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June 11, 2008 to July 1, 2008 ==Quotations==
If the devil exists, he no doubt has a high IQ and an Ivy League degree. It's clear that having an educational pedigree is no prophylactic against greed and bad behavior.
 Tom Donaldson professor of ethics and law at Wharton
 [http://www.startribune.com/mobile/?aid=22926824 Star Tribune July 3, 2008]

 ---- Paul Alper found in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_I_and_type_II_errors#Various_proposals_for_further_extension Wikipedia] the following quotations of well known statisticians relating to Types of error. In 1948, Frederick Mosteller argued that a "third kind of error" was required to describe circumstances he had observed, namely:
 Type I error: rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true.
 Type II error: accepting the null hypothesis when it is false.
 Type III error: correctly rejecting the null hypothesis for the wrong reason.
 In 1957, Allyn W. Kimball, a statistician with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, proposed a different kind of error to stand beside "the first and second types of error in the theory of testing hypotheses". Kimball defined this new "error of the third kind" as being "the error committed by giving the right answer to the wrong problem" Mathematician Richard Hamming expressed his view that
It is better to solve the right problem the wrong way than to solve the wrong problem the right way.
 In 1974, Ian Mitroff and Tom Featheringham extended Kimball's category, arguing that:
One of the most important determinants of a problem's solution is how that problem has been represented or formulated in the first place.
. They defined type III errors as either "the error. of having solved the wrong problem. when one should have solved the right problem" or "the error. [of] choosing the wrong problem representation. when one should have. chosen the right problem representation" In 1969, the Harvard economist Howard Raiffa jokingly suggested "a candidate for the error of the fourth kind: solving the right problem too late" . In 1970, Marascuilo and Levin proposed a "fourth kind of error" -- a "Type IV error" -- which they defined in a Mosteller-like manner as being the mistake of "the incorrect interpretation of a correctly rejected hypothesis"; which, they suggested, was the equivalent of "a physician's correct diagnosis of an ailment followed by the prescription of a wrong medicine" See the Wikipedia article for references. ==Forsooth== Deborah Alper suggested the following Forsooth:
Roughly one-third of all eligible Americans, 64 million people, are not registered to vote. This percentage is even higher for African-Americans (30 percent) and Hispanics (40 percent).
 The Nation
 July 21/28, 2008, Page 32

 ---- Paul Alper suggested the following two Forsooths:
We want to persuade you of one claim: that William Sealy Gosset (1876-1937)--aka "Student" of Students t-test--was right and that his difficult friend, Ronald A. Fisher, though a genius, was wrong.

 From the preface of Cult of Statistical Significance:
 Deirdre Nansen McCloskey and Steve Ziliak
 Feb 19, 2008

 ----
"There's this cluster of interrelated findings", said Richard A. Lippa, a professor of psychology at California State University at Fullerton, who has found evidence that in gay men, the hair on the back of the head is more likely to curl counterclockwise than in straight men. "These are all biological markers that something must have gone on early in development".

From an article by Rob Stein in the [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR2008062201994_pf.html Washington Post],
 February 5, 2008

 ==Irreligion== Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up
 By John Allen Paulos, 158 pp. Hill & Wang. $20.

 John suggested that Chance News readers might enjoy some of the arguments that he used in his book that rely on probability concepts . He provided the sample below and you can see more of his probability arguments [http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/beyond-belief-enlightenment-2-0/john-allen-paulos in a talk] he gave at the recent Conference "Beyond Belief Enlightenment 2.0" sponsored by [http://thesciencenetwork.org/ The Science Network].
A common creationist argument goes roughly like the following. A very long sequence of individually improbable mutations must occur in order for a species or a biological process to evolve. If we assume these are independent events, then the probability of all of them occurring and occurring in the right order is the product of their respective probabilities, which is always a tiny number. Thus, for example, the probability of getting a 3, 2, 6, 2, and 5 when rolling a single die five times is 1/6 x 1/6 x 1/6 x 1/6 x 1/6 or 1/7,776 - one chance in 7,776. The much longer sequences of fortuitous events necessary for a new species or a new process to evolve leads to the minuscule probabilities that creationists argue prove that evolution is so wildly improbable as to be essentially impossible.

 This line of argument, however, is deeply flawed. Leaving aside the issue of independent events, I note that there are always a fantastically huge number of evolutionary paths that might be taken by an organism (or a process), but there is only one that actually will be taken. So if, after the fact, we observe the particular evolutionary path actually taken and then calculate the a priori probability of its being taken, we will get the minuscule probability that creationists mistakenly attach to the process as a whole.

 A related creationist argument is supplied by Michael Behe, a key supporter of intelligent design. Behe likens what he terms the "irreducible complexity" of phenomena such as the clotting of blood to the irreducible complexity of a mousetrap. If just one of the trap's pieces is missing -- whether it be the spring, the metal platform, or the board -- the trap is useless. The implicit suggestion is that all the parts of a mousetrap would have had to come into being at once, an impossibility unless there were an intelligent designer. Design proponents argue that what's true for the mousetrap is all the more true for vastly more complex biological phenomena. If any of the 20 or so proteins involved in blood clotting is absent, for example, clotting doesn't occur, and so, the creationist argument goes, these proteins must have all been brought into being at once by a designer.

 But the theory of evolution does explain the evolution of complex biological organisms and phenomena, and the Paley argument from design has been decisively refuted. Natural selection acting on the genetic variation created by random mutation and genetic drift results in those organisms with more adaptive traits differentially surviving and reproducing. (Interestingly, that we and all life have evolved from simpler forms by natural selection disturbs fundamentalists who are completely unphased by the Biblical claim that we come from dirt.) Further rehashing of defenses of Darwin or refutations of Paley is not my goal, however. Those who reject evolution are usually immune to such arguments anyway. Rather, my intention here is to develop some loose analogies between these biological issues and related economic ones and, secondarily, to show that these analogies point to a surprising crossing of political lines.

 There is an interesting [http://www.ams.org/notices/200807/tx080700789p.pdf review] of Irreligion by Olle Haggstrom of in the August 2008 Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

 Paulos discusses the response of his readers in the [http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/WhosCounting/story?id=4357170&page=1 current issue] of his monthly column for ABCNews.

 Paul Alper suggested that readers might enjoy the following:
 Paulos often writes about unlikely events and how quickly the public tends to assume something supernatural is taking place. On page 52 of Irreligion he muses on numerological coincidences involving 9/11. He starts with 9/11 being "the telephone code for emergencies." The digits 9 + 1 + 1 sum to 11 and September 11 is the 254th day of the year so that 2 + 5 + 4 sum to 11. Further, there are another 111 days to the end of the year. The first plane to crash into the towers was flight number 11. The Pentagon, Afghanistan and New York City each have 11 letters. Moreover, any three-digit number when multiplied by 91 and 11 results in a six-digit number where digits four, five and six repeat digits one, two and three, respectively; in particular, starting with 911 results in 911,911. A few pages later he notes that on September 11, 2002 "the New York State lottery numbers were 911." The day before that,"the closing value of the September S&P 500 futures contracts" was 911. And to cinch it all, Johnny Unitas, the number one quarterback ever, died on September 11 and wore 19 on his jersey.

 ==An improbable event and a coincidence== I have an example of an improbable event and a coincidence; it shows the difference between them. At Forrest's graduation last night, all of the seniors marched, in alphabetical order, to the stage to receive their diplomas. The women were wearing gray gowns and the men were wearing black gowns. I was careful to note any siblings (as far as I could tell, there were none). GREAT! So now we have a random sequence of coin tosses of length about 310, and the coin is pretty close to fair. The longest sequence of consecutive men I observed was 9; this is somewhat longer than the expected length of the longest run of heads, which is about 7, and somewhat longer than the expected length of the longest run of either heads or tails, which is about 8. So I observed a fairly unusual event. The coincidence is that Forrest was in the longest run of men. An email from Charles Grinstead to Laurie Snell about his son's graduation.
 ==The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives== Leonard Mlodinow, Pantheon Books, New York, 2008
 There are not many writers who can successfully write about mathematics for the general public but Leonard Mlodinow is one of them. He is a physicist who has written a number of successful books on physics and mathematics for the general public. He has also been an editor for Star Trek. The Drunkard's Walk is his most recent book. In this book he shows that we all have a hard time understanding probability and yet it plays an important role in our daily lives.
 To show that we are not wired to understand probability, he has only to show us the birthday problem, the Monty Hall problem, the two sisters problems, the Linda problem, the two-envelope problem, etc. Of course to understand how probability affects our lives we have to understand some basic probability. Mlodinow makes this more interesting by explaining probability along with the history of its development. He starts with Cardano introducing the sample space and solving dice problems. At the same time he discusses Cardano's colorful life. He then discusses Pascal and Fermat's solution to the problem of points. He continues with Bernoulli, deMere, and Bayes and explains their contributions including the law of large numbers, the central limit theory and conditional probability.
 Of course none of this is new but, what makes this book so interesting, is that while Mlodinow discusses probability concepts and applications he also explains how they can affect our lives. For example the argument that there is no such thing as a hot-hand in basketball might also be made about your stock adviser. To hear this in action listen to Mlodinow himself [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0sLuRsu1Do&feature=user here].
 You can also a review of this book and other similar books[http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/157/Books/popular.html] by the well known probabilist David J. Aldous in the Berkeley Statistics Department. David teaches an Undergraduate Seminar [http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/157/index.html From Undergraduate Probability Theory to the Real World]. You will also find on his [http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/ website] a talk [http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/Top_Ten/talk.html The top ten things that math probability says about the real world]
 Submitted by Laurie Snell ==Researchers fail to reveal full drug pay== [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/us/08conflict.html Researchers Fail to Reveal Full Drug Pay]
 by Gardner Harris and Benedict Carey, New York Times, June 8, 2008 The authors say:
 A world renowned Harvard child psychiatrist whose work has helped fuel an explosion in the use of powerful antipsychotic medicines in children earned at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007 but for years did not report much of this income to university officials, according to information given Congressional investigators.

