News for today's 2018

The Drawn Out Process of the Medical Lawsuit - NYTimes.com

6:14 AM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">She was one of the most highly sought radiologists in her hospital, a doctor with the uncanny ability to divine the source of maladies from the shadows of black and white X-ray films.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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 one afternoon my colleague revealed that she had been named in a lawsuit, accused of overlooking an irregularity on a scan several years earlier. The patient suing believed she had missed the first sign of a now rampant cancer.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">While other radiologists tried to assure her that the "irregularity" was well within what might be considered normal, my colleague became consumed by the what-if's. What if she had lingered longer on the fateful film? What if she had doubled-checked her reading before signing off on the report?</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">She began staying late at the hospital to review, and re-review, her work. And she worried about her professional reputation, asking herself if colleagues were avoiding her and wondering if she would have trouble renewing her license or hospital privileges. At home she felt distracted, and her husband complained that she had become easy to anger.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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 almost a year of worry, my colleague went to court and was cleared of the charges. But it was, at best, a Pyrrhic victory. "I lost year of my life," she told me. "That lawsuit completely consumed me."</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">She was not the first colleague to recount such an experience. And far from overstating the issue, doctors may in fact be underestimating the extent to which malpractice not only consumes their time but also undermines their ability to care for patients, according to a <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/32/1/111.full.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">new study in Health Affairs.</a></div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">For <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=192559" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">more than 150 years</a>, the medical malpractice system has loomed over health care, and doctors, the <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1012370" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">vast majority of whom will face a lawsuit</a> sometime in their professional lives, remain ever vocal in their criticism of the system. But with <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1012370" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">few malpractice claims resulting in payments</a> and <a href="http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/10/22/prl11022.htm" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">liability premiums holding steady or even declining</a>, doctors have started to shift their focus from the financial aspects of malpractice to the untold hours spent focused on lawsuits instead of patient care.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">Now <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/32/1/111.full.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">researchers are putting numbers</a> to those doctors' assertions. For the current study, they combed through the malpractice claims records of more than 40,000 doctors covered by a national liability insurer. They took note of the length of each claim, as well as any payments made, the severity of the injury and the specialty practiced by the physician being sued.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">Most claims required almost two years from initiation of the lawsuit, and almost four years from the time of the event in question, to reach a resolution. Cases that resulted in payment or that involved more severe patient injuries almost always took longer.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">The researchers then looked at the proportion of a doctor's career spent on an open claim. They discovered that on average, doctors spent more than four years of their career -- more time than they spent in medical school -- working through one or more lawsuits. Certain specialists were more vulnerable than others. Neurosurgeons, for example, averaged well over 10 years, or over a quarter of their professional life, embroiled in lawsuits.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">"These findings help to show why doctors care so intensely about malpractice and what they might face over the course of a lifetime," said Seth A. Seabury, lead author and a senior economist at the RAND corporation in Santa Monica, Calif.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">The results also underscore what plaintiffs must endure. Previous studies have shown that when medical errors occur, patients prefer to have physicians acknowledge the mistake quickly and apologize as soon as possible. Though <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199107253250405" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">less than 5 percent of all errors</a> ever lead to a malpractice claim, lengthy claims drag out the process and, in certain cases, hold up what may be appropriate compensation.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">Patients not directly involved can be affected as well. A legitimate malpractice lawsuit sometimes results in doctors or even entire institutions changing how they practice in order to prevent similar events from happening again. Lengthy legal wrangling can slow down these potentially important improvements.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">While these findings are only an indirect measure of the extent to which malpractice claims can affect doctors' and patients' lives, the study makes clear the importance of considering time, as well as cost, when looking at malpractice reform.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">"If we could get these cases resolved faster, we might be able to improve the efficiency of the system, lower costs and even improve quality of care for patients," Dr. Seabury said.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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; ">"Having these things drag on is a problem for doctors <em>and</em> patients."</div></div><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/the-drawn-out-process-of-the-medical-lawsuit/?pagewanted=print">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/the-drawn-out-process-of-the-medical-lawsuit/?pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

The Drawn Out Process of the Medical Lawsuit - NYTimes.com

She was one of the most highly sought radiologists in her hospital, a doctor with the uncanny ability to divine the source of maladies from ...

Living With Cancer: The Good Patient Syndrome - NYTimes.com

6:13 AM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; color: black; text-align: left; "><div id="well" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; 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 align="left"><div class="entry-content"><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">I remember when being good seemed strategic.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">After the technician took out a pad to draw an inscrutable diagram, I nodded and pretended to recognize a squiggle at the center of what looked like a snail. I discussed my oncologist's research projects, instead of complaining about pain. Generally I answered a nurse's opening query -- "So how are you?"-- with a cheery "Good! How are you?" Grumbles about waiting interminably for a scan in a freezing room never rolled off my tongue. When an interventional radiologist managed to remove two stents from my body, I didn't fault the surgeon who left them there to trigger a massive infection followed by an allergic response to antibiotics: I sent a thank you note to the radiologist.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">What was wrong with me? Outside the medical sphere, I am prone to impatience, candor and bouts of argumentative fervor. Had feminine socialization kicked in? As a girl, I was trained to be courteous to people in positions of authority and to revere the saving knowledge of physicians. But men also exhibit symptoms of the good patient syndrome.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Indeed, Anatole Broyard preached its virtues in his book "Intoxicated by My Illness," although his version was less compliant, more ironic than mine. "If a patient expects a doctor to be interested in him, he ought to try to be interesting. When he shows nothing but a greediness for care, nothing but the coarser forms of anxiety, it's only natural for the doctor to feel an aversion." Following this logic, Broyard embarked upon an impersonation: "I never act sick. A puling person is not appealing." He therefore set out to charm his physicians -- to distinguish himself from boring, easily forgotten patients. I did this too, adding a pinch of obedience, a dash of gratitude, and a smidgen of eccentricity to the mix. One doesn't want to be just any old patient; patients are replaceable.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Since illness had never intoxicated me, why was I behaving like Broyard? The short answer is terror: these people could hurt me.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Were I to seem boring or easily forgotten, should I appear crabby or disagreeable, I might get neglected or, in my anxious imagination, harmed. Not consciously neglected or intentionally harmed, of course, because doctors and nurses have dedicated themselves to helping people whose sickness often makes them boring and disagreeable. But neglected or harmed nonetheless. Like most patients, I am keenly aware that the medical staff at most facilities are overloaded. It is easy to get left for hours unattended on a gurney or starved and freaked when surgeries are perpetually postponed or distressed and bruised when the bindings on limbs are roughly or hastily applied.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">But of course adopting the role of model patient does not provide a solution. Much of the caretaking in hospitals remains out of the control of our personal physicians and nurses. And in any case, too much ingratiating docility can be dangerous to a patient's health.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">If I had persisted in asking my surgeon about the fate of the stents that he had implanted in my body, he might have remembered to remove them. If I had not followed to the letter the dosage he prescribed of a heavy-duty antibiotic, especially as I began to get sick to my stomach and dizzy, I might not have had the full-body breakdown of an allergic reaction. Earlier still, if I had insisted on better bowel preps before my first abdominal surgery, or a postponement, maybe the stents and infection and the allergic reaction to antibiotics would never have happened.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Even before that, if I had challenged my general practitioner who diagnosed indigestion, maybe my cancer would have been found at an earlier stage. If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be an omnibus: that's a family joke.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">So much for the magical thinking that good patients receive the best care. Being a submissive or dutiful patient doesn't always pay off. Who exactly was I being good for? Sometimes it's good to be bad.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Was I good for nothing? When I was at my most puling and unappealing and too sick to be good, with pain so overwhelming that I had to be taken to my oncologist's examining room in a wheelchair, she placed her hand on my knee and kept it there while explaining how she would take care of me. Though I could not look her in the eye, though I could not speak for groaning, I took her point. I had foisted the good patient role on myself. She had always seen through the pose to the mortally sick human being. Why else would I be here, I realized.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">At that moment I resolved to renounce or rectify my goodness. I don't always succeed.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; "><em>Susan Gubar is a distinguished emerita professor of English at Indiana University and the author of "<a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/978-0-393-07325-6/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">Memoir of a Debulked Woman</a>," which explores her experience with ovarian cancer.</em></div></div></div></div></div><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/living-with-cancer-the-good-patient-syndrome/?pagewanted=print">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/living-with-cancer-the-good-patient-syndrome/?pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Living With Cancer: The Good Patient Syndrome - NYTimes.com

