Kazor.com World Community News ? Hiring A Trademark Attorney

Salt Lake City, UT ( Kazor ) April 9, 2012 ? Retaining a trademark attorney is the best way to ensure that the design that you have created to represent yourself, your ideas or your business stays in your exclusive possession. Logos, business names or tag lines are powerful ways to publicize yourself and you do not want to lose them or their power due to carelessness. Seek out a trademark attorney to help you register your trademark so that it remains as a lasting sign of your presence in the business place.

What is a Trademark Attorney?

Lawyers can choose to specialize in any area of law. Those who concentrate on matters involving patents sometimes specialize further by focusing entirely on trademarks. They become experts at helping their clients develop and preserve trademark in the market place. They can give legal advice and defend the rights of clients with legal trademarks.

How You Can Use a Trademark Attorney

It is entirely possible to register your trademark on your own. The process, carried out through the US Patent & Trademark Office, does not require the assistance of an attorney. Any educated person can be handle the paperwork, but it is in the details where an experienced trademark attorney can be worth every penny. There are subtle aspects of trademark law and practice which might be better handled by a lawyer. A trademark attorney can also facilitate the process for you and make it much easier. If your specialty is in business ideas, you probably do not want to waste your efforts on legal issues when you could have an expert handle it for you.

Having a trademark attorney also ensures that you do not regret some small oversight that you make during the registration process. Small errors can be responsible for the actual failure of the whole process, requiring you to start again or even lose the chance to establish your trademark. This can also result in a financial loss when you have to pay to re-file.

Attorneys are not legally required in any aspect of your life. You probably know that you are not required to use a lawyer in court when you are brought up on criminal charges. However, most people agree that such a situation is best handled by someone who has spent their life doing that sort of work. The same reasoning applies to the hiring of a trademark attorney. You do not need to invest your time into learning about trademark law. Let an expert handle that for you.

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Mosquito Control in the Florida Keys

As spring creeps up on us, most of the country looks forward to basking in the long-awaited sun. People skip work. College kids skip class. School kids finally get to play outside without snow boots, well maybe not this year. But for some pockets of the country, the prospect of late sunsets and warm summer nights is coupled with the not so pleasant emergence of mosquito season. And even before the year sinks into the summer months, mosquito control workers are faced with tough questions regarding the most socially and environmentally responsible ways to control mosquito populations in their communities.

crowded Key West at sunset

Crowded Key West at sunset

The Florida Keys is one of those pockets, perhaps one of the worst in the country.

If it weren?t for mosquito control, ?you wouldn?t live here, there?d be no tourism,??says Coleen Fitzsimmons, a biologist at the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District. Fitzsimmons and the rest of her mosquito-fighting team work around the clock to keep Florida?s southern most neighborhoods habitable for residents and tourists and to try to prevent disease.

The effort is comprised of 3 offices and about 75 employees, made up of domestic inspectors, field inspectors, administrative staff, researchers, and even aircraft staff. About a quarter of the group, the domestic inspectors, has the expansive job of visiting every single home in the Keys area every 3 months (there are about 9,400 households in Key West alone and only 12 domestic inspectors assigned to that area), leaving informational pamphlets and looking to remove water ? everything from old cisterns and unmaintained pools to misplaced buckets and backed-up drainpipes.

Luckily for the workers going house to house, the Keys district mosquito control has been supported and paid for by Keys residents since the 1950s, which means less doors shut in their faces. According to Florida Statutes, nuisance mosquitoes are considered a public health threat, says district assistant director Andrea Leal. ?They can suffocate people, they?ve killed cattle in Ft Meyers,? Fitszimmons is quick to add as she sits in her Key West office, jar of mosquitoes in hand.

Inspector Bruce Stephens in Key Largo

Inspector Bruce Stephens in Key Largo

?We are just trying to control the spread of disease and make living down here bearable. We are not in the elimination business. That would be impossible, ? says Fitzsimmons. Because the Everglades is a protected area, the team only has access to about 5% of Monroe county.

For well over 50 years, taxpayers have funded helicopters, airplanes, and all other resources used to control mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. Most of their work is preventative ? getting rid of hidden or forgotten still water sources ? but they have found creative ways of controlling existing mosquito nurseries.

For example, the team has found what they call their ?unpaid employees?, the Gambusia, a native fish that lives in brackish water and feeds on mosquito larvae and other organic matter. The team breeds the 3 cm silver fish in a large outdoor tank outside their building and then they release the fish into abandoned hot tubs and swimming pools.

While these mini mosquito-predators can transform any dilapidated Jacuzzi into the outdoor aquarium you?ve always wanted, for most of mosquito-fighting history, DDT has been the human army?s weapon of choice. DDT can wipe out mosquito populations and their larvae for up to four months at a time. Between 1948 and 1952, for example, disease-carrying mosquitoes were eradicated from over 15 South American countries using DDT.

Michael Doyle outside Key West office

Michael Doyle outside Key West office

Michael Doyle, who recently moved to the Florida Keys to become director of Keys Mosquito Control, has built a career out of finding ways to control mosquito populations without resorting to the most effective, yet most environmentally hazardous method of using DDT. And he is no rookie when it comes to dangerous disease outbreaks. He witnessed firsthand the effects of the West Nile Virus that started in 1999 and took 2 years to spread throughout the United States, killing 146 people and infecting thousands of others.

