When Sanjay Gupta, the Emmy Award-winning chief medical correspondent of CNN, was writing his first novel, Monday Mornings, which is now the basis for a new medical drama on TNT premiering February 4, he had something very much in his mind -- he wanted people to get a better sense of the relationship doctors have with their patients.
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If immigration reform is implemented, and newly documented workers start paying taxes, the money flowing into state coffers will increase, as will the demands on state social services.
Anais Arias-Aragon poses for pictures after receiving proof of U.S. citizenship during a ceremony in San Francisco, California. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that he believes it is possible to get an overhaul of the U.S. immigration system by the end of the year.
REUTERS/Robert Galbraith
EnlargeWith immigration reform now firmly on the agendas of both the Senate and White House, a key question is how to assess its possible impact on states, particularly in two of the most important areas, the labor market and fiscal policy.
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Who will be the most affected? While every state would feel some effect, the states with the most illegal immigrants are the most obvious to register the impacts of any changes to immigration law. California tops that list with nearly a quarter of the nation?s illegal immigrant population of roughly 11 million.
Ultimately the most significant political impact California would feel would be a slew of new Democratic voters, Steve Camarota, director of research at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, says with a laugh.
But while that may affect elections many years in the future, he says, the two places to watch for the more immediate impact of immigration reform are in fiscal policies and the labor market.
As the newly legal residents begin to pay taxes, they will eventually qualify for state health and welfare benefits, which will raise costs to the state. Beyond that, this same pool of workers ? 80 percent of whom do not have education beyond a high school level ? will compete directly with the native population of workers with similar education and skill levels for jobs that have demanded documented legal status.
?California already has a very low level of participation in the work force by this group between the ages of 18 and 29,? he says. He notes that in 2000, the native-born cohort of workers in that age group and with no more than a high school education was 64 percent. Last year, that figure dropped to 43 percent. ?This is below the national average of some 50 percent,? he says, adding that reforms would greatly increase the numbers of workers who can compete at that level.
?Now you will have many more people competing for low wage jobs such as the local security guard at an office building or a UPS delivery person,? he adds.
On the flip side, this influx of documented workers would fill tax coffers in many states, in particular the ones with large undocumented populations, Texas and Florida being the next largest after California, points out Ian Macdonald, co-chair of the global mobility and immigration practice at the law firm Littler Mendelson.
?This will have a direct impact on state funding for health care and education, as well as on certain industries such as construction, agriculture, hospitality, and others where unskilled workers are needed,? he says via e-mail.
New burdens of government paperwork to process applications for legal status are sure to cost current state budgets, while requirements for employers to screen applicants for that status may bring their own problems, he says. A question currently on the table is whether to make E-Verify, a digital screening tool, mandatory for employers to use on new hires only or on the entire workforce, notes Mr. Macdonald.
By having employers run both existing and new hires through this comprehensive database, many employers will likely find that many of their existing employees were in fact undocumented workers who had escaped detection, he says. This could be a hardship for a company experiencing a sudden drain on its employee base.
Some politicians support this, he notes, adding that US workers will no longer be competing against undocumented workers ?and good corporate citizens will no longer be competing against companies that build business models around undocumented cheap labor.?
?
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Electronics firm Philips is set to exit the home entertainment sector, selling its Audio, Visual, Multimedia and Accessories divisions to Funai Electrics of Japan for over??150m, plus licence fees.
The company now plans to focus on health and well-being.
Philips chief executive Frans van Houten commented:?"Today we announced that we have signed an agreement with Funai to transfer our Philips Audio, Video, Multimedia and Accessories businesses.
"This transaction will leverage Philips? strong brand, strength in innovation, and leadership position in these businesses, with Funai?s strong presence in America and Japan, and its supply and manufacturing expertise. I am confident the deal will give this business a great future, with continuity for our customers. We have taken an important step in transforming Philips into the leading technology company in health and well-being.
"While we have made significant progress in 2012, there is still much more to be done to unlock and deliver the full potential of Philips. Going forward, by executing on our Accelerate! program, we will continue to relentlessly drive operational excellence and invest in innovation and sales development to deliver profitability and growth.
"The challenging economic environment in 2012, notably in Europe and United States, has impacted our order book, and hence we expect our sales in 2013 to start slow and pick up in the second half of the year. We remain confident in our ability to further improve our operational and financial performance, enabling us to achieve our 2013 financial targets?.?
You can read more here.
Want to receive up-to-the-minute tech news straight to your inbox? Then click?here?to sign up for the completely free PCR Daily Digest and Newsflash email services. You can also follow PCR on?Twitter?and?Facebook.
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For the week of Jan. 14-20
1. AFC Championship: Baltimore vs. New England, CBS, 47.71 million.
2. "AFC Championship Post-Game," CBS, 25.95 million.
3. "NCIS," CBS, 22.86 million.
4. "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 17.93 million.
5. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 17.64 million.
6. "American idol" (Thursday), Fox, 16.23 million.
7. "Hawaii Five-0" (Sunday), CBS, 13.03 million.
8. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 12.64 million.
9. "2 Broke Girls," CBS, 12.45 million.
10. "The Big Bang Theory" (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), CBS, 11.7 million.
Source: http://www.today.com/id/3032450/ns/today-entertainment/
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Economic analysis finds penicillin, not "the pill," may have launched the sexual revolution
Tuesday, January 29, 2013PThe rise in risky, non-traditional sexual relations that marked the swinging '60s actually began as much as a decade earlier, during the conformist '50s, suggests an analysis recently published by the Archives of Sexual Behavior.
"It's a common assumption that the sexual revolution began with the permissive attitudes of the 1960s and the development of contraceptives like the birth control pill," notes Emory University economist Andrew Francis, who conducted the analysis. "The evidence, however, strongly indicates that the widespread use of penicillin, leading to a rapid decline in syphilis during the 1950s, is what launched the modern sexual era."
As penicillin drove down the cost of having risky sex, the population started having more of it, Francis says, comparing the phenomena to the economic law of demand: When the cost of a good falls, people buy more of the good.
"People don't generally think of sexual behavior in economic terms," he says, "but it's important to do so because sexual behavior, just like other behaviors, responds to incentives."
Syphilis reached its peak in the United States in 1939, when it killed 20,000 people. "It was the AIDS of the late 1930s and early 1940s," Francis says. "Fear of catching syphilis and dying of it loomed large."
