An Atlanta caf? owner has gone from raising funds through tea parties to establishing a Darjeeling-based support center, which rescues orphaned girls in India from poverty. Katrell Christie's nonprofit, The Learning Tea, has saved 11 young girls in India from bleek futures, Fox News reports. The funds from her tea sales help Christie to provide these at-risk orphans with shelter, medical care, educational scholarships, and futures free of poverty and exploitation.
?We supply anything you would possibly need to live: a place to live, clean water, nutritious meals, supervision, uniforms," Christie told Fox News in the video above. We pay for all education, all books, all medical. We keep everybody up to date on their shots.?
She is expecting to open a second Learning Tea center this fall in Kolkata, Christie told Fox News.
Her initiative began when she reluctantly visited Darjeeling in 2009 and met several young girls living in a government sponsored orphanage, which usually release girls from their custody once they turn 16. Like the girls that Learning Tea now helps, many of these orphans were facing futures of homelessness and sexual exploitation. Christie soon discovered that none of the 56 girls had much hope for more fulfilling lives - inspiring her to help out.
"They all had answers until I asked, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?'" Christie explains in a Learning Tea promotional video. "Not one of the 56 girls had an answer. Not one of them had every been given the ability to dream. Not one girl had ever thought they could be something other than nothing."
To learn more about how you can help out, or if you just want some Darjeeling-grown green tea, visit the Learning Tea's website, here.
A University of Maine experiment sent a young lobster to the sea floor outfitted with a camera to see how the crustaceans are faring against predators. When the footage was reeled up, researchers discovered that Maine lobsters have developed a disturbing new habit, fueled by overfishing and global warming.
This story was produced as part of the?Climate Desk collaboration.
From Staff Reports sports@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Thu Jul 25, 2013, 05:03 AM EDT
Registration ends today for Run for God?s second annual Dalton Parks Youth and Adult Sprint Triathlon, which is Saturday.
In addition to the run, Scott Rigsby ? a world record setting double amputee ? will compete in the race and give an abbreviated version of his story during the awards ceremony, which will take place following the race. He will also give his full testimony at Grove Level Baptist Church on Sunday during both services, which take place at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.
The event consists of swimming, biking and running events for junior division (ages 6-8), intermediate and senior division (ages 9-15) and adult competitors and will be held at the Dalton Parks and Recreation Department?s Ronald Nix Complex at 904 Civic Drive.
Adult races begin at 7 a.m. and consist of a 300-meter swim, 12-mile bicycle ride and two-mile run. Youth races begin at 8:30 a.m. and include a 150-meter swim, four-mile bicycle ride and one-mile run for the intermediate and seniors with a 50-meter swim, two-mile bike ride and half-mile run for the juniors.
To register, visit www.runforgod.com.
Copyright 2013 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
July 16, 2013 12:31 PM Why Are Employers Changing Full-time Jobs to Part-time Jobs?
By Aaron Carroll
There was a piece in the Wall Street Journal on how some full time jobs are being changed to part time jobs. I braced myself for the usual blame on the ACA. And it was right there in the beginning:
Ken Adams has been turning to more part-time workers at his 10 Subway sandwich shops in Michigan to avoid possibly incurring higher health-care costs under the new federal insurance law.
He added approximately 25 part-time workers in May and June as he reduced some employees? hours and replaced other workers who left. The move showed how efforts by some restaurant owners and other businesses to remake their workforces because of the Affordable Care Act may be turning the country?s labor market into a more part-time workforce
Look, I do not dispute that the employer penalty creates a new enticement to employ part time over full time workers. But it worth remembering ? always ? that insurance is not mandated in any way right now, and it?s still offered in the vast, vast majority of jobs given by large companies. Why? Because benefits are important to attracting and retaining a competent work force. If you don?t offer them, you don?t attract the best employees, and you often lose them if you have them. So it?s not like there aren?t good reasons to offer insurance.
But I was impressed with the piece, because it was far more balanced than what I usually see:
Ethan Harris of Merrill Lynch is skeptical that health-care-related hiring by restaurants affected the overall jobs numbers. ?Some companies have started this spring to redesign their workforce to keep people? beneath 30 hours a week, he said, ?but it should be reflected in the average work week?and it is just not showing up in the data.?
The average workweek for restaurant and bar staff has ticked up slightly this year through May to 25.6 hours, from 25.5 in 2012 and 25.1 in 2007, the year the recession took hold.
Mr. Harris said restaurant employment rolls might have risen partly because more Americans in a wobbly economy are willing to take jobs that previously were filled by undocumented workers and therefore weren?t counted.
The numbers also likely reflect a stronger economy.
But the bottom line is that if you really, really hate the fact that the employer penalty will incentivize to make workers part time, then change the penalty. You?ll have the full throated support of many wonks.
[Originally posted at The Incidental Economist]
Aaron Carroll ,MD, is an associate professor of Pediatrics and the associate director of Childrens Health Services Research at Indiana University School of Medicine.
Apple's Reno, Nevada data center might be a lot greener in the next few years -- according to GigaOm, the company plans to build a 137 acre solar farm right next to it. The Nevada complex will reportedly generate between 18 and 20 megawatts of power similar to Apple's two arrays in North Carolina, but GigaOm says it will use a different kind of technology. Instead of a standard farm of solar panels, it will include mirrors that concentrate the sun's rays on each one up to seven times, increasing the amount of energy produced. In a statement sent to the publication, Cupertino revealed that the facility will not only provide electricity for the data center, but also supply energy to the local grid. Solar company SunPower will work on the array's engineering and construction, but until it's operational (which could be a while), Apple will depend on geothermal energy generated by local plants.
Ah, kale. Trendy, healthy, delicious, and -- dangerous? According to two photos actor Kevin Bacon posted on celebrity social media site Who Say, the leafy green vegetable can also attack.
whosay.com
Kyra Sedgwick cut off the tip of her finger chopping kale, her husband Kevin Bacon posted on WhoSay.
"Kale isn't (ALWAYS) HEALTHY... if you chop the end of your finger off," Bacon wrote next to a photo of his wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick, on a hospital bed looking gloomy, and holding up a bloody, bandaged finger.
