Professional Reports and Briefs
- Spending and Student Achievement: Money Matters When Equity is at Issue (Janaury 2014)
- Teacher Salaries and Opportunities to Learn (June 2013)
- The eEnergy Vermont Collaborative: Bringing the Smart Grid to the State of Vermont (February 2013)
- Why a Comprehensive Approach to Educational Reform is Necessary (January 2013)
- Educational Productivity and Opportunities to Learn (September 2012)
- Addressing the Needs of Children of Incarcerated Parents (February 2012)
- Student Mobility and Opportunity to Learn: Money Matters (January 2012)
- Can Voluntary School District Mergers Succeed? (October 2011)
- Parent Information Resource Centers and Title I Compliance (June 2011)
- Identifying Opportunities for Integrated Service Delivery to Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Disabilities (February 2012)
- Lamoille Community Justice Project Program Evaluation: Fall 2009 - Summer 2010 (August 2010)
- Homelessness Phase V Report: Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program: Final Report (March 31, 2010)
- General Assistance (GA) Pilot: Phase 3 Evaluation Report (August 2009)
- General Assistance (GA) Pilot: Phase 3 Executive Summary (August 24, 2009)
- General Assistance (GA) Pilot: Phase 2 Evaluation Report (January 2009)
- General Assistance (GA) Pilot: Phase 2 Executive Summary (January 21, 2008)
- General Assistance (GA) Housing Benefits Flexibility Pilot Programs Evaluation: Phase 1 (November 15, 2007)
- General Assistance (GA) Housing Benefits Flexibility Pilot Programs Evaluation: Phase 1 - Executive Summary (November 2007)
- A Study of Consumer Satisfaction with Services and Supports Provided by the Agency of Human Services, 2005 (2005)
- A Study of Staff Satisfaction at the Vermont Agency of Human Services, 2005 (2005)
- Windsor County Sparrow Project Program Evaluation: Final Report of Year One Findings, June 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010 (May 2011)
- Incarcerated Women's Initiative (IWI) (June 2007)
- Equity of Opportunity To Learn, Spending and Student Achievement (April 5, 2014)
- Interim Report on Act 153 (CY 2012): An Act Relating to Voluntary School District Merger, Virtual Merger, Supervisory Union Duties, and Including Secondary Students with Disabilities in Senior Year Activities and Ceremonies (January 2013)
- Educational Opportunities Working Group Report on Aligning Funding, Opportunities to Learn and Outcomes of the Educational System (December 2012)
- Interim Report on Act 153 (CY 2011): An Act Relating to Voluntary School District Merger, Virtual Merger, Supervisory Union Duties, and Including Secondary Students with Disabilities in Senior Year Activities and Ceremonies (July 2012)
- Identifying Opportunities for Integrated Service Delivery to Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Disabilities (February 2012)
- Report on Voluntary School District Merger Activity and Process (CY10), Executive Summary (March 23, 2011)
- Vermont Teacher Diversity Report 2010: Study of Diversity of School Personnel and Recruiting Practices (2010)
- Evaluation of the "Quantum Leap" Truancy and Dropout Prevention Programs Mount Anthony Union High School, Bennington Vermont: Final Evaluation Report (March 2006)
- Windham Region Mobility Study: Coordination of Transportation Services to Improve Mobility for All of the Windham Region's Residents. (November 2012)
Vermont Mathematics Initiative (VMI)
- The Vermont Mathematics Initiative: Student Acheivement from Grade 4 to Grade 10 2000 to 2006 (March 2008)
- Evaluating the Vermont Mathematics Initiative in a Value Added Context (this is a powerpoint presentation of the March 2008 paper)
- Vermont Mathematics Initiative Program Evaluation (May 2005)
- Executive Summary VMI Evaluation (Executive Summary of the May 2005 Evaluation)
Vermont Legislative Research Service (VLRS) Policy Briefs
The Vermont Legislative Research Service (VLRS), formerly the Vermont Legislative Research Shop, was founded in 1998 and became part of the UVM Jeffords Center in 2010. The VLRS strives to provide non-partisan policy research support to state legislators while concurrently promoting students' research skills. Students work in research teams to produce reports answering questions posed by Legislators or create new reports based on current issues in the Legislature, under the supervision of Professor Anthony Gierzynski, Director of the VLRS.
- Criminal Justice and Corrections
- Economic Issues
- Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) Report
- Politics and Government
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Cartier, L. & Ali, S. (2012). Pearl farming as a sustainable development path. Solutions Journal, 3 (4), 30-34.
Donovan, E., & Shepherd, K. (2013). Implementing multi-tiered systems of support in mathematics: Findings from two schools. Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship, 2(1).
Giles, C.D., G. Druschel, A.E. Richardson, J.E. Hill. (2012). Organic anion-driven solubilization of precipitate and sorbed phytate improves hydrolysis by phytases and bioavailability to Nicotiana tabacum. Soil Science, 177 (10), 591-598.
Griffin, P. & Ali, S.H. (in press). Managing transboundary wetlands: The Ramsar Convention as a means of environmental diplomacy. Journal of Environmental Studies and Science.
Hill, J.E., and Giles, C.D. (2011). Think Globally, Act Locally: Targeting the Rhizosphere to Control Soil Fertility and Improve Water Quality. American Geophysical Union, Hydrology Section, December Newsletter, pp. 28-30.
Huang, G., Zhou, W., & Ali, S. Spatial patterns and economic contributions of mining and tourism in biodiversity hotspots: A case study in Yunnan China. Ecological Economics, 70 (8), 1492 – 1498.
Keir, L., Watts, R. & Inwood, S. (2014): Environmental justice and citizen perceptions of a proposed electric transmission line. Community Development, DOI: 10.1080/15575330.2014.887130
Keir, L. & Ali, S. (2014). Conflict assessment in energy infrastructure siting: Prospects for consensus building in the Northern Pass transmission line project. Negotiation Journal, April 2014.
Koliba, C. (2011). Introduction to “Performance Management in Governance Networks: Critical Concepts and Practices.” Public Performance Management Review, 34 (4), 515-519.
Koliba, C., Zia, A. (in press). Theory Testing Using Complex Systems Modeling in Public Administration and Policy Studies: Challenges and Opportunities for a Meta-Theoretical Research Program. Emergence: Complexity & Organization.
Koliba, C., Zia, A., and Lee, B. 2011. Governance Informatics: Utilizing Computer Simulation Models to Manage Complex Governance Networks. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal. 16 (1), Article 3.
Moore, C., Shoulberg, E., & Murray-Close, D. (2012). The Protective Role of Teacher Preference for At-Risk Children’s Social Status. Aggressive Behavior, 38 (6), 481-493.
Shepherd, K., & Salembier, G. (2010). Leading, learning, and literacy: Implementing a response to intervention approach in the Riverside elementary school. New England Reading Association Journal 46, (1), 38 – 49.
Shepherd, K., Salembier, G. (2011). Improving schools through a response to intervention approach: A cross-case analysis of three rural schools. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 30 (3), 3-15.
Shoulberg, E.K., Sijtsema, J.J., Murray-Close, D. (2011). The association between valuing popularity and relational aggression: The moderating effects of actual popularity and physiological reactivity to exclusion. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 110(1), 20-37.
Zia, A. (2012) Land Use Adaptation to Climate Change: Economic Damages from Land-Falling Hurricanes in the Atlantic and Gulf States of the USA, 1900-2005. Sustainability 4: 917-932.
Zia, A., and Glantz, M. (2012) Risk Zones: Comparative Lesson Drawing and Policy Learning from Flood Insurance Programs. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 14(2): 143-159.
Zia, A., Kauffman, S., Niiranen, S. (2012) The Prospects and Limits of Algorithms in Simulating Creative Decision Making. Emergence: Complexity and Organization (E:CO) – An International Transdisciplinary Journal of Complex Social Systems 14 (3): 89-109.
Zia, A., Metcalf, S., Koliba, C., Widner, M. (in press). Agent Based Models of Cross-Jurisdictional Governance Networks: Simulating the Emergence of Project Prioritization Patterns Under Alternate Policy Theoretical Frameworks and Network Structures. Emergence: Complexity & Organization.
Zia, A., Hameed, K. (in press). Politics of Conflict in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas: Vulnerability Reduction in Violence-Prone Complex Adaptive Systems. Digest of Middle East Studies (DOMES).
Zia, A. and Koliba, C. (in press). Modeling of Intergovernmental Decision Making for Funding Transportation Projects. Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Society.
Zia, A. and Koliba, C. (2011). Climate Change Governance and Accountability: Dilemmas of Performance Management in Complex Governance Networks. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. 13(5): 479-497.
Zia, A., C. Koliba (2013) Agent-Based Modeling of Intergovernmental Decision Making: How Institutional Rules Generate Basins of Attraction in Funding Transportation Projects. Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting. Washington DC, January 2013. Paper No. 13-2153.
Zia, A., Koliba, C., De Pinto, T. (2012) Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Metropolitan Transportation Planning Scenarios: Assessing Trade-Offs Between Business-As-Usual and Alternate Sustainable Community Designs. Transportation Research Board 2012 Annual Meeting, Washington DC, January 2012. Paper no. 12-2461.
Pincus, R. & Ali, S. eds. (in press) Diplomacy on Ice: Energy and the Environment in the Arctic and Antarctic. Yale University Press, April 2014.
Ali, S.H. & Ackley, M. (2011). Foreign investment and environmental justice in an island economy: Mining, bottled water, and corporate social responsibility in Fiji. In Julian Agyeman and JoAnn Carmin (eds.), Environmental Inequities Beyond Borders: Local Perspectives on Global Injustices. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Ali, S.H. & Watzin, M. Science and spatial security: Building peace through environmental cooperation in southern Europe. In Rita Floyd and Richard Mathews (Eds.), Environmental Security: Approaches and Issues. London: Routledge, 2013.
Beckage, B., Kauffman, S. Zia, A., Koliba, C., Gross, L.J. 2013. Book chapter: More Complex Complexity: Exploring the Nature of Computational Irreducibility Across Physical, Biological, and Human Social Systems. Zenil, H. editor. Irreducibility and Computational Equivalence. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. 79-88.
Koliba, C. 2013. Book chapter: Governance Network Performance: Foundations of Theory Development and Empirical Analysis. Agranoff, B., Mandell, M., and Keast, R. editors. Advances in Network Governance. Routledge Press: New York, NY.
Koliba, C. (2011). Book chapter: Administrative Strategies for a Networked World: The Educational Imperative for Intergovernmental Relations in 2020. Thurmaier, K. and Meek, J. editors. Network Governance: Implications for Intergovernmental Relations in 2020. New York: Sage Publications.
Koliba, C. and Zia, A. (in press). Book chapter: Governance Informatics: Using Computer Simulation Models to Deepen Situational Awareness and Governance Design Considerations. DeSouza, K. and Johnston, E. editors. Policy Informatics. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.
Koliba, C., and Zia, A. 2013. Complex Systems Modeling in Public Administration and Policy Studies: Challenges and Opportunities for a Meta-Theoretical Research Program. In L. Gerrits and P.K. Marks (Eds.), COMPACT I: Public Administration in Complexity. Litchfield Park, AZ: Emergent Publications.
Koppenjan, J. and Koliba, C. Symposium Co-Editors. 2013. The Complexity of New Public Governance. International Review of Public Administration.
Zia, A., Kelman, I., Glantz, M. (in press) Arctic Melting Tests the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. In Diplomacy on Ice: Polar Governance in the Age of Climate Change. Editors: S. Ali and R. Pincus. Yale University Press, New Haven CT.
Zia, A. (2013) Post-Kyoto Climate Governance: Confronting the Politics of Scale, Ideology and Knowledge. Rutledge, London UK.
Zia, A., Koliba, C., and Tian, Y. 2013. Governance Network Analysis: Experimental Simulations of Alternate Institutional Designs for Intergovernmental Project Prioritization Processes. In L. Gerrits and P.K. Marks (Eds.), COMPACT I: Public Administration in Complexity. Litchfield Park, AZ: Emergent Publications
DeCarlo, Anjanette (2013). Sustainable Strategies for Implementing Development Assistance: Enterprise, Women's Empowerment and NGOs in Africa and the Diaspora. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Vermont.
Donovan, Erin (2013). Peer Sexual Harassment in College: The Relationship with Status and College Adjustment. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Vermont.
Giles, Courtney D. (2012) The role of plant and bacterial organic anion production in the bioavailability of myo-inositol hexakisphosphate: implications for soil phosphorus cycling and agricultural nutrient mitigation. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Vermont.
Glesner, Talia J. (2014) Programming for Families Impacted by Incarceration: An Ecological Exploration Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Vermont.
Onderwyzer, Susan A. (2011). Vermont incarcerated women's initiative drug education, treatment, enforcement and rehabilitation projects evaluation: promising practices for reducing recidivism Ed.D Dissertation, University of Vermont.
Pincus, Rebecca (2013) United States Department of Defense and the Challenge of Climate Change. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Vermont.
Reeves, Susan A. (2010). Deliberate dialogue: evaluation teaching effectiveness of a patient safety communication technique. Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Vermont.
Roy, Meagan E. (2010). Effective practices for teaching learners with autism spectrum disorders: validation of a program assessment tool. Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Vermont.
Shoulberg, Erin K. (2012). The contextual nature of popularity goals : associations with math engagement and achievement during the transition to adolescence. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Vermont.
Swindlehurst, Kelly Ann (2014). Meeting the Needs of All Learners: The Impact of Teacher Education on Teacher Readiness. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Vermont.
Voinov Vladich, Helena (2013). Participatory Spatial Analysis, High Resolution Remote Sensing Data and Ecosystem Services Valuation Approach as Tools for Environmental Consensus Building. 2013. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Vermont.
Fournier, Kate. (2012) An Evaluation of the Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl Delisting. Master's Project, University of Vermont.
Keir, L. (2013). Public participation in energy infrastructure development: The case of the Northern Pass transmission line. Master's Thesis, University of Vermont.
Kent, Daniel (2013). Assessing the Evolution of an Intergovernmental Transportation Planning Network's Democratic Anchorage. Master's Thesis, University of Vermont.
Turner, Leslie (Drake) (2013). Making Space for Collaboration and Change in Vermont's Food System: Social Network Analysis of the Farm to Plate Network. Master's Thesis, University of Vermont.


