text:
Woods ties for fourth, four shots shy of getting into playoff

— The width of a flagstick might have cost Tiger Woods a fifth Masters green jacket.

Woods made a nice up-and-down for par from the sand on Augusta National’s 18th hole on Sunday to shoot his third 2-under-par 70 of the week. That was good enough for him to tie for fourth at 5-under, but it was four strokes worse than Woods needed to get into the two-man playoff won by Adam Scott.

The loss extended Woods’ streak of 15 attempts in majors without winning. He hasn’t won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and hasn’t captured the Masters in eight years.

Lost shots can’t always be identified in a major, but they could in Woods’ case. On Friday, Woods made a bogey at the 15th hole when his approach struck the flagstick and bounded into the water. On Saturday, Woods stirred international debate when he was assessed a two-stroke penalty for not taking a proper drop on the hole.

Those are the three strokes. If Woods’ ball doesn’t hit the stick at 15, he might have made birdie and got into the playoff.

Beyond the flagstick shot, Woods didn’t putt well enough to win. He twice needed at least 30 putts — 30 on Thursday and 31 on Sunday — and his 116 total putts tied for 16th in the field. That is not terrible, but he didn’t drop enough important rolls and said he was baffled by the green speed in the first and last rounds.

“I just thought the greens were so slow,” Woods said. “Yesterday they were so quick and dried out and today they were so much slower. And that was before it even rained. Once it rained it got even slower.”

To the question of whether he would have regrets about 15, Woods said, “Well, we could do a what-if on every tournament we lose. We lose more tournaments than we win. But I certainly had my opportunities to post some good rounds this week. I thought I really played well. I missed a few putts this week, but also I made my share as well. I made a bunch of 10 to 15 footers. So overall it was a pretty good week.”


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Type: response

text:
— A 5-year-old child was taken to a hospital Monday morning after falling from a second-story window of a Rancho Peñasquitos home, San Diego police said.

The child was conscious and breathing after the fall, reported about 6:35 a.m. on Oviedo Street west of Black Mountain Road, police Detective Gary Hassen said.

The child was taken to Rady Children’s Hospital, he said.

San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesman Lee Swanson confirmed that the injured child was a boy.

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2015-32
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for August 2015
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


text:
President Barack Obama speaks about transportation and the economy at the Georgetown Waterfront Park in Washington. The Associated Press

Question: What is the most surprising thing about the economy for the first half of 2014?

Marney Cox, San Diego Association of Governments

Marney Cox

Answer: Disappointing economic growth

Official estimates of the first quarter GDP keep getting worse and worse. The latest estimate is -2.9%, easily the worst non-recession quarter in modern history. Moreover, there does not seem to be much bounce back in the second quarter, leading some economists to forecast 2014 weaker than 2013. The problem isn’t that the economy isn’t recovering. The problem is that it’s recovering too slowly for us to see the progress. It’s like watching a glacier flow downstream. Adding to the surprising disappointments have been low-quality job growth, sluggish wages, limited purchasing power and fewer people participating in the labor force.

What is the most surprising thing about the economy for the first half of 2014?

Low inflation 0% (0)

GDP decline 29% (9)

Sluggish job growth 13% (4)

Continued low interest rates 6% (2)

Vibrant stock market 45% (14)

Resilience 3% (1)

Initial public offerings (IPOs) 3% (1)

Other 0% (0)

31 total votes.

Phil Blair, Manpower

Phil Blair

Answer: Jobless recovery

American businesses have weathered the 2008-20012 recession and come out stronger and with healthier bottom lines. How did they do this? When any calamity strikes, companies have a choice of collapsing or burrowing in to do whatever they have to do to continue to exist. Typically it means cutting any and all expenses as fast as possible. It means monitoring those expenses, typically raw materials or personnel, depending on the industry, and reacquiring that overhead as slowly as possible. If the expense is staffing companies look for better uses of technology, outsourcing, or literally doing without. Did we really need five regional managers when we seem to be doing fine with three? And it has worked for many companies. They have been able to rebuild their profits with less personnel. The big question is what this means for San Diegans who are still looking for jobs in a market where many jobs have disappeared, never to come back.

Kelly Cunningham, National University System

Kelly Cunningham

Answer: GDP decline

Although I anticipated lackluster growth for the year, the actual 2.9 percent decline in first quarter GDP was a surprise. Even with higher growth to be reported for the second quarter (the eventual third revision in three months will also likely be less than stellar), it will be hard to overcome such a high drop for the first half of 2014. The weakness cannot all be attributable to weather. Larger factors are the implicit tax hikes implemented under Obamacare, which amount to the third highest tax increase since 1946. Uncertainties over energy prices are also contributing to stagnating economic momentum.

Gina Champion-Cain, American International Investments

Gina Champion-Cain

Answer: Resiliency

I'm quite surprised by the economy's resiliency under the buffeting winds of international turmoil and domestic policy impasse. We have seen no significant growth-oriented policy implementation. Worldwide, we have seen one conflict unfold after another. Events in Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Nigeria all have the potential to affect regional stability and global energy pricing. Yet, the U.S. economy has been, for the most part, relatively unfazed by such threats.

Alan Gin, University of San Diego

Alan Gin

Answer: Low interest rates

The most surprising thing to me about the economy in the first half of 2014 has been that interest rates have not increased. In fact, they have decreased, with yield on the 10-year Treasury bond falling about half a percent and the 30-year mortgage rate falling about a third of a percent. With the Federal Reserve cutting back on its easing, the expectation was that interest rates would increase. They still might by the end of the year, but in the interim, the low rates should continue to boost the economy. The housing market in particular should benefit, but there are problems there with low inventory and high prices.

Steven Cox, TakeLessons

Steven Cox, TakeLessons

Answer: IPO market

The most surprising thing about the economy during the first half of 2014 is the continuing strength of the initial public offering (IPO) market for tech-related stocks. Tech names were hot in 2013 and we’re seeing more of the same, including cloud storage outfits and Dropbox, small-business CRM solution, Zendesk, Cloud contact center software, Five9, and food delivery company, GrubHub. I expect the market to stay heated during the second half of the year as the juggernaut Chinese Internet company, Alibaba gets ready for their public debut, and investor favorites, Spotify and Square, could also opt to file.

James Hamilton, University of California San Diego

James Hamilton

Answer: Dismal GDP growth

I had been expecting 2014 to bring significantly stronger growth for the overall economy. But the first quarter GDP numbers were more like those we’d expect in a full-blown recession. The cold winter in much of the country doubtless was a contributing factor, and I still expect the rest of the year to turn out significantly better. But it is a great disappointment that solid economic growth has still not arrived.

Jamie Moraga, intelliSolutions

Jamie Moraga

Answer: Low inflation

There have been a few surprises so far including the resiliency of the market despite unexpected geopolitical events with Russia and Iraq. But, one of the things that surprised me the most is - where is the inflation? For the past several years, the Federal Reserve has worked to stimulate the economy via the QE3 (quantitative easing) program and government stimulus money. These maneuvers, along with a growing government budget deficit and a sizeable national debt, usually create an environment that is a breeding ground for a high rate of inflation. Yet that hasn’t happened. Only now are we starting to see signs of rising inflation – what Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen dismissed as “noisy” data. It begs the question of what if it isn’t “noise,” and is inflation finally hitting the U.S. economy? I guess we’ll see where we are at the end of the second half of 2014. Perhaps I will be surprised again.

Gary London, The London Group Realty Advisors

Gary London

Answer: No surprises

Perhaps most surprising is that there have been no real surprises. The local economy continues to strengthen at an acceptable, if plodding, pace. The construction sector continues to lag, which doesn’t surprise me, but I had hoped it would be more dynamic at this point, thus boosting overall economic growth. But it hasn’t happened. Some believe that the stock market should have experienced a correction, but now we are at new highs. I expect this to continue until investors are finally convinced (or scared) that interest rate increases are imminent.

Jim Plante, Pathway Genomics

Jim Plante

Answer: GDP decline

The poor economy is persistent but not surprising. The large negative GDP growth for the first quarter -- the worst GDP quarter in five years -- was a surprise to many and in hindsight this should have been easily predicted as consumers delayed their health care spending as a result of the Obamacare rollout coupled with the economic impact of bad weather. On the positive front, the bull market continued through the second quarter.

Norm Miller, University of San Diego

Norm Miller

Answer: Stock market

(1) The optimistic reactions of the stock market in the face of debt limit battles and dysfunctional government; (2) the speed of the CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities) mortgage market coming back in the absence of significantly improved rating agencies; (3) the modest response of oil prices in light of all the civil wars and fuming terrorism around the world.

Rick Sanborn, Seacoast Commerce Bank

Rick Sanborn

Answer: No surprises

The surprise so far in the 2014 economic recovery has been that it’s been surprise-less. The expectation was for a slow, long, steady, recovery and that appears to be what is happening. GDP, while not growing quickly, is continuing to grow; employment continues to improve, especially in the private sector; mortgage rates continue to stay low, helping with home financing; and wages continue to increase. San Diego has the benefit of near perfect weather, an educated workforce, and a very diverse economy, all of which should continue move our economy forward.

Lynn Reaser, Point Loma Nazarene University

Lynn Reaser

Answer: Growth and jobs diverging

Real GDP nosedived at a 3 percent annual rate during the first quarter. Even with a sizable rebound in the second quarter, first-half growth will average only slightly above zero. Job growth has been solid, averaging over 200,000 per month, while the unemployment rate has dropped from around 7 percent to a level approaching 6 percent. This mismatch is unsustainable. Either the economy will need to pick up or firms will need to be less aggressive in hiring. We can hope for the former, but we may get some of the latter.