 By failing to report income, the psychiatrist, Dr. Joseph Biederman, and a colleague in the psychiatry department at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Timothy E. Wilens, may have violated federal and university research rules designed to police potential conflicts of interest, according to Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. Some of their research is financed by government grants.

 Like Dr. Biederman, Dr. Wilens belatedly reported earning at least $1.6 million from 2000 to 2007, and another Harvard colleague, Dr. Thomas Spencer, reported earning at least $1 million after being pressed by Mr. Grassley's investigators. But even these amended disclosures may understate the researchers' outside income because some entries contradict payment information from drug makers, Mr. Grassley found.

 In one example, Dr. Biederman reported no income from Johnson & Johnson for 2001 in a disclosure report filed with the university. When asked to check again, he said he received $3500. But Johnson & Johnson told Mr. Grassley that it paid him $58,169 in 2001, Mr. Grassley found.

 The Harvard group's consulting arrangements with drug makers were already controversial because of the researchers' advocacy of unapproved uses of psychiatric medicines in children.
 In addition to money that they get from the drug company, researchers often get addition support from the National Institute of Health that has some responsibility to monitor conflicts of interest. Since neither the Universities nor the NIH seem to be doing their duty Senator Grassley is asking Congress and the NIH to do something about this. You can read his proposal [http://www.policymed.com/2008/07/grassley-letter.html here]. ==Does the internet help or confuse medical decisions?== I (JLS) have been diagnosed as having Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). This is a transition stage between the cognitive changes of normal aging and the more serious problems caused by Alzheimer's disease (AD). It has been recommended that I take two medications Aricept (donepezil) and Excelon (rivastigmine). The are not expected to improve memory but they are thought to delay the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease. Since the possible side effects are unpleasant I decided to look on the web for studies on the effectiveness of these drugs. I found that the recommendation for donepezil is often based on the article: [http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/352/23/2379 Vitamin E and Donepezil for the Treatment of Mild Cognitive Impairment].
 New England Journal of Medicine, June 9, 2005.
 Ronald C. Petersen and others. This is a well designed experiment and they describe there study as:
A total of 769 subjects were enrolled, and possible or probable Alzheimer's disease developed in 212. The overall rate of progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease was 16 percent per year. As compared with the placebo group, there were no significant differences in the probability of progression to Alzheimer's disease in the vitamin E group (hazard ratio, 1.02; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.74 to 1.41; P=0.91) or the donepezil group (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.57 to 1.13; P=0.42) during the three years of treatment. Prespecified analyses of the treatment effects at 6-month intervals showed that, as compared with the placebo group, the donepezil group had a reduced likelihood of progression to Alzheimer's disease during the first 12 months of the study (P=0.04), a finding supported by the secondary outcome measures. Among carriers of one or more apolipoprotein E 4 alleles, the benefit of donepezil was evident throughout the three-year follow-up. There were no significant differences in the rate of progression to Alzheimer's disease between the vitamin E and placebo groups at any point, either among all patients or among apolipoprotein E 4 carriers.
 Their conclusion was:
 Vitamin E had no benefit in patients with mild cognitive impairment. Although donepezil therapy was associated with a lower rate of progression to Alzheimer's disease during the first 12 months of treatment, the rate of progression to Alzheimer's disease after three years was not lower among patients treated with donepezil than among those given placebo.
 The 3 year period was the primary outcome, but the one year period was an exploratory outcome so we have to worry about this. Bob Norman suggested another thing we might worry about. He drew the following picture:  http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/forwiki/memoryx.jpg  The top line is the rate of progression of Alzheimer's for the placebo group and the bottom line for the treated group.This shows the rate of progression of Alzheimer's for the treated group decreasing in the first year and then increasing until the third year. But after that the treated group increases faster than the placebo group! The most recent study for rivastigmine seems to be the following: [http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474442207701096/abstract Effect of rivastigmine on delay to diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease from mild cognitive impairment]:
 Lancet Neurology, June 2007
 Howard Feldman and others. The authors describe their study as follows:
Of 1018 study patients enrolled, 508 were randomly assigned to rivastigmine and 510 to placebo; 17·3% of patients on rivastigmine and 21·4% on placebo progressed to AD (hazard ratio 0·85 [95% CI 0·64–1·12]; p=0·225). There was no significant difference between the rivastigmine and placebo groups on the standardized Z score for the cognitive test battery measured as mean change from baseline to endpoint (−0·10 [95% CI −0·63 to 0·44], p=0·726). Serious adverse events were reported by 141 (27·9%) rivastigmine-treated patients and 155 (30·5%) patients on placebo; adverse events of all types were reported by 483 (95·6%) rivastigmine-treated patients and 472 (92·7%) placebo-treated patients. The predominant adverse events were cholinergic: the frequencies of nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and dizziness were two to four times higher in the rivastigmine group than in the placebo group.
 And their interpretation was:
There was no significant benefit of rivastigmine on the progression rate to AD (Alzhimers) or on cognitive function over 4 years. The overall rate of progression from MCI to AD in this randomized clinical trial was much lower than predicted. Rivastigmine treatment was not associated with any significant safety concerns.
 Ronald C Peterson (lead author of the New England Journal of medicine study) wrote a critique of this study [http://www.mdconsult.com/das/article/body/98978070-9/jorg=journal&source=MI&sp=19520828&sid=722225985/N/582692/s1474442207701138.pdf?SEQNO=1&issn=1474-4422 MCI treatment trials: failure or not?] The Lancet Neurology - Volume 6, Issue 6 (June 2 Ronald C Petersen In this critique he writes"
The 3-year duration of anticipated therapeutic effect applied to this study was, in retrospect, overly ambitious: the treatment did not work for this duration in the donepezil and vitamin E trial, and no cholinesterase inhibitor has been shown to work for 3 years, even in AD. Therefore, this duration of effect would not be expected at the MCI stage. This, coupled with the subtherapeutic doses used, contributed to the treatment failure.

