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Turns out Karate and cyber security had more in common than we thought. Principles that are followed in karate stay pretty damn relevant even when it comes to keeping your organization cyber ready. Here are some of the basic principles in karate. Let's see how they correlate so well with good practices as far as cyber security is concerned. Respect your enemy (rei) Breach of access, website defacement, denial of your service etc are just some of the outcomes of not taking cyber security seriously or in other words giving your enemy (cyber risk) the respect it deserves. Respect your enemy by understanding the level of damage it can cause. This should always be the initial step towards any fight. First, know yourself and then your enemy Its important to know where you stand before you start the fight. Know the strengths and weaknesses of your organization. Creating a checklist of things to be taken care of can give you an idea of what needs to be done. Firewall Cyber security policies Enforce safe password practices Regular data back up Anti-malware These are just some items that should be on that checklist. Identifying which out of these is taken care of and which still needs to be done can simplify your path of action forward. Calamity springs from carelessness Careless actions like we all know can lose someone a fight. Karate teaches us that taking care of these actions will keep us from losing. Some trivial easily avoidable mistakes like Clicking on hypertext links Usages of portable storage devices Transacting on unsecured websites Usage of pirated software Can prove to be of grave danger to any organization and can put your security at risk. Karate is like boiling water; without heat, it returns to its tepid state Karate says that its important to always stay on you’re A game. To keep the water boiling calls for practice and constant introspection. Just like this even cyber security practices need constant updates and support. Its also important to conduct drills where situations of cyber attacks can be simulated to teach employees how to respond. Making cyber security practices an essential part of timely employee evaluations can also be a good way to keep the water boiling. Adjust according to your opponents Karate teaches us that its important to be aware of the strengths of your opponent so that we can train ourselves to cope with their strengths. This helps us to adopt new methods, learning new techniques, basically doing what it takes to survive undesirable situations. Similarly, Staying updated about cyber security attacks happening world over and striving to incorporate the solution that will help us overcome such attacks becomes an essential preparation for the war against cyber risk. Be constantly mindful, diligent, and resourceful, in your pursuit of the Way Having an open mind towards new and better ways is very important because doing something over and over again in a similar fashion is only going to give us the same output. Need a different output? Try a better way! In this Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous world its only obvious that we reinvent methods and means to keep what we hold dear safe. Inducing habits of educating all stakeholders on cyber security and rewarding those who come up with innovative ways of staying safe needs to be imbibed into our systems. Karate is a lifelong pursuit Pursuing karate is a process that consumes time and effort. It takes persistence to stay in the process. A secure organization too cannot be looked at an event, it’s a process just like the pursuit of karate. Locate a security partner who will be there by your side in this pursuit. A partner who knows what's going on and what needs to be done. Living on the edge is the key to survival. Because remember that the attacker has to be right only once but the defender must be right every time. Move aside Nintendo, PAM is here. Its proven that what may appear as complex can easily be simplified when looked at as a game. Don’t believe me? Ask that 7-year-old who learned multiplication table the fun way. Can Privileged access management be looked at as a game? Let's break a game down and see what its made of. A game is nothing but a structured form of play. A game has various components like a goal, challenges, tools or enablers, skills required to ace it and of course competition. If we establish that PAM has these components, then we can conclude with certainty that it can be looked at as a game. Goal Goals can be on two types, long term and short term. A typical game would have both and so does PAM. Long term goals Secure your organization from cyber attacks by securing all the systems within the network To be compliant to the norms of regulators and scaling up sustainably without additional costs. Short term goals Rotating password Password encryption Increase automation Reducing human dependency Challenges Challenges in any game, are very important components. It's true that they do keep you from going to the next level, but once you figure out how to beat these challenges then nothing stops you from moving ahead. If it's Roadrash that you’re playing, then the cops that start to tail you become the challenge that you have to deal with. Even PAM has some challenges that will require us to bring in our A game. User awareness becomes the key challenge. It is essential that the user knows about the devices that he/she has access to and also about the PAM solution. Poor hardware on devices also becomes a challenge at times. Attaining the level of customization expected and defining user groups correctly are some challenges that PAM companies are still struggling with. Although developing empathy towards the client and understanding the what and why of his business can effectively dodge these challenges. Tools Dangerous dave had a jet pack, NFS requires you to collect NOS so that your car can zoom past others and get ahead in the race. PAM has some tools as well that enable you to get ahead in the race. Reporting forms an essential part of the tool kit. Easy to understand dashboards let you have a birds-eye view of everything that goes on within your network. Risk analyzer pushes you to be ahead on the curve by warning you about anomalies on basis of risk scores allotted to every activity. Automated asset and account discovery is also a tool that can exponentially ease PAM functioning. Remote access and activity trail being others. Competition In the case of PAM, defining competition can be tricky. It’s a long list if we go around looking. Competition can be classified as internal and external. Internal competition An employee gone rogue External competition A hacker sitting in a distant country. Ignorance towards cyber risk and internal resistance to transform and adapt better methods become competition too because when they win, you lose. Skill Last but not least, developing the required skill because very important to win any game. In case of a computer game, it's mostly hand and eye coordination. When it comes to PAM, Its majorly about taking users from the low level of awareness to high. We could imagine the user awareness scale to range from 0 to 10 with three levels in it. 0-4 becomes level 1, 4-8 becomes level 2 and 8-10 becomes level 3. Level 1 Understanding PAM superficially without getting into the technicalities. Level 2 Understanding how PAM functions and the scope of it. It’s a stage where the user understands which business problem PAM solves. Level 3 Building a strong feedback loop with the users and customizing the PAM solution by keeping the user at the center. This loop requires users to participate actively resulting in the PAM solution to mature well. Coordination Just like a game that we play in teams, PAM requires high coordination among players/stakeholders. Now that we’ve established PAM can be looked at as a game, we have strong reasons to not do so. Unlike a game, PAM does not run in a simulated environment. Threats in PAM are not fictitious like in a game. It can be argued that games are unproductive in nature but PAM solutions unlike that has a very high ROI if we consider what’s at stake and are highly recommended by experts. You deserve this star if you think you understand PAM better now, just like the kid who now knows his multiplication. Thanks to games! Why you should be reworking privileged access security program? What is trending now? Earlier this year, Deloitte released its annual edition of emerging trends in government technology ‘A Government Perspective: Tech Trends 2018’. It spoke about how automation, artificial intelligence & cognitive technologies are set to change the way work gets done. Another one of the trends highlighted was that of re-engineering technology where modernized IT infrastructure is being created to enhance efficiency and service delivery. Furthermore, it mentioned of the adoption of newer technologies & newer ways to manage interrelationships, storage and security of organizational data while dramatically improving both availability and security. Co-incidentally, I also happened to come across a strategic move implemented by the Singapore Government where they have set up a G-Cloud, a private cloud infrastructure that meets all the required security assurances the government has mandated. The benefit – all branches of Singapore’s government can scale, deploy & scale up applications much more quickly, efficiently & securely. The reason why they have implemented the G-Cloud is to transform the way the government delivers services by enabling new technology & by using a transformed IT department. Moreover, based on our interaction with enterprises across sectors, we observed a trend where co-existence of hybrid infrastructure seems to be taking shape. And with that there seems to be an overall refresh in the associated aspects including security tools. Synergy in above trends The above cases point to a similar direction – a transformation in IT. Transformation not just in terms of the IT infrastructure but also other parameters associated with it such as automation, new technologies, security & efficiency. Taking these trends to a broader setting, we can to a certain extent also assume that this is true not just in case of government enterprises but also other enterprises – small, medium & large. And while unsaid, with this transformation comes the challenge of IT security at all levels, especially with regards to IT infrastructure. Needless to mention, security around user access to critical IT infrastructure cannot be neglected and that should maintain top priority. Reason being that compromising this security aspect could lead to unlimited access & control of critical infrastructure accounts/privileged accounts & their passwords falling into the wrong hands. Time to re-evaluate your IT security solutions Evaluating a priority security solution tailored to protect IT assets such as a privileged access security solution could be a long-winded process. However, the ROI in terms of recurring cost, security, compliance & business reputation is worth the time & money invested. For instance, Apple devices have gained popularity not just for its features & sleek design but for the fact that they are protected from ransomware. Similarly, customers of any organization would look at the enterprises’ security measures in today’s time & age to build trust in that organization. More than strong revenue, profits & popularity, it is information security as an evaluation parameter that has taken dominance in customer decision making, come to think of it. One can argue that the only way customers would know of an organization’s security is until a security breach takes place. But why wait for that to happen? Prevention is better than cure, the age old saying. With that in mind, it has become important for security teams in enterprises to do a continuous assessment & monitoring of existing security solutions & evaluate the solutions’ capability to support & scale with modernized IT infrastructure. Having said that, prioritization is equally important. When it comes to security solutions, the first thing that you would think of securing is the core of your IT environment - the privileged accounts. And why wouldn't it be? A study by Ponemon Institute has pegged the average cost of insider threats for an organization at over $8 million, not to mention losses suffered due to a hit on the reputation . It is therefore time to re-evaluate your security with regards to privileged access. Re-evaluation of privileged access security is not cumbersome Times have changed. Every simple item we use today demands a re-evaluation, why not security solutions then. Privileged access security is not what it used to be before. Most enterprises might have implemented a privileged password vault some time ago but with such massive IT transformations happening at all levels, it is also important to re-assess your privileged access security programs. You may already have a robust privileged access solution in place but are they built to scale and suit the modernized IT infrastructure? If not, then having implemented such a solution could lead to spending more time and resources in maintaining the solution alone. Moreover, there is risk of sticking to a traditional solution that may have an architectural shortcoming considering the new age infrastructure changes. It, therefore, is best practice to re-evaluate existing security solutions in terms of their capability to support an agile and scalable IT environment without impacting productivity, compromising security & increasing costs. You have to take action before a potential security threat event could occur even with the existing solutions in place. Imagine the plight of security teams in the event of a potential mishap (breach) despite having an erstwhile compliant solution. It is worth the time & effort to look at transforming and reworking privileged access security program to ensure data security is abreast with your IT transformation. The current scenario demands a Privileged Access Security/Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution that is capable of adjusting and adapting to the dynamic IT infrastructure. And if there is a PAM solution that is engineered on a new age technology suited to adjust and adapt to the dynamically evolving IT setting, it may be worthwhile evaluating such a solution and considering a change, wouldn’t it? Reworking privileged access security program is not as tedious as you think it is. Alternatively, you may even want to consider keeping a backup PAM solution, if not replace it. Think about it. How can Sectona help? Sectona has engineered a Privileged Access Management to adapt to the dynamically changing IT infrastructure. The solution has been built with the intention to scale flexibly without compromising on security or increasing costs. Designed with a new process & approach, Spectra Privileged Access Management has been conceived & architected with the right amount of time and energy to realize the right ROI. Learn more about Spectra here and see it in action. Enterprises are witnessing a significant change in their IT infrastructure. The contributing factors to these changes are qualitative – be it the constantly changing industry behavior and organizational economies vis-a-vis large infrastructure migration activities, IT procurement changes, mergers & acquisitions, migration to hybrid & cloud platforms, changing user and user access landscape. With these changes, the current scenario is such that users can access your infrastructure from any location. All users can be treated as remote users with millions of passwords and access to be managed and thousands of sessions & activities to be monitored independently on a daily basis leaving you with an increased attack surface. Security concerns around Privileged Account Management because of the evolving dynamics Naturally then the question arises as to how the rising privileged access needs will be catered to. The popular solution vendors have worked on innovative password vaults back in the day. Having said that, it is important to consider whether the architecture and approach of those solutions can cope with the dynamically changing nature of infrastructure needs (read: cloud + on-premise hybrid infrastructure). Are more resources in terms of manpower, effort and costs required? CIO’s are analyzing and evaluating tools with a primary objective in mind – Does my privileged account management (PAM) tool have the agility and scalability to manage and secure the increasing diversity of the infrastructure while still reducing costs and increasing productivity? The answer to this missing piece has led to the increasing transition of enterprises to consider a technology refresh and move to ‘as-a-service’ approach for their privileged account management tools. Management concerns with the current Privileged Account Management measures It is often observed that traditional Privileged Account Management (PAM) tools are able to provide core privileged access security features such as Password Management and Session Monitoring but now the focus has shifted to ‘do more with your PAM’. Just the core features do not seem to be cutting it because there is a lot of manual effort involved in managing the solution in its entirety. There are two problems associated with this – first the cost involved to deploy resources to manually manage the solution (for instance, to manually provision and de-provision devices and accounts) and second the productivity comes down with the mundane approach followed in managing the solution. Automation has therefore become the talk of the town and has become a critical requirement of a Privileged Account Management solution. It allows for as much as up to 50% reduction in costs. However, for existing PAM solutions to incorporate automation would mean disintegrating and then reintegrating the basic foundation of its architecture that could take significant amount of time before it comes to fruition. This leads to the management point of discussion – is maintaining my existing Privileged Account Management solution a costlier affair than replacing it? Not surprising, the answer to this will give you an insight into the need for a massive Privileged Account Management (PAM) refresh among enterprises. All this is believed to have led enterprises to prioritize privileged access security and consider a reduction in their PAM refresh tenure from the conventional 5 or 7 years down to 3 years. Are you ready for a PAM refresh? What do you need to tackle these PAM security concerns? Need of the hour is to have a privileged account management (PAM) solution that addresses the aforementioned pain areas by focusing on privileged user ACCESS to prevent misuse of privileges and manage access problems. At the same time, the PAM solution should be able to adapt to the evolving infrastructure needs without having the requirement for additional resources (in terms of manpower and hardware). Privileged Account Management (PAM) solution that is built on a cross-platform and integrated fashion making it cloud ready, agile and easily scalable is needed to achieve the levels of security and automation that the current scenario demands. With the rising user landscape both from within and outside the network, the risk has shifted from managing passwords to managing access. How Sectona can help? Sectona’s Spectra Privileged Account Management/Privileged Access Management is designed with a unique approach that steps away from conventional challenges and addresses the current and future needs of privileged password & access management. Furthermore, its collaboration based privileged access technology solves the issue of growing remote users. Most importantly, its use of automation for discovery, provisioning and privileged tasks, to name a few can help reduce costs and save time, effort and manpower dependence. Spectra PAM essentially has been conceived and developed to address the growing needs of privileged access & modernized IT infrastructure for future ready enterprises. The focus at Sectona is to educate enterprises on how to prioritize their privileged access from start (read: How to start your Privileged Account Security Program) to end. Learn more of how Spectra Privileged Account Management (PAM) is tailor made to address the current and future needs of privileged access management challenges with focus on automation along with time & cost reduction. What are Privileged Accounts? Privileged Accounts, as the name suggests are only for privileged users, super-users and administrators who are entrusted with the responsibility of managing infrastructure or cloud critical systems. These super users are equipped with certain privileged access rights that are not equally enjoyed by other end users. Every system – be it OS, Databases, Network Devices or Applications - there are privileged accounts that are assigned on each of them to perform critical activities. Quite naturally, this means that there can be an abuse of the privileges, intentionally or accidentally, if not appropriately monitored and controlled. (Read how to plan against privilege abuse) Interestingly, there are different types of privileged accounts that can be assigned to a system. The simplest of privileged account that most know of and can relate to is the default ‘administrator’ account you have seen on your system. This account has been granted rights to have complete control of the system and do anything in the purview of the operations of the system. Types of Privileged Accounts Local Account: These accounts have the access for a single system that the user is using i.e. it is local to the user. The user id and password are stored locally on the hard drive of the system being used. Default administrator accounts are local accounts. The local account provides us with the account usability as what programs can be installed or removed, what type of files can be accessed which services can be run or blocked on the system etc. Domain Account: These accounts keep IT users’ id and password on the domain controller rather than the system in which it is logged in. As soon as the domain user logs in the system, the privileges of that user are being asked by the domain controller accordingly then the access is granted to that particular user. These types of accounts are used wherein workload is divided among many, so a centralized access for them has been provided by the domain within few computers. Service Account: This account is for the users to provide them with the security on the services which are running on their systems. The services can be configured using the task manager or windows PowerShell. There are basically three types of service accounts in an operating system: a) Standalone Managed Service Accounts b) Group Managed Service Accounts c) Virtual Accounts Application Account: These accounts vary from business related forms to database logins. They basically deal with all types of critical roles over the network, depending on peer to peer applications. These types of accounts have been designed to track one’s application by logging in to that particular account application. Default Accounts Our focus though will be the default administrator accounts & built in accounts. These accounts come into picture during the time of installation of devices and services. When the systems are installed for the first time, the operating system or database or the service installs with default user accounts. These account settings are known as default administrative rights because they have been pre-defined by the software developers of the system. There are various types of default accounts available in various operating systems such as administrator for windows, root for Linux, db2admin for IBMDb2, administrator for Microsoft Server 2012 etc. The security risks, however, come into play when there is a misuse of the access privileges granted to these accounts. This administrator can also create other accounts with equal administrator rights and sometimes this leads to creation of new privileged accounts that security teams may or may not know about. So the unaware security team will do the necessary checks to ensure that the access and credentials of the known default administrator accounts are protected. However, the abuse of these privileged accounts created will lie unnoticed that can expose a scathing attack surface. With security risks around privileged account management taking the driver’s seat, this has become the topic of discussion even among Board of Directors. Given the nature of cyber-attacks that have been happening in the recent past where privileged account misuse have been identified as the top attack vector, regulations have tightened with focus around these privileged accounts. These regulatory frameworks are constantly evolving and that poses ‘challenges’ to CIOs and CISOs making it imperative for them to adhere to those regulations to avoid business and reputational losses. A quick recap and gist of the compliance policies are highlighted below. Regulatory Challenges for Privileged Accounts NAME CLAUSE DESCRIPTION Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard(PCI DSS v3) Build and Maintain a Secure Network and Systems 1. Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data. 2. Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA-April-2014) 164.308(a)(5) Password Management ISO-IEC-27001-2013 A.9.2.2 User Access Provisioning A.9.2.3 Management of privileged access rights A.9.2.4 Management of secret authentication information of users If you notice, the regulatory frameworks consistently talk about protecting privileged user credentials and securing their access mechanisms. Essentially for this, you need a deeply integrated and cross-platform Privileged Access Management approach. Where can Sectona help? While everyone is aware of the above regulations, no one completely knows or is aware of how to start their privileged security program. And the first step is to identify all the default accounts that are present in their on-premise or cloud infrastructure stack. So, as security consultants, we have stepped in and taken the ownership to ease out your work and educate you with a starting point to your Privileged Security Program by providing you with a comprehensive list of default accounts that can be found across infrastructure assets. You may download the template below. Also, we provide a collaborative, integrated and cross-platform approach based Privileged Access Management Spectra. Download the list Start now, exploit this knowledge, prioritize your privileged access security and stay compliant. Do keep a lookout for additional resources across network devices and SaaS applications in the coming weeks.

2019-04-24T22:05:02Z

https://sectona.com/blog/category/general/

Weeding and spring clean up of the grounds of Cardinal Shehan Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Our 100th Project!!!! Assembly of 115 fleece blankets for the pediatric patients of local hospitals in support of Brady’s Smile. Collection and donation of 5635 children’s books to Read to Grow and Bridgeport Hospital Foundation. Sponsorship of 60 children for the holidays through Family ReEntry. Collection, assembly, and donation of 400 Blessings Bags to Bridgeport Rescue Mission and United Congregational Church shelters and 25 Care Caddies to Trumbull Food Pantry. Organization of Bridgeport Rescue Mission‘s Donation Center to prep for their Great Thanksgiving Project. Donation of over 500 books and dozens of toys to the preschool of St. Andrew’s Preschool in Bridgeport. Assembly and donation of 210 Blessings Bags to Bridgeport Hospital Foundation and Prospect Street shelter. Assembly and donation of 20 Care Caddies to Homes for the Brave. Assembly and donation of 45 Cooking Kits to Trumbull Food Pantry. Over 20 volunteers sanded, cleaned, repaired, stained, and painted the front porch of The Caroline House in Bridgeport, Connecticut. We also donated school supplies for the preschool program. Collection, assembly, and donation of 330 Blessings Bags to Bridgeport Rescue Mission and Bridge House, 30 Care Caddies to Trumbull Food Pantry, and 90 backpacks and school supply kits to The Center for Family Justice. Assembly and donation of 400 Blessings Bags for the Umbrella Center, Bridgeport Hospital Foundation, and United Congregational Church shelters, 20 Care Caddies for the Trumbull Food Pantry, and 42 cleaning kits, baby kits, and care caddies for the women and children of Malta House. Spring clean up of Indian Ledge park and fields in support of Trumbull Community Women’s Tidy Up Trumbull. Assembly and donation of 375 Blessings Bags for United Congregational Church shelter, Prospect Street shelter, and Spooner House; assembly and donation of 20 Care Caddies for Homes for the Brave. 1,000 Blessings Bags assembled and donated to Bridgeport Rescue Mission, Center for Family Justice, Thomas Merton House, and United Congregational Church shelters. 67 “Cooking for our Neighbors Kits” and $500 in Stop & Shop gift cards donated to The Trumbull Food Pantry. Assembly and donation 60 fleece blankets for children in hospitals in support of The Binky Patrol of Southern Connecticut. Donation of 30 fleece blankets created for preemies in the Intensive Care Unit, 30 sibling comfort bags with new books and coloring books and crayons, and 30 parent comfort bags filled with toiletries, notebooks, and writing utensils donated to The Tiny Miracles Foundation. Assembly and donation of 310 Blessings Bags to Prospect Street shelter, United Congregational Church’s shelter, and Bridge House; 22 Cinch Caddies to Cardinal Shehan Center; 25 Care Caddies to Trumbull Food Pantry, and 20 Care Caddies to Ronald McDonald House. Over 4500 books donated to Read to Grow in New Haven, Connecticut which distributes to local children. Elfing of 60 children for the holidays with over 400 gifts, in support of Family ReEntry. Donation of 340 Blessings Bags to Bridgeport Rescue Mission and United Congregational Church shelter, and donation of 20 Care Caddies to Homes for the Brave. Organization and prepping of hundreds of coats for Bridgeport Rescue Mission’s Great Thanksgiving Project. Assembly and donation of 250 Blessings Bags for Hidden Treasurers Within, 20 Care Caddies for Trumbull Food Pantry, and 30 Comfort Bags for the patients of the Norma Pfriem Cancer Center in Fairfield. 250 Blessings Bags donated to Thomas Merton House, 25 Care Caddies donated to Homes for the Brave and Trumbull Food Pantry, and 100 backpacks and 80 school supplies kits donated to the Center for Family Justice and Trumbull Social Services. Assembly of 25 Camp TeePee kits for the children sponsored by The Center for Family Justice, and 25 Care Caddies for the Ronald McDonald House in New Haven and 220 Blessings Bags for the Center for Family Justice and Prospect House, sponsored by Vazzy’s Osteria in Monroe. Assembly of 800 weekend lunches for Stamford school children in support of Filling in the Blanks. Spring clean up (27 bags of debris and garbage!) of Cardinal Shehan Center in Bridgeport and donation of 40 Cinch Caddies of hygiene items, sponsored by Unilever, for their Empowering Girls program. Assembly of 260 Blessings Bags for Bridgeport Rescue Mission and Bridge House, 35 Care Caddies for Trumbull Food Pantry, and 45 Cooking for our Community Kits and $300, sponsored by Prime 111, in gift card to Stop & Shop for Trumbull Food Pantry. Spring up of Indian Ledge Park as part of Trumbull Community Women’s Tidy Up Trumbull. Creation of 22 fleece blankets, 46 decorated pillow cases, and 50 friendship bracelet kits for the teenage patients of the Smilow Cancer Center in Trumbull, sponsored by MNI, a division of Invirco, Inc. Assembly of 25 Care Caddies to Homes for the Brave, with donations from Unilever, and sponsored by MNI. Assembly of 250 Blessings Bags to Bridgeport Rescue Mission and Prospect House, 20 Cinch Caddies to Trumbull Food Pantry, and 20 Care Caddies to a young mother’s shelter in New Haven. Assembly of pillows for the children undergoing surgeries at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, in support of Kisses from Katie. Donation of 150 pairs of socks to Bridgeport Rescue Mission. Donation of 3500 books for Read to Grow. Donation of 125 books, from Dinosaur’s Paw in Newtown, to 7 Trumbull schools, and 6 Bridgeport elementary schools. Sponsorship of 55 individuals for the holiday, through Trumbull Social Services and Family ReEntry. Donation of 230 Blessings Bags to Bridgeport Rescue Mission and the Food Pantry of the United Congregational Church, 12 Care Caddies donated to the Trumbull Food Pantry, and 15 Cinch Caddies donated to Homes for the Brave. 40 Cooking Kits, 10 frozen meals, and $350 in Stop & Shop gift cards donated to Operation Hope in Fairfield. Special thanks to the Trumbull Rotary for their $300 grant for gift cards. Fall Festival for the families of the Open Door Shelter in Norwalk, with pumpkins, crafts, snacks, and new books for the children. Over 20 members weeded the gardens of Burroughs Community Center in Bridgeport. Assembly of 310 Blessings Bags donated to Bridgeport Rescue Mission, Prospect House, and Bridge House; assembly of 15 Cinch Caddies and 10 Care Caddies donated to Trumbull Food Pantry, assembly of 22 Care Caddies donated to Homes for the Brave; assembly of 60 school supplies kits and 70 backpacks donated to Family ReEntry. Assembly of 180 Blessings Bags for Operation Hope in Fairfield and Thomas Merton House, 20 Cinch Caddies for Bridge House, 15 Cinch Caddies for Trumbull Food Pantry, and 25 Care Caddies for Homes for the Brave. Set up for Relay for Life in Trumbull in support of the American Cancer Society. Food Drive to support Trumbull Food Pantry. Assembly of 235 Blessings Bags for Bridgeport Rescue Mission and Prospect House, 25 Care Caddies for Trumbull Food Pantry, and 30 Cinch Caddies for Bridge House. Creation of 75+ fleece pillows for the children at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, in support of Kisses from Katie. Assembly of 100 fleece blankets for Brady’s Smile. Donation of crayons, markers, and coloring books for their Smiles Bags. Assembly of 235 Blessings Bags, donated to Bridgeport Rescue Mission and the United Church in Bridgeport, and 25 Care Caddies, donated to the Trumbull Food Pantry and Homes for the Brave. Assembly of 2400 school lunches for Stamford School children, in support of Filling in the Blanks. Assembly of 280 Blessings Bags, donated to Bridgeport Rescue Mission, Prospect House, and Operation Hope; Assembly of 18 Care Caddies, donated to Trumbull Food Pantry. Sponsorship of 15 Trumbull families for the holiday season with gifts and Care Caddies, through Trumbull Social Services. 115 stockings filled with items, in support of Hungry Kidzz. Assembly of 155 Blessings Bags, donated to Bridgeport Rescue Mission and Homes for the Brave. Prepping of 100 stockings, to be filled with small trinkets and donated to Hungry Kidzz. Packing of food kits and hygiene supplies and organization of donated clothes at Bridgeport Rescue Mission’s Donation Center. Assembly of 210 Blessings Bags for United Congregational Church food pantry in Bridgeport, 26 Care Caddies for Bridge House and Trumbull Food Pantry, 34 Sweet Cases for the children of St. Vincent’s Special Needs Services in Trumbull, and 54 backpacks and school supply kits for Family Reentry in Norwalk. Assembly of 120 Blessings bags for Bridgeport Rescue Mission and 16 Care Caddies for the Trumbull Food Pantry. Assembly of 400 lunches for Stamford school children, in support of Filling in the Blanks. Planting of a new sensory garden at the Trumbull Nature & Art Center. Assembly of 175 Blessings Bags for Bridgeport Rescue Mission, Trumbull Food Pantry, and Homes for the Brave, and 10 shower caddies for Homes for the Brave. Clean up of Indian Ledge Park, as part of Trumbull Community Women’s Tidy Up Trumbull. Creation of 90 fleece blankets for Children in the ICU at Bridgeport and Yale New Haven Children’s Hospitals, in support of Brady’s Smile. Assembly of 100 Blessings Bags for Thomas Merton House in Bridgeport, 60 Blessings Bags for Bridgeport Rescue Mission, 20 shower caddies for Homes for the Brave women’s guest house, and 8 care packages for Connecticut National Guard troops deployed overseas. Collection of 3700 books from members and the Trumbull community to donate to Read to Grow, a local nonprofit, whose mission is to promote early childhood literacy in Connecticut. Sponsorship of 11 local families with Christmas presents and 11 Care Caddies of hygiene products donated to Trumbull Social Services. Volunteering for Bridgeport Rescue Mission’s Great Thanksgiving Project, helping to distribute care packages of food for Thanksgiving. Fall clean up of the gardens and trails of the Trumbull Nature & Arts Center. Assembly of 85 Blessings Bags to Bridgeport Rescue Mission and 15 shower caddies of full size items to Homes for the Brave. Assembly of 121 Blessings Bags to Bridgeport Rescue Mission, 54 Blessings Bags to Homes for the Brave and 5 shower caddies to Bridgeport Rescue Mission’s Guest House. Assembly of 60 school supplies kits and 58 backpacks and 12 lunch boxes donated to Family Reentry. Donation of over 1600 wipes and over 1180 diapers to the Diaper Bank of Greater New Haven. Assembly of 90 Blessings bags to donate to Bridgeport Rescue Mission, and 16 shower caddies of full size hygiene products to the men of Homes for the Brave. Food drive in front of Stop & Shop Trumbull, with over 500 items donated to the Trumbull Food Pantry. We also collected $500 in donations which will be donated to the Food Pantry and to use for future projects. Assembly of 20 Care Caddies, 15 Sweet Dreams bags for the kids (each bag contained stuffed animal, book and lotion), another huge bag of stuffed animals, 30 outfits for young children and 88 Blessings Bags donated to the Domestic Violence Crisis Center in Norwalk. Set up and registration at the March of Dimes Walk in Fairfield. Creation of 70 fleece blankets for Brady’s Smile. Donation of 200 containers of play dough and 76 boxes of crayons for their Brady’s comfort bags for the children. Members donated supplies for the creation of 100 Blessings Bags, which were donated to Bridgeport Rescue Mission in Bridgeport. Assembly of 10 Care Caddies and 45 Blessings Bags for the men of Homes for the Brave in Bridgeport. Execution of our own version of Extreme Make over: House Edition for Homes with Hope in Westport. Donation of 60 backpacks, and tons of school supplies to the Pupil Service Department of Trumbull Public Schools and the Center for Women and Families in Bridgeport. Donation of 50 new and gently used baby and toddler toys for Bridgeport Hospital’s Child life Department. Food drive at Trumbull Stop & Shop. Collection of over 1,000 items and $475, which will be used to buy items in the future, for the Trumbull Food Pantry. Clean up of a new parking lot for Caroline House in Bridgeport. Donation of 25 pairs of pants for their preschool students, who are being potty trained, and $165 in gift cards to local grocery stores. Sewing of 50 capes in support of Emmy’s Heart. Emmy’s Heart volunteers create tutus and crowns for young children undergoing treatment for serious illnesses or disabilities at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. Donation of over 30 DVDs to the Child Life Department of Bridgeport Hospital. Assembly of 100 Blessings Bags to Bridgeport Rescue Mission. “Night of pampering” for female veterans who reside at Homes for the Brave in Bridgeport. We brought goodie bags for each of the residents, cooked and served a home made meal- with a little help from our friends at Fratello’s in Monroe- and then pampered the women with manicures, pedicures and facials. Staffing of the Volunteer Call Center for Newtown for the day. Each day, the center fields calls from hundreds of people from around the country who want to donate and support the victims and survivors of the Sandy Hook tragedy. Over 15 members put their baking skills to good use! We whipped up 2 dozen pies, various brands, almost 100 cupcakes and well over a hundred cookies to donate to the Trumbull Food Pantry. Pantry staffers gave out the treats to patrons the week before Christmas. Collection of over 60 back packs and lunch boxes hundreds of school supplies, ranging from notebooks and folders donated by Target Hawley Lane, and pens, rulers, erasers, pencils, and cases donated by members. We assembled 45 full back packs to give to the Center for Women and Families.

2019-04-23T18:57:43Z

http://www.impactrumbull.org/past-projects/

Do I need to remove the jacket from the tablet before using the Wysiwash Sanitizer? No! Do not remove the jacket from the Wysiwash Sanitizer Jacketed Caplet before using it. The jacket does several things and is integral to the operation of the Sanitizer. How long will a caplet last? When drained properly when not in use, a Wysiwash Jacketed Caplet will last for approximately 3.5 hours. How do I know when to change caplet? When you pick up a stored and drained Sanitizer-V or Sanitizer, gently shake the unit before attaching it to your hose. If you hear or feel caplet clunk inside the Caplet Container, you are ready to disinfect. Inspect visually as needed. If not, open Caplet Container, discard plastic jacket, and insert new caplet. The Wysiwash Sanitizing Solution generates some fumes, albeit many fewer than most sanitizers and disinfectants. Like most cleaning products, the Wysiwash Sanitizing System should be used in areas with adequate ventilation. A good rule of thumb is that if you wouldn’t use bleach due to lack of ventilation, then you should increase ventilation before using Wysiwash. Most users report that Wysiwash is more pleasant than other disinfectants, especially liquid bleach. Is it safe to have skin contact with surfaces that have just been sprayed with Wysiwash? Absolutely! The Wysiwash Sanitizing Solution is mild but highly effective. Can I use Wysiwash Solution to rinse down degreasers or other cleaners? It is completely safe to rinse down degreasers and soaps that are labeled as safe for use with chlorine products or oxidizers. Do not use with ammonia products and products that are not compatible for use with chlorine. Will the Wysiwash Solution “bleach” or stain clothes? Even with proper drainage, the solution may still be concentrated during the first 30 seconds of spraying with a previously used caplet. Be sure to take extra caution when starting. We highly recommend that each time you use Wysiwash, you begin by spraying into a floor drain or another safe area for 30 seconds to avoid accidental contact with solution. Taking these precautions should eliminate bleaching. What is Wysiwash’s contact time? How long does the solution need to remain on a surface to sanitize? The main active ingredient in the Wysiwash Sanitizer is hypochlorous acid, one of the most effective disinfectant chemicals. In reality, the high levels of hypochlorous acid produced by the Wysiwash Sanitizer kill within seconds (up to 120 times faster than liquid bleach due to pH level). Nevertheless, it is our recommendation to leave the Wysiwash solution on a surface for at least two minutes. But remember, this is a moot point because you do not have to rinse! Is it safe for use around my plants? The Wysiwash Sanitizer and the solution it produces are completely safe for use on grass, plants, trees, etc. Is Wysiwash available outside the USA? Please contact Larry ( larry@wysiwash.com ) to get information about international suppliers. At this time, Wysiwash only ships within the continental United States of America. Feel free to contact us with questions about using Wysiwash on other surfaces. Will Wysiwash damage metal surfaces? Avoid spraying copper, brass or metals prone to oxidation. For other metals, Wysiwash will affect metal like regular water, if the Wysiwash unit is drained and used according to directions. How often must I spray an area to prevent or clean mold and algae? This really depends on how bad the mold and algae problem is and how much moisture is present. In most cases, spraying an area once per week as an inhibitor should be more than sufficient. To eliminate an existing algae/mold problem, consecutive applications over a period of days should get the user to a point where a weekly application is sufficient. Click here to read more. I have noticed a white buildup inside the Sanitizer-V. What is it and what should I do about it? 1. Carefully remove the Jacketed Caplet to store in a safe place. 2. Make sure nozzle and valve are in an open position. 3. Soak overnight, or as needed in white vinegar. The Wysiwash Sanitizer Jacketed Caplets have an extended shelf life, losing only 5% efficacy in 18 months. If I don't use my caplets for an extended time, are they still effective? Absolutely! The Wysiwash Sanitizer Jacketed Caplets have an extended shelf life, losing only 3% efficacy in 18 months if left in the original bucket they are shipped in. If a caplet was left in the Sanitizer-V after use and stored in ideal conditions (drained immediately after use, stored in a dry, temperature controlled space) then the caplet can be used for up to 3 months from the last use. If a caplet left in the Sanitizer-V is still solid but storage conditions were less than ideal, it can be used for up to two months from the last use. Does water temperature affect the Wysiwash Sanitizer in any way? Practically speaking, no. Average hose water has a temperature of 50 to 80 degrees F. At this temperature range, performance of the Wysiwash solution will not be greatly altered. As a general rule, however, as water temperature drops, contact time should be increased. We recommend doubling the exposure time for each 10°C (18°F) drop in temperature below 24°C (75°F). Therefore, in extremely cold water, we suggest doubling the contact time to four minutes. Of course, with our no rinse system, this is not really a factor because the product is left until it evaporates. Does the hardness of water affect the Wysiwash Sanitizer in any way? No. Water hardness plays no role in the efficacy of Wysiwash. What is the ORP measurement for Wysiwash solution? Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP) is related to the concentration of oxidizers or reducers in a solution, and their activity or strength. It provides an indication of the solution's ability to oxidize or reduce another material. In disinfection applications, the ORP value of the solution is more meaningful than milligrams per liter (mg/L) measurements of free residual chlorine or total chlorine. This is because the equilibrium between two forms of chlorine in the water shifts with changing pH. The molecular form of free chlorine in water is HOCl, or hypochlorous acid, a strong, fast-acting oxidizer. As the pH increases, the HOCl converts to its ionic form, OCl- (the hypochlorite ion), which is a weaker, slower acting oxidizer. The Wysiwash solution has an ORP measurement of approximately 750 millivolts (mV). An ORP of 650 mV has been proven by the World Health Organization to provide instantaneous E. coli destruction. Oxidation Reduction Potential measurements of between 650 mV and 700 mV are proven to be highly effective at killing dangerous pathogens almost instantaneously. This is yet another reason that Wysiwash is so effective! How much caplet must remain in the unit to get the full sanitizing benefit? Even if the Wysiwash Sanitizer has used 95% of the Wysiwash Jacketed Caplet, the sanitizing power is still more than adequate to meet our goal of producing a solution that falls within the USDA recommendations for a non-rinse sanitizer/disinfectant (between 50 - 200 ppm total chlorine). What is the longevity of chlorine on a sprayed surface? Chlorine is a highly volatile element, which is one of the reasons that it makes such a great disinfectant. Because of its volatility, chlorine "wants" to bond with other elements in order to stabilize. So, in essence, the chlorine in the Wysiwash solution bonds with another element (breaking apart microorganisms in the process), then together they form a safe organic compound. This process makes Wysiwash completely biodegradable. Evaporation, UV light, organic matter, and other substances present all play a role in the longevity of chlorine on surfaces. It is safe to say that when the Wysiwash solution is evaporated, the chlorine and related substances are gone as well. Can I use Wysiwash to get rid of algae in my fish pond? No. While Wysiwash is biodegradable and safe for use around plants, it is not safe to spray into living water sources. Do I need to mix the solution? No, EfferSan is an effervescent tablet, meaning that it dissolves on its own. No mixing or stirring required! How long do tablets remain stable once I add water? How long do I have to wait for tablets to dissolve in water? What type of water do I use with tablets? Does EfferSan serve as a detergent/degreaser as well as sanitizer? No, it's just a Sanitizer and Disinfectant. We always recommend cleaning/degreasing to remove the organic matter, prior to sanitizing. Must Effersan be rinsed after being applied or may the surface be left to dry and then be used? Depends on if you are using it as a sanitizer or disinfectant. Rinsing is required when using EfferSan as a disinfectant. As a sanitizer it does not need to be rinsed—EfferSan is a no-rinse sanitizer that can air dry. Rinsing is required when using EfferSan as a disinfectant. All treated equipment that will contact food, feed, or drinking water must be rinsed with potable water before reuse. Does light affect the efficacy of EfferSan once mixed with water? What does the ScaleSafe system do? The ScaleSafe system prevents mineral scale buildup in equipment such as water heaters, dishwashers, shower heads, coffee machines, ice machines and domestic water systems. It also removes existing scale over a period of time, while inhibiting corrosion. Why do I need to remove and prevent scale buildup? Scale buildup on heat transfer surfaces causes metal fatigue which can result in premature equipment failure. It also acts as an insulator thereby reducing heat transfer efficiency with a resulting increase in energy consumption. The high cost of fuel alone makes it increasingly important to maintain scale free equipment systems. A 1/4″ coating of scale on a heat transfer surface can require up to 55% more energy than normal to attain the same temperature. How does the ScaleSafe system prevent scale buildup and remove existing scale? 1. ScaleSafe slowly breaks down the crystalline matrix of the calcium carbonate allowing it to be released into suspension. 2. ScaleSafe combines with calcium carbonate to form calcium phosphate which is deposited as a microfilm coating on all wetted surfaces. This coating acts as a deterrent to both scale and corrosion. How does ScaleSafe inhibit corrosion? As previously stated, eventually all surfaces that have been wetted with ScaleSafe will be coated with a protective microfilm of calcium phosphate. Calcium phosphate is well known as an excellent scale and corrosion inhibitor. This microfilm coating does not increase in thickness as it is continually washed off and replaced by the flow of treated water. How long does it take to see results after installing the ScaleSafe system? As a preventative for scale buildup, the result can be seen immediately since there will be no increase in calcium carbonate precipitate buildup. The rate of scale removal depends on water velocity, scale density and water chemistry. Generally, the process of scale removal will be evident within 30 days. Will ScaleSafe work on all types of water? Field applications as well as laboratory tests have proven that the ScaleSafe system is effective on virtually all types of water, however it is always best to allow us to review a recent analysis of your water should a question arise. Is ScaleSafe safe to use in potable water? Yes, the ScaleSafe material meets all ANSI, NSF 60 and USDA standards for potable water. How do I calculate the restriction rate for the ScaleSafe system? No pressure drop, other than standard pipe friction, occurs within the ScaleSafe system. Is any additional equipment necessary besides the ScaleSafe dispenser? Pre-filtration is recommended on all units. The ScaleSafe system is designed to work by venturi, and the venturi orifices are very small. The chance of a piece of debris clogging one or both holes is a very real possibility. A standard spin down sediment filter with a drain valve for purging sediment is sufficient. Filters can either be purchased online with the system or separately. Who installs the ScaleSafe system? The purchaser is responsible for installation. How long does it take to install a ScaleSafe system? The average installation time is less than two hours. Is the ScaleSafe system a filter? No, the ScaleSafe system is a non-mechanical method of dispensing water treatment chemicals directly into a water system. Does all of the water have to flow through the ScaleSafe system? At a minimum, we recommend all water that will be heated should be treated. What happens to the pipes and equipment once the scale is removed? After scale removal, the piping system will remain clean, however, the entire system should be thoroughly inspected for leaks. In some instances, e.g. old piping, scale could have been the only thing that was preventing existing pipes, valves and tanks from leaking. What is the pressure rating on the ScaleSafe system? ScaleSafe is rated at 80 psi. What maintenance is required with the ScaleSafe system? Venturi orifices should be inspected regularly to insure that they are clear. Pre-filters should be purged on a regular basis to remove any debris buildup. Empty cartridges must be replaced when product is depleted. Does ScaleSafe have to be mounted in any certain direction? The ScaleSafe dispenser head must be mounted horizontally, with the cartridge directly below the dispenser head. The system will be stamped with either an arrow or be marked “in and out” indicating the direction of flow of the water through the system. Incorrect mounting may cause the unit to overfeed resulting in excessive product use. What are the temperature limitations for the ScaleSafe system? 85 degrees is the maximum water temperature that can pass through the ScaleSafe unit. Exceeding this temperature may cause the unit to fail. Just like any other piece of plumbing, do not expose the ScaleSafe unit to freezing temperatures. Does the ScaleSafe system pollute the water? No. One of the major benefits of the ScaleSafe system is that it uses no hazardous ingredients. When ScaleSafe is removing scale from the plumbing, will scale come off in large enough pieces to cause problems? Generally no, the scale is dissolved as previously described and is placed into suspension so that it passes through the system unnoticed. However, in older systems and systems that have heavy existing scale buildup there is the possibility that some larger pieces of scale could be worked loose. All systems should be monitored on regular basis to prevent this type of occurrence.

2019-04-22T08:01:31Z

https://www.wysiwash.com/faqs

The aggregate market value of the voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $202.9 million based on the closing price of the registrant’s Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange on July 31, 2010 and based on the assumption, for purposes of this computation only, that all of the registrant’s directors and executive officers are affiliates. As of March 31, 2011, there were 8,230,502 outstanding shares of Common Stock. Portions of the 2011 Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on June 9, 2011 (Incorporated into Part III). Blyth, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, the “Company,” which may be referred to as “we,” “us” or “our”) is a multi-channel company competing primarily in the home fragrance and decorative accessories industry. We design, market and distribute an extensive array of decorative and functional household products including candles, accessories, seasonal decorations, household convenience items and personalized gifts. We also market weight management products, nutritional supplements and energy drinks. In addition, we manufacture and market chafing fuel and other products for the foodservice trade. Our distribution channels include direct sales, catalog, Internet and wholesale. Sales and operations take place primarily in the United States, Canada and Europe, with additional activity in Mexico, Australia and the Far East. Additional information is available on our website, www.blyth.com. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and any amendments thereto filed or furnished pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 are available on our website free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable following submission to the SEC. Also available on our website are our corporate governance guidelines, code of conduct, and the charters for the audit committee, compensation committee, and nominating and corporate governance committee, each of which is available in print to any shareholder who makes a request to Blyth, Inc., One East Weaver Street, Greenwich, CT 06831, Attention: Secretary. The information posted to www.blyth.com, however, is not incorporated herein by reference and is not a part of this report. We report our financial results in three business segments: the Direct Selling segment, the Catalog & Internet segment and the Wholesale segment. These segments accounted for approximately 64%, 18% and 18% of consolidated net sales, respectively, for fiscal 2011. Financial information relating to these business segments for fiscal 2009, 2010 and 2011 appears in Note 20 to the Consolidated Financial Statements and is incorporated herein by reference. In fiscal 2011, the Direct Selling segment represented approximately 64% of total sales. Our principal Direct Selling business is PartyLite, which sells premium candles and home fragrance products and related decorative accessories. PartyLite® brand products are marketed in North America, Europe and Australia through a network of independent sales consultants using the party plan method of direct selling. These products include fragranced and non-fragranced candles, bath products and a broad range of related accessories. In October 2008, we acquired our interest in ViSalus, a distributor-based business that sells weight management products, nutritional supplements and energy drinks. ViSalus represented approximately 6% of total sales of the Direct Selling segment during fiscal 2011. Within the United States market, PartyLite® brand products are sold directly to consumers through a network of independent sales consultants. These consultants are compensated on the basis of PartyLite product sales at parties organized by them and parties organized by consultants recruited by them. Over 18,000 independent sales consultants located in the United States were selling PartyLite products at January 31, 2011. PartyLite products are designed, packaged and priced in accordance with their premium quality, exclusivity and the distribution channel through which they are sold. ViSalus Sciences® (“ViSalus”) brand products are also sold directly to consumers using one-to-one sales model through independent sales distributors, who are compensated based on the products they sell and products sold by distributors recruited by them. Customers and distributors generally set a 90 day fitness goal, known as the Body By Vi Challenge, and purchase and consume ViSalus products to help them achieve their goal. Independent distributors sell ViSalus brand products using a one-to-one direct sales model. In fiscal 2011, PartyLite products were sold internationally by more than 45,000 independent sales consultants located outside the United States. These consultants were the exclusive distributors of PartyLite brand products internationally. PartyLite’s international markets at the end of fiscal 2011 were Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. We support our independent sales consultants with inventory management and control, and satisfy delivery requirements through an Internet-based order entry system, which is available to all independent sales consultants in the United States, Canada and Europe. During fiscal 2009, we signed a definitive agreement to purchase ViSalus, a direct seller of weight management products, nutritional supplements and energy drinks, through a series of investments. On October 21, 2008, we completed the initial investment and acquired a 43.6% equity interest in ViSalus for $13.0 million in cash. In addition, we may be required to make additional purchases of ViSalus’ equity interest to increase our equity ownership over time to 57.5%, 72.7% and 100.0%. These additional purchases are currently conditioned upon ViSalus meeting certain operating targets in calendar years 2010, 2011 and 2012. ViSalus did not meet its predefined operating target for calendar year 2010. However, we have the right to waive this requirement and increase our ownership interest to 57.5%. If we elect to increase our ownership interest to 57.5% in ViSalus in 2011, we will be required to make the additional purchases of ViSalus in 2012 and 2013 if ViSalus meets it predefined operating targets in those years. In fiscal 2011, this segment represented approximately 18% of total sales. We design, market and distribute a wide range of household convenience items, personalized gifts and photo storage products, within this segment. These products are sold through the Catalog and Internet distribution channel under brand names that include As We Changeâ, Easy Comfortsâ, Exposuresâ, Home Marketplaceâ, Miles Kimballâ and Walter Drakeâ. In February 2011, we assigned the assets and liabilities of Boca Java for the benefit of its creditors and exited this business. The proceeds from the sale of the assets will be used to discharge the claims of the creditors. In January 2011, the Company recorded a $1.1 million impairment charge. The impairment charge recorded was for the write-off of fixed assets, inventories on hand and other assets, net of expected recoveries. In fiscal 2011, this segment represented approximately 18% of total sales. Products within this segment include candles and related accessories, seasonal decorations and home décor products such as lamps, picture frames and decorative metal accessories. In addition, chafing fuel and tabletop lighting products and accessories for the “away from home” or foodservice trade are sold in this segment. Our wholesale products are designed, packaged and priced to satisfy the varying demands of retailers and consumers within each distribution channel. Products sold in the Wholesale segment in the United States are marketed through the premium consumer wholesale channels and sold to independent gift shops, specialty chains, department stores, food and drug outlets, mass retailers, hotels, restaurants and independent foodservice distributors through independent sales representatives, our key account managers and our sales managers. Our sales force supports our customers with product catalogs and samples, merchandising programs and selective fixtures. Our sales force also receives training on the marketing and proper use of our products. Concepts for new products and product line extensions are directed to the marketing departments of our business units from within all areas of the Company, as well as from our independent sales representatives and worldwide product manufacturing partners. The new product development process may include technical research, consumer market research, fragrance studies, comparative analyses, the formulation of engineering specifications, feasibility studies, safety assessments, testing and evaluation. In all of our business segments, management continuously works to increase value and lower costs through increased efficiency in worldwide production, sourcing and distribution practices, the application of new technologies and process control systems, and consolidation and rationalization of equipment and facilities. Net capital expenditures over the past five years have totaled $48.9 million and are targeted to technological advancements and significant maintenance and replacement projects at our manufacturing and distribution facilities. We have also closed several facilities and written down the values of certain machinery and equipment in recent years in response to changing market conditions. We manufacture most of our candles using highly automated processes and technologies, as well as certain hand crafting and finishing, and source nearly all of our other products, primarily from independent manufacturers in the Pacific Rim, Europe and Mexico. Many of our products are manufactured by others based on our design specifications, making our global supply chain approach critically important to new product development, quality control and cost management. We have also built a network of stand-alone highly automated distribution facilities in our core markets. Customers in the Direct Selling segment are individual consumers served by independent sales consultants. Sales within the Catalog & Internet segment are also made directly to consumers. Wholesale segment customers primarily include independent gift and department stores, specialty chains, foodservice distributors, hotels and restaurants. No single customer accounts for 10% or more of Net Sales. One customer within the Wholesale segment accounted for $1.9 million, or approximately 10% of the Accounts Receivables balance as of January 31, 2011. All of our business segments are highly competitive, both in terms of pricing and new product introductions. The worldwide market for home expressions products is highly fragmented with numerous suppliers serving one or more of the distribution channels served by us. In addition, we compete for direct selling consultants with other direct selling companies. Because there are relatively low barriers to entry in all of our business segments, we may face increased competition from other companies, some of which may have substantially greater financial or other resources than those available to us. Competition includes companies selling candles manufactured at lower costs outside of the United States. Moreover, certain competitors focus on a single geographic or product market and attempt to gain or maintain market share solely on the basis of price. As of January 31, 2011, we had approximately 2,300 full-time employees, of whom approximately 30% were based outside of the United States. Approximately 60% of our employees are non-salaried. We do not have any unionized employees in North America. We believe that relations with our employees are good. Since our formation in 1977, we have never experienced a work stoppage. All of the raw materials used for our candles, home fragrance products and chafing fuel, principally petroleum-based wax, fragrance, glass containers and corrugate, have historically been available in adequate supply from multiple sources. In fiscal 2011, costs continued to increase for certain raw materials, such as paraffin and other wax products, diethylene glycol (DEG), ethanol and paper, which impacted profitability in all three segments. We own and have pending several trademark and patent registrations and applications in the United States Patent and Trademark Office related to our products. We also register certain trademarks and patents in other countries. While we regard these trademarks and patents as valuable assets to our business, we are not dependent on any single trademark or patent or group thereof. Most of the manufacturing, distribution and research operations are affected by federal, state, local and international environmental laws relating to the discharge of materials or otherwise to the protection of the environment. We have made and intend to continue to make expenditures necessary to comply with applicable environmental laws, and do not believe that such expenditures will have a material effect on our capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position. For information on net sales from external customers attributed to the United States and international geographies and on long-lived assets located in and outside the United States, see Note 20 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. We may be unable to increase sales or identify suitable acquisition candidates. Our ability to increase sales depends on numerous factors, including market acceptance of existing products, the successful introduction of new products, growth of consumer discretionary spending, our ability to recruit new independent sales consultants, sourcing of raw materials and demand-driven increases in production and distribution capacity. Business in all of our segments is driven by consumer preferences. Accordingly, there can be no assurances that our current or future products will maintain or achieve market acceptance. Our sales and earnings results can be negatively impacted by the worldwide economic environment, particularly the United States, Canadian and European economies. There can be no assurances that our financial results will not be materially adversely affected by these factors in the future. Our historical growth has been due in part to acquisitions, and we continue to consider additional strategic acquisitions. There can be no assurances that we will continue to identify suitable acquisition candidates, complete acquisitions on terms favorable to us, finance acquisitions, successfully integrate acquired operations or that companies we acquire will perform as anticipated. We may be unable to respond to changes in consumer preferences. Our ability to manage our inventories properly is an important factor in our operations. The nature of our products and the rapid changes in customer preferences leave us vulnerable to an increased risk of inventory obsolescence. Excess inventories can result in lower gross margins due to the excessive discounts and markdowns that might be necessary to reduce inventory levels. Our ability to meet future product demand in all of our business segments will depend upon our success in sourcing adequate supplies of our products; bringing new production and distribution capacity on line in a timely manner; improving our ability to forecast product demand and fulfill customer orders promptly; improving customer service-oriented management information systems; and training, motivating and managing new employees. The failure of any of the above could result in a material adverse effect on our financial results. A downturn in the economy may affect consumer purchases of discretionary items such as our products which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our results of operations may be materially affected by conditions in the global capital markets and the economy generally, both in the United States and elsewhere around the world. Recently, concerns over inflation, energy costs, geopolitical issues, the availability and cost of credit, the U.S. mortgage market and a declining real estate market in the United States have contributed to increased volatility and diminished expectations for the economy. A continued or protracted downturn in the economy could adversely impact consumer purchases of discretionary items including demand for our products. Factors that could affect consumers’ willingness to make such discretionary purchases include general business conditions, levels of employment, energy costs, interest rates and tax rates, the availability of consumer credit and consumer confidence. A reduction in consumer spending could significantly reduce our sales and leave us with unsold inventory. The occurrence of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The turmoil in the financial markets in recent years could increase our cost of borrowing and impede access to or increase the cost of financing our operations and investments and could result in additional impairments to our businesses. United States and global credit and equity markets have undergone significant disruption in recent years, making it difficult for many businesses to obtain financing on acceptable terms. In addition, in recent years equity markets have experienced rapid and wide fluctuations in value. If these conditions continue or worsen, our cost of borrowing, if needed, may increase and it may be more difficult to obtain financing for our businesses. In addition, our borrowing costs can be affected by short and long term debt ratings assigned by independently rating agencies. A decrease in these rating agencies would likely increase our cost of borrowing and/or make it more difficult for us to obtain financing. In the event current market conditions continue we will more than likely be subject to higher interest costs than we are currently incurring and may require our providing security to guarantee such borrowings. Alternatively, we may not be able to obtain unfunded borrowings in that amount, which may require us to seek other forms of financing, such as term debt, at higher interest rates and with additional expenses. In addition, we may be subject to future impairments of our assets, including accounts receivable, investments, inventories, property, plant and equipment, goodwill and other intangibles, if the valuation of these assets or businesses declines. We face diverse risks in our international business, which could adversely affect our operating results. We are dependent upon sales by independent consultants and distributors. A significant portion of our products are marketed and sold through the direct selling method of distribution, where products are primarily marketed and sold by independent consultants or distributors to consumers without the use of retail establishments. This distribution system depends upon the successful recruitment, retention and motivation of a large number of independent consultants and distributors to offset frequent turnover. The recruitment and retention of independent consultants and distributors depends on the competitive environment among direct selling companies and on the general labor market, unemployment levels, economic conditions, and demographic and cultural changes in the workforce. The motivation of our consultants and distributors depends, in large part, upon the effectiveness of our compensation and promotional programs, its competitiveness compared with other direct selling companies, the successful introduction of new products, and the ability to advance through the consultant ranks. Our sales are directly tied to the levels of activity of our consultants, which is a part-time working activity for many of them. Activity levels may be affected by the degree to which a market is penetrated by the presence of our consultants, the amount of average sales per party, the amount of sales per consultant, the mix of high-margin and low-margin products in our product line and the activities and actions of our competitors. Earnings of independent sales consultants and distributors are subject to taxation, and in some instances, legislation or governmental agencies impose obligations on us to collect or pay taxes, such as value added taxes, and to maintain appropriate records. In addition, we may be subject to the risk in some jurisdictions of new liabilities being imposed for social security and similar taxes with respect to independent sales consultants and distributors. In the event that local laws and regulations or the interpretation of local laws and regulations change to require us to treat independent sales consultants or distributors as employees, or that independent sales consultants and distributors are deemed by local regulatory authorities in one or more of the jurisdictions in which we operate to be our employees rather than independent contractors or agents under existing laws and interpretations, we may be held responsible for social charges and related taxes in those jurisdictions, plus related assessments and penalties, which could harm our financial condition and operating results. Our profitability may be affected by shortages or increases in the cost of raw materials. Certain raw materials could be in short supply due to price changes, capacity, availability, a change in production requirements, weather or other factors, including supply disruptions due to production or transportation delays. While the price of crude oil is only one of several factors impacting the price of petroleum wax, it is possible that recent fluctuations in oil prices may have a material adverse effect on the cost of petroleum-based products used in the manufacture or transportation of our products, particularly in the Direct Selling and Wholesale segments. In recent years, substantial cost increases for certain raw materials, such as paraffin, diethylene glycol (DEG), ethanol and paper, negatively impacted profitability of certain products in all three segments. In addition, a number of governmental authorities in the U.S. and abroad have introduced or are contemplating enacting legal requirements, including emissions limitations, cap and trade systems and other measures to reduce production of greenhouse gases, in response to the potential impacts of climate change. These measures may have an indirect effect on us by affecting the prices of products made from fossil fuels, including paraffin and DEG, as well as ethanol, which is used as an additive to gasoline. Given the wide range of potential future climate change regulations and their effects on these raw materials, the potential indirect impact to our operations is uncertain. In addition, the potential impact of climate change on the weather is highly uncertain. The impact of climate change may vary by geographic location and other circumstances, including weather patterns and any impact to natural resources such as water. Severe weather in the locations where fossil fuel based raw materials are produced, such as increased hurricane activity in the Gulf of Mexico, could disrupt the production, availability or pricing of these raw materials. We expect not to be disproportionately affected by these measures compared with other companies engaged in the same businesses. We are dependent upon our key corporate management personnel. Our success depends in part on the contributions of our key corporate management, including our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Robert B. Goergen, as well as the members of the Office of the Chairman: Robert H. Barghaus, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Robert B. Goergen, Jr., Vice President and President, Multi-Channel Group; and Anne M. Butler, Vice President and President, PartyLite Worldwide. The loss of any of the key corporate management personnel could have a material adverse effect on our operating results. Our businesses are subject to the risks from increased competition. Our business is highly competitive both in terms of pricing and new product introductions. The worldwide market for decorative and functional products for the home is highly fragmented with numerous suppliers serving one or more of the distribution channels served by us. In addition, we compete for independent sales consultants and distributors with other direct selling companies. Because there are relatively low barriers to entry in all of our business segments, we may face increased competition from other companies, some of which may have substantially greater financial or other resources than those available to us. Competition includes companies selling candles manufactured at lower costs outside of the United States. Moreover, certain competitors focus on a single geographic or product market and attempt to gain or maintain market share solely on the basis of price. We depend upon our information technology systems. We are increasingly dependent on information technology systems to operate our websites, process transactions, manage inventory, purchase, sell and ship goods on a timely basis and maintain cost-efficient operations. Previously, we have experienced interruptions resulting from upgrades to certain of our information technology systems which temporarily reduced the effectiveness of our operations. Our information technology systems depend on global communications providers, telephone systems, hardware, software and other aspects of Internet infrastructure that have experienced significant system failures and outages in the past. Our systems are susceptible to outages due to fire, floods, power loss, telecommunications failures, break-ins and similar events. Despite the implementation of network security measures, our systems are vulnerable to computer viruses, break-ins and similar disruptions from unauthorized tampering with our systems. The occurrence of these or other events could disrupt or damage our information technology systems and inhibit internal operations, the ability to provide customer service or the ability of customers or sales personnel to access our information systems. The Internet plays a major role in our interaction with customers and independent consultants and distributors. Risks such as changes in required technology interfaces, website downtime and other technical failures, security breaches, and consumer privacy are key concerns related to the Internet. Our failure to successfully respond to these risks and uncertainties could reduce sales, increase costs and damage our relationships. Management uses information systems to support decision making and to monitor business performance. We may fail to generate accurate financial and operational reports essential for making decisions at various levels of management. Failure to adopt systematic procedures to quality information technology general controls could disrupt our business and reduce sales. In addition, if we do not maintain adequate controls such as reconciliations, segregation of duties and verification to prevent errors or incomplete information, our ability to operate our business could be limited. Changes in our effective tax rate may have an adverse effect on our reported earnings. penalties and/or interest expense that we may be required to recognize on liabilities associated with uncertain tax positions. ViSalus’ business is affected by extensive laws, governmental regulations and similar constraints, and their failure to comply with those constraints may have a material adverse effect on ViSalus’ financial condition and operating results. taxation of their independent distributors (which in some instances may impose an obligation on ViSalus to collect the taxes and maintain appropriate records). There can be no assurance that ViSalus or its distributors are in compliance with all of these regulations, and the failure by ViSalus or its distributors’ failure to comply with these regulations or new regulations could lead to the imposition of significant penalties or claims and could negatively impact ViSalus’ business. In addition, the adoption of new regulations or changes in the interpretations of existing regulations may result in significant compliance costs or discontinuation of product sales and may negatively impact the marketing of ViSalus’ products, resulting in significant loss of sales revenues. In addition, ViSalus’ network marketing program is subject to a number of federal and state regulations administered by the FTC and various state agencies in the United States. ViSalus is subject to the risk that, in one or more markets, its network marketing program could be found not to be in compliance with applicable law or regulations. Regulations applicable to network marketing organizations generally are directed at preventing fraudulent or deceptive schemes, often referred to as “pyramid” or “chain sales” schemes, by ensuring that product sales ultimately are made to consumers and that advancement within an organization is based on sales of the organization’s products rather than investments in the organization or other non-retail sales related criteria. The regulatory requirements concerning network marketing programs do not include “bright line” rules and are inherently fact-based, and thus, even in jurisdictions where ViSalus believes that its network marketing program is in full compliance with applicable laws or regulations governing network marketing systems, it is subject to the risk that these laws or regulations or the enforcement or interpretation of these laws and regulations by governmental agencies or courts can change. The failure of ViSalus’ network marketing program to comply with current or newly adopted regulations could negatively impact its business in a particular market or in general. Increased cost of our catalog and promotional mailings can reduce our profitability. Postal rate increases and paper and printing costs affect the cost of our catalog and promotional mailings. Future additional increases in postal rates or in paper or printing costs would reduce our profitability to the extent that we are unable to pass those increases directly to customers or offset those increases by raising selling prices or by reducing the number and size of certain catalog circulations. Climate change may pose physical risks that could harm our results of operations or affect the way we conduct our business. Several of our facilities are located in areas exposed to the risk of hurricanes or tornadoes. The effect of global warming on such storms is highly uncertain. Based on an assessment of the locations of the facilities, the nature and extent of the operations conducted at such facilities, the prior history of such storms in these locations, and the likely future effect of such storms on those operations and on the Company as a whole, we do not currently expect any material adverse effect on the results of operation from such storms in the foreseeable future. Failure to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 might have an impact on market confidence in our reported financial information. We must continue to document, test, monitor and enhance our internal control over financial reporting in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. We will continue to perform the documentation and evaluations needed to comply with Section 404. If during this process our management identifies one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to assert our internal control as effective. Our executive and administrative offices are generally located in leased space (except for certain offices located in owned space). In August 2008, a state department of revenue proposed to assess additional corporate income taxes on us for fiscal years 2002, 2003 and 2004 in the amount of $34.9 million including interest and penalties. The state department of revenue has subsequently reduced this amount to $16.9 million, including interest and penalties. In February 2011, the state department of revenue issued a notice of intent to assess additional corporate income taxes for fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007 in the amount of $14.0 million, including interest and penalties. We intend to vigorously protest all of these assessments. As of January 31, 2011, we established a reserve for this matter which we believe is adequate based on existing facts and circumstances. The ultimate resolution of these matters could exceed our recorded reserve in the event of an unfavorable outcome; however, we cannot estimate such a loss at this time. We are involved in litigation arising in the ordinary course of business. In our opinion, existing litigation will not have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. Many of our shares are held in “street name” by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, and we had approximately 2,800 beneficial holders of Common Stock as of March 31, 2011. 1Declared in January 2010 and paid in first quarter of fiscal 2011. Our ability to pay cash dividends in the future depends upon, among other things, our ability to operate profitably and to generate significant cash flows from operations in excess of investment and financing requirements that may increase in the future to, for example, fund new acquisitions or retire debt. 1 The information in this column excludes 137,036 restricted stock units outstanding as of January 31, 2011. The following table sets forth certain information concerning the repurchases of the Company’s Common Stock made by the Company during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011. authorization by 250,000 shares to 750,000 shares; on December 14, 2000 to increase the authorization by 250,000 shares to 1.0 million shares; on April 4, 2002 to increase the authorization by 500,000 shares to 1.5 million shares; and on June 7, 2006 to increase the authorization by 1.5 million shares to 3.0 million shares). On December 13, 2007, the Board of Directors authorized a new repurchase program, for 1.5 million shares, which became effective after we exhausted the authorized amount under the old repurchase program. As of January 31, 2011, we have purchased a total of 3,317,602 shares of Common Stock under the old and new repurchase programs. The repurchase programs do not have expiration dates. We intend to make further purchases under the repurchase programs from time to time. The amounts set forth in this paragraph have been adjusted to give effect to the reverse stock split executed in fiscal 2009. 2 This does not include the 16,760 shares that we withheld in order to satisfy employee withholding taxes upon the distribution of vested restricted stock units. The performance graph set forth below reflects the yearly change in the cumulative total stockholder return (price appreciation and reinvestment of dividends) on our Common Stock compared to the Standard and Poor’s (“S&P”) 500 Index and the S&P SmallCap 600 Index for the five fiscal years ended January 31, 2011. The graph assumes the investment of $100 in Common Stock and the reinvestment of all dividends paid on such Common Stock into additional shares of Common Stock and such indexes over the five-year period. We believe that we are unique and do not have comparable industry peers. Since our competitors are typically not public companies or are themselves subsidiaries or divisions of public companies engaged in multiple lines of business, we believe that it is not possible to compare our performance against that of our competition. In the absence of a satisfactory peer group, we believe that it is appropriate to compare us to companies comprising S&P SmallCap 600 Index, the index we are currently tracked in by S&P. Set forth below are selected summary consolidated financial and operating data for fiscal years 2007 through 2011, which have been derived from our audited financial statements for those years. The information presented below should be read in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements, including the notes thereto, appearing elsewhere in this Report. The per share amounts and number of shares outstanding have been adjusted to give effect to the 1-for-4 reverse stock split of our common stock that we implemented on January 30, 2009. Net earnings (loss) attributable to Blyth, Inc. individually or in the aggregate had a material effect on the Company’s results of operations. restructuring charges recorded in the Direct Selling segment of $1.7 million, $0.1 million and $0.8 million, respectively (See Note 4 to the Consolidated Financial Statements). (3) In fiscal 2007, the Kaemingk Edelman, Euro-Decor, Gies and Colony businesses were sold. The results of operations for these business units have been reclassified to discontinued operations for all periods presented. (4) Refer to Note 22 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for the definitive agreement to sell all of the net assets of the Midwest-CBK business. Blyth is a designer and marketer of home fragrance products and accessories, home décor, seasonal decorations, household convenience items and personalized gifts. We also market weight management products, nutritional supplements and energy drinks, as well as chafing fuel and other products for the foodservice trade. We compete in the global home expressions industry, and our products can be found throughout North America, Europe and Australia. Our financial results are reported in three segments, the Direct Selling segment, the Catalog & Internet segment and the Wholesale segment. These reportable segments are based on similarities in distribution channels, customers and management oversight. Fiscal 2011 Net sales are comprised of an approximately $579 million Direct Selling business, an approximately $160 million Catalog & Internet business and an approximately $162 million Wholesale business. Sales and earnings growth differ in each segment depending on geographic location, market penetration, our relative market share and product and marketing execution, among other business factors. Our current focus is driving sales growth and profitability of our brands so we may leverage more fully our infrastructure. New product development continues to be critical to all three segments of our business. In the Direct Selling segment, monthly sales and productivity incentives are designed to attract, retain and increase the earnings opportunity of independent sales consultants and distributors. In the Catalog & Internet channel, product, merchandising and circulation strategy are designed to drive strong sales growth in newer brands and expand the sales and customer base of our flagship brands. In the Wholesale segment, sales initiatives are targeted to independent retailers and national accounts. In February 2011, we exited our gourmet coffee and tea business, Boca Java, and recorded a $1.1 million charge in fiscal 2011 as further detailed in Note 22 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. On April 4, 2011, we entered into a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of the net assets of our seasonal, home décor and home fragrance business (“Midwest-CBK”) within the Wholesale segment for approximately $35 million, which, before transaction related costs, is approximately equal to its net book value upon closing. We expect to receive cash proceeds of approximately $23 million and a one year promissory note secured by fixed assets included with the transaction of approximately $12 million. The sale is contingent upon the buyer obtaining financing and is expected to close before the end of May 2011. The agreement provides for the payment of a termination fee if the buyer does not complete the transaction. In fiscal 2011, total net sales for Midwest-CBK were $105.1 million. These transactions will be presented as discontinued operations in the first quarter of fiscal 2012. On August 4, 2008, we signed an agreement to purchase ViSalus, a direct seller of weight management products, nutritional supplements and energy drinks, through a series of investments. On October 21, 2008, we completed the initial investment and acquired a 43.6% equity interest in ViSalus for $13.0 million in cash. In addition, we may be required to make additional purchases of ViSalus’ equity interest to increase our equity ownership over time to 57.5%, 72.7% and 100.0%. These additional purchases are currently conditioned upon ViSalus meeting certain operating targets in calendar years 2010, 2011 and 2012. ViSalus did not meet its predefined operating target for calendar year 2010. However, we have the right to waive this requirement and increase our ownership interest to 57.5%. If we elect to increase our ownership interest to 57.5% in ViSalus in 2011, we will be required to make the additional purchases of ViSalus in 2012 and 2013 if ViSalus meets it predefined operating targets in those years. Within the Direct Selling segment, the Company designs, manufactures or sources, markets and distributes an extensive line of products including scented candles, candle-related accessories and other fragranced products under the PartyLite® brand. The Company also has an interest in another direct selling business, ViSalus Sciences, which sells weight management products, nutritional supplements and energy drinks. All products in this segment are sold in North America through networks of independent sales consultants and distributors. PartyLite brand products are also sold in Europe and Australia. Within the Catalog & Internet segment, we design, source and market a broad range of household convenience items, premium photo albums, frames, holiday cards, personalized gifts and kitchen accessories. These products are sold directly to the consumer under the As We Change®, Easy Comforts®, Exposures®, Home Marketplace®, Miles Kimball® and Walter Drake® brands. These products are sold in North America. Within the Wholesale segment, we design, manufacture or source, market and distribute an extensive line of home fragrance products, candle-related accessories, seasonal decorations such as ornaments and trim, and home décor products such as picture frames, lamps and textiles. Products in this segment are sold primarily in North America to retailers in the premium and specialty markets under the CBK®, Colonial Candle of Cape Cod®, Colonial at HOME® and Seasons of Cannon Falls® brands. In addition, chafing fuel and tabletop lighting products and accessories for the “away from home” or foodservice trade are sold through this segment under the Ambria®, HandyFuel® and Sterno® brands. N/M - Percent change from the prior year is not meaningful in concluding on our performance due to nonrecurring goodwill and other intangible impairments. Net sales decreased $57.2 million, or approximately 6.0%, from $958.1 million in fiscal 2010 to $900.9 million in fiscal 2011. The decrease is a result of lower sales in PartyLite’s North American business as well as the impact of weaker European currencies versus the U.S. dollar. This decrease was partially offset by an increase in sales in our Wholesale segment. International sales represented 45% of total sales for fiscal 2010 and 2011. Net sales in the Direct Selling segment decreased $56.4 million, or 8.9%, from $635.2 million in fiscal 2010 to $578.8 million in fiscal 2011. PartyLite’s U.S. sales decreased 25% from the prior year due to the impact of continued weakness in consumer discretionary spending and a decline in active independent sales consultants, as well as fewer shows per consultant resulting in less opportunity to promote our products and recruit new consultants. PartyLite’s active independent U.S. sales consultant base declined 17% on a year-over-year basis. In PartyLite’s European markets, sales decreased 7% in U.S. dollars. On a local currency basis, sales decreased approximately 2% principally due to lower sales in Germany, the United Kingdom and in the Nordic region partly offset by increased sales in France and Austria. PartyLite Europe sales decline is partly attributed to the weakened economy within the European Union and poor weather condition at year end. However, PartyLite’s active independent European sales consultant base increased 4% on a year-over-year basis. PartyLite Europe represented approximately 54% of PartyLite’s worldwide net sales in fiscal 2010 compared to 58% in fiscal 2011. PartyLite Canada reported a 9% decrease compared to the prior year in U.S. dollars, or a 16% decline on a local currency basis driven primarily by the same factors as PartyLite U.S. PartyLite Canada’s active independent sales consultant base declined 6% on a year-over-year basis. Sales at ViSalus increased $20.6 million or 157% from $13.1 million in fiscal 2010 to $33.7 million in fiscal 2011. This growth is a result of a 330% increase in distributors on a year-over-year basis. Net sales in the Direct Selling segment represented approximately 66% of total Blyth net sales in fiscal 2010 compared to 64% in fiscal 2011. Net sales in the Catalog & Internet segment decreased $6.1 million, or 3.7%, from $166.0 million in fiscal 2010 to $159.9 million in fiscal 2011. This decline was due to select catalog circulation reductions within Miles Kimball, particularly in the Walter Drake, Exposures and Home Marketplace catalogs in an effort to reduce selling costs while reaching more targeted buyers. In addition, Boca Java sales decreased $3.0 million or 34.5% from $8.7 million in fiscal 2010 to $5.7 million in fiscal 2011. This decline was due to reduce consumer demand for Boca Java products. Net sales in the Catalog & Internet segment accounted for approximately 18% of total Blyth net sales in fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2011. Net sales in the Wholesale segment increased $5.4 million, or 3.4%, from $156.8 million in fiscal 2010 to $162.2 million in fiscal 2011. The increase in sales was due to a 7% increase within our Midwest-CBK business due to increased volume in the Seasonal product line. This increase was partially offset by a decline in the food service business which continues to feel the impact of weak demand due to higher customer discounts and incentives. Net sales in the Wholesale segment represented approximately 16% of total Blyth net sales in fiscal 2010 compared to 18% in fiscal 2011. Blyth’s consolidated gross profit decreased $25.9 million, or 4.9%, from $525.5 million in fiscal 2010 to $499.6 million in fiscal 2011. The decrease in gross profit is primarily attributable to the 6% decrease in sales and higher commodity costs partly offset by lower operating expenses. The gross profit margin increased from 54.8% in fiscal 2010 to 55.5% in fiscal 2011 principally due to the sharp increase in sales for ViSalus, which carries a higher gross margin than our other businesses, lower product costs and price increases at the Miles Kimball Company, as well as reduced distribution and restructuring costs at Midwest-CBK associated with the combination of these two businesses, partially offset by higher commodity costs across all business units. Blyth’s consolidated selling expense decreased $30.3 million, or approximately 8.2%, from $367.5 million in fiscal 2010 to $337.2 million in fiscal 2011. The decrease in selling expense, which includes commission and promotional expenses, is largely due to its variable nature with sales, which decreased 6% versus the prior year. Selling expense as a percentage of net sales decreased from 38.4% in fiscal 2010 to 37.4% in fiscal 2011. This decline is primarily due to efficiencies gained at Miles Kimball resulting from selected circulation reductions and consolidation of the sales and marketing operations of the Midwest-CBK business. Blyth consolidated administrative expenses increased $4.3 million, or 3.8%, from $111.5 million in fiscal 2010 to $115.8 million in fiscal 2011. The increase in expense is principally due to the additional equity compensation expense of $1.7 million associated with ViSalus’ improved operating performance and charges of $0.7 million due to the write down of assets for the Boca Java business. In addition, in fiscal 2010 administrative expenses included a $1.9 million non-recurring gain resulting from the settlement of the Miles Kimball Company pension plan. Administrative expenses as a percentage of sales increased from 11.6% for fiscal 2010 to 12.8% for fiscal 2011. In fiscal 2010, impairment charges of $16.5 million for goodwill and other intangibles were recognized in the Direct Selling segment. ViSalus experienced a substantial decline in revenues and operating margins last year compared to its forecasts. This shortfall in revenues and profit was primarily attributable to decreased consumer spending due to changes in the business environment and a higher than anticipated attrition rate in its distributor base. As a result, the goodwill and intangibles in the Direct Selling segment were determined to be impaired in fiscal 2010. Blyth’s consolidated operating profit increased $16.6 million from $30.0 million in fiscal 2010 to $46.6 million in fiscal 2011. The increase is primarily due to the goodwill and other intangibles impairment recorded in fiscal 2010 of $16.5 million and cost savings in cost of good sold and selling expenses as previously mentioned, offset by the impact of a 12% decrease in sales at PartyLite Worldwide. Operating profit in the Direct Selling segment increased $5.9 million, from $43.8 million in fiscal 2010 to $49.7 million in fiscal 2011. The increase is primarily due to the non-recurring $16.5 million goodwill and other intangible impairment related to ViSalus recorded in fiscal 2010 and this year’s improved operating results within ViSalus, partially offset by PartyLite’s lower operating profit resulting from lower sales. Operating profit in the Catalog & Internet segment improved $4.5 million from an operating loss of $4.8 million in fiscal 2010 to a small operating loss of $0.3 million in fiscal 2011. This improvement is primarily due to this year’s improved operating margin within the Miles Kimball Company due to favorable gross margin, lower product costs, price advances and decreased operating expenses as a result of selected catalog circulation reductions. This was partly offset by charges of $1.1 million recorded at Boca Java for the impairment of assets and the recording of a non-recurring gain of $1.9 million on the settlement of the Miles Kimball Company pension plan recorded in fiscal 2010. Operating loss in the Wholesale segment decreased $6.2 million from $9.0 million in fiscal 2010 to $2.8 million in fiscal 2011. This improvement is primarily attributable to the 7% increase in sales within Midwest-CBK as well as distribution and administrative cost savings recognized as a result of the Midwest-CBK combination. This was partly offset by lower operating profit at Sterno due to lower sales and sharply higher commodity costs. Interest expense decreased $0.6 million, from $7.8 million in fiscal 2010 to $7.2 million in fiscal 2011, primarily due to the payment of the matured 7.90% Senior Notes in October 2009 partially offset by higher interest expense at ViSalus. Interest income decreased $0.4 million, from $1.4 million in fiscal 2010 to $1.0 million in fiscal 2011, principally due to lower interest rates earned on invested cash during fiscal 2011. Foreign exchange and other losses were $1.6 million in fiscal 2010 compared to $2.0 million in fiscal 2011. The loss recorded in fiscal 2010 and 2011 includes an impairment of auction rate securities of $0.9 million and $1.3 million respectively. The loss recorded in fiscal 2011 of $1.3 million represents the difference between the auction rate security par value of $10.0 million and its liquidated value of $8.7 million. Also included within Foreign exchange and other in fiscal 2011 is a $0.6 million loss due to the impairment of an investment in a LLC. Income tax expense increased $8.0 million from $5.6 million in fiscal 2010 to $13.6 million in fiscal 2011. The increase in income tax expense was due primarily to a reduction in pretax losses in the United States and a $9.1 million tax benefit recorded in the prior year for the favorable closure of audits previously accrued partially offset by the tax impact of the non-deductible portion of goodwill and other intangible impairments and impairments of investments for which a partial tax benefit was recorded. The effective tax rate was 25.6% in fiscal 2010 compared to 35.8% for the current year. The Net earnings attributable to Blyth, Inc. were $17.7 million in fiscal 2010 compared to earnings of $25.5 million in fiscal 2011. The improvement is primarily attributable to the $16.5 million goodwill and intangibles impairment and improved operating results at Midwest-CBK, Miles Kimball and ViSalus, partially offset by lower operating profits at PartyLite, Sterno and Boca Java. As a result of the foregoing, earnings from operations increased $7.8 million, from earnings of $17.7 million in fiscal 2010 to $25.5 million in fiscal 2011. Basic and diluted earnings per share from operations were $1.99 and $1.98 per share for fiscal 2010 compared to income of $3.02 and $3.00 per share for fiscal 2011. Net sales decreased $92.7 million, or approximately 9%, from $1,050.8 million in fiscal 2009 to $958.1 million in fiscal 2010. The decrease is a result of a decline in sales in PartyLite’s North American businesses and overall declines in sales in our Wholesale and Catalog & Internet segments. This decrease was partially offset by an increase in sales within PartyLite’s European markets. Net sales in the Direct Selling segment decreased $29.3 million, or 4%, from $664.5 million in fiscal 2009 to $635.2 million in fiscal 2010. PartyLite’s U.S. sales decreased approximately 14% for fiscal 2010 compared to fiscal 2009, due to the U.S. economic recession, which led to lower consumer discretionary spending, a decline in PartyLite shows as well as a decrease in shows per consultant, all resulting in less opportunity to promote our products and recruit new consultants. We increased promotional activities to attract and retain consultants, hostesses and guests to attend shows. As a result, PartyLite’s active independent U.S. sales consultants remained approximately even on a year-over-year basis. PartyLite Canada reported a 17% decrease for fiscal 2010 compared to fiscal 2009 in U.S. dollars, or 15% on a local currency basis. The sales decrease in Canada is primarily due to the weak Canadian economy which contributed to the decline in consultant base of 8% and a decrease in PartyLite shows year-over-year. In PartyLite’s European markets, sales increased 3% in U.S. dollars for fiscal 2010 compared to fiscal 2009, driven by strong sales in Germany, France and Austria. On a local currency basis, PartyLite Europe sales increased approximately 5%, driven by an increase of approximately 2,000 consultants. PartyLite Europe represented approximately 50% of PartyLite’s worldwide net sales in fiscal 2009 compared to 54% in fiscal 2010, reflecting the continued sales growth within the European markets. Net sales in the Direct Selling segment represented approximately 63% of total Blyth net sales in fiscal 2009 compared to 66% in fiscal 2010. Net sales in the Catalog & Internet segment decreased $24.1 million, or 13%, from $190.1 million in fiscal 2009 to $166.0 million in fiscal 2010. Sales decreased across all catalogs due to lower consumer discretionary spending, as well as a planned reduction in catalog circulation in an effort to reduce selling costs through more targeted catalog delivery. Net sales in the Catalog & Internet segment accounted for approximately 18% of total Blyth net sales in fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010. Net sales in the Wholesale segment decreased $39.4 million, or 20%, from $196.2 million in fiscal 2009 to $156.8 million in fiscal 2010. The decrease is primarily a result of reduced sales within our home décor, seasonal décor and food service product lines, which have been adversely impacted by the weak housing market and overall economy. Net sales in the Wholesale segment represented approximately 19% of total Blyth net sales in fiscal 2009 compared to 16% in fiscal 2010. Blyth’s consolidated gross profit decreased $51.7 million, or 9%, from $577.2 million in fiscal 2009 to $525.5 million in fiscal 2010. The decrease in gross profit is primarily attributable to the 9% decrease in sales, partially offset by rigorous cost controls. These efforts included consolidating some operations and workforce reductions, specifically related to distribution operations. The gross profit margin decreased slightly from 54.9% in fiscal 2009 to 54.8% in fiscal 2010, primarily due to the impact of sales declining at a greater rate than promotional expenses, partially offset by cost reduction measures and a general decrease in most commodity costs, specifically wax products and diethylene glycol (“DEG”). Blyth’s consolidated selling expense decreased $33.2 million, or approximately 8%, from $400.7 million in fiscal 2009 to $367.5 million in fiscal 2010. The decrease in selling expense is primarily the result of the reduced sales within the Wholesale segment, PartyLite U.S. and the Catalog & Internet segment. Selling expense as a percentage of net sales increased from 38.1% in fiscal 2009 to 38.4% in fiscal 2010 which is primarily a result of promotional initiatives in the Direct Selling segment to drive sales, partially offset by the consolidation of the sales and marketing operations of our seasonal and home décor Wholesale operations. Blyth’s consolidated administrative expenses decreased $12.3 million, or 10%, from $123.8 million in fiscal 2009 to $111.5 million in fiscal 2010. This decline is principally due to improved expense management on a year-over-year basis. The consolidation of some of our operations has allowed us to reduce administrative costs. The merger of the Midwest and CBK operations within the Wholesale segment resulted in an approximately 23% reduction in that business unit’s administrative expenses when compared to fiscal 2009. Also contributing to the improvement is a $1.9 million gain on a pension plan settlement. Administrative expenses as a percentage of sales declined slightly from approximately 11.8% for fiscal 2009 to 11.6% for fiscal 2010. Impairment charges of $48.8 million for goodwill and other intangibles were recognized in the Catalog & Internet segment in fiscal 2009, compared to a $16.5 million impairment recorded in the Direct Selling segment in fiscal 2010. In fiscal 2009 and 2010 we reviewed the performance of the Miles Kimball and ViSalus businesses, respectively, and their projected outlooks. Both businesses experienced lower revenue growth and reduced operating margins than anticipated. This shortfall in revenues and profit was primarily attributable to decreased consumer spending due to changes in the business environment and an overall weak economy. As a result, the goodwill and intangibles in the Catalog & Internet segment were determined to be impaired in fiscal 2009 and in the Direct Selling segment during fiscal 2010. Blyth’s consolidated operating profit increased $26.0 million from $4.0 million in fiscal 2009 to $30.0 million in fiscal 2010. The increase is primarily due to the decrease in goodwill and other intangibles impairments, partially offset by the impact of the 9% decrease in sales. Operating profit in the Direct Selling segment decreased $30.6 million, from $74.4 million in fiscal 2009 to $43.8 million in fiscal 2010. More than half of the decrease is attributable to the $16.5 million goodwill and other intangible impairments related to ViSalus recorded in fiscal 2010. The remaining decline in operating income is attributable to a decline in operating income for PartyLite’s U.S. operations, primarily a result of the 14% decrease in sales. Partially offsetting this decline is sales growth within PartyLite Europe. Operating loss in the Catalog & Internet segment decreased from $59.1 million in fiscal 2009, to $4.8 million in fiscal 2010. The lower operating loss is primarily due to the nonrecurring goodwill and other intangibles impairments charges of $48.8 million recorded during fiscal 2009 and a $1.9 million gain as the result of the pension plan settlement realized during fiscal 2010. Excluding the effect of these items, the operating loss would have been $10.3 million in fiscal 2009 as compared to $6.7 million in fiscal 2010. This improvement is principally due to the nonrecurring impact of ERP implementation issues experienced in fiscal 2009 that increased shipping and customer service costs and cost reductions at the Miles Kimball Company and Boca Java. Operating loss in the Wholesale segment decreased $2.2 million from $11.2 million in fiscal 2009 to $9.0 million in fiscal 2010. This reduction is primarily the result of a 28% improvement in Selling and Administrative expenses across the segment, primarily due to the merger of the Midwest and CBK operations. This was offset by a 20% decrease in sales across the segment due to a soft housing market and a continuing weak economy. Interest expense decreased $2.2 million, from $10.0 million in fiscal 2009 to $7.8 million in fiscal 2010, primarily due to the payoff of the matured 7.90% Senior Notes during fiscal 2010. Interest income decreased $2.9 million, from $4.3 million in fiscal 2009 to $1.4 million in fiscal 2010, due to sharply lower interest rates earned on invested cash during fiscal 2010. Foreign exchange and other losses were $9.8 million in fiscal 2009 compared to $1.6 million in fiscal 2010. The loss recorded in fiscal 2009 includes $5.2 million for the permanent impairment of our investment in RedEnvelope and a write-down of $2.1 million related to our preferred stock portfolio that was previously classified as a trading investment. The loss in fiscal 2010 included a $0.9 million loss on the sale of an auction rate security investment. Income tax expense increased $1.8 million from $3.8 million in fiscal 2009 to $5.6 million in fiscal 2010. The increase in income tax expense was due primarily to a reduction in pretax losses in the United States and a $9.1 million reduction in our unrecognized tax benefits, partially offset by the tax impact of the non-deductible portion of goodwill and other intangible impairments and impairments of investments for which a partial tax benefit was recorded. The effective tax rate was a negative 33.3% in fiscal 2009 as a result of our net loss compared to an expense of 25.6% in fiscal 2010. The Net loss attributable to Blyth, Inc. was $15.5 million in fiscal 2009 compared to earnings of $17.7 million in fiscal 2010. The improvement is primarily attributable to the $48.8 million goodwill and intangibles impairments recorded during the third quarter of fiscal 2009, partially offset by the $16.5 million goodwill and intangibles impairment recorded in the second quarter of fiscal 2010 and lower sales in relation in fiscal 2009 compared to fiscal 2010. As a result of the foregoing, earnings from operations increased $33.2 million, from a loss of $15.5 million in fiscal 2009 to earnings of $17.7 million in fiscal 2010. Basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share from operations were ($1.73) for fiscal 2009 compared to income of $1.99 and $1.98 per share, respectively, for fiscal 2010. Historically, our operating cash flow for the first nine months of the fiscal year shows little if any positive cash flow due to requirements for meeting working capital needs for inventory purchases and the extension of credit through the holiday season. Our fourth quarter, however, historically generates a surplus of cash resulting from a large concentration of our business occurring during the holiday season. Over one third of our total revenue was recorded in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011. Cash and cash equivalents decreased $1.7 million from $207.4 million at January 31, 2010 to $205.7 million at January 31, 2011. We typically generate positive cash flow from operations due to favorable gross margins and the variable nature of selling expenses, which constitute a significant percentage of operating expenses. We generated $93.4 million in cash from operations in fiscal 2010 compared to $39.3 million in fiscal 2011. This decline was primarily driven by net changes in operating assets and liabilities which resulted in the use of cash of $13.9 million in fiscal 2011 compared to a source of cash $35.9 million in the prior year. This decrease was primarily driven by higher inventories resulting from lower than expected sales and a reduction in accounts payable as we endeavored to take advantage of early discount programs. Included in earnings in fiscal 2011 were non-cash charges for depreciation and amortization, and amortization of unearned stock-based compensation of $13.7 million and $2.1 million, respectively. Due to the seasonal nature of our businesses we generally do not have significant positive cash flow from operations until our fourth quarter. Our working capital needs are the highest in late summer prior to the start of the holiday season. If demand for our products falls short of expectations, we could be required to maintain higher inventory balances than forecasted which could negatively impact our liquidity. Net cash provided by investing activities was $6.1 million in fiscal 2010, compared to a use of $0.3 million in fiscal 2011. Proceeds from the sale of investments in fiscal 2011 generated $14.1 million of cash primarily through liquidation of equity securities and maturities of short-term certificates of deposit. Uses of cash in fiscal 2011 included purchases of short-term investments of $6.9 million and net capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment of $8.2 million. Net cash used in financing activities in fiscal 2010 was $41.3 million compared to $39.3 million in fiscal 2011. The current year included the reduction of our long-term debt and capital lease obligations by $0.6 million, compared to long-term debt and capital lease payments of $38.0 million in the prior year. During fiscal 2011, we purchased treasury stock of $20.6 million and paid dividends of $18.8 million compared to $4.0 million and $1.8 million in the prior year. We will continue to monitor carefully our cash position, and will only make additional repurchases of outstanding debt or treasury shares and pay dividends when we have sufficient cash surpluses available to do so. A significant portion of our operations are outside of the United States. A significant downturn in our business in our international markets would adversely impact our ability to generate operating cash flows. Operating cash flows would also be negatively impacted if we experienced difficulties in the recruitment, retention and our ability to maintain the productivity of our independent consultants. Sales decreased in PartyLite’s U.S. market from the prior year by $49.8 million, or 25%, which was driven by lower activity by existing consultants and a lower number of PartyLite shows held resulting from difficult economic conditions. Management’s key areas of focus have included stabilizing the consultant base through training and promotional incentives, which has had several continuous years of decline in the United States. While we are making efforts to stabilize and increase the number of active independent sales consultants, it may be difficult to do so in the current economic climate due to reduced consumer discretionary spending. If our U.S. consultant count continues to decline it will have a negative impact on our liquidity and financial results. We anticipate total capital spending of approximately $9.0 million for fiscal 2012. A major influence on the forecasted expenditures is our investment in the growth of the PartyLite European operations as well as investments in information technology systems. We have grown in part through acquisitions and, as part of our growth strategy, we expect to continue from time to time in the ordinary course of business to evaluate and pursue acquisition opportunities as appropriate. We believe our financing needs in the short and long term can be met from cash generated internally. Information on debt maturities is presented in Note 12 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. On October 21, 2008, we acquired a 43.6% interest in ViSalus for $13.0 million and incurred acquisition costs of $1.0 million for a total cash acquisition cost of $14.0 million. We may purchase additional interests in ViSalus that will require additional capital resources, increasing our ownership to 100%. These additional purchases are currently conditioned upon ViSalus meeting certain operating targets in calendar years 2010, 2011 and 2012. ViSalus did not meet its predefined operating target for calendar year 2010. However, we have the right to waive this requirement and increase our ownership interest to 57.5%. As such the amount representing the allocation of losses equivalent to the noncontrolling interest in ViSalus has been reclassified to Stockholder’s equity as noncontrolling interest as it is no longer probable of being redeemed. If we elect to increase our ownership interest to 57.5% in ViSalus in 2011, we will be required to make the additional purchases of ViSalus in 2012 and 2013 if ViSalus meets it predefined operating targets in those years. As of January 31, 2011, if ViSalus meets its projected operating targets, the total expected redemption value of noncontrolling interest will be approximately $37.6 million paid through 2014. The total expected redemption value could increase or decrease depending upon whether ViSalus exceeds or falls short of its operating projections. We expect the payment, if any, will be out of existing cash balances and future cash flows from operations. The current status of the United States and global credit and equity markets have made it difficult for many businesses to obtain financing on acceptable terms. If these conditions continue or worsen, our cost of borrowing may increase and it may be more difficult to obtain financing for our businesses. Obtaining a new credit facility will more than likely require higher interest costs and may require our providing security to guarantee such borrowings. Alternatively, we may not be able to obtain unfunded borrowings, which may require us to seek other forms of financing, such as term debt, at higher interest rates and additional expense. A significant amount of our cash and cash equivalents are held by our international subsidiaries in foreign banks, and as such may be subject to foreign taxes, unfavorable exchange rate fluctuations and other factors limiting our ability to repatriate funds to the United States. In addition, if economic conditions decline, we may be subject to future impairments of our assets, including accounts receivable, inventories, property, plant and equipment, investments, deferred tax assets, goodwill and other intangibles, if the valuation of these assets or businesses decline. Cash held in foreign locations was approximately $58 million and $82 million as of January 31, 2010 and 2011, respectively. We had no short term borrowings outstanding as of January 31, 2010 and 2011 or at anytime during the past year. As of January 31, 2011, we had $2.0 million available under an uncommitted facility issued by a bank, to be used for letters of credit through January 31, 2012. As of January 31, 2011, no amount was outstanding under this facility. As of January 31, 2011, we had $2.1 million in standby letters of credit outstanding that are fully collateralized through a certificate of deposit funded by us. In May 1999, we filed a shelf registration statement for issuance of up to $250.0 million in debt securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On September 24, 1999, we issued $150.0 million of 7.90% Senior Notes due October 1, 2009 at a discount of approximately $1.4 million, which was amortized over the life of the notes. During the first nine months of fiscal 2010 we repurchased $12.6 million of these notes prior to their maturity date. The final principal payment of $24.7 million was made upon maturity in October 2009. On October 20, 2003, we issued $100.0 million 5.50% Senior Notes due on November 1, 2013 at a discount of approximately $0.2 million, which is being amortized over the life of the notes. Such notes contain among other provisions, restrictions on liens on principal property or stock issued to collateralize debt. As of January 31, 2011, we were in compliance with such provisions. Interest is payable semi-annually in arrears on May 1 and November 1. The notes may be redeemed in whole or in part at any time at a specified redemption price. The proceeds of the debt issuances were used for general corporate purposes. As of January 31, 2010 and 2011, Miles Kimball had approximately $7.7 million and $7.2 million, respectively, of long-term debt (including current portion) outstanding under a real estate mortgage note payable, which matures on June 1, 2020. Under the terms of the note, payments of principal and interest are required monthly at a fixed interest rate of 7.89%. As of January 31, 2010 and 2011, Midwest-CBK had $0.1 million, of long-term debt outstanding under an Industrial Revenue Bond (“IRB”), which matures on January 1, 2025. The bond is backed by an irrevocable letter of credit. The loan is collateralized by certain of Midwest-CBK’s assets. The amount outstanding under the IRB bears interest at short-term floating rates, which on a weighted average was 0.6 % as of January 31, 2011. Interest payments are required monthly and the principal is due upon maturity. As of January 31, 2010 and 2011 ViSalus had two long-term loans totaling $2.7 million and $3.2 million outstanding related to notes payable to RAM and ViSalus’ three founders. Under the terms of the notes, interest is accrued at a fixed annual interest rate of 10.0% in addition to the $0.6 million interest cost as a result of ViSalus achieving certain performance criteria (see Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information). On February 28, 2011, ViSalus repaid $0.6 million of the loan due to founders and RAM and also the lump-sum interest payment of $0.6 million due at maturity on the loan. In March 2011, ViSalus paid the loan balance of $3.3 million including interest accrued due to Blyth. The estimated fair value of our $110.5 million and $111.0 million total long-term debt (including Capital leases) at January 31, 2010 and 2011 was approximately $95.6 million and $110.2 million, respectively. The fair value of the liability is determined using the fair value of its notes when traded as an asset in an inactive market and is based on current interest rates, relative credit risk and time to maturity. (1) Long-term debt includes 5.5% Senior Notes due November 1, 2013, a mortgage note payable-maturity June 1, 2020, and an Industrial Revenue Bond ("IRB") with a maturity date of January 1, 2025 (See Note 12 to the Consolidated Financial Statements). (2) Amounts represent future lease payments, excluding interest, due on five capital leases, which end between fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2013 (See Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements). (3) Interest expense on long-term debt is comprised of $15.1 million relating to Senior Notes, $3.0 million in mortgage interest, $16 thousand of interest due on the MKC Wisconsin Loan, $4 thousand of interest due on the CBK Industrial Revenue Bond, $27 thousand relating to the Visalus founder loans and approximately $39 thousand of interest relating to future capital lease obligations. (4) Purchase obligations consist primarily of open purchase orders for inventory. reasonably estimate the timing of the potential future payments (See Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements). On December 13, 2007, our Board of Directors authorized a new stock repurchase program for 1,500,000 shares, in addition to 3,000,000 shares authorized under the previous plan. The new stock repurchase program became effective after we exhausted the authorized amount under the old repurchase program. We repurchased approximately 582,000 shares during fiscal 2011. As of January 31, 2011, the cumulative total shares purchased under the new and old program was 3,317,602, at a total cost of approximately $249.4 million. The acquired shares are held as common stock in treasury at cost. During fiscal 2011, we paid $18.8 million in dividends, compared to $1.8 million in fiscal 2010. The total dividends declared during fiscal 2011 were approximately $10.0 million, which includes the $8.2 million special dividend declared in November 2010 and paid in December 2010. Our ability to pay cash dividends in the future is dependent upon, among other things, our ability to operate profitably and to generate significant cash flows from operations in excess of investment and financing requirements that may increase in the future to, for example, fund new acquisitions or retire debt. As we normally do, we will review our dividend policy prior to our next dividend payment (historically we have paid dividends in May and November), and may adjust the rate of our semi-annual dividend if necessary. We do not maintain any off-balance sheet arrangements, transactions, obligations or other relationships with unconsolidated entities that would be expected to a have a material current or future effect upon our financial statements. We utilize derivatives for operational purposes (i.e. forward exchange forward contracts). Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates, including those related to bad debts, sales adjustments, inventories, income taxes, restructuring and impairments, contingencies and litigation. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements includes a summary of the significant accounting policies and methods used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. The following are our critical accounting policies and methods. Revenues consist of sales to customers, net of returns and allowances. We recognize revenue upon delivery, when both title and risk of loss are transferred to the customer. We present revenues net of any taxes collected from customers and remitted to government authorities. Generally, our sales are based on fixed prices from published price lists. We record estimated reductions to revenue for customer programs, which may include special pricing agreements for specific customers, volume incentives and other promotions. Should market conditions decline, we may increase customer incentives with respect to future sales. We also record reductions to revenue based primarily on historical experience, for estimated customer returns and chargebacks that may arise as a result of shipping errors, product damage in transit or for other reasons that can only become known subsequent to recognizing the revenue. If the amount of actual customer returns and chargebacks were to increase significantly from the estimated amount, revisions to the estimated allowance would be required. In some instances, we receive payment in advance of product delivery. Such advance payments occur primarily in our direct selling and direct marketing channels and are recorded as deferred revenue in Accrued expenses in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Upon delivery of product for which advance payment has been made, the related deferred revenue is reversed and recorded as revenue. We establish an allowance for doubtful accounts for trade and note receivables. The allowance is determined based on our evaluation of specific customers’ ability to pay, aging of receivables, historical experience and the current economic environment. While we believe we have appropriately considered known or expected outcomes, our customers’ ability to pay their obligations, including those to us, could be adversely affected by declining retail sales resulting from such factors as contraction in the economy or a general decline in consumer spending. Some of our wholesale business units offer seasonal dating programs pursuant to which customers that qualify for such programs are offered extended payment terms for seasonal product shipments, which is a common practice in some of our channels. The sales price for our products sold pursuant to such seasonal dating programs is fixed prior to the time of shipment to the customer. Customers do not have the right to return product, except for rights to return that we believe are typical of our industry for such reasons as damaged goods, shipping errors or similar occurrences. We are not required to repurchase products from our customers, nor do we have any regular practice of doing so. We believe that we are reasonably assured of payment for products sold pursuant to such seasonal dating programs based on our historical experience with the established list of customers eligible for such programs. If, however, product sales by our Wholesale segment’s customers during the seasonal selling period should fall significantly below expectations, such customers’ financial condition could be adversely affected, increasing the risk of not collecting these seasonal dating receivables and, possibly, resulting in additional bad debt charges. We do not make any sales under consignment or similar arrangements. Inventories are valued at the lower of cost or market. Cost is determined by the first-in, first-out method. We write down our inventory for estimated obsolete, excess and unmarketable inventory by an amount equal to the difference between the cost of inventory and the estimated market value based upon assumptions about future demand, market conditions, customer planograms and sales forecasts. If market acceptance of our existing products or the successful introduction of new products should significantly decrease, additional inventory write-downs could be required. Potential additional inventory write-downs could result from unanticipated additional quantities of obsolete finished goods and raw materials, and/or from lower disposition values offered by the parties who normally purchase surplus inventories. In response to changing market conditions and competition, our management regularly updates our business model and market strategies, including the evaluation of facilities, personnel and products. Future adverse changes in economic and market conditions could result in additional organizational changes and possibly additional restructuring and impairment charges. Historically, we have reviewed long-lived assets, including property, plant and equipment and other intangibles with definite lives for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicated that the carrying amount of such an asset might not be recoverable. Management determines whether there has been an impairment on long-lived assets held for use in the business by comparing anticipated undiscounted future cash flow from the use and eventual disposition of the asset or asset group to the carrying value of the asset. The amount of any resulting impairment is calculated by comparing the carrying value to the fair value. Long-lived assets that meet the definition of held for sale are valued at the lower of carrying amount or net realizable value. Assets or asset groups are determined at the lowest level possible for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. For assets whose aggregate undiscounted cash flows are less than its carrying value, the assets are considered potentially impaired and actual impairments, if any, would be determined to the extent the assets carrying value exceeds its aggregate fair value. We had approximately $11.2 million and $10.9 million of goodwill and other indefinite lived intangibles, as of January 31, 2010 and 2011, respectively. Goodwill and other indefinite lived intangibles are subject to an assessment for impairment using a two-step fair value-based test and other intangibles are also subject to impairment reviews, which are performed at least annually or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate that goodwill or other indefinite lived intangibles might be impaired. We perform our annual assessment of impairment as of January 31, which is our fiscal year-end date, or as deemed necessary. For goodwill, the first step is to identify whether a potential impairment exists. This first step compares the fair value of a reporting unit to its carrying amount, including goodwill. Fair value for each of our reporting units is estimated utilizing a combination of valuation techniques, namely the discounted cash flow methodology and the market multiple methodology. The fair value of the reporting units is derived using a combination of the outcome of the two valuation techniques described above and depends in part on whether the market multiple methodology has sufficient similar transactions occurring in a recent timeframe. The discounted cash flow methodology assumes the fair value of an asset can be estimated by the economic benefit or net cash flows the asset will generate over the life of the asset, discounted to its present value. The discounting process uses a rate of return that accounts for both the time value of money and the investment risk factors. The market multiple methodology estimates fair value based on what other participants in the market have recently paid for reasonably similar assets. Adjustments are made to compensate for differences between the reasonably similar assets and the assets being valued. If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds the carrying value, no further analysis is necessary. If the carrying amount of the reporting unit exceeds its fair value, the second step is performed. The second step compares the carrying amount of the goodwill to the estimated fair value of the goodwill. If fair value is less than the carrying amount, an impairment loss is reported as a reduction to goodwill and a charge to operating expense. As a result of our third quarter of fiscal 2009 impairment assessment, we determined that the goodwill related to the Miles Kimball reporting unit, in the Catalog & Internet segment, was impaired. The Miles Kimball Company continued to experience substantial declines in operating performance when compared to prior years’ results and its strategic outlook. We believe this shortfall in performance was primarily attributable to decreased consumer spending due to changes in the business environment and adverse economic conditions. As a result of the impairment analysis performed, the goodwill was determined to be fully impaired, as the fair value of the reporting unit was less than its carrying value, including goodwill. Accordingly, we recorded a non-cash pre-tax goodwill impairment charge of $29.0 million, which included the $1.3 million related to As We Change, during the third quarter of fiscal 2009. In the second quarter of fiscal 2010, ViSalus revised downward its revenues forecast for the current fiscal year as a result of lower demand for its product reflecting lower consumer spending attributed to the domestic economic recession and a higher than anticipated attrition rate in its distributor base. These factors together required management to focus its efforts on stabilizing its distributor base and curtailing its international expansion plans. Accordingly, management reduced its current year and long-term forecasts in response to the weakening demand for its products. The impairment analysis performed indicated that the goodwill in ViSalus was fully impaired, as its fair value was less than its carrying value, including goodwill. Accordingly, we recorded a non-cash pre-tax goodwill impairment charge of $13.2 million, during the second quarter of fiscal 2010. The January 31, 2011 impairment assessment of the remaining $2.3 million of the goodwill within this segment indicates that it is fully recoverable. In August 2005, we acquired a 100% interest in Boca Java, a small gourmet coffee and tea company. Boca Java sells its products primarily through the Internet and is included in the Catalog & Internet segment. Boca Java represents a separate reporting unit and is reviewed for impairment on an annual basis. We completed an impairment assessment during fiscal 2009 which indicated that the goodwill of $1.9 million was fully impaired and recorded a charge to write off the goodwill. If actual revenue growth, profit margins, costs and capital spending should differ significantly from the assumptions included in our business outlook used in the cash flow models, the reporting unit’s fair value could fall significantly below expectations and additional impairment charges could be required to write down goodwill to its fair value and, if necessary, other long lived-assets could be subject to a similar fair value test and possible impairment. Long-lived assets represent primarily fixed assets and other long-term assets excluding goodwill and other intangibles. There are two main assumptions that are used for the discounted cash flow analysis: first, the discount rate and second the terminal multiple. This discount rate is used to value the gross cash flows expected to be derived from the business to its net present value. The discount rate uses a rate of return to account for the time value of money and an investment risk factor. For the terminal multiple, we used EBITDA multiplied by a factor for which an independent third party would pay for a similar business in an arms length transaction. In determining this factor we used information that was available for similar transactions executed in the marketplace. The multiple of EBITDA used contemplates, among other things, the expected revenue growth of the business which in turn would require the use of a higher EBITDA multiple if revenue were expected to grow at a higher rate than normal. A change in the discount rate is often used by management to alter or temper the discounted cash flow model if there is a higher degree of risk that the business outlook objectives might not be achieved. These risks are often based upon the business units past performance, competition, confidence in the business unit management, position in the marketplace, acceptance of new products in the marketplace and other macro and microeconomic factors surrounding the business. If management believes there is additional risk associated with the business outlook it will adjust the discount rate and terminal value accordingly. The terminal value is generally a multiple of EBITDA and is discounted to its net present value using the discount rate. Capital expenditures are included and are consistent with the historical business trend plus any known significant expenditures. Our trade name and trademark intangible assets relate to our acquisitions of Miles Kimball and Walter Drake (reported in the Catalog & Internet segment) and our acquisition of a controlling interest in ViSalus in October 2008 (reported in the Direct Selling segment). We had approximately $9.0 million and $8.6 million in trade names and trademarks as of January 31, 2010 and 2011, respectively. We perform our annual assessment of impairment for indefinite-lived intangible assets as of January 31, which is our fiscal year-end, or upon the occurrence of a triggering event. We use the relief from royalty method to estimate the fair value for indefinite-lived intangible assets. The underlying concept of the relief from royalty method is that the inherent economic value of intangibles is directly related to the timing of future cash flows associated with the intangible asset. Similar to the income approach or discounted cash flow methodology used to determine the fair value of goodwill, the fair value of indefinite-lived intangible assets is equal to the present value of after-tax cash flows associated with the intangible asset based on an applicable royalty rate. The royalty rate is determined by using existing market comparables for royalty agreements using an intellectual property data base. The arms-length agreements generally support a rate that is a percentage of direct sales. This approach is based on the premise that the free cash flow is a more valid criterion for measuring value than “book” or accounting profits. As a result of our fiscal 2009 impairment assessments, we determined that the recorded values of trade names and trademarks in the Miles Kimball reporting unit, in the Catalog & Internet segment, were impaired. In the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2009 we performed additional impairment assessments due to changes in the business environment and adverse economic conditions currently experienced due to the continued decrease in consumer spending. As a result of these impairment analyses performed, the trade names and trademarks in this reporting unit were determined to be impaired, as their fair value was less than their carrying value. Accordingly, we recorded non-cash pre-tax impairment charges of $15.0 million and $2.9 million in the third and fourth quarters, respectively of fiscal 2009. During the second quarter of fiscal 2010, we performed impairment assessments due to adverse economic conditions currently experienced due to the continued decrease in consumer spending and a higher then expected distributor attrition rate. We determined that the recorded values of trade names, trademarks and customer relationships within ViSalus, in the Direct Selling segment, were impaired. As a result of these impairment analyses performed, the intangible assets were determined to be impaired, as their fair value was less than their carrying value. Accordingly, we recorded a non-cash pre-tax impairment charge of $3.1 million related to the trade names and trademarks and $0.2 million related to customer relationships. During fiscal 2011, the Exposure’s brand in the Miles Kimball business, within the Catalog & Internet segment, experienced substantial declines in revenues when compared to forecasts and prior years. The Company believes this shortfall in revenue was primarily attributable to decreased consumer spending and adverse economic conditions. As a result of the impairment analysis performed, the indefinite-lived trade name in this brand was determined to be partially impaired, as the fair value of this brand was less than its carrying value. Accordingly, the Company recorded a non-cash pre-tax impairment charge of $0.3 million, resulting in carrying value as of January 31, 2011 of $1.4 million. As of January 31, 2011, we performed our annual impairment analysis on the trade names and trademarks of the Catalog & Internet and ViSalus assets. The three primary assumptions used in the relief from royalty method are the discount rate, the perpetuity growth rate and the royalty rate. This discount rate is used to value the expected net cash flows to be derived from the royalty to its net present value. The discount rate uses a rate of return to account for the time value of money and an investment risk factor. The perpetuity growth rate estimates the businesses sustainable long-term growth rate. The royalty rate is based upon past royalty performance as well as the expected royalty growth rate using both macro and microeconomic factors surrounding the business. A change in the discount rate is often used by management to risk adjust the discounted cash flow analysis if there is a higher degree of risk that the estimated cash flows from the indefinite-lived intangible asset may not be fully achieved. These risks are often based upon the business units’ past performance, competition, position in the marketplace, acceptance of new products in the marketplace and other macro and microeconomic factors surrounding the business. If, however, actual cash flows should fall significantly below expectations, this could result in an impairment of our indefinite-lived intangible assets. If the discount rate had increased by 0.5% and royalty rate had decreased by 0.5%, the estimated fair value of the trade names and trademarks within the Catalog & Internet segment would have decreased by $2.8 million to $4.7 million. This decrease would have required us to take an additional impairment charge of $2.8 million to write-down our indefinite lived intangibles to its estimated fair value. Conversely, if the discount rate had decreased by 0.5% and the royalty rate had increased by 0.5%, the estimated fair value of the trade names and trademarks within the Catalog and Internet segment would have increased by $3.9 million, resulting in no impairment charge. There would have been no impact in the recorded value of the ViSalus trade names and trademarks within the Direct Selling segment, if the same changes in discount and royalty rate assumptions had occurred as the value would have exceeded its recorded value by $2.8 million and $8.6 million, respectively. As part of the process of preparing our Consolidated Financial Statements, we are required to estimate our actual current tax exposure (state, federal and foreign), together with assessing permanent and temporary differences resulting from differing bases and treatment of items for tax and accounting purposes, such as the carrying value of intangibles, deductibility of expenses, depreciation of property and equipment, and valuation of inventories. Temporary differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities, which are included within our Consolidated Balance Sheets. We must then assess the likelihood that our deferred tax assets will be recovered from future taxable income. Actual results could differ from this assessment if sufficient taxable income is not generated in future periods. To the extent we determine the need to establish a valuation allowance or change the allowance in a period, we would include this as an expense within the tax provision in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Earnings (Loss). Management periodically estimates our probable tax obligations using historical experience in tax jurisdictions and informed judgments. There are inherent uncertainties related to the interpretation of tax regulations in the jurisdictions in which we transact business. The judgments and estimates made at a point in time may change based on the outcome of tax audits, as well as changes to or further interpretations of regulations. If such changes take place, there is a risk that the tax rate may increase or decrease in any period. Amounts accrued for the tax uncertainties, primarily recorded in long-term liabilities, total $12.3 million and $12.2 million at January 31, 2010 and 2011, respectively. Accruals relate to tax issues for U.S. federal, domestic state, and taxation of foreign earnings. Blyth’s historical policy has been to consider its unremitted foreign earnings as not indefinitely invested except for amounts deemed required for working capital and expansion needs and as such provide deferred income tax expense on these undistributed earnings. The Company periodically reassesses whether the non-US subsidiaries will invest their undistributed earnings indefinitely. As of January 31, 2011, we determined that $236.2 million of cumulative undistributed foreign earnings were not reinvested indefinitely by our non-U.S. subsidiaries. During fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2011, we repatriated $150.0 million and $16 million respectively. As a result, $3.3 million of a reduction to deferred taxes was recorded in the current year as an increase to our Net earnings on those unremitted earnings. In August 2008, a state department of revenue proposed to assess additional corporate income taxes on us for fiscal years 2002, 2003 and 2004 in the amount of $34.9 million including interest and penalties. The state department of revenue has subsequently reduced this amount to $16.9 million, including interest. In February 2011, the state department of revenue issued a notice of intent to assess additional corporate income taxes for fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007 in the amount of $14.0 million, including interest and penalties. We intend to vigorously protest all of these assessments. As of January 31, 2011, we established a reserve for this matter which we believe is adequate based on existing facts and circumstances. The ultimate resolution of these matters could exceed our recorded reserve in the event of an unfavorable outcome; however, we cannot estimate such a loss at this time. We have reviewed all guidance issued but not implemented as of the filing date and have determined that only the following could or do have a significant affect on our financial statements. In December 2010, the FASB issued ASU 2010-29, “Business Combinations (Topic 805): Disclosure of supplementary pro forma information for business combinations.” This update changes the disclosure of pro forma information for business combinations. These changes clarify that if a public entity presents comparative financial statements, the entity should disclose revenue and earnings of the combined entity as though the business combination that occurred during the current year had occurred as of the beginning of the comparable prior annual reporting period only. Also, the existing supplemental pro forma disclosures were expanded to include a description of the nature and amount of material, nonrecurring pro forma adjustments directly attributable to the business combination included in the reported pro forma revenue and earnings. These changes become effective for Blyth beginning February 1, 2011. The Company’s adoption of this update did not have an impact on the Company’s consolidated financial condition or results of operations. In December 2010, the FASB issued ASU 2010-28, “Intangible –Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): When to perform Step 2 of the goodwill impairment test for reporting units with zero or negative carrying amounts.” This update requires an entity to perform all steps in the test for a reporting unit whose carrying value is zero or negative if it is more likely than not (more than 50%) that a goodwill impairment exists based on qualitative factors, resulting in the elimination of an entity’s ability to assert that such a reporting unit’s goodwill is not impaired and additional testing is not necessary despite the existence of qualitative factors that indicate otherwise. These changes become effective for Blyth beginning February 1, 2011. Based on the most recent impairment review of Blyth’s goodwill in January 2011, management has determined these changes will not have an impact on the Company’s consolidated financial condition or results of operations. In April 2010, the FASB issued ASU 2010-13, "Compensation—Stock Compensation (Topic 718) - Effect of Denominating the Exercise Price of a Share-Based Payment Award in the Currency of the Market in Which the Underlying Equity Security Trades (A consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force)" (“ASU 2010-13”). ASU 2010-13 clarifies that a share-based payment award with an exercise price denominated in the currency of a market in which a substantial portion of the entity’s equity securities trades should not be considered to contain a condition that is not a market, performance, or service condition. Therefore, such an award should not be classified as a liability if it otherwise qualifies as equity. This clarification of existing practice is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning on or after December 15, 2010, with early application permitted. The Company’s adoption of this update did not have an impact on the Company’s consolidated financial condition or results of operations. In January 2010, the FASB issued ASU 2010-06, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures (Topic 820) - Improving Disclosures about Fair Value Measurements" (“ASU 2010-06”). ASU 2010-06 requires new disclosures regarding transfers in and out of the Level 1 and 2 and activity within Level 3 fair value measurements and clarifies existing disclosures of inputs and valuation techniques for Level 2 and 3 fair value measurements. The new disclosures and clarifications of existing disclosures are effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2009, except for the disclosure of activity within Level 3 fair value measurements, which is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2010, and for interim periods within those years. This update has changed a portion of our disclosures beginning February 1, 2010 and will change our disclosure in fiscal 2012 regarding the activity within Level 3. This update is not expected to have a material impact on our consolidated financial condition or results of operations. Certain statements contained in this report may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, as discussed more fully elsewhere in this report and in our previous filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We have operations outside of the United States and sell our products worldwide. Our activities expose us to a variety of market risks, including the effects of changes in interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates and commodity prices. These financial exposures are actively monitored and, where considered appropriate, managed by us. We enter into contracts, with the intention of limiting these risks, with only those counterparties that we deem to be creditworthy, in order to also mitigate our non-performance risk. International sales represented 45% of total sales of the Company for fiscal 2011. We are subject to interest rate risk variable rate debt. As of January 31, 2011, we are subject to interest rate risk on approximately $0.1 million of variable rate debt. A 1-percentage point increase in the interest rate would not have a significant impact on pre-tax earnings. We are subject to investment risk on our marketable securities due to market volatility. As of January 31, 2011, we held equity instruments with an adjusted cost basis of $13.8 million which have been adjusted to its fair value based on current market data. We use foreign exchange forward contracts to hedge the impact of foreign currency fluctuations on foreign denominated inventory purchases, net assets of our foreign operations, intercompany payables and certain foreign denominated loans. We do not hold or issue derivative financial instruments for trading purposes. The Company has hedged the net assets of certain of its foreign operations through foreign currency forward contracts. The realized and unrealized gains/losses on these hedges are recorded within AOCI until the investment is sold or disposed of. The net after-tax gain related to the derivative net investment hedges in Accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”) as of January 31, 2010 and January 31, 2011 was $5.2 million and $5.6 million, respectively. We have designated our foreign currency forward contracts related to certain foreign denominated loans and intercompany payables as fair value hedges. The gains or losses on the fair value hedges are recognized into earnings and generally offset the transaction gains or losses in the foreign denominated loans that they are intended to hedge. commitment, the underlying forward contract is closed and the corresponding gain or loss is transferred from AOCI and is included in the measurement of the cost of the acquired asset. If a hedging instrument is sold or terminated prior to maturity, gains and losses are deferred in AOCI until the hedged item is settled. However, if the hedged item is no longer probable to occur, the resultant gain or loss on the terminated hedge is recognized into earnings immediately. The net after-tax gain included in AOCI at January 31, 2011 is $0.1 million and is expected to be transferred into earnings within the next twelve months upon settlement of the underlying commitment. For consolidated financial statement presentation, net cash flows from such hedges are classified in the categories of the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows with the items being hedged. The foreign exchange contracts outstanding have maturity dates through October 2011. The Board of Directors and Stockholders of Blyth, Inc. We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Blyth, Inc. and Subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of January 31, 2011 and 2010, and the related consolidated statements of earnings (loss), stockholders' equity, and cash flows for the years then ended. Our audits also included the financial statement schedule listed at Item 15(a)(2). These financial statements and schedule are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and schedule based on our audits. In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of the Company at January 31, 2011 and 2010, and the consolidated results of their operations and their cash flows for the years then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Also, in our opinion, the related financial statement schedule, when considered in relation to the basic financial statements taken as a whole, presents fairly in all material respects the information set forth therein. We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2011, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated April 8, 2011 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon. To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Blyth, Inc. We have audited the accompanying consolidated statements of loss, stockholders' equity, and cash flows for the period ended January 31, 2009 of Blyth, Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company"). Our audit also included information for fiscal year ended 2009 in the financial statement schedule listed in the Index at Item 15. These financial statements and financial statement schedule are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the financial statements and financial statement schedule based on our audit. In our opinion, such consolidated financial statements referred to above of Blyth, Inc. and subsidiaries present fairly, in all material respects, the results of their operations and their cash flows for the period ended January 31, 2009, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also, in our opinion, the 2009 information in such financial statement schedule, when considered in relation to the basic consolidated financial statements taken as a whole, presents fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein. As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements, the accompanying consolidated financial statements have been retrospectively adjusted for the adoption of new accounting guidance for the presentation and disclosure of noncontrolling interests. Comprehensive loss attributable to Blyth, Inc. Comprehensive income attributable to Blyth, Inc. 1) This includes shares withheld in order to satisfy employee withholding taxes upon the distribution of vested restricted stock units.

2019-04-23T10:20:47Z

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/921503/000092150311000014/fy11form10_k.htm

As the play progresses along with macbeths evil desire for power, we see this once noble man of scotland bringing himself to ruin by his own sinful actions. Along the way he becomes paranoid as we see in the banquet scene where banquos ghost appears as a horrible shadow. The play shows the battle between good and evil and the cost of evil. She pays the ultimate price with her life. The evil effect is also show in the rhythmic chant, double, double toil and trouble. In the play macbeth he shows the audience what drives people to commit evil deeds and shows the cost of those actions. The witches are introduced right at the start which tells the audience the play is about evil as witchcraft was considered very real and considered evil in shakespeares times. Lady macbeth badly wants to become queen and is prepared to do evil to get it. He says, our fears in banquo stick deep. The witches choose macbeth to bring evil to life. They know he is corruptible and confirm this by saying something wicked this way comes. The cost of evil for macbeth is that he has no peace after his evil deeds. The theme of the play is that uncontrolled ambition can make people do evil things but that evil never wins in the end. The first scene of the play sets the foundation for the play and shows the reader a glimpse of the evil power that will come into play. Shakespeare also uses apparitions which are conjured up as part of the prophecies of macbeths future including a head in armour the bloody child and a child wearing a crown, holding a tree, which illustrate the witches prophesies. Thomas kinsellas poetry extends the readers understanding of life. Macbeth, hail to thee thane of galamis! All hail macbeth, hail to thee thane of cawdor! All hail macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! These prophetic words has successfully raised macbeths deep desire to be the king of scotland. Banquo by contrast is not corruptible so macbeth must kill him. He does this through exploration of themes, characters, language and dramatic techniques and convinces the audience that evil never wins in the end. Shakespeare shows us that evil cannot win and in the end goodness is restored. Macbeth Evil Essay For example, when lady macbeth wants to become brave enough to go through with the murder of the king, she says make thick my blood. To get what he wants macbeth is prepared to do anything. Shakespeare provides a lesson for the audience by showing the cost of evil deeds. In scene 3 of act 1, we can see their true evil character. She is the one who persuades macbeth to kill the king. He loses everything he valued the crown, friendship, respect and his wife and his own life. In this essay you will get thorough thematic analysis on "THE CAUSE OF EVIL MACBETH" ✅ Everything you need to know ? From the creators . The natural moral order has been changed. Thomas kinsellas poetry extends the readers understanding of life. Duncans horses have gone wild in nature, broke their stalls and ate each other. Want to add some juice to your work? No problem! Here you will also find the best quotations, In the play there are several motifs which illustrate the theme, including guilt blood. The witches know macbeth has been overtaken by evil they say something wicked this way comes when he approaches them. The fight between good and evil is depicted in the moral choices each character makes in the play. The dramatic devices shakespeare used to portray the witchcraft includes the setting which was a desolate place, the use of the cauldron and its evil ingredients like human body parts nose of turk. They know he is corruptible and confirm this by saying something wicked this way comes. The plays characters also portray evil and its effects through their actions and words. This main theme of evil in shakespeares play teaches us the powerful deceitfulness of sin and evil desires. She would have killed the king herself but he resembled her father. The first scene of the play sets the foundation for the play and shows the reader a glimpse of the evil power that will come into play. He even kills his friend banquo when he realizes that banquo suspects that he killed the king. Also when macbeth is about to kill the king he sees an imaginary dagger which has gouts of blood on it. The play shows the battle between good and evil and the cost of evil. He examines what causes people to commit evil acts such as ambition, greed and lust for power through themes, characters, language and dramatic techniques. But she knows whats done cannot be undone. He also shows that evil can never bring any good. The witches can be seen as the most evil characters throughout the play who bring ruin in others lives for their own benefit. Through a soliloquy we find out the inner thoughts of macbeth when he tells the audience that he can see a dagger floating in the air leading him to the kings chamber. Macbeths evil actions does not go unnoticed as the nature bears witness to everything. Want to add some juice to your work? No problem! Here you will also find the best quotations, synonyms and word definitions to make your research paper well-formatted and your essay highly evaluated. Her evil is shown through her desire to stop being female. She is the one who persuades macbeth when he has second thoughts about killing the king by questioning his masculinity by saying, be so much more the man and to wear a heart so white. Gives the audience the clear message that evil can never win over good. He also shows that evil can never bring any good. They know he is corruptible and confirm this by saying something wicked this way comes. To get what he wants macbeth is prepared to do anything. The first scene of the play sets the foundation for the play and shows the reader a glimpse of the evil power that will come into play. Also when macbeth is about to kill the king he sees an imaginary dagger which has gouts of blood on it. As the play progresses along with macbeths evil desire for power, we see this once noble man of scotland bringing himself to ruin by his own sinful actions. He does this through exploration of themes, characters, language and dramatic techniques and convinces the audience that evil never wins in the end. She says out damned spot while sleepwalking. She is the one who persuades macbeth when he has second thoughts about killing the king by questioning his masculinity by saying, be so much more the man and to wear a heart so white. He also shows that evil can never bring any good. Banquo by contrast is not corruptible so macbeth must kill him. These very first images that are flashed into the readers mind pictures the powers of evil in action behind the scenes. The witches choose macbeth to bring evil to life. He even kills his friend banquo when he realizes that banquo suspects that he killed the king. Shakespeare also uses apparitions which are conjured up as part of the prophecies of macbeths future including a head in armour the bloody child and a child wearing a crown, holding a tree, which illustrate the witches prophesies. She hatches the plot to kill the kill. This shows how ruthless she has become. As the play progresses along with macbeths evil desire for power, we see this once noble man of scotland bringing himself to ruin by his own sinful actions. She says out damned spot while sleepwalking. Lady macbeth badly wants to become queen and is prepared to do evil to get it. The first scene of the play sets the foundation for the play and shows the reader a glimpse of the evil power that will come into play. He even kills his friend banquo when he realizes that banquo suspects that he killed the king. For example, when lady macbeth wants to become brave enough to go through with the murder of the king, she says make thick my blood. The plays characters also portray evil and its effects through their actions and words. The witches are introduced right at the start which tells the audience the play is about evil as witchcraft was considered very real and considered evil in shakespeares times. This involves evil deeds like violence and deception. She says is calling to dark spirits to , unsex me and fill me with direst cruelty which means she actually wants to embrace evil completely. For example she says, all the perfumes of arabia will not sweeten this little hand. The first scene of the play sets the foundation for the play and shows the reader a glimpse of the evil power that will come into play.

2019-04-24T02:00:13Z

http://helnorana.ml/presentation/0e48456b8c5ef2b5fb5e568ccc705744

Shop Your Way is an awesome rewards program that awards FREE MONEY, and huge discounts and savings! If you love coupons, you need your own free Personal Shopper! If you’re just getting started with Shop Your Way, and have questions, please keep reading for answers! I put together this FAQ & Easy Guide to help people understand Shop Your Way. The bottom line: It’s really easy! Basically, it’s a rewards program. You get points when you shop, and you can score FREE points (follow me, I share them all the time!) Then, use the points the same as cash to pay for purchases. What is Shop Your Way? Why is everyone talking about it? Is SYWR hard to do? Does SYWR cost anything? How much does Shop Your Way Cost? How much does it cost to have a Personal Shopper? Do I have to cancel SYWR? Do I have to cancel Max Free Shipping? How do I get started getting freebies on SYW? Why have a Personal Shopper? Do I have to buy stuff? How much stuff do I have to buy? How do I get FREE stuff from Shop Your Way? What are Shop Your Way Rewards Points (SWYR)? What are Surprise Points? How can I get more Surprise Points? What are Rewards Points? How do I earn Reward Points? How do I use points (online or in store)? I forgot to enter my SYW Member Number or Phone Number (or entered it wrong)! Do I need to change Personal Shoppers to get a specified deal? Can I use coupons with points (stack coupons, or use at the same time)? I’m having technical problems, how can I get help? If you’re just getting started with SYWR, you probably have seen people getting loads of free stuff and wonder how do I do that? Here are the answers you need! Q: What is Shop Your Way? Why is everyone talking about it?! A: Shop Your Way is one of the hottest rewards program available today! Signing up is totally free. There’s nothing to cancel and it doesn’t cost anything. Period! You get free points (and points = money to spend at Sears and Kmart!) And you get free shipping for the first 90 days. That means freebies, shipped free! Plus, if you sign up for Free 2-day shipping with MAX after the free period, it’s like getting it free after points! Q: Is SYWR hard to do? A: No, it’s easy! And much easier with me as your Personal Shopper! I’m here to help! Q: Does SYWR cost anything? How much does Shop Your Way Cost? How much does it cost to have a Personal Shopper? A: No, it is totally free. It doesn’t cost anything to have me be your Personal Shopper. Shop Your Way is totally free. It’s a service I provide free to my readers! Q: Do I have to cancel SYWR? Do I have to cancel Max Free Shipping? A: There’s no fee, nothing to cancel, and no recurring cost or anything. No requirements, no catch, and no strings attached. It’s a free service I provide to my readers! Q: How do I get started getting freebies on SYW? A: Add me (Wendy Larson) as your FREE Personal Shopper, or choose one of my great colleagues to make sure that you get exclusive client coupons and offers and 90-days FREE shipping with Shop Your Way MAX. Q: Why have a Personal Shopper? A: Your PS will make sure that you get exclusive client coupons and offers, and 90-days FREE shipping with Shop Your Way MAX. PLUS Shop Your Way will sometimes send you client appreciation points just for being a client! ► Click to choose a complimentary Personal Shopper Having a Personal Shopper is a FREE service! There’s nothing to cancel, and it costs nothing to join or use. Having a PS means you’ll get exclusive coupons and savings! By making ME your personal shopper (a free service), I can help you find great deals and amazing freebies! Q: Do I have to buy stuff? How much stuff do I have to buy? A: Nope! I find great deals and free stuff, but it’s up to YOU to decide if you want to take advantage of the savings each time! You only buy when you want to buy. And when you do you’ll save a ton of money! Sweet!! Q: Where is my membership card? A: They don’t send membership cards anymore (and you don’t need one). But you can print one if you’d like! Q: How do I get FREE stuff from Shop Your Way? A: The best advice I can give is to follow my posts about Shop Your Way! When there’s a freebie or free points (money) to be gotten, I will share it with you! I also share tips on what to spend your points on, to get things totally free! The easiest way to stay in touch is to make me your Personal Shopper (directions above). Then, be sure to see my tips on what to buy with your points! I specialize in finding things you can get free with SYW points! Q: What are Shop Your Way Rewards Points (SWYR)? A: SWYR Points can be redeemed the same as cash at Sears and Kmart to get totally free stuff and save money on things you will buy anyway. Q: What are Surprise Points? How can I get more Surprise Points? A: Surprise Points are SYW Rewards awarded randomly. Check your account on Tuesdays and Thursdays to see if you were rewarded! Shopping (in store and/or online), playing the sweeps and of course having a Personal Shopper are all great ways to increase your chances of getting more Surprise Points. Surprise Points are randomly given to customers. Play the sweeps to win points, and if you play new sweeps called “Doorbusters” they’ll reward you with between $1 – $7 in free points! TIP: To get Surprise Points you must be a bonus member! Bonus members are signed up for SYW emails. Make sure you are! On SYW, click your picture, then click “Account Settings” and click REWARDS (on left). Make sure your email is entered correctly (update if needed). MAX annual members are also awarded $3 in Surprise Points every month! And, you can connect to a free account on FitStudio to get another $5 free every month! Find your Surprise Points on SYW, by clicking your picture and then “Surprise Points”. Q: What are Rewards Points? How do I earn Reward Points? A: Shop Your Way Rewards Points are earned on qualifying purchases noted with “earns rewards points”. Most purchases at Sears and Kmart qualify for rewards points. Rewards Points are issued when you shop (1,000 points = $1.00 — double for MAX annual members). Bonus Rewards Points are also available during special sales! You can use your SHOP YOUR WAY REWARDS membership in stores and online at Sears, Sears Grand, Sears Hometown Stores, Sears Home Appliance Showroom, Sears Hardware, Sears Outlet, Sears Auto Centers, Sears Home Services, Kmart, Lands’ End, and mygofer. Excludes Lands’ End Inlet; Madison, WI and Lombard, IL stores. You can also earn points at other participating SHOP YOUR WAY REWARDS locations (partner stores). Rewards Points are earned at 1% (2% for SYW MAX annual members). Fixed-amount bonus points for a product-specific offer will be earned as long as your entire subtotal is not paid by points (if you want to earn points, you can pay the minimum purchase requirement out of pocket). Find your Rewards Points on SYW, by clicking your picture and then “Rewards Points”. Q: What should I buy with my points to get freebies? Which items will be free after points? A: Be sure to check out my SYW catalogs for hundreds of recommendations (on ShopYourWay.com, click your picture, then click “Personal Shopper,” then click MY picture and click “Catalogs”). You can redeem points at Sears, Sears Grand, Sears Essentials, Sears Hometown Stores, Sears Home Appliance Showroom, Sears Hardware, Sears Outlet, Sears Auto Centers, Kmart, Lands’ End, and mygofer. Q: How do I use points (online or in store)? A: First, make sure you’re buying an item that you can redeem points on. Look for the “redeem points” banner on the image on ShopYourWay.com. To redeem points online: on the payment page, click on “Redeem My Reward Points” and choose the amount of points you want to redeem. To use points in store: during checkout at participating stores, provide your member number, email address, or phone number to the cashier. Tell the associate how many Points you would like applied to your purchase (you can redeem some or all). Enter you SHOP YOUR WAY REWARDS PIN on the key pad. To find or change your pin, go to SYW.co and click Your picture, then click “Member Number”. Or, you can change your pin via TEXT by texting the word ‘PIN’ to 73277 . You can also print your card if you’d like (but it’s not required that you have a printed card). NOTE: Some of the items are not eligible for points redemption (you may visit our Program Terms and Conditions page for a full list) If the items are not eligible for points redemption, you will not be able to use your points towards your purchase. Q: I forgot to enter my SYW Member Number or Phone Number (or entered it wrong)! Can I still have the points I should have earned? A: Yes! You have 30 days to retrieve missing points by entering info from your receipt. Here’s how. Q: Do I need to change Personal Shoppers to get a specified deal? A: NO! If you’re happy with your Personal Shopper, then stick with them! Some unscrupulous PS may suggest that you have to switch to them as your Personal Shopper to get the deal they’re sharing (whether it’s surprise points, coupons or savings). It is just not true! All Personal Shoppers have the same access to send you coupons and share deals with you. Your Personal Shopper cannot give you Surprise Points. There are rare instances, such as extra sweeps codes, which are limited to a specific PS – so do not be fooled! But, if you do want to switch Personal Shoppers, here’s a great tutorial on how to switch! Q: Can I use coupons with points (stack coupons, or use at the same time)? A: Yes! Load coupons from your Shop Your Way dashboard (click Rewards > Coupons). You can also print coupons here! A: Shop Your Way MAX is free for 90 days (and it does NOT auto-renew, there’s nothing to cancel!) With it you’ll enjoy free shipping. Read more. Q: My Shop Your Way App gives me the error: “oops something went wrong” when I try to add to cart. What do I do? A: If you’re having trouble with the app, you can still shop ShopYourWay, Sears and Kmart through your browser! Meanwhile, email Shop Your Way Technical Support to fix the problem with the app for you. Q: I’m locked out of my account! What do I do? Q: How do I email SYW Tech Support for technical help with my account? Q: How do I contact SYW by phone? A: You can call Shop Your Way Rewards at 1(800) 991-8708 (SYW hours are 8 AM – 11 PM CST, 7 days a week, except for certain holidays. You can also call Kmart directly at (866) 562-7848 (1-866-KMART-4U) or Sears at 1 (800) 697-3277. Q: My question wasn’t answered here, what can I do? A: Check out the help section of SYW. Find technical support on SYW, by clicking “Advice” at the top and then clicking picture and then “Surprise Points”.

