Plenty of school closings following overnight snowfall

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px;"><strong>LANSING</strong> — Dozens of school districts in the Lansing region are closed today following a night of snowfall.</div><div style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px;"><span class="pp"></span>Public schools in Lansing, St. Johns, Bath, Dansville, Mason, Okemos, Webberville, Stockbridge, Haslett, Owosso, East Lansing, Waverly, Charlotte, Ovid-Elsie, Pewamo-Westphalia and pretty much everywhere else are closed today, according to local television reports.</div><div style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px;"></div><div style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px;">Light snow is expected through the rest of today.</div><div style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px;"></div><div style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px;">The University of Michigan-Flint called off classes and activities scheduled for Wednesday. Mott Community College in Flint also canceled Wednesday classes. In the Detroit area, Oakland University and campuses of Oakland Community College closed.</div><div style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px;"></div><div style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px;">Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant delayed operations until noon Wednesday due to the weather.</div><div style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px;"></div><div style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px;">The Associated Press contributed to this report.</div></div>

school closings Plenty of school closings following overnight snowfall

LANSING  — Dozens of school districts in the Lansing region are closed today following a night of snowfall. Public schools in Lansing, St. J...

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Part Time Library Assistant - Cora J. Belden Library

<strong>Part Time Library Assistant - </strong><strong><span style="color: #48286d;">Cora J. Belden Library</span></strong> has an opening for a part time library assistant to work at our Circulation Desk. Excellent customer service ethic and familiarity with technology needed. Public library experience or prior work with children would be very helpful. Must be available for weekend hours. The deadline for applications is 4:30 PM, Friday, <span style="color: red;">March 15, 2013</span>. Please mail application, cover letter and resume to Town Manager's Office, 761 Old Main Street, Rocky Hill, CT 06067. AA/EOE/ADA.

Part Time Library Assistant - Cora J. Belden Library

Part Time Library Assistant - Cora J. Belden Library has an opening for a part time library assistant to work at our Circulation Desk. Exc...

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Full-time Education Coordinator - Hartford Public Library

<strong>Full-time Education Coordinator - </strong><strong><span style="color: #48286d;">Hartford Public Library</span></strong>. Reporting to the Multicultural Services Director, the Education Coordinator is responsible for the coordination, implementation, and evaluation of instructional activities and customer service. Other services include outreach services, programming, passport services, and public service desk hours. Position Qualifications: Masters Degree in Education or Library Science required. Two years demonstrated experience in the instructional use of technology. A minimum of five years experience teaching adults basic literacy skills and English to speakers of other languages. Demonstrated experience working with interns and volunteer tutors. Demonstrated outreach experience working with community based groups, immigrants and multicultural populations. Minimum of five years progressive management experience. Spanish language fluency preferred. Necessary Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Knowledge of adult basic education, current theory, practice and assessment. Knowledge of current education technologies. Considerable knowledge of staff management. Strong commitment to working within a team management structure. Strong commitment to public service. Strong communication and public relations skills. Knowledge of selection and classification of library collection helpful. Knowledge of the principles and practices of modern library systems and programs. Strong computer skills with expertise in word-processing, spreadsheet, database programs and educational technologies. Valid Connecticut driver’s license or ability to obtain upon employment. A full job description and application are available on our website; <a _fcksavedurl="http://www.hplct.org" href="http://www.hplct.org/" target="_blank">www.hplct.org</a> and from the Administrative Offices, Hartford Public Library, 500 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103. Applications accepted until <span style="color: red;">March 4, 2013</span>. The Hartford Public Library offers a competitive salary commensurate with experience. Hartford Public Library is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Hartford Public Library requires a criminal background check and a pre-employment drug screening for the applicant who is selected for the position. Applicants will be provided a copy of any positive drug test results. A criminal record does not necessarily eliminate you from employment with Hartford Public Library. Each conviction will be reviewed with respect to the offense, circumstances, seriousness, and the position for which you apply.

Full-time Education Coordinator - Hartford Public Library

Full-time Education Coordinator - Hartford Public Library . Reporting to the Multicultural Services Director, the Education Coordinator is...

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Bookkeeper - New Britain Public Library

<strong>Bookkeeper -</strong> <strong><span style="color: #48286d;">New Britain Public Library</span></strong>. Full charge bookkeeper, part-time position. Processes accounts payable and receivable, including internal accounts, material budget, monthly reports, etc. Requires accuracy, dependability, and good communication skills. Prefer an AA Degree in accounting studies and must have considerable bookkeeping experience. Send letter of interest, resume, and 3 work-related references to Business Manager, New Britain Public Library, 20 High Street, New Britain, CT 06051 or <a _fcksavedurl="mailto:limberger@nbpl.info" href="mailto:limberger@nbpl.info">limberger@nbpl.info</a>. Applications will be reviewed as received. EOE.

Bookkeeper - New Britain Public Library

Bookkeeper - New Britain Public Library . Full charge bookkeeper, part-time position. Processes accounts payable and receivable, includin...

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The Plague Years, in Film and Memory - Garance Franke-Ruta - The Atlantic

