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Saturday, January 21, 2006

The Scotsman today published this short letter - unfortunately they shortened it by taking out the explanation as to why the amount of power produced under most wind conditions is pretty nominal. I know that readers are normally expected to be turned off by statistics but this greatly weakened the point. Deletions shown []
In defending the British Wind Energy Association [from accusations of "fiddling its numbers" ] Richard Ford (12th jan) has produced some misleading numbers. While it may be true that windmills produce power 75/80% of the time they don't produce very much.[ The energy generated is proportional to the cube of wind speed so a 12 mph wind produces only a very nominal 1/8th of a 24 mph wind.]

His statement that wind is free, while true, ignores the fact that that windmills are so expensive & inefficient that it ends up twice as expensive as most alternatives.
Gary read this email out on Radio Scotland on Friday during a discussion about global warming. I think that with Bliar having quietly decided to ditch Kyoto the BBC have noticed that the party line has changed. One of the guests was Benny Pieser whose CCN is blogrolled here. By comparison a few months ago Newsnight broadcast what they described as a report on the non-catastrophic side of the GW debate which had 2 x 10 second soundbites from sceptics & the rest was rubbishing them.
The actual evidence for global warming, as opposed to computer models which are only as good as the assumption programmed into them, is very limited indeed.

On the other hand we know that the world has been warmer than it is today, around 1200 & in the late roman period when grapes grew in York without catastrophe, indeed both periods were relatively prosperous.

This letter was unpublished by the Herald. I am rather sorry about that since it left Alex Salmond's letter uncriticised. The SNP policy of playing up to the luddites over nuclear is pure populism, even if now no longer particularly popular, & unworthy of a serious alternative government.
I would like to defend the English from the charge of improperly providing even more subsidies to a putative London windfarm than to one in Northern Scotland (Alex Salmond letter 13th Jan). The answer is hysteresis. Transferring electricity hundreds of miles loses energy & since London uses more electricity than northern Scotland electricity generated there is de facto less useful.

As the entire windfarm industry depends on us providing massive subsidies the market principle has already been waived but the villains here are the laws of physics not of Westminster.

Mr Salmond is correct when he attacks Ofgem as having acted as "apparatchiks" for politicians in bringing about the entirely unnecessary energy crisis we are now facing (& the worse to come). Indeed it is the failure of the entire political establishment to allow the creation of new nuclear reactors rather than choose the "dash to gas" which is responsible for this crisis. A crisis which is much more serious for Scotland not only because so much more of our power comes from reactors due to close but because, again due to hysteresis, Scotland cannot make much use of the French nuclear power (produced at 1.5p a unit & sold at much more) which already provides 5% of UK electricity & keeps the south of England safe.

Unfortunately he has been one of those selfsame politicians who assumed that windmills will work if they just believe in them strongly enough. I have elsewhere* credited the SNP with having adopted a modern & progressive economic policy to achieve Irish style growth but their current energy policy remains driven by doctrine rather than reality & would be disastrous for Scotland.
Yours Faithfully
Neil Craig
* letter in the Scotsman last spring but we need not go into that
This letter was also unpublished. In this case I am largely going over old ground in response to Mr Robertson doing the same. Unfortunately with neither this nor the last letter published the figure of 1.5p a unit for French & Canadian nuclear electricity production is still unpublished - the link showing foreign nuclear costs (in cents) is provided at the end.
Mr Robertson doubts (letter 29/12) there is a difference between the maximum proportions of electricity generators can produce & their average rate. Nuclear does produce, at a low marginal cost, at its maximum rate for nearly 24/7 whereas windmills (granted I use an extreme example) work only an average of 28% capacity. It follows with inevitability that if nuclear represents 37% of installed capacity it is going to produce a much higher amount of the end product.

In another letter* he doubts the Royal Academy of Engineering figure of 2.3p per unit of nuclear electricity as being incorrectly low. Readers may be interested to know that France & Canada, among others, produce electricity at around 1.5p a unit (Uranium Information Centre figures). These countries use modern off the shelf reactors unlike our 40 year old bespoke ones. Should we decide to do something to replace the 2/3rds of our production (some coal & all nuclear) due to close in the next 15 years we could do the same.
Yours Sincerely
Neil Craig

Ref International nuclear costs in cents

Thursday, January 19, 2006

An interesting story from France. Of course it could't happen here.
One hundred drunk and disorderly “youths” from the “sensitive neighborhoods” outside of Marseille were let loose in a train carrying revelers from Nice to Lyon via Marseille. They vandalized the train, terrorized the passengers, stole from them, sexually assaulted several young women, made convincing death threats and, when all these wicked deeds were done, pulled the emergency brake and jumped the train on the outskirts of Marseille.

It took several days for the story to break. Apparently management of the state-owned SNCF railway system and local police officials thought they could avoid bad publicity by keeping the information to themselves. Even more surprising: no local journalist scooped the story, no eyewitnesses came forward to reveal it, the media blissfully announced that New Year’s Eve had been surprisingly calm -- only 425 cars torched and 13 gendarmes injured -- that the state of emergency was lifted.

The news broke on the 4th: 600 passengers returning at dawn from Nice to Lyon were terrorized for three hours by a gang of “youths.” As the bare details filtered through several layers of protective screening, it became clear that a major clash of civilizations…in fact a head on crash of civilizations had taken place on the 1st day of the year 2006. Joyful partygoers on the star-studded Riviera were delivered into the hands of a hundred drunken marauders.

Every official involved in the incident behaved stupidly, no one communicated, no one took responsibility, and the result would be comical if it were not so ominous. The train was not hermetically sealed. The conductor’s cabin was not occupied by terrorists armed with box cutters. There are all sorts of stations between Nice and Marseille. Though the hoodlums stole cell phones, several hundred remained in the hands of their owners. And the ordeal went on for hours.

Here, as far as one can gather without having been in the train, is what happened:

Police shoved a hundred drunken rowdies into regional train N° 17430 that was carrying 600 passengers home at dawn on the 1st of January. The SNCF had been running a promotional New Year’s Eve fare of 1€20 since 2001. The idea was to save lives by discouraging people from driving after partying all night. Civilized idea, n’est-ce pas? For the rest of the voyage, imagine a 1950s French comedy on the Riviera combined with a slapstick version of a medieval jihad raid.
Interesting that it took several days for the French media to report it. You wouldn't catch our media hiding a story like this.

The term here is anarcho-tyranny - where the forces of law & order will not act against toughs (it was the police who put them on the train) but will act against law abiding people who are not going to fight back (pub owners will not let people smoke because they can be done by the police & Nick Griffin is more likely to be the victim of a lynch mob than the leader so it is all right to charge him with saying that 2nd generation moslems might do things like this or even set off bombs).

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Response to the Lesley Riddoch programme today at 11.05-11.30 about why the Irish economy outperforms ours

Thanks that was pretty neat.

The introduction,particularly, deserved a BAFTA "Listener Neil Craig this is what you asked for - Ireland has been growing at up to 9% a year whereas we manage about 1.5%. Clearly they are doing something better than us & it might be worth saying what" - of course I may be biased.

Clearly I would have wished to see the entire programme taken up with everybody repeating low business taxes work but I can see that after 20 minutes that might wear.

The fact that the best your Scottish government representative could come up with was to say repeatedly that our big companies represent a larger proportion of our economy than Ireland's, shows how desperate he was. That is actually a bad thing since small companies are historically proportionately much more innovative than large ones (Nokia & Microsoft started as small companies) & also because big companies can move to eastern Europe more easily & when a big one folds the reverberations are so much bigger.

We need more start ups but to do that we need to have starting up a new company financially rewarding, at least moreso than joining the civil service.

How about asking someone like Ivor Tiefenbrun of Linn Electronics in some time to get his opinion of the Scot Executive attitude to business. (You may prefer to record it since he will not be gentle)

You asked if the Finns are beating us all. Despite the fact that the Finns have an extremely good educational system, are always at the top of the listing of the world's least corrupt countries, & have very low barriers to competition the Finns aren't beating the lot of us by much but the Estonians are - they both speak basically the same language but the Estonians have lower business tax.

Neil Craig

To the Executive of the Scottish Liberal Democrats

I note that, despite our correspondence & my request, you have not produced any examples of my alleged "illiberal" comments, though you had asked for my defence to be produced today. In the circumstances since obviously there is no case to answer I think we may now consider the matter ended. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who contacted you to ask that you state my specific alleged offence before finding me guilty of it.

While this has not been a comfortable event it may turn out to have been useful in clarifying ideas. I was interested to see that on Sunday AM Menzies Campbell stressed the need for adhering to classic principles of the last 100 years (I would have said 200). It is important that political groupings do not forget their roots The values they held to when they grew to the height of their popularity are likely to be good ones. While times & technologies do change & the individual can do things in the era of the internet & space tourism which were not possible in the days of the stagecoach, modern policies should be built on proven roots. Neither the leaders of the Labour or Tory parties appear to retain any link to their roots & if we understand liberalism that is all to the good.

In that spirit I ask you to circulate this statement, including the following extract from my previous correspondence, within the party executive & to those who have enquired.