It was during Doyle?s previous job in Colorado where he presided over 1 and worked in 2? of the 10 districts worst affected by West Nile. Most people wouldn?t think of Colorado as a state with a big mosquito problem, but it had some very intense breeding pockets and just the right conditions for West Nile to spread.

As Doyle explains, ?You have just the right combination of mosquito species, people outdoors, and birds all in a very small area interacting.? He calls it the Oasis effect. The irrigated west is made up of small towns with farmlands all around them. And small plots of vegetation. In Doyle?s ?oasis?, people and animals and vegetation make just the right equation for a West Nile outbreak.

The intense breeding grounds of Doyle?s ?oasis? affected not only people but wildlife, targeting birds, and cyclically, the rest of the food chain. By 2002, just shy of 4500 birds from 111 different species had been positively identified as having died from West Nile. Even raptor sanctuaries were severely affected.

West Nile brought to light limitations in controlling populations in container breeding mosquitoes, non-native mosquitoes that breed in buckets and small, often hidden water sources, mosquitoes that are rarely a natural or useful part of ecosystems where they dwell. ?When West Nile came, we realized we don?t have many tools to treat thousands of little tiny containers. It takes hundreds of hours. You can imagine how long it takes to go from door to door to door, not to mention conversations and getting in and out of doors, and the cost.?

The Aedes Albopictus, a particularly aggressive species of mosquito, also known as the Asian Tiger, has shown just how quickly and vastly an invasive mosquito can spread with human transport as its vehicle. It?s commonly accepted among the mosquito-fighting community that the species came to the US in tires. Now the albopictus, which is known to bite mostly during the day while children are outside playing, is prominent in the entire Southeastern quarter of the United States, parts of Texas, and it?s recently become a problem in California.

In 2009, mosquito control faced a special dilemma with yet another virus, Dengue. By 2010 there were 66 reported cases in the US. Likely there were more actual cases. Because Dengue has similar symptoms to other viruses and food born illnesses, affected people may not know they have it and doctors may not necessarily know to test for it.

Key West Cemetary (potential trial area)

Key West Cemetary (potential trial area)

The main culprit in this recent outbreak, Aedes aegypti, is what Doyle and his team call an ?urban mosquito? ? a mosquito that lives in and around people?s homes in small containers. In fact, 99% of mosquitoes that carry Dengue fever live in people?s houses, says Fred Gould, an NC State entomologist who won a 5 million dollar grant for his work in genetic pest management.

Even the most effective and expensive modern mosquito control methods, like Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) a bacteria-based larvacide, which is environmentally gentle and targets only black flies and mosquitoes, frequently misses the small and often hidden breeding grounds of the Aedes aegypti. In samples of different mosquito species taken in and around homes, 2% is considered to be the maximum acceptable percentage of the Aedes aegypti species. This past summer, researchers measured proportions of up to 38%.

When it comes to people?s attitudes toward mosquitoes, the answer is more or less unanimous. Gould compares mosquitoes to rats, ? If you asked people in New York what they think of getting rid of rats, what do you think their answer would be??

If mosquito control was a part of a political platform, it might be the one thing red states and blue states (and Florida) could agree on. Most citizens would vote to get rid of them completely if they could. And, of course, like most issues, there?d be questions from worried environmentalists, the voice of the probable political minority in this hypothetical case. What would fish and dragonflies and bats eat? What would happen if ecosystems were disrupted in such a drastic way?

All of these questions and more are exactly what Michael Doyle faces everyday, as he looks to carry out the first US testing of genetically modified mosquitoes, in a project starting, well, one of these days now?.

Doyle was intrigued when he first got a call from Oxitec, the British company that has found a way to breed genetically modified male mosquitoes for the purpose of reducing disease carrying mosquito species. Oxitec got good results in trials in other countries like the British Cayman Islands and Malaysia. Doyle and Oxitec saw great potential in holding similar trials in the US under the scrutiny of US regulatory agencies.

But the experiment has been delayed for months now seemingly because of an ambiguity in jurisdiction ? exactly which government office would oversee it.

If and when the trial starts, it would take from 4 to 6 months to carry out.

Doyle would put up a small, temporary building outside the main mosquito control facility. In it would be columns of racks like what hold the baked goods in a grocery store, except on these racks he?d grow tens of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes. Researchers would then separate the males and females, kill the females as pupae, and allow the males to emerge into adults before sending the 5 to 10 thousand adult mosquitoes into the field.

Key West Cemetary (potential trial area)

Key West Cemetary (potential trial area)

This insect control technique is not entirely new. Since the 1970s we?ve used the Sterilized male technique, as an alternative to pesticides, to control fruit flies, rampant pests in agriculture. In this experiment, however, the modified males would breed with normal females, creating sterile offspring, who would not reach maturity.

In the field, there are two ways of seeing which mosquitoes are genetically modified and which aren?t, and how the population is changing. One, researchers can simply sprinkle fluorescent powder on the male mosquitoes before releasing them. Secondly, the modified mosquitoes could also have a fluorescent gene in them called a marker gene, used a lot in fruit flies. ?That doesn?t seem to worry too many people because it?s been used for so long that it?s a stable gene,? says Doyle with some relief.

Then the special mosquitoes pass the gene to their sterile offspring ? larva that glows for researchers as they count the modified offspring bred from their trial mosquitoes. The whole idea is looking into the proportion of neon green to grey. Once the modified population gets to 50%, or half the survey sample glows under florescent light, the entire Aedes Aegypti population tilts and starts to fall.

