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10 Best Gelatos in New York
A waffle cone costs you no more than a regular cone at Eataly's Gelateria.
The creamy imported-from-Italy treat called gelato has taken the city by ice storm over the last decade, and even old-guard Italian ice palaces have started selling it. This cousin of ice cream (which sports a lower fat content) is often lighter, smoother, and more rich tasting, with a palette of flavors more refined. Here are our 10 favorite places to get it.
Note that for this list we've considered only retail gelaterias, and not restaurants that make and serve it as part of their regular menus. We've also not included many fine Italian bakeries that specialize in ices, rather than true gelati.
10. Gelateria at Eataly - Made from local organic milk and premium nuts imported from Italy, Eataly's gelato tends to be denser and served colder than other brands - which could be a boon if you like those qualities. Named after the sort of fresh mozzarella that Italian-American immigrants transplanted here, fiore di latte (show above) is the best flavor, bursting with essence de cow and no extraneous vanilla. Plain milk has never tasted better! 200 Fifth Avenue, 646-398-5100
9. Grom - Though I feel this gelato chain from Milano is oft overrated, their products are wildly popular, especially among Upper West Siders. I'll admit, the espresso - made from organic coffee beans trucked in from Guatemala - is wildly good, and will prop your peepers open as if with toothpicks. 2165 Broadway, 212-362-1837
8. Via Quadronno - This darling little Italian café goes its own way with gelati fabrication, creating a product midway between old-fashioned Brooklyn-style milk ices and the higher-fat concoctions called gelato today. The peach (shown above) is without reproach: chunky with fresh fruit and exactly as it needs to be to put the ripe flavor across. 25 East 73rd Street, 212-650-9880
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The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America reports more than 24 million Americans are now living with seasonal pollen allergies, and more than five million of those are kids.
Now, because of COVID-19, those kids may be facing another crisis in the classroom, repeatedly being sent home to quarantine and falling behind for having allergy symptoms that may be mistaken for COVID.
That’s what a Fresno family with two boys attending Clovis East High School now says it is facing.
Jacob Dunn says he has a problem with school quarantines. He has no problem with taking precautions to prevent COVID, but he says both of his two sons have allergies and the COVID quarantine policy is causing to miss classes.
“Any time my kids exhibit any symptoms whatsoever, the school sends them home and says they have to quarantine,” Dunn complained.
Dunn says the policy is putting them farther and farther behind in their classes with each quarantine and forcing them to work harder and harder to catch up while at the same time trying to keep up with current lessons.
“We had one instance where my wife had to call the school and said hey, my oldest is having a severe allergy day. He’s not going to be in. Without asking any further questions the school said oh he’s got symptoms of COVID and has to quarantine for ten days.”
It’s not hard to understand why. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), some early symptoms of COVID, like nasal congestion, runny nose, cough, sore throat and fatigue, are very much the same as symptoms of hay fever and seasonal allergy.
Those are the very kinds of symptoms teachers are encouraged to keep a close eye out for to protect their students and prevent the spread of COVID in their classrooms, but Dunn says the inability to differentiate and tell the difference is now hurting his kids and others like them who also suffer from allergies.
“I understand the schools being cautious and wanting to be sure the kids are being tested,” Dunn explained, but I’ve seen my kids’ grades drop because of it.”
Drop from A’s and B’s for most of their school years, Dunn says, down to C’s and D’s and nearly an F in one class.
“The counselors have been fairly good about getting back to us and there are still some teachers that you can really see care about the students and they’re doing everything they can. It’s just really having a huge negative effect on their ability to learn.
There appears to be no easy answer to this issue. A great many children have allergies here in the central valley, but if a teacher sees a child with symptoms that could be early signs of COVID, they must ask them to go on quarantine for the safety of the rest of the class and school.
FOX 26 News, contacted Fresno allergy specialist Dr. Praveen Buddiga with Buddiga Family Allergy, Skin, and Immunology.
Dr. Buddiga confirmed that the symptoms of seasonal allergy and early COVID are remarkably similar and cannot be reliably recognized without clinical testing, but Dr. Buddiga also pointed out that parents can help kids with allergies reduce those allergy symptoms with over-the-counter allergy medications available at your local drug store. That might help avoid the problem altogether.
Dr. Buddiga also recommends allergy testing and desensitization treatments that can help minimize allergic reactions.
FOX 26 News also spoke with Kelly Avants, Chief Communications Officer for the Clovis Unified School District.
Avants says parents of kids with allergies can get a note from their doctor or allergist and put it on file with their child’s school. In the event of their child showing symptoms, that could make a difference in determining whether the child would have to go home on quarantine or be tested.
Avants also says the district makes available tutors who can help kids who fall behind due to quarantine-related absences.
What about you? Do you have any solutions that should be heard? Our owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group, is launching this franchise initiative nationwide.
Every week here on FOX 26 News at Ten and Great Day, we will be bringing you stories of the victories already being won by educators and parents in this unprecedented time in education.
Please email, tweet or Facebook message us, or just call with your stories of the challenges impacting your family and school and the solutions that are making a difference for you.
To book a consultation during business hours, please fill out the form below, and we’ll call you to book your appointment by the end of the business day. In the event of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate assistance.

