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Agriculture Future of America welcomed 64 collegiate leaders to Kansas City, Mo., for the 2013 AFA Animal Institute, April 7-9.
Agriculture Future of America welcomed 64 collegiate leaders to Kansas City, Mo., for the 2013 AFA Animal Institute, April 7-9.
Held in the heart of the Animal Health Corridor, this Institute introduced students to opportunities in the animal industry. Over the three days, students interacted with industry professionals through panel discussions and various tours. Students and industry professionals also came together the evening of Monday, April 8, to network over dinner and hear from National Cattlemen Beef Association's CEO, Forrest Roberts.
This year's group of AFA delegates represented 17 states and 18 colleges and universities. In addition to industry tours, student programming included professional development and industry-specific training.
The AFA Animal Institute was created to increase the profile of the animal industry with competitively-selected students from across the nation. It is an example of how AFA strives to close the gap between workforce needs and career preparation in the agriculture industry. Students will leave the Institute experience with better understanding of the animal industry and its environment and culture as well as a broader network of like-minded peers and professionals.
The 2013 AFA Animal Institute is made possible through the support of Merck Animal Health, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., Cargill, Ceva and the many industry tour hosts.
2013 Tour Locations
American Angus Association
American Hereford Association
American Royal Association
Bayer Animal Health **
Blasdel Cleaver Schwalbe Communications
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. *
Cargill Animal Nutrition
Dairy Farmers of America **
Duff Dynamic Marketing/AgriThority LLC *
Elanco Animal Health
Farmland Foods**
Fleishman-Hillard *
Global Prairie
Hill's Pet Nutrition *
Land O'Lakes, Purina Animal Nutrition **
Livestock Marketing Association
Merck **
Nestle Purina **
Osborn Barr *
Triumph Foods
U.S. Premium Beef
United States Animal Health Association
*breakfast sponsor
**lunch sponsor
AFA Animal Institute Delegates
Jake Baker, Iowa State University
Mandy Brazil, California Polytechnic State University
Emily Brookshire, University of Missouri
Alex Bryant, Oklahoma State University
Thomas Buresh, Iowa State University
Marina Cable, The Ohio State University
Naomi Cooper, University of Illinois
Anne Cox, Iowa State University
Wes Davis, West Virginia University
Lance Day, University of Missouri
Brooke Doolittle, University of Missouri
Anna Drahos, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Tonja Egan, Iowa State University
Brittany Elliott, University of Missouri
Jacqueline Ervin, Oklahoma State University
Kaitlin Foley, Kansas State University
Kelli Fulkerson, South Dakota State University
Sage Henderson, Kansas State University
Sara Hoffman, University of Missouri
Marissa Horton, Cornell University
Shelby Huber, University of Missouri
Lauren Ibach, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Caroline Imhoff, Illinois State University
Andrea Jeffrey, Kansas State University
Jordan Jolley, Colorado State University
Amanda Jones, Cornell University
Caroline Kalebich, University of Illinois
Emily Knight, Cornell University
Elise Krause, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Jenna Lansing, Iowa State University
Emma Likens, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Amber Manning, Oklahoma State University
Jennifer McCown, Kansas State University
Nathan Merchen, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Alyssa Meyer, Iowa State University
William Miller, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Kersten Morgan, Cornell University
Connie Mou, Iowa State University
Katy Murfield, The Ohio State University
Stephanie Murphy, University of Missouri
Sarah Nafziger, The Pennsylvania State University
Ashley Nagele, University of Illinois
Erica Navis, University of Illinois
Lisa Niedermeyer, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Kathleen O'Brien, Michigan State University
Lindsay Parker, Iowa State University
Megan Pieters, Iowa State University
Austin Piombo, Colorado State University
Catherine Ripp, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Celia Salmon, Michigan State University
Ana Schweer, South Dakota State University
Chelsie Shackelford, Kansas State University
Olivia Siglin, South Dakota State University
Benjamin Sims, College of the Ozarks
Danielle Smith, University of Arkansas
Luke Stark, Cornell University
Laura Sutter, University of Illinois
Alyssa Thomas, University of Missouri
Elaine VenJohn, Kansas State University
Rhianna Wallace, Kansas State University
Emily Webster, Michigan State University
Dale Weidner, University of Missouri
Sarah Wright, University of Illinois
Ashley Zelenka, Kansas State University


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Interchange News
Interchange 5.10.0 Released!
Posted on 06-Jan-2016 by David Christensen
The Interchange Development Group is proud to announce the immediate release of the latest major version of Interchange; Interchange 5.10.0. This version of interchange includes the Strap template as ...
Read more...
New template for Interchange
Posted on 20-Aug-2015 by Josh Lavin
An update to the previously announced Strap template for Interchange has been released, using modern HTML5 + CSS, along with a host of other improvements. Strap uses the latest version of the popular ...
Read more...
About Interchange
- Roadmap
- Online demo
- Hall of Fame (sites running Interchange)
- Supported platforms
- Interchange history
- Copyright & license
- Logos & badges
- Endorsements
- Contact
What Interchange users are saying:
"We have used Interchange since 1997 to run a very high traffic e-commerce site. Over the years interchange has become extremely stable and very fast. I would never consider using anything else. "
Tony Beaumont, DRS Inc.
Tony Beaumont, DRS Inc.
Users & Developers
- Downloads & source code
- Documentation
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- News
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subset: commoncrawl


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FREE DELIVERY for local online orders.*
As Always
FREE Delivery*
for local online orders.
* Free local delivery is available for local online orders only. For orders being sent outside of our local delivery zone, a delivery fee based on the recipient's address will be calculated during checkout.×
Lily arrangements and bouquets from A Better Design of Lawton are a wonderfully elegant gift for any occasion. Large, fragrant lily flowers in an array of vibrant hues will convey your love on a special day, or your sympathy during difficult times.


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Back to Top
Back to Top
Important things to know when visiting the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is NOT a Hall of Fame.
Often the museum is referred to as the "Negro Leagues Hall of Fame" or "Black Baseball Hall of Fame" and various names. It is important to the museum that we not be referred to as such. The NLBM was conceived as a museum to tell the complete story of Negro Leagues Baseball, from the average players to the superstars. We feel VERY strongly that the National Baseball Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown, NY, is the proper place for recognition baseball's greatest players. The Negro Leagues existed in the face of segregation. Baseball's shrines should not be segregated today. Therefore, the NLBM does not hold any special induction ceremonies for honorees. As space allows, we include information on every player, executive, and important figure. However, we do give special recognition in our exhibit to those Negro Leaguers who have been honored in Cooperstown.
• Parking is available near the museum.
Visitors can park on the either side of 18th Street, on the south side of "Buck" O'Neil Way (17th Street Terrace) or in public parking lots near Gregg Community Center (just north of the museums) at 18th and Woodland (one block east) or 18th & Vine (one half block west). Large buses for group tours should park and have passengers enter through the north entrance on "Buck" O'Neil Way or in the Parking lots at Gregg Community Center.
• Photography is restricted in many areas of the museum complex.
In both the NLBM and American Jazz Museum, photography of any kind is prohibited in the exhibit areas. This is done for security, copyright, and protection of artifacts. Photography is allowed in the large atrium of the museum complex. Exceptions are made for media and during special events, yet, only with pre-approval and in restricted to certain areas.
• The NLBM is a self-guided tour experience.
There are several text panels to read, hundreds of photographs, and a number of film exhibits, laid out on a time line of baseball and black history. We recommend that you plan at least 1 hour to fully enjoy the exhibit, but you could very easily spend 2 hours reading all the material. Special low lighting in some areas is required for protection of artifacts.
• Children must be accompanied at all times while inside the museum complex.
There are several large areas of the museum complex where one can be separated from your group. This is especially true of children. For the safety of the children, patrons, and artifacts, adults must accompany children when visiting.
• The museums have a climate-controlled environment.
The museum complex tries to maintain a level of climate control that is both comfortable for visitors and safe for the valuable artifacts. It is not uncommon, even during very warm summer months, for the temperature to be considerably cool inside the museum in order to minimize humidity. Please be prepared.
• The NLBM is housed in a handicapped accessible facility.
All exhibits, including the American Jazz Museum facilities, are located on one floor; with ramps and appropriate space to accommodate wheelchairs in exhibit areas and rest rooms. Extra wheelchairs are available on request. Closed captioning for the hearing impaired is available on the main exhibit film. Assistive animals (guide dogs) are allowed in the building.
• The NLBM provides a smoke-free environment.
Smoking is prohibited anywhere inside the museum complex.
• The NLBM can accommodate large group tours.
School groups, family reunions, church groups, office groups, scout troops, sports teams, and others are all welcomed to the NLBM. If your group is more than 25 people, regardless of age, you are strongly encouraged to make a reservation. With that, your group will be given special introduction by museum staff and, if time permits, guided tour services. Plan plenty of time for you tour and be sure to factor in shopping time in the museum store, if you desire. Please call at least one-two weeks in advanced. You will receive confirmation of your reservation in the mail, with information to help you with your trip the museum.
• Buses and taxis serve the museum area.
Taxi service can be obtained at most major hotels and areas in the city to come to 18th & Vine. Also, route #108 INDIANA Metro Bus has stops in near the front of the museum complex on 18th Street. A connecting bus from downtown is required to reach 18th Street.
• Kansas City is a great place to visit!
The 18th & Vine area, the Country Club Plaza, Westport, Kauffman & Arrowhead Stadiums are highlight of this great community. For more information about events, hotels, food, and other activities and services, go to