I remember when being good seemed strategic. After the technician took out a pad to draw an inscrutable diagram, I nodded and pretended to r...

America's Housing Patterns

6:00 AM Tukiyooo 0

America's Housing Patterns

My latest Ideabook at Houzz zooms over the United States, looking at the various patterns created by houses, particularly in the suburbs. Be...

your space or mine

2:30 AM Anonymous 0

<br /><div class="p1">As I mentioned on my <span class="s1"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2013/01/2013-goals.html" target="_blank">2013 goal list</a>,</span> redoing the girls’ room is on the agenda this year. So naturally Pinterest and I have kid rooms on the brain.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Amelia (5) and I have had many talks about not decorating around ‘phases’. That although you may be really into Dora right now, you don’t want to decorate your entire room around Dora because when that phase passes, you’ll have a lot of changing to do. Not only a good lesson and true, but also gets me out of saying “hell no, I’m not doing a whole room around Dora”. Sorry Nick Jr.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><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/AVvXsEiA0z-dRJZELcmG97cGa-onU4vwGEdjskCo1t3yeekutrzy5QbknJxWM7istw1bMHJhTcxne7gltHvXNae8CDlWfIgQ-leJhb2SjdVEKywkVOWWJyzK50LMb36IENHToKvVvSXBxaPl-DVE/s1600/kids-bedroom.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0z-dRJZELcmG97cGa-onU4vwGEdjskCo1t3yeekutrzy5QbknJxWM7istw1bMHJhTcxne7gltHvXNae8CDlWfIgQ-leJhb2SjdVEKywkVOWWJyzK50LMb36IENHToKvVvSXBxaPl-DVE/s640/kids-bedroom.jpeg" width="482" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sarahrichardsondesign.com/portfolio/project/west-coast-classic/kids-bedroom" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><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/AVvXsEiqQP3j6zO1H9MVDIM_Dw0YO7e9UKdtqIF4XwEO7TAW0G8Tebwg4Y4Ubr-u_OAvyxRHfClJKTsmB7JaVy0k6huzYrfeY-aZXSjN8hvLuk7silyK-vbImZ017Le6gCLtGdrwY10nnBwA2CYd/s1600/small-spaces-shared-childrens-spaces.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQP3j6zO1H9MVDIM_Dw0YO7e9UKdtqIF4XwEO7TAW0G8Tebwg4Y4Ubr-u_OAvyxRHfClJKTsmB7JaVy0k6huzYrfeY-aZXSjN8hvLuk7silyK-vbImZ017Le6gCLtGdrwY10nnBwA2CYd/s640/small-spaces-shared-childrens-spaces.jpeg" width="604" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thehandmadehome.net/2012/02/small-spaces-shared-childrens-spaces/" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="p1">Whenever you hear designers talk about rooms for children they always talk about not getting too ‘themey’. Design a room that will, let’s say it all together now, <i>grow with your child</i>. And while I completely agree with that I worry that sometimes it can give crazy moms like me a free ticket out of including the kids' in the room at all. </div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1">Of course my idea of a wonderful room is light years away from what the girls would pick. I'm loving a big layered bed with lots of pattern and Amelia wants Tinkerbell sheets. I'd love some really colorful abstract art on the wall and Eve wants pictures of Hello Kitty. And a light up Barbie is not my idea of killer lighting.</div><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/AVvXsEiUN8rUtZjFtj9JslvgCq_g-9yPUJq75NsJ69Fc1RRIJrILW5g_A1wEaWT5D69_U_3-fa16bZMEa4pN7lzQk-86oGjodA2JUuULeEl3-nYMp-l5n76pI1Hkr6mJrsqbpGEWXD5mlO4SfvJF/s1600/4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUN8rUtZjFtj9JslvgCq_g-9yPUJq75NsJ69Fc1RRIJrILW5g_A1wEaWT5D69_U_3-fa16bZMEa4pN7lzQk-86oGjodA2JUuULeEl3-nYMp-l5n76pI1Hkr6mJrsqbpGEWXD5mlO4SfvJF/s640/4.jpeg" width="466" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://houseandhome.com/design/photo-gallery-international-homes?page=43" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><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/AVvXsEj_Qbdz3K6ff66tK4MhgRa3wacaASGIbxwCWSI9fYKrzGQ_qt8-zRrfpZt62WJ6PImbxB62TGF4Moap6mSNqemiX1_mgr9CPcDXkazuqnxFmf3bN1F0e3vgR4eRWwaULy-4t7mYtR3jolAz/s1600/bunk+beds.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Qbdz3K6ff66tK4MhgRa3wacaASGIbxwCWSI9fYKrzGQ_qt8-zRrfpZt62WJ6PImbxB62TGF4Moap6mSNqemiX1_mgr9CPcDXkazuqnxFmf3bN1F0e3vgR4eRWwaULy-4t7mYtR3jolAz/s640/bunk+beds.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/6896205649484352/" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="p1">But I do want the girls' to feel like it is indeed their room. I want them to want to be in there. I want them to feel comfortable with and proud of their space, just as I would want for any adult that I work with. So I might have to bend in some areas and pick my battles. Which is true in every aspect of parenting, isn't it? And after all, we adults go through phases as well. We just call them trends. </div><div class="p1"><br /></div><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/AVvXsEj_AIIjySiOWWKCBz9aN1rMoQSUhT7nc7s64hMkAq38Ew45ElTHMUAP7hEu8kRQBNvh8PoYPg-mV1FAdTuRT4v49D9KBk1_NTlRyIEyISNizwzwjl1mucCyk5DXFvRhAocP-1bax352qRGY/s1600/Trenna-Design-682x10232.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AIIjySiOWWKCBz9aN1rMoQSUhT7nc7s64hMkAq38Ew45ElTHMUAP7hEu8kRQBNvh8PoYPg-mV1FAdTuRT4v49D9KBk1_NTlRyIEyISNizwzwjl1mucCyk5DXFvRhAocP-1bax352qRGY/s640/Trenna-Design-682x10232.jpeg" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/trennatravis" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><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/AVvXsEjf1JmvrHsfijEFH0NVPuMjpdQm36YG3m10cv1zfoYmfthyphenhypheng0ZwctuhRv11GTZ3hcMsouXQaQUoMoju7i3nuc-HCr2FwnWtircpriazJ8tT6mWcMFWz35CRdjJNHKY204APZvBW3DwHQx8d/s1600/photo-gallery-international-homes.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf1JmvrHsfijEFH0NVPuMjpdQm36YG3m10cv1zfoYmfthyphenhypheng0ZwctuhRv11GTZ3hcMsouXQaQUoMoju7i3nuc-HCr2FwnWtircpriazJ8tT6mWcMFWz35CRdjJNHKY204APZvBW3DwHQx8d/s640/photo-gallery-international-homes.jpeg" width="510" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://houseandhome.com/design/photo-gallery-international-homes?page=43" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><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/AVvXsEiWjz1TNR-7NeYYZH8bFZO3VA_yAPPwa2S4hUCjitJcv1nSzHASnr0yry9znnPNo-s3QhyihJ_wpqmLPt_CQ6Qpe9bHgoFDLufHgJw645QwcsAZk2QyLBYSwSmy045imJn3TngLDPTXFP86/s1600/zebra-rug-for-sale.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWjz1TNR-7NeYYZH8bFZO3VA_yAPPwa2S4hUCjitJcv1nSzHASnr0yry9znnPNo-s3QhyihJ_wpqmLPt_CQ6Qpe9bHgoFDLufHgJw645QwcsAZk2QyLBYSwSmy045imJn3TngLDPTXFP86/s640/zebra-rug-for-sale.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.chiccheapnursery.com/2012/design-advice/design-inspirations-pinterest-monday-13012/" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="p1">Do you think it's possible to achieve a room that is well designed but also represents the kid(s) who lives there? Do you go with ‘last until they’re a teenager’ school of thought? Or are you more of a ‘we’ll refresh it in a few years’ person?  </div>

