Verizon's Cleanup After Sandy Ravages Northeast: Things Look ...

Extensive flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy swamped the ground floor of Verizon?s headquarters at 140 West St. in lower Manhattan.

Verizon Communications, the largest telecommunications company in the northeast, has been trying to assess the widespread damage to its wireline, fiber, and wireless networks but remains hampered by major damage to its own operations centers and leftover flooding in coastal areas.

Verizon?s headquarters in lower Manhattan on West Street had several feet of water on the ground floor Monday night. At noon today, Verizon called conditions below 39th Street in lower Manhattan ?bleak? because of flooding. Verizon?s network technical facilities received extensive damage in the area, and some facilities had water high enough in basements to damage backup power equipment. The company spent the last day just pumping flood water out of their facilities in the area and is now bringing in new generators to power buildings and restore service.

The venerable landline, now considered a relic by a growing number of Americans, may prove to be the hardy survivor of Hurricane Sandy, holding up well in areas upstate and in parts of New York City where spotty cell service has left residents doing the unthinkable ? lining up in front of working pay phones.

With cell phone batteries all but dead and power restoration likely to take days if not weeks, Verizon?s self-powered landlines that survived the storm are holding up, even if customers? memories are not.

?The good news is the payphones that are still left are working, the bad news is who can remember anyone?s phone number anymore?? says Stop the Cap! reader Richard, who has been without power since Monday night. ?Cell phone contact lists don?t help much until you can recharge your phone.?

Several New Yorkers are joining Richard looking for community centers and public libraries with working electrical outlets to recharge cell phones while catching up with e-mail on computer terminals that still have Internet access. Some boroughs remain virtually cut off from the rest of New York with roads, tunnels, bridges and public transport only gradually reopening on a limited basis.

Verizon called conditions south of the Garment District in lower Manhattan ?bleak.?

Verizon?s Satellite Solutions Group is sending several emergency mobile communications vehicles to New Jersey and New York this evening?to provide communications services to the impacted region. The disaster recovery fleet is completely self-contained and does not require any commercial power to operate. The mobile vehicles offer voice, data and?Internet connectivity as well as charging capabilities for mobile devices.

?Sandy has left a trail of destruction throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with historic flooding in New York and New Jersey and a hurricane-fueled snowstorm in southwest Virginia and western Maryland,? said Bob Mudge, president of Verizon?s consumer and mass business division.? ?We are asking the public to remain focused on staying safe as there may be dangerous conditions such as fallen trees or power lines.? Our dedicated employees ? from technicians to customer service consultants ? run to a crisis and will continue to do what it takes to put customers back in touch.?

For that to happen, Verizon is waiting for electric utilities to get service back up and running. The company suspects most of its problems are related to electric service interruptions that will resolve once power is restored. But in lower Manhattan and along the coastline, more significant damage is likely to take longer to repair.

Verizon facilities in lower Manhattan, Queens and Long Island have received major damage from severe flooding, interrupting commercial power and rendering backup power systems inoperable.? In some cases, Verizon teams have not been able to access the sites, due to flooding and safety concerns.

As battery backup and generated power fails, additional central offices could lose service until Verizon crews can reach those facilities. Where flood waters have wreaked havoc with Verizon?s equipment, it could take a week or more to restore service.

Verizon Wireless service is reportedly in better shape, with 94% of cell sites still working, according to the company.

But with heavy call volumes and interruptions to Verizon?s backhaul connections which connect cell towers to Verizon?s network, having good reception is no guarantee customers will be able to complete calls or receive them.

Many New Yorkers report outgoing calls go nowhere and incoming calls go straight to voicemail, even with phones powered on.

Other Verizon notifications affecting customers across the northeast:

?All circuits are busy? or ?Your call cannot be completed at this time?

Some Verizon customers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region of the U.S. may receive a message of ?All circuits are busy? or ?Your call cannot be completed at this time? when trying to make a call. This is due to an unusually large volume of calls in the network as a result of Hurricane Sandy. Our engineers are working to accommodate this additional call volume. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Shipment Delays

As storm related transportation disruptions clear, Verizon customers will begin to receive shipments of routers, set top boxes and cabling. However, there may continue to be delays in completing deliveries due to road conditions. We will continue to process orders and ship equipment to our customers as quickly as possible.

Need to Report An Electric Outage or Check on the Status of Repairs in Your Area?

Other stories of interest:

1. Hurricane Sandy?s Wrath on Telecommunications Extends Beyond the Hardest Hit Areas
2. Phone Sabotage: Frontier & Verizon Customers in Upstate NY Face Service Outages
3. AT&T Cell Towers in Connecticut Damaged by Winter Storm: 152; Verizon Wireless: 0
4. Hurricane Irene Did Its Worst in North Carolina, Upstate NY, and New England
5. Goodnight Irene: Some Customers Will Have to Wait Until October for Restored Internet Service

Source: http://stopthecap.com/2012/10/31/verizons-cleanup-after-sandy-ravages-northeast-things-look-bleak-in-lower-manhattan/

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An Update for the Corporate Help Desk - NYTimes.com

BMC Software, which makes products for managing corporate computers and employee help desks, is releasing a product that personalizes delivery of things like documents and corporate software to personal devices. People will be able to use it to order their own computers, automatically know if something urgent is going on in their businesses, or make appointments to talk to a help desk, instead of just waiting on the phone to describe a problem.

If someone is traveling, the system uses the personal device?s geolocation service to help find a local office on Google Maps. A company can put its own floor plan into the map, so people can find meeting rooms or the location of a printer that has been set up to work with the device. Secure content, like sensitive corporate documents and internal phone numbers, can be stored online and retrieved through the service.

?Right now, compared to what consumers have, when you walk into an office and have to use the help desk, you go back in time,? said Robert Beauchamp, BMC?s chief executive. ?Context-aware content delivery will transform the experience of using corporate information technology.?

It should also cut down the cost of running a help desk, since it automates activities like telling people that an online expense reporting system isn?t working, setting up voice mail or providing preapproved applications.

When there are calls to the help desk, they will most likely be prioritized, much the way credit card companies can tell when a high-value customer is calling in. ?We have customers with aerospace engineers and truck drivers, and they all get treated the same by the information technology department,? Mr. Beauchamp said. ?Now, who the user is will be known by the I.T. department.?

BMC is also hoping that the product, called MyIT, gives it a little more visibility. BMC sells products to more than 50,000 companies, and it is a critical part of the connection between corporate servers and the people who use them, but few people outside of I.T. know about it. MyIT will be branded on user devices, Mr. Beauchamp said, much the way Intel put ?Intel Inside? stickers on personal computers.

BMC will also be capturing a lot of user data by running MyIT, which can be analyzed to learn more about how people use their tablets from the road, and how I.T. services should be changed. In the future, that could mean new businesses, or at least even more personal attention during office hours.

Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/in-your-company-everywhere/

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In darkened NYC, safety on the list of concerns

A woman shops for groceries by flashlight in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. ConEd cut power to some neighborhoods served by underground lines as the advancing storm surge from Hurricane Sandy threatened to flood substations. Floodwaters later led to explosions that disabled a substation in Lower Manhattan, cutting power tens of thousands of customers south of 39th Street. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A woman shops for groceries by flashlight in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. ConEd cut power to some neighborhoods served by underground lines as the advancing storm surge from Hurricane Sandy threatened to flood substations. Floodwaters later led to explosions that disabled a substation in Lower Manhattan, cutting power tens of thousands of customers south of 39th Street. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A beachfront house is damaged in the aftermath of yesterday's surge from superstorm Sandy, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Coney Island's Sea Gate community in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

A woman photographs the Manhattan skyline, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 in New York. Much of lower Manhattan is without electric power following the impact of superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

A car is upended on a mailbox on Surf Avenue in Coney Island, N.Y., in the aftermath of Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Ralph Russo)

A beachfront house is completely destroyed in the aftermath of yesterday's surge from superstorm Sandy, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Coney Island's Sea Gate community in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Faced with the prospect of days without power and swaths of the city plunged into darkness at night, police brought in banks of lights and boosted patrols to reassure victims of a monster storm that they won't be victims of crime.

Some prominent galleries in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood hired private security and apartment building superintendents suddenly became guards. In Coney Island, about 100 police officers stood on corners or cruised in cars to guard a strip of vandalized stores and a damaged bank, to the relief of shaken residents.

"We're feeling OK, but at first we felt worried," 12-year-old Oleg Kharitmov said Tuesday as he walked his dog with his parents by the bank. "I'm pretty happy that the cops are here."

The precautions came on a second powerless night after the city was battered by Hurricane Sandy on Monday night and residents grappled with how long it would take to get back to normal ? or at least New York's version of normal.

"Clearly, the challenges our city faces in the coming days are enormous," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said as officials warned that power might not be back until the weekend for hundreds of thousands of people accustomed to a life carried by subway, lit by skyline and powered by 24-hour deli.

While some bus service resumed and some bridges reopened at midday, transit officials said they couldn't predict when the subway would run again after suffering the worst damage in its 108-year history.

The storm's deadly impact grew grimly clearer as the worst of it moved off: The death toll rose to 18 in the city, including two people who drowned in a home and one who was in bed when a tree fell on an apartment. A fire destroyed as many as 100 houses in a flooded beachfront neighborhood in Queens, while firefighters used boats to rescue people in chest-high water.

Faye Schwartz surveyed the damage in her Brooklyn neighborhood, where cars were strewn like leaves, planters were deposited in intersections and green trash bins were tossed on their sides.

"Oh, Jesus. Oh, no," she said.

There was no sign of looting or widespread crime, although about a dozen people were arrested in Coney Island and Queens on charges of trying to steal from shops, a pharmacy and the bank, where the entire front was missing.

As night fell, nerves frayed.

Yvique Bastien waited outside an apartment complex with her two sons, her daughter, 4-month old grandchild and a pushcart full of supplies, hoping to get a ride to a relative's home from a member of her church. With the power out, it wasn't safe to stay, she said.

"We don't know what can happen to us," she said.

In Chelsea, residents strolled down darkening streets with no lights, while traffic police tried to manage major intersections.

Roberto Pineta stood in front of the apartment building where he works as superintendent, saying he took it upon himself to keep residents safe by sitting in a chair inside the front entrance, day and night, sleeping only a few hours at a time. Candles lit the entrance to a nearby apartment building where another superintendent and his staff were putting in extra hours while power is out.

"It's a little disconcerting to be in the dark, but I feel safe ? these guys are great," Stacey Vuolo said as she headed to her brother-in-law's nearby apartment, which at least had cold water for a shower.

On West 24th Street, generators lit up the Andrea Rosen gallery, which had hired private security.

Down the street, artist Arlene Rush said she didn't require extra security in her third-floor studio, because it required several keys to access from the street.

"I don't really need the cops," added neighbor Guy Kloppenburg, a teacher. "We knock on each other's door to make sure everyone is OK."

Bloomberg promised "a very heavy police presence" in the darkened neighborhoods, which include much of Manhattan south of the Empire State Building, from the East River to the Hudson River. Even outside the blackout areas, police deployed vans and patrol cars with their roof lights on, along with officers on the streets in a robust show of force.

For the 8 million people who live here, the city was a different place one day after being battered by the megastorm ? a combination of Hurricane Sandy, a wintry storm and a blast of arctic air.

Schools were shut for a second day and were closed Wednesday, too. The New York Stock Exchange was closed for a second day, the first time that has happened because of weather since the 19th century, but planned to reopen Wednesday, with Bloomberg ringing the opening bell.

Problems to high-voltage systems caused by the storm forced the utility to cut power Tuesday night to about 160,000 additional customers in Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Consolidated Edison, the power company, estimated it would be four days before the last of the 323,000 customers in Manhattan and Brooklyn who lost power have electricity again. For the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Westchester County, with more than 450,000 outages, it could take a week.

The city modified its taxi rules and encouraged drivers to pick up more than one passenger at a time, putting New Yorkers in the otherwise unthinkable position of having to share a ride with a stranger.

At a small market called Hudson Gourmet, in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, cashiers made change by candlelight and shoppers used flashlights to scour the shelves.

Lee Leshen used the light from his phone to make his selections ? three boxes of linguine and a can of tomatoes. His power was out, but the gas in his stove worked, so he could cook.

He said he almost never cooks but is learning.

___

Associated Press writers Meghan Barr, Verena Dobnik, Frank Eltman, Tom Hays, Larry Neumeister, Karen Matthews, Alexandra Olson, Jennifer Peltz, and Hal Ritter contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-31-Superstorm%20Sandy-NYC/id-22adf18bc3654b0c9741ba480dd06ed2

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Elder Care Questions in Burlington City, NJ: What is Parkinson's ...

For those involved in?elder care, either as an occupation or out of respect for the needs of a loved one, the subject of?Parkinson?s Disease?may become part of their daily vernacular. As the second most common neuro-degenerative disorder in the United States, Parkinson?s Disease is most common among the 50 years of age and older population. With that said, it is also important to note that this debilitating disease process can begin in people as young as 30 years of age.

Early Signs and Symptoms

Early signs of the disease process include loss of coordination, muscle stiffness, weakened voice, tremors and loss of sexual function (in men). For many patients, the neuro-degeneration caused by Parkinson?s Disease can proceed slowly for the rest of their lifespan, meaning that, while these symptoms may not improve, they will not grow noticeably worse in a rapid time-frame. Fortunately, this means that a large percentage of Parkinson?s Disease patients will require limited?elder care?services beyond basic in-home care or the assistance of a private caregiver to successfully live at home with the disease.

Elder Care and Parkinson?s Disease

As caregivers, there are a few things that can be done to assist patients suffering from Parkinson?s Disease. Physical therapy, especially during the early and middle stages of the degenerative process, may be extremely helpful in maintaining the patient?s range of motion and flexibility, thus prolonging the painful stiffening of the joints and other debilitating effects of the disease. Some patients also respond well to vitamin supplement and drug therapies to reduce or slow the progress of pain, inflammation and other symptoms of the disease process. In the later stages of the process, a patient may become more reliant upon the assistance of others to accomplish basic tasks, such as shaving, brushing of teeth or bathing. Unfortunately, due to degeneration of cognitive and sensory functions, the patient may not recognize the need for added assistance so it falls to the caregiver to decide when the extra help is appropriate.

