Federalist No. 70

Publius (Alexander Hamilton)

The Executive Department Further Considered

March 15, 1788

Taking it for granted, therefore, that all men of sense will agree in the necessity of an energetic executive; it will only remain to inquire, what are the ingredients which constitute this energy? How far can they be combined with those other ingredients which constitute safety in the republican sense? And how far does this combination characterize the plan which has been reported by the convention?

The ingredients which constitute energy in the executive are unity; duration; an adequate provision for its support; and competent powers.

The ingredients which constitute safety in the republican sense are a due dependence on the people, secondly a due responsibility.

Those politicians and statesmen who have been the most celebrated for the soundness of their principles and for the justness of their views have declared in favor of a single executive and a numerous legislature. They have with great propriety, considered energy as the most necessary qualification of the former, and have regarded this as most applicable to power in a single hand; while they have, with equal propriety, considered the latter as best adapted to deliberation and wisdom, and best calculated to conciliate the confidence of the people and to secure their privileges and interests.

That unity is conducive to energy will not be disputed. Decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch will generally characterize the proceedings of one man in a much more eminent degree than the proceedings of any greater number; and in proportion as the number is increased, these qualities will be diminished.

This unity may be destroyed in two ways: either by vesting the power in two or more magistrates of equal dignity and authority, or by vesting it ostensibly in one man, subject in whole or in part to the control and co-operation of others, in the capacity of counselors to him. Of the first, the two consuls of Rome may serve as an example; of the last, we shall find examples in the constitutions of several of the States. New York and New Jersey, if I recollect right, are the only States which have entrusted the executive authority wholly to single men. Both these methods of destroying the unity of the executive have their partisans; but the votaries of an executive council are the most numerous. They are both liable, if not to equal, to similar objections, and may in most lights be examined in conjunction.

The experience of other nations will afford little instruction on this head. As far, however, as it teaches anything, it teaches us not to be enamored of plurality in the executive. We have seen that the Achaeans on an experiment of two Praetors, were induced to abolish one. The Roman history records many instances of mischiefs to the republic from the dissentions between the consuls, and between the military tribunes, who were at times substituted to the consuls. But it gives us no specimens of any peculiar advantages derived to the state from the circumstance of the plurality of those magistrates. That the dissentions between them were not more frequent or more fatal is matter of astonishment, until we advert to the singular position in which he republic was almost continually placed and to the prudent policy pointed out by the circumstances of the state, and pursued by the consuls, of making a division of the government between them. The patricians engaged in a perpetual struggle with the plebians for the preservation of their ancient authorities and dignities; the consuls, who were generally chosen out of the former body, were commonly united by the personal interest they had in the defense of the privileges of their order. In addition to this motive of union, after the arms of the republic had considerably expanded the bounds of its empire, it became an established custom with the consuls to divide the administration between themselves by lot—one of them remaining at Rome to govern the city and its environs; the other taking the command in the more distant provinces. This expedient must no doubt have had great influence in preventing those collisions and rivalships which might otherwise have embroiled the peace of the republic.

But quitting the dim light of historical research, and attaching ourselves purely to the dictates of reason and good sense, we shall discover much greater cause to reject than to approve the idea of plurality in the executive, under any modification whatever.

It must be confessed that these observations apply with principal weight to the first case supposed—that is, to a plurality of magistrates of equal dignity and authority, a scheme, the advocates for which are not likely to form a numerous sect; but they apply, though not with equal yet with considerable weight to the project of a council, whose concurrence is made constitutionally necessary to the operations of the ostensible executive. An artful cabal in that council would be able to distract and to enervate the whole system of administration. If no such cabal should exist, the mere diversity of views and opinions would alone be sufficient to tincture the exercise of the executive authority with a spirit of habitual feebleness and dilatoriness.

But one of the weightiest objections to a plurality in the executive, and which lies as much against the last as the first plan is that it tends to conceal faults and destroy responsibility. Responsibility is of two kinds—to censure and to punishment. The first is the most important of the two, especially in an elective office. Men in public trust will much oftener act in such a manner as to render them unworthy of being any longer trusted, than in such a manner as to make him obnoxious to legal punishment. But the multiplication of the executive adds to the difficulty of detection in either case. It often becomes impossible, amidst mutual accusations, to determine on whom the blame or the punishment of a pernicious measure, or series of pernicious measures, ought really to fall. It is shifted from one to another with so much dexterity, and under such plausible appearances, that the public opinion is left in suspense about the real author. The circumstances which may have led to any national miscarriage or misfortune are sometimes so complicated that where there are a number of actors who may have had different degrees and kinds of agency, though we may clearly see upon the whole that there has been mismanagement, yet it may be impracticable to pronounce to whose account the evil which may have been incurred is truly chargeable.

“I was overruled by my council. The council were so divided in their opinions that it was impossible to obtain any better resolution on the point.” These and similar pretexts are constantly at hand, whether true or false. And who is there that will either take the trouble or incur the odium of a strict scrutiny into the secret springs of the transaction? Should there be found a citizen zealous enough to undertake the unpromising task, if there happened to be a collusion between the parties concerned, how easy is it to cloth the circumstances with so much ambiguity as to render it uncertain what was the precise conduct of any of those parties?

In the single instance in which the governor of this state is coupled with a council—that is, in the appointment to offices, we have seen the mischiefs of it in the view now under consideration. Scandalous appointments to important offices have been made. Some cases indeed have been so flagrant that ALL PARTIES have agreed in the impropriety of the thing. When inquiry has been made, the blame has been laid by the governor on the members of the council; who on their part have charged it upon his nomination; while the people remain altogether at a loss to determine by whose influence their interests have been committed to hands so unqualified and so manifestly improper. In tenderness to individuals, I forbear to descend to particulars.

In England, the king is a perpetual magistrate; and it is a maxim which has obtained for the sake of the public peace that he is unaccountable for his administration, and his person sacred. Nothing, therefore, can be wiser in that kingdom than to annex to the king a constitutional council, who may be responsible to the nation for the advice they give. Without this, there would be no responsibility whatever in the executive department—an idea inadmissible in a free government. But even there the king is not bound by the resolutions of his council, though they are answerable for the advice they give. He is the absolute master of his own conduct in the exercise of his office and may observe or disregard the council given to him at his sole discretion.

But in a republic where every magistrate ought to be personally responsible for his behavior in office, the reason which in the British Constitution dictates the propriety of a council not only ceases to apply, but turns against the institution. In the monarchy of Great Britain, it furnishes a substitute for the prohibited responsibility of the Chief Magistrate, which serves in some degree as a hostage to the national justice for his good behavior. In the American republic, it would serve to destroy, or would greatly diminish, the intended and necessary responsibility of the Chief Magistrate himself.

The idea of a council to the executive, which has so generally obtained in the State constitutions, has been derived from that maxim of republican jealousy which considers power as safer in the hands of a number of men than of a single man. If the maxim should be admitted to be applicable to the case, I should contend that the advantage on that side would not counterbalance the numerous disadvantages on the opposite side. But I do not think the rule at all applicable to the executive power. I clearly concur in opinion, in this particular, with a writer whom the celebrated Junius pronounces to be “deep, solid and ingenious,” that “the executive power is more easily confined when it is one”; that it is far more safe there should be a single object for the jealousy and watchfulness of the people; and, in a word, that all multiplication of the executive is rather dangerous than friendly to liberty.

A little consideration will satisfy us that the species of security sought for in the multiplication of the executive is unattainable. Numbers must be so great as to render combination difficult, or they are rather a source of danger than of security. The united credit and influence of several individuals must be more formidable to liberty than the credit and influence of either of them separately. When power, therefore, is placed in the hands of so small a number of men as to admit of their interests and views being easily combined in a common enterprise, by an artful leader, it becomes more liable to abuse and more dangerous when abused, than if it be lodged in the hands of one man, who, from the very circumstance of his being alone, will be more narrowly watched and more readily suspected, and who cannot unite so great a mass of influence as when he is associated with others. The decemvirs of Rome, whose name denotes their number, were more to be dreaded in their usurpation than any ONE of them would have been. No person would think of proposing an executive much more numerous than that body; from six to a dozen have been suggested for the number of the council. The extreme of these numbers is not too great for an easy combination; and from such a combination America would have more to fear than from the ambition of any single individual. A council to a magistrate, who is himself responsible for what he does, are generally nothing better than a clog upon his good intentions, are often the instruments and accomplices of his bad, and are almost always a cloak to his faults.

I will only add that, prior to the appearance of the Constitution, I rarely met with an intelligent man from any of the States who did not admit, as the result of experience, that the UNITY of the executive of this State was one of the best of the distinguishing features of our Constitution.

Source: The Federalist: The Gideon Edition, eds. George W. Carey and James McClellan (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001), 362-369.

This is the fourth of eleven essays written by Hamilton defending the Presidency against the “unfairness” of the Antifederalist “representations.” The essay opens with the Antifederalist concern “that a vigorous executive is inconsistent with the genius of republican government.” Hamilton’s response is that “energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good government.” He explores two questions. A) What are the “ingredients which constitute energy in the executive?” B) How far can these ingredients be combined with other ingredients which constitute safety in the republican sense? A) There are four ingredients of energy: I Unity, II Duration, III Adequate Provision for Support, and IV Competent Powers. B) There are two ingredients of republican safety: I “A due dependence on the people,” and II “A due responsibility.”

A) I Unity is “conducive to energy.” “The dictates of reason and good sense,” demonstrate that unity in the executive better secures the goals of “decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch.” A “plurality in the executive” also destroys “responsibility.”


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Within Temptation

Within Temptation - Tanya Holmes Incredibly good read. I loved it!

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Shannon Bradford's mother was murdered. Trace Dawson (Shannon's crush from childhood and best friend) went to prison for that murder.

Fast forward 12 years and Trace is now out of prison and returned to his hometown. Embittered Trace and Shannon believe there are unanswered questions about what really happened that day so many years ago and they are determined to find the answers.

