A local real estate agent can help you locate available short sale properties for sale in the areas you are interested in. The process of purchasing the short sale is similar to a regular sale initially.? Once a home is found that you want to place an offer on you make the offer with earnest money deposit and a prequalification.? Once the home owner accepts the offer the offer gets submitted to the bank for approval.? This is the step that makes it so different from a regular sale.? The process for the final approval can be weeks to many, many months.? It is a process that requires tremendous patience and understanding that there may be hurdles along the way.? However, if you are not in a hurry to move short sales can be great options. If you need help finding a local agent let me know. Good luck!
USA Today discovered a department of labor filing with regards to Billy Hunter?s salary with the NBPA last year, much of which was spent during the lockout of the NBPA by the owners in the labor dispute. Mr. Hunter did quite well for himself.
National Basketball Players Association executive director Billy Hunter was paid $3 million from July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012, a $600,000 ? or 25% ? raise over the previous year, according to NBPA documents filed Friday with the United States Department of Labor.
via?NBPA filing with labor department details Hunter?s salary, payments to family members.
Just to review this, the NBPA paid Hunter $600,000 more last year so that they could lose 5.8 percentage points in BRI just in the first year, with more in subsequent years, and lose 16 games worth of pay. That?s clearly money well spent.
USA Today also outlines all the exorbitant legal fees paid to various consulting law firms during the lockout, including those who hired Hunter?s children. The union doled out some serious cash in a losing effort. Hunter has been under scrutiny, particularly from ousted NBPA president Derek Fisher over where the money went over the last several years, with an investigation still pending.
This certainly doesn?t make Hunter look good, but there?s no telling how much Hunter donated during the lockout, and it?s hard to gauge whether Hunter did ?a good job during the lockout or not. The players lost a ton of money, but the owners also had massive leverage. There were reasons for the loss, and Hunter deserves to make a living like anyone.
But $3 million dollars? During the exact period where the union got squashed, the very thing Hunter?s paid to prevent? Not a good look.
First Time Fest, a new film festival, founded by Johanna Bennett and Mandy Ward, hopes to attract first-time filmmakers by offering a grand prize that includes the offer of theatrical distribution arranged through a partnership between the festival and Cinema Libre Studio.
The inaugural event, which will run from March 1-4, 2013 in New York City, is currently seeking submissions. The fest will take place at the Players Club and Loews Village VII. Their mission, the festival organizers said, is ?to discover and present the next generation of great cinema by first-time screenwriters, producers, directors, editors, composers and cinematographers.?
The festival plans to screen the work of 12 finalists, selected from among the submissions, and a panel of five jurors will select the grand prize winner. The jurors will consist of four industry professional and a fifth vote that will be decided by 120 audience members at the festival, who will be selected by lottery. The festival also will offer prizes for outstanding direction, screenplay, cinematography, editing and score.
Additionally, First Time Fest and the Players Club will present the first John Huston Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Cinema to ?an individual who has made s significant contribution to the art of cinema, and whose presence in our community has offered leadership and inspiration to other cinema artists.?
Bennett is a philanthropist and actor as well as the daughter of singer Tony Bennett and Ward has worked in the film industry in various capacities, serving as a producer on such documentaries as Pennhurst and We Will Not Die Like Dogs. Mitch Levine, CEO of The Film Festival Group, is serving as advisor and consultant to the team. David Schwartz, the artistic director and head curator of Museum of the Moving Image, will serve as the festival?s director of programming.
The discovery suggests that water had flowed fast and relatively deep ? perhaps hip-deep, in fact ? through the area billions of years ago.
By Mike Wall,?SPACE.com / September 28, 2012
NASA's Curiosity rover found evidence for an ancient, flowing stream on Mars at a few sites, including the rock outcrop pictured here, which the science team has named 'Hottah' after Hottah Lake in Canada?s Northwest Territories. This image mosaic was taken by Curiosity's 100-millimeter Mastcam telephoto lens on its 39th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Enlarge
A NASA rover's discovery of an ancient streambed on Mars is exciting, but it?s far from the first solid evidence that the Red Planet was once a warmer and wetter place.
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On Thursday (Sept. 27), scientists announced that the Curiosity rover had found rocky outcrops containing large and rounded stones cemented in a conglomerate matrix. The discovery suggests that?water had flowed fast?and relatively deep ? perhaps hip-deep, in fact ? through the area billions of years ago.
"This is the first time we're actually seeing water-transported gravel on?Mars," Curiosity co-investigator William Dietrich, of the University of California, Berkeley, said in a statement.
But?Curiosity's find didn't exactly surprise mission scientists. They chose to set the $2.5 billion robot down in the Red Planet's huge Gale Crater, after all, because Mars-orbiting spacecraft have spotted signs there of long-ago water activity ? from channels and alluvial fans to minerals that form in the presence of liquid water.
And these more recent observations build on evidence for a wet ancient Mars that goes back four decades and has been accumulating ever since. [The Search for Water on Mars (Photos)]
Eyes in the sky
Perhaps the first compelling signs that the Red Planet's surface ? a frigid and dry place today ? once harbored liquid water came from NASA's Mariner 9 spacecraft.
Mariner 9 launched toward Mars in May 1971 and later that year became the first probe ever to orbit another planet. Mariner 9's images showed canyons ? including the enormous Valles Marineris, which is named after the spacecraft ? and what appeared to be riverbeds.
A succession of other NASA orbiters ? from the twin Vikings in the mid-1970s to Mars Odyssey and the?Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter?(MRO), which remain active today ? have spotted many more landforms that speak of long-ago erosion by liquid water.
MRO has observed streaks in the Red Planet's Newton Crater that shift over the course of a few months, suggesting that water might even be flowing seasonally on Mars today.
