the dead of night. While everybody's sleeping, I'm hustling and bustling, working so everybody can buy their groceries during the day.
CONAN: Interestingly, we had this email from Louis(ph) in Anchorage: How arrogant of you. Most of the invisible workers such as my husband, who works in a grocery store, are working now, not sitting around, listening to the radio. I have that luxury today because my work week is Tuesday through Saturday. As a clinical worker, I'm just a bit more visible than my husband. But you can imagine how often either he or I get to influence the public discussion of things that matter to us. How about a funny way to include us in?
Well, we did read your email. And I guess that's another part of this, Jeanne Marie Laskas, is, yes, people are invisible. Sometimes they want to stay unseen. They also want to be appreciated.
LASKAS: I think absolutely. I think - I don't know who doesn't want to be appreciated. I think that one of the reasons that people were so open to talking to me about their lives and their work when I introduced myself to them, was precisely that. It was like - sort of like, oh, you're interested in this. Thank you. Oh, yeah. I actually am helping out here. So, yeah, I get that, and I hear that loud and clear. And I - to these folks, I keep saying, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
CONAN: Josh, I assume you get a paycheck for your labors, but what is it about the job you like?
JOSH: I like the hours, you know? I just turned 21, and it's good for me because I go to school full time, and I work close to full time. And it keeps me on my toes, keeps me busy and keeps me out of trouble.
CONAN: Out of trouble. That's a good place to be. Thanks very much for the call. Get some sleep.
JOSH: Thank you. I will.
CONAN: Here's an email, this from Peter(ph) in St. Louis: Few understand why our drugs are so expensive except for the chemical technicians synthesizing the active pharmaceutical ingredients or the chemists analyzing them through vastly complicated methods and strict specifications, often working long, undesirable hours and immense amounts of overtime - all go into the drugs millions depend on every day. I personally run quality tests on the drug my own mother takes for her diabetes.
And, in a way, that refers - that sends me back to the piece on the cattle breeders that you did in West Texas, people who use low tech - they ride horses and wear chaps, and they're also incredibly high tech - DNA databases.
LASKAS: Extremely high tech, people who are bringing us our steak, you know? Why is our - I mean, literally down to the marbling, looking at ultrasound of living cows to calibrate the amount of back fat for the precise level of marbling that they have worked with the genes of the cows to create that. I mean, it is unbelievable. And they are these guys in, as you say, you know, cowboy hats.
CONAN: You can read about the world of those cowboys and all of the other groups of people that we've been talking about in Jeanne Marie Laskas' new book, "Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, An Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Work." The writer joined us from member station WESA in Pittsburgh. Thanks very much for the time.
LASKAS: Thank you.
CONAN: When we come back, we'll conclude our freshman reads series with Brooke Gladstone, the co-host of WNYC's "On the Media" and her book "The Influencing Machine." Stay with us. This is NPR News.
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text:
When the Greater Twin Cities United Way and the Star Tribune asked local elementary students to write essays about the "Power of We," hundreds of students in grades three through five heard the call. They told us how, by banding together rather than working alone, we can accomplish everything from keeping a neighborhood park clean to preventing bullying to solving homelessness.
Some of the students wrote about things they and their families have done, such as collecting food for shelters, raking leaves for elders or helping other students with their homework. Others wrote about what they hope to accomplish -- with a little help from their friends, of course.
"We can all make a difference in the world," wrote one fifth-grader, "but think how much of a difference we could make if we worked together."
First-place winner, Shrey G. Pothini, will receive a $500 savings bond. The nine runners-up -- Leah Brandt, Daniyal Khan, Anna Curtler, Amya Moore, Olivia Murphy, Morgan Duvall, Antiquita Flint, Jack MapelLentz and Adel Sabri -- will each receive $100 savings bonds.
Here are the winning essays:
Grade 3, Harriet Bishop Elementary, Savage
Kids don't always feel like they have so much power, even though they do. When children work together they can help others more than grown-ups. Kids can use their birthday parties to collect items to donate instead of presents. They can ask businesses to help with the collections, like I did. A business might help a kid because children sound cute, but that business might not help a grown-up who asks. Also, kids sometimes have better ideas than grown-ups for helping others. If children work together, they can make a huge difference in the world -- before they turn into grown-ups.