 In spite of all these challenges, there was a glimmer of efficacy—a trend towards a positive rivastigmine effect. Some of the MRI measures suggested a therapeutic response during the 1 year to 2 year window, which is similar to the mild efficacy effect in the donepezil and vitamin E trial.
 Note: [http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/Staff/petersen_rc.cfm Ronold C. Peterson] is the Director of the Mayo Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Well were does that leave me? Answer: Confused. ===Discussion=== (1) What are exploratory outcomes and why do we have to worry about them? (2) What do doctors know that the Internet doesn't? (3) How do you think we should use the internet in making a medical decision? Submitted by JLS == A controversy about doping == Detecting drug cheats is a key issue in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics this summer. Not a surprise given the battering of top-flight sports by successive doping scandals. In June, cyclist Floyd Landis officially lost his 2006 Tour de France title, almost two years after his urine gave a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug known as EPO. WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) has accredited 33 labs around the world to perform this and other anti-doping tests. Recently, some Danish researchers rained on the parade, claiming that their experiment proved that the EPO test had poor "detection power". (For a good summary, see "The Validity of EPO Testing for Athletes", ScienceDaily.com, June 28, 2008.) In their paper, researchers at the Copenhagen Muscle Research Center made two specific claims: (a) that the detection power of the EPO test is poor; and (b) that agreement between results from two WADA-accredited labs is very poor. They concluded that due to a high false negative rate (low sensitivity), this test would fail to catch many drug cheats. They called into question WADA's ability to detect EPO abuse at the Beijing Olympics. In the experiment, they recruited eight (8) healthy college students, all non-athletes, to follow a program of EPO injection and exercise over a seven-week period, divided into three phases (boosting/higher dose, maintenance/lower dose, post treatment/off cycle). Eight, 16 and 24 urine samples were collected in these respective phases, in addition to eight samples taken before the EPO program to serve as base-line. Each half-sample was submitted to one of two WADA-accredited labs (known as "Lab A" and "Lab B") for EPO testing. An excerpt from the table of results from the original paper is given below: {| border=0 cellpadding=4 | Phase || Pre || Boosting || Maintenance1 || Maintenance2 || Post 1 || Post2 || Post3 |- | Samples
 tested || 8 || 8 || 8 || 8 || 7* || 6* || 7 * |- | Lab A || 0 || 8 || 4 || 2 || 2 || 0 || 0 |- | Lab B || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 |} Note: The reduction in samples in the post-treatment period was not explained Source: Lundby, et. al., "Testing for recombinant human erythropoietin in urine: problems associated with current anti doping testing", PresS. J Appl. Physiol, June 26, 2008, online. '''Discussion''' (1) Describe a pair of metrics that statisticians use to measure the accuracy ("detection power") of diagnostic tests. This experiment addressed only one of these metrics. Which one? Why couldn't this experimental design capture the other metric? Why is it important to know the other metric before passing judgment on test accuracy? (2) Inside the paper, the authors revealed that each lab classified each sample into one of three categories: positive, suspicious and negative. Suspicious cases are subject to further confirmatory testing (although we do not know if this was done). We were told that Lab A indicated 2 maintenance samples and 3 post-treatment samples "suspicious"; Lab B indicated 7 boosting samples and 5 maintenance samples "suspicious"; Lab B called 1 boosting sample negative. Do the additional data affect your opinion of the study's conclusions? (3) Comment on the sample size, and the selection mechanism. How comfortable are you to make statistical inference using this data? (4) In the Discussion, the authors used language like "In the 'maintenance' period, laboratory A found six positive results … in a total of 16 samples." Explain why special testing methodology must be used if you were to treat this data as an n=16 sample. What key assumption is violated when ordinary testing is invoked? '''Further Discussion''' It has been widely reported that the EPO test is highly "unreliable" because this study proved that two labs, both WADA certified, could produce divergent analytical results. In response, Olivier Rabin, WADA's scientific director, doubted that this study "reflected the true state of EPO testing". ("Study Shows Problems in Olympic-Style Tests", New York Times, June 26, 2008) Dr. Rabin raised a core question in statistical inference: given that the true state is unknown, one would like to see if the experimental data provides sufficient statistical evidence to prove/disprove one's hypothesis. (5) State null and alternative hypotheses for this problem. Identify the population and the sample in the Danish experiment. What was their sample size? (6) Under what conditions are you willing to generalize the result of this test of Lab A vs. Lab B? (Or design a different experiment to test your stated hypotheses.) Submitted by Kaiser Fung ==Correlation is enough== [http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-07/pb_theory The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete,] Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine, 23 June 2008.
 Written by the editor of [http://www.wired.com Wired Magazine,] this article argues that the scientific model -- propose a theory then test it by experiment -- is outdated, due to the arrival of huge data sets and powerful computing clouds that can crunch this data to look for patterns.
 At the petabyte scale, information is not a matter of simple three- and four-dimensional taxonomy and order but of dimensionally agnostic statistics. It calls for an entirely different approach, one that requires us to lose the tether of data as something that can be visualized in its totality. It forces us to view data mathematically first and establish a context for it later.
 Submitted by John Gavin ==The value of a joint replacement registry== [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/business/29hip.html A Call for a Warning System on Artificial Joints] Barry Meier, The New York Times, July 29, 2008. A registry is a database that tracks health outcomes as they are reported by doctors. In the United States, a registry known as SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) tracks information about cancer patients
The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is an authoritative source of information on cancer incidence and survival in the United States. SEER currently collects and publishes cancer incidence and survival data from population-based cancer registries covering approximately 26 percent of the US population. SEER coverage includes 23 percent of African Americans, 40 percent of Hispanics, 42 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives, 53 percent of Asians, and 70 percent of Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders. (Details are provided in the table: Number of Persons by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity for SEER Participants.) The SEER Program registries routinely collect data on patient demographics, primary tumor site, tumor morphology and stage at diagnosis, first course of treatment, and follow-up for vital status. The SEER Program is the only comprehensive source of population-based information in the United States that includes stage of cancer at the time of diagnosis and patient survival data.[http://seer.cancer.gov/about/]
 A registry can also be limited to a specific region or even a single medical site. The Aghia Sofia Children's Hospital in Athens created a meningitis registry in 1970.
BACKGROUND: Bacterial meningitis remains a source of substantial morbidity and mortality in childhood. During the last decades gradual changes have been observed in the epidemiology of bacterial meningitis, related to the introduction of new polysaccharide and conjugate vaccines. The study presents an overview of the epidemiological patterns of acute bacterial meningitis in a tertiary children 's hospital during a 32-year period, using information from a disease registry. Moreover, it discusses the contribution of communicable disease registries in the study of acute infectious diseases. METHODS: In the early 1970s a Meningitis Registry (MR) was created for patients admitted with meningitis in Aghia Sofia Children's Hospital in Athens. The MR includes demographic, clinical and laboratory data as well as treatment, complications and outcome of the patients. In 2000 a database was created and the collected data were entered, analyzed and presented in three chronological periods: A (1974-1984), B (1985-1994) and C (1995-2005). RESULTS: Of the 2,477 cases of bacterial meningitis registered in total, 1,146 cases (46.3%) were classified as "probable" and 1,331 (53.7%) as "confirmed" bacterial meningitis. The estimated mean annual Incidence Rate (IR) was 16.9/100,000 for bacterial meningitis, 8.9/100,000 for Neisseria meningitidis, 1.3/100,000 for Streptococcus pneumoniae, 2.5/100,000 for Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) before vaccination and 0.4/100,000 for Hib after vaccination. Neisseria meningitis constituted the leading cause of childhood bacterial meningitis for all periods and in all age groups. Hib was the second most common cause of bacterial meningitis before the introduction of Hib conjugate vaccine, in periods A and B. The incidence of bacterial meningitis due to Streptococcus pneumoniae was stable. The long-term epidemiological pattern of Neisseria meningitidis appears in cycles of approximately 10 years, confirmed by a significant rise of IR in period C. The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) from all causes was 3.8%, while higher CFR were estimated for Streptococcus pneumoniae (7.5%, RR=2.1, 95% CI 1.2-3.7) and Neisseria meningitidis (4.8%, RR=1.7, 95% CI 1.1-2.5) compared to other pathogens. Moreover, overall CFR varied significantly among the three time periods (p = 0.0015), and was estimated to be higher in period C. CONCLUSION: By using the MR we were able to delineate long-term changes in the epidemiology of bacterial meningitis. Thus the MR proved to be a useful tool in the study and the prevention of communicable diseases in correlation with prevention strategies, such as vaccinations. [http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/7/101 Meningitis registry of hospitalized cases in children: epidemiological patterns of acute bacterial meningitis throughout a 32-year period]
 The New York Times article started with the story of a doctor who had bad experiences with several patients who had recently had a particular joint replacement part implanted.
Dr. Lawrence Dorr, a nationally known orthopedic surgeon in Los Angeles, realized last year that something was very wrong with some of his patients.

 Months after routine hip replacements, patients who had expected to live without pain were in agony. "The pain was grabbing me around the back," said Stephen Csengeri, who is 54, and a lawyer from Torrance, Calif.

Dr. Dorr found he had implanted the same metal hip socket in each patient. Several needed surgery again — a replacement for their replacement.

The doctor first told the device's manufacturer, Zimmer Holdings, last year about his concerns but nothing happened. Then in April, Dr. Dorr, who was a highly paid consultant for Zimmer, sounded an alarm to colleagues in a professional association and soon heard back from doctors with similar experiences.
 Although this particular joint replacement part has been temporarily recalled (see more about this below), the article goes on to suggest that if the United States had developed a registry for patients undergoing joint replacement therapy, the problem would have been identified and resolved sooner. Many other countries have joint replacement registries.
But the United States lacks such a national database, called a joint registry, that tracks how patients with artificial hips and knees fare. The risk in the United States that a patient will need a replacement procedure because of a flawed product or technique can be double the risk of countries with databases, according to Dr. Henrik Malchau of Massachusetts General Hospital.
 An attempt to start a joint replacement registry in the United States failed to get crucial support.
Medicare, which pays for about half the hip and knee implants in this country, rebuffed a proposal two years ago from a medical group to support a joint database. It said it was not the agency's job to gather such data — despite the considerable savings in taxpayer dollars that might come from reducing the number of do-over surgeries.
 The article draws a sharp contrast between the outcomes in the United States, which does not have a registry, and Sweeden, which does have a registry.
Eight years ago, he [Dr. Dorr] alerted another implant producer, Sulzer Orthopedics, that patients with one of its hip implants were having such pain they needed replacement surgery almost immediately. Sulzer withdrew the device six months later, but about 3,000 patients got replacements for the implant, which had become contaminated by oil during manufacturing. Sulzer, deluged by lawsuits, threatened to file for bankruptcy protection.

But because of their registry, Swedish doctors were alerted after just 30 patients got the Sulzer hip that it had an alarmingly high replacement rate, Dr. Malchau said.

Also, doctors in Sweden today are much less likely than American doctors to embrace new devices until registry data show they work well.

"It has made surgeons stick to well-documented implants," said Dr. Johan Karrholm, who helps direct the Swedish program.
 The recall of the device that led off this story, though, is still shrouded in controversy.
Last week, Zimmer announced it was suspending sales of the device, known as the Durom cup, until it trained doctors how best to implant it.
 The company does not believe that the device itself is faulty.
Earlier this year, after Dr. Dorr urged Zimmer executives to stop selling the cup, they told him the fault was in his implantation technique, not their product — the same response he received years before from Sulzer executives. That is when he decided to alert colleagues at the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons.

In late May, Zimmer informed surgeons that it was investigating Dr. Dorr's complaint but that it did not see a need for an action like suspending sales. Last week, in releasing a summary of its investigation, the company said that cup failure rates had varied widely among clinics, a disparity it attributed to varying surgical techniques. Some doctors did not have problems.
 ===Questions=== 1. The article mentions some of the practical difficulties in running a registry. Do you feel that the value of such a registry would warrant the costs involved. 2. Any registry is going to have the potential for serious biases. What are some of the biases that might affect a registry? 3. Does heterogeneity in the failure rate among different surgeons imply that surgical technique is at fault? What are some other possible explanations for this heterogeneity? Submitted by Steve Simon
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If you need a good collar, appropriate to any part of your dog's life, then we are eager to offer you this Long Link Fur Saver Dog Collar Steel Chromium Plated. Try it and you will never regret buying this collar. As this Choke Chain has less links than the usual choke collars, it provides less effect on the dog's hair, thus doesn't damage it. That is why this Fur Saver will be a perfect choice for any dog breed. It is rather multipurpose so you can use it easily for training as well as for daily walking.
Choose the size correctly. Measure your dog's neck circumference and add 2 or 3 inches to this number. Your fingers must easily pass between the collar and your dog's neck.
The distinguishing feature of this Fur Saver is that it is made by means of a new method created by Herm Sprenger. It is called Chromium electroplating. Its main advantage lies in using the electricity when putting the thin chromium layer on the collar's surface. Thus it is plated evenly on each part. Besides, due to the method of mirror-bright polishing, your dog's collar will look exclusively! This technology helps not only to remove unclean things, but to make the surface much smoother with a wonderful bright shine. Moreover, this technology helps to make the collar more strong, resistant to corrosion and to prolong its lifespan. Besides, due to the chromium plating of all parts it has a better tensile strength.
Do you know why you should buy this collar?
And finally, you may forget about the collars that break all the time because of your dog's pulling force, because it is made only of extra strong material!
However, it can be guaranteed only if you use the collar correctly.
Choose the size of your dog's collar properly; you may use the advice mentioned before or ask your dog trainer.
Watch that the collar to be worn correctly on your dog's neck.
Never leave your dog without tending. It is possible that it will be catched by something with its collar, thus injured.
We would like to bring to your attention this great Handcrafted Royal Leather Dog Leash for Walking. It will be an excellent supplement to the new collar of your dog.