Penicillin was discovered in 1928, but it was not put into clinical use until 1941. As World War II escalated, and sexually transmitted diseases threatened the troops overseas, penicillin was found to be an effective treatment against syphilis.
"The military wanted to rid the troops of STDs and all kinds of infections, so that they could keep fighting," Francis says. "That really sped up the development of penicillin as an antibiotic."
Right after the war, penicillin became a clinical staple for the general population as well. In the United States, syphilis went from a chronic, debilitating and potentially fatal disease to one that could be cured with a single dose of medicine.
From 1947 to 1957, the syphilis death rate fell by 75 percent and the syphilis incidence rate fell by 95 percent. "That's a huge drop in syphilis. It's essentially a collapse," Francis says.
In order to test his theory that risky sex increased as the cost of syphilis dropped, Francis analyzed data from the 1930s through the 1970s from state and federal health agencies. Some of the data was only available on paper documents, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) digitized it at the request of Francis.
For his study, Francis chose three measures of sexual behavior: The illegitimate birth ratio; the teen birth share; and the incidence of gonorrhea, a highly contagious sexually transmitted disease that tends to spread quickly.
"As soon as syphilis bottoms out, in the mid- to late-1950s, you start to see dramatic increases in all three measures of risky sexual behavior," Francis says.
While many factors likely continued to fuel the sexual revolution during the 1960s and 1970s, Francis says the 1950s and the role of penicillin have been largely overlooked. "The 1950s are associated with prudish, more traditional sexual behaviors," he notes. "That may have been true for many adults, but not necessarily for young adults. It's important to recognize how reducing the fear of syphilis affected sexual behaviors."
A few physicians sounded moralistic warnings during the 1950s about the potential for penicillin to affect behavior. Spanish physician Eduardo Martinez Alonso referenced Romans 6:23, and the notion that God uses diseases to punish people, when he wrote: "The wages of sin are now negligible. One can almost sin with impunity, since the sting of sinning has been removed."
Such moralistic approaches, equating disease with sin, are counterproductive, Francis says, stressing that interventions need to focus on how individuals may respond to the cost of disease.
He found that the historical data of the syphilis epidemic parallels the contemporary AIDS epidemic. "Some studies have indicated that the development of highly active antiretroviral therapy for treating HIV may have caused some men who have sex with men to be less concerned about contracting and transmitting HIV, and more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors," Francis says.
"Policy makers need to take into consideration behavioral responses to changes in the cost of disease, and implement strategies that are holistic and longsighted," he concludes. "To focus exclusively on the defeat of one disease can set the stage for the onset of another if preemptive measures are not taken."
###
Emory University: http://www.emory.edu
Thanks to Emory University for this article.
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BRISBANE, Australia (AP) ? Thousands of Australians huddled in shelters Tuesday as torrential rains flooded cities and towns in the northeast, killing four people and prompting around 1,000 helicopter evacuations.
With floodwaters expected to peak in most of the worst-hit areas later Tuesday, officials were rushing to move those in the highest-risk areas to safety.
In the hard-hit city of Bundaberg, 385 kilometers (240 miles) north of Brisbane, rescue crews plucked 1,000 people to safety after the river that runs through town broke its banks, sending fast-moving, muddy water pouring into streets and homes. Around 1,500 residents fled to evacuation centers, while patients at the local hospital were being airlifted to Brisbane as a precaution.
"Listen to the roar of the water ? that's not helicopters," Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said. "You see a lot of locations where there are literally sort of rapids. There's white water out there, so it is very dangerous."
Queensland residents and officials were being particularly cautious, after floodwaters from heavy rain in late 2010 and early 2011 left much of the state under water in the worst flooding Australia had seen in decades. The 2010-2011 floods killed 35 people, damaged or destroyed 30,000 homes and businesses and left Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city, under water for days.
The current flood crisis was not as severe, though some areas in northern New South Wales were hit by more than half a meter (about 20 inches) of rain, State Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Steve Pearce said. Four people have died, including a 3-year-old boy who was hit by a falling tree in Brisbane.
"We're expecting flash flooding, we're expecting trees to be brought down, wires to be brought down by these winds," Pearce said. "We're expecting a very challenging 24 hours in front of us."
In the New South Wales city of Grafton, 600 kilometers (370 miles) north of Sydney, 2,500 people were ordered to leave their homes as the Clarence River continued to rise.
"We are in a dangerous situation that requires a timely response and I think the best thing to do is to evacuate," said Richie Williamson, the mayor of Clarence Valley Council.
The flooding was caused by the remnants of a tropical cyclone that also caused severe weather including tornadoes and created sea foam that came ashore on the Queensland coast. The foam covered roads in places, causing traffic to be diverted. Elsewhere, beach-goers waded into the bubbles to pose for photographs.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/several-australian-towns-flooded-4-people-killed-014540254.html
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FREDERICTON - With a new year underway many of us are thinking ahead to vacation time but, with today's economic pressures, it can be difficult to set aside the cash for a big trip.
The goal is to have an enjoyable vacation without breaking the bank.
There are lots of ways to be frugal with your vacation budget.
"It's not about being cheap," said Gary Howard of the Canadian Automobile Association. "It's about stretching your vacation dollar."
Start by asking what you want from your vacation and then look at your options.
"As an example, an all-inclusive week in Cuba might be far less expensive than three nights in New York," Howard said.
He suggests avoiding travelling in peak seasons as a way to save some money.
"There are peak seasons and shoulder seasons in everything that you do, whether it is a cruise, Disney World, Myrtle Beach, the Caribbean, or whatever it might be," he said.
Off-season rates for hotels and resorts are often a fraction of the peak price.
But don't always just go for the lowest price, Howard said. Paying a bit more for a larger room or one that has a kitchenette could improve your vacation experience or even save you money in the long run by allowing you to prepare some meals there.
At many hotels breakfast is included in the cost of the accommodation, which can be a substantial saving, especially for a large family.
Consider having your big meal of the day at lunch time when many restaurants have deals, or packing a picnic lunch to tote along with you.
When it comes to travel, you can often find discounts by flying mid-week rather than on a weekend.
Howard advises booking your trip early to get the best selection.
But Peter Dielissen of Fredericton, N.B., is a proponent of using websites like Priceline.com and Hotwire.com to bid on rooms in an effort to save money.
The 66-year-old has also made great use of his Aeroplan points to travel around the globe on many occasions.
He lived and worked in Toronto, Vancouver and Yukon before moving to Fredericton and began collecting Aeroplan points on his flights and on a credit card that gives points for purchases.
