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by Alix Spiegel

February 3, 2010

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EnlargeRadiologist Julianne Greenberg sees hundreds of mammogram images a day. Her job is to spot the rare and sometimes tiny cancers in the breast tissue. On the left is a healthy breast, and on the right is one with a tiny tumor.

Radiologist Julianne Greenberg sees hundreds of mammogram images a day. Her job is to spot the rare and sometimes tiny cancers in the breast tissue. On the left is a healthy breast, and on the right is one with a tiny tumor.

February 3, 2010

Julianne Greenberg spends much of her professional life in a dark room only slightly larger than a closet.

There in the blackness, for up to two hours at a time, she sits staring earnestly into the room’s only light source: three large computer screens filled with images of women’s breasts.

Greenberg is a radiologist who hunts for breast cancer. Hundreds of times each day, she visually searches digitized black-and-white X-rays filled with beautiful, spidery images of breast tissue.

Her job is to find within this maze of delicately crisscrossed lines and small misshapen blobs a cancer that, more often than not, blends almost perfectly into the background. In other words, her job is to see something that is almost invisible.

In this respect, Greenberg’s work is very much like the work of another class of professionals whose failures have recently dominated news headlines: airport baggage screeners. Like Greenberg, they must hunt through hundreds if not thousands of confusing visual images in search of targets that are extremely rare and frequently hard to distinguish.

NPR, USA -Feb. 3, 2010.

by Scott Horsley

February 4, 2010

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One solution for the unemployment problem in the United States might be found overseas. President Obama says doubling exports in the next five years could add 2 million jobs. But some say the administration would have to cross some Democrats to make that happen.

Drew Greenblatt is an export believer. His company, Marlin Steel Wire Products in Baltimore, makes wire baskets for industrial customers like Boeing and Caterpillar. Thanks to a push in the past few years, exports now account for about 25 percent of his business. Or, as Greenblatt puts it, foreign customers put food on the table for 1 in 4 of his employees.

“We have cars and homes and mortgages being paid for because we are selling and competing vigorously against foreign companies,” he says. “We are growing our company and hiring people to keep up with this foreign demand.”

Greenblatt’s 30-person firm has gotten help from the Commerce Department, which operates various programs to encourage exports. One of those offers a guarantee that foreign customers will pay their bills.

“We shipped a job to Singapore that we never would have shipped,” he says. “The federal government guaranteed the credit, and we got paid and everything worked out. Because of that, Baltimore City employees were working overtime to accommodate this business in Singapore.”

But Greenblatt’s company is in a tiny minority. Less than 1 in 100 U.S. firms does any business overseas.

Obama wants to change that. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will outline details of the administration’s new National Export Initiative on Thursday.

Boosting foreign sales is a good idea, says Fred Bergsten, who directs the Peterson Institute for International Economics. But he says it will take more than government credit guarantees or stepped-up trade promotion to reach the president’s goal of adding 2 million export jobs.

Tackling China’s currency, for example: Bergsten says China keeps its exchange rate artificially low, making American goods more expensive and making it harder for American firms to compete in the vast Chinese market.

“China has not responded to sweet reason,” Bergsten says, “so it probably is time to toughen up the approach.”

Bergsten suggests that the U.S. challenge China’s currency valuation before the World Trade Organization. So far, the administration has declined to label China as a “currency manipulator.” Obama did say Wednesday that exchange rates are a challenge that should be addressed internationally.

Bergsten also wants the president to push for quick ratification of free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. Obama stopped short of that in his State of the Union address, saying only that he wants to strengthen trade ties with those countries. When the president met last week with House Republicans, Illinois Rep. Peter Roskam told him the GOP wouldn’t stand in his way.

“That’s no-cost job creation,” Roskam said. “But the obstacle is, frankly, the politics within the Democratic caucus.”

Obama acknowledged that Democrats have been wary of free trade agreements, fearing that foreign competition would cost U.S. jobs. But Republicans are nervous, too.

Dartmouth economist Matthew Slaughter says voters in both parties have grown skeptical of whether free trade policies are working for them.

“The average voter in the U.S. has been pretty on the fence about whether they want more trade coming into the United States,” Slaughter says. “The income pressures that a lot of households have faced in recent years have sort of shifted that balance where more voters now are a lot more wary of globalization than they used to be.”

Obama promises to strictly enforce both new and existing trade agreements to make sure other countries play by the rules. But he told Senate Democrats on Wednesday that America shouldn’t shy away from international competition.

“We’ve got the best workers on Earth, we’ve got the most innovative products on Earth, and if we are able to compete on an even playing field, nobody can beat us,” he said.

