COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (AP) — Olympic champion Evan Lysacek has dropped out of the Grand Prix Series, including the Skate America event which would have been his first competition since winning at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
Lysacek told U.S. Figure Skating on Friday that he won't compete in the Grand Prix, including next week's Skate America in Ontario, Calif., …
With big wave surfing's biggest prize at stake, six of the 24 contestants paddled into position half a mile offshore and began careening down the face of 35-foot (10.5-meter) waves.
The heavy fog present at dawn began to quickly burn off above the Northern California coast …
Imagine stepping on a train near Union Station at any convenienthour and whisking off at speeds of up to 110 mph to Milwaukee,Minneapolis, St. Louis, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati orCleveland.
It could happen in the next five to 10 years, said transportationexperts at the second annual Midwest Rail Advocates Conference here on Saturday.
The rights-of-way for a Midwest high-speed rail network alreadyexist for all the major routes, said Dennis Minichello, president ofthe Midwest High-Speed Rail Coalition, an advocacy group. They areroutes presently in service at slower speeds, or are abandoned lines.
"The problem right now is that it's not coordinated as a …
BAD DATA: The staff of the Federal Communications Commission issued a report saying that AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA provided flawed information to justify AT&T's planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile.
QUESTIONABLE DEAL: The report also found the companies failed to show the deal was in the public …
Hundreds of angry Kiev residents on Thursday picketed the office of the city's increasingly unpopular mayor, an eccentric millionaire who sings at rallies, poses in Speedos to show off his good health and goes by the nickname Cosmos.
Angered by major price hikes for public transport, utilities and medical care, the protesters demanded that mayor Leonid Chernovetsky resign.
But so far the 57-year-old has proved highly resilient, despite widespread accusations of corruption and erratic behavior often bordering on the absurd.
He survived an early vote last year that was initiated by Ukraine's parliament in an attempt to unseat him. He is now fending …
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam - Actress Angelina Jolie left an orphanage in southern Vietnam on Thursday with a 3-year-old boy she plans to adopt. The star, who arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday night, carried the boy from the Tam Binh orphanage to a waiting Toyota van. They are expected to head to the Department of Justice in Ho Chi Minh City where an official ceremony will be carried out to complete the adoption.
Jolie arrived at the orphanage carrying her 5-year-old son Maddox, whom she adopted in neighboring Cambodia in 2002.
About 20 children dressed in …
The Western-backed Palestinian prime minister submitted his resignation Saturday, improving the odds of a possible unity government of Fatah moderates and Hamas militants, followed by new Palestinian elections.
Salam Fayyad announced that he will step down once a new government is formed, but no later than the end of March. Unity talks between the Islamic militant Hamas and the Fatah movement of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are to resume this week in Cairo. Abbas aides noted that if the negotiations fail, Abbas might reappoint Fayyad.
Fayyad, a respected economist, was appointed prime minister by Abbas in June 2007, following Hamas' violent …
The owner of a Glenview trailer park has the right to evicttenants once their leases expire, a Circuit Court judge has ruled.
Judge Richard Curry's ruling on Wednesday means that Joseph J.Bredemann, owner of North Glenview Trailer Park, 2000 Waukegan Rd.,can move ahead with his plans to build a car dealership on theeastern portion of his property.
The 12 families living on that site, who have fought eviction ina drawn-out legal dispute, will have to move out immediately.
Kathy Swanson, who represents the families, said no decision hasbeen made on whether to appeal the ruling.
Ed Grabow, 69, a spokesman for the tenants, said residentsThursday were …
Saddam Hussein's death sentence was celebrated by some on Sunday as justice deserved or even divine, but denounced by others as a political ploy two days before critical U.S. midterm congressional elections.
Worldwide, the range of reactions - including a European outcry over capital punishment and doubts about the fairness of the tribunal that ordered Saddam to hang - reflected new geopolitical fault lines drawn after America's decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and depose its dictator.
The European Union welcomed the verdict but said Saddam should not be put to death. At the Vatican, Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict XVI's top prelate for justice issues, called the …
Point guard Vrbica Stefanov scored 25 points Sunday to lead Macedonia past Germany 86-75 in the second round of the European basketball championship.
Macedonia broke open a tight game late in the third quarter when Dime Tasovski hit a 3-pointer to spark a 14-2 run that made it 69-52 with just under eight minutes to play.
Tasovski finished with 13 points and five steals, and American-born forward Jeremiah Massey chipped in …
Brian Kelly, program director and midday jock at WYTZ-FM (94.7),has bailed out of the sinking radio ship to become morning man atlower-rated WFYR-FM (103.5).
Kelly, 29, a five-year veteran of contemporary-hit "Z-95," willsign on today at "soft hits" adult-contemporary WFYR. He replacesDavid McKay, who had been morning man for 14 months.
WFYR general manager Kelly Seaton said McKay, 31, was releasedafter he and his agent, Darcy Bouzeos, failed to come to terms on acontract renewal. His previous agreement expired six weeks ago. "Ineed a commitment from people on our team," Seaton said.
Reached at home on Friday, McKay said: "I believe there arecertain …
The candidates in the Czech presidential elections
_ VACLAV KLAUS: The incumbent, 66, replaced Vaclav Havel in February 2003. An economist, Klaus was Czechoslovakia's first post-communist finance minister and served as Czech prime minister after the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. From 1998 to 2002, he served as parliamentary speaker. He is credited with introducing market reforms. A Euroskeptic, Klaus warns that excess regulation by Brussels may suppress competition and make Europe less prosperous. Klaus disputes assertions that human activity is to blame for climate change and says measures to stop it would devastate national economies. He is married to an economist and has two sons.
_ JAN SVEJNAR: Svejnar 55, is an economics professor at the University of Michigan. Born in Czechoslovakia, he fled the communist regime at age 17, and received U.S. citizenship in 1981. His Czech citizenship, revoked when he fled, was returned in 2001. He served as an economic adviser to Havel and is not a member of any Czech political party. Svejnar established an economic institute in Prague in the 1990s, and has been a consultant to the World Bank. He favors further European Union integration and the quick adoption of the euro currency. Svejnar is married to an economist and has a daughter and a son.
_ JANA BOBOSIKOVA: Bobosikova, 43, a former TV journalist, was elected to the European Parliament as an independent in 2004. She served briefly as an adviser to incumbent President Vaclav Klaus. She currently heads a fringe party, Politika 21. Bobosikova made headlines as chief of Czech Television news in 2001 when she was forced to leave after massive street rallies protested alleged government influence in the public station. She is an outspoken critic of the EU and a supporter of nuclear energy. She is married with two daughters.
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan has fired the head of the nation's security services, replacing him with the defense minister, a state newspaper reported Wednesday.
Ministerial reshuffles are frequent in the authoritarian ex-Soviet nation and almost no senior official has managed to remain in place for more than a handful of years.
Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper said that Charymurat Amanov, who served as the minister of national security since 2007, lost his job for "shortcomings in his work." Amanov was replaced by Defense Minister Yaylym Berdiyev, who will be succeeded by his deputy, Begench Gundogdiyev.
The prosecutor general said in a televised meeting of senior security officials Tuesday that an audit into the Ministry of National Security's activities revealed "a number of shortcomings," but he gave no specific details.