"I started putting everything on my credit card," Dielissen said.
"When I retired in 2007 I had one million Aeroplan points."
Howard said when looking for a deal on flights, don't just check your local airport. You can often find savings by flying from another airport located a few hours drive away.
Consider driving to your vacation destination if it is a reasonable distance. The savings can be multiplied when you look at the price of gas for one vehicle versus airplane tickets for all members of your family.
As well, there may be things to see and do along the way that you would miss by flying ? adding extra value to your vacation time.
Many hotels offer loyalty points you can exchange for free rooms, upgrades or other perks.
It is worth signing up in advance for their programs because the points from one trip could provide free rooms for your next vacation. Also watch for promotions when you can collect bonus points for stays during specific dates.
Joining an auto club like CAA can more than pay for itself when you take advantage of hotel, restaurant and attraction discounts, plus the access to free maps, travel books and expert advice.
Good advice can save you a lot of money. Ask friends and family about a destination before you make your plans.
The Internet has become an endless source of information to allow you to research a vacation, compare and book hotels, find attractions and restaurants, and generally help you get the most out of your trip.
Many hotels offer a discount if you book online. Some offer a substantial discount if you pay in advance, but there may be no refund if you need to cancel.
"Do your research online, speak with family and friends, but when it comes to doing your actual booking the best value you're going to be able to get is from a travel agent," Howard said. "These people have the experience, they have the technology and they can save you a lot of time."
Complete vacation packages such as all-inclusive trips to Caribbean resorts can provide a great saving over paying for flights, hotels, meals and drinks separately.
Howard said cruises also offer a great value for your vacation dollar.
"You can take a seven-day cruise and visit five countries," he said. "There are lots of activities onboard, your meals are included, and you've got entertainment onboard."
"It's a multi-faceted vacation all in one."
There are lots of other ways to stretch your vacation dollar, ranging from the use of free hotel shuttles to avoiding roaming charges on your cellphone while you travel.
Howard said it just makes sense to get the most out of your vacation dollar.
"It's your vacation and you can't get that time back," he said.
???
If You Go...
Here are a couple of websites to get you started researching your specific destination. There are also many other websites to look at for money-saving ideas.
www.CAA.ca
www.tripadvisor.ca
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stretch-travel-dollar-savvy-tips-off-season-fly-131557354.html
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Source: http://www.nycup.org/2013/01/webserves-nonprofit-partner-spotlight/
LONDON (Reuters) - A British Airways flight from Houston in the United States to London's Heathrow airport made an emergency landing in Cardiff on Monday.
BA, part of the IAG group, said the Boeing 747 jet, which was carrying 138 passengers, landed normally on Monday morning after the pilot noticed a "potential technical problem".
BA said the plane was assessed by engineers who found no problem with it. The airline added that the plane would complete its journey to London later on Monday afternoon.
(Reporting by Rhys Jones; Editing by Brenda Goh)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-airways-flight-makes-emergency-landing-cardiff-124800612--finance.html
Jan. 27, 2013 ? The spread of breast cancer to distant organs within the body, an event that often leads to death, appears in many cases to involve the loss of a key protein, according to UC San Francisco researchers, whose new discoveries point to possible targets for therapy.
In the January 27, 2013 online edition of Nature Cell Biology, UCSF scientists describe for the first time how the protein, known as GATA3 -- which is abnormal or absent in many cases of human breast cancer -- normally acts downstream in biochemical pathways to prevent the distant spread of cancer, an event called metastasis.
The discovery points to a biochemical control point that simultaneously holds in check several key events required for tumor cells to successfully spread.
"When GATA3 is present, it turns off many genes that are active in metastasis," said Zena Werb, PhD, a UCSF professor of anatomy who led the research. "We now have identified the molecular mechanisms involved."
The key finding of the new study is that GATA3 acts downstream biochemically to activate a molecule -- obscure until now -- called microRNA29b. MicroRNA29b in turn stops protein production from other genes that play vital roles in metastasis.
The absence or loss of GATA3 can free cancerous cells to break free from their defined roles and tethers within a tumor, to move away from the tumor mass, to induce cancer-promoting inflammation, and to stimulate the development of new blood vessels that can help spreading cancerous cells regrow as tumors in new locations.
"People knew that some of these genes were turned on in some cancers, but they did not know they were turned on because GATA3 and microRNA29b were turned off," Werb said. "If you have 20 genes that are becoming less active all at once due to microRNA29b, it could have a profound effect."
Working with mice, the researchers found that restoring microRNA29b to one of the most deadly types of breast cancer stopped metastasis. But the researchers also found that if they knocked out the microRNA29b, tumors spread even in the presence of GATA3, suggesting that microRNA29b can be the driver of metastasis.
In the mouse models of breast cancer studied by Werb's team, GATA3 normally restrains cancerous cells from breaking away from the main tumor and migrating to other organs.
It might be possible, Werb said, to develop drugs that inhibit breast cancer metastasis by re-activating these controls in cancerous cells that have lost the normal protein.
Many researchers who study early stages of cancer focus on abnormal genes and proteins that cause cells to expand their numbers rapidly, a hallmark of cancer.
However, the ability to spread to distant places and to eventually cause lethal complications requires not only cell division and tumor growth, but also changes in how the cancerous cell negotiates with its surroundings. This relationship must be altered to permit cancer to spread, according to earlier research findings by Werb and others.
"Many of the key processes in cancer that GATA3 suppresses take place outside the cell, in the surrounding environment," she said.
GATA3 is a master control for luminal cells, which line the milk-carrying ducts of the breast. In essence, GATA3 dictates the defining characteristics of a normal breast cell, Werb said.
Luminal breast cancers are the most common form of the disease, and the hormones estrogen and progesterone drive their growth. Loss of the normal GATA3 protein as luminal breast cancers evolve is associated with a greater risk of death, Werb said, and occurs in roughly 10 percent of luminal breast cancer cases.
But, along with many other proteins, GATA3 also is absent in "triple negative," breast cancers, which are more often fatal. Triple negative breast cancers, which disproportionately affect black women and younger women, do not depend on the hormones, nor do they require a third growth factor, called HER2.
Triple negative breast cancers, which account for roughly one-in-five breast cancers, have been more difficult to target successfully with newer treatments.
"The targeting we would like to do is to give back microRNA29b specifically to breast tumor cells to prevent metastasis," Werb said.
