text:
Breast Lift (Mastopexy)
A breast lift—medically known as mastopexy—is a surgical procedure that raises the breasts and gives them a more youthful-looking contour. A breast lift can also reduce the loose skin that comes with age, significant weight loss or pregnancy and breast feeding. This procedure can also include reducing the size of the areola, which is the darker skin around the nipple.
A breast lift performed on its own will not increase the size or change the shape of your breasts. Breast augmentation surgery, which is sometimes performed at the same time, will change the size and shape.
Breast lift surgery was the fourth most popular cosmetic surgical procedure in Australia in 2009 and the seventh most popular in the world. Around 5,600 breast lifts were completed in Australia in 2009. Breast lift surgery is most popular amongst women between the ages of 35 and 50.
Reasons for choosing to have aClick to collapse
breast lift
Women opt for breast lift surgery for a number of reasons.
You are a good candidate for a breast lift if:
- Your breasts hang down loosely but you are happy with their size. If you feel they are too big, you can opt for a breast reduction as well.
- Your breasts lack firmness.
- When you don't wear a bra your nipples are positioned way below the crease between your breasts and chest.
- You have downward-pointing nipples and areolas.
Although a breast lift is possible at any age, surgeons recommend waiting until breast development is complete to undergo any breast-related cosmetic surgery. Breasts are usually fully developed around 18 years of age.
Breast lifts are often performed after pregnancy and breastfeeding, because these events can change the shape of the breasts. However, breast lift surgery leaves the nipples, areolas and milk ducts intact and is unlikely to affect a woman's ability to breast feed.
Things to consider once you've decided to have a breast liftClick to expand
You need to discuss the following things with your surgeon prior to surgery:
- Size and shape of breasts Before surgery, you need to convey to your surgeon the exact size and shape you want your breasts to be.
- Repositioning of the nipples and areola At what level and location do you want them? Your surgeon will help you make this decision, often with image software.
- Areola reduction If you want the size of your areolas to be reduced, your surgeon can make breast lift incisions around the areola, removing some of the dark pigment.
- Incision location There are several methods of performing a breast lift. The location of the incisions largely depends on the current size and shape of your breasts. Your surgeon can help you make this decision. The three most common incision locations are:
- Around the areola. This incision is used if very little skin is to be removed.
- Around the areola and then vertically down to the crease of the breast.
- Around the areola, vertically down to the crease of the breast and then horizontally along the breast crease at the very base of the breast. The fewer incisions made, the less scarring will develop.
- Implants If you want breast implants in conjunction with a breast lift, a number of choices must be made. See our article on breast augmentation for more information.
What to expectClick to expand
Depending on how much work is involved, a breast lift procedure takes 1-3 hours. The procedure can be done on an outpatient basis, and it may be possible to go home after the effects of anaesthesia have worn off. You may, however, be asked to stay in hospital overnight to be monitored.
After the incisions have been made, excess skin is removed, the nipples are repositioned and the skin re-draped and stitched back together. Small tubes may be inserted to allow fluids that accumulate in the wound to drain. These will be removed after a few days. You will also have gauze dressings on your breasts, usually covered with a surgical bra or elastic bandage.
For the first week you must sleep on your back. For the first few days your breasts will be bruised and swollen. Your surgeon may ask you to wear a compression garment for up to a week to keep swelling to a minimum and support your breasts as they heal. Your surgeon may also recommend wearing a sports bra for extra support for six weeks after surgery. Sometimes mild swelling can last up to four months.
Incisions will initially be red or pink in colour. Over time and with the correct scar management treatment, these scars will fade.
You may not have as much sensation in your nipples and areolas as you had before surgery. This is normal and usually temporary. Sometimes it can take weeks, months or even a year before normal sensation returns.
Although walking as soon as you are able helps prevent blood clots, strenuous activities such as exercise and heavy lifting should be avoided for at least a month.
You may feel discomfort from time to time. This is normal, but if you have severe pain, contact your surgeon.
Before and after surgeryClick to expand
There are things you can do leading up to any kind of surgery.
Advise your surgeon if you have lost weight recently or plan to lose weight in the future. Your surgeon may recommend that you stabilise your weight before having surgery.
Before your surgery, make sure to have everything you need for a comfortable stay at home during the recovery period.
There are also a number of things you can do following any type of surgery.
In addition to following the general post-surgical guidelines, there are important things you must do to ensure successful healing. These include:
- Placing pillows under your head and upper back to help you sleep comfortably. A pillow under your knees will prevent you rolling over.
- Asking your surgeon when you can bathe or shower again. Because dressings need to be kept dry until the incisions close up, you may have to manage with sponge baths for a few days. You may also need help washing your hair, as you won't be able to raise your hands above your head for a week or so.
Possible risks and complicationsClick to expand
As with any surgical procedure, there are risks involved in breast lift surgery. You should be fully aware of these before you elect to have the procedure. Make sure you familiarise yourself with the list of complications that could arise as a result of any surgery.
Specific complications that could occur after a breast lift include:
- Asymmetry of breasts After breast lift surgery you may discover that your two breasts are not the same size or shape, or that the nipples are not the same size or are at different heights. If any of these things happen, revision surgery may be required.
- Losing breast or nipple sensation This can be permanent or temporary, depending on the extent of nerve damage. Permanent loss of sensation is unlikely and rare.
- Permanent scarring on the breasts Usually scars around the areolas are not very obvious, but the vertical and horizontal scars will remain. Heavy bruising during surgery or internal bleeding can often increase the size of scars.
The best way to reduce risk in any surgery is to find a fully qualified surgeon with formal training in breast lift surgery who has performed the procedure many times.
Just as you would discuss potential benefits before surgery, it is always advisable to ask your surgeon to address the potential risks as they apply to you.
Rough costs involvedClick to expand
The cost of a breast lift will vary depending on the surgeon you choose and the facilities used. Your surgeon will help you estimate potential costs after an initial consultation.
Expect surgeon's fees for a breast lift to cost between $6000 and $8000 (AUD). You'll need to add the assistant surgeon's fees, anaesthetist's fee, hospital facilities and the cost of follow up visits to this figure.
If you have implants inserted at the same time your costs, including the cost of implants would come to around $12,000 (AUD).
Some Australian private health insurers may help pay for the hospital bed and theatre fees. Getting a doctor's referral could enable you to make a claim on these costs.
You should expect the costs to be higher if you are having combined procedures at the same time.
This information is correct as of 2018.
Join the Conversation
Hi I'm intristed in a lift and areola resisizing. What would you say the costs would be and are you just in Sydney or are you also located in Melbourne?
Wondering pricing on a lift & maybe an enlargement to a cup size up to E. Payment plan options & information on procedures & future issues/ procedures with me only being 23.. #undecided
I had breast augmentation almost two years ago now but am thinking I would like to have a liftand reduce my areola size, is it possible to keep my implants and have the lift and if so what would be an approximate cost thanks
I had breast implants 10 yrs ago and really need to have a breastlift. I have had regular ultrasounds and there are no problems with the implant or any leakages. I'd also like to find out about payment plans.
hi I was wondering if the price is much different for having implants removed and breasts lifted
Hi, yeah, very informative! Answered all my questions! However, could you guys send me some further info via my email on which surgeons around Brisbane offer payment plans and who is the most reputable?
Thanks, I'd really appreciate it. Kind regards, Meri
I am very interested in getting implants as I am completely flat chested, I've had two kids & breastfed them both then after I had finished whst boob I had disappeared to a tiny saggy nipple.
I am unable to pay the cost straight up & was wondering if there was any way I could be considered for a payment plan?
Also I live in Wagga Wagga & was wondering if the surgery can be done there?
Thank you Amber.
What is the legal age to be able to
have a breast lift in Australia?
Legally, you need to be 18 to consent to surgery, but in some cases a doctor will allow a parent to consent for a minor. This is more likely for surgery that is functional as well as cosmetic such as a rhinoplasty for breathing issues or a breast reduction.
Hi I am a 30 year old mother of 3 and I breasted all of my children. This left me with rather saggy breasts. In September 2013 I decided it was time to sort myself out because I was very unhappy with my body and I was lucky enough to have come into a small amount of money. So at my plastic surgeons advice I had 295 cc round high profile implants. I was a b cup and am now a d cup. But I have found that now months later the bottom of my breast still sags. It kind of looks like really nice boobs until you get to the bottom and it's like the loose skin hangs of of the implant. I'm so disappointed because I asked the surgeon if I needed a lift also and he said with the implant I was getting there would be no need. I now have no option but to live with this again as funds are very low.
Just wondering how much generally speaking breast lifts are?
Hi Lizzie,
The cost depends on the surgeon, but typically you're looking at around $6000 – $8000 AUD. Payment plans and medical financing also depend on the doctor you see.
Implants combined with a breast lift is significantly more complex surgery than just implants on their own. While the average cost is around $12,000 AUD, some leading surgeons charge this just for breast implant surgery on it's own so combined with a lift can cost significantly more.
The most important thing is to find a doctor that you trust and who has the appropriate qualifications and experience with that specific procedure. Check out our practitioner finder to help you get in touch with surgeons who perform this surgery and have a consultation to discuss your specific needs. Often you can only get an accurate quote for this type of procedure after the doctor has seen you in person as every patient is different.
Best of luck in your search! If you have more questions – we're always here to help!
- Costhetics
I am interested in Lift and Implant. do you offer payment plans?
Heya i am for the first time here. I came across this board and I to find It really useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give one thing again and help others such as you aided me.
I was always under the impression that a breast lift and breast augmentation was the same thing. I guess I was wrong. Thanks for providing such helpful info.
Leave a reply.
find more practitioners
Doctors performing breast lift near you
related procedures see all


