I have to admit that when I first started trying to take some photographs with black background, I had trouble with it. But after some practices and understanding of light, achieving such result is not as difficult anymore, though still limited by space. Here are some thoughts and I hope it can help you.
First of all, not all black background material are equal. Many photographers trying to get black background would put a piece of black cloth behind their subjects, thinking this would give them black background. But putting a black cloth behind the subject as background is actually only half the story. Why? Because not all black material yield good result. Some material are reflective even if it might appear black (think black plastic bag). When light hits these material, some lights are reflected into camera lens. This is particularly true when flashes or strobes are used because we do not see how the scene is when flashes or strobes are fired.
This image is obtained by setting camera to spot meter mode and is exposed using the middle cloth. As can be seen, the "Pro Black Background" is the obvious choice.
As can be seen in above picture, the "Pro Black Background" is the obvious choice here. But how do we quantitatively analyze this? Using pixel values does not seem to produce accurate results — there seems to be some "haze", this is caused by some additive value to the "black", so you can not simply take a ratio of pixel values.
Then, how do we analyze this? The answer is reflective metering. If you have a light meter like Sekonic L308S, you can use its reflective meter mode. With light meter, you can point the lens (exposed by removing the dome) at each part of the example and get a reading. Then you can compare the exposure reading to get accurate ratio.
Set lens aperture to wide open so we can get reasonable reading, in this case f/1.8.
Set camera to Aperture priority mode (Speed priority mode works, too).
Aim the center of view finder to the white wall, middle black cloth and the professional black cloth (whatever you are comparing) and take a reading.
Following above procedure, the reading I got were 1/4000, 1/250, 1/25. So the exposure ratio is, in terms of stop, 1:4:7.32, meaning that the white wall is 4 stops brighter than the middle one and 7.32 stops brighter than the professional cloth. The professional cloth is 3.3 stops darker than the middle black cloth.
What does this mean? It means the professional black cloth can yield a much "blacker" background — any reflective imperfection on the cloth will be reduced by 3.3 stops, thus reducing the chance of messy background.
In this example, the top image was shot with "regular" black cloth and the bottom one was shot with "professional" black background cloth.
Second of all, to get clean black background, keep the background as far away as possible. Why? This is where the inverse square law of light applies — the further away from light source, the less intense the light is. So if you double the distance between light source and background, you can reduce the exposure by 2 stops, when the scene is properly exposed, your background might be exposed by 2 stops less, making it much darker and again reduces the chance of getting messy background.
What does this mean? It means, even if you do not have the best professional black background, just by moving the background further can greatly improve "clean black background" result.
Though it still shows some messy background, the one on the right is much better than the one on the left because the black paper as background was moved further away from scene, reducing exposure on background by at least two stops.
These rules apply to all situations in photography, be it portrait photography, product photography, macro photography, water drop photography, etc.


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The Noxopharm (ASX:NOX) share price is jumping 6% after announcing a new CEO
The Noxopharm Ltd (ASX: NOX) share price has leapt 6% this morning after announcing a change in executive leadership.
The move coincides with the drug development company's goal to position itself on the global stage.
At the time of writing, the Noxopharm share price is 6.1% higher, at 43.5 cents apiece.
New blood to take the reins
This morning, Noxopharm announced its new year's resolution would be to make 2022 the year of "generational change". It's appointed its current chief medical officer Dr Gisela Mautner as its new CEO.
Dr Mautner will take over from current CEO Dr Graham Kelly from 1 February.
Comment from current CEO
Dr Kelly said Dr Mautner's experience in the industry would equip the company with the ability to position itself for "a valuable partnering opportunity".
Dr Kelly said:
The company is in the process of transiting from an early-stage biotech company into a serious bio-pharma company looking to make its mark on the world stage.
Having worked alongside Gisela for several years now, I have full confidence in her ability to achieve that objective. I believe she will make an outstanding CEO.
Dr Kelly will transition from an executive to a consultant role. In doing so, he will remain involved in the company's future — remaining its largest shareholder, board member, and inventor of much of the company's Intellectual Property.
Noxopharm is an Australian based biopharmaceutical company with the primary focus of treating cancer and septic shock.
The company is developing its lead drug candidate Veyonda, currently in the second phase of its clinical trials.
Noxopharm share price snapshot
In 2021, the Noxopharm share price dropped by around 20%. It saw its sharpest drop in mid-December, just a few days after enrolling the first group of patients for the first clinical trial of Veyonda as an experimental cancer treatment.