Will love win out in the end? Cannot wait to read the next book in this series.

Emotional, sexual and bitter feelings flood this book until the end, making for a sexy, suspense-filled read.

I highly recommend this book.


November 23, 2017

Long Beach Aquarium tour shows migrating blue whales up close

With adult whales reaching the size of about two buses, the Balaenoptera musculus, as the animals are known by their scientific name, is larger than the largest dinosaur.


On January 3, 2017, Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed a plan that would allow students whose family earns less than $125,000 a year accepted to a city or state university in New York — including two-year community colleges — to attend for free. Under the plan, called the “Excelsior Scholarship”, almost one million middle class families and individuals would qualify to attend college for free.

If the program receives legislative approval, it will be fully implemented by 2019. However, Governor Cuomo plans to begin applying the plan starting fall 2017. I believe the proposed plan would be beneficial in helping college students who come from low-income backgrounds to break out of the cycle of poverty with education.

Hopefully, New York’s approach could become a model for states across the nation. Total student debt in the United States has reached over one trillion dollars, and will continue to rise. Individuals in their early twenties are graduating from school with thousands of dollars in debt.

Technology is advancing quickly, and as the demand for skilled workers rises, many jobs require more than a high school diploma.

According to an article posted on New York State’s official website, in just seven years from now, in 2024, around 3.5 million additional jobs are estimated to require a minimum two years of college.

Studies show that individuals with a bachelor’s degree will likely earn 66 percent more than individuals without a college degree. Expensive colleges that can only be attended by wealthy individuals will continue to increase income inequality.

We need to afford everyone the chance of having a well-paying job, without leaving those who cannot afford high tuition bills behind.

To maintain a strong economy and try to lower unemployment rates, we should help those who come from lower income backgrounds, so they can break out of the cycle of poverty.

In contrast to New York, California Governor Jerry Brown is considering eliminating the state’s “Middle Class Scholarship Program” that provides financial assistance to families with an annual income below $156,000.

The program, which covers up to forty percent of tuition and fees, may be phased out for new students as early as fall 2017 due to recent budget shortfalls.

It’s important that the plan delivers on the high expectations that Governor Cuomo has created. The “Excelsior Scholarship” is estimated to cost around $163 million, but many education officials believe this number is too low.

Although around 940,000 students would qualify, many currently attend private universities and colleges out of state, leaving around two hundred thousand students and families who would benefit.

If New York public colleges were tuition free, fewer students could decide to attend college out-of-state, leading to overcrowding at the state schools.

Education can break someone free from the poverty cycle.

Giving all students the opportunity to receive a college education, regardless of their background, will create a more equitable system to unify an unequal and divided America. The “Excelsior Scholarship” is a step in the right direction.


Iran has formally protested Washington's refusal to grant a visa to its new UN ambassador, saying the move damages international diplomacy and sets a "dangerous" precedent

The U.S. State Department and White House have said that Iran's selection of Hamid Aboutalebi to be its United Nations envoy is not acceptable. Aboutalebi was a member of the group responsible for the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Aboutalebi has insisted his involvement in the group was limited to translation and negotiation.

Iran's UN Mission sent a letter to the UN's Committee on Relations with the Host Country and released a copy of it Monday night. The committee can hold a hearing on the issue but cannot change the U.S. decision.

Iran's letter said the United States was breaching its obligations under the U.S.-UN Host Country Agreement, which is a treaty and U.S. law that generally requires the host country to allow access to diplomats and UN guest speakers.

"The Agreement has unambiguously stated that its provisions shall be 'applicable irrespective of the relations existing between the Governments of the persons referred to in that section and the Government of the United States,"' the Iranian letter said.

"This decision of the U.S. Government has indeed negative implications for multilateral diplomacy and will create a dangerous precedence and affect adversely the work of intergovernmental organizations and activities of their Member-States," said the Iranian letter to the committee and to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The United States has said there are loopholes in the agreement that allow it to refuse a visa to people considered a danger to the United States, or who have been involved in terrorist activities.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Tuesday reiterated that the U.S. deems Aboutalebi's nomination "unacceptable."

"And while we're not going to get into any specifics of what we do or don't think he was involved in during the hostage crisis, he himself has said he was involved, and given his role in the events of 1979, which clearly matter profoundly to the American people, it would be unacceptable for the United States to grant this visa," Psaki said.

A new law passed last week by Congress, but so far not signed by President Barack Obama, would bar Aboutalebi on the grounds of his alleged terrorist connections.

In 1988 the United States refused PLO chairman Yasser Arafat a visa to speak at the General Assembly, in part citing as precedent its refusal of visas throughout the 1980s to proposed Iranian diplomats who were linked to the UN Embassy takeover.


frontline 18.

Jackson Pollock and Abstract Expressionism.

In our regular look at art, Kenny McEwan looks at the work of one of the most original painters of the Twentieth Century – Jackson Pollock.

The name Jackson Pollock conjures up many responses in different people: genius, drunk. innovator, misogynist, socialist, CIA front. All responses have an element of truth in them though, as is usually the case, the truth is much more complicated. Born in 1912 in Cody, Wyoming he was one of five brothers’, two of whom became political activists with one joining the Communist Party whilst Jackson and his brother Charles become painters.

The introduction to left wing politics came through his father. His parents were of Irish/Scottish stock, and his father was a supporter of American Socialist Party leader and Presidential candidate Eugene V Debs and a member of the syndicalist trade-union movement the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

Even after moving to New York in 1930 where he studied with the regionalist painter Benton, he was very impressed with the Mexican muralists Rivera and Siqueiros, in fact in 1936 he helped Siquerios to prepare a float for May Day.

Politically this was an important period for the left in New York as elsewhere. Stalin had won the battle for control of the Soviet Union and Trotsky was fighting a rearguard action, as best as he could, to try and to win the political hearts and minds of the left. The art world was also a battleground in this war. Siqueiros for example was a Stalinist loyalist who was implicated in an assassination attempt on Trotsky, whilst many others sided with Trotsky. In truth this was for many more out of a reaction to the Socialist Realist dictate emanating from Stalin and his cohorts.

Into this political melee came artistic refugees from fascist Europe bringing with them many new and exciting artistic developments. Among those individuals were many surrealists and abstract artists who Pollock now turned to for inspiration.

The 1930s /40s were pivotal decades for Pollock in many respects. First of all his drinking became a real problem, one that would plague him for the rest of his life and lead to many periods of hospitalisation and his eventual death. Secondly he got the opportunity to paint through Roosevelt’s Federal Art Project which not only fed him but also allowed him to develop as an artist. And thirdly he met his wife Lee Krassner a fellow artist and according to some a Trotskyist.

This last event would become the most important in the development of Pollock as an artist, however, at a high cost to Krassner both emotionally and artistically.

Abstract Expressionism

Pollock’s style had been developing along abstract lines along with artists such as De Kooning, Franz Kline and Mark Rothko. Abstraction (see Frontline no 7) is non representational art where shape, line and colour define the painting in a similar way to that in which musical notes define a symphony. Through his wife he met his future benefactor and abstract enthusiast Peggy Guggenheim. Guggenheim, one of the richest women in the world, could well afford to indulge in her hobby, the promotion of abstract art, which at this time was still not particularly well known or liked. She gave Pollock a commission and a stipend for a year as well as an exhibition. This meant that he could indulge in painting without the need to constantly worry about money. He also moved from New York to Long Island, which seemed to free Pollock from a lot of the stress and strain of city living and for a period here he stopped drinking.

It was also at Long Island, however, that Pollock underwent his transformation from abstract artist to abstract expressionist, though in truth it had already started in New York with his Guggenheim commission. For this Pollock moved to a large ‘mural’ sized painting taking up a whole wall and produced a fully abstract expressionist painting, however, he had not yet developed his famous drip technique.

Abstract Expressionism has been described as a truly American art form, however, like most art forms it did not appear out of thin air nor were its antecedents American. Abstract art, as we have already seen, had its origins in the painting’s of the Russian Kandinsky who developed it along with other European and US artists. Similarly expressionism had its origins in German and northern European art of the late 18th early 19th Century. Expressionism as its name suggests tries to incorporate the emotions and feelings of the artist in to the paintings, to that extent this can be found in much earlier works of art. An example of expressionism, however, would be “The Scream” by Edvard Munch (1893) , a very well known painting.

What the New York artists did do was to bring the two together and produce a non-representational expressionism and Pollock was to become the most famous proponent of this art form. Pollock’s style of abstract expressionism is sometimes called ‘action painting’ due to the technique that he developed. He removed the canvas from the wall and tacked it onto the floor where he could move round the canvas much more easily. He then discovered that he could splash or pore the paint directly on to the canvas using the brush to splash paint across the canvas to create patterns. Sometimes he filled in parts of the painting with solid slabs of colour other times he used sticks to paint or even added sand or other material to the paint. To many people this was just a mess that anyone could do and was just throwing paint on to a canvas and calling it a painting. Pollock, however, said the process was deliberate and that he meant the paint to go were it landed. In many respects this is what the surrealists wished to achieve with automatism, producing art that came straight from the unconscious ( see Frontline no 16).

The Cold War

When asked why he painted in this manner he said, “... the modern painter cannot express this age, the aeroplane, the atom bomb, the radio, in the forms of the Renaissance or of any past culture. Each age finds its own technique”. This is an important quotation because abstract expressionism has been described as being apolitical, in fact it was for this reason that the CIA used it as a weapon of the cold war. In the book “Who paid the Piper-The CIA and the Cultural Cold War” Frances Stoner Saunders discovered that the CIA was funding Pollock’s and others art to move the centre of the art world to the US. There is no evidence that Pollock or many others had any idea that this was happening; though it has been suggested that some did. The CIA used a front organisation, the Congress for Cultural Freedom, along with the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations to counter what they saw as the cultural dominance of the left in Europe. Stalin was using Socialist Realism to expound the virtues of socialism on the one hand and on the other Paris was playing host to such left intellectuals as Sartre and Picasso . The CIA saw abstract expressionism as the perfect tool to shift the artistic centre of gravity. For them it expressed freedom, individualism and had no overt political context and in Pollock they had a western ‘pioneer’ as the ideal front man.

