After Two Years Scientists Still Can?t Solve Belly Button Mystery, Continue Navel-Gazing

This is a confession. I started out as a respectable sort of ecologist studying rain forests and then at some point my road turned and I ended up where I am today, lost among the belly buttons.

I know how it happened. Two years ago we began to focus much of our lab?s work on engaging the public. One way to make science public is to work with people to study their own lives (see yourwildlife.org). This is just what we did. Spurred by the idea of an undergraduate student, Britn? Hackett and the microbiological skills of a postdoc, Jiri Hulcr (and funded by a grant from the?Howard Hughes Medical Institute), we went boldly where few had dared or really wanted to go before: into the navel. We saw piercings, an infection or two, lint, and more hair than we were comfortable with. It was innocent, or at least it started out that way.

Image 1. We boldly went where few scientists have dared before: into the umbilicus. We promise you, they don?t always look this nice. ?[Photo by Jalb, Flickr Creative Commons].

The idea was simple. We would culture the bacteria of people?s belly buttons to provide folks with a visual measure of the life on them, a reminder of the mysteries everywhere. Then we noticed something more serious. It might have been a good moment at which to turn back, but collectively our crew seems ?to lack that capacity so we stormed ahead, deeper into the squishy unknown.

We quickly found that peoples? belly buttons differed in terms of which species live in them. They differed more than we expected. We were intrigued and so we decided to get a little more serious about our study. We teamed up with?Noah Fierer (who I have still never actually met in person) to use molecular approaches to compile more complete lists of the species living in people?s belly buttons. This is when things got weirder.? We expected that in employing this more complete method of sampling that the species in different belly buttons would become more similar from one belly button to the next (as we got a more complete sample of who was present in each). They got more different.

We began to more seriously wonder what explained the differences from one person to the next. We were finding hundreds and then thousands of species, many of which appear new to science. They included strange species, such as one species found on my body that appears to prefer to break down pesticides. One can imagine many possibilities and over coffees and beers, we did. We started reading up on the many things we did not know about belly buttons. We asked dumb questions in order (we hoped) to be able to ask smarter questions. At one particularly dark juncture I asked?primatologist Ann Yoder if I could sample her?belly buttons. This was followed by an awkward moment during which I had to explain that I meant the belly buttons of the lemurs she studies and then an even more awkward moment when she politely pointed out that lemurs don?t really have belly buttons. At each turn, we were more ignorant than we thought, and yet at each turn the bacteria on skin (including the belly button) seemed more important. More and more studies seem to point to the conclusion that diverse skin microbiota helps us defend against pathogens and may forestall some immune dysfunctions (including allergies). The composition of our bacteria may even influence how we date and mate. But what determines which bacteria we have, which life forms are dividing on you as you read?

We solicited even more involvement?more students to help with research, more petri dishes and, more ideas from participants, and, of course, more belly buttons. People helped. Shirts were lifted. Swabs were inserted and wiggled about. The Internal Review Board at North Carolina State University was consulted again and again; they giggled and obliged. Belly buttons were a new horizon for them as well.

We wanted to engage as many people as we could in the endeavor, but we?d also become really curious about the causes of the differences in belly button bacteria among people. One can imagine many factors that influence which bacteria are on your skin; whether you were born c-section or vaginally, gender, age, weight, whether you are an innie or an outie, whether you live in a city or the country, what climate you live in, whether or not you have a dog, and maybe even where you grew up or where your mother lived when she was pregnant with you.

As we looked at belly buttons we saw a terrible, yawning, richness of life. ?The average belly button hosted 50 or so species and across belly buttons we found thousands of species (and as we sample more belly buttons, we continue to find more species). The vast majority of these species are rare. Right away something struck an ecological chord. The belly buttons reminded me of rain forests. In some tropical rain forests, even though there are many species of trees, a few species are both present in most forests and common when present. Those species have been called oligarchs; the belly buttons seemed to also have oligarchs too.

