30 Days of Google #7: Have you discovered Google Hangouts?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div><i>Submitted by Fiona Beal</i></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq1XrRXmvtX4qT5D6-BXwUH9O3WB82bASy6KFx3YYRvHbROuCjXArOJ6Ra35gwetzwVnXDKqRT4bQC6RmrWteRZJt-yRFxNKoT0rmOTKV48v9YW5ls6QBiO-B1t8D_hky3ffQRAAC-v6w/?imgmax=800" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="h10 - Copy" border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq1XrRXmvtX4qT5D6-BXwUH9O3WB82bASy6KFx3YYRvHbROuCjXArOJ6Ra35gwetzwVnXDKqRT4bQC6RmrWteRZJt-yRFxNKoT0rmOTKV48v9YW5ls6QBiO-B1t8D_hky3ffQRAAC-v6w/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="h10 - Copy" width="242" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda Yollis</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most days I think that Google must be the most exciting company on the planet right now. Perhaps this is because I was exposed to their extreme creativity at the recent Google Teacher Academy I attended in New York!  Every day something new pops up with Google.  For example, I have just read and tweeted about another amazing thing that is happening in the Googlesphere from the Google blog! "If you ever dreamed of playing in a band, now’s your chance to be a rock star. <a href="http://jamwithchrome.com/">JAM with Chrome</a> is an interactive web application that enables friends in different locations to play music together in the Chrome browser on their computers. No matter what your level of talent—from daydreaming air guitarist to music pro—you can JAM together in real time over the web.” This could be such fun! You can read about that here: <a href="http://goo.gl/mpZ8K" title="http://goo.gl/mpZ8K">http://goo.gl/mpZ8K</a>. but back to the topic of Google hangouts…</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Google hangouts</span></strong><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXZRYM1LZ6YolbkAdbripTYhngNtI8Ulk8Bj4OCA4m543FbDy9w5J7je-9aAKge0gQaiDA9P2er_fUQtrLPl9Y4bC8PfSsQa-dsAi7asrhGWmJrNzNXh7Qml0V007HdODx_a8lLaltMA/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiJV2zp4NS2F4RINRAIY8ZJjNs_717g8UrdDNrkz3I_LTXz0PmYMBXGNxScheIozw-6C1elL6O-trTVRKDLB_JYbas0bEq93B-J_V1MrMb91JRz_CpqwRpx2OatuI1BFTvW3racQPAHBc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is one of Google’s really incredible offerings and if you haven’t discovered it yet, now is the time. It has enormous implications for education and the global classroom. Google+ is Google's social networking tool. Once you have created a <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Create-Circles-in-Google-Plus">circle of friends</a>, you can choose to hang out with them on Google+. This allows you to video chat, IM chat, watch YouTube videos together, and more. A hangout is a similar concept to Skype but you can do so much more with it. You can chat live face to face with a circle of people, share documents, work on and edit a Google document together during the hangout, create a video of the chat and upload it to YouTube, and a host of other things…all for free!</span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Latest news on hangouts</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another new thing has just happened today! Google announced today that it has extended the limit for the number of people you can invite to a Google+ hangout from 10 to 15 when it is used for education. <a href="http://goo.gl/GIkBD" title="http://goo.gl/GIkBD">http://goo.gl/GIkBD</a>. </span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How do you create a hangout?</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a really simple process. You schedule a hangout in a calendar entry, join a hangout directly from Gmail. For a detailed step-by-step process read this article in Wiki-how <a href="http://goo.gl/cu5aQ" title="http://goo.gl/cu5aQ">http://goo.gl/cu5aQ</a></span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My experience of a hangout today</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The possibilities available with hangouts are endless. I have just been part of an amazing hangout that was a reunion of eight friends from the Google Teacher Academy in New York. How it all started was that Brent Catlett, a District Instructional Technology Trainer in the US wrote a post called <a href="http://brentcatlett.blogspot.com/2012/11/gtany-part-7.html">#GTANY Part 7</a>  reflecting on several of the people he had met during the Google Teacher Academy in New York. He then tweeted those he had mentioned and next thing we had arranged a reunion hangout which has just happened. The time was 3:30 am for me but I wouldn’t have missed it for anything!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAMmFSR8R868V6z1uACVOyeWTVmKuhsm6-U8skpxFFqmR8QL7gBAbGEcg4hIkSbm7iGpL2RNkdlxFRZD-iptF7DmuGo02EPNMDsi-iNX9Pa9WjJBVG0X-iiNWz-TgMbIu8PJNVlY1njDk/s1600-h/h6%25255B4%25255D.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="h6" border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDg6Lr6YK1ebwA4HyGvZoOHRdtD-_UezjkkfJ7bOIwK-_qwlFKJrdChF4ieT_G8gszLRFLFJRt_NNgS5PYnnDvsDSJCLBJsHM3FLuTdCyJwi0Q26cydiNCzUjnHGje4ht38PIJfyBTkII/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="h6" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brent Catlett</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was awesome just catching up and hearing some news. Linda Yollis a Grade 2 and 3 teacher in Los Angeles has a world famous blog <a href="http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/">Mrs Yollis’ classroom blog</a> . Her class recently had a hangout with <a href="http://www.edtechwithgo.com/">JR Ginex-Orinion</a>'s class (JR is a chemistry high school teacher). You can read about it in her post. <a href="http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/mr-jrs-science-stop-matter-matters.html" title="http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/mr-jrs-science-stop-matter-matters.html">http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/mr-jrs-science-stop-matter-matters.html</a>.  JR’s class imparted Science safety tips and  information to Linda’s class and got them really excited about Science! </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtItnx8KVhbfYqd5KRUt_BVWcpCRlspDm0uYm0aIlNefkHTt6t42vLpW72QnZAR9zFPI0rG9vITOBaWOl6zRMqffvdkmHl1qJpUZEXzRsS_0td9vJqxA2ORTey0NqJZAAeznnovrDw-CA/s1600-h/h4%25255B3%25255D.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="h4" border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCECCaUIxRTJBLwy_ovEfUiqlaYNcUMY2xP4yznNa81aNmHSQXggYkMazxwHICaC_Atxt3PNinUh5zjNg0of5e1dEB5eW6CAazNogEc8DCJoAWodmr9Ultcw9ZYukYz-aL_n6GlQnRPWg/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="h4" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">JR Ginex-Orinion</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1AL_uO7hycWGDn_7mkM4ZG8_29UoYE_c1pXdQRnl2qKOSLqztP5ac__CNa54I8OOhmqG1Mx7pJy8gmhMV_XfDCQUykhAK1KivMzJJ2LWF-VSRZ5QCWLtsJI_eoU7mYTqaedN-P8lWI8k/s1600-h/h5%25255B3%25255D.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="h5" border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIupHlT-5YZN2wgjz65VZk_2Fl2CunsUNKICvs9LxrxKplWez73v6dOGi_nKGu4Xettnh9QD-x3s5Br-Mg5_G10_78guf_iJ53Q1O0e9s_Ao3olsl766wj5RjCLHSBx2ybIwcSIlqDkXc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="h5" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda Yollis</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brent Catlett from the USA and Tanya Avarith from Canada mentioned how they are already creating digital footprints for their own very young children at home and teaching them safety online while they are young. In fact Tanya is part of a big safety online research project that is taking place and she will be going to visit Facebook soon as part of this project. Others on the hangout shared about how their schools conduct professional development sessions which was very interesting to hear about. And so we chatted and shared our news….</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Google effects in hangouts</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As everyone was signing off Linda and I were experimenting with the Google effects you can use during a hangoout. Google has added 100+ apps to their hangouts.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd4h1eJ4WwlMvC5CfMdjeKDIy-0DqHFy-FjHduAnkWkj9867CpJWrOgxvCANwucvc9bDsSkkZtd36Kg-41kJs_tD-nt_KS7firWx1NQvjIaLZqQ2XuwiKCFvjQW-o21G7i5We_scODlVo/s1600-h/h7%25255B3%25255D.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="h7" border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwZ2k6xFw5Qa0ub1n_WnTqy3FIEbPDsaygG5ezVe8QObPWEUa4vd8wZKBs3GhY6_Uv-9nAEE9ZxwRlm39gteB8GryCTD4ccQaZW0elXZ5SvdcF7E9DnWmp_EyBmvcx6Vr9hWe8pTlTcR4/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="h7" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda Yollis and Fiona Beal</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You never know what you might learn on a hangout! Last week Brenda Hallowes and I were having a hangout and Brenda invited a teacher from the Global Classroom project in Mexico who happened to be online to join us. He was busy teaching a Grade 6 class which he introduced us to. Lo and behold his students were all working away on their iPads as though using a tablet was the most natural thing in the world. Incredible for a South African teacher to observe!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />So please explore using a hangout. It will be an incredibly enriching experience. </span></div></div>