In contrast with the mercurial late President Saparmurat Niyazov, who died suddenly in late 2006, Berdymukhamedov normally issues at least two verbal warnings before dismissing ministers.
Berdiyev, who trained at an agricultural college before joining the military, is a native of Berdymukhamedov's Akhal province. High-ranking appointees in the Turkmen government have in recent years been selected almost exclusively from Berdymukhamedov's home region in a sign that observers say indicates the president prizes loyalty over competence.
Observers don't expect the tightly controlled, energy-rich nation to face the prospect of public unrest similar to what has roiled the Middle East, but authorities have nonetheless reportedly enforced strict new rules on the movements of university students.
Turkmenistan has cited its neutrality status as a ground for declining to become militarily involved in the U.S.-led coalition's security offensive in neighboring Afghanistan or to join Russian-dominated defense alliances.
Even so, the Central Asian nation has allowed NATO and U.S. aircraft to carry nonmilitary supplies to troops through its airspace.
Berdymukhamedov last year unveiled ambitious plans to create a naval force on the country's Caspian Sea coast, where Turkmenistan is attempting to develop extensive energy reserves.
LOS ANGELES Actor and National Rifle Association PresidentCharlton Heston spent three weeks in an alcohol rehabilitationprogram last spring, his publicist said Monday.
"He thought he needed to take care of something that couldpossibly become a huge problem," publicist Lisa DeMatteo said. "He'sactually back at work, taking care of himself and feeling great."
Heston checked himself into a facility in Utah from late May tomid-June, DeMatteo said. She said the star of "The Ten Commandments,""Ben-Hur" and "Planet of the Apes" had never been in rehab before.
"I think it was overwork. He keeps a horrendous travel scheduleand he's 76 years old," DeMatteo said. "He's speaking, he'scampaigning, he works for the NRA, he's been doing all this stuff,and you know how it is, you go to these dinners and they give you arubber chicken and food that's not really edible and you have alittle bit too much wine."
The Evanston native is back on a hectic schedule of speakingengagements and is completing work on a film, "Town and Country," anensemble comedy with Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton, DeMatteo said.He's also finishing work on a book about his political views.
| National League | |
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| National Football League | |
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| National Basketball Association Preseason | |
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| Cleveland 85, Dallas 79 | F |
| Utah 61, Portland 52 | -3 |
| National Hockey League | |
| N.Y. Islanders 6, N.Y. Rangers 4 | F |
| St. Louis 5, Anaheim 1 | F |
| Pittsburgh 3, New Jersey 1 | F |
| Chicago 4, Buffalo 3 | F |
| Philadelphia 4, Colorado 2 | F |
| Washington 3, Ottawa 2 | F OT |
| Florida 1, Vancouver 1 | -2 |
| Top 25 College Football | |
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Officials don't know if the bat had rabies. It escaped. But they want to alert passengers of the risk just in case. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is trying to reach all 50 people who flew on Delta flight 5121, which departed from Madison to Atlanta on Aug. 5.
If the animal was rabid, people could catch rabies from a bite or exposure to the bat's saliva.
CDC officials asked anyone on the flight to call 1-866-613-2683. The airline didn't retain the records for all the passengers.
The jet was in the air when the winged animal emerged and a passenger shot a video.
AP
President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan is on track to be passed by the Senate after a handful of moderate Republicans and Democrats forced more than $100 billion in cuts in programs they said wouldn't create many jobs right away.
But the group backed away from a confrontation that threatened to kill the legislation altogether after White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel weighed in to urge Democrats to make a final round of concessions.
Architects of the compromise included Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who represented a broader group of moderates unhappy that so much money went into programs they thought wouldn't create jobs. Eventually, every Republican except Collins and Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, left the talks, which finally produced a deal with the White House late Friday afternoon.
While ensuring passage of Obama's plan in the Senate within a few days, the deal sets up difficult negotiations with the House.
Officials put the cost of the bill at $827 billion, including Obama's signature tax cut of up to $1,000 for working couples. Also included is a tax credit of up to $15,000 for homebuyers and smaller breaks for people buying new cars. Much of the new spending would be for victims of the recession, in the form of unemployment compensation, health care and food stamps.
In a key reduction from the bill that reached the Senate floor earlier in the week, $40 billion would be cut from a "fiscal stabilization fund" for state governments. But the compromise package preserves aid to local school districts and an increase in the maximum grant available to college students from low-income families.
A plan to help the unemployed purchase health insurance would be reduced to a 50 percent subsidy instead of two-thirds.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who had sought Friday to cut just $63 billion in spending from the bill, throwing a monkey wrench into the talks, called it an imperfect compromise. He warmly praised it nonetheless.
"But at the end of the day, we are passing a bold and responsible plan that will help our economy get back on its feet, put people to work and put more money in their pockets," Reid said.
Despite a 58-41 majority bolstered by the elections, Democrats need 60 votes to clear a key procedural hurdle on Monday and advance the bill to a final vote.
In addition to Collins and Specter, Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine pledged to vote for the legislation.
The end-stage negotiations played out against a backdrop of yet another dismal jobs report _ 598,000 jobs lost in January and the national unemployment rate rising to 7.6 percent.
At its core, the legislation is designed to ease the worst economic recession in generations, and combines hundreds of billions of dollars in spending to boost consumption by the public sector, along with tax cuts designed to increase consumer spending.
States would get large sums aimed at forestalling cuts in services or tax increases.
Much of the money would go for victims of the recession in the form of food stamps, unemployment compensation and health care. There is money, as well, for construction of highways and bridges.
It's hoped that the combined effort would work its way into the economy and save or create 3 million jobs or so to begin to ease the nation out of the recession by the end of this year.
Remains of possibly dozens of people believed slain in sectarian violence were unearthed Saturday from a mass grave in a former al-Qaida stronghold in southern Baghdad _ the third such find in Iraq this month.
Also Saturday, an Iraqi television station reported one of its reporters had been kidnapped _ the latest incident in a grim series of attacks that has made Iraq among the world's most dangerous countries for journalists.
The badly decomposed remains were found in Baghdad's mostly Sunni Dora neighborhood by Sunnis who have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, police said. They were discovered in an area of Dora that overlooks the main highway leading to Shiite shrine cities in the south.
Sunni extremists would often waylay travelers along that road, kidnapping and killing Shiites.
The remains were placed in black plastic bags and transferred to a Shiite mosque in Dora, according to a police officer at the mosque. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information.
An Associated Press photographer at the Kazimain mosque counted 33 plastic bags, and police said each bag held the remains of one victim. But the remains were so badly decomposed that it was impossible to verify the number.
Some of the bags were opened, revealing body parts, bones and scraps of clothing. One of the bags contained a prosthetic leg.
Relatives of people who had been missing in the area crowded into a courtyard outside the mosque, where the remains were laid out. But none of the remains had been identified by late Saturday. A woman in a black abaya wept as the bags were opened.
Earlier this month, American and Iraqi officials said they found 29 bodies near Lake Tharthar north of Baghdad in the former al-Qaida stronghold of Anbar province. The next day, another 17 victims were discovered in a brushy area west of Baqouba, 55 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
Officials said they believed the bodies were those of people who had been seized at fake checkpoints and murdered because of their sectarian affiliation.
Last Tuesday, the International Red Cross said at least 375,000 people were missing in Iraq, many of them victims of Sunni and Shiite extremists who kidnapped and murdered members of the rival Islamic sect.
