The dancing queen: Queens great-grandmother Gert Hendry, 86, still teaching kids all the right moves

BY BRENDAN BROSH - DAILY NEWS WRITER

At 86, Gert Hendry sure knows how to stay on her toes.

The Queens great-grandmother has taught generations of kids to tap and pirouette — and still puts on a tutu twice a week to pass on everything she knows about dance.

"Life didn't start until I was 50," said Hendry, who began teaching in 1973 after raising her family and working as a bookkeeper. "The Lord is good. He keeps my legs going."

Her legions of former pupils started a Facebook fan site for the neighborhood legend.

"Basically, if you grew up in Breezy Point, you took one of her classes," said Joseph Murray, a 25-year-old musician who learned gymnastics from Hendry. "I love her like a grandmother."

She even has a street named after her in the small Queens beach community.

Hendry was born Gertrude Mazza in 1923, and grew up in Parkville, Brooklyn.

Her first dance teacher was a Rockette, and by the time she was 5 years old, Hendry was gracing the stage at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Brooklyn.

She met her husband, Andy Hendry, at 13 and married him when he came back from World War II in 1945.

The couple is still together 64 years later — with three children, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

"Some people have ups and downs," said Andy Hendry, 86, a retired insurance salesman. "We were lucky. We've had all ups."

Hendry's family said she can tumble and do a high leg kick and still shovels the snow — against their wishes.

"She's in better health than all of us put together," said her daughter, Laura Jean Nelsen. "She has a lot of advice but no vices."

Gert Hendry started teaching in the 1970s when times were tough and her family needed the extra cash.

Her first classes were at the Dayton Towers in the Rockaways, and she later moved on to local studio Dance Dimensions for 10 years. Hendry packed her dancing bag and set up shop closer to home at St. Edmund's Church hall in Breezy Point in the early 1980s.

She's famous for sending her former students birthday cards every year, spending a fortune on stamps.

"I was one of her first students 37 years ago, and she still sends me birthday cards," said Mary Erhard-Moran, 42, from Westchester, whose six nieces have also been taught by Hendry.

"She never misses a year."

On top of everything else, Hendry writes a column for The Rockaway Point News.

"I will never end an article without talking about drugs," said Hendry, who still writes her columns longhand. "Children need to be aware about things that aren't good for them."

The humble Hendry said there's no secret to staying in good shape. She stays fit by hanging around so many young people and chaperoning teen dances.

She's cut down her number of classes at St. Edmund's, but still finds time to teach 3-to-7-year-olds ballet and tap.

"My dad always taught us, 'Everything in moderation,' " said Hendry. "My song has always been, 'Young at Heart.' "

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Community heroes, 2009: Ramesh and Jaya Shah, lead medical mercy missions

By Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer

As they prepare for an upcoming, month-long trip to India, Ramesh and Jaya Shah are packing for a disaster.

Their clothes and personal belongings will go into one small bag. Suitcase space is needed for essentials: medicine, antibiotics, bandages and blood-sugar testing kits.

If the Mayfield retirees travel like pilgrims, they arrive like saviors. The Shahs are leaders of medical mercy missions. They blaze a path of health care through some of the poorest corners of the world.

Jaya Shah, a pediatrician, and Ramesh Shah, a retired mortgage specialist, will soon embark upon their sixth medical yatra -- or pilgrimage. They will lead a team of about three dozen doctors and volunteers -- including surgeons from the Cleveland Clinic -- to rural India to examine about 9,000 patients.

They will help identify diabetes and hypertension, deliver babies, fill cavities, train local surgeons in modern techniques and enlighten people who sometimes are more helpless than sick.

"They walk around thinking they're blind. They have cataracts," Jaya Shah said. "Some of these villagers are too poor to take the bus to the city to get treatment."

The Shahs learned the inequality of health care through experience. Their crusades began in 2004, when a tsunami ravaged a swath of India and the couple felt compelled to help the motherland.

They tapped the region's large Asian Indian medical community and a tradition took root. The Shahs emerged as leaders of medical yatras for AIPNO, the Association of Indian Physicians of Northern Ohio.

They have since led medical mercy missions to Africa, to Haiti and to post-Katrina New Orleans, adding a fulfilling denouement to a busy life.

The couple emigrated from India in 1969 and raised two children in their home of 32 years. Daughter Bella teaches at Laurel School in Shaker Heights. Son Baiju runs the region's high-tech incubator, BioEnterprise.

"Everyone would like to do something for other people. I feel we all have that desire in a box inside of us," Ramesh Shah said. "When you approach retirement, you have time to open that box."

Jaya Shah said her second career is even more rewarding than her first.

"I feel I'm using my medical degree the right way now," she said.

To contribute to the effort, call the AIPNO office at 216-228-1168.

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CHRISTMAS IN MANILA

Swimmers wear Christmas outfits as they wave from inside a huge aquarium during a show at the Manila Ocean Park on Tuesday, December 22, 2009. (AP)

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2nd baby beluga born at Chicago aquarium in a week

CHICAGO — Chicago's Shedd Aquarium has welcomed a new baby beluga whale for the second time in a week.

The aquarium announced Monday that beluga whale Naya (NY'-ah) gave birth Sunday afternoon to a 5-foot, 6-inch male calf that weighs 152 pounds. Beluga whale Puiji (poo-EE-jee) had given birth to a male baby last week that weighed in at 162 pounds and was 5-feet, 4-inches long.

Shedd senior vice president Ken Ramirez says Naya needed some assistance during her birth. He says the newborn and his mother were briefly separated for observation but are now reunited.

He says the Shedd remains "cautiously optimistic" as officials watch for the pair to bond and nurse.

The calf's father is Naluark, who also sired the baby born to Puiji last week.

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‘Angels’ doing kind deeds this Christmas season

By Dale Huffman, Contributing columnist

As Christmas day approaches some evidence has come to my attention that supports the theory that there are angels among us. And stories about them seem to surface during the season of goodwill.

Rosemary Dillon, and her friend, feel that is true.

Rosemary, who lives in the Twin Towers Place neighborhood east of downtown shared this story of what they call angelic behavior.

“My friend had just opened her new bank account,” Rosemary said. “She did not have her regular bank books with her name printed on the checks delivered yet.”

She said she and her friend were shopping for groceries at a Walmart. “The clerk explained that she was not able to accept one of those temporary checks,” Rosemary said. “My friend had selected over a hundred dollars worth of groceries which she needed and she was upset, and perplexed over what to do.”

Rosemary said her friend had all but given up, and was prepared to leave the store. She hoped to return at a later date to get her groceries and supplies for holiday meals.

“All of a sudden this stranger standing behind my friend very politely, and quietly, offered to pay for the groceries,” Rosemary said. “My friend was embarrassed and said she appreciated the offer but would feel uncomfortable accepting a gesture so generous.”

Rosemary said the woman insisted, and she took the check Rosemary’s friend had written and replaced it with one on her own account.

The two women thank the woman they called an “angel” and headed home with the groceries.

“There is still another chapter to the generous story,” Rosemary said. “When we got to my friend’s apartment, she realized she had left behind one of the bags of groceries during the nervous excitement.