Some have questioned the trial from an economic standpoint, wondering if the project holds any true potential. But Oxitec?s past work is exactly what attracted Doyle to the idea. In a similar trial recently finished in the Cayman Islands, for example, researchers saw an 80% reduction in just 2-3 months from achieving the necessary release numbers. Aedes Aegypti was dramatically reduced and, as far as researchers can tell, not replaced by another disease-carrying species such as Aedes Albopictus.

The possibility that one eradicated dangerous species would merely be replaced by another is a hypothetical downside to the experiment. Luke Alphey from Oxitec explains that the monitoring systems they used in that trial, BG Sentinels and ovitraps, would certainly have detected this had it occurred.

To clear up some other initial concerns, the Aedes Aegypti cannot physically mate with other mosquitoes. This modification technique used in the Keys experiment would target one and only one genetic line of mosquito, the Aedes Aegypti, a carrier of Dengue fever (and Yellow fever) in South Florida.

While Doyle and his team do administer mosquito control for nuisance mosquitoes, they are not looking to eradicate all mosquitoes or native, major food source mosquitoes from their natural habitats. On a Florida Keys warm, late winter?s day, Doyle is more than eager to confront these issues head on in the midst of his buzzing Key West office.

?The black salt marsh mosquito is the mosquito everyone gets bit by here. We have those by the billions, literally the billions, If we were planning on permanently removing THEM from the environment, I?d be very, very hesitant to authorize that because of the food source issue? In the United States there are several hundred species of mosquitoes. In Florida, there are about 77 species. This is ONE of all of those.?

Additionally, Doyle has faced criticism from environmental groups like Friends of the Earth who question whether Doyle was purposefully withholding information about the exact location and amount of mosquitoes that would be released. While Doyle concedes his lack of exact numbers may seem a bit suspect, he vows he is hiding no secret plans. ?If I was someone in the public who wasn?t familiar with mosquito field studies, I?d think, ?Whoa, why wouldn?t they won?t tell us how many mosquitoes are being released??? But from this side of the desk, I?d say, ?It?s obvious why they aren?t giving an exact number.? The number is based on the wild population of mosquitoes, and that number likely to change before the test begins.??

Doyle says he probably won?t know the exact number until a week before. First, they will do trappings to see how many Aedes aegypti show up on average in their trial area (right now a few square blocks in and around the historic Key West cemetery). Once he estimates roughly how many of these mosquitoes live in the area, Doyle will release in genetically modified males 10 times the number wild males he has found. In other words, the goal is to adjust the population, so there are 10 genetically modified Aedes aegypti males per each wild Aedes aegypti male in the field, before eventually seeing entire population drop.

Still, there are some even more murky issues that Doyle has to address. ?There have been two concerns about that and I want to make sure I am completely open about all this. Like any biological system, it?s not seamless, it?s not perfect.? Doyle speaks of the potential of releasing a genetically modified female (only females bite) into the field.

When scientists are sorting the males and females, male mosquitoes are smaller than the females are. So if researchers grow a bunch of mosquitoes in a pan, the males, when they are ready to emerge, are smaller than the females. The females are larger, because they have to carry the eggs. So they are sorted by size, they are put into a sieve. All the small males fall through the sieve and the females get stuck. The males then get dropped into a water tank and emerge as adult mosquitoes.

?Well, occasionally, you?ll have a very small female who just didn?t get enough to eat,? explains Doyle. ?Figure about one in three thousand of those pupae will be a female.? The estimated number of renegade mini females who make it to this stage in the experiment is only 1 in 1,500 or .06% and of that .06%, even less will survive in the natural hardships of the wild.

The estimated number of renegade mini females who make it to this stage in the experiment is only .03 % and of that .03%, even less will survive in the natural hardships of the wild, but the fact that the number is not zero has some citizens worried.

But, the fact that the number is not zero has some citizens worried. ?It takes it from ?I cannot get bit?, to ?I MIGHT get bit by one of these GMO females?, and people don?t want to hear ?might?.? Although the threat of getting bit by the one courageous female survivor, if there is one, is extremely statistically unlikely ? the truth is you?ll probably get bit by a shark first ? Doyle can still understand why the public is concerned. ?The chances of any one person getting bit by one of these GMO females are very, very low, but it?s very hard to explain that to the public. And I don?t know, if I wasn?t an entomologist, that I?d take the time to figure that out.?

?What if it bites me and because it makes its offspring sterile, what if I have children?? Doyle is bombarded with questions being asked through various lenses, filtered by differing understandings of genetics. He has heard questions from ?If it?s affecting another mosquito how will it affect me?? to more plausible worries like, ?Will the bite of that mosquito cause allergies that another mosquito wouldn?t, because it has different proteins in its saliva??

Doyle maintains that he will not go forward with any type of experiment that endangers his fellow Floridians. ?The data I am going to get on paper is that the saliva of one of those mosquito is identical to the saliva of a normal mosquitoes out in the street now,? he says. ?It?s a public image problem more than a real medical problem.?

For now, he waits to see who will oversee the experiment. ?If we get approvals, and if there?s nothing that I find out between now and then that concerns me, we could gear up to do it probably in about 2 months,? says Doyle with a type of muffled hopefulness.

Until then, we may not be able to answer all such questions about the hows, whys and shoulds of mosquito control, but we can at least answer one age-old question; what actually attracts mosquitoes to people? Is it sweet blood? Is it body temperature? Is it raspberry body lotion or coconut oil?

