What can be learned from the post-election crisis in Greece?
The traditional political establishment in Greece buckled under the weight of crippling austerity and a mass people’s movement when the country went to the polls May 6. Now that the voting is over, and attempts to form a government have failed, another election must be held, scheduled for June 17, raising new questions about the way forward for the Greek working class. The crisis deepens as panicking Greeks withdraw their savings from banks on the brink of collapse.
Since the fall of the U.S.-backed military dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967-1974, two parties, PASOK and New Democracy, have dominated the political scene. However, both parties had their worst showing ever, and combined were only able to muster 32 percent of the vote, down from 77 percent in 2009. Instead, support grew for parties of both the left and the far right. With parliament deadlocked, unable to form a new governing coalition, a new election is pending and there is a distinct possibility of a protracted political crisis and a sharp polarization that provides an opportunity for the working class to decisively assert itself.
Background to the elections
Since the worldwide capitalist economic crisis began in 2007-2008, several countries in the eurozone, which all operate with the common euro currency, have experienced severe debt crises. These national economies are more intimately linked than ever before—which was supposed to be the benefit of the eurozone—so the problems of one immediately threatens the rest.
Germany, the strongest capitalist economy of the eurozone, along with the imperialist U.S., have been working hard to force economic restructuring on the most indebted countries, offering bailouts in exchange for severe cuts to social welfare programs and other austerity measures. They have worked through three main entities: the U.S.-dominated International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank, collectively referred to as the “Troika.” Over the last two years, the Troika has arranged for around €240 billion ($305 billion) in bailout funds for Greece to service its massive debt. In exchange, the Greek ruling class forced through devastating cuts that have led to repeated strikes and militant popular mobilizations.
The Troika has worked hand in hand with the Greek ruling class, which, while claiming to “understand” the opposition of the people, claims that austerity is a difficult but necessary step toward economic revival. The other option, they claim, is complete collapse. It is a story poor and working people across the world are familiar with, including in the United States.
Narrowly winning first place in the elections was New Democracy, a center-right party that was part of the existing government led by Lucas Papademos. An unelected banker, Papademos was appointed to lead the government through its unpopular debt deal. New Democracy campaigned on a platform of supporting the extreme austerity measures imposed by the Troika, and promised only to try to renegotiate some of the more painful terms of the debt deal.
The other pro-austerity party, the misnamed Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), came in third for the first time in the party’s history. PASOK is led by Evangelos Venizelos, the finance minister under the two previous governments. Venizelos was one of the main architects of the austerity “memorandum” and offered only a pitiful pledge that he would ask the country’s creditors to give them three years, rather than two, to reach absurdly unrealistic economic benchmarks.
Gains on the left
The biggest surprise of the election was the second-place finish of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), with 16.8 percent of the vote. SYRIZA is a collection of small communist tendencies and a larger reformist party that split from the Communist Party of Greece after the fall of the Soviet Union. SYRIZA is led by Alexis Tsipras, a former Communist Youth leader who has received significant international press attention. SYRIZA calls for canceling the bailout deal but keeping Greece inside the eurozone and European Union. This, it says, can be achieved through negotiations with the Troika and through nationalization of the Greek banking sector.
Although there are revolutionary forces within SYRIZA, the dominant line at present is fundamentally social democratic. The “peaceful revolution” they have declared mutes the questions of socialism and working-class power, and raises hopes in a radically reformed capitalism. For example, Tsipras stated in a letter to high-ranking European Union officials, “We must urgently protect the economic and social stability of our country. … It is our duty to re-examine the whole framework of the existing strategy, given that it not only threatens social cohesion and stability in Greece but is a source of instability for the European Union.” While SYRIZA’s leadership wants to reverse austerity, its appeal to “social cohesion and stability” means “stability” under a reformed capitalism.
The second most popular party on the left was the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), which registered a modest increase of 1 percent from their previous election result, ending up with 8.5 percent. This was below the 10-12 percent that most opinion polls predicted. The KKE put forward a platform calling for the socialization of the means of production under a “working class-people’s power” government. Of the left groups in parliament, the Communist Party is the only one to call for Greece to leave the European Union, a bloc of the major imperialist and peripheral capitalist states of Europe.
The KKE has played a major role in the massive fight-back movement waged by the Greek working class and especially in its advocacy for general strikes. It intervenes through mass organizations like the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) in the labor movement, the Greek Women’s Federation and the Students Struggle Front, among others.
The lowest scoring of the three left parties was Democratic Left, a split to the right from SYRIZA formed in 2010. It only received 6.1 percent of the vote, but its leader Fotis Kouvelis is often ranked as the most popular politician in Greece by opinion polls. Democratic Left rejects the memorandum, but makes sure to balance its criticism of austerity with pledges of absolute loyalty to the eurozone.
Major gains for far right and fascists
Far-right forces experienced major gains in the election as well. The semi-fascist Popular Orthodox Rally suffered as punishment for its participation in the previous government, but new forces emerged. Independent Greeks, a split from New Democracy, came in fourth with 10.6 percent. The party rejects the austerity memorandum on nationalistic grounds and relies on anti-German and anti-Turkish demagogy in place of a specific political program.
The story that has perhaps gotten the most foreign press attention is the entrance of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party into parliament with 7 percent of the vote, more than 20 times their score in 2009. Its logo is an ancient Greek symbol similar to a swastika, and until recently Adolf Hitler’s manifesto Mein Kampf was displayed prominently at the party’s headquarters.
Golden Dawn campaigned on a platform of expelling all immigrants from Greece and national chauvinist opposition to the Troika. While some voters were attracted to its racist rhetoric and acts of violence against immigrants, Golden Dawn bought the loyalty of others by operating food banks during a time of growing hunger.
The fascists’ success is a serious threat to the working class and all democratic forces in Greece. While its 7 percent may appear small, it is precisely under these polarized economic and political conditions, when the capitalist class cannot achieve stable rule through democratic means, that fascism has historically grown and taken power.
The main bourgeois parties cynically used the threat of Golden Dawn to present the false dilemma of austerity or a descent into fascism. But in reality, these mainstream parties’ promotion of anti-immigrant racism gave Golden Dawn political space to grow. Moreover, if it appeared that the working class could potentially become the ruling power in Greece, the bourgeoisie could accept, if not turn to, a fascist coup.
That the Greek ruling class has operated under fascist military rule before makes such a scenario all the more plausible.
It is up to the revolutionary left and the working class to develop a program and plan of action to smash fascism politically and in the streets.
A ‘government of the left’?
A central component of the SYRIZA campaign was its appeal for the formation of a “government of the left,” encompassing all the left forces opposed to the Troika. The formation of such a government was impossible given the election results and highly implausible given Greece’s undemocratic electoral laws governing coalitions. But SYRIZA’s call for a government of the left clearly resonated with much of the working class and contributed to its success. If SYRIZA were to emerge in first place in the June election, as presently projected, the left could achieve such a majority.
SYRIZA leader Tsipras and other social-democratic proponents of a government of the left argue that it would be able to cancel the memorandum, reverse the wave of austerity measures, potentially nationalize the banks and rebuild the Greek economy in a way that strengthens the working class. SYRIZA makes the case that the European ruling class would never let Greece default and exit the eurozone because of the economic havoc this would create in other heavily indebted states like Spain and Italy. In short, Tsipras pledges to reverse the balance of forces inside the eurozone; instead of the Troika forcing Greece into deeper austerity, Greece would leverage its power against the Troika.
While the Troika obviously wants to avoid a complete Greek default (lenders have already accepted a 53.5 percent write-down on the debt), they have had the last two years to prepare for this eventuality. The centerpiece of the European ruling class’ preparations is the European Financial Stability Facility, a $976 billion bailout fund, meant to act as a “firewall” to counter the immediate effects of a Greek bankruptcy. With this in place, there is a small but growing tendency of capitalist financiers who believe that if Greece were expelled, the eurozone would “end up stronger once the dust had settled.”
Tsipras insists that Greece can out-negotiate the international capitalists, rather than calling for the socialist reorganization of society. He raises unrealistic expectations among the oppressed in electoral and bourgeois political gamesmanship, rather than raising the possibility of a new class power.
Why revolution is necessary
By contrast, the KKE has called the “government of the left” idea a false hope that will lead to disillusionment. The KKE rejects possible participation in a left government, insisting that such a government will leave the capitalist state and the for-profit economic system intact, keep Greece bound to the imperialist institutions of the EU and NATO, and thus cannot resolve the central contradictions at the heart of the political crisis.
More broadly, they explain that the social-democratic program, which arose in the post-war period of capitalist expansion, cannot be achieved in the context of protracted capitalist crisis and neoliberal financial control. They have called the SYRIZA plan opportunist, betraying the long-term interests and political clarity of the working class in exchange for short-term gains for particular leftist parties.
This raises the age-old but still pivotal question of reform and revolution: Does the working class have the capacity to come to power, and how so? Can the capitalist system be reformed to resolve the exploitation at its center? How far can revolutionary organizations go at this time?
Several organizations in Greece—including the KKE—have made the case that the political crisis of the bourgeois class has matured to the point of a revolutionary situation, opening the possibility for the transfer of power to the working class in alliance with middle-class strata.
Revolutionaries, of course, fight for reforms that improve the conditions of the working class and facilitate the political struggle against the ruling class. But a central responsibility is to assess whether the conditions for revolution are approaching, to hasten their development and prepare for such an opportunity.
The basic contradiction in capitalist society is that the productive process is socialized, involving millions of workers, while ownership is private, concentrated in a tiny ruling class. The capitalists control the means of production and distribution, as well as countless financial mechanisms, to squeeze profits out of workers and maintain their political and economic power. The capitalist state (the police, military and courts) allows them to safeguard this system with force, while the government provides for its administration.
A change in administration, like the ascent of a government of the left, will not alter the fundamental underlying character of the state. This can only be achieved by the overthrow of the capitalist state and its replacement by a worker’s state based on independent organs of working-class power—a socialist revolution.
Elections and the revolutionary process
Some communist tendencies support the formation of a government of the left for this reason—not because it would solve the crisis, but because it would further polarize the country and hasten the development of a revolutionary situation.
There can be no doubt that the formation of a SYRIZA-KKE-Democratic Left coalition would cause considerable panic among the Greek and European ruling class, and new bouts of intense class struggle.
History has shown that revolutions can take many paths and tactical turns. In Venezuela, the election of President Hugo Chávez, a socialist presiding over a fundamentally capitalist state, undoubtedly gave a boost to the class struggle and the regroupment of revolutionary forces in the country.
In Nepal, Maoists waged a triumphant revolutionary war against the feudal king that resulted in a negotiated peace and the Maoists’ subsequent election to lead a bourgeois government. Their decision to dissolve their armed forces remains the subject of considerable debate among revolutionaries. Neither country, despite heroic advances, has established socialism.
But for a Greek left government to be a vehicle of revolution, instead of demobilization, demoralization and disillusionment, a left-wing government would need to have clear programmatic unity around the socialization of the means of production, centralized planning, workers’ political power, and so on. It would need to organize the people to take on the police and the military that their own left-unity government would be associated with and nominally leading.
Otherwise, when a revolutionary situation emerged it would only disorient the movement and contribute to the persistence of reformist illusions.
SYRIZA has been silent or worse on these critical questions. In the run-up to the elections, Tsipras said: “A government of the left is in need of industrialists and investors. It needs a healthy business climate.” In other words, his version of a government of the left would not challenge the capitalists’ right to exploit labor.
The capitalist establishment has reciprocated, and the Federation of Hellenic Enterprises (SEV), the Greek equivalent of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has called for the formation of a national unity government including SYRIZA.
Tsipras called the election results a “peaceful revolution,” a slogan that misleadingly suggests the electoral realm, rather than continued mass struggle, can provide a way out of the crisis for working people.
The revolutionary crisis and dual power
While support for SYRIZA is likely to increase in the coming election, it is doubtful the new election will produce a clear winner or workable coalition. In the face of the increased likelihood of exiting the eurozone, which would deepen the economic and political crisis, the class struggle will intensify.
With the bourgeoisie so thoroughly discredited, and the Greek masses so clearly calling for an alternative way, the revolutionary left has an opportunity to offer a program that provides not only short-term relief, but also a longer-term vision of a new economic and political system. The question is how to mobilize the working class and broadly unite the revolutionary forces in a struggle to achieve this.
Historically, a key phase in any revolutionary crisis is that of dual power. By organizing what is essentially a second, rival state built on organs of mass struggle, revolutionaries can show concretely what working-class or people’s power looks like and offers. In the Russian Revolution, this took the form of councils of workers and soldiers (called soviets). In China, the Red Army itself functioned as a government in the areas that it liberated. Revolutionaries have also convened constituent assemblies—to rewrite the constitution—as a way to articulate, and establish the legitimacy of, a new political vision.
Clearly, there are millions in Greece who are still holding out hope that the existing capitalist government and state, perhaps with left-wing leadership, can deliver the goods. To this end, a sophisticated political struggle, backed by a concrete plan of action, must be waged against Tsipras and the social-democratic fantasies he projects. In his “April Theses,” designed to guide the Bolsheviks through Russia’s revolutionary crisis, Lenin called for “patient, systematic, and persistent explanation … especially adapted to the practical needs of the masses.”
Can the struggle in the streets break the deadlock in parliament? Will alternatives to bourgeois state power be built? The Greek working class has found itself on the frontline of the international struggle against capitalism, and the answers to these questions will resonate around the world.
For revolutionaries in the United States, our main role is not to endorse this or that organization and its tactics from afar. Our chief responsibilities are 1) to explain that the Greek crisis is a result of the contradictions of capitalism, not reckless social spending, 2) to defend the unfolding Greek revolution, especially as it could escalate and be slanderously attacked in the imperialist media and even militarily assaulted by U.S.-NATO forces, and 3) to study and learn from the complex revolutionary process that our brothers and sisters are trying to navigate.
While their process is far more advanced than our own, their struggle is ours—and we have much to learn from it.


