Split (1)

train · 7.95k rows

text stringlengths 102 457k
Motion Control 'Prosthetic Emulator': New Tool for Designing More Stable Prosthetic Legs Stanford University engineers have developed a more stable prosthetic leg, and a better way of designing them. Challenging terrain like a hiking trail or a cobblestone street could become more manageable for people who have lost a lower leg. The new design features a tripod foot that responds to rough or uneven terrain by shifting pressure between three contact points. The new prosthetic emulator tool allows the team to quickly emulate and improve their prototypes, and flips the design process on its head. Instead of building a prosthetic limb to test in the real world, the team built the basic tripod foot, and then hooked it up to powerful off-board motors and computer systems that control how the foot responds as a user moves over all kinds of terrain.
Mine disasters and mine rescue ebook pdf Mine disasters and mine rescue ebook pdf download : mine disasters and mine rescue pdf mine disasters and mine rescue - are you looking for ebook... Top Searches E309760, R30 vs r40, Dimmable 8w led, Global consumer products light bulbs, Overdrive led, Overdrive lighting, Global consumer products light, 4856 chain of command, Use of chain of command, Jumping the chain of command, Breaking the chain of command, Failure to repair counseling, Adverse separation counseling example, 4856 chain of command counseling, Jumping chain of command counseling, Adverse separation counseling, What is social research definition, What is social research methods, What is social scientific research, Social science research council, Journal of social studies research, Define social science research, Why social science research, Research cycle in social science, Powered by revou software comme Recent Queries Chemquest 24 answer key, Remote keyless entry kit, Overdrive energy saving lamps, Irs form 1040 es ocr, Chemquest 14 lewis dot structures, Algebra 2 benchmark test 2 answers, Getsavin, Electric chain hoist 110v, Rosita yiu, 4856 chain of command counseling, Elementary pe basketball games, What is social science research, Powered by socialgo blog best, Performance work statement noaa national, Adobe motel yachats or, Steve huckabaa, Answer key for phtls pretest \| tricia joy, Qat1 task 1 answers, Kaplan pance qbank, Usp 34 free download, Devilbiss wgv1721, Signup.php, Paracord globe knot, Create app icon, Pinku movies online
Can you guess what type of person most Republicans don’t want to see as president? Hillary Clinton at the Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center in New YorkPhoto: Shutterstock According to a new poll, almost 60% of Republicans want to hang a “No girls allowed!” sign on the Oval Office door. A new poll from YouGov shows that for most Americans its a question of when, and not if, a woman will become president. 63% want to see a woman elected president in their lifetime and believe they probably or definitely will. It makes sense. After all, Hillary Clinton got closer than anyone ever has. She won the popular vote and practically had her hand on the Oval Office doorknob. But thanks to our broken system, the candidate most voters didn’t choose is the one who got sworn in. But what’s true for most Americans isn’t the same for most Republicans. According to the YouGov poll, 59% of Republicans said they did not hope to see a woman become president in their lifetimes, compared to the 89% of Democrats and 63% of Independents who said they do hope to see a woman become president before they die. Hillary Clinton’s candidacy was a historic moment for women in US politics and probably did more to bring more women into politics than any event in the last 50 years. Since the election, women have raised their voices in the #MeToo movement and taken to the streets as part of the Women’s March. Within the next 20 or 30 years, it seems most likely that America will have a female president. When that happens, there will be a lot of Republicans spinning in their graves. It may even be what puts them there. Jackie Chan’s daughter says she’s homeless ‘due to homophobic parents’ Previous article Trump’s suggestion for the next White House Correspondents’ Dinner host will blow you away Next article
Should you pay down your mortgage or fund a Roth IRA? Many people think you have to choose—and there are good arguments on either side. Putting extra money into paying down debt could help make you mortgage free much sooner than just making regular payments. On the other hand, investing for retirement through an IRA will produce vital retirement income. Not having to pay a mortgage in retirement doesn’t mean you don’t have to buy groceries. What makes the most sense, however—if you can take the time to plan for it—is doing both. What that means is budgeting to pay extra on your mortgage while, at the same time, investing in a Roth IRA. It may require some financial juggling and compromise, but it’s possible to reduce mortgage debt and invest at the same time. Let’s look at the benefits, then some ways to make it happen. A piggy bank and a house indicative of how to pay down mortgage. Balancing Your Investment Risk Think about each option as an investment. Investing in your mortgage by paying down that debt is widely regarded as risk free and equal to the interest rate on the mortgage. This means that if your mortgage interest rate is five percent, your risk-free return is roughly five percent. Since 1928 money invested in the S&P 500 has returned about 10 percent on average. Investing in the stock market, of course, is risky, and those returns have been uneven at best. If you stay in the market long enough, your return could equal 10 percent. If your tenure as an investor happens to coincide with several market downturns, however, the return could be much less. Doing both will let you, in a sense, hedge one risk with the other. And it will encourage you to start earlier (or invest more), making the most of the power of compound interest over time. Weighing the Psychological Benefits It may be that the psychological benefit of paying off your mortgage over 15 years trumps the logic—not to mention the risk—of investing in an IRA. It’s possible you could be free of your mortgage in 15 years. That accomplishment feels very real when you no longer must make a house payment—likely one of the biggest bills you pay each month. Not only that, you will own real estate free and clear, and real estate is traditionally a good investment. Paying off debt feels like an accomplishment, but so is saving for your future. It may be worth putting up with more years of having mortgage debt hanging over you in order to build up your IRA savings and be in a better position in the future. That does mean, of course, that if things go very badly in the market, you could find yourself still in debt with a portfolio worth less than the amount you invested. But if you hold steady, as happened after the Great Recession of 2008, those battered investments could well recover their value over time. Diversifying Your Assets Here’s another reason not to focus just on your mortgage: If you pay off your mortgage early, your house suddenly becomes a very large part of your net worth. It may be your largest or even only source of emergency funds in the event of a layoff or medical emergency. The problem is, you’ll still be vulnerable to economic conditions, maybe the very ones that caused you to lose your job. In a soft market you may not be able to sell your home to raise cash, and without a job you may not even be able to take out a second mortgage or home equity line of credit. Such is not the case with investments in a Roth IRA. Assuming you don’t touch your earnings, you can withdraw your contributions without taxes and without penalty at any time. After age 59½—if you have a Roth account that is five years old or more—you can withdraw earnings as well. So the Roth is, in many ways, a better safety net than home equity. The Question of Taxes Mortgage interest is tax deductible (and your Roth contribution is not). Paying off your mortgage early eventually robs you of deductions you would have otherwise enjoyed. On the other hand, if you’re in a higher tax bracket you may not be benefiting as much as you think. Suppose your current mortgage rate is five percent, but your combined federal and state marginal tax rate is 40 percent. This means that the effective interest rate on your mortgage is only three percent (five percent times 0.60). This means the mortgage isn’t costing you that much: It could make that probable 10 percent return on your Roth IRA investment even more attractive. To make matters worse, paying off your mortgage could make it impossible for you to itemize deductions on your tax return, as mortgage interest is the single largest deduction for most people. You have to wait for the tax benefits on money invested in a Roth IRA: You get to withdraw both your original contributions—and all the money those contributions earned over the years—tax free on retirement. How to Do Both Why not pay extra on your mortgage while, at the same time, investing in a Roth IRA? This is the part that requires planning and, ideally, the help of a financial advisor to budget for the best approach. It may require some financial juggling and compromise, but it’s possible to reduce mortgage debt and invest at the same time. • Focus more on retirement investing in the early years. First, you’ll benefit from the compounding factor of getting as much money in your account early as your budget (and IRS rules about maximum yearly contributions) will allow. Also, your income will be lower and you may be more likely to fit the income limitations for contributing to a Roth than when you are older and (probably) richer. • Develop a mortgage payoff schedule. Some people make two payments a month, rather than one. Your financial advisor can help you plan this out, including offering several options you can choose among depending on your other needs and the economy. Speaking of which…. • Time your investment/mortgage-payoff calendar to economic conditions. Direct more of your money to investments when the market is up and more to paying down your mortgage when that makes more sense (as long as you observe annual IRA investment limits). Comparing your ongoing return on investment between the two strategies can help guide your decision. You may not pay off your mortgage in 15 years, but you eventually will—and more quickly than if you hadn’t sped up your payments. By combining that with attention to retirement savings, you’re likely to reach retirement with that debt out of your way and a larger nest egg that will let you truly enjoy the next chapter in your life. Compare Popular IRA Providers
Jeannie Vanasco’s memoir The Glass Eye weaves together stories of grief, obsession, and mental illness in an account of self-exploration that acts as an on-again, off-again commentary on the genre of memoir itself. The text centers on a daughter grieving the loss of her father, whom she promised a book. Parallel to this loss is the author’s struggle with mental illness—diagnosis, hospital stays, re-diagnosis, balancing medication, et cetera—as she navigates finishing her college degree, entering the workforce and subsequent graduate programs, while also maintaining relationships with her mother, come-and-go friends and boyfriends, employers, and her own research. It is this research into the dead half-sister with whom Vanasco shares a name that serves as another critical throughline, a product of Vanasco’s grief and mental illness, and sometimes also, a cause. This text succeeds primarily in its capacity to document grief and complicated family history as they relate to the individual. The author’s plea, implicit and explicit, is that the memoir be enough to honor the memory of her father, while recognizing the inherent futility of that task. Though the intersection of the author’s own mania with the extensive catalogue of her writing process will appeal particularly to those in the writing community, Vanasco’s memoir is valuable reading for anyone who has ever tried to create something. Artists of all stripes will see that it is, in fact, Vanasco’s tireless self-awareness of her own role (as memoirist, as careful practitioner of her craft) that allows The Glass Eye to function as a fruitful addition to the genre. Tin House
Blueberry Scorch Virus Click to download a PDF version of this publication. Origin and Distribution Scorch is a serious disease of blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) caused by blueberry scorch virus. Blueberry scorch virus has been detected in blueberry plants in northern blueberry growing states on the east and west coasts and in the midwest. Blueberry scorch virus was initially described from plants in New Jersey in 1970, but was not identified as a viral diseases until 1980 from studies on infected plants in Washington. The Pathogen Blueberry scorch virus (BlScV) is a singlestranded, positive-sense RNA virus in the genus Carlavirus and family Flexiviridae. Virions are flexuous rods ca. 690 nm long and 14 nm wide. Different strains of the virus exist with the greatest virus diversity identified in British Columbia. The virus can infect highbush and rabbiteye blueberries, but has not been detected in lowbush blueberry. The virus also infects several wild Vaccinium species, some of which show symptoms similar to highbush blueberries. Infected cranberry and black huckleberry (V. membranaceum) are symptomless. blighted flowers Blighted flowers remain attached for a long rime on BlScV-infected plants. While all highbush blueberry cultivars are susceptible, symptom expression depends on the cultivar and virus strain. In most cultivars, infection results in blighting of flowers and leaves during the bloom period. Symptoms may be present on a few branches or the whole bush, and infected bushes may be scattered throughout the field. Blighted tissues often remain attached for a long time and turn a silvery gray if retained through the winter. Scorch may resemble frost injury, blueberry shock, Botrytis, Phomopsis or Pseudomonas twig blights. Some cultivars show mild symptoms such as chlorosis, yellow margins or red line patterns on leaves in the fall. Others remain symptomless but can still serve as virus reservoirs. Plants with necrosis symptoms have greatly reduced fruit production and shoot growth; yield losses as high as 80% have been reported. Symptoms return every year but the severity may vary. Plants with severe scorch symptoms continue to decline and may die after 3 to 6 years. No observable yield loss occurs in symptomless infected plants. Since visual symptoms are not reliable, laboratory testing is required for a proper disease diagnosis. Yellow leaf margins Yellow lead margins in BlScV-infected 'Stanley' blueberry. red line patterbs Red line patterns on blueberry leaves in the fall due to infection by blueberry scorch virus. Infected planting material is the primary source for long-distance spread of blueberry scorch virus. The aphids Ericaphis fimbriata and Illinoia pepperi are known to spread the virus from plant to plant in a non-persistent manner. This occurs over relatively short distances, typically less than 1 mile. While feeding on infected plants, aphids pick up virus particles on their mouthparts and can transmit them for about 15 minutes. Ericaphis species are relatively inefficient vectors, but high aphid populations increase the risk of virus transmission. The rate of spread is about 4% per year in the absence of aphid control. The virus is not transmitted by contact between plants or mechanical means. Once a plant is infected, symptoms take 1 to 2 years to develop. The disease usually starts on one or two branches but eventually the entire bush becomes infected, including the roots. The introduction of the virus can be prevented by using certified virus-tested nursery stock. Visual inspection in nurseries is not sufficient as many cultivars do not show symptoms. Monitor plants closely for symptom development during bloom and mark suspicious plants. If scorch is suspected, send fresh, symptomatic plant samples to a reputable laboratory for diagnosis. Due to uneven distribution of the virus in the plant, it is advisable to take several samples from different branches. If the percentage of infected plants in a field is high, all plants should be removed and burned. If the percentage is low, removal of infected plants combined with virus testing and aphid control can be implemented. Virus testing and aphid control should continue for at least 2 years following bush removal to ensure that the virus has been eradicated. Before bush removal, apply an insecticide to prevent dispersal of infective aphids, and a herbicide to prevent emergence of infected suckers from any roots that are left behind. The author gratefully acknowledges valuable input from Robert Martin, Peter Oudemans, James Polashock, Siva Sabaratnam, Sonja Ring, and Jay Pscheidt. Content Updated: July 2019
Lightning Strike Seminar Sales and Marketing business speaker In conference in front of an audience of business people As a business expert, I have often searched inside myself to understand what people get from a professional speaker and how I, as a speaker, can increase that value – whatever it is. Companies have been spending millions on consultancies to improve their business models, marketing to communicate their message, and training to hone their teams’ skills. As times got tough, did belt tightening threaten those budgets? Could a professional speaker really help and how could they do that? We did tons of research on learning and communication and discovered that around one hour’s communicating was all the human frame could stand (just about the perfect length for a keynote speech.) The psychologists actually believe that any more than fifty minutes is a waste of time. If you think about all vital learning, the lessons rarely tend to be longer than one hour at a time – school lessons, flying lessons, driving lessons and even lectures for brain surgeons. A good speaker should be able to do a number of things. Firstly they should uplift and entertain which is normally where it begins and ends, but we feel that solid, lasting, beneficial, takeaway messages can and should also be delivered. Complex subjects such as Quality, Lean Management, Change, Six Sigma, Disintermediation and Creating an Entrepreneurial Culture, for example, can be translated and explained and this is something that I dedicate myself to doing, to the point that someone kindly called me the Babel Fish for Business. In other words I take complex business messages and turn them into what appear to be light and easy to understand takeaways that are actually precisely tailored to the audience. As a result of all this we have developed … The Lightning Strike Seminar This will take the keynote speech, keep it fast-moving, funny and full of impact, but with the added goal of imparting vital messages and learning points. The goal must be that your investment in a good speaker is repaid a thousand fold in commercial progress with useful takeaways and tips to improve knowledge. Companies may be considering having a conference with no outside speaker. How about turning that on its head and having a speaker with no conference and have a lightning strike seminar instead? Leave a Comment
Dempsey Sherwood A typical example of the... If your person projects out in looking for the methods and right materials that can help his learning experience a foreign language like the German can well be learned. To get alternative interpretations, you are able to look at: breakfast sausage. Using the Internet is just a practical means for getting in front of the others in many aspects of technology and interests. Although some people still prefer learning German in the standard way, you will find a great deal of benefits one gets by trusting the technical development of today's age. A typical example of the change from a conventional learning material such as books are language program computer software. They are most common today and is found all around the pages of the Internet. Some internet sites also concentrate on just offering a language program software. Cranberry Orange Breakfast Sausage includes new info concerning the inner workings of this belief. Therefore, you'll then ask, what is a really language software's gain and meaning to a language starter such as for example you are. We found out about gluten free by searching webpages. The German language is really a popular European language and is one of the Romance language descendants that have now been growing popular amongst people of the entire world which, obviously already includes yourself. As we're today we are not saying that books are useless in these days, in fact, if it were not for books, we'd not be as educated. What we're just wanting to emphasize listed here is that applying language programs for learning German is helpful for someone who keeps up along with his daily schedule. A German language system might contain most of your German learning needs. As it so easy and convenient for distribution to interested customers online, a language program might include a combination of audio program (for pronunciation functions), flashcards (for memorization), and the language software itself. The master of the program for example, may still include other extras and bonuses for a language program. This makes it even more interesting of a package for a lot of eager beave
Couple Cam UK If you want to change things up a little, move away from the “only one performer” format, and have some kinky fun, we suggest that you visit the Milf Anna room! They are an English couple here who enjoy each other in all forms of fun and pleasure. Let’s start with Anna. She’s a 25-year old slender beauty who simply put, likes being submissive. She likes gaming and sports, reading and being around animals. But under that guise of normalcy, lies a sexual little freak, who will amaze even the toughest among you with what she can Continue reading Couple Cam UK
There is no cure for ankylosing spondylitis, but its symptoms can be relieved with treatments such as physiotherapy, exercise, medication, and in severe cases, surgery. Physiotherapy and exercise A tailored physiotherapy and exercise plan is important for those with AS. A physiotherapist can design a program of stretching, deep breathing, and range-of-motion exercises. This specialist can also offer advice on maintaining good posture and may suggest hydrotherapy, or special exercises in a warm-water pool. Physiotherapy and exercise can prevent stooping and stiffness of the spine, keep the back flexible, make daily activities easier, and lower the chances of someone with AS experiencing severe pain or injuring themselves further. A rheumatologist can prescribe painkillers to help people with AS manage their condition. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) The first type of painkiller that a doctor usually prescribes for AS is an NSAID such as ibuprofen, naproxen, or diclofenac. NSAIDs can ease pain and relieve swelling in the joints. Some tablets have a slow-release formulation, which can help with night-time pain and morning stiffness. NSAIDs are also available as gels that can be applied to the painful area. NSAIDs can sometimes have side effects. Doctors can reduce this risk by prescribing the lowest possible dose for the shortest possible time. Serious side effects associated with NSAIDs include stomach bleeding, heart attack, and stroke. Paracetamol is a painkiller that doctors often recommend if NSAIDs are unsuitable. It is particularly useful just before physical activity to keep pain to a minimum. Paracetamol rarely has side effects, so it can be taken regularly. It can also be used by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Paracetamol can be unsuitable for people with liver problems or who are alcohol-dependent, however. Codeine is a stronger type of painkiller. Doctors prescribe it in addition to paracetamol when conditions warrant. It can cause side effects, including nausea, vomiting, constipation, and drowsiness. Anti-TNF medication Anti-tumor necrosis factor drugs, also called TNF inhibitors, are newer, injected treatments that can alleviate AS symptoms. TNF is a protein involved in inflammation. The drugs prevent TNF from causing inflammation, and reduce inflammation that has already developed in the joints. Doctors need to keep a close watch on the effects of anti-TNF drugs. They are not suitable for everyone, and should be prescribed only if a person’s AS symptoms can’t be controlled with physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory drugs. Anti-TNF drugs include Enbrel (etanercept), Humira (adalimumab), Cimzia (certolizumab pegol) and Simponi (golimumab). IL Inhibitors Interleukins signal immune cells to activate inflammation. Normally, interleukin-17 (IL-17) helps the body defend against infections. But high amounts of it can cause joint inflammation, bone erosion, and bone fusion in AS patients. IL-17 inhibitors block IL-17, reducing inflammation. The only IL-17 inhibitor that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved as a treatment for AS is Cosentyx (secukinumab). Like TNF inhibitors, it increases the risk of infection, however. Scientists have linked another signaling molecule, IL-23, to AS because it also tempers the production of IL-17. Stelara (ustekinumab) is an IL-23 and IL-12 inhibitor. The FDA has approved it as a treatment for psoriatic arthritis, plaque psoriasis, and Crohn’s disease. Clinical trials have shown that Stelara can reduce the symptoms of AS and that patients can tolerate it well. Corticosteroids, which have a powerful anti-inflammatory effect, can be used as a short-term treatment for AS flare-ups. They can be taken as tablets or injected. If a joint is inflamed, a corticosteroid can be injected directly into it. Doctors usually prescribe no more than three corticosteroid injections a year, with at least three months between injections in the same joint. That is because corticosteroid injections can cause a number of side effects, including infections. Most people with AS do not need surgery. In severe cases, doctors may recommend joint replacement surgery to improve pain and movement. Examples are hip or knee replacement operations. The surgery can get rid of pain and improve mobility. Spinal surgery carries a lot of risk, so surgeons perform operations to straighten a bent spine only in rare cases.
How To Save Up For Your New UTE Is Finance the best way to buy my Ute Amarok V6 Ultimate 580 A brand new Volkswagen Amarok costs around $70,000. Australia loves UTEs! They provide the perfect combination of work and play, functionality and pleasure. It’s little wonder that around 1 in every 5 cars sold in this country is a UTE. The only problem is they can be expensive to buy, and usually, cost quite a bit more than your average car to run. Can you really afford one, and how can you go about saving up? Initial Purchase The price range of UTEs varies, but you are looking at around $28,000 for a Toyota Hilux, the Ford Ranger will set you back around $60k, and the VW Amarok V6 costs around $70k. There are cheaper models available, but you may as well buy once and buy right. Do your research and choose a reliable and desirable UTE, one that is right for you. The debate always rages about whether to buy new or buy second hand. Brand new UTEs are obviously a lot more expensive, and lose an incredible amount of value the moment you drive them home. On the flip side, you are likely to encounter fewer problems with repairs. If budget is an issue, second-hand UTEs are the way to go, especially if you have a little knowledge on upgrading and repairing. Once you know which model you want, and whether you want to buy new or second hand, you should be able to weigh up the price of your initial purchase. Remember to include the price of any initial modifications, such as headlights, tyres and suspension. Finance For UTEs The amount you need to buy your UTE can be gathered through savings, in which case you can put money away every month until you can afford it. Or, you may want to save up a deposit for your new vehicle, and consider financing options to support your purchase. It’s very common to get finance for new vehicles, as they cost tens of thousands of dollars. You may be able to secure a deal directly through the dealership or car company. Be sure to negotiate both the costs of the UTE and the finance deal and terms. If you have a bad credit rating they may offer you a less favourable deal. In this case, some companies offer loans based on current earnings. Weigh up your options, and always be aware of fees, interest rates, and repayment terms. If you are using your UTE mostly for business purposes, see if the company you work for can contribute to the costs. If you pay for the vehicle yourself but use it for work, you may be entitled to write off some or all of the costs from your tax. Seek advice from your accountant. UTE Running Costs UTEs and 4x4s are more expensive to run in every respect. The road tax is in the highest bracket. The powerful engine means insurance tends to be higher. The heavy vehicles consume more fuel. The top and bottom of it is that if you own a UTE you can expect to pay significantly more on a monthly basis than a regular car owner. As well as saving up for the initial purchase, it’s important that you can afford the monthly running costs. There’s not much point buying a UTE if you can’t run it. Of course, there are ways to reduce these costs, such as learning how to use fuel more economically and securing no-claims bonuses on your insurance by driving safely. With a little saving and financial planning, you could soon own your dream UTE. About Rob Fraser 151 Articles
Sharing is caring! Thinning hair can be one of the most frustrating parts about getting older. Have you ever wondered if there is anything you can do about it? You may have looked to store-bought products to improve your hair’s appearance and not experienced the results you desired. Unfortunately, most commercial products are laden with chemicals that actually cause further damage to hair. With a few lifestyle changes and some ancient home remedies, you can increase your hair’s growth and thickness in a matter of months. Report this ad What causes hair to fall out? Have you ever wondered why some people have thick luscious hair while others are on the real struggle bus, battling hair thinning and even balding? Hair health, just like skin, is a subtle sign of the inner workings of our body. The process of hair growth is complex and relies upon multiple factors including our genetic expression and proper hormonal balance. (source) Hair growth starts in the root of a hair follicle, which is made up of a cluster of cells and protiens. Blood vessels feed the follicle, bringing oxygen and nutrients which helps these cells grow. As the hair grows, it passes by the sebaceous gland, an oil-producing gland that lubricates and waterproofs the hair and skin. Hair growth occurs in phases and not all your follicles are active at once. It is normal to lose around 50-100 hairs a day. This happens because an individual hair follicle shuts down. Hair follicles on the top of your head produce hair for about 2-6 years at a time and once one shuts down, the hair falls out. Simultaneously, others will come back online so we should normally retain our naturally thickness. Unfortunately, there is a large genetic component to hair loss that is outside of our control. (source) A number of studies have identified the AR gene to be the strongest association with baldness. As of right now, we haven’t discovered a magical pill that can flip the genetic switch for thick luscious hair. But don’t let this get you down too much. There are some solutions or there would be no point in my writing this post! Report this ad Just like everything else in life, the health of our hair can be modified and optimized by our environment. In this post we are going to explore what we can do to ensure our hair is as healthy as possible, despite our genetics. By implementing these tips for hair growth, you will likely see an improvement in your hair’s thickness and growth. Especially since most people don’t realize all the things that contribute to increased damage and fall out. Before we get into it, I wanted to quickly talk about the situations which drive a crazy amount of hair to fall out… • Nutritional deficiencies • Hormonal such as changes after childbirth or menopause • Thyriod dysfunction • Chronic stress • Taking certain medications • Autoimmune disorders • Aging Home Remedies for Hair Loss and Thickness 1. Eat a balanced diet and skip the hair supplements It is true that hair loss can be related to nutritional deficiency. However if you live in a first-world country, you likely have plenty of access to quality food. It is much better to use food to increase your body’s vitamin and mineral reserves than supplements. We cannot begin to understand the complex nutritional needs of our hair and there is no better way to get what we need than by eating a diversified diet of God-breathed whole foods. I suggest staying away from excess hair loss supplements for multiple reasons: • Oversupplementing with certain vitamins and minerals can lead to malabsorbtion or misuse of other important vitamin and minerals in the body creating an imbalance which leads to unhealthy hair growth. (source) • Oversupplementing can damage the kidneys and lead to worsening overall health. • Supplement manufacturers are not regulated in the same way so it is hard to know what you are really getting inside a capsule That being said, vegetarians and vegans are at more risk for nutritional deficiency that would cause hair loss so if you follow one of these diets and notice increased hair loss, it would be prudent to get some labs done to check for deficiency in iron, zinc, niacin, selenium, Vitamin A, D, K, and total protein. (source) Related: 10 Pillar Healthy Living Tips for Longevity and Vitality 2. Stop washing your hair so frequently Good hygiene is an important part of healthy hair but you might be washing your hair too frequently. If you have dandruff, a lot of split ends, or really dry brittle hair, you are likely washing it too often. The oils in our hair are naturally protective by trapping in moisture. Shampoos are emulsifiers which strip these oils away. I know it can be hard to imagine not washing your hair, especially if you have an oily head. To make this possible, try skipping a day in between shampooing. You can still wet your hair and massage your scalp for a few minutes to rinse out any sweat or dirt. This gentle rinse will help make your hair less oily so you can skip a day using shampoo. From there, slowly stretch out the days between shampooing your scalp so it has time to down-regulate the overproduction of natural oils. I started this process a year ago and now only need to wash my hair with shampoo every 4-5 days. Because I use less shampoo and conditioner, I have been able to save money and switch to better quality products. Related: 10 Natural Beauty Tips for Smooth and Glowing Skin 3. Switch to non-toxic shampoos Speaking of better quality products, another really important step towards promoting your hair’s natural strength and thickness is to only use products that nourish the hair and are free from chemical fragrances. You wouldn’t believe some of the chemicals in mainstream shampoos and conditioners! For many of us, we identify beauty with a pleasant smell and you likely don’t want to give that up. I have found a wonderful brand of hair products that uses ingredents that nourish and protect the hair. This small shop, Under Luna, hand crafts every bottle using herbs from ancient Native American wisdom (I mean look at how long and luxurious Native Americans’ hair are!) and the products smell and feel AMAZING! 4. Be careful with applying heat to your hair Another thing you can do to promote hair health is to let it air dry as much as possible. Heat damages the delicate cuticle of your hair and will make it more prone to break off. (source) If you do have to use a hair dryer, hold it a bit further from your head and use medium heat instead of high heat. When you use a curling iron or straightener, opt for one made of ceramic or titanium with the option to adjust the temperature. Ceramic heats evenly and titanium puts negative ions back in the hair which is less damaging. Lastly, turn your iron on the lowest setting possible when styling your hair. 5. Massage Peppermint essential oil with a carrier oil in your scalp I hate to reference this study because of how inhumane the mice were treated, but it did very clearly show that peppermint essential oil promotes hair growth. Make sure that any essential oils you use for medicinal purposes are from a reputable company to ensure they are therapeutic grade and not just synthetic fragrances. For the carrier oil, jojoba oil isn’t as oily and could also be used to style hair for men. However coconut oil also has really great nutrients for the hair and scalp. Be sure to actually massage your scalp while you try this as this also helps to increase circulation which stimulates hair growth. 6. Homeopathy for hair loss Lycopodium 6C can help with premature hair loss and even to minimize hair loss after childbirth. It can be taken twice a day for up to a month to see if this improves your hair thickness and growth. Related: Home Remedies for Body Odor 7. Try hair masks Hair masks are great for providing essential nutrients to the hair and scalp at a topical level which can not only increase future hair growth and density but also make your current mane less prone to breakage. Hair Mask Recipe for Growth 2 free range eggs at room temperature 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil 2 drops of Lavender essential oil to promote growth and density (source) Whip ingredients together and use a basting brush to apply the mask evenly across your scalp and ends to promote hair growth and strength. Cover your head with a shower cap or plastic bag and allow the mask to absorb for 20 minutes. Massage your scalp periodically. Rinse your hair with filtered water and allow it to air dry or follow with a non-toxic shampoo. Final thoughts Although so much hair loss is genetic, these home remedies for hair growth and thickness can preserve and strengthen the hair you still have. The final step in promoting the best head of hair possible is to stop stressing about it. You may have heard the saying, “I’m so stressed that all my hair is falling out.” There is some scientific truth behind this. Stress hormones can disrupt normal body functions so it is important to get that under control if you have noticed an abrupt change in your hair texture. One way to reduce stress is to practice meditation. Another is to lean towards minimalism by removing excess things from your life that suck up your time and energy. Whatever path you choose, you will not only be doing your hair a favor but your entire body! If you tried any of these natural remedies, please let me know how they worked out for you in the comments!
The Media’s Feckless Appeasement and Washington’s Lazy Consensus: A Love Story 500 days There they go again on television with the timeless argument between the ideologies and the political parties on the topic of whether the sun rises in the east or west. The Republican conviction is strong that the orb lofts itself into a Western sky every morning and the poor flustered Democrats insist for the umpteenthmillionth time that the great ball of fire shows up every morning in the east. Our putative arbiters of truth in the mainstream press can’t be certain. It’s good to get both sides of the argument. I’m telling you right now that if I see David Gregory or Tom Brokaw or Wolf Blitzer or Tom Friedman or Charlie friggin Rose strenuously trying to split the difference one more time in defiance of fact, truth, history, objectivity and common sense I’m going to hang myself with the hdmi cable (They’re expensive, but I’m going out in style) . Your average television news viewer or newspaper reader might have gotten the idea from somewhere that the “debate” about who is to blame for the current government sequestration is real, rather than another of those press-beloved “two sides of every argument” school plays they unashamedly subject us to. Yes, an Obama adviser had the sequester idea. Here’s a lesson in the glorious veracity of context: When hostages are being held for ransom, when the person negotiating on behalf of the hostages’ release comes up with a plan that will result in the hostages being freed, that does not make the resourceful negotiator thereby responsible for negative consequences of the plan itself: the hostage-taker remains responsible for all negative fallout due to criminally taking the hostages to begin with. According to a recent Bloomberg survey that shocked many but seemed about right to me, 94 %of Americans mistakenly believed the deficit is growing or unchanged rather than falling. We’ll concede that every single American is not necessarily a brainiac, but if this doesn’t seriously implicate those responsible for informing the American public nothing does. I know I’m a hopeless idealist, but isn’t the news supposed to make you smarter and better informed? Confusing people or making facts elusive can only mean our mainstream media are a great Bizarro World success story. While there may be some sort of middlebrow Washington cred assigned to those who pontificate about the direness of debt and deficit while stroking their chins, and while there may be advantages for Republicans simulating concern for debt as an end-run maneuver to get their hands around the throat of the safety net, it doesn’t change the fact that actual harm is done through this skewing of focus and misallocation of attention . When the economy continues to do little better than barely inch forward and a bunch of unemployed Americans are sitting at home each day you’d think the genuinely salient challenges facing the country would not be allowed to slip to secondary status simply because media outlets are so content with their operating models. A Media Matters study recently found that out of 503 guest appearances on news segments devoted primarily to budget discussions on the four major networks only 22, or 4.4% of those guests were economists. You don’t have to be Woodward and Bernstein of Olde to recognize that as a clue. Do anything like a significant number of Americans know that the embrace of austerity (obsession with cutting budgets, in this case in the midst of recession or slow growth) by European nations has sucked that continent into an economic sinkhole? Doubt it. Whose fault is that? It’s not entirely the negligence of weary working Americans. It’s nice for them that everyone in DC comfortably ends their evenings burping up the Washington consensus after a dinner party but why do we let them get away with it? How many Americans really understand that there is nothing systemically wrong with Medicare, that in fact it is highly efficient, and indeed has dramatically lower administrative costs than private insurance, but that it is the cost of the health care Medicare pays for that has soared. People telling you they want to save Medicare by reducing its benefits, meaning for all intents and purposes ending it out of ideological animus at the same time protecting hospitals and health providers and private insurance companies ought to be lined up against the media wall and shot by the press on a regular basis. But there’s old Wolf and Dave taking them at face value. During these oh so many oh so serious discussions of debt and deficit with the accompanying dependable Republican scenery chewing and heavy emoting about the perils of them, why isn’t the historical record worth hearing about? How frequently are Republican talkers or politicians reminded their party ramped up the deficit and debt over the last decade, with nary a peep out of any of them, in fact with their express legislative and rhetorical support during the duration of the Bush tenure? Not very bloody frequently. Did or did not the last three Republican presidents substantially increase deficits? Have the last three Republican presidents spent more than their Democratic counterparts or have they not? Shouldn’t the historical credibility of those doing the theatrical caterwauling be especially pertinent? Perhaps no press behavior is more negligent or more dangerous than the degree to which the American mainstream press have become appeasers of the egregiously and conspicuously radicalized right, and its vehicle the Republican Party. The campaign by the activist right to demonize the press as biased after the exposure of the crimes of Richard Nixon and the increasing inconvenience of the press to the highly stylized shall we say version of truth the right offered has been fully victorious, media companies and editors and producers in corporate media constrained by fear, conditioned to timidity and in too many cases merely subservient to a mixture of careerism, conformity and ego, muting if not entirely neglecting an ongoing, forceful mainstream critique of the radicalism of the current Republican Party. Like most appeasement, this has wrought nothing but contempt from those appeased and reinforced a perception of feckless tiptoeing. After thirty years of hammering the press as liberal, has all this “balance” and false equivalency earned the press huzzahs from conservatives for their fairness and balance? Ha Ha. Ha. No, conservatives relentlessly and mercilessly drag the press over a bed of rhetorical nails as the “liberal media” just as opportunistically and successfully as ever. Urging the press to unfailingly distinguish what is fact from what is not, to be historically cognizant, contextual, and diligent about that which is objectively true is now considered, at least by the prim dullards and careerist nabobs of the op-ed pages, Sunday morning roundtables and D.C. eateries I suppose to be partisan firebombing. Hey, it’s not my fault one side has made the tactical decision to insist on ideological political correctness at all times, rather than to contribute to governing the nation; or that a party allowed radicals and Know-Nothings to seize the thing. So, the press brags they’re as “balanced” as a carpenter’s leveler. Who gives a fuck? %d bloggers like this:
Benefits Of Acquiring Quickbooks Accountant For Your Business In dealing with business, there are a lot of considerations that have to be planned and followed. Business owners must be meticulous and keen when choosing a professional that would be able to effectively handle financial situations. Choosing the right employees for your company is where success may depend. It is not just about picking where you can pay the least, but you should also select individuals where you can fully benefit from. Consider acquiring a quickbooks accountant in Meridian and be rewarded with the right and accurate financial stability. When dealing with business, there is always a need to secure money. The financial situation can tell a lot about the stability and capabilities of a company. This is why it is important to ensure that the financial status is handled with an exact and reliable professional accountant. They are often in the frontline dealing with the financial reports that they will provide to the company. An accountant is there to assist the money, payrolls and many more. Attempting to manage it alone without professional individuals could be stressful. This is only applicable for a business that does not require heavy financial workload. Even if you are using QuickBooks, there is still a need to have your tax returns get checked by an accountant. If you have a complex business structure, there is a possibility that you are dealing with higher tax returns. Hence, seeking assistance would be the necessary thing to consider in avoiding mistakes and delays in the processes. Before jumping into the conclusion of getting one, evaluate it among yourself and your team. It needs to follow deliberation first. This helps make smart decisions that would not prompt any regret in the future. Do you need to obtain one? Will it be useful for your ventures? If you are still doubtful, look into the following benefits of obtaining a QuickBooks professional that will effectively provide you the right assistance. You are provided with accurate and proper money management. Sometimes, when there would be no employee that is tasked to do a certain job, it could prompt delay and errors. But when you have a professional that can work flexibly, there will be no problems in filing for legal documents and recurring bills. You will be provided peace of mind and organized way of record keeping as well as filing before due dates. With a QuickBooks professional, you will be ensured with quick sales invoicing. Invoices can be easily and quickly delivered to the customers via email. This is also handy when it comes to billing customers in batch or individually as this can be managed electronically. When there are experts who can use the QuickBooks with no hassle and problems at all, there is a higher chance that you will be able to build a more stable company and client relationship which is what is important for the investment. There could be an assurance of creating different varieties of financial reports. This mostly includes annual income situation, expenses, and forecasting documents. When you acquire a professional that has a wider knowledge of using QuickBooks, you will not worry about circumstances that may happen in the future as accountants can do the necessary adjustments and modifications right away. These reports can be easily exported to Microsoft Excel or Word that can be easily sent via email. You are assured that your accountant will do most of the handling regarding keeping records. They also obtain the latest accounting rules which you do not need to worry about. Aside from that, they are open in recommending and advising that is tailored for the betterment of your business. You do not only have an accountant you can trust, but you have a professional individual who is willing to provide the right steps in making your business successful. Generally, the growth of your investment is in the hands of the employees you have. Without them, there is a higher chance of failure. This is why it is necessary to look for people who can provide the best of their abilities. It should be planned out well to come up with smart decisions that are relatively important no just for the economic growth but the whole venture as well. Perhaps, no homeowner wants to regret the decisions made, so better plan now.
How to eat ginger daily how to eat ginger daily Want a cup of vitamin coffee? Interested in adding more superfoods to your diet? Why You Should Start Your Morning with Ginger Given its many health benefits, there are reasons good enough for you to include it in your daily routine. I usually opt for natural remedies instead of pharmaceuticals. how to eat ginger daily Pantries are often stocked with fruit jams, but ever try ginger jam? You can still reap the benefits of ginger on the go. Inflammation is your body's natural and healthy response to injury or illness—and it tells your white blood cells that it's time to start healing. how to eat ginger daily Not only is it warm and comforting, it may help calm an upset stomach. Ginger tea is a popular beverage for warming up chilly winters. Here's everything you need to know about the many health benefits of ginger root, and how to incorporate it into your diet so you can stay strong and healthy. The work suggest that adding one portion of fruit or veggies to the diet per day can be as beneficial to mental well-being as going for a walk on an extra seven to eight days a month. 11 Proven Health Benefits of Ginger They are believed to be among the key drivers of Alzheimer's disease and age-related cognitive decline. Nine 9Honey Coach Latest. Ginger, or Zingiber officinale as it's scientifically known, has been used as both food and medicine for thousands of years and is still the go-to treatment for motion and morning sickness. Co-Authored By:. How Much Raw Ginger Can You Eat? Take 2 mins to flatten your abs with this ultrafast workout. Potential Concerns. Make hot tea from ginger to sooth a cough. Ginger in creamy, root vegetable soups are especially great in cold weather, since the ginger adds flavor and warms you up! Here are 11 reasons not to fear healthy carbs. Thanks to powerful anti-fungal and antimicrobial compounds, ginger might even help you fight off a cold or an infection. how to eat ginger daily You can choose whichever oil and vinegar flavors you like.
Organisational Governance (Operational not Board) Understanding organisational governance As with all of the business models I have written about, organisational governance has been well documented by other authors. And for every author there is a definition. I define governance as the proactive management of variance, applied equally to compliance and performance. The two halves of governance are equally important yet it seems that whenever I read articles or hear conversations on the subject, they are always to referring to compliance. Compliance is the activity where the company ensures adherence to its own internal policies and standards; and to the policies, standards, regulation and legislation imposed on it by external industry bodies, local, national and international law. Performance refers to ensuring operational processes adhere to the internal standards for revenue, cost, quality and service; or put more simply, ensuring that operations are working to budget. There are two important truths, here: 1. You can have process without compliance, but you cannot have compliance without process, and 2. You can have process without management, but you cannot have management without process. It is therefore the business process that binds compliance and performance together. The role of management is to ensure business processes adhere to budget and to address variances as they arise. This is true for all managers irrespective of their position or role in the organisation. It therefore embraces all functions including the functions. The reverse is equally true; as compliance functions are expected to manage to budget (ie performance), operations functions can be expected to manage to the restrictions imposed by compliance frameworks. This therefore raises the question: why does the term Governance get used so widely and have so much importance placed on it? If managers accept that their role embraces both performance and compliance, then Governance and Management become one and the same thing, and the apparent separation disappears. Many of my clients have employed managers for compliance specific roles – such as an OH&S manager or a Sustainability manager. There is nothing wrong with these appointments, indeed they are most necessary. These managers are employed as subject matter experts to own a portfolio (such as OH&S) and to be responsible for how that portfolio manifests itself in the business. This includes being responsible for knowledge transfer, awareness, training, etc – and all the other dimensions that a subject matter expert can bring to the business. They are also accountable for the appropriateness of the framework they use and for managing how well the business adheres to the compliance processes associated with their portfolio. In essence, they are responsible for managing how well the business complies with its own compliance regime. What they are not responsible for is the active management of compliance in the business. Here the operational process managers are responsible. The operational manager is responsible for not only what gets produced by the process, but also how the output is produced. In this case, the ‘how’ is defined by the restrictions imposed on the production process by any and all of the applicable compliance frameworks. Process managers don’t get to choose which framework they will and won’t adhere to. The compliance framework To further explore the idea of compliance frameworks. A framework is a model and a filter and importantly a model is only an abstract; an alternative way so see the business. It is not the business itself. Every framework is different and each allows a manager to view specific aspects of the business and to filter out all those aspects of the business that they are not interested in. Every compliance manager has their preferred framework. Popular frameworks include the eTom for Telecommunications, ITIL for IT, APQC for business analysts and Sarbanes Oxley for Finance. These frameworks all manage risk in some way. Then there are the risk frameworks themselves which get treated as something different again. While each framework is different, the business is consistent. It doesn’t change no matter which framework you use. Consider the following illustration of a generic enterprise. In this ‘naked’ view, it does not matter who is looking at the business. Everybody sees the same thing. If you apply views/filters you get the following. The filters are example only. Framworks on process It is the same business, but now seen through the selected view of the managers choice. These views do not corrupt the message. Rather they focus it to remove ‘noise’ and other irrelevant data. But it is clear is that if a manager is looking at the business through an HR view, then they are not looking at it through an IT view. This tends to create silos, in that managers start to only see the business through one view and forget that it is only a view and not the business. Working in teams helps mitigate this issue. Frameworks guide the manager as to what should be considered when transacting the business process and which parts of the processes need to be controlled to ensure that the business is adhering to its internal policies and applicable external regulations, legislations etc. For example; the COSO framework requires a business define itself in four categories; Finance, Sales and Operations, Corporate and Legal affairs, and HR. The COSO framework For each of these categories there are sub categories and so on and so forth. The drill down process stops when it gets to the business process. At this point, specific process steps in the transactional process are identified as control points to ensure that the process will deliver an outcome consistent with the requirements of the framework. The compliance manager owns the framework, but the business process manager is accountable for ensuring adherence to the control points. Their daily/weekly/monthly process KPIs should include validation that the control points are being managed correctly. This is fairly straight forward when a manager is dealing with one compliance framework. It gets more complicated when the same process step is the control point for multiple frameworks. To manage this complexity the risk manager should own and manage a repository of control points. The repository will detail the many to many relationships between Risk, Framework, Process, Process Control Points, Process Managers and Process Owners. Linking risk to process This spectrum tells the process owner what control points they should be managing in each of the processes in their portfolio; and it tells the risk manager who they should be working through to mitigate each of the risks. It highlights which process steps are key control points in that they are governed by more than one compliance framework. The relevant compliance manger ensures that the responsible managers have the skills and tools to manage the control points. The organisation model could look like this: Org chart principles Once the repository model is established and the relationships known, then the process manager should use a scorecard to manage the control points in exactly the same manner as they manage process performance using KPIs, short interval control and analysis of variance. A simple example scorecard is shown below. The compliance SME will work with the process manager to agree the appropriate frequency of review, the units of measure (UOM) and the target score (budget) for each compliance metric. Goverance scorecard For mine it is not an overly long bow to treat a scorecard as just another framework. There are many opinions on what’s an appropriate organisation structure to manage the marriage between performance and compliance. Operational performance generally reports through to the COO. Compliance is all about risk and the risk manager should be accountable for the means by which risk is understood by the business. This includes ensuring the use of appropriate frameworks. By extension compliance managers should report to the risk manager and the risk manager should apply a very broad definition to the word ‘risk’. This raises the question – who should the risk manager report to. The answer is largely determined by the nature and culture of the business and the strength of the need to separate operations from risk. In certain circumstances it will be acceptable for the risk manager to report to the COO, in other cases this would be akin to asking the fox to install the chicken wire. Other reporting lines can be through the CFO or directly to the CEO. For such a structure to work requires effective matrix management. It also requires operational managers to take the time to fully understand the processes they are responsible for and to embrace their wider responsibility in terms of risk and compliance management. In closing it is worth reinforcing the point that effective governance/management requires the adherence to multiple frameworks. One framework cannot do it all. Equally to allow, or cause, a manager to focus predominately or solely on performance is to undermine the wider role of management in the business. Hi, Please let me have your thoughts You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Google photo Twitter picture Facebook photo Connecting to %s
CoinBits launches as a passive investment app for bitcoin Now, Finman, who built his first company while still in high school, is launching a new startup called CoinBits, which allows users to passively invest in bitcoin. The idea, according to Finman, is to democratize access to the currency by letting everyday folks invest nominal sums through well-known mechanisms like roundups on transactions made with a credit or debit card or through regular transactions from a customer’s savings or checking account to bitcoin through CoinBits . Every transaction also helps Finman’s own bitcoin holdings grow, and makes the young entrepreneur a little wealthier himself through his bitcoin holdings. Users can make one-time investments of $10, $25, $50 or $100 through the web-based platform and can establish a level of risk for their holdings. Finman’s app collects no commissions on transactions, and 98% of the bitcoin is stored offline — for safety. “Overall, investing in bitcoin is complicated and can feel almost impossible,” said Finman. “Coinbits allows you to put that spare change in bitcoin. For example, if you spend $1.75 on French fries, that remaining 25 cents is invested automatically.” Withdrawals are handled by CoinBits, which will give users same-day processing for a 50 cent-fee, and offers an easily downloadable record for accountants to deal with any gains or losses associated with bitcoin. Given the fractional nature of these investments, and the volatility of bitcoin, it’s hard to know what real value investors can reap from these small transactions, but it’s a less risky way to experiment with building bitcoin holdings than take a huge flyer on the market.