text:
Asian Black Beans
|Vegetables, Beans
|Day Part
|Menu Part
|Side Dish
|Cuisine Type
Asian black beans are soybeans and are generally found preserved in salt or fermented. They need to be well-soaked and rinsed before preparation.
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 med. red onion, minced
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp. grated ginger root
3 cups black beans, soaked, rinsed, and drained
1 1⁄2 qt. chicken stock, de-fatted
1⁄4 cup black bean garlic paste
1⁄4 cup molasses
1⁄2 tbsp. red pepper flakes
1. Heat oil. Add onions, celery, pepper, garlic, and ginger. Sauté until vegetables are translucent.
2. Add black beans; stir to coat with oil. Add 1 qt. stock; stir in black bean garlic paste, molasses, and red pepper flakes.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hr., or until beans are tender and most of liquid is absorbed. Add remaining chicken stock if more liquid is needed.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Walrus Says
"Tomorrow, Americans will be observing Veterans Day. Many workers and students will have a much-welcomed day off from the regular grind of their normal routines. Hopefully, most will reflect upon the true meaning of this holiday, and better yet, take some action – I'll get to that later.
"But first, what exactly is Veterans Day, and what's the difference between it and Memorial Day? The answer, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, is that Memorial Day is a day for remembering those who died in battle, or from sustaining battle wounds.
"Veterans Day, on the other hand, is a day set aside to thank all those who served honorably in the U.S. armed forces, particularly those who are still with us today. To put it simply, Memorial Day is one of remembrance, while Veterans Day is one of thanks.
"Of course, on both holidays, I'm sure we all think about those relatives and friends, present and past, who have served in our military, regardless of whether they died in battle or not. Maybe it's because the holiday was established so long ago, at the end of World War I in fact, that Veterans Day sometimes appears to be an old-fashioned holiday of a bygone era. To me, however, Veterans Day is very much alive.
"My own personal thoughts tend to drift to two individuals who both served in World War II. One of them was involved in the Battle of the Bulge during the winter of 1944-45. Clint had several stories of his experiences as Hitler and the German army attempted a last-ditch effort at stopping the Allies. However, the thing I remember most from him is how wet and cold he was, nonstop, for six weeks straight. He painted a miserable picture in my mind, and yet I'm sure he would have done it all over again.
"Dwayne, a more reserved individual, doesn't talk much about his experiences, but he has mentioned he was in Bavaria, Germany, when the allies won and the hostilities ended. By my calculations, that means he was pretty close to the fi- nal leadership remnants of the German high command. I'll have to try to pry some more information from him when I next see him.
"As a military member myself, I've been fortunate enough to see many of the places where these two gentlemen fought. I was assigned to two different bases in Europe for the past six years, so I took full advantage of it and visited Normandy, France, and saw the forced landing sites of D-Day. I also saw much of Bavaria and several areas within the Ardennes forest, the site of the Battle of the Bulge.
"I'm sure you know people like Clint and Dwayne. With over 23 million veterans living in the United States today, chances are you know one, are related to one or maybe you are a veteran. Perhaps you knew somebody from the Great War itself, expected at that time to be the 'war to end all wars.' Or maybe you know or knew someone from the 'greatest generation,' as Tom Brokaw named them, the heroes who rose up from the Great Depression and defeated the Axis in World War II, such as Clint and Dwayne. Or maybe it's somebody from Korea or Vietnam; or the first war with Iraq, Kosovo, or someone who has served or is presently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Regardless of who it is, I have a simple action I'd like you to consider: say 'thanks.'
"You already know that I am a military member. My family and I just arrived in Jamestown this past September. We are temporary residents, just passing through while I complete some required military education at the Naval War College in Newport. What struck me immediately upon my arrival is that this community is especially appreciative of its military members. Wherever we go on the island, from the schools to the restaurants to the grocery store and the gas stations, we always receive a warm welcome. Our family is not the only one who has noticed it. There are numerous military families on Conanicut Island, and I hear the same sentiment from all of them – there is something special about Jamestown. I appreciate and am frankly quite humbled by the many people who have thanked me for my military service.
"Of course, it's easy to spot me in my uniform. But what about all those who have hung up the uniform and are now co-workers, business owners, teachers, police and firemen? Would you please say 'thank you' to them tomorrow? I promise you I'll contact Dwayne and give him a hearty 'thanks.' Unfortunately, Clint is no longer with us, but I'm still thinking about him, regardless of whether it is Veterans Day or Memorial Day. Thank you."
Dewey resides here with his wife, Jane, and three children: Emma, 13, James, 11, and Sadie, 7. The children attend the Jamestown School.
Following are armed forces posers from B.J. for Veterans Day. Identify the songs and branches of service:
1. "In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve."
2. "Faith in God, then we're right,
And we'll fight with all our might …"
3. "From Aztec shore to Arctic zone,
To Europe and Far East."
4. "Faith, courage, service true with honor over, honor over all."
5. "If you'd live to be a greyhaired wonder …"
So what's it like being in a play with your dad? Hayley Carlisle, who has the title role in Rogers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella," thinks it's hilarious. Her dad, Clayton Carlisle, plays the king in the Jamestown Community Theatre's production that opens Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Recreation Center. "While waiting for his scenes, he watches my scenes. That's pretty weird. It's fun doing the play together; he has some funny lines. He's doing great."
Hayley is 13 and an eighth grader at La Salle Academy. She also appeared in the JCT's "Little Women." She says her character in this play is sweet and mild in the beginning, but when she returns from the ball she gets bolder. At first she is naive but then she starts to believe in herself.
Hayley says it's fun working with the entire cast. "We feed off each other's energy." She also has praise for artistic director Mary Wright. "She is an amazing director. Without her we wouldn't have this play. Mary believes in the cast and that we can put on the production and everything will work out okay."
Other performances are Sunday at 4 p.m., Friday, Nov. 19, and Saturday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 21, at 4 p.m.
Notes from the wings:
There will be surprise cast members, well-known islanders, appearing each night in the play.
Talk about type casting. Attorney Debra Vierra Murphy plays a court jester.
Break a leg!
Cheryl Fernstrom was the only reply to last week's poser. She wrote, "The words are from the song 'Earth Angel' sung by The Penquins in 1954. You may remember hearing it in the movie 'Back to the Future,' which is being commemorated on its 25th anniversary."
*** Be true!
Call in your stuff to 829-2760 or 423-0383, or e-mail us at jtnwalrus@ hotmail.com. Thank you.


text:
The Beach House
Located directly on the ocean, Beachfront Bed & Breakfast's Beach House features five well appointed rooms, each with unique views and decor. The three 2nd floor rooms: Island Oasis, Sea Breeze and Royal Palm feature oak accents, heart of pine wood flooring, and cypress walls. The Surfside Suite and Sand Dollar Room on the first floor, feature Satilla tile floors and a light and bright Tommy Bahama style decor. The first floor Beach House features views of the rolling dunes and the ocean beyond, while the second floor rooms offer panoramic ocean or garden views, both beautifully accented by breathtaking sunrises.
The Cottage
The Cottage is a separate building located just west of the main house and has 3 individual casually elegant rooms decorated in a coastal style. Enjoy a short stroll pass our gardens and across the boardwalk to the beautiful oceanfront. Select from the Sail Away Room, Windjammer Suite, or the Lighthouse, each of which have a mini-fridge, microwave, coffee maker and luxurious bedding. All Cottage rooms have a private exterior entrance. The cottage is located behind the main ocean front beach house and while cottage rooms do not have an ocean view all rooms have access (until 8 PM) to our 2nd floor ocean front Verandah in the main Beach House which also has comfortable seating, coffee & cookies.


text:
Advanced Technology Group
GTS – Advanced Technology Group is a network consisting of independent Danish research and technology organisations. They are called the GTS institutes and together they make the GTS network. We support our customers' innovation and constitute the core of the technological infrastructure in Denmark.
The GTS institutes
The GTS institutes offer knowledge, technology and consultancy, co-operation on technological and market-related innovation, testing, optimisation, quality assurance, certifications and benchmarking – all of which contribute to enhancing the international competitiveness of the Danish business sector and benefit Danish society in general.
The institutes are: Alexandra Institute, Bioneer, DBI – Danish Institute of Fire and Security Technology, DFM – Danish Institute of Fundamental Metrology, DHI – Water and Environment, DTI – Danish Technological Institute and FORCE Technology.
Read more about Advanced Technology Group, the institutes and services in the menus above.


text:
Atrium Fashion Hotel
Atrium Fashion Hotel – the member of Mellow Mood Hotels – is a well-designed yet intimate boutique style hotel in the city center of Budapest.
Step into the cosmopolitan oasis and let yourself to be charmed by the perfect mixture of contemporary design and classic Budapest architecture. Discover an impressive hotel that provides an immersive experience unlike any other boutique hotel in Budapest.
Design & Architecture
Atrium Fashion Hotel represents a smart and efficient modern style among the 4 star hotels in the heart of Budapest. The fresh design with funky characteristics enhance the unique fashion hotel experience.
Originally, the hotel was built as a traditional Budapest apartment house on the turn of the century and later renovated from the top to the bottom and refurbished by acclaimed local designers. The classy architecture preserves the atmosphere of the past Budapest whilst the design hallmarks the vibe of the present city.
The unique characteristic of the building is that the rooms are located around an inner courtyard where the breakfast area takes place.