2019-04-20T12:52:07Z

https://gimmiefreebies.com/sywr-faq/

mmmmmmm.......Whether you're into sophisticated flavours like the Cauli Blanca here or just plain old pep and cheese, the Cauliflower Crust from Pizza Pizza is a great alternative that provides two servings of veggies in each medium crust! No runny yolks here! (well, at least not after they are cooked....) All photos by Tobias Wang. Eggs are always a go-to for me when I am cooking for myself or my family, because they are a great source of so many nutrients that we need every day. Egg yolks were one of my son’s first foods (along with avocado and butternut squash), so you know I am a believer in the benefits of eating them. And for us, eggs are a regular part of our meals all week long. But I have a little confession to make: I love eggs, but I don’t do runny yolks. I know, I know…..everybody loves an ooze-y Eggs Benny, right? But it’s just not for me. I like to think of myself as being quite adventurous when it comes to food (hosting 54 episodes of a show about food and travelling a lot will do that to a person) but I just don’t like runny yolks, and I am ok with that. The rest of the family doesn’t agree with me on this, of course. So, just so we don’t have scrambled eggs over and over (not that I mind of course) I look for creative ways to incorporate eggs into our meals, such as a frittata at dinner, to keep things interesting, because I want us to keep enjoying the goodness of eggs as much as possible. Of course it also matters to me where my food comes from. Eating local is a priority, so when it comes to eggs, Conestoga Farms Free Run Omega-3 eggs are a great option. Produced by proud farmers and their families in Southwestern Ontario, they are Foodland Ontario certified. Packed with veggies and the goodness of eggs, these egg muffins are super easy to make and can be refrigerated or frozen for the week ahead. From a nutritional standpoint, it’s important to know that Omega-3 polyunsaturates are essential fatty acids from your health (I’m digging deep into my nutrition course from university here) because they do wonders such as lower blood pressure and can help prevent and manage heart disease. Your body doesn’t produce them, so you need to get Omega-3s from your diet. Conestoga Farms Free Run Omega-3 eggs are a great source of this nutritional powerhouse because they are produced by hens that are fed an all-grain diet, enriched with flax seed, a source of DHA omega-3 polyunsaturates. One large free run omega-3 egg contains 0.4 g of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The brown eggs are also enriched with of lutein, an antioxidant that supports healthy vision, with 1 mg per egg. That is one powerfully perfect food. Because I am often short on time in the mornings (and I mean, who isn’t?) I love making these delicious egg muffins – or crustless quiche, if you will – as a fast, nutritious option. Make a batch when you have the time, and warm them up when you are on the go. These protein and veggie-packed breakfast muffins are the perfect fuel to start the day. Made with real whole food ingredients and surprisingly simple to make, they are an absolute game-changer when it comes to having a healthy breakfast that takes very little time, because you can make ahead of time and reheat for busy mornings. Eggcellent (see what I did there?) served with your favourite hot sauce and some sliced avocado for extra good fats power. Store extras in fridge and reheat during the week when you are short on time. This content was generously sponsored by Conestoga Farms, but the love of eggs is all my own! You can't argue with this lineup! Chefs Brandon Olsen, Ivana Raca, Mark McEwan and Elia Herrera and their most talented peers will be serving up delicious things for a great cause at Toronto Taste 2018. At the end of the post, I'll tell you how to win two tickets between May 14-17th!. There are plenty of food and drink events and festivals out there in Toronto, and some of them are incredible experiences. But there is one that is especially near and dear to my heart, and that is Toronto Taste. This is not only due to the sheer number of incredible calibre chefs and restaurants that participate (really, the very best and brightest in the city), but because it supports the very important cause of feeding the hungry through Second Harvest. The Bocata de Calamar by Chef Rob Braganolo, Campo Food Hall. Photo by AJ Fernando. Proceeds from this delicious event are in support of Second Harvest’s food rescue and delivery program for each ticket sold, they are able to provide 500 nutritious meals for people experiencing hunger in Toronto. Last year - and this is very special to me because I co-hosted the Chef's Challenge at Toronto Taste 2017 - a record-breaking total of $925 000 was raised, which provided 1.8 MILLION meals for those experiencing hunger and food insecurity in Toronto. That's a pretty amazing thing. This year - let's aim to break that record again. And - all this can be done while you get to enjoy the very best from over 60 different top chefs and beverages from 30 different purveyors. What are you waiting for? Toronto Taste is happening soon - on June 3rd, and tickets are on sale here at www.torontotaste.ca. See you there! Oh....and, CONTEST ALERT! Want to win two tickets to Toronto Taste 2018? Head to my instagram post here to find out how! I’d love to be the person that can say that there are no picky eaters in my house, but I’d be lying. When it comes to breakfast, I prioritize healthier options (that don’t sacrifice flavour – so yeah, perhaps I’m a little high maintenance). But some days, I only feel like I have time for a superfood coffee or a protein bar, which isn’t always as satisfying as I’d like. My husband likes his morning meal a little on the sweeter side, more like granola and yogurt, but definitely not venturing into sugary cereal territory. And then there’s our two year old……and his preferences change ALL THE TIME, but I know with him that taste and texture are big priorities. If it isn’t yummy, it isn’t happening. There are days that are definitely a bit of a struggle to get him to eat much at all, which can be stressful, because I want to make sure he’s getting the nutrients he needs. I’ve managed to figure out at least one option that works for ALL three of us, which is pretty amazing: overnight oats! They are a thing for many reasons, trust me. They are easy to prepare and totally customizable. Use your favourite oats – and of course I use Quaker Brand because it’s what I always use whenever I make hot oatmeal (or mostly oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies, obviously) and they have been trusted for over 100 years, so that works for me! Add any type of milk, yogurt or dairy substitute like almond or coconut milk. Then, you can mix in your favourite ingredients before putting your oats in the fridge (in a jar works really well!) to soak overnight. For more crunch or texture, you can set some toppings aside to add once the oats are ready in the morning – fruit, coconut chips, chocolate chips, seeds, nuts, or more. See why this is such a great morning solution? Because you’re doing these few quick steps the night before, and not fussing when you have a million other things to do to get out the door first thing. Here’s one of my favourite overnight oats combos that I thought I would share with you, mostly because it’s Archer’s fave. Kiddo is crazy about both blueberries and bananas, so I feel like this one is win-win. If you’re looking for more recipe ideas, just click here for some delicious ideas from Quaker. This one is Archer's favourite. I'm also a fan of tropical coconut or mixed berries! - In a mason jar or bowl, add Quaker Oats, milk and vanilla extract. - Add a layer of blueberries, a layer of banana, then top with chia seeds and a drizzle of honey, if using. Customize each jar with favourite toppings to make something that everyone will love! Toppings are totally flexible, use what you have or what you love to customize for everyone. Or go without toppings for a simple and delicious option! For best results, let oats soak in the fridge for a full 8 hours. But if you’re short on time, a few hours will work too! Thank you to Quaker Canada for hosting me at the #OvernightSuccess interactive workshop and for sponsoring this post. But of course, all opinions (and love of oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies) are my own.

2019-04-20T06:22:44Z

http://www.michellejobin.com/blog/category/food

Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 is a cautionary tale about the ramifications of a world where technology acts as an opiate. It explores what happens when people are so entrenched in groupthink that they balk at intellectual conversations and thought-provoking literature. In the book’s universe, the role of firefighters has been reimagined to make them aggressors instead of heroes. Protagonist Guy Montag is a firefighter whose job is to burn the possessions of anyone caught with a book, now considered contraband. Illiteracy has allowed the powers in charge to rewrite history and convince society that books are filled with dangerous propaganda to create hierarchies and division among people. Montag eventually becomes disillusioned with this world and goes through a mental and spiritual awakening. He rebels against his fire captain, quits his job, and joins a resistance group to spread knowledge about the world’s literary works. Director/screenwriter Ramin Bahrani began developing an updated version of Bradbury’s novel in 2016 — 40 years after the original film adaptation made its debut. He later signed Creed star Michael B. Jordan as Guy Montag, with Michael Shannon (Fire Captain Beatty), Sofia Boutella (Clarisse McClellan), and Laura Harrier (Millie Montag) rounding out the solid cast. When Bahrani started tackling the script, the world had become a place that only Bradbury could have imagined in the early 1950s. People were spending more time in front of televisions and absorbing themselves in the endless rabbit holes of the Internet. Curated media, overwhelming sources of information, and social platforms were blurring the lines between fact, fiction, conformity, and individuality. Bahrani knew this movie would have to take media influence and technology into a higher regard, so he delivered an updated version that expands upon the current social and technological climate. HBO’s Fahrenheit 451 had the visual appeal, futuristic Internet platform (The 9), and technological elements expected in the not-so-distant future. The brooding lighting juxtaposed with flames leaping from Montag’s torch as he turned books to ashes and the neon lights of screens posting real-time burns for likes, comments, and shares doesn’t feel too far removed from our society. Performative acts are a daily occurrence on social media as people post everything from private moments to gruesome footage for attention and validation. Jordan’s Guy Montag was a media celebrity and renowned hero, which only added to his initial pressure to maintain the status quo. He was a more aggressive and self-assured version of the protagonist, yet he displayed the needed emotional gravitas to show Montag’s conflicted thoughts about the world. The additions of memory-altering eye drops take the place of sleeping pills and the books featured in this movie are a smorgasbord of past and present classics like Native Son, Franz Kafka, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, even a Harry Potter novel. Including electronic versions of books as well as other material stashed on hard drives made Fahrenheit 451’s story more plausible for a 2018 audience, and, the concept of stripping a “guilty” person’s identity on broadcast and sentencing them to become “eels” (read: illegal people) brought a fresh take on censorship. These new concepts combined with solid performances from Jordan, Shannon, and Boutella are Fahrenheit 451’s highlights. Like his book counterpart, Montag started his journey as a dutiful soldier who helped maintain this hedonistic society. He was addicted to burning but his natural curiosity caused him to collect and mull over contraband content. Clarisse, an anti-establishment teenager, was used to plant the seeds of rebellion in the book. The movie made a smart decision to age Clarisse up and give her some similarities to the book character Faber, a former professor who sparked Montag’s interest in books a year prior to meeting Clarisse. He helped Montag devise an initial plan of revolt and then later helped him flee the city. Clarisse’s free-spirit and curiosity were supposed to contrast his wife Millie Montag, whose obsession with technology made her oblivious to their oppressive society. Laura Harrier's scenes as Millie, however, were removed from the movie shortly before its debut to save time and allow Clarisse room to the shine. Clarisse’s expanded role added interesting elements to her characterization by making her a double agent who was providing information to Beatty about “eels” and also working with a resistance group, but she still wasn’t a completely fleshed out character and the relationship she developed with Montag should have been afforded more screen time. They were brought together by guilt and questions over a woman’s suicide, but the romantic aspect seemed out of place. Millie’s character is an important part of the Fahrenheit 451 narrative and would have clarified several things for viewers who are new to the story. The 9 features a bunch of messages from unidentified commenters who praise and later demonize Montag. A few of them are seen in the background and a school class being groomed to hate books is shown in the movie, but viewers don’t get to know any of the “everyday” people in this world. Millie would have given them a face and a story. She represents the “sheep” of this society — complacent loyalists who are willing to forgo choice and happiness in exchange for tangible things. People like Millie find bliss in disconnecting from reality and succumbing to daily routines dictated by technology. They are so detached from others that death and destruction have become their nightly entertainment. They exist vicariously through TV characters and celebrities to the point where they aren’t invested in their own lives. Willful ignorance, brainwashing, and fear all play a role in their obedience. In the novel, Montag sees the results of his actions as a firefighter reflected in Millie’s persona and realizes his responsibility to choose a new path. As he begins to dive into books and think freely, Millie’s absorption in technology and lack of connection to other humans both angers and saddens him. She is the person he wants to see him, love him, and grow with him, but her shallowness and fear won’t allow her to face reality. Millie’s naivete due to lifelong social conditioning along with her natural lack of depth is the true antithesis of Clarisse, who was raised as a freethinker and has a heart for others. Without Millie in the film, Montag didn’t have the additional motivation to rebel outside of watching a woman commit suicide. This event occurred in the book as well, but it was coupled with the increasing discomfort of seeing his wife continue to deny the truth. Beatty cannot fill this role because he is a person who is well-read and using his knowledge in an oppressive position. The Alexa-like home system Yuxie questions Montag, but she’s also a part of the same system. Montag’s dilemma and mental unraveling were a core piece of the novel and Mille played an important role in his decision-making and thought process. Even after she exposed him and fled their home, he still sympathized with his wife. The book later implied that Millie stayed in the city, which was hit by an atomic bomb. She likely paid for her compliance to the rules with her life. Their relationship strengthened his character arc and her absence in the film leaves a gaping hole. Fahrenheit 451 took a novel filled with intellectual commentary and emotional depth and crammed it into a 101-minute film. Montag’s journey has a unique trajectory that would have been better explored in a miniseries format. The original book was broken up into three acts to show the specific evolution of Montag — his loyalty to society broken by his questioning moments, his acquisition of knowledge that led to his outing, and his intense escape toward freedom. A similar format would have given them more time to dive into Montag’s psyche as he started to reexamine the world and his role in maintaining the status quo. One of his most compelling moments in the film was him explaining how the words of his first book flowed through him like how sand went through his sieve as a kid. This brilliant metaphor made him feel more layered and shows how additional exploration into his past would have provided better context into his personality. A miniseries would also have allowed for an updated version of Millie Montag. Her love for technology would have shown her in the bathroom mirror, carefully choosing photos for her online profile. She would have been more invested in Montag’s social celebrity than he was, checking his posts for reactions and comments. Viewers would have uncomfortably seen a portion of themselves in Millie’s love for social media. The building tension between the Montags would have spiked as he began to seek knowledge from Clarisse. An interaction between Millie and Clarisse would have been an unprecedented occurrence and allowed for some rich dialogue between the opposing minds. Perhaps Clarisse could have broken through Millie’s emotional wall and given an actual face to social outcasts. Either way, there would have been ample room for both women in the story. A miniseries could have opened up the door for so many possibilities and made room for a less disjointed and confusing third act, which included Montag meeting a group of outcast book-lovers who had a bird injected with OMNIS, a DNA strand that could “cure” humans lost thirst for information. Why did they choose animals? How exactly would this information spread to humans? So much information felt lost in an effort to save time. Fahrenheit 451 took a major diversion with Beatty burning Montag alive, which was opposite from the book. Montag’s demise would have been more impactful if they had shown a bit of the aftermath of his death. How did it affect Chief Beatty, who viewed Montag as his greatest accomplishment? Did he begin to see the light or did he cover Montag’s death and go about business as usual? Where did Clarisse and the rest of the resistance gang go? And, if Millie was included in the narrative, how could his death change her life? Viewers didn’t necessarily need to see a “happy” ending, but there could have been one that hinted at a future trajectory for the remaining characters. The abrupt ending showed the OMINIS DNA bird flying to find other birds. It was perhaps meant to be poetic sci-fi twist, but it left more questions than answers for viewers. Fahrenheit 451’s rushed plot and exclusion of Millie Montag led to a movie that felt disjointed and incomplete in some aspects. There were several moving parts, but none of them seemed to flow together despite the timely message behind this story. The actors and updated changes were promising, but the missing pieces didn’t allow this adaption to maximize its potential.

2019-04-19T17:10:46Z

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/fahrenheit-451-millie-montag-should-have-been-miniseries

Now that mega-producer Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men in Hollywood have been exposed, it has shed a lot of light on the secret side of the industry. If you’ve thought about becoming a huge star and being famous, you might want to reconsider your plans after finding out what it’s really like to live in the limelight. There’s more to Hollywood than money, fame, red carpet appearances, and millions of adoring fans. There’s also staggering shallowness, abuse, heartbreak, and more than a little crime. Here are ten dark secrets and horrifying tales that blow the lid off of the entertainment industry. If you look at a picture in a tabloid or on a gossip website, and it looks like the celebrity is posing in a staged photo, they probably are. In 2016, a photographer revealed that many celebs stage their pictures to have better control over their image. Kim Kardashian is one star who keeps her personal paparazzo on speed dial. She texts the photographer regularly and flies him around the world to photograph her. Kardashian reviews every image, and they’re heavily photoshopped before they’re sold to magazines. Long before Kardashian had the paparazzi in the palm of her hand, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag of MTV’s The Hills had a 50/50 agreement with a company named Pacific Coast News. They would pose for “cheesy over-the-top shots” that were then sold to magazines across the globe. Pratt called it “the best gig ever,” and he and Montag raked in over $1 million by selling their pictures. Celebs consider it a working relationship that’s mutually beneficial for everyone who’s involved, and their fans are usually clueless that the “candid” photos are carefully crafted before they’re ever released to the public. Sometimes, all it takes is an illicit drug for an actor or actress to put on their best performance. Tinseltown has been known to allegedly supply many A-list stars with a never-ending flow of their favorite vice. Legendary actor Dennis Quaid revealed he had a “casual” addiction to cocaine before he even became a huge star. When he first moved to Los Angeles in 1974, he dabbled with the drug here and there, but things didn’t get out of control until he was booked to appear in mainstream films. He also revealed that cocaine was listed in the budgets of movies—disguised as “petty cash” to keep the drug-fueled sets a secret. He claimed the drug was freely given out on movie sets because it was the norm, and it was something that everyone was doing. Looking back on it, he called his cocaine addiction one of his biggest mistakes. The actor said being addicted to the drug caused his entire life to fall apart. Hollywood is no stranger to publicity stunts, and there’s no limit to how far the industry will go to get the public’s attention. Back in 2014, there was a lot of talk about Kanye West and Kim Kardashian fighting for a spot on the cover of Vogue. When the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, finally decided to place them on the front page of the fashion magazine, she created an intense firestorm. Some readers threatened to cancel their Vogue subscriptions, calling Kimye disgraceful and inappropriate for the iconic publication. Wintour later went on the record and said if the magazine had stuck with “tasteful” cover stars, no one would have batted an eye. But by placing West and Kardashian on the cover, she drummed up some much-needed publicity for the magazine. In the entertainment world, any kind of attention is good, even if it’s bad. The pressure to look beautiful and thin has caused some stars to suffer from eating disorders. Being in front of the spotlight means they’re put underneath a microscope 24/7. Not only are they judged by their fans and the public, but sometimes their agents and managers can pressure them to drop pounds in unhealthy ways, too. Demi Lovato remembered at the age of “2 or 3 years old,” she would look down at her belly and wonder if it would ever be flat. As she grew older, she struggled with an eating disorder and would relapse after difficult periods in her life. After breaking up with her ex, Wilmer Valderrama, she binged and purged because she missed him. Long before the Harvey Weinstein scandal emerged, there were rumors about the casting couch—a term used to describe stars who are given roles in exchange for sexual favors. Megan Fox gave an interview to GQ and put the rumors to rest by laying out the cold, hard facts. The actress said “Hollywood legends” would invite her to meet, and she would be so excited for the opportunity. Then, when she would show up, she would realize that the meeting was just a ploy. She said many of the men were able to get away with sleeping with a lot of girls in the industry, but she wasn’t one of them. She would shut them down immediately. Hollywood may be seen as a town full of glitz and lavish lifestyles, but it has a past history that’s anything but glamorous. In fact, there’s a much shadier side that many people are unaware of. It has been rumored that a mobster named Mickey Cohen ran the Hollywood underworld. In 1950, Life magazine published an expose, entitled “Trouble in Los Angeles,” to focus on Cohen and his rampant organized crime units that ran the industry. This is one secret Hollywood would definitely like to erase and forget about forever. In a perfect world, a celebrity would stay out of trouble and have a successful career without any hiccups. But the truth is that accidents and sticky situations are a part of life. When things get too much for a celeb to handle, they call a fixer like Michael Sitrick to come to their rescue. Sitrick has been a “spinmeister” in the industry for years, with a talent for twisting negative stories in the press into positive ones. He has worked for various popular clients, including David Lee Roth and disgraced NFL quarterback Michael Vick. Tackling controversy is his forte, and when a celeb is getting pounded by negative press, there’s no one other than Sitrick they’d want on their side. If a famous person has been caught in a comprising situation, and you suddenly see an influx of positive articles about them, it’s likely that Sitrick, or someone just like him, is hard at work. Ageism is alive and well in Hollywood, and some actresses feel the need to shave a few years off their date of birth. Margot Robbie received a ton of backlash when rumors about her true age began to pop up online. But did she have a good reason to lie? Perhaps. An actress named Junie Hoang sued the website Internet Movie Database for revealing her true age. In her lawsuit, Hoang said, “In the entertainment industry, youth is king,” a simple way for her to accuse the website of ruining her chances of landing gigs by exposing her true age. She lost the lawsuit, but the case brought a lot of attention to just how rampant ageism is in Hollywood. Some actors spend the majority of their time filming on set. This means they’re away from their partners for long periods of time, and they’re spending even more time with their costars and the crew. It’s no surprise that some stars have a moment of weakness and end up cheating on their significant others. Some of the flings end as soon as the movies wrap, but others turn into juicy cheating scandals, full-blown relationships, and even marriages. Angelina Jolie was labeled a homewrecker when she began a relationship with Brad Pitt on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston at the time, and their relationship crashed and burned when rumors of the affair were revealed. Aniston filed for divorce, and Pitt later married Jolie. Kristen Stewart is another star who got caught up in a cheating scandal. While she was dating her Twilight costar Robert Pattinson, she was caught making out with director Rupert Sanders on the set of their film, Snow White and the Huntsman. These cases are just two examples of the rampant cheating in the industry. Everyone was shocked when Eva Mendes managed to hide her growing baby bump from the public, but she has nothing on the celebs who have kept their secret love children away from the media. And sometimes, the kids are just as baffled as the rest of us! It wasn’t until she was eight years old that Liv Tyler found out she was the biological daughter of Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler. Her mother was young when she gave birth to Liv, and the actress said there was a “bit of confusion” about where she came from for most of her life. She was forced to put the pieces of the puzzle together herself when she could no longer ignore the resemblance she had to the singer. While attending his concert, Liv took a glance at Steve’s daughter Mia, her half-sister who was born 17 months after her, and said it was “literally like looking at my twin.” Liv looked at her mom, and her mom had tears in her eyes. That’s when she finally realized she was the love child of a rock star. Predators in the industry have been an open secret for decades, and finally, some of Hollywood’s top execs and stars have been outed for their alleged improper behavior with young children. Kevin Spacey was recently exposed for allegedly trying to take advantage of a young 14-year-old actor, and child star Corey Feldman has always been vocal about a top Hollywood figure abusing him when he was a teen. In the wake of the Weinstein scandal, Feldman finally found the courage to name his alleged abuser on an episode of The Doctor Oz Show. Feldman accused actor Jon Grissom of molesting him back in the 1980s and said that Grissom continued to taunt him and flaunt his alleged actions by keeping photos of the two of them on his Myspace page. This is just one case of alleged inappropriate behavior in the industry, and many believe that there are even more hidden secrets that will surely be exposed in due time. An avid Internet surfer with a passion for writing. On the rare occasion she’s not buried in her laptop screen, you can find her on the quest for the perfect order of chicken nachos, chugging a Venti Caramel Macchiato, or catching up on her favorite reality TV shows.

2019-04-19T15:37:32Z

http://www.10lists.xyz/10-dark-secrets-that-expose-the-truth-about-hollywood/

From others’ stories of a discovery about a father who raised them not being their biological father, we find out that not all mothers react the same way. Some get defensive, angry, upset, and deflect the blame and place it onto others. There are reasons this happens, if the discovery brings up a past trauma buried deep, for example. Or if that person’s knee-jerk reaction in all tough situations has always been to deflect, avoid, or overreact to get something to just go away. Sometimes these behaviors can be part of a life-long struggle with mental health or a personality disorder, and sometimes it is isolated to certain situations. Trauma is something that many psychologists and therapists know a lot about and can help to sort out and support, when it occurs. A licensed marriage and family therapist would be a great partner to work with if you are involved in a DNA Surprise and want or need to rebuild existing family relationships. They can also help you understand why a family member has reacted in a certain way and how you might learn to deal with family reactions that are outside your control. These professionals exist to help individuals and families tease through complex situations as they move forward after an unexpected discovery. If it is possible for a parent to take a deep breath and be honest and truthful when their child confronts them with a discovery, this is the best next-step to take. Whether the discovery involves a biological father identity, a donor conception, or an adoption that hasn’t been disclosed yet, giving the truth to someone about their biological origins is crucial. It can be powerful and healing for child and parents to have the truth be known, and it can be a first step towards a deeper and close relationship. I encourage parents who are keeping a secret to start thinking and preparing. Things won’t be perfect, but healing needs to start on a foundation of honesty. You might not be able to be the one to come out and share the secret, at least maybe not right now. But start to think about it. You may feel paralyzed, you may feel alone. You may feel like no one else has ever been through what you are going through, but that’s not true; there are thousands - if not millions - of parents who have, are, and will deal with these same tough conversations and situations. Christa and her parents are already on their way. I am not a genealogist, but the work I do is in a closely-related field. I track down heirs of deceased mineral owners so oil and gas companies can negotiate with them. This has given me experience looking for other people's families. I started research on my own family to learn more about my father's mother, as she is adopted, and I am estranged from the father who raised me and his family for many years. I was curious what I could find, so naturally, I turned to DNA testing. I actually was quite reluctant to do testing at first, but my husband’s encouragement finally changed my mind. He was curious for information for health reasons, and I was more interested in my heritage and family. When my results came back and I looked through my DNA relatives match list, I noticed that I did not recognize anyone from my father’s family. After going through the process of separating out my maternal side from the unknown matches, I identified a mystery person and messaged her. My initial thought was that my paternal grandmother was her grandfather's sibling, after I found information on a website called DNA Painter about how to identify possible relationships based on how much DNA you share with them. After messaging back and forth and considering several scenarios, it was clear our grandparents were full siblings. But there was one very large problem: the ethnicity of my paternal grandmother differed significantly from that of hers. I expected surprises as my reason for testing was to investigate the family of my adopted grandparent, but the thought that my father might not be my biological father never crossed my mind as a possibility. Now that I had this new and unexpected information, I realized there was only one explanation. I should have had a suspicion when my DNA results were 100% European rather than matching what I knew about the ethnicity of my father’s side, but I had convinced myself that I just took after my mom. I quickly contacted my paternal half-sister and asked about her DNA results. Her results were back, and yet she wasn’t appearing on my list; we were not a match. I was in denial for days and could not sleep, only obsess. I finally asked my mother about it two days later. She confirmed my suspicion but would not give me a name. I told her I do this for a living, and I will find him. I could not guarantee my curiosity wouldn’t get the best of me. I waited about two weeks before tracking him down myself. About a month after I had made the discovery about my paternity, I gave my mother the name of the man I believed is my biological father. She confirmed it was him but requested that I not contact him for a few more years. I realize now that my mom was probably trying to get to a new phase of her life before having to deal with something she’s been keeping hidden for years. We all deal with these discoveries in different ways, and her approach was to push it out into the future to deal with later. My mother’s request that I put this aside was very hard for me. What she was asking me to do was not at all what I wanted. I could not respond, I kept opening my mouth waiting for the words “Okay, I won’t contact him” to come out, but I could not say it. I was conflicted. Honoring my mother’s wishes would have been at my expense, emotionally. I had already written my biological father a letter but had not sent it yet. I told her about it, emphasizing that I had asked mainly about family medical history. I see now that it was my way to explaining why I couldn’t promise what she wanted me to. I did not want her to be blind-sided if I did decide to contact him. After our conversation I felt guilty, like I ambushed my mother with questions. At the time I felt it was necessary, and I hoped she could understand my compelling need to know him. The next day, I read my letter again and decided not to wait any longer. I asked my husband to drive me to my biological father’s house. I knew I wanted to contact my father, but I wanted to do some further screening. I wanted to see where he lived and gain some insight, look for red flags. Something that I would take as a sign to not contact him. I joked to my husband that maybe I’ll see something terrible like a dog fighting pit or people arguing on the front lawn, something bad enough to make me believe I am better off without this man. I put the letter in my purse, and my husband and I started the 45-mile drive. I was unsure what I would do with my letter at that point. We listened to a podcast, and I remember looking out the passenger’s side window at the landscape and construction; I wanted to avoid my phone for a bit and clear my head. My whole body was shaking when we finally exited the highway and made our way into my biological father’s neighborhood. I wanted to stop and get a good look at the house, but there was a car behind us and there was no room to pull over. We drove by several times. I wanted someone to notice and come out and confront me about why I am casing their home, but that did not happen. The house looked completely normal. The backyard looked like it was made for entertaining, I imagined family gatherings and summer cookouts with family. I was not yet satisfied that this was the right house and I looked for a mailbox with my father’s last name. I studied the house for a minute or two and noticed a statue of an animal near the garden; It resembled their beloved family pet featured on social media, and I decided that was enough evidence. I was at the right house, and he is a normal person with a normal family. I was nervous that night. I felt that what I had done was impulsive and irresponsible. I contemplated driving back and retrieving my letter, but I stayed strong (or maybe it was cowardice that kept me home). I ultimately decided the ball was in his court now, my mission was complete. I did my part. The next morning, I went on with my life as normal. I imagined he would find the letter and toss it in the trash. At one point I pulled out my phone to add an appointment to my calendar and there was a missed call and voicemail from an unfamiliar number. It was him. I called him back and he answered. He told me his hearing is not great, so I’ll have to speak up before placing me on hold for a moment to go somewhere he could talk. I muttered expletives under my breath as I waited. This guy is about to lecture me, I thought. When he returned to the call, I remember repeatedly apologizing for going to his home and violating his privacy, as I was sure he was furious. “Are you sick?” He said with a concerned voice. “Have you talked to your mother? You need to talk to your mother.” I realized my letter may have made him concerned for my health, an unintended result that I had not considered. He was kind and understanding and realized that my motives for writing him were not purely health-related. We talked for a while, and I decided to go meet him immediately. When I arrived, I saw him waiting at the door and I knew he was as interested in meeting me as I was in him. I was shocked to learn that I was not a surprise to him. He had been waiting for me to find him. He has known about me my entire life. My mother did tell me she told him to stay away from me, but if my memory serves me correctly, she did not tell me that he knew about me, only that he suspected. I showed him photos, and he had already seen them. He knew my birthday and the names of my family members. I'm not mad at either of them, but I am left now to deal with grief of lost time. This is all still new to me, and I am grappling with tough emotions. I feel like I am grieving the death of a loved one. The anxiety has been intense. When I was in the phase of trying to figure out who my father was, my thoughts would race and I was fixated on solving the mystery. My throat would tighten up. It felt like a pill was stuck in my throat, so I kept swallowing and drinking excessive amounts of water to dislodge it. Sometimes it lasted for days, like it was going to close up and I would suffocate. I developed an irrational fear of dying from some unknown hereditary disease. I self-medicated with over-the-counter medications that cause drowsiness. I can see now I was using a substance as a crutch in a time of crisis. I was trying to make myself too tired to be anxious, to get some relief from the tightening feeling in my throat and from my obsessive thoughts. My mother experienced so much pain before I was born, she tells me I was the thing that gave her the courage to rebuild. She only cared that I was safe and happy. I realize now that my mother has been burdened with this secret my entire life. My experience these past few weeks gives me a new perspective on what these years must have been like for her. It brings me insurmountable pain knowing what she must have endured. I just hope that she is okay. There is no mending needed for my relationship with my mother. I love my mom, and I hope that we can be even closer. I do not blame her, and I forgive her. We all make mistakes, some bigger than others, but we are all just doing our best. I am thankful that she told me the truth when I asked. I have met my biological father twice in the short time since I found out about him. I want so badly to know him. Part of me wants to go see him every day and learn more about him, and another part of me is holding back. I’m intentionally limiting my time with him because I’m fearful of appearing desperate. I am fearful that I may make things hard on his wife and family, although they have given me no indication of the sort. I still want to remain cognizant of how this may have affected his wife. I do not think that she dislikes me or does not want me around, I just worry that she is having a hard time and I want her to know that it’s okay. I won’t take it personally, this is a big thing and the effects are not limited to myself and my parents. I realize it is going to affect both of our families to a degree, I just hope we can all get through it. I may be trying to keep my distance to protect my own feelings. I want to tell him that I love him and call him “Dad” and have the father-daughter relationship that other people have, but I am so fearful of rejection that I can’t find the courage. I simply don’t know how to have a relationship with him, but I am trying, and glad I’m getting a chance. I am attempting to take things slow and give everyone their space, but I think about the whole thing all day and all night. This experience has been painful, and I have cried nearly every day. Sometimes multiple times. But I consider myself one of the lucky ones. My mother loves and protects me to this day, and my biological father was receptive to meeting me when I reached out to him. I experienced a lot of worries for a while. Will he reject me? Will he show up at my house and threaten me because of my letter? Who knows about this? Am I the only one who has been left in the dark? But the outcome for me has been best-case scenario, and for that I am grateful. Like I wrote earlier, I am experiencing grief of time lost with my father, and I cannot help but cry when I think about the pain my mother and biological father experienced through the years. I forgive them and my wish is for them to forgive themselves. I wish I had the courage to say these things to their faces, but I am not ready for that. My purpose for writing this is to give the world my version of events and maybe give a little comfort to someone who is experiencing something similar; I do not completely know what happened in the past, so I cannot speak for my parents’ versions of events. I hope that when or if they see this, they will gain some insight into who I am as a person. This experience has deepened my understanding of love and grief in many ways, but one thing that will never waver is the love I have always felt for my mother (somethings never change, no matter what) and the love that has developed for the father I never knew. Christa has developed a deep self-awareness that is obvious through her writing. She confided in me that bringing up the fact that she used an OTC medication to make herself feel drowsy was hard for her, and she felt a bit of shame about it. We talked about the fact that there is a difference between substance abuse and using a substance as a crutch in a time of crisis, and self-awareness can be really important in assessing where that line is. That helped her find the courage to share about this very personal aspect of her journey. If you recognize yourself in Christa’s story, especially that part of it, take stock in the way you deal with anxiety. What is your reliance on substances like alcohol? Is it changing your mood or your personality? Affecting your relationships or ability to function at home and work? It is worth reaching out to your doctor or a therapist or counselor for a discussion about it so they can help you figure out if your use of drugs, alcohol, prescriptions, and over-the-counter medications are crossing the line into dependency, misuse, or abuse. Finding a healthy way to deal with stress and anxiety is possible and matters not just to you, but the people in your life who look to you for guidance. Looking for more stories or support? Check out the Resources for You tab of this website for much more on the topic of DNA Surprise.

2019-04-24T17:46:45Z

https://www.watersheddna.com/blog-and-news/christa-dna-surprise

>> all right, folks enjoy your monday and giants and dodgers tonight. got to win them all. good morning viewers in the west. it is monday, september 28, 2015. welcome to "cbs this morning." donald trump rolls out the tax plan he's previewed for "60 minutes." a new poll finds he's no longer the clear republican frontrunner. president obama meets with russia's president at the u.n. we have more of charlie's interview with vladimir putin that you didn't see last night. and nasa says they have solved a mars mystery, but what is it? but we begin with a look at today's eye opener. your world in 90 seconds. >> do you think he considers russia an equal and considers you an equal, which is the way you want to be treated? accident. they reveal the duck boat didn't have an axle repaired. a driver nearly burned down a gas station trying to kill a spider. >> do you know gas goes can kaboom? all that and the huge win for the denver broncos. something going on in the dugout. >> it's getting ugly, folks. no other way to put it. and the first time we have seen the super moon eclipse in more than 30 years and it won't happen again until 2023. >> this is life a lifetime experience that you can't really see that much. >> on "cbs this morning." after pope francis addressed congress, bob brady took his water glass. >> i don't mean to be disrespectful, but that's not holy water. that's the backwash from an older argentinian man. next speaker and get him to leave because then, you know, they just will lose all legitimacy. i'm not sure. >> who are the conservatives? >> well, there's a group of 30 to 40 of them. they are called the hell-no caucus by boehner and his folks. these people believe they were sent to washington to do something and not just kick the can down the road. >> all right. john, thanks, we'll be watching. all right. threatening moments on the campaign trail for republican presidential candidate carlie fiorina. fee triorina was on stage when cur ttains behind her fell. she was shielded and she continued with her speech. president obama is just minutes away from speaking to the united nations acceptable assembly. the meeting comes as russia expands its military presence in syria. margaret brennan is at the u.n. gave their weapons to the battlefront in exchange for protection. despite chaos in syria, the president has not changed the u.s. strategy to fight isis militarily while pushing assad to negotiate his own exit from power. but even that position has softened with the u.s. and its allie now saying assad can stay in power for at least the short-term. >> thank you, margaret. president putin will address the united nations general assembly for the first time in more than a decade. we talked to putin on "60 minutes" and he gave us insight on the latest in syria. are you prepared to put russian troops on the ground in syria if it's necessary to defeat isis? >> translator: russia will not participate in any troop operations in the territory of syria or in any other states, well. announcer: this portion of "cbs this morning" sponsored by nationwide. nasa a ready to make a big announcement today about mars, but about what? ahead, we will show you whether they solve one of the red brandon thinks best foods is heaven in a jar. that's because our ingredients come from... farmers committed to responsibly sourced oils... blended with ingredients like cage-free eggs. mmm. heaven. real ingredients. that's how we're working to bring out the best. to lose the first 10 pounds on weight watchers? how does it feel let's go! ♪ join for free at weightwatchers.com and lose ten pounds on us when you sign up before october 26th. is youyou may be muddling through allergies.lode? try zyrtec®-d to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms. so, you can breathe easier all day. zyrtec®-d. at the pharmacy counter. have earned the usp mark... supplements an independent certification for quality and purity? 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january and police say he assaulted a woman outside a fraternity house on the stanford campus. next half hour coming up on "cbs this morning," pumpkin flavored products are back in a big way. how they're becoming an annual how they're becoming an annual obsession here in the u.s. ♪ ♪ my name is jamir dixon and i'm a locafor pg&e.rk fieldman most people in the community recognize the blue trucks as pg&e. my truck is something new... it's an 811 truck. when you call 811, i come out to your house and i mark out our gas lines and our electric lines to make sure that you don't hit them when you're digging. 811 is a free service. i'm passionate about it because every time i go on the street i think about my own kids. they're the reason that i want to protect our community and our environment, and if me driving a that truck means that somebody gets to go home safer, then i'll drive it every day of the week. together, we're building a better california. welcome back, i'm gianna franco in the kcbs traffic. big delays continue at the bay bridge, metering lights are on and a couple of accidents on the east shore freeway this morning. looks like delays up towards of the hour now and your approaches are slow as well. still clearing an accident north 101 at trimble and san jose. busy anyway northbound from 680. roberta. such beautiful alto stratus clouds over the sky in san jose this morning. take a peek right there and look at the temperatures right there. currently in the 50s and 60s heading out the door and meanwhile later today, numbers stacking up from the 60s at the beaches through the bay into the 870s. it will be 79 degrees in napa and # 7 degrees tri-valley. ♪ something going on in the dugout. >> things go from bad to worse for the washington nationals. look at this. they are already out of the playoffs and two of the team stars literally were at each other's throats on sunday. pitcher jonathan papuelbon criticized bryce harper for not running out a flyball and in the dugout, papelbon grabbed harper and shoved him against the wall. papelbon also took the loss in sunday's game against the phillies. >> the good news is they said they talked about it after. they are friends again. and it's sort of like brothers fighting is what they compared it to. >> not good sportsmanship behavior for your children to see. men in uniform behaving badly. >> call them out. i like it. >> what? genetic. a woman skipped chomt becauemot because of a low test score. the "los angeles times" reports on how credit cards with ships is the new standard this week. new piece of plastic from banks and other card issuers contain a tiny metallic chip to prevent fraud. a business or card issuerer without the technology can be liable for the costs of counterfeiting. >> i was in europe over the weekend and that is all they do. you just insert it for the chip. >> i got mine replacement in the mail. bloomberg reports on german prostitut investigators. they will exam the carmaker that volkswagen cheated on emissions test in some of its diesel cars. feel like this. look like this. feel like this. with dreamwalk insoles, turn shoes that can be a pain into comfortable ones. their soft cushioning support means you can look like this. and feel like this. dreamwalk. listerine® total care strengthens teeth, after brushing, helps prevent cavities and restores tooth enamel. it's an easy way to give listerine® total care to the total family. listerine® total care. one bottle, six benefits. power to your mouth™. oh, she looks upset. should i say something? 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"wall street journal" off a new national campaign that is more personal and yet more global than anything she has done before. hf her husband's second run for the white house in 2012, she started writing a memoir about her fight against multiple sclerosis. she was first diagnosed in 1998. >> for the first time she talks about the disease that took her from fear to determination to hope. i was very sick she writes and getting progressively worse. my mind went to a lonely, dark very scary place. like i was on a conveyor belt being carried. her new book "in this together." ann romney, welcome back to "cbs this morning." i like how you titled this book together. there are 50 million people who are battling neurological diseases. >> it's amazing to me. astonishing really. beyond that it's also a story about life and life can throw -- none of us will escape life without sorrow and hardship and pain and it's for all of those that have suffered to know that this is something that we all journey through. we have a bag of rocks over the back of our shoulder and it's how do we deal with what life throws us. >> what is interesting, it is your journey from vulnerable to a person other people can lean on, your story gives them strength. >> i want this to be a message of hope. to say to people, it's a very honest book, to say i was in a very bad place and very scary and vulnerable place and now i'm strong so lean on me. i am here with a message of hope. this new research center that we are opening is going to have extraordinary breakthroughs in neurosentenc neurosciences. surgery. but doctor o offered a free consultation. >> i hope you are not offended by my language. >> reporter: thankfully there is not enough time in this broadcast to tell you everything he suggested. >> you see how the deep wrinkles here? and here? we can do anything! >> but we think you could have a field day with me! >> seth, you'll be pleased know that charlie is like we need to see the after picture. we were very intrigued with the prosecu before and after. cloudy skies over the mount diablo area. looking out from dublin at this hour and that's pretty much going to be the case today with those clouds lingering. we will see partial coastal clearing right now we have temperatures into the 50s and accept for napa it dropped to 49 degrees. it's in the upper 50s in oakland and low 60s in mountain view. later today, numbers shaping up like this. from the mid 60s at the beaches to 60s and 70s pretty common across the bay today which is spot on and seasonal. 87 degrees in livermore. that's down from 92 yesterday. low 80s in santa rosa. here's your extended forecast and mostly cloudy on tuesday. and slightly cooler. additional cooling takes place on wednesday and thursday with a jump in the temperatures on friday. only to cool back down again to seasonal readings over the weekend. a look at traffic with gianna up next. good morning, from the traffic center, san mateo bridge, our third accident of the morning. westbound just before the toll plaza same spot. looks like we have a multi- vehicle accident just reported causing a big backup. you're slow and go off 880 headed towards the bridge. 88 # itself as well is sluggish and it's 22 minutes now to work your way between hayward and foster city. northbound 880 into oakland you're going see some delays there. and that accident clearing southbound 101 near 37th. st pem recognize the blue trucks as pg&e. my truck is something new... it's an 811 truck. when you call 811, i come out to your house and i mark out our gas lines and our electric lines to make sure that you don't 811 is a free service. i'm passionate about it because every time i go on the street i think about my own kids. they're the reason that i want to protect our community and our environment, and if me driving a that truck means that somebody gets to go home safer, then i'll drive it every day of the week. wayne: yes, whoo! - money! wayne: hey! jonathan: it's a trip to iceland! (screaming) wayne: you've got the big deal of the day! - let's make a deal! jonathan: it's time for "let's make a deal!" now here's tv's big dealer, wayne brady! wayne: hey, america. welcome to "let's make a deal." i'm wayne brady. thanks for tuning in. who wants to make a deal? (cheers and applause) who wants to make a deal? let's see. i think you're a bride or a cheerleader. come with me. come on, lady. hey, nicole. - hello. wayne: so what are you, a cheerleader, bride, fairy? - dancer fairy. whoo! wayne: hmmmm.

2019-04-22T02:41:28Z

http://archive.org/details/KPIX_20150928_140000_CBS_This_Morning/start/26/end/86?q=trump

It’s 2005. I’m in my thirties. I’m in the shower. I’m in pain. I’m sobbing. I’ve tried MS drug after MS drug. None have stopped, or even slowed, the progress of my MS. The disease has conned my immune system into attacking my central nervous system. Each relapse creates new symptoms. Some symptoms, like vision loss, have proven to be transient, but some symptoms, like the numbness and tingling in my feet, have proven to be permanent. For years, I’d held out hope for a knight in shining armor to save me from disease progression—in the form of a trial drug called Tysabri. My neurologist at Yale New Haven Hospital had enthralled me with stories of MS patients in his Tysabri trial actually experiencing disease reversal. Naturally, I’d asked him to sign me up. Just my luck—I was thrown in the placebo group. My MS got no better. After the Tysabri trial, I was assigned yet another ineffectual MS medication. My MS attacks continued. My Kentucky neurologist informed me “a black hole” had formed in my brain. By the time Tysabri finally got approved by the FDA, I not only felt I needed this drug: I felt I deserved it. I got one infusion of Tysabri. And then came the bad news. Some patients on Tysabri had developed PML, a potentially fatal brain inflammation. Tysabri had been taken off the market. I wasn’t sobbing in the shower because I was afraid of PML. I was sobbing in the shower because Tysabri had been taken off the market. I had lost my chance to get better through Tysabri, or to die trying. That’s right: I was feeling so desperate that it seemed a perfectly reasonable option to die of PML and suffer no longer from multiple sclerosis. If this were a love story, Tysabri would be The One That Got Away. I did what anyone does these days when The One gets away; I toweled off and got online to find a new target for my hopes and dreams. And just like that, the drama took an upbeat turn. The researcher I discovered online actually did put me on a drug that would stop my MS exacerbations, and dramatically slow my progression. When I joined the daclizumab trial, I didn’t have to lose any time in the placebo group. Eventually, this drug, too, got approved for the market. But eventually this drug, too, got pulled from the market, after being connected (perhaps rashly) to some deaths from inflammatory brain disease. This time around, there has been no weepy shower scene. There are more fish in the (metaphorical) sea these days than there were in 2005. I have options. One of those options has turned out to be Tysabri: The One That Got Away. Tysabri has been back on the market for a while, ever since a blood test was developed to gauge a person’s susceptibility to developing PML. When I last met with my neurologist, he suggested I take this blood test. If the results looked good, I would have the option to give Tysabri a second chance. I took the blood test. Usually, the results take a day or two. My results took over a week. I’m one of those people who is susceptible to PML. And I don’t mean that in an ironic self-pitying kind of way. I mean it straight up. For a person struck with a horrible disease, I’ve gotten a lot of fantastic breaks, even when events looked bleak at the time. Especially when events looked bleak. Let’s look again at that pivotal shower scene. If I’d known I had narrowly escaped PML, I may not have been crying in the shower. I may not have been as motivated to do the Google search that led me to Bibi Bielekova’s innovative research with daclizumab. I may not have benefitted from twelve years on one of the most effective MS drugs yet discovered. In a few hours, I meet with my local neurologist, Dr. Z. He’s been at a great big MS conference in LA, hearing all the latest innovations in the field. Together, we will try to pick the best option for me. Dr. Z’s phone call got me out of bed yesterday morning. My local neurologist apologized for disturbing me at an early hour—but he knew he wouldn’t have any time to spare once he started his rounds for the day. I’d chosen Ocrevus at our appointment a few days before. I’ve been spoiled—I’d been on Zinbryta, one of the most effective drugs for multiple sclerosis out there, until it was pulled from the market. I didn’t want to downgrade. Ocrevus has an associated cancer risk; I’d asked Dr. Z if I could still consider it, even with the recent revelation of my elevated risk of breast cancer. Dr. Z had said the risk didn’t look too bad, nothing to inspire a black box warning; the numbers were more in the neighborhood of correlation than that of causation. I’d left the appointment with greater clarity than I’d had walking in. Apparently, Dr. Z. left with a nagging feeling of uncertainty. And so he called the drug company (as only a conscientious doctor would do.) The company deferred answering his question, advising him to wait for their big product announcement in May. I am scheduled to get my first infusion in mid-April. Dr. Z thinks it would be reckless to start me on the drug without gathering all the information the company has collected about the drug through its first year on the market. He also thinks it would be reckless for me to wait additional weeks to get treatment. My last dose of Zinbryta was in mid-February. And my MS has proven to be fairly savage if left untouched by anything less powerful than a monoclonal antibody. He didn’t want me vulnerable to an MS relapse. He is a little too fond of telling me that I don’t have much brain left to lose. Dr. Z suggested I try Tysabri next. Tysabri has been found to be fairly effective, though it comes with an elevated risk of PML, a potentially fatal brain infection. There is a blood test I can take to see if I’d be susceptible to PML. I don’t know which risk I will take if the blood test is positive. I risk a relapse if I hold out for Ocrevus and wait too long. I risk a relapse and potentially harmful side effects if I choose the wrong medication. And yet, I am cautiously optimistic. His phone call confirmed I’ve made one good choice already: I’ve chosen a neurologist with integrity. I also have a great resource in my neurologists at the NIH, who throughly answer my questions every time I find myself at a crossroads in this perilous landscape of multiple sclerosis. These researchers are working to make decisions like mine less agonizing. That’s a worthwhile cause, indeed. I met with my surgeon yesterday. She inspected the pretty scar she’d left me, and we agreed that it was healing very nicely. She told me those suspicious looking cells she’d extracted had turned out negative for carcinoma. I mistook this for good news. No cancer. No worries. Right? Wrong. The surgeon asked me if I wanted to know the results of my Tyrer-Cuzick Breast Cancer Risk Evaluation, then ducked out of the examining room before I had the chance to answer. She returned with a four page document that concluded with results she and I read very differently. She’s the surgeon. She’s got the medical degree. I’m the patient. I’ve got the MFA. I’ve never been good at math. Maybe I’m a glass-is-half full person, but even if I wasn’t: the ten year prognosis glass is 89% full. That’s pretty darn full. The surgeon immediately offered me a medication I could take to fill that glass to 100%—a medication, she swiftly added, that could only be taken for five years. I didn’t roll my eyes. For while I did think her suggestion was crazy, I understood she was coming from a crazy place, witnessing women being brave because they have to be, as they fight for their lives, and all-too-often lose. I took it as a kindness, really, that she didn’t want me to join their ranks. I don’t think she’s an opportunist, trying to make money from some ounces of my flesh. I went along and booked my appointment for another mammogram in six months. And then I went about my life. I took my “Freedom from Falls” class in the morning. I ran the writer’s workshop at the Senior Living Center in the afternoon. I told the writers my odds. These writers are in their seventies, eighties and nineties. They’ve seen a lot of life. They’ve seen a lot of death. They all agreed with me: those odds looked pretty darn good. I drove home. I did not update my neurologist. I did not update the NIH. I did not update my blog. I wanted one day of those numbers looking pretty darn good. What would my surgeon’s Tyrer-Cuzick Tool have to say about Ocrevus? What will my neurologist have to say? After many years of dosing myself with Zinbryta on the 15th of the month, yesterday marked Day One of my negotiating multiple sclerosis without the aid of a monoclonal antibody. My disease has toned down quite a bit since I started taking the drug. Has my MS been mellowing with age—or with medication? That’s been the seven thousand dollar a month question: What is me—and what is the drug? In a parallel but hopefully irrelevant experiment, my visits to the breast cancer folks inspired me to ditch my deodorant. It took a day to learn that without deodorant, I stink. It was easy enough to replace the brand I’ve depended on for decades with an equally effective brand that is untainted by propylene glycol and aluminum, ingredients that are potentially carcinogenic yet remain as blandly ubiquitous as the pink ribbons protesting the persistence of breast cancer. The nurse at my neurologist’s office warned me it might take up to six weeks for my insurance company to approve a new MS medication. I chose to see the potential benefit of the delay—I have been noticing that my wounds tend to heal a lot slower on Zinbryta. Perhaps I’ve been lucky to have a mass removed from my breast just as my immune system is getting weaned off an MS drug. And yet I could not ignore the risk a six-week interval poses: the stakes are a lot higher going off an MS medication than going off a deodorant. MS is opportunistic, and tends to spring into action whenever the body is vulnerable. Perhaps undergoing surgery was the worst thing to do while getting weaned off an MS drug. The day after my surgery, I got a call from a nurse from my insurance company. I usually regard such nurses as corporate spies. I have no dearth of interactions with health care professionals, or with human beings in general, so such calls do not fulfill an unmet medical or emotional need. But this time around, I did have a need. I decided to play nice. I discovered this nurse was actually more informed than most of the nurses the insurance companies had sent my way. When I found myself searching for the term, “monoclonal antibody,” she supplied it for me, and tactfully assured me I had nothing to worry about when I complained that my facility with language felt somewhat impaired after the general anesthesia. When I told her about the anticipated delay in getting my new medication approved, she promised she’d see what she could do to expedite things. She was as good as her word. Two hours later, I got a call from my neurologist’s office. The new drug, Ocrevus, had been approved. On March 16, Day One of my life beyond Zinbryta, I received two letters from my insurance company. The first letter denied coverage for Ocrevus. It’s funny how seeing a letter on stationary can feel more convincing than on one’s own memory. I was tempted to check my calendar, just to confirm that I did indeed have an upcoming appointment for an Ocrevus infusion. Instead I opened the second letter. The second letter was dated on March13th, the day of my conversation with the insurance nurse. It was a notification of approval. I’m so glad I took her call.

2019-04-26T12:40:45Z

https://mslabrat.com/category/ocrevus/

One More Week Until Christmas! We all have keys. Kids, adults and everywhere in between. And there is a keychain out there for every interest. I love candles, especially well-scented candles (candles that don’t make you gag, but have a nice scent). Candles can make a nice gift on their own, or as part of a self-care package with some bubble bath and nice lotion. All of these little candles have the added bonus of being small enough to fit in a Twelve Days of Christmas Gift Box! Here at Twelve Days we are hoping to share our family tradition with the world. Another time for traditions is Christmas Eve – the night before Christmas. There is no shortage of children’s books illustrating the beloved story The Night Before Christmas or any other Christmas story. Below I have found a couple of fun pieces that could become part of any family’s Christmas Eve tradition for years to come. Night Before Christmas Tea Towel - for when you are baking Santa's cookies, perhaps? For a lot of people, s’mores around a fire outdoors is a camping memory. But s’mores do not have to be limited to the wilderness. Anyone can make s’mores at home – in the microwave, as I have been known to do, or in the backyard. I think that an amazing gift for a family of people would be an outdoor fire pit, the ingredients to make s’mores, and if you really want to include the whole shebang – some skewers, wood and matches. I like to pass along the gift of games that I enjoy playing. Cranium is a great game for groups of all ages. I have played it with kids and with groups of all adults, and it never fails to result in a good time. For an adults-only gift, Cards Against Humanity is a hilarious game that is great for parties. You can buy the card game for someone online as a gift, or you can print the cards out from the website for free and cut out the cards. This game is similar to Apples to Apples which is another great game that can be educational for kids, and just down right funny for adults to play together. Apples to Apples also has an adult version, but I have never played it. Three More Weeks Until Christmas! Techies young and old will enjoy these fun tech toys. I don’t know anyone who has any of these fun toys, and at all around $20.00, you don’t have to break the bank to bring a little fun to someone this Christmas. Make your paper airplanes propeller powered! 22 Days Until Christmas - Stay Fully Charged. Smartphones are everywhere, and whether its appropriate or not, people are on them all the time. There are so many great apps and accessories for smartphones – but the more you use them, the faster the batteries die! So if you know someone who loves their smartphone, you might want to get them one of these small phone chargers, so they can charge on the go! 23 Days Until Christmas - A Festival of Lights - Flashlights that is! My soon to be father-in-law LOVES flashlights. He is addicted to head-lamps and flashlight alike. I have found that the more flashlights around the house, the better. One under the kitchen sink. One by the front door, one in each car. So here are some solid flashlight options. 29 Days Until Christmas - put all those corks to good use! I am pretty sure I am not the only wine drinker/crafter out there who can’t stand to throw away wine corks thinking “I will use these for something.” Earlier this year, I actually did use a bunch of saved wine corks to make a corkboard. But I still have more corks, and seem to be drinking the wine faster than I can craft with them. Even if you don’t save every cork, most people will set aside the corks from special bottles of wine as a keepsake. Well, why not put them to use? Here are a couple great sets where you can take corks you already have, and turn them into a trivet for hot pots! 30 Days Until Christmas - charming wine charms. If you entertain a lot, or just have a couple people over for dinner regularly, wine charms are a must have to keep people from snagging other people’s glasses. Wine charms are certainly not a new idea, but I found a couple cute sets that I think would be a crowd pleaser at any get-together and would make a great gift for a wine lover and/or someone who likes to entertain. A cute idea for gift giving would be to pair a set of wine charms with a nice bottle of wine, or even some nice wine glasses. Don’t forget that these little charms would easily fit in a Twelve Days of Christmas Gift Box! 34 Days Until Christmas - cuter cleaning! In an effort to be better to mother-earth and use fewer disposable things, like paper towels, I have been using my kitchen towels a lot more frequently lately, and I feel like I am always running out of clean ones. A lot of mine are rather dingy looking, so I would love to have the older ones to do the work (like mopping up dog-drool and spilled sauce) and have some nice pretty ones to hang on the oven door. Etsy has tea towels in every color of the rainbow and every imaginable pattern, Target has some cute ones out now, and Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table always have a good selection too. I know Williams Sonoma sells aprons, hot-pads and towels in matching patterns, so you could always put together a little kitchen-gift set with matching, or complementary goodies. 38 Days Until Christmas - measuring up. Williams Sonoma is carrying a new line of “Bistro Francais” styled kitchen tools, and the measuring cups, measuring spoons and set of prep bowls caught my eye. All of these tools are made of earthenware, but are microwave and dishwasher safe. I know I have metal measuring spoons and measuring cups – but I think these would be great for a high-use kitchen because a lot of the handles on my metal measuring cups are bent from use – and I don’t think that would happen with these. They look sturdy and are easy on the eyes too! I think all three would make a nice set. If you look on the Williams Sonoma website, there are a few other pieces that match, as well as a dinnerware set with the matching blue stripe. For the guy (or gal) who likes to drink a beer while he watches his sports, a personalized mug with his favorite sports team and his name (or a set of mugs) would be a great, personal gift. Both West Elm and Pottery Barn have mugs that can be personalized with just a name or initials. A monogrammed pitcher and set of glasses would also be a great gift for a guy who likes to host poker or game nights. 6! Count-em: 6 weeks until Christmas! You could pair a wall mounted bottle opener with a selection of nice bottled beers and sodas, or even have it accompany a subscription to a beer-of-the-month-club! Some people, like my mom, have a certain perfume or cologne that they have used for ever, and will never change. My mom has hers, and my Grampa was definitely an Old Spice man. But not everyone is like that. Some people like to experiment, or like certain types of scents. These little gift-sets would make a great gift for someone who likes to try new things, or is undecided in the scent department. A solid perfume is also a nice gift for ladies – much easier to carry in a purse than liquid perfume! Another plus is that these smaller-sized bottles will fit in Twelve Days of Christmas Gift Boxes – to make the Twelve Days of Christmas smell great! You can shop for a wallet at any department store or men’s boutique, but Etsy also has tons of cute wallets and some very well-crafted leather wallets. A way to make the gift of a wallet a little more fun or personal is to put some gift-cards or cash in it! This week's gift theme: Gifts for him. For the next seven days I will post ideas for gifts that should please the man or men in your life. In a stroke of what I thought was genius, I decided to get Jonathon a Wii for Christmas a couple years ago. He ended up exchanging the Wii for a Play Station 3, and that PS3 has turned in to a glorified Netflix-watching machine. If only I had known that the video-game loving kid in him had grown up, I would have just gotten him an Apple TV or a Roku Box. You could also pair one of these tv-boxes with a subscription to Netflix or Hulu Plus. Both systems sync with both Netflix and Hulu Plus. 49 Days Until Christmas - take a look! I think most homes probably have a cupboard full of vases from flower deliveries somewhere – you know the kind: plain glass, usually pretty large and really not interesting to look at. So if you know someone who loves flowers, why not give the gift of a vase that is also an interesting piece of art – something that would look good with or without flowers in it? For the gardener in your life, it would be cute to include some flower seeds with the vase so once spring comes the recipient can grow their own flowers for the vase! Seeds or seed-bombs will fit in a Twelve Days of Christmas Gift Box too! If you are feeling crafty, you could emblazon them with some kind of award, like “Best Gardener” or “Best Mom.” I think they are also really nice just as they are. They would look great with flowers in them, or branches, or just on their own on a mantle or shelf. This week's gift theme: Gift ideas for her. Over the next week I will be presenting to you seven gift ideas for the grandmother, mother, wife, girlfriend, teenage girl or other female (or person with more feminine tastes) on your Christmas list. Makes a good gift for: Mom, Grandma, or even a teenager. A nice candle also makes a good backup gift or hostess gift. There is probably someone out there who does not like candles, but I have not met that person yet. When the days are short and its cold outside, what is nicer than lighting a few candles while you share a meal or even watch a movie? From big to small, there are candles and candle-holders for every budget and taste. Whether the recipient is old enough to read or not, books can make a great gift for anyone - as long as you get the right person the right gift. I usually get someone a book that I have already read and think they will like, or a book by an author I know they like. So, without further ado, here are a couple novels I read and enjoyed this year that I think other readers would like. I have provided links to these books on Amazon.com, but they should be readily available in your local bookstore (assuming Amazon.com has not killed your local bookstore). Going to a local bookstore (or Target or the like) is a great place to browse through some books - especially children's' books. This fictional story tells the story of The Tiger's Wife - I think it will appeal to men, women and teens alike. This fictional story is told from the perspective of one orphaned twin brother who was raised in and around an Ethiopian hospital. A traveler or medical buff would enjoy this story, or just someone who likes a good story with a bit of mystery. It's A Wonderful Life was based on this wonderful Christmas novella. What a great book to buy for a child, young adult or a family. You could do one mug for one person, a pair of mugs for a couple, or a whole family’s worth of initial mugs! You could pair the mug or mugs with some hot cocoa,nice coffee or tea. Makes a good gift for: Anyone who can write! You could even have some custom postage stamps made by zazzle, and those stamps would easily fit in a Twelve Days of Christmas Gift Box!

2019-04-22T10:03:13Z

https://www.twelvedays.com/blogs/news/tagged/gifts-for-under-20

Despite mounting research which underscores that having diabetes raises the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease by 40 to 70%, the major role of diabetes in Alzheimer’s and dementia has received little public attention.1,2 That role is so strong, however, that it is clear that feasible, evidence-based diabetes prevention is a singularly possible and potent path to slowing the Alzheimer’s explosion. The impact of this prevention—focused on the Type 2 diabetes which generally doesn’t appear until adulthood and which accounts for 90-95% of diabetes cases in adults age 18 and older— would be especially beneficial for the low-income communities and populations where diabetes is concentrated. In New York, diabetes disproportionately strikes black and Hispanic people, and those with low-income and/or who haven’t completed high school. Selected other populations also have a high risk for diabetes; for example, people with HIV/AIDS have double the “normal” risk. New York City already has 700,000 diagnosed diabetics and the state overall has 2 million! The “pool” of pre-diabetics is now so large in both the state and the city—a projected 1.3 million pre-diabetics in New York City and 5.4 million for the state overall—that modest prevention has truly major results.4 Between 5 and 10% of pre-diabetics a year can be expected to convert to diabetes.5 A 5% annual reduction in new diabetes cases by prevention, however, would mean a 25% reduction over 5 years—–or 325,000 cases of diabetes prevented in New York City and 1.35 million cases prevented in New York State as a whole. In turn, over time, slashing these large new cohorts of patients whose diabetes at a minimum gives them at a 40% increased risk for Alzheimer’s could prevent a projected 77,350 cases of Alzheimer’s in New York City and 243,000Alzheimer’s cases in New York State as a whole! The interlocking risks of the diabetes and Alzheimer’s epidemics are very well known in public health and medicine—so much so that medical commentators increasingly suggest that the majority of Alzheimer’s disease could be called Diabetes Type 3.7 Still, no coherent public action of a scale and urgency that addresses the known possibilities of prevention has followed. Background: The lack of coherent diabetes prevention in New York State and New York City has not only accompanied staggering increases in diabetes—from 7.5% of adults in New York City in 2002 to 11.3% in 2015 and from 7.1% of adults overall in New York State in 2002 to 10% in 2015 —but fuels an increasing Alzheimer’s epidemic.8,9 Overall in the city, 17% of residents 65 and older already have Alzheimer’s and in the state 13% do. With Alzheimer’s risks being highest for low-income people, minorities—and doubled for those who haven’t graduated from high school— added risks, like those for diabetes, have brought the Alzheimer’s rate in many counties to overwhelming levels.10 Bronx County, for example now has a 19.1 % Alzheimer’s rate among those 65 and older; and Brooklyn has an 18.7% rate. Upstate, high rates can be seen in both low-income urban and rural counties. For example, Albany County has a 13.6 Alzheimer’s rate and Seneca County has a 12% Alzheimer’s rate. Given the proven effectiveness of basic strategies like education, exercise, and incremental changes in diet in preventing diabetes, the assumption that both New York State and City could readily prevent 5% of new annual diabetes cases is both modest and minimal. Throughout this report, the term “minimal prevention” refers to preventing 5% of new diabetes cases a year over five years thereby, in five years, preventing 25% of the conversions from pre-diabetes to diabetes which now occur. Without that prevention, already alarming Alzheimer’s rates can be expected to especially increase for those with diabetes as they age. As noted, multiple studies have documented at 40 to 70%, or higher, risk for Alzheimer’s associated with diabetes. We use the more conservative 40% increase. The most recent meta-analysis, with 14 major studies, found diabetics had a 40% increased risk for Alzheimer’s and 60% increased risk for dementia overall. Conversion to Diabetes: Various studies place the conversion (progression) rate from pre-diabetes to outright Type 2 diabetes at 5% to 10% a year. For this report, we use the more conservative assumption of a 5% annual conversion to diabetes for pre-diabetics—or a 25% conversion in 5 years. New York City estimates that it has 1.3 million pre-diabetics; a 25% increase (based on a 5% annual conversion rate for 5 years) would mean 325,000 new diabetics. In New York State, with overall estimated 5.4 million pre-diabetics; a minimal a 25% increase over five years would result in 1.35 million new diabetics statewide. *Data may not reflect 100% due to rounding. Estimated pre-diabetics by borough determined based on each borough’s portion of the city’s population and assigning the borough that portion of the city’s 1.3 million pre-diabetics.14 Pre-diabetics in upstate counties determined based on each county’s portion of the New York State population and assigning the county that portion of the state’s estimated 5.4 million pre-diabetics. Chart 3 presents the projected Alzheimer’s cases that will occur in the five boroughs and selected upstate counties SOLELY from the failure to prevent a minimum of 5% new diabetes cases a year over five years. While most of Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed in middle-age, Alzheimer’s rates are conventionally expressed as the rate for those 65 and older since most Alzheimer’s is diagnosed in later life. **Note: Alzheimer’s rates are from 2012, the most recent CDC study available; however, all population numbers are based on 2015 Census estimates. Alzheimer’s Increase Associated with Diabetes Increase: Alzheimer’s rates by county are from a CDC study based on Medicare billing in counties throughout the United States in 2012; these rates were multiplied by the county’s population age 65 and older to obtain number of current Alzheimer’s cases.10 Reflecting the increased Alzheimer’s risk associated with diabetes, current county Alzheimer’s rates were increased by 40% to then project the estimated increase in Alzheimer’s cases as the new diabetes cases reach age 65 and older. These “extra risk” cases in each locality estimates the number of people at risk to develop Alzheimer’s solely because effective minimal prevention does not occur for pre-diabetics. The situation with diabetes in the United States—a relentless increase and an abandonment of focused, evidence-based public health response to fight that increase is almost beyond comment. Diabetes Prevention: At the same time, the now massive research into exercise and diet have confirmed many strategies for diabetes prevention. As stated, the best proven is the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP), a 22 session group “lifestyle change” course, which has the goal of helping participants reduce their body weight by 5 to 7% (10 to14 pounds for a 200 pound person) and start to exercise, even walk, 30 minutes a day 5 days a week. For pre-diabetics, the NDPP reliably produces an average 59% reduction in diabetes risk. Not incidentally, that is twice the reduction obtained by prescribing standard medication to regulate insulin, so not only does the Lifestyle Course obtain better results than medication, but avoids launching pre-diabetics on potential years of medication. While, of course, not everyone will join a 22-session course, it is absolutely clear the NDPP should be available for anyone who wishes to participate. While the Centers for Disease Control makes the course available for download for free for any group who wishes to implement it, few groups or clinical centers can currently obtain funding to provide the required CDC training for the course facilitators (known as Lifestyle Coaches) and other unavoidable implementation costs. Both New York City and New York State, amazingly, refuse to spend one penny on the NDPP; the New York State Department of Health could request a federal waiver to have the NDPP included in its Medicaid services, but has for years refused to do even that. Alzheimer’s Prevention: Although the research on Alzheimer’s prevention is not as extensive or precise as that for diabetes prevention, certainly diabetes is now defined as a major, preventable risk for Alzheimer’s. Like diabetes, Alzheimer’s shows severe disparities in incidence. Minorities and low-income populations have significantly higher Alzheimer’s rates; those without high school degrees have at least a doubled Alzheimer’s risk across racial groups. That so much ill-health—and community-wide misery in the neighborhoods where diabetes concentrates—could be prevented, and is not, is the saddest aspect of public health in the United States today. Diabetes is also a major cause of heart disease, dialysis (45% of cases), amputation, increasing maternal morbidity and death, and depression. Nineteen percent of adults with diabetes age 18 and older already have vision impairment. That this failure of public health and medical priority has occurred in New York is even more striking. From tobacco cessation to AIDS, New York State and New York City have traditionally been leaders in preventive success. Yet, both have watched the diabetes epidemic sicken community after community, getting worse and worse for 20 years without any effective action. It seems the public health and medical establishment of the city and state can’t see the modest, ordinary people so disproportionately injured by diabetes. And it’s quite clear that the slow, patient, but effective work of educating these men and women to improve their own health doesn’t interest the health powers at all. Chatterjee S, Peters SA, Woodward M, et al. Type 2 Diabetes as a Risk Factor for Dementia in Women Compared With Men: A Pooled Analysis of 2.3 Million People Comprising More Than 100,000 Cases of Dementia.Diabetes Care. 2016;39(2):300-307. doi:10.2337/dc15-1588. Inacio PDP. Alzheimer’s Risk Higher Among Middle-Age Diabetics, Smokers and Those with High Blood Pressure. Alzheimer’s News Today. https://alzheimersnewstoday.com/2017/03/02/heart-risks-in-middle-age-boost-dementia-risk-later-in-life/. Published March 2, 2017. Choose More than 50 Ways to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes | NIDDK. National Institutes of Health. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/preventing-type-2-diabetes/50-ways. New York, New York. American Diabetes Association. http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/local-offices/new-york-new-york/. Tabák AG, Herder C, Rathmann W, Brunner EJ, Kivimäki M. Prediabetes: A high-risk state for developing diabetes. Lancet. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3891203. Published June 16, 2012. 2015 Annual Report – New York. America’s Health Rankings. http://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/2015-annual-report/measure/Diabetes/state/NY. Monte SMDL, Wands JR. Alzheimer’s Disease is Type 3 Diabetes—Evidence Reviewed.Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. 2008;2(6):1101-1113. doi:10.1177/193229680800200619. S. Diabetes Surveillance System. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/diabetes/DiabetesAtlas.html. CHSI – Profile. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://wwwn.cdc.gov/CommunityHealth/profile/currentprofile/NY/Bronx/. National Diabetes Prevention Program. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention/index.html. Published January 14, 2016. Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Reduction in the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes with Lifestyle Intervention or Metformin.New England Journal of Medicine. 2002;346(6):393-403. doi:10.1056/nejmoa012512. Diabetes in New York State October 2015. Office of the State Comptroller. https://www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/health/diabetes_2015.pdf. Population estimates, July 1, 2016, (V2016). New York QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045216/36. Published 2016. 2016 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. Alzheimer’s Association; 2016. https://www.alz.org/documents_custom/2016-facts-and-figures.pdf. O’Connor A. In the Shopping Cart of a Food Stamp Household: Lots of Soda.The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/well/eat/food-stamp-snap-soda.html?_r=0. Published January 13, 2017. Satizabal CL, Beiser AS, Chouraki V, Chêne G, Dufouil C, Seshadri S. Incidence of Dementia over Three Decades in the Framingham Heart Study.New England Journal of Medicine. 2016;374(6):523-532. doi:10.1056/nejmoa1504327. “Overweight/obese people with diabetes at increased risk of brain abnormalities.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 April 2017. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170427182533.htm.

2019-04-23T12:05:39Z

https://www.healthpeople.org/unprevented-diabetes-means-unnecessary-alzheimers/

Ransomware is the fastest growing malware threat, targeting users of all types —from the home user to the corporate network. On an average, more than 4,000 ransomware attacks have occurred daily since January 1, 2016. This is a 300 -percent increase over the approximately 1,000 attacks per day seen in 2015. There are very effective prevention and response actions that can significantly mitigate the risk posed to your organization. Ransomware targets home users, businesses, and government networks and can lead to temporary or permanent loss of sensitive or proprietary information, disruption to regular operations, financial losses incurred to restore systems and files, and potential harm to an organization’s reputation. Ransomware may direct a user to click on a link to pay a ransom; however, the link may be malicious and could lead to additional malware infections. Our next-generation endpoint and server protection uses several layers of attack prevention, including behavior detection and machine learning, to stop attacks that other vendors simply can’t. It also provides unparalleled threat visibility at a minimum system impact. Ransomware is a form of malware that targets your critical data and systems for the purpose of extortion. Ransomware is frequently delivered through spearphishing emails. After the user has been locked out of the data or system, the cyber actor demands a ransom payment. After receiving payment, the cyber actor will purportedly provide an avenue to the victim to regain access to the system or data. Recent iterations target enterprise end users, making awareness and training a critical preventive measure. Is my Company Vulnerable to Ransomware Attacks? Backups: Do we backup all critical information? Are the backups stored offline? Have we tested our ability to revert to backups during an incident? Risk Analysis: Have we conducted a cybersecurity risk analysis of the organization? Staff Training: Have we trained staff on cybersecurity best practices? Vulnerability Patching: Have we implemented appropriate patching of known system vulnerabilities? Application Whitelisting: Do we allow only approved programs to run on our networks? Incident Response: Do we have an incident response plan and have we exercised it? Business Continuity: Are we able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Have we tested this? Penetration Testing: Have we attempted to hack into our own systems to test the security of our systems and our ability to defend against attacks? Enterprise Ransomware solution: Have we evaluated any solution which acts as an additional layer on top of all preventive steps that we have taken? Which regulations will company comply by using Ransomware enterprise solutions? HIPAA Security Rule requirement 164.308(a)(5)(ii)(B), decreases organizational risk by evaluating malware based on system behavior and reduces malware exposure to organizations. Looking for known threats won’t protect against variants or unknown attacks, but coupling it with additional security layers can pre-emptively stop known threats before they can execute on endpoints. However, instead of relying on a single vendor’s intelligence, make sure your NGEP uses a vast collection of reputation services to proactively block threats and bad sources. Be sure the NGEP vendor uses data from the cloud, indexing files for passive scanning or selective scanning to keep it lightweight, instead of performing resource-intensive system scans. Hackers often use exploits to target code-level vulnerabilities so they can breach systems and execute malware. Drive-by downloads are a common vector for carrying out exploit attacks. NGEP should provide anti-exploit capabilities to protect against both application and memory-based attacks. This approach is much more reliable in detecting unknown attacks since the exploitation techniques themselves are not as easy to change or modify the shellcode, encoder, dropper and payload components used in malware. Detecting threats is necessary, but with detection only, many attacks go unresolved for days, weeks, or months. Automated and timely mitigation must be an integral part of NGEP. Mitigation options should be policy-based and flexible enough to cover a wide range of use cases, such as quarantining a file, killing a specific process, disconnecting the infected machine from the network, or even completely shutting it down. Quick mitigation during inception stages of the attack lifecycle will minimize damage and speed remediation. During execution, malware often creates, modifies, or deletes system file and registry settings and changes configuration settings. These changes, or remnants that are left behind, can cause system malfunction or instability. NGEP must be able to restore an endpoint to its pre-malware, trusted state, while logging what changed and what was successfully remediated. Since no security technology claims to be 100% effective, the ability to provide real-time endpoint forensics and visibility is a must. Clear and timely visibility into malicious activity throughout an organization allows you to quickly assess the scope of an attack and take appropriate responses. This requires a clear, real-time audit trail of what happened on an endpoint during an attack and the ability to search for indicators of compromise. Ransomware protection can be installed on following operating systems. Can HIPAA compliance help covered entities and business associates prevent infections of malware, including ransomware? implementing access controls to limit access to ePHI to only those persons or software programs requiring access. The Security Management Process standard of the Security Rule includes requirements for all covered entities and business associates to conduct an accurate and thorough risk analysis of the potential risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all of the ePHI the entities create, receive, maintain, or transmit and to implement security measures sufficient to reduce those identified risks and vulnerabilities to a reasonable and appropriate level. It is expected that covered entities and business associates will use this process of risk analysis and risk management not only to satisfy the specific standards and implementation specifications of the Security Rule, but also when implementing security measures to reduce the particular risks and vulnerabilities to ePHI throughout an organization’s entire enterprise, identified as a result of an accurate and thorough risk analysis, to a reasonable and appropriate level. For example, although there is a not a Security Rule standard or implementation specification that specifically and expressly requires entities to update the firmware3 of network devices, entities, as part of their risk analysis and risk management process, should, as appropriate, identify and address the risks to ePHI of using networks devices running on obsolete firmware, especially when firmware updates are available to remediate known security vulnerabilities. In general, moreover, the Security Rule simply establishes a floor, or minimum requirements, for the security of ePHI; entities are permitted (and encouraged) to implement additional and/or more stringent security measures above what they determine to be required by Security Rule standards. Can HIPAA compliance help covered entities and business associates recover from infections of malware, including ransomware? Yes. The HIPAA Security Rule requires covered entities and business associates to implement policies and procedures that can assist an entity in responding to and recovering from a ransomware attack. Because ransomware denies access to data, maintaining frequent backups and ensuring the ability to recover data from backups is crucial to recovering from a ransomware attack. Test restorations should be periodically conducted to verify the integrity of backed up data and provide confidence in an organization’s data restoration capabilities. Because some ransomware variants have been known to remove or otherwise disrupt online backups, entities should consider maintaining backups offline and unavailable from their networks. Implementing a data backup plan is a Security Rule requirement for HIPAA covered entities and business associates as part of maintaining an overall contingency plan. Additional activities that must be included as part of an entity’s contingency plan include: disaster recovery planning, emergency operations planning, analyzing the criticality of applications and data to ensure all necessary applications and data are accounted for, and periodic testing of contingency plans to ensure organizational readiness to execute such plans and provide confidence they will be effective. See 45 C.F.R. 164.308(a)(7). During the course of responding to a ransomware attack, an entity may find it necessary to activate its contingency or business continuity plans. Once activated, an entity will be able to continue its business operations while continuing to respond to and recover from a ransomware attack. Maintaining confidence in contingency plans and data recovery is critical for effective incident response, whether the incident is a ransomware attack or fire or natural disaster. conduct post-incident activities, which could include a deeper analysis of the evidence to determine if the entity has any regulatory, contractual or other obligations as a result of the incident (such as providing notification of a breach of protected health information), and incorporating any lessons learned into the overall security management process of the entity to improve incident response effectiveness for future security incidents. How can covered entities or business associates detect if their computer systems are infected with ransomware? intrusion detection or similar solution). If an entity believes that a ransomware attack is underway, either because of indicators similar to those above or other methods of detection, the entity should immediately activate its security incident response plan, which should include measures to isolate the infected computer systems in order to halt propagation of the attack. Additionally, it is recommended that an entity infected with ransomware contact its local FBI or United States Secret Service field office. These agencies work with Federal, state, local and international partners to pursue cyber criminals globally and assist victims of cybercrime. What should covered entities or business associates do if their computer systems are infected with ransomware? HIPAA covered entities and business associates are required to develop and implement security incident procedures and response and reporting processes that they believe are reasonable and appropriate to respond to malware and other security incidents, including ransomware attacks. Entities seeking guidance regarding the implementation of security incident procedures may wish to review NIST SP 800- 61 Rev. 2, Computer Security Incident Handling Guide5 for additional information. determine how the incident occurred (e.g., tools and attack methods used, vulnerabilities exploited). Part of a deeper analysis should involve assessing whether or not there was a breach of PHI as a result of the security incident. The presence of ransomware (or any malware) is a security incident under HIPAA that may also result in an impermissible disclosure of PHI in violation of the Privacy Rule and a breach, depending on the facts and circumstances of the attack. See the definition of disclosure at 45 C.F.R. 160.103 and the definition of breach at 45 C.F.R. 164.402. Is it a HIPAA breach if ransomware infects a covered entity’s or business associate’s computer system? Whether or not the presence of ransomware would be a breach under the HIPAA Rules is a fact-specific determination. A breach under the HIPAA Rules is defined as, “…the acquisition, access, use, or disclosure of PHI in a manner not permitted under the [HIPAA Privacy Rule] which compromises the security or privacy of the PHI.” See 45 C.F.R. 164.402. How can covered entities or business associates demonstrate “…that there is a low probability that the PHI has been compromised” such that breach notification would not be required? A thorough and accurate evaluation of the evidence acquired and analyzed as a result of security incident response activities could help entities with the risk assessment process above by revealing, for example: the exact type and variant of malware discovered; the algorithmic steps undertaken by the malware; communications, including exfiltration attempts between the malware and attackers’ command and control servers; and whether or not the malware propagated to other systems, potentially affecting additional sources of electronic PHI (ePHI). Correctly identifying the malware involved can assist an entity to determine what algorithmic steps the malware is programmed to perform. Understanding what a particular strain of malware is programmed to do can help determine how or if a particular malware variant may laterally propagate throughout an entity’s enterprise, what types of data the malware is searching for, whether or not the malware may attempt to exfiltrate data, or whether or not the malware deposits hidden malicious software or exploits vulnerabilities to provide future unauthorized access, among other factors. Additionally, with respect to considering the extent to which the risk to PHI has been mitigated (the fourth factor) where ransomware has accessed PHI, the entity may wish to consider the impact of the ransomware on the integrity of the PHI. Frequently, ransomware, after encrypting the data it was seeking, deletes the original data and leaves only the data in encrypted form. An entity may be able to show mitigation of the impact of a ransomware attack affecting the integrity of PHI through the implementation of robust contingency plans including disaster recovery and data backup plans. Conducting frequent backups and ensuring the ability to recover data from backups is crucial to recovering from a ransomware attack and ensuring the integrity of PHI affected by ransomware. Test restorations should be periodically conducted to verify the integrity of backed up data and provide confidence in an organization’s data restoration capabilities. Integrity to PHI data is only one aspect when considering to what extent the risk to PHI has been mitigated. Additional aspects, including whether or not PHI has been exfiltrated, should also be considered when determining the extent to which the risk to PHI has been mitigated. documentation demonstrating that all notifications were made, if a determination was made that the impermissible use or disclosure was a reportable breach. Is it a reportable breach if the ePHI encrypted by the ransomware was already encrypted to comply with HIPAA? This is a fact specific determination. The HIPAA breach notification provisions apply to “unsecured PHI” (see 45 C.F.R. 164.402), which is protected health information (PHI) that is not secured through the use of a technology or methodology specified by the Secretary in guidance. If the electronic PHI (ePHI) is encrypted by the entity in a manner consistent with the Guidance to Render Unsecured Protected Health Information Unusable, Unreadable, or Indecipherable to Unauthorized Individuals such that it is no longer “unsecured PHI,” then the entity is not required to conduct a risk assessment to determine if there is a low probability of compromise, and breach notification is not required. However, even if the PHI is encrypted in accordance with the HHS guidance, additional analysis may still be required to ensure that the encryption solution, as implemented, has rendered the affected PHI unreadable, unusable and indecipherable to unauthorized persons. A full disk encryption solution may render the data on a computer system’s hard drive unreadable, unusable and indecipherable to unauthorized persons while the computer system (such as a laptop) is powered down. Once the computer system is powered on and the operating system is loaded, however, many full disk encryption solutions will transparently decrypt and encrypt files accessed by the user. For example, if a laptop encrypted with a full disk encryption solution in a manner consistent with HHS guidance8 is properly shut down and powered off and then lost or stolen, the data on the laptop would be unreadable, unusable and indecipherable to anyone other than the authenticated user. Because the PHI on the laptop is not “unsecured PHI”, a covered entity or business associate need not perform a risk assessment to determine a low probability of compromise or provide breach notification. However, in contrast to the above example, if the laptop is powered on and in use by an authenticated user, who then performs an action (clicks on a link to a malicious website, opens an attachment from a phishing email, etc.) that infects the laptop with ransomware, there could be a breach of PHI. If full disk encryption is the only encryption solution in use to protect the PHI and if the ransomware accesses the file containing the PHI, the file containing the PHI will be transparently decrypted by the full disk encryption solution and access permitted with the same access levels granted to the user. Because the file containing the PHI was decrypted and thus “unsecured PHI” at the point in time that the ransomware accessed the file, an impermissible disclosure of PHI was made and a breach is presumed. Under the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule, notification in accordance with 45 CFR 164.404 is required unless the entity can demonstrate a low probability of compromise of the PHI based on the four factor risk assessment (see 45 C.F.R. 164.402(2)).

2019-04-23T06:59:45Z

https://www.supremusgroup.com/ransomware-protection-solution/

The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World, Michael Horton, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2009. Hardcover, 271 pages, $19.99 USD. Last year saw the publication of Michael Horton’s influential Christless Christianity. That volume was a surgical exposé of how much of North American Christianity is in danger of losing sight of Christ and the gospel. By its nature it was a negative book, but Horton did promise a sequel in which he would present a positive alternative. The Gospel-Driven Life is that sequel and Horton delivers on his promise. According to the Introduction, “The goal of this book is to reorient our faith and practice as Christians and churches toward the gospel: that is, the announcement of God’s victory over sin and death in his Son, Jesus Christ.” (11). Since the gospel is “good news,” the book attempts to follow the model of a newspaper. Though this seems forced at points, it does capture the thrust and intent of the Biblical gospel: it is supposed to be headline news. There are commendable things to be said about the Gospel-Driven Life. Above all, Horton ably expresses the gospel and all its riches. Man’s problem is sin and the wrath of God that sin arouses. God’s solution is Christ and his obedient life, death, and resurrection. The gospel is what every believer needs every day. Says the author, “No less in the middle and at the end than at the beginning, the believer clings to Christ’s righteousness as the only appropriate attire in the presence of a holy God.” (70). Though this book is intended to be the positive follow-up to Christless Christianity, critique of various religious trends is not absent. For instance, Horton interacts with Richard Foster and his emphasis on spiritual disciplines. He makes the helpful observation, “This trajectory of the spiritual disciplines leads us to a host of means of grace besides Word and sacrament, and these other means are actually methods of our ascent rather than God’s descent to us in grace.” (157). Elsewhere, with a glance at Rick Warren, he notes that it was Christ who lived the purpose-driven life so that we would be “promise-driven people in a purpose-driven world.” (141). If I would make one critical notation, it would be with regards to this sentiment: “Christ’s kingdom is its own culture: holy rather than common. That does not mean that it is an alternative subculture. In other words, there is no such thing as Christian sports, entertainment, politics, architecture and science. In these common fields, Christians and non-Christians are indistinguishable except by their ultimate goals and motivations.” (249). This requires a lot more elaboration to be convincing. For instance, is it true that there is nothing distinctive about the way a Christian would be involved with politics aside from his ultimate goals and motivations? While I can agree that the church has no place in the realm of politics, that does not necessarily mean that there is not a Christian way of doing politics, a way guided by the Word of God. Any blogger knows that the negative posts always get more attention than the positive. Our nature is drawn to the negative. For that reason, I suspect that Christless Christianity will be better remembered than the Gospel-Driven Life. Moreover, to be honest, the first volume was the more engaging read. The Gospel-Driven Life features some new material from Horton, but there also seems to be some recycling. The usual suspects make their appearances: Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther, and G.K. Chesterton. If you listen regularly to the White Horse Inn or have read his other books, this one may seem rather repetitive in places. While I enjoyed it and can certainly recommend it, it was not the best work that Horton has done. What could be more important than the gospel? Which pastor wouldn’t want to have a ministry characterized as “gospel-centered”? This past summer, Timmy Brister posted this helpful set of readings on being “gospel-centered.” I’m currently going through them. It’s a helpful reminder to stay grounded with what really matters. Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church, Michael Horton, Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008. Hardcover, 270 pages, $18.20. In 1923 a stick of literary dynamite was tossed into American Christianity. J. Gresham Machen published his response to the deformation of the church in his day, Christianity and Liberalism. In this book, Machen decisively demonstrated that Christianity and theological liberalism are two entirely different religions. The sad irony is that nearly 90 years later, Machen’s book remains relevant. Only the names have changed. Today’s greatest threat to Christianity is not called liberalism. With this book, Michael Horton (professor at Westminster Seminary California and URC minister) has done for our generation what Machen did in his, surgically exposing the ultimate emptiness of much of what passes for Christianity in North America. In fact, according to Horton, much of what calls itself Christian on our continent is simply missing the boat on who Jesus Christ is according to the Bible – that’s the essence of Christless Christianity. Says Horton, “Christless Christianity does not mean religion or spirituality devoid of the words Jesus, Christ, Lord, or even Saviour. What it means is that the way those names and titles are employed will be removed from their specific location in an unfolding historical plot of human rebellion and divine rescue…” (p.144). Christless Christianity means the trivialization of the Bible’s message of good news through Jesus Christ. By its very nature and by the author’s admission, this is “not a cheerful missive.” Horton incisively takes on the health and wealth pseudo-gospel of popular figures such as Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer as well as the postive thinking pseudo-gospel of Robert Schuller. He rightly points out that while the Emergent movement has put its finger on various problems in American Christianity, the solutions it offers are no less problematic. For instance, he critiques Brian McLaren, who “scolds Reformed Christians for ‘their love affair for the Latin word sola.’” (p.194). More “Christless Christianity” is not the answer. A church that is deeply aware of its misery and nakedness before a holy God will cling tenaciously to an all-sufficient Savior, while one that is self-confident and relatively unaware of its inherent sinfulness will reach for religion and morality whenever it seems convenient. (p.243). While this book addresses the “American Church,” I think many of us will recognize the same trends spilling over into Canadian Christianity, even in our own churches. Horton’s cry from the heart is one that we all need to hear. I have one slightly critical note regarding Horton’s perspective on worship. He rightly notes that in much of contemporary American Christianity, people come to church to do something. “Everybody seems to think that we come to church mostly to give rather than to receive.” (p.191). Horton wants to correct this by drawing attention to the ways in which public worship is about God ministering to us. While this is a helpful correction in many ways, some balance is called for and that balance can be achieved through emphasizing the covenant structure of Biblical worship. Yes, God’s ministry of Word and Sacrament to us stands central in Biblical worship, but reflecting the structure of the covenant also means that there is a place for human response. Horton has worked with that in A Better Way, but it would have been helpful to have it mentioned here also. Obviously, my overall assessment is positive. Five stars, ten out of ten, whatever you wish – this book receives my highest recommendation. My prayer is that, unlike Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism, this book would be entirely irrelevant in 90 years. Rev. Marten Kleyn was the pastor of a Dutch refugee church in London, England. Rev. Kleyn is better remembered today by his Latinized name, Martin Micron. Because of heavy persecution in the Netherlands, many Reformed believers fled to England and they established a Dutch speaking church in London. Martin Micron was one of the pastors. In 1552, he wrote a catechism for the instruction of the small children of the church. In this catechism at a certain point he mentions those who are deaf. He says that those who are born deaf cannot believe because they cannot hear the Word of God. Nevertheless, like the infant children in the church, for the sake of Christ, the deaf are blessed, they are regarded as holy, righteous, clean, and faithful. Now you might be thinking that Micron was a bit extreme in saying this because, after all, there is such a thing as sign language. But sign language was not invented until 1620. And without sign language it would have been nearly impossible to communicate with a deaf person – also virtually impossible to teach someone how to read. In the sixteenth century, if you were deaf, you were cut off from communication in so many ways. You would also have been cut off from the Word of God. Of course, that would also mean that there would be no way for you to speak of the riches of God and of the gospel, no way to sing God’s praises. And if that was true in the 1500s, it was just as true in the days of the Lord Jesus. To have been born deaf would mean to be an outcast in many ways. You wouldn’t have been able to communicate in any meaningful way with the people around you. You wouldn’t be able to know what they’re saying to you, apart from some basic hand gestures. They wouldn’t be able to understand what comes out of your mouth either because you’ve never heard people speak. That would create problems in society, but it would also be a barrier in relation to God. You could never hear God’s Word. And then you would never be able to share God’s Word with others either. Today those who are born deaf and those who become deaf have a lot more going for them. Sign language and lip reading have been enormous blessings for the deaf. Today many churches provide signing for their deaf members. The RCUS, the Reformed Church in the United States, one of our sister churches, even has a congregation made up entirely of deaf Reformed believers. Things are much different. Today it’s possible for those who are deaf to hear the Word of God in their own language. But in our text, we encounter a man who lived long before these advances. Here was a man who lived his life in utter silence. Here was a man for whom the way was blocked for the Word of God. Then the Lord Jesus came and a way was cleared for the Word. To continue reading this sermon, click here.

2019-04-24T12:48:06Z

https://yinkahdinay.wordpress.com/tag/gospel/

(Philadelphia, April 26, 2016)—Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads The Philadelphia Orchestra in its 2016 Tour of Asia and China Residency, May 19 through June 5, marking his second Asian tour with the ensemble. The tour begins in Hong Kong and continues to Beijing and Shanghai. While in Shanghai, The Philadelphia Orchestra opens the city’s International Tourism Resort Zone, home to the new Shanghai Disney Resort. The Orchestra then travels to Macao for the fifth consecutive year before continuing on to Japan, with concerts in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kawasaki (a debut visit for the Orchestra). The Venetian Macao is the presenting sponsor of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2016 Tour of Asia and China Residency. Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra bring repertoire to Asia that reflects the rich musical heritage of the ensemble as well as the strong partnership between music director and musicians. With 12 concerts over three weeks, tour repertoire includes works by Brahms, Sibelius, Grieg, Bruckner, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Beethoven, Strauss, Prokofiev, and Bizet. Chinese pianist Lang Lang joins the Orchestra as soloist in Beijing and Macao, performing Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto. Japanese-American violinist Ryu Goto makes his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in Macao, Osaka, Tokyo, and Kawasaki, performing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Torū Takemitsu’s Nostalghia—In Memory of Andrei Tarkovsky for The Philadelphia Orchestra’s first performances of the piece. As one of the most traveled American orchestras, The Philadelphia Orchestra is a global ambassador for the City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the United States of America. Continuing its reputation as an organization rooted in cultural exchange, the Orchestra participates in a series of events facilitating cultural diplomacy throughout the tour, with receptions held at the residence of Ambassador Clifford Hart, the Consul General of the United States to Hong Kong and Macao; the U.S. Embassy in Beijing with Ambassador Max Sieben Baucus; and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo with Ambassador Caroline Kennedy. The year 2016 also marks the 30th anniversary of Philadelphia and Kobe, Japan establishing a Sister City relationship. Additionally, on the heels of the G7 Summit—which concludes on May 27 in Japan—the Japan National Press Club hosts an event in honor of the Orchestra on June 1. “As one of the most traveled American orchestras, The Philadelphia Orchestra has made a sustained commitment to cultural diplomacy, representing the City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the United States abroad,” said Allison Vulgamore. “We owe a special thank-you to the elected and appointed officials at all levels of government who have appreciated our work, recognized its impact, and helped us create new opportunities for touring and residency around the world." With the 2016 Tour of Asia and China Residency, The Philadelphia Orchestra builds upon the tremendous success of its five-year commitment to touring, residency, and community engagement throughout the People’s Republic. The 2016 Tour marks a pinnacle year in the Orchestra’s history: the culmination of five years of unprecedented cultural exchange. In 2012 the ensemble reconnected with its roots in China and more deeply embraced its role as a cultural ambassador by launching a new partnership with the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing, a pilot residency that united the Orchestra with talented young Chinese musicians and composers to further develop their orchestral skills. The residency also served to bring orchestral music, through performances and master classes, not only to China’s major cities but also further into the provinces, and to connect through the hearts of local musicians to their supporting communities, through the sharing of musical talents between its own musicians and Chinese musicians, engaging in music education, and spreading the joy of classical music with citizens in residential neighborhoods and at landmark historic sites. The success of this pilot program was confirmed when the Orchestra and the NCPA signed a long-term agreement to extend this partnership into future residency programs, and in May-June 2013 the Orchestra triumphantly returned for its Residency and 40th Anniversary Tour of China, presenting over 50 activities in 15 days. In 2014 the innovative program continued to represent a bridge for cultural, educational, and diplomatic exchange between China and the United States, as the two nations celebrated 35 years of diplomatic relations. Since 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon asked the Orchestra to be the first U.S. orchestra to perform in China, the ensemble has enjoyed a unique and special relationship with China and its people. Twenty years after its first arrival in China, the Orchestra returned in 1993, 1996, 2001, 2008, and 2010, when it helped to open the World Expo in Shanghai, prior to its residencies in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2016 Asia Tour begins in the territory of Hong Kong, with two concerts at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, May 19 and 20. Both programs will be broadcast live back home on Philadelphia’s classical music station WRTI 90.1 FM. Listeners can tune in at 8 AM on both dates to hear Yannick Nézet-Séguin lead the Orchestra in Brahms’s Second Symphony and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade (May 19), and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 (“Serioso”) in Mahler’s arrangement for string orchestra and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”) (May 20). These concerts will also be broadcast live for Hong Kong audiences on RTHK Radio 4. On Wednesday, May 18, Assistant Conductor Lio Kuokman and a small group of Orchestra musicians perform a chamber concert live at RTHK Radio 4’s studios in Hong Kong. Additional residency work includes a master class with Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts students and five Philadelphia Orchestra musicians on May 20. The Philadelphia Orchestra last visited Hong Kong 11 years ago, in June 2005, with then-Music Director Christoph Eschenbach. The Orchestra presents one concert at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, May 22. Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Orchestra in Sibelius’s Finlandia, Grieg’s Suite No. 1 from Peer Gynt, and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”). Current residency events include a side-by-side concert with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra at the Shanghai International Tourism Resort Zone, also on May 22. Shanghai Media Group is the presenting sponsor of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Shanghai. While in Beijing, the Orchestra gives two concerts at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, May 25 and 26. Chinese-born pianist Lang Lang is the featured soloist, performing Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto on May 25 and May 28. While in Beijing, an Orchestra violinist gives a master class with Chinese violin students at the Penn Wharton China Center, May 24. On April 8 The Philadelphia Orchestra announced HEAR, a series of collaborative learning initiatives that represent the most comprehensive and dynamic community engagement in the Orchestra’s recent history. Spanning four categories—Health, Education, Access, and Research—HEAR is a portfolio of programs that promotes wellness, champions music education, eliminates barriers to accessing the Orchestra, and maximizes impact through research, all throughout the Philadelphia region. A highlight of the Education initiative is an unprecedented partnership with the Eastman Music Company. This summer, Eastman and the Orchestra will launch a “buy one, give one” program. Incorporating feedback from Philadelphia Orchestra musicians, Eastman designed a new line of instruments specifically developed for the program named La Scala. For every one purchased, one will go to a student in need in Philadelphia. During the 2016 Tour of Asia and China Residency, Orchestra constituents will visit the Eastman factory, work with the luthiers, and perform for children at a local school. Penn Wharton China Center is the presenting sponsor in Beijing. Over the last four years, the Orchestra’s presence in Macao has grown significantly through concerts and residency activities made possible by a close partnership with the Venetian Macao, expanding people-to-people exchange throughout the region. During the 2016 Tour of Asia, the Orchestra presents two concerts at the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, May 28 and 29. Lang Lang performs Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto on May 28, and Ryo Goto makes his Philadelphia Orchestra debut with a performance of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 on May 29. Residency activities include master classes with Philadelphia Orchestra musicians and Lio Kuokman, and a pop-up concert at Taipa Houses Museum on May 28. The Venetian Macao is the presenting sponsor of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2016 Tour of Asia and China Residency. The Philadelphia Orchestra has a longstanding relationship with Japan, first visiting the island nation in 1967 with Eugene Ormandy as part of the Orchestra’s first tour of Asia. For the 2016 Tour of Asia, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra perform at Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan and Suntory Hall, Osaka’s Symphony Hall, and the Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall. The Philadelphia Orchestra’s last visit to Osaka was in 1999, and 2016 marks the Orchestra’s first appearance in Kawasaki. Ryu Goto joins the Orchestra as featured soloist, performing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Japanese composer Torū Takemitsu’s Nostalghia—In Memory of Andrei Tarkovsky in The Philadelphia Orchestra’s first performances of the piece. The Orchestra’s last visit to Japan was in 2014. In addition to subsequent tours of Japan with Ormandy, the Orchestra also visited and performed in the country with Riccardo Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Christoph Eschenbach, and Charles Dutoit. The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2016 Tour of Asia and China Residency is made possible through the generous support of valued sponsors and partners. The Venetian Macao is the presenting sponsor of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2016 Tour of Asia and China Residency. Shanghai Media Group is the presenting sponsor of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Shanghai. Penn Wharton China Center is the presenting sponsor in Beijing. Ruder Finn is the official public relations agency for The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2016 Tour of Asia and China Residency. The Orchestra’s primary partner is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, Team PA, United Airlines, and White and Williams, LLP as additional tour partners. Click here for the complete concert and residency schedules. Ruder Finn Asia has been a proud sponsor of The Philadelphia Orchestra for three years, and is known for its innovative approach to corporate sponsorship of the arts. For more than a decade, Ruder Finn Asia has provided cultural institutions, government agencies, and corporate clients with impactful arts-related communications campaigns. Clients include the Victoria and Albert Museum, Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC), Alvin Ailey, New York Philharmonic, VIP Art Fair, Beijing Music Festival, Year of France in China, Seoul Auction, Singapore Art Museum, and Singapore Biennale, to name a few. Ruder Finn Asia remains committed to leveraging the power of arts and culture as a communications platform, creating strong bonds between brands, companies, and countries, as well as their associated stakeholders that resonate across a wide spectrum of sectors. Founded in 1989, Ruder Finn Asia is the Asia-Pacific subsidiary of New York-based Ruder Finn, the leading independent global public relations consulting firm. Growing at an average of 25 percent every year since 2000, Ruder Finn Asia today employs more than 300 consultants in Asia-Pacific and has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bangalore. The firm is represented across all other regional markets through a network of high quality affiliates. Ruder Finn Asia’s business centers on four strategic pillars: Corporate & Public Trust, Global Connectivity, Health & Wellness, and Life+Style. The firm offers expertise in reputation management, digital and social marketing strategy, crisis communication, employee engagement, design, and executive skills training. Ruder Finn has dedicated teams for digital strategy, CSR, arts, culture, and activation, providing insights and counsel into market trends, annual research reports including the China Luxury Forecast, Physicians Digital Outlook Survey, and other publications. Delivering award-winning innovative, strategic public relations campaigns, Ruder Finn Asia’s key clients include Emirates, Jumeirah, Volkswagen Group, Sanofi, Daiichi Sankyo, L’Oréal, Omron, Hermès, GSK, Cotton Inc, Bang & Olufsen, Michelin, and leading brands from the Kering, LVMH, and Richemont Groups.

2019-04-24T04:14:49Z

https://www.philorch.org/press-room/news/music-director-yannick-n%C3%A9zet-s%C3%A9guin-leads-philadelphia-orchestra%E2%80%99s-2016-tour-asia/

Starting off very fine and soft, we have Alone where you get harmonies by who I am assuming is Layetri-P himself just before Miku starts her melodic singing. With a stable build up between the verse and chorus, it transcends into an exemplary show that the chorus doesn’t have to be harder than the verse. Sometimes the song is so compact that it sounds beautiful. This style of genre is called Soft Rock, and also one of my favorites. The drums don’t have an OOMPH!!! to them like many other songs, but that’s what makes this song so great, they aren’t as overpowering and ultimately a part of the soft atmosphere, which is insanely hard to do from my own experience. Of course, like any great song, it fades like it’s ready for the radio! I wish I could hear this song on the radio. Under The Cherry Tree is a classic J-Rock or J-Pop song with a smooth high octave guitar melody. Miku sings pretty fast starting out, but it levels out afterward. Not only that, the verse has so much going for it, I’m surprised the verse isn’t the chorus. Of course, it’s in Japanese so I can’t understand any of it. But I am a fan of those noise gates that add emphasis on the power of this song that sets it apart from the rest of his entire discography. Oh, and we can’t forget about that epic guitar solo that danielvw played on the real guitar! It sounds that awesome and living instead of targeted like on FL Studio. And the end of the song uses a very powerful reversal that makes it hard to say that wasn’t a great end to a great song. I mean, I love this song because of the fact that my advice actually made it sound better, and of course, the rest of teamLayetri should be given like 100% of the credit, all I did was be my curious little self. So A++++++ on this song! Oh my sweet Xin, yet another soft rock song! Xin Hua is a new one for Layetri, and I admit, fine choice~ Just smooching sounds that chefs make when their foods are perfecto! This song is under 3 minutes, which really makes the softness apart to listen to. Ok, I know I said it was a soft rock song, but it is a bit harder than Alone, but I will say the drums are more into the instrumentals than that. There are tons of reversals detailing transitions from Verse A to Chorus A and I think that’s perfectly alright. I will say that this song was perfect for Xin because her voice matches the chiptune melody in the atmosphere of the song, which means that they knew exactly what they were doing when they made this. As Flagship song of the album, I thought it was perfect, but could’ve been longer, but I listen to long songs… like I spammed a 22-minute song by Theocracy for the past 4 weeks… ok, not the point. Just listen to it, you’ll love it if you love soft adorableness. I haven’t talked much about the song, but truthfully, the melody is godsend gorgeous, and the backing instruments are fully layered to make the vocals the primary sound. It is truly a beautiful piece and is why this is my favorite song! Million Stars is just as hard as Under the Cherry Tree, but replace the guitar with a saxophone, and you got yourself a fantastic toe-tapper. Now this, this is pure rock jazz, but I’m also hearing some reggae in there… is that just me? I think my favorite part about the saxophone is that it’s played on a real instrument rather than on FL Studios which I’ve mentioned before. That’s the thing about teamLayetri, they make beautiful music from scratch like a real band, but they also could be thousands of miles apart from each other, which is amazing. ( oOo) Holy Tuba’s, that saxophone solo is immensely well done. I’m spamming that one on my next trip. Million Stars is the type of songs I was introduced to by teamLayetri. So yes, this is their strong suit! Do you like Instrumentals in the middle of an album? I do believe Layetri-P alone made this song, and it’s obviously a keyboard lead song with backing instruments. Layetri, I think you should sing sometimes, but not on this song, it’s perfect the way it is with the melody of the piano creating a poppy and childish atmosphere for complete fun! And out of left field, we have a new sound for Layetri… METAL! Now, with the minor key and so much POWER and DISTORTION in the instruments, it isn’t as powerful as today’s metal, but imagine something more classic like Iron Maiden or Iced Earth, which is what it honestly reminds me of with the melodic vocals and the near subtle distortion and complicated chords. But it does sound like a band that I am misplacing the sounds… I’ll have to go through my list and check. This song has a darker feel with opera vocals and dark synths in the atmosphere that make this pure European thrash metal. I am legitimately surprised they pulled this off so well. With riffs that even Metallica or Megadeth wish they’d come up with, the majority of the instrumental is definitely metal. Miku does sing, except with a melodic form other than those harder vocals than the actual bands I mentioned. But I do hear a bit of vocal fry to her voice, which is always lovely to hear. The verse is very emotional and something you should definitely listen to, but the chorus is far more emotional and impactful than even that, with Miku singing in tandem with multiple octaves that is classic for certain melodic thrash metal. Oh, and the swift change in keys is a staple for very well practiced song structure in metal, which I have to ask… WHY HAVE YOU NOT MADE METAL BEFORE!?!? The song ends so freaking well with that epic continuous diminuendo dives that I really am realizing I want to cover it with my more intense sound to hear what it sounds like in a more modern metal sound, but then I wouldn’t give it any justice! Now that the new sound test is over, let’s go back to a j-pop feel with a feel-good song written in Japanese so I can’t understand it. Honestly, I am definitely hearing some Under the Cherry Tree vibes and melodic takebacks from song #2 from the album, but this time we get a very unique chorus with Rin and Len in each ear! I see what you did there! Guess which one is in which. Yep, Rin in Left and Len in Right… wait… is that a troll or is that just a mixing oopsie? I dunno, but I find it funny and cute. The song has a lot going for it basing itself off of song #2, but it also has something it doesn’t… A literal harmony in the chorus with each Vocaloid in different ears! Nice touch if I do say so. This is a remaster from a previous song, which I think I’ve covered already on this website… I do believe… if I have, you’ll see a link to the review RIGHT HERE and if not then oh well. I have heard this song a long time ago, and this rendition is perfectly made with a more stable harmony with Len and Rin, except they aren’t in sole ears this time, and are just like 30% more in each ear. So one thing about this song is that I fell in love with the chorus. This is a really good remaster! Ok, Layetri once let me in on a little tidbit of information about The Netherlands style of pop music… it sounds literally like our country music in a very subtle sense. It starts off like any classic country song duet for you Americans out there, and it has very many aspects of it including the clean guitar solo. This is the definition of pop in the Netherlands, and I can see the inspiration with Miku and Miki coming together to truly sing you a song from the heart. Also, that bass guitar has some very THICC noise that brings the song home. Burst is a song I’ve heard before… but I’ve honestly forgotten where because it isn’t on the previous albums. Must’ve heard from the man himself. Anyway, as the last song on this near-perfect album, it is just over 5 minutes long which I can get behind. The purity of the music sounds like it came from the soul of the creators, and is in my opinion, a fantastic end. The best part of this song is the clean piano melodies sprinkled in with the true instrumentals to add even more emotional atmosphere. Miku’s chorus is deeply moving, and the guitar solo has some deep bass and low pass to it that makes it conflict with Miku’s high voice, but that could be a preference issue for the most part- I find it awesome because you don’t hear that distortion type sound on most Vocaloid songs. In actuality, the beginning and melody is being played by a ukelele or something resembling a ukelele. The number of overlapping instruments are perfectly aligned to create an immersive atmosphere that rivals even the best songs I’ve heard in my life so far. If you liked Under The Cherry Trees Reversals, they’ve got you covered in this song too! I just love the structure and actuation of the song itself. TeamLayetri truly did make this with the intent to grow and impress. I am very much impressed with this album compared to the previous albums, even though it had less brass than the other ones, it had many plot twists that kept making me far more intrigued in the album itself. That’s what makes this album fascinating. Also, it reminds me of the album Jealous Gods by Poets of the Fall, my favorite band of all time, because not only does the number of songs count the same number of 11, but also the only Poets of the Fall instrumental is track number 6… which just actually blew my mind almost. And really, I did find most of these songs as something I’ll put into my collective “Favorite Vocaloid Songs” Playlist on my phone! I gotta say, Lone Wolf will keep me satisfied until the next Layetri album comes out, but until then, how about you go do them a favor and buy their music so they can make new music faster? Just go check out the Amazon/iTunes page to get the sweetest album from Layetri thus far! You can also check out SoundCloud to see if you like anything to buy if I didn’t have any way to put SoundCloud on each song, which I will certainly try to do. This album is awesome! The variety of song styles is really interesting. My favorite songs are the following: Warm My Heart, Million Stars (dat saxophone tho), Poisoned Smile, #9 (I can’t type japanese), and From Time To Time. Definitely will check this artist out!

2019-04-26T12:11:02Z

https://vocaloidemo.com/lone-wolf-layetri-p

If you haven’t downloaded the 18 Birdies app, why are you waiting? It seems like there are a million golf apps available, well today I’m going to explain why I feel 18 Birdies is by far the best. As a self-proclaimed golf geek, one area of my obsession I’ve been, well, obsessed with is the implementation of Smart Phones and golf. For years I’ve been trying to find “The Perfect” app that does it all. And, for years I’ve been disappointed with what has been available. At one point I even considered reaching out to a developer and giving them my input to see if we could create an app that met all the needs of the modern golfer. That never happened, call it what you will, laziness, lack of knowing who to talk to or just an incredibly busy life, my desire to create an app didn’t outweigh my passion for wanting to play more golf. That was until I started messing around with the 18 Birdies app. Over the last year it’s been my go-to app on my phone for golf, and after if you’re not aware of what it is or what it is all about, I look forward to hearing your comments after you finish the article. Because in my opinion, 18 Birdies is the best golf app there is, period. What makes a great golf app? For one, it has to be user-friendly. Up until my download of 18 Birdies the golf app I enjoyed the most was one by Loudmouth Golf. Now that app wasn’t theirs; they had bought a version and put their little twist on it. But what made it so enjoyable in my opinion was how easy it was to use. At the time my daughter was starting to play golf a little, and she LOVED inputting the info from the hole we had just played. Where the Loudmouth app fell short was how it was limited to just inputting a score and a horrible interface with Facebook in an attempt to share your scorecard. 18 Birdies came in with a game plan that has accomplished all these needs and then some. Let’s face facts. If you can’t work the app and it can cause more of a distraction than assistance, and then you’re in trouble. Technology isn’t for everyone and even if it, it’s not for everyone on the golf course. More than once I’ve been reminded by my playing partners that “You know we’re playing golf bro.” subtle but sincere hints like that are a sure bet you’re messing with the wrong app. 18 Birdies have nailed the user-friendly aspect of the golf app. It loads quickly; the location service brings the course you’re about to play to the main screen, so there is no searching for the right course and scorecard. You have everything you need right on the screen. There is no scrolling required, the course layout, via GPS, is perfect and from my experience, so far, is the best I’ve used in an app. As a Golf Geek, I need my stats. Now 18 Birdies is a free app, but there is a premium feature I’ll dive into a little later. For this section, please note that I am a premium member, and some of the additional stats mentioned come with that level of membership. Just a few. The stats for Putts per Hole, Greens in Regulation, Fairways Hit, Sand Saves, Up & Downs and Penalties is self-explanatory, so I’m going to pass up going into detail about them. But, here’s some info on the other stat tracking options. This view shows all of your rounds played that you have inputted into 18 Birdies. There is a “Filters” tab you can select to break down the rounds to a favorable view like the number of rounds/duration, round type, play type, and slope rating. I only have one gripe about the filters section. I wish they had an annual option, I like to track my stats from year to year, and I want to be able to see my season stats from Jan-Dec. Here you can see how your scoring is broken-down to what you made on the holes during the round. Birdie or better, Par, Bogey, Double or worse. The app displays the info in a pie chart, so it’s effortless to read. The filter option is also available on this screen as well. For this stat, the app takes a look at how you perform on each of the Par holes you played. Par 3, Par 4 and Par 5’s. It shows you how you’ve performed on each of the hole types in a Bar Chart. This filter option is also available for this stat. That makes it nice to see how you’ve done on Par 3 holes over the last 20 rounds. One of my favorite stats by far on the 18 Birdies app. At the begging of the round, you can choose your “targets” for the round. It’s projecting how you think you’ll do or how you think you should play for the upcoming round. You can select how many birdies you think you’ll have as well as Pars, Greens Hit and Fairways Hit. There are a ton of side games you can play with other users of the 18 Birdies app. If you’re one of those players that like to have something riding on the match. Here you can view how you’ve done in the games you’ve played against other users. Aside from the filters option I like to see the only other feature I want to see them add to the stats on the scorecard page is scrambling percentage. Other than that the App is perfection. It’s become a fixture in the golfing world. Today’s golfers love to share their experiences on the course. Be it an excellent shot, a HOT cart girl, a putt that went in that never should have or a career-best on your favorite course. Now more than ever there are so many ways for us to share our experiences golfing with others. I’ll be honest; I haven’t taken full advantage of the social side of things when it comes to 18 Birdies. I’ve mainly used it to share rounds with my close friends who don’t live in Vegas. That in no way is a negative in regards to the app. I’m not sure any golf app will be able to challenge the power players in the social sharing game. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and even YouTube are icons when it comes to sharing. But, 18 Birdies is doing what they need to do to have it be a part of their interface. Regardless if I use it or not the option for you to create a network of friends or even reach out to golfers in an area where you’re going to be visiting, is a nice feature to have. With so many options for a good golf app, there have to be some features that put the app over the top to be considered elite. 18 Birdies implemented GPS and brought and changed the way people interact with a device on the course. A few updates ago 18 Birdies made a massive improvement when they combined the scoring screen with the GPS. Everything is right there on the main screen of your phone. Even if you don’t utilize the app for GPS, the fact that it’s right there every time you open the app is excellent. There are times when you’re not sure how the hole may layout. Either first time playing the course or a situation where you’re not sure what’s in front of the green, or your vision is blocked by an obstruction. With a quick look, you open the app and boom, your right there looking at the hole and easing your mind about the next shot. 18 Birdies app, it’s saving me strokes! Most of the courses I play here in town I’m familiar with, so the GPS feature isn’t used very much. But just yesterday I was in a spot I hadn’t been before, and I wasn’t sure what a needed to do to get to the green. It was one of those silly tee shots that don’t go your way. I considered laying up to the just beyond the 150, but after looking at the app, I saw there was a ton of room after the desert area that was blocking my view of the green. Seeing where I could play to had me pull out my 5Wood. The shot came up just short, but I was able to get up and down with a simple chip and a putt. The 18 Birdies app literally saved me from hitting my 3rd shot from 140 vs. the easy chip greenside. That’s a big deal in my opinion. 18 Birdies Features that will make you want to use the app. You can tell from what I’ve posted already the app is rich with features. But there was one addition earlier this year to the app that changed the way I used it and will use it forever. That was when they added the ability to use your Apple Watch to check yardages and input your score. Everything you need is right there. Distance to the back, center, and front. Hole number, score to par, handicap. It’s brought an entirely new user engagement to the game, and I love it. Plus, once you finish the hole a simple swipe and you can input your stats from the hole just played and never pick up your phone. I’ve been using the 18 Birdies app for a while now. Call me a total fanboy for sure. This addition though took them over the top in my opinion. It added a feature that even though not everyone will use, it’s still there to be taken advantage of, and it’s the reason I went and got an Apple watch. Shot tracking could easily be the best feature of 18 Birdies. From your main “ME” page you can input into the app the clubs in your bag. Then, while playing, you can track your shots using the GPS and get very accurate distances. Shot tracking alone is pretty damn cool, but where 18 Birdies amplifies the process is the “caddy” feature. The more you track your shots, the more, the app will assist you in choosing the club for the shot you want to hit. I’ve just started using this part of the app on a more consistent basis. As much as I love screwing around with my phone, I’ve been trying to focus more on what’s happening on the course vs. my phone. But, for those players who are trying to get an understanding of their club distances, this is an excellent way to go about getting those numbers. Every time you input a score, share a round, make friends, etc. you earn “golf bucks.” The golf bucks can then be used to purchase scratch cards that will 99/100 gain you an entry into their monthly giveaway. Which I can tell you is usually a sweet grand prize. But, occasionally you’ll scratch a winning card and win a prize. I recently won the SuperSpeed, swing trainer. Now that’s a heck of a prize in my opinion. I’m looking forward to its arrival, so I can get working on speeding up my swing. Just another way 18 Birdies is helping me improve at golf! 18 Birdies can’t do all of this for free! Like most apps, I’m sure they’re taking advantage of the advertising possibilities but to truly have some amazing features, as they do, they needed to have an option to offer the best stats and features and be able to charge for users to get access. The premium membership has its advantages, especially for golf geeks like myself. ADVANCED GPS: Make the most accurate club selection for any shot with added GPS data points such as elevation, temperature, humidity, and wind. CADDY+ CLUB RECOMMENDATIONS: Take the guesswork out of your game. With club recommendations, we’ll tell you what club to hit for each shot based on your own playing style. It’s like having a virtual caddy in your pocket! STROKES GAINED SCORING: Want pro-level stats? With strokes gained scoring, you can find out where you are losing or gaining strokes against the field. Track each shot you take on the course to get detailed performance statistics compared to different sets of golfers (of various skill levels). See where you stand on a shot by shot basis, or by category (Off The Tee, Approaching The Green, Around the Green, and Putting). ADVANCED GOLF STATS: Get more insight into your game by analyzing your stats with new charts and custom filters. PREMIUM LESSON PLANS: Access our full catalog of Premium video lessons, taught by top-tier golf instructors. PARTNER BENEFITS & DISCOUNTS: Gain instant access to our growing list of partner discounts from Golf Digest, GOLFTEC, Swiftwick, REDVANLY and more. SIDE GAMES: Raise the stakes! Add a friendly (or not so friendly!) level of competition to your round with complete access to our full games library featuring Skins, Vegas, Nassau, Wolf and much more. GROUP OUTINGS: Host a single or multi-round tournament for a large group of your friends! Play together on the same course or compete “virtually” on any course in the 18Birdies database. I’ve paid for a ton of golf apps, and by far 18 Birdies has the best features for the money. 18 Birdies are continually updating the app and making the features better. Earlier this year they added a Strokes Gained feature that confused the hell out of me and I’m sure a lot of other players as well. The idea was great and I was eager to give it a try but without testing it out first, I gave it a go on the course for the first time and failed miserably. I wasn’t alone. Just a short time later 18 Birdies came out with an update that fixed all the issues and brought back the ease of use that has captivated most of the players who use the app. That says a lot to me about who 18 Birdies are as a company. They listen, take the feedback from their users and do so to make the app better. A few times I’ve had to reach out to 18 Birdies and to my surprise they get back to you pretty quick. 18 Birdies, the best golf app for your phone period. We review a lot of products here on the Breakfast Ball, some we get for free and other we find on our own and want to share with all of you. Now and then we come across a product that we believe in so much it would be a disservice to not share on the site. The 18 Birdies app is one of those products. I convinced JT to check it out and some of my other friends as well. When my hometown friends and I get together and have our “Boyz” tournament once a year, the 18 Birdies app is one of the most talked about things of the weekend. Because of how much entertainment it brings to the matches we all look forward to seeing who comes out on top in all the side games. Hands down I don’t think there is a better golf app you can download. The free features alone are worth the data you’ll use. And now that they have added the ability to book a tee time within the app it shows the evolution of the 18 Birdies app is still happening. Whether you chose to go with the Premium Membership or the free version, we believe you can’t go wrong with adding the 18 Birdies app to your phone. Be sure to check out the 18 Birdies app and their social accounts. Great article! I love the app also. Has really helped me work on improving my game and I have even won a couple of prizes!

2019-04-23T12:58:37Z

https://www.thebreakfastball.com/best-golf-app-phone-18-birdies/

Cory Mitchell Gray is a commercial litigator representing clients nationally in all aspects of commercial real estate, and commercial lending, litigation and counseling, including complex multi-party commercial actions, commercial tenancy disputes, loan workouts and foreclosures, business fraud and land use. Mr. Gray is a former special assistant district attorney in Manhattan and a former public defender in New Jersey. He has litigated in numerous states and foreign countries, and has handled cases from inception to trial (having tried numerous cases to verdict) to ultimate disposition in the U.S. and New Jersey Supreme Courts. In addition, Mr. Gray is co-author of the New Jersey chapter of the ABA treatise Commercial Lending Law and he has been an instructor at the Rutgers University Center for Government Services, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy. Among numerous other reported and unreported cases in which Mr. Gray has represented lenders and developers are: United Jersey Bank v. Kensey, 306 N.J.Super. 540 (App. Div. 1997)(a widely cited case outlining a lender’s lack of duty to borrowers in most lending situations); Argonaut Development Group, Inc. v. SWH Funding Corp, 150 F.Supp.2d 1357 (D.Fla. 2001)(obtained summary judgment for lender on multiple counts of fraud and breach of joint venture agreement); In re Jersey Tractor Trailer Training, Inc., 580 F.3d 147 (3rd Cir. 2009)(obtained reversal of bankruptcy and district courts’ rulings re: waiver of UCC rights under loan documents); SWH Funding Corp. v. Walden Printing Co. Inc., 399 N.J. Super 1 (App. Div. 2008)(upholding arbitration award in lender’s favor); Citibank v. The Singer Company, 684 F.Supp. 382 (S.D.N.Y. 1988)(obtaining preliminary injunction for lender as to cash collateral). Represented a lender in a matter of first impression involving the priority of lender’s mortgage balance over a construction lien. Contractor asserted that lender was not entitled to priority because its loan had been “satisfied” by proceeds received from the sale of certain loan collateral. Court ruled in favor of client and held that lender did not abandon its rights as lender by exercising collateral assignments and that lender was entitled to preserve the amount of its priority claim by applying loan payments to non-priority components of the debt before applying loan payments to priority components of debt. Represented a developer in preserving its rights to acquire an approved multi-use parcel in Woodbridge, New Jersey by obtaining a temporary restraining order, and through ensuing negotiations. Ultimately, arranged for financing for developer through a second GT client and transaction closed successfully. Represented a real estate developer in its defense of claims brought in 54 different actions by over 170 contract purchasers of condominium units at a beach destination resort on Maui, Hawaii. After five years of litigation, in which the client successfully defended 9 separate summary judgment motions, the actions were jointly settled through mediation. Although the terms of the settlement are confidential, the defenses of the cases, and the mediation, resulted in the elimination of the client’s potential exposure of over $750 million. Represented a real estate developer in its defense of claims brought by 235 purchasers of condominium units in a planned ski resort destination. After nearly 8 years of litigation, including the production of over 1 million documents and the conducting of over 85 depositions, and appellate proceedings, the action was settled in an amount equal to less than 2% of client’s initial exposure. Represented a private mortgage acquisition company in its acquisition of mortgages and in the foreclosure proceedings and defense of counterclaims asserted by the defendant-borrowers. The case has been cited as authoritative with respect to a lender's duties to its borrower in at least six jurisdictions, as well as in law reviews, Corpus Juris Secundum, American Jurisprudence, and the Restatement of Agency. Represented a private lender in an action brought by a developer alleging that lender breached a joint venture agreement. Through deposition practice, it was established that the developer had not satisfied one of the seven conditions precedent to enforceability of the joint venture agreement. Accordingly, the action was dismissed in its entirety by the trial court. The trial court's decision was sustained by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, and the trial court's decision has been cited as authoritative in four states, three federal courts, Florida Jurisprudence 2nd, Florida Practice and American Jurisprudence. Represented major supermarket operator in an action brought by a developer which alleged that its lease to the client could not be terminated by the client because the developer was compliant with all contractual conditions. During the pendency of the client's motion for summary judgment, the parties entered into a settlement which terminated the lease and imposed use restrictions on the developer's property such that a competing supermarket could not be sited on the property for an agreed-upon term. The client thus obtained exclusivity in the geographic region and it subsequently opened a supermarket less than one mile from the subject site. Foreclosed mortgages, on behalf of a private mortgage acquisition company, secured by 38 properties in four states, and ultimately effectuated a bankruptcy resolution pursuant to which the client acquired or sold all the properties at issue. At the time of the resolution of the foreclosure action, the debt secured by the mortgages was nearly $500 million, making this foreclosure action one of the largest foreclosures ever litigated in New Jersey. Represented a private mortgage acquisition company in its acquisition of mortgages encumbering 32 properties located in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and, following the acquisition, prosecuted foreclosure actions and suits on the promissory notes in federal court. Defendants asserted numerous affirmative defenses and counterclaims sounding in improper accountings and improper administration of a lockbox by the original lender. At the time of the settlement of the action, the indebtedness secured by the mortgages was approximately $150 million, making this action also one of the largest foreclosures in New Jersey. Represented factoring company in recovering damages resulting from two major frauds, perpetrated by different factoring clients but sharing the same methodology, namely, false confirmations by account debtors. Mr. Gray obtained asset freezes of numerous of the defendants, resulting in early settlements, and his prosecution of the lawsuits in numerous jurisdictions resulted in the client recovering all of its out-of-pocket losses, which were in excess of $5 million. Represented clothing importer in an action against two of its former employees who were alleged to have received kickbacks from the client's suppliers in the amount of approximately $2.7 million and who started a competing company to market goods similar to those manufactured by plaintiff. Mr. Gray obtained an attachment on defendants' homes and an injunction against the defendants' marketing of the competing product. When discovery, including production of defendants' off-shore bank records, established the merits of plaintiff's claim, a settlement was reached pursuant to which defendants were required to sell their homes and other assets to fund repayment to the client. From the filing of the lawsuit to execution of the settlement agreement was only seven months. Represented client in an action brought against it by a real estate broker seeking a $600,000 brokerage commission together with a declaratory judgment that the client, and others, were responsible for future brokerage protection with respect to the subject property. Third party discovery disclosed the lack of foundation for the broker's allegations and the case was favorably settled at the commencement of trial, with, among other things, the client having no ongoing obligation to pay brokerage commissions with respect to the subject property. Mr. Gray has handled numerous leasing, breach of contract, and construction matters for developers, lenders, tenants and factoring companies. He has pursued cases related to the fraudulent "importation" of nearly $100 million of coffee from Columbia and commercial insurance fraud, and he has pursued and defended land use appeals in a number of jurisdictions and for a number of clients including governmental entities.

2019-04-23T16:58:28Z

https://www.gtlaw.com/ja/professionals/g/gray-cory-mitchell

You have told me, you miss my physics posts. I have missed them, too, and I give it a try. But I cannot help turning this into a cross-over again, smashing together half-digested psychology, physics, IT networking, and badly hidden autobiographical anecdotes. In 2005 I did research on the incorporation of physics-style thinking and mathematical models into non-science disciplines. Actually, it was a small contribution to an interdisciplinary research project, and I have / should have covered science-y ideas related to how revolutionary new ideas percolate society. In retrospect, my resulting (German) paper was something in between science writing, thorough research including differential equations in detail – and some bold assumptions, partly inspired by popular science, cliché and science fiction. Probably like my posts, but more long-winded and minus the very obvious rants. I built on my work in laser-materials processing, superconductivity, phase transitions, and I tried to relate chaos in thermodynamic systems and instabilities in fluids with related non-predictable diffusion of ideas. Simulation of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities at the interface of fluids with different densities. You could probably test this with Caffe Latte. Many networked structures obey very similar rules. Networks of WWW hyperlinks, citations scientific papers, food chains, and airline networks are called scale-free networks, because the distribution function for the number of links follows a power law. A small number of nodes has a high number of connections and the structure the networks appears the same on every scale applied – it is self-similar. The power law is only valid for ever growing networks. Network following a power-law distribution of connections. The backbone of the network is established by a few strong, well-connected nodes, and the vast majority of nodes has only a few connections. The dynamics of such networks could be modeled using the same math as esoteric Bose-Einstein condensation, which allowed me to combine anything and relate networks and the quantum phenomena in superconductors. But the basic idea is really simply: The more popular nodes attract more links. This is a winner-take-all model. Companies have started monetizing network research by analyzing and modelling hidden structures and unveiling the the fabric underlying politics and economy. Re-visiting that old article of mine I spot an application of physics in something-else-dynamics I have missed: One of the classical non-academic jobs for a (theoretical) physicist is Wall Street quantitative analyst or quant. Quants for example apply models taken from thermodynamics, such as diffusion in supernovas, to the finance world. an assistant professor of logic and philosophy of science at the University of California, Irvine, has two Ph.D.’s — one in physics and mathematics, and one in philosophy. The book gives an overview of different models that resemble physics or are borrowed from physics – such as the Black-Scholes model that uses Brownian motion to model the dynamic development of prices of derivative financial products. Don’t ask me for details – I am just dropping keywords here. Weatherall wants a new Manhattan Project to determine what’s wrong with economics, and he thinks it should be based in no small part on the contributions of physics-oriented economists, some of whom he believes have been treated unfairly by the establishment. In my outdated review article I finally came to the conclusion that some aspects of seemingly complicated systems – including those based on human beings – can be modeled using models of a baffling simplicity in relation to the alleged complexity of human nature. I am not ashamed of pointing out this glaring contradiction with my recent posts on gamification. Taleb speaks to me – in particular his chapter about Ludic Fallacy. I do enjoy the clichéd characters of Fat Tony, the intuitive deal maker who hacks the real world, versus Dr. John, the nerdy engineering PhD who is fond of building mathematical models. I took all my self-irony pills in order to recover. How could I not remember my indulgence in this diagram proving the braininess / nerdiness of physicists (and philosophers) – and my straight As of course. Did I mention that I am not a high-powered executive today or an accomplished professor? So it is Dr. Jane speaking here. How could I not remember those enlightening anecdotes in David Goleman’s pop-psychology bestseller on EQ – emotional intelligence, first published in 1996. He told the story of two equally gifted students of mathematics, one becoming a rock star scientist, the other one becoming a mere computer consultant. I have read this book in German, so I will not give you a verbatim quote translated back to English. Actually, Goleman said something like: He pretended / claimed to be happy as a computer consultant. It says a more about me than about Goleman that I can quote this from memory without touching the book. I could say a lot of things about the notion of pretense here, but I will not repeat my most recent loosely related rant. Goleman and Taleb both agree on the overarching role of intuition, thinking outside-the-box, gut feeling or whatever you call this. Luckily, Taleb is not concerned so much with proving which part of the brain is responsible for what because this is the part of pop-psy books I find incredibly boring. Nobody in his right mind would disagree ( …. with the fact that interpersonal skills are important, not with my judgement of pop-psy books). Even I tend so say, my modest successes in Mediocristan are largely due to my social skills whereas technical skills are needed to meet the minimum bar. Mediocristan is Taleb’s world of achievements limited by natural boundaries, such as: You will not get rich by being paid on time and material. You might get rich in Extremistan, as a best selling author or musician, but you have to deal with the extremely low probability of such a Black Swan of a success. I am trying my hands at Occam’s Razor now and attempt to sort out this contradictions. I believe that mathematical models of society make sense, and I do so without having read more propaganda by econo-physicists. I do so even if I will go on ranting about physicists that went into finance and caused a global crisis, because they just wanted to play with nice physics (as we said at the university) – ignoring that there is more at stake than your next research grant or paper. Models of society and networks make sense if and only if we try to determine a gross statistical property of an enormous system. This is perfect science based on numbers that are only defined in terms of statistics – such as temperature in thermodynamics. Malcom Gladwell is a master story teller in providing some convincing examples that proves that sometimes it only context that matters and that turns us into automata. For example subjects – who were not informed about the experimental setup – were inquired about their ethical standards. Would you help the poor? Of course they would. Then the experimental (gamified!) setup urged the subjects to hurry to another location, under some pretext. On their way, they were confronted with (fake) poor persons in need. The majority of persons did not help the poor, not missing the next fake meeting was the top priority. Gladwell’s conclusion is that context very often matters more – and in a simple and predictable – than all our sophisticated ethical constructs. This is probably similar to our predictability as social networking animals, that is: clicking, liking and sharing automata. People in a stadium clapping their hands will synchronize, in a way similar to fireflies synchronizing their blinking. You can build very simple models and demonstrate them using electrically connected light bulbs equipped with trigger logics – and those bulbs will synchronize after a few cycles. I believe that using and validating those reliable models we learn something about society that is not exactly ground-breaking. We can model the winner-take-all behavior of successful blogs to whom all the readers gravitate by Bose-Einstein condensation. But so what? What exactly did science tell us that we did not know before and considered trivial everyday wisdom? In particular, we learn nothing that would help us, as individual nodes in these networks, to cope with the randomness we are exposed to if we aimed at success in Extremistan. Mr. Taleb, keep preaching on! not falling for the narrative fallacy, denarrating, and ignoring TV and blogs. but yet: focusing on the control of my decisions and trying to grasp the abstract concepts of probability in every moment. Black Swan (Wikimedia). I wanted to embed an image of Nathalie Portman in Black Swan ballet dancer’s costume, but I did not find a public domain image quickly, and I am not bold enough to do so without cross-checking copyright issues. This entry was posted in Life, Life the Universe and Everything, Physics, Science and Technology and tagged Finance, Geek, Geek Collection, Instability, Modeling, Nassim Taleb, Networking Theory, Networks, Psychology, Randomness, Science, Sociology, Technology, Writing by elkement. Bookmark the permalink. Hej Elke, another fascinating blog post. Thank you also for keeping the faith with CarnotCycle. I love the Caffe Latte analogy; it reminds me of aroma-rich, unhurried cafés where one can sit and think about things, like the sometimes-overlooked role of the spoon in entropy-increasing processes. “Have you ever wondered why so many of these straight-A students end up going nowhere in life while someone who lagged behind is now getting the shekels, buying the diamonds, and getting his phone calls returned?” I think the key here is success bias. It is true that some uneducated people get rich; it is also true that most of them end up unemployed and in misery, as it is happening in Spain right now. I recently read that the qualities that make someone overwhelmingly successful are also those which can be conductive to utter failure. Some self-made men took big risks and got huge pay-offs, true. But we never hear the story of the thousands who took big risks and failed miserably. Success seems to be such an elusive subject that trying to find a rule to achieve it seems like a lost cause. You may be able to explain some cases after they happen, but making predictions is a lot harder. Thanks, David – you have pretty much nailed it. That powerful story of the slow-learning, underdog, misfit pupil who meteorically rises to fame later in real live is a legend in its own right (in contrast to the conformist over-achieving nerds to whom their later lack of success serves well). I am thinking of: Bill Gates flunking college and Einstein having been an under-performer at school. The latter is grossly exaggerated according to throroughly done biographies. Taleb states exactly what you say and provides some empirical reseach: Those character traits attributed to the iconic winners – reckless, risk-taking, alpha leaders… – are the same traits that make the susceptible to losing – the different between big wins and big losses is just dumb luck. I want to slide an observation into this thought. Sometimes there is a gap in finding the ‘right’ answer. As a student, I was constantly challenged to give the expected response over the one which was correct or honest. We have this in all fields of study, including science and math, the so-called empirical fields. The TED talk video on statistical interpretation is another such example. People negotiate one or the other, choosing between pleasing others or following their own curiosity. The self-learner isn’t as common, I suspect. It takes a degree of risk to remove one’s self from the social group to express a difference of thoughts. I’m not sure how this fits with Taleb’s thesis, but I would argue that the person who is curious about an idea at the right time, following her/his own instincts, is more likely to become the black swan of innovative thought than the student who knew how to play the system and answered as expected. Don’t get me started about the educational system! 😉 I feel the more unpredictable, Extremistan-like our world becomes, the standardized, and follow-the-solutions-manual-and-learn-the-catalog-of-questions educational systems get. Same with our overly bureaucratic system of industry standards, policies etc. – after all, this is what school prepares you for. I just (have to) read standards on risk management, putting anything in neat little boxes. If I would not see the unintended irony this would bore me to death. Taleb is very radical: He says that it is a bad thing that school expects us to give any answer at all, if the only honest and correct answer would be: We don’t know. He ridicules in particular the explanatory narratives attached to history that we add in retrospect (What is the reason for the demise of the Soviet Union?). Yes, we call this ‘socialization’. 🙂 The only frontiers left for us to explore are the ones of thought and innovation, and once again only the strong and staunch go forth into this wilderness. Some of us get eaten by bears, but a few don’t! Have you seen Peter Donnelly’s TED talk? http://www.ted.com/talks/peter_donnelly_shows_how_stats_fool_juries.html I was thinking of it, considering the connections between the practice and theory of statistics, and Gladwell’s frequent arguments that we often fail to ask the right questions or to examine context closely enough. Thanks, Michelle, just watched it now 🙂 I like these puzzles you fail so easily. Thanks for this book link! I’ve read your post again, some parts of it more than twice. This is a really strong essay, as PMD said, good writing. I’ll probably come back to it again, as I often do your more challenging posts. You’ve also caused me to cave in and chase a trend. 🙂 I am looking at the book Black Swan and will probably read the rest of it. Usually, I resist popular things (perhaps, resisting the networking nodes on a subconscious level). Taleb’s angle on the ‘science of prediction’ is mainly motivated by his experiences as a trader and quant, and his interest in politics – the latter one influenced by his emigrating from Lebanon as a teenager, having experienced the Black Swan of the war. I believe some sort of quantitative ‘science’ is needed to run an insurance or trading company or to forecast a country’s deficit. But Taleb claims that a taxi driver with common sense knows as much about the future of politics as a political science expert. I have read Quiet and enjoyed it – the few, dull, pure neuroscience parts are forgivable, as the book offered me some eye-opening insights about myself. The Shallows by Nicholas Carr – which I praised a lot on this blog – is more unnerving here – as I would have liked to read more about his personal experience in unplugging from the internet and less about his well-researched, but second-hand knowledge of the physiology of the brain. The more researched stories a book contains, the more personal anecdotes I expect to compensate for that. I think you would like Amanda Lang’s book (another Canadian) called The Power of Why. Heavy on anecdotes, but her discussion touches on everything we’ve been blogging about these past months. Currently the Kindle version does not seem to be available – for sure some strange amazon.com / amazon.de glitch. Thanks for commenting – you are too kind! Wonderful writing. The only reference I truly understand is Gladwell, the master web builder. I always enjoy seeing him thread together disparate research data into near conclusions, though he is perhaps wise enough to leave the overall point of his writings mostly unstated. I enjoy Gladwell, too – though it seems a bit fashioanable among intellectuals to despise him as not scientific enough etc. But I believe this is common critique popular writers have to face – I have read Stephen King’s On Writing recently: an awesome book on many levels in my humble, non-expert reader’s opinion – a great blend of advice for writers and subversive autobiography resembling his novels in a subtle way. Yet on amazon some reviewers state that he only wrote this book because he struggle with being a popular, but not a good writer. King is a solid writer, but a genre writer, of immense popularity. I think his bizarre accident which almost killed him prompted the introspective On Writing. Still, I love what he says about grammar being the tool box of a writer to build a composition. Know the rules before you break them for art’s sake. The one thing that always strikes me about models vs. reality is that the social ‘things’ are so complex that it is extremely difficult to model them at all. Models work because they remove the unwanted ‘noise’ from the system but as Taleb points out, sometimes the noise is the dominant thing. Besides, even if there are no black swans, accurate models that predict social and economic behavior would be hardly less complex than the reality itself. I’m therefore really struck by that approach you outlined. No doubt the number of variables per node will have to be very high, as will the number of nodes. In the end, though, it might yield some interesting and maybe even accurate results. But still, there’s the butterfly effect… Seemingly unrelated and minor effects from the ‘edge’ of the system and therefore not likely to be incorporated into the model, could still have a profound effect on the outcome. …another type of black swan I suppose. It had struck me, too. I believe the clue is really, that these models do only work in specific setups – and it might be hard to predict which setups are like that. Gladwell had some good examples related to the power of context, I can’t remember them all. If you enjoyed Taleb, you might enjoy Gladwell, too. But I basically wrote this article as I was surprised by the conclusions I had draws some years ago. Probably I will write another contradict-myself-again-post in a year! One more thing: you really found your ‘voice’ with this post. It was thoughtful and thoroughly engaging :>) Now it’s my turn to tell you to start considering a book!

