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Who said "potato"? Starch-based thermoplastics.
The advantages claimed for plastics made from biodegradable polymers over conventional plastics produced from fossil-based fuels are well known. Production of bioplastics uses less energy than production of petroleum-based plastics and generates considerably smaller amounts of greenhouse gases. In the degradation process, bioplastics remain nontoxic. Petroleum prices are unstable--or rising. Compostable wastes can provide significant savings in terms of waste management and energy consumption on many levels, from the large-scale plastics industry looking to manufacture a more responsible product to the individual consumer buying everyday necessities for the family. Metabolix, the second-largest producer of biopolymers in the United States, says that its plastics are biodegradable in composting bins, wetlands, and oceans (1).
So far, bioplastics have found niche applications in the product-packaging and food industry, but they are not yet extensively used in agriculture or in the replacement of conventional plastic materials. However, the potential exists to branch out into multiple fields, the biomedical industry, for example. There, in some special cases like tissue scaffolds and drug delivery, bioplastics can be intrinsically linked with the biomedical industry's unique requirements for biocompatibility and degradation.
Sustainable polymers can be produced from a variety of mainly plant resources, but there is increasing interest in the use of polysaccharides like starch, which are used in products that better replicate the durability and flexibility of conventional plastics. Starch is low in cost, widely available from wheat, corn, legumes, and tubers, and useful for different applications in food manufacturing, textiles, and adhesives.
TPS: Producing a Superior Starch
Starch is a linear polysaccharide made up of repeating glucose groups with an average length of between 500 and 2000 glucose units, though the actual length is dependent on plant source (2). Typically, starch consists of two major molecules in varying amounts but typically 25% amylose and 75% amylopectin. The linkage of amylose to plasticizers such as sorbitol and glycerine allows starches to become flexible and produce a range of different characteristics when the amount of plasticizer is varied. The addition of nonvolatile and high-boiling hydrophilic plasticizers, such as glycerol or other polyols, to pure starch allows the heated molecules to behave like a thermoplastic synthetic polymer and reduces the water content to < 1%, resulting in thermoplastic starch (TPS), the most widely used bioplastic today, accounting for 50% of the market (1).
While other starch-based bioplastics will have starch contents ranging from 1% to greater than 90%, TPS must have amylose content greater than 70%. Any amount lower than 70% is characterized as weak in the plastic matrix, and it will make it vulnerable to biological attack. However, high-starch-content plastics such as TPS will readily disintegrate when coming into contact with water. Weaknesses can be improved by preparation of blends with other synthetic polymers or composites using natural reinforcing materials.
The production of TPS employs the use of conventional plastics-processing machines such as extruders, internal mixers, or injection molders, which transform the pure starch into a plasticized starch. This provides a wide range of cost advantages to plastics processors looking for cleaner alternatives to petroleum-based technologies but who do not have the capital to make extensive modifications or overhaul their factories. However, even though processors can use standard processing equipment for TPS production, it is important that traditional petroleum-based plastics such as polyethylene or polypropylene are not added to mixtures to make molding easier. This will render the product poor in quality or incompletely biodegradable.
Replacing Fossil Fuels
Thermoplastic starch polymers are low-cost materials that have a wealth of applications in the marketplace. Commonly used in film for shopping bags, bread bags, overwrap, flushable sanitary product backing material, and mulch film, TPS is also suitable for coatings, cutlery, and other packaging, and could be used to replace petrochemical thermoplastics in other short-time-range applications.
Bioplastics like TPS can also offer an opportunity to double their return to a factory through use as a fuel source at the end of their lifecycles.
Various thermoplastic starch materials have entered the marketplace as reliable alternatives to petroleum-based plastics. Plastarch Material (PSM), used for a multitude of products, is a biodegradable, thermoplastic resin derived from more than 80% cornstarch that is modified to produce high heat-resistant properties. The high heat tolerance of PSM makes it a good fit for such applications as thermoforming, injection molding, blown film, and foaming. Also, it can be disposed of through incineration, resulting in a nontoxic residue that can be used as fertilizer. Companies that produce this material, like Plastic Ingenuity Inc. of Cross Plains, Wisconsin, USA, also use 100% bioadditives in the product to ensure its quality and sustainability.
In 2008, Cerestech, Inc., of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, introduced several TPS blends called Cereloy[TM] to the marketplace. Starches derived from corn, wheat, and tapioca are used to produce the low-cost, high-performance blends that emit greenhouse gases in amounts up to 90% less than those from polyethylene. Applications for the resin grades include film and injection-molded products. The first commercial product was a blend of linear low-density polyethylene and TPS for a new sustainable can liner produced by Pitt Plastics, Inc.
In the everyday consumer's life, disposable cutlery--forks, knives, cups, and plates--made from biodegradable vegetable starch is now appearing in more homes and businesses. Companies like California-based Cereplast are making resins primarily designed for products that will be composted. When composted, a plastic made from Cereplast's resin will dissolve in 180 days. In a normal landfill, the material will dissolve in two to three years, while petroleum-based plastics will require 100 years or more. Plastics-industry giants are partnering with Cereplast and other bioplastics engineers to modify already existing plastic products. In 2006, Solo, the disposable-cup manufacturer, worked with Cereplast to coat their cups in Cereplast's materials, replacing the petroleum-based film typically used.
Starch Marches On
Technology developers are continuing to expand upon thermoplastic starch technology and develop new methods for combining starch with polymers to create lower-cost options for the plastics industry. A new material called Plantic[R], based on corn and produced in Australia by Plantic Technologies, is being used by companies like DuPont as a completely biodegradable and organic alternative to conventional plastics. Plantic material is unique in that the polymer that is utilized in the plasticizing process, primarily in injection molding, is also a completely organic material grown in a field. The high-amylose starch used by Plantic Technologies undergoes a chemical modification process called hydroxypropylation prior to the manufacture of the actual material. This process slows the retrogradation that occurs in cooling, and plasticizes the starch, making it behave like a thermoplastic and increasing its shelf life by years.
Currently, Plantic material is applied mainly in the area of packaging materials. The first commercial use of Plantic is in packaging and display trays that look, feel, and function the same as traditional plastic trays. The trays are made completely from the renewable Plantic material and also will dissolve in water. Plantic Technologies is looking to collaborate with DuPont to enter the U.S. market by producing resins and sheet materials for the packaging of cosmetics, personal-care products, and food products. In December 2009, Plantic Technologies announced that it will establish a manufacturing facility in the United States in collaboration with National Starch LLC. This move, the company says, will help shorten the supply chain of Plantic material and reduce costs for U.S. based plastics processors and chemical firms seeking to use it.
Other global chemical manufacturers are using their recently created bioplastics divisions to introduce new products that help spread the use of renewable materials in the plastics industry. Arkema recently announced the development of Pebax[R] Rnew100, a high-performance 100% biobased thermoplastic elastomer entirely derived from renewable resources. Teknor Apex, of Rhode Island (USA), recently introduced Terraloy[TM] BP-18003A, a blend of up to 30% thermoplastic starch with high-impact polystyrene (HIPS), and Terraloy MB-18003A, with up to 50% TPS content. Both products can be used in typical HIPS applications like cutlery and disposable razors, among other consumer products.
With global demand for bioplastics predicted to rise to 900,000 tons worth US$2.6 billion by 2013, it is no wonder that more chemical companies are beginning to develop the materials that plastics processors will use in more products (3). A growing consumer demand for more environmentally sustainable products has helped encourage innovation in the bioplastics sector, producing low-cost and highly biodegradable alternatives to petroleum-based products. Thermoplastic starch fits well into this particular niche, as a completely renewable plant-based material that replicates and expands upon properties like flexibility and durability found in petroleum-based plastics. Also, its ability to be processed in existing plastics-fabrication equipment makes it an economical option for plastics processors.
(1.) "Bio-plastics: Turning Wheat and Potatoes Into Plastics," The Naked Scientists, www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/arti cles/article/bioplastics (accessed Feb. 1, 2010).
(2.) "Biodegradable Starch-Based Polymers," Biodegradable Plastics--Developments and Environmental Impacts, prepared by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Australian Government, in association with ExcelPlas Australia (October 2002).
(3.) "Global Demand for Bioplastics To Reach 900,000 Metric Tons in 2013," World Bioplastics, The Freedonia Group, Inc. (released Nov. 9, 2009).
Typical Properties of Terraloy[TM] BP-18003A Starch I HIPS Compound ASTM Typical Property Test Value Specific gravity, g/cc D-792 1.10 Melt flow index, Condition E D-1238 10.3 Tensile Young's modulus, psi D-638 255,300 MPa (1,760) Tensile maximum strength, psi D-638 2,522 MPa (17.4) Tensile elongation at break, % D-638 17 Flexural modulus, psi (MPa) D-790B 220,159 (1,518) Izod impact, notched, ft-lb/in D-256 1.9 J/m (100) Gloss, % D-523 11.8 New polystyrene/bioplastic hybrid compound from Teknor Apex allows processors to incorporate renewable resources in injection molding applications. Teknor Apex.
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domain: chemistry