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HomeMusicWorld Music Concerts Link up with Norfolk Schools
World Music Concerts Link up with Norfolk Schools
An incredible line up of worldwide cultural music concerts with musicians and artists from Bulgaria, India, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and the Middle East are set to take place over a two-week period beginning on 28th February for the first two weeks of March 2022 performing in historic Norwich venues.
Billed as a 'Festival of World Sacred Music', it's hoped that the concerts will be a regular annual calendar event open to all to come and enjoy in the City of Norwich.
Mr Gary Newland the artistic director from Music Worldwide for the Festival said: "We are launching a festival of world sacred music using heritage venues across the city from The Halls and Norwich Playhouse Theatre to Stage Two at the Theatre Royal and Norwich Cathedral. The music is powerful, spiritual and enlightening. We are delighted to be bringing culturally diverse music to Norfolk that people wouldn't normally be familiar with or listen to."
Supported with funding from Arts Council England, the artists will be taking their enriching concerts to another level by including five Norfolk schools in their productions within the cultural education outreach programme led up by Music Worldwide.
A special music project will be also undertaken with young unaccompanied asylum seekers in collaboration and funded by Norfolk County Council's Children's Inclusion and Opportunities team.
Mr Newland said: "For each of the six concerts we are connecting the artists from Venezuela, Punjab, Bulgaria, Zimbabwe and the Middle East with Years Six and Seven children with five Norfolk schools. The aim is to let children explore both their own identity and that of individuals from other cultures and the opportunity to perform with them on stage."
He added: "The lessons with their teachers and artists will work to develop an understanding of the music, art and culture of different communities that have settled in our region. The project is very much about enriching young people's understanding and belonging within a multi-cultural society.''
The goal is to help pupils build understanding and common identities beyond the traditional divides of nation, race and faith. The musical performance aspect of the course is vital to the immersive element of this program but these concerts are also supplemented with five complementary lessons which meet OFSTED's British Values specifications as well as contextualise their learning so that it can be applied into real world scenarios.
Mr Newland said: "This is particularly important in areas where population demographics are less diverse and children may not have had the opportunity to engage with those from different heritages. Our vision is to help in the formation of a respectful, tolerant and open-minded younger generation."
The concerts will be held at Norwich venues including Norwich Cathedral, The Halls, Norwich Playhouse Theatre and Stage Two at the Theatre Royal; see below for details.
Artists and Participating Schools in 2022:
Cawston Church of England Junior Academy (part of DNEAT, Yr 6) on Monday 28th February at The Halls with Luzmira Zerpa.
Luzmira Zerpa is a prolific Venezuelan singer/songwriter based in UK who has performed internationally as a solo artist and toured extensively throughout Europe with her band Family Atlantica (Soundway Records). Luzmira has performed at prestigious venues including the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and the Elbphailarmonie (Hamburg) as well as festivals including Glastonbury Festival, Womad and the World Music Festival in Udaipur, India.
Tickets: norwichtheatre.org/whats-on/the-luzmira-zerpa-ensemble.
Participating School: Lionwood Junior School (Yr 6) on Tuesday 1st March at The Halls with King Gurcharan Mall (Punjab, India).
Originality, dedication and talent have made him a formidable force in the Asian music industry. He has created his own distinct identity and taken his place among the best Punjabi musical talents in the world.
Tickets: norwichtheatre.org/whats-on/king-gurcharan-mall.
Norwich School (Secondary YR7/8) on Friday 4th March at Norwich Cathedral with London Bulgarian Choir.
Led by native Bulgarian singer Dessislava Stefanova, former member of the Philip Koutev Bulgarian Folk Ensemble, the London Bulgarian Choir takes us on a journey around Bulgaria, exploring the landscapes of the voice and the creative traditions of this land
Dessislava Stefanova started classical training aged six, but found an alternative to the formality of communist-style musical education in the Children's Folk Music & Dance Company. She has been performing & teaching the distinctive choral music of Bulgaria in the UK since her arrival in 2000. An experienced conductor, soloist and ensemble singer, and she has established a career singing for film soundtracks and theatre.
Tickets: norwichtheatre.org/whats-on/the-london-bulgarian-choir
Norwich Primary Academy (Yr 6) on Monday 7th March at The Halls with Anna Mudeka (Zimbabwe, Africa)
Anna Mudeka, founder and Artistic Director of Tambai Promotions is a passionate and charismatic ambassador for the arts & culture of the Sub-Saharan African continent. Multi-instrumentalist, actress, singer, writer & educator, she is a polymath proud to share the ancestral heritage of her native Zimbabwe.
In 2019 Anna toured throughout the UK over 45 dates with her one-woman production Kure Kure, Faraway, an epic tale addressing themes of identity, migration, assimilation and empowerment framed in the legends of her Shona ancestors and her own highly personal story of settling in the UK.
Tickets: norwichtheatre.org/whats-on/anna-mudeka-the-african-choir-of-norfolk.
16-18 yr old Asylum/Refugees on Friday 11th March, at Stage 2, Norwich Theatre Royal with Justin Adams Ensemble.
Justin Adams is an experienced guitarist, producer & composer. With Robert Plant, he created top 10 albums and toured the world.
His production on landmark albums by Tinariwen brought the band to global attention, while his collaborations with Rachid Taha, Juldeh Camara & Brian Eno brought awards and recognition as a musician working between cultures.
Justin worked as musical director for British Council Projects in the UK & MENA (Middle East & North Africa), as well as WOMAD, Rock Hall of Fame (USA) and others.
Tickets: norwichtheatre.org/whats-on/justin-adams-mohamed-errebbaa-ensemble.
St Williams Junior School on 9th March, at Norwich Playhouse Theatre with Maya Youssef.
Maya Youssef is hailed as 'queen of the qanun' the 78-stringed Middle Eastern plucked zither. Maya's intense and thoughtful music is rooted in the Arabic classical tradition but forges pathways into jazz, Western classical and flamenco styles. It explores the emotional and healing qualities of music. For her, the act of playing music is a life- and hope-affirming act and an antidote to what is happening, not only in Syria, but across the world.
Tickets: norwichtheatre.org/whats-on/maya-youssef-ensemble.
To book tickets online visit www.musicworldwide.co.uk/concerts.asp or follow the individual links above.
The festival has had funding and support from Arts Council England, Norfolk County Council and Norfolk Music Hub.
Festival of World Sacred Music
Norwich Playhouse Theatre
Norwich Theatre Royal
Editorhttp://www.GrapevineLIVE.co.uk
British Rock Band 'Dare' Announce New Album and Tour
Peterborough-Based Singer To Release Debut EP
Treats for 2022 in Bury St Edmunds

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The last few days have been manic busy.
Up and at 'em after a terrible nights sleep on the lovely new matress. Julia was worried she would fall out and took over two thirds of the bed and no amount of snoring would get her to move!
Felix bounded out of bed as it's Children In Need and pyjama day at school. Imogen was less excited about the idea of the early rising. Michelle was a star and took the kids at 6:30am as we dashed down the A1 and onto the M25 for the 9am appointment in Rickmansworth.
The staff were great and we soon found out about Julia's operation. No general anethestic needed so Julia was happy. I had some coding to do, so spent the waiting period working and watching lectures for the online course I'm doing.
A short time after Julia is wheeled out, she's back and still chilled out from the sedatives. She looks a million times better than she did after the general and is keen for food and drink so they can discharge her.
Once free we have to take some bloods to Harpenden so Julia can be signed fit for chemotherapy. At the hospital Julia gets to meet the chemotherapy nurses and they talk us through the process. This answers some questions and wierdly it all now feels more "normal" now.
We get home and Julia rests up. I get the kids from school but by 8:30pm I can't stay awake and head up the wooden hills to Bedfordshire.
Julia seemed less scared about falling off the bed and we both manage to get a good nights sleep. It's my parents 45th wedding anniversary today, I didn't think we'd make it but Julia is feeling well enough to go. So we head off to Newbury. The M25 is a nightmare and we park for 30mins, I'm just glad it was easy running the day before. Once that wrinkle is out the way, we cruise to Newbury and surprise my parents by phoning from outside their flat. We have a great lunch, it's brilliant to see the family and to see Julia looking so great and enjoying some fizzy wine! We head back in the early evening tired and happy. Julia is sore from Fridays operation and plans to have a well deserved lie-in the morning.
I let Julia rest and take the kids to their swimming lessons. We swim for an hour and then after a cuppa it's time to head home and do the chores. I head to the tip, do the laundry, go shopping, do the tidying and the cooking. We are now eating more vegetables and I'm not a fan of raw veg but it's time to get over that. Felix is less enthusiastic initially but the kids barter between themselves - some of the pepper slices for cucumber and peace is restored. I even smile whilst showing Felix I now like raw tomatos!
In the afternoon I play some Lego Star Wars with the kids then I bully Julia into an afternoon walk. The doctors have said that exercise will help… Its a grey old day, but the kids chase me kicking the rugby ball round Ivel Springs. We head home via the Orange Tree for a cheeky pint. Good day.
My parents arrive at lunchtime they are over for the week to help out. I take them on the school run to pick up the kids and meet the teachers so they know where to get them later in the week.
In the evening Julia has her ECG the whole thing was funny, the Doctor was great, slightly disorganised but the tells Julia she has a perfect heart. We are good to go for Wednesday.


There are numerous groups that meet to pray for gospel opportunities in and around Sydney business districts.
You can view locations and descriptions of our current groups by clicking the maps below.
Alternatively, contact us to find out about EPTs near you, or if you would like to start one near your workplace.