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Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/9MKEP8kbDFI/130127134214.htm
Getty ImagesAfter the NFC jumped out in front 10-7 in the Pro Bowl?s initial 16 minutes, Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson briefly returned the lead to the AFC by reading Giants quarterback Eli Manning?s eyes in zone coverage and picking off Eli?s pass, which was intended for Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph.
Johnson beat everyone to the house for a 42-yard pick six, putting the AFC up 14-10 early in the second quarter.
The NFC rallied back on its next drive, keyed by a BeastMode run out of Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. Lynch shed five tackles for a vicious 12-yard gain, easily the best run of a Pro Bowl that has so far been decidedly pass happy.
Two snaps after Lynch?s run, Eli hit Giants teammate Victor Cruz for a nine-yard touchdown on an in route out of the slot, giving the NFC the lead back at 17-14. Cruz, as he is known to do, performed a quick salsa dance in the end zone to celebrate.
Trailing by three points midway through the second quarter, the AFC replaced Peyton Manning at quarterback with Matt Schaub of the Texans. On a 40-yard bomb attempt intended for Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas, Schaub was intercepted by Falcons safety William Moore. Moore returned the pick 27 yards to the NFC 28.
Eli got aggressive with under three minutes remaining in the first half. He noticed Rudolph in Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali?s coverage down the right sideline, waved Rudolph to continue his route downfield, and hit him for a deep gain of 52 behind a lumbering Hali.
The first flag of the game was called on Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey toward the end of the second quarter. When explaining the penalty, official Ed Hochuli made sure to announce that ?Yes, there are penalties in the Pro Bowl.? (Yes, Hochuli really said that.)
Bailey was covering Bucs receiver Vincent Jackson in the end zone when whistled, so the ball was placed at the AFC?s one-yard line.
Lynch punched it in from a yard out, increasing the NFC?s lead to 24-14. Eli led yet another touchdown drive to close out the half, going 75 yards in the final 68 seconds with a three-yard scoring strike to Rudolph to cap it off.
As of halftime, top performers in the 2013 Pro Bowl so far have included Rudolph (five catches, game-high 122 yards, one touchdown), Jackson (five catches, 86 yards, one touchdown) and Cruz (game-high eight catches, 66 yards, touchdown).
Through two quarters, Rudolph is the favorite for Pro Bowl MVP.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/27/jets-could-trade-cromartie-instead-of-revis/related
Last February, Roy Fox said he spent more than $1,000 to file for the trademarks "Harbowl" and "Harbaugh Bowl," in anticipation that Jim Harbaugh's San Francisco 49ers and John Harbaugh's Baltimore Ravens might soon play in the big game.
"Right before the conference championship games last year, I thought to myself, 'Can you imagine if these guys played each other?'" Fox said. "If Pat Riley would go through the trouble of trademarking three-peat, why shouldn't I try this?"
But in August, a couple of weeks before this season started, the NFL sent a note to Fox saying that it was concerned that his recent trademarks could easily be confused with the NFL's trademark of Super Bowl.
"There were two questions asked of him," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. "Was he affiliated with any NFL teams? The answer was no. And was he in any way affiliated with the Harbaugh brothers? And that answer was no."
In follow-up correspondence provided to ESPN.com by Fox, the NFL encouraged Fox to abandon the marks, citing conflict with its mark.
Fox said the league refused to provide him with any remedy. He first asked the league to reimburse him for his costs to file for the trademarks. He also asked for a couple of Colts season tickets and an autographed photo of league commissioner Roger Goodell.
He says the person within the league office he spoke to denied all his requests. After the language got increasingly more threatening, including one note that said the league would oppose his filing and seek to have him pay its legal bills, Fox eventually obliged.
In October, he sent the forms to the NFL, which were then sent to the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office. An online search shows that the trademarks were abandoned on Oct. 24, 2012.
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Jan. 27, 2013 ? Charged particle accelerators have become crucially important to modern day life, be it in health care for cancer treatment or for answering important fundamental scientific questions like the existence of the HIGGS boson, the so called 'God particle'.
In a simple picture, charged particles like electrons and protons are accelerated between two end plates across which an electrical voltage is applied. High energies need high voltages (millions and billions of volts) and long acceleration paths in giant sized machines -- for instance the trillion volt machine called the 'large hadron collider' (LHC) which discovered the Higgs boson, circles over 27 km underground in Geneva! A new concept for a compact accelerator was discovered in the last decade using high powered, short pulses of laser light.
Alternating large electric fields of the light can be transformed in plasmas to create quasi static fields that can produce hundreds of millions volt accelerating voltages just over millimeter lengths on a table top!
How do we accelerate neutral particles -- i.e. particles that cannot be energized by electrical voltages? And do it over millimeters rather than hundreds of meters and moreover using lasers? Research at Ultra Short Pulse High Intensity Lab in TIFR has now found a novel scheme that can do precisely this. The concept uses the ability of powerful lasers to strip nearly 8 electrons per atom in a nano sized, cooled aggregate of argon atoms- a nano piece of ice. A 40,000 atom cluster of argon is charged to 320,000 by a laser that lasts only a 100 billionth of a millionth of a second. Such a super highly charged ice piece explodes soon after, accelerating the charged atoms (Ions) to a million electron volts of energy. The TIFR research now found that all the expelled electrons can be put back into the charged ion that has been accelerated so that it now reverts to being a neutral atom but at high energies. To top it all, this process is nearly 100% efficient at neutralizing the speeding ions and converting them to fast atoms.
Accelerated neutral atoms are very important for many applications. Unaffected by electric or magnetic fields, they penetrate deeper in solids than electrons/ions and thereby create high finesse microstructures for novel electronics and optical devices. Fast atoms are used both as diagnostics and heating sources in Tokomak machines like the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in France, that are being developed to create sustained thermo-nuclear fusion. The TIFR scheme can produce a point source of fast neutral atoms close to the location of an intended application.
This certainly shows that staying neutral under extreme provocation has its advantages.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/k-thzKvbSYA/130127134204.htm
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Jan 25 2013
? ?
Wendy, who has been a member of Helium.com
since February 2007, manages the Alternative Therapies
and Health & Fitness (Other) channels. She lives in Michigan
and?has written nearly 400 articles on the site.?
How did you first learn about Helium.com and what?s your favorite aspect of the site? A friend of mine told me about the site. Once I checked it out, I couldn?t wait to get started. My favorite aspect of Helium is that it gives new writers a chance to spread their wings and get feedback on how they can improve. There is a freedom here you can?t find anywhere else. A writer has an opportunity to hone their skills as well as try things outside of their comfort zone.
