Central Penn Business Journal accepts only electronic versions of press releases and all other announcements, including submissions for our Awards, Calendar, Newsmakers and On the Move sections.
This streamlines our information management and helps us get your news into the paper more quickly.
Here is a rundown of e-mail addresses we use:
Promotions, new hires and board appointments: people@ journalpub.com
Free and low-cost seminars and events: …
Government soldiers fought Tamil Tiger rebels along Sri Lanka's northern front lines in a series of battles that killed 15 guerrillas and three soldiers, the military said Monday.
The latest fighting took place throughout Sunday in the Vavuniya, Welioya and Jaffna regions bordering the separatist rebels' de facto state in the north, a defense ministry official said.
In the worst of the violence, soldiers killed 10 Tamil Tiger rebels in Vavuniya in a battle that also killed one soldier, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to government regulations.
Other battles in Jaffna and Welioya killed five rebels and two soldiers, he …
[HEADNOTE]
THE INTANGIBLES THAT INFLUENCE HOW ANY SYSTEM WORKS MAY SOUND SOFT AND FUZZY, BUT IN FACT THEY ARE DIFFICULT TO DEVELOP
When a plane crashes or a corporation fails, we seek out the causes with mixed motives. Initially, we want to find out who is at fault so that suitable punishment may be meted out. Ultimately, we want to fix the underlying system so similar disasters may be avoided in future.
The underlying system, however, is composed of people who likely will resist being "fixed." So there is a natural pressure to name pilot error or greedy managers for the problem. Blaming individuals usually means nothing need be changed - no one's authority is …
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels thinks he could beat President Barack Obama in 2012. He just hasn't decided whether he'll try.
The Republican governor said Tuesday he was confident about his chances of beating Obama, but that's not factoring into his deliberations on a White House run.
"I think the chances would actually be quite good," Daniels said, speaking to reporters after giving public service awards to state employees. "The quality and the number of people who have said they'd like to be associated is really quite awesome to me."
Daniels' comments came a week after he said he wasn't ready to debate Obama on foreign policy. They also appeared to …
President Barack Obama's top economic adviser said Saturday the U.S. is experiencing an economic recovery on paper but a "human recession" because of job losses.
Lawrence Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the latest figures showing strong U.S. economic growth suggest Obama's policies to prevent economic collapse "have been successful."
Most people who looked at the 5.7-percent increase in fourth-quarter growth believe that will continue "at least at a moderate rate for the next several quarters," he said.
"What is disturbing is …
HOUSTON He is the symbol of corporate Cubdom, when you thinkabout it. Kevin Tapani is an affable family man who is impossible todislike, never makes waves in the clubhouse, keeps a year-round homeon the North Shore and has overcome injuries to optimize his career.
In other words, he is cost-effective. Or, cheap.
The big-city spenders in Los Angeles signed Kevin Brown for$105 million and gave him use of a private plane. The big-cityspendthrifts in Tribune Tower re-upped Tapani for $12.5 million thisweek, while suggesting he find his own transportation. Frequentflyer points?"I think I got an L pass," he said kiddingly, "but I had tobuy it myself."On …
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the No. 1 seed, Pittsburgh is the better team.
No. 16 seed North Carolina-Asheville, at least for the moment, is the more interesting team.
Coach Jamie Dixon and his Pitt Panthers know the routine, so they offered the usual politically correct, nondescript answers on the eve of Thursday's 1-vs.-16 NCAA tournament duel that has always, without exception, gone in the favor of the 1.
Coach Eddie Biedenbach and his Bulldogs, meanwhile, are riding an unfamiliar wave they know could crest at any moment, so they might as well relax and say whatever's on their mind.
And they did.
"We're not one of the top 68 teams in the country," Biedenbach …
Valerio Cleri of Italy won the 25-kilometer open water race at the European swimming championships on Saturday.
Cleri timed 5 hours, 16 minutes, 38.3 seconds, beating Bertrand Venturi of France by 16.4 seconds. Another Frenchman, Joanes Hedel, was third.
The event was held on the north coast's Lake Balaton, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of …
If York County joins a move to add up to 1 cent to the state's sales tax, county residents would pay roughly $17 million to the total revenue collected in the region.
The sales-tax proposal is designed to raise money for a commuter railroad line, as well as museums, arts organizations and other causes in the area.
If the new tax also covered York, it would raise more than $83 million a year for the region, said Neal West, chairman of a task force that developed the tax proposal.
If the tax is a full I percent, about onethird of the new revenue, or $27.3 million, would come from Lancaster County, West said, based on rough estimates. Dauphin would collect $21.3 million, …
A collaboration of botanists and computer scientists is being awarded a $50 million federal grant to conduct research into plant biology with an eye toward resolving global problems related to agriculture, environment and energy production.
The five-year National Science Foundation grant announced Wednesday will pay for research on topics such as climate change, development of biomass energy, and agricultural land use, said foundation Director Arden L. Bement. The University of Arizona is leading the project.
"This is truly revolutionary," Bement said of the linkup of plant and computer scientists.
"Plants obviously feed us, clothe …
A U.S. service member was killed Sunday following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, NATO said.
Alliance spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks confirmed an American died Sunday but declined to provide details, pending notification of the family of the service member.
Twenty-four NATO troops, including 16 U.S. service members, have been killed in Afghanistan so far this month.
NATO is pouring troops into southern Afghanistan as part of a stepped-up security operation in Kandahar, where insurgents have waged a campaign of targeted killings against government officials.
On Sunday, two militants on a motorbike opened fire on a car belonging to …
Chinese shares retreated Wednesday on profit-taking after a weeklong rally, led by declines for financials and nonferrous metal stocks.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed down 46.86 points, or 2 percent, at 2291.55, ending a rally that saw it rise 9.8 percent over seven sessions. The Shenzhen Composite Index for China's smaller second exchange shed 2.2 percent to 757.07.
"The confidence of investors started to fade after such a long rally, but this is just a technical reverse. With a lower dollar and higher oil prices, expectations of global inflation are still there," said Cao Xuefeng, an analyst for Huaxi Securities in the western city of Chengdu.
Bank of China, the country's third-largest commercial lender by assets, fell 2.3 percent to 3.39 yuan after the bank said its 2008 profits grew 14.4 percent, the slowest pace in three years. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China's biggest commercial lender, dropped 1.6 percent to 3.77 yuan, while China Construction Bank, Ltd. lost 1.9 percent to 4.20 yuan.
Nonferrous metals dipped after soaring in previous sessions, with Aluminum Corp. of China off 2.6 percent to 10.41 yuan, and Jiangxi Copper Ltd. down 1 percent to 22.3 yuan.