domain: news


Most Americans support U.S. involvement overseas for humanitarian, environmental and other social causes, according to public opinion polls. Many support or work on refugee resettlement, peacemaking, and cultural exchange program through churches, civic groups, and universities. Yet they are not organized to influence policymakers, who generally believe that the U.S. public cares little about the rest of the world.
To narrow the gap between citizen concerns and policymaker perceptions, three initiatives have been founded recently. The Global Interdependence Initiative (GII) is a collaborative effort of the Aspen Institute, the Benton Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The Better World Campaign (BWC) is a project of the United Nations Foundation founded with a $1 billion donation from media mogul Ted Turner. Global Connections (GC) is a project of InterAction, an umbrella association of U.S.-based nonprofit groups that carry on humanitarian work overseas.
Most Americans believe the US devotes far more to foreign aid than the actual figure.
The primary purpose of all three initiatives is to educate and mobilize constituencies to redirect and improve U.S. global engagement. The BWC is focused on the specific goal of getting the U.S. to pay more than $1 billion in back dues to the UN, while the other two have a related, broader purpose: bringing about a U.S. foreign policy that is more consistent with deeply held American values, such as compassion, hope, justice, and peace.
BWC and GC are relatively short-term efforts, designed to meet their goals in two or three years, while GII will operate over a decade– from 1998 to 2008. Directors of the three groups keep each other appraised of their activities and anticipate no problems with duplication or overlap.
Two of the three initiatives can rely on networks throughout the country, which will facilitate their campaigns at the grassroots level. InterAction, the home of GC, has 160 affiliated nonprofit members with millions of supporters nationwide. BWC draws on a network of 200 UN Association (UNA) chapters across the country with more than 22,000 individual members who support the UN. The third initiative, GII, has an advisory group of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including groups such as CARE and the Sierra Club.
All three initiatives seek to educate and mobilize policymakers and the media, as well as the public, to correct misinformation about global engagement and raise its priority in American society. These three actors—the public, the policymakers, and the media—form an opinion loop on which each influences and reinforces the attitudes and behavior of the others, according to GII. The public, perceived as indifferent or even hostile to foreign affairs, has these attitudes reinforced by policymakers who denigrate foreign aid and by the media that present few news stories on international issues.
The three initiatives also have in common the goal of embracing a variety of viewpoints. BWC is creating partnerships with diverse groups ranging from the Rotary, which is active in small towns and has a long history of involvement and support of the UN, to faith-based communities such as United Methodist Women. Global Connections, too, has targeted diverse constituencies ranging from refugees concerned about the countries from which they emigrated to young professionals idealistic about the potential for world change.
GII will encourage diverse viewpoints on topical interests by giving priority to interdisciplinary activities, according to its coordinator, David Devlin-Foltz. For example, a human rights group and an environmental group might cooperate on a project to promote environmental justice, or organized labor and business interests might collaborate around the establishment of minimum working standards,” he said.
“We can’t see a problem whole unless we get a variety of perspectives– the human rights activists, the environmentalists, the development experts. No one group has a comprehensive view,” he added.
The public consistently overestimates the amount the US spends on foreign assistance by a factor of 10 to 20.
A determination to narrow the gap between Americans’ views on what U.S. foreign involvement should be and actual U.S. policy overseas is another strong drive common to the three initiatives. During separate interviews in May, the director of each initiative expressed concern about this discrepancy. Each referred to the “one percent gap” revealed in a study entitled Americans and Foreign Aid which found that most Americans believe the U.S. devotes far more to foreign aid than the actual figure, which is under one percent of the budget.” The public consistently overestimates the amount the U.S. spends on foreign assistance by a factor of 10 to 20, according to GC.
The public looks to policymakers to lead on foreign policy but today’s public officials are less concerned and less informed on global issues than at any time in the last 20 years, according to GC. Most politicians feel no pressure to lead on foreign policy because there are so few organized constituencies advocating the action. Because the public has few sources of information on global issues, the media play a central role in shaping public discourse. They focus on the sensational– natural disasters, famine, and “ethnic cleansing”– and omit countervailing success stories. With appropriate guidance, however, policymakers and the media may be able to stimulate new interest in foreign affairs and eventually influence a more balanced foreign policy that better reflects the interests of the American public.
Formation of the initiatives was prompted by national trends including a sense of the vacuum in foreign policy since the Cold War ended. The Cold War at least delineated U.S. allies and enemies. “There was a perverse security in the simple perception that we inhabited a bipolar world. It is unsettling for us all to have a sense that we don’t know how to control foreign policy any more,” said Devlin-Foltz.
The trends that produced these three projects have more ominous implications, however, according to J. Brian Atwood, departing administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. In a farewell speech to the Overseas Development Council on June 29, he noted that the politics of the budget process is producing “backdoor isolationism” in the United States. The budget surplus of more than $1 trillion over the next 15 years is more than the combined GNPs of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, he said. “Yet we continue to run our government under budget caps set when we had a deficit.”
“Despite our prosperity today,” he warned, “we are in a negative spiral. We are already fast approaching a world where 10 percent of the people control 90 percent of the wealth. We hear rhetoric about a more equitable world where America’s vision of a democratic, market-based globe can be realized, but it is not matched by resource allocation. Our own political system and our press seem to miss this credibility gap, but the developing world does not.”
GII: Framing a New Foreign Policy
The first priority of the institutions and senior NGO representatives who have collaborated to found the Global Interdependence Initiative is to create a new foreign policy framework expressed in compelling, metaphorical language that makes global issues more salient to Americans.
Opinion polls indicate that Americans’ attitudes are based on a framework of underlying interests such as livelihood, security, and community, and values such as fairness and justice. These interests and values have implications for how the United States should conduct itself in an age of globalization. “We need to discern the message behind what people are saying. We’ll then be able to recast the issues in terms that people are using in daily discourse,” said Devlin-Foltz. GII labels this process ‘framing foreign policy.’
The Benton Foundation, one of the founding institutions, will lead the GII effort to collaborate with public opinion experts, linguists, psychologists and media scholars to find the most effective metaphors, the best comparisons, the most persuasive voices to use with various audiences to promote cooperative international engagement.
Benton has worked for five years to document dominant media frames and to devise new ones through focus groups. Under Benton’s leadership, GII will continue that work, reviewing research to see how the public interprets global issues, commissioning papers on the world views associated with desirable policy outcomes, testing model frames through focus groups and surveys, and creating a strategy for communicating global engagement.
“We intend to work with the media to help them see the marketability of a different approach, rather than to tell them that what they’re doing is wrong,” Devlin-Foltz said. “The media recognize that they need to improve their coverage. The American Society of Newspaper Editors, for example, is saying that newspapers are doing too narrow a job [covering foreign affairs]. Foreign correspondents are frustrated by their shrinking news hole.” Devlin-Foltz acknowledged that the goal of guiding the media to a different approach is “extraordinarily ambitious.”
According to Devlin-Foltz, “GII is not trying to create new knowledge or new values, because the knowledge and values are there. We are trying to raise the salience of values already dear to Americans,” he said.
“There may be broad public support for the UN, for example, but it is not raised to the level of a voting issue. To the extent that the UN is a voting issue, it’s the anti-UN, anti-development zealots who have had influence. Elected officials respond to zeal and passion, to what they hear at the town meeting back home and on their answering machine. And they assume that those views represent a sizeable ground swell. When they’re given no evidence to the contrary, that’s what they remember when they vote.”
An example of an overarching framework for cooperative global engagement might be “making globalization work for everyone.” This frame could evoke the notion of a shared enterprise whose partners must treat each other with respect and reciprocity.
“The US is in a desperate situation–approaching a time when we could lose our vote in the General Assembly.”
The Aspen Institute will house a small secretariat; the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) will provide leadership; and the Benton Foundation will lead development of a new foreign policy framework and help design public education programs. RBF and an anonymous donor provided the initial funding. Two-thirds of the approximately $3 million for the first two years of the decade-long campaign is already in hand or firmly pledged, according to Devlin-Foltz.
By the end of 10 years, GII hopes that Americans will be able to recognize how international policies and behaviors reflect or fail to reflect their interests and values. They anticipate that existing constituencies will have expanded and new ones formed that can mobilize quickly to advocate policies that promote global interdependence. A final goal is that U.S. policy direction more strongly favor cooperative, inclusive, and broadly conceived approaches to global problem solving.
BWC: Saving the U.S. Seat in the General Assembly
BWC is a two-year project with an urgent mission. “The U.S. .is in a desperate situation—approaching a time when we could lose our vote in the General Assembly,” said Phyllis Cuttino, director of BWC, a project of the UN Foundation’s Better World Fund. “As one of the nations that founded the UN over 50 years ago, we helped write the very rules that would cause this to happen.” (The UN Chapter, Article 19, states that nations that fall more than two years behind in the dues lose their vote in the General Assembly).
“We would endure enormous shame and embarrassment is we joined the list of small impoverished nations who have lost their vote, such as Haiti, Iraq, Rwanda and Yugoslavia,” she said. Driven by this urgent situation, the staff of four, employed in March 1999, has already made strides in raising the visibility of the UN arrears issue and strengthening the growing consensus that the United States should pay its dues.
“We’ll keep promoting UN efforts that go to core American values such as peace, justice, hope, and stabilization.”
“We’ve been successful in moving the issue to the front burner,” said Brian Walsworth, deputy campaign manager, noting that the U.S. Senate approved legislation 98-1 on June 22 to release $1 billion in back payments as part of the State Department authorization. However, the bill places certain conditions on the repayment including a 5 percent decrease in the US contribution to the UN. The House has appropriated but not authorized funds. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) may link payment of the arrears to unrelated legislation on family planning that has held the UN hostage in the past.
An early BWC action that set the tone for the campaign was a Mother’s Day card that several women members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent to all Members of Congress in May urging immediate action to pay the arrears. The card celebrated the UN’s work for mothers and children such as saving the lives of more than 3 million children a year through immunizations, ensuring safe pregnancies through maternal and neo-natal care, providing food, shelter and health care for refugees, and improving the literacy rate of women in developing nations. (The literacy rate for women rose from 36 percent in 1970 to 60 percent in 1995, according to BWC).
The Mother’s Day strategy of celebrating UN work will be used repeatedly in the campaign. “We’ll keep promoting UN efforts that go to core American values such as peace, justice, hope, and stabilization,” said Cuttino.
BWC facilitated an event that brought UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to address a U.S. Chamber of Commerce business summit on June 9 and to discuss the UN with Chamber President Tom Donahue and other officials.
BWC also includes state and local activities, such as a resolution supporting the UN which has been introduced in six state legislatures so far; a New York outreach to organized labor which has union members calling their members of Congress; mobilization of citizens, especially prominent local leaders, to write letters to the editor in support of the UN; and meetings with newspaper editorial boards to discuss the UN.
In addition, BWC will help UNA chapters link with groups such as the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs to sponsor UN promotions. For example, the UNA of Minnesota gathered in Minneapolis on June 9 to join a UNA-USA campaign called Adopt-A-Minefield. Invitations to the event noted, “If local groups cooperate to clean up a highway, why not get together and clean up a minefield!” UNA-Minnesota pledged to raise $34,200 to clear a minefield in a residential area in southern Afghanistan. (The UN coordinates minefield cleanup worldwide).
BWC works in conjunction with the Emergency Coalition for U.S. Financial Support of the UN, which was established several years ago. The Coalition leadership features seven former secretaries of state who signed a letter that appeared in major newspapers in March urging Congress to fully fund outstanding U.S. legal obligations to the UN.
GC: Targeting Specific Groups
InterAction founded Global Connections after conducting research in 1997-98 that revealed that Americans have a strong interest in engaging in the world, according to GC Manager Pedro Aviles. InterAction had probed the notion that Americans are not interested in foreign affairs through a series of focus groups.
“Focus group participants readily identified the impact of global issues on their lives,” said InterAction Vice President Cherri Waters, who supervised the research. “Yet they continue to prioritize the domestic over the foreign. They want the U.S. to be engaged, but not to do too much or go it alone. While they want to see the human face of all issues and strongly believe that the U.S. should act out of humanitarian concern, they reject the notion that their actions should be motivated by feelings of guilt and obligation,” she said.
“Our research found that some of the most politically active Americans are willing to become engaged on the global issues that are important to them– if we invite them to do so and provide them with the information they need, including the steps they should take,” Waters said. “The Global Connections initiative will do just that: provide information for action on global issues to activists across the US and invite them to become part of an engaged constituency for a better world.”
Based on this research, InterAction sought grants from the Ford and MacArthur Foundations for the three-year campaign now underway. GC will focus initially on five cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Davis/Sacramento, Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh. Seattle will be added when additional funding becomes available. Grassroots advocates in these cities will be mobilized, trained, and linked with each other via e-mail and Web networks. At the national level, the project will encourage Congressional visits to developing nations and Congressional staff briefings to help policymakers understand how foreign assistance programs that promote global development advance U.S. interests. To reach the media, GC will organize educational conferences for journalists and media training for grassroots supporters to improve coverage of global issues.
A key criterion for selection of a city was that one or two of InterAction’s 160 affiliated members have headquarters there and are willing and able to provide local assistance and resources throughout the three years. The cities must also have organized groups from the population groups that GC has targeted, as well as institutions (academic, religious or corporate) willing to lend support to local initiatives. The city’s importance in terms of Congressional leadership and media markets was also considered.
With the help of InterAction’s member agencies, GC aims to mobilize community leaders on behalf of global engagement, educate members of Congress who represent those cities, foster sustained dialogue between the members and their constituents, and improve media coverage of global issues in each target city.
InterAction is also targeting population groups including religious and social justice activists who are committed to alleviating hunger and poverty, churches across the country that provide for and resettle refugees, refugees themselves who often keep close ties to their home countries, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans who are concerned about issues in Africa, Latin America and Asia, college students and professionals in their 20s who are idealistic about the potential for world change, those who travel abroad or join the Peace Corps, and women in each of the groups.
GC will engage these groups in a national dialogue with policymakers and the media that draws connections between their own interests and the need for engagement with the developing world. Opportunities will be created for regular exchange within each population group and with policymakers and the media, according to Aviles.
Paula Hirschoff is an editor of Hunger Notes and a Washington-based writer/editor.


