How would you like EXXON Canadian Crud Oil (that is right the word was CRUD) seeping into your yard.

Evacuate !!!!!!!!!!





Animals being treated after Exxon's Mayflower oil spill (click here)

...HAWK posted the following list of needed items on its page:  $$$, Rubbermaid bins, vinyl gloves, dish washing gloves, surgical gowns, long plastic aprons, surgical masks, safety glasses, hard kennel cabs - all sizes, clean towels, 55 gallon trash bags, paper towels, heating pads, bottled water for volunteers and liquid Pepto Bismol...

The lesson about oil pipelines running through the USA is that while it is COST SAVING and gives faux carbon dioxide statistics, they are the worse way of transporting oil and Canadian oil sands crud. The US Senate vote was nothing but politics to buy the conservative vote. It has nothing to do with GOOD POLICY.

When pipelines break they spew oil without end. Oil is a thick viscous liquid and goes everywhere including cracks in the foundation of a house and any spaces in the land. The land is ruined.

It is a new stark reality for the people of this neighborhood. They are now faced with chronic oil problems on their property, property devaluation and cancer dangers.

When oil is transported via train or truck there is more carbon content to the Canadian oil sands crud or any oil for that matter as the fuel for the vehicles have to be accommodated when measuring the carbon footprint. The cost increases for the companies because they have to pay for MANNED transportation. Remember, Jeb Bush said the Drone Trucks still aren't complete. He never mentioned anything about Drone Trains yet. 


But, trains and trucks don't cause this kind of problem. The ability of those modes of transportation LIMIT the amount of oil spilled when there is a crash or derailment. The pipelines carry far more oil than any single train or any single truck. So, when the pipelines RUPTURE there are huge problems, both short term and long term.

“We can see oil running down the road like a river,” (click here) explains a Mayflower resident. Crude oil has leaked and this is extremely unfortunate to Mayflower, Arkansas; damaging neighborhoods, and possibly endangering Lake Conrad. The size of the spill remains unclear. Faulkner County Judge Allen Dodson said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated the spill at 84,000 gallons. The EPA and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management did not return calls for comment.

The reason it is running like a river is because there is no real way of stopping it until the pipeline valves are closed and the the oil already in the pipeline finishes running out. That is a lot of oil. That is a valid and measurable view throughout the conservation community. That opinion is scientifically sound. So don't try to say the US Senate took a vote based in facts and good policy. It was NOTHING but pure politics with complete disregard for the safety of citizens.

That reality is THE STANDARD for the Republican Party. They chronically disregard the citizen and good policy based in FACTS to defer to Wall Street. It is called corruption. Now because the Right Wing media irritated the populous over high gas prices linked to the XL Keystone Pipeline there are Democrats that joined the symbolic vote in the US Senate. Shame on them.

September 11, 2011

Nine distinguished recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize (click here) have written to President Obama, urging him to reject the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, saying his decision offers “a critical moment” to make good on his pledge to create a clean energy economy....

...The night you were nominated for president, you told the world that under your leadership–and working together–the rise of the oceans will begin to slow and the planet will begin to heal.  You spoke of creating a clean energy economy. This is a critical moment to make good on that pledge, and make a lasting contribution to the health and well being of everyone of this planet.

In asking you to make this decision, we recognize the more than 1200 Americans who risked arrest to protest in front of the White House between August 20th and September 3rd.  These brave individuals have spoken movingly about experiencing the power of nonviolence in facing authority. They represent millions of people whose lives and livelihoods will be affected by construction and operation of the pipeline in Alberta, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas....

The petroleum industry on a global basis doesn't care about people. The Gulf States received attention because of the contract they had to sign about oil spills on American lands and in American waters. But, the global focus proves otherwise. So, in the states of Oklahoma and Texas there are politicians that embrace the petroleum industry to the detriment of their lands and climate. In Alberta the land is destroyed and wildlife sacrificed to achieve extraction and poison to the climate.

