The second weekend of the NCAA Basketball tournament takes place this week with the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, but hoops fans will also want to keep an eye on the streaking Miami Heat. Meanwhile, some sci fi / fantasy favorites are highlights thanks to their seasonal return or departure this week, but we'd also give new series like BBC America's Orphan Black a chance in between sessions of Bioshock: Infinite. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.
Doctor Who Doctor Who is back, now featuring actress Jenna-Louise Coleman as companion Clara Oswald for the next half season. There's a preview trailer embedded after the break, and the BBC has a rundown of the first four episodes right here. (March 30th, BBC America, 8PM)
The Walking Dead This season of everyone's favorite zombie series is finally ready to wrap up with what we expect will be an epic showdown between the prison residents and Woodbury. Last season's finale certainly met our expectations in terms of action, we'll see if it can repeat or even top that effort this time around. (March 31st, AMC, 9PM)
Game of Thrones Winter is... still coming. Game of Thrones is back for season three and there is an appropriate amount of backstabbing, intrigue, violence and dragons to go around. By now we know what to expect from the lands of Westeros, if you need to be filled in check after the break for a recap of the last two seasons. (March 31st, HBO, 9PM)
The power of crowdfunding is that, by aggregating relatively modest donations from what is often hundreds or even thousands of backers, consumers can help artists and inventors turn ideas or concepts into reality. The Pebble smartwatch that set the record for funds raised on Kickstarter was noteworthy for breaking the $10 million barrier. That money, though, came from nearly 69,000 backers.
Today, the two biggest crowdfunding destinations, Indiegogo and Kickstarter, offer different approaches to what gets presented on their sites. Indiegogo is a completely open site; there is virtually no screening of projects. Kickstarter, on the other hand, is a curated site. Projects must meet a range of criteria. As co-founder Yancey Strickler recently explained at Engadget Expand, the roots of Kickstarter were in the funding of creative and social pursuits. Kickstarter has been a haven for artists such as photographers looking to create a photo book or musicians seeking to cut a first album or create a music video.
This was our first home and we took VERY good care of it. When our family got too big for it we bought a bigger house when we thought ours had sold. We sold it and they sublet it, violating the contract and eventually let it go back to us. Thus, we became landlords. We took over the rental agreement and signed a new one to make it legal. Three years later we had to evict them. They have really done a number on this house. What are the steps that I need to take to recoup the costs of cleaning and repairs to my rental property? Numerous items broken, holes in walls, marker all over bedroom walls, broken doors, ruined laminate flooring, stained carpets, holes drilled in side of house (raked shake cedar shingles), every floor filthy, damaged trim, and rabbits let loose to tear down insulation under house. Also observed smoking in house. Smells like cigarettes in every room. Piles of garbage left in back yard with cat litter dumped in garden. Broke the bottom of every sheet of plastic on the green house from I think a weed eater. Nailed boards to the outside of the house. I am guessing thousands in damage. Obviously more damage than you would take to small claims court. Already spent two whole days patching sheetrock and painting. Can I sue for cost of materials and my time as well as to include court costs and attorney fees? We are in Oregon
The small claims limit in Oregon is $7500. When one prevails they are awarded their court costs, too. But in small claims court attorneys are not allowed. Get your estimates of the damage, first, for you may find you can get the repairs done within that limit or close. The advantages of small claims court is that calendars are swiftly dealt with, short time from filing to trial. Procedures and rules are simple and easy for non lawyers to understand and present their cases at hearing.
Should you choose to file in superior court, you are looking at 2 years to get to trial, the minimum in many urban cities, attorneys fees of an average of $20,000 just to get to trial -- so one should have a defendant with deep, deep pockets before they decide to launch a suit in superior court.
You know the resources/income of your tenants and the likelihood of collecting from them -- two years from now if you take the superior court route. Of course if they do not lodge an answer, default can be obtained within 30 days or so, and then you would be entitled to judgment for damages if you have the proofs.
My recommendation is that you get several estimates for the clean up and repairs, document the damage with photos, and once you know the total, file your suit in small claims court. If the total is a little over the small claims limit, you can still be awarded the maximum amount and might be further ahead than incurring the additional time and expense of filing in superior court.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Hundreds of law enforcement officers on Friday raided Southern California auto parts shops and other businesses suspected of illegally selling nitrous oxide for use as a recreational drug, in one of the nation's largest such raids to date.
Four federal arrest warrants were also served during the 17 simultaneous raids in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties, and at least two people were arrested on misdemeanor charges of misbranding a drug in violation of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Authorities said they expected more arrests to come.
The operation was the result of a year-and-a-half-long joint investigation dubbed "No Laughing Matter" by the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The FDA has recently focused on the illegal use of nitrous oxide, and this was its largest case to date, said special agent Lisa Hartsell. Though nitrous oxide has long been a rave phenomenon, it has recently grown into more mainstream use, propelled by the ease of social media to reach young people and spread the word.
"This is a very cheap drug, can be had very easily, it is not a controlled substance, so your big members of the law enforcement community don't have the ability to control it," Hartsell said.
The gas is legally used by dentists for anesthesia, to pressurize whipped cream canisters and to speed up race cars. But authorities say its illegal use has spurred fatal car accidents, rapes and teen deaths ? all in the name of a temporary high.
Los Angeles County sheriff's officials have zeroed in on the recreational use of the drug since September, cracking down on more than 350 illegal parties, nearly all of which were selling nitrous oxide, or "noz," spokesman Mike Parker said Thursday.