"I have written in favour of nuclear power, of growing our economy by the methods recommended by Adam Smith & against illegal war & the censorship of the mass grave of 210 bodies at Dragodan created by our KLA allies during the period of & within the UK occupation zone, but I dispute that any of this can properly be described as "illiberal" - quite the opposite..........

I wish to quote from Mr Kennedy's resignation speech, since it shows understanding the party will dearly need in the future:

"there is a genuine debate going on within this party -
somewhat crudely caricatured at times as being in rather redundant terms as between left and right; in rather simplistic terms as between social liberals and economic liberals; in rather misleading terms as between traditionalists and modernisers.

I have never accepted that these are irreconcilable instincts - indeed, quite the opposite.
And I believe that unity remains fundamental to our further advance and success.

It should be a debate driven by ourselves.

It must not be allowed to become dictated by others who do not share our long-term hopes and goals.

We must stand and argue - politically independent and intellectually self-confident.

And it must be based on time-honoured, sound philosophic liberal principles - principles which have stood the test of generations and remain not just as relevant to but even more essential in British politics today.

The leadership personalities change from time to time in politics, but principles should not. Civil liberties; justice and rule of international law;"

If we accept that free trade & the principles of Adam Smith also form part of these time honoured principles along with the already mentioned respect for international law then it must be obvious that I have been in no way "illiberal" & I do not think that anybody who knows history could dispute that. Everything I have written has been according to liberal principles & I stand by them.

I firmly believe that it is in the interest of the party to stand for liberal values & particularly for the individual against the state (nanny or otherwise). The other 2 parties are fighting, like WW1 generals, over every nuance of ground of the statist wing of the "left right dispute" - we should stand for the individual not the state & when that means, as it will, that some policies can be portrayed as "left" & some as "right" we should not let ourselves be drawn into that outdated political morass."

Yours Sincerely
Neil Craig

PS Since the concept of a graphic depiction of views on both a left/right & individual/state basis rather than the linear left/right depiction is not widely understood may I recommend the website where anybody can assess their political position. There are several such sites but this appears to be the original. You may be surprised to learn (I was & a little disappointed) that I registered an excessively moderate 0 on the left/right scale & 1 towards the individualist side of the state/individual scale.

To which I received this somewhat surprising reply which indicates that they still refuse to say whatI have done.

Dear Mr. Craig,

Thank you for your E-mail received today.

After the E-mail I sent to you with the relevant section of the Party's
constitution I discussed with the Convener of the Party your request for
further information.

Her view was that I should not send you anything further. You had been
informed of the decision taken at the Executive, been given a copy of the
constitution and been told that the grounds for your expulsion were
"postings on your web site and letters to the press regarded as illiberal
and irreconcilable with membership of the Party." This was all the
information the constitution required you to be given other than the
opportunity of making a written submission as to why the Executive should
not proceed with expulsion.

I am presuming that the E-mail received from you to date is that

There is no opportunity within the constitution for you to appear before
the Executive personally. The opportunity for you to appear personally
will only arise if the Executive expels you from membership and you lodge
an appeal with the Party's Appeals Tribunal.

Yours sincerely,
In an example of serendipity which I wouldn't believe if it was in a story I have just received this email from Norman Fraser, the person who proposed my expulsion!

Well... He is off his head I think. I do not think that this will improve his chances of retaining his membership much.

Thanks for forwarding this. I have asked Helen for a time for Saturday and will get back to you when she replies.

Perhaps so Norman but at least I am able to send my emails to the right address.

Monday, January 16, 2006

This, not subsequently reported over here, suggests that all is not going well with the preparations for the trial of Croatian General Gotovina. I must admit when I heard that the Croatian (officially ex-)Nazi government announced having found his mobile phone number on file & arranged for him to meet the ICTY in a Spanish restaurant I suspected a deal had already been done. 3 years imprisonment in a minimum security chateau on the Dalmation coast perhaps & then the mass murderer would be free, or get compasionate home leave on account of illness. This has happened not only to Croats but pretty much happened to the original Nazis at Nuremberg. With the token exception of Hess they were all out between 1950 & '55.

However it looks like one side or the other is uncomfortable about the deal. Gotovina is shockingly suggesting that the US government is as guilty as he of the Krajina Holocaust. Longtime readers here will be aware that this has been obvious for years but Gotovina is certainly able to name names & give details which will make it more difficult for the "court" to ignore, though the same does not apply to the BBC. At the time I wrote a letter (unpublished) to the Herald pointing out that the fact that Operation Storm involved a 3 pronged speedy night attack very closely coordinated with artillery proved it could not be run by untrained militia.

The CIA secretly planned operation 'Storm', which took place in August 1995, at the Sepurine military base, near Adriatic port of Zadar,with the knowledge of then-US president Bill Clinton and top Croation leaders.

Globus said it obtained the information from the defence team of general Ante Gotovina, who was arrested last December on charges of having committed crimes against Serb civilians in the operation “Storm” and is awaiting trial before the UN's Hague war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

According to Globus, George Tenet, who later became CIA chief, had “directly” worked with Gotovina on planning operation “Storm”. The paper alleged that Clinton wanted to punish the Serbs
Tenet and at least 12 American military experts had worked with Gotovina in Sepurine, planning military action that resulted in the fall of Krajina. The Americans had, among other things, jammed Serb communication systems and conducted reconnaissance flights for the Croats, Globus said.

Legally, if the term applies, the ICTY are required to indict all those guilty of war crimes. When Milosevic asked Wesley Clark about the legality or otherwise of NATO's attack (Clark was already on record as saying it was illegal but so what) the judge told him he wasn't allowed to ask such questions & quite possibly Gotovina will be told he isn't allowed to give such evidence.

One minor problem is that the statute of the ICC makes it a criminal offence to run a "trial" on a partisan or racist basis. There can be no doubt that Carla del Ponte & indeed Scotland's own corrupt racist judge Lord Bonamy are guilty of this. Still in a world where that obscene genocidal child raping Nazi Bill Clinton still get fawned over by politicians & journalists who do know better justice does not seem to loom.

Did anybody else see the Sunday AM programme this week? Basicaly Frost on sunday without Frost. Interesting appearances from David Cameron & Menzies Campbell.

"This is the decisive moment Mr Cameron. What do you prefer to be called? Dave or David." Andrew Marr started with.

"Well my wife calls me Dave but lots of my friends call me David" Cameron decisively replied.

We then got a lot of stuff about how he is in favour of niceness without being extreme about it. He is also in favour of streaming according to aptitude but not ability. When asked the difference he explained that the 11 Plus was abad thing.

Surprisingly he actually supported, subject to various policy reviews etc., nuclear power. He is also in favour of using biofuels to replace oil, which won't work because you'ld have to cover half the planet with oilseed plants & anyway you use more energy growing them than you save.

Menzies Campbell, on the other hand was trying to distance himself from a recent interview which suggested he was going to lead the party from the left. he made the fair point that just because you are against poverty doesn't make you left wing & then said how important it is to hold onto traditional liberal values which have served us so well for the last 100 years (I would say 200 since we have been out of power since the end of WW1). He then followed this sensible statement by saying that his priority was "environment, environment, environment" (echoing Blia's soundbite of "education, education, education". however since, unlike Cameron, he didn't have any silly policies to go with this I think that, as someone who has only shown interest in foreign policy before, he is looking for something to stand on rather than meaning it. Lets hope so since apart from the claim that all the glaciers are going to melt real soon & we will all have to move to Antartica as the only habitable point on Earth there is very little visibly wrong with the environment, unlike ecucation.

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Reflective Reasoning and Learning

Eleni Stroulia

The capability of learning is a prerequisite for autonomy. Autonomous intelligent agents, who solve problems in a realistic environment need to learn in order to extend the classes of problems they can solve, to improve their performance on these problems, and to improve the quality of the solutions they produce. One way in which an intelligent agent may effectively use its experiences to learn, is by reflection upon its own problem-solving process. To do that, the agent needs to have an explicit meta-model of its own reasoning and knowledge. This work takes a functional stance towards reflective learning. This stance gives rise to a specific computational model which is based on three major hy- potheses: (i) agents can be viewed as abstract devices, (ii) their reasoning can be understood in terms of structure-behavior-function (SBF) models, and (iii) learning can be viewed as a self-redesign task in which the agent uses its understanding of its own reasoning to improve its subsequent performance.

This page is copyrighted by AAAI. All rights reserved. Your use of this site constitutes acceptance of all of AAAI's terms and conditions and privacy policy.

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New Astros owner Jim Crane considering name, uniform changes

Houston Astros owner Jim Crane says he's no longer considering a name change

January 23, 2012 7:21:02 PM PST
New Houston Astros owner Jim Crane is considering changing the name of the franchise as well as its uniforms.

New Houston Astros owner Jim Crane is considering changing the name of the franchise as well as its uniforms.

Crane said Monday the team will conduct a study to decide whether or not to switch the name.

"We're going to study the information both from the fans and from all sorts of marketing people," Crane said. "I'm not saying we're going to change. We haven't made the decision yet whether we're going to change."

The team was established in 1962 as the Colt .45s and has been called the Astros since 1965 when it was changed to coincide with the move to the Astrodome.

Crane said switching uniforms is something they are "highly considering." Any changes wouldn't happen until 2013 when Houston makes the move from the National League to the American League.

