It seems like a lifetime ago now, but Week 31 marked the beginning of our family holiday back in August. It was such a wonderful time. No commitments. No deadlines. Nowhere we had to be. Just the five of us, and fourteen fun-filled days of being together.
Unlike most of our family holidays, we opted to stay at home this time ? partly to save money and partly because I couldn?t be bothered to pack for two adults and three small children, if you must know the truth. It worked out really well though: we had the beaches within five minutes drive; we treated the boys to a train trip; we had everything we needed around the house; I could do scrapbooking whenever I wanted; we made multiple road trips down to the Southern Highlands; and best of all, Rick had fun setting up tents and hoochies for the boys in our backyard.
For those two entire weeks (and the two weeks that followed), I didn?t work on our Project Life at all. Mainly because I hadn?t quite worked out how best to document our holiday. And so I procrastinated. And procrastinated some more. (I?m good at that.) In the end, after endless cups of coffee, I decided that I would use my normal weekly format, with additional inserts where appropriate and possibly even two spreads per week if I couldn?t fit it all onto one spread. I was really happy with this decision, and will probably stick to this for future holidays, at least for similar ?staycations? anyway.
If you?ve been reading my blog for a while, you?ll probably recognise lots of photos from the golden hour series. We simply had so much time in the holidays to just hang around at home as a family. It was so lovely. In fact, I had so many photos from one particular afternoon that I decided to turn it into an 8?8 insert (remember you can click on the image for a larger version)?
This is a large part of the reason why I love Project Life so much. It is so flexible. You can add inserts like crazy. There?s no limit to what you can or can?t do. Anyway, this was the first time I?d used an 8?8 insert. In the past, I?d only used 6?12 inserts (see Week 15 for example). The reason I chose 8?8 this time was because I wanted to be able to have bigger images than the 6?12 collage format allowed. I also liked how the sixteen images in the collage together formed a square, which I felt gave the images even bigger emphasis. I love how the final result is almost like a storyboard.
On the other side of the insert, I simply chose three of my favourite photos of the boys that I?d taken on the Canon EOS, framed them with white space and added a single line of text underneath. My constant motto: Keep things as simple as can be.
My next Project Life post, Week 32, will continue the holiday documentation so stay tuned. Meanwhile, just wanted to say that I?m thinking of everyone on the East Coast of the States. My thoughts are with you guys. I can?t imagine how scary it must be over there right now. I?ll be checking Twitter constantly to see how you?re all going. Stay safe, friends.
You can read my other Project Life posts here.
Materials used: Becky Higgins Design A page protector; American Craft 8?8 page protector; Kodak 170gsm glossy photo paper. All photos printed on the Canon MP630 Pixma.
Social factors trump genetic forces in forging friendships, CU-led study finds Public release date: 31-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jason Boardman boardman@colorado.edu University of Colorado at Boulder
"Nature teaches beasts to know their friends," wrote Shakespeare. In humans, nature may be less than half of the story, a team led by University of Colorado Boulder researchers has found.
In the first study of its kind, the team found that genetic similarities may help to explain why human birds of a feather flock together, but the full story of why people become friends "is contingent upon the social environment in which individuals interact with one another," the researchers write.
People are more likely to befriend genetically similar people when their environment is stratified, when disparate groups are discouraged from interacting, the study found. When environments were more egalitarian, friends were less likely to share certain genes.
Scientists debate the extent to which genetics or environmental factors -- "nature" or "nurture" -- predict certain behaviors, said Jason Boardman, associate professor of sociology and faculty research associate with the Population Program in CU-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science. "For all the social demographic outcomes we care about, whether it's fertility, marriage, migration, health, it's never nature or nurture.
"It's always nature and nurture," he said. "And most of the time it has a lot more to do with nurture."
Boardman's team included Benjamin Domingue, research associate in the Population Program at IBS; and Jason Fletcher, associate professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health. Their research was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Early last year, PNAS published a study reporting evidence that certain shared genes might determine peoples' choice of friends. Time magazine dubbed this "friends with (genetic) benefits."
Boardman is a sociologist who spent five years studying genetics at CU-Boulder's Institute for Behavioral Genetics to bring insights of the social sciences to the natural sciences. He observed: "You can't understand the spread of health behaviors -- why people smoke, why they drink, why they may or may not be obese -- unless you understand their genetic liability and also place them in the right social context."
The research team used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Boardman's team focused on 1,503 pairs of friends in seventh through 12th grade in 41 schools. As with the earlier study, Boardman's group found that some pairs of friends shared certain genetic characteristics.
The team tested the evidence, arguing that if genes were the driving friendship factor, genetically based friendship should emerge most often and easily in schools with the least amount of social friction. "But we found the exact opposite," he said.
In the most socially equal environments, genetic homophily (or love of the same) was "pretty weak," meaning that friends were less likely to share genetic traits. He added, "It was in the most unequal social environments that we saw the highest level of genetic homophily."
In a socially stratified school, "Students from different populations within the school may be effectively 'off limits' for friendships," the team wrote.