If we took two groups of people?in our case one group was participants from Science Online 2011, the other was visitors to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences?the frequency of bacterial species in one sample predicted its frequency in the second. For example, if a species of Staphylococcus was found on many people at Science Online, it was also found on many people at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (e.g., check out ?portraits? of the different groups we?ve studied so far and compare for yourself here). These were the oligarchs. ?Conversely, infrequent species tended to always be infrequent. If a species was found on very few individuals at Science Online, the odds were that it would also be found on very few people visiting the Museum of Natural Sciences. In fact, the frequency of species at Science Online predicted most of the variation of the frequency of species in the Museum of Natural Sciences sample (and vice versa). The most frequent species also tended to be the most abundant (at least by our crude measure of abundance, the number of ?reads? of a particular form in our genetic analyses). Even if we couldn?t predict which species you would have, we could make predictions about which species were most and least likely in general.

Fewer than a dozen oligarchs accounted for the vast majority of the occurrences and abundance of bacteria in our study. And so while there are many, many, species found in belly buttons, a teeny subset seems to matter disproportionately. These abundant, frequent forms also tend to come from fewer evolutionary lines than we might expect by chance. Overall the species that can be found in our navels seem to come from all over the evolutionary tree of microbes, whereas those that are abundant and frequent are from a narrower subset of lineages, the clans with specific adaptations for the dry, nutrient poor desert that is your body (e.g., see species highlighted here).

Image 2: Portraits of belly button oligarchs. Clockwise from top left: Micrococcus, Clostridia, Bacillus, Staphylococcus [Photo by Neil McCoy]

There were other discoveries too. One participant self-reported he had not washed in years (On its own, this was a ?find,? though not really the type we anticipated). Interestingly, he was one of just two people on which we found not only Bacteria but also Archaea; he hosted two species! We would love to sample (albeit with longer swabs) more folks who never wash. Such individuals are probably more representative of the state in which our bodies existed until a few generations ago when it became popular to bathe regularly. In other words, our one bathless participant is closer to being like a king or queen of ole than the rest of us will ever be. Maybe we need to go to Burning Man to find others of the hygienic royalty.

All of this is what we report on in our new paper in PLOS ONE, but I?d like to tell you what is not in the paper, our real problem, the rest of the story. While it is interesting to be able to predict which species of bacteria are frequent and/or abundant in belly buttons in general, what we cannot seem to account for is which species are present in any particular belly button, say that of Carl Zimmer (who has written about his own hairy nub here). We would love to know what accounts for why I have a belly button dominated by one set of species and Carl Zimmer has a belly button dominated by another. This should be easy to figure out. We can test for whether the differences in belly button bacteria tend to be associated with other differences in peoples lives.

Mandi Traud in my lab has started to do this work; Mandi is a biomathematician, she looks at the living landscape outside her window and sees ones and zeros. She looks at belly buttons and sees more of the same. As Mandi started to consider the ones and zeros of the belly button data she saw something very intriguing that then led us down a rabbit hole from which we have not yet escaped. ?Mandi did an analysis in which she examined whether individuals could be grouped into clusters according to the composition of their belly button bacteria. You can see an example of Mandi?s analyses below. Overall, across many different analyses, Mandi tends to find that people cluster into groups based on their bacterial species. Some people?s belly buttons have beech forests, or at least their bacterial cognates, others have maple forests. We suspect those different forests work in different ways, which is testable though we haven?t yet done the test. ?That is the cool part. The not cool part is that none of the variables we have considered appear to explain these different groups; not age, not gender, not ethnicity, not innie vs. outie, not where you live now, not where you grew up, not whether or not you have a dog. No, no, no, none of it. We see hints of things (a hint, for example, of an influence of the region you grew up in), but such hints have so far proven illusory and depend on just how we run the analysis. They have taken us down long roads only to circle back around to where we began, the stubby knot of the umbilical cord.

Image 3: In this image, each red circle is a person (or really, a person?s belly button). The lines represent bacteria species shared among people, the darker the lines the more species are shared. Network analysis suggests there seem to be at least two basic types of people, according to their belly button bacteria. If bacteria were trees, this is analogous to their being some people with beach forests in their navels and others with maple forests. This much is true, we just can?t say why.