The wave of sectarian slaughter has receded somewhat in recent months as more and more Sunnis have turned against al-Qaida and other extremist groups and as Shiite militias have toned down their operations, perhaps fearing a backlash in the Shiite community.
The presence of more American soldiers in the streets of the capital since the troop buildup this year has also discouraged the worst of the abuses by sectarian death squads.
On Saturday, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh attributed some of the improved security to Iran, saying the Iranians were "showing more restraint in sending people and weapons to destabilize Iraq."
Nevertheless, kidnappings and killings are continuing.
The satellite television station al-Baghdadiyah said one of its reporters, 28-year-old Muntadhar al-Zaidi, disappeared Friday. A colleague phoned al-Zaidi around noon Friday, and a stranger answered his cell phone with the words "Forget Muntadhar," according to an editor at the station.
"This is the act of gangs, because all of Muntadhar's reports are moderate and unbiased," the editor told The Associated Press by telephone. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for his own safety.
Al-Baghdadiyah broadcasts from Cairo, Egypt, and is often critical of the Iraqi government and the U.S. military presence here. It is perceived as pro-Sunni. The station has already lost two reporters to the violence.
Iraqi journalists working for local or international media frequently come under threats from extremists because of their reporting or their affiliation with foreign organizations.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 123 journalists and 42 media support workers _ translators, drivers, fixers and guards _ have been killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003. About 85 percent of those deaths were Iraqis, the group said.
In addition, the organization says at least 51 journalists have been kidnapped in Iraq since 2004. Neither CPJ count includes al-Zaidi, whose whereabouts were unknown.
Elsewhere, Iraqi soldiers Saturday raided a Sunni village about 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Baqouba looking for al-Qaida militants, the Iraqi army said. Two soldiers and four militants were killed in the fighting.
The U.S. military said American troops killed seven suspected insurgents and detained 10 in raids across central and northern Iraq.
In Mosul, police detained 13 members of a new militant group, Jihad and Liberation, provincial police said. The group was arrested when Iraqi soldiers raided their hideouts in the eastern part of the city.
It often feels as though medicine is practised "between a rock and a hard place." As physicians, we make difficult treatment decisions that can profoundly affect the lives of our patients. This is particularly true with the present generation of antipsychotic medications, where we have to deal with the paradox that some of our best medications are associated with the greatest metabolic side effects (1). With our patients and their families, we face the dilemma of seeing improvement in psychotic symptoms accompanied by significant weight gain, lipid disturbance, and occasionally, emergent diabetes. We appreciate that our primary goal is to treat psychiatric illness, but do we need to accept these side effects as inevitable and unavoidable? How do we understand and how do we manage metabolic risk when we treat psychosis? Are we truly keeping in mind the long-term interests of our patients?
We have learned that patients with schizophrenia and other forms of severe mental illness have high rates of medical comorbidity (2) and that their life expectancy is shortened, primarily as a consequence of increased coronary heart disease mortality (3). There are barriers to accessing medical care related both to psychiatric illness (for example, self-neglect and difficulty in communicating symptoms) and to the health care system ( for example, lack of integrated mental and physical health care). This has been aptly described as "duel neglect by patients and the system" (4, p 1). Psychiatrists are physicians first. What is our responsibility here? How far should we extend our scope of practice? In this issue of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 3 review papers offer an overview of our present state of knowledge in this area, with the ambitious goal of informing and shaping clinical practice.
In the first paper, John Newcomer and Dan Haupt from the Washington University School of Medicine review the metabolic effects of antipsychotic treatment (5). John Newcomer is chair of the American Psychiatric Association Work Group on Antipsychotics and Metabolic Risk charged with the responsibility ol conducting an extensive review of this topic. Both John and Dan have made seminal contributions to the field.
In the second review, Michael Sernyak and I provide an overview of metabolic monitoring for patients treated with antipsychotic medications (6). We first establish goals for effective metabolic monitoring and then review the various published international antipsychotic monitoring guidelines. Michael Sernyak, from Yale University, is chief of psychiatry, VA Connecticut Healthcare System. In addition to authoring publications on diabetes prevalence that use the extensive Veterans Affairs database, he has broad experience in dealing with the real-life challenges of mental health systems.
In the final review, Guy Faulkner, from the University of Toronto, and I examine evidence for both pharmacologie and nonpharmacologic strategies for treating weight gain and associated metabolic disturbance in antipsychotic-treated patients (7). We were fortunate to have Guy recently join our research group at the University of Toronto. He was previously based in the United Kingdom, and he brings the expertise of health psychology to the challenge of designing interventions to control weight gain and metabolic disturbance in schizophrenia. He was the lead author in a recently submitted Cochrane Review on this topic (8).
We hope that this series of review papers will be pertinent both to Canadian psychiatrists and to their colleagues in other countries. However, there are several points specific to the practice of psychiatry in Canada that should be highlighted. First, certain antipsychotic drugs-namely, ziprasidone, aripiprazole, and amisulpride-that have a more metabolically neutral side effect profile are currently unavailable in Canada. Consequently, our options in terms of antipsychotic choice and antipsychotic switching are limited, and our patients, I believe, are consequently disadvantaged. Second, and on a more optimistic note, our socialized, universalaccess health care system and our national philosophy of inclusiveness should facilitate access to physical health care for psychiatric patients. In this regard, we in Canada are challenged to become leaders in integrating medical and mental health care.
[Reference]
References
1. Green AI, Patel JK, Goisman RM, Allison DB, Blackburn G. Weight gain from novel antipsychotic drugs: need for action. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 2000;22:224 35.
2. Goldman LS. Medical illness in patients with schizophrenia. J Clin Psychiatry 1999;60(Suppl 21):10-5.
3. Osby U, Correia N, Brandt L, Ekbom A, Sparen P. Mortality and causes of death in schizophrenia in Stockholm county, Sweden. Schizophr Res 2000;45(1-2):21-8.
4. Meyer J, Nasrallah H. Issues surrounding medical care for individuals with schizophrenia. In: Meyer J, Nasrallah H, editors. Medical illness and schizophrenia. Washington (DC): Amercian Psychiatric Press; 2003. p 1-13.
5. Newcomer JW, Haupt DW. The metabolic effects of antipsychotic medications. Can J Psychiatry 2006;51:480-91).
6. Cohn TA, Sernyak M. Metabolic monitoring for patients treated with antipsychotic medications. Can J Psychiatry 2006;51:492-501).
7. Faulkner G, Cohn TA. Pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic strategies for weight gain and metabolic disturbances in patients treated with antipsychotic medications. Can J Psychiatry 2006;51:502-11).
8. Faulkner G, Cohn TA, Remington G, Interventions for weight gain in schizophrenia. Protocol for a Cochrane Review. In: The Cochrane Library. Oxford (UK): Update Software. 2005.
[Author Affiliation]
Tony A Cohn, MB, ChB, MSc, FRCPC1
[Author Affiliation]
1 Staff Psychiatrist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario; Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. - Two people were killed and two people were wounded in a shooting at a tire shop Tuesday, police said.
Police found the victims after responding to reports of shots fired around 7:30 a.m., Sgt. David Livingstone said.
