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It's official. The world is probably about to end. Mob Wives' Karen Gravano's book Mob Daughter, is currently number 18 on the New York Times bestseller list of hardcover nonfiction tomes. I kid, I kid…not about her achievement as an "author" but about the world ending. It can't. I am still on the first installment of the Hunger Games, so the world is going to have to stick around long enough for me to read Karen's book. And that could take years. And years.
Unfortunately, as it is with everyone who seeks fame, the backlash comes as quickly as the love. After hearing that some folks are boycotting an upcoming Barnes & Noble appearance to promote her book, SILive.com is reporting that Karen understands the discontent. After all, she's a victim too, y'all. She claims to be on the same side of those who believe she is profiting off her father (Sammy the Bull)'s bad behavior (to put it mildly).
In an interview with Advance, Karen claims, "I'm on their side. I've said they were victims of this lifestyle, and the decisions that our fathers chose." She continues, "I also lost a [my uncle] to this, so I just think it's actually insulting at this point that they can sit there and call themselves victims but they don't consider the loss that I felt — or the things that I went through because my father is Sammy the Bull."
She's referring to her father, Salvatore Gravano, who was known as Sammy the Bull. Sammy served as an underboss of the infamous Gambino crime family. He later turned tables and became an informant, sending John Gotti to federal prison until his death. Her book chronicles her life growing up on Staten Island and learning at young age about her father's crime-spreeing ways.
As for people who think her book profits are blood money, Karen cites that no one seems to blame the Gotti Mafioso for their crimes. She believes her critics are solely focused on her father. She tells Advance, "I'm starting to become a little skeptical. Are they mad that he killed their fathers, or are they mad that [my father] cooperated?"
From there, Karen makes a bit of stretch. I know she probably wasn't thinking fully about what she was saying, so I'll give her a pass, but she compared the families of said mobsters to those who suffered on 9/11. If you think I'm wrong, please call me out, but that's how I took her following statement. She says, "I never said families are not the victims — I will not say the men are victims. The people in 9/11 are victims. When you walk into something like that and you don't know it's going to happen, then you're a victim."
Karen does concede that her father has gotten what he deserves and is paying his dues. Rightfully, his situation doesn't cause her to think any less of him. She admits, "I can't help that I love my father, the same way that they love their fathers," she said. "All of them chose the wrong path in their lives, the men."
By "they," Karen means others in the lifestyle who have profited off books which detail their stories. While she calls them "hypocrites" Karen is quick to state, "I didn't write this book to have fights with them. I wrote this book to shed light on the life I went through."
Karen also discusses her three years' probation after pleading guilty in Arizona to helping her father sell ecstasy. She even claims her father's past as her reasoning to seek criminal involvement. Karen cites the leniency she received in her youth from law enforcement for being Sammy the Bull's daughter. That, coupled with the reaction to her father becoming an informant, shaped her behavior.
"I felt like you only get respect when you're bad," Karen asserts. "It made me feel like I want to be bad, and I turned my life over to crime."
She continues, reasoning, "It made me who I am. I know why I made my decisions. I know why I did it. I don't put blame on anyone else. I didn't say, 'I'm going to deal drugs because my father hurt me.' I'm going to deal drugs because it's a choice that I made."
As for her involvement on Mob Wives, she is adamant that the idea for the book came before the show. When asked about the over-the-talk drama we see every Sunday night, Karen explains, "When we do scenes or we do shows where we're not bickering, people find them boring."
Furthermore, Karen defends a past comment relating Staten Island to the "breeding ground for the Mafia." She counters, "That's what I've seen. I didn't mean the whole entire Staten Island. I think that if anything, we're not representing a borough, we're representing ourselves." Staten Island thanks you for clarifying.
As for her father, Karen is quick to admit that she felt "betrayed and hurt" when he cooperated with the FBI. Her book, she hopes, is about family, saying, "I was looking at it as a little girl whose father just left her."
Karen hopes that her true supporters will view the book in light of how she has persevered. "How can I take this and spin it into a positive, where it can work for me, instead of against me, for the rest of my life?" Karen ponders.
"I can't deny who I am," she continues. "I'm a hustler and if I'm hungry and if there's food in front of me I'm going to take it and eat it." And by food, she means Drita.
[Photo Credit: D. Salters/WENN.com]


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SYCAMORE – Sycamore football coach Joe Ryan sent Austin Culton a text message Friday morning telling the senior running back to be prepared for a heavy workload against Rochelle.
Ryan called Culton's number 31 times and Culton delivered to the tune of 188 yards and two touchdowns as the Spartans stopped a two-game losing streak with a 26-14 win over Rochelle on Friday night in Northern Illinois Big 12 East play.
"I told coach last Saturday when we came in the morning to watch film, 'Hey coach, next week if you need me to carry the ball 30 times I will,' " Culton said. "I did what I had to do, I'm really proud of the line, too."
Sycamore (5-2, 2-1 NI Big 12 East), which had scored only six points in its previous two games, used an 11-play opening drive consisting of all run plays to go up, 6-0, on a Culton 1-yard touchdown run.
The Spartans took another six-plus minutes on a 16-play drive late in the second quarter and Culton ran in for his second touchdown of the game with 23 seconds remaining in the half.
Normally not a quick-strike offense, Rochelle (5-2, 1-2 NI Big 12 East) scored with no time remaining in the half on an Evan White touchdown run. A good kickoff return and two plays covering 50 yards preceded White's run and Sycamore went into the half only up, 12-7.
Despite not running an offensive play in the third quarter, Sycamore increased its lead by six on an interception return by Ben Niemann.
On a third-and-7, Niemann stepped in front of a Rochelle receiver for the pick and made one player miss down the sideline, going 82 yards for the touchdown to put the Spartans up,
"We did just enough defensively," Ryan said. "They are a hard team to stop; their run is so tough to stop. It was nice to win on our field against a really good team."
Sycamore took another eight minutes off the clock after a Rochelle punt, and quarterback Devin Mottet found Niemann down the seam to make it a 26-7 Spartans lead in the middle of the fourth quarter.
The Spartans go on the road to face Kaneland next Friday.
"Coming in and doing this to a team like that is a great motivator for us," Culton said. "It's a huge win for momentum, confidence and now we're in the playoffs, it's a monkey off our back."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
On 27 September 2012 11:22, Henry Story <email@example.com> wrote: > > On 27 Sep 2012, at 12:13, Ben Laurie <firstname.lastname@example.com> wrote: > > > > On 27 September 2012 10:59, Henry Story <firstname.lastname@example.com> wrote: >> >> >> On 27 Sep 2012, at 11:45, Ben Laurie <email@example.com> wrote: >> >> On 27 September 2012 10:02, Henry Story <firstname.lastname@example.com> wrote: >> >> >> On 27 Sep 2012, at 10:38, Ben Laurie <firstname.lastname@example.com> wrote: >> >> On 27 September 2012 09:31, Henry Story <email@example.com> wrote: >> >> >> On 27 Sep 2012, at 09:57, Ben Laurie <firstname.lastname@example.com> wrote: >> >> On 26 September 2012 13:50, Henry Story <firstname.lastname@example.com> wrote: >> >> On 26 Sep 2012, at 13:59, Ben Laurie <email@example.com> wrote: >> >> The easy interface works well only if you are happy with a small >> number of identities - i.e. linkability across almost everything. >> Also, note that this kind of thing was tried with Microsoft's >> InfoCards and also with OpenID. It didn't go so well. >> >> >> Microsoft's info cards was a centralised solution I believe. Here we are >> using only open web standards: HTTP, TLS, RDF, Linked Data. Which allows >> everybody - individuals as well as large institutions to participate. We are >> not excluding anyone here. >> >> >> No, infocards were decentralised. >> >> >> And they permitted a distributed web of trust? I really doubt they had the >> tools to work with that, in part because it requires open standards such as >> those behind LinkedData (HTTP+RDF) for it to make sense. >> >> But that's really not the point - >> the point was that they involved similar choices amongst a large >> number of possibilities, and it turned out to be hard to use. >> >> >> it cannot have been a similar choice among these number of possibilities. >> They did not have LinkedData ( that meme only really appeared in 2006 or so, >> and has been growing slowly and steadily since then . see for example Tim's >> 2009 Ted Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web.html >> ) >> >> Think about this: if you are from Google - a company whose life is based >> on the Web, was built on the web, and whose core algorithm is based on the >> linking of pages - but who still is largely new to LinkedData, you can >> imagine that Microsoft, a much older company with a lot more legacy, is >> going to be much slower in embracing such a change ( though huge leaps have >> been known to happen ) Also remember they were taking in by the SOAP bubble. >> >> OpenID has a similar problem (its what they call the Nascar problem). >> >> >> We can get rid of the Nascar problem easily. I think someone may already >> have implemented an initial example of that using WebID... You just write a >> server that does the following when someone clicks the 1 and only login link >> on the page. >> >> The server requests the client certificate ( asynchronously is best as in >> here https://github.com/bblfish/Play20 ) >> >> IF the user selects a certificate and returns it >> >> >> This is the point at which the Nascar problem occurs: selecting the >> certificate. >> >> >> ( Background of NASCAR problem for those new to this >> http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2009/04/06/does-openid-need-to-be-hard/ ) >> >> No, that is not the problem. Most people nowadays have 2 or 3 payment >> cards, which they can choose from when going into a shop to pay for >> something. Choosing one among a handful personas is easy when logging in >> somewhere. And most users would not have more than a handful of certificates >> to select from when going to a web site. >> >> >> You can't have it both ways: if privacy is protected by using multiple >> certificates, you cannot also restrict people to using 2 or 3. >> >> >> Having multiple identities is one aspect of protecting privacy: it allows >> you to choose which persona you use on which web site - if you want to log >> in that is: anonymity could be considered the null certificate. > > > There are shades of anonymity - I might still want to log in yet be > anonymous (i.e. not linkable to my other logins). The null certificate would > not achieve that. > > > fine. There are other technologies to address those issues. Username > password is one of them. > > >> >> >> There is no need to restrict people to using 2 or 3. There is I believe a >> limit on how many identities people wish to have. > > > The W3C does not seem to agree - > http://www.w3.org/2011/tracking-protection/drafts/tracking-dnt.html claims > that some people do not want to be correlated across sites. > >> >> The rest is up to browser vendors to improve the User Experience. > > > You can punt on the problem if you want, but it doesn't stop it from being a > problem. > > > yes, the ball is in your court in part as representative of Google. Not really. > Pressure > them to improve the UI, and we will have all have a better privacy > experience. We here can help build a vocal group of people to help your > managers understand the importance of users being aware of the identity they > present to a web site. Chrome tends not to be impressed by vocal minorities - what is needed is users asking for the feature. > > >> >> >> What protects privacy is your >> 1. your browser asking you who you want to be identified when going to a >> site >> 2. your browser showing you who you are logged in - as the attached >> prototype by Aza Raskin shows >> <aza.jpg> >> >> >> >> >> >> The problem is that these selection boxes are predetermined in advance by >> the web site you go to, are confusingly presented differently on each web >> site, and don't in fact give you the freedom of running your own identity >> server. Who would put the University of Oxford identity server up there as >> an option if such existed? >> >> But I could get a University of Oxford certificate and wherever I go to on >> the web if the server asks me for a certificate, I would be given the option >> of using one of the certificates I actually have - not those most people >> usually do have. >> >> The NASCAR problem is one of in your face choice for options you don't >> want, without giving you the options you actually do have. >> >> The server on receiving the certificate. Either >> a. the certificate is CA signed and trusted. Follow usual procedure. >> (though if there is a WebID, you can get extra information that >> would >> otherwise be difficult to put in a cert) >> b. the certificate does not have a CA known to the server and no WebID >> use the public key as a temporary identifier, but suggest linking >> that public key to a number of other >> identification schemes - you're in NASCAR land - but also suggest >> to the user to get a WebID >> c. the certificate does not have a CA known to the server and a WebID >> do WebID identification. >> Else >> do the usual Nascar stuff >> >> In a, b above you have a WebID so you can replace the Nascar box by a >> linking verification process, and you can reduce the immediately visible >> options by using the information from the WebID profile using the >> foaf:holdsAccount relations found in the foaf file: e.g.: no need to suggest >> Facebook login - as a first option - if the user does not in his profile >> declare having an account there. >> >> The above is a back of the envelope sketch of how to do things. Of course >> with a team of good designers you'd develop that carefully and do usability >> tests. >> >> >> Henry >> >> >> Social Web Architect >> http://bblfish.net/ >> > > > Social Web Architect > http://bblfish.net/ >Received on Thursday, 27 September 2012 11:09:37 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Tuesday, 6 January 2015 20:54:35 UTC


