Category: News

For the first time in Harvard’s history, more than 30,000 students have applied for undergraduate admission.  Applications have doubled since 1994, and about half of the increase has come since the University implemented a series of financial aid initiatives over the past five years to ensure that a Harvard College education remains accessible and affordable to talented students from all economic backgrounds.

Two other factors also may have played a role in reaching this historic number.  Three years ago, Harvard eliminated its early admission program, leveling the playing field for financial aid applicants and providing more time each fall to recruit students.  At the same time, Harvard established the new School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which, under the leadership of Dean Cherry Murray, is increasing the visibility of Harvard’s excellence in this area.  Applications from students interested in engineering have risen considerably more than applications as a whole.

“The continuing economic uncertainty, with its accompanying high unemployment and underemployment, has made affordability a crucial consideration for an unprecedented number of families,” said William R. Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid.  “The unwavering commitment of President Drew Faust, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael Smith, and Dean of the College Evelynn Hammonds to ensure that Harvard remains open to talented students from across the economic spectrum sends a powerful message to those aspiring to higher education,” he said.

Harvard College’s financial aid program requires no contribution from families with annual incomes below $60,000, and about 10 percent of income from families with typical assets who make up to $180,000. The program eliminates loan requirements for all financial aid recipients.  Currently, 70 percent of students receive some form of financial aid.

Precise figures on the number of applicants are not yet available, since applications are still being processed.  The final total will likely be about 5 percent ahead of last year’s 29,114, or about 30,500.

This year’s results were achieved in the context of economic constraints that ultimately led to considerable change and innovation.  Like much of Harvard, the Admissions and Financial Aid Office was operating with fewer resources, after trimming its unrestricted operating budget by 15 percent.  “Faced with this challenge, our staff worked together to develop new ways of addressing our most important priorities,” said Fitzsimmons. “The changes we have made will make us more effective now and in the future at reaching out to the nation’s and the world’s best students.”

With a staff that is 10 percent  smaller, a travel budget reduced by half, and the replacement of several much larger publications with a single eight-page brochure, the office has made sweeping advances in its use of electronic communications.  The Web site, message boards, e-mail, and Internet conferencing outreach by staff have been greatly enhanced.  In addition, alumni and alumnae redoubled their efforts to contact students and schools in their local areas.  “We are extremely grateful to our alumni and alumnae for taking on a greater role in visiting schools, attending college nights, and talking with students and families,” said Marlyn E. McGrath, director of admissions.  “Of course they will also interview a record number of candidates this year, providing assistance in our decision-making process and building relationships with admitted candidates that can lead to their matriculation here,” she said.

The Admissions Office relied on its nearly 20-year-old joint-travel program with Duke University, Georgetown University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University to visit with prospective students, their parents, and guidance counselors in 120 cities.  A similar program continued in 20 cities, teaming with Princeton University and the University of Virginia.  The Admissions Office maintained its full support of the Undergraduate Minority Recruiting Program and the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative, student organizations that aid recruitment throughout the year.

The office also is using new technologies and operating procedures to handle the processing and evaluation of the record number of applicants.  Documents — such as applications and counselor and teacher reports — are scanned electronically with an imaging system, ensuring easy recovery and making them instantly available to application readers and to admissions committee selection meetings.  Improved Web site services for alumni and alumnae enable applicant-interview reports to be submitted electronically and made available immediately as well.

Similar administrative and technological advancements make it possible for financial aid officers to serve the larger number of students now receiving assistance at Harvard.  Only a few years ago, about 3,000 of Harvard’s 6,600 undergraduates were on scholarship, compared with 4,000 now, including 63 percent of freshmen.  “Better technological resources allow our financial aid officers more time to counsel and advise students and their families with the personal attention and care they need,” said Sarah C. Donahue, director of financial aid.  “Each student on financial aid has a financial aid officer to contact with questions or concerns.”

Beyond the increase in numbers noted earlier, there are relatively few differences in the composition of this year’s applicant pool compared with last year’s. The gender breakdown remains about 50/50, and minority numbers are much the same (though still incomplete because some coding takes place during the reading process). Major academic preferences mirror last year’s, except for the larger increase in engineering, as well as associated increases in the physical sciences and computer science.  The geographical distribution is close to last year’s, with larger-than-average increases in the western United States and abroad.