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"Remember when they burnt those people's house down?" Spencer Cox asks.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">We are at a reunion dinner for about half a dozen people at a restaurant on the edge of Soho. I haven't seen him since the mid-1990s. He looks unwell. It's late September, 2012. On Nov. 30 we're on a panel together for World AIDS Day at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center. By Dec. 18 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/21/nyregion/spencer-cox-aids-activist-dies-at-44.html" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">he is dead</a>.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I don't remember, so I look it up when I get back to D.C. In 1987, in Arcadia, Florida, Clifford and Louise Ray's house mysteriously burned to the ground after a court ordered the local schools had to admit their HIV-positive hemopheliac sons, despite community objections. Other families had already been pulling their kids out of the school, which also faced multiple phoned-in bomb threats. The family decided their only option was to give up and leave town.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">This was right around the same time homophobia in America peaked, according to Gallup polling of the 1986-87 period. It was Reagan's second term, there were no AIDS treatments (AZT wasn't approved until March 1987), the Supreme Court had recently upheld state laws making gay sex a crime in the June 1986<a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0478_0186_ZS.html" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; "><i>Bowers v. Hardwick</i></a> ruling, and 57 percent of those surveyed answered yes when asked if gay and lesbian relations should be illegal. Several states were <a href="http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1986_212210/aids-quarantine-proposal-debated.html" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">actively considering</a> quarantine measures for people with AIDS, which is to say, tearing some of their most marginalized and frightened citizens away from the only people who loved them and locking them up with strangers who considered them freaks and pariahs, until they died.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">It's no wonder that when Nora Ephron had to cancel a speech at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center of New York in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, in March 1987, leading to playwright Larry Kramer subbing in for her, the gay and lesbian community in what was then the epicenter of the emerging global pandemic exploded. ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, was born out of Larry's call to action.</p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: center; ">* * *</div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; ">In July I sat down with a rising Harvard senior writing his honors thesis about ACT UP, and about some of the events I was part of more than 20 years ago. I realized then I'd had only four or five other extended conversations about those years over the past 15. I suppose no one talks very much as an adult about </span><a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/act-up-2012-4/index5.html" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">what they did as a teenager</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; ">, but in truth the reality is more complicated than that. Violence, loss, trauma—all are silencing in their own way. And despite growing up under the banner of </span><a href="http://backspace.com/notes/2003/04/silence-death.php" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Silence=Death</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; ">—heck, I'm the girl who painted those words onto a lot of the fabric backdrops you can see in the Oscar-nominated documentary </span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://surviveaplague.com/" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">How to Survive a Plague</a></em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; ">, unspooling a bolt of black canvas in my painter father's studio—I have always been reluctant to participate in the age of memoir. What the world sees as talking about history can feel very much to an individual who was part of it—that is, to me—like dwelling. And as a journalist I have preferred to tell other people's stories rather than my own.</span><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"Others would talk about such experiences all the time," a friend IMed me after the September release of<em>How to Survive a Plague</em>, which tells the story of the ACT UP Treatment + Data Committee (of which I was the youngest member) and the Treatment Action Group (of which I was a founding member) and how they worked to transform the drug-approval process and AIDS research in this country, leading eventually to the availability of the only successful antiretrovirals in existence and, once the U.S. and other governments decided to put some money behind drug distribution, the saving of millions of lives around the world.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">My only response to that expectation of chattiness is: not if you lived through it. I've written only one reflection on that era previously, for a book a decade ago; it took me two months to squeeze out about 1,200 words, because every time I turned to the subject I either developed such a colossal headache I had to stop, or burst into tears.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">Many people who were part of ACT UP have tried to write about it in retrospect, but it took an outsider who was also invested in the story, journalist-turned-filmmaker David France, to bring the story to the mainstream, to the extent that has happened over the past year. France was one of the earliest chroniclers of the epidemic, first in the gay press and later for New York and national media outlets, and a man whose partner Doug Gould, to whom the film is dedicated, died of AIDS in 1992. France's documentary, distributed by IFC and Sundance Selects, has won a slew of awards since premiering in January 2012 in the documentary competition in Sundance, and then in theaters in September. (It's also now available on iTunes and Netflix). It's even been <a href="http://oscar.go.com/nominees/documentary-feature/how-to-survive-a-plague" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">nominated for an Academy Award</a> in the Documentary Feature category.</p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; ">The movie focuses on three HIV-positive men to tell the larger story of the early years of AIDS treatment activism, when death came quick and violently: Peter Staley, a dynamic former bond trader who in his late 20s was given two years to live before joining ACT UP and undertaking some of its most daring and theatrical actions (if an action involved scaling part of a building or bolting yourself in somewhere with power tools, Peter was likely involved); film archivist and later MacArthur genius award-grantee Mark Harrington, the chain-smoking intellectual force behind T+D on whose amber-screened 286 computer most of T+D's giant technical documents were tapped out; and the late Bob Rafsky, a publicist turned ACT UPper who famously <a href="http://www.actupny.org/divatv/netcasts/rafsky_reads.html" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">heckled then-candidate Bill Clinton in 1992</a> and was told in reply a line that would come to define the president, "I feel your pain."</span><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">More ...</p></div><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/02/the-plague-years-in-film-and-memory/273449/">http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/02/the-plague-years-in-film-and-memory/273449/</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

The Plague Years, in Film and Memory - Garance Franke-Ruta - The Atlantic

"Remember when they burnt those people's house down?" Spencer Cox asks. We are at a reunion dinner for about half a dozen peop...

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N.F.L. Will Use IPads to Expand In-Game Concussion Testing - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><nyt_text style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; 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 id="articleBody"><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Where are we?" "Who did we play in the last game?" "What is the date today?"</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Those are some of the questions <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_football_league/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the National Football League." class="meta-org" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">N.F.L.</a> players are asked after they are hit in the head during a game. Next season, they are coming to an iPad.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The mandatory postinjury sideline <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/concussion/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Concussion." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">concussion</a> assessment tool, instituted for the 2012 season along with a baseline test done during physicals at the start of preseason, will now be used in app form by all 32 teams, a method that was tried by a handful of teams in a pilot program last season. The hope is that being able to compare the results of a baseline test and a postinjury test side by side in real time will speed diagnosis and help doctors and trainers recognize when a player should be removed from a game. The league also plans to have independent neurological consultants on the sideline during each game to assist the team physician in diagnosing and treating players.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The players union, which had pushed strongly for independent doctors to be on the sideline, said it was encouraged by the technological advance the new test represented, but it still had questions about how much power the independent consultants would have to make decisions about players. The union wants the independent sideline concussion experts to have almost exclusive authority in detecting concussions and administering tests, in part because it believes team doctors are often busy attending to other injured players, while the concussion experts are there for one reason.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"If you're busy and didn't see the play, how do you know you need us?" said Dr. Thomas Mayer, the union's medical director. "This is a big enough issue we need an extra set of eyes, an extra judgment."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The postinjury test is quick — it takes about six to eight minutes — and shares many elements with the baseline test to allow a comparison that might indicate a decline in function. Both include a section on the players' concussion history and a 24-symptom checklist; players are asked to score themselves on a scale of 1 to 6 in categories like dizziness, confusion, irritability and sleep problems. Both note any abnormal pupil reaction or neck pain. There is a balance test and a concentration test, in which players, who are usually brought to the locker room to be evaluated, are asked to say the months of the year in reverse order, to recite a string of numbers backward and to remember a collection of words three times. Then they are asked to recall them again, without warning, at least five minutes later. The words and sequence of numbers may be changed from test to test, so players cannot memorize them from a previous test to mask concussion symptoms — a fact that has annoyed players, according to Dr. Margot Putukian, the director of athletic medicine at Princeton University Health Services and a member of the N.F.L.'s Head, Neck and Spine Committee.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">On the postinjury tests, there is one different element: a series of five questions designed to test orientation and glean how confused a player might be at that moment. They are: Where are we? What quarter is it right now? Who scored last in the practice or game? Did we win the last game? Those questions, known as Maddocks questions, were developed in the 1990s by an Australian doctor who worked with players in Australian rules football.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"What the application does, when you are evaluating the athlete, you actually see — as they are doing their word recall — his baseline," said Putukian, who added that it was her understanding that team doctors would administer the tests. "He was able to remember 15 out of 15 words, and now he's having trouble giving you five back right away? Maybe he's only able to remember two? It gives you real-time information."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The tests are far from perfect tools for diagnosing concussions. Some doctors are concerned the N.F.L. tests are trying to reduce concussion evaluation to ticking items off a checklist, a problem Putukian acknowledged, emphasizing the importance of having doctors familiar with the players evaluate them. Last season, Jets running back Shonn Greene took a hit to his helmet in a game and walked unsteadily back toward the huddle before quarterback Mark Sanchez sent him off. Greene later returned to the game, and the Jets said he had passed concussion tests given in the locker room. Also last season, San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith took a hit that caused blurred vision, but he remained in the game for several plays and completed a touchdown pass before being removed. He was subsequently found to have a concussion. While he was out, the backup Colin Kaepernick took over, and Smith effectively lost his starting job.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"I think we have to be careful," Putukian said. "The tool, it's not the be-all, end-all. There are going to be athletes who have concussions that this tool does not pick up. It's not a perfect test. Nor is there one. We don't have one that is a perfect test."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">She added: "Athletes may take this and perform this test and do fine on it. But you may know the athlete, athletes will stumble through it — 'Yeah, we played the Seawhawks' — you know they are struggling. It's not bang, bang, bang. They'll give you the right answers, but they are struggling. If you know that athlete, you say: 'I know you passed the test, but I know you. You're not O.K.' "</p><nyt_correction_bottom><div class="articleCorrection" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "></div></nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></nyt_text><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; "></span></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/sports/football/nfl-will-use-ipads-to-expand-in-game-concussion-testing.html?_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/sports/football/nfl-will-use-ipads-to-expand-in-game-concussion-testing.html?_r=0</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

N.F.L. Will Use IPads to Expand In-Game Concussion Testing - NYTimes.com

"Where are we?" "Who did we play in the last game?" "What is the date today?" Those are some of the questions ...