While the physical effects of Parkinson?s Disease can be devastating, the non-motor function effects of the degeneration process are often the most troubling for patients, family members and the?elder care?team that is trying to provide needed support. As a neuro-degenerative process, Parkinson?s disease can cause patients to suffer from depression and anxiety. The disease can also cause normally fluent speakers to lose their train of thought or develop a twitch during conversations, which makes communication difficult. Caregivers can assist the patient by displaying patience and empathy in these situations, as well as redirecting the patient when lessened cognitive function is causing them to make dangerous decisions.

By providing for the patients physical and mental needs, caregivers can ensure that those suffering from Parkinson?s Disease can continue to live a full and well-adapted life at home or in assisted living.

Assisted Living At Home is an elder care company servicing Burlington County, Camden County and Gloucester County with a primary focus on care for Alzheimer?s/dementia care for individuals in their home. For more information about elder care, call us at (856) 432-2602.

Source: http://www.assistedlivinginhomecare.com/elder-care-in-burlington-city-nj/

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Video: Sandy?s devastation: Deaths, floods, outages

>> storm covered this morning. let's start with natalie morales in lower manhattan in battery park city . natalie, good morning.

>> reporter: good morning to you, matt. as we are just waking up, as millions are to realize the full devastation the consequences and aftermath of sandy, as you can see here we're still feeling the effects here, the outer bands of that storm still present here. the whitecaps behind me here on the harbor as we'll still raging. clearly the story here last night was definitely the flooding. at the height of the storm there was a 13-foot storm surge . that a record-breaker here in new york city , and as you mentioned this is a city that was plunged into darkness as well. about 650,000 people just in the city alone. more than 6 million just along the -- up and down the eastern seaboard . now, this has been a deadly storm , certainly a storm that we're just beginning to really see the full effects, and we'll understand more as soon as the sun comes up, but clearly we will then see what really has been the aftermath. waves pounded the new jersey coastline destroying parts of atlantic city 's historic boardwalk.

>> this storm as everyone has been saying it's not like any storm we've ever seen before.

>> reporter: sparks flew from a con-edison explosion in manhattan, and snow fell in western virginia and tennessee, all scenes from super storm sandy, also known as frankenstrom or the storm of the century .

>> this water is swallowing this neighborhood.

>> reporter: it was downgraded late monday to a post- tropical cyclone , but when it hit land at around 8:00 p.m . with winds of up to 90 miles per hour, no one was spared its wrath.

>> now we're seeing hurricane force wind gusts, and this is really pushing the atlantic on to the beaches here of north jersey .

>> reporter: millions of people and more than half a dozen states experienced devastating flooding, and over 7 million homes lost power. raging fires spread across the tri-state area. in lower manhattan , the lights went out in the city that never sleeps . the power outage caused evacuations of some of the city's most vulnerable. over 200 patients were carried down stairs and out of nyu's langone medical center , including babies in critical care. a building was ripped apart, left exposed to the storm , and a construction crane hung by threads 80 stories above the ground.

>> unless you own a submarine, there's no way you're getting out of new york city .

>> reporter: and there is no getting in.

>> what looks like a river is actually the fdr drive .

>> reporter: water gushed through the city, covering everything from ground zero to the brooklyn waterfront and the new jersey p.a.t.h. train. the mta chairman spoke to the historic damage saying the new york city subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disas ter as devastating as what we experience d last night.

>> we need to keep the roads clear. do not drive. let me repeat that. please, do not drive.

>> reporter: as day breaks, the recovery effort begins, but the extent of the damage from this de deadly storm remains to be seen. now, of course, this is the city's financial center as well. the new york stock exchange will remain closed for a second day. now, this is only the second time in history that has happened. the last time back in 1888 during a blizzard. now, can you see once again, conditions have worsened here this morning. we're feeling some rain, again some high winds here once again, but certainly nothing like what we experienced yesterday at the height of this storm . matt and savannah, you talked about early damage estimates. they are saying anywhere between $10 billion and $20 billion, but it still may be too soon to tell.

>> all right, natalie, downtown lower man hattan, battery park city where they saw a record storm surge . thanks, we'll check

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/49607121/

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NOCO Canada Energizes the Web with a New Site from 360 PSG

Buffalo, NY, October 31, 2012 ?(PR.com)? NOCO Canada launched their new website www.noco.ca with 360 Professional Services Group.

NOCO Canada is a family owned and operated company with almost 80 years of experience in the energy business. As a reseller of both Esso and Mobil brands, NOCO Canada supplies Esso branded heating oil, gasoline, and diesel to serve residential, farm, commercial, and industrial customers across Southern, Central, and Eastern Ontario.

NOCO Canada also provides a full line of Mobil lubricants for automotive, fleet, industrial, metalworking, and specialty needs, while offering a used oil recovery program to ensure that businesses never need to worry about the proper collection, transportation, and processing of the waste they generate.

360 PSG provided custom graphic design giving NOCO Canada a professional online presence from which to promote their ongoing commitment to delivering energy to the communities and businesses they serve. The new site also offers existing customers the opportunity to sign up for both the budget and direct pay billing options online.

With the Fission Content Management System (CMS), NOCO Canada has the ability to create, edit, and update an unlimited number of content pages from any computer with internet access at any time.

NOCO Canada's site operates on the Fission Web System, which contains powerful built-in search engine optimization (SEO) tools that have the potential to improve visibility online and increase search engine ranking.

NOCO Canada's new website is securely hosted on 360 PSG's servers at their business class datacenter in Buffalo, NY.

Contact Information:
360 Professional Services Group
Joel Colombo
716-829-7373
Contact via Email
www.360psg.com
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook/360PSG or Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter/360PSG

Click here to read the full story: NOCO Canada Energizes the Web with a New Site from 360 PSG

Press Release Distributed by PR.com

Source: http://tech.rambergmedia.com/noco-canada-energizes-the-web-with-a-new-site-from-360-psg/

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Eat to Compete!: Added Sugars: The Scary Truth!

Halloween is that time of year when kids rejoice, parents groan and dentists cringe. The holiday by tradition is filled with sugar-glazed donuts, gooey caramel apples and chewy candies of all sorts. It is a good thing Halloween comes only once a year, as regular intake of these high-sugar foods wreaks havoc on our health in more ways than one. A study assessing the U.S. NHANES 2007-2008 data reported that added sugars provided 14.6% of total energy intake in individuals' diets with the main contributors being soda and energy/sports drinks, grain-based desserts, fruit drinks, dairy desserts and candy. The USDA recommends no more than 32gm (or 8 tsp) of added sugars/day per 2,000 Kcal of intake; this is equivalent to 6% of calories from added sugars.