Genital/ perigenital infection caused by the yeast-like fungus Candida albicans or occasionally by other species of Candida. Vulvovaginitis due to Candida presents with an erythema of the vaginal mucous membrane and the vulval skin, itching, soreness, and with a thick, creamy-white discharge. There may be spread on to the perineum and into the groins. In Candida balanitis, tiny papules develop on the glans penis, evolve as white pustules or vesicles and rupture, leaving a peeling edge. Involvement of groins sometimes coexists. Perianal candidiasis presents with erythema, soreness and irritation, and subsequent spread along the natal cleft is common.
Candidosis, Genital/Perigenital, Kolpitis Candidomycetica, Vulvitis Candidomycetica


Cremation to a Child
When a deceased family member or friend is cremated or already
has been cremated, your child may want to know what cremation is.
In answering your child's questions about cremation, keep your
explanation of what cremation involves simple and easy to
In explaining cremation to your child, avoid using words that
may have a frightening connotation such as "fire" and "burn."
Instead, in a straightforward manner, tell your child that the
deceased body, enclosed in a casket or container, is taken to a
place called a crematory where it goes through a special process
that reduces it to small particles resembling fine gray or white
sand. Be sure to point out that a dead body feels no pain.
Let your child know that these cremated remains are placed in a
container called an urn and returned to the family. If cremation
has already taken place and the container picked up, you may want
to show it to the child. Because children are curious, your child
may want to look at the contents.
If your child makes such a request, look at them yourself first
so that you can describe what they look like. Share this with your
child. Then let the child decide whether to proceed further.
If possible, arrange for a time when you and your child can be
with the body before cremation is carried out. If handled
correctly, this time can be a positive experience for the child. It
can provide an opportunity for the child to say "good-bye" and
accept the reality of death. However, the viewing of the body
should not be forced. Use your best judgment on whether or not this
should be done.
Depending on the age of your child, you may wish to include him
or her in the planning of what will be done with the cremated
remains. Before you do this, familiarize yourself with the many
types of cremation memorials available. Some of the many options to
consider include burying the remains in a family burial plot,
interring them in an urn garden that many cemeteries have, or
placing the urn in a columbarium niche.
Defined as a recessed compartment, the niche may be an open
front protected by glass or a closed front faced with bronze,
marble, or granite. (An arrangement of niches is called a
columbarium, which may be an entire building, a room, a bank along
a corridor, or a series of special indoor alcoves. It also may be
part of an outdoor setting such as a garden wall.)
Although your child may not completely understand these or other
options for memorialization, being involved in the planning helps
establish a sense of comfort and understanding that life goes on
even though someone loved has died.
If you incur any difficulties in explaining death or cremation
to your child, you may wish to consult a child guidance counselor
who specializes in these areas.