2019-04-23T14:58:47Z

https://elkement.blog/2013/06/03/theory-and-practice-of-trying-to-combine-physics-with-anything/

Both sides turn to diplomacy to resolve a conflict; Emily obtains a special visa; and Howard interrogates a suspect. TV Fanatic review - It was the Emilys turn up at bat on Counterpart Season 1 Episode 3, and their story delivered! I sure wasn't expecting that ending. I had to laugh at myself for not realizing Emily-Prime’s comatose counterpart Original-Emily would have been employed in the secret agency too — without any conscious analysis, I just had her slotted into the ‘source of man-pain love interest’ category in my brain. Like getting stumped by the old “I can’t operate on him, he’s my son” brain teaser; internalized misogyny is a trip. Really liked this episode though, I think this is the workdbuilding info I was waiting for, those little details about the differences between the worlds revealed during the negotiations at the embassy, and the big reveals about the Emilys & Howards. It didn’t make sense to me before that the two Howards were so different. But now it seems clear that OriginalHoward’s lack of clearance/promotions in the agency were due to OriiginalEmily’s direct interference. And HowardPrime’s rise was strongly motivated by his bitterness at EmilyPrime’s failed attempt to do the same. Apparently I was the only person who suspected Emily's mysterious hit and run wasn't an accident. Good catch, miss-lapin! I missed it too, and was in the same space as oh yeah! It just seemed TOO coincidental that other Emily was a spy of some kind and this one was mysterious hit by a car out of nowhere with the added appearance of Other Howard. They had to be connected somehow. Other-Howard is a Badass. Other Emily (was) a Badass. Other-Baldwin is a universe-hopping contract killer. Prime-Baldwin is a harmless musician. Prime-Howard is Mostly Harmless, therefore Prime Emily is Mostly Harmless. And looking at that... I've been unconsciously conflating the prime universe with softness, and I think they want me to. This episode actually continues to push that perspective subtly, with how they missed a deadly pandemic that the other world is still reeling from. When I trust the writing team, I let go more, and am much more liable to miss a trick. So... I suppose I'm actually happy they were able to slide this one by me. Makes your catch more impressive to me, too. Any other notions you want to share? I hadn't processed it that way. To me it seems like....who takes out their pain internally as opposed to externally. Baldwin and spy Howard seemed to express their inner turmoil by being emotionally disconnected and outwardly hostile. The primes seem to "hold" pain inwardly to protect others. I don't think one is "stronger" than another, just different modes of expressing that strength and so people react differently. Yes, we already know prime world exploits other world for secrets that are more open in their world. In the pilot, when Howard attempts his interview for the Strategy job, Quayle first asked how his wife was, and then said that her "coworkers speak of her highly, although [he] had not met her himself". So the show let us know, subtly, that the comatose Emily worked at the [Unnamed] Bureau and that she worked at a higher level than Howard does. The show seems meticulous with this sort of detail. My theory at the moment is that the choice that split the Howards' respective paths was the other Emily's decision to disclose to Howard that there was a parallel world, or at least that there was something really important he didn't know. Emily says something to that effect when they were privately talking in the embassy -- something about how he could never get over how she once knew more about what was going on than she did. I think that, one way or another, was what split them up and provided the impetus for other Howard to move all the way up to Chief of Section 2. Unlike the Howard here. And this made the other Emily very sad, when she read the letter from this Emily to the other Howard -- she learned that this world's Howard and Emily remained very happily married, while Emily was "read in" and Howard remained ignorant. Anyway, because I caught the hint that comatose Emily worked at a high level there, I never believed that her accident was an accident. She's bound to recover from her coma, of course, since Olivia Williams is a major supporting actor. But I was very sad to see other Emily be killed. Note that she was their side's version of "housekeeping", just as the sullen Aldrich is on this side. While presumably both are primarily interested in protecting the status quo (which Baldwin and Pope are attempted to disrupt), this side's housekeeping seems a whole lot more ruthless about it, while Emilly seemed pretty naive. Which is weird. So this side's intelligence service is less active and there't (apparently?) not really an equivalent to their Section 2, but this side's housekeeping is hardline. The other side appears to be the inverse. It's just strange that we've not seen anyone on this side who is equivalent to other Howard -- he did mention, though, that this side's intelligence was a "shitshow". As punchable as Quayle is -- which is enormously punchable -- he seems to have consistently made the correct decisions, as opposed to Aldrich. Even if they killed or captured Baldwin (as they did), there's no reason to think that this would stop the assassinations on this side, they'd just get a new assassin. They absolutely need to cooperate with other Howard. However, Quayle is being a bit naive in just taking other Howard's word that he can't trust anyone else. Howard could be playing him, as Aldrich suspects. Quayle desperately needs allies on this side ... wait, that will be Emily, won't it? Finally, other Emily was very foolish is speaking aloud with other Howard about whose the action code was -- she already acknowledged that they were probably bugged and it was clear that they were talking about Pope, even though neither said his name. If he's the bad guy who tried to get other Howard killed and actually is the person behind Baldwin, then obviously he's going to kill other Emily for knowing this. Also, be suspicious when your light switch suddenly doesn't work. Just binged all theee of these off the DVR tonight. I’m left with so many questions. Like the prime side is clearly getting the better end of the deal, so why does the divergent side keep the door open? What are they getting out of it? Is that why they have a section 2 at all? What is Pope trying to do? Just trigger some kind of hostilities? Seems there should be more there than just a desire for revenge? He’s got to have a long game? So Divergent Howard came over because Prime Emily missed a rendezvous or something. He had to know all along that something had happened to her. Is he thinking of replacing Prime Howard? Clearly he loves Prime Emily, can we trust divergent Howard’s motives? Prime seems to have some better tech phones, but then the computers are green screen CRT? And dot matrix printers? Also, nailing down what year, when they were negotiating, census years for the US only up to 2011? Are the two worlds even at the same year? This was hinted at as being in East Germany, so it’s got to be after the wall fell on the Prime side, and hard to tell on the divergent side, maybe Communist because of the bar that Divergent Howard drinks in? I’m definitely hooked on this show, now to wait for the next episode. I think the only reasonable explanation of her recklessness is that she was isolated and desperate. Still sort of stretches believability a bit, but maybe she was seriously thrown off by her first crossing. Anyway I loved the peek into the why of maintaining the whole crossing, embassies, etc: trade, of course. But here's my question: Why do they want American census figures from the other side? When she talked about not folding him in I thought OtherEmily had swapped places with PrimeEmily sometime in the past and OtherHoward found out leading to their split. I thoroughly enjoyed the vaccine advert that went from upbeat and friendly (bring your family and friends to the clinic) to punishment, fines, and quarantine. I would pay to have this run in our reality. Bungadunga: to guage the severity of the pandemic? Why that's such a high priority, I don't know. My theory on the census data is to potentially track anyone who doesn't have a counterpart on their side; somehow those people could be useful? But the epidemic one sounds reasonable. Ahem, just finished the first episode and that was the first thing I thought. Glad it's getting good notices here, I'd just seen a promo and the first episode with no info at all was obscure and intriguing. My moneys on the assassin being a good guy freedom fighter. The vaccine ad was totally the German version of Scarfolk.

2019-04-23T12:48:03Z

https://fanfare.metafilter.com/10761/Counterpart-The-Lost-Art-of-Diplomacy

Charles Ryan's Flying Adventure: My first long haul flight for 2014: SIN-HEL with Finnair! My first long haul flight for 2014: SIN-HEL with Finnair! For my return flight trip report. I would like to take this opportunity to give a big thank you to Finnair, Helsinki Airport and Qualityhunters for inviting me over for a couple of days for the #Finnairtweet event and a tour around Helsinki Airport. The experience that I had is extremely valuable as I learned an awful lot from lots of great people at the Finnair's office and the airport. What I also learn about is the human behaviour (the good, bad and the ugly) which has taught me a thing or two, so cheers to all of you! However, I feel that I need to voice out a few concerns about my observation on my flights, I hope the airline representatives who will probably be reading this, take note of them and of course feel free to get back to me if you all have any further enquires. As some of you might know that customer service is one of my most important criteria for my rating. How I give my ratings are based on my flight experience such as the crew's actions and interaction with passengers including myself and the cabin product. Spending a couple of weeks in Korea and Japan has given me what kind of service I hope to get, whether one is flying on Economy or First class, I believe its important to serve the passengers with pride as one's action might affect the decision on whether the passengers would fly with your airline again. With so many competitors out there especially with the "sharks" lurking around such as Emirates, Qatar and Etihad., its important to make it up especially if they are better than your airline in terms of hardware and have a better network than yours. That would be in-flight service! The website is powered by Amadeus which is commonly used by airlines. I had no problem managing my booking to check on the itinerary, doing the online check-in and all that. Website is pretty much basic compared with other airlines, nothing to shout about. Important thing is its working and doesn't give passengers a headache, I think that matters most. Just like some other airlines like British Airways, Qantas (used to fly to Europe from Singapore), you have to pay for your seats and for this case 20 Euros for the basic and seat and a higher price for seats with better legroom such as the emergency rows. For Asians, I think that would come to a shock to us, as normally we don't pay for seats especially on long haul routes. Imaging if SQ, CX, EK or other major Asian carriers follow suit, there would be lots of complaints. So for my flight, looking at the seat map, many seats were taken up already, didn't have much of a choice anyway. Even if there were seats, I would probably not pay for it. The airline allowed you to check-in 36 hours before departure and so I did that, got myself row 55C. It was either that seat or 55A. The flight was at night, 11.35pm departure so it means that I had a full day for myself. I went to work in the afternoon and trust me it was hard to keep my concentration going. Once I got that over with, I went back, pack my luggage and made my way to the airport. Finnair check-in counter opens at around 6pm and I did so before heading to the viewing mall for some quick spotting. Asked the staff counter about the flight and it was indeed full, most of the passengers were Qantas' passengers connecting from Australia. As there wasn't much queue, my boarding procedure was completed within minutes. My boarding pass, was the first to check in for tonight's flight! The inbound flight, arriving Singapore at 1625 and departing at 2335. Quite a number of hours of rest for the aircraft. Very disappointed that an ex-Air France's A340 was going to operate my flight. Hearing so many negative reviews on OH-LQF and OH-LQG, I was dreading this flight. The flight before mine was operated by OH-LQC, that was Finnair's own aircraft and trust me, that is much better than this pair and also OH-LQA which used to operate for Virgin Atlantic. Only one check-in counter was opened. My flight was originally scheduled to be at gate D49, but was changed to D46 which I have used quite frequently! Passengers of my flight, at the holding room at Gate D46. From the gate to boarding the aircraft, everything went smooth. Nothing to mention about. Looking at the crowd, it seems a lot of Australians are heading to Europe for a holiday! Lots of small kids were seen especially later on near the rear of the aircraft. Boarding announcement was made, I waited for my group to be called before making my way down the aerobridge to the aircraft. Once inside, I was underwhelmed by the cabin especially in Y class. It looks very similar to Kuwait Airways especially with the IFE system. My first impression with the crew was a negative one. The crew wasn't very friendly and one of them gave me a stare while I was walking through. It reminded me of the Air India's service I had not too long ago. Got into my seat, an Australian elderly lady thought she was on the aisle seat and I had explained to her that hers was the window seat (55A), she was not happy because she told the agent she wanted the aisle seat, but anyway she settled down and we started chit chatting. The air con in the aircraft didn't seem to be working, it was hot and stuffy! Had to fan myself for a while. It didn't get cool until we were flying! Here are some photos of the cabin. At least the seat cover makes the cabin look very cozy! Still walking to my seat, its one of the last few rows. Now, do you see whether the problem is? I checked out the toilet later during the flight! I feel like in the 90s! Non-Avod first generation PTV, only 7 channels were offered and for my IFE system, I had only 3 channels that were working. The set of crew consisted of majority Finnish crew and a few Singaporean crew. 3 of them were working in the economy class I think. 2 guys and a lady. I talked to one of them during the flight, they came from different airlines. The guys were from Jetstar and Air Asia while the lady was an ex-SilkAir stewardess. More about them on the later part of my trip report. The announcements were made only in English and Finnish and there were quite a number of Chinese and a few Malay travellers on board, shouldn't there be languages in Malay and Mandarin as well? Later on, during a bad turbulence, a Chinese man was standing just outside the toilet waiting for his turn, one of the Finnish crew kept telling him to sit down. Since he didn't react, I felt that the crew should have gotten a Chinese crew to announce in Mandarin and not talking aggressively on the microphone. It may be a language issue for that guy. Just a normal earpiece, nothing to shout about. Had to use the blanket at a later stage of the flight, the aircon was real cold! On take-off, if was one of my most underpowered take-offs I had for a long time! It took ages to lift off and when it did, it didn't feel like it wanted to climb. It was so slow and even my neighbour was asking, was the plane climbing? It might be a bad thing actually, we had a good view of the city and not long after, we left Singapore and continued to struggle towards our assigned flight level. On my previous A340 flight with this airline, I flew from Tokyo Narita to Helsinki! Japan Airlines' Boeing 787 was also flying on this route, in fact about 10 minutes after our flight. Guess what? We took off first, but they landed first and were already at the gate! Good news for frequent Finnair travellers (at this point) is the airline will be taking delivery of new Airbus A350s (in Summer 2015) that will replace the A330/A340s. The A340, LQA, LQF and LQG will be retired, return to the lessor - ILFC. Once the seat belt sign was off, the crew started action immediately. They were to serve the dinner (full meal at this hour didn't make sense for me) quickly as most of the passengers would choose to sleep. So keeping myself awake, I played around with the IFE system. Like I mentioned earlier, there were only 7 channels, but the movies were of the latest and there were some that I had not watched before, unfortunately they were not working so I had to settle for the working ones. Soon, the smell of the food filled the cabin and I was feeling a bit hungry and a few others as well. As usual, the special meals were served first and the crew served from the front to the back and even at breakfast time too! So the rest of the passengers at the back had to wait. While, the trolleys were moving closer to me, I noticed the hot food trays were on the top of it and a kid almost hit his head on it and luckily his parent was alert! I felt that the crew shouldn't expose them to avoid accidents. A male Finnish crew was a few rows in front and I overheard his conversation that the only choice of meal was the beef (chicken was the other option), I wasn't surprised at all. When he came to my row, he didn't say anything, he just passed the food to us without apologizing that the chicken meal was not available. Thumbs down for that! During the meal service, the crew had to go back to the seat with the trolleys (I can understand their frustration) due to the turbulence, they should keep a look out for elbows or legs sticking out. Something they could learn from the Korean and Japanese crew, is by telling passengers to be careful as the tolley is going pass them or something like that. Here is my meal - beef noodles. This has to be one of my worst meals I had for long haul flights! Beef was salty and the noodles was "yuck",and I didn't finish it. The salad and the banana cake were not too bad but the best part of this meal was the bread. You can't go wrong with that! That sums up the quality of this meal, not the airline's fault. I blame this more on the food caterer in Singapore. You have to pay for the snacks! Luckily for me, I managed to sleep for about 4 hours, then I watched some movies (have to repeat a couple of them) before I decided to stretch some legs went to the rear, grab some snacks and talked to one of the crew. Snack bar located at the rear of the aircraft. The ex-Silkair crew whom I also met on the return flight was a crew with an attitude problem. She wasn't friendly towards me and a few others. Looking at us like we were dirt and I spotted her talking very sweetly to a Caucasian. I think some of you will know what kind of girl she is. That shouldn't be the way! While the other 2 staff were better. They were at least sociable and more helpful. I came back to the back cabin later on to ask for something, only the male crew responded while the female gave me a glance and continued to do her make up. How unprofessional she was! I should have taken down her name, she reminded me of the crew on board my Singapore Airlines's flight a few months ago. Anyway, I had some good chat with some passengers at the rear then before I knew it, it was time for breakfast. The flight was turbulent mostly over the Bay of Bengal and on approach to Helsinki, other than that it was smooth. This photo was taken while flying over Russia, not too long more to go before arrival. Soon, it was breakfast time. I hope at that time, the meal was to be served from the rear to the front and also a better quality meal to make up for the disappointing dinner. However, I was once again disappointed, meal started from the front and it took quite a while before it reached to my row. My seat partner chose a special meal and hers seemed not bad but she didn't like it. Was it any better? Nope, I had a hard time digesting all down. I had to because I didn't think I had time to have breakfast when I reached the hotel later. Because once I reached the hotel, my intention was to put my stuff in the room, wash up then off to meet the rest of the Qualityhunter group. For the rest of the flight, it was uneventful. We had a slightly bumpy approach, seat belt signs were turned on quite early, I presumed it was probably due to weather but it turned out to be smooth even through it was raining. The crew came about to do some routine checks and soon we touched down runway 04R in wet condition. Taxied to our gate 32 and that's the end of my flight. Was I glad to get off the aircraft at that point? Yes, I was! Both hardware and software products were disappointing. I can understand about the hardware part since it was due for retirement a year later, but still anyone who booked on the airline to fly to Europe would find themselves extremely unlucky to have gotten LQA, LQF and LQG. Personally, I feel that the airline should deployed this on shorter high demand routes instead. Its a pity the A330-300 is just short of range to fly to Singapore with full load. It flew to Singapore before a few times possibly with lighter load and that makes a lot of difference. One more thing I forgot to add in, the airline allows you to use your electronic devices from gate to gate. This means that you can use them even on take off and landing, no need to switch them off, but for your phones you have to leave them on flight mode. First airline for me that allows this! I am thankful that I got to experience both J and Y class on the wide-bodies. A big thank you to Finnair for making my trip possible! However, I was disappointed with my flight experience. I hope the management will take notice of this. The importance of service towards each passenger will determine whether they will fly with the airline again as they will possibly spread the whatever feedbacks they have on social media and family/friends. Comments from mine and from some other trip reporters has added in some weight to traveller's decision whether to fly with the airline. I have received emails and messages about my flight experiences and asked for my recommendation. Personally I feel that equality is very important, regardless of where one comes from, they should all be treated equally with respect. Seeing some of the staff treating other races better than others is sad. Racism is part and parcel of life, but its time to do something about it. If your airline can't compete with others in term of hardware, then make it up by focusing on having one of the best in-flight services on all classes. Some of the major airlines' in-flight service had dropped since the 1990s but passengers still fly them because they have the hardware and network. Looking at the positive side of this trip, I reached there in time and got to experience the wonderful Helsinki Airport, had a warm welcome by the immigration officer and an easy guide to the hotel. Do check out my return flight trip report. Interesting review. I went on Finnair's A350 this year between HEL and HKG, as well as HEL-LHR and it was really wonderful. The PTV was very fluid and responsive and the flight map looked really nice, and if you zoom in to a few selected cities there is also a detailed street map that is provided by "Open Street Map". It wasn't as good as Google Maps but still the street maps were a nice touch. The food was pretty good overall, though on AY70 HKG-HEL the food wasn't so good. On AY831 to LHR the food wasn't free, like their intra-Europe flights, but the caesar wrap that I ordered really tasty (coffee and water were free). So yeah, I highly encourage you to fly on Finnair's A350 and since all the A340 have been retired, no more praying that you would get the newer A340 instead of the used A340. The A330, which still exists, have the exact same interior as the newer A340.

2019-04-26T08:09:06Z

http://charlesryan77w.blogspot.com/2014/07/flying-with-finnair-to-helsinki.html

The Natal Sharks BoardThis is the only organization of its kind in the world. Situated in Umhlanga, four days per week the Sharks Board conducts an audiovisual presentation and a shark dissection, see the internal machinery of one of the oceans most awesome predators. A large variety of lifelike replicas of sharks, fish & ray's, including that of an 892kg Great White Shark can be viewed in the Display Hall. NAC Helicopters specialise in Exec charters etc. Try the Game drive/lunch A stunning tour inland through the valley of a thousand hills, land next to the hippo pools at Tala Game Reserve in the Natal Midlands, tour includes game drive through the reserve and lunch at the exceptional La Tala restaurant, or try the North Coast Tour. This scenic flight takes you north along the Dolphin Coast, past the lighthouse at Umhlanga to the lagoon where the fish eagles play. Glimpse the dolphins frolicking in the surf before turning around at Ballito. Dolphin Coast Microlight School offers a variety of introductory flights on a daily basis along the Kwa Zulu Natal Coastline. They are the largest flying school in KZN. Highly qualified instructors aided by state of the art equipment to ensure your safety offer Professional flying instruction and lectures. Join Umko Rafting for a day you'll never forget, take up the challenge and ride the river, enjoy the spectacular scenery and remoteness of the Umkomaas Valley. Rising high in the Drakensberg the mighty Umkomaas River thunders into the bushveld valley challenging River Runners with a variety of rapids. Crocworld is more than just croc viewing, it is a whole wildlife experience. Go and learn about these fascinating reptiles, snakes and the abundant indigenous birdlife. See the graceful fish eagles, flamingos, the playful monkeys and the tortoises - and if you are energetic, you can go on a tranquil walk through the indigenous flora and fauna of the nature trail. The Zulu Warrior in Traditional Clothing.Phezulu Safari Park is an exciting tourist venue, only 35km from central Durban. Visitors are taken into the traditional beehive shaped thatched huts, where the various artefacts, beliefs & rituals are explained. The Zulu dancing show is impressive with dancers in their traditional clothing showing off their skills with grace, agility and humour - a truly unforgettable experience. Take a boat ride to the Dolphin coast, this is the playground of the bottle-nose dolphins who are visible all year round and who invite you to join them as they frolic in the waves and make their way up the coast. Surveys of these waters suggest a school of about 200 dolphins, which break up into smaller groups, frequent them. Whale sharks can also be seen along this stretch of coastline. Allure Charters offer a 35 foot sea going yacht, powered by two diesel engines, 220v generator. Carpeted throughout, two comfortable cabins, toilet, microwave and ample seating. Equipped with the latest communication, radios, fish finder, GPS navigator, radar and autopilot. Established in 1949 and situated on 14.5 hectares in the heart of Durban, this tropical haven in KZN is the oldest surviving botanical garden in Africa. The following groups of plants are the main collections of the garden: Orchids (Indigenous & Exotic) Palms (Indigenous & Exotic) Cycads (Indigenous & Exotic) Bromeliads (Exotic). Playing Golf, in KwaZulu Natal,Kwa Zulu Natal is home to 12 of Africa's finest golf courses, including the DURBAN COUNTRY CLUB, the only African golf course listed in the prestigious Bell's top 100 world courses. Durban Country Club is less than 10 minutes drive from Umhlanga. Mount Edgecombe Country Club There is infinitely more to golf than simply the game itself. Tucked away in the hills of the Dolphin Coast, only 5 minutes from Umhlanga beaches, it is surrounded by natural splendour, each golf course has its own Halfway House. The two unique golf courses provide a treat for bird lovers as the indigenous trees and exotic shrubbery attracts a host of colourful birds and butterfly's. Other facilities to be enjoyed are the tennis courts, squash courts and bowling greens. Zimbali Lodge epitomises elegance, opulence and sophistication. One can indulge in the superb cuisine of the intimate colonial-style restaurant, or relax on the terrace with its breathtaking views overlooking the nearby beach and championship golf course. Designed by former SA PGA and British Open champion and international golfing star, Tom Weiskopf, this 18-hole course is both challenging and unforgettably beautiful. Umhlali Country Club, situated close to the Zimbali Lodge on the inland side of Ballito, this tropical look golf course uses the natural contours of the land and beautiful palm trees and tall blue gums integrated into the golf course architecture. A must for the country golfer. Royal Durban Golf Club, ideally situated in the centre of the Durban premiere race track, Greyville. This flat course offers other challenges in some severe rough and out of bounds race track lingering close by. Windsor Park, is Durban's well laid out municipal course situated alongside the Umgeni River, which comes into play on 3 holes. This allows all golfers members and non-member alike access at all times on first come first serve basis so early arrival would be recommeded. Alongside is a 9-hole mashie course ideally suited to those less accomplished in the art of golf! Nothing can compare with the seer exhilaration of sailing on the blue Indian Ocean, with the salt spray on your lips and the Dolphins playing in the bow wave. The African Queen offers a Champagne Breakfast or Lunch cruise, duration 3 hours. Enjoy a delicious meal in the Captain's saloon, and then wander up on deck for an exhilarating cruise. The La Lucia - Umhlanga Mall is situated just 100 meters from the Ballyhigh. The Mall enjoys recognition as the centre for the discerning shopper of the North. Myriad of 118 interesting stores await you with top class service and products synonymous with their regular clientele. A games arcade for the kids, restaurant and coffee shops. For fun and relaxation look no further - your destination, The Mall La Lucia - Umhlanga! Discover a unique world adventure above and below the water. uShaka Marine world is to rank as one of the world's top theme parks. It is also one of the biggest and best of its kind , it is a unique tourist attraction that will set it apart from anything that has gone before. The uniqueness of uShaka Marine world is the fact that four entertainment zone have been combined from 1. The first one is the interactive aquarium, the second is the retail mix, then there is the water park with its thrills and rides, and the forth element which most of the worlds tourism still want its beachfront attractions. so with these 4 put together this is going to be a real destination attraction. Combine that with the fact that the aquarium is the 5th largest in the world and the largest in the Southern hemisphere. Here u will find a theme that no one in the world can parallel. The name itself uShaka Marine World combined with the retailing and the retail theming creates a unique african and Zulu theme. There's also a little bit of local folklore in here with a ship wreck. The ship is a replica of one of many of its kind that sank of the Kwa-Zulu Natal's coast line and serves a dual purpose. First as a restaurant and event zone within the theme park. Then when u go underground there's the whole of the underground walkway which is your conventional aquarium and also the med within the terms of the ship wreck. Spectacular waterfalls and lush vegetation, with birds out on perches, in walk through aviaries and open paddocks, this little jewel is one of the finest bird parks in the world! Come and see gaudy macaws and elegant flamingoes, and see how some of the world's rarest birds live and breed. A viewing window allows you to follow the activity in the baby room, where plump little chicks are reared by loving foster parents. You'll see the stately cranes, the comical toucans and loads more. Free flight bird show - unique in Africa, with critically endangered species like the Wattle and Blue cranes, as well as owls, storks, hornbills, huge Cape Vulture and African Fish Eagle in free unrestricted flight. Tariman INN, KZN, South Africa - Umhlanga Local Attractions & Activities Copyright © 2016.

2019-04-19T22:48:02Z

http://ballyhigh.co.za/accommodation-attractions.html

I look forward to Die Burger each year – it’s the last organised ride, follows a wonderfully scenic route, and is also a seeding ride for the Cape Argus. One final chance at getting an earlier start time for the big finale to the summer cycling season. Originally when planning to do the DC, I’d foolishly assumed I would skip Die Burger this year, with it being just one week later. When the entries opened however, I just couldn’t imagine not taking part. So I bargained one last weekend of racing from my long suffering partner, Yoli. Not that she complained much, since she haggled an early, and more extravagant than usual birthday present – a nice shiny Kenwood mixer which now takes pride of place in the kitchen.. I normally struggle to use the term “race” when describing organised bike rides, because in truth the term “fun ride” better sums up the spirit I and many other riders enter and ride them with. For the first time though I feel at least a little bit justified in calling it a race. Not because I’d be up front racing for honours, but lining up in start group E put me only a few groups behind the real racers, and would mean fast bunches to improve the chance of a decent time. Better still, in amongst those fast riders were six fellow Wannabees, from our DC team and training rides: Adele, Alita, Desiree, Elizna, Peter and Theunis. As we chatted to wile away the time until our 06:12 start, it became clear that I wasn’t the only one hoping for a good time: Adele had done a 3:08 the year before, and was looking to improve her time, even if only by one minute. I’d set myself a target of 3:15, but I didn’t mention the fact that I was really hoping for a faster time – having spent most of the typically sleep interrupted night before dreaming about a first sub 3 time. It seemed outrageously arrogant to mention it when this race last year was the first time I’d managed a sub 4, with a time of 3:48. So I kept quiet on my real ambition. Pacing Die Burger is very tricky. It starts with an initial lung busting 6.5km climb almost immediately off the line. The risk with going out too hard at this, the only real climb of the day is not leaving enough fuel in the tank for a testing 40km of rolling hills back from Wellington at the end. Each of us had our own ideas on race tactics, so we had agreed not to try and ride as a group but rather follow our own pace. As we set off though, Alita and Elizna were both around me and we stayed largely together over the opening ramps of Helshoogte Old Pass. As the road wound and pitched up the wonderful wooded hillside, Alita’s climbing pace was a little stronger than I wanted to go at this early stage, so I sat back into a steady climb. Elizna was also obviously concerned about pushing the pace too much, and we exited the old pass and crossed the last few metres of the climb together. Looking down at my Garmin, I was glad I’d only mentioned my 3:15 target in the start chutes. The split given in the race pack at the top of Helshoogte for a sub 3 was just 19 minutes. We were already 3 minutes slower than that with 85kms of riding still ahead. Dwelling on it wouldn’t help though, so I shifted to my big plate on the front, stood on the pedals and rapidly worked through to small cog on the back as we picked up the pace and sped into the descent. Wind rushing past us as our speed crossed 60km/h, I shouted across to Elizna that we needed to find a bunch for the stretch into Paarl after the downhill, which would be a fast section but also likely to be into the wind. It wasn’t looking promising though, with no obvious groups around us. After the short incline before the run down through Pniel it struck me we were gaining very slightly on a bunch some way ahead. At just that point a guy clad in white, on a white bike came past only slightly faster than us. With three of us now, we could probably catch the bunch ahead – so I pulled alongside and shouted across that if we worked together we could chase them down. The next few kilometres were a painful, lung and thigh busting blur as we ignored the opportunity for a nice easy free-wheel through the village, and instead charged at full speed towards the tail of the group ahead. Slowly, as we alternated turns between myself, Elizna, and white-clad-cycle-guy, we reeled them in metre by metre, and as the road flattened past Boschendal we finally caught them. I was impressed with how quickly Elizna ignored the temptation to sit at the back of the bunch, and immediately hopped into the thick of it in the middle. She’d clearly learnt a lot from our recent rides about the horrible concertina affect at the rear of groups, and sensibly gone for the typically steadier pace towards the front. As we swung left onto the R45, I was having a few concerns over just how much energy and muscle power I’d burnt up, with a long ride still ahead. I knew it was the right move to ensure we kept a good speed up until Paarl, but I was suffering way harder than normal for such an early stage of a ride. That was when I realised that for the first time I was experiencing the real difference between riding and racing – pain. On fun rides, when it hurts, you sit up and take it easy. But not today, I was already hurting, but with no intention of backing off I bit down hard onto my lip, rode harder, and stuck with the bunch. At least the reward was there to see, our pace was improving and not far ahead I could see another large bunch which we were slowly overhauling. I presumed we were hunting down the tail of a slower bunch of C and D riders. We caught them around the right turn onto the R101, and as we headed towards Paarl circle chaos ensued. This wasn’t a bunch any more, but a full on Peloton – everywhere around me were riders, literally hundreds of them. Negotiating the right turn around the circle was a nervous, potentially ride-ending affair, with at least ten riders abreast sweeping around the circle at a crazily fast speed for the number of riders and tightness of the bends. At least the clock was more promising – we hadn’t slipped back, and were still only 3 minutes off the official sub 3 split time of 55 minutes at the circle. Desiree also now joined Elizna and I, having clearly had a good run down from Helshoogte – it was great to have a chat with friends as we headed through Paarl and towards the pretty vineyard lined section around Klein Drakenstein. This stretch of Die Burger has been a bad patch for me in previous years, it’s slightly uphill and always seems to suffer with the wind. This year was no exception, and as Elizna kicked to stay in the bunch to help battle the wind my legs just wouldn’t respond – in the blink of an eye, I was dropped. In a few minutes I’d gone from being surrounded by a ring of racing riders, to riding completely alone along a leafy lane between wineries. If this were a fun ride, I’d have been delighted to enjoy the serenity with just one or two riders around me. But I was gutted. The clouds looming over the mountain were heavy and grey, the wind was freshening into my face, and despite my average speed being close to the 30km/h needed for a sub 3, I was currently battling to even make 25km/h. It felt like less than half way in my race was already over. Regardless, I pushed on, catching the occasional glimpse of the bunch ahead, tauntingly close still but way too large a gap to be closed solo. One thing I have learnt from past rides though is that when you get dropped from your bunch, dial back a gear, get some strength back into your legs, and be ready for the next bunch coming through. And sure enough, the first riders of that bunch started to pass me just before the last rise of Sonstraal Road as it swings left back towards Paarl. For one brief moment, my fun ride mentality surfaced and I considered letting them go past rather than throwing myself back into the pain of a race. But I hadn’t lost much time and a decent time of just over 3 hours was still very possible. So I picked up the cadence, and stuck myself firmly in the middle of the group. The next moment, as if to confirm my decision, Adele came past me with a “heya Rob“, followed by Peter just a few riders back. I stood and pumped up the short incline, and we charged down the long, extremely fast run down into Paarl. The rapid sequence of left and right turns switching through the back streets of Paarl were challenging, the group splitting and sprinting with each turn, making for a thigh burning couple of kilometres trying to stay in touch. Heading out towards Wellington though, somehow I was still there, now alongside Peter and chatting away. The pace was still uncomfortably fast, but enough endorphins were flowing through my veins now to dull some of the pain. The Garmin was smiling back at me too – our pace now having crept to 29.9, tantalisingly close to the magic 30.6km/h level that would revive the sub 3 dream. Skirting Wellington, we swung left onto the R44, and the second half of the ride. Initially the now fairly strong North Wester was a crosswind, but after the gradual climb up to Windmeul, the road swung south and we felt a welcome extra push of the the wind at our backs. The long climb out of Wellington had fragmented riders, different climbing abilities and speeds splintering the group, leaving small shards of riders dotted ahead and behind as far as you could see. With no obvious bunch to join, and a sequence of rolling hills and short fast descents ahead, I decided to just put my foot down and go as hard as I could solo. It was breathless stuff, but the kilometres started to evaporate rapidly with each surging ramp, and racing descent. I was a little nervous approaching the last rollers into Klapmuts. At this point I have started to cramp on every previous Die Burger. By now, I was holding nothing back and pedalling flat out – quads burning, and mouth open sucking in lungfuls of air to keep the engine going. I was passing riders too, and not just on the downhills: I joined and pulled away from at least two small groups on the uphills too. Despite the pain, I was loving it – my average speed had now crossed the magical 30k/h barrier, faster than I’d ever averaged before, and it wasn’t just because of drafting a faster group doing the work. I started to dream again – just 0.5km/h more and the sub 3 was still on. But the cruel thing about average speeds is they get harder to improve as time and kilometres move on, the distance behind creating a heavier and heavier anchor dragging you back. Knowing this, I told myself that I should easily beat 3:15, and that would be more than good enough as a result. Although the bunch had broken up, and Adele was far ahead by now, Peter and I obviously ride at a similar pace, and spent most of the R44 passing each other regularly, exchanging words of encouragement as we did. Even with the work rate and fast start, the rolling hills were now behind without any hint of cramps developing. I started the second to last hill of the day, Wiesenhof, with Peter just ahead of me – and soon pulled alongside him. Rather than pass though, I rode alongside and we chatted to the top, the main topic being the motivational thought that there was only one more, relatively small, hill to go before the finish. Crossing the top, I had lost track of split times and resorted to a quick mental calculation: there were something like 13km to go, including long stretches of fast riding, and just over 20 mins left on the clock. This was going to be close, very close. That realisation was all the incentive I needed, I stood up, stamped a frantic burst into my pedals, and tore into the downhill. The only thoughts that went through my head as we flew over those final kilometres was “don’t get a puncture, don’t get a mechanical, stay on the bike“. I’ve never been a fast descender, and the speed terrified me at times. On my first Die Burger down this same stretch of road I saw first hand what happens to a rider when a front wheel or fork breaks and they go over the bars at 60k/h. It’s a sobering sight, and wasn’t one I could shut out of my mind as we hurtled along. The relief as we swung the last left turn onto the R301 was enormous. The clock was reading 2:54, and we were almost there – less than 2km, and 6 minutes in hand. I started to dream again, and shouted across to Peter that we had a chance of a sub 3 here. He looked back at me in surprise, clearly unaware of how close we were to such a fast time. But as I stood to sprint the last stretch, the legs had nothing to give – they were dead and lifeless, and I was forced to sit and labour my way up the nasty short uphill from the turn. The top crawled into view, and I hit the big blade one last time, it seemed to take an age to get back up to speed, and the last sweeping bend seemingly endless. Peter passed me and I saw him pause, clearly conflicted with a sub 3 a few metres down the road, but also not wanting to drop me behind. I shouted across to him “go for it Peter, get the sub 3“. I heard the words “thanks …. “, and something else that I didn’t quite catch as he pulled away and made for the line ahead. Everything hurt – the tank was empty, the legs were gone, but the finish was there. I hauled myself out of the saddle, and launched the bike towards the big blue, Die Burger arch spanning the road, and a welcome release from the pain. The last race of 2012 was over, and just beyond the timing mats were Desiree, Adele, and Peter – huge smiles, hugs and congratulations all around as they had all gone under 3 hours. I didn’t want to look down, just in case, but I needn’t have worried. The Garmin smiled at me one last time – 2:57. Even allowing for small differences between my clock and the official one, I’d done it. My first sub 3, and despite many previous rides, my first real race. Just to round off the ride nicely, we found out later that both Alita and Elizna had also gone under 3 hours as well – Alita being particularly pleased to have bounced back strongly after a disappointing DC. The final irony of my faster riding was the smartness of Yoli’s bargaining – I was home before 10am, hardly making a dent on our Sunday. I knew the DC training had exacted a heavy price on our weekend family life over the last six months, so that Kenwood felt like a fair trade for such a memorable final event of 2012.

2019-04-24T13:49:39Z

https://www.justkeeppedalling.com/2012/12/last-race-of-the-year.html

AN ARTICLE ABOUT TEACHERS CHANGE LIVES 24/7? (Vol. 15, #3, see www.ilprincipals.org). What is the number one responsibility of building administrators? Is this a trick question—or even a valid one? Aren't there far too many responsibilities to consider? Is it even possible to come up with a number one on the top ten list of things that every administrator needs to do? Let me respond. First of all, it’s not a trick question. Second, there is a number one responsibility. Third, it’s not only a valid question, it’s a critical consideration. When I ask this same question to groups of administrators I get a variety of responses. Usually, they say the number one responsibility of administrators is to focus on students, curriculum, caring, or management. Another frequent reply is that it’s to meet the needs of kids. And another, it’s to assure that all kids are meeting the goals of the curriculum. All of those are good responses but they skirt the real and most crucial answer. What is the number one responsibility of a building administrator? Simply and clearly, it’s to provide the best staff possible. Nothing more, nothing less. Want to hear Jim read this article on a podcast? Think about that for a minute. The best staff possible. Not an average staff, not a “meets” staff, but the best possible. A staff that “exceeds expectations” in all categories. And as we all know, that’s quite a task to accomplish. Since the largest percentage of any school staff is those with certifications to teach, it seems reasonable to me that this is one of the most important areas for building administrators, to make the teachers the best they can be. I like to conduct a verbal survey when I speak with teachers and administrators. I usually walk around the auditorium or meeting room, find folks who have kids of their own in school, and ask them what kind of teachers they want for their own children. It doesn't matter if we are talking about kindergarteners, third graders, hormonally-challenged middle schoolers, or kids getting ready for college. The answers are always the same. Most responses get right to the point: they want the best teachers for their kids. Some get more specific by listing qualifications such as caring, giving fair treatment, being focused, understanding, loving, or patient. But I have never ever heard anyone say, “I want an average teacher for my kid.” Nor do they say, “I want someone who during their last evaluation was rated as “meets expectations.” Nor does anyone ever say, “A ‘C’ teacher is fine with me!” Think about that. Almost every parent out there readily states that they do not want an average teacher teaching their kids. I even get a little edgy in some of my talks by clearly stating to the teachers there that if they are “average” they need to know that probably no one wants them teaching their kids! Here is the most important part of this discussion: It is absolutely true. Kids, and their education, are too important for average or, God forbid, less than average teachers. The same is true for teacher assistants, or principals, or anyone who works with kids, or who works for them, in the school system. That said, my book, Teachers Change Lives 24/7, was written to share with teachers some basic, real-life concepts in easy-to-understand English, concepts that must be considered as we work toward providing the best for our kids and toward developing the a perfect school building or system. Teachers Change Lives was written for teachers and administrators as a guide, with 175 actual ideas suitable for immediate implementation. To me, as a school leader, one of the primary goals is to get every educator in the system to see the big picture, understand their own importance in the system, and to create a vision for excellence that all can embrace and own. Chapter 13 of my book puts these ideas into focus. I have tweaked parts of that chapter in the paragraphs that follow. The concepts shared fit every person who works in a school building or system. A few years ago, Microsoft ran an ad that appeared in many magazines. I first saw it in an issue of National Geographic. It was a two-page spread that had a teacher standing in front of a line of eight students. I copied one page of that ad (the teacher and four students) and have given Microsoft lots of free publicity in my teacher and administrator workshops. I found the ad to be an exceptional way of demonstrating a critical point as we develop the best staff possible. Let me recreate the visual for you if you don't remember or never saw the ad. The teacher is a lady. She is wearing a casual outfit with tennis shoes. She’s holding what looks like a clipboard and is facing a single-file line of students. I will share what the first four students look like. The kids, who appear to be 10-12 years old, have on jackets and two are wearing baseball-type caps. The scene is outdoors, maybe next to a museum. You can only see a part of a building behind the teacher and you also see a nicely landscaped sidewalk. Each of the kids appears to be holding a file or clipboard. What’s different on the photograph are the “ghost” lines around the students. These lines show what the teacher visualizes. The first student, a young lady, is standing straight, holding her clipboard, and facing the teacher. The “ghost” lines have added a beret to her head, a large artist’s paintbrush to one hand, and an easel, with a sketch of the teacher's face, stands in front of the student. The second student is a young man. He is smiling and appears to be raising his hand ready to ask a question. The ghost lines have added running shorts, an athletic jersey, and a wristband. The smiling boy is clutching an award hanging around his neck and holds what looks like an Olympic torch in his uplifted hand. The third student is standing in line with her notebook open. This young girl's “ghost” lines have added a swimming mask on her head and scuba gear on her back, around her chest, and in her mouth. She appears to have a wet suit on, with flippers, and she is holding a flashlight. The final student seems to be of the unisex variety. He or she (you can't tell) is standing, facing the teacher, holding the clipboard with both hands, and displays a bright smile on his/her face. The “ghost” lines have added a saxophone hanging from his/her neck, and he/she is playing it. Little “ghost” notes are coming out of the instrument. Four kids standing in line. The expression on the teacher's face is one of pride and ownership—the same expression you see on most satisfied and productive teachers. She seems to be saying, “These are my kids. I am proud of them.” (Did you ever notice that only a few weeks after school begins each fall, many teachers start referring to their students as “my kids”?) But the ghost lines tell us even more. The ghost lines shout loudly, What You See is What You Get. One of the most important components of any success is having a vision. Business leaders, school administrators, classroom teachers, parents, clergy, anyone who sets goals and works toward meeting them, gets there faster and more effectively if they have vision. I have a personal example of that vision. Shortly after assuming the role of superintendent at the district from which I recently retired after 12 wonderful years, I formed a vision. I was sitting in the parking lot of the high school. My car was facing north. What I saw was a cornfield. It was also the edge of town and the line of expansion for a growing community. There was talk that the property I was looking at was going to be sold for yet another subdivision. I sat there pondering the plight of my struggling school district, one that had run out of space. Gymnasium stages, locker rooms, storerooms, even libraries had been converted into classrooms. Some support staff was located in hallways with desks in cubbyholes. Confidence and money were hard to find. The community wouldn’t embrace another tax increase and too many negative attitudes hindered the good works and intentions of an outstanding school board. Sitting there, it dawned on me that what we needed was a new school. We needed a new middle school to allow relief for all the K-8 grade students. We could move the middle school students off their present campus and into a new building. The new building would be like a relief valve for an over-pressured school district. And what better place than across the street from the high school to create a new campus with endless possibilities? But it was my vision, and everyone knows that in order to make a vision come to fruition, it must be owned and embraced by the stakeholders. Within weeks of that “experience” a group was formed to purchase the land. The Board engaged in strategic planning with community engagement. Within five years and six referenda, and a strong base of over 300 supporters, the vision became reality. The school was built and the community celebrated many forms of success. One successful vision opened the doors to many others. Was it my vision that started it all? Yes and no. Yes, it was both the focus point of a possible solution and the motivation I needed to get things happening, and no, it had to become the collective vision of everyone in order to gain acceptance, support, and passion. So when push came to shove, my leadership helped create our vision. When the teacher in the Microsoft ad looks at her four students she visualizes four developing individuals. She sees four possibilities: an artist, an athlete, a marine biologist, and a musician. Once she has her vision of what could be, she sets in motion the ingredients for success. She defines the vision and puts it in motion. I imagine this teacher as one who encourages her students, suggests ways for them to experience their possibilities, and helps pave the road of success for their futures. She doesn't see four kids on a field trip. She sees four human beings needing help as they forge their way toward realistic goals. Her vision and passion will be the keys that open new doors for these children. She will use those keys to help change their lives. But I truly feel that her success as a teacher is a response to some administrator’s leadership and passion to provide each student in his/her building with the best staff possible. Can you see something that needs to be done and then help make it happen? Is your vision complicated or simple? Often, when I speak with educators, I ask them to do two things when they return to their scheduled lives, two simple yet profound requests. First, I ask the teachers to pick just one student who needs a change in their life. I ask the administrators to pick just one teacher and do the same. Then I ask them to visualize that student or teacher making that change. The second request for administrators is to define just one area of weakness that that focused teacher has. (This is hard because we often try to “fix” a plethora of issues, but the key to success is to focus on just one characteristic or trait that can be improved.) It might be getting along better with other staff members, not being so negative when faced with the mundane responsibilities of the job, losing some weight, spending more time with parents, learning how to teach more effectively, or balancing home and school more effectively. A great way to offer improvement is through professional or personal development. Often we focus on just the professional development offered through the school or through a nearby university—and sometimes we do it with a less than enthusiastic attitude. What a shame. Every experience is just as good as we make it. We, as administrators, need to make professional development worth the time and energy. I remember one well respected teacher leaving an in-service presentation who said, “I didn't learn anything new today, but I reinforced a lot of things I am already doing, and it validated my efforts. That is a good feeling.” She had the right attitude. Another teacher commented, “I have never attended any workshop or institute where I didn't get at least one good idea to try.” I believe her because I imagine she never went into a workshop or institute where she wasn't looking for one good idea to try! Life is all about learning. Good administrators and teachers try to learn and improve at every opportunity. They expand their inventory of experiences and sift through ideas that can enhance, validate, or replace methods or procedures. Excellent educators look for occasions to learn. Excellent administrators match their staff with meaningful and life-changing professional development opportunities. So how can an administrator change the teacher they have selected? I suggest that administrators write down on a piece of paper the vision they have for improving the staff member, and they keep the paper where they can see it every day. It becomes a reminder of their vision for change. And then I suggest that they outline a plan. Creating steps to make this vision become reality helps it happen. And finally, they focus on completing those steps, one at a time, over a reasonable time period. The key is to always have a few workable visions in front of you. Make them doable and realistic. Inch by inch, baby step by baby step, you can make things happen if you just see the end result and move toward it. Just a few manageable goals can give you the confidence to set bigger ones, to take on greater challenges, and, as a result, change the world. Silly? Not for a minute, for what you see is what you get. See change and you will realize change. What do you see when you look at your teachers? What are your visions for the future? Do you see them as what they are—or how they could be? When you consider your own strengths and weaknesses, do you think of ways to improve yourself as a human, as a family member, and as a leader? Are you able to create a vision and then turn it into reality? I once had a friend who lost more than 50 pounds. He looked terrific. I asked him how he did it. His answer has always impressed me. He said, “I visualized myself thinner and in better shape, and then I set a goal to lose one pound.” He waited for my response, and then he said, I followed that with 49 more goal setting experiences.” His theory? Anyone can lose one pound, and if you can easily lose one pound, just repeat that process 49 more times and your vision becomes reality. Sounds almost too simple, doesn’t it? And yet, if you think about it, it makes great sense. One life can be changed if you break that life into manageable size chunks and work on it, one chunk at a time. Create a vision, complete the vision, and what you visualized becomes what you get. It's a formula for changing lives. And if you apply it to areas of weakness, soon you begin to vaporize those weaknesses and build a staff of excellence. Our children—no, all children—deserve the very best educators possible. It is our job as educational leaders to find, nurture, and continually develop them. That is our number one responsibility. And we can do it by establishing a vision, by facilitating “manageable chunks” of change, and by exercising passionate leadership. Teachers do indeed change lives 24/7, but administrators set the stage for successful change. They see it, they find it, and they make it happen.

2019-04-21T18:53:00Z

http://www.teacherschangelives.com/IPAarticle.htm

Moving up to the inside of the skull, there is the brainstem. The brainstem includes a region called the “oblong core” — medulla oblongata in Latin, or simply, medulla. The medulla controls the most basic functions: heartbeat, respiration, and the like, the so-called “vegetative” functions. The brainstem is nestled deep at the base of the skull, well-protected by bone and muscle, between the mouth and the nape of the neck. Further up, there is an area called the thalamus. The thalamus sorts through sensory information coming in, decides which is most important, and allows the most important information access to higher brain levels. It also sorts motor information coming out. The only sensory pathway that doesn’t go through the thalamus is the sense of smell, which is why it’s so hard to “shut off” the sense of smell. Once someone’s overbearing perfume or the stench of death or a baby’s dirty diaper gets into your nostrils, it’s impossible to ignore. Further, the sense of smell is connected directly to the emotional centers of the brain. Proust’s Remembrance of Lost Times (or Remembrance of Things Past) is a seven-volume masterpiece whose trigger was the smell of tea-cakes baking in a Paris street. It’s hard to imagine any of the other senses evoking thousands of pages of a narrator’s lost past. In human behavior, there is a clear division of brainstem (we’ll include the thalamus, even though it’s a separate area to anatomists) and cortex. All decisions are made at the subconscious level, and the cortex comes along later and plasters a rationale for the decision on top. We believe we use logic and reason to arrive at our behaviors. Almost always — maybe always — it’s the other way around. The brainstem supplies the answer. The cortex supplies the reason. The cortex (“bark”) lies at the top of the brain, both anatomically and metaphorically. Only here are we privy to the actions of nerve cells. If a sensation reaches cortex, it is consciously perceived; if it stays in the brainstem or thalamus, it resides only in the subconscious. If a motor action is to be carried out by force of will, it begins life as a plan in the cortex. It is then relayed back through the thalamus to finally end up as a signal onto motor neurons, the cells that hook directly to muscle. When the motor neurons are activated, they send a signal that causes contraction of muscle. All that brainpower, and you can only do two things: move a muscle, or change the secretion of a gland. For controlling the function of the head, and for picking up signals coming into it, there are special brain cables called “cranial nerves” that carry information into or out of the central nervous system. There are twelve pairs (left and right) of these; the first one, the olfactory or “smell” nerve, is part of cortex; the second one is part of the thalamus; and the remaining ten are associated with the brainstem. For example, numbers seven, nine and ten carry taste information into the brainstem. Think of the medulla as the stems of a large floral bouquet. Traveling up the stems, we find the brainstem, of which the medulla is just a part, and then we encounter the base of each blossom: the thalamus, which serves as an intermediary between the stems below with their vegetative functions and the blossoms above. At the molecular level, the nerve cells (neurons) of the brain work by releasing chemicals from tiny apparatuses found at the end of a branched nerve cable. The pair of chemical-releasing neuron ends and chemical-receiving neuron platforms are together called a “synapse”. The chemicals are known as neurotransmitters, because they transmit signals between neurons at synapses, but there is actually plenty of overlap between other kinds of signaling molecules — neurotransmitters, hormones, and even some food molecules all share similar mechanisms. As we’ll see later, some molecules found in food act as neurotransmitters or hormones. The only real difference between a neurotransmitter and hormone is the distance the signal travels to get to its target. The target of a neurotransmitter is another nerve cell, or a muscle cell. These cells contain receptors, a protein molecule which floats in the receptive part of the neuron or muscle cell like an iceberg. The neurotransmitter molecule has a shape, with areas that carry positive and negative charges. The exposed part of the iceberg has a pocket that, like a jigsaw puzzle, matches the shape and complements the charge of a neurotransmitter. When the neurotransmitter nestles in its pocket, the iceberg changes shape and grinds into action: opening a portal, or closing one, or kick-starting a chemical reaction. As I pursued an education, I became convinced that Mom was dead wrong. The fashion of the time in my psychology classes was to ignore the influence of genetics and to ascribe every feeling to a learned behavior, no different than programming a pigeon to peck on a spot for his food. The glutton was not the victim of hormones, but somehow a loser in the willpower Olympics. He just wasn’t trying hard enough. Now, I see Mom’s point. As much as it pains me, she may have been right, but perhaps not as she intended. It’s not an either-or choice between hormones and behavior. Rather, these two are intertwined, inseparable, mutually interdependent. Hormones are shaped by behavior and genetics; behavior and genetics shape hormones. Hormones are the name we give chemicals which signal between body parts, including between the brain and digestive system. All the parts of the digestive system named above have a message to send the brain. The messages, in turn, are received and processed by all three levels of the brain: the medulla; the hypothalamus (sister and conjoined twin of the thalamus, lying just below the thalamus); and the cortex. The medulla receives taste information from the three nerves that carry it. The medulla contains a cluster of nerve cells which receive taste information, called the solitary nucleus because of its characteristic bullseye appearance. In three dimensions, it’s shaped like a corndog with the nerve cells as the wiener and their incoming and outgoing axon cables as the breading. If you slice through the corndog, you see a circle of solitary wiener surrounded by a wall of breading. To study the medulla, we slice it, stain it, and look at it under the microscope. Everything else in the medulla is all jumbled together, but the wiener and its breading stand alone. Leading from the solitary nucleus, taste information is passed through nerve “wires” (axons) to the thalamus and hypothalamus, and from there up to the area of cortex responsible for that part of our sensory world. The medulla, where taste information is processed, also receives signals from the stomach. A hormone called ghrelin is released from the stomach when you’re hungry. It gets its name both from being a growth hormone releasing (GHR) peptide — a peptide is a smallish protein — and from the Indo-European root word ghre, which means grow. I like to think of it as a Gee, Hungry, Really Eat Like Now peptide. Earlier, we described the effects of eating a single milk-sodden Oreo. If you eat an entire package of Oreos instead, the stomach wall stretches and sends that signal to the medulla as well. A third hormone, leptin, is the yin to ghrelin’s yang. Leptin signals the medulla that the stomach is full and that eating can stop, a response scientists call satiety. Ghrelin is a recent discovery, identified by a Japanese group about ten years ago. In the hypothalamus, ghrelin sends a signal to the nearby pituitary to release growth hormone, ensuring that your teenaged body reaches its full height. Remember that these peptide hormones can and do act in different places, and have different functions. It’s as though the same stock parts were chosen to carry out different functions in different machines. In the appetite system, cells lining the stomach release ghrelin, and ghrelin receptors are found in one of the twelve cranial nerves — number ten, the vagus, which not only carries taste information back to the medulla but also carries sensory fibers from, and motor fibers to, the stomach and other internal organs. Ghrelin levels are increased by a lack of sleep, which may be one reason lack of sleep may help make us fat. As appetite-stimulating ghrelin is made, a by-product of its production is another hormone called obestatin, which acts to suppress appetite. It’s not the only, or even the main, appetite-suppressing hormone. Ghrelin signals, “let’s eat” — the yang of the stomach’s appetite signals, screaming its call to action. Its yin, calming and relaxing the appetite system, is leptin. Leptin says, “that’s enough; let’s rest for a while.” Like any peptide signal, leptin has a receptor. Leptin was discovered some time ago. There is also good evidence that the contents of our gut have a huge influence on how we digest things, and even how hungry we are. The human body has 100 trillion cells, but only 10 trillion of those are human cells. Ninety percent of our bodies are microbial travelers, and the skin surface plus the inside of the gut make up the bulk of that 90%. For example, once water is removed, feces is one-third bacteria by weight, almost 1 trillion bacteria leaving every day to be replaced by their reproducing friends back in the warm, moist confines of the gut. As explained by Carl Zimmer in a recent blog post, there may be different “microbial types”: some people have a predominance of one type of bacterial life in their gut, while others have a different set of “enterotypes“. This would be of interest only to microbiologists except for two things. First, these gut bacteria may alter the way we digest food, with different groups extracting more or less energy from our food and thereby predisposing us to be fat or thin even if we consume a set amount of calories. Second, these gut bacteria may even change our behavior, tweaking the hormonal system so we feel more or less full. Two people with different gut biomes may eat the same amount of food, and one will still feel hungry while the other feels overstuffed. Edit: Laura Mariani has blogged about the effects of ghrelin on the olfactory (smell) system. An excellent read. 4 Comments so far. Leave a comment below. I’ll be back again, Jim, with more thoughts, but meantime a question: can you make your posts shareable on FB and by e-mail as well as Tweetable? I’d like to connect some people I think would be interested, and those would be the best ways. Otherwise I guess I could stop being lazy and use a link! I will have to figure out which WordPress plugin will do that most effectively. It’s a good suggestion. In the meantime, I will post it over at FB and you can send it along with the “share” button. You take tremendous care to make neuroscience understandable to everyone. So why do you have to put the title of Proust’s work in French? OK, Rosie, I fixed that.

2019-04-20T06:51:39Z

http://sevendeadlysynapses.com/2011/05/seven-deadly-sins-sunday-gluttony-part-3/?replytocom=68

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You agree to be held liable for all our costs on an attorney/client scale (in accordance with the Court's applicable tariffs, based on South African Law), should we need to institute any action or legal proceedings against you as a result of any breach of these conditions. You agree that the laws of the Republic of South Africa are applicable to these conditions and agreements created in terms thereof between us. You hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the High Court of South Africa (Western Cape, Cape Town) for all disputes or other legal proceedings between us resulting from the use of this website and/or emanating out of these conditions. Pine Lake Marina Resort, N2 (Swartvlei exit), Sedgefield, 6573. [Reference: Dr. W van Breda (or) Rick Claughton].

2019-04-20T14:34:54Z

http://pinelakemarina.co.za/units/garden_view_2_bed_sleeps_6.aspx

This tutorial covers how to access servers and other resources within AWS. This chapter condenses Amazon’s docs on this topic and adds additional PROTIPs and NOTEs. A default VPC is a pre-requisite for setting up an EC2 server instance. Click the “Create VPC” blue button. “dev”, “qa”, “prod” since many use isolated VPCs for different enviornments. “public” or “private” network access. For CIDR block, see below. PROTIP: Use the table above to pre-define your own numbering scheme, which can also be used as shortcuts in other names. The CIDR block for a default VPC is always 172.31.0.0/16. PROTIP: Use addresses from different IP classes. For example, for the production site, use VPC CIDR 10.0.0.0/16 and for DR regions VPC CIDR 172.16.0.0/16. PROTIP: Carefully predict how many nodes each subnet might need. Once assigned, AWS VPC subnet blocks can’t be modified. If you find an established VPC is too small, you’ll need to terminate all of the instances of the VPC, delete it, and then create a new, larger VPC, then instantiate again. For example, if all you’ll need are 14 nodes, specify /28. Notice that the larger the CIDR netmask, the less hosts in the subnet. Now imagine a bucket for each figure level, a different size bucket containing candies of various colors and patterns, unique one for each possible value. People earning 7 figures can choose from the bucket holding a million possible values. If we add up the values (colors) possible in the right-most 3 buckets, we would have 100 + 10 + 1 = 111 possibilities. If we add up the possible addresses just from the right-most 3 buckets (from right to left), we would have 2 + 4 + 8 = 14 possibilities. Look back above at the table of nodes, we see 14 possibilities can be obtained from a specification of 28 bits. This is all one needs to know to use AWS VPC. But if you would like to know how we get 3 buckets from the 28 bit specification, read on. To translate a base 2 number of all 1’s (“1111111”) to a base 10 value of 255 we accumulate base 10 values for each “bucket”, left to right. To translate the Base 2 set of 1’s and 0’s to a base 10 number of 217, we accumulate the equivalent base 10 number at each position where there is a 1. Now let’s look at the relationship between /28 and the “255.255.255.240” subnet mask associated with the /28 in the table of nodes above. The “240” base 10 number in the right-most quartet is equivalent to “11110000” in base 2. The 1’s “buckets” on the left side are used to address subnets managed by Amazon. The 0’s buckets on the right side are used to address your individual nodes. REMEMBER: Although there are four 0’s buckets, only 3 are used to specify node addresses because one digit (two values) are reserved for network broadcast use (addresses containing all 0’s and all 1’s). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POPoAjWFkGg IP Subnetting from CIDR Notations (getting network and broadcast addresses). VPCs are really software-defined networks (SDN). REMEMBER: There is one VPC per Availability Zone. A single Gateway serves all VPCs because that is the address the public DNS resolves corporate host names to. NOTE: The use of static IP addresses in configurations in EC2 can be an annoyance to some and a comfort to others. Historically, working on a physical servers involves use of specific static IPs associated with particular purposes. External monitoring server was manually configured with the IP assigned to each machine. This also creates time pressure (panic) to get specific servers up and running. This led to pressure for servers to be patched rather than risking losing configurations during rebuilds. Static IPs needed to be protected as secrets because of their long-lived nature in traditional server environments. A “paradigm shift” in thinking is necessary when moving to the “cloud” because there IP address assignments can be transitory ephemeral. When a server dies in a “12 factor app” environment, additional servers can be brought up automatically by auto-scaling from a common public pool. AWS provides static IPs in their Elastic IP service. WARNING: AWS charges $1 per month for reserved static IPs that are not assigned to a running instance. PROTIP: Long-lived elastic static IPs are useful to avoid shared IPs that may have been black-listed due to abuse by others. DNS servers maintain a database of host names to IP addresses. Amazon’s DNS service is called Route 53 because the default part for DNS servers is TCP 53 / UDP 53. Its competitors include Dyn.com, GoDaddy, etc. AWS VPC Routing Rules are what makes subnets public or private. Launch an EC2 instance of a Community AMI built for NATting. Search for “NAT”. DEFINITION: A NAT server allows outbound traffic to the external internet. By default, a NAT server allows inbound traffic only through connections already established by an internet host (typically port 80). NAT provides IP address assignment and DNS Proxy name resolution services to internal network clients. If the public interface of the NAT server is configured with a single IP address, add a Special Port (for Windows, in the Routing and Remote Assess MMC console). If the public interface of the NAT server is configured with multiple IP addresses, make address reservations to map specific external addresses to specific internal addresses. Selection of 006 DNS Servers option at the scope level overrides the selection at the server level. For security, define some servers can only make outbound calls to the internet (through the NAT server). PROTIP: A NAT instance provide whatever capacity a single AMI provides, so it should be configured with CloudWatch alarms and traffic metrics. Prepare before need a script to manually to manage Subnet failover to another NAT in this Amazon article. A NAT instance can be configured for port forwarding, bastion hosts. None of the above is necessary with AWS NAT Gateways which support bursts of up to 10Gbps. They are managed by AWS, so it does not provide traffic metrics nor CloudWatch alarms. PROTIP: Up to 5 different security groups can be applied to a single resource. Only one NACL can be associated with a subnet, to deny specific IP addresses. Separate rules are for inbound and outbound. PROTIP: NACL rules are numbered to sepcify sequence. To allow for insertion, leave gaps in the numbers. For example, create the first two with 100, 200, etc. so you can later add 150 between 100 and 200. PROTIP: Remember that EC2 instances by default have Networking > Change Source/Dest. Check ON. But NAT instances require OFF or they wont’ show up on VPC Route Tables. PROTIP: When an enterprise development team first begins working with an external vendor or customer, it would likely begin by using a private VPN while the project operates in “stealth mode”. Configure Site to Site VPN to securely transfer data among Amazon VPCs in different regions or between Amazon VPC to your on-premise data center. NOTE: Dual ports are usually configured on VPN hardware. It’s attached to a VPN. Peering connections were introduced to route traffic between two VPCs (AZs) in the same region using private (rather than public) IP addresses. This makes it like they are communicating as if they are within the same network. Peering is neither a gateway nor a VPN connection, so doesn’t invoke separate physical hardware and the “single point of failure” nor bandwidth bottlenecks. One useful use case is for more secure interconnection among Active Directory, Exchange, and other common business services. Accept the Peering request on the target VPC. Block all the inbound and outbound ports. Only allow application request ports. Add Intrusion Prevention or Intrusion Detection virtual appliances to secure protocols and to take preventive/corrective action. Configure Privileged Identity access management solutions to monitor and audit access by Administrators of your VPC. Add anti-virus for cleansing specific EC2 instances inside a VPC. Trend micro offers a product for this. AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) was published on June 15, 2016 . © 2019 Wilson Mar. Powered by Jekyll using the Minimal Mistakes theme.

2019-04-25T10:32:34Z

https://wilsonmar.github.io/aws-vpc/

The Resources and Human Impact SciPack, co-developed between NOAA and NSTA, explores the role society plays in environmental degradation, and the technological solutions, including resource management, that arises from environmental issues. Human beings modify all components of Earth’s ecosystems as they use and consume available resources. The amount and rate of consumption is affected by the population growth and access to technology. This SciPack is focused on Standards and Benchmarks related to interactions in and between ecosystem; population growth and carrying capacity; resource use; and environmental degradation and changes to Earth’s systems. I really like SciPacks because they give me all of the information that I need to refresh my memory on different topics. This SciPack was great because I was teaching a unit on Human impact. This SciPack allowed me to revisit the information that I needed in order to teach my students. This SciPack provides a good review of the topics of resources and human impact. The NSTA did a nice job of presenting the information in an easy to understand manner. The structure of the SciPacks really help me understand the underlying concepts that surround each topic. I had a lot of fear of science before learning about the NSTA Learning Center, and Initially, I was unsure of how well I'd grasp scientific concepts in a self-paced, online format. However, the carefully sequenced topics, interactive activities and simulations, in addition to the voice-over explanations work well together to help deepen my understanding in the content area. Especially valuable are the pedagogical implications and common student misconceptions. I feel a lot more knowledgeable about a subject after using a SciPack, and I highly recommend the Resources and Human Impact SciPack to anyone needing to learn more about this topic or review key concepts. I really liked this SciPack. The information is so eye-opening and the ability to do the Carbon Footprint really helps to visualize the impact each of us have. Packed with great info, simulations, and visuals. It is an excellent review of the topic. The interactive activities make the abstract more concrete and understandable. I wonder about using them with my 5th grade students, if they are available I might attempt it. This scipack is very thorough as it begins with a definition of the Earth's systems and details the components of how systems interact and its influences of life on Earth. It also details the impacts of outside influences such as things that humans do and how it affects the systems of the Earth (positive as well as negative impacts) As a kindergarten teacher, it is my responsibility to introduce the living and non-living units. Taking what I learned in this scipack will allow me to go further and teach my students things that influence as well as impact the living and non-living components on our Earth. One thing that stood out for me as I was reading this scipack was a misconception that was brought up that middle school students may have -is that life is organized in separate levels and things we do will/may not have an impact on other levels when it most certainly does. I think that at the kindergarten level when we introduce the living and non-living unit, we should already start to teach the students the importance of how everything we do now will affect ALL levels of life. I'm about half way through this Scipack and I really like it. The questions are straightforward and not "tricky." It presents things in an unbiased way, yet covers all the bases. I just completed this scipack and learned a lot. The information was presented in a very logical and sequential manner. I would recommend this unit for studying and completing. I learned a great deal from this SciPak. It did an excellent job of sorting out all of the sides to environment impact, and presented it in a non-political but urgent way. I feel that the interactices inside it would be very useful with kids, especially the detailed case studies and the carbon footprint activity. I am glad I took it. It has made me think about my use of resources and I will be able to contribute to the school's effort to go green. This resource provides a good, clear, and concise review of the relationship between humans and and their environment (surrounding ecosystems). The case studies hook and hold the attention of the viewer in ways that more traditional methods could not; I look forward to harnessing the power of this awesome resource with my middle school scholars as we delve into 'The Environment' (Life Science Course). Very enlightening and so relevant to current issues. Good Sci Pack. Excellent pick for the free Sci Pack. Got to see how they are organized and what they offer. Good review on how the earth is one whole system, biotic and abiotic elements and the interconnectedness of the whole world. Helped me remember some earth science material and convinced me to try some other sci packs. This SciPack looks at global resources and the impact humans have on the system of Earth, with the Science Objects as follows: Earth as a System, Population Growth, Technology, and the Environment, Environmental Degradation, and Using Technoligy to Address Resource Issues. In a nut shell this SciPack describes many of our global resource problems/crises and causes and then posits preventative and redemptive solutions. I was pleasantly surprised by this SciPack. I expected the global warming issue to be hit hard in this one, but the focus was more on how certain real problems came to be, and possible fixes. The material beckoned toward stewardship and responsibility rather than blame or boogey issues. If I get a chance to present highly charged issues (doesn’t happen too often in math class) I would like to handle it in a similar way as this author. “Come let us reason” is an approach that builds knowledge and capacity for sustainable decision making. A helpful review of concepts relating to the relationship between humans and surrounding ecosystems, this SciPack covers a broad range of ecology and energy related topics. Engaging case studies provided new ideas for relating these concepts to my middle school students. This learning tool is superbly unbeatable. Learning is fun, quick, and effective. All the more I hunger for learning. This was very informative and gave excellent examples for deepening your knowledge about environmental issues. The simulations were very interactive and helpful with understanding the concepts. Overall this scipack was very interesting. I learned additional things and refreshed past knowledge. The only thing I really struggled with was the final assessment. I think it would be great to allow people to see their right and wrong answers to help better their next attempt. In doing so yes, students could narrow down their options and possibly get an extremely high score the third attempt, but you could narrow it down to two attempts if that became a problem. Moreover, it would bring up the assessment analysis, but bring me back to what I had already read, which I thought wasn't beneficial for me. This is because I reread things and then took my second attempt and still didn't see any of my past answers except for one question wrong. That is the only thing I did not like about the scipack. Very beneficial though to help students better their understandings of certain areas or to simply become more aware of certain things in science. Great scipack! This SciPack has a good clear relationship between human impact and the world's resources. It has a nice range of topics that gives a wide view of everything. Good, but a bit simple. I found completing this SciPack an enjoyable exercise. It covers a nice range of topics related to the impact of humans on the environment and the types of alternative and renewable fuel sources. The interactives were nice and added to the overall quality of the product. My favorite part of the SciPacks is the pedogogical implications which helps to pinpoint common areas of student misconceptions. Overall a nice resource for the new environmental science teacher. I thought the course was pretty straightforward and the test fair except for the question that dealt with social, political, and economic factors. It seemed like some of the choices could have been in more than 1 category and the distinction was not clear. Very poor question. I teach HS biology and I thought this scipak was a great overview of topics. It explained concepts in an easy and concise way. I also agree that some of the questions could be answered with prior knowledge. If you are teaching Earth Science or Environmental Science, this is definitely a resource that you want to check out. It clearly explains human impact upon the planet and ways that we can reduce it. It also goes through many of our energy producing resources and looks at the benefits and drawbacks of each! I've just started with this learning experience but I am learning a lot. The layout is easy to use and the material is current. I like how the check points are laced throughout. Although you can skip around, I found that I had to go back to some of the information to verify the accuracy of my answers. I have only completed the introduction and section 1 as of today's posted review. This was a good overview of the very basics in the environmental concerns facing our world. A nice overview -- or refresher. I liked the graphs and statistics offered. The SciPack was fine, but I felt that the material was at a very basic level. I don't know that I learned a lot from it, and I think I could have passed the assessment without having read the sections. However, the material is valuable, and contains important reminders that nothing we do is without a cost somewhere. This is a lesson our students would do well to learn, and if this SciPack can help get the message out, that's great. covers a lot of information in a very entertaining way! The resources and Human Impack Scipack is a really good and informative scipack. The interactives are fun and engaging to play around with. I recommend this scipack for anyone. This SciPack does a nice job of pulling together a lot of concepts about how we affect our environment, and how our environment affects us. There are thought-provoking sections on technology, both positive and negative, as well as a solid introduction to both biotic and abiotic factors and environmental ecology. Good for the elementary and middle school teacher who needs a quick background, and for the high school teacher who needs an organizational framework and a starting point.

2019-04-18T12:31:41Z

https://common.nsta.org/resource/?id=10.2505/6/SCP-RHI.0.1

(1) By Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 , hereinafter referred to as "the Regulation", the European Community established the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, hereinafter referred to as the "Agency". (2) The Regulation constitutes a development of the Schengen acquis within the meaning of the Agreement and the Protocol. (3) The Regulation confirms that countries associated with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis should participate fully in activities of the Agency, albeit with limited voting rights. (4) Liechtenstein does not have external borders to which the Schengen Borders Code applies. 1. Switzerland and Liechtenstein shall be represented on the Management Board of the Agency, as laid down in Article 21(3) of the Regulation. (d) as regards decisions on training activities under Article 5, except on establishment of the common core curriculum. (c) as regards decisions on training activities under Article 5, except on establishment of the common core curriculum. Switzerland shall contribute to the budget of the Agency in accordance with the percentage laid down in Article 11(3) of the Agreement. Liechtenstein shall contribute to the budget of the Agency in accordance with Article 3 of the Protocol which refers to the contribution method laid down in Article 11(3) of the Agreement. 1. Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data shall apply where personal data are forwarded by the Agency to the authorities of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. 2. Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data shall apply to data forwarded by the authorities of Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the Agency. 3. Switzerland and Liechtenstein shall respect the rules on confidentiality of documents held by the Agency, as set out in the Rules of Procedure of the Management Board. The Agency shall have legal personality under the law of Switzerland and the law of Liechtenstein and shall enjoy in Switzerland and Liechtenstein the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under the law of Switzerland and the law of Liechtenstein. It may, in particular, acquire or dispose of movable and immovable property and may be party to legal proceedings. The liability of the Agency shall be governed as provided for in Article 19(1), (3) and (5) of the Regulation. 1. Switzerland and Liechtenstein shall recognise the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Communities over the Agency, as provided for in Article 19(2) and (4) of the Regulation. 2. Disputes regarding civil liability shall be resolved in accordance with Article 10b(4) of the Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 863/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 establishing a mechanism for the creation of Rapid Border Intervention Teams and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 as regards that mechanism and regulating the tasks and powers of guest officers . 1. Switzerland and Liechtenstein shall apply to the Agency and to its staff the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities which is set out in the Annex to this Arrangement. 2. The Annex to this Arrangement, including as regards Switzerland the Appendix on the procedure for application of the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities, shall form an integral part of this Arrangement. 1. Switzerland and Liechtenstein shall apply the rules relating to the Agency’s staff matters adopted pursuant to the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities. 2. By way of derogation from Article 12(2)(a) of the Conditions of Employment of other servants of the European Communities, nationals of Switzerland and Liechtenstein enjoying their full rights as citizens may be engaged under contract by the Executive Director of the Agency. 3. Nationals of Switzerland and Liechtenstein may not, however, be appointed to the posts of Executive Director or Deputy Executive Director of the Agency. 4. Nationals of Switzerland and Liechtenstein may not be elected as Chairperson or Deputy Chairperson of the Management Board. 1. The Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union shall act as depositary of this Arrangement. 2. The European Community, Switzerland and Liechtenstein shall approve this Arrangement in accordance with their own procedures. 3. The entry into force of this Arrangement shall require approval by the European Community and by at least one other Party to this Arrangement. 4. This Arrangement shall enter into force in relation to any Party to this Arrangement on the first day of the first month following the deposit of its instrument of approval with the depositary. 5. As regards Liechtenstein, this Arrangement shall apply as from the date when the provisions referred to in Article 2 of the Protocol are put into effect in accordance with Article 10 of the Protocol. 1. This Arrangement shall be concluded for an unlimited period. 2. This Arrangement shall cease to be in force six months after the Agreement is denounced by Switzerland or by decision of the Council of the European Union, or is otherwise terminated in accordance with the procedures described in Articles 7(4), 10 or 17 of the Agreement. 3. This Arrangement shall cease to be in force six months after the Protocol is denounced by Liechtenstein or by decision of the Council of the European Union or is otherwise terminated in accordance with the procedure described in Articles 3, 5(4), 11(1) or 11(3) of the Protocol. This Arrangement, as well as the Joint Declarations annexed thereto, shall be drawn up in one single original in the Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish languages, each of those texts being equally authentic. Съставено в Брюксел на тридесети септември две хиляди и девета година. Hecho en Bruselas el treinta de septiembre de dos mil nueve. V Bruselu dne třicátého září dva tisíce devět. Udfærdiget i Bruxelles den tredivte september to tusind og ni. Geschehen zu Brüssel am dreißigsten September zweitausendneun. Kahe tuhande üheksanda aasta septembrikuu kolmekümnendal päeval Brüsselis. ’Εγινε στις Βρυξέλλες, στις τριάντα Σεπτεμβρίου δύο χιλιάδες εννιά. Done at Brussels on the thirtieth day of September in the year two thousand and nine. Fait à Bruxelles, le trente septembre deux mille neuf. Fatto a Bruxelles, addì trenta settembre duemilanove. Priimta du tūkstančiai devintų metų rugsėjo trisdešimtą dieną Briuselyje. Kelt Brüsszelben, a kétezer-kilencedik év szeptember harmincadik napján. Magħmul fi Brussell, it-tletin jum ta’ Settembru tas-sena elfejn u disgħa. Gedaan te Brussel, de dertigste september tweeduizend negen. Sporządzono w Brukseli dnia trzydziestego września dwa tysiące dziewiątego roku. Feito em Bruxelas, em trinta de Setembro de dois mil e nove. Încheiat la Bruxelles, la treizeci septembrie două mii nouă. V Bruseli dňa tridsiateho septembra dvetisícdeväť. V Bruslju, dne tridesetega septembra leta dva tisoč devet. Tehty Brysselissä kolmantenakymmenentenä päivänä syyskuuta vuonna kaksituhattayhdeksän. Som skedde i Bryssel den trettionde september tjugohundranio. OJ L 188, 20.7.2007, p. 19. OJ L 199, 31.7.2007, p. 30. The Communities, their assets, revenues and other property shall be exempt from all direct taxes. The governments of the Member States shall, wherever possible, take the appropriate measures to remit or refund the amount of indirect taxes or sales taxes included in the price of movable or immovable property, where the Communities make, for their official use, substantial purchases the price of which includes taxes of this kind. These provisions shall not be applied, however, so as to have the effect of distorting competition within the Communities. The Communities shall be exempt from all customs duties, prohibitions and restrictions on imports and exports in respect of articles intended for their official use; articles so imported shall not be disposed of, whether or not in return for payment, in the territory of the country into which they have been imported, except under conditions approved by the government of that country. 1. Laissez-passer in a form to be prescribed by the Council, which shall be recognised as valid travel documents by the authorities of the Member States, may be issued to members and servants of the institutions of the Communities by the Presidents of these institutions. These laissez-passer shall be issued to officials and other servants under conditions laid down in the Staff Regulations of officials and the Conditions of Employment of other servants of the Communities. The Commission may conclude agreements for these laissez-passer to be recognised as valid travel documents within the territory of third countries. The Council shall, acting on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the other institutions concerned, determine the categories of officials and other servants of the Communities to whom the provisions of Article 12, the second paragraph of Article 13 and Article 14 shall apply, in whole or in part. The Member State in whose territory the Communities have their seat shall accord the customary diplomatic immunities and privileges to missions of third countries accredited to the Communities. Articles 12 to 15 and Article 18 shall apply to the Judges, the Advocates-General, the Registrar and the Assistant Rapporteurs of the Court of Justice and to the Members and Registrar of the Court of First Instance, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 3 of the Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice relating to immunity from legal proceedings of Judges and Advocates-General. References in the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities (hereinafter referred to as "the Protocol") to "Member States" shall be understood to apply equally to Switzerland, unless the following provisions determine otherwise. Goods and services exported from Switzerland shall not be subject to Swiss value added tax (VAT). In the case of goods and services provided to the Agency in Switzerland for its official use, in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 3 of the Protocol, exemption from VAT shall be granted by way of refund. Exemption from VAT shall be granted if the actual purchase price of the goods and services mentioned in the invoice or equivalent document totals at least 100 Swiss francs (inclusive of tax). The VAT refund shall be granted on presentation to the Federal Tax Administration’s VAT Main Division of the Swiss forms provided for the purpose. As a rule, refund applications shall be processed within the three months following the date on which they were lodged together with the necessary supporting documents. As regards the second paragraph of Article 13 of the Protocol, Switzerland shall exempt, according to the principles of its national law, officials and other servants of the Agency within the meaning of Article 2 of Regulation (Euratom, ECSC, EEC) No 549/69 of the Council of 25 March 1969 (OJ L 74, 27.3.1969, p. 1) from federal, cantonal and communal taxes on salaries, wages and emoluments paid to them by the Community and subject to an internal tax for its own benefit. Switzerland shall not be considered as a Member State within the meaning of point 1 above for the purposes of application of Article 14 of the Protocol. Officials and other servants of the Agency and members of their families who are members of the social insurance system applicable to officials and other servants of the Community shall not be under any obligation to be members of the Swiss social security system. The Court of Justice of the European Communities shall have exclusive jurisdiction in any matters concerning relations between the Agency or the Commission and its staff with regard to application of Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 of the Council of 29 February 1968 (OJ L 56, 4.3.1968, p. 1) and the other provisions of Community law laying down working conditions. The voting rights provided for in the Arrangement are justified by the special relations with Switzerland and Liechtenstein flowing from the association of these States with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis. Those voting rights are of an exceptional nature attributable to the specific nature of the Schengen cooperation and the special position of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. They may therefore not be regarded as a legal or political precedent for any other field of cooperation between the parties to the Arrangement or for the participation of other third countries in other agencies of the Union. In no circumstances may these voting rights be exercised in respect of decisions of a regulatory or legislative nature. In case where a rapid border intervention team is deployed within the framework of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, Article 10(4) of Regulation (EC) No 863/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 establishing a mechanism for the creation of Rapid Border Intervention Teams and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 as regards that mechanism and regulating the tasks and powers of guest officers shall apply as regards civil liability.

2019-04-19T04:57:05Z

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:22010A0916(01)

BUTLER COUNTY, MO (KFVS) - More than 40 years ago, someone stabbed a young Butler County, Missouri mother to death. Authorities thought they had a prime suspect—a member of her own family. But now, a fresh look at the case of Geneva Phelps Hastings shows there could be a much more sinister family tie. "I don't know how they could do anything like that to her," Shirley Phelps said, her voice shaky and emotional. It's clear the pain she feels hasn't diminished in the four decades since she lost her oldest child, Geneva. "It hurts. Nobody knows," Shirley said, her voice trailing off. "She was just so kind and sweethearted", her brother Floyd Phelps said. Geneva wasn't just a big sister. With both parents working in the early 70's, she spent a lot of time helping raise her brother Floyd and sister Carol. "And she took good care of us" Carol said. "We became best friends in 6th grade", Kathy Swift Perkins said of her friend. The girls liked to dress alike and did everything together. But at 17, Geneva had news that surprised even her best friend. "It was a little bit of a shock", Swift Perkins recalls. "But, she was a very smart girl and she knew exactly what her plan was." "I remember going to the hospital", her brother Floyd said. "And we just thought man, look what we have in the family." The family rallied around Geneva and her newborn son, Tommy. The new mom got her own apartment, although she often stayed with her parents. About three weeks after Tommy's birth, Geneva was ready to get back out and see her friends. Her mom agreed to watch Tommy. Dozens of teens gathered out at Wolf Creek, outside of Poplar Bluff. Kathy Swift said she saw her best friend among the familiar faces. "I didn't talk to her much," she said. "I was with my boyfriend and there was a big crowd of people there." Kathy would catch another glimpse of Geneva as they both headed home. "I saw her and waved," she said. "And she waved back. When we got to 67 north where my boyfriend turned off to take me to my house, I waved bye to her. And that was the last time I saw her. I guess I was the last one that saw her besides who did what they did to her. That picture is burnt in my mind." Geneva's step-dad, Tom Phelps, was driving home after having a few beers with buddies in Bluff. He's nearly home when he noticed her blue car on the side of the road--lights on, engine running, the driver's side door wide open. He pulled up alongside it and called for her. He wondered if maybe she had car trouble and had walked the rest of the way home. "I remember dad coming through the door and waking mom up and ask if Sissy was home," Floyd recalls. She wasn't, so Tom and Shirley drive back out to Geneva's car. Tom got out of the vehicle this time, only to find her brown leather purse left behind on the seat. There was no sign of Geneva. "I knew something wasn't right," Kathy said. "I knew she would have never gotten out of her car." It took five days before a neighbor noticed buzzards circling above a gravel stretch known as a "lover's lane" off Pine Valley Road. A Butler County deputy found Geneva's body, dragged off the path and deep into the woods. She had been stabbed twice with what authorities believed to be a small pocket knife. "I couldn't envision anyone doing anything like that to her," Swift Perkins said. "She was a good person." Officers questioned Tom Phelps. He had found her car, and opted to drive it home that night. "They focused on him, not a few days not a week not two weeks, probably a month or so," Floyd said. "And I think they let the case get away from them." "There's no way he could have done that," Shirley said. "No way." Shirley described how hard it was on her and her family to have another family member be a suspect. "Yeah, it was hard," she said. "And him too, I think he grieved a lot about it, you know." "Sometimes reports are written kind of slanted, and in this case I think that's kind of what it was," Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs said. Dobbs said it is clear officers back in '75 zeroed in on Tom Phelps from the very beginning. Dobbs quickly took Phelps off of his suspect list. "And we really just came to the conclusion that there's no way physically that that could have happened where Tom Phelps could have done all that." But, if Tom Phelps had nothing to do with Geneva's death, who did? "You show me an unsolved homicide and I'll show you an investigation where one person was focused on completely." Sheriff Mark Dobbs has no doubt the murder of Geneva Phelps Hastings could have been solved years ago if investigators would have spent more time combing through this list of names from the case file. "There's a couple that jump right out at me", he tells me as we look through the case file," he said. "And to be honest with you as I sit here and look at it I hate to be critical of people. You know, hindsight is 20/20. But, there's just names that just make the hair on the back of your neck stand up." "She had no enemies that I could think of," Swift Perkins said. So, Dobbs said he's focused on why Geneva would have been targeted. "For some reason there was something that we believe was upsetting about her having that child and matters surrounding that," Dobbs said. Geneva did not have a serious boyfriend, and didn't really talk about who Tommy's dad was. "It seems to me and it seems to the other investigators that there was some kind of master plan there that night that got put into play." The sheriff believes that plan involved several teens at the big outdoor party Geneva attended. He said thinks they watched Geneva leave, then signaled others. They knew she'd be traveling the gravel road to her parent's house, and they ambushed her. "And my dad said all along it had to be someone she knew because Geneva wasn't no fool," Diane Davis, a family friend whose dad was in law enforcement, said. "She would have never stopped her car and got out of it." Investigators feel it took more than one person to force Geneva out of her car so close to home. It would have taken at least two people to get her out to the secluded scene of her murder off Pine Valley Road. "We believe there were several individuals involved and that most likely there was one or two people that probably held her or wrestled her to the ground while the other person stabbed her," Dobbs said. And then, he reveals a new clue. He believes one of Geneva's attackers suffered a knife wound during the assault. He's recently tracked down 40 year old evidence, including blood-covered gravel recovered from the crime scene. Carol Phelps believes Geneva was specifically targeted because of the baby. The evidence shows that more than one person dragged Geneva's lifeless body by her arms back off the gravel path. As they pulled her deeper into the woods, she lost her left sandal. They finally leave her body deep in the woods, but not covered or buried. With the focus off step-dad Tom Phelps, Sheriff Dobbs hopes this new look at Geneva's case will bring back old memories. "We're hoping that someone who knows something who thought it was irrelevant or might have been scared, intimidated, whatever back in the day that they'll come forward and give us the things we need to make this thing come together," he said. "41 years is a long time," Floyd Phelps told Heartland News. Geneva's family and friends feel thankful her story is being told now, and remain hopeful it will finally have an ending. Shirley Phelps hopes she doesn't have to wait much longer. "I'm almost 80 and I'd like to see it closed up before I go," she said. "So I know who done that to her. If they would just come forward." Geneva's son, Tommy Hastings is now a lawyer living in Texas. He's aware of our story and supports our efforts to help seek justice in his mother's case. Do you remember this case? Maybe you know something that will bring Geneva's killer or killers to justice. If you think you do, please contact the Butler County Sheriff's Office at (573)-686-8070. You can also reach out to Kathy Sweeney on her KFVS Facebook page and she will share any information she receives with authorities. Brittany Myers, one of my co-workers. Brittany not only agreed to take on the role of Geneva Phelps Hastings, but committed to everything asked of her without hesitation. She is the reason why we are able to tell Geneva’s story using every detail from the police reports. Laurie Everett from Annie Laurie’s Antiques in Cape Girardeau for allowing us to use at room at the shop for Geneva’s apartment. Special thanks to Gail and Adam for choosing her outfit and staging the room for us!

2019-04-22T11:13:40Z

http://www.kfvs12.com/story/31988372/heartland-unsolved-family-ties/

As you might know, recess enables student to locate exercise, build Friendships and have a break from classroom work. Pupils normally have a leave for a complete academic year. Students with outstanding bank accounts will not be qualified to register in courses for any upcoming term. Pupils have to be withdrawn prior to the beginning of homeschool, and Colleges should begin the moment the pupil is withdrawn from school. Students that are enrolled in some kind of tuition insurance might find a 100% refund from their insurer, in the event the leave has been a result of medical explanations. There are many explanations as to if a pupil must remain Pupils who take a wellness leave are not required to return by a precise date. Normally, a student is asked to provide an explanation letter explaining the reason due to his absence from college. Nonimmigrant students and their dependents must keep a suitable visa standing in any respect instances. As things get regular, I will make certain they return to college punctually Including all the power and positivity. Also search for paper articles or district reports to find out as much as possible in regards to this faculty. In the event the school mentions that you have to do more to draw the youngster, it’s best not to visit the school. As a parent, it is possible to completely anticipate the teachers and college to keep a watch out for the child and allow you to know whether they see any difficulties. If you have got more than one kid, prepare yourself to find help. If the Kid will be absent for more than 1 week, it is normally a wonderful idea to talk right into the instructor or the principal in regards to the lack. After about one or two hours in healing, he or she moves home. If you’re a single parent, you might have to find a buddy that could take time off from work to aid you. Regrettably, you will sometimes Wind up seeking leave Abruptly and may not have the capability to provide much warning ahead. If you’re thinking of a health club, you need to make an appointment to match your Academic Dean whenever possible. There are over a couple of reasons you might want to have a leave of absence from the work. There are tons of reasons you may desire to have a leave of absence from work. A wellness leave of absence is a chance to receive suitable treatment and take part in self-reflection. The excuse letters are extremely straightforward to write. Private letters are more elastic to compose in any way you enjoy or your pal or relative enjoys to get. It’s better to send a certified letter to your faculty with the objective to withdraw. In case, if you do not understand how to compose an official letter then why not take a look at the templates to understand how to compose a leave letter. The proper letter is required for your personnel file. Letters to staff members have been letters sent to individuals belonging to a specific group involved in trying to achieve a regular objective. Your correspondence should be concise and clear. It is much better Respond by correspondence. A letter will be sent to your home address to confirm your healthcare leave and provide you with recommendations for requesting to return when you’re well. Letter of excuse is normally a leave letter via an employee for being unable to be present at work notifying the motives of lack. If you are browsing for writing excuse letter in the perfect way, you are suggested to take advantage of explanation letter template which would be accessible on web. It is always wise to submit a lack excuse letter to get an indication of admiration. It’s possible to also receive the absence excuse letter for school template at no charge from his website. If you are addressing the correspondence to a particular individual, Include that person’s title. The correspondence is employed as a point of reference regarding the days the moment your responsibilities has to be covered in your absence. The Social Letters that are written to relations and intimate friends ought to be written in a simple, conversational style. College is excellent, but it is slow and routine. As a Consequence, schools were permitted to concentrate on the requirements of students and families, compared to the archaic rules and restrictions of a union contract. Regardless of whether you are requesting an undergrad school or trying to become graduate projects, many applications require a letter of target or individual articulation. Also hunt for newspaper articles or district reports to learn as far as possible concerning the school. Regrettably, modern schools aren’t perfect. For instance, more than 600 public schools across the country have begun to utilize components that temporarily disable phones in certain particular regions of a construction. Notably large college English teachers must acknowledge that almost all of our pupils who attend college will not ever write another literary analysis and will likely use a citation style besides MLA. If you Select a dependable and trustworthy website like us, you Will get the notes at acceptable rates. There are quite a lot of sites which appear to provide these fake note layouts at no price. Allocating resources for letters may be a tougher task. You will then write your notice in your own or can download it from Any on-line site. A sick note isn’t hard to get as you can merely accomplish it by asking your doctor. There is truly not anything wrong with utilizing notes differently. An entire method to handling an superb note is to receive it from a commendable site that offers premium dr. notes. In fact, the notes you are likely to download should remain customizable as you have got to bring some excess information inside to make it appear more genuine. Well, writing a physician’s note on your own is not that easy. After analyzing few of the actual notes it is likely to create your own fake doctor excuse note. The letter needs to be prepared and delivered whenever the worker Or student understands the obligation to maintain court. A sick letter or record is compiled by way of a physician demonstrating that you’re truly sick and can not perform work and provide you with a reason for your nonappearance. Such a letter might get an expert letterhead and a succinct letter which the worker has missed work for a definite number of times. Letters of excuse are likewise employed by those who have been picked, however, can not pay a visit to the jury obligation. The letter have some elements inside them folks can cut and glue, too. So now you see that understanding how to compose a wellness release letter isn’t a rocket science, then go right ahead and make one for your child’s safety. A far better comprehension of logic and semantics should be Promoted in our schools and universities. To compose a real looking doctor’s note you have to keep several things in mind. Know that your kid’s standing, go past the letter grade. The fact I couldn’t get through the substance was a problem, but it was secondary to the simple fact that I just didn’t want to. Better academic accomplishments It is an established fact supported by many studies which homeschool children reveal better academic outcomes. My situation was not unknown. There are Lots of scenarios in That an individual would need to compose a letter to a judge. Regrettably, in addition, it is easy to find issues which tip at race or racialized methods of understanding and being. Parents are still absolutely free to excuse or ignore their Children’ attendance issues, but understanding that their child is falling behind peers might be all they have to act. All children are different and even spontaneous jokes can lead to some wellness complications, so keeping kids at home parents believe that they’re in safety. Interested persons can visit the site and search for a phony letter that’s suitable for the situation he or she is currently experiencing. Many people are terrified of using phony therapeutic reason notes at work or at school since they are fearful of getting caught. The form doesn’t make any mention of the right to make an application to get a mixed learning choice. The State of our planet does not have anything related to the Hand of God, instead it is a direct effect of this lack of the existence of God within our lives. From the example of presence letters, the personalized, relative correspondence produces an option based on new info and supplies a different social context to your choice. When it is a thank you letter you have to be courteous. Linking does not need permission. A default alternative consent Amount includes a permission that many users do not have to possess. If things are back to normal, then it is likely to decide to stay, but if you believe otherwise then you’re able to think about searching for different options out there. A letter of absence has to explain the main reason for being Absent in addition to specify when the worker is predicted to return. Writing the right letter of lack addressed for your boss becomes much easier in the event you have a leave letter template which you are able to refer to. A note from the doctor that provides the caution is that which we call the doctor’s note. Letters of excuse are likewise employed by those who were Chosen, however, can not visit the jury obligation. It’s possible to alter these letters to fulfill your own needs. Folks should have pay letter to maximize their likelihood of landing function. There’s one letter that is omnipresent in everybody’s life right from their schooling times. A letter of application for leave ought to be written when you’ll need to notify your superior about the leave of absence you want to take. It’s very simple to write a leave letter to a person’s boss assuming that you’re familiarized with the suitable format for a leave of absence letter. The size and complexity of a person’s organization or Internet website. Evidently, you must possess the exact same fundamental skills, traits and knowledge. You’ll need to warn your boss you will have a surgery on a specific day and will expect a few days to recover after the process. The State of our world does not have anything related to the Hand of God, rather it’s a direct result of the absence of the existence of God within our lives. A lot of men and women are scared of using fake therapeutic reason notes at work or at school as they are fearful of getting caught. The way in which the employer responds to the lack will ride its personal policy. The applicant does not have a great deal of baggage, but there’s also a notable absence of hands-on expertise. You might also have a generic exit application to finish. Certainly, the streamlined procedure reduces the amount of work in spite of the amount of schools you apply . The funny thing is I don’t remember anything about the actual evaluations. At the event the absence is going to be prolonged to a Illness, it’s wise to attach a health certificate as formerly mentioned. If you faked an illness, it’s much better to find these letters out of a trusted online source to return back to find the business finished. It is also in danger of producing adults who project precisely the same mindset which subsequently gets perpetual in following generations. Failure to inform the head of this section could lead to termination from the job. In the current technological environment nevertheless, one of the issues that teachers face is in having the ability to guide their students to the suitable details. For this reason, you could have a few issues, no matter the chance your excuse is approved. Oftentimes, people find it hard to apologize, as a result of ego problems. All users Degree is a Couple of permissions that may possibly be Assigned into a specific grouping to find a distinct securable item. On the opposite side, in case military-connected pupils are lagging behind, then you are able to say clearly, there are a couple extra supports that are necessary in this school, Thomsen clarified. Since school-going students are young and cannot be expected to take care of a letter about missing course, parents ought to take responsibility instead. Whether you have to inform your instructor which you are not able to attend school because of an illness or you ought to be certain your boss understands that you’re going to take a leave of absence, a depart letter is important and must be drafted well. Nearly all colleges impose corporal punishments on students for many factors. If schools have to maintain somewhere to use the wealth of potential information that could be available to them, then they ought to be able to collate it in a manner that’s neither time intensive, nor complicated. The most common one is in case the youngster is not keeping well. To make your imitation excuse persuasive, you’ve got to make sure the Letter or note you present to your boss looks real. The traditional medicinal excuse is enough to escape work or school. Avoid handwritten letters because it carries with it an extremely unprofessional attitude of managing a circumstance. A far better comprehension of logic and semantics ought to be promoted in our universities and schools. It’s among the most essential aspects in using a ideal letter design. So it is not compulsory to provide details about your disease. There are more details you have to consider. If you’re feeling curious and need to download images. The Format is simply one facet. The cover letter arrangement is simply a single Aspect. It surely to get a template in which you can easily complete your Specific information and make sure alterations. It Will be possible To create a new template using an existing email, or insert one from scratch.

2019-04-21T16:24:56Z

http://izzysplacealamo.com/10-free-google-doc-resume-templates/

BigPeriodMode is the mode for the other crossing MA (3 is lwma - your case) ExitPeriodMode - mode for xay for exit (if you are using lwma or ema or whatever ma for exit). A spokesman for the For 2016, five years of mbrace® Connect features and services are standard. Net strate without any sort. Liverpool Lime Street train station is just 15 minutes walk from the Student Village, while Liverpool Central station is just 10 minutes away. trend indicator binary store and well about months ago either. 2004. Binary Assassin Software Evaluate the agent history. TSW Pegasus have a recent goal tally of stat games), particularly the trading of binary options, has be an attractive alternative for some affiliate marketers to traditional forms of online marketing. This is done mostly by startup dat privatepanies. youll also gain instant access to Steves paradigm shifting video How TIME Controls Every Market Turning Point. 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Gina: It had its fallouts, and I wasn’t happy with what I was seeing in my own pets and then also in pets that we were caring for. Kate: You are listening to Podcast Number 54 at practicalhomeopathy.com. Hi! This is Kate. I’m here with Gina. I’m excited to have Gina on the podcast today because Gina brings a different perspective to homeopathy. She’s going to share with us today some interesting information that she has about using homeopathy with animals. So, Gina, welcome to the podcast. Gina: Thank you so much, Kate. Kate: It’s great to have you, and I look forward to hearing all of your wisdom because I see your name quite a bit on Joette’s Student Facebook page. I see how you jump in, and you’re always willing to help other people out and give suggestions. I so appreciate that about you, Gina. Thank you so much for your willingness to take that time out of your busy schedule and to help so many people. Gina: Oh! No problem. It seems like I’ve always wanted to do things like that. So, Facebook actually is good for that. It’s a good hobby. Kate: It could be worse, right? Gina: That’s right. My addiction is a healthy one. Kate: Exactly! That’s what I always tell my family. I collect remedies. It could be other things that aren’t as useful that I could collect. Gina: Yes! That’s so true, so true. Kate: So, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself? Gina: Well, I am a licensed vet tech. So, I graduated college in 1989 from the University of Maine. From there, I moved right into a local practice in my hometown. I absolutely loved everybody I worked with. The practice was super busy. So, I worked there for the first 15 years of my career. I did mostly anesthesia and surgery and care. We were a full-service clinic. So, we did everything from neutering to emergencies to any type of surgery, so super busy. But, I could see where the regular conventional medicine was falling through. It has its fallouts, and I wasn’t happy with what I was seeing in my own pets and then also in pets that we were caring for. So, I decided that I had to probably move on. At that point, I move to a holistic clinic that I work for now — which has been about 16 years. Kate: Wow! That’s great that you found a holistic clinic. I don’t hear of too many holistic vet clinics. Gina: No. No. There aren’t. So yeah, that was a lucky find. I happened to go to a conference and the veterinarian from there was speaking. My sister nudged me and said, “Hey! You should work for this person.” I said, “Oh! I doubt they need anybody.” And she said, “Hey, you got to go up and ask.” She had me ask, and she hired me basically almost on the spot. Gina: Yes, it was fate. Kate: Yeah. So, tell me how you got into homeopathy. Gina: How I got into homeopathy is kind of why I became less enamored with the medicine I was doing. So, what happened is I had my own personal cat, who I loved and adored, and he just happened to be not feeling really great. He was a young cat. He’s six years old. So, I did some lab work on him. I was quite surprised to find kidney failure. Kidney failure can be pretty common in cats, but certainly, even today, it’s not common in a six-year-old. So, I kind of went head-spinning and crazy — because at that point, again, I was just working conventional medicine. I was trying to figure out, “Why is this happening?” So, I went to a specialty clinic, and they ended up doing a bunch of tests and basically gave me the prognosis that he had two weeks to two months to live. Gina: Yes. So obviously, just like any pet owner (or any mom or dad), you find this out, and your head is spinning. You just don’t know what to do and can’t believe it. But, I put my nose down and said, “No, he’s not going to die in two weeks!” So, I just started doing a whole bunch of homework. This is back in the late 90s. So, we didn’t have a lot of internet access at all in personal homes (in Maine anyway). So, it was a lot of library trips, a lot of ordering books. I hadn’t heard about homeopathy at that point. So, I was going to the health food store which was about 50-60 miles from my house. I walked in and the owner there, Jane — I’ll never forget her name — she said, “Why don’t you consult somebody about homeopathy on your cat?” I was just there to pick up some herbs to help with his blood and et cetera. So, I said, “Well, I don’t even know what that is!” So, she gave me her homeopathic veterinarian’s card, and I called him — he did phone consults. And, with his constant care over the phone, that particular kitty ended up getting two years of excellent, quality life. So, from two weeks to two months then we got two years. So, I was happy. Kate: Oh, that’s so great. So, let’s talk about how you came to know Joette. Gina: Okay. Obviously, I had seen homeopathics work with animals — because then at that point, of course, that cat was the start of it all. But I had other animals that obviously I’d played around with and did homeopathy and also consulted that same vet and had great success. So, years later, after I had relocated to the holistic clinic, I was experiencing some chronic fatigue and a lot of muscular pain. And all the normal diagnosis starts coming in: “Well, maybe it’s fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome.” I do have Hashimoto’s. I knew that for years. So anyway, I went to a lot of different local homeopaths, and I just wasn’t having any success. But at the clinic I work for now, we get Homeopathy Today, the magazine. So, I was flipping through that, and I found Joette’s name. I don’t even remember the article specifically, but I read that article by her and I thought, “She really resonates with me. I really like her approach.” So, I said, “I am going to call her and see if she’ll take my case.” And so, the rest is history. I went from … I honestly could not stand upright. I was having a lot of back pain at that point. I had to stay bent over a lot which isn’t so good if you’re an animal nurse because you need to pick up things. You need to bend over. You need to move. She had me moving. It was pretty quick. Within a couple of weeks, we were seeing some major improvements. Then I pretty much stayed her client for about two and a half years. All that time, she was teaching me how to care for myself. So anyway, it’s been years since I’ve had to consult with her because she did such a good job! Gina: Yes! Yes! It wasn’t long after that we actually met at a conference. It was so good to get to meet her in person. Her hugs are the best. Kate: Oh! Oh! That’s sweet. Joette, we all want a homeopathy hug. Kate: So, Gina, give us some tips about using homeopathy with animals since this is an area that you have expertise in. Gina: Sure! The biggest thing is keep your eyes wide open because unfortunately — or fortunately maybe — animals don’t talk. They also don’t lie! So, if a remedy doesn’t work, you’ll know it. And if it does work, you’ll know it. But obviously, it’s your observations that make the remedy choice successful. Don’t make excuses for a particular symptom like, “Well, he’s itching today because he went swimming in the ocean, and the salt …” You know, if you rinsed him off … just don’t make excuses for the symptoms you’re seeing. Just write them down. Repertorize them. They’re not your enemy. Symptoms are actually your friends, especially in animals because it’s going to be subtle. So, that’s the biggest thing is really be observant with animals and don’t make excuses about their symptoms. It is what it is. Use them. They’re very important to making them well. One of the things that I was going to mention is that even conventional medicine — or the wrong remedy — can give me quite a bit of information like a breadcrumb leading me down my path. For example, a dog the other day we were doing a dental on had to have anesthesia for the dental because he had extractions that had to happen. The dog ended up with the extractions, a lot of bleeding. Of course, we give Arnica during this process, and Arnica was not working. The bleeding was quite profuse, and it wasn’t stopping. Despite Arnica in different potencies, we weren’t getting anywhere. So, this was a great example of where a symptom and the wrong remedy can lead you to the right remedy because the symptom was bleeding. The wrong remedy was Arnica (because it wasn’t working). And our next choice was Phosphorus which immediately stopped the bleeding. So, sometimes when people give wrong remedies (or even in conventional treatment), they end up with a new symptom or a symptom that’s not clearing up, and then they become discouraged with the treatment or the remedy when actually it’s just eye-opening! Like, “If Arnica isn’t working, and this bleeding is happening, I need to move on.” And my next choice, in this case, was Phosphorus. It worked lovely. Gina: Yes! Exactly, exactly, “Something will work.” That’s what I always say. It’s just a matter of if you can find it. Sometimes you can never find it. I mean, I understand that, like you say … 6,000? Sometimes you can never find it. Or maybe there’s a problem that’s occurring that you don’t even understand. Like let’s say, if somebody is truly allergic to a particular food, and you don’t know that, and you’re continuing to feed it … simply omitting a food then makes your remedy choice clear everything up nicely. So yeah, we step back sometimes, look at the whole picture again, but there’s always a remedy that could help. Kate: Yes, I so agree. Okay, so what else do you have for us, Gina? Gina: I actually use Joette’s pregnancy cell salts program — that she has for women — for pregnant dogs. So, that was kind of fun to see that work really well through the gestation of a dog. Kate: How can you tell that they’re making a difference with the puppies? Gina: It’s hard to absolutely say that’s what made the difference, but the puppies that I have used it on have grown very nicely. The mom had absolutely no troubles in the whelp. And the puppies nursed well right away. The mom had lots of milk to give. They grew nicely. It learns well, very intelligent, not hyperactive, just even puppies. Yes, you absolutely could get that without using cell salts. But I believe, in my experience, that it’s helped give them a leg-up to being healthy right from the start. Kate: Oh good! That’s a great tip. Thank you. So, Gina, is there anything that you like to use when you have animals that get bitten by a tick? Gina: I do; Ledum, I’ll give. But honestly, I find it’s about 50-50. So, if the bite isn’t responding to it … because all I can go by is how the bite looks. Because the dog, honestly, often doesn’t act different — unless later they get sick with the disease. So, if I go by how the bite looks, I’m using Ledum initially. And if the bite isn’t responding — if it looks still red, inflamed and hot — I’ll switch to Apis. And the animals that I’ve seen that didn’t seem to be responding to Ledum respond quite nicely to Apis. Kate: Okay, thanks for sharing your experience with tick bites with us because I know that it’s pretty prevalent, and a lot of people ask about that. So, when we were talking earlier, you were telling me about some remedies that you have for dogs that get scared easily or scared during thunderstorms. Tell us about that. Gina: Yes, yes. How many dogs are scared to death of thunder? Gina: Yeah, a lot unfortunately. There’s a lot of reasons why that can occur which is deeper. Most popular remedy was Phosphorus and then the cells salts: Kali phos and Nat phos. Which, I would say, Kali phos is amazing, I’ve found, in dogs for just a general tonic for nerves. I really had a lot of success with that cell salt. Then of course, conditions to be aware of when you think it’s just thunder or just anxiety from noises: You may think that, but sometimes when animals don’t feel well, they become more reactive to noises. So, it’s not the noise per se, but it’s that they don’t feel well. Medication reactions can cause these behaviors, or anxiety and, of course, physical issues. And also, we can’t forget good training. Desensitization training is obviously needed if it is truly sound sensitivity. So, I will say — just like homeopathy in people — that what works for one doesn’t work for everybody. Kate: Right. So, we’ve talked a lot about using homeopathy with animals. Let’s switch gears now and talk about using homeopathy with people. Tell us some of your stories. Gina: Oh! But, I know I’m annoying because I’m always trying to make people and things better and more well. I know that’s an annoying part of me. Kate: Oh well, I don’t think it’s annoying. I think that’s great! Gina: Oh, you don’t live with me. So, I’m always hounding, “Did you take your remedy today? Did you take this? Did you take that?” So, I’m honored that anybody would come to me and ask me for advice and think that I could help make them well. I always want to try to make people better and feel as good as I do. So, I obviously recommend Joette, but sometimes people aren’t onboard with homeopathy that much to consult with somebody, or financially maybe they’re not at the point where they want to make that commitment. But I tell them, “If we don’t have our health, we don’t have anything else.” So, to me, my health is right at the top of where I’m going to spend my money. So yeah, my friends, they come to me; I tell them all the time to make sure that they don’t make excuses for their symptoms. A lot of people think symptoms are bad or negative. Symptoms are just symptoms. The more unique they are, the more special you should feel because they’re easier to find in your repertory! Kate: Oh, yes! That’s for sure. Yeah. Gina: And that’s my biggest advice to anybody getting into this is I learned on my own mostly until the internet came along, and obviously, once I started seeing Joette. But, I just read, and I read, and I read a page out of the materia medica or I read two or three pages out of the repertory. I wasn’t trying to put any one thing together. I was just reading it — because I think it’s fascinating. So, there are little bites that will stick in your head by reading a remedy in a materia medica. Then all of a sudden, you’ll meet somebody, and that will come up. You’ll go, “That person’s … I don’t know, Gelsemium. What he just said. What he’s doing.” So, there’s no shortcuts, I don’t think, in learning it. It’s just reading. Just like the old ways: studying. Kate: And then like Joette said, the more people that you think about what remedies will be helpful, the more kids that you have, the more experience that you have, you see that over and over again. That Gelsemium is great for this, and then you use it over and over again. You remember it, and then it becomes second nature. Gina: Yes, absolutely. You forget how second nature it is because somebody will be talking to you, “Hey, I’ve got this. What do I take?” “Oh! Just take this.” I mean, it just comes out of your mouth. You know. Kate: Yeah. It’s interesting. As I look at homeopathy kits — and now I read through the list of medicines in a homeopathy kit — and I think, “Okay. This is what you use this one for typically. This is what you use this one for.” And now, in a kit of 100 remedies, I can (most of them) say the top symptoms that you would use each of those medicines for. Whereas when I first started, it was only a few! I find that exciting! Gina: Yes, it’s an amazing medicine! Kate: So, the other thing that we were chatting a little bit earlier about is how people have a tendency to forget how homeopathy has helped them. Why don’t you talk about that a little bit? Kate: You talked about writing things down because you can then remind people, too. When they come to you, “Oh, I have another UTI” (or whatever it might), you can say, “Well, last time this helped. Remember?” And then you can remind them. Gina: Yes. I do it for my family and my close friends. Luckily, I do have a really good memory, and, hopefully, it stays that way. Kate: Yeah! I think we all hope that. So, something else that you talked about earlier is that we forget that we are all aging. Talk a little bit about that. Gina: Yeah, we are all aging. That was one of the reasons why I actually reached out to Joette. Because again, it seemed like the homeopaths I was going to … they definitely wanted to help me, but they were giving me like one remedy and having me wait 30 days. And I wasn’t seeing anything whatsoever. I was becoming frustrated with my own body, my own self — feeling like a failure. Like, “Why isn’t my body healing?” When supposedly, I knew homeopathy worked because I was using it in animals. So, it got to the point where once I saw Joette’s articles, I realized she was using remedies more frequently. And, that’s what really resonated with me. Because, I thought, our bodies are all aging — we’re not getting newer every day; we’re getting older every day. Kate: So yes, we’re never going to arrive at this place where we never have any problems again. There are always going to be things that come up. I’m thankful that we have tools to address those things, and we’re not stuck just having to go to a doctor and get a medication that’s then going to bring on other symptoms that we need to fix. So, I’m thankful for what Joette teaches, and the tools that we have. Gina: Oh, absolutely. Homeopathy is probably 99.9% of what I use on my immediate family and my pets. For example, my boyfriend did his very first Ironman last year, and he never even took so much as one aspirin. He was powered completely by Joette and homeopathy. Gina: He was. Her “Gatorade” — her natural “Gatorade” that she makes with the cell salts in it — that’s what he drank. I mean he trains 8, 9, 10 hours a day. It took him a year of training to get to this Ironman in Canada that he did last year. Everybody else was walking around there all bandaged up. They’re popping the Advil, and he’s popping he Arnica and not one injury. He came away from that event without an injury and without a drug. Gina: Yeah. He is incredible. He does what I tell him, and it proves it works. He’s quite an athlete. Kate: Wow! Well, thank you for sharing. I think if you don’t know about Joette’s “Gatorade” recipe, you should look it up. I think we’ll include a link here with this podcast, but it’s a great thing to have if you are out in the heat or doing something like that — like a triathlon — or just working outside a lot. Kate: So yeah, check that out. Well, Gina, thank you so much for sharing your stories with us, for encouraging us, and for all those great tips on using homeopathy with our animals. We appreciate you, what you do in helping so many people on the Student Facebook page every day. So, thank you for being with us and sharing your knowledge. Gina: Thank you so much for having me. Thanks, Joette. Thank you, Kate. And just my motto: Be more stubborn than the disease you have. Would love to know if anyone has used remedies for rabbits? The most common things that happen to my rabbits as they age are arthritis and a slow gut. Animals may use the same homeopathic medicines as humans. That was the message of this podcast. Oh my gosh! My father-in-law can sneeze 20+ times in a row after drinking wine. Gina mentioned that’s a symptom. I’d love to know more! Thank you! Our interviewees don’t monitor this blog. Thank you Gina and Kate. This was a really helpful podcast for me, and it came at the right moment. I’m making Joette’s sports drink right now. Gina, what remedies have you found helped the most for your boyfriend’s IronMan training? The office # is at the bottom of the 1st page under “contact”. Hi Joette, I’d love to make your recipe for healthy “Gatorade” but I can’t tolerate the Silicea in the Bioplasma. It really does try to remove the little wires in my ears. (Both of my stapes bones were surgically removed due to otosclerosis decades ago.) I wish they’d make Bioplasma without the Silicea for the millions of us with implants. Thanks for all you do, Joette! I’m interested in knowing what you mean that it tries to remove the wires. Have they poked through? Is there pain and pressure? If you want the remaining 11 cell salts, you may buy them individually and mix them in your drink.

2019-04-25T02:12:05Z

https://joettecalabrese.com/podcast1/podcast-54-moms-with-moxie-homeopathy-started-with-the-cat/

Welcome to our gallery of jaw dropping black bedrooms in an assortment of design styles. There is something really sophisticated and stylish about using black decor, and furnishings in a bedroom design. Black bedrooms allow you to make a bold statement and bring out your personality to your interior design. Below are pictures of how black can be used to create alluring bedroom designs for ideas and inspiration. Be inspired in the image above by this elegant black bedroom which feature patterned wall paper, carved wooden furniture in deep dark black lacquer finish paired with white upholstery, white walls and ceiling with exposed beams in dark tone finish, vintage chandelier, glass base lamp shade and mirror finish night table. The solid hard wood flooring in light natural finish gives this bedroom a warm and cozy contrast complemented by a shaggy silver gray color area rug. This chic bedroom features a black ceiling and accent wall with cream border which extends to the baseboard and cornice. An elegant tufted headboard and a vintage chandelier gives this black bedroom a stylish focal point. Paired by silver candle holders and cream picture frame accessories, classic lamp shades, mirror finish night stand and dark tone hard wood floor ties up the whole design scheme. A master bedroom features gray and rich dark black walls paired with white modern furniture with crystal chandelier, silver and glass accessories. A medium tone finish laminated wood flooring gives this black bedroom a warm and cozy feel. This elegantly serious black master’s bedroom adorned with crystal chandelier and bejewelled wall accent and mirrors create a masculine and modish design scheme. Patterned silver headboard with dark tone wood frame, custom design night table and dark tone flooring carry on the luxurious design style. White shaggy area rug balances the overall texture and feel of the room. An oversized custom design tufted headboard with solid wood frame in dark tone finish is the main design feature of this stunning black bedroom design. Accent black wall with rows of wall lights makes you feel like you are the star of this bedroom setting. High windows and modern furniture design fits well with the design scheme. This contemporary master bedroom features a white tray ceiling, textured dark finish accent wall and large picture windows which brings the outdoor landscape into the room. Mix and match furniture with different materials, texture and finishes create a cozy and warm feel for this bedroom. A perfect place to relax and unwind after a long day. The black textured wall let these intricately carved silver gilded headboard and night table stand out in this luxurious bedroom. Velvet and organza fabrics with different patterns balance the whole design feel of the room. The black accent wall is contrasted beautifully by the light wood flooring in the room. Bring that elegant black to the bedroom by using dark tone hardwood flooring and black furniture. White trim on the walls, baseboard and molding, as well as white fabrics and area rug, chrome finish furniture and accessories provide a classy chic design. The large window panels allows ample natural light to come in and brighten this master bedroom and gives a feeling of openness. A modern master bedroom features a padded black accent wall provides the main focal point. Both black and white furniture balances the color scheme. The medium tone wood flooring works well with the design and to bring in a warm deviation to the design scheme. Black accent wall creates a perfect backdrop for the hanging LED strip lights. Mural painting on the wall, different fabric patterns and materials provide a chic distinction to the design concept. An interesting design feature of this black and white bedroom is the full size black chalkboard wall, combined with a whiteboard wall. Allow your personality and creativity to run wild by canvassing your room in whatever mood you’re in for the day. By using a paint that dries into a chalkboard finish, this accent wall idea allows endless creative display of design layout for this awesome black and white inspired bedroom. Recycled crate boxes are perfect versatile and practical accessories to fit any purpose. Simple geometric fabric patterns and modern Edison style pendant lights provide fine accents. Light curtain material gives an openness and airy feel to the room. Black is a strong color and as radical as it can be, this decorating idea has created this small guest room in the attic more sophisticated than ever. Black ceiling can look this amazing on your ceiling and will make any room higher and wider. White wood wall panel paired with dark tone wooden flooring provides a warm welcoming feel. A four-poster bed fits perfectly in this beautiful black bedroom. This traditional black painted master bedroom has the finest lake view. Reclaimed dark tone wood panel stiles combined with a lighter tone wood panel rails ceiling with exposed beams gives this bedroom a rustic design scheme. Balanced with parquet flooring in dark tone finish, paired with solid hardwood furniture in medium tone finish adds a warm and welcoming feel. This traditional master bedroom is painted in an almost black, midnight blue making it a great backdrop for the white furniture and accessories to standout. White trimmings for the baseboard and moldings perfectly ties the color scheme of this bedroom. Light ceiling and dark tone flooring balances the color palette. By adding a crystal chandelier, this master bedroom is given an elegant touch. Black accent wall which extends to the drop ceiling over the queen size bed works perfect with the white walls and ceiling; making this apartment bedroom a cozy place to combine the master bed and nursery. Large panel windows allow enough light to brighten up this room. Silver accessories such as the lamps and the artwork feature a well-balance contrast for the design scheme. Black bedrooms when paired with white can be an attractive choice especially when the room receives a lot of natural light from windows. This elegant master suite features white eclectic furniture, leather tufted headboard and upholstery, black and white stripped walls, black floors and glass teardrop decorative elements. By incorporating different textures for the wall, furniture and accessories; this bedroom now has a stylish and luxurious ambience without having to compromise the designer’s choice of colors. Textured accent walls gives this bedroom its own unique signature. The brick wall blends perfectly when paired with the black and beige walls, light tone finish for the floors, mix and match furniture and accessories. A strikingly warm and welcoming ambience allows any guest to feel at home. Patterns can make or break a design scheme. This African inspired bedroom incorporates two distinct pattern – stripes and animal skin pattern in black and white combination. Black walls and white ceiling emphasized by the gold accent color of the curtains, decorative wall ornaments and light fixtures suggests a Safari design theme. These black walls provide a perfect backdrop for the breath-taking scenery outside and for the decorative artwork and framed photographs. White ceiling, trims and molding compensates the dark tone hardwood floor. More presence of nature is seen through incorporating plants as accessories, on textile design patterns and choosing green as accent color. This luxurious contemporary bedroom features a black accent wall, providing an ideal background for the high upholstered headboard which extends up to the ceiling beam. Glass-based lamps, accessories and crystal chandelier add charm and elegance to this bedroom. Black velvet and satin fabrics suggest such refined taste. Medium tone gray walls and high glass sliding window allow the beauty of nature to be the wrap-around backdrop view for this master bedroom. Simple furniture design, minimal use of accessories and light neutral tone flooring keep the eyes focused on the view outside. This contemporary black master bedroom incorporates medium tone hardwood floors with black walls and ceiling yet still creates a relaxing ambience. Reclaimed wood are used for the headboard, simple furniture and accessories adding a cozy and feel at home country touch. Black bedrooms can be romantic and seductive. This modern theme master bedroom in black and white color scheme highlights a textured dark gray accent wall and a black leather bed frame with tufted headboard paired with a black leather tufted ottoman. Modern pieces of lighting fixture in chrome finish, night table and a simple writing desk in dark tone finish balances the whole modern design theme. White tile flooring, shaggy carpet in neutral gray color and white patterned fabrics give a soft and light overall feel. Express yourself in this eclectic bedroom featuring a dark textured accent wall, light tone wood floor, framed mirror headboard, mirror finish and rustic wooden furniture pieces, different texture upholstery, floral prints, eye-catching artwork and accessories. A mix and match of everything and yet makes you feel comfortable, cozy and relaxed. This masculine black master bedroom is designed with such refined taste. Neutral tone color stone flooring, black silver gilded furniture, black and chrome accessories features an exquisite design choice. Dark army green accent color blends perfectly with the textured dark gray walls and ceiling. Lavender silk throw pillows provide an accent color yet retains the robust design theme. This master bedroom is decorated with a color palette of grays beginning with the leaf patterned accent wall combined by a lighter tone of colors for the ceiling and floor. Dark tone wooden night tables and headboard with simple clean lines blends perfectly with the design scheme. Color choices for the textiles and fabrics are selected from the wall pattern incorporating different textures, giving this bedroom a warm cozy feel. Black bedrooms often aim to offset the dark theme by bringing in pops of color and decor. This eclectic inspired design theme features exquisite choices of furniture and accessories. Black walls paired with white ceiling and medium tone wood flooring conforms with the whole design scheme. Bright green night stands and white bed frame and curtains bring a little lighter shades to the space. A fusion of textures distinctively designed and combined with such elegance, makes this bedroom a relaxing and cozy sanctuary.

2019-04-20T21:00:44Z

https://designingidea.com/black-bedrooms/

The long restless nights and the ever going feeding sessions, demand something comfortable for Mommy and Daddy; and what can be a better option than a nursery chair? Let me just say, a comfortable nursery chair is the real heart and one of the most important aspects of the nursery. They provide a place where you will be spending most of your time as a parent; just like how you invest your money in the best baby mattress your money can buy, why should you not pay for your own comfort aswell? It’s important to understand what your investing in and you are getting the uttermost comfort and quality for your money, so here is our list of the best brands in recliners, rockers and gliders for you to decide which one is best for you. ♥ What Features are Important in a Nursery Chair? Stork Craft are the #1 best selling nursery chair in 3 categories and has been voted the #1 nursery glider in 2014 and 2015! All Stork Craft glider chair models offer a glider and rocker chair at affordable prices (see below for best & latest price). With plenty of options available from Stork Craft Glider and Rocker chairs, if you want plain – you’ve got it BUT if you have a fancy nursery or want something different, this is your chair! I purchased this glider for my 1st baby and loved it! Like I’ve mentioned above, there isn’t really much else to say when it comes to Stork Craft gliders and rockers because THEY ARE THE BEST! If you are in the market to buy a glider chair, you would have heard of this brand – it is unbelievably popular for many reasons! See the links above or below for more product information. Not only that, Stork Craft glider chairs are the most affordable option for parents, so they seem to fit into quite a few parent’s budgets. The one advantage that Stork Craft has over the Shermag brand (below), apart from being cheaper, is that you can get the Stork Craft glider in a bigger variety of colors and patterns and styles (there is many options to choose from; you can choose different color wood handles/feet to different color fabric and different patterns). Shermag is another very popular brand in glider chairs (voted #1 in quality by Moms in 2017) who offer parents ultimate comfort and luxury (where the padding is actually fluffy, comfy padding and is cushiony as opposed to just material). If you want a quality nursery chair which is elegant and top of the line, also available in neutral colors (my favorite being the Pecan with Oatmeal color) and without having to choose between too many colors or designs, this is one of the best glider rocker chairs ever made. The difference between the Stork Craft range and Shermag is exactly that, price and quality. Stork Craft offer more affordable products for parents, but it is important to remember, that although a Stork Craft nursery chair may serve you well, you cannot guarantee that the Stork Craft Hoop and Glider model will last forever, and with multiple children, you may find yourself buying a new one. Babyletto has been voted one of the #1 baby brands in 2015 as since it’s release, it has been selling out fast online. There is no other brand quite like Babyletto. They are especially popular for modern and trendy parents. Babyletto offers such a large variety in baby nursery chairs and in so many different, chic and funky designs (see below for more info). To me, it’s simple, Babyletto = ultimate comfort. The above gliders and rockers are the Top 3 Babyletto Gliders as rated by parents according to popularity. Babyletto is one of those brands worth investing in. For my first child I bought the Stork Craft (#1 option) and then for my second child, I upgraded and bought a Babyletto nursery chair. This brand is famous for offering eco-friendly, non-toxic and quality nursery furniture and products. The Babyletto nursery chairs range have a the most modern and comfy nursery chairs. What we look for when we go to purchase a nursery chair or feeding chair is, comfort, and that is exactly what Babyletto offers you, there is no other brand like it, they product quality baby furniture. Ottomans are also available to match the chair and are worth every dollar, you need to put your feet up, remember?! Babyletto glider, rockers and recliners come in many different styles and colors including white, gray, beige, pepper, charcoal and coffee colors (view all chairs here). All the colors look amazing in their own way. You can pick any of the stunning Babyletto gliders to match your nursery and baby room décor. Babyletto nursery chairs all have nice wide seats and are properly padded. Their reclining and gliding functions are super smooth and effortless. I really love this brand in glider chairs also, (I guess I adore all these brands but I get a really nice feeling when I look at these chairs, who knows maybe for my third baby I might opt for one of these). So, back onto non-personal thoughts, this brand (Nursery Works) is another brand (beyond Babyletto above) that offers a range of modern nursery chairs. Nurseryworks offers you a rocking chair as opposed to a glider/rocker. There is many designs to choose from, you can even choose different material, fabric design and colors! The most popular nursery rocker from the range is the one featured to the right, the Sleepytime Rocker. As you can tell just by looking at merely one design featured by Nursery Works, the seats on these nursery rocking chairs are wider and the back of the rocker is shorter than the other nursery gliders on our list; some parents like this feature, others don’t. Hence why this brand of rocking chair is below the afore mentioned chairs above, but still, the design is a still winning factor for many parents. Nursery Works nursery rockers are an up and coming brand that is getting popular because of the different techniques they use to make children’s products. The brand offers those parents who prefer a rocker over a glider, a simple and elegant design where all chairs are hand made from top quality materials and craftsmanship. The colors help camouflage spills and do not require constant cleaning as mess doesn’t tend to show on these chairs. This popular chair, the ‘Swivel Glider‘ is also available in two excellent colors, Dark Taupe and Camet Doe, excellent colors if you are undecided on what color to choose from. You can also buy the glider with the matching ottoman, here or you can buy one of my favorite white ottomans as featured in the photo, here. The difference with the Dorel Asia Swivel chair to the other nursery chairs on our list is that it is a swivel glider; it has a swivel and motion function. Dorel Asia produces fine quality wood products and offers parents a wide range of nursery chairs with and without the ottoman. Their products are typically made from solid wood and 100% polyester. What I like about Dorel Asia is they seem to have a chair for everyone’s taste and budget. So you can choose a nursery chair according to your budget and color choice to match in with your current baby room theme. With three colors (view all) to choose from and coming in the set with matching ottoman, it’s not only popular for parents with newborn babies but it’s a great chair just for pure comfort in the any room of the house. The Grand Royale Swivel Glider comes with a non-gliding ottoman so if you don’t like your ottoman gliding along with your glider chair (I do), then this might be the nursery glider you were looking for. The seat is wide (and comfy) and the cushions and padding are made from microfiber, instead of polyester like the other chairs, which you may like as it’s super soft to touch, hence why the chair feels extraordinarily comfy. When I was decorating my nursery, I called the baby crib the ‘focal point’ of the baby room as the baby will be spending most of the time in crib. But when you think about it, but what about for you and me? Don’t we, as parents, need somewhere comfortable to spend a lot of our time nursing our baby? Is a rocking chair necessary in the baby room? Does this question make you wonder aswell? It must, otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this. Well, it did bother me when I was buying all the nursery furniture for my first baby’s nursery, but my experience proved that buying a glider and rocker for the nursery was the wisest decision I ever made when it came to having kids (with many other wise decisions). Not to mention that it provided me comfort with its softness and made feeding easy for me, but it helped me out in the looks department – it helped me look less ugly and sleep deprived in the morning as I took some secret naps on my rocking nursery chair whilst bub was wiggling off to sleep. Either as a new parent or an experienced parent, the idea of buying a recliner, rocker or glider has popped up into your mind. By listening the opinion of many parents, hopefully you got the answer by now. They are truly a must for your baby room, plus it will be the only piece of furniture that will be useful even when your baby grows up as the story time usually takes place on the same nursery chair. Then after that, it can become part of the furniture in the living room or another area of the house where a comfy recliner is needed. When is the right time to buy a chair? BEFORE the baby is due, just like everything else that you need for the nursery, you will be too exhausted to think otherwise or have the time to wait for one. So once you’ve decided you deserve some money to be spent on something you will need and enjoy as a parent, here are a few things you must know before going for shopping for one. You will see examples of these in our list above, but here is more information on the most common types of nursery baby chairs. Nursing chairs, also known as baby feeding chairs, are used to provide you the best and most comfortable position for breast feeding, bottle feeding your baby or nursing your baby to sleep. A few decades ago, ‘nursing chairs’ were considered to be an essential part of a baby nursery, then they were replaced by ‘rocking chairs’. Now modern breastfeeding chairs are a combination of both to ensure that feeding time is much easier by supporting your arms in the feeding position that is suitable for both you and your baby. Glider chairs are an updated version of rocking chairs that simply provide you with indescribable comfort; and if you still haven’t sat on a glider chair before, then you will probably experience an amazing feeling for the very first time. The back and forth motion of a glider chair is comfortable for both your baby and yourself and was the secret behind my ‘soul partner’ and my ‘secret naps’. And what about an ottoman, are they really that necessary? Um. Yes. You NEED an ottoman with the glider; you need to put your feet up! An ottoman allows for full body relaxation and is something that if you don’t buy with the chair, you will regret it. Rocking chairs serve the same purpose as gliders (to provide a comfortable place for you to nurse your baby and also feed your little one) but they move on rounded rockers so they do require some effort with your toes for rocking the chair. No longer the old versions of those uncomfortable rocking chairs, many brands now offer innovative rocking nursery chairs that are more comfortable and require less effort than the ones we remember back in the day. They come in different colors and with cushions or padding so you can choose according to your requirement. All these nursing chairs, whether you opt for a glider, rocking chair or recliner, can all be used comfortable for feeding and nursing purposes in your home, it’s up to you to decide which one suits you best. What Features are Important in a Nursery Chair? All of the rocker, reclines and gliders that we have suggested above are the most popular and best brands as rated by parents worldwide for the purpose of a comfortable chair in your baby’s nursery. If none of the above suit your needs, ensure you are looking for a chair that has the following features. Your nursery chair will probably the place where you will take half of your sleep in the first few months so it should be able to recline, few gilders and rocking chairs in the market offer up to 6 inch reclining and that’s the best you can get. A comfortable glider or nursery chair should come with locking mechanism as it will assure the safety of the baby and yourself while sleeping. The most important thing is comfort, after all this is the sole purpose of a nursery chair so it should be comfortable enough to let you be in it for most of the time. Trust me, nothing can be worse than a nursery chair which is not comfortable at 3.00 am at night. A wide seat will also add to the comfort and allow you to change positions, especially when you are going to feed the baby in it, you need to change your positions many times to find a suitable position so a nursery chair should have wide seat. Want to save $$ on buying diapers? Find out how thousands of parents worldwide are saving lots of money on buying cheap diapers (including me!) by reading my latest article on how to Get Cheap Diapers Now – Any Brand, Any Size! Your very welcome! The link is included in the article but here it is again for you, the Dorel Asia Swivel in Camet Doe. My friend recently purchased the #1 (stork craft) and now I’m looking for one for myself, which I think I’ve decided on the Shermag. You’ve surely made this whole decision making process very quick for me. Cheers.

2019-04-21T18:44:53Z

http://mybabycare.org/you-will-definitely-need-one-the-most-comfortable-nursery-chairs/

Watch out for income when selecting Elinor Convertible Sofa By Zipcode Design. Quite often furniture is placed on sale. If you need a certain part, you save a lot of cash by patiently awaiting the cost to become minimized. You could possibly even ask your favorite Elinor Convertible Sofa By Zipcode Design retail store as soon as the piece is going to be designated on the cheap. If you want a new sofa, try out finding one with many entirely protected cushions. These soft cushions last longer and will be flipped frequently. If at all possible, you should purchase a sofa with detachable covers so that you can very easily rinse them. Easily-removed addresses can be replaced easily if you happen to are not able to clean a stain Buy Elinor Convertible Sofa By Zipcode Design later on around. At the conclusion of this year, it is actually typical for stores to get these items away their showroom ground. This can lead to some terrific revenue and special discounts. Everybody values becoming drenched on your sofa when you unwind. This recommends the comfort and also the character from the couches are essential. No one loves to sit on a menacing and unpleasant couch with frayed furniture. Actually, sofas are expensive. If you are searching for the most comfy and comfy vehicles, in those days you have to pay for them. I've come across regularly that people end up buying the wrong couch and after emptying your bank account onto it. Why? Basically, they do not know how to pick the wonderful Ashley furnishings couch in the best way. Remember that the higher the cost, it usually doesn't give you the CORRECT product. For this case, we have found part of the best sofas for a comfortable mood. We advise you understand before you get towards the extremely wealthy furniture stores. You'll steer clear of problems and a little bit of "grieve more than fortune-bad luck". This is actually the next sofa on the checklist. 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Now, it's resilient froth cushions that are wrapped up in inside a polyester furniture to bring about the specified comfort. It has a sturdy part obstructed body that increases the sturdiness. Also, the feet have been in a faux wood complete. It has an impressive gray colour that matches with any decoration. It measures 89 T x 39 D x 40 They would therefore big enough to support you along with your familyOrfriends. More to the point, it occurs completely put together. This saves the pain of getting to put together the established. Whilst the rear of this couch shows the Chesterfield, with its rows of tufting, a tuxedo sofa has cleaner, much more angular lines. It is said to have been the bellwether of more modern designs within the 20's. Although some say this couch style takes a name from Tux Park in Ny, it's also considered called following the classic extravagant mens suit. You are able to identify a tuxedo couch by its hands that are identical height as the back. The tufting on the back of the couch and it is rectangle-shaped silhouette are also traditional characteristics. Soft cushions add comfort for this higher-equipped design. Also, as the couch over from Upcountry is upholstered in leather-based, this well-liked style is often completed in fabrics of all types, including the very trendy velvet. Just like its namesake, the camelback sofa includes a hump or maybe two that accents the primary silhouette of this sofa style. This is a conventional design which was made popular in the 18th century by Chippendale and households who desired aristocratic, formal furniture frequently chosen this design. These days, this couch design gives a far more official air to the space, especially when upholstered inside a formal material. A more casual textile choice will make it appropriate for a household room that doesnt require a lot of custom. Either way, the camelback couch has some factors that characterize the style. 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Although this reclining loveseat comes with a heftier price tag, its traditional design, options for customization and automatic reclining system allow it to be well worth the dough. Its hand made wood body is cushioned with lower blend soft cushions for a much softer really feel than you would get from high-denseness froth cushions, and also the upholstery will come in a whopping 72 colour and material combinations. The availability of so many options makes it additional simple to set this lying loveseat with different designs, materials, accents and decorations styles. Plus, for those who have kids or animals (or each!), you can select a more durable, stain-proof material. 1 customer discussed the Sunbrella fabric materials has organized well against her pets and children. This lying loveseat may have a classic, old-college look, nevertheless its constructed-in tech is anything but. It doesn't only have an automated reclining program (that will give you a complete recline, with your foot rest completely parallel towards the chair), but it features a USB interface for using or simply getting your apple ipad, apple iphone, Amazon kindle or laptop computer. Carolina Light Grey Fabric Sectional Sofa is well known because of its stunning comfort and ease and impressive style. It has a modular style that enables for several arrangement choices to meet your requirements.The set functions soft material and pushes cushions to create the specified comfort. More importantly, its of a good dimension to accommodate you along with the family of buddies. With respect to the available space and your desired form, you can combine the I chairs to create an impressive form. Its highly recommended for all those with small areas and needs a couch. Copyright © Elinor Convertible Sofa By Zipcode Design in Loveseats All right reserved.