Royal Dutch Shell For IRA Income Investors It is historically unusual for Royal Dutch Shell to yield over 6%. This is a company with a very long history of having a fair value that also corresponds to a dividend yield between 5% and 6%. Given how well the American stock market has performed over the past six years, it can be wise to take a look at any large company that appears to be offering a discount. Royal Dutch Shell does $360 billion in sales per year. Hershey, which I covered yesterday, is worth $15 billion in its entirety. To get a feel for how large Royal Dutch Shell is, you could convert the amount of crude oil and natural gas that Royal Dutch Shell sells annually to the ability to buy the entire Hershey business 24x over. It is, without a doubt, massive. Now, when people talk about being value investors, they often express a desire to purchase a company working through some kind of distress that causes it to become unpopular and offer a discount. It is very easy to advocate this in theory, but more difficult to execute in practice. With WTI Crude Oil currently at $57 per barrel, many oil companies are reporting lower profits that have also dragged their profits down. What I like about Royal Dutch Shell is that the company is still going to make $13 billion per year even with lower oil prices. That’s down quite a bit from the all-time high of $31 billion in profits back in 2008 when the price of oil was peaking at $145 per barrel. But it still one of the twenty most profitable companies in the entire world, despite the comedown in oil prices. My attraction for energy companies was borne out of Jeremy Siegel’s research: Companies like Exxon and Chevron, which had much lower earnings per share growth rates over the long haul than spicier offerings like IBM, nevertheless delivered better long-term returns because the dividend yields tend to be higher and the extended years of cheap valuations gives you that special something extra if you chose to reinvest. My attraction for Royal Dutch Shell emerged as a result of studying Royal Dutch Shell’s ability to deliver 14% annual returns over the course of the 20th century despite having an earnings per share growth that was only a bit over half that amount, and cutting the dividend six times over the course of the century. Investors have always been concerned about Royal Dutch Shell’s ability to grow the business, and all the years of high dividend payments never quite got their due respect. Even through some of the dividend cuts along the way, the point remained: Royal Dutch Shell gives you a lot of income compared to the amount of money that you have to put out. To continue my recent trend of criticizing the S&P 500’s methodology for stock selection, I have add that it has been foolish to remove Royal Dutch Shell from the index in 2002. The reason why the S&P 500 kicked out Shell had nothing to do with the operating results. They didn’t like having an Anglo-Dutch company featured so predominantly in the index, even though almost 30% of Royal Dutch Shell’s stockholders are American. This has cost the index 0.2% in annual returns as S&P 500 Index investors have missed out on the fat dividend payouts from Shell during the rise in energy prices during most of the 2000s. Part of the reason why Shell has gotten cheap is that the spread between Shell’s dividend payouts and annual profits has gotten quite narrow. It makes $13.0 billion in annual profits based on current oil prices in the high $50s, and pays out $11.8 billion in dividends per year. That dividend should be safe unless oil falls another 10% or so and stays there for two or three years. Of course, I wouldn’t expect much dividend growth over the next five years, as it may take a bit of time for profits to grow and Shell will probably want to get its dividend payout ratio down to a more manageable level before hiking the payout again. But still, a dividend under threat and lower oil prices are the ripe conditions for getting value. When Shell was making $31 billion in profits back in 2008, the price of the stock was $87. You got to collect a lot of the dividends in the six years since then so the difference between $87 and the current price of $60 isn’t as bad as you think. But still, it’s clear that you want to arrive on the scene when the profits are lower rather than when they are high. If Shell maintains the dividend for the next 10 years, the $3.76 annual payout will give you $37.60 per share in income for every $60 share that you buy. Given that I’d expect an annual dividend growth rate of around 3.5% or so annualized when you size up the 2015-2025 period in total, I think these dividend estimates are slightly on the conservative side. To me, this stock is especially attractive if you are considering an investment within a retirement account. The idea that someone with 500 shares of Shell could pick up $18,800 in total dividend income over the next ten years to invest into other things that would, in turn, pay dividends of their own sounds like a nice engine to start the virtuous cycle of passive wealth building. I also like the fact that the commodity cycle is different from the rest of the economy as a whole. Yes, in 2008 and 2009, oil fell along with just about everything else. Sometimes, the tentacles of a bad economy can reach all sectors. But there are also times, like right now and 2000-2002, when energy markets enter periods of distress while the rest of the stock market and employment markets are holding up much better. In 1972, it would have been a great time to buy Exxon and Chevron, but not brilliant timing to buy Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, or Pfizer. And oil stocks were performing much better in 2010 and 2011 while healthcare stocks were getting cheaper due to the uncertainty of Obamacare and the defense sector stocks got cheap due to the threat of sequestration. It has decent potential to serve as a non-correlated asset class because new financial regulations or new healthcare laws aren’t going to affect an oil company’s decision to drill. The appeal of owning something like Royal Dutch Shell in an IRA is that it lets you get around the annual contribution requirements. Because tax-deferred accounts are a sweet deal compared to plain vanilla taxable account investing, you are going to face annual limits. The specific amount will vary based on whether you are talking about a Roth IRA or a 401(k), and whether you are at an age that permits those extra catch-up contributions. But the premise remains that there is a limit. One of the ways to offset this is by stuffing those accounts with companies that do excellent jobs of generating cash and returning a big chunk of that cash to shareholders. If it took you a bunch of years of diligent saving to get your hands on 500 shares of Royal Dutch Shell, you can take the annual cash payment of $1,880 and mix it with your $5,500 Roth IRA investment you’re your $1,500 monthly 401(K) contribution. It puts some icing on top of the other fresh investments that you are about to make. I don’t know where the price of the stock will be in the near term, nor do I have complete confidence in the dividend payment in a worst case scenario that saw oil at $40s for a few years, but I know that buying beaten-down giants that make $13 billion in annual profits while they are down tends to work out well for patient shareholders even if there are a few foreseeable bumps along the way.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Teaching Your Teens Respect For Women Yes, we need colleges to set better policy about sexual harassment but that men feel permission to speak like this to women, starts wayyyyy before they step onto that college campus. Here is what I think. • Now that kids can download apps where they can use extremely sexual language when texting each other, that disappears in 5 seconds, safe from parental supervision, sexting has become the norm for communication. As in "hey sexy bitch." Do this starting at age 8 or 10 or 12, it becomes your go-to language. Tuesday, April 29, 2014 Teenagers+Summer = You Gotta Have A Plan "Idle minds are the devils playground." No truer quote applies when thinking about teens and summer. If you haven't yet gotten into the summer mindset, here is your wake-up call! Everybody needs down time, but 10 weeks of down time for teens can spell t-r-o-u-b-l-e, especially if you are a working parent. If you anticipate leaving your house for work at 8 AM with your sleeping teen snug as a bug in a rug, thinking that all is well, get you head out of the sand. The devil will be over to visit. Regardless of good intentions, too much time = too much potential for temptation. We're talking sex, drugs/alcohol and general mischief. Once boredom sets in, which it always does after the initial bliss of no structure, look out. The planning should start now. If you have a younger teen, 13-15, this is a bit harder. They are too old for day camp, too young for most jobs, and too inexperienced or not motivated to find something on their own. Many older teens are unmotivated as well, or lack the confidence to find something on their own. So the first thing is to have realistic expectations of how much your teen will do independently to make something happen. Your job is to make your expectations clear, that is step #1. "I get you are looking forward to the summer, and having free time to hang with friends. We want you to have time for that too, but it's also important for you to have other things going on for you as well, either a job, or a volunteer/educational/internship experience, or camp, something that gives you a feeling of accomplishment and purpose. How would you like to go about this? What kind of help do you need from us?. Here is the deal, the question isn't, do you want to do something or not? but what is it you would like to do?" This can be a slow, painful process, as mostly you will get a lot of "I don't knows." If you have some extra money, there are many great programs that cater to particular interests of teens. If they want a job, expecting that they will have any idea of how to go about looking for one is unrealistic. Do this together, making a list of the kinds of places that are of interest to them, and then drive them around to pick up applications, and sit with them as they fill them out. If you just say to your teen, go get some applications, and have you filled our those applications probably not much will happen. I worked in a work/study program for 14 years with teens, and rarely did I find a teen who felt confident enough to follow through on expectations. What looks like laziness is actually low-self esteem. It is important to let them know that if there don't seem to be any jobs, and volunteering or interning is the fallback, that you will provide them with some kind of stipend. But, and this is important, if they choose to be idle, and do neither, then you will choose not to provide them with any summer spending money. Sitting around with both nothing to do and no money is not fun, and will get old really really fast. So provide incentive and reward for those idle minds, and keep that devil at bay. Thursday, April 24, 2014 Things To Consider Making THE College Decision I may be a little late on this one. I think the deadline for making college choice decisions is next week. But I wanted to offer a little advice based on a conversation I had recently with a parent whose daughter is transferring after finishing her freshman year. The school she chose to attend last May was in a warm climate, which she loved, was a college that has become one of the "it" colleges over the last 5 years, and had that cache and vibe that both parents and seniors in high school respond to. Pretty campus, small but not to small, 5,000 students, good program in the academic area she "thought" might become her major. Notice I put the "thought" in quotations. That is because many, many kids start off with an interest in one area, and when they graduate are in a completely different major. Which is great by the way. That actually is what the college experience is all about. Trying out different identities, different interests, different kinds of relationships, and different academic areas. OK so what went wrong. Turns out the school was a complete mismatch. While the "big picture" of this college fit the bill, the actual day to day of college life did not. This is a school where the "Greek Life" is king. Everybody pledges a sorority or a fraternity, or if that doesn't interest you, than there are academic clubs that function like them. These clubs unite people who share a similar major. You live together on the same dorm floor, study together and party together. This is a college divided. So... if you don't get into the frat or sorority of your choice, and you haven't yet settled on a major, or if you have, and you don't particularly want to surround yourself by your classmates 24/7 you are kind of left out in this college. And all this happens by the middle of your freshman year. This left this student with few people to hang with. Though she had made friends in her dorm, many of them pledged or joined something and they were otherwise engaged. She didn't get into the sorority of her choice. Also turns out living on a beautiful campus, in the middle of nowhere left few alternatives for leisure non-partying activities. No real town to go to, go to a movie, take a walk, or go to eat. Pretty place, but very isolated. The areas you and your senior should be discussing now are not academics, but college life. Because honestly, this will be the make it or break it of settling into and loving their new college life. Here are some important questions to ask, and I advise making sure your son/daughter calls and speaks to at least two kids who are completing their own freshman year for their perspective. I know admissions offices will be happy to furnish your teen with students who have offered to talk to incoming freshman. • Does size matter? Yes it does. • Does rural VS urban VS suburban matter? Yes it does. How does your teen like to spend their free time, and does this school offer those chances to do what they like to do. • What happens if they don't pledge a sorority or fraternity or do not get into one they want, or aren't interested in that whole joining thing, what do these students do and where do they go for their fun? • What do people do on the weekends? At the college I teach at, many of the students go home on the weekends, and those left have nothing really to do. My school is in the suburbs, and most students do not head into Boston, and there is NOTHING to do in the town where the college is located. Not surprisingly many of my freshman students are transferring, at first thinking small and suburban was good, but now hating it's limitations. This choice-making time is all about asking the detail questions, which your college-bound senior will not like to do. Teens look at the big picture, and have little patience for the smaller stuff. You will need to help them do that. It can make the difference between the phone calls you get from happy college freshman or miserable ones. Which call would you rather get? Wednesday, April 23, 2014 Social Networking Posts That Can Put Your Kid In Jail Promotion Wednesday. Have I mentioned I have a book coming out, and that it is available right now on Amazon. Here is a chance to read an excerpt of one of the tips that is on the Psychology Today blog website. PS I am having a bunch of readings, if you live near any of these, please, please, please come and help me celebrate my book. May 5th Porter Sq Books in Cambridge 7 PM May 14th Buttonwood Books Cohasset 7 PM May 16th Wellesley Books 7 PM May 20th Barnes and Nobles North Shore Mall Peabody 7 PM May 29th New England Book Fair Newton 7 PM June 9th Barnes and Nobles 86th and Lexington NYC 7 PM Invite your friends!!! Tuesday, April 22, 2014 The Night Of The "Bad Teacher" OK this is shameless promotion Tuesday. Many of your kids are on vacation this week, so I thought I would offer up a fun activity for Thursday evening, @9:30 PM. Shameless Promotion: My daughter Ari Graynor is an actress. She is the star of a new CBS show that premiers on Thursday night @ 9:30 PM called Bad Teacher. Though it does share the name and basic premise of the movie that starred Cameron Diaz the similarities stop there. This bad teacher (my daughter) is a narcissist, but a sweet one. This is actually a show that you can watch as a family. It is cute, funny, and does not include any raunchy sex jokes, I promise! So sit down with a bowl of ice cream, or popcorn and your middle/high school kids and enjoy at family night in front of the tube! Here is a sample of the show. Enjoy Thursday, April 17, 2014 A Teaching Moment For Your Teen About Pot Most teens think pot is no biggie. And it probably isn't if they are using infrequently as a treat. But for many teens, pot is becoming the high of choice. It mellows you out, you don't throw up from it, and hey it's legal in Colorado so how bad can it be. Well as it turns out, it's not good. In the developing brain of teens, it changes the way the brain grows. Rather than trotting out your own lecture on why drugs are bad, why not read this article at the dinner table! Wednesday, April 16, 2014 When I Was A Teenager..... I've been thinking about the the standards parents set for their children as they grow up. I was a very average student in high school, but I surely did not want my daughter to be like me in that regard during her high school years. I wanted her to be better, to have more options, to exceed what I felt was my own mediocrity at the time. PS, I think I am doing fine now! In my parent coaching lately, I have been struck by the disappointment many parents feel about their teenagers lack of perceived motivation and achievement. Sometimes it's academic, sometimes it's the lack of passion their kids seem to feel for anything significant, and sometimes it's the resentment for the time and effort their teens put into their friends and not their family. When I ask these parents what they were like in high school, they often say, rebellious, angry, social, party animal, disrespectful to their parents... and then we smile at each other. One parent said, she didn't much like her teen these days, and started to cry. Projection is a defense mechanism we can thank Freud for introducing us to. We often "project" on our children those qualities, memories and characteristics we hate most about ourselves. We sometimes see our children in a light that unconsciously reminds us of that part of ourselves we least like, and then wonder "how did they ever get this way?" Hmmmm I urged the mom who was feeling so negatively about her teen to tell him she totally understood how he was feeling. She had never really shared honestly with him about her own teen years, which were full of rebelliousness and anger..just like her son. She could see how her own parenting style was mirroring her parents, smothering, and overbearing. She worried that being honest with him might encourage him to throw it back in her face. In fact, just the opposite was true. Sometimes your teen feels your expectations so keenly and worries that they will fail. So rather than disappointing you and not living up to your expectations, they will just stop trying, and then you can be angry with them rather than disappointed. Anger is a much easier emotion to deal with than disappointment. This mom remembers well how she continued to disappoint her parents, and frankly continues to disappoint her family, not because she isn't successful enough, because she is, but because she isn't doing what they had expected her to do. She made choices to do what she wanted to do. The message that you are OK being who you are, is so much more loving and accepting than, you need to be how I want you to be. And they will be just fine. Tuesday, April 15, 2014 Money Matters Unless you are comfortably wealthy, most parents these days are using up their retirement portfolios, giving up restaurants, vacations, new cars and any other perk that one usually looks forward to in mid-life, to pay for their kids to go to college and have the freedom from debt as they start their young adult life. And most parents I know who do this, do it freely and with love. It is only when the semester grades start coming in, or the epidemic of changing one's major multiple times, that requires students to take additional courses (read more money) for their interest of the year, that parents start to wonder about the return on their investment. Many students I know are now on the 5 year plan due to flunked classes, need to make up credits or change of heart in what they want to study or do with their life. And because they have not been a part of the financial planning for their college career, and because they live in a fantasy world when it comes to money, and because many parents are afraid to talk money with their kids, they are not taking much responsibility for these decisions. Kids seem to want more, fancy phones, expensive video games, unlimited supply of clothes, and parents work hard to give them more. We aren't doing them any favors. Before they go to college is when they need to learn the meaning of money. How many of your kids have any idea what their phone bill is, or their computer or cable bill that allows them to order movies on demand without regard to the extra $6.99 that appears on your bill. How will your teens ever develop an appreciation for what things cost unless you teach them. I am a big advocate whether you are a family of means or a family where you need to count every penny, that you have a monthly date to go over the bills. Let them see just how many movies they did order and what the cost was. How much their portion of their cell phone cost. Dollars and cents, they need the reality. So much of teens lives in this 21st century make it easy to live in lalaland. They can say things without consequence through impersonal devices, they can order things without using the old fashioned greenback, and so it is no surprise that when they go off to college with a car full of new clothes and comforters that it feels magical. They absolutely need to know that college can cost up to $50,000 a year, and that is a sh**load of money. Start teaching them now. They may not have to pay the bills, but at least let them know that it all costs the real Maybe there is a limit on downloads and uploads, and scanning the bills together you develop some budget items. Let them know that mediocrity is not acceptable for college when everyone in the family sacrifices for their ability to go. A little guilt never hurt! And more importantly, obstacle and challenge make the journey to success so much more meaningful. Thursday, April 10, 2014 Preparing For Proms With Prom night looming, its time to talk about the safety issues of prom night. A parent called me recently with this prom night delemna. Her 15 year old daughter had been invited to a prom. The kids in this group had decided to rent not just a limo, but a party van which seats 20+ kids. The plan was to all go in the party van to a restaurant for dinner, sans adult supervision and then head back on the van to the prom. Sounds like fun!!!! Except the sans adult supervision. Though it is verboten to drink on these party buses, where drivers are trained to make sure kids get on the bus as alcohol free as possible, the stop at the restaurant would be a perfect opportunity for some pre-party alcohol/drug prep. No watchful eyes of limo driver or parents. I'm guessing mulitple visits to the restrooms provide ample opps for quick and dirty booze comsumption. Not safe!!!! This is drinking at its least safe. With a small increment of time teens will power drink so that they can reach the desired "highness" before re-boarding the bus. This is a prime-time for kids drinking potentially lethal amounts. Expectations, expectations, expectations. This is night that has been planned for months, down to the most finite detail. Not least of which is how to sneak, hide, and invent new ways to party so the adults won't catch them. A few years ago it was water bottles. Teens, feigning dehydration, brought in their innocent looking water bottles into the prom party. No need to even hide their drinking, it was "just water". It didn't take long for the chaperones to figure out that ploy as kids vomited all over the dance floor, and passed out. Moving on, last year, a few students ate some brownies, a lovely gift from mom to snack in the limo. Only these brownies may have come from mom's oven, but not mom's recipe, being full of pot. The kids still throwing up on the dance floor, (must have been some pretty strong pot) were sent by ambulance to a local hospital. Let's just say, there will now be no food or drink allowed into the prom. So much work, such creativity, all in the name of getting high. The message here is that teens are extremely motivated to find new and different methods of partying before the party. I remember a community drug/alcohol committee I served on many years ago. Around prom time, the committee met with the group that included a number of high school students. When asked about a "sober prom" all the students said that kids would almost rather not go to the prom if they couldn't party before fearing they wouldn't have fun if they weren't drunk. That just made me so sad. There is work to be done here. Below are some tips on helping your teen have a safe prom night: "I Get It" Opportunities: • I am so excited for you. • I know how much fun you are going to have. • I know there will be some situations that you have never been in before, lets figure out what they might be and put a plan together. Prom proofing your home: • Lock up all alcohol and prescription drugs • You drop off your teen's backpacks and sleepover bags to houses they will be going to either pre-prom or post-prom. (This helps with the hidden contraband kids pack in their backpacks) • If kids come to your house to pre-prom. Supervise. This is when a lot of kids try to imbibe since they can't drink in the limos anymore. • If kids come to your house to post-prom, be the keeper of the backpacks and bags. Stay up all night if you are having an all night sleepover. One parent I know made it a requirement that all parents whose kids were coming to her house after the prom had to call her personally to let the parents know the rules of the house. No cars, parents were responsible for picking their kids up in the morning. This guarded against any kids sneaking out and possibly driving to get booze or drive drunk. Any teen caught with alcohol would have to be picked up by the parents immediately. • For those parents who think it's ok to let kids drink in your house to celebrate prom night as long as you take their car keys thinking you are now the "responsible parent" Listen up. First of all it is not your right to make a decision about kids that are not your own to drink. That is every parents right and responsibility to make their own rules and expectations about alcohol and drug use for their own kid. Also just because you are giving them "permission" and may have purchased the booze, don' think that means that kids will drink responsibly. That just means kids are going "yippee" we can get trashed! Getting trashed also means getting sick, passing out, getting alcohol poisoning, falling, tripping, get the picture? Also what happens if one of those kids you have given"pemission" to drink has a medical condition you don't know about, and alcohol exacerbates it and there is a medical crisis. And finally, IT IS ILLEGAL TO GIVE MINORS ALCOHOL. Prepare and help your teen plan for: • Getting in a car with someone who is buzzed. • Unwanted sexual advances • Drinking and drugs at a house party Strategies and scripts for getting out of unsafe situations: • Make an "escape plan" using text message code word Provide scripts: • I'm allergic, alcohol makes me sick • My boyfriend/girlfriend wouldn't want me to fool around with anyone else • My parents drug/alcohol test me • Thanks I don't need a ride, I'm going with someone else • I feel like crap, I'm going home If things get out of hand, and a friend is out of control and wants to drive: • Get a few friends together and grab the keys from the kid who shouldn't be driving. • Text the parent in the house that there is a problem in the basement, or outside • Go to the bathroom....for a long time. Text me, and I will meet you around the corner Proms are fun and are memory makers. Really, don't be scared with everything I just wrote. I just want you to be prepared, and for you to prepare your teen. When you "get" that this night can be full of surprises, and that the awesomeness of it all can make it hard to stay safe, you are being smart. Be excited with your teen, and help them to be safe. Wednesday, April 9, 2014 Procrastination...My Old Friend Zits Cartoon for Apr/04/2014 Oh does this bring back memories. I admit it, I am the queen of procrastination. I avoid, I make deals with myself, I pay ridiculous consequences both figuratively and financially due to my procrastination, and you would think at age 62 I would have worked all this through. I have paid enough money to parking ticket offices in cities all over this country for late payments to have probably bought a new car! This is a tough one! Perhaps this is something that you just don't understand. Maybe you are the responsible person I long to be, and you have a teen who makes you a crazy with the "waiting to the last minute" episodes that often become your problem. As an adult, I take full responsibility for my flaw, but with teens, no such luck. Somehow their procrastination whether on time management issues, or homework and project deadlines, they somehow become the victims. It's your fault for not waking them up, or not reminding them, or the teacher's fault for assigning them this "stupid project." They are just not willing to take any responsibility for finding themselves in this conundrum, and it can make you hold your head in frustration, just like "Jeremy's" mom! I just got off the phone with a parent whose teen dug himself into a hole this school term. His missing homework and project assignments have cost him 3 letter grades. So though he could be an "A" student in this class, he is probably getting a "D"for the term. A new girlfriend, and the distraction of this "love connection" got him in this predicament. Too much texting and facebook messaging at night during homework time, and not enough work. "I'll do it!!!! Don't worry!!!" rang through the house on most nights. Getting the progress reports mid-term, the parents set up a carrot, if you don't bring the grade up to at least a "C" no drivers ed during April vacation. He was at that time getting an "F". This kid, desperate for his license, vowed to change. And he did. Parents saw him hunkering down to do his work, but unfortunately, it was too little, too late, and he could only get his grade up to a "D". The good news as I told this parent, is that the consequence is already in place, and you can put yourself on a lecturing break. No need for an "I told you so" or for an " If you only". Here is what you can say: " I get how disappointing this must be for you. I know for the last month you have really worked hard to get your grade up. But I'm guessing the hole was too deep to get out of it totally. Unfortunately you will have to put off taking drivers ed till summer vacation, after fourth term grades come in. That was our deal. I know that you will do better next term, knowing now what you need to do to keep up. I am sorry it didn't work out for you this time around." Done!!!!! This is how kids learn. Lecturing does not make a difference. Consequences that have meaning and that your teen has a stake in can be life changing. Finally sick of paying extra late fines for my procrastination on those damn parking tickets, I am proud to say, I pay the tickets as soon as I get them. Now if I could just put enough money in those meters!!!!! Tuesday, April 8, 2014 Teens and Depression This last year has been noteworthy for the number of teen suicides. No way to sugar coat this, it is just horribly sad. The three teens who have died in my community shocked everyone. They were the "good teens" the ones with passions and drive and loads of success. Teens who commit suicide are often the kids you least expect to. The ones who can say they are depressed, ask for help and get it, are not the ones who commit suicide. A young comic, Kevin Breel, (see link below) is a young man who has struggled with depression for many years, he is now 20, and no one knew. He describes living a double life; excellent student, amazing athlete, active in the theater program, had a thousand friends, everyone loved him. And as he describes it, he was a moment away from suicide. His depression was not a result of a bad breakup, or a bad grade, but chemicals in the brain that just couldn't make enough of those feel good chemicals that keep us feeling stable. Everyone understands the bad breakup sadness, but depression that is biology based gets short shrift in our culture, but it is the one that has got to be discussed. I have had a number of calls recently from parents worried about their teen, trying to figure out whether their teen is just having growing pains, or is in a real depression. Teens love to dump on their parents, giving them their most angry, their most sad, their most anxious and fearful feelings. This is the good news. Think of it as colic. When the bad stuff gets expelled, then sleep and peace can come...until the next time. Teens are feeling their feelings in ways they have never experienced them before. The intensity comes from an adolescent brain that is over activated in the area responsible for emotion, and literally from having some of these feelings for the first time. Without experience and a history that would have given them a game plan to deal with these feelings that are overwhelming, they are vulnerable to feeling like they might never go away. The first break-up, a humiliation on a soccer field, or a stage, the embarrassment of doing something or saying something impulsively stupid in front of your peers, the disappointment that someone you like doesn't like you back, the worry that they are disappointing you in some way, or any one of a million other things can feel like a catastrophe. So your kid comes to you in a rage, in a tantrum, sobbing uncontrollably and you feel helpless. But they are coming to you. Like a sponge, you absorb every drop of emotion. You can't sleep, you can't eat, you live with a pit in your stomach that your kid is in pain. But here is the thing, now that they have dumped it all on you and you have so graciously sopped it all up, they are free to go out and enjoy life again. Rinse and repeat! When is it time to worry? The dumping is a good sign. The emotion is a good sign. They are working it out. It may be hard on you, but at least they have an outlet. The worry should start, if they are not talking, isolating themselves, and really seem to have lost the up and down nature of teen life. Up and down is good. Staying down is not, or never getting down are both red flags. If you see your teen spending increasing amounts of time alone, in their room, avoiding family and friends, you might say something like this: " I have noticed recently that you seem more down than usual. You seem to be spending a lot of alone time in your room away from us and your friends. I get life can be complicated and difficult and sometimes overwhelming, and you might like just getting away from it all. I used to do that to sometimes. But I worry that you are not giving yourself a chance to talk about it. If you don't want to talk to us, I understand, maybe it would be helpful to talk to a counselor. I don't want to bug you, but I love you, and want you to work out what seems to be bothering you. I'll check back in with you in a few days, and we can talk about a plan." You will probably get a "leave me alone!" but don't let that deter you. Keep checking in, and letting them know that you are concerned. Eventually, you may just have to make an appointment and make them get in the car. An conversely, if you have the teen who is almost manic in their ability to manage it all, grades, extra curriculas, friends, etc, make sure you do a check with them as well: " You know honey, you always look like you are so in control of your life, you put a lot of pressure on yourself, I just want to check in to make sure you're OK with it all." Open the door, let them know that that kind of pressure cooker life can mask other feelings, and you just want to let them know you are available and can handle their down moments. Seeing your teen be in pain is the worst. Giving them a safe haven to express it is a gift. I would watch this video with your teens, and open the discussion. It doesn't scare you. Thursday, April 3, 2014 Saying No Can Have Many Unexpected Outcomes I read a wonderful editorial this past weekend. (see below) Most parents say NO when their teens make one of their many requests because the requests are either unreasonable, unsafe or because parents are tired, worn out and aren't in the mood to deal. But after reading this article it got me to thinking about the times in my life when I got a NO. And many times, that NO forced me to rethink, readjust expectations, and become more creative. For example, I have a new book coming out in May, (have your heard??) When I showed what I thought was a finished manuscript to a big time editor of a big time publisher who I had met socially and who graciously offered to read it, I thought I had hit the holy grail. Hey everyone had told me this publishing thing was hard, and first time out I had my book in someone's hands. Initially the feedback was good, but then I got the "I think we'll pass" email, but with some very sage advice. First I had to lick my wounds, I was disappointed, and had to grieve a hit to my ego. But now I can see that this NO is what made book what it is today. It's two years later, and alot of really hard work I didn't think I had in me, but that NO made me see that I did. Saying NO doesn't have to be punitive. It can be a gateway to growth. This quote says it all: Amichay identifies three types of “no”: The one that makes us try harder; the one that inspires us to rethink our visions; and finally, the one that moves us into a different direction. So one of those times you say NO to your teen, maybe give them that chance to move in another direction. For example, when they come to you with one of their cockamamie, ridiculous, what are you thinking requests; instead of saying NO this is ridiculous, you can say: " Go back rethink, and come back to me with a more reasonable plan, and let's talk. Make them work just a little bit harder, and think just a little bit more, and maybe then they will get their holy grail YES. Wednesday, April 2, 2014 Tis The Season For The College Acceptance and Rejection Tis the season.....For all of you who have high school seniors, the college acceptance and rejection season is upon you. You are in high anxiety, and your teen is in higher anxiety. This feels like a defining moment for everyone, even though is not. Admission to college is a little like a shell game these days. Sometimes kids get into the colleges they did not expect, and sometimes they get rejected from a school they thought was a sure thing. Sometimes kids get into what they thought was their dream school, and by the end of the first semester they are miserable, disillusioned, and can't wait to transfer somewhere else. Your first job is to monitor your own emotional temperature, and manage your own expectations. Where your senior gets in or doesn't get in does not define him or her or YOU. It does does not make them a genius or a loser. It is a moment in time. I have seen kids go to the school of their dreams and fail miserably, and I have seen kids go to their bottom of the list choice and end up happy, and very successful. Once the initial shock, excitement, or disappointment wears off, as it does by summer when you are in buying for the dorm mode, all will be forgotten except for the excitement of starting college...any college! If you are more excited than, or more disappointed then your teen, you need to tone it down. Your teen is not in the business of having to meet or not meet your expectations and dreams for them. They have enough to contend with dealing with their own feelings. Talk to your partner, talk to your mother, talk to your friends, but don't impose your emotional agenda on your child. That will truly be the best gift you can give them for graduation! What you can do is that will be helpful to your perspective college freshman is validate whatever feelings they are having. You don't need to try to make it all better, or tell them what you think they should do or go, you just need to understand and be in THEIR moment with them. As In: "I get this must be exciting for you, or disappointing for you,or frustrating for you, etc, etc" Remember that your teen lives in the emotional part of their brain. So whatever the outcome of this college decision process is, your teen will feel first, think later. Give them the time to do that. There are alot of factors that weigh in on the college decision, $$, location, course offerings, distance from home, but there is time to think about all those things later. Give your teen the time to process, and sit with the results. Maybe even a few weeks before you even start talking about it. You might say;" I get how hard this decision will be for you, I know you have a lot to think about. I want to give you time to just digest before we have to really get on the decision making stick. I am happy to talk with you anytime, but I want you to know that I respect your need to think on it. Let me know how I can help." And finally, please respect your teen's privacy when it comes to sharing the acceptances or rejections. Maybe your teen could care less who knows and will give you permission to tell the world. But some kids are VERY sensitive about this whole process and absolutely do not want their business shared with the masses. Case in point: I was at my gym last week and over heard a discussion between two moms who were spin class acquaintances, not best friends. Both were going down their teen's list of where they were accepted or rejected. I wondered why that seemed so important to two women who didn't even know or care about each other's kids. I know parents are proud when their kids get into schools that make them proud. Often I see those parents starting off the conversation, just so someone will ask them about their kids. Try not to get into the " My kids better than your kid" state of mind. All of our kids are wonderful, and where they get in or don't get in will not change that! Tuesday, April 1, 2014 11 Year Olds Like Sending Sexy Pictures Too OK this is another get your head out of the sand moment. This has been the month for middle school and the sexy pic. A few weeks ago it was about an 8th grader today a 6th grader. I have gotten this call a number of times from different parents and have been approached by parents with the exact same situation after my seminars. So this is more widespread than you think. Understand, that these are different kids from different communities. The one constant, they are all 6th graders. Parents of the boys, being vigilant about monitoring their 6th grader's phone, come across a photo of a selfie of a fellow sixth grader, that is a girl, dressed in panties and a bra posing suggestively for their 11 year old sons. What to do? What to do? Apparently the boys were surprised and shocked that the girls sent the photo, after all they are only ELEVEN!!!!! But pleased, I'm sure, none the less. So this leaves the boy's parents in a quandary. Besides the obvious of deleting the photo and hoping that their sons had not forwarded the photo to anyone, the parents wondered should they call the girl's parents? I had to really think about this. My first instinct was absolutely, these are really young kids, and if it's bra and panties in 6th grade, than its full frontal nudity in 8th. Parents of these girls have got to help their girls with this. SO yes call. But then the story gets more complicated. Not knowing the parents, there was no idea of how this information might be received and dealt with. In a few instances, parents told me that the girl's family situation was dicey, and that their sons were really worried that the girl's parents would really be scary punitive to the girl and the boys didn't want to see their friend get in so much trouble. Oy the guilt that kid would have to carry. So here is the best that I came up with. I did feel somewhat protective for the girl. I encouraged the parent to supervise their son to send a text to the girl saying this: " Hey my parents checked my phone and found your picture. They were really upset. I begged them not to call your parents, and they said that this time they won't. But don't send any more pics like this because my stupid parents are checking my phone all the time, and if i don't let them, they will take my phone away. I don't want to get you in trouble, and you should be careful about sending pictures to other boys cause their parents might not be so nice." Here is my hope; that this girl, very early on, gets the message that sending sexy pictures is not a good idea, and this gets nipped in the bud. And now there is a plan, that if another pic shows up the boys know that the girl's parents will be called. Boys must be told not to pass on these pictures, because if they are found on other phones and they are the source, then they can get nailed for sending pornography. Make sure snap chat, snap video or vine are not on your teen's phones, this is how these photos get shared, and someone, somewhere along the line will screen shot this photo and then it can easily get out of control. For those of you with girls. Please share this story as a cautionary tail. Let them know that parents do monitor their kid's phones. See you are NOT the only one. You get that sending sexy pics might be fun to a boy you have a crush on, but it is unsafe and you hope that there are other ways to show a boy some affection. TEACH THEM TO BAKE SOME BROWNIES!!!! It worked in my day.
