Cornwall is one of the UKs favourite family holiday destinations, offering seaside adventures, cosy cottages, and plenty of great attractions. There is so much to appeal to visitors of all ages, from outdoor activities to interesting cultural sites, that it can be hard to choose where to start. Read on for three top picks for fantastic family outings to be had while staying in holiday cottages in Cornwall.
Lappa Valley Railway
Taking the train in this lovely county is always a great experience, thanks to the stunning views on offer, but the Lappa Valley Railway in North Cornwall goes one better and offers the chance to ride through the beautiful countryside on an old-fashioned miniature steam train. The area was once used for transporting mineral resources mined in the valley, and the remaining railway track beds laid in 1849 are the oldest in the county, making it as interesting for adults with an interest in regional history as it is fun for the children. There are three train routes to choose from, including a woodland railway and a branch line that ends at the Newlyn activity centre, where play areas, a maze, a crazy golf course and much more can be found. All in all, this makes for one of the best days out that can be had for families staying in holiday cottages in Cornwall.
Swanpool Beach
Any family holiday here should include at least one day at the beach (even if your accommodation is further inland), and there are plenty of fantastic beaches to choose from. One of the best for families is Swanpool Beach, near Falmouth, which is home to a water sports centre offering a wealth of activities for all ages. Options include sailing, sea kayaking, snorkelling, paddle-boarding and windsurfing, and there is also a childrens club during the weekends. There is a nearby nature reserve, where the swans which give the beach its name can be seen, and beautiful coastal scenery all around, as well as a nearby crazy golf course and bouncy castle. Along with the wonderful sights of Falmouth itself, there is something to interest almost anyone on a day out from their holiday cottages in Cornwall.
Paradise Park
Located at Hayle, near St. Ives, the wildlife centre Paradise Park is a treat for animal lovers of all ages. Spacious enclosures with plenty of greenery provide homes for numerous colourful creatures, from flamingos to red pandas. As the headquarters of the World Parrot Trust, it is home to some truly spectacular parrots, while other popular occupants are the penguins, reptiles, eagles and otters. An enduring favourite for families staying in holiday cottages in Cornwall, Paradise Park also offers a farmyard petting zoo, as well as play areas for the little ones, while older children can learn about the importance of conservation.
Katie Chown is a Property Consultant for Classic Cottages. We have a selection of spectacular holiday cottages in Cornwall as well as cottages in Devon, Somerset and Dorset. Whether you're looking for a stunning rural retreat or a luxury cottage on the coast, we have the perfect holiday home for you to fall in love with.
MILAN (AP) ? Italian carmaker Fiat SpA reported a first-quarter loss of 83 million euros ($108 million) as European sales and profits at is U.S. partner Chrysler tumbled.
The loss posted Monday by the automaker, based in the northern Italian city of Turin, compares with a restated first-quarter profit of 35 million euros last year.
Revenues were down 2 percent to 19.75 billion euros, as performance in Latin America, Asia and its premium brands helped to compensate for declines in North America and Europe. Revenues were down 3 percent to 10 billion euros in North America and 4 percent to 4.4 billion euros in Europe.
Chrysler first-quarter profits dropped 65 percent as shipments of cars and trucks were down in preparation for new vehicle launches. Fiat's European operations lost 157 million euros.
Memory of a time where an NEC phone graced US shores escapes us, but the prolific -- and often accurate -- @evleaks has tweeted a press shot that signals a handset from the Japanese firm might soon arrive stateside. Emblazoned with AT&T's logo and reportedly dubbed the NEC Terrain, the Android-toting smartphone shares its front real estate with a screen, a camera and a QWERTY keyboard. No other details were spilled with the image, but with a name like Terrain and what looks like a rubberized border, we wouldn't be surprised if it could withstand a fair amount of rough and tumble.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks extended a rally on Monday, with the S&P 500 unofficially ending at an all-time high as growth-oriented stocks like energy and technology lead the way.
Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 105.21 points, or 0.72 percent, at 14,817.76. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 11.29 points, or 0.71 percent, at 1,593.53, surpassing the previous record of 1,593.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 27.76 points, or 0.85 percent, at 3,307.02.
(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., walks to a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, April 26, 2013, with Secretary of State John Kerry as he and national intelligence advisers came to the Capitol to update members of the House on Syria's alleged use of poisonous gas in its ongoing civil war. U.S. intelligence has concluded with "varying degrees of confidence," that the Syrian government has twice used chemical weapons in its fierce civil war, the White House and other top administration officials said Thursday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., walks to a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, April 26, 2013, with Secretary of State John Kerry as he and national intelligence advisers came to the Capitol to update members of the House on Syria's alleged use of poisonous gas in its ongoing civil war. U.S. intelligence has concluded with "varying degrees of confidence," that the Syrian government has twice used chemical weapons in its fierce civil war, the White House and other top administration officials said Thursday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons could be a greater threat after that nation's president leaves power and could end up targeting Americans at home, lawmakers warned Sunday as they considered a U.S. response that stops short of sending military forces there.