your space or mine

As I mentioned on my 2013 goal list , redoing the girls’ room is on the agenda this year. So naturally Pinterest and I have kid rooms on th...

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 01/25/2013

1:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<ul class="diigo-linkroll">      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://mac.tutsplus.com/tutorials/productivity/taming-the-elephant-awesome-evernote-tips-and-tricks/">Taming the Elephant: Awesome Evernote Tips and Tricks | Mactuts+</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">This post has some excellent tutorials on advanced features in evernote. I use saved searches all of the time in evernote. Some great tips here if you use evernote.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/productivity">productivity</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/evernote">evernote</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.ghanamma.com/archive/2012/12/europe-opens-its-online-education-to-the-world/">Europe opens its online education to the world | Ghanamma.com</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">Colleges and universities are entering an era of global competition with k12 schools not far behind. While I think it is likely that lower grade levels that require face to face contact will require more in person schools, it is likely that online elearning platforms, particularly for students who are disciplined and can learn in this format, will increase. Language learning, history, and more will be transformed as classrooms flatten and merge in ways we cannot begin to understand. Schools that take steps to globalize and understand this new world of education are positioning themselves long term. With some districts spending more than 10,000 per student and running out of money, it could be understandable that buying a computer and internet access and paying an organization (one even out of country) would make sense -- if they only look at it from a cost perspective. This is, of course, not understanding the economic impact of having local schools and local teachers. There are more reasons than ever to support your local school, but also, for parents and school board members to insist that schools aren't just bricks but are clicks - how are they connecting online? How are they connecting with the world? The walled garden may not only be a mistake for kids, it may be a death sentence for schools unprepared for the global tidal wave of education that is rapidly moving online.  No one knows what this is going to look like, only that online education is changing.   "A new portal has been launched make the quickly growing European study options even more accessible for learners around the world: www.DistanceLearningPortal.eu. Funded by the European Union and developed by the European study choice platform Studyportals and EADTU, this central information source will support orienting learners worldwide to study abroad from home. On 27 September 2012 the portal was officially launched by Commissioner Vasiliou</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/highered">highered</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/23/3907672/forty-public-universities-will-offer-free-online-courses">Forty public universities will offer free online courses with full credit starting this spring | The Verge</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">Forty public universities, including Arizona State, Cleveland State, and the University of Arkansas, are planning to offer free online courses that carry full credit in an effort to entice potential students to sign up for a full degree program. The new initiative, know as MOOC2Degree (MOOC stands for massive open online course), is being run in a partnership between the universities and Academic Partnerships, a commercial company that helps universities move their courses online. As part of this initiative, Academic Partnerships will work with the universities to recruit for these courses and will receive a cut of any tuition from students who sign on for further study.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/highered">highered</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/edreform">edreform</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/mooc">mooc</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2013/01/24/macmillan-to-launch-library-ebook-pilot-this-spring/">Macmillan to Launch Library eBook Pilot This Spring</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">"Macmillan will begin their first ebook library lending program by the end of the Q1 2013. They plan to initially test the idea with 1,200 backlist titles from their Minotaur Books imprint. The ebooks will be available via Axis 360, OverDrive, and 3M Cloud Library. Once purchased by a library, the titles can be lent for either 2 years or 52 lends, whichever comes first. All of the books in the program will have the same digital list price."</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/library">library</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ebook">ebook</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/2013/01/23/bill-rights-and-principles-learning-digital-age-full-document-plus-b">Bill of Rights and Principles for Learning in a Digital Age: Full Document plus Back Story | HASTAC</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">HASTAC has this draft up for comment on their website.  HASTAC has the draft up on their website for comment.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/digiteen">digiteen</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/digital literacy">digital literacy</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=59867">Boundless, the free alternative to textbooks, releases its content under Creative Commons</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">New textbooks from Boundless are being released under the same license as Wikipedia. Read more on Stephen Downes website, but realize that textbooks -- free textbooks- are going to be proliferating and some may end up meeting needs quite nicely. Textbook companies are going to have to sell more than words on a page, but experiences, projects, connections, and apps to be worth the price and even then, educators will be able to cobble together their own in ways that may become very powerful. We talk about the evolution of the textbook some in Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/textbooks">textbooks</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/using-qr-codes-in-classroom-monica-burns">Five Reasons I Love Using QR Codes in My Classroom | Edutopia</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">QR codes are very convenient and this article from Edutopia does a nice job of outlining some of the benefits of using QR codes in the classroom. If you get into this, I have a blog post on my blog called "QR Code Classroom Guide" to help you get started.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/qrcodes">qrcodes</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://hastac.org/blogs/petradt/2013/01/23/married-mooc-part-1">Married to the MOOC (Part 1) | HASTAC</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">Sebastian Thrun's wife, Petra Dierkes-Thrun writes an article on HASTAC about what it is like being "married to the MOOC" including glimpses into how they filmed lectures in their basements. This MOOC made news when, after a New York Times article was written, over 160,000 people signed up for this MOOC about Artificial Intelligence run by two experts. It became the largest class taught up until that point with students from around the world.  I found this  a fascinating read about what happens when LEARNING -- yes, I said LEARNING goes viral. This is only the beginning - the first "viral course" of many to come. Wake up and be aware,  </p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/moocs">moocs</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/highered">highered</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/edreform">edreform</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/01/sweet-now-you-can-use-google-slides.html">Sweet! Now You Can Use Google Slides Offline</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">You can use Google Presentations offline now, a major reason many of us wouldn't consider using Google Presentations over Keynote or PowerPoint. It still doesn't have a lot of the flexibility of those two or even Prezi but for those heavily using Google Apps for Domains, it is a big plus. Hat tip to Richard Byrne at Free Tech for Teachers for this nice article.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/google">google</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/apps">apps</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/presentations">presentations</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/collaborative-writing-with-etherpad-lite-on-mac-os-x/45487">Collaborative Writing with Etherpad-Lite on Mac OS X</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">While Google docs is great, when we had our conference in Beijing, China, we used etherpad installed on some servers out of Hong Kong. The original collaborative writing tool, Etherpad is very powerful. This in depth article teaches you how to set up etherpad on your own server and some of the benefits of using the tool. If Google Docs is blocked for you, this is a great alternative, although it does require a bit of tweaking or a lack of fear and ability to follow directions. </p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/collaborative writing">collaborative writing</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/wiki_book">wiki_book</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/apps">apps</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/writing">writing</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://blog.acthompson.net/2013/01/csta-k-12-computer-science-standards.html">CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards correlated with the Common Core</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">We should teach Computer Science because it is important to our future, but if you really need justification, Alfred Thompson shares the new alignments of Computer Science topics with all kinds of standards including Common Core.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://holtthink.tumblr.com/post/41358234463">We suck on international education tests, but not for the reasons you think</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">Very interesting read about affluence gaps (less in the US) and how the US is really suffering on PISA international tests because to students are dropping,</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/testing">testing</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://m.cultofmac.com/cultofmac/#!/entry/drafts-new-automation-options-make-your-ipad-as-powerful-as,5101bb30d7fc7b5670030c0d/1">Cult of Mac</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">I've been reading up on the "Drafts" app because of the useful new features I've been reading about. This article at the cult of mac on Drafts' new automation options, is the best article I've read on drafts and some of the more advanced features. If you don't understand it, it is worth trying. I'm just barely understanding the incredible things I can do with it, but many are just starting to use it for writing just about anything. Cool.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/productivity">productivity</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ios">ios</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/apps">apps</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5978176/share-your-best-iftt-recipe">Share Your Best IFTTT Recipe</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">There's an interesting discussion going on over at lifehacker about the best ifttt "recipes." Ifttt is "if this then that" and is an automation program that does amazing, very cool things. I've integrated it with my wemo, for example, and have it turning off and on my lights in the den and logging when there is action or motion in the kitchen. This is one of those posts you'll want to look at the comments.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/productivity">productivity</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ifttt">ifttt</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/automation">automation</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5978590/drafts-updates-with-more-dropbox-actions-url-actions-and-workflow-automation">Drafts Updates with More Dropbox Actions, URL Actions, and Workflow Automation</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">Drafts is a handy app for those who who use a variety of tools like Evernote and dropbox. For example, you can jot a note and click a button to send it to Twitter, Dropbox, Evernote and more -- (like if you want to save copies of certain tweets, etc. since it is so hard to get things out of Twitter.) I'm not entirely clear on the workflow automation piece of Drafts after watching this video on lifehacker but am going to learn more about this handy app.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/productivity">productivity</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/iphone">iphone</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/automation.">automation.</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2013/01/faster-image-search.html">Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: A faster image search</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">Google image search is being redesigned. I hope that one of the big changes that the quote below means is that we'll have more transparency with copyright. So many times, when I ask a source, students say "Google Images." No. No. No. Google images isn't a source, it is a search engine. You must quote the original source!! Hopefully this will make it easier.  From Google Webmaster central... "We now display detailed information about the image (the metadata) right underneath the image in the search results, instead of redirecting users to a separate landing page. We’re featuring some key information much more prominently next to the image: the title of the page hosting the image, the domain name it comes from, and the image size."</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/google">google</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/images">images</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/copyright">copyright</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/literacy">literacy</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/citizenship">citizenship</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/teachers-parents-students.html?m=1">Teacher Tom: Teachers, Parents, Students</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">A school in seattle has parents, students, teachers refusing to administer the MAP test. Teacher Tom clearly shares why this is happening and why it is a good idea (the margin of error in the test is broad and it is being used to unfairly evaluate teachers.)  When tests are used to evaluate teachers, those tests should be accurate. Testing, also, should be the exception, not the rule, and overtesting is causing problems. At my school, while individual teachers have tests - everyone has just one standardized testing period a year - that is it. The students do very well and we move on. We have no pep rallies, we just let parents know to make sure their kids get rest and that's it.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/testing">testing</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/edreform">edreform</a></p>                                        </li>  </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='http://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 01/25/2013