text:
Being a mom is tough. I remember when my son was a baby, survival was the only thing on my mind. Even though they're cute and you love them to death, infants and toddlers can tire you out and even put you in a bad mood. Here's a list of 10 small changes you can make in order to be a healthier, happier mom:
1. Cut the caffeine. Coffee might keep you going, but your caffeine addiction - yes it's a chemical addiction - can dehydrate you (it makes you pee more) and cause you to feel jittery or anxious. This is not a good thing when you're already stressed out with a kid. Have one, maybe two cups a day, but that's it. For the rest of the day, sip decaf, herbal teas, or just plain water. That way, you'll stay hydrated and energized.
2. Have sex. A lot of new moms call my show complaining that they are too tired or don't feel like having sex, as though it's a terrible obligation or assignment. However, with all the crazy hormonal changes you're going through, sex might be just the solution. Sex is therapeutic. Orgasms release oxytocin, endorphins, and DHEA, which create positive emotions, release tension, improve mood, and give your immune system a boost. In addition, sex does wonders for that post-pregnancy belly pooch because it strengthens the pelvic floor and the lower abs. Forget the apple - sex a day keeps the doctor away.
3. Get sleep. Sixty percent of moms say sleep is their primary challenge. Are you having trouble falling asleep? I suggest 10 minutes of yoga, prayer, or meditation before going to bed. If you find it really hard to shut off your brain at night, keep a journal on your nightstand and before you go to sleep, jot down your to-do list for the next day. Anything that is worrying you, write it down. By getting it on paper, you can say to yourself, "It's taken care of, now I can sleep."
4. Eat breakfast. It's the first meal (you are "breaking the fast"), and it sets the tone for the rest of the day. You need to put food in your belly within a half hour of waking up to rev up your metabolism and get your brain going. Aim for a mix of protein and fiber, such as yogurt with fresh fruit or oatmeal with berries and almonds.
5. Don't set unrealistic goals. Don't overload your brain with 40 million things you think you need to get done. You won't stick to what you can't do. For example, instead of looking at exercise in terms of weight-loss, approach it in terms of endurance. When you start off, it may take you an hour to go around the neighborhood. A week later it may take 58 minutes, and then the next week 56 minutes, etc. That kind of observation is better than stepping on a scale and getting demoralized.
6. Listen to music. Just like Mother Laura has been saying for years, a recent scientific review published in the journal Nutrition reports that listening to music strengthens immunity, digestion, and pain perception, reduces the incidence of heart failure, and even improves recovery time after a strenuous workout. So, load up your iPod with the kind of music that makes you feel good. For me, that's Motown. When the music comes on, my mind immediately goes blank and I'm just movin'.
7. Cut out the packaged foods. Eating any kind of food that can last a long time on the shelf makes you live a shorter amount of time. Instead of packaged snacks, eat real food. No antibiotics, hormones, chemicals, or added sugar.
8. Snack smart. There are times when I get out a teaspoon of peanut butter, lay it in my mouth, and just let it melt (if you have to talk, I don't recommend doing this). It keeps my blood sugar up, and it's a good source of protein.
9. Make your workouts work for you. With little kids, you may not have time for a half hour or hour workout, but you can break it up into 5-10 minute increments throughout the day. Or get up earlier. When my son, Deryk, was little, I used to ride him around in a seat on my bicycle. I rode him to the park and he'd play, and then we'd get back on the bike and go back. I also took him to the mall. This worked great: like one of those wind-up toys, I'd set him down, face him in the direction I wanted him to go, and let go. He would run forward and I would do my little shuffle run behind him. It's amazing how you can get exercise by doing simple things like this (of course you get tired and they don't!). You can get a good 20 minutes in just by chasing your kid around the mall (if they like to run in a straight line and you don't take your eyes off them).
10. Stop stressing. Exercise, meditate, or do something fun with your husband. Whether it's sex or playing a board game, you need to have some fun before you go to bed.


text:
19 Hurt in Shooting at New Orleans Mother's Day Parade
Gunshots brought chaos to a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans on Sunday, leaving at least 19 people injured, authorities said.
The shots, fired from multiple guns, started just before 2 p.m. in the Seventh Ward, north of the French Quarter, said Garry Flot, a public-information officer with the New Orleans Police Department.
There were no...


text:
Country Music Award winner Gretchen Peters had an eventful 2010: The BP oil spill washed up on her doorstep, a good friend committed suicide, and her son announced that he's transgender. The last of those in particular, she says, got her thinking about personal conflict.
"[My son] had withheld a very basic and large truth about himself for a long, long time," Peters says. "And I thought, what's the difference here — except a difference of degree — between him and anyone else? I think all of us withhold truths about ourselves that we think would make other people like us less, or accept us less."
That sentiment and others formed the basis of a new album called Hello Cruel World, released last month. True to its title, the album opens on a down note: "Haven't done as well as I thought I would / I'm not dead, but I'm damaged goods / And it's getting late."
"I think that's something that every single one of us can relate to," she says. "I was craving the truth. And I wanted to tell the truth."
On the subject of plots, here's a pretty complicated one. A woman watches the Gulf oil spill washing up on her doorstep. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, a flood threatens her hometown. Also, a friend of 30 years takes his own life and her child announces he's transgender, all in the course of one year. Now, that's no novel. It all actually happened to Gretchen Peters in 2010.
Some of us might crumble under the weight of so many life-changing events, but Peters was able to channel them. The two-time Grammy nominated songwriter put pen to paper and wrote the album of her career.
GRETCHEN PETERS: (Singing) I'm a soldier back from war, too tired to care no more, too sad to put up any kind of fight.
KELLY: That's our music story for today. Gretchen Peters' new album is called "Hello Cruel World."
PETERS: I sort of approached the writing on the album not in terms of so much writing, you know, here's a song about this, here's a song about the flood, and here's a song about my son and so forth. It was more that the emotional earthquakes that were happening that year informed all of the songs. But I will say that I certainly felt sort of raw and clarified, in a way, by all of these events, as major life events will do to you.
I felt that I was craving the truth. And I wanted to tell the truth, and I wanted the truth to be, you know, brutally honest.
PETERS: (Singing) I'll take what earthly comfort you can find.
KELLY: You mentioned that you don't tend to write a song about a specific event. It's more speaking to kind of the place where you were at the moment, but there is something in having a song on here called "Natural Disaster" written in a year when you had two literally wash up on your doorstep. Let's hear a little bit of that.
PETERS: (Singing) Earthquake shook the California ground, took the freeway out and some buildings down. Well, I never felt the earth move under my heels but I got a pretty good idea how it feels.
KELLY: Describe for us what actually happened to you, how you were actually affected by these two disasters in Nashville and on the Gulf coast back in 2010.
PETERS: Well, I think what happens, you know, primarily, is a feeling of helplessness. And it's like a huge reminder from the universe that you're not in control of anything, really. And the flood in Nashville was devastating, but it was very fickle. I mean, Nashville is a hilly place, and you could walk down one street and it would look completely normal, such as our street where our house is and literally turn the corner and another street would be under 20 feet of water.
And that was just so profoundly disorienting and horrifying to see. And the oil spill, I'd hasten to say, was obviously not a natural disaster but a manmade one, but it was a similar feeling.
It was this feeling of utter helplessness, and it went on and on and on. And I think it really did, though, more than anything for me, just reinforce the fact that we are not in control of our natural world or really anything. And I wanted to explore that in these songs. And certainly, that was what was coming out of me.
PETERS: (Singing) Weatherman says no chance of rain. But I'm still waiting for that hurricane.
KELLY: We're speaking with singer and songwriter Gretchen Peters about her latest album. It's called "Hello Cruel World." Let me ask you some more about your son. You wrote quite eloquently about how he revealed to you that he was transgendered in a piece in the Huffington Post. Let me read just a little bit of that.
You wrote: This is the child to whom I gave a girl's name imbued with my own girlish hopes, nurtured the mother/daughter bond that I had with my own mother, a bond based, it seemed to me, on our common gender. What was my relationship with this person if he is my son?
What did you figure out was the answer to that question, because we should say this - he was 26 when you were having this conversation.
PETERS: Right. Well, the answer is I have a much more real relationship with my son now because my son is able to be real with me. There was a wall between us, essentially. The wall was built because he didn't feel that he could reveal his truth. And I would hasten to say that's through no fault of his own, but I guess, the world. It's profoundly disorienting at first.
And there are still occasionally times when I feel, sort of, wait, what just happened? Although not much. The thing that - about it that really struck me is when he told me there was a very big part of me that recognized that it was true instantly. And I think I wrote in the Huffington Post piece it was like I felt the tumblers in a lock just fall into place. Everything about his life and his childhood made sense to me.
PETERS: (Singing) Your bleeding heart, your pilgrim soul, your wounded eyes that take their toll, your ragged voice like a broken bell, against the noise, my dark angel.
KELLY: Looking back now on that turbulent year, 2010, now you have a little bit of distance. What do you think you learned about yourself?
PETERS: I think that beyond the obvious, which is that I'm strong, clearly, I was able to get through things that I perhaps thought I wouldn't be able to get through. I think the other thing was that it softened me in some way. I think when you have these huge life-changing events, it sort of clarifies things and what you realize is what's truly important, which is your relationships with people that you love.
And as a writer, I think we've all been through a year like that. So it's a comforting thing in an odd way to hear it from someone else, to hear, yes, you know, I've been through this, and I've been through this, and I'm still here. And that survival, really, is the real heroism. It's not about jumping from building to building or, you know, rescuing puppies or whatever. It's that really the heroes in these songs are heroes because they survive.
KELLY: That's Gretchen Peters. Her latest album is called "Hello Cruel World." You can check out a few tracks at our website, nprmusic.org. Gretchen Peters, thanks so much.
PETERS: Thank you.
PETERS: (Singing) I haven't done as well as I thought I would. I'm not dead but I'm damaged goods. And it's getting late. I'm a rusty hinge, a squeaky wheel, bad end of a shaky deal.
KELLY: And for Sunday, that's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Mary Louise Kelly. We want to take a moment to say a big thank you to Tazneen Shama(ph) who leaves the show today. Taz, we wish you well. Guy Raz is back next weekend. Until then, thanks for listening and have a great week. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