U.S. officials last week declared that the Syrian government probably had used chemical weapons twice in March, newly provocative acts in the 2-year civil war that has killed more than 70,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more. The U.S. assessment followed similar conclusions from Britain, France, Israel and Qatar ? key allies eager for a more aggressive response to the Syrian conflict.
President Barack Obama has said Syria's likely action ? or the transfer of President Bashar Assad's stockpiles to terrorists ? would cross a "red line" that would compel the United States to act.
Lawmakers sought to remind viewers on Sunday news programs of Obama's declaration while discouraging a U.S. foothold on the ground there.
"The president has laid down the line, and it can't be a dotted line. It can't be anything other than a red line," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. "And more than just Syria, Iran is paying attention to this. North Korea is paying attention to this."
Added Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.: "For America to sit on the sidelines and do nothing is a huge mistake."
Obama has insisted that any use of chemical weapons would change his thinking about the United States' role in Syria but said he didn't have enough information to order aggressive action.
"For the Syrian government to utilize chemical weapons on its people crosses a line that will change my calculus and how the United States approaches these issues," Obama said Friday.
But Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, said Sunday the United States needs to consider those weapons. She said that when Assad leaves power, his opponents could have access to those weapons or they could fall into the hands of U.S. enemies.
"The day after Assad is the day that these chemical weapons could be at risk ... (and) we could be in bigger, even bigger trouble," she said.
Both sides of the civil war already accuse each other of using the chemical weapons.
The deadliest such alleged attack was in the Khan al-Assal village in the Aleppo province in March. The Syrian government called for the United Nations to investigate alleged chemical weapons use by rebels in the attack that killed 31 people.
Syria, however, has not allowed a team of experts into the country because it wants the investigation limited to the single Khan al-Assal incident, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged "immediate and unfettered access" for an expanded investigation.
One of Obama's chief antagonists on Syria, Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., said the United States should go to Syria as part of an international force to safeguard the chemical weapons. But McCain added that he is not advocating sending ground troops to the nation.
"The worst thing the United States could do right now is put boots on the ground on Syria. That would turn the people against us," McCain said.
His friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also said the United States could safeguard the weapons without a ground force. But he cautioned the weapons must be protected for fear that Americans could be targeted. Raising the specter of the lethal bomb at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Graham said the next attack on U.S. soil could employ weapons that were once part of Assad's arsenal.
"Chemical weapons ? enough to kill millions of people ? are going to be compromised and fall into the wrong hands, and the next bomb that goes off in America may not have nails and glass in it," he said.
Rogers and Schakowsky spoke to ABC's "This Week." Chambliss and Graham were interviewed on CBS's "Face the Nation." McCain appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press."
___
Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Philip_Elliott
WASHINGTON (AP) ? One of the architects of failed gun control legislation says he's bringing it back.
Sen. Joe Manchin on Sunday said he would re-introduce a measure that would require criminal and mental health background checks for gun buyers at shows and online. The West Virginia Democrat says that if lawmakers read the bill, they will support it.
Manchin sponsored a previous version of the measure with Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. It failed.
Manchin says there was confusion over what was in the bill.
In the wake of last year's school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Congress took up gun control legislation, but it was blocked by supporters of the powerful pro-gun lobby, the National Rifle Association.
ROME (AP) ? Italy appeared poised Saturday to finally get a new government, a broad coalition which brings media mogul Silvio Berlusconi's forces back to power, this time in tense alliance with center-left rivals.
Premier-designate Enrico Letta was summoned to an appointment (1300 GMT) with Italy's president, a development widely seen as indicating the center-left leader had succeeded in forming a government commanding strong support in Parliament.
However, it was possible Letta might also seek more time to knit together coalition agreements between archrival blocs.
Earlier, Berlusconi, who has three times served as premier, told reporters he believed a government would be formed though he would not be in the Cabinet being created by Letta.
Napolitano earlier in the week had tapped Letta to lead the latest bid to end the political deadlock that has gripped recession-mired Italy since inconclusive elections in February.
Viewed as a political bridge-builder, Letta is a nephew of a longtime Berlusconi adviser, Gianni Letta. The premier-designate met for two hours Saturday morning with Berlusconi as both sides hashed out Cabinet assignments.
The elections left the top vote-getter, Letta's Democratic Left party, badly fractured by infighting after it won control of the Chamber of Deputies but failed to do the same in the Senate. That result made runner-up Berlusconi a political kingmaker, since the center-left needs backing from his center-right bloc for a Parliamentary majority.
The third big bloc in Parliament, the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement, is led by comic Beppe Grillo, who ruled out any alliance with the largely sullied political class that has ruled Italy for decades.
Napolitano agreed to serve an unprecedented second term given the political instability.
Anxious financial markets and Italians fed up with joblessness and austerity spending cuts are counting on the next government to quickly roll out political and economic reforms.
Build up Wealth and Stability When you Buy a Home in Draper
If you are torn whether you should buy a home in Draper, or continue renting, then the answer is clearly buy a home in Draper. Studies actually show that owning a home is the greatest way to build up long-term household wealth, and the sooner you own a home, the faster your chances of building up wealth and equity. But when you buy a home in Draper, it is not all about monetary value, it is also about stability and knowing that you will come home every day to your home, not someone else?s that you are borrowing. No rent increases and the same monthly payment will make you feel more secure in your lifestyle and your budget. So are you are thinking about whether or not to buy, just say yes.
