Manager, system Design Engineer ( Imaging systems | optical OR opto-mechanical | Subsystems |hardware) (#109170)

<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";"> Manager, System Design Engineer<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;">The candidate is expected to lead the system development team and will be actively engaged in system-level engineering, test and release of the Surfscan next generation high-speed unpatterned wafer inspection tools. The activities include: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1.Model system operation and define subsystem performance specifications<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2.Develop subsystem architectures and collaborate with mechanical, optical, electrical and software engineers to realize these subsystems.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">3.Specify and test new or improved hardware components and software features. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">4.Lead integration and test of subsystems and validation of system performance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">5.Identify and resolve problems and recommend improvements relating to system optics, electronics, software, and mechanics.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">6.Develop and improve diagnostic and calibration procedures. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">7.Investigate abnormal system behaviors by performing experiments and analyzing system data.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">8.Support manufacturing and field personnel with troubleshooting help in the form of plans of action or hands-on assistance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">9.Conducts feasibility studies on engineering proposals and related technical data for new equipment or modification to existing equipment.<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";">Preferred Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">In addition to the basic qualifications (listed below), the candidate should have a knowledge of optics, electronics, software, and/or mechanical systems.  Programming skills/experience are a definitely plus.  Ability to work effectively in a multidisciplinary team and to take on a leadership role when needed is desired.  In addition, the candidate should have a quick grasp of challenging, complex technical information and be able to travel both domestically and internationally.<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;">Bachelor's Level Degree with at least 7 years of experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">OR <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">Master's Level Degree with at least 6 years of experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">OR <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">Doctorate (Academic) with at least 5 years of experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><b>Kindly send in your resumes to vinod.sanker@kla-tencor.com</b><o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div>

Manager, system Design Engineer ( Imaging systems | optical OR opto-mechanical | Subsystems |hardware) (#109170)

Job Title: Manager, System Design Engineer Location: Milpitas, CA Duration: Fulltime Job Description: Responsibilities: The candidate is...

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Rocky Mountain Popcorn Review

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Q8PpQ3K3kQonLbfhYlU9UIMd5SFigJjee6_gqy_NE0YfwvM9xFS535U695MhcXM3x8FV29Y90AkBrSNR5-jd6O3UEIfAevE-DZXKZwAjjUURPQlRPU4EzB4a6qWOeJxlA9l6aRNRg3E/s1600/rocky+mountain+popcorn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Q8PpQ3K3kQonLbfhYlU9UIMd5SFigJjee6_gqy_NE0YfwvM9xFS535U695MhcXM3x8FV29Y90AkBrSNR5-jd6O3UEIfAevE-DZXKZwAjjUURPQlRPU4EzB4a6qWOeJxlA9l6aRNRg3E/s320/rocky+mountain+popcorn.jpg" width="320" /></a></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;">If there is one thing I love to eat when watching a good movie it is popcorn!</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;">Every time my family and I went to see a movie we would always buy some popcorn, what's not to love with the fluffy texture and the saltiness of the butter drizzled on.</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;">Now I am more health conscious and aware of just how much bad stuff is in the popcorn offered at showcases.</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;">So when I want a movie theater themed type of popcorn I reach for something more healthier and most importantly all natural.</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;">Which brought me to a wonderful company that sent me bags of popcorn to review by the name of <a href="http://rockymountainpopcorn.com/">Rocky Mountain Popcorn</a>.</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;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Their popcorn let's you snack responsibly without the guilt of popcorn that's loaded in butter.</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;">Not in the buttery flavor kind of mood?</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;">Don't worry they have sweet and zesty flavors as well!</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;">For my review I was sent these flavors:</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;">white cheddar</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">butter</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">naked</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">jalapeno</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">southwest cheddar</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">kettle corn</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">cinnamon sugar</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and caramel</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 that they have more than one flavor!</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;">So far I have tried three of the flavors.</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;">White Cheddar:</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 loved the little bag, made for the perfect snack.</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;">The cheese taste was just right.</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;">Very light and airy.</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;">Naked:</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;">Basically plain popcorn with a hint of sweetness to it.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Loved 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;">Butter:</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;">Whoa, insane butter flavor!</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;">So good, and is the perfect movie time snack!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Southwest Cheddar:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Great cheesy flavor but then you get a bit of an overwhelming spicy flavor.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm not a big fan of spicy foods.</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;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You have got to check out their popcorn line below!</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;"><a href="http://rockymountainpopcorn.com/">http://rockymountainpopcorn.com/</a></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;">Connect with them on these social networking sites!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Be sure to like their face book page!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rocky-Mountain-Popcorn-Company/169279963085862"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rocky-Mountain-Popcorn-Company/169279963085862</span></a></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;"><a href="https://twitter.com/RockyMtnPopcorn">https://twitter.com/RockyMtnPopcorn</a></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;">Disclosure:</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 received popcorn for reviewing purposes only. All thoughts are strictly my own.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>