...Crude oil pipelines (click here) have become the arteries of the U.S. and Canada energy infrastructure connecting key producing regions (or PADDs). The advent of increased crude production across Canada and onshore U.S. has exploded the need for using crude oil pipelines to transport crude from production site to refining center. The increased publicity of the distressed Cushing crude oil inventories and the new U.S. crude refining margin advatange has pushed crude pipelines to the front of everyone’s minds....

By the way when lands are destroyed due to the petroleum industry, including USA public lands, the habitat is destroyed and forces populations into the neighborhoods of urban sprawl.

Pipeline System Overview: "The Jay Pipeline System" - Alabama and Florida (click here)

When it comes to stopping carbon dioxide emissions, it is up to President Obama. The promises made in elections in the past have always been turned into lies afterward. President Obama cannot allow this project to proceed. The lands of the USA have had enough pollution and it has to stop somewhere. Citizen's lives and property and their dreams are not safe with this method of destroying the climate. He has to make the right decision based in sound and measurable policy.

Toxins in Crude Oil or Released from Burning Crude Oil

Benzene - exposure causes irritation to eyes, skin, and respiratory system; dizziness; rapid heart rate; headaches; tremors; confusion; unconsciousness; anemia; cancer

Benzoapyrene - exposure causes irritation to eyes and skin, cancer, possible effects

Carbon dioxide - exposure causes dizziness, headaches, elevated blood pressure, rapid heart rate, loss of consciousness asphyxiation, coma

Carbon monoxide - exposure causes irritation to eyes, skin, and respiratory system; dizziness, confusion, headaches, nausea, weakness, loss of consciousness, asphyxiation, coma

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - exposure causes irritation to eyes and skin, cancer, possible reproductive effects, immune system effects

Toluene - exposure causes irritation to eyes, skin, respiratory system; fatigue; confusion; dizziness; headaches; memory loss; nausea; nervous system, liver, and kidney effects

Xylene - exposure causes irritation to eyes, skin, respiratory system; dizziness; confusion; change in sense of balance; nervous system gastrointestinal system, liver, kidney, and blood effects

The Abstract below is a legitimate comparison to the exposure in the petroleum industry and due to oil spills. This is Australia. The difference between the Australia studies and those regarding the USA is funding. The Australian government spends more money to investigate health effects of the industry. Do you think that might be the reason why Australia likes wind power so much?

The residents of Mayflower, Alabama need to sue ExxonMobile and not return to a home with oil contamination. Toxins are toxins. They don't change in a decade. Petroleum is highly organic causing changes to cell behavior.

Epidemiology:

September 2003 - Volume 14 - Issue 5 - pp 569-577

doi: 10.1097/01.ede.0000082001.05563.e0

Original Article

Abstract (click here)

Background: Men who were part of an Australian petroleum industry cohort had previously been found to have an excess of lympho-hematopoietic cancer. Occupational benzene exposure is a possible cause of this excess....

...Conclusions: We found an excess risk of leukemia associated with cumulative benzene exposures and benzene exposure intensities that were considerably lower than reported in previous studies. No evidence was found of a threshold cumulative exposure below which there was no risk.

The saber rattling of North Korea is unprecedented.

China is talking about the posturing of South Korea. I don't believe China is relaxed about any of the activity on the Korean Peninsula. At some point in time, there is a stake China and Russia has regarding the 'peace' in the REGION.

So, the REGION is on alert. I am quite confident the five nuclear powers are more than running drills. France is engaged in North Africa with it's forces, too.

English.news.cn   2013-04-01 12:07:20

Park Geun-hye instructed military to strongly respond to possible provocations by the DPRK. 

That is new for the peninsula and REGION.

DPRK threatened on Saturday to shut down a joint industrial park with South Korea.

That is new.

Park Geun-hye instructed the military to secure safety of workers at the point industrial park. 

Oh.

...On Saturday, Pyongyang (click here) warned that if South Korea continues to insult its northern neighbor's dignity, it will shut down their joint industrial park located in the DPRK's border city of Kaesong. The announcement came just hours after the DPRK said it had entered "a state of war" against South Korea, which once again escalated tensions on the Koran Peninsula after Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test on Feb. 12....