“Then we looked up and this kind woman had followed us in her car, and delivered the bag my friend left behind.”

Rosemary said, “It was an marvelous gesture of goodwill and kindness and we both thank the angel lady who brightened our holiday season with her caring gift from the heart.”

Cassano family treasure

Mary Cassano Bockrath wants to thank the stranger who helped preserve what she calls “family treasures beyond belief.”

The Cassano family is well known in the Dayton area as the owners of an Italian restaurant franchise.

“We had an estate sale at the home of my aunt and uncle, Ann and Vic Cassano,” Mary said. “There was a box of undeveloped movie film among the items that were sold. It was mistakenly put on sale.”

Mary said that someone realized it could be important to the family.

“A stranger dropped off the box at a Cassano store,” Mary said. “We had it developed and it included movies of our entire family at a 1954 reunion. This stranger delivered a tattered box to our family, and in doing so also delivered family history that could have disappeared forever. We thank this lady for the kind gesture. May God bless her.”

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Annette Marcum: Handing out hope for the future

By LAURA COPELAND

A beat-up doll sits on a shelf in the back of Annette Marcum's office in Ben Lomond -- motivation for the senior during the 14-hour days she often works in December.

As a poverty-stricken 7-year-old, Marcum received a damaged doll from a charity similar to the one she runs today. Her mother repaired the doll's missing leg with an old sock, washed its dirty hair and put a bandage over its eye.

"She handed it to me and said, You have to take extra care of this doll because she's really sick,'" Marcum recalls. The moment pushed Marcum to become a foster mother and lifelong volunteer, beginning with writing letters for the blind and selling poppies to benefit war veterans.

The 71-year-old hasn't taken a day off since September -- nor has she ever collected a paycheck since she founded Valley Churches United Missions in 1985. Her year-round charity pairs needy children with new, personalized Christmas gifts.

Marcum puts Angelina Jolie to shame with her medley of 10 children, nine adopted. Out of the five special needs children she took care of, two are developmentally disabled and continue to require her care.

A photo of Marcum shows her grinning wildly in Jamaica -- a hint at a life outside the long shifts and loads of laundry. Marcum's late husband, whom she met when he was an usher at their church, "took the kids on as his own" but still insisted the couple take an annual two-week vacation by themselves.

The Irish woman loves dancing

"I don't like to sit at home and watch television," says Marcum, who quit high school as a sophomore to start working at a bookkeeping firm.

She's "too Irish to handle the bureaucracy" of receiving government funds, so she operates her nonprofit solely on donations. Her grassroots response to the Loma Prieta earthquake earned her a FEMA award in 1989. She keeps exhaustive scrapbooks that chronicle the hundreds of news articles and letters mentioning her work; the most recent is from Rep. Anna Eshoo.

Marcum's disaster preparedness came in especially handy when a friend -- a Vietnamese refugee whose journey to America was sponsored by Marcum -- went into labor. Marcum attempted to drive the woman to Stanford hospital, eventually pulling over on the freeway to assist in the baby's delivery.

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Napa Dentist Volunteers For Patients In Need

Jefferson Award Winner: Dr. Adrian Fenderson

NAPA (CBS 5) ― Break a tooth? Dr. Adrian Fenderson's patients know who to call. He's been rooted in Napa Valley for nearly 40 years.

But he's just as well known outside of the office for sinking his teeth into volunteer projects here at home and around the world.

"It's my passion. I love it. You do things that make you feel good," Dr. Fenderson explains.

For nearly three decades, Dr. Fenderson has offered free dental care during dozens of humanitarian missions to Mexico and Central America, with the Flying Doctors group.

"You get velcro hugs," he says with a smile. "People hug you and don't let go. It's fun. I come back with a glow and warm feeling."

His dental assistant, Laura Hooker, says his personality shines as he serves poor villagers.

"(He's) like a kid himself," she remembers from her trip with him. "It was the most amazing experience. He loves what he does. He's good at it."

Dr. Fenderson says he began volunteering in Vietnam, as an Army dentist in 1971.

"The commander said, 'Would you go out in the villages and do free dentistry? We're trying to win their hearts and souls.' I said, 'Okay, that sounds good.' So, on weekends we flew in helicopters and landed in the villages and set up and get people out of pain and I found it rewarding."

Since then, he's supplied free dental care from orphanages in India to people in need locally. He's partnered with singer Garth Brooks to raise money for "Smiles for Life."

Dr. Fenderson whitens teeth in exchange for a donation to children's charities. And he fills other community "cavities" by organizing holiday food and toy drives.

And he's launched an essay contest to reward students who do good deeds. The dentist awarded first prize to Napa High School senior Erica Morales, who raised money for a family in need.

Erica, who's headed to college next year, says she's inspired by Dr. Fenderson's work.

"I want to change someone's life, too," she says.

Dr. Fenderson says it's all about the joy.

"It's not because my Christian background, it's not because I'm philanthropic, it's not because I want to save the world. It's because I love the it makes me feel."

For the warm feelings and smiles he brings, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Dr. Adrian Fenderson.

Dr. Fenderson arranged a Free Dental Day in Napa in June 2009 and is considering plans for another event in 2010. Check www.napadentist.com for updates.

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Scientists spot nearby 'super-Earth'

(CNN) -- Astronomers announced this week they found a water-rich and relatively nearby planet that's similar in size to Earth.

While the planet probably has too thick of an atmosphere and is too hot to support life similar to that found on Earth, the discovery is being heralded as a major breakthrough in humanity's search for life on other planets.
"The big excitement is that we have found a watery world orbiting a very nearby and very small star," said David Charbonneau, a Harvard professor of astronomy and lead author of an article on the discovery, which appeared this week in the journal Nature.

The planet, named GJ 1214b, is 2.7 times as large as Earth and orbits a star much smaller and less luminous than our sun. That's significant, Charbonneau said, because for many years, astronomers assumed that planets only would be found orbiting stars that are similar in size to the sun.

Because of that assumption, researchers didn't spend much time looking for planets circling small stars, he said. The discovery of this "watery world" helps debunk the notion that Earth-like planets could form only in conditions similar to those in our solar system.

"Nature is just far more inventive in making planets than we were imagining," he said.

In a way, the newly discovered planet was sitting right in front of astronomers' faces, just waiting for them to look. Instead of using high-powered telescopes attached to satellites, they spotted the planet using an amateur-sized, 16-inch telescope on the ground.

There were no technological reasons the discovery couldn't have happened long ago, Charbonneau said.
The planet is also rather near to our solar system -- only about 40 light-years away.

Planet GJ 1214b is classified as a "super-Earth" because it is between one and 10 times as large as Earth. Scientists have known about the existence of super-Earths for only a couple of years. Most planets discovered by astronomers have been gassy giants that are much more similar to Jupiter than to Earth.

Charbonneau said it's unlikely that any life on the newly discovered planet would be similar to life on Earth, but he didn't discount the idea entirely.

"This planet probably does have liquid water," he said.

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Library Book Returned -- 99 Years Overdue

The book returned to the New Bedford Public Library in Massachusetts this week wasn't overdue by a week, a month or even a year. It was nearly a century overdue, and the fine came to $361.35.