He later posted a photo of Sedgwick with an even more heavily bandaged finger, giving the thumbs-up with her uninjured hand. "My Baby is fine. All good. Still can't find the tip of that finger," Bacon wrote.
Sedgwick herself hasn't tweeted or posted about the event -- but then again, it can be difficult to type with a missing fingertip.
Bacon is currently starring on the Fox serial-killer drama "The Following," which will begin its second season in 2014.
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
MOSCOW (AP) ? A former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing highly classified surveillance programs was believed to have landed in Russia on Sunday ? possibly as a stopover before traveling elsewhere ? after being allowed to leave Hong Kong.
Edward Snowden was on an Aeroflot flight from Hong Kong that arrived in Moscow on Sunday afternoon and was booked on a flight to fly to Cuba on Monday, the Russian news agencies ITAR-Tass and Interfax reported, citing unnamed airline officials. The reports said he intended to travel from Cuba to Caracas, Venezuela.
Snowden did not leave Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport with the other passengers. Interfax reported that he was spending the night in the transit zone of the airport because he did not have a visa to enter Russia and had rented a room in a capsule hotel.
Snowden had been in hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks after he revealed information on the highly classified spy programs. The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group said it was working with him and he was bound for an unnamed "democratic nation via a safe route for the purpose of asylum."
The White House said President Barack Obama has been briefed on Sunday's developments by his national security advisers.
Snowden's departure came a day after the United States made a formal request for his extradition and gave a pointed warning to Hong Kong against delaying the process of returning him to face trial in the U.S.
The Department of Justice said only that it would "continue to discuss this matter with Hong Kong and pursue relevant law enforcement cooperation with other countries where Mr. Snowden may be attempting to travel."
The Hong Kong government said in a statement that Snowden left "on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel."
It acknowledged the U.S. extradition request, but said U.S. documentation did not "fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law." It said additional information was requested from Washington, but since the Hong Kong government "has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."
The statement said Hong Kong had informed the U.S. of Snowden's departure. It added that it wanted more information about alleged hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by U.S. government agencies which Snowden had revealed.
Hong Kong's decision to let Snowden go on a technicality appears to be a pragmatic move aimed at avoiding a drawn out extradition battle. The action swiftly eliminates a geopolitical headache that could have left Hong Kong facing pressure from both Washington and Beijing.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, has a high degree of autonomy and is granted rights and freedoms not seen on mainland China, but under the city's mini constitution Beijing is allowed to intervene in matters involving defense and diplomatic affairs.
Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the U.S., but the document has some exceptions, including for crimes deemed political.
Russian officials have given no indication that they have any interest in detaining Snowden or any grounds to do so. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Russia would be willing to consider granting asylum if Snowden were to make such a request.
Russia and the United States have no extradition treaty that would oblige Russia to hand over a U.S. citizen at Washington's request.
WikiLeaks said it was providing legal help to Snowden at his request and that he was being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from the group. WikiLeaks' founder, Julian Assange, who has spent a year inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about sex crime allegations, told the Sydney Morning Herald that his organization is in a position to help because it has expertise in international asylum and extradition law.
The Cuban government had no comment on Snowden's movements or reports he might use Havana as a transit point.
In Ecuador, a high-ranking source at the presidency said there was no information about whether Snowden would seek asylum there. The source spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak on the issue.
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said last week that if Snowden asked for asylum, Ecuador would study the request.
The Obama administration on Saturday warned Hong Kong against delaying Snowden's extradition, with White House national security adviser Tom Donilon saying in an interview with CBS News, "Hong Kong has been a historically good partner of the United States in law enforcement matters, and we expect them to comply with the treaty in this case."
Michael Ratner, Assange's lawyer, said he didn't know Snowden's final destination, but that his options were not numerous. "You have to have a country that's going to stand up to the United States," Ratner said. "You're not talking about a huge range of countries here."
Ratner added that a country's extradition treaty with the U.S. is "not going to be relevant" because the country he ends up going to will likely be one willing to give him a political exemption.
Snowden's departure came as the South China Morning Post released new allegations from the former NSA contractor that U.S. hacking targets in China included the nation's cellphone companies and two universities hosting extensive Internet traffic hubs.
He told the newspaper that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." It added that Snowden said he had documents to support the hacking allegations, but the report did not identify the documents. It said he spoke to the newspaper in a June 12 interview.
With a population of more than 1.3 billion, China has massive cellphone companies. China Mobile is the world's largest mobile network carrier with 735 million subscribers, followed by China Unicom with 258 million users and China Telecom with 172 million users.
Snowden said Tsinghua University in Beijing and Chinese University in Hong Kong, home of some of the country's major Internet traffic hubs, were targets of extensive hacking by U.S. spies this year. He said the NSA was focusing on so-called "network backbones" in China, through which enormous amounts of Internet data passes.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was aware of the reports of Snowden's departure from Hong Kong to Moscow but did not know the specifics. It said the Chinese central government "always respects" Hong Kong's "handling of affairs in accordance with law." The Foreign Ministry also noted that it is "gravely concerned about the recently disclosed cyberattacks by relevant U.S. government agencies against China."
China's state-run media have used Snowden's allegations to poke back at Washington after the U.S. had spent the past several months pressuring China on its international spying operations.
A commentary published Sunday by the official Xinhua News Agency said Snowden's disclosures of U.S. spying activities in China have "put Washington in a really awkward situation."
"Washington should come clean about its record first. It owes ... an explanation to China and other countries it has allegedly spied on," it said. "It has to share with the world the range, extent and intent of its clandestine hacking programs."
____
Chan reported from Hong Kong. Sylvia Hui in London, Paul Haven in Havana, Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador, and Anne Flaherty and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (AP) ? A construction worker has been slightly injured during demolition of a departures runway at the now-vacant Terminal 3 at Kennedy International Airport.
A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the worker was struck in the leg by falling debris Sunday morning. Spokesman Steve Coleman says the worker did not appear to be seriously injured but was walking with a slight limp afterward.
The terminal, also known as the Worldport, is memorable for its shape, which resembles a flying saucer. Constructed more than a half century ago, the terminal once housed Pan American World Airways. Delta Air Lines began using it in 1991, but left the terminal last month. Plans call for it to someday be used for parking airplanes.