We have now sampled more belly buttons in the hope that in seeing more variety we might be able to disentangle what is going on. ?Instead of the 66 samples we included in our first paper, or the 300 we have now, we will soon have over 600 samples of people processed, people from all over North America. With this variety, we may well begin to explain the differences among people in terms of the intimate forests of their umbilicus. On the other hand, we may still be unable to account for our differences; it may be that part of what determines who lives on you is stochastic, a fancy scientific word for what happens when fate and the universe?s contingencies come together in your navel. And of course although everything I have said so far is confined to the navel, we look to the navel as an example of the skin more generally. The same mysteries lurk in ears, noses, eyebrows, toenails and especially armpits (armpits are the body?s real antipodes, where few have really gone before). Although we have come to understand how we inherent our precise genetic make-up we are still a long way from explaining the composition of the much greater diversity of genes on you, the genes of your microbes.We know these species are important; they affect your health and odor each and every day. We just don?t have a clue what determines who they are, yet.

Note: If you would like to be involved in our studies in the future, you can sign up at yourwildlife.org to be on our email list. We are now seeking participants for studies of ants in backyards, camel crickets in basements, bacteria all around your house and more. Armpit exploration is on the horizon, as may be more belly button sampling if?when we finish our next batch of samples (we are always much slower than we hope to be)?we see more clues as to just what is going on. For more context on some of these projects and what we and others have found in other realms of our everyday life see www.robrdunn.com.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=40bf02ac1e82610d1438957a6e9abe6a

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Internet Entrepreneur Carey Ransom Keynotes TechBiz Connection ...

PRLog (Press Release) - Nov 06, 2012 -
IRVINE, Calif. ? Celebrating 10 years of hosting networking and educational events for the Southern California business and technology community, TechBiz Connection will feature a presentation by Carey Ransom on how his family?s 140 year-old business inspired his successful career as an entrepreneur on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM at the law offices of Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear in Irvine.

Carey Ransom has been involved as a CEO, co-founder, founder and senior executive in seven companies in eight years in Orange County, with well over $100 million in venture capital raised among them, and both successes and failures. He believes in the founder attitude: a commitment, ownership and passion that drives him whether he starts or joins a company. Most recently he led and sold RealPractice, funded by Miramar Venture Partners and Rustic Canyon Partners, to ReachLocal, after joining the company in 2009 as CEO to find the next phase of growth opportunity for it. Mr. Ransom is a Midwest transplant to Southern California, and attributes much of his success and attitude to his background in his family's 140 year old retail business. He will discuss his story, the many faces of entrepreneurship and how to be a founder.

The moderator will be Bart Greenberg, a partner in Haynes and Boone's Orange County office, where he practices general corporate law with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financings and the cost-effective representation of entrepreneurs, start-ups and emerging technology companies. He ?is also a strong contributor to the community by his tireless support and active involvement in many local technology organizations, including, among others, Tech Coast Venture Network, where he currently serves as its chairman emeritus; TechBiz Connection, where he currently serves on its board; Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics, where he currently serves on its board; and the Digital Media Center in Santa Ana, California, where he currently serves on its advisory board. Mr. Greenberg is also an active participant on Quora.

The TBC Forum?s discussion and subsequent question-and-answer session is sponsored by Daly-Swartz Public Relations (http://www.dsprel.com); Haynes and Boone LLP (http://haynesboone.com; Latisys (http://www.latisys.com); Septium Corp.(http://www.septium.com); Smith Micro (http://www.smithmicro.com); and Knobbe Martens, Olson & Bear (http://www.kmob.com).

Admission to the TechBiz Connection event is $20 prepaid and $40 at the door. For further information and RSVP, visit http://www.techbizconnection.org or e-mail president@techbizconnection.org.

TechBiz Connection (http://www.techbizconnection.org) was created to support Southern California business and technology professionals, companies and entrepreneurs by providing timely education and networking opportunities. The organization focuses on where technology and business intersect; everything a successful high-tech company would want to do.

Contact: Daly-Swartz PR for TechBiz Connection

Jeffrey Swartz, 949-470-0075

jeffreyswartz@dsprel.com

Source: http://www.prlog.org/12017444-internet-entrepreneur-carey-ransom-keynotes-techbiz-connection-forum-on-corporate-ownership.html

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Kimberly Van Der Beek?s Blog: Why Californians Should Vote Yes on Prop 37

With Prop 37 on the California ballot asking for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be labeled, genetically modified ingredients have become a huge topic of conversation around households all over California. I called Robyn O'Brien and found out why this conversation is important for all of us moms and dads across the country.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/B-NxhotqYMk/

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Facebook's iPhone App Now Lets You Send Friends Real-World Gifts [HANDS-ON]

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/facebooks-iphone-app-now-lets-send-friends-real-210423978.html

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Psychic Eye - Online Degree Reviews

In this post we are going to speak about the psychic eye. Now, before we start, I?d like to advise people reading this NOT to get as well caught up in terminology and jargon. Why? It simply More than complicates very fundamental ideas and is sort of put out there by people who are trying to mislead you with exotic terminologies rather than instructive info. Read on as I clarify!