While applauding the revolutionary advances in genetics in recent years, Boardman said "we have to have social scientists at the table, because we're the ones with the data, methods and theories to characterize the multidimensional and multilevel nature of the social environment."
Scientists cannot fully understand heritable changes in gene expression unless they understand "what kind of schools people go to, what neighborhoods they live in" and other social factors, Boardman said.
"To me, to say whether genes predict friendships without understanding the context within which these friendships may or may not occur just doesn't tell the whole story."
###
The team's research was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research at the National Institutes of Health. Fletcher is also supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars Program.
Boardman and Fletcher host an annual conference called Integrating Genetics and the Social Sciences.
-CU-
[ | 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.
Social factors trump genetic forces in forging friendships, CU-led study finds Public release date: 31-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jason Boardman boardman@colorado.edu University of Colorado at Boulder
"Nature teaches beasts to know their friends," wrote Shakespeare. In humans, nature may be less than half of the story, a team led by University of Colorado Boulder researchers has found.
In the first study of its kind, the team found that genetic similarities may help to explain why human birds of a feather flock together, but the full story of why people become friends "is contingent upon the social environment in which individuals interact with one another," the researchers write.
People are more likely to befriend genetically similar people when their environment is stratified, when disparate groups are discouraged from interacting, the study found. When environments were more egalitarian, friends were less likely to share certain genes.
Scientists debate the extent to which genetics or environmental factors -- "nature" or "nurture" -- predict certain behaviors, said Jason Boardman, associate professor of sociology and faculty research associate with the Population Program in CU-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science. "For all the social demographic outcomes we care about, whether it's fertility, marriage, migration, health, it's never nature or nurture.
"It's always nature and nurture," he said. "And most of the time it has a lot more to do with nurture."
Boardman's team included Benjamin Domingue, research associate in the Population Program at IBS; and Jason Fletcher, associate professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health. Their research was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Early last year, PNAS published a study reporting evidence that certain shared genes might determine peoples' choice of friends. Time magazine dubbed this "friends with (genetic) benefits."
Boardman is a sociologist who spent five years studying genetics at CU-Boulder's Institute for Behavioral Genetics to bring insights of the social sciences to the natural sciences. He observed: "You can't understand the spread of health behaviors -- why people smoke, why they drink, why they may or may not be obese -- unless you understand their genetic liability and also place them in the right social context."
The research team used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Boardman's team focused on 1,503 pairs of friends in seventh through 12th grade in 41 schools. As with the earlier study, Boardman's group found that some pairs of friends shared certain genetic characteristics.
The team tested the evidence, arguing that if genes were the driving friendship factor, genetically based friendship should emerge most often and easily in schools with the least amount of social friction. "But we found the exact opposite," he said.
In the most socially equal environments, genetic homophily (or love of the same) was "pretty weak," meaning that friends were less likely to share genetic traits. He added, "It was in the most unequal social environments that we saw the highest level of genetic homophily."
In a socially stratified school, "Students from different populations within the school may be effectively 'off limits' for friendships," the team wrote.
While applauding the revolutionary advances in genetics in recent years, Boardman said "we have to have social scientists at the table, because we're the ones with the data, methods and theories to characterize the multidimensional and multilevel nature of the social environment."
Scientists cannot fully understand heritable changes in gene expression unless they understand "what kind of schools people go to, what neighborhoods they live in" and other social factors, Boardman said.
"To me, to say whether genes predict friendships without understanding the context within which these friendships may or may not occur just doesn't tell the whole story."
###
The team's research was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research at the National Institutes of Health. Fletcher is also supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars Program.
Boardman and Fletcher host an annual conference called Integrating Genetics and the Social Sciences.
-CU-
[ | 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.
Ed Miliband and David Cameron clashed over Lord Heseltine, and wind farms
There has been no change in the government's policy on renewable energy, the prime minister has said.
It comes after a Tory energy minister sparked a coalition row by claiming the UK had "enough" onshore wind farms.
John Hayes was slapped down by his Lib Dem boss Ed Davey after suggesting future projects would be blocked.
Mr Davey said he was in charge of energy policy and, echoing the PM, said the wind farm policy had not changed.
"The government is still committed to renewables including onshore wind," said Mr Davey.
"They are the cheapest available major renewable source and as the Prime Minister made clear today in the House of Commons the policy on renewables hasn't changed."
"There will still be lots of investment in onshore wind farms," he added, saying they were vital as a "clean" and "secure" alternative to oil from other countries as North Sea oil diminished.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
John Hayes is a long-standing opponent of onshore wind farms, so this row was waiting to happen.
I understand that he wrote an anti-wind speech which Ed Davey decreed to be against government policy.
He then penned a more emollient version, but shared his original views with journalists.
Mr Hayes cannot be contacted to confirm that.
Onshore wind is particularly contentious with so many back-bench Conservatives opposing turbines in the countryside, but the Lib Dems insistent that wind farms offer the cheapest way of expanding low-carbon energy to help keep the lights on and reduce emissions in the forthcoming Energy Bill.
