strength clare: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Make #WeightLoss Last #Meditation Can Help @skyyogastudio .com

I was sent a copy of this book to review, I was not compensated in any way and the opinions expressed are my own.

With a plethora of research and studies to quote about why we can not retain weight loss, what is making us overweight, how stress effects weight loss and more this book definitely came at the reader with the science behind it but it wasn?t all facts and figures (no pun intended).? Chapters did start at times with personal anecdotes regarding weight loss or healthy eating habits. The book alone started with the reader figuring out ?Your Overeating Style? which again reminds me of a weight loss maintenance book I reviewed a few months ago whose premise was that overeating is at the heart of an individual?s struggle with food.? Again, several ?types? are outlined and then discussed in the book, however; Make Weight Loss Last? goes further by providing extrapolating data from research studies and making relevant to how weight loss can or can not be successful.

I found the book to be very thought provoking, on an ?ah-ha!? level.? Take for example the idea that the amount of body fat you have is linked to- or even controlled by ? the flavor of your food. Suggestions are given to make weight loss last, along with a long bibliography, and a recipe or two.? This book definitely challenges all that we think we know about weight loss and proves that more research is needed. There is a whole section dedicated to how meditation can help with weight loss and food enjoyment- definitely up this yogini?s alley!

Think Outside the Diet to Make Weight Loss Last

Have you ever lost weight and gained it back? You?re not alone: that?s what happens to most dieters. Obesity researchers Deborah Kesten?s and Larry Scherwitz? new book Make Weight Loss Last reveals there?s more to being a successful loser than eating less and exercising more.

The real secrets to being a successful weight loser involve addressing the underlying?and often remarkable?reasons we pack on pounds. The weight-loss success you achieve and maintain is based on the crucial eating and lifestyle choices you make each day. Here they are:

Eat Fresh Food

Tasty or not, fast food full of added fat, sugar, and salt; and greasy, fried fare, are two of the key causes of weight gain. To turn the tide, you have to choose fresh whole food in its natural state as often as possible. Make lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans and nuts and seeds your most-of-the time way of eating, with lesser amounts of lean fish, poultry, meat and dairy.

Create a Positive Relationship to Food

Although dieting, judging food as ?good? or ?bad,? anxiety about food, and thinking a lot about the ?best? way to eat may not seem to have much in common, they are all characteristics of a ?food fretter,? and increased odds of overeating and weight gain. To get off the food-fretting treadmill, perceive food and eating as one of life?s greatest pleasures. Choose wisely and enjoy it.

Focus on Your Food

Give up eating while doing other activities?such as working, driving, or watching TV. Stay mindful, keep focused, and do one thing at a time. Stop working and don?t eat at your desk. Don?t read while you eat, don?t watch TV while you eat, and don?t drive while you eat. Instead, eat when you eat.

Pay Attention to How You Feel

Stop yourself from eating to soothe negative emotions or out-of-control food cravings. ?Emotional eating? is the #1 predictor of overeating and weight gain. To get control, pause and pay attention to your feelings. Get in touch with your feelings before, during, and after eating. Make a conscious choice to eat for the pleasure. Eat when you have a healthy appetite and don?t allow yourself to get too hungry. Experience feel-good emotions when you eat and enjoy yourself.

Eat with Other People

Eat alone less, eat with people more often. Eating alone can promote overeating. Snacking secretly is one obvious source of needless calories. When it?s time to eat a meal, invite others to join you at your table. Sharing mealtimes with friends, family, or coworkers will help keep you from overeating.

Dine by Design

Think about the atmosphere in which you?ll be eating ahead of time. Both the psychological and the aesthetic surroundings when you dine can influence overeating and your weight. To reap the rewards, each time you eat, design your own dining experience by creating an emotional and physical atmosphere that?s as pleasant as possible.

Feed Your Senses

Your senses have an amazing impact on your appetite and weight. Slow down and pay attention to the food before you through your eyes, ears, nose, and taste buds. Look at and notice the colors, the smells, the aromas. Pay attention to the look, the feel and the texture of the food. Appreciating food through your senses wards off overeating. Think about the food, where it comes from, and how it got to your table. Develop more appreciation in your heart for the food before you.

Quit Chemical Cuisine

Obesogens are the manmade chemicals?plastics and pesticides?which have found their way into our food supply and beverages. They wreak their havoc on weight by mimicking estrogen, a hormone that can make you fat. The solution? Just say no. A key way to avoid consuming ?chemical cuisine? is by staying away from bisphenol A (BPA) found in canned foods, bottled beverages, meat packed in plastic, and more.

Sleep More, Weigh Less

Getting enough sleep is a key ingredient in managing weight. If you sleep less than five hours a night, the odds of your becoming obese is upped by 73 percent! Just an hour more decreases the amount of ghrelin, a hormone your body produces that can cause weight gain. Better yet, get 7 hours of sleep every night to protect yourself from the sleep less-weigh more cycle.

Get moving

Burning calories and speeding up your metabolism with physical activity helps you stay slim. Exercise also nourishes your body, mind, and soul with a flood of feel-good feelings produced by naturally occurring hormones. To optimize weight loss, exercise in the morning when your body is more likely to burn fat for energy. Keep workouts to 45 minutes or less to lower the odds of producing cortisol, a stress hormone that can activate body fat.

You can change the way you think about dieting, losing weight, and keeping it off. It works because you focus on the underlying reasons you overeat and gain weight, as well as the solutions you need to turn overeating into optimal eating.

The end result: attain and maintain optimal weight?for life.

Making Weight Loss Last

Deborah Kesten and Larry Scherwitz

List $20

Trade softcover

ISBN: 978-1-935052-61-6

eBook ISBN: 978-1-887043-05-2

White River Press, Amherst

www.whiteriverpress.com

For more information visit www.MakeWeightLossLast.com and www.EnlightenedDiet.com

About the Authors

Deborah Kesten, MPH, is an international nutrition researcher and educator, with a specialty in preventing and reversing obesity and heart disease. She was the nutritionist on Dr. Dean Ornish?s first clinical trial for reversing heart disease through lifestyle changes, and co-principal investigator on innovative research about eating styles that lead to overeating, overweight, and obesity, the results of which were published in Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing. With more than three hundred published nutrition and health articles, she is also the award-winning author of Feeding the Body, Nourishing the Soul.