Filed Below: Some Basic Definitions

The psychic eye merely refers to the opening of awareness. Most folks will agree it originates from the Hindu Chakra method of energy systems within the human physique that when they are ?opened?, give the recipient a series of powers or abilities that were previously dormant. Now, that is the ?mythology? so to speak of the term. But in actual globe application, it is simply the cultivation of psychic talents that are either created through effort or determination?.or in SOME lucky people, the simple ?nudging along? of what are already inherently strong and potent sensitivities that they were born with.

Make NO error. You have the ability to cultivate your personal psychic expertise. It is NOT a query of simply getting born with them?or not. We are Each born with the ability to discover math, for example. Some may be more naturally predisposed to be Truly good with math (NOT me!) than other individuals, but to say that only a globe class mathematician can perform math is certainly Really foolish. It is the exact same thing here. There are these who are born with more natural skills that are a lot more effortlessly refined than other individuals, but the ?psychic eye? is a HUMAN trait, hardwired into our spiritual circuitboards. To open it you do NOT have to study eastern philosophy or reside in cave..:-) You just want to embrace the mystery, and OPEN oneself to the phenomenal currents of awareness, ALIVENESS and energy that is waiting for you to tap into and discover?:-)

Filed: Psychic
tags: Eye, learn, Psychic
Posted by: Anke

Source: http://www.aolage.com/reference-and-educati/psychic/psychic-eye-what-is-the-psychic-eye-and-how-can-i-learn-it/

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Green Blog: Amid Downed Trees, Grief and Awe at the Botanical Garden

When a mammoth storm churned across New York City a week ago, some of the tallest denizens took much of the brunt. The city?s Department of Parks and Recreation says that downed trees accounted for 12,000 of some 18,000 service requests submitted by New Yorkers after the worst weather had passed, and officials expect to record more as cleanup efforts advance.

Branches sprawled across streets and sidewalks were a common sight across much of the city, a reminder that that they are very much a part of the urban landscape. Yet New York?s more bucolic sanctuaries were nonetheless where much of the worst damage took place.

Among them was the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, which counted over 100 downed trees, including many ancient oaks, as well as several hundred trees that sustained severe wind damage. ?Red, black and white oaks are a major loss because we are really a tree-covered landscape,? says Margaret Falk, associate vice president for landscape, gardens and living collections at the 250-acre site.

Particularly mourned was a 101-foot red oak thought to be around 200 years old that toppled in the hillside azalea garden, whose blooms thrive in the shade of large trees. ?Its trunk was 36 inches in diameter, so you couldn?t even get your arms around it,? said Ms. Falk, who said she was sad to see it go.

Ultimately, though, it was the botanical garden?s old-growth forest that took the worst hit. The 50-acre expanse in the botanical garden?s center represents the last vestige of the natural forest that covered the city for thousands of years before humans sawed their way through it. In a restoration effort, researchers have been planting saplings that were propagated from seeds collected from the forest floor amid the remaining oaks.

But in this close-knit tree community, one felled tree can spell disaster for others. When the storm swept through, it caught the tallest one in the forest?s high canopy, which then brought dozens of trees down with it. ?You have a domino effect of one tree falling down and knocking over other trees as it goes,? Ms. Falk said. Still, canopy gaps allow sunlight to filter in and nurture new young plants. Researchers will therefore be watching the native forest closely, noting which species regenerate naturally and planting saplings to fill in the gaps.

At this stage, it is hard to say whether the botanical garden fared any worse than other wooded parts of New York City. One feature that might have intensified the storm?s impact, however, is the site?s hilly territory. ?We have a beautiful landscape left behind by the glaciers, so we have a lot of ridges and valleys and slopes,? Ms. Falk said. Plants on the ridges were among the first to go.

It?s interesting to note how different kinds of storms affect different plants. Last year?s October snowstorm weighed so heavily on the garden?s magnolia trees that they lost large branches. This year, the high wind load caught the tallest and in some cases seemingly the strongest trees. Oaks, pines, spruces and firs all felt the storm?s wrath to a greater extent than the garden?s other plants.