text:
D.J. AdamsFree Agent
Running Back
Ht: | Wt:
News | Stats | Stat vs. Team | Targets | Injury | Depth Chart | Roster
|Rush Yds
|Rush Avg
|Rush TD
|Rush 2pt
|Rec Yds
|Rec Avg
|Rec TD
|Rec 2pt
|Tot Yds
|Fum Lost
|Chargers | D.J. Adams injured
Tue, 07 Oct 2014 15:34:32 -0700
San Diego Chargers RB D.J. Adams (undisclosed) was placed on the practice squad injured list Tuesday, Oct. 7.
|Comment (0)
|| Share:
|| Source: NFL
|Chargers | Sign D.J. Adams
Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:40:21 -0700
The San Diego Chargers signed free-agent RB D.J. Adams (Cowboys) Tuesday, Sept. 23, according to a source.
|Comment (0)
|| Share:
|| Source: The Baltimore Sun - Aaron Wilson
|Cowboys | 18 cut
Sat, 30 Aug 2014 14:43:44 -0700
The Dallas Cowboys released RB D.J. Adams, OT Josh Aladenoye, DE Kenneth Boatright, DT Dartwan Bush, WR LaRon Byrd, OG Stephen Goodin, CB Terrance Mitchell, WR Jamar Newsome, C Ronald Patrick, DE Caesar Rayford, LB Dontavis Sapp, LB Keith Smith, SS Ryan Smith, LB William Smith, RB Phillip Tanner, TE Asa Watson, LB Orie Lemon and DT Zach Minter.
|Comment (0)
|| Share:
|| Source: NFL.com
|Cowboys | D.J. Adams signs
Sat, 09 Aug 2014 14:10:31 -0700
Undrafted free-agent RB D.J. Adams (Portland State) was signed by the Dallas Cowboys to an undisclosed deal.
|Comment (0)
|| Share:
|| Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Clarence E. Hill Jr.
|Cowboys | D.J. Adams visiting
Sat, 09 Aug 2014 09:48:54 -0700
The Dallas Cowboys are meeting with free-agent RB D.J. Adams (Chargers) Saturday, Aug. 9, according to a source.
|Comment (0)
|| Share:
|| Source: NationalFootballPost.com - Aaron Wilson
|Chargers | Sign Adrian Phillips, waive D.J. Adams
Mon, 16 Jun 2014 14:27:25 -0700
The San Diego Chargers signed undrafted free-agent S Adrian Phillips (Texas) to a three-year deal, with undisclosed financial terms Monday, June 16. To make room on their roster, the Chargers waived RB D.J. Adams.
|Comment (0)
|| Share:
|| Source: Chargers.com - Ricky Henne
|Chargers | 15 undrafted free agents agree
Sat, 10 May 2014 20:08:10 -0700
The San Diego Chargers have agreed to terms on undisclosed contracts with the following undrafted rookie free agents Saturday, May 10: RB D.J. Adams (Portland State), WR Torrence Allen (West Texas A&M), WR Brelan Chancellor (North Texas), S Alden Darby (Arizona State), CB Chris Davis (Auburn), CB Greg Ducre (Washington), TE Mike Flacco (New Haven), OG D.J. Johnson (New Mexico), WR Micah Hatfield (Oregon State), WR Javontee Herndon (Arkansas), LB Alvin Scioneaux (Wofford), OT Jeremiah Sirles (Nebraska), P Chase Tenpenny (Nevada), DL Ricky Tjong-A-Tjoe (Boise State) and OT Ian White (Boston College).
|Comment (0)
|| Share:
|| Source: KFFL.com


text:
About Zheng Zaidong
Zheng Zaidong's paintings pay tribute simultaneously to classical Chinese literature and Surrealism, but is explicit that his works are not referential: "when I use certain images I absolutely do not want to know anything about their symbolism, for me they are signs that spontaneously surface in my mind." Zheng's early works were most strongly influenced by Chinese poetry, and his later works continue to take the titles of phrases from famous verses, sometimes featuring quoted phrases in their compositions. His works frequently feature landscapes with disorienting distances, and composite perspectives. Zheng's subjects appear almost abstract and floating because of his pattern-like execution of line and flat application of color.
Taiwanese, b. 1953, Taiwan, based in Shanghai, China


text:
People in greater Los Angeles won't soon forget January 17, 1994, 4:30 a.m. For eight seconds that may have seemed like eight hours, as if Mother Earth herself was restless in bed, nearly everyone across a 2,500 square-mile area jerked awake, adrenaline pumping.
Striking the densely populated San Fernando Valley of northern LA, the Northridge earthquake was the second time in 60 years that the earth ruptured directly beneath a major U.S. urban area. By the time the dust settled and officials counted the toll, 57 people were dead, more than 1,500 seriously injured. Collapsed freeways choked traffic for days. Over 12,000 buildings and 170 bridges sustained moderate to severe damage. Total economic loss was estimated at $20 billion.
Except for building codes that require earthquake-resistant structures, fatalities and damage would have been much worse. Still, the loss was enormous, and one of the main lessons of Northridge, as well as other urban earthquakes of recent decades, is the need for better information about where and how much the ground will shake.
"We've learned that the severity of ground shaking and consequent damage patterns vary significantly within relatively small areas," says Jacobo Bielak, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. "Even from one block to the next, the level of shaking can change dramatically due to types of subsurface soil and rock and other geological characteristics and the nature of the seismic waves."
Bielak and his Carnegie Mellon colleagues Omar Ghattas and David O'Hallaron lead the Quake Group, a large collaborative research team. Using sophisticated computational methods, they work to create realistic 3D models of earthquakes in geologically complex basins. This work, is supported by the National Science Foundation, and has been performed in collaboration with and additional support from the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC).Their objective is to provide accurate forecasts of earthquake ground motion as a necessary step toward creating building codes that provide for the safest possible structures at reasonable cost.
They have used LeMieux, PSC's terascale system, to great advantage, taking big steps forward in their work. "We've benefited enormously from having this powerful system at PSC," says Ghattas, "and we've developed algorithms that maximize our ability to use it well."
Using as many as all 3,000 LeMieux processors at one time with high efficiency, they have carried out the most detailed, accurate simulations yet of the Northridge quake " at twice the frequency of prior models. They've also made major inroads on an important problem called "the inverse problem," the goal of which " magical as it may seem " is to determine subsurface geology by working backward from seismic measurements on the surface.
Wavelength Tailoring
Ancient advice says it's better to build your house on rock than sand. If you live in an earthquake basin, that ancient advice, generally speaking, still holds.
From soft soils near the surface to hard rock deeper down and in the mountains, subsurface material varies tremendously in stiffness, the property that dictates seismic wavelength. For a given frequency, the softer the material, the shorter the length of the seismic waves, which means finer resolution, more computing, to accurately model the shaking.
"We've found," says Bielak, "that even within a few hundred meters, the variability in soil properties — and therefore ground motion — can be very substantial. Because of this, similar buildings located near each other can experience significantly different levels of damage."
To accurately capture this wide range of ground vibration in a large earthquake basin like Los Angeles poses enormous challenges for earthquake modeling. One of the Quake Group's key strategies has been to tailor their computational mesh - which divides the basin into millions of subvolumes - to soil stiffness.
They generate their LA Basin computational model from a geological model created at the SCEC. Where the SCEC model indicates softer soils, therefore shorter wavelengths, the mesh-generating software creates a denser mesh.
"By using disk space instead of computer memory," says O'Hallaron, "our out-of-core algorithms can generate an extremely large mesh." For the recent simulations, they represented the basin as 80 kilometers on each side by 30 kilometers deep. Within this volume, their irregular mesh maps more than 100 million subvolumes, making their computations with LeMieux the largest unstructured mesh simulations ever done.
"These are the most highly resolved LA Basin earthquake simulations to date," says Ghattas, "and they are made possible by our adaptive meshes and their low memory requirements. To achieve similar accuracy with a uniform mesh would require 1,000 times more computing power."
Realistic Frequencies & The Inverse Problem
Using 2,048 LeMieux processors, they simulated the Northridge quake for more than 30 seconds of shaking. Their "wave-propagation" software sustained exceptional performance - nearly a teraflop (a trillion calculations a second) over six hours of computing time. And it ran at nearly 90 percent parallel efficiency, a measure of how well the software uses many processors at the same time.
Ground-motion frequency is a key factor for building design, and this simulation accounted for shaking up to one vibration cycle per second (1 Hz) - double the previous high (.5 Hz). Earthquake modeling has been limited in its ability to simulate higher frequencies, from 1 to 5 Hz, that present the greatest danger to "low-rise" structures - which include most city buildings, predominantly two-to-five stories - because each doubling of frequency means a 16-fold increase in computing.
"Our challenge is to attain realistic frequencies," says Bielak. "Now, for the first time, we're in the range that engineers need to know about. Typically, they want to see results up to 4 Hz, which points to the need for more computational power."
The simulation reproduced ground motion of the Northridge quake more accurately than possible until now, but — not surprisingly — at some locations it failed to reproduce significant shaking. These discrepancies, notes Ghattas, are inevitable considering that the geological model is inherently incomplete. "Because of uncertainties in what we know about earthquake source and basin material properties, a critical challenge facing us is to obtain these properties by source inversion from records of past earthquakes."
This problem - the inverse problem - is one of the important challenges of computational science and engineering, with potential applications in many fields, and it is key to the Quake Group's goals. Ghattas and his former students Volkan Akcelik and George Biros won the best paper award last year at Supercomputing 2002 for their inverse wave-propagation algorithm that exploits parallel systems like LeMieux.
Using a sophisticated mathematical approach, their algorithm makes it possible to ascertain deep geological features based on seismic recordings on the surface. The deep geology is often not well understood and is known to play an important role in surface shaking. With LeMieux, for the first time, the Quake team solved a test case in two dimensions that proves the feasibility of this inverse approach.
"The inverse problem is orders of magnitude more difficult than the forward problem," says Ghattas. "Large parallel systems and powerful algorithms are crucial." One of the Quake Group's near-future plans for LeMieux is to further test their inverse approach with the added difficulty of three dimensions.
Related Material on the Web:
Web Design:
Revised: November 10, 2003
The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center is a joint effort of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh together with the Westinghouse Electric Company. It was established in 1986 and is supported by several federal agencies, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and private industry.
© Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.