Larry Scherwitz, PhD, is an international research scientist who has specialized in mind-body research and lifestyle medicine and their link to preventing and reversing heart disease and obesity. He has extensive experience initiating and directing comprehensive, sustainable, lifestyle-change programs with heart patients and their families includes directing seven Lifestyle programs (four in the United States, three in Europe). Dr. Scherwitz?s research?including his ground-breaking discovery linking self-involvement to risk of heart attack and death from heart attack?has been published in a numerous medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, and Psychosomatic Medicine. He has also been director of research and co-principal investigator with Dean Ornish, MD, on his heart disease reversal research.

Source: http://skyyogastudio.com/2012/08/30/make-weightloss-last-meditation-can-help-skyyogastudio-com/

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SAfrica justice minister questions court action

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? South Africa's justice minister is demanding the nation's top prosecutor explain a decision to charge 270 miners with the murders and attempted murders of 112 striking co-workers shot by the police.

The development indicates a split in government over whether to shift the blame for the shootings from the police to the miners. The Aug. 16 shootings that killed 34 and wounded 78 near a platinum mine were the worst display of state violence since apartheid ended in 1994.

The National Prosecuting Authority's decision to charge them under an apartheid-era law leaves the government open to accusations it is acting like the brutal white rulers.

Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said the decision "has induced a sense of shock, panic and confusion," leading him to seek clarity from the prosecutor.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/safrica-justice-minister-questions-court-action-160212511--finance.html

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Fall Movie Preview: 'Hunger Games' Edition

With a whole year until 'Catching Fire' blazes into theaters, we look at the cast's other upcoming projects.
By Amy Wilkinson

Jennifer Lawrence in "The House at the End of the Street"
Photo: Relativity Media

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1692963/hunger-games-jennifer-lawrence-josh-hutcherson.jhtml

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Fears in Taiwan over downside of education boom

When Hsu Chung-hsin went to university three decades ago he became part of a small elite in Taiwan. Now virtually everyone can enter higher education. That, he thinks, is deplorable.

"It's become so easy. As long as you're willing to pay the tuition, you can go to university. That's no good," said Hsu, a legislator with a PhD in law from Cambridge.

"It doesn't influence the top universities. It's the low-end universities that are affected. Their quality is low. The teaching is not so serious and the students are not so hard-working."

Declining birth rates and an explosion in the number of universities -- there are more than 160 for a population of 23 million -- mean the vast majority of high school students gain entry to higher education.

Taiwan had a total of 1.35 million university students at the end of June 2012, according to Ministry of Education figures.

But the boom has serious downsides for Taiwan -- with a polarised system resulting in many people receiving a sub-standard education that does not meet the overall needs of the economy.

The standard university entrance exam -- once a dreaded rite of passage -- has become little more than a formality. In 2011, the latest year for which figures are available, 90.4 percent of applicants gained admission.

That compares starkly with 1975, when just over a quarter of people made it past the exams, ensuring a Darwinian struggle for survival where the cream rose to the top.

Now the pressure is off and operators of the island's cramming schools preparing teenagers for the entrance exam report a relaxed atmosphere in their classrooms.

It means the archetypal hardcore Taiwanese high school student who burned the midnight oil in an effort to secure perfect grades is probably already in a minority.

"Some high school students take it really easy. If you just want to make it to university, any university, you'll be fine no matter what," said Abby Yao, a 24-year-old psychology student at Fu Jen Catholic University.

"It's totally different from our parents' generation. Back then it was, like, one in four who could get into university."

Kuo Wen-chung, a senior manager with the Yu Da Education Institution, a popular cramming school, agrees that youngsters now take it easier.

"Definitely the students are less competitive than earlier generations, even though their parents have lavished more money on them," he said.

There are still people who study as hard as ever. They are the ones striving to make it into the top universities, which educate roughly one third of the student body.

But the other two-thirds risk ending up on the wrong side of an increasingly polarised education system, with the good, mostly state-run, universities on one hand and the not-so-good. mostly private, ones on the other.

Many people enter university even though it might not be in their own long-term interests, according to Kenneth Lin, an economist at National Chung Cheng University.

"The private universities just take the ones with low exam scores, because if they don't have enough students, they'll go bankrupt," said Lin.

"But the students face poor job opportunities when they leave, and in fact they would be better off going to a vocational school and then getting a job in manufacturing."

According to legislator Hsu, from the small opposition party Taiwan Solidarity Union, a university system divided into two distinct tiers is the opposite of what Taiwan needs right now.

Taiwan should give more people a vocational education, as it did in the early post-war years, he said.

"Although they had no degree, they had a special expertise, whether it was as a mechanic or an architect," he said.

"That was the basis for Taiwan's economic miracle from the 1960s to the 1990s. It provided a sufficient labour force for our industry."

Now the educational system does not necessarily produce the people the economy needs, and as a result Taiwan is in the paradoxical situation that it struggles with unemployment at the same time as industry cannot find workers.

Taiwan's jobless rate hit 4.31 percent at the end of July. The non-agricultural sector had an unmet demand of 202,000 workers in February, according to the most recent figures.

The island needs to take a U-turn, Hsu argued. Part of the reason for the plethora of universities is that many are upgraded vocational colleges, and he believes the process needs to be reversed.

But turning them back into institutions that produce highly skilled workers will not be easy in a society obsessed with education.

"The parents are the major difficulty. We have to persuade them not to hope that everyone of their children can become a lawyer or a doctor," Hsu said.

"In fact, carpenters and butchers with special skills may end up having better lives. And anyway, not everyone in a society can become president. Only one."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fears-taiwan-over-downside-education-boom-144704965.html

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Video: When Will Gulf Coast Refineries Open?

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/48839783/

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Glimpses of South Pasadena: South Pasadena Family Tree

Ever wonder about the history of the majestic Moreton Bay fig tree outside the South Pasadena Public Library? It certainly seems primordial -- like a remnant of our earth's distant past. Little Bit once said that she thought the tree surely must have been around when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Even though I could imagine generations of pterodactyls making nests in that beautiful tree, I knew it wasn't that ancient. But I was genuinely surprised when it was revealed last year that the tree is barely 100 years old.

For years, nobody knew the story behind the beloved tree. I've heard all kinds of rumors, though. One guy told me it had been a sacred worship spot for the Gabriolino/Tongva tribes. I always liked that idea, and could imagine remnants of pottery resting just underneath those gnarled roots.

But that guy was wrong.

I also heard that it was the tree chosen to gather and declare the incorporation of South Pasadena as an independent city. I liked that story, too. Can't you just see a bunch of Victorians celebrating their new town at the dawn of the 20th Century beneath those branches?