The evidence is also mineralogic as well as topographic. Instruments aboard MRO and other craft have detected water-associated minerals such as clays and sulfates in numerous locations across the Red Planet.
Ground-truthing
Over the past decade, rovers have ground-truthed some of the observations made from orbit, strengthening the case for a wet ancient Mars.
For example, NASA's Opportunity rover found multiple deposits of odd, iron-rich spherules after landing on the Red Planet in January 2004. These so-called "blueberries" are concretions created by the action of mineral-rich water inside rocks, scientists say.
Opportunity's twin, Spirit, discovered strong evidence of an ancient hydrothermal system near its landing site back in 2007. And last December, researchers announced that Opportunity had found a?thin vein of gypsum?while poking along the rim of Mars' Endeavour Crater.
"There was a fracture in the rock, water flowed through it, gypsum was precipitated from the water. End of story," Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Opportunity's principal investigator, told reporters at the time. "There's no ambiguity about this, and this is what makes it so cool."
Searching for habitable environments
Here on Earth, life thrives pretty much anywhere liquid water is found, which explains the intense interest in searching for signs of the stuff on Mars.
Indeed, the past decade or so of NASA's activities at the Red Planet have been geared toward "following the water." Curiosity's mission marks a transition to the next phase in the hunt for past or present Mars life: searching for habitable environments.
Curiosity is about 50 days into a two-year mission to determine if the Gale area can, or ever could, support microbial life. This is a long and involved process that requires more than the confirmation of an ancient streambed, researchers said.
"The question about habitability goes just beyond the simple observation of water on Mars to recreating the environments in greater detail, with an understanding of the chemistry that was going on at that time, to ask if this is the kind of place that micro-organisms could've lived," Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger, of Caltech in Pasadena, told reporters Thursday.
"That's still to be determined, and that's the research the team is working on," he added.
Curiosity's mission may also shed light on when and why Mars dried out long ago. Scientists plan to drive the 1-ton robot partway up Mount Sharp, which rises 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Red Planet sky from Gale's center.
They're keen to explore Mount Sharp's base, which harbors clays and sulfates, orbital observations have shown. About 2,300 feet (700 meters) up, however, these deposits peter out. If Curiosity climbs high enough to cross this threshold, it could help scientists piece together a history of wet Mars, dry Mars and the transition between the two, researchers have said.
Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter?@michaeldwall?or SPACE.com?@Spacedotcom. We're also onFacebook?and?Google+.
Neil Young isn't shy when it comes to embracing new technology, something he put beyond question with his latest appearance on The Late show with David Letterman. The artist took the opportunity to reveal plans for his high-fidelity Pono music service. The aim is to tackle the poor quality in which he believes most people receive their music these days -- the humble MP3. Young's offering would comprise a three-pronged approach, including a music store with high-resolution recordings, a digital-to-analog style conversion technology, and portable hardware to listen to it all with. The simple intention is to offer music as it was originally intended to be heard, but at this time there's no detail as to what this actually entails (sorry specification fans).
According to Rolling Stone, the big three labels are interested, and the goal is to unify, rather than diversify, the quality of recorded content. The Pono players (that yellow wedge you see above) will serve up your existing catalog, but you'll likely need to re-buy some of your collection if you want the holistic experience. With no cards fully on the table, we're at the ransom of Young's celebrity endorsements, which all claim that the benefits are tangible. Young, of course, says "You can't get better than this, this is what they do in the studio," but until we get some details, or ears on, everybody knows this is nowhere.
A wildfire started about 2:25 p.m. Wednesday is threatening trailer homes and ranch homes north of Rapid City Regional Airport. Multiple agencies are responding. No further information is available
The Longview Fire started about 2:30 Wednesday afternoon, north of the Rapid City Regional Airport. It threatened up to 200 homes in the area. As a precaution about 150 homes were evacuated.
Rapid City home invasion: homeowner released from hospital
Rapid City home invasion: homeowner released from hospital
At 4:43 a.m. on Sept. 25, Rapid City police were called to 1121 Riley Court for a report of a shooting. Responding officers found a 21-year-old male on scene with three gunshot wounds; he died at the scene.
Rapid City police spokesperson Tarah Heupel says 69-year-old Thomas Wilson was released from the hospital?Tuesday night.
PETA campaigners bare it all
PETA campaigners bare it all
Members of PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals) gave downtown Rapid City quite the eyeful Tuesday. The activists wore next to nothing and labeled their body parts to mimic a butcher's diagram. The
Members of PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals) gave downtown Rapid City quite the eyeful Tuesday.
'Flesh-eating' strep patient in Gillette dies
'Flesh-eating' strep patient in Gillette dies
GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) _ An infectious disease specialist at Campbell County Memorial Hospital says one of the three people treated there for Group A Streptococcal infections has died. Chris Brown said
An infectious disease specialist at Campbell County Memorial Hospital says one of the three people treated there for Group A Streptococcal infections has died.
Crash landing sparks fire west of Spearfish
Crash landing sparks fire west of Spearfish
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a crash landing Tuesday night near a private airstrip west of Spearfish. The Lawrence County Sheriff's Office says 62-year-old John Widdoss of Spearfish
The Lawrence County Sheriff's Office says 62-year-old John Widdoss of Spearfish and his passenger, Justin Bierschwale of Texas were forced to land the Cessna 175. Its front landing gear was torn from the plane causing the plane to skid to a stop in a hay field.