The truth is the first thing mosquitoes sense is carbon dioxide. This is how the traps work, in fact. They release carbon dioxide which attracts the mosquitoes to what they think is a person or animals exhale [similar to wasps and hornets]. Then it?s a combination of body temperature and skin chemistry. Mosquitoes like blood vessels closer to the skin, and most of all, lactic acid, which is produced in higher amounts when we exercise. So in truth, mosquitoes have not a sweet tooth, but a sour tooth, or proboscis, to be more precise.

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Simple Things That You Can Do To Improve Your House | One Sign ...

It is hard to get home from your job and face another task however home improvement are rewarding. These tips will help you decide when to hire a professional, and how to find a good one. They will also help you figure out how to do a great job on the remodeling or repair tasks you decide to do yourself.

Vinyl decks have been increasingly more popular for homeowners. It is important to clean the deck surface twice a year to keep it looking good, and making sure that it is available for years of enjoyment to come. Spring and fall are the best times to do a clean sweep of your vinyl deck.

When thinking about doing a home improvement project, consider upgrading your appliances. Get rid of your old appliances. Nothing looks worse than having dated appliances in a home that also cost a considerable amount of money because they are not energy efficient.

Sleek new appliances add value to the home and will help save energy too.

A great home improvement tip that will give a great feel to your home is to place wooden panels all throughout your living room. This will give your living room an extra homey feel, and you will find yourself wanting to spend even more time in front of your television set.

In home improvements the kitchen usually makes up the foundation of the home. Putting in new wooden cabinets along with shiny new faucets and a marble countertop, can immediately add brightness to a room and make it such a much more enjoyable space. This will also make the house more desirable to others if you decide to sell.

If you are low on cash, but need to remodel your kitchen cabinetry, a great way to save money is by ditching cabinets altogether. Set up some nice shelving on the wall with canisters to store your items and use baskets to store larger groceries you may need. This creates a really neat shabby chic look that looks great in old colonial homes.

Make your real estate remodeling activities more green to save money. You can have substantial long term savings within your investment when you choose environmentally safe materials and appliances. There are many items, from paint to building materials, that will have a much better, and longer-lasting, impact on everyone is future.

Is your home filled with bare walls? Why not create a painting to put on your wall so that your home has a personal touch of flair and elegance. While you may not be an artist, any sort of art on your walls will look better than nothing on your walls.
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Visit http://www.mraylighting.com/ for a variety of LED Lights, LED Tubes, LED lighting systems and for indoor LED lighting.the original site:Led tube lights.

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Briefly: Microsoft Stays $1 Billion on America online Patents ...

Microsoft is contributing to its patent portfolio having a major obtain America online, as the organization braces for ongoing battles with Android within the smartphone market.

Briefly boils lower complex occasions to provide you with the heart from the matter -- today and what it really method for tomorrow -- clearly and just.

What Is Happening: Microsoft will acquire 800 patents from America online for $1 billion, and obtain a non-exclusive license to make use of patents America online still maintains. The purchase is part of AOL's strategy to increase its declining revenue. There is no disclosure on which the patents cover, however, many industry experts say it may be for technologies central to im and email.

The offer, which must undergo certain home loan approvals, might be ended through the finish of the season.

What's Really Happening: For Microsoft, the patent purchase is really a way for this to compete against Android by providing more privileges for connectivity features because it attempts to popularize Home windows phones.

Further, contributing to a previously-established patent portfolio preps Microsoft for legal patent battles to fight its rivals. The organization is really a canny foe within the patent lawsuit landscape and it has received many certification deals by itself through its IP holdings, generating significant revenue on contracts with Android phone makers, for instance.

Microsoft frequently increases in scope through outright purchases, however the America online certification deal is less costly and sidesteps the extended Federal Communications Communication's probes connected by having an acquisition, while enjoying the advantages.

For America online, the purchase is a method to boost finances because it is constantly on the find it difficult to locate an online identity past age dial-up Internet.

What's Next: Microsoft may anticipate filing more legal cases against Android because it continues a legitimate attack against its rivals. The precious portfolio, based on Microsoft professionals, complements its existing patents, and also the privileges to technology can lead to innovative features on Home windows phones.

The Takeaway: Patent deals are frequently very valuable for financial or legal reasons. For major tech gamers like Microsoft and America online, who have been in existence longer in comparison to more recent gamers like Google and Facebook and also have accumulated significant intellectual property holdings, patent sales really are a much-needed revenue gain for one for reds while sprucing up off a method for that other.

Briefly: Microsoft Stays $1 Billion on America online Patents initially made an appearance at Mobiledia on Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:46 pm.

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Effective Home Improvement Tips For Everyone | The Only Energy ...

When people look at homes, the number of bathrooms plays a major role in determining how they feel about the house. The total number of bathrooms in a home effects the overall property value. Adding an extra bath or even two baths can significantly add to the value of your home.

Try a landscaping project to bring a new look to your home and your yard. Planting everything from flowers to a hedge will not only improve your appreciation for your home but also your neighbors?. Having proper landscaping in your yard will make others have a better first impression and will increase the worth of your house.

It is imperative that you receive copies of documentation such as inspection reports, permit applications and permits to keep on file. Before you pay your contractor, ask about what kind of items they will be providing you with.