So after the costumes are put away and the candy is eaten (or thrown away), what can you do on a daily basis to make sure your intake of added sugars isn't sky-high? First, lets review the facts:

• Added sugars are sugars and syrups that are added to foods or beverages during processing or preparation
• Added sugars does not include naturally occurring sugars such as those that occur in milk and fruits.
• While the body does not metabolize added vs. natural sugars differently, sources of natural sugars often contain other nutrients such as fiber or vitamins and minerals. These other nutrients benefit our overall level of health and also affect the total metabolism of the food.
• Foods that contain added sugars include: soft drinks, candy, cakes, cookies, pies, fruit drinks (fruitades, fruit punch, Tang), milk-based desserts and products (ice cream, sweetened yogurt and sweetened milk), grain products (sweet rolls, cinnamon toast, donuts, Pop-Tarts, sweetened cereals, Toaster Strudels, etc.). Clearly this is not an all-inclusive list!

If you are confident the product contains only added sugars, you can calculate the number of teaspoons of sugar in that food or drink. For every 4 grams of sugar on?a food label (look at total carbohydrate)?that is equal to 1 teaspoon of sugar in the food. Here are a few examples:

• One 12 fl. oz. can of regular soda = 40 grams sugar = 10 tsp sugar
• 1 jelly-filled donut = 36 grams sugar = 9 tsp sugar
• One 2 oz. (regular-sized) Snickers candy bar = 34 grams sugar = 8.5 tsp sugar
• 1 cup chocolate ice cream = 38 grams sugar = 9.5 tsp

The problem with targeting added sugars in our diet is that finding the added sugars is sometimes not as obvious. Many products that we believe to contain only natural sugars (such as, perhaps, yogurt) actually contain added sugars as well.?With these foods,?looking at the food label doesn't help. While the label lists "sugars", this doesn't always mean added sugars if there are natural sugars present and so often confuses consumers.

So, be an added sugar detective! The next time you are looking at a product, find the ingredient list. If any of?these ingredients are listed, the product contains added sugars:
-brown sugar?????????????????????-invert sugar??????????????????-anhydrous dextrose
-corn sweetener????????????????-lactose????????????????????????? -confectioners powdered sugar
-corn syrup????????????????????????-maltose????????????????????????-corn syrup solids
-dextrose???????????????????????????-malt syrup??????????????????? -maple syrup
-fructose??????????????????????????? -molasses?????????????????????-nectars
-fruit juice concentrates?????-raw sugar???????????????????? -white granulated sugar
-glucose???????????????????????????? -sucrose??????????????????????? -cane juice, cane sugar
-high-fructose corn syrup?? -sugar
-honey??????????????????????????????? -syrup

Remember, too, that ingredients are listed by weight. So if an added sugar is one of the first few ingredients, the product is likely high in added sugar.

So what are some good ways to?reduce added sugars in your diet? Come back next week to find out!

Be Extraordinary,


RDKate

Source: http://rdkate.blogspot.com/2012/10/added-sugars-scary-truth.html

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Emergency Closing Notification Procedures | OSU Libraries ...

The approach of winter weather makes this a good time to review the Libraries? notification procedures in the event inclement weather, power outages or other situations result in the closing of some or all library locations. ??Key points to keep in mind:

• There is a distinction between ?classes being cancelled? and the ?university being closed.?? An announcement that classes have been cancelled does NOT automatically mean that the Libraries are closed.

• Sometimes decisions regarding delays or closings may change, especially if there is an overnight storm in progress (a midnight decision to delay opening may change at 4 a.m. to a decision not to open at all). It is a good idea to check the sources listed below before heading out the door, in case a last-minute change might alter your plans for the day.

It is suggested that you keep a printed copy of this information at home, so you have it available in the event of severe weather or other issues that occur overnight.

Faculty and staff are responsible for keeping themselves informed regarding a closing, using the following tools:

? Listening to local television and radio reports. Local TV and radio stations will run information on any circumstances resulting in the closing of the university; there will not be specific separate announcements regarding the Libraries. In addition, you are encouraged to tune into WOSU 89.7 FM or check Ohio State?s web page (http://www.osu.edu) for information on emergency university closings.

? Calling 247-6509. This phone number will have a recorded message for Libraries staff with instructions on reporting for work. If the building you work in is closed, you have the option of reporting to another library facility that is open that day. The message will indicate which libraries are open.

? Checking the Libraries? web site and staff intranet. If circumstances permit, the Libraries Internet and intranet sites will be updated with information for the staff on reporting for work. Both are accessible through the Libraries? web site, at library.osu.edu

? Checking your OSU email. If circumstances permit, check your OSU email account for ?liball? messages pertaining to any closing.

? Contacting your supervisor. Be sure you have contact information for your supervisor.

Source: http://library.osu.edu/blogs/communication/2012/10/29/emergency-closing-notification-procedures/

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Women in construction to host accounting presentation | The ...

Article date: Oct 30 2012

The Western Colorado Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction will host a presentation on Internet-based accounting services as part of its upcoming meeting.

The meeting is set for 6:15 p.m. Nov. 5 at Golden West Accounting, 397 Ridges Blvd. in Grand Junction.

Lisa Tonsfeldt from Morris & Tonsfeldt CPAs will discuss Internet-based accounting services for small and medium businesses, including Quickbooks and application hosting.

Admission to the dinner meeting is $20 for members, $22 for others.

Reservations are due. Oct. 30. For reservations or more information, call Nancy Lazenga at 497-8238, A professional association for women in the construction industry, NAWIC offers networking and educational opportunities through monthly chapter meetings and regional and national conferences.

?

Related Articles:

1. Women in construction elect new officers
2. Firm to demonstrate cloud-based accounting services
3. Business in the cloud: Accounting firm helps clients keep score
4. Women entrepreneurs encouraged to take steps toward success
5. Accounting firm announces promotions
6. Real estate group plans presentation on foreclosure investments

Source: http://thebusinesstimes.com/women-in-construction-to-host-accounting-presentation/

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Indiana hoping to match hype of being No. 1

Indiana's Cody Zeller is surrounded by teammates Jonny Marlin (10) and Peter Jurkin in a scrimmage game Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 in Bloomington, Ind., during Hoosier Hysteria, as the NCAA college basketball team began its season. (AP Photo/Bloomington Herald-Times, David Snodgress)

Indiana's Cody Zeller is surrounded by teammates Jonny Marlin (10) and Peter Jurkin in a scrimmage game Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 in Bloomington, Ind., during Hoosier Hysteria, as the NCAA college basketball team began its season. (AP Photo/Bloomington Herald-Times, David Snodgress)

Victor Oladipo, center, jumps a huddled group of players and cheerleaders during the team's dunk contest, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, in Bloomington, Ind., during Hoosier Hysteria, as the NCAA college basketball team began its season. (AP Photo/Bloomington Herald-Times, David Snodgress)

Indiana's Victor Oladipo goes to the basket in a scrimmage game Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, in Bloomington, Ind., during Hoosier Hysteria, as the NCAA college basketball team began its season. (AP Photo/Bloomington Herald-Times, David Snodgress)

Indiana's Christian Watford goes against teammate Victor Oladipo in a scrimmage game Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, in Bloomington, Ind., during Hoosier Hysteria, as the NCAA college basketball team began its season. (AP Photo/Bloomington Herald-Times, David Snodgress)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) ? Jordan Hulls walks into Assembly Hall wearing a T-shirt that reads "How Sweet It Is," a phrase intended to celebrate Indiana's return to the NCAA tournament regional semifinals last spring.

This fall, those words have a whole new meaning.