text:
I’ve been criticizing the large and small errors in the OLC memo supporting Whitaker’s appointment. I started last week by pointing out a significant error (or at least a significantly misleading passage) in the OLC’s memo on the relationship between statutes.
I want to highlight a bigger set of problems methodologically about the constitutional argument in terms of its inconsistent methods, its failure to consider originalism while somehow sliding into living constitutionalism, its failure to consider purposes and context (both for constitutional arguments and for statutory arguments), its shading of the historical evidence in favor of its preferred outcome, and its overlooking serious problems based on the Constitution’s text.
[Update: I have to emphasize up top how remarkable it is that the only precedent the OLC provides for an unconfirmed Acting AG is 1) from 1866, 2) for just a week 3) under the chaotic Andrew Johnson, 4) who is infamous for flouting the Senate and was nearly impeached for it, 5) before the AG was even a department head, because the DOJ did not yet exist, and 6) that distinction is constitutionally significant. (OLC p. 11) But there is more in terms of its selective interpretation of the 19th century, too. I also note there is good reason the early republic may have treated AGs differently from other cabinet officers. The Attorney General historically has been understood as a different kind of executive officer, a “quasi judicial officer” from the mid 19th century and on. I also show that AGs were treated differently from other cabinet members. My draft paper addresses this.]
1) The OLC is methodologically incoherent and inconsistent. The OLC uses narrowly textual arguments on the Vacancies Reform Act [VRA] statute, when the legislative history and purposes raise significant questions. This textual approach has many adherents, but the problem is that in the constitutional section, the OLC then suddenly abandons any textualism — and avoiding any originalism or purposivism — and flips to solely post-ratification history, focused mainly on the 20th and 21st century history. It’s not really post-ratification “liquidation.” It looks more like living constitutionalism. I thought that was not allowed.
2) It turns out that this is all very convenient. Anyone who studies the VRA acknowledges that it’s a mess. Even if the text may appear to give discretion to a president to appoint non-confirmed acting officers, this is hardly clear from the text. And as Marty Lederman and Walter Dellinger observe in the best overall review of the OLC memo, the VRA has a strange deletion from a draft that demands some explanation. Context, purposes, and legislative history are the way to address those gaps and puzzles. And those purposes offer contrary evidence from the Republican Senate’s goal of limiting presidential discretion during Clinton’s administration – yet there is no discussion of purposes or legislative history.
Yet once the OLC pivots to the constitutional question, it deals almost exclusively with post-Ratification historical practice or Supreme Court precedent. The only section to acknowledge an originalist argument against its pro-Whitaker position is Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurrence in SW General. But instead of engaging Thomas’s originalism, it converts the point to a narrow reconciling of precedents.
Meanwhile, the most basic check of the Federalist Papers produces this passage on the importance of Senate confirmation from Alexander Hamilton, No. 76:
To what purpose then require the co-operation of the Senate? I answer, that the necessity of their concurrence would have a powerful, though, in general, a silent operation. It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity. In addition to this, it would be an efficacious source of stability in the administration.
Read the whole thing here. This is unfortunate and an indication of a deeper problem: The OLC cherrypicks its methods and its history in order to reach a political result. More on that below and in future posts.
3) THE CONSTITUTIONAL TEXT: The most puzzling problem to me is how the OLC simply mentions the text of the Constitution in passing – and never analyzes it.
Let’s review Article II, Section 2:
1: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
2: He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
3: The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.
So let’s review: The Constitution creates categories of principal and inferior officers. But overlooked in the debate so far: the Heads of Departments/the principal officer in each department, an important subset of principal officers with special powers and duties under the Opinions clause. To whatever extent “principal officer” is ambiguous, “the principal officer in each of the executive departments”, i.e., “the heads of departments” is clear and distinctly more power.
The Supreme Court’s rough distinction in Edmond (1997) is:
“[I]nferior officers” are officers whose work is directed and supervised at some level by others who were appointed by Presidential nomination with the advice and consent of the Senate… “inferior officer” connotes a relationship with some higher ranking officer or officers below the President: Whether one is an “inferior” officer depends on whether he has a superior.
No one disputes that the Attorney General is a principal officer. But the OLC claims that an “Acting” Attorney General is not a principal officer because he is temporary. (Yet the OLC does nothing to assure the temporariness). And it doesn’t address how an Acting AG is not still the head of the DOJ.
Others have made the point that the Constitution does not contemplate such an “acting” appointment to a principal office. It provides for the problem of congressional recesses with recess appointments, but otherwise, principal offices require Senate confirmation. The “acting” office is an extra-constitutional office. Any Congressional creation of an “acting” Attorney General without Senate confirmation as AG is in itself a stretch of the Constitution’s text. More on that below.
The Supreme Court has tolerated such an exception only “for a limited time and under special and temporary conditions,” e.g., in an emergency in Siam (Thailand) when the consul fell ill… in 1898. (Eaton). Much of the debate has emphasized that the Sessions resignation was no sudden unforeseen emergency, not exogenous contingency, but created by the president himself, and without any sign that it is actually limited or temporary.
However, the OLC – and most of the debate so far – has overlooked that the Constitution’s text tells us that there is another category, a special subset of principal officers identified in this text: “the principal officer in each Department,” i.e., the “Head of Departments.” This is an important subset of principal officers, and a close textual reading tells us to treat that subset as a special category.
Even if the precise line between principal and inferior hasn’t been clear, and even if the Court has offered some flexibility for some principal officers, the Constitution’s text gives special duties and powers to the Head of Departments. Those special features from the text should be acknowledged. One can make an argument that “Heads of Departments” are so important that vacancies are a more urgent problem, and require an exceptional circumstance, an acting head. I think the opposite argument is stronger: 1) a department tends to have greater powers than lesser agencies or isolated overseas officers; 2) a department is far more likely to have a team of deputies and assistants – many of whom are Senate-confirmed – with a clear order of departmental succession; 3) a Head of a Department has special constitution roles and duties in the Opinions clause.
There can be reasonable arguments on both sides. But one basic point is that the OLC missed this distinction because it did not carefully analyze the Constitution’s text. Isn’t that where constitutional analysis is supposed to start? And it also didn’t take original public meaning seriously, because it would have engaged with these questions, too.
4. Historical examples from the 19th Century:
The lack of textual and historical detail also led the OLC to miss or misinterpret evidence. First, the OLC acknowledges that the Department of Justice did not exist until 1870, so the Attorney General did not “supervise an ‘executive department'” until 1870 (p. 12). But the OLC memo does not acknowledge the constitutional significance of this distinction. The AG office became a constitutional-textually and functionally more significant office in 1870. The AG did not supervise US Attorneys or many other officers at all before 1870. Congress created of the DOJ in 1870, as I wrote in this 2014 article, primarily to make the role of government lawyers more professional, less political, and less partisan – so the Whitaker appointment betrays those goals. To be honest, most presidents over the 20th century did, too, as I wrote here. But significantly, Congress transformed the office of Attorney General from a roughly part-time advisor to a department head supervising
Nevertheless, despite these dramatic historical changes in 1870 the OLC still emphasizes examples of pre-1870 acting attorneys general who had not been confirmed by the Senate. The particularly underwhelming example is J. Hubley Ashton, who served for one week in 1866 (p. 12). Because Ashton was never a “Head of a Department,” this example is distinguishable constitutionally. I cannot find an example in the OLC memo of an acting AG after 1870 — once the AG first became a department head — who was not confirmed by the Senate.
So let’s be clear: [updated: The OLC failed to identify a single] acting Attorney General as head of the DOJ who had not been confirmed by the Senate for some office. But the OLC did not acknowledge that fact.
But the OLC still tried to overstate its case for the period before 1870. The OLC writes, “In other instances, however, non-Senate-confirmed individuals served.” Interesting use of plural. Guess how many instances the OLC actually cites? One. So how does the OLC justify this creative plural grammar? They drop a footnote claiming, “This list is almost certainly under-inclusive because published sources we have located idenitify only those who were Acting Attorney General during a period of resignation” and not temporary unavailability due to “sickness or absence.”
They might be right, but my goodness, that’s quite a leap. They don’t find evidence, they simply assume it. They’re likely right, but keep in mind that the OLC gets to imagine that plural assumption by assuming the existence of totally distinguishable examples. You cannot find precedents for Whitaker’s appointment from cases of “sickness or absence,” unless you are really desperately looking and stretching. In the end, the OLC found one example of an unconfirmed acting AG… for six days in 1866… before there was a department. And it used the plural anyway.
But here’s another remarkable twist in the OLC’s survey: it never occurs to the OLC lawyers that they actually found a dramatic piece of evidence against their case. They find that, though presidents named temporary non-Senate-confirmed acting heads to other department heads, there are almost no examples for Attorney General, and NONE after the Attorney General became a department head in 1870:
Between 1809-1860 (OLC memo, p. 10):
Secretary of State: 51 times
Secretary of Treasury: 36 times
Secretary of War: 22 times
Attorney General: Once.
And just for 7 days, almost a century after the Founding, and not even as head of a department. This is evidence that cuts the opposite way from the OLC’s argument.
So the OLC found something important, but it tried to bury this fact: Presidents and Congress appear to have treated the Attorney General as an office inappropriate for unconfirmed acting officers! It seems to have been a special office for which non-Senate-confirmed officers are ineligible, with one tiny exception during the chaotic Andrew Johnson administration which generally flouted the rule of law. The OLC finds just one example for six days in 1866, compared to 22, 36, and 51 times in the other major cabinet positions. I guess that inconvenient fact did not fit the OLC’s theory.
And this lack of historical detail – and lack of transparency – leads to a second error, caught by Lederman and Dellinger, relating to the significance of the 1870s and working out the new Department of Justice. The OLC failed to acknowledge 125 years of Congressional intent to keep the DOJ specifically outside of the general Vacancies statutes provisions:
“What OLC doesn’t mention is that the 1873 reconciliation pointed in exactly the opposite direction of OLC’s current reading of the two vacancies statutes: Faced with virtually the exact same question presented by the 1868 and 1870 acts, the codifiers read the word “shall” in the AG-specific statute to supersede–not merely supplement–the general authority that the Vacancies Act conferred on the President. (In its later recodification in 1966, Congress again expressly ratified that the Vacancies Act doesn’t apply to vacancies in the office of Attorney General.) This historical data point tends, if anything, to undermine OLC’s view about how best to reconcile the two current vacancies provisions, which take similar forms to those enacted in 1868 and 1870.”
So that’s a lot of 19th century historical oversights, to put it generously.
5. OLC’s living constitiutionalism: Emphasizing historical evidence from the late 20th-21st Centuries, but nothing on Original Public Meaning.
I’m confused. I keep hearing that original public meaning is the key to Constitutional interpretation, and frankly, I agree. I consider myself an originalist, at least in the same way Justice Scalia and his followers were. Scalia called himself a “faint-hearted originalist,” because original public meaning was the most important consideration, but not the sole consideration. If Scalia and many originalists can make a case for Brown v. Board of Education and their takings jurisprudence, I can make a case for robust privacy rights, sex equality, etc. But I digress.
The point is that it is unclear why the OLC emphasizes the late 20th century and early 21st centuries for three pages (p. 16-18) and spends zero pages on original public meaning. No mention of the Federalist Papers No. 76, which has a lot to say about this question. It is striking how often this section mentions the name “Obama” (at least five times), as well as George W. Bush. This seems to be more whataboutism than constitutional analysis.
As far as I can tell, it mentions the Federalist Papers zero times. The one time it mentions Alexander Hamilton? A reference to his son James’s appointment for three weeks to State during Andrew Jackson’s administration. That’s not originalism. That’s mid-19th century cherrypicking.
So what if we are more charitable and say that the OLC suddenly discovered living constitutionalism? Then they still have the argument backwards. The 1790s and the first half of the 19th century had a better case for such flexibility in “acting” appointments as a matter of necessity, compared to now:
- Travel and communication. If an emergency occurs anywhere in the world, the officers can let the White House know immediately. Then the president can contact potential replacements, have them travel to DC for confirmation, and then travel to fill the office.
- The departments were small then, but bigger now. The DOJ exists now, for one thing. But more generally, departments have a larger number of Senate-confirmed deputies and assistants, so there is less of a need – maybe no need – to dig into the unconfirmed ranks for any department head.
- Unlike the 19th century or even most of the 20th century, the Senate is almost always in session. This reduces the need for vacancy appointments and increases the availaibility of Senate confirmation.
6. Constitutional flexibility and constitutional avoidance
Will Baude wrote recently:
1. If you asked me to consider this purely as a matter of text and structure, I doubt that the President can name an “Acting” Attorney General without Senate confirmation (or a recess appointment — which is unavailable here). On any given day, the office of Attorney General is a “principal” office, so it should require a principal appointment, one with Senate confirmation, to occupy that office even for a day.
Now Baude, as many who follow his insightful approaches to constitutional interpretation, does not think that text and structure are the end of the story. He emphasizes Madison’s “liquidation” approach, and this topic is a great example of liquidation: the practice of the early Republic fleshes out the text. I argue above that the early republic sometimes presents the opposite effect: the Constitutional text presents an idea design. The early republic, due to chaos, practical challenges of space, and simply the problems of any start-up, fall short of the ideal design, but can better fulfill that ideal as time passes and institutions survive the initial bumps and reach maturity.
Nevertheless, Baude makes an important point. Based on text, structure – and I’d add original purposes, any “acting” principal, and especially any acting Head, is a significant stretch. (Again, I note that a “Head of a Department” presents a stronger textual problem on top of the one Baude identified for just any principal officer.)
And when a statute runs into a potential constitutional conflict, interpret the statute narrowly to avoid constitutional problems. This situation was no emergency, no special circumstance. One might also invoke the president’s duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” and the oath to “faithfully execute the office,” based on centuries of use before 1787-88, as a bar to such faithless self-protective appointments to undermine the rule of law.
There are various solutions to minimize that problem of stretching the constitutional text for principal officers and especially acting heads of departments:
- Rule that any “acting head” officer is unconstitutional, and have Congress find ways to delegate tasks to deputies and assistants in order to peform the department’s necessary tasks. If a statute requires an Attorney General and only an Attorney General to perform a particular task, then those tasks will need to wait, or Congress can amend those statutes to re-delegate.
- Rule that any “acting head” is permissible only if there are significant functional limits on his or her power, more than just being temporary. We are all temporary in this world. Any AG is temporary. As long as the acting AG serves as the functional head of the DOJ, he or she is a principal officer. There must be a more functional limit to turn an Acting AG into truly an inferior officer, not just a superficial change in labels as inferior.
- Rule that Acting AG must be very temporary. In order to have an Acting AG, there must be a pending nominee within a matter of days.
- Or in the very least, rule that any Acting AG must be a principal Senate-confirmed officer within the same Department. (It seems absurd that the Small Business Administrator could be AG or Secretary of State). If no Senate-confirmed officer is available in that department, only then might a president appoint a Senate-confirmed officer from another department. And even then, such an appointment might be a stretch too far.
Problem #7: Last big picture point: OLC stands for Office of Legal Counsel. It has a duty to provide legal counsel. Not just one-sided, narrow legal defenses. Government lawyers have a duty to give prudent legal counsel. The OLC had a duty to mention valid concerns or caveats, that even if a president could exploit a messy statute — with perhaps an accidental loophole created recently — to appoint an unconfirmed official, that this was not in the spirit of the statutes or the Constitution.
I believe that there were reasonable arguments on both sides of the debate. But the OLC simply offered too many errors, too many misleading passages, and too many failures to engage the text of Article II, the evidence of its original public meaning, and the clear counterarguments from its historical cherrypicking. It is more a brief written to support a desired political outcome than a judicious weighing of evidence, and that’s all the more disappointing considering what a shameful act the OLC is enabling.