Nope. That story is completely wrong, too.

As it turns out, lifetime South Pasadena resident Bill Kloezeman cleared up the mystery last year. The tree was planted in 1930 by Bill's father Willem Garret Andries Kloezeman (also known as Bill) when South Pasadena's Carnegie Library was being moved from Diamond Street to the center of town. City Librarian Steve Fjeldsted wrote about it on the library website:
"Many years ago while driving around town, the elder Bill Kloezeman used to tell his son about all the work he?d done around town, including his planting of the Moreton Bay Fig. Another well-known project of Kloezeman was the annual placement of a lighted star on the top of the water storage tower atop Bilicke Hill in the Altos de Monterey.

At the time of the planting the Moreton Bay Fig was a young potted tree and about 6 inches in diameter. When he planted it, the senior Kloezeman was working for the City?s Street Department. Bill (Sr.) worked for the City of South Pasadena from 1926 until he retired in 1972, a remarkable stretch of more than 45 years. While working for the Street Department in the 20?s and 30?s, Kloezeman planted many other large trees in town that are still around as well. Later he also worked for the Fire Department in the 40?s and the Water Department in the 50?s, 60?s, and early 70?s, until he retired as a Water Service Foreman on January 15, 1972. Willem ?Bill? Kloezeman passed away on September 7, 1981."

It might not have a history of pterodactyls, tribal rituals or city incorporation, but who cares? At merely 100 years young, that just means our beautiful fig tree will be around even longer for us to make more memories, and maybe even come up with a few more mysterious stories about it.

Source: http://southpasadena.blogspot.com/2012/08/south-pasadena-family-tree.html

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What Makes a Successful corporate Brand Image? | Szczecin miasto ...

business branding is a common feature in the corporate world. It entails the custom use of the name of a business as a brand name. This is common apply the world over and its use necessitates the increase of the value and business brand fairness. When done consistently there is evidence in the improve of profits as well as brand loyalty.

Competition in the corporate world is very intense, saturated as well as very competitive. remaining out and saying ahead of the competition is what each business body strives to obtain. However, this is not achievable of the corporate body does not have a brand image to distinguish it from its competitors and make is clientele easily identify with them. With branding, a corporate is able to remain out in the midst of a crowd of other corporate bodies.

With corporation branding, value and added benefits of the corporate? products are well brought out. The clients are able to see what they will get form the products offered. Clients view corporate as stable, trustworthy and full of value Thus necessitating them to acquire their products, as opposed to those offered by particular person sales people. For little businesses, branding helps create a name, public consciousness and recognition especially if they are working hand in hand with the large corporations.
every corporate body should have branding as part of their marketing and advertising strategy. Any business is as good as its promoting vigor. taking into consideration the fact that we are in a constantly changing technological world, these techniques should be adaptable and fluid to fit in with the times. They should be relevant to the time and target audience that is specific. business branding is executed via promoting and advertising. Other innovative ways have also been adopted like the use of the internet and List retailers. The most critical point here is to find the best road suitable for the business and one that will produce the Largest results by reaching the highest number of clientele. An effective corporate branding image should have below factors:

1) Used efficiently
It should be used to enhance the business image by including value to it. It should be monitored closely to make certain that it fits within the desired image and develop the desired results.

2) attention Grabbing & Memorable
It should be eye catchy and easy to bear in mind. Brief, beautiful and one that remains in the consumers mind. It can be in the form of logos, adverts or even slogans. One of the best ways of grabbing consideration is with the use of colors that are easy and attractive to the eye and use catchy short key phrases.

3) simple
Brief, to the point and easy to understand leaving an imprinted mental image of the message. In most instances, these are messages that consumers will read as they engage in their day-to-day activities. It need not be difficult to decipher or comprehend because nobody will show interest in it.

4) Consistent
If the firm body decides to use more than one advertising and industrying and advertising manner, the message relayed will be consistent on all platforms used. This enables easy identification of the corporate image irrespective of the place it is used.

A corporation success lies in the ability to marketplace and advertise by itself through an effective and relevant corporation branding image. To realize the desired results it needs to be consistent, simple, desirable, effective, eye catchy and memorable

Living Blueprint brings your brand to life through the integration of beautiful design, rich content, and engaging technology. We explore your brand, develop a collection of fact-based brand assets, and strategically leverage them through systematic coordination of your website, communication strategy, advertising / PR campaigns, social media, online video channels, etc.

Source: http://szczecin.ancients.pl/what-makes-a-successful-corporate-brand-image/

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Philips provides energy-efficient light bulbs to sports clubs

Philips is providing energy-efficient light bulbs for sports clubs across New Zealand to help them improve their environmental footprint and save money for sports, as part of the LiteClub initiative.

As a world leader in energy-efficient lighting, Philips is supporting LiteClub, which is part of Project Litefoot - a charitable trust championed by seven top sports people who are inspiring New Zealanders to be environmental champions. Conrad Smith, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, Michael Campbell, Barbara Kendall, Daniel Kareopa and Brendon McCullum have been activating community sports clubs to follow their lead by measuring and reducing their environmental impact.

LiteClub involves a dedicated team who visit community sports clubs to install free energy-saving products (lighting, tap aerators and insulation). An eco-design advisor also assesses the club in detail and LiteClub produce an Environmental Impact Report which sets out a range of recommendations to reduce further impact. LiteClub will help implement the additional changes, if the club wishes.

For many sports clubs, a simple switch in lighting can result in large savings on their power bill. For example, a Philips Tornado CFLi light bulb uses only 20W of power, so replacing a 100W incandescent bulb with one, will save around $20 per bulb per year according the the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). Philips? Tornado lightbulbs can also last up to eight times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.

"Philips is pleased to support LiteClub as an effective new way of helping communities improve their environmental footprint, and save on energy costs," says David Procter of Philips Lighting.

To date 127 clubs have been transformed by LiteClub and collectively they have saved more than 2 million kWhs of electricity - which equates to a saving of over $590,000 in energy costs - as a result of the lighting, tap aerators and insulation that have been installed.

"LiteClub runs promotions in club newsletters which encourage club members and their families to make the same positive changes at home, and also create fundraising opportunities for clubs," says Hamish Reid, Co-Founder, Project Litefoot.

