Thursday, May 8, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
Acrobats fall during Ringling Bros. circus stunt PROVIDENCE, R.I
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A support frame collapsed during an aerial hair-hanging stunt at a circus performance Sunday, sending eight acrobats plummeting to the ground. Nine performers were seriously injured in the fall, including a dancer below, while an unknown number of others suffered less serious injuries.
The accident was reported about 45 minutes into the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus' 11 a.m. Legends show at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence.
Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Bros., said the accident happened during an act in which eight performers hang "like a human chandelier" using their hair.He said the metal-frame apparatus from which the performers were hanging came free from the metal truss it was connected to. The eight women fell 25 to 40 feet, landing on a dancer below.
All the performers have been doing "some variation of this act for some time," Payne said, though he didn't know how long. The current incarnation of the act began in January with the launch of the show, he said.
Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare said officials and inspectors haven't yet determined what caused the accident. He said none of the injuries appears to be life-threatening.
Roman Garcia, general manager of the Legends show, asked people to pray for the performers."Everybody's doing fine, everybody's at the hospital, everybody's conscious, everybody's doing pretty well," he said at the Dunkin' Donuts Center less than two hours after the accident.
Rhode Island Hospital in Providence admitted 11 patients with varying injuries, including one in critical condition, spokeswoman Jill Reuter said.
The hair-hanging stunt is described on the circus' website as a "larger-than-life act" featuring eight female performers.
"These 'hairialists' perform a combination of choreography and cut-ups including spinning, hanging from hoops, and rolling down wrapped silks, all while being suspended 35 feet in the air by their hair alone," the website says. "In this hair-raising act, audiences will even see the weight of three girls held aloft by the locks of only one of these tangled beauties."
Video taken by audience members shows a curtain dropping to reveal several performers hanging from an apparatus suspended from above. Seconds later, as they begin to perform, the women fall, and the metal apparatus lands on them.
"It just went crashing down," said audience member Sydney Bragg, 14, of North Kingstown. "Everyone was freaking out. We heard this huge clatter and then we just heard the girls scream."
She said spotlights were on the performers at the time, but all the lights went out after the fall.Rosa Viveiros of Seekonk, Massachusetts, said she saw that the acrobats had fallen on top of at least one other performer below, a man who stood up with his face bloodied. The acrobats remained still and did not get up, she said.
"We thought it was part of the circus," said her husband, Joe.
The couple attended the circus with their 6-year-old grandson and 9-year-old niece.
"Everyone was in shock," Rosa Viveiros said. "It was pretty overwhelming to see that."
The circus began performances in Providence on Friday. The Dunkin' Donuts Center canceled two shows scheduled for later Sunday.
A Ringling Bros. aerial performer was killed in 2004 in St. Paul, Minnesota, when she was twirling 30 feet in the air on long chiffon scarves and the material gave way.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio's full inaugural address
http://www.democratichub.com/video/11189.aspx
| Article Name | Location | |
|---|---|---|
| 01/01/14 | Bill de Blasio sworn in as 109th mayor of NYC | usatoday.com |
| 12/31/13 | What will Bill De Blasio's Foreign Policy be? | newyorker.com |
| 11/05/13 | Bill de Blasio elected mayor of New York | washingtonpost.com |
| 11/05/13 | NY Mayoral Election 2013: New Yorkers To Choose Between Two Visions | huffingtonpost.com |
| 11/05/13 | Elections Pose First Test for Parties After U.S. Shutdown | bloomberg.com |
| 09/17/13 | Joe Lhota seeks support outside Republican Party, tries to woo Al Sharpton | nydailynews.com |
| 09/16/13 | Thompson Concedes to de Blasio in Mayoral Primary | nytimes.com |
| 09/12/13 | Bill Thompson mulling concession to Bill de Blasio before potential runoff for mayor | nydailynews.com |
Monday, December 2, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
chemist Ruth Benerito for developing wrinkle-free cotton
Her name graces no labels, but millions wear Ruth Benerito creations daily.
A government chemist, Benerito led a team that helped create wrinkle-resistant cotton — an innovation that spared homemakers hours of ironing and breathed new life into an industry smothered in rayon, polyester and other synthetics.
Benerito, who was credited with 55 patents and more than 200 professional publications, died Oct. 5 at her home in Metairie, La., family members said. She was 97.
Until Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, she had lived in the same house for 56 years, sharing it in her later years with an older sister.
Benerito was sometimes called the Queen of Cotton, according to the American Chemical Society, which installed a plaque honoring her team's work at the U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory she called home for nearly 33 years. Last February, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) lauded her achievements, along with those of other little-known inventors, at a committee meeting he chaired on American competitiveness.
"We can thank chemist Ruth Benerito for developing wrinkle-free cotton, which is in the shirts many Americans wear today, including mine," he said.
Though she always wanted to be a scientist, Benerito never set out to make lawmakers look hearing-room crisp.
"A lot of times what you discover is more from serendipity than what you set out to do," she told Investor's Business Daily in 2002. "That's why I think you can't manage science. You can't say that on a certain month, day or year you're going to do such and such a thing."
Her breakthrough came amid years of work by scientists eager to unrumple cotton garments and free women from the iron's grip. Over just a few decades, new, easy-care synthetics had battered the cotton market, cutting its share by 50% from 1960 to 1975. Some analysts predicted that by 2000, U.S. cotton would be a cool, dry memory.
In 1958, Benerito took charge of the cotton chemicals laboratory at the USDA's Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans. After years of experimenting, she figured out how to strengthen the bonds among cotton's molecular strands with a technique called "cross-linking." With chemical processes she developed, the stronger bonds withstood pounding in washers, decreasing wrinkles in the garments.