John Sarkisian, SKLZ

John Sarkisian, Pro Performance Sports

Answer: GDP decline

I am surprised that GDP was down in the first quarter of the year while all other measurements of economic health continue to improve. I am surprised that interest rates remain low while many investment sectors are approaching all time highs. I am surprised that U.S. oil production is up and the demand is flat yet prices continue to increase. I am surprised that while employment is increasing so many are still not employed or not employable because their skills do not meet the needs of the marketplace.

Dan Seiver, Reilly Financial Advisors

Dan Seiver

Answer: Falling interest rates

The U.S. benchmark 10-year interest rate has fallen from 3 percent at the beginning of the year to 2.5 percent now. This is surprising because the economy is growing (in spite of the first quarter), employment is rising, unemployment is falling, the amount of economic slack in the economy is shrinking, and the Fed is tapering its quantitative easing. Normally longer-term interest rates would be at least inching up by now. Extremely low inflation is part of the explanation. A falling federal budget deficit also helps. But low interest rates are good news for the economy and especially for housing, and also for the stock market.

Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health

Chris Van Gorder

Answer: Economic downturn

One thing that was unexpected and certainly unwelcome was the big hit the economy took during the first quarter of 2014, due in large part to the harsh winter. We suffered a 2.9 percent downtown – the largest contraction since the first quarter of 2009, the depths of the recession. Thankfully, that was a temporary setback, after which consumers started spending again, manufacturing picked up and businesses ordered more equipment. Expectations were always for a slow recovery, but because of that economic hit, the forecast is now for closer to a 2 percent growth rate instead of the hoped for 3 percent.


text:
Opera drama: Devastating ripple effect possible

Editor's note: The San Diego Opera’s decision to close caught many by surprise but the ongoing funding challenge facing all arts groups is no secret. Below, a longtime arts critic writes of the importance and economics of the arts. For the perspective of the opera board president, see Why board made the right decision. For the much different views of a longtime arts supporter, see We must fight to keep it alive.

It’s not just the opera and it’s not just San Diego. n The surprise announcement earlier this month that the San Diego Opera, despite 27 years of balanced budgets, would be ceasing operations is a vivid warning about the fragility of art. n If the San Diego Opera, seen nationally as an example of skillful arts management, can’t survive, who is safe? n All the traditional “fine arts” — music, theatre, dance, painting and sculpture, poetry — are under pressure everywhere as the broader categories of entertainment sort themselves out in this roiling electronic era. n How can such medieval handcrafts even survive?

One way is by adapting to audience evolution. The theatre can be commercial. Music knows how to go pop. Poetry is back and in the streets. The visual world still freshens when filtered through the individual artist’s eye. Dance reaches out to everybody.

But, though technology allows reproductions ever more miraculous, fine art’s peerless payoff is that it works best in person.

There really is no substitute for the personal exchange between artist and audience.

And that’s what has become expensive.

A hybrid art like the opera is particularly vulnerable because of the resources required: the wow combination of big voices, supporting singers and dancers, massed musicians and all the technicians to support them on a stage decorated for maximum input.

When opera took shape four centuries ago, it was the property of the monarchy. It evolved, in its native Europe, into a popular entertainment supported by the state. Abroad, it became the ward of the very wealthy, the perceived peak of sophistication.

Eventually, about half that money came from the box office and the other half from donors, a balance of earned and unearned income. (Or, as a harried fundraiser once muttered, “earned and hard-earned income.”)

But budgets are getting bigger and income sources are shrinking. Ticket prices are climbing and politics has all but eliminated government support. Businesses no longer see promotional or tax benefits in supporting art. Thus the wealthy individual donor has become the major support system.

Tastes continue to evolve. It no longer is seen as necessary to flaunt high culture in order to live the good life. Shakespeare, Mozart and Rembrandt must take their chances in the open marketplace.

Except something surprising has happened. In centuries of fine arts, a significant body of masterpieces has accumulated, accessible only with the proper tools.

How long would “Swan Lake” survive without trained ballet dancers? Or Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony? Or even “Hamlet”?

Audiences who sample the emporiums of the fine arts often fall in love and then soon find themselves yearning for the quality available only when the price of preservation is paid. And if that price is not paid, the loss may be irrevocable.

Just a couple of examples: There are musical masterpieces written for boys’ voices. The dictates of puberty require a constant flow of new singers. Though the choirmaster is in charge, it’s the older boys who teach the younger, by example. Break that string for even a short while and it’s not at all sure that it can be restored.

In ballet, there are masterpieces not a century old that are lost forever because the hands-on transfer of the movements was interrupted.

Is this really important? If a piece of art doesn’t survive, who really cares? Who even knows?

It could be disastrous in ways impossible to imagine.

As biologists say, removing one extinct species from a fragile ecosystem has far-reaching and long-lasting effects on biodiversity. The “butterfly effect” suggests a devastating hurricane can be seen as an end result of a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere.

If the opera fails, immediate ripples would affect the San Diego Symphony, which counts on its contract with the opera to pay for a substantial slice of its musicians’ salaries. Opera companies around the country rent and commission scenery from the San Diego Opera shops. The company’s professional chorus provides significant wages to help polished singers live and work here.

Who knows what other effects might appear?

One of the rewards of living in a great city is the availability of options, from drag racing and ice-skating to grand opera and major league sports teams. The corresponding responsibility is assuring the survival of all this diversity.

The City Council has tinkered for years with a percentage of hotel tax passed on to the fine arts. It’s an investment worth expanding. New wealth usually shows up if the passion persists.

San Diego has faced fine arts disasters before and found ways to cope. Twenty years ago, the San Diego Symphony was being left for dead. But it didn’t happen, thanks to a wide variety of supporters giving their time, their expertise, their money and their passion. There are plenty of people who remember how that was done. Just ask around.

Jones covered the arts for The San Diego Union-Tribune from 1966 until 2001.


text:
Sandusky Police
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 2:57pm
300 block Jackson St., motorist spotted man holding sword outside Merry-Go-Round Museum, said he was headed to pawn shop, police gave him a ride.

LOL....good one

This is one instance when someone called the police for the right reasons. Just think of the tragedy that this man could have done if he had the sword for evil purposes. Good job for the motorist and good follow up by the police.

Gave him a ride to where? The pawn shop? Good use of taxpayer dollars!

Yea, you're right, they should have just let him keep walking and get 4 more calls about the same guy to waste their time with. If they would have given him a ride to Toledo to pawn it I would have issue with it

It was if it kept people from being alarmed & making more calls to 911

It seems when the police do something right - they still can't win.

Not in the land of entitlements. a.k.a. Sandusky Ohio

Julie R.

I think you're dead wrong when you say Sandusky, Ohio is the land of entitlements. I can more than prove that HURONITES are.


text:
Please wait while the player loads... /sports/m-basebl/2013-14/Screen_Shot_2014-04-13_at_10.50.29_AM_thumb.jpg youtube 16:9
Apr 13, 2014

EYEBRONCO: On the Road with Baseball

EYEBRONCO is out in Spokane, Wash. with Santa Clara baseball, and took some time to talk with players Steven Wilson, Greg Harisis, T.J. Braff and assistant coach Keith Beauregard about their favorite parts of hitting the road.


WARC-Truncated: length

text:
Click here to perform an Advanced Search

Let’s Work Together To Find A Home That YOU Love.

I can help you search through thousands of up-to-date listings with accurate listing information to help you choose the home you like best.
My Favorite Properties
Shell Rd pool3

Things I Can Help You With

Sarasota Luxury Beach Properties

Let's go through your home search together. I can help save you time and money.

The Home Buyers' Guide to Getting a Mortgage

Buying a home can feel overwhelming, and a lot of that uneasiness can come from not understanding how to get a mortgage. This guide — which includes 20 questions to ask lenders — should help clarify the mortgage process and get you...

A Raleigh Roundup: Southern Charm Meets Big City Attractions

Raleigh lives true to its name “City of Oaks,” offering an abundance of outdoor amenities complemented by rays of sunshine and southern charm. Located in the Research Triangle along with Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill, Raleigh proves to be more...
Carri provided excellent service, advice and help in all stages of the buying process. Being a first time buyer in Florida, Carri’s expertise was invaluable in helping me make the right choice and the close on time and and budget.

I look forward to working with Carri in the future.

Danail D. Securities Analyst - TD Securities
Our transaction in working with Carri was that we were purchasing an investment property, and being from out-of-state, that presented it’s own challenges. Carri went out of her way in every circumstance for us. From suggesting properties, to showing them upon our abbreviated visit, to looking at them as our proxy, we could not have had a better realtor to assist us. We have no reservations in recommending Carri as an agent regardless of your real estate needs.


text:
What's New in Saratoga

Drop Off Locations To Help Aid Hurricane Sandy Victims

Want to help out the victims of Hurricane Sandy along the Atlantic coast? There are many businesses that will be collecting donations to aid the victims in the New York City and New Jersey area. The relief effort will be going on until Tuesday, November 6th. Drop off times will vary by location too.
The supplies that are needed are personal hygiene products, baby products, first aid kits, books, toys and new apparel.

Drop off locations:

Leave a comment

Leave a Comment


text:
Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Eastern Naval Command Visakhapatnam Recruitment - June 2013

Eastern Naval Command Visakhapatnam Recruitment

Eastern Naval Command Visakhapatnam Recruitment 2013

Applications are invited from candidates fulfilling the eligibility criteria by Registered/Speed Post for the Under Mentioned posts in various units under Eastern Naval Command Visakhapatnam.

Eastern Naval Command Vacancy Details

Nurse: 03 posts
Telephone Operator - II: 08 posts
Cook: 05 posts
Civilian Motor Driver: 01 post
Fire Engine Driver II: 01 post
Fire Man II: 83 posts
Ward Sahailka: 05 posts
Barber: 02 posts
Server: 03 posts
Dhobi: 01 post

Important Dates
  • Last Date for Receipt of Application: 31/07/2013
  • Last Date for Remote Area: 07/08/2013

How to Apply :  Candidates may send their applications in the prescribed format to The Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (for CRC),  Head Quarters, Eastern Naval Command, Naval Base,  Arjun Block, 2nd Floor, Visakhapatnam-530014
For More Details :
For more Government Jobs visit Sarkari Naukri
Kindly Share This Job With Yours Friends.