Taming the Elephant: Awesome Evernote Tips and Tricks | Mactuts+ This post has some excellent tutori...

Wine Makes the Winter Go Quickly

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0nG2LoDOe3to55j-f06Y0gW8Bq9NsNHj0sbU-s3ToyV8MVtHD8i20pgtAu_rk-AXiQxh4jt6B2VOtl-BuRWsppozRL_rqbHzg_al6vJ56K0OHxeUA8-hyCrj8t9ikxgV1qXPmbi_4CXw/s1600/Matt-Man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0nG2LoDOe3to55j-f06Y0gW8Bq9NsNHj0sbU-s3ToyV8MVtHD8i20pgtAu_rk-AXiQxh4jt6B2VOtl-BuRWsppozRL_rqbHzg_al6vJ56K0OHxeUA8-hyCrj8t9ikxgV1qXPmbi_4CXw/s320/Matt-Man.jpg" width="265" /></a>Cheers and a cordial Friday to you all.  Matt-Man here.<br /><br />A Matt-Man who is feeling, shall we say, slightly moderated and oh, I don’t know, rustic, in the sense of sharp cheese, crusty bread, washed back with a good wine kind of way.<br /><br />Yes indeed, my friends.  I do get to feeling this way at this time of year…The time of year when the January winds blow cold and raw, ushering in nothing but snow…and ice…and of course, the gray, low hanging skies of despair.<br /><br />This is the time of year when the light of the sun is turned way down low, and the howling winds along with the banshee cries of crows foraging for parking lot French Fries thrown asunder by Wal*Mart shoppers, de-harmonize into a cacophony of every awful 70’s porn sound track ever made.<br /><br />And as the low winter sky dims, and the discordant symphony echoes through every forest, glen, and valley, Mother Nature and Old Man Winter get their groove on above us.<br /><br />As their sick and surreal bodies writhe in pleasure during their frigid and frozen lovemaking, we, against our collective will, become the recipients and caretakers of their offspring.<br /><br />The winter twins known as, <i>Heartache</i> and <i>Sorrow</i>.<br /><br />But my friends, do not allow your timbers to be shivered, for there is hope.  There is a panacea that helps to preempt the evil duo’s procreation and prevent the prodigy of the pernicious winter pair from visiting your parlor.<br /><br />I discovered it years ago during the, <i>I Lost My Big Toe Due to Hypothermia Winter of Aught Three</i>. It is called…<b>Wine</b>.<br /><br />I know.  I know.  Matt-Man is a big beer drinker you say in disbelief, but c’mon, as you know, I also enjoy my share of Wild Irish Rose.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhzRIXLql8X34Pc7Oru5EOhmzXGAGYqtBAGK98IBXct4U5WSU8AZ1V5tUa6NpmoK625JgeCzo7csPrs5sbBvfpywnK0hLS7UleFUYvBrgWHL28pRq8fwBrmpmOhUT2fC5p9bk838nU9Ao/s1600/FLOWERFACE.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/AVvXsEhhzRIXLql8X34Pc7Oru5EOhmzXGAGYqtBAGK98IBXct4U5WSU8AZ1V5tUa6NpmoK625JgeCzo7csPrs5sbBvfpywnK0hLS7UleFUYvBrgWHL28pRq8fwBrmpmOhUT2fC5p9bk838nU9Ao/s400/FLOWERFACE.JPG" width="250" /></a>I know. I know. You reply once more, <i>“But that’s not really wine. That’s a death sentence.”</i>  Please…it is more than wine; it’s a life giving force.  However…<br /><br />If you’re not into the, in your face force of Wild Irish Rose, you can always drink a wine called <i>Flowerface</i> in order to get you through the doldrums of winter.<br /><br />I have tried it and I love it; although for me, it does have one drawback…It has an actual cork.  As more of connoisseur of twist off wines, I was at first hesitant, but…<br /><br />I fear the cork no longer, and will drink it again and again especially in the winter, and why is that, you ask?<br /><br />In addition to the well-noticed, but not overpowering taste, it is perhaps the most aromatic wine I have ever had.  The aroma is prefect for winter drinking, because once you open the bottle, it smells like spring.<br /><br />When I opened a bottle of <i><a href="http://www.mcmimports.com/home/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Flowerface</span></a></i> the other night and the aroma embraced my nose, I was envisioning dancing naked ‘neath a warm and life-giving vernal rain shower, as flowers budded and burgeoned around me, and my neighbor screamed, <i>“Why are you dancing naked in my garden?  I’m calling the police!!”</i><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">And while the dancing naked in a neighbor’s garden may be a bit of poetic license on my part, the smell of the <i><a href="http://www.mcmimports.com/home/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Flowerface</span></a></i> wine that I experienced, is not.  It is very good.</div><br />So there you have it.  Matt-Man being helpful as always, and helping you to get through the doldrums of winter with my ultimate word of advice…<br /><br />Drink more wine, and if you’d like to drink a bottle of what Spring feels like, contact<i> <a href="http://www.mcmimports.com/home/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">MCM Imports</span></a></i> and they can hook you up on where to get some <i>Flowerface</i>, and their other fine wines.<br /><br />Of course, as I am also true to my love of the Bagwine that is Wild Irish Rose…Here’s an old video of Jayman, for the first time, drinking a bottle of WIR that I had sent him:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>                           <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BTLsd4gyAJI" width="420"></iframe><br /><i>Cheers!!</i><br /><br /><i>Matt-Man</i><br /><br /><i><a href="mailto:mattmaniws@ymail.com">mattmaniws@ymail.com</a></i><br /><i><span style="color: blue;">@MattMan_IWS</span></i></div>

Wine Makes the Winter Go Quickly

Cheers and a cordial Friday to you all. Matt-Man here. A Matt-Man who is feeling, shall we say, slightly moderated and oh, I don’t know, ru...

North Korea Vows More Nuclear Tests Targeting U.S.

8:05 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><iframe height="360" id="kaltura_player_1359086231" src="http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/index.php/kwidget/wid/1_5srm5x5j/uiconf_id/3775332/st_cache/61378?referer=http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/north-korea-threatens-nuclear-tests-warns-us-18307880&autoPlay=false&addThis.playerSize=392x221&freeWheel.siteSectionId=nws_offsite&closedCaptionActive=true&addThis.playerSize=640x360&closedCaptionsOverPlayer.fontsize=18" style="border: 0px solid #ffffff;" width="640">Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.</iframe> <div style="font-size: x-small; margin-top: 0; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">North Korea Threatens More Nuclear Tests, Warns U.S.</span><br /><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span><br /><div id="date_partner" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; height: 32px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 150px; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 490px;"></div><div class="byline_date" style="float: left; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 490px;"><div class="byline_date_inner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 485px;"><div class="byline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">By <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/author/gloria_riviera" rel="author" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">GLORIA RIVIERA</a> (<a href="http://twitter.com/griviera" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">@griviera</a>)</div><div class="date" style="margin: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 0px;">BEIJING Jan. 24, 2013</div></div></div><br /><div id="sponsoredByAd" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; left: 430px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-align: right; top: 405px;"><span id="sponsoredbylogo1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span id="_fw_container_sponsoredbylogo1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">In a bellicose statement singling out the United States as the "sworn enemy" of the Korean people, North Korea today announced plans for a third nuclear test and continued <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/north-korea-vows-launch-rocket-december/story?id=17856874" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">rocket launches</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">The move is seen as a disappointment to those who hoped the country's new leader, <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/kim-jong-attempts-rebrand-north-korea/story?id=16662917" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Kim Jong-Un</a>, might take a less aggressive path than his predecessor and father, Kim Jong-il.