You have some great health credentials in your bio, including a master?s degree in Natural Health. What drew you to the health field? I have always had a fascination with the nature and how things worked. Actually it started when I was about six. We had an elderly veterinarian who would come to our farm. He would make his rounds and always took me with him. He showed me what plants made animals sick and what plants could be used to help them. For the next ten years, he taught me how to care for our horses and cattle, and even let me help him when our animals were giving birth. It was a great learning experience. I learned so much from him and he taught me the value of discovering new things.
You?re also a certified herbalist. What can you tell us about that? This also goes back to Doc Haimbaugh. He was in educated at Purdue, but before he went to school he learned all of the old ways from another veterinarian who specialized in more natural methods of healing. Learning about herbs and what each one could do was amazing to me. That knowledge stayed with me as I grew, and I eventually began to study herbalogy. I learned at an early age which herbs grew near my home, how to harvest them and also how to prepare them for use. It is amazing what herbs are capable of. I rarely use over-the-counter medications. Doc taught me that nature was my pharmacy, and if I knew how to use what I had available, it was also FREE!
You?re a first responder, too. What?s that like? Being a first responder is interesting. I spent several years coaching baseball and was always having to bandage a knee or ice a sprain. It?s much different though when you are driving and are the first one at the scene of an accident. When I first started, I was afraid I wouldn?t be able to do the job. Then I stumbled upon my first accident. It hits you then how much those people need you. It?s almost like going on autopilot. You know what needs to be done and you do it. There are no questions, just action. When the people are safe and in the hands of paramedics, then you can sit back and shake for a second or two. It?s a good feeling to know you are able to help someone to that degree.
What do you enjoy most about being a channel manager? I have met some of the most interesting people! They have such diverse backgrounds and unique personalities! I have learned a lot from reading all of their articles. I also like the fact that I can help them with their questions and give them encouragement.
Of all the articles you?ve written on the site, which is your favorite and what makes it your favorite? I think my favorite would have to be the one on being a catcher. I was a catcher for several years in softball and I loved the position. I know many kids shy away from it because of how grueling it can be. I hoped that through my article I could inspire people to give the position a try.
Who are your favorite Helium authors and what do you like about their writing? I have two. Mona Gallagher and Melissa R. Bickel are my favorites. I love the topics Mona chooses and Melissa?s poetry is amazing.
What piece of advice would you give to an aspiring writer? Always do your best and to not get discouraged. Starting out on a site like Helium will give them experience they need when trying to break into the world of journalism and writing. Always be willing to learn something new!
What do you enjoy doing when you?re not busy at Helium? I love to sew and cook! I have always loved crafts and making things. I also like to draw. I like teaching my granddaughters how to make things as well.
Your bio mentions one of your favorite memories includes spending time with your horses. Do you still have horses? I live in town now so I don?t have any place for them. I would like to move back to the country at some point. When I do, I most definitely will have them again! We raced sulky horses when I was growing up and I still visit some of the people who still participate in the sport. I really miss it!
Read any good books lately? My favorite book is The Heroin Diaries, by Nikki Sixx. I also like the Dan Brown books. They make you think and ask questions most people are afraid to ask. As for Nikki Sixx, just the fact that he was opened up about so many of his experiences was inspiring. Hopefully his honesty about the dark side of drugs and addiction can help some of his fans avoid the dangers he survived.
Thanks for sharing Wendy!
Source: http://blog.helium.com/meet-wendy-s-melton-cm-of-alternative-therapies-and-health-fitness-other/
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In this issue ?
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Income tax surcharge?
Several people at a Kansas Association of Counties program Thursday afternoon in Topeka heard the same thing.? House Majority Leader Jean Vickrey (R-Louisburg) was discussing the possibility that Governor Brownback?s proposals for raising revenue might not be successful.
Almost in passing, he said something about a 2-year income tax surcharge as a possible solution.? He was not specific beyond that.
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Brownback would eliminate home property tax deduction
Speaking of surprises, legislators from both political parties were taken aback at a proposal to fill the big budget hole caused by last year?s individual income tax cut which included eliminating the tax deduction for property taxes paid on homes.
It came as Budget Director Steve Anderson unveiled Governor Sam Brownback?s plan for even more income tax cuts.
Eliminating the property tax deduction appeared to be new, coming a week after the Governor revealed his budget.? It would raise $68 million.? Brownback had previously asked the lawmakers to eliminate the interest on home mortgages, which brings in $162 million.
The Administration says the property tax deduction was always part of the Governor?s plan and that people just didn?t notice it.? Brownback did not mention the deduction in his state of the state message.
The explanation has many at the Statehouse scratching their heads.? In a lengthy January 16 appearance before the Senate Ways and Means Committee to explain the Governor?s budget and tax plan, Anderson never mentioned the property tax deduction going away.
Here?s the officially requested legislation by the administration, which includes a sort of trigger mechanism to lower income taxes in the future.? Hearings are expected to begin next week on the proposal in the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee.
Retain the state sales and use tax rate at 6.3% and distribute same amount of revenue from state sales and use tax receipts to the State Highway Fund as under current law;
Decrease the individual income tax lower bracket rate from 3.0% to 2.5% in Tax Year 2014 and from 2.5% to 1.9% in Tax Year 2016; decrease individual income tax upper bracket rate from 4.9% to 3.5% in Tax Year 2017.
Exclude from the Kansas itemized deduction residential interest and real property taxes effective Tax Year 2013; and
Provide that commencing in Fiscal Year 2015, state general fund growth from tax receipts in excess of 4% will be applied to reduce individual income tax rates in future tax years.
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School Efficiency Task Force Report released
This week in Topeka, the long awaited report by the Governor?s School Efficiency Task Force was released.? After three meetings to study K-12 education spending and ?develop guidelines on how to get more funding into classrooms,? these are the 12 recommendations in a nutshell.
These are summarized, and are mostly the exact language. We have changed some wording for clarity.
The full report is available online.
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$8 million in Kansas ?closing fund?
Kansas Secretary of Commerce Pat George told the House Taxation Committee this week there?s about $8 million in the economic development ?closing fund? that was created by the 2011 Kansas Legislature.? That?s the first time many observers were aware of how big the fund has grown.? The fund was proposed by Governor Brownback and supported by most of the business and economic development community.