Of the alternatives, offshore wind is very expensive; nuclear is controversial and expensive; wave power is in its infancy; energy efficiency is hard to achieve; coal is deemed too dirty and gas leaves the UK vulnerable to price spikes on the global market.
It's not easy.
Mr Davey refused to answer when the question "Is John Hayes just wrong then?" was shouted at him by reporters.
'New Jerusalem'
Mr Hayes, a longstanding critic of wind farms, was handed the junior ministerial role in September's reshuffle, prompting Mr Davey to take personal control of wind farm policy to protect a key Lib Dem priority.
The Tory minister, who is in charge of "renewable energy deployment", is understood to have wanted to announce a moratorium on new wind farms in a speech on Tuesday evening but was prevented from doing so by Mr Davey.
Instead, he told the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph there were enough wind farms in the planning pipeline to meet government environmental targets - and there should be no more.
He said: "We can no longer have wind turbines imposed on communities. I can't single-handedly build a new Jerusalem but I can protect our green and pleasant land.
"We have issued a call for evidence on wind. That is about cost but also about community buy-in. We need to understand communities' genuine desires. We will form our policy in the future on the basis of that, not on a bourgeois Left article of faith based on some academic perspective.
Kay Siddell, who lives near a wind farm: "It is the constant churn of the turbines"
"If you look at what has been built, what has consent and what is in the planning system, much of it will not get through and will be rejected. Even if a minority of what's in the system is built we are going to reach our 2020 target."
He also suggested reviews would be launched into the noise and impact on the landscape created by turbines - something denied by a DECC source, who said Mr Hayes had "totally over-egged" things in the newspaper interviews.
Mr Hayes told reporters on Wednesday morning "I stand by what I said".
'Playing politics'
Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Cameron denied there had been any change to the government's policy on wind energy, but did back a future debate on renewables, once the government had met its environmental targets.
He said: "There has been no change towards renewable energy.
"We have got a big pipeline of onshore and offshore wind projects that are coming through, but frankly all parties are going to have to have a debate in this House and outside this House about what happens when those targets are met."
Labour leader Ed Miliband described this as a "useless answer," adding "there are investors all round this country who want certainty about energy policy".
There are 3,400 onshore wind turbines across the UK at 324 different sites, generating 3% of the UK's electricity.
A further 4,000 turbines are due to be built by 2020.
Maf Smith, deputy chief executive of RenewableUK, said his organisation was "disappointed" by Mr Hayes' comments, which came after he addressed a renewables conference on Tuesday evening.
Mr Smith told BBC Radio 4 Today's programme: "At our conference he was talking about the importance of renewables in the mix, the importance of wind, the importance of jobs and securing benefits for renewables.
"What we would like is clarity about those views."
Earlier this year, more than 100 Conservative MPs wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to get rid of the subsidies paid to wind farm operators funded from household energy bills.
Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint, for Labour, accused Mr Hayes of "playing politics" with clean energy jobs and the country's energy security.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 30, 2012) ? The development of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is much like that of children without ASD at 6 months of age, but differs afterwards. That's the main finding of the largest prospective, longitudinal study to date comparing children with early and later diagnosis of ASD with children without ASD. The study appears in the journal Child Development and has implications for clinical work, public health, and policy.
The study was conducted by researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Aging Brain Center at the Institute for Aging Research and Hebrew SeniorLife at Harvard Medical School.
The study sought to learn more about the patterns of development during the first three years of life in children with and without ASD to better understand how ASD can be detected as early as possible. It is the first prospective study to examine early-onset ASD (by 14 months) and later-onset ASD (after 14 months) over the first three years, pinpointing where development looks the same and where it diverges.
ASD comprises a group of disorders of brain development that affects about 1 in 88 American children.
Researchers looked at 235 primarily White children with and without an older sibling with autism, testing them at regular intervals from ages 6 to 36 months. Using standardized and play-based assessments, they tested children's fine motor skills, understanding of spoken language, and spoken language production skills. They also measured how often the children shared their emotions and initiated communication with others.
The study looked at early development across three groups: children without ASD, children with ASD who were identified by 14 months, and children with ASD identified after 14 months. At 6 months, development within the early- and later-identified ASD groups was comparable to each other and to the non-ASD group. At 14 and 18 months, the early-identified ASD group performed below the later-identified ASD group in many aspects of development. By 24 to 36 months, the two groups showed similar levels of development.
"Results show that ASD has a preclinical phase when detecting it may be difficult," explains Rebecca Landa, director of the Kennedy Krieger Institute's Center for Autism and Related Disorders and the study's lead author. "In some children with ASD, early signs of developmental disruption may not be ASD-specific.
"Routinely administering general developmental screeners, such as the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, should begin in infancy, complemented by ASD-specific screeners by 14 months," suggests Landa. "Screening should be repeated through early childhood. If concerning signs of delay associated with ASD are observed in a child who scores normally on standardized tests, further assessment is warranted."