Huge Study Finds Brain Networks Connected to Teen Drug Abuse
- By Joshua E. Brown
That teenagers push against boundaries — and sometimes take risks — is as predictable as the sunrise. It happens in all cultures and even across all mammal species: adolescence is a time to test limits and develop independence.
But why do some teenagers start smoking or experimenting with drugs — while others don’t?
In the largest imaging study of the human brain ever conducted — involving 1,896 14-year-olds — scientists have discovered a number of previously unknown networks that go a long way toward an answer.
Robert Whelan and Hugh Garavan of the University of Vermont, along with a large group of international colleagues, report that differences in these networks provide strong evidence that some teenagers are at higher risk for drug and alcohol experimentation — simply because their brains work differently, making them more impulsive.
Their findings are presented in the journal Nature Neuroscience, published online April 29.
Drug use biomarker
This discovery helps answer a long-standing chicken-or-egg question about whether certain brain patterns come before drug use — or are caused by it.
“The differences in these networks seem to precede drug use,” says Garavan, Whelan’s colleague in UVM’s psychiatry department, who also served as the principal investigator of the Irish component of a large European research project, called IMAGEN, that gathered the data about the teens in the new study.
In a key finding, diminished activity in a network involving the “orbitofrontal cortex” is associated with experimentation with alcohol, cigarettes and illegal drugs in early adolescence.
“These networks are not working as well for some kids as for others,” says Whelan, making them more impulsive.
Faced with a choice about smoking or drinking, the 14-year-old with a less functional impulse-regulating network will be more likely to say, “Yeah, gimme, gimme, gimme!” says Garavan, “and this other kid is saying, ‘No, I’m not going to do that.’”
Testing for lower function in this and other brain networks could, perhaps, be used by researchers someday as “a risk factor or biomarker for potential drug use,” Garavan says.
Understanding brain networks that put some teenagers at higher risk for starting to use alcohol and drugs could have large implications for public health. Death among teenagers in the industrialized world is largely caused by preventable or self-inflicted accidents that are often launched by impulsive risky behaviors — and alcohol and drug use often is a root of these behaviors.
Additionally, “addiction in the western world is our number one health problem,” says Garavan. “Think about alcohol, cigarettes or harder drugs and all the consequences that has in society for people’s health.”
The links with ADHD
The researchers were also able to show that other newly discovered networks are connected with the symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. These ADHD networks are distinct from those associated with early drug use.
In recent years, there has been controversy and extensive media attention about the possible connection between ADHD and drug abuse. Both ADHD and early drug use are associated with poor inhibitory control — they’re problems that plague impulsive people.
But the new research shows that these seemingly related problems are regulated by different networks in the brain — even though both groups of teens can score poorly on tests of their “stop-signal reaction time,” a standard measure of overall inhibitory control used in this study and other similar ones. This strengthens the idea that risk of ADHD is not necessarily a full-blown risk for drug use as some recent studies suggest.
Impulsivity in pieces
The impulsivity networks — connected areas of activity in the brain revealed by increased blood flow — begin to paint a more nuanced portrait of the neurobiology underlying the patchwork of attributes and behaviors that psychologists call impulsivity — as well as the capacity to put brakes on these impulses, a set of skills sometimes called inhibitory control.
Edythe London, professor of addiction studies and director of the UCLA Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology, who was not part of the new study, described it as “outstanding,” noting that the work by Whelan and others “substantially advances our understanding of the neural circuitry that governs inhibitory control in the adolescent brain.”
Using a complex mathematical approach called factor analysis, Whelan and colleagues were able to fish out seven networks involved when impulses were successfully inhibited and six networks involved when inhibition failed — from the vast and chaotic actions of a teenage brain at work. These networks “light up,” Whelan says, in a functional MRI scanner during trials when the teenagers were asked to perform a repetitive task that involved pushing a button on a keyboard, but then were able to successfully stop — or inhibit — the act of pushing the button in mid-action. Those teens with better inhibitory control were able to succeed at this task faster.
But the underlying networks behind these tasks could not have been detectable in a “typical fMRI study of about 16 or 20 people,” says Whelan. “This study was orders of magnitude bigger, which lets us overcome much of the randomness and noise — and find the brain regions that actually vary together.”
The new study draws on the multi-year work of the IMAGEN Consortium, funded by the European Union, and headed by Prof. Gunter Schumann at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. IMAGEN, lead by a team of scientists across Europe, carried out neuroimaging, genetic and behavioral analyses in 2,000 teenage volunteers in Ireland, England, France, and Germany and will be following them for several years, investigating the roots of risk-taking behavior and mental health in teenagers.
“The take-home message is that impulsivity can be decomposed, broken down into different brain regions,” says Garavan, “and the functioning of one region is related to ADHD symptoms, while the functioning of other regions is related to drug use.”