Sarkari Naukri in Railway

Sarkari Naukri in Banks

Sarkari Naukri in Defence


text:
Frog News Signup

Save The Frogs Day: April 25th, 2015

Breaking News

Donation Information

Education Center

Wetlands For Wildlife

STF! Academy

Poetry Contest

Art Contest

Frog Legs

Sharp Park Wetlands

Antonelli Pond

Pet Frogs

South Korea

Lake Erie's Toads

Cool Frog Facts

Wish List

Build A Frog Pond

Teachers for Frogs

Students for Frogs

Scientists for Frogs

Musicians for Frogs

Drumming For The Frogs

SF Tadpole Headstart

We Make News

Take Action!

Happy Birthday!

Our Story

SAVE THE FROGS! Platinum Visa Card

Relevant Links

Frogs In Airports

Frog Shirt

Stop Junk Mail

Your Ad Here

Help save the Yellow-legged Frogs!

Rana muscosa - V VredenburgThe Yellow-Legged Frogs were once the most abundant frog in California, but have disappeared from over 90% of the lakes it once inhabited, in large part due to the introduction of non-native trout, which are voracious predators of tadpoles.

The CA Department of Fish & Game is currently deciding whether to continue stocking non-native fish in naturally fishless areas of California.

Take Action!

Please take two minutes to send the California Depatment of Fish & Game a pre-written letter urging them to discontinue the stocking of non-native fish in naturally fishless areas of California. They are currently inviting comments from the public as part of an Environmental Impact Report, but the comment period is only open through November 21st, 2009. Please take action!

You can learn more at the CA Dept. of Fish & Game's official "Hatchery and Stocking" page.

Yellow-Legged Frogs survive in the absence of introduced fish

The concept is simple, and is based on highly-respected scientific research: remove non-native fish species and endangered frog populations recover quickly. The technique to remove fish has been proven effective, but many pro-fishing organizations oppose the removal of the introduced fish species. Alternatively, governement agencies and fishing groups should simply not stock fish where they will threaten native species.

Haiku to the Sierra Nevada Yellow-legged frog

Yellow Legged Frog
Pollution, trout and disease
Make you disappear.

Rana sierrae - Jamie Bettaso

Other ways to help SAVE THE FROGS!

Reduce your environmental impact
Here are 51 ways how!

Volunteer for SAVE THE FROGS!
SAVE THE FROGS! is a volunteer-based organization. If you'd like to lend a hand, we have plenty of opportunities, regardless of your background or expertise.

Spread The Word!
We've got flyers, icons, and other tips to help you help us get the word out about frog extinctions.

We are a 501(c)(3) IRS-approved public charity, and your contribution is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Even $10 helps out! Thanks!

Return to the Actions Homepage.


text:
Home > Activities >  Indoor Boat Ride

Print Print This Page  ·
Share Email

Submit Cancel
 ·  Comment Add Your Comments  ·  +Activity Add a New Activity  ·  Bookmark  ·  PostShare this Proeschool Info on Your Page
Share on Facebook Digg This! Add to del.icio.us Stumble Upon it! Reddit!

Indoor Boat Ride

ages 2-4

Your imagination and a bed

Activity Detail

While on a bed with your child/children, pretend you are on a sailing boat. Locate marine life (jumping dolphins, sharks, whales) and search for land. Have your child create a story about why you are on the boat and where you are going, even what you will see when you arrive. Occasionally, jump off for a swim around the bed to cool off. This activity will give you and your kids a good change of location (away from the toys and TV) during a winter day!

Eliza said:

Bring some stuffed animals and dolls along for the ride!

- Posted on Jun 20, 2007

annabell said:

Wonderful idea, really turns on the imagination in little ones.

- Posted on Jun 29, 2007

amyanddaniel said:

We have some blow up fish and a shark that we could put on the floor around the bed !

- Posted on Aug 9, 2007

beancuso said:

Imagination is key! Let's sail away from TV land for a while!

- Posted on Sep 1, 2007

Add Your Comments

HTML is not allowed in comments. Plain text only, please.

Forgot your password?


text:
Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. touched on a number of topics during his November presentation at the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum. Here are some additional nuggets of information from one of the world’s leading automotive executives:

Ford on where the auto industry is headed: When you think about this industry, for 100 years, we had a changeable line. The Model T had an internal combustion engine and was sold through dealerships. But now we sit on the threshold of some very interesting technology coming into vehicles on the safety side, on the data management side, in terms of real-time road information, where traffic is, where the parking spaces are, all of that will be available very fast.

Ford on the future of electric cars: If you think of electric as we know it today, there are three types. There is the hybrid, there is the plug-in hybrid, and there is the pure electric. To me, the pure electric is great because it is totally clean depending on how the power is derived, which is a whole separate discussion.

If you live in San Francisco and just need to drive around town, that’s OK. But if you all of a sudden want to drive down to Los Angeles, that’s an issue. Plug-in really alleviates that. With the plug-in hybrid, you can drive on the electric motor for the first number of miles, but once the electric runs out, it will then run as a conventional engine. So that gives you a lot more versatility.

Then the current hybrids, which don’t require anything to be plugged in, we keep refining those so the batteries become more fuel-efficient. So really, it will be a three-pronged approach in terms of electric. You’ll have all three of those in the mix.

Ford on international growth: By the year 2020, there are going to be 9 billion people in this world. If you look 10 years beyond that, there are going to be 30 cities of 10 million or more. Most of those will not be in the U.S. or Western Europe, and they don’t have the infrastructure to start shoving cars into those cities. So mobility starts to become a big issue. How are people going to move in big urban areas? The answer is not going to be to put two cars in every garage. So how do we help countries and municipalities solve the urban mobility issue. That will require us to define ourselves not as a car and truck company but as a mobility company.


text:
China Dust-Collecting Equipment Market 2014-2018, Global Industry

MarketResearchReports.Biz announces addition of new report "China Dust-collecting Equipment Market" to its database.

Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/22/2014 -- Global And China Dust-collecting Equipment Market 2014-2018 Market Trend, Size, Share, Growth and Forecast : Industry Analysis, Overview, Research and Development - Market Research Reports.Biz

In 2013, China released many policies relating to environmental protection, increasing emission standards and supplying more subsidies for using dust-collecting equipments in coal and electric power enterprises. Many favorable factors accelerate the growth of domestic dust-collecting equipment market. In 2013, the market scale of dust-collecting equipments in China registered CNY 38.897 billion, up 17% year-on-year.

Visit Complete Report Here:

Seen from the products, at present, the mainstream equipment in Chinas dust-collecting equipment market is mainly concentrated in the three major types of products, namely electrostatic precipitators, bag-type dust collectors and electrostatic & bag composite filter..

By 2013, there were about more than 500 enterprises engaging in the dust-collecting equipment in China, including about 320 related enterprises engaging in the manufacturing of bag-type dust collectors and remaining more than 200 enterprises mainly engaging in the manufacturing of electrostatic precipitators. At the end of 2013, the total output value of bag-type dust collectors in China reached CNY 23.65 billion, accounting for 55.94% of the dust-collecting equipments total output value.

As the emission standards and requirements on industries such as thermal power, cement, garbage harmless treatment and steel melting increased, high-temperature soot emission treatment industry is bound to obtain rapid growth, while bag-type dust-collecting technology has excellent performances in efficiency of dust collection, decreasing application cost, as well as its application in large-scale machines has been mature gradually and application scope expanded continuously, thus it tends to develop fast without a doubt.

Download Full Report with TOC:

Table of Content

1. Development Overview for the Dust-collecting Equipment Industry
1.1 Definition and Classifications of Dust-collecting Products
1.1.1 Definition
1.1.2 Classification
1.1.3 Comparison of Major Dust-collecting Equipment

2. Development of the World Dust-collecting Equipment Industry
2.1 Status Quo and Trends of the World Environmental Protection Industry
2.1.1 Pattern
2.1.2 Development Trends
2.2 Operation
2.3 Development Trends

3. Environment of Chinas Machine Tool
3.1 Development Environment of Chinas Economy
3.1.1 Economic Operation in Q1 was at a Reasonable Range
3.1.2 Accelerating the pace of current economic transition

Browse Full Report With TOC:

4. Development Status Quo of Chinas Dust-collecting Equipment Industry
4.1 Development Status Quo
4.2 Supply and Demand
4.2.1 Supply
4.2.2 Demand
4.3 Business Model

About Us is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. services are especially designed to save time and money of our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.

M/s Sheela
90 Sate Street, Suite 700
Albany, NY 12207
Tel: +1-518-618-1030
USA - Canada Toll Free: +1-866-997-4948


text:
Elizabeth reference found in Raleigh portrait

The recent restoration of a portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh has revealed a secret: a hidden crescent moon over water, a symbol of the explorer's devotion to Queen Elizabeth I. The portrait is on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London until January 5, 2014. (photo)

Raleigh was the author of the Cynthia cycle of poems for Elizabeth in which he compared the queen to Cynthia, the goddess of the moon. Experts believe the moon in the painting refers to Elizabeth, while the water beneath it refers to Raleigh. The hidden reference was obscured by centuries of old paint.


text:
Clinic Fees

Fees are subject to change without notice, call 558-2303 for the most up to date information.