Rocky Mountain Popcorn Review

If there is one thing I love to eat when watching a good movie it is popcorn! Every time my family and I went to see a movie we would always...

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Children’s Library Assistant - Wilton Library

<strong>Children’s Library Assistant - </strong><strong></strong><strong><span style="color: #48286d;">Wilton Library</span></strong> is seeking an energetic, creative individual to assist with collections, perform reference duties, create and assist with programs, and promote materials and programs using social media. Excellent computer skills, including Word, Excel, Publisher and Social Media are required, as well as attention to detail and the ability to work well with other team members in a creative and vibrant environment. Applicants must also demonstrate an interest in reading children’s literature. Artistic and/or creative skills are a plus. Library knowledge and/or experience in working with children ages birth – 12 is required. Bachelor’s degree preferred. Part-time, hourly position. The schedule is Tuesdays 1-8, Wednesdays 9-5, and Fridays 10-5, plus the fourth Saturday of each month. Salary range between $14.00 - $17.00 per hour commensurate with experience. Email resume, cover letter and WLA application (available at <a _fcksavedurl="http://www.wiltonlibrary.org/about/jobs-wla/" href="http://www.wiltonlibrary.org/about/jobs-wla/" target="_blank">www.wiltonlibrary.org/about/jobs-wla/</a>) to Andrea Falkner <a _fcksavedurl="mailto:afalkner@wiltonlibrary.org" href="mailto:afalkner@wiltonlibrary.org">afalkner@wiltonlibrary.org</a>. Wilton Library is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Wilton Library, 137 Old Ridgefield Road, Wilton, CT 06897. 203.762.3950, <a _fcksavedurl="http://www.wiltonlibrary.org" href="http://www.wiltonlibrary.org/" target="_blank">www.wiltonlibrary.org</a>.

Children’s Library Assistant - Wilton Library

Children’s Library Assistant - Wilton Library is seeking an energetic, creative individual to assist with collections, perform reference d...

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Jerusalem, My Happy Home: Part 4