The operations are part of a new social media team set up by the Sheriff's Department over the last six months to monitor and identify such illegal activities around the clock. The team has found many public posts that advertise alcohol and illegal drugs such as nitrous oxide and that target teens.
"They're doing the social media equivalent of standing outside the front doors of a high school at 3 o'clock as school lets out with a megaphone announcing that there'll be drugs, noz and alcohol for children, and then handing out fliers to all the kids that are interested," Parker said.
These parties can be lucrative for those provisioning them. Sheriff's deputies have been tracking one distributor who is making more than $60,000 a month in the bulk sale of nitrous oxide, said Sgt. Glenn Walsh, who works in the Sheriff's Department's narcotics bureau.
Hartsell said the drugs have also spurred armed robberies as gangs steal tanks from each other in an effort to make easy money with light legal ramifications.
Sheriff's officials believe they have prevented a least 30 violent and sexual assaults in the last six months because of their efforts to shut down illegal nitrous oxide-related parties before they happen.
One party was forced to change locations three times in one night, before finally moving outside of the sheriff's jurisdiction, Parker said. But the department also notifies neighboring departments of the illegal parties when it spots them, Parker said.
Some of the hotspots are unincorporated Los Angeles County and the San Gabriel Valley, where parties are held primarily in homes and warehouses, Parker said.
Part of the problem for law enforcement officers going after the illegal use of nitrous oxide is that its distribution or use as a recreational drug is only a misdemeanor, officials said.
Sheriff's Lt. Rod Armalin said the department is working on legislation to increase the penalties.
Armalin supervises the team that responds to many of these illegal parties and tries to prevent them from happening.
"Over the past year we've seen an increase in incidents," Armalin said. "It seems like it's really taken off with young people. ... They're openly advertising, 'Hey we're going to sell nitrous oxide, and there are going to be children there,' and that's a concern."
Nitrous oxide isn't the only dangerous substance teens are turning to for a quick and cheap high. On Monday, a 14-year-old Los Angeles honors student died after inhaling computer keyboard dust cleaner, apparently to get high. Aria Doherty's sister found her in bed with a can of compressed air cleaning product attached to her mouth.
Earlier this month a 12-year-old San Bernardino County girl, Kristal Salcido, died after inhaling Freon from an air conditioner.
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Tami Abdollah can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/latams .
The PBS series 'Mr. Selfridge' fills the 'Downton' void, the free app CoffeeTable lets you save paper by browsing catalogs on your device, and more top picks.
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
Classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein and singer-songwriter Tift Merritt collaborate as musical explorers seeking commonality from their different starting points. Classical piano and folk-singing-with-guitar meet in a delightful sonic landscape, creating a tonal world all its own. The album, Night, is released on Sony Classical.
Christianity in Rome
With the arrival of a new pope, Easter week is a good time to brush up on the foundation years of this global religion. National Geographic Channel sheds light on the early years of Christianity after Jesus finished his ministry. In a three-part series, Jesus: Rise to Power, Roman historian Michael Scott and religious scholars trace and illuminate Christianity?s early stages. How did it survive the suppression and persecution of Rome to become the only official religion of that world within 400 years? Answers to this and other questions about the forces that shaped early Christianity are investigated in this series, which debuts on Thursday, March 28.
Cozy Clapton
If Eric Clapton invited some buddies over to jam, it might sound like his new album, Old Sock. Its mix of old jazz standards, a few reggae chestnuts, and two new songs yields more ?medium? lights than highlights, but hey ? at least he?s not recycling old blues songs for the umpteenth time. Old mates Paul McCartney and Steve Winwood lend a croon and a keyboard noodle or two, and it all feels as warm and fuzzy as an old, well, you know what.
Edwardian fill-in
For those on ?Downton Abbey? hiatus, PBS?s ?Masterpiece Classic? fills the Edwardian England void with its latest sumptuous, vintage series, Mr. Selfridge. Starring the wonderfully smooth Jeremy Piven, the series shows how Selfridge ? part visionary, part con man ? invented the modern shopping experience as entertainment consumerism at its most extravagant and launched the iconic British department store that bears his name, Selfridges. It airs Sundays, March 31 through May 19, at 9 p.m. Check local listings.?
Paper-free catalogs
Spring catalog season has arrived. Rather than clutter the house with stacks of mailers destined for the recycling bin, check out CoffeeTable. The free application collects digital copies of more than 200 catalogs, including Crate&Barrel, Paper Source, and L.L. Bean. As you flip through the virtual pages, you can tap on models to find out what they?re wearing, check colors and sizes, and order items from within the app. Available for iPhone and iPad. (We prefer the latter.)
Good night, room
For his series Where Children Sleep, photographer James Mollison captured various images of children and their bedrooms from around the world. Some spaces, such as that of a little girl from Tokyo whose room is filled with huge shelves of dolls, are fun to see; others, such as the bedroom of a boy from the West Bank, which consists of a carpet surrounded by barbed-wire walls, are sobering. Check out his gallery at http://bit.ly/wherechildren.
Google has expanded the Play Store south of the border, and now Google Play Books is available in Mexico. Mexicans can now access thousands of titles, including both Mexican favorites and international staples. If you're a book lover, be sure to check them out from your phone's Google Play app, or on the web.
You'll need the Google Play Books application if your phone doesn't already have it installed, and you can get it from the Google Play link above.