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The RYA’s Powerboat Racing Department have announced that John Guille from the Channel Island of Sark has won the ‘Contribution to Powerboat Racing Marine from Industry Supplier’ award for 2016.
The awards, launched in 2015, were set out to recognise excellence in the sport.
Jeni Jelf, RYA Powerboat Racing Manager commented,
We have been staggered by the calibre of entries we received for these awards, making the job of the judging panel extremely difficult.
Guille was unavailable for comment today due to a Stag Night coinciding with ‘Boot Düsseldorf’ in Germany, however he told Emma Slater at the RYA yesterday,
It is a real honour to receive this award for the many hours of design and hard work that has gone into the Phantom 19G boats.
To be able to provide the British teams with an affordable opportunity to compete on par internationally has been the most rewarding part.
In Offshore Class 3A, the last three years have seen the 19G’s take two World Championships and a second place which has helped provide the springboard to make this the most popular and fastest growing UIM international class both at home and abroad.
We are now looking forward to the UIM Offshore 3A and 3B World Championships in September in Guernsey which is shaping up to be the most exciting international event that Britain has hosted for many years!
Photo: Peter Pickla
Motorvated Racing winning the 2016 UIM Class 3A World Championship in Norway in a Phantom 19g

domain: sports


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Neuroimmune disorders encompass a range of conditions that involve the complex interplay between the immune system and the nervous system. These disorders can have a significant impact on an individual’s quality of life, requiring comprehensive management strategies. In this article, we will delve into the causes, symptoms, and treatment options for neuroimmune disorders, providing valuable insights into effectively managing these conditions.
I. Understanding Neuroimmune Disorders
Neuroimmune disorders are characterized by dysfunction in the immune system and the nervous system, leading to various neurological symptoms. The exact causes of these disorders are multifactorial and can include genetic predisposition, environmental factors, and dysregulation of the immune response. Certain neuroimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis and Guillain-Barré syndrome, have well-established diagnostic criteria, while others may present with more complex and overlapping symptoms.
II. Common Symptoms of Neuroimmune Disorders
Neuroimmune disorders can manifest with a wide array of symptoms, which can vary depending on the specific condition and its progression. Some common symptoms include:
- Cognitive impairment
- Muscle weakness
- Sensory disturbances
- Balance and coordination problems
- Autonomic dysfunction
Early recognition of these symptoms is crucial for timely intervention and management of neuroimmune disorders.
III. Diagnostic Approaches
Accurate diagnosis of neuroimmune disorders involves a comprehensive evaluation of clinical symptoms, medical history, physical examination, and specialized tests. Neurological examination, imaging studies, and laboratory tests can aid in confirming the diagnosis and ruling out other possible causes. Collaborating with healthcare professionals, such as neurologists and immunologists, is essential for an accurate and timely diagnosis.
IV. Treatment Options for Neuroimmune Disorders
The management of neuroimmune disorders focuses on reducing symptoms, slowing disease progression, and improving the overall quality of life. Treatment options may include:
- Medications: Immunomodulatory drugs, corticosteroids, and symptom-specific medications may be prescribed to manage inflammation, relieve symptoms, and prevent relapses.
- Physical therapy: Rehabilitation programs, including physical therapy and occupational therapy, can help improve strength, balance, and mobility.
- Lifestyle modifications: Adopting a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise, balanced nutrition, stress management, and adequate sleep, can support overall well-being.
- Supportive therapies: Complementary and alternative therapies, such as acupuncture and mindfulness-based practices, may be incorporated as adjunctive treatments.
- Psychological support: Counseling, support groups, and psychological interventions can assist individuals in coping with the emotional and psychological impact of neuroimmune disorders.
V. Reducing Risk Factors and Promoting Well-being
While the exact prevention of neuroimmune disorders is challenging due to their complex nature, certain lifestyle modifications can help reduce the risk and promote overall well-being. These include maintaining a healthy weight, managing stress, avoiding exposure to toxins, and following a balanced diet rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients.
Managing neuroimmune disorders requires a multidisciplinary approach, involving healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers. Early diagnosis, appropriate treatment, and lifestyle modifications are essential for optimizing outcomes and improving the quality of life for individuals with these conditions. By staying informed and proactive, individuals can navigate the challenges posed by neuroimmune disorders and lead fulfilling lives.
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. (2021). Multiple Sclerosis: Hope Through Research. Retrieved from https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Hope-Through-Research/Multiple-Sclerosis-Hope-Through-Research
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. (2021). Guillain-Barré Syndrome Fact Sheet. Retrieved from https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Guillain-Barr%C3%A9-Syndrome-Fact-Sheet
- Gorson, K. C., Allam, G., Ropper, A. H. (2019). Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy: Clinical Features, Pathogenesis, and Treatment. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6781306/
- Wingerchuk, D. M., Banwell, B., Bennett, J. L., et al. (2015). International consensus diagnostic criteria for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders. Neurology, 85(2), 177-189.
Please note that the above references are for informational purposes only. It is recommended to consult with a healthcare professional or refer to specific medical literature for detailed information and personalized guidance on neuroimmune disorders and their treatment.
Note: This blog post provides general information and should not substitute professional medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional for personalized guidance and treatment options for neuroimmune disorders.

domain: biology


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By Sue LeDoux
The Divine Meddler
A Thrilling Novel
Sue’s debut novel, The Divine Meddler, follows Lou Skalney’s descent into darkness when he learns of his daughter’s murder. In his grief, he turns his back on all he believed and loved, and chooses a road labeled “justice.” Little does he know what awaits him as he takes his first step into a hell he cannot escape without help. Will he accept the grace offered him or embrace the abyss?
Fueled by coffee and an overactive imagination, Sue LeDoux creates fiction that draws from her years as a nurse and wife of a CSI chemist. She blends her fascination about church history with a good dose of life’s raw experiences. Her flawed characters navigate messy lives, just as we all do. She does not write for the spiritually comfortable. If you are looking for sweetness and sunshine you won’t find them in her work.
When not home in Rochester, New York, her two favorite places are New England and in Tennessee, with her son John and his wife, Deborah.
She has been a free-lance journalist for a Christian newspaper covering upstate New York, and an irrepressible blogger on matters of faith, wellness, caregiving, and of course, writing. You can find her devotionals at www.christiandevotions.us and her blogs on her website and at https://www.crossmap.com/
“WOW. Powerful and eerily close to
our situation at present.”
– Cathleen Donegan
My Writing Blog
I once thought I’d like to become a musicologist. It’s a fascinating field that studies music, how music came to be, and how it interacts within cultures. I think a good musicologist must be part musician, part historian, and part anthropologist. I remember reading an...
I like to think of myself as a tough old gal. "See the hill. Take the hill," as my Lt. Colonel father would have said. I recently made a decision that holds the promise of adventure ahead. Was I up to it? Would everything work out? Or had I made a blunder? My mind...
As we enter Holy Week, I want to share one of the Church’s most ancient rituals with you. The Holy Week service called Tenebrae has become so rare today many Christians have never experienced the funereal tenor of this sorrowful ritual. The first Tenebrae service I...