text:
TERA Rising goes Free-to-Play tomorrow, but today we learned that the Valkyon Outfitters, TERA's in game cash shop, won't be ready at this time. What does this mean for the financial stability of this MMO? Is TERA making a grave mistake?
Might have to try this now that its F2P. I'm sure they will be working around the clock to get that shop up!
No cash shop in place on a F2P launch? Odd. Someone must know something the rest of the industry doesn't...
They're probably under pressure to release this as soon as possible. It'd be crazy not to have a source of income from your new product. The cash shop is not ready. That is the logical conclusion. Either that or they turned into saints.
What should we do: Wait and see.
I wonder about the European server, I played Aion F2P and the starter option was unplayable at level 20 onwards, you can't even buy things from the other people. Hope their TERA F2P is better.


text:
Health officials at the University of California, Berkeley say another student has been diagnosed with measles, and they are concerned others may have been exposed to the virus.
According to a post on the university's health services website, a UC Berkeley student who attended classes during the week of March 31 was diagnosed with measles. Campus officials worked with City of Berkeley Public Health to notify anyone who may have been exposed to the disease. The patient is currently in isolation.
Health officials said the student could have exposed thousands of others when riding public transit home from Oakland International Airport on March 30 and attending classes from April 1-3.
This is the second time that the university has dealt with a case of measles: in February, another infected college student was identified. Health officials said the two cases were not related.
Berkeley's Tang Health Center was offering vaccines to students Saturday and encouraging members of the campus community to assess their risk level. The Tang Health Center is providing updates on the case on Facebook and Twitter.
A vaccine clinic will be open Sunday at UC Berkeley from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Tang Center for those that have not yet been immunized, according to the Daily California.
For more information about measles, visit cchealth.org/measles. Contra Costa County residents can also call 925-313-6740 or 211. City of Berkeley residents can call 510-981-5300. Additional information is available at cdc.gov/measles/index.html.


text:
Despite perfect weather, a small crowd turned out for Saturday's Veterans' Day ceremony at Veterans' Memorial Park in downtown Carmi.
Despite perfect weather, a small crowd turned out for Saturday's Veterans' Day ceremony at Veterans' Memorial Park in downtown Carmi.
The ceremony included the usual rifle salute, Taps by volunteer local trumpeters and a laying of the wreaths at the monument by representatives of VFW Post 3851 and its ladies' auxiliary, American Legion Post 224 and its ladies' auxiliary and Wabash Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution.
The ceremony was opened by Carmi Mayor David Port and included a thanks to veterans from Dr. Fred L. Smith, representing the Carmi Elks Lodge 1652.
The ceremony featured keynote speaker Donnie Wilson, CEO of Elastec/American Marine, a national company headquartered in Carmi.
Wilson told the small crowd he travels extensively due to his business, which is a global provider of oil spill recovery systems and other items. He said he has been to at least 46 different countries.
"So what have I learned traveling to visiting some 46 countries around the world?" he asked rhetorically. "That truly America is the greatest place in the world to live, raise a family and grow and own your own business."
Wilson said the global influence America has on the world is perceptible in every country, noting how appreciative many people in the world are for what the U.S. stands.
"It is a country of good for you and support for your neighbor," Wilson said one Russian immigrant told him of America, whose family immigrated to the U.S. for two reasons; freedom and opportunity.
Wilson thanked the veterans in the crowd for their service and sacrifice, saying he did not serve in the military, but never takes for granted the freedom he is permitted to enjoy.
A luncheon was served following the ceremony at the VFW hall.


text:
- Glossary
|Benefits Review Conference
|Compensable Injury
|Death Benefits
|Division of Claims Administration
|Maximum Benefit Payable
|Maximum Medical Improvement
|Medical Expenses
|Permanent Disability Benefits
|Pharmacy Benefits Manager (PBM)
|Preferred Provider Network
|Temporary Total Disability Benefits
|Temporary Partial Disability Benefits
|Third Party Administrator (TPA)
|Tennessee Claims Commission
|Workers' Compensation Benefits
|Treating Physician
Benefits Review Conference - a nonadversarial, informal dispute resolution proceeding to mediate and resolve workers' compensation disputes; required for disputes on claims occurring on or after 7/1/05 and before a state employee can proceed with an appeal before the Tennessee Claims Commission.
Compensable Injury - An accidental injury or occupational disease which the Division of Claims, its third party administrator or the Tennessee Claims Commission has determined to have occurred during the course and scope of your employment.
Death Benefits - Benefits payable to surviving dependents or to the estate of an employee whose compensable injury results in death.
Division of Claims Administration - The division of the Treasury Department of the State of Tennessee responsible for overseeing the administration of workers' compensation benefits for state employees.
Maximum Benefit Payable - The maximum total benefits (excluding medical expense payments) which may be paid under the workers' compensation law for temporary total disability benefits, permanent disability benefits and death benefits combined.
Maximum Medical Improvement - The highest degree of recovery that the treating physician believes will ever be reached from the compensable injury. In some instances, maximum medical improvement will be reached because the injury has fully healed; in other cases, maximum medical improvement will be reached because the physician has determined that no further improvement can be expected.
Medical Expenses - Doctor, hospital, health facility, or pharmacy bills incurred as a result of compensable injury.
Permanent Disability Benefits - Benefits which may be paid after the treating physician and the state have determined that the maximum medical improvement has been reached and the disability will be permanent.
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) - A company with whom the state has contracted to administer pharmacy benefits for State employees.
Preferred Provider Network - A panel of physicians and health care facilities designated to provide treatment to injured state employees.
Subrogation - The right under the workers' compensation law of the employer (the state) to recover payments made (including medical) if the injured employee receives monies for the injury from a responsible third party.
Temporary Partial Disability Benefits - Benefits paid to an employee who is able to work on a part-time basis while undergoing treatment for a work-related injury.
Temporary Total Disability Benefits - Benefits paid during the time the treating physician prohibits the employee from returning to work and before maximum medical improvement has been reached.
Tennessee Claims Commission - The state commission appointed to resolve disagreements over workers' compensation benefits.
Third Party Administrator (TPA) - A company with whom the state has contracted to investigate and administer workers' compensation benefits for state employees.
Treating Physician - The doctor approved to treat the compensable injury. This physician is selected from the state's workers' compensation preferred provider network.
Workers' Compensation Benefits - The general term used to describe all benefits (medical expense payments, temporary disability benefits, permanent disability benefits and death benefits) available under the workers' compensation program.


text:
CRESTVIEW � Mark English, Lifepoint Church's regular pastor, is taking March 2 off and letting Christian recording artist Jeff Deyo fill in.
CRESTVIEW � Mark English, Lifepoint Church's regular pastor, is taking March 2 off and letting Christian recording artist Jeff Deyo fill in.
"He will be performing and delivering a message at both services that morning," Jason Hall, the church's worship minister said.
Deyo, a Minnesota native, plans to deliver a service that will inspire and help others better connect with their faith.
"Most of the time, the things I share come straight from the Bible and are meant to help people open their eyes to how amazing God is," he said. "I believe if they can really begin to see him for who he is, they will surrender that much more of their lives to him."
Deyo performs Gospel music at churches and worship events across the country, but many people may recognize him as the contemporary Christian band Sonicflood's first lead singer.
Deyo's contributions helped Sonicflood win a Dove award for the best praise and worship album in 2000. "Sonicpraise," the band's second album, earned a Grammy nomination for best Gospel rock album.
Deyo left the band in 2000 and released several solo worship albums with hits like "More Love, More Power" and "Bless the Lord." "Moving Mountains," his fifth worship album, debuted in 2012.
As for the future, Deyo plans to reach others through a different medium.
"I currently don't have anything in the works yet, but I imagine I will record again in a couple years," he said. "Honestly, the next thing you will probably see from me is a few books. I have a huge passion to write."
Deyo, a married father of four children, also spiritually mentors and instructs musical talents with the Pure Worship Institute. The annual conference allows Christian musicians to receive the training necessary to be effective spiritual leaders. The faith-based North Central University in Minnesota, where Deyo works as a worship arts specialist professor, sponsors PWI.
Deyo said he hopes his work helps people achieve one mission.
"... (It's) all designed to help connect with, exalt and love their savior," he said.
WHAT: Jeff Deyo at Lifepoint Church
WHEN: 8:30 and 11 a.m. services on March 2
WHERE: Lifepoint Church at 400 South Ferdon Blvd., Crestview
EmailNews Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitteror call 850-682-6524.