Admissions officers are now reading applications in preparation for selection meetings, the careful, individualized process that begins on Jan. 30 and concludes March 20.  Notification letters to all applicants will be mailed on April 1, and e-mails will be sent later that day to those — usually about 95 percent — who request that additional notification.

“A visiting program for admitted students is scheduled for April 24 through 26,” said Valerie Beilenson, program director. Admitted students have until May 1 to make their final college selections.

Yes! Our prayers have been answered: OK! Magazine has confirmed that General Larry Platt, 63, will bring his musical platform to daytime TV with a live performance of his hit single “Pants On The Ground” on ABC’s The View next Monday!

Not only will Platt perform his now-famous track, the Southern Gentleman will also chat with the ladies about his life and role in the Civil Rights Movement. Get your DVRs ready…..

Though he exceeded the age limit to win a Golden Ticket to Hollywood, things are looking up The General. He’s created a phenomenon with his catchy anti-saggin’ anthem, “Pants On The Ground!” A Facebook fan page created in his honor already has more than 70,000 members and covers of his song are popping up all over the Interwebs!

LCDs, make way for LPDs. Xconomy reports on a California startup’s new laser phosphor displays (LPDs) that use just 25 percent of the electricity required by today’s liquid-crystal displays (LCD) or LEDs.

LPD screens can supposedly come in any size or shape, including square tiles and long, thin ribbon bands. That would allow the lights of Times Square or Tokyo to spread across many more cities and towns. Casinos and stadiums would remain shiny beacons, but train stations, shopping malls, airports, financial exchanges and even churches could also join in the lighting blitz.

The company Prysm has remained fairly tight-lipped about LPD technology, but the basic idea comes from eliminating the expensive layer of transistors that help drive each pixel of an LCD screen in HDTVs, computer monitors or smart phones. Instead, LPDs use a laser that blinks on and off precisely as it sweeps across a pattern of phosphor stripes — not unlike older cathode ray tubes (CRTs) that use an electron beam to activate a field of electro-sensitive phosphors. And rather than the magnets used in CRTs, rotating “scanning mirrors” direct the highly efficient laser beam within an LPD screen.

A first generation of LPD screens may cost more than LCD or LED screens, but Prysm envisions savings from lower power usage, as well as the lack of lamps that could go bust and require replacement. The company also says that LPDs have higher resolution, don’t suffer from motion blur, and can be seen from wider angles than the usual displays. Once LPD production has scaled up, costs may drop low enough for common usage within computers and smart phones.

Prysm first plans to target larger displays that can factor in savings from long-term operations. So keep your eyes peeled next time you go walking around the bright lights of a big city. [Xconomy]

Popular Science is your wormhole to the future. Reporting on what’s new and what’s next in science and technology, we deliver the future now.

WTO DG Pascal Lamy makes some interesting points (as he often does) in his recent speech on trade and human rights.  Here are the ones that jumped out at me (quoted portion indented), with some quick comments. 

1. Good governance and transparency are essential for trade.

What role do human rights play in trade? First, civil and political rights are a key ingredient of good governance, which in turn is essential to the proper conduct of trade relations. Freedom of expression, for example, brings transparency, one of the core principles of the world trading system. 

My sense is that "transparency" is almost universally accepted, and not particularly controversial.  On the other hand, "good governance" is one of those vague terms that sounds great in theory, but in practice can lead to some disagreement about the burdens imposed on domestic regulation.

2. Trade measures are used to promote human rights.

How can trade help promote human rights? I would start by noting that trade measures are the most commonly used instrument in developed countries to put pressure on states violating human rights.

That is probably true, with selective purchasing laws and conditions on trade preferences being two examples. It is not clear whether all such measures are permitted under WTO rules, though. 

3. The WTO's purpose is to "regulate" trade

The primary vocation of the WTO is to regulate, not to deregulate trade as is often thought. By putting in place rules to regulate trade flows and remove trade distortions, the WTO aims to create a global level playing field, where fairness is the rule and where the rights of individual members are safeguarded.