A stunning 2-story home like this is hard to say no to. It is well cared for from the inside out and has a large secluded backyard with beautiful valley views in the front. You will never be disappointed with a home like this and there is plenty of space for you and your family. With 5-bedrooms and 3 baths, this home has so much room to grow. It features a gourmet kitchen with a large family room, and 5,165 square feet of living space. So come on in and lay your eyes on your new home.
Contact me today if you would like to talk about the benefits of buying a home over renting. You could not have chosen a better place to buy, because a home in Draper will be the best investment you make. Call, or register online today, and I will be here to answer all of your questions about how to buy a home in Draper.
Tags: buy a home in Draper, buy a home in Draper UT, buying a home in Draper, homes for sale in Draper, homes for sale in Draper UT
Posted on Friday, April 26th, 2013 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Buy a House, Estate, Homes, Homes for Sale, Luxury Homes, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
Note:?This post was published on my WP blog previously, some of you may have already read it.? No, this post is probably not what you had in mind.?It?s not always easy to tell the sex of your pet bird just by looking at them. In some species of birds, males and females look just the same. I?m going to tell you how to sex your bird. That is, differentiate between male and female. There are a few ways to do this, depending on the species of the bird. Here are a few examples.
Sexually Dimorphic Birds - How to Sex Your Bird Using Physical Differences
?Distinct difference in size or appearance between the sexes of an animal.?Many birds are not sexually dimorphic, meaning that the male and female look the same and have no real physical differences as far as appearance is concerned. If your bird is not a sexually dimorphic species, then you will need to learn how to sex your bird by different means which I will list below. Here is a list of birds that have distinct differences between males and females.
Parakeets
Adult male parakeets and female parakeets can typically be identified by the color of their cere. A cere is the band just above a birds beak where their nostrils are found. A female?s cere is usually brown or tan. Sometimes, a female parakeet will have a slightly crusty cere.
Male parakeets have a blue cere. Although, it can be hard in some cases to tell the difference between the two because the ceres sometimes appear as a pinkish and bluish?iridescent?color.
Cockatiels
Female cockatiels have a more striped appearance on their tail feathers, in general. They are also more quiet than male cockatiels. A male cockatiel is usually more vocal. These differences are just guidelines and are not a definite answer.
Other Sexually Dimorphic Birds
There?s the eclectus parrot, which is very easy to tell boy from girl. See for yourself in the pictures below. Indian ringneck parakeets also look very different from male to female.
Does Your Bird Lay Eggs?
Even if a female bird lives alone and does not have a mate, she can still lay eggs. If your bird lays an egg, or several, then it?s obvious that they are a girl. Simple enough! Some female birds may never lay an egg during their entire lifetime, which can leave you a long time guessing. Fortunately, there is another option on how to tell if your bird is a boy or girl.
DNA Sexing
This is actually the best way to identify the sex of your bird. It only takes a tiny amount of blood. Knowing if your bird is female or male can be helpful later on in their ?life if they are having reproductive problems. It can help you to discourage egg laying ? an unwanted and potentially dangerous behavior for female birds. I?ll have to discuss that topic another day.Most bird owners who opted for DNA sexing were just curious to know. Others I?ve worked with had lived with their pet 15+ years and never really knew definitively what sex their bird was.?Did you know how to sex your bird??
In an episode of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee called ?Larry Eats A Pancake,? Jerry Seinfeld has coffee with Larry David
Listen to the Story on Morning Edition
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Post by NPR Staff, The Salt at NPR Food (4/26/13)
According to Jerry Seinfeld?s publicist, the comedian was listening to Coffee Week on Morning Edition and decided he had something to add. So he called up host Steve Inskeep. Here?s what he shared, edited for brevity.
On his new coffee habit
?I just started. All those years on the TV series, whenever we would have a scene in the coffee shop, they would say, ?What do you want to drink?? and I would say, ?I don?t care,? so they would just give me a cup of black coffee and I would just touch it. I never liked it and I didn?t understand it and I used to do a lot of stuff in my standup set in the ?80s and ?90s about how I don?t ?get? coffee. I don?t understand why everyone?s so obsessed with this drink. ?
?And then something happened about five years ago. I started touring a lot, and we would have these great big, fun breakfasts in the hotel and [coffee] just seemed to go really well with the French toast ? the sugar and the milk ? and it just seemed like the perfect French toast companion.?
On coffee meetings
?I got married and I had a family and my entire day was not free for social interaction. And eating is annoying and difficult to arrange, [and it's] hard to choose places. And meeting someone for coffee suddenly seemed like a wonderful, compact, accessible and portable social interaction.
?You don?t even really need a place. But you feel like you?re doing something. That is what coffee is. And that is one of the geniuses of the new coffee culture.?