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Legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee passes away at 85
Bengal's legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee passed away at the age of 85. Chatterjee died after over-a-month-long battle with multiple ailments. He was admitted to hospital on October 6 after he tested positive for Covid-19. He recovered from the infection, but his condition did not improve. Chatterjee acted in 14 Satyajit Ray films and over 300 others. He made his debut in Ray's 1959 film Apur Sansar. He was the first actor to play the role of Feluda, the detective created by Ray. The iconic actor is survived by his wife, son and daughter. Watch the full video for more.


Positive East's fully-equipped gym is free to use throughout the day for all of our service users and volunteers. For those new to our gym, you will need an induction with our qualified gym instructor Augusto. Please speak to reception or call us on 0207 791 2855 to book your induction.


Ravenol Team San have signed Czech driver Tomáš Korený for the 2016 European Touring Car Cup season, in a deal which was brokered at the Essen Motorshow.
Korený drove for ETCC regulars Krenek Motorsport in the single-seater FIA CEZ Championship last season, but will now move from the national championship to the low-cost Super 1600 ETCC class this year, driving one of Ravenol Team San's Ford Fiesta 1.6 16vs.
Korený's former team principal, Josek Krenek, who will run SEAT Leóns in the new TCN2 class this year, blessed the move.


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Elf: Elf
Ronnie James Dio: the birth of a legend.
By Paul Elliott published 20 March 15
at Thomann
In 1972, at the age of 30, Ronnie James Dio was finally getting somewhere. American band Elf – in which Dio was lead singer and bassist – were signed to Deep Purple's label Purple Records, and this, their first album, was produced by Purple's bassist Roger Glover and drummer Ian Paice.
But in the end, it was not with Elf that Dio would become famous. That came later, with another Purple connection…
Of the three albums by Elf, the debut is the best. The band's default setting was heavy rock with a blues influence, typified by groovy opening track Hoochie Koochie Lady. Guitarist Dave 'Rock' Feinstein, Dio's cousin, hit sweet notes on Dixie Lee Junction, a song with echoes of The Faces.
Above all, Dio's voice is powerful and richly expressive. Much of the band's material was generic, though, as were the two albums that followed, both recorded after Feinstein left.
Ultimately, Dio was wasted in Elf. To achieve his full potential, he needed to work with major talent. The opportunity arrived in 1975 when guitarist Ritchie Blackmore quit Deep Purple and installed Dio as the singer in his new group Rainbow, alongside three other ex-members of Elf. And while those other guys lasted in Rainbow for just one album, it was in this band that Ronnie James Dio came of age./o:p
The story behind Dead End Street by The Kinks
Huey Lewis: the soundtrack of my life
Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs launch Wicked Mind video
Neil Young's music has been removed from Spotify following misinformation spat
The 10 greatest John Paul Jones performances with Led Zeppelin


Art statement by Jolanta Lapiak.
de-hearingization performance art by jolanta lapiak.
Bodies have been, to some degree, a property of political, cultural and lingual dominance. This performance plays an inversion of the Center and the Other or Margin, bringing the audience to a personal experience of the invasion and violence of their personal space physically, lingually and psychologically.
This performance inspects a lingual violence and oppressive dominance of phonocentrism that is rampant within society, in which hearing loss is exploited by corporations for economic and political-medical power in the biotechnological industries, such as cochlear implants and other speech-related fields.
The 32-minute performance art took place at the 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art in Mercer Union, Toronto, Canada, on October 24, 2010.
You can view the edited video below.
Also see Liberated from Signoclasm: a performance.
You may also be interested in Deaf or Dead: a goose-bumping true story.


Hopefully I can do these more often. Also, at least with the blog, anything I forgot to say I can write it here. But if you didn't catch my point, I'm recommending you see this immediately!
I'll be honest and say I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. In fact, I wasn't even planning on seeing it in theaters. But I'm glad that I did. Summer has officially begun.


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Samsung Hercules - T-Mobile's Galaxy S II Variant - Pictured, 4.5" Display Confirmed
Nate Kimmey
2011/08/07 9:33pm PDT Aug 7, 2011
Still holding out for the mythical (pun intended) Samsung Hercules, leaked via a T-Mobile roadmap a couple months back? While we don't have any pricing or release info just yet (though that September 26 release date certainly seems possible), TmoNews has gotten a hold of a few pictures of the device that confirmed it as the 4.5" Galaxy S2 T-Mobile variant.
These pictures don't confirm everything that is rumored about the phone, but they do have some good information in them:
The Hercules will officially be marketed as a Galaxy S2 phone
Runs Android 2.3
TeleNav GPS Navigator and Netflix pre-installed
8 megapixel camera
Four capacitive buttons (unlike the international version of the GS2)
Yeah, September can't come soon enough.
HTC Sensation 4G On T-Mobile: Coming June 15 For All, As Early As June 12 At Select Walmart Stores
2011/05/31 7:15pm PDT May 31, 2011
Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid)
Update: It has been confirmed by T-Mobile that the Sensation 4G will cost $199.99 on a two-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate. Still no word on off-contract pricing, however.
It doesn't come as much of a surprise, but T-Mobile has finally announced the release date of the long-awaited Sensation 4G - by June 15 at T-Mobile retail stores, and as early as June 12 at select Wal-Mart locations. Unfortunately, T-Mobile didn't provide anything in the way of pricing, but we'll certainly be hearing about that in the coming days.
Qualcomm Developer Phone Packs 1.2 GHz Dual-Core Snapdragon, 13 Megapixel Camera - But Won't Be Hitting Carriers Anytime Soon
2011/03/28 1:46pm PDT Mar 28, 2011
The last two Android developer phones - the Nexus One and Nexus S - have both been quite popular amongst the Android fans because of their latest-gen hardware and fast-paced software updates (though maybe not so much for the N1). But a new developer phone coming straight from chip manufacturer Qualcomm won't be aiming to replace your personal phone - it's all about the development.
Knowing just a few of its specs, it certainly seems like it could be some manufacturer's next flagship phone, but there are two big catches:
1.2 GHz Dual core Snapdragon processor with Adreno 220 GPU
1.2 megapixel front-facing camera
13 megapixel rear camera
Stereo speaker system
Four microphones
No Market access
Battery "pack" as opposed to a cell
Those last two points are the reason this phone won't be available or even usable for consumers.
CES 2011: ASUS's Eee Pad MeMO - Dual-Core Snapdragon Sketchpad
Brian O'Toole
2011/01/08 4:07pm PDT Jan 8, 2011
ASUS turned a few heads with their recent device unveilings, with one of the more intriguing ones being their Eee Pad MeMO. Unlike almost every other tablet device here at CES, the MeMO is not using a Tegra II processor but will instead be powered by the latest Snapdragon. The MSM8260 is the first dual core processor we've seen from Qualcomm, and we were eager to put the 1.2 GHz chip through its paces.
Motorola Droid 2 Global Details Popping Up All Over Verizon's Site, Still Not Official
Aaron Gingrich
2010/11/02 9:48am PDT Nov 2, 2010
Droid 2 Global
The Motorola Droid 2 Global is really turning out to be the worst-kept secret since the Bay of Pigs invasion, isn't it? We've been hearing inklings of it since mid-September, including rumors that the CPU would be clocked at 1.2 GHz.
Now, Droid-Life's legion of tipsters have spotted two more official Verizon documents featuring the Droid 2 Global: a holiday ad featuring the D2G (above), and nothing other than a sheet listing the tech specs.


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Album meteora linkin park numb
by ZushakarPosted on 12.03.2021 12.03.2021
"Numb" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released as the third single from their second studio album, Meteora (), and is the thirteenth and final track on the album. One of Linkin Park's most well-known and critically acclaimed songs, "Numb" topped the Billboard Alternative Songs chart for 12 weeks.B-side: "From the Inside" (Live), "Easier to Run" (Live). Mar 25, · Having sold over 27 million copies worldwide and being seven times platinum-certified by the RIAA, Meteora is just Linkin Park's second studio album. It features five singles, namely. Linkin Park Numb: Numb is an Alternative Rock/Nu Metal song by American rock band Linkin Park, which was released as the third (3rd) single from their second (2nd) studio album, Meteora-released on March 25, Numb, which serves as the thirteenth (13th) and final track on the album, is one of Linkin Park's most well-known songs.
Mar 25, · Having sold over 27 million copies worldwide and being seven times platinum-certified by the RIAA, Meteora is just Linkin Park's second studio album. It features five singles, namely. Linkin Park Numb: Numb is an Alternative Rock/Nu Metal song by American rock band Linkin Park, which was released as the third (3rd) single from their second (2nd) studio album, Meteora-released on March 25, Numb, which serves as the thirteenth (13th) and final track on the album, is one of Linkin Park's most well-known songs. "Numb" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released as the third single from their second studio album, Meteora (), and is the thirteenth and final track on the album. One of Linkin Park's most well-known and critically acclaimed songs, "Numb" topped the Billboard Alternative Songs chart for 12 weeks.B-side: "From the Inside" (Live), "Easier to Run" (Live). Meteora is the second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on March 25, through Warner Bros. Records, following Reanimation, a collaboration album which featured remixes of songs included on their debut studio album Hybrid Theory. The album was produced by the band alongside Don diflucanbuyrxxd.com: Nu metal, rap metal, alternative metal, rap rock, alternative rock.Meteora là album phòng thu thứ hai của ban nhạc nu metal Linkin Park, phát nhạc của bài "Somewhere I Belong", "Faint", "Numb" và "Breaking the Habit". Artist: Linkin Park Date Released: Label: Unknown. Produced By: Unknown . Tracklisting: Meteora: Foreword Don't Stay Somewhere I Belong Lying From. "Numb" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released as the third single from their second studio album, Meteora (), and is the thirteenth. "Numb" is the third single and the final track of Linkin Park's second studio album, Meteora. One read more». K. 5. Preview, buy, and download songs from the album Meteora, including "Numb" was a massive hit and a welcome pullback of sorts in the group's attack. Meteora is the second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, from Meteora for over a year, including "Somewhere I Belong", "Faint", "Numb", "From . View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the CD release of Meteora / Numb / The Art Of Meteora on Discogs. Meteora is the second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on . The third single "Numb" was released when Linkin Park performed it live in Madrid. "From the Inside" was released as the fourth single off the album.
see the video Album meteora linkin park numb
Numb (Official Video) - Linkin Park, time: 3:07
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Birni Lafia est l'un des cinq arrondissements de la commune de Karimama dans le département de l'Alibori au Nord du Bénin.