The information came as the result of questioning by Representative Tom Sawyer (D-Wichita).? During the discussion, Sawyer noted that Texas has a $125 million closing fund, the largest of any state.? Our information indicates Texas also has a half billion dollar technology fund its governor can use to incentivize new businesses.
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Hearing Tuesday on ?transparency? bill
HB 2047 is the so-called ?not a tax lid? bill. The bill will have a hearing Tuesday in the House Taxation Committee.
It requires cities and counties to vote if they wish to increase property tax revenues over the previous year and to publish notice of the vote in the official newspaper.? Sponsors say this is only an ?openness in government? bill.? League of Kansas Municipalities officials says the language is somewhat unclear.? The League will suggest some new language to make it more concise.
The League and Kansas Association of Counties will probably not oppose the bill if they are assured it is not a tax lid.? Some cities and counties have reviewed the language and believe it is okay, while others remain suspicious.
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Source: http://ksepc.org/2013/01/24_update/
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Posted by madelinefish9 on Saturday, December 29, 2012 ? Leave a Comment?
Months after Sandy tore through Long Island, over 200 pets belonging to displaced residents are still being taken care of by volunteers at the Nassau County Emergency Pet Shelter.
?We started off with 450 pets when the storm hit, now we have about 250,? said Beverly Poppell, vice-president and executive director of Pet Safe Coalition. ?We have about 120 cats, a bunny rabbit, 2 turtles a beta fish and the rest are dogs.?
The shelter is located in Garden City and is run mainly on volunteers of the Pet Safe Coalition. An organization that?s main goal is to help pets in disaster situations, like Hurricane Sandy. ?We want pet owners to be responsible in these types of situations,? said Poppell. ?Our motto is, ?have a pet, have a plan.??
Volunteer duties include cleaning litter boxes, feeding the pets, taking dogs for walks, cleaning cages and making sure the animals receive personal attention.
Volunteers have come from all over the country to assist in the running of the shelter. ?Our volunteers are dedicated to these animals,? said Poppell. ?We actually had a volunteer from California that was traveling cross-country on horseback and she made a detour here to help us!?
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You may have heard that the Musical Instrument Digital Interface protocol (aka MIDI) celebrates its 30th birthday this year. And where better than NAMM would the MIDI Manufacturer Association be able to fully demonstrate (and celebrate) the persevering protocol's coming of age? Part of the MMA's installation was a set-up destined to get geek hearts racing. A 1983 Commodore 64 connected to a Sequential Circuits Model 64 sequencer cartridge (with MIDI interface). From these vintage parts, the regular 5-pin MIDI cable heads out through the decades and into an IK Multimedia iRig MIDI, into an iPad, finally feeding its information into the Animoog app from equally longevous Moog. Watch old meet new in the gallery and video below.
Billy Steele contributed to this report.
Filed under: Desktops, Misc, Peripherals
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/25/midi-turns-30-commodore-64-animoog/
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What will happen when a cursed town slowly begins to reawaken, after a young girl opens a long-ago closed fairy tale book ... And believes?
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Game Masters:
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Storybrooke?. Anything posted here will also show up there.Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.You may edit this first post as you see fit.
~^.'.^~Beautiful people come in different sizes~^.'.^~
Can I please reserve Cinderella/Town Maid and Red Riding Hood??
I would love to be reserved for Rumpelstiltskin.
Why of course you two! I'll reserve them right away!
: this looks interesting and I would love to play Alice.I was wondering where I could learn more about the character, age and such.
Alice would be between the ages of 9-11, seeing as she's the best friend of The Child, who will be 10 and in Snow White's class. She's the daughter of the Mad Hatter, who is determined to get back to the other Realm and free his daughter of the curse. He was tricked by The Queen and was trapped in Wonderland, because he has the ability to use his hat to travel between Wonderland and the Realms. However, the hat would only let the same amount of people out as it had let it, and The Queen had gone there to take her father back, making it so The Mad Hatter was trapped in Wonderland, leaving his daughter without a mother or a father. In The Realm Without Magic, she would be an orphan, but would have been adopted into a family, and is kind and sweet and loves to play.
I figure that's about as much as you need to know so you can develop her into your own character. Her name would not be Alice in The Realm Without Magic, it would be something different, but The Mad Hatter would always refer to her as Alice, seeing as he knows about the curse and that's what her real name is.
Is that enough information for you?
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It seems one of the big questions people ask in January is about travel. ?Any good trips planned for 2013?? Whatever vacation we may take this year can?t possibly top our summer 2012 trip.???My family and I?had a once in a lifetime adventure that was exciting,?educational and surprisingly?emotional.? We met our Italian relatives for the very first time.
This was a trip that was really many years in the making, decades in fact.??I had?been told about my?Italian ancestry for as long as I can remember, but I knew few details about it until 2010.?? As a boy, my mother talked with great affection about her late father Crescenzo Chully; the surname being an Americanized version of Chiulli.??Crescenzo was killed in a horrific hornet attack at the age of 37, when my mother was young. She remembers his father, Paolo, but he died a few years before his son.
Our exposure to our Italian heritage came through Paolo?s other children, Crescenzo?s siblings, but they too were in the dark about where our forefathers had lived. My best source of information was my great-aunt Angie, who died just a few years ago at the doorstep of?98. All she was ever told was that her father (my great-grandfather)?was from ?Abruzzo.?
When I was in junior high, a teacher assigned the task of researching our geneaology to coincide with the landmark television event, ?Roots.????? I did pretty well on the other branches of my family, but when it came to the Italian branch, I couldn?t learn anything beyond my great-grandfather, Paolo Chiulli.
Life happened and I put researching my Italian heritage on the back burner, and picked it up now and then with zero luck.
While in Italy in 1996, I checked the telephone books for people named Chiulli, but I didn?t speak Italian so I never called any of the many names listed.??But as I walked through Rome, Venice, Florence, Pisa and Milan, I could feel it: I had family there. ?
I returned to Italy three more times in the following ten years. My wife Kara and I honeymooned on the Amalfi Coast, Portofino and Lake Como, and again, being in Italy felt like being home. I also returned to Rome to cover Pope John Paul II in 2002, and his funeral three years later.
During that period I searched for my great-grandfather?s name in ship manifests, scoured websites where I connected with other people with Chiulli ancestors who were also looking for?relatives, but I never?found anything.?? I figured my great-grandfather must have changed his name, or perhaps someone misspelled it in the list of passengers heading to America.???? I wanted to know, why did he come here, and who did he leave behind?