text:
STOCKTON - Last September, Jose Maciel received a phone call from the desperate mother of an unmanageable eighth-grade boy attending a school in Stockton.
STOCKTON - Last September, Jose Maciel received a phone call from the desperate mother of an unmanageable eighth-grade boy attending a school in Stockton.
The mother was seeking help because her boy was refusing for the third consecutive day to get out of bed and go to school. In the days ahead, more parents told Maciel of similar difficulties managing their children's behavior.
"I started hearing these stories more and more often with students who were out of control, very young students who hadn't even reached high school yet," said Maciel, a migrant-education coordinator at the San Joaquin County Office of Education. "I started thinking about how to help parents."
Five months later, help is on the way for the parents of migrant students who attend McKinley Elementary School in south Stockton. Last week, Stockton Unified's school board approved a program provided by the county office that will instruct parents of 20 McKinley migrant students in a variety of techniques targeting behavioral problems.
"They need strategies, having that positive discipline, having the students be responsible and learn what it means to be responsible in the school setting," McKinley Principal Sonia Ambriz said. "We're seeing a lot of disregard to being at school on time, disregard doing homework, disregard for being respectful to others."
McKinley has an enrollment of 815 students, 65 of them migrant students with family members who work in the fields and follow the crops through the course of the year. English is a second language for more than half of McKinley's students, and more than 90 percent qualify for free or reduced meals.
Ambriz said in 2011 that McKinley - which is less than one mile south of Edison High School - was in "the epicenter" of violent crime in Stockton. That year, there were nine shootings within one mile of the school during a six-week span. On Sept. 12, 2011, the sister of a McKinley employee and the brother of a McKinley eighth-grader were victims in a double homicide one mile away.
"Our children are being directly and indirectly affected," Ambriz said at the time. "The children are talking about it in their classrooms. The horrible violence is taking over their thoughts."
There are many factors that can contribute to children's behavioral problems. Maciel said many migrant children lack parental supervision from early in the morning into the night and also often must cope with the absence of a head of household who is working the fields in a distant state.
"The mother will act as a single parent while the father is in another state," Maciel said. "Sometimes the children will act out."
The 10 weeks of training sessions for McKinley's migrant parents will be conducted in Spanish and tentatively are set to begin Feb. 27, Maciel said. The program, using a curriculum provided by a Nevada-based organization, aims to train parents to reward their children's successes and to be consistent in applying consequences to misbehavior. The early stages of the program will target high-risk behaviors.
"The ultimate goal of the program is to increase the parental connection and parental supervision, increase school achievement, and reduce antisocial behaviors," Ambriz said.
According to Maciel, there are about 1,000 migrant students in Stockton Unified and 2,500 in the county. Sadly, he said, the mother whose September phone call was the catalyst for the McKinley program remains unable to harness her son's behaviors. She's intimidated by her child. For reasons of confidentiality, Maciel declined to say what school the boy attends.
"The boy goes out at night, he doesn't come home for two or three days, then he comes home and sleeps for two or three days, locks himself in his room," Maciel said. "The voice of the mother was helpless, desperate. She wanted some kind of intervention. This mother was crying out for help. It's our responsibility to provide a support system for parents encountering problems of this sort."
Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/phillipsblog.


text:
MILAN (AP) — Italy has easily raised €3.5 billion ($4.64 billion) in the sale of 3-year bonds, paying the lowest interest rates for such debt since March 2010, as investors shrug off political uncertainty ahead of elections.
The borrowing rate dropped to 1.85 percent, from 2.05 percent at the last such auction last month. Demand was 1.45 times the offer.
Michael Hewson, senior analyst at CMC Markets, says the rates are dropping despite uncertainty over elections next month because investors see "diminishing risks of a potential euro break-up. "
The election is a race between centrist forces backing caretaker Premier Mario Monti, former Premier Silvio Berlusconi's center-right alliance with the Northern League and the center-left Democratic Party led by Pier Luigi Bersani. Bersani leads in the polls and has pledged to continue reforms.


text:
June 28. 2013 3:26AM
Northern Pass route unveiled with underground stretch pushing cost to $1.4B
By DAVE SOLOMON
New Hampshire Union Leader
Proposal gets a cool, cautious reception
After months of playing defense, PSNH went on the offense Thursday, unveiling a new proposed route for the Northern Pass hydroelectric project in a media blitz that brought out supporters from labor, government and business.
The new route takes the 1,200-megawatt power lines underground through some of the most controversial areas in Canadian border towns at an additional cost of $200 million, with no need to traverse the Connecticut Lake Headwaters Conservation Area.
A 2,300-foot stretch for the Route 3 crossing in Pittsburg and Clarksville, and a 7.5-mile section along existing road corridors in Stewartstown and Clarksville, would be built underground.
The company is also planning to reduce structure heights along portions of the route from a maximum of 135 feet to 85 to 90 feet, according to PSNH President Gary Long, who presented the plan to a packed room of reporters, supporters and interested parties at a company building in Hooksett.
Representatives of organized labor, the president of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the mayor of Franklin took turns at the podium to speak in support of the project.
Opponents have argued since it was first proposed in 2010 that putting the lines underground would be a better solution to preserve the landscape in the North Country. Gov. Maggie Hassan urged PSNH and its parent company Northeast Utilities to consider burying even more.
"As opposed to the first Northern Pass proposal, the newly proposed route appropriately buries transmission lines in some areas," she said. "However, from an initial review of the proposal I continue to believe that project officials must more fully explore options for burying more of the lines."
Sen. Jeff Woodburn, D-Dalton, whose district encompasses the North Country, agreed.
"We are encouraged by some degree of movement," he said. "They are making baby steps in the right direction, but a good faith effort of giant steps needs to be made. Northern Pass hasn't moved far, but they have moved away from busting through the conservation easement of protected state property at the Upper Connecticut headwaters and that burial is not possible."
Several missed deadlines
The first proposed route in 2010 hugged the Vermont border along Route 3 and raised fears that PSNH would try to acquire property by eminent domain. In 2011 the state Legislature approved a bill blocking utilities from taking private land by eminent domain to build power lines, unless those lines are deemed necessary for system reliability.
The 180-mile route would run mostly along existing rights-of-way owned by PSNH, but the focus has been on a 40-mile stretch that would require new rights-of-way through Coos County.
PSNH withdrew its initial route and began work on the new proposal that was presented Thursday, after several self-imposed deadlines were missed in the past year. In describing the new route, Long said the company listened to concerns raised over the years, and did its best to respond while still keeping the project economically viable.
"The state suggested that we had to work with willing landowners on voluntary transactions and we've done that," he said. The company ended up spending millions of dollars on hundreds of acres not shown as needed in the new proposal, including two large Stewartstown tracts that just closed in May — 20 acres near the Clarksville town line, purchased for $4 million from William and Pauline Weir of Colebrook; and another 153 acres that were sold for $4.25 million by Peter and Hilda Weiner.
"We do have properties that may not be used for this project," Long said, "There are other possible uses, such as recreation. But for now we own it, and we are going to continue to own it."
The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests had been monitoring the land purchases carefully, and acquiring easements of its own in an attempt to block the above-ground path. "If you eyeball the new route on the map, about a third of what they purchased is not on the route," said society spokesman Jack Savage.
He said the decision to bury some of the line will trigger pressure to bury more of it, especially along existing PSNH rights of way through the White Mountain National Forest.
"We have to be pleased by the fact that they've at long last discovered the shovel and are contemplating burial of some of the line," Savage said. "When we started this, our objective wasn't to stop Northern Pass, but rather to compel them to look at other alternatives, including burial, and to that extent this represents a fairly significant concession on their part."
Permitting process begins
The $1.2 billion project is now a $1.4 billion project, according to Long. "Underground is very expensive," he said. "That's why you have to do it judiciously." Burying most or all of the 180 miles of power line would increase the cost as much as 10-fold, he said, and render the project economically unviable. The project will now proceed to the permitting process, Long said, which will focus on the Site Evaluation Committee at the state level and Department of Energy in Washington. The Site Evaluation Committee is required to consider local input in making decisions about large-scale energy projects, but can override local opposition.
The rules by which the Site Evaluation Committee operates are currently under review by the state Legislature, and any changes in the law would most likely apply to the Northern Pass application.
Town roads where rights of way would be necessary to bury the lines nearby include Old Country Road in Clarksville and Stewartstown, as well as North Hill Road and Bear Rock Road in Stewartstown.
PSNH's Long emphasized that the cost of constructing and maintaining the line would not be built into electric rates, but would be paid by Hydro-Quebec. He said the company has signed a labor agreement with the state Building and Construction Trades Council to ensure local workers are hired for the project, and a power purchase agreement with Hydro-Quebec to ensure that some of the power is used by PSNH to lower rates for its customers. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said. "We can now get from the Canadian border to the New England grid at Deerfield, where we connect. We've done our work. We need to move forward."


text:
Particle collision
A142/0481 Rights Managed
530 pixels on longest edge, unwatermarked
Request/Download high-res file
Uncompressed file size: 40.9MB
Downloadable file size: 3.1MB
Please login to use the price calculator
This image is part of the feature World's Biggest Machine Takes Shape
Credit: CERN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Restrictions: Editorial use only. This image may not be used to state or imply endorsement by CERN of any product, activity or service
Release details: Model release not required. Property release not required.
Keywords: 21st century, a large ion collider, acceleration, alice, artwork, big bang, cern, collisions, computer artwork, cosmological, cosmology, detection, europe, european, european particle physics, experiment, fundamental, geneva, heavy ion collision, high energy, illustration, laboratory, large hadron collider, lead, lhc, matter, nuclei, particle, particle accelerator, particle collider, particle detector, particle physics, particles, physical, physics, quantum chromodynamics, quark-gluon plasma, research, simulated, simulation, state, structure of matter, switzerland, technological, technology, trace, traces
Licence fees: A licence fee will be charged for any media (low or high resolution) used in your project.