On coffee as a morning toy
?I don?t know what the top does. I don?t know what the plastic stick does. I don?t even really know what the sleeve does. But I want that little kit because this is my morning toy. And then ? and this is gonna sound very naive, I really am very naive in a lot of areas ? I didn?t realize that caffeine has quite an effect on you. And that got to be another toy. So it?s this big fun toy.?
On caffeine
?It?s legal. It?s not expensive. And they have a whole world for you with all their little words. It?s just something to do. My theory is 98 percent of all human endeavor is killing time. This is a great way to do it.?
On coffee rituals
?I do a little thing about the way people shake the sweetener packet. You know, like they?re all excited. I want to get all the granules down to one end. I love all these rituals.?
On the best place for coffee
?I don?t give a damn. That?s the beauty of it. It doesn?t matter. That?s the nearest place. I?ll meet you there. And you know what? Coffee?s all good. It?s all good. As long as it?s fresh, it?s good. And it?s always fresh in New York. ? I think we?re a more productive society as a result.?
On which coffee to order
?I like it pretty basic. I?ve just started this espresso thing, but it?s just milk and sugar. That?s it. I don?t want to talk that long to the guy or gal.?
On instant coffee
?I have that at my mother?s in Florida at her condo. When she says, ?Do you want coffee?? And she had a ? I think it was a Cuban packet ? and I started rolling my eyes. ?Oh my God that?s the coffee you have?? And she boils the water and opens the packet and puts it in there and you know what? It was pretty good.?
On the secret to really enjoying coffee
?You want the sophistication of the snob without the pretension of the snob. So you want to know what?s going on, but don?t be a fussbudget about it. You know what I mean?
?When you go into Three Guys Coffeeshop on Columbus, don?t complain that it?s not as good as Gimme Coffee or Mudd or one of these places. Appreciate that for what that is. Know the difference, but don?t be a pain in the ass about it.?
On why coffee is so central to our culture
?I think the answer is we all need a little help, and the coffee?s a little help with everything ? social, energy, don?t know what to do next, don?t know how to start my day, don?t know how to get through this afternoon, don?t know how to stay alert. We want to do a lot of stuff; we?re not in great shape. We didn?t get a good night?s sleep. We?re a little depressed. Coffee solves all these problems in one delightful little cup.?
On his show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
?I really wove the idea of this little show that I?m doing on the Internet around this concept. I saw it as this swirling social hub of activity that was so handy and useful. That whole description of why it?s great to meet someone for a cup of coffee ? the ease, the simplicity, the compactness. And that it also obviously gets people talking. You have coffee and for some reason it makes you talk a lot. And I thought this is an interesting thing to try and capture. So that was my ambition of this little experiment ? let me see if I can capture that energy of two people that are already quite voluble ? they?re comedians ? and then you give them coffee ? you caffeinate them, and then maybe that?s a show.
?After a lifetime in formal show business, I kind of had a theory that if you remove the structures of show business ? the studio, the makeup, the microphone, the can we get you something to drink, the chair that you?re screwed into ? if you remove that, you?ll get a different tone, a different dialogue. I wanted to get the dialogue that when you?re standing on the sidewalk and you?re kicking the curb and you?re with a friend and neither of you really wants to go home and you?re just standing there talking. That conversation, I thought, that?s a ?talk show? that I?d like to try and see if I can get that in a bottle.?
Copyright 2013 NPR.
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Tags: coffee, jerry seinfeld, the salt
Category: food history and celebrities, NPR food, radio, tea and coffee, tv, film, video, photography
"In The Studio" ends April by welcoming Tim Sullivan, the CEO of MicroVentures, a San Francisco-based crowdfunding venture firm that connects retail angel investors with startups. While the venture industry itself continues to undergo a long series of shifts, contractions, and market corrections, the larger trend of crowdfounding -- ranging all the way from the Kickerstarters of the world to modern political campaigns -- has also come into play when thinking about limited partners and investors in early-stage companies. Once upon time, only certain people and institutions had access to invest into funds that could invest into startups, but now with secondary markets like, well, Second Market, and shifting rules in Washington D.C., the door seems to have opened for a new class of retail angel investors.
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The folks at GOG.com have added 22 games to their roster of downloadable titles for the Mac, including vintage classics like Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger and The 7th Guest, plus more recent fare like the 3D platformer Psychonauts, and Runic's hack-and-slash dungeon crawler Torchlight.
GOG.com - originally Good Old Games - specializes in resurrecting classic games to run on modern hardware. And in 2013 they've made a push onto the Mac, so if vintage games are your thing or you're a gamer of a certain age looking to revisit your salad days, now's your chance. Some of the games are on sale, too, so get while the getting's good. If you use a PC for gaming too and you've already bought the PC version, you're able to download the Mac version without repurchasing.
The games run the gamut from squad-based shooters to point-and-click adventure games, god games, 2D and 3D platformers, real-time strategy and hack-and-slash dungeon crawlers. Here's the list:
Allegany College's forestry department honored for environmental stewardshipPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Amy Pelsinsky apelsinsky@umces.edu 410-330-1389 University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award honors outstanding contributions to environmental education
FROSTBURG, MD (April 25, 2013) In honor of outstanding contributions to environmental education in Western Maryland, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory has selected the Forestry Technology Program at Allegany College as recipient of its 2013 Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award. Beginning with eight students in 1968, the program has grown to produce 580 graduates who are helping to manage our natural resources, as well as making contributions to the health of our urban forests.