Wall students challenged to fulfill Columbine shooting victim's legacy
Wall students challenged to fulfill Columbine shooting victim's legacy
It's been 13 years since the Columbine High School massacre; yet, the memories of the 13 victims still live on. KOTA Territory students are finding inspiration from one of the victims, in hopes of spreading
It's been 13 years since the Columbine High School massacre; yet, the memories of the 13 victims still live on. KOTA Territory students are finding inspiration from one of the victims, in hopes of spreading
Street Crimes Unit to focus on north Rapid City
Street Crimes Unit to focus on north Rapid City
Rapid City Police Chief Steve Allender says the Street Crimes Unit made an impact in downtown Rapid City, and he's hoping for the same result in north Rapid City. ?The Street Crimes Unit will double in
Rapid City Police Chief Steve Allender says the Street Crimes Unit made an impact in downtown Rapid City, and he's hoping for the same result in north Rapid City.
Man charged with murder in Buffalo, Wyo
Man charged with murder in Buffalo, Wyo
BUFFALO, Wyo. (AP) _ A man is in jailed in Buffalo on a second-degree murder charge after a reported disturbance at a bar. 45-year-old Brian Newman of Buffalo was pronounced dead at the Johnson County
45-year-old Brian Newman?of Buffalo?was pronounced dead at the Johnson County Healthcare Center.
?
Sturgis man dies in rollover crash
Sturgis man dies in rollover crash
A Sturgis man died in a one-vehicle crash on Alkali Road near the Sturgis Airport on Sunday, Sept. 23. Marcus Allen Kindsfater, 21, was driving a 1994 Izusu Rodeo that rolled. Kindsfater, who was not
Marcus Allen Kindsfater, 21, was driving a 1994 Izusu Rodeo that rolled. Kindsfater, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the vehicle. He was taken to a Sturgis hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
1 dead, 1 injured in Rapid City shooting
1 dead, 1 injured in Rapid City shooting
Authorities say one man is dead and another man was injured in a shooting at a Rapid City trailer park early Tuesday morning.
Authorities say one man is dead and another man was injured in a shooting at a Rapid City trailer park early Tuesday morning.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ? Kenyan military forces made a pre-dawn beach landing on the last port city held by al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia in an attack that could see the insurgents lose their last stronghold of value.
Kenyan military spokesmen quickly claimed victory early Friday, saying their troops now control the city of Kismayo.
Col. Cyrus Oguna, the military's top spokesman, said the surprise attack met minimal resistance.
"The operation began five days ago with surgical attacks and gun placement at the jetty and warehouse. In the final operation Kenya's maritime forces and the Somali national army together with land troops with air support entered Kismayo. Because there was that element of surprise there was no resistance," he said.
Residents in Kismayo contacted by The Associated Press said that Kenyan troops had taken control of the port but not the whole city. Mohamed Haji said that helicopters were attacking the town and that al-Shabab fighters were moving toward the front line. Haji said al-Shabab's radio station was still on the air.
"Al-Shabab fighters are on the streets and heading toward the front line in speeding cars. Their radio is still on the air and reporting the war," he said.
African Union troops pushed al-Shabab out of Mogadishu in 2011, ending four years of control of the capital by the fighters. The Ugandan and Burundian troops that make up the bulk of the African Union force in Mogadishu have slowly been taking control of towns outside of Mogadishu.
The expanding control by African Union troops has sent al-Shabab fighters fleeing south toward Kismayo, north to other regions of Somalia and across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, according to American and African Union officials.
Al-Shabab still holds sway across much of small, poor villages of southern Somalia. But Kismayo is seen as the militants' last stronghold because of the taxes the group is able to charge on goods coming into the port. Al-Shabab lost its major source of financing last year when it was pushed out of Bakara market in Mogadishu, where it also charged taxes.
The march toward Kismayo by the Kenyan forces has been nearly a year in the making. Kenyan troops entered Somalia last October after a series of militant attacks inside Kenya, including multiple kidnappings of Westerners in and around the beach resort town of Lamu. Kenyan forces were bogged down by rain and poor roads but have making slow and steady progress toward Kismayo the last several months.
Sensing the impending battle, more than 10,000 residents have fled Kismayo in the last several weeks. Resident Faduma Abdulle said Friday that she is now leaving the town, too. She said al-Shabab announced false propaganda on its radio station Friday to trick residents into moving toward the invading troops.
"They told residents through their radio to loot a Kenyan ship that washed up on the coast, but instead the residents who rushed there were attacked by helicopters," she said. "Some of them have died but I don't know how many. The situation is tense and many are fleeing. It's a dangerous situation."
Oguna said that al-Shabab has incurred "heavy losses" but that Kenyan forces have not yet had any injuries or deaths. He defended the attack on Kismayo.
"Capture may signal the end of al-Shabab because Kismayo has been the bastion which has financed activities of the al-Shabab in other regions of Somalia," he said. "Al-Shabab has contributed to insecurity in the region through its terror network and influx of small arms and ammunition."
Study shows the MDHearingAid to be an effective low cost solution to hearing lossPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gary Grasso doctorspr@yahoo.com 626-698-2213 Doctor's P.R.
Washington, D.C. - A study presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. shows that the MD Hearing Aid line offers a reasonable low-cost solution to those who are not using hearing aids or other amplification devices because of cost concerns.
In the study, researchers at the Michigan Ear Institute sought to evaluate a novel, inexpensive (under $200.) over- the-counter hearing aid regarding to its acoustic properties and also to test the hearing aid on patients with varying levels of hearing loss to evaluate their perceived benefit by using validated questionnaires.
Hearing loss affects approximately 34 million people in the United States, but hearing aid usage rates have historically remained at just 24%. One major reason for this low rate of use is that hearing aids are typically very expensive, with the average cost of a single hearing aid approximately $1,900. Medicare and most insurance companies do not cover this cost. Many medical studies have linked untreated hearing loss in the elderly with a higher risk of social isolation, depression, anxiety, and symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's dementia.