domain: politics


text:
What We Do
The Global Health Workforce Challenge
Access to quality health care is severely constrained for millions of people by deficits in the health workforce, including:
- Too few health workers
- Poor distribution of the health workforce
- Mismatches between health needs and the composition of the health workforce
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Strategies for Progress
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The project worked with public, nonprofit, faith-based, and for-profit organizations contributing to better human resources for health. Through service and partnership, CapacityPlus accelerated progress toward national goals for improving maternal and child health, increasing access to family planning and reproductive health services, heightening access to HIV/AIDS services, and reducing the toll of malaria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases.
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CapacityPlus worked to integrate gender equality into each technical area, assisted faith-based organizations to strengthen their ability to manage human resources and provide high quality care to underserved populations, and strengthened the social service workforce to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families.
Serving health workers, saving lives. Our vision focused on saving lives and improving health through significant change in the health workforce. We placed health workers at the center of all our efforts.

domain: medical


text:
Young Leaders of the Americas (YLAI) Professional Fellows Program is now open!
The U.S. Department of State and IREX have announced the launch of the application for the 2020 Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Professional Fellows Program!
YLAI, a fully funded six-week exchange program, is an opportunity for young entrepreneurs and emerging business leaders from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada to improve their leadership and entrepreneurial skills through hands-on experience, online coursework, and face-to-face training.
YLAI offers a unique opportunity to join a network of business leaders across the Americas. This year they are hoping to recruit and select a diverse group of 280 job-creating entrepreneurs from across the Western Hemisphere.
Some key dates to keep in mind:
· August 14 – YLAI 2020 Application went live!
· August 22 – September 11 – Apply to be on the 2020 YLAI Selection Committee!
Click here to learn more and apply: 2020 YLAI Selection Committee Application
*In appreciation for their time and energy, readers will receive an honorarium of $100 once they have completed all assigned applications.
· September 18 – Application closes at 11:00 AM EDT!
· September 20 – October 9 – Selection Committee members read and score applications.
· November 13 – November 27 – Selection Committee members view and score recorded semi-finalists interviews.