The drop marked the share price's 52-week low.
As of today, the company has a market capitalisation of more than $125 billion with around 292 million shares issued.
The post The Noxopharm (ASX:NOX) share price is jumping 6% after announcing a new CEO appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.
Here's why the Noxopharm (ASX: NOX) share price leapt 7% today
Motley Fool contributor Alice de Bruin has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.
from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3pX08DP
Here's why 2021 was a stellar year for the Vanguard International Shares ETF (ASX:VGS)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Pieper begins the book as almost a marxian (though also anti-communist and anti-totalitarian) tract and ends as an apologist for Christian philosophy (though not, necessarily, for Christianity the religion).
Part of this is that he writes as a German in the years immediately following World War II. Neither Stalin nor Hitler nor the devastation of war can be ignored. Leisure, he notes, seems a luxury in such times, when so much rebuilding is necessary. And, though he doesn't explicitly say it (though I think it implied in the book), when so much recompense is necessary.
He rejects the idea of intellectual 'work' in favor of less loaded words. How is 'work' loaded? It is for him because he wants something that does not demand an outcome, as in the product of work. He wants something that reflects contemplation and wonder (and revelation? It naturally follows, though he eschews such gnostic language).
The obvious comparison is between 'pure' scientific research and 'practical' scientific research (which, as Pieper would no doubt be quick to point out, had he made the comparison, is founded upon the results of pure scientific research).
Ultimately, though, the title is really misleading. He is not advocating, in the end, for leisure, but for philosophizing as a vital part of life.
He most frequently cites Plato and Aquinas (which made me wish I knew more than broad strokes about his philosophy), but it is Heidegger who most clearly haunts him. He mentions him, but tries to avoid mentioning him (not unsurprising, considering the time when he was writing). Like Heidegger, he seeks a way of being in the world and this leisure, which is really philosophical contemplation and study, is his solution. But while Heidegger's is nearly theological, Pieper's is, in the final analysis, explicitly theological. Sort of. He doesn't argue that Christianity is necessary for man, only existentially profitable, arguing, as it were, but not proselytizing.


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Q: Firestore Sharing data with other users I'm creating a travel app in flutter for people to create trips and share with other users that can modify its contents. I'm currently using firebase authentication so each user has an unique id. I'm having trouble understanding what concept I should use to share trip1 with user2. I found out documentReferences allow you to share the specific path of the trip with other users but it doesn't necessarily add the trip to user2 so they can see it on their dashboard. Is documentReferences the correct way to share data with other users?

A: The best way to do this is to create another collection with the name trips or something you want. It is better to separate the user's data and the trip's data since you are going to share it from one user to another. You can create a unique document for trip 1 and add the location's name as trip 1's value. This way you can filter out where each specific trip is by using .where(). Inside trip1 you can store the reviews of each user inside it. Watch these two videos so that you will be able to understand how to implement it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofux_4c94FI and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haMOUb3KVSo. Good Luck!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The first specialty clinic for medical marijuana opened in Annapolis in June and has seen more than 100 prospective patients — even though the Maryland Medical Cannabis Program isn't expected to be operational for another year.
Greenway Consultations, located in the Conte Lubrano Office Building, has three consultants and three physicians, who are not yet registered to recommend the drug through the Maryland Medical Cannibis Commission. The commission develops and oversees all licensing, registration, inspection and testing.
Cannabis program regulations were to be under public comment until July 27 and the commission expects to adopt them in September. It also anticipates doctor and patient registries through the state to begin in December or January.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul rattled off numbers for the mostly white, mostly older crowd of Maryland Republicans, explaining how blacks are arrested for marijuana offenses in Baltimore at a higher rate than whites.
As the crime rate falls and the number of high-profile cases in which police officers are accused of racial bias escalates, Republicans increasingly are joining what had long been a Democratic conversation: how to reduce the size of the prison population and help ex-offenders turn their lives around.
In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan this year became the latest Republican state leader to back bills intended to reduce recidivism and help ex-offenders find jobs. And while Hogan also vetoed a bill that would have expanded felon voting rights, advocates say he and other Republicans have shown a willingness to rethink long-held theories about how to reduce crime.
"There's a change in climate in criminal justice reform," said Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, a national advocacy group that has worked to change the way Americans view crime and punishment.
The shift by Republicans is largely motivated by costs, Democrats say. Fiscally conservative Republicans see prison expenses as a drain on strained budgets and are starting to work with Democrats to find less costly approaches.