Source: http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/philips-provides-energy-efficient-light-bulbs-sports-clubs/5/133430

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An OutBreak

One simple day in New York there was an outbreak in Kidnapping..Which was odd there's not that much kidnapping in one week...somethings going on but what?

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This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?An OutBreak?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

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This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "An OutBreak"

You may edit this first post as you see fit.

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I'm going to reserve a female Charrie who are the other FCs could one be Taylor swift? Sorry ignore me I'm getting carried away

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UBC researchers seek to engage students in STEM careers with science outreach toolkit

Public release date: 30-Aug-2012
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Contact: Joanne Fox, MSL, UBC
joanne@msl.ubc.ca
604-220-7890
University of British Columbia

Outreach programs that offer a taste of real-world science and pair secondary students with enthusiastic young researchers are key to promoting careers in science and technology, according to University of British Columbia researchers.

In a paper published this week in PLoS Computational Biology, UBC researchers document their work on the Genomics Field Trip Program hosted at the Michael Smith Laboratories (MSL). Joanne Fox, Jennifer McQueen and Jody Wright outline the benefits of research-based field trips, offering a blueprint for designing science outreach programs.

"Genomics is important because students will deal with challenging questions and they need to be informed and science-literate," says Fox, a faculty member at the Michael Smith Laboratories.. "For example, they may have their personal genome sequence and they may have to decide who has access to that information."

The Genomics Field Trip program encourages exploration of the sciences through a full day genomics experience which takes place at the MSL laboratories. Program instructors are typically UBC graduate students who benefit from the experience by developing their ability to communicate scientific ideas to the general public. They also develop skills in lesson design and delivery, allowing them to enhance their instructional skills, something that does not always occur in teaching assistantship positions.

Fox hopes the success of the Genomics Field Trip Program will inspire other institutions to develop similar programs. The recommendations included in her paper can be used as a blueprint for science programs and an online genomics toolkit provides valuable information for lesson plans.

"This type of program helps graduate students remember why science is so exciting, and in turn inspires the next generation of scientists," Fox explains.

###
The Genomics Field Trip Program has received funding from the PromoScience Program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

To access the Genomics Field Trip toolkit or to book a field trip, click here: http://www.bioteach.ubc.ca/genetics-fieldtrips/genomics-field-trips-for-secondary-students-grade-9-resource-page/

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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.

UBC researchers seek to engage students in STEM careers with science outreach toolkit Public release date: 30-Aug-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joanne Fox, MSL, UBC
joanne@msl.ubc.ca
604-220-7890
University of British Columbia

Outreach programs that offer a taste of real-world science and pair secondary students with enthusiastic young researchers are key to promoting careers in science and technology, according to University of British Columbia researchers.

In a paper published this week in PLoS Computational Biology, UBC researchers document their work on the Genomics Field Trip Program hosted at the Michael Smith Laboratories (MSL). Joanne Fox, Jennifer McQueen and Jody Wright outline the benefits of research-based field trips, offering a blueprint for designing science outreach programs.

"Genomics is important because students will deal with challenging questions and they need to be informed and science-literate," says Fox, a faculty member at the Michael Smith Laboratories.. "For example, they may have their personal genome sequence and they may have to decide who has access to that information."

The Genomics Field Trip program encourages exploration of the sciences through a full day genomics experience which takes place at the MSL laboratories. Program instructors are typically UBC graduate students who benefit from the experience by developing their ability to communicate scientific ideas to the general public. They also develop skills in lesson design and delivery, allowing them to enhance their instructional skills, something that does not always occur in teaching assistantship positions.

Fox hopes the success of the Genomics Field Trip Program will inspire other institutions to develop similar programs. The recommendations included in her paper can be used as a blueprint for science programs and an online genomics toolkit provides valuable information for lesson plans.

"This type of program helps graduate students remember why science is so exciting, and in turn inspires the next generation of scientists," Fox explains.

###
The Genomics Field Trip Program has received funding from the PromoScience Program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

To access the Genomics Field Trip toolkit or to book a field trip, click here: http://www.bioteach.ubc.ca/genetics-fieldtrips/genomics-field-trips-for-secondary-students-grade-9-resource-page/

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-08/uobc-urs082812.php
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The Fire Next Time

A tanker airplane drops fire retardant on a wildfire on Sept. 1, 2011 in Graford, Texas

Photograph by Tom Pennington/Getty Images.

Earlier this summer, the deputy chief of state and private forestry, James E. Hubbard, sent out a memo laying guidelines for the remainder of wildfire season. His message: Effective immediately, regional, area, and station directors should adopt the default position of ?full containment? when approaching all wildfires.

Full containment means going all-out to put a blaze out as soon as possible?an approach that to most of us would seem pretty sensible. But it actually goes against decades of research that suggest a more balanced approach: allowing some wildfires to take their natural course, playing a cleansing role in the forest ecosystems, and clearing out some forms of underbrush and other material (called fuel)?all of which helps reduce the size of wildfires in the future.

Hubbard?s order covered only this season and, he says, does not represent a permanent policy shift. But while many foresters understand the reasoning behind the deputy chief?s request for a change?more on that in a minute?it has some of them worried. Why? Because even if they return to standard procedure next year, the immediate fix puts the long-term solution for managing the country?s forests?and fires?in serious jeopardy and could actually make things much worse.

With a record-breaking season of heat and drought has come an unprecedented season of wildfires. Recently, a Washington state blaze burned more than 20,000 acres of national forest and destroyed 60 homes, forcing 400 families to evacuate and prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency. On the national scale, that?s just a tiny blip. According to the Interagency Fire Center, 31 large fires are currently active, while 7 million acres have already burned across the country this season?well above the 10-year average and charring the previous record set in 2006.

And that means our resources for fighting them?the aviation fleets, the smoke jumpers, and the budgets that pay for it all?are stretched thin. You can measure the cost in dead 20-year-old firefighters in Idaho, or tens of millions of dollars in charred homes and getting boots on the ground. Or you can look at giant blob smoke map Julia Whitty has posted over at Mother Jones. But that high price is why Hubbard wants local forest services to reverse battle tactics and pursue aggressive suppression, even in the remote wilderness. The agency?s $984-million budget for this year has already been busted, with cost projections of $1.4 billion.

Predictive Services?the office that uses a huge amount of recorded data to make short- and long-term predictions about wildfires?may have taken stock of the situation and encouraged Hubbard?s order to fight all fires aggressively. But as with so many short-term solutions in the face of eminent threat, the long view is being set aside, and that?s the scary part.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=691938fec96a4456c72db0240578b70e

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Defiant Iran doubles capacity at key nuclear site

Iran has doubled its capacity at an underground nuclear facility, a UN atomic agency report showed Thursday, in spite of UN Security Council resolutions, sanctions and talk of Israeli military action.