2019-04-20T02:55:58Z

http://leningoversluiten.co/cat-Futons/250-%5BPick%5D-elinor-convertible-sofa-by-zipcode-design-item=X4NU5Y0YDX.asp

When you realize how easy it is for thieves to compromise an ATM or credit card terminal with skimming devices, it’s difficult not to inspect or even pull on these machines when you’re forced to use them personally — half expecting something will come detached. For those unfamiliar with the stealth of these skimming devices and the thieves who install them, read on. Police in Lower Pottsgrove, PA are searching for a pair of men who’ve spent the last few months installing card and PIN skimmers at checkout lanes inside of Aldi supermarkets in the region. These are “overlay” skimmers, in that they’re designed to be installed in the blink of an eye just by placing them over top of the customer-facing card terminal. The top of the overlay skimmer models removed from several Aldi grocery story locations in Pennsylvania over the past few months. The underside of the skimmer hides the brains of this little beauty, which is configured to capture the personal identification number (PIN) of shoppers who pay for their purchases with a debit card. This likely describes a great number of loyal customers at Aldi; the discount grocery chain only in 2016 started accepting credit cards, and previously only took cash, debit cards, SNAP, and EBT cards. The underside of this skimmer found at Aldi is designed to record PINs. The Lower Pottsgrove police have been asking local citizens for help in identifying the men spotted on surveillance cameras installing the skimming devices, noting that multiple victims have seen their checking accounts cleaned out after paying at compromised checkout lanes. Local police released the following video footage showing one of the suspects installing an overlay skimmer exactly like the one pictured above. The man is clearly nervous and fidgety with his feet, but the cashier can’t see his little dance and certainly doesn’t notice the half second or so that it takes him to slip the skimming device over top of the payment terminal. I realize a great many people use debit cards for everyday purchases, but I’ve never been interested in assuming the added risk and so pay for everything with cash or a credit card. Armed with your PIN and debit card data, thieves can clone the card and pull money out of your account at an ATM. Having your checking account emptied of cash while your bank sorts out the situation can be a huge hassle and create secondary problems (bounced checks, for instance). The Lower Pottsgrove Police have been admonishing people for blaming Aldi for the incidents, saying the thieves are extremely stealthy and that this type of crime could hit virtually any grocery chain. While Aldi payment terminals in the United States are capable of accepting more secure chip-based card transactions, the company has yet to enable chip payments (although it does accept mobile contactless payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay). This is important because these overlay skimmers are designed to steal card data stored on the magnetic stripe when customers swipe their cards. However, many stores that have chip-enabled terminals are still forcing customers to swipe the stripe instead of dip the chip. This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 6th, 2018 at 9:53 am and is filed under All About Skimmers. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. Crooks must make a lot of money from skimmers. They have to figure out which scanner, get specs, create the 3D design, the electronics, install it, retrieve it. Out of curiosity, are there dark web sites that sell pre-made skimmers. If so, what’s a typical price? If you want a skimmer to steal money, you are an a$$hole. Everyone in the industry knows that skimmers have been around for decades, and won’t be disappearing anytime soon. If you’re browsing this website, then you’re already a step ahead of most. Be alert for anything that looks even remotely out of place, misfitted or loose , and yes, tug on the overlays. Keep doing good work, Brian. Every time I see a pinpad with that gawdang rubber shield that makes it obvious what buttons you’re pressing, it takes a lot of self-control for me to not rip it off. Now, I’ll be able to to claim that I’m testing for skimmers. Thanks! I guess this might be a silly question but… why keep using these aio devices for entering data. Why not separate them. Run a wire to the card reader that would be more in plan sight. model the exterior with a flat/flush face where you enter the card the same way for both chip and stripe. leave it in there for stripe read, quickly insert extract for stripe read. Add a auto closing cover that covers the slot when not in use, activate by cashier when they select credit or put the order in payment mode. Shield the crap out of the device. Add an insert, that when the cover closes, an insert the exact size minus a 1/10 of a mm on each side, slides into the slot for cleaning and to avoid any slim skimmers. Build the touchpad similarly, with an off/deactivated mode where the cover closes and the spacing is close enough that nothing could be overlayed. Costly? How much is a breach of this nature worth to you? This is a great suggestion. There’s no real reason these things have to be sitting out exposed all the time, put them in a friggin metal box bolted or welded to the counter that the cashier activates a door when they close a sale. The times there isn’t a cashier, the box just stays locked. Not all that costly if you’re talking about the company producing the tech (and therefore responsible for the design). They’re not held liable. The company using the tech is usually insured, and not much incentive is there to seek out better-designed tech. The cost is usually felt by the bank offering the account that got defrauded. But that cost is felt even more by you, the person who is- whether he knows it or not- inheriting the cost of said fraud insurance. When crooks say “victimless crime” it’s probably mostly true that this is uttered mostly to absolve their consciences. Still, the ultimate responsibility is spread so broadly that the idea that the term might have a valid application becomes more tantalizing. Are the Google Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Pay Pal safer than using a card? Yes. It is. Due to the EMV standard, it provides a virtual card that is different from the actual card you have on hand. Yes. It is. It is based on the EMV standard that uses a virtual card instead of the real one. I had a person that thought like you when I returned an item and I didn’t have my receipt. I explained to him that I used my phone to pay for the product. He insisted that I used my card. When I did, it rejected it. I told him to “try it again, this time I use my phone.” It worked magically. You should have seen his face when I told him that I tried to tell him. It’s considerably less vulnerable to ATM/card-reader skimming. Then again your debit card isn’t anywhere near as vulnerable to phishing attacks aimed at stealing the credentials you use to sign into these services. In that sense I suppose it’s a matter of what ~sort~ of risk you want to assume here. Last week, my debit card information was stolen. I had no idea how this could have happened. My credit union’s fraud center called to inform me. The credit union blocked my card so I didn’t have to deal with funds being taken. After I read the article on Aldi supermarket, I realized I had been to Aldi for the first time ever in Harrisburg, NC on 2/3/18 and the fraud attempt was on 2/5/18. Called my credit union and they will be reporting my suspicions to Master Card. Great article! I was just at the Lower Pottsgrove Aldi’s on Feb. 8th, and when I was checking out, to be sure, I wiggled the keypad to make sure it wasn’t loose, and the cashier said rather abruptly, “It’s OK!” I felt like she was annoyed that I bothered to check, but in view of everything that has been going on, I felt completely justified in doing so. skimmers for what? why not spend time working and skimmers! skimmers paara quê? poruqe não passar o tempo a trabalhar e poupavam nos skimmers! While it is a great article on the length that skimmers go through to put it on the POS while the employees are working, the reason it is easy is that most stores don’t train their employees how to spot it unless they put it out on the bulletin board to implore them to check it when they sign on. In this case, it happened while the store was open and there were no front end manager or supervisors watching the lanes something I complained about when I used to work at one such store in the past. The only reason it happens is due to the magnetic stripe on the back of the card. Until the banks starts eliminating it, it will happen again and again. This is one of the reason why I use AP (Android Pay) no matter where I shop. It is more secure and virtually impossible to clone due to its level of security required (EMV). It also have security features that you can lock it . On top of that, I put a daily limit on it through the bank. To be honest, I don’t think I’d care about going over a checklist to check that kind of stuff if I was making 7.00-something an hour at a cash register. As long as all of my cash is present in the drawer at the end of the day, I’m good. One of the issues that management (across most disciplines) struggles with is overburdening employees with checklists and punch cards. While I agree with you about the employees not checking because they don’t get paid, however the system is set up to force the employee to check it before they are able to start work on the register. This is why I said that cashier heads (there’s several under the direction of the front end manager) should be stationed to be able to see the POS and be able to assist the employee when they run into problem that needs their approval code not hiding where they can’t see these things so they can socialize, or play with their phone during the course of the day. I had my share that I had to chew out the management staff about it- didn’t care what they think. So people & clerks don’t get suspicious when the payments don’t go through? One glaring thing here is how did they get it to sit over the rubber shield. It looks like this is an overlay and it does not appear that it would be easily placed on top of one of the devices that actually had the rubber security shield in place. So that must have been either missing or removed from all or just that one machine. If it was just that one that was missing it, it would have been obvious it did not match the others in the store on other checkouts. If that is the case what are the chances that cashier is open when the skimmers are there? There’s an echo in here. I would never have picked up on this thanks for alerting me. I will let our client bases know as well. One further example of lacking infrastructure in the US. The skimming problem would not be around anymore for years, had the US adopted faster to the chip-technology used in Europe for well over 10 years now already. Europe is more or less 99+% chip-capable and skimming is no issue at all anymore. America First – at least not this time…. Ironically enough, the reason that Europe adopted the chip as part of their bank card systems was not only to counter fraud, but also to allow for secure batch processing of transactions at the end of the day. Telecommunications in Europe was far more expensive and not as reliable/pervasive as it was in the U.S. in the 1980s and 1990s, so to save money, transactions would be approved with the chip and PIN combination, and cryptographically signed for anti-fraud purposes, so that the bank card industry in Europe would only verify that the chip key had not been compromised, and the transaction could be quickly processed one way at the end of the day. The U.S. had such a widely available, reliable, and affordable system in place that credit card transaction terminals could process the transaction at the time of sale. Since transactions could performed at the time of sale and checked against stolen card databases at that time, the need to encrypt that bank card data was not as strong. When the bank card infrastructure was developed and deployed in the U.S., the cost of card terminals were high, and the electronics and software to create skimmers were not at a point to make an easily concealable device. Engineers knew that the design wasn’t the most secure, but the idea was that the security would eventually catch up and be part of any terminal upgrades that would eventually come out. Unfortunately, the system proved to be very “sticky” and those upgrades were expensive. EMV cards have been discussed in the U.S. since the late 1990s and early 2000s, and banks issued them, but there were no terminals to utilize them. Could the authorities not look at the card that he used during that checkout to capture his identity? This young thief seems to have a good body to work, regrettable that his mother has not managed to do a good job! it seems certain that if they dedicate themselves to doing something useful, they would have great success! Aldi is absolutely liable for any fraud that occurs due to the fact that they did not enable chip and pin transactions by the October deadline. The data was stolen because they are still using swipe and sign. It also would not be hard for cashiers or a manager to check the card readers for skimmers at the end each day, as skimmers are increasingly a known and widespread threat. At least they do still accept NFC payments but very few people use those.

2019-04-20T08:58:54Z

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/02/would-you-have-spotted-this-skimmer/

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This list was generated on Sat Apr 20 13:12:54 2019 UTC.

2019-04-20T23:11:08Z

http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/view/year/2000.html

Scroll to the bottom of page for live updates feed. For updates to wildfires managed by the Lone Star State Incident Management Team please visit https://www.facebook.com/lssimt/. We urge residents to prepare and heed warnings from state and local officials. Updated May 11, 2018 at 12:31 p.m. CST. Mallard, Armstrong County, estimated at 20,000 acres, 15 percent contained, multiple spot fires, extreme fire behavior, group torching and crown runs in juniper. Call 432-558-8311 for Mallard Fire Information. Harwood, Hall County, 2,500 acres, 30 percent contained, flanks active, group torching and crown runs, no structures threatened. JA #2 East, Donley County, 700 acres, 75 percent contained; is burning into an old prescribed burn. Low fire activity. Glover, Armstrong County, 3,000 acres with 10 containment. Mechler, Randall County, 800 acres, 70% contained. Mallard, Armstrong County, estimated at 1200 acres, 0 percent contained, multiple spot fires, extreme fire behavior, group torching and crown runs in juniper. Summer Field, Armstrong County, 1000 acres, 0 percent contained; the fire is south of the Mallard and is expected to burn through a canyon and join the Mallard Fire. Extreme fire behavior, group torching and crown runs in juniper. Hilltop Fire, Reagan County: estimated 727 acres, 100% contained. 2287 Fire, Callahan County: estimated 18 acres, 100% contained. McClellan Fire, Gray County: estimated 32,100 acres, 100% contained. 287 Fire, Armstrong County: 477 acres, 100% contained. McClellan Fire, Gray County: estimated 32,100 acres, 80% contained. Crews patrolling and mopping up. A DPS helicopter will GPS the fire perimeter later today. 287 Fire, Armstrong County: estimated 1,500 acres, 50% contained. Fireline construction is complete and crews are patrolling and mopping up. McCracken Fire, Gray County: 86 acres, 95% contained. Vanderburg Fire, Gray County: 498 acres, 90% contained. No active fire. Crews are patrolling and mopping up. McClellan Fire, Gray County: estimated 32,100 acres, 60% contained. Fire behavior is smoldering, crews working on completing containment line, patrolling and mopping up. Confirmed 1 home, 1 garage, and 1 other structure lost. McClellan Fire, Gray County: estimated 32,100 acres, 60% containment. Fire behavior is smoldering, crews working on completing containment line, patrolling and mopping up. Confirmed 1 home, 1 garage, and 1 other structure lost. McClellan Fire, Gray County: estimated 13,000 acres, 10% containment. Fire behavior has moderated some and the fire is staying south/west of 1321 at this time. Crews are prioritizing structure protection and construction of fireline on the south flank in preparations for the wind shift overnight. Structures threatened. Locals encouraged to heed warnings from local emergency management. McClellan Fire, Gray County: estimated 6000 acres, 10% containment, active fire behavior, ground and air resources on scene, fire has crossed FM 291 and is heading east. Wind direction expected to shift over night. Structures threatened. Locals encouraged to heed warnings from local emergency management. Carbon, Wheeler County – this fire has burned an estimated 12,530 acres and is 75 percent contained. 2473, Gray County – this fire has burned an estimated 805 acres and is 80 percent contained. High Plains, Hutchinson County – this fire has burned an estimated 501 acres and is 90 percent contained. Harbor Bay, Hutchinson County (FMAG) – this fire has burned an estimated 1,109 acres and is 90 percent contained. CR 26, Wheeler County – this fire has burned an estimated 1,386 acres and is 95 percent contained. Check Point, Kenedy County – this fire has burned an estimated 1,155 acres and is 100 percent contained. Walston, Mason County – this fire has burned an estimated 1,400 acres and is 100 percent contained. 206, Lea County, NM – this fire has burned an estimated 49,785 acres (5,923 ac. in Cochran Co, TX) and is 100 percent contained. CR 205, Crockett County – this fire has burned an estimated 4,173 acres and is 100 percent contained. CR26 Fire, Wheeler County: 1,386 acres and 95% contained. Harbor Fire, Hutchinson County: 1,190 acres, 90% contained. Milliron Fire, Collingsworth County: 29,979 acres, 90% containment. Carbon Fire, Wheeler County: 12,530 acres, 95% containment. 206 Fire, Cochran County: crossed into Texas from New Mexico; estimated 49,785 acres with 5,590 acres in Texas, and 95% containment. CR26 Fire, Wheeler County: estimated 2,500 acres and 80% contained. Crews are continuing to construct fireline and burn out pockets. The head of the fire has reached the Carbon Fire burn scar. Harbor Fire, Hutchinson County: 1,190 acres, 90% contained. Forward progress stopped. Structures reported as lost. Visit https://twitter.com/BorgerOem or https://www.facebook.com/borger.oem/ for more information. Milliron Fire, Collingsworth County: 29,979 acres, 75% containment. Crews are engaged in fireline construction. Carbon Fire, Wheeler County: 12,530 acres, 75% containment. Crews are burning out pockets and reinforcing line. CR26 Fire, Wheeler County: estimated 300 acres. Very active fire on south flank. Crews constructing line on north and south flanks. Harbor Fire, Hutchinson County: 1,109 acres, 90% contained. Forward progress stopped. Structures reported as lost. Visit https://twitter.com/BorgerOem or https://www.facebook.com/borger.oem/ for more information. Milliron Fire, Collingsworth County: 29,979 acres, 50% containment. Crews are engaged in fireline construction. 335 Fire, Jones County: 2,625 acres, 100% contained. Structures reported as lost. Loma Alto Fire, Val Verde County: 250 acres, 100% contained. Craig Road Fire, Howard County: 350 acres, 75% containment. Forward progress stopped. Ames Fire, Eastland County: 130 acres, 100% contained. Glenn Fire (formerly Ron James Fire and Ken Williams Fire), Dickens County: 3,100 acres, 100% contained. Milliron Fire, Collingsworth County: 26,979 acres, 20% containment. Moderate fire behavior. Crews are engaged in fireline construction. 335 Fire, Jones County: estimated 1000 acres with 50% containment. Active fire behavior. Structures reported as lost. CR Road Fire, Crockett County: estimated 2,500 acres with 20% containment. Loma Alto Fire, Val Verde County: estimated 250 acres with 10% containment. Forward progress has been stopped. Craig Road Fire, Howard County: estimated 350 acres, 75% containment. Forward progress stopped. Ames Fire, Eastland County: estimated 150 acres with 50% containment. Forward progress stopped. 206 Fire, Cochran County: crossed into Texas from New Mexico; estimated 30,000 acres with 4,000 in Texas, and 85% containment. Glenn Fire (formerly Ron James Fire and Ken Williams Fire), Dickens County: combined acreage is estimated at 5,500 with 90% contained. Crews patrolling and conducting mop up. Neill Fire, Howard County: 117 acres, 100% contained. 126 Lake Fire, Jones county: estimated 40 acres with 100% containment. Canadian River Fire, Potter County: 922 acres, 100% contained. Carbon Fire, Wheeler County: 7,500 acres, 40% containment, no threats, Ground crews are working to build containment line around the fire. Canadian River Fire, Potter County: 922 acres, 90% contained. Craig Road Fire, Howard County: estimated 350 acres, 75% containment, forward progress stopped. Milliron Fire, Collingsworth County: 26,979 acres, 20% containment. Moderate fire behavior. Crews making good progress. Harbor Fire, Hutchinson County: estimated 1000 acres, 75% contained. Forward progress stopped. Homes threatened. Structures reported as lost. Visit https://twitter.com/BorgerOem or https://www.facebook.com/borger.oem/ for more information. Ron James Fire and Ken Williams Fire, Dickens County: combined acreage is estimated at 5,500 with 65% contained. Crews making good progress. Neill Fire, Howard County: estimated 200 acres, 100% contained. Milliron Fire, Collingsworth County: estimated 3,500 acres, 25% containment. Moderate fire behavior. Crews making good progress. Harbor Fire, Hutchinson County: estimated 1000 acres, 75% contained. Forward progress stopped. Homes threatened. Structures reported as lost. https://twitter.com/BorgerOem or https://www.facebook.com/borger.oem/ for more information. 126 Lake Fire, Jones county: estimated 40 acres with 100% containment. Near Hamlin. Local volunteer fire departments and county maintainer have stopped forward progress of fire. Ron James Fire and Ken Williams Fire, Dickens County: combined acreage is estimated at 6,500 with 65% contained. Crews making good progress. Carbon Fire, Wheeler County: 6,000 acres, 5% containment, homes threatened, Ground crews are working to build containment line around the fire. Craig Road Fire, Howard County: estimated 300 acres, 20% containment, forward progress stopped, structures threatened, several lost. Ground crews making good progress. Harbor Fire, Hutchinson County: estimated 1000 acres, 20% contained. Homes threatened. Structures reported as lost. Evacuations reported. https://twitter.com/BorgerOem or https://www.facebook.com/borger.oem/ for more information. 335 Fire, Jones County: estimated 1000 acres with 30% containment. Active fire behavior. Ron James Fire and Ken Williams Fire, Dickens County: combined acreage is estimated at 3,000 with 40% contained. Very active fire behavior. Carbon Fire, Wheeler County: 6,000 acres and growing, 5% containment, homes threatened, 3 Single Engine Air Tankers and ground crews are working the fire. Ground crews are working the fire line and structure protection in Texola, OK and dispersed homes south of town. 126 Lake Fire, Jones county: estimated 40 acres with 70% containment. Near Hamlin. Local volunteer fire departments and county maintainer have stopped forward progress of fire. Harbor Fire, Hutchinson County: estimated 800 acres, 0% contained. Homes threatened. Structures reported as lost. Evacuations reported. https://twitter.com/BorgerOem or https://www.facebook.com/borger.oem/ for more information. 126 Lake Fire, Jones county: estimated 40 acres with 30% containment. Near Hamlin. Local volunteer fire departments and county maintainer have stopped forward progress of fire. Harbor Fire, Hutchinson County: estimated 800 acres, 0% contained. Homes threatened. Evacuations reported. https://twitter.com/BorgerOem or https://www.facebook.com/borger.oem/ for more information. 294 Fire: Wildfire is in Armstrong and Donley counties. Estimated 14,482 acres with 95% containment. Twenty-four homes were saved. One home unoccupied, 1 commercial barn, 3 other miscellaneous outbuildings and approximately 80 round bales of hay, is the total losses for this fire. Fire is in mop-up and patrol status. Updated: 10:27 a.m. CST April 8, 2018. 294 Fire: Wildfire is in Armstrong and Donley counties. Estimated 14,482 acres with 80% containment. Twenty-four homes were saved. One home unoccupied, 1 commercial barn, 3 other miscellaneous outbuildings and approximately 80 round bales of hay, is the total losses for this fire. Fire is in mop-up status. Updated: 10:42 a.m. CST April 6, 2018. 294 Fire: Wildfire is burning in Armstrong and Donley counties. Estimated 15,000 acres with 60% containment. Twenty-four homes were saved. One home unoccupied, 1 commercial barn, 3 other miscellaneous outbuildings and approximately 80 round bales of hay, is the total losses for this fire. Fire is within containment lines at this point Crews are crews are working the southern edge of the fire south of HWY 287 in the canyon area. North of HWY 287 there is no currently reported fire activity. Last updated 1:58 p.m. CST April 4, 2018. 294 Fire: Wildfire is burning in Armstrong and Donley counties. Estimated 15,000 acres with 60% containment. Four structures reported as lost, no occupied homes were lost. Crews are crews are working the southern edge of the fire south of HWY 287 in the canyon area. North of HWY 287 there is no currently reported fire activity. Last updated 10:48 a.m. CST April 4, 2018. 294 Fire: Wildfire is burning in Armstrong and Donley counties. Estimated 11,000 acres with 50% containment. Four structures reported as lost, no occupied homes were lost. Crews are crews are working the southern edge of the fire south of HWY 287 in the canyon area. North of HWY 287 there is no currently reported fire activity. Last updated 9:48 a.m. CST April 4, 2018. 294 Fire: Wildfire is burning in Armstrong and Donley counties. Estimated 11,000 acres with 50% containment. Four structures reported as lost, no occupied homes were lost. Crews are crews are working the southern edge of the fire south of HWY 287 in the canyon area. Last updated 9:50 p.m CST April 3, 2018. 294 Fire: Wildfire is burning in Armstrong and Donley counties. Estimated 11,000 acres with 50% containment. Three structures reported as lost with multiple structures threatened. Crews are crews are working the southern edge of the fire south of HWY 287 in the canyon area. Last updated 7:19 p.m CST April 3, 2018. 294 Fire: Wildfire is burning in Armstrong and Donley counties. Estimated 11,000 acres with 50% containment. Three structures reported as lost with multiple structures threatened. Three large air tankers and two type 1 helicopters have been ordered. Last updated at 4:14 p.m. CST . Texas A&M Forest Service has 58 responders, including the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. View the response map here. This will be the last Harvey update. Kirby Ranch Fire: Runnels County, 1115 acres with 100% containment. Texas A&M Forest Service, Ballinger VFD, Talpa VFD, Winters VFD and Coleman FD responded. Texas Department of Transportation also assisted. Sultiemier Ranch Fire: Concho County, estimated 300 acres with 0% containment. Texas A&M Forest Service has 106 responders, including the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. View the response map here. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 66 firefighters with 17 fire engines from across the state. Response locations include Orange County, Hardin County and Aransas County. Regional Staging Areas (RSAs) are temporary locations established to house, sort and manage a variety of supplies and commodities needs in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. RSA locations include Beeville. Support locations have been set up along the Texas Gulf Coast in an effort to provide assistance in coordinating response efforts of local disaster districts and emergency operations centers. Support locations include Austin, College Station, Lufkin and Corpus Christi. Texas A&M Forest Service has 115 responders, including the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. View the response map here. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 66 firefighters with 17 fire engines from across the state. Response locations include Orange County and Aransas County. Regional Staging Areas (RSAs) are temporary locations established to house, sort and manage a variety of supplies and commodities needs in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. RSA locations include Beaumont and Beeville. Support locations have been set up along the Texas Gulf Coast in an effort to provide assistance in coordinating response efforts of local disaster districts and emergency operations centers. Support locations include Austin, College Station, Lufkin, Beaumont, Corpus Christi and Hardin County. Texas A&M Forest Service has 119 responders, including the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. View the response map here. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 60 firefighters with 17 fire engines from across the state. Response locations include Orange County and Aransas County. Texas A&M Forest Service has 142 responders, including the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. View the response map here. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 83 firefighters with 23 fire engines from across the state. Response locations include, Orange County, Galveston and Aransas County. Texas A&M Forest Service has 273 responders, including the New York State Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. View the response map here. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 114 firefighters with 30 fire engines from across the state. Response locations include, Orange County, Port Arthur, Galveston and Rockport. Support locations have been set up along the Texas Gulf Coast in an effort to provide assistance in coordinating response efforts of local disaster districts and emergency operations centers. Support locations include Austin, College Station, Lufkin, Beaumont, Rockport, Corpus Christi, Jasper/Newton County, Nacogdoches and Hardin County. Texas A&M Forest Service has 360 responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, the Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT), and the New York State Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. View the response map here. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 120 firefighters with 32 fire engines from across the state. Response locations include, Hardin County, Orange County, Port Arthur, Galveston and Rockport. Regional Staging Areas (RSAs) are temporary locations established to house, sort and manage a variety of supplies and commodities needs in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. RSA locations include Beaumont, Beeville, and Bryan-College Station. Support locations have been set up along the Texas Gulf Coast in an effort to provide assistance in coordinating response efforts of local disaster districts and emergency operations centers. Support locations include Austin, College Station, Lufkin, Beaumont, Richmond, Rockport, Corpus Christi, Jasper/Newton County, Nacogdoches, Jefferson County and Hardin County. The Texas A&M Forest Service Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT) has positioned in Bryan-College Station at the Texas A&M University System RELLIS campus and is assisting local government with coordination of food and water. Texas A&M Forest Service has 544 responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, the Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT), the Virginia Department of Forestry Type 3 Incident Management Team, Arizona Type 3 Incident Management Team and New York State Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. View the response map here. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 240 firefighters with 6 boats and 53 fire engines from across the state. Response locations include Harris County, Beaumont, Hardin County, Orange County, Port Arthur, Galveston, Rockport, Aransas Pass and Fulton. Support locations have been set up along the Texas Gulf Coast in an effort to provide assistance in coordinating response efforts of local disaster districts and emergency operations centers. Support locations include Austin, College Station, Lufkin, Beaumont, Richmond, Bridge City, Rockport, Corpus Christi, Jasper/Newton County, Nacogdoches, Jefferson County and Hardin County. Texas A&M Forest Service has 675 responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, the Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT), the Virginia Department of Forestry Type 3 Incident Management Team, Arizona Type 3 Incident Management Team and New York State Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 247 firefighters with 6 boats and 69 fire engines from across the state. View the current TFS response map for TIFMAS. Response locations include Harris County, Beaumont, Hardin County, Orange County, Port Arthur, Galveston, Refugio, Rockport, Aransas Pass and Ingleside. Regional Staging Areas (RSAs) are temporary locations established to house, sort and manage a variety of supplies and commodities needs in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. View currently TFS response map for Regional Staging Areas. RSA locations include Beaumont, Beeville, and Bryan-College Station. Support locations have been set up along the Texas Gulf Coast in an effort to provide assistance in coordinating response efforts of local disaster districts and emergency operations centers. View the current TFS response map of Support locations. Support locations include Austin, College Station, Lufkin, Beaumont, Richmond, Bridge City, Rockport, Corpus Christi, Jasper/Newton County, Nacogdoches, Jefferson County and Hardin County. Texas A&M Forest Service has 756 responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, the Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT), the Type 2 New York City Fire Department Incident Management Team, Oklahoma Type 3 Incident Management Team, the Virginia Department of Forestry Type 3 Incident Management Team, Virginia Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team, Arizona Type 3 Incident Management Team and New York State Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 251 firefighters with 6 boats and 69 fire engines from across the state. View the current TFS response map for TIFMAS. Response locations include Harris County, Beaumont, Hardin County, Orange County, Port Arthur, Galveston, Refugio, Rockport, Aransas Pass and Ingleside. Regional Staging Areas (RSAs) are temporary locations established to house, sort and manage a variety of supplies and commodities needs in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. View currently TFS response map for Regional Staging Areas. RSA locations include Beaumont, Katy, Seguin, Beeville, and Bryan-College Station. Support locations have been set up along the Texas Gulf Coast in an effort to provide assistance in coordinating response efforts of local disaster districts and emergency operations centers. View the current TFS response map of Support locations. Support locations include Austin, College Station, Lufkin, Beaumont, Harris County, Richmond, Angleton, Bridge City, Rockport, Corpus Christi, Refugio, Jasper/Newton County, Nacogdoches, Jefferson County, Hardin County and Victoria. Texas A&M Forest Service has 890 responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, the Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT), the Type 2 Southern Area Incident Management Team, the Type 2 New York City Fire Department Incident Management Team, Oklahoma Type 3 Incident Management Teams, the South Carolina Forestry Commission Type 3 Incident Management Team, South Carolina Type 3 Incident Management Team #2, the Virginia Department of Forestry Type 3 Incident Management Team, Virginia Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team, Wisconsin Type 3 Incident Management Team, North Carolina Forest Service Type 3 Incident Management Team, Arizona Type 3 Incident Management Team and New York State Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team . Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. Regional Staging Areas (RSAs) are temporary locations established to house, sort and manage a variety of supplies and commodities needs in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. View currently TFS response map for Regional Staging Areas. RSA locations include Beaumont, Houston, Fort Bend, Katy, Seguin, Beeville, Lufkin and Bryan-College Station. Support locations have been set up along the Texas Gulf Coast in an effort to provide assistance in coordinating response efforts of local disaster districts and emergency operations centers. View the current TFS response map of Support locations. Support locations include Austin, College Station, Lufkin, Beaumont, Harris County, Richmond, Angleton, Bridge City, Rockport, Corpus Christi, Woodsboro, Refugio, Jasper/Newton County, Nacogdoches, Jefferson County, Hardin County and Victoria. Texas A&M Forest Service has 891 responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, the Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT), the Type 2 Southern Area Incident Management Team, the Type 2 New York City Fire Department Incident Management Team, Oklahoma Type 3 Incident Management Teams, the South Carolina Forestry Commission Type 3 Incident Management Team, South Carolina Type 3 Incident Management Team #2, the Virginia Department of Forestry Type 3 Incident Management Team, Virginia Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team, Wisconsin Type 3 Incident Management Team, North Carolina Forest Service Type 3 Incident Management Team, Arizona Type 3 Incident Management Team and New York State Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team . Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 246 firefighters with 6 boats and 69 fire engines from across the state. View the current TFS response map for TIFMAS. Response locations include Harris County, Beaumont, Hardin County, Orange County, Port Arthur, Galveston, Refugio, Rockport, Aransas Pass and Ingleside. Texas A&M Forest Service has 1,041 responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, the Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT), the Type 2 Southern Area Incident Management Team, the Type 2 New York City Fire Department Incident Management Team, two Oklahoma Type 3 Incident Management Teams, the South Carolina Forestry Commission Type 3 Incident Management Team, South Carolina Type 3 Incident Management Team #2, the Virginia Department of Forestry Type 3 Incident Management Team, Virginia Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team, Wisconsin Type 3 Incident Management Team, North Carolina Forest Service Type 3 Incident Management Team, Arizona Type 3 Incident Management Team and New York State Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team . Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 382 firefighters with 14 boats and 111 fire engines from across the state. View the current TFS response map for TIFMAS. Response locations include Harris County, Beaumont, Hardin County, Orange County, Port Arthur, Galveston, Refugio, Rockport, Aransas Pass and Ingleside. Regional Staging Areas (RSAs) are temporary locations established to house, sort and manage a variety of supplies and commodities needs in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. View currently TFS response map for Regional Staging Areas. RSA locations include Beaumont, Houston, Victoria, Fort Bend, Katy, Seguin, Beeville, Lufkin and Bryan-College Station. Support locations have been set up along the Texas Gulf Coast in an effort to provide assistance in coordinating response efforts of local disaster districts and emergency operations centers. View the current TFS response map of Support locations. Support locations include Austin, College Station, Lufkin, Conroe, Beaumont, Harris County, Richmond, Texas City, Angleton, Pierce, Rockport, Corpus Christi, Woodsboro, Refugio, Jasper, Nacogdoches and Victoria. Texas A&M Forest Service has 1,001 responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, the Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT), the Type 2 Southern Area Incident Management Team, the Type 2 New York City Fire Department Incident Management Team, two Oklahoma Type 3 Incident Management Teams, the South Carolina Forestry Commission Type 3 Incident Management Team, South Carolina Type 3 Incident Management Team #2, the Virginia Department of Forestry Type 3 Incident Management Team, Virginia Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team, Wisconsin Type 3 Incident Management Team, North Carolina Forest Service Type 3 Incident Management Team, Arizona Type 3 Incident Management Team and New York State Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team . Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 425 firefighters with 14 boats and 94 fire engines from across the state. View the current TFS response map for TIFMAS. Response locations include Beaumont, Bridge City, Port Arthur, Dickinson, Galveston, Refugio, Rockport, Aransas Pass and Ingleside. Texas A&M Forest Service has 1,119 responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, the Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT), the Type 2 Southern Area Incident Management Team, the Type 2 New York City Fire Department Incident Management Team, two Oklahoma Type 3 Incident Management Teams, the South Carolina Forestry Commission Type 3 Incident Management Team, South Carolina Type 3 Incident Management Team #2, the Virginia Department of Forestry Type 3 Incident Management Team, Virginia Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team, Wisconsin Type 3 Incident Management Team and New York State Department of Emergency Management Type 3 Incident Management Team . Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 536 firefighters with 48 boats and 103 fire engines from across the state. View the current TFS response map for TIFMAS. Response locations include Kemah, Beaumont, Bridge City, Port Arthur, Dickinson, Galveston, Refugio, Rockport, Aransas Pass and Ingleside. Texas A&M Forest Service has 1,059 responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, the Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT), the Type 2 Southern Area Incident Management Team, the Type 2 New York City Fire Department Incident Management Team, two Oklahoma Type 3 Incident Management Teams, the South Carolina Forestry Commission Type 3 Incident Management Team, South Carolina Type 3 Incident Management Team #2, the Virginia Department of Forestry Type 3 Incident Management Team. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 530 firefighters with 47 boats and 100 fire engines from across the state. View the current TFS response map for TIFMAS. Response locations include Kemah, Beaumont, Bridge City, Port Arthur, Dickinson, Galveston, Refugio, Rockport, Aransas Pass and Ingleside. Texas A&M Forest Service has 1,020 responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, the Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT), the Type 2 Southern Area Incident Management Team, the Type 2 New York City Fire Department Incident Management Team, two Oklahoma Type 3 Incident Management Teams, the South Carolina Forestry Commission Type 3 Incident Management Team and the Virginia Department of Forestry Type 3 Incident Management Team. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. The Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System provides local fire trucks and firefighters to support state emergency response operations. The program, run through Texas A&M Forest Service, has mobilized 512 firefighters with 47 boats and 100 fire engines from across the state. View the current TFS response map for TIFMAS. Response locations include Kemah, Beaumont, Bridge City, Port Arthur, Dickinson, Galveston, Refugio, Rockport, Aransas Pass and Ingleside. Regional Staging Areas (RSAs) are temporary locations established to house, sort and manage a variety of supplies and commodities needs in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. View currently TFS response map for Regional Staging Areas. RSA locations include Beaumont, Houston, Victoria, Fort Bend, Katy, Seguin, Beeville and Bryan-College Station. Support locations have been set up along the Texas Gulf Coast in an effort to provide assistance in coordinating response efforts of local disaster districts and emergency operations centers. View the current TFS response map of Support locations. Support locations include Austin, College Station, Lufkin, Conroe, Beaumont, Harris County, Richmond, Texas City, Angleton, Pierce, Rockport, Corpus Christi, Woodsboro, Refugio and Victoria. While the impacts across the state and along the coast may vary, we are expecting heavy rains and flooding conditions to continue through early next week. Texas A&M Forest Service has 401 emergency responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, Southern Area Incident Management, New York City Fire Department Incident Management Team, Two Oklahoma Type three incident management teams, South Carolina Forestry Commission Type three Incident Management Team and Virginia Department of Forestry Type three Incident Management Team. Teams are positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. View the current TFS Response map. They are currently positioned in Victoria, Corpus Christi, Ingleside, Rockport, Refugio, Pierce, Texas City, Lufkin, Austin, Houston, Richmond, Fort Bend, Dickenson, Seadrift, Woodsboro, Aransas Pass, Katy, Montgomery, Ford Park, Angelton, Beeville, Webster, Beaumont, Port Arthur, Conroe and Bryan-College Station. The Texas A&M Forest Service Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT) has positioned in Rockport and is assisting local government with coordination of food and water. Through the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System (TIFMAS), 549 firefighters with 47 boats and 91 fire engines have mobilized to Houston and other areas in the path of the storm. Texas A&M Forest Service has 347 emergency responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, Southern Area Incident Management, New York City Fire Department Incident Management Team, Two Oklahoma Type 3 incident management teams. Team positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. View the current TFS Response map. They are currently positioned in Victoria, Corpus Christi, Ingleside, Rockport, Refugio, Pierce, Texas City, Lufkin, Austin, Houston, Richmond, Fort Bend, Dickenson, Seadrift, Woodsboro, Aransas Pass, Katy, Montgomery, Ford Park, Angelton, Beeville, Webster and Bryan-College Station. The Texas A&M Forest Service Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT) has positioned in Rockport and is responding to rescue efforts by assisting with evacuations and conducting roadway assessments. Through the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System (TIFMAS), 491 firefighters have mobilized to Houston and other areas in the path of the storm. Texas A&M Forest Service has 212 emergency responders, including Texas all hazard incident management team members, positioned throughout Texas to help in hurricane response. View the current TFS Response map. They are currently positioned in Victoria, Corpus Christi, Ingleside, Rockport, Refugio, Pierce, Texas City, Lufkin, Austin, Houston, Richmond, Fort Bend, Dickenson, Seadrift, Woodsboro, Aransas Pass, Katy, Montgomery, Ford Park and Bryan-College Station. Through the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System (TIFMAS), 426 firefighters have mobilized to Houston and other areas in the path of the storm. Since Friday, the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 16 fires for 2148.1 acres. Yesterday, the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 7 fires for 763.8 acres. Yesterday, the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 2 fires for 7.6 acres. Yesterday, the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 4 fires for 167 acres. Yesterday, the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 3 fires for 14 acres. Since Friday, the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 12 fires for 257.2 acres. Yesterday, the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 1 fire for 7 acres. Yesterday, the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 5 fires for 260 acres. Yesterday, the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 1 fire for 60 acres. Yesterday, the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 7 fires for 31.6 acres. Since Friday, the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 14 fires for 244.9 acres. The Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 5 fires for 50.6 acres. The Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 7 fires for 105.5 acres. The Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 1 fires for 1 acre. Since Friday, Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to 17 fires for 608.3 acres, including a 300 acre fire in Starr County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 2 fires for 5 acres. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 7 fires for 4,313.3 acres, including a 3,000 acre fire in Motley County and a 1,200 acre fire in Val Verde County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to three fires for 102.1 acres. Including the Double Mountain Fire in Haskell County for 100 acres, and the Shell Oil Field Fire in San Jacinto County for .1 acre. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to four fires for 310 acres, including a 300 acre fire in Stephens County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for one acre. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 5 fires for 139 acres; including Fire 6114 in Wood County for 39 acres, the Space Station Fire in Archer County for 53 acres and the County Road 133 Fire in Milam County for 45 acres. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to three fires for 54 acres, including the Snake Road Fire in Randall County, 43 acres now 100% contained. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to seven fires for 338.9 acres, including a 325 acre fire in Frio County. Yesterday there were no requests for assistance from Texas A&M Forest Service. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 1 fire for 1 acre in Bowie County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 1 fire for 50 acres in Palo Pinto County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 1 fire for 800 acres in Jeff Davis County. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for 350 acres in Kenedy County. Yesterday there were no requests for Texas A&M Forest Service or US Forest Service assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 21 acres. #6106 Fire in Franklin County, 4 acres, 100% contained. Doctor's Place Fire in Mason County, 17 acres, 100% contained. Texas A&M Forest Service responders continue to support response and recovery operations for recent severe weather and flooding across the state and concentrated in Fort Bend and Brazoria counties. Since Friday there have been no requests for Texas A&M Forest Service or US Forest Service assistance on wildfires. The Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSS IMT) continues to operate the Base Camp – Resource Staging Area at the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds - Expo Center supporting DDC 16 Operations and DPS Region 2. The Lone Star State Incident Management Team from Texas A&M Forest Service deployed to Fort Bend County yesterday, providing resources in support of continued response to severe weather. The deployment was activated by the Texas Division of Emergency Management and includes 35 team members. The team is setting up a base camp for emergency responders involved in the flood response. The site is to serve as a staging area for resources. Texas A&M Forest Service also is supporting the Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management Joint Information Center with public information officers, helping staff District Disaster Chair 16 at the Department of Public Safety office in Rosenburg and the State Operations Center in Austin. In addition to on-going local responses, Regional All-Hazard Incident Management Team members are working with Texas A&M Forest Service in Fort Bend and Brazoria counties. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to one fire for 47 acres in Schleicher County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for 0.5 acres in Angelina County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for .5 acres in Nacogdoches County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for 8.2 acres in Tyler County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for one acre in Upshur County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to two fires for 765.5 acres, including a 765 acre fire in Jeff Davis County. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 0.5 acres in Angelina County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for one acre in Cass County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for 10 acres in Houston County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to two fires for 3.1 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday there were no requests for Texas A&M Forest Service assistance on wildfires. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 0.1 acre in Houston County. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to seven fires for 16.5 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 27 acres. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 0.4 acres. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to three fires for 8.5 acres. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 44.1 acres in Walker County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 25.7 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 16 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to three fires for 12.1 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for two acres in Anderson County. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 0.5 acres in Shelby County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 4 fires for 481 acres, including a 418 acre fire in Randall County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to three fires for 205 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. I-40 Fire, Wheeler County – 15,174 acres 95 percent contained. Crutch Fire, Hutchinson, Roberts, Carson and Gray counties – 44,686 acres. 100 percent contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 54,699 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. I-40 Fire, Wheeler County – this fire has burned an estimated 10,000 acres in grassy fuels and is 75 percent contained. No losses have been reported. Crutch Fire, Carson Co. – this fire has burned 44,686 acres in Carson, Hutchinson, Roberts and Gray counties. The fire is currently 50 percent contained and has been burning in grass fuels. There is a reported 2 abandoned homes and 2 other structures lost. Arrington Fire, Gray Co. – this fire burned 10 acres and is now contained. This fire is located approximately 6 miles NW of Pampa, TX. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 105 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to six fires for 709 acres, including a 700-acre fire in Childress County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 10 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for 860 acres in Hartley County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 18 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday there were no requests for Texas A&M Forest Service or the US Forest Service assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for 0.1 acres in Bastrop County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for 14.6 acres in Angelina County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to 18 fires for 273.6 acres. The US Forest Service has responded to 3 fires for 73 acres. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 11 fires for 333.8 acres, including a 123 acre pine plantation fire in Hardin County. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 6.9 acres in San Augustine County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to six fires for 89 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for three acres in Cherokee County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfire. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 100 acres in Wise County. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to six fires for 245.5 acres. The US Forest Service has responded to three fires for 27.1 acres. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 4 fires for 31.2 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to 1 fire for 700 acres. The US Forest Service responded to 1 fire for 0.5 acres. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to one fire for five acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to six fires for 330.6 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 9 fires for 695.2 acres, including a 650 acre fire in Brooks County. The US Forest Service responded to 2 fires for 1.5 acres. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to three fires for 378.7 acres, including a 365 acre fire in Childress County. The US Forest Service responded three fires for 129.2 acres. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 10 fires for 152.3 acres and the U.S. Forest Service responded to two fires for 1.8 acres. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 4.9 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 16.1 acres. The Estate Fire in Potter County is contained. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 1,000 acres in Houston County and is 80 percent contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 10 fires for 1,902 acres, including a 350-acre fire in Webb Co. that is now contained and the 1200-acre Estate Fire in Potter Co. that threatened a subdivision. No homes were lost and the fire is 90% contained. There were no requests for assistance on National Forest land. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 4 fires for 236.4 acres, including one new large 200-acre fire in Taylor County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Sears, Taylor Co. – This fire burned 200 acres and is 100% contained. 2 homes were threatened. A TFS taskforce and Air Attack responded. FM998, Hartley Co. – This fire has burned 3,987 acres and is now 100% contained. Carol Ranch, Knox Co. – This fire has burned 2,125 acres and is now 100% contained. Jim Ned Road, Montague Co. – This fire has burned 330 acres and is now 95% contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 8 fires for 946.2 acres, including one new large 866 acre fire in Jim Wells County. The US Forest Service responded to 3 fires for 68 acres. CR440, Jim Wells Co. – This fire has burned 866 acres and is 90 percent contained. No threats were reported. FM998, Hartley Co. – This fire has burned 3,987 acres and is 90 percent contained. There were 85 previously homes threatened, currently five are threatened. Some evacuations did occur initially, those evacuated have returned home. Two TFS task forces responded. Carol Ranch, Knox Co. – This fire has burned 2,125 acres and is 60 percent contained. No threats reported. A TFS task force responded. Jim Ned Road, Montague Co. – This fire has burned 330 acres and is 95 percent contained. No threats reported. A TFS task force responded. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 10 fires for 6,078.2 acres, including 3 new large fires. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. FM998, Hartley Co. – This fire has burned 3,985 acres and is 90 percent contained. There were 85 homes threatened and some evacuations did occur. Two TFS task forces responded. Carol Ranch, Knox Co. – This fire has burned 1,700 acres and is 25 percent contained. No threats identified. A TFS task force responded. Jim Ned Road, Montague Co. – This fire has burned 330 acres and is 40 percent contained. No threats identified. A TFS task force responded. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 8 fires for 578.5 acres, including a 151 acre fire in Red River County and a 325.8 acre fire in Victoria County. The US Forest Service responded to 2 fires for 0.8 acres. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 36 fires for 252.3 acres. The US Forest Service responded to six fires for 7.3 acres. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to 12 fires for 505.9 acres, including a 380 acre fire in Concho County. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 15 acres in Walker County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 25 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 312.5 acres, including a 300 acre fire in Hall County. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 0.1 acres in Walker County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 13 fires for 82.2 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 201 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday, Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to 23 fires for 2,743.2 acres. Large fires include a 1,750 acre fire in Potter County and a 642 acre fire in Callahan County. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 1.8 acres. River Fire acreage updated to 1,475 acres and 30 percent contained. TFS dozers are working to put a fire line around the fire. High Line Fire acreage updated to 700 acres and is 25 percent contained. River Fire is burning in heavy fuels approximately 12 miles north of Amarillo. Extreme fire behavior reported and crews are actively protecting structures. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 6 fires for 97 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. TFS assisted US Fish and Wildlife with a 200 acre fire in Austin County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 15.1 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to four fires for 251 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for 293 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 250 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to three fires for five acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday there were no requests for Texas A&M Forest Service or US Forest Service assistance on wildfires. Yesterday the Texas A&M Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 0.3 acres in Wise County. Since Dec. 23, Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to four fires for 314 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for nine acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to two fires for 505 acres, including a 500 acre fire in Hutchinson County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to one fire for one acre in Sabine County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 48 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for 250 acres in Carson County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for 200 acres in Armstrong County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Wednesday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for one acre in Walker County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to one fire for five acres in Bowie County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance on wildfires. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to 4 fires for 3,062 acres, including a 2,819 acre fire in Carson County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance. Elevated fire danger is expected in the Panhandle Monday and Tuesday due to above normal temperatures and low relative humidity. According to the National Weather Service, southwest winds will sustain at 15 – 20 mph, with gusts up to 25 mph. Affected counties include Armstrong, Carson, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Hansford, Hartley, Hutchinson, Moore, Oldham, Potter, Randall and Sherman. The state investigation for The Hidden Pines Fire has closed. The cause of the fire was ruled accidental by equipment use. According to the National Weather Service, a dry cold front will approach and cross the West Texas Plains over the next two days bringing strong winds in advance of and following the frontal passage. Affected areas include Amarillo, Lubbock and Midland. Visit http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ridge2/fire/ see fire weather forecasts in your area. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 17 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday the Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 1 new fires for .3 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday there were no requests for Texas A&M Forest Service. Since Friday there have been no requests for Texas A&M Forest Service or US Forest Service for wildfire assistance. Hidden Pines, Bastrop County – 4,582 acres, and contained. There have been 64 homes lost, 95 homes threatened, 77 misc structures lost and 15 misc structures threatened. TFS resources, a Type 1 incident management team, TIFMAS Wildland Engine Strike Teams and Structure Protection Strike Teams responded and have demobilized. The Unified Commanders of the Hidden Pines Fine are pleased to announce that the wildfire is 100% contained and under control. The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management and other county officials are now completely engaged with recovery operations for our families, neighborhoods and ecosystems. Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape said "With the widespread rainfall, we have finally declared the Hidden Pines fire contained. I am grateful to our Incident Command and the hundreds of men and women who valiantly fought to protect life and property. Now the long, difficult recovery can begin in earnest." Sheriff Pickering would like to thank our law enforcement partner agencies for this event. Their assistance and teamwork were invaluable to the safety and security of the community. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 11 new fires for 42 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Hidden Pines, Bastrop County – 4,582 acres, 85 percent contained. There have been 64 homes lost, 95 homes threatened, 77 misc structures lost and 15 misc structures threatened. In addition to TFS resources, a Type 1 incident management team, TIFMAS Wildland Engine Strike Teams and Structure Protection Strike Teams are currently assigned. The Hidden Pines Fire is being managed by the Southern Area Blue Team and continued to hold acreage steady with 4582 acres. Patrol and Mop-up operations, particularly near structures, are the major operations today. This involves cooling, digging, sawing/chopping the fuels, and using water from hose lays and engines to completely extinguish these hotspots. Snags continue to be a concern as they fall, posing threats to the constructed lines and to the firefighters themselves. Assessments of hazard trees will continue. Airtankers are on standby, but have not been used for several days. Weather Conditions today: Cloudy, with a 30% chance of showers and storms. Temperatures will range 81-83 degrees, Minimum Relative Humidity ranging 64-68% and winds SE 12-16 mph, gusty in the afternoon. The chance of wetting rain is 80% (where rainfall is over 0.1”). Texas A&M Forest Service has not yet announced its final conclusion of the cause of the fire and continues to be under investigation. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 4 new fires for 4 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Hidden Pines, Bastrop County – 4,582 acres, 80 percent contained. There have been 64 homes lost, 95 homes threatened, 77 misc structures lost and 15 misc structures threatened. In addition to TFS resources, a Type 1 incident management team, TIFMAS Wildland Engine Strike Teams and Structure Protection Strike Teams are currently assigned. Fuller, Stephens County – 1,700 acres and now contained. One home was lost, residences were evacuated. Two Blackhawks, four single engine airtankers, an aerial supervision platform, CL-415 scooper airtanker, seven TFS dozers, one TFS engine and a TIFMAS Wildland Engine Strike Team responded. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 8 new fires for 166 acres. • Fuller Fire, Stephens County – 1,000 acres and 90 percent contained. One home was lost, residences were evacuated. Two Blackhawks, four single engine airtankers, an aerial supervision platform, CL-415 scooper airtanker, seven TFS dozers, one TFS engine and a TIFMAS Wildland Engine Strike Team responded. • Hidden Pines Fire, Bastrop County – 4,582 acres, 80 percent contained. There have been 64 homes lost, 95 homes threatened, 77 misc structures lost and 15 misc structures threatened. In addition to TFS resources, a Type 1 incident management team, TIFMAS Wildland Engine Strike Teams and Structure Protection Strike Teams are currently assigned. The Hidden Pines Fire is being managed by the Southern Area Blue Team and continued to hold acreage steady with 4582 acres. Large heavy fuels continue to burn in the interior of the fire, with some stumps being completely burned into the ground. Mop-up operations, particularly near structures, are the major operations today. This involves cooling, digging, sawing/chopping the fuels, and using water from hose lays and engines to completely extinguish these hotspots. Snags continue to be a concern as they fall, posing threats to the constructed lines and to the firefighters themselves. Helicopters continue to support mop-up operations. Air tankers are on standby, but have not been used for several days. Weather Conditions today: temperatures up to 87 degrees, Minimum Relative Humidity ranging 39-42% and winds SE 8-12 mph. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 16 new fires for 1,971 acres. North Side, Walker County – 600 acres and now contained. Two homes were lost and an additional 50 threatened, 14 misc structures were lost. Three Type 1 helicopters, two heavy airtankers, a very large airtanker, an aerial supervision platform, a lead plane, six TFS dozers, two USFS dozers, and two TIFMAS Strike Teams responded. Fuller, Stephens County – 1,000 acres and 50 percent contained. One home was lost, residences were evacuated. Two Blackhawks, four single engine airtankers,an aerial supervision platform, CL-415 scooper airtanker, seven TFS dozers, one TFS engine and a TIFMAS Wildland Engine Strike Team responded. Hidden Pines, Bastrop County – 4,582 acres, 70 percent contained. There have been 68 homes lost, 95 homes threatened, 77 misc structures lost and 15 misc structures threatened. In addition to TFS resources, a Type 1 incident management team, TIFMAS Wildland Engine Strike Teams and Structure Protection Strike Teams are currently assigned. Hunter Road, Robertson County – 230 acres and now contained. Two homes were threatened and saved. A TFS supervisor and TIFMAS Wildland Engine Strike Team responded. Rimrock Ranch, Crockett County – 350 acres and now contained. Crews continue to put in line and will continue throughout the night. Relief Task forces from Lubbock and Wichita Falls will arrive in the morning. The fire progression was stopped about 3 miles south of the City of Breckenridge. Aircraft will be requested back on the fire in the morning. North Side Fire is currently 600 acres and 80% contained. Post Fire Assessment Team will meet tomorrow to assess structure loss. Fuller Fire is estimated at 1,000 acres and is 5% contained. DPS and Sheriff’s Office are assisting with selective evacuations at this time. ACRFC Cooper and IC Abernathy have transitioned the Incident to TYPE 3 with Abernathy as IC. The Hidden Pines Fire is being managed by the Southern Area Blue Team and continued to hold acreage steady with 4582 acres. Minor spots over the fire lines were immediately contained and cooled with hose lays and bucket drops with Blackhawk helicopters. Large heavy fuels continue to burn in the interior of the fire, with some stumps being completely burned into the ground. Snags continue to be a concern as they fall, posing threats to the constructed lines and to the firefighters themselves. Firefighters are continuing to go with direct lines when fire intensity allows. Crews are mopping-up along the perimeter, cooling heat sources with hose lays. Weather Conditions today: temperatures up to 85 degrees, Minimum Relative Humidity ranging 19-21% and winds SE 6-10 mph. The Hidden Pines Fire is being managed by the Blue Team and continued to hold acreage steady with 4582 acres. Minor spots over the fire lines were immediately contained and cooled with hose lays and bucket drops with Chinook helicopters. Large heavy fuels continue to burn in the interior of the fire, with some stumps being completely burned into the ground. Snags continue to be a concern as they fall, posing threats to the constructed lines and to the firefighters themselves. Firefighters are continuing to go with direct lines when fire intensity allows. Weather Conditions today: temperatures up to 85 degrees, Minimum Relative Humidity down to as low as 14% and winds ESE 6-10 mph. Hidden Pines, Bastrop County – 4,582 acres, 40 percent contained, 154 homes threatened. A Type 1 incident management team, Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System is responding with Wildland Engine Strike Teams and Structure Protection Strike Teams. Hidden Pines Fire is currently 4,582 acres and 25% contained. Northeast winds will prevail at 8 - 12 mph. Around 2 - 4 p.m. is when winds are expected to be at their highest. Fire behavior is slow, with a chance of high significant fire potential. Four consecutive days of accelerated drying for North, East and Central Texas has increased the amount of critically dry fuels. Wind speeds today increase the significant fire potential. Where critically dry conditions exist in parts of Northeast and parts of Central Texas the significant fire potential is high to very high. Winds are expected to be their strongest during the morning hours and begin to relax going into the afternoon. Strongest winds will be the Panhandle, Southern Plains and out in West Texas. Wind speeds will also be a concern in East Texas, any speed above 10 mph can be enough to take a surface fire into the tree canopy. Through the weekend, dry air will persist and could increase the fire potential. The current front will reinforce the dry air for Central, North and Northeast Texas for the entire weekend sending RH back into the teens. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 18 fires for 818 acres, including two new large fires. Hidden Pines, Bastrop County – 4,383 acres, 25 percent contained, nine homes lost, 154 threatened. A Type 1 incident management team has been ordered and should arrive today. TIFMAS Wildland Engine Strike Teams and Structure Protection Strike Teams have arrived. Whitley, Brown County – 300 acres, 15 percent contained, 12 homes threatened. Tank Battery Fire, Anderson County – 125 acres and now contained, this fire was burning in forested area. Preston Ranch, Menard County – 860 acres and contained. Taylor Road, Clay County – 380 acres and contained, 12 homes were threatened. Union Hill, Ellis County – 320 acres and contained, three homes were threatened. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Hidden Pines, Bastrop County – 4,200 acres, 15 percent contained, nine homes lost, 154 threatened. A Type 1 incident management team is being ordered. Taylor Road, Clay County – 400 acres, 90 percent contained, 12 homes threatened. Union Hill, Ellis County – 350 acres, 60 percent contained, three homes threatened. Preston Ranch, Menard County – 1,000 acres, 95 percent contained. Fire is currently at 3,500 acres, still 10% contained with very active fire behavior. Nine homes confirmed lost, three saved. Containment remains at 10%. 1,000-acre Preston Ranch Fire in Menard County is now 5% contained. Due to extreme fire behavior and topography challenges, the containment of the Hidden Pines Fire has dropped to 10%. If you have concerns about the threat of wildfire smoke visit Texas Department of State Health Services for a complete list of symptoms and safety measures. Smoke can pose a serious health threat. Children and older adults are also at greater risk. Even healthy people can be affected by smoky conditions. Smoke from wildfires can hurt your eyes, irritate your respiratory system and worsen symptoms from pre-existing conditions. The Hidden Pines Fire is now 1,512 acres and 50% contained. Additional resources were requested, including a TIFMAS strike team and task force, and a Type 3 IMT. Continue to follow the Hidden Pines Fire event page and Dispatch Tracker for updates. Evacuees are encouraged to follow updates from the media and on the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management Facebook page. If social media is not available, evacuees may go to the Incident Command Post located at the Buescher State Park Refectory for information. Residents must show proof of ID and residency to enter the park, and the may enter through the main entrance gate for Buescher State Park. For information regarding evacuation, donation and shelters please follow Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management on Facebook or join their Hidden Pines Fire event page. The Hidden Pines Fire is now 375 acres and is 50% contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 24 fires for 971 acres, including a 275-acre fire in Bastrop County. That fire is now 40 percent contained. Nine homes and the MD Anderson Research facility were saved. Four SEATs worked the fire yesterday and two National Guard Blackhawk helicopters have been requested for today. Tuesday, Oct. 13, 11:16 a.m. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 11 fires for 87 acres. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance. Monday, Oct. 12, 10:35 a.m. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 14 fires for 278 acres. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to five fires for 13 acres. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to five fires for 40 acres. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 105 acres. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance yesterday. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fire for 2,398 acres. There was one large fire in Schleicher County that burned 2,250 acres but is now contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to five fires for 23 acres. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 46 acres in East Texas. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to eight fires for 85 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 305 acres, including a [ektdesignns_placeholder_ID0E4CAC]fire in Archer County and a 120 acre fire in Concho County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to five fires for 412 acres, including a 350 acre fire in Jack County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 1 fire for 36 acres in Bastrop County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to three fires for 94 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to three fires for 1,247 acres, including a 1,000 acre fire in Scurry County. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 4 fires for 151 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 214 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 17 fires for 787 acres. The largest is a 700-acre fire in Sutton County to which TFS resources are in route at this time. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to five fires for 164 acres. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 26 acres. The US Forest Service responded to one fire for 120 acres in San Jacinto County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 10 fires for 247 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 10 fires for 27.16 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 6 fires for 56.4 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to six fires for 58 acres. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to five fires for 118 acres. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 155 acres. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to nine fires for 80 acres.There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for three acres in Northeast Texas. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 410 acres, including one large fire in Scurry County. The Calley Ranch Fire is 384 acres and 80% contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 11 new fires for 1906.06 acres, including two large fires in Clay and Hardeman counties. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Barry Fire in Clay County, approx. 10 miles south of Windthorst, has burned 1,400 acres and is 30 percent contained. Twenty homes and 20 other misc. buildings are threatened; two unoccupied homes and misc. wind turbine equipment were destroyed. TFS responded with six dozers, an engine, two single engine airtankers and an air attack platform. Hale Fire in Hardeman County, 2 miles north of Acme, has burned 400 acres and is now contained. One barn was lost, no other threats reported. TFS responded with a dozer, motor grader, and an engine. Boyd Fire in Atascosa County, 1 mile south of Natalia, has burned 371 acres and is 90 percent contained. TFS responded with two dozers, anengine and an air attack platform. Buckle L3 Fire in Childress County, approx. 9 miles south of Childress, burned 300 acres and is now contained. Abernathy Fire in Hardeman County, approx. 5 miles northwest of Quanah, burned 800 acres and is now contained. Since Friday Texas A&M Forest Service has responded to 26 fires for 1,587.08 acres, including three large fires in Childress, Hardeman and Atascosa counties. The largest fire being in Hardeman County at 800 acres, 75% contained. The US Forest Service requested assistance on one fire in San Jacinto County. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for seven acres. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to three fires for 102 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. TFS had an additional request assistance in Taylor County but was cancelled. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to five fires for 23 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to five fires for 24 acres. There were no requests for U.S. Forest Service assistance on wildfires. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two fires for 20.76 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four fires for 161.5 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 1 fire for 5 acres in San Augustine County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. TFS received a late evening request for assistance on an additional fire in La Salle County but were canceled in route. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two new fires for 35 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 3 new fires for 2,241.72 acres, including a large fire in Shackelford County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Chimney Creek Two fire in Shackelford County, approx. 14.5 miles west of Albany is estimated at 2,200 acres and 80 percent contained. One outbuilding was threatened, no losses reported. TFS responded with 5 dozers, 1 engine, 4 single engine airtankers and an air attack platform. Corner Pasture fire in Kerr County, approx. 21 miles SE of Junction is estimated at 210 acres and 95 percent contained. The fire experienced a 10 acre slop-over yesterday. TFS responded with 3 dozers, an engine, 4 single engine airtankers, a type 3 helicopter and an air attack platform. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two new fires for 1.26 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Corner Pasture fire in Kerr County, approx. 21 miles SE of Junction is estimated at 200 acres and contained. The Eaton Cemetery fire in Mason County, approx. 12 miles E of Mason is estimated at 10,468 acres and contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to nine new fires for 302.86 acres, including a large fire in Kerr County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. Corner Pasture fire in Kerr County, approx. 21 miles SE of Junction is estimated at 200 acres and 10 percent contained. TFS responded with 2 dozers, an engine, a type 3 helicopter and three single engineairtankers. One home is threatened, no reported losses. The Eaton Cemetery fire in Mason County, approx. 12 miles E of Mason is estimated at 10,468 acres and 98 percent contained. TFS responded with 5 dozers, 4 engines, a TIFMAS engine strike team, 6 helicopters, 3 single engine airtankers and an air attack platform. There are 23 homes and 10 misc buildings threatened, 3 homes were directly saved. No reported losses. The Buckholt fire in Crockett County, approx. 25 miles SW of Ozona is estimated at 1,000 acres and is now contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to two new fires for 138 acres, including a large fire in Houston County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The Glasscock fire in Houston County, approx. 11 miles WNW of Apple Springs is estimated at 123 acres and is now contained. This fire was burning in forested area and three homes were saved. The Eaton Cemetery fire in Mason County, approx. 12 miles E of Mason is estimated at 7,856 acres and 95 percent contained. TFS responded with 5 dozers, 4 engines, a TIFMAS engine strike team, 6 helicopters, 3 single engine airtankers and an air attack platform. There are 23 homes and 10 misc buildings threatened, 3 homes were directly saved. No reported losses. The Buckholt fire in Crockett County, approx. 25 miles SW of Ozona is estimated at 1,000 acres and 80 percent contained. TFS responded with 4 dozers, 2 engines, motor grader and an air attack platform. The Prickley Pear fire in Crockett County, approx. 21 miles SW of Ozona is estimated at 3,452 acres and now contained. The White Ranch fire in Pecos County, approx. 8 miles SE of Sheffield is estimated at 2,500 acres and now contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 6 new fires for 2,516.8 acres, including a large fire in Pecos County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The Eaton Cemetery fire in Mason County, approx. 12 miles E of Mason is estimated at 7,856 acres and 65 percent contained. TFS responded with 5 dozers, 4 engines, a TIFMAS engine strike team, 6 helicopters, 3 single engine airtankers and an air attack platform. There are 23 homes and 10 misc buildings threatened, 3 homes were directly saved. No reported losses. The White Ranch fire in Pecos County, approx. 8 miles SE of Sheffield is estimated at 2,500 acres and 55 percent contained. A TFS fire supervisor flew this fire with a DPS helicopter and provided a size-up to VFD’s on scene. This fire received some light rain yesterday afternoon. A TFS task force is on stand-by in Ozona if additional assistance is requested. The Prickley Pear fire in Crockett County, approx. 21 miles SW of Ozona is estimated at 3,452 acres and 90 percent contained. TFS responded with 5 dozers, 2 engines and a TIFMAS engine strike team. No threats are identified at this time. The Willabee fire in Schleicher County, approx. 8 miles SW of Eldorado is estimated at 400 acres and is now contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 7 new fires for 12, 551 acres, including large fires in Schleicher and Crockett counties. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The Prickley Pear fire in Crockett County, approx. 21 miles SW of Ozona is estimated at 12,000 acres and 2 percent contained. TFS responded yesterday evening with 5 dozers and 2 engines. No threats are identified at this time. A TIFMAS engine strike team has been ordered to arrive today. The Willabee fire in Schleicher County, approx. 8 miles SW of Eldorado is estimated at 300 acres and 60 percent contained. TFS responded late evening with 2 dozers and an engine. There are 4 homes threatened and 1 barn, no reported losses. The Eaton Cemetery fire in Mason County, approx. 12 miles E of Mason is estimated at 3,000 acres and 30 percent contained. TFS responded with 5 dozers, 4 engines, 4 helicopters, 2 single engine airtankers and an air attack platform. There are 23 homes and 10 misc buildings threatened, 3 homes were directly saved. No reported losses. A TIFMAS engine strike team was ordered yesterday and traveled last night. The Rocking Chair fire in Tom Green County, approx. 29 miles SE of San Angelo is 425 acres and is now contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 8 new fires for 1, 570.32 acres, including large fires in Tom Green and Crockett counties. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The Rocking Chair fire in Tom Green County, approx. 29 miles SE of San Angelo is 425 acres and 95 percent contained. TFS responded with 3 dozers and 1 engine. This fire is burning in brush and there are no current threats identified. The Buckholt fire in Crockett County, approx. 25 miles SW of Ozona is estimated at 1,000 acres and 25 percent contained. TFS responded with 4 dozers, 2 engines and an air attack platform. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to four new fires for 66 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The MK fire in Kerr County, approx. 33 miles west of Kerrville, is 1,300 acres and is now contained. The Morgan Road fire in McLennan County, approx. 5 miles northwest of Crawford, is 349.5 acres and is now contained. The Brooks fire in McCulloch County, approx. 10 miles southeast of Brady, is 300 acres and is now contained. The San Ygnacio fire in Zapata County, approx. 10 miles east of San Ygnacio, is 1,000 acres and is now contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to eight fires for 1,933.5 acres, including four large new fires. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The MK fire in Kerr County, approx. 33 miles west of Kerrville, is 1,300 acres and is currently 95% contained. The Reilly Ranch Road fire in Polk County, approx. 4 miles west of Corrigan, is 105 acres and is currently 100% contained. TFS responded with 4 dozers. This fire was burning in 6 and 12-year-old pine plantations and the cause is lightning. The Morgan Road fire in McLennan County, approx. 5 miles northwest of Crawford, is 349.5 acres and is currently 90% contained. TFS responded with one dozer, two engines, and a motor grader. The Brooks fire in McCulloch County, approx. 10 miles southeast of Brady, is 300 acres and is currently 80% contained. TFS responded with two dozers and one engine. The San Ygnacio fire in Zapata County, approx. 10 miles east of San Ygnacio, is 1,000 acres and is currently 70% contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 4 fires for 15 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The MK Fire in Kerr County, approx. 33 miles west of Kerrville, is 1,300 acres and is currently 75% contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 4 fires for 2,021 acres, including a 2,000 acre fire in Kerr County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The MK Fire in Kerr County, approx. 33 miles west of Kerrville, is 2,000 acres and is currently 40% contained. Eight homes were threatened as of last night. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 1 new fire for 500 acres fire in Menard County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The Treadwell Lane Fire in Menard County, approx. 18 miles west of Menard, is currently estimated at 657 acres and 95 percent contained. 2 fire supervisors, 3 engines, and 6 dozers responded yesterday. The Wilhelm Lane Fire in Menard County, approx. 14 miles northwest of Menard is estimated at 500 acres and 25% contained. Yesterday 2 fire supervisors, 2 dozers, and an engine responded. The Cox Ranch Fire in Crockett County, approx. 19 miles West of Ozona, is currently 432.80 acres and now contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 5 fires for 1,026.25 acres, including a new 800 acre fire in Menard County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The Treadwell Lane Fire in Menard County, approx. 18 miles west of Menard, is currently estimated at 800 acres and 50 percent contained. A TFS fire supervisor, an engine and 2 dozers responded late yesterday evening. An additional TFS task force is enroute this morning. The Cox Ranch Fire in Crockett County, approx. 19 miles West of Ozona, is currently 432.80 acres and 90 percent contained. TFS dozers and an engine, along with TIFMAS engines are continuing to work this fire. One home was threatened. The West Fire in Crockett County, approx. 11 miles northwest of Juno, is currently 3,000 acres and is now contained. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 7 fires for 442.8 acres, including a new 410 acre fire in Mason County. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The L Bar Fire in Llano County, approx. 10 miles east of Llano, is currently 410 acres and is now contained. A TFS fire supervisor responded. The Sutton Ranch Fire in Crockett County, approx. 11 east of Sheffield, is currently 693 acres and is now contained. The Head of the River Ranch Fire in Tom Green County, approx. 7 miles South of Christoval, is 5,240 acres and is now contained. The West Fire in Crockett County, approx. 11 miles northwest of Juno, is currently 3,000 acres and 80 percent contained. There are TFS fire supervisors and dozers staffing this fire. No threats identified at this time. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 6 fires for 30.36 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The Sutton Ranch Fire in Crockett County, approx. 11 east of Sheffield, is currently 693 acres and 90 percent contained. TFS resources continue to work and monitor this fire. No threats identified at this time. The West Fire in Crockett County, approx. 11 miles northwest of Juno, is currently 3,000 acres and 50 percent contained. There are TFS fire supervisors and dozers staffing this fire. No threats identified at this time. The Head of the River Ranch Fire in Tom Green County, approx. 7 miles South of Christoval, is 5,240 acres and 90 percent contained. There were 25 homes threatened and an evacuation notice was issued. Resources responding include TFS fire supervisors,dozers and TIFMAS engine strike teams. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 9 fires for 503.08 acres, including a 300-acre fire in Young. The US Forest Service had no requests for wildfire assistance. The Brown Ranch Complex in Edwards County, approx. 12 miles west of Rocksprings, is 17,831 acres and was contained yesterday evening. The Sutton Ranch Fire in Crockett County, approx. 11 east of Sheffield, is currently 693 acres and 75 percent contained. TFS resources continue to work and monitor this fire. No threats identified at this time. The Head of the River Ranch Fire in Tom Green County, approx. 7 miles South of Christoval, is 5,500 acres and 50 percent contained. There are 25 homes threatened and an evacuation notice was issued. Resources responding include TFS fire supervisors,dozers and TIFMAS engine strike teams. Fireline construction continues, yesterday additional containment issues were caused by dust devils carrying embers across the lines. The Upper Tonk Fire in Young County, approx. 7 miles SW of Graham, is currently 300 acres and 55 percent contained. TFS fire supervisors and dozers responded early afternoon to this request. Two homes were threatened and one miscellaneous was lost. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to five new fires for 163.85 acres. The US Forest Service had no requests for assistance. The Brown Ranch Complex in Edwards County is 16,521 acres and 60 percent contained. In addition to TFS, other responding resources include two TIFMAS engine strike teams, a TPWD engine, a regional Type 3 incident management team, and suppression aircraft. The Sutton Ranch Fire in Crockett County is currently 1,500 acres and 60 percent contained. The Brown Ranch Complex Fire is now at 50% containment the size is still holding at 16,521 acres. Fire engines from the Texas Intra State Fire Mutual Aid System (TIFMAS) are on the fire helping in the firefighting effort. The Alamo Type 3 incident management team is in place to help manage the incident. Texas A&M Forest Service firefighters are working with local and TIFMAS partners to contain the fire. The Brown Ranch Complex Fire is 16,521 acres in size and 40 percent contained. In addition to the crews on the ground, a helicopter from STAR Flight is assigned to the incident to aid in the fire suppression efforts. The Alamo type 3 incident management team out of San Antonio has been ordered for the incident. The Brown Ranch Complex Fire is located in Edwards County, Texas. The fire is estimated at 9,000 acres with 30 percent containment. A total of three homes were lost in the fire, with numerous other homes saved. Texas A&M Forest Service currently has 31 personnel assigned to this fire with more ordered to help with the incident. Texas A&M Forest Service personnel are working alongside their local government counterparts to safely contain the fire. For questions dealing with evacuations please contact the Edwards County Sheriff’s Office at (830) 683-4104. Yesterday Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 17 fires for 781 acres, including a 400-acre fire in Dimmit County. The Brown Ranch Complex in Edwards County consists of the Brown Ranch Fire (9,000 acres and 30 percent contained) and the HSD Fire (200 acres and no containment).

2019-04-20T08:28:33Z

http://www.tfsweb.tamu.edu/CurrentSituation/

She recently visited Kosi Valley Retreat and here’s what she says about her visit! When we arrived at Kosi Valley Retreat (KVR), it was love at first sight. The website describes it as being surrounded by, “towering ancient trees, enchanting chorus of forest birds, mystical flowing river and dense forest.” And it is. KVR is a lodge made of stone and wood, with stylish rooms, set on serene grounds in a pleasant valley. It is clean and comfortable, without being stiflingly luxurious. The food is delicious and healthy, the staff extremely friendly and helpful and best of all, it’s immersed in the peace and beauty of nature. KVR is owned and run by Siddhartha and Latika of Walk to the Himalayas (WTH), an outdoor adventure company that specializes in trekking and outdoor adventure in the Himalayas. And that’s what makes a stay at Kosi Valley so special and rewarding. Not only are three meals a day included, but a wide variety of activities that introduce visitors to the beauty of the Himalayas. Having seen a lot of Himalayas before, I’m not one to be easily appeased by a quick peek of a peak above the ridges. I have hiked for days in its impenetrable valleys, crossed over several passes, camped in flower filled grasslands and have seen sun cast its first light on the big mountains from right under their noses. But here – in Almora – I am certain that I have never been this spell bound before. When I saw the mighty Himalayas tower over the valleys and sneak up on the several layers of little pine ridges, when I could see the mountain rise from plains of the earth to reach for the sky and everything that’s in between, I knew was becoming privy to a beautiful secret! In life, each one of us at some point of time have taken this bold stride to take the leap of faith and dared to trust someone else with our life. I was fortunate to get the opportunity of a lifetime this time to literally experience this leap of faith in real while Bungee Jumping in Rishikesh. Even the thought of this experience gives a gush to my brain and shiver down my spine at the same time. After a 35km drive along the banks of Ganga in Rishikesh and all bottled up excitement, we reached the assembling area where we were given a brief orientation, explaining what to expect, what to do and what not to do. A friend of ours chickened out looking at the video clipping of the bungee jump on the big screen. Every jumper is first weighed and his/her weight is written with a marker on the palm. Based on your weight, the cord is used for different categories of weight. We were made to sign the disclaimer form. That’s when we knew we were in serious troubleJ. I wanted to just quickly get done with it, so that the fear didn’t paralyze my brains and froze me to the ground. We then walked to the jump site. As we were waiting for our turn, I was all fidgety. Chewed all my nails and mindlessly giggled to hide my nervousness. We could see the jumpers dive into the air one after the other. Jumpers’ screams echoing in the gorge. One of jumpers just went numb and couldn’t take the leap. Then, my name was called out. Walking the 50 feet odd suspension bridge was the longest walk ever. I could see the deep valley down on both sides as I reached the rickety where the whole action was on. They had some real pepped up music there. But I could still hear my heart pounding and resonating in that valley. Ankles tightly, really tightly fastened. Harness on the chest all gripped well. Rich, the jump master (that’s how he is known) was instructing me. By then I was breathing all heavy. Thankfully, Rich was super cute and that kind of distracted me ;-). I was made to perch at the edge of the jumping platform with my feet half out. Rich asked me to look straight at the red flag which was posted far on the hill. I could almost feel the nothingness under my feet. My knees had started giving up. At that time, Rich whispered from behind, “Don’t let your brains work coz that aint going to help anymore. Just shut it.” I just took all that into me and just switched off my brains. THREE, TWO, ONE, BUNGEEEE…and I just took off. The minute I was off the platform, I was heading at supersonic speed to the ground. The wind was gushing on my face. And the first bounce and I thought my soul is out of my body. Kept screaming my lungs out as I kept bouncing and tossing in the air. As the energy was released off the cord, I was slowly oscillating in the air with the sky below my feet and the ground over my head. Suddenly everything had just calmed down as I was left suspended into nothingness. The most euphoric feeling which can only be experienced and no words can match to express the feeling. YES! I dived from 300 feet, that’s like from the 30th floor, the highest bungee jump of India. For me, bungee jump was metaphorical to totally letting go off myself to the unknown, to the Divine, to the Space. And jumping off into the lush green ravine with the river flowing below makes it one of the most magical experiences of my life. Simple but exotic is how it is here at KVR. What more luxury could I ask for; I would pick a cozy spot under a tree shade with a book and get lost in the world of words and get pleasantly distracted by the humming of a shy Himalayan bird. I have spent my afternoons collecting colourful pebbles by the Kosi river bank or capturing some vibrantly coloured bug or some wild flower in my lenses. I have never picked my own veggies for lunch. And boy! What fresh organic veggies grow here! The fragrance, flavours, colours all so rich and real, unlike the sad, lifeless, shrivelled, fertilised, adulterated, hybrid food wrapped in plastics in the urban malls. In fact some of the vegetables I didn’t even know how they looked growing on a tree as for all this while I have seen them lying in heaps on vegetable vendors’ cart. Did you know how fennel (saunf) shrub looks like? Imagine eating your mouth freshener out of a plant. There’s one growing right outside the bungalow. Even before I realised, KVR had weaved so intricately into my life, I would come to KVR at every event that was happening in my life, be it the worst phase of my life or the best ones; as if I was there to share with her like my most dear companion. She mothered me and wrapped me with her serenity when I lost my dad. Felt safe and secure just being there and sharing my elusive side with her. She was my hideout from the world when I wanted to go soul-searching. And then once my daughter was born, I couldn’t wait to open her to the burst of marvels at KVR. KVR was a world of amazement and discovery and exploration for my tiny one with loads of curiosity. They were the most fun filled days of my life seeing my little tot enjoying her many first timers like her first chills of Kosi River, scrutinizing the smallest of bug, chasing tirelessly the bright blue dragonfly, watching her gleam peek into my palm to see the glow-worm twinkle. Soon my affinity to her had grown to the level of no return. I would crave to go back; to breathe; to live; to amaze. After my rendezvous with KVR, going back to the urban life has been more and more unbearable. In this aspirational lifestyle of urban world where we insanely, forlornly keep running but head nowhere; where our idea of fun is hanging out in the smoked up pubs, hogging on noxious junk food; breathing fumed up air; having belittled existence amidst the tall grey concrete under the smogged sky is probably a typical urbanite’s way of living. Once you discover a way of living like KVR where you breathe lungful of fresh air, drink mineral rich sweet water from the flowing river of the melted glacier from the Himalayas, eat wholesome rich pesticide-free organic food, bask in the clear blue sky; it hits you that life you lead in the so-called metro is so colourless and withered. You realise that it’s turned into such a depleting luxury to be amongst nature when ironically these are supposed to be the basic necessities of existence. This hard hitting truth is what spontaneously made us decide to take KVR into our banner, Walk to Himalayas. And make this luxury a permanent way of living. The Swahili word safari means ‘long journey’ and that is what a wildlife safari is. A long journey into the depths of nature, an adventure of exploring and appreciating the world of wilderness. If you are the one who thrives on holidays with exciting adventurous twist, then let the magic unfold. It was 2pm in the month of May. One of the hottest weeks of the year. This was my first experience of wilderness escapade. Anticipation, anxiety and excitement as we get ready to wrap ourselves well to beat the scorching desert heat of the summers. The canter honks outside the resort gate and we jumped in armed with cameras and a sense of adventure to head into the jungle. The road passes through small villages bordering large ponds where the rustic life of the locals is a delight to the eye and the camera. The first view of the Ranthambore Fort in the distance is breathtaking – perched high up on the edge of the tall cliffs, the ancient walls have withstood the test of time. We passed through an ancient gateway, surrounded by huge trees where langur monkeys lounge. Gigantic stone boulders festooned with the aerial roots of banyan trees give a very Indiana Jones kind of feel to the place, and the possibility of sighting a tiger any minute adds to the excitement. In some time we overhear our guide talk to our driver that he just heard a Chital deer raise an alarm call, probably because it had sensed a tiger’s presence. The sudden surge of adrenaline rush to see the striped cat is something none of us can ever forget. The excitement was pulled up in speed and so were the gears of the canter. The grumbles and the polite chitchat ceases, perhaps out of reverence to the royal cat. There is a silence of apprehension and excitement – any moment you might be blessed with a sighting of the enigmatic arrogant beast. You wait with crossed fingers and bated breath. A rustling noise – You almost felt yourself stiffen an uneasy feeling in your stomach. It is a deer with her fawn. Anti-climax and a chorus of disappointed exclamations. Yet, leaving you completely mesmerized. Living next to Pantaloons and Westside, where the only wildlife one gets to see are hoardings of ludicrously dressed models, this is a rare treat indeed and you watch spellbound for several moments. You see deer and antelope a plenty, the primary food of the parks tigers, plus the ever-abundant langoor monkeys. It isn’t for a few minutes until word came across the radio of a tiger nearby, and so at breakneck speed we barrel off along the dusty game trails. It seems lot like a Disneyland ride, the “Jungle Book” rollercoaster, this rugged cart careening through the forest, tree branches whipping past your face, deer scattering as you pass, and a soundtrack of tiger growls playing in the background. Your eyes scan every inch of land; you are excited at the prospect of seeing the one thing you are silently praying for. The driver turned the engine off and decided to stalk the stalker. The alarm call had come from about 100 feet to our right and, chances were, the tiger was even closer. We waited there for about 10 minutes but nothing happened. The alarm call had since died off and the Ranthambore jungle felt eerily silent. Just when we were about to give up, we heard a rustling sound from behind us, and out came Machali, this magnificent being with her 2 cubs. Majesty oozed from the way the tigress walked. One could easily tell that she knew she was the queen of this jungle. For that instant, the tawny eyes staring deep into your very being. You are enraptured, unable to break your gaze, so totally in the moment. You are intensely aware of even a blade of grass moving, of the leaves falling around you, of the wild bird’s call. Yet, she has you enthralled; she is the only focus of your being. Such is the magic of sighting Machali in the Ranthambore National Park. She gave us a brief look, ignored us as if we were part of the landscape. Then she passed her commanding glance at her cubs to follow her. The playful two follow their majestic reign into the wilderness, leaving us totally surreal, mystical and soul quenched.

2019-04-18T14:50:26Z

https://walktohimalayas.com/personnel/0/

The monitoring of the European bioeconomy is hampered by a lack of statistics on emergent and partially bio-based sectors. In this study, we complete the picture of the bioeconomy in the European Union (EU) by first estimating a set of socioeconomic indicators in missing sectors. Second, we identify four broad bioeconomy patterns within the EU that differ according to the specialisation of Member States’ labour markets in the bioeconomy (location quotient) and according to the apparent labour productivity of their bioeconomies. The patterns are geographically distributed in (i) Eastern Member States and Greece and Portugal; (ii) Central and Baltic Member States; (iii) Western Member States; and (iv) Northern Member States. They are strongly related to the level of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Member States, and to their political histories (e.g., their year of accession to the EU, and the existence and maturity of their bioeconomy strategies). Within each group, diversity exists in terms of sectoral bioeconomy development. Third, we examine temporal dynamics over the period 2008–2015, stressing with the cases of Slovenia, Portugal, Greece and Finland that a transition from one group to another is possible. Finally, we take a closer look at the East–West bioeconomy disparities within Europe and suggest measures to promote EU bioeconomies. Europe’s bioeconomy encompasses the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value-added products such as food, feed, bio-based products and bioenergy . As a core principle, the European Bioeconomy Strategy aims to balance social, environmental and economic gains by linking the sustainable use of renewable resources with the protection and restoration of biodiversity, ecosystems and natural capital across land and water . The 2017 review of the Bioeconomy Strategy created a major opportunity for a new political impetus and orientation . The roadmap ‘Update of the 2012 Bioeconomy Strategy,’ published in early 2018, reinforced the main purpose of the strategy and provided an updated plan for concrete actions . These actions relate to research and innovation, including education, special attention to the development of bio-based markets, the minimisation of harmful impacts and maximisation of co-benefits of the bioeconomy, and better exploitation of the potential in EU Member States and their regions . Both the review and the roadmap stress the need to assess progress through better monitoring and assessment frameworks, in particular providing SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely) indicators across relevant sectors. In this article we present the most recent socioeconomic key numbers, discuss and propose additional indicators, and illustrate the use of further derived indicators for the analysis of EU Member States’ bioeconomies in transition, as a contribution to the upcoming set-up of monitoring and assessment frameworks. The paper gives some insights into the situation of individual countries, as such contemplating also potentially existing path dependencies. The majority of bioeconomy policy documents [1,2,3], but also scientific publications , describe the bioeconomy in terms of indicators, turnover and jobs as calculated by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the nova-Institute for Ecology and Innovation (www.nova-institute.eu) [5,6,7]. According to our most recent estimations, the EU-28 bioeconomy created 18 million full-time jobs and generated €2.3 trillion of turnover in 2015. To date, turnover has been the main economic indicator used to quantify the bioeconomy and its different sectors. In this article we argue that value added should receive more attention, primarily because it avoids double-counting and provides the additional value to the whole economy created by a sector. Furthermore, it is more in line with EU Member State calculations and allows comparisons with national accounts. Expressed in value added, the bioeconomy amounted to €620 billion in Europe in 2015. In particular, sectors with high inputs reduce its overall share in the bioeconomy. In a second step, with the objective of analysing the state and potential pathways of individual EU Member States in the bioeconomy, this paper puts forward the use of the sectoral apparent labour productivity (or value added per person employed) and the so-called location quotient (see also ). Addressing economic performance through a productivity measure gives further insights into the growth potential of specific bioeconomy sectors in individual EU Member States, which is of particular importance from the perspective of the EU and its various policies that have implications for territorial coherence. Accordingly, this paper proposes a simplified socioeconomic indicator framework, the positioning of EU Member States on a transition path to higher productivity and, finally, a grouping of Member States. It should be stressed that this approach does not constitute a holistic assessment framework, in particular because it omits the environmental dimension of sustainability. Nonetheless, it gives insights into the state and the transition of EU Member States in this matrix of key economic and social indicators, and thus provides an initial contribution to the monitoring of the bioeconomy in the EU. The article is structured as follows. Following the introduction, the second section describes the materials and methods, in particular the way the indicators are calculated. The third section provides the results, starting with an overview of the socioeconomic indicators and followed by a detailed analysis of the clustering of EU Member States. The fourth section discusses the choice of value added as the main economic indicator and then looks into the untapped potential and bioeconomy-related strategies for Eastern EU Member States. Table 1. Note that the NACE classification does not differentiate bio-based and non-bio-based activities. This is the case, for instance, in the manufacture of textiles that can use biomass as a feedstock (cotton, ,wool, silk, etc.), or synthetic fibres, or both. Sectors making use of biomass and other kinds of feedstock are called ‘hybrid’ sectors. They are marked with a * in Table 1. The extent to which a given hybrid sector is bio-based is determined following the approach set out by Ronzon et al. : experts estimate the proportion of biomass incorporated in each product produced by the hybrid sector; and, at sector level, the proportion of biomass incorporated in all products from this sector makes up the sectoral bio-based share. In the present study, the quantification of sectoral bio-based shares strictly follows the same methodology as described by Ronzon et al. , except for the case of the manufacture of bio-based chemicals and pharmaceuticals (NACE rev. 2 sectors C20 and C21). In order to track possible developments, the nova-Institute for Ecology and Innovation has updated the product bio-based shares of these two sectors after a new round of expert interviews in which experts have worked on the statistical classification of products by category (CPA) list of products belonging to sectors C20 and C21. Consequently, the sectoral bio-based shares of the two aforementioned sectors were estimated using the production value from the EUROSTAT-Prodcom dataset (see Equation (1)). Production valuej,k,l is the production value of product j, by EU Member State k and for year l. Finally, the sectoral bio-based share for the production of bio-electricity is derived from the EUROSTAT—energy balances, using the nrg_105a dataset, which decomposes the gross electricity generation by source. As for the precedent sectoral bio-based shares, it is calculated per Member State and year and then applied to EUROSTAT—Structural Business Statistics data (sbs_na_ind_r2). The number of people employed (code V16110 in EUROSTAT—Structural Business Statistics) is the total number of persons who work in the observation unit, as well as persons who work outside the unit who belong to it and are paid by it. The turnover (code V12110 in EUROSTAT—Structural Business Statistics) comprises the totals invoiced by the observation unit. The value added at factor cost (code V12150 in EUROSTAT—Structural Business Statistics) is the gross income from operating activities after adjusting for operating subsidies and indirect taxes. In the case of fully bio-based sectors, data for these indicators are retrieved from different EUROSTAT datasets and from Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) reports (see Table 2). Indicators are estimated for hybrid sectors by applying their sectoral bio-based share to EUROSTAT—Structural Business Statistics data (sbs_na_ind_r2; see Ronzon et al. for more details ). The derived indicators used in this study include apparent labour productivity (code V91110 in EUROSTAT—Structural Business Statistics) and location quotient. Apparent labour productivity refers to the ratio of value added to persons employed. Location quotient refers to the proportion of persons employed in a particular sector and in a given Member State compared with the European proportion (see Equation (2)). A location quotient of sector i in Member State k greater than 1 means the labour market of Member State k is more ‘concentrated’ in sector i than the EU-28 labour market. % people employedi,EU-28,l is the proportion of people employed in sector i (the bioeconomy or a NACE Rev. 2 sector), in the EU-28 and for year l. For example, the bioeconomy location quotient of 3.8 in Romania means that in the Romanian labour market the proportion of persons employed in bioeconomy sectors is nearly four times higher than the proportion of bioeconomy workers on the EU28 labour market. Data are compiled within the JRC-Bioeconomics dataset and they can be gathered at https://datam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/datam/perm/od/7d7d5481-2d02-4b36-8e79-697b04fa4278 (see also the QR codes in the Supplementary Materials). According to our estimations, the EU-28 bioeconomy employed 18 million people and generated €2.3 trillion of turnover or €620 million of value added in 2015. In other words, this sector employed 8.2% of the EU-28 labour force and generated 4.2% of the EU-28 GDP. Agriculture and the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco accounted for about two thirds of the value added and turnover of the bioeconomy and three quarters of bioeconomy employment. These sectors generated €174 billion and €233 billion of value added respectively in 2015. Even though these two sectors dominate the bioeconomy when measured with the three indicators—employment, turnover and value added—sectoral contributions vary according to the degree of labour intensiveness of the sector (see Table 3 and Appendix A Table A1). Agriculture, being a low labour productive sector, employs 51% of bioeconomy workers but generates only 28% of the bioeconomy value added. The other sectors tend to increase their contribution to the bioeconomy when measured in value terms rather than employment terms. For example, the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco employs only 25% of the bioeconomy workers, but generates 37% of the bioeconomy value added. The manufacture of bio-based chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics and rubber (excluding biofuels) employs fewer than 3% of the workers in the bioeconomy, but generates more than 9% of its value added. Differences in sectoral contribution to the bioeconomy turnover versus value added arise from differences in cost structure. Costs of bought-in goods and services are relatively higher in the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco than in agriculture. As a result, its proportion of the bioeconomy’s turnover (51%) is far larger than its proportion of value added (38%), while the opposite is true in agriculture (17% of turnover versus 28% of value added). Over time, bioeconomy employment tends to reduce while value added increases. The number of people working in the bioeconomy was 2.5 million fewer in 2015 than in 2008, mainly because of the ongoing restructuring of the agricultural sector, which lost 1.5 million people during the same period (which equates to 63% of the reduction in jobs in the EU-28 bioeconomy). In contrast, the value added generated by the bioeconomy has increased by €45 million and the apparent labour productivity has also improved from €28,000 of value added per person employed in 2008 to €34,400 in 2015. We can observe five levels of sectoral apparent labour productivity in the EU bioeconomy, which more or less follow sectoral levels of capitalisation (see bars on Figure 1): (i) €19,000 of value added per person employed reached in agriculture; (ii) around €30,000 of value added per person employed in the manufacture of bio-based textiles, in fishing and aquaculture and in the manufacture of wood products and furniture; (iii) between €40,000 and €50,000 per person employed in forestry, the manufacture of bio-plastics and the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco; (iv) €70,000 per person employed in the manufacture of paper and paper products; and (v) more than €120,000 per person employed in the manufacture of bio-based chemicals and bio-based pharmaceuticals as well as in the production of bioelectricity. Nevertheless, behind these EU averages, sectoral levels of apparent labour productivity show very wide ranges of variation at Member State level (see points on Figure 1). The indicators shown in Section 2 illustrate considerable heterogeneity among EU Member States. As a first step to identify the state and potential evolution of Europe’s bioeconomy, we propose a clustering or typology for the EU Member States based on the socioeconomic indicators selected. The clustering reduces the complexity of the analysis of 28 countries and can therefore support monitoring and policy decision-making. Policy initiatives already exist at the supra-national level. The Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Finland and Sweden have founded the Nordic Bioeconomy . The BIOEAST initiative comprises the Central and Eastern European countries of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia . This initiative argues that an east-west divide exists in the EU, with eastern countries serving only as raw material providers for big companies in the west and having limited access to research. Developing bioeconomy strategies for these countries can contribute to overcome existing or perceived geographical imbalances and better exploit untapped potential. A typology of European regions according to their bioeconomy profile and approach is proposed by Spatial Foresight et al. with the aim of gathering stakeholders around specific bioeconomy sectors/products. In this article we focus on a more aggregated and macro-economic analysis, taking into account two criteria for a typology: the concentration of national labour markets into the bioeconomy, and apparent labour productivity of the bioeconomy. The first criterion acts as a proxy for the employment situation, while the second reflects economic growth potential. This approach enables comparisons between countries, insights into the complex interactions of job and growth creation, and, finally, the identification of potential future pathways of countries that exhibit similar dynamic patterns. This group is defined by a strong specialisation of national labour markets in the bioeconomy (location quotient higher than 1.6 in 2015) but a level of apparent labour productivity of the bioeconomy below half the EU-28 level (i.e., less than €18,000 of value added per person employed in 2015). It comprises Romania, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Croatia, Portugal, Latvia and Bulgaria (see Figure 2). These Member States joined the European Union after 2004 and show the lowest levels of GDP per capita of the EU-28 (below €11,600 per capita), with the exception of Greece and Portugal, which entered the EU in 1981 and 1986 respectively and reached around €17,000 of GDP per capita in 2015 (far below the EU-28 level of €26,600 per capita (Eurostat sdg_08_10, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/sdg_08_10)). Over half of the bioeconomy labour force in this group is concentrated in biomass-producing sectors (i.e., agriculture, forestry and the fishing sector), which generate 33–63% of the bioeconomy value added. The agriculture sector alone contributes between 38% and 81% of bioeconomy jobs and 23–55% of the value added. The agricultural focus is extremely strong in Romania and Greece, where it provides more than 70% of bioeconomy jobs and around 55% of the bioeconomy value added. In Latvia, Bulgaria and Lithuania, the relatively low contribution of agriculture to bioeconomy jobs (38–48%) is compensated for by a strong contribution of the forestry sector (6–14% versus 3% on average in the EU-28). The contribution of agriculture and forestry to the bioeconomy value added is also higher in this group than the average in the EU-28. The fishing sector contributes nearly 5% of the bioeconomy jobs in Greece, which is not negligible compared with other EU-28 Member States (1.2% on average across the EU-28). As regards downstream bio-based value chains, the manufacture of food, beverage and tobacco is the second largest employing sector (7–24% of bioeconomy employment), after agriculture, and the second largest contributor to the bioeconomy value added (15–38%). Nevertheless, its relative contribution is below the EU-28 average in both employment and value added terms (see Figure 3). The strong forestry basis of Latvia and Lithuania has triggered the development of the manufacture of wood products and furniture (respectively 22% and 16% of bioeconomy jobs; 27% and 16% of the bioeconomy value added) but not the manufacture of paper sector (which is less than the EU average). The manufacture of bio-based textiles contributes more to the bioeconomy labour market in Portugal (17%), Bulgaria (15%), Croatia (7%) and Lithuania (6%) than on average in the EU (5.5%). Finally, the manufacture of bio-based chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastic and rubber is under-represented in the bioeconomy labour market (less than 1.7% of bioeconomy employment) compared with the EU average (2.5%) as well as in value added terms (less than 4% of the bioeconomy value added versus 9% in the EU). The case of Portugal is remarkable: it reaches high levels of productivity compared with the other Member States of this group in forestry, the manufacture of wood products and furniture and the manufacture of paper sectors. Thus, these three sectors generate one-quarter of the bioeconomy value added in Portugal while employing only 11% of the bioeconomy labour force. In summary, the bioeconomy pattern of this group is geared towards biomass-producing sectors and the manufacture of food, beverage and tobacco sector. Other low-productive manufacturing sectors can play a significant role according to historical sectoral specialisation (e.g., the manufacture of bio-based textiles in Portugal) or to biomass endowment (e.g., the manufacture of wood products and furniture in Latvia and Lithuania). More labour-productive sectors, such as the manufacture of paper and the manufacture of bio-based chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics and rubber, are not very developed. The apparent labour productivity in all bioeconomy sectors is lower than the EU-28 average, except in the Portuguese forestry sector. Therefore, there remains a large potential for the development of the bioeconomy in these Member States. This is in line with the research and innovation (R&I) bioeconomy index calculated in 2017. This index refers to the bioeconomy R&I maturity level of a given country or region. It derives from four variables: (i) the innovation capacity and activity, (ii) the existence of a specific bioeconomy strategy, (iii) the existence of bioeconomy-related clusters and (iv) the intensity level of bioeconomy-related activities . In the case of Member States of group 1.1, the index does not exceed 5 on a scale from 1 to 10 in any of these Member States except Portugal (which has a level of 6/10) . It is also important to note that, among these countries, only Latvia has its own bioeconomy strategy, the LIBRA. Drawn up in 2017, the strategy runs until 2030 . This group is defined by a medium specialisation of national labour markets in the bioeconomy on the EU-28 scale (location quotient from 0.9 to 1.3) and a level of apparent labour productivity of the bioeconomy of between half the EU-28 level and the EU-28 average level (i.e., €18,000 to €26,000 of value added per person employed in 2015). It comprises Slovakia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Malta and Slovenia (see Figure 2). Note that Malta presents a lower location quotient (1.6) and a lower bioeconomy value added per capita (€14,000) than the other Member States in this group. Nevertheless, we classify it in group 1.2 because this group is the closest to Malta’s characteristics. These Member States joined the European Union after 2004. In 2015, their GDP per capita varied between €11,000 and €21,000, below the EU-28 average level of €26,600 per capita (Eurostat sdg_08_10, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/sdg_08_10) but in general higher than levels reached in group 1.1. Agriculture and the manufacture of food, beverage and tobacco are the main sources of bioeconomy jobs and value added in group 1.2. This group differs from group 1.1 in that the highest levels of apparent labour productivity reached were in the agricultural sector. As a result, agriculture in group 1.2 contributes a similar proportion to the whole bioeconomy value added (18–48% according to the Member States) while employing a lower proportion of bioeconomy workers (24–46%) than in group 1.1. The very low proportion of agricultural jobs within the bioeconomy labour market reflects a sectoral development towards other biomass-producing sectors, in which the Member States are better endowed (e.g., in Malta the fishing sector provides 19% of bioeconomy jobs and in Estonia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic forestry provides 8–11% of bioeconomy jobs). The manufacture of food, beverage and tobacco contributes to the whole bioeconomy value added in a similar proportion to the Member States of group 1.1 (17–30%) and has an apparent labour productivity below the EU-28 average level (see Figure 3). However, the Czech Republic is an exception, with 47% of the bioeconomy value added generated by the manufacture of food, beverage and tobacco. The manufacture of food, beverage and tobacco is the top employing sector of the Maltese and Czech bioeconomies and the second in the other group 1.2 Member States (except Estonia). The manufacture of wood and furniture is another important manufacturing sector of this group, in particular in Estonia, where it represents the main source of bioeconomy jobs (31%) and value added (34%). It is the third source of bioeconomy jobs in the other Member States of this group (except in Malta where the fishing sector contributes to 19% of bioeconomy jobs) and it generates 11% and 15% of the bioeconomy value added in the Czech Republic and Slovenia, respectively. The paper industry contributes 7–9% to the bioeconomy value added in these countries. Finally, the most labour productive sectors of the bioeconomy—i.e., the manufacture of bio-based chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics and rubber—are less developed than the average in the EU, Hungary’s and Czech’s manufacture of bio-based pharmaceuticals being an exception (see Figure 3). This group of Member States could illustrate the initial stage of a bioeconomy transition characterised by the intermediate levels of apparent labour productivity achieved in low productive sectors. Intermediate levels of productivity are indeed observed in agriculture and forestry. Labour productivity remains low in the other bioeconomy sectors. Therefore, there is still potential for (i) improving the apparent labour productivity in bio-based manufacturing sectors and (ii) developing the bio-based industry in general. R&I bioeconomy indices confirm a low to medium maturity in bioeconomy R&I in this group of Member States (the index ranges from 1/10 to 6/10). The transition could be assisted in future years by national R&I orientations: the biochemical and biopharmaceutical sectors are a R&I priority in Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia; the biochemical sector alone is a priority in Estonia; and Malta and Slovenia focus their bioeconomy R&I on biorefineries . Hungary has a 2011–2020 ‘National Environmental Technology Innovation Strategy’ in place that addresses some sectors of the bioeconomy: renewable energy, agriculture and soil protection, the construction industry, and waste. R&I priorities in these Member States demonstrate efforts to develop the bio-based sectors. This group is defined by a low-to-medium specialisation of national labour markets into the bioeconomy on the EU-28 scale (location quotient from 0.4 to 1) and a level of apparent labour productivity of the bioeconomy between the EU-28 level and twice the EU-28 average level (i.e., €43,000 to €67,000 of value added per person employed in 2015). It comprises Austria, Spain, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, France and Finland (see Figure 2). However, the classification of Finland in group 2.1 (‘Western Member States’) might be temporary, as it is close to meeting all the characteristics of the bioeconomy in group 2.2 (‘Northern Member States’); See Section 3.3). Note that Luxembourg will not be included in the following comments because of a lack of data for many sectors, which distorts the overall picture. Indeed, data for Luxembourg are available for only a few sectors: agriculture, the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco, and the manufacture of wood products. This group includes Member States that joined the EU between 1952 and 1995. They reach a medium level of GDP per capita (€23,100 to €36,200, Luxembourg being an outlier with €81,300 of GDP per capita). Although agriculture and the food industry dominate the bioeconomy in this group of Member States, these states tend to be more diversified across sectors than those in group 1.2. A slightly higher proportion of bioeconomy workers is employed in the manufacture of paper and bio-based chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Higher apparent labour productivity levels are reached in all the bioeconomy sectors (see Figure 3), so high labour productive sectors contribute even more to the total bioeconomy value added. The bioeconomy profiles of France and Spain are squeezed into the agriculture and food industry sectors, which generate more than the three quarters of their bioeconomy value added. In contrast, the contribution of agriculture to the bioeconomy value added is low in Germany (16%) and Austria (17%). The food industry sector in these countries’ bioeconomies is pivotal (respectively 44% and 36% in value added) but they have also developed woody biomass value chains (respectively 25% and 36% of the bioeconomy value added from forestry and the manufacture of wood and paper) and the manufacture of bio-based chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics and rubber (12% for Germany and 7% for Austria). Within this group, Finland presents a special profile with (i) the lowest representation of agriculture and the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco in its bioeconomy (in terms of both jobs and value added) and (ii) among the highest levels of labour productivity in the EU-28 in forestry and the manufacture of wood and paper. Consequently, woody biomass value chains provide 61% of the bioeconomy value added in Finland (versus 10–36% in the other Member States of this group). In more general terms, the higher sectoral diversification and productivity in this group suggest a higher maturity of the bioeconomy manufacturing sectors than in groups 1.1 and 1.2. Biorefineries and biochemicals are among the R&I priorities of all Member States of this group (except Luxembourg) as are biopharmaceuticals for all Member States except Italy . In addition, most of these Member States have developed a national bioeconomy strategy, which reflects a certain political support to this sector. Indeed, national bioeconomy strategies were already in place in 2014 in Finland and Germany . National strategies were released more recently, in 2016 and 2017, in Mediterranean Member States: Spain , France and Italy . A bioeconomy policy paper is under development in Austria. Luxembourg is the only Member State of this group with no strong strategic orientation towards the bioeconomy. This group is defined by a low degree of specialisation of national labour markets in the bioeconomy on the EU-28 scale (location quotient from 0.4 to 0.8, except Ireland with 1.1) and the highest levels of apparent labour productivity of the bioeconomy in the EU-28 (i.e., €72,000 to €104,000 of value added per person employed in 2015, which is above twice the EU-28 average level). It comprises Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Belgium and Ireland (see Figure 2). This group comprises Member States that joined the EU between 1952 and 1995. Their GDP per capita is above the EU average (€31,300 to €51,400). The bioeconomy of these Member States is close to that of group 2.1 but it differs in the even greater significance of the manufacture of bio-based chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Another characteristic of this group is that the manufacture of bio-based textiles is not well developed (fewer than 3% of bioeconomy jobs and less than 2% of the bioeconomy value added) and there is only one Member State, Sweden, that exhibits an orientation towards the woody biomass value chains. As in group 2.1, sectoral apparent labour productivities tend to be higher than in groups 1.1 and 1.2 except in agriculture and fishing. However, they are even higher than in group 2.1 in the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco and in the manufacture of bio-based pharmaceuticals. Bioeconomy labour markets are dominated by jobs in agriculture and the food industry, but, because of the very high levels of labour productivity achieved in other sectors, the distribution among sectors of the bioeconomy value added is less concentrated. The major contributors are, in descending order, the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco, the manufacture of bio-based pharmaceuticals, agriculture, the manufacture of paper and the manufacture of wood products and furniture. R&I bioeconomy indices confirm a medium to high maturity in bioeconomy R&I in this group of Member States (the index ranges from 5/10 to 10/10). Biorefineries and the biochemical and biopharmaceutical sectors are R&I priorities in these Member States (except for the biochemical sector in Denmark, and the biopharmaceutical sector in Denmark and Ireland) . All states in this group put a bioeconomy or a bioeconomy-related strategy in place between 2012 and 2015 (Denmark , the Netherlands , the United Kingdom , Sweden , Belgium (Flanders ) and Ireland ). Their bioeconomy strategies and visions tend to cover a wide variety of sectors, considering market and research and innovation aspects as well as more efficient and environmentally friendly processes. Over the period 2008–2015, the four bioeconomy patterns observed have evolved in a context of agricultural restructuring and a reduction of the agricultural labour force (1.5 million fewer persons employed in the agriculture sector in the EU-28 during this period), which was not compensated for with job creation in other bioeconomy sectors. During this same period, the apparent labour productivity has improved, with major gains in high labour productive sectors (growth of more than €13,000/person employed in the manufacture of paper, of bio-based chemicals, pharmaceuticals and plastics and in the production of bioelectricity) than in low labour productive sectors (growth of less than €6,000/person employed in agriculture and the manufacture of wood and bio-based textiles). A gradient is also observed alongside the four bioeconomy patterns identified: the apparent labour productivity increases by €10,000 to €33,000/person in group 2.2, by €5000 to €16,000/person in group 2.1, by −€2000 to €8000/person in group 1.2 and by 0 to €6000/person in group 1.1. Overall, bigger increases in bioeconomy value added are observed in Member States of groups 2.1 and 2.2 (except Spain and Luxembourg). Although the four bioeconomy patterns continued between 2008 and 2015, a few Member States have experienced individual developments: Slovenia, Portugal, Greece and Finland. Slovenia is a very interesting case, as it shows a type 1.2 profile in 2015 with some characteristics of type 1.1 that could be the mark of an uncompleted transition from group 1.1 to group 1.2. Slovenia’s characteristics of type 1.1 in 2015 are the relatively high specialisation of its labour market in agriculture (7% of total jobs, 59% of bioeconomy jobs), the low apparent productivity of agriculture and the low diversification of its bioeconomy (in particular the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco, which accounts for only 16% of bioeconomy jobs). Looking at Slovenia in 2008, its bioeconomy presented all the characteristics of a member of group 1.1, that is to say a location quotient higher than 1.5, an apparent labour productivity lower than half the EU-28 average and a high specialisation in agriculture with a low level of labour productivity (see Figure 4). Nevertheless, it had already achieved levels of apparent labour productivity at the top end of the group 1.2 range in many bioeconomy sectors (i.e., forestry, fishing, the manufacture of bio-based textiles, the manufacture of bio-based plastics and the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco). It also already generated a GDP per capita comparable to those of Member States in group 1.2. Between 2008 and 2015, the apparent labour productivity of the Slovenian bioeconomy improved by €5000 of value added per person employed. Major improvements occurred in fishing, the manufacture of paper, forestry and the manufacture of bio-based chemicals, bio-based pharmaceuticals and bio-based plastics. Therefore, in 2015 the apparent labour productivity in Slovenia attained the first or second rank of group 1.2 in all bioeconomy sectors except agriculture and the production of bioelectricity. Assuming that the Slovenian bioeconomy has been evolving towards a bioeconomy pattern of type 1.2 from a 1.1 pattern, the last step would be a rise in the level of apparent labour productivity in agriculture. This would also raise the overall apparent labour productivity of the bioeconomy. It would certainly be concomitant to a reduction in agricultural jobs, entailing a further reduction of the location quotient of the Slovenian bioeconomy. Within group 1.1, the Portuguese bioeconomy has also evolved substantially so that, by 2015, its characteristics were closer to those of group 1.2. First, the Portuguese bioeconomy labour market was less concentrated in agriculture in 2015 (51% of bioeconomy workers) than it was in 2008 (62% of bioeconomy workers). The number of agricultural workers in Portugal has shrunk drastically (reducing by 234,000 workers during this period). This has been accompanied by a stronger specialisation in the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco and in the manufacture of bio-based textiles (both of which employed 17% of bioeconomy workers in 2015 versus 13% in 2008). Second, the apparent labour productivity of the Portuguese bioeconomy has grown more (+€6000 of value added per person employed) than in other Member States of group 1.1. The production of bioelectricity generated €40,000 per person employed more in 2015 than it did in 2008. The manufacture of paper sector and the forestry sector recorded progress of around €30,000 per person employed, and the production of bio-based chemicals, pharmaceuticals and plastics sector was €10,000 more productive per person employed in 2015 than it was in 2008. Consequently, apart from the agriculture and fishing sectors, where labour productivity remained very low throughout the period, the Portuguese bioeconomy sectors attained the highest levels of apparent labour productivity within group 1.1. The labour productivity of forestry and the manufacture of paper is even higher in Portugal than in group 1.2. As a result, in 2015, the apparent labour productivity of the Portuguese bioeconomy was as high as half the EU-28 average, i.e., at the threshold between groups 1.1 and 1.2. Nevertheless, its location quotient remained high (1.7) compared with group 1.2. It seems that the non-bioeconomy sectors did not develop as fast as in the other EU Member States between 2008 and 2015, a period that was marked by a deep economic crisis in Portugal (the GDP per capita contracted from €17,200 to €16,600 in this period). Although the proportion of bioeconomy workers in the whole economy reduced from 17% in 2008 to 14% in 2015, this remains high compared with Member States of group 1.2 (where it was at most 11%). Finally, if the trends of 2008–2015 continue in the coming years, the Portuguese bioeconomy could complete the last steps of a transition and present a bioeconomy pattern of type 1.2. The Greek case illustrates the opposite trend: in 2008, it displayed a hybrid bioeconomy pattern that positioned it between groups 1.1 and 1.2, but by 2015 Greece had consolidated its position within group 1.1. Indeed, over the 2008–2015 period its location quotient increased from 1.7 to 2.1 and its apparent labour productivity did not stay above half the EU-28 average threshold. The change in location quotient is linked with the very strong impacts of the 2008 economic crisis on the employment structure of Greece. Total employment in Greece decreased by 22% in this period, affecting the bioeconomy sectors to a lesser extent (11% of job losses). Within the bioeconomy, only the manufacture of bio-based textiles and the manufacture of wood and furniture reduced their labour market share. All other bioeconomy sectors either maintained or increased their standing in the national labour market, especially the agriculture sector, which contributed 10.69% of Greek jobs in 2008 and 12.37% in 2015. The evolution of the apparent labour productivity of the Greek bioeconomy has to be put in perspective with the European dynamic: the bioeconomy labour productivity remained stable in Greece (around €18,000 per person employed) while it was improving in all the other EU-28 Member States (except Cyprus and Romania). As a result, Greece’s performance deteriorated compared with the EU-28 average: from above half the EU average in 2008, to just half the average in 2015. The Greek case emphasises the relationship between the bioeconomy and the rest of the economy. In the same way, Greece has moved fast in a context of recent economic crisis, suggesting that it can catch up once the economic environment recovers. The Slovenian, Portuguese and Greek examples are illustrations of ongoing developments within the Member States of groups 1.1 and 1.2. However, we have not observed any case of transformation of a bioeconomy pattern of type 1 (including 1.1 and 1.2) to type 2. This suggests that the necessary leap in productivity might be more difficult to achieve than a transition from group 1.1 to 1.2, or that it requires longer than the time period here observed, or that the enabling conditions for such a transition were not met between 2008 and 2015. In contrast, it seems that an evolution from a bioeconomy pattern of type 2.1 towards one of type 2.2 is unfolding in Finland. The Finnish bioeconomy has shown a leap in productivity from €51,000 per person employed in 2008 to €67,000 per person employed in 2015 and it is approaching the threshold of twice the EU average level. Labour productivity has grown faster in Finland than in the other bioeconomies of group 2.1 with major improvements in the manufacturing sectors (mainly biofuels, paper, bio-based chemicals, bio-based pharmaceuticals and wood) and the forestry sector. In 2015, the apparent labour productivity in woody biomass value chains reached levels equivalent to that of Member States of group 2.2. The bioeconomy strategy adopted in Finland in 2014 may reinforce this trend as it focuses on the sectors that have progressed more: the wood value chain (with actions in forestry, timber construction and bioenergy) and the manufacture of bio-based chemicals and pharmaceuticals as part of the strategic focus on the health sector . In conclusion, the conditions seem to be met that will enable the Finnish bioeconomy to acquire the full characteristics of group 2.2, the group of Northern European Member States. The 2012 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on ‘Innovating for Sustainable Growth: A Bioeconomy for Europe’ presented the economic significance of the bioeconomy in terms of turnover. The JRC [5,6,32] and the nova-Institute for Ecology and Innovation [5,7] followed this approach and presented results at EU and Member State levels in terms of turnover. Turnover corresponds to the total value of market sales of goods and services to third parties and therefore is, in most cases, higher than value added or the share of GDP . Sectors with a high proportion of inputs (or high costs of bought-in goods and services) have a particularly high turnover. This becomes evident when directly comparing turnover and value added by bioeconomy sector, (gross) value added being defined by EUROSTAT as output minus intermediate consumption. As shown in Section 3.1, the turnover share of the manufacture of food, beverage and tobacco sector in the bioeconomy (51%) is far more important than its value-added share (38%), while the opposite is true in agriculture (17% of turnover share versus 28% of value-added share). According to our investigations, ongoing research by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the MontBioeco study , most countries provide value-added data, for example Germany or the Netherlands . The authors of this article propose that, in the future, value added should be considered the main economic indicator instead of turnover, primarily because it avoids double-counting and provides the additional value created by a sector. Furthermore, it is more in line with EU Member States’ own calculations and allows for comparisons with national accounts. The use of value added or GDP has several limitations, in particular in the context of sustainable development (see, for example, the World Economic Forum ). However, as one of several indicators describing the economic, social and environmental status of the bioeconomy, both provide key information on economic growth compared with the rest of the economy. Many regions in Central and Eastern Europe have a strong agricultural tradition and have selected the bioeconomy as a smart specialisation strategy . As already outlined in Section 3.2, the BIOEAST initiative assists Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC, this term is used throughout the rest of this chapter and also when the literature refers to new Member States) to operationalise their bioeconomy visions for 2030, drawing on their biomass potential to develop a sustainable increase in biomass production and circular processing of the available biomass and, in viable rural areas, also to develop an innovative, inclusive, climate-ready and inclusive growth model . This article focuses on socioeconomic indicators to explain the development and potential of the bioeconomy in individual EU Member States and, eventually, in a cluster of states within the EU. It is not within the scope of this analysis to prove that much more biomass can be produced sustainably within CEEC to drive the development of their bioeconomies. Two main aspects are discussed below, which could support the argument of the untapped potential in CEEC: land abandonment and the increase of productivity. Agricultural land abandonment, or outflow, in the EU is expected to continue at a rate of a decrease of 0.2% in utilised agricultural area (UAA) per year until 2030. This is, however, much lower than the average observed between 2011 and 2016, when UAA decreased by 0.7% per year. By 2030, arable land is projected to have decreased by 3% to reach 104 million ha . For the CEEC, depending on the sources, different developments are plausible. According to the Agricultural Member States Modelling (AGMEMOD) model results, the sown area has not changed significantly in the past and is not expected to do so in the future . On the other hand, Stürck et al. came to the conclusion, in different modelled scenarios, that land abandonment will occur, particularly in Eastern and Southern Europe. The EU in total shows only marginal growth of yield development for major crops in the EU, particularly because of the high yield levels already achieved, mainly in the EU-15 (Member States that joined the EU before 2014: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) . In contrast, the production of major crops is expected to increase significantly in CEEC, almost entirely through increased yields (e.g., for wheat and maize, increases of 15% and 50% respectively are projected for 2026). Notwithstanding, according to the AGMEMOD projections for 2026, the EU-15’s yields will still be around 40% higher than for CEEC . The Global yield gap atlas (http://www.yieldgap.org/) explains the difference between actual yields and agro-climatically achievable yields in the same region. For CEEC, several examples underpin the existing gap from the northwestern EU countries . Similarly, the potential from forestry and agroforestry residues could be further exploited . The potential to provide more biomass from agriculture for different bio-based activities could be further enhanced through a development push for rural areas of CEEC, where, in some regions, small semi-subsistence farms still dominate . Furthermore, double-cropping could substantially increase biomass output . The same opportunity to increase productivity also applies, in principle, to animal production . Higher productivity through an improved input/output ratio would therefore require less feedstock, which would then be available for other uses in the bioeconomy. In this context, the much smaller proportion of the processing industry in CEEC to date has to be stressed. Country-specific mapping of the potential for bio-based industries is provided by the Bio-based Industries Consortium for Poland and Romania . These considerations suggest the existence of an untapped potential in CEEC for further biomass production. Closing the yield gap would allow a higher level of labour productivity, which, all other things being equal, would reduce the location quotient and therefore further enable a transition path similar to that taken by northwestern EU countries. The Member States typology developed in this paper suggests that, in spite of national specificities inherent to natural endowment and historical political and economic choices, including path dependencies, similarities in economic structures can help to identify type-specific needs and tailor bioeconomy development strategies. The bioeconomy of group 1.1 (Eastern Member States) presents a strong specialisation—in terms of both employment and value added—in agriculture and the manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco, followed by low productive sectors. The bioeconomy of these Member States shows many similarities with that of group 1.2 (Baltic and Central Member States). In addition, the data from Slovenia indicate that a transition from a bioeconomy of type 1.1 to type 1.2 is possible. We might therefore expect future sectoral changes from the primary sector to the secondary sector as a first step of a transition towards a bioeconomy pattern of type 1.2. Such a transition can, of course, be supported by industrial and innovation policies, but the Greek case shows that it is also strongly dependent on the macro-economic environment: opposite sectoral changes occurred all over the Greek economic and financial crisis period. However, the agriculture sector in particular and the bioeconomy sectors more generally were less affected by job losses than the rest of the economy. The role agriculture plays in rural areas and as an economic and social buffer is not to be underestimated. The valorisation of biomass’s untapped potential could ease this transition process, starting with measures aimed at reducing the yield gap in these countries while preserving their natural capital. The bioeconomy labour market of Member States of group 1.2 suggests that outflows from primary sectors have already occurred. Nevertheless, levels of labour productivity remain low compared with Northern and Western Member States. The productivity divide widened between 2008 and 2015 because of lower bioeconomy productivity growth in Member States of groups 1.1 and 1.2 than in Member States of groups 2.1 and 2.2. No Member State of group 1.1 or 1.2 has effected such a productivity leap to reach the levels attained in group 2.1. Kuusk et al. also concluded that the sectoral reallocation at stake in Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) from low productive sectors to more productive ones did not lead to substantial productivity gains over the period 2001–2012: ‘In most of the CEE countries there has been some labour transfer into sectors with relatively higher initial productivity, whereas sectors with faster productivity growth over the year have on average seen lower employment shares. Nevertheless, given the relatively small size of the sectoral change effects, the contributions from the structural bonus and the structural burden are indeed very modest’ . They quantify higher productivity gains within sectors than between sectors (i.e., gains arising from sectoral reallocation). Looking at industrialisation processes in CEEC, Stojčić and Aralica describe two opposite trends during the period 2000–2015 : (i) restructuring of manufacturing sectors in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania in terms of labour productivity versus (ii) deindustrialisation due to declining competitiveness in Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Croatia and Slovenia. They argue that export competitiveness was the main driver of the restructuring of the manufacturing sectors (trend (i)) and it is most likely the result of quality upgrading and of integration into higher segments of global value chains. So, in order to foster industrial processes in the manufacturing sector, they recommend targeting the industries with the largest market potential, supporting their integration into global value chains and supporting their segmentation into high value-added segments. They also stress that past industrial policies that centred around international technology transfers have fallen short in creating growth in productivity. Innovation in firms and industries in CEEC is most likely to emerge from a ‘doing-using-interacting’ (DUI) mode of innovation, i.e., experience-based innovation emerging within firms or within firm networks (The DUI mode is opposed to the STI (science, technology and innovation) mode, which accompanies technology transfers). On the one hand, these recommendations align with Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) EU policies in the sense that they are rooted in a regional assessment, in the targeting of regional sectoral advantages and in regional networks of industries and stakeholders . On the other hand, Smart Specialisation Strategies emphasise the role of research, development and innovation (RDI) in territorial development, while Stojčić and Aralica expect more productivity growth and spillovers to come from market competitiveness than from innovation . Labour productivity in the Member States of groups 2.1 and 2.2 already reaches very high levels. The development of the bioeconomy in these Member States is more oriented towards shifting production and manufacturing processes towards more resource-efficient and environmentally friendly processes. Note that such orientations are also relevant to the Member States of groups 1.1 and 1.2, in combination with the measures described above. They include realising the transition to a low-carbon economy by replacing fossil fuels with bio-based drop-ins and dedicated bio-based chemicals . With this aim, the bioeconomy strategy of the European Union, as designed in 2012, gave a strong emphasis to investments in research, innovation and skills as one of the three pillars of the overall strategy. €975 million of EU funds are allocated to the Bio-Based Industries (BBI) Public–Private Partnership (PPP) for the period 2012–2020, complementing €2.7 billion of private investments. Annual calls finance development activities and fund the construction of pilot plants in strategic value chains. Optimisation of biomass flows is another component of the bioeconomy shift. It implies enhancing process efficiency, valorising byproducts and waste streams in the production of more diverse final products from initial feedstock (e.g., the biorefinery concept) as well as promoting the cascading use of bio-based products until the end of their lives. These concepts are already included in the Circular Economy Action Plan . The European Commission’s Communication on the Circular Economy called for the inclusion of these concepts in the Bioeconomy Strategy of the European Union after its revision in 2017. The updated bioeconomy strategy should be released in 2018. All the data used in this study are compiled in the JRC Bioeconomics dataset. Please find the bulk download at https://datam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/datam/perm/od/jrc-datam-biomass-estimates/download/dataset.zip. The data can also be browsed at https://datam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/datam/perm/od/7d7d5481-2d02-4b36-8e79-697b04fa4278. Pre-visualisations of the data are accessible as interactive infographics at https://datam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/datam/mashup/BIOECONOMICS. T.R. and R.M. conceptualised the original idea. R.M. wrote Section 1. T.R. wrote Section 2 and Section 3. Both authors contributed to Section 4. This study has been financed by European Commission funding in the framework of an Administrative Arrangement between the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The authors would like to thank the nova-Institute for Ecology and Innovation, which prepared the methodology for indicator quantification jointly with the JRC in previous years and continues to collaborate on methodological updates. The authors are very grateful to Saulius Tamosiunas, who automated the calculations and made them available online at https://datam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/datam/public/pages/index.xhtml. The views expressed in this article are purely those of the authors and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission. The authors declare no conflict of interest. The views expressed are those solely of the authors and should not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission. Table A1. Quantified Socioeconomic Indicators of the EU Bioeconomy in 2015 (number of persons employed, turnover, value added and apparent labour productivity). European Commission. Innovating for Sustainable Growth: A Bioeconomy for Europe; COM(2012) 60 Final; European Commission: Brussels, Belgium, 2012; p. 9. Available online: http://ec.europa.eu/research/bioeconomy/pdf/official-strategy_en.pdf (accessed on 24 May 2018). European Commission. Roadmap. Update of the 2012 Bioeconomy Strategy; European Commission: Brussels, Belgium, 2018; p. 3. Available online: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/initiatives/ares-2018-975361_en (accessed on 24 May 2018). European Commission-DG RTD. Review of the 2012 European Bioeconomy Strategy; European Commission: Luxembourg, 2017; p. 86. Available online: https://ec.europa.eu/research/bioeconomy/pdf/review_of_2012_eu_bes.pdf (accessed on 24 May 2018). Piotrowski, S.; Carus, M.; Carrez, D. European Bioeconomy in Figures 2008–2015; Nova-Institute for Ecology and Innovation: Hürth, Germany, 2018; p. 16. Available online: http://biconsortium.eu/sites/biconsortium.eu/files/documents/Bioeconomy_data_2015_20150218.pdf (accessed on 24 May 2018). Eurostat. NACE Rev. 2 Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community; Eurostat Methodologies and Working Papers: Luxembourg, 2008; p. 367. Available online: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nace-rev2 (accessed on 24 May 2018). Eurostat. Databases. Available online: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database (accessed on 24 May 2018). BIOEAST. BIOEAST Vision Paper. BIOEAST-Central and Eastern European Initiative for Knowledge-Based Agriculture, Aquaculture and Forestry in the Bioeconomy. 2018, p. 15. Available online: http://www.bioeast.eu/article/bioeastvisionpaper23022018 (accessed on 24 May 2018). Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development. National Environmental Technology Innovation Strategy 2010–2020; Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development: Budapest, Hungary, 2012; p. 16. Available online: http://kornyezettechnologia.kormany.hu/admin/download/b/4f/50000/NETIS_English.pdf (accessed on 24 May 2018). Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy. Sustainable Growth from Bioeconomy. The Finnish Bioeconomy Strategy; Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy: Helsinki, Finland, 2014; p. 15. Available online: http://biotalous.fi/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/The_Finnish_Bioeconomy_Strategy_110620141.pdf (accessed on 24 May 2018). Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). National Policy Strategy on Bioeconomy; Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL): Berlin, Germany, 2014; p. 78. Available online: http://www.bmel.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/Publications/NatPolicyStrategyBioeconomy.pdf?__blob=publicationFile (accessed on 24 May 2018). Ministerio De Económia Y Competitividad, Secretaría De Estado De Investigación Desarollo E Innovación. The Spanish Bioeconomy Strategy 2030 Horizon; Ministerio De Económia Y Competitividad, Secretaría De Estado De Investigación Desarollo E Innovación: Madrid, Spain, 2016; p. 44. Available online: http://bioeconomia.agripa.org/download-doc/102159 (accessed on 24 May 2018). Le Ministère de l’Écologie du Développement Durable et de l’Énergie, Le Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, Le Ministère de l’Économie de l’Industrie et du Numérique, Le Ministère de l’Agriculture de l’Agroalimentaire et de la Forêt. Une Stratégie Bioéconomie Pour La France. Paris, France, 2017; p. 34. Available online: http://agriculture.gouv.fr/telecharger/83595?token=4b2095fafe14f075309cc193dda53d70 (accessed on 24 May 2018). Government, T.D. Denmark At. Work. Plan. For. Growth For. Water, Bio and Environmental Solutions. 2013, p. 12. Available online: http://em.dk/english/~/media/files/2013/12-03-13-summary-plan-for-growth-for-water-bio-etc.ashx (accessed on 24 May 2018). Netherlands Office for Science and Technology. The Bio-Based Economy in the Netherlands; Netherlands Office for Science and Technology: The Hague, Netherlands, 2013; p. 11. Available online: https://www.rvo.nl/sites/default/files/Bio%20Based%20Economy.pdf (accessed on 24 May 2018). Formas. Swedish Research and Innovation Strategy for a Bio-based Economy. 2015, p. 34. Available online: http://www.formas.se/PageFiles/5074/Strategy_Biobased_Ekonomy_hela.pdf (accessed on 24 May 2018). The Interdepartmental Working Group for the Bioeconomy. Bioeconomy in Flanders. The Vision and Strategy of the Government of Flanders for a Sustainable and Competitive Bioeconomy in 2030; Flemish Government-Environment, Nature and Energy Department: Brussels, Belgium, 2014; p. 21. Available online: http://ebl.vlaanderen.be/publications/documents/55157 (accessed on 24 May 2018). Ronzon, T.; Santini, F.; M’Barek, R. The Bioeconomy in the European Union in Numbers. Facts and Figures on Biomass, Turnover and Employment. Data Based on a Collaboration with Nova-Institute; European Commission Joint Research Centre: Brussels, Belgium, 2015; p. 4. Available online: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/sites/jrcsh/files/JRC97789%20Factsheet_Bioeconomy_final.pdf (accessed on 24 May 2018). MontBioeco. Monitoring Bioeconomy–Current Approaches in EU Member States and at EU Level; MontBioeco: Helsinki, Finland; Available online: https://www.luke.fi/en/projects/montbioeco/ (accessed on 24 May 2018). World Economic Forum. Agenda in Focus: Beyond GDP. Available online: https://www.weforum.org/focus/beyond-gdp (accessed on 24 May 2018). Central and Eastern European Regions and Stakeholders. Lodz Declaration of Bioregions; Central and Eastern European Regions and Stakeholders: Lodz, Poland, 2016; Available online: http://bioeconomy.lodzkie.pl/en/deklaracja-lodzka-16/ (accessed on 24 May 2018). Szabó, Z. Europe’s sustainable biomass potential is substantial. Euractiv, 2015. Available online: https://www.euractiv.com/section/central-europe/opinion/europe-s-sustainable-biomass-potential-is-substantial/ (accessed on 24 May 2018). Bio-Based Industries Consortium. Mapping the Potential of Poland for the Bio-Based Industry; Bio-Based Industries Consortium: Brussels, Belgium, 2018; p. 40. Available online: http://biconsortium.eu/sites/biconsortium.eu/files/downloads/Country-Report-Poland.pdf (accessed on 24 May 2018). Bio-Based Industries Consortium. Mapping the Potential of Romania for the Bio-Based Industry; Bio-Based Industries Consortium: Brussels, Belgium, 2018; p. 34. Available online: http://biconsortium.eu/sites/biconsortium.eu/files/downloads/Country-Report-Romania.pdf (accessed on 24 May 2018). Stojčić, N.; Aralica, Z. Choosing Right from Wrong: Policy and (De) Industrialization in Central and Eastern Europe; EIZ Working Papers EIZ-WP-1703; EIZ: Zagreb, Croatia, 2017; p. 36. Available online: http://www.eizg.hr/UserDocsImages/publikacije/serijske-publikacije/radni-materijali/Choosing_Right_from_Wrong-Industrial_Policy_and_(De)industrialization_in_Central_and_Eastern_Europe.pdf (accessed on 24 May 2018). Carus, M.; Dammer, L.; Puente, Á.; Raschka, A.; Arendt, O. Bio-Based Drop-in, Smart Drop-in and Dedicated Chemicals; Nova-Institute for Ecology and Innovation: Hürth, Germany, 2017; p. 3. Available online: http://bio-based.eu/download/?did=107519&file=0 (accessed on 24 May 2018). European Commission. COM/2015/0614 Final. Communication from the Commissionto the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Closing the Loop-An. EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy; European Commission: Brussels, Belgium, 2015; p. 21. Available online: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52015DC0614 (accessed on 24 May 2018). European Commission. COM(2014) 398 Final. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Towards a Circular Economy: A Zero Waste Programme for Europe; European Commission: Brussels, Belgium, 2014; p. 14. Available online: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:50edd1fd-01ec-11e4-831f-01aa75ed71a1.0001.01/DOC_1&format=PDF (accessed on 24 May 2018). Figure 1. Sectoral apparent labour productivity in the EU-28 bioeconomy, 2015: bars show EU-28 apparent labour productivity; points show Member States’ apparent labour productivity. Note that apparent labour productivity in Ireland for the manufacture of bio-based pharmaceutical is out of scale on this graph, reaching 784 k€ per person employed. Figure 2. Bioeconomy patterns across EU-28 Member States. Figure 3. Heat map of the sectoral contribution to bioeconomy jobs and value added in EU Member States, 2015: light grey shows a contribution below the EU average, dark grey shows a contribution above the EU average, white indicates missing data. Figure 4. Evolution of the location quotient and apparent labour productivity in the bioeconomy of the 28 EU Member States, 2008–2015 (the cases commented on in Section 3.3 are shown in bold). Note that Romania is missing since it is out of scale (location quotient of 3.76). Its position on the graph is almost unchanged in 2015 compared to 2008. Table 1. NACE sectors considered part of the bioeconomy. Table 2. Data source for fully bio-based sectors. Table 3. Contribution of bioeconomy sectors to the total bioeconomy labour market, turnover and value added (%), EU-28, 2015.