The declining crime rate, Mauer said, has made the debate "less emotional and less political" for lawmakers.
In Alabama, where prison crowding was so severe that the federal government threatened to intervene, Republican Gov. Robert Bentley approved a measure that reduces penalties for some nonviolent property and drug crimes.
Hogan signed a bill to create the Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council, which will search for ways to reduce spending on corrections. The council will be led by Christopher Shank, a former Republican state senator who directs the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention.
"Taking a tough stance on crime isn't just about incarceration," Hogan said in a statement offering his support for the bill during the legislative session. He said Maryland needed to "strike a balance and explore better, smarter options" to locking people up.
Hogan also signed a bill that allows ex-offenders to shield court and police records on certain offenses, to make it easier for them to obtain employment.
The governor allowed two bills that change sentencing guidelines to be enacted without his signature. One repeals mandatory-minimum sentencing for some offenses and gives judges greater discretion over meting out punishment. The other allows offenders to expunge certain crimes from their records.
But Hogan vetoed two criminal justice bills. One would have permitted ex-offenders to vote while on parole or probation; the other would have decriminalized drug paraphernalia such as bongs and pipes.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — It would no longer be a crime to possess marijuana-related paraphernalia in Maryland, under a bill approved by the Maryland General Assembly.
The House of Delegates voted 84-52 on Saturday for the Senate bill, sending it to Gov. Larry Hogan.
Maryland decriminalized possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana last year. That made it a civil offense rather than a criminal one.
However, lawmakers didn't do the same thing for paraphernalia like pipes, so the bill was introduced this session.
The measure also makes smoking marijuana in public a civil offense, punishable by a fine of up to $500.
ANNAPOLIS — Lawmakers are considering a measure to legalize marijuana in Maryland, reports WUSA-9 television.
The Marijuana Control and Revenue Act of 2015 will be discussed at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee. The measure is sponsored by Baltimore Del. Curt Anderson (D) who is hoping the third time is a charm. Delegate Anderson tried twice before and both measures failed.
This year's proposal, like its predecessors, would allow adults (21 years or older) to legally possess one ounce of marijuana and to grow up to 6 plants at home. The bill would tax and regulate marijuana just like alcohol. It would require the State Comptroller to establish rules and regulations for the operation of cultivation facilities, product manufacturers and retailers. The proposed legislation would also create an oversight commission to monitor marijuana businesses.
Proponents say the measure could be a long shot but they're hoping lawmakers will be swayed by a recent poll showing 53 percent of Marylanders support legalizing marijuana. But one Marylander is opposed to the legalization: Republican Governor Larry Hogan. Governor Hogan is also against medical marijuana which was signed into law by former Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley.
In considering a similar bill last year, state economists estimated $95.6 million per year in revenue from a $50/ounce excise taxes and about $39 million in new revenue from sales taxes, reports the Marijuana Policy Coalition of Maryland.
State expenditures would be exceeded by $2 million to $4 million in yearly revenue in licensing fees from wholesalers, retailers, and safety compliance facilities.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Maryland Medical Marijuana Commission has announced the appointment of its first executive director.
Byron says she looks forward to working with the medical profession and patients, law enforcement as well as business and agricultural leaders to get the state's medical marijuana program operational as quickly as possible.
Although Maryland's medical marijuana program took a key step forward last week when a state commission approved draft regulations, the program likely won't be operational before 2016, according to the Herald Mail of Hagerstown, Md.
Eric E. Sterling, a member of the commission, said this week that the state is working as quickly as politically and legally feasible.
"The General Assembly and the commission want patients to get safe access to medical marijuana. When the state says this is medical marijuana, it would mean that it is a pure and safe product," Sterling said.
A 2016 start date for the program was not unreasonable, he said.
"Setting up the infrastructure would take a certain amount of time … it has to be developed with enough controls," Sterling said.
In 2013, the state passed legislation authorizing approval of programs operated by academic medical centers, allowing them to dispense marijuana to patients. But no academic center expressed interest in the program.
As a result, legislation was passed this year to let approved physicians prescribe marijuana to qualified patients who could then buy it from licensed dispensaries.
The commission has proposed fees for up to 15 marijuana growers at $250,000 for every two years, while the fees for dispensaries would be $80,000 for every two years, according to The Associated Press.
The draft regulations passed last week still need to be approved by the state's health secretary and a legislative body composed of selected senators and delegates.
for approval, as would growers and dispensaries.