Grade 5, Birch Grove Elementary, Brooklyn Park
A magnificent way we can change our community is by helping those who get bullied. People are getting bullied and, sadly, it is increasing. We could help those people by telling positive things about them, and tell them to ignore negative things that bullies tell them. A lot of people feel bad about themselves, like me unfortunately, but be by their side. Remember, if you ever see someone being bullied, help them, and comfort them. This is a great way we could help our people in the community.
Daniyal Khan
Grade 3, Meadowbrook Elementary, Golden Valley
My name is Daniyal Khan. I go to school at Meadowbrook Elementary. I have a friend in my class who has Down syndrome. His name is Sam. Sam likes to laugh and smile. My friends Ruby and Sophia ask Sam to play with us. We don't want Sam to feel lonely. We play on the monkey bars and climb on the rock wall. If Sam falls, we always help him up. We like to play with Sam because it is good to do things with someone who is not exactly like you. It is interesting and fun, and he likes us too.
Grade 5, Island Lake Elementary, Shoreview
When our neighbor Mr. Johnson died of cancer this spring, our neighborhood wanted to do something to remember him. Since he and his family used the trails a lot, we decided to dedicate a bench there in his memory. There wasn't a program to have plaques put on benches, so our neighborhood worked with the city and the county to create one so anyone who wanted to remember someone in a similar way could do so. The Johnson family was so happy with it! This shows how the Power of We worked in our community.
Grade 5, Westwood Elementary, Prior Lake
Deep down, everyone desires to be loved and included in something better. We have high expectations for ourselves, but really no one can reach them alone. At first we think, "Well, I need some help!" There is always someone who needs help, and if we give it, we become happier people. If a weak person falls, you can be a strong person and lift them up.
Humans aren't perfect, nor were they intended to be. That doesn't mean we don't have to try. When we try, we're volunteering to create a brighter future. Together, there's nothing to fear. Together, we're unstoppable.
Grade 5, Lucy Craft Laney Elementary, Minneapolis
I know there are a lot of things that are better with more people. The community is an example I will talk about. Let's say there is a park that's in your community that you love and it has been there since you were little. But you found out that it was going to be torn down. If you wanted to talk to the government about it or wanted to start a protest, you would need many other people.
The community is all about helping each other, having fun, playing and feeling safe where you live.
The Power of We is all about trust, faith and love.
Grade 3, Convent of the Visitation, Mendota Heights
Currently, there are 36.3 million hungry people in the U.S. Thirteen million are children.
Together we can change this. Together we can build community gardens.
There isn't a shortage of open lots. Take for example the abandoned lot by my house. If we build a garden there, together kids will learn how to grow food, eat healthy, sell produce, and learn to grow something big. One seed grows pounds of food. Kids get active, families eat healthy, and the community looks beautiful. They'll learn science as plants grow and lower their eco footprint.
Morgan Duvall
Grade 4, Oak Hills Elementary, Lakeville
Isn't it hard to believe how a word as small as "we" can make such a big difference? What could we do as a team? If the entire country or even just one city worked together what would we be able to accomplish? This is called the Power of We. The Power of We is about strength in numbers, working together, and doing things that you cannot do alone. If you gave one dollar to charities that wouldn't be very much, but if everyone in your community gave one dollar, that would add up to a lot.
Olivia Murphy
Grade 4, Shannon Park Elementary, Rosemount
With the Power of We, we can all work together to make our community a better place. If we all gave a little each month it could make a big difference. We could help people who need food and shelter that don't have stable homes. We could help children find families full of love and happiness through adoption. If we all were to volunteer just a tiny bit of money and time, we could make our community a better place.
Grade 3, International Montessori Academy, Bloomington
The Power of We
We went to the school garden.
We plucked tomatoes, peppers and chilies.
My teacher asked me to write about
The Power of We.
I wrote that we worked together
As a class.
We accomplished a lot.
We harvested before they froze.
It was most exciting.
The Power of We overcame me
And I felt happy, joyful and
Friendly to others.