"Facts I Ought to Know about the Government of My Country" was supposed to have been returned by May 10, 1910.

Stanley Dudek told the Standard Times newspaper in New Bedford he came across the book while going through things that had belonged to his mother, who died about 10 years ago. He decided that returning the book to the city was the right thing to do.

The overdue book fine was a penny a day in 1910. But Dudek wasn't asked to pay it.

The library plans to display the book in its special collection.

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British child prodigy compared to Picasso

Seven-year-old Kieron Williamson, a prolific artist whose works have sold for thousands of dollars, talks about what inspires him to paint. NBC’s Simon Dedman reports. (Nightly News)

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Drinking cups of tea and coffee 'can prevent diabetes'

Tea and coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a large body of evidence shows.

And the protection may not be down to caffeine since decaf coffee has the greatest effect, say researchers in Archives of Internal Medicine.

They looked at 18 separate studies involving nearly 500,000 people.

This analysis revealed that people who drink three or four cups of coffee or tea a day cut their risk by a fifth or more, say researchers.

The same amount of decaffeinated coffee had an even bigger effect, lowering risk by a third.

Type 2 diabetes usually starts after the age of 40 and develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly. Type 2 diabetes is treated with a healthy diet and increased physical activity. In addition to this, medication and/or insulin is often required.

If the findings prove true, doctors may well start advising people to put the kettle on as well as take more exercise and watch their weight, say the researchers.

When the authors combined and analysed the data, they found that each additional cup of coffee consumed in a day cut diabetes risk by 7%.

Lead researcher Dr Rachel Huxley, from the University of Sydney in Australia, said because of the finding with decaffeinated coffee, the link is unlikely to be solely related to caffeine.

Instead, other compounds in coffee and tea - including magnesium and antioxidants known as lignans or chlorogenic acids - may be involved.

Special brew

"The identification of the active components of these beverages would open up new therapeutic pathways for the primary prevention of diabetes mellitus.

"If such beneficial effects were observed in interventional trials to be real, the implications for the millions of individuals who have diabetes mellitus, or who are at future risk of developing it, would be substantial."

Dr Victoria King, of Diabetes UK, said: "Without full information about what other factors may be influencing the type 2 diabetes risk of the studies' participants - such as their physical activity levels and diet - as well as what the active ingredient in tea or coffee appears to be, we cannot be sure what, if anything, this observed effect is down to.

"What we can be sure of is that the development of type 2 diabetes is strongly linked to lifestyle, which means that many cases could be prevented by keeping active and eating a healthy balanced diet that is low in fat, salt and sugar with plenty of fruit and vegetables."

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2010 New Orleans Jazz Fest lineup announced

STACEY PLAISANCE, Associated Press Writer

(12-15) 06:09 PST New Orleans (AP) --

Van the Man and The Queen of Soul are headlining next year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Joining Van Morrison and Aretha Franklin will be Pearl Jam, making its inaugural appearance at the fest, as well as Lionel Richie and actor Steve Martin, who plays banjo in his bluegrass outfit the Steep Canyon Rangers. Darius Rucker, former Hootie and the Blowfish front man-turned-country award-winning singer, is also slated to appear.

"It's just a way cool thing that Jazz Fest is so broad that it can embrace all these different things, all these different artists," the festival's producer, Quint Davis, said Monday.

Marking its 41st year, the festival is scheduled for the weekends of April 23-25 and April 29-May 2 and features hundreds of acts in genres ranging from pop, rock and gospel to R&B, jazz and zydeco.

Though dotted with major national acts, the festival is made up of more than 80 percent Louisiana artists such as The Neville Brothers, Irma Thomas, Pete Fountain, Dr. John, rapper Juvenile, Trombone Shorty and Buckwheat Zydeco.

Other first-time artists include My Morning Jacket, Anita Baker, Gipsy Kings, The Dead Weather, The Levon Helm Band, Drake and Johnny Lang.

Returning acts include the Allman Brothers Band, Widespread Panic, The Black Crowes and B.B. King.

"We have jazz in the name, but it's not just jazz music," Davis said.

Next year's festival will include a tribute to one of the genre's founders, jazz singer, songwriter and trumpeter Louis Prima, who was born in 1910 and "brought jazz and New Orleans flavor to the world," Davis said.

Prima reigns along with Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino and Mahalia Jackson, Davis said.

"He's so New Orleans," Davis said. "He was one of the first major voices in getting jazz and New Orleans to be dominant world powers in music. We have some very special things in the works to honor him."

There will be tributes to Prima every day with jazz singers Keely Smith and Louis Prima Jr. performing in his honor.

Davis said the festival was grateful to land Franklin — who was supposed to perform last year but dropped out when asked to participate in an event for President Barack Obama.

Rucker this year became only the second black performer to win a major individual country music award — he was named best new artist for 2009 — joining Charley Pride, who took entertainer of the year in 1971 and male vocalist in 1971-72.

"If there's nothing here that you like, then you just don't like nothing," Davis said.

Tickets for the festival, which is held at the Fair Grounds Race Course, go on sale Tuesday.

Besides music, the festival offers a host of food and craft booths, some that include the history and making of New Orleans pottery, jewelry, clothes and Mardi Gras.

Shell Oil Co. is this year's presenting sponsor. Other sponsors include Acura, Miller Lite, Pepsi and Sheraton New Orleans Hotel.

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Got (Good) Milk? Ask The Dairy Evangelist

by JOHN BURNETT

An Ohio dairyman is on a crusade to put cows back on pastures and bring the flavor back to milk.

Warren Taylor owns and runs Snowville Creamery, and he's trying to make milk the way it was made 40 years ago, when, he insists, it tasted better.

A lean, hyperactive 58-year-old dairy engineer, Taylor aspires to be "the Che Guevara of the American dairy industry." He bounds from place to place, pouring forth his philosophy of how he plans to transform the industry, starting here at his milk plant in Pomeroy, Ohio.

"I built Snowville Creamery to prove to the American dairy industry that the reason our children have had a 30-year continuous decline in their consumption of milk is not entirely Coke and Pepsi's fault, but because the dairy industry has been delivering a continuously declining quality of milk, in terms of its freshness and taste," Taylor says.

First, most of his milk is sold 48 hours out of the cow, and he delivers no farther than an eight-hour distance from the dairy.

Second, his milk is not homogenized; the cream rises to the top, and you have to shake it up before pouring.

Third, his milk is pasteurized at a lower temperature — 165 degrees. The industry standard is 175 degrees, which Taylor believes diminishes taste. Today, the popular "ultrahigh temperature" or "ultrapasteurized" milk is sterilized at 280 degrees, a process that trades flavor for long-distance marketing and long shelf life.

Most important, Taylor says, his milk comes from cows that dine on grass or hay.

"This is in stark contrast to the vast majority of milk in America which is made from cows confined in barns, partly so they can be milked three times a day, and are fed a diet that is predominantly corn and soybeans. Those cows produce about twice as much milk a day as the cows here in a pasture-grazing situation," Taylor says.