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QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Calibri;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">It has been an exhausting and overwhelming day of seeing holy places associated with the birth of Jesus. After a lecture on the Magnificat and the Benedictus, we headed out by bus to the hill country.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Somewhere in the hill country Mary and Elizabeth met, Elizabeth praised Mary, and Mary passed the praise on to God with the Magnificat, based on the Song of Hannah, praising God for the great reversal of fortunes in which the downtrodden would be raised up. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">There we visited two churches, not that far from each other. First we visited Ain Kerem, a church near a spring where Elizabeth might have gone to draw water. The church there commemorated the Visitation. Brother Mark, SSJE, led us in a reflection on the two women seeing God acting in each other and suggested the import of that story and the artistic representations of the Visitation convey a message that is profoundly ethical and political. The challenge is to watch for God at work, sometimes invisibly, always mysteriously, in each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Did Mary and Elizabeth actually meet at this place? Maybe. No one knows. But they met somewhere like this, somewhere nearby. Not far away, we stopped at a Franciscan Church purporting to be the birthplace of John the Baptist. It would seem likely that the place of the Visitation and the place where John was born would both have been the house of Elizabeth and Zechariah. But both churches were in the same area. Each artistically expressed a different part of the story. A slight difference in space actually represented a three-month difference in chronology in the narrative. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">At the first church, we sang the Magnificat. At the second, we recited the Benedictus, both canticles from Luke, both believed to be based on songs of the anawim, the community of poor and powerless people who first welcomed the gospel. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">From there we drove to Beth Shakur, House of the Night Watch. There are three different locations around Beth Shakur purporting to be the field where lowly shepherds were the first to hear of the birth of Christ, the first to hear the evangelion (which can mean a birth announcement). One is Orthodox, one Franciscan, one Anglican. We went to the Anglican Shepherd’s Field. In the field was a cave as old as the time of Christ, much older really, but reinforced with pillars. In such caves the Shepherds would take shelter. In this cave we sang Angels We Have Heard On High. Brother Mark spoke of the meaning of the night in which God’s salvation is proclaimed. What does night mean for us spiritually? What does it mean in the context of a darkened world? In this town a few years ago, a tax resistance protest by Palestinian Christians was met with a forceful Israeli response that culminated in violence. There is a sense in which it is night here. It is into such nights that the gospel breaks, a light shining in the darkness, a light dawning on people who walk in deep darkness. Surge illuminare.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">This afternoon we went to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Holy Nativity. This church dates from the 6^th Century. It is a holy, ancient house of worship built over a group of caves. Was Jesus born here? Or was he born in a similar cave nearby? Does it matter? If so, not much. People have been coming here to reflect on the Incarnation and worship Christ for centuries. St. Jerome lived in one of these caves. He translated the Bible into Latin here, the exclusive translation used in Western Christianity for a thousand years. He is buried in one of these caves. We visited his tomb and the chapel dedicated to Jerome, his successor Eusebius, and the two women who helped him with his work – deservedly canonized as saints these women since Jerome was a decidedly unpleasant man and a misogynist. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Church of the Nativity is maintained by different brands of Christians. The Greeks and the Armenians are not friends. Again, the complexity and imperfection of the Church as a people of God. We are more visibly people, more mysteriously of God. The entrance was once large but to make it harder for Persian invaders to charge into the church on horses, the entrance was bricked up to make it very small. One now has to do a solemn bow to enter the church. We begin with humility. Frescoes once covered the walls but most of them have faded away. Others remain. Lamps hang from chains. To enter the cave where Jesus may have been born, one stands in a long jumbled line as throngs of people wait their turn to enter through a narrow door and descend narrow steps. As fate would have it, we were jammed in between a group of Russians and a group of Poles. Somehow that seemed fitting. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Eventually we made it though the door into a narrow stone stairway covered with rich red tapestries. At the point in the cave that represents the birthplace of Jesus we kneel to kiss a 14 point star with a hole in the center, and emptiness, a mystery – the 14 points representing 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the Exile, and 14 from the Exile to Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is an exhausting kind of learning we are doing. It is a sensate rather than conceptual learning. It is visual images, sounds, textures. It is an incarnate engagement with the story of incarnation. It will take some time to assimilate this day. I hope when I have sorted through it, I will find myself better able to see God at work in the lives of others, better able to shine gospel into someone’s night, and better attuned to God’s presence in this material world of ordinary life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><!--EndFragment-->

Jerusalem, My Happy Home: Part 4

It has been an exhausting and overwhelming day of seeing holy places associated with the birth of Jesus. After a lecture on the Magnif...

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Jerusalem, My Happy Home: Part 4