I'm not sure either of these terms, "regulate" or "deregulate," is particularly helpful in describing the WTO's purpose.  Actually, I think this recent statement by the Appellate Body in China – Publications was pretty good in this regard:

222. We read the phrase "in a manner consistent with the WTO Agreement" as referring to the WTO Agreement as a whole, including its Annexes. We note, in this respect, that we see the "right to regulate", in the abstract, as an inherent power enjoyed by a Member's government, rather than a right bestowed by international treaties such as the WTO Agreement. With respect to trade, the WTO Agreement and its Annexes instead operate to, among other things, discipline the exercise of each Member's inherent power to regulate by requiring WTO Members to comply with the obligations that they have assumed thereunder. When what is being regulated is trade, then the reference in the introductory clause to "consistent with the WTO Agreement" constrains the exercise of that regulatory power such that China's regulatory measures must be shown to conform to WTO disciplines.  (emhphasis add)

So it's not that the WTO "regulates" or "deregulates" trade, but rather it "disciplines the exercise of each Member's inherent power to regulate."  As the Appellate Body's statement indicates, it is governments that regulate trade.  As for the WTO, rather than regulating trade, it regulates governments' regulation of trade. 

Of course, in restricting domestic regulation in this way, it is, to some extent, deregulating trade.  Thus, you could argue that the WTO's impact is closer to "deregulating" than "regulating."

(Did any of that make sense?  I'll try again on that one some other time.)

4. Trade requires redistribution of wealth and "safeguards."

While trade can promote development and contribute to the reinforcement of human rights, it is not a panacea. Trade liberalization can entail social costs. To be successful, the opening of markets requires solid social policies to redistribute wealth or provide safeguards to the men and women whose living conditions have been disrupted by evolving trade rules and trade patterns.

This is what I have called the “Geneva consensus”, under which the opening of markets is necessary to our collective well-being, but does not suffice in itself.

It does not suffice unless strong safety nets help correct the imbalances between winners and losers at the national level. …

I'm not sure how much "consensus" there is about the "Geneva consensus."  Many countries probably agree with this as a general principle, but the implementation will likely vary to a great degree and cause a good deal of conflict.  For example, company bailouts are a form of social safety net, but they also cause concern among trading partners.

***

Putting all those minor criticisms aside, let me just note that I enjoy Pascal Lamy's speeches quite a bit.  He is not afraid to take on complex and controversial issues, which is not always the case for someone in his position.

It’s personal

Editor, The Times:

I learned today that the niece of a friend working on relief in Haiti for the U.N. was killed in the earthquake [“Devastated,” page one, Jan. 14]. This cuts through the distance of faraway news like a knife and makes the earthquake and the suffering in Haiti something personal, painful and up-close.

In the same day’s news, I read that Pat Robertson has blamed the earthquake on the 18th century slave revolt against the French. Robertson remarked that the earthquake was caused by a pact with the devil made when Haitian slaves launched a revolt against French colonial power at the end of the 18th century.

“They got together and swore a pact to the devil,” said Robertson. “They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’”

There simply appears to be no end of the obscenity that right-wing fanatics spew — and this is what passes itself as “Christianity” in parts of this country.

I hope American response to the suffering in Haiti will show that we are a country of openhanded generosity, not mean, medieval superstition.

— Nathaniel R. Brown, Edmonds

Heal Haiti’s old wounds

Our hearts are in Haiti and we must help the Haitian people in this urgent moment. But we must be more than foul-weather friends. We must stand by them for the long haul.

These people are our neighbors, yet they live in dire poverty. This must change. A healthy, educated and prosperous Haiti is in our best interest.

The Haitian people need urgent help and need clean water, food and medicine. But we must do more than slap a bandage on this gaping wound. Haiti has been bleeding out for generations. Lets face reality and do our part to cure the disease at the root of this crisis.

We must lead the world community in building, from the ground up, a system of community-based schools and clinics to educate the young and heal the sick. Nonprofits with strong bonds to Haitian communities are our best bet. Partners in Health has been active in Haiti for a quarter century. They run nine clinics across the island. We must support their efforts and follow their lead.

The Haitian people are aching for more from life. We can give them an honest shot at realizing their dreams. Knowing the American spirit, we will.

— Ben Packard, Bainbridge Island

Haitian lives trivialized

I am a local student, now in eighth grade at Washington Middle School. When I woke up early this morning and read the article about the Haitian earthquake, I was horrified and sad. But then I looked at the paper again and I got mad.

It just shocked me that in your three news stories, the layout suggested that the two American missionaries trapped in rubble were of equal importance to the lives of thousands of Haitians. I found it offensive that two people were considered as important as thousands in Haiti just because the missionaries were American.