"From monitoring natural and man-made hazards, to exercising good forest management, the Forestry Technology Department at Allegany College is training the next generation of men and women responsible for conserving the great outdoors," said Dr. Ray Morgan, Acting Director of the Appalachian Laboratory.
The Forest Technology Program faculty being honored includes retired faculty Glenn O. Workman, Chair of the Sciences Division who spearheaded the program in 1968; William L. Cones, the first Director of the Forestry Program who introduced a more "hands on" approach to the curriculum and sought initial recognition by the Society of American Foresters in 1970; and Rex Harper, the second full-time forester to teach in the program. Today, Science Department Chair John Jastrzembski, Program Coordinator Steve Resh, Professor Jim Howell, and Forestry Technician Marie Perrin Miller have been guiding the forestry curriculum into the 21st century.
The Forestry Program is accredited by the Society of American Foresters (SAF), and is one of only 22 accredited programs in North America. Most recently, Forest Technology students collected data in Savage River State Forest for a project in conjunction with Frostburg State University and the Maryland State Department of Natural Resources. The project is part of the long-term monitoring (20+ years) of forest stands severely impacted by infestations of European Gypsy moths. Graduates find careers as arborists, forest rangers and technicians, resource managers, wildfire specialists, and soil conservationists.
The award honors the memory of Richard A. Johnson, a well-known orthopedic surgeon in the Allegany County area. He passed away in 1990, leaving a legacy of a caring and dedicated physician, family man, and naturalist. The Appalachian Laboratory honors his memory through its promotion of environmental education in Western Maryland and the people who excel in its practice.
The Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award provides $2,000 to support further environmental education activities. The endowment supporting the award was made possible through the generous support of Allegheny Power, NewPage Corporation, Alliance Resource Partners (Mettiki Coal), and numerous other donors over the past decade. Generous sponsors of this year's program include AES Warrior Run, Mettiki Coal, NewPage Paper, Allegany College, Savage River Lodge, Deep Creek Cellars, and numerous friends.
Founded in 1961, the Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, Maryland is one of five research centers that make up the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. The lab focuses its research on terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, how they function in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and how human activity may influence their health and sustainability on local, regional and global scales.
###
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science unleashes the power of science to transform the way society understands and manages the environment. By conducting cutting-edge research into today's most pressing environmental problems, we are developing new ideas to help guide our state, nation, and world toward a more environmentally sustainable future through five research centersthe Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Solomons, the Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore, and the Maryland Sea Grant College in College Park. http://www.umces.edu
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Allegany College's forestry department honored for environmental stewardshipPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Amy Pelsinsky apelsinsky@umces.edu 410-330-1389 University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award honors outstanding contributions to environmental education
FROSTBURG, MD (April 25, 2013) In honor of outstanding contributions to environmental education in Western Maryland, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory has selected the Forestry Technology Program at Allegany College as recipient of its 2013 Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award. Beginning with eight students in 1968, the program has grown to produce 580 graduates who are helping to manage our natural resources, as well as making contributions to the health of our urban forests.
"From monitoring natural and man-made hazards, to exercising good forest management, the Forestry Technology Department at Allegany College is training the next generation of men and women responsible for conserving the great outdoors," said Dr. Ray Morgan, Acting Director of the Appalachian Laboratory.
The Forest Technology Program faculty being honored includes retired faculty Glenn O. Workman, Chair of the Sciences Division who spearheaded the program in 1968; William L. Cones, the first Director of the Forestry Program who introduced a more "hands on" approach to the curriculum and sought initial recognition by the Society of American Foresters in 1970; and Rex Harper, the second full-time forester to teach in the program. Today, Science Department Chair John Jastrzembski, Program Coordinator Steve Resh, Professor Jim Howell, and Forestry Technician Marie Perrin Miller have been guiding the forestry curriculum into the 21st century.
The Forestry Program is accredited by the Society of American Foresters (SAF), and is one of only 22 accredited programs in North America. Most recently, Forest Technology students collected data in Savage River State Forest for a project in conjunction with Frostburg State University and the Maryland State Department of Natural Resources. The project is part of the long-term monitoring (20+ years) of forest stands severely impacted by infestations of European Gypsy moths. Graduates find careers as arborists, forest rangers and technicians, resource managers, wildfire specialists, and soil conservationists.
The award honors the memory of Richard A. Johnson, a well-known orthopedic surgeon in the Allegany County area. He passed away in 1990, leaving a legacy of a caring and dedicated physician, family man, and naturalist. The Appalachian Laboratory honors his memory through its promotion of environmental education in Western Maryland and the people who excel in its practice.
The Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award provides $2,000 to support further environmental education activities. The endowment supporting the award was made possible through the generous support of Allegheny Power, NewPage Corporation, Alliance Resource Partners (Mettiki Coal), and numerous other donors over the past decade. Generous sponsors of this year's program include AES Warrior Run, Mettiki Coal, NewPage Paper, Allegany College, Savage River Lodge, Deep Creek Cellars, and numerous friends.