In fact this was not the first time that wealthy or political interests have used art to promote its ideals, though it is not usually done covertly. The Medici’s during the Renaissance, the Catholic Church during the Counter Reformation, and the Satchi’s with Brit art, and to one extent or another they were successful. This of course begs the question would Pollock have become so successful without this backing? To a large degree artists have always needed some form of patron to get their work noticed even Michelangelo. Perhaps, though this is not always accurate, a better determinant as to whether they are any good is the test of time.

In any case Pollock continued to paint and exhibit though his period of sobriety was over and he was drinking very heavily again. The old demons were coming back to haunt Pollock. Though he exhibited, abstract expressionism’s period in the sun was being eclipsed by new art forms and the show was moving on. He now fought regularly with Lee and as well as drinking daily was cheating on her. This and Pollock’s technique of standing over a prostrate canvas with a phallic like object dripping paint onto it has lead to a sceptical feminist appraisal of his work. Certainly when he died in a road crash in 1956 his lover was in the car with him, she survived but her friend also died, however, it is also true that by this time he was a mess physically and emotionally.

Bourgeois Art?

The question asked by many on the left is whether or not abstract expressionism is self-indulgent bourgeois art at its most negative. At face value this art form seems to have no reference points for a dialectical analysis. If you look at the historical time period and the aims and ideas of the painter, however, you can get a better understanding of the art. Was Pollock’s reference to the atom bomb accidental and without meaning, or at the start of the nuclear arms race did it indicate Pollock’s and others fear of what could come out of such a race. Artists are not immune to their surroundings, and what goes on round about them generally appears in their art. Also, in and of itself, abstract expressionism has lead to many discussions about the nature of art, emotions, society and how we see the world, something that the ruling class are not too keen on.

Finally, in any case there is nothing wrong with liking art for aesthetic reasons without first having to analyse it to death to see if it fits into a socialist framework.


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By Mohamed Jean Veneuse

As an anarchist and a Muslim, I have witnessed troubled times as a result of extreme divisions that exist between these two identities and communities. To minimize these divisions, I argue for an anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian Islam, an ‘anarca-Islam’, that disrupts two commonly held beliefs: one, that Islam is necessarily authoritarian and capitalist; two, that anarchism is necessarily anti-religious. From this position I offer ‘anarca-Islam’ which I believe can help open-minded (non-essentialist/non-dogmatic) Muslims and anarchists to better understand each other, and therefore to more effectively collaborate in the context of what Richard JF Day has called the ’newest’ social movements.

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Boeing Supplier Lost $54 Million to CEO Fraud

Did you know that Business Email Compromise (BEC), also known as CEO Fraud, is still a threat? And, it’s not just the stolen money that causes executive headaches. It can damage your stock price and reputation with major customers. And, in the case of FACC, it cost the CFO, Minfen Gu, her job.

Here’s what Computer Weekly said about the fraud, announced on January 19th:

A $54m cyber fraud against Austria’s FACC has sent the aircraft supplier’s share price reeling. The company’s share price fell nearly 17% in response to news of the company’s loss, which is one of the greatest losses to date caused by cyber fraud, according to Bloomberg. The loss reported by the supplier to companies such as Boeing and Airbus is way above the average cost of the worst breaches in the UK of between$1.9m and $4.4m, reported by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in 2015.

So, how do you prevent these attacks from succeeding?

In my experience, most companies are over spending on technology to prevent data and money theft while downplaying the people, process, and management aspects. As with FACC, the recent theft of W-2 information from Moneytree was successful mostly because of weak internal processes and poorly trained people. And there’s a lot you can do in these areas for little or no added expense.

Training people to detect and resist attempts to trick them into sending money (or sensitive data) to criminals is a top action everyone should be taking right now. A good approach is to combine a strong internal communications campaign in conjunction with a software-as-a-service anti-phishing testing service, such as PhishMe or one of its competitors. Expect to pay about $20 per user, per year.

On that note, organizations need to make sure their management team fully supports their cybersecurity program, especially first line supervisors. Why? When people hear about their responsibility to prevent cyber crime, their first question will be “is this for real?” and then they will wonder “how will this affect me?” Their supervisor will either encourage people to join the program, or kill it, depending on how they answer.

Finally, people have to feel safe to respectfully challenge any suspicious requests. Otherwise, they will be stuck between the fear of being fired for not immediately complying with the request and the fear of making a big mistake.

What else would you do to protect your organization from CEO Fraud?


Checkers Nr. 1: Checkrs

The Rules

English Checkers:

English draughts (aka American Checkers) is played with two players. Each player has 12 pieces of their color on the big 8 x 8 square board. Moves are only allowed on black spaces and there is always a black space in the bottom-left corner. Pieces are always moved diagonally to the next empty black space. Single pieces may only move forwards. Every move must be played (delaying is not allowed).

If a player meets an opponent’s piece that is not protected by a piece diagonally behind it, then this piece is to be jumped over and removed from the board. Jumps are only to be made forwards. If a further piece can be jumped over then this must be done. If there are multiple opportunities for jumps, no specific jump takes priority. The player can choose which one they want to do.

If a player’s piece reaches the opposite end of the board, it becomes a “king”. The move ends when a piece becomes a king and it is the opponent’s turn again. Like with normal pieces, a king may only move one space, but she may move in every diagonal direction. If the king jumps over an opposing piece she must be placed back on the first space. The king must also jump further if there is an opportunity to do so.

The aim of the game is to remove all of the opponent’s pieces from the board or to block all of the opponent’s pieces.

The rules of other popular international rules for Checkers can be found within the game under “Rules”.

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When can I stop taking Xarelto?

When you can safely stop taking Xarelto (rivaroxaban) depends on why your doctor prescribed it. For instance, if you're taking it to prevent blood clots from forming after joint replacement surgery, your doctor will likely advise you to take Xarelto for 12 days following knee replacement and for 35 days following a hip replacement. However, if you have a condition that poses an ongoing risk of blood clots, you may need to be on Xarelto indefinitely.

Do not stop taking Xarelto without consulting your doctor, since stopping it may put you at risk of stroke.


Amtrak cancels trains in preparation for hurricane

Currently a category 3 hurricane gathering strength near the Bahamas, Irene is expected to be the first major hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since 2008.

The storm is forecast to possibly affect the East Coast as far north as New England. Officials in some coastal North Carolina regions have already begun evacuating residents.

Amtrak said Thursday it "regrets any inconvenience" from the cancellations, but the agency warned "additional cancellations may be necessary in the coming days as the major storm moves north."

Amtrak said it was not yet making any changes to its Northeast service, which is home to its most popular routes.


The World of Science under the Literary Microscope

In recent decades, fiction writers have been creating new kinds of stories about science. They are exploring its practices, concepts, people, institutions, products and societal fall-out. What are the literary and social implications of this trend? What does contemporary fiction have to say about the human dimensions of science? Are its practitioners villains or heroes, drones or creative individuals, recluses or team players—stereotypes or multidimensional characters? Is this new wave of thinking about science in fiction leading to new literary forms? What is its role in science communication? Can a novel, film, or play make science more approachable, or inspire curiosity about scientific concepts?

Fiction Meets Science (FMS) is an academic research program made up of  literary and sociological studies; residencies for fiction writers; book clubs; and public readings and interchanges between humanities, arts, and science communities. We are based in northwestern Germany, but our scholars, writers, and scientists come from around the world.

Are you a scholar interested in this new trend? Then be sure to read the FMS Concept Paper

Are you a reader who likes novels with some intellectual punch? A working scientist or student interested in the philosophical and human dimensions of science? Then be sure to check our growing database of fiction about science.


August 6, 2008

The first project to take advantage of the new opportunity will be "Dino Mom," a 3D animated feature film for the international marketplace that is a collaboration between the Korean animation company Toiion and a producer and screenwriters from the United States.

"The U.S. is widely recognized as having the strongest and most robust system for producing and distributing films, broadcast programming and videogames to a global audience," said GDCA President Byung Heon Kim. "Our entertainment fund will unite this great Hollywood expertise with Korean creativity and technical know-how to produce new content for all to enjoy."

Since the late 1990s, Korean popular entertainment has risen to what many see as the leadership position in East Asia. This surge of interest in Korean films, television dramas, music and products is called Hallyu, the Korean Wave. Motion pictures such as "Old Boy" and "The Host," broadcast series such as "Winter Sonata" and musicians such as Rain have experienced overwhelming success with their high production values and universal themes.

The press conference will take place at Cicada Restaurant (617 S. Olive St. Los Angeles, CA 90014, It is the opening activity of a Gyeonggi-Hollywood Connection Event, where cocktail food and beverages will be served.

 Media RSVP:                             Industry Professional RSVP: Jean Chung/ Richard Lee                 AJ Holiday Better Communications & Consulting      877- 909-7770 213-387-1166/ 213-923-0828              Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

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National Secular Society

Challenging Religious Privilege

Full face veil: should it be banned in public places?

The wearing of the full face veil in public has caused controversy throughout Europe. In some countries bans are being put in place — sometimes complete and sometimes partial — with women being denied access to state offices if they insist on wearing face coverings. Here, NSS Member Des Langford considers the pro and cons of a UK public ban and draws his own personal conclusions.

Arguments in favour of a ban

Women’s rights

There is a strong argument for banning the full face veil (“burka”, “niqab”) on the grounds of the equality and emancipation of women, because many Muslim women are forced or coerced into wearing it by their husbands and family. Clearly this is totally unacceptable in western society. On the other hand there are some women who argue fiercely that they freely choose to wear the full face veil for personal or religious reasons, and their views need to be taken seriously. It is very difficult to determine the proportions of women who are pressurised versus those who make a free choice. This would be a subject worthy of research investigation, although it would be difficult to ascertain the truth, since some women who claim to make a free choice may in reality be doing so through fear or intimidation.