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">It is also seen as a <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/north-korean-missile-hits-target-alarming-world/story?id=17941463" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">direct challenge to President Obama</a> and South Korea's newly elected president, Park Geun-hye, who takes office next month.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">The statement from North Korea's National Defense Commission read:</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">"Settling accounts with the U.S. needs to be done with force, not with words as it regards jungle law as the rule of its survival."</div><div class="rel_container g_4" id="rel_image_feature" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 20px 50px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 200px;"><div class="rel_content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="rel_thumb" style="line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" name="lpos=widget[Left_Rail_Image]&lid=view[Image]" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="PHOTO: A screen at the General Satellite Control and Command Center shows the moment North Korea's Unha-3 rocket is launched in Pyongyang, North Korea,  Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012." border="0" height="112" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/ap_north_korea_missile_launch_jt_121212_wg.jpg" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.5px; padding: 0px;" title="" width="199" /><span class="image_icon" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://a.abcnews.com/assets/images/icons/image_icon_35x35.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 35px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 5px; top: 73px; width: 35px;"></span></a></div><div class="rel_headline" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="photo_credit" style="color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right;">AP Photo</div><div class="photo_caption" style="margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">A screen at the General Satellite Control and... <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" name="lpos=widget[Left_Rail_Image]&lid=view[Image]" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">View Full Size</a></div></div></div></div><div class="rel_container g_4" id="rel_1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 20px 50px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 200px;"><div class="rel_content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="rel_thumb" style="line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" name="lpos=widget[Left_Rail_Video_1]&lid=view[Video]" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/GMA/gma_nk_nukes_130124_wl.jpg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="200" /><span class="image_icon" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://a.abcnews.com/assets/images/icons/play_icon_35x35.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 35px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 5px; top: 73px; width: 35px;"></span></a></div><div class="rel_headline" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">North Korea Targets U.S. With Nuclear Test Talk <a class="open" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Watch Video</a></div></div></div><div class="rel_container g_4" id="rel_2" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 20px 50px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 200px;"><div class="rel_content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="rel_thumb" style="line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" name="lpos=widget[Left_Rail_Video_2]&lid=view[Video]" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/GMA/abc_gma_raddatz5_121212_wl.jpg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="200" /><span class="image_icon" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://a.abcnews.com/assets/images/icons/play_icon_35x35.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 35px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 5px; top: 73px; width: 35px;"></span></a></div><div class="rel_headline" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">North Korea Launches Missile After 4 Failed Attempts <a class="open" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Watch Video</a></div></div></div><div class="rel_container g_4" id="rel_3" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 20px 50px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 200px;"><div class="rel_content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="rel_thumb" style="line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" name="lpos=widget[Left_Rail_Video_3]&lid=view[Video]" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/WNT/abc_wn_korea_121211_wl.jpg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="200" /><span class="image_icon" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://a.abcnews.com/assets/images/icons/play_icon_35x35.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 35px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 5px; top: 73px; width: 35px;"></span></a></div><div class="rel_headline" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">North Korea Fires Long-Range Missile <a class="open" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Watch Video</a></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">The renewed threats come in response to the U.S. backed resolution tightening sanctions against North Korea after its December rocket launch.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">At that time, North Korea repeatedly insisted that the launch was simply part of its peaceful space program. The recent statement made no mention of that.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">It read: "We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">South Korean officials analyzed debris from the December launch that, they say, indicates North Korea built and tested crucial components for a missile that can fly further than 6,200 miles.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Analysts say that preparations at the Pungyee test site in northeastern North Korea are underway and that a new underground test could take place on short notice.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Within the international monitoring community it is not believed that North Korea currently has the capability to launch a long-range rocket with the capacity to reach the United States or the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile. But the U.S. is not pleased with North Korea's plans. Glyn Davies, the top U.S. envoy to the region, said in Seoul, "We hope they don't do it. We call on them not to do it."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">China, North Korea's main ally in the region, is also urging restraint. China backed the U.S. resolution at the United Nations and today the Foreign Ministry cautioned North Korea not to take further steps to increase tension.</div></div></div>