Cannot Replicate Unlockable Progress Not Saving andrewpi7 2 years ago updated by Cian Noonan (Graphics Plumber) 2 years ago 3 I played the Crucible Survival Mode for the 1st time and got to wave 35 unlocking the Champion Worker. Although it showed it unlocked in the Extras->Unlockables area it did not show the Champion Worker available for any new game (Crucible, Skirmish or anything). I exited the game & reloaded it & now it claims I never unlocked the Champion Worker. I never had this problem with other unlockables even while playing offline. What is causing this bug? How do I keep my unlockable progress? Is there a way I can get back my Champion Worker? Game Version: Steam Public Pending Customer I believe this unlock is related to the Steam Achievement, can you confirm whether the Achievement is listed as unlocked on your Steam account? Sorry to hear about this issue though, I can understand it quite frustrating. My current guess is that something happened when the game unlocked the achievement and the Steam servers failed to respond to the achievement unlock, causing it to be missed possibly due to high traffic in the Steam Winter Sale. But looking into your unlocked achievements on Steam migh tconfirm this. Cannot Replicate Declined, no response
Thursday, October 23, 1997 Ron Unz, chairman, English for the Children, and Joseph Jaramillo, staff attorney, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, discuss if bilingual education failed, and if it should be improved or eliminated. Recorded on Thursday, October 23, 1997 ROBINSON Welcome to Uncommon Knowledge. I'm Peter Robinson. The millions of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island at the turn of the century spoke dozens of languages, but to get jobs and to assimilate into American life, the immigrants and their children had no choice but to learn English. Today, however: Hoy en dia immigrantes y sus niños no necesitan saber hablar inglès. [Nowadays, immigrants and their children don't need to speak English.] They can take their naturalization exams in their native languages. They can vote on ballots in their native languages. And, the subject of today's program, they can enroll their children in bilingual education programs in which their children will receive a great deal of their instruction not in English but in, once again, their native languages. Con nosotros hay dos invitados. [With us today, two guests.] Ron Unz is the author of an initiative on the California ballot that would end bilingual education. He believes that bi-lingual education should be replaced with intensive English immersion programs for immigrant children. Joseph Jaramillo of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund disagrees. He believes bi-lingual education is essential for helping immigrant children assimilate into American life. As you'll see, our conversation became-- muy animada. [Very animated.] ROBINSON What's wrong with the bilingual educations system in California today? UNZ Well, it doesn't really work. You see, the problem is that bilingual education today in California is not really bilingual education. It is primarily Spanish-only instruction. JARAMILLO That's completely wrong, Mr. Unz. ROBINSON Hold on, we'll come back. UNZ To give you an example of what I'm talking about, these are official records which anybody can look at. Half of all the bilingual students in California are in the Los Angels school district. So, in other words, L.A. is half of the entire state with regard to these programs. For the last ten years the policy of the Los Angeles unified school district for all these children has been that they should be given no more than thirty minutes a day of English instruction and five hours and thirty minutes a day of Spanish. JARAMILLO Is that across all grade levels, Mr. Unz? UNZ For the first few years when they start school. JARAMILLO So Kindergarten through third grade? Or second grade? UNZ Kindergarten through third grade sounds about right. But what I'm trying to say is that for the first few years when these children start school many of them are coming from families, for example, where everybody speaks Spanish at home-- in other words, they are really Spanish speaking children. They watch Spanish language T.V. They listen to Spanish radio. People in the community speak Spanish and then when they go to school they get thirty minutes of English and five hours and thirty minutes of Spanish. It's no wonder that so few of them ever learn English during that period. ROBINSON So, few learn English? That, in effect, is your principal charge. That this is not helping people assimilate into American life. UNZ And the one statistic which you can point to-- the trouble is a lot of this data simply has never been gathered by the bilingual authorities --some people think because the data would be so negative towards the program-- but the bottom line number is that right now a quarter of all the children in California public schools are classified as non-English proficient --they don't know English. And, of the ones who don't know English, only 5 or 6 percent learn English each year. In other words, 95 percent per year do not learn English. And when you're talking about young children, it should be very easy for them to learn another language. JARAMILLO I need to interject just to clarify. That is a very misleading statistic. ROBINSON Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. ROBINSON Ron's fundamental point is a huge proportion of kids --up to a quarter of them in California schools-- go into bilingual education program-- JARAMILLO Peter let me stop right there because only a third of limited English proficient kids actually attend a bilingual education program. 70 percent are in a program that does not use the primary language, much like the initiative that Mr. Unz proposes. ROBINSON So what's your guess about the proportion who are in a bilingual education programs? He says a quarter... UNZ 30 percent. JARAMILLO 30 percent. I agree with him on that. ROBINSON Oh, okay. So it's a huge proportion... JARAMILLO No, 30 percent of limited English proficient kids. ROBINSON So it's 30 percent of 25 percent. Okay. JARAMILLO So what Mr. Unz is doing is scape-goating a program that hasn't even gotten off the ground. ROBINSON Hold on. I want to know what your views are. So, it's a large number of kids, not as large as I had thought, but it's a large number of kids-- they go into the program and they fail to learn English adequately. Is that true or false in your judgement? JARAMILLO That is false. That is a vast generalization. As I said, there are, even within bilingual education, nine or ten different programs. I can point to --even in your own backyard-- East Palo Alto Cesar Chavez Academy where the re-designation rate at fifth grade is close to 70 percent. So that's a 70 percent success rate which, if you look at the whole statewide statistics, is phenomenal. It's very amazing and what we ought to be doing is emulating a bilingual program like Cesar Chavez in making other bilingual programs work. The reason why some programs do not have such a high success rate is because we don't have adequately trained teachers who know how to speak the students' primary language. We don't have adequate resources-- ROBINSON But you are conceding that there are pretty severe weaknesses here and there in the system. You're not going to make a kind of full court defense of the system as it stands now. JARAMILLO The problem is not in the concept because clearly it can work and we ought to emulate those programs that work. The problem is in the implementation and the problem is in school district personnel and school personnel who are not adequately trained, who don't have the resources and also who may buy into this incentive that if we keep these kids in these programs longer we will get more state and federal money. UNZ That's a very good point. JARAMILLO And what we ought to do to address that point-- ROBINSON Joseph says bilingual education works, at least in concept, and Ron disagrees. So what does Ron propose that we do? ROBINSON Mr. Unz, in your initiative what do you want to do to change this system? UNZ Well, essentially our initiative reverses the current system and it makes bilingual education truly voluntary. In other words, it doesn't outlaw bilingual education but it says that those parents who really want their children not to be taught English immediately when they start school-- they want their children in a bilingual-- which really is a Spanish- only program-- JARAMILLO It's not Spanish-only Mr. Unz. ROBINSON Make notes on what he said that's wrong and then I'll come back to you. Go ahead. UNZ The point is those parents who really don't want their children taught English immediately when they start school, which is a very small number I think, would have to affirmatively seek a waiver in order to have the child placed or kept in a bilingual program. ROBINSON Alright. So the opening presumption is the kids learn English and the parents have to take action to opt out. UNZ Exactly. The key point there is, you see, when you look at the current system-- California is a very large state and I'm sure in a state this large --where I think there are fifty thousand different schools in the whole state-- I'm sure you can find individual schools or classrooms or even maybe small school districts where bilingual education actually does work. I'm sure there are actually a lot of individual cases where it might work, but overall statewide only 5 percent of the children, a year, learn English or so. JARAMILLO But only 30 percent of those children are in a bilingual education classroom, so it's really the 70 percent that are not in a bilingual education program that are accounting for this failure rate. UNZ But they aren't. It's the children who aren't being taught English who don't learn it. JARAMILLO So, the children in English immersion programs which have to flash through this chart, which probably would represent this ESL line here. This is a national study of seven hundred thousand English learners. ROBINSON English immersion is roughly what you would like to propose? UNZ Exactly, but-- JARAMILLO Outlawing the use of another language in the classroom-- ROBINSON Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. JARAMILLO --even punishing teachers for speaking another language-- ROBINSON We'll be punishing you for speaking English, in a moment. Silence for a moment. Pray, silence. Yes? UNZ The point that we have is that, you see, almost all of... I'd like to just step back a little bit. When you're talking about older children- now there are children who are twelve or thirteen or fourteen who come to the United States not knowing English- I think you can make a very valid case in favor of bilingual education. In other words, teaching them academic subjects in their native language so they don't fall behind academically while they' re learning English. Now I don't know if the case is right or wrong. A lot of people I've talked to even think of that age, it's better that the children learn English as quickly as possible, through English immersion. But the point is almost all of the children we're talking about in these programs start school when they're five or six because they're native born Americans. ROBINSON Okay. So let me understand. Your initiative has two points. One is the presumption is they'll learn English and the parents have to opt out. And the second point is the way in which they will learn English is English immersion that lasts how long? UNZ Generally less than one year. ROBINSON Less than one year. So you take kids who speak Spanish... UNZ Who are five or six years old. ROBINSON Now, you're open to debate at the older, at the higher grade levels. But what we're talking about is the early grade levels, they go into a special English immersion program... UNZ To intensively learn English as quickly as possible. ROBINSON And then they move into the ordinary, regular classrooms in English. Alright. Now, I know that he (Unz) thinks that bilingual education as it stands now doesn't work and you (Jaramillo) think that it does work in principle and needs help in practice. Let's shift now to talking about his (Unz') initiative which he thinks will work and you (Jaramillo) think... JARAMILLO It will be devastating to the limited English proficient kids of this state and to our educational system. ROBINSON Now lets get back... Here's where I wanted to see your chart. You have a point to make about different kinds of ways of teaching kids English. Right? JARAMILLO Right. This is a national study done by Wayne Thomas in Virginia out of George Mason University and it basically tracks seven hundred thousand limited English proficient students in five major urban school districts in the country. ROBINSON Is any of those California, do you happen to know? JARAMILLO Well, they keep it blind because they don't want anybody to interfere with the results. ROBINSON But there's a lot of kids. Seven hundred thousand. JARAMILLO Seven hundred thousand. They track them K through twelve, the duration of their program. So this began in the 1980's and it basically tried to see which one was most successful. ROBINSON What's the best one? What's the top one? JARAMILLO The top one was two-way bilingual education where you have English speakers and Spanish speakers in the same classroom learning in Spanish and English so that there's cross-pollination. And this line right here represents the average native English speakers academic score on this English reading standardized test. ROBINSON Where does his version... UNZ ...not on the chart, unfortunately. JARAMILLO Well his version would come close to English as a second language, where you're being taught only in English and they have a very low failure rate as you can see. UNZ But it isn't one of those cases on the chart. JARAMILLO Well it's worse than one of those cases because it would only last one year and there's no credible studies showing that you can learn English in one year. ROBINSON Hang on. Wait a minute. If immigrant children can't learn English in one year, how long does it take? ROBINSON Do you have educators of some kind who have done studies to support your position? UNZ Certainly. It basically shows that immersion, sheltered English immersion, or sometimes its called structured English immersion, is far and away the most effective means of young children learning English, which is pretty obvious because also it's backed up by common sense. When you talk to children, or people who come here from other countries, just people who you would know who aren't either pro-bilingual or anti-bilingual, aren't involved in this debate at all, as I have and you ask them, for example, how long it takes young children who come to the United States to learn another language like English. They all agree that -you know you're talking about six or seven or eight year old children- it takes just a few months. Up to maybe a year. A year seems awfully long. The theory of bilingual education which all these studies argue for says that it takes seven years for a young child to learn English. In fact a new study came out... JARAMILLO Five to seven years. ROBINSON You buy that? You buy the five to seven year figure? UNZ That is the orthodox theory. JARAMILLO But you're not only trying to teach them English but you want them to keep up in the academic subjects and under his program they're not going to keep up in the academic programs because they will be learning English for only one year and when they come out of that program, they're going to be one year behind in science, math, social studies and they still won't know how to speak English at a level competent with their classmates. ROBINSON So you're going to be feeding them into the English speaking school system at a snail's pace -five to seven years. ROBINSON Okay, now look. I have to say that when Ron talks about common sense it appeals to me and I'm going tell you what I'm thinking so that you can answer it, because if you're going to be fighting this ballot initiative, there are going to be a lot of people thinking the way I am thinking and that is... My wife is of Cuban decent, she speaks Spanish to the kids, we have four little kids, the oldest is six and I can tell you that they are like sponges for learning language, they pick it up extremely quickly. The notion of five to seven years to achieve proficiency in a language... If I were a parent it would drive me crazy if homework were coming home... -I'm giving you my comments as sort of my gut reaction- would drive me nuts if for five or seven years homework's coming home in two languages... that just seems crazy on the face of it. How do you respond to that, Joseph? JARAMILLO Well, I have three responses. The first response is... ROBINSON It's television. You might have time for two. Go ahead. JARAMILLO You have a choice, if you don't want your kid to learn that way, put him in English immersion. ROBINSON And that's genuinely easy to do? ROBINSON Okay. Let's put it this way. Is it harder or easier than registering a car in the state of California? In other words, do I then have to get entrapped by the state education bureaucracy? JARAMILLO All you have to do is... You get the letter saying what you're child has been assessed, at what level, and you go back and say I want my child in this program. ROBINSON So your first answer is that you can opt out of this particular program and the second answer is? JARAMILLO The second answer is, okay, let's use Ron Unz' approach, it's still going to take three to four years and when they come out of it they're going to be two years behind. ROBINSON He (Unz) says one year. UNZ Less than one year. JARAMILLO He's wrong. There's no way that... ROBINSON You just don't believe it? JARAMILLO There's no credible study showing that you can learn English to perform competently in academics at your grade level in one year. You'll spend the whole year learning English. You'll come out being able to talk "playground" English. Your peers will be able to talk at first or second grade level. They will have had the advantage of a year more of science, social studies, mathematics. You will not have had that. You will constantly be trying to catch up with them and the fact is you're never going to catch up and it's likely that you're... ROBINSON Never going...? You really believe that...? Okay. JARAMILLO There will be exceptional people that will catch up but it's going to be very hard to catch up at that level. My third answer is, do you want your child to be able to succeed academically, that's the question. ROBINSON Obviously, yes. ROBINSON Now also if I'm an immigrant, particularly if I'm an immigrant... I don't know about immigrants from extremely developed countries (i.e. Israel), but if I'm an immigrant from Mexico which in our state of California we have most immigrants from Mexico. I came to this country to better my life and the life for my children. So I want them to become Americans. The evidence there is overwhelming. I want them to become Americans. Okay, so... JARAMILLO They're going to become Americans most likely after fifth grade if they start in kindergarten, and what they will do is gradually, you know, kindergarten, they will spend twenty percent of their day learning in English and learning how to speak and write and read English and they will spend the rest of the day learning the core curriculum in their language because they're already at a level where they can take off. And then in first and second grade it gradually becomes fifty/fifty and by fifth grade they're ready to jump into an English speaking classroom -a mainstream classroom and succeed academically. They're ready to go in and outperform or perform at the same level as the native English speakers. ROBINSON You speak about this with real excitement in your voice, they're ready to jump... Joseph claims it takes time to learn English, but time may be just what Joseph himself doesn't have. ROBINSON Now, Ron has been cris-crossing the state in favor of his initiative. You've been cris-crossing the state against his initiative. He says he runs into parents all the time who are fed up... Do you run into parents all the time who are pleased with the situation at present? JARAMILLO They're not pleased because bilingual education is already being eliminated. I've got parents in San Rafael that are mad because their child has been pulled out of a bilingual education classroom where they were getting straight As and they are being put in a mainstream English classroom where they are now getting Cs and Ds. ROBINSON So what you want is more bilingual education, more resources for the system as it stands. JARAMILLO That's going to be better, but at least, at bare minimum, schools have to have flexibility and they should not be straight-jacketed into an approach that has never been proven to work. ROBINSON Here's your big problem: The Los Angeles Times conducted a poll in October and it found -you (Unz) as a matter of fact could just take the rest of the year off- it found about 80 percent in favor of Mr. Unz' initiative. And, furthermore, it found that among Latino Californians the support was even stronger, about 84 percent in favor. Now that strikes me as a serious problem for Joseph. How do you deal with that? JARAMILLO Well I think there are a lot of flaws with that poll. It basically was a one question poll asking, "Would you support your children learning English in the classroom and being taught only in English?", which is pretty accurate of what Unz' initiative does. What it did not ask -and even though it seems contradictory, if you would have asked another question -and there are polls to support this- "Do you support bilingual education?", you will also see a majority of Latino parents saying "Yes, I do". UNZ Well, I just know the personal experiences I've had. For example, when we went- I've gone out a couple of times to East L.A., Whittier Boulevard in the heart of Latino East Los Angeles, just set up a little table with a couple of other people, taken our petitions and seeing how many of the Latinos walking by would be willing to sign our petition to essentially get rid of bilingual education and make sure all the children are taught English as soon as they go to school. 90 percent of them signed the petition. Many of them registered to vote for the first time simply so that they can sign our initiative. And many of them have horror stories that they tell us about that crazy bilingual program where they have to go to school five times to force the administration to teach their little brother English, or their cousin wasn't being taught English, or the relatives weren't being taught English, and they think the system's crazy. ROBINSON Joseph let me ask you this... Even Joseph and Ron agree. Latino students are in trouble. ROBINSON Here is what I take to be the fundamental problem that each of you is attempting to address and that is that in this state Latino students consistently underperform all other students. They score the lowest of any ethnic group in the SAT tests and they have the highest dropout rate which is about 40 percent. Now this is a decade and a half - two decades or so after bilingual education was instituted. Why? Why are they underperforming? JARAMILLO Well there's a number of reasons and it has very little to do with bilingual education because only one-sixth of Latinos are in a bilingual education program. You have to remember that only half of Latinos are English learners. The other half already knows English. And among that one half only a third are in a bilingual education program, so it's silly to say bilingual education is the cause of those failures. But I can give you some comment as someone who works in the community. I attribute a lot of the difficulty that Latinos have academically in this state... A lot of it has to do with lower teacher expectations. A lot of it has to do with poorer resources whether it be in the inner city or whether it be in the rural central valley. A lot of it has to do with parents not exactly knowing how to get their kids to succeed because they don't have an educational background. ROBINSON So these are deep cultural problems? JARAMILLO I wouldn't say cultural, but I would say environmental. ROBINSON I don't mean to blame Latino culture, but, alright, environmental... That Ron's ballot initiative wouldn't touch. JARAMILLO I don't think it's going to make a dent. I think what it's going to do is increase the dropout rate because if you only allow schools one rigid approach, a one-size fits all, straightjacket, then they're not going to be able to adapt to the needs of their students. In other words, sometimes they might need to use sheltered English. Sometimes they might need to use primary language. But if you do as his initiative does and you outlaw the use of a foreign language in the classroom and you hold teachers personally liable for speaking another language... ROBINSON Does your initiative do that? UNZ It certainly doesn't. It doesn't even outlaw bilingual education. In other words, bilingual education will continue in California if our initiative passes, but the only children in the bilingual programs will be the ones whose parents want them in the programs. And according to the polling data, very few parents like bilingual education. So my guess is our initiative will eliminate about 98 percent of all the bilingual education classrooms in California. ROBINSON But because the parents will choose. UNZ Because they'll choose English. JARAMILLO But Peter, it's not just bilingual education. There are a number of methods in between English immersion and primary language instruction to teach limited English proficient children English. ROBINSON Just administratively, Joseph, aren't you asking for a huge draw on the state's educational resources? Because you refer again and again to the variety of different kinds of programs which -no doubt, as a parent, I'd like the biggest smorgeshboard to choose from that I could get, but isn't that administratively just hugely expensive and difficult to run? JARAMILLO Well it's not because a school basically says "we're either going to have this program or this program or we can do both", but under Mr. Unz' initiative what they're going to have to do is, they're going to have to be mandated to provide sheltered English immersion. And then if there are 20 parents that get a waiver, they're going to have to provide a bilingual class in the same school and that's going to be administratively a nightmare. ROBINSON Let me ask you a sort of a summing up question, Joseph. Enough about educational nightmares. Let's talk about what Joseph and Ron would like to see. ROBINSON If Ron's dream comes true, next June his initiative will be enacted by the voters of California. What do you want? What would be your dream for correcting the problems in the educational system as regards particularly Latinos that you see now? If we could give you anything you wanted, what would you do? JARAMILLO With respect to making sure that English learners learn English and succeed academically. JARAMILLO To achieve that goal what you need to do is allow school districts flexibility so that they can choose programs that are proven to work. So that they could emulate models such as Cesar Chavez Academy which has a 90 percent graduation rate up from 9 percent when they didn't have bilingual education. ROBINSON And this is in... JARAMILLO East Palo Alto. I would put more resources into education. The problems with bilingual education are systemic or indicative of the problems with the whole educational system. We don't have enough money. Our classrooms are too big. We don't have adequately trained teachers and we're got to train those teachers. We've got to put more money into our state's most important resource: the students. ROBINSON Joseph, Ron, a closing question. Ron's initiative will be on the ballot in June. California is a bellwether state, we know. We also know there are bilingual education programs and problems in states throughout the country. New York, particularly, has problems. What I want from you now is a prediction. Will Ron's initiative pass or will it fail? Ron? UNZ Well I think it'll pass, and once it passes... ROBINSON Name the margin. Is this huge 80 percent thing going to persist? UNZ I think it's possible. UNZ I think getting about 80 percent or 75 percent overall statewide would be pretty reasonable. ROBINSON And from there it begins to ripple across the rest of the country. UNZ I'd even put it more strongly. Half of all the bilingual education programs in America are in California. If the initiative passes, half of all bilingual education in California will disappear immediately. I think the other half will be gone within a year or two. ROBINSON Joseph, prediction? What happens to his initiative? JARAMILLO After a long battle to educate the public and to dispel all the misleading statistics and mis-perceptions put out by Mr. Unz, the initiative fails on a very close margin. ROBINSON Are you going to flip from support to objection among the Latinos particularly? You're going to be able to move your own community, so to speak? JARAMILLO Our own community needs to be educated and he is playing upon their fears that their children will not be able to learn English under the present system. And then, once it fails, and we have been doing this even before this initiative, we have to roll up our sleeves and we have to make sure that those programs work whether they be about bilingual education, immersion, sheltered immersion, we've got to make sure that there is a choice, there is flexibility, and we can make those programs work. ROBINSON So you defeat his initiative and roll up your sleeves. Joseph, Ron, thank you very much. Joseph Jaramillo believes that bilingual education is right in principle, although it may need some improvement in practice. Ron Unz is convinced that bilingual education is wrong-headed and a failure. If Ron has his way, and it appears that he will, we will see fewer and fewer students approaching their teacher with the old, lame excuse: El perro se comeo mi tarea. [The dog ate my homework.]
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 Stuff on my head Part 3 How in awe of me are you right now? A helicopter. On my head. I am so cool. I'm not sure if I've ever flown in a helicopter. I think we were going to once. When we were in Hawaii and wanted to take a helicopter tour around the volcano, but we didn't. N and I were there with my dad, and he has issues with flying anyway. Due to the fact that he was shot down in a helicopter three times during Vietnam. I can imagine that giving anyone flight issues, don't you? Still, it's something I'd like to do sometime. Also? Ride a motorcycle. Just FYI. 1. I don't like flying at all. I doubt that you would ever have got me flying again, if I had been shot out of the sky. 2. LOL - what a fun post. i'd like to ride in a dirigible someday.
Life Matters To believe so much and have so little The morning of the dedication of the soup kitchen in Antigua, Guatemala, was full of sunshine and excitement. The day before, I had arrived back at the house of my email friend with a multitude of recently purchased flowers in disarray. The ladies were ecstatic with the quantity, and even more impressed when they learned there were a few blooms chosen from each of the flower vendors, thus incorporating more members of the community for this monumental event. Where I saw a jumble of shapes and colors, they saw a masterful creation just waiting to emerge, and thus it did! We humbly carried the vases to the soup kitchen, where the priest from San Francisco Church was going to say a dedication mass. The ladies had put aside many roses, from which they had removed the petals and strewn them down the aisle between the tables. At the end of the aisle sat a makeshift altar for the ceremony. The soup kitchen was soon filled over capacity with every seat and standing place occupied. All stood while the priest and altar boys processed down the rose petals and all participated fully in the mass, responses and prayers in unison, as though one voice. For those who did not have a seat during the service, they kneeled on the concrete floor. Old and young, lame and healthy, kneeled! The communion line stretched around the building as the devout Catholics went up to receive the sacrament, eyes closed, lips moving in silent prayer as the line progressed. Some were so joyful they actually had tears in their eyes and dripping down their cheeks! It was evident that the church played a huge role in their lives. They genuinely appreciated everything they had, including this new gift of a soup kitchen. Many had walked miles, some barefoot, to get to this gathering. It struck me that in the U.S., where “things” are so abundant and we have so much, most of us do not have that type of dedication to our religions. With a bit of sorrow, I realized that my life is somewhat less fulfilled without this all-encompassing passion. For such indigent, houseless, moneyless, possessionless group of people to be so jubilant about their faith is a lesson for all of us. After the awe-inspiring service, I donned an apron and joined the other ladies in passing out the food that had been prepared in their new kitchen; pupusas (corn tortillas stuffed with refried beans) and pepian (a thick stew with spices, chicken and rice in a tomato sauce) were the main menu items. There was also a huge cake donated by a local bakery for the occasion. In order to have enough for the crowd, small, one-inch pieces were cut and handed out. What a treat this was! Women, old and young, and especially the children, giggled with excitement when the morsel was placed on their plates. It really was a special day for them! I stayed for another week in Guatemala and had many grand adventures, some of which I may recount in the future. It was a life-altering trip, much more inspiring than a trip to Disney World or a California beach. My perception of religion was changed; I saw it as a joy to behold, an extra-special gift for these people who had so little else. Please log in or register to add your comment
Thursday, March 10, 2011 Men Only 1. Vennal and Grabbit is the closest I know of with their aggressive legal representation and a lack of interest in any namby pamby non confrontational approach. But to cut off half of a potential money making clientel would go against the grain. I find it easier to help men, because you can at least tell them to get a grip, and women do tend to whine so much. 2. Hi Swiss, Yes, I had exactly the same thoughts re: V & G when I wrote this post. I think Mr Venal gets his secretary Brunhilde to deal with whining women clients. 3. rather a tasteless discussion as a firm is increasingly more likely to survive if it takes on the clients who have the dosh. Any bets on whether the priciest lawyers act for men or women? As for acting for children ... 4. "a firm is increasingly more likely to survive if it takes on the clients who have the dosh" Mr Venal's thoughts precisely (save that the word "dosh" isn't in his vocabulary). * They are (or are possibly) defamatory; or * They breach court reporting rules; or * They contain derogatory, abusive or threatening language; or Please also note that I am unable to give advice.
初級 4787 タグ追加保存 Presented by squarespace what's up guys Lu here back with another video and today we're gonna to be doing the official iphone 6-plus bended test now normally I wouldn't do a video like this but I woke up this morning and saw a number of reports claiming that the iphone 6-plus was bending inside people's pockets so I decided to pull mine out of my pocket , I've been using it as my regular phone for the last couple of days and upon inspection I actually noticed a tiny little indentation toward the center of the device which kind implies a little bit of the bend, not much, nothing conclusive but some other images I've seen from other people show a far more significant bend and the claims are that people are just using it in their front pocket which normally wouldn't result in a bend aluminum phone, but in this particular case we have such a large device I could see this being a significant concern for people so for the sake of science today, I'm gonna bend this iphone 6-plus to see how much force it actually takes to make this thing unusable or essentially bend in such a fashion you would be pissed off as the owner of one of these devices so without further do , let's get into the iphone 6-plus bend test so there you have it guys unfortunate but under the pressure of my hand it does band quite significantly specifically around this portion here were the buttons. My focus was more in the center portion but it seems to be a weak point up here near the button cut-outs bottom line here is it's an aluminum phone it is going to bend if you apply enough pressure like I just did, now will this happen in your front pocket that probably depends on how tight your pants are and how often you've wearing this in your pocket I think it could. This was painful to do but for the sake of science that let you guys know if it's an actual possibility it looks like it will be a possibility on the iphone 6-plus . Not necessarily the piece of information that you guys want to receive is brand new owners of this device. It's probably not gonna be the most durable from that standpoint but it's a huge footprint look at the footprint in that thing is a huge piece of aluminum and we all know that aluminum is incredibly malleable but now we have actual evidence on a camera not just a picture of a band phone after the fact, yes, it bends under the force of my hand pressure, just pushing on it the aluminum bend even with this robot piece of glass It's time to see how Apple response to this if I get any updates I'll let you guys know in an upcoming video and quick reminder I've got an extra iPhone , regular iPhone 6 there may be giving away shortly so subscribe for that maybe this is not enough information to push you in the direction of picking the six over the six plus bigger footprint, bigger piece of aluminum, greater likelihood of bending , they have it little bit approve right here on Unbox Therapy thanks for watching guys. It was painful like I said before but it's all for the sake of science so that you can a little bit more info about this investment that you're about to make Alright. Catch up in next episode later . iPhone 6 Plus Bend Test 4787 タグ追加保存 Sunny Hsu 2014 年 9 月 28 日に公開 2. 2. リピート機能 3. 3. ショートカット 5. 5. 動画をブログ等でシェア 6. 6. 全画面再生 1. クイズ付き動画 1. クリックしてメモを表示
Skip to main content The Tongue: Facts, Function & Diseases Woman sticking out tongue The tongue consists of eight interwoven, striated muscles that can move in any direction. (Image: © Djomas \| Shutterstock ) Though the tongue may seem like a simple organ, it has a wide range of purposes, such as licking, breathing, tasting, swallowing and articulating speech. Its many talents are due to the construction of the tongue. Typically a human tongue is around 3.3 inches (8.5 centimeters) for men and 3.1 inches (7.9 cm) for women, according to the University of Edinburgh. The world’s longest tongue is 3.97 inches (10.1 cm) long, from the tip to the middle of the closed top lip, and belongs to Nick Stoeberl of Salinas, California, according to Guinness Book of World Records. The longest tongue for a woman is 3.8 inches (9.75 cm), belonging to Chanel Tapper of Los Angeles. The tongue consists of eight interwoven, striated muscles that can move in any direction, making it quite flexible. Throughout the muscles are glands and fat, while the outside is covered by a mucus membrane. The top of the tongue, also called the dorsum, is covered with papillae, tiny nodes that contain the taste buds and the serous glands. The serous glands secrete some of the fluid found in saliva, while the taste buds taste food through receptors that send information to the brain. Receptors are nerve endings that have a chemical reaction to the food that is being eaten. There are different reactors for different types of flavors, and there are around 50 to 150 taste receptor cells inside each taste bud, according to Encyclopedia Britannica It is a myth that different parts of the tongue taste different things. While it is true that different receptors taste different flavors, these various receptors are bunched in four places on the tongue. Most of the taste receptors are found on the tip of the tongue, according to the University of Texas Medical Branch. The bottom of the tongue is smooth. Its purple color comes from the many blood vessels that run along the bottom of the tongue. The root of the tongue is the bottom part of the tongue that can't be seen. It has arteries, bundles of nerves and muscles that branch out to the rest of the tongue. Sticking it out Sticking out your tongue is considered unacceptable behavior in many cultures, but it is a sign of respect in others, according to Bright Hub Education. In Tibet, sticking out the tongue is a greeting. When two people meet, they stick out their tongues at each other. Among the Maori people of New Zealand, sticking out the tongue is part of a war chant and is meant to intimidate the enemy. If a Maori woman sticks out her tongue, it is a sign of defiance. [Infographic: Will Your Tongue Really Stick to a Frozen Flagpole?] The unusual condition known as "geographic tongue" causes red and white patches that give the appearance of continents on a map. (Image credit: Bin im Garten Wikimedia Commons) Diseases & conditions Though the tongue is small, it can develop many different conditions. "The most common condition that I see as a dentist is [oral] erythema migrans, aka 'geographic tongue,'" said Dr. Corbin Brady of Brady Dental Care in Des Moines, Iowa. This condition is characterized by red patches on the tongue with a yellow or white serpentine border that disappears and reappears on different parts of the tongue. "Its etiology is unknown and no known conditions seem to cause it. The good news is that no pain or symptoms are typically associated with it," said Brady. (Erythema migrans is also the name of a skin rash that is a symptom of Lyme disease. The two are not related.) Like with geographic tongue, most shape changes or discoloration of the tongue, such as furry tongue or black or yellow coloring, are harmless. Oral thrush, or oral candidiasis, is caused by an accumulation of a fungus on the lining of the mouth. It causes creamy white lesions on the tongue and inner cheeks, according to the Mayo Clinic. It is more likely to affect babies, the elderly and people with suppressed immune systems, such as people with HIV/AIDS. Smoking can cause a wide variety of tongue problems. People who smoke often find that their sense of taste is deadened or changed. "Nicotine is a known vasoconstrictor, something that limits blood flow — it limits your bodies cells from functioning or healing. For the tongue, continued smoking has shown to alter the morphology of the fungiform papillae, which hold your taste buds. Smoker's papillae have been shown to typically be less dense in number, have less blood flow (less capillaries), and have thicker 'skin' (more keratin)," Brady said. Smoking and other tobacco products can also cause tongue cancer. According to Cancer Treatment Centers of America, some of the symptoms may include: • Difficulty swallowing or chewing • Persistent tongue and/or jaw pain • White or red patch on the gums, tongue, tonsil, or lining of the mouth • A lump or thickening in the inside of the mouth • Sore throat or feeling that something is caught in the throat that does not go away • Difficulty moving the jaw or tongue Additional resources
Sirius and Alpha Centauri Systems – a new point of view Sirius B can only be a planet (Naturics gift for astronomers to Einstein Year 2005) (This older article has been cited here from Naturics-Archive once more, because after 12 years since its first publication an experimental confirmation has been recently found that our intuitive suggestion was very close to reality indeed.) The new suggestion Sirius B can only be a planet Sooner or later, the astrophysics has to accept the new knowledge, that we have won with Naturics: • all material systems, in the microcosm as well as in the macro cosmos, are quantized, relativistic, and hierarchically organized; • there are no other stable classes of the states of matter than those seven of the quantum spectrum of matter: atomic nuclei, atoms, molecules, membranes (field of light), simple biological cells, nerve cells, and brain cells; • there are no absolute physical constants through the whole Universe, neither the speed of light (like the "vacuum"-speed of light) nor the gravitational constant (like the Newtonian gravity constant). This new knowledge would then mean, for example, that: • there exists only a limited number of the fundamental stellar systems, analogously to the limited number of various atoms in the Mendeleev periodic system of elements; identical central stars of two systems mean that the fundamental structure of these systems is also the same (like two atoms with the same nucleus belong to the same chemical element); • planets are the common companions of all stars, like the electrons are companions of all atomic nuclei in atoms and molecules; • such exotic "states of matter" as the "neutron stars" or the "black holes" are nothing but science fiction. Castor binary System (vor a comparison) The above description of the Castor System is the classical example of a binary stellar system. (Today, we know that the Castor System is much more complicated than this simple picture shows.) Both the main star (Castor A) and its smaller companion (castor B) revolve the global center of mass (here denoted as CM). In the simplest version of the theory, we assume that this central point don't have "to contain" any real physical mass. cPluto and our Solar binary System (vor a comparison) Pluto was the first discovered object of our Solar System combining two lowest levels of the Cosmic Hierarchy of the system. Pluto revolves the global center of mass of the whole system and simultaneously the center of mass of its own level, the mass of the Protosolar "Dark Companion", today distributed along the whole Kuiper Belt. Pluto reaches the distance of about 30 AU in its perihelion and goes away as far as 50 AU in its aphelion. With the same cycle of 247.19 years, Pluto revolves also the center of mass of the Dark Companion on a vertical orbit with a radius of 10 AU. The total mass of the Dark Companion was about two percent of the Solar mass; it means about 17.5 Jupiter masses. More information about the Pluto orbit and about the Venus location in our global center of mass can be found in my recent book "Unified Physics". Sirius A and B (observational data) The observed relative motion of Sirius A and Sirius B is shown above. Sirius A seems to be larger than the Sun, whilst Sirius B is not larger than the Earth. If we assist to consider Sirius B as a star, we have no possibility to explain such a behaviour of these two objects without some nonscientific assumptions. One such assumption was a "superheavy state" of the Sirius B, introduced in the traditional astrophysics as a "neutron star". However, such a state is completely unrealistic, never being realized in Nature. Therefore the dynamics of the Sirius system cannot be solved with it. Sirius binary system - the less probable version of at least two stars Much more reasonable possibility is to consider Sirius B as a planet of the Sirius system. The problem is to know the real distances between the members of the system as well as their periods and masses. From the presently known data we are able to consider, for example, the situation as shown in the above graphics. One still undetected mass of the order of Sirius A orbits the global center of mass of the system and is responsible for the relatively large observed shift of the center of the global mass away from Sirius A. Sirius binary system - the most probable version (with Sirius B on a Pluto-like orbit around the global center of mass, CM, and around the mass of some additional member of the system, noted as Dark Companion) However, much more probable seems to be the above situation, in which we consider a relatively smaller mass of some (still unknown) stellar object (or its remnants after a disruption like in the case of the Sun's companion) revolving the global center of mass of the Sirius system on the orbit simulated through the red ellipse on the above picture. In that situation Sirius B revolves the both centers of mass, like Pluto in our Solar System. The second new suggestion Alpha Centauri B is probably the center of mass of the Alpha Centauri system Alpha Centauri B as the center of mass of the Alpha Centauri system Alpha Centauri A is a yellow star with exactly the same spectral type as that of the Sun. Therefore its temperature and color also match those of the Sun. Alpha Centauri B is a something smaller, orange star. Whereas Alpha Centauri A and B are stars like the Sun, Proxima is a dim red dwarf - much fainter, cooler, and smaller than the Sun. Proxima is so faint that astronomers did not discover it until 1915. Alpha Centauri has been already for a long time considered to be a special place, because it may offer life conditions similar to our Solar System. However, because of the Naturics discovery that the distances outside the Solar System have to be scaled with much smaller speed of light than the "vacuum"-speed of light, we cannot be sure at the moment, which the real distances and sizes in the visible systems like Alpha Centauri or Sirius actually are indeed. Nevertheless, from the spectroscopic analysis, we can be sure that Alpha Centauri A and B are stars rich in heavy elements, containing enough of them to build rocky planets. © 1994-2007 Naturics (Peter Jakubowski) In conclusion, as we see in the last picture here above, Proxima Centauri is very likely a dwarf star with its own planetary system, like Pluto has its moons. Proxima b seems to be the largest of them. However, it will also be interesting to study the Castor B planetary properties soon.
Real estate is strongly driven by demographic trends. As Baby Boomers and earlier generators get older, what are they doing with the $13.5 trillion in homes they own? Are Millenials ready to become home owners as they start their families? 1. Baby Boomers Are Exiting the Housing Market As Boomers age, will they sell? Will the next generations be able to buy? Source: The Washington Post As Boomers age, will they sell? Will the next generations be able to buy? Source: The Washington Post Traditionally, as people age and become empty nesters, they downsize their home to something smaller or choose to age in place and not move. This is no longer the case. Home purchases from the 55+ set dropped 9% over the past year, even while overall home purchases have increased. Many more boomers are exiting the market altogether and opting for rentals instead. This could explain the increase in luxury 55+ rental communities. When you’re ready to enjoy your retirement, why bother having to deal with home maintenance, too? 2. Millennials With Children Remain in the Rental Market Despite all the inventory leaving the hands of the Boomer generation, many Millennials still find home ownership out of reach. This is likely due to high student loan debt making mortgage payments more difficult rather than poor credit worthiness. Even though half of Millennials think their credit score is holding them back, this is likely due to a misperception that they need 800+ scores or perfect credit to qualify for loans. Either way, having children is no longer a strong indicator that a young person will try to become a homeowner. Across the country, homeownership among young families is decreasing. 3. The Housing Boom Is Getting Old But how does it compare to past booms? CalculatedRisk writes that this is neither the longest housing boom nor economic expansion in recent US history. Those titles go to Jan ’91 to Nov ’98 (94 months) for housing and Mar ’91 – Mar ’01 (120 months) for the economy. Our current housing run is 89 months. The economy has been expanding for 109 months. The blogger economist reminds readers that expansions don’t die of old age. Based on the recent economic trends, there is a lot of reason for optimism that the expansion can continue. Book a Demo
Sign In News from the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Association for Vascular Access Nancy Moureau, RN, BSN, RN, CRNI®, CPUI, VA-BC, this year’s recipient of the Suzanne LaVere Herbst Award, presented her findings from an extensive literature review on the success rates of ultrasound-guided peripheral catheter/midline (USGPIV) insertion. Drawing on her decades of experience as an infusion nurse, Ms. Moureau began her talk by stating that USGPIV and midline catheter use has been continuing to increase as a response to address central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSIs) and decrease the use of central venous catheters (CVCs). She continued that although the current data suggests USGPIV is a successful procedure, what she found in her research is that failed USGPIV attempts are a common occurrence and that these failures are also under-reported. Additionally, the number of attempts with USGPIV is actually high due to skewed data analysis in some widely accepted literature. This current literature states that overall USGPIV success is between 47% and 100%. However, when the literature is examined more thoroughly, the first time insertion success is actually between 46% and 56%. The reason for the discrepancy lies in the definition of success. In many cases, success is defined as placing a catheter and confirming patency no matter how many sticks are required. Ms. Moureau’s literature search determined that USGPIV attempts ranged from between 1 to 10 attempts per patient. Additionally, the literature also showed that first-hour failure rates were between 8% and 13%. This increased to over 45% within the first 24 hours and, finally, only 19% of catheters placed actually survived more than 72 hours. To improve success, the speaker recommended scanning the vein to understand which access point on the peripheral anatomy is the best choice. Also, a recommendation of extensive training on USGPIV placement method was made which should include between 45 minutes and 4 hours of didactic sessions with additional insertions happening under supervision by an experienced user. However, when the speaker queried the audience to determine an approximation of how many attendees were using USGPIV placement, but were never formally trained, the percentage was high. AVA 2014 attendees are able to access Ms. Moureau’s presentation at the AVA website. Click here and browse speakers by name. Procure the full article here. Infusion Nursing.jpg Request Demonstration or Quote
Flavours of Umbria Capocollo is typical of the Norcia tradition, and is appreciated for its particularly rich flavour. The preparation process involves the addition of salt, pepper and coriander, after which the meat is tied. It is bound either with greased butcher's casings, or with part of the large intestine. In Umbrian tradition, capocollo is served as an antipasto, or more frequently as a filling for flatbread, or Easter cheese bread. In the past, capocollo was made at Christmas time, after the pigs were slaughtered. It was then matured until the spring, in time for the Easter celebrations.
The sun! It does make a difference. The sun is out, the sky is blue; and although it was frosty this morning and is still chilly outside, the clarity of the day is invigorating after all that rain and cloud. Not that I mind the rain and cloud so much, as long as the temperatures don't drop to the insane cold I knew in Pennsylvania. When I lived there full-time, winter dragged on remorselessly through February, March, and often into April, with nothing green visible; just cold and ice and unmelted heaps of grimy snow. But here the daffodils are already up and in bud, and in parks and gardens there have been flowers of some sort without interruption since autumn. There are some long-tailed tits frisking around and chirruping busily in a tree outside my window. Although it isn't nest-making time yet, I think of Gerard Manley Hopkins and his anguished spring sonnet. "Birds build, but not I build..." I've been between projects for a while, and I'm uncertain of where to move next. This is scary: I am afraid full-fledged spring will arrive and I'll be echoing Hopkins, watching the creation all around and not making anything myself. Paul Muldoon, at the Cheltenham Literary Festival last year, spoke about pattern, shape, and structure in his poetry. He said—admitting it's a truism, but it bears repeating—how the traditional patterns of form can allow for more emotional openness in a poem. Some people call poetic forms "artificial," but they are not: as he said, there are patterns everywhere in nature—in the structure of DNA, of crystals, of snowflakes. He also spoke about putting together a collection of poems. He doesn't start out with a theme, but over the four to five years of writing it, he said, "your obsessions are of a piece; themes appear." He is interested in the sequence we read poems in, and how the experience changes accordingly. This concern with shape and structure is natural: "It's the urge to construct, to build things." I know this urge. But sometimes it's so hard to begin. I plan to make a collection of my poetry, but far from representing Muldoon's "four to five years," it represents over two decades. (I'm a slow writer!) Where to start, and how to shape it? At the same time, I have a new prose book in mind, but my ideas, like Meg's jelly in Little Women, are reluctant to gel. It's hard to combine patience with gentle self-prodding; to keep the playfulness of writing, while not neglecting it. Long ago, aged about fifteen, on just such a bright day as this, I wrote a short poem about branches against a blue winter sky so intense it seemed it could spark the tree into spring life. I belonged to an arts centre for young adults, run by an amazing woman, Elizabeth Webster. She encouraged self-expression, while also inspiring us to work at the craft. We read our poems for the public, and she printed some—including my midwinter spring one—in a magazine. She is dead now, but I will never forget her. Today I'd like to recover her special balance of encouragement and inspiration; and even—is it possible?—the same fresh excitement I had at fifteen about making something, building it, giving it a shape.