30 Days of Google 30 Days of Google #7: Have you discovered Google Hangouts?

Submitted by Fiona BealLinda YollisMost days I think that Google must be the most exciting company on the planet right now. Perhaps this is because I was exposed to their extreme creativity at the recent Google Teacher Academy I attended in New York!…

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30 Days with Google #6: Create a classroom newspaper using Google Docs (a SchoolNet webinar presentation)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google Docs is an amazing way to create a classroom newspaper. Last night we scheduled a SchoolNet webinar featuring Brenda Hallowes from Port Elizabeth, where she outlined how she uses Google Docs to create classroom newspapers with Foundation Phase students. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsH4fyoQDkb_-8eMVEBy2dL0vnt-E4BDwKm9Y1qPeXlC56MP-1_222MxnR_CmpzyIendhasNFPSEjIyfsxYkRZrMB53tYpMot9OiH4tStEdeXS307-lf90QgjdwVvhSucdN7ErcsL4M7U/s1600-h/image%25255B13%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6i8lIaOMPIeUTVRykpxKo17Xi9Zqw9Aim4-yaWL930YdMJ1gvONAU-BTtBkoeVwCYCh6qxnyfQ3HBkBrgZMkvCUcl0ng8UWcsAzpyQDxJSi6QLFZprEyUXj79DWUxrq-AcZT54ddJy9Y/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First she starts off with a template like this one shown below. This template can be accessed <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/19gCOhhfpVmFIZT1gQFPgavGG6YRpUgRdfd0_lk2loTA/edit">here.</a></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY9A9TashRam4sgxrHKYf516XSTlaVZrBew_pJgpGeWMORIqBUwrGbZlxXvVrIkfDh-2p4MARBArHy2EJDmwf5SKm5ZvPfIpDm7CDCki9yTHbpZPtq1Fl5upegG6XSc2rhSjqg53yt7tk/s1600-h/image%25255B4%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJyh4khx0j9GigxUlkX4eQmwp_1Mc5v-ybIbU6pDDjLmpgOP0FVCpzBRYkSDkDVnRYPUaGcjtkS7ptyrWmrL_L9undIaDtQvauJaBzoQfKvfZcksm0S1_Qvru8feM5B485Q5NX0Fg7fBs/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is another template sample that can be accessed <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VazgVfizzEW5tgo7uFmPd1MLeUNm125hg-Gh5OpCGXI/edit">here</a>. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnLeZjN0SxAnMDB5gKji5REnxOVjmlqOG1tl5fpmtZ5zZkmBiQUuvXusAal55JTMq0ygOpj7jQlFwNYZXuqPH5NQg-pflPkhvznd_S6jEm8HVlUBKNmSUJFVFqG817em5IW15wRxSMjcY/s1600-h/image%25255B9%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrxKyjmg81_UicoT3KAgeogtV5yV_agip9zgaza99nc7H3l1WHDqoQdOnVt-IkzCkIIhjW1-CbGv-4MNE209CxTSmCeikd1SvteOqKpuAIY7krGgyr_ehP-nX6PJXakAbYvfHiJvB3pEA/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The class is then assigned different parts of the template to write on at the same time. This is the beauty of working in a collaborative programme such as Google Docs. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is the screencast that Brenda created for the webinar. Take a look and listen. </span><br /><br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="305" scrolling="no" src="http://screencast-o-matic.com/embed?sc=clX228VVww&w=402&v=3" width="402"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am hoping that Brenda will send me a link to the finished product. This is a fantastic lesson to do with a class that has computer access. Thank you for sharing this Brenda.</span></div>

30 Days of Google 30 Days with Google #6: Create a classroom newspaper using Google Docs (a SchoolNet webinar presentation)

Google Docs is an amazing way to create a classroom newspaper. Last night we scheduled a SchoolNet webinar featuring Brenda Hallowes from Port Elizabeth, where she outlined how she uses Google Docs to create classroom newspapers with Foundation Phase…

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Holiday Horoscope 2012

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ZKvzfo4cqYfKSjX07E4_i8alBm1Ad-51GXg7UdPz0o1gMgdycNYBJiCj4vgzsClD-RfCGEwj0LnBBadPXGc-nFhih4klPxvlzbVLD8ghFyhcOF6ckbezVQuJp9UCk_9ugBvNYoPaDLg/s1600/Larissa+Summers+Sexy-Fortune-Teller-Costume.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ZKvzfo4cqYfKSjX07E4_i8alBm1Ad-51GXg7UdPz0o1gMgdycNYBJiCj4vgzsClD-RfCGEwj0LnBBadPXGc-nFhih4klPxvlzbVLD8ghFyhcOF6ckbezVQuJp9UCk_9ugBvNYoPaDLg/s400/Larissa+Summers+Sexy-Fortune-Teller-Costume.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>Hi all my darlings...Lana Jouray here with my astral tea leaf reading of whether this holiday season you will enjoy the gift of life, or spray yourself down under the mistletoe of indignity...<span id="goog_1638929596"></span><span id="goog_1638929597"></span><br /><b><br /></b><b>Aries March 21-April 19</b><br /><br />Sure it’s nice to know that grabbing the winning side of the wishbone is yours to make a wish, but it is less nice to know that you spent your wish wishing it hadn’t come out of your own rib cage.<br /><br /><b>Taurus April 20-May 20</b><br /><br />You will discover that saying to your Thanksgiving Day sex partner, <i>“Oh it’s just too many cranberries.”</i>, is in no way a good cover for the fact that you have hemorrhoids.<br /><br /><b>Gemini May 21-June 20</b><br /><br />Your wife tells you that she wants this Christmas to be perfect.  That’s why you string the lights in an awesomely straight line, and then move to Tahiti and have sex with a chick who can suck an entire breadfruit through her mouth without gasping for air, and more importantly, not putting on weight in spite of the carbs. Perfect!!<br /><br /><b>Cancer June 21-July 22</b><br /><br />It’s nice that you volunteered for the Salvation Army, but telling people, <i>“I don’t need donations God Dammit, I just like to ring bells.”</i>, is not helpful to the cause.<br /><br /><b>Leo July 23-August 22</b><br /><br />Hanukkah is great, but that doesn't mean that you, celebrating your Judaism, have to spin your girlfriend atop your dreidel for eight straight days against her will, while yelling at her, “Antiochus Must Die!!”<br /><br /><b>Virgo August 23-September 22</b><br /><br />You will become famous overnight, when it is discovered that you are the one person in the world, who truly enjoys the fruitcake that you received.<br /><br /><b>Libra September 23-October 22</b><br /><br />You’ve always believed in the theorem, “The love you give, is the love you receive.”, and that is why on Christmas Eve, an evil man holding a ten pound sledge hammer will be decking your cranial halls.<br /><br /><b>Scorpio October 23-November 21</b><br /><br />Sure, he fucked your wife, but after you took pictures, extorted him, and received a new gas grill and a Jaguar for your efforts, you believe in Santa Claus even more.<br /><br /><b>Sagittarius November 22-December 21</b><br /><br />The late President Millard Fillmore will resurrect himself, buy a gun, greet you with a “Merry Christmas”, and then shoot you.  He will then say to the Washington Post, “At least people will remember me now.”<br /><br /><b>Capricorn December 22-January 19</b><br /><br />A bearded man and his wife from Galilee will come to your hotel, and unfortunately you will have to tell them that you are full.  You will come to regret this when a little boy continuously plays drums outside your establishment.<br /><br /><b>Aquarius January 20-February 18</b><br /><br />On TV, Yukon Cornelius said that Bumbles bounce, but unfortunately for you, they bite as well.<br /><br /><b>Pisces February 19-March 20</b><br /><br />A New Year brings hope and inspiration, which is why the hope you had after your parole will bring you the inspiration to knock over a liquor store three days later.<br /><br />Ad Astra per Aspera<br /><br /><i>Lana</i></div>