You made it into an issue of “us” and “them”. If you can’t — as mature adults — show equal respect to everyone, then what do you think that teaches us?

— Marley Arborico, Seattle

Credible intelligence has emerged that a branch of Al Qaeda Yemen is plotting another attack against the United States and U.S. interests abroad.

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official confirmed the terror plot to a number of news outlets, including the Daily News and Fox News.

The intelligence doesn’t provides specifics about time, place or method of attack. But officials are taking the threat seriously. The Yemeni group is said to have been emboldened by the Christmas Day attack.

“Our concerns have intensified,” the official told The News.

Frighteningly, Fox reports that some of the suspected terrorists may have US passports.

From Fox:

Al Qaeda in Yemen and the Al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, known as Al Shabaab — translated as Mujahadeen Youth — are described as having “shared interests and shared goals.”

U.S. counterterrorism officials say clear connections now can be traced between the two terrorist groups and they are not ruling out the possibility that they are working together to attack U.S. interests.

U.S. officials also remain concerned about two dozen Somali Americans who disappeared into the Al Shabaab training camps in Somalia in the last 18 months. Their American passports would allow them to reenter the United States.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• REPORT: US Officials Hunting Two Islamic Militants Who May Already Be In US Planning Attack
• Terror Prosecution Could Give Detroit’s US Attorney’s Office Chance To Redeem Itself
• Terror And The Law: 10 Must-Read Books

The Appellate Body is proposing some amendments to its Working Procedures (Word Doc):

We propose the following three amendments to the Working Procedures: 

 

· First, we suggest that an appellant's written submission be filed when an appeal is commenced, namely, on the same day as the filing of a Notice of Appeal, and that all other deadlines for written submissions, the Notice of Other Appeal and third-party notifications be advanced accordingly. 

 

· Secondly, we propose to explicitly authorize, subject to certain conditions, the electronic filing and service of documents.  

 

· Thirdly, we propose to introduce a procedure for consolidating appellate proceedings where two or more disputes share a high degree of commonality and are closely related in time. 

They explain the reasons in detail in the document.  I don't see anything too controversial in there, although I suppose some Members might object to having to file appellants' submissions earlier.

From the FT:

Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecoms equipment company, is to make a $500m investment in its research and development operations in the southern Indian city of Bangalore as part of an effort to avoid falling foul of tension between New Delhi and Beijing.

Max Yang, Huawei's India chief executive, said his company was making efforts to have its local operations seen more as an Indian operation in an attempt to dispel a "mystique" impeding its business.

…

It would also open a manufacturing unit in India that would help it avoid steep anti-dumping duties on Chinese goods.

• Related articles
• Something funny bites again
• Molarity Redux: The Coach

Off the streets and into liquor stores

The legislature currently is considering a bill to regulate marijuana [“Time to let pot trade bud legally,” NWWednesday, Jan. 13], allowing it to be sold in state liquor stores, and there is now a state initiative petition seeking to put before the voters a law that would allow possession, growing and sale of marijuana. Who would have thought this possible three or four years ago?

Sanity should prevail as we consider how to transform the state’s drug policies. We don’t want marijuana sold on the streets, with no controls on the age of the buyer.

We need a reasonable distribution system that includes a tax covering the cost of the regulation and providing funds for drug-abuse treatment. We want responsible people handling the distribution, so that drugs are not adulterated or sold to minors — and so that all proper taxes are paid. Organized gangs would lose the tax-free stream of revenue that has fueled their growth for decades. Police could focus on more serious matters.

The time for change has come, but let’s do it responsibly.

— Jim A. Doherty, former prosecutor and corrections officer, Shoreline

Financially responsible thing to do

With the financial condition of this state and this country spiraling lower and lower, we can no longer afford the luxury of enforcing morality with the law. Our law enforcement and courts are overburdened and our prisons are overcrowded.

Legalization of marijuana will save money and allow law enforcement to use their resources where they are more urgently needed. Correction facilities would have more space for real criminals. Taxing the nonmedical use of marijuana could also help put a dent in the budget shortfall.

Legalization of marijuana would also eliminate the criminal element. Without the threat of arrest, marijuana distribution would be on par with alcohol and tobacco sales. The outrageous profits made by criminal gangs selling marijuana will dry up, causing the gangs to abandon marijuana for substances with a higher profit margin.