Sen. Christopher B. Shank, R-Washington, who was part of a group that worked on legislation earlier this year that expanded the responsibilities of the state commission, said it makes sense for the state to take its time on the issue.
"I want to make sure we do this right. We want to make sure we err on the side of caution," Shank said.
Doing so would avoid scenarios such as in California, where the medical marijuana laws are a mess, according to Shank.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws allowing medical marijuana. Florida voters were asked to approve a medical marijuana amendment to the state constitution on Nov. 4. While 58 percent voted yes, it was not enough to reach the 60 percent threshold required for ratifying a new amendment.
ANNAPOLIS, MD. — A Maryland panel could begin voting on regulations to make medical marijuana available in Maryland.
The state commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday in Annapolis.
Maryland lawmakers authorized 15 licensed marijuana growers in the state in legislation this year after a previous medical marijuana law approved in 2013 stalled.
People were not able to get marijuana for medicinal purposes under that law. That's because it required academic medical centers to run the programs. None stepped forward.


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Clinical Intensives
Pro-D
Lead Like the Good Shepherd
Coaching and Consulting	Alin	2017-04-11T06:35:07-05:00
Coaching and Consulting:
Intensive Assessment and Consultation
When life brings transition, it is time to look for coaches and consultants. Sometimes this happens organically through ongoing relationships. However, Cutting Edge Leaders often hire coaches and consultants to assist in problem solving, transition, growth, and moving to the next level for self and organization. Intensive Coaching and Consulting with teams at Eden Counseling and Consulting is a unique, dynamic approach to personal and organizational. Though Team Consulting has become an established methodology, it is still not commonly used, and until recently there has been no professional literature on Team Coaching.
Eden Leaders Coaching and Consulting Team Formed in 2014
For leaders and organizations in need of personal, professional or organizational assistance, the Coaching and Consulting Leader Assessment and Consultation team provides personal and organizational assessment with a plan for solution and growth involving the development and provision of the necessary interventions and supports to insure success. First steps toward success often come out of the Intensive and ongoing coaching is available.
Intensive Assessment and Consultation Process
Coaching and Consulting Assessment and Consultation combines research validated tools and methods from executive coaching, team building, clinical and counseling psychology, spiritual assessment and consultation, spiritual direction, Ministry assessment and consultation, physical health, dietetics, medicine, and counseling and psychotherapy. Referrals come to us from denominational and ministry network entities, business leaders, churches, colleagues and family members. The issues involved in referral include transition, rapid growth, stuck and seeking growth, disillusionment, and the perception that God's will and call for the individual or organization exceeds what is currently being accomplished.
The Consultation begins with the initial phone or email contact. Sufficient information is acquired to conceptualize the assessment. A 2 to 5-day Intensive Assessment/Consultation is scheduled and staffed with the team. Participants complete published tests, online and face-to-face interviews, and comprehensive individualized assessment prior to the Intensive.
The Intensive is designed to assess what is happening in the leader's life and the state of the Leader's Team, develop a plan for solution and growth and take the first steps down a path success. The Intensive Assessment and Consultation is culminated at either the organizations site or at our offices in Norfolk, Virginia. It consists of:
Extensive evaluation including several validated tests
Psycho-social assessment
If spouse is a part of this a "marriage assessment"
An individualized plan that may include a number of components
Individual consultation/coaching
Marital consultation/coaching
Team consultation
Follow-up plans and assessment with the availability of additional Intensive Consultations as needed. Appropriate accountability is established within the family, church, denomination or social network.
A young executive in the health care industry had a skyrocketing career that hit some bumps when the company he had been with for over a decade was sold and restructured. He immediately found a new position, but did not experience the joy and fulfillment in the second job, which also restructured leaving him transition for the second time in two years. He sought coaching and consulting in order to be sure he was on the right career track and could figure out why the second position lacked the job satisfaction that he had previously enjoyed. There was significant conflict as he exited the most recent position. The geographic moves were tough on her family and he wanted the next move to have a high probability of stability and satisfaction. His confidence in his career path and his capacity to function successfully was shaken by recent events.
We conducted a three-day Coaching Intensive using the team leader, a psychologist who provided formal testing and extensive background exploration, an experienced trainer of executive coaches, and a coach who had extensive knowledge of the health field. 10 hours of discussion with the team leader brought significant insight into his personal motives, skills set, and growth required to be able to expand the kinds of leaders that he could comfortably engage as subordinate to him. The outcome was that this young executive left with great confidence as to his career path with new insight into his unique strengths and weaknesses. He was invigorated by the value of his own story; some of it was through really rough times in his youth. He gained new perspective and vision as to how his life and experience could help shape his subordinate leaders and organizations. This individual required no follow-up coaching as he had a very strong support system in place. He needed some new perspective and three years after the Intensive he is very happy and productive. He attributes the Eden Coaching Intensive as contributing significantly to his development.