Holiday Horoscope 2012

Hi all my darlings...Lana Jouray here with my astral tea leaf reading of whether this holiday season you will enjoy the gift of life, or spray yourself down under the mistletoe of indignity...Aries March 21-April 19Sure it’s nice to know that grabbin…

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30 Days of Google #5: The AMAZING Google Chrome (webinar presentation)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><i>Submitted by Fiona Beal</i><br />My experience of Google Chrome is that it is one of the fastest internet browsers available today. It also offers some great features, including synchronization across computers, multiple browsers, autofill, application and extensions for every browsing situation. The webinar last night mentioned some of these features. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Thank you very much to all who attended the SchoolNet webinar last night entitled 'T<i>he AMAZING Google Chrom</i>e'. I hope you were inspired to try more of what this browser offers.</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /><b>The presentation on SlideShare</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />If you would like access to the presentation used in the webinar it can be downloaded from Slideshare as a PDF. Here is the link:</span><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/15169088" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin-bottom: 5px;" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="427"></iframe><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"><strong> <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal/the-amazing-google-chrome" target="_blank" title="The AMAZING Google Chrome">The AMAZING Google Chrome</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal" target="_blank">Fiona Beal</a></strong> <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Recording</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you missed the webinar (18 minutes) and would like to list to what was said, here is the recording link: </span><a href="http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/p29kfsqcsu3/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/p29kfsqcsu3/</a></div></div></div></div>

30 Days of Google 30 Days of Google #5: The AMAZING Google Chrome (webinar presentation)

Submitted by Fiona BealMy experience of Google Chrome is that it is one of the fastest internet browsers available today. It also offers some great features, including synchronization across computers, multiple browsers, autofill, application and ext…

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It's Called "Valuable" For A Reason

Hey everybody! Miguel Cabrera won the MVP!<br /><br />For all of the hype and hoopla over whether Mike Trout was going to unseat Cabrera due to his dynamic June, July, and August, the end result was a little...lacking.<br /><br />22 first place votes to just 6? Is this the battle of the old fogey sportswriters against the Internet stat masters? If this vote had been 10 years in the future, would we be talking about the result being far different?<br /><br />Well, it doesn't matter. Cabrera won.<br /><br />Whenever an MVP debate surfaces, I always ask myself, "It's called the <i>Most Valuable Player</i>." What exactly does that mean? Well, it means that the player has the ability to lift his manager, teammates, and city up to the caliber that is expected of them. That can be through offense, defense, and being the leader in the clubhouse.<br /><br />When it comes to stats, each side will find the numbers to support their man. Yes, Cabrera won the Triple Crown. Yes, Trout won the battle for Wins Above Replacement. But what matters most to me is that in the long run, the Tigers were able to conquer the teams in their division and win the crown, while the Angels - even with the likes of Trout - couldn't beat <i>two</i> other teams in their division, and Trout's numbers declined when September hit - the most crucial part of the season.<br /><br />To be completely honest - and I don't like doing this often - but I'm inclined to state that Trout will fade into the shadows come next season. Eventually, we may even laugh at this debate between a potential Hall of Famer and a "one-hit wonder." There are lots of players in Major League Baseball who can be solid hitters and fielders for a few months at a time - but only the most solid players can step up and make a long-lasting impact.

It's Called "Valuable" For A Reason

Hey everybody! Miguel Cabrera won the MVP!For all of the hype and hoopla over whether Mike Trout was going to unseat Cabrera due to his dynamic June, July, and August, the end result was a little...lacking.22 first place votes to just 6? Is this the …