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A Wave of Concussions Hits the N.H.L. - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">For the last two seasons, <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/concussion/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Concussion." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">concussions</a> and hits to the head were frequent talking points in the N.H.L., with the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/hockey/nationalhockeyleague/pittsburghpenguins/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="Recent news and scores about the Pittsburgh Penguins." class="meta-org" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Pittsburgh Penguins</a> star Sidney Crosby serving as the catalyst.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">As the lockout dragged on for more than four months, though, the conversation shifted from player safety to revenue percentages and competitive balance. The first few weeks of the shortened 48-game season passed without much talk of concussions.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">But in the past two weeks, 11 N.H.L. players are believed to have sustained them, among them Crosby's teammate and the reigning most valuable player, Evgeni Malkin, thrusting the issue of head injuries back into the spotlight.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Concussions continue to plague the league, despite its increased emphasis on reducing them. For the second season, the N.H.L. is playing under its broadened version of Rule 48, which penalizes hits that target an opponent's head or make the head the principal point of contact. But many of the recent injuries, including Malkin's, were not caused by hits deemed worthy of fines or suspensions.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Last season, according to CBC network estimates, <a title="CBC report" href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/opinion/2012/04/concussions-and-suspensions-list.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">about 90 players missed games</a> because of concussions, about 13 percent of N.H.L. players on active rosters on a given night. Crosby missed 60 games while recovering from a concussion he sustained in the 2011 Winter Classic.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Malkin, who has 4 goals and 17 assists in 18 games this season, received a concussion diagnosis Sunday, two days after he <a title="Video of hit" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbRVGNKwQIE" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">fell awkwardly into the end boards</a> following a routine shove from Florida's Erik Gudbranson. Malkin slid back-first into the boards, causing his head to snap sharply backward and strike the boards.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma said Malkin initially had short-term memory loss but was improving. The team placed Malkin on injured reserve Monday, retroactive to Sunday. A player on injured reserve is ineligible to play for a minimum of seven days, meaning the soonest Malkin can be reactivated is next Sunday.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"There's not a specific schedule for that right now in terms of physical activity," Bylsma told reporters Tuesday in Sunrise, Fla., where the Penguins played the Panthers again.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"The protocol and resting with a concussion, he's following that right now," Bylsma added.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The Penguins, who lead the Atlantic Division, have a new medical team this season, headed by <a title="Short bio of Dr. Christopher Harner at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center." href="http://www.upmc.com/Services/orthopaedics/experts/sports-medicine/Pages/default.aspx#harner" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Dr. Christopher Harner</a> of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where the team is planning to open a training, sports medicine and performance facility. The Penguins announced in the summer that they had ended their association with their longtime team doctor, Charles Burke.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The team and Burke said that their parting was amicable and not related to Crosby's 14-month concussion saga. Penguins President David Morehouse said the team "wanted to have enhanced medical coverage for our players," which included having doctors travel with the team.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Perhaps because of their history with Crosby, the Penguins are among the N.H.L.'s most transparent teams in disclosing concussions, and General Manager Ray Shero is considered a progressive voice in support of tighter rules governing hits to the head and concussion protocol.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">A lack of openness about concussions can make it difficult to have an accurate accounting of head injuries. Among the other players with recently announced head injuries are the 20-year-old Carolina forward Jeff Skinner, who missed 16 games last season with a concussion; St. Louis's high-scoring rookie Vladimir Tarasenko; another top rookie, Brendan Gallagher of Montreal; and Devils winger Ryan Carter.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Under N.H.L. regulations, clubs are not required to disclose the specific nature of a player's injury. But they are not permitted to give out false or misleading information about an injury.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The Columbus Blue Jackets' announcement that Artem Anisimov is out with an "upper body injury" is allowed under those guidelines, even though he was taken off the ice in Detroit on a stretcher Thursday after <a title="Video of hit" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a_a6EPr3pU" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">his head was driven into the ice</a> by the elbow of a falling Red Wing, Kyle Quincey.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The Rangers do not always disclose players' concussions. Rick Nash and Ryan McDonagh are believed to be out of the lineup with concussions, but the team has issued no details regarding their conditions. Forward Darroll Powe was sidelined with a confirmed concussion Feb. 17, but returned to play on Tuesday.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Nash, who has missed four games, returned to practice Tuesday and told reporters that his absence was because of a "number of things." He declined to confirm or deny that a concussion was among the injuries.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">The Rangers have been reluctant to disclose concussions in the recent past. In January 2011, they revealed that the enforcer Derek Boogaard had sustained a concussion in a fight about a month earlier, and in September 2011 they disclosed that defenseman Marc Staal had played more than two months at the end of the previous season with concussion symptoms. Staal did not return to game action until the 2012 Winter Classic.</p></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/sports/hockey/another-wave-of-concussions-hits-nhl.html?">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/sports/hockey/another-wave-of-concussions-hits-nhl.html?</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

A Wave of Concussions Hits the N.H.L. - NYTimes.com

For the last two seasons,  concussions  and hits to the head were frequent talking points in the N.H.L., with the  Pittsburgh Penguins  star...