2019-04-19T06:35:39Z

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/6/1745/htm

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2009-06-03 Assigned to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION reassignment INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: GREGG, THOMAS A. An article of manufacture, an apparatus, and a method for processing packets in a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) network. An article of manufacture includes a computer program product that includes a tangible storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method. The method includes receiving a PCIe posted write packet at a receiving device, the PCIe posted write packet including a received tag identifier and a requesting device identifier identifying a requesting device. An expected tag identifier is determined for the requesting device. The received tag identifier is compared to the expected tag identifier. An error flag is set if the received tag identifier does not match the expected tag identifier. The present disclosure relates generally to computer systems, and in particular, to writing data in a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) network. Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) is a computer bus architecture for attaching hardware devices in a computer. PCI express (PCIe) is a newer version of PCI that utilizes point-to-point serial links instead of the shared parallel bus architecture employed by PCI. A computer system that employs PCIe communicates by sending packets. An exemplary embodiment includes a computer program product for processing packets in a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) network. The computer program product includes a tangible storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method. The method includes receiving a PCIe posted write packet at a receiving device, the PCIe posted write packet including a received tag identifier and a requesting device identifier identifying a requesting device. An expected tag identifier is determined for the requesting device. The received tag identifier is compared to the expected tag identifier. An error flag is set if the received tag identifier does not match the expected tag identifier. Another exemplary embodiment is a system for processing packets in a PCIe network. The system includes a receiver, in communication with a PCIe switch, for receiving a PCIe posted write packet. The PCIe posted write packet includes a received tag identifier and a requesting device identifier identifying a requesting device. The system also includes a storage mechanism for storing an expected tag identifier for the requesting device. The system further includes a comparator for comparing the received tag identifier to the expected tag identifier and setting an error flag if the received tag identifier does not match the expected tag identifier. Another exemplary embodiment is a method for processing packets in a PCIe network. The method includes receiving a PCIe posted write packet at a receiving device, the PCIe posted write packet including a received tag identifier and a requesting device identifier identifying a requesting device. An expected tag identifier is determined for the requesting device. The received tag identifier is compared to the expected tag identifier. An error flag is set if the received tag identifier does not match the expected tag identifier. A further exemplary embodiment is computer program product for processing packets in a PCIe network. The computer program product includes a tangible storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method. The method includes accessing, at a requesting device, a PCIe posted write packet identifying a receiving device. A current tag identifier corresponding to the receiving device is determined. The current tag identifier is inserted into a tag field in the posted write packet. The posted write packet is transmitted to the receiving device via a PCIe network. A further exemplary embodiment includes a system for processing packets in a PCIe network. The system includes a posted write packet mechanism at a requesting device for accessing a PCIe posted write packet, the PCIe posted write packet identifying a receiving device, and for inserting a current tag identifier corresponding to the receiving device into a tag field in the posted write packet. The system also includes a storage mechanism at the requesting device for storing the current tag identifier corresponding to the receiving device. The system further includes a transmitter at the requesting device in communication with a PCIe switch, the transmitter for transmitting the PCIe posted write packet to the receiving device via the PCIe switch. FIG. 7 depicts an article of manufacture that may be implemented by an exemplary embodiment. Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) and PCI express (PCIe) implement the concept of a “posted write memory request” in both the up-bound and down-bound directions, where packets containing a posted write command, a write address, and write data are posted at intermediate locations (e.g., PCIe switches) before reaching the final destination where the write will occur (e.g., an endpoint or root complex). Posted write packets have no associated completions, so there is no indication if they are lost and no mechanism to detect their loss. One problem with PCIe is that with the added complexity of PCIe, and PCIe to PCIe bridges, root complexes, switches, and end points there is a small, but not zero, probability of silently dropping, duplicating, or rearranging posted write memory requests. Thus, in the event of a packet loss, a duplicate packet, or a packet being out of order, the use of posted write memory requests in PCIe will leave a hole (or unknown value) in the host or adapter memory, and these holes may be a data integrity exposure. An exemplary embodiment includes a new definition of the PCIe defined header tag field in the transaction identifier of the PCIe packet header. This new definition uses the tag field as an end-to-end sequence number that is generated by the requester and verified by the completer. A new capabilities structure is defined to control and initialize the newly defined tag field. In exemplary embodiments, the PCIe switches remain unaffected by the new use of the tag field to provide end-to-end checking for posted memory write packets. Details relating to PCIe are described in “PCI Express Base Specification, Revision 2.0”, PCI-SIG, Dec. 20, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. FIG. 1 depicts a PCIe network that may be implemented by an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 1 includes a root complex device 102 (e.g., located in a host system) and a plurality of endpoint devices 106 (e.g., a storage controller, a network adapter, etc.) in communication via a PCIe switch 104. As used herein, the term “requesting device” refers to a device in a PCIe network where the posted memory write request is generated. The requesting device may be either a root complex device 102 or an endpoint device 106. As used herein, the term “receiving device” refers to a device in a PCIe network that receives a posted memory write request and completes the memory write (i.e., writes specified data to a specified address). The receiving device may be either a root complex device 102 or an endpoint device 106. The receiving device may also be referred to herein as a “completer” or “completer device.” As used herein, the term “PCIe device” refers to a device that communicates in the PCIe network (e.g., via the PCIe switch 104). Both the root complex device 102 and endpoint devices 106 are examples of PCIe devices. In an exemplary embodiment, the PCIe switch 104 is a transparent PCI-based multi-host switch 104, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,519,761 to Gregg, of common assignment herewith, that may be configured with multiple north facing ports to couple the switch 104 to multiple hosts. The multi-host switch 104 can be included in a variety of switch configurations, including configurations having one multi-host switch, configurations having multiple multi-host switches, and configurations including one or more multi-host switches and one or more single host switches. The switch 104 is designed to include controls to accurately route a packet through the switch. FIG. 2 depicts a PCIe packet header and payload format that may be implemented by an exemplary embodiment. A standard PCIe packet header format is implemented by an exemplary embodiment, with one exception: that the tag field 202 is redefined as an end-to-end sequence number that is generated by a requester of a posted write and verified by a completer of the posted write. By using the tag field 202 in this manner, the completer of the posted write can verify that all packets sent by the requester have been received (i.e., in order and once). The exemplary posted memory write request packet depicted in FIG. 2 is identified by a “Type” field of ‘00000’b. If the address field is eight bytes as shown, then the format field (“Fmt”) is ‘11’b, and if the address field is four bytes, the format field is ‘10’b. The “R” bits and “Reserved” field are reserved and set to zero. The “TC” field is the traffic class, the “TD” field indicates if a transaction layer packet (TLP) digest (four byte cyclical redundancy check or “CRC”) is appended to the end of the packet. The “EP” field indicates if the TLP is poisoned, the “Attr” (attribute) field includes relaxed ordering and no snoop bits, and the “Length” field is the length of the packet data payload in four byte quantities. The “Requester ID” (RID) field indicates the requester's bus number (eight bits), device number (three bits), and function number (five bits). The “Last DW BE” and “1st DW BE” fields are double word byte enables; each is four bits and indicates the valid payload bytes in the last and first double words (four byte double words). The address fields point to where the packet data payload is to be written at the completer (also referred to herein as the receiving device). Eight byte addresses are contained in “Address[63:32]” and “Address[31:2]” while four byte addresses are contained in Address[31:2] in which case Address[63:32] is not present. The “Packet Data Payload” field which contains the data to be written may be from four to 4096 bytes in length. FIG. 3 depicts a process for generating a posted write packet using sequential tags that may be implemented by an exemplary embodiment. The process depicted in FIG. 3 includes additional processing (i.e., in addition to the standard PCIe processing) that is implemented by exemplary embodiments of a requesting device to utilize the tag field 202 as a sequential counter to identify lost, duplicated, and out of order packets. All or portions of the processing depicted in FIG. 3 may be implemented by a posted write packet mechanism. The processing depicted in FIG. 3 may be implemented by hardware and/or software and located within or accessible by a requesting device. At block 302, a posted write packet for a receiving device has been generated by a requesting device. The posted write packet identifies a receiving device, for example by the lower and upper address fields. At block 304, the requester device determines a current tag identifier for the receiving device. In exemplary embodiments, the current tag identifier is stored in a register, back-up table or other storage mechanism on, or accessible by, the requester device. The current tag identifier is written to the tag field 202 in the posted write packet at block 306. The current tag identifier for the receiving devices is incremented (e.g., by an incrementor) at block 308 and at block 310, the posted write data packet is then sent (e.g., via a transmitter) to the receiving device. In an exemplary embodiment, the current tag identifier is only written to the tag field when the packet indicates a posted write data request. FIG. 4 depicts a process for receiving a posted write packet using sequential tags that may be implemented by an exemplary embodiment. The process depicted in FIG. 4 includes additional processing (i.e., in addition to the standard PCIe processing) that is implemented by exemplary embodiments of a receiving device to utilize the tag field 202 as a sequential counter to identify lost, duplicated, and out of order packets. The processing may be implemented by hardware and/or software and located within or accessible by a receiving device. At block 402, a posted write packet is received (e.g., via a receiver) at a receiving device, the posted write packet is from a requesting device. At block 404, a received tag identifier is extracted from the tag field 202 of the received packet. At block 406, an expected tag identifier associated with the requesting device is determined. In exemplary embodiments, the expected tag identifier for the requesting device is stored in a register, look up table or other storage mechanism on, or accessible by, the receiving device. At block 410, it is determined (e.g., using a comparator) if the received tag identifier is equal to the expected tag identifier. If they are not equal, then block 412 is performed and an error flag indicating a lost, duplicated, or out of sequence packet is set. In an exemplary embodiment, setting the error flag causes standard error PCIe error/recovery processing to be performed. If the received tag is equal to the expected tag, as determined at block 410, then processing of the received packet continues at block 414. At block 408, the expected tag identifier associated with the requesting device is incremented (e.g., using an incrementor) in preparation for receiving the next packet. FIG. 5 depicts a PCIe network, having a root complex 502 and a plurality of end points 504 that are interconnected by a PCIe switch 506 that includes a plurality of PCIe bridges (in this example, B1-B5). The PCIe network, or system, depicted in FIG. 5 may be implemented by an exemplary embodiment to detect lost, duplicate, and out of order posted write packets. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 5, each end point 504 communicates with a single device, the root complex 502, however in other exemplary embodiments, end points communicate with a plurality of devices. Each of the end points 504 depicted in FIG. 5 include a single register containing a current tag identifier value for posted memory write requests that it sends to the root complex 502 and a single register containing an expected tag identifier value for posted memory write requests that it receives from the root complex 502. In addition, each of the end points 504 include a receiver/transmitter 522 for receiving and transmitting packets, one or two incrementors for incrementing the tag identifier values, and one or two comparators for comparing an expected tag identifier value and a received tag identifier value. In an exemplary embodiment, an end point 504 may have either a receiver or a transmitter depending on whether the end point 504 is solely a receiving device or solely a requesting device. In an exemplary embodiment, where an end point communicates with more than one device, the end point includes at least an additional register(s) for storing an additional tag(s) and optionally, an additional incrementor and/or comparator. The exemplary root complex 502 depicted in FIG. 5 includes a receiver/transmitter 524, a device table 508, a requester identifier (RID) content addressable memory (CAM), a comparator 512 and an incrementor 514 that are utilized when an up-bound posted memory write packet is received from an end point 504. As is known in the art, the use of a CAM is one way of associating a RID with an end point. Other methods of making this association may be implemented by alternate exemplary embodiments. As depicted in FIG. 5, the end point 504 includes a register (“UpTagReg”) to store a current tag identifier value of tag to be added to up-bound posted write request packets sent to the root complex 502. When a packet is received in an up-bound direction, the root complex 502 is a receiving device and the end point 504 is a requesting device. In an exemplary embodiment, the root complex 502 may have either a receiver or a transmitter depending on whether the root complex 502 is solely a receiving device or solely a requesting device. In an exemplary embodiment, standard PCIe processing is performed along with the additional processing required for implementing the sequential tags. As depicted in FIG. 5, the packet is received via the receiver/transmitter 524 by root complex 502 and the RID CAM 510 is utilized as an index into the device table 508. The posted write packet includes a tag field 202 that contains a received tag identifier that was inserted into the packet by the end point 504. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 5, an expected value of the tag field from the requesting device is stored in the PCIe device table 508. The expected value of the tag identifier, as determined by the tag field value in the device table 508, is compared to the received tag field using the comparator 512. A flag is set, or a recovery process is initiated in response to the two values not being equal. The expected value of the tag identifier is incremented by the incrementor 514 and stored back into a location in the device table 508 that corresponds to the requesting device. The exemplary root complex 502, depicted in FIG. 5, also includes an address lookup table 516, a down-bound tag table 518 and a second incrementor 520 that are utilized for generating down-bound posted memory write packets to be transmitted (e.g., via the receiver/transmitter 524) to an end point 504. When a down-bound packet is generated, the root complex 502 is a requesting device and the end point 504 is a receiving device. In an exemplary embodiment, standard PCIe processing is performed along with the additional processing required for implementing the sequential tags. As depicted in FIG. 5, the posted packet is generated by the root complex 502 and the address lookup table 516 is utilized as an index into the down-bound tag table 518 to determine a current tag identifier for the receiving device. In an exemplary embodiment, the down-bound tag table contains a one-byte current tag identifier associated with each of the endpoints 504. The current tag identifier is inserted into the tag field 202 of posted write packet before it is transmitted to the specified receiving device. The current tag identifier is incremented by the incrementor 520 and stored back into the down-bound tag table 518. When the packet is received at the receiving device (e.g., the end point 504), the receiving device verifies that the received tag identifier is equal to an expected tag identifier that is stored in a register (“DownTagReg”). If the values don't match, then a flag is set to indicate an error or to initiate a recovery process. With respect to an exemplary embodiment of up-bound posted write memory requests and as depicted in FIG. 5, there are multiple endpoints 504 (e.g., including virtual functions or “VFs”, physical functions, or “PFs”, etc.) each with a unique RID that can send packets to the root complex 502. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 5, the up-bound switch routing is implicit because, in this example, access controls services (ACS) forces all requests to go the root complex 502. In an exemplary embodiment each endpoint 504 (and RID) maintains a running current tag value. The running current tag value is initialized at system start up through an end-to-end sequence number (ESEQ) capability structure, such as the one depicted in FIG. 6 below. As requests are generated, the tag field is incremented for each request. This use of the tag field is largely consistent with PCIe tag usage, however in exemplary embodiments, the tag field is no longer an opaque handle and it has rules for generation. In an exemplary embodiment, the tag values wrap from “0xFF” to “0x00.” The range of the tag values is chosen to ensure that at any point in time the tag field value is a unique identifier. In an exemplary embodiment, the root complex 502 maintains an expected tag for each RID. In an exemplary embodiment, mismatches in the tag cause the root complex 502 to put the end point into the error state. In an exemplary embodiment, the up-bound tag sequence function shown in root complex 502 may be implemented as an extension to commonly available address translation and protection mechanisms. For example, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has defined an I/O memory management unit (IOMMU) and Intel has defined direct memory access (DMA) remapping to perform address translation and protection. In both of these implementations, the identity of the requester (RID) is used to determine the individual requesters address translation tables and access rights. Device tables contain information concerning each individual requester. In an exemplary embodiment, the tag sequence number function is added to existing device tables. With respect to an exemplary embodiment of down-bound posted write memory requests and as depicted in FIG. 5, down-bound requests are address routed. The root complex 502 maintains the relationship between the PCIe address ranges and the PCIe end points. The root complex 502 maintains a running current tag value for each PCIe end point. As depicted in FIG. 5, each endpoint 504 maintains a running current tag value that is initialized at system start up through an ESEQ capability structure, such as the one depicted in FIG. 6 below. In an exemplary embodiment, as requests are generated at the root complex 502, the tag field is incremented for each request. In an exemplary embodiment, the tag values wrap from “0xFF” to “0x00.” The range of the tag values is chosen to ensure that at any point in time the tag field value is a unique identifier. In an exemplary embodiment, mismatches in the tag values cause the endpoint to indicate an error and the AER registers and reporting mechanisms of PCIe may be utilized to report the error. FIG. 6 depicts a PCI capabilities structure that may be implemented by an exemplary embodiment to initialize registers used in tag sequencing of posted write packets. In an exemplary embodiment, this PCI capabilities structure is applied to pairs of requesting and receiving devices in the PCIe network to synchronize both ends of each pair. The synchronizing is performed periodically, meaning that it is performed at system initialization and optionally as part of a recovery action. The exemplary PCI capabilities structure depicted in FIG. 6 sets a bit in an end to end sequence number capabilities register field to indicate that up-bound ESEQ generation is supported and the capabilities structure sets a bit in the end to end sequence number capabilities register field to indicate that down-bound ESEQ generation is supported. As is known in the art, the next capabilities pointer field points to the next capabilities structure in the list. The ESEQ capabilities identifier field defines a unique capabilities number associated with the present capabilities structure. The exemplary command depicted in FIG. 6 sets a bit in an ESEQ control register to enable up-bound ESEQ generation using an up-bound start tag, sets a bit in the ESEQ control register to enable down-bound ESEQ checking using a down-bound start tag, and sets a bit to be utilized to indicate that a down-bound ESEQ error has been detected (or alternatively, indicates that the advanced error reporting or “AER” mechanism of PCIe is to be utilized). The up-bound tag start field contains the starting value for up-bound ESEQ generation and the down-bound tag start field contains the starting value for down-bound ESEQ checking. Technical effects and benefits of exemplary embodiments include the ability to verify that posted memory write requests in a PCIe network have been received in order and once. This may lead to an improvement in PCIe reliability. As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present invention may be embodied as a system, method, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in any tangible medium of expression having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium. Any combination of one or more computer-usable or computer-readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM), an optical storage device, a transmission media such as those supporting the Internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage device. Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer-usable medium may include a propagated data signal with the computer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. The computer usable program code may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc. The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. As described above, embodiments can be embodied in the form of computer-implemented processes and apparatuses for practicing those processes. In exemplary embodiments, the invention is embodied in computer program code executed by one or more network elements. Embodiments include a computer program product 700 as depicted in FIG. 7 on a computer usable medium 702 with computer program code logic 704 containing instructions embodied in tangible media as an article of manufacture. Exemplary articles of manufacture for computer usable medium 702 may include floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, universal serial bus (USB) flash drives, or any other computer-readable storage medium, wherein, when the computer program code logic 704 is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. Embodiments include computer program code logic 704, for example, whether stored in a storage medium, loaded into and/or executed by a computer, or transmitted over some transmission medium, such as over electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or via electromagnetic radiation, wherein, when the computer program code logic 704 is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. When implemented on a general-purpose microprocessor, the computer program code logic 704 segments configure the microprocessor to create specific logic circuits. setting an error flag in response to the received tag identifier not matching the expected tag identifier. 2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises incrementing the expected tag identifier for the requesting device in response to the comparing being completed. 3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the received tag identifier and the expected tag identifier are synchronized periodically between the requesting device and the receiving device. 4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the receiving device is a root complex device in a PCIe network, and the determining an expected tag identifier includes accessing a device table that is indexed by requesting device identifiers. 5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the receiving device is an endpoint in a PCIe network, and the determining an expected tag identifier includes reading a register corresponding to the requesting device. a comparator for comparing the received tag identifier to the expected tag identifier and setting an error flag in response to the received tag identifier not matching the expected tag identifier. 7. The system of claim 6, further comprising an incrementor for incrementing the expected tag identifier for the requesting device in response to the comparing being completed. 8. The system of claim 6, wherein the received tag identifier and the expected tag identifier are synchronized periodically between the requesting device and the receiving device. 9. The system of claim 6, wherein the receiving device is a PCIe root complex device, and the storage mechanism includes a device table that is indexed by requesting device identifiers. 10. The system of claim 6, wherein the receiving device is a PCIe endpoint, and the storage mechanism includes a register corresponding to the requesting device. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises incrementing the expected tag identifier for the requesting device in response to the comparing being completed. 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the received tag identifier and the expected tag identifier are synchronized periodically between the requesting device and the receiving device. 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving device is a root complex device in a PCIe network, and the determining an expected tag identifier includes accessing a device table that is indexed by requesting device identifiers. 15. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving device is an endpoint in a PCIe network, and the determining an expected tag identifier includes reading a register corresponding to the requesting device. transmitting posted write packet to the receiving device. 17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises incrementing the current tag identifier corresponding to the receiving device in response to the inserting being completed. 18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the current tag identifier at the requesting device is synchronized periodically with an expected tag identifier at the receiving device. 19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the requesting device is a root complex device in the PCIe network, and the determining a current tag identifier includes accessing one or more of an address lookup table and a down-bound tag table. 20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the requesting device is an endpoint in a PCIe network, and the determining a current tag identifier includes reading a register corresponding to the receiving device. a transmitter at the requesting device in communication with a PCIe switch for transmitting the PCIe posted write packet to the receiving device via the PCIe switch. 22. The system of claim 21, further comprising an incrementor at the requesting device for incrementing the current tag identifier corresponding to the receiving device in response to the inserting being completed. 23. The system of claim 21, wherein the current tag identifier at the requesting device is synchronized periodically with an expected tag identifier at the receiving device. 24. The system of claim 21, wherein the requesting device is a root complex device in a PCIe network and the storage mechanism comprises one or more of an address lookup table and a down-bound tag table. 25. The system of claim 21, wherein the requesting device is an endpoint in a PCIe network, and the storage mechanism comprises a register.

2019-04-23T18:26:12Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20100306442A1/en

You’ve never seen a war film quite like The Wakhan Front. A strange mixture of the military, the metaphysical and the downright mysterious, this debut feature by French director Clément Cogitore has a highly suggestive philosophical agenda, but at the same time functions as a gripping, subtly eerie drama which keeps you guessing even while it maintains its supernatural (or theological) undertow simmering beneath the surface. With a strong lead from Jérémie Renier, the film’s commercial prospects may be mitigated by Cogitore’s refusal of a conventionally satisfying narrative payoff. Then there’s the fact that the film is uncategorisable in standard terms - anyone expecting this Afghanistan-set drama to remotely resemble, say, The Hurt Locker is in for a surprise. But carefully handled by distributors, this could find a crossover following between the upmarket and the cult. The setting is a desolate, rocky region in Wakhan Province in Afghanistan in 2014, near the Pakistan border (the film was actually shot in Morocco). A detachment of French troops, headed by Captain Antarès Bonassieu (Renier), is patrolling a valley inhabited by a village of shepherds and frequented by local Taliban. At the start, local relations are tense but under firm control, and the level-headed, competent Bonassieu seems to be running things smoothly. Then the inexplicable happens: two French soldiers disappear without trace. Then there are further disappearances, among the Taliban too, and no-one can account for what’s going on in this landlocked Bermuda Triangle. As matters escape Bonassieu’s control and understanding, the officer’s psyche begins to frazzle. Cogitore - writing with sometime Jacques Audiard collaborator and Cowboysdirector Thomas Bidegain - musters an eerie mood that gradually erodes the prevalent masculine rationalism to suggest the encroachment of unearthly forces. The use of military tech visuals - including heat-sensitive imaging and night vision - is in striking contrast to the increasing strangeness that creeps in, creating a mood akin to the elusive creepiness of, say, The Blair Witch Project. But rather than merely providing chills, Cogitore has more philosophical themes in mind, and the story’s upshot is that humanity’s constant warring has finally prompted the natural (or divine) order of things to take an apocalyptic turn. A distinctive score takes in grinding techno and classical pieces on the viola da gamba, and the theme of visibility and invisibility is brilliantly played out throughout in visuals that show the khaki-clad men constantly disapppearing into (or suddenly surging from) a singularly inhospitable, colourless landscape. Clement Cogitore's striking debut puts an inventive fresh, uncanny spin on the War in Afghanistan soldier study. For a still-young subgenre, it can feel as if the narrative possibilities of the War in Afghanistan soldier study are approaching exhaustion — until a film like Clement Cogitore’s clever, curiosity-stoking “The Wakhan Front” points out the pockets of uncanny experience that lie within it still. A portrait of tense front-line routine in which the most urgent threat to troops’ survival takes a distinctly metaphysical form, this brooding broadcast from the Twilight War Zone stars the steadfast Jeremie Renier as a committed French army captain whose authority gradually deserts him when his men begin unaccountably disappearing. Though its disquieting premise never quite combusts into a full-scale psychological thriller, Cogitore’s accomplished, arresting debut should reverberate widely on the festival circuit; select distributors may proceed with caution. Introducing the film at its Cannes Critics’ Week premiere, its writer-director described it wryly as “John Ford meets M. Night Shyamalan” — as if to pre-empt any such comparisons, flattering or otherwise, from the critical contingent. At a more highbrow level, Cogitore might have invoked Michelangelo Antonioni’s “L’avventura,” a dissimilar investigation of disappearance with which his film nonetheless shares comparable concerns about the presence of absence, and the insecurities that those left behind project into the uncertain void. The troops’ unchallenging military duties principally involve surveillance of the local sheep-farming villagers, whose resistance to the forces has been worn down to impatient tetchiness. A native ritual involving the tethering of sheep to a lone stake planted in the valley arouses suspicion from Bonassieu, however. He senses that it may be a way of communicating with concealed Taliban insurgents, and points the blame in their direction when two of his soldiers fail to return from a night-watch shift. It emerges, however, that the Taliban have been mysteriously losing men of their own in the same valley. The rival factions resolve to lay down their arms for a joint investigation, though they make little headway. Bonassieu’s sangfroid, meanwhile, gradually drains from his system: As other soldiers vanish, including naive expectant father William (Kevin Azais), he begins to fixate on what he believes are cryptically coded dreams, while maintaining his skepticism as others turn to their faith for clarity and comfort. Cogitore and co-writer Thomas Bidegain (a regular Jacques Audiard collaborator) are less interested in the phenomenon — earthly or otherwise — behind the disappearances than in the belief systems either agitated or fabricated in their wake. That may disappoint auds seeking a headier tilt into the supernatural, though “The Wakhan Front” remains edgily unnerving even as character drama. The ensemble commits to the premise with utmost gravity and conviction, enabling our belief in even the most improbable interpretations of its core enigma. Maintaining his sympathetic sturdiness even as his force of control weakens, Renier gives a textured human face to the film’s most esoteric ideas. Tech contributions are uniformly outstanding, with d.p. Sylvain Verdet’s glacially composed long shots often losing the actors in the landscape’s rye-coloured expanses of dust, rock and ruin — it’s certainly an environment conducive to vanishing by any means. Cogitore will occasionally disrupt the taupe consistency of the scenery with more brashly lyrical imagery: A rippling gold-foil camouflage cape serves both a critical narrative function and a visually poetic one. Sparse, specific sound design keeps nerves on high alert, as does Eric Bentz’s score, with its alternation of ethnic and electronic elements. One abrupt dance sequence, set to an aggressive techno track, seems a direct homage to Claire Denis’s “Beau Travail” — still the gold standard for studies of soldiers lost (even when found) in the desert, though “The Wakhan Front” is a worthy admirer. CANNES 2015: Clément Cogitore's first feature film is an astonishing and highly original piece of young French cinema about a platoon of soldiers in Afghanistan. "Southern Post to Northern Post", "civilian in sight", warnings, patrols, long periods of waiting around, sudden exchanges of fire which pierce the silence that quickly settles in again afterwards: Clément Cogitore ventures into military territory with his first feature film, The Wakhan Front [+], which is being screened in competition in Critics' Week at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. A subject which has been touched on very little in French film, here the army is portrayed in a way which is all the more original for the fact that the storyline plays out in Afghanistan, centering around the inexplicable disappearance of soliders in an environment characterised by rocky ground, heat and isolation. The setting is reconstructed realistically and cleverly by the director, known for his talent as a visual artist, who clearly knows how to create atmosphere and works on the border between genres (war/fantasy; thriller/action) and areas of interest (realism/mysticism). Filmed using a shoulder-mounted camera, The Wakhan Front paints a highly realistic portrait of daily life in the army and perfectly uses the scale of its natural setting and technology such as thermal imaging and infra-red sight to thrust the viewer (in an elegantly unique way) into the shoes of the soldiers. With a rhythm not unlike that of The Desert of the Tartars, the director skilfully creates a threatening atmosphere for a group of men (solidly portrayed, most notably by Kevin Azaïs and Sâm Mirhosseini) straying dangerously close to the edge of the abyss as if suffering from dizziness, torn between beliefs and worlds (western and eastern) that are just too different. Built on the principle of "the less you say the better", the film (the storyline for which was written by Clément Cogitore with the collaboration of Thomas Bidegain) showcases a filmmaker who, despite unfortunately going astray during the home straight of the film with an excess of mysticism and metaphors, is not afraid of being bold. Produced by Kazak Productions and co-produced by Belgian production companyTarantula, The Wakhan Front will be distributed in French theatres by Diaphana, and international sales will be taken care of by Indie Sales.

2019-04-21T06:15:58Z

http://www.indiesales.eu/news-first-reviews-for-the-wakhan-front-by-clement-cogitore

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But, before the purchase of the freestanding walk-in bathtub factors to consider, should not be ignored. These factors include the various things like the quality as well as the services provided buys the company after the purchase. The purchase is a matter of seconds. But a company gains its reputation through the services provided to the customers after the purchase. The first thing that the company has to provide is the warranty over the product. Here the warranty is over the color, the glaze and other such things. The next walk-in bathtubs-factors to consider are the servicing that the company is going to provide to the customer, like the technical support for the installation as well as the maintenance. The maintenance procedure, though the minimum one is described in the user manual provide to them while, the purchase is done. The user manual is the one thing which has got immense value if you consider the DIY of the various issue of the bath tub. The simplest, and perhaps cheapest thing you could ever do to keep your air conditioning and heating system working at its best is cleaning or replacing the air filter as often as possible. Changing the filter will not only restore your HVAC system’s performance and efficiency but also improve your home’s air quality. With indoor air pollution being at the top of the list of environmental health hazards, the need to make replacements at the right intervals grows exponentially. But how often should you be replacing your HVAC filters? What Determines The Time To Replace? While most people might replace their filters at the start of the season that pushes the system to its fullest ability, others will play safe and do monthly swaps. These two approaches could be overkill or insufficient depending on how hard you push your system. -Different filters have different lifespans. A manufacturer will recommend how long you should run the filter on your specific unit before swapping it. -Is the air in the house not feeling as fresh and clean as it was with a fresh filter? If you are getting frequent colds and allergic reactions it may be overdue. -It’s wise to change your filters more often if you live in dusty areas with heavy construction pollution or have pets in your house. The dust and pet hair will clog your filter faster. -The more people there are in the home the more the dirt and dust will fly around. You will have to do more filter replacements in a busy house. -Does anyone smoke or do you use a wood or coal stove? Carbon build up can reduce filter efficiency. With so many variables in play, there can’t be a specific timeline governing how often you should be replacing your filters. The best way to go about this is by checking how dirty your filters are on a monthly basis. Replace them when they are too dirty and you have noticed degraded air quality in your home. Heavily used houses in urban areas or other regions with heavy pollutants in the air might force you to do a filter replacement every month while a holiday house supporting one or two people for a limited time a year can survive up to 12 months before the filter gets too dirty. If you don’t have time to keep monitoring your filters, you can opt to play it safe and stick to a monthly replacement. Alternatively, you can get a smart thermostat that monitors your filters and gives you an alarm when it thinks it is the right time to do the replacement. -Once every six to 12 months in a lightly used house that is not in a heavily polluted area. For instance, a holiday home you only use once a year. -Change the filters after 90 days in a suburban home that doesn’t have any pets. -If you have pets, change your filters every two months. -If you have pets and someone who is allergic or asthmatic, change the filters once every month. A/C filters will only wear as fast and often as you force air through them. With most homeowners going green, the most energy friendly homes will run the A/C less often hence making them more energy efficient. The lower the frequency with which an A/C is turned up the less air will flow over your filters. Since the filters cannot get dirty when you are not using them, exploring alternative ways to keep your house warm or cool will cut you some slack when it comes to HVAC air filter replacements. Other than environmental factors and room occupancy, you will also have to consider things like filter size or rating. A two-inch furnace filter will hold its own for longer than the one-inch filter. Go for high-quality filters with a better rating to reduce the change frequency. Your filters will affect how hard the A/C works and how fresh your home is. Monitoring your monthly utility bills and the general feel of the air in the house is a perfect way to tell when it is time to replace your air filters. Dog ownership doesn’t mean your house has to look like a kennel. You don’t have to live with blankets on the furniture or squeaky toys and kibble scattered throughout the house. You can own a dog, or two, or three and still create a comfortable, functional and stylish space for everyone to enjoy. We’ll show you how to create a wonderful and safe home for your pooch without sacrificing your own personal decorating style! On the other end of the spectrum, you don’t have to decorate a room just for your dog (although that would be pretty cool!). All you need to do is incorporate a few sensible and stylish décor ideas with your beloved pooch in mind, without having to send your pooches for dog behavior training. Your house will not only be dog friendly, you’ll appreciate the easy care details and chic new look! There are certain fabrics that just don’t belong in a doggie household. Silk is out – it stains too easily. Fabrics with nap, such as velvet or chenille, attract dog hair like a magnet. Even hardy cotton twill or canvas is no match for muddy paws. So what’s a dog owner to do? If you have carpet and dogs, you know this is not a happy combination. Dog hair and dander accumulate in the fibers and no matter how often you vacuum, you just can’t get it all out. For this reason, non-carpeted surfaces are your best bet. Hardwood floors are lovely to look at, but if you have large dogs, they may take a beating. If you want the look of wood, choose a durable laminate or new generation cork/vinyl hybrid that gives you the look of wood, but will withstand dog wear-and-tear. They are easy to clean up and require no sealers. Other excellent non-porous flooring choices are ceramic tile and stained concrete. These tough-as-nail surfaces are beautiful, claw-proof and provide your pooch a nice cool place for a nap during the summer. One word of caution: seal tile grout and stained concrete to prevent stains from ‘accidents’. Sealing will also make clean up a breeze! As you would create a child safe environment for an active toddler, you should consider your dog’s safety when thinking of your home’s décor. Consult with local pet trainers Or Do a walk through, jotting down any potential dangers. Place protective covers on electrical cables and cords and insert childproof caps over outlets. Install childproof door locks on lower cabinets to keep your dog away from cleaning products and other items that can cause harm. There are really two techniques to replacing windows when you begin window-shopping. Furthermore, this may not be something you find in a run of the mill window purchasing discussion. Andersen windows & doors pricing can be found on popular window pricing sites. Obviously, you know about shading decisions, woods, or window styles, for example, casement or twofold hung, yet you may not be acquainted with the two window establishment techniques: Full Frame Windows or Insert Windows. 80% of window substitution comprises of expelling an old window outline with its scarves and “embeddings” another window in its place. Embed windows are the most well-known in light of the fact that they are easy to use and leave the inside and outside trim undisturbed. You get a wonderful, vitality effective, substitution window in the shading and style you need, in addition to the occupation is done and for all intents and purposes upkeep free from the minute the installers leave your home. Notwithstanding, clients perusing through data on the Internet keep running over the expression “Full Frame Windows” and get some information about the distinctions. A Full Frame window incorporates the outside trim and windowsills, and requires the inside window trim to be supplanted too. Taking after the establishment, property holders regularly have inside trim to paint or stain to convey the window establishment to fulfillment. With a full edge window substitution, pretty much as the name suggests, the whole window is evacuated, directly down to the buck outline, leaving just the “unpleasant opening” – like in another home development. Everything is evacuated — including the ledges and trim. Which implies, a full casing “substitution window” energy efficient windows is a pre-gathered window finish with the outside block forming as of now set up. What’s more, the block trim is made of support free Fibrex simply like the windows. Pleasant. A full edge establishment is suggested when there is noteworthy decay or disintegration to the outside wood segments of a window opening. Different property holders say that they incline toward the Fibrex material for their block form as opposed to wrapping the current wood in a support free aluminum curl stock. What’s more, there is another thing to consider—cost. Given the measure of extra materials and work that go into a full casing window establishment it will cost more. The ballpark distinction will keep running around 20 to 25% more. Not an excessive distinction, but rather one that you might need to hold up under at the top of the priority list. Window embeds, then again, are a completely operational window introduced inside the current window trim and ledge. With a substitution window embed, the old inside and outside trim is undisturbed and stays in place. The outside wood parts are totally uniquely wrapped in an aluminum material that is shading coordinated to your home’s trim and the window shading. The outcome is an upkeep free window that uses the current wood trim components. While the embed strategy is less obtrusive in light of the fact that it permits a portion of the first window parts to remain, the protest of both techniques is to keep up a home’s compositional honesty. Which establishment would it be a good idea for you to pick, full casing or embed? That question is most likely best replied by your home. On the off chance that you live in a home that has been assigned “verifiably noteworthy”, odds are the recorded society will have rules set up with regards to redesigns. Indeed, even without a verifiable assignment, numerous mortgage holders are quick to save the engineering respectability of their homes. Assuming this is the case, full casing substitution is not prudent for verifiable credibility. Truth be told, it won’t not be allowed. That is on account of the outside window outline must be expelled, therefore aggravating instead of protecting the home’s legacy outside. In such cases, an embed substitution window would be the better decision. All the more every now and again, the decision is dependent upon you. Despite full casing or embed, regardless you get every one of the many choices accessible from Renewal by Andersen windows. Twofold hung, casement, picture, bow, sound or skimming? You pick the style. There’s an Andersen window style for each room in your home, whether you need to upgrade your family room with a wonderful cover window or put a simple-to-open canopy window over the sink in your kitchen. Also, Andersen substitution windows are accessible in 7 hues and 3 inside wood grains, so you really have 25 diverse trim choices conceivable too. Your anderson window replace plan windows can be one shading on the outside and another shading within, on the off chance that you so wish. Tired of squares and rectangles—shouldn’t something be said about a highlight window? Andersen windows arrive in twelve unique shapes to add an unmistakable note to your home. Pick a pentagon top substitution window, or an eye-getting octagon. Whether your view is sea front or woodsy, a wonderful view can turn out to be significantly more tremendous with the right window. While you will pick vitality productive glass no doubt, it’s great to realize that even advanced elite glass can look exemplary and customary. Grilles and networks upgrade new windows by giving them an unmistakable pioneer look. Andersen even offers full isolated light grilles, an unquestionable requirement on homes of chronicled importance or where the mortgage holder needs to copy the look of genuine separated light windows. Obviously, you can recreate the look by utilizing grilles that snap into clasps on the window scarf. Then again you could pick grilles set between the glass, window installers which means they’re a breeze to clean. Notwithstanding the shape, style, size or shading, all Andersen windows are uniquely crafted to fit your window opening. There is no such thing as a standard “one size fits all approach” with Renewal by Andersen.

2019-04-20T12:47:43Z

http://www.tileidea.co.uk/category/home-improvement/

Money making apps can be a great way to earn some extra cash. Apps that pay you to watch videos are the best type of money making apps since little work is involved other than watching a short clip. For that reason, I’ve put together a list of 15 free apps that pay you to watch videos from your smartphone. I often find that these apps are great for when I have a few minutes to spare while waiting for someone or am just lounging around. The best part about these apps? Aside from the fact that they’re completely FREE, most of them come with a sign-up bonus just for registering as a new user. I receive a lot of questions via email asking me if they can simply install these mobile apps and let them run. In this sense, you’re essentially earning a passive income since no work is required on your end. Unfortunately, the majority of these apps are not this way. Most of them require you to hit a “next” button in order to continue watching the next video. If there’s an app on this list that plays each succeeding video automatically, we’ll be sure to mention it in the description. Swagbucks is one of my favorite mobile apps out there due to its versatility. Not only can you earn money watching videos, but Swagbucks allows you to earn cash taking surveys, playing games, shopping online, filling out free-trial offers and more. It’s one of the most popular rewards sites on the web. We put Swagbucks at the number one spot due to the fact that you can earn a passive income with this app. In fact, we even did a write-up explaining how you can easily earn an extra $30/month in passive income letting the swagbucks run automatically. Each time you complete a task with the Swagbucks app, you’ll earn a certain amount of points. These points can be exchanged either for cash prizes, direct deposits to PayPal or a gift card of your choosing. Swagbucks also comes with a great referral program. For each friend that signs-up using your link, you earn 10% of all of their earnings for life. Swagbucks does offer a registration bonus, but we’ve found this amount to vary anywhere between $.50 cents and $5. FusionCash offers a great incentive right off of the bat by giving you a $5 sign-up bonus. There’s a minimum of $25 needed in your account in order to cash out, but it shouldn’t take long to reach this amount. Aside from watching videos, FusionCash also pays you to take surveys, refer friends, listen to music, clicking ads and more. New users have an abundant amount of offers, and it’s not difficult to earn $25 within your first 30 minutes. However, don’t expect to make this amount consistently. FusionCash also has an excellent referral program. Get a $1 bonus when your referral confirms their email, $2 when they complete a Pay-To-Sign-Up offer, and an additional $5 dollars each time they cash out. Definitely the best referral program on this list. MyPoints is primarily known as a cash back shopping portal. They’ve partnered with hundreds of online retailers across the web and placed all of their affiliate links onto their page. Each time you click a link and shop at a retailer of your choice, they earn a commission. Instead of keeping this cash to themselves, they give it back to you in the form of cash back. Expect to earn anywhere from 1% – 10% in cash back each time you shop. As well as earning cash for shopping online, MyPoints also gives you a chance to watch videos for cash. You even get a $10 bonus when you earn your first $20. EarningStation and Swagbucks are very similar in nature. Get paid to watch videos, take surveys, play games, shop online or sign-up for free-trail offers. You even get a $10 registration bonus when you sign-up for 5 of their partner sites. EarningStation probably has the best referral program on this list. For each friend you refer, you get 10% of all of their earnings for life. Not only that, but you also get a $5 bonus when your friends earn their first $5 provided it’s within their first month. InboxDollars is another rewards site that pays you for completing tasks aside from watching videos. This includes, reading emails, taking surveys, filling out free-trial offers and more. If you’re looking to earn the most amount of cash, I suggest doing a combination of reading emails and watching videos. Both of these options are incredibly simple, which is why it’s my favorite on this list. This is not a passive way of making money, as you’ll have to click a button in order to play the next video. The great thing about InboxDollars is that they give you a $5 sign-up bonus. GlobalTestMarket is a little bit different than the other apps on this list since it’s primarily known as a survey site. However, you can still earn cash watching videos. Earn money watching movie trailers and giving your opinions about them. GlobalTestMarket is the only app on this list that works no matter what country you live in. The payout isn’t as high as the other sites on this list, but it’s definitely a great one to add to the list. In 2014 alone they awarded over 32 million USD worldwide. Out of all of the apps that we’ve mentioned on this list so far, Perk TV is the only one that focuses primarily on watching videos to earn cash. The best part? It’s also a passive income earner. This means you don’t have to click a “next” button in order to play the following video. Perk TV specifically states that you can run multiple devices up to a maximum of 5. The more phones you run, the more you can earn. However, there’s a limit to only 1 account per household. Back in the day, you were able to earn over $100/month just watching videos with Perk TV! However, they’ve since cut down their earnings. Now you can realistically earn about $40 – $50 per month, which is still a great deal. For those interested in more rewards apps by Perk, check out this list of 10 Perk Apps That Pay. CashCrate has been around for a while now and they’re only growing stronger in terms of reputation. Get paid to watch videos, shop online, take surveys, refer your friends and more. In short, it’s another short task site. From watching videos alone I’ve found that I can earn an extra $20 – $30 per month. If you’re looking at increasing your income even further, feel free to participate in the other tasks as well. Their surveys also tend to have a decent payout rate. Each time you complete a task you earn a certain amount of points. These points can be exchanged for gift cards of your choosing. Points2Shop is primarily known as a short task site. Get paid to watch videos, fill out surveys, download apps and complete free-trail offers. You’re basically getting paid to do things that you already do online. While it’s not as high-paying as the other apps on this list, it’s definitely a great one for watching videos. I can expect to easily earn an extra $20 – $30 per month watching videos. When you sign-up you automatically get a 250 point registration bonus. National Consumer Panel (previous known as Nielsen Homescan Consumer Panel) is a company that collects data on consumer habits. This primary method of making money with this panel is by scanning products that you purchase, but they also provide video surveys. Most people choose to use their Apple or Android device to get started, but they will also send you a manual barcode scanner if needed. After you sign-up for a short time, they will eventually give you quite a few video surveys that you can use to make money. Similar to Swagbucks, GrabPoints is also a free mobile app that pays you to complete certain tasks from your phone. Earn cash taking surveys, referring friends, downloading apps, watching videos and more. The best part? There’s an unlimited amount of videos you can watch. Unfortunately, watching videos with this app is not passive due to the fact that you’ll need to close an ad after each video plays. Expect to earn about 1 – 10 points per video. If you’re looking to earn even more with the GrabPoints app, we suggest looking into their downloading apps section. While it does take a little bit more work than simply watching videos, the payout is a lot higher. App Trailers – like Perk TV – also primarily focuses on watching videos. You get a 50 point bonus for registering as a new user. The great thing about App Trailers is that you’ll always know how many points you earn. No matter what video you watch and no matter the length, you’re always going to earn 5 points. From what I’ve seen, most videos only take around 30 – 60 seconds to complete, which is pretty short compared to the other apps on this list. Unfortunately, you can only run one device per account and one account per household. Viggle is quite unique compared to the other apps on this list. Instead of getting paid to watch videos directly from your phone, Viggle listens in to what you watch on TV. When you open the app, there will be a list of TV shows that you can choose from. Select the one that you’re most interested in and tune into it on your television. Viggle will listen using your phone’s microphone and will give you more cash the longer you watch it. Sometimes you’ll also have the option of watching ads for additional points. You can claim your points for gift cards as well as merchandise. Checkpoints is a mobile app that pays you to check-in daily, watch videos and scan barcodes from your local retailer. For those who are interested in earning the most amount of money with this app, you’re going to want to watch videos. I can easily expect to earn an extra $10 per month just by spending a short amount of time on the app each day. I would be able to earn more if there wasn’t a restriction on the amount of videos you can watch per day. Each time you watch a video you’re rewarded with a certain amount of points that can be exchanged for a gift card of your choosing. The best thing about Instant Rewards is that most of the videos you watch are incredibly short. This is not a passive app as you have to hit a button to go the next button. The downside? There’s a limit to the amount of videos you can watch each day. I personally am able to bring in an extra $10 – $15 per month spending a short amount of time on this app. You can also earn cash taking surveys and downloading other apps. CashPirate is a great app for those who are interested in making money downloading other apps. Yet they also have a great payout rate when it comes to watching videos. You even get a 500 point registration bonus as a new user. Assuming you participate in both downloading apps and watching videos, you can easily expect to make $3 – $4 within your first 15 minutes of download. CashPirate also comes with an excellent referral program. For each friend that you refer that signs-up using your referral link, you earn a 5% bonus of all of their earnings for life. By spending a short amount of time with this app, expect to increase your income by around $20 – $30 per month. QuickRewards is both a mobile app and a website that promises you at least $1 per survey that you take. In addition to this, they also provide you with the option of watching videos for additional cash. The great thing about QuickRewards is that there’s no registration required. That means that all you have to do is go to their site, enter in your PayPal email and get paid once you finish. It’s literally one of the quicker ways to get paid. So far we’ve only mentioned apps that pay you to watch videos from your smartphone. Yet I’d be leaving out a ton of options if I didn’t mention websites that pay you to watch videos as wells. While they don’t have an actual app that you can install, you can always use the website directly from your phone. GiftHulk is another short task site that pays you to watch videos, complete surveys, sign-up for free-trial offers and more. Although their payout rate isn’t as high as Swagbucks or Creations Rewards, I still find it worth it to watch videos due to their decent payout rate. Each time you complete a task you earn a certain amount of points. These points can be exchanged for a gift card of your choosing. GiftHulk has a great referral program giving you a 10% bonus of all your friends’ earnings. Due to the various tasks that you can complete on InstaGC, I was earning around $10 per day with this site. Earn cash watching videos, signing-up for free-trial offers, shopping online and more. While the videos don’t pay as much as the other tasks you can complete, we still find it worth it since they’re short and easy to watch. It’s definitely worth looking into the other tasks as well. I don’t have much experience with Paid2YouTube, but it’s a great way to earn some extra cash for doing something you do already on a daily basis. Earn extra money watching videos on YouTube. The payout rate from the site is quite low at $.005 cents per video, but they are extremely reputable and have been around for quite a while. Want to earn even more cash? Leave comments, like videos and leave ratings. NADA Mobile was originally created to give a way for people who couldn’t afford a phone plan a way to earn phone credits for free. Simply watch a few videos and earn free phone time. Now they’ve expanded to give you more than just phone credit. The points you earn from watching videos can now be used to cash out for gift cards of your choosing. I’ve only recently started using Creations Rewards, but I couldn’t be any happier with it. Their site is very similar to Swagbucks and EarningStation in which you get paid to participate in a wide range of activities. You get a $5 bonus when you earn your first $5 in your first 5 days, and their referral program gives you 10% of all your friends’ earnings. Watching videos with Creations Rewards has a fairly decent payout rate when comparing to the other options on this list. The great thing that I love about this site is that they only require a minimum of $5 to cash out. If you try the site for a short amount of time and decide you don’t like it, you can easily quit and still walk away with something. Here are a few tips that I suggest you follow when it comes to watching video apps. I make sure to at least install a few money making apps on my phone. Often times you’ll find that some apps have a limit on the amount of money you can earn in one day or a limit to the amount of videos you can watch. Diversify to maximize your earnings. Since there’s so many different video watching apps on this list, it can be a bit difficult deciding which ones to run. In order to get over this barrier, we suggest running these apps at the same time. Most of the apps on this list also come with a website that you can watch videos on. This means that you can also earn cash watching videos from your Desktop computer or laptop. For those who are really into earning more cash, I suggest getting an extra phone or two. With a desktop version and a couple of mobile phones running, you can easily run 3 or more of these apps. If you’re looking for a cheap phone to run, try looking on Amazon Warehouse for buying refurbished phones. Any cheap smartphone will work. All of the apps on this list are 100% free. If you’re ever asked to put in payment information to participate in a rewards app or website, it’s most likely a scam. Depending on the app, they may suspend your account if you’re using a VPN. If you frequently use a VPN, either turn it off or contact the support team of the app and ask if the use of a VPN is permitted. If you’re looking to make some extra cash, running video apps can be a great way to increase your side-income. I personally find that these apps are great for those with office jobs. You can run them under your desk or in your purse while working simultaneously. If you’re having trouble deciding which of these apps to use, the main ones that we recommend are Swagbucks and InboxDollars. With these two apps alone, you’ll be able to maximize your earnings with the shortest amount of time possible. InboxDollars also pays you to read emails, a ridiculously easy way to earn extra cash. If you have any experience using these apps, we’d love to hear about them in the comments below. Having troubles using the apps? Feel free to leave questions as well. Thanks for reading and happy frugaling! I really love your post. I have used ad watching to make money before, I like some of these apps listed. I made about 10 bucks on perk.tv in a couple of days. Thanks! I can’t believe you would recommend Swagbucks. My experience with them has been only scams and no replies to problems. I tried inbox for a while and they have a minimum payout that is ridiculously high. When i got to $29.85 they canceled my account with the explanation that something weird happened and they would give no other info. Inbox is actually a really good site… I’m surprised about this. I would try contacting them one more time. I have been using Inbox Dollars for years and have never had a problem with them EVER. Glad you enjoyed this post! Perk.tv is a great one for making some extra cash. Can you give an update on which ones aren’t paying as much anymore. I think things have gotten slower this past year and I need to find which one besides swagbucks, I should look at. Nice article and I had not heard of any of these websites either – sad that most cater for the USA. But still a great article. I recently came across an app called Watch2Earn. Am not sure if you’re familiar with it but when I tried to sign up using my google account, it said “The GCM id field is required.” Do you know what this means?

2019-04-24T02:07:45Z

https://www.frugalforless.com/apps-that-pay-you-to-watch-videos/

Small Biz Mac, Small Biz Mac focuses on using Mac as the foundation of a small business--the operating platform, the market, and more. This blog will discuss both the challenges of operating a business on Mac hardware and software, and the impact of the broader Mac market on business. Kevin Walzer and Lori Jareo, publishers, software developers, Mac/iPhone users, and small business owners. Get a syndicated feed of this weblog. Returning to the Mac after 18 years, Corel has revived its vector graphics editor for macOS with the release of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019. (The last CorelDRAW release for the Mac was CorelDRAW 11 in 2001.) In addition to the CorelDRAW 2019 vector illustration software, the suite includes Photo-Paint 2019 for image editing, AfterShot 3 HDR for raw photo processing, Font Manager 2019 (along with over 1000 TrueType and/or OpenType fonts), and thousands of clipart files, sample digital images, and vehicle wrap templates. CorelDRAW is optimized for Dark mode in macOS 10.14 Mojave, includes support for the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro, and introduces the neural network-powered LiveSketch drawing feature, which uses artificial intelligence to interpret, adjust, and combine hand-drawn strokes into precise vector curves. You'll also be able to access your graphic design projects on the go from any device with the cloud-based CorelDRAW.app, enabling you to open and edit design elements in existing files as well as start new projects. This is a nice development for users on the Mac who want an alternative to Adobe's tools; CorelDraw is a robust program that offers a better value than Illustrator and Photoshop. CorelDraw has been a heavyweight product on Windows for years, and has come and gone from the Mac several times over the past twenty years. Let's hope it can stick around this time. We've released updated versions of our mobile travel apps, The Lake Effect (Great Lakes travel) and Snowbird Shores (Atlantic coast travel). Both feature modest UI updates. Both are free downloads for iPhone and iPad. We will continue to follow the evolution of GDPR, and keep our sites compliant as these rules emerge. Apple's decision to essential gut its Server app means big changes for us. We will no longer be hosting the dozen websites supporting our business in-house, nor email. It's a shame. Apple has delivered incredible value with the Server app product, and it has allowed us to gain maximum flexibility and minimum cost for our Internet presence. We understand that Server.app is just a slick interface over numerous command line tools that can still be installed on macOS (or another Unix variant, such as Linux), but the ease-of-use will be gone. Spending hours hand-hacking command-line tools and their configuration files is just not something we have time to do. Ironically, there are many free distributions of these tools available for Windows with included GUI's to make configuration easier--it's a shame that such projects do not exist on the Mac independent of Apple's now-deprecated product. Re-investing in Windows hardware is not something we are inclined to do. So, instead, we have decided to move our hosting to the same provider we use for our domain names--GoDaddy, bought through a reseller. The reseller discounts the price a bit, but the hosting and SSL certificates will total nearly $600 this year--when before we paid nothing. There's no issue with GoDaddy--while they are looked down on by some in the tech world, their hosting platform is solid, at least for our needs, and their support is quite good. It took about three days of labor to complete the migration of all of our sites to their platform, and going forward managing the sites should be a simple, pain-free process. But it's still a shame Apple has opted to discontinue a product that has been part of their lineup for nearly twenty years, and a foundation of our business nearly as long. We've released version 3.1 of The Lake Effect and version 1.1 of Snowbird Shores, two apps for iOS that deal with travel to different parts of the country--the upper Midwest/Great Lakes region, and the Southeast/Atlantic Coast/Gulf Coast regions. It's been about 18 months since we released previous versions of the apps; these updates were prompted mainly by the iPhone X, which has a different form factor than other iPhones, and a note from Google--whose Admob advertising system we were using in the apps to generate revenue for them--that we only had a short time to update our apps to support the iPhone X and comply with Google's terms of service. We ultimately decided to remove Admob from the apps because support for the iPhone X does not seem to be coming, at least in the near future, from the plugin we use to support Admob. As a result, we decided to place links to new pages on the websites that these apps support, which will periodically be updated in the future. In any case, if you have any interest in travel to either region these apps cover, feel free to install them on your iOS device. They are free. We've recently updated all twelve or so of the websites we maintain to be fully secure, supporting the encrypted HTTPS protocol. What this means is that data sent from our websites to a browser or other client will be encrypted, and thus impossible to hack into. While encryption is typical of sites that handle financial transactions such as PayPal, it's also becoming increasingly common with non-financial sites as well just because of the increasing risks from hackers and surveillance in this age of Edward Snowden. What's made our move in this direction is Let's Encrypt, which aims to serve as a "free, automated, and open Certificate Authority." Sponsored by the not-for-profit Internet Security Research Group (ISRG), Let's Encrypt provides a free and (relatively) simple mechanism to provide website security. ISRG is funded by both industry and individual donations. It took us a weekend to figure out how to generate the certificates, install them, and configure our Mac OS X server to direct all web traffic to the secure HTTP port. It's a fairly small investment of time to significantly increase the security of our websites, and, by extension, the web itself. The emergence of Let's Encrypt both reflects the trend toward increasing security on the web, and also is helping to make it happen. It's doubtful that a community, non-profit effort would have succeeded had there not already been a critical mass of concern about web security. But Let's Encrypt's relative ease-of-use, at least for those with basic skills in managing websites and server configuration, are helping to accelerate the trend toward security. Its price--free--also helps. Encryption/SSL certificates for all the websites we operate could have been procured from a commercial source, but only at the cost of hundreds of dollars a year. For a small business, that's something that has to be weighed carefully. We pay hundreds of dollars for an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription because those tools literally make our business possible. The benefits of encryption are harder to quantify economically, at least in terms of increased profitability. But if the only investment is time, then it's an easier to call. Thanks so much to the people who make Let's Encrypt possible. Windows: Ironically, we had decided to keep our software products focused on the Mac, but then reversed course and are now slowly porting several software products to Windows. The only reason we can offer is that the potential upside outweighed the hassles. So, a lot of work is being invested in these Windows ports, and they are being rolled out slowly. Backup: Time Machine has worked beautifully. No more rsync. Great work, Apple. Last week I was the keynote speaker at the Tcl/Tk conference, the major annual gathering of Tcl/Tk developers. I discussed my work as maintainer of Tk on OS X, talking about the business case for supporting Macs, the history of Tcl/Tk on the Mac, the current landscape, best practices for deploying Tcl/Tk apps on OS X, and what faces us going forward. Slides of my talk are here: http://www.slideshare.net/KevinWalzer/the-universal-developer-deploying-modern-tcltk-solutions-on-the-mac . I'd like to thank the Tcl/Tk conference committee for the invitation. It's a real honor and I'm glad to share what I've learned. In news that will surprise no one who uses Macs on a regular basis, but which may be surprising for large companies that mainly deploy Windows PC's: Mac users are far less expensive to support than Windows users. Bottom line from an IBM official: "Every Mac that we buy is making and saving IBM money." A few years ago I spent several months porting one of my Mac apps to run on Windows. I went through the entire development and release process, including rewriting portions of the app to conform to Windows UI conventions; converting app resources to Windows format, such as icons; deploying the app in a Windows-standard fashion with an installer; and releasing and promoting the app via a website, submissions to download sites, and so on. The app went through one update in addition to its initial release. The app really didn't sell at all on Windows or even generate much in the way of downloads, so I decided to discontinue the Windows verison after about six months. I did enough work on the app, however, to gain experience with Windows development, and form an opinon of Windows development: It is a very uncomfortable experience. I'd like to provide a bit of context on my experience. I'm a longtime Mac user and developer, working on OS X for more than a decade. My particular interest in the Mac is its combination of Unix power and Mac UI polish. That lack of UI polish is why I don't target platforms such as Linux, and the lack of a Unix foundation is why I had not previously considered targeting my apps to Windows. My main development work uses a cross-platform language and GUI toolkit, so I'm not the conventional Mac/Cocoa developer, but my apps and their supporting libraries are highly optimized for the Mac platform and do not focus on cross-platform features. Given all this, I'm something of a hybrid between a Unix developer and a Mac developer--the same hybrid as OS X itself. Apple's development stack is hybrid in the same way. I am highly comfortable in the Unix environment using Apple's command-line tools (compiler and debugger, also ported as open source to other Unix platforms), but can move higher up in the stack to use Apple's IDE, Xcode, when necessary; under the hood Xcode calls the same tools. The integration between the UI layer and the command-line layer, and the ability to move between them, is what makes the Mac my favorite development environment. Moreoever, all of my development projects and languages (Perl, Python, and Ruby in addition to Tcl/Tk) fit seamlessly into this environment. Windows does not provide the same harmonious integration of developer elements. Most Unix tools, compilers and debuggers have been ported to Windows and run just fine there, but they are not well-integrated into the environment, so using them feels a bit awkward. Microsoft's own tools are powerful and impressive, and do feature a great deal of integration of the development stack across the command-line and GUI layers, but not all projects make use of them. Using my customary Mac approach on Windows would require setting up a different toolchain environment for each toolkit I wanted to use: Tcl/Tk, Perl, Python, and Ruby. An alternative approach would be to use pre-built binary distributions of each of these languages, which reduces a lot of complexity, but also takes much control of my development environment out of my hands. It's a tough call. When I contemplated moving back to Windows this year, a lot of these discomforts came back. Building Perl, Python, Ruby, and Tcl on the Mac is a straightforward process. I might have to customize a few settings, but mostly it boils down to running "configure, make, make install" in a terminal. Setting things up on Windows was proving far more time-consuming. Each language requires a different combination of compilers, build commands, and installation settings, and keeping track of them grew very frustrating. I realize I could have avoided some of those issues by using pre-built binaries, but I prefer to run my own builds from scratch. In the end, I opted to stay off Windows. I am so much more productive on the Mac that it just makes more sense for me to focus there. And that's what I will do. We are late to the Time Machine party. We've long run an rsync backup of business data on our OS X server to an external hard drive, which is periodically switched out and moved offsite. This is good for data backup but does nothing to help with restoring a corrupted system, which we had to do last weekend after an aborted update to OS X 10.1.4. (The server hard drive died last fall and was replaced under warranty; fortunately, this issue was just a bad installation that was fixed by a reformat of the drive!) While the re-installation process is smoother than it used to be, it is still a major investment of time to reconfigure all server accounts and settings. We read, with envy, how Time Machine users can simply restore their entire system from the Time Machine backup. This provides a good occasion to update our external hard drives, which are now several years old; prices on 1-terabyte hard drives, twice as large as the installed drive on our server, have dropped tremendously, and will give us plenty of room for Time Machine backups. We'll report soon on how all that goes. Some years ago, my husband and I moved to a street that had both a Staples and a Radio Shack. We considered ourselves pretty lucky that we had access to both good office tech and people who had the odds & ends to make that tech more manageable. Over the past several years, the stores changed to emphasize products like furniture and cellphones that we weren't much interested in. We went in less and less. We started ordering online from Staples and then our Radio Shack simply closed. One Saturday, a free evening presented itself in the form of a trip to Micro Center some 25 miles away, 50 miles round-trip. Why not? Back in the day--a cold spring day in 1995--we made the trip to get a state-of-the-art 28.8 kilobit modem for our Mac Classic. Twenty years later, we still had that lovin' feeling when we walked back through those sliding glass doors. For a noisy, bare-bones, crowded store, Micro Center is what Radio Shack should have grown into, and what Staples should be seeking to emulate. Need four types of button batteries? Check. Need USB phone chargers? Got 'em. Need to solder something? OK. Paper for your new Staples printer? All set. Sound system? TV? Gaming? Yes, yes, yes. The varieties in the Apple department are wonderful. Oh yeah . . . our long-closed camera store has resurfaced here too. If there's something that isn't there, could it be made on one of the 3-D printing machines offered for sale? Oh, the possibilities. Twenty years ago, this store was the portal to the world because it had the fastest modem available for our little Mac Classic. After bringing it home, we were up all night posting at bulletin boards all over the world just for Mac users. We bragged at our offices that we could play BBS games alongside people from Europe and Australia because our modem was so fast. Yep, we were scorchin' the phone lines. That 28.8 modem wasn't much bigger than a candy bar. Micro Center was the candy store we remembered it to be, just like Radio Shack was for anyone who wanted to hear what Japan or Brazil sounded like on a short-wave. A trans-continental connection was just a flip of a switch away. Now that we're in the year 2015, we have a half-dozen MacBookPros in our home, and more computing power than a hundred Mac Classics and 28.8's in our iPhones. We have a waterproof digital camera that is less expensive than the gas we'll need to get to the beach where we'll use it. Micro Center will soon be closing for the night but it's just as crowded as it was two hours ago when we got here. Staples was never this jammed. It's dark outside and snowing again but no one seems to care. People start moving to the check-out lanes at the front. Some people have specialty hdmi cables, laptops, routers, Adobe design software subscription cards; in short, new connectivity. It's almost 9 o'clock now and we bet that most folks will put their new stuff away when they get home. But for others, there are hard-to-find parts to install and t-shirts and posters to design. These folks just won't wait until morning. Here's a good article from an IT specialist about the value that Macs can bring even to a Windows-centric business environment. Mac users generally require less support, the platform is easier to administer than Windows, and it can provide a healthy diversity in terms of security and resistance to malware. This article is quite useful in understanding the business value that Macs can offer. Here's a useful article on using Time Machine to back up a Mac Server. It's a more complex, but arguably more robust, method than using tried-and-tested Unix tools like rsync to back up data to external hard drives.

2019-04-23T20:09:34Z

https://smallbizmac.net/blosxom.cgi

We’re starting a new series of Conversations that we’re calling ‘complain for change’ – we think you should be proud to tell companies when they’ve got it wrong. What does it take for you to make a complaint? Are there some things you just wouldn’t bother to complain about? With the recent criticism that Three Mobile levelled at its customers who complained, you’d be forgiven for not bothering. But the Which? Consumer Rights team thinks it’s always worth making your feelings known – no matter how small the company transgression. I love cheese. I especially love very strong flavoured cheese. So, when I spotted a mature cheddar cheese sandwich in my local branch of Eat, I thought ‘that’s the sandwich for me’. But oh, how wrong I was. After the first disappointing bite, I knew their definition of mature cheese was nothing like mine. ‘Mature cheddar’ the sandwich claimed. ‘Tasteless fodder’ my palate countered. After begrudgingly finishing the flavourless sandwich and feeling utterly dissatisfied with my lunch, I headed back to the office and promptly emailed an indignant letter of complaint to Eat. Now, you may think me a curmudgeonly malcontent for complaining about something so trivial – and, on the whole, I’d have to agree with you. But, it’s the principle that’s at stake here. If something is labelled one thing and it turns out to be something else, then you’ve got me riled – no matter how insignificant it may seem. When I hungrily tucked into my mature cheddar cheese sandwich and my palate was assaulted by a bland bit of bread playing host to a tasteless slab of cheese, I was incandescent. Actually, no, I’m getting carried away with myself here. Let’s just say I was a tad displeased. To give credit where it’s due though, I did receive a very apologetic response from Eat, offering me a voucher as a gesture of goodwill. And once I sent them my address, the £5 voucher promptly arrived on my doorstep, for which I am most appreciative. What gets you to complain? But, my question is this – how bad does something have to be before you’ll complain? A recent survey by online research companies Andrew Smith Research and Research Now, found that 30% of people didn’t complain, even once, to a company over the last year. Now, this could mean that these people had no cause for complaint. But from previous Which? research, we know that many people don’t complain because they can’t be bothered or, they don’t think it’s worth it. The survey also found that the number of serial complainers – those making more than ten complaints in a year – has fallen in the last couple of years. Are you one of those who’s let complaining go off the boil? Or will you join me in being a proud serial complainer? My complaint is about consumers who when writing reviews or filling in ratings on products, services, restaurants or hotels will insist on giving 5* or 10/10 for good service or rating and not reserving the top mark for excellent or exceptional service or rating. I doesnt encourage suppliers if they can get max marks for the level of service or performance of a product which should be normal and dont get rewarded when they go out of their way and offer something exceptional or excellent. It also doesnt help other consumers when they see 5* for food given to a good cafe and the next door award winning restaurant ! Hmmm. I think the word ‘complain’ is being overused, especially on Which? Conversation. I feel very sorry for those who have to listen to all these complaints. A tasteless sandwich hardly deserves a complaint. How about a polite suggestion? After all, getting people on your side can be half the battle. A tasteless sandwhich is something that should be complained about. You’ve paid good money for it and it wasn’t advertised as a “tasteless sandwhich”. When was the last time you order food and added “… and make it tasteless!”? It like saying you want a ticket to Birmingham but it is OK if you are taken to Manchester! Tastes differ. Like Amanda, I enjoy strong cheddar, but I hate the smell and taste of certain strong cheeses. Bland food and drink may leave some of us disappointed, but most of us would not complain. What would happen if all spicy food was as hot as a vindaloo curry? Some might find this very satisfying but most of us would not be able to eat it. The only solutions are really to go to somewhere that will make a sandwich to suit your wishes or make your own sandwich. There is a sufficient demand for strong, highly roasted coffee that it is now readily available, even though many are happier with something much more bland. Likewise, decent beer is now widely available, even though most of what is sold is bland beer and lager. We have stopped our direct debit for the so-called “Homecare” because we feel we have been mislead and you are in breach of contract. When we took out the agreement for “Homecare” we were told that if we needed an engineer to carry out a repair to our appliances an engineer would call. However all we get is salesmen who are trying to sell us a new boiler or to have our system “power flushed”, the last engineer told my wife “I can’t do anything with this boiler because it is clogged right up and needs an urgent power flush”. Our boiler runs fine for central heating however when we want hot water the boiler does not fire-up, that said, if we put the central heating on then we can have hot water. To keep putting the central heating to obtain hot water is wasteful and expensive hence our request to British Gas to fix the problem. I contacted Ariston boilers their engineer told me “the boiler is not clogged up in anyway what it needs is a “New diverter valve”. On a previous visit by British Gas we were told “Ariston don’t make parts anymore so we can’t get a replacement. more than a sales pitch. Had a similar problem with British Gas. After being a service contract customer for very many years, with few callouts, when our system stopped working properly their engineer told us (1) it was “all sludged up” – and that (2) because of something in the small print, their service, which we had paid for, did not cover this. They then told us (3) the system needed power flushing for which they would charge over £700; and that (4) despite our being long standing customers, we would have to wait 2 to 3 weeks before this could be done. I did some research and found another engineer; all our system needed to get it working was a new pump, a part costing £60. Needless to say I complained to British Gas and have not used them since. Potential customers should remember they are only in the business to make as much money as possible, not to help customers stay warm. Try just contacting Ryanair. They’ve probably charged me just for writting this. try complaining to tesco on line they don’t even acknowledge your email never mind reply. I’ve used Tesco Online for over fifteen years. Over that time I’ve had occasion to email them on a number of occasions and always I’ve had an automated acknowledgement followed up with a personal response which has resolved any issues. If you have email problems, they have a very good Customer Service Centre who do their best to help. Are you using the email address from their Receipt (online@tesco.co.uk)? I’ve complained to Tesco a couple of times, and although they have sometimes been very slow in responding, they have always responded. My main gripe, though, is that I always contact companies by email, and Tesco was no exception (when I could get hold of an email address, that is). They then respond to me by letter, not just once but three times. I appreciate the attention but three letters in response to an email is a bit much. Apart from being a waste of paper it’s also a much slower means of communicating with me. Just email me or give me a ring and we can sort things out in five minutes! Its much more difficult to complain these days. Companies are bigger and more fragmented making it easy for them to shift the blame to other departments/ 3rd parties. It needs to be addressed because it makes consumers feel helpless. All opinions are valid – complaints are a necessary process to ensure companies acknowledge problems and make improvements. Complain!! Don’t roll over – do it for those that feel they cant! One vendor our company uses has a product that is comprised of component from (at least) two different departments. We had an issue with the product and each department “blamed” the issue on the other. Fortunately we pay a lot of support and have a good “champion” who essentially said that it didn’t matter which component was at fault, the product wasn’t working for the customer. I think normally the customer wouldn’t be aware of the internal issues. The same should apply to complaining to big companies (our vendor is a big one), it shouldn’t matter which part of the company the fault belongs to, for the customer it’s the company and it’s product. Companies need to ensure that they remember that and route issues properly and keep the customer informed about the status of their complaint. It’s a waste of time complaining to big companies. Makes no difference. Nobody listens, nobody can be bothered to sort out the problem. Thanks to everyone for their comments. David, it’s such a shame you think it’s a waste of time complaining to big companies. We think it’s definitely worth making your dissatisfaction known. If you don’t tell a company that something is wrong, how will they ever know? And if you don’t tell them then you’ve certainly got no chance of seeing things improve. I’m wholeheartedly in agreement with ‘We are important’ – people shouldn’t just roll over. It’s good to complain and can be a powerful tool to make things better. It’s also good to give companies a chance to put things right. Over the years we’ve heard of some great examples where companies have gone the extra mile to address a customer’s issue. Has anyone got any positive experiences to? We’d love to hear about companies that have got it right too. David, what about our guide to complaining to companies? http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/making-a-complaint/how-to-complain-to-companies/ There’s approaches, techniques, sample letters, consumer law advice, FAQs 😉 Enjoy! Went out to eat at a Pizza Express in Southampton. Something I would not normally do but on this occasion I thought oh well their reputation goes before them !!! The staff were very welcoming and prompt at the table drinks were good and again prompt . We ordered a flat based pizza with rocket and tomatoe topping with a ceaser salad dressing. I was inspired by this Conversation to complain to Amazon about a recently delivery I received, which was both already open on arrival, and delivered 2 days too late (I pay over £40 a year for ‘Prime’ delivery – which should always be next-day). I complained via ‘live-chat’ and found I was very pleasantly surprised – they gave me an extra month of Prime delivery for free and also gave me a £5 gift voucher by way of an apology. I didn’t have to fight too hard for it, and my little blip with Amazon was soon repaired by their super-quick response. We have had reason to complain to Amazon about a printer that we have since found out is shown in ‘Which’ reports to be the least reliable of several major manufacturers. After only 18 months the print quality is wholly unacceptable – it began ‘solarising’ photographs and now plain paper prints are the same. Research across the internet indicates that problems with this particular printer are rife. Amazon are insisting that the two year warranty granted by EU directive does not actually give any more rights than the 1 year warranty given by the manufacturer and therefore they ‘can’t support’ us. What is the point of the compulsory two year warranty if you cannot claim against it when a product lasts for only three-quarters through the period? I have never before had a printer that stopped working however old it was and have only ever bought new printers to take advantage of upgraded technology – in this case the wireless function – I have had to revert to using the old printer and thank goodness I kept it! Amazon are in danger of losing my custom altogether, but they are too big to care. But just who can a consumer trust At one time I would have said John Lewis, but having recently discovered that a ‘Solid Oak’ bed bought from one of their stores consists of a large proportion of veneered material and still waiting for their response to my complaint, I just don’t know. Our hard-working Fellowes office shredder died after we had owned it for over eighteen months of a two-year guarantee. We contacted the firm by phone. A complaint form arrived by fax within the hour, we returned it the same day and a replacement shredder was delivered two days later. No arguing, no quibbling. It’s nice to get service like this once in a while. Have to post a follow up to my previous moan – John Lewis definitely came through with flying colours in the end. They acknowledged ‘solid oak’ bed was not as described and refunded the money. That is the kind of service that gives me confidence to keep shopping there. My complaint is relating to something I thought was outlawed some years ago. I try to use the £/k but they always mix these up with price per item. The mutipack of quavers was priced per item in the small writing as they don’t really want you looking here. Many of the other mutipacks were £/k. I asked the staff to tell what the £/k was and 3 of them spent 15mins working it out for me. Their calculations were wrong! The staff had based their sums on the weight of a single bag of quavers as the multi pack only said how many bags were in it, not giving a weight on each of the bags or the overall weight. The bags actually smaller in the multi pack and so once again the word Swindled came to my mind. Why is shopping so difficult still. I haven’t even started on these so called special offers which I saw last night which were 10 times more expensive than those not on the offer. How can I tackle this scullduggery that shoppers are still being subjected to, can anyone advise please.

2019-04-24T15:58:42Z

https://conversation.which.co.uk/food-drink/complain-for-change-how-i-took-a-bite-out-of-eat/

Time for a Marriage Tune-up? Even though I write a lot about divorce, I’m definitely pro-marriage ... especially my own! This past weekend, my hubby and I attended a seminar titled "How We Love" presented by Milan and Kay Yerkovich. Kay is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Milan is a former pastor and has a counseling practice. Together, they’ve written the book, How We Love, that describes how they help individuals and couples discover their love styles. Tune-ups can often take a marriage to an even higher level. As our understanding of human behavior grows, so does opportunity for better communication and interaction. And, even though you and your spouse or other significant person in your life may be on really good terms, tune-ups can often take thatmarriage to an even higher level. In going through counseling after leaving my long-term marriage, I was asked to identify my part of our dysfunction. I knew on an intellectual level that surely I had a role, but, since my husband’s behavior was so glaring, I had difficulty identifying where I’d gotten off track, too. That’s the way life is, isn’t it? Our egos help shield us from our own faults. That’s the way life is, isn’t it? Our egos help shield us from our own faults. At the conference, we learned how our love styles are formed at a very early age, and continue to influence us as adults. Understanding our childhood patterns makes owning our adult behavior much easier. Understanding the source of our mate’s behavior also elicits empathy rather than blame. It gives a means of recognizing and dialoging about the marriage dynamic. Don’t get me wrong; not every marriage can and should be saved. But, if yours is basically a good one, I encourage you to cherish it and take time to nourish it. Seeking out opportunities such as How We Love, is a great way to do so. While writing a few blog posts about domestic abuse of women within the global church, I began to wonder about my own church, a network of congregations called Christ the King. ​I approached our new pastor, Rick Snodgrass, concerning this issue. His eyes lit up. "My previous church had a wonderful program," he responded. "I'd love to describe it on you blog." I’ve always believed that if we just walked obediently with what we already know, all of the ministry needs of the church would be attended to. Years ago one of our presidents said that when he gets up to speak, what he’s really doing is telling people to do what they already know they’re supposed to do. Attending to domestic abuse is one of those situations. ​the church may be the last bastion of hope. I know that church means a lot of different things to a lot of people, and for someone who’s going through domestic abuse, the church may be the last bastion of hope. Rarely will someone come up and say I’m going through a domestic abuse situation, how can I be ministered to here in my church? A certain amount of secrecy is a big part of this ministry. ​The good people at CTK Church in Nampa were invited to take the first names and ages of children in abusive homes and buy them gifts. Those children were a part of domestic abuse situations and were staying in secluded locations with their moms. So the day that they got those presents was the day that everyone who bought them believed in the ministry, even though they couldn’t be there to watch. A certain amount of secrecy is a big part of this ministry. That means trust needs to be built with victims, and those who are loving on them need to trust the ministry to do what they say they’re going to do. The fire department showed up with an engine and we had a really fun Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus there. We called out names and gave specific gifts to kids, while mother safely observed and felt the love of Jesus. The other event that people in our church put on in secret was a family fun night where mothers of domestic violence and their children could go through several fun stations like a private community fair just for them. While the kids were playing at the fun fair, the mothers were going through a large area where gently used items had been donated so that they could do some free shopping with integrity. There are many things that people in church can do. There are many things that people in church can do; so as you read this in the blog today just know that these kinds of ministries take place when listening people respond to the Holy Spirit and get creative. Is he knocking at your door today? Is this something that God has laid on your heart but you just needed an idea? Let your local pastor know that you have a great idea and see how resourceful he can be in providing something that very few churches get a chance to respond to. Be blessed. Linda's note: I hope you find encouragement from Rick's post to listen to God's call to serve as the "good people" in Nampa's CTK church did. Do you ever look back and think about lessons you’ve learned through life experiences? Being of a certain age, I’ve garnered a host of lessons life has taught me. And, because I’m a memoirist, I enjoy writing about them. The next step, is sharing them, and that’s exactly what I want to do. I want to share them with you … for FREE. ​You see, God made me a writer and a giver. In addition, He gave me curiosity and the drive to try new things. I’ve been a seamstress, an interior designer, an art teacher, an entrepreneur, a retail clerk, a cannery worker, and a weaver to name a few. I’ve sung in choirs all my life and have always had a garden. I’ve also been married three times (not something I’m proud of). ​I share three main lessons. In my up-coming memoir, God, the Devil and Divorce, I share three main lessons: #1 learning what it's like living with a man who practiced “crazymaking” on me, #2 discovering there is a huge dichotomy in the Christian community around the issue of divorce and how those who have chosen divorce are treated, and #3 learning that relying on the Lord to help me choose a husband is the smartest thing I’ve ever done. I now support people with similar experiences through this blog, Help and Healing for Divorced Christians, which is free, of course. But I have so much more to share beyond those three themes. And I’m happy to share them with you … for FREE. I’ve written a series of practical pieces I call Life Lessons that you may find applicable to your own situation or simply entertaining. I’ve combined the first four lessons into a PDF ebook complete with illustrations. There's even a recipe to share with your grandchildren. I want you to have this little book … for FREE. Just fill out the form and I’ll send the link to you in an email. You’ll also receive my monthly newsletter, as well as up-coming bonuses. I hope you enjoy these “Lessons” and you’ll let me know if you can relate to any of them. And feel free to share this link with your friends. ​Full disclosure: you can unsubscribe at any time. By remaining a subscriber, you’ll be helping me get the memoir published. Sound good? Linda M. Kurth is a writer and a divorced and remarried Christian. In going through the divorce, she experienced a dichotomy of responses from the Christian community. After sharing some of those experiences in her upcoming memoir, God, the Devil, and Divorce, she's heard many stories of divorced Christians who have struggled with the same issues. Linda seeks to give encouragement to divorced Christians and to remind churches that they should be a source of healing and grace. Is there a difference? Theo Pauline Nestor’s memoir, How to Sleep Alone in a King-Size Bed, describes her first nights after the sudden parting of her husband. Luckily, a girl friend understood the shock of adjustment and spent those nights with her. But soon, Theo had to adjust to sleeping alone. to permeate every cell of my body. Feeling utterly alone after my divorce was a shock to my system too. Although I could have seen it coming for years, as soon as I waved goodbye to my soon-to-be-ex for the last time, I faced an uncomfortable void. What was I going to do with myself? The feeling of being alone washed over me and seemed to permeate every cell of my body. That feeling would last for some time. Our son was grown and out of the house, so my main physical contact was gone. No one to bump into. No one snoring. Literally, no body in my space. I was physically and socially alone in my home. Like Theo, I relied on my best friend to help me get through the first few days. Best friends can be great talk therapy, but I knew I’d soon have to face the reality of living alone. I learned divorce can be both physically and mentally depleting. I spent the first few months sleeping a lot ... between nightmares that is … alone. ​a woman is likely to begin redecorating. In reading many divorce memoirs, I’ve discovered that once the immediate shock of the divorce is past, a woman is likely to begin redecorating. What better way to signal a fresh new start? Out go all traces of the ex. Now there’s room for expression of one’s self. Even though I was renting, and even though my couch was my only new piece of furniture, I transformed my home with new accessories. With each small change, I felt less alone. Another important step I took in my recovery was joining a singles group at a large church in my area. Following our Sunday morning meetings, the group had lunch together, which filled a big hole in my life. After attending a few meetings, I joined the activity committee and was able to influence the choice of hiking and field trips locations. Soon, I was part of a tribe, doing what I enjoyed, and not so alone. I experienced a shift in my thinking. Eventually I experienced a shift in my thinking. I no longer thought of myself as being “alone,” a description that seemed sad, pitiful, and, well, lonely. Instead, I identified as being “single.” Single is a neutral state, neither positive nor negative. I became fine with that. Along my divorce recovery journey, I discovered other satisfying things to do as a single person. Getting out of one’s comfort zone, although scary at times, can do wonders for self-esteem and a general feeling of well-being. Think of yourself as a single person and try as many of the 30 Things to Do that appeal to you. Or come up with your own. Consider one of my mottos: “You never know ‘til you make your move.” Give it a try! This comment on one of my blog posts touched my heart. Being scared, anxious, afraid — these are typical emotions associated with divorce. But as Christians we are encouraged not to be afraid. There are up to 40 passages in the bible that seek to assure us we need not fear. And yet we do. Cue the guilt added to what we’re already feeling. My divorce fear began when I seriously considered leaving my husband of twenty-five years. My writing business was not profitable and I had no good job prospects. I worried about the amount of spousal support I might get. Our child was grown, but, of course, our divorce would still have an impact on him. Would I, over age fifty, ever find love again? I worried that maybe I hadn’t tried hard enough to make our marriage work, and I wondered if the Lord wanted me to try some more. One of my Christian counselors was so appalled that I would consider divorce, she refused to talk with me about it! So I dragged my feet; my fear of leaping into the unknown was worse than staying. Until it wasn’t. Little did I know my fears would be magnified when I finally left, with nightmares, two panic attacks, and a hallucination. I write about these fears in my up-coming memoir, God, the Devil, and Divorce. Ouch! How do I answer that? After some pondering, I’d say that God doesn’t just snap His fingers and all is rainbows and bunnies. We are students at His feet, growing in knowledge of Him. And often we are not ready to learn until we go through hard times and realize we can’t rely on ourselves alone. That was me. Thankfully, God was patient, encouraging me to learn to trust Him and His provision. Learning to let go of my fear was a process, not an overnight-transformation. There were days I had to make the effort to lay aside my fears on an hourly basis. The Lord wants our participation in the healing. We are to listen to Him so He can direct our paths. I asked God for guidance, and received much help along my road to recovery, taking advantage of several tools for healing that were available to me. As I did the best I could, God came through for me in miraculous ways. ​Like the woman who wrote on my blog, I hoped to marry again someday. I was able to put aside my fears of being alone, and told the Lord I would wait for the man of His choosing. I was fifty-eight when I met the love of my life. From our conversations, it was clear God had a hand in our finding each other. I pray the woman who wrote me will wait upon the Lord, trusting she will find the love she is seeking at the perfect time in her life. I want you to know that, even though you will probably experience some level of fear, with the Lord’s help, you can get through it. Click here for 10 tools that will help you as you seek to overcome divorce fear. I’m disappointed. In my last post, I promised to highlight some success stories of domestic abuse victims who have been helped by their churches. I didn’t want to “out” anyone. I simply wanted concrete evidence that these programs are working. I’ve contacted Safe Havens, an interfaith organization that trains churches on how to help victims. I’ve sent messages to churches that I know have programs in place: the Presbyterian Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns, to the United Methodist Justice Committee. I’ve asked people I know personally. And I’ve got nothing. I failed and I’m sorry. However, I also promised to give you a list of resources. That I can do. The following are only a few of the many Internet and other resources available. Also, check out your local church and community resources. Please note, I cannot be held responsible for the results in contacting any of these sources. What Happens When Churches Don’t Respond? Domestic abuse or violence is defined as a pattern of abuse where one person exerts power and control over another in an intimate relationship. The abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, verbal, financial, or spiritual. Surely churches that hear of abuse rush to the aid of the victims, right? Unfortunately, no. ​All too often pastors and parishioners encourage women to stay in an abusive marriage. The reality is, if a victim of spousal abuse who’s afraid for her or her children’s safety goes to church for help, rarely does the church have the necessary protocols in place. Church leaders may even urge the abused to forgive and reconcile with their abusers, emphasizing a theology of suffering, and using Scripture to elevate the sanctity of the marriage covenant over the safety of the abused. According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) aged 18 and older in the United States have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Simon Smart, Executive Director of the Centre for Public Christianity, referred to theologian Miroslav Volf’s observation in an article about how “Submit to your husbands” is misinterpreted. Volf calls the misinterpretation “thin religion ... stripped of its moral content and used as a weapon for goals completely unrelated to the faith.” This may be the case when pastors and male leaders in the church seek to retain control and keep women out of leadership. Dr. Keyes suggested that women stay because of finances or their children and that they often do not see a way out. An article, #WhyIStayed: How Some Churches Support Spousal Abuse reveals other reasons. Spousal abuse may be considered a “family issue” and not a criminal offense. Reconciliation and forgiveness by the abused is often more convenient than facing the seriousness of the problem. Women are seen as inferior to men. Church leaders take Bible passages concerning the role of women out of context, falsely claiming women are to be silent and to submit to male authority. Churchgoers and victims themselves may have fears about being “bad Christian witnesses” to the congregation and the secular community if the abuse is revealed. ​Today, more and more churches are realizing they’ve too often been enablers of domestic abusers. ​​Today, more and more churches are learning that their responses to abused parishioners have been wrong, pure and simple. They’re realizing they’ve too often been enablers of domestic abusers. Emotional trauma to the victim. If a woman decides to leave her abusive spouse, she often leaves the church as well after discovering it does not support her decision to leave a dangerous relationship. This parting can be an additional source of trauma, because the church may have been an important part of her life. The result: the one place an abuse victim can go to for safety and support becomes a place of pain and shame — in other words, more abuse. ​Physical trauma to the victim. ways churches respond to domestic abuse victims. In one instance of a church encouraging the victim to return to her abuser, sadly, she died at the hands of her abuser. The church could bring harm to itself. Often a church isn’t aware of its legal obligations, let alone attuned to its responsibilities as an institution entrusted with the spiritual care of parishioners. Why is that? A church that chooses to turn its back on domestic abuse victims in hopes of protecting its image may in fact be harming itself. In the article, Why Domestic Violence in the Home Endangers Your Church, church security expert Carl Chinn says, “As Christians, we are dedicated to the preservation of the marriage, as we should be. But when there is abuse, or even the suspicion of it, we, as the church, often refuse to recognize it for the danger it is.” Chinn says this is a mistake with potentially grave consequences. Statistics show that, in 2016, eleven of the forty-seven murderous attacks at churches and ministries had the same cause: domestic violence. The article goes on to state that pastors can be “naïve and easily manipulated.” They are often recruited to speak on behalf of the abuser during legal proceedings. Rarely do they speak in support of the victim. We should ask what is wrong with this picture and how can we be change agents. How can churches become places of safety and support for abuse victims? What could compel them and how would they begin? Following are steps I’ve gleaned from various sources that churches can take. Understand what domestic abuse is, realizing victims of abuse are very possibly in the congregation. The church needs to be alert to the signs of domestic abuse and recognize its unique role in helping abused women who see the church as a safe place to come for help. Physical violence is often the most obvious abuse, but women also experience verbal, emotional, or sexual abuse by their husbands or partners. Once church leaders have become informed, it’s important for them to educate the congregation on how they can support the abused. Begin with sermons on the subject. A study called I Believe You: Sexual Violence and the Church, by Sojourners found that, of pastors who responded to a survey, 65 percent had addressed domestic and sexual violence once or never in a sermon, 22 percent addressed it annually, 33 percent mentioned it “rarely,” and 10 percent had never taught on it. Change needs to happen from the pulpit to the pews. When a victim comes forward, it’s critical that church leaders’ first impulse is to listen and believe the victim’s feelings and listen to her story. In a Lifeway Research Survey of evangelistic protestant pastors titled Protestant Pastors’ Current Responses to Domestic Violence, about 50 percent said they would believe the victim, 68 percent said they would investigate whether domestic violence was really present, and 46 percent of mainline protestant pastors would investigate rather than fully support the victim. Churches can reduce trauma and even save lives by taking action to help abused women get to a safe place. They must remember an investigation of the abuser’s actions could prove fatal to the victim, if he feels threatened and takes his abuse to a higher level. It’s vital for churches to reach out to the community for support. The church and the community become stronger when they work together. The church should offer informed counseling or help the victim connect with other resources within the community. Community organizations will have access to government resources and training not available to the church. Connecting victims with support groups, prayer partners, and providing ongoing emotional and practical support are other important roles churches can play. Churches should prepare to offer support and guidance for years, not days or months, even if the victim is receiving professional counseling. While many churches historically have fallen short of being places of refuge and active support to victims of domestic abuse, all churches need to develop the resources to help reverse this troubling crisis. Would you like to hear about the results of churches implementing policies to support victims of domestic abuse? So would I. I’ve already begun contacting those in the know, and will be reporting back to you, as well as providing a list of resources. If you know of an example of how a church has chosen to help, please let me know in the comments below. Stay tuned!

2019-04-24T03:59:52Z

https://www.lindamkurth.com/divorce-healing-blog

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2019-04-24T03:01:01Z

http://forestry.sfasu.edu/books/pay-for-essay-to-be-written.html

I have over twenty 10 min. flights on the plane now. The lifting tail works well in a narrow speed range. With the new DLE-35 engine the plane will do a climb when the throttle is advanced to about half to three-fourths, but will start to pitch down at WOT. I made a new stab with a symmetrical airfoil and I like it better. Next I'll play with the top wing incidence to see how much I can remove and still get good low speed performance. The landing speed is so slow it is ridiculous, I love it. The plane flew great with zero incidence in the top wing. Low speed is still stable with no tendency to stall or drop a wing. Almost done, now I have to figure out what the cowl will be like. Capped the ends of the straight wingtips instead of making them curved per the plans. Last edited by Joystick TX; 11-21-2017 at 04:48 AM. I had a hiccup on one of the elevator servos a few days ago. About half way through the flight, the right hand servo "centered" itself at about 30 degrees up elevator. It took full down elevator to keep the plane from climbing so I could land. I took the control horn off and re-centered it. The servo seemed to work okay under a load, no jumps or centering issues. My replacement servos came in today, I'll replace both sides so they are both the same age and manufacturer. Will do a tear-down on the old servo to see if I can find out what happened to cause it to jump off center. I have 49 flights on the plane now. I think next week I'll see how it flies without the top wing. Today was cold and rainy, so I decided to finish my plane by adding a cowl and some fake exhaust stacks. Been doing a lot of flying with it, just finished flight #62, all of them at least 10 minutes. Still having a lot of fun with it. I did manage to get in two flights before the weather turned to winter. The engine did not run well at all with the cowl on. It kept dying due to fuel starvation and would only run about half of the normal RPM. I took the cowl off and it ran great again. Seems like the cowl was causing a pressure problem with the carb vent. I soldered a short brass tube on it and ran a short length of fuel tubing through the firewall so the carb could get static air. The old saying "no good deed goes unpunished" is alive and well. Ground run today was good. Will try to fly later today when the winds die down and the air warms up. The tube on the carb vent fixed the ground running problem. The engine was overheating in the air after about five minutes. I made a new cowl with a large screened opening. That should end the overheating problem. Just have to wait until we get some warmer weather to check it out. what is the CofG for the 76 version? The original plans called for a CG 5" behind the leading edge of the top wing. Mine has been modified a lot from the original plans. The wingspan is the same, but the top and bottom wing cords are different, the nose is longer, there is no stagger between the wings, the horizontal stab now has a symmetrical airfoil instead of a lifting tail, and more down thrust has been added to the engine. No weight has been added to achieve a good balance. I used a Vanessa balancer to get the CG close to the 1/3 point on the bottom airfoil as if the plane had no top wing since the stagger is zero. Then I adjusted the CG, by moving things around, to get the plane to do straight flight on an inverted 45 degree up-line. I also made sure the CG was far enough to the rear, and the elevator throw was correct, so the plane would flare on landing without dropping a wing. The static CG remains the same with or without the top wing. Tyvm! The stock CG from the plans is perfect. I can work with it from there. Got a couple more flights with the new cowl. Everything is working good now. With 12 each 1/4" nylon bolts to hold the wings on, it takes a while to get all the bolts fastened. I've been using an electric screwdriver to put them in to speed up the assembly process at the field. Problem is that the nylon bolts are the slotted type and the flat blade slips out very easily. I put some heat shrink tubing around the head to keep the screwdriver centered. This will also work on smaller slotted screws and bolts. I added a b**b drop system to the biplane to provide a little more fun and excitement. Update: I have 105 flights on the plane so far, almost all of them right at 10 minutes. The b**b drop system is still working great, I use it once on every flight. The DLE-35 engine is running great. There have been no cooling problems in the over 90 degree weather. I did have one more problem, an ON/OFF switch failed on flight number 101. The power wire broke off inside the switch. It didn't cause a crash due to having two ON/OFF switches and two batteries. I run two switches on all my planes since it seems to be the weakest link in the control system. Just passed 130 flights of 10 min. each. The new plane smell is gone and I'm getting close to testing my theory that the plane will fly with only the bottom wing. I don't think the CG will change much when the top wing is removed. Some minor, hopefully, trim changes may be required. Still flying and having fun. joystic, why the changes ( longer nose moment and no stagger) ?. I can see the longer nose moment as an attempt to take some of the "biplane squirreliness" out of the plane, but I see no advantage in removing the stagger. just curios....... I plan to build a Lazy Ace out of coro, too with a couple of my own mods. this thread came along at just the right time and any and all information I can gather will certainly help with my first biplane build. . The longer nose mod was not to take the squirreliness out, it was to compensate for the weight of the coroplast behind the CG. The removal of the stagger was for the same reason. The nose can only be made so long, before the flight performance would be affected. In order to keep the stagger, I would have had to add 3 lbs of weight to the nose. The lifting tail design was also eliminated due to the pitch changes it produced over the wide speed range of the gas powered model vs the narrow speed range of the glow powered and much lighter original model. If you build a smaller version, or use a smaller engine, the weight of the coroplast will be a problem. I would not recommend reducing the size even if 2 mm coroplast is used. There is a density/sq foot rule to consider. AH,...ok,..... I call it,... "Build to balance". I try to do it on every plane I build. much better than adding weight. I plan on building at least the 76 inch version. coroplast is a bit heavy ! I have a 70 inch coro kadet trainer that weighs a about a pound more than the same plane in wood, but it flies fine with a .46 in it. when I first built it I have to admit I was concerned about what it weighed. I could have made the nose a little longer , too,.....I did have to add a good chunk of lead to get it to balance. it was my first coro project, so I just built it to plans. if I did it again I would make the nose longer, too. it works as it is,.... it doesn't really do much more than just cruise around, being trainer. still, I fly it often because it's an easy to fly, no pressure, stable flying plane. Had an interesting thing happen on my biplane a couple of days ago. The HD-1501MG servo on my rudder went from zero degrees on takeoff to about 20 degrees right shortly after takeoff. I did have one do that last year on my elevator, it went to about a 20 degree up elevator position and I replaced the servo. I checked the rudder servo torque to see if any of the gears were stripped, everything seemed okay. I just repositioned the control arm and flew another flight. The right and left range were not changed, the movement was okay in both directions. It worked okay and zero didn't change again. I'll replace the servo before my next flight. Seems strange that the servos would do this. Has anyone else had this happen? Last edited by Joystick TX; 12-05-2018 at 05:26 PM. They have the 4'x8' sheets in 4mm and 2mm thickness in over 20 different color and the prices are good. After 150 ea 10 minute flights, I finally bit the bullet and ordered a DLE 40cc Twin for the bipe. It will look great with the cylinders poking out on each side of the fuselage. The plane does not need the extra power, but it will be fun and I've never had a twin before. Got twelve 10 minute flights on the new DLE 40cc Twin engine so far, a total of 162 flights for the plane. It is my favorite plane now for sure. Finally have a decent video. Lots of touch n goes, trying to get some good three point landings. Had some good wind gusts and cross winds, both of which are not good for me and my reflexes. At least the video shows the overall performance of the plane. It's not the least bit sluggish and as you can see, it can take a beating. How much does it weigh it seems to have a heck of a sink rate mine would coast all the way across the field at the speeds you seem to be landing at.

2019-04-18T22:18:10Z

http://bigedmustafa.rcuniverse.com/forum/scratch-building-aircraft-design-3d-cad-174/11641617-lazy-ace-biplane-build-coroplast-2.html

blake runs – mostly marathons. usually in the morning. sometimes while pushing a kid or two. Today I ran the Zeitgeist Half Marathon for my 7th time. It’s a great race and I enjoy running it just about every year. This year I was joined by Cyndi, my father-in-law Jerry, my sister-in-law Kara, and our friend Joe. Cyndi ran with me last year when she was 4 weeks pregnant. We had our baby in July and Cyndi was able to run again this year just 3.5 months later. She’s pretty amazing. I wanted to continue my trend of Zeitgeist course PR’s this year, but I wasn’t sure if it was plausible since I ran in the SoJo Marathon two weeks ago. During the two intervening weeks I did my best to recover and maintain some speed, but my legs had felt tired ever since the marathon. The time for me to beat was 1:22:54 from last year. We arrived at about 9:15 for packet pickup. We picked up our numbers and I was happy to see that I got #1 again (probably because I got 2nd last year and 1st place wasn’t running again). It was chilly, but as the starting time drew near it warmed up. I ended up running in a tank top in weather that was ideal. We started right at 10am. I went out at ~5:50 pace and held a little under 6:00 for the first mile. There was one high school runner with me for part of it, but I didn’t think he would hang on for very long. After mile 1, another young looking runner caught me and passed me. He was another high school runner from Mtn Home. He and I ran together for a mile when another runner, Andrew, caught up to us. Those two charged ahead and beat me to the top of the first hill at mile 3.1. I didn’t want to burn out on hill. I sped up on the downhill and tried to push hard. I passed Andrew and then the MHHS runner and built a small lead as we headed through the flat portion in Hidden Springs. I tried to keep the speed up even on the flat portion and I was hitting about 6:00/mile, which was about my target pace for that portion. However, once we started up the little hill after mile 5, Andrew and MHHS runner passed me again. Evidently I just didn’t have the power for the hills like these guys. I hoped they would burn out later on in the race. Unfortunately they extended their lead to about 1 minute by the time we reached the top of the big hill. On the way up the hill I sneaked a few peaks to ensure that I didn’t have any runners coming up behind. I didn’t see anyone and I was feeling good enough that I figured I was in contention at least for a top three finish. Part of my plan to PR was to really attack the downhill, so once again I kept the effort up on the downhill to keep on PR pace and to try to close the gap with the two guys ahead of me. Due to the curves and the 1 minute lead, it was a couple minutes before I saw them. Eventually I could see that Andrew was extending his lead and I was gaining on MHHS ever so slightly. My first mile down the hill was at a 5:32 pace, and my next two were sub-6:00. I was very happy with that. The last downhill portion is 3 miles long. At mile 10 I estimated my finish time to be ~1:25, which was a little disappointing. I didn’t think I was that far off my PR time. But a mile later I realized that I was estimating my finish based on 7:00 miles (close to my marathon pace) instead of ~6:15 miles (my half marathon pace). I realized that a PR was possible. The course levels out at mile 11, but I was committed to a strong finish and a better place than 3rd if I could manage it. I was hurting but I ran the 12th and 13th mile at a 6:08 pace. I passed the MHHS runner when he paused for a drink at the last aid station. He sped up and caught back up to me but I could tell he was slowing down again. I put everything into trying to get a gap between us as I was worried he’d bury me in the last tiny but steep hill at mile 13. When I got to the hill I charged up and got light-headed. I then charged down into the finish (still light-headed) and ended up beating him by 40 seconds. I was very happy with my last 5 miles and with a course PR of 1:21:45, beating my next best time by 1:08. That was the strongest finish I’ve had at Zeitgeist, thanks largely to the MHHS competitor to push me. 1st place finished about 2 minutes ahead of me. He had an impressive last few miles. After chatting with some of the other finishers for 10-15 minutes, I doubled back on the course and did a cool-down to find my family. They all did well. Cyndi ran the whole course (no walking on the hills) which was her goal, and quite a feat given our 3.5 month baby. Jerry got #1 for his age group, 70+. He was happy about that. I hope that I can still run when I’m 70+! He also beat Cyndi, which might be the last time that ever happens. At first I was a little disappointed that I had only gotten second. Part of that was that I was in first for part of the race and I thought I could break away, but then I got passed. However, I quickly became really happy with my performance. Last year (2017), I PR’d in every distance I ran, from the 5K to the marathon. This year I haven’t had a single PR, and I didn’t get a course PR at my other perennial run, Robie Creek. This race was a course PR which means that maybe I have improved a little over last year and all my hard work wasn’t for naught. Also, I’ve been feeling like I’ve lost the Eye of the Tiger, and my strong finish was something I could be proud of because it took some guts. It’s awesome to be able to look back and see the progress I’ve made after countless hours of running and many early mornings. I’m worried I’m plateauing, and until this race I thought maybe I had already peaked, but hopefully I can stave it off for another year or two and eek out a little more improvement. My wife and I had a baby over the summer so I didn’t sign up for any fall marathons due to schedule uncertainty. I kept up my training for the most part and stayed in good shape and injury free. As fall approached, I wanted to run a marathon to get another finish in the bag and test my fitness. I settled on the SoJo Marathon, located in South Jordan, Utah on October 20th. This would be a 5+ hour drive from my Idahome, but Idaho has slim pickings when it comes to marathons. The SoJo Marathon course looks pretty decent on a map, although I think it turned out to be more challenging than I expected. It starts at 5500 ft, then drops to ~5130 by mile 3, only to climb back up to 5500 by ~mile 6. Then there’s a bunch of downhill dropping all the way down to 4300 ft by the finish line, with an occasional roller mixed in. Packet pickup was available the evening before and the morning of the marathon, which was nice for those coming into South Jordan from out of town. There is also a half marathon, 5K, and kids run. I caught one of the buses on marathon morning to the starting line. The start was pretty laid back — located in a neighborhood next to a park. They had a couple heaters going in the ~40F weather. I was bundled up and feeling pretty well. I hoped for 2:55:00ish. My cousin happened to be doing this marathon, so I found her and we chatted for a while. This was her first. The SoJo Marathon started at 6:45. I took it easy on the first little uphill and tried to run loose on the downhill. It was steep enough that I focused on not restraining myself but also tried not to get caught up in the early race adrenaline. My initial miles were in the 6:30’s. I slowed down for mile 4 since I knew a hill was coming up. I had the unique experience of thinking I had just started mile 2 and then looking at my watch and seeing I was past mile 3. That’s never happened before. I met a nice guy named Josh Hernandez who was shooting for ~2:50. He was wearing a Boston shirt. We ran together for a mile or so and eventually he pulled ahead. I met another guy named Jon Harrison shortly after. He was shooting for a time similar to mine. He said he was mostly a trail runner and did Ultras. The hill was pretty large, although it wasn’t quite as bad as I expected. We had a headwind which I didn’t appreciate. I slowed down to almost an 8:00 pace for mile 6. I didn’t want to burn out early in the race. At mile 7 I believe my average pace was around 7:00/mile, which seemed about right. Josh and Jon both pulled ahead of me. Then the downhill really started. It was really steep at first and I took advantage of it. I passed Jon back up on the steep part. Then it was a gradual downhill which was pleasant to run in. I saw some deer which is always nice during a race. Through mile 10 we were in the outskirts of the city. Right at mile 10 the SoJo Marathon took a left turn and started a series of turns on big roads in the city. Mile 10 was the most poorly marked turn, but the course was well marked in general. Now the SoJo Marathon course settled down and was pretty flat. The big, long roads were somewhat monotonous, but I was feeling pretty good and staying positive. It was nice to pass half way, and I did so in about 1:29:30. This was a little disappointing as I wasn’t feeling that a negative split would be very feasible. My plan had been to be somewhat conservative for the first half and then see what I could do the second half. I didn’t feel like I had been overly conservative. Josh was now out of sight and I figured he was on his way to low 2:50’s. Mile 16 had a decent drop which I utilized to run a 6:36. During mile 17 we passed the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple. It’s situated right on a hill, which meant we also got to go up a steep hill. I passed a marathoner right at the bottom of the hill who struggling. At the start he said he was going for 2:50, but I think this was his first marathon and he was a little unprepared. Oops. Been there, done that. The ~75 foot hill was a challenge, but at least we got to run down it as well. However, on the way down my legs weren’t quite moving like I wanted them to. Thus began a slow slide into the wall. There was a very gradual hill during mile 20 which again slowed me down, and around this time another runner passed me. I ran with him for a bit and it was nice to talk to someone at least. But I was dragging more and more and I told him to not let me slow him down. Luckily there was more downhill during miles 23 and 24 because I was starting to hurt. I was definitely hitting the wall and watching my shot at even a sub 3:00 slip away. It was disappointing, but there wasn’t a lot I could do. At mile 25 we entered a running path. I was passed by a few more runners, including the top female with about a mile to go. I held on pretty well but I was really looking forward to the finish line when it finally came. Is there anything more relieving than crossing the finish line of a marathon? It felt so good to stop running. Official time was 3:02:59, which earned me 11th place. I was pretty disappointed with my time. I really thought I was capable of 2:55, and that I had a shot at 2:50. I’m not sure what went wrong. Sleep was good, nutrition was ok, training was good. I think I may have underestimated the course difficulty. Josh and Jon both ended up finishing just a minute or two ahead of me. I think my time will be good enough for Boston 2020, but it might be right on the edge, so I can’t depend on it (I’m not sure I’ll want to run it anyways). I still did get another marathon under my belt and it’s always a good experience to run it and finish, even if it’s not what I hoped. The SoJo Marathon organization was good. The first half of the course had some great views, including sunrise over the city. The second half was nothing to get excited about. I think the only reason I’d run it in the future is if the timing is just right. That said, I’m still glad I ran it. It was my 21st lifetime marathon/50k and my second this year. Before this year, my father-in-law had run in the Hood to Coast Relay 19 times. His birthday is in late August, which is right around the time Hood to Coast takes place. So this year he put together a family team for his 70th birthday and 20th Hood to Coast. I got to run Leg 5 and I had a great time! Hood to Coast is a 199 mile relay that begins at the base of Mt Hood and ends in Seaside, OR. It starts with some steep downhill on a highway in the forest, continues through some smaller towns amidst farmland, then into Portland, along the Columbia River, through windy forest roads, and finally onto the finish line at the beach. Hood to Coast is truly the “mother of all relays”. It boasts 1200 teams, and triple that many team applications. It has some elite teams sponsored by Nike and others that finish at just over 5:00/mile pace. Hood to Coast is the relay that inspired the creators of the Ragnar relays. Our kids had already started school before the race, so we waited until Thursday after school to head from Idaho to the Portland area to meet up with family. The drive went pretty well and we pulled into town around 11pm, so we basically went right to bed. The next morning we woke up and I hopped in with Van 1 to head to Mt. Hood. It was quite chilly and breezy at the base of Mt. Hood, but it was a fun atmosphere. This was my 4th big road relay, but it was my first time in Van 1. It was great to be there at the start as we started our journey across a large chunk of Oregon. My father-in-law, Jerry, ran Leg 1. Jerry handed off to Cyndi for Leg 2. The first few legs of Hood to Coast are pretty steep downhill. However, I was running Leg 5 which had a decent amount of uphill to it. I was targeting a ~6:30 pace for the whole race, so I figured I might take it easy on my first leg. I ended up feeling pretty good and hitting a 6:23 pace. All three of our volunteers were on my leg, so that was pretty fun. Two of them were handing out water and the third was at Exchange 5. Overall it was a nice first leg. I handed off to Monte, who was 2-3 minutes late to the exchange thanks to a long line of traffic. I promptly drank my first chocolate milk, which I now believe is the secret to keeping my stomach calm during a relay. We met up with Van 2 at Exchange 6. They were excited to be starting their first legs. We had some spectators who met us there as well. Also, we substituted a few runners in and out. Since it was Jerry’s 70th birthday, he wanted to give a some of his 34 (?) grandkids an opportunity to run, and they couldn’t all handle three legs. Also, Cyndi had just delivered a baby ~7 weeks earlier, so she only ran one leg. This isn’t exactly up to regulation, but we weren’t exactly a competitive team. Van 1 stopped for a while at a nearby Wendy’s and we met up with our volunteers there. My daughter, Paisley, was now in the van in Cyndi’s place, and we each had a baked potato. That was probably the nicest meal I’ve ever had during a road relay. After relaxing for a while, we endured rush hour traffic through Portland to get to Exchange 12. Paisley would be running Leg 13, but since it’s on the river front (with a river front type of crowd mulling around) and it would be getting dark, I ran with her for her 4+ miles. It was a nice and easy pace, so it felt pretty good. She was super nervous to take the hand off in front of the big Exchange 12 crowd under the overpass. She had a nice finish and was really excited to be part of the relay team. I gobbled a Kind bar and a breakfast bar to refuel before my next run. Jerry ran Leg 14, then Tyrel ran Leg 15, then Christy ran leg 16. The Hood to Coast traffic was starting to back up considerably at some of the exchanges. We had to wait a long time before Christy could get out of the van to meet Tyrel. It was back to me for Leg 17. While I was waiting in line at the Honey Bucket, I had a nice conversation with a Marathon Maniac. He said he was getting too old to run, and he had lost count of how many marathons he’d done. I was a little nervous for my third run in the last 12 or hours. It would be my longest, and I wasn’t sure how fast I’d be able to go. Fortunately it was a nice temperature with little wind and I ended up feeling just fine. I went faster than expected — hitting 6:10/mile (excluding the annoying 37 second stop I had to make at a crosswalk right before the end). At this point I really wanted to take a shower, and there was one at this exchange, but we had to move to Exchange 18. It annoyed me that all the showers were basically unavailable to the 5th and 6th runner in Van 1. I don’t remember Exchange 18 very well, except that Van 2 complained that we had kept them awake by texting at each of our exchanges. I asked them if they were familiar with “airplane mode” and I also reminded them that at Exchange 6 they had complained that we didn’t give them enough information. It was pretty funny to me, although I do feel bad they didn’t get to sleep as much as expected. We made the drive to exchange 24. When we got there we were all very tired. It was foggy and dark and this would be our one chance to sleep. We had planned on having a big tent set up, but there was a miscommunication and it didn’t work out. I ended up just placing a tarp on the ground and rolling out my pad and sleeping bag on top of it. None of the other people in my car came with me, so I just set my alarm to make sure I could find them before it was time to go. There was some risk of getting lost in this huge, dark exchange. I was able to get a couple hours of decent and much needed sleep when it came time to wake up. I went to the car and found the rest of our runners packed inside. In a previous relay race I learned that sleeping with everyone in the car is a bad idea, so I’m glad I wasn’t squished in there as well. Eventually our other van arrived and we found them despite the lack of cell phone reception. I didn’t even see their runner come in because I was getting ready to get back in the car. Christy started running just before 6am, right as dawn approached. Jerry and Tyrel both ran about 6 miles. Traffic was getting bad, and Jerry had to wait a few minutes for Tyrel to use the Honey Bucket. Tyrel had a strong run and passed loads of runners that were slowing down on their final leg. Paisley went really fast on her run, and traffic was such that I jogged the last half mile with her at a 7:30 pace. I then reset my watch and headed out for Leg 29, my most challenging leg: a 6 mile run with 566 ft vertical. I hit it really hard. I was trying to pass as many people as possible to keep up with all the people Tyrel passed, but that didn’t happen. I passed a couple dozen people, but overall everyone was pushing hard up the hill. At the top of the hill there was a small of people cheering, including my van. That made this leg extra fun. I pushed hard down the hill as well and I came in at a 6:11 pace, which I was very happy with. Monte took the baton and our van headed to the last big exchange before the finish. There were tons of people, and we had been running faster than expected, so we spread out to find our other van and give them a heads up. I eventually found them and they were surprised to see us. They had been battling traffic and had only been at the exchange for 30 minutes or so, so they weren’t thrilled to see us. They got going and Van 1 was very happy to be done. Some of us took a much needed shower at Seaside and then spent some time at the beach waiting for our team. We all finished together and we celebrated with a delicious seafood lunch. Don’t try to sleep in the van at major exchanges. Bring a sleeping bag and use it. Relays aren’t exactly my favorite type of race, but they can definitely be fun and challenging. I’m sure I’ll do more in the future, and I hope Hood 2 Coast is included in that.

2019-04-19T08:21:25Z

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2019-04-26T13:49:05Z

https://cyprus-mail.com/2013/06/05/teacher-protest/

Afro-Colombian dances with colorful traditional clothing. VWPics/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved. When I first visited Buenaventura, back in 2013, my orientalist curiosity of the “capital of the Pacific” was confronted by the social, political and economic disaster that marks this strategic region. My colleagues were visiting the city as part of a research group on violence and drug trafficking and having just arrived in their country I was trying to get a glimpse of the celebrated “Afrocolombianidad” in Colombia’s geographic imaginary. Buenaventura is a metaphor of Colombia’s antiblackness. Although the city is celebrated for its vibrant black presence (according to national census 89% of the population is black) and for housing the country’s main port, it denies to the black population basic citizenship rights. Life in Buenaventura is not that different from life in other racially-driven depressing zones of social suffering of black Americas but here, the contrast between black misery and the port-service economy of Colombia’s gateway to the world market is insidious. To complete the scenario, the territorial dispute between a ‘new’ version of paramilitarism (the Bacrim or Bandas Criminales), fractures the city into zones of death. Although homicides have significantly reduced in the last two years, the city is far from being a “peace territory” as promised by the national government. The contrast between black misery and the port-service economy of Colombia’s gateway to the world market is insidious. Back in 2013, during a round-table with local activists at a local university, residents denounced the sinister economy of state, narco-paramilitary and gang violence that defines black urban life in Buenaventura. As in other contexts of black disposability, these dynamics could well be synthesized as ‘accumulation by evisceration.’[iii] In this macabre regime, the black population becomes the ‘raw material’ not only for the narco-business that targets Buenaventura as an strategic international smuggling route (using black youth as volatile rank-and-file soldiers[iv]), but also for the Colombia government’s “war on underdevelopment,” of which the black presence in strategic areas of national interest is an obstacle to be removed. This ‘new’ war targets “competitivity and strategic infra-structure” in port cities like Buenaventura as new battlefield to security and economic growth.[v] In president Juan Manuel Santos’ plan, Buenaventura is promised to become a “territory of peace,” one that secures foreign inversion and facilitates export expansion. As the ongoing expansion of the Panama Canal opens new possibilities for Colombian’s international trade and as the country signs a peace accord with the Farc that hopefully will put an end in the 50-year old armed conflict, social activists anticipate an intensification of urban displacement, violence and death. The thousand of displaced population to and from Buenaventura, and the body counting of disappeared or killed in the casa de pique [chopping houses] where victims bodies were (are?) scattered, is only one dimension of the dialectically constituted evisceration of black lives and accumulation of capital in Colombia’s racing to development. The demonstrators demanded president Santos to declare Buenaventura as a zone of political and social emergency. Would Buenaventura be dispossessed of basic infrastructure as it has been if its population were other than black? What makes Colombia’s main gateway to the global market one of the country’s poorly developed urban settings plagued by an explosive combination of poverty, structural racism and homicidal violence? Responding these questions may help us to contextualize the “paro cívico” (civic strike) social movements launched since May 15, 2017 to denounce the abandonment of the city by the state-level and central government. The demonstrators demanded president Santos to declare Buenaventura as a zone of political and social emergency, what would facilitate the urgent release of federal fund to meet the legitimate demands of a population historically excluded from the Colombian economy. While president Santos refused to declare the state of social emergency, he went to his twitter account to say that he respects the right to protest but “vandalism and looting are not allowed” and that “the situation in Buenaventura is under control of the public force.” He was referring to the special police unity Esmad, deployed to tame the urban riot that broke out in the evening of May 19 as the frustrated population erupted in anger. While the president and the state governor Dilian Toro were negligent in providing basic services to the population and hesitant in making concessions to the negotiators, they were quickly in condemning the protests as vandalism and in expressing concerns with the economic lost for Colombia with the blockages in the access to the port. Blacks were, once again, an obstacle to the national interest. The riot was a moment of hyper-visibility in a nation black matters do not appear as a national concern. What the government’s responses indicate is that because black lives do not matter, to be heard black protest must to disturb civil life, or be domesticated under the politics of multicultural rights. The riot was a moment of hyper-visibility in a nation black matters do not appear as a national concern. Predictably, to respond to the black civic strike as civil society’s legitimate demonstration, the state would have to consider the demonstrators as right-bearers entitled to make claims as members of the Colombian national community. What if citizenship and rights are categories that stubborningly refuse to accommodate black social existence? What happens when the skin color and territorial origin of those protesting render their lives meaningless, unless their demands are articulated in terms of ‘culture’ and autenticity?[vi] While one does not advocate violence as a mean to access social and political rights something pricy to Colombians (and in the case of the paro civico there are conflicting narratives of paramilitary/gang members taking advantage of the protest to disseminate chaos)[vii], the overtly present and unmistakably clear official vandalism of the state, explicit in its unwillingness to provide basic services (such as potable water!) to a population historically treated as third class citizens, authorizes, if not justifies their frustration and anger. How to name the deaths by lack of public health care (many residents die while taking a 150 Km ride to Cali, the nearest major city), the lack of sanitation, the malnutrition and the state-neglecting conditions for homicidal violence if not an expression of state delinquency? What if citizenship and rights are categories that stubborningly refuse to accommodate black social existence? Before the reader disregards this text as a conspiracy theory or racial victimization card, it is imperative to say that structural racism does not necessarily operate as an isolated and deliberate act of an individual (the president, the mayor, the governor, the police officer or so on) against someone or a group of people. This naïve understanding of racism would certainly deny the structural violence of mundane state practices as racially motivated. As critical race theory has taught us however, violence does not need to be articulated in racial terms to produce racial outcomes. Instead of question whether state policies (and responses to them) are racially motivated or not, we should ask ourselves what are the racial conditions that make the black population of Buenaventura a disposable group of people? How does antiblackness inform the national imaginary about Colombian’s pacific coast and its population? And finally, what kind of protest is needed so black matters becomes democracy’s matter in Colombia’s post-peace accords momentum? As in other parts of black Americas, Buenaventura is one of those black spatialities in which to be legible black suffering needs to take the form of disorder and disruption. If we pay attention to the voices in the streets, the message is quite clear: “they took away so much from us that they ended up taking away our fear.” Insofar as Colombia continues to fade away from the national debate its historical debt to the black population, the assertion “black lives matter” will continue to be nothing but a lonely protest or a wishful thinking. This piece is part of a larger project on racial violence and black protest in Brazil and Colombia. Jaime is the author of “The Anti-Black City: police terror and the struggle for black life in Brazil (Minnesota Press, forthcoming). Click here to follow and read his publication. [iii] I borrow the expression from RM Williams, “Accumulation as evisceration: Urban rebellion and the new growth dynamics.” Reading Rodney King, Reading Urban Uprising, 1993, pp.82-96. [iv] See Colombian anthropologist Inge Valencia Peña’s work on “Narcotráfico y políticas públicas: Entre seguridad y Oportunidad.” Boletín Polis no. 2013. Observatorio de Políticas Públicas, Universidad Icesi, 2013. [v] Presidencia de la República, Plan Nacional de Desarollo de Colombia, 2014-2018. Development and security is a pricy and deadly combination in Colombian geopolitics. For reference on this dialectics, see for instance, Cristina Rojas "Securing the State and Developing Social Insecurities: the securitisation of citizenship in contemporary Colombia." Third World Quarterly 30.1 (2009): 227-245 and Diana Ojeda, "War and tourism: The banal geographies of security in Colombia's “retaking”." Geopolitics 18.4 (2013): 759-778. [vi] In that regard see for instance Carlos Efrén Agudelo, "No todos vienen del río: construcción de identidades negras urbanas y movilización política en Colombia." Conflicto e (in) visibilidad Retos en los estudios de la gente negra en Colombia (2004): 173 and Roosbelinda Cárdenas, "Multicultural Politics for Afro-Colombians." Black social movements in Latin America: from monocultural mestizaje to multiculturalism, e. J. Rahier (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012): 113-134.

2019-04-24T02:51:30Z

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/abandonment-civil-life-and-black-rage-in-colombia-s-port-city-of-buena/

What an eventful year it’s been, not just politically in Pakistan and other countries as a whole, but for the ‘Lounge in particular. We have successfully released 2 issues and planned for the third. We have done what we set out to do, and this new year will see the ends of other beginnings, hopefully, culminating in the fulfillment of the various dreams of our different founding members. I’ll admit to being a little tired with having received no less than four happy new years when 2007 wasn’t over yet. I prefer bestowing my wishes when we’ve actually successfully ended an old one…call me picky, but there it is. A very happy new year to all members, writers, readers, critics, whatever your role in DesiWritersLounge.net may be or for that matter, if you haven’t read us yet; from the DWL.net Team as a collective. I must thank Clarice, below, for writing in my absence. Though the internet did fail us for a little less than 24 hours, it has returned in full force. So things, are in that sphere at least, well. There have been no changes in the e-zine publication plans–we will be moving forward with publishing it sometime at the end of January–the interim month will be, as per our now established Editorial Policy, devoted to editing pieces. The reason that it has already been pushed back several times, is because of the search for quality and the understanding that it needn’t be rushed. The editors will shortly notify the finalized set of writers under their respective categories, although The Poets will be notified a little later. Reasons for this diversion needn’t be discussed, here. Suffice to say, there’s a reason for everything we do. One thing must be noted absolutely, however: protocol must be followed. Currently, the deadline for which all editors must have their respective finalized pieces is January 18th, 2008. Anyone who doesn’t follow this to the dot, will have their piece(s) struck from the final published list. I need to make this absolutely clear now. We’re all on a schedule here, and allowances for everyone have been made with the rather accommodating date. So to all the finalists out there: ensure that you’ve got an approved and complete piece by then. There are some pieces that require severe, heavy edits before they have a chance to make it in. To these writers, especially, you must follow the guidance of your assigned editor until he/she is satisfied. I will, however, make the last judgment call if there is one to be made. I am well aware that I am no professional writer, but as Editor and Administrator, someone has to do it. I apologize in advance. The E-Zine’s publication date has been set for sometime in the last week of January. A new design inclusive of new logo might be instituted some time before then, or it may make its debut with the new volume. That remains to be seen based on my own time and planning. Suffice to say, it is in the works. I can only hope Vol 3 is a roaring success, and jump starts our reputation outside of the web as a literary magazine to be reckoned with, hopefully cemented with the reading planned for March. The posters, fliers, bookmarks etc will be promoting the website more than the reading itself, although we’ll probably have a separate batch for that as well, distribution limited naturally, to Islamabad only. The material for marketing the website, however, will be distributed as noted earlier, in the three main cities where our members reside: Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi as well as a special package mailed to our international member in Washington D.C. This is all in the pipelines, which I’m hoping doesn’t mean it never materializes! If you’ve been wondering about the recent lack of activity on the forums, please know that it might have something to do with the situation in the country. I know that some members in Islamabad have lost access to the internet in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. We can’t say at the moment if this will affect the vol 3 publication date in any way. Hopefully, once the three day mourning period is over, life will slowly inch its way back to normalcy. Hope everyone is staying safe! The Jury’s In: Hold On to Your Seats! After a near three hour discussion over finalizing all e-zine related pieces, earlier tonight, out of an overwhelming 60+ pieces polled, the list has been narrowed down to all of 20. It is, conceded, a little more than I would have liked, but these are all, or mostly all, solid pieces. Lists will be put up tomorrow evening, with the appropriate writers being contacted and directed according to protocol. Because of my own unavailability for editorial duties, work will be redivided with the four sub-editors. I will, as always, comb through each piece before sending it in to the e-zine. Protocol must be noted, and followed: we, the editors will be working with selected writers according to a predetermined deadline. No piece will be allowed final entry until and unless the assigned editor has approved. If, supposing, the writer of a specific piece doesn’t respond to his/her editor, the piece will be struck from the list. So if you’ve been selected, and are among those contacted tomorrow evening, you are expected to follow through with protocol. The rules will not be broken, or bent for anyone. After all, if we do it for one person, we have to do it for everyone. There are a wealth of things planned for the upcoming quarters, including a new issue as well as the reading. If there are things you feel should be added to the site, or any suggestions you have for the reading, please do drop a line either in the comments, or to me personally. I have a knack for writing back, irrespective of anything. And now, my minions, I bid thee farewell. It’s been a long night, and I should be in bed, snug as a bug in a rug, by midnight. Adios, and keep your eyes peeled on the forums if you’re a member, and on the e-zine scheduled for release in late Jan, if you’re just a reader. We welcome you in either capacity! Being a website administrator is hard work, because not only are you managing things upfront but everything that goes on behind the scenes falls under your domain, too. Being a forums administrator and a website/e-zine administrator; the dual job becomes managing both private with public to achieve just the right balance. Sometimes, it feels like I’m banging my head against the wall. Repeatedly, in an attempt to elicit a response. Sad, isn’t it? From negotiating with bidders, to negotiating the terrains of imagination and coming up with a decent idea of how to represent the concept of our site graphically, for an appropriate logo that defines who we are. Not just our web presence, but the very existence of the Desi Writers community. I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can boost our image, and discussing it over with my entrepreneur brother-in-law, I realized: we’ve only just begun. Something as vast as this needs to be propagated more from an offline perspective, which means more readings than just the one we’re planning for March, more marketing outside, more awareness of who we are and what we do, so that the dream of getting our members published becomes an achievable reality, not a distant dream for the future of maybe’s and someday’s. I’m ambitious for this little project and every second we wait doing nothing or standing still, is, in my opinion, a waste of time. A month was wasted with working with our web developer who was never ours, another few weeks wasted in trying to locate a replacement, until I realized I was a Computer Scientist, and would have to put that CSS knowledge I had amassed to good use. Again. Forgive me, if, besides being an administrator and editor, I wanted to take a break from being a developer, too. We can’t afford to waste any more time. We need good content, an avidly contributing memberbase, and people who are as enthusiastic about their writing, their message and the community, as we are, and locating that niche will be harder than everything else combined. But we must pursue this actively; we have to build an adequate presence both online and off, and get people to the site who can contribute to it effectively, otherwise it’s all just noise, and most of the time, not even that. Just an overwhelming amount of silence. They say, it’s something of a phenomena actually, and I really didn’t have any better example than this: every woman living in the same household for an extended period of time, begins sharing the same menstrual cycle. As in, they all PMS at about the same time, give or take a few days. I wonder, if we at the Desi Writers’ Lounge don’t all have a collective writer’s PMS of sorts at the same time? What else can possibly explain the void when one of the bigwigs don’t post? So, if you’re reading this and you’ve been a long time reader and writer but haven’t joined the Lounge, write! We have big dreams…and trust me when I say, it’s nice to be part of a community that dreams big and has every intention of accomplishing them. Happy Eid, everyone! Early, I know…but I don’t think I’ll have a blog update on Eid day. I feel like we’ve been treading and retreading the same waters over and over again, over the past few months. Design? Re-design. Person located, finally. Didn’t work out. Should we or shouldn’t we? We should. Just when we go in again, madness ensues. Things just weren’t meant to be, I guess. This also means I’ll have to work on the templates on my own, but I am a little more confident in myself with my newfound and rediscovered knowledge. I’ll be fine, but might not have the time to usurp my editing duties. We’ll see, however. Reference to the Writer’s Strike made by Clarice, things are looking slightly up for the writers with the DGA (Directors’ Guild) refusing to renegotiate their own contract until the AMPTP settles things with the writers. The AMPTP, if you believe in the rumors floating around, wanted the DGA to start their own negotiations thereby putting the pressure on the WGA. Nice to see the concept of unity in the creative community, still exists. It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world out there. They got that part right. So, though a new design and logo is on the way, there’s probably still some time until we get there. I’ve got some very talented graphic designing companies on the line for the logo work, so there’s that lovely thing to consider. What look are we going for? Classic funky. You do the math. Something that screams: the Lounge. Should we go with the ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ idea, or should we break it down into something else? Do you have any ideas? The Administration speaketh. Go forth into those creative tunnels, don’t turn out the bulb of genius and venture out never, until you’ve got something up your sleeve. We hope to start revamping the site soon, with a new look and definitely our own unique logo. The hunt for the perfect design team continues as poor MP is driven up a wall. The mods are trying to assist her to the best of our abilities, but obviously feedback from all of the members and readers would be appreciated too. I just thought I’d use this space to ask you for any feedback relating to design issues. Some things to consider: what do you think of the current main web page? What is your opinion on the ezine displaying on the main page? How do you feel about covers for each issue of the ezine? Do you think we should stick to a classical look for our main page or go with something extremely daring? On a side note: the Writers Guild strike continues, and with almost no new tv (no House, no Grey’s) till Jan, its been a really entertainment starved week! Maybe its time to finally get cracking on the piled up reading? The new forums are up, the switch being made from the rigidity that was phpBB 2 to the more fluid and interactive SMF forums. For now, I’ve kept the same color scheme as our old version, although this will change when we’ve finalized a color scheme and layout for our main website. Heads up: there’s a new writer’s workshop being arranged by British Council in Dhaka, for writers between the ages of 25 and 35. Sadly, I don’t qualify but I’ll be damned if I don’t try. There’s no harm, is there? As it is, details available here including the attachments and documents required before submitting a writing sample. So if you’re interested in attending a workshop, please do take a look. Because of a slight mix up regarding polling dates on the forums, we’ve lost about a week of potential voting. However, we’re urging our members to vote now and to keep it up till Monday night, when all polls are scheduled to expire. December 11, 12.01 am is when they “officially” expire. There’s also been a shift in policy, where we now require a minimum of 4 votes (those with a single vote to their name will be independently voted on by the mods, because obviously we didn’t vote the first time around! I repeat: vote to keep these pieces in the running) to make it into Phase 2 of the selection process. Phase 1 remains the voting stage, and is instrumental to our process, but we introduced Phase 2 because of an apparent lag in quality which the votes, although extremely helpful in their own right, don’t always get it right because not everyone’s voting. As a result, the five moderators will step in and finalize all pieces. We’re also not going to be taking in as many pieces as before, with each column having a limit in terms of how many will go in. For this, we are profoundly sorry, and it’ll make selection extremely difficult but someone has to do it. We’re looking at the possibilities of marketing our website in national newspapers, radio, bookstores, etc well before our scheduled reading in March. To this extent, we require excellent pieces and this isn’t saying that what we have now aren’t excellent. We just mean, with less pieces, we have more time to spend and communicate with writers on those pieces and can, as a result, help in making it the best it can be. Once the design and more importantly, logo of our website is finalized, we will begin printing out fliers, posters and bookmarks to be distributed in bookstores as a way of getting the audience we want and are looking for. These will be sent out to all major cities where our members reside: Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi with a special care package sent to our international members so they can help spread the word wherever they are. This is marketing on a vast scale, especially considering that it’s been practically nonexistent until now. Taking this in context, you might now understand the importance of both a redesign and new look both in terms of design as well as content. To this extent, we hope that both as members and readers of our work, you’ll appreciate all changes that will go into effect in the new year. As always, anything you’d like to add, please voice them in the comments or send me an email on either the address available here or at comments@desiwriterslounge.net. My eye’s been twitching consistently for the past week. What do you think the odds are that it has something to do with website administrative duties? Nah, didn’t think so. There have been updates, however, which is why there’s a new post in less than a week. The forums have been shut down, at least till Monday evening for maintenance and upgrading purposes. Come the new week, and we’ll have a new forum. Well, to be honest, we already have one but I’ve had to convert it from phpBB to SMF which for some reason, wasn’t as easy as I had thought it would be. However, it has been done and my Sunday has been utilized to great effect. Excellent. All members, posts, topics and threads have made the shift. We’ll also have greater control over the registration process, with these really easy to add modifications. Compared to phpBB, SMF seems like heaven. Literally. Whereas previously the reason for membership and signature fields were one, they have both been miraculously separated with the former being mandatory and coded in from the backend to that effect. If you don’t fill it in appropriately, it will result in actual revocation…how frackin’ amazing is that?! What I’ve wanted to implement for a year has been incorporated in a day. Sad, I realize but also incredibly fulfilling. There’s also a nifty newsletters option which takes care of my previous concerns and I have the option to send them in HTML which can include our official header/logo (when we have one) on top. Seriously. I was going to pay for this. I am still a CS person, it seems, or at least with a mildly mechanical bent of mind to say the very least (allow me my butter this one time, please). There’s also a calendar for events, which again, takes up quite a bit of what I wanted incorporated. Eventually, I’ll find a way to bridge our forums with the site everyone else sees and has access to. Also, you can change your display name finally (this was something I had incorporated in my own vision, before switching over to the open source world. Back when I thought coding was fun!) to something other than your username, which is most especially useful if you want your privacy. You’ll also get ‘Happy Birthday’ messages from the forum provided you want to, and have entered your birthdate. So there are a ton of new things in this forum board that weren’t there earlier, and although I’ve spent most of the latter half of the day ensuring everything remains as close to possible as it was before, it’s going to take time for the users to get used to this new format. But hopefully not too long. I shall admit to being supremely excited; after a much needed length of time, finally something to talk about. The new forums will be launched Monday evening, and if you’re a member you will be notified accordingly. I’m hoping for a new design with the New Year, and we’ll be well on our way. With changes in the editorial policy planned as well, things are gearing up to a (hopefully) more productive quarter.

2019-04-19T02:37:21Z

http://desiwriterslounge.net/blog/2007/12/

This is something pretty different to my blog really but I thought it would be good to write about the changes which are fast approaching in 2018 when it comes to whiplash payouts if involved in a road accident. I've teamed up with Your Legal Friend for this post and explain more about it and also my personal thoughts about the upcoming changes. I'm pretty sure most people know about Whiplash and what it is. If not then Whiplash is a common injury that usually occurs to the soft tissue of a person's neck or upper back following a car accident. In November 2016 the Ministry Of Justice decided to crack down on fake whiplash claims and published "Reforming the Soft Tissue Injury (whiplash) Claims Process. A consultation on arrangements concerning personal injury claims in England and Wales." Raising the limit on small personal injury compensation from £1000 to £5000, meaning more people will be taking their case to a small claims court, without the need of a lawyer. A fixed amount payable for the whiplash injuries which also means that it will reduce the amount of compensation you would receive if you did happen to have whiplash from a road accident. But this does mean that it would reduce the amount the insurer has to pay for the claim which means all cases under £5000 will be considered as small claims. The changes mean insurers will not be able to offer any settlement without an independent medical assessment of the claimant. Because of the fixed amount rate which claimants would receive as compensation, it would be saving the insurance industry a whopping £1bn a year. Because of the savings, it does mean that everyone would save on average £40 per year on their car insurance. But with car insurance always on the rise, is a saving of £40 actually a worthwhile when you could be losing out on possibly thousands if you did happen to get whiplash from a road traffic accident and was a genuine whiplash claim? The proposed tariffs are £225 (minimum) for an injury lasting between 0-3 months and compensation capped at £3725 for an injury lasting for 2 years or more. With still being a pretty new driver myself, I feel like this affects me both because of the whiplash claim changes and also the fact £40 saving per year isn't really all that great (an average of £3.50 per month) especially with insurance always being on the rise. I'm still not the most confident driver, I've come a long way from what I used to be like but I do worry about obviously about getting into an accident every time I'm in the car, I don't think I'm a bad driver, I'm scared of other peoples driving more than my own, to be honest. If you are wanting to get your car insurance at a cheaper price then I personally find that Confused.com is usually the cheapest comparison website. Also deleting your cookies after visiting each comparison website also helps to reduce the prices and sometimes even calling up the insurance company you're planning on joining and being a little cheeky and ask if they can get the price down a little more. I can understand the ban on settling claims without medical evidence. But I don't really agree on the caps because it is a huge difference in the amount you should be getting and the amount you would be getting. I think it's because I know people who have gotten whiplash from a car accident and it's literally changed their life forever, to think that if they were to have the unfortunate accident next year and they wouldn't be able to be compensated for the money they did get and possibly lose out on thousands of pounds, I think it's quite unfair really. What are your thoughts on the changes? I'm personally kind of in two minds about it. I haven't done a Wishlist for a few weeks now and I think I may be getting withdrawal symptoms or something lol. So I thought I'd put one together and cry at the fact that I'm trying to be good with my money for the rest of this month and also October *sob*. So there are some things I have my eyes on right now. I definitely will pick up a few things from the wishlist over the next few months. What things are on your wishlist right now? As I've mentioned before on my blog I really like the beachy waves hair kind of look and that's how I've been wearing my hair a lot over the past few months when I wear it down. I was recently sent the Lee Stafford Chopstick Styler* and I really excited to try it out and see if the smaller, corkscrew kind of curls would suit me. My hair is quite thin and flat naturally so I do tend to go for curls more. I do like to change the way how I wear my hair a little each season, so I don't get bored. I might get it cut in a different way or just style it differently and so on. The wand of the styler is kind of strange looking, it's a rectangular wand and super thin. Weird, right? Then the rest of the styler is a hot pink with and on/off button with an LED light indicator and a safety stand underneath, so it's pretty simple and super easy to use. It also have a swivel cord which is really handy because it drives me crazy when some electrical appliances don't come with a swivel cord, it just makes everything more awkward. It also heats up really fast to a maximum temperature of 200c. They are described to give you Beyonce kind of looking curls but I think it depends on the amount of hair per section you curl. I've personally been sectioning off my hair in quite thick sections to give me more of a retro 80s kind of look. I tend to section my hair off in 3 parts and work through each section then at the end I carefully run my fingers through my hair just to loosen up the curls a little so they don't make me look poodle-like (lol). I then pop in some of the Lee Stafford CoCo LoCo Hair Oil RRP £7.99* to give my hair some shine and definition and also to make it smell lovely (believe me, if there was a CoCo LoCo perfume, I would buy it in a heartbeat). I do think the curls are little bit on the crazy side for me on their own and they kind of emphasise my round face more so I've been wearing my hair in the hairstyle I've been wearing most during the Summer - "The Hun" which is basically half of my hair is up in a messy kind of bun and the rest of it down. I think the curls being a little bigger and voluminous rather than the beachy waves I tend to go for makes the hairstyle look different and kind of more fun. I also think the curls look cute in a high ponytail with some of my hair pulled from the ponytail to frame my face a little. Overall the Chopstick Styler is a great way to create smaller curls for your hair, it literally takes me around 10-15 minutes to do my whole head of hair. So I guess you could say it does make it look like you've put more effort into your hair than you really have (lazy girl hack!). Plus the curls last for a couple of days and can easily be refreshed and touched up with some dry shampoo at the roots. They are super affordable at £19.99 and you can get them in Argos, Superdrug and more. Every single person on this planet is beautiful in their own way, including you, whether you see it or not. However, there are some simple things that you can do to enhance this beauty if you’re feeling a bit down about your appearance. I’m not talking makeup, although there’s nothing wrong with wearing it, I’m talking natural beauty. Just follow these simple steps, and you’ll be feeling great about yourself in no time. I know, I know, you hear this all the time right? But the reason that you do is that it really does help. The body uses water to get rid of toxins and cleanse itself; If it can’t do that, these toxins will affect your skin and make acne flair up. If you don’t drink enough water, you will get dehydrated too, and it’s very hard to feel good about yourself when you feel sick and have a massive headache. Make sure you drink water all day (a minimum of 1.6 litres for women and 2 litres for men) rather than chugging it before bedtime, to allow it to absorb properly into your body. “Beauty sleep” as silly as it may seem, really is a thing. When you sleep, your cells can renew themselves, if they can’t do this because you’re not sleeping enough, your skin will age faster. You will also get dark circles and puffiness under your eyes, as well as dry skin and wrinkles. This is because they are all controlled by your hydration levels which are regulated while you are in a deep sleep. You should know by now, that if you don’t get enough sleep you wake up in the morning looking and feeling the opposite of fantastic, so you have to make sure that you get enough rest. If you’re having some trouble sleeping, try cutting out caffeine before bedtime, adding some essential oils to your bath, or sleeping with lavender under your pillow. Your skin is incredibly important when it comes to enhancing your natural beauty, so you have to care for it properly. Ensure you exfoliate to remove dead skin cells, use a fragrance-free and oil-free face wash, and remember to moisturize. If you do suffer a breakout, there are plenty of acne tackling treatments on the market for you to try, such as spot on treatments or face washes. Differin is a gel used in acne treatment and can be applied all over the face to tackle general acne. Like most acnes treatments, it can take a few weeks to notice a difference, so just stick with it, and don’t give up. Don’t roll you eyes, I know you’ve heard it all before, but there is a reason for that. Fruits and vegetables contain plenty of nutrients that help to give your skin a natural, healthy glow. Eating plenty of protein is also beneficial for improving the appearance of your hair and nails too. This is because the key structural component of hair and nails is keratin, a protein. It would also be a sensible idea to ditch the smoking habit and the excess caffeine consumption. There is absolutely no use in drinking plenty of water and eating healthily to improve your skin’s natural glow and elasticity if you are simply going to pump more toxins and chemicals into your body and reverse these effects. I know it will be hard, but there are plenty of ways to kick your caffeine addiction, and a lot of treatments out there to help with your smoking too. You knew it was coming; Exercise is important too. Not only does exercise help to burn calories and therefore fat, which can make you look and feel great, sweating itself helps too. When you are exercising, and you start to sweat, that sweat isn’t just there to keep you cool. It also removes excess water and toxins along with it. The more different ways you have toxins being removed from your body, the better you’ll feel, trust me. Because of this, head down to the gym and find a personal trainer, or even find or invent your own workout routine, and start sweating out your toxins. You’ll thank me later. Granted, some of these tips are a little more time consuming than others, and some do require a lot of effort and willpower on your part, but it will all be worth it in the end. Everyone wants to be able to look into a mirror and really love what they see, and with these simple tips, you are one step closer to reaching that goal.