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GAZA MISSILES HIT TEL AVIV

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCXqNB8CixmIP4QoTRlwcRlEHL1j0L8hY60-QS-L1iy8KSNWqjPRLdi8jsVojuAV54CVBh7p8HFtpanzNAL_YIQrQq1MjKbDdRV3Cdi9h5hXY1PSIc_8vRUpHv3m8tIGFFPRGuwo7nGaZ-/s1600/TelAviv_aerial(194).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCXqNB8CixmIP4QoTRlwcRlEHL1j0L8hY60-QS-L1iy8KSNWqjPRLdi8jsVojuAV54CVBh7p8HFtpanzNAL_YIQrQq1MjKbDdRV3Cdi9h5hXY1PSIc_8vRUpHv3m8tIGFFPRGuwo7nGaZ-/s400/TelAviv_aerial(194).jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;">First three Gaza missiles hit Tel Aviv. Israel drafts 30,000 reservists</span></span></div><span class="articleDescription">via DEBKA<em>file</em></span> <span class="articleDescription red italic"></span><div class="articleBodyWrapper"><div class="photoContainer" id="photoContainer" style="width: 150px;"><div class="photoContainerCaption" id="caption"><br /></div></div><span class="articleBody"> <span style="font-size: large;">The first three Palestinian missiles reached the Tel Aviv conurbation, Gush Dan, Thursday night, Nov. 15. shortly after a long-range missile exploded in Rishon Lezion southeast of Tel Aviv and sirens sounded in outlying towns of Holon, Ness Ziona, Gan Raveh and Beer Yacov. None report casualties or damage. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered 30,000 army reservists drafted. The IDF spokesmen earlier reported units of the elite paratroop and Givati Brigades were mustering outside the Gaza Strip on the second day of Israel's counter-terror operation Pillar of Cloud.</span><br /><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"> From <span class="debka">debka</span><span class="file">file</span>'s earlier report Thursday:  As the rockets kept coming through Wednesday night – and the first three fatalities Thursday morning, Nov. 15 -<strong> </strong>the cautious lift in Israeli spirits generated by the death of Ahmed Jabari, who fashioned Hamas into a paramilitary machine of terror, and the destruction of dozens of missile sites in Gaza, gave way to resignation for a long haul before southern Israel is free of its decade-long rocket nightmare.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQNujSzFWoCKQ-j-3WNQ-ILcB9R-8EBk7smo-gjuH24lZoHbIYx4_l8mD_Zz2hrYrsvSPLZBnCnzsMW-pVGaPBKkgFYXXBhkfD6M11nPaS-qq9uPeUVzBuFiq6gpLhXAk7TxgMYssNlmd5/s1600/israel-map-e1353002601276.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQNujSzFWoCKQ-j-3WNQ-ILcB9R-8EBk7smo-gjuH24lZoHbIYx4_l8mD_Zz2hrYrsvSPLZBnCnzsMW-pVGaPBKkgFYXXBhkfD6M11nPaS-qq9uPeUVzBuFiq6gpLhXAk7TxgMYssNlmd5/s400/israel-map-e1353002601276.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">Thursday morning, a rocket from Gaza killed three Israelis in Kiryat Malachi. By then, some 120 rockets – mostly targeting the major towns of Beersheba and Ashdod, but also smaller locations – had followed Jabari's death. Iron Dome intercepted 27.The first reserve units had been mobilized for possible ground action in Gaza to supplement the air offensive against the Palestinian missile arsenal.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> But Operation Pillar of Cloud’s first part showed a favorable balance: Palestinian missile fire was as erratic as ever, although intense; Iron Dome filtered out the rockets aimed at Israel’s major towns; Israeli casualties were relatively low though painful; and the enemy in Gaza was decapitated – for now.<br /> But most of all, the Palestinians and their allies in Tehran and Hizballah suddenly discovered that the old IDF had come roaring back.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> In the only former major Israeli operation in Gaza, Cast Lead (late 2008, early 2009), the IDF was slow, unwieldy and unfocused. Its counter-terror offensive was foreshortened by heavy diplomatic pressure before achieving anything, owing to the government’s lack of resolve. In the 2006 Lebanon War, the army was stalled before developing an effective tactical offensive.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"> The IDF of 2012 is in a different class, recalling its rapid-fire performance in the Six-Day War then fought on multiple fronts.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> In just a few hours late Wednesday, Nov. 14, Pillar of Cloud achieved more than Cast Lead managed in weeks: It was driven by clockwork, integrated intelligence by the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence, precise, surgical air force strikes and a command-and-control with fast reflexes which recalled Israel’s military skills of 45 years ago.</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPLwBem48s67ZnAT8sRwmHHeLOAYw8FuxD-n2YVMHUIXX1MU8cruK92gez2u0tuB5e7VjBYVABeFrZ79aOdPD1xM7LOI8q07OJVy1db_IH_HtLYXzHDPKY5XIA3HyHID0eT4wIJu3DRtd/s1600/Crossing-Red-Sea-620x431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPLwBem48s67ZnAT8sRwmHHeLOAYw8FuxD-n2YVMHUIXX1MU8cruK92gez2u0tuB5e7VjBYVABeFrZ79aOdPD1xM7LOI8q07OJVy1db_IH_HtLYXzHDPKY5XIA3HyHID0eT4wIJu3DRtd/s400/Crossing-Red-Sea-620x431.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="articleBody">"Operation Pillar of Cloud’s<span style="font-size: x-small;">"</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Biblical reference</span> </span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;">The rapid destruction of scores of Fajr-3 and Fajr-5 rockets, whose respective ranges of 45 and 75 kilometers placed Israel’s heartland in line of Palestinian strikes, compared with the destruction of the Egyptian air force on the ground in the early hours of the 1967 war, rather than the bombardment of Hizballah’s long-range missiles in 2006 which failed to draw its sting.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> In 1967, the Egyptian army had to fight in Sinai without air cover. In 2012, the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip were stripped of their key commander and terror strategist and lost substantial, though not all, its missile arsenal.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> Wherever Operation Pillar of Cloud goes next – and the IDF is preparing for a long, hard haul – Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz deserve kudos for their performance thus far. It may be said that Israel’s Gaza operation did in fact start on Oct. 24 in Sudan with the attack on the Yarmouk complex manufacturing Iranian missiles near Khartoum. Former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin Wednesday confirmed <span class="debka">debka</span><span class="file">file</span>’s exclusive report that the factory had housed the emergency reserve stocks of the Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami in the Gaza Strip.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> Its destruction contributed to their loss of infrastructure.The tough part of the Israeli operation to eliminate the terrorist war peril hovering over southern Israel from the Gaza Strip is still to come. For now, Hamas is at a loss for a strategic answer to the IDF offensive – unless one is provided by Tehran or Hizballah coming to its rescue.</span><br /> </span> </div>

GAZA MISSILES HIT TEL AVIV

 First three Gaza missiles hit Tel Aviv. Israel drafts 30,000 reservistsvia DEBKAfile  The first three Palestinian missiles reached the Tel Aviv conurbation, Gush Dan, Thursday night, Nov. 15. shortly after a long-range missile exploded in Rishon L…

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Uniquely CMC!

<span style="font-size: large;">Tonight I was considering what design point are what I call "uniquely Ciaran".  When looking at plans and designs from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ODKMarchitectsanddesigners?fref=ts">ODKM's office</a> there are certain items that identify Ciaran as being the lead designer as he tends to include certain things.  They are little things but I think they are becoming signature items of his! </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">He is a big fan of both bench seats and pocket doors.  He likes bench seats so much that we ended up with two large bench seats in our house - both can seat 10 people.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">In just about every house that he has designed recently he has put in a pocket sliding door.  When remodelling our last house he put a pocket door in to our utility room.  My twin sister and I developed a fascination with this room - we reckoned that one day I would open it and find the Stasi Secret Police sitting in there listening to all of our conversations - it just had a very East German feel to it!!</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Another thing that Ciaran always does when designing kitchens is that he specifies that the cabinets are built to the ceiling.  Generally kitchen cabinets in Ireland only have two shelves and then have a dust catcher at the top of them.  CMC insists that there is three shelves in the kitchen cabinets - I guess it is just a clever use of space to build them all of the way to the ceiling.  I don't know why all designers don't do it!</span>

Uniquely CMC!

Tonight I was considering what design point are what I call "uniquely Ciaran".  When looking at plans and designs from ODKM's office there are certain items that identify Ciaran as being the lead designer as he tends to include certain things.  They …

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Droid Perk

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jxCzqqexE9URF9flwTg1XEzbZtt3C2ZrXYc9UTWxyhS9enLsITrrFFyLR4LHC_9WQ2PHK3m8WabOJR2P4rmX8rSaTDwauMBFE4rxIbDuWncix-f_934OQYWyihSFPwTT92BIA_728Yw/s1600/Droid+perk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jxCzqqexE9URF9flwTg1XEzbZtt3C2ZrXYc9UTWxyhS9enLsITrrFFyLR4LHC_9WQ2PHK3m8WabOJR2P4rmX8rSaTDwauMBFE4rxIbDuWncix-f_934OQYWyihSFPwTT92BIA_728Yw/s320/Droid+perk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> This afternoon I had a surprise waiting for me on my doorstep. I was so excited when I found out that it was a box from Klout. I was so anxious to open the box to see what was inside. So I went to get my scissors to cut the box open. I was ecstatic to find the Galaxy cell phone from Verizon! I can not wait to use this and share my review! Thanks so much @Klout and Verizon!