Restoring the botanical garden will take many weeks, the staff says. Branches that block pathways or put visitors at risk will be composted or repurposed as garden benches.

Yet the red oak will be left where it fell. Ms. Falk said that researchers might take the unexpected opportunity to count its rings and establish its age once and for all. After that, the oak will remain in the cycle of life of the old-growth forest. ?The nutrients locked up will add to the growth of the forest and provide animal habitat,? Ms. Falk said.

Amid the grief of seeing so many trees destroyed, she said, the storm left her with a sense of awe. Seeing a tree like the red oak uprooted is one way to appreciate how immense it actually is, Ms. Falk said. ?When a tree that size falls over,? she said, ?it makes you appreciate how tough trees are in fact ? that they can get to that size.?

Yet in an instant, an unexpectedly high wind takes the tree farther than its roots can hold it to the forest floor, and its descent becomes part of a process of regeneration. ?Storms are part of the life of a living forest,? she said.

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/05/amid-downed-trees-grief-and-awe-at-the-botanical-garden/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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FnO Tips - Indian Stocks NSE BSE Free Intraday Daytrading BTST ...

Hot Stocks from Tipz.in for 5th Nov 2012
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Source: http://finance.tipz.in/2012/11/union-bank-of-india.html

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October Wine of the Month Cellar Notes - Vino! A Wine Shop > Wine ...

Award Series ? Under $15

RED ? 2011 Dom La Guintrandy C?tes-du-Rh?ne, France
$12.95 This Domaine in the south of France has been owned by the
Cuilleras family since 1850. Their blend of 70% Grenache, 20% Carignan,
and 10% Syrah offers generous aromas reminiscent of violets
and concord grapes, then flavors open with rich juicy blackberry and
supple black raspberry. The texture is smooth and broad transmitting
exceptional depth and complexity for a wine at this price. If you lived
there you might have this wine with a hearty stew or cassoulet, or a
dish featuring rabbit or wild boar. Drink today ? 2015.

WHITE ? 2011 Azienda Marcato Pinot Grigio, Veneto, Italy
$12.95 ? The area in northern Italy near the city of Venice is home
to some of the country?s finest whites. In this district known widely
for Soave, Marcato?s 100% Pinot Grigio from the Veneto shows alluring
ripe fruit aromas, peach, apricot notes and roasted almonds.
Flavors resemble a combination of Bosc pear and ripe lime, a perfect
match for lightly seasoned pasta dishes, hors d?oeuvres, fish and all
lighter foods. This would also be very nice to enjoy on the deck, or
while preparing dinner. Drink today through 2014.

Classic Series ? Under $20

RED ? 2010 Joel Gott 815 Cabernet Sauvignon, California
$18.95 ? Joel Gott was born to make wine. His grandfather was
winemaker and president of Inglenook in the 1960s and 1970s
while his father, Cary Gott, is the founder of Montevina. ?815?
refers to the August 15th birth of Joel?s daughter Lucy. This Cab is
a mix of fruit from vineyards throughout California which creates
a balanced, structured wine with supple tannins, bright acidity and
flavors of ripe black cherry preserves and rich black raspberry fruit.
The smooth texture makes it drinkable today yet ageable for another
2-3 years. Try with roast pork loin!

WHITE ? 2010 Nicolas Potel Pouilly-Fuisse, France
$19.95 ? White wines (Chardonnay) from Burgundy are highly
sought after for their elegance and focus, as well as their highly aromatic
flavors and finesse. No exception here with scents of hazelnuts
from time spent on its yeast, creamy citrus, and mineral. Flavors
have richness and focus that strike a balance between spiced honey
and crisp, ripe fruit. Creamy, elegant and complex. Serve slightly
chilled and enjoy today through 2014 alongside halibut with a
lemony sauce, or chicken picatta.

Collector Series ? Under $30

RED ? 2009 Rupert & Rothschild Classiques Red, South
Africa ? $29.95 ? Three hundred years ago French Huguenots
discovered that South Africa had perfect conditions for growing
French grape varietals. Classiques is a Bordeaux-style blend of 60%
Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. Scents of bittersweet dark
chocolate, smoke and earth introduce smooth and juicy flavors of
deep black fruit. The wine is rich and ripe with good acidity and
hints of mulberry, nutmeg, dust and a touch green on the finish.
Classiques will show best with hearty fare like Boeuf Bourgognone
or or grilled steak with truffle sauce. Drink now through 2015 at
room temperature.