Additional research must be done to ensure safety of pit latrines, new study saysPublic release date: 22-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kathy Fackelmann kfackelmann@gwu.edu 202-994-8354 George Washington University
Poorly designed latrines can pollute the drinking water and put the public at risk of health problems
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Pit latrines are one of the most common human excreta disposal systems globally, and their use is on the rise as countries aim to meet the sanitation-related target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Strong evidence supports the use of these basic toilets as a way to improve human health. However, improperly designed pit latrines can actually allow disease-causing microbes or other contaminants to leach into the groundwater. The contaminated water puts people, and especially children, at risk of developing potentially life-threatening diarrheal diseases.
A new study by Jay Graham, PhD, MBA, MPH, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) in collaboration with Matthew Polizzotto of North Carolina State University first estimates the number of people worldwide that rely on pit latrines. The study goes on to identify some key knowledge gaps that could be addressed to keep the drinking water safe and protect the public.
Using survey data, the researchers calculated that an estimated 1.77 billion people around the globe use pit latrines, a step up from places that have no sanitation facilities. In the countries where pit latrines are common, the study suggests that more than 2 billion people rely on the groundwater for their primary source of drinking water. Despite the risk of widespread contamination of the water from improperly designed or poorly located pit latrines, the researchers found there are very few studies on this risk. Graham and Polizzotto reviewed the scientific literature and found that the studies that have been done on this topic are small and limited in scope.
The researchers conclude that much more needs to be done to identify technologies that can be used to protect the groundwater from contaminants coming from pit latrines. In addition, the team says that more work must be done to understand the impact of global warming on coastal areas of developing countries. If global warming results in flooding of regions relying on simple pit latrines the end result could be widespread contamination of the environment, Graham says.
"Poorly built pit latrines or those that are sited improperly can be a human health risk," Graham said. "Additional research could identify technologies and guidelines that might help developing countries build safer pit latrines."
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The study appeared online March 22, 2013 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
About the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services:
Established in July 1997, the School of Public Health and Health Services brought together three longstanding university programs in the schools of medicine, business, and education and is now the only school of public health in the nation's capital. Today, more than 1,100 students from nearly every U.S. state and more than 40 nations pursue undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral-level degrees in public health. http://sphhs.gwu.edu/
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Additional research must be done to ensure safety of pit latrines, new study saysPublic release date: 22-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kathy Fackelmann kfackelmann@gwu.edu 202-994-8354 George Washington University
Poorly designed latrines can pollute the drinking water and put the public at risk of health problems
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Pit latrines are one of the most common human excreta disposal systems globally, and their use is on the rise as countries aim to meet the sanitation-related target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Strong evidence supports the use of these basic toilets as a way to improve human health. However, improperly designed pit latrines can actually allow disease-causing microbes or other contaminants to leach into the groundwater. The contaminated water puts people, and especially children, at risk of developing potentially life-threatening diarrheal diseases.
A new study by Jay Graham, PhD, MBA, MPH, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) in collaboration with Matthew Polizzotto of North Carolina State University first estimates the number of people worldwide that rely on pit latrines. The study goes on to identify some key knowledge gaps that could be addressed to keep the drinking water safe and protect the public.
Using survey data, the researchers calculated that an estimated 1.77 billion people around the globe use pit latrines, a step up from places that have no sanitation facilities. In the countries where pit latrines are common, the study suggests that more than 2 billion people rely on the groundwater for their primary source of drinking water. Despite the risk of widespread contamination of the water from improperly designed or poorly located pit latrines, the researchers found there are very few studies on this risk. Graham and Polizzotto reviewed the scientific literature and found that the studies that have been done on this topic are small and limited in scope.
The researchers conclude that much more needs to be done to identify technologies that can be used to protect the groundwater from contaminants coming from pit latrines. In addition, the team says that more work must be done to understand the impact of global warming on coastal areas of developing countries. If global warming results in flooding of regions relying on simple pit latrines the end result could be widespread contamination of the environment, Graham says.
"Poorly built pit latrines or those that are sited improperly can be a human health risk," Graham said. "Additional research could identify technologies and guidelines that might help developing countries build safer pit latrines."
###
The study appeared online March 22, 2013 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
About the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services:
Established in July 1997, the School of Public Health and Health Services brought together three longstanding university programs in the schools of medicine, business, and education and is now the only school of public health in the nation's capital. Today, more than 1,100 students from nearly every U.S. state and more than 40 nations pursue undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral-level degrees in public health. http://sphhs.gwu.edu/
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Dr. Roger D. Weiss earns Hazelden's Dan Anderson Research AwardPublic release date: 21-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christine Anderson canderson@hazelden.org 651-213-4231 Hazelden
Hazelden's Butler Center for Research has awarded Roger D. Weiss, M.D., Chief of the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts its latest "Dan Anderson Research Award" for his study examining the effectiveness of long-term buprenorphine maintenance accompanied by adjunctive counseling in the treatment of prescription opioid drug dependence.
This important award honors a single published article by a researcher who has advanced the scientific knowledge of addiction treatment and recovery.