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I live 12 miles, doesn't bother me one bit, nor did it when I lived 5 miles, nor worked 1 mile. Heck, in my 20's I used to water ski just offshore from the plant. Hmmm, maybe that's why my hair got curly? chuckle
BTW, NONE of the evacuation plans take into account there being a bad storm while attempting an evacuation from a nuke plant...they just don't consider it likely.
And, btw, the original call for an evacuation plan was for 50 miles...I was at that meeting, but we all agreed that it would be impossi
International Business Professor Jaime Alonso Gomez
Dr. Jaime Alonso Gomez has been nominated by former student, Chandler Martin (IMBA, ?10) for a top teaching prize in?TheEconomist?s?contest for Best Business Professor of the Year. You can show your support for this beloved professor by voting online for Dr. Gomez. Voting is now open and runs through Nov. 23.
Dr. Gomez has a joint appointment with USD and Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City. ?He is a professor of strategy at EGADE ? Tec de Monterrey and Distinguished Professor of International Business at the Ahlers Center at the USD School of Business. This dual role underscores the importance he and these universities place on international business education in a global society.
If Hurricane Sandy wasn?t scary enough, it?s newest victims are in the blogosphere. We?ve just learned that Gawker?s fleet of sites, including Gizmodo are down. Also Hurricane Sandy victims? The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed.
Fraternity members from Delta Epsilon Mu are looking to start a chapter at the UA.
Delta Epsilon Mu is a national professional fraternity geared toward students interested in careers in the health, medicine, physical therapy, dentistry, nursing or biomedical engineering fields.
?I think they?re just looking to expand,? said Shane Barker, pre-professional advisor for Fulbright College. ?It?s very preliminary, and I?m trying to help facilitate getting them here on campus.?
A handful of students at the UA are interested in being a part of the founding chapter of DEM, said Michael Dawar, director of expansion and president of the DEM chapter at the University of Kansas.
?I was contacted by students at the university over the summer stating they were interested in starting a chapter of our fraternity at their university,? Dawar said. ?They requested assistance in recruiting members, so I started posting on Facebook pages and groups to gain attention for the group and help them recruit more students.?
The UA would be one of the few DEM fraternities in the Midwest, which would allow students to work with other nearby chapters and get involved on a national level, Dawar said.
?Our fraternity was interested in starting a chapter of our fraternity at Arkansas because we were told there was no other organization of our kind at the school, and that it would help unite students of various health fields under one banner,? Dawar said.
Dawar said he hopes a chapter can be established at the UA by the end of this semester or the beginning of the spring semester.
There are already four registered student organizations on campus for pre-dentistry, pre-medicine, pre-optometry and pre-pharmacy students, but Barker said there were no organizations for students in other popular medical fields such as physical therapy.
?I was looking to do something for them either individually or organizationally,? Barker said. ?It was perfect timing both ways.?
All students are welcome to join DEM even if they are already involved with a pre-heath RSO, Barker said.
?Because we are pre-health, we cover all the different health fields, so members have an opportunity to learn about all the fields and see what will best fit their interests,? Dawar said.
DEM offers professional and personal development workshops, speakers from the health field, community service and volunteer opportunities and extensive networking opportunities across the nation, Dawar said.
?Many of our members are in similar majors and career paths, so they are able to study together and help the younger members with classes they have already taken,? Dawar said.
They also help members with job shadowing, preparing for graduate schools in their field, getting into graduate programs, getting into contact with admissions representatives from schools and visiting schools as a group.
DEM is the only national professional fraternity that is open to both men and women, according to the DEM website.
DEM has 12 chapters and seven colonies on 14 university campuses throughout the country, and it is the fastest growing pre-health professional fraternity in the nation, according to the DEM website.
Students who want to get involved or have questions about DEM can contact Barker at sxb028@uark.edu or Dawar at mdawar@ku.edu.
Welcome to the future, where you can essentially make a movie with believable special effects right on your smartphone. Cinefy, an app that just launched on the App Store, makes this possible.
The greatest thing about looking back at old photos of yourself is seeing how much you’ve changed in just ten years. We all do it in one way or another. We look at ourselves and say something like, “Wow, I look so young!” (I personally start with, “Awwww… look at lil' Alicia!”), then we notice our hair and following that is usually something like, “Oh my LAWD! What was I wearing?” And then we let out a big laugh thinking about what was going on at that time. But that’s what’s so great about old photos (and memories): We have a chance to look back and forward at the same time… knowing we’ve evolved in ways we probably didn’t see coming back then.
KADUNA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber drove a jeep packed with explosives into a Catholic church in northern Nigeria on Sunday, killing at least eight people, injuring more than 100 and triggering reprisal attacks that killed at least two more, officials said.
The bomber drove right into the packed St Rita's church in the Malali area of Kaduna, a volatile ethnically and religiously mixed city, in the morning, witnesses said.
A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Yushua Shuaib said eight people had been confirmed killed and more than 100 injured.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Islamist sect Boko Haram has claimed similar attacks in the past and has attacked several churches with bombs and guns as it intensified its campaign against Christians in the past year.
"The heavy explosion also damaged so many buildings around the area," said survivor Linus Lighthouse.
