Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.
The discovery of what is hoped to be the Higgs boson was an exciting time for anyone with a curious mind. It turns out, that the price of knowledge is often a heavy one. Without putting too much of a negative spin on it... that teeny-weeny boson could predict bad news. On a lighter -- or is that darker -- note, other areas of science and technology bravely march ever-onward with the goal of a better understanding of life, the universe, and tattoos. This is alt-week.
The?Chinese Arts Festival in New Haven?is a celebration of the Lunar New Year, Year of the Snake, now rescheduled to March 2-3, 2013. Kick off with the Lion Dance Parade down Whitney Avenue at 10AM on Saturday, March 2. (Rain location: New Haven Museum)
The Chinese Arts Festival has been rescheduled for March 2-3, 2013.
Please register at this link.
See the revised schedule here.
Thank you for your patience, and we are excited to prolong the celebration of the Chinese New Year into the spring!
About the Chinese Arts Festival in New Haven The Chinese Arts Festival in New Haven is a day-long event offering arts and cultural programs for adults and children of all ages in celebration of the Year of the Snake.
The Chinese Arts Festival in New Haven kicks off at 10:00AM with a traditional lion dance on Whitney Avenue between Grove Street and Trumbull Street. Celebrate alongside the Wan Chi Ming Hung Gar Institute?s lion dance troupe as they bring good luck and prosperity to the New Haven merchants and community members. Join us again from 1:00PM ? 5:00PM for a series of Chinese arts and culture workshops and demonstrations, including presentations and performances of traditional Chinese instruments by the EastRiver Ensemble, a Peacock Dance demonstration by Dai ethnic tribe dancer Xi Wang, a snake petting zoo, a Tai Chi workshop with Grandmaster Aiping Cheng, opportunities to learn traditional Chinese dances with Yale dance troupes, a master painting demonstration with Chinese landscape artist Sun Dawei, Chinese calligraphy and papercutting sessions, a Yale-China Fireside Chat with Beijing-based culinary author Audra Ang, and opportunities to learn about Chinese New Year celebrations. Each of the twelve exhibits and workshops presents an opportunity to engage in some of the classic Chinese arts.
The Snake is one of twelve designated animals celebrated as part of the Chinese calendar based on the lunar calendar. The Year of the Snake begins on February 10, 2013 and ends on January 30, 2014.
The venue locations for the Chinese Arts Festival in New Haven are: Henry R. Luce Hall at Yale University (34 Hillhouse Avenue), New Haven Museum (114 Whitney Avenue), and Yale-China Association (442 Temple Street). All events are free and open to the public, but registration is required.?To register, click here.?You can also download a?full schedule of events. For questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at?ChineseArtsFestival@yalechina.org?or call (203) 432-3427.
This event is sponsored by the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University, New Haven Museum, and Yale-China Association.
Special thanks to Yale Programs in International Educational Resources.
Fehr, center, celebrates his first goal against the Panthers on Thursday. (Photo credit: Scott Audette)
I was sitting in section 112 of Heinz Field as the rain steadily picked up. It was New Year?s Day, night time, and the Capitals were clinging to a 2-1 lead in the third period of the 2011 Winter Classic in Pittsburgh. As puddles were forming on the temporary ice sheet, Jason Chimera fired a centering pass to a player streaking down the middle of the ice. A couple seconds later, Eric Fehr had his second goal of the game. Washington won 3-1.
Two years later, things are different. Their coach at the time, Bruce Boudreau, is gone. As is his successor Dale Hunter. The Caps are no longer competing for the best record in the National Hockey League. Right now they?re just trying to stay relevant.
But Fehr got out before all that. When he left the team, they just finished their second straight year being eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the number one seed. Fehr had a rough last year in Washington. A victim of nagging shoulder issues (which had previously required surgery) the Manitoba native dislocated his shoulder just two weeks after the marquee match in Pittsburgh, tearing a ligament in the joint. He tried to come back after rehab, but former 20 goal scorer wasn?t the same. In May of 2011, he went under the knife to repair the damage. Two months later, Fehr, a fan favorite, was traded in a salary dump to the newly minted Winnipeg Jets. It was the team ? albeit in a different incarnation ? he grew up loving as a kid.
Fehr, though, didn?t step on the ice much for the Jets in their inaugural season. His shoulder never fully healed. He would play for a few weeks and then be sidelined again. In 35 games, Fehr scored just two goals. Winnipeg showed no interest in resigning him. He couldn?t get a deal before the NHL lockout.
?It was frustrating because knew I wasn?t at my best, I wasn?t at the top of my game,? Fehr said of his time with the Jets. ?I feel like I was more in survival mode.?