In?2009, I had a stroke of great luck.??? A man from Utah, named John Nelson, ?was researching Chiullis in his family tree, when he came across my great-grandfather?s name.???John had discovered the town where my grandfather was born, his siblings, parents and grandparents.????? As it turns out, what John had discovered was a dead end for him, but the holy grail for me. It?cleared the path for me to answer questions that had stymied my family for decades.
Armed with that information, I stepped up my search efforts, but on a sporadic basis.??? As a working father with two young children, I had little time to sit down and finish my Italian family tree.???? I would occasionally try to e-mail someone named Chiulli in Italy on Facebook, but never found any relatives.?? Then, when my aunt Angie died in late 2010 as she approached her 98th birthday, I decided it was time to get the job done.
I began with a fruitless attempt to e-mail folks in the town hall of? Alanno, Italy, birthplace of my?great-grandfather.???? I hoped to?locate some records, that would?hopefully lead me to some cousins.?? It was fruitless.? I didn?t get any responses, and when I called once, there was no one who spoke English, and my Italian wasn?t cutting it.
In early 2011, I decided to contact a fellow journalist in Italy.?? I figured we reporters can pretty much track down anyone here, surely someone in the old country would be able to get through to the town hall.????? Reporter Marirosa Barbieri?of the magazine ?Prima Da Noi? suggested that she write an article about my search for my Italian ancestors.???? The story was a big success.??? The day after the?article went on line,? I received a call from a?woman here in Connecticut, whose cousin called her from Italy to say she and I?were related.?? The woman, by the way, is not related to me, but her cousin is.???? Within days, through e-mail and Facebook I had connected with a handful of people, my people, my family! Marirosa had also been contacted by a few others.
Through my newly discovered family, I learned the reason I couldn?t find any cousins named Chiulli, is because there aren?t any.?? My great-grandfather had five sisters and a brother who died in childhood.??? Those sisters all married and so when Paolo Chiulli emigrated to America, he took the Chiulli name with him.?? Truth be told, there are plenty of Chiullis in Abruzzo, but they are probably very distant cousins.
The first few weeks of our cyber-reunion were exciting.??? I swapped pictures and information with my newly found cousins, Donatella, Paola, Andrea, Cristina, and the list goes on.??? I now had dozens of cousins there.?? ??Just like I always felt I had cousins in Italy, my Italian cousins told me they always knew they had family in the United States.??? They had heard stories of their Zio (Uncle) Paolo leaving Abruzzo, never to return, but?didn?t know anything about his descendents here.??? In fact,? my cousin Paola?e-mailed me a family tree that they could now fill in with the 26 people descended from their long lost Uncle.
Almost immediately after connecting with the Italian relatives,? I decided to plan a trip to the ancestral homeland in 2012 ?for a huge family reunion.???Ideally,?it would great if all 26 descendants and their spouses could go, although I knew it was unlikely.??In the end, there were 9 of us who made the trek:? Kara, our children, my mother, brother, sister-in-law and their two sons.
Overseas, the planning was masterminded by cousins Donatella, Miriam, Paola and Cristina, who?coordinated a week like no other we?d ever experienced.?????Sure, flying with four children under the age?of 5 can be challenging, but once we arrived?in Italy, we?all focused on the upcoming festivities and this momentous event in our family history. ??? We stayed in Rome for a few days before heading to Abruzzo.??? Kara and I had been to the Eternal City before, but my brother and sister-in-law wanted to see the sights.?? 48 hours at the Hilton Garden Inn near the Villa Borghese was just what we needed.
Why a Hilton when traveling in Italy? First, we?ve learned that Hiltons are great hotels. When we had to attend a wedding in Hawaii we stayed at two of them. Read about that trip here: http://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/from-hartford-to-hawaii/
The Hilton Cavalieri is a jewel in Rome where Kara and I are planning to stay in the future for a romantic trip, but in this case, we didn?t think a pack of kids was fair to the Cavalieri guests! Instead we chose the Hilton Garden Inn, partly because of its king-sized beds, great for a mom and dad weary from a long flight and herding children. King beds are rare in Europe, and they are a welcome change from the tiny twin beds many hotels have. Best of all, for the somewhat fussy youngsters: the Hilton served American breakfast, waffles, eggs, nutella and the works. There was even nutella gelato at a shop nearby. There would be plenty of time for traditional Italian food when we reached Abruzzo.
With our body clocks now on Italian time, we loaded up our Ford Transit van and began our two hour journey to one of the most anticipated destinations of my life.? By the way I was the only one who drive a stick shift, so the burden of navigating narrow medieval streets was all mine for 10 days. ? The mountains were amazing and the Adriatic Sea a Caribbean aqua that looked like an instagram.?? The quaint villages were something out of a postcard.
Our home in Abruzzo was a mountainside villa called ?Casa Mimosa,?? and it was the ultimate retreat.??It was an old barn of stone at the top of a hill accessible by a steep, winding road in the town of Castiglione Messer Raimondo.?? A couple from Britain bought it and refurbished into into an idyllic retreat to rent to tourists. ? The views were truly awe inspiring, and we spent as time much outdoors as possible.
The next day was the reunion and quite frankly, we weren?t sure what to expect. ?? The cousins had told us not to worry about a thing;? they would take care of all the food and drink, and that a caterer would show up first, followed by trays of homemade goodies.?? What a spread it was.?? Traditional Abruzzese dishes, homemade wine, garnished with?Italian and American flags.??The caterers showed up and transformed the villa into an Italian restaurant.? Then the doorbell rang.
The first cousins we met were not part of the e-mail conversations that had been going on for the past 17 months.??? ?You are my cousin,?? said Carlo Iulianetti, a man in his 40s with rock star hair. He came with his mother, Cesaria de Melis.????? We hugged, and my mom cried.???? Within an hour, fifty cousins had arrived, some from as far away as Rome.?? We studied each other faces, and I definitely saw similarities.? Donatella bore a strong resemblance to my great aunt Lucia, Crescenzo?s sister. ?Even though some of the?cousins didn?t speak English we communicated and we connected.? I had been studying Italian on my iPad app and I actually think I did pretty well.
The highlight of the reunion took place on the piazza when my cousins delivered some hearfelt words welcoming us to their country.? I was prepared, and had written a speech that I read in Italian, with the help of my cousin Elisa, who translated a few ad libs for me.?? Then, three of the cousins of my mother?s generation, Donatella, Miriam and Paola, presented us with a basket of rocks, sitting on red silk.?? These weren?t just any rocks?they were pieces of rubble belonging to my great-grandfather?s farmhouse where he was born in 1879.