Australian Bureau of Statistics
6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Jun 2012 Quality Declaration
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 12/07/2012
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UNDERSTANDING THE AUSTRALIAN LABOUR FORCE USING ABS STATISTICS
In order to understand what is happening in Australian society, or our economy, it is helpful to understand people’s patterns of work, unemployment and retirement. ABS statistics can help to build this picture. Fifty years ago, the majority of Australians who worked were men working full-time. Most worked well into their 60s, sometimes beyond, and if they were not working most were out looking for work until that age. The picture now is very different. Far more people work part-time, or in temporary or casual jobs. Retirement ages vary much more, with a greater proportion of men not participating in the labour force once they are older than 55. Nowadays. 45% of working Australians are women, compared with just 30% fifty years ago. These are profound changes that have helped shape 21st Century Australia. This note explains some of the key labour force figures the ABS produces that can be used to obtain a better picture of the labour market.
Every month, the ABS runs a Labour Force Survey across Australia covering almost 30,000 homes as well as a selection of hotels, hospitals, boarding schools, colleges, prisons and Indigenous communities. Apart from the Census, the Labour Force Survey is the largest household collection undertaken by the ABS. Data are collected for about 60,000 people and these people live in a broad range of areas and have diverse backgrounds - they are a very good representation of the Australian population. From this information, the ABS produces a wide variety of statistics that paint a picture of the labour market. Most statistics are produced using established international standards, to ensure they can be easily compared with the rest of the world. The ABS has also introduced new statistics in recent years that bring to light further aspects of the labour market. It can be informative to look at all of these indicators to get a grasp of what is happening, particularly when the economy is changing quickly.
One thing to remember about the ABS labour force figures is that when a publication states that, for example, 11.4 million Australians are employed, the ABS has not actually checked with each and every one of these people. In common with most statistics produced, the ABS surveys a sample of people across Australia and then scales up the results – based on the latest population figures - to give a total for the whole country. Because the figures are from a sample, they are subject to possible error. The Labour Force Survey is a large one, so the error is minimised. The ABS provides information about the possible size of the error to help users understand how reliable the estimates are.
The above diagram shows the break down of the civilian population into the
different groups of labour force participation. Each pixel represents about
1000 people as at September 2011.
According to established international standards, everyone who works for at least one hour or more for pay or profit is considered to be employed. This includes everyone from teenagers who work part-time after school, to a partially retired grandparent helping out at the school canteen. While it is unreasonable to expect a family to survive on the income of an hour of work per week, one could also argue that all work, no matter how small, contributes to the economy. This definition of 'one hour or more' - which is an international standard - means that ABS' employment figures can be compared with the rest of the world. Now it is, of course, easy to argue that someone who works 2 or 3 hours per week is not really “employed”. But a definition is required. And any cut-off point is open to debate. Imagine if ABS defined being ‘employed’ as working 15 hours a week. Would it be reasonable to argue that someone who works 14.5 hours is unemployed, but 15 hours is not? It is also a mistake to assume that all persons who work low hours would prefer to work longer hours, and are therefore 'hidden' unemployment. Most people who work less than 15 hours a week are not seeking additional hours, although of course there are some who are. The issue of underemployment is further discussed below.
Rather than open up such discussions, the ABS prefers to use the international standard and the ABS also encourages people to consider other indicators to form a better picture of what is happening. Alongside the total employed figures, full-time and part-time estimates are provided to better inform on the different kinds of employment, and a detailed breakdown by the number of hours worked is also provided to allow for customised definitions of 'employment.'
Commentators often refer to the rise in employment as the number of new jobs created each month. This can be misleading, because the ABS doesn't actually measure the number of jobs. This might sound like semantics, but if a person in the Labour Force Survey who is employed gains a second part-time job at the same time as their main job, this would have no impact on the employment estimate - the Labour Force Survey does not count jobs, it counts people.
It is also important to bear in mind that if the relative growth in population is greater than the number of new people in employment, there might actually be an increase in the employment figure, but a lower percentage of people with jobs. It is often informative to look at the proportion of people in employment. This measure, called the employment to population ratio, is the number of employed people expressed as a percentage of the civilian population aged over 15. This removes the impact of population growth to give a better picture of labour market dynamics over time.
AGGREGATE MONTHLY HOURS WORKED
Instead of counting how many people are working, another way of looking at how much Australians are working is to count the total number of hours worked by everyone. This is measured by a statistic produced by the ABS called Aggregate monthly hours worked, and it is measured in millions of hours. This can sometimes be more revealing of what is happening in the labour market, particularly in a weakening economy where a fall in hours worked can usually be seen before any fall in the number of people employed.
PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT WORKING: THE UNEMPLOYED AND OTHERS
There are many reasons why Australians do not work. Some have retired and are not interested in going back to work. Some are staying home to look after children and plan on going back to work once the kids have grown older. Some are out canvassing for work every day while others have given up looking. The ABS separates all of these people into those who are unemployed and those who are not by asking two simple questions: If you were given a job today, could you start straight away? and Have you taken active steps to look for work? Only those who are ready to get back into work, and are taking active steps to find a job, are classed as unemployed.
Some people might like to work, but are not currently available to work - such as a parent who is busy looking after small children. Other people might want to work but have given up actively looking for work - such as a discouraged job seeker who only half-heartedly glances at the job adds in the newspaper but doesn't call or submit any applications. These people are not considered to be unemployed, but are regarded as being marginally attached to the labour force. They can be thought of as 'potentially unemployed' when, or if, their circumstances change, but are regarded as being on the fringe of labour force participation until then.
It is important to note that the ABS unemployment figures are not the same as the data that Centrelink collects on the number of people receiving unemployment benefits. The ABS bases its figures on asking people directly about their availability and steps to find work. In this way, policy decisions about, for example, the criteria for the receipt of unemployment benefits have no impact on the way that the unemployment figures are measured.
LABOUR FORCE AND PARTICIPATION RATE
The size of the labour force is a measure of the total number of people in Australia who are willing and able to work. It includes everyone who is working or actively looking for work - that is, the number of employed and unemployed together as one group. The percentage of the total population who are in the labour force is known as the participation rate.
The unemployment rate is the percentage of people in the labour force who are unemployed. This is a popular measure around the world for tracking a country’s economic health as it removes all the people who are not participating (such as those who are retired). Because the unemployment rate is expressed as a percentage, it is not directly influenced by population growth.
The underemployment rate is a useful companion to the unemployment rate. Instead of looking at the people who are unemployed, the underemployment rate captures those who are currently employed, but are willing and able to work more hours. It highlights the proportion of the the labour force who work part-time but would prefer to work full-time. This is sometimes referred to as the 'hidden' potential in the labour force.
The underemployment rate can be an important indicator of changes in the economic cycle. During an economic slow down, some people lose their jobs, become unemployed and contribute to a rising unemployment rate. But while this is happening, there might well be others who remain working but have their hours reduced; for example from full-time to part-time. As long as they want to work more hours, they are classed as underemployed, and contribute to the underemployment rate.
LABOUR FORCE UNDERUTILISATION RATE
The labour force underutilisation rate combines the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate into a single figure that represents the percentage of the labour force that is willing and able to do more work. It includes people who are not currently working and want to start, and those who are currently working but want to - and can - work more hours. It provides an alternative – and more complete - picture of labour market supply than the unemployment rate, as changes in the underutilisation rate capture both changes in unemployment and underemployment, indicating the spare capacity in the Australian labour force.
For any queries regarding these measures or any other queries regarding the Labour Force Survey estimates, contact Labour Force on Canberra 02 6252 6525, or via email at email@example.com.
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This page last updated 8 August 2012


Daily Planet's Ingram discusses prion disease 0
Discovery Channel's Daily Planet co-host Jay Ingram visits Grande Prairie today to offer behind-the-scenes details of a mysterious and contagious series of diseases.
The lecture takes place at the Grande Prairie Regional College at 7 p.m., where Ingram discusses fatal prion diseases.
"Here at this very microscopic level, strange things are happening and just now we are beginning to figure out what they are," he said.
The most well-known form of a prion disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), widely known as the mad cow disease.
Prion diseases spread when malformed proteins attach themselves to healthy tissue. Unlike other infectious ailments, they are incurable.
"It is a protein that has gone wrong," said Stefanie Czub, a scientist with the University of Calgary and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency who will be present at the lecture.
"For other infectious diseases we have a cure or the body heals itself quite efficiently.prion diseases, once infected, they are invariably fatal."
A prion disease of current concern to Western Canadians is chronic wasting disease (CWD), affecting deer and elk in southern Saskatchewan and Alberta. Unlike mad cow disease, which infects the animal's brain, spinal cord and central nervous system, chronic wasting disease spreads to several parts of the animal, and is even present in urine and saliva.
Animals infected become very thin, and can carry the disease for two years before these signs become evident.
Prion diseases can only be formally diagnosed by sampling infected tissue.
"With all these diseases, it takes quite a long time for the symptoms to show," Ingram said. "You could hunt and kill a deer and eat it, and it might have the chronic wasting disease prions in it."
"The ultimate diagnosis can only be done on a piece of tissue, not in blood," Czub said.
Twenty deer have been identified in Alberta with CWD since monitoring of the disease began in 2005. While the cause of mad cow disease is generally believed to be the use of recycled beef and bone meal material in livestock feed, which became a common practice in the 1980s, CWD's cause remains unknown.
"Nobody really knows," Ingram said. "It could be that an infected deer goes to a salt lick, licks it, and the prions are in the saliva."
Ingram said that the disease is currently not an issue for the Peace Country, but infected deer and elk are bringing it into southern Alberta as they travel along the valleys of the South Saskatchewan and Red Deer Rivers.
"If chronic wasting disease spreads far enough north, especially in Saskatchewan, that it intersects with the caribou migration routes, and if caribou are susceptible, then you've got a huge problem on your hands," Ingram said.
The medical community is taking a close look at CWD due to the similarities prion diseases have with the degenerative Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's diseases.
"The way that they spread is somewhat similar," Ingram said. "In Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's disease, you get an accumulation in the brain of junk basically; they're called plaques, these sort of dark deposits if you look at brain tissue after autopsy."
"They are all part of the so-called protein-misfolding diseases," Czub said. "One might be a very good model for the other, so we need to keep that in mind. Especially with this enormous increase in Alzheimer's in the future to be expected. One in three over the age of 65 is going to develop Alzheimer's disease in the next 10 years."
Hosted by the Alberta Prion Research Institute, Ingram's lecture is open to the public free of charge in the Collins Recital Hall, room L106 today at 7 p.m.