I remind North Korea is at war and has been for some time. The borders of North Korea has changed since the new leader has taken over. The borders of North Korea expanded causing the evacuation of an island.

There are lots of reasons for China and Russia to reassess. We do have a new treaty with Russia, but, the USA is still considering parking Star Wars (a stupid technology that increases nuclear proliferation) at the Russian border. Believe me they are looking at North Korea and it's tested patience with the USA.

Sequester Cuts and Furloughs take effect this month.

Cornyn is laying down more propaganda and rhetoric to mask the truth from the electorate. Hopefully the truth will disappear. The return of Reaganomics. 

Homelessness.

By the Editorial Board

Published: Sunday, Mar. 31, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 6E

Last Modified: Sunday, Mar. 31, 2013 - 10:56 am

Ever since Congress failed to agree on budget actions (click here) to avoid the "sequester," naysayers have scoffed at the notion that across-the-board cuts would inflict real harm.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, accused President Barack Obama of exploiting the issue "to scare people in order to grow the size of government."

"Most of the nation will wake up Friday morning and yawn," Rep. Tim Huelskamp, a Republican from Kansas, said after Congress failed to act.

While it's true that most Americans haven't yet been touched by the sequester cuts, that will soon change – and for some, it could be brutal. In Sacramento and other cities, poor families who depend on the federal government to help pay their rent will likely be the first to feel the pain.

The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency is bracing for a 9.4 percent cut, or the loss of $13.9 million this year. The bulk of the money goes to subsidize rents for poor families....

But, alas, President Reagan stated the greatness of the USA is the ability to choose to be homeless.

Hopefully, the President and his Cabinet will continue to find areas to reconstruct "The Sequester."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/31/5303451/editorial-sequester-cuts-could.html#storylink=cpy

Published: Monday, April 01, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says (click here) 480 workers on the president’s budget staff have been notified they may have to take days off without pay because of a partisan budget stalemate.

Press secretary Jay Carney wouldn’t say whether notices have gone out to other aides to President Barack Obama outside the Office of Management and Budget, including senior staff in the West Wing. But he says pay cuts remain a possibility for additional White House employees if a budget deal isn’t reached.

Every federal agency is grappling with spending cuts. Carney says the White House also has been trying to cut costs by slowing down hiring, scaling back supply purchases, curtailing staff travel, reducing the use of air cards for mobile Internet access and reviewing contracts to look for savings.

I keep myself grounded away from The Culture of Fear by a true story.

So, if I may?

This goes back aways. It was my younger years, 20 something, engaged, then married and still working for the Ag Division of American Cyanamid in West Windsor, New Jersey. It was a great place to work surrounded by incredibly educated and talented people. I landed a job in the research library with a high school diploma. I made good money and even published a research paper. But, when I was younger that was possible. Virtually, reputation meant something then and if a woman known to be 'smart,' nice things would happen.

At any rate I had several wonderful friends at the time and we would lunch at a place called "The Golden Goose."

One day we were at lunch and a friend stated her mother had been doing errands and returned to a van backed up to the garage with the door open. Of course, there were no mobile phones either and people worked during the week and this was a week day. 

Her mother walked up to the back of the van and saw belongs from her home inside at the same time a man was carrying more of her belongings out of the house.

Did terror strike her? No. 

Did she reach for the gun in her handbag? No.

Did she rely on stupid laws to empower violence on our streets? No.

She yelled at HIM. She told him to turn around and put everything back in the house, including the items in the van, or she would call the police as her neighbor was home and watching everything going on.

He did. 

True story. He took everything back in the house and drove off.

No violence. No crime was committed except for his stupid idea of robbing someone willing to be brave enough to stand up to him. No death. No nothing, except maybe spoiled milk in the car while she waited for him to put everything back in the house.

We laughed with delight at the story as we drank our ONE martini lunch.

Our society today is far too violent. There are too many guns on the street because of legal and illegal commerce. We are programmed to believe we are helpless without overwhelming force in our possession. 