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text: LinkedIn debuted LinkedIn Classmates in October 2011, designing the tool to give you insights into your college or university's alumni and help you connect with them. It surfaced high-level information about fellow alumni, such as the most popular companies they work for, the fields they're working, where they live and more. This week, LinkedIn launched an update of the tool, releasing a handful of new features renamed it LinkedIn Alumni. "Gathered from the profiles of more than 200 million members, LinkedIn's Alumni tool helps you explore alumni career paths from more than 22,000 colleges and universities worldwide\u2014and build relationships that can help you along the way," says Christina Allen, director of product management at LinkedIn. Here's a look at the new LinkedIn Alumni tool, plus how you can use it to connect on a more personal level and grow your network. LinkedIn's New Alumni ToolIf you're looking for a job at a specific company, in a particular industry or in a certain location\u2014or are just curious about where your college friends are now working\u2014the LinkedIn Alumni tool makes finding those people easy. Navigate to www.linkedin.com\/alumni to start. Your college or university will automatically be selected. At the top of your Alumni page you'll see three subheads: "Where they live," "Where they work," and "What they do." Click the arrow to the right to view additional categories, which include "Where they studied," "What they're skilled at" and "How you are connected." All the graphs are interactive: Click any of the blue bars to drill down and refine your search. Clicking "Greater New York City Area," for example, will display the names of alumni living in New York City below the graph, and update the top lists detailing the companies they they work for and the fields in which that specific group of alumni work. [LinkedIn Revamps Profile Pages: Tour the New Features]You can also explore the alumni of other colleges and universities by searching for one under "Change school" in the top-right. You can also narrow searches by refining the attendance dates, found at the top. How to use LinkedIn Alumni to find a graduate program: If you're thinking about pursuing an MBA or other graduate degree, LinkedIn's Alumni tool can help you find a good fit. Use the Alumni tool to see which schools place graduates in careers most aligned with your professional goals, Allen suggests. "Search for a school, select the field of study most relevant to you, and you'll get a top 25 list of companies that have hired graduates from the selected school," she says. Below, you'll see the graduates whose careers match your goals. To see the career paths they took to their current position, click their names. [How to Use LinkedIn Endorsements to Highlight Your Skills]How to use LinkedIn Alumni to job hunt: If you're job hunting and know you want to work for Google, for example, use the Alumni tool to find graduates of your school\u2014and with your major\u2014who work there now. If the company doesn't appear in your top five list, click the magnifying glass icon to search for it. Then, select the field of work to narrow the pool. "We've found out that most people want to help out fellow students and alumni, and are open to informational interviews," Allen says. "It's a great way to get your foot in the door." Kristin Burnham covers consumer technology, social networking, social business and enterprise collaboration for CIO.com. Follow Kristin on Twitter @kmburnham. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline and on Facebook. Email Kristin at firstname.lastname@example.com


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As recorded by statesman and historian, De Thou (1553-1617),
who was a witness to the events on St. Bartholomew Day as a youth.
Here, he is relating the events leading up to the Massacre and
the orders of the Queen of France, Catherine de'Medici.
So it was determined to exterminate all the Protestants and the
plan was approved by the queen. They discussed for some time whether
they should make an exception of the king of Navarre and the prince
of Condé. All agreed that the king of Navarre should be
spared by reason of the royal dignity and the new alliance. The
duke of Guise, who was put in full command of the enterprise,
summoned by night several captains of the Catholic Swiss mercenaries
from the five little cantons, and some commanders of French companies,
and told them that it was the will of the king that, according
to God's will, they should take vengeance on the band of rebels
while they had the beasts in the toils. Victory was easy and the
booty great and to be obtained without danger. The signal to commence
the massacre should be given by the bell of the palace, and the
marks by which they should recognize each other in the darkness
were a bit of white linen tied around the left arm and a white
cross on the hat.
Meanwhile Coligny awoke and recognized from the noise that a riot
was taking place. Nevertheless he remained assured of the king's
good will, being persuaded thereof either by his credulity or
by Teligny, his son-in-law: be believed the populace had been
stirred up by the Guises and that quiet would be restored as soon
as it was seen that soldiers of the guard, under the command of
Cosseins, bad been detailed to protect him and guard his property.