After spending three years in the abyss and another year trying to prove themselves, the Hoosiers are ranked No. 1 and squarely in the discussion about the national championship.

Indiana is back. Finally.

"It could be a really special year and everybody is anxious to start seeing what this team is capable of," junior guard Victor Oladipo said with his usual exuberance. "It's the stuff you dream about, trying to chase this one goal that everyone is trying to chase."

Outsiders certainly believe Indiana has the combination to do that this season.

For the first time since 1979-80, and only the third time in school history, the Hoosiers open this season ranked No. 1. Sophomore center Cody Zeller is the early favorite to be the Big Ten player of the year, and the campaigning to make him this year's national player of the year is in full swing, too. Indiana basketball tickets are again one of the hottest items in the state.

Don't believe it?

Eager fans are so excited about this season they filled every seat inside Assembly Hall for an open practice Oct. 20 two hours before it began. Coach Tom Crean apologized to those who were turned away.

"It makes you appreciate winning that much more," said Hulls, a senior guard and one of the team leaders. "But it is kind of crazy to think about how far we've come."

Crean was hired in April 2008 to clean things up after an embarrassing NCAA phone-call scandal tainted the school's pristine image and gutted the roster. He promised to restore the program's image, its national prestige and to win championships with a team that would make everyone proud.

Nobody expected the long road back to be easy, least of all Crean, who had only two returning players, both walk-ons, in that first season.

Crean remembers it well. Indiana crashed to 6-25, losing to the likes of Lipscomb and barely avoided losing to Division II school Chaminade in the seventh-place game at the Maui Invitational. It was ugly.

"We had no leadership that year," Crean said. "You look around pro and college sports, you take the leader out of a business and the business will be affected. Now you take the leadership out of a program, and the players don't have anyone to look up to, nobody who's been through that. We had to grow into that. We could have signed junior college kids, but it wouldn't have made any difference because they hadn't been through Indiana and neither had we."

While Hulls was busy winning the state's 2009 Mr. Basketball Award, he watched disbelievingly as his hometown school tumbled.

When Crean offered him a chance to be part of the solution, Hulls couldn't pass it up.

Crean gave the same sales pitch same everywhere he went: Come to Indiana and you'll get playing time right away, maybe start, become part of something bigger than themselves, earn a degree from a highly-respected institution and forever be known in Hoosiers lore as part of the group that rebuilt Indiana basketball.

"I remember the dark days, and now I see the guys being picked high. The program is back," said shooting guard Maurice Creek, who came to Indiana to help restore the basketball program before three season-ending injuries derailed his career. "We have more pieces than when I first got here."

The struggles continued through Crean's next two seasons as Indiana went 10-21 and 12-20. Doubters began to wonder how long all this would take.

The Hoosiers answered that challenge with a magical 2011-12. Indiana won 15 more games, finishing 27-9 and making their first NCAA tourney under Crean. But it wasn't just the Hoosiers record that got national attention.

On Dec. 10, Christian Watford hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to beat No. 1 Kentucky 73-72. Three weeks later, the Hoosiers upset then No. 2 Ohio State 74-70. In February, as No. 5 Michigan State closed in on a Big Ten title, the Hoosiers did it again, soundly beating the Spartans 70-55.

It marked the first time in school history that Indiana had beaten three top-five teams in the same season, and the first time in Crean's tenure that the Hoosiers became a ranked team. The only real glitch came in the March rematch with Kentucky, won by the eventual national champs 102-90 ? a loss the Hoosiers are now using as motivation.

"It probably always lingers because you never want to lose a game," Hulls said. "You hate the feeling of a loss, and we don't want to get back to that point and lose again."

Zeller, who averaged 15.6 points and 6.6 rebounds last season, has grown about one-half inch to an even 7-feet, has added 10 to 15 pounds of muscle and feels stronger and better than he did a year ago. He is also ready to start shooting 3-pointers.

"I worked on it a lot this summer," he said after Hoosier Hysteria. "I shot 3s in high school, but I know I'll have to shoot some from outside this year."

Watford (12.6 points), Hulls (11.7 points) and Oladipo (10.8) also are back.

What else does Indiana have? Depth and one of the nation's top freshmen classes.

Backup Will Sheehey (8.6) and sophomores Remy Abell and Austin Etherington could all have expanded roles this year. New point guard Yogi Ferrell and two 6-foot-8 forwards, Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Jeremy Hollowell, all freshmen, could both see significant playing time, too, especially with forward Derek Elston expected to miss six to eight weeks with a torn meniscus.

But Crean has another advantage other national contenders don't. His team has enough players still around from those losing seasons to remind players to ignore the chatter and just work toward getting their sweetest finish of all ? a sixth national championship banner.

"I'm not even going to try to downplay that it's not a big deal. It's not a 'hey, we told you so.' It's none of that. We lived it. And I think it's a great testament to everybody that's been a part of that program with sticking with it and moving onward and upward," Crean said. "It's an incredible program. It's an incredible school. We need people that are going to come in and leave it in a better place than they found it. That's exactly what our players are trying to do."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-10-29-T25-Indiana%20Preview/id-f9935c1e07214e5e8f5ca4b2a069eae1

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Video: Water floods over barriers in Atlantic City, N.J.

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Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/49597783/

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Video: Last Warren, Brown debate cancelled

>> you, mark. massachusetts senator scott brown and elizabeth warren canceled their final debate for tonight as a result of hurricane sandy. in statements both candidates said going forward with the fourth debate would be, quote, inappropriate. it's after a new boston globe poll shows the race tied with brown slightly leading warren 45-43. you know there's a university poll out saying warren is up around 7 points. nevertheless there's a big shift from what you and what "the boston globe " indicated back in september.

>> yeah. i think you've seen the volatility of this race. the majority of polls are still favoring warren by a few points. they're all basically within the margin of error, and there's a little volatility there. both sides and a lot of political handicappers see warren with a little bit of an edge there. clearly it's within striking distance for both candidates, and i think that's the important thing that our poll showed.

>> let's talk about the decision, a mutual decision to call off the debate. we know at least one other debate between the two of them was in jeopardy due to business on the hill. it's very interesting, again, this final debate, and they have a lot of bad blood if you will between them. a lot of personal back and forth here. this is one of the hottest senate races that we will follow next week.

>> sure. yeah, i was all ready to cover a debate today. won't have it. warren has said she would like to go forward with a thursday debate, which is the alternate time proposed. brown has not completely ruled it out but says he does not think another debate is necessary. he doesn't think he's going to have time. he's got campaigning to do, he said. so he's definitely down-played the possibility for another deba debate. they've had three, but it's been a while. as we saw from the polls, there are still quite a few people beginning to pay attention to the race.

>> speaking of those people who are just beginning at the end of the race it to pay attention , what are the concerns some democrats have with elizabeth warren and the same with independents who are leery of mr. brown?

>> liz warren is trying to get out the democrats voting for obama to come out for her and make sure the turnout is big. obama is expected to win big here, and the question is how big? it's sort of like a point spread in sports. the teams the field may have one definition of winning and the betters have another. she needs a big spread here and brown needs a smaller spread. that's what's the difference in all these polls, the margin of victory there. brown is trying to make sure he cuts into her democratic state and really overwhelmingly pins independents, and he's doing well. depending on the poll he's doing very, very well or pretty well. all these things make a difference in a close election. but that's why he's been appealing to being a bipartisan figure and at the same time trying to undermine any strength she has by saying she has character issues.