BEAVER CREEK, Colorado " Jerome Robbins looms large in pop culture. Ten years after his death, America remembers him as the choreographic genius behind "West Side Story" and "Fancy Free."
He was a giant in the dance world, too. In fact, when Robbins died in 1998, the whole dance world grieved.
"We have a great variety of new ballets being made at New York City Ballet, but truly the great geniuses were passed at that moment, the icons: (George) Balanchine, now Robbins, too," Vail International Dance Festival Director Damian Woetzel recalled.
Robbins shaped an entire generation of dancers. To Pacific Northwest Ballet Director Peter Boal, Robbins was a teacher.
Boal was 10 the first time he danced for Robbins, as Cupid in the New York City Ballet's production of "Mother Goose." When Boal practiced leading Prince Charming through the forest, Robbins urged him to get into character by pretending that stepping on a twig would give him away.
"To me it was just the last three minutes of the ballet, but to him it was this whole fleshed out character that this 10-year-old had to play," Boal said.
Thursday night, Boal will team up with Woetzel to give audiences an inside glimpse of Robbins' works. With film clips of Robbins instructing, performances of his dances by the Pacific Northwest Ballet and a discussion with the audience, "UpClose: Jerome Robbins" will consider: Just who was Jerome Robbins?
Woetzel and Boal worked with Robbins during the mid '80s, a delicate time in the ballet world. The great choreographic master George Balanchine passed away in 1983 and some dancers feared the craft would flounder.
"We were lamenting the death of George Balanchine, and people were wondering where those influences would be found," Boal said. "And there was Jerry stepping up and saying, 'I'm right here. I'm ready to work.' So it was important for my generation to have him."
Robbins was choreographing for the New York City Ballet at that time, and his presence there was a major factor in Woetzel's decision to join the company as a teen.
Woetzel remembers sitting in on a rehearsal of "Fancy Free" and thinking: "My God, it's better than the dreams."
He and Boal worked together with Robbins on many dances, including "In Memory Of..." and "Quiet City."
"It was an interesting year in New York because it was in the '80s, and AIDS was really affecting all New York artists, and Jerry was losing a lot of people that were very dear to him," Boal recalled. "So he made these ballets with angels in them."
Working under Robbins was incredibly demanding. Woetzel became acquainted with Robbins' style during the 13 years they worked together. "If you were five minutes late, he'd say, 'You owe me five,' " Woetzel recalled. "It was serious."
But the hard work in the studio paid off. Woetzel said he learned valuable lessons from Robbins about developing a character.
Robbins once offered a suggestion for Woetzel during rehearsals for an Italian-themed ballet called "Donizetti Variations."
"He said, 'That section with the girls " Don't forget: You're sort of the guy in the group. You're making pizza and pasta. There's sauce in the air.' I remember thinking, 'I got it,' " Woetzel said.
That moment summed up Robbins' approach to dance.
"Everything was from a sense of theater," Woetzel said. "How it plays, how it feels. And there were technical corrections, too, you know? How you do a step, that sort of stuff, but it was all about how you made it happen on stage, how you made it live, and I treasure those corrections."
Robbins was a paradox in many ways. Though he stood about 5 foot 9, his imposing presence made him seem taller. He attended New York's finest social events yet could be shy and awkward in conversation, Boal said. A self-proclaimed homosexual, he had romances with both men and women, according to "Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins."
Although he could reign unchallenged at any ballet company, he chose to create at the one place where he had a rival.
"He oddly lived in Balanchine's shadow for all of those years at the New York City Ballet, and I think people really had to wake up in the ballet world and realize that there were amazing contributions done by Robbins," Boal said.
Robbins was born in 1918 in a Jewish enclave in Manhattan. As a teen he set out to study chemistry at New York University but money woes forced him to drop out and take a sharp turn in his career. In the 1940s, Robbins became a soloist for the Ballet Theatre, where he attracted attention for roles like Hermes in "Helen of Troy." He also created and starred in his famous ballet "Fancy Free" in 1944 at the Metropolitan Opera.
The following decade brought highs and lows. Although Robbins produced some of his most enduring Broadway works " "The King and I," "The Pajama Game" and "West Side Story" " he fell under suspicion of Communist sympathies and was called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He avoided the blacklist by naming Communist sympathizers, but the guilt of betraying his friends haunted him for the rest of his life.
Robbins picked up a pair of Tony Awards for his 1964 masterpiece "Fiddler on the Roof." In 1972, he became ballet master of the New York City Ballet and continued to work in ballet throughout the next decade.
"Obviously he was the biggest star that Broadway ever saw, so that chapter of his life was well established, but I think his real love was in the ballet world, in classical ballet," Boal said.
Robbins' love for ballet continued even as his body faltered. He began to lose his balance and had trouble coming to terms with the fact that he could no longer demonstrate as he once could, Boal recalled. Despite a bicycle accident, heart-valve surgery and the onset of Parkinson's disease, Robbins staged Les Noces for City Ballet in 1998.
When he died of a stroke at 79, the dance world coped by clinging to his memory.
"Immediately all these stories that you heard about, well, 'Balanchine said such and such' and then it was 'Jerry said such and such'" Woetzel said, noting it became a competition about who remembered Robbins best. "And it speaks to their genius that our moments with them matter so much to us.'"
On a clear summer night at the Ford Amphitheater in Vail, the crowd was mesmerized by three sailors dancing in their iconic white uniforms and hats. The Pacific Northwest Ballet performed "Fancy Free" Tuesday as a tribute to Robbins. Flirting with girls, joking among themselves, the sailors demonstrate Robbins' flair for fusing ballet with drama.
The performance in Vail illustrates Robbins' lasting legacy. His work is still deeply entrenched on Broadway, and has been building momentum at companies like the Pacific Northwest Ballet.
"Jerry was a completely American original," Boal said. "He came forward with a whole new dance style. It reflected things that people did every day on the street, and in bars, and when they were roughhousing and when they were flirting. He brought all of that great, unique human vocabulary into the world of classical ballet. And it was an infusion that was exciting and it brought broad appeal to ballet that maybe wasn't there before."
High Life Writer Sarah Mausolf can be reached at 970-748-2938 or firstname.lastname@example.org.