"We had the Colt .45s and everybody liked that one," Crane said. "So you can imagine how upset they were when we switched that. What you get when you look at the fan base is the older we get and I'm old, you don't like to change. But the younger fans are very receptive to change and the older ones aren't, so that's what we saw with the American League."

Crane's comments came at an event to announce several fan initiatives. The biggest move is a 5 percent rebate on full-season and 27-game season ticket accounts that are renewed by Jan. 31. The cheapest at the park will be cut from $7 to $5. Children's tickets in the lowest priced sections will remain $1.

They also have a new $35 ticket located on the club level that includes a $15 credit for food, beverages and retail items. These tickets cost $46 last season and did not include any food or retail credit.

The Astros will also allow fans to bring water and a small amount of food inside the stadium.

Crane and his staff met with many fans before deciding on these initiatives. He has been looking into ways to improve the team, which finished a franchise-worst 56-106 last season, and the fan experience since the sale from Drayton McLane was completed in late November.

"We felt that with the new ownership and the way the team performed in the last couple of years that we needed to step forward and try to get the interest back with the fans," he said.

"We're making some very positive moves to put a better product on the field, and we wanted to get people in the ballpark to experience that."

The Astros name is a nod to Houston's role in the space program as the site of NASA's Mission Control. Aerospace is a major industry in the metropolitan area, but now that the space shuttle program has ended, the city may be less likely to base its identity on the space program.

Still, Crane wanted to make clear that no decisions have been made yet.

"We haven't said we're going to do that, so don't jump to any conclusions," he said of a possible name change. "Sometimes change is good."

He said they haven't hired a marketing firm yet, but they are considering doing that soon. There isn't a lot of to make a decision. Crane said they must inform the league by the beginning of the season if they are going to make a change. They wouldn't be allowed to announce the new name or release the logos until the season is over.

"Baseball has to approve all of those logos and all of those changes and there is a lot of expense to it. We've got signs here and if we do change it, it's going to be expensive," Crane said.

The Astros have had several uniform styles in their history, including the shooting star jerseys and the now infamous rainbow ones. They've had their current uniforms, which include road grays and primarily home reds since 2000. They also have alternate home white and white with black pinstriped jerseys.

Crane said some past uniforms could be incorporated into a new design.

"We've been studying the uniforms and we think there are some good ideas with the past," he said. "We have had baseball's people in to talk to them about what needs to be done. We're trying to follow the proper protocol. They have very tight rules. We're going to get some fan input together and put a study group together."

What do you think? Should the Astros consider a name and/or uniform change? Talk about it on our Facebook page.

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Health inspector accused of groping on job

April 6, 2010 12:00:00 AM PDT
A local donut shop employee says she was groped by a county health inspector, and the incident was caught on video. The incident is being investigated by both police and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. It happened at Pixie Donuts in Pomona. The man and wife who own the donut shop on Temple Avenue are immigrants from Cambodia, but they've lived here for 20 years and they say they're happy to comply with all regulations that pertain to eating establishments, and that includes county health inspections. The wife says she's not happy with the inspection she got last month.

"Mrs. C." asked that her real name not be used. On March 24, Mrs. C. was in the back where donuts are prepared. That day a county health inspector entered, showed his card and asked to inspect the shop's equipment.

Pixie Donuts has an extensive video surveillance system, and video shot by a camera in the back room shows the inspector working. But his businesslike demeanor changed after Mr. C. told him that he had to leave to pick up the couple's children.

Tim McDonough is the attorney for the couple.

"The first actual assault was a hug, at which point the female store owner distracts him and says, 'I have to look out for the customers,' and she escapes, and after that a second altercation occurs where she's reeled in and of course there's some groping that occurs, and some inappropriate hand touching and things of that nature, and at that point a second escape occurs that then leads on to a third physical altercation," said McDonough.

McDonough said Mrs. C. feared if she made a fuss, the inspector would flunk the shop and the family would lose its livelihood. At one point Mr. C. returned to the shop and the inspector left. At first, she didn't tell him what happened and when he left again, the inspector came back.

"He spends about 15 minutes on the premises asking the female store owner if he can date her, and asks for her phone number and apparently leaves another business card with her in an attempt to solicit her to engage in some sort of encounter with him in the future," said McDonough.

At the end of March, Mrs. C. filed a criminal sexual battery complaint against the inspector.

Pomona Police Tuesday did not respond to a request for information about the status of the case. Tuesday afternoon, the county health department said it's taking the allegation seriously and has placed the inspector on leave without pay.

In a statement, the department said: "We are fully cooperating with all authorities. If allegations are proved correct, we will take swift and decisive action."

McDonough thinks that there's a chance that other female business owners have been groped by the same inspector and haven't come forward because they have evidence or proof. He says they should come forward now.

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Child's body discovered near Berkeley Marina

November 15, 2009 7:45:14 PM PST
It could be the ending to a missing person's case that no one wanted.

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On Sunday, investigators pulled the body of a small child from the water at the Berkeley Marina. The question is, is it missing Jashon Williams, the 17-month-old boy who has not been seen since his mother's body was found nearby on Friday.

Authorities were at the Berkeley Marina all day working on the investigation. Now, the Alameda County coroner is trying to determine whether the baby pulled out of the water Sunday morning is that of Jashon Williams or someone else. Family members of murdered Zoelina Williams are convinced this was her son.

"It looked like it had been in the water a long, long time," Dee Wood told ABC7.

Wood had just started out in her kayak when friends noticed something suspicious floating near a dock.

"They told us to come back because they had seen a body in the water," she said. "They didn't know if it was the body of a bird or something, but they suspected it was a baby"

Their sad suspicion was right. Devastated family members rushed to the marina even without official word. Williams' brother, Karim Toney, says he knows in his heart the baby is Jashon.

"They can't give us any information, but we put two and two together and it must be my nephew," he said.

Police arrested Curtis Martin Friday in connection with Zoelina's death. Family members believe they may have been dating. As they try to piece together answers, so do authorities.

"Obviously, there's a proximity to the lagoon and to the south Aquatic Park, to the estuary," said Lt. Andrew Greenwood. "There are flow paths between there through which water flows and those are large pipes or areas."

Family members say Zoelina never talked about her relationship with Martin. They do not believe the 23-year-old mother had any idea that in the mid-90s, Martin served six years in prison for beating his then-girlfriend's 3-year-old son to death.

"I think it's just a tragic situation, to where she was just dealing with the wrong guy, and he preyed on her 'cause she was a sweet person," said Toney. "She didn't think he would do anything to her."

Relatives say they have not actually seen Jashon since around Halloween. Many of them believe he may have been staying with Curtis Martin since then. Martin is due to be arraigned in Alameda County on Tuesday.

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Attack Helicopter Dispute Spotlights Russia's Huge Arms Trade with Syria

PHOTO: A Syrian army helicopter hovers above a national flag bearing a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in this Jan. 11, 2012 file photo.PlayLouai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images
WATCH Syria's Mounting Civil War

Russia's massive arms trade with Syria was thrust into the spotlight this week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Russia of sending attack helicopters to its longtime ally, which has recently stepped up its use of such weapons in attacks that have claimed civilian lives. Russia angrily denied the claims, saying its existing arms contracts with Syria "relate exclusively to air defense."

If true, the helicopter transfer illustrates why the United States and other Western countries have blamed Russia for contributing to the violence in Syria. Russia has repeatedly blocked efforts to impose an arms embargo on Syria and reports have surfaced linking Russia to arms shipments arriving in Syrian ports. According to one recent study, Russia has provided the Assad regime with over three quarters of its major weapons over the past five years.

That massive arsenal is why the State Department said on Wednesday that Russia has Syrian blood on its hands.

"On a daily basis, on an hourly basis, we are seeing Russian- and Soviet-made weaponry used against civilians in towns all across Syria," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Indeed, while Clinton's remarks were widely interpreted to mean that Moscow was selling Syria helicopters, an official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told ABC News that there is evidence that Russia has sent refurbished helicopters back to Syria. Arms trade experts say that Russia has a longstanding practice of bringing military equipment sold to other countries back to Russia for repair or upgrades.

"Such repairs/overhauls/modernization is common practice, and that is very likely the explanation," Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which tracks global arm sales, told ABC News by email.

While stressing that he has seen no evidence to support Clinton's specific allegations, Wezeman noted that in 2009 Syria sent several of its Mi-24 helicopters back to Russia for repairs. If such transfers are taking place today, he said, they are likely taking place far from the public eye.

"Regardless, if true, it would still mean significant Russian involvement in Syrian capabilities to attack rebel forces," he added.

Russia's Massive Arms Trade with Syria

Russia has maintained a lucrative, and growing, arms trade with Syria for years. It is one aspect of a close relationship between Moscow and Damascus that ensures Russia a foothold in the Middle East and access to the Syrian port in Tartus, which gives Russia's navy reach into the Mediterranean Sea.

According to a report released by SIPRI in March, Russia sold Syria 78 percent of its "major" weapons over the past five years. Such major weapons include tanks, aircraft, and air defense systems. SIPRI estimated that current and pending arms sales between Russia and Syria are worth between $5 billion and $6 billion.