Wire-basket maker Greenblatt says his company is living proof. Somewhere in Taiwan, he says, there’s a shipping clerk opening a box of his products labeled “Made in the USA.”

NPR, USA- Feb. 4, 2010.

by Ari Shapiro

February 4, 2010

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 Enlarge John Moore/Getty ImagesDetainees kneel during an early morning Islamic prayer at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Oct 28.

John Moore/Getty Images

Detainees kneel during an early morning Islamic prayer at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Oct 28.

February 4, 2010

The Obama administration has struggled to control the narrative on closing Guantanamo and civilian trials for the plotters of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The plan to close the prison has run into steady resistance from Congress in the past year, and this week, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill to prevent civilian trials for the Sept. 11 plotters. If the law were to pass, it would severely interfere with the president’s plan to close the prison.

In 2008, Obama as well as President Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) all supported closing Guantanamo. Now administration officials are wondering how they lost so much ground in the debate, and they are blaming each other.

‘Getting Muzzled’

Obama established a wide network of people within his administration who are working to close Guantanamo. Interagency working groups include people from the Pentagon, CIA, Justice, State, Homeland Security and more. It is hard to overstate how frustrated many of those people feel with the White House right now.

Officials who described their frustration spoke anonymously to frankly describe internal dissent.

One government official outside the Justice Department gave an example from almost a year ago: Members of Congress had introduced a bill that would bar Guantanamo detainees from coming to the United States. Justice officials wanted to go to Capitol Hill to persuade lawmakers not to vote for the bill. But the White House said no, arguing that it would distract from other administration priorities, like the stimulus package and health care.

When it came time to vote on keeping Guantanamo detainees out of the U.S., the measure passed with bipartisan support. It was a political punch in the face for the Obama administration.

According to several officials, this has been a pattern. One said, “We keep getting muzzled by the White House, then clobbered by Congress.” Another complained, “This administration has a particular way of handling things where problems build, the White House ignores it, things get out of control, then Obama gives a big speech and everyone chills out for a little while.” Someone else said, “We’ve fought hard on this, and the White House hasn’t. They don’t want to talk about this.”

The administration rejects that description, saying it has fought hard. On Sunday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was on CNN and political adviser David Axelrod was on NBC. Both were making the case for trying terrorists in the civilian criminal justice system.

“The Bush administration tried 190 or more terrorists in that system,” Axelrod told Meet The Press. “During that period [House Minority Leader John] Boehner and others had nothing to say about that. They were all supportive.”

People outside government who are familiar with the White House’s thinking privately say it is true that the White House has prevented the Justice Department from fully engaging in this debate. According to these sources, the White House believes the Justice Department screwed up by losing the support of New York’s police commissioner and mayor for a high-profile terrorism trial in New York.

Making A Case

The Justice Department says it was not its fault, because Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were publicly for the trial of professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed before they were against it.

Enlarge Evan Vucci/APSen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is a co-sponsor of a bill that would prohibit civilian trials for 9/11 plotters.

Evan Vucci/AP

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is a co-sponsor of a bill that would prohibit civilian trials for 9/11 plotters.

All of this finger-pointing and backbiting helps Republicans in Congress, such as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.

“I am convinced closing Guantanamo Bay would be a good thing for our national security, if you did it in the right way,” Graham said in an interview.

He is one of the co-sponsors of the bill that would prohibit civilian trials for the Sept. 11 suspects. Graham, who is a military lawyer, has supported Attorney General Eric Holder at times. They parted ways, Graham says, over Holder’s decision to try Mohammed in civilian court.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Graham says. “I think when Eric Holder — who I like a lot and is a smart guy — when I asked him about the difference between the civilian criminal justice system and the law of armed conflict, I don’t think he gave a very persuasive case.”

Jamie Gorelick, who was deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, says this is “the sort of finger-pointing that you see in Washington when something blows up. We’ve seen this before.”

She is not surprised at the resistance the president has encountered to his plan for closing Guantanamo.

“When President Bush was taking the position that Guantanamo should be closed, it was like Nixon going to China. It was an obvious position for Democrats and not an obvious position for Republicans,” says Gorelick. “So now that we have a Democratic president, the reluctance of Republicans to criticize that position has disappeared.”

But the administration’s strategy may be changing. Next week, administration officials are scheduled to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. They will talk about the president’s plan to close Guantanamo, making a case similar to the one the White House prevented them from making almost a year ago.