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Designer: MATSUDA
Shipping: Free FedEx Worldwide!
Designer: MATSUDA
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Product Description
About the MATSUDA M2036Hand finished Japanese acetate with engraved titanium temples. The Essential Optical Collection features new designs drawing upon classic Matsuda details made of pure titanium, stainless steel, and premium Japanese acetate. Matsuda's legendary Japanese eyewear collection has long been known for its exquisite craftsmanship and impeccable attention to detail, design, and use of engraved metals.
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My jaw dropped yesterday when my boss, Jeff Moreland, told me that high school football coaching legend Dudley Hilton was stepping down at Bell County to be the head coach at Pikeville College.
I've never met the Springfield native but his work is well known across the state.
That's only a few of his accolades.
He will be joining his son, John Dudley Hilton, at Pikeville College. John Dudley just completed his senior season with the Bell County Bobcats and is joining Pikeville College as a player.
I spoke with Hilton today. He's a great interview, very quoteable and funny.
Check in with us on Wednesday in the print edition for some of his quotes about his new job. He's very excited about his new endeavor.
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It's shameful, after Carol Post leaves Mr. Ed and Wilbur, she steals Wilbur's car and goes after a married man. Fortunately, according to 1958 ethics, she's killed before very long. But who did it? Could it be Mr. Ed? Could it be Betsy Jones-Moreland? Only Philip Marlowe cares.
Philip Marlowe – Murder is a Grave Affair (1958)
CategoriesClassic TV TV Shows
Readers Comments (1)
Great stuff; I didn't know Marlowe was a TV series. One question: where can I get one of those great automobiles with the fins? Thanks as always for some fine entertainment.


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winter aspens
Leanne M.E. Boyd 12/20/2004 9:58:37 AMWonderful Michael! Clean and clear! #197965
Ronald Balthazor 12/20/2004 1:28:37 PMNicely done, Michael. #988462
Harry Lichtman 12/20/2004 1:37:28 PMNice job Michael. I have one suggestion, purely subjective. It appears that there are tracks near the top of the photo, which interupts the smooth lines of the rest of the photo. I suppose they could be edited out, or even more simply cropped out. I think the photo would still be very effective, as the shadows of most of the trees will still be visible. Very nice composition and exposure!
Harry #988466
Michael D. Vanden Berg 12/20/2004 2:00:00 PMThanks for all the nice comments. Harry, I agree that the choppy snow is not ideal, but I think cropping that much would really hurt the image (I tried it). I guess I will just have to go back up there and try again. good thing there is a lot of winter left.
Mike #988484
Donna Roberts 1/18/2005 12:55:16 AMMike - I am really pleased to see at least one of your fabulous 'winter aspens' amongst the finalists (even if it wasn't the one that I commented on).
Ellen Peach 1/19/2005 6:30:55 AMCongratulations & best of luck, Michael! #1047617
Donna Roberts 1/20/2005 1:59:01 AMYIPEEEEE - Fantastic result Michael.
Lisa Deaton 1/20/2005 7:28:28 AMFantastic image, nice to see this one in the winners circle. Congrats!!! #1050791
Kathy Shogren 1/20/2005 8:11:08 AMCongratulations Michael on a well-deserved win. So beautiful!!! #1051022
Wendy Stevenson 1/20/2005 12:38:21 PMCongratulations Michael - I love the smooth lines. Really great shot!! #1051665
Michael D. Vanden Berg 1/20/2005 3:22:22 PMThank you every one for your nice complements!! #1052035
Kip T. Berger 1/20/2005 11:00:59 PMCongrats on the win Michael!!! #1052628
Wanda Judd 1/21/2005 5:17:41 AMI love the "feel" of this, Congratulations... #1053172
Evy Johansen 1/21/2005 11:15:02 PMThis is so beautiful! Congratulations on your win, Michael! #1055218
Leonard Pierce 1/23/2005 5:25:18 PMCongratulations on your Second Place win Michael!!! #1058869
Kristi A. Howson 1/24/2005 8:04:22 PMCongratulations Michael...this is fantastic...great perspective and DOF! #1061272
William Neill 3/10/2005 1:28:40 PMExcellent seeing and design!
Keep up the good work!
William Neill #1162218
F 4.5, 1/800, ISO 80, Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, afternoon
Uploaded on 12/20/2004 8:45:56 AM
Copyright for this gallery photo belongs solely to Michael D. Vanden Berg. Images may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way without the expressed, written permission of the photographer.
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Recent News and Events
Why Study French, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish?
In this era of increasing globalization, the command of foreign languages has become a necessity in our engagement with the worlds of contemporary science, technology, business, and diplomacy. There are, of course, many other pleasures to be had from mastery of a second language, including access to great literary and cinematic masterpieces. Join us to live, learn, and grow beyond the current borders of your world!
Study Abroad
Through Study Abroad our students study, and sometimes do internships, in our programs in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Quito, Paris, Grenoble, and Padova.


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5 – 4 Cardinal Win Over Cubs
Carlos Beltran and Jon Jay drove in two runs apiece, and the St. Louis Cardinals capped an impressive trip with a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.
Beltran also had three hits as St. Louis won for the seventh time in eight games and improved to a major league-best 14-7 on the road. The Cardinals went 5-1 on a six-game swing to Milwaukee and Chicago, with the lone loss coming Tuesday in their first game of the season against the last-place Cubs.
The Cardinals trailed 4-3 before Beltran singled in Matt Carpenter in the seventh, and Jay drove in Yadier Molina with a tiebreaking single against Michael Bowden (1-2) in the eighth.


