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For millions of Americans, bagged salads are a miracle food, the perfect mix of health and convenience.
Time-pressed cooks can rip open a bag and pour the leaves right into the bowl, reassured by the "triple-washed" label that some wondrous process has rendered these greens squeaky clean and ready for dinner.
They don't want to think about E. coli O157:H7. And the salad industry doesn't want them thinking about it either.
That's why the safety of bagged greens has emerged as one of the most pressing issues in today's fresh produce business. It's why industry and government are investing millions to avoid debacles such as the death of 30 people last year after eating poorly washed, listeria-laced cantaloupe.
It's why food companies headquartered in the Salinas Valley, the nation's salad bowl, are rushing to find the "perfect wash." They remember too well how, in 2006, local spinach tainted with E. coli O157:H7 killed five people and sent 100 more to the hospital in the worst food poisoning outbreak linked to leafy greens in U.S. history. In and around Salinas, spinach sales still have not recovered from the outbreak, even though no major incident has occurred since.
Today, in the shadow of the mammoth Popeye and Green Giant signs of this agricultural city's commercial core, an industry food-safety team is readying its latest weapon in the quest for clean salad greens.
Its unofficial name is T-128, and it fills hundreds of canisters stacked in a warehouse behind unmarked offices on a side street. Trucks shuttle T-128 to bustling commercial processing plants down the street and to faraway cities to help wash romaine, spinach and other greens before they're bagged and shipped.
Also known as SmartWash, T-128 is basically a new industrial salad wash additive. It can reduce the risk of bacteria spreading from leaf to leaf during washing, says Jim Brennan, president of New Leaf Food Safety Solutions, the food safety subsidiary of industry giant Taylor Fresh Foods.
T-128 is the brainchild of Brennan's Skunk Works-style research team, which is studying its effectiveness on cantaloupes. It may not be the ultimate solution. But Brennan believes it's getting the industry closer.
Other researchers are looking at chlorine alternatives, gaseous washes, ultrasound, radiation, even cold plasma — any means to strip that last germ from a leaf of baby spinach or endive or the popular spring mix.
Like most fresh vegetables, leafy greens sprout close to the earth in open fields. That makes them susceptible to bacteria from soil or irrigation water or roaming wild animals.
Even though Salinas Valley farmers have instituted a gamut of widely praised post-2006 reforms, it's impossible to stop all pathogens from landing on lettuce and spinach leaves. "The farmer can't control every square inch, every minute of the day, and see every mouse that runs through," said Patrick Kennelly, chief of food safety at the California Department of Public Health.
And green leaves are simply too fragile to be scrubbed as you might treat an apple or a squash.
The easiest way to make those greens safe? Cook them. Treat them like meat, heating them to 160 degrees to kill off E. coli and other pathogens. "But with leafy greens, if you did that, it would turn into melted nothing," Kennelly said.
So the perfect wash is high on the agenda for food companies and their scientists.
This new concern follows decades of business-as-usual on the part of farmers and packaging firms. "Clearly, the science was behind, and some people think it's still behind," said food safety expert Robert Gravani, a Cornell University food science professor.
One of the biggest hurdles facing scientists now is how salad bagging works.
Thousands upon thousands of salad leaves are taken to a central plant, washed together, bagged and shipped. Even if only a few leaves are tainted, harmful pathogens can spread in the wash water — the modern salad version of the old adage that one bad apple spoils the whole barrel.
"I would think of it as swimming in a swimming pool in Las Vegas with a thousand people I didn't know," said William Marler, a prominent Seattle-based food safety attorney whose work began with the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak that sickened hundreds and killed four. Since then, he has represented thousands of victims and families in major outbreaks linked to hamburger, peanut butter, spinach and cantaloupe, among others.
If tainted leaves make it to the processing plant, salad companies have to remove the pathogens, which is harder than it might seem. "The problem with produce is that once it's contaminated, especially fresh-consumed produce, it's extremely hard to get off," said Randy Worobo, a Cornell University associate professor of food microbiology.
Earthbound Farm of San Juan Bautista, another Salinas-area salad powerhouse, also is investing heavily in food safety.
The company faced a steep climb to win back consumer confidence. In 2006, it processed the spinach, sold under the Dole label, that spread the deadly E. coli to 26 states.
Besides the five people who died, 31 people developed a serious illness linked to E. coli that can cause kidneys to fail. The illness,hemolytic-uremic syndrome, or HUS, is most common in children, and 29% of those sickened after eating Salinas Valley spinach were younger than 18.
Investigators traced the E. coli to a single 50-acre field at the Paicines Ranch in San Benito County. Wild pigs may have tracked it from cattle grazing nearby, since E. coli typically lives in mammals' intestines, officials said.
That a portion of a single field could sicken so many people was a harsh lesson for the bagged salad industry. Will Daniels, Earthbound's senior vice president for food safety, believes that the E. coli may have been contained in a single 500-pound lot of spinach.
So scientists are delving deep into the biology of leafy greens to learn exactly how a pathogen clings to a leaf, and how to get it off.
That's tougher than it might seem.
Most companies treat their salad wash water by adding an antimicrobial agent, typically chlorine. Ideally, a rinse in clean, chlorinated water would whisk off those pathogens and prevent them from migrating to other leaves. But tiny amounts of pathogens can survive those washes and taint clean leaves.
Taylor Fresh's T-128 has been shown in studies to boost the power of chlorinated water. Fresh Express, meanwhile, developed its own Fresh Rinse, a chlorine alternative, and Earthbound is testing chlorine-free cleansers with a citrus base, citing concerns about the potential environmental problems linked to chlorine.
Even so, a simple rinse can't easily remove pathogens if they've become embedded in so-called biofilms — thin, microscopic layers that can be formed by bacteria like E. coli and salmonella.
"You have this gooey mass, like frosting on top of a cantaloupe surface or a leaf surface," said Trevor Suslow, a UC Davis food safety researcher. "They're hard to penetrate by antimicrobials. They're glued on pretty tightly."
And so "biofilm disrupters" are a popular topic among researchers trying to pull pathogens from greens.
Daniels of Earthbound Farm is especially enthusiastic when he describes high-power ultrasound tests his firm is funding at the Institute for Food Safety and Health, part of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
The institute outside Chicago is one of only a handful of U.S. food safety centers with a test processing plant ranked Biosafety Level 3, or BSL-3, in which scientists must wear moon suits for certain experiments and are decontaminated before they leave the lab. It's designed to test the behavior of live, potentially lethal pathogens on foods, be they sprouts, eggs or ready-to-eat meals.
The high-power ultrasound works like a factory-scale bubbling denture cleanser. Researchers use it to create millions of tiny bubbles that cover leaf surfaces. When the bubbles burst, they release enormous energy that can dislodge pathogens into water treated with highly acidic citrus cleanser — a one-two punch that Daniels says is yielding promising results.
Gas washes are also catching the attention of food companies, perhaps applied while post-harvest greens are stored in coolers before processing.
Even the best research can't reduce the risk of contaminated greens by 100%, scientists said. At Earthbound, Daniels says the ultimate goal is to achieve what scientists call a "5 log reduction," the equivalent of pasteurizing milk. In short, if an unwashed lettuce contained 100,000 pathogens, the perfect wash system would knock off five "0s" and reduce the pathogen count to 1.
Plenty of money is being tossed at the problem of tainted greens. The Center for Produce Safety at UC Davis, founded in response to the spinach outbreak as an industry-public partnership, has pumped more than $9 million into 54 research projects at 18 universities, according to Executive Director Bonnie Fernandez-Fenaroli.
But even if the perfect wash-treatment combo emerges, some experts wonder how much companies would be willing to pay for it.
Microbiology professor Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, has consulted with some of the nation's leading food companies for decades.
"There's an elite group that's committed to food safety," he said. "Then there are others that don't want to spend a lot on food safety unless they're forced to by theMcDonald'sof the world."
Deborah Schoch is a senior writer at the California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting, an independent news organization devoted to reporting about health care issues that concern Californians. The Center is based at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. It is funded by the nonpartisan California HealthCare Foundation, one of two health foundations created by the privatization of Blue Cross of California in 1996.