Results from world's largest human cognitive performance dataset published in Frontiers in Neuroscience
Lumosity, the leading brain training company, today announced a new web-based, big data methodology for conducting human cognitive performance research. Lumosity's research platform, the Human Cognition Project, contains the world's largest and continuously growing dataset of human cognitive performance, which currently includes more than 40 million people who have been tracked for up to 6 years. The study, published today in the open-access journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, examined how Lumosity's dataset can provide insights into the lifestyle correlates of cognitive performance and the impact of age on learning rate.
Human cognitive performance research is typically conducted through experiments in the laboratory, with small numbers of participants often limited to university undergraduates and requiring in-laboratory follow-ups. This approach limits the kinds of questions that can be studied, the number and demographics of participants, and can be time-consuming and costly.
"New technologies and research platforms have the potential to transform the speed, scale, efficiency and range of topics in which neuroscience research is conducted," said P. Murali Doraiswamy, Professor of Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center and member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, and co-author of the study. "This study is interesting because it brings to light the possibilities of what we can uncover by taking a big data approach to cognitive performance research."
The study presented two examples of research that can be conducted using Lumosity's dataset. Using survey results and a subset of the dataset tied to baseline performance on three cognitive exercises, the first study examined the effects of sleep and alcohol consumption on cognitive abilities, including speed (N = 162,462), memory (N = 161,717), and flexibility (N = 127,048). The study found that cognitive performance in all three tasks was most efficient, on average, for users reporting seven hours of sleep each night. The study also found that low to moderate alcohol intake a self-reported one or two drinks per day was associated with better performance in all three tasks, with brain performance scores decreasing steadily with every additional drink.
The second study examined how learning ability changes over the lifespan and how aging might affect learning across distinct cognitive abilities. The study included adults ages 18-74, and looked at how age influences improvement over the course of the first 25 sessions of a cognitive task. Tasks that rely on fluid intelligence, which contribute to learning, problem solving, and the ability to adapt to novel challenges such as working memory (N = 22,718) and spatial memory tasks (N = 23,109), were compared to tasks that rely on crystallized knowledge, which draws on accumulated knowledge and skills from your life experience such as verbal fluency (N = 107,478) and basic arithmetic (N = 41,338). The study found that the amount of improvement decreased as age increased, and that performance on tasks that rely on fluid intelligence decreased with age at a faster rate than the tasks that rely on crystallized intelligence. This finding supports the notion that, although raw cognitive performance peaks in young adulthood, the lifelong accumulation of knowledge compensates such that older adults can still perform at a high level.
"The goal of the Human Cognition Project is to rapidly and efficiently advance our understanding of the brain," said Daniel Sternberg, Ph.D, Data Scientist at Lumosity and lead author of the study. "We're excited for the potential that big data holds for conducting large-scale, collaborative, global research on human cognition. We're particularly interested in applying the knowledge we gain from this research in real-world settings where they can help people live better, fuller lives."
The Human Cognition Project works with researchers worldwide to study human cognitive performance. The technology supports both experimental research, where independent researchers design and conduct studies on the effects of computerized cognitive training, and observational research, where collaborators explore data from Lumosity's continuously growing database. Researchers interested in exploring Lumosity's de-identified dataset can submit research proposals at http://hcp.lumosity.com/get_involved/researcher.
###
About Lumosity
Lumosity is committed to pioneering the understanding and enhancement of the human brain to give each person the power to unlock their full potential. Lumosity's online and mobile programs train core cognitive abilities such as memory and attention. Launched in 2007, Lumosity now has more than 40 games, 40 million members, and paying subscribers from 180 countries. Lumosity's games are based on the latest discoveries in neuroscience, with continuing independent third-party studies being conducted by researchers at Harvard, Stanford, and other academic institutions. Lumosity is available at Lumosity.com and on the iPhone. Lumosity is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit http://www.lumosity.com.
About Frontiers
Frontiers, a partner of Nature Publishing Group, is a community driven scholarly open-access publisher and research networking platform. Based in Switzerland, and formed by scientists in 2007, Frontiers is one of the largest and fastest growing publishers and its mission is to empower all academic communities to drive research publishing and communication into the 21st century with a whole ecosystem of open science tools.
The "Frontiers in" series of journals publish around 500 peer-reviewed articles every month, which receive 5 million monthly views and are supported by over 25,000 editors and reviewers. Frontiers has formed partnerships with international organizations, such as, the Max Planck Society and the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS). For more information, please visit: http://www.frontiersin.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Lumosity's big data provides new approach to understanding human cognitionPublic release date: 20-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Results from world's largest human cognitive performance dataset published in Frontiers in Neuroscience
Lumosity, the leading brain training company, today announced a new web-based, big data methodology for conducting human cognitive performance research. Lumosity's research platform, the Human Cognition Project, contains the world's largest and continuously growing dataset of human cognitive performance, which currently includes more than 40 million people who have been tracked for up to 6 years. The study, published today in the open-access journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, examined how Lumosity's dataset can provide insights into the lifestyle correlates of cognitive performance and the impact of age on learning rate.
Human cognitive performance research is typically conducted through experiments in the laboratory, with small numbers of participants often limited to university undergraduates and requiring in-laboratory follow-ups. This approach limits the kinds of questions that can be studied, the number and demographics of participants, and can be time-consuming and costly.
"New technologies and research platforms have the potential to transform the speed, scale, efficiency and range of topics in which neuroscience research is conducted," said P. Murali Doraiswamy, Professor of Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center and member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, and co-author of the study. "This study is interesting because it brings to light the possibilities of what we can uncover by taking a big data approach to cognitive performance research."
The study presented two examples of research that can be conducted using Lumosity's dataset. Using survey results and a subset of the dataset tied to baseline performance on three cognitive exercises, the first study examined the effects of sleep and alcohol consumption on cognitive abilities, including speed (N = 162,462), memory (N = 161,717), and flexibility (N = 127,048). The study found that cognitive performance in all three tasks was most efficient, on average, for users reporting seven hours of sleep each night. The study also found that low to moderate alcohol intake a self-reported one or two drinks per day was associated with better performance in all three tasks, with brain performance scores decreasing steadily with every additional drink.