Auto shares fell after government raised gasoline and diesel prices Wednesday. Dongfeng Automobile Co. declined by 3.5 percent to 4.09 yuan and SAIC Motor Corporation Ltd. gave up 4.3 percent to 9.61 yuan.
In currency trading, the yuan was unchanged against the U.S. dollar at 6.83120.
The alleged lover of Asia's richest businesswoman defended his claim Thursday to her multibillion-dollar estate in a trial that has captivated Hong Kong, saying the two of them shared a life of feng shui, cooking and playing with model helicopters.
Businesswoman Nina Wang was one of the territory's most colorful people, known as "Little Sweetie" for her girlish outfits and pigtails. She died at age 69 of cancer in April 2007.
In his second day of testimony, 49-year-old feng shui adviser Tony Chan Chun-chuen said he and Wang were lovers and that she left him her fortune in an October 2006 will.
But the Chinachem Charitable Foundation, set up by Wang and her late husband, holds a competing will dated July 2002.
Chan said he and Wang shared many interests, including feng shui, the traditional Chinese practice of improving fortunes by actions like the placement of objects.
"We played every day. We shared many activities every day. Feng shui was one of our interests, but we also liked to play with model helicopters. We cooked together, we traveled together," he said.
Chan said he advised Wang to dig holes at properties owned by her husband's company in 1992 to improve her luck.
"Digging holes became a husband-and-wife game I played with Nina," Chan said.
He testified Wednesday that his affair with Wang was already ongoing when his wife was pregnant with their eldest son.
Wang inherited her husband's fortune after an eight-year court battle against her father-in-law.
Her husband was abducted in 1990, and despite the family paying $33 million in ransom, he was never released and his body never found. Wang went on to build her husband's company, Chinachem, into a massive property developer, with office towers and apartment complexes throughout Hong Kong.
In 2007, Forbes magazine ranked her as the world's No. 204 richest person with a fortune of US$4.2 billion, but it is not clear how much her fortune is currently worth.
CAREER BACKGROUND
Finance director for more than 25 statewide initiative campaigns and has implemented more than 250 individual fundraising programs. Past clients include: California Trial Lawyers Association, California Nurses Association and the California Forestry Association.
PERSONAL
Age 40, Single. Graduated from Berkeley with an AB in rhetoric.
CLAIM TO FAME
Created a new fundraising niche through the use of traditional grassroots techniques in low and high donor programs; was the first to specialize in initiative and special interest fundraising.
BEST DAY
When I exceed my goaLs.
WORST DAY
No such thing. Knock me down and I'll get right back up.
TEN YEARS FROM NOW
Influencing public opinion through political, corporate and media communication programs.
IMMEDIATE GOALS
Teaching more people how to raise money to empower them in their interests; increasing focus on strategic planning and public affairs activities.
POLITICAL HEROES
Aristotle, Alan Cranston, Cesar Chavez, Natan Sharansky.
SECRETS OF SUCCESS
Hard work, humor, being a good performer.
BIGGEST GRIPE
When clients fear the act of asking for money more than they fear the outcome of not having enough money to communicate their message; when candidates and finance committee people think they can simply hire someone like me and step back from the process.
PREDICTIONS
The sun will rise, the sun will set and money will still be a factor in gaining a place for our individual and collective agendas at the table of local, state and federal governments. Campaign finance reform will continue to spread at the state and local level. Despite all the posturing, campaign finance reform at the federal level will remain elusive.
FAVORITE BOOKS
The Rhetoric & The Poetics of Aristotle, by Aristotle; On the Road by Jack Kerouac; The Prince by Machiavelli.
FAVORITE MOVIES
"American Graffiti," "Star Wars," "Windy City," "The Nutty Professor" (Jerry Lewis's original), any Three Stooges short featuring Curly Howard, "Damn Yankees," "The Big Chill."
BEST MOMENT IN A CAMPAIGN
When we reach or exceed our fundraising goals ... helping people do something for themselves they never thought they could do - and still have fun with the process.
WORST MOMENT IN A CAMPAIGN
When we fall short of our targets; it's a sad day when someone walks by our clients without the client's hand having been in their pocket; when clients do not want to pay compensation due - no matter whether or not we exceed our goals.
A front moving slowly through the Southeast and Mississippi Valley is expected to provide heavy rain and thunderstorms. Heavy downpours are forecast from eastern Oklahoma through North Carolina.
The Gulf Coast is expected to experience heavy rain, with severe weather possible from eastern Texas through southern Georgia.
Precipitation is also likely in the Central Plains from Kansas through Nebraska.
A vast high pressure system stretching from the Northern Plains into the Northeast is likely to keep the area dry, although some isolated showers are expected in the Northeast early in the day.
A Pacific storm is likely to bring rain and possibly high elevation snow in Washington and Oregon.
Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Saturday ranged from a low of 12 degrees at Yellowstone, Wyo. to a high of 105 degrees at Bullhead City, Ariz.
___
On the Net:
Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com
National Weather Service: http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov
Intellicast: http://www.intellicast.com
IT's been said that in business, there is no such thing as standing still. If you're not moving forward, you're falling behind. Innovation and competition are in a state of perpetual motion.
That's true when it comes to business, technology - and publishing.
Readers' tastes and needs change. And magazines, be they printed or published online, are constantly inventing ways to draw readers in, to keep them engaged, and to inform and entertain them. Any magazine that fails to adapt risks irrelevancy.
The look of this magazine had not been touched in any significant way since its launch five years ago - an eternity in any industry. Much has happened in that time, which spans the wake of the Internet bubble burst to the rise of mobile computing and Web services. So, six months ago, we asked our art director, Victor Williams, to figure out what Baseline readers needed and to redesign the magazine to better serve them.
What You Have in Your Hands
Williams, an award-winning art director who previously worked at Sports Illustrated, Life and The Wall Street Journal, has produced an easy-to-read, easy-to-navigate publication that features more compelling graphics and illustrations; bolder, cleaner headlines and story type; and a better flow from one section to the next within the magazine.
You'll also notice that we're tying our print publication more closely with our Web site. Throughout the magazine, you'll see links to www.baselinemag.com. For instance, in the front of the book, we now feature an expanded online table of contents directing you to special features. On our letters page, you'll find reader feedback to Baseline's Web logs, such as the I.T. Project Management blog written by award-winning senior writer Kim S. Nash. And within our stories, you'll see links to related stories and background information from the substantial repository of Baseline's articles and research.
One thing we haven't changed is our content. You have consistently told us how much you value our news analysis, columns, workbooks, vendor profiles and, especially, our in-depth case studies. If anything, we're committed to producing ever-more-thorough reports.
We plan to do that both in print and on our Web site, where traffic this year is double what it was in 2005. Since the beginning of the year, we've been making a number of changes to the site. We've also beefed up our online news operation, started producing additional case studies for the site, and are expanding our already rich library of tools, research and expert opinion.