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OT - Best Soul Food in South Bend
Looking for a nice piece of Catfish. Was told of one place that had tasty fish by several media outlets, but when I search for it on google, nothing comes up.
Any thoughts? Was the restaurant that the media kept slobbering over real? Could the press really keep reporting on something that nobody actually saw (don't answer that, Mitch Albom)? If the restaurant was fake, why and who created the faux dining establishment?


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Shop our Bargain Basement & Save 20% on Christmas Decor - Click here for coupon code and exclusions
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Usually ships in 2-3 weeks.
This is a handmade decoupage wastebasket with optional tissue box. There are three different wastebasket styles available. There is the 11" Square with a flat top, 11" Square with a scalloped top or the 12" Fluted Tin. There is also a coordinating tissue box available for an additional purchase. Please make the selections from the drop down menu. Please note all items are custom made and may not be returned. The size specifications for each item are shown in the pictures. All items are handmade in the USA. Please note this item is custom made to order and the production time is approximately 2-3 weeks. Please refer to our return policy on custom items. Click on images for greater detail.
Recommend to a friend
Monkey on Leopard Print Decoupage Wastebasket and Optional Tissue Box
Leopard Print Decoupage Wastebasket and Optional Tissue Box
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Coupon can't be used with items in the Bargain Basement or with a "Special Price" or "Free Shipping". If you would like help applying it, call Customer Service.


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Amahi is an open source home server software package, which, among other things, has its own application store where you can download applications to extend the software package's functionality. This application store is labelled 'app store', and this irks Apple - which is currently in a legal battle over the rights to this term with Microsoft and Amazon, and as such, must show that it will defend its trademark.
"Amahi's use of the title 'App Store' improperly incorporates Apple's APP STORE mark in its entirety, and as such is likely to cause confuse consumers into thinking that Amahi is offering Apple's APP STORE service to its customers, or is otherwise authorized by or associated with Apple, when of course it is not," Apple's lawyers claim.
"Why Amahi? Why pick on such a small target when there are so many people using the app store term? Amahi is a Open Source startup, and is not even in the mobile space. We may never know," the Amahi team writes, "We're still trying to determine what is the best course of action, however, this looks like a rather heavy handed move. Amahi being literally nothing next to Apple (sigh) we do not have the resources to fight this battle."
As such, the team has decided to organise a naming contest for the Amahi application store. My personal favourite so far? Appl store. You know, appl, short for application. It's sad that they have to go through this, but I fully understand them in not being willing to take on Apple in court.


text: PC game / Choose your hero and journey forth in the ultimate action role-playing quest that pits you against an army of demons and devils like no other. Hell-bent and determined to take over the world, the powerful sorcerer Marcus Dominus Ingens has recruited the souls of ancient alchemists to aid in his destruction. Get ready for an unparalleled action role-playing experience that combines gruesome, action-packed battles with a deep, involving storyline set in the turn of the 19th century.


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Devils get the best of Rangers
Newark, NJ – David Clarkson registered two goals and an assist, while Martin Brodeur stopped all but one of the 25 shots he faced, to help the New Jersey Devils earn a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers in a rematch of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday at Prudential Center.
Adam Henrique also lit the lamp and Patrik Elias added a trio of assists for the Devils, who have won two straight on the heels of a four-game skid.
"It'd be nice to get but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter," Clarkson said of falling a goal shy of his first career hat trick. "The most important thing is that win and how the team did."
Chris Kreider scored the lone New York goal and Henrik Lundqvist was charged with all three goals on 22 shots in the setback, the Rangers' second in their last three games.
"We have some guys on our hockey club that are really playing hard, and we have some guys that look scared and tentative," New York coach John Tortorella remarked. "I'll tell you right now we're not waiting. We don't play careful hockey."
New Jersey struck first five minutes into the contest, as Clarkson made a nice backhand feed from behind the net to Henrique just inside the left circle and the 22-year-old center one-timed a shot high over Lundqvist to make it 1-0.
After the Devils killed off a double-minor at the 13:09 mark, New Jersey's aggressive forecheck kept the pressure on deep in New York's zone and a loose puck ended up in the slot, where Clarkson recovered it and ripped a shot past Lundqvist for a 2-0 lead with 53 seconds left.
New York controlled the play in the second and outshot the Devils 9-4 in the frame, but Brodeur turned away all nine shots to maintain New Jersey's two- goal advantage.
New Jersey then padded its lead while on the power play just under three minutes into the third when Clarkson pounded home a rebound from in front off an Andy Greene blast from the point.
The Rangers finally cracked the scoreboard at the 6:28 mark when Kreider wristed a shot from the left dot that snuck high over the short-side shoulder of Brodeur to bring New York within 3-1.
However, the hosts would pull no closer, as Brodeur stood tall between the pipes to preserve the Devils' two-goal edge.
Game Notes
The Devils ousted top-seeded New York in six games last spring to earn a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals ... New York forward J.T. Miller, the 15th overall pick of the 2011 draft, made his NHL debut and finished with two shots in over 14 minutes of ice time ... New York finished 0-for-5 on the power play, while New Jersey went 1-for-4 ... New York defenseman Dan Girardi did not play because he is "banged up", according to the team.


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This is a beautiful classical opera, live recorded with a professional opera singer. It's a unique dramatical song that will provide a strong atmosphere to any film footage. And you rarely find a live recorded classical italian aria for such a low price as you normally pay huge amounts of money to liscense orchestral recordings, but on Audiojungle all prices are the same, regarding to its length.
Lyrics (italian): A casa. Siamo noi. Tutti quanti amiamo, tutti quanti conosciamo. Ogni eroe, ogni codardo. Ogni creatore, ogni distruttore.
Translation: ENGLISH That's home. That's us. Everyone you love, everyone you know. Every hero and coward. Every creator and destroyer.
Suitable for all kinds of film and tv footage, grand action adventure and videogame related contents, epic and dramatic visuals and cinematic contents in general.