But when he perceived that the noise increased and that some one
had fired an arquebus in the courtyard of his dwelling, then at
length, conjecturing what it might be, but too late, he arose
from his bed and having put on his dressing gown he said his prayers,
leaning against the wall. Labonne held the key of the house, and
when Cosseins commanded him, in the king's name, to open the door
he obeyed at once without fear and apprehending nothing. But scarcely
had Cosseins entered when Labonne, who stood in his way, was killed
with a dagger thrust. The Swiss who were in the courtyard, when
they saw this, fled into the house and closed the door, piling
against it tables and all the furniture they could find. It was
in the first scrimmage that a Swiss was killed with a ball from
an arquebus fired by one of Cosseins' people. But finally the
conspirators broke through the door and mounted the stairway,
Cosseins, Attin, Corberan de Cordillac, Seigneur de Sarlabous,
first captains of the regiment of the guards, Achilles Petrucci
of Siena, all armed with cuirasses, and Besme the German, who
had been brought up as a page in the house of Guise; for the duke
of Guise was lodged at court, together with the great nobles and
others who accompanied him.
After Coligny had said his prayers with Merlin the minister, he
said, without any appearance of alarm, to those who were present
(and almost all were surgeons, for few of them were of his retinue)
: "I see clearly that which they seek, and I am ready steadfastly
to suffer that death which I have never feared and which for a
long time past I have pictured to myself. I consider myself happy
in feeling the approach of death and in being ready to die in
God, by whose grace I hope for the life everlasting. I have no
further need of human succor. Go then from this place, my friends,
as quickly as you may, for fear lest you shall be involved in
my misfortune, and that some day your wives shall curse me as
the author of your loss. For me it is enough that God is here,
to whose goodness I commend my soul, which is so soon to issue
from my body. After these words they ascended to an upper room,
whence they sought safety in flight here and there over the roofs.
Meanwhile the conspirators; having burst through the door of the
chamber, entered, and when Besme, sword in hand, had demanded
of Coligny, who stood near the door, "Are you Coligny ?"
Coligny replied, "Yes, I am he," with fearless countenance.
"But you, young man, respect these white hairs. What is it
you would do? You cannot shorten by many days this life of mine."
As he spoke, Besme gave him a sword thrust through the body, and
having withdrawn his sword, another thrust in the mouth, by which
his face was disfigured. So Coligny fell, killed with many thrusts.
Others have written that Coligny in dying pronounced as though
in anger these words: "Would that I might at least die at
the hands of a soldier and not of a valet." But Attin, one
of the murderers, has reported as I have written, and added that
he never saw any one less afraid in so great a peril, nor die
more steadfastly.
Then the duke of Guise inquired of Besme from the courtyard if
the thing were done, and when Besme answered him that it was,
the duke replied that the Chevalier d'Angouleme was unable to
believe it unless he saw it; and at the same time that he made
the inquiry they threw the body through the window into the courtyard,
disfigured as it was with blood. When the Chevalier d'Angouleme,
who could scarcely believe his eyes, had wiped away with a cloth
the blood which overran the face and finally had recognized him,
some say that he spurned the body with his foot. However this
may be, when he left the house with his followers he said: "Cheer
up, my friends! Let us do thoroughly that which we have begun.
The king commands it." He frequently repeated these words,
and as soon as they had caused the bell of the palace clock to
ring, on every side arose the cry, "To arms !" and the
people ran to the house of Coligny. After his body had been treated
to all sorts of insults, they threw it into a neighboring stable,
and finally cut off his head, which they sent to Rome. They also
shamefully mutilated him, and dragged his body through the streets
to the bank of the Seine, a thing which he had formerly almost
prophesied, although he did not think of anything like this.