Latest from RUSSIA PROFILE

February 4, 2010
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
A think-tank close to President Dmitry Medvedev has released a report recommending a radical overhaul of Russia’s political system, including a return to gubernatorial elections, the disbanding of the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry, and Russia’s accession to NATO and the European Union. But have the thinkers come up with anything more than a liberal wish list? And could Medvedev implement their recommendations even if he wanted to?
By Roland Oliphant
Russia Profile

http://russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=Politics&articleid=a1265312196

February 4, 2010
Russia’s Enfant Terrible
On Wednesday, United Russia leaders demanded that Sergei Mironov, the leader of the Just Russia opposition party, be fired from his post of speaker of the Federation Council after he challenged Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s anti-crisis budget plans on national television. This is not the first time Mironov has criticized the proposed budget, but his statements have never elicited such a tough reaction from United Russia’s top leaders. Meanwhile, the Communist Party simply dismissed the barbed exchanges as staged opposition. Is it all pantomime, or are things heating up with the approach of March?
By Tom Balmforth
Russia Profile

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Courtesy of NASAAn artist’s rendition of the International Space Station with the addition of the new viewing module, called the cupola.

February 5, 2010

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All Things Considered

[2 min 16 sec]

February 5, 2010

The International Space Station is about to get what NASA is calling “a room with a view” — an observation dome that will give astronauts a window on the world unlike any other ever flown in space.

Sunday morning, space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to blast off on a mission to the space station to deliver the Tranquility node, which is essentially a new room for the outpost. Attached to this room is a special structure called the cupola. It has seven large windows — the central, circular window is about 31 inches across — so astronauts can float inside and be surrounded by a panorama.

Enlarge Courtesy of NASAA simulated view from inside the observation dome, showing what a vista of Earth would look like from the module.

Courtesy of NASA

A simulated view from inside the observation dome, showing what a vista of Earth would look like from the module.

That will be a welcome change for astronauts on the station, who currently can only peer out through small portholes that are scattered around the orbiting outpost. Right now, the biggest, best window is currently in the U.S. Destiny lab — it’s a porthole 20 inches across.

“The one thing that I’m really looking forward to, and I know all my crew mates are also, is getting a chance to look out of the cupola, with the seven windows and the view that we’re going to get there,” says Terry Virts, who will be piloting Endeavour and making his first spaceflight. “Every view that I get will be my first and it’ll be great but I think that’s going to be really special to see that view of the Earth and of space.”

Technically, the new windows aren’t for fun. They’ll help astronauts orchestrate outside work including spacewalks, robotic arm operations, and docking spaceships. And the windows do have aluminum shutters that will often be closed, to keep them from being hit by tiny micrometeoroids or bits of space junk — even though the tough windows already are several panes thick.

The cupola, seen here awaiting shipment to NASA, has seven windows, each with a cover for protection from space debris.

Still, the astronauts can’t wait to get the new room all installed and finally open those shutters for the first time.

“We will definitely be bringing along some still cameras as well as videocameras to try to capture those views as best we can to share with you,” says astronaut Kay Hire, who will be blasting off on Endeavour.

But, she says, she can guarantee that even the best pictures will never be “like the real thing of actually being there and having the full expanse spread out in front of us.”

New York, Feb 6 : US First Lady Michelle Obama has been criticised and praised for mentioning daughter Malia’s weight during a campaign about childhood obesity.

According to ABCNews.com, Michelle had started off by recalling a visit she had made to a paediatrician and about being warned “he was concerned that something was getting off balance.”

The First Lady said she had not noticed the changes, and the doctor suggested that she take a look at her kids” BMI, after which she made some changes in their daily habits.

Her comments are said to have drawn both praise and criticism, with eating disorder specialists and nutritionists holding forth on what constitutes the best way to get the message of good nutrition to kids.

Laura Collins Lyster-Mensh, an eating disorder activist and executive director of Families Empowered and Supporting Treatment of Disorder, found the comments confusing.

“We”ve confused health and weight in a way that’’s very confusing for children and very confusing for parents,” the New York Daily News quoted her as saying.

“When we speak publicly about putting our children on a diet, we start to get into weight stigma and confusing the message to families,” she stated.

But Michelle was also praised for bringing the issue out in the open.

“The fact that she made this public, about her own … modest changes she made was exactly that – that this is a public conversation about what we”re all doing,” American Academy of Paediatrics president Dr. Judith Palfrey said.

“It’’s like a neighbourhood conversation except that it’’s national, about how we live,” she added.

Childhood obesity impacts nearly one-third of the children in the United States, with one in three children either overweight or obese.

Thus, some nutrition and medical experts say it’’s not an issue that can be ignored and that Michelle Obama’’s comments were appropriate.

“I think she brought out a good message since the childhood obesity rate is soaring and childhood diabetes is all too common,” Dr. John Salerno, a board-certified family physician at Patients Medical in Manhattan, who specializes in weight loss, said.

“Bringing awareness to this problem is a good thing, especially when there is an emphasis not just on weight but on general good health, exercise and a healthy lifestyle,” he stated.