2019-04-23T09:05:18Z

http://www.astoldbykirsty.co.uk/2017/09/

Every few weeks I receive an email from someone claiming to have an “original” Batman #1, Detective #27, Action Comics #1 or Superman#1 and wanting to know how much it’s worth. My first question is always, “What are the dimensions of your book”. In each instance but one, the reply has always been, “10 X 13 1/2 inches.” My response? “Sorry, you have an over-sized Famous First Edition with the outer cover removed. Your book has little value on the collector’s market.” Normally these emails are from people who know little about comics and are curious if they have “won the lottery” by finding an original rare comic book from the Golden Age. The other day, however, I received an email from a reader of the blog who asked me the same question, got the same answer (the book in question was 10 X 13 1/2 inches), but who proceeded to relate that this particular book was used to fraudulently induce a well known charity (I won’t name it here) to purchase this book for $3,000. Of course, the book was worth perhaps a few dollars, maybe slightly more. Having heard that story, I decided that a “primer” on the DC Famous First Edition comics was in order. Hopefully this will prevent confusion in the collector market in the future. Between 1974 and 1979, DC Comics published some really great Golden Age reprints called Famous First Editions. These books were treasury sized (10 X 13 1/2 inches) and were unique in that they reprinted every detail (including ads, etc.), cover to cover, of many of the key DC Golden Age books. They were different from the originals because (1) they were much larger than their Golden Age counterparts, and (2) they each had an outer cardboard cover that clearly identified the book as being a reprint and “limited collectors edition”. With the outer cardboard cover removed, these books could be passed off as an original except for the larger size. Unfortunately, over the years some unscrupulous types have removed the cardboard covers and tried to pass these off as original Golden Age books. Recognizing the potential for this fraudulent activity, the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide has for years printed a warning along with the description of the original book to make certain it is clear that these reprints exist and look like the originals. Overstreet has also indicated that with the outer cover removed, these books have little or no value. Caveat Emptor! C-61 – Superman#1 (this had a slipcase edition of 250 copies signed by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman’s creators). These are great Golden Age reprints, especially in the larger format. As mentioned above, anyone not familiar with comics should be careful not to confuse these reprints with a rare Golden Age original. Additionally, if purchasing one of these books for your collection, you should make sure it is complete with the outer cardboard cover. As stated above, Caveat Emptor! If in doubt, have the book reviewed by an expert. This entry was posted in Golden Age Comics and tagged DC Comics, Famous First Edition. Bookmark the permalink. Where can i purchase just the dust jackets for the hard cover famous first editions? Have them all, but no dust jackets. That’s a great question, but I don’t know the answer. Maybe eBay? You’ll be hard pressed to find the dust jackets without the book, and since the dust jackets are generally the most valuable part of the book, you probably won’t find it worthwhile. I see these books come up for auction on ebay all the time as something “from my grandfather’s attic.” DC did not copy the cover perfectly, so there are a couple mistakes you can look for; IIRC there’s glare on the front fender of a real Action #1, but not on the FFE. Of course, some sellers will even post a cover of a real Action #1 and not the comic they’re sending you. To me, an obvious red flag on the charity buy would be that they were getting the comic for $3000; unless it’s coverless and missing a wrap or two, that’s a ridiculously cheap price. They probably thought they were getting a steal. The old adage applies: you can’t cheat an honest man. What were the dimensions of original golden-age Marvel comics? Back in the late 70’s to early 80’s, I remember as a kid that my older cousin had a coffee table sized hardbound book of DC’s First Editions of Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Green Lantern etc. Is this the series of books that this article is referring to? I just remember one big book that had all the originals not a series of books. I happen to have a collection of comics over the years and my wife and I saw that one of my collection was, indeed, the “famous 1st edition” of Action comics #1. Not the comic, the reprint. They still have the cardboard covers and are whole and from 1974. While it may not be considered in “Mint Condition” it is certainly not falling apart as I have a respect for all comics. I say “they” because I have Action #1 (C-26)1974, and Superman #1 (C-61)1978. If you know anyone who has an interest in obtaining these issues, please contact me. It reprinted the origin stories of several well-known DC heroes. The Famous First Edition series, however, reprinted the entire comic books, including advertisements and lesser-known characters like Chuck Dawson (a cowboy hero), Scoop Scanlon (a crusading reporter), Zatara (a crimefighting magician), and Pep Morgan (a boxer), each of whom debuted in Action Comics #1 along with Superman. @Shaun Broussard: Up until the late 1950s, most comic books measured about 10 inches high by 7 1/2 inches wide. Today’s comics are the same height, but about 3/4 of an inch narrower. Hi Bill, you mentioned that the 1973 FFE series is currently sought after by collectors. I have 3 of the 4 reprints that you have shown images of in your post. How much would these reprints be worth? They are not in mint condition, but aren’t too bad either. Would be great if you could give me some sort of a ball-park estimate. @Vivek You may want to check the 40th edition of the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. This will give you a ballpark estimate, depending on the condition of your books. Are their covers for the 1973 FFE series that protect the condition of the item? I asked a few comic book sellers/dealers… the best answer I received is: Giant sized Ziploc Bags, sealed as air tight as possible… any other recommendations would be peeeeerrrrrrrfect! I have seen treasury sized comics bags. You may want to check with E. Gerber products to see if they sell them. I’ve got 4 0f the hardcover comic books. C-26/C-28/C-30 and F4 the funny thing is, is that the ISBN number for the Golden and Bronze mint edition are the same? How could this be? And are they worth anything? I recently purchased the Famous First Edition #C-28 comic with hardcover at an estate sale it is signed and dated with an a typical bob kane sketch of batman on the blank leaf page. The local comic dealer suggested it would be worth buying a copy if just for the dust jacket to place on the signed one with drawing. Any luck Ray? And would you suggest this action as well with the resale value be worth the purchase price of comic and dust jacket? I am an a fine art dealer and mainly work in Modernist art 1890’s – 1960’s, when I have had original comic book art I have never got much for it the most exciting was the final pencil spiderman cover but a “Super Spidey” so not by Stan Lee. Sketch with marvel stamps and sealed certificate but it was only worth a couple hundred dollars (ten years ago). I have been passing up original comic illustration art ever sense until this one as I thought the reprint of the comic might be of some value? Seline, the best way to find out prices on that sort of stuff is by checking Ebay; if you are registered with them (free) you can search past auctions. Ditto with Heritage Auctions. my uncle has a 1939 batman comic thats larger than a regular comic book. can anyone tell us if its the first batman comic and if not what is the value of this comic book… It is from 1939!! So has to be worth more than nothing..thanks. I have a comic that i found in a storage locker that i bought. DC (oversized)famous 1st editionlimited collector’s golden mint series. superman c-61 32219 $2.00 1979 it has a thin cardboard type cover( not just shiny paper) looked on ebay and found a range of prices for the same book from $8-$99. not familiar with comics so any help is greatly appreciated. the barcode is 7098932219. don’t know if this info helps. I have a Limited Collectors’ Edition “The Return of Tarzan”, 32159, C-29, 5-part novel copyright 1974, printed in USA; also a Famous First Edition Limited Collectors’ Bronze Mint Series, “Wonder Woman” No. 1 January, C-30, C32170, copyright 1974, printed in the USA; also a Limited Collectors’ Edition “Justice League of America”, C-46, 32130, copyright 1976, printed in the USA. The Wonder Woman has the bronze colored cover while the other two books never had a exterior cover. I bought these in the PX when my dad was stationed in Frankfurt , Germany. All three are in good condition. I am curious as to what they are worth. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! http://www.ebay.com/itm/171678793120?rmvSB=true Batman #1 just sold for $9,500. There is no red building in the lower left hand corner and the other buildings have been moved up. That is a famous first edition with the outer cover removed. I realize a lot of these comments are several years old now, but if folks would stop thinking comics are their highway to riches and just enjoy them, they’d be a lot calmer about the whole issue (pun intended). A comic book is worth as much as collectors are willing to spend. The Overstreet Price Guide is not a sales catalogue but a GUIDE. Resale value is based on age, condition, and demand. True Romance comics for example are not in as high demand as superhero comics are, yet both printed in the 1940s. To an earlier post, the first Batman appearance was Detective Comics 27. These comics are rare because many were pulped to support the war effort, thus their rarity. Today’s comics are barely worth the paper their printed on, typical copies at $4 a copy and resale value maybe 50 cents if you’re lucky. I am absolutely sure the Famous First Edition of Batman #1 was never published in a hardcover version by Lyle Stuart. Overstreet’s Price Guides have been perpetuating that myth for years. I believe the next edition will finally correct that mistake. I’ll be happy to supply you with the evidence supporting my findings. Please correct your listing, so others using your it for reference won’t make the mistake of wasting their time searching for a non-existent book. i have a reprint 1974 ACTION COMIC which was signed by both siegal and shuster in 1981. how much would it be worth as i wish to sell it. There are other difference besides the size. The original Action #1 cover was cut a little lower, and the car’s fender had a white reflection on it; it was colored solid green in the FFE reprint. On the original Detective #27, Batman’s rope went all the way to the top of the cover, the roof has two pipes on it instead of one, and Bob Kane’s signature is on the bottom; not in the reprint.

2019-04-24T07:50:23Z

http://goldenagecomics.org/wordpress/2009/06/12/the-trouble-with-famous-first-editions/comment-page-1/

What is our great responsibility in this life? To ourselves? To others? To God? What is this life all about anyway, and what is it all for? While philosophers of all ages have debated these questions the prophets of God have spoken. There are prophets today and they speak the truth as they received it from the Lord himself. All we have to do, if we are truly seekers of truth, is find their words, read them, internalize them, and apply them into our lives. If we follow this divinely appointed pattern our hearts will be changed, our faith will grow, and peace of conscience will settle upon our souls as the dews at dawn. This week I read, in the words of a prophet, some of the most direct and eye opening comments on this topic I have ever read with relation to the topic of individual responsibility and accountability. For our mutual benefit I share them with you today. “We are here for a great purpose. That purpose is not to live 100 years, or less, and plant our fields, reap our crops, gather fruit, live in houses, and surround ourselves with the necessities of mortal life. That is not the purpose of life. These things are necessary to our existence here, and that is the reason why we should be industrious. “The object of our being here is to do the will of the Fatheras it is done in heaven (which is what?), to work righteousness in the earth, to subdue wickedness and put it under our feet, to conquer sin and the adversary of our souls, to rise above the imperfections and weaknesses of poor fallen humanity, by the inspiration of the Lord and his power made manifest, and thus become saints and servants of the Lord in the earth. Then, if I still disagree with the action I talk to their mother about it. The accountability for that action belongs to the mother because she is telling the child what to do. It is the same with the Lord. If He made us act a certain way we would not be accountable for our own actions. This goes against the whole reason we are here: to learn and to grow. The Lord will not make us do anything in this life. He has left it up to us to choose. Now He has given us commandments, and told us how we can obtain happiness, but He will force no man towards it. It is up to us to choose our own destiny, be it eternal happiness on the one side, or eternal damnation (or being stopped in our progression) on the other. We will be held accountable for we have been given our agency. The choice is ours. What will we choose? What consequences will we allow to remain in our lives? If we choose to live righteously they will be sweet indeed. That is what it means to be Mormon – to learn correct principles, conform our lives to them, and govern ourselves appropriately. What principles have you learned, or been taught of the Lord, in your life? If you could teach, or pass on, one lesson on how to be happy to your children what would it be? It is our duty TO DO OUR BEST to do ALL WITHIN OUR POWER – because Christ has already done the rest – and NOT SHIRK. It is our duty to STAND UP, CHOOSE RIGHTEOUSLY, and BE MEN AND WOMEN OF GOD. As I write today I am filled with a profound hope for the future. We live in an amazing time of difficulties and challenges. Everywhere we go we are asked to do more, to be more, and to become more. As a Mormon we receive callings, or invitations to serve in a capacity of responsibility within our church. All positions within our church are filled by volunteers. They are called in to be interviewed by those who have already been chosen as leaders in the church and are then asked if they would be willing to volunteer their time, talents, and abilities to serve in the offered position. There is also an expression within our faith that speaks of doing our best: Magnifying our callings. To magnify is to make something larger and bring it into clearer focus. In this context it means to do our best in applying our time, talents, and abilities towards the completion of whatever task lies before us in the performance of our responsibilities. Almost a month ago now I was extended such an opportunity to serve, a ‘calling’ if you will. All callings operate under the direction of the priesthood keys held by the Bishop of the church, or ward. If you would like a better understanding of the difference between the priesthood and priesthood keys are, as well as what it means to operate under them please review this talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks, of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. In that scripture we are promised that if we magnify our callings our bodies will be renewed and that we will become the elect of God. The quality of our lives will reflect our commitment to the Lord. Receiving the Priesthood is a covenant between ourselves and our God. Because it is a covenant between us and the Lord it is immovable and unchangeable. The blessings promised are assured us if we fulfill our part of the bargain. It is promised. And the Lord cannot, and will not, break His promises. One priesthood office or calling is not greater than another in terms of priesthood power. The priesthood does not change. It is the same for each and every man in the church. The only difference is found in the keys one holds and the responsibilities over which one has authority to function as one holding power in the priesthood. In our personal lives and in our homes our priesthood power is fully operational, according to the dictates of the spirit and our righteous desires. Otherwise it is only restrained, or limited, by the limits of our respective callings. We have the authority to use our priesthood for each and every stewardship over which we have responsibility. What about you? Is there anything in your life more important than the things of God? More important than His work of salvation on our behalf? What is so important that you would be willing to risk eternity to experience in the space of this life? Will you fill your callings, dedicate yourself to make a difference, and serve others to the best of your ability today? In a world that is self-destructing itself into darkness we ask ourselves where we can turn to stem the tide of decaying morals and values, dishonesty, selfishness, and pride? Must we focus on our politics, our institutions, or ourselves as individuals? The answer is surprisingly simple. If we wish to save our country then we must start that saving process in our homes and families. Our homes are the first line of defense in this decaying world of darkness. If they fall prey to the degradation that surrounds us then our civilization falls as well. Strengthening the home and defending it from any unwanted influences should be our primary goal. The answer to every problem we face as a nation lies in the rearing and raising of the rising generation, and the protection and establishment of the solid homes from which they come. In those homes they will grow and mature as a young plant seeking the light. Let us fill our homes with light that they may drink in the sustaining power of a powerful home. As Americans we often believe ourselves above the decay taking place all around us, but there is a reason it is called decay. It is often unrecognized until it is too late. Do we take the time to let our children know we love them? Do we teach them about the reality of natural consequences – or do we mitigate all consequences in an effort to ‘keep them from harm’? Do we show them, by example, how they are to live? Do we exemplify moral rectitude, honesty, integrity, honor, and faith in God? The very cures for the times we live in are found in the children who surround us. The question remains, however, will we raise them in such a way, and from such a place (the home), that they can face the challenges of this world and stand up to the darkness that is spreading even as you read these words. We must remember that the light is always stronger than the darkness. But that light, it begins, grows, is nurtured, and developed in the home. That is where we must focus if we are save some semblance of the society we cherish in our hearts. Whatever happened to the America where neighbor serves neighbor? And where when something bad happens the entire community turns out to help and repair whatever wrong was committed? And the most important questions: Do you exemplify such an America? Will your home exemplify these things? If enough homes in America come to exemplify these values then we will save our country, for in the face of such great light what darkness can stand against it? If we fortify our homes, we may yet save our country. If we do we will be part of the solution, not the problem. Will you do your part today? Will you put your family first? Will you fortify and strengthen the presence of your home in the lives of your children, and make it a place of peace, love, and light from which they can go forth and change the world?

2019-04-19T14:43:58Z

https://danieladamfreeman.wordpress.com/author/danieladamfreeman/

The red loess lay over everything, covering the streets and the open spaces of park and plaza, hiding the small houses that had been crushed and pressed flat under it and the rubble that had come down from the tall buildings when roofs had caved in and walls had toppled outward. Here, where she stood, the ancient streets were a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet below the surface; the breach they had made in the wall of the building behind her had opened into the sixth story. She could look down on the cluster of prefabricated huts and sheds, on the brush-grown flat that had been the waterfront when this place had been a seaport on the ocean that was now Syrtis Depression; already, the bright metal was thinly coated with red dust. She thought, again, of what clearing this city would mean, in terms of time and labor, of people and supplies and equipment brought across fifty million miles of space. They’d have to use machinery; there was no other way it could be done. Bulldozers and power shovels and draglines; they were fast, but they were rough and indiscriminate. She remembered the digs around Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, in the Indus Valley, and the careful, patient native laborers—the painstaking foremen, the pickmen and spademen, the long files of basketmen carrying away the earth. Slow and primitive as the civilization whose ruins they were uncovering, yes, but she could count on the fingers of one hand the times one of her pickmen had damaged a valuable object in the ground. If it hadn’t been for the underpaid and uncomplaining native laborer, archaeology would still be back where Wincklemann had found it. But on Mars there was no native labor; the last Martian had died five hundred centuries ago. She started to carry the notebooks and sketchbooks over to where Selim von Ohlmhorst was sitting, and then, as she always did, she turned aside and stopped to watch Sachiko. The Japanese girl was restoring what had been a book, fifty thousand years ago; her eyes were masked by a binocular loup, the black headband invisible against her glossy black hair, and she was picking delicately at the crumbled page with a hair-fine wire set in a handle of copper tubing. Finally, loosening a particle as tiny as a snowflake, she grasped it with tweezers, placed it on the sheet of transparent plastic on which she was reconstructing the page, and set it with a mist of fixate from a little spraygun. It was a sheer joy to watch her; every movement was as graceful and precise as though done to music after being rehearsed a hundred times. “Hello, Martha. It isn’t cocktail-time yet, is it?” The girl at the table spoke without raising her head, almost without moving her lips, as though she were afraid that the slightest breath would disturb the flaky stuff in front of her. “And we don’t. There is no Rosetta Stone, not anywhere on Mars. A whole race, a whole species, died while the first Crò-Magnon cave-artist was daubing pictures of reindeer and bison, and across fifty thousand years and fifty million miles there was no bridge of understanding. “Everything finished, over there?” he asked, releasing a puff of smoke. The last one hadn’t. It had been stripped of its contents and fittings, a piece of this and a bit of that, haphazardly, apparently over a long period of time, until it had been almost gutted. For centuries, as it had died, this city had been consuming itself by a process of auto-cannibalism. She said something to that effect. For an instant, the old man’s face stiffened in disapproval; he started to say something, thought better of it, and put his pipe back into his mouth. The brief wrinkling around his mouth and the twitch of his white mustache had been enough, however; she knew what he was thinking. She was wasting time and effort, he believed; time and effort belonging not to herself but to the expedition. He could be right, too, she realized. But he had to be wrong; there had to be a way to do it. She turned from him silently and went to her own packing-case seat, at the middle of the table. And that was as far as it went. She could pronounce between three and four thousand Martian words, and she couldn’t assign a meaning to one of them. Selim von Ohlmhorst believed that she never would. So did Tony Lattimer, and he was a great deal less reticent about saying so. So, she was sure, did Sachiko Koremitsu. There were times, now and then, when she began to be afraid that they were right. “Is there enough oxygen for anything like that?” Sachiko was asking. He went on talking inaudibly to himself, lifting the page a little at a time and sliding one of the transparent plastic sheets under it, working with minute delicacy. Not the delicacy of the Japanese girl’s small hands, moving like the paws of a cat washing her face, but like a steam-hammer cracking a peanut. Field archaeology requires a certain delicacy of touch, too, but Martha watched the pair of them with envious admiration. Then she turned back to her own work, finishing the table of contents. “None on this side. Wait a moment.” He turned the sheet. “None on this side, either.” He sprayed another sheet of plastic to sandwich the page, then picked up his pipe and relighted it. “We’ll find one.” She was speaking, she realized, more in self-encouragement than in controversy. “Well, of course, if we found something like that,” von Ohlmhorst began. “Michael Ventris found something like that, back in the Fifties,” Hubert Penrose’s voice broke in from directly behind her. She turned her head. The colonel was standing by the archaeologists’ table; Captain Field and the airdyne pilot had gone out. “Don’t tell me Martha finally got something out of that stuff?” he asked, approaching the table. He might have been commenting on the antics of the village half-wit, from his tone. “Yes; the name of one of the Martian months.” Hubert Penrose went on to explain, showing the photostat. For a while, they talked about the building they had just finished exploring, then drifted into reminiscences of their work on Terra—von Ohlmhorst’s in Asia Minor, with the Hittite Empire, and hers in Pakistan, excavating the cities of the Harappa Civilization. They finished their drinks—the ingredients were plentiful; alcohol and flavoring extracts synthesized from Martian vegetation—and von Ohlmhorst took the two glasses to the table for refills. She glanced across the room, to where Tony Lattimer was sitting with Gloria Standish, talking earnestly, while Gloria sipped one of the counterfeit martinis and listened. Gloria was the leading contender for the title of Miss Mars, 1996, if you liked big bosomy blondes, but Tony would have been just as attentive to her if she’d looked like the Wicked Witch in “The Wizard of Oz.” because Gloria was the Pan-Federation Telecast System commentator with the expedition. He hadn’t named Tony Lattimer; Lattimer had been pushed onto the expedition by his university. There’d been a lot of high-level string-pulling to that; she wished she knew the whole story. She’d managed to keep clear of universities and university politics; all her digs had been sponsored by non-academic foundations or art museums. His reputation as the dean of Hittitologists was solid and secure, too, she added mentally. Then she felt ashamed of the thought. He wasn’t to be classed with Tony Lattimer. She and Tony Lattimer and Major Lindemann climbed onto the truck, leaving the jeep stand by the road. When they reached the building, a satisfyingly wide breach had been blown in the wall. Lattimer had placed his shots between two of the windows; they were both blown out along with the wall between, and lay unbroken on the ground. Martha remembered the first building they had entered. A Space Force officer had picked up a stone and thrown it at one of the windows, thinking that would be all they’d need to do. It had bounced back. He had drawn his pistol—they’d all carried guns, then, on the principle that what they didn’t know about Mars might easily hurt them—and fired four shots. The bullets had ricocheted, screaming thinly; there were four coppery smears of jacket-metal on the window, and a little surface spalling. Somebody tried a rifle; the 4000-f.s. bullet had cracked the glasslike pane without penetrating. An oxyacetylene torch had taken an hour to cut the window out; the lab crew, aboard the ship, were still trying to find out just what the stuff was. He stepped down through the breach; the others began dragging equipment out of the trucks—shovels and picks and crowbars and sledges, portable floodlights, cameras, sketching materials, an extension ladder, even Alpinists’ ropes and crampons and pickaxes. Hubert Penrose was shouldering something that looked like a surrealist machine gun but which was really a nuclear-electric jack-hammer. Martha selected one of the spike-shod mountaineer’s ice axes, with which she could dig or chop or poke or pry or help herself over rough footing. “Maybe there were that many. This was a big city, in its prime,” Martha said, moved chiefly by a desire to oppose Lattimer. “Yes, but think of the snafu in the halls, every time they changed classes. It’d take half an hour to get everybody back and forth from one floor to another.” He turned to von Ohlmhorst. “I’m going up above this floor. This place has been looted clean up to here, but there’s a chance there may be something above,” he said. “Well, if nobody else wants it, I’ll take the downstairs,” Martha said. They were clouded with dirt—she was trying to imagine what they must have looked like originally, and at the same time estimating the labor that would be involved in cleaning them—but they were still distinguishable, as was the word, Darfhulva, in golden letters above each of the four sides. It was a moment before she realized, from the murals, that she had at last found a meaningful Martian word. They were a vast historical panorama, clockwise around the room. A group of skin-clad savages squatting around a fire. Hunters with bows and spears, carrying a carcass of an animal slightly like a pig. Nomads riding long-legged, graceful mounts like hornless deer. Peasants sowing and reaping; mud-walled hut villages, and cities; processions of priests and warriors; battles with swords and bows, and with cannon and muskets; galleys, and ships with sails, and ships without visible means of propulsion, and aircraft. Changing costumes and weapons and machines and styles of architecture. A richly fertile landscape, gradually merging into barren deserts and bushlands—the time of the great planet-wide drought. The Canal Builders—men with machines recognizable as steam-shovels and derricks, digging and quarrying and driving across the empty plains with aquaducts. More cities—seaports on the shrinking oceans; dwindling, half-deserted cities; an abandoned city, with four tiny humanoid figures and a thing like a combat-car in the middle of a brush-grown plaza, they and their vehicle dwarfed by the huge lifeless buildings around them. She had not the least doubt; Darfhulva was History. “You can assume they’re authentic. The faculty of this university would insist on authenticity in the Darfhulva—History—Department,” she said. Would he do that! Martha thought. If he had a tail, he’d be wagging it at the very thought. That was true. She hadn’t thought of it, in that way, before, and now she tried not to think about it. She didn’t want to be a big shot. She wanted to be able to read the Martian language, and find things out about the Martians. They found refrigeration rooms, too, and using Martha’s ice axe and the pistollike vibratool Sachiko carried on her belt, they pounded and pried one open, to find dessicated piles of what had been vegetables, and leathery chunks of meat. Samples of that stuff, rocketed up to the ship, would give a reliable estimate, by radio-carbon dating, of how long ago this building had been occupied. The refrigeration unit, radically different from anything their own culture had produced, had been electrically powered. Sachiko and Penrose, poking into it, found the switches still on; the machine had only ceased to function when the power-source, whatever that had been, had failed. “What’s the matter, Ivan?” Sachiko, entering behind him, asked anxiously. Martha crowded through behind her friend and looked around, then stood motionless, dizzy with excitement. Books. Case on case of books, half an acre of cases, fifteen feet to the ceiling. Fitzgerald, and Penrose, who had pushed in behind her, were talking in rapid excitement; she only heard the sound of their voices, not their words. This must be the main stacks of the university library—the entire literature of the vanished race of Mars. In the center, down an aisle between the cases, she could see the hollow square of the librarians’ desk, and stairs and a dumb-waiter to the floor above. She realized that she was walking forward, with the others, toward this. Sachiko was saying: “I’m the lightest; let me go first.” She must be talking about the spidery metal stairs. The upper basement contained kitchens—electric stoves, some with pots and pans still on them—and a big room that must have been, originally, the students’ dining room, though when last used it had been a workshop. As they expected, the library reading room was on the street-level floor, directly above the stacks. It seemed to have been converted into a sort of common living room for the building’s last occupants. An adjoining auditorium had been made into a chemical works; there were vats and distillation apparatus, and a metal fractionating tower that extended through a hole knocked in the ceiling seventy feet above. A good deal of plastic furniture of the sort they had been finding everywhere in the city was stacked about, some of it broken up, apparently for reprocessing. The other rooms on the street floor seemed also to have been devoted to manufacturing and repair work; a considerable industry, along a number of lines, must have been carried on here for a long time after the university had ceased to function as such. “You’ve been working fast. Evidently you aren’t being high-church about a ‘qualified archaeologist’ entering rooms first,” Penrose commented. “But this floor was looted almost clean, and the buildings we’ve entered before were all looted from the street level up,” he said, at length. “You’re not going to insist on making this building into expedition quarters, I hope, colonel?” von Ohlmhorst asked anxiously. “What sort of condition are the generators in?” Penrose asked. The archaeologists, many of the other civilian scientists, a few of the Space Force officers and the two news-correspondents, Sid Chamberlain and Gloria Standish, moved in that evening, setting up cots in vacant rooms. They installed electric stoves and a refrigerator in the old Library Reading Room, and put in a bar and lunch counter. For a few days, the place was full of noise and activity, then, gradually, the Space Force people and all but a few of the civilians returned to their own work. There was still the business of airsealing the more habitable of the buildings already explored, and fitting them up in readiness for the arrival, in a year and a half, of the five hundred members of the main expedition. There was work to be done enlarging the landing field for the ship’s rocket craft, and building new chemical-fuel tanks. There was the work of getting the city’s ancient reservoirs cleared of silt before the next spring thaw brought more water down the underground aquaducts everybody called canals in mistranslation of Schiaparelli’s Italian word, though this was proving considerably easier than anticipated. The ancient Canal-Builders must have anticipated a time when their descendants would no longer be capable of maintenance work, and had prepared against it. By the day after the University had been made completely habitable, the actual work there was being done by Selim, Tony Lattimer and herself, with half a dozen Space Force officers, mostly girls, and four or five civilians, helping. They worked up from the bottom, dividing the floor-surfaces into numbered squares, measuring and listing and sketching and photographing. They packaged samples of organic matter and sent them up to the ship for Carbon-14 dating and analysis; they opened cans and jars and bottles, and found that everything fluid in them had evaporated, through the porosity of glass and metal and plastic if there were no other way. Wherever they looked, they found evidence of activity suddenly suspended and never resumed. A vise with a bar of metal in it, half cut through and the hacksaw beside it. Pots and pans with hardened remains of food in them; a leathery cut of meat on a table, with the knife ready at hand. Toilet articles on washstands; unmade beds, the bedding ready to crumble at a touch but still retaining the impress of the sleeper’s body; papers and writing materials on desks, as though the writer had gotten up, meaning to return and finish in a fifty-thousand-year-ago moment. It worried her. Irrationally, she began to feel that the Martians had never left this place; that they were still around her, watching disapprovingly every time she picked up something they had laid down. They haunted her dreams, now, instead of their enigmatic writing. At first, everybody who had moved into the University had taken a separate room, happy to escape the crowding and lack of privacy of the huts. After a few nights, she was glad when Gloria Standish moved in with her, and accepted the newswoman’s excuse that she felt lonely without somebody to talk to before falling asleep. Sachiko Koremitsu joined them the next evening, and before going to bed, the girl officer cleaned and oiled her pistol, remarking that she was afraid some rust may have gotten into it. The others felt it, too. Selim von Ohlmhorst developed the habit of turning quickly and looking behind him, as though trying to surprise somebody or something that was stalking him. Tony Lattimer, having a drink at the bar that had been improvised from the librarian’s desk in the Reading Room, set down his glass and swore. “You didn’t expect them to be waiting out front, with a red carpet and a big banner, Welcome Terrans, did you, Tony?” Gloria Standish asked. “Did it look as though anybody’d made any attempt to fix it?” Martha asked. “Then why did they barricade everything from the inside, and how did they get out?” Lattimer wanted to know. “Yes, about the time Martha starts reading Martian,” Lattimer scoffed. “Friedrich lived to see the Hittite language deciphered and read,” von Ohlmhorst reminded him. “And, the first day we entered this building, we established meanings for several words,” Selim von Ohlmhorst added. “You could have anything you wanted, in Hittitology. There are a dozen universities that’d sooner have you than a winning football team. But no! You have to be the top man in Martiology, too. You can’t leave that for anybody else—” Lattimer shoved his chair back and got to his feet, leaving the table with an oath that was almost a sob of exasperation. Maybe his feelings were too much for him. Maybe he realized, as Martha did, what he had betrayed. She sat, avoiding the eyes of the others, looking at the ceiling, as embarrassed as though Lattimer had flung something dirty on the table in front of them. Tony Lattimer had, desperately, wanted Selim to go home on the Cyrano. Martiology was a new field; if Selim entered it, he would bring with him the reputation he had already built in Hittitology, automatically stepping into the leading role that Lattimer had coveted for himself. Ivan Fitzgerald’s words echoed back to her—when you want to be a big shot, you can’t bear the possibility of anybody else being a bigger big shot. His derision of her own efforts became comprehensible, too. It wasn’t that he was convinced that she would never learn to read the Martian language. He had been afraid that she would. Ivan Fitzgerald finally isolated the germ that had caused the Finchley girl’s undiagnosed illness. Shortly afterward, the malady turned into a mild fever, from which she recovered. Nobody else seemed to have caught it. Fitzgerald was still trying to find out how the germ had been transmitted. Bill Chandler, the zoologist, had been going deeper and deeper into the old sea bottom of Syrtis. Four hundred miles from Kukan, and at fifteen thousand feet lower altitude, he shot a bird. At least, it was a something with wings and what were almost but not quite feathers, though it was more reptilian than avian in general characteristics. He and Ivan Fitzgerald skinned and mounted it, and then dissected the carcass almost tissue by tissue. About seven-eights of its body capacity was lungs; it certainly breathed air containing at least half enough oxygen to support human life, or five times as much as the air around Kukan. That took the center of interest away from archaeology, and started a new burst of activity. All the expedition’s aircraft—four jetticopters and three wingless airdyne reconnaissance fighters—were thrown into intensified exploration of the lower sea bottoms, and the bio-science boys and girls were wild with excitement and making new discoveries on each flight. Martha remembered the closed door; on the first survey, they hadn’t attempted opening it. Now it was burned away at both sides and lay, still hot along the edges, on the floor of the big office room in front. A floodlight was on in the room inside, and Lattimer was going around looking at things while a Space Force officer stood by the door. The center of the room was filled by a long table; in armchairs around it sat the eighteen men and women who had occupied the room for the last fifty millennia. There were bottles and glasses on the table in front of them, and, had she seen them in a dimmer light, she would have thought that they were merely dozing over their drinks. One had a knee hooked over his chair-arm and was curled in foetuslike sleep. Another had fallen forward onto the table, arms extended, the emerald set of a ring twinkling dully on one finger. Skeletons covered with leather, Gloria Standish had called them, and so they were—faces like skulls, arms and legs like sticks, the flesh shrunken onto the bones under it. Sid and Gloria made the most of it. The Terran public wanted to hear about Martians, and if live Martians couldn’t be found, a room full of dead ones was the next best thing. Maybe an even better thing; it had been only sixty-odd years since the Orson Welles invasion-scare. Tony Lattimer, the discoverer, was beginning to cash in on his attentions to Gloria and his ingratiation with Sid; he was always either making voice-and-image talks for telecast or listening to the news from the home planet. Without question, he had become, overnight, the most widely known archaeologist in history. The lab man, Mort Tranter, was willing. Seeing the sights was what he’d come down from the ship for. She finished her coffee and cigarette, and they went out into the hall together, gathered equipment and rode the elevator to the fifth floor. The lecture hall door was the nearest; they attacked it first. With proper equipment and help, it was no problem and in ten minutes they had it open wide enough to squeeze through with the floodlights. The room inside was quite empty, and, like most of the rooms behind closed doors, comparatively free from dust. The students, it appeared, had sat with their backs to the door, facing a low platform, but their seats and the lecturer’s table and equipment had been removed. The two side walls bore inscriptions: on the right, a pattern of concentric circles which she recognized as a diagram of atomic structure, and on the left a complicated table of numbers and words, in two columns. Tranter was pointing at the diagram on the right. “That’s a uranium atom,” Captain Miles mentioned. Ninety-two! That was it; there were ninety-two items in the table on the left wall! Hydrogen was Number One, she knew; One, Sarfaldsorn. Helium was Two; that was Tirfaldsorn. She couldn’t remember which element came next, but in Martian it was Sarfalddavas. Sorn must mean matter, or substance, then. And davas; she was trying to think of what it could be. She turned quickly to the others, catching hold of Hubert Penrose’s arm with one hand and waving her clipboard with the other. They all turned to look. Mort Tranter stared at it for a moment. That was right; he’d spent his time aboard the ship. “Sure. If that’s a table of elements, all I’d need would be the numbers. Thanks,” he added as she tore off the sheet and gave it to him. She began reading off the names of the elements. “I know hydrogen and helium; what’s tirfalddavas, the third one? Sid Chamberlain had been disgruntled because he couldn’t get a story about the Martians having developed atomic energy. It took him a few minutes to understand the newest development, but finally it dawned on him. That’s right; it’s Krav, Trav. Why, the names of the months are simply numbers, one to ten, spelled out. Sid Chamberlain had been squirming as though he were afflicted with ants, trying to contain himself. Now he let go with an excited jabber. Sachiko Koremitsu peeped in through the door, then stepped inside. “Important?” Sid Chamberlain exploded. “Look at that, Sachi! We’re reading it! Martha’s found out how to read Martian!” He grabbed Captain Miles by the arm. “Come on, Jeff; let’s go. I want to call the others—” He was still babbling as he hurried from the room. She had to start explaining again when Selim von Ohlmhorst entered. This time, she was able to finish. Tranter and Penrose and Sachiko all looked at him in amazement. Tony Lattimer, coming in, caught the last part of the explanation. He looked quickly at the walls and, having found out just what had happened, advanced and caught Martha by the hand. He probably expected that to erase all the jibes and sneers of the past. If he did, he could have it that way. His friendship would mean as little to her as his derision—except that his friends had to watch their backs and his knife. But he was going home on the Cyrano, to be a big shot. Or had this changed his mind for him again? On Terra, her back and his knife would be out of her watchfulness. 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2019-04-25T05:04:35Z

https://mgherron.com/2019/02/sci-fi-short-story-omnilingual-h-beam-piper/

نجف نژاد, بهروز, علی‌عربی, حسن, طباطبایی, محمد مهدی, تقی زاده, اکبر, علیپور, داریوش, زابلی, خلیل. (1395). اثر منابع مختلف سلنیوم بر فراسنجه های خونی و پاسخ آنتی اکسیدانی گاوهای شیری هلشتاین. پژوهش های علوم دامی (دانش کشاورزی), 26(2), 45-57. بهروز نجف نژاد; حسن علی‌عربی; محمد مهدی طباطبایی; اکبر تقی زاده; داریوش علیپور; خلیل زابلی. "اثر منابع مختلف سلنیوم بر فراسنجه های خونی و پاسخ آنتی اکسیدانی گاوهای شیری هلشتاین". پژوهش های علوم دامی (دانش کشاورزی), 26, 2, 1395, 45-57. نجف نژاد, بهروز, علی‌عربی, حسن, طباطبایی, محمد مهدی, تقی زاده, اکبر, علیپور, داریوش, زابلی, خلیل. (1395). 'اثر منابع مختلف سلنیوم بر فراسنجه های خونی و پاسخ آنتی اکسیدانی گاوهای شیری هلشتاین', پژوهش های علوم دامی (دانش کشاورزی), 26(2), pp. 45-57. نجف نژاد, بهروز, علی‌عربی, حسن, طباطبایی, محمد مهدی, تقی زاده, اکبر, علیپور, داریوش, زابلی, خلیل. اثر منابع مختلف سلنیوم بر فراسنجه های خونی و پاسخ آنتی اکسیدانی گاوهای شیری هلشتاین. پژوهش های علوم دامی (دانش کشاورزی), 1395; 26(2): 45-57. زمینه مطالعاتی: سلنیوم جایگاه ویژه­ای در بین آنتی­اکسیدان­های طبیعی دارد و از اکسیداسیون ساختار­های سلولی جلوگیری می­کند. هدف:این آزمایش به منظور بررسی اثر منابع مختلف سلنیوم بر فراسنجه­های خون و پاسخ آنتی اکسیدانی در گاو­های شیری هلشتاین تغذیه شده با جیره­های غنی از چربی انجام شد. روشکار: 12 راس گاو هلشتاین با میانگین تولید 4±40 کیلوگرم شیر در روز در قالب طرح مربع لاتین ادغام شده ناقص با 4 تیمار و3 تکرار به ازای هر تیمار، مورد استفاده قرار گرفتند. آزمایش در 3 دوره 28 روزه با 4 تیمار شامل: 1) جیره پایه محتوی 20% پنبه دانه بدون مکمل سلنیوم؛ 2) جیره پایه + 3/0 قسمت در میلیون سلنیوم معدنی، سلنیت سدیم؛ 3) جیره پایه +3/0 قسمت در میلیون سلنیوم آلی، مخمر غنی از سلنیوم و 4) جیره پایه +3/0 قسمت در میلیون نانو سلنیوم) اجرا شد. میزان تولید شیر ثبت شد و در روز­های صفر و پایانی­ هر دوره، نمونه­گیری از خون انجام شد. نتایج: نتایج نشان داد که افزودن سلنیوم اگرچه تغییری در مصرف ماده خشک ایجاد نکرد اما باعث افزایش تولید شیر و شیر تصحیح شده برای 4 درصد چربی شد (05/0P<)، افزودن سلنیوم به جیره تأثیری بر غلظت گلوکز، ازت اوره­ای، کراتنین، پروتئین تام، آلبومین و گلوبولین خون گاو­های شیری نداشت. استفاده از سلنیوم بویژه نوع آلی و نانو آن موجب کاهش غلظت متابولیت­های چربی و فعالیت آنزیم­­های آلکالین فسفاتاز و آسپارتات آمینوترانسفراز سرم و افزایش ظرفیت آنتی­اکسیدانی خون گاو­های شیری شد (05/0P<). نتیجه گیرینهایی :بطور کلی نتایج این مطالعه نشان داد که افزودن 3/0 قسمت در میلیون سلنیوم به جیره­های حاوی سطوح بالایی از منابع چربی غیر اشباع باعث کاهش معنی­دار غلظت چربی­های مضر سرم و افزایش فعالیت آنتی­اکسیدانی آن می­شود، که بازتاب آن در بهبود توان تولیدی گاو­ها مشاهده میشود. BACKGROUND: Selenium has a special place in the natural antioxidants and prevents the oxidation of cell structures. OBJECTIVES:This experiment was conducted in order to investigate the effects of different sources of selenium on blood parameters and antioxidant response in Holstein dairy cows fed fat rich diets. METHODS: Twelve Holstein cows with average milk production of 40±4kg were used in merged incomplete Latin squares design with 4 treatments and 3 repeats in each treatment. The experiment was designed and conducted in 3 periods of 28 days and 4 treatments including; group 1 (basal diet containing 20% cottonseed meal, without selenium supplement), group 2 (basal diet+ 0.3 ppm inorganic selenium, as sodium selenite), group 3 (basal diet+0.3 ppm organic selenium, as selenised yeast) and group 4 (basal diet+0.3 ppm selenium, as nano selenium). At the first and last days of each period, blood samples were collected and milk production was also recorded. RESULTS:The results showed that however adding different selenium sources to the diets had no effect on dry mater intake; it increased milk and 4% FCM production. Selenium supplementation did not affect blood glucose concentration, urinary nitrogen, ceratenin, total protein, albumin and globulin concentrations of dairy cows. Selenium supplementaition, specialy organic and nano selenium, significantly decreased concentration of serum fat metabolites and activity of Alkaline phosphatase and Aspartate Amino Transferase activity (p<0.05) and increased blood total antioxidant capacity. CONCLUSIONS:Overall results of the present study showed that supplementation of 0.3 ppm selenium to the diet containing high level of unsaturated fat decreased concentration of serum harmful fats and increased antioxidant capacity of serum which is reflected in improved milk production of the cows. Abd ElGhany Hefnawy JL and Tortora P, 2010. The importance of selenium and the effects of its deficiency in animal health. Small Ruminant Research 89:185-192. Alimohamady R, Aliarabi H, Bahari AA and Dezfoulian AH, 2013. Influence of Different Amounts and Sources of Selenium Supplementation on Performance, Some Blood Parameters, and Nutrient Digestibility in Lambs. Biological Trace Element Research 154: 45–54. Aldrich CG, Merchen NR. Drackley JK, Gonzalez SS, FaheyJr GC and Berger LL, 1997. The effects of chemical treatment of whole canola seed on lipid and protein digestion by steers. Journal of Animal Science 75:502–511. Andrew P, DeFilippis MD, Laurence S, Sperling MD and Atlanta GA, 2006. Understanding omega-3′s. American Heart Journal 151:564–570. AOAC, 1990. Official Methods of Analysis (15th ed.). Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Inc., Washington, D.C., USA. Awadeh FT, Kincaid RL and Johnson KA, 1998. Effect of level and sources of dietary selenium on concentrations of thyroid hormones and immunoglobulin in beef cows and calves. Journal of Animal Science 76: 1204-1215. Benzie IF and Strain JJ, 1996. The ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) as a measure of ‘‘antioxidant power’’: The FRAP assay. Analytical Biochemistry 239: 70–76. Chen YT, Zhang W, Fan YQ, Xu XQ and Zhang ZX, 2006. Hydrothermal preparation of selenium nanorods. Materials Chemistry and Physics 98: 191–194. Davis PA, McDowell LR, Wilkinson NS, Buergelt CD, Van Alstyne R, Weldon RN, Marshall TT and Matsuda-Fugisaki EY, 2008. Comparative effects of various dietary levels of Se as sodium selenite or Se yeast on blood, wool, and tissue Se concentrations of wether sheep. Small Ruminant Research 74:149-158. Dominguez-Vara IA, Gonzalez-Munoz SS, Pinos-Rodriguez JM, Borquez-Gastelum JL, Barcena-Gama R, Mendoza-Martinez G, Zapata LE and Landois-Palencia LL, 2009. Effects of feeding selenium-yeast and chromium-yeast to finishing lambs on growth, carcass characteristics, and blood hormones and metabolites. Animal Feed Science and Technology 152: 42-49. Ebrahimi M, Towhidi A and Nikkhah A, 2009. Effect of organic selenium (sel-plex) on thermo metabolism, blood chemical composition and weight gain in Holstein suckling calves. Asian-Australian Journal of Animal Science 7: 984-992. Faixova Z, Faix S, Leng L, Vaczi P, Makova Z and Szaboova R, 2007. Hematological, blood and rumen chemistry changes in lambs following supplementation with Se-yeast. Acta Veterinaria Brno 76: 3-8. Flavio ST, Heloisa RM, William TW, Jose SE-P and Charles SR, 2007. Effect of selenium source on production, reproduction, and immunity of lactating dairy cows. January 30-31, 2007. Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium. Best Western Gateway Grand. Gainesville, FL. Gabryszuk M, Czauderna M, Baranowski A, Strzałkowska N, Jozwik A and Krzyzewski J, 2007. The effect of diet supplementation with Se, Zn and vitamin E on cholesterol, CLA and fatty acid contents of meat and liver of lambs. Animal Science Paper and Report 1:25-33. Gonzales-Eguia A, Fu CM, Lu FL and Lien TF, 2009. Effects of nanocopper on copper availability and nutrients digestibility, growth performance and serum traits of piglets. Livestock Science 126: 122–129. Holben DH, Smith AM, Ilich JZ, Landoll JD, Holcomb JP and Matkovic V, 2002. Selenium intakes, absorption, retention, and status in adolescent girls. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 102: 1082–1087. Iizuka Y, Sakurai E and Tanaka Y, 2001. Effect of selenium on serum, hepatic and lipoprotein lipids concentration in rats fed on a high-cholesterol diet. Yakugaku Zasshi 121(1):93-96. Juniper DT, Phipps RH, Jones AK and Bertin G, 2006. Selenium supplementation of lactating cows: effect on selenium concentration in blood, milk, urine, and feces. Journal of Dairy Sci 89: 3544–3551. Juniper DT, Phipps RH, Ramos-Morales E and Bertin G, 2008. Effect of dietary supplementation with selenium-enriched yeast or sodium selenite on selenium tissue distribution and meat quality in beef cattle. Journal of Animal Science 86(11):3100–3109. Kanchana G and Jeyanthi GP, 2010. The effect of supplementation of diet with vitamin E and selenium and their combinations on the performance and lipid profiles of layer chicken. International Journal of Pharma and Bio Science 1:1-11. Kojouri GA, Sadeghian S, Mohebbi A and Mokhber Dezfouli MR, 2011. The Effects of Oral Consumption of Selenium Nanoparticles on Chemo tactic and Respiratory Burst Activities of Neutrophils in Comparison with Sodium Selenite in Sheep. Biological Trace Element Research 146:160–166. Kumar M, Garg AK, Dass RS, Chaturvedi VK, Mudgal V and Varshney VP, 2009. Selenium supplementation influences growth performance, antioxidant status and immune response in lambs. Animal Feed Science and Technology 153:77-87. Larsen HJ, 1993. Relationship between selenium and immunity. Journal of Agricaltural Science 11:105-119. Lubojaka V, Pechova A, Dvoak R, Drastic P, Kummer V and Poul J, 2005. Liver Steatosis Following Supplementation with Fat in Dairy Cow Diets. Acta Veterinaria Brno 74: 217–224. Mohri M, Ehsani A, Norouzian MA, Heidarpour M and Seifi HA, 2011. Parenteral selenium and vitamin E supplementation to lambs: hematology, serum biochemistry, performance, and relationship with other trace elements. Biological Trace Element Research 139:308-316. NRC, 2001. Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cows. 7th edn. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC. Pechová A, 1992. Diagnostics and prevention of lipomobilization syndrome in postpartum dairy cows (in Czech). Ph.D. Thesis, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Brno, 170 p. Pechova A, Sevcikova L, Pavlata L and Dvorak R, 2012. The effect of various forms of selenium supplied to pregnant goats on selected blood parameters and on the concentration of Se in urine and blood of kids at the time of weaning. Journal of Veterinary Medicine 57: 394–403. Pearson DJ, 1993. Effects of selenium status and glutathione peroxidase activity in north-west England. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 44(4): 277-83. Qu X, Huang K, Deng L and Xu H, 2000. Selenium deficiency-induced alternations in the vascular system of the rat. Biological Trace Element Research 75:119-128. Rowntree JE, Hill GM, Hawkins DR, Link JE, Rincker MJ, Bednar GW, and Kreft JRA, 2004. Effect of Se on selenoprotein activity and thyroid hormone metabolism in beef and dairy cows and calves. Journal of Animal Science 82: 2995-3005. Shahsavari K, Daneshyar M, Kermanshahi H, and Golian AG, 2008. Does ascites affect the weight of internal organs in broilers? Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science 246- 274. SAS Institute, 2004. SAS/STAT User’s Guide. Release. 9.1. SAS Inst., Inc., Cary, NC. Schrauzer GN, 2000. Selenomethionine: a review of its nutritional significance, metabolism and toxicity. Journal of Nutrition 130: 1653-1656. Segalés J, Allan GM and Domingo M, 2005. Porcine circovirus diseases. Animal Health Research Reviews 6:119–142. Shi LG, Xun WJ, Yue WB, Zhang CX, Ren YS, Liu Q, Wang Q and Shi L, 2011. Effect of elemental nano-selenium on feed digestibility, rumen fermentation, and purine derivatives in sheep. Animal Feed Science and Technology 163:136–142. Shinde PL, Dass RS and Garg AK, 2009. Effect of vitamin E and selenium supplementation on hematology, blood chemistry and thyroid hormones in male buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) calves. Journal of Animal and Feed Science 18:241-256. Shiota M, Konishi H, Tatsumi K, 1999. Oxidative stability of fish oil blended with butter. Journal of Dairy Science 82:1877–81. Shuang YB, Zhu WQ, Sheng HX, jun FL, Jing-ji L and Yong-zhen C, 2012. Effect of Se-yeast on Anti-oxidation ability in blood and milk secretion Performance of Dairy Cows. Asian Pacific Conference on Environmental Science and Technology Advances in Biomedical Engineering, Vol.6. Slavik P, Illek J, Brix M, Hlavicova J, Rajmon R and Jilek F, 2008. Influence of organic versus inorganic dietary selenium supplementation on the concentration of selenium in colostrums, milk and blood of beef cows. Acta Veterinary Scandinavica 50(1): 43. Surai PF, 2002. Selenium in poultry nutrition. Antioxidant properties, deficiency and toxicity. Worlds Poultry Science journal 58:333-347. Tanaka Y, Sakurai E and Lizuka Y, 2001. Effect of selenium on serum, hepatic and lipoprotein lipids concentration in rats fed on a high-cholesterol diet. Yakugaku Zasshi 121(1):93-96. Vansoest PJ, Robertson JB and Lewis BA, 1991. Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber and non-starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science 74:3583-3592. 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Engineering glutathione transferase to a novel glutathione peroxidase mimic with high catalytic efficiency. Journal of Biological Chemistry 280:11930–11935. Zhang JS, Gao XY, Zhang LD and Bao YP, 2001. Biological effects of a nano red elemental selenium. BioFactors 15: 27–38.

2019-04-21T08:55:58Z

https://animalscience.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_5095.html

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the best posts of the week in blogging, business, freelancing, SEO, and social media on kikolani.com. Here are some of the best articles I have seen on Google+, retweeted on @kikolani, and read in RSS subscriptions this week. 10 Free Tools Every Business Blogger Should Bookmark – Explore the free tools out there that will help you be better at business blogging and content creation. Facebook For WordPress: All The Juicy Details And How To Install It – Facebook for WordPress Plugin is the easiest and most complete method of integrating Facebook into your blog and the new cross-platform features. Are You Just Another Dumb Blogger? Fox News interviewed a few attendees and exhibitors at the event, then they put together a fun little sketch for the show. Instead of focusing on the benefits of what BlogWorld has accomplished over the years, and the potential in making a side income and business through internet marketing and blogging, they decided to “spin” the story in a slightly different direction. 7 Ways to Increase Your Blog Visibility With Social Sharing – How to make your content more shareable and drive traffic to your blog. Why News-Style WordPress Themes Are a Bad Idea for Some Bloggers – As bloggers, the theme we use plays a huge role in our brand. It changes the way people perceive you. It changes the way people interact with your content. Getting Your Employees Together – What Works, What Doesn’t – A look at common office activities from the perspective of an introverted employee. 8 Great Examples of Personal Domain Names in Action – After seeing some of the examples below I think you will agree that using your FirstNameLastName.com or a variation to “brand yourself” with an online calling card should definitely at the top of your to do list. The Right Way To Use Groupon And Living Social For Your Business – The main goal of Groupon and Living Social is to provide mass exposure for your business and hopefully establish some new repeat customers. But the problem with most businesses is that they don’t realize this fact when they jump in bed with a mass couponing service. 4 Ways to Create Content That Sells – How to create blog content that increases sales. Learn how to teach with story and sell with subtleness. 5 Psychological Master Keys That Will Open The Doors to More Sales – How great would it feel if you made five simple tweaks to your business, and saw an immediate sales increase? The 13 Business Bloggers All Freelance Writers Should Read to Earn More – Here is a list of the inspiring, useful business bloggers whose advice helps me make my business better. These bloggers cover a range of topics, from blog design to Internet marketing to social media and more. 7 Ways to Use Your Blog to Attract New Freelance Clients – Your blog can be a powerful tool for attracting and signing new clients for your freelance business. Like every part of your marketing, it pays to invest the time needed to publish a blog that shows your skills in the best possible light. The Five Stages of Working with Freelance Clients – As a freelancer, it’s important to understand each of these relationship stages so that you can avoid address the challenges that arise in each stage. Your client relationships are key to your success as a freelancer. How to Write a Letter of Introduction That Will Impress Editors and Get You More Freelance Writing Gigs – I get a lot of questions about LOIs, so I decided to create this primer on one of the most valuable marketing tools in a freelance writer’s arsenal. Don’t Be a One Trick Pony – You can’t just be a writer or a photographer for a living anymore—you have to have some sort of working knowledge of many different skills, like blogging, crafting a press release, social media marketing, long-form writing, Photoshop. Every little bit helps. Especially when you are a freelancer. The 5 Most Common Mistakes Productive People Make – Robert Chen lists off the 5 most common mistakes that productive people make. How many of them do you make yourself? 9 Powerful Life Lessons from Studying with a Monk – During my time studying with a monk, I healed myself of anxiety and stomach problems and learned 9 powerful life lessons. How to Put Your Intuition into Practice – What is Intuition and how to decide intuitively: A book review and interview with Angela Artemis on The Intuition Principle. The Need to Zoom Out and Get Some Perspective – Is what you are doing today going to matter down the road? Is what you are working on truly important in the big scheme of things? We often get so focused on our current tasks, that we lose sight of where we are and where we are going. 10 Feel Good Thoughts for a Bad Day – What words might I post on this blog to inspire them, and to remind them that, even on the toughest of days, our hearts all beat for these same things? A Look at the Changes from Google Places to Google+ Local – If you are a local business owner or marketer, you need to know about the changes Google has made from Google Places to Google+ Local Pages. How Much Do Social Signals Play Into Google Rankings? If there’s been one thing that tends to get me going, it’s when people in the industry start talking about social signals. In particular, Google using them as a ranking factor. Is this truly the case? Or do a lot of folks have it wrong? Or is the answer a bit more complex? Identifying Link Penalties in 2012 – Site owners often are not immediately aware they have been penalized. They notice a drop in traffic or rankings, then begin to investigate the issue. So how do you really know if your site has been penalized? Once you know you have been penalized, how can you figure out the cause and fix it? 14 Free Traffic Strategies for 2012 that DON’T Depend on Google – The Google Penguin Update has killed many affiliate websites. Now, many marketers wonder how to get more web traffic. This post details 14 proven free traffic generation strategies that avoid relying on search engines. 10 Ways to Use Images for Link Building – The great thing about using images for marketing is that it’s one of the most efficient ways to build brand recognition and acquire natural mentions/links to a website, seeing that it can easily stimulate interest to its audience (particularly if the image is really compelling and/or visually appealing), and is very easy to disseminate. How To Use The 15 Facebook Ad Targeting Options – Let’s review all of the targeting criteria available to us when creating a Facebook ad. This is an important step in understanding how to make Facebook ads work for our businesses. A Simple Cheat Sheet for Using Pinterest for Marketing – Reference this cheat sheet for Pinterest marketing to ensure you don’t make and serious faux pas on the visual social network. URL Shorteners and Analytics: Which Ones Deliver Results? A closer look at three of the best URL shortener services and how their analytics compare. Do You Have a Long-Term Social Media Marketing Plan? Let’s take a closer look at how some social media campaigns have created entirely new spinoffs that help reinforce the brand’s message over the long term – and what you can learn from their success. The 5 Ways You Stink At LinkedIn – If you do any of these five things, you might want to re-consider your LinkedIn strategy. I’ve Got a Baby Blogger on Board! For those who missed my big announcement yesterday on Facebook and Twitter, I’m happy to report that one of our biggest goals for 2012 has been achieved. My husband Jason Hines and I are expecting our first bundle of joy this December. One of the questions that came up in the comments a few times was whether there would be a related blog. The answer: of course! I have always had a little personal blog that I have updated off and on since 2008. And now, I plan to gear it in the direction of a mommy blog. Be warned: there might be some TMI posts in regards to the joys of pregnancy and the things to come. But there will also be stories of my journey to motherhood plus some product reviews of things I have been using along the way. It’s amazing how many new things I’ve learned in a short amount of time! This week’s top photo comes from Yosemite National Park. A small waterfall along the trail to Mirror Lake created some interesting foamy swirls. Be sure to check out Jason Hines’ photography blog and Arizona wedding photography website for more photos. Also, be sure to follow him on Twitter @jasonphines or Google+! Don’t Miss Out on Fetching Fridays! Be sure to catch the weekly roundups by subscribing to Kikolani’s full feed via RSS or email. Or subscribe directly to Fetching Friday only via RSS or email.

2019-04-23T20:19:36Z

https://kikolani.com/fetching-friday-resources-mashup-baby-blogger-on-board/

Our team cleaned up flooding at this Green Bay area nursing home. Flooding and water damage events at Green Bay area commercial properties are often complex with numerous issues that require a knowledgeable and flexible response. Whether we’re dealing with a relatively small water cleanup scenario or a large scale event, we work quickly to assess each unique situation and isolate the damaged area. In many instances, normal operations can continue in a temporary space while we restore your facility. SERVPRO of West Brown County specializes in the cleanup and restoration of commercial and residential property after a water damage event. Our staff is highly trained in property damage restoration. From initial and ongoing training at SERVPRO’s corporate training facility to regular IICRC-industry certification, rest assured our staff is equipped with the knowledge to restore your property. Our team cleaned up this Green Bay area home after a severe fire. Call Us Today – 920-434-8224. Green Bay area residents: we provide immediate service day or night! We helped clean up this commercial property after flooding in the Green Bay area. SERVPRO of West Brown County provides 24-hour emergency service and is dedicated to being faster to any-sized disaster in the Green Bay area. We can respond immediately to your emergency and have the expertise to handle your restoration or cleaning needs. There's never a convenient time for fire or Water damage to strike your Green Bay area commercial property. Every hour spent cleaning up is an hour of lost revenue and productivity. So when the need arises for professional cleaning or emergency restoration services we have the training and expertise to respond promptly with highly trained technicians to get your property back to business. When Storms or Floods hit the Green Bay area, SERVPRO is ready! This photo shows storm damage our team helped clean up in the Green Bay area. SERVPRO of West Brown County specializes in storm and flood damage restoration. Our crews are highly trained and we use specialized equipment to restore your property to its pre-storm condition. When storms hit the Green Bay area, we can scale our resources to handle a large storm or flooding disaster. We can access equipment and personnel from a network of 1,650 Franchises across the country and elite Disaster Recovery Teams that are strategically located throughout the United States. Have Storm or Flood Damage? Call Us Today 920-434-8224. SERVPRO of West Brown County knows what to do if mold grows in your home. Mold growth in the crawl space of a Green Bay area home. If you suspect mold in your home, call SERVPRO of West Brown County to assess the situation. We have the knowledge, tools and track record to effectively remediate mold in your home or business. If you suspect mold, call us today at 920-499-7050. Contact SERVPRO of West Brown County for mold remediation services. Green Bay Area Residents: We Specialize in Flooded Basement Cleanup and Restoration! This basement in the Green Bay area flooded after snowmelt sent water gushing into the basement windows. The bottom line: a flooded basement can jeopardize your health, safety, and your home’s integrity. It’s worth making a call to SERVPRO of West Brown County and let our trained, professional crews handle the situation safely and correctly. We have earned the trust of hundreds of homeowners, business owners, and property professionals. Basement Flooded? Call Us Today – We’re Ready To Help 920-434-8224. Flooding photo courtesy of the National Weather Service. Did you know all 50 states have experienced floods or flash floods in the last five years? That’s according to floodsmart.gov. The National Weather Service (NWS) says flooding is one of the most common and widespread natural disasters in the United States. Flooding can happen anywhere, even if you don’t live in a flood zone, or on a body of water, a flood can hit your home or business and cause serious damage. According to the NWS, about 75% of all Presidential disaster declarations are associated with flooding. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) says floods cost $3.5 billion in annual losses nationwide each year, with commercial flood claims averaging more than $75,000. Long story short: floods happen a lot, causing a lot of damage, costing a lot of money. Obviously, we don’t face all those hazards here in the Green Bay area. We do face some of them though, and spring is a notoriously bad time for flooding around here. So, Team SERVPRO of West Brown County advises homeowners out there to be aware that flooding is possible and take steps to prevent it. We advise the same for business owners. Our team is also able to go a step further for businesses by performing an Emergency READY Profile, or ERP, to ensure your commercial property is “Ready for whatever happens,” including flooding. Call us any time with questions about flooding, water loss restoration and ERP’s at 920-434-8224. When disasters strike anywhere in the nation, you can almost always count on the fact volunteers from the American Red Cross will mobilize there to help with recovery. The United States honors the organization every year when the President declares March National Red Cross Month. The American Red Cross was founded in 1881 and is a charitable organization that relies on donations and volunteers to carry out their mission. Red Cross volunteers travel near and far to help people who’ve been affected by natural disasters like fires, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. The organization is also well known for other work like collecting blood donations, offering military families support and training for certifications in fields like CPR, lifeguarding and first aid. The American Red Cross is part of the Global Red Cross Network, which is the world’s largest volunteer network. There are Red Cross organizations in 187 individual countries. This month, we honor those Red Cross volunteers who help carry out the organization’s mission. They are “everyday heroes,” who are making the world a better place. For more information on the Red Cross and how you can get involved, you can visit redcross.org. Team SERVPRO of West Brown County is "Faster to Any Size Disaster" Well, to be fair, this is a saying the ENTIRE SERVPRO franchise system lives by, but that fact only adds to the importance of the overall message: no matter where you are, if you need our help, we will be there for you ASAP. If your home floods in the middle of the night, or you have a business fire on a holiday and need board up services, we will be there for you. There is always someone to answer our phones, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If you have an emergency, we always have a team of highly-trained, expert technicians on call. They will come to you when you need them for any disaster large or small. And because SERVPRO itself is a large system, with more than 1,700 franchises nationwide, we can be there when needed for large-scale disasters as well. If a natural disaster causes widespread damage across the Green Bay area, our team will be there to help, but we can also call on other teams from around the country to come in and help as well. We are able to share manpower and equipment when the situation is dire. In that same way, our local techs will sometimes go to other areas to help out when there’s a great need. The goal is to help people get their lives back to normal as quickly as possible, while providing the very best service. Don’t forget, we offer help for cleanup after floods, fires, storms, mold and biohazard events. We can help with disasters large and small, because we know what even a “small issue” can seem very large when you’re the one living through it. If you’re a Northeast Wisconsinite we don’t have to tell you the weather this winter has been a bit, shall we say, crazy? We’ve experienced snow storms one day, sub zero temps the next, temperatures rising to the forties, snow melting, freezing and falling again. It’s enough to make your head spin! February has been particularly bad in terms of snow storms. It’s as if we barely shovel out from one storm and the next has already begun. While Wisconsinites are no strangers to the season, the wintry weather can pose serious challenges to your home or business. Your property can be damaged by the heavy snow, winds and water that come with the rapid changes in weather. This blog contains a few reminders about the hazards of the season and what you can do to prevent any damage. First off, frozen, bursting pipes are a big concern as temperatures rise and fall rapidly. Pipes are likely to freeze when the temperatures drop below 20 degrees and Team SERVPRO of West Brown County has answered MANY calls for flooding thanks to frozen pipes over the last few weeks. Pipes are more likely to freeze if they are not insulated and if they are in colder areas of your home or business, like the basement, or even outside. So, now is the time to make sure you’re keeping those pipes warm, running water through them or insulating them if need-be. If you notice water pressure dropping, that’s a sign a pipe is in trouble. Take care of it immediately, because the damage a burst pipe causes can be very serious. We’ve also warned you about ice dams and now is a good time to remind you about those. Ice dams form on your roof when snow melts on your warmer attic and then freezes on your colder gutters and eaves. Those frozen dams can damage your roof and gutters and/or push water into your home, causing flood damage. One good way to prevent ice dams is to use a snow rake to pull ice and snow off your roof before it has the chance to cause any damage. That brings us to our third reminder, snow itself can simply become too heavy as it builds up and cause your roof to crack, lose shingles, or even collapse. A snow raking will help prevent this too! Some winter storms come with high winds, which can obviously pose problems to your properties. Whether the wind causes direct damage to your home or business, or sends debris like tree limbs into your home or business, there is the potential for issues there. And finally, when the temperatures rise again, all the snow we’ve gotten (and continue to get!) will melt and that extra water has to go somewhere. Six inches of snow will create about one inch of water once melted and that can cause trouble. The excess water can make lakes and rivers rise, which can cause flooding. The water can also make its way into your basement all on its own. So, now is a good time to make sure your sump pump is working. You can also work to clear the snow from around your foundation before it melts and make sure your gutters are clear and draining away from your home or business! Team SERVPRO of West Brown County cleaned up a lot of flooded basements in the Green Bay area when we had those few days of rain and snowmelt a few weeks back. We know how fast damage can happen, so if you can take a few steps to prevent that damage, it’s definitely a good idea. However, if something goes wrong and you need our help thanks to old man winter, we are here for you. Call us 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 920-434-8224. 4/3/2019 - Green Bay area residents: we provide immediate service day or night! 3/27/2019 - When Storms or Floods hit the Green Bay area, SERVPRO is ready! 3/20/2019 - SERVPRO of West Brown County knows what to do if mold grows in your home. 3/13/2019 - Green Bay Area Residents: We Specialize in Flooded Basement Cleanup and Restoration! 2/26/2019 - Team SERVPRO of West Brown County is "Faster to Any Size Disaster"

2019-04-25T08:45:51Z

https://www.servprowestbrowncounty.com/blog/

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2019-04-22T01:14:15Z

http://surayeswipe.com/privacy-policy/

In the development of illumination systems, many factors complicate the designer's job. Design software not only is making it easier, but also is shortening the design cycle. From cell phones to automotive dashboards, illuminated displays have become commonplace. Historically, they were designed with rudimentary software tools, and, consequently, many prototype iterations were required. But in the past decade, the explosive growth in the market has fueled the development of software packages specifically constructed for illumination system design. These programs rely on ray tracing. They propagate light rays through-out the system and take into account such issues as refraction, reflection and scattering at each interface and medium. Because conventional optical design programs also use ray tracing, there may be confusion between these two types of software. However, optical and illumination system design programs are not interchangeable. They use different approaches in the way they model systems, perform ray tracing and provide output. There are also important differences in the user interface for the two types of software, reflecting the different tasks required. In virtually all optical design programs, the object is modeled as a point source, or a series of point sources at positions on and off an optical axis. The program creates a predetermined set of rays — a ray fan — emanating from each of these points. In contrast, advanced illumination design programs model light sources as points, surfaces or volumes, or any combination of these elements. The spatial and angular distribution of a source’s output, as well as its spectral characteristics, are specified. Moreover, structural elements of the source — the glass envelope of a bulb or the heat sink in an LED, for example — may also be included. The generation of a Monte Carlo ray set is based on this source model. This is a random, rather than predetermined, set of rays that emanates from throughout the source in accordance with its distribution characteristics. In typical optical system design software, nonoptical surfaces such as edges and bevels, and mechanical constructs such as mounts, usually are either ignored or only partially represented. Ray tracing involves propagating a ray from one optical surface to the next in sequence along the optical axis; when a ray misses a surface, is directed out of the system or hits a nonoptical surface, such as a component edge, it may be ignored or may generate an error. However, illumination design packages use models that are reminiscent of mechanical computer-aided design (CAD) software. Each component is represented as a complete, three-dimensional object, with sides and edges. Other elements, such as mechanical mounts, housings, mounting hardware and circuit boards, also can be included in the system. The optical properties of all these surfaces are specified. In some programs, surfaces may be defined as nonuniform, containing arrays of bumps, grooves or paint spots that may vary in density with position. Nor are there fixed limits on the number of inputs and outputs. For example, multiple light sources might be used, or a single source might illuminate several points in a display. The procedures and user interface employed to create this type of 3-D model are similar to those used in mechanical CAD software. Usually a toolbox of common shapes is provided, and Boolean operations (unions, intersections) enable the user to quickly create complex elements. A visual, interactive interface is important in this process because even many commonly encountered shapes are quite difficult to describe mathematically. Once it has been created, object orientation and position in 3-D space are controlled without reference to an optical axis. It is also important to note that ray tracing in illumination software is nonsequential; there is no predetermined order in which a ray is expected to encounter surfaces. Thus, a ray may exit the source, be reflected toward the source by a lens-retaining ring, then be reflected toward the first lens by the source envelope, and so on. Just about any interaction between light and any of the modeled elements is possible. With most conventional optical systems, specifying system performance using parameters such as spot diagrams, point spread functions, aberration curves and modulation transfer functions is straightforward. Commercial software packages generate and plot these functions in a readily accessible format, and high-performance programs provide design optimization algorithms. This is possible in large part because it’s relatively simple to define what constitutes good performance for most imaging systems — for example, minimum spot size or wavefront distortion — and because there are a limited number of system parameters to be varied. Specifying and optimizing illumination system performance is not as easy. Illumination design programs typically provide angular and spatial distribution plots of light energy, usually calibrated in physical units such as lumens, lux and watts per square meter. The primary purpose of these plots is to deliver an accurate representation of what the human eye would see when viewing an actual system — in other words, brightness or change in brightness as a function of viewing angle. This process must be interactive so that the designer can rapidly make changes to the system and see the results immediately. Software iterations are required because optimization is a more open-ended process in illumination system design. There are many reasons for this; for instance, performance metrics are typically application-specific, and many more system parameters may be varied to achieve the desired output. Currently, no commercial illumination design programs offer a general optimization capability, but this is an active area of research and the future looks promising. With these factors in mind, the best way to understand the usefulness and potential of illumination design software is to examine some typical applications. Backlit liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are found in numerous consumer electronic devices, such as cell phones, personal digital assistants and laptop computers. LEDs light most smaller LCDs, while a larger display may employ cold-cathode fluorescent sources. Primary design objectives for LCD backlights are to couple the maximum amount of light into the specified viewing angle, to achieve the desired falloff in brightness as a function of viewing angle, to deliver uniform illumination over the entire display and, for full-color displays, to achieve uniform color. The latter can be a challenge with LED-based systems because full color is usually achieved by combining light from red, green and blue sources. Moreover, because LCDs use polarized light, it is helpful if the design software adequately models polarization effects. LED backlights typically employ light pipes to combine the output of multiple sources and to transform it into a uniform line. The output from a light pipe is directed into the edge of a diffuser that sits underneath the display and redirects light toward the user. However, the flux in the diffuser decreases with distance from the input light pipe, so the diffuser response must vary accordingly. To accomplish this, a matrix of paint spots with variable spacing is placed on the back of the diffuser. However, producing this paint spot pattern presents some production difficulties and doesn’t deliver optimum efficiency. A better solution would be to mold a series of bumps directly into the diffuser. Until recently this approach was more difficult to model, but advances in illumination design software should make it much more attractive to manufacturers (Figure 1). Figure 1. In large LCDs, light from a cold-cathode fluorescent lamp (CFL) is introduced into the edge of the display. An array of bumps in a diffuser placed behind the display evenly channels illumination toward the viewer’s eyes. Another key application is in digital data projectors. Over the past decade, these have steadily become smaller, brighter and less expensive, while increasing in output resolution. Improvements in illumination system design have been a key component in this evolution. The main design goals in projector illumination are to deliver high source-collection efficiency and high output uniformity in a compact package. These goals necessitate a different approach from traditional projection optics, such as overhead or movie projectors, which typically utilize a condenser system that trades off collection efficiency against uniformity. To achieve both, digital data projectors usually rely on a pair of lamps with either a mixing rod or lenslet arrays. A mixing rod is a long light pipe used to homogenize source output. Relay optics transfer its output to a spatial light modulator. Numerous mixing rod design forms have been investigated. The goal is to achieve maximum uniformity in minimum length. In terms of software capabilities, the ability to accurately model light pipe performance and investigate the effects of real-world tolerancing considerations, such as misalignments, is critical to meeting these goals. Today, the most commonly used solution is a rod with a rectangular cross section that matches the shape of the modulator. Usually, a length-to-width ratio of about 10:1 is required to achieve the necessary uniformity; shrinking this length and reducing overall system cost are the present focus of most design efforts. Lenslet arrays are rectangular arrangements of small lenses. These can provide a package-size advantage over light pipes, although they generally have a higher initial tooling cost (Figure 2). Figure 2. Pairs of lenslet arrays can be used to homogenize the source output in digital data projectors. This approach results in a compact package. Some projector designs utilize polarized light and dichroic filters. Software must therefore be able to model these components and must include effects such as the angular dependency of dichroic coatings. In the automotive world, backlit controls, gauges and displays are the prevailing standard. A major consideration is the total cost of the sources because a typical car interior has 50 or more light sources. Anything that can reduce this count has a tremendous cost impact for the manufacturer. A typical automotive illumination system feeds an incandescent or LED source into several light pipes. For example, a single source might light an entire row of buttons on a sound system or a climate control center (Figure 3). Sometimes the controls or indicators being lighted may have variable position; e.g., speedometer needles or volume control knobs. Here, total internal reflection, rather than paint spots or bumps, redirects the light. Figure 3. In these front and back views of automotive radio knobs, a single source evenly illuminates several graphics. Because of the tremendous diversity of shapes and layouts encountered, there is no single design form for these tasks, complicating the designer’s job. Furthermore, there may be significant manufacturing variations in the parts, such as surface smoothness in light pipes. Consequently, it is still necessary to construct prototypes, and a major goal of the design process is to minimize the number required. All of this makes the design of automotive illumination systems a very interactive process. After creating an initial form, the designer must be able to rapidly alter and view the results to investigate various scenarios. It is also critical to model surrounding mechanical mounts in this process because they constrain light pipe geometry and can alter the system output. In summary, illumination design is now performed with software tools specifically developed for this task. These tools must provide high-quality visualization, interactive ray tracing to enable real-time design decisions and connectivity with other tools such as CAD programs. They must also help to shorten the overall design cycle. This software has already played a key role in the development of a number of consumer products. As illumination design software becomes even more powerful and easier to use, it should deliver more cost-effective solutions and find greater applicability. Bruce Irving is manager of international distribution for Optical Research Associates in?Westborough, Mass.

2019-04-21T10:53:50Z

https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Illumination_Design_Gets_Faster_Easier/a15683

Filmed mostly in 1981, this seldom-viewed regional production from Florida played at a handful of film festivals (including Cannes and the very first Miami International Film Festival), received a limited theatrical release in the South in the early 80s (mostly in its home state and in South Carolina) and was shown on TV numerous times, including as a "CBS Movie of the Week" in the mid 80s. Aside from that and whatever foreign distribution deals they had going on (I can find no poster and no retail boxes from any country), this was never released on video at all here in America. It only somewhat recently (in 2009) garnered a DVD release and that appears to be self-distribution shepherded by whoever currently owns the rights to it. On the website promoting the film (where I have gleaned most of the information found here), they really talk this thing up. It is “an internationally successful independent film” and a “timeless cult classic.” In one breath it's a “gutsy independent” and the next they're boasting it's PG-rated and “...mostly a very clean film, has only one profanity and one situation where a man and woman inhabit the same house while being unmarried.” Considering most of the movies I watch for this blog, that sounded so old-fashioned and chaste it literally made me burst out laughing when I read it. Despite receiving no wide release or home video deal here in the U.S., this was not a no-budget home movie. It was shot on 35mm and in Panavision over a period of years (production began in 1979 and it wasn't completed until 1983) with a budget that was (according to several sources) over a million dollars. All of that can only make one wonder why no one bothered exploiting the huge video market available at the time to maximize the profits. Usually the absence of a video release for an American film made during this era meant one of two things: 1. Distributors didn't want it, either because they had no clue how to sell / market it or the owners wanted too much money for distribution rights. 2. The film was caught up in a web of lawsuits, post production / money woes or copyright / ownership problems. None of that appears to be the case here as this actually had a budget, a distributor and a fairly well-known star. One can only assume that whoever handled it thought they made enough from selling the TV rights, though that was really a terrible business practice considering the amount of money the video market was raking in at the time. Knowing all of that, my apprehensions were high so I set my expectations low and ended up walking away from this pleasantly surprised. While out on a bird-hunting and trap-checking trip gathering up dinner, crippled backwoods loner Booker T. Robertson (Julius Harris, the only “name” in this cast) and his beagle Pete (Scamp of Joshua Creek; yes the dog is credited) stumble across a run-down trailer and see numerous people scurrying inside. Doesn't sound strange until you realize this is deep in the murky, swampy back country just North of the Everglades where hardly anyone lives and everyone who does live there knows everyone else. Booker quickly and quietly sneaks away to avoid the people and then decides to head back home. On his way he stops by and checks up on an old friend's abandoned home and runs across an unexpected visitor: Royce Hagen (Will Sennett). Royce is the son of one of Booker's long-time friends who's since passed away. Following his intuition, he's decided to give up traveling the world and making big bucks working on a freight ship and instead desires a more low key life out in the sticks. With Booker's help, he begins fixing up the home he's inherited and cleaning off the land in hopes of soon starting a cattle ranch there. Booker eventually introduces Royce to a family who've recently and mysteriously just shown up in the area. Consisting of Pa (John Hallock), Ma (Helen Blanton), three daughters and two sons, the Perdry family are shy, quiet, secretive, strange and (gasp!) vegetarian, but they're all hard workers who will bust their asses all day long and ask for nothing in return. Royce likes them not only because of all the cheap labor they provide but also because they seem “like real backwoods” folks. Booker warns him they may be “too backwoods” and he should keep his relationship with them strictly business. Of course, the more Royce works with the family, the more he begins enjoying their company, especially eldest daughter Twyla's (Cassey Blanton). Local legend has it that in a nearby stretch of woods referred to as “Hole in the Wall” lies two worlds: one for men and one for magic, and between those two is a hole where beings from the other world can enter into ours. What these beings are and what they may do upon entry has yet to be determined, but I'd imagine with their work ethic and lack of desire to get paid for said work would make them a big hit all throughout Florida picking fruit, landscaping yards and such. Booker correctly suspects the Perdry family may be these other beings and stops coming around Royce's property once he starts romancing Twyla and lets her move into his home. Twyla proves to be even stranger than Royce originally thought. She divulges nothing about her past, has somehow managed to stay a virgin well into middle age, fears being left alone and is horrified of a cute little kitten. She paints the walls with nature murals, makes odd artwork and is highly sensitive to violence inflicted upon birds. So what's for dinner? Lots of fruit, veggies and bread but hopefully no fried chicken. That leads to nausea, vomiting and blackouts. Meanwhile, someone or some thing is lurking around at night slaughtering cattle (and dogs) in the area. These deaths all show the signs of being wolf attacks, though wolves were driven out of Florida years ago and none have been seen in the state for over 40 years. This movie has problems; many of them, in fact. While the story held my interest easily enough, it's going to be slow-going and too tame for others. There's a distinct lack of plot complication here and things are at times frustratingly vague. The editing is often very poor and shots (especially during some of the dialogue exchanges) are clipped too soon. The absolute worst aspect of this production, and the hardest to really adjust yourself to, is the acting. Aside from Harris, the woefully inexperienced cast lacks both charisma and talent and their performances could be best described as “blandly inept” That not only causes most of the characters to come off flat but it also detracts from any attempt at human drama. Problems aside, I still liked this quite a bit. Part of that has to do with me being an absolute sucker for movies delving into the mysteries of nature and made by those who have an obvious affinity for the natural world. This delivers on that in spades and manages to create a wonderfully haunting yet fully organic horror atmosphere that feels as distinctly American as the backwoods folklore at the center of the story. The amount of quiet creepiness generated from nature itself is pretty incredible here at times and the director clearly knows the areas of Southern Florida where this was filmed and makes the most of these locations. Along with cinematographer Michael Levine, they're able to capture both the beauty and the darker, more sinister qualities of the area utilizing perpetually overcast skies and big, moss-covered, shadow-casting trees and various other swampland fauna. Shots are staged and framed wonderfully here (evident even in the full screen version I viewed) and the juxtaposition of nature with unknown supernatural forces invading our world is nicely executed. Extremely interesting use is also made of various animals, including owls and other birds, cats, foxes, horses, wolves, cows, snakes and numerous other critters often seen in ominous close-up. Sometimes these moments don't work at all. Sometimes they'll elicit an eyebrow raise or even unintentional laughs, like when there's a random cut-away to a raccoon head for no apparent reason and when an armadillo suddenly appears from out of nowhere and scurries across a field in front of a beagle. However, when these moments do work, they're very inventive. There's an especially hypnotic sequence toward the end when the two main characters prepare to shoot an animal they blame for the cattle mutilations and we're treated to a rapidly-edited barrage of images of a variety of animals (which are living, dead and stuffed or skeletal) all set to pulsating synthesizer music by Phil Sawyer. While some forgiveness of where the film fails will be required, I think more patient viewers will be adequately rewarded with this one. It's based on a 1951 novel of the same name by children's book author Elizabeth Coatsworth (The Cat Who Went to Heaven) and was filmed entirely in the De Soto, Hardee, Manatee and Polk counties of The Sunshine State. The director also made (and starred in) the low budget, family-friendly adventure comedy Lithium Springs (2004).

2019-04-19T18:45:24Z

http://thebloodypitofhorror.blogspot.com/2015_07_16_archive.html

Well, my friends, I didn’t get the platform bed frame completely finished like I had hoped. (Click here to read Part 1 of this raised platform bed frame project if you missed it.) I only had a couple of hours to work on it yesterday, but I did get all of the decorative trim attached, so I wanted to show you how I did that. Trim always makes such a big difference on a project like this! That was definitely a good start, and it was functional at that point, but with cut edges of boards and screws showing on each corner, it was far from finished. There are no more cut board edges showing, and no more screw heads showing (except for the two right in the middle of the board on the end, which will be filled in with wood filler). So much better now, right? Just like I did on the bottom edge of the basic bed frame, I added a “frame” with mitered corners using 1″ x 2″ lumber to the top edge of the bed frame. Next I needed to cover up the screws and the cut ends of lumber that were visible on each corner of the bed frame. Then I added another piece on the other side of the same corner. Now you can see that I still had an edge showing, but at least it wasn’t a rough end cut, so this edge won’t stand out like a sore thumb after it’s stained. If I were a proper woodworker with proper tools, I would have run each of those pieces through a table saw to miter the edges so that I’d be left with a perfect 45-degree angle with the pieces meeting right at the corner. I did make sure that the whole pieces would be visible on the foot of the bed, which is the side that’s visible when you walk through the door of our bedroom. The side with the “seam” is on the sides of the bed, so they won’t be the first thing that people see when they glance in or walk into our bedroom. So now, all of the actual building is finished. The finishing steps will include filling all of the nail holes, cracks, and the two remaining screw holes on the end of the bed frame with wood filler, sanding everything smooth, and then staining and polyurethaning the whole thing. Not to shabby, right? 🙂 I’m really hoping I can get everything finished up today. Quite honestly, I’m a bit scared to stain this thing. I made it out of pine just to save some money (the really nice pine boards are still expensive, but they’re still about half the price as oak), and to have more options with trim, but I generally hate how pine takes stain. I suppose if everything goes sideways with the staining, I can always paint the bed frame and call it good. 🙂 We’ll see! Next Post DIY Stained Wood Raised Platform Bed Frame - Finished!! Wow! Always impressed! Great job! I love this idea, Kristi, you did a beautiful job! I actually built my headboard a year ago following your tufted headboard tutorial, and it came out wonderfully, but I think a platform base like this would really make it awesome. Definitely saving this for when I actually have the room to take my table saw out of storage! And with your table saw, you’ll be able to make those corners the proper way! 🙂 I really need to save up for a table saw. I’m always wishing I had one, and now I actually have room for one. Do yourself a favor and look into track saws before buying a table saw. For breaking down sheet goods, there’s nothing better. Don’t know if someone already asked this but do you have a ballpark figure of how much it all cost? I couldn’t wait until today to see what you did with the trim, I might steal this design for our bed frame when we get to it! Beautiful! So excited to see the finished project, you have done a fabulous job. I love all the finish moulding it sure makes the project look complete. Wonderful job!!!!! That bed is beautiful….. #1 Before you stain, coat the wood well with sanding sealer…available in any paint/big box store. After it dries, scrub it down with a metal “Chore Girl” kitchen scrubber. You will be amazed at how beautifully smooth it will be. Then proceed with your staining and finishing. #2 There is a guy downtown…on Washington Ave….I think between 12th and 13th street…who sells used woodworking equipment. It is in great shape and he has perfect prices. (we have a shop full :^) The name of the shop is “For Woodworkers”. Fantastic tips! Thank you! I had no idea there was a place here that sold used woodworking equipment. I’m definitely going to check that out. That’s a great idea! I think the Waterlox might give it more of an antique, hand-rubbed look, too. Much better than polyurethane. Wowsa! I’m sure you probably know, but don’t forget the wood conditioner first. I can’t wait to see it all done, looks fabulous so far! I did know, but it’s good to be reminded. In my haste to get this finished, I’d probably go right to the staining, watch my pine turn yellow and orange and blotchy, and THEN remember that I forgot to use wood conditioner. 🙂 I’ve done that more than a few times. Great reminder. The wood conditioner will make ALL the difference. Looking so sweet already! You have just built a very high end bed frame. Pat yourself on the back. Awesome work you do and it’s easy to see that you are doing what you love. I really love the trim you put on the frame. Very classic and will look really beautiful with stain on it. Good luck with the staining process. i second the wood conditioner! great job, Kristi!! I just have to tell you Kristi, you are amazing!! I can’t wait to see it all finished. God bless you abundantly! Wow. Just wow. Can’t wait to see it finished! The bed looks great, Kristi! Besides also suggesting the use of wood conditioner before staining such woods as pine and cherry that blotch, I would add a warning to the suggestion of using steel wool. Do not use it if your finish is water-based, as the steel particles will react with the water in the finish and make tiny rust marks on the wood. It is, of course, fine on oil-based finishes. Beautiful work! I love the design and can’t wait to see it finished. And, I love to see a DIY building project that doesn’t use a kreg jig. I’m sure they are fabulous, but I don’t have one (maybe the only person in the world, by the blogs I follow), so I like to see there are still projects that are possible to do without!!! Congratulations on a very nice looking project. I think that you’re just asking for headaches trying to stain this. You’ll get a much more professional looking result with paint. Seal the pine first with shellac, like Zinsser’s Bulls Eye shellac sealer and finish. It does a better job of preventing sap stains down the road than primer. Beautiful! You do such pretty work, Kristi, it’s something I would go want to buy if I saw it in the store. I’m with you on stained pine and being afraid to stain it. I might be tempted to paint it myself instead, but like you said, you can always paint over it if you don’t like it. Seriously, looks awesome! Look forward to seeing how it takes stain! enjoyed following your journey. I find Old Master’s gel stain to work best on pine. Kristi, you did an awesome over the top job!! Okay, it’s not perfect but it LOOKS like it is. Keep up the good work. How did you like doing this project in your new bigger place? Miss your projects when you’re busy with other concerns. Thanks for sharing! Beautiful. I want to be you when I grow up. Love it! You come up with the greatest ideas. First of all, I love your posts; and look forward eagerly to every update. I also hate the look of stained pine. As I do quite a bite of faux finishing, I have found that thinned latex or acrylic paint in a stain like color produces a wonderful alternative to staining. I used this same method on my horrible oak cabinetry to achieve a mahogany finish, as well as pine and rubber wood. In case you want to try it…here’s what I do. Dip a 2 inch artist’s brush into water and paint the surface with water first, follow it with smooth thin layer of color. Let dry between coats and repeat till you are happy with the shade. You will still see grain but not the full “piney” effect. Let the paint cure thoroughly several days before following up with a light sanding with fine grit paper and wipe on satin poly for a quality furniture look. Gosh, Kristi, you did such a great job on the bedframe! It’s gorgeous! I would definitely buy it if I were in the market for a new bedframe. It’s going to be even more gorgeous once the headboard is done; I can’t wait to see it! You’ve gotten some great tips on preparing the bedframe for staining and I’m crossing my fingers it turns out exactly the way you want! The bed looks amazing already. Can’t wait to see the final results! Hmm…is there anything you CAN’T do?! Great job! I wanted to ask. I want to use a box springs, can I just leave the top boards off and set the box springs down inside. I usually make my own dust ruffles and make upholstered headboards but I think I do way to many decor changes and want to make things more simple. Hi Kristi! I have just recently started following you and love, love, LOVE all of your projects. I am planning on doing this platform bed and have a couple questions. a) Is this a queen bed? That is what I have and need to know if I need to change any dimensions. Thanks! Can’t wait to see what you do next! Are all of these materials available at Home Depot? Or do you need more of a specialty wood store to find the wood necessary? I bought everything, including the decorative feet, at Home Depot. Great job on the bed! Any tips on attaching the feet? Just use the metal plates that you screw the feet into. They’re sold right next to the furniture feet at Home Depot or Lowe’s. I agree about the stain and pine, not my favorite. But a couple of weeks ago I ran across a product called stainable primer. I purchased it off Amazon. I bought 1 qt for $50, yes pricey. But, I was able to sand and paint the primer on my vanity and use actual stain to achieve an espresso stained vanity from a white cheap wood vanity. I seal it all with a pre-catalyzed spray lacquer in satin finish, also purchased from Amazon. The quart did a whole 10′ vanity, the entire doors and drawer fronts. I still have a 3rd of the can for another project. I used to 2 cans of the lacquer and 1 $5 pot of stain. I love the bed style. Great job and great build..

2019-04-22T04:09:23Z

https://www.addicted2decorating.com/diy-stained-wood-raised-platform-bed-frame-part-2.html

It was a still spring morning. The kind of morning that makes you yearn to be lazy. To languish in the comfort of your home while sipping coffee outside and smelling the morning ocean breeze of the Palisades, salt mixed with night- blooming jasmine. How I wish I could be lazy. Just once. When my alarm clock goes off at 5:03 a.m. (I always set it for an odd number), it’s like a starter pistol for my day—assuming I ever went to sleep in the first place. school. My only hope was that there would be no accident so I would at least stand a chance of getting to school before they were singing the good- bye song under the good- bye tree. If there was to be a motor vehicle accident that day, perhaps it would be between two organ donors so that the whole day wouldn’t be a wash. middle finger of his free shifting hand nearly struck me. Multitasking at its best—and worst. I careened out of the way, missing him and the joggers and bicyclists along the side of the road (don’t those people have jobs?). In the process, however, I spilled my coffee, which I had been balancing between my thighs (a trick my husband taught me), all over my lap. My entire car smelled like coffee and my thighs were on fire. Great. What else could go wrong today? BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! catheterization lab, or cath lab as we call it, which is where patients get an angiogram to look for blockages in their coronary arteries. It is a place of pain and discovery for me and the patients. Thankfully, I was just pulling into the parking lot of the hospital when my pager went off. The call was about a female pediatric patient who was having a heart attack. Pediatric, by my standards, is a patient in their thirties or forties, since most of our cardiac patients are well into their eighties and nineties. She was having a cardiac arrest, meaning that her heart had ceased to beat, and she was undergoing CPR. Any other information about her was irrelevant to me, including her name. I needed to get to the cath lab stat and further information over the phone would have just delayed me, as I can sprint from the parking lot faster with the phone on my belt clip than at my ear. Little did I know at the time that I would have the next three months to get to know everything about her and her family. Dorothy was a vibrant forty- seven- year- old woman who successfully balanced raising six children while holding down a full-time job as a nurse for a gastroenterologist. She carried stress around like an American Express card. She never left home without it. It was her constant companion and she learned to just “live with it.” It was simply woven into the fabric of her being. For several months, she had been experiencing indigestion—a gnawing pain located in her upper abdomen, which was worsened by stress and relieved with rest at night. Recently, however, she was even waking at night with indigestion and kept a constant supply of antacids at her bedside, which she chewed like candy throughout the night. She told the gastroenterologist for whom she worked about her symptoms and he said, “It’s probably an ulcer caused by stress. You should have an endoscopy to check it out.” When all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. She was admitted to the hospital the following week for an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy—a simple outpatient procedure that uses a scope to look at the esophagus, stomach, and proximal small intestine. The gastroenterologist felt that as long as she was having an upper endoscopy, she might as well have a lower endoscopy, or colonoscopy, during the same appointment. It would be a waste of time and anesthesia not to check for colon cancer. will die from cardiovascular illness. Put another way, if you are reading this book and there is a woman seated on either side of you, look to your left. Look to your right. One and possibly two of you will succumb to heart disease. The American Heart Association estimates that one woman in the United States dies every sixty seconds from cardiovascular disease. In other words, the widow maker prefers women. Dorothy was rushed to the cardiac catheterization lab for an emergency angiogram to evaluate the status of her coronary arteries—the arteries that bring life- giving blood to the heart. During an angiogram, dye is injected into the arteries and traces the path of blood flow. Like a road map, it reveals where the blockages are. And there it was. The widow-maker lesion that causes a blockage in the main artery of the heart that essentially eliminates blood flow to the entire front and left side of the heart. Death takes on many forms, great and small. In this case, death was a three- millimeter collection of calcium, fat, and platelets beyond which no blood flowed. By the time I arrived at the cath lab, Dorothy had arrested three more times. From the viewing room just outside the cath lab, I watched the team work to resuscitate her with the same efficiency as a NASCAR pit crew. Clear! Shock. Chest compressions. Adrenalin injection. Breathe. Repeat. And so the battle goes. While I watched the resuscitation, I was faintly aware of two things: the pungent smell of the coffee I had spilled on my lap and the scent of charred flesh from the voltage being passed through her skin. The combination smelled like roasted marshmallows whose edges had been singed by a Lake George campfire. The cardiologist who had performed the catheterization approached me in haste. Sweat formed on his upper lip and brow. He had been working hard to save her. spilled coffee. Now, to answer your question, yes, surgery is an option here. It’s her only option.” At this point it’s fair to say that, in general, I can be a very blunt person. Comes with the territory. The look of relief on his face changed his whole demeanor—from tense and apprehensive to relaxed and comfortable in his own skin again. Someone would save her when he couldn’t. Medicine is always like this. We work as a team. We run a course of treatment, and when that course is exhausted and doesn’t work, we hand the baton to another doctor with another course of treatment to run a different leg of the race to save a life. And we do this one life at a time. It was while Dorothy’s life hung delicately in the balance before my eyes that I decided that surgery was her only hope of survival. Without surgery, she would die. With surgery, she had a small chance. But it was better than no chance, and it was not time to give up. Not yet. With one hand I picked up the phone and called to the OR to get a room ready. With the other hand, I grasped the closest railing of the bed, unlocked the bed’s brake with my foot, and started moving the patient single- handedly and singlemindedly toward the door of the cath lab. “Pack her up, we’re heading to the OR!” I called to the pit crew of nurses and techs. Sometimes actions speak louder than words, and when they saw me start moving the bed, they were on board with my plan. As I said: firm grip, confidence. The team knew exactly what to do. Someone took over the ambu bag and squeezed it to breathe for Dorothy while we transported her. Another tech threw the portable monitors, IV bags, and tubing as well as the defibrillator onto the moving bed. We looked like quite the parade moving down the hallway with calculated speed. the fabric that we are made of. rush of saving a life, maybe it was simply the trip there, but either way, we all looked like we had just finished a marathon. However, the tough part of this race was about to begin. We moved her to the operating table. Yes, we skip the one and the two. Who has time for that? Only on TV do they bother with the whole one- two- three thing. During this whole process of moving Dorothy from the gurney to the OR table, by the way, I am trying to maintain an air of calm while in my head I am quietly rehearsing the ten thousand moves it will take me to perform this woman’s bypass surgery. All the while I am continuing to do chest compressions. The nurses begin to “prep me into the wound,” which means they pour Betadine, a dark bronze- colored skin cleansing agent, all over my hands, wrists, and forearms as well as the patient’s chest. It makes me look like I have just dipped my hands into a barrel of maple syrup up to my elbows. The nurses then drape the patient with sterile linens while bringing the drapes around my body so as not to drape me into the sterile field. Once the draping is done, I allow someone else who is now wearing sterile gloves to take over compressions while I run to the scrub sink to formally prep my hands. of the upper abdomen. My assistant and I each took an edge of sternum and pulled toward ourselves using our body weight as countertraction. Like breaking a wishbone, we pulled her sternum apart and placed a retractor along the sternal edge to hold the chest open. put their finger right through the heart. student, I was told that “if you’re not breaking ribs, you’re not doing it right.” Macabre medical humor noir, maybe, but the first time I did CPR as a medical student it was on an old man and I swear with my first compression I heard (and felt!) every rib snap like dry twigs underfoot. Eeeeew! You have no idea how grotesque that is. Open cardiac massage on the other hand is done with a firm but light touch like squeezing one of those “stress balls” in the palm of your hand. Great care is essential because you can, quite literally, rip a heart in two with your gloved hands. flow to the front and left side of her heart. The surgery went surprisingly well. Dorothy left the operating room in stable but critical condition. But would her body and mind recover from such a profound insult? Only time would tell. For the first few days she appeared to stabilize and do well. She awakened after two days of deep sedation and was able to communicate. Even though she remained on a ventilator and unable to speak, she “spoke” with those around her by nods and gestures. This, in itself, was nothing short of a miracle because when the heart is arrested, there is no blood flow to the brain and I half expected her not to regain consciousness at all. I spoke to her and told her what had happened and that it was amazing that she was even alive. She rolled her eyes and gestured with the palm of her hand on her forehead in an “I could’ve had a V8” mannerism as if to say that she knew she was in this predicament because she (and, sadly, her doctors) ignored the warning signs. were going to say before they mouthed the actual words. It was as if somewhere for them a clock had stopped. I could see it in their sullen eyes, their stooped posture, their wringing hands. I can always tell when a family is ready to let go. I am fully fluent in body language. who should live, but it is not for me to judge the situation so I must simply lay down my weapons of healing and trust the family. paraphernalia. She appeared human again. We made her comfortable by infusing a continuous drip of morphine, which we titrated as needed. We turned off the alarms on all of the monitors so as her blood pressure and heart rate softened, the family would not be jolted by an ear- piercing alarm that screams at everyone in the room, “I am dying! I am dying! Can’t you see?” We disconnected her from the dialysis machine but not the ventilator because I thought it might be uncomfortable for her to try to breathe on her own. Last, we turned off the medications that were supporting her blood pressure, the tube feedings, and all other medications except the morphine drip. I shut the outer door of her private ICU room to muffle any sound from other patients and staff in the unit. The only sound in the room was the whoosh of the ventilator that seems to whisper iiiiiinnnnn, ooooouuuuuttttt. In fact, if you say the word in while you are inhaling and say out while you are exhaling, it is exactly what a ventilator sounds like. Other than the ventilator, the only other sound in Dorothy’s room was soft sobbing. Mine and theirs. sixty seconds, but in the end, death came within sixty seconds. So when I say that a woman dies every sixty seconds from heart disease, it may just be the most horrific sixty seconds of her life and her family members’ lives. It’s hard to explain to your children why Mommy is frantically searching for her socks in the middle of a calm crisp Sunday afternoon. Why she is running to her car with her sneakers in her hand. Why she is speeding off with the flashers on. When I returned home later that day, having saved a life, I was greeted by a note on my front door from a neighbor who was “commenting” on the speed of my departure from the house. To say the note was nasty would be an understatement. I sat down at the kitchen table, noting the blood that had soaked through my canvas sneakers and onto my white ankle socks and mentally wrote an apology note to my neighbor explaining that I “just had to get to Blockbuster and pick up the latest release of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off before the store closed. My socks, my sneakers, and my rate of speed are immaterial to me as long as no one gets hurt. The “no one” that I am most worried about hurting, however, is my children. It is hard for them to understand the demands of our jobs, especially when we are called away suddenly. And so my husband and I, out of pure love for our children, have a special way of handling the head-on collision between our work lives and our home lives. We incorporate the kids, on some small level into our working world rather than isolate them from it. There are some parents who keep their work lives entirely separate from their home lives. When they are at work–they work. When they are home–there is no mention of work. And the two shall never meet. For us, this is impossible, and we have found that making the children feel like they are a part of what we do each day gives them the sense of belonging to part of a greater good. They get a sense of responsibility and a sense of control over the situation. They take ownership of what is happening rather than being victims of it. For an example, when my husband gets called in to do a liver transplant in the middle of the night, it invariably wakes up our five-year-old, Nicholas. (I could do an open heart surgery case in the middle of Gabriel’s room and he wouldn’t so much as roll over in his sleep.) My husband, Nick, will take the time to explain to Nicholas what he is doing. “Well, Tiger, there is sick patient who needs a liver transplant tonight. Right away. I have to get on a helicopter and go and get the liver.” I believe Nicholas thinks that donor livers come from stores and we have to fly to the store to get them because we haven’t yet told him that they come from dead people–a bit too much for a five-year-old. “What color is the helicopter?” Nicholas always wants to know details about what’s going on and I think this helps him to picture it better in his mind. “Tell me about the patient, Daddy.” Nick will talk about the patient in terms of what he does, where he lives, and what his family is like so Nicholas can get a sense of the person and not the disease. Nick and Nicholas will say a prayer for the patient so he has a “good operation” and “feels better.” So now, Nicholas knows where Daddy is going and why. He also feels like a part of the process because he believes, in a most sincere way, that his prayers will help this patient as much as Daddy’s surgical skills. Nick will also follow up with Nicholas to let him know how the patient is doing each day and Nicholas is delighted about being included in Daddy’s daily reports. On weekends, especially on days like Mother’s Day, when I seem to always be on call and have to make rounds (how I wish they’d invent a new holiday called Working Mother’s Day specifically for moms who work so we could have the day off), I often bring the boys to the hospital with me . This delights the nurses, who then ply them with apple juice, graham crackers, and Jell-O until they “spin” from the sugar high that they never get at home. “Don’t go to work today Mommy, please don’t go.” The words pierce my chest like a well-tossed javelin. “Do you want to go with me?” I say to my sons. “Sure.” Both of their little faces light up. We hold hands as we glide from room to room checking in on patients who are in various stages of recovery from heart surgery. I was examining the surgical incision of one particular patient when Gabriel asked, “What’s that?” pointing to the man’s chest. “It’s his incision, honey.” I replied. “it’s a crack-a-cision?” Gabriel asked. I thought about it for a moment. Well, of course, to a three-year-old, an incision would look like a crack in the body. It was his interpretation of what he was seeing and I just wen with it. You could see the gears turning in his head. He was trying to figure out how a pretty nasty-looking “crack” like that could actually make a person feel better. It looks more like a very painful, yet well-placed, lethal injury. And, yes, I admit that it is a bit strange that we, as heart surgeons, can violate the human body in such a grotesque way and actually improve a patient’s outcome. We heal by penetrating the chest and manipulating the core of our human physiology. How crazy is that? When we get to intensive care, Gabriel, a little shy, just wants to “see the bones,” and so I plop him down in front the X-ray viewing machine to look at the morning’s chest X-rays to his heart’s content. Nicholas, more adventurous, wants to “see the patients with the zipper” (referring to my sternotomy incisions). It amazes me how this little boy will walk right up to a patient lying in an ICU bed, with nine different tubes and hoses going into and out of his body, on a ventilator, completely unconscious, and touch his hand and whisper (so he “doesn’t wake him”), “Hope you feel better.” He’ll then smile at me proudly as if he has just cured the patient of cancer. He feels good. He feels proud. He feels like he has played a part in the patient’s healing. He is not filled with fear. He is filled with hope, as in “Hope you feel better” –his own words. His own contribution. Nicholas made a drawing of a robot and explained to me that this was a “healing robot” and “if you put it in Richard’s room, it will make him get better.” And so I did. I taped it to the blank wall in Richard’s room that he stared at every day, all day, and guess what? He got better. Sometimes I feel like a healing robot–a two dimensional piece of paper taped to a wall, not doing anything medically or surgically for patients but somehow, indirectly, helping them to get better. To heal them just by being there in their room. Kimberly was an amazing woman who cared deeply about everyone around her and thought little of her own well-being. Riddled with metastatic cancer, she would greet me each morning by asking me how I was feeling. I had a lousy cold. She had metastatic cancer. Fluid had accumulated around her heart, known as a pericardial effusion, which had been surgically drained. Every day I would check the drainage tube that had been left in place to see how much it had drained overnight. The tube needed to be removed in order for her to go home–to go home to die. This damn tube held her hostage at the hospital because it kept draining liters of fluid. Two days before she died, I went to see her and she did not look good at all. She was ashen, slumped in her chair and her dark, dank hair hung limp around her face. Her breathing was labored and shallow. “How do you feel today?” she asked me as always, except that her words were more feeble and breathless. “I feel like we should move to intensive care today, that’s how I feel,” I replied, which made her chuckle. I just smiled at her wryness. She used to be a comedian and I suppose that humor was the last vestige of her life that she had left. She had carried the torch for two clocks of its cross-country journey in the 1984 Olympics and this was last leg of her race. The day she moved to the ICU was the day she officially became my sickest patient on rounds. It was also the day that Nicholas drew her a healing robot. Actually, it wasn’t a healing robot per se; it was a healing rainbow. Nicholas drew a beautiful picture of the sun and a rainbow. When I asked Nicholas why he drew Kimberly a rainbow instead of a robot, he replied, “Because Kimberly needs to go over the rainbow to get better.” Now, mind you, Nicholas knew nothing of this woman’s grave illness and the fact that she was about to die. I found that rainbow deeply prophetic. The following morning, rainbow in one hand, Scotch tape in the other, I went to Kimberly’s room in the intensive care unit. Her son was asleep on a cot next to her bed. He was wearing headphones and was breathing the soft, comfortable, evenly paced breath of someone fast asleep. Kimberly was in a rumpled hospital bed with the side rails pulled up. Her face was partially obscured by an oxygen mask. Unlike her son’s breathing, her breath was agonal and came in spurts. Ling, slow breaths followed by pregnant pauses. Although it was a beautiful Southern California morning, none of the day’s sunlight seemed to pas through the window of Kimberly’s room, although I can’t quite explain why. In one corner of the room lay her and her son’s personal items stuffed into four plastic hospital bags. They had simply been stacked in the corner and hadn’t been put away, as if the move from her other room on the regular ward was a hurried one. Perhaps it was. Kimberly opened one eye and, with a weary look, took notice of my taping up the picture. I told her that my son had drawn her a healing rainbow. She didn’t hear me or at least didn’t acknowledge she had. It didn’t matter. I taped it high enough on the wall across from her bed so it would be at eye level if she opened her eyes. She never did. As I turned to leave the room, having done nothing medically or surgically to help Kimberly, her son awoke. Half asleep, he poured himself into a chair nest to the side of his mom’s bed. His movements were slow and well rehearsed as if this is what he did upon waking every morning. He looked at his mom awash in sickness and tried to get closer to her by leaning over the bed rail and placing his arm around her head to cradle her in its crook. He didn’t notice me standing there, the two-dimensional healing robot, doing nothing–until I spoke. “Do you want to get in bed with your mom?” I asked. “Is that possible?” he said, a bit bewildered. I called the nurse in, an exceptionally kind nurse indeed, and together she and I gently moved Kimberly to the far side of the hospital bed to make room next to her for her only son. He was a strapping young man in his twenties, yet gently, so very gently, he climbed into bed next to her. I raised the side rail on his side of the bed, pulled the covers over the two of them, and turned out the lights. He cuddled her with both arms wrapped around her body and her head rested against his chest just the way I cuddle my sons when they sneak into my bed in the wee hours of the night. Within three minutes of settling in next to her son, Kimberly took her last breath and died in his arms. It was as if she had waited for him to get into bed nest to her before she left the earth. Although I was just a healing robot and did nothing to help this woman medically, at least I gave her that–a beautiful release from her illness, a beautiful exit from this world. When it’s my time to go, that’s how I want to die. In the arms of my son. “How did Kimberly like my picture?” Nicholas asked when I got home that evening. From the book HEART MATTERS by Kathy Magliato, published by Broadway Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

2019-04-22T11:18:51Z

http://www.kathymagliato.com/author/

Describe why the cell makes polymers and the important polymers of the cell. Explain how sugars monomers are put together to make polymers. Explain the chemical and structural differences between DNA and RNA. Living systems are made of organic molecules, and the cell has settled on just a few types of molecules to make up the majority of its structures: sugars, nucleic acids, amino acids and lipids. It is somewhat shocking that the list is so short, but it demonstrates the elegance of the whole system. Monomers are all well and good, but cells are much larger than the molecular scale. How do they do it? These single molecular units are linked together by the cellular machinery into long chains of monomers, called polymers. Polymers make up the bulk of what a cell is, dictating its structure and function. Proteins are polymers of amino acids and they drive the chemical reactions of the cell or serve as parts of important structures. Starch is a polymer of glucose and polysaccharides are polymers of sugars that serve in the cell wall, the cell membrane and as storage products. DNA is a polymer of nucleic acids and is the library that stores the recipes for making an organism. For polymers made up of more than one monomer, there are several important implications. How each polymer behaves is dictated by the order in which the monomers appear in the sequence of the polymer. Each specific combination of monomers will create a unique polymer that has a specific structure and function. Changing any one of the monomers in the polymer might change the properties of the polymer. These ideas are especially true for proteins. A major point here is the economy that this affords to a cell. Instead of needing the ability to fashion a number of large custom designed molecules to carry out services within the cell, only a relatively small set of monomers needs to be made. These are then assembled to form polymers. This marked efficiency makes organisms very scalable, to borrow a computing term, allowing the construction of microbes only a millionth of a meter in size to blue whales measuring more than 24.5 meters. We will now look at the structure of important monomers in the cell, and they polymers that are made from them. Sugars serve three basic purposes in the cell: as carbon and energy sources, as reservoirs of carbon and energy, and as parts of cellular structures. Large amounts of energy can be extracted from sugars by processes referred to as catabolism, as discussed in the metabolism chapter. This may explain why many microorganisms show a preference for sugars if given a choice of energy sources. The term carbohydrate is often used to refer to sugars because their chemical formula can be broken down into [C(H2 O)] x where x is any number greater than three. Single sugar molecules are typically 3 to 7 carbons long and are termed monosaccharides . Figure 2.13 shows that each carbon on the sugar molecule is decorated with a hydroxyl group (OH) except for one carbon that forms a carbonyl group (C=O). If the carbonyl group is at the end of the molecule, it forms an aldehyde; if the carbonyl group is in the middle of the molecule, it forms a ketone. All sugars can exist as linear molecules in solution and those greater than 5 carbons long can also circularize with the carbonyl group attacking a hydroxyl on one of the other carbons. The circular sugar contains 5 to 7 members in the ring with one of the members being oxygen. Glucose, fructose and ribose are some of the more common sugars found in the cell. Figure 2.13. Common monosaccharides. The structures of some important monosaccharides are shown. These often serve as building blocks for major structures in the cell, such as the cell wall and the genome. Both the linear and circular forms are shown. Sugars readily polymerize: the combination of two sugars is called a disaccharide, while the combination of three is called a trisaccharide, and polymers of greater than three sugars are referred to as polysaccharides . Sugars are connected by α or β linkages. If the hydrogen is pointing up, it is an α linkage, if the hydrogen is pointing down, it is a β linkage as shown in Figure 2.14 . This distinction may seem trivial, but it greatly influences the properties of the molecule. For example, starch is made up of glucose linked by α-1,4 bonds. Starch is also water-soluble and can serve as a food source for many organisms. In contrast, cellulose, also containing glucose linked by β-1,4 bonds, is insoluble in water and is not as readily degraded by most microbes. Polysaccharides might contain only one type of sugar monomer or a variety of different ones, sometimes in repeating units. Figure 2.14. Common disaccharides, trisaccharides and polysaccharides. Sugars can be linked together to form more complex polymers. Lactose is a common sugar in milk, while maltose is found in many grains. Starch found in potatoes and other vegetables is a long polymer of glucose units. A common form of starch contains 20% amylose and 80% amylopectin. Polymers of sugars can serve as storage products for the cell. The breakdown of sugar can yield a huge amount of energy, which means that they are terrific molecules for effectively storing energy for later utilization. Starch and glycogen are two examples of sugar polymers that are used in this way. Polysaccharides also serve as structural components of many different molecules in the cell including nucleic acids and the cell wall. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) are involved in information storage and processing. DNA serves as the cell's hereditary information, while RNA is involved in converting that information into functional products, such as proteins. Nucleic acids are long polymers of only 4 nucleotides : adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine or uracil (thymine for DNA or uracil for RNA). Figure 2.15 lists the structure of the five nucleotides found in nucleic acids. Figure 2.15. The structure of nucleotides. The nucleotides for adenosine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C ) and thymine (T) as found in DNA are shown. The first three are also found in RNA, but when incorporated into that polymer, the associated sugar has two hydroxyls, as shown in the model of uracil (U). Uracil is the RNA equivalent of the DNA nucleotide thymine. The nucleotide structure can be broken down into two parts: the sugar-phosphate backbone and the base. All nucleotides share the sugar-phosphate backbone, while the base distinguishes each type of nucleotide. Linking these monomer units together using a 5'-oxygen on the phosphate and the 3'-hydroxyl group on the sugar forms the nucleotide polymer as shown in Figure 2.16 . Many thousands of DNA nucleotides are strung together to form genes and chromosomes. Figure 2.16. A schematic of the nucleic acid polymer. In this picture the bases of the two anti-parallel (having their 5' to 3' linkages running in opposite direction) strands of a DNA double helix are shown. Note the sugar-phosphate backbone from which the bases extend and pair with matching bases from the other strand. The dashed lines show hydrogen bonds between the base pairs. The bases of the four nucleotides are different, but there is also a pattern. Adenine (A) and guanine (G) are purines, and therefore have a distinctive two-ring structure; they differ in the chemical groups attached to the rings. Likewise, cytosine (C), thymine (T) and uracil (U) are all pyrimidines and share a single-ringed structure, but also differ in their attached groups. Not surprisingly, as these extra chemical groups distinguish the different purines and pyrimidines structurally, they are also responsible for their important functional differences as well. The bases in a nucleic acid polymer are capable of forming hydrogen bonds with neighboring bases on a second strand of nucleic acid, a process termed base pairing. However, there are rules to this association. Adenine is capable of forming two hydrogen bonds with thymine (or uracil) and cytosine can base pair with guanine, forming three hydrogen bonds. Some of these bonds require the extra chemical groups mentioned above. If two single strands of nucleic acid have sequences that can base pair along the polymer (such sequences are sometimes said to complement), they will generate a long double-stranded polymer that has a staircase topology as shown in Figure 2.17 . This structure is termed a double helix, since two strands form the molecule and it spirals around an axis in a regular pattern. Such a reaction between two complementary DNA strands is spontaneous: if you mix two complementary single strands of nucleic acid together in a test tube at a reasonable temperature, pH and salt concentration, they will find each other and anneal to form a double-stranded polymer. Figure 2.17. The Double Helix. Note how the two nucleic acid strands spiral around each other in a regular repeating pattern. There are 10 bases per turn of the double helix. Bases pair with one another in the center of the helix cylinder and form what some have likened to a spiral staircase. The above figure can be rotated by clicking on the arrows. DNA almost always exists in cells as a double-stranded structure of complementing strands. It happens that this double-stranded form is rather stable . It is often assumed that the stability is due to the hydrogen bonding between the bases, but this is not the case (the bases would hydrogen bond just as well to water). Instead, it is largely due to the interaction between adjacent base pairs along the helix, which is termed base stacking. Finally, the larger organization of the DNA strands with respect to each other, termed the tertiary structure, is also fairly similar in all DNA molecules. One implication is that proteins that want to distinguish between different DNA molecules must do so by reading different primary structure sequences by interacting with the outer surface of the base pairs as shown in Figure 2.18. Figure 2.18. A molecular model of the lac repressor. The repressor binding to its recognition sequence. Any DNA-binding protein that recognize specific DNA sequences must make specific contacts with that recognition sequence by reading the pattern of bases in the DNA. These proteins do this by making very specific contacts between themselves and those atoms on DNA that are different in the different bases. In this figure, the DNA helix is shown by the ball-and-stick figure running along the bottom and the protein is depicted by cylinders (which refer to alpha helices) and other "squiggles" (which refer to any other structure in the protein). The point of the figure are that the DNA is not opened up and that the recognition regions of the proteins are very often α helices that lay parallel with or perpendicular to the DNA helix. Not shown are the side chains of the amino acids that actual make the specific contacts with the DNA. In this and subsequent molecular figures, of three different displays will be shown: ball and stick, which shows all atoms larger than hydrogen; ribbon models, in which a ribbon that runs along the carbon backbone of the protein is displayed; and space-filling models, where the actual atomic surface of the molecule is shown. Sometimes, as in this figure, the ribbon form is modified slightly by showing cylinders for alpha helices instead of an actual helix. Most of the structures shown in this text are the product of X-ray crystallography, which essentially displays the position of every atom (larger than hydrogen) in a molecule. Increasingly all biological questions are being thought about in terms of these structures at the atomic scale. In composition and therefore primary structure, RNA is similar to DNA, except that uracil (U) takes the place of thymine in the molecule and the ribose unit on each sugar contains a additional hydroxyl group. However, most RNA in cells exists as single-stranded molecules and not a complex of two different strands as with DNA. Now if complementary base sequences are present in an RNA molecule, it can fold back upon itself and base pair, so that many RNA molecules have at least some double-stranded regions. However, this bending and folding means that RNA molecules typically have much more complicated tertiary structures than does DNA. Both the single-stranded loops and the double-stranded stems are critical for the function of most RNA molecules. Many are involved in creating physical structures, such as ribosomes, that are involved in processing information. The other general class of RNAs are messenger RNAs, which represent a version of the DNA primary structure that is suitable for translation into protein. Sugars store carbon and energy and are part of cellular structures. Sugars in biological systems are 3 to 7 carbons and contain a carbonyl group. Sugars can be monomers or polymers of 2, 3 or more sugars. DNA and RNA are composed of two parts, the sugar phosphate backbone and nucleotide bases. The bases in DNA are purines (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidines (cytosine and thymine). RNA contains the same bases, except uracil is substituted for thymine and they contain an extra hydroxyl at the 2' carbon. DNA polymers can be thousands to millions of base pairs long. RNA polymers are hundreds to thousands of bases long. RNA is single-stranded. DNA is double-stranded and forms a double helix in the cell. RNA molecules have significant secondary and tertiary structure that is important in their functions. The total number of purines will be equal to the total number of pyrimidines. The total number of adenines will be equal to the total number of guanines. The total number of adenines will be equal to the total number of thymines. The total number of adenine and thymines will be equal to the total number of guanines and cytosines. 2. If RNA molecules all have a significant amount of double-stranded regions, reminiscent of those found in all DNA, then why do we say that RNA tends to have more complicated tertiary structures than does DNA? 3. The backbone of RNA is composed of.. 5. Explain how sugars form polysaccharides. 6. Which of the following describes why sugar polymers are good compounds for storing energy in the cell. Sugars release a great deal of energy when they are degraded. Sugars contain all of the most critical elements for cell biosynthesis. Sugar polymers are typically water insoluble. Sugar polymers can serve as important structural components in the cell.

2019-04-22T15:12:16Z

http://microbiologytext.com/6th_ed/book/displayarticle?aid=660

When someone asks: "How are you?", I’m likely to respond with "I'm good" and out of some bizarre courtesy, never with "I'm not good". However I respond though, I am using a name and form to describe my current mode of experience. Yet my mode of experience extends beyond social greetings. All of my behaviors are flavored by it, in a sense I am pantomiming my mood. What are the methods to manufacture happiness? It may not appear possible, yet a closer examination of external stimulus and internal dialogue yield the clues. The word mood has its roots in the Old English word mōd, pronounced mode which means mind, heart or spirit. My mood can be viewed as a fluctuating disposition that causes me to perceive unfolding situations as being positive or negative experiences. To manufacture happiness, I need a well defined process. Now, what is manufacturing? It is the behavior of making or creating something on a large scale using machinery. A manufacturing process, then, is a series of behaviors that transform feedstocks into a desired product. In this case the desired product is happiness. My current mood, be it happiness or not is the outcome of all the contributing factors in my life at this moment. A manufacturing process requires ways to measure and quantify its own outcomes. When the process isn't working, when the product is defective, historical data will indicate how to improve the defect rate. When I measure and quantify my mood and attitude it is important to keep a record of this data. I can correlate the data with additional information such as my biometrics or the activities from my schedule. The additional data all adds up and contributes to my mood. With the correct tools, I can learn to influence the external and internal control factors that contribute to my mood and steer intelligently. I try and record the state of my mood in a calendar. To visualize how this is done, create a vertical axis depicting positive or negative mental energy levels. Next, create a horizontal axis depicting positive or negative outlook. The combination of these two axis creates a space of possible feelings. A point in this space represents my mood. I can attach names and forms to label these moods. Negative energy with negative outlook is depression. Positive energy with negative outlook is anxiety. Positive energy with positive outlook is elation. Negative energy with positive outlook is serenity. My intended behavior is like a vector in this space. In the image, it is shown as a pink arrow. Using a computer, I could stretch this mood space through a third dimension representing my mood as it oscillates in time. Using my other calendars I can bring more data into the picture and discover all of the control factors that contribute to my mood. Emotions are transient, they arise from awareness. Through events happening in the environment, my memories or imaginings they come to my attention suddenly. My mood attenuates or amplifies aspects of experience. That is to say, my mood filters for negative or positive attributes of the unfolding situation and makes them more or less important than they really are. My mood tunes into particular parts of the emotional spectrum, giving greater probability of emotional response for those emotions that are aligned with the mood. Emotions are fed by and feedback into my overall mood and my attitude guides my mood into the future. The word attitude shares the root word aptus with aptitude. I remember it means to fasten or to join. Or, more aptly: fitted, fastened, connected, prepared. Later, from the italian word attitudine meaning fitness or posture, the english word attitude emerged in the late 17th century denoting the placing or posture of a figure in art. Now, it means a settled way of thinking reflected in behavior but is more commonly used informally to describe negative behavior. Attitude is a mental posture. Like the posture of an aircraft in flight the attitude of the craft governs its rate of ascent and descent. The same is true for me. My craft, my mind and body can ascend and descend in emotional turbulence. The mental posture I assume plays an important role in dampening oscillations. My attitude is the behavioral manifestation of an internal intention. If I intend to be negative, my behavior becomes negative. If I intend to be positive my behavior will become positive. The realization is that these behaviors accumulate over time to feedback and contribute to my overall mood. I experience reality through my five senses. I can attenuate or amplify the signals from the environment that bombard my five senses. In turn, the signals I give the environment will feedback and reinforce my behavior. The cumulative effects of this feedback loop is a sustained mood. If I want to take real control of my mood, I first begin with an attitude that vectors toward an intention to change my mood. Combine attitude ( that mental posture that drives behavior) with additional behaviors that support a lasting change. This requires an amplification or attenuation of certain control factors. Mental posture and thought patterns are control factors. As well as nutrition and exercise which affect the chemistry of the mind and body. Hygiene and nutrition affect the microbiology of the body which affects the chemistry of my brain. My body posture pantomimes psychological predispositions, displayed to the world the impressions on others feedback and reinforce the effects in my own mind. Fashion can provide temporary changes in mood. Over time temporary changes accumulate and multiply their effects. My five senses deliver information to my mind. My sight perceives the intensity and interplay between light, color and shadow. My hearing gives a sense of tone, rhythm, melody and harmony. My taste is a sense that is always working, a control factor that can be utilized even outside of meal time. Smells are all around me, and this control factor can affect my mood. The sense of touch is a control factor that gives me information about material qualities and physical vibrations. Time and space are control factors. The amount of time I have can deliver stress and anxiety or give peace and relaxation and I will confess to you, it is most often the former. The space I have can be crowded or oppressive, or open and imaginative. My environment outdoors provides weather, sunlight, and at night perhaps artificial lighting. Outdoor spaces where I live have a particular air quality and buildings with distinctive architecture. These attributes of the environment interact with my five senses and affect my mood. However, the control factors are the indoor spaces’ air flow, the décor, ambient temperature and mood lighting. My network of associates and friendships form my social network. The information and attitudes that are communicated through my social network can affect my mood. Likewise, the information I receive from the media I select and tune into will affect my mood. Ultimately all of the ways in which I can change my mood involve either an amplification or attenuation of external stimulus or internal dialogue. These are the control factors in my factory for manufacturing happiness. I am still learning to use them all. After surveying the gamut of control factors for which wich I can exert influence over my mood, I find that I ultimately have a great deal of control. My mood is affected by repetition. Repeating patterns like water etch canyons of thought. The more repetitions, the easier it is for thoughts to flow through these canyons, and the harder it is for them to flow anywhere else. Positive or negative, my mood acts as my armor. It protects me from the world by affecting the way I perceive it. A negative mood looks for negative evidence in unfolding situations while a positive mood looks to reinforce itself by looking for positive evidence instead. There is no border between the mind and body, that border that we use for the purpose of language is illusory, and you learn to make those distinctions to communicate yet somehow along the way the distinction necessary for language is conflated with the reality of enormous interconnection. A complete oneness.

2019-04-21T04:57:37Z

http://floweth.com/catalog/mind-and-body/manufacture-happiness/

In 1975 I was in the Navy, stationed on the Yosemite which was docked in Jacksonville's Mayport. My wife, Mary, and our two little girls, Dottie and Karen, lived in a beach apartment called El Patio at St. Augustine Beach. I had to sleep on my ship weeknights, but could go home for weekends. Although Mary was certainly lonely during those weekdays I was gone, the summer days allowed her to walk outside and take the little girls to the beach every day. It was only a few steps so even though she was increasingly great with our third child, it wasn't too uncomfortable for her. However, she didn't like the apartment. The good news was, it was very near the beach. The bad news was, it was an older building and infested with mice. We were concerned the new baby might be attacked, not to mention that lying in bed listening to hoards of mice rifle through our belongings wasn't conducive to idyllic living. So, on my weekends, we began hunting for somewhere else to live. The search wasn't easy, because we had to find a compromise between a place that would be big enough for a family of five, yet inexpensive enough for my E-4 Navy salary—and not be infested with mice. It was during this period that I had a disturbing dream about the new baby. In the dream, I knew she would be a girl. I and the rest of the family were in a cavern, something like Luray. I looked around but couldn't find the baby. Finally I spotted her up on a ledge near the ceiling, crawling innocently around. Panicky, I climbed up by the shortest route I could find, desperate to reach her before she fell. But I failed. Just as I reached the ledge, she slipped and I couldn't catch her. I watched her drop and smash into the cavern floor fifty feet below, wriggling in pain. I awoke crying, with no idea of how to interpret the dream. We finally settled on a trailer in a park called Breezy Brae in the area called St. Augustine South. Coincidentally, Mary and I had lived in the very same trailer park for half a year, shortly after we were married. The place was vermin-free, but in an undeveloped area so there was really nothing there to do. Still, Mary seemed to prefer it to the "mouse house" as she called it. And it did have one major benefit: It was no more than four miles down the road from the hospital at which Mary was to have the baby. Because I was in the Navy, Mary was entitled to free and complete medical care. That was a definite plus. They weren't so precise in those days; the doctor—DeVito, our old family doctor (for both Mary's family and mine)—wouldn't pin down the delivery date closer than a week or so. I was able to get a few days off from work so I could be home for the delivery. Of course, I didn't expect Mary to cook or anything. She was enormous and could barely move. I set her up comfortably in our bedroom to rest while I browned a mess of hamburger for my new favorite dish (I had made it once before for Mary and me), beef sukiyaki. This took somewhat longer than I expected, as I was not yet certain at what temperature to brown hamburger, plus I had never cooked for more than two people before. So our planned dinner time of 3 pm came and went as I continued to stir the crumbled hamburger meat. Looking forward to dinner, I had skipped lunch. So I was starving, and there was nothing else in the house to snack on. Plus, I didn't want to spoil my enjoyment of probably our last fancy dinner before the new baby's arrival. By now, Mary wasn't feeling at all well and begged off dinner or even visiting with our guests. She wasn't having labor pains, she said; it was just that between the weight and size of her belly and the September heat, she didn't feel up to socializing. My sister, having had a couple of children of her own, fully sympathized. So we left Mary to rest while I attempted to get the beef sukiyaki completed. Finally, I judged it done. I stood over the pot, ladle in hand, as Mary burst out of the bedroom. "My water broke," she announced. "I'm having the baby." "Wonderful!" I enthused. "Let me just grab a bite of this beef sukiyaki and we'll go to the hospital." She stared daggers at me. "I have to go now!" she insisted. "But we live four minutes from the hospital," I pointed out. "If we still lived at the beach, it would be a twenty minute trip. So why not use a couple of those minutes we've saved so I can eat something so I don't starve to death while you're having the baby?" This made perfect sense to me. Mary grabbed the car keys from the counter. "I'm going now if I have to drive myself!" Joe intervened. "Why don't you bring your food on a plate, Paul, and I'll drive you both?" That made sense. Mary Joan would watch the little girls. Mary was already packed for her impending visit, so she and Joe and I hopped into Joe's car, me giving Mary a supportive left arm, while holding my plateful of beef sukiyaki in my right hand. Then Joe tore off for the hospital, covering the four miles in about two minutes, barely giving me time to swallow my excellent dinner. In fact, I wasn't quite finished when we arrived. I didn't want to leave the paper plate with a few remaining spoonfuls of beef sukiyaki in Joe's car, so I took it with me into the emergency room. As we entered the door, a labor pain hit Mary and she bent over double; I struggled to support her and not drop the plate on the floor. A nurse swooped in and took the plate from me, which I gratefully surrendered. It was a small hospital and therefore quite efficient. They were ready for Mary; the doctor was on his way; she was brought into a room where she could rest until the delivery actually began. "See?" I pointed out. "We would have had plenty of time to eat!" I just got a sour look in return. Doctor: "Mary! Watch your language." Mary: "But I just did! —All over the table." I held Mary's hand and coached her, as we'd been taught in Lamaze class (and practiced during Karen's delivery before this). There was a flash of pink, and I got an all-too-brief look at our new little one before she was scooped away by a nurse to be "cleaned". (How dirty can a baby get in a womb?) We were told in passing that it was a girl and she was healthy. We named her Jennifer Ann—Jennifer because Mary liked the name, and I suggested Ann after Mary's middle name. It was several hours before I got to hold her. Even then, she had an alert if mischievous gaze. When Jenny was three months old, I had another dream concerning her. Her health was fine; she was growing and thriving and her older sisters loved her and loved playing with her, though we had to supervise since to them she was just a big, heavy doll. By then I was working for the Florida State Division of Forestry as a Fire Control Dispatcher, and we lived in a home on the fire tower site. In my dream, baby Jenny got away from us and crawled up the stairs to the top of the tower before we realized it. I raced up to the top platform and found she had crawled through a hole in the chain link fence guard. Before I could get to her, she slipped off the platform to the ground 100 feet below, and lay there writhing. Again, I awoke in tears. Obviously my subconscious was trying to tell me something. Was Jenny destined to get into some kind of trouble that I couldn't save her from? If so, I would have to be all right with that. I clung to the awareness that, in the dream, the fall didn't actually kill her. Through the next ten years, Jenny exhibited a sensitivity to sugar and artificial food color. I worried about it, but couldn't convince Mary that we should withhold candy and hot dogs from all the kids. By the time she was fifteen, she was using drugs. The story of the drug use, shoplifting, jail time (some in Federal prison) is for another time and is really Jenny's to tell. The outcome, though, is that late last year Jenny went into a recovery home after her most recent release from jail. This is an intensive 12-step program. At its beginning, Jenny showed no more progress than any average resident there. But, somehow, that changed. The program worked. By the time of her graduation on December 31, 2006, Jenny was working in the office. As of this writing she is Program Manager, and on her way to her first year-and-a-half clean and sober since she was a teenager. Some people come into this life with the intention of following a more difficult path. In Jenny's case, she is now able to help women in a way she could not have, had she not had the rocky experiences of the past twenty years. With an understanding of reincarnation, one can see the nobility, not only of assisting others, but also in living a drug-filled life in order to assist others. This is why one must never judge. That a person is on a path may be obvious, but it is never obvious where that path will ultimately lead. As I told Jenny on her graduation night, I always knew that day would come. But I didn't say why. It was because I clung to the hope derived from (what turned out to be) my prophetic dreams: Jenny would fall, but she would survive. And, as in my dreams, there was nothing I could do to help—she did it all on her own. Because of that (and many other things), I'm happy to say that Jenny is one of the people in the world I most admire. Unfortunately, my dreams didn't warn about the unexpected (and expensive) line item on Mary's hospital bill: for analysis of my plate of beef sukiyaki for food poisoning, which was how the emergency room interpreted our entrance, with a doubled-over Mary on one side of me, and a paper plate of food on the other. At least, the tests came out negative. But I haven't eaten beef sukiyaki since.

2019-04-22T17:01:56Z

http://paulcilwa.com/Content/About_My_Family/1975-09-05.Jenny/1975-09-05.Jenny_Is_Born/index.asp

An article presented for the National Seminar on “Role of Consumer Dispute Redressal System in India: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities”, being organized by the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, on 12th-13th March 2010. It was the initiative of the United Nations, in 1985, which resulted in the promulgation of Consumer Protection Act, in our country. The objectives of the Act are indeed laudable. All the pamphlets and publicity that heralded the launch of the Act literally promised a great deal for the gullible consumer. It was indeed an Act for time bound, speedy redressal of consumer grievances without spending a paise, as the cases were supposed to be processed without any court fee and consumers could appear in the consumer courts in person or through a Voluntary Consumer Association (VCA), without having to approach a qualified lawyer. The consumer courts were supposed to function without the frills of the civil courts. The expectations of the aam admi and even the knowledgeable consumers went sky high. Overnight innumerable number of Voluntary Consumer Associations sprang up across the country as though there was a big bounty on offer. After the initial inertia, the District forums and State Commissions started functioning in many of the states, from 1990, thanks to the initiative taken by Sri H.D.Shourie, of Common Cause, who approached the Supreme Court, highlighting the indifference of the government. The initial euphoria of the common man turned into despair within a decade of the enactment of Act. People, who had hitherto never approached a court, approached the District Forums as recommended by the consumer activists and the government. To their horror they found that the fora manned by indifferent presiding members and steeped in cumbersome and inefficient civil court procedures were hardly equipped to redress the grievances of the litigants in a time-bound manner. Adjournments were being given without any concern for the hapless consumer-litigant. After all those painstaking efforts, what the consumer got was just peanuts, as the consumer fora were quite conservative, while awarding cost and compensation. As a result of all these, overwhelming majority of consumers have become dispirited and disillusioned that they are contemplating to approach the consumer courts, only if the stakes are very high and a compromise is impossible. The situation is somewhat similar to what has happened to the civil courts. Instead, we notice that an increasing number of commercial and industrial organizations are utilizing the Consumer Courts for settling their Insurance and other disputes. d) Appointing practicing lawyers as presiding officer of the Forum. 5) Lack of commitment on the part of the government. Laws and Rules alone cannot deliver the results. It is the people (consumers) who can make the difference. Unless we make the quasi-judicial system, formed under the Consumer Protection Act more effective and efficient, consumers will never feel encouraged to approach them. So, the crux of the problem is that an average consumer should feel enthused and confident to approach a consumer court, when he encounters an Unfair Trade Practice. The unjustifiable delays in disposing of consumer disputes amounting to even years, improper interpretation of the law, lack of empathy for the sufferings of the consumer, a paltry relief in terms of compensation and cost and even dismissal of the complaint petitions on flimsy grounds, are all quite common grievances among the consumer-litigants, who approach the consumer courts with lot of hope. All these clearly indicate that there is a total lack of understanding of the CP Act among those who administer it. In this context it will be quite appropriate to seriously consider the need for an appropriate jurisprudence, say, consumer protection jurisprudence, and implement it, fitting the objectives of the Consumer Protection Act. Herein we should clarify that this jurisprudence or interpretation and administration of the law, befitting the spirit of the landmark Consumer Protection Act. (i) The Act provides for deciding the case ex parte (sec. 13(2)(b)(ii)) when the opposite party fails to turn up even after of service of notice, based on evidences. This provision needs to be carried out ruthlessly if the consumers are to be dispensed justice within the stipulated timeframe. This will also enhance the image of the consumer courts that these bodies mean business and they cannot be taken lightly. Further, such ex parte orders should not be allowed to be questioned in the appellate bodies (higher Commissions), unless such an appeal is made on a question of law. Our past experience reveals that the consumer courts are, in general, reluctant to pass ex parte orders and the opposite party is invariably given ample opportunity to respond, putting the consumer-litigant to avoidable hardship. (iii) Similarly there is confusion regarding applicability of the Consumer Protection Act to the services provided by certain service providers like telecom. Though instances of such nature have already been discussed and have been ruled that the Act will be applicable irrespective of Departmental Tribunals being made available for redressal of grievances. Another major area of concern is regarding the execution of the Orders. Hence, in the interest of enhancing the effectiveness of the Consumer Protection Act and safeguarding the consumers, all the relevant issues of the Act which require a different approach than that dictated by conventional jurisprudence should be studied in detail and the necessary changes can be notified. (vi) Limiting the appearance of lawyers. As per sec. 10(1)(a) of the Act, any person who is qualified to be a district judge can be made the President of a District Forum. As per this provision, a lawyer with an experience of 10 years in the Bar can be appointed as the President of a District Forum. There are two issues which are likely to have an adverse impact on such appointments. Since the President of a District Forum is a tenure job and the remunerations are also meager, it is likely that only those without good practice will opt for such an appointment. Further, such an appointee as the President of a Forum, after completion of his term, is likely to go for practice, unless he is reappointed for a similar assignment. In such an eventuality, the President who is to adjudicate disputes based on arguments of the lawyers with whom he has to work again as a fellow-advocate is not likely to remain unaffected mentally/emotionally, while he is considering their arguments as the presiding officer. So, one of the prerequisites of a neutral presiding officer of the Forum is getting compromised. As per sec. 16(2) of the Act, salary and allowances payable to the members of the State Commission shall be as prescribed by the State Government. While in case of the President, who happens to be from the High Court, he continues to get the benefits of a High Court judge, whose compensation is decided by the Central Government, with the approval of the Parliament, as they belong to the higher judiciary. Whereas, the non-judicial members get their salary and other allowances, as prescribed by the State Government. The package offered by the States are quite low, even if we compare with that of other state government officials, not to talk of the remuneration of a High Court judge. It is suggested that the salary and allowances of the Members of the State Commission should be prescribed by the Central Government. Such a step will help in eliminating the anomalies in respect of different State Commissions and it can be expected that the salaries as prescribed by the central government will be consistent with those of the National Commission. It is also pertinent to note that the presiding members of the State Commissions, who are supposed to be doing the same job in different states are not being paid uniformly, which in itself is an anomaly. Though the suggested change could entail additional expenditure for the state government, it will help to motivate competent persons to come forward and offer their services for such positions. Though provision has been made for constituting circuit benches in 11 cities, other than New Delhi, by the National Commission (sec. 22C), it is noticed that such circuit benches are holding their hearings only in a few of those 11 cities every year. This means that the same city will get an opportunity once in several years, for hosting the Circuit Bench. In a consumer friendly way, the circuit benches should function in all the cities, in at least those already notified, at least once in a year, unless it is found that there are not enough cases to hold a sitting in a particular city at least for a week. Filing of a case in the consumer court and processing it has remained un-remunerative. Since our interest is to encourage consumers to fight for their rights, it will be quite appropriate if the charges for all the cases up to Rs. 1 lakh are waived. Necessary changes will have to be made in the Table sec. 9A, of CP Rules. This seminar has been convened with the noble objective of eradicating the unfair trade practices prevalent in the market. Such an objective will be best served, if and only if, there are strong deterrents against such misadventures. Though the Act has made provision for filing complaints by an individual consumer or a group of consumers, who are affected by a common issue (defective good or deficient service (sec. 2(1)(b)(iv)) and has empowered the District Forum (sec. 14(hb)) to award a minimum of 5% of the value of such defective goods sold or deficient services provided, CP Rule 10A(1) requires the money so awarded to be credited to the Consumer Welfare Fund. Is it not a fact that unfair trade practices have become quite rampant and are prospering unchecked in spite of the awareness that is being created among the general public? Is it also not an accepted fact that the resources of the government machineries are overstretched and in many cases they may not even have the necessary wherewithal to identify and take up such cases affecting a huge population? Is it also not true that overwhelming majority of the individuals do not have the technical competence or the legal abilities or even the required information to comprehend such unfair trade practices and to proceed against them? It is in this context, the role of Voluntary Consumer Associations (VCAs) will have to be seen. At least some of them will be able to develop the competencies to unravel the unfair trade practices and also to fight against such cases. But, even in such instances, if such an enterprise and initiative of a VCA is not getting compensated sufficiently, all the wishful thinking of those who enacted the Act will remain only a dream. Though provisions do exist for awarding punitive damages (sec. 14(d)) and for adequate cost to the parties (sec. 14(i)), seldom the compensation and cost awarded by the Consumer Courts have been found inspiring. It is a sad truth that overwhelming majority of the VCAs are struggling to survive as the financial resources they are able to muster through voluntary contributions are quite meager. It is because of this ground reality that the ones which are able to make a meaningful existence are the ones which receive support from international funding agencies, or from individual patrons and well wishers, as in the case of our organization, Consumer Protection Council, or the government, to a lesser extent. It is in this context the Consumer Protection Rule 10A(1) has to be viewed. This rule shall have to be amended so as to allow the fine imposed under sec. 14(hb) to be credited to the VCA or the individual or the group of consumers and to be utilized in a manner (like, to create a Trust and to utilize the amount for Consumer Protection activities) as prescribed by the National Commission. This is bound to spur all those who identify and are able to take up the matter legally, to proceed against such Unfair Trade Practices. After all, prosecuting of such cases involve quite a good amount of research, time and other resources. Once such initiators are assured that they would be rewarded once their work delivers the result, in terms of exposing an Unfair Trade Practice and bringing relief to huge number of consumers, there are bound to be more takers for such initiatives. It is my strong view that an award of one incentive of this nature can help to mobilize the VCAs and public in an effective manner. Can there be any better deterrent than this? A broad consensus emerged that to enable effective functioning of consumer courts, appearance of lawyers should be minimized. It is widely felt by the consumer groups that the appearance of the lawyers for all cases were not desirable and that they should appear only in cases involving finer questions of law and as desired by the Forum. Somehow this amendment did not come through during the last amendments, introduced in 2002. In the interest of making the consumer courts consumer friendly, this change will have to be introduced. Alternate Disputes Redressal Systems are in place in many of the well managed companies. In a way the VCAs have also been taking up such initiatives. As a matter of fact, in our organization (Consumer Protection Council, Rourkela) we started taking up individual complaints in 1987 or so. Having handled thousands of complaints, we always give the first opportunity to the opposite party to intervene and sort out the matter. This we find as an effective and efficient way of redressing consumer grievances. We were venturing to approach the consumer courts when we failed to elicit the appropriate response from the opposite party and we find the merits of the case warrant such an action. That is why our success rate in consumer courts (District Forum, State Commission and National commission) have been very high (more than 90%), of the fifty and odd cases that we pursued. To make the ADR initiatives more meaningful and relevant, the initiatives of the VCA will need to be embedded in the Act; i.e., if the opposite party is not amenable to reason when systematic approaches were made by the VCA or the concerned individual, the consumer courts will have to give weightage while deciding punitive damages, compensation and cost. Such an approach is likely to give more weightage and teeth to such ADR Systems, followed by the VCAs and in turn can substantially reduce the need for approaching the consumer courts. In this context, the procedure to be followed by the ADR systems can be prescribed/standardized through the Act, Rules and Regulations. The governments, both at the centre and the states have an important role to play for the effective and efficient performance of the quasi-judicial bodies, formed under the Consumer Protection Act. It is in this context, you have to consider sec. 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 of the Consumer Protection Act. When the CP act came into being, one of the important noticeable activities of the Central Government had been the constitution of the Central Consumer Protection Council (CCPC). For less than a decade or so, the Council met regularly, at least thrice in a year and gave a good opportunity for interaction and exchange of ideas. Sri A.K.Antony, who was the then Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, during his term gave sufficient attention to this activity. It was at his initiative that the then Prime Minister, Sri P.V.Narasimha Rao, attended one of the CCPC meetings. These consultations, in fact, kept up the momentum on consumer protection initiatives as all the stakeholders, namely, the state Ministers, officials of the Union and state governments, President of the NCDRC and the Voluntary Consumer Associations assembled in one place. It is rather because of such an opportunity, this author had highlighted the plight of the Rourkela residents who had to travel to Sundargarh, a place 100 km away for attending the District Forum, since the District Forum for Rourkela was to be located in the District Headquarters, at Sundargarh. Since more than 90% of the cases of the District Forum, used to be from Rourkela, the responsive Minister of the State and the proactive Secretary of the Orissa Government, hearing my appeal in the CCPC meeting, where they were also present, took immediate steps for constituting a District Forum, at Rourkela. Unfortunately, the union government’s initiative in the last decade or so, has been totally lacking. There was some initiative at least till Sri Wajahat Habibullah headed the Department of Consumer Affairs. The government was to take its initiative of providing the real momentum for safeguarding the consumer rights, other than giving only advertisements, “Jago Grahak Jago”. It is a fact that the Consumer Disputes Redressal Mechanism has failed considerably to meet the general expectations of the common man and consumer activists. This is more so when one considers the avowed objectives of the Consumer Protection Act, which aims to provide speedy redressal of consumer grievances, in an inexpensive manner. • The deteriorating governmental initiative to consult the stake holders, for a meaningful strengthening of the Disputes Redressal System. A proactive role by the government for strengthening the quasi-judicial bodies formed under the CP Act.