As some children were in the act of throwing the body into the
river, it was dragged out and placed upon the gibbet of Montfaucon,
where it hung by the feet in chains of iron; and then they built
a fire beneath, by which he was burned without being consumed;
so that he was, so to speak, tortured with all the elements, since
he was killed upon the earth, thrown into the water, placed upon
the fire, and finally put to hang in the air. After he had served
for several days as a spectacle to gratify the hate of many and
arouse the just indignation of many others, who reckoned that
this fury of the people would cost the king and France many a
sorrowful day, Francois de Montmorency, who was nearly related
to the dead man, and still more his friend, and who moreover had
escaped the danger in time, had him taken by night from the gibbet
by trusty men and carried to Chantilly, where he was buried in
the chapel.
From De Thou, Histoire des choses arrivees de son temps,
(Paris, 1659), 658 sqq, in J.H. Robinson,
2 vols. (Boston: Ginn, 1906), 2:180-183. Scanned by Brian Cheek,
Hanover College,
November 12, 1995.
This text is part of the Internet Modern History Sourcebook.
The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted
texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the
document is copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying,
distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal
use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source.
No permission is granted for commercial use of the Sourcebook.
(c)Paul Halsall April1998
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet
Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at
the Fordham University Center
for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the
Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in
providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not
the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 6 October 2023 [CV]


text:
Glamping Amargosa Valley: Best Luxury Camping in Amargosa Valley, Nevada
Forget about expensive hotels in the cities and get outdoors! Check out the best luxury camping in Amargosa Valley and see why glamping is the new travel trend that is here to stay. From yurt camping rentals to secluded cottages for rent, it's easy to see why Amargosa Valley is a popular glamping destination. Whether you're planning a family vacation, a romantic weekend away, a trip with friends, or simply road tripping through, Glamping Hub has hand-selected this list of accommodations for you to have the best possible vacation. Go glamping in Amargosa Valley!
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[UPDATE: This story was originally published on August 29.]
Nail art has become as ubiquitous of an accessory as a statement necklace or platform dazzler, which means you've gotta score a perfect 10 from your pinkies to your thumbs to get noticed. And just in time for Fashion Month, we've hunted down the polish princess of L.A., Madeline Poole, to give us some surprisingly easy tips on how to paint magnificent manis modeled after some of our favorite catwalk looks.
She's previously sought inspiration in everything from Cheetos bags to Steve Madden kicks, and her own collab with The New Black just hit Sephora's shelves, so you can bet your fingers are in good hands! Click through these five digit looks inspired by the likes of Carven and Comme des Garçons for some serious top coats that are RTW now!
Like this post? There's more. Get tons of beauty tips, tutorials, and news on the Refinery29 Beauty Facebook page!


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I don't know what the ending of Mass Effect 3 entails, and I don't care. I haven't even played Mass Effect 3 yet. Hell, I'm still working through the first one at the moment. But despite that lack of personal contact with and investment in the issue – in fact because of that - I can already see very clearly that it is imperative that BioWare do not back down over the current fan protests. The content of the existing ending you see, is irrelevant. There are much bigger, potentially wider-reaching and longer-lasting issues at play here, and if BioWare get this wrong, it could be disastrous for games. And if you read on, I shall explain all.
Above: BioWare backing down on this one would be a monstrous punch in the face for games
First and most obvious things first. If BioWare give any ground on Mass Effect 3's ending, the precedent set for future creativity in video game narrative will be abominable. We're at a stage of gaming's development right now when storytelling ambition, technology and delivery techniques are bursting out in a whole stack of exciting new directions. Interactive narrative and creative experimentation are making breakthroughs all the time, and it feels like we're finally at the dawn of a new era for games as a full-blown medium rather than a mere plaything. Now is absolutely the worst time that a developer of BioWare's stature and storytelling significance should give away the creative control of one of its most significant, most narratively-driven franchises.
To do so would give the impression of admitting a lack of faith in its own world staff. It would give the impression of admitting that a crowd-sourced ending-by-committee dictated by a bunch of literal amateurs is more worthy than the work of its own creatives. In short, it would take away the power of the writers pushing this stuff forward, and hand it to a bunch of inexperienced outsiders who think they know how it works (and should work) simply because they enjoy consuming what someone else has poured hundreds of hours of effort, ideas, experimentation and creative iteration into creating. And it would set a deadly precedent for creativity.