domain: news


text:
A Joint Specific Biomarker for Diagnosing Arthritis
Learn about the clinical benefits of a novel biomarker to aid in the diagnosis of early Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). New guidelines for the classification of RA have been developed that go beyond Rheumatoid factor. Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP IgG) antibody has been added to the criteria and is highly specific for RA. However both RF and CCP have limitations. Both have low sensitivity in early RA. Both can be seronegative in up to 44% of RA patients. A new biomarker, 14-3-3eta, normally an intracellular protein, has been discovered. It is released into the extracellular environment from the inflamed joint in RA and can be detected in a simple blood test. The 14-3-3eta protein test increases identification of early RA patients. This facilitates early treatment of this progressive and debilitating disease.
A positive 14-3-3eta test should trigger a priority rheumatology referral by the primary care physician. Higher levels of 14-3-3eta protein indicate more aggressive disease and significant joint deterioration. With early intervention of biological therapy, decreasing serial measurements of 14-3-3eta protein indicate favorable patient response. Decreasing serial measurements indicate favorable response to biological therapy.

domain: biology


Whole lifecycle carbon – performing for the future
Whole Life-Cycle carbon emissions are the carbon emissions resulting from the construction and the use of a building over its entire life, including its demolition and disposal. How do we manage this? How is construction going to change? What are the skills, solutions and innovative design needed to advance net zero whole life carbon?


text:
U.S. President Joe Biden has on Tuesday announced openly that migrants considering leaving their homes, towns, and communities to cross the US-Mexico border should not do it.
Mr. Biden addressed the issue of the crisis at the border in an interview with ABC News, where the host George Stephanopoulos asked, “do you have to say quite clearly, ‘Don’t come’?”
“Yes, I can say quite clearly: Don’t come over. Don’t leave your town or city or community,” Biden said repeatedly.
The number of unaccompanied children and teenagers taken into custody by US authorities at the southern border has shot up in recent weeks, while the number of migrants attempting to crossover into the country kept increasing.
Far above 4,000 migrant kids were being held by Border Patrol as of Sunday, with at least 3,000 of them staying in custody longer than the 72-hour limit set by court order, a US official has revealed to The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, in addition, 561 children were taken into custody on Monday, which’s double the recent average, according to another official.
Addressing the issues whether it was a mistake “not to anticipate this surge,” Biden pushed back, pointing to previous surges under former President Donald Trump.
“First of all, there was a surge in the last two years. In ’19 and ’20, there was a surge, as well.”
The host noted, “This one might be worse,” and Biden quite accepted, “Well, it could be.”
“I heard the other day that they’re coming because they know I’m a nice guy,” Biden said. “Here’s the deal. They’re not.”
Meanwhile, Republicans are arguing that Biden’s policies and legislation have prompted the current surge at the border.
President Joe Biden, last month canceled Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that required Central American asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while US courts reviewed their claims and demand.


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The Vism Concealed Carrier Vest with Two Level IIIA Ballistic panels front and back panels have internal compartments for each of the two internal Level IIIA ballistic panels providing extensive Level IIIA coverage on the wearer. Certifed under NIJ 0101.06 Level IIIA Standards, the ballistic panels are capable of stopping .44 magnum and .357 magnum bullets with a maximum backface deformation of 44mm. This carrier vest and ballistic panels combo includes two separate Level IIIA ballistic panels. The Front and Rear ballistic panels extend to each side and overlap the Front and Rear ballistic panels for more side coverage. The ballistic panels are constructed of UHMWPE, creating a lightweight ballistic panels. The concealed carry vest is made with PE fabrics. The flexible soft panel design allows the panel to conform to body shape. Each of the ballistic panels are fully sealed to protect agains liquids, chemicals, and other harsh elements. The back panel has the two into one elatic strap on each side that wraps around each side of the wearer and secures to the front panel via hook and loop fasteners.


By Robert Price
For the Herald
The Pocono Bluegrass and Folk Society's well-established winter formula will be on full display Jan. 24-26 when its 20th annual Winterfest convenes in Delaware Water Gap, Pa. And there will be little new or different about what is, by its very nature, a bluegrass anomaly. No reason to change something that has worked so well for so long.
Twenty years ago the society's members and The Lost Ramblers bluegrass band (for the most part one in the same) decided to try something new — a bluegrass festival in the winter, a seasonal alternative, so to speak, to the hundreds of like festivals around the country during the summer.
“Nothing much, except some acknowledgments and the fact that we have 20 bands this year,” said John Updike, PBFS founder and Lost Ramblers banjoist, when asked what is significant about the 20th Winterfest. The fest's unofficial theme is “20 bands in 2020 for the 20th annual Winterfest.”
“The goal was to fill a gap, to put on a weekend festival in this region, not outside in the summer, but indoors. We have successfully achieved this,” Updike said, of the original mission of Winterfest.
Among the 20 bands (normally the festival hosts 15-16 acts) are headliners Danny Paisley and Southern Grass, Louie Setzer and the Appalachian Mountain Boys, both of which have played Winterfest many times, and, of course, the host Lost Ramblers, with Neil Morris on guitar, Jim Schaffer on bass, and David Husic on fiddle, who have been pickin' around the region for more than 40 years.
And Mama Corn, a quirky and dynamic central Pennsylvania band, is returning for the sixth straight year. “The fact that this is the 20th year for Winterfest speaks volumes about the dedication, hard work, and enthusiasm of the people who put this festival together,” said Mama Corn banjoist Jeremy Nelson. “By bringing a bluegrass festival indoors to a hotel environment during the cold of winter, they have put together a successful event that bridges that winter gap between summer festival seasons and keeps people coming back year after year. Instead of camping in a tent or camper, it's in a hotel with all the comforts of home.”
Mama Corn plays at 6:15 p.m. Friday and 10:45 p.m. Saturday.
There is one logistical change this year, as Winterfest moves to a new home at the Clarion Inn and Suites in Delaware Water Gap. The previous six years found the festival at the Pocono Plaza Inn in Stroudsburg, Pa. The original venue was the Elks Lodge in East Stroudsburg, Pa.
In addition to Winterfest, the PBFS hosts “shindigs” year-round the first Sunday of every month. The Clarion is currently the site for those shindigs.
Serene Green, a young, up-and-coming traditional bluegrass band, is back after experiencing Winterfest for the first time last year.
“Our set was in the bar of the hotel, and we were fortunate to have a lively, attentive audience made up of close friends and family, as well as festival-goers seeing us for the first time,” said Serene Green guitarist Michael Johnson.
“We love the small bluegrass festival scene because the fans are there to listen, and the pickers are there to pick. Not only do we get to listen to the bands we love, but we get to pick with other musicians, some professional and some not, who we otherwise wouldn't get to pick with due to our busy touring schedule,” Johnson added. Serene Green plays twice Friday night.
Paisley has played most of the previous 19 Pocono Winterfests, first as a member of his father’s band — Bob Paisley and the Southern Grass — and now as leader of his own band of the same name. They have won multiple IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) awards over the years.
Their album, “The Room Over Mine,” earned accolades and significant chart action, and the song, “Don’t Throw Mama’s Flowers Away” won the 2009 IBMA Award for Song of the Year. The group has received IBMA nominations for Emerging Artist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year, through the years. In 2016, Paisley won the Male Vocalist of the Year award.
Paisley is scheduled to play two sets Saturday at 2:15 and 7:30 p.m.
Co-headlining on Saturday is another traditional bluegrass group, Louie Setzer and the Appalachian Mountain Boys. Setzer was the primary founder of the Appalachian Fiddle and Bluegrass Association (AFBA) in1973. He has been playing in bluegrass bands for nearly 50 years. Louie Setzer and the Appalachian Mountain Boys have released several albums, including “Jukebox Bluegrass” in 2015.
Setzer is slated to play two sets Saturday at 1:30 and 6:45 p.m.
In addition to world-class performances, the festival features a variety of instrumental workshops, master luthier Frank Finnochio, and merchandise and food vendors. Sound is provided by Harry Grant’s Eastern Sound and George Gleason’s ProSound Company. A Saturday evening buffet will be offered. Sunday morning at 11, Without A Paddle will perform a gospel hour. And jamming is encouraged throughout the festival.
“For me, the best part of this festival happens off stage after the shows are all over,” said Dave Brown, frontman of Americana-folk band The Dishonest Fiddlers. “You can usually expect a lot of folks trading songs and passing a bottle, sometimes till the sun comes up. As a musician there can be a lot of free lessons in these situations.”
Brown will perform at the festival in a duo with mandolinist Shawn Caden on Friday at 8 p.m.
“Bluegrass speaks loudest to me because of the approach,” Brown said. “Bluegrass musicians are a different breed as far as I'm concerned. They know when to play and when not to play, how to listen, and play collectively for the sake of the song. For that reason I think bluegrass musicians can succeed in any style or variety of music.”
For Nelson, bluegrass is generational. “I grew up listening to my father playing and singing bluegrass, so its been ingrained in me from a very early age. There's an authenticity and genuineness to it that captures the essence of our shared history and experience.”
Bluegrass, in all its contemporary and traditional forms, has not just survived, it continues to thrive and grow.
“It’s more than simple entertainment. It’s participation, a cultural activity with a long tradition,” Updike said.
According to the PBFS website, bluegrass is one of the great American art forms that has spread around the world. It has its roots in Irish, Scottish, English traditional music and was brought with the immigrants from those places to the hill country and low lands of the Appalachian Mountains. The music survived many years in the seclusion of those places until the great migrations of the early part of the 20th century. Then, combined with the African rhythms of jazz and blues and mass media in the form of radio and records it moved into its currently recognizable form. This brought bluegrass into the great population centers where it was cherished by the migrants and grew to be “music to the ears” of many in the general population.
“Bluegrass and roots music are true American art forms that provide a snapshot into a simpler time when family, community, and faith were bigger parts of our lives,” Nelson said. “Our fast, modern world is so full of electronic distraction and digital immediacy that I believe people are getting away from themselves, and each other. There is something inherently genuine and substantive about bluegrass and roots music that make it very appealing. The music is played acoustically with no effects, and the songs are written about timeless common themes that bring people together.”
The Pocono Bluegrass and Folk Society is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit all-volunteer organization, dedicated to the preservation and education of bluegrass music. It is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, the regional arts funding partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, administered by the Pocono Arts Council, Stroudsburg, Pa.