— Neil Foster, Renton

Create shuttle routes to and from stations

Nowhere in the article about parking at light rail stations [“In switch, commuters will get to park in lots near light rail,” NWTuesday, Jan. 12] is there any discussion of the most logical approach of establishing a system of bus routes that will feed into the stations.

If you live even a mile away from the station — which is too far to walk — a bus could come by and pick you up and take you and your neighbors to the station.

This system works well in many other cities that have metro rail lines — for example in Washington D.C.

Large parking lots are only at the terminal stations. Feeder buses even serve outlying park and ride lots. This allows the property near stations to be designated for high-occupancy housing. Office buildings can be built near the stations to attract riders who will then commute from other neighborhoods to the stations to go to work.

— Myrna J. Aavedal, Seattle

Light rail hijacked bus routes

Its no surprise light-rail ridership has increased with the opening of the Sea-Tac Airport station. Eliminating Metro bus route #194 guaranteed it. What is surprising is that light-rail ridership is averaging 15,000 weekday passengers, which is only a bit more than Metro’s #48 bus route.

While continuing to burn coal and oil threatens to destroy the world as we know it, wasting billions of taxpayer dollars for a transit system that essentially replaces a single bus line is simply stupid — and building expensive streetcar lines that get stuck in traffic is just as pointless.

If you want to get daily commuters out of their polluting cars, build parking garages at every freeway interchange where they can board express buses every few minutes. HOV lanes are already in place and can be turned into full-time bus lanes because there are fewer cars on the road. A fee on all employee parking spaces will discourage driving to work, while helping to fund the new system.

It’s a new world now and doing more with a lot less money is the only real option our leaders have. Will they begin to make smarter choices or just lead us over the cliff?

— Daniel Castro, Seattle

If you still haven’t gotten a copy of Rocksteady’s awesome Batman: Arkham Asylum, you may want to hold off for a bit longer. According to the BBFC, there’s a Game of the Year edition in the works.

Cross-posted from Huffington Post.

James Bell, Founder and Executive Director of the W. Haywood Burns Institute.

Last week, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report that revealed about 12 percent of youths nationwide held in state-run, privately run or local facilities reported some type of sexual victimization including forced sexual activity with other youth and staff. Staff sexual misconduct was higher in state-run facilities.

It was the first report of its kind by the Justice Department, and the prevalence of sexual abuse by staff, particularly female workers, shocked even advocates. At our offices, we drew a deep breath and acknowledged the report as an addition to a growing list of reminders that incarcerating youth – the majority of whom are locked up for nonviolent offenses – is expensive, unproductive and harmful.

Every day, youth across the country who are incarcerated find themselves facing harms ranging from mental, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, to a lack of nutritious food and basic necessities including clean undergarments and adequate bathing supplies, and a lack of education and future opportunities. The majority are denied their liberty for minor offenses, and are placed in the mercy of a system that has been proven broken and in need of a serious and immediate overhaul.

Groups across the country work daily to protect and defend the rights of youth already incarcerated. We work to ensure youth will not be unjustly detained in the first place. As we look to persuade the public and the legislature to act upon the urgency we feel to transform the system, I refer to reports of some of the most egregious harms inflicted upon youth in the custody of the juvenile justice system.

Sadly, sometimes the most heinous incidents are the best aid in reminding us of how much needs to be done. Any of these children could have been yours, in some tragic twist of fate.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice released a report graphically documenting the persistent brutality and routine neglect of youth of color with mental health. The report summarized the results of a two-year investigation and highlighted abuse including a 300-pound guard forcing a girl to the ground so violently (she had threatened to urinate on the floor) that the girl suffered a concussion. Another girl with mental health issues was placed in isolation for three months without treatment. She apparently deteriorated in the process, never changed out of her pajamas, and was forcibly restrained at least 15 times.

In 2008, The New York Times reported that the Louisiana state legislature voted to close the Jetson Center, a large prison-style facility near Baton Rouge plagued by fights and reports of sexual violence. A young man reported being locked in a cell for about seven weeks: “This is where the guards beat, kick, stomp and punch you. I was beaten so badly in there in there by a guard that he broke my eardrum. The sex in there is horrible. The female guards, and even some male guards, were having sex with the kids….And there were rapes, but they weren’t reported very often. If a kid was raped on a guard’s watch, the guard would get fired and the other guards were going to make sure the kid paid for telling.”