University of Lethbridge
(20 Feb. 2011)
Countering the Incursions of the Axis of Kleptocracy
In responding to the worldwide protests aimed at stopping the US-led invasion of Iraq, The New York Times referred in 2003 to the existence of a new global superpower, that of world public opinion. Back then, however, the full potential of this force of change remained unrealized and underdeveloped as demonstrated by the outcome of the events of February 15. On that historic day eight years ago, tens of millions of anti-war protestors came flooding into the streets simultaneously in literally hundreds of large and small cities all over the planet.
In spite of this massive display of organized global opposition to the extension of the 9/11 Wars into Iraq, the mobilized superpower of global political will was not yet muscular enough to prevent the onslaughts of illegal invasion, occupation, torture, genocide and mind control to come. These massive global protests proved insufficient to prevent the expansion of the 9/11 Wars from Afghanistan to the oil-rich country ruled by Saddam Hussein, a former CIA-asset whose desire to do business in Euros threatened the global pre-eminence of Saudi-American petro-dollars.
Now, almost a decade after the illegal US-led invasion of Iraq, it seems the global superpower of world public opinion is beginning to gain traction. With the help of increasingly cheap and accessible digital social networking, activists throughout the world are shaking off their subordination to the information monopolies of government and corporate-dominated mainstream media. A good number of us have devoted ourselves to building up new means of following and creating news. The activities of the bloggers and readers at Veterans Today epitomize this trend.
The process of co-operative self-education through the New Media of Internet interactivity forms a key to unlocking our collective capacities to organize politically against the deep incursions of the criminal cabal that most menaces humanity’s global prospects for peace and prosperity. Among the leading warlords that most threaten our children’s chances for a decent future are those who direct some of the world’s largest corporations. Many of these leviathans have long been primary beneficiaries and agencies of the permanent war economy maintained in the United States since 1941.
Many of these warlords operate along an axis of kleptocracy linking Wall Street with the Pentagon. Those bankers and militarists who most effectively exploit their license to steal in the charmed inner circle of kleptocratic privilege tend to become role models for the system of crony capitalism that dominates more and more of humanity. The maintenance of this system of top-down corruption depends heavily on the actions of those corporate warlords who prove most adept at deploying state violence as instruments of elite rule.
Because of the Internet, the criminal cabal at the top of the feeding chain of global pillage and plunder are facing new surges of transnational opposition. In the political environment increasingly shaped by those communities of public opinion that sometimes coalesce on the worldwide web, something as seemingly local as the self-immolation of a street vendor in Tunisia, or the police torture and murder of a young Egyptian man in Alexandria, can end up having huge and unforeseen consequences. “We Are All Khalid Said,” asserted the Google marketing manager Wael Ghonim on a Facebook page now known to millions. Ghonim’s contribution to the Internet’s content was an essential part of the process of mobilizing public opposition against the kind of casual police brutality that had become commonplace in an Egypt overseen by strongman Hosni Mubarak on behalf of absentee landlords in Israel and the United States.
The worldwide spread of those spurred to revulsion and action by the ghoulish police killing of Khalid Said will probably continue on a wired planet where the lies and crimes of 9/11 continue to be exposed on the Internet even as they are concurrently exploited by interlinked oligarchs. In this sense, the crimes against humanity imposed by Egyptian authorities on their own people are, unfortunately, more the rule than the exception. Indeed, the example of Mubarak’s Egypt provides an illuminating preview of the kind of governance that more and more of us can expect if the rise of the global police state is allowed to continue unabated.
The growth of police powers will inevitably continue to grow as long as the massively entitled few seek protections from the hugely disentitled many. These elite protections can be commandeered from the corporatist state, often through direct purchase of services from private police forces and military contractors. From New Orleans to Beijing, Moscow, Lagos, Tel Aviv, Djibouti, and Tripoli, resorts to state terror are often justified through the fear mongering essential to the psychological operations animating the fraudulent War on Terror.
The Structure of the Great Theft Along Lines of Region, Class and Generation
The spotlight of worldwide scrutiny placed on the regime of Hosni Mubarak by the protestors in Cairo’s Tahrir Square reveals much about the nature of the global criminal cabal behind Egypt’s strongman. For instance the wide public exposure of Mubarak’s subservience to the joint dictates of Washington and Tel Aviv speak volumes about the structure of the world’s dominant kleptocracy. This kleptocracy is parasitically eating away at the life chances especially of youths not only in Egypt but also in, for instance, Greece, England, Ireland and Wisconsin.
Similarly, news that Mubarak’s entourage have amassed fortunes to the tune of hundreds of billions of ill-gotten dollars draw increased public scrutiny to the role of military expenditures in feeding the primary centers of corruption and organized crime in our times. Like Bernie Madoff, Mubarak is in fact far down the feeding chain of those kleptocrats who steal with impunity from the public purse. Where Mubarak is but a middle manager in the global structure of the world’s dominant military-industrial complex, those who rule over this apparatus of violent coercion increasingly count their stolen loot in the trillions rather than mere billions.
The transfer of these trillions to the world’s richest financiers was put on full public display when the governments of the United States and many other countries facilitated the bailouts that together constitute the boldest theft of public resources ever executed. The main beneficiaries of these bailouts are not the puppet dictators in the tradition of, to mention only a few, Mubarak of Egypt, Sukarno of Indonesia, Rios Montt of Guatemala, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan, Sese Seko Mobutu of Congo, or King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain. No, the main beneficiaries of the axis of kleptocracy linking Wall Street and the Pentagon are those whose operatives have situated themselves most strategically in the interlocked complex of personnel employed by agencies like Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the US Treasury Branch as well as the Financial Products Division of AIG and its networks of so-called counterparties around the world.
To me the operations of AIG leading up to the worldwide financial contagion that began on Wall Street are particularly illustrative of the nature of the highest order of organized crime in these times. The tradition of corporate governance embodied by the genesis of AIG and its Shanghai-based predecessor form an iconic embodiment of the kleptocratic operations of the national security state as they have evolved through the Office of Strategic Services during the Second World War, the CIA during the Cold War, and the Bank of Credit and Commerce International during the period when the privatized terror economy began to dominate big parts of the global economy. I elaborate and document these patterns and connections in considerable detail in the culminating chapter of my most recent book, Earth into Property: Colonization, Decolonization and Capitalism.
The covert activities of AIG and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York meet in the creation of two of the three Maiden Lane companies. The Maiden Lane companies were set up by the Federal Reserve Bank of NY to purchase the most toxic of the financial derivative products whose contaminating effects poisoned the global economy beginning in 2008. Two of the three Maiden Lane companies were established to purchase toxic derivative products from AIG and its hedging counterparties. These Maiden Lane entities took over and continue to own to this day some of the most poisonous of the toxic derivatives purchased by the corporate extension of the NY Fed.
Maiden Lane II became a giant dump for the most highly publicized form of derivative based on the securitization of packages of home mortgages. Maiden Lane III was set up by the NY Fed under Timothy Geitner’s leadership to pay off AIG’s counterparties in a much more murky variety of derivative contract. There is every reason to suspect that these secretive bets on bets on bets are based on activities similar to those that once dominated the business of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, where the operatives of, for instance, the CIA, al-Qaeda, Mossad, and Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program conducted their transactions.
The activities of Maiden Lane III’s primary beneficiaries might include, for instance, speculation in the outcomes of covert operations like regime change in Eurasian polities. Or they might extend to the flow of laundered funds derived from massive drug deals or to bets on the planning, building and protection of oil and gas pipelines emanating from the Caspian basin. This genre of speculative transaction might also extend to the commodification and political manipulation of fear in an era when repeated false flag terror attacks help steer the movement of public funds to those private military contractors waging some of the most secretive operations in the 9/11 Wars.
The theft in and around the axis of kleptocracy linking Wall Street and the Pentagon form one aspect of a larger process that is gutting the financial viability of the United States generally and of its once-strong middle class more particularly. The deindustrialization of a country that was until recently the manufacturing dynamo of the global economy forms the core of the kleptocratic processes that are plundering the public wealth of America to enrich a small plutocracy.
This deindustrialization of America has savaged most severely the domestic political economies especially of unionized workers. As manufacturing enterprises were rapidly relocated to China and other low-wage polities, the prospects of Middle America as well as of, for instance, Middle England, Middle Greece, or Middle Egypt, have been devastated. Those who are thus displaced from niches of economic security must join the growing ranks of the poor and dispossessed. This unearned push downward falls especially heavily on the young. In country after country the young have been saddled with lifetimes of huge national debt to pay the bailouts to the same criminal cliques that caused the financial contagion in the first place.
The growing cycles of theft were facilitated by the broad dissemination of the propaganda of Reagonomics and Thatcherism. Beginning in the 1980s the top leadership of Anglo-America popularized a philosophy of greed that facilitated the theft from shareholders and taxpayers by Chief Executive Officers and their minions in the burgeoning field of creative accounting. The other side of this philosophical glorification of private property was an assault on public institutions, public ownership and public services of all kinds. That assault on the human commonwealth continues unabated in spite of the bailouts’ brilliant illumination of the willingness of the rich to overturn competitive capitalism in their zeal to raid the public purse.
This surge of Enron-style creative accounting in the name of deregulation helped give rise to the flood of derivative products that contaminated the global economy. As the workings of the Maiden Lane entities demonstrate, the bailouts were structured to provide massive rewards to the makers of the most toxic derivative products. This enormous upward transfer of wealth to the rich and superrich from the present and future earnings of middle class taxpayers compounded capitalism’s most mean yet characteristic attributes. This suck-up approach gave new meaning to capitalism’s propensity to privatize public wealth while socializing the liabilities of doing business.
This overview of recent history puts in context the neoliberal effort to make the public service unions of Wisconsin and other US states the scapegoats for the gutting of the domestic economy of the ailing superpower. Indeed the viciousness of the ongoing neoliberal attack on the American middle class continues the assault on the legacy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal by undermining the legal basis not only of public service unions but of labor unions of all kinds.
It seems, therefore, that the same forces that propped up the regime of Hosni Mubarak for three decades are now intent on destroying any remaining bastions in America of secure jobs with decent benefits. The result of this concerted attack starting in Wisconsin on the struggling remnants of America’s once-thriving middle class holds out nothing but the prospect of a slave future for those unable to secure places for themselves inside the walled enclaves of kleptocratic class privilege.
No Containing the Power of the Idea set in Motion by the Self-Immolation of a Street Vendor in Tunisia
The wild card in all this activity is the belated arrival of the new superpower of global public opinion, a force whose capacity to change history is only beginning to be felt. Those who are following the rise of this superpower of popular self-empowerment are quite right to notice similarities between the scenes emanating from Tahrir Square in Cairo and the State Legislature in Wisconsin. Indeed, the example of self-empowerment set by the protesters in Egypt will in all probability be seen in the light of future history as an event of comparable importance to the coming down of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
There will be no containing the power of the idea set in motion when a frustrated street vendor in Tunisia decided to dramatize the extent of the corruption he faced by setting fire to himself in public. The scenes of conflict and aspiration that have put a spotlight of global attention on both Egypt and Wisconsin will continue to ripple across jurisdiction after jurisdiction in a world where the chains of slavery and colonialism have never been fully severed. We need to do more than hope, however, that the collective force of popular self-empowerment will not be betrayed by the covert manipulations of those parties seeking to subvert this movement for global democracy in order to reinforce the unaccountable power of the world’s dominant kleptocracy.
Posted by Joshua Blakeney on February 20, 2011, With 404 Reads Filed under Middle East, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.


Ruskin's conception of wealth is necessarily, and heavily, imbued with moral qualities. As he writes in "The Veins of Wealth" from Unto This Last:
It is impossible to conclude, of any given mass of acquired wealth, merely by the fact of its existence, whether it signifies good or evil to the nation in the midst of which it exists. Its real value depends on the moral sign attached to it, just as sternly as that of a mathematical quantity depends on the algebraical sign attached to it...
And these are not, observe, merely moral or pathetic attributes of riches, which the seeker of riches may, if he chooses, despise; they are, literally and sternly, material attributes of riches, depreciating or exalting, incalculably, the monetary signification of the sum in question. One mass of money is the outcome of action which has created, — another, of action which has annihilated, — ten times as much in the gathering of it; such and such strong hands have been paralyzed, as if they had been numbed by nightshade: so many strong men's courage broken, so many productive operations hindered; this and the other false direction given to labour, and lying image of prosperity set up, on Dura plains dug into seven-times-heated furnaces. That which seems to be wealth may in verity be only the gilded index of far-reaching ruin; a wrecker's handful of coin gleaned from the beach to which he has beguiled an argosy; a camp-follower's bundle of rags unwrapped from the breasts of goodly soldiers dead; the purchase-pieces of potter's fields, wherein shall be buried together the citizen and the stranger.
1. It seems that this moral codification of wealth implies, as its necessary result, some form of communism or socialism. The capitalist pursuit of wealth, as described in Ruskin's parable of the island community, is "evil." To obtain wealth that is "good," one must pursue the common good, as noted in footnote 35. Is this reading supported elsewhere in Unto This Last?
2. Ruskin's binary of wealth offers no middle ground — either one is equated with Judas (via the "purchase-pieces" reference) or one is not. How realistic is this exclusive system of good and evil?
Last modified 4 April 2003