?At no point did I feel like I was the way I needed to be playing,? he added. ?I definitely wish I would have taken more time to heal and feel a little bit better before I started playing. I came back early and never really got my step back.?
With his career possibly in the balance, Fehr signed with HPK. They play in Hameenlinna, Finland, a long way away from Winkler, Manitoba. But if Fehr wanted a NHL deal, he?d have prove he could still play. And he did. In 21 games in the SM-liiga, the 27-year-old scored 13 goals and had 25 points. By the fall, his shoulder finally felt normal. Just days before the season was about to begin, the Capitals signed Fehr to a one-year, $600,000 deal. After a year and a half away, he was back with the franchise that drafted him.
?A lot of teams doubted my health,? Fehr told me Saturday at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. ?I think I did a lot more damage playing when I probably shouldn?t have. It took a good summer of rehab and rehab in Finland for it to feel better. The lockout almost helped me in a way ? to give me a chance to get stronger and healthier and to start playing again.?
So on Thursday night, a little less than two years after the last one, Eric Fehr notched a multiple goal game for the Washington Capitals. At the start of the season, he was just a healthy scratch. Then, he became a fourth liner. Now, since being paired with Joel Ward and Mathieu Perreault on the third line, Fehr has five points (including three goals) in three games. He is figuratively on fire.
?I was just excited to be able to contribute,? said Fehr. ?It?s been a while since I?ve been able to put up those kind of numbers in a game.?
Now, head coach Adam Oates is trying to find a way for Fehr to get more minutes. After starting the season in the press box, Fehr might start getting time on the power play.
?He was a healthy?scratch because he was the last guy signed,? Oates said. ?He?s done nothing but be professional. Every second he?s got to play he?s played hard. His minutes have grown, he?s produced and that line?s produced. You know what, good for him.?
While Fehr is getting back to his old ways on the ice, one key part of game won?t be coming back ? at least for now. He abstains from playing catch with his buddy Karl Alzner before games due to his battered shoulder.
?I?ve been watching him play, ? Fehr said. ?It pains me.?
?I don?t want to take any chances,? he added. ?I do get the odd throw in.?
Lady Gaga may have canceled her tour, but she made one "little monster" -- as she lovingly calls her fans -- very happy.
Kayleigh Gurbynski, a 5-year-old who has terminal congenital heart disease and Turner?s Syndrome, a genetic disorder,had tickets to meet Lady Gaga at her Chicago concert on Feb. 13, WSAU reports. After the pop star canceled her tour due to a hip injury, the "Born This Way Star" made time to visit Kayleigh who traveled from Wisconsin to see the show, according to the news outlet.
Tony Waitekus, a host at local Wisconsin radio station WIFC who had met Kayleigh at a fundraising event, contacted Gaga's management team and helped facilitate the meeting, according to Fox Sports Wausau.
?Tears came and my tears are still coming for Kayleigh... Kayleigh's dream to meet the singer is going to come true,? her mother, Melissa Persiki, wrote on her CaringBridge.org page during the weeks leading up to the big meeting.
Photo via Facebook.
Kayleigh is being treated at Milwaukee Children?s Hospital, according to Fox Sports Wausau. The 5-year-old is the longest surviving patient at the hospital with the two conditions but she is not a candidate for a heart transplant and her health is declining, Persiki told the news outlet.
?Her heart is not fixable,? she told the sports site.
Kayleigh?s community of Rib Mountain, Wisc., has been rallying around her since her last wish came to light, according to the news outlet.
?It just goes to show that no matter what you say about some of these high-falutin artists, many of them do have huge hearts and put them to good use sometimes, and that happened here,? Waitekus told WSAU. ?She did the right thing, and she did it because she wanted to do it.?
See photos of Kayleigh during the weeks leading up to her visit with Gaga:
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Expect your blood pressure to rise during The Central Park Five.
The doc is rife with smart or wrenching or shameful moments. The fresh interviews with the accused, now men, are invaluable.
As grim a portrait of the criminal justice system as can be imagined.
How could this second crime have occurred? The film asks that question but only partly answers it, and in the process it raises an even more troubling one.
"The Central Park Five" is worth seeing, both for the ways it's timeless and for the ways it encapsulates an era.
What's amazing about listening to them speak now, often through tears, is the absence of bitterness.
Like the "Paradise Lost" films, it's a shocking but clear-eyed portrait of injustice.
The Central Park Five is such a moving piece of work, it is difficult to watch at times.
It shows what happens when police and prosecutors abuse their power.
Puts the crime and the times in sharp perspective.
Burns and company conduct a thorough, riveting investigation that does a far better job of assessing the tragedy than the justice system did two decades before. Of course, hindsight is an advantage we all take for granted.
It's a gripping story that comes in a well-crafted package.