In 2007, reporters in Texas found that more than 750 juvenile detainees across the state had alleged sexual abuse by staff over the previous six years. Officials in Austin ignored what they heard, and in rare cases where staff were fired and their cases referred to local prosecutors, the prosecutors typically refused to act. “Not one employee of the Texas Youth Commission during that six-year period was sent to prison for raping the children in his or her care,” according to the New York Review of Books.

In 2006, Martin Lee Anderson didn’t make it past his first day at the Bay County Juvenile Boot Camp before he was abused to death. After “drill instructors” at this youth boot camp facility forced him do a fitness run with a 20-minute confrontation, Martin collapsed and died as a result of complications from a sickle cell trait.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Professor Simon Johnson coined the phrase “intellectual capture” in reference to the nation’s kneeling at the altar of the gods of Wall Street. In essence, we are “intellectually captured” by the notion that whatever is good for Wall Street is good for America. Johnson goes on to posit that this intellectual capture is so powerful that it prevents the public and powerful politicians from exercising common sense and challenging basic assumptions.

This recent report, and this brief look at an ever-growing list of abuses, demonstrates clearly that our notions of crime and punishment for young people have us intellectually captured and clueless. Society at large, as well as the opinion shapers, the elites and those who wield power seem to be afraid to say what we all know to be true. Using cells to change the behaviors of teenagers is ineffective, expensive and more likely to increase crime.

Two-thirds of youth in detention are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses. What about incarceration only for those who pose a proven public safety risk? What about keeping nonviolent youth and those with minor offenses in community-based programs that involves therapy and engages their families? What about rehabilitation? Employing these methods has been shown to reduce crime, and the likelihood of abuse, and save money.

These ideas should no longer be novel or untried. San Francisco’s District Attorney Kamala Harris has it right. In her new book Smart on Crime she invites us to get a clue about being, well, smart on crime. She observes that two thirds of inmates return in two years. The numbers are similar for youth as well. By comparison, two decades ago, Missouri replaced its guards with counselors and its cells with bunk beds. The new model focused on changing behavior through therapy rather than physical restraints. Today, only one in four of the youths who have gone through the state’s system are re-incarcerated within three years of release.

How many more reports, tragedies and thrown away lives will we continue to endure? How long will we continue to waste precious dollars on this failed approach? How much longer will we, as a society, continue to be clueless and intellectually captured by the myth of “tough on crime”?

It’s time to get a clue.

By Josh Beckerman, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

We skim hundreds of press releases that include tie-ins to current events and pop culture, entries with headlines like “Aviation Expert Available To Discuss Flight 27 Fire” and “What Does Avatar Mean For Cloud Computing?” (These are fictional but plausible examples.) Yesterday’s effort from venture-backed job search and outplacement company RiseSmart Inc. is way better than most, partly because of its intelligent critique of “Up In The Air.”

Since we like business movies (yet never got around to seeing the Renee Zellweger-fires-people epic “New In Town”) we’re glad that RiseSmart got into the discussion with its missive, entitled “RiseSmart CEO Sanjay Sathe Exposes Five HR Myths in ‘Up in the Air.’”

(Note: For some reason this movie brings out violations of spoiler etiquette–with the relatively dissimilar George Will and Rex Reed both giving away far too much. So, SPOILER ALERT!!! We won’t disclose the ending but will address a plot point or two, so you may wish to click the back button, or better yet, the previous post conveniently located on the top right of your screen.)

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Product Description
SEBENOL
SPECIFIC TREATMENT

SHAMPOO ANTICAIDA
Complement in HAIR-LOSS Treatment

SEBENOL Shampoo is indicated as complement in Hair-Loss Treatments. The combined action of Vegetable Auxins and Hair Proteins acts as natural physiological nutrient of the hair root and as protector and restorer factor of the keratin fibres.

DIRECTIONS :Apply to wet hair, massaging gently. Rinse with water and repeat the operation, leaving the product on the hair for a few minutes.