The International Atomic Energy Agency also said that its ability to inspect the Parchin military base where it suspects Iran did nuclear weapons research in the past had been "significantly hampered" by a suspected clean-up.

The IAEA said it was still "unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities."

The restricted report, circulated to IAEA member states and seen by AFP, showed that Iran now has around 2,000 uranium-enrichment centrifuges installed, compared with around 1,000 in May, at Fordo.

Enriched uranium can be used for peaceful purposes but also, at highly concentrated purities, for nuclear weapons, and multiple UN Security Council resolutions have called on Iran to suspend enrichment.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran on Thursday that his country "is never seeking nuclear weapons" and would "never give up the right to peaceful nuclear energy."

Fordo is dug into a mountain near the holy city of Qom and mostly enriches to 20 percent purities, technically speaking a short hop from the 90-percent needed in a nuclear weapon.

The number of centrifuges operating remained around 700, however, and monthly production is unchanged at around 15 kilos of 20-percent uranium per month. It is also unclear whether the newly installed machines will also enrich to 20 percent.

A senior official familiar with the IAEA investigation said on condition of anonymity that it was unclear whether technical problems were behind no more centrifuges being operational.

But Mark Fitzpatrick, from the International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank in London, saw an Iranian attempt to strengthen its negotiating position in currently stalled talks with world powers.

"It doesn't have a current need to increase the production rates but it does want to have the capacity in place to do so in the future," he told AFP.

Iran's stated reason for enriching to 20 percent is for fuel for a medical research reactor in Tehran, but the official said that it "now has already produced enough material for at least 10 years of operation."

The IAEA also wants Iran to address what it believes is evidence that until 2003, and possibly since, Tehran had a structured programme of research into nuclear weapons.

Iran has flatly rejected these claims, set out in a major IAEA report last November, and says it will only give the agency the desired access as part of a broader agreement governing its future relations with the watchdog.

In particular the IAEA wants to be able to visit the Parchin military base near Tehran, where it believes Iran conducted explosives tests for nuclear warhead designs.

Western nations accuse Tehran of "sanitising" the site to remove evidence and in the new report the IAEA said Iranian activities "will significantly hamper the Agency's ability to conduct effective verification."

Citing satellite images, these included the demolition of certain buildings, "significant ground scraping and landscaping" over an extensive area and the "shrouding" of buildings, the IAEA said.

The latest in a series of meetings aimed at persuading Iran to give the IAEA access to documents, scientists and sites involved in this alleged drive to get the bomb failed last Friday.

A separate, higher-level renewed diplomatic push in talks between Iran and the "P5+1" five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the US, China, Russia, France and Britain -- plus Germany appears stuck, meanwhile.

The P5+1 chief negotiator, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, will talk with Iranian counterpart Saeed Jalili "in the coming days," Ashton's spokesman said Thursday. He did not say whether they would meet in person.

"The window of opportunity to resolve this remains open ... but it will not remain open indefinitely," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in Washington on Thursday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-sanitized-parchin-iaea-154931382.html

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Possible therapy for tamoxifen resistant breast cancer identified

Public release date: 30-Aug-2012
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Darrell E. Ward
Darrell.Ward@osumc.edu
614-293-3737
Ohio State University Medical Center

The hormone estrogen stimulates the growth of breast cancers that are estrogen-receptor positive, the most common form of breast cancer.
The drug tamoxifen blocks this estrogen effect and prolongs the lives of, and helps to cure, patients with estrogen-sensitive breast cancer.
About 30 percent of these patients have tumors that are resistant to tamoxifen.
This study shows how these resistant tumors survive and grow, and it identifies an experimental agent that targets these breast cancers.

COLUMBUS, Ohio A study by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC James) has discovered how tamoxifen-resistant breast-cancer cells grow and proliferate. It also suggests that an experimental agent might offer a novel targeted therapy for tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer.
Like a second door that opens after the first door closes, a signaling pathway called hedgehog (Hhg) can promote the growth of breast-cancer cells after tamoxifen shuts down the pathway activated by the hormone estrogen. A second signaling pathway, called PI3K/AKT, is also involved.
Activation of the Hhg pathway renders tamoxifen treatment ineffective and enables the tumor to resume its growth and progression. As part of the study, the researchers analyzed over 300 human tumors and found that the tumors with an activated Hhg pathway had a worse prognosis.
Finally, the researchers showed that an experimental drug called vismodegib, which blocks the Hhg pathway, inhibits the growth of tamoxifen-resistant human breast tumors in an animal model. The drug is in clinical trials testing for other types of cancer.
Currently, chemotherapy is used to treat hormone-resistant breast cancers, but this is associated with significant side effects. This study has identified targeted therapies that could be an alternative to chemotherapy for these resistant tumors.
The study is published in the journal Cancer Research.
"Our findings suggest that we can target this pathway in patients with estrogen-receptor breast cancers who have failed tamoxifen therapy," says first author Dr. Bhuvaneswari Ramaswamy, a medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer at the OSUCCC James.
"We describe a link between the hedgehog signaling pathway, which promotes tamoxifen resistance and the PI3K/AKT pathway," says principal investigator Sarmila Majumder, research assistant professor in molecular and cellular biochemistry at the OSUCCC James. "Targeting the hedgehog pathway alone or in combination with the PI3K/AKT pathway could be a novel therapeutic option for treating tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer."
Ramaswamy, an assistant professor of internal medicine at Ohio State, emphasizes that novel options are needed for these patients.
"A combined targeted therapy using both hedgehog and PI3K inhibitors could lead to a novel treatment for endocrine-resistant tumors in the future without use of chemotherapy," says Ramaswamy. "And these agents we have identified are all in clinical development for other kinds of cancer."
Approximately 230,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected in the United States in 2012, and almost 40,000 Americans will die from the disease. More than two-thirds of breast cancer cases show high levels of the estrogen receptor (ER). Doctors use the drug tamoxifen to treat these ER-positive tumors, and Ramaswamy notes that the drug has improved the disease-free survival of people with ER-positive breast cancer by 50 percent.
"But 30 to 40 percent of patients taking tamoxifen become resistant to it after about five years," she says. Currently, there are very limited options for these patients and most end up receiving chemotherapy.
Key findings for this study include:
Tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer depends on the Hhg pathway for cell growth;
The PI3K/AKT pathway protects key Hhg signaling proteins from degradation, which promotes activation of the Hhg pathway.
Analysis of 315 invasive breast cancers showed that high levels of the protein GLI1, an important Hhg marker, was correlated with poorer disease-free survival and overall survival.