Dr. Weiss earned the award for his study, "Adjunctive Counseling During Brief and Extended Buprenorphine-Naloxone Treatment for Prescription Opioid Dependence," published in 2011 in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The study looked at over 650 individuals who were dependent on prescription opioids and sought outpatient treatment. All study participants received buprenorphine-naloxone and were randomly assigned to either standard medical management or standard medical management accompanied by opioid dependence counseling. In Phase I of the study, all participants received a two-week buprenorphine stabilization followed by a two-week taper. Participants who had an unfavorable outcome in Phase 1 were given an additional 12 weeks of buprenorphine maintenance followed by a four-week taper. In both phases, the study assessed opioid drug use during the first eight weeks after discontinuation of buprenorphine via self-report assessments and urinary drug screens.
"Abuse of prescription opioids is a significant public health and policy concern, with increasing rates of nonmedical use, emergency department visits, addiction treatment episodes, overdose deaths and costs related to these drugs in recent years" said Weiss. "The present findings raise an important question: what length of buprenorphine-naloxone treatment, if any, would lead to substantially better outcomes after a taper?"
Dr. Shelly F. Greenfield, director, Clinical and Health Services Research, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse at McLean Hospital nominated Dr. Weiss for the award, calling his paper "an example of Dr. Weiss' research career and its contribution to the advancement of scientific knowledge of addiction recovery."
The multisite study produced several interesting and noteworthy results. In Phase I, wherein participants received two weeks of buprenorphine followed by a two week taper, less than 7% of participants had favorable opioid use outcomes. In contrast, 49% of Phase II participants who received 12 weeks of buprenorphine followed by a four-week taper had positive opioid use outcomes while they were taking buprenorphine. However, success rates dropped substantially during the eight weeks following the end of the buprenorphine taper. The study also found that participants receiving standard medical management did not have better outcomes than patients receiving medical management and adjunctive opioid counseling, though Weiss and colleagues state that more frequent counseling over a longer period of time may have produced more positive results. They also stated that it is currently unclear whether longer term buprenorphine treatment before initiation of the taper would have produced better outcomes. Finally, the presence of chronic pain in some participants did not affect opioid use outcomes.
"Our Scientific Panel of Advisors was extremely impressed with the scientific rigor of this study, its two phase methodology, and the fact it examined extended buprenorphine maintenance," stated Dr. Audrey Klein, director of the Butler Center for Research at the Hazelden Foundation. "His current work on the use of long-term buprenorphine is innovative, timely, and essential given the current epidemic of prescription opioid addiction and increase in deaths related to opioid overdose."
Dr. Weiss will accept the award and a $2,000 honorarium from Hazelden later this year. The award is named for the late Dan Anderson, Ph.D., the former president of Hazelden and one of the major architects of the Minnesota Model, the interdisciplinary approach to addiction treatment that has been implemented worldwide.
Weiss' research was selected as the best from among several outstanding candidates by the Scientific Panel of the Butler Center for Research. The panel includes Klein; Valerie Slaymaker, Ph.D., Chief Academic Officer and Provost of the Hazelden Graduate School of Addiction Studies; Carlton Erickson, Ph.D., University of Texas-Austin; Lee Ann Kaskutas, Dr.PH, Alcohol Research Group, Emeryville, Calif.; Stephanie O'Malley, Ph.D., Yale University; Jon Morgenstern, Ph.D., National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, New York; John Finney, Ph.D., Center for Healthcare Evaluation, VA Palo Alto Health Care System; John F. Kelly, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, Psychiatry; and Constance Weisner, Ph.D., University of California-San Francisco.
###
About Hazelden
Recognizing outstanding research and conducting research of its own are the primary objectives of the Butler Center for Research, the research arm of Hazelden. Founded in 1949, Hazelden is a national nonprofit organization that helps people reclaim their lives from the disease of addiction. With over 60 years of knowledge and experience, Hazelden offers a comprehensive approach to addiction that addresses the full range of patient, family, and professional needs, including treatment and continuing care for youth and adults, research, higher education, public education and advocacy, and publishing. Learn more at http://www.hazelden.org.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Dr. Roger D. Weiss earns Hazelden's Dan Anderson Research AwardPublic release date: 21-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christine Anderson canderson@hazelden.org 651-213-4231 Hazelden
Hazelden's Butler Center for Research has awarded Roger D. Weiss, M.D., Chief of the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts its latest "Dan Anderson Research Award" for his study examining the effectiveness of long-term buprenorphine maintenance accompanied by adjunctive counseling in the treatment of prescription opioid drug dependence.
This important award honors a single published article by a researcher who has advanced the scientific knowledge of addiction treatment and recovery.
Dr. Weiss earned the award for his study, "Adjunctive Counseling During Brief and Extended Buprenorphine-Naloxone Treatment for Prescription Opioid Dependence," published in 2011 in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The study looked at over 650 individuals who were dependent on prescription opioids and sought outpatient treatment. All study participants received buprenorphine-naloxone and were randomly assigned to either standard medical management or standard medical management accompanied by opioid dependence counseling. In Phase I of the study, all participants received a two-week buprenorphine stabilization followed by a two-week taper. Participants who had an unfavorable outcome in Phase 1 were given an additional 12 weeks of buprenorphine maintenance followed by a four-week taper. In both phases, the study assessed opioid drug use during the first eight weeks after discontinuation of buprenorphine via self-report assessments and urinary drug screens.
"Abuse of prescription opioids is a significant public health and policy concern, with increasing rates of nonmedical use, emergency department visits, addiction treatment episodes, overdose deaths and costs related to these drugs in recent years" said Weiss. "The present findings raise an important question: what length of buprenorphine-naloxone treatment, if any, would lead to substantially better outcomes after a taper?"