He gets his milk from 235 brown Jersey cows that graze on a farm owned by his neighbor, Bill Dix. Half of Dix's milk goes to Snowville Creamery, which is housed in an industrial-looking metal building right on the premises of his farm.

A Drop In The Bucket?

Taylor is by no means the only dairyman in America doing it this way. The editor of Grazemagazine estimates that 5 percent of producers graze their cattle on grass. But like the rest of American agriculture, the dairy business is moving toward fewer and larger farms and is dominated by a handful of giants. In fact, the U.S. Justice Department is currently investigating whether the influence of the huge co-op Dairy Farmers of America and the huge processor Dean Foods violates antitrust laws.

It's also true that most dairies are interested in one thing: producing as much milk as cheaply as possible — especially now that low milk prices are driving some dairymen into bankruptcy. Generally, milk comes from confined animal feeding operations, where large herds live in feedlots and are milked several times a day.

"You can put 'em out and let 'em eat grass and let 'em do whatever, and produce half what they're doing. But where are you gonna put 2,600 cows on one place? How many acres do you have to have, to have 2,600 cows? And how do you keep up with that?" asks John Woelber, a mega-dairyman in Belen, N.M.

The dairy industry is not really paying attention to Taylor's one-man insurgency — at least not yet. Chris Galen, spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation, rejects the idea that his members compromise taste for quantity.

"Of course, flavor is in the eye, or at least the tongue, of the beholder, and so if people detect a difference in taste, I would not tell them they're not detecting it. We all know the placebo effect is quite powerful. If you're paying $6, $7 or $8 a gallon for milk versus $3, you might think it tastes better simply because it costs more," Galen says.

A Dairy Evangelist

Is Snowville Creamery a quaint creation of what concrete-stressed urbanites think a country dairy should look like? Or is it a true harbinger of what's possible?

And is Taylor a prophet? Or is he, in Galen's words, a "clever marketer?"

"There's only one way I can compete with milk that cheap, and that's to make milk that is clearly different and better," Taylor says.

To test his boast, Taylor was followed to the Whole Foods Market on P Street in Washington, D.C., where the manic milkman was giving samples in front of the dairy case. His milk sells for $3 a half-gallon.

A woman in a down jacket picking up some groceries after work accepts a cup of his skim milk.

"Oh, that's good!" she says before asking where she can find it.

Since beginning operations two years ago, Snowville Creamery has been expanding production about 5 to 10 percent month over month. Now with 80 outlets, mostly in Ohio, Taylor says it finally became profitable this month. Washington, D.C., is their newest and farthest market.

A middle-aged woman pushes her cart up to the Snowville sample table and takes a cup of whole milk.

"Oh, that's so good," she says with gusto. "My mom used to get this stuff from a farm near us when I was growing up. It's like that."

Taylor smiles knowingly.

"Oh, well," he says. "I'm a dairy evangelist."

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Rebels with a cause - AIDS

By Paul Kerry

To mark World AIDS Day, Little Travellers and Medi peace are holding three simultaneous rock concerts in Seoul tomorrow to spread awareness about the illness.

Last year saw a similar event. More than 1,000 people attended, raising 12 million won ($10,000) for the Little Travellers organization.

The event will be held at Jane's Groove, FF and DGBD, in Hongdae. The EV Boys, Rock Tigers, Gogo Star and Sotto Gamba will be among the dozen or so bands performing. Wristbands are 10,000 won.

The money will go to the Hillcrest Foundation, which helps women affected by AIDS in South Africa

Little Travellers is a Canadian charity that sells dolls made by women in South Africa who are affected by HIV. Forty percent of the proceeds go to the makers of the cute little dolls - one-inch beaded figures that can be used as badges or mobile phone attachments - which sell for 5,000 won. The remainder goes to patients at Hillcrest's respite center, which cares for sufferers in the late stages of AIDS.

"I got involved because I'm interested in helping women from other countries," said Sue Bullas, who is helping to organize the event.

"It's not just women who suffer from the disease directly," said Bullas. "It's also women who, for example, have a family member with the disease and are affected."

The Korean arm of the group said it has raised 28 million won ($25,000) for the Hillcrest Centre Trust, while the Canadian group has raised more than $200,000.

Medi peace are jointly organizing the event. They say that their status - they claim to be the only international medical NGO based in Korea - has helped secure sponsorship. The Korea Center for Disease Control paid for some of the materials used.

Earlier tomorrow, Medi peace will be hosting an interactive workshop at Hansung Education Center in Daehangno. The event will discuss issues of discrimination and aim to spread awareness about the disease.

Ben Wagner, professor of law at Kyung Hee University, will speak after the workshop on HIV and discrimination.

While the event is held on a weekend to ensure good attendance, World AIDS day fell on Dec. 1. Medi peace volunteers held a stall Tuesday in Cheongye Plaza to help spread information about AIDS and promote tomorrow's event.

Ashley Sung, Medi peace program officer said that prejudices and basic misconceptions about AIDS and HIV were still common in Korea.

"There is still a stigma. We are handing out leaflets and tissues, but people don't want to take them. Many Koreans still think that you can catch AIDS by touching," she said.

"I told people 'why not come to Hongdae?' But they thought it was only for people with HIV. They thought that all the people there would have HIV and they were worried that they might touch them."

A pressure group demanding tighter screening of foreign teachers last year said that the majority of visitors to a Seoul clinic asking for HIV tests were foreign nationals, claiming the statistic to be an indication of promiscuity or of being infected with the virus. The comment was repeated in the press and elsewhere - an indication that some in Korea think that simply getting tested is a sign of bad character.

The volunteers, some dressed as condoms, handed out tissues, leaflets and condoms, and had a stand where people could learn the facts about HIV. Little Traveller dolls were also on sale, and there was information about what the charity does and the people it was trying to help.

"AIDS is not only in Africa, but still Africa has the most serious situation, so we are starting with South Africa," said Sung.

Of the world's 36 million people living with HIV and AIDS, 25 million of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. According to Little Travellers, the prevalence of HIV in South Africa is 15-20 percent, and 800 people die every day in South Africa from AIDS related causes.

This is something not helped by lack of awareness in government. The country's former president, Thabo Mbeki, questioned the link between HIV and AIDS and his health minister promoted nutrition above medication. Suppliers of vitamins and nutritional supplements have distributed advertisements saying that antiviral drugs do more harm than good and accusing drug companies of genocide.

In the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, where the Hillcrest Foundation operates, more than 40 percent of adults are infected.

By contrast, according to the World Health Organization, the number of people with HIV in Korea was estimated at around 13,000, meaning that it is still relatively rare in Korea. Medi peace Cho Min-jung said that the low prevalence of the disease meant that some people did not feel the need to understand it properly.

"The prevalence rate of HIV in Korea is low, so people don't think about it so much. The fact that the prevalence is low is a good thing, but it means that people think it doesn't affect them," she said.

The events tomorrow evening will be based around music with twelve bands set to perform. Bullas said that they were particularly please to get the Rock Tigers to perform, as well as EV Boys, as there were doubts that they would be available.