THIS ANCIENT-AND GLUTEN-FREE-"GRAIN" OFFERS CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING PROPERTIES AND MAY EVEN PROTECT SKIN FROM THE SUN
What looks like a grain and tastes like one, but isn't? Buckwheat. I lead to head with real grains, it packs a lot more nutritional value- it's high in B vitamins, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, and manganese. Often mistaken for a grain, it's actually the seed of a plant related to rhubarb. Buckwheat is gluten-free, low on the glycemic value index (it rates 54 on the 100 scale), .md packed with protein, fiber, and flavonoids-those disease-lighting phytonutrients we often hear about in relation to tea polyphenols.
This is one carb you don i have to avoid. And it's one superfood whose merits both the West and East can agree upon-buckwheat is grown and used in dishes worldwide I lulled buckwheat grains, called buckwheat groats, are transformed into flour. Buckwheat flour is used to make breakfast cereals, pancake mixes, breads, muffins, and Japanese soba noodles. And roasted buckwheat groats are used to make kasha, an Eastern European porridge. Even bees are partial to the fruit seed, using buckwheat's fragrant blossoms to yield buckwheat honey.
It has a distinctively hearty, nutty flavor, so it's often mixed with other flours to soften the taste. Culinary uses aside, studies have been uncovering some of buckwheat's nutritional perks and health benefits. Here's some of the latest good news:
Diabetes
Canadian researchers have found that buckwheat may help to manage blood sugar in those with diabetes. Findings suggest that buckwheat boasts a glucose-lowering effect. Feeding a single dose of buckwheat extract to experimental rats with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes caused a decrease in blood-glucose levels of 12 to 19 percent; the researchers believe the extract would produce a similar benefit for type 2 diabetes. A buckwheat compound called chiro-inositol may be responsible for the effect, researchers believe, since it has been known to play a role in glucose metabolism and cell signaling, so it may make cells more sensitive to insulin or art like insulin itself.
Another theory holds that because buckwheat is high in fiber (over 4 g per cup), it's absorbed more slowly from the gut into the bloodstream than other lower fiber grains. Also, because the body digests it more slowly, buckwheat is more filling, which may help with weight control-another vital aspect of diabetes management. In addition, buckwheat is a rich source of magnesium, which has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes in some studies. A one-cup serving contains 86 mg of magnesium, which is a great nutrient overall and helps to relax blood vessels, improve blood flow, and reduce blood pressure
Cholesterol
Other findings, published in the Journal of Food Science, reported a cholesterol-lowering effect from eating buckwheat. The researchers suggest that the effect on blood fats may be due to the flavonoids, particularly rutin, found abundantly in buckwheat. While rutin is found in many fruits and vegetables, buckwheat is notably the richest food source. It has potent antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory properties, increases vitamin C absorption, and protects blood vessel health. Preliminary findings from animal data showed that cholesterol levels fell by a quarter to a third in rats with high cholesterol. Additionally, a 1995 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed a cholesterol-lowering effect from buckwheat consumption. When American researchers examined the potential cardioprotective effect of oats and buckwheat intake in 850 people in Southwest China, they found that 100 g of buckwheat per day led to lower total cholesterol and low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and a higher ratio of high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) to total cholesterol.
Cancer
Korean scientists reported on buckwheat's cancer-fighting effects in the June issue of the Journal of Medicinal Food. Their findings suggest that buckwheat extract was able to kill a number of different cancer cell lines in a petri dish, induding stomach cancer. Other findings have similarly reported about protection against breast and colon cancers, but more research data will have to confirm the preliminary good news.
Skin Care
Besides having it for breakfast, you may consider buckwheat as part of your skin care regimen-it seems to have UV-protective benefits for the skin, namely antioxidant activity against the proliferation of skin cancer cells. German researchers used an extract from buckwheat herb and compared it to pure rutin, a type of plant-based antioxidant, as well as a commerdal UV-absorbing agent. The buckwheat-derived antioxidant demonstrated higher photoprotertion than either tested extract.
So if buckwheat hasn't made its way into your pantry already, now you've got some reasons to try sowing this seed for good health.
Turn the page for some delicious recipe ideas from our sister publication Vegetarian Times.
Hearty Grain Soup with Beans and Greens
Serves 6
Kasha, or toasted buckwheat, is often used in Eastern European porridges and side dishes. Here it's added to an Italian-style vegetable soup that's perfect for a cold winter night. You can substitute large-kerneled cooked grains, such as wheat berries, barley, or brown rice, for kasha.
2 Tbs. olive oil, divided
1 large onion, coarsely chopped (1 � cups)
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 � cups cooked kasha
115-oz. can crushed tomatoes
115-oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed, divided
� tsp. dried oregano
� tsp. dried rosemary
� lb. kale, trimmed and chopped
3 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley
2 to 3 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, and cook 3 minutes, or until softened, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, and cook 5 minutes more, or until onion is lightly browned.
2. Stir in broth, kasha, tomatoes, 1 cup beans, oregano, and rosemary. Bring to a boil. Press half of kale into liquid with wooden spoon until it wilts.
3. Press remaining kale into liquid. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until kale is tender.
4. Pur�e remaining beans in food processor. Add pur�ed beans, parsley, and remaining 1 Tbs. oil to soup. Stir in vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls, and serve.
PER SERVING: 204 CAL; 8 G PROT; 6 G TOTAL FAT (1 G SAT. FAT); 33 G CARB; 0 MG CHOL; 521 MG SOD; 7 G FIBER; 5 G SUGARS
Banana Buckwheat Pancakes
Makes 18 3-inch pancakes
Egg replacer keeps these breakfast treats tender without dairy or extra oil.
2 cups plain soymilk, divided
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup flour (can use whole-grain, if desired)
1 � tsp. baking powder
� tsp. salt
� tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. egg replacer powder
2 Tbs. canola oil
1 Tbs. maple syrup, plus more for serving
2 bananas, thinly sliced
1. Mix 1 � cups soymilk with lemon juice in small bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.
2. Combine flours, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in medium bowl.
3. Whisk egg replacer and remaining � cup soymilk in small bowl. Add to soymilk mixture. Whisk in oil and maple syrup.
4. Stir flour mixture into soymilk mixture. Fold in bananas.
5. Lightly oil griddle, and heat over medium heat. Pour 2 Tbs. batter onto griddle for each pancake, and cook 2 minutes, or until batter bubbles and pancakes begin to brown around edges. Flip, and cook 2 minutes more. Serve with maple syrup.
PER SERVING: 258 CAL; 8 G PROT; 7 G TOTAL FAT (0.5 G SAT. FAT); 44 G CARB; 0 MG CI IOL; 412 MG SOD, 4 G FIBER; 9 G SUGARS
Sesame Soba Bowls
Serves 6
This deliciously different and quick dish features soba noodles, also called Japanese buckwheat noodles. Serve with steamed broccoli and fortune cookies for dessert.
13.75-oz. pkg. soba noodles
� cup soy sauce
� cup mirin (sweet cooking rice wine)
1 Tbs. rice vinegar
1 Tbs. tahini (sesame paste)
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
2 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. sugar
� cup pickled ginger, finely chopped
4 scallions (white and light green parts), thinly sliced
1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro
� cucumber, peeled and diced
12-oz. pkg. lite silken tofu, cut into cubes
1. Cook soba noodles according to package directions. Drain well, place in large bowl and let cool.
2. In small bowl, combine soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, tahini, 1 Tbs. water, sesame oil, sugar, and ginger. Stir in scallions.