A dynamic and growing church had increased weekly attendance 10-fold in 9 years. Everyone in the community and organization perceived that everything was going fantastically except for the pastoral team and elders (functional board of directors) who were stuck in conflicts that had kept them embroiled in two years of debate and negative interactions with the potential to split the church. The Eden Coaching and Consulting team was employed to assess the causes for getting stuck, provide direction for resolution and coach through the initial phases of adjustment and transition.
The Team Leader met with the Elders 3 times and conducted individual interviews with each pastor in order to conceptualize and communicate the full assessment and intervention plan. 360-degree assessments of the three pastors and individual assessments of each of 7 elders were completed prior to the Consulting Intensive. The Team Leader crafted the individualized assessment tool with input from the Core Team. Elders and Pastors also took standardized personality tests (abbreviated DISC and Myers Briggs).
The Intensive took place over three days. A 2-hour meeting of all participants was held to fully explain the assessment, the tools, the limits of confidentiality and the feedback that was to be given in another meeting of all participants. A team of four consultants interviewed all elders and three select staff members (20 hours of interview plus travel, write-ups plus verbal communication with the Eden Team Leader and 2 Eden Team Meetings) who work intimately with the pastors. Each individual received a verbal summary of their own assessment and had the opportunity to expand on their perspectives, concerns, proposed solutions, and personal feelings. They were given the freedom to keep personal specifics confidential while giving permission for main themes to be shared with the group.
During the Intensive the Team Leader interviewed each of the three pastors individually. Each one was provided a feedback from the 360-degree written assessments. They received feedback from their personal assessments and engaged in two hours of interview describing their concerns, hopes, feelings and perceptions.
A final 2-hour meeting of pastors and elders at the conclusion of the assessment provided opportunity for summary feedback from the team, individual feedback of pastors to the team and processing the results. Prior to this meeting the Team Leader with assistance from the team analyzed all written assessments and summaries of interviews into a document used to focus the meeting. Out of the individual work with the pastor who had the most seniority, a dramatic announcement of resignation came. This caught everyone by surprise, but was clearly the most effective resolution to the ongoing conflict. The Eden Team helped establish a timeline for transition and provided coaching to the exiting pastor, supported by the church, as well as ongoing coaching to the elders and pastors. The Team Leader assisted in church and community announcement preparation and the transition has gone extremely well. The church has an ongoing relationship with the Eden Team and continues its dynamic growth, unimpaired by the leadership transition.
A team of 8 church staff came to Eden Counseling offices for an organizational intensive following six years of intense conflict. A four member Eden Team was employed. Individual assessments were conducted for each individual and marital assessment that was kept confidential for the Pastor and his wife who are both on the leadership team. Though preliminary conciliatory plans were made, it was clear to the Eden Team that a very fragile truce had been formed. A two-man team traveled to the church site within 4 months of the Eden Intensive for a second 3-day intensive. The outcome of the second intensive was a distribution of assets and identity of the church. The founding pastor and his wife left very excited with the freedom that they would have to develop ministry to leaders that they had been developing. The remaining staff was excited about pursuing a vision that had some variation from the founder's. The Team Leader coached the founder and his wife for a number of months. The newly established senior pastor consulted periodically with another member of the team. Two years after the Intensive and Follow-up coaching the founder was very happy doing training and consulting and the church was thriving.
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Ariana Grande has arrived back in the States following the devastating attack after her Manchester Arena show in the U.K. Monday evening.
The explosion at Manchester Arena has claimed the lives of 23 victims, with another 59 injured and many other's still being reported as "missing" by terrified friends and family.
Ariana, who has publicly said she is "broken" by the events, was greeted by her family and boyfriend Mac Miller at the airport in Florida.
Adds a separate Grande source, "It's so, so sad. She loves her fans and is absolutely crushed and devastated as you can imagine. She can't believe this happened. She just wants to be with her family and loved ones right now.


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Virginia Government & Politics
Clerics call for state to ax Planned Parenthood cash
By Julian Walker
PilotOnline.com
Standing with conservative legislators, a group of clergy declared "war" on Planned Parenthood and urged Gov. Bob McDonnell and other top Virginia Republicans to aid their crusade.