"It's sort of like when a woman gets her hair in a permanent wave," Benerito once told an interviewer. "You have to take these long chains and cross-link them, connecting the two chains in a specific arrangement."
The development "opened more doors down the line that people hadn't thought about," including flame-retardant clothing and bedding, said Rini Paiva, executive director of the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Alexandria, Va. Benerito was inducted in 2008.
Though most of Benerito's patents are related to cotton, she also pioneered a life-saving treatment during the Korean War, allowing intravenous delivery of fat to wounded soldiers who were too sick to eat.
Born in New Orleans Jan. 12, 1916, Ruth Mary Rogan Benerito often said her civil engineer father and artist mother were early feminists, encouraging their daughters in pursuits that at the time were seen as unladylike.
Graduating from high school at 14, Benerito went on to Newcomb College and was one of two women allowed to take physical chemistry at Newcomb's affiliated school, Tulane University.
"We took it with the engineers," she said in a 1986 oral history, "and they didn't like it one bit."
Even after receiving her master's degree in physics from Tulane, Benerito had a tough time finding a job. She taught math, science and driving safety in nearby Jefferson Parish, although at the time she didn't know how to drive.
When her family moved to Chicago, she went along. In 1948, she received her doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago, shuttling back to New Orleans during summers to teach at Tulane.
In 1950, she married Frank "Benny" Benerito, who died 20 years later. She has no immediate survivors.
After retiring from her research career, she continued to teach. She was an adjunct professor at the University of New Orleans when poor vision forced her to stop at 81.
Five years later, Benerito was honored with the 2002 Lemelson-MIT lifetime achievement award.
"It's safe to say," said Merton Flemings, who was then director of the Lemelson-MIT program, "that Ruth Benerito has made us all more comfortable in our clothes over the years."
Benerito, who was credited with 55 patents and more than 200 professional publications, died Oct. 5 at her home in Metairie, La., family members said. She was 97.
Until Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, she had lived in the same house for 56 years, sharing it in her later years with an older sister.
Benerito was sometimes called the Queen of Cotton, according to the American Chemical Society, which installed a plaque honoring her team's work at the U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory she called home for nearly 33 years. Last February, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) lauded her achievements, along with those of other little-known inventors, at a committee meeting he chaired on American competitiveness.
"We can thank chemist Ruth Benerito for developing wrinkle-free cotton, which is in the shirts many Americans wear today, including mine," he said.
Though she always wanted to be a scientist, Benerito never set out to make lawmakers look hearing-room crisp.
"A lot of times what you discover is more from serendipity than what you set out to do," she told Investor's Business Daily in 2002. "That's why I think you can't manage science. You can't say that on a certain month, day or year you're going to do such and such a thing."
Her breakthrough came amid years of work by scientists eager to unrumple cotton garments and free women from the iron's grip. Over just a few decades, new, easy-care synthetics had battered the cotton market, cutting its share by 50% from 1960 to 1975. Some analysts predicted that by 2000, U.S. cotton would be a cool, dry memory.
In 1958, Benerito took charge of the cotton chemicals laboratory at the USDA's Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans. After years of experimenting, she figured out how to strengthen the bonds among cotton's molecular strands with a technique called "cross-linking." With chemical processes she developed, the stronger bonds withstood pounding in washers, decreasing wrinkles in the garments.
"It's sort of like when a woman gets her hair in a permanent wave," Benerito once told an interviewer. "You have to take these long chains and cross-link them, connecting the two chains in a specific arrangement."
The development "opened more doors down the line that people hadn't thought about," including flame-retardant clothing and bedding, said Rini Paiva, executive director of the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Alexandria, Va. Benerito was inducted in 2008.
Though most of Benerito's patents are related to cotton, she also pioneered a life-saving treatment during the Korean War, allowing intravenous delivery of fat to wounded soldiers who were too sick to eat.
Born in New Orleans Jan. 12, 1916, Ruth Mary Rogan Benerito often said her civil engineer father and artist mother were early feminists, encouraging their daughters in pursuits that at the time were seen as unladylike.
Graduating from high school at 14, Benerito went on to Newcomb College and was one of two women allowed to take physical chemistry at Newcomb's affiliated school, Tulane University.
"We took it with the engineers," she said in a 1986 oral history, "and they didn't like it one bit."
Even after receiving her master's degree in physics from Tulane, Benerito had a tough time finding a job. She taught math, science and driving safety in nearby Jefferson Parish, although at the time she didn't know how to drive.
When her family moved to Chicago, she went along. In 1948, she received her doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago, shuttling back to New Orleans during summers to teach at Tulane.
In 1950, she married Frank "Benny" Benerito, who died 20 years later. She has no immediate survivors.
After retiring from her research career, she continued to teach. She was an adjunct professor at the University of New Orleans when poor vision forced her to stop at 81.
Five years later, Benerito was honored with the 2002 Lemelson-MIT lifetime achievement award.
"It's safe to say," said Merton Flemings, who was then director of the Lemelson-MIT program, "that Ruth Benerito has made us all more comfortable in our clothes over the years."
Friday, October 11, 2013
Shutdown backfires on Republicans as they score worst poll rating of any political party for the last 20 years
Not popular: The polls also show a dramatic spike in the proportion of people who have a negative view of the GOP since the shutdown
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2452054/Republicans-score-record-low-favorablity-rating-shutdown-continues-Obama-calls-GOP-leaders-White-House-meeting.html#ixzz2hQ2gjC00
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