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BBC News - Bad sleep 'dramatically' alters body

A run of poor sleep can have a potentially profound effect on the internal workings of the human body, say UK researchers.<br /><br><br /><br>The activity of hundreds of genes was altered when people's sleep was cut to less than six hours a day for a week.<br /><br><br /><br>Writing in the journal PNAS, the researchers said the results helped explain how poor sleep damaged health.<br /><br><br /><br>Heart disease, diabetes, obesity and poor brain function have all been linked to substandard sleep.<br /><br><br /><br>What missing hours in bed actually does to alter health, however, is unknown.<br /><br><br /><br>So researchers at the University of Surrey analysed the blood of 26 people after they had had plenty of sleep, up to 10 hours each night for a week, and compared the results with samples after a week of fewer than six hours a night.<br /><br><br /><br>More than 700 genes were altered by the shift. Each contains the instructions for building a protein, so those that became more active produced more proteins - changing the chemistry of the body.<br /><br><br /><br>Continue reading the main story<br /><br>Meanwhile the natural body clock was disturbed - some genes naturally wax and wane in activity through the day, but this effect was dulled by sleep deprivation.<br /><br><br /><br>Prof Colin Smith, from the University of Surrey, told the BBC: "There was quite a dramatic change in activity in many different kinds of genes."<br /><br><br /><br>Areas such as the immune system and how the body responds to damage and stress were affected.<br /><br><br /><br>Prof Smith added: "Clearly sleep is critical to rebuilding the body and maintaining a functional state, all kinds of damage appear to occur - hinting at what may lead to ill health.<br /><br><br /><br>"If we can't actually replenish and replace new cells, then that's going to lead to degenerative diseases."<br /><br><br /><br>He said many people may be even more sleep deprived in their daily lives than those in the study - suggesting these changes may be common.<br /><br><br /><br>Dr Akhilesh Reddy, a specialist in the body clock at the University of Cambridge, said the study was "interesting".<br /><br><br /><br>He said the key findings were the effects on inflammation and the immune system as it was possible to see a link between those effects and health problems such as diabetes.<br /><br><br /><br>The findings also tie into research attempting to do away with sleep, such as by finding a drug that could eliminate the effects of sleep deprivation.<br /><br><br /><br>Dr Reddy said: "We don't know what the switch is that causes all these changes, but theoretically if you could switch it on or off, you might be able to get away without sleep.<br /><br><br /><br>"But my feeling is that sleep is fundamentally important to regenerating all cells."<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21572686">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21572686</a>

BBC News - Bad sleep 'dramatically' alters body

A run of poor sleep can have a potentially profound effect on the internal workings of the human body, say UK researchers. The activity of h...

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one room challenge - week 4

We have arrived at week 4 of the One Room Challenge (you can <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/p/one-room-challenge.html" target="_blank">catch up on weeks 1 - 3 here</a>) and this week has been all about fumes. Paint, floor wax and stripping chemicals. Ahh the smell of progress.<br /><br />Thanks to a well timed play date and some quality grandparent time, the hubs and I took advantage of an empty house and got painting.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3UVy7XOmQE6m3UdBwfCM5s81GoEm8VgqCEA4JCgZj46YpnldOOizHA78R3K4bbxbUJ9O3SJewYpnf0WklZvTkMcF2KmKulGEX5EKTmImM7uCKsxRmVmXkKHXsFOgF7c0t6YzmNHbRCDRU/s1600/readytopaint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="636" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3UVy7XOmQE6m3UdBwfCM5s81GoEm8VgqCEA4JCgZj46YpnldOOizHA78R3K4bbxbUJ9O3SJewYpnf0WklZvTkMcF2KmKulGEX5EKTmImM7uCKsxRmVmXkKHXsFOgF7c0t6YzmNHbRCDRU/s640/readytopaint.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Btw, I shared my progress on <a href="http://instagram.com/littleblackdoor" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, and am now officially addicted. I know I'm late to the party but that sucker is just fun.<br /><br />Now for those of you who are new, I'm a color girl. I need it the same way I need anything that Andy Cohen will put on TV. So I went with quite a radical choice for the walls. White.<br /><br />I can hear the sarcasm in your voice, 'White?! That is soo daring.' Well, for me it is. This is only the second time...ever that I've painted a room white. (<a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/p/kitchen.html" target="_blank">the kitchen</a> being the other instance)<br /><br />But you may have noticed from <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2013/02/one-room-challenge-week-1.html" target="_blank">my board</a>, that there is also another paint color listed. I can't go without color somewhere on the walls, so I went for the fifth wall - the ceiling. I took a cue from all of my <a href="http://pinterest.com/ladybaum/ceiling/" target="_blank">Pinterest ceiling inspiration</a> and gave the girls what they wanted. Pink.<br /><br />Not bubblegum pink, or baby pink. We are going for Big Girl Pink.<br /><br />My 5-year-old Amelia picked out <a href="http://www.housefabric.com/Portobello-Vase-Blossom-P91009.aspx" target="_blank">this fabric</a> (she's good, I know) and I used that pink/purple color as our Big Girl inspiration.<br /><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iVf6q5l3ACUsgBd7AqwSezcLUsmUSgUfC4wjyUoTdx9WYYhjc8MeorSJrRbzRGq3lA9bTjM2EEmQh6roRiDohtogvGWIcZZQ-3NiqULyYzZZ7PEeShL0uHVYEeGmcigzCc9AeTpWi8Vi/s1600/portobellovase.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iVf6q5l3ACUsgBd7AqwSezcLUsmUSgUfC4wjyUoTdx9WYYhjc8MeorSJrRbzRGq3lA9bTjM2EEmQh6roRiDohtogvGWIcZZQ-3NiqULyYzZZ7PEeShL0uHVYEeGmcigzCc9AeTpWi8Vi/s400/portobellovase.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I matched up a swatch (<a href="http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/springtimebloom" target="_blank">BM Springtime Bloom</a>) and slapped that sucker up on the wall.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-3edElKjnzSNWdOXWKJcukL9CLa6g0E6qkvavHI3X0KFFyH88ZTQkQ_kqX4xOvB5o5dqpCmbGMrw9KGrsGNRHogl8rK8ojJzdE6wGWSMd12gL7m7aRiFz9pzoUMngw27CPFZLJ31piCc/s1600/girlspaint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-3edElKjnzSNWdOXWKJcukL9CLa6g0E6qkvavHI3X0KFFyH88ZTQkQ_kqX4xOvB5o5dqpCmbGMrw9KGrsGNRHogl8rK8ojJzdE6wGWSMd12gL7m7aRiFz9pzoUMngw27CPFZLJ31piCc/s400/girlspaint.jpg" width="398" /></a></div><br />I knew as soon as I started trimming out the ceiling that I loved it.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyh-JuimqSyUnjhWDsIntIZPxN_3_ZlY1-TbIbLwtL-CT7NBAsKpnc3rwufOCHzQUEQy-hKz9l8yf2jGDlN9hKP6ZqONY1YtlftTpck-V_J0oXui98LN2LR2SEueJmRWMfVdYWMiOr_9F/s1600/girlsprogress1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyh-JuimqSyUnjhWDsIntIZPxN_3_ZlY1-TbIbLwtL-CT7NBAsKpnc3rwufOCHzQUEQy-hKz9l8yf2jGDlN9hKP6ZqONY1YtlftTpck-V_J0oXui98LN2LR2SEueJmRWMfVdYWMiOr_9F/s640/girlsprogress1.jpg" width="630" /></a></div><br />These girls' are not wallflowers and neither is their room. It is a really great color that looks different thru out the day. It is a great contrast against the white and it makes the room feel bigger. Win win.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7liebOZ9xkV0L3ZLBDjZzgIAY7VCvYXXBdJ1FVIGwV4WzsCAcmnQM7JGYeVnQS6bYZeq07nslNQzbX_fiGLQoylE689fcYqMFKQQMzl6DHIKt-FkvSXpV44qDS-VrUZgG0un7Lcl7ttg7/s1600/pinkceiling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7liebOZ9xkV0L3ZLBDjZzgIAY7VCvYXXBdJ1FVIGwV4WzsCAcmnQM7JGYeVnQS6bYZeq07nslNQzbX_fiGLQoylE689fcYqMFKQQMzl6DHIKt-FkvSXpV44qDS-VrUZgG0un7Lcl7ttg7/s640/pinkceiling.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Beautiful ceiling and walls, now on to the floor. I took advantage of the emptyness to get on my hands and knees and clean the crap out of that floor. Soap and hot water, elbow grease and then a coat of wax. I'll do another coat of wax and then buff it. (my mom is very proud at this moment)<br /><br />The crib was then taken down (sad) and Eve's 'new' bed was brought up from the basement. The girls' have the same beds that were used by my sister and I, which I love.  With both beds in the room, we were able to move things around and I've nailed down where all the little puzzle pieces will fit. Sweet progress.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqE281rFUXWGbUVhwYQlBIqygGwTJ251Bs39eWdkBg6JkF-BBy-OBlBmzq31CRumBVt19Mm_KdurrSXNDimIxZQrvwNCdjcPkz9gGlbcZRp5pmlg_hy9OsDMcVrGMP2CbI3UUgwh0ArpNN/s1600/girlsroomprogress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqE281rFUXWGbUVhwYQlBIqygGwTJ251Bs39eWdkBg6JkF-BBy-OBlBmzq31CRumBVt19Mm_KdurrSXNDimIxZQrvwNCdjcPkz9gGlbcZRp5pmlg_hy9OsDMcVrGMP2CbI3UUgwh0ArpNN/s640/girlsroomprogress.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The paint fumes must have made us giddy because we also went ahead and put up the new light fixture. And in my final burst of weekend energy I took those drawers out of the dresser and started to strip. The drawers. I stripped the drawers.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUeBycQ67api7OLA5Jgs9pAfqo9VrckFX_HSMceEsAOSIh_FBLtKcEVZRo5rPZWFnWuQblXEtotvZkPvYyfpvvJAk83BDtc3pxjV9gOd4e6fHeN732TbYagnHC-E14ttmZl1vb9O08ClCv/s1600/paintstrip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUeBycQ67api7OLA5Jgs9pAfqo9VrckFX_HSMceEsAOSIh_FBLtKcEVZRo5rPZWFnWuQblXEtotvZkPvYyfpvvJAk83BDtc3pxjV9gOd4e6fHeN732TbYagnHC-E14ttmZl1vb9O08ClCv/s400/paintstrip.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />As of this morning all the drawers are stripped and the base is half way there. More on that next week.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With all of that, I'm pooped. Let's check in on the list, shall we?</span><br /><br /><ol style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strike><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Come up with functional floor plan</span></strike></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strike><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Paint walls/ceiling/trim</span></strike></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Paint dresser (new hardware?) <b>Progress</b></span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Update vanity (maybe some fun color or hardware) <b>Progress</b></span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Find curtains and add trim</span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Add a rug and new bedding <b>Progress</b></span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Hang art and create some personalized pieces <b>Progress</b></span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strike><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Find/Install new light fixture (buh bye ceiling fan)</span></strike></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><strike>Reupholster chair and possibly add comfy floor cushions</strike> </span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Find/Make lampshade(s) </span></li></ol><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 20.98958396911621px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Now let's see how the others are progressing!</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://chattafabulous.blogspot.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Chattafabulous</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://chinoiseriechic.blogspot.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Chinoiserie Chic</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://www.classiccasualhome.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Classic Casual Home </span></a></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://laurenleonardinteriors.com/blog/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">the Cottage Mix</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://cottageandvine.blogspot.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Cottage & Vine</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://designindulgence.blogspot.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Design Indulgence</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://www.designmanifest.com/blog/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Design Manifest </span></a></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://everythingleb.blogspot.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Everything LEB</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.markovadesign.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Hodge Podge</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://kimmacumberinteriors.blogspot.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Kim Macumber Interiors</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.mattersofstyleblog.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Matters of Style</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://mycraftyhomelife.blogspot.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">My Crafty Home Life</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://scottdesigns.ca/blog/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Nicole Scott Designs</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://blog.pacificfamilyhomes.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Pacific Family Homes</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.pawleysislandposh.blogspot.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Pawleys Island Posh</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.thepeakoftreschic.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">the Peak of Tres Chic</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://blog.thepinkpagoda.us/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">the Pink Pagoda</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.powellbrower.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Powell Brower Home</a> </span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://simpledetailsblog.blogspot.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Simple Details</a> </span></div></div>