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How A Newspaper Works
- Beat — a reporter's area of responsibility and expertise.
- Byline — the name of the reporter who writes the story; appears at the top of the story.
- Cutline — information that goes with photos, including details about the photo and the photographer's name.
- Deadline — the time when all work must be completed.
- Dummy — a preliminary layout showing the positions of photos and text as they are to appear in the publication.
- Drop head — smaller headlines that fall between the main headline and the story to provide more information.>
- Folio — the line at the top of each page that tells the day, date, city and page number.
- Hammerhead — a large and bold short headline placed flush left above a smaller, lighter complete headline positioned flush right.
- Headline — the large type over a story that conveys the meaning of the story.
- Insert — an advertisement printed by an advertiser and stuffed into the newspaper.
- Jump — when a story starts on one page and finishes on another, this is the part of the story on the second page.
- Masthead — part of the page devoted to the official heading of the publication, and sometimes personnel and policy information.
- Op-Ed — the page opposite the editorial page; usually provides a forum of views opposite those expressed in newspaper editorials.
- Pagination — computerized layout and design of the newspaper.
- Press release — a statement or story prepared for release to the media by an organization, business or government official.
- Promo — information at the top of the page that leads a reader to an important or interesting story in the paper.
- Readership — the average, estimated number of readers of the newspaper.
- Refer — information that leads the reader from one story to a related story elsewhere in the newspaper.
- Single copy — newspapers sold at dealer and rack locations, stores and newsstands.
The sales of advertising space in daily and Sunday papers and other Herald-Dispatch products is overseen by the advertising department, which is divided into national, classified, retail and creative services.
The many responsibilities of the systems department include overseeing the entire newspaper's computer network, maintaining security for all department databases, purchasing and installing software and hardware, providing computer training and monitoring new technology for all newspaper departments.
The market development department helps the newspaper meet its overall goals by monitoring the newspaper's market, providing business and consumer information to circulation, advertising and news, and developing promotional campaigns for the newspaper.
Newspaper production from pre-press to distribution is controlled by the production department. Employees in the department produce three editions of the daily paper and all special sections and products published by the newspaper.
Human Resources
The human resources department coordinates employment and recruiting for the newspaper, and assists with benefits, training and development and other special programs.
The accounting department oversees all financial functions, including budgeting, capital expenditures, sales forecasts, expense billing, accounts receivable and payable and payroll.
The circulation department ensures that home delivery and single copy sales newspapers are distributed, coordinates the efforts of the Newspaper In Education program and provides
|customer service for Herald-Dispatch readers and the general public.
Getting a story in the newspaper takes many people
The Herald-Dispatch
Each news story you see in the paper began with an idea.
Reporters, photographers, editors, copy editors and graphic artists all work together in the newsroom each day to turn those ideas into stories and make sure readers are well-informed.
Story ideas can come from press releases, calls from readers, reporters and their sources and from editors who brainstorm in meetings. Editors decide if an idea seems newsworthy, and if it does, they assign those story ideas to reporters.
Many reporters develop the story idea before actually conducting interviews and writing. Collecting background information about the subject first helps a reporter know what questions to ask a source.
Reporters must interview people to get both sides of the story and make sure it's balanced and fair.
Photographers also are assigned to some stories. The photos they take will help tell the story visually.
After gathering information for the story, reporters either come back to the newsroom to write the story or write it on another computer at a different location and electronically send it to the newsroom.
Then the editors take over.
Editors read the stories to make sure they are factually accurate, grammatically correct and have all the angles covered.
If it's not, then it goes back to the reporter for more work or further newsgathering.
All stories are placed on a budget, a list that shows which stories should be in the paper on which day.
Each day there is a meeting to help determine the placement of all stories in the newspaper. City desk, copy desk, sports and feature editors meet with the executive editor and managing editor to talk about which stories belong on the front page and which should go inside.
After the meeting, stories that don't need any further reporting are sent by city editors to the copy desk.
Copy desk editors read the story again, then decide with the help of city editors where in the newspaper the story and photos are going to go. The copy editors place the story on the page and write a headline to go with the story.
When stories and photos have been placed on the page and headlines have been written, the page is sent to the pre-press department, where the page is made ready to go to the press, at which point it will be printed on newsprint, bundled and delivered to businesses, residences and other drop-off points.
Each day the whole process is repeated again. Newsroom workers come up with ideas, develop them, gather news, write about it, edit it and design the pages you read each morning.

subset: commoncrawl


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Project DISC was started in 2006 to support the on going endeavors and innovations for some primary and secondary schools to produce clean, safe and fair food for the school going children in Uganda This is a blog for the latest news about a slow food supported school gardening project under slow food mukono convivium. you can always check for latest news about the project and the convivium on this site. Thanks
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Background to project DISC
The participation of students in food production does not only enhance their taste behaviours and nutrition status, but can possibly lead to social transformation. Social conditions are complex and therefore positive attitude towards cultivation should be built within children that will in turn help to reverse the existing food shortages. The fact is that Project DISC aims at engaging School Children and the local youth communities in real life production of Clean, Safe and Fair food through working with schools and communities.


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Adam Johnson
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Scholastic is launching an original e-book, The 39 Clues: Cahill Files: Silent Night, on Christmas Day. The title follows greater-than-expected sales of The 39 Clues: Rapid Fire, a series of original e-books released last Christmas season.
While last year's effort helped answer readers' questions about plot and characters within the franchise, this year's is a standalone story featuring an ancestor of one of The 39 Clues' main characters. It tells the true World War I story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, during which members of the opposing armies laid down their arms, played soccer, and celebrated the holiday together.
"It's a sweet Christmas story and a holiday gift to the fans," says Rachel Griffiths, executive editor. The title will be available for $3.99 through online retailers and will include a bonus collectible digital game card as well as the first chapter of Infinity Ring #1: A Mutiny in Time, the inaugural title in the latest multiplatform series from Scholastic. The second title in that series released this month.
The 39 Clues: Rapid Fire, a story released as seven daily e-books (priced at 99 cents each) during Christmas week last year, continues to sell, according to Stacy Lellos, Scholastic's v-p marketing and multiplatform publishing. "It was conceived with the idea of being a gift to our fans, but the analytics on our website show that it's bringing in new fans as well," she says, noting that 1,200 kids register on the 39 Clues Web site every day.
Scholastic is launching a new cycle in the franchise, The 39 Clues: Unstoppable, in October 2013, after concluding the latest arc, The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers, this coming March. The entire franchise, which launched in September 2008, has more than 15 million copies in print worldwide and more than 2 million registered users of its companion online game.


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Links on this page refer to multimedia resources (podcast, vodcast, audio recordings, video recordings, photos) related to FreeBSD or of interest for FreeBSD users.
This list is available as chronological overview, as a tag cloud and via the sources.
This list is also available as RSS feed
If you know any resources not listed here, or notice any dead links, please send details to Edwin Groothuis so that it can be included or updated.
Isilon and FreeBSD
Source: YouTube bsdconferences channel
Added: 31 December 2008
Tags: youtube, freebsd, isilon, zach loafman
Flash (28:58)
MeetBSD 2008 in California -
Source: MeetBSD
Added: 19 November 2008
Tags: meetbsd, meetbsd2008, freebsd, presentations
FreeBSD Foundation Update & Recognition by Robert Watson (3.2 Mb, 8 pages), BSD Certification by Dru Lavigne (80 Kb, 19 pages), Crypto Acceleration by Philip Paeps (256 Kb, 20 pages), "Help, my system is slow!" Profiling tools, tips and tricks by Kris Kennaway (172 Kb, 29 pages), Embedding FreeBSD by M. Warner Losh (685 Kb, 31 pages), Isilon and FreeBSD by Zach Loafman (136 Kb, 25 pages), Isolating Cluster Jobs for Performance and Predictability by Brooks Davis (900 Kb, 24 pages), PC-BSD 7 - A Developer's Perspective by Kris Moore (580 Kb, 45 pages), FreeBSD Network Stack Performance - Optimizations for Modern Hardware by Robert Watson (5.5 Mb, 43 pages), A closer look at the ZFS file system by Pawel Jakub Dawidek (470 Kb, 45 pages)


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- Home
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Saturday February 22, 2020; 07:14 am EST
A gender-bending twist gives raunchy life to a buddy-cop comedy
Special agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close) is good at her job. She's a wealth of information, always on top of her investigations and can find stashed drugs faster than the K-9 unit. Unfortunately, what Ashburn boasts in brains she lacks in people skills. Half of the FBI wants her to fail; the other half avoids her.
To finally prove that she is the best Fed in the agency and win a promotion, Ashburn chases a new drug dealer who is killing off the competition. If Ashburn can apprehend him without annoying the entirety of Boston, she may earn the respect she craves.
In Ashburn's way is Boston Police officer Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy: The Hangover 3). Messy, foul-mouthed and prone to violence, Mullins terrorizes even her captain. She's immediately distrustful of the persnickety Ashburn, and she wants the take-down on the mystery drug kingpin who is bloodying her neighborhood.
In the grand tradition of Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, Ashburn and Mullins find their styles in direct conflict. Can they learn how to work together for the greater good? Will Ashburn ever lighten up? Will Mullins ever change her shirt?
Filled with expletive-laden language, violence and physical comedy, The Heat is a mediocre buddy-cop flick with one interesting twist: The gender of the characters. By casting the fairer sex in roles typically reserved for men, director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) made the movie more interesting.
Why should men get to corner the market on cursing and shooting?
Director Feig takes pains to show his characters' isolation. There are no female coworkers to commiserate with over coffee. Men ignore them or want to take them down a peg. Yet Mullins and Ashburn know themselves and exude confidence. Their self-assured behavior, as much as their quirky personalities, alienates them from their male colleagues.
The drug-dealer plot is a paper-thin excuse to move Bullock and McCarthy from one comedy set piece to another. But the bond between the two leading ladies is so strong that they manage to distract us from the film's failings. As Mullins and Ashburn warm to each other, McCarthy and Bullock are given more freedom to act outrageously.
The ploy works, making The Heat one of the few films this year to earn genuine guffaws from this reviewer and her audience members.
As the pernicious Ashburn, Bullock isn't treading new ground. Her natural charisma and adept comic timing help keep her fastidious character likeable, even when she's acting loony.
As Mullins, McCarthy follows in the foul-mouthed tradition of Eddie Murphy's Axel Foley and the lumbering physical comedy of Chris Farley. Her gender sets her apart in this brand of humor, for it's the rare woman who revels in disgusting behavior.
If you've got a high tolerance for outrageous language and if you love strong female characters, The Heat is your best bet for a summer blockbuster. Just leave the kids at home, lest they expand their vocabulary.