We have also hired a new online editor, Doug Bartholomew, an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years' experience. Doug had been running a successful publishing business, but decided to give that up for a chance to join Baseline.
Over the years, Doug has been at IndustryWeek, where he wrote and edited for the Industryweek.com Web site, started a weekly blog, won an award for Web-based commentary on the demise of Oldsmobile, and was a Neal Award finalist for his e-business articles. His work has also appeared in a number of big-time publications, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, Chief Executive and Corporate Finance.
Doug will be working closely with Todd Spangler, a veteran Baseline staffer, who was named last month as our News Editor, overseeing both our print and online news efforts.
In five years, Baseline has become one of most influential business and technology publications. Most important, we've garnered an extremely loyal readership of the nation's most forward-thinking business and technology leaders.
But we won't rest on past accomplishments. We're committed to serving your needs now and in the future. And I invite each of you to tell me how you think we're doing, and what you think we could be doing even better.
John Mccormick
Editor-In-Chief
John_mccormick@ziffdavis.Com
Standing in the Gap: A Profile of Carrie Jackson
Carrie Jackson has stepped forward to fill the void left in AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee, Inc.) by the death of Vivian Robinson, its founder and director. AUDELCO, founded twenty-five years ago, was created to generate recognition and awareness of the arts in Black communities and to build new audiences for theatre and dance companies.
Carrie Jackson was born in Savannah, Georgia and raised in Harlem. Always ambitious, she worked days and went to school at night, receiving an Associate Degree in Accounting and a Bachelor's Degree in Finance. Recently, she also received a certificate in Non-profit Management from Columbia University. Early in 1993, she decided to retire from her demanding position as a senior financial analyst at a New York City investment firm and become a financial consultant for nonprofit agencies, starting with AUDELCO. I recently spoke to Jackson about her new position.
V.T: People who are involved in Black Theatre will be glad to know that the dream did not vanish with the dreamer. What made you decide to undertake this tasks?
C.J: Basically because of the need for the organization to continue. The organization was not and is not in a position to hire someone who we thought was competent to take on the task. I have been handling the business of AUDELCO since last September. It was only logical for me to officially take on the title to be able to handle things with some sort of authority.
V.T: How and when did you become involved in theatre?
C.J.: In the mid-to-late 1980s. I had experienced the death of my mother, father, and brother within a four year span and my life had changed. I was in a saddened state of mind. A friend of mine had been doing work at National Black Theatre (NBT) and she invited me to come and volunteer, mainly to get me out of the house and give me some thing to do other than work to keep me occupied. I volunteered for house management at NBT and after a year or so the house manager, Mamie Stone, suggested that I volunteer with her to work at the AUDELCO Awards.
V.T.: How did you meet Vivian Robinson?
C.J.: I met Vivian at the pre-production meeting and was in awe of the efficient job that Ms. Robinson was doing in getting people to recognize Black Theatre. It was exciting.
V.T.: I understand that you have a responsible full-time position. Where do you get the energy to do a regular job plus work for AUDELCO?
C.J.: By splitting energies, utilizing resources of other volunteers and helpers.
V.T.: Vivian Robinson had some dedicated supporters and committed staff members to assist her. Have people rallied around or are you finding that you have to regroup and recruit assistance?
C.J.: For the most part there has been a rallying but recruiting new, enthusiastic volunteers is an ongoing task. I presently get continuing support from Darcel Brittingham, Renee Chenoweth, Fred Powell who is our chairman, Mary Davis, and others.
V.T.: Since you have been in the director's seat, tell us about some of your duties.
C.J: The director is the public image of AUDELCO. Some things the director does are make sure that the business gets taken care of. Our primary concern is with the welfare of Black Theatre. So the director and staff attend many plays and keep abreast of the artists' activities, create events that will bring audiences to see Black Theatre (besides the paperwork involved) proclaim the excellence of various artists by giving them the coveted AUDELCO Award.
V.T.: I hear that one of the first things you did was to find a new office space.
C.J.: The new office is at 2469 Frederick Douglas Boulevard (8th Ave.) between 132nd and 133rd Streets on the ground floor. It is conveniently located and handicap accessible. It is also a bit larger than our past headquarters. Some people have been very generous. Columbia University donated a copier, the Abyssinian Development Corporation donated furniture, Sandra Reeves Phillips donated artwork from her collection. Other donations are still coming in and will be gratefully accepted and acknowledged.
V.T: Monday, November 18, [was] be the presentation of the AUDELCO Awards. It has always been a glorious event where we get to dress up and honor our own.
C.J.: It [was] a glittering, gala event in honor of Vivian. It [was] our Silver Reunion.
V.T.: What new future plans would you like to see executed by AUDELCO?
C.J.: To continue to fulfill out original mission to create awareness of and provide audiences for theatre and dance in the New York City area. I would like to see us become a full research center for Black Theatre, a connecting link to other venues, exploring other outlets for their [artists'] talents. We are sincerely reaching out to the Black Theatre community for support, in order to continue what was started by the Queen Mother of Black Theatre. Memberships to AUDELCO start as low as $25. Join us in applying the Kwanzaa principals of unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith to help in the development of us becoming a self supporting and self-sustaining, economically sound community.
Other services AUDELCO provides are: The coordination of monthly activities to promote attendance to cultural programs; the annual month-long Black Arts Festival, since 1982; maintaining the Black Theatre Archives of scripts, costumes, etc.; the newsletter, "Intermission;" a series of productions geared towards young audiences; "Theatremania," the annual auction fundraiser in May; Open House (during Harlem week) and an out-of-state theatre trip.
Photo (Carrie Jackson)
Police say an 85-year-old patient shot and wounded a nursing supervisor in a Connecticut hospital.
They say the nurse suffered non-life-threatening wounds while trying to subdue the patient Tuesday afternoon. They say he was rushed to the emergency unit for treatment.
Police say the man pulled a gun after the nurse went in to treat him and shot the victim three times after he tried to grab the weapon.
The patient shot himself in the leg while being restrained after the attack and has been hospitalized. He faces charges, including first-degree assault and carrying a revolver without a permit. Bond is set at $250,000.
Police have not said why he had a gun in the hospital.