Everyday in the year 2013 there is a child killed. They are killed by mass murderers, drive by shootings, by teens with guns and at their own hand when they find guns under the bed or in Dad's bedside draw or in Mom's handbag that is then used to kill another child, sibling or themselves.

There is no reason for it. Americans don't believe they are safe anymore. They believe they live in a world of violence. That is called "A Culture of Fear." It is real, it is propaganda and we all need to end this idiocy.

Organized crime has been around a long time, I suppose it will be for even longer; but, the Tommy Gun was made illegal and now we need to take it further to stop mayhem and murder on the streets of the USA.

What we are doing today compounds the danger to our lives and does not resolve it. The NRA propaganda is morally wrong and always has been.

Have a better day.

I don't doubt Texas has problems with violence more so than many areas of the country, but, 211 Crew's activities might be an excuse for others to act.

211 Crew is based in Colorado. While it makes sense for Ebel to have fled after the murder in Colorado (If those findings are conclusive); he fled to Texas for a reason.

According to court documents, on Nov. 21, 1999, Benjamin Davis, left, a longtime shot-caller for 211 Crew, was in an isolation cell at the state prison system's highest security facility, Colorado State Penitentiary, just outside Cañon City, above, when he wrote a "kite," or letter, to Seth Ready, an old friend who helped him pull robberies in Denver.

03/28/2013 09:03:29 AM MDT
By Kirk Mitchell and Sadie Gurman

Evan Ebel (click here) spent most of his adult life behind bars tutored by white supremacist gang members on the three Rs of prison gang life: reputation, respect and retaliation.

Now investigators are looking at whether Ebel — a 28-year-old parolee, 211 Crew soldier and the prime suspect in the killing of state prisons chief Tom Clements — acted alone or, as the code of the 211 Crew dictates, obeyed an order from the gang's shot-caller.

The Denver Post has reviewed hundreds of pages of Denver District Court records that show how the 211 Crew, even from the confines of the most restrictive conditions prison officials could impose, managed to order assaults with homemade shanks, orchestrate drug deals, and enforce gang rules...

If 212 Crew is a model for anarchy in the USA, it's leadership is marketable to other gangs with less success.

The proof of the virulency of Ebel and other within this so called ? gang ? (I think gang is the wrong word. It is racketeering. No different than the violent arm of other organized crime.) is in the records in Denver. He used "kites" to pass his directives to the outside world by cooperation of others. The ability of these criminals to communicate is pervasive. The only way to stop it is to put the entire prison or prison section ON THE SAME STANDARD to bring about rehabilitation rather than further criminality.

If 211 Crew is marketable to other organized criminal GANGS then it could be anyone in Texas. It isn't necessary this organization.

211 Crew has been organized since 1995 with primary activity within the USA in California and Colorado. The Texas tilt is new and I don't believe it is so much this organized crime gang so much as a 'learning curve' by others. Why Kaufman County? There has to be some sincere bad guys with an interest in killing prosecutors in Kaufman County. Ebel is dead. Revenge? Maybe, but, I question who is carrying out the revenge. Basically, expand the search.

The ability for 211 Crew (and quite possibly all white supremist organization) to organize with prisons is that they are wrongfully classified as Medium Security issues, but, they help maintain order within the prison by hating and controlling gay inmates.

The only way a prison population has this level of information is from prison staff. My take on it is, "Hey guys there is another gay guy coming."

...Almost from the moment he hit the yard at the Fremont Correctional Facility in late 2004, Scott Howard knew he was in trouble. The medium-security prison was run differently from anything he'd seen before. And too many people he didn't know already knew who he was and what he'd done....

...The 211s (click here) were particularly vocal about their hatred of homosexuals and sex offenders. Howard observed several openly gay and transsexual prisoners at Fremont. They were not in a good place. "All of these people were paying rent and being beaten," he says. "If you were smaller, or suspected of being gay, or a pretty-boy type — anything of that sort got back to them."...

The organization has substantial funds. They pay bail and lawyers. There is a lot of reason to be loyal.

Howard accused Simon Sue of aiding the 211 
Crew's schemes.