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The distance between these two cities is around 543Kms, and can be reached in approximately 11hrs 30min.Bus travel is a popular travel option between these two cities, and many buses ply between Bangalore and Gokak. SRS Travels is a major operator along this route. The first SRS Travels bus starts at 08:30 PM, and you can easily access buses till 09:00 PM. The lowest fare for these buses starts from Rs.450, and the maximum fare is around Rs.700.
You can now book online tickets from Bangalore to Gokak at redBus.in at affordable prices.
Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka. It is one of the fastest growing multi-ethnic cities of Asia. It is home to some of the most important industries of the country, especially the Information Technology industry and biotechnology industry. Due to the presence of a large number of IT companies, Bangalore is often called the 'Silicon Valley' of India. Bangalore houses some of India's leading organizations like ISRO, DRDO and the like. Bangalore is also a famous educational hub in the southern part of India. Bangalore, renamed as Bengaluru, is gifted with a pleasing climate. It has many gardens & parks, natural lakes, and other attractions. It offers a judicious mix of tradition and modernity. Bangalore enjoys great connectivity with all the important cities of the world. It is well connected with the nearby cities and towns by roadways. Buses are available to cities like Chennai, Mangalore, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Kochi, Hyderabad and Pune among others.
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The bus was not on time. Expected departure was at 830 and the bus arrived at 1030.
worst, driver pics people for 50 -60 rupees to drop on the way to our destination without ticket. Risk of theft personal belongings.

domain: geography


text:
Five Ways to Cope with (or Crush) that Holiday Stress
The holidays are here again, and between shoveling snow and endless runs to the store, you are ready to hitch a plane to an island solo. Before you grab your passport and throw up the deuces to your fam, try one of these tips to be a little more merry and a lot less harried.
Karaoke: Japanese for “In your face, Katy Perry.”
There is nothing in the world better to blow off a little stress than putting on a seriously slinky dress, grabbing your girls, guys, and some bubbly, and singing your pants off. Besides the joy of seeing your bestie belt, “The Pina Colada Song,” karaoke is actually one of the time-honored ways the Japanese have been on the longevity lists forever. Singing (even if you suck magnificently at it) actually has several health benefits like boosting self-esteem, improves mental health, and activating the nervous system in a good way. It also encourages the body to release endorphins (the same things you feel when you do strenuous exercise or have an orgasm; I like to call them “the tingles”). Sign me up for another round of “Me and Bobby McGee!”
The holidays can bring out the frantic, rushed, “How can I get it all done to perfection,” in everyone and sometimes the best remedy is a moment of meditation. You can traditionally meditate by sitting or lying and closing your eyes and emptying your mind. You can do a mindful meditation which is meditating while being totally present in action. For example, let’s say your mindful meditation is focused around a cup of tea. Rather than flying through the kitchen and multi-tasking, stop and listen to the water rush into the kettle, smell the tea while you wait for the water to bubble, listen to the bubbles, pour the water over the tea, focus on the colors that erupt and their unique patterns as the tea comes to life, and so on and so forth. This naturally lowers blood pressure, relieves stress, and allows us to savor pleasant experiences, leading to a feeling of well-being and balance.
Dance, laugh, repeat
Turn on your Spotify and dance it out. With friends, with yourself, or with your imaginary boyfriend from Argentina. Dancing gets your heart pumping, reduces stress, and gives you a burst of endorphins. Tired of hearing about how you aren’t married yet? Try a little “Girls Chase Boys Chase Girls” or, of course, the anthem, “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).” Tired of Uncle Ed’s not-so-progressive views? A little of Lily Allen’s “F**k You,” will cheer you up in no time (and stay in your head for a week). Trust me; you will get your cardio in for the day and shake off that stress.
Take a nap
Everything in the world can be solved by a nap. Seriously, science says so. Grab your blanky and a comfy pillow you can flip continuously for the cool side and snuggle in for an hour. Many times stress comes because we don’t get enough sleep or quality sleep. You’ll wake up refreshed and more apt to love your annoying little brother’s girlfriend. Maybe not love, but at least tolerate with some eggnog.
Show Fido a little love and take him for a jaunt in the snow (or sand if you are a snowbird). Loving contact with animals reduces blood pressure and regulates heartbeat in studies, as well as reducing anxiety. Also, snuggling with your four-legged friend may be just what both you and he need with so many people around.

domain: psychology


text:
EA has today released the latest instalment in its phenomenally successful Madden series to the App Store. Madden NFL 12 features beefed-up rosters with over 2,500 real NFL players. So that you can almost feel the impact of each crunching tackle (but without the bruising and the pain and all that!) the collision effects are smoother and harder-hitting than ever before, and the quality of the graphics has also been kicked up a notch too. NFL fans will enjoy being able to choose from the 32 NFL teams and then play games in their realistic-looking stadiums. Gameplay enables you to make trades, track stats, and launch winning strategies from in-depth playbooks that are unique to every team. In Season Mode, fans get to play through a complete 16-game NFL season, as well as the 2010/2011 playoffs, or they can simply get stuck in right away in Exhibition Mode. And, if you like to really rub your victories in your friendsâ€™ faces, you can register for Origin and attempt to climb up the leaderboards with your NFL team, as well as racking up a variety of achievements.
Click here to download the game now for iPad for $9.99: MADDEN NFL 12 by EA SPORTS
Or for $6.99 for iPhone/iPod touch: MADDEN NFL 12 by EA SPORTS

domain: game


text:
What is a Stroke?
A stroke is a sudden loss of brain function that occurs when the blood flow supplying oxygen to a part of the brain is interrupted. There are three major types of stroke: ischemic stroke which is caused by a lack of blood flow to the brain due to a blood clot; bleeding within the brain, and a rupture of an aneurysm in a blood vessel in the brain.
According to heartandstroke.ca these are some usual types of strokes :
- Ischemic stroke
- Transient ischemic attack (TIA)
- Hemorrhagic stroke
Most strokes are caused by a blockage or clot in a blood vessel in your brain. This is called an ischemic stroke. The blockage can be caused when a substance called plaque builds up on the inside wall of an artery. The blockage or clot grows as blood cells and fat cells stick to the plaque. Gradually, it grows big enough to block normal blood flow. The blockage or clot can form in an artery in your brain. Or, it can form in an artery in another part of your body and travel to the brain.
Transient ischemic attack
A transient ischemic attack (TIA) is caused by a small clot that briefly blocks an artery. It is sometimes called a mini-stroke or warning stroke. TIA symptoms might last only a few minutes or hours. No lasting damage occurs, but TIAs are an important warning that a more serious stroke may occur soon.
Hemorrhagic stroke is caused when an artery in the brain breaks open. The interrupted blood flow causes damage to your brain. High blood pressure makes arteries weak over time. It is a major cause of hemorrhagic stroke. Weak spots in the arteries called aneurysms can stretch too far and eventually burst.