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How to Use the Context
Inquiry Question
If we are to win the battle that is going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, if we are to win the battle for men's minds, the [Soviet Union's] dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all...the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take.... We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share.... I believe this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to earth.
President John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961¹
Evidence of man's insatiable curiosity about space can be found throughout human history--in the Greek myth of Icarus trying to fly to the sun, in Galileo's observations of the solar system, and in the first flight of the Wright brothers. The Apollo project to put a man on the Moon was also a product of the 1960s, a period of heightened Cold War tensions. Allegations of a dangerous "missile gap" between the Soviet Union and the United States had been an important element in John F. Kennedy's successful presidential campaign in 1960. In April 1961, Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut, became the first human to fly in space, and the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion, intended to lead to the overthrow of Fidel Castro in Cuba, turned into an embarrassing failure. For the Kennedy administration, the project to put a man on the Moon was a way to recapture the prestige that the nation seemed to have lost.
Closely following the United States' first manned space flight by astronaut Alan Shepard, Kennedy's commitment immediately captured the imagination of the American people. Shepard's short suborbital flight had been part of Project Mercury, underway since 1958 to develop the basic technology and hardware for manned space flight and to investigate man's ability to survive and perform in space. Project Gemini, begun in 1964, formed the link between the Mercury program's short flights and the Apollo program. The Gemini program provided astronauts with experience in returning to the earth from space, in linking between space vehicles, and in "walking" in space without the protection of a spacecraft. A series of unmanned satellites yielded information about the Moon and its surface that was critical to ensuring that the astronauts could survive there. The Apollo project built on the work of its predecessors to carry out President Kennedy's 1961 commitment. Between July 16 and July 24, 1969, as the whole world watched, Apollo 11 carried three U.S. astronauts to the Moon and returned them safely to earth.
¹John F. Kennedy, "Urgent National Needs" speech, Congressional Record--House (May 25, 1961), 8276.


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While the costume was amazing, I don't think the Thing ever looked big enough. He was like Dwarf Thing. Next time I hope he's CG. Chiklis would be great as the voice, and Chris Evans was just about perfect as Johnny, but I don't think Mr. Fantastic of the Invisible Woman were all that well cast. Neither had the gravitas to pull it off. Not that I'll ever complain about watching Alba...What are the chances they'll get Doom right?
Didn't they do something similar with LOTR?
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Geometric Fox Cloth Diaper
This Geometric Fox Cloth Diaper is Made-to-Order. Design your own by choosing diaper style, inner material and its color, as well as inner PUL color and snap colors from the drop-down menus.
This Geometric Fox Cloth Diaper is the perfect gift for someone who is just starting their cloth diaper journey. It is also great for new parents or veteran cloth diaper users. Simple to use, easy to wash, no harmful safety pins, and it looks adorable on any baby!
Still not convinced? Consider this:
Cloth Diapers are good for your baby
Disposable diapers contain harmful chemicals. These chemicals can irritate baby's skin, causing diaper rash. Dioxin, a by-product of bleaching, is listed by the EPA as the most toxic carcinogen. Disposables also contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) which is a chemical known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.
Cloth Diapers are good for the environment
Disposable diapers generate 60 times more solid waste and use 20 times more raw materials to make than cloth diapers do. Yikes! Additionally, it's estimated to take between 250 and 500 years for a single disposable diaper to break down in a landfill. Whereas cloth are used over and over before heading to the landfill, and they they take about 5 months to break down. You may even be able to compost old cloth diapers as long as they're made from natural fiber such as cotton or wool.
Cloth Diapers are good for you
They're cheaper! Cloth diapers cost more upfront but save you considerably in the long run. Disposables are more convenient sometimes, but cloth is much more convenient at other times. For instance, you never have to run out to the store in bad weather or in the middle of the night to buy more!
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Turnaround time for this Made-to-Order Cloth Diaper is about 3-4 weeks. Please be comfortable with this wait time before ordering.Thank you!!
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How to care for Sacred Sprouts Cloth Diapers:
- Dump Solids
- Cold Quick Wash Cycle
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- Soakers: 40% Hemp 30% Bamboo 30% Certified Organic Cotton


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Unfriendly Persuasion
(1) Speak with the leader of the mercenary gang. (2) Come to a peaceful arrangement with the mercenaries. (3) (Optional) Wipe the mercenaries out. (4) (Optional) Ask Marcus for money to pay off the mercenaries. (5) Return to Marcus.
Important Items...[edit]
Have you been to Jacobstown? Jacobstown is a settlement on the far western edge of the map. This location is overrun exclusively with Super Mutants and Nightkin (with the exception of a human doctor and his ghoul assistant, that is). The King over in Freeside will send you here as part of the Side Quest known as Nothin' But a Hound Dog , which will likely be the first time you arrive. To undertake this side quest, however, you'll need to leave for a while and then return to the settlement a little later. The aforementioned side quest is actually a good time in which to do so, since you'll need to leave during the quest and then return later to end it. Upon your return, the Super Mutant named Marcus (who you meet when you first arrived at Jacobstown) seems distressed. It appears that some people have been shooting at them from outside of the settlement, injuring them and killing their livestock. They appear to be NCR, but Marcus can't be too certain. He requests that you go out and speak with them, to see if you can get them to stop.
This quest is extremely, extremely simple and short, no matter what decisions you make. But there's an easy solution to this entire mess that will make matters even easier for you, since you can make all parties happy. For starters, walk along the road leading away from Jacobstown for just a brief moment. When you do, you'll run into a man named Norton. Norton is the leader of the mercenary group that's been harassing the citizens of Jacobstown. Speak with him to learn more. He won't divulge who he's working for, but he will tell you that this expedition at least has some ancillary blessings from the NCR. When you speak with him further, you'll learn that you can simply buy him off to send he and his friends on their way. If your Speech skill is high enough, you can scare him off, too.
Additionally, you can attack Norton and his friends, but they are well-armed and pretty dangerous men, so it's not a good option for you unless you're really ready for a fight (plus, the NCR is about the last organization in the entire Wasteland that you want to be on the wrong side of). The catch-all option, if your Speech is low and you don't want to fight, is to simply return to Marcus and request 2,500 Bottle Caps (or 3,000, if you want to keep some for yourself). The 2,500 Bottle Caps will force Norton and his friends to move on. This is good news for Marcus, since he doesn't want anyone, even the NCR, to force them into violence. If they don't make a move, then the NCR will have no reason to bother them. Thus, everyone's happy. Case closed.