3. Add sauce and cilantro to noodles and toss to coat Divide among 4 to 6 bowls. Garnish with diced cucumber and tofu cubes, and serve hot
PER SERVING: 354 CAL; 18 G PROT; 3 G TOTAL FAT (0.5 G SAT. FAT); 67 G CARB; 0 MG CHOL; 1161 MG SOD; 3 G FIBER; 12 G SUGARS
[Sidebar]
CANADIAN RESEARCHERS HAVE FOUND THAT BUCKWHEAT MAY HELP TO MANAGE BLOOD SUGAR IN THOSE WITH DIABETES.
To be successful, an academic must plan in advance.
THE FALL SEMESTER had barely begun when I received an e-mail message seeking input to our department's spring teaching schedule. Shortly thereafter, another message brought a similar question about summer courses. And e-mail over the next few days brought announcements for various institutional initiatives inviting proposals for projects to be funded for the following academic year. These queries in September for things that would not happen until the following January and May and beyond reminded me of how far down the groves of academe we need to look for the campus to function efficiently.
The situation is not much different for our forays off campus. Calls for papers ask us to commit now to a meeting taking place overseas a year and a half from now. Requests for proposals can have deadlines six months out for research programs that will begin a year after that-and the proposal must contain a three-year plan and a corresponding budget. This requires us to look almost five years into the future for a research project that, strictly speaking, should be full of unexpected twists and turns.
The life of an academic is a life lived in the semesters and years of the future. Among the more personal of decisions that many faculty members face every seven or so years is whether to request a sabbatical leave. For those who wish to spend a full academic year away from their home institution, there is usually the need to find external financial support.
Fellowships are perhaps the most desirable source of such funding, but the application process often must start well over a year ahead of time. It is not uncommon for an initial fellowship application to be turned down-in a letter encouraging resubmittal the following year. It is a tough call whether to postpone a sabbatical in the hope of better luck next time.
Spending a sabbatical year on another campus requires considerable logistical planning, particularly for young families who must arrange school transfers. There's the matter of finding someone to rent a house that will be vacated for a year and finding a house far away that someone is willing to rent for the same year. The exercise can be a lesson in regional cost-of-living differences.
A colleague of mine who teaches at the University of Virginia is on sabbatical this year. It is costing him twice as much to rent half the house in Berkeley that he is renting out in Charlottesville. The faculty member from whom he rented the Berkeley house was herself on sabbatical at Columbia. She ended up paying more rent in New York than she was realizing in California-and for just a studio apartment. I envision a small fish being swallowed by a larger fish being swallowed by a still larger fish but can't quite keep straight who or whose house was the larger and the smaller fish.
Perhaps the most difficult task of looking ahead has to do with life after the academy. Without mandatory retirement ages, and with the myriad options that are available to most academics, the decision of exactly when and on what terms to retire can be more of a challenge than preparing a proposal for a major grant.
Of course, it is not just in academia that people find the need to plan for and coordinate multiple futures. It is all just part of living in modern society. Today's personal computers, PDAs and other electronic marvels not only help us make commitments well into the future but also remind us when the time arrives to deliver on our promises to others and to ourselves.
[Sidebar]
The life of an academic is a life lived in the semesters and years of the future.
[Author Affiliation]
Henry Petroski, the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University, is the author of "Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design" and a dozen other books on engineering and design.
Beleaguered rail firm First Great Western has promised that moretrains will call at commuter stations in the Bath area in its nexttimetable.
The company this week took the wraps off its timetable for 2007-8, which begins on December 9.
FGW, which has just appointed a new boss as it attempts to buildup passenger confidence after a period of overcrowding whichculminated in a fares strike, says the new timetable provides"significant service improvements".
And it says a further round of improvements is planned for May2008.
The Bath-based More Trains, Less Strain group organised the faresstrike and its concerns over delays and lack of rolling stock havebeen echoed by official watchdogs and politicians.
Tom Stables, FGW's commercial director, said: "First Great Westernused the customer feedback from the December 2006 timetable to makesignificant improvements to the new timetable. We believe thistimetable will address many of the suggestions received fromcustomers, stakeholders, MPs, and Welsh Assembly members."
The timetable will see improved half-hourly connections to andfrom London Paddington created by changing services from Bristol andWeston-super-Mare, with high speed trains stopping at Keynsham.
The firm will also change services from Bristol and Westbury toprovide an hourly
service with calls at Oldfield Park and Keynhsam and twoadditional trains in the morning peak period. It says this will meanimproved connections at Bath for passengers going to and from London.
More trains on the Portsmouth to Cardiff route will call atBradford on Avon in future.
Bath MP Don Foster said he was pleased to see more trains stoppingat stations such as Keynsham and Freshford including extra middle-of-the-day services, and to see extra high speed services through Bathin the morning and evening.
He said the firm had also agreed to construct the timetable sothat services ran to the same regular pattern - so-called clockfacetimetabling.
But he said he was worried about FGW's ability to get enoughrolling stock to run on local services and by the possibility offares rises in the future.
"We would have expected changes in fares in September, but FirstGreat Western sensibly decided not to make any changes until the NewYear. I'm hoping they're not going to be whacking up the prices. Wealready absolutely pay through the nose."
Cairo, Egypt
A composting project in Cairo has the goal of processing one million tons/year of biosolids using rice straw and "recycle cake" to dry down the material and provide pore space. Resource Recovery Systems International ? RRSIl is a consultant to the project. "Many years ago. sludge with a very high moisture content was delivered to large ditches dug in the desert," savs Pes Kuhlman of RRSI. "Because of the sandy soil, the liquid portion soaked away quickly. This system was discontinued 12 years ago." Currently, biosolids are pumped to a drying bed covering about 800 acres. Drying occurs slowly, reaching about 75 percent moisture. "The drying bed is full now," adds Kuhlman. "When composting a million tons of biosolids annually, one bay would be emptied and refilled every day."
A small composting project is operating at the site. Biosolids are removed from the drying beds, mixed with shredded rice straw and composted in open windrows for six to eight weeks. After the windrow phase, the compost is placed in curing piles, screened and bagged. Compost is sold for use in the production of numerous agricultural crops. A small amount of dried biosolids is also sold to farmers, a practice likely to be discontinued. Kuhlman explains that the common practice in Egypt is to burn rice straw, which causes considerable air pollution during the season of rice straw burning. "This will likely lead to a ban on this practice," he says. "Incorporating rice straw in the composting process is seen as an excellent way to utilize large amounts of straw and reduce air pollution."
RRSI is also involved in the manufacture of windrow turners in Egypt. It supplies component parts to an Egyptian company that builds the frame and assembles the turners. Thus far. the partnership has completed 20 turners used for composting MSW throughout Egypt.
Apple Inc. sold more than a million units of its latest iPhone model in the first three days, making it the most successful debut for a smart phone yet.
The iPhone 3G S went on sale Friday in the U.S. and seven other countries.
When Apple Inc. launched the previous model last year, it also sold one million units in the first three days, but that model launched simultaneously in 22 countries.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster had expected the Cupertino, Calif., company to sell half a million 3G S in the first three days.
"Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. It was the first time he was quoted in a company statement since he went on leave for unspecified medical reasons in January. The company has said that Jobs, who has battled pancreatic cancer, is returning to work at the end of the month.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that Jobs had a liver transplant two months ago in Tennessee and that he will likely work part-time, at least initially. Apple has not commented on the report.