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interlinkONE CEO John Foley Highlights Opportunities in the Association Market
Published on October 19, 2016
John Foley, CEO of interlinkONE, talks with Senior Editor Cary Sherburne about the opportunities for printing firms in the association market, helping associations with strategic marketing plans, printed materials, multi-channel and more. "They are starving for this help," he says.
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Recent Videos
Frank Celebrates a Quarter-Century of Digital Color Printing
Published: December 14, 2018
2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the introduction of digital color printing by Indigo and Xeikon. The atmosphere at IPEX in Birmingham, England, that week in September, 1993, was electric. This week, Frank looks at Xeikon, and will cover Indigo in a subsequent video.
Nazdar Partners with EFI to Roll Out a New Entry-Level Roll-to-Roll Wide-Format Printer
Published: December 13, 2018
Glenn Shull, Printing Equipment Product Manager for Nazdar, talks about Nazdar's partnership with EFI and the unveiling of the EFI Pro 32r entry-level roll-to-roll wide-format printer.
Published: December 12, 2018
Scott Schinlever, President and COO of Automation Solutions for Gerber Technology, announces the acquisition of MCT Digital, a company the specializes in automated cutter technology.
Published: December 11, 2018
Matt Miloszewski, Sales Manager for PrintIQ, discusses end-to-end MIS solutions for the printing and graphic arts industry—from commercial to screen to packaging.
Canon Introduces the Prisma Family
Published: December 10, 2018
Bob Barbera, Senior Marketing Manager for Canon USA, unveils the Prisma family of workflow and print controller solutions for digital printing.
Frank Visits Lead Graffiti, a Cutting-Edge Letterpress Shop
Published: December 7, 2018
Frank visited Lead Graffiti in Newark, Del., and met with Jill Cypher and Ray Nichols who run a letterpress printing/publishing company. Their books and posters are works of art and they teach others how to print with wood and metal.
View More Videos


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Raiders free safety Michael Huff, scheduled for free agency whenever a labor agreement is reached, probably won't be putting "second team, All-Pro, 2010" on his list of accomplishments.
Huff indeed got a single vote out of the panel of 50 to finish in a seven-way tie to be the second safety on the second team. The first team safeties were (surprise!) Troy Polamalu of Pittsburgh and Ed Reed of Baltimore. Green Bay's Nick Harris finished behind Polamalu and Reed and was the first pick of the second team.
Other safeties that got one vote were Antrel Rolle (Giants), Eric Weddle (Chargers), Malcolm Jenkins (Saints), Quintin Mikell (Eagles), Chris Harris (Bears), Michael Griffin (Titans) and Darren Sharper (Saints).
(For what it's worth, Sharper, after a magnificent season last year when the Saints won the Super Bowl, played in eight games, started one, had 16 tackles and one pass defensed. And got a vote. Compared to that, Huff looks like Larry Wilson.)
Huff got the same amount of All-Pro votes as Marcel Reece, who tied for sixth among fullbacks, and fewer votes than Sebastian Janikowski (four votes, third among place kickers) and Jacoby Ford (two votes, 3rd among kick returners).
Despite having gross and net yardage figures that were less than Cowboys' punter Mat McBriar, Shane Lechler had 34 of 50 first place votes. Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha was the leading vote-getter among cornerbacks, being named on 20 ballots.
The Raiders slipped the name of offensive coordinator Al Saunders into the coaching roster on Raiders.com without an announcement.
Still listed are line coach Jim Michalczik and quarterbacks coach Paul Hackett, although my understanding is neither will be back. Michalczik will return to Jeff Tedford's staff at Cal. According to the Twitter account of David White of the Chronicle, wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal, running backs coach Kelly Skipper and tight ends coach Adam Henry were all with Hue Jackson's contingent in Mobile, Ala., at the Senior Bowl, a pretty good indication they will be retained.


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Grand Theft Auto IV Walkthrough
|Undertaker (cont.)
This is a furious gun battle in theory, but you'll soon realize that there's little to worry about here. There's just one simple key idea to keep in mind as you go -- keep your back to the church, so that no Albanian can sneak up behind you. They will come in waves, as well. Three cars will come individually, apart from one another, followed by a fourth assault of Albanians on foot from the alleyway across the street. Explosives work well here (grenades and RPGs), but it's decidedly overkill. Instead, let a car pull up and immediately open fire on the individuals inside before they can be targeted once they get out. This will thin their lineup really quickly and barely give them time to respond. As long as you stay near the church, you should be in the clear. Remember that Packie will be gunning down foes here as well, so you'll have some help.
As soon as the fourth wave of Albanians is eliminated, Packie will tell everyone to get into the cars out front and begin heading to the graveyard where Derrick (or Francis) will be buried. Since we killed Francis, we're heading to the graveyard at the north end of Colony Island, off of the east coast of Algonquin. If you killed Derrick, however, your destination will be different. What won't be different is that you will be followed by gun-toting Albanians, and you will almost immediately lose the back door of the hearse you're driving. This means that you have to drive as carefully as you can (considering armed maniacs are on your tail), because every bump and crash will disturb the casket a little bit more. Enough crashes, and the coffin will fly out of the back of the hearse, and you will thereafter fail the mission.
As you approach your destination graveyard (whichever one that might be), you'll be able to pull up in order to unload the casket. Then, you will watch a brief scene of the ceremony at the graveyard as Derrick or Francis are put six feet under. Thereafter, Niko will have a brief conversation with Kate over what just happened, and although neither she nor Packie knows that it was actually you who killed their brother, they're both glad you spent the day with them. This is a good reminder to keep Kate on your radar as well, since dating her has been an option for you for quite some time.
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OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Oklahoma Christian University (OC) kicked off June with a new fundraising initiative.
"Thrive: The Complete Campaign" will raise approximately $30 million to fund near-term, high-impact projects in around 30 strategic areas by May 31, 2017.
Unlike most university fundraising campaigns, Thrive had no silent phase and will be public from start to finish.
"This is an exciting grand experiment," OC president John deSteiguer said. "Most campaigns are long-term, endowment-heavy efforts that are secret for years until the timing and resources are right to announce them. But higher education is rapidly changing, and Thrive gives us the agility to respond to new market realities, donor wishes and student needs."
Thrive will be student-focused – emphasizing building projects and programmatic efforts that quickly and directly impact OC's campus experience and spiritual environment.
Among the first-year Thrive projects with fundraising goals of $1 million or more are a new home for OC's School of Nursing, startup capital to launch three new academic colleges, funding for a new spiritual life initiative, and a new campus dining area.
OC will seek additional facility funding for a new coffee shop and upgrades to the Davisson American Heritage building, Hardeman Auditorium, on-campus student housing, and Das Millicanhaus, the university's living-learning facility in Vienna, Austria.
"These projects are mission-driven and build on OC's strengths," deSteiguer said. "They are for our students – providing tangible things that will enhance their collegiate experience while keeping tuition affordable."
Bolstered by nine straight years of the highest enrollments in school history, including a record 2,424 students last year, Oklahoma Christian kept undergraduate prices flat the past three years before announcing a 3.26 percent increase for 2014-15.
OC's cost of attendance of $25,790 per year is significantly less than the national public-school average of $31,701 for out-of-state students and the private-school average of $40,917.
Alumni have helped Oklahoma Christian remain affordable; the university's successful Homeward campaign doubled OC's alumni participation rate over the past two years. More than 2,200 OC graduates financially supported their alma mater in the just-completed fiscal year.
Thrive is OC's largest campaign initiative since the Higher Learning~Higher Calling campaign raised $64.3 million in less than six years, concluding in 2009.
"Thrive is a whole different breed of campaign," deSteiguer said. "It's unorthodox in higher education, but we're raising money that can make a difference quickly. OC's strength and spirit mean this campaign isn't about surviving. It's about thriving."
More information about the Thrive campaign is available at www.oc.edu/thrive.
Recognized as one of the best universities in the western United States by U.S. News and World Report and The Princeton Review, Oklahoma Christian offers undergraduate programs in more than 60 fields of study, an undergraduate Honors Program, and graduate programs in accountancy, business administration, engineering, Christian ministry, divinity, and theological studies.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Oklahoma Christian University (OC) kicked off June with a new fundraising initiative.


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Description:72.8GB Ultra320 3.5-inch SCSI 68-Pin Non-Hot-Plug 15K Hard DrivePart Number(s)Manufacturer Part# MAU3073NP
Overview:The MAU SCSI series are the latest generation hard disk products from Fujitsu offering low profile high speed and high capacity to high performance enterprise computing applications. The MAU (NP) series comes with a U320 SCSI 68-pin interface connector and spindle speed of 15K RPM. The MAU (NP) series support the Ultra 320 SCSI (320MB/s) interface which offers new performance and reliability enhancing features such as data packet protocol quick arbitration and selection and signal pre-compensation.