Security and fear

In an era of (largely Muslim) terrorism the security implications of full face covering are very real and serious. If even one terrorist were to achieve his or her aim through the use of the veil as a disguise this could have devastating consequences. Full face veils could also be used to perpetrate other crime- and this applies equally to face coverings such as masks and motor bike helmets. In addition many people feel a fear of those who they cannot see or identify, and this fear is not irrational since criminals and terrorists have a greater incentive than most to hide their identity.

Minority groups such as Muslims need to integrate and communicate in order to be accepted by western society; otherwise there will always be fear and mistrust between different communities. This has been recognised by recent government drives to encourage immigrants to learn English as an essential part of gaining UK citizenship. Human beings communicate and build trust through facial expression as well as verbally. The covering of the face is a significant barrier to communication and trust, and therefore to the integration of Muslim communities in the western world. It is particularly significant because it is only women who wear the face veil, and it is normally women in Muslim communities who are the most isolated and whose opinions are not heard. To the extent that western society communicates with Muslims it is predominantly with men, and the full face veil is a significant barrier to the integration and acceptance of Muslim women.

Offence to the majority

Many westerners feel offended and affronted by the hiding of the face. This is because they feel that the person hiding their face is being secretive and not open. However the rights of the offended need to be balanced against the rights of the individual to exercise their free choice. Being offended is a personal matter and different individuals and groups will take offence at different things. To ban something because it may cause offence to someone sets a very dangerous precedent for civil liberties: no-one has the right not to be offended. It may even play into the hands of the religious fanatic who would like to prescribe many aspects of western society, such as clothing which they perceive as indecent or literature which criticises their religion. This argument is therefore weak and should not be relied upon.

Arguments against

Individual liberty

The principle argument against the banning of anything is that of the civil liberty of the individual to chose- a cornerstone of free western liberal democracy. This is a very weighty argument, and it is right that in a free society the assumption should always be against any ban, unless there are extremely good reasons otherwise. Nevertheless there are cases where bans have been enforced and where such action commands majority support. An obvious case is the banning of harmful drugs, the taking of which have serious consequences not just for the user, but also for society in general. On the other hand alcohol is freely available and permitted, and the majority support this, despite the many adverse consequences caused by anti social behaviour. A recent precedent for a new ban was on smoking in public buildings. This was probably largely due to the health consequences on third parties of passive smoking. The health of the majority (approximately 75% non smokers) was deemed to outweigh the free choice of the minority (approximately 25% smokers) The question is therefore: does the wearing of the full face veil have any significant consequences upon third parties- 99% plus of the population - which would be sufficient to justify the loss of liberty for the few (far less than 1%)?

Discrimination against Muslims

Such a ban might be perceived by some as discriminatory against Muslims. However only a minority of Muslims consider the full face veil to be an essential part of their religion. Therefore it cannot be discriminatory against the religion as a whole. Moreover, such a ban could and should – for reasons of security - be applied to any other form of face covering in public places, such as masks or motor cycle helmets. Such a broad framing of a ban should help to convince moderate and rational Muslims that the ban is not discriminatory.

There is a strong civil liberties argument for insisting that any bans should be exceptional and need to be justified by significant benefit to the majority of citizens. However in this case such strong justification does indeed exist as a result of very real public security concerns. Additional arguments relating to women’s rights and social integration also carry considerable weight. The argument from women’s rights would be considerably strengthened if it could somehow be demonstrated through research that a significant proportion of female wearers of the full face veil come under pressure to do so.

The balance of the arguments suggest that the needs of the many would justify the banning of the full face veil even though this places a limitation on the freedom of the tiny minority who would freely chose to wear it.

The views expressed here are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of the National Secular Society.


DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05196.001

eLife digest

Information is transmitted through the brain by cells called neurons, which are connected into specific circuits and networks. As the brain develops, several different signaling molecules control how the connections between neurons develop. If these signals occur at the wrong time or wrong place, or in the wrong amount, the neurons may not connect in the right way; this is the cause of several brain disorders.

One of the signaling molecules that helps neural circuits to form in the developing brain is the Dscam protein. Having too much Dscam has been linked to neurons with enlarged presynaptic terminals. Presynaptic terminals are the parts of each neuron that send information on to the next cell, and when they are enlarged it results in the neuron not being able to communicate with other neurons in a targeted way. People with brain disorders including Down syndrome, epilepsy and possibly fragile X syndrome often have excessive amounts of Dscam.

It was not known precisely how Dscam signals within neurons. Sterne, Kim and Ye have now investigated this by exploring the effects of Dscam on a group of well-known neurons in the larvae of the fruit fly species Drosophila. The presynaptic terminals of single neurons in this group were labeled in the larvae using a genetic marker. This revealed that the neurons of larvae that had been engineered to produce too much Dscam had larger presynaptic terminals than normal.

Further investigation showed that for Dscam to influence how a presynaptic terminal grows, it must interact with another signaling protein called Abelson tyrosine kinase (or Abl for short). Therefore, the larger presynaptic terminals seen in larvae that produce too much Dscam are a result of the Dscam protein activating too much Abl.

There are several drugs that are approved for use in humans that suppress the activity of Abl. Sterne, Kim and Ye used two of these to treat fruit fly larvae, and found that they reversed the detrimental effects of extra Dscam on the larvae's neural circuit. Furthermore, the drugs fixed neural defects in a fruit fly model designed to reproduce the symptoms of fragile X syndrome.

Overall, the results presented by Sterne, Kim and Ye suggest that suppressing the abnormally high activity of the Abl protein could be a way of treating the brain disorders caused by having excessive amounts of the Dscam protein. The next step is to test whether Dscam and Abl interact in the same way in mammals and whether the proposed treatment is effective in treating mammalian models of disorders that involve dysregulated Dscam signaling.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05196.002

Main text

Dscam levels are increased in the brains of human patients with DS and in mouse models of DS (Saito et al., 2000; Alves-Sampaio et al., 2010). Recent research also suggests that fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) binds directly to the mRNAs of Dscam from mouse brain (Brown et al., 2001; Darnell et al., 2011), and studies in Drosophila neurons further confirmed that FMRP suppresses Dscam translation (Cvetkovska et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2013). In the dendritic arborization (da) neurons in Drosophila larva, Dscam expression level is instructive for presynaptic terminal growth (Kim et al., 2013). Consistent with this, increased Dscam in Drosophila FXS models results in enlarged presynaptic arbors (Kim et al., 2013). These findings indicate the importance of proper Dscam levels in normal development and in the pathogenesis of brain disorders.

Because of the link between increased Dscam expression and neuronal defects in DS and FXS models, targeting Dscam or its signaling mechanism might prove therapeutic for these disorders. Currently, neither methods for targeting Dscam proteins nor those for targeting the signaling pathway activated by dysregulated Dscam are available, impeding the development of such therapies. In fact, very little is known about how Dscam signaling is transduced in vivo. In Drosophila, Dscam has previously been shown to bind to Dock (Schmucker et al., 2000), while in mammals it has been shown to associate with Uncoordinated-5C, Focal adhesion kinase (FAK), Fyn kinase, and PAK1 (Li and Guan, 2004; Purohit et al., 2012). In addition, studies suggest possible genetic interactions between Dscam and the Abelson tyrosine kinase (Abl) in neurite development in the central nervous system (CNS) of Drosophila embryos (Andrews et al., 2008; Yu et al., 2009). However, evidence demonstrating the requirement of these potential interactors for the defects that arise from increased Dscam expression is lacking. Moreover, whether pharmacologically targeting these molecules in vivo might alleviate the effects of increased Dscam expression is unknown.

The evolutionarily conserved Abl kinase transduces extracellular cues into cytoskeletal rearrangements that affect cell motility and shape (Bradley and Koleske, 2009) and is implicated in axonal development, including axon guidance and extension (Wills et al., 1999a; Wills et al., 1999b; Wills et al., 2002; Hsouna et al., 2003; Lee et al., 2004; Forsthoefel et al., 2005). Overexpression of Abl causes increased axon growth in the Drosophila CNS (Leyssen et al., 2005), which is reminiscent of the effect caused by Dscam overexpression in C4da neurons (Kim et al., 2013). In addition, previous studies in Drosophila have indicated that abl mutations have an additive effect with Dscam mutations, such that abl/Dscam double mutant embryos have more severe axon midline crossing defects than either abl or Dscam mutants alone (Andrews et al., 2008; Yu et al., 2009). However, the molecular nature of this interaction, that is, whether or not Dscam acts through Abl, and particularly whether inhibition of Abl mitigates neuronal defects caused by dysregulated Dscam, is unknown.

Here we show that Dscam activates Abl through its cytoplasmic domain, which is required for the presynaptic arbor enlargement caused by dysregulated Dscam expression in vivo. Importantly, we demonstrate that the pharmacological inhibition of Abl ameliorates exuberant presynaptic arbor growth both in flies overexpressing Dscam and in a fly model of FXS.

Results and discussion

We took advantage of the Drosophila larval class IV dendritic arborization (C4da) neurons to delineate the molecular mechanism of Dscam signaling in presynaptic arbor development, because the presynaptic terminal growth of these neurons is highly sensitive to Dscam levels in a linear fashion (Kim et al., 2013). For example, loss of Dscam causes C4da presynaptic terminals to fail to grow while increased Dscam levels lead to increased presynaptic terminal growth (Kim et al., 2013). From tests of candidate genes that potentially mediate Dscam function, including FAK, Fyn, PAK, RhoA, and Abl, we identified Abl as a key molecule mediating Dscam's functions in presynaptic terminal growth. We first asked whether Abl is sufficient to promote presynaptic terminal growth in C4da neurons. Consistent with a previous study performed in Drosophila adult CNS neurons (Leyssen et al., 2005), overexpression of Abl in C4da neurons caused significant overgrowth of the presynaptic terminals (Figure 1A,B,E). Since Abl is known to have both kinase-dependent and kinase-independent functions (Henkemeyer et al., 1990; Schwartzberg et al., 1991; Tybulewicz et al., 1991), we tested whether expression of a kinase-dead form of Abl, Abl-K417N (Henkemeyer et al., 1990; Wills et al., 1999b), could promote presynaptic terminal growth. We found that C4da presynaptic terminals overexpressing Abl-K417N were indistinguishable from wild-type (Figure 1D,E), indicating that Abl kinase activity is required. Consistent with the idea that Abl kinase activation is important, expression of a constitutively active form of Abl, BCR-Abl, led to extremely exuberant overgrowth (Figure 1C,E). Taken together, these results suggest that Abl is sufficient to promote presynaptic terminal growth and that the extent to which Abl instructs presynaptic terminal growth is related to Abl kinase activation.