>> thank you very much. great pleasure to have you on.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/49612574/

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Honeybees harbor antibiotic-resistance genes

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Bacteria in the guts of honeybees are highly resistant to the antibiotic tetracycline, probably as a result of decades of preventive antibiotic use in domesticated hives. Researchers from Yale University identified eight different tetracycline resistance genes among U.S. honeybees that were exposed to the antibiotic, but the genes were largely absent in bees from countries where such antibiotic use is banned. The study appears on October 30 in mBio?, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

"It [resistance] seems to be everywhere in the U.S.," says Nancy Moran of Yale University, a senior author on the study. "There's a pattern here, where the U.S. has these genes and the others don't."

Honeybees the world over are susceptible to the bacterial disease called "foulbrood", which can wipe out a hive faster than beekeepers can react to the infection. In the U.S., beekeepers have kept the disease at bay with regular preventive applications of the antibiotic oxytetracycline, a compound that closely resembles tetracycline, which is commonly used in humans. Oxytetracycline has been in use among beekeepers since the 1950s, and many genes that confer resistance to oxytetracycline also confer resistance to tetracycline.

Using sensitive molecular techniques, Moran and her colleagues screened honeybees from several locations in the United States and from Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and New Zealand as well as several wild bumblebees from the Czech Republic, for the presence and abundance of tetracycline resistance genes. They found that U.S. honeybees have greater numbers and a more diverse set of tetracycline resistance genes than honeybees from the other countries.

Moran says it is reasonable to expect to see widespread resistance among bees, considering the decades-long use of oxytetracycline in honeybee hives. "It seems likely this reflects a history of using oxytetracycline since the 1950s. It's not terribly surprising. It parallels findings in other domestic animals, like chickens and pigs," says Moran.

Moran notes that beekeepers have long used oxytetracycline to control the bacterium that causes foulbrood, but the pathogen eventually acquired resistance to tetracycline itself. Of the foulbrood pathogens Melissococcus pluton and Paenibacillus larvae, Moran says, "They carry tetL, which is one of the eight resistance genes we found. It's possible that the gene was transferred either from the gut bacteria to the pathogen or from the pathogen to the gut bacteria."

Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and New Zealand do not allow beekeepers to use oxytetracycline in hives, so it is perhaps predictable that honeybees and wild bumblebees from these countries harbored only two or three different resistance genes and only in very low copy numbers, suggesting that the bacteria did not require the genes very frequently.

The authors of the study point out that by encouraging resistance and altering the bacteria that live in honeybee guts, decades of antibiotic applications may have actually been detrimental to honeybee wellbeing. Studies have suggested that the bacterial residents of the honeybee gut play beneficial roles in neutralizing toxins in the bees' diet, nutrition, and in defending the bee against pathogens. By disrupting the honeybee microbiota and reducing its diversity, long-term antibiotic use could weaken honeybee resistance to other diseases. Hence, the treatment that was meant to prevent disease and strengthen the hive may actually weaken its ability to fight off other pathogens.

Moran says while the study is interesting from the perspective of honeybee health and could have implications for how honeybee diseases are managed, the presence of resistance genes in the honeybee gut doesn't pose a direct risk to humans. These gut bacteria, says Moran, "don't actually live in the honey, they live in the bee. We've never actually detected them in the honey. When people are eating honey, they're not eating these bacteria."

###

American Society for Microbiology: http://www.asm.org

Thanks to American Society for Microbiology for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/124898/Honeybees_harbor_antibiotic_resistance_genes_

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The Importance Of Backend Selling Online - Internet Marketing ...

Want to make more money online in your internet business immediately? If so, then the fastest way to do so is by selling to your existing customers. This is known as ?backend marketing?, and it will account for 80% of your total business profits. Many online business owners who get sales get happy and then look for the next person to buy. But this is all wrong.

In fact, this is perhaps the biggest reason that 95% of all new online business owners will fail this year. If you don?t want to be in this 95% group, you will have to make changes. Instead of getting happy from 1 sale from a customer, get happy by getting 5 more sales from that same 1 customer.

You can profit big time if you have a backend system in place that can get your customers?to buy from you over and over again. There?s no cost to get that sale, so you earn 100% profits on each sale. So if you sell a $50 product, and it costs you $50 just to make 1 sale, then you have just acquired a customer for free. And there?s nothing wrong with that.

If you can sell another $50 product to this same 1 customer, you would have earned $50 for free, without doing much to get your customer to buy from you again. Are you catching my drift here? It?s more profitable to chase after your current customers than it is to chase after prospects.

So if you don?t have a backend marketing system in place, now is the perfect time to get one. The best way to start staying in contact with your customers is with an autoresponder. An autoresponder is simply a program that automatically sends out emails to the people who ?opts-in? to your list.

A good autoresponder service is a company named Aweber. You will want to email out to your customers every 4-14 days (depending on what you sell). In some businesses, it?s not necessary to email your customers often, but in other niches, it?s absolutely critical that you stay in contact with your customers very often (every 4 days).

Like any guru will tell you, the money is in the list. And the money is definitely in a customer list. Not a prospect list; but a CUSTOMER list. I know how bad you want to get more sales on a daily basis, but you have to understand that you will get more new sales quicker if you?re selling to a group of 500 customers? instead of 500 prospects.

You see you have to understand? most prospects are just looking for something for free, instead of looking to buy. So you can?t waste alot of time on people like this. I would focus on my customer list about 5 times as hard as I would with a prospect list. With a mentality like this, you can?t go wrong.

Take these tips to have success online by selling to your backend customers. They will make you wealthy.

Good luck with earning more money in your online business today.

For more internet marketing secrets, simply visit the website below: http://www.internetmarketing-rules.com/internetmarketing.html

Source: http://blog.internetmarketing-rules.com/2012/10/the-importance-of-backend-selling-online.html

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Understanding Grief and Loss | Prefijo 34

Throughout the years, the 5 stages of Reduction and Grief have been well written about and discussed. In this dissertation, I will elaborate my own views that lengthen on the Bargaining period of grief. Bargaining will be the normal reaction to feelings of helplessness and also vulnerability after a loss of life of a loved one that?s often associated with the must regain control. Some common thoughts associated with dealing can be ?if only we?d sought medical attention sooner,? ?If only we had gotten a second view from another medical doctor,? ?If only I needed tried to be a presently there more?.