Dr. Shelly F. Greenfield, director, Clinical and Health Services Research, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse at McLean Hospital nominated Dr. Weiss for the award, calling his paper "an example of Dr. Weiss' research career and its contribution to the advancement of scientific knowledge of addiction recovery."
The multisite study produced several interesting and noteworthy results. In Phase I, wherein participants received two weeks of buprenorphine followed by a two week taper, less than 7% of participants had favorable opioid use outcomes. In contrast, 49% of Phase II participants who received 12 weeks of buprenorphine followed by a four-week taper had positive opioid use outcomes while they were taking buprenorphine. However, success rates dropped substantially during the eight weeks following the end of the buprenorphine taper. The study also found that participants receiving standard medical management did not have better outcomes than patients receiving medical management and adjunctive opioid counseling, though Weiss and colleagues state that more frequent counseling over a longer period of time may have produced more positive results. They also stated that it is currently unclear whether longer term buprenorphine treatment before initiation of the taper would have produced better outcomes. Finally, the presence of chronic pain in some participants did not affect opioid use outcomes.
"Our Scientific Panel of Advisors was extremely impressed with the scientific rigor of this study, its two phase methodology, and the fact it examined extended buprenorphine maintenance," stated Dr. Audrey Klein, director of the Butler Center for Research at the Hazelden Foundation. "His current work on the use of long-term buprenorphine is innovative, timely, and essential given the current epidemic of prescription opioid addiction and increase in deaths related to opioid overdose."
Dr. Weiss will accept the award and a $2,000 honorarium from Hazelden later this year. The award is named for the late Dan Anderson, Ph.D., the former president of Hazelden and one of the major architects of the Minnesota Model, the interdisciplinary approach to addiction treatment that has been implemented worldwide.
Weiss' research was selected as the best from among several outstanding candidates by the Scientific Panel of the Butler Center for Research. The panel includes Klein; Valerie Slaymaker, Ph.D., Chief Academic Officer and Provost of the Hazelden Graduate School of Addiction Studies; Carlton Erickson, Ph.D., University of Texas-Austin; Lee Ann Kaskutas, Dr.PH, Alcohol Research Group, Emeryville, Calif.; Stephanie O'Malley, Ph.D., Yale University; Jon Morgenstern, Ph.D., National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, New York; John Finney, Ph.D., Center for Healthcare Evaluation, VA Palo Alto Health Care System; John F. Kelly, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, Psychiatry; and Constance Weisner, Ph.D., University of California-San Francisco.
###
About Hazelden
Recognizing outstanding research and conducting research of its own are the primary objectives of the Butler Center for Research, the research arm of Hazelden. Founded in 1949, Hazelden is a national nonprofit organization that helps people reclaim their lives from the disease of addiction. With over 60 years of knowledge and experience, Hazelden offers a comprehensive approach to addiction that addresses the full range of patient, family, and professional needs, including treatment and continuing care for youth and adults, research, higher education, public education and advocacy, and publishing. Learn more at http://www.hazelden.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
In the past, you had to upgrade your computer almost every year just to keep up with advancements in basic software and operating systems. Upgrading regularly just isn't so necessary any more, unless you're playing modern games or using specific types of resource-hungry applications. How old is your system?
Having an older computer is really nothing to be ashamed of. If it does what you need it to do, who really cares if you bought it back when smart phones were still a new thing? We've even shown you 10 ways you can make the best of an old, crappy computer. But for now, we'd like to know how old your computer is?not the oldest computer you may have sitting around somewhere, but the computer you use every day.
It's an old gospel song: Just like a tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved. But if you're the magnolia tree the president of the United States planted today in Jerusalem, there's a chance you might be moved.
Obama planted a tree on Wednesday in Israeli President Shimon Peres's Jerusalem garden. It's a gift for a man Obama said has planted "the seeds of progress, the seeds of security, the seeds of peace - all the seeds that have helped not only Israel grow but also the relationship between our two nations grow."
The tree was meant to signify the strong roots of the relationship between the United States and Israel. But before these American roots can take hold, the Israeli government will inspect them.
An Israeli official tells ABC News that the magnolia tree will be tested and possibly removed in a week by the Israeli Agriculture Department. The roots of the tree were apparently kept in a plastic covering during the planting. As in the U.S., Israeli law forbids plants and trees from other countries from entering Israel. The White House and the Israeli government were aware of the limitations ahead of the visit.
A White House official confirms that the tree given to Peres was grown from a set of seeds from the original Jackson Magnolia alongside the Rose Garden on the South Lawn of the White House. It was planted in the 1830s by President Andrew Jackson. An official says it is the oldest known presidential tree on the grounds of the White House.
During remarks at Peres's official residence, Obama mentioned the story in the Talmud of Honi and the Carob Tree: A man sees an older man planting a carob tree and tells him that it will take 70 years before the tree grows fruit. Obama told the crowd the older man's reply: "When I came into the world, I found carob trees. As my forefathers planted for me, so will I plant for my children."
There's good news for Obama's magnolia tree: If removed for testing, it is expected to be replanted in the same spot. It's currently near a tree given by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during his May 2009 trip to the Holy Land. An Israeli official says Benedict's tree didn't undergo any testing because it was purchased in Israel.
Update at 1101 a.m. ET: On Thursday morning Peres's office released a statement saying the tree will be tested but won't be removed.
The man who now heads up the agriculture ministry is Yair Shamir, the son of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Shamir's office says he was informed but not consulted about the testing of the tree.
STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB says unfavorable weather conditions and a tough economic climate contributed to a 10 percent fall in its fiscal first-quarter net profit to 2.46 billion kronar ($380 million) compared to a year earlier.
Net sales during the December to February three-month period were 28.4 billion kronar, up from 27.8 billion kronar.
H&M says the international retail industry was hit by bad weather during the period, particularly in Europe and North America, and cautioned that an unusually cold start to the current quarter will delay the start of the spring collection.
CEO Karl-Johan Persson said Thursday that 2013 would remain challenging as the company plans to expand its outlets to five new countries, bringing the total number of H&M stores worldwide to some 350.
Here's something super bitter for you coffee fiends: Death Wish Coffee. It's the world's strongest coffee because it has 200% more caffeine than your normal cup of joe. That's, um, a lot of caffeine in one drink. But then again, for those who pour multiple brews down your throat every morning it shouldn't be a problem.
How does it have twice the caffeine of normal coffee? Death Wish Coffee says that it's because it has found the perfect kick ass, head snapping combination of coffee beans from Indonesia, Ethiopia, and South America. The beans Death Wish uses are Robusta beans which have a harsher taste than the typical Arabica bean. Death Wish promises that its beans don't suffer from that same harsh taste because of the way it grows the beans:
Typically dark roast coffee has less caffeine in comparison to lighter roast coffees due to the caffeine being stricken from the bean during the roasting process. Here at Death Wish Coffee we have found a coffee bean with close to 200% the amount of caffeine as your typical coffee shop coffee; we roast it to a medium-dark for a strong and robust flavor and then we grind it to the proper level for extreme potency.
A 12oz coffee you get from Starbucks has around 260 milligrams of caffeine while a 12oz Death Wish Coffee has 520 (comparatively, a 24oz Monster Energy drink has 480 milligrams). They're not playing around here. You can buy a bag of ground beans on Amazon for 20 bucks if you dare. [Death Wish Coffee via Yahoo]
Remember that day when you first discovered YouTube, and you wasted approximately 100 percent of your working hours just clicking around? Now, Google's making it even easier to see what was popular back then, all the way back to 2008. Starting now, YouTube searches are surfacing on Google Trends, and some of the top memes are crafting some unsurprising charts. Turns out, Rebecca Black's only known song peaks on a very specific day of the week, while searches for "turkey" videos tend to jump during November. Searches for "Krispy Kreme" and "Froggy Fresh," however, are quite simply off of the charts -- but would you honestly expect anything different from the self-proclaimed Baddest Of Them All?
A customer sits in a branch of Shinhan Bank in Seoul, South Korea, after th ebank's computer networks was paralyzed Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Police and South Korean officials were investigating the simultaneous shutdown Wednesday of computer networks at several major broadcasters and banks. While the cause wasn't immediately clear, speculation centered on a possible North Korean cyberattack. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A customer sits in a branch of Shinhan Bank in Seoul, South Korea, after th ebank's computer networks was paralyzed Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Police and South Korean officials were investigating the simultaneous shutdown Wednesday of computer networks at several major broadcasters and banks. While the cause wasn't immediately clear, speculation centered on a possible North Korean cyberattack. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Computers networks at two major South Korean banks and three top TV broadcasters went into shutdown mode en masse Wednesday, paralyzing bank machines across the country and prompting speculation of a cyberattack by North Korea.
Screens went blank promptly at 2 p.m. (0500 GMT), with skulls popping up on the screens of some computers ? a strong indication that hackers planted a malicious code in South Korean systems, the state-run Korea Information Security Agency said. Some computers started to get back online more than 2 ? hours later.
Police and South Korean officials investigating the shutdown said the cause was not immediately clear. But speculation centered on North Korea, with experts saying a cyberattack orchestrated by Pyongyang was likely to blame.
The shutdown comes amid rising rhetoric and threats of attack from Pyongyang in response to U.N. punishment for its December rocket launch and February nuclear test. Washington also expanded sanctions against North Korea this month in a bid to cripple the regime's ability to develop its nuclear program.
North Korea has threatened revenge for the sanctions and for ongoing routine U.S.-South Korean military drills it considers invasion preparation.
Accusations of cyberattacks on the Korean Peninsula are not new. Seoul believes Pyongyang was behind at least two cyberattacks on local companies in 2011 and 2012.
The latest network paralysis took place just days after North Korea accused South Korea and the U.S. of staging a cyberattack that shut down its websites for two days last week. The Thai-based Internet service provider confirmed the outage, but did not say what caused the shutdown in North Korea.
"It's got to be a hacking attack," Lim Jong-in, dean of Korea University's Graduate School of Information Security, said of Wednesday's events. "Such simultaneous shutdowns cannot be caused by technical glitches."
Shinhan Bank, a lender of South Korea's fourth-largest banking group, reported a system shutdown, including online banking and automated teller machines. The company couldn't conduct any customer activities at bank windows, including retail and corporate banking.
At one Starbucks in downtown Seoul, customers were asked to pay for their coffee in cash, and lines were forming outside disabled bank machines. Seoul is a largely cashless society, with many people using debit and credit cards.
Broadcasters KBS and MBC said their computers went down at 2 p.m., but officials said the shutdown did not affect daily TV broadcasts.
YTN cable news channel also said the company's internal computer network was completely paralyzed. Local TV showed workers staring at blank computer screens.