Undoubtedly we've all had the experience at one time or another of watching (or trying to watch) a particular online video, only to have some problem arise that interrupts our experience. To the average user, it's a mystery what might have happened. Is it a problem with my computer? With my personal Internet connection? With my Internet service provider? With the source of the content?
Regardless, it causes user frustration, which can lead to clicking away from the video, possibly never to return. More often than not, the content provider isn't even aware of these user problems. As online video becomes more central to content providers' strategies and P&Ls, inferior user experiences are a growing concern for content providers. And given the vagaries of the Internet and the exploding volume of video being consumed, it's an issue unlikely to go away anytime soon.
That's where Conviva comes in. Conviva gives content providers unprecedented insight into their users' viewing behaviors as well as tools to quickly identify and resolve problems. As Darren Feher, Conviva's new CEO explained to me when I met up with him recently, and in a subsequent demo, the company's studies show that at least 25% of all streams suffer one problem or another. Affected users watch between 30-80% less video than those who don't have problems.
Here's how Conviva works: a small bit of its code is integrated by the content provider alongside the Flash or Silverlight player, whichever is used (in either case no user download involved). Conviva is also integrating with online video platforms (so far just thePlatform, but others to come), so the step is eliminated for the content provider. When deployed, Conviva's code monitors the user's video experience and sends back "heartbeat" reports every 10 seconds to the Conviva console. The console gives the content provider multiple views of their users' experiences, including things like a geographic distribution of current viewing, what player's being used, the average time it's taking to start streaming, the average duration of viewing, the amount of buffering, and so on. Conviva shares the science behind all of this if you're so inclined.
Conviva's secret sauce is mashing up all that in-bound data in real-time and detecting if/where problems exist, and when they do, what the source is. Problems could include buffering on the user's machine, issues with the currently-used CDN, congestion in the local ISP, etc. In addition to these telemetry/analytics services, the company also offers a service it calls "Conviva Distribution" which will seek to remedy problems as they arise based on a set of pre-configured policies. For example, if the user's machine is buffering, Conviva will adjust the stream being sent to a lower bit rate. Or if the CDN being used is the problem, Conviva will switch to another CDN (of the content provider's choosing) in mid-stream, unbeknownst to the user. The content provider gets real-time visibility into what troubleshooting is happening.
In addition to improving the user experience, Darren believes this degree of insight opens up new opportunities for content providers. For example, say there's a higher value set of streams, maybe for a subscription service or a live event. Those streams can be tagged and monitored separately, and have greater resources allocated to them to ensure up-time. Improved visibility into videos that are going viral means their placement on the site and their monetization can be enhanced. Another example is better-informed customer service agents responding to issues specific to a certain set of videos.
Some of what Conviva does is similar to analytics products like Omniture, performance measurement from companies like Keynote and Gomez and some of the reporting CDNs themselves provide to customers. But Conviva seems to bring together user viewing data in a unique and far deeper way than any of these. This week Conviva is helping NBC better understand its Olympics streaming using Silverlight. Conviva also counts Fox, ABC, NFL and others as customers. Conviva started life as Rinera Networks, pursing managed P2P distribution. It has raised $29 million to date from UV Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Foundation Capital.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).


Well, don't hold your breath. Here's the synthmuseum writeup on the 16-voice piano:
"This was Arp's ill-fated electric piano, which was introduced in 1979. Because of its poor design (the heat-sensitive Mylar insulation in its membrane switches and its noisy output), its after-sale repair costs pushed ARP furthur into debt. It features 16 preset tones, called voices, (hence the name 16-Voice) such as acoustic piano, vibes, harpsichord, harp, and electric piano. According to literature, "A 73-note standard wooden keyboard, with a specially designed and weighted maple action, faithfully reproduces the feel and response of traditional grand pianos." Velocity, however, only controls volume and not timbre. The 16-Voice consists of two separate tone generators which can be detuned to fatten up the sound, up to a quarter of a semitone. The ARP Piano also contains a six-stage stereo phase shifter, vibrato, and two solid brass piano pedals, the right controlling sustain, and the left assignable by a dual-purpose switch on the panel to be either a soft pedal (which also reduces the brightness of the sound) or a momentary vibrato peda"


Race against time
B&W scrambles to train enough nuclear operators before 2021 launch of SMR .
- June 28, 2013
Thomas Graham stands before a giant control system, its gauges and lights flickering with mock nuclear emergencies. If this were a real emergency, Graham would follow a precisely outlined series of steps.
His only emergency now is training enough licensed nuclear operators in time to support the launch of a small modular reactor by Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group in Lynchburg, part of Charlotte, N.C.-based The Babcock & Wilcox Co.
Graham is manager of the integrated design process and human factors program at B&W’s Lynchburg operations. He manages a simulated control room inside the company’s engineering offices — a mockup used to train nuclear operators and get them licensed in time to support the product’s expected commercial deployment in 2021.
“We want to have a high state of readiness, so we’re already training people to get certified. Having qualified operators is one of the long poles in the tent for regulatory approval,” Graham says, a reference to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
The reason for the early start: Graham says it takes at least two years for an aspiring operator to pass the NRC’s rigorous licensing tests. Some B&W engineers are undergoing training now, and more are expected to be added during the next year.
Inside the simulation center, a huge control panel juts out into the middle of the room. A series of flat-screen computer monitors on the far wall shows a schematic of Babcock’s simulated two-unit nuclear reactor, known as mPower.
Together, the system enables operators to keep a constant eye out for potential malfunction or other trouble spots.
The control system is powered by two batteries, each one the size of a small room. Access to the simulation center is digitally controlled, a cyber-security precaution, Graham says. Anyone entering the facility must be either a licensed operator or accompanied by someone who is.
Once in operation, the real control rooms will be manned in three eight-hour shifts. Each shift will include three operators on duty: two that monitor the system and a third to ensure that detailed, step-by-step protocol is followed for recording each incident, even minor anomalies and blips.
Part of the training: at any time, each computer screen will simulate two simultaneous but unrelated emergencies, or a total of four separate incidents. It’s a way of testing each operator’s skill and familiarity with NRC regulations.
Graham isn’t exactly sure how many licensed operators will be needed, but he says B&W wants to be prepared. Even after getting licensed, operators will undergo training to polish their skills, similar to how airline pilots complete periodic flight testing.
One week in every six will be devoted to new testing and training, Graham says. “There’s a lot of practice that goes into maintaining their skill level.”


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Step into the wild at Aalborg Zoo. Hear the roar of the lion at feeding time, come eye to eye with an orangutan, watch polar bears frolic in the water, and give the children a hands-on experience at the petting zoo.
In 2012, Aalborg Zoo was found to be the most popular zoo in Denmark outside of Copenhagen, as the zoo experienced sky-high numbers of visitors with a total of 410,000 guests. In 2013 Aalborg Zoo set a new record of 470,000 guests, and then did so again in 2014.
Popular playing area for the entire family
In 2014, a new big playing area with a playground, a barbecue area and a scene was opened in Aalborg Zoo. Here you can enjoy your lunch out in the open, while the children play nearby.
Luxurious predator facilities
In 2012, new and big facilities for lions and tigers were opened. Both species now have way more room than before, as the tiger facilities have doubled in size, while the lion facilities have been expanded even more. Furthermore, the area for the audience has tripled in size, and now includes a platform from which you have a perfect view of both lions and tigers.
Popular polar bears
The polar bears in Aalborg Zoo are popular. Aalborg Zoo was the first zoo in the world to set up webcams for people to follow the birth of a polar bear. The polar bear facilities in Aalborg Zoo allow people to follow the animals from different viewpoints. In December 2008, the cub Milak was born, and in 2010 the cub Augo saw daylight too.
Aalborg Zoo has created an authentic African environment with a 16 meters tall thatched savannah stable which houses zebras, warthogs and antelopes. In the village you can also meet ostriches and mini hippos. Experience the African savannah where giraffes and the other African animals run around on their own Danish savannah. Through the year, the African village in packed with activities like cooking, dancing, etc. for the entire family.
Aalborg Zoo works on securing endangered species through an international breeding project with zoological gardens all over the world by way of research, education and communication with schools and visitors in the park.
Aalborg Zoo offers several areas for you to relax and enjoy the atmosphere. Bring your lunch along or enjoy a meal at Restaurant Skovbakken in Aalborg Zoo…
The exit closes 1 hour after admission stops. Dogs are allowed, but must be kept in a leash.
Transportation to Aalborg Zoo with bus no. 11
Read more about Aalborg Zoo...
Aalborg Zoo on Instagram #aalborgzoo
Last updated byVisitAalborg firstname.lastname@example.org
- Accessibility - Easy access
- petting zoo
- Packed lunch permitted
- Coach park
- Activities for children
- Zoological garden
CoordinatesLongitude : 9.899883
Latitude : 57.038225


Germany wants to set up a system for early warning of tsunamis.
A government spokesman told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the system would in its beginning stage cost about $53 million, and can be built in one to three years.
The spokesman said the new project would add 30 to 40 seismological stations in the Indian Ocean to a global network of 50 already existing research bodies.
He also said the project initially would concentrate on Sri Lanka and Indonesia, two of the countries hardest hit by the devastating December 26 tsunami.
However, he added, with other donor nations, some 250 new stations may be included in the global system which will able to monitor also the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean.
Some information provided by Reuters.