My mother wept, as she handled the limestone, majella stone, and ancient concrete.???? But there was more.??? Paola?s husband, architect Gustavo Del Rossi,? unveiled a gift we will treasure always: the most beautiful and intricate family tree I?d ever seen.??It was hand drawn on parchment paper that was 15 feet long.?? Gustavo had worked on it for months, and it included every relative at the party, and my cousins back home in?America.? More than a hundred names in all.? It went as far back as my great-great-great grandparents, Antonio and Maria Chiulli.
The night was spent learning about each other over copious amounts of food, washed down by homemade wine and limoncello.? I got to try out my Italian, but I must admit my cousins speak my native language better than I speak theirs.???We also learned for the first time, why my great-grandfather emigrated to America.
Paolo Chiulli had a? childhood, that was marred by sadness.??? He was one of seven children, and his only brother Gennaro, died as a child.???? His mother died in childbirth as his youngest sister was born.???He later served in the Italian military, and played a key role in the upbringing of his family.?? He finished school, which was uncommon for this rural part of Abruzzo and worked at a vineyard.??Paolo is remembered?as well liked, and adored by his sisters.???According to legend, he left Italy after a dark chapter:? he was?framed for a crime and fled to the United States.?? Great.? Cue Speak Softly Love, please.
The story of Zio Paolo (Uncle Paul) that has been handed down generation to generation among my cousins is that my great-grandfather left after some sort of fight.??With the help of?Maria Odoardi, one of the older cousins, my cousin Mauro Morelli, an attorney in Pescara, ?told the story in great detail, with some legalese tossed in for good measure.? ?Now, this is not confirmed,? he would say as he recanted the story told to him by his grandmother, who was my great-grandfather?s niece.???? Apparently someone planted a wallet in Paolo?s jacket, and then a group accused him of stealing it and they pounced on him.????During that fight or a brawl,? as Mauro put it, someone died.?? Again, ?not confirmed.?
Paolo was later toiling in the vineyard, when he was approached by friends who told him had to leave the country or go to prison.?? He hastily said goodbye to his sisters and left Abruzzo never to return.??? Someone gave him a passport to use, which is why I could never find my great-grandfather?s name in any of the manifests of ships carrying Italian immigrants to the United States.??? We will never know the name on the passport Paolo showed immigration officials that got him into this country.???By the way, he never became a U.S.?citizen, but certainly became an American patriot.?? He tried to enlist?to serve in World War I and World War II.??He was 62 when he went to the recruiting office a month after Pearl Harbor.
The Italian cousins also solved a few other smaller mysteries.??? When my mother was a child, Paolo, her grandfather, called her Mariuccia.? After 65 years of not knowing where that name came from one, we learned in Abruzzo in the summer of 2012, that Mariuccia was what Paolo called his younger sister.
A few days after the reunion, we loaded up our van and headed to the ancestral town of Alanno, where my great-grandfather was born.??? The mayor there was honoring us with a reception at town hall.??? Sindaco Vincenzo deMelis gave us a warm welcome and presented us with a plaque with my name on it and literature and information on the town.?? The mayor is a cousin of a cousin, but not one of my cousins.?? Capisce?
Italians love food and this day was no exception.??? After our ceremony at the town hall, were were feted at a luncheon where the dishes kept coming and coming.
Across a small valley from the ancient town center sits my great-grandfather?s farm, which is still in the family.?? Cousins live in homes on the sprawling hillside,? not far from a pile of rubble where Paolo?s birthplace? once stood.?? A fig tree now grows out of it, surrounded by acres of olive trees, some of them more than a hundred years old.
We couldn?t help but be pensive as we walked the grounds that afford spectacular views of the mountains and the medieval town.?? As my children and nephews played with giant wheels of hay,? I tried to imagine what life was like here for my ancestors.???? My daughter picked flowers, and my mother huddled with her cousins of her generation as they together gazed at the land that is their roots.
The kids were beyond thrilled to be feeding figs and juice to the goats and slobbering sheep,? and to climb on a Lamborghini tractor.
At a more modern house at the farm, came another emotional experience.??We met my grandfather?s first cousins, whom he had never met, the only survivors of his generation.????? 90 year old Luciano Odoardi and his sister Guisseppina, age 92.???? Now blinded by old age, Luciano held my hand with a vise-like? grip as he went through the family history. ?? He also shared how his Zio Paolo sent his mother post cards from Boston and Norwood, cards that were lost just recently when he moved in with his son.?? ? How I would?love to read those.
Guiseppina and my mother fought back tears as they bonded, despite? their difficulty in speaking each other?s language. ? ? For my mother,? meeting Luciano and Guissepina gave her a sense at what her father may have looked like had he not been taken from us so early.??? Giuseppina, too, added details to the legend of Paolo Chiulli and she had always wondered what happened to him and the family he created in America.
Not far from the homestead is the rustic church of St. Stefano, where my grandfather and his sisters were baptized.? It is closed to the public, badly damaged by the L?Aquila earthquake of 2009.??? There is no money to fix it, so unless a generous benefactor comes forward, it may continue to detoriate.??? A cousin?s home on the Chiulli ?farm also bears the scars of the earthquake.
The next day we loaded again into the Ford van and trekked to Pescara to go the beach on the Adriatic with Donatella and crew. We lunched under her family?s giant umbrella, whose American counterpart would be a cabana.
Our sendoff celebration was held on a warm night at the home in Chieti in the town of Ripa Teatina of my cousin Cristina Del Rossi and her husband Mimmo Mangiafesta. Along with Cristina?s brother Andrea, an accomplished mountain climber, they have young children about the ages of my children and nephews. The youngest generation also bonded over toys and cookies.
Cristina is a bakery chef, who created not only a huge cake for the reunion, but another one for this night. My daughter Helena, still talks about helping Cristina with the frosting and decorations.
The highlight of this celebration was arrosticini, a grilled lamb cooked on skewers on a special grill. It is a specialty of Abruzzo, and Mimmo cooked over 300 of them.
We also learned there is a particular way to eat arrosticini.
The goodbyes were tearful, but we left Italy a bigger and stronger family. We?re planning a return trip to Abruzzo with a larger American entourage of Chiulli descendants, and our doors are open for our Italian cousins to come here.
Here are some other images from my visit to my ancestral homeland:
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Source: http://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/finding-my-italian-family/
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