The launch of the iPhone 3G last year turned messy, as Apple and phone company servers failed to cope with the load of new customers trying to activate their phones. That problem recurred Friday with the launch of the 3G S, but to a smaller extent. Some customers who tried to activate the phone at home got messages that the process could take 48 hours to complete.
Some customers got e-mails on Sunday promising a $30 credit at Apple's iTunes store as compensation for the hassle.
Apple did not break down where the million units were sold. Dallas-based AT&T Inc. is the iPhone's exclusive carrier in the United States and has said it sold hundreds of thousands of phones via pre-order.
The sales figures demonstrate that the iPhone's cachet is intact, and even growing, despite reinvigorated competition. Other manufacturers are putting out phones that mimic some of the iPhone's signature features. In particular, the newly released Palm Inc.'s Pre, available exclusively for now through Sprint Nextel Corp., has generated a lot of buzz and favorable reviews.
The iPhone 3G S has a faster processor and a better camera than the 3G, among other differences. The 3G is still on sale, for $99. The 3G S costs $199 or $299 depending on the memory capacity.
Apple shares fell $2.48, or 1.8 percent, to $137 in afternoon trading Monday.
Carlos Guillen hit a two-run single and Matt Joyce homered to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday, snapping a five-game losing streak.
Armando Galarraga (3-1) kept the Diamondbacks at bay, allowing two runs and one hit in six-plus innings.
Todd Jones pitched the ninth for his sixth save in six chances. He hit leadoff man Justin Upton before retiring Mark Reynolds, Eric Byrnes and Chris Snyder on fly balls.
With Chase Field's roof open on a 94-degree evening, Galarraga and Arizona's Max Scherzer (0-2) dueled through four scoreless innings in the twilight.
Galarraga walked two of the first three men he faced but escaped by retiring Conor Jackson on a liner to short and Justin Upton on a pop to second. Galarraga cruised from there, retiring the side in order in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth.
He tired in the seventh, walking Upton and Reynolds to open the inning. Manager Jim Leyland lifted Galarraga, who threw 111 pitches, 23 more than his previous high. Galarraga walked five and struck out three.
Clay Rapada came on and walked pinch-hitter Byrnes to load the bases. Leyland brought on Aquilino Lopez, who gave up a sacrifice fly to Snyder and a single to pinch-hitter Miguel Montero that made it 3-2. Chris Young bounced into a 5-4-3 double play to end the rally.
The Diamondbacks blew a chance to tie the game in the eighth on a smart play by Detroit catcher Ivan Rodriguez.
After Stephen Drew led off with a single, Hudson popped up a bunt in front of the plate. Rodriguez let the ball drop, picked it up and fired to second to get Drew. Hudson was slow leaving the box and was easily retired on a 2-6-3 double play.
Detroit took a 2-0 lead in the fifth. The rally began when Scherzer walked Galarraga, who had struck out in his first major-league at-bat in the third inning. Curtis Granderson followed with a single, and Detroit loaded the bases on Jackson's fielding error on a grounder by Joyce.
One pitch later, Carlos Guillen lined a single to left field to score Galarraga and Granderson.
Scherzer went five innings, allowing two unearned runs and three hits. He walked four and struck out five.
In the seventh, Joyce hit a 1-2 delivery from Brandon Medders into the first row of the right field bleachers to put the Tigers ahead 3-0. It was the rookie's fourth homer in 29 at-bats.
Notes:@ Detroit RF Magglio Ordonez went errorless for the 180th straight game. It's the longest streak by a Tigers outfielder since Al Kaline went 242 consecutive errorless games from April 15, 1970, to July 2, 1972. ... The game drew 48,804, Chase Field's second sellout. Country recording artist Trace Adkins performed a postgame concert.
All the trademark elements will be there when "60 Minutes II" debuts at 9 tonight on CBS (WBZ Ch.4): the ticking stopwatch, the older-than-average correspondent team, even the humorous essay at the end.
The format of the TV's longest-running newsmagazine wasn't broke, so nobody tried to fix it.
Dan Rather leads the rotation of veteran reporters: CBS foreign correspondent Bob Simon; PBS interview show host Charlie Rose; Vicki Mabrey, from CBS' London bureau; and Carol Marin, formerly of Bryant Gumbel's short-lived "Public Eye" on CBS. Commentaries will come from Boston satirist Jimmy Tingle. Mike Wallace and the other stars of the Sunday night edition will show up on the clone in weekly updates of "classic" stories from the past 30 years.
The opportunity to return to in-depth, investigative reporting was enough to lure 67-year-old Rather back to the heavy travel schedule required for "60 II." In his first piece, airing tonight, Rather interviews Energy Secretary Bill Richardson about nuclear weapons built in Russia and sent to other nations.
"Why am I doing it? I love the news," the anchorman told TV critics gathered at the winter press previews. "I love covering news. I always have. I'll go to my grave loving it. Beyond that, I like to work. But you know, I'm still chasing the dream that I'm going to be a great reporter. And the opportunity to report on a program dedicated to quality is something I jumped at."
Rather will continue anchoring "CBS Nightly News" and hosting "48 Hours," a feat that "60 Minutes II" producer Jeff Fager calls "superhuman."
But Rather promised that he'll try not to "parachute into stories" _ to do the on-camera reporting after producers have done the real legwork. That practice, common among TV newsmagazines, was revealed in the wake of last summer's "CNN Newsstand" debacle.
"When you work on a program such as '60 Minutes,' sometimes you have to 'parachute in.' I don't like the phrase," said Rather. "If you spend a number of weeks on an investigative piece, then you're going to have to pay the price somewhere else. You're going to have to come up with a quick interview you can do in a hotel room in New York or you're going to have to show up somewhere and say to the producer, 'I'm here for six hours. I'll give you everything I've got, but you've got to put some things in my head.' There's no way to avoid it and I'm not going to kid you."
The difference between other news operations and the "60 Minutes" franchise, said Rather, "is we really care about the integrity of what we're doing."
Keeping a close eye on both "60's" is executive producer Don Hewitt, who still screens and critiques every story that runs on "60 Minutes" and will do the same for the second edition. He's known for his perfectionism - and his less-than-subtle comments.
"When the lights went on in the screening room after my first piece for '60 Minutes' was screened," Bob Simon recalled, "Don Hewitt said, 'The woman who you touted as your central character - I hate her. Get her out of the piece."'
Hewitt also told Simon his narration of the story "sounds like you were singing in the shower and got soap in your mouth."
"And that was just the beginning," said Simon. "When it was over, I was wandering through the corridor, looking for a window that opened more than two inches, and a senior producer came up to me and said, 'You know, Bob, that was a really good screening. When the lights go on and nobody says anything, that's when you're in trouble.' My personal wish for '60 Minutes II' is that every time the lights go on, producers will have something to say, even if it's only 'Get the soap out of your mouth."'
Stopwatch and scrutiny begins for crew of '60 Minutes II'.All the trademark elements will be there when "60 Minutes II" debuts at 9 tonight on CBS (WBZ Ch.4): the ticking stopwatch, the older-than-average correspondent team, even the humorous essay at the end.
The format of the TV's longest-running newsmagazine wasn't broke, so nobody tried to fix it.