DAKAR— Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has launched an emergency medical intervention following reports of the Ebola virus in southern Guinea, where an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever has left at least 34 people dead.
Guinea’s Ministry of Health, which says the outbreak has reached epidemic proportions, has registered 49 infections — including three suspected infections in the capital, Conakry — since it was first reported last month.
Guinean health ministry official Sakoba Keita told VOA Saturday that three of 12 virus samples sent to France have been confirmed as Ebola.
Amid growing concern that Guinea's hemorrhagic fever outbreak may have spread to neighboring Sierra Leone, the health ministry says World Health Organization officials are due to arrive on Sunday to conduct additional tests on site.
According to MSF's Dr. Esther Sterk, a tropical disease specialist, the Geneva-headquartered group currently has a 24-member medical team on the ground to treat suspected cases, and more staffers are scheduled to arrive in coming days.
“We have set up an isolation ward in Guéckédou," she said. "That’s one of the places where patients have been seen. In this isolation unit we are treating the patients, and also what we do, everybody who has been in contact with suspected cases or confirmed patients, we follow them up in the period of the incubation time, in period that these people can fall sick.”
Sterk said an additional isolation ward will be set up in Macenta, where there have also been suspected cases of the virus.
MSF said that more than 30 tons of medical supplies are now en route from Belgium and France to Guinea, including medications to ease the symptoms of the fever and equipment for isolation chambers.
This is the first time that such a virus has been identified in Guinea. This particular strain of the virus is initially contracted via contact with contaminated rodent feces and is then spread among humans through bodily fluids, such as sweat, saliva and blood.
Symptoms include high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and, in some cases, bleeding.
The WHO says Ebola is one of the most highly contagious viral diseases, resulting in death between 25 and 90 percent of cases. The virus cannot be prevented with a vaccine and is untreatable with medication.
“There is no curative treatment, but there is symptomatic treatment," said Sterk. "So if people have a fever, we give something to reduce the fever. People can have diarrhea and vomiting, so we give fluids, IV fluids. People have often a lot of pain, so we give painkillers. But for the containment of the outbreak, it’s very important that sick patients will be isolated and receive treatment in isolation ward.”
The Ministry of Health says it is has begun to educate the population about the symptoms of the virus and the importance of rapid treatment.


Human Rights Watch released its 2016 global report Wednesday, reviewing human rights practices in more than 90 countries from the end of 2014 through November 2015. For the organization’s Nairobi launch, Somalia and Kenya researchers gave remarks about their findings in those East African nations.
During the Nairobi launch of the 2016 Human Rights Watch global report, HRW Africa Director Daniel Bekele said poverty, unemployment, massive population growth, bad governance and weak institutions continued to set the stage for widespread human rights abuses.
But the "politics of fear" is the topic of this year’s report, and Bekele highlighted the increasing number of small to large-scale armored, violent conflicts in the region.
Bekele said extremists, including fundamentalist groups Boko Haram, al-Shabab and al-Qaida were responsible for much of the violence, committing senseless killings, horrible abuses and atrocities.
“What is an equally worrying trend is how much the security forces’ response to the security threat is increasingly downplayed and in some cases is probably totally abandoning human rights, and how much the security forces’ response that is riddled with abuses is actually contributing to a cycle of abuses.”
Tenuous security situation
Arguing that this tenuous security situation may be tied to the intensification of political repression in a number of African countries, Bekele said some governments were adopting what he called a “do-whatever-it-takes” mentality in restricting freedom of expression and association.
“We have seen a spike in attacks on journalists, human rights defenders and political opponents, and overall, sort of a very heavy crackdown on protesters as well,” he said.
Bekele also highlighted the concern that Western countries and authoritarian regimes seemed to be forming alliances in the face of these security threats.
“And Western countries that have traditionally been strong on promoting, protecting, and defending human rights have shown alliance with authoritarian regimes in clamping down on civil and political space,” he said.
Somali soldiers stand near the wreckage after a car bomb detonated in Mogadishu, Somalia, Dec. 19, 2015.
Sexual, gender-based violence
HRW’s Somalia researcher Laetitia Bader said that Somalia developed some key policies in 2015 pertaining to sexual and gender-based violence and the country’s widespread internally displaced population, but that those policies have not been implemented, and therefore, there have been no real changes on the ground.
She also mentioned an uptick in fighting in the country, due to the ongoing military operation against al-Shabab, but also in the drive to establish federal states in Somalia.
“So who is able to get a seat at the negotiating table in Somalia in the creation of federalism has often been at significant consequence to civilians on the ground,” said Bader.
Uptick in attacks
Otsieno Namwaya, HRW’s Kenya researcher, highlighted an increase in al-Shabab attacks in Kenya, primarily on unarmed civilians.
“However, what has really worried us is the response of the Kenyan authorities to the attacks by the al-Shabab. The KDF, the Kenyan police, the regular police, and the anti-terror police and the GSU, a combination of all these units, have been implicated in a wide range of abuses at the coast, in northeastern Kenya and in Nairobi,” said Namwaya.
But in spite of these negative findings, HRW did cite some improvements on the continent, such as peaceful elections in Nigeria and Botswana, progress in the expansion of economies and socioeconomic services in some African countries, and an increased awareness of maternal mortality and child marriage as rights issues.


SA set for solar power boom – paper
The Department of Energy’s projects are expected to feed a growing amount of renewable energy in forthcoming years. More than three million South African households may be powered by solar energy by 2030 if the Department of Energy meets its aims to add alternative sources to the national grid, the Sunday Times reports. According to the paper, SA is on track to be Africa’s leader in having the most solar farms, which are “mushrooming” in the Karoo, Limpopo and parts of the Eastern Cape.
Follow the link below to read the full article:


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Public health officials are routinely failing to inform the public of their right to refuse vaccines in both school and work settings. Greater powers are at work to make mandatory vaccination policies which will allow officials to conduct childhood vaccinations without any parental consent at all. The inventor of the rotavirus vaccine wants all exemptions based on religious or philosophical grounds to end along with informed consent and the freedom to choose.
Paul A. Offit, MD is an American pediatrician who specializes in infectious disease and is also the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine. He has stated:
“Children whose parents hold certain religious beliefs shouldn’t be afforded less protection than other children. That the commonwealth has allowed children to die from measles, bacterial pneumonia, or leukemia in the name of religion is inexplicable. That it continues to allow such abuse in the face of recent deaths is unconscionable. … should repeal its religious exemptions for medical neglect. Otherwise, children will continue to suffer and die needlessly.”
Offit is a prime example of how mainstream medicine attempt to exert control and how those in positions of influence try to convince the public that the right to choose should not be an option.
Just a few years ago, the pharmaceutical industry, the Department of Health and Human Services, and Centers for Disease Control allocated millions of dollars in funding to establish vaccine clinics in public schools, causing a huge uproar from concerned parents.
The RAND Corporation, paid by Sanofi Pasteur, outlined how to turn schools into vaccine clinics, which critics claimed will inevitably poison children with multi-dose vaccines.
These school based health centers (SBHCs) are located in school settings that claim to provide children and adolescents with comprehensive primary, acute, and preventive care for physical and mental health conditions. The following report Are We ‘Making the Grade’ With Our Children is a concise overview of school based vaccination centers and their objectives.
SBHCs are becoming a matter of routine in other countries such as Australia, where the focus has been to implement the same HPV vaccination programs despite the fact that Gardasil and HPV vaccinations are unproven, unjustified and lacking evidence-based medicine.
Public health agencies are pushing the centers in the guise of preventive medicine, when they will effectively promote the opposite. The centers are providing an entry portal for pharmaceutical giants to access student health records and provide dangerous treatments such as untested drugs and vaccines without the full informed consent of parents.
Consent packets are sent home by the school, completed by a parent/guardian, and then returned to the school. Vaccines are provided during the school day by nursing staff. Parents are not required to be present.
The consent forms are a one-time process, meaning parents will not have to submit consent more than once regardless how many vaccines their child receives. This leaves the door open for the injection or administration of any drug treatment to the child which the school’s health staff deems appropriate, without any informed consent by the parents on the treatment’s effects, contraindications or consequences.
Family doctors in the U.K have even been accused of administering the MMR jab by stealth to children coming into their surgeries to receive other vaccinations. At least 50 horrified parents have complained that their GPs have ‘mistakenly’ given their children the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, it has emerged.
Studies sponsored by pharmaceutical giants continue to embark on several qualitative and quantitative research projects to show biased results on how to assess the competency of consent from children for vaccinations. BMC Public Health published a study in 2009 which claimed to demonstrate that health providers have a duty of care to girls for whom no parental consent for HPV vaccination has been given, and in the UK, this includes conducting, and acting upon, an assessment of the maturity and competence of an adolescent minor.
The British Journal of Cancer published a clinical study on HPV vaccination among ethnic minorities in the UK: knowledge, acceptability and attitudes, to assess what they refer to as unique opportunities for the “primary prevention” of cervical cancer. The background statement alone was erroneous and false before the study was even initiated. Vaccination has never been proven on any scientific grounds to be a primary prevention tool for cervical cancer.
Regardless, the quantitative study assessed ethnic differences in knowledge and acceptability of HPV vaccination in the UK to attempt to validate informed consent and refusal of HPV vaccination in ethnic communities.
The study further demonstrates how desperate vaccine manufacturers have become to obtain public acceptance for bypassing informed consent. The need to initiate a study to derive data on the differentiation between ethnicity, religion and other factors to define acceptability of informed consent is not only immoral, but also shows a complete disregard for what consent represents as a human right.
The right to “informed consent” when considering any medical procedure or drug, is a fundamental human right and a key medical ethic that governs medical law in almost every country in the world. This ethic has grown from the Nuremberg trials after World War II. It forbids human experimentation and the use of force or intimidation in medical procedures.
The institutions that are using these strong-arm tactics are in violation of fundamental medical ethics and must be challenged forcefully if we are to preserve what remains of health freedom for humanity. The unions who have conspired with the various institutions to enforce vaccination must also be called to task for failing to protect children and workers’ rights from medical coercion and battery.
At the pinnacle of defending our health freedoms, we need to muster strength in numbers as the majority to secure amendments that will guarantee freedom of choice in health, and protection from enforced medication at all costs.
About the Author
Dave Mihalovic is a Naturopathic Doctor who specializes in vaccine research, cancer prevention and a natural approach to treatment.
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Filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke zooms in on the young members of a nomadic performing troupe to reveal the cultural, social, and political changes in China. This road movie begins in 1979 with the propaganda theater of a labor unit in a small village. As foreign popular culture penetrates deeper into every aspect of life, the group takes on its own fate and goes on tour, presenting improvised performances of pop songs and Western dance. The cold response and financial difficulties put an end to their euphoric existence, and their nomadic travelling life ends in 1989. Zhang-ke displays with accurate images the mood of a country in permanent transition. 2000, China/Hong Kong/ Japan/France, in Chinese with English subtitles, 35mm, color, 155 minutes.
NEW ASIAN CURRENTS IS MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM THE BUSH FOUNDATION.