one room challenge - week 4

We have arrived at week 4 of the One Room Challenge (you can catch up on weeks 1 - 3 here ) and this week has been all about fumes. Paint, f...

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Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 02/27/2013

<ul class="diigo-linkroll"> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.securedgenetworks.com/secure-edge-networks-blog/bid/86775/8-Studies-Show-iPads-in-the-Classroom-Improve-Education">8 Studies Show iPads in the Classroom Improve Education</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Yes, this is the article. But you know what - if you use the ipad as a doorstop - does it make the classroom better? iPads IN the classroom don't make it better, I would argue that technology, used properly, can improve achievement. But technology used improperly is like the human voice used improperly -it can harm. Anyway, since this is making the rounds, you might want to take a look.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/research">research</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ipads">ipads</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ipadchat">ipadchat</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ipad">ipad</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.thesocialmediahat.com/blog/are-you-thought-leader-02262013">Are you a Thought Leader? | The Social Media Hat</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">I love these thoughts about being a thought leader. I think also, this could be said of leaders in schools as well. "It's important that if you want to be a Thought Leader in your industry, you take the time to develop your thoughts and publish information that will educate, entertain and engage your readers. Think about the issues you've worked through yourself in the past with your business and talk about those. Share your challenges and how you struggled to get through them, but what you did eventually to achieve success. Or, sometimes even more enlightening, share your failures, and how you're working never to experience that particular failure again. An old Afghan proverb I heard on the radio last week said, "If you think you're leading, and no one's following, you're just going for a walk.""</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://blog.acthompson.net/2013/02/what-most-schools-dont-teach.html">Computer Science Teacher: What Most Schools Don’t Teach</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">From Alfred Thompson - former Microsoft Blogger but now CLASSROOM TEACHER. He's one of my go-to people for 21st century skills and I'm glad he's in the classroom again - some kids are very lucky. "Code.org has released their highly anticipated video to encourage more people, especially students, to learn how to code for computers. It’s one of the better videos I have seen with a lot of names and faces students will recognize and a few they will not. They may want to learn more about that later BTW. Starring Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, will.i.am, NBA All-star Chris Bosh, Jack Dorsey, Tony Hsieh, Drew Houston, Gabe Newell, Ruchi Sanghvi, Elena Silenok, Vanessa Hurst, and Hadi Partovi. Directed by Lesley Chilcott."</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/videos">videos</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/technology">technology</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://corp.eyejot.com">Eyejot - Video Mail In A Blink</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">My friend Toni Olivieri-Barton mentioned this in a FLAT Session yesterday where we were talking about global collaboration. It is a Video mail sharing site where you flip and send video back and forth. Toni said she'd like to try it with students. This would be interesting to try. This is better than text email for families separated by time - you can do a video message. Interesting. There are also apps for it.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/app">app</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/mlearning">mlearning</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/evernote">evernote</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/flatclass">flatclass</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.bamradionetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=91&Itemid=259">Every Classroom Matters: What is a MOOC? Why does it Matter?</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">So excited to announce the Every Classroom Matters online radio show (podcast) http://bit.ly/XAozCY If you go to the site on your ipad or iphone, you can click "itunes" and it will add the show to your podcast feed or you can play it. The first show I talked to Dr. Lee Graham, a cofounder of #diffimooc about MOOCs and how colleges can actually make money giving away teaching for free. What does this model look like? It was a great conversation and I"ll be sharing more about it. Please listen and let me know what you think and if you have a suggestion for a new show, follow the link. Thanks!</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/mooc">mooc</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/all_teachers">all_teachers</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/bestpractices">bestpractices</a></p> </li> </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='https://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 02/27/2013