Since overexpression of Abl increases presynaptic terminal growth, similar to Dscam, we next tested whether Dscam requires Abl to instruct presynaptic terminal growth. For this, we used the mosaic analysis with a repressible cell marker (MARCM) technique to overexpress Dscam in abl1 mutant C4da neurons (Lee and Luo, 2001) and assessed presynaptic terminal length. We found that although Dscam overexpression led to significantly (150%) longer presynaptic terminals than wild-type clones (Figure 1F,G,O), abl1 mutant clones that overexpressed Dscam did not differ in length from abl1 mutant clones (Figure 1H,I,O). Presynaptic terminal length was also subtly but significantly shorter in abl1 mutant clones compared to wild-type controls (Figure 1I,O). A different loss-of-function allele of abl, abl4, exhibited similar effects on the presynaptic overgrowth caused by Dscam overexpression (Figure 1J,K,O), confirming that loss of abl function is responsible for blocking the presynaptic phenotypes caused by increased Dscam levels. As a control, abl loss-of-function mutations did not affect the expression of the Dscam transgenes in the C4da cell body or presynaptic terminals (Figure 1—figure supplement 1).

As a further proof-of-concept, we asked whether loss of abl could mitigate the effects of dysregulated Dscam levels without utilizing Dscam transgenes. FXS is caused by an absence of FMRP (Kremer et al., 1991), and is modeled in Drosophila using loss-of-function mutants for the Drosophila homolog of FMR1, dFMRP (Zhang et al., 2001; Dockendorff et al., 2002). It has previously been shown that FMRP binds to Dscam mRNA in both mammals and Drosophila (Darnell et al., 2011; Cvetkovska et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2013) and that dFMRP represses Dscam expression to control presynaptic terminal growth, so that dFMRP mutants exhibit increased presynaptic terminal length in C4da neurons (Kim et al., 2013). Strikingly, loss of only a single copy of abl significantly rescued presynaptic terminal length to wild-type levels (Figure 1L–N,P). These results suggest that Abl is required for Dscam to instruct presynaptic terminal growth.

An important function of Dscam in neuronal development is to mediate self-avoidance between neurites of the same neuron (Zipursky and Grueber, 2013). Abl does not seem to be required by Dscam for either dendrite growth (Figure 1—figure supplement 2) or for dendritic self-avoidance in C4da neurons. Loss of abl did not compromise the ectopic avoidance caused by overexpressing Dscam in distinct types of da neurons (Hattori et al., 2007; Hughes et al., 2007; Matthews et al., 2007) (Figure 1—figure supplement 3). This suggests a divergence in Dscam signaling for the development of presynaptic terminals and dendritic branches. Taken together, these results indicate that Abl is specifically required for Dscam-mediated presynaptic terminal growth.

Next, we asked how Abl might mediate Dscam signaling. Abl can be activated by binding to specific proteins, such as the cytoplasmic domains of membrane receptors (Bradley and Koleske, 2009). In contrast to the exuberant presynaptic terminal overgrowth caused by Dscam overexpression in C4da neurons (Figure 2A, middle), overexpressing a mutant form of Dscam that lacked most of the cytoplasmic domain (DscamΔCyto) did not cause presynaptic terminal overgrowth (Figure 2A, bottom). DscamΔCyto was trafficked to the axon terminals and expressed at a similar level to full-length Dscam (Figure 2—figure supplement 1). These results suggest that the cytoplasmic domain is required for Dscam to instruct presynaptic terminal growth.

We then asked whether Dscam and Abl physically interact through the Dscam cytoplasmic domain. We found that Dscam and Abl proteins co-immunoprecipitated from transfected Drosophila Schneider 2 (S2) cells expressing these two proteins (Figure 2B, second lane from right). In contrast, DscamΔCyto did not co-immunoprecipitate Abl (Figure 2B, furthest right lane). These results suggest that Dscam and Abl proteins form a complex through Dscam's cytoplasmic domain. Next, to test the in vivo interaction of Dscam and Abl in presynaptic terminals specifically, we determined whether Abl localization in presynaptic terminals was altered by the expression of Dscam or DscamΔCyto (Figure 2C). When expressed alone or with DscamΔCyto::GFP, Abl::Myc was diffusely distributed in the presynaptic terminals, with little colocalization with DscamΔCyto::GFP (Figure 2C, middle and bottom). However, when expressed with Dscam::GFP, Abl::Myc became more punctate and clearly colocalized with Dscam::GFP (Figure 2C, top). We used Manders' Correlation Coefficients to quantify the colocalization of Dscam::GFP and Abl::Myc. Colocalization analysis revealed a significant increase in both M1 and M2 (Figure 2C, bottom right) when Abl::Myc was coexpressed with Dscam::GFP as compared to when Abl::Myc was coexpressed with DscamΔCyto::GFP, where M1 represents the fraction of Abl that overlaps with Dscam, and M2 represents the fraction of Dscam that overlaps with Abl. These findings support the idea that Abl and Dscam interact in presynaptic terminals in vivo.

Do increased Dscam levels activate Abl kinase? In mammals, autophosphorylation of Abl at tyrosines 245 and 412 (Y245 and Y412) stabilizes the active conformation of the kinase (Brasher and Van Etten, 2000; Tanis et al., 2003). As a result, phospho-specific antibodies raised against Y412 have been employed to detect active Abl kinases (Brasher and Van Etten, 2000). This approach has been used successfully to recognize the phosphorylation of the corresponding tyrosines (Y539/522) in Drosophila as an assay for Abl kinase activation (Stevens et al., 2008). Since the ability of Abl to instruct presynaptic terminal growth relies on Abl kinase activity, we tested whether Dscam activates Abl using a phosho-Y412-Abl (p-Abl) antibody. We found that Abl kinase activation was significantly increased (2.6 fold) when Abl and Dscam were co-expressed in S2 cells (Figure 3A). Furthermore, unlike wild-type Dscam, DscamΔCyto did not increase Abl kinase activation. In fact, it appears to act as a dominant-negative, as Abl activity was significantly decreased from control (Figure 3A, right). As a negative control, no signal was detected when the kinase-dead Abl-K417N was blotted with p-Abl antibody in the same assay, suggesting that our assay specifically reported Abl activation (Figure 3—figure supplement 1). These results suggest that Dscam enhances Abl kinase activity. To investigate whether the same is true in presynaptic terminals in vivo, we devised a novel method of reporting Abl activation specifically in C4da presynaptic terminals. To achieve this, we used a previously reported probe that reports Abl activity, Pickles2.31 (Mizutani et al., 2010). Pickles2.31 is composed of a fragment of a characteristic Abl substrate, CrkL, sandwiched between the fluorescent proteins Venus and enhanced CFP (ECFP) (Figure 3B). It has previously been reported that activated Abl phosphorylates Pickles2.31 on the Y207 residue of the CrkL fragment, which can be detected with an antibody against CrkL-phospho-Y207 (p-CrkL) (Mizutani et al., 2010). After expressing Pickles2.31 specifically in C4da neurons with the ppk-Gal4 driver, we dissected the larval CNS and immunoprecipitated Pickles2.31 from the lysates. Since the cell bodies of C4da neurons reside in the body wall, using only the larval CNS allowed us to monitor Pickles2.31 phosphorylation only in the C4da neuron presynaptic terminals (Figure 3C). We found that overexpression of Dscam in C4da neurons led to an increase in Y207 phosphorylation of Pickles2.31 in the presynaptic terminals, while overexpression of DscamΔCyto was indistinguishable from control (mCD8-mRFP) (Figure 3D). Consistent with the notion that Pickles2.31 is an Abl activity indicator, overexpression of BCR-Abl led to a robust increase in phospho-Y207 levels as compared to the control. These results suggest that Dscam activates Abl both in culture and in C4da presynaptic terminals in vivo, and that this activation requires the cytoplasmic domain of Dscam.

These results raised the interesting possibility that targeting Abl might be a viable therapy for brain disorders caused by increased Dscam expression. Abl is a well-established target for treating chronic myeloid leukemia, and there are multiple Abl inhibitors that are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As a proof-of-concept experiment, we attempted to rescue the developmental defects caused by Dscam overexpression using Abl inhibitors. We first tested nilotinib, which is a FDA-approved second-generation Abl kinase inhibitor that can cross the blood–brain barrier (Weisberg et al., 2005; Hebron et al., 2013). Using cultured S2 cells overexpressing Abl, we found that nilotinib robustly inhibited Drosophila Abl (Figure 4A). Based on these results, we tested whether administration of nilotinib to developing larvae could rescue the effects of increased Dscam expression in C4da presynaptic terminals in vivo. To do this, we performed MARCM to visualize single C4da neurons in animals fed nilotinib or vehicle and assessed presynaptic terminal length. While overexpression of Dscam caused increased (152%) presynaptic terminal length in animals fed vehicle (Figure 4B–D), the effect was significantly rescued (to 115% of control) by feeding the animals with nilotinib (Figure 4B,E). Consistent with the idea that these effects were due to inhibition of Abl activity rather than a reduction in Dscam expression, nilotinib did not change the expression of the Dscam transgene (Figure 4—figure supplement 1A).