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Justin LewisWritten by Jane Longshore
When a family emergency put Lewis' dream of medical school on hold, he worked hard to continue his undergraduate studies and support his family before entering medical school in 2013.
Beverly Jordan, M.D.Written by Kendra Carter
Jordan is a 2006 graduate of the UAB School of Medicine and family medicine physician in Enterprise, Ala. After completing medical school, a residency in family medicine and a fellowship in sports medicine, Jordan set her sights on practicing in Enterprise for one reason: it's the city nearest her hometown of Jack, Ala.
Gates, a second-year medical student, is passionate about becoming a primary care physician. For her, pursuing a career in medicine means returning to her hometown of Aliceville, Ala. to care for the community where she grew up.
A year in the Dean's chairWritten by UAB Medicine
Oct. 15 marks the one-year anniversary for Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D., in his role as senior vice president and dean of the UAB School of Medicine.
Jennifer RowlandWritten by UAB Medicine Magazine
Last summer, Jennifer Rowland was one of two UAB students who completed a prestigious research internship at the new KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH), in Durban, South Africa.
Dan Gorelick, Ph.D.Written by Kendra Carter
Gorelick, who joined the UAB faculty in 2012, has worked in lab research since he was a high-school student.


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US-raised immigrants remain in US custody after crossing bridge on Texas-Mexico border
LAREDO, Texas – Thirty-four young migrants are in U.S. custody after trying to enter the United States without documents in the latest round of what is becoming a new tactic in confronting what they consider unjust U.S. immigration policies.
U.S. immigration officials interviewed the group dressed in a colorful graduation caps and gowns late into the night Monday after they marched across one of the bridges connecting Mexico to Laredo while chanting "Undocumented and unafraid!"
The young people all spent long stretches of their childhoods in U.S. cities like Los Angeles and Phoenix and want to return.
Edna Flores, 22, of Hermosillo in Sonora state, was taken by her family illegally to the U.S. when she was 6. But she voluntarily left Phoenix in January 2012 after deciding her options for finding work or continuing her education were limited after graduating from high school. In Mexico, she found work in a call center and obtained a tourist visa to visit the U.S.
Flores took a 26-hour bus ride last week to Nuevo Laredo to join the group at a migrant shelter as it prepared for Monday's protest march. "I just want to be back with my family," she said.
The risks borne by their parents' generation involved dangerous journeys through darkness across desert and river. The teenagers and 20-somethings who crossed Monday face what could be weeks in detention and possible deportation.
They are following the path of the "Dream Nine," a smaller group that attempted to enter the U.S. at Nogales, Arizona, in July. They requested asylum and were released after about two weeks in detention to await their turn before a judge. Monday's contingent expects something similar.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose officers determine who is admitted at the border, said privacy laws prohibited it from discussing any individual cases.
At the heart of both groups' protest was a change to U.S. immigration regulations made in June 2012 giving something called deferred action to immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children. Those who were in the U.S. at that time and met a list of criteria could apply for a renewable two-year deferment and work authorization.
But the young people crossing Monday had left the U.S., either voluntarily or through deportation, months, weeks or even just days before the deferred action announcement, commonly known as DACA.
"We look at this action today and the Dream Nine as a type of extension of DACA," said David Bennion, an immigration lawyer traveling with the group. "What we would like to see is the people who left, like these 30 who otherwise would have qualified for DACA, to have that be taken into consideration."
There were several minors in the group, including 17-year-old Luis Enrique Rivera Lopez. He came to the border from Guasave in Sinaloa, a Mexican state that he had known only by its reputation for drugs and violence before going there from Los Angeles early last year.
"I wanted to have a sense of my roots," Rivera said of his decision to return to Mexico, where he hadn't been since he was 1. "I wanted to know where I was from."
The experience was rewarding in some ways. He got to know both sets of grandparents. But after 19 months away he missed his parents and three siblings who remained in Los Angeles. He also found he didn't fit in after having grown up in Los Angeles.
"When I got to Sinaloa I didn't dress like anyone. My haircut was different. My style of walking was different. My Spanish was like way off," he said.
David Leopold, an immigration lawyer and past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the tactic concerned him.
"The focus now should be on getting the House of Representatives to do its job and fix the immigration system," Leopold said. "I don't know that these actions move that issue forward."


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Difference between revisions of "Chris Garcia"
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*[[Vegas Fandom Weekly]]
*[[Vegas Fandom Weekly]]
==External Link==
==External Link==
Revision as of 19:50, 24 March 2009
Christopher J. Garcia (October 21st, 1974 - ) is an editor, fan writer and LetterHack from Santa Clara, CA. He edits The Drink Tank, Claims Department and L*I*S*P*, and co-edits (with Jean Martin) Science Fiction / San Francisco.
Garcia writes for many different zines edited by others, including Dave Burton's Pixel, Arnie Katz's Vegas Fandom Weekly and other Magazine. He wrote and edited several very small zines in the 1990s, including YANKspot and Stacked Decks.
Garcia is a member of several Amateur Press Associations, including the Fantasy Amateur Press Association (FAPA), the Southern Nevada Amateur Press Society (SNAPS), eAPA, and the Australia New Zealand Amateur Press Association (ANZAPA) and is a former member of The Everlasting Club.
Garcia also maintains the BArea Fanzine Archive which features hundreds of science fiction fanzines from around the world.
- Claims Department
- The Drink Tank
- PrintZine
- Science Fiction / San Francisco (with Jean Martin)
- Stacked Decks (with M Lloyd and Jay Crasden)
- YANKspot (with Jay Crasden)


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Scott Sheldon needed a new other design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 73 designs submitted by 12 freelance designers.
Unique MKTG
I provide unique marketing solutions for my clients. My tag line is, "Your company isn't like everyone else's...your marketing shouldn't be either."
We develop original client attracting marketing and sales programs for our clients built on their needs, their budget, and their business personality and capabilities.
I've been crowned one of the top 10 sales people in the country by Selling Magazine, referred to as a marketing genius, others say Scott provides...
"...creative solutions in every project"
"...very disciplined in thinking through things from the customer's perspective"
"Creativity in marketing programs and ideas is a skill that pervades everything Scott does."
"Scott's knowledge of marketing and business to business service is extensive and detailed...produces great and on-time results."
Small to mid-sized companies.
They need help with customer acquisition, retention, and profit growth.
I need a great blog header.
I have a logo and tag line that I want integrated into the design.
My company colors are Warm Gray 11 and PMS Orange 021
Font in logo is FifthCopySSK
URL is http://www.uniquemktg.com
I want the header to fill the space and incorporate the two buttons on the right and the tabs into the design.


text:
Publication Details
Title:(Orthographic drawing) Bering Sea
Authors:Alpha, T.R.
Publication Date:1974
Publisher:U.S. Geological Survey
Comments:This publication was reclassified with a new publication number in 1975; see below for the updated classification number.
Ordering Info:This publication is out of print. Reproductions may be available. USGS Publications Warehouse
Bibliographic Reference
Alpha, T.R., 1974, (Orthographic drawing) Bering Sea: U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report: Technical Data Unit classification number 597, 1 sheet.
Publication Products
- This publication has been superseded by OF 74-1005.