Protect your investment
Protected cropping can be as beneficial for small fruit production as it is for vegetables. Yields of some berries may be two to three times greater in protected cultivation than outside in the field. Build customer loyalty by having fresh fruit first in the spring, long into fall, and by growing the highest quality berries.
Strawberry plants, which are damaged by temperatures below 12F/-11C, require winter mulch. Although hay and straw are the traditional mulching materials, many strawberry growers use row covers because they require less labor to install and remove. Heavier row covers, weighing 1.25 oz./sq.yd. or more, are recommended.
Fall-bearing raspberries and blackberries that normally stop producing at the first frost will continue fruiting for months longer in an unheated hoophouse. They will fruit again earlier in spring than those in the field, commanding a much higher sales price.
Strawberry transplants from runners produced over the summer can be planted in an unheated hoophouse in September. They will produce fruit in the fall, continuing until December, and then fruit again in early spring.
Strawberry plasticulture is supplanting the traditional matted row system on many farms. Plant on black plastic mulch from mid-July to September and cover with row cover in fall. Fruits are harvested the following spring.
Protect fruits from marauding birds with Johnny's bird netting which won't damage fruit or bend branches.
Getting started with fruit
By Lynn Byczynski
For many market growers, fruits are the final frontier of horticultural expertise. Growing fruit is an interesting challenge for a vegetable grower because fruits require different systems for planting, cultivating, harvesting and post-harvest handling. But there are many reasons to take up the challenge.
- The primary reason is that people love fruit. Farmers market customers flock to vendors with berries and grapes for sale. CSA members develop stronger ties to farms that can supply a wide range of fresh produce. Chefs who tout their connections to local farmers are delighted to be able to list local fruit on their dessert menus. At home, even the pickiest eaters are usually happy to snack on berries and grapes.
- Consumption of berries and grapes is rapidly increasing worldwide, thanks to recent discoveries about the health benefits of these fruits. The pigments that give berries and red or purple grapes their deep colors contain phytochemicals that help prevent cancer, cardiovascular disease, and age-related mental decline. People feel good about eating grapes and berries!
- From the farmer's and gardener's perspective, berries and grapes are easier to grow than ever before. New varieties, production practices, and products are increasing the options for growers in every region. Berries are popular crops for the hoophouse, for example, because protection from wind and rain produces extraordinary yields of high-quality fruits. Plastic and paper mulches reduce the need for year-round weeding of these perennial plants. And because Johnny's offers plants in small quantities, growers can trial numerous commercial varieties without spending a lot of money.
- Although most berry and grape plants won't produce fruit for 1 to 3 years after planting, the wait is worthwhile. Commercial growers can charge a premium for fresh, ripe fruits. And home gardeners can save money by growing their own.
- What do you need to get started with fruits? First, if you aren't sure about the suitability of your climate for small fruits, contact your state Extension service for recommendations. Some regions of the country may not have enough cold (chilling hours) for certain varieties, while others may be too cold for the plants or too hot for the fruits. Good soil preparation is essential for successful fruit production. So is an irrigation system. Most small fruits don't compete well with weeds, so a mulch of hay, straw, or wood chips is beneficial. Grapes need a strong trellis, which should be erected when the vines are planted. A living mulch in the paths between rows will help reduce weed pressure and improve soil fertility. You’ll find products and information about living mulches in the cover crops section on the web and in the catalog.
By Lynn Byczynski
Growing grapes may appear complicated to the beginner, and with good reason. Although grapes will grow anywhere, there are many kinds of training and trellising systems, and choosing the right one requires some study before planting.
Training and trellising go hand-in-hand because the kind of structure you build to hold your grape vines will affect how you prune them. The structure, in turn, depends somewhat on the type of grapes you grow because some are more vigorous and need stronger supports.
In general, a grape trellis needs to be able to support the weight of the crop and withstand high winds. It also should be designed to last 20 years, as that's how long you can expect your vines to produce.
Home gardeners planting just a few vines can use a fence that fits into the landscape or, better still, an arbor that provides shade in summer as well as support for the grape vines. To get good fruit production from an arbor planting, pruning becomes the key. Texas Extension has a nicely illustrated manual on arbor training.
Commercial growers with larger aspirations need to set up a trellis in the field. The main ingredients for a vineyard trellis are strong end posts with braces, earth anchors, or deadmen; posts along the length of the trellis to support the wires; and high-tensile galvanized steel wire to support the vines.
The most common type of trellis is the single curtain trellis with either one or two wires and posts every 16 to 24 feet apart, depending on the training system. With this type of trellis, various training styles are possible. Another popular type of trellis, especially in northern areas, is the double curtain, which allows the vines to spread horizontally across two wires.
The recommended trellis and training system varies by climate. Northern growers with shorter growing seasons usually choose training systems that expose more leaf surface to the sun, but those can be inappropriate to warm climates. To learn more about the best training and trellising system for your location, check the list below of state viticulture guides and choose the state nearest your own. Or, contact your state Extension service for recommendations.
California: Viticulture and Enology Home Page
Colorado: Grape Growers Guide
Idaho, Oregon, Washington: Northwest Berry & Grape Information Network
Iowa: Viticulture Home Page
Kansas: Commercial Grape Production
Michigan: MSU Grape Information
Missouri: Home Fruit Production: Grape Training Systems
New York: Cornell Viticulture
Ohio: Midwest Grape Production Guide
Oklahoma: Viticulture and Enology
Pennsylvania: Wine Grape Network
South Dakota: Viticulture in South Dakota
Texas: Winegrape Network
Vermont: Cold Climate Grape Production
Wisconsin: Growing Grapes
By Lynn Byczynski
Strawberries are one of the most popular fruits in American gardens and market farms. They can be grown in many places, from hanging baskets to fields to hoophouses. The trick is to match the growing system to the type of strawberry you want to grow. Some varieties need plenty of space, whereas others can be grown in containers.
June-bearing varieties initiate fruit buds in fall and blossom the following spring. They are the earliest type to fruit. They produce one crop and then spend their energy sending out runners (also called daughter plants) that will fruit the following year. June-bearing strawberries are usually grown in a matted row system, in which the mother plants are planted in spring, spaced 18-24" apart in rows that are 3-4' apart. The first year, flowers are pinched off to stimulate the plants to send out runners that fill in the spaces within the row and between the rows. Plants produce fruit the second spring. A variation of this system is to prune runners to one or two per plant so that they stay in a line and don't spread out between the rows. This obviously requires a lot more labor, but may result in better yields because of reduced competition. Matted-row systems can be renovated to keep plants producing for many years. Another system is called the ribbon row system, in which strawberry crowns are planted in fall and allowed to bloom and fruit the following spring. As runners form, they are removed to increase fruit size. Once the crop is done, runners are allowed to develop and fill in the bed to a matted row system.
Day-neutral varieties produce fruit all summer. They can be grown as annuals: plant early in spring and pinch off flowers for two months to let the plants get established, and then let them fruit the rest of the summer. Day-neutral strawberries are good for container production on a deck or patio. Some varieties, including 'Seascape', will fruit on unrooted runners so they make attractive hanging baskets, with the runner plants cascading over the sides of the basket. Day-neutral strawberries can also be grown in a hill system, with 12 inches between plants.
Alpine strawberries produce small but intensely flavorful berries. They do not send out runners and are usually grown from seed. They are a good choice for strawberry pots and other containers, or as edging in the vegetable garden. They also can be grown with less than full sun, so they are a good choice for many home gardeners.
Region-specific growing information is available from most state Extension services. ATTRA has a publication on Organic Production of Strawberries.
By Lynn Byczynski
Strawberry quality, yield, and earliness is greatly improved in a hoophouse. Penn State researchers found that in their climate, hoophouse strawberries produced fruit 3 weeks earlier in spring than those grown outside, with about a 25% yield increase.
Most commercial hoophouse strawberries are grown using an annual plasticulture system that includes raised beds, drip irrigation, plastic mulch, and floating row cover. Plugs are planted in late summer on beds covered with plastic mulch, with drip tape beneath the mulch. As the weather gets cold, the young plants are covered with floating row cover to maintain the warmer soil temperatures needed for establishment. The plants grow slowly during winter in the protected environment of the hoophouse; then, as the weather warms, they flower and produce berries for several weeks. The crop is then finished for the year. Strawberry plants can either be removed to make way for other crops; or they can be left to produce a second year if berry prices or other factors justify tying up the space for a year.
Plugs are available from outside suppliers, or they can be produced on the farm in summer. To grow your own, detach unrooted daughter plants (runners) from the mother plant in July and stick them in potting mix in 72-cell flats under intermittent mist until roots protrude from the bottom of the cell. Then place on a greenhouse bench and grow until September, when they can be planted into the hoophouse. Plants that are rooted in July are likely to flower and fruit in fall in warmer climates, but that won't affect their yield the following spring.
For more information on hoophouse strawberries:
Growing Strawberries in High Tunnels in Missouri
Production of Vegetables, Strawberries, and Cut Flowers Using Plasticulture is a book about all aspects of horticultural plastics, and includes extensive information about hoophouse strawberries.


January 11, 2012
Imagine this scenario. You have a great career and you are a star employee. You are talented, a problem solver and go out of your way to help co-workers. You do your job and make it all look easy. Despite your dedication, one day a new person is hired. They have the same education, experience, and skills that you have. There is only one difference: he gets paid more. In spite of all the progress our nation has made in civil rights over the past fifty years, men still get paid more than women for no other reason than gender. Now is the time to change that.
The Paycheck Fairness Act, a long overdue amendment to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, (S. 182) was introduced by Congress in 2011 with the support of President Obama, who in a statement called the legislation “ a common-sense bill that will help ensure that men and women who do equal work receive the equal pay that they and their families deserve.” Nearly fifty years ago, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 passed, promising that men and women would receive equal pay for equal work. However, the wage gap continues despite women’s increased education, greater level of experience, and less time spent raising children. When President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, women earned, on average, 60 cents for every dollar earned by men. In the forty-eight years that have passed, the pay gap has closed by less than 20 cents. In 2010, women earned 77 cents on every dollar earned by men. Women of color fared even worse--African American women earned only 67 cents, and Latinas just 58. Seventy-seven cents on the dollar is not fair. Now is the time to take action to close the pay gap.
The Paycheck Fairness Act would close loopholes, strengthen business incentives to end pay discrimination, prohibit retaliation against workers who share wage information, and bring the Equal Pay Act in line with other civil rights laws. Passing this act does not just affect women, it affects everyone. More families are depending on women as breadwinners. The share of couples that both work rose to 66 percent in 2010, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The number of women who were the only working spouse also rose, with an estimated 4 million families depending on mom to bring home the bacon. The number of dads who were the only working spouse dropped, and the number of stay-at-home dads rose higher.
The wage gap has long-term effects on the economic security of women and families. In 2009 a typical college educated woman earned $36,278/year for fulltime work, while a comparable educated man earned $47,127- a difference of $10,849. This amount of money can be a great help to a family struggling during a recession. With $10,849, you could buy a year's worth of groceries ($3,210), pay for a semester of college tuition ($6,548), pay three months of rent and utilities ($2,265) six months of health insurance ($1,697), or cover six months on a student loan ($1,602).
The current economic crisis is heavily affecting families, and the latest data shows that gender roles are becoming more flexible and egalitarian. Shouldn’t pay reflect this shift? The answer is a resounding yes. We can’t afford to wait another fifty years for paycheck equality. The future of our economy and the well-being of our families depend on it. When women are paid fairly, whole families win. It is our civic duty to take action by writing or calling our Senators and Representatives and urging them to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act now.