"We were pretty excited to get the EV Boys because they're a good draw and they help to get Koreans and expats enjoying themselves together. That's really one of the things we're trying to achieve," she said.

Little Travellers dolls will also be on sale, and there will be other activities to highlight the issues surrounding AIDS in Korea and globally.

"We've been told that 99 percent of the HIV transmitted in Korea is transmitted through sex. So we're going to have people dressed up as condoms handing out leaflets and condoms," said Bullas.

"We want people to know that there are people in other countries who are suffering, and that for the cost of a drink we can help make their lives a little bit easier."

A complete lineup and more information about the event can be found at rubberseoul2009.wordpress.com

Information about Little Travellers can be fund at www.littletravellers.net .

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HELP AFRICA

Children take part in a ceremony in Seoul yesterday to launch a one-month fund-raising drive to help African countries suffering from water shortage. The campaign is led by World Vision. [Lee Sang-sup/The Korea herald]

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Visitors wander through the Kobe Luminarie installation in central Kobe

The event, running through Dec 14, has been held annually since 1996 in memory of the victims of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake and for the reconstruction of Kobe and its vicinity.

To relieve stress, schools in tough neighborhoods turn to yoga

By Sharon Noguchi

Luis Gutierrez is sounding like a human kazoo, demonstrating what he calls the "evilbuster breath." As the speaker's hands tent his nose and he exhales in a loud hum, few of the two dozen freshmen at Overfelt High in San Jose are smirking or rolling their eyes.

After the students try this newest yoga technique and report vibrations in their noses, throats and brains, Gutierrez explains the breathing will help calm their nerves. Use this in many situations, he advises, including the times when teachers suddenly call on you in class.

What began as small pilot programs has suddenly spread as more South Bay schools in neighborhoods challenged by poverty, drugs and gang violence turn to the power of yoga as a stress reducer. Classes by Youth Empowerment Seminars, or YES!, teach not only breathing but nutrition, lifestyle and values discussion.

Overfelt Principal Vito Chiala is so impressed with the changes YES! has induced in some of the toughest freshmen that he hopes to offer the six-week program to the whole freshman class in January. Initially a skeptic, Chiala himself took a course and found that practice every morning helps him deal calmly with the demands of leading a 1,730-student school in East San Jose.

At nearby Yerba Buena High, all 540 freshmen are taking YES! after a pilot project last spring proved successful. Principal Juan Cruz reports that his school's football team now uses yoga as a way to focus before games and to decompress afterward.

When his friends found out, hefty linebacker Brian Zarate, 17, said, their reaction was —" 'Ha ha, you're doing yoga!' " he said. But he didn't care, because yoga has improved his sleep and his game.

Hard neighborhoods

At schools hard hit by neighborhood violence, gang pressure, parental job loss and homelessness, the centuries-old Indian discipline of yoga may turn out to be an effective tool in helping young people cope with both crises and day-to-day life.

"We can't change the big system, but we can definitely change the kids' way of dealing with all the stress," said teacher Jenna Granger of the International Association for Human Values, the parent group of YES!

"People who get to experience yoga usually come from a privileged background," said Gutierrez, who is training to be a YES! instructor. In contrast, the foundation brings its stress-reducing program to communities suffering from poverty, crime and disaster, from destitute Haiti to bereft post-Katrina New Orleans.

The six-week class teaches students to avoid conflict, "how to focus on school and how to study better," said Overfelt freshman Rosavelia Valencia, 14.

Classmate Priscilla Orabuena, 15, said the skills are useful. "When you are going to get into a fight" — like when people are talking about you, she said — "you want to do something to them. But you breathe and feel calm and just walk away."

Breathing away stress

The program uses games — last week at Overfelt, students were playing musical yoga mats — to reach students.

But the focus is on breathing techniques to deal with stress. According to surveys, East Side students report the program has improved their sleep, focus, calmness and mood, and general feeling, said Irene Yamane, a program manager.

At first, students are skeptical. "I don't really like doing things in front of people," like stretching, Overfelt freshman Gina De La Rosa said.

"I have school stress. I have drama on the street, I could get jammed," the 14-year-old said. At home, her bedridden mother is seriously ill. "I have a lot of pressure built up inside of me, and when it comes out, I erupt."

But while she downplays the effect of YES!, she's also used its techniques. Recently, in the midst of a classroom confrontation, she suddenly remembered: just breathe.

She did. She calmed down. And she realized, "I don't have to scare teachers."

Her mother, Lucy Ramirez, has noticed a difference, as if Gina has emerged from a dark shadow.

Chiala hopes YES! will give kids tools to help stay clam, better control impulses and take care of themselves.

How to explain the power of the breath over human emotions? "It sounds like Darth Vader," said An Ha, 14, a Yerba Buena freshman. She uses it when her little brother behaves annoyingly.

With yoga breathing, said Alejandro Adame, 14, an Overfelt freshman, "You just take a moment to not get angry."

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'Bohemian Rhapsody,' Muppet-Style

By DAN FLETCHER

While the lovable felt monsters of Sesame Street celebrate their 40th anniversary this year, Jim Henson's other creations, the Muppets, have been largely out of the spotlight. Let's be honest: the last time most people have seen a Muppet was in a TV commercial (and even then, it was Kobe and Lebron, not Kermit and Miss Piggy). That changed this week with an assist from Queen's songbook. The puppet ensemble released a cover of the classic Queen anthem "Bohemian Rhapsody" to commemorate the death of Freddie Mercury 18 years ago. Whether it's Muppet nostalgia or a love of rock ballads, the video clearly struck a chord: it's had some 7 million plays in just a week's time.

It's not the most faithful of renditions: the Muppets do gloss over some of the song's racier lyrics. "Mama, just killed a man/ Put a gun against his head/ Pulled my trigger/ Now he's dead" becomes a monosyllabic riff ("Mama! ... Mama?") by the drummer Animal. But these are kids' show characters, after all, and by the time Miss Piggy finishes the song with an epic solo delivered atop a piano, the few omissions seem like a trifling complaint.

The video, an official production of the Muppets Studio, is the puppet clan's first foray into covering music on the Web (Beaker's solo "Ode to Joy" not withstanding). With all the buzz for its release, it's a safe bet that more videos will follow. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a tough number to top, but who wouldn't want to see Henson's creations stretch a little with, say, a "Thriller" cover? It's a YouTube franchise in the making.

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Artist Khurelbaatar Gets Exhibition

Written by E.Zandarmaa

The artist known as Ch.Khurelbaatar got an independent exhibition of exclusively his own work in the Artist Union of Mongolia on November 26.

Experts considered his compositions to be a valuable contribution to the history of Mongolia’s fine art. This exhibition included pieces from his last 10 years of work, and included over 40 exhibits done in either crayons, or watercolor.

He approaches his compositions with sensitivity as to attract the attention of many learned art enthusiasts . The Ch.Khurelbaatar exhibition will continue through, until December 3rd..

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Stroking pets can cut painkiller use after surgery

Stroking a pet can help patients cut their amount of painkillers in half, according to a new study.

he research found that patients who had undergone hip or knee replacement operations needed less painkillers if they used pet therapy.