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A bathroom debate could be the final issue that seals Christine Griffin's expected resignation as Smithfield Township supervisor.
A bathroom debate could be the final issue that seals Christine Griffin's expected resignation as Smithfield Township supervisor.
Griffin has a scheduled hearing 9 a.m. on Dec. 6 at the municipal building of a decision on her suit against the township and her fellow supervisors whom she charges have obstructed her duties as supervisor.
In one heated exchange that led to her censorship by the supervisors at a board meeting, Griffin said she was banned from the building for a period of time that prevented her from performing her duties on the building's computers and emails.
Reportedly, she'll resign that day with a year left on her term and a few weeks before the township reorganization meeting on the first Monday of January.
Griffin was at her customary seat at the supervisors budget meeting on Nov. 13 and its meeting with residents on Nov. 15 to review the concrete batch application request by HYK that is scheduled to reopen to public hearings by the end of January.
At the budget meeting, Griffin complained about the inability of supervisors Brian Barrett and Stephen Carey to find a contractor with a bid below $40,000 to build a bathroom linked to the Waterfront Park House on public grounds near the municipal building.
She said thousands of people stroll that area each year and only have portable bathrooms available when the Waterfront House is closed.
She said the township has $15,000 grant money available and said a bathroom is needed with washing areas not available in portable bathrooms, saying that there is a need for a bathroom compliant with the Americans for Disabilities Act and usable for parents who need the proper accommodations to change diapers on babies.
"That grant money is sitting there, and the remaining money for that project wasn't even put into next year's budget," Griffin said after the concrete batch meeting.
Griffin said she has the support of the township's Parks and Recreation Committee despite her claims that the supervisors disagree with that point.
"We had some grant money and went out for bid and they were unbelievably expensive," Barrett said, who claimed many trail areas in other municipalities use portable toilets. "We have to regroup and do it in a different way. It's not a closed case. We're just not going to pursue it right now until January or February when we get it ready for the spring because people won't be using it now."
Barrett pointed out that the bids have to be low as projects can develop rising costs.
Here are some other newsy nuggets:
East Stroudsburg Area School District's board of director extended the contract of Superintendent Sharon Laverdure through June 2016 during its Nov. 19 monthly meeting at the North High School auditorium, reports the Pocono Record. The approval is for a flat $130,000 contract and does not include salary increases at this time. It seems well deserved as Laverdure, her staff and the board navigated the district through a challenging fiscal time that has forced surrounding districts to take more drastic measures to balance their budgets. She also has been on the scene for many significant activities among district schools and has mobilized a successful effort to secure grants for school projects involving the community.
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Ron Young said the project that closed a portion of Route 209 for road repair and refurbishing two bridges will be completed "by Dec. 7, depending on the weather."
Pocono Record writer Beth Brelje reports Route 209 in Dingmans Ferry at mile marker 15.3, about two miles north of Route 739, reopened on Nov. 21 after it was closed for 13 months after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee hit. The $4.3 million project allowing a straight run to and from Milford was paid for by the Federal Highway Administration.
Don't miss a great, rare opportunity to see the White House Christmas tree make a stop at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Grey Towers in Milford while it is en route to Washington, D.C.
Lehman Township, meanwhile, has its annual lighting 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 5 before its bi-monthly Board of Supervisors meeting.
Residents will have a chance to state and explain their complaints at a hearing conducted by the Pennsylvania Utilities Commission taking place on Nov. 29 at Fernwood Hotel & Conference Center. There's a story in this week's issue on page 3. Many residents after Hurricane Sandy sound apprehensive about confidence in their energy supplier for the next winter storm.


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Rick's Dirty Thirty @Cloister Lluc, Escorca, Nov. 2013
Rick's Dirty Thirty @Cloister Lluc, Escorca, Nov. 2013
Travel more, know yourself better
"When I was a kid I use to pray every night for a new bike. Then I realised God doesn't work that way, so I stole one and prayed for forgiveness."
Travel & Lifestyle Blog
The Thoughts And Travels Of A Geezer On A Harley ……………………………………... Looking at the World Through Teenage Eyes, But With The Cunning, Guile and Wisdom That Comes With Age!
Traveling the USA on a Harley Davidson.
A sometimes unorthodox view
Writing about Journeys: Body Heart Mind


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Nov. 10, 2007
Box Score | AP Photo Gallery
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -Alex Harris had 24 points and seven rebounds and UC Santa Barbara beat Harvard 79-61 on Saturday night in the Basketball Travelers Classic.
Harris, who led the Big West Conference in scoring last season, also had two assists, two blocked shots and two steals for the Gauchos (2-0), who are unbeaten in this round-robin tournament on Stanford's home floor at Maples Pavilion.
Nedim Pajevic added 16 points, seven boards, three assists and two blocks for Santa Barbara. Chris Devine scored 13 before fouling out.
The Gauchos turned a 30-27 halftime lead into a comfortable victory by outscoring the Crimson 49-34 after the break. Harris shot 6-for-9 in the second half and finished 8-of-17 from the field and 8-for-9 at the free-throw line.
Drew Housman scored 18 points and Jeremy Lin 15 for Harvard (0-2), which played a better game than it did a night earlier in a 111-56 loss to No. 23 Stanford but still committed 22 turnovers.


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Say Hello to the GF104
Say Hello to the GF104
When it came to shrinking the GF100 which graces the GTX 480, GTX 470 and GTX 465, NVIDIA looked closer at the architecture and decided to make a few changes to a number of areas. In order to scale back things, certain sacrifices would have to be made if the original GF100 layout was kept as we speculated in our original article. The main issue with the GF100 is a real lack of texture units as you start eliminating Streaming Multiprocessors. So, if linear scaling was kept, NVIDIA have had possible lower-end GPUs with 320 cores or fewer cores but only 40 or fewer texture units. Like it or not texture performance is still one of the cornerstones of modern games and if that trend had continued, NVIDIA may have found it very hard to compete with the HD 5000 series.
One of the primary reasons behind designing the GF104 was the need to lower the thermal and power consumption needs of the Fermi architecture by producing a more compact core. Not only is this easier and less expensive to produce but it also allows NVIDIA to attack certain price points which ATI may have left vacant.
The differences between the GF100 and GF104 layouts start with the Streaming Multiprocessor which houses the CUDA cores, Texture Units, Polymorph Engine, Warp Schedulers, Load / Store units, SFUs and their associated cache hierarchies. Lets start at the top and make our way down.
Instead of two Dispatch Units each being accessed by their own Warp Schedulers, the GF104 makes use of a 2:1 ratio between the dispatch units and the schedulers while the number of Special Function Units has doubled per SM. As a result, transcendental instruction performance has been increased over the GF100 even though the number of concurrent threads has remained as it was. Otherwise, the Instruction Cache and the Register File size stay the same as GF100.
The main changes to the SM come with the number of CUDA cores as well as the number of texture units each houses. Instead of the usual 32 cores per SM, the GF104 uses a structure which allows for 48 cores along with 16 load / store units and 8 Special Function Units. This in and of itself is quite an eye opener but the real differences are with the number of texture units each Streaming Multiprocessor houses. The GF100 cards have four texture units per SM while the NVIDIA equipped the GF104 with eight TMUs per SM. This can and will lead to a massive increase in texture performance which will benefit older DX10 and DX9 games.
Much like the GF100 layout, the GF104 makes use of four Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs) and their associated Polymorph Engines per GPC along with a common Raster Engine. The only differences are the ones we mentioned above and the result is a GPC with sufficiently more horsepower than the GF100 was able to put forth.
Above is a picture of a full GF104 core and were hoping you are paying very close attention to its layout and the number of cores it houses within its two GPCs. In total, there are 384 cores, 64 texture units, 32 ROPs, 512KB of L2 cache and four 64-bit memory controllers. It is quite evident that even though the GF104s SM structure got a face lift, NVIDIA kept the ROP, L2 cache and memory controller array as is when making the transition from the GF100.
To us it looks like NVIDIA took some of the lessons it learned from the GF100 and put them towards designing a core that is infinitely more adaptable for the sub-$250 market. Not only is the GF104 much more compact than the higher-end silicon (it has 1.95 billion transistors versus the GF100s 3 billion) but it is supposedly quite a bit more efficient as well. The one thing which could hold it back is the fact that it only has a maximum of eight PolyMorph Engines that are essential for DX11 performance. For example, if you wanted to achieve 384 cores with a GF100, a total of 12 SMs (and 12 PolyMorph Engines) would be needed. Will these eight or fewer engines have a negative impact on the GF104s DX11 performance in future applications? Only time will tell but for the time being this looks like the perfect graphics processor for the current mid-range market.
|Latest Reviews in Video Cards