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Have pine cones in your yard? Bring them into your home
By Chaya Kurtz, Networx
Sparkly pine cones are such a thing now. You can glitter you face. You can glitter your eyeliner. You can wear glittery gold lame dresses and gem sweaters. You can deck your house in tinsel. You can even buy bedazzled, sequined, glistening snow boots. Figures, then, that pine cones would follow. Because if it exists in nature or in the great superabundance of human creations, it can be covered in glitter. If you don't believe me, here are a few examples of things that should not be covered in glitter, but somebody covered them in glitter: disposable cutlery; hard liquor; and the pink glitter toilet seat.
So pine cones. While most of the year you want to keep them out of the house, the holiday season invites a special whimsy. The first approach, and may I add that I consider it to be a reasonable one, is to gild the pine cones. This involves brushing the edges of the pine cones with gold acrylic craft paint. Painting just the edges gives the pine cones a shadowy look of depth, which is urbane-looking when the cones are piled into a tall glass hurricane lantern (unlit, understandably).
Next we have something a bit more Las Vegas, if you know what I am saying. Laura from the DIY blog The Elegant Nest seems to have dipped the edges of some pine cones in glue and then rolled them in glitter. They look frosted, which is exactly how I like my cupcakes, I mean pine cones. Believe it or not, there are a lot of DIY bloggers making glitter pine cones, and hers are just the prettiest, and I say that in all seriousness.
Then again, you can always brush the tips of some pine cones with Mod Podge and then sprinkle them with Epsom salt. The result is a very realistic snowy look. If you're not one for wreaths, you can make a nice homey (or of pertaining to the home, not the greeting to an urban male buddy) door hanging of these "snow" covered pine cones.
Source: http://www.networx.com/article/3-ways-to-turn-pine-cones-into-sparkly-d


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School sorry for Black History lunch menu of watermelon, fried chicken
A Northern California private school apologized for a lunch menu that offered fried chicken, corn bread and watermelon to celebrate Black History Month.
School administrators for Carondelet High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Concord, Calif., said they did not approve the menu, and it remains unclear who came up with the idea.
In an interview with USA TODAY Network, Carondelet communications director Christina Ditzel also said that the Black Student Union was not to blame. In an earlier report from KTVU, Interim President Sister Ann Bernard said students with the group had planned the menu.
A spokesman for De La Salle High school, an all-boys school affiliated with Carondelet that runs the Black Student Union, reiterated that the group was not responsible.
"I know for a fact they have nothing to do with the menu at Carondelet," said J.A. Gray, director of communications for De La Salle, in an interview with USA TODAY Network.
According to Ditzel, a student announced the lunch menu over the school's public address system on Monday.
"It was a shock to the administrators, the students and the teachers, and they were angry about it," Ditzel said.
Ditzel said she did not hear the announcement and that it had not been approved by the administration, per school policy.
In response to the incident, Ditzel said school officials discussed the menu in an assembly Wednesday and sent letters apologizing to parents.
In a Feb. 6 letter that was sent to parents, Principal Nancy Libby apologized for "any hurt this caused students, parents or community members."
"Please know that at no time at Carondelet do we wish to perpetuate racial stereotypes," Libby wrote.
In another letter, Libby said a diversity assembly is planned for later this month.
African Americans constitute 2% of Carondelet's student population, according to Ditzel.
A letter from De La Salle guidance counselors addressed to faculty explained that fried chicken and watermelon "were some of the stereotypical images commonly used to depict life on the plantation, particularly among African slaves."
"It is important to keep in mind that the images of fried chicken and watermelon have been used intentionally for over 100 years to dehumanize black people," according to the letter.
"Those foods become, fairly or unfairly, a badge of inferiority," Greg Carr, chairman of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, told USA TODAY Network.
"If anything, what I hope could come out of this is to have a conversation about stereotypes and where those three items came from," Carr said.


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CT State Parks and Forests Main Page
Park Location
462 Kent Cornwall Road
(Route 7)
Park Contact Information
Kent Falls State Parkc/o Macedonia BrookState Park159 Macedonia Brook RoadKent, CT 06757
(860) 927-3238
{Link to Purchase a State park Season Pass}
{Link to Parks and Forests App}
{Symbol for Handicapped Accessibility}
This park offers:
{Symbol for Handicapped
{Symbol for Handicapped Accessibility}
{Symbol for Handicapped Accessibility}
Picnic Tables
{Symbol for Handicapped Accessibility}
Trail to the base of the falls
The park is open from 8 am to sunset.
Pets on a leash are permitted in picnic areas and on hiking trails.
(860) 424-3200
(860) 424-4070
{Kent Falls Upper Falls}
Kent Falls State ParkKent
Wander across the covered bridge, hike the falls, and feel the mist on your face as water cascades 250' down on its way to joining the Housatonic River.
PARKING AT KENT FALLS: When the parking lot has reached capacity, the park is closed. It will reopen when the lot has 10 available spaces. Please note that there is no alternative parking and the park may be closed for several hours once full.
ATTENTION KENT FALLS STATE PARK VISITORS:Unmanned aircraft (Drones) are not allowed in Connecticut State Parks
Please note, during the winter months the trail becomes icy and slippery.The following rules are in effect and strictly enforced:
Parking fees for non-residents will be charged on the weekend until 6PM Please plan your visit accordingly.
{Hiking} Hiking
{Picnicking} Picnicking
{Fishing} Fishing
Kent Falls Trail winds 1/4 mile up along the falls. Although not difficult to walk, it is steep. There are many scenic vantage points that can be enjoyed along the trail.
Kent Falls is a designated Trout Park.Please see Trout Parks for important information.
Art Trail Site
Kent Falls is a Viewpoint Exhibit Host SiteDid you ever wonder what the Connecticut landscape looked like a century ago? Check out Viewpoints, a joint project of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Connecticut Art Trail, and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Outdoor exhibits reproduce works of art painted in the 19th Century, with information about the artist and the location. Visit the Connecticut Art Trail Website for a preview, and look for the Viewpoint exhibits on your next visit to Kent Falls and other host sites
Bathrooms, Pedestal Grills, Picnic Tables
{Kent Falls State Park Lower Falls} Kent Falls State Park, Kent
The Geology of Kent Falls State Park
From the North Pittsfield and Great Barrington, MA areas: travel south on Route 7 into Kent, CT. The park is located along Route 7 approximately 3 miles south of the intersection with Route 45, and approximately 4.5 miles north of the village of Kent.
From the South Greater Danbury area: travel north on Route 7 into Kent, CT. The park is located approximately 4.5 miles north of the village of Kent.
From the East Hartford area: travel west on I-84, take Exit 39. Continue west along Route 4 to the intersection with Route 118 in Harwinton. Drive west along Route 118 to the intersection with Route 202 in Litchfield. Turn left onto Route 202 and travel west for about 7 miles to the intersection with Route 341. Turn right onto Route 341 and travel to the intersection with Route 7 in Kent, CT. Turn right (north) onto Route 7 and the park will be located approximately 4.5 miles ahead along Route 7.
Parking fee is in effect for non-residents on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day weekend through October 31.
State Park/Forest Fees | Season and other Park Passes
Hiking Map (B/W)Hiking Map (Color)
Kent Falls, located in the northeastern section of the town of Kent, is a series of waterfalls on a mountain stream known as Falls Brook. The stream begins in the town of Warren, draining an area of six or seven square miles. It then flows west to the big fall where it plunges approximately 70 feet in a dramatic cascade. From here the stream descends in a series of lesser falls and cascades to the valley, where it enters the Housatonic River some 200 feet below the brink of the big fall only a quarter mile away. Much of the limestone over which the brook flows has been carved into interesting shapes including numerous potholes of all sizes.
The Indian name of this area is "Scatacook" and there is considerable evidence that Native Americans fished and camped by the falls. Later, in colonial times, mills were also present along the brook.
Acquisition of the park began in 1919 with the gift of 200 acres by the White Memorial Foundation. Other parcels were donated or purchased until the present 295 acres were acquired. The area was developed in the 1930's by the Civil Works Administration. In the mid nineteen-seventies, considerable trail reconstruction was done by the Youth Conservation Corps of Connecticut. The covered bridge is an authentic reproduction built in 1974 by a park employee, Edmund Palmer.
The flow in the cascade at Kent is normally heaviest in the spring when the winter snow is melting. However, the falls can be dramatic at any time of the year, particularly after substantial rainstorms. Fall foliage season is also an excellent time to enjoy the area. Because of its exceptional scenic qualities, Kent Falls has been featured in a number of magazine and television advertisements.
Video Tour of Kent Falls State Park (link to The Outdoor Enthusiast - CT Public Broadcastings Media Lab online project)
Other Nearby State Recreation Areas Include:
Housatonic Meadows State Park, Cornwall Bridge/SharonLocation: 2 miles north of Cornwall Bridge on Route 7Activities: Camping, Canoeing, Fly Fishing, Hiking, Picnicking
Lake Waramaug State Park, Kent/New Preston Location: 5 miles north of New Preston on Lake Waramaug Road (Route 478)Activities: Camping, Fishing, Picnicking, Swimming
Macedonia Brook State Park, Kent Location: 159 Macedonia Brook RoadActivities: Camping, Fishing, Hiking, Picnicking
Mohawk Mountain State Forest, Cornwall/GoshenLocation: 6 miles west of Goshen off Route 4Activities: Downhill Skiing, Mountain BikingFor ski area rates, contact: Mohawk Mountain Ski Area Telephone: (860) 672-6100
Mt. Tom State Park, LitchfieldLocation: 3 1/2 miles west of Bantam off Route 202Activities: Boating (non-motor), Fishing, Hiking, Picnicking, Swimming
Related Links
Connecticut Tourism InformationFishing Information
{Link to Top of Page} Content last updated December 2019