Showing Patience (1) Whatever generosity, offerings to the Blissfully Gone (Buddhas) and the like, and positive deeds I've amassed over a thousand eons – one (moment of) hatred will destroy them all. (2) As no negative force resembles anger, and no trial resembles patience, I shall therefore meditate on patience, with effort and in various ways. (3) When the thorn of anger lodges in my heart, my mind doesn't feel any peace, doesn't gain any joy or pleasure, doesn't fall asleep, and becomes unstable. (4) Even those on whom he lavishes wealth and honor and those who've become dependent on him get provoked to the point of murdering a lord who's possessed with anger. (5) Friends and relations get disgusted with him, and though he might gather (others) with gifts, he isn't regarded with trust and respect. In brief, there's no way at all in which a raging person is in a happy situation. (6) Hence the enemy, rage, creates sufferings such as those and the like, while whoever clamps down and destroys his rage will be happy in this (life) and others. (7) Finding its fuel in the foul state of mind that arises from its bringing about things I don't want and its preventing what I wish, anger, once enflamed, destroys me. (8) Therefore, I shall totally eradicate the fuel of that enemy, for this enemy hasn't a mission other than injuring me. (9) No matter what happens, I shall never let it disturb my good mood. For if I've fallen into a foul mood, what I want will not come about, and my constructive behavior will fall apart. (10) If it can be remedied, why get into a foul mood over something? And if it can't be remedied, what help is it to get into a foul mood over it? (11) For myself and my friends, suffering, contempt, verbal abuse, and disgrace aren't things that I'd wish for; but for my enemies, it's the reverse. (12) The causes for happiness rarely occur, while the causes for sufferings are overly abundant. But, without any suffering, there wouldn't be the determination to be free; therefore, mind, you must think to be firm. (13) If devotees of Durga and people of Karnata pointlessly endure the torments of burning and cutting themselves, and the like, then why am I such a coward for the sake of liberation? (14) There isn't anything that doesn't become easier once you've become accustomed to it; and so, by growing accustomed to minor pains, greater pains will definitely become bearable. (15) Don't you see (this) with problems, (borne) without a (great) purpose, from snakes and mosquitoes, discomforts such as hunger and thirst, as well as rashes and the like? (16) (So,) I shall not be soft regarding such things as heat and cold, rain and wind, also sickness, captivity, beatings, and the like; for if I've acted like that, the injury is worse. (17) There are some who, seeing their own blood, develop exceptional courage and resolve; and there are some who, seeing the blood of others, collapse and faint. (18) That comes from their states of mind being either of a resolute or a cowardly type. Therefore, I must be dismissive of pains and must not be thrown off by suffering. (19) Even when he's in agony, someone skilled will never let the composure of his mind be stirred; and in a war that's waged against disturbing emotions, bruises abound, when fighting the battle. (20) Those who, having been dismissive of suffering, destroy the enemies, anger and so on, they are the heroes who have gained the victory; the rest (merely) slay corpses. (21) Furthermore, there are advantages to suffering: with agony, arrogance disappears; compassion grows for those in recurring samsara; negative conduct is shunned; and joy is taken in being constructive. (22) As I don't get enraged with great sources of suffering, for instance with bile, then why get enraged with those having limited minds? All of them, as well, are provoked by conditions. (23) For example, without being wished for, their sicknesses arise; and likewise, without being wished for, (their) disturbing emotions also strongly arise. (24) Without thinking, "I shall get enraged," people just become enraged; and without thinking, "I shall arise," likewise, rage arises. (25) All mistakes that there are and the various sorts of negative behavior – all arise from the force of conditions: there aren't any under their own power. (26) A collection of conditions doesn't have the intention, "I shall create"; and what it's created didn't have the intention, "I'm to be created." (27) The darling (the Samkhyas) call "primal matter" and what they imagine to be "the self" – they don't think with some purpose, "I shall come into being (to cause some harm)," and then come about. (28) (In fact,) as they haven't arisen, they do not exist, so what would have then had the wish to arise? And, since (a static sentient self) would be something that was permanently occupied with an object, it would never come to cease (being so). (29) But if the self were static (and nonsentient, like Nyaya asserts), it would obviously be without actions, like the sky; so even if it met with other conditions, what activity could something unchangeable have? (30) If even at the time of the action, it (remains) as before, what could have been done by it from the action? And if there were something called "This is its action," which is the one that made them connected? (31) Thus, everything's under the power of others, and the powers they're under aren't under their (own) power. Having understood this, I shall not become angry with any phenomenon – they're like magic emanations. (32) And if I said, then, "Warding off (anger) would indeed be unfitting, for who (or what) can ward off what?" I'd assert that it's not unfitting, since, by depending on that, the continuity of suffering can be cut. (33) Thus, when seeing an enemy or even a friend acting improperly, I'll remain relaxed, having reflected that it's arising from some such condition as this. (34) If all embodied beings had things turn out as they liked, then, since no one wishes ever to suffer, it would never come about that anyone suffered. (35) People hurt even themselves with such things as thorns, because of not caring, and, in a rage, because of desiring to obtain women and the like, with such acts as refusing food. (36) There are some who destroy themselves by hanging themselves, jumping off cliffs, eating poison and unhealthy foods, and through negative acts (bringing worse rebirth states). (37) When people kill even their beloved selves from coming under the power of disturbing emotions, how can it be that they wouldn't cause injury to the bodies of others? (38) When I can't even develop compassion, once in a while, for those like that, who, with disturbing emotions arisen, would proceed to such things as killing themselves, at least I won't get enraged (with them). (39) (Even) if acting violently toward others were the functional nature of infantile people, still, it'd be as unfitting to get enraged with them as it would be for begrudging fire for its functional nature of burning. (40) And even if this fault were fleeting instead, and limited beings were lovely by nature, well, still it would be as unfitting to get enraged as it would be for begrudging the sky for the (pungent) smoke that was rising (in it). (41) Having set aside the actual (cause of my pain), a staff or the like, if I become enraged with the person who wielded it, well he, in fact, was incited by anger, so he's secondary (too). It would be more fitting to get enraged with his anger. (42) Previously, I must have inflicted such pain on limited beings, therefore, it's fitting that harm comes to me, who've been a cause of violence toward limited ones. (43) Both his weapon and my body are the causes of my suffering. Since he drew out a weapon and I a body, toward which should I get enraged? (44) Blinded by craving, I've grabbed hold of a painful boil that's shaped like a human and can't bear to be touched, and so when it's bruised, toward what should I get enraged? (45) Childish me, I don't wish to suffer and yet I'm obsessed with the cause of my suffering. Since it's my own fault that I get hurt, why have a grudge toward anyone (else)? (46) It's like, for example, the guards of the joyless realms and the forest of razor-sharp leaves: this (suffering too) is produced by my impulsive karmic behavior; so toward what should I be enraged? (47) Incited by my own karmic behavior, those who hurt me come my way, and if, by their (actions), these limited beings should fall to the joyless realms, surely, wasn't it I who have ruined them? (48) Based on them, my negative karmic force is greatly cleansed, because of my patience; but, based on me, they fall to the joyless realms, with long-lasting pain. (49) Since I'm, in fact, causing harm to them, and they're the ones who are benefiting me, why, unreasonable mind, do you make it the reverse and get into a rage? (50) If I have the advantage of wishing (to be patient), I won't be going to a joyless realm; but although I'm safeguarding myself (in this way), what happens to them in this matter? (51) And if I were to harm them back instead, they wouldn't be safeguarded either, while my (other bodhisattva) behavior would also decline, and, consequently, those having trials would be lost. (52) Because of its being immaterial, no one can destroy my mind, by any means; but because of its obsessive involvement with my body, it's hurt by suffering (in connection) to the body. (53) (Yet) Insults, cruel language, and defaming words don't hurt my body, so, why, O mind, do you become so enraged? (54) Others' dislike for me – that won't devour me, either in this life or in any other lifetime; so why do I find it undesirable? (55) If I don't wish for it because it would hinder my material gain; well, although my material gain in this life will have to be discarded, my negative karmic forces will remain secured. (56) Death today would in fact be better for me than long life through an improper livelihood; for even having lived a long time, there will still be the suffering of death for someone like me. (57) Someone who wakes up after having experienced a hundred years of happiness in a dream and another who wakes up after having experienced just a moment of happiness: (58) Once they've awakened, that happiness doesn't return, after all, to either of the two. (Similarly,) it comes down to exactly the same for someone who's lived for long and someone who's lived for a short while. (59) Though I may have obtained great material gain and even have enjoyed many pleasures for long, I shall still go forth empty-handed and naked, like having been robbed by a thief. (60) Suppose I said, "While living off my material gain, I'd consume my negative karmic force and do positive things." Well if, for the sake of material gain, I became enraged, won't my positive karmic force be consumed and negative karmic force come about? (61) If the very purpose for which I am living should fall apart, what use is there with a life committing only negative deeds? (62) Well, suppose I said, "Rage for someone who maligns (me) is because it makes limited beings lose (their trust)." Well then, why don't you get similarly enraged with someone defaming someone else? (63) If you can tolerate distrust (when it's for someone else), because that lack of trust hinges on another; then why not be patient with someone who maligns (me), since that hinges on disturbing emotions arising? (64) Even toward those who revile and destroy images, stupas, and the sacred Dharma, my anger's improper, since there can be no harm to Buddhas and the rest. (65) And toward those who injure my spiritual teachers, my relatives and so on, and my friends as well, my rage will be averted, by having seen that this arises from conditions, as in the manner before. (66) Since injury is inflicted on embodied beings by both those with a mind and things having no mind, why single out and begrudge (only) those with a mind? Therefore, be patient with harm! (67) Some commit misdeeds because of naivety, and, because of naivety, some get enraged: which of them can we say is without fault, and which of them would be at fault? (68) Why did you previously commit those impulsive actions, because of which others now cause me harm? Since everything hinges on karmic behavior, why do I bear a grudge against this one? (69) Seeing it's like that, I'll put effort into positive things in whatever way whereby everyone will become loving-minded toward each other. (70) For example, when fire in a burning house is advancing to another home, it's fitting to remove and throw out whatever it's in that would cause it to spread, such as straw and the like. (71) Likewise, when the fire of anger is spreading, due to my mind being attached to something, I shall throw it out at that instant, for fear of my positive force being burned. (72) Why would a man about to be put to death be unfortunate if, by having his hand chopped off, he were spared? So why would I be unfortunate if, through human sufferings, I were spared joyless realms? (73) If I'm unable to bear even this minor suffering of the present, then why don't I ward off the rage that would be the cause of hellish pain? (74) On account of my impassioned (rage), I've experienced burning and the like for thousands of times in the joyless realms; but (through it), I haven't brought benefit to myself or benefit for others. (75) But, since great benefits will be brought about in this, which is not even a fraction of that damage, only delight is appropriate here in the suffering dispelling (all) damage to wandering beings. (76) If others obtain the pleasure of joy from praising someone (I dislike) who possesses good qualities, why, O mind, don't you make yourself joyous like this, by praising him too? (77) That pleasure of joy of yours would be an arising of pleasure that was not disgraceful, something permitted by the Ones with Good Qualities, and superlative, as well, for gathering others. (78) If you wouldn't like this pleasure of his, "Such pleasure as that would be only his!" Then, from stopping (as well) giving wages and the like, (your) ruin will come, both seen and unseen. (79) When your own good qualities are being extolled, you wish others, as well, to take pleasure; but when others' good qualities are being extolled, you don't wish yourself to take pleasure too. (80) Having developed a bodhichitta aim through wishing for happiness for all limited beings, then why do you become angry instead at the happiness that limited beings have found by themselves? (81) (Having given your word) that you wish limited beings to have Buddhahood, honored throughout the three realms, then why, when seeing them merely shown miserable respect, do you burn up inside at it? (82) If there were someone needing care who's to be cared for by you and provided for by you, and that family member were to get something to live on, wouldn't you be delighted, or would you be enraged in return? (83) How could someone who doesn't want (even) that for wandering beings be anyone who wishes for them to be Buddhas? Where is there bodhichitta in someone who becomes enraged at others' gain? (84) If, whether he receives it from him or it remains in the benefactor's house, it will in no way be yours, so what does it matter whether or not it's given (to him)? (85) Throw away your positive force or (others') faith (in you), and even your own good qualities? For what? Don't hold on to what could bring you gain? Tell me, with whom don't you get enraged? (86) Not only do you not feel sorry about the negative things you've done yourself, you wish to compete against others who've enacted positive deeds? (87) Even if your enemy lacks any joy, what's there in that for you to take delight? The mere wish in your mind won't become the cause for (any) harm to him. (88) And even if his suffering came about through your wish, still, what's there in that for you to take delight? If you said that you'd become gratified, is there anything else more degenerate than that? (89) This hook cast by the fishermen, the disturbing emotions, is horrendously sharp. Procuring (you) from them, O mind, the joyless realm guards will cook me, for sure, in the cauldrons of hell. (90) Praise and fame, (these) shows of respect, won't bring positive force, won't bring a long life, won't bring bodily strength, nor freedom from sickness; they won't bring physical pleasure either. (91) If I were aware of what's in my self-interest, what in my self-interest would there be in them? If just mental happiness were what I wanted, I should devote myself to gambling and so on, and to alcohol too. (92) For the sake of fame, (people) would give away wealth or would get themselves killed; but what use is there with words (of fame)? Once they've died, to whom will they bring pleasure? (93) At the collapse of his sand castle, a child wails in despair; similarly, at the loss of praise and fame, my mind shows the face of a child. (94) Because an impromptu word is something lacking a mind, it's impossible that it has the intention to praise me. But, proclaiming, "The other one (offering me praise) is delighted with me," if I consider that a cause (also) to be delighted; (95) Well, whether it's toward someone else or toward me, what use to me is another person's joy? That pleasure of joy is his alone; I won't get (even) a share of it. (96) If I take pleasure in his pleasure (with me), I must do like that in all cases, in fact. How is it that I don't take pleasure when he has the pleasure of joy with another? (97) So joy is arising in me (simply due to), "Me, I'm being praised!" But there, in fact, because (thinking) like that is just nonsense, it comes down to nothing but the behavior of a child. (98) Being praised and such things cause me distraction; they cause my disgust (with samsara) to disintegrate as well. I become jealous of those with good qualities, and that makes me demolish success. (99) Therefore, aren't those who are hovering close by for striking down praise and the like for me actually involved in protecting me from falling into a worse rebirth state? (100) For me, whose primary interest is in gaining freedom, bondage to material gain and shows of respect are things I mustn't have. So how can I get enraged with those who are causing me to be freed from my having been bound? (101) For me, who would enter into (a house) of suffering, how can I get enraged with those who've come, as if from Buddha's inspiration, in the nature of a door panel not letting me pass in. (102) "But this one is impeding my positive practices!" Still, it's unfitting to be enraged with him. There isn't any trial that's equal to patience, so shouldn't I be staying just close to that? (103) If, in fact, it's through my own fault that I'm not acting patiently here, then while a cause for positive practice is biding nearby, it's actually me who's causing the impediment here. (104) If there were something that wouldn't come about if something were absent, but if something were present, would also be present, that very thing would be the cause of that, so how can it be said that it's an impediment to it? (105) There's no impediment to giving caused by a mendicant (monk) gone out (for alms) at the proper time; and it can't be said that the coming of someone conferring vows is an impediment for becoming a monastic. (106) Alms-seekers are plentiful in this life, but scarce are those who cause (me) harm, because no one will cause me harm if I haven't harmed them like this (in past lives). (107) Therefore, I shall be delighted with an enemy who's popped up like a treasure in my house, without having had to be acquired with fatigue, since he becomes my aide for bodhisattva behavior. (108) It's because of its having been actualized through this one and me (having met) that a fruit of patience (comes about); (so,) let me award it first to him, for he was, like this, the (earlier) cause of my patience. (109) Suppose I said, "But he had no intention for (me) to actualize patience, so this enemy isn't someone to be honored." Well, how is it that the hallowed Dharma is honored as suited to be a cause for actualizing (it)? (110) Suppose I said, "But this enemy's intention was to cause me harm, so he can't be honored." Well, how could patience be actualized by me if, like a doctor, he were intent on my benefit? (111) Therefore, since patience arises dependently from his vicious intention, this one himself is fit to be honored like the hallowed Dharma, because he's a cause of my patience. (112) Thus, the Sage has spoken of the field of limited beings as well as the field of the Triumphant, (for,) having made them happy, many have gone, thereby, to the far-shore of excellence. (114) The preeminence of an intention is not from itself, but due to its result, and by that, the preeminence of that which is had by limited beings is, in fact, the same; and because of that, they are equal. (115) Whatever is honored in having a loving intention (toward them), that, in fact, is the greatness (coming) from limited beings; and whatever positive force there is in confident belief in the Buddhas, that, in fact, is the greatness from the Buddhas. (116) It's the share they have in actualizing a Buddha's Dharma (attainments), and because of that, they're asserted as their equals; but, of course, no one can be the equal of the Buddhas in endless oceans of excellent qualities. (117) If even a speck of the excellent qualities of the unique syntheses of the best excellent qualities were to be seen somewhere, an offering of the three planes of existence would be inadequate for honoring it. (118) Since a share giving rise to a Buddha's foremost Dharma (attainments) exists in limited beings, it's fitting that limited beings be honored, in accordance with this very share. (119) Further, besides making limited beings happy, what other repayment is there for those who befriend them without pretension and help them beyond any measure? (120) Since it would repay them to benefit those for whose sake they sacrifice their bodies and plunge into joyless realms of unrelenting pain, then even if these (limited beings) should cause great harm, everything wholesome is to be done (for them). (121) For the sake of even, in this case, my master himself, they disregard even their own bodies. So how can I, bewildered about this, act with pride and not act in the nature of a servant? (122) The Sages delight in their happiness and enter into distress at their injury; and so, in (my) bringing them joy, the Sages will all have become delighted, and in bringing them harm, the Sages will have been hurt. (123) Just as there could be no mental pleasure from desirable objects for someone whose body were completely on fire, likewise, there's no way to delight the Greatly Compassionate Ones when limited beings have, in fact, been harmed. (124) Therefore, whatever displeasure I've brought to all the Greatly Compassionate Ones, by my having caused harm to limited beings, I openly admit, today, that negative deed, and request the Sages, please bear with that displeasure you have. (125) From now on, for the sake of delighting the Thusly Gone (Buddhas), I shall act, with definite restraint, as a servant to the world. Let mobs of people kick me in the head with their feet or even beat me to death, I shall not venture (anything back). Let the Guardians of the World take delight! (126) There's no doubt that Those with a Compassion Self-Nature have taken all wandering beings (to be the same) as themselves. The very nature they've seen as the essential nature of limited beings is those Guardians' self-nature, so why don't I show (them the same) respect? (127) Just this, is what brings pleasure to the Thusly Gone (Buddhas); just this, is what perfectly accomplishes my own aims as well; just this, is what dispels the world's suffering too; therefore, let it be just this, that I always shall do. (128) For example, even when some member of the royal court is harming the public, farsighted people do not hurt him back even if they're able, (129) For that one, (acting) like this, is not alone: on the contrary, the king's power and might are his military forces. Likewise, some lowly person creating harm is not to be belittled, (130) For his armed forces are the guards of the joyless realms and all the Compassionate Ones. So, like a commoner toward a violent king, I shall make all limited beings be pleased. (131) Should even such a king be enraged (with me), could he inflict the pain of a joyless realm, which is what I'd be brought to experience by having made limited beings displeased? (132) Should even such a king be pleased (with me), it's impossible that he could bestow Buddhahood, which is what I'd be brought to attain by having made limited beings be pleased. (133) (Leave aside) seeing that the future attainment of Buddhahood arises from making limited beings be pleased, don't you see that, at least in this life, great prosperity, fame, and happiness come? (134) (Moreover), with beauty and so on, freedom from sickness, and fame, someone with patience, while still in samsara, gains extremely long life and the abundant pleasures of a universal chakra king.
RCG Carp Gear RCG Venator Unhooking Mat XL A spacious unhooking mat with an inner length of around 125 cm. This means that all retainer slings and sinks often fit into the mat. In stock Delivery time: 3-4 weken Incl. tax
Rodent Numbers Monday, 5 March 2012 The Story of the Rat With my latest piece of art being of my own rats, I think it's about time I properly introduced them (since this blog is both rodent and art related!) Firstly on the picture front, it's an A3 watercolour piece. However, it didn't really come out like I'd wanted it to. I think the background was where it all went wrong, I wanted a smoother, darker background but was too lazy to mask off the rats first which made it quite difficult to get round their shapes and maintain a flatness of colour (I failed at that!) I wanted to make it darker but was afraid of actually making the whole thing worse, so I left it as it was. Shading mainly white rats was also a bit of a pain, I didn't want them to appear too dark and I haven't really figured out a good way of handling fur in watercolours. Ah well, it's all practice! Onto the real subject, rats! I've kept rats since about 2003. I've only kept males (not for any particular reason, it just so happens that all the rats I've ever had have been males). But onto my current boys... Arrow (black capped): Arrow is my oldest boy, bought in March 2010 with his brother Splodge. When I first bought him and his brother, neither would come out of their cage for freeranging time for almost a whole month despite lots of encouragement! However, once they got over that they were fine, hyper active typical young rats. Unfortunately Splodge didn't live very long, I guessed he may have had some sort of problem as he slept very heavily for a rat at times. However, I'll never know for certain what was the matter, I just remember the terrible shock to have a rat die so suddenly and so young. Because of Splodge's untimely death I decided Arrow would need some more, younger company. My other current rats at the time were old and had had numerous problems in their later life so I went out to find Arrow some little friends. Thus Levi and Seth came into Arrow's life. ...Little did I know that Arrow did not like friends. Fortunately he seems to be more accepting of them these days but I'm sure if there was ever a rat who wanted to be a lone rat it would be him! As I type this he sleeps next to me in his little soft igloo-rat-slipper whilst his friends are locked away in the cage. Levi and Seth (white and white with grey patch): Bought as companions for Arrow, I acquired them from a pet shop about half an hour away from me in another town. The people that work there always seem nice and the pets always seem well handled there. Levi and Seth had been there a while, they were older than the typical rats I had got before. Initially I didn't buy them. One of the worker's said it would be difficult to introduce them to my others at their age. However, overnight all I could do was think about these poor rats who'd never had a proper freerange time whilst being stuck in the pet shop for however many months. So the next day I rushed back to get them before work (luckily my shift didn't start until 12 that day!) I must also say that the first time I looked at these boys one of them bit me. I didn't think much of it at the time, passing it off as just frustration of being locked up for so long. (Although looking back at it, I think it must have happened to the staff as they were very relutant just to scoop them up, they wanted the rats to climb on them rather than pick them up which wasn't happened when I did go back to get them!) When I got them home for the first few months I never saw this behaviour again so I forgot about it. Then Levi became a proper 'rat teenager' and my hands became useful for biting. I'd be watching a DVD and he'd sneak up and bite my hands if I didn't notice and move very quickly. He was a very dominant aggressive rat, displaying behaviour I'd never seen before in any of my past rats. He'd rub his paws on everything (which I read up later is to do with scent marking). I've lost count of the times it happened. Despite the many times he drew blood (perhaps 'vampire rat' would be a better nickname) I wouldn't swap him for anything. As he's aged he is more predictable and less prone to random attacks. Basically as long as you don't pick him up or stroke his head (his back is fine) he'll be fine. Seth on the other hand has never displayed any tendancy to bite and is a very relaxed, happy-go-lucky sort of character. Fergus (faded husky rat): I think I bought Fergus because the introduction of Seth and Levi had made Arrow the odd one out. I think I thought they'd turn their attention to a newcomer and cut the older Arrow a bit of slack. I hoped Arrow would find a friend in Fergus and they'd 'hang out' together as Levi and Seth did. Strangely it seemed to have an odd effect now all of them are older. Usually Seth and Fergus sleep in the same area and Levi and Arrow together. Fergus typically will do anything for food. His favourite by far is dried pasta. As long as there's food he's a happy boy, although a rather big happy boy! Jasper (grey hooded): I can't really write much about Jasper yet. At the moment introductions are a little shakey. He tends to wind up the older rats which they dislike. Sometimes he likes to curl up with Arrow (perhaps the similiar face marking makes him feel some sort of connection with him?! Who knows!) He's very, very hyper... I forget how hyper young rats are (and secretly can't wait for him to calm down and get too fat to fit under the bed, last night I 'lost' him under there and that was a nightmare as it's too small to fit my hand under!) And that's my boys for you. Other than that I took both Seth and Arrow to the vet today. Seth has been a lot due to respiratory problems in the past. Last week the vet asked us to bring him back in a week (today) so I took Arrow along too (as he's growing weaker in his back legs, typical of old age in rats but I wondered if there was any thing that could potentially halt the problem). I'm a lot of money poorer and I'm meant to take them back in a couple of weeks to see their progress. If anyone thinks rats are 'cheap pets' let me assure you, they're not!!! The moment I heard the cost I was reminded of this great picture I found on the internet a while back. I'm not sure who originally created it so unfortunately can't give credit where it's due (unless someone knows?) but I have to share it again!: - The Blogging Rat Rachel said...Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates Its really nice to hear about your different rats, and their different personalities (something only rat-owners ever appreciate!) They all sound like great characters, I had a nipper (like your Levi) and you do love them as grumpy old men. I was always a bit worried about introducing new rats to older ones, does it depend really on the rats themselves as to the success of it? Vet bills are wretched for rats, I find this is because they are considered an 'exotic pet', which is completely ironic... WolfySilver said...Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates Some introductions are easier than others. I've had rats in the past that barely looked at the newcomer! I think it really depends on personality, both of the existing ones and the new one. I think as I've grown older though I get more stressed about introductions than I ever used to! Especially with Levi and Seth, I spent many restless nights worrying about that!!! Like... 'OH! Was that a squeek?!' I guess in the past I was introducing far more regularly, these days I am more controlled about getting more rats! When they're used to new rats coming in they seem to be more accepting I think. Strangely with vet bills it tends to depend on the vet. This was more so in the past where sometimes I got charged small pet, sometimes exotic. Usually I get charged small pet where I go now but because I took Arrow along too I got charged another complete consultation (I hoped it would be slightly cheaper as recently I've been there so often and we were only there five minutes or so! No such luck sadly!) Bewildermunster (Jess) said...Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates Fascinating, is it possible to neuter rats to reduce aggression? When I had a bunny rabbit, I regretted that my father wouldn't pay to have him neutered because it would have helped with the spraying and aggression. @Bewildermunster (Jess) It is possible to neuter rats and I did research the possibility but decided not to. Some people do say it helps, others are less convinced. Also it's the risk of putting them through the operation too. I think rats do calm down as they get older so I just decided to hope and wait! XD That's a shame about your rabbit :( Did he get calmer as he grew older or was it always a problem? @WolfySilver Well he did calm down some when he got a little older, however, I never got to see him to old age because we moved and my family gave him away. :( But now that I'm older I'd never let that happen with an animal.
Why Negotiating Is Like A Quick Tennis Match negotiating is like a good tennis matchBuying, selling and leasing commercial real estate requires lots of different skills, including knowledge of financing, zoning, supply and demand, income statements, and demographics but the most valuable skill is good negotiating. What makes a good negotiator? It is helping all parties involved, who bring to the table different and opposing objectives, agree on the one objective of buying, selling or leasing property with terms that they may not like but to which they can agree. A good negotiator embraces conflict and works through it, discovering motivations of each party and helping them achieve goals they may not have initially thought important. Good Negotiating Is Always A Short Volley In A Tennis Match Negotiating has an ebb and flow, a rhythm that is similar to a tennis match. If you make it too short, both parties didn’t give their best, but if you make it too long, both parties tire out and make stupid mistakes. Negotiations always have several terms that both parties have to take into account. There is an offer, then a counter-offer and negotiations should never go past the counter-offer. There has to be some agreement at the 2nd change in terms, even if you have to reduce the number of issues under negotiation. This is where a good negotiator can add value to any transaction, by working with each party to identify issues that are minor and those that are deal-breakers. Negotiators need to understand why certain terms are important to people and help them understand the concept that if they can’t get one thing they want, maybe they can get a different thing that will also help them. The Hard Part Of Negotiating Is Not Walking Away the hard part in negotiating successfully Any negotiation eventually has conflict, because there are always various interests involved, called stakeholders, that have their own objective which can often oppose other stakeholder’s interest: The Buyer or Tenant-the buyer and tenant want the property as cheaply as possible and more. Sometimes the buyer wants a long inspection period or time to arrange financing. The tenant sometimes wants the landlord to build out the space and always wants several months free rent. The Seller or Landlord-both want as much money as possible with little initial investment. The seller doesn’t want to make any repairs on property being sold, and the landlord doesn’t want to give free rent or spend money building out space that may be unusable should the tenant leave in the middle of the night, skipping on the rent. The Government-whether the property falls under jurisdiction of a city planning department, city council, mayor, or just the neighborhood association, each group wants to represent their constituents and get credit for any progress. The mayor wants a press conference, city planning wants all zoning laws complied with, and the neighborhood association wants services for their members even if it is doesn’t make good financial sense. The 4 Strategies Good Negotiators Utilize negotiating sometimes depends on little things The easy thing to do when conflict of interests arise is to walk away. It is the most comfortable and normal reaction for many. But a good negotiator doesn’t take conflict personally, stays calm and utilizes 4 strategies: 1. Takes all stakeholder’s interests into account and works behind the scene to address all concerns while reminding those with opposing goals of the benefit of achieving the main goal, which is to put the real estate back into commerce. Sellers and landlords need to understand what buyers and tenants are worried about. Buyers and tenants often have no idea of the complications sellers and landlords are up against. Good negotiators help all parties reach common ground. 2. Identifies and separates the big issues and lets the other party have things that don’t matter. In any commercial property negotiation there are a wide variety of contingencies, including inspection and closing period, financing, deposit, occupancy and closing costs and price. The average person can only grasp 3 of these in any one situation, so a good negotiator will determine which 3 have the highest priority and methodically works to get agreement on the big issues first. 3. Solves problems with creativity. For example, if a tenant wants 3 months free rent, the landlord could offer one month up front and 2 months at the end of the lease. That way if the tenant doesn’t stay the entire term of the lease, the landlord has taken less risk. Or if a buyer is unable to obtain financing, the seller could increase the deposit and finance part of the transaction. What if the buyer wants an extraordinarily long inspection period? If the buyer eventually cancels, then the seller may have missed other buyers while the property was under contract. In economics, this is called opportunity cost, and this increased risk can be offset by a deposit that becomes non-refundable, or an additional non-refundable deposit to purchase more due diligence time. 4. Keeps communications from getting personal. It is never a good idea for buyers and sellers, or landlords and tenants, to meet initially and conduct negotiations. Personalities always get in the way and people say things they shouldn’t and statements get taken the wrong way. A good negotiator keeps all parties logical and rational, identifies the major issues and keeps all parties focused on the benefits to them of a successful transaction. For more information on negotiation, read our article The Insanity of Inspection Renegotiation and our reality article on Successfully Negotiating the Largest Class A Office Lease.
f-scott-fitzgerald, face, facebook, facebook or myspace, facebook paigeroxastwentyeight, facebook princepaolaw, facebook princepaolaw facebook, facial beard, fact, fact sheets, factor, factors, factors marketing, factors question, facts, faded, failure, failures, fairtrade, faith, faithful, fall, fall victim, falling, fallopian, fallopian tube, falls, false, families, family, family functions, family members, family members values, family pets, family providers, famous, fans, farmer, fatality, fate, father, father and mother, father conscious, father death, father fatality, fault, fayray, fb, fear, feasibility, feasibility study, features, feb 2009, february, federal, federal government, federal-bureau-of-investigation, federal-government-of-the-united-states, federal-reserve-system, feel, feel satisfaction, feel world, feeling, fees, feld, felicity, fell, felt, female, females, feminine, feminism, feminist, fender stratocaster, festival, feudalism, fiat, fiction, fictional, fictional works, fidel-castro, fiedler-contingency-model, field, field further, fig-1, fight, figure, figure it out, figure out, file, file format, file-system, files, filipino, filipino american, filipino british, filler, film, film noir-gris, film-editing, film-noir, final, final examination, finance, financial, financial assertions, financial crisis, financial entree, financial industry, financial institution, financial proportion, financial services, financial systems, financial-audit, financial-crisis, financial-markets, financial-ratios, financial-services, financial-statements, financing, find, find out, fine detail, fine foods, finish, firdaus, fire, fireplace, firm, firms, first, first ever, first female, first person, first world, fiscal, fish, fish fish, fitzgerald, five-year, five-year plan, five-year plans of china, fivefingers, fixtures, flames, flanke, flask, flaubert, fled, flies, flight, floating stage, flooding, florence, florencia, florida, flour, flour milling, flow, flowing, fmcg, fmcg sector, focus knob, focused, foley, follow, followed, food, foods, foods online organization, foods virtual, football, for cycle, forbes, force, forced, ford, ford-motor-company, forecasted stats-, forecasting, forecasts, foreclosing, foreign, foreign-direct-investment, foreign-language, foreseeable future, forest, forex, form, formal, formal format, forward one-step, fossil fuel, fossil-fuel, foster, foster-care, found, foundation, fourier, fourth, fractional-reserve-banking, frame, frame of mind, france, france the ussr, francisco, frank, frank-lloyd-wright, frankenstein, frankensteins monster, fraser, frater, frater perdurabo, frau, fraudulence, frederick, frederick douglas, frederick douglass, frederick-douglass, free, freedom, freely, french, french polynesia, french-and-indian-war, frequently, freud, freud sigmund, friend, friends, friends and family, friendship, frizzy hair, front, frontrunners, fruit, fruit cookies, fruit wrath, fuel-cell, fulfill, full bloom design group, function, functionalists, functionality, functioning, functions, fund, fundamental, funding, funds, funeral service, further, future, future nursing, futures, futures and options planning, fy2009
Medical Dermatology There are many reasons why acne occurs. The underlying problem is the clogging of sebaceous glands attached to hair follices underneath the skin surface with sebum, a type of oil normally produced to maintain healthy skin. This sebum serves as “food’” for bacteria resulting in inflammation which manifests as pimples and cysts on the surface of the skin anywhere there are follicles such as the face, back, and chest. Hormones also play a role in acne by increasing the production of oil in the skin. Successful treatment requires defenses against the clogged sebaceous glands, bacteria, and excess oil production. These treatments may be in the form of topical and/or oral medications as well as, laser and light treatments. Eczema is often used as an umbrella term for dermatitis, or inflammation of the skin. There are many different kinds of eczema and sometimes the cause is unknown. The common finding is red, inflamed, scaly and itchy skin. Atopic dermatitis is the most common form, has a genetic component, and is associated with asthma and allergies. It usually starts in childhood but can occur in all ages. Other forms of dermatitis include dyshidrotic eczema which affects the hands and feet and contact dermatitis which occurs due to exposure to a particular allergen. Patch Testing At NY Medical Skin Solutions, we offer patch testing where 80 allergens are applied to the skin to determine which might be the offending one. The patches are typically applied on your back and removed a couple of days later in which it will be determined whether there is an early reaction to any of the allergens. You will then be asked to return a third time to see whether there is a late response as well. Excessive Sweating (Hyperhidrosis) Hyperhidrosis is known as excessive sweating beyond what is normal for cooling the body from heavy exertion or exercise. It most commonly occurs in the underarms, hands, and feet. It can cause great distress from a social and professional standpoint and interfere with normal daily life. Treatment typically consists of over the counter and prescription antiperspirants, as well as Botox injections. Botox for hyperhidrosis is safe and effective, lasting nearly 6 months in many cases. Hair Disorders The causes for hair loss can be multifactorial; genetic, autoimmune, environmental, as well as emotional and physical stress. Treatment options can be just as complex involving topical and oral medications, as well as injections of cortisone into the affected areas. Herpes Simplex The herpes simplex virus causes recurrent, painful sores most commonly around the mouth and lips, often triggered by sun exposure, illness and stress. Type two occurs on the genital area. The appearance of these lesions may be preceded by a tingling an burning sensation Treatment is with oral medication. Hypertrophic Scars/Keloids Hypertrophic scars are scars that are elevated and thickened at the site of the initial injury. Keloids on the other hand, are a type of scar in which the excess tissue extends beyond where the initial injury is sustained. They most often occur on the trunk and arms following trauma such as acne and surgical procedures and on the earlobes from ear piercing. Treatment involves injections into the keloid with steroids and chemotherapeutic agents, laser treatments, and surgical excision. Keratosis Pilaris Melasma is a disorder of pigmentation of the sun exposed areas on the face. It occurs more commonly in women, especially those of darker skin types, those on birth control pills or hormone replacement and those that are pregnant. There may also be a genetic component and is exacerbated with sun exposure. The mainstay of treatment is sunscreen, however, topical lightening products, chemical peels, and laser treatments may be necessary. Melasma can be very difficult to treat and returns very easily, especially after sun exposure. Molluscum Contagiosum Molluscum Contagiosum is a viral infection confined to the skin. While it can occur in people of all ages, it is more commonly seen in children and appears and small well-defined white and pink bumps. The virus is transmitted by skin to skin contact, often from clothing and towels. Patients with eczema or atopic dermatitis have a tendency to contracting the virus. Treatment involves methods that destroy the lesion such as applying a medication topically in the office, freezing or burning the lesions, and shaving them off entirely. Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease characterized by scaly red plaques most commonly on the elbows, knees, scalp and lower back. It can also affect the nails and the joints, leading to psoriatic arthritis. Treatment involves topical medications, though injections, light therapy, and/or oral medications may be required. Seborrheic Dermatitis Seborrheic dermatitis is chronic skin condition that manifests as red and yellow scaly plaques that can be very itchy. It most commonly occurs on the eyebrows, the crease around the nose, scalp, ears and chest. Treatment involves topical medications such as creams and shampoos. Tinea Versicolor Tinea versicolor is a common condition characterized by an overgrowth of fungus on the skin’s surface. Heat and sweating may predispose one to developing tinea versicolor and it usually occurs on the chest, abdomen, or upper back. The rash typically consists of scaly, sometimes itchy white and tanned patches and may be more apparent in those who are tanned. Treatment involves topical and sometimes oral anti-fungal medication. Vitiligo is a condition in which pigment is gone from the skin and usually presents as white patches. The most commonly involved areas are the hands and fingers, face, especially around the eyes and mouth, as well as the, feet and genital area. Vitiligo can be associated with other medical problems and there may be a genetic component. Treatment involves the use of topical medications, lasers and light treatments. Long standing vitiligo can be resistant to treatment and the disease can continue to progress.
Glance VMware store to support multiple datastores Glance, when configured to use VMware store, stores the images in a virtual storage container called datastore, identified by the configuration option vmware_datastore_name. The size of the datastore can only be increased to a certain limit which also depends upon the underlying physical storage. The capacity of the store is thus bound by the size of a single datastore and poses serious scalability issues. Problem description Currently the number of images stored by glance, when configured to use VMware store, is limited by the capacity of a single datastore. The size of a datastore has an upper bound [1]. e.g The maximum datastore size is 64TB when backed by VMFS-5 filesystem. While the same for a datastore with NFS may depend on the storage array vendor. While this is the theoretical maximum based on the supported filesystem, datastores are also sized based on the underlying physical storage, including internal and external devices and networked storage. With networked storage the choice of storage protocol (iSCSI, FC, FCoE) also play a vital role in deciding the optimal size. Thus, the capacity of a datastore used in a datacenter varies by deployment. Apart from the capacity, there may be a performance bottleneck when many compute nodes concurrently access a single datastore to download images. Proposed change To allow adding more capacity and improving performance, we suggest the use of multiple datastores for storing images. There is only one major aspect of the proposed change: - Datastore Selection. 1) Datastore Selection: This change proposes to select a datastore based on the priority given to it by the operator and the capacity to accommodate the image. A new configuration option (say vmware_datastores) will be added that would enable the operator to specify multiple datastores along with their relative weights. In case of equal priority the selection will be based on the maximum freespace available on the datastore. This approach is very similar to filesystem_store_datadirs used by filesystem store. Example: say vmware_datastores is configured with nfs_datastore, iscsi_datastore, ssd_datastore with weights 100, 100 and 200 respectively. Here, ssd_datastore will be the preferred datastore if it can accommodate the image data being added. Otherwise, nfs_datastore or iscsi_datastore will be chosen based on maximum freespace available. 1) The datastore selection can be done through round-robin/randomized strategy instead of priority-based. This would be ideal if all datastores are of same type and perform similarly. But since datastores are of different types, the strategy is best driven by operator input. e.g SSD backed datastores may be faster that networked datastores. While its possible to determine the type of datastore, implicit assumptions cannot be made. Data model impact Does not have any impact on glance data model. REST API impact Security impact This spec only adds a selection logic to the existing functionality and hence does not have any security impact. Notifications impact Other end user impact Performance Impact The use of multiple datastores will reduce concurrent operations on a single datastore. Other deployer impact This proposal will allow administrators to configure multiple datastores to save the image data in VMware storage backend. If enabled, it will override the existing configuration option vmware_datastore_name that allows to specify a single datastore. If disabled, the store will fallback to vmware_datastore_name option. Thus, the change is backwards compatible. We will deprecate the vmware_datastore_name option going forward. New Multi Strings configuration option in glance-api.conf vmware_datastores Optional. Default: Not set. A datastore along with its datacenter path and a weight. If the datastore is a member of a datastore cluster, then the name of the cluster should also be included. Otherwise, the cluster name can be omitted. This option can be specified multiple times to specify multiple datastores. Thus, the required format becomes: vmware_datastores = vmware_datastores = The weights are used to establish the relative priorities of the specified datastores. Thus, they can be any arbitrary integer values. vmware_datastores = vmware_datastores = vmware_datastores = In the above example, ssd_datastore will be given highest priority, followed by nfs_datastore and backup_datastore. vmware_datastores = vmware_datastores = vmware_datastores = In this example, the nfs datastores will be given equal priority, followed by the backup_datastore. With equal priority, the contention between nfs datastores is resolved by the maximum freespace. Note:- If the datacenter path or datastore name contains a colon (:) symbol, it must be escaped with a backslash. Developer impact Primary assignee: smurugesan (sabari) Other contributors: Core reviewer(s): nikhil-komawar arnaudleg Other reviewer(s): Work Items 1. Implement new config option in VMware store driver. 2. Implement datastore selection logic in the VMware store driver. 3. Implement unit tests. 4. Change glance-api sample conf in glance repository. 5. Add a deprecation warning for vmware_datastore_name. 6. Update the documentation. • oslo.vmware has introduced a Datastore object which will be used in this implementation. • oslo.vmware has a vim_util module that has some low-level utility methods to interact with the vmware api’s. This is required to parse api responses. • Tempest tests are not required. Documentation Impact • Document new configuration options.
Can someone explain how to backup a rooted Android device into a ZIP file that would be compatible with adb sideload? Is it possible without having a custom recovery installed? Is there a specific name for a ROM in that format? Is the format documented somewhere? Are there tools that package ROMs into that format? • Adb backup? Why no adb backup? You can then just adb restore. – Dan Brown Oct 10 '16 at 14:49 • @DanBrown: I didn't realize that 'adb backup' can backup the /system partition... Can it really do that? – Val Blant Oct 11 '16 at 15:22 • Don't know for sure, actually. Try adb Pull, and then adb push it back if you can't adb backup /system. You really should be using a custom recovery though. Why not? – Dan Brown Oct 11 '16 at 15:32 • Shoot, I forgot: You can use the app ZIPme by Jrummy. – Dan Brown Oct 11 '16 at 15:55 • @DanBrown: Yeah, doing this from recovery would be ideal, but not an option for me. I've got a locked bootloader and no hack for this device yet (YT3-X50), so no way to actually install a custom recovery. I know that apps like FlashFire can create images of all partitions (including system) w/o recovery, but the missing piece is how to create a sideload-compatible jar, once I have the partition images. – Val Blant Oct 12 '16 at 0:46 Your Answer Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.
Noah Becker's whitehot magazine of contemporary art Peter Dayton at ArtHamptons The first thing you saw this July when you walked into the vast air-conditioned hangar of the ArtHamptons festival in East Hampton, New York, was the artist Peter Dayton’s customized Volkswagen Touareg. There it was, the black SUV turned into a surfmobile with fake wood paneling like the “woodies” of old, emblazoned with Dayton’s name in the form of a vintage logo, parked at a showroom angle with a guard cum sales rep standing beside it in case you tried to touch the paint, which you could not help but want to do. You thought maybe there might be a raffle later in the evening, perhaps officiated by someone like Billy Baldwin accompanied by a VW girl in a white bikini. It was the Hamptons. The first thing you noticed about ArtHamptons itself was the line of cars jostling to get in to the grounds: mint luxury vehicles at a standstill while their drivers decided whether to pay for the VIP valet parking or to just make the sad turn into the farm fields and walk. They were looking for a parking space so they could pretend to look at art while looking for a glass of wine in a huge air-conditioned hangar. It’s not that Peter Dayton’s Touareg was mocking these people—the Touareg was not that dumb. The Touareg was simply not a Mercedes, not a Lexus. It was a Jan and Dean song from a thousand years ago, or rather it was a half-remembered TV commercial featuring that Jan and Dean song from a thousand years ago, a song whose title you didn’t know and in any case never thought about, though the commercial itself had always made you happy. Beyond the Touareg was a half-mile span of every kind of art, much of it name-brand—you had your Irving Penns, you had your Andy Warhols, you may even have had your Leroy Neimans. “Welcome,” the Touareg said. Many people, seeing the car, were confused by its intentions. Dayton began his career by making huge blowups of seed packet illustrations, those Burpee flower pictures that look nice when they’re five inches high but then suddenly look sublime and psychedelic when they’re five feet tall and on a wall. These Xeroxed images had some of the static mystery of album cover art, which made sense given that Dayton’s first career was with the pioneering Boston punk band La Peste. One day Dayton walked into a gallery that had not yet opened, that was still a construction site—the carpenter had just done some shelving and there was a lot of leftover wood. Dayton took it home and put it in his studio. Eventually it occurred to him how to use it. “I’d been hitting the wall with the flower pieces,” he said. Flowers and flower seed catalogues were familiar to the people who collected Dayton’s work. They were also familiar with surfing and surfboards, a longtime passion of Dayton’s. A series of vintage surfboard paintings ensued. It began when Dayton put a “stringer” in the middle of one of these salvaged shelves (a stringer in a surfboard is a band of wood that runs down the center to give it strength). Dayton had hit on a simple trompe l’oeil device using masking tape to mark off straight lines, painting them in, then pulling the tape to suddenly produce “wood inlays.” Pretty quickly he realized that the period of the original surfboards he had in mind was also the period in which highbrow artists in New York and L.A. were inventing minimalism. He happened to go to a Barnett Newman show at the Met, and it occurred to him that one of the zip paintings could easily be incorporated into a logo. He could make a “Barnett Newman” surfboard, based on a Newman design and “signed” with Newman’s “trademark.” From there, he decided to turn several art “heroes”—Newman, Kenneth Noland, Frank Stella—into “surfer heroes.” “Surfboard makers were doing the same kind of art without realizing it,” Dayton says. He mentions the “finish fetish” artists of the 60s in California, whose admiration for surfboard and hot rod art brought a new sex appeal to austere New York-style minimalism. (His Touareg brings to mind Kenneth Anger’s 1965 film “Kustom Kar Kommandos,” a celebration of L.A. teenagers buffing and polishing their rides.) Before long, Dayton had made a series of paintings that echoed the L.A. artist John McCracken’s 1960s minimalist planks but with a twenty-first century sense of irreverent, anti-hierarchical humor. Like all pop art, Dayton’s both mocks and embraces its own commodification. In his case, the passion lies on the surface. To make the surfboard paintings, he uses a single, careful pour of epoxy resin. If a stray hair gets in, it’s there for good. Dayton wears a paper suit and a mask—it cracks him up, the idea of himself getting so intense that he wears a suit and a mask. He sands down the epoxy to 500 grit, then he has some pros at an auto body shop bring it to 1,000 grit—“superanal”—then they clearcoat it with a UV enamel, then sand it again, then polish it. “It’s amazing how seductive that surface is,” Dayton rhapsodizes. For the Touareg “woodie,” he spent an hour photographing plywood at a lumberyard—it turned out that the best-looking plywood grain was the cheapest, the least subtle. So there’s your irony. Not only is the wood fake, but it’s a fake of the cheap stuff. The car gleamed there at the entrance to ArtHamtpons like a guilty pleasure. Zachary Lazar Zachary Lazar is the author of three books, most recently the novel Sway and the memoir Evening’s Empire: The Story of My Father’s Murder. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, BOMB and other places. He teaches creative writing at Tulane University. view all articles from this author
Influence: Building a Platform to Elevate Jesus (Not Me) DIGITAL DOWNLOAD NOTE: This purchase includes ONE digital download of the PDF version of Influence: Building a Platform That Elevates Jesus (Not Me). Is there a way to gather followers and still follow Jesus? Is there a way to both take up our cross and build up our stats? Is it possible to raise our Google rank and still elevate Christ? Kate and I are excited to tell you that we’ve come to the strong and happy conclusion that there is a way. We’ve written this book to help you sort out some of the same questions we’ve wrestled with. “Your platform isn’t big enough.” If you’re a writer, speaker, or ministry leader, perhaps these five words have squelched your desire to share the message burning within. In today’s digital world, speakers and writers are expected to grow their own following–or platform of influence–before gaining access to a microphone or book contract. But as a Christian, is there a way to gather followers and still follow Jesus? Is it possible to both build up your stats and take up your cross? How can you reconcile promoting yourself when you’re called to humble yourself, or elevating your name when you’re commissioned to elevate Christ’s? In Influence, you’re invited to a platform-building coaching session with the carpenter from Nazareth. As you set aside fears, examine hidden motives, and gain decision-making clarity, you’ll emerge with new confidence and awareness–ready to step out and shine the light of Jesus from the platform God has strategically placed beneath your feet. Releasing January, 2019 Are you on the mailing list? You'll also receive my subscriber-only freebies! You have Successfully Subscribed! Pin It on Pinterest Share This
Couples Coaching Techniques Empathy in Couples Counseling Probably the most important couple counseling technique any counselor can use is empathy, the ability to sense and understand what each person is experiencing and feeling throughout the relationship. Without empathy a coach will be distant, the opposite of what is required to gain a person’s, or a couple’s, trust. With trust a couple will find themselves sharing both their darkest secrets and deepest needs, thus giving the counselor the most relevant information needed to best guide them forward. Insight of a Relationship Counselor A second crucial skill is the ability to read beyond a couple’s “story,” to decipher those things that are truly relevant and the root cause of their difficulties. Couples have a sense of their problems, but are often blind to their own failures and sometimes fail to see hidden motivations that greatly impact a relationship. Being both Direct and Considerate in Couples Coaching Another important tool is a willingness to be firm and direct while maintaining compassion and consideration. Knowing that a coach isn’t a 90lb weakling strongly reinforces a persons confidence in him. At the same time, knowing he cares and is considerate makes it easier to deal with painful factors, rather than avoid them. All things are Possible – Austin Marriage Counselor Motivation and encouragement are indispensable in counseling couples. A good coach works dilligently to create hope and a clear direction for couples to achieve their goals and overcome obstacles. Emotional Intelligence in Couples Counseling A calm and peaceful demeanor, blended with humor when appropriate, are essential backdrops that make it easier for a couple to cope with serious hardships brought to the surface in a marriage counseling session. Many other techniques are important, including knowing the most opportune times to deal with certain issues, warning clients of potential dangers, sharing one’s own personal experiences, and being humble enough to acknowledge mistakes. Marriage Counseling Austin strongle implements all these techniques to better serve our clients. Call or Email Austin Life Coach To set up an initial session call us at 512-653-4316, you can also E-Mail David Cantu. For fees go to Affordable Life Coaching and Marriage Counseling Fees page.