8 Studies Show iPads in the Classroom Improve Education Yes, this is the article. But you know what ...

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Calling SA teachers – join SchoolNet at the Intel Teach One Day Conference 13 April in Pietermaritzburg

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SchoolNet proudly presents a One Day Intel Teach Conference on Saturday April 13th at Maritzburg College,  Pietermaritzburg. If you would like to download and print this brochure, please click on the following attachment link. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.box.com/s/6q2z2w6aogm2gtqerve7" target="_blank">Intel Teach One Day Conference in Pietermaritzburg 13 April 2013</a></span><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9IzUH4SZp2epZRCWPbSkI8Ek5d_Dn5QVrZzI2WK09PQCKR1gbJdb_C5qoyjPpxQ9fIGtuSVEfO4LGWrVf_WOSM0ddcBuGG34EVBK_x9FkxThrS3rMg8NLyqC1COoL8sFwkY_6kvOc-CQ/s1600-h/image%25255B5%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="537" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTSUL1dkHsLXJppALLTHH3QHBuan161GtimmipUTmVJizrROJlqu_hyphenhyphenZP2jo_OAVVJsNbiGoqFuSZeEz2rA_2KIO-w216CqwQGw6v44Zt8a_ouL-iLfv23Er8dM3DZaztSrj_Sc4LZSh0/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="373" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Note</u>: You might be asking if this is the main SchoolNet Conference this year? No, we will be informing you about our 3-day conference in the first week of July in Bloemfontein in due course as indicated at the bottom of the brochure. </span></div>

conferences Intel Calling SA teachers – join SchoolNet at the Intel Teach One Day Conference 13 April in Pietermaritzburg

SchoolNet proudly presents a One Day Intel Teach Conference on Saturday April 13th at Maritzburg College,  Pietermaritzburg. If you would li...

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Today's archidose #653

Here are a few photos of "Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (2011) at <a href="http://www.chateau-la-coste.com/arts-centre/">Château la Coste</a> in Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, France, by Tadao Ando.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacqueline_poggi/8487880753/" title=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade by jacqueline.poggi, on Flickr"><img alt=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade" height="408" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8246/8487880753_04ea690a51_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacqueline_poggi/8488975828/" title=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade by jacqueline.poggi, on Flickr"><img alt=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade" height="408" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8240/8488975828_49f4d7fc23_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacqueline_poggi/8487883681/" title=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade by jacqueline.poggi, on Flickr"><img alt=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade" height="800" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8240/8487883681_a6e108e117_b.jpg" width="532" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacqueline_poggi/8488979868/" title=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade by jacqueline.poggi, on Flickr"><img alt=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade" height="800" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8510/8488979868_6ba70aeccb_b.jpg" width="532" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacqueline_poggi/8487887293/" title=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade by jacqueline.poggi, on Flickr"><img alt=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade" height="800" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8516/8487887293_f3e26fbece_b.jpg" width="532" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacqueline_poggi/8487889009/" title=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade by jacqueline.poggi, on Flickr"><img alt=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade" height="426" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8236/8487889009_0397ee93df_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacqueline_poggi/8488980854/" title=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade by jacqueline.poggi, on Flickr"><img alt=""Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (Tadao Ando), château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade" height="444" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8368/8488980854_ccaf6e61b6_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:<br /><blockquote>:: Join and add photos to the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/archi-dose/">archidose pool</a>, and/or<br />:: Tag your photos <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/archidose/">archidose</a></span></blockquote>

Today's archidose #653

Here are a few photos of "Four cubes to contemplate our environment" (2011) at Château la Coste in Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, France...

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Oscars Fashion Report with Bonnie & Clyde