Feral cats occur right across the continent in every habitat type including deserts, forests and grasslands. Total population estimates vary from 5 million to 18 million feral cats. Each feral cat kills between 5-30 animals per day. Taking the lower figure in that range (five) – and multiplying it by a conservative population estimate of 15 million cats – gives a minimum estimate of 75 million native animals killed daily by feral cats.
It is clear that cats are playing a critical role in the decline of our native fauna. They are recognised as a primary cause of several early mammal extinctions and are identified as a factor in the current declines of at least 80 threatened species.
AWC has developed a practical strategy designed to minimise their impacts and facilitate the development of a long-term solution. This includes:
- GROUND COVER: impairing the hunting efficiency of cats in grasslands and woodlands by manipulating ground cover through:
- minimising the frequency and extent of late-season wildfires;and
- reducing the density of feral herbivores.
- DINGOES AS A BIOLOGICAL CONTROL: reducing the density of cats and affect hunting behaviour by promoting a stable Dingo population.
- FERAL CAT-FREE AREAS: establishing feral cat-free areas to protect core populations of species most vulnerable to cats. AWC’s Scotia contains the largest cat-free area on the mainland; in total, AWC manages more feral cat-free land on mainland Australia than any other organisation.
- STRATEGIC CONTROL: strategic implementation of control measures such as shooting and baiting to protect highly threatened species.
- RESEARCH: generating scientific knowledge that will help design a long-term solution enabling the control of cats and their impacts across landscapes and, ideally, the eradication of feral cats.
We need your help in the battle to save our wildlife from feral cats. Please make a tax deductible donation to support practical land management that will limit the impact of cats. Your donation will help protect native animals at risk from feral cats, such as the Bilby, the Mala and a host of our small northern mammals. To donate, please click here.
To learn more about this project, please read pages 4-7 of the Summer 2012-2013 issue of Wildlife Matters here.
Find out more at Australian Wildlife Conservancy


Vanity Top Finishes
Vanity Top Composition
Geologically speaking, rocks are classified into 3 main categories: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Our sinks are made of all natural stones including granite, travertine, and cream marfil. Granite is a type of igneous rock, travertine is sedimentary while cream marfil is metamorphic.
Cream Marfil is a type of marble, which is a metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone. Limestone is a sedimentary rock, formed mainly from the accumulation of organic remains (bones and shells of marine microorganisms and coral) from millions of years ago. The calcium in the marine remains combined with carbon dioxide in the water in turn forms calcium carbonate, which is the basic mineral structure of all limestone. When subjected to heat and pressure, the original limestone experiences a process of complete recrystallization (metamorphism), forming what we know as marble. The characteristic swirls and veins of many colored marble varieties, for example, cream marfil, are usually due to various mineral impurities. Cream marfil is formed with a medium density with pores.
Travertine is a variety of limestone, a kind of sedimentary rock, formed of massive calcium carbonate from deposition by rivers and springs, especially hot bubbly mineral rich springs. When hot water passes through limestone beds in springs or rivers, it dissolves the limestone, taking the calcium carbonate from the limestone to suspension as well as taking that solution to the surface. If enough time comes about, water evaporates and calcium carbonate is crystallized, forming what we know as travertine stone. Travertine is characterized by pores and pitted holes in the surface and takes a good polish. It is usually hard and semicrystalline. It is often beautifully colored (from ivory to golden brown) and banded as a result of the presence of iron compounds or other (e.g., organic) impurities.
Travertine is mined extensively in Italy; in the U.S., Yellowstone Mammoth Hot Springs are actively depositing travertine. It also occurs in limestone caves.
Granite is a very common type of intrusive igneous rock, mainly composed of three minerals: feldspar, quartz, and mica, with the first being the major ingredient. Granite is formed when liquid magma?molten rock material?cools beneath the earth?s crust. Due to the extreme pressure within the center of the earth and the absence of atmosphere, granite is formed very densely with no pores and has a coarse-grained structure. It is hard, firm and durable.


Thomas Nelson Publishers has a new line of biographies homeschoolers and writers are going to love, called Christian Encounters. Written at an adult level, they make a great resource for parents and excellent texts for older homeschool students.
Each biography includes an online reading guide with probing questions that can be printed, discussed and answered. These are ideal for a homeschool research project, or reading group.
Peter Leithart, biographer of Jane Austen, has taught Theology and Literature at New Saint Andrews College since 1998, and since 2003 has served as pastor of Trinity Reformed Church in Moscow, Idaho.
He writes a delightful 153-page treatise of Austen that all “Janeites” (Jane Austen fans) will appreciate. Far from clinical, Leithart’s humor and factual insights paint a well-rounded portrait of the young author that’s both entertaining and endearing. The book bursts its seams with information I had never before learned about this beloved author.
Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817), is one of the most beloved and widely-read English novelists. Her realism makes her an important resource of English history. Her major works include: Sense and Sensibility (1811); Pride and Prejudice (1813); Mansfield Park (1814); Emma (1815); Northanger Abbey (1817) and Persuasion (1817).
Homeschoolers will enjoy including her life and this fine book in any well-rounded study of England during the Regency Period. Writers will enjoy visiting the astonishingly ordinary but fascinating life of one of the most popular romance novelists in the history of English literature.


A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems.
Hot patching is a mechanism of applying the patch to an application without requiring to shutdown or restart the system or the program concerned. This addresses the problems related to unavailability of service provided by the system or the program.
We came across a situation where a DLL is loaded by one of the critical processes in a system and that process demands high availability. The DLL has exported functions that are supposed to perform the core operations within the process. We identified a critical flaw in one of the exported functions from the DLL. One constraint we had while trying to fix the problem was to avoid any down time of this critical process.
We solved this problem by using the hot patch mechanism. We used an external process to inject a DLL [Hot patch]. This DLL has the corrected version of the defective function and also a hook to
GetProcAddress function. As we know, calling
GetProcAddress returns the address of the exported function from the specified DLL. By hooking into the
GetProcAddress API, we monitored the requests to the exported function. When we find that the request was made for the flawed function, we just returned the address of the updated function which was part of the injected DLL.
By intercepting the calls of
GetProcAddress API, we redirected the requests from the flawed function to the corrected function.
We could resolve this problem by using the concepts like DLL injection and API hooking.
Hot Patch Structure
This hot patching structure has the following binaries:
- Hot Patch DLL: This DLL has only exported functions that are updated and will be used as replacement for the flawed functions. This also has the hooking logic to hook to
GetProcAddress API exported by Kernel32.DLL.
- Updater.exe: This process injects the hot patched DLL into the target process.
How to Inject DLL into a Remote Process
One method of injecting a DLL into a remote process requires a thread in the remote process to call
LoadLibray of the desired DLL. Since we can't control the threads in a process other that our own, the solution would be to create a new thread in the target process. This enables us to have full control over the code that this thread is going to execute.
We can create a thread in a remote process using the following Windows API:
HANDLE hProcess, </span /> PSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES psa,
PDWORD pdwThreadId );
After creating a new thread in the target process, we need to make sure that there is a call to
LoadLibrary API that will load the DLL into the target process.
Following is the complete set of steps for injecting a DLL into the target process:
VirtualAllocEx API to allocate memory equal to the size of DLL full file path in the remote process:
VirtualAllocEx(hProcess, NULL, dwSizeOfFilePath, MEM_COMMIT, PAGE_READWRITE);
WriteProcessMemory to copy the DLL's full file path in the allocated space [Step 1]:
(void</span />*)szDLLFilePath, dwSizeOfFilePath,NULL);
CreateRemoteThread API to create thread in the remote process passing in the address of
LoadLibary API and also the memory location of the DLL's full file path.
hProcess, </span /> NULL,
(LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE) ::GetProcAddress(hKernel32,"</span />LoadLibraryA"</span />),
pDLLFilePath, </span /> 0</span />,
VirtualFreeEx function to free the memory allocated in step 1:
::VirtualFreeEx( hProcess, pDLLFilePath, dwSize, MEM_RELEASE );
How to Perform API Hooking using Import Section
Using module’s import section to perform hooking is quiet robust and easy to implement. To hook to a particular function, all we need to do is change the address of the flawed function in the module's import section.
We are trying to Hook to the
GetProcAddress API exported by Kernel32.dll.
Following is the complete set of steps for API hooking:
- Locate the Module’s import section by calling
- Loop through import section for the DLL which contains API that we want to hook. In this case, we would be searching for Kernel32.dll.
- Once the DLL module is located, get the address to the array of
IMAGE_THUNK_DATA structure that contains the information about the imported symbols:
pThunk = (PIMAGE_THUNK_DATA)((PBYTE)hModule + pImportDesc-></span />FirstThunk);
- Once the address of the exported is located, use the following APIs to update the address to the new function that needs to be hooked:
WriteProcessMemory(GetCurrentProcess(), ppfn, &pNewFunction,
sizeof</span />(pNewFunction), NULL);
VirtualProtect(ppfn, sizeof</span />(pNewFunction), dwOldProtect,&dwOldProtect);
When Are We Going to Perform this Hooking
Immediately after injecting the DLL into the remote process,
LoadLibary calls the
DLLMain of the injected DLL with
DllMain( HMODULE hModule, DWORD ul_reason_for_call, LPVOID lpReserved)
switch</span />( ul_reason_for_call )
case</span /> DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH:
HookTheAPI(); </span /> break</span />;
Implementing Our Own GetProcAddress
MyGetProcAddress will intercept all the calls made to
GetProcAddress APIs to monitor if there is any request for the faulting function and if so, return the address of the corrected function.
FARPROC WINAPI MyGetProcAddress(HMODULE hmod, PCSTR pszProcName)
pOldFunAdd = GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandle("</span />MySubsystem.dll"</span />), "</span />Foo"</span />);
pNewFunAdd = GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandle("</span />MySubsystem.HP.dll"</span />), "</span />"</span />Foo"</span />);
pRetFunAdd = GetProcAddress(hmod, pszProcName);
if((NULL != pOldFunAdd) && (NULL != pNewFunAdd))
// if the request is of that Faulting Function
if(pOldFunAdd == pRetFunAdd )
pRetFunAdd = pNewFunAdd; // Return address of
// corrected function
return pRetFunAdd ;
The attached binaries demo the hot patching implemented using the DLL Injection and Function Hooking. To keep the thing simple and for easy understanding, I am demonstrating with a very basic functionality. Please ignore the code optimizations for now:
- MySubsystem.DLL: This DLL exports following functions
RandomNumber: Returns a random number
SleepTime: Specifies the time to sleep before making the other call to
- MyProcess.exe: This process loads the MySubsystem.DLL and displays the
RandomNumbers in console after sleeping for the specified amount of time as returned by MySubsystem.DLL.
- Change Request: Displays the random numbers which are even. Odd number should not be displayed on the console. This has to be accomplished without restarting the process MyProcess.exe.
- MySubsystem.HP.DLL: This is a HOT Patch DLL that contains the corrected
MyRandomNumber as per the request. This also has the implementation for Hooking and Hooked function
- Updater.exe: This process injects the MySubsystem.HP.DLL into MyProcess.exe
Run MyProcess.exe to see that
RandomNumbers which are both even and odd are getting displayed. Run the updater.exe and you will see only even numbers getting displayed. All the odd numbers are skipped.
One limitation for this approach is that the functions that are exported can be hot patched.
- 6th October, 2010: Initial version