text:
Windows Upgrade Readiness
Leverage powerful diagnostic data about your organization to efficiently manage the upgrade process and deploy Windows 10 with confidence.
What's new for IT Pros in Windows 10, version 1803
Windows Autopilot
Autopilot now enables locking the device during provisioning, thereby helping to ensure security. Now available with Surface, Lenovo, and Dell.LEARN MORE
Windows 10 in S mode
Windows 10 in S mode is an enhanced security mode of Windows 10. S mode is now available on both Windows 10 Home and Pro PCs, and commercial customers have the option to deploy Windows 10 Enterprise in S mode.LEARN MORE
Online events
Get the inside scoop on the latest Windows 10 technologies, deployment methods, management tricks, and security best practices. Register for live webcasts or join our Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) sessions for exclusive access to Microsoft engineers, product specialists, and community experts.
Featured video and news
What's new for IT pros in Windows 10, version 1803
Enterprise-ready in the age of Windows as a service
Simplifying kiosk management for IT with Windows 10
Announcing Windows Server 2019 Insider Preview Build 17639
Moving from project to process: digital transformation with Windows as a service


text:
Send Results to This Email:
Street Address:
Street Address:
Dan Conaway
THE TIME TO GET AWAY IS CLOSE. One morning last week. Anderson's dogs were running, impossibly fast, circling a field of new wheat, impossibly green, and then through the woods and past the ponds, Snuffy bounding just ahead of us and Bow Wow off to our right in the trees. Their eyes were bright and their joy obvious, impossibly happy.
We were out in the country, the middle of nowhere yet right here, two old friends and a couple of dogs among old barns on a new morning, and we were having a business meeting. The work we did that morning would be emailed to Kansas City later that day, based on ideas we had generated on trails in the woods and in a farmhouse kitchen, far from all the hustle, bustle and buzzwords.
Yet just 45 minutes after I stepped from his big screen porch far below sheltering oaks, I stepped into a big conference room for another business meeting in a high rise far above Downtown. A getaway from it and a get back to it all before lunch.
One afternoon last week.
"That's a red tail," Michael said as the hawk took flight from the crook of a huge sycamore in the bend ahead, "I saw a flash of red." We'd already seen flashes of white – the tails of deer on the south bank – and flashes of emerald green – the head of a mallard drake flying by and then ahead, wings a blur just above the water. We saw lots of mallards, drakes and hens paired for the spring, and kingfishers diving and vultures circling and trees budding. We saw teenagers camping, their hammocks strung between trees, suspended 12 feet above the current, and care suspended for the day.
We were on a river in a kayak, virtually alone in the middle of nowhere yet in the middle of a city, two old friends telling old jokes, paddling a river and finding a peace that only being on and around water brings, seeing the wild things water attracts. But for a rare glimpse of a building or utility pole through the trees' winter skeletons, but for passage beneath a bridge or two, we saw no sign of the city we were floating through, heard none of its traffic and urban cough.
Yet just 30 minutes, and one beer, after pulling the kayak from the Wolf beneath the bridge at Walnut Grove and Humphreys, I was home. And what's close to home is amazing.
Getting away from it all is all around us, and – if only for a morning in the woods or an afternoon on the water, or in a peaceful moment of reflection – we need but see it. It's beneath those bridges we cross, over there in the trees we pass, in our growing awareness of green lines, green ways, and green futures.
If only for a little bit, we can get away from it right in the middle of it.
I'm a Memphian, and I know a nice little getaway or two.
Dan Conaway is a lifelong Memphian, longtime adman and aspiring local character in a city known for them. Reach him at email@example.com.
Copyright 1995 -
by The Daily News Publishing Co. Inc. - All Rights Reserved


text:
#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; while (<>) {} print "$.\n";
perl number_of_line.pl file.txt
Found in C:\strawberry\perl\lib\perlfaq5.pod How do I count the number of lines in a file? (contributed by brian d foy) Conceptually, the easiest way to count the lines in a file is to simply read them and count them: my $count = 0; while( <$fh> ) { $count++; } You don't really have to count them yourself, though, since Perl already does that with the $. variable, which is the current line number from the last filehandle read: 1 while( <$fh> ); my $count = $.; If you want to use $., you can reduce it to a simple one-liner, like one of these: % perl -lne '} print $.; {' file % perl -lne 'END { print $. }' file Those can be rather inefficient though. If they aren't fast enough for you, you might just read chunks of data and count the number of newlines: my $lines = 0; open my($fh), '<:raw', $filename or die "Can't open $filename: $!"; while( sysread $fh, $buffer, 4096 ) { $lines += ( $buffer =~ tr/\n// ); } close FILE; However, that doesn't work if the line ending isn't a newline. You might change that "tr///" to a "s///" so you can count the number of times the input record separator, $/, shows up: my $lines = 0; open my($fh), '<:raw', $filename or die "Can't open $filename: $!"; while( sysread $fh, $buffer, 4096 ) { $lines += ( $buffer =~ s|$/||g; ); } close FILE; If you don't mind shelling out, the "wc" command is usually the fastest, even with the extra interprocess overhead. Ensure that you have an untainted filename though: #!perl -T $ENV{PATH} = undef; my $lines; if( $filename =~ /^([0-9a-z_.]+)\z/ ) { $lines = `/usr/bin/wc -l $1` chomp $lines; }
#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; my $n = 0; open my $fh, '<', 'file.txt' or die "failed: $!"; ++$n while (<$fh>); close $fh; print "Number of lines: $n\n";
my $file_size = line_count ($my_file_name); sub line_count { my $file_name = shift; open my $FH, "<', $file_name or die "could not open $file_name $! \n"; my $count; while (<$FH>) {count ++;} return $count }


text:
As my hair has been long and coloured for many years I am always on the lookout for gentler ways of washing it to ensure it doesn't become dry and frizzy. I am a big fan of cleansing conditioners as they don't strip your hair of natural oils, so when I was offered the new HIF (Hair is Fabric) range to review I jumped at the opportunity.
Hair really is like fabric. It's made up of dead cells that can't be repaired. The most effective way of achieving healthy hair is simply by preventing it's fibre from being damaged in the first place. HIF is designed to be akin to dry cleaning for hair….only with water!
The HIF range of 15 Cleansing Conditioners has been formulated to fully cleanse using Fractionated Cleansing Particles that do not strip the natural oils from the hair and scalp. The unique particles bind only to dirt and leave the hair fabric alone. This allows for all impurities to be fully removed and rinsed away without stripping or damaging the hair.
A first-ever Fabric Depositing Technology has also been included to deliver next-generation active ingredients effectively to the deepest parts of the hair. This technology is used in the textile world to deposit dyes into fabrics and stop them from being rinsed away through consistent washing. Most haircare products target only the cuticle, leaving a superficial healthy look, but no long-term benefits. HIF's delivery technology allows actives to remain anchored to the cuticle, even through washing, thus facilitating the penetration of ingredients into the deepest parts of the hair. Thanks to nourishing and conditioning ingredients such as Hyaluronic Acid, Exotic Oils and Precious Rock extracts hair will become stronger, shinier and smoother with each and every wash.
Unlike most cleansing conditioners, which do not foam, HIF offers an exaggerated foaming feeling by creating a unique fake foam (in seven of its formulations).
The collection includes:
I love that the range has so many different formulations so you can really target your hair's needs. I chose the Red Hue Support (as red is the most tricky colour to maintain) and Anti-Frizz Support to try to keep my hair under control during these humid Summer days. These cleansing conditioners do not foam, but feel very rich and creamy. Personally, I don't mind the lack of foam as I simply wet my hair, massage the conditioner through and leave it for a few minutes before rinsing thoroughly.
The Red Hue Support was very red when it came out of the tube. As my hair is long I felt like I had to use a lot to saturate the hair on my first wash, but this may be a testament to how dehydrated my hair was as it seemed to suck up all the product. It did take a while to rinse out the conditioner as it is very pigmented and I did feel that some deposits were left on my hair so it felt a little heavier than usual, but the colour looked visibly better. The next time I used it I applied less to the root area and this prevented my hair from being weighed down, but still gave the benefits of hydration and kept my colour vibrant.
The Anti-Frizz Support is a slightly lighter formulation, while still being moisturising and caring for the hair. Once again I concentrated it on my mid lengths and ends and it rinsed out well leaving my hair soft and smooth with a really long-lasting scent.
The HIF range is available through the Deciem webiste here and on www.victoriahealth.com priced at £20-50. You can get 15% OFF using my discount code NORTHAMERICA15. Enjoy! x


text:
PHILADELPHIA >> Cody Asche's rough night in the field ruined Cliff Lee's effort on the mound.
Luis Jimenez hit a tiebreaking double in the sixth, Matt Shoemaker tossed five effective innings and the Angels beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Lee allowed four unearned runs and six hits, striking out seven in seven innings. He was hurt by Asche's three errors at third base.
"I know he wasn't doing it on purpose," Lee said. "He had some funky balls hit to him."
Mike Trout went 1 for 5 with more than 4,000 fans in the crowd from his hometown of Millville, New Jersey. The two-time All-Star center fielder grew up in the small town 45 minutes south of Philadelphia.
Lee (3-4) took a 2-0 lead into the sixth, but Asche's fielding and throwing errors led to four unearned runs. Collin Cowgill led off the inning with a double to left. After Trout struck out, Albert Pujols reached when Asche let his high bouncer go off his glove. Howie Kendrick walked to load the bases.
Chris Iannetta then hit a bouncer to Asche, who pulled catcher Carlos Ruiz off the plate with his throw home. Grant Green's sacrifice fly tied it at 2. Jimenez followed with a two-run double on a 3-0 pitch, giving the Angels a 4-2 lead.
"It's frustrating, not just for myself, but when you let a team down," Asche said. "Cliff was pitching well. He could've gone all night."
Asche has struggled in his first full season. He's hitting .226 with a team-high six errors.
"The kid had a tough night," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "That can happen. We'll continue to work with him. A lot of things have been thrown at him."
The Phillies have lost two in a row to fall three games below .500. They blew a 4-1 lead in the ninth in a 5-4, extra-inning loss to the Mets on Sunday. Closer Jonathan Papelbon wasn't available to pitch that day because he was sore after earning saves in the first two games of the series.
Papelbon has drawn criticism from fans for not pitching. Sandberg said before the game the team needs its closer to be able to pitch three days in a row.
Shoemaker (1-1) allowed two runs and three hits. He made his second career start and first this season. The righty was called up to replace Hector Santiago, who was sent to the bullpen after going 0-6 with a 5.19 ERA in seven starts.
Ernesto Frieri pitched the ninth for his fifth save in seven tries.
Domonic Brown hit a triple off reliever Fernando Salas and scored on Ruiz's sacrifice fly in the seventh to get the Phillies to 4-3.
Shoemaker retired his first nine batters before Ben Revere hit a hard single just past second baseman Kendrick. One out later, Chase Utley ripped an RBI triple into the right-field corner to make it 1-0.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia challenged the safe call at third, but it was upheld following a replay review that took 3 minutes, 33 seconds.
Ryan Howard hit an RBI single through the vacated hole at shortstop for a 2-0 lead.