WHITE -2010 Gary Farrell Redwood Ranch Sauvignon
Blanc, Sonoma County, California ? $29.50 ? After working
with regional winemaking stars such as Tom Dehlinger, Robert
Stemmler, Davis Bynum and Joe Rochioli, Gary Farrell launched
Gary Farrell Wines in 1982. This award winning Sauvignon
Blanc has scents of toasted nuts and stuffed green peppers. The
wine displays full throttle flavor intensity and length which is
both mouth coating and delicate. Classic lemongrass, citrus and
pineapple flavors linger nicely. The lively, refreshing acidity pairs
beautifully with shellfish, especially Dungeness crab. Serve slightly
chilled through 2015.

Prestige Red ? Under $50 or less

RED ? 2009 G?rd Vintners Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley,
Washington ? $48.00 ? G?rd, meaning ?farm? , is a family-owned
and operated winery launched in 2006, using grapes from their
Lawrence Vineyard in the Frenchman Hills. Wine Spectator gave
92 points: ?Dark and brooding, but not terribly dense, delivering
an intense mouthful of blackberry, black cherry, cream and floral
character that persists into the lithe and inviting finish. Best from
2014 through 2019.? Our notes indicate deep, dark fruit and
spice scents followed by a smooth, lush, concentrated mouthful of
fabulous fruit. Big and creamy with great balance and persistent
flavors. Save this one a few years if you can and serve with braised

Cellar Selection ? $100 or less

RED ? 2006 Corliss Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley,
WA ? $89.00 ? Michael and Lauri Corliss started the winery in 2000.
Their first wines were released in 2008 from the 2003 vintage. Great
attention to detail goes into the production of these wines. Corliss
believes in extended barrel and bottle aging. Wine Advocate gave
95 points: ?The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon (100%) spent 33 months
in 80% new French oak. It is a layered, plush, mouth-filling Cabernet
that already displays complexity. Give it 3-4 years to fully blossom and
drink it through 2026.? Our notes: A BIG wine with BIG ?YUM?
factor. Deeply concentrated scents and flavors with extracted spicy
plum, black cherry, bittersweet chocolate, espresso and a hint of cassis.
Good acid and solid tannins ensure a long life, this is a classic! Lamb
or beef steak are traditional accompaniments.
meats or deeply flavored mushroom risotto.

Source: http://www.vinowine.com/wine-on-the-brain/october-wine-of-the-month-cellar-notes/

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With can-do stance on marathon, mayor misreads NYC

In this photo provided by New York City Mayor?s Office, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg updates the media on the City?s Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts, Friday, Nov. 2, 2012 in New York. Later that day Bloomberg Bloomberg cancelled the 2012 New York Marathon amid growing public pressure. (AP Photo/NYC Mayor?s Office, Kristin Artz)

In this photo provided by New York City Mayor?s Office, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg updates the media on the City?s Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts, Friday, Nov. 2, 2012 in New York. Later that day Bloomberg Bloomberg cancelled the 2012 New York Marathon amid growing public pressure. (AP Photo/NYC Mayor?s Office, Kristin Artz)

Mary Wittenberg, president of the New York Road Runners, speaks during a news conference Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, in New York, after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg canceled Sunday's New York City Marathon. At left is Howard Wolfson, deputy mayor for government affairs and communication. Bloomberg canceled the race after mounting criticism that this was not the time for a race, as the city continues to recover from Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano)

In this photo provided by New York City Mayor?s Office, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg updates the media on the City?s Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts, Friday, Nov. 2, 2012 in New York. Later that day Bloomberg Bloomberg cancelled the 2012 New York Marathon amid growing public pressure. Behind Bloomberg is NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. (AP Photo/NYC Mayor?s Office, Kristin Artz)

(AP) ? Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to sell the New York City Marathon as a symbolic victory for the city after a devastating storm, invoking two of the biggest symbols of them all ? Rudy Giuliani and 9/11.