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Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Calibri;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">It has been an exhausting and overwhelming day of seeing holy places associated with the birth of Jesus. After a lecture on the Magnificat and the Benedictus, we headed out by bus to the hill country.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Somewhere in the hill country Mary and Elizabeth met, Elizabeth praised Mary, and Mary passed the praise on to God with the Magnificat, based on the Song of Hannah, praising God for the great reversal of fortunes in which the downtrodden would be raised up. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">There we visited two churches, not that far from each other. First we visited Ain Kerem, a church near a spring where Elizabeth might have gone to draw water. The church there commemorated the Visitation. Brother Mark, SSJE, led us in a reflection on the two women seeing God acting in each other and suggested the import of that story and the artistic representations of the Visitation convey a message that is profoundly ethical and political. The challenge is to watch for God at work, sometimes invisibly, always mysteriously, in each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Did Mary and Elizabeth actually meet at this place? Maybe. No one knows. But they met somewhere like this, somewhere nearby. Not far away, we stopped at a Franciscan Church purporting to be the birthplace of John the Baptist. It would seem likely that the place of the Visitation and the place where John was born would both have been the house of Elizabeth and Zechariah. But both churches were in the same area. Each artistically expressed a different part of the story. A slight difference in space actually represented a three-month difference in chronology in the narrative. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">At the first church, we sang the Magnificat. At the second, we recited the Benedictus, both canticles from Luke, both believed to be based on songs of the anawim, the community of poor and powerless people who first welcomed the gospel. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">From there we drove to Beth Shakur, House of the Night Watch. There are three different locations around Beth Shakur purporting to be the field where lowly shepherds were the first to hear of the birth of Christ, the first to hear the evangelion (which can mean a birth announcement). One is Orthodox, one Franciscan, one Anglican. We went to the Anglican Shepherd’s Field. In the field was a cave as old as the time of Christ, much older really, but reinforced with pillars. In such caves the Shepherds would take shelter. In this cave we sang Angels We Have Heard On High. Brother Mark spoke of the meaning of the night in which God’s salvation is proclaimed. What does night mean for us spiritually? What does it mean in the context of a darkened world? In this town a few years ago, a tax resistance protest by Palestinian Christians was met with a forceful Israeli response that culminated in violence. There is a sense in with it is night here. It is into such nights that the gospel breaks, a light shining in the darkness, a light dawning on people who walk in deep darkness. Surge illuminare.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">This afternoon we went to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Holy Nativity. This Church dates from the 6^th Century. It is a holy, ancient house of worship built over a group of caves. Was Jesus born here? Or was he born in a similar cave nearby? Doe it matter? If so, not much. People have been coming here to reflect on the Incarnation and worship Christ for centuries. St. Jerome lived in one of these caves. He translated the Bible into Latin here, the exclusive translation used in Western Christianity for a thousand years. He is buried in one of these caves. We visited his tomb and the chapel dedicated to Jerome, his successor Eusebius, and the two women who helped him with his work – deservedly canonized as saints these women since Jerome was a decidedly unpleasant man and a misogynist. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Church of the Nativity is maintained by different brands of Christians. The Greeks and the Armenians are not friends. Again, the complexity and imperfection of the Church as a people of God. We are more visibly people, more mysteriously of God. The entrance was once large but to make it harder for Persian invaders to charge into the church on horses, the entrance was bricked up to make it very small. One now has to do a solemn bow to enter the church. We begin with humility. Frescoes once covered the walls but most of them have faded away. Others remain. Lamps hang from chains. To enter the cave where Jesus may have been born, one stands in a long jumbled like as throngs of people wait their turn to enter through a narrow door and descend narrow steps. As fate would have it, we were jammed in between a group of Russians and a group of Poles. Somehow that seemed fitting. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Eventually we made it though the door into a narrow stone stairway covered with rich red tapestries. At the point in the cave that represents the birthplace of Jesus we kneel to kiss a 14 point star with a hole in the center, and emptiness, a mystery – the 14 points representing 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the Exile, and 14 from the Exile to Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is an exhausting kind of learning we are doing. It is a sensate rather than conceptual learning. It is visual images, sounds, textures. It is an incarnate engagement with the story of incarnation. It will take some time to assimilate this day. I hope when I have sorted through it, I will find myself better able to see God at work in the lives of others, better able to shine gospel into someone’s night, and better attuned to God’s presence in this material world of ordinary life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><!--EndFragment-->

Jerusalem, My Happy Home: Part 4

It has been an exhausting and overwhelming day of seeing holy places associated with the birth of Jesus. After a lecture on the Magnif...

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I'm an Ambassador!