Danbury Hospital is a 12-floor facility with nearly 400 beds and 4,000 employees.
| Oakland @ Texas @ | |||
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| Hollidy lf 4 0 2 0 N.Cruz rf 2 1 0 0 | |||
| Giambi 1b 4 1 1 1 Blalock 1b 4 1 2 1 | |||
| Crosby 1b 0 0 0 0 C.Davis 1b 0 0 0 0 | |||
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| Totals @ 37 5 10 4 Totals @ 35 4 10 4 | |||
| Oakland 100 001 201_5 | |||
| Texas 000 000 220_4 | |||
| E_Blalock (1), Kinsler (4). DP_Oakland 1, Texas 2. LOB_Oakland 8, Texas 7. 2B_O.Cabrera (6), An.Jones (9), Byrd (18), Saltalamacchia (7). HR_Kennedy 2 (4), Giambi (6). SB_Holliday (4). CS_Dav.Murphy (3). | |||
| IP H R ER BB SO | |||
| Oakland | |||
| Braden 6 5 2 2 2 6 | |||
| Breslow H,4 1-3 1 0 0 0 0 | |||
| Wuertz H,5 1 1 2 2 1 3 | |||
| A.Bailey W,4-0 BS,3-5 1 2-3 3 0 0 0 1 | |||
| Texas | |||
| Millwood 6 5 2 2 2 5 | |||
| Holland 2 4 2 2 0 3 | |||
| F.Francisco L,1-1 1 1 1 1 0 1 | |||
| Braden pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. | |||
| HBP_by Millwood (Holliday). Balk_Holland. | |||
| Umpires_Home, Gerry Davis | First, Brian Gorman | Second, C.B. Bucknor | Third, Mike Everitt. |
| T_2:57. A_22,952 (49,170). |
Palestinian rival groups Fatah and Hamas held a series of "icebreaking" meetings ahead of wider reconciliation talks aimed at repairing the gaping rift between the two groups, members said Wednesday.
The discussions, mediated by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, focused on releasing detainees and ending the negative media campaigns each side is waging against the other.
"We agreed on the mechanism to solve the issue of prisoners," said Nabil Shaath, a top aid to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We agree to stop all media attacks against each other. This will be immediate."
He described the talks as positive and told reporters there would be another meeting Wednesday night, ahead of the main talks.
Leading Hamas figure Izzat Rashaq described the meetings as "icebreakers between the two parties."
Distrust between Hamas and Fatah runs deep after a three-year power struggle, including a civil war that ended with Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza in 2007, leaving President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah in charge of only the West Bank.
Hamas claimed Abbas' government ran a Gaza spy ring that fed Israel information about Hamas targets during the fighting. Fatah accused Hamas of killing and wounding dozens of Fatah activists under the cover of the war.
Top Palestinian officials Ahmed Qureia of Fatah and Moussa Abu Marzouk of Hamas led the preliminary meetings ahead of Thursday's main reconciliation discussions.
In a goodwill gesture, Fatah released 42 Hamas detainees in the West Bank and promised to release more.
Rashaq of Hamas hailed the step but described it as insufficient.
"This step should be reinforced by releasing the rest of the detainees to end the state of hostility and begin a real reconciliation," he said and warned that unless Fatah releases more, "it will turn to a bomb that would explode in the face of the Palestinian-Palestinian talks."
Palestinian representative in Egypt, Nabil Amr, said those being held in West Bank prisons are "security" detainees, rather than political prisoners.
"But even those detained over security concerns, are eligible to be reconsidered," he said.
The Egyptians envision talks involving five negotiating committees covering goodwill gestures, forming an interim government, holding presidential and legislative elections, restructuring the security services and finding a role for Hamas in the Fatah-run Palestine Liberation Organization.
This is the fifth meeting this year between Hamas and Fatah delegations in Egypt.
Looking at the title of this letter, you may think, "Wait a minute, isn't engineering already a profession?" Let's think about it. What does it mean to work in a profession, i.e., a field that involves professional practice? A person may work in astronomy and earn a living at it. So that person is a professional astronomer as opposed to an amateur astronomer. But is astronomy a profession? You'd probably say no.
But if I ask you, "Is pharmacy a profession?" you would likely immediately answer yes. Why? At least partly because you know that a person cannot work as a pharmacist without being licensed to practice pharmacy. This person works with the public, and the license certifies that she/he is competent to dispense drugs and give advice on medications. The license also guarantees that this person has had the necessary education in chemistry and biology as well as the education/training in professional pharmacy practice deemed necessary to assure that the public is protected. That professional education, which comes after receiving a baccalaureate degree, is in a "professional" school.
We think of fields where ethics definitely enters the equation, such as medicine, law, pharmacy, and nursing, as professions, largely because a person must by law or regulation have a legal certification, usually in the form of a license, to practice. In other words, a person must be "licensed to practice" in his/her profession. So the word "practice" takes on a special meaning.
The Current Situation
A major problem for engineering as a recognized profession, then, is that only about one-fifth of working U.S. engineers are licensed professional engineers (P.E.). The rest work in industry or government and through state approved industrial/government exemptions are not required to be licensed. In fact, companies may give the title "engineer" to anyone, regardless of whether that person is educated as an engineer.
I do not advocate changing the industrial or government exemption provisions. The system has worked well and the conflict and misunderstanding that would occur if any group advocated eliminating these exemptions would be divisive to engineering. Though I happen to be a P.E. and among the 20 percent of U.S. engineers who are licensed to practice engineering, I am no better qualified than the 80 percent who are not licensed.
However, I do believe it is in the best interest of the engineering community to promote licensure as one way to improve the field's professional stature. But how can we do this?
A way to start would be to insist that all new engineering graduates be on the engineering licensure track. I also advocate that companies employing engineers strongly encourage them to become licensed professionals, and promote professionalism and good engineering ethics. And state boards of engineering licensure should seek ways to facilitate the process while not compromising technical and ethical standards.
I also strongly believe that faculty members should be role models of professionalism, and that it would help if more were licensed professional engineers. By comparison, you will not find any faculty members who teach the practice of medicine or pharmacy who are not licensed (an exception is those who teach basic science, but they do not claim to be medical doctors or pharmacists). State boards could also facilitate the licensing of doctorate-holding engineering faculty members, recognizing that these are highly qualified, well-educated engineers and that engineering education is one type of engineering practice.
A first step toward accomplishing these goals would be the state boards' adoption of the elements of the licensure model recently proposed by a task force of ASEE/NSPE/ABET/NCEES.
Protecting Our Image
These recommendations are principally made to promote a sense of professionalism. Engineering ought to be thought of as a professional field in the eyes of everyone, and without question. The word "engineering" should mean more than maintenance or plumbing, which is not always the case. It is a "professional" field.
The U.S. Department of Education does not recognize engineering as a professional field because it does not consider any four-year baccalaureate degree program as adequate for a professional degree. This may call for a move to establish the master's degree as the minimum education necessary to enter the profession.
I believe that engineering is a profession, and that engineering colleges are professional schools. But until we take steps to fulfill the requirements that recognized professions already meet, engineering will remain a notch below them in the public consciousness. A recent experience drove this point home for me.
As I walked down the hall in a hotel, I observed a man in coveralls, ladder beside him and replacement light bulb in hand, knocking at a guest room. Through the door he said, "Good morning-engineering here."
