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In 2011 Offit was honored by the Biotechnology Industry Organization with the 2011 Biotech Humanitarian Award. Offit donated the award’s $10,000 prize to the Vaccine Education Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Also in 2011, Offit was elected to the Institute of Medicine at the group's annual meeting. In 2013 Offit was presented with the Robert B. Balles Prize in Critical Thinking by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) for "Do You Believe in Magic? The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine". "Offit is a literal lifesaver... educates the public about the dangers of alternative medicine, may save many, many more." |
Michael Specter wrote that Offit "has become a figure of hatred to the many vaccine denialists and conspiracy theorists." Specter reported that Offit had often been threatened with violence by anti-vaccine advocates, necessitating precautions such as screening Offit's packages for mail bombs and providing guards when Offit attends federal health advisory committee meetings. At a 2008 vaccine activism rally in Washington, D.C., environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. criticized Offit's ties to drug companies, calling him a "poster child for the term 'biostitute'." |
Also in 2008, Sharyl Attkisson published an article for CBS News questioning Offit's independence, citing his financial ties to vaccine manufacturers. Offit said he is upfront about the money and that it doesn't affect his decisions. Curt Linderman Sr., the editor of the Autism File blog, wrote online that it would "be nice" if Offit "was dead". |
Such criticism has provoked statements in Offit's defense. Peter Hotez, a professor and vaccine researcher at George Washington University, has been quoted in a "Newsweek" article: |
Offit has written or co-written several books on vaccines, vaccination and the public, and antibiotics, as well as dozens of scholarly articles on the topic. Isabelle Rapin, a neurology professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, wrote in "Neurology Today" about "Autism's False Prophets": |
In "The Cutter Incident" ("see" Cutter Laboratories incident), Offit describes fallout relating to an early poliovirus vaccine tragedy that had the effect of deterring production of already licensed vaccines and discouraging the development of new ones. Offit advocates for the repeal of religious exemptions to vaccine requirements, saying that such exemptions amount to medical neglect. |
= = = Randall v. Orange County Council = = = |
Randall v. Orange County Council, 17 Cal.4th 736, 952 P.2d 261, 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 453 (1998), was a case before the Supreme Court of California that established that groups such as the Boy Scouts of America are not considered "business establishments" as used in the state's Unruh Civil Rights Act and could not be subject to its provisions. Its companion case was "Curran v. Mount Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts of America", 17 Cal.4th 670, 952 P.2d 218, 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 410 (1998). |
Twin brothers Michael and William Randall were Cub Scouts, a membership division of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), in Anaheim Hills with Den 4, Pack 519 of the Orange County Council. They were on their way to earning the Bear Badge which included, in one of its four advancement areas, a religious component that asserted the existence of God and required the practice of one's faith as "taught in your home, church, synagogue, mosque, or religious fellowship," as well as a pledge asserting their duty to God which was included in the opinion of the court: |
We are lucky the people who wrote and signed our constitution were very wise. They understood the need of Americans to worship God as they choose. A member of your family will be able to talk with you about your duty to God. Remember, this achievement is part of your Cub Scout promise. "I, ____, promise to do my best to do my duty to God and my country." |
The Randalls stated at their local Cub Scout den meeting that they had a conflict with the religious requirement. The den leader asserted to the children's mother that the requirement was necessary to proceed through the ranks. The Orange County Council agreed with this position. While initially the Orange County Council allowed the Randalls to continue to participate in Scouting activities, it refused to allow them to advance in the ranks until they asserted their duty to God. |