Administration of nilotinib to developing larvae did not lead to adverse effects on overall development and neuronal growth. At the dose we used, nilotinib did not cause a change in presynaptic terminal growth (Figure 4F) or dendritic growth (Figure 4—figure supplement 2A,B) in wild-type larvae. Moreover, it did not impact the number of adults that eclosed or the dynamics of eclosion when compared to vehicle-fed flies (Figure 4—figure supplement 2C,D).

Although frequently used to inhibit pathological increases in Abl activity in patients, nilotinib is known to have several off-targets, including c-Kit, PDGFR, Arg, NQ02, and DDR1 (Hantschel et al., 2008). Consistent with the idea that nilotinib acts on Abl rather than on an off-target molecule to rescue presynaptic terminal growth, administering nilotinib to larvae overexpressing Dscam in abl1 clones did not lead to a further decrease in presynaptic terminal length when compared to vehicle-fed control (Figure 4—figure supplement 3C,D,G). To further rule out the possibility that the observed rescue of presynaptic terminal length by nilotinib was the result of an off-target effect, we tested bafetinib, another Abl inhibitor with non-overlapping off-targets, Fyn and Lyn (Kimura et al., 2005). Bafetinib has also been shown to cross the blood brain barrier (Santos et al., 2010). Like nilotinib, administration of bafetinib to Dscam-overexpressing larvae led to a significant decrease in presynaptic terminal length (Figure 4—figure supplement 3A,B,F,G) without changing the expression of the Dscam transgene (Figure 4—figure supplement 1B). Bafetinib alone did not change presynaptic terminal length in wild-type larvae when compared to wild-type larvae fed vehicle (Figure 4—figure supplement 3E,G). Taken together, these results suggest that pharmacological inhibition of Abl mitigates the consequences of increased Dscam signaling in vivo.

We next sought to test the efficacy of nilotinib treatment in a model of a disease associated with dysregulated Dscam expression, FXS. Thus, we tested whether administration of nilotinib could rescue the presynaptic overgrowth caused by increased Dscam expression in dFMRP mutants. We found that, while dFMRP mutants fed vehicle showed a significant increase (130%) in presynaptic terminal length (Figure 4B,G), administration of nilotinib to dFMRP mutants almost completely rescued (to 103% of control) the exuberant presynaptic terminal growth to wild-type levels (Figure 4B,H). These results suggest that pharmacological inhibition of Abl kinase is effective for mitigating the effects of increased Dscam level in an in vivo model of FXS.

In this study, we show that Dscam requires Abl to promote presynaptic terminal growth in vivo and that the binding of Abl to the Dscam cytoplasmic domain leads to Abl kinase activation. Furthermore, we show that treating larvae with Abl inhibitors rescues the developmental defects caused by increased Dscam levels in vivo in both Dscam-overexpressing neurons and disease-relevant models. Taken together, these results suggest that Abl is a potential drug target for the treatment of brain disorders associated with dysregulated Dscam expression, including DS and FXS.

Materials and methods

Fly strains

abl1 (Gertler et al., 1989), abl4 (Bennett and Hoffmann, 1992), ppk-Gal4 (Kuo et al., 2005), UAS-Dscam[]::GFP (Yu et al., 2009), UAS-Abl, UAS-BCR-Abl, UAS-Abl-K417N (Wills et al., 1999b), and dFMRPΔ50M (Zhang et al., 2001) were used in this study.

DNA constructs and generation of transgenic flies

To generate pUASTattB-Abl::Myc for expression in S2 cells, the coding region of Abl was recovered from UAS-Abl transgenic flies by PCR, subcloned into pUASTattB-Myc by using the InFusion cloning system following manufacturer's protocol (Clontech, Mountain View, California). We generated pUASTattB-Abl-K417N::Myc by PCR mutagenesis as previously described (O'Donnell and Bashaw, 2013) from pUASTattB-Abl::Myc. UAS-Dscam[]::GFP was previously generated as described (Kim et al., 2013). To generate UAS-DscamΔCyto, the Dscam coding region was digested with SstI and ligated with the GFP cDNA. Pickles2.31 was generously provided by Dr Yusuke Ohba at RIKEN Brain Science Institute (Mizutani et al., 2010). To generate UAS-Pickles2.31, the Pickles2.31 coding region was subcloned from pCAGGS-Pickles2.31 into pUASTattB using the InFusion cloning system following the manufacturer's protocol (Clontech). Transgenic flies carrying UAS-DscamΔCyto, UAS-Abl::Myc, and UAS-Pickles2.31 were generated by germline transformation with support from BestGene, Inc.

Labeling presynaptic terminals using MARCM

The MARCM technique was used to visualize single neurons homozygous for abl1, abl4, or dFMRPΔ50, and overexpressing Dscam[]::GFP as previously described (Kim et al., 2013).

Immunostaining and imaging

Immunostaining of third-instar larvae was accomplished as previously described (Ye et al., 2011). Antibodies used include chicken anti-GFP (Aves, Tigard, Oregon) and rabbit anti-RFP (Rockland, Limerick, Pennsylvania). Samples were dehydrated and mounted with DPX mounting media (Electron Microscopy Sciences, Hatfield, Pennsylvania). Confocal imaging was completed with a Leica SP5 confocal system equipped with a resonant scanner and 63× oil-immersion lens (NA = 1.40). Images were collected and quantified as previously described (Kim et al., 2013).

S2 cell culture and transfection

Drosophila S2 cells were maintained in Drosophila Schneider's medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum at 25°C in a humidified chamber. Cells were transfected with indicated DNA constructs together with tubulin-Gal4 (Lee and Luo, 2001) by using Lipofectamine 2000 (Life Technologies, Grand Island, New York) according to manufacturer's protocol.

Co-immunoprecipitation and Western blotting

To perform co-immunoprecipitation, transfected S2 cells were harvested and lysed on ice with lysis buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl/pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 2 mM sodium vanadate, 10 mM sodium fluoride, 1% Triton X-100, 10% glycerol, 10 mM imidazole and 0.5 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride). Lysates were centrifuged for 15 min at 20,000×g, 4°C and the resulting supernatant was incubated with Protein A/G PLUS-Agarose beads (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Paso Robles, California) conjugated to mouse monoclonal anti-GFP clone 20 (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, Missouri) for 4 hr at 4°C. After washing once with lysis buffer, twice with lysis buffer containing 0.1% deoxycholate, and 3 times with lysis buffer lacking Triton X-100, the immunoprecipitates and total lysates were resolved on 7.5% SDS-PAGE gels followed by western blot analysis as previously described (Kim et al., 2013).

Primary antibodies used in western blotting were mouse monoclonal anti-tubulin (Sigma), mouse anti-Myc (Sigma-Aldrich), mouse monoclonal anti-Aequorea Victoria GFP JL-8 (Clontech), and rabbit anti-phospho-Tyr412-c-Abl (Cell Signaling, Beverly, Massachusetts).

In vivo Abl activity assay with Pickles2.31

To assay in vivo Abl activation, UAS-Pickles2.31 was expressed specifically in C4da neurons using ppk-Gal4 along with other UAS transgenes. The CNS was dissected from third-instar larvae into ice-cold PBS with 2 mM sodium vanadate (∼100 per experimental condition). After a brief centrifugation, larval CNSs were transferred into lysis buffer as described above in immunoprecipitation and western blotting. Cells were disrupted using a pestle followed by brief sonication. Immunoprecipitation and western blotting of Pickles2.31 was then accomplished as described above. Primary antibodies used were rabbit anti-eGFP (a gift from Dr Yang Hong) and rabbit anti-phospho-Tyr 207-CrkL (Cell Signaling).

Drug treatment of Drosophila larvae and S2 cells

Nilotinib (Abcam, United Kingdom) and bafetinib (ApexBio Technology, Houston, Texas) were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) at 94 mM and 50 mM, respectively, as stock solutions before adding to S2 cells or fly food. S2 cells transfected with Abl::Myc were treated with either 5 μM nilotinib or the same volume of DMSO as a vehicle control for 6 hr before harvested and subjected to western blot analysis.

Nilotinib and bafetinib were administered to larvae by rearing the larvae on standard corn meal food containing different concentrations of the drugs. The highest concentrations that did not affect overall larval development were used. Fly viability on nilotinib treatment was performed by counting the number of adult flies. Seven virgin female and seven male flies were crossed and transferred to standard corn meal food containing either 380 μM nilotinib or the same volume of DMSO (0.4% final concentration). Embryos were collected for 24 hr and allowed to develop. Eclosed adult flies were counted on a daily basis.

The MARCM technique was used to generate and visualize mutant single C4da neurons as described above except that Drosophila embryos were collected and raised for 4 days on standard corn meal food containing either 380 μM nilotinib, 125 μM Bafetinib, or 0.4% DMSO. Sample preparation, imaging, and quantification were then completed as described above.

Colocalization analysis

Colocalization of Dscam and Abl was quantified with Manders' Correlation Coefficients using the Just Another Colocalization Plugin (JACoP) (Bolte and Cordelieres, 2006) in ImageJ. Images were analyzed in three dimensions. Manders' Correlation Coefficients vary between 0 and 1, with 0 representing no overlap between images and 1 representing complete colocalization. M1 and M2 describe the overlap of each channel with the other (Bolte and Cordelieres, 2006). M1 presents a measure of the fraction of Abl::Myc that overlaps Dscam(ΔCyto)::GFP, while M2 presents a measure of the fraction of Dscam(ΔCyto)::GFP that overlaps Abl::myc.

Statistical analysis

Two-way student's t- test was used for statistical analysis. *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.01; ***: p < 0.001; ****: p < 0.0001; ns: not significant.

We thank Dr Tzumin Lee for Dscam fly stocks, Dr Yusuke Ohba for the Pickles2.31 cDNA, Dr Yang Hong for the rabbit anti-GFP antibody, and Drs Cheng-yu Lee and Hideyuki Komori for the pUASTattB-Myc vector. This work was supported by grants from NIH (R01MH091186), Protein Folding Disease Initiative of the University of Michigan, and the Pew Scholars Program in the Biological Sciences to BY.