According to SIPRI, in 2011 Russia continued deliveries of Buk-M2E surface to air missile systems and Bastion-P coastal defense missile systems. Moscow also secured an order for 36 Yak-130 trainer/combat aircraft. An order of 24 MIG-29M2 aircraft is set to be delivered shortly.

  Syria owns a fleet of Russian-made Mi-24, Mi-25, and Mi-17 helicopters which, according to a Russian arms trade expert quoted by RIA Novosti, were sold to them more than 20 years ago by the Soviet Union.

"There is no information regarding new contracts for attack helicopters supplies to this country," the editor-in-chief of the Armaments Export Andrei Frolov said.

Russia is also said to be carrying out similar refurbishments of Syria's stock of Russian T-72 tanks. SIPRI says it's possible some of those tanks were still being shipped back to Syria during the past year of conflict. In 2007 Syria began shipping its 1000 tanks back to Russia, which were being upgraded at a rate of 200 a year, meaning the last batch may have been sent back to Syria in the past year as the conflict escalated. Syria has deployed tanks in recent fighting.

Russia Blocks Arms Embargo

Despite international calls to end its military sales to Syria, Russia has vowed to fulfill its defense contracts, citing the absence of an arms embargo. Such an embargo does not exist largely because Russia has blocked measures, including efforts at the United Nations Security Council, that might impose one.

Speaking at a conference on Tuesday before Clinton's remarks, the deputy CEO of Russia's arms export trading company Igor Sevastyanov said "No one can ever accuse Russia of violating the rules of armaments trade set by the international community."

He said Moscow will continue plans to supply Pantsyr mobile gun and missile air defense systems to Syria. Those systems could not be used to attack civilians or the opposition, but count deter a Libya-style international intervention that Russia remains opposed to.

"The contract was signed long ago and we supply armaments that are self-defense rather than attack weapons, and there can be no talk about any violations by Russia or Rosoboronexport," he said.

Small Arms and Shadowy Shipments

Multiple reports have surfaced in recent months that suggest Russia may also be supplying Syria's armed forces with small arms and ammunition, weapons that could be used in the ongoing conflict.

Russia has denied the reports. President Vladimir Putin himself addressed the matter directly during a press conference in Germany last month, telling reporters: "As for arms supplies, Russia is not supplying arms that could be used in civil conflicts."

Arms trade experts say it's almost impossible to verify such reports, since small arms and ammunition are often much harder to track and are sometimes omitted from ship manifests.

"It is possible that significant volumes of supplies of other arms have occurred without us having noticed," SIPRI's Wezeman said.

Earlier this year Cypriot authorities reportedly found ammunition on a Russian ship bound for Syria. The ship was eventually allowed to proceed to Syria, but it remains unclear what happened to the containers in question.

Last month US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice slammed Russia over reports that another Russian ship, the Professor Katsman, was suspected of carrying arms and had docked in the port of Tartus. According to a Sunday Telegraph report this week, the ship was owned by a company controlled by Vladimir Lisin -- a Russian oligarch who has offered a $1 million reward for any Russian athlete who wins a gold medal at the London Olympics.

Meanwhile, Russia isn't the only side allegedly arming the conflict. The Independent reported this week that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are sending weapons and ammunition to the Syrian opposition.

SIPRI says confirming such reports on the ground will be very difficult, not least because foreign journalists are largely barred from entering the country.

Click Here for the Blotter Homepage.


text:
Lifehouse Finding Face in Rock Scene

His story seems awfully familiar: A religious childhood with missionary parents creates more questions than answers. Spiritual rebellion is followed by a cathartic musical awakening. Add in his distinctive baritone voice, and his story could be grasped by the masses with arms wide open. No, this isn't the tale of Creed's Scott Stapp … it's Jason Wade, the 20-year-old lead singer of Los Angeles rock outfit Lifehouse.

"I was kind of abandoned with the issue of what truth was to me," says Wade. "I was faced with growing up in a Christian ministry home and my parents getting divorced. It's like everything that they taught us kind of seemed fake at the time."

After his parent's separation, Wade moved to Seattle with his mother and retreated to his bedroom to write poetry and accompanying melodies. He then instinctively taught himself how to play his songs on the guitar. At 15, Wade and his mother moved to Los Angeles where the creative teenager finally found an outlet for his music with a bass-playing neighbor named Sergio Andrade and a drummer (who has since left the group). The three began playing weekly gigs at a local elementary school where crowds in the hundreds would turn out to hear Lifehouse. A few years went by before artist-turned-manager Jude Cole landed the band a recording contract with DreamWorks.

In late October, with new drummer Rick Woolstenhulme, the band released its debut disc, No Name Face, and landed a high-profile opening slot on Pearl Jam's Binaural tour. The fairy-tale feeling of the whirlwind ride is not lost on Wade.

"Part of me wants it all to slow down a little bit so I can just catch my breath and let the growing process take off," admits Wade. "I think we're being forced to grow at a rapid rate right now, which we're all handling really well. I'm really excited about what's been happening the last couple of months. It's gone by so quickly, it's just like trying to catch up to it, really."

The title of the band's debut, No Name Face, sums up the battle of positioning among dozens of rock bands fighting anonymity. While less preachy than Creed, more alternative than Matchbox Twenty, and less poppy than the Goo Goo Dolls, Lifehouse may be catching on. The album has reached No. 29 on the Billboard charts, "Hanging by a Moment" is holding at No. 7 after topping the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and a late winter arena tour with veteran acts Matchbox Twenty and Everclear is introducing the band to thousands more every day.

But Wade, who at 20 has already achieved a level of success unattainable by most musicians, often refers to himself as a kid.

"Oh, yeah, totally," chuckles Wade. "I still feel like I'm 16. I feel mature in some senses and then sometimes I just feel like, 'Man, I'm so young. What the heck am I doing here?' I'm just kind of following the path that's in front of me, and it's been really cool."


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'Sensory Integration Therapies' Lack Evidence, AAP Says

Woody Sims was a gifted boy. His mother said he began reading at a very early age, and he was a bright student in preschool.

To those around him, his development in his early years seemed normal. But in his college essay, Woody, now 18 years old, described a childhood experience marked by "deep fears of loud noises, cooked carrots and handwriting.

"I was over-stimulated, which meant I couldn't handle certain textures, and freaked out at loud noises," Woody wrote in his essay. "I also had problems managing tasks with multi-sensory inputs, like handwriting and catching a ball. These sensory problems meant that sports, driving, and concerts would all be things I couldn't ever do or see without a great deal of difficulty."

For Woody, the diagnosis of sensory processing disorder, or SPD for short, came very early, at age 4. His mother, Pam Sims, had arranged for him to be tested for his school's gifted program. It was the tester who informed her that he believed her son fit the bill for the disorder.

"We thought his physical development stuff was more related to his height," said Pam Sims, now 52, of Denver, Colo. "We didn't know anything about sensory processing disorder."

In a coincidence that Pam Sims calls a "luck of the draw," a center devoted to the research and treatment of this disorder happened to be located in Denver, where they live. It was here, at the STAR Center, that Woody engaged in sensory-based therapies aimed at improving his coordination and social and interactive therapies to help him deal with stimuli in his environment that he found harsh and jarring.

"It is amazing what it did for him," Pam Sims said. "As time went on, we had more treatments. We stopped when he was about 7 or 8 years old, as he had learned to regulate himself."

Stories like Woody's appear to support the existence of SPD -- and there are many such stories. Nevertheless, solid research confirming the existence of SPD is in far shorter supply, many in the medical community say. And on Monday, it would seem that new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics have dealt another blow to the legitimacy of SPD. Specifically, the AAP recommends, "At this time, pediatricians should not use sensory processing disorder as a diagnosis."

The recommendations also suggest to pediatricians that they inform families that the evidence for sensory-based therapies is limited and that outcomes from these therapies should be monitored closely.

"I think the academy statement reinforces the decision that there is not enough information at this time to conclude that this is a distinct disorder," said Dr. Michelle Zimmer, a professor in the UC Department of Pediatrics and a lead author of the recommendations. "Moving forward, there needs to be a lot more research in this field."

Dr. Larry Desch, director of developmental pediatrics at Advocate Health Care and also a lead author on the recommendations, said that he did not anticipate that the recommendation would be well-received among parents and doctors who believe sensory processing disorder should have its own place as an official condition.

"I think they'll be unhappy, some of them," he said. "But I'm hoping it will lead to more research studies being done."

Dr. Lucy Miller, founder and executive director of the STAR Center Foundation, where Woody received treatment, said she, too, hopes the recommendations will lead to more research. But she said that there is no doubt in her mind that SPD is a distinct condition.

"There is an unbelievable amount of evidence not cited in [the recommendations]," Miller said, adding that much of the most recent research "just has not hit the mainstream pediatrics literature yet."

Miller agreed that more research is needed to further define the condition and those who suffer from it. But based on two studies that have looked at its prevalence, she estimated that 1 in 10 children may experience it to some degree -- maybe more.

But in light of the current research, SPD seems a tough sell.

"There is more that is anecdotal than anything else," Desch said. "There were a lot of problems with studies."

It probably doesn't help that the signs of SPD are a mixed bag. For some, it takes the form of an aversion to loud noises, rough textures in clothing and the taste and textures of certain foods. It is also said to manifest itself in what are known as "vestibular" effects -- poor balance, clumsiness and a delay in milestones such as learning to walk and talk. Some appear overstimulated by the world around them. Others are understimulated.