A heartbreaking expose' about a rush to judgment which ruined five, innocent young lives.
Exclusive interviews with former heads of Israel's counter terrorism agency reveal insiders' analysis about the country's policies. Fascinating. Frightening.
"The Central Park Five" is a sobering indictment of racism and vigilante justice, yet it is constrained by a PBS-style deference to the very system it critiques.
You can't help but wonder why this film wasn't made 20 years ago, when it could have saved these men some time behind bars.
What keeps the film from being an impossible downer is the guts and spirit and smart words of the Central Park Five, four of whom, now freed, are interviewed at length.
A miscarriage of justice on this scale would have been tragic had it resulted from an honest mistake - but, as this meticulously researched movie makes clear, honesty had little to do with it.
The [documentary] team builds a solid story from the time of the crime through the release from prison those wrongly accused and railroaded into confessing to a crime they did not commit.
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I've been consistent -- and nagging -- about an "iPhone Phablet" this year. I've said that this is a case where the market is pulling Apple. In particular, China and Asia demand that larger display.
In my piece earlier this month for Unwired View, I noted that the China factor was driving much of my thoughts on this subject.
Now, MIC Gadget chimes in with the rather plainly titled: "Apple Needs an New iPhone with Bigger Screen at a Decent Price in China".?
Apple?s revenue in China, including neighboring Hong Kong and Taiwan, totaled $7.3 billion in last quarter, up 60 percent from a year earlier. But there are signs that Apple?s vaunted cachet in the world?s most populous nation is waning. The iPhone 5 have drawn a relatively subdued response from Chinese consumers. According to Taobao.com, the biggest online marketplace in China, iPhone 5 transactions have fallen by half since it went on sale in mid-December. The iPhone is also losing out as consumers opt for bigger screens to watch Chinese soap operas while travelling, or affordable smartphones in the sub-1,000 yuan (US$160) category made by local vendors ?
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Around half of the more than 60 million smartphones shipped in China in the third quarter last year had screens that were bigger than 4 inches, based on IDC?s latest figures.?
Jan. 21, 2013 ? Investigators from 15 children's medical centers, including Nationwide Children's Hospital, observed and evaluated critically ill children with influenza to evaluate the relationships between levels of systemic inflammation, immune function and likelihood to die from the illness. The study appears in the January issue of Critical Care Medicine.
The innate immune system is the cellular arm of the immune system that serves as a first-responder to new threats, and is thought to drive the inflammatory response in many forms of critical illness. Recent evidence indicates that suppression of innate immune system function can occur in critically ill patients.
This immune suppression can be quantified in the laboratory through measurement of the capacity of the patient's blood to produce a specific cytokine, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-? , when stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a substance which should induce a robust TNF ? response. Patients with innate immune suppression produce reduced amounts of TNF? when their blood is stimulated. In its most severe form, this condition is known as immunoparalysis. Severe reductions in TNF? production capacity have been associated with the development of secondary bacterial infections and death in critically ill adults and children.
Immune function is not routinely measured in patients with influenza, though some therapies used in this population, such as corticosteroids, can be potently immunosuppressive.
"Both pro- and anti-inflammatory therapies have been proposed as additional treatment options for influenza infection," explains lead study author Mark Hall, MD, Critical Care specialist and principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. "However, a lack of immune monitoring data in the pediatric population has made therapeutic decision-making difficult in children."
In this first-of-its-kind, multicenter observational study, blood samples from critically ill children with influenza were tested using highly standardized techniques to determine the capacity of the participants' innate immune system to produce TNF? when stimulated with LPS. Healthy control subjects also had their blood tested for the same properties.
Results indicated that despite high levels of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines, critically ill children with influenza demonstrated lower TNF? production capacity compared with healthy control subjects. Further, children who died from influenza had markedly lower TNF? production capacity compared with survivors. Patients who were co-infected with influenza and the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus showed the greatest degree of immune suppression.
While the reduced capacity to produce TNF? among the critically ill children compared to healthy subjects was expected, the degree of reduction in capacity was severe enough to be highly predictive of death from the illness.
"The study demonstrates a strong relationship between mortality and reduced innate immune responsiveness in critically ill patients," said Dr. Hall, also a faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. "It also demonstrates the feasibility of large-scale immune monitoring of the kind necessary to develop and test therapies for these critically ill children. The identification of potential treatment thresholds is important because strong evidence suggests that innate immune suppression associated with critical illness may be reversible."
Advocating for additional studies, investigators suggest that patient-specific immune monitoring could aid in determining the most effective treatment for these critically ill patients. Therapies that stimulate the immune system may have a significant role in the treatment of high-risk children with severe immune suppression associated with influenza infection.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Nationwide Children's Hospital.
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