"Our next step is to organize a clinical trial to evaluate vismodegib in patients with tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer," Ramaswamy says.
###

Funding from the NIH/National Cancer Institute (grants CA137567 and CA133250) and a Pelotonia Idea grant supported this research. Other Ohio State researchers involved in this study were Yuanzhi Lu, Kun-yu Teng, Gerard Nuovo, Xiaobai Li and Charles L. Shapiro.
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute strives to create a cancer-free world by integrating scientific research with excellence in education and patient-centered care, a strategy that leads to better methods of prevention, detection and treatment. Ohio State is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers and one of only seven centers funded by the NCI to conduct both phase I and phase II clinical trials. The NCI recently rated Ohio State's cancer program as "exceptional," the highest rating given by NCI survey teams. As the cancer program's 210-bed adult patient-care component, The James is a "Top Hospital" as named by the Leapfrog Group and one of the top cancer hospitals in the nation as ranked by U.S.News & World Report.

[ | 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.

Possible therapy for tamoxifen resistant breast cancer identified Public release date: 30-Aug-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Darrell E. Ward
Darrell.Ward@osumc.edu
614-293-3737
Ohio State University Medical Center

The hormone estrogen stimulates the growth of breast cancers that are estrogen-receptor positive, the most common form of breast cancer.
The drug tamoxifen blocks this estrogen effect and prolongs the lives of, and helps to cure, patients with estrogen-sensitive breast cancer.
About 30 percent of these patients have tumors that are resistant to tamoxifen.
This study shows how these resistant tumors survive and grow, and it identifies an experimental agent that targets these breast cancers.

COLUMBUS, Ohio A study by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC James) has discovered how tamoxifen-resistant breast-cancer cells grow and proliferate. It also suggests that an experimental agent might offer a novel targeted therapy for tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer.
Like a second door that opens after the first door closes, a signaling pathway called hedgehog (Hhg) can promote the growth of breast-cancer cells after tamoxifen shuts down the pathway activated by the hormone estrogen. A second signaling pathway, called PI3K/AKT, is also involved.
Activation of the Hhg pathway renders tamoxifen treatment ineffective and enables the tumor to resume its growth and progression. As part of the study, the researchers analyzed over 300 human tumors and found that the tumors with an activated Hhg pathway had a worse prognosis.
Finally, the researchers showed that an experimental drug called vismodegib, which blocks the Hhg pathway, inhibits the growth of tamoxifen-resistant human breast tumors in an animal model. The drug is in clinical trials testing for other types of cancer.
Currently, chemotherapy is used to treat hormone-resistant breast cancers, but this is associated with significant side effects. This study has identified targeted therapies that could be an alternative to chemotherapy for these resistant tumors.
The study is published in the journal Cancer Research.
"Our findings suggest that we can target this pathway in patients with estrogen-receptor breast cancers who have failed tamoxifen therapy," says first author Dr. Bhuvaneswari Ramaswamy, a medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer at the OSUCCC James.
"We describe a link between the hedgehog signaling pathway, which promotes tamoxifen resistance and the PI3K/AKT pathway," says principal investigator Sarmila Majumder, research assistant professor in molecular and cellular biochemistry at the OSUCCC James. "Targeting the hedgehog pathway alone or in combination with the PI3K/AKT pathway could be a novel therapeutic option for treating tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer."
Ramaswamy, an assistant professor of internal medicine at Ohio State, emphasizes that novel options are needed for these patients.
"A combined targeted therapy using both hedgehog and PI3K inhibitors could lead to a novel treatment for endocrine-resistant tumors in the future without use of chemotherapy," says Ramaswamy. "And these agents we have identified are all in clinical development for other kinds of cancer."
Approximately 230,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected in the United States in 2012, and almost 40,000 Americans will die from the disease. More than two-thirds of breast cancer cases show high levels of the estrogen receptor (ER). Doctors use the drug tamoxifen to treat these ER-positive tumors, and Ramaswamy notes that the drug has improved the disease-free survival of people with ER-positive breast cancer by 50 percent.
"But 30 to 40 percent of patients taking tamoxifen become resistant to it after about five years," she says. Currently, there are very limited options for these patients and most end up receiving chemotherapy.
Key findings for this study include:
Tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer depends on the Hhg pathway for cell growth;
The PI3K/AKT pathway protects key Hhg signaling proteins from degradation, which promotes activation of the Hhg pathway.
Analysis of 315 invasive breast cancers showed that high levels of the protein GLI1, an important Hhg marker, was correlated with poorer disease-free survival and overall survival.

"Our next step is to organize a clinical trial to evaluate vismodegib in patients with tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer," Ramaswamy says.
###

Funding from the NIH/National Cancer Institute (grants CA137567 and CA133250) and a Pelotonia Idea grant supported this research. Other Ohio State researchers involved in this study were Yuanzhi Lu, Kun-yu Teng, Gerard Nuovo, Xiaobai Li and Charles L. Shapiro.
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute strives to create a cancer-free world by integrating scientific research with excellence in education and patient-centered care, a strategy that leads to better methods of prevention, detection and treatment. Ohio State is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers and one of only seven centers funded by the NCI to conduct both phase I and phase II clinical trials. The NCI recently rated Ohio State's cancer program as "exceptional," the highest rating given by NCI survey teams. As the cancer program's 210-bed adult patient-care component, The James is a "Top Hospital" as named by the Leapfrog Group and one of the top cancer hospitals in the nation as ranked by U.S.News & World Report.

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-08/osum-ptf083012.php
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Handyman Connection Presents the Five Steps of Home Remodeling

CINCINNATI, OH - (Marketwire - Aug 29, 2012) - Imagine being halfway through your kitchen remodel only to realize the money you budgeted isn't enough to cover completing the project. This is a perfect example of why proper home remodeling planning is so important. Handyman Connection, the largest network of home repair and remodeling contractors in North America, offers five steps everyone should follow before the remodeling process takes place. Before you create the home of your dreams, make sure to: draw a plan, conduct research, create a budget, gather help and get your permits.