Above: Creativity is the one on the right. And in the bottom-middle
"Hey, BioWare caved in for their fans, so you can bloody well do the same". That is the mantra that will spread across the already disgustingly self-entitled online gaming community any time a developer did anything a few fans didn't like. And lo, a thousand writers will lament, as the years of work, development, training, self-improvement and downright bloody earning their professional positions are cast asunder in the face of the knee-jerk wish-list of a bunch of non-qualified, non-professional 'fans'.
Let me just point something out here. BioWare's writers are the same people who have spent the last five years crafting the stories and universe that made Mass Effect's fans so attached and passionate in the first place. To suddenly claim that these people cannot be trusted to do their job operates on a level of irony and self-serving selective memory that would be funny if it wasn't so ungrateful.
Above: I couldn't find a proper metaphorical screenshot for ungratefulness, but a rifle butt in the face isn't nice either
But I'm not here to kick the protesters. This is about more than the details of this specific case. And there are more ways in which the outcome of this one is going to be important. Let's consider the most recent statement on BioWare's blog from co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka. While Ray has (thankfully) not stated that the game's current ending will be changed, he has heavily inferred that the approach taken to Mass Effect 3's DLC might well now be under scrutiny as a result of this protest.
A happy-medium compromise? Tweaking the DLC in order to have it tie up more loose ends (a major criticism of Mass Effect 3's ending by its detractors) could well smooth things over a little without requiring a complete retcon patch for ME3's current ending. But here again, I see problems. And again, they come about by way of the limiting the potential of games.


text:
Twitter users reacted fast to the explosions that ripped through the Boston Marathon Monday, but the incident also revealed how social media can only be so reliable in such situations.
Twitter spread news of the blasts quickly and was a useful communications tool for public authorities such as the Boston police and the marathon organizers. But information on social media sites can also be questionable or just plain inaccurate, noted Greg Sterling, senior analyst with Opus Research.
"It cuts both ways," Sterling said. "It allows you to get the information out more quickly, but it can also fan hysteria."
Two bombs exploded within 100 yards of each other near the marathon finish line on Monday afternoon. Police say two people were killed and dozens more injured. They have no suspects yet, and President Barack Obama has said it's not known yet if terrorists were involved.
The Boston Police Department's Twitter log showed a positive side of social media. It was updated minute by minute in the aftermath of the bombings, often with instructions about which areas to avoid, or information about where the most police officers might be stationed.
There was also misinformation, however. A report was circulated quickly on Twitter that police had shut down cellphone service in Boston to prevent detonation of further blasts, though it ultimately turned out to be inaccurate, according to network operators.
Others had nefarious intentions. At one point, a Twitter account with the handle @_BostonMarathon was promising to donate $1 to victims of the blast for every one of its tweets that was retweeted. Users soon called it out as a fake, noting the real Twitter account for the Boston Marathon was @BostonMarathon.
That type of self-correction could be one of social media's strongest assets, said Karsten Weide, an analyst with IDC. There can be a lot of false or misleading content, but the nature of the service means that anyone, regardless of their credentials, can do some fact-checking.
Still, while Twitter is great at disseminating news fast, some see its value diminishing as time passes after an event. "Twitter does its best work in the first five minutes after a disaster, and its worst in the twelve hours after that," said one Twitter user, in a comment that was widely retweeted.
Twitter carried some graphic images of victims after the explosions, including blood-soaked sidewalks and people in the streets with severe injuries. One person urged users to focus on how to help rather than posting photos of victims.
Determining what's useful information and what crosses lines of decency or taste may come down to individual judgment, however. "There aren't really clear etiquette standards for using social media," said Sterling.
"As long as the event happens in a public space, there's no way to stop over-the-top or inappropriate information from getting out there," Weide said.
For sure, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites were a useful source of information for many tracking the events. Google set up a Person Finder, as it did after the Japan earthquake two years ago, to help people connect with friends and loved ones after the incident.
Not surprisingly, the hashtag #bostonmarathon spiked sharply almost immediately after the attacks, said Hashtags.org, and mentions of "Boston" soared on Facebook, reported analytics company Topsy.