You can give your home a cleaner feeling by getting your carpets cleaned from time to time. Regularly shampoo your carpets, especially in areas that get a lot of traffic. This helps keep your carpet looking new and your home feel cleaner.

Interested in doing a little updating? Try to make use of items you already own when searching for ways to brighten up your walls but also save some money. Complement your current decorating scheme with new picture frames.

The climate of your region should have an influence on the home improvement projects you choose to undertake. For example, people who live in Florida are more likely to install air conditioners rather than fireplaces. Swimming pools have value in northern states as well, but not as much as in a place with a hot climate.

When your house has built-in alcoves, paint them with a contrasting or accenting color to make them more defined. You could also consider a fun wallpaper to make the area stand out. You don?t have to purchase a whole gallon of accent paint, either; a sample container is usually enough for a modestly-sized niche.

Tired of looking at that old dresser in the bedroom? Try sanding and refinishing your old furniture to give it a new lease on life. You can save a lot of money by refinishing the furniture you already have. Old items of furniture can be stained or painted in all sorts of colors.

When fixing up a house for re-sale, you need to deal with the outside first before working on heating and plumbing. The latter cannot be seen right away, but a neglected exterior can affect the price and time of the sale.

If you are looking for a great way to improve your home, consider adding new appliances. Whatever the circumstances, new appliances add value to your home.

Ascertain that the contractors that you are thinking about using for your home improvement projects have the proper state licensing. Look this up on your state?s website or call the appropriate department. If a contractor is not properly licensed, it can be a wake up call that they are either scam artists or not knowledgeable enough to get licensed.

When storing supplies for your next project, keep in mind that building supplies of all types are often stolen. These need to be kept safe when you?re not working. If the doors and windows of the structure can be locked then supplies should be safe when stored inside. If you have a open home try putting them in a storage place that is able to be locked.

In conclusion, sometimes it is better to call a professional to tackle your home improvement project if you feel you are in over your head. Take the advice given in this article to save yourself from starting a project that you cannot finish. By doing this, you will save time and money.

Richie Vee, the site?s editor, is the Chief Engineer of one of the largest Platinum LEED buildings in NYC. His extensive engineering experience helps guide consumers through home improvement projects for the average homeowner. Using home solar energy and roofing repair ideas to save them money.

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Alpine Meadows Ski Resort ? slash of Tahoe Heaven

Home ? Adventure & Sport

Written By: Sarah?on?April 11, 2012 No Comment

Alpine Meadows Ski Resort - slash of Tahoe HeavenA Different Experience at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort

Alpine Meadows Ski Resort is located in Lake Tahoe. It operates only in the winter season. When in operation, Alpine Meadows Ski Resort is a laid serve skiing destination.

Lake Tahoe provides some of the best skiing in the world. Alpine Meadows is located in the valley unbiased below Squaw Creek. It was created with the thought that it would be a family set where the atmosphere was not like that of the other resorts in the spot.

Alpine Meadows Ski Resort is made for the average family. This is the plot for the first timer, for the family that unbiased wants to experience skiing together and to learn as they go. It is laid encourage, not filled with the hustle and accelerate of the other resorts in the situation.

Alpine Meadows Ski Resort is dotted by a range of trees. There are junipers, western white and aspen trees that beget the landscape with natural wonder.

Despite Alpine Meadows drive to halt grounded and avoid the jet setting atmosphere of Lake Tahoe, Alpine Meadows Ski Resort does provide some of the best skiing in the site. It is focused on providing an experience that is both qualified and adventurous.

Alpine Meadows has a variety of trails and terrain. There are many different choices and options for all different levels of skiers. Alpine Meadows Ski Resort also offers many amenities to cater to every need of their guests.

With 2,400 acres of skiing, Alpine Meadows Ski Resort provides an unbelievable skiing experience. It is a different experience then you can obtain anywhere else in the Lake Tahoe place.

Alpine Meadows Ski Resort provides a winter getaway that is both family valid and exciting. It offers a wide range of activities and a lot of adventure. Alpine Meadows Ski Resort is something that can not be missed.

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EARCOS 2012 Takeaways ? Ed Tech Ideas

EARCOS 2012?Takeaways

March 28-31, 2012

A wonderful group of over 1,500 educators gathered in Bangkok for the 10th annual East Asia Regional Council of Schools ?(EARCOS)?Conference. This was my 4th EARCOS conference, having attended Bangkok in 2004, Ho Chi Minh City in 2005, Kota Kinabalu in 2009; and it was by far the most rewarding. Here are my highlights. The best of the best from EARCOS 2012.

Keynote: Now You See It

Day 1 started out with a?riveting?keynote by Cathy N. Davidson of Duke University?in which she reminded us that as teachers, we need to, ?Emphasize what students can do well, not their limitations.? ?Ms. Davidson, who blogs frequently at?HASTAC,?then went on to bring new light to the state of the US educational system and standardized testing by stating:?

  • The US tests earlier and more often than any other country.
  • The US?s gift to education: Standardized Testing
  • We?re training kids for the world that Jefferson and Adams were afraid of. Our educational system is based on the industrial age.
  • Finland has abolished standardized testing. And most schools don?t test until age 10.
  • 1980 was the last time Finland used Standardized testing.