Draw a plan to define a clear idea of what you want the end result to look like. Write down any and all thoughts you have in regards to the desired room design. Draw where you think furniture pieces may go; describe how certain elements will be incorporated. The plan can change throughout the remodeling process, but having that visual at the start will help guide the project as things progress. If you are having difficulty formulating a remodeling plan, call a professional handyman or designer to help with direction and give you more ideas.

Research the various elements involved in your plan. Oftentimes, other people have carried out the same projects themselves and can offer valuable advice. Save time by learning from others' experiences, rather than by your own trial and error. If you find your kitchen remodeling, for example, is beyond your capabilities, a skilled handyman may offer expertise that can enhance your plan beyond your expectations. Once you have done your research, you will have a better idea of how much money and time are required to complete the plan.

Create a budget that you are comfortable devoting to your project. Before you begin purchasing materials and securing labor, you need to set a limit to ensure that spending does not get out of control. At this point, your plan may need alterations to fit within your budget restraints. Proper budgeting ensures your plan can be carried out to completion. In order to complete the kitchen remodeling, however, you will most likely need some professional help.

Gather help from experienced craftsmen to ensure your success. While some handy homeowners may opt to remodel alone, having others help will make the process a smoother experience. In some cases, that can be as simple as collecting friends and family to share the labor. Unfortunately, this type of help does not always give you the professional results you hope to achieve. Handyman services, on the other hand, do just that. With the addition of professional experience and skills, a handyman can give your home remodeling project the expertise you desire.

Get the appropriate permits required by your local government to make sure your project complies with local building codes. Make sure to apply at your local town office for any necessary permits involved in your remodeling project. If you are unsure of how to go about this or which permits you require, handyman services can be extremely helpful. These licensed handyman professionals certify that you are meeting the city's standards and alleviate some of the stressed involved with detailed paperwork.

By following these five steps of proper home remodeling planning, you can confidently work on remodeling without running out of your resources mid-project. That kitchen project that you only got halfway through can now be finished because you spent the time planning all the necessary components beforehand. If you find your remodeling project is beyond your set of skills, consider utilizing a professional handyman. In doing so, you can make sure you get the professional results you want without the struggle of working on the entire home remodel yourself.

About Handyman Connection

In 1993, Handyman Connection (www.handymanconnection.com) became the first home improvement and repairs firm to offer franchises. The company specializes in small to medium home improvements, repairs and remodeling. Handyman Connection has franchises throughout North America, each locally owned and operated and backed by the corporate franchisor. Handyman Connection is a subsidiary of FS Brands a leader and innovator in franchising and in property management. FS Brands is a subsidiary of FirstService Corporation, a globally diversified leader in real estate services. For more information, see www.firstservice.com.

###

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Source: http://www.franchising.com/news/20120829_handyman_connection_presents_the_five_steps_of_hom.html

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Britain, France see little hope for Syria safe zones

Major obstacles confront any bid to set up safe zones for refugees fleeing Syria's civil war, the foreign ministers of France and Britain warned Thursday, while insisting they would not rule out future action.

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague and France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius highlighted the military and diplomatic hurdles blocking special zones ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Syria's humanitarian crisis.

Turkey was expected to reaffirm its call for safe zones inside Syria at the ministerial meeting.

Hague told a joint press conference with Fabius there are "considerable difficulties" with the idea.

"We are excluding no option for the future. We do not know how this crisis will develop," he said.

"It is steadily getting worse. We are ruling nothing out, we have contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios," Hague added.

"But we also have to be clear that anything like a safe zone requires military intervention and that of course is something that has to be weighed very carefully."

Hague and Fabius said the UN Security Council -- bitterly divided over the 17-month-old Syria conflict -- would be unlikely to give its crucial agreement to any military operation to protect a safe zone.

Russia and China have vetoed three resolutions which could have led to economic sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad over the conflict and totally rejected any military intervention.

Fabius echoed Hague's message. He also said "large-scale" military resources had to be found to protect refugees but said the conflict was almost certain to worsen and "then we will have to look at the different solutions."

Turkey has said there are more than 80,000 Syrians in camps in its territory and it will not be able to cope when the number reaches 100,000.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday he was in talks with the United Nations on sheltering refugees inside Syria.

"We expect the United Nations to step in for the protection of refugees inside Syria and if possible housing them in camps there," Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency on Wednesday.

The United Nations says there are now 221,000 refugees registered in camps in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq which are all worried about security fallout from the influx.

Numbers fleeing Syria have grown in recent weeks as Assad's forces have stepped up their battle with opposition rebels. Syrian activists say more than 25,000 people have died in the conflict, while the United Nations puts the figure at almost 20,000.

France and Britain also announced new financial aid to UN efforts to help relief efforts inside Syria and in the camps in neighboring countries.

France will give five million euros ($6.2 million) on top of the 20 million euros already allocated. Britain will give an extra three million pounds ($4.75 million) on top of the 27.5 million pounds it has already contributed.

A UN appeal for $373 million for relief operations for Syria and refugee camps outside the country has raised barely $196 million.

The United Nations said fresh cash is urgently needed, and Fabius and Hague said other countries had to step up financial assistance.

"We call on other nations to increase their funding -- and on Security Council members to set a strong lead," Hague said.

Fabius said much of the new French money would go to "liberated areas" inside Syria which are now in opposition control.

The UN estimates there are 1.2 million displaced people sheltering in public buildings and many more sought refuge with family and friends to escape cities where Assad's forces are battling opposition rebels.

Some 2.5 million people have been affected by the conflict and a UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimate made in June said three million people are "food insecure".

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britain-france-see-little-hope-syria-safe-zones-192702249.html

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The Hands that Feed Us: Most food industry workers earn low or ...

by Elizabeth Grossman

What industry employs approximately 20 million Americans, or one out of five US private-sector workers, but whose median wage has workers taking home less than $20,000 a year? Clue: It?s the same industry in which it?s actually legal to pay $2.13 an hour, for workers who qualify as ?tipped? employees. Answer: The food service industry, which includes agricultural and farmworkers, food processing and slaughterhouse employees, as well as those working in food distribution, retail, restaurants, and other food service businesses.

In a survey for a report released earlier this summer, the Food Chain Workers Alliance ? a coalition of non-governmental organizations advocating on behalf of these workers ? found that 86 percent of the workers surveyed earned low or poverty wages, with many earning the bare federal minimum of about $15,080 a year. Only 17 percent of these workers receive health insurance through their employers, and 58 percent were without any healthcare coverage. Wages in this industry are so low that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers in the food service industry use food stamps at twice the rate of Americans employed elsewhere.