The MDHearingAid was evaluated using a Fonix 6500c Hearing Aid Analyzer, measured according to accepted standards. The measurements included saturated sound pressure level curve, high-frequency average full-on gain, frequency response, total harmonic distortion, equivalent input noise level, and input-output curve. Then the device was tested on a group of participants with mild to moderately-severe hearing loss who were unwilling or unable to purchase a custom hearing aid due to cost considerations. The participants were asked to wear the device for a minimum of 30 days and complete these self-reported surveys: "International Outcome Inventory - Hearing Aids" and "Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Living".
Researcher Seilesh Babu, M.D. found that the MDHearingAid met the acoustic targets. All participants demonstrated user satisfaction scores that were within the standard range for patients with mild to moderately-severe hearing loss. The study found that the low-cost MDHearingAid is electroacoustically adequate and a reasonable low-cost solution to meet the needs of those value- and cost-conscious patients who were not using amplification via a custom hearing device.
Dr. Babu stated that further development and investigation of these instruments is warranted, to provide a potential opportunity for greater numbers of persons with hearing loss to have access to hearing aids and reap the medical, social, and emotional benefits from improved communicative abilities.
Dr. Seilesh Babu is a board-certified Otolaryngologist and a Nationally Recognized expert in ear surgery, hearing loss, dizziness, and other inner ear disorders in children and adults. Dr Babu has numerous articles and book chapters written in these areas.
SOURCE: Presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting, Sept 9, 2012
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MDHearingAid website: www.mdhearingaid.com
About The American Academy of Otolarygology - Head & Neck Foundation Annual Meeting:
Now in its 116th year, the Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO is "the world's largest gathering of otolaryngologists." Held each fall, the Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO provides an opportunity for thousands of Academy members, non-member physicians, allied health professionals, administrators, and exhibiting companies to convene. It draws more than 6,000 medical experts and professionals from around the world and features instruction courses, mini seminars, scientific oral presentations, honorary guest lectures, and numerous scientific posters.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Study shows the MDHearingAid to be an effective low cost solution to hearing lossPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gary Grasso doctorspr@yahoo.com 626-698-2213 Doctor's P.R.
Washington, D.C. - A study presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. shows that the MD Hearing Aid line offers a reasonable low-cost solution to those who are not using hearing aids or other amplification devices because of cost concerns.
In the study, researchers at the Michigan Ear Institute sought to evaluate a novel, inexpensive (under $200.) over- the-counter hearing aid regarding to its acoustic properties and also to test the hearing aid on patients with varying levels of hearing loss to evaluate their perceived benefit by using validated questionnaires.
Hearing loss affects approximately 34 million people in the United States, but hearing aid usage rates have historically remained at just 24%. One major reason for this low rate of use is that hearing aids are typically very expensive, with the average cost of a single hearing aid approximately $1,900. Medicare and most insurance companies do not cover this cost. Many medical studies have linked untreated hearing loss in the elderly with a higher risk of social isolation, depression, anxiety, and symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's dementia.
The MDHearingAid was evaluated using a Fonix 6500c Hearing Aid Analyzer, measured according to accepted standards. The measurements included saturated sound pressure level curve, high-frequency average full-on gain, frequency response, total harmonic distortion, equivalent input noise level, and input-output curve. Then the device was tested on a group of participants with mild to moderately-severe hearing loss who were unwilling or unable to purchase a custom hearing aid due to cost considerations. The participants were asked to wear the device for a minimum of 30 days and complete these self-reported surveys: "International Outcome Inventory - Hearing Aids" and "Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Living".
Researcher Seilesh Babu, M.D. found that the MDHearingAid met the acoustic targets. All participants demonstrated user satisfaction scores that were within the standard range for patients with mild to moderately-severe hearing loss. The study found that the low-cost MDHearingAid is electroacoustically adequate and a reasonable low-cost solution to meet the needs of those value- and cost-conscious patients who were not using amplification via a custom hearing device.
Dr. Babu stated that further development and investigation of these instruments is warranted, to provide a potential opportunity for greater numbers of persons with hearing loss to have access to hearing aids and reap the medical, social, and emotional benefits from improved communicative abilities.
Dr. Seilesh Babu is a board-certified Otolaryngologist and a Nationally Recognized expert in ear surgery, hearing loss, dizziness, and other inner ear disorders in children and adults. Dr Babu has numerous articles and book chapters written in these areas.
SOURCE: Presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting, Sept 9, 2012
###
MDHearingAid website: www.mdhearingaid.com
About The American Academy of Otolarygology - Head & Neck Foundation Annual Meeting:
Now in its 116th year, the Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO is "the world's largest gathering of otolaryngologists." Held each fall, the Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO provides an opportunity for thousands of Academy members, non-member physicians, allied health professionals, administrators, and exhibiting companies to convene. It draws more than 6,000 medical experts and professionals from around the world and features instruction courses, mini seminars, scientific oral presentations, honorary guest lectures, and numerous scientific posters.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
For one Union professor, the summer provided the opportunity to experience diverse Asian culture and to play a unique role in expanding Union?s relationships with fellow Baptists across the globe.
Dr. Kelvin Moore, professor of biblical studies and director of the Doctor of Ministry Program in Singapore, traveled to the Asian city-state July 4-21, where he taught two week-long Doctor of Ministry courses at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Singapore.
Moore?s excursion was part of a three-year partnership with the seminary and the Singapore Baptist Convention that Dr. David S. Dockery, university president, said he hopes will benefit the work of Singapore Baptists and expand Union?s global influence, particularly in the Global South.
Moore?s trip was part of Union?s presence in Singapore, which Dockery said began after he delivered a series of lectures there approximately three years ago as part of a celebration of 20 years of Baptist work in the country.