domain: health


text:
Exactly a year after the production of Lady Inger
of Ostrat—that is to say on the “Foundation
Day” of the Bergen Theatre, January 2, 1866—The
Feast at S...
The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) developed realistic techniques that changed the entire course of Western drama. There is very little in modern drama that does not owe a debt to him.H...
"In the English-speaking world today Henrik Ibsen has become one of the three major classics of the theatre," wrote Martin Esslin in an essay included in Ibsen and the Theatre: The Dramatist in Produc...

domain: artistic


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Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. and March of Dimes have been working together since the 1980s. The partnership initially began with Project SATAP, Sigmas Against Teen-Age Pregnancy. In 2001, the relationship evolved to focus on raising awareness of programs and services that positively impact parents, babies and their families. Today, local chapters across the country are promoting the updated Building Strong Fathers Program at least once a year.
With a motto of "Culture for Service and Service for Humanity," Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity helps March of Dimes achieve a few of its vital objectives to improve birth outcomes, reduce racial and ethnic disparities and promote resources to help parents and their babies to be healthy and strong.
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity links to get involved
- Register for March of Dimes Advocacy Action Alerts
- Join a Phi Beta Sigma March for Babies Team
- For offline donations, please mail them in with this form: Donation Form
- Volunteer for March of Dimes
- Connect with your local March of Dimes Market about leadership opportunities
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity member resources
- Learn more about how you can get involved with March for Babies: March for Babies Pep Rally Presentation
- View the 2021 Conclave Workshop Presentation
- Get involved with Prematurity Awareness Month using this Prematurity Awareness Month Flyer
- Phi Beta Sigma TOOLKIT 2022 Phi Beta Sigma Toolkit
March of Dimes Staff Partner
Meredith Repik – Director, Strategic Volunteer Partnerships
Email: [email protected]

domain: sociology


SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK — On a clear day, the view from Beetle Rock in Sequoia National Park extends west for 105 miles across the patchwork of crops in California’s agricultural heartland to the Coast Mountains and the Pacific Ocean beyond.
The problem is there are few clear days, even at 6,200 feet.
The Sierra Nevada forest that is home to the biggest and oldest living things on earth — the giant Sequoia redwoods — also suffers a dubious distinction. It has the worst air pollution of any national park in the country.
Mountaintops that should offer awe-inspiring views of California’s geologic grandeur often are muddled by a disorienting gray soup of smog.
“Ozone levels here are comparable to urban settings such as LA,” said Emily Schrepf of the nonprofit advocacy group the National Park Conservation Association as she beheld the diminished view. “It’s just not right.”
This is not the place to take in a whiff of fresh mountain air. Smog is so bad that signs in visitors centers caution guests when it’s not safe to hike. The government employment website warns job applicants that the workplace is unhealthy. And park workers are schooled every year on the lung and heart damage the pollution can cause.
Ozone also is to blame for weakening many stands of the park’s Jeffrey and ponderosa pines, leaving telltale yellowing of their long needles. Instead of absorbing carbon dioxide, they soak up ozone through the stoma in their needles, which inhibits photosynthesis. Ozone also stresses young redwood seedlings, which already face challenges to survival.
Although weakened trees are more susceptible to drought and pests, the long-term impact on the pines and on the giant redwoods that have been around for 3,000 years and more is unclear.
“It’s not a great story to tell, but it’s an important story to tell because you can look at us as being the proverbial canary in a coalmine,” said Annie Esperanza, a park scientist who has studied air quality there for 30 years. “If this is happening in a national park that isn’t even close to an urban area, what do you think is happening in your backyard?”
It’s a problem in a handful of the nation’s 52 parks that are monitored constantly for ozone, including Joshua Tree National Park in California’s Mojave Desert and North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is ringed by power plants and several major highways including Interstate 40, a major tractor-trailer shipping route. But none is in the ballpark with Sequoia and its neighbor, Kings Canyon.
Under the Clean Air Act, the region that encompasses Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks has been designated a “Class 1 air shed,” which means by 2064 it must have pure air with no degradation of visibility. But that apparently didn’t take into consideration its proximity to one of the worst air quality basins in the country.
“It does take visitors by surprise,” Esperanza said. “On a day it’s unhealthy, we ask people if you’re going to do a rigorous hike, we recommend early morning. It’s limiting, it’s quite telling, and it’s very sad.”
While forest fires create some pollution, the lion’s share comes from the San Joaquin Valley, the expanse of farmland that is home to the California’s two busiest north-south trucking highways, diesel freight train corridors, 1.7 million dairy cows, food processing plants and tens of thousands of diesel tractors plowing dusty fields. Its trough shape traps pollutants, and high-pressure systems act like a lid on a pot.
Smog is created when the sun’s rays hit pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds that are in motor vehicle exhaust, solvents, pesticides, gasoline vapors and decaying dairy manure.
“There is no simple answer to ozone pollution,” said Thomas Cahill, a researcher at the University of California, Davis who studies air problem in Sequoia and across California.
Breathing ozone at high levels for even a short time can blister the lungs like UV rays blisters skin, scientists agree. The problem in quantifying exposure levels, however, is that some people suffer pulmonary damage at lower doses than others.
Dr. David Lighthall, health science adviser for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, says ozone levels at high altitudes don’t drop at night like they do in the valley, which leads to “more cumulative exposure for those who live and work there.”
Southerly breezes from the San Francisco Bay collect pollutants and push them to the valley’s southern rim, where they bounce back north. Between Fresno and Visalia — just below the park — the warm air hits the cooler air pushing south and gets trapped in a swirling vortex called the Fresno Eddy. The warm, polluted air then rises up the canyons of three rivers that begin in the park.
The only way to improve air in the park is to improve the San Joaquin air basin, something that so far has proved elusive given the myriad sources. Even with hundreds of millions of dollars spent to retrofit diesel engines and replace gasoline lawnmowers with electric ones, residents pay a federal fine for the region’s failure to meet even minimal EPA ozone limits.
“We don’t create a disproportionate amount of pollution; it’s just that we have these natural challenges so that the pollution we do create can take literally weeks or months to clean out. It just builds up over time,” said Jaime Holt, spokeswoman for the valley air district.
Already this year, the level of ozone in Sequoia park has exceeded federal health standards, even though it’s early in the summer ozone season. During the June-to-September summer season last year, the park violated the National Ambient Air Quality standard at least 87 times, compared with 56 at Joshua Tree and 12 at Great Smoky Mountains.
“It’s tragic that the National Park Service is known for clean air, and then you see a sign saying it’s unhealthy to breathe,” Esperanza said. “It’s so contrary to the national parks idea.”


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Dexter was brought up from West Virginia to the shelter we adopted him from. We were told he is Boxer Australian Shepherd, but whatever he is he is 100% cute. He loves playing at the beach with his friends and taking long hikes on the trails in the woods.
This is Cedar, an eight week old pound puppy from Taos, New Mexico. Having just met her new family, she is already comfortable and right at home. She is a quick learner and has been excelling at potty training and fetch. As of now, her favorite toy is a baby bird she carries around everywhere. Pretty soon this pound puppy will be hiking, fishing, camping and exploring the mountains with her owners.
Balto is 3. He is sweet and loves little kids and his cavalier king charles brother, Stitch. They get into lots of mischief together! Balto is a Scorpio, with some Scorpio tendencies, but mostly hes really nice.
Cali is nothing short of an Angel. Her name means most beautiful, and thats what she is. She is a pound pup, I got her two years ago, and I believe she was just a year old then. I was told her previous owners abandoned both her and her mom at the house they moved from. They were abused, neglected and forgotten about. She came to me at 25lbs. Now she is a healthy 55lbs of pure muscle. She has got more energy than the three of my dogs combined, and she LOVES to run.
Cali has a huge scar going from the middle of her back to her tummy, an inch thick from her previous home. Its a daily ...

domain: pet


text:
Diamond Select Toys has released an assortment - Series 9 - of Ghostbusters Select Action Figures based on the classic Real Ghostbusters cartoon. Egon, Winston, and Slimer make up the assortment, with the two ’Busters wearing their color-coded jumpsuits and packing cartoon-accurate gear. Slimer comes with a support stand and three interchangeable faces. Plus, each figure includes pieces to build a larger diorama – collect all 15 figures in Series 6-10 to construct the firehouse headquarters’ sign and front doors.
You can currently pre-order them over at Amazon.com for $24.99 each.

domain: hobby


text:
‘High time to break loose of clichés and come up with blueprint for transformation of academic scenario’
SRINAGAR, AUGUST 18: Minister for Education, Naeem Akhtar Tuesday said the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s vision is to create a culture of scientific thinking among the students in the State.
“We should see education as a tool to bring about a change in the society on modern, intellectual and ethical lines,” he said and added that efforts being made by the present Government to rejuvenate the State’s educational sector is gaining ground and there will be tangible movement forward in the coming days and months with perceptible transformation of academics.
Speaking at inaugural function of a workshop on “National Education Policy”, organized by National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) New Delhi in collaboration with State Institute of Education (SIE), Kashmir, the Minister said the objective of the workshop constitutes the core concerns about education system so that the Government can respond more creatively to address such fundamental issues. He said earnest efforts are required to be made to deliver quality education and improve on its standards so that the ultimate aim to produce a human being, who is an asset but not a liability, is met.
The Minister said it is high time we break loose of clichés and come up with a blueprint for change in the education sector. “There has been immense expansion in the education system in the past few years with schools in almost every village but have we achieved what we aimed for and whether the society is benefitting from the present system,” he said.
Referring to Model School concept with facilities like Smart Classes, the Minister said that such measures are being taken to make education more interesting and bring government schools at par with the prestigious private institutions. He also appreciated the private schools for their contribution to the education scenario and assured that the government is also taking various steps for their betterment.
Chairman JKBOSE, Commissioner Secretary School Education, Director SSA, Secretary JKBOSE, Joint Secretary School Education, Kashmir were present on the occasion besides NCERT experts, CEOs, Principal DIETs, academicians representatives from VECs, and NGOs.