A large proportion of food industry workers, whether farm, slaughterhouse, food-processing or restaurant workers, also suffer from inadequate health and safety training and inadequate policies and/or practices regarding job-related illness and injury. Many also work extended hours that go beyond 40 and in some cases 60 hours a week. More than 40 percent of the workers surveyed worked for two or more employers each week. More than half the workers surveyed by the Food Chain Workers Alliance also reported picking, processing, selling, cooking, and serving food while sick, an average of at least three days per year. Almost two-thirds of these workers said they did this because they lacked paid sick days; 43 percent said they thought they?d lose their job if they stayed home.

In some segments of the food industry, piece-work is still common. One farm worker reported being paid $20 for each box filled with cucumbers ? but that $20 had to be split with the entire work team of 18 people. Workers in retail food distribution, including one Wal-Mart warehouse worker, also reported being paid by the piece ? often by number of boxes moved. Across the industry, workers reported inadequate lunch and break times and ethnic discrimination.

Wage theft is also common: More than one-third of the workers surveyed reported problems with being paid properly for the previous week, by not being paid for all hours worked, not receiving overtime payments, or not receiving their share of tips. The Restaurant Opportunities Center, part of the team that produced this new report, has been documenting these wage issues, as Liz Borkowski and Celeste Monforton have reported for The Pump Handle. Almost one-quarter of the workers in the Food Chain Workers Alliance survey said they were not paid the minimum wage. Payment problems are exacerbated throughout the food industry by the recent notable increase in use of temporary and part-time workers.

In 2010, more than 27 percent of all US jobs created were temporary, while staffing at employment agencies specializing in temp jobs accounted for 91 percent of the country?s non-farm job growth between 2009 and 2011. Agricultural jobs have traditionally been seasonal, but the current trend in temporary and part-time hiring also extends to food distribution warehouses and restaurants, particularly fast-food outlets, which in 2012 employed more than 4 million workers, up more than 100,000 since 2011.

Pushing for a higher minimum wage
A great many things need fixing to improve the working conditions and outlook for those in the food industry ? including for the many young people and children who are employed throughout the food production and retail supply chain. High on this list ? #1 for the Food Chain Workers Alliance ? is the need for a living wage, which the federal minimum clearly does not offer. A bill now under consideration by Congress would raise the federal minimum wage from its current $7.25/hour to $10/hour, tie future annual increases to the Consumer Price Index, and increase the federal minimum for tipped employees from $2.13 to $5.50 an hour. Its success, however, is uncertain without bipartisan support, which it currently lacks, and given business groups? ongoing opposition.

Across the country state Farm Bureaus have been opposing minimum wage increases, arguing that they would harm business and hurt job growth. The National Restaurant Association also firmly opposes any state or federal minimum wage increases, arguing that ?Wage mandates are an ineffective way to reduce poverty? and that they prevent hiring and cause staff and work-hour cutbacks. The American Enterprise Institute goes farther, saying that raising the minimum wage would increase poverty, fail to help the unemployed poor who lack jobs, and impact only the? ?tiny fraction? of people currently paid the minimum wage.

Yet a report just released by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center analyzing the state?s job growth over almost two decades shows that increases in the minimum wage have not impeded job growth. The report, which looked at wage and job patterns since 1995, found that while the state?s minimum wage increased six times during that period, ?employment growth in industry sectors with high concentrations of minimum wage workers has been more than total employment growth.?

Even during the 2007 to 2009 recession across the six New England states, ?states with a larger minimum wage increases actually had smaller drops in employment during this period,? according to the Massachusetts report. New Hampshire, which raised its minimum wage several times during these two years, had the smallest decline in employment of all New England states. Rhode Island, with no minimum wage increases during this time, saw New England?s largest drop in employment. The report acknowledges a variety of factors contributing to these statistics, but also finds that since the end of the most recent recession in 2009, there continues to be no evidence that increasing the minimum wage hinders job growth.

The Massachusetts report also cites academic studies that looked at relationship between minimum wage increases and employment in the restaurant industry ? including the fast-food industry ? and with regard to teen employment. Both found that increases in minimum wage had no significant effect on employment levels. Similarly, an analysis of small business hiring and minimum wage rates found that ?minimum wage increases are unlikely to have a negative economic impact on small businesses in the long term.?

When Congress reconvenes after Labor Day, it?s expected that the minimum wage will be on the agenda. The Food Chain Workers Alliance will be there to make their case.

Elizabeth Grossman is the author of?Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry,?High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health, and other books. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications including Scientific American, Salon, The Washington Post, The Nation, Mother Jones, Grist, and the Huffington Post. Chasing Molecules was chosen by Booklist as one of the Top 10 Science & Technology Books of 2009 and won a 2010 Gold Nautilus Award for investigative journalism.

Source: http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/08/29/the-hands-that-feed-us-most-food-industry-workers-earn-low-or-poverty-level-wages/

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Hands-on with the Samsung ATIV Smart PC (aka the Series 5 Slate)

Would a Series 5 Slate be just as sweet under any other name? We've already got hands-on with the ATIV Smart PC Pro (called the Series 7 Slate in the US) and now we're going to show you the wonder that is the ATIV Smart PC -- aka, the Series 5 Slate on this side of the Atlantic. And what can we say? It's a lot like the Series 7 we checked out, though this guy is of course a smidge thinner and lighter, given the fanless design and inclusion of an Atom-based Clover Trail processor instead of something in the Ivy Bridge family.

Another difference: that 11.6 inch display. It's still bright, of course, but the resolution is a lower 1,366 x 768, as opposed to the 1080p panel used in the Series 7 / Smart PC Pro. That caveat aside, the Series 5 / Smart PC is still pretty sexy, with that vibrant display and brushed metal back -- though, as mentioned in our hands-on with the dock, that beauty clashes a bit with the relative cheapness of the keyboard.

As you may have read, the two slates also have stylus slots, though the S Pen was nowhere in sight during our demo -- perhaps to keep it out of the hands of sneaky bloggers. In the meantime, we've got some hands-on photos, but we encourage you to refer back to our Series 7 / Smart PC Pro hands-on to compare the designs, and get a better feel for the custom apps Samsung has bundled.

Gallery: Samsung ATIV Smart PC tablet hands-on