A wall of the church was blasted open and scorched black, with debris lying around. Police cordoned the area off.
Church attacks often target Nigeria's middle belt, where its largely Christian south and mostly Muslim north meet and where sectarian tensions run high. Kaduna's mixed population lies along that faultline.
BODIES
Shortly after the blast, angry Christian youths took to the streets armed with sticks and knives. A Reuters reporter saw two bodies at the roadside lying in pools of blood.
"We killed them and we'll do more," shouted a youth, with blood on his shirt, before police chased him and others away. Police set up roadblocks and patrols across the town in an effort to prevent the violence spreading.
At least 2,800 people have died in fighting since Boko Haram's insurrection began in 2009, according to Human Rights Watch. Most were Muslims in the northeast of the country, where the sect usually attacks politicians and security forces.
The sect says it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria, whose 160 million people are split roughly evenly between Christians and Muslims.
Another witness to the bombing, Daniel Kazah, a member of the Catholic cadets at the church, said he had seen three bodies on the bloodied church floor in the aftermath.
In previous such attacks, bombers have usually failed to enter church buildings and detonated their explosives at entrances or in car parks.
A spokesman for St Gerard's Catholic hospital, Sunday John, said the hospital was treating 14 injured. Another hospital, Garkura, had at least 84 victims, a NEMA official said.
Many residents of Kaduna rushed indoors, fearing an upsurge in the sectarian killing that has periodically blighted the city. A bomb attack in a church in Kaduna state in June triggered a week of tit-for-tat violence that killed at least 90 people.
BRUSSELS (AP) ? The story goes that when Prince Baudouin took the oath to succeed his father after years of tumult over the monarchy, Communist leader Julien Lahaut shouted from the crowd: "Long Live the Republic!"
A week later, two men turned up at Lahaut's door in Belgium's coal and steel heartland and shot him four times with a Colt 45 revolver at point blank range. The killers sped away by car into the gathering darkness and were never caught.
If ever a murder had the hallmarks of a political assassination, the August 1950 slaying was it. But, who was behind it? And why? It's a murder mystery swallowed up in the fog of Cold War politics. Now, 62 years later, the Belgian government has approved fresh funds to solve the crime, convinced the moral implications echo down to this day.
The probe is part of a historical reckoning in which Belgium is revisiting several buried crimes, citing a "duty to remember." They include the involvement of authorities in the persecution of Jews during the Nazi era and government links to the assassination of Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba in 1961.
It's up to silver-haired historian Emmanuel Gerard to crack the Lahaut case.
One recent afternoon, Gerard pored over papers from 1950 found in the archive of a former interior minister. In uneven black-and-white typeface, a shadowy informer named Andre Moyen wrote to the former minister about the "execution" of Lahaut, dismissing the postwar Communist leader as "after all, an agent of the USSR."
A careful historian, Gerard says the missive in itself proves nothing. Yet it could be an indication that Belgian authorities, alarmed at signs of leftist foment in the country, might have known something about Lahaut's slaying and chose to keep silent.
In 1950, the Cold War was raging and fighting in Korea had just started. Belgium was bitterly divided between right and left over whether to welcome back from exile King Leopold III, who was long seen as having been too accommodating to Belgium's Nazi occupiers.
Amid the tensions, Leopold handed over power to his son Baudouin. The following week Lahaut was dead.
Historians have long suspected that rightwing pro-Leopold forces were behind the assassination ? but that the government took little interest in solving the case because Lahaut was a Communist. In the political climate pitting the West against the Soviets, and with investigators not nearly as well-trained as those of today, the cold-blooded murder of the charismatic parliamentarian turned into a cold case.
Who fired the shots is not essential to Gerard and his team, nor to the politicians who have forced the murder back onto the public agenda. Now, it is more about who ordered the killing, and why the investigation never yielded results.
"It is not an issue of going after the culprits, they must be dead," said socialist senator Philippe Mahoux, one of those who pushed for the new inquiry. "But to know what really happened, that is fundamental."
"There must have been resistance in those days to let the truth emerge," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "We have to know whether there were dark forces behind this ... If there is no solution it feels like a cover-up."
Despite clear political overtones, the case was treated as a common crime. A month after the killing, Communists were banned from all public functions as the Korean War made the Cold War even colder.
The case was officially shelved in 1972. Lahaut's murder turned increasingly into a half-forgotten historical oddity. Delving into the history of World War II and its Cold War aftermath was long difficult for a country struggling with memories of collaboration, postwar repression and anti-Communist action.
A prominent socialist European parliamentarian first took the lead in reviving the Lahaut probe by gathering some ?40,000 ($52,000) in private sponsorship as of 2009 and followed by ?150,000 ($194,000) in subsidies from authorities from Lahaut's French-speaking region in Belgium last year.
Then, over the summer, came ?200,000 ($258,000) from the national government itself. All sources of financing bear a left-wing stamp. Government interest ? and funding ? has opened up since last year, when Elio Di Rupo became the first socialist prime minister in over 35 years.
"The fact that Di Rupo is there doesn't hurt to make sure things proceed," said Mahoux.