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On rare occasion, I bring up the topic of food here, so… I can't resist… whenever I find old recipes, I have to give them a shot… perhaps it's the blood of my confectioner ancestors that comes to life when I find this sort of thing. Nevertheless, haven't tried these yet, but wanted to pass them along. Some are food recipes, others are concoctions for other purposes. These appeared in the Hagerstown Herald of Freedom and Torch Light, October 23, 1861…
TO DESTROY FLIES – Cold green tea, very strong, and sweetened with sugar, when set about to saucers, attracts flies and destroys them.
CREAM CUSTARD. – Mix a pint of cream with one of milk, five beaten eggs, a tablespoonful of flour and three of sugar. Add nutmeg to the taste, and bake custard in cups or pie-plates in a quick oven.
TO RENOVATE BLACK CRAPE. – Skim milk and water, with a little bit of glue in it, make scalding hot, will restore old rusty black Italian crape. If clapped and pulled dry, like fine muslin, it will look as good as new.
STEAMED EGGS. – Butter a plate and break the eggs upon it, and season with butter, salt and pepper. Place them in a steamer, and cook a longer or shorter time, according to individual taste. – This is a good dish for an invalid, if not cooked too hard.
NICE LIGHT BUNS. – One pound of flour, six ounces of butter, two teaspoonfuls of yeast powder, quarter of a pound of sugar, beat the yolk of an egg separately, half a gill of milk, and a few drops of essence of lemon; bake immediately.
KITCHEN ODORS. – The unpleasant odors from boiling ham, cabbages, etc., is completely corrected by throwing whole red peppers into the pot – at the same time the flavor is improved. Pieces of charcoal will produce the same effect.
COLD SLAW. – Yolks of two eggs, a table-spoonful of cream, a small teaspoonful of mustard, a little salt, and two teaspoonfuls of vinegar. If cream is not used, put in a small lump of butter rubbed in a little flour. Cut the cabbage very fine, heat the mixture, and pour it on hot.


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Officially introducing something on the lines of "iThingy" is a customary practice for Apple. Before the launch of their products, a mysterious secrecy is accentuated with the ascent of speculative rumors and several other itemizations. The cryptic writings are always unrevealed and these products come into sight with huge surprises as they mark their presence over the course of time. During the time that such revelations are officially announced, the excitement levels associated with Apple's products just keeps rolling out newer pastures.
Along these lines, users can turn their attention to the newest entrant in Apple's illustrious category of products. Originally featured as a product by Amazon, dubbed as the CTA Digital 2-in-1 iPotty; Apple has collaborated with Amazon for the exclusive sale of this handy product. Continue reading


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On St Croix, Lost in Lush Scenery
By Marjie Lambert, email@example.com
The blue skies over St. Croix are dotted with clouds that create just enough shadow to cut the glare of sun on water. As my little rental car wheezes up the steep, twisting road, the sea is below on my right, a deep sapphire streaked with aquamarine.
On my left, lush slopes in a thousand shades of green sweep gently up, the creep of foliage interrupted now and then by a house positioned for the best views of the water.
I'm searching for the road to Cane Bay when I come around a curve and enter what looks like a tropical rainforest. Dense trees form a canopy over the road, their trunks almost hidden by thick ferns and enormous leaves. Vines and roots dangle from branches, and it feels like the malevolent forest of fairytales.
Finally I emerge into the flatlands, far from the sea, and it is clear that Cane Bay is somewhere behind me.
Lost again.
This is my first visit to St. Croix, and I'm finding navigation a challenge. I am disoriented by driving on the left and hampered by the lack of street signs. But I love to explore new places, and this drive, full of wrong turns and scenic distractions, is taking me to parts of the island I probably wouldn't have visited if I'd brought a GPS.
St. Croix, which has been a U.S. territory since 1917, shares the advantages of the other U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and St. John, for a U.S. traveler: no passport required; same language; same currency as on the mainland.
The island offers plenty to entertain a visitor, starting with the beaches. Cane Bay on the north shore is popular with snorkelers, and Cane Bay Wall, where the bottom abruptly drops from about 40 feet to a depth of more than 3,000 feet, is a favorite of divers.
Buck Island Reef National Monument, a marine sanctuary just off the island's northeast shore, is part of the U.S. National Park system. Mostly encircled by a coral reef, it has one of the world's few snorkeling trails and two dive sites. Underwater markers tell about the sea life.
Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, created in 1992, offers scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking and hiking. It is an important archaeological site with the physical remains of three pre-Columbian cultures, as well as an important environmental site with large mangrove forests. It also has a bioluminescent bay, where micro-organisms called dinoflagellates glow in the dark. I've booked a moonlight kayaking tour of the bay.
Much of the island's history involves the sugar industry. The ruins of sugar mills are scattered around the island, some of them incorporated into the landscaping of homes, restaurants and resorts. Estate Whim Museum, created from a restored 18th century sugar plantation, tells the story of the slave labor used on the plantation. Visitors can tour the Cruzan Rum Distillery and taste the rum, which today is made primarily with molasses from elsewhere in the Caribbean.
In the island's two cities, Frederiksted and Christiansted, I can dine and browse shops and museums.
I knew before I got here that Crucians, as island residents call themselves, drive on the left side of the street. I'm not clear why, since this is a U.S. territory, not British. Unlike in Britain, however, the driver's seat is on the left.
"I'm a little intimidated by trying to remember to drive on the left," I tell the attendant at the airport exit as I hand her my rental-car contract.
"Here's the secret," she responds. "You only have to remember this: When you're driving at home, you've got concrete — pavement — on your left. But here you've got grass. So just think: grab the grass. Reach out of your car window and grab the grass because that's where you're supposed to be."
Grab the grass. I look at the shoulder of the road, green with shrubbery and grass. As I follow the written instructions to my hotel, I grip the steering wheel and repeat, grab the grass.
That was the first time I got lost.
One day I decide to tour the island, to go where the road takes me. The island is only 28 miles long and seven miles wide, so how lost can I get? I'm puzzled by the lack of signage. Would it hurt to nail up a couple signs that point east and west, to Christiansted and Frederiksted, to the turn for Road 69 or Cane Bay?
The road is lined with blooming trees and shrubs, the same ones I see in Miami: the red-orange poinciana; pink and scarlet hibiscus; bougainvillea in pink and purple; clusters of tiny pink flowers that I don't recognize. But the island is mountainous, the winding road often high above the sea, and the scenery reminds me more of Hawaii than of Florida.
Once I come around a corner, and on my right, I see a long grassy slope above me where goats are grazing. I pull onto the shoulder to shoot a few photos of the bucolic scene.
Suddenly several dozen goats are coming toward me, running, loping, skidding down the hill, bleating and crying raucously. I hurry back into the car, worrying whether the fence at the bottom of the hill will restrain them. This must be how they get fed —someone pulls up in a truck and throws a bale or two of feed over the fence — and they are expecting food from me. By the time I drive off, the first wave of goats has made it to the foot of the hill, and they stand there crying at me. Fortunately, the fence holds.
A few turns later, I come unexpectedly upon the Divi casino, the island's only one. I like to play blackjack, and more than that, I like to observe other players. I like the laughter, the stories, the impulsive decisions, the rueful remarks. But these gamblers are serious. No laughter, no stories. I move on.
One day I go to St. George Village Botanical Garden, where more than 1,000 varieties of plants grow among the ruins of a Danish sugar plantation. Here also, many of the plants are familiar — orchids, bromeliads, palm trees, mango trees, heliconia, gingers — and there are rare and endangered species of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico as well. The ruins and crumbling walls have been incorporated into the gardens. Workers' quarters, blacksmith's shop, water wheel, sugar factory, lime kiln and other structures have either been restored or are partially overgrown by plants.
From there, I go on to Frederiksted, which is where cruise ships dock. Although it is the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Croix is not a busy cruise destination even in winter. In summer, it might be weeks between ships, and there are none during my visit. The waterfront has been spiffed up to make it more attractive to cruise lines, and I've read positive comments about some of the shops and restaurants. The Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts is here. Fort Frederik, built in the 1750s to ward off pirates, and Emancipation Park are just down the street. But many businesses are closed when there's not a ship in port, and on the day I visit, the streets and sidewalks are mostly empty. I get a fancy grilled cheese sandwich for takeout from Polly's at the Pier, then sit on a bench, looking out to sea while I eat.
The streets behind the waterfront are shabby. Buildings are deteriorating, windows boarded up.
Christiansted is more inviting, although if you walk a few blocks uphill, past the shops and galleries, you encounter similar crumbling buildings. But down by the water are a boardwalk and a marina. They don't exactly bustle in the offseason, but neither are they deserted. There are people in the restaurants and bars, and boats sail across the harbor. A seaplane returning from St. Thomas swings low across the shore, lands on the water, taxis to a dock.
The Danes — who ruled St. Croix for 184 years, longer than any other country, and ultimately sold the island to the United States — set up government in Christiansted. Five buildings from the colonial era, including the Customs House and Fort Christiansvaem, remain on the waterfront and make up what is now designated a National Historic Site.
I wander around the park, have a hoagie at Angry Nate's on the Boardwalk, then get lost driving back to my hotel — although with each trip, I puzzle out a little more of the route. By the end of my trip, I can find my way back to the hotel with no wrong turns.
I'm staying at the Hibiscus Beach Resort, a low-key hotel with 38 beachfront rooms. The hotel offered a bargain — $300 for four nights in July — on LivingSocial.com, one of the deal-a-day sites, and I grabbed it. I have a second-floor room with a deck and a lovely view of the water, and the hotel has a small restaurant and a fun bar, all of which make it conducive to doing nothing productive — which is what this particular vacation is all about.
I read, nap, go to the bar for a glass of wine, stare at the vista of blue water and palms trees from my deck, walk along the sand. Late one morning, I see an instructor lead four or five would-be snorkelers into the water and give a lesson. Another day, I watch a young man ride a chestnut-colored horse along the water's edge and offer rides to the few people on the beach. One evening I sit down for dinner in the restaurant and learn that it's karaoke night. Some things I just can't escape.
The morning of my kayaking trip, I make a dry run to the unmarked put-in spot to make sure I can find it at dusk, then keep driving until the road ends at a beach. The narrow but pretty strip of sand is lined by palm trees and sea grape and is busy with young schoolchildren. Then I see the sign: This is where members of Christopher Columbus' crew came ashore in 1493 during his second excursion to the New World.
The spot's "statement of significance" as a National Historic Landmark says that it is the earliest site under the U.S. flag that is associated with Columbus, and that his crew's skirmish here with Carib Indians was the first recorded conflict between Europeans and Native Americans. The landing also marked the beginning of European colonialism here — St. Croix was under the rule of six countries before the U.S.
When I return for my kayak excursion that evening, I find that I am paired with Ralph, a widower and retired business owner from the Midwest. We are equally inexperienced; like me, he has been kayaking just once before. Ralph is with family — three couples who have all pushed off from the shallows by the time we climb into the last kayak, made of a clear, resin-like material so we can see the dinoflagellates in the water.
"Hey guys," he yells as we paddle toward them, "I got a date!"
Our guide tells us about hurricanes and boats that have sunk in the bay. He talks about the native people of St. Croix and how the arrival of Columbus' ships and those of other explorers spread disease and wiped out the native population. He leads us past a bird rookery, where in the twilight, we can see dozens of white egrets nesting in the trees, looking like cotton balls ensnared in the branches.
To get to the bioluminescent part of the bay, we thread our way through a marina, then paddle against a light wind about three-quarters of a mile across the darkening water. When we return, the wind will be at our backs, making the paddling easier.
I'd like to tell you that Ralph and I hit a rhythm, that we paddled surely and smoothly across the bay, but we didn't. Ralph sat in front, and I tried to follow his lead as our guide instructed, stroking in unison on the same side that he did — right, left, right, left. But I wasn't surprised when Ralph, who had built his own business and was accustomed to being in charge, unilaterally made all the decisions about rowing and did not share them. His strokes were unpredictable, and our oars kept crashing into each other. So we moved erratically across the water, falling farther behind the others, who acted more like teams.
No matter, it was a glorious night under a nearly full moon, air temperature in the low 80s, water in the high 80s. With no light coming from this part of the island, I saw more stars than I ever see in South Florida.
As it got darker, we saw fireworms that give off a green luminescence during mating, which happens for only two or three days around the full moon. We also saw newborn jellyfish that glow a fluorescent green. One of the guides caught some jellyfish and put them in jars, where they looked liked tiny lighted donuts.
But the main attraction was the dinoflagellates, just specks of light. We dragged our hands in the water and they were outlined in light, like a science fiction movie about radiation gone wrong. The light flashed around our oars each time we lifted them from the water. Best of all, we looked right through our clear kayak bottom and saw streams of light in the water, like pinstripes of tiny bubbles running backwards, our own private miniature light shows. It was spectacular.
The one-cell creatures, the guide told us, were limited to this small sector of the bay. As we rowed away, the lights under our kayaks grew fewer and fewer, until there were just occasional flashes. And then, nothing but darkness.
On the day I left, as I drove to the airport, I thought about what I'd do differently if I made a return trip. I'd visit the rum distillery, stay at the same casual hotel, find Cane Bay, and schedule my trip during tourist season when there were enough visitors for the waterfront restaurants in Frederiksted to stay open. Maybe I'd take the seaplane to St. Thomas for a day; maybe I'd do a different kayak tour. And then, when I looked around and realized I was lost again, I resolved to bring a GPS unit.