And then there is the treatment, part of which involves what is known as sensory integration therapy. This therapy is aimed at improving a child's ability to correctly process the stimulation he or she receives from surroundings. This usually means modifying the stimuli to which these children are exposed using swings, unstable platforms, weighted vests and a vast array of other equipment.

It is this therapy that the AAP recommendations singled out, encouraging pediatricians to "communicate with families about the limited data" on its use.

Critics of sensory integration therapy point out that the sensory issues targeted are signs of an underlying condition -- and that focusing on these symptoms ignores the larger problem, be it autism, ADHD or something else.

"Our concern is if children are being diagnosed with sensory processing disorder but we're really missing the big picture -- if it is something that is truly ADHD, autism or anxiety," Zimmer said. She added that if doctors focus solely on sensory integration therapy, "we're missing the other components of treatment that could help them."

But, Miller argued, the therapy has evolved drastically from its origins in the 1970s. She also said the AAP recommendation ignores the other, newer therapies for sensory processing disorder -- approaches that emphasize social participation and require that relationships and engagement be a priority of the treatment.

Still, the generally lukewarm assessment of the studies published to date suggests the broader medical community has not yet recognized the existence of this disorder as a standalone condition, and it is even less convinced of the legitimacy of its treatment. As a result, few insurance companies cover the therapies.

This can make this therapy an expensive proposition for parents. Pam Sims says Woody's treatment cost about $100 per hour and was not covered by the family's health insurance.

"I think that the cost prevents some people getting treatment they need," she said.

The insurance situation is just one of the things that proponents of sensory processing disorder hope to change. They have pushed for the inclusion of sensory processing disorder in the upcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5, expected to be released next year. The DSM is considered to be the authoritative compendium of psychiatric disorders, and a place in its pages would mean that sensory processing disorder would become an official diagnosis. By extension, sensory-integration therapies would get a much-needed boost in credibility.

Whether or not the AAP's policy statement will undermine those efforts remains to be seen. Miller said she has already been told that the DSM-5 will not list SPD as a new diagnosis. She believes that it will get a mention as a sub-criterion for autism spectrum disorder. But what she is holding out hope for now is that it will be included at the end of the manual, as a novel diagnosis in need of research.

Miller said that she does not believe that the AAP recommendation will necessarily hurt the chances that SPD will find its way in as a novel diagnosis. And she said that right now, she will take any additional placement SPD can get.

"We would be thrilled to see it represented in any way, which would be a foot in the door," she said. "Right now, it is very difficult to get funded by NIH, because it is not in the DSM. It's very difficult to get it into the DSM, because there is no funding for research. It's a catch-22."

Even the authors of the new AAP recommendations appear to agree that more solid research on SPD would be a welcome development. And Zimmer said that despite the fact that one of the new recommendations explicitly urges caution with sensory integration therapy, she does not feel that this means the approach has no place in treatment.

"Certainly I think sensory-based therapies can be helpful," she said. "But these treatments have to be done on an individualized basis. It should be one component of a more global treatment program."

She said parents should consult their pediatricians if they are considering sensory-based therapies, and they should set out a specific period of time with a specific goal in mind -- a measurable reduction in episodes involving behaviors associated with oversensitivity, for example. She said that parents should then monitor their child's progress to see if these goals are being met. If not, she said, treatment should be discontinued.

"I don't think the academy is suggesting that [sensory-based therapies] should stop," she said. "But they should be one small component of a larger treatment approach."

Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News' chief health and medical editor and a pediatrician himself, agreed.

"It is so important that parents talk with their child's doctor openly about treatment options," he said. "Sometimes, there are treatments that lack scientific evidence because they are new and innovative. As long as they are safe, it may be worth undertaking in particular situations. However, as studies are done, doctors need to be open with their patients to let them know the findings."


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Caylee Anthony's Mom Released on Bond

The mother of missing Florida toddler Caylee Anthony is at home under 24-hour monitoring this morning after being released from jail yesterday when a California bounty hunter arranged to post her $500,000 bond.

Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, considered a person of interest in the disappearance of her daughter, had been held in Florida's Orange County jail for more than a month. She faces charges of child neglect, making false statements and obstructing an investigation for allegedly failing to report her daughter missing for a month and then lying to police.

Leonard Padilla, a California bounty hunter working through a local bail bondsman, arranged to post bond for Anthony Wednesday evening using his own money.

"My theory is this: the mother has lived at home for 22 years. She's a high school dropout. She's got this child. She wanted to start a new life," Padilla said in an interview with "Good Morning America." "And then somebody, either a close friend or the father of the child, ended up with the child and they're gone."

County hunterPlay

"[Casey Anthony] knows who she gave the child to .... I'm working under the premise that [Caylee] is alive."

Anthony was led out of the jail yesterday morning by Padilla and her attorneys, and was immediately swarmed by reporters and photographers. Her attorney pushed through the crowd and ushered her into a waiting black SUV.

The case, which has captivated the public and played out nightly on cable news shows, took another bizarre turn last week when Padilla offered to post bond for Anthony in the hopes of persuading the 22-year-old mother to talk about what happened to her daughter after her release.

"We think she wants to talk about it," Robert Dick, Padilla's partner, told ABC News Wednesday. "She's in a situation where she's in over her head and she needs some help. The reason this is being done is to get her out of being in custody and to be able to talk about it."

Casey AnthonyPlay

Padilla told "Good Morning America" that as part of his deal to get Casey out of jail, he would not be allowed to ask her questions directly, but information will be "filtered" through Casey's lawyer, Jose Baez.

"I think she will be forthcoming with the information," Padilla said.

Caylee, who would now be 3, disappeared in mid-June. Her mother was arrested July 16. Police have said that Anthony didn't report the child missing for a month and then lied to them about the disappearance.

Speculation swirled around Anthony after police said they had found "evidence of decomposition," including hairs the same length and color as Caylee's, in the trunk of a car last used by Anthony.

Casey AnthonyPlay

Anthony told police she left Caylee with a babysitter, but when she went to pick her up, the child and the sitter were gone. Police are skeptical of that version of events and whether the purported sitter, Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, even exists.

Larry Garrison, a spokesman for the Anthony family, said he believed Caylee had been kidnapped.

Garrison has acted as a spokesman for families in other high-profile cases, such as the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. He said he is not being paid to represent the Anthonys.

"They've convicted her in the press, and it's horrendous," he said. "If there was sufficient evidence against her, they wouldn't be talking about her going home."


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Green light for county paving project

A repaving project for the west service road at the Anoka County Highway Department facility on Bunker Lake Boulevard in Andover has been given the green light by the Anoka County Board.

On the recommendation of County Commissioner Andy Westerberg, chairman of the board’s Public Works Committee, the board approved an agreement with North Valley Inc. to do the work at a cost of $83,519.80.

The service road not only serves the highway department facility, on which an extensive construction and remodeling project is nearing completion, but also the old sheriff’s patrol station and parks and radio buildings, according to Doug Fischer, county highway engineer.

Work began on the project last week and is expected to be completed in two to three weeks, Fischer said.

Originally the project was to remove and reconstruct half the service road and overlay the other half, he said.

But when a quote came in at $90,215.50, the Public Works Committee at its April 15 meeting directed Fischer to go out for additional quotes.

The project scope was also changed to reclaim and overlay the entire roadway, Fischer said.

That produced a quote from North Valley Inc. that was $7,000 less than the original quote and the county has got a better product, according to Westerberg.

In addition to the repaving the service road is being realigned to eliminate a “kink” and to move it farther away from a propane tank on the property, Fischer said.

“The result is a better, longer lasting service road,” he said.

“Parts of the old road were pretty beat up.”

“The repaved service road and realignment will better fit the needs of the new highway facility.”

The cost of the project will come from the highway department budget, according to Fischer.

The $12 million highway facility construction is ahead of schedule and under budget, Fischer said.

The mild winter with the lack of snow helped in both cases, he said.

Right now, Fischer is estimating that the project will be under budget by $200,000 to $300,000 and instead of an August/September completion, he is anticipating moving into the new facility in the May/June time period.

The highway department expansion and renovation project stems from a master plan, which was prepared for the county, that spelled out what was needed to deal with the department’s immediate space, facility and operational needs and recommended facility expansion and renovations.

The project includes a new fleet services building, remodeled administrative area, remodeled signs and signals areas, a new loading dock, a complete facility sprinkler addition, bathroom code upgrades and conversion of the old sheriff’s patrol station building for use as “swing space” for highway use and ultimate configuration for use by others, according to Fischer.

The original maintenance garage was built in 1978 and the current building layout was constructed in 1987, but since then, the highway department’s needs have grown and the personnel, equipment and storage areas required to address these needs have grown as well, Fischer said.

Funding for the project has come from the sale of capital improvement bonds.

