COEUR D?ALENE ? Don?t expect to see pot-bellied pigs among the list of acceptable urban pets in Coeur d?Alene any time soon. Members of the city?s General Services Subcommittee rejected a request on Monday to amend rules to allow porkers in more neighborhoods. The Coeur d?Alene Press reports the request was submitted by Zak Adams, who lives in nearby Post Falls but wants to move his family to Coeur d?Alene. Adams says his pet pig ?Penelope? is no trouble and low maintenance. Pot-bellied pigs are allowed inside Post Falls and a bigger subdivision in Coeur??
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COEUR D?ALENE ? Don?t expect to see pot-bellied pigs among the list of acceptable urban pets in Coeur d?Alene any time soon.
Members of the city?s General Services Subcommittee rejected a request on Monday to amend rules to allow porkers in more neighborhoods.
The Coeur d?Alene Press reports the request was submitted by Zak Adams, who lives in nearby Post Falls but wants to move his family to Coeur d?Alene.
Adams says his pet pig ?Penelope? is no trouble and low maintenance.
Pot-bellied pigs are allowed inside Post Falls and a bigger subdivision in Coeur d?Alene.
But subcommittee member Steve Adams says he and his colleagues don?t like the idea of allowing more livestock in city limits.
The subcommittee has also denied requests to allow pygmy goats and set limits on?chickens.
? Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Feb. 14, 2013 ? Babies as young as seven months can distinguish between, and begin to learn, two languages with vastly different grammatical structures, according to new research from the University of British Columbia and Universit? Paris Descartes.
Published February 14 in the journal Nature Communications and presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston, the study shows that infants in bilingual environments use pitch and duration cues to discriminate between languages -- such as English and Japanese -- with opposite word orders.
In English, a function word comes before a content word (the dog, his hat, with friends, for example) and the duration of the content word is longer, while in Japanese or Hindi, the order is reversed, and the pitch of the content word higher.
"By as early as seven months, babies are sensitive to these differences and use these as cues to tell the languages apart," says UBC psychologist Janet Werker, co-author of the study.
Previous research by Werker and Judit Gervain, a linguist at the Universit? Paris Descartes and co-author of the new study, showed that babies use frequency of words in speech to discern their significance.
"For example, in English the words 'the' and 'with' come up a lot more frequently than other words -- they're essentially learning by counting," says Gervain. "But babies growing up bilingual need more than that, so they develop new strategies that monolingual babies don't necessarily need to use."
"If you speak two languages at home, don't be afraid, it's not a zero-sum game," says Werker. "Your baby is very equipped to keep these languages separate and they do so in remarkable ways."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of British Columbia, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Judit Gervain, Janet F. Werker. Prosody cues word order in 7-month-old bilingual infants. Nature Communications, 2013; 4: 1490 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2430
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Dorn Testifies on Bill to Increase Funding for Dropout Prevention, Intervention and Reengagement
OLYMPIA ? February 12, 2013 ? Increasing the high school graduation rate is in the best interest of everyone in our state. But getting to graduation is more challenging for some students and they need additional, consistent support.
That was the message State Superintendent Randy Dorn gave to legislators in today?s testimony for the House Education Committee. Dorn testified in support of House Bill 1424, sponsored by Reps. Kathy Haigh, Sharon Tomiko Santos, Pat Sullivan, Marcie Maxwell, Cindy Ryu, Roger Freeman, Monica Stonier, Larry Seaquist, John McCoy, Jake Fey, Mary Helen Roberts, Dawn Morrell, Ruth Kagi, Steve Bergquist and Laurie Jinkins.
The bill is intended to increase the state?s efforts for high school dropout prevention, intervention and reengagement. It clarifies the laws pertaining to the current statewide system and the state-level work group charged with overseeing it. It also provides specific additional support for some of the highest need students, including those who have already dropped out of school and those who are enrolled in persistently low-performing schools. Increasing student support to raise the graduation rate is a key component of Dorn?s 2013 legislative agenda.
?When kids graduate, they have more opportunities for future success,? Dorn said. ?We all benefit when students earn their diplomas.
?We know what works and we continue to discover new ways to help, but it takes consistent funding to make a long-term difference.?
The bill states that local programs should use research-based and emerging best practices regarding prevention, intervention and reengagement, and be allowed the creativity and flexibility to best meet their students? needs. Priority will be given to schools and districts with dropout rates above the statewide average. High schools that increase their graduation rates will be awarded additional funding to further enhance their work in dropout prevention.