The South Korean military raised its cyberattack readiness level Wednesday following the shutdown, the Defense Ministry said. Defense officials reported no signs of cyberattacks on its ministry's computer network and had no immediate details about the broader shutdown.
LG Uplus Corp., South Korea's third-largest mobile operator, which also operates landline services, said the company's networks are operating normally and it did not see any signs of a cyberattack, company spokesman Lee Jung-hwan said.
The companies whose networks shut down Wednesday afternoon use not just LG Uplus' services but also other services from SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp, he said.
The investigation will take months, Lim said.
"Hackers attack media companies usually because of a political desire to cause confusion in society," he said. "Political attacks on South Korea come from North Koreans."
Massive shutdowns of the networks of major companies take at least one to six months of planning and coordination, said Kwon Seok-chul, chief executive officer of Seoul-based cyber security firm Cuvepia Inc.
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Associated Press writers Sam Kim and Foster Klug contributed to this report.
The discovery of a?colossal?gas giant some 130 light-years from Earth could help explain the origins of our own solar?system, say scientists.
By Charles Q. Choi,?SPACE.com / March 15, 2013
This artist's rendering of the planetary system of HR 8799 130 light-years from Earth as it may have appeared at an early stage in its evolution. The image shows the giant exoplanet HR 8799c, as well as a disk of gas and dust, and interior planets.
Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics; Mediafarm
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The glowing atmosphere of a strangely giant alien world could help solve mysteries of not just how it formed, but how our own solar system arose, scientists say.
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The exoplanet discovery comes from the most detailed look yet at the?alien planets?around the distant star HR 8799, which lies about 130 light-years from Earth. The HR 8799 system is home to four giant planets orbiting a relatively young, 30-million-year-old star, with each planet far larger than any world found in Earth's solar system.
The planets orbiting HR 8799 weigh in at between five to 10 times the mass of Jupiter and are still glowing with the heat of their formation, allowing researchers to directly image them.
"It's the only system in which multiple planets can individually be seen," said study co-author Bruce Macintosh, an astronomer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
The planetary system resembles a scaled-up version of our solar system, suggesting there may be smaller?Earth-size planets?closer in, although the researchers currently have not yet seen any.
It even "has something that kind of looks like maybe an asteroid belt interior to the closest giant planet like we have in our solar system, and something that maybe you can refer to as an Oort cloud analog out beyond the most distant gas giant" ? that is, a cloud of icy comets, said study lead author Quinn Konopacky, an astronomer at the University of Toronto. [Alien Planet Quiz: Are You an Exoplanet Expert?]
Exoplanet's atmosphere revealed
The astronomers concentrated on one of the star's visible planets, named HR 8799c, a colossal gas giant about seven times the mass of Jupiter. It circles the star HR 8799 at a range comparable to Pluto's distance from the sun.
The birth of such a massive planet at such a great distance from its parent star conflicts with the two popular?models of planetary formation. In the multistep process known as core accretion, gas slowly accumulates onto a planetary core, while the mechanism known as gravitational instability involves the simultaneous creation of a planet's interior and atmosphere.
"In the traditional core accretion model of planet formation, it is difficult to form planets as large as the HR 8799 planets at such large distances from their parent star," Konopacky told SPACE.com. "Typically, in this model, objects the size of Jupiter or larger must form much closer to their parent star. This is for several reasons, but has a lot to do with there being less material at large distances from the star that can form planets."
"In the gravitational instability method of formation, it is possible to form big planets at large distances, usually because they invoke a much more massive disc of material," Konopacky added. "But the model generally predicts that there should be many more massive objects orbiting lots of other stars at these distances, and these kinds of objects have not been discovered in surveys [of many stars for?exoplanets]."
To help solve this mystery, the scientists analyzed the glow from HR 8799c using a high-resolution imaging spectrograph called OSIRIS at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Molecules in atmospheres can absorb light, resulting in patterns known as spectra that allow scientists to identify what they are.
HR8799c is both fairly bright and located a fair distance from its star, helping the researchers acquire this spectral data for the most detailed examination yet of the atmosphere of a Jupiter-like planet beyond the solar system. [Birth of Giant Planet Seen? (Artist Animation)]
"The most exciting part of this result is that we were able to make these observations of an exoplanet atmosphere with this level of detail, much more than I even imagined was possible," Konopacky said. "We have broken the light from the planet down to such a fine level of detail that the chemical fingerprints of the molecules in the atmosphere are breathtakingly sharp and distinct. This is important because it requires data of this quality to truly probe the makeup of a planetary atmosphere, and in turn, say something about how the planet formed."
Missing methane: a clue
The scientists detected water and carbon monoxide in the exoplanet's atmosphere, but not methane.
The lack of methane "tells us that there must be mixing between the different layers of the atmosphere, much like a lava lamp swirls material up and down," Konopacky said. "Since methane is a sensitive molecule, it can be destroyed when it gets mixed into the deeper, hotter parts of the atmosphere. This mixing tells us about the atmospheric conditions in young Jupiter-like planets."
In addition, although the researchers see a lot of water vapor in the atmosphere of HR 8799c, "we actually detect slightly less than we would have expected if the planet had the same composition as its host star," Konopacky said. "This tells us that the planet has a slightly elevated amount of carbon compared to oxygen." [Types of Alien Planets Explained (Infographic)]
This high ratio of carbon to oxygen is a clue regarding the exoplanet's formation. The researchers suggest that grains of water ice condensed in the disc of matter surrounding HR 8799 that gave rise to the planets orbiting the star. Oxygen inside the ice depleted any other oxygen for the formation of HR 8799c.