It is well known that animal owners are generally healthier than non-pet owners because they can help reduce stress and encourage exercise.

In Britain a charity called Pets and Therapy has been taking animals into care homes, hospices, hospitals and children's wards to help patients recover and reduce stress levels since 1983.

A conference in America has heard that patients recovering from joint-replacement surgery needed 50 per cent less pain medication if they used pet therapy.

Julia Havey, from the Loyola University Health System (LUHS), Chicago, who led the research, said: "Evidence suggests animal-assisted therapy can have a positive effect on a patient's emotional and physical well being.

"These data further support these benefits and build the case for expanding the use of pet therapy in recovery."

Ms Havey and colleague Dr Frances Vlasses raise puppies to become assistance dogs through a program called Canine Companions for Independence.

Dr Vlasses said: "As nurses, we are committed to improving the quality of life for others.

"This service experience has provided us with a unique way to combine our love for animals with care for people with special needs."

The findings were presented at the 18th Annual Conference of the International Society of Anthrozoology and the First Human Animal Interaction Conference (HAI) in Kansas City.

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Child entrepreneur gives back for holidays

By C. Garcia - NBCSanDiego.com

AN DIEGO - In the home of eighth-grader Jason O'Neill, teddy bears are everywhere. They're white, black or brown. Some have bow ties and some have ribbons. They sit on chairs, tables, counter tops and the floor.

Thanks to O'Neill, a young entrepreneur who started his own company at age 9, they're all going to sick children for Christmas.

"At Christmas I wanted to do something special, so I started a fundraiser this year to raise money for buying a bunch of bears," O’Neill said.

All of the bears will be given to children at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego.

O'Neill has been giving money to charity since he started Pencil Bugs four years ago. The company's main product is pencils with hand-painted Styrofoam toppers designed to look like bugs. He's sold hundreds of them in the last four years — and he's also expanded his product line. His products now include Pencil Bugs T-shirts and greeting cards, and he's working on a Pencil Bugs board game.

"In the beginning of my business, I knew that I was very fortunate being a kid and being able to do all of this, so I wanted to help other kids in some way," said O’Neill.

'Every little bit helps'
This year, O'Neill decided to donate more than money. He wanted to give less fortunate children something tangible for Christmas. He thought of teddy bears.

He began a fundraising campaign, encouraging children across the country to donate. He's received more than $700 in donations. A group of students from Michigan sent him $119 from a bake sale. Other kids have sent only a few dollars.

"What I always say is that every little bit helps," O'Neill said. "Those kids that just donate five or 10 dollars out of their own money, that helps and that will change somebody's life."

O’Neill and his mom are now busy tying special tags to hundreds of bears, each one thanking children for donating to make the project possible.

O’Neill is still trying to raise money on his Web site to buy more bears before the end of the month, the deadline for holiday donations at the hospital.

"I haven't had any big tragedies in my life, but I know that there are always people more and less fortunate that you, so it's good to help out," O’Neill said.

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New Movie Produced about Mongolian Opera and Ballet Theater

Written by E.Bayannasan

N.Lkhamsuren wrote screenplay of the movie named “Ikh Nairal Egshiglen” (Great Symphony Orchestra) dedicated for the 85th Year Anniversary of National Symphony Orchestra.

Contemporary professional symphonic orchestra was founded in Ulaanbaatar in 1924 with a group of players of folk music instruments, which later became foundation stone of National Central Theater in 1931.

In addition, modern-day Opera and Ballet Theater of Mongolia, a home to the National Symphony Orchestra, made its first ever opening on May 18, 1963 with Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

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The RESIDENTS Announce 2010 Talking Light Tour

The Cryptic Corporation has announced that The Residents will perform a series of shows in 2010. The show is being considered by the group to be an experiment in new directions deviating from the more "band" productions ofWormwood through The Bunny Boy.

The "song" Talking Light was first released here by RSD in late Spring 2009. It was the positive response to the song that encouraged The Residents to start work on bringing the idea to the stage.

January 23 - Santa Cruz CA - Rio
January 29 - San Diego CA - Birch North Park Theater
January 30 - Los Angeles CA - Henry Fonda Theater
February 2 - Austin TX - Stubbs
February 3 - Dallas TX - Granada
February 4 - Memphis TN - Hi Tone
February 5 - Atlanta GA - Variety
February 9 - New York NY - Webster Hall
February 12 - Montreal PQ - Club Soda
February 13 - Toronto Ontario - Opera House
February 15 - Chicago IL - Logan Square
February 16 - Milwaukee WI - Turner Hall

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Medieval market returns to Siena In Palio square it commemorates early constitution

A medieval market that was once the heart of this Tuscan town is to flourish once more in Siena's historic Piazza del Campo, the site of the world-famous Palio horse race each summer. The colours, sights, smells and sounds of the bustling weekly market will return to Siena's beautiful central square this Saturday.

The one-off event has been organized to commemorate 700 years since the medieval city's renowned collection of duties and rights, the Costituto, was set down in the common tongue. The market will open at 8am, with stalls selling farm produce, crafts and clothes. Experts have scoured ancient municipal records to recreate, as far as possible, the 14th-century layout of stalls. This will reflect the market's traditional division into two broad sections, one devoted to food, the other to general goods, as well as its sub-divisions according to the types of produce for sale.

The market existed on the site that later became Piazza del Campo long before it became a town square. It started life as an open, sloping field near the meeting point of three hillside communities that later merged to form Siena. A market thrived there informally before the 1200s but the site only developed into one of the greatest medieval squares in the mid-1300s, when it was paved in its current fishbone-pattern of red brick. The fast-paced, hectic Palio race, which draws thousands of visitors to Siena each year, emerged at the same time, originally staged in the muddy, sloping field and later in the new square. A written form of the Costituto was commissioned by the Nine, a group that ruled Siena for 70 years, and penned by a notary named Ranieri di Ghezzo Gangalandi between July 1309 and June 1310.

The order was to ''draw up, at the expense of the Commune of Siena, a statute of the Commune anew in vernacular in large letters, well legible and well written, on good sheepskin paper so that the poor people and the other people who do not know grammar, and the others, whoever wants to, can see and copy whatever they like and fancy''. The document was held in a public building and any citizen was free to enter and personally transcribe parts of interest. Today, the Costituto is contained in two manuscripts kept in the State Archives of Siena, described as ''Statute 19'' and ''Statute 20''.

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Church donates thousands of pounds of food as hunger spreads nationwide

By Liz Kersjes

APTOS -- A crowd of volunteers turned up at Twin Lakes Church on Monday morning to help sort and load thousands of pounds of food for an ever-increasing number of needy local residents.

"We do it because we feel like churches are supposed to be the body of Christ in the community," said senior pastor Rene Schlaepfer. "Nothing is closer to God than helping the poor."

Each year, the donated non-perishable goods are given to Second Harvest, a food bank that serves about 60,000 people in the county each month through 180 local organizations.

This year, Twin Lakes hopes to gather 500,000 pounds of food and as much cash as possible by Thursday to donate to Second Harvest for an annual holiday food drive. Last year, the church donated goods and cash equivalent to 430,000 pounds of food.