Alexandra J Harmon
Finding and interpreting sources of information about American Indians' history. Offered: jointly with HSTAA 315.
How and where to find sources of information about the history of American Indians (and, by extension, the histories of other peoples); tips for library and archival research; how to evaluate and interpret primary historical evidence and secondary accounts of history; investigation of issues selected by students regarding the history of Indians in Washington State
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Class assignments and grading


Bad nuclear deal with Brazil and Turkey hands Iran a diplomatic coup
THE DEAL struck Monday by Iran with Brazil and Turkey will do nothing to restrain Tehran's nuclear program. It could, however, derail the Obama administration's effort to focus international pressure on Iran and buy the regime more time to enrich uranium and defeat its domestic opposition. In other words, it could be a major diplomatic coup for the regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which has skillfully exploited the eagerness of the Brazilian and Turkish leaders to prove themselves as global players.
The memorandum signed by the three governments outlines an exchange that superficially resembles one proposed by the United States, France and Russia in October. Iran would give up 1,200 kilograms of the uranium it has enriched in exchange for 120 kilograms of fuel rods it could use in a medical research reactor. But the differences are crucial. The October deal would have left Iran without "breakout capacity," or enough enriched uranium to produce a bomb with further processing. In this one, Iran will retain a bomb's worth of material.
Moreover, Iranian officials are saying they will continue enriching uranium, including to the higher threshold needed for the research reactor. The agreement also gives Iran the right to take back the uranium it ships to Turkey at any time if it decides that the provisions of the deal "are not respected." That includes a declaration of Iran's right to enrichment -- in contradiction of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions -- and to "cooperation including nuclear power plant and nuclear research reactor construction."
The deal arrives just as the Security Council was about to begin considering a new sanctions resolution, which was to be followed by tougher measures by the European Union. As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hoped, Brazilian and Turkish officials on Monday declared that their bargain rendered further discussion of sanctions moot. The timing is crucial in more than one way: Iran is approaching the June 12 anniversary of last year's disputed presidential election, and the regime is intent on preventing a resurgence of the opposition Green Movement. Avoiding sanctions for even a few more weeks could help Mr. Khamenei and Mr. Ahmadinejad entrench their extremist rule.
The Obama administration and its allies will have to work skillfully to deflect this challenge. The White House issued a properly skeptical statement saying that the proposed swap must be "conveyed clearly and authoritatively" to the International Atomic Energy Agency by Iran "before it can be considered by the international community."
It's possible that Tehran will retreat even from the terms it offered Brazil and Turkey -- in which case those countries should be obliged to support U.N. sanctions. Even if Tehran sticks to what was announced, the plan should be unacceptable to the United States. At a minimum, Iran should be required to end its higher-level enrichment of uranium if the swap is to take place. And if it does not agree to discuss the implementation of U.N. resolutions barring enrichment, the sanctions in the Security Council must go forward.


This Battery was part of Alexander’s Battalion which served as a member of the Artillery Reserve in the First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. The Battalion commander, Colonel Edward Porter Alexander (1827-1911) (May 26, 1835 – April 28, 1910), was an engineer, an officer in the U.S. Army, a Confederate general in the American Civil War, and later a railroad executive, planter, and author.
This battery (the subject of this waymark) however, was commanded by Osmond B. Taylor (KIA April 6, 1865). Taylor commanded the Eubanks-Taylor battery (also called Bath Artillery per Crute) assigned to Longstreet's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. He was promoted to lieutenant in March 1862 upon the organization of the Bath Artillery that was for a short time assigned to the 12th Virginia Battalion. His battery @ Gettysburg lost 15% of those engaged. Taylor had been promoted to Captain in March 1863 and commanded the battery during the advance into Pennsylvania. The battery formed part of the Petersburg defenses with the remnants surrendering at Appomattox. Captain Taylor was killed at Richmond on April 6, 1865, shot dead when he refused to surrender.
The Taylor Tablet is on the left or east side of West Confederate Avenue if traveling south, exactly 100 feet south of the Millerstown Road, 4-way intersection. The Longstreet Corps Tablet is direclty across the road. The Confederate Avenue Observation Tower and parking lot is 450 feet south of this position. The lot is good for 15 cars. If you want to park at the tablet, there is intermittent cutouts along the road to pull over. Avoid parking on anything green or you will be ticketed by the park police. They almost got me. I visited this monument on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 3:54 PM, just before the clocks were set ahead for the Spring. I was at a 600 foot ASL elevation.
These monuments were first built in 1900 and concluded in 1906 according to the NRHP nomination form. Some sites have the monuments being erected in 1910 or later; the NRHP also has this specific one at 1892 ending in 1900 so it would seem the current NPS is clueless about the installation date. 1910 seems to be the most reasonable date so we will go with that. It is amazing with all the work and effort exerted to make the Gettysburg National Military Park a reality, no one took the time to keep accurate records and correct installation dates. The work was done under the direction of the Gettysburg National Park Commission (established by the United States Department of War), after they took over the administration of the park from the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association (whose funds had expired) on March 3, 1893, and whose stewardship was then transferred to the National Park Service in 1933 SOURCE.
Draw the Sword, with descriptive help from the NPS site, offers the following description: Cast iron tablet, 3’8" x 3’4", with raised inscription painted in a contrasting color and mounted on fluted cast iron post. All 4’4" H. Tablets casts by Calvin Gilbert. The inscription on the 3.8' x 3.4' tablet narrates the events associated with Battery during the Battle. The battery's position early in the afternoon of July 2 and on July 5 is represented by two Confederate 12-pounder Napoleon guns cast at the Augusta Foundry, in Georgia. The cannons flank the marker. The inscription on the tablet reads:
Army of Northern Virginia
Longstreet's Corps Artillery Reserve
Alexander's Battalion Taylor's Battery
July 2 Took position here 4 p.m. and opened fire on Peach Orchard. Advanced at 5 p.m. with the infantry to a position about 400 feet north of Peach Orchard and east of Emmitsburg Road continuing actively engaged until night.
July 3 Took position 3 a.m. in main artillery line near Smith House northeast of Sherfy House on Emmitsburg Road and held it all day. Took part in cannonade preceding Longstreet's final assault supported that assault and aided in repelling sharpshooters afterwards. Retired from the front after night.
July 4 In position near here until 4 p.m. Then withdrew to Marsh Creek on Fairfield Road.
Losses killed 2 wounded 10.
There are scores of similar monuments for the various Confederate States & Union units which fought at Gettysburg. Four designs represent brigade, division, corps and army headquarters, and each has elements which identify it as Union or Confederate. Many of the tablets were created by Albert Russell & Sons Co. of Newburyport, Massachusetts and are made of granite, bronze and concrete or like this one, cast iron. All of these tablets were designed by architect Colonel Emmor Bradley Cope (July 23, 1834 - May 28, 1927). He designed pretty much every tablet for both the Union and Confederate armies, each one distinct, with several different varieties. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg, as well as he should be as this park and most of the things seen here today were designed by him and as such, are his legacy. These monuments/tablets were erected just after the turn of the century during the first and beginning of the second decade of the 20th century. Each one has since been preserved or restored at least twice since the turn of the 21st century. The plaques and tablets were erected by the Gettysburg Park Commission (established by the War Department). The Gettysburg Park Commission is also referred to as the Gettysburg National Military Park Commission or the Gettysburg National Park Commission, to clear up any confusions, especially my own.
On October 1, 1898, the Gettysburg National Park Commission in a letter to the Secretary of War set gave recommendations for continuing the task of organizing and progressing the work of the Gettysburg National Military Park. Every November they wrote their annual report which outlined the work of the GNPC for that year. The following is an excerpt from that report relevant to this waymark. The link at the end of the paragraph will take you to the entire report. The method of marking the positions of troops on this field, as approved by the War Department, is to place the principal tablet or monument of each command at the position occupied by the command in the main line of battle, and to mark the several important positions subsequently reached by each command in the course of the battle by subordinate and ancillary tablets, with appropriate brief inscriptions giving interesting details and occurrences and noting the day and hour as nearly as possible. SOURCE
Most of the Commission reports have been digitized and can be found HERE. The initial 1893 report up to and including 1921 can be found here. 1922 to 1926 are missing and have yet to be discovered. The years 1927 to 1933 were discovered in 1996 and are also included. To my knowledge this is the most comprehensive list of documents that illustrated the development and formation of the park.
Information about these specific types of monuments:
CONFEDERATE BATTERY AND BRIGADE TABLETS (ADVANCED POSITION)
These tablets are 3’8" x 3’4" in dimensions, with carefully prepared inscriptions cast in raised letters painted in white (contrasting the black background) describing the part taken in the battle by each brigade, their position and stating its numbers and losses so far as practicable to obtain. They are mounted on iron pillars or fluted cast iron posts about 3 feet high, grouted in the ground, and the tablets are inclined at a suitable angle so that the inscriptions can easily be read by persons riding or driving on the avenue. Every tablet is 4’4" in height. The advance position markers were cast by Calvin Gilbert. SOURCE & SOURCE
The Taylor's Virginia Battery Tablet is a contributing feature to the Gettysburg National Military Park Historic District which is nationally significant under NR Criteria A, B, C & D. Areas of Significance: Military, Politics/Government, Landscape Architecture, Conservation, Archeology-Historic. Period of Significance: 1863-1938. The original National Register Nomination was approved by the Keeper March 19, 1975. An update to this nomination was approved by the Keeper on January 23, 2004. The monument is identified as structure number MN566-B.
From the Nomination Form:
One of 100 cast iron tablets designed by E.B. Cope marking positions of batteries and brigades along avenue system not otherwise marked by monumentation. Tablets designating artillery positions have 1-4 mounted cannons flanking them. Marks the position of Taylor's CS Battery during July 2-4, 1863.
Short Physical Description:
Cast iron tablet w/ raised inscription painted in contrasting color & mounted on fluted cast iron post. 4'4" high; 3.8' x 3.4' tablet, inscription narrates events associated w/ Battery @ Battle. Two cannons flank tablet. Located E side of Confederate Ave. S of Millerstown Rd near observation tower.
Long Physical Description:
Cast iron tablet with raised inscription painted in a contrasting color and mounted on fluted cast iron post. 4'4" high. The 3.8' x 3.4' tablet was cast by Calvin Gilbert, and the inscription narrates the events associated with Battery during the Battle. Two cannons flank the tablet (one on each side). Located on the east side of West Confederate Avenue, south of Millerstown Road near observation tower.
1. NRHP Nomination Form
2. Stone Sentinels
3. Virtual Gettysburg
4. Draw the Sword
5. Historical Marker Database
6. Cowan's Auctions
7. Civil War Reference