Droid Perk

This afternoon I had a surprise waiting for me on my doorstep. I was so excited when I found out that it was a box from Klout. I was so anxious to open the box to see what was inside. So I went to get my scissors to cut the box open. I was ecstati…

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Modernism Prize 2012: Hizuchi Elementary School

On Tuesday evening I attended the lecture for the <a href="http://www.wmf.org/modernism/">2012 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize</a>, given to the Architectural Consortium for <a href="http://www.wmf.org/slide-show/hizuchi-elementary-school">Hizuchi Elementary School</a> for their restoration of Hizuchi Elementary School in Hizuchi, Yawatahama City, Ehime Prefecture, on Shikoku Island, Japan. I had seen the press release last month, as well as a couple photos there and picked up on the Internet, but Tuesday night at MoMA was my first in-depth look at a building that was also a discovery for the jurors.<br /><br /><img alt="Hizuchi01.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/Hizuchi01.jpg" title="© Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru" /><br />[Veranda of East and Middle Building | © Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru]<br /><br />The opening remarks of jury chairman Barry Bergdoll positioned the 2012 award in some contrast to the previous two recipients: Bierman Henket's and Wessel de Jonge's restoration of the <a href="http://www.wmf.org/slide-show/zonnestraal-sanatorium">Zonnestraal Sanatorium</a> in Hilversum, the Netherlands (awarded 2010); and Brenne Gesellschaft von Architekten's restoration of the former <a href="http://www.wmf.org/slide-show/adgb-trade-school">ADGB Trade Union School</a> in Bernau, Germany (awarded 2008). Those two buildings were known (if not extremely well-known) modern buildings, and therefore the awards "reintroduced the buildings to a larger audience."<br /><br /><img alt="Hizuchi03.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/Hizuchi03.jpg" title="© Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru" /><br />[02 East, Middle, and West Buildings from the North | © Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru]<br /><br />Hizuchi Elementary School, on the other hand, was a "real discovery" for the jury, whom were not familiar with the building or its architect, Masatsune Matsumura. After the lecture I even consulted David Stewart's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4770029330?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=4770029330&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20"><i>The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture</i></a>, where I figured there might be some mention, but he was nowhere to be found. Working as municipal architect for Yawatahama City at the time (the school was constructed from 1956 to 1958), the architect was considered one of the ten most influential architects in Japan—alongside Kenzo Tange and other familiar names—before embarking on a private practice. Yet outside Japan he was little known, as I'm sure municipal architects from other locales have rarely gained renown in a wider geography.<br /><br /><img alt="Hizuchi02.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/Hizuchi02.jpg" title="© Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru" /><br />[East Building Second-Floor Stair (Classroom on Left, Corridor on Right) | © Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru]<br /><br />Following Bergdoll's remarks and the award presentation, historian and consortium member Yoshiaki Hanada gave a lecture on the school, the architect, and the restoration. He shared the above information about the architect's top-ten status, for example, and he boiled down the design and the restoration into numbered bullet points (noted below). At the end of the lecture, Hanada poetically summarized the project and its influence.<br /><br /><img alt="Hizuchi04.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/Hizuchi04.jpg" title="© Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru" /><br />[Middle Building First-Floor Teachers’ Room and View of Stairs | © Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru]<br /><br />Important aspects of Matsumura's design, as articulated in Hanada's lecture:<br /><blockquote>1 - Cluster-style school with classroom and corridor separate.<br />2 - "Dual facade fenestration" (windows on opposite sides of classroom) achieved through internal "daylight gardens."<br />3 - Hybrid structural system of wood (columns and beams) and steel (cross bracing). </blockquote><ol></ol><img alt="Hizuchi05.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/Hizuchi05.jpg" title="© Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru" /><br />[Middle Building First-Floor Corridor in front of Teachers’ Room | © Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru]<br /><blockquote>4 - "Rich spatiality" that contemporary architecture lacks.<br />5 - "Spatial embodiment of democratic thought in education" after World War II (stairs and overlook in first photo are illustrations of this).<br />6 - "Original interpretation of Western modern architecture."</blockquote><img alt="Hizuchi06.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/Hizuchi06.jpg" title="© Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru" /><br />[Corridor Connecting Middle and West Buildings | © Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru]<br /><br />Important considerations for restoration and addition of western wing, again as articulated by Hanada:<br /><blockquote>1 - Restore whole building to original design, respecting its cultural value.<br />2 - Bring in line with today's seismic codes.<br />3 - Restore original classrooms into specific rooms (home ec, music, etc.). </blockquote><img alt="Hizuchi07.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/Hizuchi07.jpg" title="© Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru" /><br />[First-Floor Stairway in West Building | © Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru]<br /><blockquote>4 - Make wall at teacher's room more transparent (visible in fourth photo).<br />5 - Create two classrooms in central building (previously offices).<br />6 - Improve functional performance (plumbing, acoustics, etc.). <br />7 - Build new west wing with four additional classrooms.</blockquote><img alt="Hizuchi08.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/Hizuchi08.jpg" title="© Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru" /><br />[Second-Floor Multi-Purpose Space in West Building | © Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru]<br /><br />These last few photos show the addition designed by consortium member <s>Kouichi Wada</s> Kazutomi Takechi. The addition is sensitive to the original's structure, materiality, and circulation (the shallow stairs of the original are reiterated in the addition, for example), but it veers from it in terms of space—it opts for a radial plan rather than a linear one. As a whole the building is marvelous, particularly in the way daylight infuses every space, from the classrooms to the offices and the circulation. It looks like a fantastic environment for learning.<br /><br /><img alt="Hizuchi09.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/Hizuchi09.jpg" title="© Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru" /><br />[Façade of the West Building | © Architectural Institute of Japan Shikoku Chapter/Photographer KITAMURA Toru]

Modernism Prize 2012: Hizuchi Elementary School

On Tuesday evening I attended the lecture for the 2012 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize, given to the Architectural Consortium for Hizuchi Elementary School for their restoration of Hizuchi Elementary School in Hizuchi, Yawatahama City, E…

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Librarian III, Automated Services - West Hartford Public Libraries

<strong>Librarian III, Automated Services - </strong><strong><span style="color: #48286d;">West Hartford Public Libraries</span></strong>. Salary Range: $74,620 - $94,068. Job Purpose: Supervises and plans all aspects of library computer and network systems, including software selection, installation and maintenance, and supervises cataloging, materials acquisitions and processing services. Manages public and staff access to information services through the integrated library system. Work Environment: Work is performed in a library setting, which requires attending to computer and network problems at branch locations, and throughout the library’s computer network. Evening and weekend work may be required as is travel to attend regional meetings. Essential Job Functions: Supervises, coordinates, maintains, and plans computer services for the library system, including branch locations. Supervises and coordinates cataloging services, acquisitions and processing. May perform professional cataloging and classification. Supervises and directs the work of individuals or work groups engaged in library projects and/or activities including scheduling, assigning, overseeing and reviewing the work of employees. Establishes performance standards, evaluates work performance and recommends merit increases. Provides staff training to assure proper methods, practices and opportunities for staff promotion and development. Participates in the administration of the library system through taking an active part in supervisory meetings, staff meetings, and meetings with the Library Director. Additional Job Responsibilities: Participates in the management, planning, and development of the regional automated library system. May select books and other materials for the library’s collections. Participates in professional development in the specialized field of library service assigned, through attendance at technical training programs and/or professional association seminars and conferences. Provides technical supervision to individual staff or work groups. Prepares various reports and assists in the preparation of departmental budget as required. Performs related work as required. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Extensive knowledge of computers, computer networks, and software appropriate to a library setting. Knowledge of professional library principles, methods, materials and practices, including knowledge of library principles of classification. Knowledge of HTML, XML, and database applications. Ability to administer a Local Area Network. Ability to analyze professional administrative problems and to make recommendations for their solution. Ability to express oneself clearly and concisely both orally and in writing. Ability to establish and maintain favorable public relations and effective working relationships with other employees. Ability to direct, plan, assign and evaluate the work of employees in a specialized library service. Skill in use of Microsoft software and including server related software. Minimum Qualifications: Graduation from an ALA accredited Master’s Degree program in Library or Information Science and four (4) years of experience in professional library work, including at least two (2) years of supervisory experience; or any satisfactory equivalent combination of education and experience. Method of Selection: Oral Board Examination (Weight: 100%, Passing Score: 70). Candidates must achieve a passing score of 70 on the oral examination in order to have their name placed on the Eligible List for this position. An individual appointed to the position must satisfactorily complete a one (1) year probationary period. The Town reserves the right to limit the number of qualified candidates invited to any portion of the selection process. Applications: Applications may be obtained from the Job Openings page of the West Hartford website, <a _fcksavedurl="http://www.WestHartford.org" href="http://www.westhartford.org/" target="_blank">www.WestHartford.org</a>. Applications must be completed no later than Friday, <span style="color: red;">December 7, 2012</span>, unless the Director of Employee Services extends such date.