Géographie

Localisation

Birni Lafia est situé au Nord-Est de la commune de Karimama. Il est limité par le fleuve Niger sur sa partie Nord et Est, à l'Ouest par l'arrondissement de Karimama puis au Sud par la commune de Malanville.

Administration
Sur les 37 villages et quartiers de ville que compte la commune de Karimama, l'arrondissement de Birni Lafia groupe  villages que sont:
 Birni Lafia
 Fadama
 Goroukambou
 Kangara-Peulh
 Karigui
 Missira
 Saboula
 Tondikoaria
 Tondoobon

Histoire

L'arrondissement de Birni Lafia est une subdivision administrative béninoise. Dans le cadre de la décentralisation au Bénin, Il devient officiellement un arrondissement de la commune de Karimama le 27 mai 2013 après la délibération et adoption par l'Assemblée nationale du Bénin en sa séance du 15 février 2013 de la loi N° 2013-O5 du 15/02/2013 portant création, organisation, attributions et fonctionnement des unités administratives locales en République du Bénin.

Population et société

Démographie
Selon le recensement de la population de  conduit par l'Institut national de la statistique et de l'analyse économique (INSAE), Birni Lafia compte 2336 ménages avec  habitants.

La population est composée de plusieurs ethnies dont les Dendi, Djerma et peuls sont majoritaires

Economie
La population pour ses sources de revenus, mène des activités agricoles. Le secteur agricole procure plusieurs denrées comme le riz, le maïs, le sorgho et le mil. Il y a également les cultures de rentes basées sur la production de l'arachide et le coton.

Galerie de photos

Notes et références

Arrondissement au Bénin
Alibori

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Washi is 和紙 (和 means Japanese and 紙 means paper). It is a kind of paper made using fiber from the bark of the mulberry tree or other alternatives like, bamboo, rice, wheat and hemp.
Washi tape is a Japanese style masking tape that is made using washi paper. It's a popular craft item because it's durable, super sticky, acid free and can be removed without leaving any sticky residue.


This intensive two-day workshop is a highly interactive workshop designed for new supervisors who want to grow their management skills fast -- and get on the fast track to achieving leadership success. Comprehensive leadership training will cover the proven management techniques and powerful strategies you need to become a stronger, more confident and respected leader.
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Crucial differences between being the leader and "being the boss"
The emotional requirements of being a supervisor: Have you got what it takes?
Can you be friendly with your staff and still maintain respect and compliance?
"How-to's" for establishing your credibility as a leader -- fast!
What's your role in settling disagreements between employees?
Prioritizing techniques that save the day when everything on your desk is "urgent"