Google Apps in the Classroom

Jeff Utecht ran a great workshop entitled, ?Google Apps in the Classroom,? and began with a great buy-in statement of why we should be using Google Apps with our students ?60 of the top 100 US universities now use google apps.? Jeff then broke the session down by apps within the Google Suite and shared the following:

Searching

  • By giving us exactly what we want, Google hides things it thinks we don?t want.
  • Searches are based on
    • your past searches
    • # of links leaving from and coming to that site (that?s 1 reason Wikipedia appears 1st) the more links going to a site, the more authority that site has
    • Time relevance ? more recent will be moved towards the top
    • Algorithms
  • Best part of Wikipedia is the bottom. References and sources
  • Wikipedia is not a good place to end your research, but it?s a great place to begin. Great overview, and lots of sources at bottom
  • Every student from grade 3 should know site:edu (and site:gov ? but site:gov uses US gov. ? use different country suffixes to find info from other countries).
  • Search by reading level (basic is about a 5th grade reading level)
  • site:ac = academic institution
Gmail

Docs

  • People hate docs because you get a large list of everything you?ve ever created or shared with you. Google wants you to just search.
  • Video: Setting Up a Google Docs Classroom (15 mins)
  • Question to ask when creating a doc: Who do you want to own this document?
    • Start with having the students be the owner and have them share with you.
  • Positive thing of students being the owner of their Docs is that it will follow along with them. You can Unsubscribe or have the kids unshare with you at the end of the year.
  • Templates within Google Docs are highly underrated and under-used. Check out the public templates
  • IDEA: Create a newspaper (students work collaboratively on different subjects) use a template. save as pdf > publish to youblisher
  • Flubaroo for Google Docs grades quizzes automatically.
  • We want kids to be able to find the answer. Google Ninja tests allows you to take it and create it at your school. Google Apps Ninja Master (create shirts, pins and stickers for kids)

Calendars

  • You can have students add attachments to calendars
  • Set up Mobile settings to send text message reminders
  • Use Appointment Slots for setting up meetings. Gives you a URL to mail out to parents that gives parents a ?sign up for this slot? calendar that adds to your calendar.

Google Sites

  • So many uses: as a class website, student portfolio, teacher portal for students?
  • And then we ran out of time?

Google Earth Challenge

John Rinker led a great workshop on using Google Earth with students.

  • Resources here.
  • It?s our roles as teachers to make meaning and take meaning in the world
  • Often kids create great looking products but are lacking in substance
  • Have students put placemarks in folders
  • File > Save Project as?
  • 10 different levels
  • Having the different levels allowed for differentiation.
  • Then players who advanced more quickly became the experts
  • Can do recording of voice and music within Google Earth.
    • Called ?Record a Tour? camera looking icon on main tool bar

New Media in the Classroom

Jason Ohler (@jasonohler)

Resources here

  • The big push in public education in US is byod
  • Most kids don?t make good media ? most adults and teachers will look at the product and be impressed by the media effect
  • Teachers (and students) need to be discriminating makers of new media
  • Kids need to hear ?That quality is not high enough.?
  • Story management process (computers off) is where most of the work is done.
  • The Unfinished Revolution
  • Literacy is: Consuming and producing the media forms of the day, whatever they are.
  • DAOW of Literacy
  • We don?t teach oracy (how to speak) and we should
  • Digital storytelling ? film with a green screen and add student art to background
  • The power of story lodge in our brains and we remember. Lists of things don?t.
  • Story Core in Education:
    • Inquiry (tension)
    • Discovery (resolution)
    • Transformation (learning)
  • We remember info that is holistically connected and that?s what Story does.
  • Key resources
  • Green Screen Story Telling: http://t.co/1sosGXDy
  • When kids get kinesthetic with their stories, they write better.
  • Tell kids to go watch tv for homework and note how the professionals deal with music and transitions
  • Music trumps image every single time
  • The image give you the info, the music tells you how to feel about it.
  • Storyboards are bad ? don?t use them
  • Instead use a storymap and always have a character realize something
  • Free Storytelling stuff (music, software, photos, etc.):
  • Story Mapping Hand Outs
  • Story Table Handout

Keynote ? Balcony People: Teachers Make the Difference

Steven Layne

  • Book: Molder of Dreams by Guy Rice Doud
  • Students remember that we tried
  • Book: Life?s Literacy Lessons ? Poems for Teachers by Steven Layne
  • What holds appeal for one, might not hold appeal for all ? nothing works for every child, but something works for every child
  • Identify your balcony people. Tell them how they mattered and thank them.
  • Honor your balcony people by passing on their faith in you to your students, friends, family
  • Dream the dream for your students until they realize it.
  • Never underestimate the value of a seat in the balcony

Teaching for the 21st Century

Peer-Assessment, Peer-Generated Syllabus

Cathy Davidson @cathyndavidson

  • http://hastac.org/ and Cathy?s section
  • institutions tend to preserve the problems they were created to solve.
  • School and work in the industrial age were created to train us to the factory and the farm.
  • We?re doing a great job of preparing our students for the 20th century
  • 1900s office design are specifically designed to help people stay on task.
  • Reply all should be banned
  • We live in a interactive, non-linear, DIY, collaborative world.
  • Skunk Works: Innovate and try a radical transformation within a small section of your organization.
  • Our mission as teachers is to prepare students for an unknown future.
  • Duke iPod Experiment
  • This is your brain on the internet
  • Cathy changed the way the class worked but not the grading system and students called her on it.
  • Work Load grading ? students choose their amount of work to do and get a corresponding grade. ie: 10 projects = A; 7 projects = B; 5 Projects = C; etc.
  • How to Crowdsource Grading
  • Goal of the class is for everyone collectively to get the grade they aimed for.
  • We?re very bad at giving feedback ? that?s one reason American Idol is a hit
  • Students came up with the question: ?How do I become an adult??
  • You find the people you trust and you hold them close.
  • Favorite Peer Experiment/exercise you?ve done as a teacher
  • Difference is not our deficit, it?s our operating system
  • Forking: the moment when working together you come to a disagreement, flip a coin and follow on way. Mark the point of disagreement. If at any time, you realize you took the wrong point, you go back to the fork.
  • Socrative:??Student response system with any device.