As a historian, Gerard stands above the political fray.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) ? The circus came to Gaza on Friday, accompanied by blaring music, juggling clowns and fire blowers ? but getting it there required its own high-wire act.
No women performers were included for fear of offending conservative Palestinians and the Gaza Strip's militant Hamas rulers, and the circus' lone lion and tiger were left behind because of the high cost of transporting them legally into Gaza.
The Egyptian National Circus put on its first show of a month-long visit to the impoverished coastal territory on Friday, a sign of warmer relations between Hamas and post-revolution Egypt, which is governed by the Islamic group's ideological parent, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Although it's not state-sponsored, the Egyptian circus could only come because the country's government loosened restrictions on the flow of passengers in and out of Gaza. More foreigners now enter Gaza, including the ruler of the resource-rich Gulf state Qatar earlier this week.
Once in Gaza, the Egyptians' faced an unusual situation ? most Palestinians here don't know what a circus is.
"I think it's going to be really surprising for most people," said Riwa Awwad, 19, ahead of the opening night.
"Gazans are famous for not liking anything and I think they'll do the impossible to entertain us," said Awwad, who came with her extended family to the fairground on Friday.
In an ironic twist, the cheery circus with its flashing lights was held on the grounds of a notorious security prison that was destroyed during an Israeli offensive four years ago.
For the Gazans fortunate enough to see the opening show, it was a welcome relief from conflict and despair. The fairgrounds were packed with excited children in new cloths, women in glittery headscarves, others in black face veils, and men in suits and freshly pressed shirts. Families snacked on pumpkin seeds.
They hollered and cheered as a tight-rope walker wiggled his hips and belly-danced on a thread suspended above the ground. A performer hurled silver knives around volunteers. A red-clad fire blower shot whooshing, yellow licks of flame out of his mouth. Two clowns dressed in yellow-and-blue bumbled and fumbled as they tried to juggle, delighting children.
It took months to arrange the visit to the impoverished territory, where 1.6 million people live in a 25 mile-long sliver wedged between Israel and Egypt and face a punishing blockade imposed after Hamas seized control in 2007.
Aside from a circus' brief visit in the 1990s, there's never been anything like it since Israel captured the strip from Egypt in 1967. Israeli forces and settlers withdrew in 2005.
Businessman Mohammed Faris said he remembered seeing the circus under Egyptian rule in the 1950s, when Gaza was still a liberal place with casinos and bars. He said he recalled as a child seeing men walking on nails and female acrobats flying across stage.
"It was men and women - pretty women," he said.
Not this time around.
Organizer Mohammed Silmi said female performers had to stay behind because the circus was worried that leaping ladies in tights would offend Gazans.
He said Hamas didn't explicitly ban women but he was asked to abide by Gaza's "traditions" when he petitioned to get the circus to come.
In practice, the circus wiggled a little around the no-women rule. At one point a man in drag, sporting a brown wig and red dress, sang and danced with Bunduk the clown.
After Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade that aimed to weaken the militants who seek Israel's destruction.
Under international pressure, it was loosened after Israel raided a blockade-defying boat and killing nine Turkish activists aboard in 2009. Key restrictions still remain on exports and importing raw materials.
All the circus equipment came through the Rafah border crossing, but expensive fees and cumbersome paperwork kept the circus from bringing lions, tigers and horses across the border.
Gaza's makeshift zoos and other merchants often bypass that problem by hauling animals through smuggling tunnels linking the territory to Egypt. In one famous scene captured on film, Gazans used a crane to lift a camel over the border fence as the animal twitched in the air in agony.
Animal welfare aside, Gaza's main zoo recently turned to improvised taxidermy to keep its deceased animals on exhibit.
The area also continues to be violent. As circus technicians were setting up their tent earlier this week, Palestinian militants were fighting Israeli forces in tit-for-tat rounds of rocket fire and retaliatory airstrikes.
Egyptian technician Khalil Gomaa, 55, jolted upon every crashing boom. He told his children he was in Jordan so they wouldn't be worried. "But I'm worried," he said.
But the circus' biggest challenge may be packing the 1,000-seater tent for the month-long visit.
A series of Palestinians interviewed didn't know what a circus was, and the tickets ? ranging from $5-$10 seats ? are too expensive for most of Gaza's traditionally large families.
Some 40 percent of Gazans live on less than $2 a day, a third are unemployed and most need U.N. donated food.