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HomeGrammysGrammy Musings From the West Coast
Grammy Musings From the West Coast
February 9, 2009 Guest Contributor Grammys 39
As soon as tonight's awesome Country Universe Live Blog finished, I had the opportunity to watch the Grammy Awards (which were recorded on my DVR – the best and only way to really watch an awards show) out here on the West Coast. Since I couldn't comment on the country performances earlier, here are a few random musings:
Carrie Underwood ("Last Name"): Thanks to the song and the outfit, I've read it a lot in the last few hours: What happened to little miss "Jesus Take The Wheel?" The answer to that question is front and center in the primer on how to turn an American Idol into a country music star, so I'll just leave you with a tip: If you've ever wondered what the Underwood concert experience is like, take her '09 Grammy Awards performance, multiply it by 14 (or however many songs she sings, minus the first verse of JTTW) and you have it in a nutshell. Loud and rockin', with tiny nearly non-existent flourishes of country, a powerful overwrought vocal straining, but ultimately failing, to overcome the band, and virtually incomprehensible lyrics.
Taylor Swift/Miley Cyrus ("Fifteen"): I must say that Taylor Swift's best performances occur when she is seated. Anyone else notice that? Truthfully, I don't have the heart to trash her vocal tonight (I'd reserve that for Miley if she were a country singer. My ears are still bleeding!). But, if you are over a certain age, you know what I'm talking about. My only question is: Will that ever change? Probably not. Therefore, when her audience grows up, and her songwriting grows up, what is going to happen to Swift? Will her audience stick with her and continue not to care about her horrible vocals? Or, like my generation, will they graduate to classic acts and more talented newcomers?
Kenny Chesney ("Better As A Memory"): Sweet intro by Morgan Freeman. I'm neither here nor there about Kenny Chesney's performance. Nicely understated. Solid vocals for Chesney. However, the song does nothing for me, and I'm not sure it did anything for those seated in the audience or those watching from home either.
Sugarland ("Stay"): Jennifer Nettles can S I N G. The facial gestures and the accent aside, she knocked it out of the park. Unlike Chesney, there are more than a few people in the audience and at home wondering why they don't own a Sugarland album. That's how you earn a Grammy and how you sell albums and concert tickets. And that's from someone who doesn't even like this song … or Sugarland, to be honest.
Alison Krauss and Robert Plant (Medley): When I get the volume on my television fixed, I'll get back to you on this performance. Both artists sounded like they were singing underwater. Maybe I'm just going deaf, but I could barely hear them. However, I did enjoy this superficial observation from EW's live Grammys blog: "I like that Krauss has her own gentle-wind machine, which fails to rustle nary a curl on Plant." So true.
What did you think of the country performances on tonight's Grammy Awards?
Grammy Live Blog
Taylor Swift, "White Horse"
I have yet to watch it, but I'm pumped for Sugarland and Adele's performance. What could be better than 2 of my favorite singers and 1 of my favorite songs?
I think that review of Carrie Underwood's performance is mostly crap. Had she not won the award for Best Country Female Vocal Performance, she wouldn't have been judged so harshly. Everyone on the staff here at CU can deny it, but most contributors (with the exception of Kevin, whom I really admire for his ability to critique a song/artist without letting personal bias affect his thought processes) made their dislike for her win very vocal. Just own up to it.
Stephanie (and all other loyal Carrie fans),
Once again, I'd like to point out that I agreed with her win last year, for "Before He Cheats." In fact, I even gave "Last Name" a pretty positive review upon its initial release. Granted, the appeal of the song has long since faded for me, I still recognize it for what it is. I don't have a problem that she won the award because of any personal bias toward her. I have a problem because her submission was not as deserving as the other nominations. While I admit that she's not my favorite artist and I'm often neutral about her, I've never been negative about her for sport and have always tried to be obsessively fair–partly because I know she is very talented and I know that she often does get unfairly scured.
I at least ask that you do a better job of distinguishing between those of us who may not love her but still try to be fair and the people who actually do pick her apart because of personal bias. It's unreasonable to lump us all into one group. Wouldn't you rather us be honest regarding our opinions rather than simply try to please all Carrie fans? I think Underwood is a good enough artist to deserve such treatment.
i am happy win carries win because well i am a carrie fans but i think that this year trisha deservd it the most, but i love her performance it was so energizing(sp?) and powerful it was really pump up you cold see the crowd felt like in a concert ,
i love sugarlands stay it was awesome as usual
the whole taylor/miley duet was ood in a few parts others not so much
I though Kenny was nothing special, just glad hae did'nt put on another island party song.
The audio was horrible for Robert and Alison, otherwise I think it would have been good.
Sugarlands performance was solid and I could say it better than Lynn, the facial expressions and acccent aside, and the fact that I hate that song, she sounded great.
Here's my stance on Carrie, I know the noms say it is for a specific song performance but I think when voting the members put into consideration more than just that one song because she was the hardest working female last year. If you look in the past the obvious best song 9out of 10 does not win and it is usually the person who is on top at the time. It may not be fair but that is my thought on the voting. As for the performance the music was loud and not so country, but that was to be expected when she said it would be a energized rocked out version with the special female rock guitarist. So being for warned I think it was decent and great if you are into pop rock.
Here's the problem with the Country winners in most years. The Nashville block will divide their votes among the deserving artists, and then all of the other voters who don't know what's going on in country music vote for the one with the name recognition. And that's how Carrie starts a string of Grammy wins. I'm a bit sad right now, knowing that there were some truly great vocal performances that lost to "Last Name".
Since I'm not on staff here, I feel okay in saying that Carrie sounded a bit screechy last night, and I was a bit embarrassed for her. She can do so much better. Taylor and Miley were a train wreck, and Kenny was a bit flat. I'm so with Leeann on Jennifer Nettles, though. Amazing voice and performance, but the facial expressions were distracting. When she sang with Adele (amazing for both singers), she gave Adele a look that was truly scary for a moment. The Alison wind machine was pretty cool, too.
Jennifer Nettles was the best, IMO, out of the Country performances. She kinda acted a little goofy when she was accepting her award! I see our EOTY's performance was very "entertaining"…..NOT! To me he's like that on every award show…..boring!! So cool to see Keith Urban up on stage jamming with some of the greats!! You know he was loving it!! I don't even know what to say about the Teen Queens….yes, I do….AWFUL! And people pay their hard earned money to see those two!!
Right on, Lynn…
Honestly, as someone who's generally not crazy about Carrie (yeah, I'll totally admit it), I thought her performance was pretty entertaining (the song is so sleazy to begin with – I'm glad she had fun with it) and that it was just over-powered by the band. But Lynn is entitled to her opinion about it, and her opinion makes sense. As our wise Kevin says, no art is self-interpreting. Biases are a part of the game, and that's to be expected, as long as you can explain why you have one to begin with (and Lynn did, quite well). And yeah, pretty much what Leeann said. :)
I thought Taylor actually sounded fair last night – at least better than usual, which for her isn't saying much, but still. I guess I just don't care that her singing isn't high-quality because her songwriting is so sharp, especially when she goes the understated route like she did last night. I think that's a very mature song she did (especially considering it's explicitly about being young), and I would have really liked the performance if Miley hadn't been there to try and diva it out. That just wasn't what the song called for. But yeah, I hope that song gets to be a single at some point.
I agree with your comments on pretty much everything else, Lynn. Shame about the sound for Robert & Alison – kinda put a damper on the last stretch there.
Canadian Boy
I'm sorry, but "Last Name " really didn't deserve to win Best Country Female Vocal Performance. To be honest I didn't even find she performed it very well last night, it was too loud and screechy for me.
Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus's performance wasn't as horrible as I thought it was going to be, I actually (this is very painful for me to say) liked it a bit at the beginning. With that being said it still wasn't a good performance. I don't know, Taylor Swift's 'understated' vocals annoy me and as for MIley Cyrus, well lets not even get me started on her…
Kenny's performance was nothing special to me, it definetly wasn't bad, just dull.
I absolutly loved Sugarland's performance. It's no wonder that "Stay" won Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo/Group. They were hands down the best country performance of the night. I even liked when they joined Adele.
I liked the Krauss and Plant performance, but I did find it annoying that you could barely hear Krauss while she was singing with Plant.
I'm happy for Carrie Underwood. She did great last night and earned her win. Count on her winning next year as well. One thing I must point out from a personal point of view.
Not once did I see Trisha, LeAnn, or Lee Ann sing their respective songs live. I've seen Carrie and Martina perform their songs on more than one occasion. Out of sight out of mind. Maybe the Grammy voters didn't have any real performances other than Martina's to compare with Carrie's performances. This is not a best song award it is a best performance award. I thought most of the performances sounded fine. Surround sound makes all the difference in the world, but it didn't help Taylor or Miley out as much as I had hoped. Did Jamey Johnson actually get shut out?
I thought Carrie's performance was ok. I do agree that the band was extremely loud and you could tell she was having a hard time trying to be louder than the band, but I thought she rocked it out! I don't think it was as good as her performance last year, but I thought it was still ok.
I have to say, Taylor and Miley's performance wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (too bad I can't say the same about the JoBros and Stevie). They both did an average job with the vocals and yea, that's about all I can say about that one.
Kenny was a bore. I personally don't care for him that much, but last night he was just boring. I like how he tried to tone it down but it was just boring.
Best performance by a country artist was definitely Sugarland! I thought Jennifer did a fantastic job on "Stay" and her singing with Adele was amazing! I loved it! Probably my favorite performance of the night! It was great!
Lynn Douglas
Stephanie, I can honestly say that I was not thinking about Carrie Underwood's win for "Last Name" when I wrote this post. It was hours later. I truly don't care that much about who wins a Grammy to take it out undeservedly on an artist.
I've made no secret of the fact that I'm not a huge Underwood fan, but that bias is rooted in her music and performances. It's not personal. If I seem harsher on her than others at times, it is because she has so much talent and can do so much more with it. In fact, just last week I argued that she has great untapped potential. I think that's a compliment.
All that I said, I still think her performance last night was a hot mess – whether I like the song or not. But, if you liked the performance, I guarantee you will like her concerts. I wasn't kidding in my comment. It looked/sounded the same.
Cory DeStein
Excellent job Lynn, I agree with you 100% on your review about Carrie. It was way over the top and she didnt really sound like herself at all. More like a Pat Benatar or Heart song, not a country one. And the same goes for her live show is the band is WAY too loud. I sadly saw her live in Pittsburgh and was left diasspointed because if I didnt know the song already, such as the album cuts I couldnt understand the lyrics.
And to Gavin, it is Best Country VOCAL Performance. They arent voting on a stage performance of the song its the vocals for it. Emmylou Harris has won the award with songs that come nowhere near the Top 40 country show.
Carrie is a great package of radio sugar right now, but I am not sure sure what's going to be left in the long run.
Razor X
Lynn, that's the best description of Carrie that I've seen yet. Nail, meet head!
Occasional Hope
"As for the performance the music was loud and not so country, but that was to be expected when she said it would be a energized rocked out version with the special female rock guitarist. So being for warned I think it was decent and great if you are into pop rock."
She was nominated (and won) in the COUNTRY vocal category; so why was she doing a "special rock" version?
Quite apart from any opinions as to the artistic merits of Carrie's musical direction, if she keeps on screaming all her songs she's going to end up destroying her voice altogether.
Honestly, I think Underwood rocked it. Had she lessened the band and sang perfectly people would've said it was an average performance. Whatever, at least she pleased the general public. The NY Times, LA Times, EW, and Time magazine all loved it. I'm sorry you didn't like it Lynn, maybe she isn't your type of singer. That's fine. I find the review to be a bit harsh, but whatever. Your opinion. All of my fellow Carrie fans need to back off. Not everyone is going to like her, but at least the Grammy voters do.
Last name is a really power country rock song and carrie really rocked it, maybe her vocals werent dead on like always but she proved to have a lot of stage presence and entertaining material, besides she wasnt going to sing I Told You So because thats for the ACMs so it make sense that she gave last name a different twist
I didn't watch the whole thing yet, but I had to laugh at your Sugarland paragraph. I owned their first album but disliked it. I don't like their music nor Jennifer nor her voice nor her performing style, not even her clothes. "Stay" is a heartfelt song but it sure won't make me buy another album of theirs.
Lynn, I agree with you, for the most part.
I think Carrie's performance wasn't too good. The music was lay louder than her vocals, and it just didn't stand out. She does better performing slow songs at award shows, and probably live in general.
Taylor and Miley did pretty bad. Talk about tone deaf. Taylor did better than Miley, but that's really not saying much. They should go back to high school and stay there.
Kenny's performance… didn't even pay attention.
Sugarland did excellent. I may not be crazy for the song or her accent, but Jennifer Nettles did one of the best performances of the night.
I was surprised at the Plant/Krauss performance. I enjoyed it but the sound was not good. Seemed rushed and like an instrument was missing, or something. The sound just wasn't totally working. Otherwise, I think it would have been amazing.
and Keith Urban did ok.
Taylor's vocals were a lot better last night then they usually are on award shows. However, Miley, was just plain downright bad. Goosebumps when Taylor sang, flinches away from the TV screen when Miley tried to pop up the song a little more. Why her song with Billy Ray Cyrus was country, and why so many country execs recognize her is beyond me.
Stay and Sugarland were great and strong as usual.
Carrie Underwood looked hot in her short dress, but that was the only standout part of the performance. You could barely hear her, it's an old, okay song, and she just didn't stick out or show off her skills that much last night.
pselby
I'm no huge Carrie Underwood fan, but that featured guitar player was smoking (her playing, that is)! Who was she?
Kenny Chesney was much better than usual – maybe because there were no steel drums in that song.
I wish Charlie Louvin had won best Southern Gospel album — he was really looking forward to it. I'm glad he is getting a lot of airplay on satellite radio.
On the whole, I really enjoyed the program and thought there were some inspired pairings.
LAST NAME: If this is the "official" Carrie Underwood concert experience, I must unfortunatly say that I am now afraid to go to a Carrie Underwood concert.. x.x all i can say is "o.O" ……seriously…. this is depressing… :(
FIFTEEN: Good instrumental; good acoustic sound and setting; vocals, however, not so much.
BETTER AS A MEMORY: missed that one.
STAY: AMAZING.
CHASING PAVEMENTS: even more AMAZING.
ALISON & ROBERT: awesome. :)
Hollerin' Ben
Carrie Underwood's drummer should lose his crash symbol privileges after that one.
She looked weird when she was swaying to and fro on those heels.
she sounded screechy and tilted towards yelling rather than singing.
that guitar player chick was weak sauce. no soul.
all and all, really underwhelming performance. sound and fury signifying nothing man.
Carrie Underwood has a good voice, too bad she doesn't use it very often. Last night she sounded like she was trying to fit in with the crowd at Staples, which was only about 1% country. The girls (Miley and Taylor) cannot sing and I agree that once their audience grows up they will realize it and find true vocalists to listen to. I like Sugarland and Jennifer Nettles voice, but I can't watch her. She is very spazzy.
Cory DeStein says:
I know, but are they comparing live vocals or recorded vocals. I'm talking live vocal performance.
I'll repeat this one more time, "Not once did I see Trisha, LeAnn, or Lee Ann sing their respective songs live." So tell me how do they do it. Did they consider their live vocal or their studio vocal?
From what I hear you don't win eight straight female vocalist awards from three of the biggest music award shows by accident. She's on the verge of pulling the triple sweep as the ACM's are just around the corner. I'm actually curious about what her reaction would be if she didn't win. If she does lose I hope it's to Taylor Swift just to hear the Swift fans defend the decision.
I hated Carrie's performance…or more precisely the band and the arrangement. But to say that Carrie was straining, screeching or screaming shows a woeful lack of knowledge and attention. Why are Lynn's reviews and comments on Carrie so predictable? Maybe we ought to dispense with the 'objective' tag, eh?
Steve from Boston
I agree with Lynn…I thought her take on Carrie's performance was spot on.
But I'm not objective here, as I think the song itself is obnoxious.
I know there's a real good Country singer in there somewhere Carrie, but I don't hear her in that song nor do I see her in the vocal and strutting histrionics of that performance.
Ok so I'm guessing not many people here have seen Carrie live. She's a lot better live. Well at least the past five times I've seen her (yes, I said five times). I think it's a bit unfair to think that one performance on an awards telecast shows how she performs in concert. I'm sure she didn't have too much to do with the arrangement. Sometimes, the awards organizers like to throw in random stuff to make the performance better. I just wanted to say that that's not how a Carrie concert is. She doesn't "rock" up her songs, she usually just does the same version. She does, however, strip down songs like "I Told You So," "Don't Forget to Remember Me," and "I Know You Won't." I guess I'm just saying you should probably attend an Underwood concert before you judge. No offense to anyone here, I'm just stating an opinion.
Steve from Boston says:
What are you talking about? You don't sit on a stool to sing that song. She strutted her stuff and out rocked U2 and Coldplay in the process. She was having fun and it showed.
"Not once did I see Trisha, LeAnn, or Lee Ann sing their respective songs live. I've seen Carrie and Martina perform their songs on more than one occasion.
Out of sight out of mind. Maybe the Grammy voters didn't have any real performances other than Martina's to compare with Carrie's performances."
Gavin, I don't really see your point here. I will say that's not the way the awards were supposed to be voted on. If it is how it's done, it doesn't exactly strengthen the validation for Underwood's award for this song. I saw that you said on another blog that studio recordings can be enhanced, so it's not an accurate representation of the song? That's true, but everyone has that advantage, since they're all supposed to be judged by their studio recordings. It's not like Carrie submitted a live recording and everyone else submitted doctored up studio recordings.
If, as you suggest, they did, indeed, judge by Underwood's live performances of the song, I still wouldn't say that she deserved the award over the other nominees. There are songs that I think she does a great job with in live settings, but not this one.
Gavin, since you asked me "what are you talking about?".I'll just say this.
Just my opinion and personal taste..I just think she sounded and looked ridiculous..The whole "bad girl" thing that Carrie tries to pull off doesn't work for me. Thoroughly unconvincing. And as I indicated earlier, I think the song itself is obnoxious, so I admit my bias here. But I think there are a few singers who could pull it off much more effectively, namely Miranda Lambert and Jo Dee Messina. If this were a movie role instead of a song, and the casting director cast Miss. Underwood for this part, it would be an example of mis-casting, in my opinion.
It really seems to me as though Carrie is trying too hard..Vocally, I agree with the others here who stated that they thought she sounded like she was screeching, visually, she looked ungraceful, trashy, and awkward. Yeah, I know it's supposed to be an energetic song, but I thought it was poorly excecuted .
And I thought both the song and the performance had very little to do with country music. It was all "hey look at me" diva histrionics…that stuff belongs in the pop world, imo., and there isn't much about the song itself that is Country, with a capitol "C", in my opinion..I have heard many people here and elsewhere urging Carrie to go real, Traditional Country…They have heard her Opry performance of Stand By Your Man, and I have heard her Opry performance of How Great Thou Art…Not saying she needs to sing all covers of the Cassics or anything like that…but a more traditional sound from Carrie would be awesome, she has an amazing voice, But when she expends so much on crap like we saw at the Grammy's this year, I can't help but think it's a colossal waste of talent.
Gavin does make a good point, though – Carrie performed "Last Name" at least twice (probably more) on high-profile television shows – the ACMs, then the American Idol finale – and the casual country voter wouldn't have seen a live performance from any of the other women of their songs. Not that the live performance is what's voted on, but the exposure helps draw attention to the studio performance, which is especially needed when your studio performance wasn't a big chart hit like "Last Name."
I guess…but I'm still not convinced that it's an appropriate validation for the award, which seemed to be the purpose of Gavin's argument.
Leeann, I like Carrie Underwood so I'm not going to level any criticism toward her because I actually like the song and the way she sings it but it wasn't my favorite of the five nominated songs. My pick would have been What I Cannot Change by LeAnn Rimes and I posted my thoughts and predictions at Country Central just in case you don't believe me. But I did predict Carrie Underwood for the win while Cowboy Blue picked LeAnn Rimes for the win.
Best Female Country Vocal Performance
* "For These Times" – Martina McBride
* "What I Cannot Change" – LeAnn Rimes (your pick and my pick)
* "Last Name" – Carrie Underwood (winner)
* "Last Call" – Lee Ann Womack
* "This Is Me You're Talking To" – Trisha Yearwood
I feel the same way you do about LeAnn Rimes and her performance. Arguably the best of her career. Unfortunately, very few people got to hear this masterpiece and that is a huge obstacle to overcome. Trisha Yearwood and Lee Ann Womack came out with very strong performances in their own right which is generally the standard for these two fine ladies. I was surprised at the nomination of Martina McBride. I was expecting Miranda Lambert or even Taylor Swift to get the nod over Martina. I'm a big fan of Martina but this year more than any other year she is more filler than contender. Which brings me to Carrie Underwood. Carrie is the reining champ in this category two years running and only two years removed from her best new artist win. Even though Carrie performs "Last Name" as good as it can be performed and the fact that it is the only chart topper among the nominees, in my opinion, it is arguably the weakest song in the category. This matters not, this is a category that weighs heavier on performance than it does on song quality and none of the ladies with the exception being LeAnn Rimes performs exceedingly better than Carrie Underwood. LeAnn's brilliant but obscure performance will be hard pressed to overcome the Carrie Underwood machine.
I'm just asking how the Grammy's validate their choice? Maybe it was in the Grammy's best interest to give her the award to validate the choice they made two years ago when they named her Best New Artist. They have been criticized for questionable selections in the past.
It's so weird to me. Underwood is a polarizing force. She's receiving a lot of (deserved) attention for this performance. Some are claiming it's one of her best, yet you guys are all knocking her. Weird.
Gavin, Thanks for the clarification. Don't worry, I would have taken your word for what you said even if you hadn't posted it at Country Central.
Jatale
I really enjoyed Carrie's performance of Last Name. I thought she really rocked it out! Her guest guitarist (Orianthi) was marvelous too. The sound mix tended to favor the band (but that was a problem throughout most of the Grammy performances) so Carrie's vocals were more submerged than normal but she still came through clearly. I don't like the song much, but this rocked out version of it was really smokin!
Lynn:
Re. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss sounding like they were singing underwater: It's the venue itself, the Staples Center here in Los Angeles. Really lousy acoustics. In fact, I could say that about any and all sports arenas. They're all great for sports, but they're all terrible for the full music experience.