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The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is the primary agency charged with overseeing K?12 education in Washington state. Led by State School Superintendent Randy Dorn, OSPI works with the state?s 295 school districts and nine educational service districts to administer basic education programs and implement education reform on behalf of more than one million public school students.
OSPI provides equal access to all programs and services without discrimination based on sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability. Questions and complaints of alleged discrimination should be directed to the Equity and Civil Rights Director at (360) 725-6162 or P.O. Box 47200, Olympia, WA 98504-7200.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama challenged a divided Congress to back his plans to create middle-class jobs on Tuesday in a State of the Union speech that put a renewed focus on the U.S. economy and sought support for overhauling gun and immigration laws.
Looking to use momentum from his re-election victory last November, Obama vowed to turn much of his attention toward reducing the country's 7.9 percent unemployment rate.
"It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few," he said.
Obama spoke from the well of the House of Representatives for his address to a joint session of Congress in the midst of yet another bitter battle with Republicans over taxes and spending, and this tussle cast a heavy shadow over his appearance.
Even as Obama spoke, House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, accused him of offering "little more than the same stimulus policies that have failed to fix our economy and put Americans back to work."
Boehner's comments came in a statement that was issued while Obama was still delivering his address and the speaker was sitting behind him, at times scowling. "The president had an opportunity to offer a solution tonight and he let it slip by," Boehner said in his statement.
Obama reserved his toughest words to urge a resolution to a festering budget battle that will result in automatic deep spending cuts at the end of the month unless a deal can be reached.
Americans, he said, do not expect government to solve every problem, "but they do expect us to put the nation's interests before party. They do expect us to forge reasonable compromises where we can."
Many of his proposals may face a difficult path getting through Congress. He proposed raising the U.S. minimum wage for workers from $7.25 to $9 an hour. Republicans typically oppose increases in the minimum wage out of worry it will prompt businesses to fire workers.
He backed a $50 billion program to fund infrastructure rebuilding projects like fixing aging bridges, but many Republicans are adamantly against such stimulative government spending after Obama's first-term $787 billion stimulus did not lead to a dramatic reversal in the unemployment rate.
"Our economy is adding jobs, but too many people still can't find full-time employment," he said. "Corporate profits have rocketed to all-time highs, but for more than a decade, wages and incomes have barely budged."
Obama said that to offset the cuts he would like to raise $800 billion in revenue by eliminating tax loopholes enjoyed mostly by the wealthiest Americans.
It is a proposal Boehner backed before he reluctantly agreed instead to higher income tax rates on the richest to avert a fiscal crisis at the end of 2012. Republicans are in no mood for more tax increases and want spending cuts instead.
"The American people have worked too hard, for too long, rebuilding from one crisis to see their elected officials cause another," Obama said.
GUN REGULATIONS
Obama urged Congress to approve his proposals for tighter gun regulations, requiring background checks for all gun purchasers, and banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips.
In the House chamber for the speech, seated with Obama's wife, Michelle, were the parents of a Chicago teenager, Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot to death a week after participating in the president's second-term inaugural activities.
"Hadiya's parents ... are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen Americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. They deserve a vote," Obama said.
Obama urged lawmakers to approve over the next few months an overhaul of immigration laws to permit a pathway to citizenship for some 11 million illegal immigrants. Republicans who saw Hispanics overwhelmingly vote for Obama over Republican challenger Mitt Romney last November, are more open to new immigration rules but want stronger border security first.
The clock is now ticking on Obama. He has about a year to get his legislative priorities enacted before Americans shift attention to the 2014 congressional elections.
In a nod to Republican worries over what they see as out-of-control government spending on entitlement programs for the elderly and poor, Obama said he would back efforts to reduce healthcare spending by the same amount over a decade as proposed by a bipartisan commission whose recommendations he had rejected.
He vowed to take action to confront climate change through presidential executive orders unless Congress enacts legislation.
While heavily focused on domestic policies, Obama's speech had some crucial foreign policy elements.
He outlined steps to unwind U.S. involvement in the unpopular 11-year-old Afghanistan war and plans to announce that 34,000 of the 66,000 U.S. troops still there will return by early 2014.
He did not give details of what sort of residual American presence might remain in Afghanistan after 2014, when the U.S. withdrawal is supposed to be complete.
Obama's speech came a day after North Korea conducted its third underground test of a nuclear device in response to what it called U.S. hostility.
"Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only isolate them further, as we stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defense and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats," he said.
Obama said the United States would enter into negotiations with the European Union aimed at reaching a transatlantic free trade agreement.
(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal, Tabassum Zakaria and John Whitesides; Editing by Alistair Bell and Eric Beech)
Chris Kay Fraser and her partner Ian Koudstaal re-create their first kiss at Riverdale Park, Toronto. (Photo By: Stephen Caissie)
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PDA has reached a whole new level with the Canada Kiss Map.
Celebrating its one year anniversary on Valentine?s Day, the site was born out of the Toronto Kiss Map, an online forum where people literally kiss and tell ? sharing stories of their first kisses, last kisses, hot kisses and other connections.
Created by Toronto writing teacher and owner of Firefly Creative Writing Chris Kay Fraser, the Toronto map was started in 2011 to help deal with a bad day in the big city. Fraser originally posted the map on Facebook one night, woke the next day and found dozens of stories ? the majority from people she didn?t know.
Now, the Toronto Kiss Map boasts 1,244 smooches and the Canada map has nearly 600.
?I think people have a real human need to tell stories, especially to tell stories of love and sometimes of heartbreak and those are stories that are hard to tell face-to-face,? Fraser says.
?The fact that the map is anonymous and the fact that it limits you to 500 characters per story, it seems to have created this wave of telling these intimate stories on public spheres ? it?s suddenly easy to do and people have really taken to that.?
Run on Google Maps, there are a few simple rules; keep it family-friendly, stay anonymous (no names allowed) and keep it under 500 characters. Have more than one juicy or memorable kiss? No problem, post as many as you want.
Fraser manages the sites on her own, but got a boost from the Toronto Awesome Foundation last year to help spruce up the websites and the momentum has continued to build.
?On Valentine?s Day last year when the Canada map launched there was a ton of media attention and a lot of people coming to the site ? it was really overwhelming ... I probably read 700 kiss stories and I just wanted to cry by the end of the day,? she said.
?Most of them were beautiful and it was really touching to see how much love people wanted to share with the world and I just had to take it all in.?
Although Fraser says she?d love to see the map grow to other cities such as Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax, she has no immediate plans to expand, as all the expenses have come out of her own pocket. However, she still encourages Canadians to pucker up and share their smooch.
?I hope people take the map as a chance to look into their hearts, consider their histories and reflect on those moments of connection, love and touch,? Fraser says.
?I hope they take the time to share that on the map so when we look at the map of Toronto or the map of Canada we don?t just see snow and space - we can see all the beautiful moments of connection spread across the country.?
It?s about a stretch of woods near his boyhood home in North Carolina. The song talks about this place that was very dear to the local community, and where Taylor would go on little adventures with his dog.
The dog?s name was Hercules, and the line in the song that goes ?Hercules and a hog-nosed snake? is in reference to the one snake the dog never managed to kill.
My dog Hercules killed snakes, and there were lots of snakes where we lived-Hercules, not the God, the dog?.He wouldn?t kill a hog-nosed snake because it was appeared already dead. But you would walk away and come back later, and it would have slithered off. It survived by pretending not to be.
It?s a shame there aren?t many childhoods spent like this.
Dogs and boys and woods just sort of go together.
But now the boys aren?t allowed to go into the woods for fear of the Jerry Sanduskys that lurk behind every tree.
And an off-leash dog is something that must be shot.
But at one time, a boy could get a pretty good education with just a dog and some time in the woods alone.
I know it was a good education for me.
It certainly was for James Taylor.
Posted in deep thought | Tagged Copperine, James Taylor | 6 Comments
Dr. Anurag Agrawal to give Founders' Memorial lecture at Entomology 2013Public release date: 12-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Levine rlevine@entsoc.org 301-731-4535 Entomological Society of America
Cornell Professor will speak at the 61st Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America in Austin, Texas, November 10-13, 2013
Dr. Anurag Agrawal, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology with a joint appointment in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University, has been selected to deliver the Founders' Memorial Award lecture at Entomology 2013, the 61st Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) to be held in Austin, Texas, November 10-13, 2013.
At each ESA Annual Meeting, the recipient of this award addresses the conferees to honor the memory and career of an outstanding entomologist. This year's honoree is Dame Miriam Rothchild (1908-2005), who will be the subject of Dr. Agrawal's presentation.