They include the mother of eight, Sabrine Baoud, and her unemployed husband. After the circus was explained to her, Baoud, 35, said she was glad her children didn't know anything about it.
business insurance Ellsworth ME The number of drivers on the road increases each and every year. As this number increases, the possibility of accidents also increases. The difference between a little aggravation and large obstacle can be the car insurance you have purchased. But why do you need to own insurance and exactly how much should you purchase? Your insurance may be able to pay for the expenses from a car crash ranging from hospital bills to replacement costs. Your state or province certainly requires some type of auto insurance. Electing to drive without insurance could cause you to repair or replace a stolen or damaged vehicle or pay the cost of any damage for which you might be responsible. Liability: This type of insurance coverage can pay for the damage that you are responsible for. These damages might include personal injury, and property damage. It can also cover your defense and court costs if you are sued. Recommended, higher levels of liability insurance can be purchased that take care of more events than the stripped-down, state-mandated insurance. Personal Injury Protection: Personal injury protection pays for hospital bills and other medical treatment for you or other people in your car, regardless of who was at fault in the accident. It is sometimes referred to as no-fault coverage. It may also pay for lost wages, replacement of services and funeral costs. State law usually sets minimum amounts. Medical Payments: This coverage can be purchased in non-no-fault states; it pays despite who may be responsible. All necessary medical or funeral expenses will be covered under this type of coverage. Collision: This pays for damage to your car caused by an accident. Comprehensive: Protect your car from all non-collision damages when you buy this type of coverage. This can include protection from burglary, vandalism, and weather damage. Uninsured Motorist: Many drivers are ignoring the law by driving without purchasing the right amount of insurance. This insurance will protect you if one of these drivers hit you. Under-Insured Motorist: There are other drivers who have liability insurance that can?t pay for all the expenses they are responsible for. Under-insured motorist coverage protects you from those drivers. Other types of coverage, like car rental and emergency road service, are also available. Your auto insurance payments varies based on the company and will depend on multiple factors, such as: * Which policies you select * The type of the car you drive * Whether or not you have been in an accident * Your age, sex and marital status * Where you live Don?t wait around to buy auto insurance; you shouldn?t drive a car without it. Review your needs, do your research , and with the support of your insurance agent, choose the option that fits you best.
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Purchasing a house is one of the most important investments you will make in your lifetime, and just like with any investment, you will would like to make sure that you?re going to be getting your money?s worth. The most important ways to make sure that this is the case is receiving a proper property inspection done of the property before you sign any documents.
A property inspector will go over the house having a fine-toothed comb, examining a number of the elements of the building and internal systems, such as the basement, the rooftop, the water heating and plumbing, central air and heating systems, along with the actual structural components themselves. The importance of this inspection can?t be over-stated, since getting shocked by problems after you?ve completed the purchase gives you little or no legal recourse.
Numerous individuals who have spent a lot of time watching house improvement and real estate tv shows might think that proper house inspections are not worth the time and money, however this really is completely untrue. In fact, numerous realtors will not work with you unless a property inspection is done, and in North America, numerous contracts include a clause that says the entire sale will be rendered null and void unless a properly certified property inspection is done.
This protects both the buyer and also the seller, and makes sure that everyone will almost certainly wind up happy.
Of course, home inspectors can?t inspect every single aspect of a house, and in fact there are lots of items which are outside of their typical view, like property surveying, building code violations, and underground piping and sewage. However, numerous home inspectors offer services above and beyond the typical range that we discussed earlier, offering additional services like inspections of outdoor pools, appliances, and searching for wood-destroying infestations like termites and carpenter ants.
Regardless of what services you select in the end, make sure that your property inspector is properly certified and accredited by one of the numerous property inspection professional standards agencies, like the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. Most home buyers are working with a realtor and in most circumstances this professional can suggest a good home inspector as well.
If you take this easy step, you can rest a lot easier in your new house, understanding that your home will be there to shelter you for years to come! Always keep in mind property is one of the best investments you can make.
Afghan refugee Maiwand smokes a cigarette as he sits under an umbrella in front of Brandenburg Gate during a hunger strike in Berlin on Oct. 25.
Approximately 20 refugees went on a hunger strike in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday, after traveling over 370 miles across Germany as part of a larger group of asylum seekers, according to Reuters. The refugees demanded that deportation and restrictions on their movements, among other things, end.
Johannes Eisele / AFP - Getty Images
Refugees and activists of "Refugee Tent Action" shelter under an umbrella while being on a hunger strike in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany on Oct. 25. The previous day police officers took down a tent set up by the protesters. The group stages a protest for better rights for asylum seekers that began in September with a march from Wuerzburg, southern Germany to Berlin.
Thomas Peter / Reuters
An Iranian refugee sleeps in front of Brandenburg Gate during a hunger strike in Berlin Oct. 25. Some 20 refugees, mainly from Iran and Afghanistan, went on hunger strike on Oct. 24 demanding an end to deportations, obligatory camp accommodation to be abolished and restrictions on their movements be lifted, the refugees said. They are part of a larger group of asylum seekers who have marched some 372 miles from the southern town of Wuerzburg to the German capital.
Previously on PhotoBlog: Refugees march across Germany to demand 'freedom and respect'
All Critics (80) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (75) | Rotten (5)
Most often with The Sessions the blunt comedy outweighs the drift toward sanctimony.
It sends viewers out of the theater with a heightened sense of the physical and a real feeling for all the things that sex means in human life.
The achievement of this simply told, exceptionally fine film is the clarity with which it portrays the drama of a good soul in an inert body.
Hawkes' performance is the must-see hook of The Sessions, but Hunt gives this funny, touching movie its soul.