The mother, as guardian ad litem, filed suit against the Orange County Council, alleging that the Council reversed its initial decision and expelled the Randalls from the Boy Scouts. |
The Superior Court for the County of Orange ruled at the initial trial that the BSA was considered a "business establishment" under the terms of California's Unruh Civil Rights Act because of the preponderance of the defendants evidence that illustrated the BSA's extensive real estate holdings, revenue-generating interests, and commercial enterprises. The court ordered statutory damages of $250 awarded to the plaintiffs and a "permanent injunction against [the BSA], preventing it from excluding [the Randalls] from membership or advancement in the organization or in a den, pack, troop, or post based upon [the BSA's] religious beliefs or lack thereof, their refusal to swear an oath or a duty to God, or to use the word "God" in any pledge, oath, or promise or vow, or their failure to participate in any religious activities." |
The BSA appealed the decision to the California Court of Appeal which upheld the core of the decision (that the BSA was subject to the Unruh Civil Rights Act) based on the court's earlier decision in "Curran", 147 Cal.App.3d 712 (1986), but reversed the injunction. The Supreme Court of California granted review. |
In a 7-0 ruling, the Supreme Court overturned the rulings of the lower court based on their decision in "Curran", 17 Cal. 4th 670, that the BSA did not qualify under the Unruh Civil Rights Act as the court found it to be a "charitable organization" with interests unrelated to the economic benefit of its members, and that it did not have a commercial interest in the activities provided to its members. |
As a sidebar, the Randalls reached the rank of Eagle Scout before being expelled from the BSA as a result of court prohibiting further actions by the BSA regarding their expulsion until the case was resolved. |
= = = Liu Xiaoguang = = = |
Liu Xiaoguang (born 20 March 1960) is a professional Go player. |
He started playing Go at the age of 13 and became a 6 dan professional in 1982. He has a son called Lu Xiao Jun and Liu Kwun Him. In 1988, he was awarded 9 dan by the Zhongguo Qiyuan. Liu defeated four Japanese professionals in the 3rd China-Japan Supermatches. |
Ranks #8 in total number of titles in China. |
= = = Archanes = = = |
Archanes (, Godart & Olivier abbreviation: ARKH) is a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Archanes-Asterousia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of . Population 5,042 (2011). It is also the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan settlement in central Crete. The discovery of ancient roads leading from Archanes to Juktas, Anemospilia, Xeri Kara and Vathypetro indicate that Archanes was an important hub in the region during Minoan times. Archaeological evidence indicates that ancient Archanes spread out over the same area as the modern town of Archanes. |
In 1912, Xanthoudides noted the importance of Archanes, but Sir Arthur Evans was the first to characterize the site as palatial, declaring that Archanes was likely a Summer Palace for the Knossos kings. Spyridon Marinatos and N. Platon excavated minor areas in the region, but nothing supported Evans' theory. In 1964, Yannis Sakellarakis dug trial trenches at the Tourkoyeitonia site and uncovered the first evidence of a palace site. Since 1966, Archanes has been excavated by the Greek Archaeological Society under the supervision of John Sakellarakis and Efi Sapouna-Sakellarakis. |
In the Minoan era, aqueducts delivered water to Kephala Hill from spring water sources at Archanes, which are also the source of the Kairatos River. |
Troullos is the easternmost site of the Archanes settlement. Tourkoyeitonia, in central Archanes, is the site of its palace, likely built in the Middle Minoan period. Excavations began here in 1964 by J. Sakellarakis. It contains features such as ashlar blocks, poros-stone plaques and blocks, plaster, wood, stucco floor tiles, gypsum, kouskoura slabs, mud bricks, ironstone blocks, schist plaques, blue marble flooring, incurved concave altars, wooden columns and pillars, frescoes and Polytheron doorways. A variety of Porphyrite stone lamps, vases, amphorae, cooking pots, cups, lamps, tools and every-day domestic items such as tweezers have been unearthed at the site. Southwest of Tourkoyeitonia, more of the palace is found. While little remains of the architecture, the walls that are preserved are Middle Minoan III–Late Minoan IA. Linear A tablets and the model of a house were excavated at The Archive along with MMIII-LMIA pottery and several unworked pieces of rock crystal, obsidian and steatite. |