Through this experience, Dockery said he developed relationships with Singaporean leaders, who asked him to think and pray about a possible partnership between Union and the Singapore Baptist Convention and Baptist Theological Seminary of Singapore.
During his visit to the small nation, Dockery said he was overwhelmed by the many opportunities Singapore had to offer and its strategic location that served as an open door to the rest of Asia.
The partnership agreement was officially announced in November 2010. Since then, Dockery said six current faculty members, including himself and Moore, have represented Union in Singapore.
Union professors are involved in both the Doctor of Ministry program and a Master of Arts in International Studies program.
Moore, who traveled to Singapore just months ago, described the trip as ?one of the highlights of [his] career.?
He added, ?I?ll always remember and relish the experiences and the relationships we?ve formed there [because of] the warmth, hospitality and generosity of students as well as faculty and staff at the Baptist Theological Seminary, Singapore.?
Moore said five students took his courses, titled ?Expository Preaching and Old Testament Text? and ?Ministry Research.? Two students were from Singapore, one was from Myanmar and two were from China.
Despite the small size of the classes, Moore said the diversity of the group and their varying cultural and personal backgrounds made for lively discussions about topics such as measuring church growth.
Moore also deepened relationships with Singapore Baptist leaders, including Sun Poling, president of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Singapore; Fong Choon Sam, the seminary?s dean of academic studies; and Peter Tang, executive director of the Singapore Baptist Convention.
Moore dined on exotic cuisine, including squid, snails and durian (a fruit), visited World War II memorials and explored Indian and Buddhist temples. He also spent his second Sunday there preaching at a small Singaporean church.
While Moore?s trip was only two-and-a-half weeks long, his service to the Baptist students in Singapore played a role in a partnership Dockery said he hopes will help fulfill Union?s global-minded mission.
?This open door for partnership, ministry, education and service will hopefully be mutually beneficial for the Union University community and for Singapore Baptists,? he said. ?We pray that each group will be enabled and strengthened by the other in our shared calling and in the development of these important cross-cultural relationships.?
Because Singapore is centrally located in Asia and is a wealthy, state-of-the-art city-state, Moore described it as a strategic location that could be used to reach pastors and people in neighboring nations.
?Whether short-term or longer term, we trust the influence of Union University will continue to grow and expand in multiple ways: locally, regionally, nationally and globally,? Dockery said. ?We will trust God?s providential blessings on these efforts and pray that he will continue to open new doors and new partnerships for the years ahead.?
After two weeks of riots across the Muslim world, ostensibly due to an offensive amateur YouTube video which insults the Prophet Muhammad, many people across the non-Muslim world might agree that the reaction to the offense far exceeds the offense itself. There is a collective sense of deja vu as we recall the Danish cartoon controversy which erupted seven years ago. The difference is that this time, attacking embassies and burning US flags is occurring after the Arab spring, which is morphing into a Islamist winter.
Should criticism of religion be allowed, particularly when it can lead to such violent reactions?
Offense to religious beliefs has been the focus of the ?defamations of religion? clause which Pakistan has sought to have added to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This dangerous idea undercuts two other human rights currently protected in the declaration: the freedom of religious belief, and the freedom of expression. Pakistan is home to some of the worst examples of how the rights of individuals are violated in the name of protecting religion.
As part of its Cardus Education Survey report being released today, Cardus explored these issues and others with graduates of Christian schools, religious home schools, Catholic schools, and public schools. The results are instructive and reveal different points of view even between these sectors on questions which are currently front page news.
Asked to agree or disagree with the statement, ?People should be allowed to say things in public that might be offensive to religious groups,? respondents answered as follows: Catholic students disagreed most strongly, in essence arguing against freedom of speech; independent Catholic and public school students strongly agreed. Evangelical Protestant and home school students were more noncommittal on this question. At the core of this question is the secular balancing act of freedom of expression versus respect of differences.
To the statement, ?Religion is a private matter that should be kept out of public debates about social and political issues,? the Catholic and public school students agreed, whereas the independent Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, and home school students disagreed. The Catholic student responses on these two questions alone reveal an inner contradiction?on the one hand, they argue against free speech, yet also believe that religion is a private matter.
On the wider questions of tolerance of other faiths, marked differences exist. To the statement, ?Society should be more tolerant of non-Christian religions,? independent Catholics and public school students were in agreement, while Evangelical Protestant and home school students very strongly disagreed. These students clearly want religion to be respected in the public sphere, but may feel there are already too many public concessions for non-Christian religions.
So even amongst a range of North American students, there are differing views on questions of tolerating other faiths, and public criticism of religion.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the following in a speech after the Benghazi attacks which left four American diplomatic personnel dead.
I so strongly believe that the great religions of the world are stronger than any insults. They have withstood offense for centuries . . . Refraining from violence, then, is not a sign of weakness in one?s faith; it is absolutely the opposite, a sign that one?s faith is unshakable.
Criticism of religion must be tolerated in order to protect freedom of speech. And as Clinton points out, religion needs no defense against offense. Response to offense is a kind of barometer for social and civil maturity, and a core belief that the individual?s right to expression and belief trumps any ideology or religion.
To try to prevent criticism of religion or religious offense is virtually impossible. Ironically, it only serves to unleash greater intolerance and discrimination against those who have created the offense. The recent deaths, damaged embassies, and burning flags are ample evidence of that.
LONDON (AP) ? J.K. Rowling plans to return to writing for young people ? and the author says she doesn't rule out another book set in Harry Potter's magical world.
Rowling became the world's most successful living writer with her seven novels about a boy who discovers that he is a wizard and is pitched into battle against the forces of evil.