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Jean-Louis Gassée is one of my personal heroes in the computing business. After a long career at Apple, 1981-1990, he left the company after a major falling out with then-Apple CEO John Sculley. Please, don't cry though, as this was good news for all of us: JLG then founded Be, Inc. with Steve Sakoman, which brought us the best operating system in history (yes, it was), and most likely, the most annoying type of fanboy (the obnoxiously confident BeOS one - hi!).
Anyway, this is a man with a lot of experience, who probably has very unique views on things - so it only made sense for him to start writing. As it turns out, he's been writing for the Monday Note (bookmark added) for a while now, together with Frédéric Filloux. In his last entry, JLG dissects and debunks the myth that apple will lose if it doesn't license its software.
Earlier this month, Henry Blodget argued that Apple should license its iPhone OS out to third parties, or else it will be beaten by Android - just like what happened in the 1980s. JLG - who was actually, you know, there in those days - disagrees with the notion that Apple lost in the 1980s because it didn't license; he argues it lost because its products were inferior to the PC market.
"We're back in 1981. IBM introduces the PC. At the time, it's pretty much a clone of the Apple ][, slots, a cassette tape interface, game controls and all. The big difference is a 16-bit Intel processor, the 8086," JLG recalls, "The then reigning Apple ][ has the 8-bit 6502 processor, a dead-end architecture, as the supplier, MOS Technology, can't provide a credible transition to a 16 or 32-bit world, markitecture BS notwithstanding."
He further adds that the PC world got ever faster Intel processors, and the first "killer app", Lotus 1-2-3, which was "lightening" fast because it was written in assembly, and was integrated: a spreadsheet, a word processor and a database in one. "I know, because to some people's chagrin, in a small cubicle behind my office at Apple, I maintain a PC," JLG reminisces.
"When the Mac comes out in 1984, this is what it faces. The original Mac clearly shows great promise, its user interface is clearly superior and it builds on the lessons learned from Lisa's failure," he goes on, "But the first Mac, for all its promise and sexiness, is slow, buggy, with a small screen, no hard disk, no color and no application software that could compete with Lotus 1-2-3."
Of course, Apple eventually did license out the Mac OS, but this was a practice quickly killed off when Steve Jobs returned. "You can't be in both the hardware and the licensing businesses at the same time," JLG states.
He also gives an example of licensing not working out for IBM's PC business. "IBM licensed key parts of the original PC design and, for its reward, lost the PC market in spite of its effort to regain control with a new bus architecture, Micro Channel and a new software platform, OS/2, called 'better DOS than DOS' and 'better Windows than Windows'," he argues.
I know we really aren't in the position to argue here, but how do you all feel about this? It's pretty solid logic here, and of course, JLG experienced all this first-hand, so he knows what he's talking about. I see little reason to disagree, but maybe you do?


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Charlotte, N.C.- The Queens Royals played a post-season style game against a perennially pesky opponent Saturday night, hanging on to defeat the Coker Cobras 62-59 at Ovens Gym.
Senior guard Darnell Evans scored a game-high 20 points, including a pair of game-clinching free throws with 4.5 seconds to play, to lead the Royals (18-7, 13-5 Conference Carolinas) to their fourth straight victory. To get there, they had to survive a Coker comeback that nearly erased a nine-point Queens lead in the final 4 1/2 minutes.
"It was a tough win for our guys," Queens coach Brian Good said. "They (Coker) have some good shooters, and they hit shots. We just had to dig in and grind it out."
With accurate shooting from three-point range (10-of-23), the Cobras (9-17, 7-12) challenged Queens from start to finish.
The Royals seemed ready to put the game away after Andre Lockhart gave Queens a 55-46 lead on a conventional three-point play with 4:30 left to play. But Coker trimmed the lead to 60-59 on a 3-pointer by Ryan Fulwood with 6.4 seconds left. Fulwood was the Cobras' leading scorer with 12 points, on four 3-pointers.
Evans' two free throws pushed the lead to three, and Coker couldn't get a shot off before time ran out.
"We expected a tournament-type game from them," Good said. "They're patient and play a game of long possessions, so we had to be disciplined. They'll be a tough out for somebody in the tournament."
Coker led for most of the game's first 10 minutes, before Lamont King's three-point play put the Royals in front to stay at 17-16. Queens extended its lead to eight points (31-23) before 3-pointers by Fulwood and Vatrick Thompson trimmed the lead to 31-29 at halftime.
Evans and senior guard Akeem Misdeen were honored before the game, which was their last regular season home game. The Royals finish the regular season with two road games, at Erskine on Tuesday and Anderson on Friday.


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After a quick cut and paste, I produced a photocopy collage.
Blind dating official trailer otazen online dating
It was a long drive from Midland to Prudenville, but it was my obsession. The summer crowd of over 5,000 enjoyed the popular recorded music played by Shirley with support from Lee, her husband.
I'm tired of seeing folks bundled up as if they'll freeze.More than likely he feels bad because he needs her help.I want to explain to the woman who complains that husband no longer interacts with her so she's feeling lonely that her "feel sorry for herself attitude" will only drive away folks who would be friendly. And yes, sometimes even sweet John can be difficult.One is the IPF-Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Support Group and the other is for Spousal Caregivers.I thought the two groups would help provide answers but I'm giving up on the Spousal Caregivers group.
The crowd during the winter months was a fraction of the huge summer crowds.


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Neurodevelopmental Disorders in a Case of Morphine Addiction
Suche in Medline nach
|11. September 2012
Objective: To describe the neuropathological findings in a case of morphine addiction.
Materials and Methods: In the Pathology Department of the "Fray Bernardino Álvarez" Psychiatric Hospital, there are 410 autopsy cases. We selected the case of a 64-year-old male with a record of 35-year addiction to morphine, auditory and visual hallucinations, and dellusions of reference. We reviewed the medical history and the autopsy material. The tissues were formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded, cut into 5–7μm slices, and stained with hematoxylin-eosin and argentaffin techniques in order to perform photonic microscopy.
Results: Macroscopically, the brain had a congestive appearance, with gyri flattening and sulci effacement. The histopathological study revealed microinfarctions in caudate nuclei; putamen; and frontal, temporal and cerebellar cortex; and a thrombus in the medulla oblongata. Moreover, several cortical regions showed spongiosis, with increasing of the perivascular and pericellular spaces, gliosis, chromatolysis, neuronophagia, vacuolated neurons, neuronal depopulation, and axons in different directions, some of which were bifurcated.
Conclusions: The microscopic features confirmed the diagnosis of a neurodevelopmental disorder (cortical dysplasia) with the presence of severe vascular alterations.