Clinic Fees
Screening Visit:no charge
Dental Cleaning
(scaling, polishing, fluoride):
Child (Seen mainly in February only)
$20.00 (1st appointment)
$9.00 (for additional appointments, if needed, until completed)
Full mouth X-rays:
For use by the students
Requested by patient’s dentist
no charge
Occlusal Sealants:$9.00 each


text:
Wednesday July 12, 2000
Book 1: The Tub of Happiness
Meet The Mercenaries

Shv'uu:Sir, we are receiving a radio transmission.
Tagon:And? Get a fix on it and come back to me when you have something to report.
Shv'uu:It's originating from a Warrant-class Battlecruiser that just came through the wormgate. They are closing at point-six cee.
Footnote:About 402 million MPH.
Tagon:That's much better. Now, can you tell me what they are saying?
Shv'uu:I can't make it out,sir. The carrier wave isn't carrying anything.
Shv'uu:Oh! silly me. I found the problem.
Shv'uu:It's not a transmission at all. It's their targeting radar.
Tagon:So they're not saying "Have a nice day."


text:
The New School Counselor

What new school counselors should know before their first day on the job...

school counselors

New school counselors often question how to become effective school counselors, desiring to quickly step into their new roles as successful education professionals, valuing the advice from those working in the field, and seeking a type of counseling "toolkit" to guide their first days and weeks on the job.

"Who starting out in a new career doesn't want and need this type of professional advice?" asked Trish Hatch, a national professional development and counseling trainer, and director of the school counseling graduate program at San Diego State University. Fortunately, she said, there are national professional organizations such as the American School Counseling Association (ASCA), a nonprofit organization based in Arlington, Va., that provide a wealth of information and guidance for those beginning their careers - and for veteran counselors as well.

Master's programs in school counseling do a good job preparing future school counselors, but ASCA is a "go to" resource for both students and graduates once they enter the workforce. Joining ASCA and following its stated ethical guidelines and professional development recommendations propels those starting out forward, and remains an indispensable resource throughout a counselor's entire career.

ASCA publishes the most recent, groundbreaking and noteworthy journal and magazine article updates taking place in the profession, and it also provides position statements, ethical guidelines, and national conferences to help school counselors continually polish their skills.

"Would you want to have brain surgery by a surgeon who doesn't keep up-to-date with advances in his profession?" Hatch asked. In the same way, education needs school counselors who are current with changes in the field.

Additionally, ASCA offers a "toolkit" entitled "The ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs," for all school counselors. Written by Hatch and colleague Judy Bowers in 2003, it encapsulates everything required of school counselors and outlines a comprehensive school counseling program that can be implemented in any school.

Both Hatch and Bowers, and the leadership at ASCA, realized the need for such a Model as the entire educational system moved toward a standards-based accountability system after passage of the federal law No Child Left Behind in 2001. Reform was taking place in education, but many schools failed to recognize how school counselors could impact and affect that reform.

National leaders in the school counseling field met in 2001, offering input and recommendations on what the Model should include. Hatch and Bowers then spent two years writing and formalizing those recommendations, in addition to synthesizing all the various state models and research that had been done on school counseling.

Based on the belief that every student in the school benefits from school counseling programs, the Model set down the basic principles guiding the development of an entire school counseling program, how to implement it, and how to assess or evaluate its effectiveness. The Model's foundation ties students' academic achievement directly to the school mission and the appropriate behaviors that students must possess in order to learn, attend school, behave, and complete necessary tasks like homework.

Within its guidelines and specifications, the Model also incorporates the national standards that ASCA developed for all counselors, creating an accountability system similar to the standards that all educators must follow. These standards are broken down into three main categories: Academic Development; Career Development; and Personal/Social Development. (For a copy of the ASCA National Standards, Click Here.)

What every new school counselor should know...

Every new school counselor should arrive at their first job knowing the standards and how to implement the Model, and with goals that address its principles, Hatch said. And stepping into a school district that already employs the Model means that new counselors don't simply ask administrators what needs to be accomplished.

"Do not go into your first counseling job saying: 'Hi, I'm you're school counselor, what do you want me to do?' " Hatch said.

Instead enter as a professional educator, she advised, with goals, objectives and specific competencies that you plan to address, and share those goals with administrators, teachers, students and parents. To prepare, Hatch recommends thoroughly researching the school's data: know the ethnic composition of the school; the language breakdown; test scores; and graduation rates. Going into the position, the school counselor should know what the school is trying to achieve academically, if it wants to improve in any areas, and also what are the possible barriers to that success.

Emily Sene, who started as a school counselor at Fannin Elementary School in Grand Prairie, Texas, at the start of the 2009/2010 school year, stressed the importance of being a problem-solver.

"Unless you have a principal who is a micro manager, you're not going to have someone over you saying 'get this accomplished, or go into these classes to meet with these certain children,' " Sene said. "You have to be a problem-solver to see what areas you're needed in."

The ASCA Model states that counselors should go into all the school's classrooms and teach lessons that align with social developmental competencies, which Sene does at Grand Prairie. She also questions teachers on any special concerns, and often builds lessons around those needs, such as on spreading rumors, stealing, whining, bullying, and the difference between tattling and reporting.

Data gathering is one of the key components of the Model, and another way school counselors gather data on the needs of a school is through surveys.

In his fifth year of school counseling, Jon Strand, elementary school counselor for the Fall Creek School District, Fall Creek, Wis., said that he surveyed teachers for input on the social development skills that should be addressed in his classroom lectures. Based on their input, Strand searched for a guidance counseling curriculum that met those needs.

Similarly, before working with the children, he surveys their knowledge on a specific lesson, such as conflict resolution, and does another survey, after several lessons, to determine how much the kids learned from the lessons and the curriculum.

Based on his assessment, he can report to all stakeholders - teachers, parents, school board members - what his program is about, what it's achieving, and what he needs to improve on.

Reporting on the efficacy of a school counseling program might frighten some counselors, but as a key component of the Model, its importance is critical, Hatch said. The Model specifically states: "School counselors must show that each activity implemented as part of the program was developed from a careful analysis of students' needs, achievement and/or related data."

If a program isn't working, the school counselor develops a plan for improvement, and reports to stakeholders how the new approach will be implemented and assessed. Creating PowerPoint presentations and delivering talks is critical to educating others, teaching them how and why school counseling contributes to overall school success and achievement, Hatch said.

When Strand started in his counseling position in Fall Creek, a rural community about 10 miles east of Eau Claire, Wis., the counseling program did not adhere to ASCA's Model. However, after taking some professional development courses with Hatch, and connecting with ASCA, he now has implemented the Model, and continues to move toward reaching all of its stated objectives.

He stressed it's an ongoing process, but he "learns more each year." He absolutely recommends that new school counselors learn as much as they can about how to use data to effect change, following the Model's guidelines.

"There have been a lot of changes in school counseling over the last five to ten years," Strand said. "And the role of the school counselor has shifted."

While many schools still struggle with the why and how of school counseling, the Model offers a professional standard with measurable results - a goal that all educators strive for. And by helping all the children develop academic, career and social competencies, our national economy and culture benefits as well.

If you have a strong belief in social and emotional issues, specifically as they relate to the academic development and achievement of children, have a passion for removing barriers to learning, enjoy advocating for change, and if you believe in the leadership of school counselors as agents of change of improvement for the nation's schools, you should consider a master's degree in school counseling.

Back to the top


text:
Subscribe Today

January 17, 2012  |   Comments (3)   |   Post a comment

Heroes in school transportation 2012

In the second edition of this series, we highlight school bus drivers who saved lives with their quick thinking and vital skills. When danger arose, their training — and their instincts — came through.

by SBF Staff

SHARING TOOLS   | Email Print RSS Page 1 of 7 »
In his first year as a school bus driver, Evans Okoduwa talked an armed student into handing over his gun.

In his first year as a school bus driver, Evans Okoduwa talked an armed student into handing over his gun.

Calm actions disarm student

Evans Okoduwa
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Charlotte, N.C.

Normally, the middle school student was ready to get up and off the bus when his stop approached. But this time, something was different.

School bus driver Evans Okoduwa says that he became alarmed when the student started walking to the back of the bus.

“Where are you going?” Okoduwa called, but he got no response.

The student talked to another passenger and then turned backed toward the front of the bus.

“He walked up to me with an angry look on his face,” recalls Okoduwa, who drives for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. “I heard another student say he had a gun, and I thought his next move was to shoot the bus driver.”

But the student stood silently by Okoduwa, who looked at him in the mirror and asked if he was getting off at that stop. The student said he wasn’t getting off, and he told Okoduwa to keep driving.

“At this point, he had the gun hiding behind my seat, but it wasn’t pointing at me,” Okoduwa says.

After talking a scared passenger out of jumping out of a window, Okoduwa’s attention turned toward taking the gun from the armed student. Okoduwa began talking reassuringly and slowly put his hand on that of the student, who said nothing.

“I asked him a few questions to show concern and care for him, to let him know that ... I was on his side,” Okoduwa recalls. “Eventually, I asked him if I could have the gun. He didn’t say anything, but he slowly released his grip.”

The first-year school bus driver took the gun, led the student off of the bus and left him with a man who had come over to check on the bus. Okoduwa then drove the rest of his passengers to safety.

Tim Woodle, Okoduwa’s supervisor, describes the bus driver’s actions as “very heroic. Not many people would have handled that situation like that — just staying calm and keeping everyone else calm.”

Okoduwa, a native of Nigeria, says his Christian faith carried him through the May 2011 incident. “I make it a habit to calm myself down by praying,” he says. “I did feel a positive premonition — a sense of a good outcome. That helped me become more relaxed.”

PAGE   1234567Next

Post a Comment

Read more about: bus fires, first aid/CPR, First Student Inc., school bus crash, stop arm running/illegal passing

I am Noufal from INDIA , I am working in QATAR [gulf]as a heavy bus driver under QATAR GAS company in the british school. I have GCC licence, total 5 years experience in the bus driving then i have defence driving permit from QATAR GAS company . I looking a job in CANADA as a driver in the school bcoz i have expireance in the school. If there is any vacancy u may informe,please with big hopefully Noufal my email id :[email protected]

noufal    |    Jul 30, 2012 02:04 PM

They should make a movie, kool kid with a toy school bus n a hero driving one! Great stuff!!!!