Benjamin Davis is the 211 Crew founder. He developed the organization while in the Denver jail. He was convicted of robbery and sentenced to 30 years. This was 1995 so he may still be incarcerated. I would start there to remove him from any prison population into a Maximum Security Prison. Then methodically go through the prison populations and remove these gang members to places like SuperMax.

I don't want to here sympathy for these bozos. They are better organized than the wardens and they run the darn places. Get them out of populations and put them in Max prisons. This is crazy. They need rehabilitation and not a place to run their plans from a corrupted prison institution.

Benjamin Davis picture to right.

The 211 Crew has a history in the south. A death of an inmate in Arkansas resulted in many indictments in 2005 of this organized crime gang.

211 Crew organizes and recruits from inside the prison system by supplying population control. Their members are most likely poverty level economically and don't have productive lives outside the prison. The gang raises monies through organized crime activities outside the prison to pay for lawyers and a lifestyle of continued crime.

It is a negative feedback loop that has to be broken. The only way to do that is to isolate them, stop communication and bring them to the reality they are putting themselves in prison by lacking the ability to be whole and productive citizens. They've got a real adrenalin lifestyle and it has to stop. This is anarchy.

Gun statistics from 2007 by the Violence Policy Center. The VPC is/was a non-profit organization to raise awareness to legislate gun control.

The statistics about guns in the USA since 2007 are more than skewed these days because there have been far more guns sold in the USA since then. The reason there were more gun sales to people since 2007 is PURE UNADULTERATED FEAR.

Now, when the prison populations start to have successful strategies of organized crime and allowed to conduct business inside and outside the prisons what does anyone think is going to happen?

A CULTURE OF FEAR is WHAT HAPPENED!

It is a negative feedback loop that has to stop. Prisons have to have control and this disaster of poverty in the USA needs to end.

It would be prudent to ask outside legal and medical resources to provide some expediancy to our Veterans.

This graph illustrates the increase of disabled veterans since the Iraq War.

Everyone knows, or I hope they know, that President Obama has recognized 'the condition' of our Disabled Veterans differently than past Republican administrations.

He is taking the returning disabled seriously, but, he has also recognized past veterans disabled as well. 



What is tragic about the current disabled veterans compared to the past is the severity of the injuries suffered in Iraq.

By Hayes Brown on Jan 16, 2013 at 10:28 am

Though the war in Iraq has ended (click here) and combat in Afghanistan is winding down, the cost of providing disability coverage to those who fought those battles has doubled since 2000, USA Today reports. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, granting adequate coverage to military veterans has ballooned in cost from $14.8 billion in 2000 to $39.4 billion in 2011. That number tracks with previous statistics that showed 45 percent of 1.6 million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have sought disability benefits....

The best spokesperson for the Disabled Veteran and their needs is Phil Donahue. He showcased the Disabled Veteran in "Body of War," a documentary that received less attention than it should have. 

"...nobody thinks of coming home like this..."

4,487 US Soldiers Killed in Iraq, 32,223 Seriously Wounded in Iraq

TROOPS IN IRAQ

Troops in Iraq - No U.S. troops remain in Iraq. The last 13,000 U.S/ troops were withdrawn in December 2011.

U.S. Troop Casualties

4,487 US troops

98% male

91% non-officers

82% active duty

11% National Guard

74% Caucasian

9% African-American

11% Latino

19% killed by non-hostile causes

54% of US casualties were under 25 years old

72% were from the US Army

Non-U.S. Troop Casualties - Total 316, with 179 from the UK

US Troops Wounded - 32,223, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries. (Total excludes psychological injuries.)

US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems - 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home

US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq - 75 total, at least 36 by enemy fire

The VALUE of the Iraq War was being tracked by The Brookings Institute. It stopped tracking in February 2012 (click here).

The Iraq Index is a statistical compilation of economic, public opinion, and security data. This resource will provide updated information on various criteria, including crime, telephone and water service, troop fatalities, unemployment, Iraqi security forces, oil production, and coalition troop strength....