At a news conference Thursday, members of the Virginia Christian Alliance asked lawmakers to strip Planned Parenthood of any state funding.
They object to abortions provided by the health care organization, which they say promotes promiscuity and targets minorities to terminate pregnancies.
Dean Nelson accused Planned Parenthood of "unethical, immoral and racist practices," including ethnic genocide of blacks and other minorities.
Nelson, executive director for the Network of Politically Active Christians, dubbed the group "Clan Parenthood," saying it locates clinics in minority communities.
"Planned Parenthood is committed to equality, and our doors are open to everyone," countered Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia director Jessica Honke after the news conference.
"Moreover, Planned Parenthood is a firm opponent of all forms of prejudice and discrimination, including racism."
Honke said most health services offered by Planned Parenthood are not abortions.
Efforts to defund the group aren't new in Virginia.
For years legislators have waged this campaign - among them Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli while he was a member of the state Senate - as has The Family Foundation.
But the fight could take on greater prominence now because McDonnell has pledged to go after any state money Planned Parenthood receives.
In addition to objecting to Planned Parenthood's abortion services, opponents ascribed "malevolent" motives to the group.
Prince William County Republican Del. Bob Marshall said the group has promoted irresponsible attitudes toward intercourse that have led to the proliferation of venereal diseases.
"This organization should be called 'Planned Barrenhood,' because they have nothing to do with families," he said. "They have nothing to do with responsibility."
Marshall has filed a budget amendment that would block the state from sending any money to the group.
Setting aside political considerations, one challenge is determining how much state money goes to the organization.
Marshall estimates the sum is "about $500,000 a year."
But the Department of Medical Assistance Services indicates it spent just over $35,000 in fiscal 2009 in reimbursement payments for medical services provided at Planned Parenthood facilities.
Honke says the only money her group gets is from those payments. Planned Parenthood also received state dollars for a grant program in 2008.
Some of the difficulty, officials said, is parsing state and federal Medicaid dollars.
This much is clear: Government funds can be spent on abortions if a doctor determines the life or health of a pregnant woman is in danger.
Medicaid dollars funded 138 abortions in Virginia during 2008, according to the Department of Medical Assistance Services.
Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com


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You are here » The Obscure Cities » Dictionary » Vaughn-James, Martin
Vaughn-James, Martin
Martin Vaughn-James is an artist born in 1943 AD in Bristol, England. After stays in London, Montreal, Toronto and Paris, he finally lived in Brussels. In the '70s, he collaborated with several writers and published numerous drawings in french and belgian magazines such as Minuit, Obliques, La Nouvelle Critique, Libération, Jungle, 25, etc. In Canada he published four illustrated novels: Elephant (1970), then The Projector (1971), The Park (1972) and The Cage (1975). In the middle of the '80s, Martin Vaughn-James devoted himself mainly to painting, displaying in France, Belgium and Germany canvases where his narrative concerns are expressed in another way. His striking ressemblance with Augustin Desombres and the nature of several of his paintings do support the theory that he may have had more than a fleeting contact with the Obscure universe.
Martin Vaughn-James died on July 3, 2009. He was the author of an extraordinary graphic novel, La Cage, and had recently exhibited his paintings at the House Autrique. Martin Vaughn-James had also served as a model for the character of the painter Augustin Desombres present in several albums of "Cités obscures".
In Fall 2013, Coach House republishes what is considered to be one of the seminal graphic novels, Martin Vaughn-James's The Cage 1). Cryptic and disturbing, The Cage spurns narrative for atmosphere, guiding us through a series of disarrayed rooms and desolate landscapes. It's not about where we're going but how — if — we get there. The September 2 issue of Publishers Weekly includes a starred review for this graphic novel cult classic 2):
"First published in 1975, this work foreshadowed the rise of the graphic novel. While promoted by insiders in the years that followed, it is not well-known. Its relative obscurity may be due to the late Vaughn-James's devotion to his highly personal vision. Presented here are a series of black-and-white drawings, nearly clinical in their precision, detailing an enigmatic structure in an unspecified place and time. Accompanying the illustrations are bits of text, which are perhaps explicative in their unseen whole but as fragments offer only tantalizing hints of possible unity. Nonlinear in its approach to both space and time, the study mixes the banally familiar with the disturbingly alien. What emerges is not comprehensible in any mundane sense, but it presents enough of an illusion of a greater whole lurking just out of frame to be addictively engaging. It is a masterpiece, demonstrating a level of skill and insight very few have even aspired to in the nearly 40 years since its initial publication. With an introduction by Canadian comics star and Lemony Snicket collaborator Seth, this work is strongly recommended for every true fan of the graphic arts."