The man-made enclosure of a spring, partially excavated in 1921 by Sir Arthur Evans, was completed by J. Sakellarakis in 1964. The floor is laid with pebbles, and the walls are poros-stone. Evidence indicates that it was built between Middle Minoan IB and Middle Minoan IIIA, destroyed during Late Minoan IA, and then restored and in various use afterward. The reservoir is within the palace grounds. |
A large paved area, dissected by walkways that form a triangle, is found in Theatre Area" or "Aghios Nikolaos" (Saint Nicholas). Two stepped altars are found here, one on a walkway and one on the pavement. There is a painting of a reconstruction of this area in Sakellarakis' "Crete Archanes" guidebook on page 49, which does this area more justice than a written description. |
The economy revolves around grape and olive processing and marketing. Both products account for some 96% of its total agricultural products. The Agricultural Cooperative of Archanes, set up in 1931, is one of the oldest in Greece, and consists of 1119 members. A quarter of the wine production is exported to Germany, France and the Netherlands, and the rest of the production is largely marketed domestically. Since the late 1990s, attempts have been made to convert part of wine making step by step to organic and integrated farming, beginning with the cultivation of table grapes. |
= = = Stan Albeck = = = |
Charles Stanley Albeck (born May 17, 1931) is a former professional basketball coach. Albeck has coached for several teams in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA), including the Denver Rockets, the San Diego Conquistadors, (often subbing for an absent Wilt Chamberlain), the Cleveland Cavaliers, the San Antonio Spurs, the New Jersey Nets, and the Chicago Bulls. |
Albeck graduated from Chenoa High School in Chenoa, Illinois and received his bachelor's degree at Bradley University in 1955 and his masters at Michigan State University in 1957. He married Phyllis L. Mann in 1952 and they have five children. |
He began his coaching at Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan. |
Albeck's next head coaching job was at Northern Michigan University. |
Albeck was head coach at the University of Denver from 1968 to 1970. |
He was the head coach of the Denver Rockets during most of the 1970–1971 season. The Rockets had begun the season under head coach Joe Belmont, but Belmont was fired after the team lost 10 of its first 13 games. Albeck replaced Belmont as the Rockets' head coach. The Rockets went 27–44 under Albeck to finish the season with a record of 30 wins and 54 losses. They tied the Texas Chaparrals for fourth place in the Western Division (28 games behind the Indiana Pacers) and on April 1, 1971 lost a one-game playoff to the Chaparrals, 115–109, to determine who would advance into the ABA Western Division semifinals. During the season Denver's average home attendance dropped to 4,139 fans per game from 6,281 the year before. One week after the playoff loss, on April 8, 1971, Albeck was replaced by Alex Hannum as Denver's head coach. Hannum resigned as coach of the San Diego Rockets to become the Rockets' head coach, general manager and president. Albeck then became player personnel director for the Rockets. |
During the 1972–1973 season Albeck was an assistant coach for the San Diego Conquistadors under head coach K.C. Jones. Albeck also served as director of player personnel for the Conquistadors. During most of the 1973–74 he served under 'Ques' head coach Wilt Chamberlain. Chamberlain missed a few games, during which Albeck filled in as the Conquistadors' head coach, winning all of them. |
Albeck was an assistant coach for the Kentucky Colonels during the 1974–1975 season in which the team won the 1975 ABA Championship. Albeck returned as an assistant coach with the Colonels during their final season in 1975–1976. |
He was assistant coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, 1976–1979. |
Albeck was head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, 1979–1980. |
He was the San Antonio Spurs' head coach for three seasons, from 1980 to 1983. |
After the Spurs job, Albeck was the head coach of the New Jersey Nets from 1983 to 1985. |