Character actor John Hawkes is often cast as a frightening rustic (Winter's Bone, Martha Marcy May Marlene), but he gives a tender and witty performance here as Mark O'Brien.
The joy of The Sessions goes beyond sexual healing. It makes physical intimacy far more a matter of the heart, and you won't be alone wiping an occasional tear.
Uneven and perhaps a little too tidy as it aims to promote one man's extraordinary spirit. It is John Hawkes and Helen Hunt, however, who are most worth seeing.
Practically ignores everything about O'Brien's life except as it relates to his sexual odyssey, turning the life of the man into little more than a curio.
A powerful expression of our common needs, fears, and consolations.
For better and for worse, The Sessions has 'crowd-pleaser' written all over it.
Neither an issue-pushing disability drama or a crude, American Polio-style sex comedy, The Sessions is sweet and winning - 'feel good' minus the fingers down the throat.
Another dynamite vehicle for John Hawkes, in which Lewin's affecting script overcomes his pedestrian direction.
Skilled direction, a talented cast and a simple but elegant story will garner a lot of sympathy from its targeted, more mature audience.
It offers a relatable depiction of the powers of a positive mental attitude and perseverance in spite of horrendously bad luck. And some Oscar-caliber acting, to boot.
An incredibly low-key and feel-good adult movie about sex that's much funnier than most people are probably expecting, highlighted by a pair of Oscar-caliber performances by its two leads.
A frank exploration of sex and disability, The Sessions compensates for a minor structural misstep with an acute ear for tone and stellar performances throughout.
Following an initial launch on PC, Penny Arcade's latest game, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3, has found its way to Android and iOS for $2.99. As an added bonus, they've included the first DLC pack and a Fanfiction option where you can gender- and species-swap the sprites for the main characters (if you're into that kind of thing).
While the game follows closely in the footsteps of the last two as a tried-and-true turn-based RPG with hilarious writing, OtRSPoD 3 cranks up the 16-bit charm. The main characters from the popular webcomic, Gabe and Tycho, figure prominently in your party, with plenty of cameos made by the supporting cast throughout the rest of the game. Just a few of the classes you'll be able to level up as include Crabomancer, Tube Samurai, Hobo, and Delusionist. Combined with the above screenshot, you should be amply prepared for the hilarity On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 has to offer.
Any of you guys Penny Arcade fans? Played the other two games? Anyone headed to PAX East?
(Reuters) - The United States may ban federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to people under age 21, an appeals court ruled on Thursday, in a defeat for the National Rifle Association.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Houston rejected the NRA's argument that 18- to 20-year-olds had a right to buy the guns under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment.
A unanimous three-judge panel said Congress, in a law dating from 1968, adopted the sales ban to help curb violent crime. It also said that the nation's founders and 19th-century courts and commentators believed that disarming specific groups did not trample on the right to bear arms.
"Congress was focused on a particular problem: young persons under 21, who are immature and prone to violence, easily accessing handguns," mainly from licensed dealers, Judge Edward Prado wrote for the panel.
"The present ban appears consistent with a longstanding tradition of age- and safety-based restrictions on the ability to access arms," he added.
Thursday's decision upheld a September 2011 ruling by District Judge Sam Cummings in Lubbock, Texas.
The case had been brought a year earlier by the NRA, firearms dealers and individuals against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is part of the Department of Justice.
NRA DISAPPOINTED
The 5th Circuit said it was the first federal appeals court to address the ban since the Supreme Court in 2008 announced a broad Second Amendment right for individuals to keep and bear arms, in the case District of Columbia v. Heller.
"We are disappointed," said David Thompson, managing partner at Cooper & Kirk in Washington, who represents the NRA. "The ruling is inconsistent with the Supreme Court's opinion in Heller, and we are considering all of our appellate options."
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In reaching its conclusion, the 5th Circuit also rejected an NRA request that it apply "strict scrutiny" in considering the sales ban.
It said a less rigorous review was appropriate because the law did not prevent 18- to 20-year-olds from using handguns for self-defense and other lawful purposes, and people subject to the ban would eventually surmount it by turning 21.
"The government has satisfied its burden of showing a reasonable means-ends fit between the challenged federal laws and an important government interest," Prado wrote.
Prado was appointed to the 5th Circuit by President George W. Bush. He was joined in his opinion by Judge Carolyn Dineen King, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter; and Judge Catharina Haynes, who was also appointed by Bush.
The case is National Rifle Association of America Inc et al v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives et al, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 11-10959.
The downside to compact, energy efficient vehicles is their lack of cargo space. But designers around the world are hard at work ensuring that doesn't inhibit your ability to properly furnish your home. Like Carl de Smet who created this comfy foam lounger that smooshes down to a flat block that's five percent of its original size. More »
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Public release date: 31-Oct-2012
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If Hurricane Sandy wasn?t scary enough, it?s newest victims are in the blogosphere. We?ve just learned that Gawker?s fleet of sites, including Gizmodo are down. Also Hurricane Sandy victims? The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed.
Welcome to the future, where you can essentially make a movie with believable special effects right on your smartphone. 