Founded in 1961, the Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, Maryland is one of five research centers that make up the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. The lab focuses its research on terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, how they function in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and how human activity may influence their health and sustainability on local, regional and global scales.
###
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science unleashes the power of science to transform the way society understands and manages the environment. By conducting cutting-edge research into today's most pressing environmental problems, we are developing new ideas to help guide our state, nation, and world toward a more environmentally sustainable future through five research centersthe Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Solomons, the Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore, and the Maryland Sea Grant College in College Park. http://www.umces.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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The NASA Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers their clearest view yet of Comet ISON, a newly-discovered sun grazer comet that may light up the sky later this year, or come so close to the Sun that it disintegrates. A University of Maryland-led research team is closely following ISON, which offers a rare opportunity to witness a comet's evolution as it makes its first-ever journey through the inner solar system.
Like all comets, ISON is a "dirty snowball" ? a clump of frozen gases mixed with dust, formed in a distant reach of the solar system, traveling on an orbit influenced by the gravitational pull of the Sun and its planets. ISON's orbit will bring it to a perihelion, or maximum approach to the Sun, of 700,000 miles on November 28, said Maryland assistant research scientist Michael S. Kelley.
This image was made on April 10, when ISON was some 386 million miles from the Sun ? slightly closer to the Sun than the planet Jupiter. Comets become more active as they near the inner solar system, where the Sun's heat evaporates their ices into jets of gases and dust. But even at this great distance ISON is already active, with a strong jet blasting dust particles off its nucleus. As these dust particles shimmer in reflected sunlight, a portion of the comet's tail becomes visible in the Hubble image.
Next week while the Hubble still has the comet in view, the Maryland team will use the space telescope to gather information about ISON's gases.
"We want to look for the ratio of the three dominant ices, water, frozen carbon monoxide, and frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice," said Maryland astronomy Prof. Michael A'Hearn. "That can tell us the temperature at which the comet formed, and with that temperature, we can then say where in the solar system it formed."
The Maryland team will use both the Hubble Space Telescope and the instruments on the Deep Impact space craft to continue to follow ISON as it travels toward its November close up (perihelion) with the sun.
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University of Maryland: http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/
Thanks to University of Maryland for this article.
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NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Major economies in North America, Europe and Asia lost some momentum this month, a clutch of business surveys showed on Tuesday, raising concerns about the strength of the global recovery.
China and Germany, the world's biggest exporters, both lost momentum in April. Growth in Chinese factories slowed to a crawl as export demand dwindled, while the euro zone's largest economy saw business activity decline for the first time in five months.
Growth in U.S. manufacturing was at its most sluggish in six months as domestic demand dried up, suggesting the world's biggest economy started to lose ground in the second quarter.
The U.S. data "will obviously add significantly to concerns, most recently related to the softer China and German data, that another seasonal slowdown in the global economy is taking hold," said Alan Ruskin, Deutsche Bank's head of G10 currency strategy.
Slower global growth and falling commodity prices are likely to quash inflation fears and speculation that the Federal Reserve will start tapering its $85 billion monthly asset purchases any time soon.
The data comes as leaders from the world's biggest economies have started edging away from a drive to revive economic growth through large cuts to bloated government budget deficits, an unpopular policy with voters that European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Monday had reached its limits.
Governments in many the euro zone's peripheral countries with high debt burdens and slow growth, have prescribed the bitter medicine of steep budget cuts and higher taxes to shore up public finances, but that has made it harder to grow and unemployment has risen.
April data showed even Germany, among the healthiest of Europe's economies, was feeling the pinch. Financial data firm Data vendor Markit said its preliminary services PMI for Germany, measuring growth in companies ranging from hotels to banks, fell to 49.2 in April from 50.9 the previous month.
The unexpected decline in German activity also adds a new dimension to next week's European Central Bank policy meeting.
"With Germany unable to offset the austerity and credit crunch drag on growth in the (weaker euro zone states), and with excess capacity growing and business expectations falling, the only question is why the European Central Bank has not cut rates already," said Lena Komileva, director of G+ Economics.
The survey was worse than even the most pessimistic forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.
"Whereas we'd seen evidence that the economy had bounced back quite nicely in the first quarter ... there are suggestions that we could see a renewed downturn in the second quarter," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at compiler Markit.
France though might have passed the nadir of its own economic troubles, the PMIs suggested, which helped the broader euro zone composite survey hold steady in April at 46.5.
But while on one hand showing the euro zone's recession is not worsening, the dire tone of the German PMIs means that might not be the case in the coming months.
"It is statistically neutral, but not in economics terms," said Komileva at G+ Economics of the euro zone PMIs.
The U.S. economy may be facing a similar loss of momentum. While the government is expected to report first-quarter gross domestic product growth of around 3.0 percent on Friday, the manufacturing slump in April suggests "the picture looks to have already began to darken again, with growth set to weaken in the second quarter," Williamson said
Williamson chalked up some of the decline in Markit's preliminary U.S. PMI to 52.0 from 54.6 in March to the impact of higher taxes and spending cuts by households, businesses and government.