DR. ANURAG AGRAWAL
Dr. Agrawal's research accomplishments cover the key areas of arthropod community genetics, real-time evolution of plant defense against insects, phylogenetic ecology, plant neighborhood-insect interactions, and insect colonization and induced defense. Over the course of his career to date, he has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in high-profile journals such as PNAS, Science, and Nature, and he has edited two key books on insect ecology.
In the relatively new area of arthropod community genetics, he has addressed natural selection on milkweed defensive traits and how plant genetic variation in these traits influences insect community structure and coexistence. In the area of real time evolution of plant defenses against insects, he has shown that the suppression of insect damage causes the evolution of decreased plant resistance and increased competitive ability. His work in the area of phylogenetic ecology uses a comparative biology approach to address problems ranging from the controls on the success of invasive species to phylogenetic signatures of coevolution. And in the area of plant neighborhood-insect interactions, his ongoing research seeks to partition the relative importance of direct, associational, and trait-mediated effects of competing plants on milkweed and its insect fauna.
DAME MIRIAM ROTHCHILD
Dame Rothschild started her research in the 1950s in the area that is now known as chemical ecology. She had no traditional education, but was tutored in natural history by her father and her uncle.
She is best known for her work with mimicry, and she conducted classic studies on the role of carotenoids in insect mimicry. In addition to her work cataloging the famous Rothchild flea collection, Dame Rothchild was also a pioneer in the area of insect chemical ecology. Her work in particular on mimicry and sequestration of toxic compounds by insects was outstanding. Nature conservation was extremely important to her, and she lobbied strongly in favor of nature reserves.
###
Nearly 3,000 entomologists are expected to attend Entomology 2013. For more information, please visit http://www.entsoc.org/entomology2013.
The Entomological Society of America (ESA) is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA today has more than 6,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. Members are students, researchers, teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, and hobbyists. For more information, please visit http://www.entsoc.org.
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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.
Dr. Anurag Agrawal to give Founders' Memorial lecture at Entomology 2013Public release date: 12-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Levine rlevine@entsoc.org 301-731-4535 Entomological Society of America
Cornell Professor will speak at the 61st Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America in Austin, Texas, November 10-13, 2013
Dr. Anurag Agrawal, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology with a joint appointment in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University, has been selected to deliver the Founders' Memorial Award lecture at Entomology 2013, the 61st Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) to be held in Austin, Texas, November 10-13, 2013.
At each ESA Annual Meeting, the recipient of this award addresses the conferees to honor the memory and career of an outstanding entomologist. This year's honoree is Dame Miriam Rothchild (1908-2005), who will be the subject of Dr. Agrawal's presentation.
DR. ANURAG AGRAWAL
Dr. Agrawal's research accomplishments cover the key areas of arthropod community genetics, real-time evolution of plant defense against insects, phylogenetic ecology, plant neighborhood-insect interactions, and insect colonization and induced defense. Over the course of his career to date, he has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in high-profile journals such as PNAS, Science, and Nature, and he has edited two key books on insect ecology.
In the relatively new area of arthropod community genetics, he has addressed natural selection on milkweed defensive traits and how plant genetic variation in these traits influences insect community structure and coexistence. In the area of real time evolution of plant defenses against insects, he has shown that the suppression of insect damage causes the evolution of decreased plant resistance and increased competitive ability. His work in the area of phylogenetic ecology uses a comparative biology approach to address problems ranging from the controls on the success of invasive species to phylogenetic signatures of coevolution. And in the area of plant neighborhood-insect interactions, his ongoing research seeks to partition the relative importance of direct, associational, and trait-mediated effects of competing plants on milkweed and its insect fauna.
DAME MIRIAM ROTHCHILD
Dame Rothschild started her research in the 1950s in the area that is now known as chemical ecology. She had no traditional education, but was tutored in natural history by her father and her uncle.
She is best known for her work with mimicry, and she conducted classic studies on the role of carotenoids in insect mimicry. In addition to her work cataloging the famous Rothchild flea collection, Dame Rothchild was also a pioneer in the area of insect chemical ecology. Her work in particular on mimicry and sequestration of toxic compounds by insects was outstanding. Nature conservation was extremely important to her, and she lobbied strongly in favor of nature reserves.
###
Nearly 3,000 entomologists are expected to attend Entomology 2013. For more information, please visit http://www.entsoc.org/entomology2013.
The Entomological Society of America (ESA) is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA today has more than 6,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. Members are students, researchers, teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, and hobbyists. For more information, please visit http://www.entsoc.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 12-Feb-2013
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