<p>I've received my card for the <a href="http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/Index.aspx">Guinness Storehouse.</a>  Free admission for me  in to the Guinness Factory at St. James' Gate and 10% off for my companions.  <br>Guinness anyone?!</p><p>If you would like to be a Guinness Ambassador have a look <a href="http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/The-Gathering-Signup.aspx">here</a> for further info.</p><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUWmvCFjPVluJk2eT4Bc_vALOzwrpJ7me2YkLMVhYdfn5pVVujN6-xgOEYWCM2aV8Q5vv3ZSwgsOxZbM3M-Ux3VgxSC0qJTajXT-Ghw1Iss1NnWG7-mZyahrXrHgTsnJuQ5ea_nKBIHIqu/s1600/20130301_144054.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUWmvCFjPVluJk2eT4Bc_vALOzwrpJ7me2YkLMVhYdfn5pVVujN6-xgOEYWCM2aV8Q5vv3ZSwgsOxZbM3M-Ux3VgxSC0qJTajXT-Ghw1Iss1NnWG7-mZyahrXrHgTsnJuQ5ea_nKBIHIqu/s400/20130301_144054.jpg" /> </a> </div><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDoYEQDyn0jpEoGddYeGHfG3g_xKhN5jJWWjzFzdrHYx02p9BaL3boDBabnGDgFbVBmqqimb6u6DelQ8UqIZhaSSJZ7GQa0EFNw6cpK3IshXBM1IJOKJQOs7PDD7PnAJU4V5WDvI2v7F_k/s1600/20130301_144156.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDoYEQDyn0jpEoGddYeGHfG3g_xKhN5jJWWjzFzdrHYx02p9BaL3boDBabnGDgFbVBmqqimb6u6DelQ8UqIZhaSSJZ7GQa0EFNw6cpK3IshXBM1IJOKJQOs7PDD7PnAJU4V5WDvI2v7F_k/s400/20130301_144156.jpg" /> </a> </div><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qJIWutPN9KfgPBFezyOhop2ASGjH3lXAV32G8zO-TPMSx3AU5Eu_1imwaeP4U_KgBnzIwwt_waSOv6skHEFcZooyaY79w3exGJIfhxVXBUxbfji6erINejUUm_OHiyBxRhpuE25qls7y/s1600/20130301_144005.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qJIWutPN9KfgPBFezyOhop2ASGjH3lXAV32G8zO-TPMSx3AU5Eu_1imwaeP4U_KgBnzIwwt_waSOv6skHEFcZooyaY79w3exGJIfhxVXBUxbfji6erINejUUm_OHiyBxRhpuE25qls7y/s400/20130301_144005.jpg" /> </a> </div>

I'm an Ambassador!

I've received my card for the Guinness Storehouse.   Free admission for me  in to the Guinness Factory at St. James' Gate and 10% of...

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What Housework Has to Do With Waistlines - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div id="well" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; 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); 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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">One reason so many American women are overweight may be that we are vacuuming and doing laundry less often, according to a new study that, while scrupulously even-handed, is likely to stir controversy and emotions.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">The study, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0056620" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">published this month in PLoS One</a>, is a follow-up to <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0019657" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">an influential 2011 report </a>which used data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to determine that, during the past 50 years, most American workers began sitting down on the job. Physical activity at work, such as walking or lifting, almost vanished, according to the data, with workers now spending most of their time seated before a computer or talking on the phone. Consequently, the authors found, the average American worker was burning almost 150 fewer calories daily at work than his or her employed parents had, a change that had materially contributed to the rise in obesity during the same time frame, especially among men, the authors concluded.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">But that study, while fascinating, was narrow, focusing only on people with formal jobs. It overlooked a large segment of the population, namely a lot of women.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"Fifty years ago, a majority of women did not work outside of the home," said Edward Archer, a research fellow with the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, and lead author of the new study.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">So, in collaboration with many of the authors of the earlier study of occupational physical activity, Dr. Archer set out to find data about how women had once spent their hours at home and whether and how their patterns of movement had changed over the years.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">He found the information he needed in the American Heritage Time Use Study, a remarkable archive of "time-use diaries" provided by thousands of women beginning in 1965. Because Dr. Archer wished to examine how women in a variety of circumstances spent their time around the house, he gathered diaries from both working and non-employed women, starting with those in 1965 and extending through 2010.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">He and his colleagues then pulled data from the diaries about how many hours the women were spending in various activities, how many calories they likely were expending in each of those tasks, and how the activities and associated energy expenditures changed over the years.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">As it turned out, their findings broadly echoed those of the occupational time-use study. Women, they found, once had been quite physically active around the house, spending, in 1965, an average of 25.7 hours a week cleaning, cooking and doing laundry. Those activities, whatever their social freight, required the expenditure of considerable energy. (The authors did not include child care time in their calculations, since the women's diary entries related to child care were inconsistent and often overlapped those of other activities.) In general at that time, working women devoted somewhat fewer hours to housework, while those not employed outside the home spent more.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Forty-five years later, in 2010, things had changed dramatically. By then, the time-use diaries showed, women were spending an average of 13.3 hours per week on housework.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">More striking, the diary entries showed, women at home were now spending far more hours sitting in front of a screen. In 1965, women typically had spent about eight hours a week sitting and watching television. (Home computers weren't invented yet.)</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">By 2010, those hours had more than doubled, to 16.5 hours per week. In essence, women had exchanged time spent in active pursuits, like vacuuming, for time spent being sedentary.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">In the process, they had also greatly reduced the number of calories that they typically expended during their hours at home. According to the authors' calculations, American women not employed outside the home were burning about 360 fewer calories every day in 2010 than they had in 1965, with working women burning about 132 fewer calories at home each day in 2010 than in 1965.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"Those are large reductions in energy expenditure," Dr. Archer said, and would result, over the years, in significant weight gain without reductions in caloric intake.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">What his study suggests, Dr. Archer continued, is that "we need to start finding ways to incorporate movement back into" the hours spent at home.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">This does not mean, he said, that women — or men — should be doing more housework. For one thing, the effort involved is such activities today is less than it once was. Using modern, gliding vacuum cleaners is less taxing than struggling with the clunky, heavy machines once available, and thank goodness for that.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Nor is more time spent helping around the house a guarantee of more activity, over all. A <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22297804" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">telling 2012 study of television viewing habits</a> found that when men increased the number of hours they spent on housework, they also greatly increased the hours they spent sitting in front of the TV, presumably because it was there and beckoning.</font></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 class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Instead, Dr. Archer said, we should start consciously tracking what we do when we are at home and try to reduce the amount of time spent sitting. "Walk to the mailbox," he said. Chop vegetables in the kitchen. Play ball with your, or a neighbor's, dog. Chivvy your spouse into helping you fold sheets. "The data clearly shows," Dr. Archer said, that even at home, we need to be in motion.</font></div></div></div></div></div><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/what-housework-has-to-do-with-waistlines/?pagewanted=print"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/what-housework-has-to-do-with-waistlines/?pagewanted=print</font></a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