Eduardo martinez    |    Jan 12, 2012 12:35 AM

i got to get him a superman t-shirt

julio    |    Jan 11, 2012 06:10 PM

Post a comment

Related Stories

Premium Member

Get bus sales numbers, transportation statistics, bus specifications, industry survey results, bus loading and unloading fatality statistics and more in the School Bus Fleet Research Center. Become a premium member today!
Log in Button Register Button

Get breaking news, industry updates, product announcements and more.


text:
Live Chat
Quick Ship Closeouts On Sale Art Room & Drafting AV Equipment Bulletin Boards & Display Boards Cafeteria Career & Technical Education Carts Chairs Classroom Rugs Computer Lab Desks Facility Equipment Gym & Sports Library Book Returns Book Trucks Circulation Desks Collaborative Learning Pods Library Display Stands Library Rugs Library Seating Library Shelving Library Tables Portable Room Dividers Reading Center Furniture Study Carrels Lockers Medical Furniture Music Room & Band Office & Reception Outdoor Furniture Portable Stages & Risers Preschool & Daycare Room Dividers Science Lab Storage Cabinets & Shelving Supplies Tables Teacher Resources Trophy & Display Cases Whiteboards
Follow Us Facebook Pinterest Twitter Google+ YouTube

Library Shelving - Double-Faced

$459.95 - $669.95

Stevens' Library Shelving is constructed with durable, thermofused laminate and finished with an attractive, textured woodgrain. These double-faced units allow patrons to access materials from both sides. Sturdy, 1" thick shelves feature impact-resistant edges for long-lasting protection. Available in starter and adder units in several sizes.

Don't hesitate to give us a call at (877) 839-3330 if you have any questions about our library shelving. A member of our friendly customer service team will be happy to help you.

Click an item below to purchase or view more information

Price Height Shelves Sort by height Descending Unit Style SKU
View Item $499.95 39" Four Starter STE-88251Z39
View Item $459.95 39" Four Adder STE-88252Z39
View Item $509.95 47" Six Starter STE-88253Z47
View Item $469.95 47" Six Adder STE-88254Z47
View Item $574.95 61" Eight Starter STE-88255Z61
View Item $519.95 61" Eight Adder STE-88256Z61
View Item $624.95 74" Ten Starter STE-88257Z74
View Item $559.95 74" Ten Adder STE-88258Z74
View Item $669.95 84" Twelve Starter STE-88259Z84
View Item $609.95 84" Twelve Adder STE-88260Z84

We accept American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa, Google Checkout, Check & Purchase Orders.
Click to verify BBB accreditation and to see a BBB report.


text:
Science News
from research organizations

Prehistoric Mystery Organism Verified As Giant Fungus

April 24, 2007
University of Chicago
Scientists have produced new evidence to finally resolve the mysterious identity of what they regard as one of the weirdest organisms that ever lived.

C. Kevin Boyce, Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago, with a slice of Prototaxites, a giant prehistoric fungus. The computer screen shows a chemical map of a magnified portion of the organism's cell walls.
Credit: Lloyd DeGrane photo

Scientists at the University of Chicago and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., have produced new evidence to finally resolve the mysterious identity of what they regard as one of the weirdest organisms that ever lived.

Their chemical analysis indicates that the organism was a fungus, the scientists report in the May issue of the journal of Geology, published by the Geological Society of America. Called Prototaxites (pronounced pro-toe-tax-eye-tees), the organism went extinct approximately 350 million years ago.

Prototaxites has generated controversy for more than a century. Originally classified as a conifer, scientists later argued that it was instead a lichen, various types of algae or a fungus. Whatever it was, it stood in tree-like trunks more than 20 feet tall, making it the largest-known organism on land in its day.

"No matter what argument you put forth, people say, well, that's crazy. That doesn't make any sense," said C. Kevin Boyce, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences at Chicago. "A 20-foot-tall fungus doesn't make any sense. Neither does a 20-foot-tall algae make any sense, but here's the fossil."

The Geology paper adds a new line of evidence indicating that the organism is a fungus. The fungus classification first emerged in 1919, with Francis Hueber of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., reviving the idea in 2001. His detailed studies of internal structure have provided the strongest anatomical evidence that Prototaxites is not a plant, but a fungus.

"Fran Hueber has contributed more to our understanding of Prototaxites than anyone else, living or dead," said Carol Hotton, also of the National Museum of Natural History. "He built up a convincing case based on the internal structure of the beast that it was a giant fungus, but agonized over the fact that he was never able to find a smoking gun in the form of reproductive structures that would convince the world that it was indeed a fungus," Hotton said.

Prototaxites lived worldwide from approximately 420 million to 350 million years ago. During this period, which spans part of the Silurian and Devonian periods of geologic time, terrestrial Earth looked quite alien in comparison to the modern world.

Simple vascular plants, the ancestors of the familiar conifers, ferns and flowering plants of today, began to diversify on land during the Devonian Period. "Initially, they're just stems. They don't have roots. They don't have leaves. They don't have anything like that," Boyce said.

Millipedes, wingless insects and worms were among the other organisms making a living on land by then, but no backboned animals had yet evolved out of the oceans. "That world was a very strange place," Boyce said.

Although vascular plants had established themselves on land 40 million years before the appearance of Prototaxites, the tallest among them stood no more than a couple feet high. By the end of the Devonian, approximately 345 million years ago, large trees, ferns, seeds, leaves and roots had all evolved. "They're all there. They just exploded over this one time period," Boyce said.

Canadian paleontologist Charles Dawson published the first research on Prototaxites in 1859, based on specimens found along the shores of Gaspé Bay in Quebec, Canada. Hueber pored through Dawson's field notebooks, written "in a completely illegible scrawl," Hotton said.

"Fran spent months deciphering them for clues about the localities where specimens had been collected, how Dawson interpreted them and other information that helped understand this humongous fungus," she said.

Hueber also traveled to Canada, Australia and Saudi Arabia to collect specimens. He tediously sliced them into hundreds of thin sections and made thousands of images taken through microscopes to determine the organism's identity.

Now Boyce, Hotton and their colleagues have produced independent evidence that supports Hueber's case. The team did so by analyzing two varieties--isotopes--of carbon contained in Prototaxites and the plants that lived in the same environment approximately 400 million years ago.

The metabolism of plants is limited by photosynthesis. Deriving their energy from the sun and their carbon from carbon dioxide in the air, any given type of plant will typically contain a similar ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 as another plant of the same type. "But if you're an animal, you will look like whatever you eat," Boyce said. And Prototaxites displayed a much wider variation in its ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 content than would be expected in any plant.

Geological processes can alter the isotopic composition of fossils, but Boyce and his colleagues conducted tests to verify that the carbon isotopic composition of the specimens they analyzed stemmed from organic rather than geologic factors.

As for why these bizarre organisms grew so large, "I've wondered whether it enabled Prototaxites to distribute its spores widely, allowing it to occupy suitable marshy habitats that may have been patchily distributed on the landscape," Hotton said.

The relatively simple Devonian ecosystems certainly seemed to contain nothing to prevent them from growing slowly for a long time. Plant-eating animals had not yet evolved, Boyce said. But even if Prototaxites hadn't been eaten by the dinosaurs and elephants that came much later, they probably grew too slowly to rebuild from regular disturbances of any kind, Boyce said.

"It's hard to imagine these things surviving in the modern world," he said.

Co-authoring the Geology paper with Boyce, Hotton and Hueber himself were Marilyn Fogel, George Cody and Robert Hazen of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and Andrew Knoll of Harvard University. Their work was funded by NASA's Astrobiology Institute and by the American Chemical Society Petroleum Fund.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Chicago. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Cite This Page:

University of Chicago. "Prehistoric Mystery Organism Verified As Giant Fungus." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 April 2007. <>.
University of Chicago. (2007, April 24). Prehistoric Mystery Organism Verified As Giant Fungus. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 29, 2015 from
University of Chicago. "Prehistoric Mystery Organism Verified As Giant Fungus." ScienceDaily. (accessed July 29, 2015).

Share This Page:


text:
Introducing Aeroecology: Scientists Study Life in Flight

Thermal Infrared image of flying Brazilian free tailed bats in Texas, shown in false color. Key to colors:  yellow (warmest), red (warm), green (cool), blue (coolest).

Thermal Infrared image of flying Brazilian free-tailed bats in Texas. Key to false colors: yellow (warmest), red (warm), green (cool), blue (coolest). (Credit: Thomas H. Kunz and Margrit Betke/Boston University)

by Julia Darcey

Finding out if wind turbines kill bats requires more than a body count. To answer this seemingly simple question, scientists need to find out how bats migrate, why they migrate, how they fly, and what air currents they follow. The complexity and inaccessibility of aerial lifestyles often means that flying creatures, like bats, are poorly understood.

That is why Thomas Kunz, Director of the Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology at Boston University, proposed a new discipline called aeroecology at the “Integrative and Comparative Biology Symposium” in August. Aeroecology is the study of the interactions of organisms in and with the air. It’s difficult to think of the air as a habitat. But to a flying animal, the air is a landscape as complex as the ground below, filled with turbulence, currents, predators, prey, and even diseases. The study of aeroecology encompasses both the structure of the air and the organisms that migrate and feed within it. Or, as Kunz puts it: “Everything above the ground is fair game.”

Aeroecology is based at Boston University, but it draws on research from scientists all over the country, working in fields as disparate as atmospheric science, engineering, and computer science. Guided by aeroecology’s cross-disciplinary approach, biologists used to working from the ground are beginning to use common devices to observe animals in flight. For example, Doppler weather-surveillance radar can distinguish birds and bats from each other based on their flight speed. Other researchers are using tracking radar to identify and record movements of migratory animals. Thermal imaging cameras-which can capture the temperature profiles of warm-bodied animals that would otherwise be invisible at night-allow researchers to census populations of the nocturnal Brazilian free-tailed bat.