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Hola y’all! Bonnie Boner and Clyde S. Dale are here for IWS with the only Oscars Fashion Report you’ll need. They’re gonna talk about who looked great and not so great on Hollywood’s biggest night. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Bonnie:</b> Thanks so much to the guys at IWS for asking us to do the Fashion Report! We’re soooo excited, right Clyde? <br /><b>Clyde:</b> OHHH ….. MYGOD! This is the most exciting thing that has happened to me since I saw Lance Bass doing the walk of shame outside of my West Village apartment at 7 am one Sunday morning! <br /><b>Bonnie:</b> Okay, we should get started. I’M SO EXCIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITED!<br /><b>Clyde:</b> Honey, you need to calm down! Although, it is nice to see you living up to your last name. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><i>First up: Anne Hathaway… </i></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fq794tWxI6RbbfwUJxcrNbylXY7IhOq2UgVsxRUP3QJc1cII37qfWHbqUfY4JFQaw67-ktBhn1NC_NV5Yy1Gn5eaLFUdRW7JiqamIv5OP6dvbrqrfWkzS9fpg9-WsZzzDKeBMlokeqQ/s1600/Anne+Hathaway+2013+Oscars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fq794tWxI6RbbfwUJxcrNbylXY7IhOq2UgVsxRUP3QJc1cII37qfWHbqUfY4JFQaw67-ktBhn1NC_NV5Yy1Gn5eaLFUdRW7JiqamIv5OP6dvbrqrfWkzS9fpg9-WsZzzDKeBMlokeqQ/s400/Anne+Hathaway+2013+Oscars.jpg" width="168" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Bonnie:</b> I really do love Anne. I mean, she’s a truly gifted actress and a really great human being. I know that because she’s told me that she’s both of those things over and over and over. And, judging by this picture she’s happy to see me! It’s okay though I’ve seen her boobs more times than I’ve seen my own. We get it Anne, you’ve got great boobs. Thanks. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Clyde:</b> Girl, we need to head up to San Quentin and find some guys who are in prison for a gang rape and have them hold her down and force feed her a cheeseburger. And what’s with the hair? Seriously Anne, even Daniel Day Lewis didn’t stay in character all the way to the Oscars. Let the hair grow out again and stop barfing up your dinner. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Next we have Jennifer Aniston… </i></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLVV0lQvON88MTgbBFgH3s_uPRzSz15xBtYBLeotW-Ep-JNBNb9W_dPKf0tffBBRffsoSm-aJy5UhmQmpEGjEZvkrWMFro-gwK0KdiVkBBvhndFpGwLDOiCA-Lc8QYdty-wwnUUush3_I/s1600/Jennifer+Aniston+Oscars+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLVV0lQvON88MTgbBFgH3s_uPRzSz15xBtYBLeotW-Ep-JNBNb9W_dPKf0tffBBRffsoSm-aJy5UhmQmpEGjEZvkrWMFro-gwK0KdiVkBBvhndFpGwLDOiCA-Lc8QYdty-wwnUUush3_I/s400/Jennifer+Aniston+Oscars+2013.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Bonnie: </b>Well, it certainly was a surprise to see Jen there. I mean, we know she isn’t there because she was nominated for anything. I guess they just took pity on her and offered to let her present. Hollywood is so full of caring people like that. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Clyde:</b> It is, Bonnie and you’d think she would pay her friends who got her into this back by actually dressing up and at least pretending to enjoy the event. I get that she’s depressed that she’s about that age where in a few years she will have to buy a ticket, but that’s no reason to be such a sourpuss. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Okay, now we’ve got Octavia Spencer… </i></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6dvnzZjIdGOKTVfps08mq8fNcmxUdg6GUZsxU4bJ4FoFQDTbI0ephSGa4JYaukz6-oKnW_kP2qm1qoIb354877gmBQFS-ttbpPEIk9WyF38593abcudKFXduaNp82Vaf9wX57hbMBg4/s1600/Octavia_Spencer_Oscars_2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6dvnzZjIdGOKTVfps08mq8fNcmxUdg6GUZsxU4bJ4FoFQDTbI0ephSGa4JYaukz6-oKnW_kP2qm1qoIb354877gmBQFS-ttbpPEIk9WyF38593abcudKFXduaNp82Vaf9wX57hbMBg4/s400/Octavia_Spencer_Oscars_2013.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Bonnie:</b> Oh dear. Well, look, Octavia is a very nice person, I met her once when I accidentally thought she was clearing tables and washing dishes at Chateau Marmot one night. It was an honest mistake. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Clyde:</b> Yeah, and we know who was eating all of Anne Hathaway’s leftovers too! And the desserts! Hey-OOOOOOOOO! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><i>And real quick, last one in this segment is Heidi Klum… </i></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNnQd8LOYKZZYRwkDa2tFxwDMs8lBl3c9-PcyX3XqxN-rjoWftjETPe-o0NVd0hbmAHjl9ZhLoCdcaRJaJhWjeN9YjNuV_4NneG2ey7C7jcS7U6p3t1Zbei6axW55xoUlnOAUVVaczJec/s1600/Heidi-Klum-Oscars-2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNnQd8LOYKZZYRwkDa2tFxwDMs8lBl3c9-PcyX3XqxN-rjoWftjETPe-o0NVd0hbmAHjl9ZhLoCdcaRJaJhWjeN9YjNuV_4NneG2ey7C7jcS7U6p3t1Zbei6axW55xoUlnOAUVVaczJec/s400/Heidi-Klum-Oscars-2013.jpg" width="158" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Bonnie:</b> Wow! You know, I’m not saying that Heidi doesn’t look good for someone so … well, someone her age, but is it really necessary to be hanging out all over the place? God, we’ve seen those things enough anyway. And, quit pretending that they’re still naturally that firm and perky! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Clyde:</b> IKNOWRITE? Girl, if you took those implants out and burned them that silicone would create so much white smoke they would see it all the way in Rome and think they found a new Pope already. Besides, it’s not like Heidi is actually an actress or anything like that. There’s just no reason to show up at a party to celebrate a group you’re not a part of dressed like you’re ready to sample some sausages in the back after the show <i>Fräulein</i>. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Okay, that’s it for the first segment of today’s Fashion Report on IWS. Be sure to stay with us through the break because when we come back we’re gonna answer the question “Which will Kristen Stewart do first? Sober up, or shower?” Also, later in the show we’ll have female bloggers from various feminist sites on to dish more fashion AND talk about what a mean, hateful, sexist, racist and misogynist jerk Seth MacFarlane is. You don’t want to miss that! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">Jayman3768@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.twitter.com/jayman_iws" target="_blank">@Jayman_IWS </a><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p>Also, be sure to join us for <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/02/27/i-love-my-khuntry" target="_blank">I Love My Khuntry</a> on I'm With Stupid as we talk about all the hoopla and over the top fake outrage and anger over this year's Oscars as well as other big news of the week at 11 AM ET! </o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>

Oscars Fashion Report with Bonnie & Clyde

Hola y’all! Bonnie Boner and Clyde S. Dale are here for IWS with the only Oscars Fashion Report you’ll need. They’re gonna talk about who lo...

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Mediterranean diet

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Mediterranean diet" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-512d4268/turbine/la-ol-mediterranean-diet-study-20130226-001/599" /><br /><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">Sardines and other fish are part of the Mediterranean diet. </span><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">(<span class="photographer">Getty Images</span> / <span class="dateMonth">February </span><span class="dateDay">26</span><span class="dateYear">, 2013</span>)</span><br /><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 Karin Klein</span><div class="date" style="color: #930000; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; margin-top: 3px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dateString" style="display: inline;">February 26, 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;">3:39 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;">It sounds like a happy hour dream: Now, scientists say, you can have your wine and eat the nuts that go with it, and be healthier in the bargain. A rigorous new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine should finally put to rest any doubts about whether a <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/health/diets-dieting/mediterranean-diet-HEDI00008.topic" id="HEDI00008" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Mediterranean Diet">Mediterranean diet</a> -- rich in olive oil or nuts as well as fish, with a glass of wine per day also allowed -- promotes better cardiovascular health than the way most of us eat. It does.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">That might not be surprising, but up to now, advice on the Mediterranean diet has been based on correlation: People in Mediterranean areas that tend to follow that way of eating experienced lower incidence of stroke and other cardiovascular problems. Could the difference have been genetic? Could people who ate that way also be doing other things that made the crucial difference? The new study, conducted in Spain, randomly assigned a large number of subjects to different eating styles, made sure they were following it and measured results -- not lab-test results but illness and death.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">But what about the long-standing battle between those who believe that a very <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/health/diets-dieting/low-fat-diet-HEDI000010.topic" id="HEDI000010" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Low Fat Diet">low-fat diet</a> is the best way to fend off cardiac risk, and those who espouse a way of eating much higher in the so-called good fats? Should all of the people carefully counting their daily fat grams give up the effort and take a spoonful of medicine in the form of olive oil? (Or, as the study had it, four tablespoons a day -- close to 500 calories of fat before you've eaten a solid thing.) Here the situation is much more complicated.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">The study meant to compare the two. The control group was supposed to eat a <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/health/diets-dieting/low-fat-diet-HEDI000010.topic" id="HEDI000010" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Low Fat Diet">low-fat diet</a>. The problem, as reported in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/health/mediterranean-diet-can-cut-heart-disease-study-finds.html?pagewanted=all" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;">New York Times</a> and the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324338604578326160736614012.html?mod=googlenews_wsj" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;">Wall Street Journal,</a> was that those people barely reduced their fat intake, even after receiving additional coaching. That's why the <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200303?query=featured_home&#t=articleResults" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;">article</a> words things this way:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">"We designed a randomized trial to test the efficacy of two Mediterranean diets (one supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil and another with nuts), as compared with a control diet (advice on a low-fat diet), on primary cardiovascular prevention."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">The researchers could have made that clearer at the get-go: Receiving advice on a diet isn't the same as eating that way most days. So the actual comparison was between a Mediterranean diet and the standard way of eating among Spaniards (who apparently, in many ways, are not following a Mediterranean diet no matter what their geographical location happens to be).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">What this study may have shown us about the difference between Mediterranean and low fat is that the former is easier to follow. There were no big problems getting subjects to ingest olive oil, wine and seafood. Low fat? Not so much.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">The believers in low-fat diets could legitimately argue that the control group received too little coaching and support for their way of eating. But there's also a reality that has to be taken into account. No matter what future research shows about the value of a low-fat or very low-fat diet, when it comes to improving public health, we might need not just a healthier diet but one that large numbers of people will find sustainable over a lifetime.</div></div></div>