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Process Engineering Associates, LLC
Applied Chemical Engineering Services for the Process Industries.
Process Engineering Associates, LLC (PROCESS) is a chemical engineering company providing process design, applied chemical engineering, and process safety services to the mining & metallurgical, petroleum refining, chemical production, alternative fuels, food grade products, nuclear materials processing, and all other process industries. PROCESS personnel are experienced, highly-motivated chemical engineers with track records of significant achievement in all facets of process engineering.
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Volume V
What's inside...
Innovations in Education series report: Engaging Parents in Education: Lessons from Five Parental Information and Resource Centers
What's New
- From the U.S. Department of Education
- From the Office of Innovation and Improvement
- From the Institute of Education Sciences
- Arts Education
- Closing the Achievement Gap
- Education Reform
- No Child Left Behind
- Raising Student Achievement
- Teacher Quality and Development
- Charter Schools
- Early Childhood Development
- Education Reform
- Raising Student Achievement
- Teacher Quality and Development
Innovations in Education series report: Engaging Parents in Education: Lessons from Five Parental Information and Resource Centers
A generation ago, "parent involvement" in schools usually meant "not very involved at all." Parents seldom visited the classroom unless they received a call from their children's teachers or principals. Often, the closest that mothers and fathers came to the school building was when they dropped off their children in the morning. Actual visits to the school were confined to big events such as plays and science fairs. Unfortunately, some parents still do not feel welcome in the classroom, nor do they feel they can ask substantive questions about the quality of their children's teachers and schools.
However, in a growing number of communities, the picture is very different. Gone are the days when moms just organized bake sales. On any given day, students see parents in the school building helping to organize kindergarten registration, identifying ways to raise money that will buy materials teachers need to enhance a math lesson, tutoring kids that need more time to master skills and lessons, starting after-school programs where students can learn to play a new sport or understand the stock market, serving on a school site council, or coordinating resources and services from the community for families, students, and the school. It's not just the moms participating who are participating either. Dads, grandparents, and other caregivers are getting involved. Families of economically disadvantaged or limited English proficient students are becoming more involved in their local schools too-because schools are providing more information about the range of programs and services available to them.
Helping Parents Share Responsibility for School Improvement
Helping to make this happen are Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs). A new U.S. Department of Education Innovations in Education series report, Engaging Parents in Education: Lessons from Five Parental Information and Resource Centers, highlights the practices of five centers, with successful strategies for parent and educator engagement. Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Morgan Brown announced the release of the new guide at the annual meeting of the directors of the 2007 PIRC grantees in Baltimore, Maryland on August 1st.
Drawing on lessons learned, the guide shares promising strategies for increasing effective parent involvement. The five PIRCs highlighted in the guide were selected through a rigorous peer review process that relied on both benchmarking and case study methodologies, in which researchers and practitioners helped screen the programs. From an initial list of 45 programs that support parent involvement, five highlighted PIRCs were chosen based on the range and quality of their practices, the organizations' locations and demographics of their target populations, and the quality of their collaborations with other parent involvement organizations or education agencies.
Funded through a discretionary grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII), PIRCs have operated since 1995 to support parent involvement in Title I schools. The centers must be of sufficient size and scope to ensure that they can serve parents throughout a state, and each are required to focus on services to parents of low-income, minority, and limited English proficient students, using at least 50 percent of the federal funds they receive annually to serve areas of their states with high concentrations of low-income families. Special attention is directed to parents of children in Title I schools that are not making adequate yearly progress under NCLB. This effort to increase parent involvement is critical to student achievement. According to leading researchers on this topic, "students with involved parents, no matter what their income or background, were more likely to earn higher grades and test scores and enroll in higher-level programs; be promoted, pass their classes, and earn credits; show improved behavior, and adapt well to school; and graduate and go on to postsecondary education."1
At present, more than 60 PIRCs across the United States as well as in each of the special jurisdictions including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the Federated States of Micronesia, work to strengthen partnerships that support children in reaching high academic standards, closing the achievement gap, and providing parents and educators with information and resources to help their children succeed.
To ensure that PIRCs maintain high-quality standards and implement research-based parental-involvement strategies and practices, the Department also supports the National PIRC Coordination Center, which was created in 2006 by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) in collaboration with the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP). SEDL's three decades of experience with issues of family involvement in schools, combined with HFRP's knowledge of helping education stakeholders develop and evaluate strategies that promote the well being of children, youth, families, and communities, equips the Center to assist the PIRCs with their numerous program management needs.
Leadership Training for Parents
Three of the PIRCs highlighted in the new guide -- the Indiana Partnerships Center, based in Indianapolis; the Family Works, program of the nonprofit Gaithersburg-based (Md.) Family Service Agency; and the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA), based in San Antonio, Tex.-- have not only created strategies for increased parent involvement (described in the book), but they also offer parent leadership training institutes. The institutes have a common goal: empower parents to lead other parents and educators in efforts to raise student achievement.
After deciding to incorporate parent leadership training into their services, these PIRCs looked for a model from which to develop their own programs. Each offers training that was adopted-and adapted-from aspects of the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership (CIPL), which has been training over 200 Kentucky parent leaders a year since 1997. They have individualized the parent leadership training, but all have preserved the mandatory "CIPL-model culminating project" that aspires to raise parents to a new level of parent engagement by requiring them to create an individualized project.
The culminating projects at each of the sites have ranged from efforts focused on getting more fathers involved in school, such as a mentoring program for boys that seeks to involve positive male role models, to curriculum-oriented efforts, such as creating a children's book club and or staging Family Monopoly Night to increase math skills.
Executive Director Jackie Garvey of the Indiana Partnerships Centers explained that their projects often aim to empower parents to link parent activities to student achievement. She recalled a memorable project that started as a small literacy effort known as "Donuts with Dad and Muffins with Mom," and reflected on how the effort evolved. "The project grew tremendously. A member created a train from a golf cart and it went around the school promoting books and reading. The organizers obtained community partners, the whole community rallied around them. It became project 'All Aboard.' It went so far as to take all the kids and families on a real train to Chicago to visit a museum. Everyone read on the train. Then we saw that the reading scores in that school really improved."
Different Ways to Engage Diverse Parents and Educators
The Indiana Partnerships Center recruits leadership trainees by reaching out to other community-based organizations and education agencies to ask for nominations. It looks for a diverse pool of participants that reflects their communities. Unlike trainings offered by the other highlighted PIRCs, at the Indiana Partnerships Center, if an organization submits candidates for consideration, the candidates are sent in teams. According to Garvey, "using teams (where parents are the majority, but there is always a school staff member) has helped in several ways: it creates buy-in for the leadership projects; it helps make it easier to integrate the project into the school improvement plan; and it makes recruitment easier. The team approach lets quality projects go deeper," she said.
The Family Works leadership training program aggressively recruits parents through targeted mailings, using lists generated by the Maryland State Department of Education, State Title I schools, the Maryland PTA, district family involvement offices, and other family support organizations. E-mail distribution lists and a network of program graduates serving as "ambassadors" also have been used. They seek candidates who are "traditionally not-involved or untapped parents who have capabilities." Applicants have to receive a sign-off from the principal of the school they represent to ensure that the parent and school are establishing a productive partnership. A committee of stakeholders charged with developing a group that is balanced, both geographically and racially, and that spans K-12 education, selects the candidates.
In addition to training parent leaders, San Antonio's IDRA targets educators, too. For example, they see the staff of a district's Title I office as a natural audience for the training. Their model is the "train-the-trainer" approach, resulting in parents and educators developing even more parents to become leaders, which builds capacity. The San Antonio PIRC broadened the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership model to cover four different types of parent involvement: parents as teachers of their own children, parents as resources to the school, parents as decision makers, and parents as leaders and trainers. The goal is to help parents see the variety of ways they can participate in the classroom and elsewhere at school. IDRA is also one of the only PIRCs that currently offers bilingual leadership training, but does not offer programs in Spanish and English separately in an attempt to bring people together.
Schools are no longer the only stakeholders in our children's education. The efforts of PIRCs and other parent involvement organizations are helping to increase student achievement as they all work together to ensure success for every child.
Resources: BuildingChoice.org Harvard Family Research Project Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence Southwest Educational Development Laboratory Note: Readers should judge for themselves the merits of the practices implemented in the schools or programs profiled in the Education Innovator. The descriptions of schools or programs and their methodologies do not constitute an endorsement of specific practices or products by the U.S. Department of Education.
1 Henderson, A. and Mapp, K. 2002. A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Parent and Community Connections on Student Achievement, p. 7. Austin, Tex.: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
What's New
From the U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings made a statement on the Class of 2007 ACT scores, which rose slightly this year. Twenty-three percent of the record 1.3 million 2007 graduates who took the ACT earned scores showing they were prepared for introductory college courses in four areas, up from 21 percent a year ago. (Aug.13)
Secretary Spellings announced that 14 projects in 12 states will share $25 million in grants under the Voluntary Public School Choice program (VPSCP) to help states and school districts create or expand public school choice initiatives. VPSCP is a competitive grant program that supports projects for up to five years that aim to offer choices to students in participating schools, including options for students to transfer from low-performing schools to higher performing schools, and projects that seek to implement an inter-district approach. (July 27)
Spellings made a statement following her participation in the Congressional Black Caucus Education Summit emphasizing the importance of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and reauthorization of the law. "America's minority and low-income students are visible and accounted for? and most importantly, they're doing better in school and the achievement gap is closing," the Secretary said. (July 23)
The Secretary joined professional golfer Phil Mickelson, his wife Amy, officials from ExxonMobil, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), and Math Solutions for a National Town Hall with elementary math and science teachers from across the country to stress the importance of science, technology, engineering, and math education. (July 23)
Spellings announced approval of two high-quality, growth-based accountability models, which follow the principles of NCLB. Alaska and Arizona joined six other states that have been fully approved to implement their growth models, which are a way for states that are already raising achievement and following the principles of the law to strengthen accountability. (July 3)
Four grantees will receive more than $36 million in grants through the Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities program, Secretary Spellings recently announced. Grantees will use funds to help increase their credit worthiness and obtain facilities financing for charter schools. (June 29)
Secretary Spellings announced the award of $116 million for 122 new grants to improve the quality of American history education. The Teaching American History (TAH) grants are being awarded to school districts in 40 states nationwide. TAH supports three-year projects to improve teachers' knowledge and understanding of traditional American history through intensive, on-going professional development. (June 21)
From the Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII)
A new report from the Office of Non-Public Education provides information on state programs that provide financial assistance for student attendance at private elementary and secondary schools. The report, Education Options in the States: State Programs that Provide Assistance for Attendance at Private Elementary or Secondary Schools, reveals that 24 programs in 13 states and the District of Columbia provide financial assistance in the form of voucher or voucher-like tuition assistance, tax credits, and tax deductions, compared with only seven programs in seven states a decade ago.
From the Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
The U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has awarded a $50.3 million contract to Mathematica Policy Research Inc. to operate the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) for the next five years. The WWC provides educators, policymakers, researchers, and the public with a source of scientific evidence of what works in education through high-quality reviews of programs, products, practices, and policies intended to improve student outcomes. (July 12)
The Institute of Education Sciences has awarded a total of $62.2 million in grants to 13 state education departments for the design and implementation of statewide longitudinal data systems, which will help better track student achievement and enhance learning. (July 2)