text:
Learn how a group of parents and professionals started LDA and led the push for passage of the first federal legislation mandating a free, appropriate, public education for students with disabilities. Find out about our volunteer leadership, staff, and professional advisors and get a taste of LDA's positions on issues that are important to individuals with learning disabilities. If you would like to get involved in the leadership of LDA, please contact us.
Vision and Mission
LDA Visualizes a World in Which: all individuals with learning disabilities are empowered to thrive and participate fully in society; the incidence of learning disabilities is reduced; and learning disabilities are universally understood and effectively addressed. LDA's mission is to create opportunities for success for all individuals affected by learning disabilities and to reduce the incidence of learning disabilities in future generations.
Click here to learn more about how LDA accomplishes its goals and objectives.
History of LDA
In 1963, a resourceful group of parents convened a conference in Chicago entitled "Exploration into the Problems of the Perceptually Handicapped Child." The professionals that participated and these parents shared a common concern: the recognition of the dire need for services for their children, services that did not exist. During the months that followed, many preliminary details towards formation of a national organization were worked out. With a core of volunteers agreeing to become its nucleus, the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities (ACLD) was created and incorporated in January, 1964.
Click here to learn more about the formation and growth of LDA.
LDA Organizational Staff, Directors and Officers
Contact members of the LDA National Office and learn more about the professionals and experts who serve LDA as members of its governing and advisory boards.
Learning Disabilities Foundation
The Learning Disabilities Foundation is a tax-exempt public charity established in 1979 dedicated to providing funds for research and education and the promotion of public awareness of both children and adults with learning disabilities. The purpose of the Foundation is to provide support for charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes, and for the accurate identification, ongoing evaluation and complete education of, and services for, children and adults with learning disabilities.
Click here to learn more about the Learning Disabilities Foundation
LDA engages in an array of ongoing collaborative activities that support the organization's work on behalf of individuals with learning disabilities.
Click here to learn more about the organizations which partner with LDA.