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Life Sciences is an area ripe for trade secrets misappropriation litigation. In recent news, Merz Pharmaceuticals, LLC filed a lawsuit under the North Carolina Uniform Trade Secrets Act alleging that its former director of federal accounts, Andrew Thomas, stole trade secrets relating to Merz’s flagship botulinum toxin drug Xeomin®. Those secrets purportedly included drug pricing strategies, marketing plans, market share data, and potential customer lists, all of which were intended to grow Xeomin®’s presence in the government market sector — a key therapeutic sector for Merz’s drug, which is primarily known for its aesthetic effects.
In the United States, the scale of trade secret theft is estimated to be between $180 billion and $450 billion annually. Among the targets of this theft are pharmaceutical companies, which are some of the most research-intensive institutions in the world. Pharmaceutical research generally requires extensive work and often generates proprietary data that is pivotal to shaping pharmaceutical development. Because that data may be very attractive to threat actors, pharmaceutical companies employ various measures to protect their proprietary information, these measures may sometimes fall short. A November 2021 trade secret misappropriation suit brought by Venn Therapeutics (“Venn”) against Corbus Pharmaceuticals (“Corbus”) in the District Court for the Middle District of Florida highlights the issues that can arise despite a company’s best efforts to protect its trade secrets.


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Driving during heatwaves puts you at a greater risk of skin damage and cancer, even with the windows closed
- Studies say the right side of the body is exposed to 6 times as much UV radiation
- That's because glass in side windows doesn't protect you from UVA rays
- UV photos reveal the damage caused by the sun if drivers don't use protection
- A quarter of motorists said they have suffered from sunburn while at the wheel
Motorists who don't use the appropriate sun protection are putting themselves at risk of skin damage, even if they are driving with the windows up.
Tests have revealed that long-term exposure to the sun while driving can lead to wrinkles, leathering, sagging, brown 'age' spots and even skin cancer because glass used in side and rear windows of cars offer little to no UVA protection.
To show the damaging effects the sun can have on motorists, comparison website Confused used UV photo technology to compare the impact on a driver's skin who does use sun protection and one who doesn't.
Weather warning for drivers: Motorists are being told to cover up with sun creams and lotions because the glass in cars will not protect them from harmful ultraviolet rays
With temperatures soaring above 30c in the last three days - the longest heatwave in Britain for 20 years - motorists are being warned that not wearing sun cream during these excessively hot periods could put their skin at danger.
The comparison site and skin-cancer charity Melanoma UK highlighted research in the US that showed the side of the body next to a window received up to six times the dose of ultraviolet radiation compared to the shaded side.
That's because side and rear windows in vehicles will only protect your skin from the UVB rays that cause skin reddening and sunburn, unlike windscreens that block both UVB and deeper-penetrating UVA.
To showcase the ruinous impact on our skin, two drivers - one who does wear sun protection and another who doesn't - had their skin photographed by high-tech UV cameras.
A doctor carried out in-depth skin examinations on both sets of photos, finding pre-cancerous cells on the right forearm of a van driver from South Wales who admitted to rarely using sun cream.
On the flip side, Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused who regularly uses cosmetics containing SPF, had little to no sun damage when her images were examined by a professional.
UV cameras showed the harmful impact the sun had on drivers' skin, especially on the right side that's closer to a window with limited UV protection
The van driver from South Wales was found to have pre-cancerous cells on the right forearm after admitting he regularly drove with the window down without any sun protection. He was treated after the assessment
This new research highlighted the damaging impact that the sun can have on drivers' skin when they don't use appropriate protection - something many Britons are unaware of or simply ignoring, even when temperatures reach sweltering highs experienced this week.
SKIN CANCER FACTS
• In 2015, around 2,400 UK deaths were due to melanoma
• Over 14,500 new cases were diagnosed last year
• Around 6 in 10 of all people who die of the disease are under 75 years old
• In the UK, death rates from melanoma in people aged 75 and over have more than quadrupled in the last 40 years
• Melanoma is now the fifth most common cancer in the UK
• More than 6 in 10 non-melanoma skin cancer deaths are in men
• One bad burn in early years can lead to melanoma in later life, according to studies
In a survey of 2,000 UK drivers, four in five said that they have never been concerned about skin damage while travelling in a car on a sunny day and 53 per cent were entirely unaware that this can occur even when the car windows are closed.
In addition, one in seven drivers don't apply protective lotion at all when they're inside a car or out in the sun when the weather is nice.
The poll also found that 26 per cent have suffered from sunburn while driving and 13 per cent claim to have rolled their windows down to top-up their tan on the move.
More concerning was that 14 per cent have stuck their right arm or 'another body part' out of the window to get better tan, with almost a third of these sun worshippers having an accident or near miss as a result.
Most watched Money videos
- Citroen unveil the My Ami Cargo, a dinky electric van
- Europe's most powerful EV charging hub to be installed in Oxford
- What the frunk!? Ford Lightning features a trunk on the front
- Audi showcases electric A6 e-tron concept with 'cinematic' headlights
- Rare 1960 crashed Jaguar sells at auction for £90,000
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As a result of its highly successful world public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where a complete car and separate chassis were displayed and a further example was demonstrated on the hill by Mexican F1 rookie Esteban Gutierrez, the innovative VŪHL 05 is due to enter production this November.
VŪHL (the name is pronounced ‘vool’ and stands for Vehicles of Ultra High-performance and Lightweight) is the brainchild of brothers Iker and Guillermo Echeverria, whose Mexican/American design company penned the breath-taking 05 trackday supercar. Their profound passion for all things automotive comes from a hands-on role in the GT and formula racing cars successfully built and campaigned over a 30-year period by their father, Guillermo Echeverria senior.
Said VŪHL Automotive director Guillermo Echeverria: “Our aim for Goodwood was quite specific – to accrue sufficient orders for a batch of 20 ‘Edition One’ (top specification) models and, with the serious enquiries already received from the UK, central Europe, USA and Mexico, we are well on the way to achieving that and more. Production will therefore commence in November as planned, with the first cars due to enter customers’ hands during the spring of next year.
“We could not have wished for a better response from the media and public alike and, as hoped, it is clear the car is just as appealing to those wanting an ultra-cool car for the road as the serious trackday enthusiasts seeking an alternative to the offerings of more established manufacturers.
“The enthusiastic feedback we’ve received has been very rewarding. People generally love the car’s unique design, build quality and highly competitive power to weight ratio. We’ve been asked everything from whether a coupé version is on the cards to whether the roadster will form the basis of a one-make race series. The answer is ‘watch this space’, for anything is possible!”
The 05’s handling has been fine-tuned in the UK, while further testing and development is scheduled to take place with assistance from Michelin later this year, both in the U.S. and Europe. Production is scheduled to commence this November, with the first deliveries following in the spring of 2014. The bodies are being fabricated in Canada, with chassis production and final assembly conducted by the advanced manufacturing concern, Adman Leku in Mexico City.
Backed by a number of blue-chip companies and the Mexican Government, and with an inventory of renowned suppliers and development partners that includes Ford, Multimatic and Michelin, the VŪHL 05 has been precision engineered for the track and endowed with exhilarating performance for both the road and the circuit.