Dan Rather leads the rotation of veteran reporters: CBS foreign correspondent Bob Simon; PBS interview show host Charlie Rose; Vicki Mabrey, from CBS' London bureau; and Carol Marin, formerly of Bryant Gumbel's short-lived "Public Eye" on CBS. Commentaries will come from Boston satirist Jimmy Tingle. Mike Wallace and the other stars of the Sunday night edition will show up on the clone in weekly updates of "classic" stories from the past 30 years.
The opportunity to return to in-depth, investigative reporting was enough to lure 67-year-old Rather back to the heavy travel schedule required for "60 II." In his first piece, airing tonight, Rather interviews Energy Secretary Bill Richardson about nuclear weapons built in Russia and sent to other nations.
"Why am I doing it? I love the news," the anchorman told TV critics gathered at the winter press previews. "I love covering news. I always have. I'll go to my grave loving it. Beyond that, I like to work. But you know, I'm still chasing the dream that I'm going to be a great reporter. And the opportunity to report on a program dedicated to quality is something I jumped at."
Rather will continue anchoring "CBS Nightly News" and hosting "48 Hours," a feat that "60 Minutes II" producer Jeff Fager calls "superhuman."
But Rather promised that he'll try not to "parachute into stories" _ to do the on-camera reporting after producers have done the real legwork. That practice, common among TV newsmagazines, was revealed in the wake of last summer's "CNN Newsstand" debacle.
"When you work on a program such as '60 Minutes,' sometimes you have to 'parachute in.' I don't like the phrase," said Rather. "If you spend a number of weeks on an investigative piece, then you're going to have to pay the price somewhere else. You're going to have to come up with a quick interview you can do in a hotel room in New York or you're going to have to show up somewhere and say to the producer, 'I'm here for six hours. I'll give you everything I've got, but you've got to put some things in my head.' There's no way to avoid it and I'm not going to kid you."
The difference between other news operations and the "60 Minutes" franchise, said Rather, "is we really care about the integrity of what we're doing."
Keeping a close eye on both "60's" is executive producer Don Hewitt, who still screens and critiques every story that runs on "60 Minutes" and will do the same for the second edition. He's known for his perfectionism - and his less-than-subtle comments.
"When the lights went on in the screening room after my first piece for '60 Minutes' was screened," Bob Simon recalled, "Don Hewitt said, 'The woman who you touted as your central character - I hate her. Get her out of the piece."'
Hewitt also told Simon his narration of the story "sounds like you were singing in the shower and got soap in your mouth."
"And that was just the beginning," said Simon. "When it was over, I was wandering through the corridor, looking for a window that opened more than two inches, and a senior producer came up to me and said, 'You know, Bob, that was a really good screening. When the lights go on and nobody says anything, that's when you're in trouble.' My personal wish for '60 Minutes II' is that every time the lights go on, producers will have something to say, even if it's only 'Get the soap out of your mouth."'
Stopwatch and scrutiny begins for crew of '60 Minutes II'.All the trademark elements will be there when "60 Minutes II" debuts at 9 tonight on CBS (WBZ Ch.4): the ticking stopwatch, the older-than-average correspondent team, even the humorous essay at the end.
The format of the TV's longest-running newsmagazine wasn't broke, so nobody tried to fix it.
Dan Rather leads the rotation of veteran reporters: CBS foreign correspondent Bob Simon; PBS interview show host Charlie Rose; Vicki Mabrey, from CBS' London bureau; and Carol Marin, formerly of Bryant Gumbel's short-lived "Public Eye" on CBS. Commentaries will come from Boston satirist Jimmy Tingle. Mike Wallace and the other stars of the Sunday night edition will show up on the clone in weekly updates of "classic" stories from the past 30 years.
The opportunity to return to in-depth, investigative reporting was enough to lure 67-year-old Rather back to the heavy travel schedule required for "60 II." In his first piece, airing tonight, Rather interviews Energy Secretary Bill Richardson about nuclear weapons built in Russia and sent to other nations.
"Why am I doing it? I love the news," the anchorman told TV critics gathered at the winter press previews. "I love covering news. I always have. I'll go to my grave loving it. Beyond that, I like to work. But you know, I'm still chasing the dream that I'm going to be a great reporter. And the opportunity to report on a program dedicated to quality is something I jumped at."
Rather will continue anchoring "CBS Nightly News" and hosting "48 Hours," a feat that "60 Minutes II" producer Jeff Fager calls "superhuman."
But Rather promised that he'll try not to "parachute into stories" _ to do the on-camera reporting after producers have done the real legwork. That practice, common among TV newsmagazines, was revealed in the wake of last summer's "CNN Newsstand" debacle.
"When you work on a program such as '60 Minutes,' sometimes you have to 'parachute in.' I don't like the phrase," said Rather. "If you spend a number of weeks on an investigative piece, then you're going to have to pay the price somewhere else. You're going to have to come up with a quick interview you can do in a hotel room in New York or you're going to have to show up somewhere and say to the producer, 'I'm here for six hours. I'll give you everything I've got, but you've got to put some things in my head.' There's no way to avoid it and I'm not going to kid you."
The difference between other news operations and the "60 Minutes" franchise, said Rather, "is we really care about the integrity of what we're doing."
Keeping a close eye on both "60's" is executive producer Don Hewitt, who still screens and critiques every story that runs on "60 Minutes" and will do the same for the second edition. He's known for his perfectionism - and his less-than-subtle comments.
"When the lights went on in the screening room after my first piece for '60 Minutes' was screened," Bob Simon recalled, "Don Hewitt said, 'The woman who you touted as your central character - I hate her. Get her out of the piece."'
Hewitt also told Simon his narration of the story "sounds like you were singing in the shower and got soap in your mouth."
"And that was just the beginning," said Simon. "When it was over, I was wandering through the corridor, looking for a window that opened more than two inches, and a senior producer came up to me and said, 'You know, Bob, that was a really good screening. When the lights go on and nobody says anything, that's when you're in trouble.' My personal wish for '60 Minutes II' is that every time the lights go on, producers will have something to say, even if it's only 'Get the soap out of your mouth."'
Stopwatch and scrutiny begins for crew of '60 Minutes II'.All the trademark elements will be there when "60 Minutes II" debuts at 9 tonight on CBS (WBZ Ch.4): the ticking stopwatch, the older-than-average correspondent team, even the humorous essay at the end.
The format of the TV's longest-running newsmagazine wasn't broke, so nobody tried to fix it.
Dan Rather leads the rotation of veteran reporters: CBS foreign correspondent Bob Simon; PBS interview show host Charlie Rose; Vicki Mabrey, from CBS' London bureau; and Carol Marin, formerly of Bryant Gumbel's short-lived "Public Eye" on CBS. Commentaries will come from Boston satirist Jimmy Tingle. Mike Wallace and the other stars of the Sunday night edition will show up on the clone in weekly updates of "classic" stories from the past 30 years.
The opportunity to return to in-depth, investigative reporting was enough to lure 67-year-old Rather back to the heavy travel schedule required for "60 II." In his first piece, airing tonight, Rather interviews Energy Secretary Bill Richardson about nuclear weapons built in Russia and sent to other nations.
"Why am I doing it? I love the news," the anchorman told TV critics gathered at the winter press previews. "I love covering news. I always have. I'll go to my grave loving it. Beyond that, I like to work. But you know, I'm still chasing the dream that I'm going to be a great reporter. And the opportunity to report on a program dedicated to quality is something I jumped at."