Rowling's first book for adults, "The Casual Vacancy," is being published Thursday, five years after the release of the last volume in the Potter saga.
The 47-year-old author told the BBC that her next book would be "for slightly younger children than the Potter books."
And she said that while "where Harry's story is concerned, I'm done," she was considering a new story set in the same universe.
"I don't want to go mechanically back into that world and pick up a load of odds and ends and glue them together and say, 'Here we go, we can sell this,'" Rowling said in an interview broadcast Wednesday. "It would make a mockery of what those books were to me.
"But ... if I did have a great idea for something else, I probably would do it. I am very averse to the prequel-sequel idea. A sidestep could maybe ... well, we'll see."
Rowling also acknowledged that she wished she had had more time to work on a couple of the Potter novels ? she did not name them ? which had been written "on the run."
"And I read them, and I think 'Oh God, maybe I'll go back and do a director's cut,'" Rowling said. "I don't know."
"The Casual Vacancy" is the story of a local election that exposes deep rivalries and dark secrets in a seemingly picture-perfect English village. It's decidedly grown-up in theme and subject, touching on issues including drug addiction, poverty and self-harm.
Rowling ? who has spoken of her own experiences of financial struggle, anxiety and depression ? said she anticipated that some of her fans would not like the new book. But she is not worried.
"Harry Potter truly liberated me in the sense that there's only one reason to write, for me ? if I genuinely have something I want to say," she said.
Every 12-year-old boy should take notes on this video from a Carrie Underwood concert in Louisville, Ky., in which a young man scores his very first kiss from the country music star.
Chase, the boy who probably hasn't washed his mouth since this happened,?made a sign asking Underwood, "Will you be my first kiss?" The singer spotted the sign and asked the boy to come up on stage. The whole thing was caught on camera and posted on YouTube.
Underwood asks Chase how old he is and admits that she didn't have her first kiss until she was 14.?She then tells the boy that her husband is somewhere in the building. "He might be looking for ya later," she says.
Carrie Underwood slideshow
"How we gonna do this?" Underwood asks Chase, and in the best answer ever for a pre-teen that didn't involve Batman or pizza, he says, "Lip to lip." Underwood and the crowd laugh with appreciation. "This is the smartest kid EVER!"
The singer then instructs the boy to close his eyes and plants a lasting memory on his lips.
"The only time that's gonna happen," Underwood warns the cheering crowd.?So, grown men everywhere, stop looking for Sharpies and?posterboard.
I recently updated that we were working on our ?room divider? in the living room. I needed Mr. Project to finish it really fast because I was hosting a bunco party. So he kicked it into high gear and start to finish he had the room divider and all the wall trim up and painted in less than two weeks.
Now I?m going to show you this before picture, but I do have to warn you that this is like SUPER before. This was what it looked like when we bought it:
Everything about this before is terrible, and let me tell you that if you had smell-o-vision that picture would stink to high heaven because of the 30 year old carpet and probably the 30 year old paint job. Let me point out some very special things about the before just in case you miss the subtleties. 1. Popcorn ceilings, 2. hideous 30-year old orange peal textured walls (like really bad bad texture, not new slightly bad texture). 3. old stinky carpet, 4. 1-inch stained pine baseboards & pine doors, 5. creamy old switches and plugs, 6. wall blocking the kitchen, 7. rickety metal railing (we tried to salvage the wood beam, but the stink had permeated it so we had to toss it).? Basically the whole space was repugnant and have I mentioned that everyone tried to talk us out of buying this house?
Well that was more than a year ago. Before we moved in, most of the work was done in this space ? though I don?t have a good progress picture. So Imagine the space with the pretty stairs, hardwood floors, smooth white ceilings and walls painted gray. It was a nice space, but really boring and other than the stairs lacked architectural detail.? And for me, the biggest issue was that there was no clear division of space. I?m all for open concept, but I want spaces to feel like they have a beginning and end. Here?s my first progress photo to show about where we were at when we got started + the cabinets, beam, and columns:
So for the first part of this project, we decided the specs on the cabinets ? we didn?t want them to feel too big and bulky, but yet they still needed to have some weight to them. We went with 12? deep on the inside of the cabinets (standard size for an upper cabinet), 34? tall (standard height for a base cabinet), and then 22? wide (just a good size for the space).
Mr. Project built the cabinets ? the face frames and doors are maple, the boxes and shelves are pre-finished melamine? board.? The outsides of the boxes are trimmed with 1/4? MDF to create the paneling on the sides and backs. The cabinets are topped with a solid chunk of Black Walnut that we got from a friend who had cut down and milled some walnut trees on his land several years ago (whenever using solid wood, make sure that is is properly dried to avoid warping and splitting). It?s really gorgeous and Mr. Project was thrilled to get some solid pieces big enough to use without having to glue anything. Initially I had planned for the whole thing to be white, but I?m so glad that Mr. Project suggested walnut ? it?s expensive, but in the end it brings some much-needed contrast to the very white space.
Once the cabinets were done, he installed them to the walls and bolted them to the floors. Nothing?s moving these suckers. Next he installed a 2?4 to the ceiling (screwing it into the beams above) and then built the beam out of 3/4? MDF like a big U and screwed nailed and glued it onto the 2?4. The columns are built out of 3/4? cabinet-grade plywood cut and mitered and affixed to one small square screwed into the beam and one small square screwed into the cabinet top.
Once all the main pieces were assembled and installed, trim work could begin:
Mr. Project continued the crown molding along the beam, and then trimmed out the columns and put baseboard on the cabinets. Then he started on the board and batten that we did all around the front room, one wall in the dining room, and then up the stairs.