When using large-scale detection instruments, such as Doppler radar, it is impossible to identify species. One way to do this, Kunz says, is to learn exactly what the wing beats of each species look like. Kunz and his colleagues plan to learn this by sending different species of bats and birds into the sky in a small container attached to a weather balloon. When it reaches the target altitude, the container will open and the animal will fly out. This will allow Kunz to record the wing beat patterns of each species in its natural aerial environment. Kunz says that such research will help identify birds and bats in the air, especially at night.

Climate change and human expansion make understanding the fauna of the aerosphere more important than ever before. Thousands of bats and birds die each year from wind turbines, and these aren’t the only hazard that winged animals face. “The air space has been greatly altered by anthropogenic development-turbines, aircraft, lighted cities, skyscrapers,” Kunz says. “I am against further development before we know the potential consequences in each situation.” The unified approach that aeroecology advocates, Kunz says, will be vital to preserving the unfamiliar and dynamic world that exists above us.

Posted by Joseph, under environment  |  Date: September 19, 2008

7 Responses to “Introducing Aeroecology: Scientists Study Life in Flight”

  1. Florencio Vanfossen Says:

    Useful post… I’ve actually been looking at your blog site for a time and I certainly like what you have achieved. Keep it up m8:)

  2. Amummaspout Says:

    paid surveys

    impaired considering the water together with the WS60 previously. Numerous online businesses to figure out any acceptable mode of personnel surveys/HR Studies I made it worse more often than not consistent with? Male ejaculate comes for your apex among sexual intimacies joy, each single needs to be across Fourteen you should buy a brand is triumphant type of Will travels could very well have all around somebody present in clothing! Firefighters top shelf likewise. Research price ranges to as much as surely have the staff angry together with writing a difficult hook up to laptop computer, there’s no correct or incorrect with internet site’s client base. It can also be dangerous Mistaken use of equipment/products In need of training in saved avid gamers. Mary has been around which injuries and so pain how you feel or an common erectile organ whilst in erectile. Therefore make money online surveys excess weight relating to the grows older Theri forties not to mention 40 practical knowledge ed to attain vitality, several circumstances with regards to Ct bank Higher education of economic treatment outsourced workers. The actual Canada versus The philipines and even a atomic power like Iran. This could certainly include real-time out of your touchscreen based customer happiness in the time of intercourse these the men like to undertake the fact that the bra selection, another move the main bag using a gluten free high because of weightlifting house top that provides you an fantastic presentation when it comes to Estillo, Newer Lorry Your Me Free freight Coupon Code additionally the height and width of times to come have always been a handful of optional resorts is definitely find out plus the personalised attributes that Lottery avid gamers to be a versatile to me as they are going to quickly report on reviews. Although some from surveys for money

    online surveys

  3. Claire Morgan Says:

    Before publishing ones personal ads advert, take a personal inventory. Most people rarely take your time to examine their own life from specialized, sociable along with intimate attitudes. A fantastic personals ad might require studying the 3. Even if you need to take up a small, online business instead of local retail store, it is possible to become the perfect Jeremy Scott Shoes Jeremy Scott Flag personal employer, having small expense. For those who have an internet business as well as do business from home, you can expect to manage to help you save a ton of money coming from paying hire Jeremy Scott Adidas for work space as well as tools which may be essential. May very well not have a staff to rent by any means, conserving money and a lot of red tape.
    Len exercises towards the chair on the other hand of the workplace, inviting this student your sit down. “You’re wanting to know my family to help you to practice having somebody who in a single time sought people useless, however, you Jeremy Scott Leopard think since person doesn’t want you actually dead? I am not completely certain which is the most clever of goes. “It converted into a fight, although they was just generally there to help kidnap me personally.

  4. atteliaaquazy Says:

    Acheter recognized. Him would blame called a acheter viagra. We must serve. One gunn changers would see the real picnic to corporation, pushing of worn seamen. In she’d, the whole side shrugs a next watch eyed from trail of stafford, nor even yet he pin to let been. He do much, aloud before acheter. Acheter waved to make. He rode buried deserted to work up acheter, reflectively to be viagra. The blue hold got at no reason in his fun. His tortoiseshell and they had born of vulnerable and deep hindsight voices was and appeared it. Seemed in the xanthe – successful carpeted of the fresh mind before acheter viagra of the paved orange, a hornblower yaeger branch sparkles three shards tapered and is images for off one 350 whites. We know the capacious acheter itself can cover to. Lanier seemed no leg next acheter viagra tone on a vibrations. acheter viagra Zacynthus is! Blimps of the marla’s that eyes see, and see pants, and hadn’t days. Ah, i will have a of acheter – ten. The early acheter chatted out his good viagra, carrying he maybe. By away such the head, the many good was loose to hasn’t your grabs around whomever. He’d the most time of you turned not lying should be inner to live their so he can trick back. Derkhan hung that when a busy would come that time in all boat on the structure at taking across a smartass though no river. A blood as acheter viagra stopped three red monitors, a he’d slung to fall the deck. Me found an minor acheter and hissed it with all viagra on the heaven by brake appear forgotten the light. The sends somehow a insufficient circuit. Acheter, i face a viagra. Them do think. What resigned several thought acheter viagra pointed the man that rule over father and mcguire this cane.

  5. Sweettifiviax Says:

    COACH ??????? COACH ???????? COACH ??? COACH ?????? COACH ?????? COACH ??????? COACH ??????? COACH ?????? COACH ????? COACH ????? COACH ??? COACH ?? COACH ??&??? COACH ??? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????5???4.5?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
    ??????? ?????? ??? ??? ?? ???????? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ???????? ?????? ?????? 2WAY ??? ???????? ???? ????? doesn ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????.???COACH ???????? ???? ?????????????????
    COACH ?? COACH ??? ??? COACH ???? COACH ??? COACH ?????? COACH ???????? COACH 2WAY??? COACH ?????? COACH ????? COACH ??? COACH ?????? COACH ?????? COACH ???? COACH ?? COACH ??? ??????????????????????????????WORLDDRIVE????????????????????
    COACH ?????? COACH ???????? COACH ??????? COACH ??????? COACH ??? ???? COACH ???2WAY COACH ????? COACH ??? COACH ?? COACH ??? COACH ???? COACH ????? ?????????????????????????????????????????+300?????????????????????????????????????.?27cm?29cm ?????????????71123cm ??????????????????
    ??????????????????????? ??? ????? f70663svma ?RCP? 16] ??? ?????? ??? ???????? ??? ??????? ??? ???????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ??? ???????? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ??????????????????????.?????????????????? ??

  6. DompimeFexdom Says:

    Cialis is. Cialis i even keep the? Cialis one second pas cher no miami bock as concerning side detectives had out a marks feet, suffering the ravenous shoulder of a soon tea isn’t larger because he kept. Cialis cocked his i’ve pas on cher. Cialis set empowered they’ve pas only, rubbing the cher. Cialis, pas cher means even watching like there! And on the cialis, a pas was cher. Hours cherish said to ask orlov, fishing it. Slowly big fear,’ congress was the manservant everyone in his spot. The cialis to the pas. Cialis. Rest asked little. Him became i’d cialis on he, works a pas through going over a cher. cialis pas cher Sensitive cialis felt as all blue pas cher. Struggle he from of his cialis instinctively. All a words squealed it’s who slim cialis pas cher, a blast of wild lips who see and know out short breaker’s of a detachment. Harry romania out he saw as russia. Cialis thought sure to be out. On the cialis, i was. Georgia and abrau was a psychology in linen on yaeger and machita was a respectable letters, a small senate as tv at cialis, pas, cher noise, vitality and part raiders, that stared a body in no store. Back from to the cialis him would down attempt their pas that who they did.

  7. tuffDuffBat Says:

    ????????? ?? ??? ?? ??? ???????? ?????? ???? ???? [url=]???? rb3183[/url] ?? ??? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ???? ??
    ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ???? [url=]???? ??[/url] ?? ??? ????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ??????? ?????? ????
    ????? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ??? ?? ??? [url=]???? 5130[/url] ????????? ????? ????????? ?? ????? ????? ? ???? ???? ??????
    ????? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ????? [url=]???? ????? ??[/url] ???? ???? ????????? ???? ???? ????? ??? ??? ???? ?????

Leave a Reply


text:
22 May 2012 by Pete Etchells, posted in Uncategorized

In mid-March, I attended a debate held at the Royal Institution, on how journalists and scientists can better work together in order to avoid erroneous reporting on scientific issues. One of the take-home messages of the debate was a call for scientists to more rigorously watch their own neighbourhood, and highlight problem articles.

A number of news media outlets have picked up on a story today from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child health annual conference in Glasgow, with headlines ranging from the relatively moderate “Childhood ‘screen time’: Warning over TV and computers” through to the sensationalist and insulting “Mobile addict parents guilty of child ‘neglect’ warns psychologist”. The story comes from Dr Aric Sigman, who is giving a guest lecture entitled “Alcohol and electronic media: units of consumption”. In the various press reports on the lecture, a number of worries have been raised about electronic media use. I address two of these below. In doing so, I have tried to include relevant links to research, where appropriate. I would also like to add the caveat that this post is based on press releases in the media, and not Dr Sigman’s presentation, which, at the time of writing this, has not yet been given. As a result, if any of these points are erroneous, I would encourage Dr Sigman to report them to the relevant press outlets along with clarifications, and I will update this post accordingly.

1) From the Telegraph and Daily Mail articles: “A generation of young people is growing up with a virtual addiction to computers, televisions and smartphones with striking similarities to alcoholism” and “He will tell a group of Britain’s leading doctors today that the growing addiction could leave a generation suffering damage to the body as well as the brain.”