Rather will continue anchoring "CBS Nightly News" and hosting "48 Hours," a feat that "60 Minutes II" producer Jeff Fager calls "superhuman."
But Rather promised that he'll try not to "parachute into stories" _ to do the on-camera reporting after producers have done the real legwork. That practice, common among TV newsmagazines, was revealed in the wake of last summer's "CNN Newsstand" debacle.
"When you work on a program such as '60 Minutes,' sometimes you have to 'parachute in.' I don't like the phrase," said Rather. "If you spend a number of weeks on an investigative piece, then you're going to have to pay the price somewhere else. You're going to have to come up with a quick interview you can do in a hotel room in New York or you're going to have to show up somewhere and say to the producer, 'I'm here for six hours. I'll give you everything I've got, but you've got to put some things in my head.' There's no way to avoid it and I'm not going to kid you."
The difference between other news operations and the "60 Minutes" franchise, said Rather, "is we really care about the integrity of what we're doing."
Keeping a close eye on both "60's" is executive producer Don Hewitt, who still screens and critiques every story that runs on "60 Minutes" and will do the same for the second edition. He's known for his perfectionism - and his less-than-subtle comments.
"When the lights went on in the screening room after my first piece for '60 Minutes' was screened," Bob Simon recalled, "Don Hewitt said, 'The woman who you touted as your central character - I hate her. Get her out of the piece."'
Hewitt also told Simon his narration of the story "sounds like you were singing in the shower and got soap in your mouth."
"And that was just the beginning," said Simon. "When it was over, I was wandering through the corridor, looking for a window that opened more than two inches, and a senior producer came up to me and said, 'You know, Bob, that was a really good screening. When the lights go on and nobody says anything, that's when you're in trouble.' My personal wish for '60 Minutes II' is that every time the lights go on, producers will have something to say, even if it's only 'Get the soap out of your mouth."'
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republicans agreed Saturday on $29billion in additional aid for the victims of Hurricane Katrina andthe other powerful storms that lashed the United States this year,far more than the Bush administration proposed earlier this fall.
"We have a good agreement," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour,who has patrolled the Capitol for days in an effort to coax as muchmoney as possible from lawmakers eager to adjourn for the year.
Officials stressed the additional funds would not add to federaldeficits, a priority for conservative lawmakers. They said thehurricane relief, as well as an additional $3.8 billion to helpprepare for an outbreak of …
AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2009 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) has released its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2008.
The airline recorded a net loss of USD585m, or USD5.54 per diluted share, for the year. Excluding previously announced special items of USD234m, Continental reported a net loss of USD351m, or USD3.32 per diluted share, for 2008.
Total revenue for the year increased …
Byline: MARTHA STEWART
Decorating flourishes with abundant colors of nature
No matter how understated your style is the rest of the year, decorating for the holidays means color and lots of it. Fortunately, even in winter, nature offers an abundance of choices. Here are some ideas for things to plant, pick or buy to make your home festive and beautiful during this special time of year.
WINTER BERRIES
Winter berries can be used in wreaths, garlands and arrangements, and there are varieties that thrive in nearly every climate. Take a look in your own back yard. You might be surprised to find clusters of bright-red, orange, yellow or purple-blue berries nestled among the foliage of your trees and shrubs.
Harvest them carefully: Be …
NEW YORK (AP) — The world's bond buyers have turned on Europe's deeply indebted governments and fled to another deeply indebted government across the Atlantic -- the U.S. As a result, U.S borrowing costs have plunged to historic lows while rising rates in Europe have many worried about a catastrophic financial crisis.
The European debt crisis has made the U.S. Treasury market the world's most popular spot for bond investors. But Kathleen Gaffney, co-manager of the $19.1 billion Loomis Sayles Bond fund, refuses to join them.
Gaffney concedes that over the course of a few months or even a year, it might look like a bad move. The Loomis flagship fund dropped 5 percent in the …
The Rise of Management Consulting in Britain. By Michael Ferguson. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2002. ? + 289. Index, notes, bibliography, tables. Cloth, $84.95. ISBN 0-754-60561-2.
A comprehensive overview and analysis of the development of management consultancy in Britain is long overdue. This volume, originally a doctoral dissertation at the Open University, brings together many of the threads of a relatively elusive topic. The book's first five chapters are chronological and take the survey to the end of the second World War. Five more, commencing in 1945, are thematic. A final chapter offers a chronologically organized summary.
Examples of management consulting in Britain …
Diversa Corporation (San Diego, CA) announced that it has been granted United States Patent 6,440,668, entitled "Method Of DNA Shuffling With Polynucleotides Produced By Blocking Or Interrupting A Synthesis Or Amplification Process." This patent includes broad claims directed to methods that use DNA synthesis for evolving and screening biomolecules. These methods can be used to produce novel products, such as improved therapeutic proteins, enzymes, and orally active drugs.
This patent expands Diversa's proprietary DirectEvolution technologies and further strengthens its patent estate, which is comprised of 65 issued patents and over 300 filed patent …
Agreements
Cepheid (Sunnyvale, California) and Applera Corp., through its Applied Biosystems Group (Foster City, California), and Celera Diagnostics, a joint venture between Applied Biosystems and Appleras Celera Genomics Group (also Norwalk), said that they have entered into a patent license agreement relating to real-time thermal cycler instruments for research, diagnostics and other applications. Under the terms of the agreement, Cepheid has been granted a non-exclusive worldwide license to make, use and sell Cepheids SmartCycler and GeneXpert real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) thermal cyclers, as well as certain other Cepheid thermal cyclers, under Appleras Real-Time Apparatus patent rights. This agreement expands Cepheids rights under an …
DELMAR - A bus trip to Quincy Market in Boston and the New England Spring Flower Show is scheduled for March 18.
The trip is sponsored by the Friends of the Bethlehem Public Library.
The bus will leave from the Delaware Avenue CDTA park-and-ride lot at 7:15 a.m.
First stop will be the Bayside Expo Center, about 15 miles outside of Boston, for the flower show. In the afternoon, the bus will leave for Quincy Market in Boston. Arrival time in Albany is about 9 p.m.
Cost is $33 for Friends members and $38 …
Byline: Associated Press
NEW YORK FBI agents and police were investigating a small blast at an unmanned weather tower that provides information to LaGuardia Airport traffic controllers. A note left at the scene claimed the tower was vandalized in retaliation for Waco, authorities said Saturday.
``There was no threat to aviation safety at any time,'' and the event had no impact on air travel, said Anthony Willett, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, which investigated the World Trade Center bombing, was sent to the scene after the improvised explosive device went off about 4 p.m. Friday at the …
A tiny electrical implant that could restore movement in stroke victims is to be tested in humans. The implant, which is about 2mm long, mimics brain signals and will be injected into the arm beside key …
REDMOND, Washington (AP) — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer pumped up unique features in the company's new Web browser and smart phone software at a software developer conference Thursday, the company's annual pep rally for people who will build programs for the Web, Windows computers and phones.
Ballmer is known for his onstage enthusiasm. This year, he joked with the crowd that he wouldn't repeat the memorable "developer prance" of years past, when he loped around hollering, "Developers! Developers!"
Dean Hachamovitch, a top executive in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer division, showed off how developers can program websites to take advantage of new features. Internet …