Arts Education
More than Measuring is the final publication of the longitudinal study assessing the impact of ArtsPartners, a program of Big Thought, a grantee in OII's Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination Grants program. The study assessed how teaching and learning changed when arts and cultural programming were integrated into the Dallas public schools' curriculum. Copies of the evaluation are available for purchase. (August 2007)
"The purpose of arts education is not to produce more artists, though that is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to create complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive lives in a free society," according to National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia in a commencement address he gave at Stanford University. Citing a decline in Americans' awareness of culture and the loss of arts programs in schools, he called for a rededication to arts education. (June 17)
Closing the Achievement Gap
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report PDF, (1.47 MB), notes that by most measures Asian Americans have a higher educational attainment than other groups, with almost half of Asian Americans age 25 or older obtaining a four-year college degree. This overall success, however, "masks" the challenges of many Asian subgroups in educational preparation and attainment. (July 2007)
The QuestBridge National College Match helps outstanding low-income high school seniors gain admission to some of the most selective colleges in America. Last year, QuestBridge's partner colleges offered admission and more than $55 million in financial aid to the 600 students who applied. The application is free, available online, and due on Sept. 30. (August 2007)
Education Reform
STARTALK, administered by the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland College Park, and financed through the Defense Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, aims to expand foreign-language instruction in languages such as Arabic and Chinese that are not traditionally taught in U.S. schools. The program awards grants to K-12 programs that can feed into college or university programs. This summer, 770 teachers participated. (Aug. 1)
The National Governors Association (NGA), under the leadership of Governor Janet Napolitano (D-AZ), is creating a new foundation and task force promoting the work of American innovators and encouraging innovation. The task force will help states begin to benchmark their education systems against international best practices. Napolitano also unveiled an interactive Web site from the NGA and Scholastic, Inc. In addition, as part of Napolitano's Innovation America initiative, NGA awarded $500,000 grants to six states to establish science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) centers. The grants are made possible through the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Intel Foundation. (July 2007)
No Child Left Behind
A new coalition of business, education, community, and civil rights groups launched a campaign - NCLB Works!- and released eight principles that the groups believe should guide the reauthorization of NCLB this year. Members include the Business Coalition for Student Achievement; the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights; the Education Trust; The Links, Incorporated; the National Center for Educational Accountability; and the National Council of La Raza. (July 18)
Raising Student Achievement
Applications are now available to become a NASA Explorer School during the 2008-2009 academic year. Through this program, a team of educators from each school will receive an all-expenses-paid professional development experience at a NASA field center to develop an action plan that addresses a local need in mathematics, science, or technology. Each school may apply for technology grants of up to $17,500 over the three-year partnership. The application period ends on Jan. 31. (Aug. 30)
The Talking Page Literacy Organization (see Innovator June 14, 2006) is the lead organization in the National Illiteracy Action Project 2007-2012. The project offers a five-year plan to reverse the illiteracy trend in America by creating "Community Literacy Collaborations." The purpose of the collaborations is to provide tutoring services to Title I students and adult workforce participants and to encourage the creation of community partnerships. (August 2007)
To spur academic improvement, Virginia plans to create an award for what the state calls "VIP schools." The new Virginia Index of Performance PDF, (72.3 KB), program will rate public schools and districts with points for test scores and other factors. Top scorers will be eligible for a Governor's VIP Award for Educational Excellence. (July 26)
Each year, the KIDS COUNT Data Book, issued by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, provides information and statistical trends on the conditions of America's children and families. This year, the 18 th annual data book shows improvements in the child death rate, teen birth rate, high school dropout rate, and teens not in school and not working. (July 25)
According to a new survey published in the journal Science, students who took more mathematics classes in high school performed better in all types of college science, while students who took high school science courses such as chemistry or physics improved college performance only in those specific subject areas. Philip M. Sadler of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Robert H. Tai of the University of Virginia surveyed 8,474 students taking introductory science courses at 63 U.S. colleges and universities. (July 20)
Obese elementary school children miss more days of school on average than their average-weight classmates, according to a new study in the journal Obesity. There have been decades of research about the factors affecting student performance, and race, socioeconomic status, age, and gender have been identified as the top predictors for absenteeism. This study argues that weight tops all of these factors. (July 2007)
Teacher Quality and Development
Most principals in the Chicago Public Schools admit that they inflated the performance ratings of teachers, according to a study PDF, (479 KB), by the New Teacher Project. The analysis of teacher evaluations showed 61 percent drew the top rating of "superior," 32 percent were "excellent," seven percent were "satisfactory" and 0.3 percent were "unsatisfactory." The survey showed 56 percent of principals admitted they had inflated a teacher's rating at one time or another. (July 2007)
Poorly organized performance pay systems can be detrimental to reform, according to the Working Group on Teacher Quality, a coalition of groups led by the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching that promotes efforts to improve teacher quality. The report PDF, (106 KB), endorses paying teachers for growth in student achievement as measured by tests, but only when coupled with other types of evaluation, ongoing training, and a career ladder. (July 2007)
The National Council on Teacher Quality, in an annual report on the teaching profession nationwide, cites the need for reworking existing state laws that govern teacher evaluation. The State Teacher Policy Yearbook 2007 identifies six key areas of states' teacher policies in urgent need of policy attention. The report offers 10 key findings, among them the need to put the needs of children before the interest of adults. (July 2007)
Innovations in the News
Charter Schools
Seventy New York City schools are under consideration for closure, creating potentially dozens of buildings for charter schools to take over. The demand for space will only intensify as a new state law opens the door for 50 additional city charter schools in the future. [More-New York Sun] (Aug. 2)
The New York City Charter Schools Evaluation Report, a federally funded report, concludes that students in New York City charter schools are, on average, posting higher gains in reading and mathematics than they would have had they attended the city's regular public schools. [More-Education Week] (July 27) (paid subscription required) [National Bureau of Economic Research]
San Diego's High Tech High in 2004 "became the state's first charter-management organization, or CMO, to gain state approval to operate its own teacher-credentialing program." In August, it "cut the ribbon on the High Tech High graduate school of education, which appears to be the first of its kind in the country." The program offers "a hands-on approach that emphasizes learning on site and in context." The University of San Diego's School of Leadership and Education Sciences became a partner in the program, to satisfy California's requirement that charter school teachers be either state certified or working towards a certificate. [More-Education Week] (July 18) (paid subscription required)
Green Dot Public Schools, a network of high performing charters operating in Los Angeles, may expand to New York to open a high school in the South Bronx. The effort is being orchestrated in collaboration with the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). Randi Weingarten, president of the New York City UFT, said she approached Steve Barr, the founder of Green Dot, to open the school because he favors working with unions. [More-New York Times] (June 28) (subscription required)
Early Childhood Education
Data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, which started more than 20 years ago and has tracked 902 persons who attended the Child-Parent Centers, a pre-school through grade-three program, into their early 20s, indicates that those who participated in the Chicago program were less likely to commit crimes, more likely to have health insurance, and less prone to depression. That the impacts of this early intervention extend beyond educational performance, according to the director of the study, Arthur J. Reynolds of the University of Minnesota, "is not surprising given the well-documented links between education outcomes and adult health, mental health, and social behavior." [More-Education Week] (Aug. 7) (paid subscription required)
According to a survey of more than 1,000 parents with children age 8 or younger as well as 500 early childhood teachers, social skills are a better predictor of school success than academic skills. The PNC Study of Early Childhood Education, nationally conducted by Harris Interactive, focused on the skills children need when they enter kindergarten. "Teachers and other experts in early childhood education agree that children are more likely to succeed in school if they have the social skills to participate and learn while in the classroom," according to PNC's community affairs director, Eva Tansky Blum. [More-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette] (Aug. 7)
Education Reform
Los Angeles schools superintendent David L. Brewer, in his first "state of the schools" address on June 15, unveiled an 'innovation division,' which he said would "fast-track school improvement across the nation's second largest district." He said that "the new division would allow parent groups, teachers, community organizations -- and the mayor -- to propose and launch school reform plans in a school system that has long resisted meaningful change." [More-Los Angeles Times] (June 15) (paid access required)
Ten Massachusetts K-8 schools are extending the instructional day by nearly two hours with the help of Massachusetts 2000, a nonprofit that is interested in more time in the school day in order to make room for improved teaching methods and pursue deeper curriculum standards. Plans for the extra time include added instruction in subjects like reading and math and also enrichment classes and professional development for teachers. More than 80 other Massachusetts schools have indicated interest in extending the school day as of the 2008-09 school year. [More-Christian Science Monitor] (June 14)
Raising Student Achievement
Montgomery County (Md.) public schools are successfully using a four-week summer program to help close the achievement gap and to change attitudes about the role of summer school. Among the 12 schools that participated in the Montgomery County summer program continuously from 2002-2005, reading scores of second graders increased an average of 12 points, compared to an overall gain of only nine points for the students in the whole system. [More-Washington Post] (July 29) (subscription required)
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore report that two-thirds of the reading achievement gap between 9th graders of low and high socioeconomic standing in Baltimore public schools can be traced to what they learned -- or failed to learn -- over their childhood summers. The recent study tracked data from more than 300 Baltimore students from 1st grade to age 22, including data from semi-annual reading tests. The results showed that "summer learning among students in relatively well-educated, economically secure homes added a total of about 47 points to their test scores" by 5th grade while those from "relatively low-income, poorly educated families had been reduced by about two points." [More-Education Week] (July 13) (paid subscription required)
The Rhode Island Children's Crusade for Higher Education has a new name and mission. Now called the College Crusade of Rhode Island, the group will "focus on not simply getting students into college, but preparing them to do college-level work," beginning with a focus on the quality and depth of relationships that middle school students have with their advisers or mentors, which responds to research that identifies the middle years as critical ones for building college-readiness skills. [More-Providence Journal] (June 27)
Dads have a major impact on the degree of interest their daughters develop in math. That is one of the findings of a long-term University of Michigan study that has traced the sources of the continuing gender gap in math and science performance. [More-Science Daily] (June 25)
Teacher Quality and Development
The Michigan Department of Education has implemented a rating system for the state's 31 teacher-preparation programs. Most of the institutions rated passing scores, but three were rated as low performing and will have two years to improve or face state sanctions. Components of the rating, the maximum of which is 70 points, include pass rates on the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification exams, results of surveys of student teachers, and program completion rates. Oakland University in Auburn Hills and Hope College in Holland each garnered the top score of 68. [More->Detroit Free Press] (Aug.12)
A National Center for Education Statistics report reveals that most veteran teachers like their jobs. The survey debunks some commonly held beliefs, and it finds that most teachers are satisfied with their jobs-including salaries-10 years after entering the profession. [More-Education Week] (Aug.1) (paid subscription required)
As a result of a grant from OII's Teaching American History program, California State University, Sacramento, professors and historians helped Placer County (CA) eighth-grade and high school teachers examine turning points in 19th century America, including the Civil War and Reconstruction, at a two-week seminar in June. Attendees also learned more about general strategies for teaching history and collaborated on lesson plans. [More-Sacramento Bee] (July 12)
A report to the Tennessee State Board of Education shows that principals think the mid-career professionals brought into schools to teach math, science and foreign languages are more effective than traditional first-year teachers. [More-Knoxville News Sentinel] (Aug. 1)
You can go home again - especially if you want to teach subjects like mathematics and science in rural Kentucky or Tennessee, areas in which teacher recruiters are hard pressed to attract new teachers who grew up in urban or suburban areas and who are reluctant to locate in isolated communities. "With federal aid, several university and school leaders have focused on training math and science teachers in new classroom techniques and content, then having them return to their rural districts to provide support to their colleagues." [More-Education Week] (July 12) (paid subscription required)
Office of Innovation and Improvement
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Last Modified: 05/20/2009