More info on his books
The investigator
Darkrooms
000.090 - Persons, 800.030 - Writers
See: http://www.chbooks.com/catalogue/cage
See: http://www.chbooks.com/reviews/martin-vaughn-jamess-cage-receives-starred-review-publishers-weekly


* Delineate precisely what the army must do to properly repel invaders.
* Instruct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to get busy on a wall, a task that is not incompatible with the Corps' broad Mission.
National emergencies are not rare in the nation's history. Once declared, they have the tendency to become permanent, which will not be the end of the world, in the case of the catastrophe ongoing on the border.
The reason Trump is unaware of these possibilities? As we've often said—and the colonel confirms—president Trump has surrounded himself with advisers who intend to sabotage and subvert the America First agenda he promised.
By logical extension, the president is surrounded by individuals who want his presidency to fail.
Causing your dad's or father-in-law's presidency to fail: that's cause for a family feud.
Brokaw said on "Meet The Press" Sunday that Hispanics "should work harder at assimilation" and that they shouldn't just be "codified in their communities." He also said that people have told him they don't know if they want "brown grandbabies," although he didn't clarify who told him this.
Rivera said on "The Story" that Brokaw "probably did" deserve the backlash since he was "shockingly uninformed," citing Pew Research that showed Latinos have been assimilating "at a rate that's faster than any ethnic group" in U.S. history.
While he expressed that he didn't believe Brokaw was a racist, Rivera elaborated to Martha MacCallum how his remarks were not accurate.
Thanks for nothing, you virtue-signalling nincompoop.
The obsequious Brokaw, whose record as a reported over decades should count for something in this country, mentions Cesar Chavez.
Who's Going To Chase MS-13 Killers Like Jeff Sessions Did?
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions did the job nobody is doing on immigration, and nobody WILL likely do on immigration. Just you wait and see.
What's past is prologue, said one wise wag.
Immigration is the issue most important to The People, even if The People (followers that they are) don't know it. Period. Full stop. End of story.
We Deplorables will be getting close to nothing now on immigration, except pep-talks at rallies and some meager fence footage. There will be no bills proposing e-verify, a moratorium on the legal intake of 1 million per annum; no end to catch-and release and the (very extended) family reunification insanity; and no halt to the glut of tech visas—NOTHING.
Sessions was getting the job done. Check out the PBS program on how the "terrible Sessions" was energetically jailing and exiling MS13 teens. He was also separating kids from their unfit parents at the border, as he needed to do by law and for deterrence. Nobody is doing that now.


No MSG added. No preservatives.
In 1924 Caesar Cardini created the Caesar Salad and now you can too. Just break lettuce into 2"lengths. Add Cardini's Original Caesar Dressing. Squeeze lemon over salad to bring out flavours. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and pepper. Toss. Add croutons. Toss lightly and serve immediately. Shake well.


Description: Very good copy of this important exhibition catalog, largely designed by Duchamp as his own catalogue raisonne, made with photocopies of his annotated notecards. The largest showing of the artists work at that time, including 114 items, the catalog is illustrated throughout with photographic reproductions, one color plate tipped-in. Softcover, staple bound in printed green wrappers, with the fragile clear dust jacket that bears the red printed inscription "by or of Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy" on the front cover and "at the Pasadena Art Museum" on the back. First edition, 2000 copies printed. Unpaginated (56 pages).
Condition: Very good. Some wear and discoloration along top and bottom edge and two light creases in front cover, but overall very clean. Clear plastic dust jacket present in unusually good condition, with a half-inch chip missing from the spine's upper corner (see photos).


The client raised a grievance concerning changes to his job (including redeployment) without consent or consultation. The grievance was not upheld.
Grievance appeal: The client is now appealing against this outcome.
The client requested for the appointment of an Appeal Officer who had sufficient seniority and standing and would be unfettered by involvement in the redeployment. The client welcomed the opportunity to discuss his appeal at a meeting with his employer.
As per my email of [date], I wish to appeal against [Decision-maker's] findings. I set out the grounds of my appeal below.
I am aggrieved about the failure to consider [Company's] obligations to me and to my colleagues, and consider that [Company] cannot fundamentally change my role without consent and/or appropriate consultations.