Second Harvest's development director, Lisa Allyn, said the church and the food bank aim to raise more donations this year because the local demand for food from Second Harvest has increased 30 percent since last year. Schlaepfer said he's seeing more middle-class homeowners seeking food from the church's own food pantry.

And it's not just in Santa Cruz County.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday that more than one in seven American households -- or 49 million people -- struggled to put enough food on the table in 2008, which at 14 percent is the highest rate since the department began tracking "food security" levels in 1995.

The numbers are up from 2007, when 11.1 percent of U.S. households suffered from what the USDA classifies as "food insecurity" -- not having enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle.

However, the figures may not take the full measure of America's current struggle with hunger. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the report's lead author, Mark Nord from the USDA's economic research service, emphasized that the numbers reflected the situation in 2008 and that the economy's continued troubles in 2009 would likely mean higher numbers next year.

Twin Lakes parishioner Rick Grewohl, who helps run the church's food pantry, agreed that the tough economic times that started last year have continued this year. But in the face of that rising need, Grewohl remains optimistic about the church's efforts to serve the hungry.

"When you saw the amount of food that was collected and loaded onto trucks ... I'm just real happy with the outcome," he said about Monday's volunteer event for Second Harvest. "Even if we don't meet our goals, we still did a good thing."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Five Places: As green as it gets

Eliza Hussman

1 Bardessono Hotel, Yountville

So what does it take for a luxury hotel to claim it's the greenest in America? It was built using reused material (including limestone from an old wine cellar), it has an underground well system to heat and cool rooms, it has solar panels, and all of the furnishings are recyclable, organic or "green certified." The restaurant and spa use local, organic products. 6526 Yount St., Yountville. (877) 932-5333; www.bardessono.com.

2 Ukiah Brewing Co. and Restaurant, Ukiah

Kick back and enjoy an all-organic ale or lager and some live music at the first brew pub and second restaurant in the nation to become certified organic. The menu features vegan, vegetarian and dairy-free items, but don't be fooled - traditional pub dishes such as fish and chips are served as well. 102 S. State St., Ukiah. (707) 648-5898; www.ukiahbrewingco.com. Restaurant and bar open daily.

3 California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco

Can you picture the Museum of Natural History in New York with a sod ceiling? No, probably not. Take the "living roof," the vehicle recharging stations, insulation made of recycled jeans and the four-story rain forest and you have arguably the world's greenest museum. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. (415) 379-8000;www.calacademy.org. $14.95-$24.95; 6 and younger, free. Tip: Visit midweek or when the doors first open to avoid crowds.

4 Chez Panisse Cafe and Restaurant, Berkeley

Nearly every restaurant trying to be green is focusing on organic, locally grown, sustainable products - doing pretty much what Alice Waters of Chez Panisse restaurant started doing 40 years ago. The restaurant has a formal atmosphere, while the cafe is more casual and less pricey. 1517 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 548-5525 restaurant, (510) 548-5049 cafe;www.chezpanisse.com. Closed Sunday. Lunch only in the cafe. Reservations a must.

5 Frog's Leap Winery, Rutherford

Hey, even its signature animal is green. This winery, best known for its Sauvignon Blanc, is 100 percent solar-powered, uses geothermal heating and cooling methods, has an eco-friendly visitor center and dry farms on its certified organic vineyards, saving water. 8815 Conn Creek Road, Rutherford. (707) 963-4704; www.frogsleap.com. Open to the public daily except Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Call for tasting and touring times.

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Immunity to Swine Flu May Be Broader Than Thought

And that may explain why the disease hasn't posed more problems, study says

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) -- The swine flu virus that's sweeping across the United States isn't a total stranger to your immune system, a new study shows -- a finding that should ease the most drastic worries about the lethality of the pandemic.

"What has been widely reported in the general press is that the swine flu is totally new, so there is no immunity to it," said study lead author Bjoern Peters, an assistant member of the division of vaccine discovery at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in La Jolla, Calif. "But the severity of infections that have been seen is not greater than usually seen in seasonal flu."

The reason why the swine flu virus -- officially designated H1N1 -- isn't the killer it was feared seems to be that the various protective mechanisms of the immune system have been primed by exposure to previous flu viruses, said study co-author Alessandro Sette, director of the La Jolla Institute's Center for Infectious Disease.

Peters, Sette and their colleagues used a major flu database funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health to look at the reaction of immune system cells to the H1N1 swine flu virus. They found that 17 percent of the B cells that attack viruses in the bloodstream recognized H1N1 because of exposure to other flu viruses.

"They produce antibodies in the bloodstream and try to find the virus before it ends up in cells, so they are what prevents the disease," Peters said.

And 69 percent of T cells, which attack the virus in infected cells, were alerted by those previous infections, the study found.

"They recognize the virus inside cells, so they are responsible for clearing the infection once you have it," Peters said. "Nobody knows what level of immunity is sufficient for protection. But if infected, our data suggest that T cells in those who have previously been exposed to influenza may make the infection less severe."

The research, published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, helps in understanding why the swine flu pandemic is not as deadly as was originally feared, Sette said. "We provide an explanation for observations that the disease severity is not greater," he said. "Maybe it is even less than ordinary seasonal flu."

Still, the research doesn't negate advice to get vaccinated against the H1N1 virus, Peters said. "From our findings, we see that it is necessary to get a shot," he said. "Yet it provides an explanation why you do not have to be absolutely concerned if you have not been able to get a shot yet."

Dr. Marc Siegel, associate professor of medicine at New York University, said the new study "gives more substance to something we already know, that infection with H1N1 is not an all-or-nothing situation."

But it's also clear that some people are more vulnerable to the H1N1 virus than others, Siegel said. "Immunity to influenza viruses varies," he said. "The older we are, the more likely we are to have immunity to this virus."

Since the H1N1 virus first surfaced last spring in Mexico and the United States, doctors have learned that younger people are more susceptible to the disease, probably because it's been decades since an H1N1 virus was the dominant flu strain.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there were between 14 million and 34 million cases of H1N1 infection between April and October in the United States this year, with as many as 153,000 hospitalizations and between 2,500 and 6,000 deaths. In a normal flu season, there are more than 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths, the CDC estimates.

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Chaplin lost, and found

For nearly a century "Zepped," a 6-minute 1916 film of mysterious pedigree starring Charlie Chaplin, was lost. Now it’s found.

Earlier this year, an Essex, England, film collector named Morace Park made a successful eBay bid of £3.20 (or $5.68 American) on a nitrate film canister containing unlabeled footage. The footage turned out to be the obscure Chaplin short, a World War I propaganda effort designed to buck up British morale, combining stop-motion animation and outtakes and unused alternate shots from films Chaplin made for both Keystone and Essanay studios

The hybrid, over which Chaplin apparently exercised no creative control, includes a shot or two from "His New Job," the short film Chaplin made for the Chicago-based Essanay during his 23-day residency here in late 1914 and early 1915.

"It’s very interesting stuff," said David Kiehn, manager and historian of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum of Fremont, Calif. Chaplin expert Kiehn saw portions of the film last week.