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The California Highway Patrol today issued a statewide Amber Alert for an abducted 14-year-old Washington girl.
Elizabeth Romero of Kennewick, Wash. was taken Wednesday by 19-year-old Eduardo Flores-Rosalas, who was last seen driving an early 2000s green Ford Escape with temporary registration out of Washington, CHP officials said.
He may be headed to Mexico.
Flores-Rosalas is Latino, 5-feet-9 inches tall, 200 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes.
The child is 5-feet-3 inches tall, 130 pounds and has brown hair and eyes. She wore a white tank top, dark pants and carried a backpack and pink purse.
Anyone with information may call Washington police, 509-628-0333.


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Drew Peterson is expected to formally challenge his conviction next month — and his attorneys apparently have plenty to say about it.
Peterson's lawyers recently submitted their third request for permission to exceed the 50-page limit imposed on appeal briefs in Illinois — only to be swiftly denied by the 3rd District Appellate Court for the third time.
In a motion filed this month, Peterson's attorneys said his case has generated more than 11,000 pages of court records, including 3,000 pages stemming from the landmark hearsay hearing held two years before his murder trial. The trial transcript contains more than 5,000 pages, according to the filing.
The 3rd District also prohibits defendants from using more than 15 pages to outline the facts of the case, a limit that Peterson's lawyers say is unfair given the history of the headline-grabbing legal drama.
"Even if he were only to summarize the trial proceedings in his statement of facts, (Peterson) still could only write one page for every 300-plus pages of transcript," the motion stated.
Peterson's lawyers asked that the appellate court allow them to submit 50 pages outlining the facts of the case and an additional 125 pages to argue why his conviction should be reversed.
Will County prosecutors did not object to the request, but Peterson's attorneys received a written communication from the court over the weekend telling them that their request was again denied.
Peterson, 59, was sentenced in February to 38 years in prison for murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004. He remains the only suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, whose case prompted authorities to reopen the Savio investigation. He denies harming either woman.
Appellate court records suggest Peterson will challenge his conviction based on multiple factors, including the admissibility of hearsay statements used against him during the trial and whether the judge erred when he allowed Stacy's pastor to testify about conversations she had with him.
He also is expected to accuse former lead defense attorney Joel Brodsky of ineffective counsel. The trial judge dismissed that claim before sentencing, saying Peterson received adequate representation.
Peterson must submit his appeal by Jan. 14. His attorneys expect appellate arguments to be held in late 2014.
"This was a targeted prosecution based on distorted legal procedures," Peterson attorney Steven Greenberg said. "They prosecuted the case that way because they didn't have the facts."
Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow repeatedly has said the conviction will withstand any challenges.
"We feel confident in the case, and we're confident about the issues we'll present on appeal," Glasgow spokesman Charles Pelkie said.
In the meantime, Peterson remains incarcerated at Menard Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison. He is in protective custody, meaning he does not mix with the general population.
Since Peterson's arrest nearly five years ago, his son, Stephen, has been raising his four younger siblings in Drew and Stacy Peterson's Bolingbrook home. His two oldest half brothers — Kathleen Savio's sons — are in college. The two younger half siblings — Stacy's children — are in grade school.
The family's primary source of income is Drew Peterson's $79,000 pension from his nearly 30 years with the Bolingbrook Police Department. Village officials are examining whether to strip him of his retirement benefits after his murder conviction.
Stephen Peterson lost his job as an Oak Brook police officer in the wake of Stacy Peterson's disappearance. The village police commission fired him in 2011 after ruling that he failed to disclose important information and potentially obstructed an Illinois State Police investigation into Stacy's case. A state appellate court upheld the firing this month.


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Western offers an enriching, supportive and diverse work environment. Consider a career at Western.
Western Human Resources is proud to support the broader mission and strategic success of our University in providing the best student experience among Canada's leading research-intensive universities. We are Human Resource leaders delivering a wide range of services and supports to academic and administrative departments, and to Western's people - those who work here today, those who worked here in the past and those who wish to work here in the future. Our responsibilities encompass many areas that help position Western as a diverse, competitive and desirable place to work. For assistance with Human Resource issues such as pay, benefits and pensions, please contact our Human Resource Communication Centre at email@example.com or 519-661-2194 (ext. 82194 on campus).


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Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Black Cats hit back at Di Canio
Sunderland are taking legal advice over the broadside launched at the club and its players by former manager Paolo Di Canio over the weekend.
The 45-year-old Italian dismissed the Black Cats as "weak" as a club and some of its players as "cowards", and was particularly critical of skipper John O'Shea and discarded duo Phil Bardsley and Lee Cattermole.
However, the Wearsiders, who have seen Di Canio's successor Gus Poyet guide them closer to Barclays Premier League safety and into the Capital One Cup final and the fifth round of the FA Cup since he took over in October, hit back in a statement on Monday afternoon.
The statement said: "Sunderland AFC would like to express its disappointment in relation to the disparaging comments made recently by Paolo Di Canio regarding the club and its players.
"The club is immensely proud of its players for the dignified and restrained manner in which they have conducted themselves publicly since Mr Di Canio's departure, and it is particularly disappointing to read such comments when there are legal obligations in place to ensure such behaviour does not occur.
"The club is now considering its position with its legal representatives.
"Having reached a cup final for the first time in 22 years, whilst also enjoying a run of only one loss in 12 games, we want to focus on what is a positive time for the football club and we would hope it is possible to draw a line under this matter quickly and that there will be no repetition.
"Neither the club, head coach Gus Poyet nor the players will be making any further comment on the situation.
"We are looking forward, not back and are focusing on the vital games we have ahead of us."
Di Canio, whose appointment sparked controversy because of his previously expressed political views, succeeded Martin O'Neill at the Stadium of Light in March last year, and announced himself in style with a 3-0 derby victory at Newcastle in just his second game.
The 1-0 win over Everton which followed the triumph at St James' Park helped him guide to club to top-flight safety, and owner and chairman Ellis Short sanctioned a summer recruitment drive which saw director of football Roberto De Fanti bring in 14 new faces.
However, those two victories, plus a League Cup success against MK Dons, proved to be the only ones of Di Canio's brief 13-match tenure and as his management style left him at odds with both his players and the fans, he was shown the door in September with the club having collected just a single point.
In his comments over the weekend, Di Canio suggested he was too good for Sunderland and confirmed his intention to make his name as a manager in England with another Premier League club.
It is not the first time he has found himself in the firing line with O'Neill having dismissed him as a "managerial charlatan" following his appointment as Republic of Ireland manager in the wake of criticism of his own time with the Black Cats.