Prospect coach Bruce Bazsali keeps saying Becky Thorne isunderrated. Now he has evidence to prove his case.
Thorne's game-winning home run in the ninth inning liftedunranked Prospect (3-0) past No. 4 York 3-2 Friday in Mount Prospect.
Elsewhere, Meg Lobitz returned after missing the first threegames of the season with a virus to lead top-ranked Maine South (4-0)past Immaculate Heart of Mary 4-1.
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Prospect's Lori Mooresingled, stole second and advanced to third on an out.
Thorne drove in Moore to force extra innings.
"Becky is one of the best first basemen in the area," Bazsalisaid.
Jennifer Hernet (3-0) earned the victory and has not allowed anearned run in 17 innings for the Knights.
Maine South 4, Immaculate Heart of Mary 1: Lobitz (1-0) allowedonly two hits and an unearned run in the seventh inning in her firstappearance of the season.
Cathy Restivo hit a three-run triple in the first inning topace Maine South's offense.
Stagg 2, Rich Central 1: Stagg (9-0) edged Rich Central (2-2)behind Heidi Neal (1-0), who struck out four and scored both runs.Ginger Kenny went 2-for-4 and had a two-out single scoring Neal inthe sixth. Neal scored again in the 10th inning on an error.
Moline 7, Providence-New Lenox 0: Two-time defending statechampion Moline breezed behind Shelley Wynn (3-0) who struck out sixin the first game of the doubleheader. The second game was calledbecause of darkness after six innings tied at 2.
Washington 19, Corliss 4: Washington (3-0) rolled as JulieKawiecki went 3-for-3 with three RBI and Colette Bosko went 2-for-3with two RBI.
Thornton 13, Hillcrest 3: Thornton rolled behind Candy Wiedeman(3-0), who pitched her second no-hitter of the season.
Tawana Newbern (1-for-3) batted in three runs.
PEORIA, Ariz. - Now that Ken Griffey Jr.'s swollen knee hascalmed down, he is ready to play in his first game for Seattle in adecade.
The 39-year-old slugger hit for about 10 minutes against twoClass A pitchers in a simulated game on Monday. Mariners manager DonWakamatsu then confirmed Griffey will make his spring debut, asplanned, at designated hitter on Wednesday night against Australia'snational team.
The outing will come 11 days after baseball's leading active homerun hitter signed an incentive-filled deal to return to where hiscareer began 20 years ago. Griffey had arthroscopic knee surgery inOctober.
Griffey was icing his propped-up left knee after workouts a fewdays ago, then spent the weekend with his wife and children, whowere in from Florida.
On Monday, he let a few initial pitches from wide-eyed, 24-year-old Jake Wild go by before he lofted fly balls while Wakamatsu andgeneral manager Jack Zduriencik watched.
Veteran Mike Sweeney, trying to make the team after operations onboth of his knees last summer, first baseman Russell Branyan andshortstop Yuniesky Betancourt also hit to keep themselves sharp. Allbut Branyan have yet to play in a spring game.
"That's all I need," a smiling Griffey told his manager after theshort session.
"Junior did great," Wakamatsu said. "There was some swelling inthe knee a couple of days ago, but everything's good now."
Wakamatsu has said he wants Griffey to have about 30 or 40 at-bats before the opener on April 6 at Minnesota. And Griffey says hedoesn't need games to get that work, adding that spring games areprimarily for pitchers.
He will get more swings in another simulated game planned forFriday, and Wakamatsu may put Griffey in minor league games laterthis month just to keep his swing sharp.
"There are no restrictions on him," Wakamatsu said, reiteratingthe Mariners are trying to preserve Griffey for the entire season.
"(During the season) it's going to be the plane flights, if hehas to slide in games, playing the field a lot. We're going to becognizant of all that and monitor as we go along," Wakamatsu added.
Griffey, fifth on the all-time home run list with 611, signed aone-year contract worth $2 million in base pay on Feb. 21. He couldearn $3 million more if the Mariners have a paid attendance total of3 million, he has 500 plate appearances and he does not go on thedisabled list, according to salary figures obtained by TheAssociated Press.
He wants to play left field as much as he can. The Mariners willalso use him as their designated hitter.
AP-ES-03-02-09 1640EST
Biologists say an increase in snowy owl sightings in the South suggests that the arctic species did so well in its northern breeding grounds last year that competition is driving the young ones to warmer climates.
The mostly white owls of "Harry Potter" fame are spotted in small numbers in upstate New York and other northern states every winter. This year, they've also been spotted farther south, in states where they're rarely seen.
In Tennessee, birders armed with spotting scopes and telephoto lenses scrambled from as far away as Georgia and Alabama to see the first snowy owl reported in that state in 22 years.
The owl showed up in early December in the fields surrounding a General Motors plant in Spring Hill, Tenn. Sightings were still being posted on the Tennessee Ornithological Society's Web site in late January.
Birding hot lines lit up in northern Virginia with the sighting of a young male snowy owl in early December. The bird later died after it was found, sick and weak, and brought to the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro.
Rarely seen south of northern Ohio, snowy owls have also been reported this year in Kansas and Missouri, according to the eBird.org national bird reporting Web site.
Snowy owls nest on the ground in the Arctic tundra and many of them stay there year-round, while some winter in Canada and the northern United States. They tend to show up in greater numbers in the U.S. every three to five years, pushed by crashes in the population of lemmings, the hamster-like mainstay of their diet.
But that doesn't appear to be the reason for this year's influx.
"This year it appears the lemming population was really good," said Laura Erickson, a biologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca. "When lemmings are abundant, snowy owls have a very successful breeding season."
As a result, the owl population grows so large that many of the young males move farther south to stake out feeding territory. An individual adult snowy owl may eat three to five lemmings per day, or up to 1,600 per year.
Snowy owls aren't uncommon in winter in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but they're far more plentiful than usual this year, Erickson said. At the airport in Minneapolis, biologists have had to trap and move snowy owls for fear they'd be sucked into a jet engine, she said.
"As birds of the tundra, they're drawn to large open fields like airports," Erickson said.
The increase in southerly sightings is most likely a temporary phenomenon. Back in the arctic next summer, the larger population of owls may devour so many lemmings that food scarcity will bring the owl population back down, Erickson said.
___
On the Net:
eBird sighting database: http://eBird.org
A federal judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the case of a former government-contractor employee accused of taking a $1 million kickback in an alleged conspiracy with a Kuwaiti businessman to defraud the U.S. military.
Jurors said they were deadlocked after three days of deliberations and could not reach a unanimous verdict in the trial of Jeff Alex Mazon.
Mazon, 39, is charged with four counts of major fraud and six counts of wire fraud. Attorneys are to meet next week to schedule a new trial.