"At age 24 someone tells you you're a statistic, your survival rate, you just don't think about that at 24 years old."
In June of 2000 Kathy Brown gave birth to her daughter, the light of her life in so many ways, but two days afterwards, Kathy's life suddenly looked dim. She was diagnosed with stage one colon cancer.
"Of course, I thought, I just had a baby what in the world could have happened?"
Her grandmother had a history with colon cancer and passed on a gene that increased her likelihood, but at Kathy's young age, she never thought to get tested.
"They told me it had actually been there for 10 years. So that was since I was 14 is when it started."
Now in remission for 5 1/2 years, she worries about her daughter.
She'll have to get tested when she's 14.
"I'd like to think they will find the cure within the next 10 years." In 2006, an estimated 2500 Kentuckians will be diagnosed with colon cancer.
An estimated 910 will die this year.
The best prevention is early detection.
The American Cancer Society urges you to check your family history to see if you should be screened before the age of 50.
- colorectal cancer is the third most common cause of cancer death in each sex.
- The risk of colorectal cancer increases with age. More than 90 percent of cases are diagnosed in individuals over the age of 50.
- A personal or family history of colorectal cancer or polyps or of inflammatory bowel disease of significant duration increases the likelihood of having colorectal cancer. Also, there are certain genetic factors that increase the likelihood of having colon cancer.
- African Americans have the highest colorectal cancer rates and the highest rate of death from the disease of any racial or ethnic group in the U.S.
- Other risk factors include:
- Alcohol Consumption
- Physical Activity
- Diet high in fat and/or red meat or processed meat
- Diet low in fruits and vegetables


Owego, NY (WBNG Binghamton) February is Dental Health Awareness Month and local dentists are urging residents to take the health of their mouths seriously.
"Unless you have any questions or concerns or anything like that I think what you're doing is fine. Regular six month cleaning, twice a year like they recommend, American Dental Association, brushing a couple times a day, flossing, I think you're in good shape," said Pam Bouton, D.D.S., when talking to patient David French.
That's good news for French, who doesn't mind going to the dentist for his regular check up.
"I'm happy with them, and happy with the cleaning, too. So everything seems to be pretty well and I've got a good bite," French said.
"It's all tied together and keeping a healthy mouth is just part of keeping a healthy body."
Odds are you already know how to keep your mouth healthy. It's as simple as following the advice you've been given your whole life.
"Brushing a couple of times a day. You know flossing is very important to keep the gum health and the in-between cavities," Bouton said.
Flossing is often neglected, Bouton said. Some people -- the very young or the very old -- may be physically unable to floss, but there are ways around that.
"There are different flossing aids and things like that. So don't be shy if you're having trouble flossing or you're just not getting the hang of it. It's important to say something because there are other alternatives that you can use," Bouton said.
Brushing for a full two minutes a day is ideal. But, Dr. Bouton says most people are only brushing for 30 or 40 seconds.
Even she's guilty of that sometimes.
"Oh I absolutely do. Everybody's in a hurry these days," Bouton said.
The important thing is to get into a routine. Use an egg timer, the timer on your cell phone, do whatever it takes to keep that smile bright.
Also remember that young children might look like they're doing a good job brushing their teeth, but they might only be getting the front. Dentists urge keeping a close eye on children to ensure they're keeping all of their teeth clean.


OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)-It’s a program that starts down on the farm but stretches into a lifetime of learning…and the kids often don’t even fully understand the lessons they are learning along the way. It seems like only yesterday when seven-year-old 4-H Student Luke Schilling received 20 beautiful Danish brown leghorn baby chicks.
“They started out where you could hold a couple in your hand, a little bitty. And that’s day after hatch usually, they’re shipped straight from the hatchery,” said Jenna Schilling, Luke’s Mother.
“There were black lines here and everywhere else was yellow. And the feet, their legs were like orange. Kind of like orange like a mango,” said Luke Schilling, 4-H Poultry Farmer.
The program gives newborn chicks to students ages 8 to 18. The students raise them to adulthood. With proper care, it wasn’t long before Luke’s fluffy baby chicks took wings, growing to their teenage and then adult egg-aying stage. Our young livestock grower has seen changes in the appetite of these potential prize winning domestic birds.
“When they were like a couple days old they were like eating that whole thing. In like two or one day, I’m not kidding,” said Luke Schilling.
“He seems to be enjoying it, he seems to enjoy the chickens and having them and fooling with them and he seems to like the whole process,” said Jenna Schilling.
The idea is to start with something small like chickens and then graduate to the much larger livestock. This young 4-Her has scratched up many lessons — from a better perspective of where his food supply comes from to valuable life skills like….. hard work pays off.
“Feed them every day, water them every day, and then we also have to vaccinate them since they are going to the show,” said Jenna Schilling.
“If they weren’t so scarred they would be really nice,” said Luke Schilling.
Nice as pets, but the chicks on Luke’s farm are strictly livestock and show birds. Poultry project participants will show their top 6 birds at district level competitions later this month. Winners eventually end up at the Mississippi State Fair this fall.
For more information on the 4-H Project contact Jessica Wells at 662-325-3416.


[RESOLVED] Putting an image as a frame around an iframe?
I have a site I'm trying to display in a mobile format, but on a wide screen. I'm convinced the iframe is the way to go.
I'm trying to load the iframe inside an image of an iPhone. You can see an example here.
Once you see it, you should be able to tell what I'm trying to do.
I've got this CSS down to allow for the iframe to be displayed inside the iPhones screen...
And here's the associated HTML...
I have no idea why, but I'm being forced to keep that iframe snippet with the google website in there. If I take that out, then the phone image doesn't display. I have no idea what the Google website has to do with my image.
Why is that?
Is this the best way to do this? Something easier out there?
Getting this to display in IE8 seems to be a whole other nightmare.
The abovecode does not make sense:
- The overlay is position absolute, but the iframe isn't. Why not???
- The overlay is smaller than the iframe. if it is supposed to surround the iframe, it should be an underlay (behind) not an overlay, and should be larger.
- Why does the iframe have a background image??? Surely that serves no purpose, and I'mnot sure it is valid anyway?
- If I've misunderstood, and the iframe is intended to hold the background image, then that is wrong anyway. Use <img> to display an image "behind" the foreground.
- Consider using z-index with position absolute to put the backgrouns behind the foreground.
Once I figured all this out, I was much better off, too... Here's what I did and it's valid and it worked.
I realized about half of this before reading your response, and the rest after reading your response. Thanks for your help (and the boost!).
margin: 0 auto 30px;
/*Mobile iframe CSS*/
Good to hear that you got it working, but one point:
The URL should be terminated with a slash "/". It's quicker that way.
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High Out-of-Pocket Costs a Hidden 'Side Effect'?
"Patients in my practice as a medical oncologist were coming to me with growing concerns about the cost of their care despite having insurance," he said. "We as physicians don't really know what all of the costs are, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't bring up the topic."
One in five Americans is underinsured, paying at least 10 percent of their annual income on out-of-pocket health care expenses, Zafar said. A serious illness could ruin these people financially.
Reviewing the potential out-of-pocket costs of a procedure can be beneficial to patients, the authors said, by enabling the following:
- Helping them choose lower-cost treatments when there are viable alternatives.
- Assisting those who want to make an informed decision about trading potential medical benefit for less financial distress.
- Allowing them to prepare themselves financially for an expensive procedure.
"Patient expectation plays a role in their level of financial distress," Zafar said. "If patients expect to pay a lot, they are able to cope better. If we prepare patients for the cost, even if we can't reduce the cost, preparation can go a long way."
Further, by considering costs in individual cases of clinical decision-making, doctors could play a crucial part in reducing overall health care costs for society as a whole.
Such conversations would be welcomed by patients, said Kim Bailey, research director for Families USA, a nonprofit health care advocacy group.
"Providers have been really hesitant to talk about cost, and they haven't thought a great deal about cost when talking with their patients about care," Bailey said. "In some ways, it's been seen as the provider's role is to focus solely on medicine, and that discussions of cost is really an insurance role."
It may take some training to help doctors grow comfortable adding a financial dimension to discussion of medical options, paper co-author Zafar said. Medical societies, advocacy groups and medical schools should consider playing a role in such training.
"It's a sensitive topic. It's embarrassing for many patients. And we as physicians don't have the knowledge base to talk about cost," he said. "But we give patients chemotherapy that we know is going to cause a physical toxicity we can't stop. We talk with them about how to best cope and expect it. That's how we should start thinking about the financial toxicity of some of the health care we provide."