Grief and loss

I believe that the quantity someone grieves is directly proportional to the type of connection the person had towards the deceased. Seems like an elementary concept, yet, it?s filled with a load involving emotional baggage that may be at times hard to evaluate and even harder to comprehend. Often, the person grieving is drowned with a sea of guilt and hopelessness. This is one way our own mind deals with dealing through loss. Such a thing happens because our mind wants to get back to scenario of ?normalcy? as quickly as well as efficiently as possible and uses control since its vehicle. When something undesirable happens, such as coping with the loss of a loved one, one thing the mind seeks to get is some form of management. This is usually done through in search of some form of participation in order to fix the situation. But wait, how can someone ?fix the situation? when the person is deceased? It?s not like we have the powers to get them back to life. This particular defeat can fall apart us, make us more hopeless, irritated, and depressed. Your brain goes into panic function and is desperately searching for a way to gain back a number of some control. Therefore, the thoughts develops feelings of guilt as a method of participation. It is almost the only thing it could do, as a fall behind, because it has nothing otherwise. Looking at it better, it makes a lot of impression; guilt gives the particular person a senses involving participation, a sense of undertaking something (though their counterintuitive since the sense of guilt is a form of personal punishment, it?s still carrying out something and that is an improvement on nothing at all), it?s the only way the psyche knows how to gain back a sense of handle. This guilt, could be the psyche?s way of self-medicating itself with the pain of losing someone. Making abnormal grieving a testimony of how the person seen the lost a single and what that individual meant to them. It can be quite humbling to know that the amount of grieving can be reflective towards the amount of love and affection the person had using the deceased. Making the greater the love, the greater plus much more difficult the grieving process. Understandably, the gap and type of mourning and the degree inside how it affects all of us varies in all people. Often, I find precisely what is most helpful isn?t type of advice one particular gives, or the type of coping mechanism one uses. Rather than carrying out something, just resting with the person in their own pain. Just getting there and allowing the person to go through the mandatory motions they need to in order to make peace and go forward. This task is often tougher to grasp and at times frustrating, and sometimes generating therapy becomes valuable. Seeking a counselor that will allow the mourner to be able to process their grief properly, work through their own guilt, and acquire a healthy sense of engagement is essential in finding interior peace towards a proper recovery.

For more information about grief please visit the website.

Source: http://prefijo34.com/?p=1571

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America's Racial Achievement Gap and the Toxic Mantra of 'Can't ...

by Christopher Paslay

It?s time to stop telling minority students they ?can?t,? and start instilling the skills and values of ?can.?

The notion that black and Latino students can?t compete with white and Asian students in school is gaining national momentum.? Amazingly, this attitude isn?t coming from crazy right wing conservatives or Tea Party zombies (conservatives and Tea Party members actually lobby for a colorblind society where the divisive politics of race, such as affirmative action, are finally removed once and for all), but from civil rights groups and so called ?social justice? advocates who claim to have the best interests of minorities in mind.

The Florida Board of Education is currently holding minority students to lower standards by stating that 74 percent of blacks, 81 percent of Hispanics, 88 percent of whites and 90 percent of Asians should be reading at grade level by 2018.? Last month, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, along with a coalition of other educational and civil rights groups, filed a federal complaint attempting to lower the admission standards of eight elite New York City schools claiming the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) is too difficult and discriminates against black and Latino students; the reading portion of SHSAT requires students to write in coherent paragraphs, use logical reasoning to answer questions, and analyze text; and the math portion requires knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, probability, statistics, geometry, and trigonometry.

The notion that minority students ?can?t,? promoted under the guise of social justice, has infiltrated 21st century public education in many ways.? In addition to admissions tests being ?discriminatory,? minorities can?t compete with whites and Asians because they are being unfairly diagnosed as emotionally disturbed (there is little documented evidence of actual misdiagnosis); are being unfairly disciplined and suspended (actual cases of racial discrimination by public school officials are practically non existent); are being ?pushed-out? of schools (not a single school administrator has ever been prosecuted for forcing a child out); are faced with conscious or unconscious racial discrimination by school teachers (nary a documented case exists); lack money and funds (hundreds of billions of dollars have been pumped into schools in poor and disadvantaged communities since 1965 via Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act); and of course, the trickle-down effects of slavery (which officially ended in America over 149 years ago, on January 1st, 1863).

How much these issues are impacting the educations of minorities is debatable.? But one thing is clear: these ideas are being repeatedly communicated to minority students (and their parents) as to why they can?t compete with their white and Asian peers; these issues also seek extrinsic solutions (which students have no personal control over) rather than focusing on the intrinsic values and behaviors they can control.

In 2010, the Educational Testing Service (ETS), headquartered in Princeton, NJ, issued a policy information a report titled ?The Black-White Achievement Gap: When Progress Stopped.?? The report highlighted two periods in the fight to close the racial achievement gap in America: a period of progress from the Civil Rights Movement to the 1980s when the achievement gap between black and white students was cut in half; and a period of stagnation from the late 1980?s to the present when the achievement gap leveled off and in some cases, widened.

The first period, the one marked by significant progress, was most likely the result of desegregating schools and upgrading conditions for minorities.? Suffocating racial discrimination and the bogus notion of ?separate but equal? was tackled and for the first time gave many minorities access to equal educational resources, such as books, clean schools, rigorous curriculum, qualified teachers, etc.? For the most part, systematic inequalities were corrected, helping minorities gain valuable ground on their white peers; this progress continued steadily for several decades.

But in the late 1980s, something happened.? The achievement gap in America stopped closing.? This perplexed many education advocates because it was around this time that the multicultural education and social justice movements started to bloom.? The ETS report cites disappearing fathers, the decline of the nuclear family, concentrated deprivation, nutrition, and mobility issues as reasons for the stop in progress.

But there is a larger trend that explains why the gap has stopped closing: social justice advocates and civil rights groups have been placing too big of an emphasis on systematic change and not enough emphasis on individual transformation.? And why not?? For nearly 30 years, fighting for changing the system worked wonders (as noted above).? Tragically, however, it appears that this mode of operation is no longer garnishing the same kind of results.? Advocating for societal change appears to have hit its peak in terms of educational achievement 25 years ago.? That?s not to say it?s time to end the fight to bring equity to the system; the system still has room for improvement.

But there is a very large, relatively unexplored approach for closing the achievement gap, and that is through personal empowerment.? Personal empowerment, as in the mantra ?you are the captain of your own ship,? rather than the message that ?you are a victim of paralyzing curcumstances.?? It is the idea of keeping high standards through ?yes, you can,? rather than employing low expectations through ?can?t, can?t, can?t.?

All change is self-change.? Until civil rights groups and social justice advocates embrace this reality, America?s racial achievement gap will remain frozen in time.

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Source: http://chalkandtalk.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/americas-racial-achievement-gap-and-the-toxic-mantra-of-cant/

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Water, fire, destruction: NYC after the superstorm

Water reaches the street level of the flooded Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in New York. Sandy arrived along the East Coast and morphed into a huge and problematic system, putting more than 7.5 million homes and businesses in the dark and causing a number of deaths. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano)

Water reaches the street level of the flooded Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in New York. Sandy arrived along the East Coast and morphed into a huge and problematic system, putting more than 7.5 million homes and businesses in the dark and causing a number of deaths. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano)

This combination of photos shows above, lower Manhattan dark after the hybrid storm Sandy on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, and below a fully lit skyline on Jan. 6, 2012, both seen from the Brooklyn borough of New York. In an attempt to lessen damage from saltwater to the subway system and the electrical network beneath the city's financial district, New York City's main utility cut power to about 6,500 customers in lower Manhattan. But a far wider swath of the city was hit with blackouts caused by flooding and transformer explosions. (AP Photo)

Streets are flooded under the Manhattan Bridge in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, N.Y., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

A construction crane atop a $1.5 billion luxury high-rise in midtown Manhattan dangles precariously after collapsing in high winds Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, as a huge storm bore down on the city. Some nearby buildings including the Parker Meridien hotel, were evacuated as a precaution and the streets below were cleared around the nearly completed high-rise is known as One57, which is in one of the city's most desirable neighborhoods, near Carnegie Hall. (AP Photo/Verena Dobnik)

A woman uses her mobile phone to photograph New York Harbor at Battery Park, at the southern tip of Manhattan, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Defiant New Yorkers jogged, pushed strollers and took snapshots of churning New York Harbor on Monday, trying to salvage normal routines in a city with no trains, schools and an approaching mammoth storm. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The massive storm that pummeled the East killed 10 people in New York City and left the nation's largest city eerily quiet Tuesday, with no running trains, a darkened business district and neighborhoods under water.