North Korea North Korea Vows More Nuclear Tests Targeting U.S.

Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames. North Korea Threatens More Nuclear Tests, Warns U.S. By GLORIA RIVIERA ( @griviera )...

Vicco, Smallest Town In Kentucky, Passes LGBT Non-Discrimination Law

7:55 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Huffington Post</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">  |  By </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/curtis-wong" rel="author" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #999999; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Glennisha Morgan</a> From: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/">http://www.huffingtonpost.com</a><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Posted: </span><span itemprop="datePublished" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">01/24/2013 2:51 pm EST</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">  |  Updated: </span><span itemprop="dateModified" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">01/24/2013 3:18 pm EST</span><br /><span itemprop="dateModified" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="Gay Discrimination Law" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/957389/thumbs/r-GAY-DISCRIMINATION-LAW-large570.jpg?6" /></span><br /><span itemprop="dateModified" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span><span itemprop="dateModified" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span><br /><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">On the heels of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/kentucky-equality-federation-civil-rights-act-lgbt_n_2533928.html" style="border: none; color: #ed4a4b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">a statewide push for Kentucky </a>to its protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens, one of the smallest towns in the commonwealth has just approved a new nondiscrimination law which does exactly that.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">A week ago, the <a href="http://www.fairnesscoalition.org/" style="border: none; color: #ed4a4b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Fairness Coalition</a> joined Vicco, Ky. -- home to some 334 residents in total -- as they passed the commonwealth’s first LGBT fair treatment ordinance in a decade, <a href="http://www.lex18.com/news/vicco-kentucky-approves-lgbt-fairness-law" style="border: none; color: #ed4a4b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">reports Lex 18</a>. Vicco is now <a href="http://blogs.courier-journal.com/faith/2013/01/15/vicco-kentucky-called-smallest-town-in-america-with-gay-rights-protections/" style="border: none; color: #ed4a4b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">being touted by a number of media outlets</a> as the smallest town in America to adopt an anti-discrimination law based on sexual orientation and gender identity.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">The law prevents discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based upon a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. <a href="http://www.advocate.com/society/law/2013/01/15/vicco-ky-smallest-us-city-lgbt-rights-law" style="border: none; color: #ed4a4b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">The Advocate reports</a> that Mayor Johnny Cummings supported the fair shake along with three out of the four members of the Appalachian’s commission.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">Vicco became the fourth city in Kentucky to pass the equality bearing law. In 1999, Lexington and Louisville both approved such laws, followed by Covington in 2003,<a href="http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/01/vicco-ky-becomes-smallest-u-s-town-to-adopt-lgbt-fairness-law/" style="border: none; color: #ed4a4b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">LGBTQ Nation reported</a>.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">“Vicco is a community that believes all folks should be treated fairly,“ attorney Eric Ashley said in a Fairness Coalition press release sent to HuffPost Gay Voices. “We believe everyone deserves the opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Fairness is a Kentucky value, a Vicco value, and one of our most American values.”</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">Last October, the acquittal of the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/23/hate-crime-harlan-county_n_1534421.html" style="border: none; color: #ed4a4b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">first-ever federal prosecution of a hate crime</a>, which took place in Harlan County, Ky., left many baffled. Four cousins were accused of attacking Kevin Pennington, a 28-year-old gay man, because of his sexual orientation and possibly because of their own self-hatred.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">Though the case had been nationally touted as the first to be prosecuted under the<a href="http://www.hrc.org/laws-and-legislation/federal-laws/matthew-shepard-and-james-byrd-jr.-hate-crimes-prevention-act" style="border: none; color: #ed4a4b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act</a> (signed by President Barack Obama in 2009), it was eventually deemed a drug deal gone wrong. While the men were convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy charges, the jury<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/26/gay-hate-crime-acquittal-kentucky_n_2024569.html" style="border: none; color: #ed4a4b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">ultimately rejected</a> the theory that hatred had motivated their crimes.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">Perhaps the sentiments of Vicco’s new law will echo in the minds of Kentucky lawmakers while the KEF continues to run <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/commonwealth-of-kentucky-2013-add-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-kentucky-civil-rights-2?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=url_share&utm_campaign=url_share_before_sign" style="border: none; color: #ed4a4b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">its petition</a> to alter the commonwealth’s Civil Rights Act of 1966, amending it to include protection for all LGBT Kentucky residents.</div></div>

LGBT Vicco, Smallest Town In Kentucky, Passes LGBT Non-Discrimination Law

The Huffington Post | By Glennisha Morgan From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com Posted: 01/24/2013 2:51 pm EST | Updated: 01/24/201...

Giovanna Plowman Tampon Video: Could This Be Real?!?