domain: library


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A picturesque hiking route leads to Dimosari waterfalls, the most known waterfalls in Lefkada.
If you would like discover a beautiful waterfall in Lefkada island, you must to go to Nidri. Coordinates are the following where you have to leave the bypass road of Nidri : 38.711256, 20.707130 (usually roads signs also show the right direction). After 3 kilometres you will see a small parking site for your car or bike, because from this point you have to walk. A few meters away from the entrance there is a small cafe bar with refreshments, beers and snacks.
Hiking to Dimosari waterfalls
The walk to Dimosari waterfalls takes only about 15-20 minutes on a mostly well maintaned footpath, with some rocks, stairs and curves. During the walk some old plane trees provide shade for hikers. A small stream flows along the trail and you can see some small waterfalls, but the main waterfall is located directly at the end of the route. Dimosari waterfall is approx. 15 meters high, surrounded by large rocks and cliffs. The nature forms here a small natural pool, where you can cool yourself, but be aware, the water is very cold here! Usually there are some visitors who are trying to swim in this pool, but it is really recommended only for those who like icecold water temperature.
In the hottest and driest summer months, especially in July and August the volume of stream significantly decreases, or in extreme cases the waterfall dries out.
The best time to visit Dimosari waterfall are in the morning hours or in late afternoon. Visiting Dimosari waterfall and hiking the trail is free, there is no entry fee.
And now take a look some photos about the waterfall, from the starting point to the end of the route!
Don’t forget to refresh when you are done with Dimosari waterfalls tour, take head to the nearby beaches like Nidri beach, Dessimi beach, Passa beach, or raise the stakes and visit the best beaches in Lefkada!
Guide to Dimosari waterfalls
Coordinates: 38.723155, 20.688754
3 km west from Nidri village
Facilities: small tavern at the entrance
Accessibility: on foot from Nidri, or by car
Entrance Fee: none (free entrance)
Dimosari waterfalls on map

domain: travel


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Samsung is going to release its Galaxy Tab S8 series after the overwhelming success of the Galaxy Tab S7 series. The first details of the new tablet series are here and it’s something that will definitely excite its fans.
According to a tweet by IceUniverse, the Galaxy Tab S8 will be available in three different models: S8, S8+, and S8 Ultra. Also, the entire Tab S8 family will also support fast charging up to 10V 4.5A 45W. As a result, a 45W charger will be included in the box for the first time.
In a later tweet, the tipster also claimed that the Tab S8 series would be powered by the Snapdragon 898 processor. For the next-generation premium tablets, this means no Exynos 2200 with its AMD GPU. We’re not sure why that is, although a previous Galaxy S22 rumour also indicated that the Snapdragon 898 will be available in most markets.
Galaxy Tab S8, S8+ and S8 ultra: Specifications
The Tab S8 is expected to feature an 11-inch TFT 120Hz screen, an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, 8 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of internal storage. The Tab S8+ will have a 12.4-inch OLED 120Hz display, an 8-megapixel front camera, 8 GB of RAM, and up to 256 GB of internal storage.
On the other hand, the Tab S8 Ultra is expected to feature a 14.6-inch OLED 120Hz display, an 8-megapixel + 5-megapixel dual front-facing camera, up to 12 GB of RAM, and up to 512 GB of storage. The Galaxy Tab S8 will be having an 8,000mAh battery, the S8+ will have a 10,090mAh battery, while the Tab S8 Ultra will be powered by a larger 11,500mAh battery.
The three tablets are believed to share features such as a 13-megapixel + 5-megapixel dual-camera system with flash, quad-speakers, and Bluetooth compatibility for the S Pen. The Tab S8 series is set to debut in early 2022.
Thank you for sticking with us all the way to the end of this article! Stay tuned to Oyprice and subscribe to our YouTube channel. And don’t forget to join our telegram channel for regular news and updates.


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Musings —06.11.2021 09:56 PM—
“The money shot, as it were, is the moment the Mountie tells Maxime Bernier to put his hands behind his back.
The earnest leader of the People’s Party of Canada, in Manitoba for a protest against social and economic pandemic restrictions, was being handcuffed Friday after thrice violating public health orders.
As the RCMP officer asks Bernier to step outside his vehicle — clearly audible in a video Bernier himself posted on Twitter — “Mad Max” has a clever smirk on his face.
The smirk disappears as the handcuffs are applied, replaced with the ashen realization Manitoba was serious, finally, about arresting him for breaching its COVID-19 pandemic health orders.
It was an odd and somewhat amusing day for both Bernier and Manitoba enforcement officials.
History will show the former federal cabinet minister and Quebec MP was given every opportunity to stand down on his barnstorming tour of southern Manitoba.
History will also show pretty clearly Bernier could have been — likely should have been — stopped a lot sooner.
Notwithstanding its decisive action Friday, this is a provincial government that has been reluctant to shut down the dazed and confused, self-appointed guardians of personal freedom who are using the pandemic to grab their 15 minutes of fame.
Although all provinces suffer from a lack of confidence on this issue, Manitoba has certainly been among the most deferential when it comes to punishing individual or groups of people deliberately breaking public health orders.
Proof of that can be summed up in two words: Springs Church.
Throughout the pandemic, the Winnipeg church has proved to be among the least compliant with public health orders. Its abysmal behaviour crested recently, when pictures and videos of a maskless ceremony for its Springs College graduates was posted online.
Despite this clear and unambiguous evidence, Justice Minister Cameron Friesen said his department has not decided whether charges are warranted. He said the photos and videos “can be deceiving.”
That kind of response has defined a government that would rather issue tickets than intervene directly with people who deliberately and repeatedly break pandemic rules the overwhelming majority of Manitobans follow.
That same deference was evident in the early stages of Bernier’s tour.
On Thursday night, Bernier arrived in Winnipeg, having spent most of the day on Twitter mocking Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister for threatening his tour with tickets and possible arrest. He also posted an excerpt from a letter, written by a senior provincial health official, warning him he needed to isolate for 14 days after arriving in Manitoba.
Bernier’s response? He posted a video of himself standing in front of the giant Winnipeg sign at The Forks.
Pretty clear evidence he was not isolating.
On Friday, Bernier arrived on schedule in Niverville (some 40 kilometres south of Winnipeg) just before noon, and treated 50 maskless supporters to a rambling 30-minute speech about how Conservatives aren’t conservative enough, the pandemic emergency was “over,” and Canada allows too many immigrants.
Just before wrapping up, he also encouraged those in attendance that if they do get cited for participating in the gathering, they should ignore the tickets. “Don’t pay that; it’s unconstitutional.”
Finally, after two clear breaches of public health rules, and advising people to ignore public health orders, enforcement officials finally acted. Although not with the full force of the law.
Shortly after Niverville, Bernier was pulled over by provincial enforcement officers, issued a $1,296 ticket and warned that if he kept up his personal appearances — a scheduled 10 additional events Friday through Sunday — he could face arrest.
(We know all this because Bernier posted a video of the officer issuing the warning through the window of his vehicle.)
Shortly after another event in St-Pierre-Jolys (Bernier once again posted photos on Twitter, just in case law enforcement needed evidence), he was stopped again, cuffed, ushered into a RCMP vehicle.
He has been charged with offences under the Public Health Act.
All Manitobans who have faithfully respected the restrictions and who have welcomed the opportunity to be vaccinated, do not deserve to have their province used as a stage for Bernier’s deranged rantings.
They don’t deserve to see their provincial government offer a level of tolerance inappropriate for the gravity of such offences.
Bernier was, ultimately, arrested. But it’s hard to shake the sense the Pallister government hasn’t figured out the rules and standards used to deal with pre-pandemic threats to public health and safety are woefully inadequate.
In the immediate aftermath, it was unclear whether Bernier would get bail or (less likely) spend the weekend in the Winnipeg Remand Centre. Currently, justice officials are doing everything they can to limit remand time for non-violent offenders because of the threat posed by — wait for it — COVID-19.
It is an odd and ironic concession to make for a man who doesn’t think COVID-19 is much of a threat. That’s justice for you.”