Peter Bodley is at [email protected]


text:
 History of Country/Western Dance – ABOUT DANCING
AboutDancing née http://geocities.com/dancefest/
History of Country/Western Dance

Pages selected from therelated to this page.
  Line Dance History ♥ How to DRESS PLAY for Dancing It's TOO LOUD!Vignettes

How Irish Dancing Got Started

Country/Western Dancing in San Francisco and its sub-urbs

United Country Western Dance Council
Western Dance History
Country Western Dance
by Jake Fuller

Dance, along with music, has always dynamically expressed the spirit and personality of every culture. Modern western dance is part of this global language and its roots run wide and deep. They can be traced to the taverns of Ireland and to the ballrooms of Europe, to the Czarist palaces of Russia and further back still to the fluid tribal rituals of Africa. Representatives from all of these cultures brought their native dances when they landed in America. Widely differing peoples who had little or no exposure to one another gathered and danced on common ground.

The cowboy was not the most limber of creatures. The long hours in the saddle and strenuous work produced dancers of questionable finesse. He was not of a temperament to master intricate dance steps or to gracefully lead a fair maiden across the floor to the strains of a fiddler's reel. Rather he would join a dance with a wild whoop and a goat cry. Joseph McCoy, the first great cattle baron, wrote in 1874 that the cowboy “usually enters the dance with a peculiar zest, his eyes lit up with excitement, liquor and lust. He stomps in without stopping to divest himself of his sombrero, spurs or pistols”. This dance style was not so much original as it was a spontaneous adaptation of traditional moves brought West by various immigrant cultures.

Puritanical thought, religious prohibitions, and traditional customs firmly established in the East began to move West with the pioneers. Worldly pleasures such as dancing were often frowned upon and, when not altogether banned, were designed to keep contact and spontaneity at a minimum. Consequently it was the minuet, cotillion, pattern dances, courtly processions, and “safe” folk dances that were favored by the early settlers.

The open unexplored spaces of the West both shaped the character and determined the inter- action of its settlers. People organized barn dances, husking and quilting bees, cowboy balls and get-togethers. Invitation was by word of mouth and those who heard usually came to dance. To prevent chaos from dominating the dance floor (few people knew the same steps), a figure who soon became legendary emerged. This hero was the caller and it was his job to orchestrate the heterogeneous crowd into harmonious movement.

Working with the steps of formal quadrilles and folk dances, he added a “cowboy waltz” position and helped promote the square dance. This new hybrid was considerably more casual that the traditions from which it derived, but it still inhibited the young who were ready for a dance that would add a more intimate hold on their partner.

A new dance called the Polka started moving West. Having “the intimacy of the Waltz and the vivacity of the Irish jig”, the Polka was embraced with enthusiasm.

The western population included such groups as Poles, Germans, French, Irish, Jews, Scandinavians, Czechs, and Russians. Each still enjoyed its own folk dances but many found common refuge in the polka. New hybrids were also developed, creating offspring such as the Varsouvianna and the Two Step. German settlers in El Paso, Texas developed the Schottische and line dances which were important precursors of modern western dances such as the Cotton-Eyed Joe.

Folks gathered just about anywhere to dance – on ranches, in barns, in wide open spaces under the stars. Slowly a dance that was specifically “western” began to emerge. Novelty moves and styles popular in Appalachia and the South came West and were absorbed by the new settlers. Freed Black Americans, in particular, exerted a stylistic influence that can still be seen in today's country swing danceing. However, the most important influence came from the cowboy!

The cowboy paid little attention to traditional dance forms. One observer commented in 1873 that “some punchers danced like a bear 'round a beehive that was afraid of getting stung. Others didn't seem to know how to handle a calico, and got as rough as they do handlin' cattle in brandin' pens”.

The swing of the leg when dismounting from a horse became a mighty Polka gallop. Women were handled as if the cowboy were throwing a bleating calf to the ground to be branded. Heavy army-issue boots contributed to crude footwork. The habit of wearing spurs, even on the dance floor, forced the cowboy to keep his feet apart and shuffle as he moved to the music. Several of these cowboy mannerisms, although tamed, survive in today's modern western dance. The “double arms over” move is reminiscent of the final “tying off” of a calf's legs prior to branding. The basic “push pull” position recaptures the rhythm of grasping the reins.

The beginning of the Twentieth Century brought new music and dance. In the middle of this explosion was the Black American. Their principal source of relaxation and entertainment had been their music and dance. In the old South, contests were frequently held on the plantation to see “who owned the fastest dancer”. Fascinated and envious of the rhythmic freedom of Blacks, Whites later “corked up” in black face and toured the country.

By the turn of the century, carnivals, minstrel shows, medicine shows and eventually vaudeville routines frequently showcased Black dancers or White imitators. The Black dance style was referred to as “jazz” or “eccentric dancing”. These fast, gyrating, acrobatic and tap dances had names like the Turkey Trot, Grizzly Bear, Kangaroo Dip, and Chicken Scratch. Black dance was viewed as a novelty, sometimes ridiculed, but the intricate footwork and fluid motions of Black performers were slowly seeping into America's dance repertoire.

By 1916, two years after the Great War began, New Orleans jazz was in full bloom. Just one year later, historian Bernard Grun proclaimed Chicago the “world's jazz center”. Inspired by the improvisational elements in jazz, couples began to experiment on the dance floor: They sep- arated, broke apart, twirled, and jigged.

Throughout the 1920s, radio brought music to the whole nation. Chicago radio station WLS began broadcasting the “National Barn Dance” in 1924. A year later the now famous “Grand Ole Opry” from Nashville was initiated.

In the late 1920s, George “Shorty” Snowden brought the entire Savoy Ballroom audience to its feet with his rapid, break-away solo steps. Charles Lindbergh had crossed the Atlantic in 1927 in one dramatic “hop” and, when Snowden was asked what his dance was called, he replied, the “Lindy Hop”.

In 1938 Benny Goodman ushered in a new jazz style. His big band swing sound was listened to around the world and soon the Lindy Hop gave birth to the Jitterbug, a fast moving combination of fancy footwork and elaborate spins, twirls and turns, many of which can still be seen in contemporary country Swing moves.

One of the many fascinated listeners in the West was Bob Wills. When jazz hit, Bob was struck. Eventually he formed his own western big band and helped create a genre of music known as Western Swing. Today's modern country swing dance derives directly from the music Wills played and the way people danced to it.

A new musical tempo could be heard after the Second Word War. Be-bop, a kind of wild and dizzying swing offshoot popular in big cities quickly gave birth to “pop” music. Rockabilly arrived in the '50s and by the middle of the decade had become known as Rock 'n' Roll.

Rock 'n roll was music of the '50s, but the dance that accompanied it was very similar to Jitterbug and Swing. The style of dance changed dramatically in the early 1960s when partners were couples only in name and where each allowed his body to dance directly to the sounds, lights and strobes.

Couple dancing regained popularity in the mid 1970s with the emergence of Disco. In the late 1970s, as Disco died and country music rose in popularity, a resurgence of interest in western dance emerged. Older dancers suddenly became models for a new generation.

Now that Swing is back, people are dancing into the '90s with a smile, a hat, and a friendly attitude!

GOTO The Original Article.

You might enjoy reading The History of Line Dancing

Table of Contents ## 28 X 5
Contact: SwingCha

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Chile Summer

About the Schools

Washington College of Law, American University

The Washington College of Law was founded in 1896 by Ellen Spencer Mussey and Emma M. Gillett, who established a coeducational school to ensure that women, as well as men, were given the opportunity to study law. The Washington College of Law became a professional division of American University in 1949 and is fully accredited. It is a member of the Association of American Law Schools and is approved by the American Bar Association. In addition, the law school meets the requirements for preparation for the bar in all states and carries the certification of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, as well as the New York State Department of education.

University of Chile Law School, Santiago, Chile

The University of Chile Law School is the oldest academic institution in Chile and one of the most prestigious in Latin America. Since 1842 it has been the place where the best representation of Chilean lawyers, politicians and intellectuals have received their education. With more than 1700 students and 200 professors, it is the most active center of Chilean legal academia. Important legal scholarship is published by its several legal journals and through its independent printing house. The large law library, its modern computer law department, and its clinical program reflect a commitment to legal leadership now and in the future.

University Diego Portales School of Law

Founded in 1982, the University Diego Portales School of Law trains students to have a broad cultural perspective and to be socially aware, open to change, and ethically responsible. To achieve these goals, the law school faculty is selected in a pluralistic manner from diverse schools of thought. The faculty shares, however, a broad vision of jurisprudence which purports to analyze law in all its dimensions: historical, sociological, normative, and ethical.

University of Buenos Aires

The University of Buenos Aires (UBA), one of the top learning institutions in South America, was founded in 1821. It is the largest and most prestigious law school in Argentina.  The university has produced five Nobel Prize winners and provides free education for students from all around the globe.  The University of Buenos Aires is a public organization which aims at the promotion, diffusion and preservation of culture.

Office of Global Opportunities
4300 Nebraska Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20016


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November 21st, 2011
11:19 PM ET

Video: KTH: Super committee promised not to fail

The bipartisan super committee tasked with cutting the deficit was unsuccessful after promising they wouldn't fail.

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Filed under: Keeping Them Honest • Raw Politics
November 21st, 2011
11:15 PM ET

Video: Is Gulf seafood unsafe to eat?

There are questions about the safety of seafood in the Gulf following the BP oil disaster. Gary Tuchman reports.

View exclusive behind-the-scenes photos.