What Housework Has to Do With Waistlines - NYTimes.com

One reason so many American women are overweight may be that we are vacuuming and doing laundry less often, according to a new study that, w...

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Nintendo Wii Helped Budding Surgeons Move To Head Of The Class : Shots - Health News : NPR

How's this for a tough assignment?<br /><br><br /><br>A group of Italian researchers forced 21 surgical residents to play video games on a Nintendo Wii for an hour a day, five days a week, for four weeks. Whew!<br /><br><br /><br>Then the researchers had the residents perform a simulated keyhole surgery. They found that the gamers performed significantly better than another group of residents who didn't undergo this grueling video game training.<br /><br><br /><br>"We had a lot of fun," said Dr. Gregorio Patrizi, a professor at the University of Rome Medical School who worked on the study. "Research doesn't need to be boring."<br /><br><br /><br>Keyhole, or laparoscopic, surgery involves inserting tiny video cameras and instruments into your body so surgeons can operate without having to make a large incision. The approach reduces recovery times for patients, and the risk of infection goes down as well.<br /><br><br /><br>However, Patrizi said laparoscopy can be difficult for surgeons not used to staring at a video monitor during an operation. "You have to move in a three-dimensional space but you have a two-dimensional image on your screen," he said.<br /><br><br /><br>That's where the Wii comes in. Several earlier studies suggested that playing video games can boost laparoscopic skills, but those studies were largely based on surveys of surgeons' prior video gaming habits. Patrizi's study is one of the first randomized trials that had some surgeons undergo a structured game-playing routine and also maintained a separate control group.<br /><br><br /><br>Patrizi and his team had surgical residents play three Wii games — tennis, ping pong and one that involved shooting balloons from an aircraft. As the researchers write in their articlepublished online by PLOS ONE, they chose these games because they all required strong hand-eye coordination and three-dimensional visualization of a space.<br /><br><br /><br>Compared with the unlucky doctors in the control group, who didn't have an excuse to play video games for five hours a week, the residents who played the Wii games showed significantly more improvement on a laparoscopy simulator.<br /><br><br /><br>Though it might seem like this study was designed by Nintendo as an advertisement for the Wii, Patrizi said the video game maker had nothing to do with it. He said his team received no outside funding to conduct the experiment and didn't even notify Nintendo they were doing it.<br /><br><br /><br>In an email to Shots, a Nintendo spokeswoman said the company is "thrilled to hear" that the Wii might someday provide a benefit to medical science, even if that wasn't what its designers had in mind. "Did we think that the Wii would improve the performance of surgeons?" she writes. "No."<br /><br><br /><br>Patrizi said these results suggest that the Wii and other motion-sensing gaming consoles like Microsoft's Kinect could be used to supplement surgical training at a very low cost, especially when compared with expensive laparoscopy simulators.<br /><br><br /><br>To Dr. Brant Oelschlager, chief of the University of Washington's Center for Videoendoscopic Surgery, it makes sense that a video game would help a surgeon perform these procedures. "There's probably a lot of overlap in that bit of learning," he said. "Both are very unnatural environments to the novice."<br /><br><br /><br>But that doesn't mean hospitals should be putting Wii systems in the doctors lounge just yet. Oelschlager said video games would only be beneficial to inexperienced surgeons.<br /><br><br /><br>"I'm skeptical that at an advanced level that would help the surgeon become better," Oelschlager said. "At some point, it starts to have diminishing returns and you have to gain the rest of your skills in a real patient."<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/02/27/173076773/nintendo-wii-helped-budding-surgeons-move-to-head-of-the-class">http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/02/27/173076773/nintendo-wii-helped-budding-surgeons-move-to-head-of-the-class</a>