Recent medical reports suggest that ingested aluminum has a direct link to Alzheimer's, attention deficit disorder, bone degeneration, kidney dysfunction, and even Parkinson's disease. Studies have also shown that aluminum salts can be absorbed from the intestines and concentrated in various human tissues. Most baking powder products, a staple in some households, contain toxic levels of aluminum.
With all this known, you probably would wonder why aluminum is allowed in baking powder and why anyone would use it. The baking powders that contain aluminum are ‘double-acting’ indicating that although some of the leavening power is released when the mix is prepared, the greater leavening takes place when the item is baked. This produces a very fine, light texture, and is appreciated particularly in commercial baking, where mixes often sit for long periods before they go into the oven. But it isn’t necessary for your baking. For a lighter texture, just bake the mix immediately.
Also, if you've ever experienced a bitter, "tinny" flavor when biting into a muffin, that's because of the baking powder used—and often the overuse of it. Using aluminum free baking powder not only will keep you from ingesting aluminum, but will also take away that bitter flavor.
April 10, 2011 at 9:41 pm
My son is allergic to corn. There is only one brand of baking powder (that I know of) that does not have cornstarch in it. Does this have cornstarch?
January 24, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Try the Arrowroot powder. xx
April 1, 2012 at 2:33 pm
RE: Baking Powder - Make your own. It's easier to find aluminum-free baking soda than baking powder:
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon corn starch (optional - can use arrowroot instead of corn starch)
Mix the baking soda and cream of tartar together until well combined. Use immediately.
Yield: One tablespoon of baking powder.
To store baking powder: Add a teaspoon of corn starch to the mixture, and stir. This will absorb any moisture from the air, and prevent the baking powder from reacting before you need it. Store in an air-tight container.


Eric Weisz, better known to the world as Harry Houdini, was born on this date in 1874. Famous for his feats as an escape artist and magician, Houdini also became one of the most crusading anti-spiritualists of the 1920s. Because of his familiarity with the illusions of stage magic and sleight of hand, Houdini was particularly adept at spotting the trickery that the so-called psychics and spirit mediums then hawking their services as conduits to the afterlife to the credulous grieving public commonly used. (Can you imagine anyone being foolish enough to fall for such predatory charlatanry today?)
That turn in Houdini’s career led him to collaborate with Scientific American on a lengthy exposé of spiritualism. Scientific American had offered a $5,000 reward to any medium who could satisfy its panel of investigators, which included Houdini, two of the magazine’s editors (J. Malcolm Bird and Austin C. Lescaboura) and others, that his or her paranormal gifts were genuine.
Unfortunately, although the magazine’s panel did reveal many frauds during the few years of its tenure, the whole episode ended very badly. The problem—which in retrospect is quite evident to anyone who has read through the Scientific American archives of that time, as I did—was that at least one of the editors, Malcolm Bird, was not so secretly a believer in the afterlife and very much wanted a psychic to succeed.
Matters came to a head in 1924 when the team was evaluating a psychic whom it called “Margery” in print, though we now know her to be Mina Crandon, the comely young wife of a Boston socialite and surgeon. You can read Houdini’s own account of the messy business that resulted, but in short: Mina Crandon’s seance tricks, perhaps aided by her personal charm, bamboozled Bird and the rest Scientific American group with the exception of Houdini, who was not initially at their meetings. They were prepared to award her the prize but Houdini protested that he needed to see for himself. At the seance, Houdini saw through the deception and called “Margery” on it, much to the annoyance of Bird, who angrily resisted exposing her con game. The arguments that followed led to the dissolution of the ghostbusting squad, and the $5,000 was never awarded.
What Houdini’s account does not say, but which I have heard as a perhaps unreliable rumor, is that the dispute between Houdini and Bird actually turned into a physical brawl. (Ahh, the two-fisted SciAm editors of yesteryear….) Also, when I attended James Randi’s The Amaz!ing Meeting in Las Vegas in 2003 and talked about these events, magician and mad debunker Penn Jillette told me that he had heard directly from Mina Cranston’s granddaughter that Mina had been sleeping with several members of the team, including Bird. (Oh, the scandal!) That just might help to account for Bird’s umbrage at Houdini’s harsh quashing of Mina’s scam.
But that is not the anti-spiritualist episode I would like to talk about today.
Rather, turn to a particular occasion when Houdini was trying to disabuse Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of his own spiritualist inclinations. Conan Doyle was not the paragon of rationality and reason that one might assume the creator of Sherlock Holmes would be: he had a soft spot for mediums. (It tends to make one think of Holmes’s famous dictum that “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” in a somewhat different light.) Nevertheless, because Houdini and Conan Doyle had come to be friends, Houdini wanted to open the author’s eyes to the psychic frauds, and so he staged a demonstration that he hoped would do the trick.
Michael Shermer recently described what happened in his February “Skeptic” column for Scientific American:
In the spring of 1922 Conan Doyle visited Houdini in his New York City home, whereupon the magician set out to demonstrate that slate writing—a favorite method among mediums for receiving messages from the dead, who allegedly moved a piece of chalk across a slate—could be done by perfectly prosaic means. Houdini had Conan Doyle hang a slate from anywhere in the room so that it was free to swing in space. He presented the author with four cork balls, asking him to pick one and cut it open to prove that it had not been altered. He then had Conan Doyle pick another ball and dip it into a well of white ink. While it was soaking, Houdini asked his visitor to go down the street in any direction, take out a piece of paper and pencil, write a question or a sentence, put it back in his pocket and return to the house. Conan Doyle complied, scribbling, “Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin,” a riddle from the Bible’s book of Daniel, meaning, “It has been counted and counted, weighed and divided.”
How appropriate, for what happened next defied explanation, at least in Conan Doyle’s mind. Houdini had him scoop up the ink-soaked ball in a spoon and place it against the slate, where it momentarily stuck before slowly rolling across the face, spelling out “M,” “e,” “n,” “e,” and so forth until the entire phrase was completed, at which point the ball dropped to the ground.
Houdini then explained that he had done the whole thing through simple trickery and implored Conan Doyle to give up his spiritualist beliefs. Alas, he failed: not only did Conan Doyle continue to believe in mediums but he suspected that Houdini knowingly or unknowingly used his own supernatural gifts in the performance of his escape acts.
Here is my question for the hive mind: How did Houdini do it? Magicians are of course famously reluctant to reveal how they do their tricks, and it’s not clear that Houdini showed the secret to Conan Doyle. (Perhaps that’s why Conan Doyle refused to be convinced.) Rather than ask a magician to break his professional code, I thought I would ask you readers to suggest how Houdini accomplished his “ghostly” slate writing.
Here are my own uninformed guesses about elements of the trick, which still probably don’t quite cohere into a full explanation.
- My sense is that the slate hung from wherever it was placed by wires attached to its four corners so that it could swing freely but also hang level. I suspect that a marionette-like arrangement of those wires could in theory allow a ball to be rolled across the slate’s surface as required.
- Conan Doyle’s cutting into one of the cork balls to prove it had not been tampered with does not preclude his selected ball from being tampered with or replaced subsequently, when he is not looking.
- Sending Conan Doyle down the street to write his secret message would give him a sense of privacy, but of course it also would allow Houdini (and unknown cronies?) a chance to reset the slate and the balls as they chose.
- Any good pickpocket could probably remove that page with Conan Doyle’s message from his pocket, look at it and return it without him being the wiser.
That’s my best hypothesis about how Houdini did it. What’s yours?
Update (added 3/25, 8:23 a.m.): Via Twitter, P. Kerim Friedman tells me that these two books (here and here) may hold the answer, although those explanations aren’t immediately available online. So I’d still like to hear your theories.
The How Did Houdini Trick Conan Doyle? by Retort, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.