Once all the trim was done the real work began? putting, caulking, sanding, priming, sanding, and painting. Mr. Project and nearly the entire house was covered in a fine white dust for a good 4 days. It was pretty awful. And all I wanted to do was keep cleaning and vacuuming because I couldn?t handle the dust. but in the end it was worth all of the hard work!
Here is the room divider all finished (missing the doors). It?s so so so so gorgeous, and just the perfect thing for the space. You would never know that it wasn?t always there either. It really is just a great focal point for the room. Especially since this is what you see first when you walk in the house.
And here from further back, you can see the expansiveness of the board and batten.
And head on with furniture in place, a peak of the stairs to your left.
And now the full stair shot ? I loved my stairs before, but now I super duper love them with the trim.
And then a few days later Mr. Project installed the inset doors and shiny latches. This matches our kitchen cabinets & hardware to tie the spaces together.
And the over-all shot. Bestill my heart! Such a beautiful space, and completely unbelievable that it?s the same space that we started with over a year ago!
If you were worried about stumbling onto a malicious website and accidentally wiping your Samsung Galaxy S III or other TouchWiz smartphone or slate, you can probably breathe easy. It's likely you already have firmware on your device which isn't vulnerable to the so-called dirty USSD code, and if not, you can download it now, according to Samsung. The company issued the following statement on the matter: "We would like to assure our customers that the recent security issue concerning the Galaxy S III has already been resolved through a software update. We recommend all Galaxy S III customers download the latest software update, which can be done quickly and easily via the Over-The-Air (OTA) service." It turns out we couldn't reproduce the bug earlier as we already had the latest update, and you should probably check to see that you do, as well. Meanwhile, we're also checking to see if other Touchwiz devices have been patched, so don't forget to watch what you click.
Washington, D.C. ? Regularly drinking low-calorie cranberry juice may help get your blood pressure under control, according to new findings presented at the American Heart Association?s High Blood Pressure Research 2012 Scientific Sessions.
In a study that measured the effects of drinking low-calorie cranberry juice, participants drank either low-calorie juice or a placebo drink every day for eight weeks as part of a controlled diet.
Blood pressure was measured at the beginning, mid-point and end of the study. After eight weeks, blood pressure values had significantly dropped from an average of 121/73 mmHg to 118/70 mmHg for those drinking the low-calorie cranberry juice. The placebo group showed no change.
Researchers note that cranberry juice is rich in antioxidants ? naturally occurring molecules in fruit, tea, wine and other foods ? which have been associated with lower blood pressure in other studies.
Glass of Cranberry Juice. (Copyright American Heart Association)
Almost 34% (33.8%) of all adult Tennesseans have been diagnosed with high blood pressure (TN BRFSS, 2007). High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease.
The study was funded by Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.
Author disclosures are on the abstracts.
Statements and conclusions of study authors that are presented at American Heart Association scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect association policy or position. The association makes no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events.? The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at www.heart.org/corporatefunding.
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American Heart Association, Blood Pressure, Congestive Heart Failure, Cranberry Juice, diet, Heart Disease, High blood Pressure, Kidney Disease, Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., Stroke, washington d.c.
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Can you believe there are only 90 days until Christmas?? Have you started shopping yet?? If you are anything like me, I am starting to make lists but refuse to start buying until after Thanksgiving! Wouldn?t it be nice to know what the latest trends will be this holiday season before you set foot in the store?
I am excited to announce that I will be hosting a ?Mom?s Holiday Helper Event? in partnership with two other New Orleans based Mom bloggers, Renee from What Mommies Need and Linzy from Crawfish Tales to help you do just that!? Together, we will host an invite-only live event here in New Orleans to showcase the latest trends, the hottest toys, the warmest fashions and the coolest electronics to a room full of 100 social media influencers and female consumers.
On November 9, 2012 from 7-9pm at the Kenner City Park Pavilion, attendees will get the chance to see and test products before they decide to put them on their holiday shopping list.? Enjoy a Mom?s Night Out and take home a few freebies, too!? And because it?s always better to give than to receive, we would love attendees to bring one new toy to the event which will be donated to the charity initiative ?Toys for Tots.?
Kenner City Park Pavilion
If you are interested in having your product presented at the ?Mom?s Holiday Helper Event? please submit a query for more information on sponsorship packages.? If you are interested in attending this invite-only event, please fill out this form so we can collect your email address!? Formal invites will be sent via email closer to the event.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2012) ? When it comes to germ-busting power, the eyes have it, according to a discovery by UC Berkeley researchers that could lead to new, inexpensive antimicrobial drugs.
Proteins in the eye can help keep pathogens at bay, finds a new UC Berkeley study.
A team of UC Berkeley vision scientists has found that small fragments of keratin protein in the eye play a key role in warding off pathogens. The researchers also put synthetic versions of these keratin fragments to the test against an array of nasty pathogens. These synthetic molecules effectively zapped bacteria that can lead to flesh-eating disease and strep throat (Streptococcus pyogenes), diarrhea (Escherichia coli), staph infections (Staphylococcus aureus) and cystic fibrosis lung infections (Pseudomonas aeruginosa).
The findings, to be published in the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, could lead to a powerful new weapon in the battle against disease-causing invaders. These keratin fragments are relatively easy to manufacture, making them good candidates for low-cost therapeutics, the study authors said.
"What's really exciting is that the keratins in our study are already in the body, so we know that they are not toxic, and that they are biocompatible," said the study's principal investigator, Suzanne Fleiszig, a professor at UC Berkeley's School of Optometry who specializes in infectious diseases and microbiology. "The problem with small, naturally occurring, antimicrobial molecules identified in previous research is that they were either toxic or easily inactivated by concentrations of salt that are normally found in our bodies."