Nintendo Wii Helped Budding Surgeons Move To Head Of The Class : Shots - Health News : NPR

How's this for a tough assignment? A group of Italian researchers forced 21 surgical residents to play video games on a Nintendo Wii for...

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Shots - Health News : NPR

Shots is the online channel for health stories from the NPR Science Desk. We report on news that can make a difference for your health and show how policy shapes our choices about health. <br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/">http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/</a>

Shots - Health News : NPR

Shots is the online channel for health stories from the NPR Science Desk. We report on news that can make a difference for your health and s...

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Fwd: Medicare Needs Fixing, but Not Right Now - NYTimes.com

<br><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">What's the rush? For all the white-knuckled wrangling over spending cuts set to start on Friday, the fundamental partisan argument over how to fix the government's finances is not about the immediate future. It is about the much longer term: how will the nation pay for the care of older Americans as the vast baby boom generation retires? Will the government keep <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about Medicare." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">Medicare</a> spending in check by asking older Americans to shoulder more costs? Should we raise taxes instead?</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">It might not be a good idea to try to resolve these questions quite so urgently. Partisan bickering under the threat of automatic budget cuts is unlikely to produce a calm, thoughtful deal.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">"We don't have to solve this tomorrow; not even next year," said Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who worked on the design of President Obama's <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival news about healthcare reform." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">health care reform</a>.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">More significantly perhaps, some economists point out that the problem may already be on the way toward largely fixing itself. The budget-busting rise in health care costs, it seems, is finally losing speed. While it would be foolhardy to assume that this alone will stabilize government's finances, the slowdown offers hope that the challenge may not be as daunting as the frenzied declarations from Washington make it seem.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The growth of the nation's spending slowed sharply over the last four years. This year, it is expected to increase only 3.8 percent, <a title="Data on health care spending." href="https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/index.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services</a>, the slowest pace in four decades and slower than the rate of nominal economic growth.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Medicare spending is growing faster — stretched by baby boomers stepping out of the work force and into retirement. But its pace has slowed markedly, too. Earlier this month, <a title="Related C.B.O. report." href="http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43947" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">the Congressional Budget Office said</a> that by 2020 Medicare spending would be $126 billion less than it predicted three years ago. Spending over the coming decade, it added, would be $143 billion less than it forecast just last August.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">While economists acknowledge that the recession accounts for part of the decline, depressing incomes and consumption, something else also seems to be going on: insurers, doctors, hospitals and other providers are experimenting with new, cheaper and more efficient ways to deliver care.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Prodded by President Obama's Affordable Care Act, which offers providers a share of savings reaped by Medicare from any efficiency gains, many doctors are dropping the costly practice of charging a fee for each service regardless of its contribution to patients' health. Doctors are joining hundreds of so-called Accountable Care Organizations, which are paid to maintain patients in good health and are thus encouraged to seek the most effective treatments at the lowest possible cost.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">This has kindled hope among some scholars that Medicare could achieve the needed savings just by cleaning out the health care system's waste.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Elliott Fisher, who directs <a title="Dartmouth Atlas." href="http://www.dartmouthatlas.org/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">Dartmouth's Atlas of Health Care</a>, which tracks disparities in medical practices and outcomes across the country, pointed out that Medicare spending per person varies widely regardless of quality — from $7,734 a year in Minneapolis to $11,646 in Chicago — even after correcting for the different age, sex and race profiles of their populations.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">He noted that if hospital stays by Medicare enrollees across the country fell to the length prevailing in Oregon and Washington, hospital use — one of the biggest drivers of costs — would fall by almost a third.