Decision letter

Eunjoon Kim, Reviewing editor, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea

Thank you for sending your work entitled “Dysregulated Dscam levels act through Abelson tyrosine kinase to enlarge presynaptic arbors” for consideration at eLife. Your article has been favorably evaluated by K VijayRaghavan (Senior editor), a Reviewing editor, and three reviewers.

We note key findings of the paper which show that loss of Abl kinase can reduce presynaptic terminal overgrowth caused by DsCAM overexpression, DsCAM intracellular domain can interact and activate Abl kinase and in particular that an FDA approved Abl inhibitor nilotinib can reduce presynaptic overgrowth caused by DsCAM overexpression or in fly dFMRP mutants, which also show increased Dscam expression. An added significance of the work therefore is the potential translational application of Abl inhibitors in treatment of neurological disorders.

General assessment:

CNS phenotypes for Dscam loss or misexpression had been explored in prior work. Andrews et al. (2008) showed that loss of both Dscam and its paralog Dscam3 result in CNS midline crossing defects, and that overexpression of Dscam results in ectopic midline crossings. Yu et al. (2009) showed that RNAi knockdown of Dscam resulted in morphogenesis defects as well as commissureless phenotypes. However, the effects of Dscam loss at axon terminals growth does not appear to have been demonstrated. Overall, this is a well-written and interesting study with some exciting results linking Dscam to a key axonal signalling molecule, even if some aspects of the work are at a preliminary stage.

The conclusion that Abl kinase activity is a relevant output of Dscam in determining presynaptic arbor size is supported by a convincing set of experiments in Figure 1 (and supplements), and this is a real strength of the manuscript. Given how little is known about signal transduction downstream of Dscam, this is significant. Further, the observation that Dscam signaling in regulating presynaptic arbor size and dendrite self-avoidance involves different molecular mechanisms is an interesting discovery. The studies demonstrating that Dscam can interact with Abl and promote Abl activation in S2 cells support the model that Dscam modulates Abl activity in neurons, but demonstrating the interaction in neurons would substantially improve the manuscript. Finally, the authors convincingly show that the Abl pharmacological inhibitor nilotinib can suppress presynaptic arbor overgrowth induced by Dscam or FMRP mutation, but the mechanism of action is unclear. The following substantive concerns need to be addressed.

Substantive concerns:

1a) A principal concern is that data for in vivo specificity of nilotinib on Abl are not convincing. Figure 3B is not interpretable without controls, such as abl(lf) and abl(CA) or DsCAM overexpression. Figure 3C-H, the analyses on the neuronal phenotypes in flies fed with nilotinib are surprisingly limited or selective. The value of using a fly model to test potential drug targets is that we can gain a full understanding of any possible off-target or side effects. Thus, it is equally important that they show other aspects of the neurons and animal health etc. are, or are not, affected by the drug treatment. Moreover, one can't find any data showing how the dose of nilotinib treatment, which would be highly relevant for any further interests in translational application, was decided.

1b) The specificity of the inhibitor is not discussed (or examined). Nilotinib inhibits a number of tyrosine kinases and appears to broadly inhibit tyrosine phosphorylation in larvae. The assertion that the effects on presynaptic arbor size reflect inhibition of Abl activation is not convincing. Do other small molecule inhibitors of Abl exist that have a more targeted effect (i.e., they don't broadly block tyrosine kinases) and if so, do they similarly affect presynaptic arbor growth?

1c) Figure 3. The specificity of nilotinib to Abl in Drosophila is not verified. The decrease in phospho-tyrosine in 3b demonstrates a general decrease in the CNS, and does not necessarily show a specific targeting of Abl. This must be addressed. To demonstrate specificity, a possible experiment is to repeat the experiment shown in 3B in flies that are mutated in the Abl phosphorylation site Tyr412, or simply null for Abl. If nilotinib is specific to blocking phospho-Abl, there should be no difference in p-Tyr levels whether or not nilotinib is added, if Abl phospho-sites are blocked or Abl is missing. However, if addition of nilotinib still results in a decrease in p-Tyr even when Abl phospho-sites are blocked, this suggests nilotinib is having an effect on the catalytic activity of other kinases.

2a) Figure 3. What is the effect of nilotinib treatment in wild-type flies? The results of wild type + nilotinib can be shown in addition to the experiments in 3c-g. It would be very reassuring to see that nilotinib elicits abl-like phenotypes in other parts of the nervous system or elsewhere (e.g. epithelial development in the embryo)—if the drug is selectively blocking Abl, it should phenocopy abl mutants, but not mutants in other kinases.

2b) What is the effect of drug treatment on presynaptic arbor size in a wild type background? It's impossible to evaluate the experimental results without this control.

3a) The data presented suggest that Dscam can associate with Abl and promote Abl phosphorylation, but this is not demonstrated in vivo.

3b) Figure 2. The results shown in panel 2B and 2C demonstrate binding of Abl to the cytoplasmic domain of Dscam in S2 cells using transfected constructs and levels of expression that may contribute to detection of non-physiological interaction. This is important because the fraction of the input pool that IPs with Dscam in cells overexpressing both proteins is rather low. More importantly, they do not show that this binding occurs in vivo, and that even if it does occur in vivo, that this binding is important to axon terminal growth in particular. To determine the role of Abl-Dscam binding in vivo the group should consider performing fluorescence tagging and/or immunolocalization of Abl in the three genetic backgrounds shown in panel 2A (WT, Dscam::GFP OE, Dscam cyto::GFP OE). If there is a bona fide interaction with Dscam at the terminal, co-localization of Abl with Dscam::GFP should be observed. Moreover, if this interaction requires Dscam cytoplasmic domain, expression of Dscam cyto::GFP instead of full- length Dscam should result in a re-distribution of Abl.

4) Figure 1B. The text (second paragraph of the Results section) and the figure legend state that Abl overexpression leads to a pre-synaptic overgrowth phenotype. However, while a defect in the axons is apparent in panel 1B, it is not clear whether this is due to increased growth necessarily. For example, the gross defects could result from fasciculation defects between axons as they enter the CNS neuropil. Indeed, the apparent decrease in mRFP signal intensity in the Abl OE flies raise the possibility that it is not overgrowth, but defasiculation, that is observed in 1B. This is important because Abl has been linked to many receptors/adhesion molecules that may also contribute to the normal neuropil structure for sensory terminals. Abl nulls are not shown to confirm that the phenotypes are only selective to overexpression.

5) Figure 1, general comment. All axon terminal phenotypes shown are for Dscam OE. While Dscam loss phenotypes have been shown in other systems (e.g. midline crossing), it has not been demonstrated for terminal growth. It would be useful to include data on the effects of Dscam loss at the synaptic terminal, as well as genetic experiments on the interaction between Dscam and abl loss of function alleles (as has been done in other systems). If the two genes are in one pathway for sensory terminal growth, then the double null should be indistinguishable from the single mutants. It is curious that Abl mutant terminals look relatively normal. Does this mean that Abl is not required for other receptors or DSCAM under normal expression levels?

6) Figure 1–figure supplement 1A. Dscam-GFP levels in the neuronal soma is shown to be unchanged in abl mutants. However, the observations in the cell body do not rule out the possibility that at the synapse, abl loss could have effects on Dscam levels, perhaps due to changes in Dscam protein trafficking (Abl has been implicated in axon transport by Bill Saxton). Just because abl nulls revert the Dscam OE phenotype, this doesn't prove a downstream function. Abl can be required upstream of Dscam at the synapse. To test this, a parallel analysis of Dscam-GFP could be done at axon terminals to verify that the effect of abl is the same both in the soma and at the presynaptic terminal.

7) The abl C4da dendritic phenotype analysis should be added to the supplemental figures.

8) Figure 2C. There are no data confirming the stability of the Dscam cytoplasmic domain deletion. In fact the recovery in the IP (Figure 2B) is very poor and raises the concern that this receptor mutant is not capable of accumulating to the same concentration in the OE experiment, which could explain the lack of an in vivo OE phenotype in a way that does not support requirement of the Cyto domain. Moreover, why is full-length Dscam detected as a doublet? Can this be explained by cleavage, phosphorylation, etc.?

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05196.015

Author response


Picture of Panel Discussion on Obamacare Decision (MP3 Download)

Panel Discussion on Obamacare Decision (MP3 Download)

By Paul Beard, Yaron Brook, Peter LePort and Richard E. Ralston

In June 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court surprised most observers by upholding Obamacare’s individual mandate. Led by Chief Justice Roberts, who appeared to switch his vote at the last minute, the Court held that the mandate, while not a legitimate exercise of Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce, is nonetheless a tax. Congress, in other words, may not force people to engage in commerce, but it may tax their non-engagement in commerce. At the same time, the Court held that the law’s requirement that states substantially increase their Medicare coverage was an unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s spending power. Both aspects of the decision came as a shock to most commentators, who, following oral arguments in the case, expected the Court to strike down the mandate and uphold the Medicare provisions. What did the Court do and why? What are the constitutional implications of the decision? Is there a silver lining, as many on the right have claimed? Members of this panel analyze the decision from the perspectives of law, philosophy, politics, and medicine. They address the decision’s implications for the November elections and the political scene going forward and they explain the impact of the decision and the Affordable Care Act for the medical profession and health insurance industry. Panelists include Dr. Yaron Brook of ARI, Dr. Peter LePort, a practicing surgeon, Richard E. Ralston of ARI and Americans for Free Choice in Medicine, and attorney Paul Beard of the Pacific Legal Foundation. Steve Simpson of the Institute for Justice moderates.

This panel was recorded at the 2012 Objectivist Summer Conference in San Diego, CA.

(MP3 download; 1 hr., 33 min., 63.5 MB)

Listen to a Preview:


45 CFR 1170.46 - Financial and employment assistance to students.

§ 1170.46 Financial and employment assistance to students.