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arthritis, hip replacement, Humira, rheumatoid arthritis, shoulder replacement, Shoulder Surgery, Simponi
Okay, so we get back from Las Vegas on Sunday evening, and my husband who goes to cardiac rehab 2-3 times a week comes home Monday night after rehab and says he lost two pounds while in Vegas. NOBODY loses weight in Vegas. Sorry, it just doesn't happen. My husband, who is not a boastful guy, couldn't help but be pleased with himself so I heard about the missing two pounds multiple, several, more times than I wanted to last night.
I was good on the diet yesterday, but didn't really exercise. I did stretch my shoulder like I'm supposed to, which is a start. I also am getting back into my water-drinking habit and have substituted a can of V-8 juice for my regular handful of crackers for my mid-morning snack. So at least I'm getting more vegetables and fewer calories.
Today I packed my workout bag with my swimsuit. I have great intentions of going to the health club after work and walking in the water and am looking forward to the sauna and hot tub to help relieve some of these aches and pains. However, we're supposed to have horrendous thunderstorms about 5:00, so the inclination is just to head home. If I do that I promise I'll get on the treadmill — even if my knees do hurt.
This Friday is four weeks since my last Simponi shot, so I'm "eligible" to take it. However, I think I'm going to push it to the full 30 days — Monday the 12th, then next month take it on Wednesday the 11th. I used to take my Humira shots on Wednesdays and I want to migrate my Simponi shots to Wednesdays as well. Why? Because I don't normally travel on Wednesdays and since both Humira and Simponi need to be refrigerated, it makes my life easier. And if for some reason I am traveling on Wednesday, it's doubtful that I'll be traveling both the day before and the day after, so I can slide the shot one day or the other and not have to deal with it.
The issue is, I'd really like to take the shot TODAY. If this injection delivers the relief of symptoms that the first two injections did, then I am more than ready.
So the diet and exercise goals are good, let's see if I can keep up with them. Thanks for your encouragement and for checking in.


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Robert and Nancy Loomis of Kilgore, Texas, have to repair damaged wetlands, restore a salmon stream and better manage stormwater runoff on their property located near Haines, Alaska, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency press release.
The Loomis' received the order after EPA alleged they discharged fill material, consisting of mud, dirt, gravel and rock, to this fish and wildlife habitat.
According to Marcia Combes, director of EPA's Alaska Operations Office in Anchorage, wetlands on the Loomis' property drain into the Takhin River, an important salmon stream that flows into the Chilkat River. Both the wetlands and adjacent small stream provide essential fish habitat for juvenile coho, cutthroat trout and Dolly Varden.
"Landowners must get the necessary permits before beginning construction and fill projects to protect Alaska's unique environment," said EPA's Combes. "Filling wetlands, installing culverts and failing to control storm water runoff can harm both water quality and fish and wildlife habitat."
EPA further alleges that the Loomis' failed to obtain the necessary Clean Water Act permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, EPA, and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation before:
EPA has ordered the Loomis' to remove all unauthorized fill material from the salmon stream and wetlands by Sept. 1, and comply with stormwater requirements within 30 days of receipt of the order. The Clean Water Act authorizes civil penalties of up to $37,500 per day of violation and administrative penalties of up to $16,000 per day for each violation.
For more information about the Clean Water Act Section 404 wetland regulatory authority, visit www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/pdf/reg_authority_pr.pdf.


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Early Admissions Student Qualifications:
- Submit an Early Admissions application form to the Admissions Office, located in the Center for Student Services, or at the Jackson County Center in Ripley.
- Be at least a Junior in high school and have at least a 2.5 cumulative GPA. Request your transcript be sent from your high school to the WVU Parkersburg Admissions Office. Students will not be allowed to register until we have the transcript verifying the grade point average.
Certain classes may require a minimum ACT or Accuplacer placement test score.
Classes taught on the high school/technical school campus usually consist of common core offerings. Examples: English, History, Psychology, Political Science and Sociology. Other classes may be taken based upon individual review with the Early Admissions advisor.
Early Admission Frequently Asked Questions
Do you work in the school system? Are you a guidance counselor? Please contact our designated Admission Counselor for more information.
Contact Person:


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Patriots beat Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII
Patriots beat Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII
Patriots coach Bill Belichick hoisted the Lombardi Trophy for the second time after shepherding his team to another title, this time in a wild, back-and-forth contest.
David Givens took a pass from Tom Brady down to the 1-yard line late in the fourth quarter to set up a touchdown pass to Mike Vrabel.
The scoring began in the second quarter when Deion Branch corralled a 5-yard touchdown pass from Brady.
Brady won MVP honors for his performance, which included 32-of-48 passing for 354 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.
Brady connected with Branch for a game-high 10 catches for 143 yards and a score.
Brady led the Patriots to 481 total yards in a game that had seven lead changes.
Harrison tackled Panthers tight end Jermaine Wiggins, who was with the Patriots when they won Super Bowl XXXVI two years earlier.
Defender Matt Chatham celebrates a tackle against the Panthers. The game went in waves, with no points scored in the first and third quarters and 61 points scored in the second and fourth quarters combined.
Brady, scrambling away from Panthers defensive lineman Kris Jenkins, had to evade considerable pressure from the Carolina defense.
Brady, celebrating a touchdown pass, had an answer seemingly for every attack the Panthers put forth.
Vrabel knocked the ball out of the hand of Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. The hit forced a fumble that was recovered by New England.
Givens went high to haul in this touchdown pass from Brady in the second quarter.
The score was one of five catches in the game for Givens.
Wiggins leaped over defensive back Eugene Wilson for a Panthers first down in the third quarter.
Brady, evading pressure from Brentson Buckner, spread his 32 passes around to six different receivers.
This catch by Branch set up the Patriots' second touchdown in the second quarter that they used to secure a 14-10 lead at halftime.
After Carolina took a 22-21 lead, Brady found Vrabel wide open in the end zone for a touchdown with less than three minutes to play.
A short celebration by the Patriots, adjacent to the frustration of Panthers defensive end Al Wallace, was followed by a Kevin Faulk run for a two-point conversion.
The Patriots still needed more, however, after the Panthers tied the game at 29-29. With just seconds to go in the game, tackle Tom Ashworth lifted up teammate Brian Kinchen to celebrate driving into field-goal position.
Adam Vinatieri drilled a 41-yard field goal with four seconds left to clinch the 32-29 victory.
It was the second time in three seasons that Vinatieri had won a Super Bowl with a field goal in the final seconds.
A jubilant Brady ran onto the field after the final horn after joining an elite club of quarterbacks with multiple Super Bowl victories.
Harrison, who suffered an arm injury late in the game, earned a Super Bowl ring in his first season with the Patriots after joining the club as a free agent.
Brady and the Patriots went 14-2 in the regular season and finished the Super Bowl with 15 consecutive wins.
For veteran linebacker Tedy Bruschi, it was the second Super Bowl win in three tries, as he was a hold-over member of the Patriots who appeared in Super Bowl XXXI.
Just 26, Brady found himself on the podium with the commissioner for the second time in his four-year career.
Back in Boston, thousands of Patriots fans celebrated in the streets around Faneuil Hall after the Super Bowl win.
Two days after the game, Brady got to show off two Lombardi trophies to tens of thousands of fans who flocked to City Hall Plaza to celebrate with the Patriots.


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Since 1961, George Chevrolet in Bellflower has been offering a full line of Chevrolet vehicles and services to our loyal Orange County Chevrolet customers. We understand that our customers expect great service and a great price on their new or used cars, trucks, crossovers and SUVs. Our goal is to make you a part of our family and earn your business for life. Contact us or stop by our Bellflower dealership for more information! We're also proudly serving Los Angeles, Southern California and Orange County Chevrolet customers.
Our Bellflower dealership is your Orange County and Los Angeles Chevrolet alternative for used cars, trucks and SUVs. The great selection of pre-owned vehicles combined with the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the area make George Chevy your SoCal used car dealer. We invite all of our Los Angeles and Orange County Chevrolet customers to view our hours and directions page and visit us for a test-drive!