Prosecutors said Mazon, of Country Club Hills near Chicago, conspired to inflate a military contract by $4.8 million and got $1 million as a reward for inflating the subcontract for Ali Hijazi's company. The $5.5 million contract was for fuel services at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.
The defense has said Mazon was overworked while employed at former Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc. and made an honest mistake while converting Kuwaiti currency to U.S. dollars.
Hijazi faces similar charges, although he lives in Kuwait and has not been taken into custody.
The indictment came from a federal grand jury in Illinois because the Army Field Support Command at the Rock Island Arsenal oversees the military contract that included the tanker deal.
PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) — A self-help author's acknowledgement that he was responsible for the deaths of three people in an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony was something the victims' family members had hoped for long ago. But the sentencing hearing wasn't about apologies for them; it was about accountability.
As James Arthur Ray stood before them and tearfully begged for forgiveness Friday, they looked to a judge to sentence Ray to the maximum nine years in prison on three counts of negligent homicide.
Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Warren Darrow gave Ray three, two-year sentences to be served concurrently and ordered him to pay more than $57,000 in restitution. He said the "emotional harm is so strong and such that probation is simply unwarranted in this case."
Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, N.Y.; James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee; and Liz Neuman, 49, of Prior Lake, Minn., died as a result of the ceremony.
"This doesn't bring Kirby back. This doesn't bring back James or Liz," said Brown's mother, Virginia. "But certainly time in prison is a deterrent and will serve as a warning to the self-help industry."
Neither prosecutors nor the families believed the sentence was sufficient for a man who they say ratcheted up the heat in the October 2009 sweat lodge to dangerous levels, ignored pleas for help and watched as participants were dragged out of the sweat lodge.
Ray said he would have stopped the ceremony had he known people were dying or in distress. But he offered no excuses for his lack of action as chaos unfolded outside the structure at a retreat near Sedona.
"At the end of the day, I lost three friends, and I lost them on my watch," Ray said, standing before the victims' families. "Whatever errors in judgment or mistakes I have made, I'm going to have to live with those for the rest of my life. I truly understand your disappointment in my actions after, I do. I'm disappointed in myself."
Ray will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence. That comes out to almost 600 days, taking into account the credit he received for 24 days served. That's roughly the amount of time he's been out of jail on bond since his arrest early last year.
The courtroom was silent as the sentence was handed down. The victims' families held hands and braced for a decision, as did Ray's parents and brother.
Afterward, authorities immediately took custody of Ray, who will serve his time with the state Department of Corrections. Ray's family offered their condolences to the victims' families in a statement following the sentencing hearing and asked if they'd find forgiveness in their hearts.
"We were fortunate enough to meet with James after the sentencing," said his brother, Jon Ray. "He was in good spirits and said this would give him the opportunity to help people in prison that need it."
Defense attorneys said they would appeal, likely on the grounds that errors by the prosecution tainted the case.
County Attorney Sheila Polk hoped Ray would get the maximum and believed she had made a strong case for accountability, justice and deterrence. But, she said, "certainly some prison time over probation is better than no prison at all."
Ray originally was charged with manslaughter, but jurors rejected that he was reckless in his handling of the ceremony that highlighted Ray's five-day "Spiritual Warrior" event. Ray's attorneys suggested that toxins or poisons contributed to the deaths, but jurors said that theory was not credible.
Ray's motivational mantra drew dozens of people to the retreat with a promise that the sweat lodge typically used by American Indians to cleanse the body would lead to powerful breakthroughs. When the victims' families discovered something went wrong, they said Ray made no attempt to identify people in the hospital nor offered them any solace for their loss until recently.
They lashed out at him in court Friday, their voices echoing through the courtroom, saying they were appalled that he continued to deliver self-help messages through the Internet while he faced criminal charges.
"There was nothing you could teach Liz, James or Kirby about honor, integrity and impeccability," said Neuman's cousin, Lily Clark, drawing from Ray's principle teachings. "But they could have taught you a lot. They were born spiritual warriors, and you are not worthy to spit shine their combat boots."
Neuman's daughter, Andrea Puckett, said she doesn't believe Ray grasps his role in the deaths, despite his apology and called the sentence a joke.
"It's very frightening the control he has over people and his mentality," she said. "That's not going to change."
Participants began showing signs of distress about halfway through the two-hour sweat lodge ceremony. By the time it was over, some were vomiting, struggling to breathe and lying lifeless on the ground. Brown and Shore were pronounced dead. Neuman slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness. She died more than a week later at a Flagstaff hospital.
"He did some good but this is about what he didn't do," said Shore's mother, Jane Shore-Gripp. "He had the opportunity to save three people, and he didn't."
The trial was a mix of lengthy witness testimony and legal wrangling that lasted four months. Witnesses painted conflicting pictures of Ray, with some describing him as a coach who encouraged participants to do their best to endure the heat but never forced them to remain in the sweat lodge. Others said they learned through breathing exercises, a 36-hour fast, and a game in which Ray portrayed God that they dare not question him, and they lost the physical and mental ability to care for themselves or others.
SAN FRANCISCO - Barry Bonds expressed "relief" that the federal grand jury considering possible perjury and tax-evasion charges against him expired without an indictment.
The slugger's troublesome right knee feels 100 percent, too.
Bonds, who hit his 722nd career home run Thursday night in a win against the San Diego Padres, declined to talk to reporters Thursday only hours after federal prosecutors decided not to indict him for now, but he made a journal entry on his personal Web site.
"First off, I would like to say that what happened today is not a moment of joy for me, but one of temporary relief," Bonds said in his latest posting on
For a brief moment, congressional Republicans may have thought that a long run of bad luck in the ethics department was coming to an end.
In just this past year, the Republican leader resigned under a cloud; a prominent Republican congressman went to jail; another (Ohio's Bob Ney) pleaded guilty to corruption charges and is headed there; another Republican lawmaker abruptly resigned over e-mails to young male pages, and several top Republican aides face an ethics probe in connection with that scandal.
True, Democratic Rep. William Jefferson -- he of the $90,000 in the freezer -- is the target of a bribery investigation, but he happens to represent New Orleans, not a place or an issue the Republicans wish to revisit.
Then Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid announced that he would be amending four years of ethics reports to better explain a $1.1 million windfall on a Nevada land deal. And he would also be reimbursing his political campaign for $3,300 in Christmas tips to the staff of the Washington hotel where he has a condo.
Reid said he was doing so to prevent the issue from being used "to deflect attention from Republican failures." The Republicans wish.
Just when it seemed they might have a stick, even a small one, to belabor the Democratic leader, the feds raided the homes of GOP Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter and one of his key political supporters in connection with an influence-peddling probe of the congressman.