Technical Competence with iMovie

David Grant?

  • iMovie Events within Movies is where you need to put new folders for creating movies
  • iMovie Learning Targets
    • Big Target: ?I can tell a true story with details in multimedia
  • I can use the basic editing tools of iMovie to:
    • Split Clips (command-shift-s)
    • Trim Clips
    • Detatch Audio
    • Adjust Volume Levels
    • Create a Cutaway Edit
    • Create a J-Edit
    • Create an L-Edit
  • I can edit A Roll and B Roll to tell a story by:
    • Editing A Roll so you can?t hear the cuts
    • Covering my cuts with the B Roll that supports my story
    • Cutting on action
  • A roll: looking at and talking to the camera
  • B roll: the details ? doing something
  • Sound is the primary thing you need to work with to tell stories.
  • Cutaway edit: use an edit to cover up a cut
  • cutting on action ? have movement when the movie starts
  • J Edit:

10 Digital Tools for Digital Educators

Jeff Utecht

Resources

  • Using Diigo with kids to have a collection of sites with specific tags and divided into lists
  • Create a class/groups
  • Send bookmarks from Diigo to Delicious automatically
  • from Twitter, whenever you tweet something with a hashtag you can use www.ifttt.com ?to send to Diigo
  • Google Educator Posters
  • Everybody needs to use Google Reader
  • Edmodo-
    • Looks like facebook
    • Can join communities
    • Teacher creates a group (class)
    • can load assignments
    • Kids can turn in assignments
    • Also has a gradebook feature
    • Parents can have acct and is then connected to whichever class the child is enrolled in.
    • You can set quizzes up and has the ability to autograde
    • Integrated with Google Docs
    • The badges are motivating with the kids
    • Allows teacher control over students
  • bit.ly- URL shortner; allows you to customize url
    • after you send out link, it tracks how many people clicked on the link
    • Also creates a QR code for link
  • Question Press
  • http://joliprint.com/ Takes any webpage and turns it into a pdf

Connecting your Community

Kim Cofino
Presentation
here
Resources
Learning Hub

  • Your digital footprint will carry far more weight than anything you might include on a resume. -Chris Betcher
  • Think before you publish ? is this something I would share with my grandma?
  • Blogging portal is a way to grow and connect the community
  • Everything is shared publicly = open
  • Students need to feel connected to a wider audience = global
  • We are a bad judge of our own creations www.silvers.org ??We need to just put our ideas out there.
  • What?s obvious to us may seem amazing to someone else
  • Obvious to You, Amazing to others?by Derrik Sivlers
  • Blogging should not be considered homework. Not everything goes on the blog. It?s about reflecting on your learning.
  • Blogs are not a way to post homework
  • Move away from blogs as an assignment into a community
  • Blogging Implementation
    • Soft launch (1 year)
    • Main landing page for each teacher?s blogs (The Learning Hub)
    • Main launch where parents are told this is how we are communicating information
    • There are ?17 Things? that every teacher needs to be able to know how to do
    • Training ? teacher leaders sit at tables and other teachers can come up to them to learn about something specific
    • Any time you?re talking about technology, you have to involve the kids.
  • Action

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A look at the forecast for energy prices

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Google brings improved Android emulator - developers take note

Google has really been working hard to upgrade the emulator for Android. Last month they added x86 support to the emulator, allowing developers to test ICS apps out at ?usable? speeds. Now they have turned ?usable? into ?downright speedy? by enabling hardware acceleration based on your computers GPU. Although the feature is still technically in beta (so is Google Maps Navigation, so the Big G has a broad definition of ?beta?), it apparently has finally made the ICS emulator work at near real-time speeds ? depending on the hardware in your PC (see demo video below). As a bonus, you can also run OpenGL games in the emulator now.

What?s that you say? You?ve never used the Android emulator before? That doesn?t mean you shouldn?t care ? by making the emulator (the thing on a developers computer that simulates running an app) fast, it means that developers don?t have to output an .apk to their phone or tablet every time they want to try it out. That should mean more rapid testing and more iterations during development, which leads to better apps all around.
?
If you?re a developer head on over to the source link to learn about the newly improved emulator; for regular Android users rest a little easier tonight, knowing that Google continues to try and improve the tools that ultimately lead to better mobile experiences.

source: Google via 9to5Google

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China ousts top politician, accuses wife of murder

FILE - In this March 13, 2012 file photo, Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai attends the closing session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, China. China said late Tuesday, April 10, the ousted high-profile leader Bo, once a contender for a seat in the top leadership, has been suspended from key Communist Party positions in the latest development in the country's biggest political crisis in years. Bo was dismissed as Communist Party boss of the mega-city of Chongqing on March 15 shortly after his former police chief fled temporarily to a U.S. consulate, apparently to seek asylum. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