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"Twenty to 30 percent of Medicare spending is pure waste," Dr. Fisher argues. "The challenge of getting those savings is nontrivial. But those kinds of savings are not out of the question."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">We could be disappointed, of course. Similar breakthroughs before have quickly fizzled. Just think back to that brief spell in the mid-1990s when health maintenance organizations seemed to beat health care inflation — until patients rebelled against being denied services and doctors dropped out of their networks rather than accept lower fees.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services already expects spending to rebound in coming years. Without tougher cost control devices, be it vouchers to limit government spending or direct government rationing, counting on savings of the scale needed to overcome the expected increase in Medicare rolls may be hoping for pie in the sky.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"It makes no sense," said Eugene Steuerle, an economist at the Urban Institute, to expect the government will reap vast Medicare savings without having an impact on the quality of care.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The Affordable Care Act already contemplates fairly big cuts to Medicare. In its latest long-term projections published last year, <a title="C.B.O. long-term projections." href="http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/06-05-Long-Term_Budget_Outlook_2.pdf" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">the Congressional Budget Office estimated</a> that under current law, growth in spending per beneficiary over the coming decade would be about half a percentage point slower than the rate of economic growth per person.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">To understand how ambitious this is, consider that Medicare spending per beneficiary since 1985 has exceeded the growth of gross domestic product per person by about 1.5 percentage points per year. Slowing down that spending would require deep cuts in doctor reimbursements that, though written into law, Congress has never allowed to happen — repeatedly voting to cancel or postpone them.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Under a more realistic situation, the Budget Office projected that the growth of Medicare spending per capita over the next 10 years would be in fact 0.6 percentage points higher than under current law and accelerate further after that.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Yet despite the ambition of these targets, they would not be enough to stabilize future Medicare spending as a share of the economy. A report by three health care policy experts, Michael Chernew and Richard Frank of Harvard Medical School, together with Stephen Parente of the University of Minnesota, concluded that to do that would require limiting the growth of spending per beneficiary at 1.25 percentage points less than the growth of our gross domestic product per person.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"The Affordable Care Act places Medicare spending on a trajectory that is historically low," Mr. Chernew said, noting his opinion was not an official statement as vice chairman of Medicare's Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on Medicare. "Could we do better? Of course. Will we? That requires a little more skepticism."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Yet even if it is unrealistic to expect that newfound efficiencies will stabilize Medicare's finances, the slowdown in health care spending suggests that politicians in Washington calm down. It offers, at the very least, more breathing room to carefully consider reforms to the system to raise revenue or trim benefits in the least damaging way.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a title="Policy proposals made at a Brookings Institution conference." href="http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/15_ways_to_rethink_the_federal_budget/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">There are many ideas out there</a> — from changing Medicare's premiums, deductibles and coinsurance to introducing a tax on carbon emissions to raise revenue. Some of them are not as good as others. Until recently, President Obama favored increasing the eligibility age for Medicare. Then <a title="The Kaiser study." href="http://www.kff.org/medicare/8169.cfm" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">research by the Kaiser Family Foundation</a> concluded that raising the age would increase insurance premiums and cost businesses, beneficiaries and states more than the federal government would save. The nation would lose money in the deal.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">"As we do this, there are smarter and dumber ways to do it," Mr. Gruber said. "It would be a problem if we were to do things in a panic mode that set us backward."</p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/business/medicare-needs-fixing-but-not-right-now.html?src=recg&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/business/medicare-needs-fixing-but-not-right-now.html?src=recg&pagewanted=print</a>

Fwd: Medicare Needs Fixing, but Not Right Now - NYTimes.com

What's the rush? For all the white-knuckled wrangling over spending cuts set to start on Friday, the fundamental partisan argument over ...

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