Librarian III, Automated Services - West Hartford Public Libraries

Librarian III, Automated Services - West Hartford Public Libraries. Salary Range: $74,620 - $94,068. Job Purpose: Supervises and plans all aspects of library computer and network systems, including software selection, installation and maintenance,…

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Teaching Assistant, Library Media Center - West Hartford Public Schools

<strong>Teaching Assistant, Library Media Center -</strong> <strong><span style="color: #48286d;">West Hartford Public Schools</span></strong> has a full-time (6.5 hours daily - 182 days per year) Teaching Assistant position available for the 2012-2013 school year. This position is available in one of our high schools to assist in the daily operation of the Library Media Center. Duties include but are not limited to: processing and circulating library resources, assisting students and staff in using library resources, equipment and facilities; and providing clerical support. Ability to attend to task details. Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills. Must possess excellent work ethic and self-direction skills. Bachelor’s degree required. Library or related experience is preferred. Experience with Microsoft Office applications. Excellent keyboard and data entry skills. Salary: Substitute teacher rate ($75/day), without benefits. Interested applicants should submit an online application. Visit our web site at: <a _fcksavedurl="http://www.whps.org/whps/" href="http://www.whps.org/whps/" target="_blank">http://www.whps.org/whps/</a>. For more information call the Library Media Services Office at 860-561-6634. Apply immediately. Open until filled. Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Teaching Assistant, Library Media Center - West Hartford Public Schools

Teaching Assistant, Library Media Center - West Hartford Public Schools has a full-time (6.5 hours daily - 182 days per year) Teaching Assistant position available for the 2012-2013 school year. This position is available in one of our high schools…

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Pop Warner football: Kids should not be allowed to put on helmets and knock each other in the head. - Slate Magazine