EXPORTS WILT
The International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecast to 3.3 percent this month, on par with 3.2 percent growth seen in 2012.
Worries about sluggish global growth were illustrated by purchasing managers indexes from Asia.
The flash HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index for China in April fell to 50.5 in April from 51.6 in March but was still stronger than February's reading of 50.4.
The figures followed an unexpected contraction in export orders in March to Taiwan, one of the region's biggest providers of technology gadgets, signaling that Asia's trade-reliant economies may be losing further momentum.
"This release was more in line with the official PMI headlines in previous months, painting a picture of a painfully slow recovery in China's manufacturing sector," said Societe Generale economist Wei Yao in Hong Kong.
He said the official PMI, due on May 1, might provide more clues on how the second quarter is shaping up for China.
At least there might be better times ahead for its emerging market peer India, whose finance minister on Tuesday said the country's worst slowdown in a decade has bottomed out.
NEW YORK (AP) ? The deadly Boston Marathon bombings and the massive manhunt for two suspects helped television news, with Fox News Channel leading all cable networks in prime-time ratings for the first week since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Fox averaged 2.87 million viewers in prime time last week, topping the USA network, which had 2.62 million viewers. CNN finished in third place, the Nielsen ratings company said. MSNBC was No. 19 for the week.
The story, which began with two bombs exploding near the marathon's finish line on April 15, also brought more people to the broadcast network evening newscasts. The ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts, totaled together, averaged 25.6 million viewers last week. The week before, the three newscasts had 22 million viewers.
The networks stretched their normally half-hour newscasts to an hour on April 15 and on Friday, when the second of the two suspects, holed up in a tarp-covered boat outside a suburban Boston home, was captured by police during prime time. The first suspect, his older brother, had died after a shootout with police about a day earlier.
Meanwhile, NBC's "The Voice" seems to be settling into a position of eclipsing television's longtime leader, Fox's "American Idol." Both episodes of "The Voice" had larger audiences than "American Idol" last week.
CBS won the week in prime time, averaging 8.3 million viewers (5.3 rating, 9 share). A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
ABC was second with a 6.6 million average (4.3, 7), Fox had 5.6 million (3.4, 6), NBC had 5.56 million (3.5, 6), the CW had 1.2 million (0.7, 1) and ION Television had 1.1 million (0.8, 1).
Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with 3.4 million viewers (1.8, 3). Telemundo had 1.6 million (0.8, 1), UniMas had 510,000 (0.3, 0), Estrella had 210,000 (0.1, 0) and Azteca had 90,000 (also 0.1, 0).
NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.8 million viewers (6.6, 13). ABC's "World News" was second with 8.5 million (5.8, 12), and the "CBS Evening News" had 7.3 million viewers (4.9, 9).
For the week of April 15-21, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 14.45 million; "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 14.16 million; "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 13.4 million; "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 12.73 million; "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 12.71; "NCIS" (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 12.61 million. "American Idol" (Thursday), Fox, 12.42 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 11.91 million; "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 11.43 million; "The Big Bang Theory" (Thursday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 10.89 million.
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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is a unit of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.
Apr. 23, 2013 ? While gun control issues usually surface after major incidents like the fatal shooting of 20 elementary school students in Newtown, Connecticut, a new U.S. study shows that children are routinely killed or injured by firearms.
The study, conducted by the Colorado School of Public Health, Denver Health and Children's Hospital Colorado, was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). It examined trauma admissions at two emergency rooms in Denver and Aurora over nine years and found that 129 of 6,920 injured children suffered gunshot wounds.
"In 14% of these cases children managed to get access to unlocked, loaded guns," said the study's lead author Angela Sauaia, MD, Ph.D., at the Colorado School of Public Health and the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "In an area with so much disagreement, I think we can all agree that children should not have unsupervised access to unlocked, loaded guns."
The study shows that at least 14 children between the ages 4 and 17 are injured by firearms every year in the Denver metro area alone. That number excludes those found dead at the scene. It also doesn't count those who did not go to the emergency department, so Sauaia believes the injury rates exceed 14 or about 2 percent of all trauma admissions.
The number of gun injuries to children has changed little over the years.
According to state data, Colorado firearm death rates for children were 2.2 per 100,000 in the year 2000, 1.9 per 100,000 in 2009 and 2.8 per 100,000 in 2011.
"People tend to only pay attention to gun safety issues after these mass killings but this is happening all the time to our children and it's totally preventable," Sauaia said. "Are we as a society willing to accept that 2 percent of our children shot each year is an acceptable number?"
Sauaia, an associate professor of public health, medicine and surgery, studied child trauma admissions from 2000-2008 at Children's Hospital Colorado and Denver Health Medical Center. She found those who had been shot suffered significantly more severe wounds than children hurt with other objects and that the severity of the firearm injuries in increasing
At the same time, 50 percent of shooting victims required intensive care. And 13 percent died compared to 1.7 percent of children hurt in non-firearm incidents. The majority of those shot were adolescent males whose injuries were often self-inflicted.