Baby Brothers Die 2 Years Apart Under Same Circumstances, Cops Recommend Felony Charges
Azyian Newton was 7 months old when he died in his parents' bed. Nazairean Newton was 3 months old.
Police have recommended child abuse charges against the parents of two babies in Colorado who died of the same cause two years apart, according to prosecutors.
Nazairean Newton, 3 months, died on June 29 after he suffocated in his parents’ bed, authorities said. In 2014, 7-month-old Azyian Newton died the exact same way, according to police in Aurora.
The District Attorney’s Office of the 18th Judicial District declined to press charges in the first death, but is currently investigating the police recommendation for charges in the second, spokesperson Vikki Migoya told InsideEdition.com Tuesday.
“Our obligation is always to seek justice and sometimes that means justice for people who can’t speak,” Arapahoe Chief Deputy District Attorney Leora Joseph told KDVR-TV.
After the 2014 death, dad Tyler Newton told detectives he and girlfriend Tierra Collins regularly slept with their baby between them.
Newton said he was haunted by the baby’s death. “I will never get that out of my head, just holding him in my arms and trying to get him up,” the crying father told police, according to a video of the interview obtained by the station.
"I’d give my life to have my babies back," the mother told the station earlier this month. "I love my kids and I was doing the best that I thought I could do for my kids. I did not do anything criminally wrong."
Child care experts have long warned parents about the dangers of sleeping in the same bed with an infant. Dangers include suffocation caused by adults rolling over on a baby as well as pillows and sheets blocking an infant’s breathing passages.
Newton said charging him and the babies’ mother wouldn’t accomplish anything.
“We lost pretty much everything. We lost our kids, we lost our place, we’ve lost everything,” he told the station.
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2024 Subaru Legacy Touring XT Redesign, Interior, Release Date – Besides giving the standard all-wheel push, the 2024 Subaru Legacy Touring XT has become just one of the duller items in the midsize sedan segment. In terms of gratification and styling, it’s been a primarily forgettable vehicle for several years. One thing wasn’t usually the situation.
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2024 Subaru Legacy Touring XT Release Date and Price
The 2024 Subaru Legacy Touring XT should go marked down in decline. It shouldn’t fluctuate drastically from the modern car, though pricing details aren’t available. For the guide, the most recent Legacy commences at $37,430, which is $895 for the position.