Bullying Among Elementary Schoolchildren
- New Studies on Bullying. // Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers;May2005, Vol. 80 Issue 5, p15
Reports on a study focusing on bullying among school children by the Committee for Children (CFC) in the U.S. Initiatives undertaken by school administrators to reduce aggressive student behavior; Proposition for the integration of anti-bullying and social and emotional skills into classrooms;...
- Bullying Prevention. Feldman, Sandra // Teaching Pre K-8;Mar2004, Vol. 34 Issue 6, p6
Discusses information on handling bullying among children in a school environment. Importance of parents' cooperation in handling bullying among their children in schools; Strategies in helping students deal with bullying among peers.
- A Bully's Tale. // Education Canada;Summer2005, Vol. 45 Issue 3, p43
The article presents a personal narrative of experiences of being bullied when the author was a student. She relates how she was bullied, both physically and psychologically, during her elementary years. She relates how she was able to stop the bullying only after she herself used violence. She...
- trying to fit in. Brodkin, Adele M. // Scholastic Parent & Child;Sep2008, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p48
The article offers tips on how parents and teachers can help a child not to be neglected in school. A six-year-old boy who is not as ease with physical activities, experienced being left out by other boys. An expert explains that young children exhaust their own fears of being an outsider by...
- Free State educators' experiences and recognition of bullying at schools. de Wet, Corene // South African Journal of Education;Feb2006, Vol. 26 Issue 1, p61
In South Africa little research has been conducted into bullying and particularly into South African educators' experiences of school bullying. In an attempt to address this hiatus in the literature on bullying, I report on an investigation into Free State educators' experiences and recognition...
- BULLYING. Scarpaci, Richard T. // Kappa Delta Pi Record;Summer2006, Vol. 42 Issue 4, p170
This article discusses the prevalence of bullying among school children in the U.S. in 2006. In approaching this problem, research has suggested that reduction of bullying is best accomplished through a school-wide effort. The role of teachers in addressing this problem is indicated. In...
- BULLYING HURTS. Feltes, Kimberly // Scholastic Action;3/16/2009, Vol. 32 Issue 11, p16
The article addresses the growing problem of bullying in schools and offers tips on how to deal with it.
- sticky SITUATION. // Scholastic News -- Edition 5/6;5/7/2007, Vol. 75 Issue 23/24, p14
A hypothetical situation about a boy being bullied by his classmates is presented.
- Next in the Teachers' Lounge …. Leete, Patricia // Teaching Young Children;Apr/May2012, Vol. 5 Issue 4, p31
The article presents the author's insights regarding the issue of bullying in school.


Green Power is electricity generated from renewable energy sources that are environmentally friendly such as solar, wind, biomass, and hydro power. New York State and the Public Service Commission have made a commitment to promote the use of Green Power and foster the development of renewable energy generation resources.
GREEN POWER IN NEW YORK
Electricity comes from a variety of sources such as natural gas, oil, coal, nuclear, hydro power, biomass, wind, solar, and solid waste. Green Power is electricity generated from renewable energy sources such as:
Solar: Solar energy systems convert sunlight directly into electricity.
Biomass: Organic wastes such as wood, other plant materials and landfill gases are used to generate electricity.
Wind: Modern wind turbines use large blades to catch the wind, spin turbines, and generate electricity
Hydropower: Small installations on rivers and streams use running or falling water to drive turbines that generate electricity.
NY’s ENERGY MIX
|The pie chart below shows the mix of energy sources that was used to generate New York’s electricity in 2003. Buying Green Power will help to increase the percentage of electricity that is produced using cleaner energy sources.|
You have the power to make a difference For only a few pennies more a day, you can choose Green Power and make a world of difference for generations to come.
- Produces fewer environmental impacts than fossil fuel energy.
- Helps to diversify the fuel supply, increasing the reliability of the NY State electric system and contributing to more stable energy prices.
- Reduces use of imported fossil fuels, keeping dollars spent on energy in the State’s economy.
- Creates jobs and helps the economy by spurring investments in environmentally-friendly facilities.
- Creates healthier air quality and helps to reduce respiratory illness.
If just 10% of New York’s households choose Green Power for their electricity supply, it would prevent nearly 3 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, 10 million pounds of sulfur dioxide, and nearly 4 million pounds of nitrogen oxides from getting into our air each year. Green Power helps us all breathe a little easier.
Your Energy…Your Choice
Your electric service is made up of two parts, supply and delivery. In New York’s competitive electric market, you can now shop for your electric supply. You can support cleaner, sustainable energy solutions by selecting Green Power for some or all of your supply. No matter what electric supply you choose,your utility is still responsible for delivering your electricity safely and reliably, and will provide you with customer service and respond to emergencies.
What happens when you choose to buy Green Power?
The Green Power you buy is supplied to the power grid that delivers the electricity to all customers in your region. Your Green Power purchase supports the development of more environmentally-friendly electricity generation. You are helping to create a cleaner, brighter New York for future generations. You will continue to receive the safe, reliable power you’ve come to depend on.
Switching to Green Power is as easy as:
1. Use the list below to contact the Green Power service providers in your area.
2. Compare the Green Power programs.
3. Choose the Green Energy Service Company program that is right for you.
Using New York’s power to change the future Energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy are critical elements in New York’s economic, security and energy policies. New York State is committed to ensuring that we all have access to reliable electricity by helping consumers use and choose energy wisely. Recently, the state launched two initiatives – one designed to educate the public about the environmental impacts of energy production, and one to encourage the development of Green Power programs.
The Environmental Disclosure Label
NY RENEWABLE ENERGY SERVICE INITIATIVES
The New York State Public Service Commission is supporting development of renewable energy service programs in utility service territories across the state. These programs are spurring the development of new sources ofrenewable energy and the sale of Green Power to New York consumers. As a result, Green Power service providers are now offering a variety of renewable energy service options. Most New York consumers now have the opportunity to choose Green Power.
Suppliers Offering Green Energy Products
Green Power can be arranged through the following suppliers (may not operate in all utility territories.) PSC has created the following list of providers and does not recommend particular companies or products.
|Agway Energy Services||1-888-982-4929||www.agwayenergy.com|
|Amerada Hess||1-800-HessUSA (437-7872)||www.hess.com
(Commercial and Industrial only)
|Community Energy, Inc.||1-866-Wind-123
|Constellation New Energy||1-866-237-7693||www.integrysenergy.com
(Commercial and Industrial only)
|Energy Cooperative of New York||1-800-422-1475||www.ecny.org|
|Green Mountain Energy Company||1-800-810-7300||www.greenmountain.com|
|Integrys Energy NY||1-518-482-4615
|Juice Energy, Inc||1-888-925-8423||www.juice-inc.com|
|NYSEG Solutions, Inc.||1-800-567-6520||www.nysegsolutions.com|
|Pepco Energy Services, Inc.
(NYC commercial and industrial only)
|Just Energy (GeoPower – Con Ed territory)||1-866-587-8674||www.justenergy.com|
|Just Energy (GeoGas – Con Ed, KeySpan, NFG territories)||1-866-587-8674||www.justenergy.com|
|Central Hudson Gas and Electric||1-800-527-2714||www.centralhudson.com|
|National Grid||1-800-642-4272 (upstate)
1-800-930-5003 (Long Island)
|New York State Electric and Gas||1-800-356-9734||www.nyseg.com|
|Orange and Rockland||1-877-434-4100||www.oru.com|
|Rochester Gas and Electric||1-877-743-9463||www.rge.com|
|Long Island Power Authority(LIPA)||1-800-490-0025||www.lipower.org|


All About Canada: he Canada Site is the primary Internet portal for information on the Government of Canada, its programs, services, new initiatives and products, and for information about Canada.
Canadian Health: Healthy living means making positive choices that enhance your personal physical, mental and spiritual health. You make these choices when you:
Eat nutritiously, choosing a variety of foods from all of the food groups as suggested by Canada’s Food Guide;
Canadian Fitness: Current estimates from the 2000/01 Canadian Community Health Survey indicate that 33% of Canadians aged 20 + have a body mass index over 25 and are thus considered overweight. The trend is toward increased overweight: 26% of women aged 20-64 were considered overweight in 2000, compared with 14% in 1985.
General Nutrition: Providing science-based dietary guidance is critical to enhance the public’s ability to make healthy choices in the effort to reduce obesity and other food related diseases. Since dietary needs change throughout the lifespan, specialized nutrition information is provided about infants, children, teens, adult women and men, and seniors.