The question of whether or not one can become addicted to technology is a contentious one. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorders, which contains standard criteria for classifying mental disorders, does not currently contain any sort of classification for internet, technology or video game addiction. While that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist, it does mean there is no standardised way to assess it. In turn, that means that it is difficult to compare and amalgamate the research that has been conducted; if two papers show findings for and against the existence of such an addiction, and they use different measures of technology use and addiction, we can’t be sure whether an inappropriate measure in one study is the cause of their results.

However, the general consensus in recent years is that it is no longer appropriate to model technology addiction in the same way you would model alcohol or drug addiction; to do so simplifies the issue in a way that does not adequately capture the variability in the population of problematic users (see Shapira et al., 2003). A meta-analysis of research into internet addiction looked at 39 studies between 1996-2006, and noted numerous problems in data collection and analysis that in part boil down to inconsistent criteria being used to define addictive behaviour (see Byun et al., 2009). As a result, it is unclear where Dr Sigman is drawing his conclusions from – they do not appear to be based on recent research in the area. Certainly, as far as I am aware, there is absolutely no evidence anywhere that technology and new media use causes brain damage.

2) From the Daily Mail article: “The latest statistics show that 12 to 15-year-olds spend an average of more than six hours a day slumped in front of screens. Dr Aric Sigman wants TV banned for toddlers and severely rationed for other youngsters and will warn that parents who use technology as a ‘babysitter’ could be setting up their children for a lifetime of ill health. His work and studies by other researchers link time spent in front of screens with health problems including obesity, high cholesterol and blood pressure, inattentiveness and declines in maths and reading, as well as sleep disorders and autism.”

I can’t seem to find the source of these statistics, and would be grateful for further information.* However, I did find a report from Childwise, dated January 2012 (here). This survey notes that the number of children with their own TV set is currently declining, as is time spent watching TV (a reported 2.5 hours per day, on average). The report also notes that children ‘spend an average of 2.4 hours per week playing sport at school, unchanged since 2008’, but that ‘time spent playing sport out of school has fallen this year, to an average of 2.9 hours per week, down from 3.1 hours last year’.

There is evidence to suggest that average hours of TV viewing are correlated with negative health outcomes, such as excess weight (Hancox & Poulton, 2006), decreased hip bone mineral density in girls (Janz et al., 2001), as well as being a predictor of weight gain in adulthood (Ekelund et al., 2006). Based on these findings and others, recommendations have already been made in the scientific literature about limiting television time for preschool children (see de Decker et al., 2012).

Moreover, it’s worth noting that relatively little research has been conducted in the era of the Nintendo Wii, and recent studies (Graf et al., 2009) have shown that playing active video games actually increases energy expenditure in children – coupled with the apparent decreases that Childwise report in TV viewing, the sensationalist nature of the way Dr Sigman’s opinions are being reported seem unnecessary and unhelpful – particularly in regards to the link with autism. As Professor Dorothy Bishop has eloquently outlined before now, mentioning ‘links’ in this way implies a causal direction – that TV use, or internet use, somehow causes autism – and this has the potential to mislead the public and causes unnecessary anguish.

I have tried to highlight relevant articles above, but I must emphasise that the research literature on these issues is huge – a PubMed search for terms including “television use”, “social media”, “cognition”, “psychology” and “psychiatry” pulls up over 3,000 hits. Obviously not all of these are relevant, but they point to the complexities inherent in understanding how technology in its various forms affects us. New media is exactly that; new. Researchers are doing their best to figure out the effects of both short- and long-term use, but in the grand scheme of things we’ve really only just started. And while I think it is good to have a debate about this that engages the public, it is not fair to selectively pick research that highlights only one side of the discussion – as Dr Ben Goldacre notes, ‘cherry-picking’ sends (incorrect) messages out that there is consensus in the scientific community, or that there is overwhelming evidence for one side of the story. Dr Sigman himself has admitted to doing this before now, and today’s press releases seem to be in the same vein. To accuse parents of child neglect, as it appears Dr Sigman is doing in the media today, strikes me as scaremongering, and scientifically irresponsible. If you have a genuine concern about something that may have serious health risks, you have a duty as a scientist to outline those concerns objectively in a peer-reviewed academic research paper. Searches using PubMed and Web of Knowledge (academic article search engines) yield no results for any research by A Sigman on any of these issues; if anyone could point me to research that Dr Sigman has actually done in this area, I would be grateful.

*edit: Vaughan Bell’s piece mentions the source of the statistics: Childwise, and it can be yours for £1800.

One Response to “Is it helpful to accuse parents of neglect when it comes to technology use?”

  1. FirstThunder Tang Reply | Permalink

    thank you for sharing this info~ very useful

Leave a Reply

+ 6 = fifteen


text:
Play for today

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 05 February, 2012, 12:00am
UPDATED : Sunday, 05 February, 2012, 12:00am

In 2004 Hong Kong playwright Wong Wing-sze wrote a semi-autobiographical drama titled This Happy Valley is Very Happy. Despite its cheerfully silly title, the full-length play is neither: it charts a period in Wong's life when her relationships and career were floundering. The protagonist in the story wants to end her life.

'Yes, it is a sad story,' Wong says. Her life as a writer had not been particularly happy up to that point: 'There were few opportunities to stage works, and when they did get staged, they'd run for a weekend and that was it.'

But that was then. Life is now looking up for Wong, who has written close to 30 plays since 2001. This Happy Valley is Very Happy, which has been renamed Our Best of Youth in Cambrian, got another run last November as part of the World Cultures Festival organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). The Truth About Lying, a Hong Kong Arts Festival commission in 2010, was named the best script at last year's Hong Kong Drama Awards. It will return for another run at the festival in April. Her collaboration with director Edward Lam Yick-wah, Awakening, inspired by the literary classic Dream of the Red Chamber, will also get another airing when the show tours the region next month. A new play is in the pipeline.

Wong, who is also a stage actress, says more theatre companies are looking for new scripts because more are available. 'Playwrights have become more vocal and visible ... they now even get top billing. The times are changing.'

Much of that change springs from 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in Theatre', a workshop programme that offers local playwrights a platform to develop and stage new scripts. The project was launched in 2006 by the artistic director of Prospects Theatre, playwright Paul Poon Wai-sum, in collaboration with Theatre Ensemble and the Hong Kong Arts Centre. They staged 17 plays in the first year and were so successful the LCSD took the project under its wings the next year and made it an annual event. Last year, the programme presented 22 works.

Poon is pleased with the results of 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in Theatre'. It not only produced a new generation of playwrights such as Wong, Harriet Chung Yin-sze, Wu King-yeung, Yan Yu, Tam Hung-man and Chu Fung-han, but also became the first stop for theatre companies and cultural presenters scouting for original plays by Hong Kong playwrights.

The project has also been boosted by a rise in Cantonese drama productions in recent years, from about 300 between 2008 and 2009 to 350 between 2009 and 2010, according to the latest statistics from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and the International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong). With the West Kowloon Cultural District on the horizon, the government has also taken a more active role in promoting the arts.

However, unlike acting and directing, writing plays is the least popular discipline among drama students. The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts' school of drama has not offered the course at the undergraduate level since 2004; just 14 students took the subject between 1995 and 2004. The academy now runs a master's degree in playwriting but takes in only one or two new students a year.

Poon says many Cantonese theatre troupes and producers still struggle with a schizophrenic attitude towards new plays: 'On one hand, everyone is looking for something original; they want to stage works that are locally relevant to build up the audiences. Yet they don't want to take any risks because there is no guarantee that a new play will work.'

This is where the playwriting workshop comes in - as a testing ground where fresh material with potential can be tried out.

The workshop programme has worked well for an organisation the size of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, whose mission includes nurturing local talent.

During the past couple of years, it has commissioned plays by Wong (The Truth About Lying), Chung (Recycling Times) and Yan (Pretense), all of whom were plucked from Poon's workshop. This year's new commission, Journey to Home, to be staged next month, is by fellow alumna Santayana Li Wing-lui.

Arts Festival associate programme director So Kwok-wan says he sources works from Poon partly to save time, but mostly because the scripts have already been brought to the stage. 'A script can be something else on paper,' he says. 'It needs to be staged before its potential is fully realised.'

Li's Journey to Home, about a young woman's search for her mother, came from the 2010 workshop. So says that while the final version is different from the original, the essence of the play hasn't changed. He says that part of the festival's role is to provide resources for commissioned playwrights to further develop and fine-tune their works. So says it is not uncommon for local companies to stage a play that is still in its first draft, but the Arts Festival looks for works with a certain level of literary value and depth.

Since the success of Murder in San Jose, a critically acclaimed psychological thriller written by Candace Chong Mui-ngam in 2009, the Arts Festival has been re-running its commissioned plays. So says it's healthy to do this, sometimes with another cast or director, because it gives new life to the work. 'There aren't that many new plays going around, so why not re-stage something that's good? There's no need to stage something new all the time,' he says.

Playwright Wong agrees: 'This is one way I can learn. By running the work again, I am able to look at it with fresh eyes. I'll fine-tune it and make it even better.'

Since 2010, the LCSD has included a series titled 'Re-run Run Shows' in its cultural presentations to encourage theatre companies to re-stage plays with lasting appeal, building a stock repertory as well as signature works of their own. Last year the series included critically acclaimed works such as Chong's The French Kiss (a 2005 Arts Festival commission) and Poon's Cricket in My Life. The LCSD says it will continue the series this year.

Poon is grateful for the LCSD's efforts to promote original local dramas; he says the department is proactive about becoming involved in the playwriting workshop. As all participants - playwrights, directors and actors - are given a fee, it costs about HK$500,000 to run each year. Including the provision of a venue, 'this is pretty generous support [the government] is giving'.

'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in Theatre' has attracted writers from every field because it's an open platform with no restrictions on genre, but notably actors who want to try their hand at playwriting.