7:52 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 class="title-news" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 36px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">Giovanna Plowman, 'Tampon Girl', Apparently Puts Bloody Hygiene Product In Mouth (GRAPHIC VIDEO)</h1><div>From: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/">http://www.huffingtonpost.com</a></div><div><img alt="Giovanna Plowman Tampon Girl" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/957140/thumbs/r-GIOVANNA-PLOWMAN-TAMPON-GIRL-large570.jpg?6" /><br /><br /><br /></div><div><div style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">The person to thank for this happening is the lovely and talented <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/giovanna-plowman-tampon-girl#fn9" style="border: none; color: #ed7d00; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Giovanna Plowman</a>who posted a <strong style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">GRAPHIC</strong> video (shown below) to her now <a href="https://www.facebook.com/giovanna.plowman?fref=ts" style="border: none; color: #ed7d00; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">deleted Facebook page</a> in which she appears to put a <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/giovanna-plowman-tampon-girl#fn9" style="border: none; color: #ed7d00; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">bloody tampon in her mouth</a> and suck on it, several times.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">There is, as <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/giovanna-plowman-tampon-girl#fn9" style="border: none; color: #ed7d00; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">KnowYourMeme.com points out,</a> lots of speculation amongst commenters as to the video's authenticity. Some suspect the tampon was dipped in tomato sauce or some other red liquid.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">But even with the prospect of the video's fraudulence in mind, it's hard not to cringe when you see Plowman swallow the feminine hygiene product.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">The Buffalo, N.Y. teen has received a lot of blowback for posting the video from Twitter users and commenters who accuse her of doing anything for 15 minutes of fame, <a href="http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/14792/20130124/giovanna-plowman-tampon-video-watch-nsfw-tosh.htm" style="border: none; color: #ed7d00; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">according to the International Digital Times.</a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">You can see the <strong style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">GRAPHIC</strong> video below:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div></div></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=aac17eec7ef9" width="640"></iframe> <br /></div>

Giovanna Plowman, 'Tampon Girl', Apparently Puts Bloody Hygiene Product In Mouth (GRAPHIC VIDEO) From: http://www.huffingtonpost.co...

Reports: JJ Abrams to Direct Next 'Star Wars'

7:23 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div id="date_partner" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; height: 18px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 150px; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 490px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">LOS ANGELES January 25, 2013 (AP) Fom: </span><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/" style="background-color: transparent;">http://abcnews.go.com</a></div><br /><div id="sponsoredByAd" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; left: 430px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-align: right; top: 30px;"><span id="sponsoredbylogo1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span id="_fw_container_sponsoredbylogo1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Another universe of sci-fi fans has been put in the hands of J.J. Abrams.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">According to multiple trade reports, Abrams, 46, is set to direct the next installment of "Star Wars," which Disney has said will be "Episode 7" and due out in 2015. Disney bought "Star Wars" maker Lucasfilm last month for $4.06 billion.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">The Emmy-award-winning director of the TV show "Lost" also captained the reboot of "Star Trek" for rival studio Paramount Pictures, with the next installment in that series, "Star Trek: Into Darkness," set to hit theaters May 17.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Citing unnamed sources, the news was reported earlier by Hollywood trade outlets The Wrap, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Messages left by The Associated Press for Abrams' representatives as well as Disney and Lucasfilm were not immediately returned.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Soon after the news broke Thursday afternoon, websites were flush with chatter. On Twitter, "J.J. Abrams," ''Star Wars" and "(hash)Star Trek" were all trending topics.</div><div class="rel_container g_4" id="rel_image" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 20px 50px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 200px;"><div class="rel_content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="rel_thumb" style="line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><img alt="Star Wars JJ Abrams.JPEG" border="0" src="http://a.abcnews.com//images/Entertainment/a6acf9940ac440fb824f411fef1096c2_mn.jpg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="200" /></div><div class="rel_headline" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="photo_credit" style="color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right;">AP</div><div class="photo_caption" style="margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><div id="cap_short" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2013 file photo, J.J.... </div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Roberto Orci, a producer and writer who has worked with Abrams on "Star Trek," ''Star Trek: Into Darkness," and "Mission: Impossible III," appeared to confirm the reports on Twitter. In response to a question about Abrams' involvement, Orci tweeted back "True!" He also responded to a Spanish-speaking questioner, "Creo que si!" ("I think so.")</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Despite denying his interest in directing the next "Star Wars" following The Walt Disney Co.'s October announcement, many people pegged Abrams as the most obvious choice.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Abrams spoke about the plot of the original "Star Wars" in the lecture series "TED Talks" in March 2007, and reportedly became enamored of "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof partly because Lindelof was wearing a "Star Wars" T-shirt when they first met.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">In 2009, Abrams told the Los Angeles Times: "As a kid, 'Star Wars' was much more my thing than 'Star Trek' was."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Abrams also worked with Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic special effects division for "Mission: Impossible III."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">He is the second big name associated with the new "Star Wars" films to be launched under the Disney umbrella. Late last year, Lucasfilm confirmed that Michael Arndt, who wrote "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Toy Story 3" would pen the screenplay for "Episode 7."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Adam Frazier, a staff writer for the entertainment website GeeksofDoom.com, said Abrams should be able to make the next "Star Wars" original but at the same time appease longtime fans.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">"He took the 'Star Trek' franchise, which was just drowning in misery, and he was able to bring that back to life," Frazier said. "If there's anyone that can do it with 'Star Wars' I think it's him."</div></div>

JJ Abrams Star Wars Reports: JJ Abrams to Direct Next 'Star Wars'

LOS ANGELES January 25, 2013 (AP) Fom: http://abcnews.go.com Another universe of sci-fi fans has been put in the hands of J.J. Abrams. Acco...

New Orleans Pelicans -- new nickname lacks the sting of Hornets

7:22 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="The Pelicans" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-5101ce27/turbine/la-sp-sn-new-orleans-pelicans-nickname-2013012-001/600" /><br /><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">The logo of the New Orleans Pelicans, who will come into existence next NBA season. </span><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">(<span class="photographer">Hornets.com</span>)</span><br /><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="toolSet" style="background-color: white; display: inline-block; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-right: -50px; margin-top: 6px; width: 335px;"></span></span><br /><div class="byline" style="color: #292727; float: left; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><span class="byline" style="display: block;">By Dan Loumena From: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/">http://www.latimes.com</a></span><div class="date" style="color: #930000; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; margin-top: 3px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dateString" style="display: inline;">January 24, 2013</span><span class="dateTimeSeparator" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: white; display: inline; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: -1px; margin-left: 6px;">, </span><span class="timeString" style="display: inline; text-transform: lowercase;">4:44 p.m.</span></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><div id="story-body-text" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.43; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">The New Orleans Pelicans will come into existence next <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/basketball/national-basketball-association-15008001.topic" id="15008001" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="National Basketball Association">NBA</a> season when the Hornets nickname is retired.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">The franchise decided to go with something more Louisiana, and since the pelican is the state bird, it appears on the flag and the state's nickname is "the Pelican State," it seems appropriate.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">But it does lack some credibility. Pelicans are not your typical bird, and they also aren't your typical bird of prey, which usually flashes from the sky to pounce upon its victims. Eagles, hawks, falcons and osprey (seahawks) are almost regal.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Not to say pelicans can't be majestic, flying over water and scooping up meals of fish, <span class="st">crustaceans, tadpoles and turtles or diving directly on top of them, stashing the food in the pouch of their oversized bill.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="st">Pelicans are also smart -- they'll hunt in groups, trapping their prey. Pelicans are adaptive -- they're found on every <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/antarctica-PLGEOREG0000013.topic" id="PLGEOREG0000013" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Antarctica">continent</a> but Antarctica.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="st">But pelicans don't seem like they should be a pro franchise's mascot or nickname. A college team? Maybe. Something like the Mad Pelicans? Angry birds could work, but not the New Orleans Pelicans.</span></div></div></div>

NBA New Orleans Pelicans New Orleans Pelicans -- new nickname lacks the sting of Hornets

The logo of the New Orleans Pelicans, who will come into existence next NBA season. ( Hornets.com ) By Dan Loumena From: http://www.latime...