The second study examined how learning ability changes over the lifespan and how aging might affect learning across distinct cognitive abilities. The study included adults ages 18-74, and looked at how age influences improvement over the course of the first 25 sessions of a cognitive task. Tasks that rely on fluid intelligence, which contribute to learning, problem solving, and the ability to adapt to novel challenges such as working memory (N = 22,718) and spatial memory tasks (N = 23,109), were compared to tasks that rely on crystallized knowledge, which draws on accumulated knowledge and skills from your life experience such as verbal fluency (N = 107,478) and basic arithmetic (N = 41,338). The study found that the amount of improvement decreased as age increased, and that performance on tasks that rely on fluid intelligence decreased with age at a faster rate than the tasks that rely on crystallized intelligence. This finding supports the notion that, although raw cognitive performance peaks in young adulthood, the lifelong accumulation of knowledge compensates such that older adults can still perform at a high level.
"The goal of the Human Cognition Project is to rapidly and efficiently advance our understanding of the brain," said Daniel Sternberg, Ph.D, Data Scientist at Lumosity and lead author of the study. "We're excited for the potential that big data holds for conducting large-scale, collaborative, global research on human cognition. We're particularly interested in applying the knowledge we gain from this research in real-world settings where they can help people live better, fuller lives."
The Human Cognition Project works with researchers worldwide to study human cognitive performance. The technology supports both experimental research, where independent researchers design and conduct studies on the effects of computerized cognitive training, and observational research, where collaborators explore data from Lumosity's continuously growing database. Researchers interested in exploring Lumosity's de-identified dataset can submit research proposals at http://hcp.lumosity.com/get_involved/researcher.
###
About Lumosity
Lumosity is committed to pioneering the understanding and enhancement of the human brain to give each person the power to unlock their full potential. Lumosity's online and mobile programs train core cognitive abilities such as memory and attention. Launched in 2007, Lumosity now has more than 40 games, 40 million members, and paying subscribers from 180 countries. Lumosity's games are based on the latest discoveries in neuroscience, with continuing independent third-party studies being conducted by researchers at Harvard, Stanford, and other academic institutions. Lumosity is available at Lumosity.com and on the iPhone. Lumosity is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit http://www.lumosity.com.
About Frontiers
Frontiers, a partner of Nature Publishing Group, is a community driven scholarly open-access publisher and research networking platform. Based in Switzerland, and formed by scientists in 2007, Frontiers is one of the largest and fastest growing publishers and its mission is to empower all academic communities to drive research publishing and communication into the 21st century with a whole ecosystem of open science tools.
The "Frontiers in" series of journals publish around 500 peer-reviewed articles every month, which receive 5 million monthly views and are supported by over 25,000 editors and reviewers. Frontiers has formed partnerships with international organizations, such as, the Max Planck Society and the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS). For more information, please visit: http://www.frontiersin.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Register for the Roswell Mayor?s Ride now, or stop by the event to enjoy a day of special events and activities.
The 12th Annual Historic Roswell Criterium returns on Sunday, April 28 with an expanded race course in the heart of historic Roswell, according to information provided by organizers.?
The schedule of events includes:
a recreational bicycle ride,
kids bicycle rodeo,
11 bicycle races,
Moncrief Heating & Air Kids' Zone,
Vendor Village and Expo,
and two New Belgium Beer Gardens.
The Historic Roswell Criterium, which began in 2002, has established itself as the largest pro/am criterium in the Southeast and second largest single-day race in the United States. It has surpassed 750 total race registrations for the day, according to a recent press release.
For the first time in 12 years, the Historic Roswell Criterium will introduce a new race course. The criterium loop will be extended to 1.2 miles in length, now including Heart of Roswell Park as the southern-most turn of the race route.? The long straightaway on Canton Street passes many of the popular restaurants and shops in Historic Roswell where spectators will enjoy a prime viewing experience.
"All the merchants and restaurants in the area are excited to be part of a longer course for the races. The Historic Roswell Criterium is a showcase for cycling and a showcase for Roswell. It has become an open house for merchants and restaurants to shine in front of thousands of people. Roswell is becoming an event destination," said Sally Johnson, president of the Historic Roswell Merchant?s Association and organizer of Alive After 5 Roswell, which starts back up for the summer beginning this week, Thursday, April 18.
The challenging four corners of the course will require each of the 75-150 cyclists in each race to use high speeds and precise skills to navigate the turns. The start/finish line will remain on Canton Street in front of the Fickle Pickle Restaurant.
Race Day Schedule and Activities:
Race day, April 28, will kick off with the Roswell Mayor?s Ride, a recreational ride to showcase the city of Roswell. The event, organized by Bike Roswell, is suitable for all ages and abilities and is the perfect way to begin the day of bicycling fun in Roswell. There are three ride options:
a family six mile ride
20-mile ride
and a 42-mile ride
All of the rides begin at 8 a.m. from Roswell Area Park. Advanced registration is open at BikeReg.com, $30 per individual, $75 per three-person family, $80 for a four-person family and $10 per each family member beyond four. The six-mile family ride is free.
Beginning at 10 a.m. are the 11 races, with categories for Juniors (ages 10-14 and 15-18), Masters (ages 35 and over) and different levels of amateur men and women racers. The men?s and women?s professional races (Men?s Pro 1/2 and Women?s Pro 1/2/3) at the end of the day will feature some of the best cyclists in North America.
The Historic Roswell Criterium continues for a fourth season as part of the USA CRITS Speed Week Series. This racing series has a combine prize purse of more than $120,000 for eight days of racing in Georgia and South Carolina. Advance registration fees for all adult races range from $45 to $50.
Two junior races return this year for up-and-coming pros of tomorrow. Registration is $30 for boys and girls ages 10-14 and 15-18. For younger children on bicycles and tricycles, it will be the 12th year for the annual Kids Races and Rodeo. The Kiwanis Club of Historic Roswell Safety Rodeo begins at 3 p.m. (registration begins at 2 p.m.) next to the Roswell United Methodist Church and is free for children six to 12 years of age with a signed waiver. All Rodeo graduates are then invited to participate in Kids Races at 5 p.m.?