From the "Iraq Index" Monthly Oil Revenue from Exports

From the "Iraq Index" Revenues from Iraq Oil Exports 

Iraqi Physicians Before 2003 Invasion - 34,000

Iraqi Physicians Who Have Left Iraq Since 2005 Invasion - 12,000

Iraqi Refugees in Syria & Jordan - 2.1 million to 2.25 million

Does Jordan ever get any relief from the wars of it's neighbors?

U.S. SPENDING IN IRAQ

Spent & Approved War-Spending - About $1 trillion of US taxpayers' funds spent or approved for spending through 2011.

Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers' money and $549.7 milion in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors. Also, per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.

Lost and Reported Stolen - $6.6 billion of U.S. taxpayers' money earmarked for Iraq reconstruction, reported on June 14, 2011 by Special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction Stuart Bowen who called it "the largest theft of funds in national history." (Source - CBS News) Last known holder of the $6.6 billion lost: the U.S. government.

Missing - $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)

Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings

Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion

Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items - $20 billion

Portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem "questionable or supportable" - $3.2 billion

U.S. Annual Air-Conditioning Cost in Iraq and Afghanistan - $20.2 billion (Source - NPR, June 25, 2011)

When are Republicans finally going to vote in increase taxes  on Wall Street ENOUGH to pay for the Corporate Welfare they provided?

No April Fools.

Massive Sea Ice Loss in Barrow, ALASKA (CLICK HERE)

Current Temperatures Canada and USA
The Weather Network 
April 1, 2013

Those degrees are in Centigrade/Celcius. 













Current NOAA Global Ocean Heat Content 















Current NOAA Sea Level Change 

Play Ball !!!!!!!!!

By Brian MacQuarrie
Globe Staff
March 31, 2013

If hope springs eternal in the run-up to baseball season, (click here) that hope seems a mite muted this year.

Sure, tourists flocked to Fenway Park this weekend for tours of the fabled ballyard, 11th-hour burnishing helped the 101-year-old stadium belie its age, and the Bleacher Bar in center field was crammed with patrons staring agog at the dazzling green of the playing field.

Still, something was different as the Boston Red Sox neared Opening Day against their ancient rivals, the New York Yankees.

Call it a novel experience of not-so-great expectations.

“It’s definitely a more reserved feeling for this season,” said Daniel Jacobson, a 25-year-old Web designer from Brighton. “There’s definitely some pessimism.”...

Landslide in Tibet - 83 people still missing

Afghanistan should understand techniques in mining matters. Karzai needs to have credible people handle their nation's mines. 

Michael Lipin

March 31, 2013

...Xinhua (click here) said a majority of the 83 workers at the camp were majority Han Chinese migrants from the provinces of Gansu and Guizhou. Several were Tibetans from the provincial capital, Lhasa. 

The copper mine near Gyama village is operated by a subsidiary of China National Gold Group Corporation, a state-owned enterprise that is the country's top gold producer. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang ordered authorities to exert maximum efforts to rescue the buried workers. 

Xinhua said rescuers are working around the clock at the site, using excavating machines to clear debris and widening roads to allow more equipment to be brought in. But it said the high altitude and snowy weather at the site led to some rescuers suffering altitude sickness and fever....


36 bodies found at Tibet landslide site (click here)
English.news.cn   2013-04-01 17:27:45

MAIZHOKUNGGAR, Tibet, April 1 (Xinhua) -- By Monday afternoon, rescuers had retrieved 36 bodies from the site of a massive landslide that buried 83 miners in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Friday....

2013-04-01
Editor: Hou Qiang
(To the right) Rescuers work at the site where a landslide hit one section of Chongqing-Guiyang Railway in southwest China's Guizhou Province, March 31, 2013. The landslide caused 2 trains off-the-line and 5 trains rechannel. (Xinhua/Zhou Tao)

Rescuers work at the site where a landslide hit one section of Chongqing-Guiyang Railway in southwest China's Guizhou Province, March 31, 2013. The landslide caused 2 trains off-the-line and 5 trains rechannel. (Xinhua/Zhou Tao)