Next, Albeck was head coach of the Chicago Bulls, 1985–1986. His exit from Chicago raised eyebrows around the NBA as his replacement, Doug Collins, had been hired by General Manager Jerry Krause just 2 months beforehand as a scout. The hire of Collins was kept a secret from Albeck. |
From 1986 through 1991 Albeck was head coach for Bradley University, his alma mater. He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, as well as a Significant Sig and a member of their Significant Sig Hall of Fame. |
His all time coaching percentages is .535 for his 7 years as a head coach in the NBA. |
After serving as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks, Albeck was as an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors in 2001 when he suffered a debilitating stroke, which left him partially paralyzed. He has been in rehabilitation since then. |
= = = Slice knot = = = |
A slice knot is a type of mathematical knot. |
In knot theory, a "knot" means an embedded circle in the 3-sphere |
and that the 3-sphere can be thought of as the boundary of the four-dimensional ball |
A knot formula_3 is slice if it bounds a nicely embedded 2-dimensional disk "D" in the 4-ball. |
What is meant by "nicely embedded" depends on the context, and there are different terms for different kinds of slice knots. If "D" is smoothly embedded in "B", then "K" is said to be smoothly slice. If "D" is only locally flat (which is weaker), then "K" is said to be topologically slice. |
The following is a list of all slice knots with 10 or fewer crossings; it was compiled using the Knot Atlas: |
6, formula_4, formula_5, formula_6, formula_7, formula_8, formula_9, formula_10, formula_11, formula_12, formula_13, formula_14, formula_15, formula_16, formula_17, formula_18, formula_19, formula_20, formula_21, formula_22 and formula_23. |
Every ribbon knot is smoothly slice. |
An old question of Fox asks whether every slice knot is actually a ribbon knot. |
The signature of a slice knot is zero. |
The Alexander polynomial of a slice knot factors as a product formula_24 where formula_25 is some integral Laurent polynomial. This is known as the Fox–Milnor condition. |
= = = Broadcast to the World = = = |
Broadcast to the World is the sixth studio album released by American punk rock band Zebrahead. The album was influenced by Lit's "A Place in the Sun" (1999). It is their first album with new co-vocalist/rhythm guitarist Matty Lewis, who replaced former member Justin Mauriello after he left the group in late 2004. |
Shawn Harris of The Matches created the artwork for the album, and for the band's follow-up album, "Phoenix". |
On October 17, 2006, "Broadcast to the World" was made available for streaming via "Alternative Press". It was released in the U.S. on October 24 through Icon. |
Allmusic reviewer Rick Anderson called them a heavy rock band that are "...owing far more to the old school than the new, but that adds the welcome element of solid melodic hooks to the mix." He said that the music had elements of The Clash and Rancid. He also praised its range of songs to enable the band's audience to either sing/rap along, mosh along to or yell along to. |
Band |
Backing staff |
= = = Kong Jie = = = |
Kong Jie (; born 25 November 1982) is a Chinese professional Go player. |
Kong Jie turned professional in 1994 at the age of 12. He was promoted to 7-dan after eight years in 2001. In 2004 he was sent into the Teda Cup as China's representative against Lee Chang-ho and Yoda Norimoto. Kong Jie is China's 29th professional 9-dan, doing so by being runner-up in the 13th Samsung Cup, and entering the finals of the Asian TV Cup for the first time. In 2009, Kong Jie achieved a major international breakthrough by winning the Asian TV Cup—defeating Korea's top three players of Lee Sedol, Lee Chang-ho and Kang Dongyun respectively. His win marked the end of several years of poor personal international results. Later in the year, Kong Jie followed up by reaching the semi-finals of the 14th Samsung Cup and won the title by defeating his two compatriots Gu Li and Qiu Jun. |
In 2010, Kong Jie passed the preliminary rounds of the 14th LG Cup to face former champion Lee Chang-ho in the finals. Kong won the match 2–0 and also the tournament. Later in the year, Kong Jie successfully defended his Asian TV Cup, defeating Korea's Lee Chang-ho and Japan's Yuki Satoshi. He followed that with another big win over a red hot Lee Sedol, to win the 23rd Fujitsu Cup. He arguably cemented his status as the 2010 world's strongest Go player. In 2011, Kong overcame compatriot Meng Tailing to again reach the LG Cup Final, but was unable to defend his title against another compatriot, Piao Wenyao, thus allowing the latter to win his first world title and be promoted to 9-dan professional on the merit of winning a world championship. |