The former mayor, Bloomberg said, made the right decision by holding the marathon less than two months after the 2001 terror attacks: "It pulled people together, and we have to find some ways to express ourselves and show our solidarity with each other."

Then, he kept talking.

"You have to keep going and doing things, and you can grieve, you can cry and you can laugh all at the same time," he said.

And once again, the city cringed, hearing another false note that renewed familiar criticism that New York's billionaire businessman mayor is tone-deaf to suffering during a crisis. By the time Bloomberg changed course three hours later Friday and called off the world's largest marathon, he already had offended a passel of flood-weary New Yorkers.

"He is clueless without a paddle to the reality of what everyone else is dealing with," fumed Joan Wacks, whose waterfront condo in Staten Island was under 4 feet of water. "He's supposed to be the mayor of all the city, but he's really the mayor of Manhattan."

It was a rare reversal for Bloomberg, who's known for sticking by his decisions, however unpopular. He's built a reputation for being an efficient, independent-minded pragmatist in office, a philanthropist and public health innovator, and he has gotten praise for the city's preparedness for the storm.

In his first comments Saturday since canceling the race, Bloomberg continued to defend his belief that the event could have gone on but conceded the controversy had become a distraction.

"I still think that we had the resources to do both," Bloomberg told WCBS-TV during a visit to Queens. "There are lots of people in this city ? some hurt, some not. It's a big part of our economy."

"But it was just becoming so divisive that whether it's a good idea or not, we just don't need the distraction."

To the people who came from all over the world for the race, Bloomberg said he would tell them: "I'm sorry. I fought the battle, and sometimes things don't work out."

As the mayor was speaking, he was met by catcalls from Queens residents angry about the city's response to the storm.

It was not the first time that the mayor has seemed out of synch with the people he leads.

There was the post-Christmas blizzard that dumped 2 feet of snow on the city in 2010, when the mayor raised hackles by encouraging New Yorkers to enjoy the snow or see a Broadway show to help the city's economy. Residents said the mayor failed to appreciate the outer-borough New Yorkers stranded by snow drifts that hadn't been plowed, unable and without the money to go to the theater.

There was a long-running feud about Sept. 11 victims' remains that were recovered in downtown Manhattan five years after the attacks. A victim's family member, Diane Horning, said then that the mayor indicated he didn't identify with families wanting their loved ones' remains because he wanted to donate his body to science.

Bloomberg was branded an out-of-touch, big-business cheerleader when he said Con Edison's chairman "deserves a thanks from this city" amid a 10-day blackout that affected 174,000 people in parts of Queens in July 2006.

"Going after the CEO just because somebody wants to have somebody to blame doesn't make a lot of sense," Bloomberg said as the outage was in its eighth sweltering day. The remark raised eyebrows, even among the politicians standing behind the mayor at a news briefing.

All this week, the mayor kept returning to economics when defending his decision to keep the marathon going. Officials said the marathon brings in $340 million; it was unclear how much the city still stands to get from the thousands of runners already in town.

"For those who were lost," he said earlier this week, "you've got to believe they would want us to have an economy and have a city go on."

Before Friday's cancellation, Bloomberg had faced criticism from everyone from sanitation workers unhappy that they had volunteered to help storm victims but were assigned to the race, to police union leaders, to the Manhattan borough president to his ally, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Melanie Bright, who went three days without electricity and hot water, said the mayor didn't get it. "He feels like we should carry on with our lives, even though people have lost everything," she said.

In a sign of how swiftly the tide turned, City Hall told local officials well into midafternoon Friday that the race was on, according to a person familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes conversations.

Ultimately, though, Bloomberg relented and canceled the event.

"We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event ? even one as meaningful as this ? to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm," he said.

The decision quickly drew praise from some of the same officials who had slammed the marathon schedule hours earlier. The mayor made a "sensitive and prudent decision that will allow the attention of this city to remain focused on its recovery," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

But for Eddie Kleydman, motioning toward huge piles of ruined furniture in his Staten Island street, the mayor's last-minute change of heart wasn't enough.

"He's worried about the marathon. I'm worried about getting power," Kleydman said. "So he called it off. He has to come here and help us clean."

___

Associated Press writers Leanne Italie, Christine Rexrode and Michael Rubinkam contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-11-03-Superstorm-Marathon-Bloomberg/id-5d0df433c7fd4757a3018308eb496f5d

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