… More >>

Sebenol Shampoo Anticaida Complement in Hair Loss Treatment

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Related posts on Anticaida
• Nuevos/Otros Tratamientos :: RE: ¿ Espumas anticaida o otros …

• Related posts on Complement
• The student experience « Pennybridged's Weblog…
• Cheap Barbecue Party Food Ideas – Get Invited to Every Party | Hot …
• Should I Buy a New 2009 high-definition LCD TV? « LCD TV

• Related posts on HAIR
• How To Grow Your Hair Long | FeminineSpirit.com
• Hair Talk « Communication FUNdamentals
• 12 Simple Techniques For Faster Hair Growth | FeminineSpirit.com

Erin Kutz wrote:

A123Systems, a Watertown, MA-based battery maker, announced today it will invest up to $23 million in Irvine, CA startup Fisker Automotive, in addition to supplying the batteries for the company’s luxury hybrid car, due to launch in late 2010. Fisker’s Karma Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) has a range of 50 full-electric miles on a single charge of A123’s lithium-ion battery, and a total range of 300 miles with an on-board generator powered by a fuel-efficient gasoline engine, according to A123’s announcement. A123’s investment in Fisker includes $13 million in cash and $10 million in A123 common stock, as part of a strategic partnership under which A123 will also supply batteries for another Fisker hybrid, Project Nina, set to launch in 2012.

The primate is better off dead

While it was very sad to read Sandi Doughton’s article about the little macaque at the UW who died of starvation [“UW monkey starved to death in lab last year,” NWSaturday, Jan. 9], he is now free from the further pain of cruel experimentation, from loneliness and from lingering for years in cages.

I am still thankful to the USDA for reporting this tragedy. It is bad enough for these animals to go through cruel experimentation, but to be denied food day after day is just as cruel and inexcusable.

When lives are at stake — be it for humans or non-humans — caregivers must be above reproach in their work. Excuses like “a change in staffing and confusion over responsibilities” are so lame. With all the new technology available, the UW and other institutions doing vivisection must find alternatives.

It is preposterous to read that they have 700 primates in their Seattle labs and about 3,000 in their primate-breeding colonies in Louisiana and Texas. This sounds more like a booming business, undoubtedly with large grants for researchers for caging and staff and so far there have been no promises to cure illnesses.

Yet, this little macaque is better off dead.

— Claudine Erlandson, Shoreline

Basic care a basic necessity

We are meant to believe that research on animals is an unfortunate necessity regretfully undertaken by compassionate researchers for the “greater good of mankind.

Even if that were so — which it is not — surely the very least one could expect would be that during their miserable lives, the animals are subjected to as little suffering as possible outside the experiments for which they are being used. Yet here is an animal whose most basic care was repeatedly neglected.

It is terrible to think of this small being, whose entire life had been nothing but pain and misery, being bypassed for food day after day until he or she died of starvation. And if this is one story that came to light, how many others died when no one was looking, recording or caring enough to make it public?

This is but a tiny fraction of the terrible wrongs involved in this area of so-called science.

— Franziska M. Edwards, Seattle

Article Tags: ClimateGate, Dexter Wright

The Climategate crowd successfully worked to obscure the connection between solar activity and climate. The leaked CRU e-mails reveal how.

In 2003, two Harvard-Smithsonian Professors, Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas, published a peer-reviewed paper in the scientific journal Climate Research which identified solar activity as a major influence on Earth’s climate. This paper also concluded that the twentieth century was not the warmest, nor was it the century with the most extreme weather over the past thousand years. These two scientists reviewed more than two hundred sources of data. The paper specifically examined climate variations observed to coincide with solar variations. One of the more notable correlations cited in this paper is the well-documented coincidence of the Little Ice Age and a solar quiet period, known as the Maunder Minimum, from A.D. 1300 to A.D. 1900. Soon and Baliunas asserted that the lack of solar activity resulted in cooler temperatures across the globe. The evidence they compiled also indicated that as the sun became more active global temperatures began to rise and the Little Ice Age ended.

In the past, the issue of the solar connection has always fallen down on one question; what is it about sunspots that cause a change in the climate? Soon and Baliunas identified the physical connection as solar wind, which varies on an eleven-year cycle similar to sunspots’. The solar wind is made up of high-energy particulate radiation and when strong enough, it has a visible effect upon the atmosphere in the form of auroral displays in the polar regions (e.g., the Northern Lights). Some instances of solar wind were so powerful that the aurora was seen even in lower latitude, as happened during the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia during the War Between the States (Civil War). Both armies were so distracted by the intensity of the display that the battle actually paused as the soldiers, North and South, watched in awe.

Source: americanthinker.com

Read in full with comments »