Disturbing moment in the bathroom this morning…. Georgia calls an adult to come and wipe her bum. Yes, she is six and should have this sorted, but I am a bit “anal” about this sort of thing. I really want to die a small death when I see brown streaks on kid’s underwear, and then I start to doubt all sorts of other things regarding their personal hygiene. I “prefer” not “like” to wipe my kid’s bum. Connor gets the odd quality check, and Georgia is just too distracted to take care of this task effectively. Yes, there I said it! I wipe my kid’s arse and she is 6! This morning Georgia is calling me “Mommy, come wipe my bum!” I wanted to finish a sms as I was trying to get Connor invited to a playdate with his friend and had left it until the last moment. I was trying to sms, and get ready for work, and put the nappy on Isabelle’s playdog. I was really multi-tasking. I was a bit delayed and Georgia was now starting to scream: “MOMMY COME AND WIPE MY BUM! MOMMY! MOMMY!” I finish the sms and walk down to the bathroom. The scene that appears before my eyes is Georgia with her pants down by her ankles. She is standing and sort of bending over, and still screaming for me. She has a red toothbrush in her right hand and appears to be aiming for her arse. (I am not sure if it was aiming towards an action or returning from an action.) The toothbrush belongs to her sister. I then utter the words no parent wants to in this situation: “What exactly are you doing with that toothbrush near your bum?” I yank the toothbrush out of her hand. I wonder if I should throw it away or smell it. I grab some toilet paper, release a loud sigh, and then attempt to wipe her bum. I did notice a rather “concerning” brown streak that run from her bum crack up her back. Not dissimilar to one a toothbrush would make, for instance. I used a wet wipe to assist. I then snarled at her, and sort of begged her not to use toothbrushes if ever there was a toilet emergency. I silently admonished myself for not being faster on my sms. There are a few issues that remained and might not be resolved today. 1. Has Georgia done this before? 2. Has she ever touched my toothbrush while bleating for me to come and attend to her? 3. How wise was it to put toothpaste on the very same toothbrush for Isabelle about 12 minutes later? 4. Is it an evolutionary trait that one becomes less overwhelmed by faeces once one has children? <The King of England used to have a “Groom of the Stool” whose role was to sit with the King while he did his various body ablutions, and then attend to the ‘clean and swiping’ part because clearly the King would not do this… it was a real honour to be the Groom of the Stool, as you were clearly privy to intimate moments with the King …. true story really!>
Destroying the Periphery in Order to Save the Core’s Banks By William K. Black Gary O’Callaghan, a former IMF economist has written about his distress over what he views as the European Central Bank’s (ECB’s) destructive policies toward the periphery. The ECB, EU, and the IMF are the troika that contributed to the periphery’s crises and have responded in such a destructive manner to the crises. O’Callaghan’s column urges the European finance ministers to focus on “three simple questions about the [troika’s] Irish, Greek and Portuguese” loan programs. My column focuses on the reasoning underlying his third question. O’Callaghan has conflated “the survival of the euro” with the transcendent “European agenda” and the success of the EU loan programs to Ireland, Greece and Portugal with “the survival of the euro?” The EU existed for decades without the euro. A number of EU nations have chosen not to be members of the euro. The euro is not essential to an effective EU unless the EU wishes to become a true United States of Europe. That new sovereign nation would want a sovereign currency. The crisis had revealed that most French, Germans, and Finns do not view the Irish, Greeks, and Portuguese as fellow citizens of a United Europe. O’Callaghan calls on the EU to the discard the concept of European solidarity as “distracting rhetoric,” but he does not see that the euro has become one of the greatest threats to any “European agenda.” Why is O’Callaghan so disturbed about the EU and ECB’s lending program for Ireland? He is part of the IMF’s vast alumni corps and he’s horrified that the EU and the ECB are making the rookie mistakes common to novice loan sharks. The IMF knows how to bleed a nation – and it knows why the IMF bleeds nations. The IMF does not bail out poor nations. It bails out banks in rich nations that have made imprudent loans to poor nations. The IMF realizes that it is essential not to impose so much austerity that you kill rather than cripple the victim’s economy and harm the core’s banks. The ECB is dominated by theoclassical economists who have not yet learned this lesson. Their economic dogma is a variant on the old joke: the daily floggings will continue until morale improves around here. Bleeding is virtuous. If the victims aren’t screaming the ECB is not trying hard enough. O’Callaghan writes primarily to convince the EU and the ECB to dial back the bleeding to the point where it is just sustainable. He urges them to “eliminate [] immediately” “punitive interest rates that undermine the chances of success.” O’Callaghan describes the ECB’s current loan terms as so bad that they are “preposterous.” “The rating agencies, the markets and most leading economists do not believe the plan is working.” Sentient economists do not believe that imposing austerity during a severe recession is sensible. The CIA world book describes Ireland’s austerity program – prior to ECB demands for ever greater austerity – as “draconian” (and the CIA has special expertise with regard to the concept of “draconian”). O’Callaghan key admission – the bailouts are essential to bail out the core’s banks Why does O’Callaghan argue that it is essential that the ECB plan for the periphery succeed? Because, it they are not implemented, the non-payment of debt – including bank debt – by the nations on the periphery would lead to severe banking crises and a return to recession in the core of eurozone. That concession is refreshingly candid. The EU is not lending money to Ireland, Greece, and Portugal to help those nations’ citizens. The EU is lending those nations money because if they don’t those nations and their citizens and corporations will be unable to repay their debts to banks in the core. That will make public the fact that the core banks are actually insolvent. When the Germans and French realize that their banks are insolvent the result will be “severe banking crises and a return to recession in the core of the eurozone.” The core, not simply the periphery, will be in crisis. The ECB and the EU’s leadership would be happy to throw the periphery under the bus, but the EU core’s largest banks are chained to the periphery by their imprudent loans. The leaders of the troika understand, but detest, the need to bail out the core’s insolvent banks by bailing out the periphery. They understand how much the EU public detests the bailouts and the resultant political cost in the core of supporting the bailouts. Their efforts to minimize that political cost lead them to demonize the periphery and support the ECB’s imposition of ever more draconian and self-defeating austerity programs on the periphery. The austerity programs are deepening the recessions in the periphery and creating far worse unemployment. The perverse economic policies create ever greater political instability in the periphery, massive resistance to austerity, and contempt for the core nation’s pretenses about European solidarity. As the perverse austerity programs cause the periphery’s recessions to deepen, the likelihood of default increases, which further outrages the core’s population and threatens to unseat the core’s political leaders. Austerity locks the core and the periphery in a totentanz – a dance of death. The desire to save the euro and the core’s insolvent banks has become the greatest threat to the EU project. Creating a sounder euro system The euro has become the tail that wags the EU dog, and it is wagging so destructively that it is throwing the periphery into the ditch. The EU response is to make the periphery dig itself ever deeper into that ditch and while showering the periphery with abuse. O’Callaghan’s assertion that it was “obvious” that the survival of the euro, not the well being of EU citizens, was the EU’s transcendent goal demonstrates the point. The euro is the problem – not the solution – for the periphery and the core. Cross-posted from Benzinga. Comments are closed.
Ansel Adams at 100 Review Ansel Adams at 100 Review If there is one photographer known widely to the general public it is Ansel Adams (1902-1984), whose photographs of the western United States landscape, particularly those of the magnificent Yosemite Valley, have been etched into the consciousness of several generations. But, as with many great artists, his work has perhaps been overexposed, reaching that condition where familiarity tends to dilute its impact. And, too, at a time when taste in art runs to edgier styles and urban angst, rather than to more traditional landscape or (dare it be said?) spiritual content, Adams’ work is ripe for reassessment. For the occasion of the centenary of Adams’ birth, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has organized a major exhibition of some 100 of Adams’ finest photographs, curated by John Szarkowsi. In this first major survey of Adams’ work since his death, Szarkowsi expresses particular interest in Adams as a modernist and in Adams’ creative process, particularly his passion for quality in the printing. For if, in its early years, photography was treated as reportage, as something less than art, it is surely clear, in retrospect, that no two photographers will see in quite the same way, that choices are made both behind the camera and in the darkroom; Adams was one of those pioneers, without a master to guide his way, who practiced photography as art. Szarkowsi says that Adams’ photographs "demonstrate that even in the great theatrical diorama of Yosemite the mountains are no more miraculous than a few blades of grass floating on good water. His pictures enlarged our visceral knowledge of things we do not understand." It is things felt but not understood, of course, that often lead to those "spiritual" feelings (a word Szarkowski says Adams would have abjured). That Adams felt, and his work expresses, a deep emotional contact with the natural world is clear; label it what you will. A room of works from the 1920’sby other artists shows the context in which Adams began his artistic quest. A stunning Imogen Cunningham photograph, a closeup of a magnolia blossom, seems as fresh as tomorrow and instantly conveys joy in the perception of the natural beauty of the flower. A small Georgia O’Keeffe oil of Lake George captures the essence of the landscape with a few horizontal bands in cool blues and greens–squint just a bit and you have a minimalist abstraction. Szarkowsi has chosen some Adams photographs for the exhibit that are instantly familiar–if not specifically, then stylistically and in terms of subject matter. Sweeping landscapes with craggy peaks, storms, trees in all seasons. These reaffirm Adams’ mastery of light and shade and composition. But Szarkowski wants to emphasize lesser seen aspects of Adams’ work. If the broad landscapes constitute a macrocosmic view, there are, too, images of nature in microcosmic form–those blades of grass mentioned above. "Grass and Water" (1935) has thin reeds of grass forming angled patterns of white line against the darker background of the water, with clouds and the gleam of the sun reflected back from the surface of the water as well. It’s a technically wondrous photograph and, yes, a modernist abstraction as well. Adams may not have used that terminology, but the vision that produced the art is consistent with such a point of view. When the sun is gone, the same subject, in "Grass and Pool," becomes even more simplified, pure patterns of light line against dark background. Szarkowski offers several groupings of other smaller scale subjects–rocks, dead trees and stumps, wood details, leaves, waves, geysers. Adams finds the unexpected patterns, the chance plays of light and shadow, a pervading sense of the mysterious, of the uniqueness of each bit of the natural world. Among the other works on view, "Wanda Lake" is an astonishing landscape of highly patterned snowy ridges reflected in water so still and clear that it creates a mirror image and the entire composition emerges as a Rorschachian pattern on the horizontal axis. "Lake and Cliffs" is laden with natural drama, the rock of the cliffs thrusting upward as it must have when these mountains were formed from the surging uplift of seismic action–it could be a setting for the Wagner Ring, where the fates of humans and the gods intermingle. A personal favorite is towards the end, "Aspens" photographed in New Mexico in 1958. A sapling blooming in the foreground catches the light, while the tall verticals of the forest are dimmer as they recede into the background. Two prints are shown, one made near the time the photo was taken, the other from Adams later period when he was reprinting negatives and heightening contrasts for a more dramatic effect. The purists are scornful of the later works, considering them compromised. To this viewer, both are astonishingly beautiful, each creating a somewhat different effect, each a different aspect of the artist’s perception. Adams’ remarkable body of work stands as surpassing artistic accomplishment in and of itself; it also helps the world to see the ever-changing glories of the pristine natural environment which he championed with passion. Arthur Lazere anseladamsclearingwinterstorm.jpg (31714 bytes)anseloak.jpg (23164 bytes) San Francisco ,
What Is the End Product of Protein? Written by Lindsay Boyers; Updated December 06, 2018 You’ve probably heard by now that protein is absolutely critical for good health, but what may be less clear is why it’s so important and what it does in your body. When you eat protein, your body breaks it down into amino acids, which are then used to build different proteins. These proteins perform a wide variety of functions, from keeping your immune system strong to holding your cells together to carrying different substances around your body. Protein Digestion and Amino Acids The end product of protein is actually new proteins, but in order to complete this process, protein must first be broken down into amino acids. After you eat protein, your stomach starts the digestive process when an enzyme called pepsin is released, mixing with stomach acid to begin breaking down the protein. From there, the broken-down protein travels to the small intestine where it is further broken down into free amino acids. The amino acids travel through the intestinal lining where they enter the bloodstream. Once they’ve entered the bloodstream, these free amino acids are combined in different ways to form new proteins that perform a wide variety of functions in your body. Types of Amino Acids Before getting into the new proteins that are formed, it’s helpful to know about the different types of amino acids. There are 21 amino acids, and they’re broken down into three categories: essential, nonessential and conditional. Essential amino acids come from what you eat; your body can't make them. Nonessential amino acids are those that your body is able to make, so it’s not as vital for you to get them in the food you eat. Conditional amino acids are usually nonessential, but when you’re sick or under a great deal of stress, your needs increase, so you need to get more of them through your diet. The essential amino acids include lysine, leucine, isoleucine, histidine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine. The nonessential amino acids include asparagine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and alanine. The conditional amino acids are glutamine, glycine, tyrosine, proline, serine, ornithine, cysteine and arginine. Structural Proteins Structural proteins help keep your cells and your body from falling apart. Collagen, which accounts for about 25 percent of the protein in your body, connects your muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments and blood vessels. It holds your skin together and keeps your organs from collapsing in your body. Actin is the most abundant protein in your muscles. It allows the muscle to contract so you can move. Transport Proteins Transport proteins are named for the job they do – carrying other substances around your body. For example, hemoglobin, a protein that’s part of your red blood cells, carries oxygen from your lungs to every other cell in your body. Ferritin is another protein that stores iron and releases it into the body as needed. Enzymes and Immunity Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions. Without enzymes, chemical reactions would be so slow that the desired effect couldn’t happen, and you wouldn’t be able to survive. Your body also uses the amino acids from protein digestion to create antibodies, which are proteins that help fight off and destroy foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses so you don’t get sick. About the Author Lindsay Boyers Lindsay Boyers is a holistic nutritionist with a Bachelor's degree in food and nutrition and a certificate in holistic nutrition consulting. She has a background in functional nutrition and 10 published books, including The Everything Guide to Gut Health, The Everything Guide to the Ketogenic Diet, and The Everything Guide to Intermittent Fasting. bibliography-icon icon for annotation tool Cite this Article
Downhill at speed Today Laila, John, Gary and I all headed up the gondola at Nevis Range for a quick shot down the red run. It was fantastic, nice and flowing with some good tricky sections. It didn't take long for us to get down and after a quick coffee we met up with Kenny and Rhona for a burn around the witches trail. Today was the trails for the world cup so there was lots of brilliant bikers, lots of labels and lots of caps tilted to the side! Good vibes at Nevis Range. Blair was up creating an avalanche forecast of all the fresh snow that has fallen and said he was ripping up the goose with some sweet turns!
Show Less Restricted access Trading Zones in Environmental Education Creating Transdisciplinary Dialogue Edited By Marianne E. Krasny and Justin Dillon Environmental educators often adhere to a relatively narrow theoretical paradigm focusing on changing attitudes and knowledge, which are assumed to foster pro-environmental behaviors, which, in turn, leads to better environmental quality. This book takes a different approach to trying to understand how environmental education might influence people, their communities, and the environment. The authors view changing environmental behaviors as a «wicked» problem, that is, a problem that does not readily lend itself to solutions using existing disciplinary approaches. The book as a whole opens up new avenues for pursuing environmental education research and practice and thus expands the conversation around environmental education, behaviors, and quality. Through developing transdisciplinary research questions and conceptual paradigms, this book also suggests new practices beyond those currently used in environmental education, natural resources management, and other environmental fields. Show Summary Details Restricted access Introduction. Tales of a Transdisciplinary Scholar: Marianne E. Krasny Is Changing Environmental Behavior a “Wicked” Problem? Tales of a Transdisciplinary Scholar Marianne E. Krasny More than 20 years after the historic Belgrade and Tbilisi meetings defining environmental education (UNESCO 1975, 1977), Kollmuss and Agyeman (2002) posed the question: “Why do people act environmentally, and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior?” In particular, they wondered why people who are environmentally knowledgeable and aware often fail to display pro-environmental behaviors. After reviewing the evidence for predictive models in environmental education, including those positing linear pathways from knowledge to attitudes to behavior, as well as those emphasizing altruism, empathy, and pro-social behaviors, they concluded, “the question of what shapes pro-environmental behavior is such a complex one that it cannot be visualized in one single framework or diagram. Such a single diagram with all the factors that shape and influence behavior would be so complicated that it would lose its practicality and probably even its meaning” (Kollmuss and Agyeman 2002, 248). Similarly, Steg and Vlek (2009) and Heimlich and Ardoin (2008) reviewed multiple lines of research attempting to predict environmental behaviors, including those focusing on cost/benefit analysis, moral and normative concerns or values, self-efficacy, social marketing, social learning, and emotion. Whereas each model was useful in some situations, the authors found neither a unified predictive model ← ix \| x → that explained environmental behaviors in multiple contexts, nor an explanation of which models might be most useful in a given situation. A number of authors have recognized that environmental problems are complex... Do you have any questions? Contact us. Or login to access all content.
I'm following the steps in this link to create a truffle project. I'm using ganache-cli as the ethereum client. rajkumar@rajkumar: Ethereum$ mkdir helloworld rajkumar@rajkumar: Ethereum$ cd helloworld/ rajkumar@rajkumar: helloworld$ sudo truffle init ✔ Preparing to download ✔ Downloading ✔ Cleaning up temporary files ✔ Setting up box Unbox successful. Sweet! Compile: truffle compile Migrate: truffle migrate Test contracts: truffle test rajkumar@rajkumar: helloworld$ truffle create contract HelloWorld rajkumar@rajkumar: helloworld$ sudo truffle create contract HelloWorld Then I updated the smart contract with the one in here. rajkumar@rajkumar: helloworld$ sudo truffle create migration HelloWorld rajkumar@rajkumar: helloworld$ sudo truffle migrate --network development [sudo] password for rajkumar: Compiling your contracts... > Compiling ./contracts/HelloWorld.sol > Artifacts written to /home/rajkumar/Coding/Ethereum/helloworld/build/contracts > Compiled successfully using: - solc: 0.5.8+commit.23d335f2.Emscripten.clang Network up to date. rajkumar@rajkumar: helloworld$ sudo truffle console truffle(development)> let instance = await HelloWorld.deployed() Error: HelloWorld has not been deployed to detected network (network/artifact mismatch) at processTicksAndRejections (internal/process/task_queues.js:85:5) at Function.deployed (/usr/lib/node_modules/truffle/build/webpack:/packages/truffle-contract/lib/contract/constructorMethods.js:61:1) at Object.checkNetworkArtifactMatch (/usr/lib/node_modules/truffle/build/webpack:/packages/truffle-contract/lib/utils.js:256:1) Why I'm getting above error? How can I fix this? in your HelloWorld migration file from migrate folder you should open it and by the tutorial add this: var HelloWorld = artifacts.require('HelloWorld'); module.exports = function(deployer) { // Use deployer to state migration tasks. you should read the truffle document for more detail: https://www.trufflesuite.com/docs/truffle/getting-started/running-migrations. It looks like you deployed to the development network but are running truffle console with the default network, so assume that these are different. You should deploy and use the console on the same network. truffle migrate --network development truffle console --network development As an aside, you shouldn't have to use sudo. You may want to consider installing packages locally. I only have ganache-cli installed globally. Your Answer
4 of the Many Reasons Why People Aren't Buying From You Stop talking about your product and start listening to your customer. Grow Your Business, Not Your Inbox Stay informed and join our daily newsletter now! Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy 4 of the Many Reasons Why People Aren't Buying From You Image credit: Klaus Vedfelt \| Getty Images VIP Contributor International Sales Expert 5 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. People only buy for one reason and 99% of salespeople don’t know what that is, but do you know why people don't buy from you? There are actually many reasons why people don’t buy from you. Understanding your buyer and the reasons why they don’t buy is essential to deliver creative, captivating communication and ultimately provide the service of the close. Here are but just a few of the reasons people aren’t buying from you. 1. Lack of time. This is a reason people might not be getting back to you. You have to solve this time problem with your client to get your product, service and your company back on their agenda. They lack time to call you back, to email you, to respond to your text and to make time for another presentation. Look for creative ways to solve the lack of time issue. You can’t do that with a better product, by explaining the product, by making the product better somehow, or by reducing your price. None of those things solve the lack of time issue. How do you take time out? Go to them. Send them information. Maybe you overtly address the time issue, “I know you’re busy and how busy you get, what can I do to solve your time problem?” Related: 10 Most Innovative Movers and Shakers in Sales Leadership 2. Cash flow. This is a major concern for every business. Cash flow has nothing to do with your price, product or brand. It’s their problem that you inherit. He is worried about the cash flow of the business effecting the business. You lowering the price and adding value does not solve the cash flow concern. Stop thinking like a salesperson and start thinking like a business person. The true professional salesperson will flush out that cash flow is the issue and resolve the issues in creative ways. You can simply ask, “Is this a cash flow issue? You mean if the cash flow problem wasn’t there, you would do this right now?” Offer deferred payments to bring the deal to fruition. Related: The Many Ways You're Marketing Even When You Don't Even Know You Are 3. Able to do without. Many people can go on without your solution. They have decided that they don’t need to do this right now. Why? They are making money and getting by, they don’t feel like they need to buy what you are selling. Until you can get your client to want your product so bad that they can’t live without it, they won’t buy. You have to establish what the real problem is, the pain, that pivotal thing that makes them feel they have to do something now. You have got to find that out. Until you find that thing that makes them realize they can’t carry on without this, you won’t make the sale. If they showed interest once they’ll probably have interest again. Keep following up. They showed interest, had a problem, and for a moment thought they needed it right now, but the feeling went away. Be there when the winds change again. Related: 5 Ways to Make Your Customers Say 'WOW' 4. Your reputation. You might have a black eye you don’t know about. Search the internet and maybe you’ll see something they saw. It could be a Yelp review or google review, something on Facebook -- somebody somewhere posted or said something about your company and you need to handle it. Ask people straight up, “Have you heard anything about me or my company that’s keeping you from doing business with us?” Just watch for an answer. You’ll see it show up on the buyer’s face. You’ll need to provide real hard data that whatever they’ve heard is not true. Longer term, the best way to handle your reputation is to earn a good reputation. Get lots of people saying good things about you and your company. Too many people wait until there is a reputation problem and then try and play catch-up. Every day you need to be telling the world what you are doing to contribute, make it different, to make your community, area or group better. Build and sell your reputation. The old adage of not blowing your own horn is stupid -- then why have a horn? Build your reputation and your brand, and make it golden. You don’t need it to be perfect. If you’re going to make it to the top you will have haters. You’ll have people post stuff about you that is not true. Get lots of people to post good stuff that will overwhelm the few haters. There are many more reasons people aren’t buying from you. To grow your business you must understand your buyers and the many reasons they don’t buy from you so that you can fix those issues and get sales. I've created programs to help business owners and entrepreneurs grow sales and increase market share, but it starts with understanding why people aren't buying from you. More from Entrepreneur Latest on Entrepreneur
What AIIC does for event planners AIIC helps event planners who need interpretation services. It has the largest repository of professional conference interpreters in the world, for all languages. It sets the standard for conference interpretation. Some AIIC members specialise in recruiting interpreters for all types of events. These consultant interpreters are listed by AIIC after rigorous vetting of their organising abilities and experience, and must follow specific guidelines. A consultant interpreter is a professional conference interpreter who uses her/his expertise in interpreting and the conference business, as well as her/his extensive contacts, to organise a team of interpreters for you. Consultant interpreters may operate alone or under a joint business structure, but as members of AIIC they follow the same principles. Your consultant interpreter; • selects the nearest and best qualified professional interpreters, • negotiates terms with them, • briefs them on your meeting, • contracts them, and • handles everything else through final payment, freeing you to attend to other matters. Your consultant interpreter will discuss all factors with you, including subject matter, documentation, timetables and breakout sessions, to determine the technical equipment and number of interpreters you need. You will receive a comprehensive quotation specifying dates, languages, number of interpreters, fees, airfares (if necessary), daily subsistence allowance and any other costs. During your event, your consultant interpreter will be your link with the team of interpreters, handling assignments, distributing work, and ensuring that everything runs smoothly. If the consultant interpreter is not part of the team, a Team Leader will be appointed instead. You deal with just one person at this hectic time. By following established principles, AIIC consultant interpreters, whether acting as individuals or as companies, ensure that your language needs are met from the first hello to the final farewell. Recommended citation format: AIIC. "What AIIC does for event planners". aiic.net November 28, 2011. Accessed February 21, 2020. <http://aiic.net/p/4042>.
Macro Focus All eyes will be on Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Friday as Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen delivers a speech at the annual Economic Symposium. Traders will be paying close attention to any indication from Yellen of whether a September rate hike could be on the table and what type of long-term plan the Fed has to normalize interest rates. BZ News Desk GameStop GME 7.43% Reports Q2 EPS $0.27 vs. Est. $0.27, Rev. $1.631B vs. Est. $1.72B Autodesk ADSK 3.91% Reports Q2 non-GAAP EPS $0.05, Revenue $551M vs $512.07M Est Splunk SPLK 8.8% Reports Q2 Adj. EPS $0.05 vs $0.03 Est., Sales $212.8M vs $200.5M Est. Ulta Beauty ULTA 6.07% Reports Q2 EPS $1.43 vs. Est. $1.40, Rev. $1.069B vs. Est. $1.06B Big Lots BIG 2.62% Q2 EPS $0.52 vs $0.46 est, Revenue $1.20B vs $1.22B est Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls B. Riley downgraded Nike NKE 0.76% to Neutral. Citi downgraded Signet SIG 2.15% to Neutral. HSBC upgraded Southern Copper SCCO 2.65% to Hold. Credit Suisse upgraded Petrobas PBR 1.2% to Neutral. Raymond James started Intuitive Surgical ISRG 0.43% at Outperform. Deal Talk Belgium’s Anheuser-Busch InBev BUD 1.17% warned Friday its beer megamerger with SABMiller SBMRY 0.52% could lead to thousands of job losses in coming years, according to documents related to the transaction. Carl Icahn has recently discussed selling his stake in Herbalife HLF 4.67% to a group including the company’s arch-nemesis Bill Ackman. Jefferies has been seeking over the past month to find buyers for Icahn’s 18 percent stake, which is worth roughly $1 billion, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. The status of the talks and which other investors may be involved wasn’t clear and Icahn may sell nothing in the end. In The News A top executive at a South Korean company facing a corruption investigation was found dead early Friday just hours before he was due to be questioned by prosecutors. Lee In-won, vice president of the conglomerate Lotte Group, was discovered lying on the ground with a necktie around his throat, according to local police. When the Democratic National Committee announced its $32-million fund-raising haul last month, it touted the result as evidence of “energy and excitement” for Hillary Clinton’s nomination for the White House and other races down the ballot. The influx of money, however, also owes in part to an unprecedented workaround of political spending limits that lets the party tap into millions of dollars more from Clinton’s wealthiest donors. Most first-time workers accumulate stuff, dine out and spend a lot to keep appearances. They want the latest gadgets and that trip of a lifetime to the Caribbean. They work hard to sustain their comfortable lifestyle. When you’re in your 20s, there’s no urgency to think about retirement. The deadline is decades away, so why worry now? Wrong. Here are six things you should consider in money budgeting. Read or Share this story:
Green Architecture - Kitchen Work Area Kitchen Work Area There are volumes written about kitchens, but when you dig thru all the variations there are really only a handful of principles that define a good kitchen. Individual preferences make it so that there is no universal good kitchen, but variations on a theme. The following four1 principles define the basic good kitchen: • The refrigerator/stove/sink workspace is a triangle with no edge longer than ten feet. The most comfortable distances are between 3 and 8 feet. • There is at least 20SF of counter space, and at least two sections of four linear feet of workspace, although a space for one person can get by on less. • There is plenty of light. • There is food storage for at least the commonly used items within the same maximum 10' distance as the work triangle. The first principle effectively limits how big the kitchen is by limiting to the maximum distance you want to travel to get between the work places, while the second one limits how small it can be by specifying a minimum amount of counter space. This second constraint addresses the majority complaints people have about their kitchens. Work space size is really the most important thing in a kitchen: too small and you lack workspace, too big and you spend too much time walking. What is too small depends on the number of people working in the kitchen at once: a kitchen for one person can be a bit smaller than one where two work side by side. Since most counter space sits on top of cabinets, there is generally a correlation between the number of lower cabinets and counter space. Since it makes little sense to build cabinets you won't use (or alternatively to build them only for them to end up filled with stuff you also don't use), this is a limitation in the amount of counter space. Every cabinet should have a designed use, and each one should be located where you want it, particularly the ones for the things used every day- pots, mixing bowls, dishes and silverware. Make a place for your storage containers, spices, cooking oil, kitchen gadgets and so on. If you are concerned that you've forgotten something, and particularly if your counter space seems a bit short, build a little extra space, but not much. Consider also that counters often end up cluttered with many things like a bowl of fruit, a toaster, a coffee pot, a food processor, a dish drying rack, a jar of cooking utensils, a jar of cookies, and so on, and they don't all need to be there. If this leaves too little counter space, consider finding other places for them. If the other place is to build more lower cabinets, then keep in mind that you'll also end up with more counter space in the process, so you may only need to add a very small amount of both. What is probably more important than the 20SF minimum counter size is that there are at least two 3-4' (ie 12-16SF) empty counter spaces always available after the clutter takes over the rest. Most people will want at least a couple of feet of counter on each side of the sink, and a sizable workspace on one side of the stove as well as at leas a small counter next to the refrigerator to collect things as they are brought out of the refrigerator, and also to stack groceries going into the refrigerator. A counter at bar height (approx 42" off the floor), is and ideal place to put out food for guests as well as a place to transfer food from the kitchen to the dining area. If you can find comfortable enough bar stools it makes and Ok place for an informal lunch, but most people will find a table more comfortable. If a breakfast nook is to be included, keep it far enough out of the workspace, but close enough that it still feels part of the kitchen. It is often difficult to fit an entire pantry in the kitchen, but find space for at least the most common items you use. While most people store dishes away in upper cabinets, and pots in lower cabinets, both can be stored out the open: the pots hung on hooks, and the dishes in opens shelves. This solution saves significant cabinet expense, but requires you to be willing to have everyone look at your dishes and to be willing to dust them off if they haven't been used in a while. Of all the rooms in the house, kitchens need more light than any others, and hence they often have more electric lights than anywhere else. Except in hot climates where a lot of sunlight also means excessive solar heat gain, consider putting the kitchen workspace on a south wall and giving it plenty of windows. In mixed climates, an overhang will keep out the summer sun while still allowing ample light in. If the kitchen must face north, a skylight will bring in a lot of light, although beware of getting too much solar heat in the summer. On a wall with both upper and lower cabinets, a short window (only 12" high), sitting just above the counter, gives a surprisingly large amount of light to that counter. It is common to fill the kitchen ceiling with many recessed can lights, and although it makes the kitchen very bright, if instead you use pendant lights focused on the important work areas and combine that with under cabinet mini-fluorescents you can have equally effective lighting using far less watts. Kitchen sinks have traditionally been located near a window, but there is no real reason why that is necessary, although a nice view outdoors would certainly make an otherwise mundane chore more pleasant. kitchen layouts The leftmost four examples are typical kitchen layouts: the U, L, L with an island, and galley, while the rightmost two are larger, more complex layouts. Needless to say, the larger spaces make fitting every thing easier. he gray triangle is the work triangle. Scale: 10px=1 foot. The examples above are samples of common kitchen layouts. The first four plans are very efficient, and variations of them appear in many homes. If there is a fault in any of them, its that its too easy to make them too small: in fact the drawings here are a bit on the small side. In the rightmost two plans, the work triangle starts approaching its upper size limit. Each plan can be rotated, flipped, and in most cases, the sink and stove could be swapped if so desired. The counter space in these examples is about the smallest possible. The last two examples are of larger, more complex layouts, but in this case not something you'll likely find because once the size gets larger, many more variations are possible. What is common about these last two examples is that they have multiple entrances: in addition to an adjoining eating area, the other entrance leads to a mudroom, garage, entry, family room etc. In spite of their variations, the common thread is that each design has enough counter space, at least one sizeable prep area and the work triangle distances are not too large. These plans are all drawn rectangular, since that is the most common, but there could be angles of other than 90 there instead, and rather than straight run, counter could be curved. However keep in mind that non-standard designs might not be able to use standard materials, and getting everything to fit, especially with a curved counter, can be quite difficult. It's also important to make sure that the various doors (cabinet, refrigerator, range, and particularly the dishwasher) open without banging in each other, and that an open door doesn't impede movement or more importantly when a door is open there is at least one convenient place to stand. For example, avoid putting a range or dishwasher any closer than 18" from a corner or you won't be able to stand in the corner with the door open (nor will you be able to open a corner cabinet door). If there is no easy way around the situation, its also not the end of the world-its just potentially annoying. 1: See pattern #184 and #199 in "A Pattern Language". The principles given here vary somewhat from those in the book: in particular the pantry distance is made less essential, the counter space is listed as area, not distance, and some counters shorter than 4' are considered OK. The reason is not because I necessarily disagree with them, but that I'm trying to reduce the number of situations where following the rules is difficult or impossible. Also the goal here is slightly different since these patterns are more about asking all the right questions while giving suggestions rather than giving specific solutions.
Modifiers for distinct procedural services Modifiers for distinct procedural services Ask the Coding Experts, by Doug Morrow, O.D., Harvey Richman, O.D., and Rebecca Wartman, O.D. From the January/February 2015 edition of AOA Focus, page 55. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is establishing four new Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) modifiers to define subsets of the -59 modifier, a modifier used to define a "distinct procedural service." According to 2013 Comprehensive Error Rate Testing Report data, a projected error of $320 million in payments was made on lines with modifier -59. Currently, providers can use the -59 modifier to indicate that a code represents a service that is separate and distinct from another service with which it would usually be considered to be bundled. Because it can be so broadly applied, some providers incorrectly consider it to be the "modifier to use to bypass National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI)." The NCCI has Procedure to Procedure (PTP) edits to prevent unbundling and consequent overpayment to physicians and outpatient facilities. The underlying principle is that the second code defines a subset of the work of the first code, so it would be inappropriate to report it separately. Separate reporting would trigger a separate payment and would constitute double billing. However, it is recognized that in specific limited circumstances the duplicate payment could be sufficiently small or would not exist, so that separate payment would be indicated. Modifiers are used to bypass edits when they are set by NCCI as optional edits. The primary issue associated with the -59 modifier error rate is that it is defined for use in a wide variety of circumstances, such as a use to identify different encounters, different anatomic sites and distinct services. CMS believes that more precise coding options coupled with increased education and selective editing are needed to reduce the errors associated with this overpayment. CMS has defined four new HCPCS modifiers—collectively referred to as -X{EPSU} modifiers—to selectively identify subsets of distinct procedural services (-59 modifier) as follows: • XE Separate Encounter: A service that is distinct because it occurred during a separate encounter • XS Separate Structure: A service that is distinct because it was performed on a separate organ/ structure • XP Separate Practitioner: A service that is distinct because it was performed by a different practitioner • XU Unusual Nonoverlapping Service: The use of a service that is distinct because it does not overlap usual components of the main service Current Procedural Terminology instructions state that the -59 modifier should not be used when a more descriptive modifier is available. CMS will continue to recognize the -59 modifier in many instances but may require a more specific -X{EPSU} modifier for billing certain codes at high risk for incorrect billing. There is continued confusion on billing fundus photography and Scanning Computerized Ophthalmic Diagnostic Imaging on the same date of service on the same eye. They remain considered "mutually exclusive" according to the current NCCI. Mutually exclusive is defined as "procedures that cannot reasonably be performed at the same anatomic site or same patient encounter." There has been no reliable document defining what these situations are and, therefore, no official guidance can be projected for justification. We recommend that doctors do not unbundle them unless their Medicare contractor specifies that it is allowed. January 23, 2015 comments powered by Disqus
Developing Impala Applications The core development language with Impala is SQL. You can also use Java or other languages to interact with Impala through the standard JDBC and ODBC interfaces used by many business intelligence tools. For specialized kinds of analysis, you can supplement the SQL built-in functions by writing user-defined functions (UDFs) in C++ or Java. Overview of the Impala SQL Dialect The Impala SQL dialect is highly compatible with the SQL syntax used in the Apache Hive component (HiveQL). As such, it is familiar to users who are already familiar with running SQL queries on the Hadoop infrastructure. Currently, Impala SQL supports a subset of HiveQL statements, data types, and built-in functions. Impala also includes additional built-in functions for common industry features, to simplify porting SQL from non-Hadoop systems. For users coming to Impala from traditional database or data warehousing backgrounds, the following aspects of the SQL dialect might seem familiar: • The SELECT statement includes familiar clauses such as WHERE, GROUP BY, ORDER BY, and WITH. You will find familiar notions such as joins, built-in functions for processing strings, numbers, and dates, aggregate functions, subqueries, and comparison operators such as IN() and BETWEEN. The SELECT statement is the place where SQL standards compliance is most important. • From the data warehousing world, you will recognize the notion of partitioned tables. One or more columns serve as partition keys, and the data is physically arranged so that queries that refer to the partition key columns in the WHERE clause can skip partitions that do not match the filter conditions. For example, if you have 10 years worth of data and use a clause such as WHERE year = 2015, WHERE year > 2010, or WHERE year IN (2014, 2015), Impala skips all the data for non-matching years, greatly reducing the amount of I/O for the query. • In Impala 1.2 and higher, UDFs let you perform custom comparisons and transformation logic during SELECT and INSERT...SELECT statements. For users coming to Impala from traditional database or data warehousing backgrounds, the following aspects of the SQL dialect might require some learning and practice for you to become proficient in the Hadoop environment: • Impala SQL is focused on queries and includes relatively little DML. There is no UPDATE or DELETE statement. Stale data is typically discarded (by DROP TABLE or ALTER TABLE ... DROP PARTITION statements) or replaced (by INSERT OVERWRITE statements). • All data creation is done by INSERT statements, which typically insert data in bulk by querying from other tables. There are two variations, INSERT INTO which appends to the existing data, and INSERT OVERWRITE which replaces the entire contents of a table or partition (similar to TRUNCATE TABLE followed by a new INSERT). Although there is an INSERT ... VALUES syntax to create a small number of values in a single statement, it is far more efficient to use the INSERT ... SELECT to copy and transform large amounts of data from one table to another in a single operation. • You often construct Impala table definitions and data files in some other environment, and then attach Impala so that it can run real-time queries. The same data files and table metadata are shared with other components of the Hadoop ecosystem. In particular, Impala can access tables created by Hive or data inserted by Hive, and Hive can access tables and data produced by Impala. Many other Hadoop components can write files in formats such as Parquet and Avro, that can then be queried by Impala. • Because Hadoop and Impala are focused on data warehouse-style operations on large data sets, Impala SQL includes some idioms that you might find in the import utilities for traditional database systems. For example, you can create a table that reads comma-separated or tab-separated text files, specifying the separator in the CREATE TABLE statement. You can create external tables that read existing data files but do not move or transform them. • Because Impala reads large quantities of data that might not be perfectly tidy and predictable, it does not require length constraints on string data types. For example, you can define a database column as STRING with unlimited length, rather than CHAR(1) or VARCHAR(64). (Although in Impala 2.0 and later, you can also use length-constrained CHAR and VARCHAR types.) Related information: Impala SQL Language Reference, especially Impala SQL Statements and Impala Built-In Functions Overview of Impala Programming Interfaces You can connect and submit requests to the Impala daemons through: With these options, you can use Impala in heterogeneous environments, with JDBC or ODBC applications running on non-Linux platforms. You can also use Impala on combination with various Business Intelligence tools that use the JDBC and ODBC interfaces. Each impalad daemon process, running on separate nodes in a cluster, listens to several ports for incoming requests. Requests from impala-shell and Hue are routed to the impalad daemons through the same port. The impalad daemons listen on separate ports for JDBC and ODBC requests.