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Sony preparing 250GB PS3 Slim PlayTV Blu-ray bundle?
Tokyo Games Show announcement
Sony will bundle the anticipated 250GB slim PlayStation 3 with its PlayTV DVR add-on, it has been claimed.
A "leading retailer" has let slip that Sony will unveil the 250GB PS3 Slim at Japan's upcoming Tokyo Games Show – which takes place between 24 and 27 September - according to a report by gaming website MCV.
The retailer added that Sony will also bundle a Blu-ray oriented remote control and a Blu-ray Disc in with the console.
When rumours of a 250GB PS3 Slim first emerged last week, it was claimed that Sony would throw a copy of footie game Fifa 10 in with the console.
Although the retailer didn't say when the PlayTV bundle will appear or how much it will cost, it's widely believed that the offer will appear before Christmas, priced at around €350 (£308/$509). ®
Sponsored: Becoming a Pragmatic Security Leader


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YMTK (Young Murph The Kidd) - Firefly [Unsigned Hype]
On the way to a show ymtk stumbles across another world where
he is caught between trying to catch a firefly and going back to
real life... what will he do? will be sucked into the otherside
never to return? the epic film... FIREFLY [m]
available on itunes!! http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/firefly- single/id417808841br>
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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Ohio troopers get option of dressy boot or more athletic lace-up version, ending footwear flap
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio's highway patrol and the union for troopers have settled a disagreement over shoes for the officers, who can now choose to wear a dressier short boot or a more athletic version with laces.
The Ohio State Troopers Association and several officers had filed grievances, contending the buckle boots being required were slick and potentially insecure, creating unsafe working conditions. The association's president says troopers are satisfied with the resolution signed Friday.
The patrol's new leader, Col. Paul Pride, considered it an issue more about comfort than safety but says providing options should help the patrol move past the issue and refocus on its work.
The dress shoe still is required in some circumstances.
Pride says the difference in cost between the shoes is a few cents.


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Furniture retailer IKEA said on Saturday it had halted sales of moose lasagne after traces of pork were found in a batch of the product.
Sales of the lasagne, of which about 10,000 tonnes has been produced by a Swedish supplier for IKEA, were stopped at its stores in 18 countries across Europe after tests by Belgian authorities late last month revealed traces of pork.
Continue Reading Below
"We received confirmation on Friday that one production series contained minced pork in very small quantity, roughly 1 percent," IKEA spokeswoman Tina Kardum said, adding that the tainted series totaled just over 17,000 packages.
"Due to this, we are now in dialogue with our supplier, which has taken steps to make sure this does not happen again."
In February IKEA halted sales of its trade-mark meatballs after tests showed a batch contained horsemeat, a discovery that widened a Europe-wide horsemeat scandal that has damaged confidence in the continent's food industry.
(Reporting by Niklas Pollard; Editing by Alistair Lyon)


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|:: News
|News Archive
|:: Conferences
|:: Jobs
|:: Grants & Awards
|:: Business News
|:: Books & Journals
|:: Establishments
adaptiveoptics.org provides news and information for the world-wide adaptive optics community.
Contact: email@example.com.
|Cambridge, Massachusetts – June 24, 2009: Boston Micromachines Corporation, a leading provider of MEMS-based deformable mirror (DM) products for adaptive optics systems, announced today that its
Kilo‑DM is being used in the
Coronagraphic Extreme-AO project (SCExAO)
in a direct imaging technique in the search for extrasolar planets.
This system, which is aimed at imaging faint planets around stars,
is currently under assembly and slated for on sky use in 2010.
The SCExAO system combines Boston Micromachines Kilo-DM, a 1020-actuator MEMS deformable mirror for high accuracy wavefront correction and a high performance Phase Induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) coronagraph. SCExAOs goal is to view planets much fainter and closer to their stars than possible with current techniques. The foremost limit in current adaptive optics systems is the difficulty in determining the difference between a planet image and "speckles" which are actually starlight scattered across the image because of small residual wavefront error.
The Kilo-DM enables us to actively test if light is starlight speckles or a real planet,
using the fundamental property that starlight interferes with speckles,
but planet light will not,
said Olivier Guyon, astronomer at the
Subaru Observatory
and the
University of Arizona.
With its high number of actuators, the Kilo-DM
gives us the ability to rapidly modulate the wavefront in a way which tests,
for each point in the image,
if the light we are seeing is starlight or planet light.
Laboratory tests have validated this new technique.
We can measure speckles almost a billion times fainter than the central source.
"The discovery of extrasolar planets is an exciting field
and we are happy that the excellent team at the
Subaru Observatory
has selected our mirrors for use in their system,
said Paul Bierden, president and CEO of
Boston Micromachines.
I believe that our deformable mirrors can be an enabling technology
to help meet the challenging requirements of astronomical research.
Work is also underway with the University of Arizona to use the same technique on the Large Binocular Telescope and discussions are in process for high performance exoplanet imagers on future Extremely Large Telescopes. The Kilo-DM is an enabling component for high spatial resolution wavefront control. It offers 1020 actuators in a 32×32 array, with clear aperture of 9.3 mm with 1.5 microns of deflection making it ideal for challenging applications. The systems include a deformable mirror, high speed controller, mirror interface, and high-density electrical interconnects.
Previous News:
Full Press Release
© 2009
<< [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] >>


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Either way I say BULL SH**
As a consumer who buys lots of games and past Duke titles let me tell you programmers the
A. I am sick and tired of you resetting the release dates.
B. I am tired of you keep changing the engine which keeps bumping the release date father down the line.
C. I am sick and tired of hearing your products but never seeing any results.
D. By the time the product is out I will probably not buy it out of spite for the lack of concern you give to fans.
E. Go stick DNF where the sun don't shine.


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|Allegro CL version 9.0
Unrevised from 8.2 to 9.0.
8.2 version
Arguments: pixmap-or-cursor stream &optional to-box-or-position from-box-or-nil (mode po-replace)
Copies a pixmap object or a cursor object to
stream. stream should be a
cg-stream. This function replaces
the older function copy-pixels-to-stream, which
required the use of separate texture and texture-info objects.
If from-box-or-nil is a box, this function copies
the from-box-or-nil portion of
pixmap-or-cursor to the
to-box-or-position portion of
stream, using a particular pixel-combination
mode. If from-box-or-nil is
nil, the whole pixmap or cursor is copied.
If to-box-or-position is a box, the
pixmap-or-cursor is
copied to that box and is stretched (if necessary) as with
copy-pixels-to-stream. If
to-box-or-position is a position, then the pixmap
or cursor is copied without stretching so its upper left corner is at the
position. If to-box-or-position is
nil (the default), then
the pixmap or cursor is copied without stretching to position 0,0 of
If pixmap-or-cursor has a mask texture, then copy-pixels-with-mask-to-stream is called internally in order to use it. Otherwise copy-pixels-to-stream is called internally. If pixmap-or-cursor has a pixmap-handle, then that is used for drawing the pixmap, and otherwise the pixmap's texture is used.
mode may be any value that is valid as the
paint-operation of a stream.
copy-to-stream always uses the
value of this mode argument, rather than using
the stream's current paint-operation as other drawing functions do.
The default value is
po-replace. See paint-operation for more information on the
various choices.
Instead of passing a pixmap object, you can alternately pass
either a cursor object, a pixmap handle, or a symbol that is bound to
a pixmap, cursor, or pixmap handle.
copy-to-stream will not work on a
cursor object if calling texture on it returns
nil, as is the case with several cursors supplied by
the operating system, because Common Graphics does not have the pixel
array to copy.
To fill an area by tiling a pixmap rather than by stretching it, call replicate-pixmap instead.
For an overview of pixmaps, see cg-pixmaps.htm.
If the pixmap has a mask and a call to copy-to-stream stretches the pixmap, then the masking will not be done correctly. We don't know whether we will find a reasonable way to make this work in the future.
Copyright (c) 1998-2017, Franz Inc. Oakland, CA., USA. All rights reserved.
This page was not revised from the 8.2 page.
Created 2012.5.30.
|Allegro CL version 9.0
Unrevised from 8.2 to 9.0.
8.2 version


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Flat World Knowledge Taking Away Its Free Option Opens Up Opportunities For Competitors
from the howdy-competition deptWe recently wrote about textbook publisher, Flat World Knowledge, changing its business model and getting rid of its free access to textbooks, something it had initially promised it would never do. The final line of our post noted that this hopefully opened up the opportunity for other providers to step in and figure out new ways to be disruptive in the textbook field. We were then contacted by Thomas Madsen, who runs Bookboon, which offers up free ebooks, including textbooks, business books and travel guides -- and then monetizes them with advertising. He notes that, not only is business going well, but they will continue to make sure that the books remain free for students. Obviously, people get a little squeamish about advertising as it relates to education, but Bookboon deals with that by focusing on a specific kind of advertising: job advertising, which students would obviously find quite useful rather than annoying (and they make sure that there isn't too much advertising). And, together, it works as a business model:
That our model is sustainable and that students and professors like our product is best illustrated by the fact that our traffic has grown on average 100% per year since 2009. This year 40,000,000 ebooks will be downloaded from bookboon.com.Some tried to take the story about Flat World Knowledge and argue that it proved that "free" didn't work. But, as we noted, all it proved was that how Flat World Knowledge implemented it as a part of a business model did not work for them. Others, using "free" in other ways as part of a complete business model, are figuring out how to make it work, and Bookboon appears to be a good example of that in action.
This growth we have financed by retained earnings only. We have not taken in outside investments, which otherwise has been the standard when someone wants to offer free education material, and still most of these have had to give up on their original vision to survive. Because we are profitable and independent, we will be able to continue to grow our business in the coming years and provide free textbooks, to the benefit of all students.
Filed Under: advertising, business models, free, textbooks
Companies: bookboon, flat world knowledge