It was "a devastating storm, maybe the worst that we have ever experienced," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who gave no firm timeline on when the city's basic services would be restored.

Scenes of the damage from the overnight havoc were everywhere after a wall of seawater and high winds slammed the city, destroying buildings and flooding tunnels. Between 80 and 100 flooded homes in Queens caught fire and were destroyed. A hospital removed patients on stretchers and 20 babies from neonatal intensive care, some on respirators operating on battery power.

Sidewalks, streets and subways usually bustling with crowds and traffic jams were largely empty. And high above midtown, the broken boom of a crane continued to dangle precariously over a neighborhood.

"Oh, Jesus. Oh, no," said Faye Schwartz, 65, Tuesday morning as she surveyed the damage in her Brooklyn neighborhood, where cars were strewn like leaves, planters were deposited in intersections and green Dumpsters were tossed on their sides.

The storm was once Hurricane Sandy but combined with two wintry systems to become a huge hybrid storm whose center smashed ashore late Monday in New Jersey. New York City was perfectly positioned to absorb the worst of its storm surge ? a record 13 feet.

The dead included two who drowned in a home and one who was in bed when a tree fell on an apartment, the mayor said. A 23-year-old woman died by stepping into a puddle near a live electrical wire. A man and a woman were crushed by a falling tree. An off-duty officer on Staten Island who ushered his relatives to the attic of his home apparently became trapped in the basement.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said 156 rescue missions were made by state and city police.

"It's fair to say that the state police and NYPD and the National Guard saved hundreds of lives yesterday," he said.

At a darkened luxury high-rise building called the William Beaver House in Lower Manhattan, resident manager John Sarich was sending up porters with flashlights up and down the 47 flights of stairs to check on residents.

He said most people stayed put despite calls to evacuate. One pregnant resident started having contractions, and Sarich said that before the power went out, he nervously researched how to deliver a baby on the Internet.

"I said, 'Oh boy, I'm in trouble,'" Sarich said. The woman managed to find a cab to take her to a hospital.

Uptown in Chelsea, the city's thriving gallery district was under waist-high water the night before.

Reggie Thomas, a maintenance supervisor at a prison located within striking distance of the overflowing Hudson River, emerged from an overnight shift there, a toothbrush in his front pocket, to find his 2011 Honda with its windows down and a foot of water inside. The windows automatically go down when the car is submerged to free drivers. It left his car with a foot of water inside, and unable to start.

"It's totaled," Thomas said, with a shrug. "You would have needed a boat last night."

The city's transit system suffered unprecedented damage, from the underground subway tunnels to commuter rails to bus garages, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Tuesday.

"We have no idea how long it's going to take," spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said.

All 10 subway tunnels between Manhattan and Brooklyn were flooded during the storm, as the saltwater surge inundated signals, switches and third rails and covered tracks with sludge, she said.

The entire system wasn't flooded and the authority was already pumping water Tuesday. Workers ultimately will have to walk all the hundreds of miles of track to inspect it, she said, and it wasn't clear how long that would take. Trains had been moved to safety before the storm.

The 108-year-old subway system "has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night," Chairman Joseph Lhota said in a statement.

Bloomberg said there was just no telling when power and transit would be back, but estimated some bus service would be restored by Tuesday afternoon.

"Clearly the challenges our city faces in the coming days are enormous," he said.

Water lapped over the seawall in Battery Park City, flooding rail yards, subway tracks, tunnels and roads. Rescue workers floated bright orange rafts down flooded downtown streets, while police officers rolled slowly down the street with loudspeakers telling people to go home.

In Queens, nearly 200 firefighters tried to contain an enormous blaze that consumed more than 80 homes in the Breezy Point neighborhood. They had to use a boat to make rescues and climbed an awning to reach about 25 trapped people, fire officials said.

Officials weren't immediately able to pin down the cause of the blaze, and Bloomberg said no deaths had been reported there.

On Staten Island, a tanker ship wound up beached on the shore.

Water surged into two major commuter tunnels ? the Brooklyn Battery and the Queens Midtown. Water coursed into one of the Long Island Rail Road's East River tunnels, the railroad's West Side yards had to be evacuated. At least 40 LIRR stations had no power Tuesday.

The rains and howling winds left a crane hanging off a luxury high-rise in midtown Manhattan, causing the evacuation of hundreds from a posh hotel and other buildings. Inspectors were climbing 74 flights of stairs to examine the crane hanging from the $1.5 billion building.

After a backup generator failed, New York University's Tisch Hospital began evacuating more than 200 patients to other facilities, including 20 babies from neonatal intensive care, some of them on respirators operating on battery power.

In Schwartz's Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook, residents who ignored a mandatory evacuation order awoke to debris-strewn streets and a continued blackout. About 2 inches of mucky dirt and leaves covered streets crisscrossed by downed power lines after water sloshed 12 blocks inland.

The doors of the Fairway grocery store were blown out. Several cars left in the parking lot were shifted by flood waters overnight and were left crammed door to door.

Schwartz and her husband rode out the storm on the third floor of the residences above the Fairway and said white-capped flood waters reached at least 3 feet around the building.

"It was scary how fast the water came up," she said.

The facade of a four-story Manhattan building in the Chelsea neighborhood crumbled and collapsed suddenly, leaving the lights, couches, cabinets and desks inside visible from the street. No one was hurt, although some of the falling debris hit a car.

The city shut all three of its airports, its subways, schools, stock exchanges, Broadway theaters and closed several bridges and tunnels Monday as the weather worsened. By evening, the storm surge was threatening Manhattan's southern tip and utilities deliberately darkened part of the borough to avoid storm damage.

It could be several days to a week before all residents who lost power during the storm get their lights back, officials said.

On Tuesday, the New York Stock Exchange was to be closed again ? the first time it's been closed for two consecutive days due to weather since 1888, when a blizzard struck the city.

At least 1 million customers lost power in New York City, the northern suburbs and coastal Long Island, where floodwaters swamped cars, downed trees and put neighborhoods under water.

On coastal Long Island, floodwaters swamped cars, downed trees and put neighborhoods under water as beachfronts and fishing villages bore the brunt of the storm. A police car was lost rescuing 14 people from the popular resort Fire Island.

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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Tom Hays, Karen Matthews and Larry Neumeister in New York, and Frank Eltman on Long Island.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-30-Superstorm-NYC/id-88eadc74b6b547fc95bcaed774298c25

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