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Last week, I took part in <a href="http://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/2012/11/09/playing-safety-future-youth-football" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">a roundtable discussion in Washington</a> on the future of youth football.<a href="http://www.bu.edu/cste/about/leadership/robert-cantu-m-d/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">Robert Cantu</a>, the CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) researcher and NFL adviser, was there. So were Chris Nowinski, the Harvard defensive tackle turned pro wrestler turned brain-injury activist; neurosurgeon Julian Bailes, who has advised the NFL Players Association, the NCAA, and Pop Warner football; and DeMaurice Smith, the head of the NFLPA. An NFL executive attended, as did various youth-football organizations. There was an ex-Jet/Jaguar/Redskin, a plaintiffs' lawyer, a school board member, the head of a sporting goods trade group, academics, and a bunch of journalists like me.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">The event was organized by the Aspen Institute and moderated by ESPN reporter Tom Farrey. His topic question: "How can football serve children, communities, and public health?" Three hours of talk yielded, for me anyway, an unsurprising answer: Tackle football can best serve children, communities, and public health by disappearing.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">I know that Matt Chaney, who wrote for the roundtable this week about <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/features/2012/nfl_2012/week_10/heads_up_football_the_tackling_technique_roger_goodell_says_will_make_the.html" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">the tackling technique that won't make football safer</a>, is on board with the idea that tackle football is simply too dangerous for the brains of children, and that a distinction needs to be made between what adult men choose to do professionally and what kids are permitted or often pushed to do by parents and other adults. In his new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006R8PDNS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006R8PDNS&linkCode=as2&tag=slatmaga-20" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; "><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">Concussions and Our Kids</em></a>, co-written with journalist Mark Hyman, Cantu proposes barring tackle football before age 14, or the start of high school. The cutoff is arbitrary, Cantu said at the Washington panel. The more important consideration is an individual child's physical development: If he's skeletally immature, if he hasn't developed axillary hair, he shouldn't play tackle football.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">"Youngsters are not miniature adults," Cantu said. For starters, he explained, their brains are not fully myelinated, meaning their nerve cells lack the complete coating that offers protection. That makes them more susceptible to concussions and means they recover more slowly from them than adults. Cantu said children have big heads relative to the rest of their bodies and weak necks, creating a "bobblehead-doll effect" that elevates the risk of concussion. They typically play in the oldest equipment, with the least educated coaches, and with little or no available medical care. They are allowed to hit each other in practice—up to 40 minutes per session in Pop Warner football, under new guidelines—to a greater extent than NFL players are in season. And finally, kids are unable to provide meaningful informed consent. "Rarely do they really understand the risk they're taking," Cantu said.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">That brief presentation was a devastating synopsis of the perils of football for small children. (How small? Pop Warner, the formal name of which is, I joke not, Pop Warner Little Scholars Inc., is open to children <a href="http://www.popwarner.com/football/footballstructure.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">as young as 5 years old and as light as 35 pounds</a>.) And none of it was refuted by the representatives of children's football who participated in the event. Instead, what emerged was the playbook for the youth-football-industrial complex—3 million players and tens of millions of dollars in revenue, backed by the NFL, college football, equipment manufacturers, and other sports businesses—in what will be a long battle against the forces of science, medicine, and common sense.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">First is the rhetoric. Scott Hallenbeck, the executive director of USA Football, the governing body/trade group funded by the NFL and NFLPA, thanked Cantu for raising "important issues," declared that a "healthy debate" was necessary, and reminded us that "we're all in this together." Our goal? "A better and safer environment for parents and players." Indeed, "safety" is the key word in the kids' tackle football PR effort; it's all over the websites of organizations like <a href="http://www.popwarner.com/football/footballsafety.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">Pop Warner</a>, <a href="http://www.americanyouthfootball.com/index.php/about/safety-first" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">American Youth Football</a>, and <a href="http://www.americanyouthfootball.com/index.php/about/safety-first" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">USA Football</a>. Who's against safety?</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">The words are buttressed by limited, practical changes, like USA Football's "Heads Up" program and Pop Warner's limits on head contact and hitting in practice. Better than nothing, sure. But Matt and <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/features/2012/nfl_2012/week_1/nfl_2012_embracing_the_power_of_spite_.html" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">ex-NFL player Nate Jackson</a> have already debunked the notion that football can always be played with the head up. And kids aren't usually capable, physically or mentally, of implementing precise technique, as five minutes on the sideline of any youth sports game will demonstrate. As for rules, well, Pop Warner's <a href="http://www.popwarner.com/About_Us/Pop_Warner_News/Rule_Changes_Regarding_Practice___Concussion_Prevention_s1_p3977.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">concussion-prevention guidelines</a> call for "no full speed head-on blocking or tackling drills in which the players line up more than 3 yards apart." You can bet some suburban Belichick is lining up his players exactly three yards apart and instructing them to go at 90 percent speed, or ignoring the rules entirely.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Which leads to part two of the youth-football change mantra: better coaching. Hallenbeck said USA Football has "trained" almost 100,000 coaches in the last five years. It also has "looked at the concept" of a national accreditation program with "15 chapters" and "15 quizzes" with a passing grade of 80. "So you could argue there's 80 percent competency in a program like that," he said. Or you could argue that the numbers are a way to conceal the reality that youth sports coaches are mostly amateur volunteers, usually parents, with little knowledge about sports or coaching or injuries but lots of preconceived ideas gleaned from years of watching the pros. How else to explain that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/sports/football/pee-wee-football-game-with-concussions-brings-penalties-for-adults.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">Pop Warner mismatch in Massachusetts</a> in which five kids suffered concussions?</div></div><div class="pagebreak section" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "></div><a name="pagebreak_anchor_2" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; visibility: hidden; "></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; "></span><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">"The coaches that coach this game ... for whatever reason don't embrace change very well," former NFL linebacker Eddie Mason told the panel. "That's the issue. ... Pop Warner, USA Football can implement all the things that they want to. You can implement rules, you can implement changes, but until the football community embraces the reality of the sport, the reality of concussion, the reality of the damage that comes along with it if you start at an early age, that's the problem."</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Youth football officials are aware their coaching problem goes beyond education. Hallenbeck's answer was another "concept": installing a player-safety monitor in every youth league to ensure that coaches are teaching "proper" tackling and using sanctioned practice plans, and who also reassure concerned parents that football is getting safer. "Parents are literally looking at us and saying, 'Thank you, you're making us feel more comfortable,' " Hallenbeck said.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">The third and most critical component of the youth-football defense wouldn't be out of place at a debate over climate change: The science just doesn't exist to justify banning youth football at any age level. Over and over, Hallenbeck cited the lack of "evidence-based" data. And while Cantu and others agreed that more research is needed, there's already data that shows the effect of tackle football on undeveloped brains, like <a href="http://www.springerlink.com/content/r1w055654612u47j/fulltext.pdf?MUD=MP" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">a study released this year by researchers at Virginia Tech and Wake Forest</a> that found that 7-year-old players absorb impacts on par with those in college football.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Even that sort of science is used to defend kids' football. Brooke de Lench, who founded the youth sports website <a href="http://www.momsteam.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">MomsTEAM</a>, said her business outfitted the helmets of an Oklahoma high-school team with accelerometers to track and measure the impact of hits. (She's making <a href="http://www.thesmartestteam.com/%23!home/mainPage" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">a documentary</a> about the project.) "The kids want the accelerometers, either in their helmet or as an earbud or a mouthpiece," de Lench told the panel. "They want that responsibility"—of determining when they might have suffered a head injury—"taken away from themselves."</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">To sum up: The defenders of youth football envision a sport in which players must be outfitted with <a href="http://www.riddell.com/shop-riddell/helmet/riddell-revolution-iq-hits-helmet/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">expensive</a> electronic sensors to determine when they have suffered brain injury; in which coaches have to pass 15-part examinations in order to be certified; and even after doing that, in which safety watchdogs must be deployed on the sidelines of every practice and game to supervise the performance of coaches. "Burning down the village to save it," sportswriter Patrick Hruby said after the Washington event.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">It's not as if there aren't alternatives. Maybe have kids play flag football wearing no pads until they're 10, then with shoulder pads until 13. At 14 or 15, if they are determined to be physically mature, players can don helmets and wrap up opponents to bring them to ground. Any blow to the head or leading with the head is an automatic ejection. Full hitting can start on high-school varsities. Tackling can be taught over time—flag football teaches the proper entry point for contact, around the hips; <a href="http://vimeo.com/10315677%23" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">rugby-style</a> tackling might be instructive—to prepare kids for full contact when their bodies are ready, or at least readier, for it.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">None of this is likely, at least anytime soon. Science or no science, the real reason 5- and 6-year-olds will keep padding up and hitting is consumer demand. If Pop Warner offered only flag football, its executive director, John Butler, candidly told the panel, "90 to 95 percent of our members would drop out" and play for independent teams "because whether it be kids or parents, they want to play tackle football."</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Of course they do. They watch it on Sundays. It's fun. But as Eddie Mason responded, "Sometimes you have to take the decisions out of the hands of the parents and you have to just make the change. You say, well, we don't offer tackle at this age, we offer flag, and these are the reasons why." Mason said he isn't letting his 8-year-old son play tackle football.</div></div></div><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2012/11/pop_warner_football_kids_should_not_be_allowed_to_put_on_helmets_and_knock.single.html">http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2012/11/pop_warner_football_kids_should_not_be_allowed_to_put_on_helmets_and_knock.single.html</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Pop Warner football: Kids should not be allowed to put on helmets and knock each other in the head. - Slate Magazine

Last week, I took part in a roundtable discussion in Washington on the future of youth football.Robert Cantu, the CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) researcher and NFL adviser, was there. So were Chris Nowinski, the Harvard defensive tackle turne…

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A Young Reporter Chronicles Her 'Brain On Fire' | WBUR & NPR