FILE - In this March 13, 2012 file photo, Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai attends the closing session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, China. China said late Tuesday, April 10, the ousted high-profile leader Bo, once a contender for a seat in the top leadership, has been suspended from key Communist Party positions in the latest development in the country's biggest political crisis in years. Bo was dismissed as Communist Party boss of the mega-city of Chongqing on March 15 shortly after his former police chief fled temporarily to a U.S. consulate, apparently to seek asylum. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

In this March 13, 2012 photo, Chongqing Municipality Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai, front, reacts during the closing session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference held at Beijing's Great Hall of the People. China said Tuesday April 1, 2012, the ousted high-profile leader Bo Xilai, once a contender for a seat in the top leadership, has been suspended from key Communist Party positions in the latest development in the country's biggest political crisis in years. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

(AP) ? A flamboyant and telegenic politician who until recently seemed destined for the top ranks of China's leadership was stripped of his most powerful posts on Tuesday and his wife named in the murder of a British businessman as Chinese leaders moved to stem a scandal that has exposed divisive infighting.

The announcement that Bo Xilai was being suspended from the Communist Party's Politburo and Central Committee and that his wife was a suspect in a homicide investigation put an end to a colorful political career. Media-savvy with a populist flair, Bo gained a nationwide following for busting organized crime and for reviving communist culture while running the inland mega-city of Chongqing.

His publicity-seeking ways angered some in the top leadership, however. In recent weeks, allegations of Bo's and his family's misdeeds leaked into public view, threatening to complicate preparations by the leadership for a delicate, once-a-decade transition to younger leaders at a congress later this year.

"This means the political career of Bo Xilai is over," said Cheng Li, a Chinese politics expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "The party wants to really resolve the Bo Xilai crisis in a relatively short period of time. They want to make sure that the attention for the 18th party congress will not suffer too much from the Bo Xilai episode."

Bo's patrons included retired party elders who retain influence over senior appointments, and among his vocal supporters were influential generals and party members, scholars and ordinary Chinese who identify themselves as leftists. His removal raises questions about whether Chinese leaders will have to make concessions to them to achieve the political balance that has restrained factional fighting in recent decades.

"A political succession that seemed completely predictable has been upended," said June Teufel Dreyer, a China politics expert at University of Miami. "We may be in for more surprises."

An editorial to run Wednesday in the party's People's Daily newspaper appealed for unity and said the investigation into Bo's violations would show the leadership's "solid resolve in safeguarding party discipline and the rule of law."

Tuesday's announcement, carried by state media, provided details of what has been a lurid and embarrassing scandal for the leadership.

Bo's removal from top government posts came on suspicion of involvement in unspecified but "serious discipline violations," the Central Committee said, and his case was handed over to internal party investigators.

His wife, Gu Kailai, and an orderly at their home were being investigated for intentional homicide in the death of Briton Neil Heywood, the Xinhua News Agency said. Heywood's death in November in Chongqing was initially blamed on excessive drinking, something his friends have said he was not known to do.

Tuesday's brief reports sketch out and corroborate accounts that have circulated among politically connected Chinese ever since Bo's high-flying career began unraveling in February after a trusted aide fled temporarily to the U.S. Consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu.

The aide, Wang Lijun, had suspicions that Bo's family was involved in Heywood's death, people familiar with the case said. After Bo sought to squelch an investigation, Wang sought asylum in the consulate and brought with him documents, the people said.

The Xinhua report confirmed that while at the consulate, Wang alleged that Heywood had been murdered. The allegations prompted the British government to ask for a new inquiry and, Xinhua said, prompted Chinese authorities to reopen an investigation.

The Xinhua account said that Gu and the couple's son, Bo Guagua, had been on good terms with Heywood but that they had a conflict over unspecified "economic interests" that worsened. The investigators found that Heywood's death was likely a homicide and that Gu and the family orderly, Zhang Xiaojun, are suspects, Xinhua said.

British media previously reported that Heywood's family and friends appeared to dismiss foul play when he died in November. Instead the family believed he had died of a heart attack.

While the British government had not initially sought an investigation, it welcomed Tuesday's announcement of a new probe.

"We now look forward to seeing those investigations take place and hearing the outcome of those investigations," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said. "I don't want to prejudice their conduct in any way."

While Bo officially is suspended and still a party member, the same tactic was used in 2006 against Shanghai's party secretary, Chen Liangyu, who was eventually sentenced to 18 years in prison for bribery, abuse of power and other acts of corruption.

The Xinhua report about Heywood's death referred to Bo as "comrade," a term reserved for party members. But it identified his wife as "Bogu Kailai," an unexplained combining of their last names.

Even before Wang's flight to the consulate, Bo's standing had been under fire. His signature campaigns ? a crackdown on organized crime and a revival of Mao Zedong-era communist songs and stories ? gained him a national following but also earned him critics.

The gang busting ran roughshod over civil liberties, with legal scholars and some businessmen victims accusing authorities of torture and other tactics to steer deals toward people in Bo's favor. Meanwhile, the Mao culture campaign dredged up memories of the chaotic, radical Cultural Revolution in which many Chinese were persecuted for being insufficiently loyal.

In promising a thorough investigation into Bo, the People's Daily editorial said: "There is no privileged citizen before the law. The Party does not tolerate any special member who is above the law. No one can interfere with law enforcement and anyone who violates the law could not be at large."

___

Associated Press reporters Gillian Wong in Beijing and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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