An expanded Vendor Village and Expo will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. along Canton and Webb streets at the south end of the bicycle race course. Some of the professional teams will park official support vehicles in this area so that fans can easily take photos and receive athlete autographs. The Moncrief Heating & Air Kids' Zone will be part of the Expo and will be open until 5 p.m. One New Belgium Beer Garden will be located on Elizabeth Way this year, with a second location at the north end of Canton Street next to Woodstock Street. Throughout the day, spectators should look for restaurant and shop specials in Historic Roswell. ??
"The Historic Roswell Criterium has become so much more than just a day of bicycle races in our community. It is a tradition that focuses on fitness, family, food and fun," said Roswell Mayor Jere Wood. "It?s a great springtime showcase for our city. This event is special because people of all ages can enjoy a variety of activities throughout the day and explore Historic Roswell."
Sponsors for the 12th Annual Historic Roswell Criterium include Moncrief Heating and Air, city of Roswell, New Belgium Brewing Co., Maxxis, NALLEY Automotive Group, Children?s Orthopaedics of Atlanta, Kiwanis Club of Historic Roswell, North Georgia Cycling Association, and USA CRITS Speed Week Series.
For details on registration for races, kids rodeo and all event information, visit the criterium website. For advance registration for the Roswell Mayor?s Ride, click here.
May 3, 2013 TEDx DELRAY BEACH Friday, 9 am ? 7 pm; Crest Theatre, Vintage Gymnasium and Ocean Breeze Room. Conference fee $100 general, $75 students (with ID). This TED-like conference is an independently produced event operated under license from TED. Organized along the theme of ?The Human Experience? the conference will feature 22 of the leading thinkers, innovators, artists, philosophers and entertainers representing such diverse fields as technology, entertainment, visual and performance art, design, music, ecology and education, among others. For more, visit TEDxDelrayBeach.com.
May 4, 2013 Cinco de Mayo Festival Outdoor Pavilion Saturday, 11 a.m.-midnight. Admission $10 at the gate. Presented by the Hispano-Latino Cultural Alliance, this colorful event features, food and beverage vendors, merchandise, children?s activities and live entertainment. For event information, call 561-273-3396.
May 9, 2013 On the Ave Downtown Delray Beach Thursday, 6-10 p.m.; free admission. Enjoy live music and craft brews available for purchase at our Beer Garden on the front lawn. Then stroll the Open Air Art Gallery along Atlantic Avenue, featuring works by local artists, along with music and entertainment. Produced by the Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative; more information at VisitDelrayBeach.org or call 561-279-1380 x17.
May 18, 2013 Old School BeerFest Experience the world of beer and the art of brewing! Sample more than 50 craft brews ? ranging from local startups to international favorites ? as well as ciders and a wine tasting area for the non- beer drinkers; live music with PRESERVATION (rock & roll covers) and THE PEOPLE UPSTAIRS (funk/reggae); gourmet food trucks; VIP area with complimentary snacks and beverage plus other perks. Proceeds support the 2013-14 Free Friday Concerts. Outdoor Pavilion Saturday, 6-10 p.m.; advance tickets $30 & $60 (VIP); at the door $40 & $70 (VIP)
May 24, 2013 Delray Beach Bus Loop Starts at Delray Beach Center for the Arts Friday, 6-11 p.m.; advance tickets $20 (through May 16), $30 (May 17-23); $35 at the door Purchase tickets online at http://www.busloop.org/the_delray_beach_bus_loop Tour the town by trolley and support three non-profits! Join the Delray Beach Bus Loop and receive a complimentary drink or appetizer at 8 amazing Delray Beach venues. Check in at Delray Beach Center for the Arts to get your wristband and drink card. Trolleys run until midnight. Proceeds support Delray Beach Center for the Arts, Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative and Delray Beach Rotaract Club.
June 16, 2013 Father?s Day at the Cornell Museum Cornell Museum of Art & American Culture Sunday, 1-4 p.m. Admission: $10 general; $6 seniors & students with ID; $3 ages 4-12; free for ages 3 and under. All dads receive free admission when accompanied by their children. An afternoon of mini kite building for kids and dads.
July 21, 2013 Family Funday at the Museum Cornell Museum of Art & American Culture Sunday, 1-4 p.m. Admission: $10 per family (up to 2 adults and children) We?ll be celebrating two family-friendly exhibits in the Cornell Museum: Flying High: The Story of Kites and A Quilting Evolution (which both run from May 16th through September 29th). This family event will have fun activities for children of all ages, storytelling AND kite flying (weather permitting). Discover things you never knew about kites, which go back 3,000 years! Fighter kites? We have them! Japanese kites? We have them! Miniature kites? We have them? and more! And that?s just on the first floor. Upstairs a collection of art quilts, traditional quilts and signature quilts will be on display from the Gold Coast Quilters Guild.
Theater
May 11, 2013 The Music Man (Guest Production) Saturday; 12:30 pm & 5:00 pm; tickets $15. Call 561.495.7272 ext. 735. The Music Man presented by American Heritage School of Boca/Delray.
June 20-30, 2013 - Monty Python?s SPAMALOT Crest Theatre Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sunday (June 23), 2 & 8 p.m.; Sunday, (June 30), 2 p.m. Entr?acte Theatrix presents this musical comedy, lovingly ripped off from the classic film comedy, Monty Python and The Holy Grail. SPAMALOT retells the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table and features a bevy of beautiful show girls, not to mention cows, killer rabbits, and French people.
July 7, 14, 21 & 28, 2013 Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival Crest Theatre Sunday, 2 p.m. Tickets $25 (individual)/ $85 (4-concert subscription); call (800)330-6874 or visit pbcmf.org. The Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 22nd season with an eclectic mix of chamber music masterworks by composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and many others, followed by a ?Meet the Musicians? reception. The musicians of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival, also known as Chamber Music Palm Beach, have over 250 works in their repertoire, have released six critically acclaimed CDs on the Klavier Music Productions label, and have been featured nationally on Public Radio.
July 10, 17, 24, 31 and August 7, 14, 21 & 28 Art Cinema at the Crest Theatre Wednesday, 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets $8. The Crest Theatre is launching this exciting new series, which includes art films, classics, documentaries, and indie films. Check our website for film titles. Cash bar and concessions will be available.