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Bill Wear, Sr. & Bill Wear, Jr in 1974. Bill Wear, Jr. began practicing law with his father, Bill Wear, Sr. in 1974. Bill Sr., began practicing law with his father, Sam M. Wear after he returned from the Navy at the end of World War II. Bill's great-grandfather, A. Hunter Wear, began practicing law in Cassville, Missouri in 1873 and moved the law practice to Springfield, Missouri in 1885.
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Bill Wear, Sr. and his father Sam Wear in the 1940′s. Sam Wear while serving as Greene County Prosecuting Attorney around 1916.
Recovering From Divorce…and The Horse You Rode In On!


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Home»Hot Copy»Julie Coon, so used to helping others, is now on receiving end
Julie Coon, so used to helping others, is now on receiving end
Back in 2003, when Skyler Munson was three years ago, her then step-father's National Guard unit was deployed to Fort Drum and then onto Iraq. That's when Skyler, now a South High Marathon Dance student chairperson, first got to know Julie Coon.
Julie, a volunteer, ran the Guard's Family Readiness Group at the old Armory on Warren Street in Glens Falls. Her husband Arthur was the National Guard recruiter.
Soon, Skyler and her mom Stacia were regulars at the Armory. "I remember the candy in the basement," Skyler said.
Stacia said "we were there a lot," especially after Nathan Brown of South Glens Falls was killed.
"That made it real for everyone," Arthur Coon said.
Then, the Coons' Queensbury home became the Munsons' second home. "Their door was always open," Stacia said. "Julie gets a very good read on people. She just knows what they need and just does it.
Julie Coon, left, was a role model for Skyler Munson as the volunteer coordinator of the National Guard's Family Readiness Group in Glens Falls. Now, Skyler is able to return the favor, as Julie will be a recipient of the 39th annual South High Marathon Dance. Chronicle photo/Gordon Woodworth
"She never stopped cooking for us, baking for us. And it was all volunteer."
At one point, Stacia said Julie's stove was down to one working burner. But instead of spending the money to get it fixed, she would "buy things for other families. She was always doing things for others."
Now, 800 students will dance for her at the 39th annual South High Marathon Dance this weekend.
"Julie is the sweetest, nicest person I have ever known," Skyler said. "I nominated her, and when I got up to speak at the meeting when the students decide on the recipients, the vote was unanimous."
When Skyler went over to tell Julie she was selected to be a recipient, her reaction was to ask why. "She said someone else could use it more," Skyler said. "She's so selfless."
Julie suffers from several health ailments, including arthritis. On July 4, 2014, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She's in remission now, but the chemotherapy accelerated the arthritis and "I tore up one of my knees." She had two operations, and while under anesthesia in December 2015, she had a stroke.
Julie is now getting physical and speech therapy, and talks a little slowly, but Skyler said "I am so impressed with her progress."
Julie is still uncomfortable being a recipient. "It's very hard," she said. "I'm very, very honored. I love this kid so much. I never, ever dreamed of it….This will help pay some medical bills. It's very overwhelming."
Skyler says Julie "has done so much for so many. The dance is about giving back, and it's so nice to repay someone like her.
"Every year is so emotional, and this year, being so close to Julie, it's going to be insane. I cry a lot anyway, but these will be happy tears."
Skyler, 16, said that having Julie as a role model has inspired her to serve others. She's graduating a year early and wants to join the Peace Corps after college.
Skyler says, "We get thanked over and over by the recipients for changing their lives, but they are changing our lives, too. It's shaped me into who I am, and I can't wait to see what else and who else I am able to help in life."
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