"These ice grains stuck together to make bigger ice chunks, a few kilometers across, that kept colliding and building up the planet's solid core," Konopacky said. "The atmosphere came later ? from gas that the planet attracted after it got big enough. By the time that happened, some of the ice grains were gone and the gas didn't have as much water in it."
How planets are born
These findings imply that a planet-building mechanism known as core accretion led to the formation of HR 8799c, "much in the same way we think the planets in our own solar system formed," Konopacky said. The exoplanet's core arose first, and the atmosphere came afterward.
"These results represent a first step in finding direct evidence about how planets form, which in general, is a difficult thing to do observationally," Konopacky said. "It is really exciting that we have these tantalizing suggestions that this extrasolar system that looks like?our own solar system?in so many ways may have formed in the same way."
Researchers are now tinkering with existing models of core accretion to see how planets might form via the process at great distances from their stars. For instance, there may be more matter at the outer edges of the protoplanetary discs of matter around stars that give rise to planets than before thought, or perhaps solid matter could stick together and form planetary cores easier or faster than previously suspected.
"By further refining the core accretion model of formation to explain the HR 8799 planets, we may be able to learn more about the formation of planetary systems in general, including our own solar system," Konopacky said.
"We would also like to discover more planets through direct imaging that can be studied at this level of detail," Konopacky added. "We work on a new instrument called the Gemini Planet Imager that is designed to do just this. It will arrive at the Gemini South Telescope in Chile this year, and?discover new planets?that are both smaller than the HR 8799 planets and closer to their parent star."
Konopacky and her colleagues Travis Barman, Bruce Macintosh and Christian Marois detailed their findings online March 14 in the journal Science.
Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?and?Google+. Original article on?SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013?SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Like it or not, Facebook is a pretty good barometer if what people like. So it's fun when it gathers up its considerable data troves and spits out maps of stuff we like. Today it broke down the fans of teams in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. More »
Solar storm near Earth caused by fast CMEPublic release date: 18-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Hendrix Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov 301-286-7745 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
On March 17, 2013, at 1:28 a.m. EDT, the coronal mass ejection (CME) from March 15 passed by NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) as it approached Earth. Upon interacting with the giant magnetic bubble surrounding Earth, the magnetosphere, the CME caused a kind of solar storm known as a geomagnetic storm. The storm initially caused a mild storm rated on NOAA's geomagnetic storm scales as a G2 on a scale from G1 to G5, and subsequently subsided to a G1. In the past, storms of this strength have caused auroras near the poles but have not disrupted electrical systems on Earth or interfered with GPS or satellite-based communications systems.
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (http://swpc.noaa.gov) is the United States Government official source for space weather forecasts. For this storm, they predict:
"Potential Impacts: Area of impact primarily poleward of 60 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude.
Induced Currents - Weak power grid fluctuations can occur.
Spacecraft - Minor impact on satellite operations possible.
Aurora - Aurora may be visible at high latitudes, i.e., northern tier of the U.S. such as northern Michigan and Maine."
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Yesterday, my kids had a day off from school. That means it was time to do something fun. So I pulled out some yarn and the craft box and showed the kids how to make some super easy yarn creature crafts. All I had to do was make the first one and they were off and running. We had yarn scraps all over the floor, but these yarn creatures were super fun for the kids.
Easy Yarn Creature Crafts
This is a super simple yarn craft that anyone can do! ?If you can cut yarn with scissors and tie a tight knot, you can make this with your kids!
Materials Needed
Yarn
Piece of cardboard (about 2? x 4?)
Scissors
Googly Eyes
Feathers (optional)
Glue Gun
Directions to make yarn creatures
Wrap yarn around your piece of cardboard. The thicker you make the wrap, the bigger your pom pom will be.
Slightly bend the cardboard so you can pull off your roll of yarn. (Don?t drop it!)
Cut another piece of the same color yarn about 10 inches long.
Tie a very tight knot (or double knot) around the center of the yarn.
Use scissors to cut the loops. This gives you the pom pom look.
Experiment with different yarns to get unique looking creatures.
Use hot glue gun to attach eyes.
I let the kids just create however they wanted to. ?We ended up with a peacock, chicken, monster and some hybrid creatures as well.
For a completely different look, try combining two different color yarn.
My kids turned these pom poms into creatures, but they could easily become carnation flowers if you used 2 pastel color yarns and attached them to the end of a pencil. ?(Try wrapping the pencil in green ribbon to make it look like a flower stem).
Have you made yarn pom poms like this? ?What do you use them for? ?What are other ideas for creating easy yarn creature crafts? ?I?d love to hear!
About Sharon Williams
Sharon Williams is a mom of 3 who loves to read, travel, take pictures, work in the flowers and spend time with family. When she's not blogging, she's probably out enjoying life so she'll have something fun to blog about tomorrow!
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Public release date: 22-Mar-2013
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In the past, you had to upgrade your computer almost every year just to keep up with advancements in basic software and operating systems. Upgrading regularly just isn't so necessary any more, unless you're playing modern games or using specific types of resource-hungry applications. How old is your system? 
Here's something super bitter for you coffee fiends: Death Wish Coffee. It's the world's strongest coffee because it has 200% more caffeine than your normal cup of joe. That's, um, a lot of caffeine in one drink. But then again, for those who pour multiple brews down your throat every morning it shouldn't be a problem.