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Archive for author David Dubin
Los Angeles based LENS Neurofeedback provider and blogger.
More posts by David Dubin
Dr. David Dubin
After Einstein’s death, his brain was preserved for future study. Scientists were naturally curious to see how the brain of this genius compared with the brain of a person of ordinary intelligence. Would there be an abundance of neurons (grey matter) or some unusual wiring of the neurons that distinguished his brain? When the brain was dissected, however, the only difference was that the numbers of cells that were not neurons (white matter) was dramatically increased. It is also true that, from evolutionary point of view, as brains became larger and “smarter”, what increased was not the percentage of neurons but of white matter. What does this mean?
When most of us--scientists and lay people alike—imagine the brain, we think of neurons, those cells carrying information in the form of electrical impulses. Neurons are ‘brains of the brain’, so to speak, and the rest of the cells were thought to be there only for support. But neurons account for only 15 percent of the brain, while these so-called ‘support’ cells occupy 85 percent.
The group name for white matter cells, glia—derived from the world ‘glue’—reflects their lowly status. First seen clearly by anatomists in the late 1800’s, Glia were initially thought to be little more than structural support for neurons, because, like scaffolding, glial cells literally hold neurons in place.
It was later found that glia can speed transmission of electrical signals and also deliver energy to neurons and remove neuronal waste products. While appearing to be a little more interesting than originally thought, glia still seemed about as sexy as wire insulation, food delivery and waste management devices.
Unlike neurons, there is no electrical activity within glia to send messages and information. It was therefore assumed that glia were deaf and dumb, incapable of communicating with either neurons or other glia, and therefore not particularly compelling as a focus of research. A good analogue would be the under-appreciated dark matter in astronomy. Dark matter is undetectable because it emits no electromagnetic radiation as the matter in the “visible” universe does. The existence of dark matter was eventually inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter. While we had believed that the visible universe is the universe, the ordinary matter of our visible universe accounts for less than five percent of the total; dark matter accounts for more than 20 percent.
Today, the pace of knowledge about glia has begun to accelerate, as outlined in an exciting new book, The Other Brain, by Dr. R. Douglas Fields[i] (the title refers to the 85 percent of the brain that is glial). Fields is a neuroscientist specializing in glial cell research, and the information in his book is so new that it isn’t found in standard medical textbooks. Two review articles in the May, 2010 issue of the research journal Nature Neuroscience attest to how much still needs to be learned, and how potentially revolutionary are the implications.
So, are glial cells really dumb as a doorknob? First, we are just now learning that glial cells do communicate, not through synapses but through “gap junctions”. These gap junctions are protein channels connecting one cell to another, like a spaceship docking at the mother station. Glia can pass messages among themselves by using calcium as a chemical messenger instead of sending an electric signal as neurons do. In his research, Fields showed that after a 15-second delay, changes in response to a neuronal firing were seen in the surrounding glial cells. As Fields puts it, glial cells are “listening in” on what neurons are doing, something virtually no one in neuroscience thought possible.
Contrary to all established dogma, it is now known that glia not only communicate directly from one cell to an adjacent one, but also with cells very far away. Glia are even able to “jump” over barriers like a ping pong ball going over a net. And whereas neurons transmit their signals in linear lines, like telephone wires, glia communicate, as Fields puts it, by “broadcasting signals widely, like cell phones.”
Glia are also critical to the growth of neurons. Neuron cells grown in the lab without accompanying glial cells were found to have many fewer synapses than neurons grown with glial cells. Glia seem to play a central role in the number of synapses a neuron develops.
Contrary to what scientists thought, glia also have neurotransmitters; in fact, the same ones that neurons do. And there are receptors for these neurotransmitters both inside and on the outer surface of glial cells. Glial cells have receptors for glutamate, the principal stimulating neurotransmitter in the cortex, and GABA, which acts as a “brake” to calm down neurons. In other words, glia can excite or depress neurons and stimulate or calm the brain, just like medications.
And, unlike neurons, glia can move. They have enormous cellular “fingers” like the elastic Mr. Fantastic of comic book fame, and can move between and on neurons. This constantly changes the circuitry of the brain. These glial fingers also form around synapses. They secrete substances that remodel tissue or stimulate neuron growth during development and repair of the brain making it likely that they function in a similar role during learning in the healthy brain.
Glia repair injury, defend against disease, nurse neurons back to health and act as guide dogs for the re-growth of injured nerve fibers. Glia detect and react to bacteria and viruses, “gobble up” pathogens and release toxic chemicals to kill bacteria. And new research suggests that immature glial cells can act like stem cells and mature glia can stimulate stem cells dormant in the adult brain to form replacement neurons and glia. This could have implications for repair of the nervous system, including new possibilities for treating spinal cord injuries.
This is about as far removed from mere insulation, food delivery and waste management services as can be imagined. Glia are a lot smarter than we thought they were. A 2005 study shows a correlation between organization of fibers made of glial cells and IQ. Finding a greater proportion of glial cells in Einstein’s brain is not so surprising after all.
We still know very little about glia—even the basics such as how many kinds of glial cells there are and what they look like in detail. Their discovery, however, broadens our appreciation of the complexity of the brain. The brain, with its 100 billion neurons and an average of 10,000 synapses per neuron, has more potential connections than the atoms of our galaxy!
We don’t know yet if diet, exercise, supplements and other factors affect glial cells. However, the implications for health and illness—seizures, infections, cancer, addictions, mental illness and diseases such as Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis may be far-reaching and profound.
As Fields says near the end of his book, “Here are cells that can build the brain of a fetus, direct the connection of its growing axons to wire up the nervous system, repair it after it is injured, sense impulses crackling through axons and hear synapses speaking, control the signals neurons use to communicate with one another at synapses, provide the energy source and substrates for neurotransmitters to neurons, couple large areas of synapses and neurons into functional groups, integrate and propagate the information they receive from neurons through their own private network, release neurotoxic or neuroprotective factors, plug and unplug synapses, move themselves in and out of the synaptic cleft, give birth to new neurons, communicate with the vascular and immune systems, insulate the neuronal lines of communication, and control the speed of impulse traffic through them. And some people ask, ‘Could these cells have anything to do with higher brain function?’ How could they possibly not?”
[i] FIELDS, R. Douglas, The Other Brain, Simon & Schuster, December 2009, 384 p.
People with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, have recurrent thoughts and behaviors that can be crippling. What follows is a discussion of the biology of the disorder and several aspects of treatment.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is not a single disorder; rather, it’s of a cluster of conditions. In OCD, sufferers might obsess and be anxious and compulsive about hoarding, cleaning, ordering and checking. Patients can also exhibit body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), where they imagine possessing a defect in physical appearance. Other diseases that overlap with OCD include Tourette’s syndrome and hypochondria. OCD also has a genetic component and runs in families; relatives of someone with OCD are 8 times more likely to present symptoms.
The areas of the brain that appears involved with OCD are the orbito-frontal cortex (OFC), a center for decision-making, and the thalamus, which filters and relays information. In these brain regions, the neurotransmitter glutamate is responsible for neuronal signaling. It’s thought that the deficit of glutamate production and function might contribute to the condition of OCD and other counter-productive behavior, including making decisions based on inappropriately perceived danger.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Treatment
The neurotransmitter serotonin may play an important role in whether someone gets obsessive compulsive disorder. Researchers have found a defect in the gene that makes a protein that “mops up” serotonin from between neurons. When there’s too much of this protein there is not enough serotonin, and that’s what is found in some with OCD. This is why Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SRIs) such as Prozac, which makes serotonin more available to the brain, are perhaps the most popular OCD treatment.
Another commonly used OCD treatment is exposure and response prevention (ERP), where the patient is exposed to stimuli that trigger the repetitive behavior but do not allow the patient to actually perform the compulsive behavior. Eventually the patient can learn that nothing bad happens when they don’t act out their compulsion.
Unfortunately, ERP is a stressful treatment for patients to endure. And significant numbers of patients drop out of treatment. Various drugs, such as the SRIs, are now being used in conjunction with ERP.
Anxiety usually is significant part of obsessive compulsive disorder. While anxiety does not appear to be the actual cause of OCD, anxiety can drive persistent thoughts and behaviors. A reduction in anxiety can be important in the treatment of OCD. Various modalities for treating anxiety include medication, neurofeedback (both traditional and LENS Neurofeedback), and/or behavioral approaches.
When anxiety is successfully brought under control, there are not only fewer obsessive thoughts, but those obsessive thoughts that do persist become less prominent. Instead being the dominant focus, compulsive become background music as opposed to a loud concert. These thoughts demand less attention and this makes it easier to control compulsive behavior.


Managing the Generations
By Kerry L. Roberts and Pauline M. Sampson
Generational differences are common in schools; after all, for the most part students and their teachers have always come from different generations. We’d like to call attention to another kind of generational difference in districts: those among school board members, administrators, and teachers.
For many reasons, including economics and changing demographics, many districts have three or even four generations working for it. We note this because people born in different generations see and perceive situations, values, and work differently, and they communicate differently. This is a broad generalization, of course, but the era in which you grow up does influence your outlook, philosophy, and work habits.
Understanding generational differences can help school board members and superintendents lead more effectively. They can make the differences work to the advantage of the district and to improve student achievement.
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