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Kenneth W. Johnson is the author of 'Student Study Guide to accompany Physics, 8th Edition', published 2009 under ISBN 9780470395301 and ISBN 0470395303.[read more]
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Take the Lead
This story appears in the May 2007 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Online Exclusive: To see the future of entrepreneurship now, go to www.entrepreneur.com/shortcuts
In the future, innovative entrepreneurs will fix the health-care mess--and cure cancer while they're at it. They'll solve the global warming crisis and uncover a new fuel made entirely of a blight on the Earth, like mosquitoes. They'll invent multipurpose facilities where their kids can take gymnastics or piano lessons while they pick up their dry cleaning, get takeout dinner, design their latest products via a 3-D video game, and in their downtime, figure out how to conquer al-Qaida.
Well, maybe not exactly. But plenty of experts and visionaries see entrepreneurs as key to the next wave of innovations in industries from transportation (air taxis, anyone?) to nanotechnology. "It's a spectacular time to be an entrepreneur, for people with the gumption," says Watts Wacker, futurist and CEO of FirstMatter LLC in Westport, Connecticut. The differences from past generations will lie in who is doing the innovating, how they do it and the fields in which they choose to make their money and their mark.A Changing Economy
In the next decade, entrepreneurs will be "far more diverse than their predecessors" in age, origin and gender, according to January 2007's "Intuit Future of Small Business Report," conducted with the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California.
Generation Y, defined as those born between 1978 and 1995, will emerge as the most entrepreneurial generation ever, says Steve King, a co-author of the report and senior advisor at the Institute for the Future. Solo entrepreneurs--about 20 million in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau--will increase in number. Women are growing businesses at almost twice the rate of all business owners, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. And immigrant entrepreneurs make up the fastest-growing segment of all, reports the Census Bureau.
Other basics about entrepreneurship are changing, too. Entrepreneurs might once have been successful focusing on the mass market, but that's become more and more difficult. "The 'average' person has one breast and one testicle. Show me that person," Wacker says. "That was a mass philosophy to do analysis by the mean, to do your research by what's at the center. It's not a route to success in a world where we've made niches."
Yet if Wacker is right that niche markets are critical to success, entrepreneurs will have to identify those markets in what's become a global economy where entrepreneurial innovations are coming from all over the map.
At Purdue University's Office of Technology Commercialization for Discovery Park in West Lafayette, Indiana, associate director Julie Goonewardene might meet with venture capitalists about a professor's new technology at the same time they are comparing it with a technology they've seen in New Zealand. "The positive [of that] is you might be able to come up with a much more sophisticated play if you marry what's happening in the two places," says Goonewardene, whose experience includes raising venture capital for a software company she founded and later sold. "The bad news for the entrepreneur is you've got to be really, really good."
That means the next Bill Gates might just as likely come from China or India as from the U.S. Like Gates, he or she may have dropped out of college or not attended at all. But the growing number of programs and classes for entrepreneurial students are finding audiences at American universities. "More entrepreneurs are going to college because they see the relevance of what they are studying," says King.
Those new entrepreneurs may find themselves in the unfamiliar position of being partners with corporations. "In the past, the big guys looked at the little guys as threats to be crushed," says Dev Patnaik, principal of Jump Associates, a consulting firm in San Mateo, California. "These days, [the little guys] are inspiration for new products or acquisitions."
Food companies such as General Mills and Kellogg's are asking entrepreneurs for ideas about partnering, says Andrew Aussie, 39, president of Honest Foods, a Del Mar, California, natural foods company he co-founded with Mark Oliver, 58, that has been approached by major corporations. "How do you combine the creative ideas of the entrepreneur with the scale of a larger company?" poses Aussie, who led marketing for the natural-food brand Kashi for 11 years and anticipates sales of $1 million this year for his new venture. "I think that's where there is a true opportunity for entrepreneurs."
Room to Grow
What fields will entrepreneurs transform? The fact that the next entrepreneurial stars might come from outside the U.S. also suggests opportunities in once unlikely places, such as China and India. "Those countries are expanding so fast in terms of generating gross national product," says Mark Rice, dean of the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. "The demand for infrastructure to support economic activity and the buying power of the middle class is exploding." Both countries are facing challenges with energy resources, water and the environment, so opportunities are ready for the right innovators.
In the U.S., the green agenda has hit the mainstream. Wacker says someday Americans may hire green consultants to inspect their homes, examine their daily practices and offer recommendations for lessening energy consumption. He also predicts more viable businesses devoted to heat conservation as well as solar and wind power.
There is tremendous interest in investment to help the country become less dependent on oil, says Duane Roth, a biotech entrepreneur and CEO of Connect link www.connect.org, a San Diego nonprofit that works with technology and life sciences businesses. "The reasons for doing it have gone beyond economic incentives," he says. "The mess in the Middle East, global warming--all these things put together would say this isn't a passing fad." Roth believes ethanol, a high-octane fuel produced from renewable resources, "is just starting to happen. The next phase will come much faster."
Energy-saving products have already started evolving. Gaia Power Technologies in New York City sells the PowerTower, a device designed to give homeowners and businesses enough electricity to run vital appliances and other equipment during power outages. The PowerTower runs off a high-capacity battery or alternative-energy source such as a fuel cell. Because it is charged off the electricity grid, it is an environmentally friendly alternative to a large generator, says Bige Doruk, 40, who co-founded the company with her husband, Ib Olsen, 44. "Generators are oversized, so they [don't] operate efficiently," she says. "By using our unit plus a smaller generator, it's more efficient and pollutes less." Clients who see the benefits include major hotel chains and a large coffee chain. The company projects sales of $5 million to $10 million this year.
Innovators are also studying new processes to curb global warming. At the University of Southern California Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, researchers are examining how bacteria found in the depths of the ocean might be used to absorb harmful greenhouse gases. Others at USC are exploring technology that could help capture carbon in the atmosphere. The USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, which works with USC faculty and students to get their ideas to market, helps professors and researchers patent and commercialize any resulting technology.
Another crisis that could benefit from creative entrepreneurial minds is health care. The aging of the population in developed countries such as the U.S., Germany and Japan, combined with the growing middle class elsewhere, means more people will have a greater need for health-care services. "Whoever shakes up the industry will take the complicated and make it simple," says Scott Anthony, president of innovation consulting firm Innosight LLC in Watertown, Massachusetts. He foresees more "retail-based kiosks in places like Target and CVS where people can get diagnostics done at very low prices."
As for treatments, genomics, or the study of genes, "will produce a series of breakthroughs," Rice believes. The discipline of nanomedicine, or medical intervention at the molecular level to cure diseases or repair damage, could enable health-care researchers and entrepreneurs to devise a way to send cancer drugs directly to a tumor without harming surrounding cells. Other innovations may include a way to connect ailing humans, such as patients with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, with surface electrodes that would help them move and speak. Such research is currently underway by Melody Moore Jackson, an associate professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta, and Adriane Randolph, a GSU doctoral student and aspiring entrepreneur.
Randolph, 30, seeks to develop additional real-world applications of brain-computer interface devices, targeting people with ALS and other conditions that leave them "locked" in their bodies. Following her graduation this month, she hopes to obtain a faculty appointment and start a business with her husband, Royal Randolph III, an IT consultant in health care. They want to offer a suite of technology-centered solutions to improve quality of life for people in assisted living centers. "I consider it an outgrowth of my research work with families who need this technology," she says.
Then there's always the possibility of a computer that prods people to take care of themselves. Roth imagines that "feedback systems" will be more prevalent in the future. If someone wearing the system forgets to take his Alzheimer's medicine at 9 a.m., an alert will go off to let his relatives or caregiver know. Roth says such a system could extend to sending alerts if the patient doesn't fill a prescription. Sound like invasion of privacy? Roth believes people will accept the trade-off because they'll see the value in the new technology--as long as they feel the data can't be used to discriminate.
Can we fix the rising costs of health care and fix our bodies? Maybe what will change is the insurance companies. "In the world of insurance, more and more boutique firms are sprouting up, serving narrower niches because large companies are all converging on the mass market," says consultant Andy Birol, author of The Five Catalysts of Seven Figure Growth Wacker also foresees some entrepreneurs creating self-insured circles, in essence acting as their own insurance companies.
Geek-Free Technology
Technology has influenced work and home in dramatic ways so far this century. Still, the more tech toys Americans get, the more we can see possibilities we want that could arrive in the next few years.
Let's say Jane Average has music on her computer that she wants to play on her stereo, coordinated with digital photos she wants to transfer to her TV. If she's a bit of a geek--and nothing breaks--she can set up such a system, says Len Rand, managing director of Granite Ventures, a San Francisco VC firm that invests in software and communications. But Rand sees a tremendous opportunity for software that enables anyone to download music, photos, video and chat from one device, such as a computer, and access them from others, such as a TV or cell phone.
For all those frustrated Americans who have wanted to throttle the call-center tech support guy, Rand sees self-diagnosing and self-healing electronics in the future. At the very least, someday a support rep may be able to see inside a computer and repair it without moving it to another location.
A variation of that scenario is happening now with remote control technology designed by Bomgar Corp. of Ridgeland, Mississippi. Bomgar sells its products to software companies, which then connect to the end user's personal computer. Tech support people can see the screen, move the mouse and type on the keyboard. "It's as if they were sitting at the keyboard," says CEO Joel Bomgar, 27, who started the company with co-founders Nathan McNeill, 25, and Patrick Norman, 28. "The person with the problem can just sit back and watch." When the company introduced its technology in 2003, entrepreneurs offering tech support were able to expand their realm worldwide, says Bomgar, who had sales of $5 million last year and projects 2007 sales to reach between $10 million and $12 million.
A stranger nosing in a computer might sound like a security disaster waiting to happen. But as a growing number of companies vie for the "third screen" (the cell phone), security problems magnify. Envision a cell phone or PDA packed with confidential data and left in a cab. "It could be delivered into competitive locations," says Mark Levine, managing director of Core Capital Partners, a private equity firm in Washington, DC. "That security needs to be upgraded before there is widespread adoption of enterprises to push data to mobile devices." Core Capital has invested in Trust Digital, a company specializing in mobile security.
A related field is fraud management, which can tell you that a specific computer has been used to steal 30 identities, run five credit card numbers or stalk a teen. "The next milestone will be authentication--knowing the guy on the end of the line is [who] he claims to be," says Greg Pierson, 40, co-founder and CEO of Portland, Oregon's Iovation, a company he launched with Jon Karl, 39, and Molly O'Hearn, 43. Iovation's technology is designed to track and stop fraud, and it had sales of $9.5 million in 2006. Eventually, says Pierson, "we think you are going to see much higher safety in the virtual world than you do in the real world in knowing who you are dealing with."
Those concerned about privacy could get into what Wacker calls "the next great business": privacy management. In the future, a la Wacker, "I will allow my information to be sold by American Express as long as I get a cut of everything they get out of it. Everything about your life will be chronicled and sold. Your kid will do that for the household starting at the age of 8."
Being someone else is sometimes the point in the world of gaming, where the fields of film, communications, engineering, computer science and fine arts are blending in new ways for new purposes. Alelo, a 12-person company co-founded by USC researchers Lewis Johnson, 49, Andre Valente, 42, and Hannes Vilhjalmsson, 34, developed a video game-based course designed to educate military personnel in the languages and cultures of other countries. The course, which began as a research project at USC's Information Sciences Institute, provides an "immersive reality" that lets participants start learning communication skills within hours of playing, says Krisztina Holly, vice provost and executive director of USC Stevens. The U.S. Armed Forces currently uses a version for Iraqi Arabic and Pashto. Alelo brought in sales of $2.2 million last year.
Gaming for fun will continue to grow, predicts Gautam Godhwani, 34, who sold his previous company, AtWeb, to Netscape and is now founder and CEO of the multimillion-dollar business Simply Hired, a search engine for jobs that has received more than $17 million in VC funding. The 45-person company, based in Mountain View, California, also runs MySpace Jobs, the job site for MySpace users. Not only will gaming's popularity grow, but the innovative technology behind it will also advance, says Godhwani. "Platforms like Wii and PS3 have incredible capabilities that have not been tapped," he says, "and titles like Halo and World of Warcraft have huge online communities." Gamers want bigger, faster and better technology--which means more innovation and development are still to come.
As disciplines merge, look for more innovators from the arts to employ their vision and skills to commercial enterprise. "Some people are talking about how the MFA [Master of Fine Arts] is the next MBA," says Holly. "Companies are looking for creative people to become more innovative."
An example is Jason Feffer, 36, former vice president of operations for MySpace. He recently launched SodaHead, a new website for do-it-yourself polls, or "social voting," that helps people connect with others and compare opinions. (Companies can also use the site to ask consumers directly about products.) The site, which receives most of its revenue from advertising, has each participant create an account that documents his or her votes. The feature prevents stuffing of the electronic ballot box.
The site taps into what Wacker calls "the trend of neo-tribalism"--people's desire to meet others like themselves. Feffer, who developed SodaHead with co-founder Michael Glazer, 35, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. "Today's challenges can't be left to just scientists or engineers or artists or businesspeople," Feffer believes. "It will take a variety of them combined--people [with] a variety of experiences."
Of course, trying to predict the future is tricky. Forty-five years ago, "no one would have told you to talk to Bob Swanson, who went on to found Genentech and start the biotech revolution," says Scott A. Shane, author of Finding Fertile Ground: Identifying Extraordinary Opportunities for New Ventures. "No one would have told you to talk to Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. They were just kids, and no one knew them."
If anyone could foresee the next big thing, that seer would probably keep quiet and invest lots of money in it, says Shane. Venture capitalists "are really smart and successful at making money on technology trends. They can also be incredibly wrong."Andrea Cooper has written for Time, National Geographic Online and other major outlets.