Friday, January 26, 2007
The Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel is reporting that the state's Natural Resources Board has decided to employ an experimental adoption program in their efforts to control invasive mute swans (Cygnus olor). Residents that are interested in sponsoring a swan must be willing to pay to neuter and band the bird. The move comes in response to the staunch opposition to current mute swan control programs, which include culling and addling eggs to prevent them from hatching.
I am not aware of the details of the program, but I wonder if it will be possible for enough of the swans to get "adopted" such that reproduction virtually ceases. As soon as I can locate more information (including the cost of adoption), I'll post it here. In the meantime, if there's a Wisconsin mute swan you've had your eye on, be sure to register with the state by June 1st 2007.
Update: bootstrap analysis has weighed in on the mute swan adoption plan, definitely worth a read.
Labels: birds, mute swan, Wisconsin
OMG. When will science prevail and wildlife agencies be able to stand up for the best solution? Every banded, neutered swan may not reproduce, but will still occupy territory and, more importantly, consume eight pounds of vegetation every day for the rest of its very long life. And is capturing and performing surgery on a high-strung bird like this really humane? h
All those things are true, but it seems like neutering could be preferable in the long term to continued, yearly killings. Unfortunately the reality is that this is more likely just a way of dealing with public outcries and neutering is not intended to be part of a long-term management plan. I hope the Wisconsin DNR puts some information up on their website soon.
Not knowing much about swan breeding, I am interested in how the neutering would affect their behavior. Would it prevent eggs from being laid? Would swans still pair and make nests?
I don't have much idea on swan breeding and I am just curious if this action means preserving the lives of the swan?
The intent of the program is to preserve the lives of the adopted swans. The caveat though, is that the sterilization process (capture plus the medical procedure) is very stressful and one of the possible risks is death. Click the link to the bootstrap analysis post for details.
The issue of the Mute swan is not a simple matter of removing a non-native species to help a native species survive. If that is what you believe, then you have been very carefully and systematically misled.
Please believe that I am not unaware of the problems that non-native flora and fauna can cause when introduced unnaturally, and in many if not most of these cases, there is a definite need to remove the offending creature or vegetation by whatever means necessary. Zebra mussels, nutria, the snakehead fish, etc. all present frankly disastrous scenarios if left unchecked. I do not disagree with the need for this. However, this is not the case with the Mute swans, and I have 7 years of research to back this up, attesting to the native status of this swan: Mute Swan migration, behavior and paleontological material, as well as data published over the last hundred years, plus approximately 200 books, including very early Colonist's journals and highly technical data on bio-geography provided by extensively-published and highly respected world experts in ornithology, bioscience, and paleontology from the Smithsonian, UCLA, the University of Arizona, Yale Ornithology Department, Cal. Museum of Natural History, British Museum, Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, Oxford University in Great Britain and the International Ornithologist's Council, among them:
Robert Alison, PhD, a Canadian ornithologist who has worked with both the U.S. and Canadian governments in the field of avian management. He has written extensively on the Mute Swans.
Howard Savage (now deceased) was a former staff paleontologist at the University of Toronto, Department of Ornithology.
Gerry Martz, a former Michigan Department of Natural Resources waterfowl specialist, who has detailed the history of Mute Swans in that state.
Jeff Bickart, who was involved in the early study of Arizona Mute swan fossils.
Dr. Paul S. Martin, University of Arizona, and author of many books on the Great Migration from Asia and Pre-Columbian America, who states the key position, "The question is not why would the Mute swans be here (in the U.S.)? It is, rather, why wouldn't they?"
You stated that the plans to try and control mute swan populations are an attempt to save "our" native swans and conserve habitat for native species by groups such as the Nature Conservancy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&W), the Audubon Society and many state and private land trusts. That is the benign cover story that all of these groups plus others have worked in coordinated effort to spin. The next level down (and quite under the radar) is where the true story begins.
The "war against the Mute swan," as described by Ruth Gale, of the Trumpeter Swan Society, was launched decades ago to announce a program to kill off Mutes in Yosemite on the basis that they might compete for habitat with the larger, more aggressive Trumpeter swans. The Society is peopled by many state and federal agency people, most in retirement, and has been funded for many years by U.S. tax money. Their original goal was to reestablish populations of Trumpeters in their historic range, but that changed, to putting them everywhere from coast to coast and creating a new "trophy bird," the largest waterfowl on this continent, to which Harvey Nelson, then president of the Society, agreed. Mute swans were to be killed (80%) and "neutered and pinioned and placed in parks," (20%) - a one generation extinction on this continent. This is exactly what is happening now. U.S. Federal funds are, at this moment, being used to grow a small hunting organization headed by Scott Petrie (see Longpoint Website, "history") on the northern side of the Great Lakes, at Long Point, to promulgate and promote the extinction of Mute swans for the benefit of the new "trophy bird," whose life patterns are very similar to the Mutes. So what you have here is the decimation of one type of swan (albeit one that is associated with peace, love and beauty, hence the public’s refusal to hunt it, hence the secret plan to exterminate it out of view of the public - "silent killings") strictly to bring in an almost identical swan, with all the same government-hyped (yet untrue) predilection for alleged environmental damage as the Mutes, except Trumpeters are more aggressive and LOUD. When Trumpeters have been established, you just watch - the hunters and wildlife managers will announce a problem that only hunting will resolve; a problem of their own making, the beginnings of which we are witnessing now. And peculiarly, they are now trying to establish Trumpeters in non-native areas, the very thing they are killing the Mutes for.
It is important that you understand that the government agency people who are making the decisions on this issue have produced zero scientific studies against the swans. Even the ones they cite are full of facts that say the Mutes' effect on the environment is negligible, then they try to twist their data to suit their goals. The so-called "science" of ornithology is not a science at all; it is bird watching, bird banding and bird killing and stuffing as specimens. Most ornithologists are not biologists or zoologists, and record keeping by the USF&W as to species began less than a hundred years ago....and these are the people considered "experts."
USF&W does not have a great track record. It is the Federal agency that introduced fish that decimated other fish, poisoned huge lakes to get rid of those fish and destroyed all life in those lakes; lied about finding lynx hair in the forest to create interest in a new program to be funded by taxpayers; through utter mismanagement, has allowed the kill-off of our most important fish species along both coasts because of commercial pressure; has killed off millions of song birds through spraying programs and the introduction of raptors into areas where the smaller birds have never had such a threat before; has caused the destruction of habitat for millions of birds by filling in wetlands and allowing the destruction of forests......the list is endless and continues on a daily basis, and now you can add the Mute swan holocaust to this list.
In Maryland, where all the trouble started, in Hill vs. Norton, a district court case concerning saving the Mutes, the Federal Court was given an Environmental Impact Study by USF&W ), stating the charges, repeated like a mantra. That study was thrown out of court as "Junk Science." and the judge demanded that USF&W do a legitimate NEPA study (an environmental assessment that takes several years of thorough investigation of all factors). Since they knew that a NEPA study would permanently prove that the swans are relatively harmless, USF&W instead got The Audubon Society (primarily a hunting organization now) and the Nature Conservancy (ditto) to lobby for them to change the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to exclude the Mute swans. They didn't mind taking down almost 100 other birds, some of them endangered, along with the swans. This was accomplished at the end of 2005, and the killing programs began. There has NEVER been an environmental impact study on the Mute swans. I will repeat this because it is very important: THERE HAS NEVER BEEN AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STUDY ON THE MUTE SWANS. How then can they justify this killing program? (Re the Audubon Society, the head scientist for National Audubon, Frank Gill (of Pennsylvania) stated in a New York Times article few years ago: "We are becoming more and more a trapping and hunting group." But from the beginning, hunting has been more than approved by Audubon and they worked with bird propagators on growing waterfowl, etc. for hunting and as part of the focus of the Cornell/Audubon Laboratories at Cornell University, in the growing and propagation of game birds.)
Here is a perfect example of how facts were distorted to destroy the Mute swan's reputation: Maryland's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had repeatedly explained that Mute swans have only a “negligible” impact on the Chesapeake. Then they tried to change their story and came out with claims that the Mute swans kill off eelgrass, which is used by the other waterfowl. However, there have been three WORLDWIDE die-offs of eelgrass since 1900. It is a cyclical thing. The eelgrass can also be killed by a four degree temperature rise in the water, pollutants, and, since it grows in shallow water, heavy boat usage and fast boat speeds, as well as dredging and trawling. The Chesapeake Bay has 2.5 MILLION birds go through each year. 3,500 Mute swans were not destroying anything. Many of the other waterfowl eat eelgrass.
According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), the two leading threats to the bay’s crucial underwater grasses are agricultural waste run-off and sewage treatment plants. But the big industrial chicken producers lobby hard to defeat any serious attempt to control agricultural waste. Appropriating money to upgrade sewage treatment capacity is not glamorous. It also won't generate fees for hunting licenses. It’s much easier for public officials to scapegoat the Mute swans than to grapple with complex environmental problems. But even the CBF released a report early in 2005 revealing that the upper bay’s underwater grasses—which groups like American Bird Conservancy (conserving them for hunting) and Audubon claim are being eaten to extinction by Mute swans—had more than doubled from 2003 to 2004. That was the year that the Hill vs. Norton district court case halted swan killing for about a year, before the MBTA was gutted. So it was not only a very good year for the Mute swans, but was a banner year for bay grasses as well. What does that tell you?
As for the aggression factor, Trumpeters are clearly the more aggressive species. I have a news article showing one actually trying to attack a small plane! I have several pages from Trumpeter Swan Society meetings, one of which was written by the ex-President of the group (all USF&W and state DEP, DNR guys, by the way) in which he states that Trumpeters kill baby ducks, grown ducks and geese and will maim or kill Mute swans. The other paper was written by Joe Johnson, head swan biologist at Kellogg bird sanctuary at U of Michigan. He is like a proud father, talking about the Trumpeters breaking Mute swan's legs, and he comments "My money is always on the Trumpeter, in a swan fight.") I have numerous other similar comments all attesting to the Trumpeter's aggression over the Mute.
I have yet to read about Trumpeter aggression, but there are endless news articles detailing Mute aggression; however, oddly, critical facts are often left out. For instance, there was a news story circulated over the summer, out of Indiana, claiming a Mute swan attacked and held an 11-year old girl underwater until her father beat the bird away. What the article didn't bother to mention was that the girl had been joining some young boys in torturing the swan's cygnets by throwing ropes tied into little nooses around the birds' necks and attempting to drag them and drown them. In Europe, there are signs all over parks asking people to respect the swans and not disturb them. Here, we have no respect for them, and blame them when they defend their families.
Last but by no means least, there is a new paper meticulously documenting clear evidence of the Mute's native status in the United States. That alone should put this silent killing project on hold while the information is being considered.
As I hope you can see, this issue is not really about the native-ness of the Mute swan at all- one needs only to follow the money to see that it is a subtle and concerted effort by a very powerful special interest minority to circumvent and distort the law for their own use and they have no qualms taking a species to extinction to do it.
I have a situation where our cob is attacking the female which just started during mating season. They are trumpeter swans and live in a very large pond on an estate in Napa Valley, California. He pecks at her head drawing blood. She was taken to the vet where he fixed her up and then suggested we keep her in a separate pen until she healed. We released her this week, and she was so happy to be back in the water when the cob attacked her again. They have had a great relationship since January 2006, but ever since mating season started this year, we have had serious issues. She is now enclosed in her own place where he cannot enter to protect her. He did have a previous mate to her that died passing her egg in May 2005. We introduced the new female and they got along famously.
We are really interested in cygnets and keeping them happy, so any advice here would be greatly appreciated.
If we do need to remove both of them, do you have a great source of where to find another pair?
Please note - I have just noticed that my comments dated 2/8/07 somehow omitted the final line referencing the source for the information and the person who performed and owns the research mentioned - this would be Kathryn Burton, SaveOurSwans. This may have been inadvertently lost in cutting and pasting; I do not know, but I have just discovered it and wish to correct it. Thank you.
Have you ever been attacked by one of these swans? Let me tell you it's quite an experience to have one of these birds ride along your the side of your kayak, pushing against it, challenging you so you cannot paddle and move on. if you slow down, it eyes you and hisses. At eye level this is really great fun. Then it will turn and go behind you, climb on the back of your boat, beat you with it's wings and legs and peck you with it's beak drawing blood.
We have found that throwing bread will slow it down giving you a chance to get away. Not to say it's going to stop chasing you and attack you when you try to exit your boat. overall, i think these are wonderful birds that make really great neighbors and friends. NOT. Perhaps the pepper spray is not a bad idea.r
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CANNON BEACH, Ore. - An 11-year-old girl died after she was swept out by the tides at Cannon Beach in Oregon last week.
According to the Cannon Beach Gazette, it happened about 1:30 pm.Thursday afternoon (June 17).
The newspaper has identified her as Lily Markwell, a fifth grade student in Portland.
She was rescued from the ocean with the help of rescue swimmers and a jet ski, but she was pronounced dead after being flown to a local hospital.
Cannon Beach Fire District and Seaside Fire & Rescue told the Gazette that rip tides can sweep you out in a matter of seconds and urged caution as temperatures rise and more people flock to local beaches.
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Trent Williams has been listed as questionable for Sundays game in Tampa, Coach Mike Shanahan said.Williams, the Redskins' starting left tackle and arguably second most important player on offense behind quarterback Robert Griffin III, suffered a bone bruise on his right knee in the first quarter of last weeks game. He was limited in practice Friday.I did what I could, Williams said of practice. I did more than yesterday. Thats always a good sign.Asked if he could suit up if the Buccaneers game were today, Williams responded, I dont know. It would be tough.If Williams does not play, journeyman Jordan Black is expected to get his first NFL start since 2010.
LONDON—The Redskins borrowed a field from the Wasps rugby football club to make their final preparations for their game against the Bengals at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
London traffic delayed their scheduled 1:30 arrival by about 15 minutes. They got off the bus and went right to work, conducting walkthroughs on offense, defense, and special teams.
Tight end Jordan Reed, who missed the last two games with a concussion, appeared to take part in the walkthrough fully. He said earlier this week that he feels 100 percent and ready to play on Sunday. Reed will still have to get cleared by Redskins doctors in order to play.
Running back Matt Jones, who has an injured knee, was a spectator during the part of practice that was open to the media. Cornerback Josh Norman, who suffered a concussion last Sunday, watched during the walkthrough but he did participate in individual drills.
Redskins coach Jay Gruden will speak the the media after practice and he will update us on how the injured players are doing and who will be questionable, doubtful, and out against the Bengals.
MORE REDSKINS: TEAM PROMOTES RUNNING BACK FROM PRACTICE SQUAD
LONDON—Looking at pictures of the Redskins’ arrival at their downtown hotel made me wonder if the team did the right thing in trying to make the week as close to a “regular” week as possible.
The players were quiet and obviously tired as they arrived. Some people can sleep on a plane, some can’t. It appears that there are more Redskins who can’t. And less than four hours after that video was taken they have to be out on the field practicing to make their final preparations for a game that will be played about 48 hours after those busses pulled up.
It’s not a regular week so trying to pretend that it is amounts to ignoring reality when reality is not convenient. That rarely ends well.
Some teams head across the pond immediately following their games on Sunday. They get here on Monday and they get a week to get used to the five-hour time difference from the East Coast. By the time Friday rolls around they are ready for a crisp practice and their body clocks are normal when they take the field on Sunday.
Should the Redskins have taken this approach? Would it have been better for them to come here straight from Detroit and do their work here?
Perhaps but there really isn’t any evidence to suggest that a less jet lagged team is necessarily the better team on Sunday. You don’t have to go back any further than last week, in fact, for some anecdotal evidence to the contrary. The Rams came out early the week and the Giants rolled in Friday morning like the Redskins did. Final score, Giants 17, Rams 10.
To be sure, that result may have had more to do with Case Keenum (4 interceptions) being the Rams’ quarterback than it had to do with any sleep patterns.
This week, both teams are working at an equal let lag disadvantage. The Bengals also arrived Friday morning so it should just cancel out.
But if the Redskins have a flat, sluggish performance on Sunday, something they can do for Sunday 1 pm Eastern games in the states, there will be those who question their scheduling for the week. While it may end up being a much-discussed topic it seems unlikely that time zone adjustment will be a factor in the outcome of the game.