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Filed under: Environmental issues • Gulf Oil Spill
November 21st, 2011
11:12 PM ET

Video: Loughner's mental state improving

Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on new testimony about the mental competency of Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner.

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Filed under: Crime & Punishment • Medical News
November 21st, 2011
10:52 PM ET

Video: Protests and violence in Tahrir Square

Cabinet members in Egypt offered their resignations amid renewed protests and violence in Tahrir Square.

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Filed under: Ben Wedeman • Egypt
November 21st, 2011
10:50 PM ET

Video: PSU internal investigation underway

CNN's Jason Carroll reports on the issues facing Penn State's internal investigation into sex abuse allegations.
November 21st, 2011
07:43 PM ET

Letters to the President #1036: 'Back to the future'

Reporter's Note: The so called super committee in Congress is having a very bad time trying to reach a deal, which must be depressing for the president.

Dear Mr. President,

Did I stumble into some sort of rip in the time/space continuum that has thrust me back into the past? I woke up today to news of riots in Egypt, a collapse in Congress over the debt, a guy plotting to set off bombs in New York, and an economy that seems as if it's simply frozen in place.

Seriously, it feels as if nothing has changed since January, which is kind of spooky when you think about it. Thank goodness Kim Kardashian is helping us keep track of the time by getting married and divorced quicker than a cat on a cockroach.

That said it is not a good thing for people to start feeling as if time is standing still. I know, because this weekend I ran a 52 mile road race and trust me…between miles 30 and 50 it felt as if the clock had stopped stone cold. It was just mile after mile after mile after mile of torment with no sense of making any progress. Up a mountain, down a mountain; into a creek, out of a creek; around one corner, onto the next corner. It was awfully hard not to quit. But I stuck with it. Despite the monotony, I looked for each sign of progress. I pressed on, and eventually I staggered across the finish line, cold, tired, and hungry.

I mention this because a) I’m rather proud of having pulled it off and, b) because there is a lesson in the effort.

Simply put, sometimes it does feel as if nothing at all is changing; as if we are in a terrible rut from which we may never emerge, and that can be discouraging. But that’s when you have to rely on your training and experience to keep you trudging on. Sure, maybe it feels as if we’ve slid all the way back into last winter at the moment, but with more pushing, more effort, more striving, perhaps we can get everything moving again. And why not? After all, the alternative…just sitting down by the side of the trail and weeping…won’t help at all.

Hope all is well.

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Filed under: Letters to the President • Opinion • President Barack Obama • T1 • Tom Foreman
November 21st, 2011
06:02 PM ET

Tonight on AC360: Is Gulf seafood safe?

Editor's note: At 8 p.m. ET Gary Tuchman reports on the lasting effects of the BP oil spill disaster.

For much of the country, the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster ended when the well was finally capped on July 15, 2010. Government predictions of the damage from millions of gallons of oil and dispersant were not as dire as many feared, media attention subsided and most people just moved on. But for those whose survival depends on the Gulf, they say they still live with the disaster every day.

“This oil disaster … was like a reoccurring nightmare. It was like a Hurricane Katrina every day. What is tomorrow going to bring? Are they going to be able to stop it? What's our lives going to be like?” said Clint Guidry, President of the Louisiana Shrimp Association. He added, “You still see a lot of that – so many uncertainties and so many question marks on what's going to happen to our fishery?”

That fishery could be in serious trouble from issues related to the oil spill.

Post by:
Filed under: Environmental issues • Gary Tuchman • Gulf Oil Spill
Beat 360° 11/21/11
Singer Taylor Swift accepts Artist of the Year award onstage at the 2011 American Music Awards on November 20, 2011 in Los Angeles. Photo credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
November 21st, 2011
05:23 PM ET

Beat 360° 11/21/11

Ready for today's Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture, and you provide the caption. Our staff will join in, too. Tune in tonight at 8 p.m. to see if yours is our favorite!

Congratulations to the winners!

"Taking a page out of the Palin playbook, Taylor Swift reads her talking points off of her hand."

"Maybe if I can't see him, Kanye can't see me!"
Beat 360° Challenge

Filed under: Beat 360°
David Gergen: Have they gone nuts in Washington?
November 21st, 2011
02:00 PM ET

David Gergen: Have they gone nuts in Washington?

Editor's note: David Gergen will appear on AC360° at 8 p.m. ET to weigh in on the super committee's negotiations and today's political hot topics.

David Gergen is a senior political analyst for CNN and has been an adviser to four presidents. He is a professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Follow him on Twitter: @David_Gergen.

Cambridge, Massachusetts (CNN) - Have they gone nuts in Washington?

Last summer, as the debt ceiling debacle ended, our political leaders held out high hope that a "super committee" would meet for 10 weeks this fall and forge a bipartisan agreement that would do far more to bring down the nation's deficits.

Everyone knew that members of the committee had deep differences.

Republicans complain that federal spending under President Obama has gone up dramatically and cuts should come there before any new taxes.

Democrats say that the rich have increased their wealth much more rapidly than the other 99% of Americans, while their taxes have gone down, so that the first order of business is to raise taxes on them. Both sides have valid points, worthy of debate.

Read more....

Filed under: David Gergen • Opinion • Raw Politics
November 21st, 2011
08:00 AM ET

Video: CNN Heroes Top 10: Derreck Kayongo

(CNN) - Derreck Kayongo's Global Soap Project collects used hotel soap bars, reprocessing it to save lives in impoverished countries.

Since 2009, the Atlanta-based nonprofit has provided about 150,000 bars of soap for communities in 10 countries, including Haiti, Kenya and Afghanistan.

Kayongo, a Uganda native, considers the soap he provides for poverty-stricken children "a first line of defense" to help fight disease. CNN asked him for his thoughts on being chosen as one of the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2011.

CNN: Where were you when you got the call that you'd been selected as a top 10 CNN Hero?

Derreck Kayongo: I was in my office at work, and I was really taken by surprise by this generous compliment.

It's very humbling and at the same time very rewarding to know that there are folk out there who think that we are doing something so important to human survival that it warrants recognition of this magnitude. On behalf of all the poor that live on a dollar a day, we receive this recognition with immense joy. Someone does really care!

Filed under: CNN Heroes


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Other Dental COBRE Grantees

The objectives of the Center for the Biologic Basis of Oral/Systemic Diseases (CBBOSD) are: RESEARCH: To develop a better understanding of the biologic principles that underpin the observed linkages of chronic oral infections and inflammation with systemic disease sequelae; and TRAINING: To use this research focus as a platform to develop promising young investigators in oral health sciences and enhance their competitiveness for external funding, including NIH grant support. We will accomplish these objectives by: Organizing a cadre of established, funded scientists to examine crucial questions related to oral and systemic health linkages, Providing young research faculty with opportunities for interdisciplinary training in oral health sciences and systemic disease, Mentoring young faculty in research projects focused on oral infections, host responses, and systemic disease that will lead to success as independent NIH-funded researchers, Developing and supporting core facilities and resources to optimize the research enterprise of the CBBOSD faculty, Facilitating pilot projects, as well as intra- and inter-university collaborations among CBBOSD faculty, and other researchers at the University of Kentucky, Strategic hiring of new faculty to complement existing strengths to contribute to a critical mass of funded investigators in the biology of oral-systemic diseases. To address this need, we have organized the research activities and leadership of the CBBOSD into 2 broad thematic areas. These thematic areas will incorporate 6 research projects that are integrated with respect to underlying concepts, methodologies, and availability of biological specimens. THEMATIC AREA 1: Oral infections: Translational studies of hostparasite interactions; Project 1: Oral Infections and HIV Recrudescence; Project 2: Oral Infections: Inflammation, Lipid Metabolism, and Atherosclerosis; Project 3: Oral Infections: Genomic Analysis of Host Responses to Polyrnicrobial Infections;. THEMATIC AREA 2: Oral infections: Clinical implications for systemic disease; Project 4: Oral Infections: Impact on Gestational Diabetes; Project 5: Oral Infections: Dietary Regulation of Local and Systemic Inflammatory Responses; Project 6: Oral Infections: Viral/Bacterial Interactions in Chronic Diseases. These research projects are integral to the goals of the CBBOSD because they focus on critical questions of the biology of chronic oral infections and contribution to alterations in systemic health. The overall focus of the CBBOSD is diverse to enable this interdisciplinary research team to: (i) address the myriad of challenges in understanding critical parameters of the interplay between infections and disease in the oral cavity, and (ii) use the available expertise of senior faculty at UK with experience in mentoring young investigators. Thus, junior investigators will be integrated into research projects with established, funded faculty who use state-of-the-art cellular and molecular approaches to explore the biologic basis of this relationship. The breadth of science and varied senior research expertise assures that the CBBOSD will provide opportunities for many junior investigators, who will have the capability to interact within this nurturing environment. The outcomes of this mentored, nurturing structure will enhance the maturation of oral health research at UK, through the College of Dentistry, and synergize in expanding NIH-funded research in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Oral health is often considered a mirror of general health. As such, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center has recently placed a significant emphasis on oral health-related research, in response to this charge, the LSU School of Dentistry acquired Institutional and State support to establish a Center of Excellence in Oral and Craniofacial Biology in 2000. One of the strongest emerging research foci within the Center of Excellence is oral infectious disease/pathogenesis led by several established senior investigators. The rising Center of Excellence has shown considerable productivity in the past 3 years and is now poised for expansion and development of junior faculty through a COBRE. To this end, we are proposing to develop promising junior principal investigators through a structured mentoring program and meritorious basic and clinical research. The theme is 'Oral Infectious Diseases' and includes 4 projects on oral health anomalies, including oral opportuntistic infections in the HIV patient, periodontal disease, and dental caries. Mentoring will be through teams of senior investigators in the Center of Excellence and LSU School of Medicine with related expertise and funding experience. Moreover, significant infrastructure will be contributed by three Cores, including Administrative, Biomedical Equipment, and Statistics. The COBRE is led by an established NIH-funded Investigator who has extensive experience in leading center grants and is the current Director of the Center of Excellence. There will be significant interim and outcome evaluations of benchmarks through an internal (mentors) and external advisory board. The objectives of the COBRE are to (i) develop junior faculty into independent investigators through meritorious research and structured mentoring, (ii) provide training in clinical and basic science research related to oral health, (iii) develop critical mass in oral health research at the LSU School of Dentistry and Center of Excellence through mentoring and recruitment, (iv) continue to develop/enhance infrastructure of the existing Center of Excellence, and (v) implement both interim and outcome evaluations to measure progress. The long-term goals will be to have a critical mass of experienced independent investigators at the LSU School of Dentistry whose extramurally funded research significantly enhances the oral and general health of persons in the State of Louisiana and nationally.