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The Next Generation
by Stephanie Stein Crease
Symphony orchestras from Omaha to Los Angeles to New York are rethinking how young people can once again have meaningful experiences playing classical music—our own "American miracle."
click here for a pdf of this article as it appears in the print edition.
Can the Venezuelan miracle happen here? A poverty-stricken country of only 26 million people has a quarter of a million students enrolled in an ambitious and wide-reaching music education program. The majority of the children embrace the program; practicing is part of what they do together, almost every day, without parents hectoring and cajoling them. They produce orchestral music that is as high in quality as anything emerging from conservatories. The program is officially named the Fundacion del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestras Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela (FESNOJIV), but it is known universally as "El Sistema." The results are spectacular. In the last few months its touring musicians have captivated audiences and made headlines internationally. (For an in-depth look at El Sistema, see story starting on page 26.) Suddenly, everyone knows about the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and its conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, who will become music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the 2009-10 season. w As a result of El Sistema's heightened visibility, there is a newly energized conversation across the United States in the orchestra world. The vibrant musicianship of Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela (SBYOV) has galvanized interest in their musical training. The main question is: Can we translate "El Sistema" to the U.S.? Its success—a national, high-quality music education system that is all-inclusive and cuts across cultural, racial, and class lines—has prompted many people in the orchestra field to rethink our own practice of music education and performance. Simon Rattle, music director of the Berlin Philharmonic, has said repeatedly: "If anyone asked me where is there something really important going on now for the future of classical music, I would simply have to say: in Venezuela." Rattle has been pivotal to the high level of visibility that El Sistema has garnered in Europe and the United States, particularly in this last year. The Berlin Philharmonic began collaborating with and mentoring the Simón Bolívar Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, and that relationship has become more pronounced with Rattle, who two years ago hired bassist Edicson Ruiz, then 19 years old and a "graduate" of El Sistema, for the Berlin Philharmonic. Rattle's mentorship and heartfelt praise have put Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra in prominent concert halls. Just as significantly, Rattle's enthusiasm has brought orchestra directors, conductors, music educators, and musicians to Venezuela to witness El Sistema in action at home.
"What impresses me most is the exuberance and joyfulness of the
orchestra," says Jesse Rosen, executive vice president and managing
director of the League of American Orchestras. Last summer, Rosen spent
a few days in Caracas, experiencing El Sistema firsthand and hearing
the Simón Bolívar Orchestra under Rattle; a few months later, he heard
the orchestra on tour with Dudamel in the United States. Their
performances, says Rosen, are "a wake-up call to what is possible in
orchestral performance at a professional level. As audience members,
you get caught up—you can't escape the power of 200 people on stage who
are deeply engaged in music-making. A big part of it is that they
move—it's as if they are choreographed. American orchestras don't move;
what other genres of music-making are there in which the musicians are
so immobile? A lifetime of playing in ensembles gives the Simón Bolívar
musicians this ability. Performances like theirs get others to want to
perform classical music; this approach ought to be central to what our
work is."
Rosen and others are also interested in how El Sistema up-ends our concept of talent development. El Sistema began as a social service to give children in the barrios a safe haven and unique opportunity. It has evolved into a program with universal access. "Our system is to spot prodigious talent early and give it opportunity," continues Rosen. "Find the few and shoot them up the funnel. Their system says 'Find the many, and you will be guaranteed that you will have a really strong top.' The results are startling. The notion of El Sistema as a model comes at a moment when orchestras are more receptive to playing a larger role in their communities and building an audience."
Other elements of El Sistema stand in high relief to American music
education programs—which number in thousands across the country—and our
own hundreds of youth orchestras. One is that El Sistema's broad reach
has had a transforming social effect in ways that the United States has
achieved only in small doses. Another is the level of excellence that
resonates through El Sistema's hundreds of orchestras, not just its
top-tier ensemble, Simón Bolívar. Still another element is El Sistema's
continuity, which provides its students with an all-embracing musical
education that takes them from preschool through high school and
beyond, meanwhile serving their communities in countless ways. For
example, the growth of the núcleos (the community centers where the
orchestras rehearse) has created jobs for adults, including instrument
building. The success of El Sistema is motivating conversation and
research to translate these elements into new initiatives for American
youth orchestras and for music education. Different conversations are
taking place in different cities all over the country.
Students, musicians, and faculty from New England Conservatory (NEC) have had an ongoing relationship with El Sistema for several years. The signing of a friendship agreement in 2005 formalized a stream of reciprocal exchanges and shared resources—conceptual, practical, and cultural. Faculty, including violinist Donald Weilerstein, pianist Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, and Mark Churchill, Dean of NEC's Preparatory School and Continuing Education, have made several trips to Venezuela to coach young musicians and share ideas. NEC's own preparatory orchestra, the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (YPO) under Benjamin Zander, toured Venezuela twice, and Churchill and Abreu jointly created the Youth Orchestra of the Americas to forge ties among young musicians all over the Americas.
These relationships became more public last November at a day-long symposiumsponsored by NEC and its Center for Music-In-Education (CMIE), topped off by the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra's concert at Symphony Hall in Boston. The symposium, entitled "The Venezuelan Music Education Miracle: What Is It? What Can We Learn?," brought together Abreu; Churchill; Larry Scripp, NEC's Director of the Research Center for Learning Through Music and Chair of CMIE; Polly Kahn, League of American Orchestras Vice President for Learning and Leadership Development; and others active in the field.
Participants had three assignments: to read an article about music as a force for social change; to watch a documentary film about El Sistema, Tocar y Luchar; and to read Jennifer Chang's Harvard thesis about El Sistema's social and psychological benefits. These sources primed the participants—including business leaders, public school teachers, and arts administrators— for lively discussions, and a follow-up conference is planned. One principal topic was: Can our affluent country engage in similar ways with our own underserved children?
Mark Churchill, who considers Abreu a mentor, is himself a firm believer in music as a tool for social change. The friendship between NEC and Abreu and his Venezuelan colleagues got a fresh jolt last fall with the Simón Bolívar Orchestra's visit to Boston. "We put onthe symposium—with 45 participating organizations—to examine the question of what we can learn from El Sistema,"said Churchill. "What we all want to see flourish is bringing classical music to the larger culture, and this is such a compelling model. Now, we may need some sort of national organization to support and share ideas, because so may things came out of this—whether you expand what you are already doing or create something new. But, if you are going to model something on El Sistema, it has to have the same level of intensity and commitment."
Churchill's colleague Larry Scripp agrees. "Abreu paid attention to so many things. He believes that music really is of social importance, that it truly is not dependent on a prior conception of talent, and so forth. El Sistema even works with deaf children, and with kids who grew up in real poverty. So this is the case where the medium has become the message. In our seminar, nobody really said, 'Well, this is the thing to do. We just need to replicate it.' Replication is a very superficial view of what El Sistema is; it doesn't replicate itself—it evolves, it adapts. For the Venezuelans, it matters that you do well at music, not that you just participate. There are no apologies for demanding quality in that system, and the quality of the music is the best way to assure that the social and equitable goals are long-term."
Jennifer Chang was inspired to write her thesis, "Orchestrating an 'Affluence of Spirit' " (Harvard, 2007) after touring Venezuela with the YPO orchestra. Through her research, she rigorously examines El Sistema's evolution and function. She does not gloss over some of the children's history of violence, nor El Sistema's critics. But her findings substantiate the multiple benefits that El Sistema's combined social services and music education achieve for the impoverished children it serves.
Violinist Josh Weilerstein, a student at NEC, is another veteran of the YPO who was profoundly influenced by his experiences with the Venezuelan musicians. Weilerstein was invited to go on the Simón Bolívar Orchestra's 30-day debut tour of the United States last fall. A member of the musically accomplished Weilerstein family (his parents are NEC faculty, and his sister, Alisa Weilerstein, has a burgeoning career as a solo cellist), he is keenly aware of the difference between his training, aimed toward being a soloist, and that of his Venezuelan peers. "The YPO met on Saturdays—that was it. Simón Bolívar rehearses on a professional schedule, four hours a day, and plays a concert at the end of the week. The excitement they generate is amazing—nobody plays like that—which was what was so great about them coming to the U.S. Many friends who came to hear us said this was the best concert they had ever seen. People come backstage crying. That happened again and again. The funny thing is that the Venezuelans are kind of used to that. They have humility, but at the same time, they strive for excellence."
Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic has made a bold statement to the musical world with the appointment of the 27-year-old Dudamel as its next music director. And the orchestra is about to launch a wide-ranging youth orchestra program that takes its inspiration from El Sistema. But the orchestra's dedication to music education for young people is longstanding. During his sixteen-year tenure as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen, himself a product of Finland's exemplary national music education system, has helped to promote an atmosphere of engagement with the next generation. Now, the Los Angeles Philharmonic is mounting an ambitious new initiative that aims for the broad reach of El Sistema. The Young Musicians Initiative was announced last October during the Philharmonic's first International Youth Orchestra Festival, an unprecedented three-week event that presented concerts by orchestras of young musicians from Finland and Switzerland, as well as the Venezuelan group, and also showcased local youth orchestras. The three international orchestras, each of which has a distinctly different history and mission, were the SBYOV, with Dudamel; the Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra, Finland's premier training orchestra, led by alumnus Esa-Pekka Salonen; and the Swiss-based UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra, under Charles Dutoit, the newly appointed chief conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra. The festival also included side-by-side performances with the local youth orchestras and the international musicians; in-school appearances by the visiting musicians; and a master class for young conductors by Salonen and Jorma Panula, his mentor. A day-long symposium examined models of music education from around the world, with participants from many countries.
For Deborah Borda, Los Angeles Philharmonic President and CEO, the
time is ripe for these efforts. The Young Musicians Initiative, forged
over the last couple of years, is a partnership of school districts, music-education providers, afterschool programs, and the
city and county of Los Angeles. The goal is to connect the dots among
the programs that already exist in L.A., and to create something new:
Youth Orchestra L.A., an in-school program, inspired by El Sistema,
will start creating a web of community-based youth orchestras for the underserved
children of Los Angeles. A highlight of the festival was the public
pledge by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, business leaders,
music educators, and many others to work together to get the first of