Exhibits
May 1 ? November 3, 2013 School of Creative Arts Group Exhibition Crest Theatre Galleries Monday-Friday, 9:30 am ? 4:30 pm; Saturday, 10 am-3 pm; free admission A multi-media exhibit showcasing drawings, paintings, collage, mixed media and photographs by adult and youth students and instructors.
May 16 ? September 29, 2013 Flying High: The Story of Kites Cornell Museum of Art & American Culture Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am ? 4:30 pm; Sunday, 1-4:30 pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission: $10 general; $6 seniors & students with ID; $3 ages 4-12; free for ages 3 and under. This interactive exhibition will showcase the history of kites from their origins in ancient China three thousand years ago, to their scientific uses worldwide, to their nostalgic and fun-loving use in America as one of our popular pastimes. Highlights include a Miniature Kite Collection, Japanese kites, a collection of one-of-a-kind dancing/fighter kites, Kite-themed quilts, Kite-theme art by regional artists, and kite-themed photographs.
May 16 ? September 29, 2013 A Quilting Evolution Cornell Museum of Art & American Culture Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am ? 4:30 pm; Sunday, 1-4:30 pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission: $10 general; $6 seniors & students with ID; $3 ages 4-12; free for ages 3 and under. Quilters, collectors, artists and all who enjoy the beauty of quilts will be wowed by this exhibition, presented in partnership with the Gold Coast Quilters Guild (GCQG). The exhibit includes a broad mix of 80 to 100 traditional and art quilts, as well as a selection of award-winning ?Quilted? Artists Books. Works are hand or machine pieced and quilted, embroidered, thread painted, appliqued and embellished to illustrate the diversity of talent and techniques that exist in today?s quilting world.
Lectures/Discussions/ Workshops
June 27, 2013 Jane Pruett Hill: The 100 Year Evolution of American Quilting Cornell Museum Tea Room Thursday, 2 pm; Free with museum admission The art of quilting is advancing but at the same time, we are preserving the past. Jane will discuss the evolution of quilting fabrics, designs, patterns and techniques. A Q&A and light refreshments will follow the lecture. Jane Pruett Hill is co-founder of the Gold Coast Quilters Guild.
July 12, 2013 Art Workshop: Perspective for Artists Crest Theatre Studio #3 Friday, 9:00 am-4:00 pm; Fee: $165; pre-registration required The School of Creative Arts presents this one-day workshop led by Ralph Papa. Artists at all skill levels will better understand and be able to master perspective in their drawings. Specially designed demonstrations and exercises will include step by step drawings of scenes in perspective using inside and outside views with objects and people in natural and manmade environments.
Summer Camp
July 8 ? August 2, 2013 (4 one-week sessions) Kickin? Arts Summer Performing Arts Camp Delray Beach Center for the Arts 9:00 a.m ? 4:30 p.m. (Drop off 8-9 am; pick-up 4:30-5:30 pm) Camp fee: $265 per camper, per week Register at DelrayCenterForTheArts.org or call 561-243-7922, ext. 317. Kickin? Arts Performing Arts Camp is for boys and girls ages 6 to 12. Activities including music; performance in an original play; prop, set and costume making; art and crafts , which are all designed to culminate with a Friday Afternoon Showcase, at 5 p.m., for family and friends. There is a different theme each week. Campers should bring lunch and two snacks daily.
Related posts:
Art, Music, Theatre: Coming up at Delray?s Center for the Arts Theater February 4 & 5, 2013 SAM HARRIS Crest Theatre...
Art, Music, Theatre ? Coming Up at Delray?s Center for the Arts Theater April 4 ? 6, 2013 SHAKESPEARE AT THE PAVILION...
Art, Music, Theatre: Coming Up at Delray?s Centre for the Arts Theater March 4 & 5, 2013 ELAINE PAIGE Crest Theatre...
Art, Music, Theatre this Month at Delray?s Center for the Arts Free Friday Night Concerts November 2, 2012 Klezmer Company Orchestra...
Art, Music, Theatre This Month at Delray?s Center for the Arts Free Friday Night Concerts December 7, 2012 The Marshall Brothers...
As the second anniversary of this blog approaches, I?ve been reading back through some of my older posts. In 2011, I talked about the fact that we don?t know how many species live here (?we? meaning ?Canadians?; ?here? meaning ?in our own country?? a fairly large, scientifically-advanced, stable, well-off, not-terribly-biodiverse country). It would be great, for many reasons, to find out how many species live in Canada. That sounds simple enough. Except that it isn?t. Birds are easy. Mammals too. We?ve got a pretty good handle on most of our vertebrates. The community of vascular plant people has made some great strides towards documenting Canadian plant diversity. But not all taxa are going to be so easy. The great majority of our species are the small, diverse, similar-looking, hard to collect, hard to identify, mostly unnamed majority. That includes arthropods. Figuring out how many species of terrestrial arthropods live in Canada would colour in a huge slice of the big pie chart of our diversity. The main challenge is that we lack the crayons (as it were). It?s going to be a big job. Nevertheless, the Biological Survey of Canada has made colouring this big pie chart one of its main goals since it was founded more than 30 years ago.
The BSC was by no means the first group to come up with the idea to document the species living in Canada (it?s a logical idea; it?s just?really difficult to translate it into reality). It?s a historical year for entomology in Canada (the 150th anniversary of the Entomological Society of Canada), so it seems like as good a year as any to talk about some history.
Materials for a Fauna Canadensis
The idea of a biological inventory of Canada is older than the country of Canada itself. Five years before Confederation, in September 1862, William Hincks published a small paper in The Canadian Journal proposing this very idea.
Professor Hincks? big idea.
At the time, Hincks was a pretty influential figure in ?Canadian? science. In 1853 he was appointed as the first Professor of Natural History at University College, Toronto, and was pretty well-connected throughout the scientific community.
(Historical trivia note 1: the other leading candidate for the Toronto position in 1853 was a far more qualified, and better known, English naturalist named Thomas Henry Huxley. Yes. That Thomas Henry Huxley. Hincks was offered the job instead. It was . . . political).
(Historical trivia note 2: in 1863, Hincks was the Chair at the first official meeting of the newly formed Entomological Society of Canada).