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The chicken is mildly sweet from being cooked in Chinese rice wine. From “Saveur” magazine.
This recipe is not for Sweet and Sour Pork, but it is similar. This is made in the crockpot and served over white rice. That’s if you want, of course.
This is a quick and easy stir fry recipe adapted from a magazine. It’s a good “symbolic” dish for Chinese New Year, since the ingredients are cut into long strips which symbolize long life.
This simple recipe is an appetizer incorporating the sweet and sour flavors without a heavy, sugar-laden sauce. You could also add white rice or fried rice to make a meal.
This is a more authentically Chinese version of Sesame Chicken. It is not breaded and super-sweet like that which you find in a typical Chinese restaurant in the United States.
This version of Garlic Chicken is a little similar to Sweet and Sour Chicken, except not too sweet, and certainly not too sour.
Szechuan food is usually the ones with the little red chile pepper on your Chinese take-out menu. Often this style of food is hot and spicy. This vegetarian recipe does have some heat, but not too much. Come on! Trust me!
This recipe is so easy and comes together so quickly, why order out? To make it, you will need a pound of beef tenderloin or you could also use top sirloin. You’ll also need an orange, or at least part of one. Many American Chinese Restaurants use lots and lots of sugar, this recipe does not.

domain: food


The Afghan inhabitants in the United States has exploded in current many years as a majority of Afghan immigrants in the U.S. reside on not less than one main type of welfare, funded by American taxpayers.
New evaluation from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reveals that the variety of Afghans dwelling in the U.S. has shot as much as 133,000 in 2019 — greater than thrice the 44,000 Afghans who lived in the U.S. earlier than the beginning of the Afghanistan War in 2001.
California stays house to the biggest Afghan inhabitants in the U.S. with about 54,000 Afghans residing in the state, whereas about 24,000 reside in Virginia and 10,000 reside in Texas.
“We also found that a large faction, by no means all, struggle in the United States,” CIS Director of Research Steven Camarota stated in remarks.
Specifically, Camarota’s analysis discovered that greater than 65 p.c of households headed by Afghan immigrants use not less than one main type of welfare — that’s, meals stamps, money help, or Medicaid. If different types of welfare have been included in this tally, like free college lunch and public housing, “these high rates of welfare use would almost certainly be much higher,” Camarota notes.
Compare Afghan immigrants’ charge of welfare use to that of native-born Americans, the place lower than 25 p.c of native-born American households use one main type of welfare.
Afghan immigrant households use greater than thrice the meals stamps as native-born American households. In 2010, about 19 p.c of Afghan immigrant households used meals stamps, however that complete has skyrocketed to 35 p.c in 2019.
Likewise, the variety of Afghan immigrant households that reside in or close to the U.S. poverty line is near 51 p.c. This is considerably increased than that of households headed by native-born Americans, the place about 27 p.c reside in or close to poverty.
More carefully, about 1-in-4 households headed by Afghan immigrants reside in poverty in comparison with lower than 2-in-16 households headed by native-born Americans. The share of youngsters in Afghan households who reside in poverty is greater than twice that of the youngsters who reside in American households.
As the Afghan inhabitants in the U.S. has elevated, the much less probably it’s for Afghans to carry a bachelor’s diploma. For instance, in 2005, the variety of Afghan immigrants with not less than a bachelor’s diploma was about the identical because the variety of native-born Americans with not less than a bachelor’s diploma — roughly 29 p.c.
By 2019, although, the training hole between Afghan immigrants and native-born Americans has vastly expanded. Today, greater than 35 p.c of native-born Americans maintain not less than a bachelor’s diploma and solely 26 p.c of Afghan immigrants.
Afghan immigrants proceed to have highschool drop-out charges, greater than 22 p.c, in comparison with native-born Americans, with lower than seven p.c.
Where Afghan immigrants do beat native-born Americans is in delivery charges. In 2019, as an illustration, native-born American girls had about 56 births per 1,000 in comparison with Afghan immigrant girls who had 155 births p.c 1,000.
This signifies that Afghan girls in the U.S. have almost thrice the delivery charge of native-born American girls.
The analysis comes as President Joe Biden’s administration executives a large resettlement operation from Afghanistan to the U.S. Over the subsequent 12 months, Biden is hoping to convey 95,000 Afghans to the U.S. for everlasting resettlement at a value of not less than $6.4 billion to taxpayers.
In a 21-day interval from August to September, Biden introduced greater than 48,000 Afghans to the U.S. — a inhabitants greater than 4 instances that of Jackson, Wyoming.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow him on Twitter right here.


In 1982, at the age of 17, Don Mattrick created his first video game. What he couldn’t know then was that he was helping lay the foundation of Vancouver’s game industry, and taking a first step toward last week’s appearance on a stage in L.A., shoulder to shoulder with director Steven Spielberg. Mattrick, head of Microsoft’s video game division since 2007, was a featured speaker at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. And what he unveiled promises to revolutionize the way people play video games.
Code-named Project Natal, it uses sophisticated cameras and microphones to translate one’s body movements into action on the screen. No buttons to push. No wireless controller to swing around. If you can walk, jump, swing your arms and talk, you’re ready to play. But if Mattrick’s background is rooted in shoot-’em-ups and racing games, his real ambition is far grander. He’s using the company’s Xbox gaming system to lead Microsoft in a battle for control of your living room.
Rumours that Microsoft was up to something big began to circulate in mid-May, and like clockwork, critics predicted yet another letdown. Just as the company’s Zune music player has failed to put a dent in sales of Apple’s iPod, many thought Microsoft would roll out a me-too version of Nintendo’s wildly popular Wii gaming system. When the Japanese company replaced the traditional game controller with the motion-sensitive Wii control stick in 2006, it sparked a stampede to the checkout counter that its rivals could only envy. Since launching Wii, Nintendo has sold more than 50 million systems, while Microsoft, which debuted its Xbox 360 a year earlier, trails with total console sales of 30 million. (Sony’s Playstation 3, with lifetime sales of 22.7 million, is in third place.) But a test drive of the Natal technology last week at the company’s campus in Redmond, Wash., put to rest any Zune-ish concerns.
It’s hard to put into words the experience of seeing the digital manifestation of your full body come to life on a TV screen. In one test game that Microsoft showed off, a transparent character whacks balls at a wall of bricks. Whatever moves one makes, no matter how fast, forward or back, side-to-side, even twirling around, they are instantaneously replicated in the game. “Your gestures, your body and your voice become the controller input,” says Mattrick, 45, sitting in his cramped office. When, after an intense few minutes of game play, Xbox creative director Kudo Tsunoda wiped his brow, his digital counterpart looked equally exhausted. “If you’ve grown up in the world as a human being you should be able to jump in and play this,” says Tsunoda. “The only experience you should need to play our games is life.”
To some degree, Mattrick has been on the hunt for such technology for years. From the time he developed his first game—Evolution, which followed an amoeba as it worked its way up the evolutionary chain—he realized two barriers were preventing games from widespread acceptance: poor graphics and cumbersome joystick controls. Despite those hurdles, the video game industry continued to grow, and with it, so did Mattrick’s ambitions. With a schoolmate, he launched a game developer which he sold in 1991 to California-based Electronic Arts for $13 million, forming EA Canada. Today the Canadian division employs nearly 1,400 people and produces some of the most graphically intense sports games on the market. His success also attracted the attention of Spielberg, who phoned Mattrick up a decade ago and asked him to join the advisory board at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Meanwhile, Mattrick steadily rose through the ranks at EA to become head of the company’s worldwide game studios, and was widely seen as a candidate to take over as CEO one day.
Then, in 2006, he abruptly resigned. Mattrick says he wanted to spend more time with his wife and their two children, while planning his next move. In 2007, Microsoft approached him to be an adviser to its Xbox division, and after a few months he joined the company full-time as senior vice-president of its interactive entertainment business. (He still lives in Vancouver, spending about three days a week in Redmond.) The move to the tech giant, with its deep pockets and focus on raw research, was a natural fit for the entrepreneur, say friends. “It’s not that Don only loves video games, because that would put him in the category of just being a video game guy,” says Barry Guld, another Vancouver technology executive. “He really loves the game of business and with Microsoft he saw a lot of very smart people who understand what’s going on and who he could use to hone his skills.”
It didn’t take long for Mattrick to make his mark. In 2008, the Xbox division turned its first profit in seven years. The company has also dramatically increased the number of subscribers to its Xbox Live service, which gives users access to multi-player games and digital media content. Of Live’s 20 million subscribers, half opt to pay $60 a year for premium content. And last year Xbox teamed up with the Netflix video rental service to let users download thousands of movies and TV shows. “We’re trying to make the living room a magical place to do things that people have dreamed they should be able to do, but haven’t been able to until today,” he says.
This week’s announcements in L.A. only extend Microsoft’s reach into the family room. Starting this year, Xbox customers will be able to instantly watch high definition movies through an online rental store. The company will also integrate social networking sites Facebook and Twitter into its online offering, a move that analysts say is potentially huge. “Social networking was always missing something,” says Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. “It’s an island. I go to Facebook and I’m stuck in Facebook. [Microsoft] has taken one social network and layered it on top of another social network, Xbox Live. My wife, instead of sitting at her laptop doing Facebook, would rather do it on the TV.”
Still, for now most of the focus in the industry will be on Project Natal. As Spielberg said at the E3 conference, it’s “not about reinventing the wheel, it’s about no wheel at all.” To bring it to life, Mattrick tapped researchers from all across the company, some of whom have been quietly toiling away for decades on things like motion sensor and voice recognition technology. While the device won’t be ready for market in 2009—the company is being tight-lipped about the launch date—Microsoft says it will work with all existing Xbox 360 consoles. The company is now working with developers to create games that exploit its capabilities.
Pachter, the analyst, is reserving judgment on Natal’s gaming potential until he sees more concrete examples of what developers come up with. “Its functionality was really phenomenal,” he told Maclean’s after trying it out last week. “The question is, will there be enough software to make this more than a very cool novelty, and I don’t know the answer to that.” But the analyst notes Natal will have uses far beyond the confines of video games, and that’s where he sees the biggest potential. For instance, users will be able to browse through video titles with the wave of a hand or share photos with others online simply by reaching out to their TV screens, like Tom Cruise in the movie Minority Report. Natal even has facial recognition technology. By simply walking in front of the camera a player would be logged into their personalized Xbox account and then gain access to their Facebook page.
For Mattrick, this is all a far cry from the simple eight-colour game that launched his career. In fact, as he describes the possibilities offered by the new technology, Mattrick almost seems surprised at what he and his team produced. “When we interacted with it we said, ‘Oh my God, this is the Jetsons brought to today.’ ”
And what does Bill Gates, who long ago predicted the Internet would become the centrepiece of the living room, make of it all? “He thinks it’s pretty cool.”