these orchestras off the ground. To demonstrate the sincerity of their
commitment, they each purchased advance tickets to a concert, to take place a year in the future.
A slate of new plans for youth orchestras in Chicago, galvanized by El Sistema, may bring musicmaking to the city's diverse communities. Chicago's in-school music programs, like those of many other cities across the country, were largely eliminated by huge budget cuts in the 1970s and 1980s, and have never fully recovered. Yet the city of Chicago has rich musical resources that have provided access for many children, including several youth orchestras, community music schools, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's successful, long-standing programs: its training orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago; and its Musicorps program, which sends teaching artists into schools. Chicago Symphony Orchestra President Deborah Card takes particular pridein the CSO's Percussion Scholarship Program (PSP), an intensive Saturday program for a select group of elementary school students. The goal of PSP is to give its students near-professional abilities; but meanwhile its students have garnered extra-musical benefits and unique opportunities.
Even so, the CSO keeps renewing its efforts to widen access to music education and become more inclusive. Here, too, the time is ripe for new collective efforts. The CSO has found an enthusiastic partner in Dr. David Roche, director of the new Office of Arts Education for Chicago Public Schools, a position created in 2006 in response to the growing awareness of what children have lost due to the erosion of in-school arts programs, in this era of high-stakes testing.
Roche, an ethnomusicologist by training, heard Dudamel conduct the CSO last spring. Upon meeting the young conductor, Roche peppered him with questions about El Sistema's pedagogy. Dudamel immediately invited Roche and a group from Chicago to come to Venezuela, and Roche visited Caracas a few months later. The result of this trip is the exploration of a model that will work for Chicago public schools, through a partnership with the CSO, the Chicago public school system, and other organizations. "We already have a network of musical resources in place. We won't be starting from zero," says Card. Roche is studying the viability of starting two youth orchestras in Chicago communities, engaging the city's significant Latino and African-American populations. There are already families within Chicago's predominantly Latino communities who are aware of El Sistema and sister-programs that exist in other Latin American countries.
Roche knows that much of El Sistema's success stems from its intense rehearsal schedule and concentration of teaching resources. He can already envision the pilot orchestra: "One hundred and twenty kids, twelve coaches, four months, four to six days a week, three to four hours a day—that's the formula for El Sistema. In four months, our kids could have an orchestra concert." Both Card and Roche are engaged in preliminary but enthusiastic conversations with their leadership teams about how to make this vision a reality. "If Beethoven is 'cool' in the barrio in Caracas," Roche asks, "why not here?"
When asked a similar question, Louis Scaglione, president and music director of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and chair of the League of American Orchestras' Youth Orchestra Division, answers that the rightful place for instrumental instruction in America is in our public schools. The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, founded in 1939, is one of the oldest and most prestigious youth orchestras in the country. More recently, it has launched other ensembles under its aegis, for musicians from eight to 21 years old, who come from the surrounding areas of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. These include the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, two Bravo Brass ensembles, and PRYSM, a string orchestra program.
Decades ago, Philadelphia's public schools served as greenhouses for the Philadelphia Orchestra itself, most of whose members came from nearby. But today, most of the musicians in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra's youth ensembles cannot credit the public schools with their training. Says Scaglione, "El Sistema is nothing more than what happens when a society wraps its arms around the importance of music learning for a child. By following this bright path as toddlers, and cumulatively through early adulthood, it enables the poorest children to develop the tools necessary to be successful in life. It always strikes me as curious why here, being the nation of greatest wealth and resources, we have such difficulty wrapping ourselves around this. If we spent as much time and resources on our kids as they do, we'd end up with the same thing. When the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra was on tour in Brazil, I cannot begin to describe the reception we received—you would have thought we were rock stars! That's not what we get here at home, so somehow we are falling short in this country. This is how El Sistema stands head and shoulders above us: It puts music education in the center of every community."
New York.
This past fall, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra's concert at Carnegie Hall, followed a few weeks later by Dudamel conducting the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, made a huge impact in an already rich cultural season. In the ensuing buzz, Theodore Wiprud, the New York Philharmonic's director of education, heard from musicians all over the city. "People ask me frequently, 'Well, why not here in New York? Whom do we have to talk to? We would do anything to make this happen here!'" The shifting focus to an orchestral model is exhilarating to those in the orchestra world. "We keep hearing there are more kids playing in youth orchestras in Venezuela than playing soccer," said Wiprud. "That is a very successful side of their pedagogy—you get the kids on the team right away."
Like other American orchestras, the New York Philharmonic's educational programs have grown tremendously over the years to include school partnerships, mentoring opportunities, and numerous programs for children and adults, helping to fill the gap created by the loss of in-school programs. At the same time, Wiprud and his colleagues from other organizations have helped redefine music curricula for New York City public schools. Sadly, while the Department of Education has made efforts to reestablish arts in the city's public schools, it has been far more embroiled in changing the entire school system, and in high-stakes testing, than making headway in the arts. The question remains: Where can something like El Sistema take root in New York City, if not in the schools? And can arts groups, youth orchestras, community music schools, and conservatories here work together to come up with more widespread access to existing programs and more continuity?
Nora Gibson, executive director of the InterSchool Orchestras of New York, is optimistic. The ISO, a multi-tier program with hundreds of students from all over the city, is trying to find ways to provide both new partnerships and followthrough, and guarantee that the ISO will keep filling its ranks. Its new In-Concert Program is starting to give instrument lessons in a Brooklyn public elementary school that lost its music program nine years ago; one of the ISO ensembles performed there last year, and it is hoped that some of these students will join the ISO. The ISO's Teaching Intern Program provides a win-win situation for ISO Symphony members (mostly high school students) who give lessons to elementary school students; perhaps some of them will also join an ISO ensemble. The ISO also has an "endangered instrument" program, which provides instruments and free lessons on bassoon, oboe, string bass, and viola—filling another needy niche.
Many youth orchestras across the country share similar programs, as well as similar struggles to provide more access and obtain the funding to do so. "What we are doing is counter-cultural," says Gibson. "It's counter-cultural because it's not what our children are experiencing in the commercial culture that surrounds them. But I think that people are finally realizing that maybe it's not so good that kids do not have this—and they are turning to us and to community music schools. We have a stratified music system; there are those families that have music education, but many more that can't or don't. Many parents don't have the time or background. The beauty of how Venezuela addressed that problem is its access. What I would like to see is an infrastructure that connects organizations in the city—like ISO, community music schools, and other programs—to keep kids going all the way through. In the process, we are creating a safe community with access to opportunities."
El Sistema's success may well shine a brighter spotlight on our own excellent and impassioned youth orchestras—be it the New York Youth Symphony, which regularly wins honors for adventurous programming, or the top-tier ensemble of the Omaha Area Youth Orchestras. A common problem is visibility: Our students' concerts rarely garner an audience outside the orchestra's own loyal cadre. This contrasts starkly with the wildly enthusiastic Venezuelan audiences that have grown along with El Sistema and now embrace orchestral repertoire for its own sake.
To Aviva Segall, music director and principal conductor of the Omaha Area Youth Orchestras, the conversation about an El Sistema model is both philosophical and pedagogical: "Abreu's outlook is that music is its own very worthy goal. His statements remind me of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki's." Suzuki's beliefs—that all children have great capacity for learning, and that by giving a child a musical education we are creating beautiful human beings—are the core of the Suzuki Method, which also stresses playing in ensembles early on. "Orchestra training is such a great medium," says Segall, "because you are collectively coming up with solutions to challenging problems that involve focus on details and systematic work. These are the things that go along with learning music. But one of the things we need to keep in mind if we 'import' a system is to look at the whole picture: What are their kids getting in schools, what do they have in their culture that is different from ours? For instance, many people think Suzuki kids can't read music. When Suzuki training started here, nobody really took into account the fact that kids in Japan learned how to read music in school, and here they weren't.
"What's tremendous about El Sistema is that it cuts across a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds. That is a big part of our discussions at youth orchestra gatherings. How do we work with underserved populations, how do we increase our socioeconomic and racial diversity? And nobody really has come up with solutions on that scale. In America, communities look at issues of poverty and they think, 'These kids can't possibly do music because they have so many other problems.' Here, there is probably no one system that can work. But it would be wonderful to communicate on a national scale, to synthesize ideas and create resources."
New Directions
The conversations about whether the Venezuelan miracle can be recreated here will undoubtedly continue. League Vice President Polly Kahn, a longtime music education advocate, is clearly open to the new kinds of questions and issues these conversations raise. "Through El Sistema, we are seeing great new musicians and a great orchestra," she says. "We don't have a systematic presence for arts education in our public schools; all our arts policy is locally based and very erratic. So does that mean we should re-think how we use our resources—which will always be limited—
and use them in a different way?
"El Sistema inspires us to think about the ultimate goal of our music education programs. For instance, most American programs have been built around musical literacy. Is the goal to develop a love of symphonic music and build future audiences? Or is the goal—as El Sistema suggests—a means to a social good? Should our orchestras be a community resource in a more holistic way? Do we have an Abreu here—or 100 or so people who have that kind of vision?
"The League, in partnership with many of our member orchestras, has developed a Statement of Common Cause in Support of In-School Music Education. One of the first actions we have taken is to try to align symphony orchestras, large and small, around the firm belief that arts education needs to reside primarily in the lives of children in school, and that every child deserves arts and music education. But it is hard for us to have a systematic approach when we don't have a unified educational system. So we need to think about the role of our symphony orchestras in this—what resources are necessary, and what we can deliver. The ways in which we measure our success have to align with our understanding of what we want our programs to achieve.
"Unlike Venezuela," Kahn says, "we are a very heterogeneous society, so I keep emphasizing: What do we want to do that is inspired by El Sistema? There will be a thousand answers to that question, and from community to community, the solutions will be different and perhaps stronger than they have been before."
Stephanie Stein Crease is a New York-based music journalist and author. Her Music Lessons: Guide Your Child to Play A Musical Instrument, was one of Publishers Weekly's 100 Best Books of the Year for 2006; her new book, Duke Ellington for Kids, will be available fall 2008.