These new small proteins in the study were derived from cytokeratin 6A, one of the filament proteins that connect to form a mesh throughout the cytoplasm of epithelial cells.
"We used to think that cytokeratins were primarily structural proteins, but our study shows that these fragments of keratin also have microbe-fighting capabilities," said study lead author Connie Tam, an assistant research scientist in Fleiszig's lab. "Cytokeratin 6A can be found in the epithelial cells of the human cornea as well as in skin, hair and nails. These are all areas of the body that are constantly exposed to microbes, so it makes sense that they would be part of the body's defense."
In a commentary published alongside the study, Michael Zasloff, professor of surgery and pediatrics at Georgetown University's School of Medicine, said these "keratin-derived antimicrobial peptides appear to be exciting new biocompatible candidates for development as human anti-infective therapeutics."
The researchers in Fleiszig's lab came upon cytokeratin 6A in their efforts to solve the mystery behind the eye's remarkable resilience to infection. They noticed that the surface of the eye, unlike other surfaces of the body, did not have bacteria living on it, and that corneal tissue could handily wipe out a barrage of pathogens in lab culture experiments.
"It is very difficult to infect the cornea of a healthy eye," said Fleiszig. "We've even used tissue paper to damage the eye's surface cells and then plastered them with bacteria, and still had trouble getting bacteria to enter the cornea. So we proposed that maybe there were antimicrobial factors that are unique to the eye."
In the hunt for this mystery compound, the researchers cultured human corneal epithelial cells and exposed them to the P. aeruginosa bacteria. They used mass spectrometry to sort out which peptides were most active in fighting off the bacteria. Cytokeratin 6A-derived peptides emerged the winners, and surprisingly, peptide fragments as short as 10 amino acids were effective.
To confirm that they got the right protein, the researchers used gene-silencing techniques to reduce the expression of cytokeratin 6A in the cornea of mice. With a key defense disabled, the amount of bacteria that adhered to the corneas increased fivefold.
Tests showed that cytokeratin 6A-derived fragments could quickly kill bacteria in water and in a saline solution, showing that the salt contained in human tears would not dilute the protein's effectiveness. Other experiments indicated that cytokeratin 6A fragments prevented the bacteria from attacking epithelial cells, and that the proteins cause bacterial membranes to leak, killing the pathogen within minutes.
The researchers noted that further research could reveal numerous different keratin fragments in the body's innate defense system.
"Keratins may represent a novel class of antimicrobials with the potential to be designed to selectively kill specific pathogens," said Tam.
Other study co-authors from UC Berkeley's School of Optometry are James Mun, a former UC Berkeley Ph.D. student, and David Evans, a UC Berkeley associate research scientist and a professor of biological and pharmaceutical sciences at Touro University California in Vallejo.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health provided support for this research.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Berkeley. The original article was written by Sarah Yang.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Connie Tam, James J. Mun, David J. Evans, Suzanne M.J. Fleiszig. Cytokeratins mediate epithelial innate defense through their antimicrobial properties. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2012; DOI: 10.1172/JCI64416
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) ? An elite Indonesian anti-terror squad has arrested 10 Islamic militants and seized a dozen homemade bombs from a group suspected of planning suicide attacks against security forces and the government, police said Sunday.
Eight suspects were arrested Saturday in Central Java's Solo town and a ninth in West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said. He said a 10th suspect, Joko Parkit, was arrested Sunday in Solo. Parkit's brother, Eko Joko Supriyanto, was shot to death by police in 2009 during raids seeking Southeast Asia's most wanted Islamist militant, Noordin M. Top. Noordin was killed by police a year later.
Amar said two of those arrested, Badri Hartono and Rudi Kurnia Putra, worked to recruit young men and taught at least one member of the group how to make bombs.
"They were the central figures of the group who had planned several terror attacks," Amar said. "They recruited, invited young men to be trained in a military-style jihadi camp and bought bomb-making materials."
He said the group planned to bomb the country's Parliament, shoot police and attack members of the anti-terrorism squad as part of a plan to establish Islamic Sharia law in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.
Police seized 12 homemade bombs along with other partially assembled bombs, three rifles, four swords and several jihadist books.
Solo is the hometown of convicted radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. Police are investigating possible links between the unnamed group and other terrorism networks, Amar said. Authorities believe it has now been largely broken up, but are continuing to search for other members.
Since March, more than 30 militant suspects have been arrested and seven others killed in a series of raids in Indonesia. All of the suspects are believed to have been plotting domestic attacks, and some attended a military-style training camp in Poso on Sulawesi island.
Another member of the group, alleged bomb maker Muhammad Toriq, surrendered two weeks ago in Jakarta while carrying a gun and wearing a suicide bomber belt that did not contain any explosives. A second militant, Yusuf Rizaldi, gave himself up to police in North Sumatra three days later. Both provided information that led to the arrests of other members of the group in Saturday's raids, Amar said.
Indonesia, a secular nation, has been battling terrorists since 2002, when militants linked to the Southeast Asian network Jemaah Islamiyah began attacking Western nightclubs, restaurants and embassies. More than 260 people have been killed in the attacks, many of them foreign tourists.
Recent terror attacks in Indonesia have been carried out by individuals or small groups and have targeted local "infidels" instead of Westerners, with less deadly results.
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Public release date: 27-Sep-2012
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Washington, D.C. ? Regularly drinking low-calorie cranberry juice may help get your blood pressure under control, according to new findings presented at the American Heart Association?s High Blood Pressure Research 2012 Scientific Sessions.
Can you believe there are only 90 days until Christmas?? Have you started shopping yet?? If you are anything like me, I am starting to make lists but refuse to start buying until after Thanksgiving! Wouldn?t it be nice to know what the latest trends will be this holiday season before you set foot in the store?