Winner Winner Chick'n dinner!

1:57 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVJRI_WGlpEjHmLf8wtyXkNpLefo9KnYPzkgyK0LDUafOX6n99iPliyK_nPSqau8ZuWVS6WYKYZ8W7jytSfj6RJzQf6YPfiFJZZb47QpdqUxM2T-61PQ9g-LFNNx4A7UUtWUP7M0y7vHI/s1600/chick'n+patty+morning+sta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVJRI_WGlpEjHmLf8wtyXkNpLefo9KnYPzkgyK0LDUafOX6n99iPliyK_nPSqau8ZuWVS6WYKYZ8W7jytSfj6RJzQf6YPfiFJZZb47QpdqUxM2T-61PQ9g-LFNNx4A7UUtWUP7M0y7vHI/s320/chick'n+patty+morning+sta.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I received some coupons for the Morning Star farms campaign on Bzzagent and haven't had the chick'n patties in a long time, so I decided to buy a box with one of the coupons.</span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am a huge fan of these. </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can dice them up and add to a salad or in a sandwich. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I decided to have it as a sandwich and added a delicious yummy salad to go with it!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love the flavor and how they are healthier than your average chicken patty.</span></div>

Winner Winner Chick'n dinner!

I received some coupons for the Morning Star farms campaign on Bzzagent and haven't had the chick'n patties in a long time, so I dec...

Sr. Manager Global Network Services (CCNP/CCIE certification | Juniper | Riverbed) (#109055)

1:20 PM Anonymous 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="WordSection1"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Job Title:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Sr. Manager Global Network Services  <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Location:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Milpitas, CA<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Duration:  </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Fulltime<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Job Description:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Responsibilities:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1.Establish vision, develop strategy and road maps for the Global Network landscape in alignment with business priorities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2.Manage and mentor Network team across multiple time zones.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">3.Create and maintain catalog of services.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">4.Manage Global Network and IT Security operations support from Managed Service Provider per agreed upon SLA's.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">5.Partner with strategic vendors to achieve business outcome.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">6.Execute Global Network Projects to agreed upon plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">7.Partner with Architecture, Business Relationship Managers and Infrastructure Service Owners to influence the future IT landscape.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">8.Report Service utilization, adoption and trends on a quarterly basis and implement corrective actions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Preferred Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Mandatory Skills:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1.Strong leadership (technical and managerial), interpersonal and customer relationship skills<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2.Strong written and verbal English communication and presentation skills.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">3.Strong Global network architecture experience<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">4.Solid track record of managing large international network projects.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">5.Serve as focal point and maintain day to day responsibility for ownership and resolution of service escalations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">6.Strong experience with Cisco, Riverbed and Juniper technologies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">7.Expert level problem solving techniques and methodologies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">8.Provide strong leadership to resolve complex incidents.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">9.Communicate at all levels effectively with data and metrics.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Preferred Skills:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1.Experience in a semiconductor or other high-tech enterprise.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2.Driving change across the landscape with new technologies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">3.Prior experience with network redesign to transform workload from on-premise to the cloud is a plus.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">4.Ability to think outside the box.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Minimum Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1)Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2)Network certification (CCNP/CCIE) or equivalent experience preferred.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Experience:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1)7-10 years of hands-on Sr. Network Engineering/Architecture experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2)5-7 years of global team/staff management experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Please send in your resumes to vinod.sanker@kla-tencor.com<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div></div></div>

Sr. Manager Global Network Services (CCNP/CCIE certification | Juniper | Riverbed) (#109055)

Job Title: Sr. Manager Global Network Services Location: Milpitas, CA Duration: Fulltime Job Description: Responsibilities: 1.Establish ...

Veggies!

11:49 AM Tukiyooo 0

<p>How delicious are these oven roasted vegetables!</p><p>Blitzed up they make a delicious soup.</p><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgisonAYa1F2nHGdYuOLN-wYdzBUE1tXEw2rBx-U2T8ny8diQUK8kvHIguxzR2-UYRjvv6PsARaUdmvztUfZd-xL4tX9kCZfnK6sNPBK54K1d3kGzuHZiM3lMnbrzrUdbrs_kiYH5U_32c6/s1600/20130124_193825.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgisonAYa1F2nHGdYuOLN-wYdzBUE1tXEw2rBx-U2T8ny8diQUK8kvHIguxzR2-UYRjvv6PsARaUdmvztUfZd-xL4tX9kCZfnK6sNPBK54K1d3kGzuHZiM3lMnbrzrUdbrs_kiYH5U_32c6/s400/20130124_193825.jpg" /> </a> </div><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD-C7adjKHf_t5tzB9ijtEwM-eWek0LgpdLmOlNKKqY_MeA07dbXDGX_dRZiSpQm9zp9y_IQt-XKxfl4rZ-RYklCiZp3LduGix_8YpUQHuUHhRzCTMpbb2qzTFlTl0MHqRiEiFeykvDCf-/s1600/20130124_194636.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD-C7adjKHf_t5tzB9ijtEwM-eWek0LgpdLmOlNKKqY_MeA07dbXDGX_dRZiSpQm9zp9y_IQt-XKxfl4rZ-RYklCiZp3LduGix_8YpUQHuUHhRzCTMpbb2qzTFlTl0MHqRiEiFeykvDCf-/s400/20130124_194636.jpg" /> </a> </div>

Veggies!

How delicious are these oven roasted vegetables! Blitzed up they make a delicious soup.

Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 01/24/2013

11:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<ul class="diigo-linkroll">      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.bamradionetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=65">Project-Based Learning: Integrating Technology</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">I had a great conversation led by Rae Pica and with   Dr. William Bender, Suzie Boss, Anthony Cody as we briefly discussed project based learning. It was an enjoyable conversation (but a fast one). If you want to pick up some quick conversations about important topics.BAM radio is a great one to add to your podcast lists for the ride to school. I'm finding a lot of gems there.  </p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/pbl">pbl</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/best">best</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/practices">practices</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/differentiation">differentiation</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://mrsobachsclass.blogspot.com/2013/01/evernote-assessment-e-portfolio.html?spref=tw&m=1">Mrs. Obach's Grade 1 Blog: Evernote: assessment, e-portfolio, notebook, organizer & more!</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">Twitter conversations lead the most interesting places. Leah Obach is a first grade teacher who uses evernote to keep an efolio for each student. She creates templates and each child has a stack including photos and pictures of the child's work. She uses this during parent conferences to show what each child has done. Wow! This blog post is a must read for anyone looking at evernote or at streamlining assessment at the elementary level. I'm quite intrigued and want to know more. She's also shared her templates for assessing a variety of things for first grade - counting, etc.   Applause for what she is doing, but also for taking the time to write the blog post when having a conversation with another teacher on Twitter. This is how we teach and encourage each other to know more. I'm debating about what would be appropriate to do with my students.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/evernote">evernote</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/assessment">assessment</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/elemchat">elemchat</a></p>                                        </li>  </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='http://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 01/24/2013

Project-Based Learning: Integrating Technology I had a great conversation led by Rae Pica and with ...