Kylian Mbappe: The boy from Bondy who never forgot his birthplace 'I can be someone, I can be someone," say the kids playing football in Bondy, Kylian Mbappe's birthplace.The 1... Posted: Jul 18, 2018 11:28 PM Updated: Jul 18, 2018 11:28 PM The 19-year-old, who wasn't even born when France won their first World Cup, traveled to Russia 2018 with the label of the world's most promising teenager. He returned with the World Cup trophy and a reputation as the heir apparent to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the world's best player. His return to France on Monday also shone a spotlight on Bondy, just over 10 kilometers from the Stade France in Paris, where the French national team plays its home games. Bondy is a place Mbappe has never forgotten. He's donating his World Cup winnings -- reportedly as much as $500,000 -- to Premiers de Cord-e, a charity that offers sporting opportunities to children who are hospitalized or have disabilities, which is based at the Stade de France. The charity confirmed to CNN they will receive Mbappe's winnings in September. "Children have stars in their eyes, when they see Kylian," says Premiers de Cord-e spokeswoman Ninon Bardel, adding Mbappe has been working with them for around a year. "Sometimes they have some difficulties to realize that he is real, it's quite fun. But Kylian has a such ease with them that everything become normal and simple. He says himself that the stars are children. "'Premiers de cord-e' is a french mountain expression," continues Bardel. "The 'premier de cord-e' is the one in front of us who brings all the others to the top. "We, our association, would like that the kids feel able to move, practice sport and keep up the morale to get out and realize theirs dreams. It's a metaphor. We try to take them, thanks to sport, where they do not necessarily feel able to go." In the streets where Mbappe used to play football, the star -- through his sponsorship with Nike -- had a futsal pitch installed for the community. "Merci les bleus! Merci Kylian!" reads a sign hanging on the fence. READ: Kylian Mbappe -- The 'phenomenon that breathes and sleeps football' READ: Key moments from France's electrifying World Cup final win 'This is Bondy, this is Mbappe' The Greater Paris area, particularly its diverse, sprawling suburbs, is arguably the most fertile breeding ground in the world for top-class footballing talent. Mbappe, Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Blaise Matuidi, Anthony Martial, Kingsley Coman and Algerian Riyad Mahrez were all either born, raised or had their footballing educations in the Ile-de-France. One such area is the commune of Bondy. The town hall, a dreary, gray building, is adorned with a big red banner, which reads: "Thank you Kylian, all of the people of Bondy are with you!" The reputation of the banlieues -- suburbs on the outskirts of Paris -- suffered in the aftermath of riots and terrorist attacks, with some being labeled "no-go zones." Nabil Larbi is a municipal councilor at Bondy's town hall, but he was also neighbors with Mbappe when the pair were growing up in the commune. He believes Mbappe's success -- and the achievement of such a diverse national team -- serves as a reminder of the talent that lies within the banlieues. "Mbappe is a pure product of Bondy," Larbi tells CNN. "Mbappe is from a mixed family; his father is from Cameroon, his mother is from Algeria and he is a mix of that. This is the image of Bondy and the image of the French team. "Now we have to see diversity as a positive thing. When we usually hear about the suburbs, when we hear about Bondy, we hear only negative things. "But when you come into Bondy, you realize it's 'fake news' because you are welcome, everybody is welcome. It is pleasant to live in Bondy. I have been in Bondy for 35 years and here I can say that diversity is a strength for the town. "This is France, this is Bondy, this is Mbappe." READ: Best moments of Russia 2018 READ: France's World Cup win is a victory for immigrants everywhere Larbi says Mbappe is an "idol" and a "symbol of hope" for the young people in Bondy, who have since been reinvigorated by the teenager's success. "When they play and train, they can say: 'I can be someone, I can be someone,'" he explains. At the Jean Renoir School in east Bondy, Mbappe's generosity was felt long before he shot to superstardom in Russia. During a visit prior to the World Cup, Mbappe told the class of 25 students that he was personally sending them to watch France vs. Denmark and Portugal vs. Morocco. "It was a lot of emotion," says pupil Louise Monciero, 14. "Because we were there and Kylian came towards us and to see this guy from Bondy, like us, it was a dream it meant everything is possible. "Someone like us can become a professional player and win the World Cup," added classmate Zoe Crihan, 13. The negative portrayal of the banlieues affected those living in the communities but Larbi believes the World Cup success can help them shake off those unfair connotations. "I hope that the victory of France makes everybody in France remember that diversity is a strength and not the contrary," Larbi says. "Because of Kylian Mbappe, the spotlight is on the suburbs like Bondy. "So we are very proud, first of all, of Bondy and we are very proud for the Mbappe family. Becuase we know them. "We have 55,000 people living in Bondy and everyone knows this family and we can say that everybody is proud as if it was our family, as if Kylian was our kid. "Kylian is our son, is Bondy's son. We are waiting for him, we're in a hurry to see him bring the cup to Bondy and I think we will throw a big party for him in Bondy when he comes back." READ: France crowned world champion after 4-2 win over Croatia AS Bondy Situated 11 kilometers northeast of central Paris, the town is home to AS Bondy, Mbappe's first football club. The Mbappe family is one with sporting pedigree. Father Wilfried was a youth coach at the club for more than 20 years, before retiring earlier in 2018, and mother Fayza played handball for Bondy in the French first division. Though Mbappe's rise has been nothing short of meteoric, it has likely come as no surprise to those within the sport and those who knew him as a child. "Since Kylian Mbappe was young, we hoped he would become somebody and we were sure he would become somebody," Larbi says. "When he played, we saw he had more potential than the other players. When he was younger, he played only with bigger players and not with the same aged people." In his early teens, Mbappe attended Clairefontaine -- the French Football Federation's official academy -- and had previously been on trial at English Premier League side Chelsea, who he even played a friendly for. Then, at 14 years old, came a visit to Real Madrid where the now-famous photo of a grinning Mbappe beside his idol Ronaldo was taken. Manchester United and current club Paris Saint-Germain also sent scouts but, ultimately, Mbappe decided on Monaco. A 'phenomenon' "I knew that he was a phenomenon," AS Monaco vice president Vadim Vasilyev, the man who gave Mbappe his first professional contract, told CNN Sport ahead of the World Cup final. "It's not just 'very good,' it's not 'top,' it's a phenomenal player. He has all the ingredients. Of course it happened more quickly than anybody could have envisaged, even himself, that's for sure. "He breathes football, sleeps football, actually nothing else on his mind. "But he's doing it at this level and I'm not surprised at all. It just confirmed what we knew all along, he's an amazing talent and this boy will become one of the best -- if he isn't already -- one of the best in world."h But, were it not for Vasilyev's intervention, Mbappe might never have broken through into the Monaco first team. "I said: 'What's the problem? Let's sign him (from the youth team),'" he recalls. "They said it wasn't easy and it turned out there were some complications. He was not really very happy and actually he wanted to go. "I started seeing his parents and watching him in training and I sent him in the first team to train with our coach Leonardo Jardim. They said: 'Wow, how come this boy is in our academy and we didn't know about it.' "We built a relationship of trust and then he signed his pro contract." Comparisons have naturally been drawn to France's most prolific striker, Thierry Henry; the career beginning at AS Monaco and the electric pace and skill, but Vasilyev feels these are misplaced. "I know Kylian and he doesn't like to be compared," Vasilyev explains. "He respects Thierry a lot but he doesn't want to be compared to anybody. "He is himself and he will write his own history in football and I agree with that." Now here he is, still just a teenager but already writing history. The first player born after the 1998 triumph to be picked for the national team is now the man, or kid more accurately, who led his country to only its second World Cup. At just 19 years of age, there remains plenty of time for Mbappe to keep writing. Article Comments Mason City Hi: 18° Lo: 12° Feels Like: -3° Albert Lea 12° wxIcon Hi: 17° Lo: 12° Feels Like: 12° 12° wxIcon Hi: 17° Lo: 13° Feels Like: 12° Charles City Hi: 16° Lo: 11° Feels Like: 9° Hi: 15° Lo: 10° Feels Like: -2° Record cold possible for Tuesday morning KIMT Radar KIMT Eye in the sky Latest Video Flooding in Albert Lea School improvements made Getting funding for minnesota public schools More farmers across the country are needing propane Propane delivery problems are hurting farmers lime scooters St. Ansgar preps for state semis JM Students give back to Veterans Habitat for Humanity - North Iowa Family getting a home Propane Shortages affect businesses Community Events
.06 Ending the VQ/RWE Disqualification The following apply to ending the VQ/RWE disqualification: When the disqualification period ends, the following apply: When the budgetary unit was disqualified, they may reapply for benefits. When the participant is disqualified, add the participant back in the budgetary unit. Send the appropriate notice (A703 notice or F703 notice) informing the PI of increased benefits. Update WORW with the proper Work Registration Code. When eligibility is reestablished, stop the balance of the disqualification period when both of the following apply: The budgetary unit is otherwise eligible. One of the following occurs: The participant who voluntarily quit or reduced work efforts meets NA E&T exemptions or is exempt from Jobs or Tribal NEW requirements. The participant who caused benefits to be denied or stopped leaves the budgetary unit, and the budgetary unit reapplies. When this occurs, the following apply: The disqualification follows the participant who voluntarily quit or reduced work efforts. When the participant joins another budgetary unit as their CA PI, NA E&T Lead Participant, or TPEP Primary Wage Earner, that budgetary unit becomes ineligible for the balance of the participant's disqualification period. When a participant joins another budgetary unit, and is not their CA PI, NA E&T LP, or TPEP PWE, the participant continues to be disqualified as an individual for the remainder of the disqualification period. A new participant who is not currently disqualified for VQ/RWE may join the budgetary unit as the NA E&T LP by turning in a new application for the budgetary unit.
#0f5353 Color Information In a RGB color space, hex #0f5353 is composed of 5.9% red, 32.5% green and 32.5% blue. Whereas in a CMYK color space, it is composed of 81.9% cyan, 0% magenta, 0% yellow and 67.5% black. It has a hue angle of 180 degrees, a saturation of 69.4% and a lightness of 19.2%. #0f5353 color hex could be obtained by blending #1ea6a6 with #000000. Closest websafe color is: #006666. • R 6 • G 33 • B 33 RGB color chart • C 82 • M 0 • Y 0 • K 67 CMYK color chart #0f5353 color description : Very dark cyan. #0f5353 Color Conversion The hexadecimal color #0f5353 has RGB values of R:15, G:83, B:83 and CMYK values of C:0.82, M:0, Y:0, K:0.67. Its decimal value is 1004371. Hex triplet 0f5353 #0f5353 RGB Decimal 15, 83, 83 rgb(15,83,83) RGB Percent 5.9, 32.5, 32.5 rgb(5.9%,32.5%,32.5%) CMYK 82, 0, 0, 67 HSL 180°, 69.4, 19.2 hsl(180,69.4%,19.2%) HSV (or HSB) 180°, 81.9, 32.5 Web Safe 006666 #006666 CIE-LAB 31.606, -19.73, -5.878 XYZ 4.851, 6.912, 9.262 xyY 0.231, 0.329, 6.912 CIE-LCH 31.606, 20.587, 196.59 CIE-LUV 31.606, -22.801, -4.923 Hunter-Lab 26.291, -13.073, -2.483 Binary 00001111, 01010011, 01010011 Color Schemes with #0f5353 Complementary Color Analogous Color Split Complementary Color Triadic Color Tetradic Color Monochromatic Color Alternatives to #0f5353 Below, you can see some colors close to #0f5353. Having a set of related colors can be useful if you need an inspirational alternative to your original color choice. Similar Colors #0f5353 Preview Text with hexadecimal color #0f5353 This text has a font color of #0f5353. <span style="color:#0f5353;">Text here</span> #0f5353 background color This paragraph has a background color of #0f5353. <p style="background-color:#0f5353;">Content here</p> #0f5353 border color This element has a border color of #0f5353. <div style="border:1px solid #0f5353;">Content here</div> CSS codes .text {color:#0f5353;} .background {background-color:#0f5353;} .border {border:1px solid #0f5353;} Shades and Tints of #0f5353 A shade is achieved by adding black to any pure hue, while a tint is created by mixing white to any pure color. In this example, #031111 is the darkest color, while #ffffff is the lightest one. Shade Color Variation Tint Color Variation Tones of #0f5353 A tone is produced by adding gray to any pure hue. In this case, #313131 is the less saturated color, while #045e5e is the most saturated one. Tone Color Variation Color Blindness Simulator Below, you can see how #0f5353 is perceived by people affected by a color vision deficiency. This can be useful if you need to ensure your color combinations are accessible to color-blind users. • #3f3f3f Achromatopsia 0.005% of the population • #354343 Atypical Achromatopsia 0.001% of the population • #545357 Protanopia 1% of men • #55515f Deuteranopia 1% of men • #205b61 Tritanopia 0.001% of the population • #3a5355 Protanomaly 1% of men, 0.01% of women • #3b525b Deuteranomaly 6% of men, 0.4% of women • #1a585c Tritanomaly 0.01% of the population
Hillary Clinton Election Ad Goes Viral As American Presidential Race Heats Up Online The next US presidential election might be a year and a half away, but that hasn’t stopped candidates from using the internet to speak directly to Americans. Hillary Clinton announced her second bid to become the most powerful person on the planet with a two-minute video released on Sunday afternoon, which is rapidly capturing attention online. After several years of dodging the question, Clinton released “Getting Started”, promising to become a “champion” for Americans. However, Ms. Clinton does not appear in the video until approximately 90 seconds in, focusing instead on everyday Americans throughout the video.
Sinkholes in a Cup Saved in: Link to Resource: Resource Type:Classroom Activities; Curricula and Instruction Grade Level: 6 7 8 9 10 Organization:American Geosciences Institute (AGI); Earth Science Week (ESW); Project Underground Summary:Sinkholes are natural depressions in the land caused when limestone and soils dissolve. They form when groundwater removes rock underground. They can form by slow gradual sinking or by sudden collapse of an underlying hole. Sinkholes are common in about one quarter of the U.S. You can usually identify them as circular or oval low spots in fields that may gather standing water after rains. They can be small or larger than a football field. A sinkhole of any size indicates there was a cavity in the bedrock near the surface. Sinkholes are evidence of a subsurface groundwater, either in the past or present. Formation of a new sinkhole or continued collapse of an existing sinkhole, indicates present day groundwater. Students will create a sugar and sand sinkhole, all while answering questions about its formation and relation to real-world sinkholes. Earth Science Big Ideas:Big Idea 8; Big Idea 9 NGSS Discplinary Core Ideas:ESS2.C NGSS Performance Expectations:HS-ESS2-1; MS-ESS2-2 NGSS Crosscutting Concepts:Scale, proportion, and quantity; Stability and change Subjects: earth; earth science week; erosion; geology; groundwater; rocks; sinkhole; water Tags: Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record! Similar Items
Tag: distributors 10 Posts Taming a Lurching, Coughing, Sputtering Beast Jun 21, 2018 Taming a Lurching, Coughing, Sputtering Beast Dear Car Talk Testing the ignition system may put the Grand back in this Grand Am ignition spark plugs distributors 1989 Mazda Protege engire misfires when wet Mar 24, 2015 What's Causing Periodic Engine Misfire? Dear Car Talk Jim hit a big puddle a while back, and now his engine misfires when it's rainy or humid. Can Car Talk help him out? check engine light distributors how to fix distributor with broken clip Jun 01, 2010 Today: Tom and Ray tag-team a stuck distributor. Dear Car Talk It was a rainy afternoon ... I had driven a couple of miles when the car stalled. I opened the hood and stared at the engine. What else is there to do? After 15 minutes and a few more tries, the engine... distributors DIY Oct 01, 1999 What's the cure for condensation on my distributor cap? Dear Car Talk Our Pontiac LeMans is a piece of junk but there's no way we can trade right now The problem is condensation in the distributor Almost every day I have to take it off and wipe it out to get the... Apr 01, 1998 Could a bad distributor cause gas to show up in my oil? Dear Car Talk I have gas in the oil of my Olds Cutlass Is it possible that a bad distributor is causing this -- Greg RAY Is it possible that space aliens were responsible for the Iran-Contra affair Sure But it's not very... carburetors chokes distributors Jan 01, 1998 My car won't start in humid weather. Dear Car Talk I own a Toyota Camry that has never been any trouble until lately Whenever the weather becomes humid the car won't start I first noticed the problem several months ago when I was driving and the car actually died My... Mar 01, 1997 Any ideas what could be causing my previously reliable used Corolla to not start every time it rains? Dear Car Talk Help I own a Toyota Corolla four-door sedan with a five-speed transmission I bought it used and it was extremely reliable for a year then starting at the beginning of last summer every time it rains the car won't start... spark plugs distributors diagnostics May 01, 1996 Is this a problem inherent to the "Lean Burn" engine, or a weather related issue? Dear Car Talk In I bought a new Chrysler Cordoba with a Lean Burn engine Routine maintenance has always been adhered to and the car has never given me a problem until about years ago when during wet weather the car started to... diagnostics distributors Jan 01, 1994 My Acura Legend has about miles on it I still... Dear Car Talk My Acura Legend has about miles on it I still love the car but there is one problem In wet weather with the cruise control on the gas pedal begins to move up and down as if an invisible foot... spark plugs electrical wiring distributors Oct 01, 1993 Electrical wiring or distributor failure? Dear Car Talk I have a Toyota Corolla Just recently the odometer turned over to miles I've had very little trouble with it except for one frustrating condition Shortly after the odometer hit miles I started to have trouble starting the car whenever... distributors electrical wiring
How to Ride MetroRail Capital Metro’s training department created a how to ride video for MetroRail. The spokespeople in the video are Angelica Torres from training and Tashina Pham from HR. (Incidentally, Ben Wear makes an appearance, too.) Will we see you on the train this Monday? 8 thoughts on “How to Ride MetroRail 1. chrysrobyn Have you fixed the $6/day / $70/month it would cost me to go from Howard to Kramer and back? I find it hard to believe that any planning commission could be aware of how much traffic gets on MoPac just south of Howard, and how much traffic gets off at Duval and still makes the decision to charge this much. They just finished adding lanes to that area, and it’s still a mess. My commute is less than 6 miles each way. If I get 30 mpg, I burn less than half a gallon every day. To compete, the train would have to cost me around $1.50 round trip. Heaven forbid I work late — a bus routed through Tech Ridge would increase my 15 minute commute to over an hour! How many Leander residents will need to get off at Howard or Kramer? What city dweller is CapMetro targeting with these stops and this price point? 2. Jman Chrysrobyn, you gotta factor in more than just gas for your cost of driving. Maintenance comes out to 10 to 15 cents per mile. Some people factor in the cost of insurance, some don’t, but you’ve already got a car and unless you’re going to stop using it 100%, I wouldn’t bother factoring in insurance and car payments. Anyways, your round trip cost is closer to $3-$3.50 per day, and even that doesn’t make $6/day look any better. $70/month though, is a little bit better. There’s roughly 30 days in a month, which is about 4.3weeks. If you’re one of those people with a steady M-F 9-5 job, then that’s about 21 work days. The $70/month pass comes out to about $3.33 per work day, so compared to $3-$3.50, you still aren’t really saving any money. Such a small portion (Less than 10%) of the CapMetro budget comes from fares, I don’t understand why they don’t either lower the fairs or just drop them altogether. 1. chrysrobyn I can’t count maintenance because it’s a fixed cost over time. With an in-town commute, maintenance is a fixed cost per months the car is owned, not per mile. Depreciation is going to make it a “used car sale” and not a “high mileage used car sale”. Sure, a commuter going from Leander to downtown will likely need to put extra maintenance on because of how many miles driven, but not someone like me. For me, the reality is that I need a car. Given that, I have insurance and maintenance at a fixed cost (I paid the car off a year ago, but payments would be a fixed cost too). Even if I granted the $0.10 per mile, I would be under $2.70. This train isn’t any panacea of convenience — it’s a 2 mile bike ride from my house (assuming they cancel the 243 or just reroute it so it never enters Wells Branch as planned) and another half mile from work — so let’s not make unreasonable assumptions to make the cost comparison look too close. Personally, I see 4 weeks in a month, accounting for holidays and only a little vacation. $70/4/5 = $3.50. Any month with more than a day of vacation blows that out of the water (conceivably 3-5 months of the year). I stand by my assertion that the train needs to be under $1.50 for in-town. I’ll go further and say that it won’t see significant in-town ridership until it’s a buck. Cross-town, it might make sense now, but supposedly the train is here to benefit more than just Leander residents. 1. Jman Yeah you know once I think about it, the train is supposed to be commuter rail. Typically commuter rail is a rail line that connects outlying cities with the main city. So really that means it’s not even supposed to be ideal for in-town travel at all, and to be honest I’m not quite sure why it was even marketed as that way at all other than to get austinites to vote for it. I suppose if you drive less than 1,000 miles a month then maintenance would be time based. For example, with my car the service book says to change the oil either every 7.5k miles or 7.5 months, whichever comes first. Supposedly most Americans drive 12k miles per year. 3. Don Dickson Even if riding the train is more expensive than driving, I think you ought to add in the intangible cost of stress and aggravation. Who wouldn’t rather be reading a book or a newspaper than gripping the steering wheel and keeping your head on a swivel hoping to avoid collisions? Driving in traffic is stressful, whether you realize it or not. I think it’s worth at least a dollar a day to take a less stressful ride to work and home again. 1. chrysrobyn If you’re going to ask me to add the intangible cost of stress and aggravation to driving 15 minutes down Thermal / Metric (my alternate since MoPac is terrible during the morning commute), how much should I add for biking the two miles to Howard Station when it’s 95+ or 40- degrees or raining outside? How much do I add for hurrying to a connecting bus, or if I miss it, having to walk up Burnet? (Can I walk along the ROW for the train tracks where those trails were supposed to go?) Both sides of the comparison have these intangible adders. CapMetro’s current solution isn’t stress-free for in-city dwellers. I’ve spent 6 months depending on CapMetro (in 2004 and again in 2006) and there are traffic variations beyond anyone’s control that make any dependency on a connecting bus stressful when buses are spaced out by 30 or 60 minutes. Most of my commute back then depended on the 983 being 5 minutes ahead of schedule so I didn’t have to wait half an hour for the next connection. As an aside, I’ll just point out that most of the “keeping your head on a swivel, hoping to avoid collisions” on Metric is because of buses who travel 5-10 mph under the limit and suddenly stop to pick up or drop off passengers, blocking a lane of travel. They’re so infrequent, it’s not much of a problem, though. It would be nice if there were pull off spots by stops. I’m posting here because I like the idea of mass transit, and I think we’re not too far off from having a solution that can start to attract riders in a big way ($4/gallon gas proved that). Current plans will not fix the problems in the subdivisions I’ve looked at. The train price is a big problem with that part of the puzzle. Bus routes are another, but I think someone is at least thinking about that part, even if I don’t agree with the solution. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Google photo Twitter picture Facebook photo Connecting to %s
The Bachelor Season 23, Episode 8 Recap: Far From The Shallow Now Photo: Courtesy of ABC. Listen, I think we're all a little skeptical of Colton Underwood. "All" now encompasses me — the bystander — a few of the fans, and the families of the four remaining contestants. Never has a Bachelor struggled so deeply during his hometown dates. Colton Underwood, apparently, doesn't seem trustworthy. At nearly every home he visits, the parents seem wary of Colton's whole image. Well, sure, he's a good guy, but we're all savvier than that. "Good guys," especially ones whose personalities are 90% based on a love of puppies, are rarely all that good. Or, at the very least, they are rarely all that reliable. So! Colton Underwood, you seem untrustworthy, which is making your love-searching difficult. The first hometown is the easiest: Caelynn brings Colton home to Virginia, where her family is only too happy to meet him. Her stepfather John is slightly skeptical, but as soon as Caelynn tells him that she wants John to bestow his blessing on Colton, he gives. Their interaction is one of the sweeter moments of the episode; there are times The Bachelor seems like an exercise in forcing people to communicate. Is it possible this is the first time Caelynn has told John how she feels about him? Based on his tearful reaction, maybe. The dates actually only get worse as the evening progresses: Caelynn's date is just peachy; Hannah G.'s is relatively smooth, save for some virgin talk; Tayshia's father is stern but ultimately pretty kind; and Cassie is surprisingly closed off during her home visit. Ironically, Colton only seems more invested when the dates get tough, which is why Caelynn finds herself on the chopping block later in the evening. Hannah G. has felt like a foregone conclusion since she arrived on the show. She was likable enough to make it to the very end of the season, but she was never enough substance to win the race. Ever her hometown date feels slightly feigned, and only partially because they take an etiquette class together. Which, while we're here, could have used more depth. Etiquette is interesting! I only recently learned that to avoid talking with your mouth full, you are supposed to take smaller bites. Which, of course, is what the teacher tries to teach Colton with a slice of bread, but Colton isn't accommodating. Colton also has to learn how to walk with good posture, something that I hadn't noticed him struggling with earlier. Nevertheless, the Bachelor always deserves an activity that makes him look like a doofus — the contestants have had to do silly things all season to compete for his love. The tables have turned! Speaking with her family, Hannah G. is warm, but not effusive. “He makes me feel safe," Hannah tells her mother of Colton. Her mother, the true star of the date, is taken aback, but she supports whatever Hannah wants. Says Beth, “You go get it, girl.” If only Beth could have Chris Harrison's job. (Chris does appear in this episode, a return from his hiatus last week.) Hannah's cousins and her best friend are nervous about Colton's virginity — they rightfully point out that it's something to be dealt with. Hannah is undeterred, and later tells Colton that she's falling in love with him. That's two contestants so far dishing out "love." Tayshia's date is more eventful. First, she and Colton go skydiving, an activity awfully similar to their first date in Singapore. When she blindfolds him, she notes that this "isn't the Bird Box challenge," a clear and present reference to Bird Box, a movie that arrived at least a month after The Bachelor stopped filming. Bachelor sound editors, we see you. “I thought you hated heights!” Colton cries. She does, actually, hate heights! But now, doing scary heights-related things is their "thing," and it's admittedly kind of cute. Few relationships this season have developed to the point of we-have-cute-patterns. After their jumps, Colton meets Tayshia's family — according to commercials, this was supposed to be the most tense family meeting. Tayshia's father Desmond is certainly more critical than the other parents thus far, and refreshingly so. "You don't microwave relationships!" he tells Tayshia. "That's what's going on!" He has his finger on the Bachelor's one big issue. It's producing love, but it's doing so in a petri dish, a place where bacteria can fester and grow in different ways. In the wider world, things won't be so neat. When Colton asks for Tayshia's hand in marriage, Desmond is struck. "“Colton! Wow. Man, you’re laying it on me," he says. "I appreciate you, if you will, laying it out, but I just met you.” Desmond first respectfully declines, but later, after a talk with Tayshia, he allows for the blessing. Crisis averted. So far, John, Desmond, and Hannah's dad have given their blessing. Only one left. Cassie has been a heavy hitter this season, bringing us sexy dates like her beachy Thailand escapade, and consistently keeping drama to a minimum. Her hometown date is surprisingly drama-ful, though. For starters, her father doesn't give his blessing to their union. "He seemed like a guy," Cassie's dad, Matt, tells her, being frank. And he is! There is nothing spectacularly great about Colton. He's just some dude with the hots for Cassie, and that may not be what's right for her. “I literally think that you’re perfect. So I want you to be with someone who’s perfect," Cassie's sister Michelle tells her. There's a general sense that this family thinks they are above Colton. (On a related note: Cassie's sister Michelle is apparently dating Runaways star Gregg Sulkin.) Then, finally, Cassie doesn't tell Colton that she is falling in love with him. She's the only person who hasn't done so yet. She tells her sister Michelle that she may be falling in love with him, but she seems skeptical of the feeling herself. "I feel like maybe I am falling in love with him — that sounds so weird," she says. She is having a crisis of confidence. Despite Cassie's indecision, Colton keeps her around, instead decision to cull Caelynn instead. Caelynn, the girl who was the quickest to admit that she loves Colton. Caelynn, the center of two dramatic situations. She tells Colton, "I feel like an idiot.” Actually, Caelynn, I think we all feel like idiots. The Dearly Departed: Caelynn More from TV R29 Original Series
Senator Franken Calls on FCC to Actually Enforce Its Rules One of the reasons we so strongly support local, community owned broadband networks over European-like regulations on private companies is that large institutions regularly game the rules. We wrote about this last year, when Free Press called on the FCC to stop Verizon from ignoring the rules it agreed to for using certain spectrum. Senator Franken, who has taken a strong interest in preserving the open Internet, has just reminded the FCC that creating rules does no one any good if it refuses to enforce them. Not only has Comcast announced that its own Netflix-like service does not count against its bandwidth caps, some researchers found evidence that Comcast was prioritizing its own content to be higher quality than rivals could deliver. Comcast has denied this charge and proving it is difficult. Who do you believe? After all, Comcast spent years lying to its own subscribers about the very existence of its bandwidth caps. The vast majority of the network neutrality debate centers around whether Comcast should be allowed to use its monopoly status as an onramp to the Internet dominate other markets, like delivering movies (as pioneered by Netflix). Comcast and many economists from Chicago say "Heck yes - they can do whatever they like." But the vast majority of us and the FCC have recognized that this is market-destroying behavior, not pro-market behavior. So when Comcast was allowed to take over NBC Universal, it agreed to certain conditions imposed by the FCC to encourage competition. But the FCC has a long history of not wanting to enforce its own rules because it can be inconvenient to upset some of the most powerful corporations on the planet. Plus, many of the people working in telecommunications policy for the federal government will eventually make much more money working for Comcast, Verizon, and other carriers. The FCC often ignores or delays action on many of these apparent violations, which Comcast expected when it agreed to them. In waltzes Senator Franken, who just wrote this excellent letter to the FCC and Department of Justice [pdf]: Senator Al Franken ... It has now been more than a year since the merger was approved, and a number of complaints regarding Comcast's compliance with the merger conditions have been filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Several of these have languished before the Commission for extended periods of time. As I wrote last August, I am concerned that if the Commission fails to address conditions disputes in a timely manner, it will only incentivize Comcast to challenge future conditions and delay resolution of disputes through a protracted complaint process. It will also dissuade other companies from seeking relief before the Commission, if they believe Comcast has violated a condition. This ultimately undermines the conditions that were imposed by your agencies to promote the public interest and to foster competition, and it raises serious questions about whether it is appropriate to rely on behavioral conditions to prevent anticompetitive conduct. Even if the FCC had the courage to restrain Comcast's anti-competitive actions (which would require a new Chair to replace Commissioner G), Comcast could delay any implementation of proper pro-competition rules with lawsuits and a strong lobbying campaign because Americans continue to vote for politicians that want to give more power to the biggest corporations while reserving less of it for local communities. What are your Senators doing on this issue? Senator Franken is demanding accountability from the FCC and DoJ - you should call on your elected representatives to do no less. Today. Radio and television are totally dominated by a few massive corporate interests. The only thing to stop the Internet from being similarly controlled is smart policies and government agencies that actually enforce them. Oh, and communities that own their own networks.
October 15, 2019 Scrum - an Art of Decision Making People always have questions and concerns about Risk management and Autonomy in the Scrum Team, like: • How do we make sure the success of the product if the Product Owner is new or hasn’t had enough domain knowledge yet? How does the Product Owner make the right decision, which is business value in 20% needs to do first will bring the 80% outcome for the product? • The Autonomy of the Development Team can lead to many risks behind that. So, how can the Development Team know what to do to create Done Increment and also can mitigate the risks? That concern is reasonable when you manage the risk by “Command and Control.” Your organization built by a hierarchical structure, where the need for the carefulness and details plan is required to make sure no risk or issue happens, or at least in the list of “Risk Control” Sheet. That is not the wrong thing, and risk management is necessary. Ordering the Product Backlog helps to avoid "The Undisciplined Pursuit of More" But when you are facing uncertainty, the changes happen anytime, can’t be predictable, but you need to move faster than your competitors, so you need something different from the hierarchy. Because hierarchy can help you safe but not moving quicker, and be more flexible. Team-based make a decision based on layer or need to go thought the silos to take action. This structure makes the organization lost the chance to communicate with the consumer on time. Empowering and supporting the team to be self-organized can be helpful. It creates flexibility and creativity from the team, who can communicate with consumers directly every day, can make a decision but still have a clear boundary. Or shortly, self-organizing with a clear boundary will help you to be more flexible. Scrum can give you that value. By creating the space for the Scrum Team to work, learn, improve, and make the right decision to increase the value of the product. Helping team works smarter, not harder: 1. By ordering the Product Backlog, and understanding at the top of backlog is the most value PBIs can be developed in the next Sprint. The Product Owner can say “No” with waste and focus on defining and building the correct benefits for the consumers. This helps to avoid to fail in “The Undisciplined Pursuit of More”. 2. Remember that we are facing the complexity, where we know is less than unknown, and can not make sure what is right. Therefore, the small loop of Sprint is important to help us manage the risk. If we fail, we fail fast, and the cost is low. The small circle also helps us have the momentum of learning from the failure. From that, the Scrum team can define the next step, or change the plan to make the next decision better. 3. The events in Sprint create the chance to inspect and adapt; it has a time-box; this helps the team has official opportunities to review the plan to reach the Sprint Goal. 4. The Sprint Goal gives the team a clear direction, the north star, keep for team do not lose the focus, from that they can well-manage their plan, result in the problems, to achieve the goal. 5. Time-box helps the team focus to have the solution and have a decision as best as they can in the current situation, rather than waste time into the lengthy discussion or the meeting but have no value. 6. On top of that, Scrum does not ask to remove the hierarchy structure in your current organization when applying it. To make it happens, ingenuity is required in balancing the two structures at the same time, and the Scrum Master role is necessary. The Scrum Master will support the Development Team, the Product Owner, and the Organization to apply Scrum and optimize Scrum value to ensure the trust between teams; transparency is always kept so that the Scrum Team can have self-organizing to make the right decisions, what to do and when is the best time. Power of Less but Better - "Essentialism" of Greg Mckewn Power of Less but Better - "Essentialism" of Greg Mckewn Scrum likes a house with the base is empiricism, the values of Scrum that will exist in that house. That house will create a safety area, enough for the Scrum team to manage their work, and every day will do a better job. With that approach, the Scrum team can take steps, experiment to discover what is and what should be done, and when is the right time to do it. With Scrum, we learn to work smarter rather than do a lot but fall into chaos and waste. Scrum is the art of decision making to do less but better.
Glass Canopy A glass canopy provides an attractive and practical feature to a building. Usually placed outside entrance doors a canopy protects people entering the building, keeps the weather away from the doors and allows natural light through to the entrance area. The feature can carry through providing a sight line passed an entrance into a lobby area. Clear glass is a popular choice but other glass options are not excluded. Entrance canopies are overhead glazing by definition and the selection of an impact resistant durable product is essential. The common forms are framed single glass using either Pilkington Optilam™ or Pilkington Optifloat™ THS (toughened heat soaked glass). Another fixing method is frameless bolted toughened glass either supported from below or above with relatively lightweight struts or wires. With bolt fixing only toughened glass is used as laminates are prone to cracking around the stress points created by holes. Canopies that project from buildings are subject to wind and snow loads and it is therefore important to determine the correct strength of glass to be used. Our technical advisory service can provide calculated glass thicknesses for framed rectangles or corner bolted toughened glass constructions if provided with the snow load and design wind load for the location.
As Seahawks purge roster, they purge their identity, too Written By David Steele (Getty Images) What happened to the Seahawks we used to know? Every day this offseason, it seems, they’ve done something to make them look like every other NFL team. They never used to look like every other team. Now, you’ll know them not because of Beast Mode, the Legion of Boom or the woke locker room, but by their neon uniforms. Maybe that’s good enough for Seattle these days: Dress different, act like the masses. It wasn't good enough before, though, when the Seahawks nurtured an identity, lived by their own rules and stayed late at the playoff party every year. SIGN UP for a FREE 30-day trial of DAZN and watch the NFL Draft LIVE Here’s how this emerging version of the Seahawks make news now: — Unloading veterans for salary-cap reasons. — Dangling other veterans in trade talks to avoid having to pay them. — Taking a talented quarterback, depriving him of offensive help and putting his health in danger. — Dropping a player over domestic-violence accusations, but only after public pressure forces their hand. — Passing on Colin Kaepernick in favor of … pretty much anybody, while cryptically wishing for a "quieter" locker room. Maybe this is Seattle's new winning formula. It’s been other franchises’ winning formula, to be sure. But the Seahawks had their own formula, and if they had employed a more reliable kicker last season — another common theme they have adopted to their detriment — they might still be winning with it today. Much of this, of course, is simply the way NFL business is conducted these days. Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett and Earl Thomas (if and when he is moved out) were going to face the fate of every player who signs a big deal in his prime. No matter how much they’ve won, how much they’ve redefined their positions and how much they’ve created unique identities, their team was going to want someone younger and cheaper sooner rather than later. MARVEZ: Seahawks finally are Russell Wilson's team As for the aforementioned violence against women ... that’s how the NFL does business, too. Trevone Boykin was accused of viciously beating his girlfriend last Tuesday. It wasn't until this Tuesday — a day after the victim went on Dallas’s WFAA-TV to tell her story — that the Seahawks released him, although they reportedly knew of the investigation into the incident soon after it happened. The NFL might never get a grip, collectively or with each team, on how to deal with players in these situations. The way the Seahawks handled this one doesn't create much confidence. Until this, Boykin was the only backup for Russell Wilson under contract. Until this, they were ready to ride with him. And, it continues to be worth noting, they had a golden opportunity to avoid this stain on their reputation last offseason, but after a seemingly positive visit and praise from Pete Carroll, they, like every other team, chose not to sign Kaepernick as a backup. They did this at a time when their locker room, their entire on- and off-field approach, was progressive and willing to engage in freedom of varied expressions so much that it appeared ideal for Kaepernick to fit in seamlessly. In hindsight, it may be no coincidence that the locker room no longer has that vibe, nor the backup quarterback they picked over him. Teams have employed all levels of ineptitude at the position while avoiding Kaepernick, but few, if any, passed on him in favor of someone they ended up having to cut because he was accused of breaking his girlfriend’s jaw. Particularly since the mostly unspoken reason given for the league ignoring Kaepernick was “distractions." And because there’s no floor to how far the freeze-out will sink, one of the first names to surface for the Seahawks to replace Boykin was … Mark Sanchez. Hey, why not? To understand what the Seahawks have let happen to the team that was one bad play call from winning back-to-back Super Bowls just three seasons ago … they never competently replaced Marshawn Lynch. They let their offensive line deteriorate to the point that they look downright negligent. They traded for Jimmy Graham, then let him go in free agency. They traded Jermaine Kearse. They lost Paul Richardson in free agency. They traded Bennett and released Sherman. They have entertained trading Thomas. And they used the “anybody but Kaepernick" strategy of backing up the most valuable, and vulnerable, player on their roster. Again, some of this was inevitable. Some was avoidable. Much of it involved players whose skills and personalities can’t be duplicated, cap hit or on-field production notwithstanding. What’s certain is that the Seahawks we all knew are no more. What’s also certain is that they look more like one-out-of-32 than they have in a long time.
SCHEHERAZADE’S 1,001 BYTES // Return to Sender I fidgeted with the big yellow envelope. I’d found it poking under the front door that morning. It was quite unremarkable, with nothing inside, and the flap was wide open as if to say, “So what?” I tossed it on the coffee table and walked away. I’d managed to busy myself with some household chores, so by the time I returned to the lounge room I had quite forgotten all about this enigmatic piece of stationery. I even found the cat curled up in front of it, quite unable to tear her eyes away. Perhaps it had a specific scent that was especially attractive to cats? I tried to beckon her away. “Here, kitty kitty!” She hissed at me, not once taking her eyes from the envelope—no, not even for a moment. Her tail twitched nervously. The envelope remained unmoved. I tutted at her as I shrugged on a coat. I then headed down to the grocery store, thinking perhaps she’d get bored with the envelope and go searching for sparrows in the tree outside the kitchen window. This was her favourite thing to do, and she was flighty at the best of times so I wasn’t too concerned. However, when I returned with a frozen pizza, coke and cat food, I noted that nothing had changed. The cat continued to stare at the envelope, as if hypnotised. She didn’t even react to the sound of me popping bubble wrap. That was something that usually got her attention, but not today. I cocked my head in befuddlement, then lay the bubble wrap at her side. Perhaps she’d notice it when she got bored with the mysterious envelope and then everything would return to normal. I decided to get busy clearing out the small vanity cabinet in the bathroom. It was a task that I had put off for far too long. My ex had left behind a lot of stuff when she moved out, and I’d find things of hers laying about here and there, which would often dredge up old hurts. Sure, it had been six months since our relationship disintegrated, but that simply wasn’t long enough. This time, I found her favourite hand mirror, the one with an ornately carved face on the back. I picked it up between thumb and forefinger, holding it like the disgusting turd it was. I made for the yard to find a trash bin. When I passed by the coffee table, it seemed at first as though the cat was gone. I let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps her strange behaviour had been purely a figment of my imagination. I continued my way toward the door, but then a strange sound from above made me stop short. I raised my head, and that’s when I noticed where she actually was. I recoiled. The mirror dropped from my hand and shattered on the floor. The cat… she was on the ceiling! What the hell?! I ran around in panicked little circles for a bit, then made myself stop. I couldn’t lose the plot just yet. There had to be a rational explanation for this. A scientific one! The cat was walking around on the ceiling because… because… well, there had to be a reason. I just had to pause, take a breath, and figure it out. I craned my neck and made myself really look at her. She was curled there on the ceiling, now grooming herself, as though this was a completely normal everyday occurrence. How could this stupid cat be so calm? I walked out of the room. Where was that stepladder? I’d wear one of my thick, long-sleeved shirts and those heavy-duty gardening gloves with the reinforced padding and get that damn moggy off the damn ceiling, no matter what. She could try to scratch my eyeballs out. I didn’t care. I wasn’t having this kind of nonsense going on in my own house, thank you very much! The stepladder was laying next to the wading pool in the backyard, down by the big blue gum near the perimeter fence. Puffing and panting, it took a lot of doing, but I managed to drag that ladder all the way back to the house and into the living room. Ten minutes alone were spent trying to enter by the door with that blasted ladder—I almost shattered a window! I was so pissed off and impatient by that point that I decided against trying to find the gardening gloves and shirt. I would just have to take my chances. I raised the ladder upright and locked it into place. My foot was on the first rung when I looked up and… well, can you imagine my reaction when I saw that the cat was no longer there? Yes, I was really rather fucking annoyed by this point. In fact, I was morally outraged! Had there been some kind of cat ombudsman that I could have fired off an angry missive to then I surely would have done so. I certainly wasn’t going to wander about the house with a heavy ladder looking for a missing cat like some kind of idiot. My shoe crunched on something. Oh, I’d forgotten about the shattered mirror! My eyes dropped to the floor, only to see that the cat was there. She was licking at one of the larger shards, and somehow not cutting up her delicate little tongue in the process. And then I took a step back. What was I seeing here? She was inside the mirror shard, oblivious to my shock as she set to licking her arse, one leg stretched high above her bobbing head. What. The. Fuck. That was the final straw. Fucking cats and their strange tricks! I nervously swept all of the mirror shards into the envelope and sealed it up. I licked the back of a stamp and stuck it to the front, then wrote on it ‘Return to Sender’. Besides, I’d always wanted a dog. © All rights reserved 2018 31 thoughts on “SCHEHERAZADE’S 1,001 BYTES // Return to Sender Unbolt your Comment! You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Google photo Twitter picture Facebook photo Connecting to %s
German MPs back 'Lex Google' copyright reforms but expert predicts years of legal uncertainty Out-Law News \| 01 Mar 2013 \| 4:42 pm \| 2 min. read New copyright laws backed by German MPs on Friday will create years of legal uncertainty in the country, an expert has said. In a vote in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, a majority of MPs voted in favour of making changes to the country's copyright framework. The regulations, dubbed 'Lex Google', will require the internet giant and other search engines, as well as content aggregators, to pay publishers in order to display snippets of their content in some circumstances. The Lex Google reforms that were approved contain an amendment (6-page / 339KB PDF) to previous drafts to allow search engines and content aggregators to display "single words or very small text snippets" without having to pay publishers. Munich-based copyright law specialist Igor Barabash of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind, said that it was unlikely that the Bundesrat, the upper council of Germany's parliament, would object to the new laws and that they would therefore come into force. He said, though, it could take years for Germany's courts to define what 'very small text snippets' means in practice. "No one knows what that phrase means and where the threshold lies between a 'very small text snippet' that is legal and all other use of news that are now subject to the new regulation," Barabash said. "It might take a couple of years until the courts produce some decisions that provide guidance on that point." "What will happen in the mean time will be that publishing industry licensing bodies will make some money from the reforms. They will likely send out warnings or cease and desist letters and ask for licenses. I would imagine that most companies that receive those letters would decide to pay the license fees, since going to court to challenge whether their use of content is a 'very small text snippet' would be costly and require a lot of effort. Therefore there will probably be a significant wave of semi-legal warning letters issued to try to make some cash because of the unclear regulations," he said. Barabash said that lower instance courts in Germany are due to rule in some cases on the issue of content snippets and licensing later this year. However, he said that until the issues reach the Federal Courts of Justice in Germany there will be a lack of clarity over the practical interpretation of 'very small text snippet' because of the prospect of inconsistent rulings from the lower courts on the issue. The new section to the German Copyright Act would provide the "producer of news materials" with the general "exclusive right to make said materials publicly available, in whole or in part, for commercial purposes". Others would be permitted to provide "public access" to the publishers' material unless those providing that access are "commercial operators of search engines or commercial providers of services that aggregate this content in a respective fashion". News publishers' right to control the commercial exploitation of their work in this regard would extend for a year after publication, although very small snippets of content could be utilised by the search engines or content aggregators prior to that. Authors of the work would be entitled to be "provided with a reasonable share of the remunerations issuing from the author’s work". Google had fought the introduction of the reforms and launched a marketing campaign against the plans late last year. Other organisations, including website browser manufacturer Mozilla, have also expressed reservations about the impact of the reforms. However, publishers in Germany have been advocates of the changes.