In his paper, Hincks noted:
The difficulties attending the study of every branch of Natural History in Canada, are greatly aggravated by the want of books fitted to afford the student, in a convenient and scientific form, such assistance as the present state of our knowledge renders practicable.
In modernspeak: ?we know lots of things that live here, but there?s no easy way to identify them?.
Hincks felt that if a committed group of people started to assemble all that knowledge we did have about the animals of Canada (he had a whole separate plan for a Flora Canadensis), we could eventually assemble a complete compendium, with names, diagnostic information, geographic distributions, etc. for all our species. There was a key statement in Hincks? overview of the project:
It has occurred to me that the publication in this Journal of fragmentary portions of a provisional Fauna Canadensis might contribute not a little both to assist the cultivators of Zoological Science and to accumulate? useful materials for future labourers who may be enabled to attempt what would now be premature,?a general systematic work on Canadian Zoology.
Hincks realized that the task of compiling a complete zoological inventory of Canada (a much smaller region in 1862 than it is today) was impossible at that time, but that we knew enough about some groups that we could at least make a start on components of the big catalog. Hincks went on in that paper, and subsequently, to present some examples of his proposed approach, with a synopsis of several groups of aquatic insects, perhaps to whet people?s appetites for getting on board with the project. Hincks, unfortunately, died a few years later and his grand vision never saw completion.
Fast forward just over a century.
Canada and its Insect Fauna
1979 was a pivotal year in documenting the diversity of Canadian terrestrial arthropods. The recently launched Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods), headed by H.V. Danks, published Canada and its Insect Fauna. This 573-page compendium drew together the collective knowledge, wisdom and educated guesses of 60 specialists (mostly Canadian) to enumerate how many species of terrestrial and freshwater arthropods (insects, arachnids and others) we knew to exist in Canada and, perhaps just as importantly, to estimate how many species remained to be discovered. The final count was just over 33,000 recorded species and almost that many still undescribed or unrecorded in Canada. Canada and its Insect Fauna wasn?t meant to be the final word. It was a starting point.
And then?
One of the more frequently uttered phrases among my colleagues in Canadian arthropod biodiversity is ?I still pull my Canada and its Insect Fauna off the shelf all the time!?. Well, that?s both high praise for this monumental volume, and a somewhat sobering realization that 34 years on, we haven?t replaced it with anything newer. Some major taxa and some regions have been completely updated quite recently, but for others (my own favorite group, the Diptera, for example) we still rely on numbers that are more than a generation out of date (and that?s a human generation, not an insect generation!). Clearly, we have some work to do.
Where to from here?
There are a lot of differences between the way we collect, package and share biodiversity information now compared to 1979. This work is no longer done only by specialists, and the products are used by a wide range of individuals and agencies. The digital revolution means that The Book is no longer the only method of presenting all this information.
If we hope to update our knowledge of the arthropods of Canada, and to move toward a complete understanding of our biota, and if we hope to make this knowledge accessible to a wide array of users, we?ll need to think outside the pages. And we?ll almost certainly need to do it a few pieces at a time, as William Hincks realized 151 years ago. But there are lots of ways to do that. That?s a topic for the next post.
One small collector, one big country (Windy Pass, YT)
LAHAD DATU, Malaysia (Reuters) - Gunmen have killed five policemen in Malaysia's Sabah state where members of an armed faction from the Philippines have been facing off with security forces as they stake an ancient claim to the remote corner of Borneo island.
Police on Friday tried to end the standoff with scores of followers of the sultan of Sulu, a south Philippine region, who occupied a Sabah village in February to press their claim. Two policemen and 12 followers of the sultan were killed.
The killing of the five policemen late on Saturday, in an ambush on police hunting followers of the sultan, will reinforce fears that insecurity is spreading in a region rich in resources that has been of increasing interest to investors.
Malaysia's inspector general of police, Ismail Omar, tried to ease any worries on Sunday, saying the situation was under control.
"I don't want speculation that Sabah is in crisis," Ismail told a news conference in the town of Lahad Datu. "We have our security forces at three places to respond."
The confrontation had threatened to reignite tension between the Philippines and Malaysia. Ties have been periodically frayed by security and migration problems along their sea border.
Economic interests are also at risk.
Oil majors like ConocoPhillips and Shell have poured in large sums to develop oil and gas fields in Sabah. Chinese companies have been investing in hydro-power and coal mining.
Much of Borneo's forest has been cleared, to the horror of indigenous people and environmentalists, and replanted with palm oil. Tens of thousands of migrants have come to Sabah from the Philippines to clear the timber and work the plantations.
For generations Borneo, one of the worlds' biggest islands, was a forbidding expanse of jungle, thinly populated by head-hunting tribesmen, and claimed by Muslim sultans and later European colonialists based in coastal trading towns.
"DRASTIC ACTION"
Colonial Britain and the Netherlands carved up the island in the nineteenth century and Malaysia and Indonesia took their shares upon independence. Britain agreed to independence for the tiny oil-rich sultanate of Brunei on Borneo's west coast.
But under a pre-colonial pact between sultans, Sulu, in what would later become the Philippines, was awarded control of the northern corner of Borneo, in what would later become Malaysia.
A British trading company agreed during colonial times to pay Sulu a nominal lease for Sabah - it now amounts to 5,300 ringgit ($1,700) a year - and the claim of the ancient Sulu sultanate on Sabah was all but forgotten, until February.
Then, about 150 followers of the Sulu sultanate, which has no power but commands respect in the southern Philippines, sailed in and occupied a Sabah village, staking their claim and demanding a renegotiation of Sabah's lease.
Malaysia has said the demands will not be met and has sent in the security forces. Both Malaysia and the Philippines have called on the gunmen to give up and go home.
An increasingly exasperated Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, who faces an election in weeks, has promised "drastic action" if the group does not leave.
The trouble looks to be at least partly the result of efforts to forge peace in the southern Philippines, in particular a peace deal signed between the Philippine government and Muslim rebels last October to end a 40 year conflict.
Jamalul Kiram, a former sultan of Sulu and brother of the man Philippine provincial authorities regard as sultan, said the peace deal had handed control of much of Sulu to Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, ignoring the sultanate.
The sultan loyalists had gone to Malaysia to revive their claim to Sabah as a protest in response to what they saw as the unfair peace deal, he said.