2019-04-22T11:57:50Z

https://www.advantageconsumer.com/Eli-UTP.html

I began blogging about five years ago. At the time, my oldest daughter was married to a man while stationed at a US Naval base in Japan. It didn’t last long. As they split up, he was relocated to the U.S. and she was forced to move back into the barracks, where their little dog Champ was not allowed. In desperation, she flew him to the U.S. just before their split. My wife and I drove to Sea-Tac airport near Seattle to pick him up. He was understandably disoriented and unhappy when we opened his crate and wanting out of the car. I completely understood his confusion and and gave him a lot of time to adjust to his new surroundings. Before long he settled in, enthusiastic to begin his training regimen. Both daughters had left home, and I began blogging as a means stay in touch with them and to document Champ’s new life with us. My daughter in Japan enthusiastically followed my progress in training the unruly little dog and commented on every post, whether it pertained to her beloved pet or not. I had him well-trained in no time. He’s a great little dog and it was a fun time. I’ve got to admit that becoming an empty-nester and reconnecting with my wife was better that what I had expected. For the first time in years, could enjoy the freedom that parents experience when the house is no longer filled with the drama that accompanies raising teenage girls. The future was looking bright for us and little Champ, who had become our new adopted child. But very suddenly, and for reasons I still don’t understand, things changed overnight. Many couples struggle during this new phase and some never adjust. Suffice it to say our marriage began to deteriorate. After months of tension and almost no communication, we finally ended up separating. Champ and I found ourselves in a very quiet house together. In the beginning of this new arrangement I found myself writing for hours at night, processing the intense shock and fallout from my failing marriage. I suppose it was a healthy coping mechanism, but I found no answers. Within a short time I began a new blog and spent a lot of time at the computer, mostly writing about life in the first stages of my divorce. Very quickly, people began to engage and follow. Almost all of them were people in the same situation. I still remember the constant sick feeling in my stomach that dragged on for weeks. Other people wrote about having similar physical symptoms. I began to lose weight due to what I referred to in my blog as “The Divorce Diet”. I knew it wasn’t good. It would take action to redirect my energy, to remain positive. Cooking better meals and engaging in more physical activity was the easy part. I joined a gym and worked out every morning before work. That was a nice distraction which really improved my mental state. But I felt very isolated, and admitted to myself that I needed to be around people. I knew very few people outside the couples we socialized with. After doing a little research, I decided to join a walking club. Our first walk was on New Year’s Day and we walked six miles. A few people had their dogs, so I brought Champ on our next walk. People were amazing and I began to really look forward to our long outings. I enjoyed the walking group so much that I soon joined a mountaineering club as well. I began to play in Thursday night pool tournaments. Then I signed up for a night class in outdoor survival. Anything to get me out of the house. On the nights I was home, I spent more and more time writing. I renamed my blog “A Divorce Survival Guide”, detailing my journey back to a single, solitary life after 23 years of marriage. I attempted to put some humor into my writing and to some extent, keep things light. My goal was to never preach, but to try to set an example. Staying busy, being around people, and just accepting that divorce as a painful process that must be endured. I began to feel thankful for the relatively good state of mind I managed to keep, considering some of the daily misery I was reading about. Things could be worse for me, that’s for sure. I shared with my readers that, although I’m not a horribly outgoing person by nature, I made a pact with myself that I would not again refuse any invitation or opportunity during this phase of my life. I made it a point to always say “Yeah, I’ll go!” It didn’t fix all my problems, but it was a big help to stay busy and find myself around supportive people. I got to know a different side of myself, a more outgoing and compassionate person. My younger daughter didn’t know when she joined our walking group that day that Champ doesn’t do well in the heat. Although it was a miserable place to be, I must admit it was an incredibly interesting experience. There were bitter moments for sure, but at times I found a lot of humor in my own situation. I really like what I was writing back then as I tried to stay focused on the good things and make fun of the bad. Personally, I felt that the anger and hurt provided a lot of motivation for me to get creative in my writing. I didn’t zero in on my soon-to-be-ex; I concentrated on my new approach to life, somewhat downplaying my own misery. Lots of people made me both cringe and laugh as well with their hyper-negative commentary on their STBX’s. It may dark place, but there’s no denying it’s there. I personally embraced the comedy in my own suffering, which I felt was an honest way to express what I was really feeling without sounding too pitiful. Champ and I bonded closely during that time, just the two of us living at the house. One night we went out to the barn in the rain and snow and took some self-portraits. What else do you do late at night in the middle of winter? I wanted to remember what a good little friend he was to have around. I often thought of my daughter in Japan when I looked at him. In fact, I still do. I’ll never forget how comforting it was to have him there. In the rain with “The Divorce Dog” Champ, back in his early “leashed” days. During those tough times I remained faithful to my wife, and I believe she did the same. I was especially unwilling to create any hard feelings with my daughters, who were also affected with what was going on. It was the right thing to do. Just as unexpected as our split had been, we somehow reconciled within two weeks of our final divorce court date. Resuming our married life together, we were a little bit poorer, but even more appreciative and respectful of our marriage than before. We are very open about it, maybe even a little proud to have beat the odds. Once she moved back, my divorce blog became irrelevant. Although I tried for a while, I simply needed to move on with my life. and eventually abandoned it altogether. I literally spent a couple of years in social media limbo, hardly ever posting. It’s taken a long time, but I’ve gradually come back to blogging for an entirely different reason. I’m probably at the point right now where I enjoy reading other people thoughts more than putting mine out there, but I go back and forth. Plus, I don’t have the driving emotions that come with getting a divorce to inspire me. When I retired, I began to write a lot more. But now that I’m a worker bee again, it’s harder to find the time. But I still make time most days to see what my blogging peeps are up to. If I really wanted some inspiration, all I’d have to do is create a little drama at home and I’d have plenty of fuel for some creative writing, which might also afford me some real “alone time”. But I know I’ll be happier and live longer not going down that road again. I’ll settle for documenting my daily walks with Roxy and Champ and the occasional thought or memory that strikes me as we’re heading down the hill. I was glad to read of this back story. Of course, I didn’t follow you then since I hadn’t started my blogging journey. I think that the separation gave you a chance–however not desired–to learn more ways of being in the world as an introvert. Always glad to hear from you. You picked up on a point that I didn’t really get into, the way our separation prompted me to start interacting more with people. I’m glad you liked it, and thank-you, Elizabeth, for your perceptive insights! Ralph, thanks much for sharing that with me. I know other people whose kids have have been turned against a parent just out of spite during a divorce. That easily could have happened to me as well. What happened with your kids is such a shame, and I’m sorry that they are missing out on spending time with you and Natascha, who I’m sure they would love. It really is their loss as well. I was lucky to have married a woman who would never try to turn her children against me. I guess that throughout this ordeal, we both realized one day that the other one wasn’t really all that bad after all. I never had a chance to read your divorce-blog. Perhaps it was a good thing. I would have found it too depressing to read about your problems and being unable to help. I am so glad that you experienced the one-in-a-thousand miracle to be reunited with your wife and avoided the turmoil of the post-divorce stress and agony. Now about your creativity when under extreme duress! You may understand now how the emotional roller coaster as described on the klopp-family blog has engendered a veritable outpour of creativity, which I can hardly match during these placid sunset years I am now enjoying. May more happy moments be in store for you, Des! Hi Des, thank you for sharing this, it was very moving and so lovely to read that you and your wife reconciled at the eleventh hour. You had said in a post about friendship that you’d had a six month separation but I hadn’t known more than that. It was so interesting to read about all the things you did to keep yourself going whilst accepting the emotional pain. So many wouldn’t have been able to do this. I love the picture of you and Champ in the barn. I’ve sometimes experienced that when I accept things and cope I suddenly find that I don’t need to after all, that whatever it was is over, almost like a test. Not on such a big scale though mind you. ‘the lighter side of emotional devastation,’ love that! I used to think I was more creative when unhappy. Now I am mostly happy I notice everyday beauty. Okay I’m travelling so lots to see but I notice it everywhere even somewhere quiet or dusty or nondescript. Everyday beauty, moments of awareness, day to day happiness and so on, and the everyday things that happen, are all worth reading and writing about. I enjoy your blogs and am grateful to you for being a reader as well. I too really enjoy reading posts and keeping in touch with my blog people. Best wishes from (relatively to India) chilly Nepal. Hi Rachel, and thank-you for your thoughtful reply. I would love it if I was anywhere and a whole Beatle or REM album played. If I owned an eating or drinking establishment, I would only play entire albums! It’s cool to know that you shared thoughts on song skipping with your husband. I appreciate what you pointed out about your own happiness, and I’m especially glad to read that you feel a creative spark without being driven by negative emotion. I also do, but it’s not as intense, but maybe it could be if I had the right passion behind it. This is actually could be an important message for me to hear right now, Rachel. I need think more about creative motivation. Maybe that would be a good topic for a blog post. Regarding our separation, I now realize what a learning experience it was for me and my wife as well. As you point out, acceptance (or even resignation) is critical in order to move on. Getting to that point was the hardest part for me. I started hanging out with many people who had divorced and still had not accepted that fact in their own minds. To me, it seemed self-destructive. I didn’t mention in the post how difficult reconciliation actually was, having already mentally checked out of the marriage. But putting the effort back into our relationship really did make us stronger than before (kind of a cliché, but very true in our case). The whole cycle involved a lot of emotional turmoil and work, but it all was worth it. Like you, I very much enjoy comments on what I’ve written, and I find that certain people are quite good at filling in the blanks. You have a really nice way of presenting an additional view to the conversation in a positive way. Thank-you for doing that! Stay warm and enjoy your time in Nepal. Looking forward to reading about it! Thank you Des, and keep on writing! I started reading your blog after you were reconciled with you wife, so I didn’t read your divorce blog either. But I think it was a healthy way for you to deal with the stress and pain of divorce, and glad that you were wise enough to keep it real but also positive, and not as a vehicle for attacking your wife. That probably helped with the reconciliation, I would think! Now that you won’t be blogging as much I’ll miss your posts, but completely understand. Blogging does take time, and yes, when things are going badly, we are more motivated to write about our feelings! So in that small sense, I’m glad you won’t be writing as much, if you know what I mean. Take care, Des! Thanks Ann! Glad you understood my points about blogging being a good outlet/processing vehicle for negative emotions. I found it was not only possible, but also healthier to document most situations without having to go on the attack. Not just the writing, but the interactions as well, were helpful to me to get through a difficult period of my life. For the most part, I see blogging here as a positive thing, different than most other social media. I plan to post as much as I can, but weekends are now pretty full with another grandson, not to mention chores and projects that are piling up! I hope that within a year or so I can really retire for good and then I’ll probably post more. I always appreciate you reading my posts and your thoughtful comments, Ann. Hi Des, I am glad you had Champ, & your attitude as you did. I am pleased to hear you reconciled with your wife. I was confused as I was reading your post, having discussed things like your wife’s request for the prom photo shoot. Hi Nik, yes the reconciliation took place about five years ago, and the photo shoot was much more recent. We’ve now been married 28 years! I’m a lucky man to still have her. Thanks for reading, Nik! I wasn’t aware it had been 23 years for you and your wife before your divorce. That’s a very, very long time. I have so much admiration for your ability to keep your sense of humor during that time. I certainly lost mine after the break-up and am only just recovering it. It sounds like you have recovered so much more. It’s so rare for two people to be able to overcome a separation and not just that, start anew. I assume it’s also a testament to how graciously both of you must have managed the divorce. Wishing the two of you (and Champ) many more happy years together! Sorry, the kind of divorce phase. You didn’t actually divorce in the end, right? You’re right, the divorce phase was rough. But I can honestly say that I’m very happy that we are still together in our 28th year of marriage! A few of your posts remind me of how difficult those times were in my own life. I would say that our divorce process was more amicable than most, although it didn’t start out that way. The sudden loss of our marriage was huge shock. In the beginning I struggled hour by hour, until I finally resigned myself to the reality that it was over. After that, I really did start with small steps, just like what you describe in your blog. If you’ve lost your sense of humor, it’s not obvious from many of your posts. I do think it’s important to try to keep it, no matter how bad things get. If nothing else, it seems that my sunny outlook aggravated my wife at times, which was an unforeseen bonus! I was too stubborn to allow her to see me in a dejected state, always trying to keep it straightforward, but friendly. I could go on and on, but you get the point. It’s still pretty amazing to me that we dropped the divorce in the home stretch, but I’m so glad we did. Thank-you for your kind wishes, and I wish the same for you! It will get easier. Thank you, Des. I’m truly happy for you. I feel it’s a sign of supreme emotional maturity to manage what the two of you did. Unfortunately, we didn’t. It took me well over three years to get over the ferocious pain I went through after our break-up. Only now am I really ready to leave it alone. In fact, I truly want to get out of the marriage now. Now, ironically, it’s the divorce dragging on, not me. We are on good terms, my ex and I, given the circumstances and I sincerely hope it will stay this way as we work our way through the thorny financial issues. A good sense of humor certainly wouldn’t help. I’m glad you found traces in my posts. Phew. That gives me hope. BTW, attributing anything to my emotional maturity is beyond generous! Thanks for probably being the first person in the world to ever say that. I take it as a huge compliment!

2019-04-18T22:17:11Z

https://thelawnfly.wordpress.com/2018/11/16/the-beginning-and-end-of-a-survival-blog/

California has gutted the budget for what was once a shining example of public higher education, leaving students saddled with more debt and fewer options. Rachel Baltazar lives this grim reality. In 2010, after a decade working as a preschool teacher and a teacher’s assistant, the 28-year-old Baltazar went back to school, choosing De Anza, a two-year community college near San Jose. She remembers the sticker shock when she first arrived on campus—the cost per class had spiked startlingly since she graduated from high school in 2000. She would live lean, pick up side jobs, sacrifice what she could to get a degree. "I was willing to be poor and not know if I’m gonna make it," she told me on a recent morning, her roommate’s cat meowing in the background. "I wanted that degree so I could have a better future." She squeezed twenty units of classes into a quarter (not the twelve to fifteen of the average student). She worried each week about having enough money for rent, books and food. Still, she thrived. She founded De Anza’s Women Empowered Club, won the school’s President’s Award for overcoming adversity, and planned to transfer to nearby Santa Clara University to double major in psychology and women’s studies—until, that is, a state-funded "Cal Grant" fell through. She met all the qualifications, she told me, but Cal Grant officials informed her that she was too old. The likely culprit, whatever they claimed: the endless state budget cuts that had forced officials to scale back the Cal Grant program. The experience, she said, shook her fundamental belief in the promise California made to its students: "The impression you have is, ‘I do a great job at De Anza and I’ll get to the next level.’ The reality is there might not be a place for you." Today, public education in California is ever less public. It is cheaper for a middle-class student to attend Harvard (about $17,000 for tuition, room, and board with the typical financial-help program included) than Cal State East Bay, a mid-tier school that’ll run that same middle-class student $24,000 a year. That speaks to Harvard’s largesse when it comes to financial aid, but also the relentless rise of tuition costs in California. For the first time in generations, California’s community colleges and state universities are turning away qualified new students and shrinking their enrollments as state funding continues its long, slow decline. Many students who do gain admission struggle to enroll in the classes they need—which, by the way, cost more than they ever have. "We’re in a new era," said John Aubrey Douglass, an expert on the history of higher education in California. He’s not exaggerating. Not a bit. Yet not until California’s trust-busting Progressive politicians claimed power in the early 1900s did the populist promise of the state’s higher education system begin to take shape. The Progressives saw higher education as a path to the middle class—and with an educated middle class they were convinced they could loosen the stranglehold corporate powers like the Southern Pacific Railroad had on the state. "The university was their Progressive dream come true," historian Kevin Starr has written. This was the heyday of California higher education. Enrollment grew by 300 percent between 1930 and 1960, and the state’s share of college funding kept pace. But that all started to change on June 6, 1978, when California voters approved Proposition 13, a ballot measure that limited property tax assessments. More importantly, it handcuffed state lawmakers by requiring a two-thirds supermajority any time they wanted to increase taxes, and made a two-thirds vote among citizens necessary to raise local taxes. Prop. 13 kicked off California’s "tax revolt" of the 1970s and 1980s, a slew of ballot measures that choked off revenue for state and local governments and left lawmakers scrambling to fill the gap. It was the beginning of the demise of public higher education in California. Journalist Peter Schrag describes what followed as the "Mississippification" of California. Hot with the fever of an anti-tax, small-government movement, Californians began the long, slow burn-down of the state’s higher education system. As Jeff Bleich, a former Cal State trustee and former counsel to President Obama, put it in 2009, California higher education "is being starved to death by a public that thinks any government service—even public education—is not worth paying for. And by political leaders who do not lead but instead give in to our worst, shortsighted instincts." The numbers tell the story. In 2011, public colleges and universities received 13 percent less in state money than they had in 1980 (when adjusted for inflation). In 1980, 15 percent of the state budget had gone to higher education; by 2011, that number had dropped to 9 percent. Between the 2010-11 and 2011-12 state budgets, lawmakers sliced away another $1.5 billion in funding, the largest such reduction in any high-population state in the country. Dianne Klein, a spokeswoman for the office of University of California president Mark Yudof, couldn’t contain her dismay when reacting to recent cuts. "Here we have the world’s best public university system, and we’re just getting chainsawed," she told the Daily Californian. "Public education is dying, and perhaps we are reaching a tipping point." According to a 2010 report by the Public Policy Institute of California, young adults in California are less likely to graduate from college than their parents. Among the twenty most populous states, California ranked eighteenth in 2010 in its rate of students going straight from high school to college; factor in all states and California ranked fortieth. According to the institute, this crumbling bridge between high school and college means California could face a shortfall of a million skilled workers by 2025. And what awaits the students who do make it into the ivory tower? Let me paint you a grim picture. Colleges are filling the gap in state funding by leaning ever harder on students and their families to pay more in tuition and fees. Thirty years ago, the state accounted for nearly 70 percent of public higher education funding; today, it’s 25 percent. In the last five years alone, student fees have doubled for University of California and Cal State students. For community college students, they’ve leapt by 80 percent. In California, community colleges have always been the most democratic of California’s higher education options. They educate the majority of students, offer the most classes and provide students with job training or a launching pad to a four-year college. They have, however, taken a Mike Tyson-esque beating in California’s budget crises, losing $809 million—or 12 percent of their state funding—since 2008. That’s meant reduced class offerings, fewer sections of the classes that remain, and the laying off of faculty and staff. At the start of the 2012-13 school year, 85 percent of California’s 112 community colleges had waiting lists of students trying to get into overbooked classes. In all, 470,000 community college students were stuck in such a situation. Eighty-two percent of these colleges said they weren’t offering any winter semester classes at all. Enrollment is down at community colleges by 17 percent. "We’re at the breaking point," Jack Scott, the recently retired community college chancellor, told the Los Angeles Times in September. Marianet Tirado, a student at Los Angeles Trade Tech, told the Times that class shortages meant it could take her three to four years to get her two-year associate’s degree. Tirado’s situation is increasingly commonplace. "It’s hard to explain to my mom that I’m trying to go to school but the classes are not there," she said. The budget cuts have also hit faculty and staff hard. Seventy percent of community colleges said in a recent survey that they had cut hours for support staffs. On Cal State campuses, the faculty-student ratio has jumped from twenty-one students per faculty member in 1980 to 32-to-1 in 2010—and the same trend can be seen among the system’s elite schools, with the faculty-student ratio there inching up from 16-to-1 to 21-to-1 over the same period. As faculty members deal with larger class size, more papers to read and more tests to grade, their pay has failed to keep pace. Salaries for Cal State professors haven’t budged from the $75,000 to $93,000 range for the last thirty years. Adjust for inflation and CSU professors earned less in 2010 than they did in 1980. The State’s higher education and prison systems are a study in opposites. The prison system saw its state funding in dollars leap 436 percent between 1980 and 2011. Back then, spending on prisons was a mere 3 percent of California’s budget; it’s now 10 percent. According to the nonpartisan transparency group California Common Sense, the prison population expanded at eight times the growth rate of California’s population. In May 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the state to immediately shrink its prison population because its treatment of prisoners constituted cruel and unusual punishment. At the time, its thirty-three prisons held 143,321 inmates (official capacity: 80,000). But the most indelible of these protests unfolded on the campus of UC-Davis, an hour’s drive northeast of San Francisco. Student protesters there disobeyed campus rules by staging a peaceful sit-in on a footpath in the campus quad. For their efforts Lt. John Pike, a barrel-chested, helmeted, mustachioed campus cop, doused them with pepper spray. He did so in a manner so nonchalant that it triggered immediate shock and outrage; photos and videos of the incident shot across the globe in meme form. There was Lt. Pike pepper-spraying God in Michaelangelo’s "Creation of Adam," soaking the Declaration of Independence in John Trumbull’s 1817 painting, feeding the raging flames that swallowed up the Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc after he had set himself ablaze in Saigon in 1963. Rachel Baltazar did not show up for fall classes at Santa Clara University. Without the state grant she’d hoped for, she returned to De Anza for a third year. She’s starting a paid internship in which she will school students in how to better navigate the world of college financial aid. "I want to try to help people understand what their options are," she told me. "I don’t want somebody else to be in my shoes. It was so hard." Baltazar told me that she’s still set on getting her bachelor’s degree. She’ll try again for Santa Clara, and also apply to state schools. She’s not picky; she can’t afford to be. "I will apply to anybody who will take me and help me pay for it," she said. Like a lot of young people in California, Baltazar clings to the dream of public higher education, but in her life, as in those of so many others across the state, it’s curdling into something more like a nightmare. "I went to school in California because I knew there were more financial aid options, I knew about the Cal Grant, and I thought, ‘I should be able to get these things,’" she told me. "In California, the education system is great—if you can afford it. If you can’t afford it, it’s kind of a moot point."

2019-04-23T20:46:12Z

https://www.thenation.com/article/death-golden-dream-education/

Amanda has been doing great work as an office administrator since 2016. She certainly knows the meaning of teamwork, and helps our team run smoothly and efficiently. Her dog, Wrigley, is one of the highlights of her life. She loves to take him hiking or out to the beach. They both enjoy spending lots of quality time with close friends and family. Amanda is one of our Expanded Function Dental Assistants (EFDA) here at the practice. For the time that she’s been with us, her expanded training has been invaluable. She’s a team player through and through. Our practice strives to work together efficiently for the benefit of both our patients and our staff, and Amanda’s contribution to that unity shines brightly. Outside of work, Amanda has two young sons, ages ten and five. She is an avid hiker, and loves to relax by either reading or enjoying the great outdoors—sometimes both at the same time! Our hygienist Amanda has been working with us since 2013. She offers a sense of serenity and flexibility to the practice that we couldn’t do without. She is always ready to do what needs to be done, which keeps our team running well and our patients’ needs covered. Amanda brings quite a bit of education to the table. In fact, she graduated from IPFW with both a degree in dental hygiene and a bachelor’s in biology. At home, she spends time with her family of one husband, one daughter, and one dog. She loves doing home improvement projects around the house, as well as shopping and watching movies. Since 2012, Amelia has brought a very personal touch to the front desk. As she greets each patient, she makes it a point to get to know them. She also keeps our office running smoothly, and does it with a professional air and an efficient manner. Amelia graduated from Grace College with a pre-dental degree and hopes to attend dental school soon. Her experience in the office, as well as her schooling, make her an employee that we’re grateful to have. Amelia is a woman of many talents. She not only plays the piano, but the flute and the piccolo as well. She also enjoys crafting, sewing, messing around with the Cricut, and relaxing with her family of one husband and two cats. Brenda works for us as our head hygienist. She graduated from IUSB with a bachelor’s in dental hygiene, and has been with us for several years now. As the team lead, she does a lot more than just hygiene work to keep us going. Her confident direction helps our office to run efficiently. With her at the helm, we really come together as a family. Efficiency and teamwork are major priorities for Brenda. When the office is running in top form, we are better able to prioritize the needs of each patient who comes to us. Brianna’s friendly smile and easy-going nature make for a great experience with each patient she sees. Patients’ needs are extremely important to her, so she makes an active effort to welcome each person as an individual rather than a name on a chart. She earned her bachelor’s from IUSB, and has been a hygienist for us ever since. The two things Brianna loves most are spending time with her three-year-old daughter and relaxing poolside on a sunny day—especially when she can do both at the same time. Brittany is a talented and efficient EFDA-certified assistant with a degree from IPFW. Her contributions to our office don’t end with her educational qualifications! She is also wonderful at comforting patients who suffer from dental anxiety. With her calming presence and her confident knowledge, she makes a great addition to our staff. At home, she has her hands full looking after her son. She loves spending time with him, as well as with other family members. When she occasionally gets a little time to herself, she spends it crafting. Connie works with our patient accounts. Most people don’t realize that’s a job we’d need in a dental office, but it’s something that we couldn’t do without. Insurance can be a nightmare, adding even more pressure to an already stressful situation. Connie is the wizard that helps people sort all of that out. With her experience and gentle manner, our patients are able to get the most out of their dental experience. Connie has been married for over forty years. Together, she and her husband have four children and twelve grandchildren to keep life interesting. Her family is one of her greatest joys. Sometimes, though, she needs to spend a little time relaxing. For this, she turns to the great outdoors, where she takes care of her pets and her garden. Our hygienist Grace graduated in 2006 from the hygiene program at Ivy Tech. She has been with us since 2016. She’s particularly good at explaining treatments and procedures in a comfortable way that helps nervous patients relax. When she’s not busy taking care of patients, she has her hands full raising her daughter and her son with her husband. Nothing is more important to Grace than family and friends. She loves playing card games together as well as spending summers at the lake cottage. Kayla has multiple degrees and several years of experience as a dental hygienist. She graduated from Kellogg Community College with her dental hygiene degree, and earned her bachelor’s in interdisciplinary health from Western Michigan University. For over six of the years since then, Kayla has been working for us doing not only hygiene work, but assisting at the front desk, and filling in wherever there is a need. One of Kayla’s favorite places to go is out to the lake. She loves spending vacations there, or simply relaxing for the day with her husband, Sergio, their daughter, Mia, and two dogs, Milo and Toby. Leanne has been an amazing employee at our front desk since 2011. Through that time she has truly enjoyed the environment that our office provides. Liz has been a dental hygienist with us since 2011! Her cheerful attitude and professional experience make the workplace fun and uplifting for everyone. One of her goals as a hygienist is to make each patient’s experience a positive one. The hard work never stops for Liz. When she gets home, she’s got two teenagers—Kate and John—to keep her plenty busy. With her family, she enjoys walking, cross-country skiing, and getting up to lighthearted shenanigans. Megan joined of our crew eight years ago. In 2011, she certified in coronal polishing and fluoride application. In 2012 she completed her Expanded Function Dental Auxiliary training. On top of all that, she’s CPR certified. We’re lucky to have her on our staff. Megan and her husband, Tyler, enjoy going places together. They especially love to visit breweries. In their spare time, they wrangle three dogs: Finch, Opie, and Burkley. Pat brings over thirty-seven years of dental experience to our practice. As an office manager, she goes above and beyond, both in helping the office to run smoothly and in sincerely treating every person who comes through the door like part of the family. Our dental family runs as a great team, thanks to Pat and her upbeat attitude. Her priorities as an office manager are respect, equal treatment, and greeting every person with a smile. Pat brings those values home to her family as well. She has been married for over thirty-five years, and has three sons and three grandsons. Richelle is another of our expanded function dental assistants. She graduated from IPFW with radiology and clinical excellence awards, is certified by the Dental Assisting National Board, has been an assistant since 1993, and has been working for our office since 2016. This mountain of experience and education has really made Richelle a valuable member of our staff. Richelle has many talents and traits outside of the dental field. For one thing, she’s is a vibrant redhead and proud of it. Her enthusiasm spreads into her hobbies, which includes lifelong experience in music. In fact, she is a vocal artist with Heartland Sings. She also likes to spend time with her husband, Matt, and their three kids. Sherry is one of our dental assistants with expanded function certification. She does great work, and has been with us since 2013. She loves to go on long hikes, where she can really appreciate the wonder of nature. Sherry also loves to relax with her family.

2019-04-24T10:55:23Z

https://orangedoordental.com/meet-our-team/

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2019-04-26T11:56:16Z

http://schaferhunde-bruchsal-sv.de/pdf.php?q=download-strategic-management-in-the-21st-century-3-volumes/

There is more than one way to eat a low carb diet, in fact there are many variations. In this article I will outline three approaches including (1) a low carb high protein, similar to a Paleo diet as promoted by Dr. Ted Naiman and Dr. Tro Kalayjian (2) a low carb high fat approach, as promoted by Dr. Jason Fung and (3) a higher protein lower fat intake during weight loss, then a moderate protein high fat intake during weight maintenance, as promoted by Dr. Stephen Phinney and Dr. Jeff Volek. One proponent of a low carb high protein lifestyle is Dr. Ted Naiman, a board-certified family medicine physician who practices in Seattle, Washington. His videos on the subject of insulin resistance filmed at low carb conferences had a profound impact on me when I first adopted a low carb lifestyle in March of last year. On the popular low carb site, Diet Doctor, Dr. Naiman oulines how much fat, protein and carbohydrates he believes that a person should eat on a low carb ketogenic diet, depending on whether they are doing it for weight loss or weight maintenance. For someone seeking fat loss, Dr. Naiman recommends ~120 gm of protein, ~30 gm of net carbs, ~120 gm of ‘whole food fats’ (fat found naturally in food) and ~30 gm of added fat (such on top of vegetables, salads and cooking). He bases his protein calculations on 1 g protein per pound of ideal (or desired) body weight, while keeping net carbohydrate as low as possible and eating whole food fats (fats inherent with meat, fish or poultry) but avoiding added fat, if trying to get leaner. To the left is an illustration he recently posted on social media. But how much food does one have to eat to get 120 gm of protein? A lot as you’ll see below. Another proponent of a low carb high protein approach is Dr. Tro Kalayjian, a board certified Internal Medicine physician who currently practices in Greenwich, Connecticut. He lost 145 pounds over a two-year period following a low carb high protein diet and like Dr. Naiman does a great deal of high intensity interval training (HIIT) and resistance training (RT). Dr. Kalayjian does ~10 hours of HIIT and RT training a week with a goal of increasing muscle mass (hypertrophy) and body recomposition, so what he eats himself is very different than what he recommends to his patients. He eats 200-350 g per day when doing heavy weight training, trims his meats and doesn’t eat the skin, and eats a variety of nuts and uses olive and avocado oil as desired. Dr. Kalayjian recommendations to his patients however depends on (1) what their goal is, (2) what their current medical / metabolic status is and (3) any lifestyle details that will impact their dietary requirements. Three eggs at breakfast would only supply less than 19 gm of protein. Four pork link sausages would supply another 10 gms of protein. He’d only have eaten less than 30 gms of protein. Eating a 340 gm (12 oz) broiled beef steak at lunch-time would add another 77 gms of protein. After these two meals, he would have eaten 106 gms of protein and be only a little over half-way to his minimum protein goal and less than a third the way to his upper range of protein. Let’s say he decided to eat 1/2 a large salmon i.e. 340 gm (12 oz) for supper, that would add 67 grams of protein. Adding up all the protein so far, he would have only eaten 173 gms of protein, so he’d have to fry up 4 more eggs to make his 200 gm of protein to meet his minimum protein requirement. This is what Dr. Naiman’s 120 gm of protein would look like, broken up over a day. Three eggs for breakfast would supply <20 gm of protein and eating 227 gm (8 oz) of beef at lunch would provide 50 gm of protein, so the person would need to eat another 227 gm (8 oz) of beef at supper just to make their 120 gm of protein for the day. Now, remember, this is for an individual whose ideal body weight is only 120 pounds! This approach may be quite appealing to some, but is eating higher protein in the range of 120 gm per day) appropriate for most people? The Recommended Daily Intake (RDA) for protein is only 56 gms per day – which represents the minimum requirement that individuals need for health and people in both Canada and the US are eating only 70 gms of protein per day (barely over the minimum requirement) but is this optimum? Some very prestigious nutrition experts think not. More on that in a series of upcoming articles. One of the popular proponents of a high fat approach is Dr. Jason Fung, a Toronto-area nephrologist (kidney specialist). His approach is reflected in the blogs he has been writing since 2013 as part of the Institute of Kidney Lifescience Technologies (www.kidneylifescience.ca), which have since become the basis for his Intensive Dietary Management (IDM) Program, based out of Toronto. From what I gleaned back from my early days reading all of his first two years of his blogs (Aug 2013- May 2015) and many since, Fung promotes a diet which is a maximum of 20-30 gm of net carbohydrate (gross carbohydrate content minus fiber) per day, a maximum of 75 gm of protein per day (~20 gm of protein at each meal), with the remainder of intake as a variety of fats. Fung does not promote the use of “fat bombs” popularized with the “Bulletproof Diet” written by layman “biohacker” Dave Asprey, but encourages the eating of fat that comes naturally in food; such as the skin on poultry, the visible fat on meat and the yolk of eggs plus a total of 70 gm of added fat per day for satiety (feeling full). Dr. Fung’s recommendations seem to be roughly 5-10% net carbohydrate with about 75% fat and 20% protein. a 16-hour fast begins from the end of supper the previous night, until lunch the following day. That is, only breakfast isn’t eaten. A 24-hour fast begins from the end of supper the previous night, until supper the following day (i.e. one meal). A 36-hour fast begins from the end of supper the previous night and no breakfast, lunch or dinner is eaten the following day, with the fast broken at breakfast the next day. A 42-hour fast is like the 36-hour fast, except people fast until lunch on the day following the fast. If you are considering engaging in any intermittent fasting protocol, please discuss this with your doctor first. Dosages of medication for blood sugar and blood pressure very often need to be adjusted downwards with regular short fasts and this can only be done by your doctor. It’s important to note that Fung’s “fasts” are not water-only fasts, but allow the drinking of protein-rich ‘bone broth*’ , as well as other beverages. NOTE: An article on making a 18 hour bone broth along with nutritional analysis is located here. Dr. Stephen Phinney MD, PhD, a medical doctor and Dr. Jeff Volek, RD, PhD a Registered Dietitian have decades of combined scientific and clinic research experience in the area of low carb diets and in 2011 published their expert guide titled The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living documenting the clinical benefits of carbohydrate restriction. They promote a low carbohydrate diet that is higher protein during the weight loss phase only, but the level of protein they recommend is nothing near the levels that Dr. Naiman and Dr. Kalayjian encourage, but still as I will outline below, it still requires a large quantity of protein foods to be eat daily. In the induction and weight loss phase using Phinney and Volek’s approach, protein is ~30% of caloric intake but decreases to ~21% of caloric intake following weight loss, during weight maintenance. Fat is 60% of calories during the weight loss phase and 65-72% during weight maintenance. Carbohydrate intake is kept very low (7.5-10% of calories for men, 2.5-6.5% of calories for women) and this induces nutritional ketosis. The amount of mathematical calculations required for the average individual to follow Phinney and Volek’s method is, at the very least, daunting. The amount of fat in grams and carbohydrate in grams needs to be calculated initially during induction and recalculated for weight loss, then recalculated again during pre-maintenance and maintenance. In addition, as the person’s weight decreases, the number of grams of fat and carbohydrate also needs to be recalculated. The amount of protein that must be eaten on an ongoing basis is another challenge to their approach. Ironically, even though Phinney and Volek encourage eating more protein than fat during weight loss, they write about “human protein tolerance”, including the “lethargy and malaise” that occurs when more protein than fat is eaten on a regular basis, along with the feeling of being “sick to the stomach” [3, pg. 210]. They also point out that there seems to be a physiological upper limit of protein intake of 20-25 gms per meal, after which skeletal muscle is no longer synthesized with additional intake. Phinney SD, Volek JS, The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living: An Expert Guide, Beyond Obesity, 2011, page 210. For the first few years of my low carb practice, my starting approach (for those without hereditary cholesterol or triglyceride issues) was closer to Dr. Fung’s approach than to either of the others, with several modifications. One of those modifications is around the types of fat that are central in the diet. Like Fung, I encourage people to eat fat that naturally comes with food (egg yolk, for example) but I don’t encourage the amount of saturated fat that many of his blogs reflect. I encourage my clients to consider rich sources of monounsaturated fats such as avocado, nuts and seeds and their oils as their primary fat source with omega-3 poly-unsaturated fat from fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardine, a close second. Another modification that I have made is that I encourage my clients to eat some cheese as it supplies a good source of calcium, that doesn’t have the anti-nutrients such as oxalates and phytates that are found in many calcium-rich vegetables. As I continue to read though the literature on the topic, I am tending to a higher protein and lower fat ratio with 1 g – 1.5 g per kg of ideal body weight, the carbs that come naturally with plenty of non-starchy vegetables and the fat that is found naturally in the lean fish, poultry and meat, with minimal added fat if someone is trying to lose weight. Based on a 2000 calorie per day diet, this would be closer to 30% protein, 60-65% fat, with 5-10% net carbs. Everybody’s needs are different, so what is best for one person may not be best for another. I also tend to think more protein during the weight loss phase such as Phinney and Volek suggest makes sense, with adjusting the amount of protein intake downward (to ~21-23% of caloric intake, based on 2000 calories per day) after weight loss has occurred. Sometimes which approach a person will take depends on factors such as food preferences, cooking skill and lifestyle factors and these need to be factored into people’s decisions. Some people, when they eat considerably more protein than fat feel nauseated. This finding of feeling “sick to the stomach” was referred to by Phinney and Volek and came from a study of prolonged meat diets in the early 1930’s. It is also supported from the traditional indigenous diets of the Inuit which Phinney and Volek pointed out “keep their protein intake moderate to avoid the lethargy and malaise that would occur if they ate more protein than fat” . There is no one “right” way to eat a low carb diet. What is appropriate for each individual depends on their clinical factors, as well as their personal preferences. There is no “one-size-fits-all” low carb approach. Keep in mind that no Meal Plan is ‘carved in stone’. Sometimes a client may start out with a higher fat approach but as they get closer to their goal weight, may reduce the amount of fat intake, so that they can take off the remainder of the weight. The flip side is true as well. Sometimes people start out with a higher protein intake and then as they reach their goal weight, they drop their protein intake down and increase their added monounsaturated fats. In any case, I make the process easy. After conducting a thorough assessment, I do the math required to design their Meal Plan, calculating their protein requirement based on their physiological needs and preferences and then distribute their fat and carbohydrate intake around that. Please send me a note using the “Contact Me” form above. Previous PostPrevious A Dietitian’s Journey Progress Report – is the glass half empty or half full?

2019-04-20T08:57:55Z

https://www.lchf-rd.com/2018/01/16/which-low-carb-diet-high-fat-high-protein-or-a-mixture/

As the editor notes in his introduction to this collection, the events of 2001 and after have created intense interest in the Crusades and the conflict between Christianity and Islam and the West in the Middle Ages. A wealth of publications has appeared from popular histories to detailed articles in academic journals. Much of that interest, however, has been focused on the political history of the Crusades and on the motivations of the crusaders. The articles published here aim to explore a relatively neglected area: the cultural history of the Crusades and how they shaped European identities. All ten are lively and accessible but they are also exhaustively footnoted. They both synthesise previous work and bring new insights of their own. Sini Kangas, for example, investigates one literary aspect of the western encounter with Islam during the crusades: the often scurrilous ‘lives’ of the prophet Mohammed produced in Latin from the mid-12th century onwards as crusade propaganda. The sudden growth of this type of literature in this period has often been seen as a response to the resurgent power of Islam. Kangas does not dispute that but she also places these writings in the context of increasing concern about heresy in the Christian west (p. 132, 150). She focuses on four of the earliest texts, written by Embricon of Mainz, Adelphus, Guibert of Nogent and Gautier of Compiègne. Their main sources of information seem to have been oral, for Guibert of Nogent complained that he was unable to find any information about Mohammed in the Latin Church Fathers (p. 133). Even so, some literary texts seem to have been consulted such as the Latin translation of the Chronographia of Theophanes (p. 137). Theophanes, a Byzantine monk writing in the early 9th century, presented Mohammed’s life in a ludicrous and farcical way. The prophet was an epileptic camel dealer whose wife saw money making possibilities in presenting his fits as religious visions.(1) The 12th-century texts certainly reflect that approach, portraying Mohammed not so much anti-Christ as a low and impoverished trickster, selling a concocted religion to the gullible. In Gautier of Compiègne’s Otia de Machumete, written between 1137 and 1155, Mohammed starts out as a Christian but he presents his fits as visions in an attempt to win the hand of a wealthy heiress and having done so finds himself the religious leader of his society. Guibert of Nogent claimed that Mohammed was set on the wrong path by a Christian hermit who was embittered because he had not been appointed patriarch of Alexandria (pp. 144–5). References to specific Islamic teachings, however, are few and far between in these travesties. Kangas therefore concludes that they should not be seen as an attack on the teachings of Islam but rather as crude attempts to smear it by defaming its founder (p. 152). An interesting point of comparison here are the polemics against Islam produced by Byzantine authors in earlier centuries. These did attempt to counter Islamic teachings but not always with great success. Niketas Byzantinos who wrote between 842 and 867 had a copy of the Koran in Greek translation and he made use of this to identify the tenets of Islam. Unfortunately the translation was not a good one for it rendered Sura 96.2 as saying not that man was created from clots of blood but from leeches. Niketas then spent pages refuting this ‘error’.(2) Given that the Byzantines had been in direct contact with the Islamic world for centuries, it is perhaps not so surprising that Gautier of Compiègne and others were so ignorant of what it was that Muslims believed. Moving on from polemic, issues of peaceful cultural interaction between crusaders and Muslims are addressed by Sue Edgington and Jürgen Krüger. Edgington provides a useful overview of the state of research into the possible influence of Arab medicine on medical practice in the crusader states. She argues against the widespread assumption that Arab medicine must have been superior simply because so many medical texts in Arabic survive. The treatments described in these texts may have borne no resemblance whatsoever to what was carried out in practice. Rather it would seem that Frankish and Arab physicians learned from each other (p. 208). Krüger looks at architecture and especially that of the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. He discusses spolia, discarded fragments of earlier buildings that were incorporated into the walls and the extent to which the hand of individual artists can be discerned in stone carvings. Pointers are given at the end as to where the study of architectural imitation and influence may proceed from here. Alan Murray looks at the impact of the crusades on a neglected aspect of Western European consciousness: national sentiment. The first crusade was a truly pan-European enterprise with numerous mutually incomprehensible languages being spoken by the different contingents. Murray argues that language was both less and more important as a signifier of identity than it is now. Allegiance was the primary indicator, above all to a king, and it was this which marked one out as French, German or whatever. Within those kingdoms a multiplicity of languages was spoken (p. 111). On the other hand, most of the rank and file on the crusade would never have heard any other language apart from their local dialect (and the Latin of church services presumably). Even among those broadly termed ‘Franks’ there must have been endless communication problems and they would not have had access to any lingua franca to overcome the difficulty. Murray assesses whether this was a factor in the numerous conflicts that arose among the crusaders. He points out that the frequent stand-offs between Raymond of Toulouse and the other leaders may not be unconnected with the Provençal language spoken by his followers which would have been incomprehensible to the other Franks (p.118). The article ends with a brief survey of ‘national’ histories of the crusades compiled in the later Middle Ages, which sought to play up the role of a particular ethnic group. Three articles, those of Natasha Hodgson, Chris Wright and Léan Ní Chléirigh, examine the impact of the crusades on the Christian neighbours of Frankish Outre-Mer, the Byzantines and the Cilician Armenians. Natasha Hodgson looks at diplomatic marriages between Armenians and Latins, providing detailed examples and analysis. Both sides were well aware of their cultural differences and would even exploit them. Baldwin II of Jerusalem married Morfia, daughter of Gabriel of Melitene, an Orthodox Armenian, and received 50,000 gold bezants as the dowry. He was, however, to extort even more. He publically announced that he was so ashamed that he could not pay his debts that he would shave his beard off. His father-in-law was horrified because for Armenians the loss of the beard was the worst possible dishonour and would bring shame on the family. Gabriel duly paid up (p. 89). A broad ranging contribution by Chris Wright surveys Byzantine interaction with the Crusades from 1095 until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Wright recounts how the Crusades and the ambivalent Byzantine response helped to marginalise the empire on the international stage during the 12th century. In an interesting departure he then turns to consider how the Crusades impacted on the Byzantines’ perception of their own empire and its role (p. 68ff). In striking contrast to the claim of Donald M. Nicol that the Byzantines became more anti-Latin and xenophobic as their empire shrank (3), Wright lays emphasis on how in the later Middle Ages, educated Byzantines ceased to refer to western Europeans as barbarians and even came to question the unique status of their own state. He sees the Crusades as having played a role in the gradual shift whereby the literati of the 14th and 15th centuries came to see themselves as heirs not of Rome but of ancient Greece and to refer to themselves as ‘Hellenes’ rather than ‘Romans’. These were, of course, minority views among a certain intellectual coterie but they have seldom been considered in the context of Byzantine relations with the crusades. Léan Ní Chléirigh looks at the issue from the other direction, examining how the crusades changed western views of Byzantium through the accounts of the First Crusade written by Guibert of Nogent and Fulcher of Chartres. While both accounts are heavily indebted to the anonymous Gesta Francorum for their account of events, both depart from it in their attitude to the Byzantines and their emperor, Alexios I Komnenos. Guibert takes a decidedly more hostile line, introducing elements of criticism not found in the Gesta. While the latter generally restricts its attacks to the emperor alone, Guibert fulminates against all ‘Greeks’ taking the classical line that their effete and idle character was influenced by climate. He also introduces an element that is entirely lacking in his source, the religious errors of the Byzantines. Presumably, however, the statement that ‘Guibert attacked the Eastern Church for its use of the Filioque clause in the Creed’ (p. 167) is a slip. The Byzantines never used the Filioque which only appeared in the Latin version of the Creed. Fulcher, by contrast, avoids almost any criticism of Alexios and the Byzantines. Chléirigh suggest that this may reflect the experience of the contingent to which he was attached during the crusade but also an adherence to the policy of Urban II who hoped that the expedition would bring about a reunion of the Churches of East and West (p. 180). Even in a volume devoted to cultural histories, it is not possible to escape warfare altogether. John France’s contribution synthesises much work that he has published elsewhere but presented in this compact form it gives a fresh look at warfare in the Mediterranean region in the Crusades era. Western and Turkish military tactics are compared and contrasted and related to the societies in which they evolved. By contrast, Yvonne Friedman focuses on the considerable periods of peace that punctuated this era of holy war with 120 Muslim-Crusader treaties mentioned in the sources. Both Christianity and Islam, after all, lay great stress on peace. Friedman examines the mechanics of peace making from choice of envoys to prisoner exchange to agreeing a set of gestures and symbols. As regards the latter, the overcoming of cultural differences was one of the first steps. At the battle of Ascalon in 1099, the defeated Egyptians gave their standard gesture of surrender by throwing themselves flat on the ground. The crusaders proceeded to kill them, presumably not recognising their intention. By 1150, however, as a new gesture had evolved that was recognised by both sides: laying down weapons and clasping the hands together, first on one side of the body and then on the other (p. 242). Yehoshua Frenkel looks at the Muslim response to the arrival of the Franks in Palestine in 1099. He plays down the popular idea of a united Muslim population engaged in constant jihad to expel the western intruders in favour of an approach that takes into account the complexity of local conditions. He traces how a jihadist response to the crusades developed during the first half of the twelfth century but also pays attention to the frequent truces between crusaders and Muslim rulers. He argues that the conflict should not be seen as endless jihad but as a political rivalry for hegemony in the region with the Franks not as invaders but competitors (p. 42). Many volumes of collected essays can be something of a mixed bag with no linking theme. Not so this book. Whether thanks to the hard work of the editor or the co-operation of the authors (or both), the articles presented here complement each other very well and all contribute to the overall theme. A helpful afterward by Bernard Hamilton pulls their main points together, highlighting the similarities and contrasts in the approaches of the authors. So while this book will be of interest to researchers in the field, it will also be useful for teaching the crusades especially to those teachers who wish to go beyond the stereotyped ‘clash of cultures’ and explore complexity and diversity in the ways that human societies interact. Having read the review, the editor has no further comment, finding it very insightful and, indeed, generous.

2019-04-23T12:43:16Z

https://reviews.history.ac.uk/print/review/1034

I just did a quick stationary M8T L1 test with 2 different baselines. Used GPS only with professional CORS stations (GLONASS AR is not working for CORS in RTKLIB). First baseline was 25 km and the first fix (static-start mode) came after about 50 seconds. Second baseline was 50km and fixed solution appeared after about 3 minutes. Just to add – when I used 2 M8Ts with a baseline of about 10 meters – with GPS+GLO+GAS the fix in “static-start” mode was obtained in about 18 seconds. – Download Demo5 execute. Run RTKPOST, I can see RTKPOST ver2.4.3 demo5 b29b on title bar. setting2: Fix-and-Hold Glonass/ON BD/grayed OFF. Min ratio 3. Min Lock to Fix Amb 0. Min Fix to Amb 100. I got pos file with Q=2 (96.8%). Is there any step I am missing? Hi Hobbyist. I downloaded the data, config files, and deom5 b29b code from my website and reran the solutions just to make sure there were no discrepancies between what I used and what was posted. I was able to duplicate my previous results, so I am pretty certain they are OK. It looks like you are trying to set up the options yourself, I would recommend using the config file I provided (You can load it from the options menu). The other possibility is that you are not correctly converting the raw binary files to RINEX. Be sure to use the demo5 b29b version of RTKCONV and also make sure you enable all relevant constellations (GPS/GLONASS/SBAS/GALILEO for M8T, GPS/GLONASS for Swift) and enable L2 for Swift. would you please zipped your converted files include exe files and put it at download section? Not sure computer power make sense or not. Really try to resolve this. THANKS! Hi hobbyist,would you min tell me what the problem you have meet ? I have the same result(Q2= 99.6%) as you posted early. I tried for several times but still didn’t works. I have been playing with raw data a bit more in the meantime. Tired to run rtkpost for the M8T with various constellations enabled/disabled and forward/combined to see how it performs. Nice experience. I am interested in using CORS stations a lot so that one does not need to hassle with setting up his own base station. The missing GLONASS AR for CORS is a significant drawback though. Tim, dont you want to play with it again and fix it somehow? 🙂 Maybe by using the RTCM 1230 message. Anyways, with Galileo and Beidou now gaining traction (Beidou will get almost 20 new satellites this year!) the option is to use these two from CORS instead of Glonass. The US CORS network does already have several Galileo stations – these can be filtered nicely on the beta site – https://beta.ngs.noaa.gov/corsmap/. The European EUREF is a bit better with many stations having GAL+BDS for post-processing and about ten even in real-time. I found one of the US Galileo stations is near your location (TMG2). I downloaded 24-hour 1 second RINEX from the BETA site for March 20th (filename tmg20790.18o) and tried to plug it into rtkpost with your conf with just the position tab edited in options to use the “Rinex header position” for base station. rtkpost runs (takes time with the large cors file) and it looks like the base&rover data overlaps (time goes through in progress bar after a while) but the solution file has only a header and contains no positions. Am I doing something wrong? Tried to process GPS, GPS+GAL, GPS+GAL+SBAS but all the same. I tried to run your Tersus dataset with CORS (niwot_tersus_0606) and that works with its config. I forgot one thing yet – can RTKLIB resolve integer ambiguities for the Galileo constellation? I thought it can all the time but now I can not see the setting for it in rtknavi/rtkpost, only GPS/GLO/BDS is listed (with BDS greyed out?). Hi Kozuch. The release version of RTKLIB defaults to always doing GPS and Galileo ambiguity resolution (AR) if AR mode is enabled. I added a switch to the demo5 version to enable/disable GPS AR for educational and debug purposes but Galileo AR is always on if AR Mode is enabled. The option for BDS AR is most likely greyed out because you don’t have the BDS constellation enabled. One last comment today – maybe it would be interesting to try to evaluate the re-fix abilities of the receivers by more scientific test like blocking the RF signal from the antenna for a given time (to simulate an underpass) on a static rover (in kinematic RTK mode though). One could then easily evaluate the errors. This may be especially interesting in combination with the baseline length test to see how the re-fix time gets longer with longer base (I assume :)). Hi Kozuch. Yes, I have done some tests as you describe but I am not convinced they accurately simulate a real underpass in which the receiver is moving during the outage, the blocked and then regained satellites occur in a particular sequence, and the multipath effects may be different, especially when the outage times are very short as they usually are with an underpass. I have tended to focus on actual snapshots of the real world rather than more extensive lab or simulated testing, but I do believe both are useful. Hi Tim, I look at the raw data you posted – so far I had success reproducing your results :). Converted the UBX to RINEX with rtkconv (enabled GPS/GLONASS/Galileo/SBAS) and then used rtkpost with your .conf file. Then pos2kml (in not part of your demo5 Windows binaries though) – nice it works for Swift’s NMEA too. The result looks like your screenshots. Just the included ublox_1749.pos does not seem to contain the same solution I got. I would like to do similar test myself. I have a pair of M8T from CSG Shop with integrated antenna and 100 mm round ground plane (NEO-M8T Time & RAW Triple Band EMI protection +HMC5983 PRO version – now at http://www.csgshop.com/product.php?id_product=221). Do you think I will be able to get some good results with this setup or should I rather get a proper Tallysman TW4721 for rover and TW3742 for base (with a new pair of M8Ts)? I can imagine the good results of this your last test may go to the good antennas used – the Swifth and ComNav antennas are probably still a bit better than Tallysman. Hi Dan. The exact fix rate will depend very much on your input parameter configuration. If you are using the config files included with the download and the latest version of RTKLIB demo5, you should be able to match my results though. To match exactly, you will need to use the same start and end times as I did. In my analysis, I did not include the time to initial fix since it is a very small percent of the total solution and it is difficult to make a fair comparison between the different solutions. Also, as I mentioned in my post, near the end of the data set there is a gap in the Swift base station data for unknown reasons likely unrelated to the Swift receiver, so I ended my analysis for both receiver pairs at the start of that gap. Hi Tim, I just want make sure this test you still use the released version Demo5 29b not your recently update. Is that right? I thought you updated the demo5 29b code to better handle the tough raw measurement after your ComNav receiver testing. Correct me if I am wrong. Hi Dan. Yes, the testing in the last two posts was done with the demo5 b29b code. Hi Kozuch. Yes, I became familiar with POS2KML fairly recently which is why it is not part of the demo5 binaries, but I will add it to future releases. The u_blox_1749.pos solution is the real-time u-blox solution so won’t match the post-processed solution exactly. It also ran with a slightly different config which unfortunately I did not save. The M8T receivers in my experiment were from CSGShop but I have not tested the ones with built-in antennas. Antenna quality does make a difference, so I would consider buying the units with external antennas go give yourself the flexibility to upgrade if you are not satisfied with the lower cost antennas. For well constrained environments with open skies, the lower cost antennas will work fine, but if you are working with more challenging environments, the higher cost antennas will help. Although the antennas I used in this test are fairly expensive, much of the cost is because they support dual frequencies. Good quality single frequency antennas, such as the ones you suggest, are available for significantly less. Hi Tim, the real-time and post-processed (forward only) solutions should be identical with the same config file, am I right (meaning a general case)? I used your .conf file for rtkpost as I wrote. Can I use the same file for rtknavi or is the config file format different? I guess I will also need the initialization sequence for the M8T receiver so that it outputs the RAW messages at all – would you mind sharing this sequence too? I guess you have a nice tweaked one :). I have one more crazy idea – the M8T is limited to reception of only 3 concurrent constellations (while SBAS does not seem to count for one). So one can not use GPS/GLO/BDS/GAL from a single receiver. Do you think one could “merge” the RTCM messages from two receivers to allow for 4 concurrent constellations? This surely must be doable in software but the question is it the messages need to be in some kind of sync or whatever. Anyways the Emlid Reach allows to configure different RTCM message frequency for various constellations so it looks like RTKLIB can deal with messages that are not “in sync”. The idea is even more interesting given that M8T can do higher frequency when fewer constellations are used (I saw up to 14 Hz for GPS) so then 2 receivers were used one could take advantage if this. Sure, the cost of the receiver setup doubles but for $75/piece it may still be interesting. Hi Kozuch. With the same config file, the real-time and post-processed solutions will generally be quite similar but not identical. The real-time solution will have a non-zero age of differential (transmission delay of the base data) while the age of differential in the post-processed solution will be zero. Assuming the age of differential is less than a couple seconds, this difference should be very small. Also, depending on initial conditions, the real-time solution may not initially have navigation data for all the satellites. RTKLIB has a feature to save time-tag files along with the raw data which can then be run with RTKNAVI to accurately simulate the real-time run. Unfortunately this feature seems to have been broken by one of the recent updates from the release code. I have done an experiment very similar to what you suggest, and yes it did work. I used RTKCONV to convert two simultaneously collected raw data files from two receivers to RINEX with the time-adjust feature enabled to align the time stamps between the two files. I then wrote a simple MATLAB parser to combine the two RINEX files into a single RINEX file which included Galileo measurements from the second receiver. I was then able to run a successful solution with this file. The output rates of the different measurements can be different but they do need to be aligned. The same config files can be used for both RTKPOS and RTKNAVI. The receiver setup file (*.cmd) files I use for the M8T are included in the demo5 binaries download. Hi Tim, I initially thought the “double M8T, 4 x GNSS” setup for real-time but but it looks like post-processing that will be much simpler. I just have a question about the “time-adjust feature” you talk about – do you mean the .tag files that can be created by rtknavi (and are enabled on “Log streams” window by ticking the time-tag) or are you talking about something else (rtkconv setting)? Rinex has its own timestamps, right? These are not enough to sync the two rinex files? Could you please elaborate so that I can try to reproduce your experiment? Sharing your MATLAB code your be great too :). Also, do you have a recommendation on which particular GNSS to enable on which receiver? Looking at section “1.5 Supported GNSS Constellations” in M8T datasheet I think GPS+Galileo and GLONASS+BeiDou my be a good combination. The receiver only has 32 satellite channels but that definitely should be enough for today’s 2 x GNSS. Hi Kozuch. Adjusting the time tags is a receiver option in RTKLIB. Specifying “-TADJ=0.1” for example in the “Reciever option” box in RTKCONV or RTKNAVI will adjust the time tag, pseudorange and carrier phase measurements to move the measurement to the nearest 0.1 sec. This will allow you to align the time stamps between the two receivers. PS. Have you tried to push the RAW sample rate of M8T to its limits? Emlid’s 14 Hz GPS is undocumented I think and they achieved it by turning off other unnecessary messages (probably to offload the MCU). There may be similar situation for the other constellations, of course the question is whether the efforts are worth it today, maybe the upcoming M9 platform will solve these issues with more powerful CPU. The current 5 Hz of M8T for GPS/GLO/GAL/SBS is very good performance already for the money though :). Hi Kozuch. I have not tried running the M8T at greater than 5 Hz. I have found for most typical applications that the dynamics of the rover are low enough that interpolating between 5 Hz solution output points gives quite accurate positions. Great post again. I am also surprised of the L1 performance. The 13 km baseline does not seem to be a big problem to the M8T, right? It would be great to see the baseline length test to be pushed to the limits of both receivers. The usual 1 PPM error (1 cm error every 10 km of baseline) may not be a big problem for some applications even at say 50 km (=5cm error) or more. I would love if you could look at this in the future :).

2019-04-20T22:26:36Z

https://rtklibexplorer.wordpress.com/2018/03/27/underpasses-and-urban-canyons/

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/856,670 entitled “A Highly Scalable, Accurate and Distortion-Robust Media Fingerprinting and Identification System” filed on Jun. 10, 2009 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. U.S. application Ser. No. 12/141,163 filed on Jun. 18, 2008 entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Providing a Scalable Identification of Digital Video Sequences”, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/141,337 filed on Jun. 18, 2008 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Multi-dimensional Content Search and Video Identification”, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/491,896 filed on Jun. 25, 2009 entitled “Digital Video Fingerprinting Based on Resultant Weighted Gradient Orientation Computation”, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/612,729 filed Nov. 5, 2009 entitled “Digital Video Content Fingerprinting Based on Scale Invariant Interest Region Detection with an Array of Anisotropic Filters”, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/181,806 filed on May 28, 2009 entitled “Multi-Media Content Identification Using Multi-Level Content Signature Correlation and Fast Similarity Search”, and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/266,668 filed on Dec. 4, 2009 entitled “Digital Video Content Fingerprinting Using Image Pixel Intensity and Color Information” have the same assignee as the present application, are related applications, and are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary resampled rectangular descriptor box 515 for use in generating a global descriptor in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 5B, an exemplary rectangular descriptor box 522 corresponding to 506 in FIG. 5A, is centered at an interest point 530, with Bx*By=16 sub-regions, where Bx and By both equal 4. In more detail and with specified feature parameters (centerx, centery, sx, sy) a rectangular descriptor box 522 is placed on the image with center at (x, y) interest point 530 and with spatial extent of Nsx, Msy, where N and M are multiplication factors which determine the size of the neighborhood around the interest point under consideration. The rectangular descriptor box 522 is resampled to generate a resampled grid 524 with (Bx*By)(Rx*Ry), where Rx and Ry equal 5 in this example, pixel regions, such as region 528 for block 526. For each block, such as the block 526, a Rx*Ry pixel grid 521 with associated Rx*Ry re-sampled pixel values in region 528 is computed as follows. First, lines that define the Rx*Ry sub-grid are determined, where these lines are given with sub-pixel accuracy and are not necessarily aligned with the pixel boundaries 521. In the x direction, the lines evenly subdivide the block 521 horizontally and are named Lnx0, Lnx1, . . . Lnx(Rx). Likewise, in the y direction, the lines evenly subdivide the block 521 vertically and are named Lny0, Lny1, . . . Lny(Ry). The locations of the pixels contained within rectangle 521 are shown as dots. The pixels contained within each of the Rx*Ry sub-grid areas are combined to produce a resampled pixel. This is done by summing the intensity values and dividing by the number of pixels, within each of the Rx*Ry sub-grid areas, yielding Rx*Ry pixel intensity values. Note that there may be different number of pixels for some or all of the Rx*Ry sub-grid areas. There may also be no pixels in a Rx*Ry sub-grid area, in which case the resampled intensity value is taken as zero. FIG. 6 illustrates aspects of a global descriptor gradient computation process 600 in accordance with the present invention. Each Rx*Ry pixel grid that is computed for each of the Bx*By blocks is used to generate 4 values. These values are “global gradient” values computed according to the following procedure. For each pixel in an Rx*Ry grid, the differences from a pixel to several other pixels are computed. FIG. 6 illustrates the pixels on which these differences are taken, for example, from the reference pixel 602, to the target pixels 603, 604, 605 and 606. These target pixels may be chosen arbitrarily. In this example, they have been chosen to be to the right 2 pixels and 4 pixels, as well as down 2 pixels and 4 pixels. Other pixel positions are also possible. Based on these pixels, four difference values are computed, including difference A 607 computed between pixel 603 and pixel 602, difference B 608 computed between pixel 604 and pixel 602, difference C 609 computed between pixel 605 and pixel 602, difference D 610 computed between pixel 606 and pixel 602. Pixels, such as pixels 604 and 606, might not exist in a particular Rx*Ry pixel grid for pixels near to the right or bottom borders, so such pixels will access the appropriate pixel in a neighboring Rx*Ry pixels grid. If a bordering Rx*Ry pixel grid does not exist, an additional block or blocks might need to be computed along the right and bottom borders of the rectangular box 506. This means, for instance, that instead of a Bx by By grid computed, a (Bx+1) by (By+1) grid is computed, with reference pixels within the original Bx by By grid and target pixels potentially accessing the larger (Bx+1) by (By +1) grid. FIG. 8B illustrates a threshold scale 838 used in a procedure to augment a traversal hash signature in accordance with the present invention. From the scale values sx and sy, a normalized scale value s may be computed according to the equation: s=sqrt(sx*sx+sy*sy), represented on the threshold scale 838 as a value on a linear scale s 820. This is evaluated against multiple thresholds. If s is between thresholds T0 822 and T1 824, with threshold T0 822 inclusive, then the scale hash bits are set to “00” 830; if s is between thresholds T1 824 and T2 826, with threshold T1 824 inclusive, then the scale hash bits are set to “01” 832; ifs is between thresholds T2 826 and T3 828, with threshold T2 826 inclusive, then the scale hash bits are set to “10” 834; ifs is greater than or equal to threshold T3 828, then the scale hash bits are set to “11” 836. The peak polarity of the underlying feature may be indicated by the feature detection algorithm which indicates whether a feature based on a contrast polarity threshold is a light coloring on a dark background or vice-versa using one bit to represent this characteristic. For each signature in the set 866, a temporal robustness value 876 is computed, using the sets of signatures 868. The computed temporal robustness value 876 is associated with the corresponding signature in the set 866. Temporal robustness may include a measure of whether a feature appears in a following frame. The frame lag between a frame under consideration and the following frame may be one frame, the immediately following frame, or more than one frame. An estimate is generated to indicate whether a feature appears in a following frame based solely on the signature and traversal hash signature. FIG. 8D illustrates a procedure 881 to generate the temporal robustness estimate in accordance with the present invention. A set of signatures and traversal hash signatures for the current frame 882, is compared against all signatures and traversal hash signatures from following frame 883 by computing the bit distance between the respective signatures in traversal hash signature comparison computation 884 and the bit distance between the respective signatures in signature comparison computation 885. The bit distances are computed for each signature in 882, and the bit distances are compared against a robustness estimate threshold computation 886 to produces a set of temporal robustness values 887, one value corresponding to each signature in 882. Specifically, a signature is considered “temporally robust” if there exists at least one pair of signature and traversal hash signature found in the traversal hash signature comparison computation 884 and in the signature comparison computation 885 with a signature bit distance ≦R and a traversal signature bit distance ≦Q. The values R and Q are integer-valued parameters that can be specified. In one embodiment, a temporal robustness value is either 0 or 1, based on whether the signature is “temporally robust”. The secondary index allows for searches such as ‘all reference signatures for multimedia id “vo102340910” between time period 817000 milliseconds and 1048500 milliseconds’. In this case, the entry 958 corresponding to vo102340910″ is first accessed, retrieving the linked list 960, starting with the linked list entry 962. The array of signatures 954 can be examined as to whether the time period 817000 to 1048500 milliseconds is contained. Any matching signatures are returned. The subsequent entries on the linked list, for instance 964, are processed, until there are no more entries, to ensure that all matching signatures within the time period are retrieved. This search can be made faster by keeping the starting and end timestamp of an array of signatures within the corresponding linked list entry itself, so that the signatures themselves do not need to be accessed unnecessarily. Also, the requested signature record for the desired starting timestamp is found by binary search through the array. From there, signature records in the array are processed linearly until the desired ending timestamp is reached. FIG. 13 illustrates a signature correlation process 1300 in accordance with the present invention. Further information regarding a procedure for using signature correlation to eliminate false positives and get time-accurate matches may be found in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/181,806 filed on May 28, 2009 entitled “Multi-Media Content Identification Using Multi-Level Content Signature Correlation and Fast Similarity Search”, FIGS. 1A, 2A, 2B, 2C, 3A, 3B, 4-6, pages 11-26. The signal correlation process 1300, in the context of a signature database, is described next. One of the goals of the signature correlation process 1300 is to verify that the signatures of a potentially matching reference multimedia clip 1304 do indeed correspond with the signatures of the query multimedia clip 1305. searching the reference signature database using the traversal hash query signature to find similar signatures that are within a specified signature distance, wherein the similar signatures are aggregated in a candidate list of closely matching signatures that correspond to similar reference multimedia clips. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein a multimedia clip comprises image pixel data, video pixel data, or audio waveform data. quantizing each dimension of the N dimension descriptor to generate the N dimension signature. generating the N dimension descriptor as a concatenation of combinations of the x-gradient values and y-gradient values for each block of the Bx*By blocks. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the combinations of the x-gradient values and y-gradient values are combinations of a positive sum of x-gradient value, a negative sum of x-gradient values, a positive sum of y-gradient values, and a negative sum of y-gradient values for each of the Bx*By blocks, wherein the N dimension descriptor is an N=4*Bx*By dimension descriptor. 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the scalex multiplication factor or the scaley multiplication factor or both are adjusted to account for an expected error margin of +/−D %, wherein D % represents effects of image distortions. 7. The method of claim 4, wherein the location of the center of the feature is adjusted to account for an expected error margin of +/−D %, wherein D represents effects of image distortions. comparing the query combined values with the traversal hash threshold to form the traversal hash query signature. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the traversal hash signature includes additional bits representing a quadrant having the center of an underlying feature and a scale of the underlying feature. 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the traversal hash signature includes a polarity value that indicates whether the underlying feature is a light coloring on a dark background or a dark coloring on a light background. sorting the candidate list according to a count of the number of times a closely matching signature appears in the candidate list to find likely reference multimedia clip match signatures. sorting by the frequency of occurrence to find T likely reference multimedia clip matches, where T=1 or T>1. computing one or more signatures and associated traversal hash signatures for each of the one or more descriptors. adjusting individually the scale and location of center parameters to account for an expected error margin due to image distortions to generate at least a second N dimension descriptor as a concatenation of the functions for each block of the Bx*By blocks as adjusted according to the expected error margin. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the scale is specified by a scalex and a scaley multiplication factors and the multiple intensity differences are computed in both x and y directions based on the scalex, scaley, and location of center parameters. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the functions of the multiple intensity differences are combinations of a positive sum of x-gradient value, a negative sum of x-gradient values, a positive sum of y-gradient values, and a negative sum of y-gradient values for each of the Bx*By blocks, wherein the x-gradient values are weighted sum of combinations of the multiple intensity differences in the x direction and the y-gradient values are weighted sum of combinations of the multiple intensity differences in the y direction and N is equal to 4*Bx*By. 23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein the combinations of the x-gradient values and y-gradient values are combinations of a positive sum of x-gradient value, a negative sum of x-gradient values, a positive sum of y-gradient values, and a negative sum of y-gradient values for each of the Bx*By blocks, wherein the N dimension descriptor is an N=4*Bx*By dimension descriptor. 24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein the scalex multiplication factor or the scaley multiplication factor or both are adjusted to account for an expected error margin of +/−D %, wherein D % represents effects of image distortions. 25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein the location of the center of the feature is adjusted to account for an expected error margin of +/−D %, wherein D % represents effects of image distortions. storing the selected signature in a media database at a location within a set of contiguous locations based on the traversal hash signature used as a primary index. storing a second copy of the selected signature in the media database at another location within a set of contiguous locations based on a multimedia identification value and a timestamp of the media content associated with the selected signature. selecting a signature from the plurality of signatures that are associated with a corresponding descriptor made up of descriptor values and identified by a function of the descriptor values that meets or exceeds a threshold value. eliminating signatures that are too close based on an established threshold for closeness. eliminating signatures that have bit distance values greater than R that are not temporally robust. eliminating traversal hash signatures that have bit distance values greater than Q that are not temporally robust. Joly, Alexis et al. "Statistical similarity search applied to content-based video copy detection", Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Date Engineering, 2005 IEEE Computer Society, p. 1285. Lowe, David G., "Object Recognition from Local Scale-Invariant Features", Proc. of the International Conference on Computer Vision, vol. II, Sep. 1999, p. 1150. Sivic, Josef et al., "Video Google: A Text Retrieval Approach to Object Matching in Videos", Proceedings of the Ninth IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision, 2003, http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/ICCV.2003.1238663.

2019-04-21T10:42:56Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/US8195689B2/en

“What you have to realize about my generation is that we are lost,” 22-year-old Jessi blurted out. The recent college grad continued: “There is so much out there – it’s confusing. We feel alone, and we look for guidance. That’s where we begin to stray.” Over coffee, Jessi and I were talking about her leaving the student role that has defined her since kindergarten, and the stress of finding a job. Two out of three Canadian young adults who attended church weekly as a child or youth in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s no longer do so today. Although defections from evangelical churches such as the Mennonite Brethren are less pronounced than those from the Catholic or mainline Protestant tradition, a significant number stray from our congregations too. ⇒What do we have to do to reverse a trend of dwindling connection to Christian community? ⇒What does it take for a young adult raised in a Mennonite Brethren flock to catch a vibrant faith that lasts a lifetime? I have spent the last four years fixated on these questions. As we studied 72 young adult interviews and pored over the survey data from more than 2,000 young adults, some key insights for the church emerged. As Jesus states in John 15, if we remain in him, we have God’s supernatural life flowing through our veins. Without this personal reality, we are spiritually dead. If we are not the real thing, our youth will not be impressed. The most important move we need to make to help others stay rooted in Jesus is to experience the extravagance of God ourselves. The very life of triune God lives within us – by consent, not effort. Being a follower of Jesus is not just about sin management or doing our very best. It is letting go of our need for security, approval and control, and saying “yes!” to God. Think back to the garden in Genesis and humankind’s first temptation. It was to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But here is the greatest news of all. We were not put on the planet primarily to discern right from wrong, but rather to eat from the tree of life, which is Christ himself, and to digest his life into us. The character, the nature and the glory of triune God is thus expressed through human beings. The life in us does the work. And if our youth see this in us personally and in us corporately, they will come. The person of Christ inside us and our communities will intrigue the younger generation when they see and experience God through us. Unless we have accepted as a gift the uncreated, holy and divine life of God living inside of us, we have little to offer. We must be visible to our youth. The discipleship modelled by Jesus was apprenticeship. It was organic and long-term, not programmatic with starts and stops that lose people at transitions. Jesus took an apprentice with him everywhere he went. Try that: take a millennial (born in the 1980s or 90s) along wherever you go. The primary thing Jesus did in his post-resurrection days on earth was track down his engagers like Mary, his fence sitters like Thomas and his wanderers like Peter. And if rejecter Judas were still alive, Jesus’ character suggests he would have tracked him down too – just as he would later visit murderous Saul who became the apostle Paul! What are present day implications for us? Church must go beyond Sunday. This means not just sharing the gospel, but giving our very lives because our people are so dear to us (1 Thessalonians 2:8, 19–20). This is imitation, not just information and inspiration. It is always about being with – the ministry of presence. “Don’t just be there; be audaciously present,” writes Bill Beausay. Being there requires artistry and stealth, he suggests. It means being present in “powerful, colourful and in-your-face ways.” It means we live such authentic lives that we can urge our young, as Paul urged his flock (1 Corinthians 4:16), to imitate us as we imitate Christ. It also means the church family views everyone (not only next of kin) as “blood relatives.” It means being visible and vulnerable in all seasons, including the “dark nights of the soul.” And it means letting our youth access our elderly – the most beautiful souls in our midst – who despite life losses are finishing their faith journey well. To do all this well, we have to slow down. “One of the most harmful ideals to grip [our minds] over the past two decades is that of ‘quality time,’” writes George Barna. Youth need quantity time. We need to be present in the same way Jesus was present to his disciples and Paul was to his converts, as he admonishes in Philippians 2:5–8. To empty oneself means to give without expecting our efforts to be reciprocated or acknowledged. Giving our very lives means being with our youth and young adults indefinitely. It means we are not meeting in another room or at another time. Not in our own age-comfortable groupings. Not gone for the winter. It means life-long mentoring, not segmented mentoring. It means long-term pastorates. Youth are uncertain. They have deep and difficult questions. The acceptance of uncertainty in our conversations is crucial and will allow for a truly honest, invitational and participatory experience. Youth live in a world without borders. They have never known a time when virtual and face-to-face connection were not blurred. Through their smart phones, they literally carry answers in their pockets. Yet there is so much information to wade through that this generation, perhaps like none before, craves and responds to wisdom from an authentic loving and thinking soul who comes alongside. We can give guidance. And we need to be there, not when it is convenient for us, but all the time, in self-emptying ways. We cannot give what we have not got. They cannot be what they cannot see. We cannot influence if we do not stay. To stop hemorrhaging faith is that simple…and that hard! Which brings me back to Jessi. As we sipped decaf coffee and chai tea, I told her she was not the only one with stress in the transition to adulthood. No matter how healthy a little fish is, if you put it into a toxic river, it will not make it. Sadly, our present individualistic, materialistic, secular society is exactly that – toxic. It expects our young people for the most part to fend for themselves – and the church has drunk the Kool-Aid. No wonder our young people are stressed. Consumer societies, suggests sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, have turned identity formation into a sentence of life-long hard labour. Youth are expected to turn themselves into their own brand and prostitute themselves. According to Bauman, they are “simultaneously the promoter of commodities and the commodities they promote.” So, Jessi’s feelings of lostness should be expected. But then we talked about good news. We talked about how one’s twentysomething years are a developmental sweet spot, a strategic time to gain identity capital instead of having an identity crisis. The three most prominent images of God in the Bible are good Father (and Mother!), good Shepherd and good King. God is there for us as his children, lambs and citizens. And Jessi, this beloved daughter of God, can count on the entire Mennonite Brethren church in Canada to be in her corner too! The faith of the next generation is our collective sacred trust. Imagine with me, Paul’s language of a “more than all we ask or imagine” church (Ephesians 3:20–21) that brings glory to God down all the generations. We as Canadian MBs are invited into that glorious future: inclusive, intergenerational, countercultural, missional churches and church plants from sea to sea, connected to Jesus and utilizing everyone’s gifts from childhood through the senior years…with not just young adults like Jessi, but all of us joyful and confident because we have rediscovered connection to Trinity and the shelter of each other. The hemorrhaging of young adults from Christian faith is a multi-generational health problem. This is so sobering an issue it cannot be delegated to a segment of the church such as the youth or young adult program. This dilemma must be taken seriously by all senior leadership and all adults in every congregation. Churches can take action by viewing the report and asking probing questions (see below). This will begin to give you a window into the key issues your specific church needs to address. It will give you a picture of how serious the hemorrhaging faith issue is in your faith community. What needs to stay the same, and what needs changing, so vibrant faith flourishes? Explore the issues this analysis raises with key adults of all ages and a diversity of children, youth and young adults. As you discern best courses of action, expect God to bless you with insight and give you more than you could ask or imagine so God’s glory touches all generations (Ephesians 3:20–21). —James Penner is an adjunct University of Lethbridge professor and a youth and church consultant with James Penner and Associates (www.pennerandassociates.com). James and his wife Claire are long-time members of College Drive Community (MB) Church, Lethbridge, Alta., and proud parents of two young adult children Elya, married to Matt Bergen, and Erick, married to Jelisa Riediger. Out of their love for the Canadian church, in 2011, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada’s Youth and Young Adult Ministry Roundtable commissioned ground-breaking research on the spiritual trajectories of young adults who attended Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant and Evangelical Christian churches as children. My research firm, James Penner and Associates, conducted this project alongside EFC researcher Rick Hiemstra and a team of veteran youth workers, sociologists and church gurus, with the help of Angus Reid, strategic funders and a cadre of on-the-ground contributors from coast to coast to coast. Our efforts culminated in an unprecedented report Hemorrhaging Faith: Why and When Canadian Young Adults are Leaving, Staying and Returning to Church. What might a church do? Download the report from www.hemorrhagingfaith.com. Marinate yourself in its findings and start a discussion with the adults in your congregation. Then take a count of all those aged 14–34 presently in your church or who have ever attended your church. Track them down wherever they are and ask each one to give you their personal honest response to the four statements below. Ask them to rate the statements strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree. 1. I find God personally loving and tangibly answering my prayers. 2. My parents and/or the significant adults in my life have a faith worth following. 3. The attenders of my local church are inclusive and authentically following Jesus. 4. The biblical teaching I receive is empowering and not restrictive. Wow ! This is shocking and yet not surprising. I have spent a great part of my life as a volunteer in children and youth ministry, and I am deeply concerned about ” our youth ” in ( The church, The body of Christ ). I weep often for our youth and will continue to pray for them. Thank you for sending a wake up call to ” The Church “! It is so easy to think ” Not my problem “. I believe strongly in discipleship ministry and mentorship today as an adult, because when I was a youth several people in my life spent their time, and resources to minister to me. May we as adults in our later years share our life experiences and our faith in Christ to their benefit. I am thank Jesus to all who disciple and mentor!

2019-04-22T00:46:53Z

https://mbherald.com/remain/

How Old Did You Say! Hey, That's Not a Proper Post! Do You jump to Conclusions. I was in a shop this week and an old lady in front of me was talking about 'The good old days,' and how she wished it was still like it was. And I smiled to myself. Because that afternoon I had been putting the finishing touches to a chapter of a book I have been writing concerning life after the war. (I was born in 1939.) I want my children to know what it was really like, warts and all. 'We were in the main healthy if undernourished, though every conceivable malady or affliction was never far away. Like many other children I suffered the horrors of several, all debilitating, and some embarrassing. Painful puss filled boils, often on the neck where clothing rubbed, the result of an unhealthy diet. Plus sties, an equally painful inflammation of the glands that lie along the edge of the eyelid. Each a sore red swelling with a head of white, painful itching treated, not always successfully by the application of greasy Golden Eye Ointment. Chicken pox and measles would travel through the village, and, on arrival, create anxious times for all who had been in contact with the first victims for the next three weeks. Red sore patches and yellow oozing blisters would herald the arrival of impetigo, shared towels in infant and junior school meant shared impetigo. Head lice too were rife, tiny wingless insects very capable of moving from school desk to school desk and then from friend to friend. The discovery of tiny greyish white eggs at an early stage preferable to the extreme itching that signified the eggs had hatched and the lice rife. Plus ringworm, sore, itchy and infectious, a fungus of distinctive red rings often caught from the animals ever present in village life. All irritating conditions but seldom life threatening. The same could not be said of other sicknesses and ailments prevalent in the village and surrounding area. Whooping cough, particularly feared by parents of children under the age of one, contagious and dangerous. The ‘whooping’ sound emitting as those afflicted breathed in, distressing to victim and parent alike. Plus diphtheria, at least equally distressing. An airborne bacterium that can lead to severe breathing problems, paralysis, heart failure and death. Scarlet fever, a not uncommon childhood illness, a distinctive, very infectious streptococcal bacteria often needing isolation in hospitals provided for the purpose if it was to be contained and its effects limited. One child in the village distinctly remembered sitting on the pavement playing snobs, also sometimes called jacks, a pastime popular with many. An innocuous grazed finger caused by contact with the pavement led to isolation in nearby Draycott Hospital and eight weeks incarceration, the result of contracting Scarlet Fever. Another village child was in the same hospital for the same illness. Her smaller sister also contacted the disease, seemingly from innocuously kissing her hand whilst visiting. Each instance of infection distressing but not surprising. Poliomyelitis, also called polio. A dangerous condition causing weakness, paralysis and serious breathing problems; often with fatal results. So serious that many who survived inherited weaknesses in an arm or leg for the rest of their lives. A contagious disease that was particularly rife when bathing in canals and pools was practised ignorant of and oblivious to the dangers inherent in such seemingly innocent pastimes. One or two of the village children wore callipers, a reminder that Ockbrook was no more immune from the likes of polio or the condition known as club foot than any other post war village. Also not unknown were neck goitres, a condition borne of an iodine deficiency, easily prevented in more enlightened times, so prevalent in Derbyshire that it was nicknamed ‘Derbyshire Neck’. Lest people think we were unhappy, we we not, partly because we we knew of nothing else. Most of my readers will have noticed that in my last post my wife has red hair. That is not to say that in my next post my wife will have red hair. We were in a shop last week. my wife looked at two dresses and asked me which one went with her hair. How silly, choose the dress colour and change the hair colour to match like y ou always do my dear. But I digress, bright red hair has its advantages. Apart from sticking a toy windmill, or a Union Jack on her head I can think of no better way to signal my wife's whereabouts. It meant I could spot my wife from a dozen aisles away, very useful indeed, no more merging into the crowd. It was not the first time I have found my wife's choice of hair colouring useful. But strangely enough my wife was in fact second not first regarding the most conspicuous customer in the shop on one occasion. I lost my wife only three times. And each time I found her comparatively easily. But my searches revealed a strange thing. Each time I searched for my wife amidst the milling hoards I also 'discovered' a gentleman who was no doubt trying very hard to be inconspicuous. He was, by his general demeanour, gait, skin tone, probably older than me; he also sported a conspicuous, considerable head of curly jet black hair. Unmistakable, he was sporting a hairpiece. and few hairpieces are inconspicuous; one of life's little ironies. I used to visit regularly a Derby pub renowned for its tough Irish clientele. It also boasted a customer whom I suspect sported the worlds most obvious toupee or wig. Ginger in colour, parted down the middle, it sat squarely on his large, presumably bald head, as if it had just fallen from the sky, reminiscent of a furry animal or tropical insect at rest. One could not fail to be drawn, fascinated, to such an unusual adornment. Whereby the large, fierce looking Irishman would look in your direction and you, in turn would focus your eyes over the head of the gentleman in question. And pretend to study a calender, notice or even the wall itself. The joys of toupe ownership; is it worth it? If I genuinely have over a thousand followers I must surely have: either someone who wears a hair piece or toupe (not counting those worn for medical reasons) or has close connection with someone who wears such an appliance. Or am I being irreverent, as usual and the whole subject is too delicate for words! Nothing to do with the subject really. But we went in Asda to buy a memory card reader. Reduced to £4, but only on the internet I was informed in the shop. We came out with; a memory card reader, a memory stick, a new keyboard, a computer mouse, a telephone some gluten free food, and, I nearly forgot, a television! Labels: Asda, Lord Bath, Westfield. My daughter has bought a motorhome just like her dad. (No, her dad's not LIKE a motorhome, he's GOT a motorhome.) It's a Volkwag en Devon Moonraker. And it's old, again just like her dad. Twenty nine years old, and that's old for any motor. It's called Dottie and the whole family, Alison, Simon and the children, Ted, Tommy and Angelina absolutely adore it. I was not thinking of inanimate objects but man made 'machinery' with moving parts. I'm a collector/hoarder by nature; some say mean. Plus I have never been known to throw away anything in my entire life and I do expect things to last. Especially things my wife has to use. What's the oldest thing you own? Because of the blog of note mention, whilst loving the visitors,I find it impossible to answer every comment and have steadily 'gone under' since! (I can assure you I read EVERY comment. I also promise I VISIT the blog of every visitor where possible even if I don't comment.) All this has bothered me as it may give the impression I am uncaring concerning my fellow bloggers; nothing could be further from the truth. I get an 'award' and the world goes mad. Yet out there are many, many blogs that put mine to shame. For example, Life in Windemere, a blog written by a lady who has suffered life threatening illness yet writes with great courage and without self pity. Clouds and Silver Linings, the blog of Eddie, an ex-ambulance driver, whose self taught grasp of technology drives me mad with jealousy. Pig in the Kitchen, whose recipes are breathtaking, all the more so as many are gluten free. (My wife is a coeliac) And Bernard, who is both older and wiser than me! (Bernard predicted the the 'blog of note' thingy would give me problems.) Now of course I feel guilty for not mentioning the many others that I follow or have been following me since the early days. 'Guilt, guilt, guilt, oh lordy! I have completed just short of three hundred posts since April 2008. How some of you complete one a day is beyond me. Some observations. My first post ever contained those immortal lines 'softly softly catchee monkey'; how my daughter hates those words! The happiest post was perhaps 'Ted Arthur Roberts' (16th April 2009), the saddest 'RIP Shaun' (15th January 2009). And the most surprising 'Ramblings from a Misspent Youth', (12th June 2010) purely and simply because I was hospitalised and didn't see it coming! This 'post' in a way is for all the 'little people' out there. The bloggers who seek neither fame nor fortune; but who nevertheless entertain, inform, educate; some of you are awesome, astonishing. All take a bow. I have been amazed since I joined the blogging fraternity all those months ago. Long may I continue to be so. (As long as senility doesn't completely take over although the post dated 27th April 2008 suggests it's a distinct possibility.) And concerning my next post, as they used to say on the television (as those of considerable age will testify,) 'Normal Service will be Resumed as soon as Possible'. I wonder if there is a 'lost' gene. I reckon the answer is yes and I've definitely got it, and had it for as long as I can remember. For instance I remember as a schoolboy proudly carrying my football boots wrapped in brown paper onto the bus to school; and not so proudly retrieving them from the lost property at the bus depot next day. No wonder I was never the star player, lack of actual match practice I reckon. Equally vivid is the time spent trying to remember where I'd parked my far from valuable bicycle; definitely stolen I decided, though why should anyone want my dilapidated bike only the Almighty could surely know. Except that in an illuminated flashback I suddenly remembered going to town on my bike and coming home on the bus. And incidentally returning to town and finding my bike still parked at the curb in the market place three days later. Those were the days, my friend! Then there's library books. Normal people choose their books, take them home and read them; far too boring! Definitely so when you can choose them, take them to the car, put them on the car roof, open the car door, get in and drive off. More fun, if rather expensive. I remember being pulled up a sand dune at Sheringham by our less than well behaved bull terrier Buster, Paulette, the children and myself. And what should 'pop out' but one of my wife's contact lenses. On a sand dune, I ask you! Finding a contact lens amongst hundreds of tons of sand, no chance, surely one of natures most difficult tasks. Mind you, I was more successful when my wife lost a lens in the shower. I went to the drains, patiently emptied out all the filthy stagnant, foul smelling water and patiently sifted the gritty, oozing contents; a labour of love, true love. (Every beetle 'shell' felt just like a lens to the touch.) And surprise, surprise, after around two hours I found it. And do you know what, she refused to wear it again; now there's gratitude for you! We didn't have much luck with my wife's contact lenses. They were forever falling out. they usually stick to the clothes of the person wearing them. The trick is to undress, pile the clothes in a neat pile on the floor and then go through them very carefully. Now this gets great interest if in, say Marks and Spencer, but at home in the same circumstances interest in the lens diminishes for some considerable time. Life goes on. I notice much time is spent in our family searching for children's dummies, schoolbags, coats, nintendos, you name it, we apparently lose it. Definitely a family of 'losers'. But I bet we're not on our own. What is the biggest thing you've lost; or the most important. And whose the biggest 'loser' in your family, you or the kids. Do you ever get it wrong, or is it only me? Ever made a decision in life and its been the wrong one? I ask because at seventy plus I never seem to learn. And I do really try not to jump to conclusions yet I still sometimes get it wrong. 'Why don't you use a milk bottle' was my wife's reply. Now I KNEW why I wanted a demijohn; my wife THOUGHT she knew why I wanted a demijohn but she jumped to conclusions; very much the wrong conclusions! I once went on a First Aid course. Quite liked it, was dying to show off my new found knowledge. Shortly after the course I travelled down a road in the car. And out of the window, I was shocked to see a motionless form stretched out on the pavement. Slamming on the brakes I crashed to a stop and leapt out. I ran to the still form, noting with expertise, I thought, that it was a male, elderly, lying on his side, eyes looking blankly upwards. Heart attack, obviously. Calmly, as I had been taught, I recalled the various types of mouth to mouth resuscitation. 'Are you alright?' I enquired. I was somewhat taken aback to hear the answer. The body continued to lie motionless, eyes skyward' You're sure?' I reiterated. still somewhat surprised that a 'body' answered at all, never mind in the affirmative. 'Yes thank you,' the body answered coldly. Nonplussed, I searched my mind for the reason for this odd behaviour on the part of the recumbent being. Suddenly I noticed horizontal man was also apparently 'armless' if not harmless. (sorry!) The reason was immediately obvious, to my eternal embarrassment. One arm and hand was extended downwards into the ground. My 'patient' was engaged in turning some sort of stopcock set in the ground, hence his strange position. I left hurriedly! We make decisions all our lives, some important, some not so; plus we come to conclusions. Based on what I wonder. (It occurs to me that, in spite of my eccentricities, my wife made a good decision choosing me all those years ago.) But more to the point, do you ever jump to conclusions, and dare you tell us about it!

2019-04-23T10:18:26Z

http://grumpyoldken.blogspot.com/2011/02/

If you’ve never been to see a traditional Chinese doctor, it is an experience whether you choose to believe their practices or not. I remember walking in a school of medicine downtown Beijing with my mom (as part of a tour) and sitting waiting to this doctor to do a free consultation. I was hesitant at first since the room they put us was not of a traditional US patient room it was more like a movie theatre (sketch or no?). I mean… comfortable chairs and a big screen tv in the front. We watched a movie for 5-10 minutes going over traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the ways they tell symptoms: through examining your tongue, and feeling your pulse through your wrist. After the movie the doctor came in with his students started his consult with the person closest to the door… first feeling her pulse, then looking at her tongue. The translator asked a couple questions “are you in pain now” and “what is your stress level 1-10.” After 30 seconds the doctor diagnosed her with two herbal solutions to her back pain, and left shoulder problem. Total cost for those herbs ($500+ USD). I looked in shock. In 30 seconds this lady bought what was recommended. He moved next to my mom, said she was healthy then moved to me. I had made up my mind before even being consulting my answers to his comments were going to be no, because I wasn’t going to try anything from a man who couldn’t even speak my language to tell me what was in what he would recommend. He commented “you work in an office,” “you are happy…that’s good,” then asked,”do you have menstrual problems in your lower stomach?” I laughed and said no. He gave me a look like he could tell I was lying. Afterward I had asked Danielle (the lady who was with us on the tour and spent so much money on the supplements) why she trusted him. She mentioned that she has had terrible shoulder pain and when she is stressed it causes her arm to not go higher than her chest. She added that she was amazed that someone who didn’t know her could have known that so she wanted to try it. After her story I reflected back on what the Chinese doctor told me…. he was right, I do work in an office, I am happy (most of the time), and he was spot on about having troubles with my menstrual cycle. Now, looking back I will always wonder how he knew. So, not say you have to go– but if looking for an experience and in China you should see what the Chinese doctor would say to you. Share with me if you do! Do you know that silk comes from a worm? And that when layered across each other it is not humanly possible to break real silk? And, did you know to tell whether or not you are buying silk you just twist it, and if it wrinkles it’s fake? This is the stuff you’ll learn by going to a silk shop. I made the mistake in coming here as the last part of the trip, by then I hit my budget for what I could spend and did not have the $50 for the pillows that were softer than a babies bottom! As for pearls… I GUESS if you try scratching a pearl with a knife and you wipe away the residue and it looks like it was never scratched then it’s real. I don’ know they are super cheap anyway, so if this style of jewelry is your thing get you some! AND did you know that jade is the stone of China, since it brings luck, happiness, and longevity. Lord knows I needed it. And, it’s true if you go to the actual Jade factory they have the cheapest. I was a skeptic on how prices would jump up/down based on where I was and ended up missing the chance in buying a real jade from the factory, and instead bought a knock off that ended up costing the same (the Jade factory was too far to go back). These thee places are traditional Beijing visits if looking to wander and be more immersed in culture. I had seen koala bears in Australia, so I had to go see the pandas in China right?! I am so conflicted in how I feel about zoos. The millennial in me hates the idea that we catch animals and put them for showcase and encourage the capture by paying an admission ticket. Then the other half of me rationalizes in saving animals in the wild that are going near extinct, nursing them to health and then mating them to increase their population, for future release. I’m on a tangent…. If you’re about the zoos, go see the biggest pandas you can imagine! You should see these! I made the mistake in not researching this place to understand the historical importance, because I thought my tour guide would help bring me to speed. But when you can’t understand the tour guide you quickly learn the importance of knowing where you’re at before you go! Let me fill you in… in China there is a rich history of many emperors and other government powers that have made lasting impressions to current cultures and traditions.. A lot of these have been dated back to the Ming Dynasty which spanned for nearly 300 years starting in the 1300s. The relics, clothes, replicas of goods (clothing, silvers, jewelry, sketches) found, buried, and treasured from this time cane found at the Ming Tombs. The tour starts above ground where you can see the original brick and cement walls from the Ming Dynasty. As you walk toward the back you can start to enter different sacred buildings, prayer temples, and toward the end can go underground to see replicas of the tombs. If you’re at all a history guru, you should check out a tour here to feel a part of a history very different than our own. I have always enjoyed a good cup of tea! Little did I know that China is one of the main distributors of tea; I had thought it would have been India. If you’re in China it is tradition in their culture to serve your tea to welcome you to their home, store, or hotel. Most commonly you’ll be served Jasmine. But, at the tea houses throughout Beijing you can enjoy Rose, Citrus, Jasmine, Black and Green Teas. They show you how to property pour tea, how to blend tea with cut-up fruit, and how to greet guests by using tea. This is an experience that had me wanting to return home for a tea party! This is a perfect stop if you’re looking to add some balance and zen in your trip to Beijing! If Time Square tickles your fancy, the Beijing shopping center will not disappoint! This city center was full of people, street food/venders, shops, and also the entrance way to the city center plaza where you can get a bunch of authentic Chinese delicacies including living scorpions on a stick. This was one of my most memorable stops of the entire trip to China, and one I would highly recommend! Food recommendations: caramelized strawberries, fresh mangos and pork buns! This beautiful temple is located on Beijing’s south side, where many ceremonies occur. The temple was made to represent the balance between heaven and earth. If you visit I’d recommend going early, otherwise you’re bound to have someone if your perfect shot! If you’re looking for the best IG photo-worthy photos, here is your place. And, you must go near sunset. This beautiful park is situated along the water and has many tiny treasures to find as you walk through, over and under the many trails and paths! It is here, too, that many of the locals fly their kites, make prayer/wish ribbons, and go to enjoy the tides that come and break near the bridges. Have you seen Mulan? The large square at the end of the film you see where Mulan saves the emperor from the Huns… that’s near Tiananmen Square and part of the Forbidden City. If you’re going to China this is a MUST. What I didn’t know was the limited access one has to enter the Forbidden City, especially during Chinese New Year. Luckily for us (mom&I) we planned months in advance for this tour which allows us within the walls of the 100+ acres totaling 999 buildings (why not 1000? They count earth as the last room). Spending the time/money to make it here won’t disappoint, just ask the 15 million annual visitors! What is a trip to China without seeing the iconic Great Wall of China. Yes, it is as beautiful and as grand as you see in photos. Yes, it’s worth the journey to go! Yes, it spans over the eye can see, and yes, this made this trip to China 100% worth it. So much so I will have a separate blog dedicated just for it!

2019-04-23T02:33:35Z

https://jacquelinecraig.com/2018/04/09/10-places-to-see-while-in-beijing-countdown/

When Charles Wilkins Webber brought out his Tales of the Southern Border in 1853, he introduced the collection with “Jack Long; or, The Shot in the Eye,” a “Western” thriller that had already been in print since 1844 and was still circulating widely. According to Henry Nash Smith, “Jack Long” was a “sensational success,” a statement that is substantiated by the opening lines of the 1853 edition, which evince Webber’s understandably sharp reaction to the “millions” of “pirated” and “mutilated” versions of the tale being distributed by the “daily and weekly press” (1). So impressive was the story that three years after its initial publication, Edgar Allan Poe commended it highly in his revised (and somewhat deprecating) discussion of Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales (November 1847). “One of the happiest and best-sustained tales I have seen,” Poe wrote, “is ‘Jack Long; or The Shot in the Eye ’ “(2). In the same essay he praised Webber’s high evaluation of Hawthorne’s art, an estimate he had seen some fourteen months earlier in The American Review (September 1846), of which Webber was assistant editor: “no one has a keener relish [than Webber] for that kind of writing which Hawthorne has best illustrated” (XIII, 142), Poe recalled, probably thinking at the time of “Jack Long,” which he was to mention specifically a few pages later. “Jack Long” was probably in part derived from the central idea of Robert Montgomery Bird’s Nick of the Woods; or, The Jibbenainosay, which had been published only seven years before Webber’s story. The basic issue of both tales concerns a lone seeder-turned-killer determined to avenge a wrong. Like Nathan Slaughter (”the Jibbenainosay” or the “Spirit-that-walks “), Jack Long is believed to be a supernatural creature (”the Bearded Madman” and “the Bearded Ghost”) until he is at length identified; in slaying their enemies, both Nathan and Jack leave identifying marks on the corpses (Bloody Nathan scalps the Shawnees after dispatching them and then cuts a deep cross into their torsos, whereas Jack’s mark is a bullet hole through one eye and out the back of the skull); both are attacked and left for dead before commencing [page 12:] their acts of vengeance; there are suggestions that both may be suffering from psychological maladies induced by being struck on the head; and both appear to retrogress to their basic animal natures during their killing sprees, displaying an almost instinctive cunning, patience, and ferocity in their determination to ensnare and slay their foes. Although both Webber and Bird, like Cooper, Simms, and lesser writers of ante-bellum frontier romances, fully intended to depict the early West in its original colors, idealization of character was inevitable (3). But for Poe, such idealization would not have detracted from the verisimilitude of the tale; as Robert D. Jacobs has explained, when Poe and his contemporaries judged characters in fiction, “they measured not by life itself but by what they thought people should be.”4 There can be no question about the idealization of Jack Long, who might have been a reincarnation of Natty Bumppo out on the Texas plain, and who, indeed, was himself trapped by the same flaw that led the Deerslayer to shoot an eagle for no reason and then regret it—unrestrainable pride in marksmanship. Vanity leads Jack to subdued boastfulness—displayed by showing rather than simply telling of his accomplishments —and thence to the nearly fatal whipping that humiliates him. From a highly idealized hunter, an Adamic figure living a blissful life on the plains with his wife and two children, Jack Long becomes a primitive avenger in direct contrast to the mythical demigod of his earlier, happier days. When he has avenged his brutal beating, love replaces hate, Jack is restored to his wife’s bedside, and a cycle has been completed through the extirpation of evil by good. The alternation between extremes which Jack Long suffers in his changes from demigod to demon and back was doubtless one of the features of the tale that appealed to Poe. Whereas Jack is given an unmistakable reason for his killings, however, Poe’s murderers and destroyers are less obviously motivated. As Joseph J. Moldenhauer has pointed out, Poe rarely specified “a reasonable, concrete motive for his characters ’ destructive urges”, and he has suggested further that in “William Wilson” and numerous other tales Poe’s killers identify with their victims and achieve a final unity with them in death (5). Since Poe held that the universe is destined for ultimate annihilation, murder, from this point of view, is an act of synthesis inspired not simply by the negative desire for self-destruction or even the annihilation of a surrogate self (that is, the victim) but by the positive desire to attain “unity” with the basic design of the universe. A similar world view among Dark Romanticists generally is allied to the seemingly irreconcilable dualism within the ego, a view which led to the popularity of the Doppelganger as a literary device: the writer posits the ego and alter ego, driving and probing them at will in order to reunite them in a final act that is simultaneously synthesis and annihilation. Poe uses the Doppelganger motif in “William Wilson” and, less obviously, in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” in which the twin Ushers are linked by “sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature” (III, 297), and they are physically conjoined in the climactic total annihilation of the house of Usher and themselves. Moldenhauer points out that, like Roderick Usher, an unexpectedly high number of Poe’s deranged figures and [column 2:] destroyers are artists (or craftsmen who refine murder into an art). When one relates this observation to Poe’s paradoxical association (in Eureka) of the artist with the completed work of art and, in turn, with death—that is, annihilation through creation—it is difficult not to believe that Poe must have regarded himself as a creator working toward his own fatal end through the increasing integrity of his poem or tale in a chaotic and fragmented cosmos. Similarly, then, Jack Long can be seen as an artist-craftsman (a sharpshooter) seeking his own self-destruction through killing off, one by one, the band of outlaws who had whipped him, though his is to be a limited self-destruction that would annihilate not the whole man but only that part of his consciousness which still suffers humiliation. Webber implicitly expressed Long’s need to commit ritual slaughter by describing “the Bearded Ghost” as a creature who has returned from the grave, a dead living man, as it were, marked by the psychic scars of Hinch’s whip, who cannot regain his original pure life until his integrity is restored through vengeance. In describing the genesis of Jack’s transformation immediately upon his return to consciousness after the beating, Webber makes the point clear: “That was a fearful wakening to Jack Long; but it was to a new birth” (p. 23). In addition to the dual-natured hero, Poe must also have approved of the sustained Gothic effect of “Jack Long.” Apparently with no intention of deceiving the reader that the killer is anyone or anything other than Jack Long, Webber reinforces this use of effect for its own sake with images of supernaturalism, madness, and death. After his beating and subsequent four-month disappearance, for example, Long returns as if from the dead, unaccompanied and dressed in skins like a primitive. Shortly before the discovery of Jack’s first victim, the narrator learns of a spectral figure that had been recently encountered in a nearby thicket: the creature was “a tall, gaunt, skeleton-like figure, dressed in skins, with the hair out—a confounded long beard—and such eyes!” (p. 28) Jack’s condition here and afterward is strikingly similar to that of a man in a trance, a “sleep-waking” state that fascinated Poe and can be traced in American fiction as far back as Charles Brockden Brown’s Edgar Huntly: or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker (1799). Again the narrator himself muses: “What shadowy, inscrutable foe was this who always struck when least expected, and with such fearful certainty, yet left no trace behind? Was it, indeed, some supernatural agent of judgment, visited upon their enormities?” (p. 35) And still later, “The Bearded Ghost [might be seen] striding rapidly, like a tall thin spectre, . . . . [or] standing beneath some old trees by the road side, still as its shadow, the keen, sepulchral eyes shining steadily through the gloom, . . . . [or] mounted, careering like a form of vapor past the dark trunks of the forest aisles, or hurrying swiftly away . . . . across the wide prairie, always hair-clad and gaunt, with a streaming beard, and the long heavy rifle on his shoulder” (p. 36). The emphasis that Webber places upon eyes is also in keeping with the metaphoric and dramatic value of the eye to Poe, who used the device often in his own writings. During the beating, Jack shows no overt reaction to Hinch’s lash but stares at his tormentors wordlessly and open-eyed, impressing their likenesses indelibly upon his mind until, as Webber dramatically expresses it, “THEY [page 13:] WERE REGISTERED” (p. 25) . In the course of his vengeance, Long’s eyes are described as “sepulchral” (p. 36): “It is impossible to imagine them. They didn ’t move at all in the shaggy hollow sockets, more than if they were frozen in them; and the glare that streamed out from them was so cold and freezing” (p. 28). For Long’s victims, destruction of the organ and the man are one and the same. This idea is succinctly expressed in Webber’s description of Jack’s final terrifying shot: believing that his escape from the avenger is close at hand, Hinch hears a click behind him, turns, “and there he was! That long rifle was bearing straight upon him—those cold eyes dwelt steadily on his for a moment—and, crash! all was forever blackness to Hinch the Regulator! (6) . . . . [He had been] shot through the ,eye! “ (p. 44, Webber’s italics). With his “vengeance consummated” at last, Jack can “look his wife again in the eyes, and receive her form to rest again upon his bosom.” Such sustained emphasis on the eye must have caught the attention of Poe, who himself made much of “fiery” or “luminous” eyes in works like “The Black Cat,” “Ligeia,” and “The Raven” (7). As Robert D. Jacobs has indicated, Poe’s description is a dear delineation of the Southern agrarian ideal being voiced by a Southern gentleman, but it could serve equally well as a sketch of Jack Long’s blissful life in the wilderness with his wife and children. In short, it is unlikely that Poe’s high estimation of Webber’s most popular and most enduring tale was based on a quick, careless reading. The fact alone that he found “Jack Long” to compare favorably with Hawthorne’s tales cannot be idly dismissed. “Jack Long” may lack the ambiguity and subtle suggestiveness of Poe’s and Hawthorne’s tales, and perhaps it concludes too neatly a la Longfellow and Bryant with an unnecessary moralistic appendage (”Powerful elements sometimes slumber in the breasts of quiet men,” and so on). But in addition to incorporating some of the most characteristic elements of American Romanticism, Webber’s story includes undertones and devices that Poe often employed in his own best work, thus earning Poe’s high praise as being among “the happiest and best-sustained tales” he had ever read. (1) Virgin Land: The American West as Symhol and Myth (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1950), p. 72. C[harles] W[ilkins] Webber, “Jack Long, or, The Shot in the Eye,” in Tales of the Southern Border (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1853), p. 9; hereafter page references to “Jack Long” will be cited from this edition and will be incorporated in the text. (2) The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. James A. Harrison, 17 vols. (New York: AMS Press, 1965), XIII, 154; hereafter cited in the text by volume and page numbers. (3) Because Poe left his position as editor and reviewer for the Southern Literary Messenger in January 1837, he may not have read Nick of the Woods, though he was certainly familiar with much of Bird’s earlier fiction. Having favorably reviewed two of Bird’s Mexican novels in 1835, he followed them up with notices on The Hawks of Hawk Hollow (”. . . . in many respects, a bad imitation of Sir Walter Scott” [VIII, 73]) in the same year and Sheppard Lee in 1836. Also in 1836, three months prior to his review of Sheppard Lee, he sent Bird a letter requesting not a promised but a “demipromise[d]” contribution to the Messenger (XVII, 35-36). (5) “Murder as a Fine Art: Basic Connections Between Poe’s Aesthetics, Psychology, and Moral Vision,” PMLA, 83 (May 1968), 292, see esp. n. 22. (6) Historically, the term “Regulators” is synonymous with vigilantes, a group of citizens who unite to protect themselves and their community when official means of law enforcement are weak or unavailable. Hinch’s Regulators, however, are simply a band of outlaws and bullies. (7) The black cat’s “solitary eye of fire” (in “The Black Cat”) stares at the murderer from within the newly opened cellar tomb (V, 155). In “Ligeia,” the “sentiment” through which the narrator “recognize[s]” the integrity of the “circle of analogies” that constitutes the universe is a direct result of his gazing into the “large and luminous orbs” of his loved one, eyes which are unmistakably hers when the Lady Ligeia appears to have returned from the grave in the climactic final linff of the story (11, 252). While meditating, the narrator of “The Raven” senses that the bird’s “fiery eyes . . . . bored into [his] bosom’s core” (VII, 98). (8) The Romance in America: Studies in Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, and James (Middleton, Conn.: Wesleyan UP, 1969), pp. 30, 53-54.

2019-04-25T03:49:07Z

https://www.eapoe.org/pstudies/ps1970/p1971104.htm

As much as I enjoy travelling around Vancouver, getting to my restaurant destinations can occasionally be a challenge. This time, not only was my sleep interrupted by virtue of the bus breaking down, but I was pestered by so many strangers for spare change that I might as well have written the words "Human Charity" with a Sharpie on my forehead. By the time I finally got to Japanese Bistro Hatzu, all of my hunger alarms were ringing at full blast, and I was so low on energy that I barely managed to stay awake. Japanese Bistro Hatzu is a fusion Japanese restaurant that was previously the home of Sushi Bella and is run by the same owners. (Check out The Georgia Straight's article for more details about the launch of Japanese Bistro Hatzu.) The bistro features a variety of innovative fusion dishes in addition to an upscale dining area. The atmosphere was quite lively, and the restaurant was bringing in a steady stream of customers. I scanned the menu for things that looked like they would replenish my energy, and dancing shrimp seemed like a good option. The shrimp were meaty with a snap, and the truffle oil, balsamic reduction, and basil pesto blended well together. The creamy, savoury flavour of the shrimp was topped with a nice helping of bubbly masago. Of course, I went for one of my favourite dishes to order at any fusion Japanese restaurant: the Salmon Oshi Sushi. The salmon had a soft texture, and the rice formation was above average. However, the jalapeño slices were quite large, and combined with the spicy mayonnaise, the oshi sushi was so spicy that I actually started crying. Trust me, that did not look very manly. After downing my entire glass of water, my mouth was still slightly burning. That being said, if you are used to eating spicy foods, then you should be able to manage this dish. While my energy levels were a bit higher, they still weren't at their best, so I thought that if the entire ocean started dancing, that would do the trick. The Dancing Ocean Roll came with prawn tempura, avocado, cucumber, sockeye salmon, tuna tataki, oroshi ponzu (grated radish with citrus sauce), green onion, and sesame seeds. Light seasoning was sprinkled on top of the roll for enhanced flavour, and the black pepper that garnished the tuna tataki was prominent. The thin pieces of sockeye salmon were actually glistening, and the creamy avocado inside was pleasant. The only issue with this roll was that the tempura was a bit overdone, which made it slightly hard and dry. My last dish of the day was the Hatzu Crunch Tower, which featured salmon and tuna sashimi, avocado, tenkasu (fried flour-batter bits), crab meat, shitake mushrooms, lemon mayonnaise, basil pesto, olive oil, garlic chips, capers, balsamic reduction, and tobiko. Yeah, they pretty much put the entire herbs section of the supermarket into this thing. With a predominantly creamy texture and flavour, this tower reminded me of sushi without the rice and the seaweed. The tuna was especially fresh and fresher than the salmon. This is a heavy dish, and although it is not very large, I would recommend sharing this with at least one other friend. The service was professional and on-point throughout my visit. I enjoyed my visit here significantly more than my visit to Sushi Bella in Kitsilano (I'm not sure if the other Sushi Bella locations are better). The food was consistently well-prepared and above average. My energy was fully replenished by the end of the meal, and I would say that it was worth all the hassle I experienced in trying to get here. I often like to actively participate in my classes because it helps me remember the information and keeps me from getting distracted. However, participation does not come easily if you had completed the pre-requisites for a course two years ago and have my memory. Combined with the fact that the lecture was held in the morning, my attempts to participate turned into awkward staring sessions with the prof and an abundance of laughter from my classmates. Well, at least I was entertaining. I contemplated ways to increase my memory and IQ, and of course, the solution was staring at me in the eye: a delicious round of sushi. After the lecture, I did my usual and sleep-travelled to Aki Japanese Restaurant, a well-known authentic Japanese restaurant situated right next to Coal Harbour. Aki's current location has a trendy upscale interior, and it was filled with the scent of lemon meringue pie when I walked in (I'm not sure why). The menu focused on traditional Japanese dishes, and the lunch combos were noticeably cheaper than the standard items. In order to get the weirdest look possible from the waitresses, I decided to order two lunch combos. Each of my combos came with a Miso Soup, and fortunately, both were well-prepared. The Miso Soup came with seaweed, green onion, and tofu. It was served at just the right temperature and had a well-balanced flavour. Next to arrive was the Sushi Combo. The sashimi was cut into tiny pieces that were each barely the size of a Pink Pearl eraser. However, both of types of sashimi were very fresh. The salmon had a pleasant buttery flavour, while the tuna had a delectable smooth texture. Next up was the standard maki sushi, a place where miracles rarely occur. The California Roll had a good balance of flavours but was slightly dry. The hosomaki rolls on the right were standard fare too. I enjoyed the rich flavour of the seaweed and the decent projection of flavour from the inner ingredients, but there were also issues such as a small bland clump of rice that I found in the Salmon Roll. With the nigiri, the sushi rice was a touch dry for my liking, but the toppings exhibited ample freshness. The Ebi Nigiri was sweet and had a nice crunch to it. The Tuna Nigiri featured soft, melty tuna, and the Tai Nigiri was also delightfully soft. The Ebi Sunomono was especially sweet and came with soft baby shrimp. The sunomono was on the milder side, and it was very light on the vinegar. The "soup" was quite drinkable. I would prefer a little more punch from the vinegar. The Marinated Black Cod was a hit and a featured a delicious grilled flavour. You can take a large chunk and have the juiciness of the cod melt in your mouth. It wasn't the best black cod I've had though, and it would benefit from a slightly stronger miso flavour. Overall, the service was very friendly and professional. This is my second visit to Aki (the first was before I started this blog), and this visit confirmed my initial impression that Aki was consistent but did not provide any surprisingly outstanding dishes. What was surprising though was the fact that I had consumed both combos and taken all my notes and photos in the span of just 25 minutes. That is faster than the time it takes me to figure out how to operate the washing machine. I believe I have finally eaten enough sushi to activate my super saiyan food blogging abilities. After finding my way out of Langara, I walked over to Kyuzo Japanese Restaurant, a new, upscale, Chinese-operated Japanese restaurant. The walk there was longer than I had anticipated, so I entered the restaurant totally exhausted and a little sweaty, which totally made for a brilliant first impression. Another thing that I did not anticipate was the high prices and the high number of fusion items that piqued my interest, so I ended up following my heart's desires, which resulted in a rather nasty bill. That being said, the dining space was elegant and the service was professional. If you order any skewers, you will be presented with the black cup above to hold your empty/finished skewers. Do not pour your tea into this cup like I did! When the waitress saw what I was doing, she frantically rushed over to stop me. Oops... This was mostly my fault for not paying attention to my surroundings. First up was the nigiri, which was not mindblowing but reasonably prepared. The salmon came with a thick, neat cut and a nice buttery flavour, but it was slightly dry. The toro also came in a generous cut and was soft, though not exactly melty. The sushi rice was decent. Next, the Ebi Mayo came with spicy mayonnaise and tough, overdone shrimp. There was very little crispiness, but I felt like I was eating the shrimps with the shells left on. The flavours worked, but the textures did not. Now, let's take a look at the salad to the right. Why is there a big, honking piece of random broccoli in there?? Did they run out of green salad? I think they took the term "liberty" a little too far. Whatever happened with the previous dish, they made up for it with this $6 piece of Foie Gras Nigiri. The foie gras was very juicy with lightly crispy edges and was dressed with a light coating of truffle oil. This was not just delectable, but it also worked as a mood booster and an embarrassment forgetter for me. The Salmon Oshi was a decent attempt at mimicking Miku's famous Salmon Oshi Sushi. This won't be mistaken for Miku's version, but the creamy sauce on top was savoury, and the jalapeño provided just the right amount of spiciness. They also added salmon inside for enhanced flavour, though the rice around it was a little too tightly packed. The Gyutan Kushiyaki (grilled beef tongue skewers) came with a good amount of seasoning and a nice helping of black pepper. There was sufficient moisture in the beef tongue, but it was slightly tougher than Zakkushi's version. The Parmesan Beef Roll came with prawn tempura, beef carpaccio, truffle oil, and parmesan cheese. The tender, thin slices of beef on top were very savoury when combined with the truffle oil and cheese, and as a whole, the roll felt a little too heavy. Inside the roll, the sweet, creamy avocado worked well with the meaty prawn. I am one of those people who like to eat a lot, not exercise, and stay slim. Being a person who gets sick quite often, I would accomplish this by going on an extreme diet during my sick days. Usually, I get sick for around 20 days every flu season, and my brilliant strategy would work like a charm. However, this flu season, I was sick for only two days, so I was packing on extra kilograms faster than the pregnant fish in Insaniquarium. I first thought of burning off some calories by walking the entire perimeter of Stanley Park, but having not exercised in months, who was I kidding? I opted for the much shorter Steveston boardwalk instead. Of course, I had to have some sushi first, because what is the point of exercising if there is no sushi involved? Near the east end of the boardwalk is Village Sushi Bar, a small, quaint, authentic Japanese restaurant. It has some of the highest ratings of any sushi restaurant in Richmond, which provided me with another reason to give it a try. The restaurant has a pleasant smell as you walk in, and the waitress was very welcoming. The menu is limited to the more basic items, and I don't recall seeing any item above $10. My savings account let out a huge sigh of relief. The Tuna Tataki Salad came with three pieces of lightly seared fresh tuna. I would have liked a little more of a smoky flavour with the tuna, but the garlic chips and pine nuts in the salad did accentuate the flavours of the salad. Furthermore, the dressing was sufficient and spread evenly, creating a refreshing, well-rounded salad. Next came all of my sushi on a large plate. I think I ordered more than half of all the different kinds of nigiri they had. Normally, I get Dragon Rolls for something between $10 and $15, so when I saw this Dragon Roll for just $5, how could I resist? Unfortunately, the lower prices came with lower quality. My soul died a little at the tightly packed and inadequately seasoned sushi rice. The roll was also rice-heavy, so the flavour of the unagi got lost in the mix. On the plus side, the tempura prawn inside was well-prepared and had a nice snap. With the nigiri, the fish was very fresh and delicious in general. The hotate (scallop), salmon, and tuna all had delectable, soft textures, and the toro was quite juicy. My least favourite was the Saba Nigiri, which was a little too salty. Unfortunately, the sushi rice was packed much too tightly and interfered with my enjoyment of the softer textures of the fish. If it weren't for this, I would have given out a lot of A's here. With significant wait times during peak lunch and peak dinner hours, Nao Sushi started out as one popular restaurant in South Burnaby with too many customers. Now, with a new location in Coquitlam, Nao Sushi has become two popular restaurants with too many customers. The first time I tried to dine at Nao Sushi with my family, the line-up was so long that I led my family to Jimoco Cafe & Pasta instead, which is a miracle because (a) Jimoco Cafe is rather famous for its lengthy wait times and (b) I actually made a conscious decision to give up sushi for something else. I must have been a little high that day. Needless to say, the four of us came back to try Nao Sushi the next weekend. Luckily, we got a seat one minute before a line-up started to form. Seriously, I had never known that there were this many sushi lovers in this part of town. There were about five chefs and three waitresses working non-stop to meet the diners' demands, and even then, the food came out very slowly. For 20 minutes, we had the pleasure of watching everyone around us get their food while our hunger raged on. This felt exactly the same as seeing all my friends graduate and land amazing careers while being stuck at SFU myself trying to decipher the mystic "foreign language" in my textbooks and growing a dozen new zits in the process. First to arrive was the Aburi Toro Nigiri for my sister and me. Both of us were not especially pleased with the Aburi toro because it lacked a seared flavour and was drier than usual. However, the sushi rice was well-constructed and above average. The portion size was quite generous too. My mom ordered the Atlantic Roll, and it was a great success. My mom has this uncanny luck when it comes to ordering, and she manages to order the good stuff even when she has no clue about what the menu actually says. The Atlantic Roll consisted of Atlantic salmon, masago, and avocado, and it was covered in a thin layer of Japanese salad dressing for some creaminess. The creamy flavours of the salmon and the avocado, along with the bubbly masago, provided an excellent harmony of flavours. Next, we had the Assorted Sashimi, which came with one piece of amaebi, three pieces of tuna, three pieces of salmon, one piece of tsubagai (whelk), two pieces of madai (sea bream), three pieces of hokkigai, and two pieces of tako. The sashimi was generally very fresh, with the amaebi and the very juicy tako being the highlights. The only real fault was the excessively cold temperature of the Tuna Sashimi, which made it come dangerously close to turning into a tuna popsicle. The Aburi Spicy Tuna Roll consisted of a California roll, seared tuna, and spicy tuna. It was moderately spicy with a good amount of chili sauce on top. The crab meat was rather soft, but the tuna can be a little softer. I couldn't really taste any Aburi flavour under all the spiciness and didn't see the point of searing the tuna, but I suppose putting "Aburi" in the name would get more people to try the roll. The Chicken Kamameshi was a steamed rice hot pot with chicken and vegetables. The rice had lots of moisture and absorbed the flavour of the bamboo shoots well. The steamed chicken was very tender. However, this tasted a little too much like comfort food to me. Even my dad, who ordered this dish, said it tasted too healthy for him. I don't think I've ever heard my dad say that before. Our final item was the Kawari Battera, which featured anago (sea eel) on one side and ebi on the other. The anago was cut thinly and didn't have much impact, but they were clever enough to use avocado to help enhance the flavours here. On the other hand, the ebi had an appealing chewiness and contained a surprising burst of richness. The rice was again well-made, just like in the nigiri sushi earlier. Overall, the service was friendly, and the food was well-prepared, perhaps even more so than at the South Burnaby location. The sushi rice is clearly one of Nao Sushi's strengths. After we finished all the food above, I was still hardly full (as expected). Not wanting to wait a long time again for my food to come out, I went to stuff myself at Starbucks, where I could indulge in bank-breaking beverages and experience the joy of having my name spelled wrong. Semester breaks always give me an excellent opportunity to relax, refresh my brain, and become nocturnal. As soon as midnight strikes, my refrigerator and my cabinet of snacks suddenly turn into huge Raymond magnets, and moments later, I'm sitting at the dining table with a pile of cookies, chocolates, jello, ice cream bars, etc. in front of me. After a nice calorie overdose, my energy level goes off the charts until I feel hungry again, and the cycle continues until sunrise. Besides the sun, there is only one other force powerful enough to stop this vicious cycle: the thought of going on a sushi adventure the next morning. Miraculously, by harnessing the power of sushi, I managed to get myself up at 8 in the morning. With plenty of time to spare, I ventured all the way to South Surrey to have lunch at the newest Sushi Mori location. I found it ironic that there was a sign outside the restaurant that said "Taste the true Japan," given that the restaurant is in fact Korean-operated. Furthermore, the extensive menu contains a lot of fusion dishes and even some Korean dishes. The typical menu items were priced regularly, while special or innovative dishes came at a significant premium in general. The Sushi Mori chain is also quite well-known for its highly elaborate dining areas. As you can see, my seat featured a marvelous view of a wooden fish-shaped object dangling from a raised log. Next up was the Salmon Ceviche Goma-ae. The salmon sashimi had a soft, smooth texture and was dressed with a citrusy salad dressing. The spinach was also decent but covered with perhaps too many sesame seeds. Sitting at the bottom was a large dose of overly thick sesame sauce, which didn't exactly mix well with the tangy salad dressing. A few years ago, I visited the Sushi Mori in Langley and was not very impressed with their Aburi (seared) sushi. Unfortunately, the Aburi sushi here does not seem to be any better. The Aburi Tuna Nigiri was dressed with salt and pepper, which completely eliminated the seared flavour (if there was any to begin with). There was also too much salt on the tuna. However, I'll give them credit for the above-average rice formation. The Toro Nigiri was excellent and came with a mouthwatering melty texture. The Sous Vide Lobster Nigiri had a nice chew to it and was dressed with sweet chili sauce, which provided a refreshing zing. The Crab & Oyster Crab Cake consisted of two plump croquettes with real crab meat, onion, bell pepper, and oyster as filling (in addition to a salad). The crab cakes came with two dipping sauces (sweet chili and orange), which I did not photograph because I did not realize their importance until biting into the crunchy but weakly flavoured batter. Both dipping sauces were good companions for the croquettes. A delicious seafood flavour emanated from the crab meat and oyster inside. The crab meat and oyster were very finely cut, making the filling extremely soft (it borders on being mushy). I don't know about tasting the true Japan here, but at least I could taste the true Korea with the Bulgogi Rice Bowl. This rice bowl featured Korean-marinated AAA beef with rice and Japchae noodles (sweet potato noodles). The beef was tender and high-quality, but for some reason, some of it was bunched up together into chunks. The Japchae noodles were on the softer side and absorbed the flavour of the bulgogi sauce well. Overall, this dish was good enough to stand up to the bulgogi beef at an average Korean restaurant in Vancouver. I received friendly service during my visit, and I was a little surprised to see that the large dining space did in fact become substantially filled up during the peak lunch hours on a weekday. After tips, my lunch did traverse the $50 mark, but other than the weak Aburi sushi, the food was generally prepared with care. I also ended up so full that I had to walk over to Walmart and browse through the skinny Barbie dolls to convince myself to be a little more conservative with the ordering next time. ...on a Friday morning, and this time, the door finally gave way to my majestic presence. Inside the restaurant was a semi-fancy atmosphere coupled with some elegant jazz music in the background. One quick sift of the menu was all it took for me to notice that the sashimi and nigiri were very pricey. I'm sure we are all familiar with the love-hate relationship between me and my wallet, but this time, I decided to go easy by ordering combos rather than separate pieces of nigiri. First up was the four-course Tempura & Chicken Teriyaki Don Lunch Set. The Chicken and Tempura Don came with tender, juicy chicken as well as two plump tempura prawns with a good snap. The batter had a distinct sweet flavour, but unfortunately, it lacked crispiness and was rather soggy. The rice would also benefit from a bit more sauce, though this issue was somewhat relieved by the savoury tempura sliced onions. They did not give me a name for this dish, so I decided to call it Eggplant Enjoying a Tranquil Bath. This dish consisted of two pieces of juicy, mostly soft eggplant bathing in a light soy and mirin mix akin to agedashi tofu sauce. It was served cool and garnished with grated daikon and green onion. The Mashed Potato Appetizer was served chilled and generally had a soft, melty texture. Some of the vegetables mixed inside were a little chewier than expected. The Udon was a soothing finish to the lunch set, though there was hardly anything special about it. The lightly fried bean curd ended up being rather chewy, and the noodles were a bit too soft for my liking. However, the broth had sufficient depth of flavour. After the lunch set, I got the Assorted Sushi à la Carte (don't ask me why the sushi combos were labelled "à la carte"—I have no clue). At $25, this was more than twice the price of the lunch set. Those nigiri better have a beautifying effect on my face! The Assorted Sushi à la Carte got off to a solid start. The Tamago was sweet and cake-like with a soft, fluffy texture. The Ebi Nigiri had a nice snap and a pleasant sweet flavour, though it was a touch dry. Next, the Sockeye Salmon Nigiri was fresh and came in a thick cut, but still remained soft. The Albacore Tuna Nigiri melted perfectly in my mouth with a savoury, rich flavour, and I could totally feel my face becoming more and more beautiful as I ate it. Okay, fine, maybe not... The sushi rice here was very good, though it was not quite at the level of Miku and Octopus' Garden. Both the Hamachi Nigiri and the Madai Nigiri came with a delectable smooth texture and a delicate flavour. The Ikura Nigiri was juicy and rich and came with lots of fish oil. I also liked how it was bite-sized. The Tuna Roll came in large pieces and contained the same heavenly, melty tuna as the Albacore Tuna Nigiri, but the roll ended up being quite rice-heavy (this is evident from the photo). The service was friendly and professional, as expected from a restaurant that claims to be in the "Fine Dining" category. I also very much enjoyed the food here, which was carefully prepared and consistently well-executed. However, there is also a slight premium for the semi-fancy atmosphere and the location. If you are not really looking for ambiance, you can also try Kaide Sushi Bar, which offers nigiri at a similar quality level for a lower price.

2019-04-20T14:13:29Z

http://www.raymondsushi.com/2016/05/

The story of Elijah and Elisha illustrates the way in which holy friendship addresses the basic human need to draw close to God, says a Duke Divinity School professor in this sermon. Editor’s note: Faith & Leadership offers sermons that shed light on issues of Christian leadership. This sermon was preached at First United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 1, 2015. God is about to take Elijah up into heaven, and everybody knows it. When it happens, it will be an event such as no one has ever seen or experienced. Elijah is the only person in the whole Bible who visibly ascends to heaven without dying first. We watch as he is scooped up in a great whirlwind, with chariot and horses of fire. This is a world-class miracle, entirely unique, which vindicates Elijah’s whole prophetic career. He could use some public vindication, since Elijah is almost always in an oppositional situation with the powers that be: Ahab, king of Israel, and his queen, Jezebel, who would like to see the contrary prophet dead. He is also in an oppositional situation with most of the other prophets in the land of Israel, who are content to serve the royals and the gods (or idols) they worship. In a word, Elijah has more than a few powerful enemies. So you’d expect it to be a major public event when God vindicates the true prophet. Yet it seems that only one person sees Elijah’s fiery ascent: his disciple, the apprentice prophet Elisha. A single witness, and that not even an influential person -- just a kid, really, the young man who calls Elijah “my father.” The chariot and horses seem like a wasted photo opportunity. Another wasted opportunity you might wonder about: why does the narrator focus so little on the dramatic potential of the story? There are not one but two major miracles in the passage we heard: the chariot of fire, and also that bit about Elijah striking the Jordan River with his cloak, parting the waters, so the two of them passed through the riverbed on dry land. It’s like Moses parting the Red Sea; this is a sign that Elijah has attained to the status of the father of all the prophets. Yet the narrator passes over the two confirming miracles quickly, giving hardly any details, and dwells on something else entirely -- something that hardly seems important at all, in terms of Elijah’s public career -- namely, the long goodbye between Elijah and Elisha, when Elisha does not want to let his teacher go. It’s a long walk these two take together, in the final days, as they journey from one region or town to the next. Elijah is trying to slip away, to be alone when God takes him. “Stay here,” he says to Elisha at Gilgal; “God is sending me to Bethel” -- a couple of days’ journey away. And Elisha flat-out refuses to be left behind: “As God lives and you yourself live, I am not leaving you!” (2 Kings 2:2). The scene is repeated several times, until at last Elijah realizes why the young man won’t let him go: because there is something this disciple still needs from the master. “So ask me, [Elisha] -- what can I do for you?” “Let a double share of your spirit come to me,” the young prophet answers (2:9). I confess that before working on this sermon, I had never before paid any attention to this poignant scene that brings an end to Elijah’s stormy story, and I need to ask myself why it never made any impression upon me. Maybe I read past it for the simple reason that this is a story about discipling, and that is not something that Episcopalians talk about very much. I notice that the dictionary lists the term “discipling” as “archaic, obsolete,” even as religious language. Strange that discipling, the foundation and heart of Jesus’ own ministry, should be an obsolete notion in the church. So let’s use another word. My colleague Greg Jones speaks of “holy friendship,” or “God-centered friendship,” and that is exactly what Jesus’ discipling was about. “I have called you friends,” Jesus says to the intimate band of 12 (John 15:15). So let’s talk about holy friendship, and consider what this story about Elijah passing on a spiritual legacy to the younger prophet might mean for any of us, younger or older, more or less experienced in the life of faith. One day Elijah had seen the young man Elisha plowing the field on his parents’ farm, and Elijah literally threw his prophet’s mantle over him. Then Elisha up and followed after him and became his disciple (1 Kings 19:19-21) -- in a flash, on a whim, just as one day still long in the future those Galilean fishermen would leave their boats and nets to follow Jesus. As far as we know, the two were strangers to each other, yet Elijah glimpsed something in this youth that no one had seen before, and Elisha had the courage to accept the prophet’s call, little though he could have understood it. We don’t know how long these two were bound together in holy friendship -- was it years, or perhaps just a few intense months? We don’t need to know, because it is the depth, not the duration, of the friendship that matters. They are together long enough so that when Elijah is taken up, he is able to pass on to the younger prophet Elisha the spiritual legacy of a new self, a self that is wholly oriented to God. That is who Elijah was, and who Elisha eventually grew to be under his tutelage: a self wholly oriented to God. Holy friendship addresses the basic human need to draw close to God. That need and desire receives very little acknowledgment in our general society. Sometimes even within the church, we may not know how to talk about it, or how to recognize our own desire to be close to God. Yet nurturing that desire and meeting that need is the sole reason for the church’s existence. We may provide a few valuable social services and something we rather vaguely call “community,” but the purpose of the church is to enable people to grow toward God in Christ. The church does its job in two related ways: first, by organizing worship, and second, by encouraging holy friendship. The aim of all the elements of worship -- music, prayers, sacraments, preaching -- is to create a space and time in which we turn our restless minds toward God, so that we can imagine, if only for a few flickering seconds, the dimension of existence that Jesus called “life in abundance” (cf. John 10:10). And holy friendship is the complement to worship. If worship is working, if it is creating an environment in which people are beginning to desire the presence of God, wanting to see more deeply into that mystery, then we need friendships in which that desire can be acknowledged and that mystery talked about. Sometimes, like the young man Elisha, we need to spend time with someone much more practiced in the presence of God than we are. More than 30 years ago, when I was a theology student in England, I met regularly for spiritual direction with Sister Mary Kathleen, a cloistered nun. When I began meeting with her, I did not know what to ask for; I knew only what I lacked: peace of heart. She quickly recognized that I did not know anything about prayer, and so she took it upon herself to teach me how to set aside a quiet space in my life for God to enter and speak. It was slow daily work; there were no dramatic moments when the heavens suddenly opened. Yet one day, at the end of about nine months, I realized that I was no longer confused and restless. Undramatically, yet with a certainty that had previously eluded me, I knew what I was meant to do with my life, namely, to preach and teach for the church. Indeed, she knows who I am. Those many years ago, Sister Mary Kathleen knew better than I did who I was struggling to be, and she helped me to become myself. I grew closer to God through holy friendship with this woman, who is so much more fully oriented toward God than I am. You might say she gave me a double share of her spirit. You don’t have to be someone of Elijah’s spiritual stature, or Sister Mary Kathleen’s, in order to pass on something of real substance through holy friendship. Most Sundays, a small group of women meets for an hour before we go to the 11 a.m. service at Duke Chapel; sometimes there are two or three of us, sometimes four or five, gathered for Christian conversation and prayer. We have been doing it for four years or so. We were summoned into a group, not because we were personal friends (we weren’t), but because one common friend asked each of us to offer prayer for her husband, who was gravely ill. So we began, and within a few months another of us lost her house in a fire; elderly parents and adolescent children met with various challenges. Difficulties smaller and larger emerged for us and those we love, and gradually we realized that we are called to stay together, as a tiny but (for now) durable part of the body of Christ. We call it the Heart Circle. There is no leader and no advance agenda; we simply bring to each other whatever is on our hearts, for honest and loving conversation, and for prayer. Sometimes we celebrate together; we also sigh and laugh and grieve. We disciple each other as we try to bring the light of Christ to the dark places we perceive within ourselves and in the world; we name before God the countless things, large and small, for which we are grateful, the places where we sense healing, where we glimpse growth and new possibility. What I am describing is probably the simplest form of holy friendship. Among my friends and colleagues and students, I witness other forms of Christian discipling that are much more costly: partnering with someone recently released from prison, for instance, or foster parenting young children, giving them a safe, peaceful, Christ-centered home for a shorter or longer period of time, or living in Christian community, or in community with mentally and emotionally challenged adults. I know Christians who disciple people at the end of life; they sit with the dying, perhaps playing an instrument or listening to a family member, so together they may experience the goodness of a holy death. Whatever might be your personal reason for coming here this morning, this church and every other exists to bring us closer to God through worship and holy friendship. I wonder what might be the form of friendship into which God is calling you particularly at this time. Is it with someone more experienced than you in the journey of faith, who can guide you in identifying your gifts and your direction? Or is it perhaps with someone just starting out, who needs your companionship to take a few small steps? Is your holy friend someone who needs you to name a gift you see in her, which she does not yet have the confidence to claim? Or is it a group of people engaged in a ministry to which you could contribute, and now it is time to offer yourself? You might be called into holy friendship with other Christians, or perhaps with someone outside the church. One of my own holy friends is an Orthodox Jew; another, a Muslim. In each case, we stand together, united and embraced within the unfathomable mystery of God. If you are wondering where the call to holy friendship may be for you at this time, then look for where you sense a new possibility beginning to show itself. Right now it may be only a glimmering: a faint hope or stirring you feel in yourself, a yearning you sense in someone else. Yet those glimmerings have God potential. They are bits of light, the light of Christ, with which God is seeking to penetrate our darkness, our dullness, our confusion, our solitariness, our self-absorption. So follow the light, that it may draw each of us deeper into holy friendship with one another, and closer to God in Christ. Amen.