text:
BNI Loyalty - Business Networking Lunch - Potters Bar, Hertfordshire
Do you want to want to get more business?
Do you know the power of referral marketing?
Do you want to be part of Hertfordshire's top performing BNI Chapter?
Join us at our weekly networking meeting and see how referral marketing can benefit your business.
Loyalty is a top performing BNI Chapter in Hertfordshire with over 30 members meeting each week, promoting our businesses and passing business referrals to each other. Even if you have visited a BNI meeting before, you haven't been to one quite like Loyalty! We're a lively bunch of business professionals, business owners and entrepreneurs...all with one aim to get more business!
BNI is the world's largest professional networking organisation with over 195,000 members around the globe.
The BNI philosophy is "Givers Gain"
If I give you business, you'll want to give me business.
As a BNI Loyalty member, you learn to effectively present YOUR business. Our members get to know your business and you get to know theirs too.
"It's like having a sales team working for you every day"
The best way to find out how BNI works and what it has to offer you and your business, is to come along as a visitor.
Businesses we're looking for:
- Events & Wedding Organiser
- Florist
- Carpenter
- Residential Estate Agent
- Building Surveyor
- Concierge
- Solicitor
- Business Bank Manager
- Dentist
- Recruitment Consultant
- Virtual Assistant
- Flooring
- Chiropractor
- General Insurance / Broker
- Lanscape Gardener
- Handyman
- Sign Company
- Photographer
- Interior Designer
What do I need to bring to the meeting?
Plenty of business cards - Your cards, along with everyone in the rooms cards will be passed around so you want to make sure there are enought for everyone. We normally have 35-40 people attending.


text:
Gutter Cleaning in Southey Green
Welcome to Low-Cost Gutter Cleaning, a specialist gutter cleaning company in covering the whole of Southey Green, Sheffield.
If you are having gutter problems, you have come to the right place. Low-Cost Gutter Cleaning aim to give our customers in Southey Green and the surrounding towns, an exceptional gutter cleaning and guttering repair service. Our customers in Southey Green benefit from our unique and exceptional service at a low, affordable cost. Our FAST response will ensure you're not left with gutter problems for long.
If you are having problems with your guttering system in Southey Green, then get in touch and we would be delighted to help!
Top Rated Gutter Cleaning Service
In Southey Green, Low-Cost Gutter Cleaning take on the highest possible standards. We have developed the way we operate to ensure you have the best possible experience with us.
Did you know;
- we use the most effective ways possible to clean and repair gutters safely.
- our vans are highly equipped with specialist gutter cleaning tools and are designed specifically for quick and effective gutter cleaning maintenance, no matter the circumstance.
- you can trust that all our employees are polite and well trained to carry out gutter maintenance in Southey Green professionally.
Gutter Cleaning Health Check
As part of our gutter cleaning service in Southey Green, we complete a FREE condition report, we like to call a Health Check. This is a 12 point check that covers the performance, condition, and integrity of your guttering system. The health check enables you to be in complete control of your rainwater drainage system, mainly to help you prolong the life of your guttering system including downpipes, drains, soffits and fascias, and to help you avoid potential problems occurring in the future such as penetrating damp. This FREE service is particularly popular with property landlords in Southey Green.
Gutters Need Fixing?
No problem. Our experienced teams have fully loaded vans, ready with all the tools, spare parts and quality sealer's needed to fix those horrible guttering problems, big or small. Not only this we put a lifetime guarantee on the guttering repairs that we fix, so you don't have to worry about them again! (terms and conditions apply)
Common Problems
Unfortunately, gutter cleaning is something many of us only think about once we have had an issue. Most guttering issues can be prevented in Southey Green by simple gutter maintenance. On average, gutter cleaning only needs to be completed once per year, just like a car or boiler, yet it is easy to forget about. We can help. Ask us about our gutter cleaning reminder service, if you would like a notification when your gutter cleaning is due. Want maintenance free gutters? Find out more about Gutter Guard.
Common guttering problems fixed in Southey Green;
- leaking joints
- sprained union and corner joints
- blocked downpipes, drains and hoppers
- snapped clips
- distorted gutter
- detached gutter
- insecure gutters, downpipes, and fascias
To book a gutter cleaning appointment in Southey Green, please follow the link below or call us on 0844 884 97 24 (calling from a mobile? 0777 964 83 27)
Are you a company owner or representative?
We operate our gutter cleaning and repair service in Southey Green, for home-owners and for commercial properties such as schools, public houses, warehouses, factories, and churches etc… Please visit our commercial gutter cleaning page to find out more about our specialist commercial gutter maintenance.


text:
Islamabad At least half the Afghan Taliban recently freed from Pakistani prisons have rejoined the insurgency, a Pakistani intelligence official says, throwing into question the value of such goodwill gestures that the Afghan government requested to restart a flagging peace process.
A senior Western official who spoke on condition of anonymity so he could talk freely confirmed that "some" newly freed Taliban have returned to the battlefield.
The development underscores the difficulties in reaching a political deal with the Taliban before the end of 2014, when NATO and U.S. troops are scheduled to have completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan. Many Taliban released from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay have also gone underground.
Despite some recent signs from the Taliban that they are willing to share power and want to avoid a civil war, the militants may well be playing for time until 2014. That's also when the Afghans are scheduled to elect a new president to succeed Hamid Karzai, whom the insurgents consider an American puppet.
The Taliban have long refused to speak directly with Karzai or his government. They have said they will negotiate only with the United States, which has held secret talks with them in the Gulf state of Qatar. But at Karzai's insistence, the U.S. has since sought to have the insurgents speak directly with the Afghan government. Western officials privately say that the talks have so far gone no further.
- Afghanistan-Taliban peace talks: too many cooks in the kitchen
- Pakistan terror incidents threaten peace talks with Taliban
- After peace talks what's next for Afghanistan?
At the request of the Afghan High Peace Council late last year, Pakistan freed 24 prisoners to coax a reluctant Taliban leadership to talk peace directly with Karzai's government, according to Ismail Qasemyar, a senior peace council official.
The freed prisoners are all Afghan Taliban, who are battling NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Many of these fighters use neighboring Pakistan as a home base, particularly in winter months.
The release of the prisoners appears to have backfired, however, with the intelligence official saying about half of them have returned to the Taliban. The outcome is further testing an already troubled relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and drawing U.S. complaints that Pakistan has not done enough to keep track of the freed Taliban.
Frustrated by the criticism, Islamabad said it doesn't have the resources to track the prisoners and that no request was made to follow the freed Taliban or to hand them over to the Afghan government. Afghan authorities have also released Taliban prisoners from their own jails, occasionally over the objections of the U.S. military, and have since lost track of many of them.
When Pakistan has arrested Afghan Taliban fighters in recent years, it has often come in response to pressure from the United States or with American assistance. The Pakistani military is far more interested in carrying out offensives against Pakistani Taliban, who have declared war on the state of Pakistan and are responsible for tens of thousands of Pakistani deaths as well as the deaths of about 4,000 Pakistani soldiers.
But among the Afghan Taliban prisoners that Pakistan recently released at the request of the Afghan government were several it would have preferred to keep in jail, the Pakistani intelligence official said Monday.
Pakistan, for example, wanted to keep Anwar-ul-Haq Mujahed in prison, said Pakistan and Afghan officials. Mujahed was an insurgent commander responsible for most of the more spectacular attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province. But the High Peace Council insisted he be freed.
One peace council member said Mujahed's release was demanded by Hajji Din Mohammed, former provincial governor and a peace council member. Mohammed's links to Mujahed date back to the 1980s Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, when he served as a senior lieutenant in the U.S.-financed Hezb-e-Islami Khalis group run by Mujahed's father, Younus Khalis.


text:
Is Your Homeowners Insurance Falling Short?
The Cleanup From Superstorm Sandy Has Been an Exercise in Frustration for Homeowners. Here's How to Maximize Insurance Payouts—and Reduce the Hassle of Filing a Claim
Five weeks after superstorm Sandy pounded the East Coast, frustrations are rising as homeowners struggle to determine which damages will and won't be covered by insurance.
Some homeowners are surprised to discover they don't have some of the protection they assumed they did. Others are grappling with delays, damage estimates they claim are too low, exclusions for spoiled food and other basics—and finger-pointing between insurers....


text:
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Buju Banton's new attorney has asked a federal judge in Tampa to reconsider the 10-year prison sentence the Jamaican reggae singer is serving on two drug charges.
Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, is set to appear Tuesday in Tampa federal court for a re-sentencing on a gun possession charge. That charge carries an additional five-year prison sentence.
The motion filed last week includes a letter to U.S. District Judge James Moody from Banton's former attorney, David O. Markus.
Markus represented Banton in the singer's two trials in Tampa in 2010 and 2011. He says Banton is eligible for a reduced sentence of five years and a day because he's a first-time, non-violent offender with "the support of his entire country" and a history of charitable works.