Park and business partner John Dyer went public with their discovery Nov. 1. The Chaplin short’s considerable historical interest will be the subject of a self-financed documentary.

"Zepped" begins with an animated version of Chaplin dreaming of leaving America to fight the Germans back home in England. In one animated segment the Kaiser emerges from a German sausage. In what appears to be newsreel-type footage, according to Kiehn, a genuine and eerily low-flying Zeppelin is seen hovering over London during a wartime attack.

The movie contrives to make Chaplin — under fire at the time for his lack of participation in the war effort — the hero of the hour. A 1916 Manchester newspaper account reported that the ending depicts "the Zeppelin in flames and the gallant Charlie running away."

Kiehn speculated that the cobbled-together Chaplin outtakes may have been assembled and augmented with animation in London under the supervision of Harry Spoor, who ran the London office of Chicago-based Essanay, co-founded by his brother, George K. Spoor. Other suggest that "Zepped" was put together in another country altogether, albeit one under British rule at the time: The surviving nitrate print of the film carries an Egyptian censors' certificate.

Even if "Zepped" turns out to be something less than "THE cinematic find of the last 100 years," as Park and company touted on their web site, it’s better off than was reported three years ago in a Russian film journal. "The film has not survived," the magazine stated.

The Little Tramp, as always, has gotten the last laugh.

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Google Gives Gift Of Free Wi-Fi in 47 Airports For the Holidays

By Stuart Fox

The end-of-the-year holidays are a time of tradition and ritual. The waiting on line at the airport. The flight getting delayed due to snow. And of course, the annual Thanksgiving vacation lost luggage.

To help alleviate that holiday travel-related stress, Google is giving a holiday present to every traveler who passes through 47 specially designated airports: free Wi-Fi.

From now through January 10th, Google will pay for the Internet access at a number of airports, including Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Louis and Charlotte (sorry, NYers, you're SOL).

More than just a company promotion, Google hopes this deal will begin to acclimate people to ubiquitous Wi-Fi, one of the long-term goals of the company. In fact, to help spread free Wi-Fi everywhere, Google will keep Internet access in the Seattle and Burbank airports free indefinitely.

So whether you need to write an apology email for drunken antics during the holiday Christmas party, buy last-minute Hanukkah gifts on Amazon, or find hangover cures on January 2nd, thank uncle Google for the free hookup.

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Laser-Enabled Wheelchair Autonomously Navigates City

By Stuart Fox

Developed at Lehigh University, the chair utilizes LIDAR, the visible-light equivalent of radar, to create a super-detailed image of the environment. A computer then compares that image to a database of stored maps. When the chair figures out where it is on the map, it can navigate from point A to point B.

The technology grew out of an earlier project to create an autonomously navigating car. Two years ago, the team that created the chair modified a Toyota Prius with a similar LIDAR and map system. That car became one of only six entrants, out of a field of 89, to finish a DARPA-sponsored 57-mile-long race. The same technology that guided the car to victory also allows the wheelchair to navigate.

And much like the car, this wheelchair represents yet another step in the further goal of LIDAR-assisted navigation. Not only does the Lehigh team want autonomous robots navigating the city as replacements for bike messengers, but they also hope to develop the LIDAR enough for use in unmapped spaces, like people's homes.

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Offering Hope in Haircuts for the Jobless

By SUSAN DOMINUS

It was clear that Sunday was shaping up to be a rare shot of Indian summer, the ideal day for wandering through a park or lazing around on stoops or eating outdoors. But Theresa Cheung, 27, a fashion designer, had somewhere to be at 9:45 a.m., and a warm, golden day would not deter her. Freakishly perfect days are hard to come by in November, but they’re probably not as hard to come by as a good, free haircut at a New York salon. They’re also not as useful on a job interview.

A few days earlier, Ms. Cheung was leafing through Time Out New York magazine when she noticed a write-up promising free haircuts at the Cristiano Cora studio in Greenwich Village to anyone who brought proof of unemployment, sort of a public service to style-conscious job seekers. Ms. Cheung researched the salon, which got strong reviews online, and where haircuts start at $100, and imagined there would be a mob scene — women with expensive handbags but telltale split ends, out-of-work designers she had run into on interviews, unemployed fashion editors, not to mention every diligent coupon-cutter in town. Instead, she was second in line, with only a few people behind her. By 10:10 a.m., Ms. Cheung was in a stylist’s chair, chatting about the plight of her career and her hair.

If only job hunting were this easy: Do your research, show up early, catch the worm. Ms. Cheung, who was a lingerie designer until she was laid off four months ago, has not found the search to be all that easy. She has cut back on all the nonessentials: the dinners out, the fancy bread, the $200 cut-wash-dry-hot oil treatments of yore (alas, color and other services beyond the scissors were not free at the salon). She had not had even a trim since March, and those wispy ends of her long, dark hair were starting to get on her nerves. They say you should never let them see you sweat — they should also never see you brushing hair out of your eyes.

For someone down on her luck, Ms. Cheung looked fairly radiant as a stylist showed her how her new bob could go from corporate to punky with a few strategic tousles. It was not just the good haircut that was improving Ms. Cheung’s mood. “It’s good to know you’re not alone — to be around people who understand your situation,” she said. And not just any people — people who looked, by the time the stylists were finished, like they had little to worry about except making sure no one messed with their hair.

Around the sleek, white room, the people who showed up for the event, held on Sunday and Monday, to have their hair done spoke of a common theme: change. “I’m trying to reinvent myself,” said Carmen Ramirez, 39, a former fashion buyer from Washington Heights who is going back to school to learn medical billing. She had not had her hair cut professionally for a year, and it had grown to her waist. “This is starting the change process — getting a new cut,” she said.

Cristiano Cora, who usually charges $300 a cut, was working on the long, dark locks of Hanan Zdeg, a painter and single mother who got by mostly on retail clothing sales until that work dried up. “I’m just hoping for a transformation,” Ms. Zdeg said. Into what, exactly? “A pretty woman with easy, manageable hair.”

“You’re already pretty,” Mr. Cora assured her, sounding surprisingly paternal for someone with avant-garde sideburns. “Tomorrow you’re going to go out and look for an interview and get a job.”

It’s the Lily Bart dilemma Edith Wharton spelled out in “The House of Mirth”: To gain access to wealth and fashion, one has to keep up appearances, but keeping up appearances can be impossible unless you’ve already got access to wealth and fashion. Mr. Cora and his staff, as well as some other stylists he had trained, were trying to help the clientele, many of whom worked in fashion or theater or marketing, sidestep this conundrum. Call it the good-hair school of economics. “We’re trying to prepare them so they can get working and feel good and come back into salons,” said Jeanise Aviles, a stylist working on Ms. Ramirez’s hair. “Our business has slowed down, too.”

For Andrea Friedland, an out-of-work marketing executive, a large part of the pleasure would come from telling her husband his cynicism was unjustified. “My husband said nothing is free in New York,” she said. “Now I can go home and say, ‘You’re wrong!’ ”

Her husband thought maybe his wife would arrive to find students cutting hair. But even if there had been, how bad could their work have been for zero dollars? After all, it’s only hair. It grows back. If only the job market would.

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