Log In ! Shuriken Toss v1.2 ! • Edited the Title screen slightly • Added a menu system to the Title screen • Added a 'Giant Shuriken' power-up • Kunais now add to your score when they destroy a bamboo • Some new sounds • Bug fixes and improvements The garden has become overrun by bamboo shoots! Destroy as many as you can before the time runs out. • Z to use power-ups • Directional pad/Arrow Keys to move Cart [#32183#] \| Code \| 2016-11-03 \| No License \| Embed ! Shuriken Toss v1.1 ! I've added general improvements and bug fixes in this update. • Controls are now shown on the transition screen at the start • Revamped the scoring system to be more intuitive and make more sense • You now score 1 point for destroying a bamboo shoot • You have 30 seconds to destroy as many as you can • Changed collisions with bamboo shoots and power-ups to be more fair • Added a game count on the end screen so you know how many games you've played • Changed the kunai ability (knife throw ability) to now always throw one kunai in each of the four directions making it a lot more reliable and useful • Optimised some bits of code Known Bugs: • When a kunai destroys a bamboo you don't get the point for it - Fix for this coming very soon! • Some graphical issues with bamboo shoots appearing on top of each other Cart [#31939#] \| Code \| 2016-10-28 \| No License \| Embed P#31802 2016-10-26 05:37 ( Edited 2016-11-07 14:24) Great little game and lovely art! My highscore after 4 tries^^ Maybe you can add some different objects to destroy(take more hits, or needs the power up to destroy them) but they give you more points to shake up the gameplay a little. Also an idea is some more power ups that you can master, so that you can become better on the game without relying on RNG! P#31842 2016-10-26 16:14 ( Edited 2016-10-26 20:14) Thanks for the suggestions and support! I think I will add some more power-ups to the game and maybe red bamboo that give you 5 points or something. I may also change it / add a different game-mode where you have to score as many points as possible within 50 seconds. P#31848 2016-10-26 17:17 ( Edited 2016-10-26 21:17) Took me a while to figure out the goal. Would it make more sense to count down from 50 rather than up? Or maybe Ui should say n/50 to let you know you are trying to get to 50. Also a button hint to throw knives might help. P#31854 2016-10-26 17:43 ( Edited 2016-10-26 21:43) :: Jamish High score is 20 seconds! I like the feeling of weight in the controls and the graphics are very clean. It feels like you have to be awfully close to the bamboo shoots in order to hit them, though. I know you have to hit the base, but even then it still seemed like I hit it but would either pass through or maybe I just wasn't quite close enough. I probably need to get more used to it, unless there's a collision detection bug. How does the powerup work? One time I fired it and it looked like it only fired two kunai, but other times it fires 4, and it also seems like there's a chain reaction effect, too? Lastly, I wonder if you can throw in fractions of a second. It can be annoying to get 20 seconds twice in a row and not know how close you were to beating your record. Maybe it at least could show the tens place, e.g. "20.8 seconds"? Overall it feels fantastic and was fun to play, and all of my suggestions weren't any kind of deal-breaker! EDIT: By the way, that intro sequence? Awesome. P#31873 2016-10-26 22:07 ( Edited 2016-10-27 02:08) Thanks for all the feedback everyone, keep it coming! Yes I totally see where you're coming from, it was kind of a last minute thing before release to have it count to 50 but I'll hopefully be changing the scoring system in the next update as well as adding a menu with controls/instructions :) About the collisions, I also noticed that they can feel a bit cheap at points and make you go "Aw come on, I should've hit that!" so I'll fiddle around with the collision boxes and make them a bit bigger perhaps. At the moment, it destroys the bamboo shoots or collects the power-ups when the centre of the shuriken sprite enters the collision box for the objects. I'll admit that the power-up is a little bit 'buggy' at the moment. What's happening is when the player has the power-up and presses the z key, it creates 4 kunai objects. When a kunai object is created it picks a random direction (up, down, left or right) to move in so there's a chance that all 4 kunai created have the same direction :/ . I can change this to fire one kunai in each direction, but that'll have to be in a future update. When a kunai hits a bamboo shoot it destroys the bamboo shoot and then creates a new kunai that can then fly off and destroy another one. P#31911 2016-10-27 16:32 ( Edited 2016-10-27 20:32) This is a lot of fun! My best is 21 right now...chasing that 18 though! I second most of the comments already mentioned. Count down rather than up and double checking all the collisions. I seemed to feel like collision to get the K bonus was wishy washy. And everything you said about the bonus shots too...just having them go in all 4 directions I think would be a fair bonus. I could see future "modes" or whatever where there is an obstacle on the board, so different level layouts...and maybe even special bamboo that are different colors but get you extra points or time or something. Great idea and lots of fun plus room to expand. Well done. P#31921 2016-10-27 19:47 ( Edited 2016-10-27 23:47) The 1.1 update is exactly what was needed, way to go! Just feels better all around now given the revamped scoring and timer. I'm now more motivated to keep playing to try and beat my own high score. Keep it up...don't discount small "features" that you can add like alternate color palettes and such. Make them unlockable achievements so people have more things to chase. P#31975 2016-10-28 20:24 ( Edited 2016-10-29 00:24) Thanks for the motivation, I'll carry on working on this game for sure! P#31996 2016-10-29 04:22 ( Edited 2016-10-29 08:22) Cool little game. Could we get some kind of recognizable-yet-chaotic-yet-exploitable pattern on the bamboo spawns? Having it just be noise doesn't allow any anticipation of "oh, I can set up this cool combo here". Edit: my best is 89 P#32042 2016-10-29 19:25 ( Edited 2016-10-29 23:28) Yes I see what you mean triplefox, that would be a cool feature to have so I'll look into it! P#32072 2016-10-30 05:57 ( Edited 2016-10-30 09:57) Nice addition with the giant star! Still lots of fun...my high is 118 so far. Had another thought, for what it's worth...have a checkpoint mode or whatever that has "stages" with required numbers to reach (counting up) that keeps you going like Pole Position or Rad Racer. You have X seconds to get Y number of bamboo. P#32251 2016-11-05 16:39 ( Edited 2016-11-05 20:39) What would be the point in trying to get to the next checkpoint then? would the number of checkpoints be your score at the end or something? P#32263 2016-11-06 03:25 ( Edited 2016-11-06 08:25) I guess in my head the checkpoint model probably coincides with additional features within a level (like obstacles). Point to get to next checkpoint is to keep going and slice more bamboo. If you miss the quota when time runs out, game over; if you reach the goal, time extends and you keep going. The hiccup with how the game currently plays is it doesn't get "harder" the longer you go, and that's what would make checkpoints work. So there's more to my suggestion that I thought...guess I hadn't really thought it that far along either. P#32277 2016-11-06 14:16 ( Edited 2016-11-06 19:16) Okay yeah, I get what you're saying. I think I'll take a break from working on it for a bit and then work on improving aspects of the game such as replayability and gamemodes but I'm quite happy with the project in its current state. P#32281 2016-11-06 16:38 ( Edited 2016-11-06 21:38) Totally agree. It's a ton of fun as-is. I just can't help myself from playing these games and thinking up new ideas :) P#32292 2016-11-07 09:24 ( Edited 2016-11-07 14:24) [Please log in to post a comment] About \| Contact \| Updates \| Terms of Use Follow Lexaloffle: Generated 2019-11-20 03:19 \| 0.043s \| 4194k \| Q:58
The #1 Motorcycle Title Loans Casa Grande has for YOU! motorcycle title loans casa grande Casino Pawn and Gold has the BEST motorcycle title loans anywhere in the city! Tight on cash? Have bills to pay? Motorcycle title loans could be EXACTLY what you're looking for! A motorcycle title loan is one of the fastest and easiest ways to get cash, since we loan you money based on the value of the motorcycle, NOT your credit. So, bad credit or no credit, YOU'RE APPROVED! At Casino Pawn and Gold, we give the most cash on our motorcycle title loans and we're PROUD of it! Come by today and be out the door with cash in hand in under 30 minutes. What Is A Title Loan? To understand what a title loan is, you have to understand what a pawn shop is first. The purpose of a pawn shop is to make pawn loans in order to give Casa Grande citizens access to fast cash. A pawn loan is a type of collateral loan in which we ignore classic determining factors like bad or no credit, and employment type. The amount of money we're able to loan is solely based on the value of the item. Now, a motorcycle title loan is essentially the same thing. The motorcycle is used as the collateral in this case meaning the value of your loan is entirely based on the value of your bike. Again, this means we can ignore things like bad credit, or even if you have no job at the moment. The only difference between our pawn loan and a motorcycle title loan is the ability to negotiate the terms of the loan. If we've made an offer on your bike that is either too little, or the interest rate is higher than you'd like, we have options to reduce these. While not necessary at the beginning of the loan, at this point we can use things like your credit, employment type, and income to find a more reasonable solution. At the leading Casa Grande pawn shop, our customers always have options available to them. The Motorcycle Title Loan Process Many of us are not familiar with getting a title loan against our motorcycle so are probably oblivious to how the process works. The beauty in going through accredited professionals like Casino Pawn and Gold is that we know how to get you in and out of the door with fast cash in mere minutes. The process all begins when you bring your bike down to Casino Pawn and Gold in person. Once you get here, one of our associates will collect some basic information about your bike from you. We'll also lead with the most important question of the transaction: how much cash do you need? This question is asked upfront because of the different considerations we can make to get you up to that number. First, though, an inspection of your motorcycle is in order. One of our associates will go outside and walk around your bike with you. We take into consideration every aspect of your bike including its cosmetic condition, overall running condition and mileage. Lastly, we'll head back inside and see what a fair private party selling value of the bike is on Kelley Blue Book. This number is fair as if you were to sell it anyway it's the number you'd be using. At this point in the process, we're able to let you know if we can meet the amount of cash you wanted or not. It's not all over if we can't at that moment, though! A motorcycle title loans uses the motorcycle as collateral which means that factors like credit, income, and your job typically don't matter at all when it comes to getting a title loan. If you truly need more than the amount we can offer you, however, then we're more than happy to take these factors into consideration. With a good, stable job and good credit we can loan more than we normally would. This is why you visit Casino Pawn and Gold: we're the premiere title loan lender in Eloy, Casa Grande, Florence, and Arizona City. Here are just a few examples of motorcycles we have done motorcycle title loans on in the past: motorcycle title loans casa grande • Yamaha • BMW • Ducati • Husqvarna • Honda • Suzuki • Kawaski • KTM What you need to know: All you need to get a motorcycle title loan is bring in your motorcycle, a valid driver's license, and a clear title for the motorcycle and you're approved! We can process motorcycle title loans in a matter of minutes and be able to give you the cash you need FAST. We have the most competitive rates and desirable terms of all the competition. You can also request to have your motorcycle stored in exchange for a much lower interest rate. Don't worry; your motorcycle stays inside our safe, secure, and insured storage and we guarantee it will be just as pristine as when you brought it to us! We are centrally located in Casa Grande but also serve the surrounding areas of Coolidge, Florence, Maricopa, and Arizona City! We offer our competitive and fair motorcycle title loans through Phoenix Titles Loans, LLC. We have specialists standing by ready to loan on your Motorcycle Title, so don't wait; stop by today! Proudly servicing Casa Grande, Coolidge, Florence, Maricopa, and Arizona City!
COMSOL 4.4 Installation Instructions for Mac OS X® Released October 17, 2014. This document describes how to apply a COMSOL 4.4 compatibility update for Mac OS X® 10.10. If you already have installed COMSOL 4.4 Update 2 on Mac OS X® 10.10, you can proceed to the Updating COMSOL 4.4 Update 2 section. Installing COMSOL 4.4 Update 2 Before installing COMSOL 4.4 Update 2, make sure that the Java® 1.6 JRE or later is installed on the system. Java can be downloaded from If for some reason the Java installer fails, you can install Java manually by following the instructions: 1. Navigate to and click on the JRE download link (both Java® 7 and 8 should work). 2. Accept the license agreement. 3. Download the version for Macintosh in .tar.gz format. 4. Start a terminal and navigate to the directory which contains the downloaded file. 5. Unpack the file by running tar xvzf <file name>.tar.gz. 6. A directory should appear containing the JRE. 7. Put the JRE home directory first in the PATH variable by running export PATH=<full path to the containing directory>/<java directory>/Contents/Home:$PATH (for example export PATH=/Users/username/Downloads/jre1.7.0_67.jre/Contents/Home:$PATH). 8. Set the JAVA_HOME variable to point to the JRE home directory by running export JAVA_HOME=<full path to the containing directory>/<java directory>/Contents/Home (for example export JAVA_HOME=/Users/username/Downloads/jre1.7.0_67.jre/Contents/Home). 9. From the same terminal run the setup script in the COMSOL 4.4 Update 2 installation root directory and proceed with the installation. 10. Once the installation is complete, you can remove Java since it won’t be needed anymore. Updating COMSOL 4.4 Update 2 Download Update Bullet COMSOL44_osx1010.tar.gz 81.6 MB 1. Download the COMSOL44_osx1010.tar.gz file from the link above. If you are using Safari, the default download directory is the Downloads directory inside your Home directory. Please note that Safari also by default unpacks .tar.gz files into .tar so the downloaded file becomes COMSOL44_osx1010.tar (losing the “.gz” suffix). 2. Open Finder and go to your Downloads directory and right-click (or hold Ctrl and left-click) COMSOL44_osx1010.tar and select "Copy COMSOL44_osx1010.tar". 3. Using Finder, navigate to where you installed COMSOL 4.4. Update 2. The default location is 4. Inside the COMSOL 4.4 installation directory paste COMSOL44_osx1010.tar by right-clicking (or hold Ctrl + left-click) and selecting "Paste Item". 5. Open Launchpad and search for "Terminal". 6. Open a terminal and change directory to your COMSOL 4.4. Update 2 root installation directory by running the command cd /Applications/COMSOL44. If you installed COMSOL to a different directory, you need to change "/Applications/COMSOL44" in the above command to your specific installation directory. 7. In the same terminal enter the command tar xvzf COMSOL44_osx1010.tar.gz. 8. The patch will be applied. You can now safely remove the file COMSOL44_osx1010.tar by running the command rm COMSOL44_osx1010.tar 9. You should now be able to run COMSOL 4.4 on Mac OS X® 10.10 and later versions.
Emerging Technology Trends for Career Improvement The trends in technology are getting bigger with each passing day. The technological advancements are fuelled by the integration of more resources and more demand from all tech domains. There are specific tech trends that have contributed quite a lot in career improvement. Some of these trends are highlighted below. Artificial Intelligence artificial intelligence In recent times, artificial intelligence has gotten into the big picture. Experts in technology are finding more and more ways of implementing AI tech IT domains, which reduces the need for human interaction and chances of error. An advanced neural network, for example, is capable of resolving real-time issues more effectively and efficiently. AI is also used in robotics, which improves productivity in industries such as manufacturing and production. Cloud Computing Cloud computing is another trend that almost all businesses are adapting. With cloud computing, the need to invest in expensive equipment for local storage is eliminated. Databases are safely stored online, reducing the dependability of centralized resources. Some of the benefits of this include easy and convenient access to databases for authorized people, reduced costs, and reduced downtime among others. Advanced Machine Learning Machine learning is a specialized branch of artificial intelligence, which helps machines to perform real-life tasks. It mainly focuses on computer programing for the machine, which can improve the efficiency of the machine about real-life scenarios. It takes into account nearly all the methods of learning including supervised, semi-supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement machine learning algorithms. Data Science Relevant and useful data can be quite expensive in today’s world as it can influence crucial business decisions. This refers to all types of data, including those coming from our daily life or social media usage. With limited storage space and ever-increasing data amounts, data science comes into play. It deals with the analysis of big data, extracting any relevant and useful information within a short time. It also helps you to store data in a well-organized manner. Technology has focused on improving the data analytic tools, and the result is that more companies are making use of them. Mobile Technology The trend in mobile technology has been there for quite some time now, and it doesn’t seem like it is going to end anytime soon. Smartphones are being developed with more features, which increase their functionality and effectiveness in the business world. Smart devices are mainly being used for transactions and communications, to improve careers.… Continue Reading
Optimize Using Only Feasible Start Points You can set the StartPointsToRun option so that MultiStart and GlobalSearch use only start points that satisfy inequality constraints. This option can speed your optimization, since the local solver does not have to search for a feasible region. However, the option can cause the solvers to miss some basins of attraction. There are three settings for the StartPointsToRun option: • all — Accepts all start points • bounds — Rejects start points that do not satisfy bounds • bounds-ineqs — Rejects start points that do not satisfy bounds or inequality constraints For example, suppose your objective function is function y = tiltcircle(x) vx = x(:)-[4;4]; % ensure vx is in column form y = vx'[1;1] + sqrt(16 - vx'vx); % complex if norm(x-[4;4])>4 tiltcircle returns complex values for norm(x - [4 4]) > 4. Code for Generating the Figure Write a constraint function that is positive on the set where norm(x - [4 4]) > 4 function [c ceq] = myconstraint(x) ceq = []; cx = x(:) - [4;4]; % ensure x is a column vector c = cx'*cx - 16; % negative where tiltcircle(x) is real Set GlobalSearch to use only start points satisfying inequality constraints: gs = GlobalSearch('StartPointsToRun','bounds-ineqs'); To complete the example, create a problem structure and run the solver: opts = optimoptions(@fmincon,'Algorithm','interior-point'); problem = createOptimProblem('fmincon',... 'x0',[4 4],'objective',@tiltcircle,... 'nonlcon',@myconstraint,'lb',[-10 -10],... 'ub',[10 10],'options',opts); rng(7,'twister'); % for reproducibility [x,fval,exitflag,output,solutionset] = run(gs,problem) GlobalSearch stopped because it analyzed all the trial points. All 5 local solver runs converged with a positive local solver exit flag. x = 1.1716 1.1716 fval = exitflag = output = struct with fields: funcCount: 3258 localSolverTotal: 5 localSolverSuccess: 5 localSolverIncomplete: 0 localSolverNoSolution: 0 message: 'GlobalSearch stopped because it analyzed all the trial po...' solutionset = 1x4 GlobalOptimSolution array with properties: tiltcircle With Local Minima Code for Generating the Figure The tiltcircle function has just one local minimum. Yet GlobalSearch (fmincon) stops at several points. Does this mean fmincon makes an error? The reason that fmincon stops at several boundary points is subtle. The tiltcircle function has an infinite gradient on the boundary, as you can see from a one-dimensional calculation: ddx16x2=x16x2=± at \|x\|=4. So there is a huge gradient normal to the boundary. This gradient overwhelms the small additional tilt from the linear term. As far as fmincon can tell, boundary points are stationary points for the constrained problem. This behavior can arise whenever you have a function that has a square root. Related Topics
The teaching of mathematics in Britain in the Mediaeval Ages. The decline in education in Europe and Britain especially continued through into the Mediaeval years, especially during the 11th century and the Norman conquest of England. King Harold's concerns about the English nobles' views of education and even the clergy's diminishing ability in Latin prose made little impact on the situation. Ability in warfare and defending ones land was more important at that time and the noblemen spent their time learning the skills of the fighter, rather than the scholar. Since there were few others with the time and the money to study, the level of education and mathematical knowledge of the populace dropped still further. By this time schools were reduced to little or no arithmetic, it is doubtful whether few knew more than basic counting and finger reckoning. During the 12th century the education in Scotland was beginning to improve thanks to efforts made by the Church, although the sciences were still neglected for the most part. The country was divided into 11 dioceses by the end of this century (although this number increased later) and schools attached to the new churches and cathedrals were set up much in the same manner as those south of the border. These schools aimed to teach people to read and write in order to aid their ability to understand the Scriptures. Many of these schools also started taking in the poor, rather than just the rich and those wanting to take up Orders. In Europe the situation was little better than England, although major centres of learning still existed in places like Paris where the University was founded during the 12th century, and this is where British students of ability went to study. This practise continued for many years in Scotland especially after the War of Independence with England, but English students were restricted by Henry II in 1167 when he banned them from attending the University of Paris. Cambridge and Oxford were then the only possible alternatives and these two rapidly grew into universities worthy of admiration. Despite this John of Holywood, known better as Johannes de Sacrobosco, not only studied at the University in Paris but also lectured there helping to promote Fibonacci's work and in 1220 wrote on Astronomy and Geometry, indicating that some of the Quadrivium still survived in Europe. Fibonacci's texts, Liber abbaci, Practica geometria and others, were written between 1202 and 1228. These helped the spread of the Hindu-Arabic number system, which Fibonacci had learnt while travelling in his youth, and prompted the spread of Algebra and the knowledge of Greek texts saved in Arabia but lost to Europe for centuries. One of the first of these to make a great impact was the translation of Euclid's Elements into Latin from Arabic, and many other texts were soon being studied. By the 14th century the level of Mathematics required to graduate from such universities as Paris and Prague was considerable. For the Bachelor's Degree they were advised to read Sacrobosco's Tractatus de Sphaera. For the Masters Degree they were to be 'acquainted' with the first six books of Euclid, Optics, Hydrostatics, the Theory of the Lever and Astronomy (although exactly what level of knowledge 'acquainted' infers is unknown). A similar system was supposed to be in place in Oxford and Cambridge in the 13th century, although Roger Bacon's account of his time there questions this. Despite the fact that the three years of further study required for the Masters degree were solely dedicated to the Quadrivium, Bacon doubted that few if any had read more Geometry than Euclid's definitions and the first five propositions of Book 1. The list of courses in the 14th century seems more extensive and includes Algorism, Ptolemaic Astronomy, Perspective, Proportion, Measurement of Surfaces, as well as the ubiquitous finger reckoning that was still required by many when they first entered University. All of these advances were in spite of the fact that the English nobles were now feeling the pressures of the Hundred Years War against France, much in the same way as the Scottish had before them, and the antipathy towards book learning had set in. While there were still no Universities in Scotland, the levels of education also rose during the 13th and 14th centuries. The Dominicans had more of a presence, whereas before this the majority of the monasteries had been Benedictine or Cistercian run. These latter two Orders had little interest in educating the population beyond obtaining further members of the clergy, while the Dominicans started actively opening schools and taking in the poor children of the area. With the increased amount of Mathematics being taught in universities, more and more of the clergy were becoming mathematically literate and were then passing this knowledge on to their students. However, their teaching style left much to be desired. A form of dialogue between the pupil and the master had developed. The pupil was required to learn the questions to ask of the master, who then answered them also by memory. This method led to rote learning rather than true understanding, so further study by an individual would have been hampered. Any further knowledge that was required by an individual could be obtained from a scrivener, a private tutor of mathematics (mostly concerned to give tuition on keeping accounts and book-keeping), who would also do the accounts of others to supplement their own wages. This form of private tuition grew during the Renaissance until it reached its peak in the 17th century before waning in the 18th century with the increase in the number of schools and night classes. By far the most advanced mathematics teaching during the Middle Ages was that done by the trade guilds. This was an apprenticeship of seven years to a master of a trade who then taught you all that he thought you should know. The lifestyle that these artisan and merchant classes led was not conducive to further study had they wanted to. The trades which specifically dealt with parts of Geometry and Arithmetic included builders and architects, merchants and traders, and the early forms of money lenders in the larger cities and towns. Main index Maths Education Index Biographies Index History Topics Index Glossary Index Famous curves index Mathematicians of the day Anniversaries for the year Birthplace Maps Time lines Search Form Societies, honours, etc JOC/EFR August 2000 The URL of this page is: School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St Andrews, Scotland
Your Plaid is on Fire. PollutionViolet Gross Burberry fire.png The practice of destroying excess inventory by luxury retailers has once again come to light. This time Burberry shareholders spoke up after learning about the company's destruction of $38 million worth of product in 2018 (an increase from the $35 million they destroyed in 2017). Rumors of this mythical practice have been stewing for decades, mainly from employees talking about their first-hand accounts. But Burberry isn't the only guilty party - Nike, Victoria's Secret, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren have been accused of doing the same. It's detrimental business practice considering how overpopulated our landfills already are. In the United States alone, consumers and corporations add 256 billion pounds of clothing to landfills each year. Richemont reportedly destroyed $744 million of its own unsold products. I don't know about you, but I would love to buy a discounted Cartier watch. They unfortunately disagree. So why would a brand go to such extremes as smashing watch faces, slashing perfectly good sweaters, or burning unused handbags when there are so many willing consumers? Brand perception. Many luxury brands believe the risk of selling their prestigious goods at a discount to us pedestrians would dilute brand exclusivity. Yes, that is a legitimate threat but not legitimate enough to supersede the trillions of greenhouse gas emissions contributed by the fashion industry annually. According to one report, "The best number we have now is about five percent of [global] greenhouse has emissions [come from] this sector. To give you some sense of perspective, that's about equivalent to the impact from the aviation sector, so al the planes flying around the world. Or in country terms, that's about equal to Russia. So it's pretty significant." Fashion is emitting at the same rate as a utility? Preposterous. We don't disagree with the high-end retailers brand dilution concerns. We get it. The rarity of their products is the appeal, but there has to be a better way. We were happy to hear the investors at Burberry finally raised a brow at the environmental concerns impacted by the choice to save brand perception. One even asked why shareholders couldn't be given the chance to buy the items. Seems a small price to pay for investor loyalty. Sustainability is at the forefront of conversations right now in the fashion industry. We know companies are actively working to improve their business practices and resource efficiency but we believe there is still failure to recognize the root of the issue, and in this case can work towards preserving brand exclusivity - Produce. Less. Stuff. If mass production stalled, brand cache would naturally stay in tact and bonus, there would be less unwanted inventory to light on fire. What Can't You Rent? Companies Doing GoodViolet Gross There is an app for everything. We've said that on a number of occasions. Nowadays it seems there is a rental business for everything. And since the peer-to-peer rental market is worth $26 billion, we have no choice but to believe it's the new norm. Obviously that excites us since it proves a theory we at Tulerie stand behind: people value access over ownership. Rent the Runway, Uber and AirBnb are the biggest shared economies, but it doesn't end there. You can rent ski clothing through KitLender, jewelry through Switch, a Rolex through ElevenJames, baby gear through Babierge, baby clothes at MiaBellaBabies, a car through Turo, an assistant through Task Rabbit, office space through WeWork - an exhaustive list! The newest concept to enter the rental marketplace sounds questionable at first but hear us out, we think it's pretty genius. Routinely rents workout clothes and sneakers. They save the day when you've forgotten to pack something, don't have room in your suitcase or when your schedule opens up leaving you with the perfect workout window. In four easy steps you can have a quality workout kit delivered to you anywhere in NYC within a couple hours. You can even have it delivered directly to the SLT you're headed to. How convenient is that? Our favorite part is that they carry brands we love - Lululemon, Nike, Outdoor Voices, Adidas, Under Armor and Rhone. We have to admit to liking the idea of putting that sweaty sports bra into a FedEx bag rather than our Sac du Jour. Making Old New Again Companies Doing GoodViolet Gross Margiela deconstructed fashion.JPG The Museum at FIT launched their latest exhibition a few weeks ago titled "Fashion Unraveled". It is a beautiful celebration of deconstruction and repurposing. We know you're as tired of the word 'repurpose' as we were of Despacito at this time last year, but this is not an exhibition trying to capitalize on the sustainable fashion movement. This exhibit serves as a reminder that not too long ago, we relished that worn again and again (and again) look. It's just a happy accident the theme of this show aligns well with the current conversation about consumerism in the area of fashion. In creating Fashion Unraveled, what Colleen Hill, head curator, supports more than sustainability is the reconnection to what we're buying. Invest in clothes that mean something to you instead of the buy, try, dispose mentality brought to you by the fast fashion retailers. Hill features designers like Martin Margiela, one of the OG 'deconstructionists'. The Margiela Tabi boot, on display, was designed with the deliberateness of long-term wear and it distresses in such a way over time that keeps it looking current. Fashion Unraveled also represents designers like Mimi Prober who repurposes vintage clothing for new designs and Betsy Johnson who has a jumpsuit on display created from her ex-partners discarded rugby shirt. Another designer is Lamine Kouyate who uses his Malian heritage as a guidepost in how he designs. He says "It's an African philosophy to use things up. You don't waste anything, but create new from old." We're on the same page Lamine! Check out Fashion Unraveled, open now through November. Perhaps you'll be inspired to find new within the old in your own closet. Let's make World Environment Day more important than National Donut Day PollutionViolet Gross National Donut Day was last Friday. We saw you eat that toasted coconut thanks to your Instagram. And with National Rosé Day being Saturday, we know your Domaines Ott is chilled. But today is World Environment Day, easily more noteworthy than donuts and rosé, so we hope you'll craft a post equally as time consuming as that glass of rosé aligned perfectly with the sunset. Bring awareness to something more important than Rosé All Day. In honor of Wold Environment Day, we've compiled a list of 9 super simple changes you can make in your daily routine that will actually save the planet, which we believe is worthy of a reward donut. The call to action this year is "Beat Plastic Pollution" which is one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time. First, look around you and count everything made of plastic that's within arms reach - and don't forget to include the pieces of your outfit made of polyester. Now let's consider why we use so much plastic if it's so harmful. Why not just stop making things out of it, right? Two words - cheap and easy. Plastic is a cheap, lightweight material to buy and it's easy to make. What most people don't know is that plastic is actually a valuable resource, but only when it's reused and recycled. Rather, with our growing on-demand culture, we have become reliant on plastics as disposable material. When plastics aren't re-used or recycled it sees two fates; it is either burned in a landfill or is floating in our oceans. In fact, about 13 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year. How does this effect you? When plastic ends up in a landfill, it's incinerated and all those toxins are released into the air for us to breathe. Styrofoam being one of the worst plastics because of its genetic make up of nasty, carcinogenic toxins. Ugh! When plastics make it to the ocean, lots of sh*t goes down. The material is often ingested by marine life, which is how those gross toxic chemicals enter our own food chain. I don't think this is what Elton John meant when he wrote the "Circle of Life" but I've been wrong before. Then there are plastic bags which often block waterways, exacerbating natural disasters and clogging sewers, creating breeding grounds for mosquitos and pests, increasing the transmission of vector-borne illnesses. Hello Zika. Bet you never thought your beach travel plans could be ruined over your Starbucks straw. Now consider the economic impact from cleaning to keep these problems at bay (pun intended). Studies suggest that the total economic damage to the world's marine ecosystem caused by plastic amounts to at least $13 billion every year. One of the biggest contributors of plastic waste is single-use items, meaning it is designed to be thrown away after being used only once (like that sushi you had delivered to your apartment last night). The most prolific single-use plastics found in the environment are, in order of magnitude, cigarette butts, plastic drinking bottles and caps, food wrappers, plastic grocery bags, plastic lids, straws and stirrers, other types of plastic bags and foam take-away containers. This is where you should focus on reducing your footprint. The good news here is that single-use plastics is an area where individuals can effect real change by conducting simple daily habits. Here are a few simple ways to effectively use less plastic and 2 for how to use plastic the right way: 1. Carry a reusable water bottle. We are obsessed with these. 2. Take a reusable bag to the grocery store. This makes us feel less guilty about that last Lululemon purchase. Those bags can hold several pounds of produce! 3. Speaking of produce - when grocery shopping why put your avocados or kale in a produce bag, just to put them in another bag? You're going to wash the leaves when you get home anyhow. 4. Avoid plastic straws, opt for glass or paper instead. Better yet, skip the straw and save yourself the wrinkles. 5. On the last step of your Seamless or GrubHub order, remember to check the box indicating you don't need plastic utensils. You're at home. You have forks. 6. An easy one, dispose of plastics in the proper recycling containers. Almost every fast casual restaurant is set-up for recycling, so do your part by separating the materials and putting them in the correct recycling bins. 7. Use these glass or steel food storage containers over zip lock bags. Your taste buds will thank you for the freshness. 8. When traveling, TSA wants you to put all your cosmetics in a plastic bag. We suggest Glossier's reusable bag 9. Lease up? Pack up your apartment into these heavy-duty, reusable stacking containers. They will drop them off when you need them and pick them up when you're done. A dual approach to recycling by eliminating single-use cardboard waste and reusing valuable plastic. Fashion Industry Receives an F in Sustainability WasteViolet Gross Fashion is a EUR 1.3 trillion industry, employing over 60 million people. It is easily one of the largest industries in the world, which also makes it one of the most resource intensive, reading environmental challenges that are a major threat to the planet and the long-term success of the industry. Enter, Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), the industry's Mr. Miyagi of sustainable business practices. GFA's mission is to "mobilize the global fashion system to change the way we produce, market and consume fashion, for a world beyond next season". In short, they are mentoring the fashion world out of this mess by facilitating solution sharing, and collecting and spreading insights so decision makers can actually implement change. GFA gets all the major players together each year for a summit to discuss the hot topic of sustainability and then publishes an annual report called The Pulse of the Industry. WWD summarizes this 124 page report in one headline "Sustainability in Fashion is Growing, but 'Systemic' Change a Ways Off". Ways off. While the ball is rolling, it's more like that of a novice bowler...a sluggish roll that most likely ends up stagnant in the middle of the lane. We were happy to learn efficient water use and supply chain traceability have improved over the last year, however raw materials are still the biggest challenge facing the industry (i.e. continuing to use non-renewable resources and simultaneously overproducing clothes). Waste is another big concern, one we're very passionate about too. Companies like Nike Inc., Hugo Boss and Inditex made notable efforts to cut back on material waste, but the overall score of the industry is still at 38 out of 100. That's like an F and out high school self would have been grounded for life. Lastly, GFA's report urged fashion companies to 'join forces with suppliers, investors, regulators, non-governmental organizations, academia and consumers to create an ecosystem that supports transformational innovation and disruptive business models," especially around raw materials and end-of-use issues. End-of-use (clothing disposal) is a natural part of a person's wardrobe lifecycle, but at Tulerie we're hoping the "use" part of the equation is maximized by embracing closet sharing so we are contributing less at the end. Dare to share. Read the full WWD article to learn more about the GFA's findings or the full GFA report here.
Tuna Melt This tuna melt is as good as the melts you will remember from your childhood, but fits into a healthy diet. Serve with a green salad for a quick, satisfying supper or by itself for an easy weekend lunch. Cook: 15 mins Prep: 5 mins Serving: 4 servings Level: Easy 1. Preheat the grill. 2. Toast bread under the grill. 4. Spread 1/4 cup of the tuna mixture on each slice of toast; top with tomato slices and 2 tbsps cheese. 5. Place sandwiches on a baking sheet and grill until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. 6. Serve immediately. This delicious recipe was caught from geniuskitchen.com
Showing Posts With: Fantasie Di Frutta Designed by Basile Advertising, Italy. An assortment of 11 fruits, emptied of their pulp and then filled with ice-cream derived from it. Simple and natural ingredients, carefully prepared to obtain a unique product of its kind, the fruit filled with ice-cream, where the flavour of each fruit reflects its original taste. Whole process is done manually. 1 comment: Fantasie Di Frutta 1. this product actually exist? where can I buy? Fantastic fantasie!
Tag Archives: thin slicing Make what you are… 8 May I attended a lean Startup networking work from the park event a few months ago, i haven’t been blogging my ideas, but i have the notes. One of the notes i made was in reference to Brian Eno, in relation to his album ‘Lux ‘Make what you are’ One reviewer said ‘Lux’ is the kind of album that would make you think about the time you have left to live Sounds interesting? Brian Eno is a very quotable guy, some of the things he says would really make you question what you do and how you go about doing it. Brian Eno has a creative process, take a look at it here 1. Freeform capture. 2. Blank state. 3. Deliberate limitations. 4. Opposing forces. 5. Creative prompts Leonardo Da Vinci had a creative process too his four main principles were 1. Study the science of art. 2. Study the art of science. 3. Develop all your senses especially your ability to see. 4. Study all the above in the light of the idea that everything connects, in some way, to everything else. Brian Eno: Nearly all the things I do that are of any merit at all start off as just being good fun I remember sitting one day on a friends couch while she was out running, i watched this Brian Eno documentary What i like about his way of thinking is he: • Explores polar opposites with music and retreats to a comfortable place • He would use a bird outside his window in the music he was making, which reminds me about a story about how William S Burroughs used to tell his students to include the person that walked past in their stories, his students thought they were losing their minds • I love his idea of ‘Thin slicing’, instead of using 1000 sounds, just use 6 great ones, the same principle can be used in your life for self development, i.e. if you want great improvement, select 3 things to improve and base everything around those 3 things you wish to improve %d bloggers like this:
Monday, December 10, 2012 Screw Nice...I Wish. [Content note: discussion of street harassment and rape culture.] I was recently talking with a friend about a situation she's been dealing with in her apartment complex parking lot. A man regularly harasses her. Here's a bit of her back story on him: Today when he asked whether I would ever date him if he were single, I did say, "Aren't you a little old for me?" As in, listen you middle-aged weirdo, this is never going to happen, plus you're married! However, he creepily said, "I think I'm just the right age, these young boys don't know what they're doing..." Initially I was just like, oh he's just a flirty guy so maybe I shouldn't take this stuff so seriously. But he has said some things that are really not okay, like, "What would you do if I kidnapped you and took you away?" And he presented it as though it would be a welcome gesture, like he would be sweeping me off my feet and taking me somewhere nice. Except he def used the word "kidnapped." I'm sure that most women can relate to this experience. It's sadly common in our society. In talking with my friend, I began to think more deeply about how women are at a multiple disadvantages in this situation. Not only are men socialized to think that this behavior is acceptable, but women are socialized to just play nice. My friend was having a really hard time not responding positively to these advances--not because she was into it--but because she worries about what might happen to her if she just flat out told him to fuck off. He knows where she lives. Her mind can't help but go to scary places when she's having interactions like this. And that's how rape culture works, you know. In broad generalizations, it creates a society where women live in fear (for good reason) and men feel free to say whatever they want to the woman who lives a few apartments down. In an ideal world, people wouldn't experience street harassment. Full stop. In a slightly less ideal world, if you did experience street harassment, you would at least feel free to react in any manner you see fit. Women wouldn't operate under some artificial requirement to play nice. We'd tell the harasser to leave us alone and that would be that. But we don't live in either of those worlds. Like I said before, we live in a society which tells girls not to rock the boat, boys to say whatever they want, and beyond that--one which normalizes rape. So when I talk to my friends about these situations, I say things like, "Stop being so nice." and "Send him an icy message that lets him know you're not OK with it." But it's more complicated than that, isn't it? I want to scream SCREW NICE at the top of my lungs. I want to tell every jackass who's ever told a lady to "smile baby" to mind his own damn business. I want to hold a rally in support of female curmudgeonly behavior. But I know that all of this is so much easier said that done. I wish a "screw nice" mentality would work. And I wish that women could feel safe employing it whenever they'd like. (What obligation do we owe the world to be nice anyway?!) But the truth is that the more important goal here is for women to stay safe. And that is how it will be until we shift our cultural narrative to tell boys that they shouldn't assert control over anyone and DON'T RAPE instead of telling girls to be nice and don't get raped. 1 comment: 1. Just yesterday this topic came up with two of my guy friends, who consider themselves feminists and are both (truly) nice guys. I mentioned that I wanted to leave where we had been sitting because a man across from us kept staring at me, and it made me uncomfortable. One friend asked, "But don't girls like that attention? Don't they like it when guys check them out or catcall them?" It took a moment for the inanity of what my allegedly-progressive friend had just said to register. I replied, "I don't like it. I find it demeaning and frightening." The other friend asked, "You're strong, you're confident; why don't you just tell them to go fuck themselves?" When I said that it was because I was afraid the man would then harass me further, perhaps going so far as to follow/stalk or attack me, they said, "No, that wouldn't happen." I cut my losses then. I was entirely caught off-guard by how anyone could be so delusional. Upon reflection, I realized that is was as simple as male privilege and the perpetuation of rape culture. No one is immune to the effects of this harmful thinking.