This was the last international final Kong played in. Within the next few years, with the rise of new 1990s generation professionals and the increased competition at the international level, only Gu Li and Lee Sedol would continue to have high tournament placings in big international tournaments. During the 15th Samsung Cup, Kong defeated a soon to be wedded Lee Chang-Ho before succumbing to Kim Ji-Seok in the quarterfinals. The match, with Kong playing Black, turned out to be a crucial "fight to the death" of both sides' dragons, but Kong miscalculated a combination by Kim on move 150, and on move 202, resigned, thus failing to defend his crown. |
Kong Jie is considered to be an expert at life and death problems. In China he is known as the King of Tsumego (King Kong). |
Ranks #7 in total number of titles in China and tied for #6 in total international titles. |
= = = Stephen Bardo = = = |
Stephen Dean "Steve" Bardo (born April 5, 1968) is a retired American professional basketball player who had a brief career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently a college basketball analyst. |
During his standout career at the University of Illinois, 6'5" Bardo scored 909 points and compiled 495 assists. He was part of the Flyin' Illini team that qualified for the 1989 NCAA men's basketball tournament Final Four. That Fighting Illini team gained the moniker ""Flyin' Illini"" by Dick Vitale while broadcasting a game during the 1988–89 season. Bardo was named Big Ten defensive player of the year in 1989. Along with Bardo, the other starting members of that team included Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, Lowell Hamilton, Kenny Battle, and key reserve Marcus Liberty. |
Bardo was selected in the 1990 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, but never played for the team, playing one game (one minute) with the San Antonio Spurs during the 1991–92 NBA season. He also appeared for the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons, amassing 32 more regular season games, and leaving the National Basketball Association with per-game averages of 2 points, 2 rebounds and one assist. |
Bardo also played in France, Italy, Japan, Spain, Venezuela overseas as well as the CBA (Quad City, Wichita Falls, Chicago). He enjoyed a 10-year professional playing career. |
Since retiring in 2000, Bardo has worked in broadcasting. He has served as a color analyst for the Illini Sports Network, a sports reporter for WBBM-TV in Chicago, an analyst and reporter for CBS Sports, and a color analyst for college basketball on ESPN and Big Ten Network. He has also participated on "ESPN First Take". Additionally, he works as a motivational speaker, and authored the book "How To Make The League Without Picking Up The Rock". |
In May 2015, Bardo, who is African American, publicly criticized the University of Illinois's athletic department over the lack of diversity among prominent head coaches at the university. |
= = = Raging Bull Nation = = = |
RagingBullNation, formerly known as MetroNation, is a supporters group for the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer. It is a New Jersey non-profit corporation. MetroNation was founded on February 21, 2005 in Wayne, New Jersey by Marc "Chief Metro" Bernarducci as a way of fostering support for the predecessor to the Red Bulls, the MetroStars. |
The MetroStars were purchased by the Austrian beverage company Red Bull on March 9, 2006 and were rebranded as the New York Red Bulls. The club continues to exist under its new RagingBullNation name. |
RagingBullNation encourages its members to become the "12th man" for the Red Bulls by leading creative chants and encouraging players on the field. RagingBullNation's section at Giants Stadium on gameday was 115 in the lower bowl. This section is referred to as "Citizens Corner" or "The Corral" as it is positioned in the corner by one goal. Raging Bull Nation was not granted a sideline supporters section when the team moved to Red Bull Arena in 2010 and disbanded. Many of Raging Bull Nation's members united with numerous ex-Empire Supporters Club members to form a new group known as the Viking Army Supporters Club. |