2019-04-23T06:20:34Z

https://www.faithandleadership.com/ellen-f-davis-holy-friendship

I’m sure I would never have made the acquaintence of Percy Shelley, William Butler Yeats or any of the English poets if it hadn’t been for Mr. Lorimer’s second period English class. I was assigned to a front row seat, not because of any favoritism, but because of my nearsigtedness, for which I refused to wear my glasses. We memorized and read aloud, then memorized some more, thus giving Mr. Lorimer spare time to correct papers, read, or play the stock market, while keeping at least part of the class occupied. Franklin Lorimer was a small, grey, self-contained man, whose general detachment made you feel that perhaps he had not had enough sleep the night before. He dressed soberly and properly, in what I assumed was a rather English manner. You could pass him in the hall, or on the street, and never be sure you had seen him, he blended so well with the crowd. If anyone gave him a thought outside of school hours, you never imagined that he had another life except for English class. But, in actuality, he lived in our house. We lived in my family home, built by my Great-Grandfather, and owned then by my Great-Aunt Helen. The house had been converted into apartments, with Aunt Helen living on the ground floor, the second floor made into two apartments, and the third floor attic converted into a snug three room apartment. My mother and I occupied the third floor while my father was gone during the War, and my husband and I continued to live there for three more years after we married. For this we paid a walloping $30 per month. My father’s cousin Raima and her husband lived in one second floor apartment, and Franklin Lorimer in the other. He had been the college roommate of another cousin, which might have made you think he may have shown me special interest when making out his report cards. However well I did, I had to do it on my own, since I don’t remember ever having a conversation with him or seeing him at any place outside of school. He was a quiet tenant, and I don’t think I ever passed him in the hallway while climbing the stairway into our attic. I never saw him go out, nor anyone visit in the five years I lived there. His sole discretion came at precisely 10:30 each school day, when I was instructed to get him a paper cup of water, which he took to the open window and carefully poured out, hoping to hit the janitor, whose daily route took him under our window at just that time. I don’t know if he ever hit his target, or what he had against the poor janitor, but at least he had the possibility each day. I pass the old house, now in other hands, and I frequently pass the school. I look up at the second floor window, and wonder what ever happened to Mr. Lorimer, and if he ever hit his target. We all dream, whether we remember them or not. Most are pleasant, others sometimes not so pleasant. Some dreams remain with us for years, still with the power to please or to frighten. But what triggers dreams? A true nightmare sometimes causes us to cry aloud, and prevent resuming a quiet night’s rest. A sexual dream can be disappointing if, upon awakening, the dream prince or princess is not a reality. But what triggers a dream? There have been numerous studies made of our nightime experiences, but it’s still a mystery. I can still remember a dream I had when I was 11 years old, which encouraged me to jump off the roof with the expectation of flight. Flight dreams are really pretty common, and given our prehistoric beginnings when we either fought or fled, are understandable, but disturbing in a child for obvious reasons. A long-standing dream of mine which I file under the title “Dog Dreams” in my memory file, was one where I had been kidnapped, and actually turned into a dog who bit my kidnapper, complete with snarling et al. I had this same dream repeatedly for several years. I’m not proud of it, but that’s the way it is. In a too-vivid dream I had when my youngest daughter was a toddler, she climbed up onto the railing of a bridge in Ireland, and tumbled off before I could catch and save her. At that time, we had never been to Ireland, with no expectation of ever going there. When we eventually did go, I found myself on the very same bridge I had dreamed. It was a terrifying deja vu moment, though my daughter at that time was grown and married. Another vivid dream which turned out to be delusory, involved two paintings of mine which I hung on someone’s wall, I don’t know whose. I felt they were some of my best work. I actually searched for those two paintings for days before I was convinced that they had merely been a colorful dream. I sometimes think I may find them again. Are our dreams just the result of a vivid imagination? I doubt that the mystery will ever be solved, but in the meantime, “pleasant dreams”. Do you know someone who does everything perfectly, and do you still like them? Seriously, sometimes the perfect people like to assure you of their superior perfectness. But not my friend Maryanne. Maryanne is a dignified English woman, living single in a charming little condo which she has equipped with every imaginable convenience, making her fortunate guests eager for the next invitation. Along with our mutual friend, another single woman of an interesting age, after I meet up with them I feel buzzed. People like that, with interests ranging from politics to cooking and in between, are a like a jolt of caffeine putting your brain in gear for days afterward. Maryanne is famous for her cheese souffles, as well as turning out a remarkable roast chicken. I know, in these days of Costco rotisserie chicken, why would anyone actually go to the trouble? Believe me, it’s worth it, and it really isn’t any trouble. Not to say yours or mine might turn out as well as hers. At a luncheon the other day, she presented us with a perfect cheese souffle, and if I hadn’t seen the dessert brought by my other friend I might have begged seconds. I know you are probably asking what I contributed to the repast. I blushingly admit that I only brought a small hostess gift, but I am currently planning what I will tender next time we meet. You may remember the sad obituary of my 45 year old stove in a previous post necessitating the purchase of a new, modern, electronic, and also very beautiful, new one. The evening of the cheese souffle I decided to surprise the nice Dr. with a cheese souffle of my own. Now, I have to remind you that I have been cooking for many years, (too many to count) and have served up quite a few souffles, including chocolate, which is my favorite. Having mixed up the ridiculously few ingredients, and scraping them into my very English souffle bowl, I placed it into the new oven, which had never been used by me or anyone else. I had actually only made oatmeal and warmed up some soup on the top of the stove. I got the “Bake, temperature” thing right on the shiny new dial, but when it came to setting the timer, I must have been stymied, because 45 minutes later, it looked the same as it did when it went in. Dr. Advice being such an accomodating soul, opened up a can of beans and called it dinner. I think I may have the timer figured out now. How does a museum display a piece of art weighing in over a ton? One which would easily overpower a small gallery if it could even get through the door. How do the art handlers involved in transporting it handle it? Rather carefully! The difficulty of displaying “The Rose”, a 3,000 pound work by artist Jay DeFeo, has long fueled its allure. Jay DeFeo created the piece between 1958 and 1966. In a 1974 conservation effort it was covered with plaster and other stabilizers. Sitting in a conference room at the San Francisco Art Institute it faded into the background. People carved their initials into its thick protective layer of plaster or stabbed their cigarettes out on it. The Institue eventually built a false wall and hid the work behind it. The “Rose” went unseen for more than 20 years before its first show at the Whitney in 1995. Ms. DeFeo who died in 1989 at the age of 60, was convinced that the methods she had used creating the “Rose” had harmed her health. She had added layer upon layer of paint–the work is oil with wood and mica on canvas–until it was 11 inches thick in places. Then she carved and sanded the surface, filling the room with plaster dust. It grew until it filled an entire wall and blocked out a large window which had let in the sun. With 2 small windows on either side however, it gave light enough for her to determine its shading and sculpted surface, visually creating a previously unseen surface. The Whitney museum is trying to replicate those lighting conditions for its current show, with shafts of light illuminating either side of the work in a darkened gallery. For the first time, curator Dana Miller said that “The Rose” will appear the way the artist wanted it seen. DeFeo would be pleased. “How do I love thee let me count the ways” Robert Browning wrote these words to Elizabeth Barrett early in the 19th century. Have you ever sat and listed the many ways and reasons you love someone? It’s quite difficult isn’t it? It keeps changing day by day and as more and more time goes by, you find more and more ways and reasons to care for someone. The reasons won’t be the same as when you were in the first heat of competition for his affections. I love you for caring how I feel, and insisting upon carting me to every appointment even when I would rather drive myself, when I’m shopping for groceries, (even Nordstrom) and waiting patiently till I complete my mission without hanging over my shoulder. I love you for being cheerful, even if it is too early for me to wake up and I just wish the world would go away. I love you for admitting when you don’t know something. (I don’t always do this). I love you for realizing we are different and not caring. I love you for proving that right and left brain people can live happily together without killing each other. I love you for loving me. The first Valentine I received from you was when I was sixteen. I had just memorized Robert Browning’s poem in Mr. Cummings second period English class, and fresh in the throes of first love. This will be the 68th Valentine, and those ‘fresh throes” are stronger than yesterday. Happy Valentine’s Day Dr. Advice. I hadn’t actually visited with him for some time. Oh sure, I see him a couple of times a day, maybe more, but that’s not the same thing as an actual dig-down-deeply visit. But surprisingly he has been a loyal friend for many years. He’s tall but not too tall. A little taller than I, with an upright and outgoing personality. Blond, but showing definite signs of aging. I find him quite cold toward me at times, icy even. Definitely a mind of his own, but I don’t know what I would do without him. He’s quite good at handling daily problems for me, and I know I never give him enough credit. He rattles on a bit, but I guess that is standard for his type. Mind you, I’m not complaining, because he is my friend. He had been collecting quite a lot of baggage, which I never even noticed, what with the holidays and all. He has another friend who lives nearby, and they do share a lot of the everyday load. His friend is also tall and blond, but not as willing to handle some of the jobs I need done. Frankly, I’m not as fond of him as I should be. Anyway, today we got right down to it. I literally tore him apart, and I think he is happier for it. I know I am, even if it is so tiring to clear out all the garbage he’s been collecting. I don’t feel the need to do that again for awhile. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BETTE DAVIS? I met an young man of 17 today who made me realize how far out of the loop I really am. He acts in his school plays wants to be a character actor, not a leading man, because they are more interesting to portray. We talked about movies, and I, an inveterate movie lover, had no idea what he was talking about! Apparently zombies are pretty big in the movies today, and his excitement in telling about these films was infectious. Out of the fullness of my ignorance I tried to enter into the conversation and tell him about movies I have liked in the past, but he had never heard of them. Incredible! I began to realize that what the younger generation likes abut films today is more about special effects than story line. It took me a minute to appreciate his thinking. It was also more about looking at the film with actor’s eyes, and he’s right—seen in that aspect, they do deliver more punch. When teaching at the college level, I used to feel part of the chatter, but the kids of today have jumped ahead at the same pace technology has moved. Nothing lasts, and what a shame that is. Or maybe it is just that it make us antiques feel redundant. But if we are the “beta” generation, there is the realization that today’s kids will take their preordained place in line as well. Where do all the yesterdays go? Tangled up in a heap in a memory folder. But tomorrows are filed under Hope. Get back in the groove, Grandma! Author kaytisweetlandrasmussen83Posted on February 10, 2013 February 10, 2013 Categories Aging, Art, Communication, History, Language, Native American, Photography, Sculpture and PaintingTags actors, beta generation, entertainment, movies, redundant, school plays, teaching, technology, zombies8 Comments on WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BETTE DAVIS?

2019-04-19T05:00:53Z

https://pachofaunfinished.wordpress.com/2013/02/

What do you wish to do post retirement? Take up some social cause? Get back to your home-town and relax? Whatever your dream is, you need to plan for it now. Because once you retire, you will no longer receive a salary/ earn regular income. And to sustain your daily expenses and live your golden years you will need a financial back-up. The only difference in life post retirement is that you continue living, but you might not have a fixed flow of income. And in order to remain independent, you need to save and invest for your future now. And mind you, mere savings in the bank won't be enough. Mainly because of the inflation bug. Inflation is the rise in price of goods and services. And hence the value of your money declines because of inflation. Then, why do you need Retirement Planning? This guide is divided in 3 chapters. Chapter 1: Why Do You Need Retirement Planning? With a structured plan, you are equipped to handle various factors such as surpluses, shortfalls, and emergencies. You understand how quickly or how likely you are to achieve your retirement goals. Additionally, you gain control on your cash flows, your earnings and expenses, and what level of risk you need to be take to achieve all your goals. In short, a retirement plan will let you to develop a comprehensive understanding of your life goals (the ENDS) and also define the path (the MEANS) to achieve it. It is easy to cover your expenses as long as you are earning your monthly salary. But post retirement, you need to have enough money set aside to live the rest of your life and maintain a good lifestyle. All of us have to bear the necessary living expenses even after retirement. Because life moves on and the absence of our monthly income could become a nightmare. Retirement planning is working towards avoiding this nightmare from becoming a reality. Not many people get pensions or gratuities post retirement and even for those who do receive them; the amount is generally not big enough to cover all of their expenses. By planning and building a sizeable retirement corpus, you can ensure that your family's standard of living is not compromised post retirement. As one's age progresses, the number of health issues and emergencies also increase. And as you might be aware, medical expenses bear the potential to create a huge hole in your pocket. In fact, these days even dental treatments can cost you a small fortune. Therefore, your retirement corpus must be large enough to cover your and your family's medical expenditure to avoid a financial crunch in the later years of life. Inflation refers to the rise in the prices of goods and services. It erodes the purchasing power or value of your hard-earned money. You see, there has been constant rise in price of goods and services and it will continue to be on a rise until you reach the retirement age. Without a sound retirement plan, that aims to establish an adequate retirement corpus accounting for inflation, life expectancy, rate of return, and so on; it would be impossible for you to achieve all your retirement goals. Life is quite unpredictable and uncertain. It can sometimes throw us in adverse situations and circumstances which we may not have expected. Some situations have the power to create a financial as well as emotional turmoil in your life such as natural calamities, loss of loved ones, financial difficulties in the life of family members, and so on. Having a significant sized corpus to take care of such contingent events can always come to your rescue. Thus, while you approach retirement, it is imperative that you have a sufficient contingency fund, so that the intermediate period of turbulence and turmoil can be managed better and not hinder your long-term goal of retirement. Hence, it is absolutely essential to have a strong Retirement Plan that will make you aware where you stand today, and what steps you need to take to achieve this goal. It is important to understand why many fail at retirement planning. And one big reason is, they start late. At times, individuals are unable to set aside the requisite amount of money needed for their retirement. They can contribute only a part of it, not all. As a result, they end up postponing their plans. In our view, this is a wrong approach. Instead, the right course of action is to start off with what you have and make up for the deficit at a later stage. On the other hand, if you decide to simply wait for an ‘opportune’ time, it might be too late by the time you start. Another reason for failing to start is that a significant amount of money is often spent on providing for one’s present lifestyle, i.e. shopping and entertainment binges, leaving very little for retirement. While the importance of satisfying present needs cannot be denied, it does make sense to take care of your future as well. Ideally, one must strive to strike a balance between the two. Finally, perhaps, drawing up a strong retirement plan and saving for the eventuality – retirement. Maybe the thought of growing old and leading a rather sedentary lifestyle brings with it a certain degree of discomfort and discourages some from working towards their retirement plan. However, such mindsets need to change. Looking the other way will only worsen the situation. The solution lies in accepting retirement as an eventuality and being adequately prepared for it. Making an early start is your best bet at being prepared! To plan your retirement there are few steps involved. Each step is explained in the next chapter. The most common retirement age is 60 years, but it may vary from person to person. Some may wish to work beyond 60 years of age, while a few even wish to retire at 55 ––basically it's a matter of choice. Estimating your retirement age is an important step, because after this age your regular income stream will stop or at least reduce considerably (in case you are eligible for pension). You will have to depend on your savings and investments to take care of your retirement needs. This is also the timeframe you are left with to plan for retirement. For instance, if you are 25 years old and you wish to retire at the age of 50 years, then years to retirement = 50-25=25years. One of the important factors while deciding your retirement age is the life expectancy rate. In other words the estimated number of years you are expected to live based on the age, medical condition, family history and other demographic factors. These are indicative figures to give a clue as you plan your retirement. For instance, if you are 30-year-old then you may expect to live upto 75 years. And if you wish to retire at 60 years of age then you need to plan for around 15 years of post-retirement life. Like any other goal, start planning your retirement as soon as possible. With several years in hand, you have time and the power of compounding in your favour. Never delay retirement planning or else you might have to compromise your goal. Worst case you might have to be financially dependent on your children or family. Hence, start early, start now. Most individuals who are in their 20s and having recently started earning might think that retirement is a distant reality. For them, planning for retirement at this early age may seem like being overly cautious. However, it is imperative for you to recognise that being young provides you a benefit that is not available to all, 'time'. As it is said, "the early bird gets a bigger pie". Beginning to invest early in life will enable you to accumulate the necessary corpus required on without much stress. And it gives you a peace of mind. And if you are in your 30s and haven't even started planning for retirement, then it is still not very late. You still have many years to work, earn and save for your golden years. But make sure you do it prudently and differentiate between your needs and wants. Retirement corpus is the amount you require post retirement to meet your expenses and continue with the same lifestyle and maybe pursue your other personal goals. For this, first ascertain your annual expenses at present. For that you need to first write down monthly expenses on various categories such as household, medical, entertainment, travel, EMI, and children's school/tuition fees, and so on. So, it is important that you make an accurate estimate of how much amount you will require, to maintain your present lifestyle after you retire. Then factor in inflation to calculate how much your present expenses will amount to at the time of retirement. This is referred to as future value of money. This is the amount you will need every year to meet your post-retirement expenses. For instance, Mr. X is 35, wants to retire at 60, currently spends Rs. 75,000 a month on household and other expenses and spends about Rs. 5 lakhs a year on travel and medical. He assumes household inflation is 7% per year both pre and post retirement, travel, and medical expenses inflate at 10% per year, and he will earn 6% per year on his retirement corpus once it is built and he invests it after his retirement. How much will he need to retire and maintain his current lifestyle? Yes, it is. Your financial planner can handhold you to set your asset allocation based on your risk profile, select appropriate investment avenues within each asset class, help you manage your cashflows with the needed discipline to invest, and regularly review the portfolio to make sure that you are on track to accomplish this vital financial goal. Alternatively, use PersonalFN's Retirement Calculator to help you with this. Remember, if you like the calculator, share it! How much you are able to save every year, after meeting all your expenses, plays a crucial role in building your retirement corpus. Your saving is the surplus amount that is left after deducting your annual expenses from your net salary. The ideal way is, to earmark a portion of your savings towards retirement. This part of your saving should be treated as sacred and should not be disturbed unless it is very urgent. After estimating how much amount you will be able to save annually towards your retirement corpus, the next step is to find out its future value. To determine this, you have to factor in the expected rate of return on your investment. This is the value of your savings or investments at the time of retirement. For instance, if you are able to save Rs 100,000 annually for your retirement, and you invest this amount in an avenue, which earns you 10% rate of return p.a., then after 25 years, you will have a retirement corpus of approximately Rs 9,834,706. If you are unable to save now to reach the target, cut down on avoidable expenses. Some of the avoidable expenses are your weekly entertainment, impulsive purchases, dining out, foreign vacation, etc. Depending on your current age and the risk that you can afford to take, you should define a standard allocation to each asset class. It is important to have a diversified investment portfolio across the asset classes. Some assets like equities have the ability to offer you a better inflation-adjusted return (also known as real rate of return) than fixed income instrument can provide safety. Gold can be a store of value and act as an insurance in your portfolio. If you see a swift rally in any of the asset class, and the deviation in your asset allocation, you can timely rebalance by reaping the benefits from the respective asset class and moving it to other asset classes. Do not forget, every asset class may not be suitable for you. At the same time, you should not be over exposed to a single asset class. As retirement planning is an exhaustive exercise, seeking help of financial planner can go a long way. But take care to opt for an independent, honest, unbiased, and a competent financial planner who will handhold in every step to plan your retirement. Your financial planner should be able to come up with a relatively accurate retirement corpus, which can help you negotiate retirement. More importantly, he/she should conduct risk profiling, whereby the asset allocation can be set and the portfolio can be structure accordingly to achieve your retirement corpus. Your retirement plan needs to be monitored at regular intervals (at least once a year) to make sure you are on target to meet your objectives. Any changes in the income, expenses, retirement age, etc. needs to be incorporated in the retirement plan. Also, make sure the retirement plan meets your investment objectives in the changing market scenario. We at PersonalFN follow an in-depth understanding of our client's financials, their needs and requirements, and draw up a customised Retirement Plan. On the basis of some assumptions, an ideal asset allocation is defined. Remember that, in the process of determining your retirement corpus, you have to make few crucial assumptions such as rate of inflation or rate of return on your investments. These factors are not fixed and are bound to fluctuate over time, thus impacting your calculation. Besides, aspects such as your yearly savings and expenditure is also subject to fluctuations. With an increase in your salary, your saving and spending capacity also increases. For this reason, you must regularly review your calculations to ensure that you are always on track to achieve your retirement corpus. Next is to list down and analyze their existing investments, savings, and cashflows. We then assess the past performance of these investments and assess its portfolio concentration. We provide our own view and recommendation to your portfolio. We further analyze your insurance needs. At PersonalFN, we always recommend that investors to opt for a pure Term Insurance Plan and to keep insurance and investment needs separate. To calculate how much your optimal life insurance should be, we follow Human Life Value (HLV) approach. Try our HLV calculator here. The first step towards calculation of HLV would be to determine the person's net annual income after deducting the amount spent on personal items. This amount will be the amount that he affords for his family annually. Each year, with inflation, the family's expenses would proportionately increase, which must also be taken into account. The calculation will also include specific goal related expenditure. Furthermore, assuming Mr. Sinha has a son and a daughter, both of whom would require Rs 10 lakhs for their education i.e. a total of Rs 20 lakhs. In Mr. Sinha's absence, this amount is still required such that the children's education do not suffer. Hence this goal amount can be added to the financial value of Mr. Sinha's life. A retirement plan is thus created. We take into consideration all your needs, goals, current financial status, and depending upon your risk tolerance, we create a customized retirement plan for you. What will be the cost of my expenses in future? Can I generate cash inflows during my retirement? What do I desire to do during my retirement? These questions can help you get started with. But if you seeking professional guidance, then do not hesitate to get in touch with PersonalFN. PersonalFN is a SEBI registered investment advisor. Schedule a Call with PersonalFN's investment consultant or drop a mail at info@personalfn.com and we will get in touch with you. You may also call us on 022-61361200.

2019-04-25T09:50:12Z

https://www.personalfn.com/guide/retirement-planning-steps

Today marks the five-year anniversary of the Albany River Rats' bus crash that took place in the early hours of Feb. 19, 2009, as the team was heading home from a road game in Lowell, Massachusetts. What follows is a first-person account of the events from some of the passengers. Coach Jeff Daniels, Assistant Coach Geordie Kinnear and players Nicolas Blanchard and Mark Flood are still with the Checkers in those same roles today. Radio play-by-play broadcaster Owen Newkirk is now with the Texas Stars. Daniels: It was a New England wintry day and it kind of got worse as we were playing. When we came out of the game it was coming down pretty good. We had issues with the bus and we got maybe 20 minutes outside of Lowell at that point. We sat on the side of a plaza or restaurant just kind of waiting for a new bus to come, and that added an extra hour delay to the trip before we got on the road. Blanchard: We had to wait a couple of hours for the other bus to come pick us up. Some guys were sleeping and some guys were playing cards, and I remember Floodie was making the boys laugh. Flood: It was kind of boring but kind of bonding time too. It was getting hot and stuffy so we popped the roof open and were kind of hanging out of there, joking around and goofing off to kill time like we always do. Newkirk: By the time the replacement bus came, we should have already been home. Kinnear: The wait felt like forever. As we were pulling out, the driver just about hit a lamp post in the parking lot and I had to kind of speak up to give him a heads up. That kind of foreshadowed what was about to happen. Flood: It was on the Mass Turnpike in the Berkshires, so it's snowy and hilly and icy. It was an icy, dark night and there was black ice. It was not a good night for traveling, but it wasn't much different than any other night because we traveled a lot on the bus. You don't think anything of it when you get on the bus. We do it every road trip. When we got on the next bus everyone was pretty tired. Within a half hour of getting on the road a lot of guys were sleeping. I was sleeping or close to sleeping. I was laying down on my back and I had my feet across on the other seats. Newkirk: It was so late that everyone was trying to sleep where normally most of the guys would be sitting up or playing cards or something like that. I wasn't a good bus sleeper to begin with, but I was laying down across the seat. Kinnear: You get to that point after a game, you just want to get home and get in your own bed and know you're in the right place and a safe place. After that game I probably wouldn't have slept on the bus, but with the bus breaking down it was getting pretty late and I was getting pretty tired. I was right behind the bus driver so I was kind of sitting up and leaning against the window, using the glass as a backboard. I don't remember when I went to sleep, but I remember when I woke up. Newkirk: I remember being able to process the driver yelling, 'Hang on!' and then I kind of bolted upright and saw the guardrail through the window. We were fishtailing. Flood: I could feel the bus kind of pulling to one side, almost fishtailing. I woke up and a lot of the other guys started to perk up. I remember skidding and hearing a "boom boom boom." Blanchard: All of the sudden I heard a weird noise like "bump bump bump" and I opened my eyes right away. I saw Joe Jensen in the air. Daniels: You started hearing the rumble strips on the side of the road and that kind of woke me up a little bit. I could hear a little panic from the driver and then it happened. Flood: We flipped over on our side. Scratching, windows breaking. That's when things really got out of control. We knew we were in an accident and guys were being thrown. Kinnear: I woke up and we must have been spinning or something. I looked across the aisle and I saw Jeff. He kind of had the big bug eyes and we knew something was wrong, though nothing was said. There was no screaming or anything. All I remember is that we were starting to spin, and that's when everything seemed slow-mo. Daniels: Myself and Geordie had the front-row seat, kind of watching. It was a blur from that point. It was all slow motion, like, "Is this really happening?" Flood: We slid 100 meters or something like that because we were going pretty fast. Kinnear: All I remember thinking is that I wanted the bus to stop. Please stop. It was just constant motion. Something was different about the bus, obviously we were on our side, but I didn't know that at the time. Jeff flew into the bus drivers' lap and because I was on that side of the bus I was more on my back. It didn't feel like I was on the ground. I don't remember any friction or anything along those lines. My whole thought process was, "When is this bus going to stop? I want it to stop." I didn't know if we were going to hit something. For some reason there was a calm for me. It felt very focused and very slow, but I just wanted the bus to stop. Flood: I had been in a car accident before, and it's a scary feeling when everything finally stops. You're looking around and guys are everywhere. Your first thought is, "Did somebody die?" It's a scary thing to say and a scary thing to think about, but that's what I was thinking. It was pretty bad. There was smoke, guys were bleeding. I was scared that somebody had died. Newkirk: I hit the seat, but my whole left side was in pain. My color guy, John Hennessey, had fallen all the way down and basically tackled our equipment guy, Jason McGrath, through the window, and he had pieces of glass in his back. Flood: I landed standing up on one leg and kind of straddling one of the seats. I looked down and I was standing on broken glass on snow. I was on the back of the bus, so I must have been standing in the median. I was looking around to see if everybody was OK. Blanchard: I woke up on the ground. For one second it was silence, then after that all the boys were yelling to see if everyone was OK. I tried to stand up but I couldn't. I knew I couldn't walk but I didn't know what I had. My good buddy Mike Angelidis asked if I was OK and grabbed me because I couldn't walk. Him and Justin Peters helped me to get off the bus through the roof exit. Flood: Dwight Helminen was cut pretty bad – he landed like I did but didn't have shoes on so his feet were cut and bleeding. Petey might have landed standing up too, and he had his phone out right away calling 911 and he had popped the emergency exit. He was right on things, pretty alert and focused in a chaotic situation. Kinnear: I'm not sure how it happened, but things started to speed up a little bit for me. I think my survival instincts kicked in. We were on our side so the door was up high and we couldn't get out. Once we got our bearings I saw the bus driver panic a little bit trying to get the door, and then I realized we were in the middle of the road on a 45-degree angle, on a hill. The front of the bus was over the middle of the line. Newkirk: The whole front end of the bus was still in the passing lane and there were no lights on it. We're in a pretty remote stretch of highway where there wasn't a lot of ambient lighting to begin with and we're in the middle of this blizzard, and you could just feel the vibration of the first few trucks that whizzed past. Kinnear: The first one came and lowered his gear, and when you lower your gear the engine revs high. That's a distinct trigger memory for me, because I thought we were going to get crunched in the front. It missed us by two feet maybe. I was thinking about Lorraine and the kids because I thought we were going to get hit. I was yelling, "Get out of the bus! Get out of the bus now!" I used some stronger and more direct words than that but I said it as many times as I could. We had a matter of minutes or seconds to get out of the bus. Flood: At the back, we were probably a little more calm than the guys at the front because they realized where we were. We just knew we were in an accident. We didn't realize where we were or where we were facing until we popped the thing open. We just knew we had to get off the bus, because we didn't know if it would get hit or blow up or something like that. Kinnear: I ended up grabbing the two railings in the aisle and started kicking the front windshield as hard as I could. Once, didn't budge. Twice, I started to get it, and on the third I finally got the whole windshield to fall out the front. I kept yelling to get out of the bus. I jumped out and I think a bunch of people followed me. Once we got out the front I saw others in the back getting out of the fire escapes, and I looked up the hill and transport trucks were still coming down. Blanchard: As soon as I got off the bus I saw this big truck flying by us because half of the bus was in the middle of the road. I panicked, and for a guy who couldn't walk, I started sprinting. The adrenaline was crazy. Kinnear: Clear as day I see one fishtailing down the hill by the bus and he ended up going by, just missing us again. They must have got on the CBA after that and told the other ones to slow down because they all kind of stopped. It was maybe two or three minutes from the initial stop, but I was very concerned that we were going to get t-boned from the side by a transport truck, especially in the front where we were, because we would have had no chance. I honestly thought it was a matter of seconds, but thank God it wasn't, because we would have lost people for sure. Blanchard: I was only wearing my track suit and my socks, that was it. It was so cold. I remember being freezing. Some guys were just wearing shorts and t-shirts. All the equipment was wrecked and some hockey bags were 20 meters away from the bus. Newkirk: After a while I realized I had my peacoat on as a blanket, but some guys were still in their t-shirts and some guys didn't have shoes because they had been asleep. Daniels: I had a bit of a headache just from whiplash or whatever it was. Once everyone got out of the bus we kind of converged in the median and grass area in between the two highways just to see where everyone was at and what everyone was doing. Luckily everyone got off the bus. Flood: We're on the snow bank and it's freezing cold. I was still shaken from the accident but I kind of checked myself over. It was dark so I had one of the guys check to make sure my face was OK because we didn't have a mirror to look at or anything. I was a little bit stiff and had a couple of bumps and bruises, but compared to what happened to some of the other guys, I was fine. We checked each other out as best as we could at the time and assessed each other's injuries. Newkirk: I saw Casey Borer standing up, but then he starts complaining about a pain in his neck and then I think he was down on his hands and knees. He's trying to rest his head on the ground or on other players because he just didn't have the strength in his neck. Flood: He was lying face down in the snow bank. I asked him if he was alright and he said yeah, his neck was just really stiff and he thought he had bad whiplash or something like that. In a situation like that you're kind of in shock and you don't even know if you're hurt. You could have a broken leg and your adrenaline is pumping. You just get off the bus. Kinnear: Casey Borer kept saying that he couldn't move. His head was actually on the ground kind of buried in the snow. We didn't want him to move because something wasn't right. He was not good. Newkirk: I called my parents and told them what happened, and my dad said, 'You've already called us. You don't remember calling us before?' I didn't remember that at all. My dad is a family doctor and asked me who we played that night. I realized I had no idea. He asked me if my coach was around and I said yeah he's right here, so he asked me to ask him who we had played that night. I asked Jeff, and he just gave me this blank stare for a second. Finally he said, "Lowell" and once he said that it all came flooding back to me. My dad asked if he could talk to my coach, so I handed Jeff the phone and he told him that I was showing some symptoms of a concussion and to make sure that the EMTs would check me out. Daniels: Blanch and Casey Borer were in tough shape and I think Owen was a little bit in shock. I tried to make some phone calls to Carolina – Tom Rowe and Jason Karmanos at the time - to let people know right away that we had been in a bus crash. Flood: Blanch was hurt pretty bad and Jonathan Paiement was hurt pretty bad, and we tried to sort through that as quick as we could and get the guys that needed help off first. Daniels: I was pretty impressed with the way the team came together at that point. Some guys were bleeding and other guys were helping out and trying to figure out who needed help and who didn't. A lot of credit goes to those players who understood the situation and were going around to make sure that others were OK. Kinnear: We didn't have a winning season, but that team was really close. You've got to give the players a lot of credit for looking out for each other. Jeff banged his head pretty hard and was hurt a little bit, but they all took care of the guys that were hurt the most in kind of a pecking order. A lot of the guys' character was revealed for sure. Newkirk: Jeff and Geordie really did an amazing job of going around and talking to everyone, making sure everyone was OK and trying to be as organized as possible. I think Jeff really gained a lot of respect around the league and around the hockey world for how he handled everything. Blanchard: I was sitting on the guardrail and one of the players called my dad to let him know there was a bus accident, but he was speaking English and my dad didn't really understand. My dad told me later he was panicking, but a French guy grabbed the phone and told him what happened. Newkirk: Some guys said it felt like an eternity before the first responders arrived, but by the time I made a few phone calls it seemed like the flashing lights were right there. Flood: It took a while for the fire trucks and the ambulances to get there, but by the time they did we had kind of figured out who was in need of medical attention first. Blanchard: I sat on the guardrail on the side of the road and after a while the firefighters and the ambulances arrived and they asked me if I was OK. I told them I felt something leaking on me so the guy lifted my shirt and saw a big wound on my stomach. I didn't see at that time what I had, but they told me I was going to be the first one leaving. I just remember praying to be able to play hockey and really just not to die because I didn't know what I had. After that, I blacked out. Flood: Four ambulances came and they sent the injured guys away in those, and then a school bus came for the rest of us who were relatively fine. Kinnear: The bus came and it had that heat cranked and it felt so good. Flood: They drove us to the Berkshire Medical Center and they put us in rooms of two so we could all be evaluated by the doctor until they could release us. I remember being at the hospital and the doctor coming in and saying that they had to move Casey to see other doctors because he might have fractured his neck. It turns out he had broken his neck, and he had walked off the bus. He shouldn't have probably, but at the time you're on adrenaline and you want to get off the bus as quick as you can. I was in the room with him when he had to call his parents and tell them. It was pretty emotional. They were obviously pretty upset and he was pretty upset. I'm just glad that I could have been there for him to help him through that. Blanchard: I remember waking up in the hospital on the surgeon's table and they were doing all their scans. When the bus flipped, the guardrail went through my window and took a piece of my stomach. I had a huge open wound you could almost put your hand in. They were scared that the guardrail had cut my intestine – it was that deep. I had cuts on my back that needed over 100 stitches because the doctors said they could see my bone. Both shoulders popped out and my hip moved a little bit too. I also needed stitches on my elbow because that was open too. I didn't feel the pain until I was in the hospital because the adrenaline makes you forget. The guy in front of me and the guy behind me on the bus didn't have anything, not even a scar. I remember being in the bed in the hospital and telling my family I would be OK and that I could play again. For me at that point it was a lot mental and I was telling myself I'd be OK. Finally the doctor told me I would be able to play hockey again but maybe not this season. At that point it was in my mind that everything would be fine. Kinnear: The bus ride home the next morning was a little nerve-wracking, but I remember getting home that next morning and was just happy to see the kids and Lorraine. Daniels: We were fortunate. I remember taking my family to go see Blanch in the hospital a couple of days after and he had his family there at that point, just wanting to touch base. You talked to him when it happened, but a couple of days after it was easier to talk about where you're not as worked up emotionally, just to hear his story about how he went through the guardrail and you're like, "Wow, I never even thought about that." Him telling us that they're picking out pieces of guardrail from his side and he's showing us the cut. My daughter was probably six at that time and it was a little eye-opener for her. He was in good spirits and knew he was going to be fine. It was just good to see that he was there with his family and he was in good hands. Daniels: We got back mid-morning to Albany. I told the guys on the bus not to talk to media and just get home and give it a day to regroup, but at some point you're all going to have to talk to the media and the press and all that, but right now just get home. We met the day after because most guys had been up for 24 hours probably and I kind of left it up to them as to when we would play again, because we were supposed to play the next day at home or something. It was up to them, because the league was going to work with whatever we wanted to do as a group. Kinnear: We wanted to make sure everyone was ready to play mentally and got the help if they needed help before we put them in those situations. Daniels: We told them if you're ready to get back at it, we'll play and I'll go out and find the bodies that we needed to get 20 guys, or if we needed some time to regroup we can do that. As a group we decided to take the weekend off, but we did practice to get the mind off and get back in the flow of things. Most of the guys are young, single and living in apartments by themselves, so we wanted to get on the ice together as a team. That was the team that went through it, and they could kind of relate to one another about what happened and what the situation was. It was good to get on the ice and kind of move on. You weren't going to forget, but even if it was just a practice for an hour, just that distraction. We just had a real fun practice with games and it was real loose, so we were ready to play a couple of days later. Kinnear: The guys were 100 percent ready to go and wanted to go, and that's when we decided we'd start playing again. To their credit, I don't think they eased into any games. They played the games the way they were supposed to. We got a lot of support from Carolina in getting players in. We moved on right away. That's just how Jeff and I operate - to keep moving forward and don't look back too often and take one game at a time. That was our approach. Flood: JD and Geordie were great about it. They made everybody take a step back from hockey. I know it's our jobs and stuff, but life is more important than hockey. Everybody being alive and being OK was the main focus. It definitely made us take a step back from that. Finishing the season was different. Guys were just happy to come to the rink and happy to see each other. It gave us a different perspective on life. Daniels: Our next game was in Bridgeport, and to get from Albany to Bridgeport is probably a two-and-a-half hour drive. The first little while is kind of a country road, and I couldn't, and I'm sure a lot of the guys couldn't, sleep on that first ride. I know I was very jittery, kind of clutching the handle of my seat every time there was a little bump in the road or if you're making swerve on a turn, you're a little gun shy. Those first couple of trips, it was a little nervous. Any bump in the road I'd kind of tense up and all eyes would be on the road. You've driven however many miles on the bus from the time I was playing to coaching and you never thought twice about it. Newkirk: On our next bus ride there were two routes, one that was all highway and another one that was a shortcut that was this big winding road along a river. We took the winding road, and I think every time we went around one of those curves there was this feeling of, "Hang on!" but I think it was good to do that and get back on that wobbly horse right away. Flood: I played the next game, but we had a lot of call-ups. Our first game back was in Bridgeport and we had a ton of support around the league. They gave us a standing ovation. It was crazy the amount of support we got. Every day in the dressing room there was food sent in from other teams, from NHL teams, from fans and supporters. I think everyone was a little overwhelmed by the support we got from everywhere. It kind of became a big story in the sporting world. On TSN and ESPN they were talking about it and it made the Top 10 Worst Tragedies in Sports and that kind of stuff. It was a big deal at the time and we got a lot of support from it. Newkirk: We were a .500 team at the time, but that was really it for us. We weren't the same after that. The opposing teams would send us fruit baskets and things like that, but no matter what they sent it was the gesture of all being in this together and being a part of that small hockey world. Blanchard: After the accident I couldn't do anything. They had to wash me, they had to feed me and I couldn't do anything. I kept my wound open for a month almost because they were scared it would get infected. The nurse would come to my house and change my wound. They'd put tissue in it and cover it twice a day. It was the most painful thing ever because the tissue would get stuck in my skin and my blood and they'd have to pull it out. It was tough. Finally a month later they did the surgery to close the wound. I couldn't work out for the next month because I couldn't even walk. My parents came to Albany for two weeks and cooked me a lot of food and took care of me. The Canes also really took care of me with all the doctors and all the staff and the encouragement. Flood: Casey stayed in Albany and it worked out good because my girlfriend was kind of his caretaker. I was on the road a lot to finish the season out and she'd help him put his socks on because he was obviously really stiff in the neck brace and limited to what he could do. Daniels: It was good to have Blanch and Casey around. The last game of the year was at home and we wanted Blanch to take warm-up. We got the OK from the league to have an extra guy taking warm-up because they knew the situation. Flood: It was a big deal. Everyone gave him a standing ovation. Blanchard: All the boys on the team were laughing at me because I couldn't handle the puck. I was laughing so hard too. Daniels: I think it was good for Blanch to not have to wait all summer to get back into it. He got a chance to end his season with some practices and prepare for a game. It was good for him and good for the guys to see that Blanch was going to be back. He's always been a high-character kid and I know he meant a lot to the team. Blanchard: It was funny, but it was a happy moment seeing that I'm getting better and that I would be able to play hockey again. It gave me a lot of energy for the summer to work out, and in the middle of June I was back in the gym and doing really well. I was able to be ready 100 percent for the next camp in Raleigh. Kinnear: With Nicolas Blanchard, it was part of his journey to the NHL. Not that you want to be in a bus crash, but it makes Blanch's story that much better and shows you what type of kid he is. You have a couple of letdowns or a couple of valleys in your career but you stick with it and you persevere. You end up having a lot of respect for a guy like him and a guy like Casey Borer because they battled back. When Blanch got called up, it was pretty special for all of us because he battled. Not only people on the ice with sticking up for teammates, but he battled through a thing like that and defied the odds. Those are the types of people you want on your team and in your organization. Daniels: You see that nothing can stop him. He plugged away for many years not getting a chance until he finally got that chance last year. When you tell those guys that they're going up, it's pretty special because you've been with them for so long. Nothing was ever given to him. He's had to earn everything. Flood: The next year after that I played in Bridgeport, and getting on the bus was tough. I had trouble sleeping on the bus after that for a while. When we'd hit the rumble strips or something I'd perk up, and when it was bad or snowy weather it was tough. I was nervous, for sure. Newkirk: There are still moments where the brakes hit quickly where it comes back to you a little bit. Blanchard: For the next year after that, every time I lay down on the bench and the driver hit the brakes, I'd wake up right away and look out front. Obviously it's on your mind, but I'm OK today. Mentally it's been really good. Kinnear: The only trigger I have is that loud engine. As soon as I hear someone downshift a transport truck. I don't think about the bus crash that much because I'm the type of person that moves on when things happen in your life. That's one trigger I definitely have – when I hear someone downshift a tractor trailer. It's like a song where you're dancing with your high-school sweetheart. I get a different kind of feeling when I hear that transport truck and it brings back those memories. Those 30 seconds where it could have been ugly. I don't get nervous or scared – it's just a reality check. Blanchard: You're looking back and feeling lucky because the guardrail didn't hit me anywhere else. You're going 60 miles an hour and all of the sudden a guardrail hits you. It could have taken part of my body with it. Kinnear: Someone was looking out for me and everyone else because we didn't lose anybody. If they had turned four feet one way we would have lost a lot of people, but it wasn't meant to happen. Blanchard: As a team we were really lucky that no one died. It changed the perception of life for me. I consider myself a lucky man to be healthy today and do what I love to do as work and just be around the people that I love. I'm not afraid to say that I appreciate a person or that I love a person anymore. I'll let them know that they're important for me in life. For me it was a wake-up call. Life can be really short and you've got to appreciate life every day because you never know what's going to happen. Do whatever you want in life but be happy, because life is short.

2019-04-18T16:42:21Z

http://gocheckers.com/stats/checkers-news/five-years-later-an-oral-history-of-the-albany-river-rats-bus-crash

WE GOT OUR NEW HOME!! Today we went to check out a double wide mobile home, and I was already getting a bit flustered since we were having problems in finding a place that had everything we needed, accepted our dogs and was within our price range. I was a bit nervous of it being out in the boonies but once I got there I was like "i love it!" Thanks to Kiddo, I was able to have a positive mindset on stepping in there. Also with Jeremy's (Anita's hubby) suggestion of bringing in a notebook and my camera with me I could write down the pros and cons of the house, and the pros out weight the cons. It is a four bedroom(fourth room is a small office)Which will be my CRAFT ROOM! Two bathroom. (tiny but less for me to clean up right!) Its a double wide older mobile room. The three rooms are on one side of the house, which is great to have the girls nearby where I sleep if they need me. Has carpet(easy clean up!) Its out in the country(but not a far drive to our families and shops. Kitchen is small and has a homey effect. (no dishwasher, which i dont like although it just means kitchen will be super cleaned every night before bed.) A huge back yard with fence and storage unit (perfect for girls to run and play!) The dining room is long and perfect(forgot to take pics of that) It has a ramp so I wont break my leg...again lol! It may look ugly but I can make it pretty!! They are doing alot of work on it right now to have it ready for us to offically move in and we can move in little by little in the mean time. The are putting new floors in, fixing the walls and ceilings today. Tomorrow they are replacing the front deck. (didnt take a pic of it) But anywho check out the pics. The long room the girls are in will be Lillian's room, the smaller room that they are in is Emma's. The medium room is our room which has master bathroom...nothing master about it but I am only in my room to sleep. So its all good. We all know that one holiday can be both lovely or just wishing it was the 15th instead? Well for my anti-v days ppls this blog is dedicated to you all. I love that day but it seems like every year something happens and we are unable to do anything that I want. So I just get so fustrated when that day comes closer and even more fustrated when I hear everyone else's cutesy plans. I always hope for a better vday this year but I never get it....its a bummer I know but I am sure some of you all feels the same. So Enjoy! So my plans of getting things done this week was a flop. I had to go to the Emergency room on Monday evening. I had a 101.6 temp and was in alot of pain. They just told me I had bronchitis, yuck. I am feeling a little bit better, just making sure this killer headache stays away cause it was mainly the reason that shut me down last couple of days. Today I also did a follow up with my doctor for my sleeping issue and she put me back on ambien and set up a referral to see a psychiatrist to see why I having anxiety at night where it is keeping me from sleeping. So we shall see how that goes. Tomorrow I will be taking Lillian in the morning for her check up, and while I am there I might ask them to file the back of the tooth a bit so I can bite comfortably. Other than that I hope tomorrow I will feel a bit better so I can catch up with the house work. Coffee is good no matter what time! So I thought I let everyone know I have let the idea of not being in the army settle in. I am not so dreadful of what the future will hold for us, I know the army will help Matthew find a job and I am going to find something as well. Our W-2 should be available next week and we can get that rapid refund that we can use to move. I am been looking for places and actually warming up to the idea of having a new place. A place where I can decorated and make our own. Just think of all the awesome creative projects I can come up with once we settled. My store is open so check out the stickers. I already had one order for a sticker and I sold my last zombie extermination pendant. Not sure if I will but shop into vacation mode when we start moving or not but I will keep you all posted. I am also finishing up my swap for Rhibi for the candy/lolly swap. Yesterday we got bunches of sweets and can't wait for her to receive them. I plan on mailing both her stuff and my etsy order out tomorrow. I will post pics soon of what I made. Since we finally got our heater working(it kicked the bucket last night) I am going to tackle a few house chores and relax today. Don't plan on going anywhere unless I want a monster. OKAY, I figure I will feel better after I vent, since I sorta feel the pint up anxiety building inside. We were just informed Matthew my husband(who is in the army) will be leaving from the army Feb 20, 2010...yes you read that right, that is next MONTH!!! If he can not get extended which seems very doubtful at this short notice we got. We have less than 30 days to move out of housing! We do not have the necessary funds to do this right now, yes I just had a settlement but I used it to pay off debts and so forth. If they give us at least till mid March we will be able to use our tax refund check to move out on. But after he is out of the army there is no jobs lined up for him, and with my leg/ankle I am unable to stay on my feet for so long.(I tried this when I worked at 7-11 and failed miserably. You see is unit is suppose to track this type of stuff out at least 160 days prior to his E.T.S date but they didn't. If they did we would of been able to plan more proficiently about the future. This only came to our attention when he went online to see if he was no longer "fenced" so we can change duty stations. So I am now freaky out cause we both wont have jobs, need a place to live, lose medical and dental, and will be so heartbroken if we have to get rid of our dogs, Charlie is a total mommy dog he doesn't do well with strangers and what if he bites his new owners and they put him to sleep. I am in tears! I was born into the army, raised army and married twice into the army. As much as I would like to get away from the army, we been very depended on the army. I know I should stay positive but its very hard to do when there is a tremendous amount of change that is going to happen and I am not ready! Check out my how to on cutoutandkeep! Hosting a swap log page. I am going to get some plastic sleeve protecters and slip them in there, this way I can also insert the reciept from the post office so I can keep track of mail out date and pricing for future swaps. Okay its 12.32pm, just woke up from a nap and had to share my dream since its still fresh in the back of my mine. Weapons...welll like i said its my dream. Me and 3 others had a fully loaded magazine(clip) with a glock(gun) I am asuming these are police issue since my dad was part of the "clean up" crew. Dream jump, we all had them where its still the same thing going on but "time" has passed. We manage to find a better shelter with all sorts of things to survive with. We have a table with ppl with books as we enter so they can take names of survivors, and log in and out ppl and weapons. This way we keep in track of family and items. We just got back from a "sweep" when I notice my wedding ring is missing. My brother in law said he had it so I go into his pocket to find a pouch and empty the contents all over the table which had coins, trinkets, rings but not MY RING. People are offering me their rings as a replacement since they know what I had plan to do if I couldnt find it at the shelter. I picked up one ring and as much as it was beautiful (it was kinda bulky with this small pearl that glowed blue and white.) it was not MY RING. So I proceeded to re-assign my self with more supplies to go back outside to find it. People were screaming at me saying I am not being rational but I was determined to find it. sorry for the errors, I just had to write this before I forget it cause i just thought it was really awesome! Now time to shower and get ready for my date!! Last swap of the year. So yesterday I finished up my last swap/crafting project for 2009. Feels odd that its a new year already! Hope everyone enjoy theirs! Any who I wanted to share with you some pics of what I made for the Newcomer swap. Beaded wire necklace, two rings. Stickers, stationary, also made her two lollipop pendant necklaces for her two daughters.

2019-04-21T15:18:42Z

http://sugarcoated-chaos.blogspot.com/2010/01/

Gandhi was a man ó peace, but he was also a man ó war! It is strange to think of Mahatma Gandhi as having served in the military, but in many ways his military service and witness to war in South Africa shaped the future icon of peace and tolerance which he was to become. Gandhi is generally quite misunderstood, like Smuts and Churchill, he was a man born in a period of ‘Empire’, the ideals of that period – its systems of governance and politics was fundamentally different to what we understand in the context of modern politics and individual freedoms. ‘Empire’ was the way the world worked then, literally – it dictated geo politics and trade. In this context rose a young, British educated lawyer – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who emigrated to the British Colonies in Southern Africa to make a name for himself and start a new life. He was at the start of his life quite supportive of British policies in South Africa and those of British empire and expansion. Historians and political pundits have forever struggled to explain why the apostle of peace and non-violence had rendered support to the British Empire in the Boer War, the 1906 Natal Rebellion and the First World War. What is clear by his own writings was that his intentions in supporting the British Army in Southern Africa was to buy the Indian population in Southern Africa more political concession and representation based on endorsement and participation in British war efforts. Gandhi actually played a pivotal role in the Boer War, forming Natal Indian Ambulance Corps under the British Military. He even raised the money to form the Corps from the local Indian Community. It consisted of 300 “free” Indians and 800 indentured labourers (Indians were encouraged to emigrate to South Africa as labourers under contract, once the specified dates of the contract finished they were “free” to own land and make their own way as citizens). The Boer War was officially declared by the Boers in October 1899 when they invaded the British Colonies of Natal and the Cape. This attack led to the Siege of Ladysmith and the Garrison stationed there. In an urgent response the British authorities recruited the Natal Volunteer Ambulance Corps of about 1100 local White men. At the same time Gandhi pressed for his Indian stretcher-bearers to be allowed to serve. Dubbed “Black Week”, from 10–17 December 1899, the British Army, unprepared for the Boer invasion, completely outnumbered and outgunned suffered three devastating defeats by the Boer forces, starting at Stomberg, then Magerfontein and finally ending the black week at Colenso. In all the British lost a total of 2,776 men killed, wounded and captured. It was the Battle of Colenso on 15 December 1899, that the Natal Volunteer Ambulance Corps first saw action, removing the wounded from the front line and then transported them to the railhead. After Colenso, the first full attempt to relieve Ladysmith by the British was met with absolute disaster at Spion Kop (or Spionkop) for the British. Spion Kop (Afrikaans: Spioenkop meaning “spy hill”) is a mountain located near the town of Ladysmith, 27 km to the South West. On the 23rd January 1900, the British climbed up the Spion kop hill at night and in dense mist. They surprised the small Boer piquet there and drove them off the kop at bayonet point. The Boer piquet retreated down the hill to their camp waking up their fellow Boers by screaming “Die Engelse is op die kop.” (The English are on the hill.). At that time a half-company of British sappers began to entrench their position on the hill with a mere 20 picks and 20 shovels (oddly – while almost 1,000 soldiers stood around idle). As dawn broke, the British discovered that they held only the smaller and lower part of the hilltop of Spion Kop, while the Boers occupied higher ground on three sides of the British position. The British had no direct knowledge of the topography of the summit and the darkness and fog had compounded the problem. Furthermore, the British trenches were inadequate for all defensive purposes. Because the summit of the kop was mostly hard rock, the trenches were at most 40 centimetres (16 in) deep and provided an exceptionally poor defensive position – the British infantry in the trenches could not see over the crest of the plateau and the Boers were able to fire down the length of the crescent-shaped trench from the adjacent peaks. By the end of the battle, the British suffered 243 fatalities; many were buried in the trenches where they fell. Approximately 1,250 British were either wounded or captured. The Boers suffered 335 casualties of which 68 were dead. During the battle, the Natal Volunteer Ambulance Corps (including Gandhi) moved into the frontline to collect the wounded. “My first meeting with Mr. M. Gandhi was under strange circumstances. It was on the road from Spion Kop, after the fateful retirement of the British troops in January 1900. The previous afternoon I saw the Indian mule-train moved up the slopes of the Kop carrying water to the distressed soldiers who had lain powerless on the plateau. The mules carried the water in immense bags, one on each side, led by Indians at their heads. The galling rifle-fire, which heralded their arrival on the top, did not deter the strangely-looking cavalcade which moved slowly forward, and as an Indian fell, another quietly stepped forward to fill the vacant place. Afterwards the grim duty of bearer corps, which Mr. Gandhi organised in Natal, began. 34 Indian leaders were awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal for actions in the Boer War. Gandhi’s is held by the Nehru Memorial Museum in New Delhi. The Zulu uprising in Natal during 1906 was the result of a series of culminating factors and misfortunes; an economic slump following the end of the Boer War, simmering discontent at the influx of White and Indian immigration causing demographic changes in the landscape, a devastating outbreaks of rinderpest among cattle and a rise in a quasi-religious separatist movement with a rallying call of ‘Africa for the Africans’. The agricultural mainstay of the economy of Natal had been adversely affected by the depletion of the Black workforce to the more lucrative work in the mines of the Witwatersrand. The imposition of Hut Tax was a further burden and then the introduction of a Poll Tax on each male over 18 years in Natal and Zululand by the cash-strapped government was to be the final straw turning discontent into open rebellion. The enforced collection of this tax was deeply resented by many Blacks, it raised tensions considerably within Natal and resulted in a series of incidents and finally the murder of a farmer and the deaths of two Natal policemen in January 1906. This caused the Governor Sir Henry McCullum to declare Martial Law on the 9 February and the militia were called out. By this time Gandhi had attained the rank of Sergeant Major and encouraged the British to recruit Indians. He argued that Indians should support the war efforts to legitimise their claims to full citizenship. The British accepted Gandhi’s offer to let a detachment of 20 Indians volunteer as a stretcher-bearer corps to treat wounded British soldiers. This corps was commanded by Gandhi and operated for about two months. For his action Gandhi was awarded another medal, the Natal Rebellion 1906 medal. The experience however taught him it was hopeless to directly challenge the overwhelming military power of the British army, he decided it could only be resisted in a non-violent fashion, driven by the purity of heart. In 1910, the same year the South African Union was established, Gandhi established an idealistic community called ‘Tolstoy Farm’ near Johannesburg. It was here, based on his wartime experience and unsuccessful experiences of collaborative politics with the British, that he nurtured his policy of peaceful resistance. In all Mahatma Gandhi spent 22 years of his life in South Africa, a significant period of time, and there is no doubt the region’s politics and violence forged the man he had become by the time he returned to India in 1915. On arrival in India he brought with him an international reputation as a leading Indian nationalist, theorist and organiser. He joined the Indian National Congress and was introduced to Indian issues, the rest as they say … is history. I think it was at Spionkop that 4 future Prime Ministers were present? Quite correct, however only one Boer General at Spion-kop was to become a Prime Minister, General Botha, Smuts was not in Natal. Great article, Mahatma Gandhi is an inspiration for young generation as one thought I remember “Simple Living and High Thinking”….. In Trinidad and Tobago many of the children of African do not know about that man, was he any help to the Native of South Africa, what they told us in the primary schools was all lies, our history teachers deceived distorted the truth and never told the whole truth.

2019-04-23T12:05:42Z

https://samilhistory.com/2017/04/28/sergeant-major-gandhis-military-service-in-natal/

Just wanted to do a quick post on last week’s tutorial for the Research Paper. Unfortunately, due to traffic, I wasn’t able to attend the tutorial, but instead managed to do it on loudspeaker in the car from Vauxhall Bridge to Camberwell. From what was said, the feedback was positive, though there’s still a lot of work to be done. My argument, and particularly my abstract need to be whittled down to its key points. I naturally have a tendency to waffle, so trimming the fat on the paper will be my focus over the next few weeks. Having read a previous version of the essay, it already contains only half of the sources it originally did….. Some of these sources I’m not sure why i even read them in the first place.. Richard Dawkins isn’t the most inspiring writer. During the research period, I read far beyond my subject and naturally tried to include these sources into my argument. It wasn’t until I read through that i realised how diluted the core question had become. I took my scissors to the essay and produced the first draft, which, after speaking with Gareth, still needs to be set in the right direction. The first section looks into the evolution of Paik’s TV Buddha, and more specifically its ability to question the ever-evolving relationship between user and device. I’m happy with how this has gone, however the remaining sections begin to tail off. Considering this, I’m going to focus more on the implications of Paik’s Buddha, rather than the slightly questionable sections that followed. Overall, Gareth seemed happy with the quality of the writing and the basis of the question, the main issues seemed to be in solidifying the argument. He suggested that this would come from re-organising the abstract. At the moment, my abstract is 800 words long….. Gareth suggests it should be around 3/400.. So… here lies the problem, I’m trying to pack too much into a 4000 word essay… Standard over-thinking things. I’m continuing my work on the essay, as I don’t want to lose momentum, and it needs to be finished! However, as Jonathan said, I will be focussing more of my time on making work, and getting prepared for the Unit 1 Assessment. Below is the explanation I provided on the Skype Chat. It’s too vague. After some more research this week, I hope to significantly narrow it down to a better and more suitable question / abstract. My research paper will focus on Nam June Paik’s ‘TV Buddha’ and elements of Damien Hirst’s ‘A Thousand Years’ to investigate whether the longevity of internet / digital technology use is comparable to religious practice, in terms of shaping the personal “quest for identity.” This will look at the idea of the gaze, and how social media and constant-flow information impact a person’s definition of belief systems. this is far too broad, and I need to focus in on the main ideas more. Its also mildly obnoxious, for that i apologise but I certainly find the topic interesting and relevant. I’m undecided on Damien Hirst’s inclusion, I’m also considering work by Jake and Dinos Chapman. I need to narrow this down quite dramatically. My research will be based on Virilio’s idea of the information bomb and Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium is the Message amongst others. I aim to contact CODEC and other organisations looking into the diminishing reliance on religion in the age of techno-science. – the longevity of social media use. the self gaze and the window into others lives. – Religion as intrinsic on personal and group identity. Relevance with these windows? Is this identity still based on location / situation? – A Thousand Years to demonstrate grasping scientific endeavour in artistic practice. The potential life cycles of both the work and the viewers. – Religious practice, technology use as addiction. Too broad, too insensitive, too obnoxious, potentially too problematic…. however I still feel theres a serious relevance in this research, and potentially a good research paper. I explained my paper right at the end of the session due to time constraints, so unfortunately Gareth had to leave and didn’t really manage to make any comments. However, what I did receive from Jonathan and the other students was positive, and very useful. – I need to focus on one aspect. The explanation above contained about 5 ideas hahaha. ALWAYS too ambitious. Need to rein it in. – Check out Ars Electronica, there COULD be some interesting info worth exploring. All are in CSM library. – Jonathan has loads of other Theological Book examples. – Allegiances with different computer companies – Apple, IBM, Microsoft. I’m hoping that when I read over this in a week, I’ll laugh at the simplicity and stupidity of my question. That’s if I achieve the work I hope to in that time. I’ve chosen this subject, because its something that I know I can delve deep into, as naturally, I’m interested in its relevance today. I think this interest will drive it forward to be a suitable research paper to shed light on my work. I must admit that I’m still undecided by Damien Hirst’s ‘A Thousand Years.’ Its a great piece, and certainly relevant to the topic, but I think theres something better….. This is a shortened version of the Skype transcript. The online discussion yesterday was very useful. Main points are in BOLD. – Narrowing down the argument / context to specific, defined points. – 3000 – 4000 words. – You can refer to some work, if it supports your arguement. – Relate to your work, but don’t write about your work. – “Critically contextualise the issues you re addressing; and arrive at a justified and independent conclusion.” Yvonne. – “Clarity and Simplicity, Clarity and Simplicity, Clarity and Simplicity, Clarity and Simplicity, Clarity and Simplicity… I hope you get that point” Jonathan. – Daniel Chandler – Semiotician. – “We seem stunned” Yvonne. 1. Find a broad subject area. 2. Narrow this interest to a specific topic. 3. Question that topic from several viewpoints. 4. Choose the question whose answer is the most significant to you. (Do not attempt an all-encompassing narrative spanning centuries of art production and interpretation). – “If you are having trouble narrowing your subject area ask yourself why YOU consider this topic to be an important and significant cultural issue and derive your research question from this.” Jonathan. – “Don’t need to state “this paper” get into the question as a statement.” Yvonne. – “Appropriation when, what of, where, who by?” Rhiannon. 2) in which context? (music, literature, photography)? 3) which artists are relevant? 4) how will it be answered? 5) what is this paper about? – “Don’t worry about the specific artists names or the issue – just look at the preciseness of the question. 2) the writer will use just 2 artists to explore this. subject – consent in photography – is it important. so the title actually ended up being…. Although it comes across broad, the focus could be specific to “people in a crowd”. – “The abstract is NOT the introduction it is a summary of the whole paper. Writing a title and an abstract will be finalised at the end after doing the work but setting it early in the process can really help give a framework and direction – even if it changes a bit as you go along. – “The Research Paper really can be one of the most important stages in the MA – although often students are a bit fearful as they see themselves as artists making work not writers and theorists – I have seen this paper bring clarity and direction to practice again and again.” Jonathan. – “Bibliography – Most important – DO NOT leave this until the end. It will take hours and hours to get it right – keep information about what you are looking at and reading all the way through. – app – RefMe – point the camera at the barcode of the book and it grabs all the important information and formats it in Harvard citation. – “Images, original papers, books, artists websites, speeches,” Pete. – “Lecture Vids / audio recordings, e-journals” Me. – “elibrary, specific art, new media,” Yvonne. – “Generally at the top level you have anything that is ‘peer reviewed’ i.e. a group of people qualified to a high level have agreed that a paper or book is of suitable value to be published – alongside this is ‘primary sources’ i.e. something direct from the source. Books or research papers from peer reviewed journals are very good – but they can date quickly. it is important to be aware of the value of the source you are quoting from. classic example – wikipedia – which i think is actually very good – but it would not look good if your bibliography is full of wikipedia links – maybe 1 or 2 but no more!” Jonathan. – Sign up as an editor to see the Talk channel on Wikipedia. – In keeping the paper objective – “never make a claim if you can’t justify it – on the other hand that is the challenge of the MA, finding a critically reflective position.” Jonathan. – Justify, Justify, Justify, Justify, Justify, Justify!!!! Both of these things are really useful” Jonathan. – ” Be aware of the danger of only presenting one side of the argument.” Jonathan. – “Having a conclusion now is not a problem as long as you are open to be challenged and maybe change your mind in the process of researching.” Jonathan. – “You write this paper now so that you can benefit from what you discover, if this was written at the end of the course you would probably miss out on what you could gain from it” Jonathan. – “See this as a great opportunity to investigate something exciting and useful.” Jonathan. INTERIM SHOW OPENS 16th JULY.

2019-04-19T08:33:38Z

https://charlesharropgriffiths.wordpress.com/category/unit-1-research-paper/

• Through May 19 — Manoa Youth Baseball League is accepting registrations for its Pony Division (age 14 and under). Play begins at the end of May and will continue through the end of July. The registration fee is $75. See http://www.ejctest.com/mybl/ to download a registration form or call Corey Park at 524-1212. • May 17, 24, 31 — C.H.A.M.P.S Basketball Camp. At Holy Nativity Gym, 'Aina Haina. 9-11 a.m. for grades pre-Kindergarten-four; 11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m. for grades five-eight. Fee: $80. Information: Artie, 395-1900 or Tim, 396-8591. • May 23 — Deadline for Hawai'i Officials Developmental Camp, on June 20-21. For varsity officials. At Stan Sheriff Arena. Fee: $30. Space limited. Information: Brian Yamasaki, 384-9790 or brnssyny@hgea.com. • May 30 — Deadline for Punahou Youth Basketball Camp, on June 16-20. Open to boys and girls, entering 3rd grade through 7th grade. Boys, 1-5 p.m., girls 8 a.m.-noon. Fee: $125 per camper. Information: 944-5816 or 626-2349. • June 6 — Deadline for Vulcan Basketball School, on June 25-28. At University of Hawai'i-Hilo new and old gymnasiums. Open to boys and girls, ages 8-18 (high school). First 200 applicants accepted. Camp runs from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Fee: $110, $20 late application fee. Applications available March 10 at the UHH Basketball Office and Hilo's Ross Dress for Less or on Vulcan's website: vulcans.uhh.hawaii.edu. • June 9-13 — Hawai'i Baptist Basketball HoopCamp. At Hawai'i Baptist Gym, Mondays-Thursdays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Fridays, 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Boys and girls entering fourth-12th grades. The camp will teach basketball fundamentals, shooting instruction, defensive concepts, and other tools. Fee: $100. Information: 595-2469. • July — Wahiawa Men's 35+ Basketball League. At Wahiawa District Park Gym. Game times 6, 7, 8 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Fee: $350. Information: Mark Talaeai, 226-6985. • July 14-16 — Rocky Mountain Hoops Youth Fundamental Camp. At Baldwin High School gym. Camp is run by Alan Walls, current Northern Colorado coach and former St. Anthony player. 9 a.m.-noon daily. Boys and girls, ages 8-13. Fee: $50. Space limited to first 40 to register. Information: (970) 396-9058 or rockymountainhoops@hotmail.com. • Saturdays — Manoa Pop Warner Football and Cheerleading Registration, through May. At Manoa District Park Pavilion. Ages 8-15, 55-145 pounds. Fee: $225. Practice begins August 1. Season runs from Aug. 30-mid Nov. Information: 263-0140. • May 17, 24, 31 — Pearl City Highland Colts Football and Cheerleading Registration. At Manana Community Park, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Players ages 8-14, cheerleaders 7-14. Fee: $100 deposit. Copy of child's birth certificate required. Information: Willie 677-9995. • June 13-14 — Free hunter education classes. The Hawai'i Department of Land & Natural Resources will be offering classes on hunter safety and outdoor survival skills at the Wai'anae Public Library. The class is open to anyone older than 10. The class will run from 5:45 p.m.-10:15 p.m. on June 13 and from 7:45 a.m.- 4 p.m. on June 14. Information: 587-0200. • June 20-21 — Free hunter education classes. The Hawai'i Department of Land & Natural Resources will be offering classes on hunter safety and outdoor survival skills at the Nimitz Business Center, second floor. The class is open to anyone older than 10. The class will run from 5:45 p.m.-10:15 p.m. on June 20 and from 7:45 a.m.- 4 p.m. on June 21. Information: 587-0200. • July 18-19 — Free hunter education classes. The Hawai'i Department of Land & Natural Resources will be offering classes on hunter safety and outdoor survival skills at the Nimitz Business Center, second floor. The class is open to anyone older than 10. The class will run from 5:45 p.m.-10:15 p.m. on July 18 and from 7:45 a.m.- 4 p.m. on July 19. Information: 587-0200. • Ongoing — American Karate Kai Classes. At 'Ewa Beach Kamiloa Elementary School and 'Aina Haina Holy Nativity Chuch Gym. Classes are Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m. Self-defense classes available for women. Information: Lee Donohue 396-9297. • Ongoing — Hawaii Shotokan Karate is registering students for its summer beginner course from June through August for classes in Manoa, Kaimuki, 'Aiea and Kane'ohe. Classes start at 5:30 p.m. June 14 at Noelani Elementary School, at 5:30 p.m. June 16 at 'Aiea Intermediate and Liliuokalani Elementary and at 6 p.m. June 16 at Kapunahala. Fee: $75 for one child, $100 for two children and $125 for a family. Information: 988-7128. • July 4-6 — Bob Barry Goalkeeper Clinic. At Mililani. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Fee: $120. Ages 8-18. Information: Bob Barry, 236-4515, barryr003@hawaii.rr.com. • May 21 — Coed Softball League. Weeknights at Mo'ili'ili Field. New teams interested, call Chuck King, 536-8858. • June 11-13 — Rainbow Wahine Softball Camp. No. 1. At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. Ages 8-12. All days, 4-7 p.m. Fee: $75. Information: Dee Wisneski, 956-9227. • July 22-24 — Rainbow Wahine Softball Camp. No. 2. At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. Ages 13-18. July 22, fielding; July 23, hitting; July 24, pitching. All days, 4-6 p.m. Fee: $25 per day (each participant can choose days). Information: Dee Wisneski, 956-9227. • Aug. 13-15 — Rainbow Wahine Softball Camp. No. 3. At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. Ages 8-12. All days, 4-7 p.m. Fee: $75. Information: Dee Wisneski, 956-9227. • May 23-25 — Waiakea High School Booster Club Clinic. At Waiakea High School Gym. May 23: from 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m. May 24: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. May 25: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Open to athletes ages 13 and older. Fee: $45 students, $50 adults. Information: Donn Kansako, 963-6680. • June 28 — North Shore Swim Series, Raging Isle Sprint. From Sunset Beach to Pipeline. One Mile. Each swim starts at 9 a.m. Fee: $25. Early Bird fee (by June 6), $80 for all four swims. Information, Chris Gardner, 372-8885 or Chris Moore, 256-3957, or www.hawaiiswim.com. • July 12 — North Shore Swim Series, Surf and Sea Cup. Hale'iwa Beach Park. One Mile. Each swim starts at 9 a.m. Fee: $25. Early Bird fee (by June 6), $80 for all four swims. Information, Chris Gardner, 372-8885 or Chris Moore, 256-3957, or www.hawaiiswim.com. • July 26 — North Shore Swim Series, Cholo's 2000 Swim. Waimea Bay. 2,000 Meters. Each swim starts at 9 a.m. Fee: $25. Early Bird fee (by June 6), $80 for all four swims. Information, Chris Gardner, 372-8885 or Chris Moore, 256-3957, or www.hawaiiswim.com. • Aug. 9 — North Shore Swim Series, Surf & Sea Challenge. Pipeline to Waimea Bay. 2.3 Miles. Each swim starts at 9 a.m. Fee: $25. Early Bird fee (by June 6), $80 for all four swims. Information, Chris Gardner, 372-8885 or Chris Moore, 256-3957, or www.hawaiiswim.com. • Ongoing — University of Hawai'i Masters Swim Club. At the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex. Open to adult swimmers of all ability levels. Morning workouts Monday through Friday, 5:30 a.m.-7 a.m.; Evenings, Monday through Friday 6 p.m.-7:15 p.m. and Monday through Thursday, 7:15 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Fee: $40 per month. Information: 956-7510. • May 17 — Deadline Wailea Open Tennis Championships, from May 23-26. At Wailea Tennis Club. Open to players in Open, A, B, C and D divisions for men's and women's singles and doubles. Fee: $45 per person. Information: Wailea Tennis Club, (808) 879-1958. • May 31 — Deadline for "Fun Night Doubles", beginning June 3. Men's 3.5 and below, and women's 4.0 and below. Format: Round-Robin doubles. Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Fee: $49. Information: Kyle Kaneshiro, 721-TENS (8367). • USA 1-2-3 tennis lessons. At Diamond Head Tennis Center. For beginners and advanced beginners, ages 6-13. Fee: six one-hour lessons for $24. Lessons held 4 p.m.-5 p.m. or 5 p.m.-6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Loaner rackets and tennis ball provided. Information: Madeleine Dreith, 955-6696, or Maurice Lucas, 497-3820. • May 31 — Cafe Note North Shore Triathlon. 400-yard swim, 10-mile bike, 3-mile run. Start time at 6:30 a.m. Fee: $50 individual, $85 teams. Add $10 for entries after May 22. Entry forms at Cafe Note, Cholos, 24 Hour Fitness, Bike Factory, Boca Hawaii, and bike, running, and sporting goods stores on O'ahu. Information: 372-8885 or Hawaiiswim.com. • May 31 — Deadline for 23rd Annual Tinman Triathlon, on July 13. 800-meter swim, 40-K bike, 10-K run. Start time at 5:20 a.m. Fee: $80. Entry forms available at most running and bike stores. Start at Ala Moana Park, finish at Kapi'olani Park. Information: Olga Caldwell, 595-5317 or Fay Saiki, 596-0588, or www.tinmanhawaii.com. • June 24-27 — Rainbow Wahine Camp No. 1. From 1-5 p.m. Enrollment to boys and girls grades 4-12. Fee: $135. Information: Kari Anderson, 956-2496. • July 16-19 — Rainbow Wahine Camp No. 2. From 1-5 p.m. Enrollment to boys and girls grades 4-12. Fee: $135. Information: Kari Anderson, 956-2496. • July 30-Aug. 2 — Rainbow Wahine Camp No. 3. From 1-5 p.m. Enrollment to boys and girls grades 4-12. Fee: $135. Information: Kari Anderson, 956-2496. • Aug. 4-7 — Rainbow Wahine Camp No. 4. From 1-5 p.m. Enrollment to boys and girls grades 4-12. Fee: $135. Information: Kari Anderson, 956-2496. • May 18 — Menehune Marchers Volks March. Start at Mililani Recreation Center No. 3 (95-303 Kaloapau St.). 5K/10K. Start between 8 a.m. and noon. Information: Carol, 626-3575. • May—16 Deadline for Hawai'i Baptist Academy coaching positions: Boys and girls volleyball; intermediate tennis and cheerleading, all divisions. Send resumes to Deren Oshiro, athletic director, Hawai'i Baptist Academy, 2429 Pali Highway 96817 or fax 595-0296.

2019-04-20T18:56:44Z

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/May/16/sp/sp29a.html

The average cost of a child’s birthday party has rocketed to £300, according to research from Mums Show Live – while some parents admitted to spending as much as £800! While the cost of birthdays can easily mount up (food, drink, venue hire, entertainers, birthday cake, party bags, cake, etc. etc.) we at MyFamilyClub think you can organise brilliant birthday parties without spending anywhere near £300, as long as you’re a bit savvy. Below we show you how you can cut the costs right down. To save the pennies, home’s the cheapest option… unless you have pale carpets! (If you are worried about carpets, cover the floor with picnic blankets (you can have an indoor picnic!) Kids love that type of thing and it’ll save your pale carpets from coke stains and ice cream smudges. If the weather’s rubbish and everyone’s indoors, remove anything that could be damaged or might harm excited children. If it’s dry and warm you’re laughing. It doesn’t matter how small the garden is, provided there’s easy kitchen and toilet access it’s the best place for manic children! This option is dependent on the sun shining, but parks can be a great venue to hold a party (and they’re free, too!). There’s plenty of space for party games, football, tag, rounders – and you can bring along a picnic as the birthday party meal. Whether it’s your village hall, church facilities or a Guide hut, you’ll have a couple of options wherever you live. The key is to book well in advance and check for size, facilities and parking. The good ones get booked up fast by the mums of your child’s peers – though it’s worth getting recommendations. Find a community hall near you. Some venues offer the whole experience, and it definitely makes organising simpler as it kills two birds with one phone call. You may not get the best price here, but the stress saved might be worth it. Your local soft play area is often a popular choice with parents for young one’s parties. They usually do packages at a set price and are easy entertainment for little ones. There’s a useful directory of soft play areas across the UK here. Have a look at our party ideas for kids and our party ideas for tweens and teenagers. Also check out these fun things to do with kids on a budget – it contains everything from arts and crafts to rainy day activity suggestions. If you’ve got kids who are into making things, it’s well worth having a look at these 21 toys you can make for under £1. Not only will the toys themselves keep the kids entertained – they’ll have fun making them, too! This is down to personal choice, but there’s a huge discrepancy in prices if you’re looking to hire a professional entertainer. Shop around before you commit, and ask other parents for recommendations. A big plus of hiring entertainment is that they can engage the children while you sort the party food. But don’t forget that as long as you have another adult to help you out, they can be the ‘entertainment’. They don’t have to be a clown, a magician or adept at making balloon-animals – you just need someone to keep the kids occupied with party games or sports while you have your hands full in the kitchen. If you want to splash out, there’s a range of inflatables available depending on available space, child numbers and your budget. You’ll be more hands-on if you go this route though, to check no-one gets hurt or plays too rough. Anything from craft activities and teddy bear making to children’s farms and miniature railways will usually offer a party option. The thing with these parties is that you usually pay per child, but that keeps the cost within your control. Soft play places will do party bags and food too – you’ll just need to be on hand for toilet trips and nursing bruises! Find out what’s in your area. Don’t feel pressured to invite the whole school… keep the numbers small and it will keep the cost (and your stress levels!) down to a reasonable level. When it comes to deciding how many guests to invite, a good rule of thumb is to invite your child’s age plus one. Or you can give your child the choice: they can have a more expensive party with fewer guests, or a cheaper party with more guests. If you’re worried about kids getting upset that they’re not on the invite list, you can give the invites to your child’s teacher – who can then discreetly place them in the children’s bags or school trays. Or you could mail or email the invites out instead. It’s good to get the invites out early – especially if your child’s birthday is near a school holiday. Keep a list of who you send them to so you know who to chase and tick off. State a deadline for responses too, as some parents give infuriatingly short notice! Many venues issue their own invites, which they’ll post or you can print from their website. Make sure they send the right amount and that the information is correct. If you have people’s mobile numbers or email addresses, you can just let people know this way. It’s ideal for pre-school or family parties, where you know everyone already. You can always print off your own invites on a PC – or better still, get the kids to design their own invitation, and then photocopy their design. Alternatively, you could send free birthday invites online through sites like Celebrations and eVite. Or just buy a supermarket bulk pack can work out cheaper than designing and printing your own on the computer – and loads less hassle for us time-strapped mums! But if you mums really want to go all out, then these distribution center services will be able to help you with those printing needs at a low price. There’s no need to put together a party bag if you don’t want to – it’s not essential to the day in the way a birthday cake is. Keep an eye on your local Poundshop in the run-up to the party – they often have cheap toys and little knick-nacks that kids love. Or just put some sweets in a little cellophane bag, and tie each one with a fancy ribbon – sorted! Another cost-effective alternative to party bags is to have a Lucky Dip box. Pick up some cheap toys and treats (again, Poundshop is your friend!) wrap them up, and put them in a box mixed in with old torn up newspapers or sawdust. Alternatively, Party Pieces (which currently has a big sale on) and Hawkin’s Bazaar sell both party bag fillers and pre-made party bags. You can get party bag fillers from 20p, and whole party bags for a few quid. Or you could always get the kids to make something as a party activity, that they then get to take home. (Try these ideas for homemade toys if you need some inspiration). You can always buy a cake of course, but it’s far cheaper to make your own. (Though you don’t even have to make a cake – one of our readers told us how she baked a giant cookie one year, which went down a treat!). If you want some birthday cake ideas and recipes, have a look at our kids’ party food article. There’s nothing wrong with holding your party in between lunch and dinner – or even after dinner. That way you won’t need to provide food for a horde of hungry kids. You can make it clear on the invites what food – if any – you’ll be providing. Just providing some snacks will be fine. (Younger kids tend to be more interested in party games than food, anyway). There’s no need to go overboard with decorations (kids tend to hardly notice them anyway!). Some balloons and a few streamers are all you need to give a bit of birthday glitz to your home or the hall you’ve hired. Of course you can try and hold the party on the birthday itself, but most people tend to opt for the nearest weekend to the actual date. However, if your child has a friend with a birthday in the same month, why not hold a joint party? That way, you can split the costs with the other family – and you’ll have at least one extra pair of hands to help organise it and clean up afterwards! If your child receives gifts that they’ll never use (or already have), you can often sell them online for a bit of quick cash. From books to CDs to clothes, our article on things you can recycle for cash has plenty of good sites where you can sell all manner of things and earn a bit on the side. Have you got any tips on how to organise a memorable birthday party on a budget? If so let us know in the comments below!

2019-04-23T09:53:26Z

https://www.myfamilyclub.co.uk/money/money-saving-tips-money/how-to-organise-a-birthday-party-on-a-budget-10200

Imagine happening a fishing expedition while not a Best Tackle Box. Carrying fishing rods hooks and therefore the line may be straightforward however once it involves lures, baits and different tools, Best Tackle Box may be troublesome if you do not have the Best Tackle Box. Tackle boxes are terribly versatile. Not solely are you able to use Best Tackle Box after you go fishing however additionally for different functions like storing aid kit. There is some best tackle baggage you'll use after you go tenting, hiking, athletics or mountain climbing. To make your fishing trip additional organized, here are prime tackle boxes and baggage that any ablaze angler can appreciate. Whether you’re a deep ocean angler or a fresh fly skilled worker, a tackle box is crucial for keeping your hooks, sinkers, lures, and line organized. 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2019-04-23T02:26:36Z

https://www.nearbest10.com/best-tackle-box/

Six decades ago today, the European Convention on Human Rights came into force. It all started brightly, as a post-war, British-led pact against Fascism and Communism. Now, human rights are under heavy, relentless attack. Politicians, press and public seem to have an endless appetite for tales of human rights gone wrong. The Justice Secretary has recently said “all options are on the table” for “major change” on human rights, and it is likely that the future of the ECHR will be a major general election issue in 2015. In short, the UK may soon withdraw from the longstanding international human rights system which it was instrumental in creating. That would be a great mistake. It is often said that human rights are something foreign to the UK, whose proud common law tradition negates the need for these “European” protections. But even a brief consideration of the ECHR’s history shows how wrong that perspective is. The ECHR was a fundamentally British document which has had an enormous, beneficial effect. We should be proud of its history, and would be quite mad to reject it now, six decades on. [d]emocracies do not become Nazi countries in one day. Evil progresses cunningly… one by one freedoms are suppressed, in one sphere after another. Public opinion and the entire national conscience are asphyxiated. And then, then everything is in order, the ‘Führer’ is installed and the evolution continues even to the oven of the crematorium. It is necessary to intervene before it is too late. They certainly look British. It cannot be overstated how fundamentally British the ECHR is. The included rights were based largely on those developed by the British common law, reaching back to the 1215 Magna Carta and the 1689 Bill of Rights. After the Second World War, imposing traditional British values on foreign legal systems was seen as part of the victor’s spoils. British politicians “made a huge contribution to the drafting”, said Lord Bingham, “reflect[ing] values which we in this country took for granted and which had, we thought, been vindicated by our military triumph”. British politicians were instrumental in drafting the ECHR, building on the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and older British common law liberties. Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, a Conservative politician and lawyer, drafted much of it after he had joined the European Movement on the invitation of Winston Churchill. Speaking at the Nuremburg trials, where he prosecuted and cross examined leading Nazi Hermann Göering, Maxwell-Fyfe said there that “some things are surely universal: tolerance, decency, kindliness”. After Nuremburg, he would distill that three-part formula into a universal legal code, chairing the committee of men who drafted the ECHR. They produced a list of basic rights ‘without which personal independence and a dignified way of life cannot be ensured’, as said Pierre-Henri Teitgen, a founding father. The ECHR was, in essence, a blueprint for democratic society. Given its central role, the UK unsurprisingly joined the eight states which ratified the ECHR at the first opportunity in 1953. But for the next two decades the Convention amounted to little more than a grand but unenforceable statement of rights, its so-called ‘sleeping beauty’ years. Today, the ECHR’s defining feature is the right of individuals to apply to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, to seek a ruling on whether a member state has violated a Convention right. All 47 ECHR states have accepted the jurisdiction of the Court and agreed to abide by its rulings, protecting some 800 million people. But the Court did not even exist until 1959, and the UK only signed up to its jurisdiction in 1966. Other major European states followed later. It was then only from the mid-1970s that the Court began to find its stride, with a run of high-profile judgments against states. It is hotly debated whether the ECHR’s founders wanted it to evolve from a pact against totalitarianism into a European Bill of Rights, but it is clear that by the 1980s that evolution – even revolution – was taking place at speed. By the 1990s, the Court’s President Rolv Ryssdal argued that it was ‘gradually assuming the mantle of a European constitutional court’. In 1998 the Court went full time, and today it is unrecognisable from the anaemic institution which was born in 1959. Consider these startling statistics: in the 38 years from 1959 to 1998 the Court delivered a total of 837 judgments; in 2012 alone it decided almost twice that amount. And, whilst in the 1970s the Court was attracting a handful of applications each year, by the end of 2012 it had a backlog of 128,000 cases. Back in the UK, the New Labour landslide of 1997 meant that their election manifesto promise to incorporate the ECHR into domestic UK law – to ‘bring rights home’ – would be realised. The Human Rights Act 1998 came into force in October 2000, meaning that almost all of the ECHR rights could be enforced against any UK public authority. Rather than having to go to Strasbourg, people in the UK could go to their local court to claim that their human rights had been breached. And public authorities would now have a legal duty to comply with the ECHR in everything they did. In the 60 years since its birth the European Court of Human Rights has undoubtedly travelled beyond the intentions of at least some of its founders. As Strasbourg judges are fond of saying, the ECHR is a “living instrument” – no longer just a defence system against extreme regimes but also a burgeoning European Bill of Rights. But that trend has been apparent since at least the mid-1970s; recent complaints from the UK have been based more on aversion to implementing a few judgments (most visibly over prisoner votes and Abu Qatada) than any considered analysis of the Court’s decisions. It is true that some of [the court’s] decisions have been criticised with justification. But (dare I say it) the same can be and is said of some of the decisions of any court, including the Supreme Court. On the whole, the case-law of the ECtHR has strengthened and enriched our own human rights law. The backlog is a problem but the only sensible way to approach it is through structural reform, something which the UK and others have been pushing hard – with some success – over the last two decades. There is much still to do, but this is a practical issue, not one of principle, and certainly not a reason for leaving the Court altogether. The ECHR is not perfect, but it is one of the great post-war international institutions – a gift by Britain to its European neighbours. And, generally speaking, it works. To those who want to leave it because it is “European” are misreading history. Those who want to leave because its judgments are barmy are overstating their case. Just for a moment, we should stop squabbling and appreciate what a success our ECHR has been. Happy 60th. With thanks to Dr Ed Bates, whose fantastic book – The Evolution of the European Convention on Human Rights – has been a great help in writing this post. What would happen if the UK withdrew from the European Court of Human Rights? Interesting stuff here – with fair points made on all sides. The major argument for keeping the convention is, to my mind, the principle of the sovereignty (or supremacy) of Parliament, Without the convention, with restrictions on judicial review and restrictive legal aid, I would fear for the future of liberty in this country. Few say it, but I have the view that liberty is definitely under deliberate attack in this country. Oh dear. There you go, again, Adam. When I read defenders of the ECHR ask “Which of the rights would we wish to discard?”, I know they aren’t listening (again). The growing opinion against the Convention is not directed at the individual rights. It is directed at the way in which they are interpreted by the courts. As Lord Dyson said in 2011: “There is clearly nothing wrong with human rights or with the text of the Convention. It is, of course, possible to criticise courts (whether Strasbourg or domestic) for the way in which they interpret the Convention and to complain about individual decisions made on the facts of particular cases. [Criticism] lies in the fact that Strasbourg has applied the margin of appreciation too narrowly and without a sufficient understanding of reasonable domestic ideas.” (See final para of http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/docs/speech_111103.pdf). It is plain that neither the drafters of the Convention, nor the original signatories, envisaged votes for prisoners as one of the basic human right they were enshrining. And it is equally plain that those who remain opposed to giving prisoners the vote – I am not one of them, by the way – are not against the passage in the Convention requiring free and fair elections at regular intervals. They simply argue that the requirement does not mean that the vote should be extended to more prisoners than are already enfranchised. Human rights are too important for us to have anything less than a grown-up debate about their implementation and application. There is a Voting Rights (Prisoner Eligibility) Bill in ‘pre-legislative scrutiny’ but it has been there since November 2012 (about eight months). Re prisoners voting, we’ll see what the Supreme Court says in McGeoch. And if the SC holds that denying a prisoner the right to vote in a European Parliament election contravenes EU law, what will the Government do then? It can’t simply ignore EU law. Of course, it might never happen – but once a case gets as far as the SC, the outcome cannot be a foregone conclusion. Claims like this are the kind of thing that sound like they ought to be true, but when you look at the detail reveals itself to be complete claptrap. If you bother to look at Magna Carta or the 1689 Bill of Rights, they don’t look anything like the Convention. Similar rights are simply not to be found there. Similarly, if you think about what the Convention does, it restricts the sovereignty of signatory states to act inconsistently with the various human goods there enumerated, did the common law recognise similar restrictions? The answer, as any competent lawyer should be able to tell you, is no. It did not, and does not restrict the sovereignty of the state at all. Say there was legislation mandating the restriction on the ability to marry freely (inconsistently with art 12). What would the common law have to say about the matter? Nothing. mainly because the Convention is an instrument of public international law, and none of the things you mentioned are anything to do with that. The stupidity of claiming as this writer does that the Convention is all just based on British law anyway is just not that it is patently untrue, but that it plays into the hands of those who would opt out of the Convention. If all these rights were truly already there, what would be the difficulty with just opting out then? For a history of the Convention, go read Brian Simpson’s Human Rights and the End of Empire. The Convention has to be defended based upon its merits today, not romantic rubbish about the world post WW2.. That requires a careful examination of what it does. Bingham’s question sounds like a knockdown, but again it is not when you think about it. The issue is whether the extent of the law’s protection of say, an individual’s right to education, should be determined by elected politicians or unelected judges. It is hardly a shock that the politicians tend to think they are the more appropriate people to resolve this question. the opponents of the Convention are not suggesting that there should be no right to freedom of speech etc, but rather have a different view as to who should determine its scope. Lawyers, naturally enough, think they should be the ones answering these questions. People who are neither politicians nor lawyers may look with scepticism upon the claims of both. Particularly when they make silly, ignorant claims about the Convention. I don’t think the writer was claiming that the entire nature of the convention is based on british common law, but simply that, and I’ll quote, ‘The included rights were based largely on those developed by the British common law, reaching back to the 1215 Magna Carta and the 1689 Bill of Rights.” Therefore, while the restrictions imposed by the convention on the sovereignty of signatory states are relevant to take into consideration when contemplating the convention as a whole, there is no doubt that pre existing British common law rights were subsequently enshrined in the convention. Furthermore, I disagree that the Convention should be solely defended on its merits today and not by the so-called romantic rubbish about the world post WWII. Both considerations are highly relevant. To ignore the foundations and rationale behind the creation of the convention would trivialise the importance of the convention itself. Regardless of which state contributed the most in terms of the body of the convention, it was created after one of the worst atrocities suffered by mankind to this day. To overlook this and simply examine the convention at face value would be like positively surveying a beautiful house built on sand. The convention as a ‘living instrument’ must be regarded taking into account its current merits, shortcomings and interpretation while remembering its initial significance- where it was one of the first steps towards obtaining and maintaining peace and a minimum level of protection for its signatories’ citizens. It is not just that there is ‘doubt’ about this, as a matter of positive law it is demonstrably wrong. Just look at the rights in the Convention. How exactly are you claiming that the common law prevents Parliament infringing any of them? If we abolished the HRA tomorrow, and withdrew from the Convention, how would it be possible as a matter of law to restrain the State from, say, severely cutting back freedom of association? If you actually look at the text of Magna Carta or the Bill of Rights they don’t look anything like the Convention. Unsurprisingly, as anyone who actually knows anything about the drafting of the Convention would know they did not form the basis for it. i would expect lazy claims about what the common law is from a layperson writing in a newspaper. From a lawyer, presumably running a blog to show off his or her professional competence, it is shockingly bad. This comment, although accurately reflecting the line ‘A little learning is a dangerous thing’, inadvertently makes a good point. Lawyers, quite rightly, want to protect the ECHR. They also note that much of the media-stirred hatred of it links in to anti-European narratives, and the idea that ‘them foreignerz is imposing their laws on us’. In reaction, they stress the British hand in the convention. This is laudable, and as a PR move may well be wise. But lawyers must be careful not to go too far, and buy in to the dreamy myths of Britain’s self-narrative (Britain never tortures; Britain is best at free speech; Britain is the source of the world’s rights; etc.). I think Poole’s rebuke to the narrative of your ‘They certainly look British’ paragraph (in (2005) 32(4) J Law & Soc 534, 540-1) is accurate: the British were significant in drafting it, but they were not dominant; these rights were not British, but universalist (as your following paragraph concedes, contradictorily); and Britain was far from the bastion of HR throughout the twentieth century that this narrative suggests. Ah – it may massage the truth, you reply, but it does so for necessity. But will acknowledging this historical reality let Murdoch et al. win and bring down the Convention? I think not, for two reasons. One – if you’re going to accuse others of ‘misreading history’, you are simply asking for trouble if you don’t toe the historical line absolutely. Two – there is enough truth in what you have said to make a persuasive case for it being significantly British, even if not ‘Britain’s gift to Europe’. And there is a third reason we ought to acknowledge the reality rather than pretending the ECHR is British. There is a disturbing tendency on the left to buy into these patriotic narratives so as to subvert the right: yes, we’re part of the EU, but only for the British national interest; yes, we’re part of the Convention, but this is really a mirror of our amazing history of rights. This only adds fuel to the very (ahistorical) narratives that are the problem to begin with. It also means believing an untruth, or at least professing to. The left has enough rationality and truth on its side: let it stick to it. Thanks for the comment. You have misrepresented my argument. First, I do not claim the ECHR is derived from Magna Carta or the Bill of Rights. Merely that they are influences. Which they plainly are. Second “claiming as this writer does that the Convention is all just based on British law anyway” – where do I claim that? It is not all just based on British law. But it is strongly influenced by British law, unsurprisingly given who wrote it and how it arose. Third, “it restricts the sovereignty of signatory states to act inconsistently with the various human goods there enumerated, did the common law recognise similar restrictions?” This is a completely different point. The rights in the ECHR are influenced by the common law, the method by which they are enforced is by way of an international treaty, which is hardly alien to our legal system. In any case, states can leave the ECHR if they like. The impact on sovereignty is therefore limited. Fourth, “The Convention has to be defended based upon its merits today, not romantic rubbish about the world post WW2..”. The second half of the article defends it on its merits today, and engages with the issue over evolution/revolution. Did you read to the end? Fifth, “opponents of the Convention are not suggesting that there should be no right to freedom of speech etc, but rather have a different view as to who should determine its scope”. I am glad you are so sure about that. My suspicion is that many politicians would like to be determining those issues themselves. Which is the point of the HRA/ECHR. Yesterday was the 60th anniversary. I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to remind people (and myself) of the history of the ECHR. Given how ignorant of history some of the ECHR’s critics are, I think that is useful exercise. Further and better particulars please. As a matter of history, that is just wrong (read Simpson’s book). As a matter of positive law it is also untrue: just look at the texts. They do not remotely resemble each other, unsurprisingly as the Convention is a pubic international law instrument binding on signatory states, and Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights concerned domestic constitutional issues to do with the English (not British as you stated) monarchy from centuries before. Again, how, with particulars? How, for example, are you claiming that the common law gives me a right to freedom of association against the UK state (absent the HRA)? 4. If your purpose is, as you say, to recount the history of the Convention, then it would be better to get it right. The fairy story is that the Convention was somehow a product of British law, where after WW2 the British thought it would be good to enshrine some common law principles into the laws of the poor benighted continental European countries. If however you actually know anything about the common law, you must know that is untrue (even if you have never studied the drafting history of the Convention). In the UK (unlike say the US or modern day Germany) we have Parliamentary Sovereignty. In the late 40s and 50s, Dicey still reigned supreme in UK constitutional theory. The idea that the restraints on State sovereignty in the Convention (which I approve of by the way) were in some sense influenced by the common law is not just doubtful, but ridiculous. In these documents you do find constitutional rights of citizens against the state that are strikingly similar to the rights individuals have against their states under the European Convention (freedom of expression, association, religion, education, privacy etc etc). Just looking at their texts, it is far more persuasive that the constitutions of other European countries influenced the Convention’s text than did the British Constitution or English common law neither of which give individuals any rights against the State of this kind. The 60th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights is something to be celebrated. SIR – Today marks the 60th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights coming into force. As leaders of civil society organisations, we think six decades of ensuring human rights for 800 million people across 47 countries in Europe is something to be celebrated. For our organisations, and the people we work with across the United Kingdom, the rights and freedoms set out in the convention are fundamental in ensuring all of us can live with dignity, respect and equality, safe in the knowledge that there are checks on government power. This “other jubilee” is also a time to celebrate 60 years of Britain’s commitment to respecting, protecting and fulfilling the rights in the convention. Britain played a pivotal role in setting down our hard-won human rights in the convention in the aftermath of the Second World War. As Winston Churchill said, when calling for a human rights charter, there is a need for a set of rights “guarded by freedom and sustained by law”. We call on our political leaders to secure our human rights heritage and stand firm on Britain’s commitment to the convention, and its expression in the Human Rights Act.

2019-04-22T08:39:45Z

https://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2013/09/03/why-we-would-be-mad-to-leave-our-european-convention-on-human-rights/?shared=email&msg=fail

What are the keys to ensuring the safety of your warehouse? Despite its obvious importance, there are still many questions about the essential measures the storage systems user should observe when minimising the risk of accidents in daily operations. Protecting personnel and ensuring proper warehouse operations should be any logistics manager’s top priority. In this article, Mecalux shares its expertise on this topic, analysing the keys to good management in safety policy. What is meant by safety in the warehouse is the set of recommendations and measures taken to ensure the optimum state of the components included in it and to prevent risks to people, service disruptions or damage to the goods. The interaction between operators and forklifts or other handling equipment is liable to cause accidents and damage to the storage structures. To ensure maximum protection and minimise any risk, there are five key points to consider: training, prevention, responsibility, maintenance and technical inspection. Involving and motivating all company personnel to take the right steps in managing occupational health and safety in the workplace should be one of the primary objectives of the management of a company. In this sense, Mecalux advocates the need for training as an indispensable preventative measure, providing courses to users of the installation about the safe and efficient use of equipment, and providing safety manuals for each of the products of the facility. The racks are designed to withstand the stipulated loads, complying with the European standards on calculation and use. The vast majority of accidents are caused by direct impacts of handling equipment, especially to the outer uprights of the frames. Depending on the force of the blow, the racking can immediately collapse or remain in place for a while, but with less strength capacity. Now, if some vital element deteriorates, such as an upright, and you do not act immediately, the rack can collapse from another blow or a pushing force in the same point or to another nearby. For this reason, it is crucial that operators be adequately trained and mentally prepared for the proper use of the equipment and report any damage that occurs to the racks to those in charge, so that what must be done is evaluated. Risk assessment is the cornerstone of the prevention of occupational accidents. If this step is not carried out, it will be very difficult to determine and take appropriate measures. Identification of risks and the exposed operators. Risk assessment and prioritisation of the same. Planning the necessary preventive measures. First and foremost, the user company is obliged to provide their personnel with completely safe installations, with the appropriate equipment and in good condition. In a warehouse, it is essential to check not only the state of the racks and forklifts but also that there is adequate lighting, that the pallets are in good condition and withstand the load, that the working aisles are clean and tidy, etc. With respect to the racking, these have been calculated based on the specifications provided to the manufacturer by the user or buyer. Therefore, the distribution of levels, profile models and the strength of the various components are the result of precise calculations, which also comply with European standards. Therefore, damage or changes in its distribution or usage lower the safety coefficients considered in the design and reduce the load capacity. Regarding handling equipment, it is evident that they deteriorate with use: the moving parts and wheels wear out, improper clearances develop, they can lose fluids that increase the risk of slippage, etc. Since this influences the behaviour of equipment, to work with greater safety, preventative maintenance is fundamental and also not using machines that are in bad condition. Carry out the distribution and calculations based on the specifications provided by the customer. Define the technical limitations of the system. Advise what additional racking protection must be provided. Define the loads supported by the warehouse floor due to storage equipment. Provide safe load warning notices of the facility, which should be placed in different visible locations and indicate the distribution of levels and the maximum load capacity of the racks. These cannot be altered without the prior consent of the manufacturer. Establish safe working conditions based on a risk assessment, which minimises the chances of damage to people and the storage equipment. Appoint a person responsible for overseeing the daily safety of workers and storage equipment, the PRSES (Person Responsible for Storage Equipment Safety). Guarantee that the personnel handling the equipment have the appropriate training and perform manoeuvres correctly. Ensure that operations coincide with the instructions from the racking provider. Avoid or reduce the number of incidents by placing the appropriate signalling and security measures (enclosures, mesh, and protection, etc.). Conduct regular inspections of the racks. Keep storage equipment in good working order at all times in accordance with regulations. Routine maintenance, control, and monitoring are factors that will positively influence the safety and good condition of the installation. Mecalux recommends a periodic plan of inspections, as indicated by the EN 15635 standard, for detecting, recording and reporting anomalies, adapted to each warehouse, and taking into account their specific conditions. Daily visual inspection by warehouse personnel to detect easily visible anomalies and, accordingly, proceed with its immediate replacement. Weekly inspection by the PRSES, in which the verticality of the structure will be verified and all components of the lower levels with notification, qualification and reporting of damage. Monthly inspections by the PRSES, which also include general aspects such as the orderliness and cleanliness of the warehouse; with notification, qualification, and reporting of damage. To perform routine checks, it is advisable that the user has the collaboration of the storage systems provider, because they know its characteristics best, drawn from the calculations made, the profiles used and the strengths. This joint effort between the two parties reflects best practices within facilities. Generally, damaged elements result in a loss in its strength capacity to a greater or lesser extent. People trained to detect the risk of damaged components know what to measure and how to figure out its condition, based on three levels of risk that are identified by adhesive labels of three colours: green, amber and red. The components marked as red are considered in critical condition, for immediate action. If the damaged element is a beam, the entire level must be unloaded, and if it is a frame, the two adjacent bays. The locations have to be disabled until the damaged components are replaced by others with similar characteristics and in good condition. The amber level does not require immediate unloading of the locations, but action must be taken as soon as possible. It is necessary that once the deteriorated level or levels are unloaded, they are not reloaded again until the damaged component is replaced by a new one. The user must have a means of cutting off access to the racks in poor condition and prevent their use. Finally, the elements marked in green are considered suitable because the buckling does not exceed the loss limit of the load capacity. Components are safe for use but require examination and evaluation in future inspections to re-check their condition. The EN 15635 standard, Mecalux advises replacing the damaged materials, mainly those marked with the colour red, rather than repair them. Some countries require the replacement of all damaged components. The reason is that the quality control of repaired materials is very complex; there is no physical evidence showing that they possess the same properties as the originals. One must be careful with those companies that set out to re-shape the profiles via elements that exert pressure on them so that, in theory, they return to their original state: the mere fact of folding the profile sheet with this method results in the reduction of its strength. Good conditions and suitability of pallets. Correlation of the installation’s storage levels with those indicated in the contract’s layout. Appropriateness of forklifts and unit loads for the racking. If safe load warning notices are visibility located. If manoeuvres are performed correctly by operators. If aisles are kept clean and in good order. If upright protectors exist or are needed. Cracks, subsidence or possible defects in the floor. Tolerances and buckling of the racking, which does not exceed certain limits. Tagging of elements in poor condition or disrepair. Notification of possible risks in the installation, and the prospective need to immediately unload bays and levels. The expert, starting with the analysis performed, will issue a report detailing the condition of the installation and, if the facility fails to comply, specify the actions to be taken. Below it deals briefly with the various standards that must be observed and which are referred to throughout this article. This standard is the general European directive related to the design of steel structures, adapted to pallet racking. It includes guidelines on the calculation, process and tolerances for assembly needed by manufacturers and suppliers. Tolerances for the floor and the assembly of racks. The maximum buckling of the profiles used. Clearances that locations must have. Unit loads (measured with and without goods, construction characteristics and weight). Handling equipment to be used. Characteristics of the premise, including the strength of the floor. Specific data that the user considers to be significant. Subsequently, in the quote, the customer must verify that the supplier has distributed and calculated the racks according to their specifications. Based on the assumption that all previous standards were fulfilled, therefore, installed racks are safe and suitable for use with the appropriate clearances to carry unit loads which were calculated. The EN 15635 is intended to minimise risks in the warehouse and prevent damage to the storage structures. According to this standard, the user is primarily responsible for the safety of the persons working in the installation and in ensuring the proper condition of the storage systems. To achieve this objective, the responsibilities mentioned above should be taken into account. A certificate with the formal validation, i.e., that the installation has been duly calculated. Validation that the assembly has been correctly performed. Document validation of what has been installed and its strength characteristics. For Mecalux, collaboration between the user and the storage systems manufacturer must be continuous and kept up after delivery. Routine revisions and inspections, according to your needs. Consultancy on any question about the modifications that are desired to be applied (please remember that the layout or use of storage equipment cannot be altered without the consent of the user). Supply of the components required to replace those that are damaged. Performing possible modifications and repairs correctly by an assembly team trained in the particular assembly of the supplied racking. Provision of safety manuals as a reference for warehouses users and managers. Maintaining a record of inspections and the maintenance work carried out. Technical guidance on the utilisation and safety of the racks in the warehouse. As a manufacturer with more than 50 years of experience, Mecalux is in the best position to inspect and issue certificates for racks. In addition, its business practices worldwide, with a presence in over 70 countries, gives it a global perspective on the standards applied in different countries in regards to occupational health and safety. Inspection certificate signed and stamped by Mecalux. Documented report that reflects the results of the inspection, the observations, and the proposals for possible actions to carry out. Identification of risks using stickers placed on damage found on racks. Updating the safe load warning notice, indicating that the annual technical inspection is passed, and specifying the date of the next review. If you have not yet had a mandatory annual technical inspection performed, we recommend that it be put at the top of your ‘to-do’ list, thereby fulfilling the responsibility of ensuring the health of the operators at your storage facility. What factors can affect the safety of the warehouse? The quality of operator training. Changes in the original handling equipment. Handling equipment in poor condition. Changes in the type or quality of the pallets originally used. Load overhang in relation to the goods storage elements. Aisle width is too narrow. Why is proper maintenance essential in a warehouse? All components in the warehouse must be in optimal condition to minimise the risk of accidents. Periodic inspections and maintenance are critical to validate the condition of storage systems and ensure the safety of equipment and personnel. Which racks are subject to revision? Mezzanines where handling equipment is used. Automated warehouses with stacker crane. Should we wait for the annual technical inspection to check the condition of the warehouse? Obviously not. Periodic preventive revisions are equally important and necessary because they guarantee the safety of the installation at all times, thereby exceeding the technical inspection required by the standard and obtaining the certificate. When should the technical inspection by an expert be performed? According to the EN 15635 standard, racks should be inspected by an expert once a year (with intervals not to exceed 12 months). Who carries out the technical inspection? The technical team of the storage systems manufacturer or supplier is the most suited to carry out technical inspections since they know the characteristics of the racks that have been installed, the calculations that have been made, the profiles used and their strengths. Will the inspection affect daily warehouse operations? The rigorous inspection that Mecalux technicians perform causes minimal interference with the normal operations of the facility. With over 30 years of experience in conducting inspections of storage equipment, Mecalux has the knowledge and essential resources for reliable, quality inspections. How do I request an inspection of my warehouse? Get in touch with Mecalux to book your inspection with one of our experts.

2019-04-22T12:39:58Z

https://www.mecalux.co.uk/logistics-items/keys-to-ensuring-the-safety-of-warehouse

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2019-04-23T22:18:14Z

https://www.gireeshcsamrat.com/terms-of-use/

James McKeown was Vice Principal of Belfast Bible College and lecturer in Old Testament for over 20 years. He left Belfast Bible College in 2009 in order to spend more time writing and teaching in Church settings. At present he teaches Old Testament Historical Books and Advanced Hebrew at Union Theological College and supervises postgraduate students. For the last 4 years James has been a lecturer in the Irish Studies Program of John Brown University, Arkansas. His interests include the Hebrew language and its application to understanding the Old Testament. He has written a number of articles on Old Testament studies. James is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the Board of the Institute of Theology, Queen’s University Belfast. 1. What previous research and/or personal interests led you to this project and helped prepare you to write this commentary on Genesis? As a lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew at Belfast Bible College, I had taught Genesis for over 20 years. The most important aspect of my preparation related to the questions that students asked during lectures. This made me aware of the areas that needed clarification. This commentary provides a resource for people who are studying the Scriptures. While the Hebrew language is printed for those who will benefit from it, each word is also transliterated and translated. Thus the commentary is suitable for anyone willing to take time to study seriously. The theological section of the book, gives a good overview of Genesis and hopefully will be helpful for those preparing sermons or bible studies. 3. What is unique about this commentary? What contribution does it make to studies of Genesis? As part of the Two Horizons series, this book has two main sections. There is a commentary based on the Hebrew text and then there is a theological section that discusses the main themes and the key theological teaching of Genesis. Readers will be aware that Genesis 1-11 has been interpreted in many different ways and there are lots of books that seek to persuade the reader that one particular interpretation is correct. This is not the purpose of this book. Various approaches are outlined and their strengths and weaknesses are discussed. I believe that it is important for readers to be informed about the views that others hold. This book will be useful for those who want to examine the evidence available, particularly from the Hebrew text of Genesis, and then to come to an informed decision about some of the controversial issues. The book will not be useful for those who have their minds made up and don’t want to know what the other views are. Every passage in Genesis has a powerful message that is just as relevant today as when it was first written. To pick just one passage that is memorable is very difficult. However, the story of Hagar is particularly memorable. I was surprised by the cruelty. According to the Genesis narrative, Abraham and Sarah, never used her name. She was just a slave girl, one of their possessions. However, she is called by name in the narrative and it is God who addresses her personally and promises future blessing. I am thrilled to read this story of how our God loved someone who was alone, badly treated and unloved. Genesis is a book of beginnings. In this commentary, I have tried to develop a biblical theology and show how the themes in Genesis flow through the entire Bible, both Old Testament and New. I am sure that when the risen Christ taught from the Scriptures the things concerning Himself, he would have begun with Genesis. Genesis shows how human beings chose to disobey God and it also shows that God Himself was affected by this disobedience. I quote from the commentary, “God’s observation of the evil multiplying among human beings on earth has a dramatic effect: God is grieved and His heart is filled with pain” (p. 51). God’s love and compassion are fully revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ but this compassion is also clearly seen in the book of Genesis. 6. Besides your commentary, what are your top recommended books (commentaries or otherwise) on Genesis? The Word Biblical commentaries on Genesis by Gordon Wenham, are detailed and tackle many technical issues that a shorter commentary cannot deal with. I have also written a commentary on Ruth which was a very interesting experience. It is also in the Two Horizons series. At present I am busy preparing lectures for the autumn semester. I am a member of the adjunct faculties of Union Theological College (Belfast) and John Brown University (Arkansas). However, I don’t teach in Arkansas, but many of their students come to study in Belfast each year. Wendy Widder is an author, teacher, and scholar, who loves helping people understand the Bible better. Most of her study has been devoted to the Old Testament, and she is especially passionate about helping the church restore an appreciation and love for this oft neglected Bulk-of-the-Bible. She has a PhD in Near Eastern Studies (University of the Free State), an MA in Hebrew and Semitic Studies (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and an MDiv with an emphasis in educational ministries (Grand Rapids Theological Seminary). She is the author of two books for single adults and a third book for Christian school teachers, which she co-authored with her father. Additionally, her master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation have been published, by Logos Bible Software and Walter de Gruyter, respectively. Wendy currently works at Logos Bible Software, where she helped author half a dozen books for Lexham Press, the publishing arm of Logos. 1. What previous research and/or personal interests led you to this project and helped prepare you to write this commentary on Daniel? I landed in Daniel studies less by choice than by necessity, but I’m thankful I did! My earliest life experiences with the book, aside from the familiar set of stories in chapters 1-6, were tied to end times charts and a fair bit of evangelical scare tactics. Understanding the book seemed far too complicated for an average Christian since even the experts kept changing the details about what would happen, who would be involved, and when events would transpire. As a result, I steered clear of Daniel for most of my adult life. But when I was in my last year of dissertating, I needed cash and credentials on my CV, so I approached the dean at my alma mater seminary to see if he had any courses I could teach. He came back with “How about Daniel?”—and I mustered an enthusiastic “sure!” in response. After I taught that initial course (and loved it!), I ended up at the seminary teaching part-time for two years—and due to the school’s needs at the time, I ended up teaching the course multiple times. So, I guess the best answer to the question is that providence led me to this project! My “Daniel” is in the Story of God series, a series designed for pastors and laypeople. My husband, an electrical engineer by trade, read the entire book on a six-day business trip—could hardly put it down—and thinks it should be required reading for all Christians, but he might be a little biased… I might be a little biased, too, but I think it’s really readable. 3. What is unique about this commentary? What contribution does it make to studies of Daniel? The series is committed to reading the biblical text in its ancient Near Eastern setting and also focusing on the continuing significance of the text for us. It is unique in that it also specifically addresses how the Old Testament texts reveal Christ, that is, how they fit within the full story of God as revealed in both Testaments. I hope that my Daniel commentary accomplishes this! I think the second half of the book, which is by far the more difficult half, was especially memorable. Maybe that’s just because I wrote it later, so I remember it better. 😉 Seriously, though, the first half of the book is such familiar terrain that it’s easy to forget the message because we’ve heard it so many times. But the crazy visions of chapters 7-12 were new terrain and as I approached them, I thought, “What on earth am I going to say about these that’s relevant for day-to-day life?” But as God is wont to do, He surprised me with the profound in-the-trenches relevance of the visions. I wrote this commentary during a particularly difficult season of life that caught me by surprise—as many seasons of life do. 🙂 It was deeply and profoundly painful, and while my suffering did not register on the global scale, it was mine and it was what I needed to get through by the grace of God. Much of that grace came in the form of this writing project. As I spent a couple hours each day in the world of Daniel, where suffering made no sense but God was still in control, I was daily reminded that the One on the throne knew what was happening in my life and had it all in His hands. I took great comfort in this truth. 6. Besides your commentary, what are your top recommended books (commentaries or otherwise) on Daniel? I appreciate Tremper Longman’s Daniel commentary in the NIVAC series, as well as Ernest Lucas’s in the IVP Apollos series. I’ve used both of them when teaching the book. James Hamilton’s With the Clouds of Heaven (IVP) is thought-provoking and useful as well, as are Sidney Greidanus’s Preaching Christ from Daniel (Eerdmans) and Bryan Chapell’s The Gospel According to Daniel (Baker). I’m presently working on a second Daniel commentary — this one for the ZECOT series (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament). You can follow me on my blog (wendywidder.com), though I have not been much of a blogger over the past two years. Life has gotten in the way! Mark A. Seifrid is professor of exegetical theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. He has been the Ernest and Mildred Hogan professor of New Testament interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois and he received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1990. His books include, Justification by Faith: The Origin and Development of a Central Pauline Theme (1992), Christ, Our Righteousness: Paul’s Theology of Justification (2000), and Justification And Variegated Nomism: Volumes I and II, with D.A. Carson and Peter T. O’Brien (2001, 2004). 1. What previous research and/or personal interests led you to this project and helped prepare you to write this commentary on 2 Corinthians? I have had an interest in Paul, his message, and its relevance for us today for a very long time. Second Corinthians receives less attention than Romans, Galatians, and even First Corinthians. But its message concerning the “word of the cross” and the nature of Christian life speaks directly and powerfully to contemporary Christianity. The target audience includes any and all who are interested in listening to the message of Scripture with close attention to the biblical text. I had pastors and their needs in mind as I wrote, but also interested laity. It will speak, I think, to the scholarly community as well. 3. What is unique about this commentary? What contribution does it make to studies of 2 Corinthians? I have attempted to hear Second Corinthians as a “word on target” (Beker), addressing the needs of the Corinthian church after a long and contentious relationship with Paul. The letter is to be read and understood as a whole — and furthermore as the theological complement to First Corinthians where the question of the marks of an apostle and the marks of a Christian likewise stand at the center of the contention. Once the center of the conflict becomes clear, the relevance of the message of Christ’s power hidden within weakness and suffering becomes clear. I suppose that I would have to say Second Corinthians 3, the contrast between Paul and Moses, the ministry of life and that of death. Its relevance for the interpretation of the entire letter should not be underestimated: God gives life only where he has put to death. That is the message of the crucified and risen Christ. The fresh discovery of comfort in Christ, sufficient for living and dying. 6. Besides your commentary, what are your top recommended books (commentaries or otherwise) on 2 Corinthians? I found Ulrich Heckel’s Kraft in Schwachheit (Power in Weakness) especially helpful (although that is only in German). I still like Furnish in the Anchor Bible series. Frank Matera [New Testament Library series] should not be overlooked. I am currently working on a commentary on Galatians. Aside from googling my publications, the best way to keep track of what I am doing would be to visit the Concordia, St. Louis website. Rodney Reeves (Ph.D. in New Testament, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the College Dean and Courts Redford Professor of Biblical Studies at his alma mater, located in Bolivar, MO. His publications include Rediscovering Paul. (co-authored with David B. Capes and E. Randolph Richards) and Spirituality According to Paul (IVP Academic). As a former pastor (and current college professor), I’ve been concerned about the divorce between the academy and the church. It’s easy for scholars to do their work in isolation, only promoting the guild, with barely an eye on the needs of the church. That’s why I’ve always admired scholars who see their work in service of the church, like Scot McKnight and NT Wright. So, when Scot asked me to join the effort of producing a commentary that seeks to bridge the academy and the church, I jumped at the chance. The Story of God Bible Commentary is designed to benefit ministers of the Church (clergy and laity, professors and students), informed by academic scholarship, written at a very accessible level without a lot of scholarly jargon. Some commentaries try to convert narratives to propositions, extracting lessons for today. What I love about the SGBC is the series’ emphasis on the power of story. In each passage, we try to not only “listen to the story” (pointing out threads of other biblical stories woven into the fabric of Scripture), and “explain the story” (for example, how Matthew is telling a grand story within the episodic narrative), but also “live the story” (where we ask, “What would it look like if we were to live this story now!”). Matthean scholars won’t find ground-breaking ideas in my work. Rather, I’ve taken what scholars have said about Matthew and translated it to the needs of the church today. Jesus’ charge to the twelve to recover the lost sheep of Israel (9:35-11:1). We misread his instructions, as if he were telling us how to convert pagans to Christ. Jesus specifically told his disciples not to go to the Gentiles (unbelievers), but only to the Galileans who were “lost sheep”—which, I think, was an indictment on the leaders of Israel. These “lost sheep” were Jews who had been abused by “wicked shepherds.” Therefore, we should take his advice as wisdom for recovering our “lost sheep,” Christians who have left the church due to abusive leaders. Seeing Jesus as the last King of Israel for the sake of the whole world, how he ascended David’s throne through the cross, and required his disciples to follow him by doing the same—losing our lives—helped me see even more clearly the way the kingdom of heaven comes to earth. I benefited greatly from W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison (ICC), Ulruch Luz (Hermeneia), R. T. France (NICNT), David Garland (Reading Matthew), John Nolland (NIGTC), and Craig Keener’s commentary on Matthew. Scot’s commentary on the Sermon for this series was also very beneficial—especially since we read the SOM similarly. Finally, I really enjoyed working through John Chrysostom’s commentary on Matthew—there are some overlooked gems in there: great insights and one-liners that are humdingers. One of my favorites, when referring to the odd collection of the evidence that we are blessed of God—poor, mourn, persecuted—Chrysostom wrote, “In pronouncing them blessed, who are persecuted, and chased, and suffer all intolerable things; not for them only, but also for all who arrive at the same excellency, He weaves His crown.” That is brilliant. Get updates from the Courts Redford College of Ministry at Southwest Baptist University here. Find Dr. Reeeves blog here and a collection of his sermons and presentations on podacst here. He has written a number of academic articles that may be found at http://minorprophets.org/articles/ or https://independent.academia.edu/GregCook2. You may contact Greg via http://minorprophets.org/contact/. 1. What previous research and/or personal interests led you to this project and helped prepare you to write this commentary on Nahum? To me, it seemed a prophecy of Satan’s doom and I began looking for evidence of this within Nahum. I found much more than I expected, and this became the foundation for my Ph.D. dissertation. That dissertation eventually led to Severe Compassion. Severe Compassion is the latest in a series entitled The Gospel According to the Old Testament. The purpose of the series is to help those in the Church understand how various portions of the Old Testament prophesy of Christ and are fulfilled in Christ. I wanted to provide a resource for preachers and Bible study leaders to preach and teach through Nahum; I believe all of Scripture deserves attention and I knew that there were few resources to help someone who wanted to understand Nahum’s significance. My book provides enough material for a sermon series but is written so that high school student can understand it. Anyone who has little understanding of Nahum, but desires more, could read my book devotionally. 3. What is unique about this commentary? What contribution does it make to the study of Nahum? Nahum is the least-known, least-taught, and least-preached book in the Bible. Each book of the Bible is important—none is redundant. Severe Compassion gives preachers and laity a tool to understand the historical situation of Nahum as well as its application to the modern Christian. Furthermore, it is explicitly Christocentric. The purpose of reading Nahum—or any biblical text—is to exalt and reveal Christ. Unfortunately, many commentaries on the Old Testament do not give this aspect of biblical interpretation the attention it deserves. I do not know of any other book devoted to Nahum that interprets Nahum in a Christocentric manner. I have an interest in ministries fighting human trafficking. Because of this, I found Nahum 3:4–7 fascinating as it condemned ancient Assyria for its wide-scale human trafficking. I wrote two chapters on those four verses. The parallels between ancient Assyria and modern traffickers are striking. This has implications for our understanding of Christ as our Redeemer as well as the Church’s role in spreading God’s love. Jesus said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 ESV). Any portion of Scripture that we understand more deeply will bring freedom. I had the rare privilege of writing a dissertation in which I was fascinated by the subject, came to a greater understanding of Jesus, and reached conclusions that I believe will help the Church. The period of time I spent researching and writing my dissertation and Severe Compassion were sweet times because I was discovering and communicating truths from an oft-neglected prophet. 6. Besides your commentary, what are your top recommended books (commentaries or otherwise) on Nahum? Unfortunately, this idea that Nahum has a simple and singular message is found in most of the literature. I found many books on Nahum helpful in some way, but none that I would recommend as a whole. It is increasingly common for evangelicals to interpret the book of Jonah as a parable rather than a historical event. The constant assault and ridicule of Jonah as real history has caused some to say we were not meant to interpret Jonah literally. The problems extend beyond the question of the fish. Commentators find the human behavior of the sailors, prophet, and (most notably) the Ninevites problematic. I believe the 8th century B.C. provides substantial evidence that the events of Jonah are an accurate historical record. This is my current project. My website (www.minorprophets.org) is the best way to keep up with my writing. As items are published, I update the website and post the articles there if allowed by the publisher. The website also has the first chapter of Severe Compassion available for downloading in either e-book or audiobook form, as well as links to some of the online retailers who offer the print, e-book, or audiobook for sale. Currently, christianaudio.com is running a $5 promotional price for the audiobook, which is the cheapest way to obtain it. Alan J. Thompson (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School), originally from New Zealand, has been teaching New Testament and Biblical Theology at Sydney Missionary & Bible College since 2005. 1. What previous research and/or personal interests led you to this project and helped prepare you to write this commentary? My PhD was focused on the book of Acts (published as One Lord, One People: The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting. LNTS. T&T Clark, 2008) and I have also written a book on the biblical theology of Acts that took Luke’s Gospel into consideration (The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke’s Account of God’s Unfolding Plan. NSBT. Inter-Varsity, 2011). This research as well as teaching on Luke and Acts has meant that I’ve developed a special interest in Luke’s writings and jumped at the opportunity to focus more specifically on Luke’s Gospel. This Exegetical Guide is designed for students and Pastors who have completed at least one year of beginning Greek. So, students who are in their second or third year of Greek at Seminary or College will find this a helpful guide. Pastors who are preparing sermons and who still use the Greek text or at least remember some of their Greek or even those who want to renew their use of Greek will also profit from this volume. I have tried to explain the structure and the various sections of Luke’s Gospel as well as provide brief exegetical comments and suggested sermon outlines with preachers in mind. 3. What is unique about this commentary? What contribution does it make to studies of Luke’s Gospel? It really stands as a bridge between the Greek New Testament and more traditional commentaries. In that sense it is primarily a guide that focuses on the Greek text and helps explain the grammar, syntax, and flow of argument in the Greek text. Generally throughout the volume, and in keeping with the format of all EGGNT volumes, I note representative translations, lexicons, grammarians, and commentators for differing views of the grammar and significant debated exegetical points, and point to further discussions of the grammar/construction in the major grammars. Where it is helpful to explain a complex development I outline the flow of argument, for example, of sequences of verses (e.g., 1:51–54; 68–75; 14:8–12; 16:9–12), whole pericopes (e.g., 6:17–49; 8:1–21; 10:25–37; 11:1–13; 15:1–32; 20:45–21:4; 22:39–46), and broader narrative units (e.g., 7:1–8:56; 13:10–14:35; 18:31–19:44). As noted above, I have also tried to explain the structure of the larger sections of Luke’s Gospel with preachers in mind. So, for example, I identify main themes and repeated emphases and highlight those in the headings and sub-headings throughout the book. These sub-headings (together with the suggested sermon outlines), if read in conjunction with introductory paragraphs, exegetical analysis of the details, and brief summary explanations throughout the text, will help readers understand the flow of argument in the immediate context as well as the wider narrative. Because I was primarily focused on the (Greek) text of Luke’s Gospel I loved seeing the literary shaping of the text and thinking through how Luke’s Gospel is an orderly account. This is especially evident in the opening two chapters where Luke introduces Jesus as the Lord who brings the long-awaited salvation. The contrasts that Luke makes with John are particularly striking. Their parents, births, and future roles are contrasted so that the greatness of Jesus is accentuated in this contrast with John who is himself great! The songs of praise that resound with joy complete the emphasis that the saving promises of God (1:5–56) are being fulfilled (1:57–2:40) through the Lord Jesus. I was reminded again and again of the authority and compassion of Jesus (note e.g., references in the EGGNT Luke volume to the power of Jesus’ word in 4:14–6:49; 7:1–8:56; and the use of κύριος in Luke’s Gospel). I was also reminded of the number of times Luke’s Gospel draws attention to the impact that eternity, what lies beyond the grave, and the judgment to come should have on our lives now. There are of course well-known specific references to this (for example in 12:20; 16:22–23; and 23:43). As I thought through wider thematic issues with wider discourse observations in view, however, I was also struck by how often this theme was prominent in whole sections of Luke’s Gospel, for example in 12:1–13:9, again in 13:10–15:32, and yet again in 16:1–18:8 (these are noted in my headings and sub-headings for these sections). Themes such as persecution, wealth, worry, faithful service, prayer, as well as the need to repent and trust in Jesus are all tied to Jesus’ teaching on heaven and hell in various ways and serve to strengthen trust in the Lord Jesus. 6. Besides your commentary, what are your top recommended books (commentaries or otherwise) on Luke’s Gospel? In the introduction to this guide I identify the five main commentaries that I interact with throughout the volume and provide a succinct summary of the strengths of each one (the five are commentaries by [Darrell] Bock, [Francois] Bovon, [Joseph] Fitzmyer, [I. Howard] Marshall, and [John] Nolland) and I also mention the other slightly less technical one volume commentaries that I refer to occasionally. I recommend the commentaries by Bock (BECNT) and [James R.] Edwards (Pillar) for pastors. Lord willing, in the near future I will continue to focus on Luke and Acts. I’m looking forward to drawing out the exegetical observations from my work on Luke and making them accessible in notes on Luke’s Gospel for a Study Bible. I’m also working on a commentary on Acts for the new B&H series, Biblical Theology for Christian Proclamation. Beyond this, although Luke and Acts are the longest books in the New Testament, I’m also looking forward to writing on other parts of the New Testament (!) as I’m contracted to write a commentary on Colossians. In God’s kindness these projects provide enough for me to focus on in the near future! Dr. Andy Johnson has taught at Nazarene Theological Seminary since the fall of 2002 where he is the Professor of New Testament. He is the author of numerous scholarly and popular articles, a co-editor of Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament (Eerdmans, 2007), an associate editor of the Wesley Study Bible (Abingdon, 2009), and part of the translation team of the Common English Bible (2011). His most recent publications include 1 & 2 Thessalonians in the Between Two Horizons commentary series (Eerdmans, 2016) and Holiness and the Missio Dei (Cascade, 2016). He is also an avid Kansas City Royals and Kansas Jayhawks (basketball!) fan and a youth baseball and basketball coach. The happiest time of his year is when he is standing over on third base giving signs to his kids at the plate and he’s fully convinced that baseball will be a part of God’s new creation about which he loves to write. 1. What previous research and/or personal interests led you to this project and helped prepare you to write this commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians? I wrote this commentary over far too many years. I started work on it about 2004 and worked on it off and on for 11 years. Prior to 2004, I had worked in Pauline Studies but had become interested in the emerging area of theological interpretation. I was convinced that the most helpful sort of interpretation for the Church would always be theological in nature, however one chose to describe what that entailed. Over those 11 years, my understanding of theological interpretation took shape was broadened as I had to deal the specificities of 1 & 2 Thessalonians. While some sections might be beneficial to a few lay Christians, much of the commentary would be tough going for most lay Christians. Its primary intended audience is theological students, professors, and pastors. 3. What is unique about this commentary? What contribution does it make to studies of 1 and 2 Thessalonians? Like other commentaries in this series, this one approaches the biblical text theologically. What I aim to do in it is to stimulate critical reflection on the church’s beliefs and practices in order to facilitate the church’s ongoing formation into the visible body of the cruciform, living Christ to whom Scripture bears witness. To speak of the church’s formation into such a visible body, however, compels us to ask to what end. The formation of the church and members who make it up into conformity with Christ is not simply for the sake of insuring the salvation of its individual members. Rather, as I argue throughout my comments on these letters, the church is formed into the visible body of the living, cruciform Christ in order to participate in the life and mission of the Triune God. Taking this point seriously means that interpreting the Bible theologically for the sake of the church ought to be characterized by a missional orientation toward the interpretive task. In other words, since the Triune God is by nature, a “sending/missional” God, a properly “theological” interpretation of Scripture will itself be missionally oriented for the purpose of aiding in the continuing formation of the church as a missional community. In the commentary, I try to make this missional orientation to the interpretive task evident in at least two ways. First, while there are numerous critical issues and aspects of the text one might choose to comment on in the Thessalonian correspondence, I consciously attempt to focus on elements of the text that seem to me to be the most useful for facilitating the continuing formation of the church into its proper identity as a missional community. Second, throughout the commentary I assume that Scripture has a roughly discernible shape that bears witness to God’s mission for the cosmos. I then employ this narrative framework (along with the aspects of the Nicene-Constantinople creed) as a clarifying set of interpretive lenses for bringing 1 and 2 Thessalonians into clearer canonical focus. That, in turn, contributes to a better understanding of the shape of Scripture’s missional framework and the church’s participation in that mission (at least I hope it does). I’m not aware of another commentary on 1 & 2 Thessalonians that intentionally takes this sort of approach in the exegesis of these letters. Two passages in particular, both regarding eschatology, were particularly interesting for me to research and attempt to explicate. Both 1 Thess 4:13-18 and 2 Thess 2:1-12 have fueled popular understandings of “the end times.” In the 1970’s both these passages struck terror into my teenage heart because I was afraid that I might miss the secret rapture of the “true” believers to heaven (allegedly referred to in 1 Thess 4:13-18). And I was pretty sure it was right around the corner because lots of “prophecy experts” were saying that the “Man of Lawlessness” (aka “the Antichrist”) was already alive and living somewhere in Europe. He was just waiting for the “restraining” Holy Spirit to be taken out of the way (supposedly referred to in 2 Thess 2:6-7) when the Church was raptured to heaven before he made his public appearance. This 1970’s version of popular Dispensationalism has morphed into other versions since then (e.g., the slightly different version offered by the Left Behind series). But the notion of a secret rapture of the church and particular predictions of the appearance (and identity!) of the “Man of Lawlessness” are still quite widespread in popular Christian culture. 5. How would pastors in particular be helped by your approach in the eschatology of 1 and 2 Thessalonians? In the face of such widespread eschatological notions, pastors need to be equipped to form and shape their congregations with a healthier eschatology that is more biblically and theologically coherent. Toward that end, the latter part of the commentary has two sub-sections that I think might be particularly helpful for pastors. In the first (“On the [Secret] Rapture”), I address in some detail the way Dispensationalism originated, its interpretive assumptions, and the way those assumptions are displayed as Dispensationalist interpreters read the Thessalonian correspondence. I try to show that this particular “theological hermeneutic” is deficient and that neither 1 or 2 Thessalonians ever plainly refers to, or even implies, a secret rapture…unless, that is, one brings this particular hermeneutic to the text as an a priori assumption. In the second of these sub-sections (“Paul’s ‘Anti-Christology’”), I suggest a way of reading the passage on “the Man of Lawlessness” canonically, with one eye turned toward paradigmatic arrogant kings of the OT and the other turned toward the Christ hymn in Phil 2. My hope is that this reading and my accompanying hermeneutical observations will point pastors in a helpful direction and actually encourage them to teach and preach on this passage. 6. Besides your commentary, what are your top recommended books (commentaries or otherwise) on 1 and 2 Thessalonians? Jeffrey Weima’s recent commentary on 1–2 Thessalonians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament; Baker Academic, 2014) deserves to become the standard, full-scale commentary on the Greek text for English readers, particularly for evangelicals. Even though his knowledge of the secondary literature on these epistles is unsurpassed and informs his comments judiciously, and though he devotes great attention to historical, political, and cultural contexts, he keeps his primary focus on the Greek text, offering sound and mature exegetical judgments. He writes clearly and accessibly, but working through some of the more exhaustive exegetical sections might take more time than some busy pastors can devote. In keeping with the aim of the series, he demonstrates good theological awareness in his comments but does not engage in lengthy, sustained theological discussion. In my own commentary on these letters (THNTC, 2016), I utilize the developing interpretive framework of missional hermeneutics to present a theological interpretation that aims to help the church more fully participate in the life and mission of the triune God. The exegetical section proper proceeds verse-by-verse, bringing not only first century socio-historical and political background to bear on the text, but explicit theological concerns as well. The rest of the commentary offers substantial discussion of various theological issues raised by 1 and 2 Thessalonians (e.g., eschatology, holiness, election), including an essay critiquing popular Dispensationalism as a particular theological hermeneutic. The commentaries by Abraham Malherbe (AYB, 2004) and Gordon Fee (NICNT, 2009) are also good additions to one’s library. Although Malherbe (wrongly in my view) sometimes dismisses the importance of the political background of Roman imperialism, his knowledge of the ancient literary context and the Greco-Roman moral philosophers generally enriches one’s understanding of these epistles. Fee’s commentary represents what one has come to expect from him, namely, thorough knowledge of background material and sound interpretive judgments paired with pastoral sensitivity (“Building a New Testament Library: Philippians – Philemon,” Catalyst [March 2016]. I am returning to focus on my “first love,” at least in terms of theological topics. Over two decades ago, I completed a dissertation on 1 Corinthians 15. I have been interested in the topic of resurrection ever since and have written a good number of articles on resurrection as well as taught a course on resurrection in the NT every other year. I am in the beginning stages of writing a book that will focus on the way resurrection relates to a variety of other theological topics such as: atonement, the Spirit, the Triune God, justification, sanctification/holiness, election, the church, the missio Dei (and possibly even the issue of race). I plan to approach all this by engaging in a theological/missional interpretation of particular scriptural texts. I don’t do much with social media other than occasionally tweet @ajrisen. If anyone is interested in seeing some of my presentations in webinars, sermons, or workshops offered in lay settings, you could search for my name at the NTS Center for Pastoral Leadership. Roy Gane (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) is professor of Hebrew Bible and ancient near eastern languages at the Theological Seminary of Andrews University. He is author of a number of scholarly articles and several books including God’s Faulty Heroes (Review Herald, 1996-on the biblical book of Judges), Altar Call (Diadem, 1999-on the Israelite sanctuary services and their meaning for Christians), Ritual Dynamic Structure (Gorgias Press, 2004), Leviticus, Numbers (NIV Application Commentary; Zondervan, 2004), and Cult and Character: Purification Offerings, Day of Atonement, and Theodicy (Eisenbrauns, 2005), as well as the Leviticus portion of the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary on the Old Testament (2009). Dr. Gane and his wife, Connie Clark Gane, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in Mesopotamian archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley, have one daughter, Sarah Elizabeth. During my graduate school (M.A and Ph.D.) years at the University of California, Berkeley, I had the privilege of studying under Jacob Milgrom, a world expert on Leviticus and Numbers, while he was writing major commentaries on these books. I had almost no interest in Leviticus and Numbers before that time, but Milgrom helped me to appreciate the way in which their details form a system of profound teaching that informs our understanding of the dynamic relationship between God and his people. Accordingly, my Ph.D. dissertation (1992; now published by Gorgias Press as Ritual Dynamic Structure, 2004) focused on the rituals of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16) and their function in purging the sanctuary in comparison with purifications of sacred objects and spaces in Babylonian and Hittite ritual systems. Subsequently, in the process of teaching and speaking about ways in which the biblical sanctuary rituals teach us about salvation through Christ’s sacrifice and priestly mediation in heaven, I realized that there was a need for a popular book on the subject. So I published Altar Call (1999), of which a revised edition under the title of The Sanctuary and Salvation: The Practical Significance of Christ’s Sacrifice and Priesthood is currently under production. The intended audience is fairly educated people in general who want to learn more about the Bible. It is based on scholarship and seeks to be profitable for professors and pastors, but it also attempts to communicate in a way that is accessible and engaging to a wide readership, including lay Christians as well as students. The uniqueness and contribution of this commentary is largely based on the unique contribution of the NIV Application Commentary series as a whole. Whereas many commentaries have focused exclusively on the original meaning of biblical books and some have added some modern application, the NIVAC series treats each passage in three steps: original meaning, bridging contexts, and contemporary significance. Original meaning takes the reader back to the meaning in the ancient biblical world, but bridging contexts identify ongoing issues and principles in the text that carry over into contemporary significance, thereby returning the reader to present life in a controlled way, with practical application solidly rooted in actual biblical teaching. My volume on Leviticus and Numbers presents some cutting-edge research, including regarding the function of the Day of Atonement (Lev 16) as a time of judgment between loyal and disloyal Israelites when God’s judicial responsibility for forgiving guilty but repentant people was vindicated. I had worked a lot with the sacrificial rituals of Leviticus before writing the commentary, but detailed study of some of the other legal and narrative portions was newer to me. Some of these were especially memorable to research and write because they involve issues that are hotly debated today, such as the laws against homosexual practice (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13), administering capital punishment (see on Num 35), and problems of theodicy, particularly the divinely mandated corporate capital punishment of some people groups, with the Israelites serving as God’s instrument (see on Numbers 21). The whole writing project personally edified me and drew me closer to Christ, first as I saw the loving character of God reflected in the sacrifices foreshadowing the sacrifice of Christ and in the way he reached out to his people and interacted with them as close as he could get from his sanctuary residence among them. The various kinds of animal sacrifices illustrate different aspects of Christ’s sacrifice as he extends transforming mercy with justice to faulty human beings. The laws in Leviticus 17-27 further reveal God as he seeks to guide his people to well-being and happiness through harmony with his principles of cause-and-effect. Among these chapters, Leviticus 19 is a clarion call to love-based holy living that emulates God’s holy, loving character. The narratives in Leviticus and Numbers demonstrate God’s tough love in dealing with human waywardness and rebellion as he applied mercy when possible and justice when necessary to preserve the chosen nation. Select bibliographies for Leviticus and Numbers are in my Leviticus, Numbers commentary. Here are just a few especially helpful works, and I could refer to many others. The huge 3-volume Anchor Bible series commentary on Leviticus (Leviticus 1-16, Leviticus 17-22, Leviticus 23-27; 1991, 2000, 2001) by my teacher, Jacob Milgrom, provides a wealth of detailed information and explanation of Leviticus, and his JPS Torah commentary on Numbers (1990) does much of the same for this book, although not to the same extent. There are a number of other fine commentaries on Leviticus, including those by Gordon Wenham (The Book of Leviticus; NICOT, 1979), John Hartley (Leviticus; WBC, 1992), and Baruch Levine (Leviticus; JPS Torah, 1989). Some of the more helpful commentaries on Numbers are the Anchor Bible series commentary by Baruch Levine (Numbers 1-20, Numbers 21-36; 1993, 2000) and the commentary by Dennis Olson (Numbers; IBC, 1996). On the Israelite ritual system, especially in Leviticus but also in Numbers, see Roy Gane, Cult and Character: Purification Offerings, Day of Atonement, and Theodicy (2005) and David P. Wright, The Disposal of Impurity: Elimination Rites in the Bible and in Hittite and Mesopotamian Literature (1987). On biblical law involved in Leviticus and Numbers, see especially Dale Patrick, Old Testament Law (1985); Raymond Westbrook and Bruce Wells, Everyday Law in Biblical Israel: An Introduction (2009); Roy Gane, Old Testament Law for Christians: Original Context and Enduring Application (forthcoming, 2017). I am now writing the Leviticus volume for the new Seventh-day Adventist International Bible Commentary series, which will be published in 2020. To follow my work, see academic.edu, researchgate.net, or digitalcommons.andrews.edu.

2019-04-25T08:55:02Z

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