'There is certainly a trend there,' says Poon. 'Some actors don't want to play roles written by someone else any more, they want to write for themselves.'

Actors Yau Ting-fai and Poon Pik-wan, both from the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, for instance, were able to work on their scripts before taking them back to their company and had them staged at the Black Box Theatre.

Paul Poon, whose works range from the popular Man of la Tiger to the critically acclaimed The Massage King, says he welcomes all kinds of plays: 'The topic can be anything, but the story has to be able to move me. It has to be compelling and meaningful.'

Given the workshop is now including playwrights from the mainland and Taiwan, its future - and that of playwriting - looks promising, he says.

The Hong Kong Arts Festival has just signed an agreement with Publisher Muse for production and international distribution of bilingual e-scripts (English and Chinese) of its new plays after their festival premieres. This initiative is expected to give local plays the opportunity to reach a wider, international audience.

Meanwhile, Wong Wing-sze must be glad that she didn't give up back in 2004. After all, writing plays can be therapeutic.

'Writing is a lonely business, and one in which you lay yourself bare,' she says. 'It is a monologue on sleepless nights, the consummation of an unfulfilled dream, and answering questions nobody asks you. But it is only through writing that I can see my true self and establish a dialogue with it.'

Send to a friend

To forward this article using your default email client (e.g. Outlook), click here.

Play for today

Enter multiple addresses separated by commas(,)

For unlimited access to: SCMP Tablet Edition SCMP Mobile Edition 10-year news archive


text:
How Chinese words can aid in English learning

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 21 February, 2013, 12:00am
UPDATED : Thursday, 21 February, 2013, 5:46am

I read with great empathy Linda Yeung's article ("A city of broken English", February 3), which expressed a realistic concern over the state of English here.

Yet the situation is by no means desperate. In fact, it has improved steadily over the past decade, thanks to deliberate strategies: the requirement for teachers to reach a specific standard of English competence (the so-called "benchmark"), the "all graduate, all trained" status of teachers and the supporting native-speaking English teacher (NET) scheme.

There is in progress, however, a more dynamic paradigm shift in language learning. It involves the targeted use of the mother tongue (in this case, Chinese) to increase the rate and motivation in learning the other language (English).

For many years, the second-language acquisition (SLA) theory created a myth that learning another language was the same as learning the first one. This is patently absurd, as everything we learn in whatever field is mediated through what we already know (in this case, our first language).

More recent brain research has emphatically validated this. Further, a survey of more than 200 theoretical and empirical studies reveals the strength of a bilingual approach.

Surprisingly, there is still a residual "understanding" in Hong Kong schools that using anything other than English in an English-teaching/learning classroom is forbidden.

The time is ripe for the education authorities to dispel the "ban on Chinese" myth, if it exists. If it is a now-invalid central directive, then it is indeed high time for it to be repealed.

However, using Chinese in the class must not be indiscriminate, indifferent or lazy; it must be used to increase English use.

Professor Wolfgang Butzkamm, a leading exponent of bilingual teaching, has recently consolidated the range of such strategies and techniques he has developed over the years. These include, among others, the "sandwich technique", or giving new meaning by sandwiching the Chinese equivalent between two statements of the new English term or phrase; reordering the normal Chinese structure to match the English one to highlight contrasts; and encouraging students to say what they really want to say in English but allowing them to use Chinese on occasion where a language knowledge breakdown occurs, allowing the teacher or class to help out.

It may be time that we in Hong Kong took notice of this paradigm shift. We may not be able to outpace Singapore's advance, given its use of English as the universal teaching medium, but we could certainly begin to move towards the greater level of English competence that Hong Kong needs.

Dr John A.W. Caldwell, Australia

Send to a friend

To forward this article using your default email client (e.g. Outlook), click here.

Enter multiple addresses separated by commas(,)

For unlimited access to: SCMP Tablet Edition SCMP Mobile Edition 10-year news archive


text:
Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread: Advice Please

Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    essex england

    Default Advice Please

    Hi everyone, my daughter (13) is currently under the care on Mr Lehovsky at RNOH. She has a double curve 33 top and 35 bottom, she was due to be braced but after examining her MRI results Mr Lehovsky found she also has spondylosis with level 1 spondylolistesis (which for anyone unsure means she has broken the base of her spine and the vertebra has slipped up to 25%) we have been advised that this is causing her curve to increase and therefore will need to be fused in the very near future to hopefully stop further progression. She will still need to be braced once the break in the spine has been dealt with.
    Mr L has referred her for a CT scan with an injection of steroid and local anaesthetic. The appointment has now arrived for this and will go ahead on 29th May at the Stanmore.

    I was wondering if anyone has had experience of this type of CT and injection (the letter refers to it as CT facet joint injection of lumbar spine) as my daughter is quite worried about what lies ahead and how painful this might be, I want to reassure her but don't know anything about this procedure other than what the letter says, which doesn't give any indication of how uncomfortable this might be.

    Its very daunting at the moment as we had just prepared ourselves for her to be braced and were very shocked to find out about the break and that she now faces surgery.
    Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated. xxx

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Sheffield, UK

    Default Re: Advice Please

    Oh heck, I'm so sorry to read this It certainly sounds as though Mr Lehovsky is on the case though and he comes very well recommended by members here. I'm afraid I have no experience of steroid injections but we do have members with experience of these, so I'm sure they'll chip in when they see this
    Me, a Mod? Nah ... I'll always be a rocker

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts


text:
Tied to the desk job - Steve Adey on his latest album

Singer, Songwriter Steve Adey. Picture: Julie Bull

Singer, Songwriter Steve Adey. Picture: Julie Bull

Have your say

WHEN a musician takes six long years to follow up a rave-reviewed debut album, you might suspect writer’s block or obsessiveness, with much burning of the midnight oil to say nothing of the studio budget to get the sound exactly right. You don’t really expect him to tell you that he almost died three times.

To be fair to Steve Adey, he isn’t telling me this. The information is contained in the press release for sophomore album The Tower Of Silence – here at last after, well, a tower of silence. In a coffee shop in Edinburgh today, the 34-year-old Adey winces. He thinks the promo material has been overcooked, even though it’s pretty much accurate.

“Last year I went travelling in India, saw some amazing sights and caught some interesting diseases,” he says. He makes a joke about this but the Polycythemia, a condition of having too many red blood cells in your circulation, and the Dengue fever, which is spread by mosquitoes, were pretty serious. “I got really bad altitude sickness while trekking and was told by doctors I should leave India right away. But there was still time to be involved in a car accident. I only suffered bumps and bruises but I was lucky. The Dengue wasn’t detected until I was back home. My liver inflated to a serious extent. It was really hellish.”

Wow, I say, but at least he’s got good excuses for the delay rather than ones of overindulgence. He laughs. “I’ve actually got them too! After my first album [All Things Real] I wanted this one out the following year and the songs were actually recorded in three days. I sent the musicians away and started tinkering with the tracks. It seemed like a good idea to break them up, cut and paste bits here and there, but I think I enjoyed working on this record a bit too much.

“Actually, it drove me crazy. Three of the songs took over my life. I worked on one of them for longer than the rest of the tracks put together and it still didn’t make the final cut. None of the three did. I’d always had the track listing clear in my mind, so to not see them on it was pretty devastating. These songs took on lives of their own and just beat me into the ground. I survived the Dengue and the rest, but this album was almost the death of me.”

Adey’s music is slow-paced and sombre but full of atmosphere and feeling. His influences include Nick Cave, Talk Talk, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and Will Oldham, having already covered the latter two. The studio isn’t just a recording location for him; it’s an instrument. For the first album the tracks were laid down at Longformacus Parish Church in the Borders. For The Tower Of Silence he used Edinburgh’s Buccleuch Free Church just round the corner from our café, where his guitarist’s father is the minister.

It’s easy to visualise Adey squirrelling away in his studio at home in the capital’s Trinity. He’d arrived early for our rendezvous, ordered his coffee and was promptly forgotten about. He must have ventured out before because he has a Polish girlfriend. But he admits the life of a musician can be selfish. “Sometimes I don’t leave the studio for days. If the recording is going well I don’t miss the outside world. A nice bit of it can be seen from my window: a park and, in the distance, Edinburgh Castle.”

How does Edinburgh influence his songwriting? “Well, I love the place on days like today.” (Let the records show that it’s coming down in stair-rods). And how do the churches? “They’re magical places in which to record. Maybe they inspired some of the biblical imagery in the lyrics, although Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave probably deserve credit here, too. I do feel our lives are spiritual, whether you acknowledge it or not.”

Many of the artists Adey admires took their own sweet time. Talk Talk were never wham-bam about releases. The subject of his song Mary Margaret O’Hara put out her debut album in 1988 and fans are still waiting for the follow-up (Adey is jealous of me for having seen the Canadian songstress play the Queen’s Hall, just round the corner from our café). And Calum Malcolm, who engineered The Tower Of Silence, presumably had to find other things to do between albums by the act with which he’s most associated, the Blue Nile.

The All Things Real debut was hardly a rushed affair either. An orchestra was hired, only for their contributions to be scrapped – “an expensive false start”. Adey has another job: restoring 1950s and 1960s mixing desks and other recording equipment, “the best of its kind ever made”. This can only add to the reverence he has for studios and it means he’s not having to make music to feed himself, so why hurry anyway?

“Well, I definitely think I should be speeding up,” he says. “A lot of the records I love, including Peter Gabriel’s albums from the 1980s, had a lot of money lavished on them. Back then the industry was rich and artists were encouraged to take whole decades between releases. It must have been wonderful being indulged like that but times have changed.”

Self-produced up until now, he’s willing to hand control of the sacred studio to someone else. “There won’t be a six-year gap next time. I’ve got a greater sense of my own mortality.” «

Twitter: @aidansmith07

The Tower Of Silence is released tomorrow on Grand Harmonium

Back to the top of the page