Sauaia did not include the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School, which killed 12 students and injured another 21, in her study. The 2012 Aurora theater shootings, which killed 12 and wounded 58 last year, were also left out.
"When we examined the data we found that 7 percent of the injuries to children were related to violence and of those 38 percent were related to guns," she said. "If the injury was gun related, the odds of dying were 10 times greater than from any other kind of injury."
Sauaia and her colleagues had done another study in 1993 that found that 42 percent of people who died from trauma incidents in Denver were killed by guns. That compared to 26 percent killed in car accidents.
She conducted both studies entirely without federal funding.
"There is little money to do gun research, which is unfortunate," Sauaia said. "But the point we can all agree upon is that, no matter what side of the gun divide you fall on, we need to store these weapons safely to protect our children from death or serious injury."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Colorado Denver, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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Journal Reference:
Angela Sauaia, Joshua I. Miller, Ernest E. Moore, David Partrick. Firearm Injuries of Children and Adolescents in 2 Colorado Trauma Centers: 2000-2008. JAMA, 2013 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2013.3354
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Not just on?Earth day or Thanksgiving or Christmas, but everyday. We should practice being kind and selfless everyday. Most every person operates on a level where they are independent; looking out for their own survival needs and sub-consciously creates a micro-bubble awareness for themselves, and the close knit of family/friends in their immediate circle. It takes much more effort to act and give of ones? time, energy, belongings and intention to others for compassionate, benevolent, and simply a selfless notion of being kind and altruistic. Maybe this settle gesture makes us feel better about ourselves, helps us to connect with others on a positive vibrating level and gives us an empathetic point of view? More than those positive feelings and ?pats on the back,? however, science has proven that acts of kindness and selflessness toward others and the environment around us equate to being happier, living longer, and better mental and physical overall health.
?Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others.??? ???Brian Tracey
People don?t have to feel like they have to adopt a small third world country of a hundred mile highway to feel like they are making a difference in people?s life and the world around us. I believe that even small, secret notions of selflessness, such as picking up trash on the side of the street (so animals do not ingest or die from the garbage through strangulation) or even putting back books at the bookstore after browsing (because it is the right thing to do and will save someone else the time to do it) are simple acts of kindness. We are models for the people around us, and for our family and friends. If we get used to doing such acts of good and right-ness, our internal and external wellbeing are directly reflected. Below is a list that describes positive effects:
The ?helper?s high? is a term labeled for the positive hormones released from the brain after helping others. This hormone boosts immune systems and combats the stress hormone that suppresses it.
Acts of kindness, helping others and being socially connected helps decreases stress hormones and boosts heart health and other cardiovascular diseases.
Smiling toward others, thinking good thoughts, writing positive words, letters or thoughts down lowers blood pressure.
Oxytocin is produced and released into the body when acts of kindness are performed and repeated. This is the feel good hormone that builds the trust, bonding and feelings of love in a person.
Being altruistic and compassionate toward youngsters, especially infants from birth through childhood years helps to foster and build ?mirror neurons? that help those children emulate and pass on kindness onto others.
The brain?s natural feel-good chemicals (dopamine and endorphins) are released, which act like morphine and fuels into the reward circuitry (another stress response reducer). Not only will people feel happier and calmer in the mind, the neurological and endocrine systems of the body are being caressed with positivity.
Being compassionate and altruistic also makes people more attractive because of the positive energy and confidence they exude (may result from all the good hormones running through the body and lower stress levels that combat aging).
Look for an organization, community group, meet up group, activity, non-profit or cause in your local or regional area that you would like to be a part of, volunteer with or simply gather more information. Even spreading the knowledge through social media is a great way to step outside of yourself and make our Earth a better and more loving place to be.
The website's content is not a substitute for direct, personal, professional medical care and diagnosis. None of the exercises or treatments (including products and services) mentioned at TruthNHealth.com should be performed or otherwise used without clearance from your physician or health care provider. The information contained within is not intended to provide specific physical or mental health advice, or any other advice whatsoever, for any individual or company and should not be relied upon in that regard.
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Not just on?Earth day or Thanksgiving or Christmas, but everyday. We should practice being kind and selfless everyday. Most every person operates on a level where they are independent; looking out for their own survival needs and sub-consciously creates a micro-bubble awareness for themselves, and the close knit of family/friends in their immediate circle. It takes much more effort to act and give of ones? time, energy, belongings and intention to others for compassionate, benevolent, and simply a selfless notion of being kind and altruistic. Maybe this settle gesture makes us feel better about ourselves, helps us to connect with others on a positive vibrating level and gives us an empathetic point of view? More than those positive feelings and ?pats on the back,? however, science has proven that acts of kindness and selflessness toward others and the environment around us equate to being happier, living longer, and better mental and physical overall health.
?Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others.??? ???Brian Tracey
immune systems and combats the stress hormone that suppresses it.
Being altruistic and compassionate toward youngsters, especially infants from birth through childhood years helps to foster and build ?mirror neurons? that help those children emulate and pass on kindness onto others. 
the positive energy and confidence they exude (may result from all the good hormones running through the body and lower stress levels that combat aging).