A senior Malaysian defense official said the gunmen in Sabah had links with a Philippine rebel faction leader called Nor Misuari, who also saw no benefit from the pace deal.
"He will surely stir up more trouble," said the Malaysian official, who declined to be identified.
(Reporting by Niluksi Koswanage in KUALA LUMPUR; Additional reporting by Manuel Mogato in MANILA; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Pakistani medics and civilians gather at the site of a bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, March 3, 2013. Pakistani officials say a bomb blast has killed dozens of people in a neighborhood dominated by Shiite Muslims in the southern city of Karachi. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Pakistani medics and civilians gather at the site of a bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, March 3, 2013. Pakistani officials say a bomb blast has killed dozens of people in a neighborhood dominated by Shiite Muslims in the southern city of Karachi. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Pakistani medics and civilians gather at the site of a bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, March 3, 2013. Pakistani officials say a bomb blast has killed dozens of people in a neighborhood dominated by Shiite Muslims in the southern city of Karachi. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) ? A bomb blast killed at least 28 people and wounded dozens of others on Sunday in a neighborhood dominated by Shiite Muslims in the southern city of Karachi, Pakistani officials said.
The bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque as people were leaving evening prayers, said police official Azhar Iqbal. Men, women and children were among those killed and wounded, he said.
At least 28 people were killed and 50 others were wounded, said a top government official, Taha Farooqi. He said some people were feared trapped in the rubble of buildings that collapsed in the bombing.
No one has claimed responsibility, but Sunni militants linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban have targeted Shiites in the past, claiming they are heretics.
Initial reports suggest the bomb was rigged to a motorcycle, although a survey of the damage indicates there could have been additional explosives planted at the scene, the police official said. Farooqi said several buildings nearby had caught fire.
Men and women wailed at the scene and the hospitals. AP video showed residents trying to find victims buried in the rubble.
"I heard a huge blast. I saw flames," Syed Irfat Ali, a resident of the area, said, adding that people were crying and running to safety.
Sunni militant groups have stepped up attacks in the past year against Shiite Muslims who make up about 20 percent of Pakistan's population of 180 million people.
Two brazen attacks against a Shiite Hazara community in southwestern city of Quetta killed nearly 200 people since Jan 10. Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the bombings, which ripped through a billiard club and a market in areas populated by Hazaras, which are mostly Muslim Shiites.
Pakistan's intelligence agencies helped nurture Sunni militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the 1980s and 1990s to counter a perceived threat from neighboring Iran, which is mostly Shiite. Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in 2001, but the group continues to attack Shiites.
According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 Shiites were killed last year in targeted attacks across the country, the worst year on record for anti-Shiite violence in Pakistan. The human rights group said more than 125 were killed in Baluchistan province. Most of them belonged to the Hazara community.
Human rights groups have accused the government of not doing enough to protect Shiites.
After the Jan 10 bombing, the Hazara community held protests, which spread to other parts of the country. The protesters refused to bury their dead for several days while demanding a military-led crackdown against the Lashkar-e-Jhanvi group. Pakistan's president dismissed the provincial government and assigned a governor to run Baluchistan province.
No operation was launched against the militant group until another bombing in February killed 89 people.
The government then ordered a police operation and has said some members of the group have been arrested. One of the founders of the group, Malik Ishaq, was among those detained and officials said he could be questioned to determine if his group's is linked to the latest violence against Shiites.
Health concerns about the typical energy drink?are everywhere, so?you may not want to depend on them for energy. After all, not only can they be extremely high in caffeine, but they also tend to be full of sugar, artificial colorings and other unnatural ingredients. They don?t exactly fit my whole food, traditional diet criteria. The question is, how do you replace them?
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But having an afternoon pick-me-up can be helpful, which is why I wanted to share a few recipes for simple homemade, energy drinks.
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Chia Pomegranate Green Tea Cooler
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Why it works: Tea is a natural source of caffeine, however it also contains an amino acid called ?theanine? which is a natural relaxer with anti-anxiety properties. It helps energize you without making you jittery. When you are stressed, both the energy boost from the caffeine and the relaxing effect of the theanine can be helpful. Pomegranate juice is full of nutrients, flavonoids, and antioxidants and is low in sugar. This healthy juice can help give you a boost from nutrition alone. (It?s also worth noting that according to Bowden, it is called the ?natural Viagra? and has been traditionally associated with love and sexual vitality.) The chia seeds were traditionally used as a support for long journeys. The gel-like substance they form when put in liquid absorbs slowly into the body, for a slow release of nutrients and energy. Chia seeds are high in vitamins and minerals, making them a favorite with many nutritionists.
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Homemade Chocolate Milk
Directions: In a blender, mix 1 cup of whole milk with 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of fair trade cocoa powder, a dash of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup or honey. Blend until combined.
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Why it works: Milk gives you good source of both protein and fat for sustained energy. Milk also contains some natural sugar that gives a boost of energy. Use grade B maple syrup for a higher nutrient content, and you will add both more natural sugars for a more instant energy boost. The cocoa powder gives some caffeine, as well as more antioxidants and nutrients (such as magnesium). I prefer raw, pastured milk.
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Green Drink
Directions: The darling of the raw foodie and many health conscience people, the green drink trend shows no sign of slowing down and there are many green drink mixtures available online. Make according to the package directions, or add a scoop to a smoothie.
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Why it works: Green drinks work because they are high in nutrients, very alkalizing (which makes you feel refreshed and energized). Plus, some mixes contain herbs known for their energizing attributes. Mix them with a pomegranate, noni, or other antioxidant-rich juice, or combine with a high protein snack like nuts or canned fish for sustained energy.
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The above recipes are gentle, natural options for an energy boost and are perfect for a mid-day drink. Being more natural, and not as high in caffeine, they may not keep you in a working frenzy all night long when you need it, but on the plus side, they offer many health benefits.?
The Cleveland Indians on Thursday announced the rollback of concession prices at Progressive field, including a 33 percent drop in price of a hot dog and a 24 percent drop in the price of a 12-ounce domestic beer.? Team president Mark Shapiro said it came in response to fans who have called for more affordable food and drink at the ballpark.? Read more here.? Read press release here.