And, almost as a footnote, it came out that another Republican lawmaker had paid a lawyer $38,000 to try to convince the feds that he was guiltless in another scandal, this one involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Altogether, not exactly a record one wants to take to the voters.
Was it a reflection on Republicans? White House spokesman Tony Snow was asked. No, he said, it was a reflection on the individuals.
OK, but, still, that's a lot of Republicans in hot water. And there's a reason: Opportunity. The Republicans are the party in power and power can be corrupting.
It happened to the Democrats.
In 1981 a senator and six members of the House, all but one of them Democrats, were convicted in an FBI-run bribery sting operation. In 1989, Democrat Jim Wright was forced out as House speaker over profits from a questionable book deal. Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee is one of most powerful and prestigious posts in the House. One Democratic chairman resigned from the committee over a drunken affair with a stripper and another went to jail in 1994 for mail fraud, not by coincidence, the year the Republicans captured the House.
They have held it ever since, with results that may have been predictable.
TEMPTATIONS OF THE MAJORITY.(Editorial)(Editorial)For a brief moment, congressional Republicans may have thought that a long run of bad luck in the ethics department was coming to an end.
In just this past year, the Republican leader resigned under a cloud; a prominent Republican congressman went to jail; another (Ohio's Bob Ney) pleaded guilty to corruption charges and is headed there; another Republican lawmaker abruptly resigned over e-mails to young male pages, and several top Republican aides face an ethics probe in connection with that scandal.
True, Democratic Rep. William Jefferson -- he of the $90,000 in the freezer -- is the target of a bribery investigation, but he happens to represent New Orleans, not a place or an issue the Republicans wish to revisit.
Then Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid announced that he would be amending four years of ethics reports to better explain a $1.1 million windfall on a Nevada land deal. And he would also be reimbursing his political campaign for $3,300 in Christmas tips to the staff of the Washington hotel where he has a condo.
Reid said he was doing so to prevent the issue from being used "to deflect attention from Republican failures." The Republicans wish.
Just when it seemed they might have a stick, even a small one, to belabor the Democratic leader, the feds raided the homes of GOP Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter and one of his key political supporters in connection with an influence-peddling probe of the congressman.
And, almost as a footnote, it came out that another Republican lawmaker had paid a lawyer $38,000 to try to convince the feds that he was guiltless in another scandal, this one involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Altogether, not exactly a record one wants to take to the voters.
Was it a reflection on Republicans? White House spokesman Tony Snow was asked. No, he said, it was a reflection on the individuals.
OK, but, still, that's a lot of Republicans in hot water. And there's a reason: Opportunity. The Republicans are the party in power and power can be corrupting.
It happened to the Democrats.
In 1981 a senator and six members of the House, all but one of them Democrats, were convicted in an FBI-run bribery sting operation. In 1989, Democrat Jim Wright was forced out as House speaker over profits from a questionable book deal. Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee is one of most powerful and prestigious posts in the House. One Democratic chairman resigned from the committee over a drunken affair with a stripper and another went to jail in 1994 for mail fraud, not by coincidence, the year the Republicans captured the House.
They have held it ever since, with results that may have been predictable.
TEMPTATIONS OF THE MAJORITY.(Editorial)(Editorial)For a brief moment, congressional Republicans may have thought that a long run of bad luck in the ethics department was coming to an end.
In just this past year, the Republican leader resigned under a cloud; a prominent Republican congressman went to jail; another (Ohio's Bob Ney) pleaded guilty to corruption charges and is headed there; another Republican lawmaker abruptly resigned over e-mails to young male pages, and several top Republican aides face an ethics probe in connection with that scandal.
True, Democratic Rep. William Jefferson -- he of the $90,000 in the freezer -- is the target of a bribery investigation, but he happens to represent New Orleans, not a place or an issue the Republicans wish to revisit.
Then Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid announced that he would be amending four years of ethics reports to better explain a $1.1 million windfall on a Nevada land deal. And he would also be reimbursing his political campaign for $3,300 in Christmas tips to the staff of the Washington hotel where he has a condo.
Reid said he was doing so to prevent the issue from being used "to deflect attention from Republican failures." The Republicans wish.
Just when it seemed they might have a stick, even a small one, to belabor the Democratic leader, the feds raided the homes of GOP Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter and one of his key political supporters in connection with an influence-peddling probe of the congressman.
And, almost as a footnote, it came out that another Republican lawmaker had paid a lawyer $38,000 to try to convince the feds that he was guiltless in another scandal, this one involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Altogether, not exactly a record one wants to take to the voters.
Was it a reflection on Republicans? White House spokesman Tony Snow was asked. No, he said, it was a reflection on the individuals.
OK, but, still, that's a lot of Republicans in hot water. And there's a reason: Opportunity. The Republicans are the party in power and power can be corrupting.
It happened to the Democrats.
In 1981 a senator and six members of the House, all but one of them Democrats, were convicted in an FBI-run bribery sting operation. In 1989, Democrat Jim Wright was forced out as House speaker over profits from a questionable book deal. Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee is one of most powerful and prestigious posts in the House. One Democratic chairman resigned from the committee over a drunken affair with a stripper and another went to jail in 1994 for mail fraud, not by coincidence, the year the Republicans captured the House.
They have held it ever since, with results that may have been predictable.
He had an appointment scheduled for Sept. 20 at Oak Forest Hospital in the dentistry department. Because he died before his appointment, no work was performed. He had paid $300 in advance.
I was given a letter from the dentist's office stating this. Then I was told by a woman in the finance office that she had sent his $300 to the prosecutor's office, since she did not know where to send the money.
Tyrone had children, so I suggested she give the money to them.
She told me that if I go to …
Two off at Stotfold, Arlesey lose
Potton United came away with the spoils in their Bank Holiday derby at Stotfold.
Three late goals sealed the UCL Premier Division game after Stotfold had Danny Kennoy and keeper Steve Graham sent off.
Barry Sells fired Potton into a first half lead. With Stotfold reduced to ten, Steve Kuhne and Lee …
Byline: Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Satellites have picked up a shift in the trade winds and detected humps of warm water moving across the Pacific Ocean at the equator -- signs that another weather-disrupting El Nino may be brewing.
If so, heavy rains and drought could be in store around the world come winter.
An El Nino occurs when westward-blowing trade winds weaken, allowing a mass of warm water normally situated off Australia to drive eastward to western South America. The phenomenon got its name from the Spanish words for baby Jesus because the huge, warm pool usually arrives around Christmas.
El Ninos alter the strength and …
New research on the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region shows that more than 80 percent of the 300,000 deaths since fighting began in 2003 were the result of disease, not violence.