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With a stay at this aparthotel in Bangkok (Lat Phrao), you'll be within a 10-minute drive of Kasetsart University and Vibhavadi Hospital. This aparthotel is 4.6 mi (7.4 km) from Chatuchak Weekend Market and 6.3 mi (10.2 km) from The Mall Bangkapi. Distances are displayed to the nearest 0.1 mile and kilometer.
- Central Plaza Ladprao Mall - 6.3 km / 3.9 mi
- Vibhavadi Hospital - 6.4 km / 4 mi
- Union Mall - 6.7 km / 4.2 mi
- Kasetsart University - 6.9 km / 4.3 mi
- Thailand Cultural Center - 7.4 km / 4.6 mi
- Chatuchak Weekend Market - 7.4 km / 4.6 mi
- Siam Niramit Theater - 7.7 km / 4.8 mi
- Vejthani Hospital - 8.5 km / 5.3 mi
- Central Plaza Grand Rama 9 - 8.6 km / 5.3 mi
- Fortune Town Mall - 8.7 km / 5.4 mi
- The Mall Ngamwongwan - 8.7 km / 5.4 mi
- Central Ramintra - 8.7 km / 5.4 mi
- La Villa Aree Shopping Mall - 9.2 km / 5.7 mi
- The Mall Bangkapi - 10.2 km / 6.3 mi
- Dhurakij Pundit University - 10.3 km / 6.4 mi .The nearest airports are: Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK) \- 33.8 km / 21 mi
- Don Mueang Intl. Airport (DMK) - 20 km / 12.4 mi .The preferred airport for this aparthotel is Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK).
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Featured amenities include a 24-hour front desk, laundry facilities, and an elevator. Free self parking is available onsite.


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While the media is busy having a field day at the expense of Michael Vaughan, the man at least seems able to win a toss. England have chosen to bat first on a pitch that would have an in form Harmison licking his lips, so he’ll be hoping to stick his feet up until tomorrow. Follow the action at Cricinfo and leave your comments below.
Gutted about the latest no-show from the West Indies, although I guess that if England canâ€™t win a Test match in early season freezing Headingley against a team of under-prepared novices from the Caribbean, then we never will. Hardly a level playing field.
Of course, it wasnâ€™t just England handing out a thumping this weekend. India gained some sort of revenge for the ignominious defeat at the World Cup, by dismantling Bangladesh. At 408 for 0, has there ever been a worse decision to bowl first? (Well, yes, Nasser, probablyâ€¦)
My sympathies go to Javed Omar. A first ball duck is never a good feeling, as I reminded myself in a 20-20 match last week. Iâ€™ve earned the Primary Club tie on my mantlepiece many times over (five, at least), but Iâ€™ll put another note in their online bucket (www.primaryclub.org) for good measure. Iâ€™ve also got two diamond ducks (first ball of the innings) on my CV, which is enough disappointment for one lifetime, I hope. Can anyone better that?
Poor old Javed can, Iâ€™m sure, as he bagged two in the match. Has that ever happened before? In fact, what do you call that? Is it a King Diamond Pair? Or a Sapphire Pair? Did anyone see the commentary â€“ I suspect someone answered that at the time?
Neither of the last two Tests has provided the kind of intrigue or tension to really kick-start this summerâ€™s cricket. At least, such as it may be called summer when hail stops play. While the crowds may rue the decline of a once great Test nation, however, the England selectors have some cause to smile.
Kevin Pietersen may have sneaked the Man-of-the-Match award with his maiden international double hundred, but Headingley was Ryan Sidebottomâ€™s Test. After the Durham pair of Plunkett and Harmison had comprehensively failed to look threatening at Lordâ€™s, or even manage to find both line and length with any frequency, the prospect of a return for the equally unpredictable Anderson or Mahmood was not one of eager anticipation. Sidebottomâ€™s selection, whilst somewhat left-field and seen by some as a backwards step, certainly served purpose. His experience and discipline was priceless to an attack whose two frontline â€˜strike menâ€™ seemed as unsure as the opposition batsmen as to where each of their deliveries was going to pitch. Michael Vaughan possibly summed it up the Aesopian predicament most accurately:
â€œIf you’ve got someone bowling 90mph in the right area, it’s fantastic, but pace bowled on either side of the wicket is something that’s quite nice to face.â€
Sidebottom, like Prior, had not had the most successful start to the cricketing calendar. Handed his second Test cap, he took his best haul in all competitions this season in the first innings, with his second innings figures costing a mere two runs extra. Priorâ€™s two first-innings outings have both been far in excess of any of his scores for Sussex this year. Is Moores simply blessed with good fortune in his early selections, or does he have Fletcherâ€™s Midas touch for the international performer? It is surely too soon to tell; but for the moment it seems likely that Nottinghamshire will have to wait a little longer to regain their curly-haired left-arm seamer.
Not all of the selection decisions have paid off. While Graveney et al cannot take blame for Harmisonâ€™s curious lack of consistency, Plunkettâ€™s rather robotic action accounts for much of the troubles that went unhidden by his flattering figures at Headingley. Sidebottom has just highlighted the quality that can be found and developed in the county system that Duncan Fletcher had come to distrust. Unless Donald is able to make a swift and significant impact, a return to Durham for the young man may be the best way to improve his game.
It seems unlikely that there’ll be much play today, if any. However, with England in such a strong position, they might not need many overs to wrap the game up. Follow the weather on cricinfo, and if I’ve got the HTML right, here’s Ceefax
It was the third over of the day on a sprightly Headingley pitch. The clouds hung heavy, there was a stiff breeze hurrying across the ground, and England were facing a bearded West Indian at the end of his run-up. 10 or 15 years ago, those previous two sentences would have been code for an England collapse, several of them nursing serious injuries, but not now.
Denesh Ramdin, the wicketkeeper, received the signal from Corey Collymore to stand up to the stumps. And still they refused to take the new ball. Enough said.
A great opportunity for Kevin Pietersen to go berserk today, and likewise for Matt Prior. Rain is forecast, and it’s going to be torrential tomorrow…so quick runs are needed. Scorecard – and Ceefax is below:
Kevin Pietersen whacked his fastest Test hundred today and yet was overshadowed by someone who was once described by Ian Chappell  as the most unlikely of Test batsman. More of an accountant – a bookish, slightly nerdy character. It was Michael Vaughan, then storming Australia during his epic series.
And at last today, he returned. The old cover-drive was there, complete with swashbuckling follow-through. It was a slick innings against some of the most inept, friendly bowling imaginable, on a friendly Headingley pitch under clear skies. The conditions and situation were tailor-made for him and he took full advantage. Even his favoured pull stroke was there…though he timed one of them rather too well, falling straight down Morton’s throat.
It just reminded me of what an audacious, brilliantly talented batsman he once was, but also what he could still be capable of. He said before this Test that he felt as though he was making his debut today and, that being the case, let’s hope he’ll be just as successful as England’s other recent debutants – Alastair Cook and Matt Prior to name two. If the knees survive – and let’s be honest, if they don’t, it’ll probably end his career in a hurry – there’s no reason why he can’t dominate bowling like he did four years ago.
Meanwhile Andrew Strauss, the Middlesex legend, is under a wee bit of pressure. Needs big runs, quickly.
 I think it was Chappell.
Welcome back Michael Vaughan. 18 months since he last played a Test and Cricinfo’s headline – Vaughan returns to a changed world – rather says it all. Come on Michael, work your magic on this new England team. We’re on comms for Cricinfo so keep an eye on the scorecard, and leave your thoughts in the comments. And here’s a retro-view for you – Ceefax! Refresh to get the latest score.
Thanks to Englandâ€™s decision to delay their squad announcement until 4pm yesterday afternoon, I was stuck on the A45 in rush hour by the time some vaguely pertinent details crackled over the radio. Jammed into a minibus with cricketers with various levels of interest in the national game, needless to say, the news of Ryan Sidebottomâ€™s inclusion received a predominant chorus of â€˜Who?â€™
It is a curious choice. It is certainly not one for the future â€“ while 29 is by no means ancient, and Stuart Clark has shown it possible to found an international bowling career in your thirties, Graham Onions is fit and in form even if Stuart Broad is not. Nor is this a Shah incident, where a consistent county performer has filled an injury hole. In fact, Sidebottom does not presently rank as even Nottinghamshireâ€™s top performer, being out-averaged by Ealham and out-wicketed by Shreck. The same occurred last season, and only last week, teammate Mark Wagh was talking up Shreckâ€™s chances of an England cap. So what brings the potential of a second Test cap to top Sidebottomâ€™s distinctive curly locks?
After Plunkett and Harmison dealt so poorly with an undercooked West Indian batting line-up, it is only natural that England look for variation â€“ and thus, to the left arm seamer. The former Yorkshire stalwart may not be the most in form or reliable of options, but at least he is something different. True, Sidebottom is unlikely to play a part. However, it may just be that while Moores publicly backs his Durham seamers to come good, there is a feeling that something, indeed anything, different might be what is needed to take 11 wickets. Of course, it can’t hurt that a substantial part of the now Nottingham player’s game was developed at Headingley. Interestingly, Sidebottomâ€™s only previous Test cap was due to an injury to Hoggard some 6 years ago. Might he be adding to his headwear in similar circumstances by the weekend?
So, both sides are going for the win apparently. West Indies need 401, England 10 wickets, but the weather’s not great. Murky, and rain is expected. Anyway, keep an eye on the scorecard and leave your thoughts in the comments.

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