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1,234 Iowa voters listed as deceased
1,234 Iowa voters listed as deceased
DES MOINES, Iowa —
Schultz found 1,234 voters listed as deceased.
Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz is sending a letter to county election officials suggesting they remove more than 1,200 Iowa voters who may be dead.
Shultz says he did a routine check of the Social Security Death Index and cross referenced it with voter rolls matching name, birth month and year of listed voters.
He advises the county officials to analyze the list carefully and notify him of those they remove from voter rolls.
He plans to send out notices so any voter whose death has been prematurely recorded will have a chance to protest and get restored back to voting status.
Schultz found 1,234 voters listed as deceased.


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College Honors Retiring Faculty/Staffby Howard W. Hewitt • May 14, 2010 Share:
Nine members of the Wabash College staff and faculty were honored Friday for their nearly 250 years of service to the College.
(See photo albums of the event here and here.)
The nine were honored by colleagues and administration during a noontime luncheon. President Patrick White concluded the ceremony by thanking those who have made a difference at Wabash.
"We thank you for all you do and have done to define Wabash and to be Wabash," the President said. "May the thanks of a grateful Wabash travel with you."
The nine honored were:
- Dr. James Makubuya read a short citation honoring Professor of Music Larry Bennett. "Students describe him as 'generous with his time, tough but fair, a professor that raises expectations, a thoughtful and challenging teacher. He challenged and encouraged his students to extend established intellectual boundaries and to become critical thinkers …"
- Wabash Chief Financial Officer Larry Griffith subbed for Director of Campus Services David Morgan, who was ill. Griffith recognized Ron Bowerman, Store Room, and Carpenter Joe T. Perry.
"Joe is widely known around the Wabash campus as always being very helpful and always providing a friendly smile as he was carrying out his assigned skilled duties."
"Ron enjoyed his interaction with the students and staff during his employment at Wabash College and will be remembered for his colorful stories by all."
- Laura Connors, Lilly Quality of Life in Indiana Grant Facilitator, could not attend Friday's luncheon. She has served the college in a number of capacities since 1981.
- Professor of Biology David Polley honored his retiring colleague Dr. David Krohne. "I think that all of us have come to know Dave through his photography and essays that have appeared in Wabash Magazine. Some of us have known him as a both friend and colleague, and we have enjoyed and benefited from our conversations with him about science and teaching. But the really lucky ones are his students, because they have known him as their teacher."
- Dr. Michelle Pittard honored Teacher Education Administrative Assistance Marcia Labbe for her 22 years at Wabash. "Serving as administrative support for two divisions over her tenure, Marcia brought to her job professionalism, commitment, loyalty to the College and a good sense of humor. Marcia was well-respected for her expertise and straightforward approach."
- Professor of Mathematics Robert Foote recognized his colleague Dr. David Maharry who has been at Wabash since 1979. "He is an enthusiastic teacher, and has readily taken on new courses and engaged eager students in numerous independent studies. Even this year, when he was eligible for a last sabbatical, he volunteered to teach our pre-calculus course. Outside the classroom, Dave has been a campus leader. He has been division chair twice; the first time included much of the planning, building, and renovation of Hays and Goodrich."
- Dean of the College Gary Phillips read a citation noting Virginia Maharry's 22 years of service to Wabash. "Throughout a period of great transition in the life of the Library and the College, you have remained a steadfast presence in the Lilly Library keeping focus on the needs of the Gentlemen of Wabash, educating them and us in a host of ways. By the professionalism of your work, the dignity of your person, and kindness of your spirit, you have demonstrated time and again why you are such a valued and respected colleague and teacher, exemplary in your dependability and attention to detail."
- Dean of Admissions Steve Klein honored long-time staff member Michael Reidy for his 32 years of service. "In our 13 years together Mike has generated 2,768 applications which have resulted in 549 young men enrolling at the College. Mike may have recruited in every territory and performed every office duty available."


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By GENE POLICINSKI
First Amendment Center
As things now stand, Americans will not be able to see TV coverage of upcoming 9/11-related trials from Guantanamo Bay.
The situation is regrettable — but easily remedied.
A military judge this week said he had no authority to override an earlier decision by the Department of Defense that denied requests by the defense attorneys for the accused and by and news-related groups to televise the trials.
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