Registered dietician Keri Gans, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, says that when dealing with weight issues and children, it’’s better to focus on positive behaviours.

“The obsession with the numbers on the scale starts when kids are very young,” Gans said.

“It’’s important to make comments such as that a person looks healthy rather than that a person is overweight or underweight,” Gans added.

Parents have tremendous influence over their kids when it comes to healthy eating, says registered dietician Anne Fletcher, author of “Weight Loss Confidential.”

“The best thing you can be as a parent is a healthy role model,” she said.

“A parent shouldn”t be overly focused on her own weight and always talking about it and making comments such as that she feels fat on a particular day,” she stated.

But while it may be best not to speak about actual numbers on the scale, Fletcher says, to ignore the weight issue is to put one’’s head in the sand.

“Weight is out there and kids aren”t stupid,” Fletcher said.

“It’’s an issue that is all around us. But don”t just talk about it. Your child is more likely to eat healthy and to exercise if you do so,” she added.

New Kerala.com, USA, Feb. 6, 2010.

 BOB THE CHICKEN

Bob came home drunk one night, slid into bed beside his sleeping wife,
and fell into a deep slumber..

He awoke before the Pearly Gates, where St. Peter said, ‘You died in
your sleep, Bob….’

Bob was stunned. ‘I’m dead? No, I can’t be! I’ve got too much to live
for. Send me back!’

St. Peter said, ‘I’m sorry, but there’s only one way you can go back,
and that is as a chicken.’

Bob was devastated, but begged St. Peter to send him to a farm near
his home…. The next thing he knew, he was covered with feathers,
clucking, and pecking the ground.

A rooster strolled past. ‘So, you’re the new hen, huh? How’s your
first day here?’

‘Not bad,’ replied Bob the hen, ‘but I have this strange feeling
inside. Like I’m gonna explode!’

‘You’re ovulating,’ explained the rooster.
‘Don’t tell me you’ve never laid an egg before? ‘

‘Never,’ said Bob.

‘Well, just relax and let it happen,’ says the rooster. ‘It’s no big deal.’

Bob did, and a few uncomfortable seconds later, out popped an egg!

Bob was overcome with emotion as he experienced motherhood. He soon
laid another egg — his joy was overwhelming.

As he was about to lay his third egg, he felt a smack on the back of
his head, and heard his wife yell…..

BOB, wake up. You shit the bed!’

MORAL: If you drink, don’t  get drunk, that is what excess drinking can do to you!

Cucumbers, who would have ever thought this!

This information was in The New York Times several weeks ago as part of
their “Spotlight on the Home” series that highlighted creative and fanciful
ways to solve common problems.

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one
cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin
B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium
and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up
a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates
that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a
cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a
soothing, spa-like fragrance..

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a
small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The
chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent
undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the
area.

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or
to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem
area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the
collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing
the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices
before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers
contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential
nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a
hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers
have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders
and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t
have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the
shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only
looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and
rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the
spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the
chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water
and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has
been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during
final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or mints?
Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your
tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill
the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless
steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to
clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine,
but is won’t leave streaks and won’t harm you fingers or fingernails while
you clean.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and
slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and
markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

Pass this along to everybody you know who is looking for better and safer
ways to solve life’s everyday problems..

“Philosophers have long conceded that every man has two educations:

‘that which is given to him, and the other that which he gives himself.
Of the two kinds the latter is by far the more desirable.’

Indeed all that is most worthy in man he must work out and conquer for himself.
It is that which constitutes our real and best nourishment.
What we are merely taught seldom nourishes the mind like that which we teach ourselves.”

Dr. Carter G. Woodson

(From messages on the internet)

                                                                                                  Openness without Conformity

On February 1, the first anniversary of Patriarch Kirill’s enthronement, his right-hand man and the youngest member of the Holy Synod was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan. A theologian and composer with an Oxford degree, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk has chosen to give his first interview in this new position to Russia Profile.
Interview by Andrei Zolotov, Jr.
     ^^^   ^^^   ^  ^   ^   ^^   ^^    ^^^^^^^^  ^  ^ ^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                                                     

Russia Profile Weekly Experts Panel: A Year after the US-Russia Reset

It has now been a year since the U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden announced a reset in United States-Russia relations, and six months since President Barack Obama’s visit to Moscow. It is time to take stock of whether the much touted reset is working, or whether it is in danger of being gradually set back. Have both sides seized all the opportunities to transform the relationship, or is there more that could be done? Who are the stakeholders in both countries interested in having the relationship progress continuously?
Introduced by Vladimir Frolov

Russia Profile, Russia