The findings, published Friday in the medical journal The Lancet, suggest many among the millions of people uprooted by the conflict could remain at great risk of succumbing to the malnutrition, diarrhea and waterborne diseases that have ravaged their squalid refugee camps even as fighting has ebbed.
Fighting between rebels and Sudanese government forces began in Darfur in 2003, driving 2.7 million people from their homes and creating an enormous humanitarian crisis in the …
How Mariah changed my life - and her own
So Mariah Carey isn't just that vocally inimitable pop goddess who belts the hell out of 'Hero," like she said during a press conference recently. I know that now, and am constantly reminded by some of her loopy antics (ice cream, anyone?), very public break-ups/breakdowns and that one recent sloshed award-acceptance speech that made a big buzz.
Bigger, anyway, than her R&B-throwback flop "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel," leased in September. That, along with its mix reissue due in March, is what brings ariah on the road during a theater outing titled "The Angels Advocate Tour," stopping Jan. 25 at the Fox Theatre.
Her last …
Mr. James R. "Ron" Speer, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Financial Management and Comptroller)
(Mr. Speer focused his remarks on the high priority that Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld hasp/aced on financial management and the efforts within the Air Force to improve financial management.)
From the day of his confirmation hearing, Secretary Rumsfeld made improving Department of Defense (DoD) financial management a top priority. One of the first study groups that Mr. Rumsfeld chartered on assuming office was tasked to review the current state of financial management within the Department and to recommend actions for improvement. Furthermore, Dr. Dov Zakheim, the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) (USD(C)), has made financial reform a top priority.
The Air Force also continues to make financial management a top priority. In fact, over the last several years, the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Financial Management and Comptroller) (SAF/FM) has restructured financial management to address financial issues …
Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan's film installation Monument to Another Man's Fatherland, 2008, is dominated by a large 35-mm projector, situated in the center of the gallery rather than hidden in a soundproof projection booth. While the workings of this machine are therefore audible as well as visible, the film it projects--a fine-grained monochromatic journey across a montage of the richly detailed surfaces of a sculptural relief--is silent. The images document a well-known monument depicting a gigantomachia, or struggle between gods and giants, built to celebrate a battle between the Celts and the Pergamum Kingdom in 166-67 BC. At the end of the nineteenth century, this …
TODAY
CLASSES & WORKSHOPS
Creatures You Love to Hate
Where: Brunswick Community Library, 605 Brunswick Road, Troy When: 6 p.m. Contact: 279-4023 or go online to http://www.brunswicklibrary.org Notes: Learn about spiders and bats with Sharon Mammoser. Call to register.
Literacy Volunteers
Where: Borders Books & Music, 59 Wolf Road, Colonie When: 7 p.m. Contact: 274-8526 Notes: Tutor training class to help people improve basic literacy skills and learn to speak English.
FAIRS & FESTIVALS
Lark in the Park
Where: Various locations in Catskill communities, Contact: (877) 426-0323; e-mail: …
Byline: Associated Press
The World Health Organization has given final approval to an injectable
female contraceptive long dogged by safety concerns.
The U.N. health agency said Tuesday that Depo Provera, officially known as DMPA, did not increase the risk of breast, cervical or ovarian cancer. It said there was evidence that the contraceptive, which is injected every three months, protected women against cancer of the uterus.
"The results are …
TOKYO (AP) — Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni included strikers Mike Havenaar and Shinji Okazaki in his 23-man squad for 2014 World Cup qualifying matches against North Korea and Tajikistan later this month.
Zaccheroni alkso included Inter Milan defender Yuto Nagatomo, Wolfsburg midfielder Makoto Hasebe and Borussia Dortmund striker Shinji Kagawa in the …
WASHINGTON (AP) — The former chief of staff to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has taken a job with one of the law firms representing BP in legal proceedings stemming from the massive Gulf oil spill last year.
Tom Strickland joined the Interior Department as Salazar's chief of staff and an assistant secretary in 2009. He worked there at time when the department ushered in reforms and new ethical rules to reduce conflicts of interest between offshore oil drilling's regulator and drilling companies after a series of scandals at offices in Colorado and along the Gulf Coast.
Federal law and an executive order from President Barack Obama bar Strickland temporarily from dealing with …
Scotland legend Kenny Dalglish has been linked with the vacantmanagerial job at Preston North …
Cashbox PLC, a United Kingdom-based nonbank ATM owner and operator, said Friday it had an installed base of 2,838 machines as of Dec. 31, up 38.8% from 2,045 machines six months earlier. Cashbox, which disclosed the numbers at its annual general meeting, says it increased its ATM fleet by buying competitors. "The integration of these machines onto …
Byline: MICHAEL ECK Special to the Times Union
As far as the history books are concerned, Janis Ian will forever remain ``Society's Child,'' a lonely girl locked in her lonely room ``At Seventeen.''
Ian herself doesn't live in the history books, and while she still duly rolls out her two biggest hits, she sticks to her new stuff onstage, which is exactly what she did Saturday night at the Van Dyck.
Ian entered the Van Dyck space already playing the riff from the title song to her latest album, ``God and the FBI.'' She then continued to focus on the record for much of her 85-minute set.
She sounded more like a full band than a solo act on …
Byline: Bob Dixon
Jan. 12--None of the remaining Inland Empire offices of Checkmate Staffing will close as a result of the company's Dec. 30 bankruptcy filing, according to Marc Winthrop, the company's bankruptcy attorney. Winthrop is a partner in Winthrop Couchot LLP, a Newport Beach law firm that specializes in bankruptcy cases.
As part of an earlier restructuring effort, one of the temporary labor firm's two Corona offices closed. The San Bernardino and Rancho Cucamonga offices remain open, Winthrop said.
Orange-based Checkmate Staffing sought protection under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy protection laws scant weeks after company officials …
HOUSTON - Astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery and the international space station geared up Friday for the first spacewalk of their joint mission and the robotic installation of a new live-in compartment, called Harmony.
Spacewalkers Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock donned their spacesuits and were preparing to help astronauts inside the station use a robotic arm to transfer Harmony from Discovery's payload bay to its position on the orbiting lab.
The Italian-made module is about the size of a school bus, weighing nearly 16 tons. It will serve as the docking port for European and Japanese laboratories that will be delivered on the next three shuttle flights.
…
According to the authors of recent research from Prague, Czech Republic, "Several groups found different impact of erythropoietin (EPO) on liver regeneration. Both proproliferative as well as anti-proliferative and non-proliferative activities have been reported using high dosage of EPO."
"Systemic administration of high doses of this cytokine is a clinical concern due to risk of thrombosis. Herein, we applied EPO in low dosages and investigated whether it can stimulate liver regeneration after liver resection. Main methods: Parameters of liver regeneration were assessed 3 days after 70% hepatectomy by means of immunochemistry and proteomics. EPO was given twice in low dosages …