Mediterranean Diet Mediterranean diet

Sardines and other fish are part of the Mediterranean diet.  ( Getty Images  /  February  26 , 2013 ) By Karin Klein February 26, 2013 ,  3:...

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With Republican ally, Obama blasts Congress on sequestration

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="412" id="flashObj" width="486"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=2191280980001&playerID=1409164951001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAETmrZQ~,EVFEM4AKJdRjek0MS21pRzf_GTDAM-xj&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=2191280980001&playerID=1409164951001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAETmrZQ~,EVFEM4AKJdRjek0MS21pRzf_GTDAM-xj&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="486" height="412" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" swLiveConnect="true" allowScriptAccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – President Barack Obama used a backdrop of a shipbuilding plant, factory workers and the local Republican congressman in his latest attempt to increase pressure on Congress to bend on the sequester cuts.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">With Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) in tow but off stage — even as the congressman said later that president and the GOP deserve equal blame for not advancing viable sequester alternatives — Obama warned that while the nation won’t see immediate damages should the sequester cuts take place Friday, they will damage the economic recovery he has carefully shepherded and place the nation’s security at risk.</div><a class="hidden" href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/with-republican-ally-obama-blasts-congress-on-sequestration-88109.html#continue" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; left: -9999em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Continue Reading</a><div id="continue" style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />“These cuts are wrong,” he said while standing in front of a three-story aircraft carrier propeller. “They’re not smart, they’re not fair, they are a self-inflicted wound that doesn’t have to happen.”(<a href="http://www.politico.com/gallery/2013/02/what-theyre-saying-about-sequestration/000817-011563.html" rel="noreferrer" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">PHOTOS: What they’re saying about sequestration</a>)</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell provided the White House with the bipartisan display it’s long sought, and Obama said he gave the congressman from Virginia Beach “credit” deserved for breaking with his leadership and traveling here aboard Air Force One.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Obama acknowledged the political risk for Republicans — “That’s not always healthy, being with me,” he said — but praised Rigell for his call for Republicans to consider new tax revenues as part of a deal to avert the sequester.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“There are too many Republicans in Congress right now who refuse to compromise even an inch when it comes to closing tax loopholes and special interest tax breaks,” Obama said. “Keep in mind, nobody is asking them to raise income tax rates. All we’re asking is for them to consider closing tax loopholes and deductions.”</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell did not speak at the event, though he did with reporters aboard Air Force One, expressing his dissatisfaction with his conference but his skepticism that any deal could be struck ahead of the March 1 deadline. Along with Rigell, Obama praised by name Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and made a reference to “your Republican governor,” Bob McDonnell, for promoting Obama’s version of a “balanced approach.”</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Neither attended the event.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As has his administration, Obama warned the sequester would result in delays in commercial air traffic, fewer federal crimes being investigated and prosecuted, less child care and a building slowdown for defense contractors.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The president said Defense employees would face unpaid furloughs, the ripple effects of which would be damaging to local and national economies.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Obama also delivered a rebuke to Republicans who have said in recent weeks that the White House should be forced to choose what elements of the government are cut due to sequester.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The cuts themselves, he said, are too broad to be able to be targeted toward specific agencies or programs. Instead, Obama said, more tax revenue is necessary to meet the sequester’s debt-reduction target.</div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“There’s no smart way to do it,” he said. “Do I close funding for disabled kids or poor kids? Do I close this Navy shipyard or some other? When you’re doing things in a way that’s not smart, you can’t gloss over the pain and impact it’s going to have on the economy. The broader point is, Virginia, we can’t just cut our way to prosperity.”</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell is hardly anyone’s idea of a rock-ribbed Republican. The former car dealer gave $1,000 to Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and told a town hall meeting Monday that House Speaker John Boehner was not acting in the country’s best interest. Obama won his district in November.</div><a class="hidden" href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/with-republican-ally-obama-blasts-congress-on-sequestration-88109_Page2.html#continue" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-weight: bold; left: -9999em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Continue Reading</a><div id="continue" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />“I don’t believe that there’s enough time to come to a definitive agreement which would stop it,” he saidRigell, the first Republican congressman to fly on Air Force One with Obama since Sen. Rand Paul traveled to Kentucky in Sept. 2011, told reporters Tuesday before the event that there isn’t time to negotiate and pass a sequestration agreement before Friday’s deadline.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell, whose district is among the most military-heavy in the country, said after the event that he was disappointed that Obama didn’t present specifics of how he would prefer to reduce federal government spending in place of the sequester.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I appreciate him bringing attention to this matter,” Rigell told POLITICO after returning to Washington. “What I did not see, the same thing I told him on Air Force One, I did not see a definitive outline of the expense reductions that would be expressed in the form of legislation. I don’t know to what extent he’s encouraging Sen. (Harry) Reid to advance such a bill. If one isn’t advanced through the Senate, we won’t have one to advance through the House.”</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell said he’s already heard from GOP colleagues expressing puzzlement that he would join Obama on Tuesday’s trip, but that he could not in good conscience have passed on a chance to make the case for his constituents to the president.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I wasn’t going there to be an apologist or an advocate for the president, i was going there to try to persuade people,” Rigell said. “I was trying to make a point to the president, even though there’s downside with people in my own conference not undersanding or questioning my motives.”</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell said he and Obama did not speak during the return flight to Washington.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Obama, who won a second term in 2012 with only two fewer states than he took during his first election in 2008, said his time in office has taught him humility and that he cannot accomplish his agenda alone.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The one thing about being president is after four years you become pretty humble,” Obama said. “You think that maybe you wouldn’t but actually you do, when you realize you cant do things by yourself, that’s not how our system works. You’ve got to have the help and the goodwill of Congress. And what that means is you have to make sure the constituents of the members of Congress are putting some pressure and making sure they’re doing the right thing, putting an end to some of these political games.”</div><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /></span></span></div>

Sequestration With Republican ally, Obama blasts Congress on sequestration

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – President Barack Obama used a backdrop of a shipbuilding plant, factory workers and the local Republican congressman in ...

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