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">In 2009, Susannah Cahalan was a healthy 24-year-old reporter for the<em> New York Post</em>, when she began to experience numbness, paranoia, sensitivity to light and erratic behavior. Grasping for an answer, Cahalan asked herself as it was happening, "Am I just bad at my job — is that why? Is the pressure of it getting to me? Is it a new relationship?"</p><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">But Cahalan only got worse — she began to experience seizures, hallucinations, increasingly psychotic behavior and even catatonia. Her symptoms frightened family members and baffled a series of doctors.</p><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">After a monthlong hospital stay and $1 million worth of blood tests and brain scans that proved inconclusive, Cahalan was seen by Dr. Souhel Najjar, who asked her to draw a clock on a piece of paper. "I drew a circle, and I drew the numbers 1 to 12 all on the right-hand side of the clock, so the left-hand side was blank, completely blank," she tells <em>Fresh Air</em>'s Dave Davies, "which showed him that I was experiencing left-side spatial neglect and, likely, the right side of my brain responsible for the left field of vision was inflamed."</p><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">As Najjar put it to her parents, "her brain was on fire." This discovery led to her eventual diagnosis and treatment for anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, a rare autoimmune disease that can attack the brain. Cahalan says that doctors think the illness may account for cases of "demonic possession" throughout history.</p><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Cahalan's new memoir is called <em>Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness</em>.</p><hr style="border: none; line-height: 1px; height: 1px; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 226); width: 620px; margin: 5px 0px 10px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><h3 style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">Interview Highlights:</h3><div style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.071em; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong>On the moment when Cahalan lost her sanity</strong></p><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"I don't remember anything from this experience. This was all told to me after the fact. [My boyfriend] Stephen heard guttural sounds coming from me. He thought maybe I was just angry because I hadn't slept for days, and he knew that it was really frustrating. And so he thought, 'Maybe she's just venting her frustration.' But the grunts were very unnatural sounding, so he turned and looked at me. And he saw that my eyes were wide open but completely unseeing, and at that point he tried to shake me and say, 'Are you OK, Sue? What's going on?' And at that point, my arms whipped out, and I had a grand mal seizure, and I was convulsing. And I bit my tongue so that blood and kind of a combination of blood and foam was coming out of my mouth. And he had the presence of mind — and I think this is incredible — to know that this was a seizure because I had never had a seizure before. And so he turned me on my side and he called 911. And [that's, for me] ... the difference between sanity and insanity ... that moment where kind of my memory goes dark."</p><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong>On some of the symptoms she exhibited at the hospital</strong></p><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"I slurred my words. I drooled. I didn't have proper control over my swallowing ... I kept my arms out in unnatural poses. At one point, I was like the Bride of Frankenstein — I kept my arms out rigidly. I was slow. I could hardly walk, and when I did, I needed to be supported ... I started [acting] very psychotic. I believed that I could age people with my mind. If I looked at them, wrinkles would form, and if I looked away, they would suddenly, magically get younger. And I believed that my father had murdered my stepmother. I believed all these incredibly paranoid — a huge, extreme example of persecution complex. And then as the days went on, I stopped being as psychotic, and I started entering into a catatonic stage, which was characterized by just complete lack of emotion, inability to relate, or to read, or hardly to be able to speak."</p><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong>On being supported by her parents and boyfriend</strong></p><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"Without them, I wouldn't be here right now, especially with my mom. She was a bulldog. I mean she would not take 'no' for an answer, especially in the beginning when they were saying it was alcohol withdrawal and partying. She refused to see that as an answer, and so she did her own research. She asked questions. At home, after a day at the hospital, she'd make a list of all the different terminology they used, and she'd look it up and, you know, not everyone is capable of doing that. ... I was so lucky to have someone there for me that could do that. ... If everyone could have someone like that, it would just be a better world."</p><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 1.071em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong>On the possible connection between her rare immune disease and cases of "demonic possession" throughout history</strong></p><p style="font-size: 0.9375em; line-height: 1.375em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.071em; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">"When you think about the symptoms — in my case alone, this grandiosity, this violence. In a lot of children, you see hypersexuality. Even my grunts and these guttural sounds that came from me sounded superhuman to someone who might be inclined to think that way. ... When you see videos of people — in fact, when I see videos of myself — demonic possession is not far from your mind. It wasn't far from Stephen's mind when he first saw that seizure. And I've talked to many people who've had this disease, and one woman I spoke to actually asked for a priest because she said, 'The devil is inside of me. I need it out.' A little girl was grunting — they had a monitor in her room — and she was grunting so unnaturally that her parents looked at each other and said, 'Is she, is she possessed?' They actually said that about a little girl. You can see throughout history why people would believe this."</p></div><a href="http://www.wbur.org/npr/165115921/a-young-reporter-chronicles-her-brain-on-fire">http://www.wbur.org/npr/165115921/a-young-reporter-chronicles-her-brain-on-fire</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

A Young Reporter Chronicles Her 'Brain On Fire' | WBUR & NPR

In 2009, Susannah Cahalan was a healthy 24-year-old reporter for the New York Post, when she began to experience numbness, paranoia, sensitivity to light and erratic behavior. Grasping for an answer, Cahalan asked herself as it was happening, "Am I j…

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‎marblesbyellenforney.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyJmeTM5TLVsFIDXTla7vhgX7kdtgRJunp6kpfa0oRM69L3YCgqMOLFYDYm2oF9eZ6vMMa2in1cvlnqPmYTIaqY-eW-levbyhVPbfJ0scIvVf4dFzR9j_eq4t3lrY2AndqvAodvEJszWc/s1600/crazyArtist%25402x-783689.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5811007790488864642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyJmeTM5TLVsFIDXTla7vhgX7kdtgRJunp6kpfa0oRM69L3YCgqMOLFYDYm2oF9eZ6vMMa2in1cvlnqPmYTIaqY-eW-levbyhVPbfJ0scIvVf4dFzR9j_eq4t3lrY2AndqvAodvEJszWc/s320/crazyArtist%25402x-783689.gif" /></a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><p style="margin: 0px auto 12pt; text-align: left; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Gudea, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, cartoonist Ellen Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Flagrantly manic and terrified that medications would cause her to lose creativity and her livelihood, she began a years-long struggle to find mental stability while retaining her passion and creativity.</p><p style="margin: 0px auto 12pt; text-align: left; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Gudea, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">Searching to make sense of the popular concept of the crazy artist, she finds inspiration from the lives and work of other artists and writers who suffered from mood disorders, including Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, William Styron, and Sylvia Plath. She analyzes the clinical aspects of bipolar disorder as she struggles with the strengths and limitations of a parade of medications and treatments.</p><p style="margin: 0px auto 12pt; text-align: left; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Gudea, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">Darkly funny, intensely personal, and visually dynamic, Forney's graphic memoir provides a visceral glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder on the artist's work. Her story seeks the answer to this question: if there's a correlation between creativity and mood disorders, is an artist's bipolar disorder a curse, or a gift?</p></div></div></div><a href="http://marblesbyellenforney.com/">http://marblesbyellenforney.com/</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

‎marblesbyellenforney.com

Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, cartoonist Ellen Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Flagrantly manic and terrified that medications would cause her to lose creativity and her livelihood, she began a years-long struggle to find mental …

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Webinar this evening - do join us!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Uj3dbWAn25_TjKz9MO94bscEZFf35YS4bJ3R99iNHmL32UZA6HaGOI86WQ6M8fG-gNqVMfNMTr3uPdf62QDhu4ixdzVyQpzTPLMakXW5zMpRZc4QeWij1-qzwDxxlKYrQUaWYLZH2_Q/s1600/webinars1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Uj3dbWAn25_TjKz9MO94bscEZFf35YS4bJ3R99iNHmL32UZA6HaGOI86WQ6M8fG-gNqVMfNMTr3uPdf62QDhu4ixdzVyQpzTPLMakXW5zMpRZc4QeWij1-qzwDxxlKYrQUaWYLZH2_Q/s320/webinars1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 15.75pt;">A classroom newspaper using Google Docs </b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u style="line-height: 15.75pt;">Meeting Name</u><span style="line-height: 15.75pt;">:</span><span style="line-height: 15.75pt;">  </span><span style="line-height: 15.75pt;">Create a classroom newspaper using Google Docs</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Presenter</u>: Brenda Hallowes from Port Elizabeth in South Africa<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Summary</u>: This is a webinar from Brenda Hallowes showing how she uses Google Docs to create a lovely classroom newspaper with her Foundation Phase students. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Invited By</u>: Fiona Beal (fiona@schoolnet.org.za)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>When</u>:  11/15/2012 6:00 PM - 6:15 PM<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Time Zone</u>:  (GMT+02:00) Harare, Pretoria<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.75pt;"><u>To join the meeting</u>: </span><span style="line-height: 15.75pt;"><a href="http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/newspapers/">http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/newspapers/</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 15.75pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These webinar recordings will be placed on the blog the following day in case you cannot join us at the time of broadcast. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do join us!</span><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></div></div></div></div></div>

webinars Webinar this evening - do join us!

A classroom newspaper using Google Docs Meeting Name:  Create a classroom newspaper using Google DocsPresenter: Brenda Hallowes from Port Elizabeth in South AfricaSummary: This is a webinar from Brenda Hallowes showing how she uses Google Docs to cre…

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