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Bravo named tonight's episode "Scream Therapy," but there isn't much screaming and there is only a tiny bit of therapy. But there is 'unloading,' some non-sequiturs disguised as logical conclusions, and despite all of that, two of the Housewives earn my respect! And one of them is not the 'Wife you think. Tonight we have shock and some situations that will make you want to do a double take, so for the sake of accuracy, I am going to rename this episode "Back the Truck Up."
First up, while discussing her rift with Briana, Vicki says, "I never thought I was the perfect person, but I thought I was the perfect mom." Wow. Maybe I shouldn't believe every woman's magazine article I read, or every Lifetime movie I see, but I think calling yourself a "perfect mom" is a no-no. Even the best mothers just do the best they can and never really think they are perfect. I mean, thinking you can always do better is an essential part of being a mom, right? I don't have any kids so I don't know for sure and I'm willing to let that slide … but after Vicki recites the sticks and stones nursery rhyme, the hazard lights come on. And then Brooks breaks it down. He tells Vicki that Briana's words aren't hurting her, the truth is hurting her. What?! Brooks actually said something genuine, logical and true? Back the truck up!
In other news (at least she thinks it's news), Heather decides to take her husband's last name. After 15 years and four kids. Heather tells her friend that part of her reluctance is that she has never liked the name Dubrow because people don't know how to pronounce it. She says people say "Du-brow" like "eyebrow". She really wanted to say "Du-brow" like "low-brow" but somehow she stopped herself. What I love about this vignette is that Heather breezed into the DMV to change her name and assumed everyone would care. From the check-in desk to the new license photo, nobody gave a crap. For once, DMV employees did what I wanted and needed them to do, which was to not pay Heather one lick of extra attention.
Tamra travels outside of the O.C. to research opening a fitness studio. She finds a studio similar to what she envisions opening and asks thoughtful, business-minded questions of the owners. Her goal of financial independence is admirable and the seriousness with which she is approaching the business venture is commendable. What?! I actually respect something about Tamra? Back the truck up!
Never fear — my newfound respect for Tamra is short-lived and comes to an end at the tête-à-tête that Alexis arranged with her. For some reason, Alexis still cares the negative things that Tamra thinks and says about her. When she tries to call Tamra on it, Tamra keeps it real and tells Alexis she is "an extremely shallow person." While the allegation is true, Tamra lost my newly won respect when she called Terry Dubrow, as her lead witness because he is "the most successful plastic surgeon in Orange County." Sorry Tamra, I can't go there with you.
Later Gretchen and Slade go to therapy to address his child support issues and how his unstable, unpredictable financial situation is affecting their future together. Gretchen gets mad props for this. She could have easily ignored her concerns and charged ahead with a wedding and a few babies or she could suppress her feelings leading her to express them in an unhealthy and unhelpful way, but she didn't. She conducts herself with maturity and diplomacy. Say what you will about Slade, but Gretchen loves him and she's got her eyes wide open.
I'm looking forward to next week's episode because Vicki thinks the perfect way to deal with the discord between her and her daughter is a girl's trip to Costa Rica. Because a getaway cures everything, of course. Let's all get ready for the ladies to take their show on the road. All the 'Wives are down for the trip and luckily they don't have to worry about getting lost — Alexis is quite confident that "Costa Rica is in Mexico. So it's south."
What made you want to back the truck up tonight? Or did you just want to back the truck over someone? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to follow me on Twitter @MutesVoice.


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It is also advisable to inform us of any tricky areas or places in your home that you feel may need extra special and specific cleaning before our visit.
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You'll have no doubt be warned that you need to do as much as you can to hold onto your hefty security rental deposit and have it returned to you at the end of your tenancy – and this includes making sure the property that you've rented is spick and span before the landlord comes in to carry out their final inspection. Whilst you're entitled for a property to show reasonable 'wear and tear' from your time living there, it should be in the best possible shape for the final inspection in order to demonstrate to the landlord and/or management company just how responsible a tenant you've been. This will increase your chances of a great reference from them in the future as well.
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Obviously a well-used room in any home our teams will look at the key cleaning duties below to get your kitchen looking and smelling amazing:
Again a room which can often need a lot of cleaning attention, our standard end of tenancy cleaning duties include:
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Often the main and most well-used room in any home, living spaces can need a lot of attention during an end of tenancy clean:
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Since 1941, the San Diego Art Institute (SDAI) has served as a nonprofit with the mission of advancing southern California/northern Baja art and artists. We are an experimental, bi-national contemporary art center catalyzing new experiences and connecting artist with audience. Our work is dedicated to advancing creative endeavors of artists today and tomorrow. We present new, engaging, and unexpected experiences that expand our cultural perspective and understanding, revealing the culture of this specific place and time through experimental manifestations of art. We expand the boundaries of expression and engage the public with art, ultimately removing limitations of borders — both physical and conceptual — to embolden production of leading regional contemporary art.
The focus of all of our programs is artist-driven, and our core value is respect for contemporary artists. We largely focus on commissions of new work by artists living between Los Angeles and Tijuana, with a focus on San Diego artists. SDAI rotates exhibitions every 8 weeks, either curated or themed. Some of our most notable recurring public programs include the MIXTAPE music and performance series, the Cat Fashion Show, and Monster Drawing Rally. SDAI hosts frequent programs that include lectures, screenings, performances, or hands-on artmaking experiences. SDAI's programs are often experimental, interactive, multisensory, and fun.
San Diego Art Institute is an 8,000 square foot gallery space. Through rotating exhibitions every 8 weeks, SDAI presents curated exhibitions that feature work by contemporary artists living between Los Angeles and Tijuana, with a focus on San Diego. The work ranges from painting and photography to contemporary craft, social practice, site-specific installation and experimental new media works. Through frequent public programming, SDAI showcases new experimental music, performance art, lectures, film screenings, fashion shows, and unique art experiences.