(a) Provision of financial assistance.

(i) On the basis of handicap, provide less assistance than is provided to nonhandicapped persons, limit eligibility for assistance, or otherwise discriminate or

(ii) Assist any entity or person that provides assistance to any of the recipient's students in a manner that discriminates against qualified handicapped persons on the basis of handicap.

(b) Assistance in making available outside employment. A recipient that assists any agency, organization, or person in providing employment opportunities to any of its students shall assure itself that such employment opportunities, as a whole, are made available in a manner that would not violate subpart C if they were provided by the recipient.

United States Code


Fragmentation of Atlantic Forest has not affected gene flow of a widespread seed-dispersing bat

Correspondence: Eve S. McCulloch, Fax: (225) 578-2597; E-mail:

Habitat loss and resultant fragmentation are major threats to biodiversity, particularly in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. It is increasingly urgent to understand fragmentation effects, which are often complex and vary across taxa, time and space. We determined whether recent fragmentation of Atlantic forest is causing population subdivision in a widespread and important Neotropical seed disperser: Artibeus lituratus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae). Genetic structure within highly fragmented forest in Paraguay was compared to that in mostly contiguous forest in neighbouring Misiones, Argentina. Further, observed genetic structure across the fragmented landscape was compared with expected levels of structure for similar time spans in realistic simulated landscapes under different degrees of reduction in gene flow. If fragmentation significantly reduced successful dispersal, greater population differentiation and stronger isolation by distance would be expected in the fragmented than in the continuous landscape, and genetic structure in the fragmented landscape should be similar to structure for simulated landscapes where dispersal had been substantially reduced. Instead, little genetic differentiation was observed, and no significant correlation was found between genetic and geographic distance in fragmented or continuous landscapes. Furthermore, comparison of empirical and simulated landscapes indicated empirical results were consistent with regular long-distance dispersal and high migration rates. Our results suggest maintenance of high gene flow for this relatively mobile and generalist species, which could be preventing or significantly delaying reduction in population connectivity in fragmented habitat. Our conclusions apply to A. lituratus in Interior Atlantic Forest, and do not contradict broad evidence that habitat fragmentation is contributing to extinction of populations and species, and poses a threat to biodiversity worldwide.


R.I.P, TANF Emergency Fund

R.I.P, TANF EMERGENCY FUND…. Readers probably got tired of my reports on one of the most effective federal jobs programs in recent memory, but it was my hope the Senate would find a way to keep it alive. As usually happens when counting on the Senate, those hopes were in vain.

“The majority has known this program was going to expire at the end of this month all year and has taken no steps to reauthorize this important social safety net program,” said Enzi, who blocked Durbin’s request for “unanimous consent” for a reauthorization.

Regardless, what difference does it make when and how often it’s come up? If Enzi agrees that this is an “important social safety net program,” then why the hell did he feel it necessary to let it die?

And we’ll once again face an ironic dynamic: Americans will get frustrated with Democrats over more job losses, instead of the Republicans responsible for killing an effective program that kept tens of thousands on the job.


Avoid Palm Oil when buying Easter Eggs

Did you know that approximately 50% of products on supermarket shelves contain palm oil? What's more, Easter-related products are a haven for sneaky palm oil.

So how do you avoid it?

These are a few brands we know of that are palm oil free or have certain products that are:

- Haigh's Chocolate blocks

- Whittaker's

- Pana Chocolate

- Lindt & Sprungli – Lindt Excellence and Lindt Creation chocolate blocks (Note that filled products such as Lindor do contain palm oil)

- Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate blocks – Dairy Milk, Old Gold, Dream

- Aldi Stores: Choceur, Just Organics, Moser-Roth

What about Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO)?

The key is to know how to identify palm oil in a product (read the post below for more on this) and if it does contain palm oil, but has no reference to being certified 100% segregated, or 100% identity preserved, then think about choosing another product.

READ MORE: What's the deal with palm oil labelling? How to identify palm oil

READ MORE: Eggcellent: How to make this Easter a sustainable one.

Why is palm oil such a big issue?

READ MORE: The Union of Concerned Scientists explain the link between climate change and Palm Oil.

Here are some tips to cut palm oil out of your life thanks to 1MW contributor, Hannah Colless:

Eat whole foods - Boycott packaged food as much as humanly possible. Once upon a time, people would be able to see every ingredient in their meals – vegetables, meat, nuts etc. Fast food and the pre-packaged food has led us down a dark path where many of us consume all sorts of unhealthy, unethical, barely edible products on a daily basis. The simplest thing to do is eat real food.

Choose products that contain clearly labelled oils, such as 100-percent sunflower oil, corn oil, olive oil, coconut oil or canola oil. Palm oil is often disguised as 'vegetable oil'.

READ MORE: What do lipstick, pizza dough, and Indonesia have in common?

Avoid ingredients with the word palm in it - including palmitate, palmitoyl, or simply palm. These will all contain palm oil.

Google it – if you're unsure of whether a product contains palm oil Google the product followed by the words 'palm oil' and often you can find the answer in a few clicks.

Use the Palm Oil Investigations app - An Australian not-for-profit has created a free product barcode scanner app for smart phones that reveals any unregulated palm oil ingredients. It's easy enough to use in the supermarket, and when a 'fail' is noted, another suggested product is recommended instead. Just type Palm Oil Investigations into iTunes, or click here for Android.

Check the saturated fat percentage - If more than 40% of a product's fat content is of the saturated variety, it most likely contains palm oil.

Images: Shutterstock

READ THIS NEXT: How to identify palm oil in the supermarket.

Shea Hogarth International Correspondent Suggest an article Send us an email

Recent Blog Articles


CANTON, Mich. -- This will not be easy.

Coaches -- and thereby competitors, were given a look Wednesday at the lane graph for the national championship tournament, which will get under way Thursday morning at Super Bowl Lanes.

Think of the lane graph like a course book in golf. It gives the competitors a look at the hazards they'll face. Unlike golf however, those hazards aren't visible to the naked eye.

The lanes are dressed with oil -- sometimes called lane conditioner. When the ball hits the oil, it acts like a car tire trying to gain traction on ice. The more oil the ball comes in contact with, the more the ball will skid, or go straight. When the ball hits a dry area, it creates friction and the ball will hook -- or curve -- in the same direction as the rotation of the ball (usually left to right for lefties and from right to left for righties).

Ideally, competitors are looking for heavier oil in the front part of the lane and less in the back so the ball will save its energy to the end of the shot, therefore hitting the pins harder when it reaches them.

The oil pattern this week is 42 feet long -- that's a few feet longer than your normal "house shot" pattern -- with heavy oil across the lane in the first 10 feet and oil across the lane with the exception of just the first board on each side of the lane. There is more oil in the center of the lane, which give the players a bit of forgivness, but it's nowhere near the ratio of a common house condition.

In short, the players will have to be accurate and will have to be able to repeat shots -- under pressure -- in order to be successful.


MTV UK Renames Cornrows ‘Boxer Braids’ … Because Appropriation

And got dragged for doing so.

Trash MTV UK via Twitter

You know what? People need to learn how to pay homage or not talk about a hairstyle at all.

For the record, Kim Kardashian is not the first chick to rock cornrows. And what the f–k is a “boxer braid”?

Once again, a mainstream outlet—MTV UK—tried it and felt the need to appropriate something that black people have been rocking for decades. But this time, social media wasn’t having it.

Let the dragging commence:


As the Chief Experience Officer for Citizen, a Portland based technology consulting firm, Sce Pike determines what consumers need to help the industries giants improve user experience.

At TechFestNW on Saturday,  Pike says she thinks it's feasible to have an Internet of Things (where electronics have their own presence online), and that artificial intelligence might be the key to its success.

Yes, like the kind in the movie HER.

The technology that Pike envisions would cut out human effort in managing IOT technology by connecting devices and managing them behind the scenes. It would automatically learn patterns and automate tasks. It would adapt to disruptions in those patterns and work around them. Whatâs more, it would anticipate new habits or changes in patterns and program for them before they actually happen.

âIf you could actually have an agent that works on your behalf and can report back to you on itâs insights and patterns and whatâs itâs going to predict next,â Pike says,âthat would be fascinating.â

Pike isnât working on this technology herself. In her job at Citizen, she develops user experience strategies for companies like Intel, AT&T, Disney and Samsung. She joined the team in 2010 after the company, started in the basement woodshop of founder Drew Klonsky 14 years ago, acquired her last venture Quantum Mobility Solutions in 2010.

Sheâs also the president of a Portland company called IOTAS, a smart home technology company set to unveil the countryâs first residential building that responds to IOT technology in November.

But  there are a few pressing roadblocks the tech industry must overcome before the AI reality is accomplished, Pike says. Namely: user value, privacy rights, and creating a standard language for technology to talk to each other, and actually accomplish IOT connections.

Currently, Pike says the technology industry focuses on creating new products instead of focusing on the value behind why that product was made.

âEverybody is building things because they can,â she says. âTheyâre not really thinking about why should the users care.â

She also emphasized the need to regulate online privacy across countries, and cited Europeâs newly created Right to Be Forgotten act as an example of bad policy, and as a hiccup in standardizing global outlook toward privacy boundaries.

âIn this new future there is going to be a lot of information being exchanged real time on a transactional basis,â she said about the need to adapt policy to keep up with technology. âRight now, privacy is all the rage.â

Another major hurdle, Pike says, is consolidating technical languages into one voice, allowing technologies to connect with one another.

âItâs a very very messy world right now in the Internet Of Things,â she says. âWhat is the next step? Itâs really to get the things that we are building to say hello to each other. Right now, they donât speak the same language.â

If we can solve those problems, Pike thinks IOT technology has the potential to surpass that prediction.

âI am an optimist about the internet of things. I think that there is true value that we can get out of the internet of things if we can solve these three issues,â Pike says. âIt wonât happen overnight...but I think the opportunity is tremendous. There is so much thatâs needed right now.â