University of Louisville (CRISP)
Molecular Determinants of Developmental Defects

The purpose of this application for a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) is to foster health-related research and increase the competitiveness of junior, unfunded investigators at the Birth Defects Center at the UL School of Dentistry for independent funding. If funded, this COBRE will augment and strengthen the biomedical research capacity at the Birth Defects Center through provision of flexible support to expand and develop biomedical faculty research capability. The program is led by an established biomedical research scientist, well recognized for his extensive expertise central to the research theme of the proposal. The application seeks support for junior investigators from several complementary disciplines, each of whom will be mentored by an established, well-funded senior biomedical research faculty member, recognized for his/her scientific expertise in the area of the junior investigator's research proposal. This approach is a critical assurance of success of this initiative. This application represents an integrated series of studies focusing on two common themes - molecular mechanisms of birth defects and cellular signal transduction - that encompass a number of diverse scientific disciplines. Faculty from three different departments in the Schools of Dentistry and Medicine, representing a multiplicity of scientific disciplines, present a multifunctional approach to questions of the molecular basis of developmental anomalies. This application, if funded, will substantially enhance the development of five young investigators with outstanding potential to develop into competitive, independent and collaborative investigators. A detailed plan for their research career development has been formulated, expectations and goals for achieving extramural support is outlined, the extent of departmental and university support provided to these junior faculty is substantial, clear and tangible evidence of institutional commitment has been documented, and sufficient and adequate space and equipment resources for the conduct of the proposed studies exists.

Medical University of South Carolina (CRISP)
South Carolina COBRE for Oral Health

This proposal seeks support for the development of the South Carolina COBRE for Oral Health at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) College of Dental Medicine. The South Carolina COBRE for Oral Health will train a cadre of targeted investigators who will become established investigators and will provide academic leadership in the continued development of the College of Dental Medicine's oral and craniofacial health research program. The program is highly leveraged with existing strengths at MUSC's academic health science center including: 1) a pool of outstanding faculty mentors who are collaborative and well-funded by NIH institutes and peer-review sponsors; 2) a pool of outstanding targeted investigators with strong, pre-existing relationships with members of the faculty mentor group; 3) critical relevant research space and core resources; 4) access to unique populations currently under investigation and served by MUSC's community outreach programs; 5) access to clinical materials from these populations; and 6) an innovative collaborative relationship between MUSC and the NIDCR intramural research program on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD that provides expanded research mentoring opportunities to targeted investigators in the South Carolina COBRE for Oral Health Program. Thus, the COBRE funding mechanism will allow the College of Dental Medicine to apply COBRE resources to most efficiently meet the goals of its research strategic plan to develop a nationally competitive and prominent oral health research program at MUSC which directly benefits the oral health care needs of the citizens of South Carolina. The South Carolina COBRE for Oral Health program will: * Mentor an initial cadre of five targeted investigators to develop successful, independent, NIH- funded research careers in oral health science. * Enhance the oral health research infrastructure. COBRE funds will permit significantdevelopment of critical resources (cores) in the development of a research infrastructure supportive of multidisciplinary oral health research at MUSC's academic health science center. * Recruit two additional new faculty members whose experience and disciplinary expertise will complement those of the COBRE investigators in areas deemed critical by the Steering and the External Advisory Committees. * Sustain the infrastructure of the South Carolina COBRE for Oral Health beyond the initial 5- year award.

University of Nebraska (CRISP)
Nebraska Center for Cellular Signaling

his COBRE application proposes to establish a Center for Cellular Signaling that will augment and strengthen the research capacity within the Dental Schools in Nebraska. The Center will include scientists from three nearby research universities in Nebraska: University of Nebraska Medical Center, University of Nebraska at Lincoln and Creighton University. The objectives of the Center are 1) to expand the current focus on cellular signaling, with a concentration on its role in tumorigenesis; 2) to increase the research profile of Nebraska's dental schools, with the ultimate goal of being included in the top dental schools in the country in NIH funding; and, most importantly, 3) to contribute to the development of promising young faculty, so that they will become prominent members of the scientific community as evidenced by significant NIH funding, publication of important manuscripts, service on review panels and invitations to speak across the country. To accomplish these goals we will create the necessary infrastructure, which will consist of 1) An organized Center that includes a dedicated director aided by an assistant, an Administrative Advisory Council, a group of committed mentors, an External Advisory Council, and a group of talented project leaders; 2) A collection of inter-related research projects focused on cellular signaling; and 3) A program of development, designed to enhance and sustain the Center, that will include a seminar program, graduate student stipends and a seed grant program. We have strong support from all three institutions and a plan in place to sustain the program when the COBRE funding expires. The PI and mentors involved in this project are committed to developing a culture of mentoring within the Colleges of Dentistry in Nebraska. In addition, the collaborative environment resulting from the formation of the Center will enhance the research infrastructure within Nebraska's Dental Schools. Thus, the chances we will meet all our goals are very high.

University of Oklahoma (CRISP)
Biofilm Formation and Metabolism on Dental Surfaces

The present Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) proposal is designed to grow oral health related research, and increase the competitiveness of investigators associated with the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry and affiliated institutions with common interests in dental research. At the center of this proposal are the junior investigators who will take a multidisciplinary approach to study microbial biofilm formation and metabolism on natural and artificial dental surfaces. The establishment and evolution of microbial biofilms on smooth surfaces in the oral cavity leads to dental caries, gingivitis, and periodontitis, accounting for the majority of all dental disease. To approach this problem from a number of vantage points, project investigators in the present proposal were drawn from complementary fields, including microbiology and genetics, pathology and cell biology, periodontics, and dental materials. An administrative core will oversee and work with the junior investigators, providing mentoring from senior investigators, enhanced core facilities, and an external advisory committee of internationally recognized scientists in the thematic topic of microbial biofilms on dental surfaces. In addition, a training program for students at all levels will be initiated as well as an outreach program to identify faculty and students at other institutions in the state interested in dental biofilm research. The university administration has committed to expand this effort with the addition of two permanent faculty positions from institutional resources. This COBRE proposal provides the necessary resources, infrastructure, and mentoring required for Oklahoma dental researchers to be successful in competing for future NIH funding as independent investigators. The ultimate benefit of this program will be the translation of research knowledge to treatment and prevention of oral diseases.

 - Center for Oral Health Research
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Introduction to ACC Placement for URJ Congregations with Cantor Barbara Ostfeld

Jan 25 2012 - 7:00pm
Jan 25 2012 - 8:00pm

If you are a URJ congregation and are contemplating entering Cantorial Placement with the American Conference of Cantors--or if you already have--this call will go over the ACC Placement process from start to finish and will address any questions you might have. Questions may be submitted in advance to or you will have the opportunity to ask questions on the call.

Please join Cantor Barbara Ostfeld, ACC Director of Placement, for this one hour call for search committee members of URJ congregations on Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 7 p.m. EST.

We will be presenting these in a webinar format so please register to receive the link and telephone number to login/call in for the presentations. Please register here:


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Sunday August 28th, 2016 6:24AM

Softball: Lady Wolves blank Westminster in 6-AA tourney

By staff
ROSWELL -- Buford's softball team dominated in the Region 6-AA tournament on Wednesday, blanking Westminster 6-0 in Roswell.

Freshman Tessa Daniels (11-2) earned the win for the Lady Wolves, pitching her 11th complete game of the season while allowing just two hits and striking out three.

A freshman also starred at the plate, with Jordan Deep going 2-for-3 with two doubles, three RBIs and a run scored. Senior Kallie Case also went 2-for-3 with three runs scored and three stolen bases.

Meanwhile, Lexi Overstreeet and Remington Hasty also drove in runs for Buford (23-8), which has won 10 of its last 12 games.

The Lady Wolves will play Blessed Trinity at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Lovett School in Atlanta.
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