to BioTechniques free email alert service to receive content updates. Bioluminescent CXCL12 fusion protein for cellular studies of CXCR4 and CXCR7 Kathryn E. Luker1, Mudit Gupta1, and Gary D. Luker1,2 1Center for Molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA BioTechniques, Vol. 47, No. 1, July 2009, pp. 625–632 Full Text (PDF) Chemokine CXCL12 and its two known receptors, CXCR4 and CXCR7, may play a role in diseases including tumor growth and metastasis, atherosclerosis, and HIV infection. Therefore, these molecules may be promising targets for drug development. While studies of cell signaling and high-throughput screening for drug discovery increasingly are based on luminescent assays because of their high sensitivity and signal-to-background ratio, there currently is no bioluminescent assay for chemokine–chemokine receptor binding. To develop a bioluminescent probe for chemokine binding and cellular uptake, we fused CXCL12 to Gaussia luciferase (GL), an ATP-independent enzyme that is the smallest known luciferase. Fusing CXCL12 to Gaussia luciferase (CXCL12-GL) did not alter the bioluminescence emission spectrum and only minimally affected enzyme function under varying conditions of pH, temperature, and NaCl concentration. CXCL12-GL also activated CXCR4-dependent signaling to a comparable extent as unfused CXCL12. Using multiwell plate assays, we established that CXCR7 increases cell-associated CXCL12 to a significantly greater extent than CXCR4. We also showed that CXCL12-GL can be used to quantify inhibition of chemokine receptor binding by compounds that specifically target CXCR7. These data validate CXCL12-GL as a bioluminescent probe to investigate molecular functions of CXCR4 and CXCR7 and screen for compounds that modulate ligand-receptor binding. Chemokines and chemokine receptors originally were identified as regulators of immune cell trafficking in normal physiology and inflammation. More recently, this family of proteins has been shown to regulate diseases including cancer, atherosclerosis, autoimmune diseases, and neuro-degenerative processes (1,2,3,4). As a result, chemokine receptors have emerged as new therapeutic targets, emphasizing the need to develop reagents for quantitative, high-throughput screening assays of chemokine binding and inhibition. Conventional assays use radiolabeled chemokines to quantify binding to specific receptors and identify inhibitors of ligand-receptor interactions. While radioligand binding studies have been used successfully for these purposes, such assays generate radioactive waste that is cumbersome to dispose. As alternatives to radioactivity, investigators increasingly are using fluorescence or bioluminescence for cell-based assays in basic research and high-throughput screening. CXCL12 and other chemokines have been labeled with fluorescent dyes or proteins to detect ligand-receptor binding in intact cells (5). For example, Hatse et al. fused CXCL12 to Alexa Fluor 647 and used this reagent to detect binding and inhibition of CXCL12-CXCR4 interactions by flow cytometry (6). Similarly, binding of CXCL12 to receptor CXCR7 has been analyzed with a genetic fusion of CXCL12 to green fluorescent protein (GFP) (7). While these studies show that fluorescent chemokines provide a viable replacement for radiolabeled chemokine binding assays in some experimental settings, bioluminescence assays have not been developed for chemokine-chemokine receptor binding studies. Relative to fluorescence-based techniques, bioluminescence assays with luciferase enzymes offer several potential advantages for quantifying accumulation of chemokines in intact cells (8). First, bioluminescence assays have substantially lower background signal than fluorescence, enhancing signal-to-noise ratios for chemokine binding. Improved sensitivity is particularly important for measuring ligand binding to chemokine and other seven-transmembrane receptors because these proteins may be expressed at modest levels in cells (9). Second, bioluminescent end points have a greater dynamic range of linear signal response than corresponding fluorescent probes. Finally, bioluminescence assays are affected less than fluorescence by colors and dyes in compounds and cell culture media. These advantages account for improved performance of bioluminescence relative to fluorescence in multiwell cell culture formats and highlight the need for a bioluminescent assay of chemokinechemokine receptor binding (10). To develop a bioluminescent assay for binding of chemokines to receptors, we focused on chemokine CXCL12 and its two known receptors, CXCR4 and CXCR7. There is particular interest in developing specific inhibitors of CXCL12 binding to these two receptors both as chemical probes for investigating specific mechanisms of action and as potential therapeutic agents for treating diseases including cancer and HIV (11,12,13). We fused CXCL12 to the humanized form of luciferase from Gaussia princeps. Gaussia luciferase (GL) is the smallest known luciferase, containing only 185 amino acids. In cell-based assays, GL is ~1000× brighter than firefly and Renilla luciferases (two other enzymes used commonly for bioluminescent assays), which increases the dynamic range for detection and quantification (14). Bioluminescence from GL is also independent of ATP, allowing the enzyme to function in both intracellular and extracellular compartments (15). While our studies focus on CXCL12, we expect this technique can be generalized to develop bioluminescent probes for other chemokines and other peptide signaling molecules. Materials and methods 293T cells (Open Biosystems, Huntsville, AL, USA), and human breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 (ATCC, Manassas, VA, USA) were cultured at 37°C and 5% CO2 in DMEM (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA), 10% fetal bovine serum, 1% glutamine, and 0.1% penicillin/streptomycin/gentamicin (Invitrogen). DNA constructs Mouse CXCL12-α was amplified by PCR using plasmid CXCL12-degrakine (courtesy of Lishan Su, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA) as a template. PCR primers were 5′-ATGCCTCGAGGCCACCATGGACGCCAAGGTCGTCG-3′ and 5′-GCATGAATTCCCCTTGTTTAAAGCTTTCTCCAGGTA-3′; restriction sites for XhoI and EcoRI, respectively, are underlined. The PCR product was ligated to the corresponding sites in plasmid EGFP-N1 (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA, USA). GL was amplified using PCR primers 5′-ATGCGAATTCCGGCGGAGGTGGGTCCGGAGGCGGTGGGAGCGCCAAGCCCACCGAGAACAACGAAGACTTC-3′ and 5′-GCATGCGGCCGCTTAGCCTATGCCGCCCTGTGCGG-3′ with EcoRI and NotI restriction sites underlined (pGLuc-Basic, New England Biolabs, Ipswich, MA, USA). This strategy removes the 15–amino acid secretion signal from GL and inserts a (G4S)2 amino acid linker between CXCL12 and Gaussia (designated as CXCL12-GL). CXCL12-GL and the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter from EGFP-N1 were removed with restriction enzymes AseI and NotI and ligated to the blunted PacI site of FUPW (16). Unfused CXCL12 was inserted into the blunted EcoRI site of EGFP-N1 and then transferred to FUPW as described for CXCL12-GL. GL was excised from pGLuc-Basic with EcoRI and NotI and inserted into FUPW as described for CXCL12-GL. PCR products were verified by DNA sequencing. 1 2 3 4 5
Endocrine-Disrupting Chemical (EDC) Found on Commercialized Bottled Water Over the years, we avoided using tap water because we believe that bottled water is safer to drink and better for our health. However, a recent study suggests that commercialized bottled water may offer more harm than good. Finding shows that plastic containers used for bottled water, contains EDC or endocrine-disrupting chemical that may affect the hormonal systems, particularly the reproductive systems of the body. (EDC) Found on Commercialized Bottled WaterAccording to a study conducted in 2010, adults who were exposed to EDC before they were born are more at risk of breast cancer than those who were not. EDCs or endocrine disruptors are compounds that can alter the normal process happening in the endocrine system which may cause cancerous tumors, birth defects and other developmental problems. EDCs are commonly used to make plastics used for storing food and water. One example is the Bisphenol A or (BPA) which is an EDC that is used to create feeding bottles for babies. The previous study results have been reviewed by the researchers who recently made a new study to test if the EDCs present on commercialized bottled water has the possibility to become diffuse gradually. Similarly, they would like to check the type of EDCs, which can potentially mix with the water. During the research, 18 commercialized bottled water were used for the testing. The researchers aim to detect if there are compounds present on the water which may interfere with the hormonal system of the body. It may lead to the blocking of estrogen activity (Antiestrogenic) or prevent androgens from expressing their biological effects on responsive tissues (antiandrogenic). The result showed that among the 18 bottles of water, 13 bottles were found to cause antiestrogenic activity and 16 of the bottles demonstrated antiandrogenic activity. Another research was also conducted to see the compound present in the water called DEHF or (di(2-ethylhexyl) fumarate) . However, the said compound is only responsible for the antiandrogenic activity and the compound that produces antiestrogenic activity is yet to be found. According to the authors of the study, another research needs to take place to discover the other EDC that causes antiestrogenic activity. They said,”We have shown that antiestrogens and antiandrogens are present in the majority of bottled water products. To identify the causative chemical, we applied a novel correlation approach to integrate biological and high-resolution mass spectrometry data. Structural elucidation led to dioctyl maleate/fumarate isomers as promising candidates.” “While chemical analysis confirmed that DEHF is the putative steroid receptor antagonist, this compound was weakly antiestrogenic in the bioassays, only,” “We conclude that we have either missed active compound(s) or that another, untested maleate/fumarate isomer causes the antagonistic activity in bottled water.” they added. The researchers stated that they may be another active compound in the water that may cause the antagonistuc activity in the bottled water. In addition to this, there are isomers other than DEHF that were also antiestrogenic and antiandrogenic. “Moreover, maleates are structurally highly similar to phthalate plasticizers, well-known antiandrogens,” “Therefore, we pose the hypothesis that dialkyl maleates and fumarates might represent a novel group of steroid receptor antagonists. This illustrates that in spite of the potentially relevant exposure and obvious resemblance to other EDCs, such chemicals have been so far disregarded by the scientific and regulatory community.” they explained Although the research has shown significant results, more studies need to be done to strengthen the evidence which suggests that DEHF can make people at risk of other diseases. Likewise, more research must take place to determine if manufacturers need to stop using DEHF to make plastic wares and containers to ensure the safety of their consumers. Nevertheless, the researchers are hoping that the results could increase the people’s awareness of the potential danger caused by th EDCs in food and beverages. September 21st, 2013 by
Answer a question Ask a question Mummysmalls's Mom Answers Activity Recent Activity \| Asked \| Answered Most recent answer (01/28/2016): I'm a man, so I can't fully appreciate how bad morning sickness can be, but here is some food for thought. I suspect there are fe... posted by a BabyCenter Member Brown discharge during 9 weeks of pregnancy Most recent answer (01/27/2016): I had my first ultrasound at 6wks everything was fine. I noticed my stomach had gone down some but I thought I was losing weight during m... posted by jydal1 Ear infections, has anyone had their child get ear tubes? How are they doing with them? Most recent answer (10/28/2012): My son just turned 6 months old and had ear tubes put in this past Thursday. He has failled his hearing test since the say he was born an... posted by willchey21 How do I get my seven month old breastfed baby more intersted in solids? Most recent answer (02/29/2012): My first child took to solids right at 6 months like I had been starving her. My second child took many, many months to get used to soli... posted by a BabyCenter Member Can one bad argument cause a miscarriage?? Most recent answer (11/21/2011): The majority of miscarriages are caused by chromosomal abnormalities in the developing fetus and there is nothing anyone can do to preven... posted by a BabyCenter Member how much should a 3 month old formula baby eat how much is enough Most recent answer (11/11/2011): our baby was 7 pounds 8oz and is now 16 pounds I was wondering if she was on track for her size. posted by Mummysmalls Your Pregnancy, Week by Week Your Pregnancy, Week by Week Have an account? Log in
Review: Carter's Chord offers beautiful harmony In this CD cover image released by Show Dog Universal, the latest release by Carters's Chord, "Wild Together," is shown. (AP Photo/Show Dog Universal) Carter's Chord, "Wild Together" (Show Dog-Universal) The three sisters who comprise Carter's Chord carry the endorsements of two of country music's most macho figures - an ironic twist considering the trio features delicately beautifully harmonies and probe issues facing contemporary women with sensitive insight. Becky and Joanna Robertson and Emily Robertson Fortney first recorded as youngsters in 1998 with the late Waylon Jennings on the country music outlaw's children's album, "Cowboys, Sisters, Rascals & Dirt." Then Oklahoma roughneck Toby Keith signed them to his record label, featured them on the soundtrack to his film "Beer For My Horses," and now co-produces their second album, the six-song EP "Wild Together." The album proves why the trio has garnered such big-time support. With the kind of close harmonies only siblings can create, Carter's Chord avoid current Nashville trends; their lyrics don't focus on the joys of rural life or on female empowerment, and they don't present pounding country-rock or vocals that constantly show off how loud they can sing. Instead, on songs like the title cut or the new single, "A Little Less Comfortable," the sisters offer bold takes on how young adults deal with the tentative steps of new relationships or the difficult trials of keeping things together. With blues-tinged arrangements that help create a signature sound, Carter's Chord reveal that the age-old sound of family harmony can still bring fresh dimensions to modern country music. CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: "Simple Little Screwed Up Life" uses a swampy, steamy arrangement to set a scene for a young woman who, amid a head-spinning first kiss, warns the guy falling for her that he better prepare himself for a wild ride. The Associated Press
USERRA (The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act) USERRA is a federal law found at 38 U.S.C. Section 4301 - 4335 guaranteeing certain employment rights to active and reserve military members. In short, USERRA prevents any employer from discriminating against a employee based on that employee's military service. Specifically, USERRA prohibits a public or private employer from denying "initial employment, reemployment, retention in employment, promotion, or any benefit of employment based on current, past, or present obligations flowing from military service." (38 U.S.C. Sect. 4311(a)). USERRA's statutory scheme allows servicemembers to seek relief either through the office of the Secretary of Labor (38 U.S.C. Sect. 4322) or through initiating a lawsuit in federal court. (38 U.S.C. Sect. 4323).
Back to the previous page Artist: KRS-One Album: Life Song: I'm On the Mic Typed by: When you least expect it (This is just one style) (Verse One) We back up in this piece like yeast to bread Underground you gotta find me like an Easter egg No need to beg, I hit the club hard on the red While you check for CDs I'm sellin' books instead I travel the country by car, by foot and leg What's worse than being behind is being ahead Prophetic visions of President Jeb Five storms hit Florida on his head and nobody said "What's the meaning of this? It's like God is dead" In the minds of the people hanging onto a thread You gotta go where your heart is led I spit truth but some cats, they just got the hardest head As you can see, I'm artist-led I take it to the black, to the green, and to the darkest red I write, recite and of course go off the head-top Knowledge Reigns Supreme, man -- don't forget that KRS and I'm on the mic (Class is in session, so you can stop guessin') KRS and I'm on the mic This is just one style KRS and I'm on the mic Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everybody KRS and I'm on the mic (Verse Two) Here's the mission, plain and straight We gotta nurture and develop what we create Hip-hop is our activity on the planet Today it's just an album; tomorrow they examine it In the future, someone's crammin' fast 'Cause they want at least a B in their hip-hop class I ain't even askin' you how If our ancestors built nations, why you ain't buildin' one now? Technology is not civilization Civilization is not about the tools that you're making You have an opportunity, at a new stop Truly living hip-hop is a chance at a new park You can play a new part: Develop new DVDs, new books, new art Open new food marts with hip-hop food charts and food carts Playing 2Pac while you shop (Do it) What's the sense of being a recording artist At a recording company for a year or two If after the third or fourth year they can't even hire you? In fact there is really nothing there for you If your life is not a can of goo Hip-hop is not a product; hip-hop is me and you What I spit will see you through I'm freein' you with knowledge of G-O-D in you (Verse Three) Foot soldiers, let's go - we got this The freedom to be really you that's what hip-hop is What can we really do? Reach for the top, kid Those that seek the bottom they shot stop and lock, kid We the inevitable, most credible And most are leaning back with the terrible squad Here to beat knock hard, this is the real truth Everything I spit be backed up with real proof Welcome to the underground Don't look for me in the mainstream, this is a whole 'nother sound Sound set we rock music in the streets In the schools and over the Internet Feel it yet? You ain't hear me yet You ain't really ready to get near me yet Y'all fear and fret
5 Key Trends for ASC Financing Opportunities Share on Facebook Jim Irwin on ASC financingThere are several key trends making an impact on the financing market today with a specific focus on healthcare and ambulatory surgery centers. "Healthcare is a very specialized niche," says Jim Irwin, President of MC Healthcare Finance. "In the world of generalist asset-based lending, healthcare is often perceived as an orphaned asset class. Banks appreciate the size and favorable demographics of the healthcare industry but also realize that financing this industry is not for dilettantes. However, with the upheaval in the real estate market, banks have a need to add consumer and industrial (C&I) loans and in many cases are trying to figure out how to prudently loan to this industry. We have built MC Healthcare Finance to be not only a direct lender to healthcare providers but to also provide a robust servicing and lending platform to partner with banks." Mr. Irwin discusses five big trends and why they are important for ASCs going forward. 1. Banks aren't lending. Banks' appetite to lend to small business is not nearly as great as it was five or 10 years ago. Healthcare providers face an even greater uphill battle because many banks aren't set up to lend to the healthcare world. "Even in the best of times, healthcare isn't well understood by traditional lenders," says Mr. Irwin. "There are many aspects of healthcare lending that frankly scare non-specialized lenders. For example, banks are often unfamiliar with the third-party payment stream, HIPAA provisions, significant receivables dilution and government anti-assignment requirements associated with lending to the healthcare industry. Most lenders are much more comfortable funding assets or receivables in which they can more easily evaluate contractual economic transactions between buyers and sellers in which the lender knows with reasonable certainty how much will be paid, and when, and in which they can straightforward perfect their security interest. In healthcare, you don't know when or how much you will be paid, for example." Today's regulatory environment is also prohibitive for banks, particularly in smaller communities. These banks in particular are keeping their capital tight. "Community banks know enough about healthcare to realize that they lack the expertise to effectively fund healthcare loans as a matter of course," says Mr. Irwin. "They appreciate the size of the healthcare industry and the immutable demographic changes occurring but they also realize they lack the expertise and infrastructure to be able to prudently lend to it." 2. Immense consolidation among lenders. Ten years ago, it was not uncommon for businessmen and financiers to strike a deal with a handshake over an evening dinner. Today, that isn't really happening. Immense consolidation within the industry makes intimate relationships difficult with most lenders. Historically the primary lenders to the majority of the healthcare industry have been community banks which often enjoyed close personal relationships with their healthcare clients. "The ranks of community banks, which traditionally have been the primary lenders to the healthcare industry, have been dramatically winnowed," says Mr. Irwin. "Surviving small community banks typically lack the infrastructure to effectively value, track and monitor healthcare receivables, resulting in restricted loan advances which throttle healthcare providers." Furthermore, with FDIC regulations today, any bank with under $1 billion of assets is in danger of being acquired, which will further limit most ASC's borrowing options. 3. Increasing demand for med tech financing. Ambulatory surgery centers are seeking financing at higher levels today particularly for medical technology. They are purchasing new instrumentation and electronic medical records programs to stay ahead of the curve while at the same time facing the likelihood of lower reimbursements. "Now that President Barack Obama has been re-elected, you will see increased pressure to dramatically decrease reimbursements," says Mr. Irwin. "For ASCs, if they can successfully navigate these waters, this is growth opportunity because they provide about 40 percent of all surgeries in the United States. Their expansion is seen as a vehicle capable of decreasing the cost of performing surgery." If surgery centers are able to successfully bring EMRs to enhance workflow and quality reporting, while also purchasing the equipment necessary for new higher acuity cases, they may see an increase in direct case volume for stakeholders. "There aren't a lot of financing options, which is why we formed our company," says Mr. Irwin. "In some markets, you see a longstanding relationship between the surgery center and community bank, but if that bank is bought or restricts loan advances it can significantly impact an ASC’s ability to accommodate growth. They are also dealing with regulatory requirements for capital acquisitions and in some cases equipment." 4. ACO formation. Accountable care organizations, or similar risk sharing ventures, are springing up across the country and making an impact on the ASC market. ACOs could function as clearing houses that provide contracts to the lowest bidder and ASCs are poised to take that position. "If you bid too high you won't get the contract and if you bid too low and win the contract you'll lose money," says Mr. Irwin. Surgery centers must focus on profitable markets such as out-of-network spine surgery to be able to boost profit margins in this environment. They will also have to co-exist with, if not participate in, an ACO. "It's a difficult environment." For seasoned physician groups, there is a different dynamic because they are often viewed favorably by the banks and are seen as good credit risks. However, physician groups will have the same accountability as other providers in the future as the ACO dominated paradigm is implemented. "ASCs will need to know their cost structures very well," says Mr. Irwin. "They need to figure out that balance to maintain profitability in an environment of decreasing reimbursements. As a result of ObamaCare, 30 million more Americans will be eligible for insurance and patient volume will increase dramatically. Healthcare providers will have a hard time accommodating those patients while keeping their costs down." 5. New opportunities for financing. Where some of the traditional capital opportunities have dried up, there are new opportunities for healthcare providers. Some are looking into private equity while others are working with financing companies, few of which are focused on healthcare. "Given the changing landscape of healthcare, a prudent CFO should have a line of credit in place to accommodate growth, uncertainty and a rainy day. They should put together a strong financial package," says Mr. Irwin. "If I were running an ASC, I would have a robust business plan supported by clear eyed financial projections and proof of in-depth industry knowledge. You need to show that you understand the landscape, or at least have developed contingency plans, as well as appreciate what a lender looks for in a potential borrower." Surgery centers should have a critical mass, such as a minimum amount of receivables, and transparency. They must have a strong though not necessarily deep management bench, decent infrastructure and clear financial reporting. "Get your house in order, have cohesive financials and intelligent projections," says Mr. Irwin. "Have a clear, well thought out and articulated plan for why you need the money." More Articles on Surgery Centers: 6 Common Myths About Patient Financing in an ASC New from Becker's ASC Review Norwalk Hospital to hold gala for new ASC Read Now
Welcome Visitor: Login to the siteJoin the site The Separation of Darkness and Light Novel By: MichealDesloges Action and adventure warning There might be some explicit scenes within this story. It also will contain some fanfiction later on. God was tired of being the only one living, so he created life. Within that life were two creatures who biologically governed everything that was eventually created. This novel follows their life as they live and grow. This novel is incomplete, it's a work in progress and I've been working on it since I was 8 years old. View table of contents... 1 2 3 Submitted:May 14, 2014 Reads: 5 Comments: 0 Likes: 0 The Separation of Darkness and Light By Shadow Sen Before the earth was formed, there was the realm of the spirits. The realm of the spirits has always been there, always moving and ever so present. This realm hosted the God of all Gods, the Almighty creator as they call him. He looked upon his land with a grim expression. He felt a pain in his heart that he could only describe as loneliness. God walked around his realm for a long period of time, wandering aimlessly until he had a brilliant idea to end his loneliness. He raised his hands up into the bright blue sky and called out, "I call the power of the basic elements; of light and darkness. Here my call! Create for me two beings that will guide us through the years with no more loneliness!" His raised hands began to shake violently, creating an outer glow of pure light from his right hand and a glow of black from his left hand. The ground shook with his almighty power, and the earth opened before him. From within the crack a luminescent white ball appeared and landed on his right hand. Water appeared before God and entered the white ball of light. The sphere pulsed several times in quick succession until it settled down seconds later but the color shifted from white to blue. The sphere pulsed several times again and reverted back to its original color. The wind picked up and swirled around him, violently hitting his legs, his back, his head, and his arms to finally rest at his left hand. The wind enveloped his hand, filling him with calmness at its touch. The wind collapsed on itself to create a velvet black ball that shined with the dim light emanating from the white ball. The black globe landed gently on his left hand, just as the white ball did. God could feel a pressing heat start to rise from the soles of his feet. He stared down at the ground to see what was causing the increasing heat, as he did so he saw a giant flame leaped from the ground, into the black ball causing the ball to turn a bright red. It seared the flesh of God's hand and left them red with bubbling blisters but he ignored the pain. The ball stayed in this state for several seconds, it eventually returned to its natural state. God brought down his arms to take a closer look at the newly made creations. He smiled beautifully at them. God said, "Thank you very much, my elements. You've served me well. May these newly created creatures rest until I find a suitable host for them." He held on tightly to his creations as he walked off into a vast field towards a small lake that reflected the sky so perfectly. As God came closer to the lake, he slowed his pace and kneeled down by the lake bed. God stared out at the body of water, his smile never faltering from his face. He opened his right palm, and said, "You will live here, in your element until we find you a perfect host. Be thee well until then." He released the white ball into the deep-blue lake. The surface of water shimmered with a luminous white light until fading back to its deep blue color. His smile broadened as his first creation slept deep within the expanse of water. He raised himself from his kneeling position and walked the opposite direction of the lake to a field of lava that disrupted the beauty of the land. His smile wavered only in the slightest at the sight of the destructive area. He knew that this creation would have a difficult fate, but he knew that life needed both the good and the bad to survive. With a long drawn out sigh, he walked towards the searing lands of the dead; he called this place the lava pits. He felt the heat searing at his clothing before he was in the heart of the pits. The heat was excruciating, his skin under his clothing started blistering from the intense heat, but he had to bear it in order to finish his duty to make sure that this one survives. He carefully jumped onto the rocks that were untouched by the lava. He found a section that he could kneel down on the rock, but not directly touch the lava. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead as he gingerly kneeled down on the hot stone. "I bid ye well, until we find a suitable host for you to live on earth. You will live among your element, child." He threw the black ball into the deepest lava pit. As the ball hit the lava within the pit, the heat increased and God couldn't handle it anymore. He unsteadily got up and tried to leave as quickly as he could without risking himself going into the lava. He gently whispered to himself, "It may take many years to find a host, especially for the black one, but it is possible. I will try my hardest." \| Email this story Email this Novel \| Add to reading list
<< Back Bottle Rocket Launch Students in the Intro to Engineering class had to design their rockets (fin size and placement and nose cone) and determine how much fuel (water and compressed air) was necessary to maximize the altitude and time of flight. They then launched the rockets to see how they performed.
Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders in Southern Africa December 27, 2013 Fredrick Matiriti of Botswana and Nqobile Ndlovu of Zimbabwe Show Off Their Artistic Talent Over the course of a week, Louise Mandumbwa and Felistus Ndlovu spent many hours together, from tracking warthog tracks to small group discussions on gender-based violence to University lectures on water scarcity. Although the two teenagers hailed from different sides of the Botswana-Zimbabwe border, their communities faced a common set of challenges, including water shortages, declines in wildlife populations, and two of the highest incidences of gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS in the world. Despite these obstacles, the two future leaders exhibited the intellectual vitality and drive essential to guiding their communities to a brighter future. Alongside 28 other Batswana and Zimbabwean youth, the two secondary-school students shared a tent -- and with that, many conversations -- at the Tachila Nature Reserve, 15 kilometers south of Francistown in Botswana. Jointly organized by the U.S. Embassies in Gaborone and Harare, their program included two days at the Tachila Nature Reserve followed by two days near Matobo National Park in Zimbabwe. Amongst the native flora and fauna of the region, the students would learn about human-wildlife conflict and the potential for wildlife-based tourism to bolster their respective countries’ economies. They would discuss healthy lifestyle choices, prevention of HIV/AIDS, and how to address gender-based violence. They would also learn about the role of water in the region, visit a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Khami Ruins), participate in community service projects, and share their perspectives on the preservation of minority languages and cultural traditions. It would be an exciting, action-packed week for the group of dynamic 16-18 year olds that were hand-picked by their respective U.S. Embassies for their leadership skills and extracurricular involvement. The program got even better the next day, when two U.S. Ambassadors and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (DAS) for Southern African Affairs arrived at the nature reserve, ready to engage the students on a range of issues, including career development. Louise was ready with her burning question: “How do I get to be where you are?” Over the course of the program, Louise and the other students had the opportunity to discuss with U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Bruce Wharton, U.S. Ambassador to Botswana Michelle Gavin, and DAS Shannon Smith how they too might one day lead their countries. It was the first opportunity for these youth to engage with high-level U.S. officials, but given the talent, ambition, and leadership ability represented in the group, it is unlikely to be the last. Young leaders like Louise and Felistus are the key to fostering a prosperous, healthy, and democratic future for Africa. Exchange programs of this kind expose rising stars to broad discussions on the multi-faceted challenges facing the continent, promote mutual understanding between their respective countries and the United States, and empower them with the necessary tools to one day lead their countries. During the program, EducationUSA representatives provided information on study opportunities in the United States and introduced a recent Zimbabwean graduate of Stanford University who discussed the value of an American education. Subsequent efforts will introduce these and other youth in both countries to additional resources, including exchange opportunities like the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Washington Fellowship. The message is clear: the United States is committed to the success of tomorrow’s African leaders. As the sun set on the students’ last day with the Ambassadors and DAS, palpable excitement filled the air. The group crowded around a makeshift stage as much-needed rain soaked into the earth, and one-by-one, small groups of students sang, danced, and performed spoken word for their new friends. The dress was new and old, the songs traditional and modern, and the energy high. While Louise and Felistus cemented their friendship, cheers and clapping faded into the night, leaving all with a sense of anticipation and promise for the future. About the Authors: Evan Fox serves at the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe, and Amanda Jacobsen serves at the U.S. Embassy in Gaborone, Botswana. Ben B. United States December 27, 2013 I enjoyed this. The program sounds like a great idea. Twenty years from now it would be fascinating to see what these teenagers end up doing. Bryce P. California, USA December 30, 2013 How would the U.S. Department of State react if the government of, say, China, or Russia, started a program to selectively "empower" young leaders in the United States? Latest Stories September 17, 2014 U.S. Strategy to Defeat ISIL
Girl With Down Syndrome Is Blissful When Boyfriend Gives Her a Promise Ring Jul 13, 2016 at 2:24 pm \| She’s just so happy! Ashley Greenhalgh thought that she was just celebrating her 21st birthday and her graduation from high school, but her boyfriend, Danny, had some bigger plans in store. Her reaction to his precious gift has since gone viral with millions of views. Ashley’s sister, Courtney, asked the internet to make Danny’s presentation of his gift go viral as a gift to the young couple who both have Down Syndrome, and the internet granted her wish. This is the whole story… Danny Giffiths and Ashley Greenhalgh Source: Facebook @Ashley Greenhalgh This may be the cutest couple in history This girl who happens to have Down Syndrome can’t contain her excitement when her boyfriend makes a big step in their relationship.
Dearbornistan: Money for nothing and the lawsuit for free… * Do you really believe these broads wanted to flip hamburgers in hijabs? Looks more like a setup to me: Hijabbed Flip-Flops: Toi Whitfield, left, and Quiana Pugh said they were told they’d have to remove their hijabs in order to work at McDonald’s. Dearborn: Two Muslim women sue McDonalds for $10 million for not hiring them over Islamic attire Fast food restaurants have employee dress codes not only for appearances, but for hygiene and safety. With that in mind, this case is sounding a lot like the case of the women wanting to wear Islamic attire in aÂ Midwestern tortilla factory. The local health inspector isn’t going to take kindly to long sleeves potentially brushing perishable food, and/or the grill and fryer oil, to say nothing of guidelines for hand-washing (see also: the debate over short sleeves inÂ British hospitals). Then there is the matter of long attire and the potential need to make a quick exit in the event of a fire or robbery. There are many functional reasons for demanding standardized attire, but there is also the matter of allowing special treatment for a small part of the work force. And would the uniform issue be the end of the demands for accommodation? For example, would these women refuse to make a burger with bacon? “Two Muslim women sue McDonald’s, alleging discrimination,” by Gregg Krupa for theÂ Detroit News, July 24, via DW DEARBORN — Two Muslim women say that a McDonald’s restaurant refused to hire them, and insulted them during job interviews because they wear traditional Islamic dress. * Actually, that’s BS also: 30 years ago you could travel through most Islamic countries without ever seeing a single female with a hijab. That came with Khomeini’sÂ IslamicÂ ‘revolution..’ Toi Whitfield, 20, of Detroit and Quiana Pugh, 25, of Dearborn sued McDonald’s, the owner of the local franchise and its unidentified manager in Wayne County Circuit Court on Thursday. Their representative said they are considering filing civil rights complaints with the federal and state governments. “I applied for the McDonald’s position maybe two weeks ago and he simply (told me) I had to make a choice and remove my hijab, or I would not be able to establish employment there,” Pugh said. “When I walked away, I was definitely hurt by it and disturbed. I was confused that it could happen here in Dearborn, with so many Muslims,” she said. A man who would not identify himself at the restaurant, on Ford Road near Schaefer, referred all questions to representatives for McDonald’s. “We’re just trying to figure out what is going on,” he said. The man said the manager in question at the restaurant would not have a comment. The women are seeking $10 million in a suit. 19 thoughts on “Dearbornistan: Money for nothing and the lawsuit for free…” 1. Are there any Saudi Arabian travel agencies I can suit for not booking me a trip to Mecca? 2. A bullet in China costs 2 yen. Buy two bullets, use a projectile weapon to insert the bullets into the heads of the two female muslim dingbats, and save the US several hundred thousand dollars from a pointless legal proceedure that is simply designed to advertise muslim wishes and waste our time. 3. And once again a clear example of how muslims refuse to integrate into the societies that they have been allowed into. 4. Good point, Joe. Saudi Airlines, AFAIK, forbids passengers from carrying bibles, which the enlightened, interfaith Swordi “government” has outlawed. $10 million would be a nice little earner. Eventually, companies such as Maccas will revolt against these “hurt feelings” sheikdowns. 5. * would these women refuse to make a burger with bacon? I’d put them to the test, and then sue for “hurt feelings” if they refused. 6. Load of crap. The hijab has nothing to do with Iran, all these things started when Feisal, direct descendant of Wahabi took the throne of Sowdi. The ’73 oil crisis started paying for the 1000’s of mosques that have been put up in kaffir lands. 7. * Two Muslim women sue McDonalds for $10 million Hamburgler is alive & well in Dearbornistan … 8. McDonalds should sue the two ladies(?) for, say, $20 million. For applying for the jobs, knowing full-well that a fast food outlet such as McDonalds has employee dress requirements. For causing distress and mental anguish to the manager by knowing full-well that he could not employ them and that he would be upset by having to refuse them. The parasites. 9. A lady here in Minneapolis told these Muslim women come to the hair salon she works at for haircuts and they have to go into the bathroom and shut the door to do the haircuts. Its nothing more than forcing us kaffirs to submit to their beliefs by catering to them. If we continue to allow submission in things like this deemed more “innocent”, soon the exercise of anything unIslamic will be challenged. 10. What the owner asked the two women to do was reasonable. Sorry I don’t want their burka’s touching my hamburgers. It’s unsanitary. 11. Setup! If they’re so devout to the point of dressing in the death shrouds then how could they want to work in a place full of those haram pork by products? 12. Or maybe some drunk might mistake one of them for Batman and take a swing at one of ’em! 13. I’m looking forward to the day, when a fully burqad muslima applies for a strippers job in a night club, and then sues for being accepted. 14. You’re not wrong, Chiccio. Indeed, Sowdi Arabia is behind financing the global jihad with weapons and mosques, but the Islamic ‘revolution’ was largely fueled by the overthrow of the Shah and Khomeini. His success and the humiliation of America drives the Koranimals to this very day… 15. Its unfortunate the twin towers were not filled with the likes of the people posting here 16. I see the local loony ‘Scalpthewhitethieves’ has logged on do they have computer access in the asylum? 17. Peter (the) Ferry Says: July 27th, 2008 at 1:25 pm I see the local loony â€˜Scalpthewhitethievesâ€™ has logged on do they have computer access in the asylum? I’m not in the asylum, I’m outside your window. Comments are closed.
Instagram Now Used by 100 Million People by Christopher Freeburn \| February 27, 2013 1:16 pm [1]Facebook‘s (NASDAQ:FB[2]) Instagram photo-sharing app is celebrating a milestone[3]. The popular service, whose mobile apps are available for both Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL[4]) iPhone and mobile devices running Google‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG[5]) Android operating system, announced on Tuesday that it now has more than 100 million users. That’s up from 90 million users in January, PC Magazine noted. Intagram, which was founded in 2010, was acquired last year[6] by Facebook for $1 billion. In December, a change to its terms of service agreement that would have allowed it to put user images in advertising without permission or compensation provoked a harsh response from critics. Stung by the backlash, Instagram quickly returned to its original user agreement[7]. Shares of Facebook fell more than 1% in Wednesday midday trading. 1. [Image]: 2. FB: 3. is celebrating a milestone:,2817,2415965,00.asp 4. AAPL: 5. OOG: 6. was acquired last year: 7. quickly returned to its original user agreement: Source URL: Short URL:
Sources : link A great king was forewarned by some wise (old?) Talia dropped dead. Instead, he raped her. One day, the boy was sucking on mom's finger and sucked out the poisonous flax splinter, causing Talia to awake from her death bed. Many months go by and the horny young nobleman returns to the woods to have another encounter with the princess. To his surprise, he found her alive and well. He confesses that he is the father of her children and they enjoy a hot weekend fling in the hay (Would you have a love affair with your rapist?). The nobleman then returns home to his wife. Somehow she learns about his illegitimate children. The wife orders the capture of the children. Her cook is then told to slash their young throats and to cook a hash with their flesh. It turns out that the cook had a soft heart and never slaughtered the children. Instead, goat meat was substituted. The enraged wife ordered the capture of Talia and that she be burned at the stake, but she was saved from death by her rapist and they lived happily ever after. Why didn't Walt Disney use this version of the story? It is so much more interesting than the modern version.
Original Character: Hades Picture So, this is a character design for my original story involving my OWN twist on Greek Mythology...which is why "Hades" here is a girl...Mythology people, don't get scared, it's not the original Hades, but someone who "became" Hades...but that's a long story...so... This is the third version of this pic...and the best! I'm very proud! Hades and Persephone Original Character: Hades Olympus Project Taking the Seeds
Precise Shooter [ Log In ] Zastava M85 AK Pistol When we get a shipment of a new product, I typically keep one (sometimes two!) in personal collection. Draco was an exception: the distributor suddenly ran out, and the last one that I was going to keep for myself was requested by a long-time customer who I just didn't have the heart to refuse. So this time as M92 and M85 pistols became available, I decided to shoot a couple of them right away, to make sure that Draco story does not repeat, and I can keep one in each caliber in my private collection. Just like Dracos, these are just another example of firearms industry working around the regulations. Originally they were developed for military use as short-barreled rifles (SBR) and had underfolder stocks. The "pistol" configuration has the stock removed. So because now these firearms have lost the capability of being fired from the shoulder, they qualify to be sold as pistols. This also means that 922(r) regulations are not applicable to them, so all parts, including the trigger group, are original. Hack or not, these pistols turned out to be a lot of fun to shoot. Here is the review. Out of the box M85PV comes with a manual, a registration card, one plastic 223 magazine, and a full-length cleaning rod. There is no bolt hold open function, so the bolt closes after the last round. M92PV has identical external appearance, except it uses regular AK-47 mags, and comes with two Yugo surplus mags with bolt hold open. The muzzle is protected by a circular muzzle guard that is screwed on, then spot-welded in one place. The weld can be easily removed and a normal AK muzzle brake can be installed in its place. The sight base is drilled for the spring-loaded locking pin. The handguards have what looks like a coat of stain over them, but the wood is otherwise unprotected. It should probably be treated further, either by linseed oil, or with a coat of laminate. Otherwise the dirt and dust imbed too easily. The action is just a familiar AK action. The pistol is charged by racking the bold handle backwards, and the handle reciprocates when the gun is fired. Keep your hands off it! There is no scope rail. This is very, very unfortunate. See below. The safety has a bolt hold open cut-out. If the lever is raised when the bolt is pulled back, the cut-out holds it in place. The grip is standard AK grip. There is, obviously, no stock since this is a pistol. You could buy an underfolder stock kit on GunBroker, if you (a) do not live in WA, where SBRs are prohibited, and (b) are going to register it as an SBR and pay a $200 tax. The kit installation would require riveting. The biggest difference between M95PV and M92PV and Draco, as well as the rest of the AK platform, is the sights. Draco has normal AK sights. M85 and M92 have sights on top of the receiver cover, which itself is hinged on what would normally be the rear sight base. This gives the system stability and extends the sight radius. Normally I dislike dust-cover mounted sights, but in this case the construction is sturdy enough and zero seems to be quite stable. The sights themselves leave a lot to be desired. The front sight consists of a normal AK "pin" sight that can be screwed in and out to set a base zero. There is a flip-up dot sight for low visibility, which is not adjustable. This is the part of the firearm where manufacturing defects are rampant: out of 11 guns that went through my hands, two had problems. One came without the pin that secures the flip up sight blade in place, the other had problems with the spring-loaded detent mechanism, so the sight would pivot on a pin but would not lock in place in either raised or lowered position. The rear sight is just a metal bracket that is held in place with a spring-loaded bal in two positions: 200m and 400m. The 200m has white dots for low visibility, the 400m is black. White paint actually interferes with the aimed fire (prevents the eye from focusing on correct sight picture), so I ended up shooting most of my test groups in 400m configuration. The notch on the sight is way too narrow, which also makes accurate aimed fire difficult. The basic sight configuration screams for a scope or a red dot sight (especially because the gun is actually super accurate - see below), but there is no siderail nor any other way to mount optics. This is very unfortunate, given that a tiny expense at the factory would have resulted in a much more useful and desirable weapon. The pistol is almost an AK clone, and it comes apart very similarly to an AK. The only two differences are - the top cover is hinged on a pin that attaches to where a normal AK would have rear sight. Also, the gas tube is held in place not via an AK-style latch mechanism, but using a pin that - when the dust cover is closed - is pushed forward to lock the gas tube in place. On some guns this pin is set too tight and needs to be lightly tapped out - from the gas tube side - to release the gas tube. The rest of the mechanism is the same as on a regular AK, and it disassembles into the same components. Range test I started shooting from 25 yards from supported position using cheap Wolf 223 ammunition. The first couple of groups were just be getting used to the sights, and were OK at around 3.5", but nothing to write home about. The muzzle blast from the 223 rounds was enormous, it was blowing spent cartridges off the table in front of the barrel, but the recoil was almost none. I then took it to a 10m distance and fired a few groups off-hand. The first few targets are not interesting because they were mostly me adjusting to the gun. The proper shooting position is where the hands are bent at the elbows. The left hand is right in front of the magazine, the right hand is holding it by the pistol grip. The position is similar to holding a rifle. Normally in this position the stock would be necessary to absorb the recoil, but there is no recoil, so it works. This is a magazine of Wolf 223 shot from 10 yards. It was getting fairly dark, but I wanted to try different ammunition, so I took the gun back to 25 yards, supported, and shot two groups of PMC rounds. While shooting the second group I have actually mistaken the sight guard for the sight blade once (it was getting REALLY dark), so the group only consisted of 4 rounds. I am fairly sure that given the right ammunition and better sights this gun will reliably shoot 1" 5-shot groups at 25 yards. Overall impressions M85 is a lot of fun to shoot. It has a very low recoil that allows firing it like you would an SBR, and its accuracy is top notch when compared to a pistol. I will certainly be keeping it!
The MRI machine in Dr. Owen Carmichael's lab blares as it scans a subject's brain. Carmichael, Director of Biomedical Imaging at Pennington Research Center, studies those scans trying to understand how the brain ages. Carmichael explains that "what you'll see on the MRI scan is the amount of brain tissue. And all of that brain tissue is part of that electrical circuitry that makes it possible for you to think." As we age, our brains tend to shrink. And as that tissue goes away, the harder it becomes to think. He describes the young brain as a grape that's just been pulled from the vine, while "the elderly brain looks more like a raisin, in that it's deflated and smaller in size. And the person with Alzheimer's, that 'looking like a grape' goes even further, it's extremely shriveled up." Madhusudan Katti / Flickr dullhunk / Flickr The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans is hearing two Texas cases that are drawing local and national attention. One later Wednesday involves restrictions on abortion clinics, and another set for a hearing Friday involving same-sex marriage. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries If you drive west on Highway 90 you might notice bear crossing signs. That’s right, bears. The large but gentle Louisiana Black Bear is our official state mammal. They were once common in the Lower Mississippi Valley and Atchafalaya Basin region, but habitat loss and over hunting have reduced the population to about 300. In 1992 they were listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Arkansas and Louisiana are ill-prepared to detect, diagnose and respond to threats like Ebola and outbreaks of infectious diseases, according to a report released Thursday by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The report, “Outbreaks: Protecting Americans from Infectious Diseases,” found that Arkansas scored the lowest of all, two out of 10 on key indicators related to preventing and responding to antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.” A coalition of national environmental groups says the billions of dollars expected from the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill penalties should go toward rapidly rebuilding Louisiana’s coastline. During a teleconference Tuesday, the conservation groups outlined 19 priority projects detailed in their two new reports. David Muth, Gulf Program director for the National Wildlife Federation, says these projects are critical. Xavier university is looking to triple the number of their minority alumni who go on to receive PhDs in the life sciences in the next decade, with help from an NIH grant. The first obstacle is getting undergraduates to stick with those fields. Xavier University has received a $19.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The money is from an NIH initiative called Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity. It will be used to expand biomedical programs at the historically black university. Xavier says the award is part of a $240 million NIH investment involving more than 10 institutions. It’s aimed at developing new approaches to engage student researchers, including those from underrepresented backgrounds.
Canaan and Ancient Israel Scavenger Hunt at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Your task is to navigate through the museum’s internet site and use the information given to answer questions about the land, time, daily life, economy, and religion of the ancient Israelites. Not all the answers will be directly stated on the site. You will have to use your critical and creative thinking skills to apply the information given to the questions asked. Please write all your responses in complete and correct sentences. Take the time to carefully read and look at the information and images in the museum. Have fun! Land - Time What modern day countries are included in Canaan? Describe one of the excavated sites from which the artifacts found in this museum came from. In Canaan, what are archaeological mound sites called? How are these mounds formed? What types of sources do archeologists use to learn about ancient Israel? Canaanites in the Early Bronze Age lived both as wandering nomads in the countryside and as settled traders in walled cities. What would have been the differences between these two modes of life? Which lifestyle would you prefer? Describe the climate of this region. The lowest point on the earth’s surface is? How might the drastic differences in topography and climate found in Canaan have affected the people? Define: Shasa Define: Stratigraphy Daily Life Describe homes in ancient Israel. How might the climate of the southern Levant have affected the design of homes? Discuss the role of women in Canaan and ancient Israel. What were appropriate activities for women? Did women have less freedom than men? Were women permitted to do what they wanted? What was the staple of the ancient Israelites diet during the Bronze and Iron Ages? Why were sheep and goats their principal herd animals? Sketch a piece of jewelry or pottery from ancient Israel. What are the basic steps by which a pot is made? Why is pottery of the utmost importance to archaeologists? Where and in what condition do archaeologists typically find pottery? What is the single most important contribution of the Canaanite culture? Why was it so important? Consider what it would be like to live without money. Imagine you are the head of a Canaanite household and need to go to the market to buy a goat. What types of things do you have that you can trade? How do we know that the ancient Israelites had trade routes on the Mediterranean Sea? What countries did they conduct sea trade with? Why was long distance trade appealing to the Israelites? Write three sentences about the Phoenicians. How were people commonly buried? What were their rituals at the time of death? Compare and contrast these rituals to those of any other civilization we have studied.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010 PowerPoint Tip: Being too emotionally invested in your slides leads to less effective presentations I’ve spent some time thinking about the different reasons why presenters don’t create presentations that are as effective as they could be. One of the reasons is that too many presenters start their preparation by creating their slides. They spend a lot of time getting all the text and numbers just right on every slide. And when somebody suggests a more effective visual approach, they resist, and end up using the original, overloaded slides. Why the resistance? Because they are heavily invested emotionally in the slides they spent so much time creating. It is human nature to resist changing something that we put a lot of time and effort in to. We think that since we spent so much time on it, there is no way we are just throwing it out and starting over again. Our emotions take over, and it has nothing to do with the rational logic that the new approach is better at effectively communicating our message. To help prevent this from happening, I always suggest that presenters start their preparation away from the computer. Start by thinking about the goal of the presentation: what you want the audience to do at the end of the presentation. Think about where the audience is now, and jot down three to five steps that will move the audience from where they are to where you want them to be by the end of the presentation. Write down what proof, evidence, and support you have to back up your main points. This is the structure of your presentation, and can be done on a whiteboard, pad of paper, or, my favourite, sticky notes so I can move them around. Once you have your message organized, check it with others to make sure it is sound. Ask colleagues if the structure makes sense for this audience. Check with your boss to make sure it covers the areas she wants it to address for this audience. Check with audience members to make sure it addresses their important concerns or areas that they most want to know about. Only after you have a good structure should you begin developing the visuals that will support your presentation. The structure helps to focus the message and helps to reduce the tendency to put everything we know on the slide. Since we understand the structure, we can more readily use visuals that we will speak to during the presentation. We are not spending time trying to organize our thoughts during the creation of the slides, the organization is already done. This approach actually cuts down the presentation preparation time since less time is spent revising slides due to the structure of the message being revised. In a typical presentation that does not start by creating a good structure, many of the revisions are done to improve the message, not to make the slides better. This time can be drastically reduced by starting with the preparation of a good message structure. Remember that the goal is to communicate effectively what the audience needs to hear from you on this topic. It is not about how much time you spent carefully putting every word and number on your slides. Start with the structure, and reduce the emotional investment you have in your slides. You will end up with a more effective presentation. Post a Comment << Home
What exactly is respiratory excursion What exactly is respiratory excursion \| allnurses What exactly is respiratory excursion 1. 0 I was studying and came across "assessment of respiratory excursion" I assume that it is a deviation of some kind, but is it in breathing pattern, symmetry, or something else? 2. 2 Comments 3. Visit EmmaG profile page #1 0 Assessment of the movement of the chest during respiration; is expansion bilateral and symmetrical, is there restricted mobility? That sort of thing. Last edit by EmmaG on Feb 5, '08 4. Visit ZippyGBR profile page #2 1 what emmanuel said it's the 'look' and 'feel' of look , listen and feel (or observe, auscultat, palpate if you are feeeling hi-faultin...)

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.