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Contents of this message:
- Press conference announcement: Three years after Fukushima: Tracking radionuclides in the Pacific Ocean
- Press conference dial-in information
- Press room information
- Attention PIOs: Sending press releases/press kits to the meeting
- Badge pick-up information
- Press registration information
- Hotel information
- U.S. visa regulations for international reporters
For more information about the Ocean Sciences Meeting, please see Media Advisory 1:
1. Press conference announcement: Three years after Fukushima: Tracking radionuclides in the Pacific Ocean
The following press conference is subject to change, before or during the Ocean Sciences Meeting. Visit the on-site Press Room, Room 302B in the Hawaii Convention Center, for the latest information. Times for meeting events, including the press conference, are Hawaii- Aleutian Standard Time (HAST).
Three years after Fukushima: Tracking radionuclides in the Pacific Ocean
Monday, 24 February
9:00 a.m. HAST
Scientists have been keeping a close eye on how radionuclides from the Japanese power plant are being transported in the Pacific Ocean since the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in March 2011. Now, three scientists are taking a closer look at cesium transport near Japan and across the Pacific, including when and where radiation from Fukushima could arrive on North America's West Coast. Researchers will discuss results from computer models predicting how cesium-137 is being dispersed in the Pacific Ocean, three years of water testing in the northern Pacific Ocean, and a new public crowdsourcing campaign monitoring radiation levels on the West Coast.
Ken Buesseler: Senior Scientist, Center for Marine and Environmental Radioactivity, Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, U.S.A.;
Yukio Masumoto: Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of
Science ,University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan;
John N. Smith: Senior Research Scientist, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Fisheries and
Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Sessions: 114, 175D
2. Press conference dial-in information
Reporters are welcome to call in to the press conference on "Three years after Fukushima:
Tracking radionuclides in the Pacific Ocean." See below for a dial-in phone number and access
code. Also, any supplementary materials shared in the press conference will be posted online to
the Ocean Sciences Meeting Press page after the press conference:
Toll-free dial-in number (U.S. and Canada): (877) 709-0939
International dial-in number: (678) 735-6305
When prompted, enter this conference code: 1924247921
3. Press room information
The Press Room is Room 302B in the Hawaii Convention Center. The Press Room provides working space for reporters, including computers, a printer, Wi-Fi, and space for working and networking with colleagues. Light refreshments will also be provided in the Press Room. The main phone number in the Press Room for incoming calls is 808-792-6621.
Press Room Hours:
Monday - Thursday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (HAST)
4. Attention PIOs: sending press releases/press kits to the meeting
Public information officers of universities, government agencies, and research institutions are invited to disseminate press releases and related documents at the Ocean Sciences Meeting. We recommend bringing or sending around 30 copies of printed materials and 3-5 copies of broadcast quality video to share with the press.
The easiest way to get these materials to the Press Room is to bring them yourself, or to give them to one of your scientists with instructions to deliver them to the Press Room (Room 302B). If you prefer, you may send these materials (but not to arrive before Sat., 21 Feb.) by FedEx, UPS, or DHL to the following address:
Mary Catherine Adams
(Guest arriving Feb. 21)
Hilton Hawaiian Village
2005 Kalia Road
Honolulu, HI 96815
Please time shipments to the above address to arrive on or after Sat., 21 Feb. The materials will be on display from Mon., 24 Feb., (or as soon as they are received) through Thu., 27 Feb. Please collect any remaining materials by 6:00 p.m. on Thu., 27 Feb. Any materials left in the Press Room after that time will be recycled.
5. Badge pick-up information: Where do I pick up my press badge?
Members of the press who have preregistered online for the meeting may pick up their press badges in the first floor main lobby of the Hawaiian Convention Center beginning Sunday afternoon. The registration booths are outside Exhibit Halls I, II, and III.
Registration Hours (HAST):
1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Monday - Thursday
7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
7:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
We strongly encourage press attending the meeting to register in advance online. You may
register here: http://goo.
6. Press registration information
Registration is complimentary for members of the news media. For eligibility requirements, please see below.
Online registration: You may register in advance online (strongly recommended) at:
Or, register on-site at the Ocean Sciences Meeting Registration Desk, on the first floor main lobby at the Hawaii Convention Center, during the hours given above (in item 5).
International Reporters: See important visa information below if you are planning to attend the 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting and are not a citizen or resident of the USA.
Eligibility for media registration is limited to the following persons:
- Working press employed by bona fide news media outlets who regularly report news on the earth sciences. These registrants must present a press card, business card, or a letter from an editor of a recognized news media outlet assigning you to cover 2014 OSM.
- Freelance science journalists and science bloggers who present evidence of three (3) bylined news reports in the earth sciences intended for the general public and published in 2012 - 2014.
- Creators of long-form stories or compositions about earth sciences, such as books/feature-length documentary films, who are currently working on one or have published at least one in 2012-14.
- Public information/press officers of scientific societies, educational institutions, and government agencies.
Note: Scientists who will be presenting at the meeting and also meet the above press eligibility criteria may be issued News Media credentials at the discretion of 2014 OSM Press Office Staff. Everyone who presents at the meeting must also register for the meeting as a presenter and pay the appropriate fees.
Representatives of publishing houses, the business side of news media, political action committees or similar, and for-profit corporations must register at the main registration desk at the meeting and pay the appropriate fees, regardless of possession of any of the above credentials; they will not be accredited as News Media at the meeting. All press badges will be issued solely at the discretion of the 2014 OSM Press Office.
7. Hotel information
Visit the Accommodations page on the 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting website for information
about hotels: http://www.
8. U.S. visa regulations for international reporters
All journalists who are not citizens or permanent residents of the United States need a visa to cover scientific meetings in the U.S. This also applies to journalists from "Visa Waiver Program" countries (e.g., Western Europe) who do not normally need visas to enter the U.S. as tourists.
The required visa is a "Media (I) Visa" issued by an American Embassy or Consulate in your home country. Journalists traveling internationally to attend the Fall Meeting should apply as soon as possible for a "Media (I) Visa." The application procedure is simple but can be time- consuming due to a high volume of applications.
The U.S. Department of State has "Media (I) Visa" information for journalists available on its