At the beginning of the hearing I questioned the appropriateness of his standing as decision-maker in my grievance. I consider that because of his involvement in the redeployment of [Job Role 1] within [Company] and his day-to-day management of [Department], he did not have the necessary objectivity to make a fair, independent decision regarding the issues that fell to be determined in my grievance.
Further, in view of the seniority of the members of management involved in the decision to restructure the business and the impact that this decision has had on me and my peers, I would ask that an appeal officer is appointed who has sufficient seniority, standing and would be unfettered by involvement in the restructure. In this way any grievance officer should be able to make a reasoned and independent decision. It may follow that the appeal officer that is appointed should be an individual who is independent and with no operational connection to the business. Indeed, it may be appropriate to consider an independent third party.
I dispute the findings of the Grievance Outcome as it is evident that there has been a failure to appreciate the nature of the duties undertaken within my current role as [Job Role 1], which is part of the [Team] team. There are fundamental changes to both nature of the work that I will undertake on a day to day basis as well as the conditions that I am expected to work under the terms of my contract of employment.
During my ten years at [Company], I have been promoted twice within a short period of time, in recognition of my superior performance and achievements in the role. My experience is well known and relied upon by my peers and third parties.
In the Grievance Outcome, it is suggested that I may have failed to fully understand the levels of complexity involved in the new role and they would be comparable to my current duties. I appreciate that there will be occasions where there will be greater complexity than a standard case, but I consider that fundamentally there has been a failure to comprehend the complexity of the work that I undertake daily and that the role that I currently understand is substantially different in complexity than the role I am expected to soon be performing. It seems to me there has been very limited appreciation of the intricacies of duties that I undertake day to day.
The Grievance Outcome notes the generic skills that a [Job Role] must have, but this fails to appreciate the clear distinction in terms of time and skill needed to fulfil these requirements within the different areas in which I work.
I typically need to review hundreds of pages of documents to determine the relevant technical issues. This will involve, for example, a lengthy fact-finding process of reviewing evidence and considering various factors and objectives. It will often take a few days to provide a fair and reasonable decision from the time I am in receipt of all relevant information.
In the circumstances, I disagree that the work that will be required of me to undertake in [Job Role 2] is not fundamentally different to the work that I have been undertaking without exception over the course of the last eight years. I consider that the Grievance Outcome is these circumstances is flawed and is a perverse finding given the relevant factual circumstances.
As I have outlined in my grievance letter and during the grievance meeting, I am deeply committed to the work that I have undertaken diligently and effectively at [Company] over ten years.
I feel deeply aggrieved that my future is uncertain. A veiled threat was made to me in the Grievance Outcome that if I do not comply with the changes imposed upon me I might face disciplinary action. I remain keen to find a resolution to this issue in such a manner that enables me to continue with my current duties or if the changes are imposed, it should be recognised that I am entitled to an appropriately calculated redundancy payment.
I look forward to the opportunity to discuss my appeal and the substantive details at a future meeting.


Who'd have thought three hours per week was hard to find? I could have easily made it today except that I spent most of a day beginning to catalogue my books, courtesy of a barcode scanner I acquired during the week, and the very useful goodreads.com. If you want to know what I have on my bookshelves, feel free to take a peek.
While I was digging through my books, I came upon the most excellent The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst. The book itself is beautifully designed and printed, and has more information about typography than you could absorb in a long time of study. Picking it up I recalled that it had a list of the traditional names for the different sizes within a typeface tucked into the margin of a page. I figured that I could play with them a little as an exercise and set a guide to type sizes.
Because these are older names for typefaces, I thought a fairly traditional typeface would be best, and having spent some time reading The New Yorker earlier today, decided that Caslon would suit well. I had Adobe Caslon available so used it.
I chose to set this in a 5″x3″ format, with the constraint that I wanted to be able to print it on a laser printer directly onto an index card. That meant 0.5″ margins, which definitely constrains some approaches to playing the text, especially with respect to a title for the card.
So that a right-handed person would hold and turn the card easily, I ran the title down the right hand side of the card. A 14-point font meant the title ran the height of the main text block, so I used that for balance.
The automatic leading set by InDesign didn't quite feel right because of the mix of ascenders and descenders so I tweaked that a little to get a good vertical sense of rhythm down the lines, although I'm not sure I have it quite right.
Using the text figures in the left column didn't feel right with the standard settings so I needed to kern them a little tighter, or else the 10 seemed to stretch far too wide, especially in relation to the 11 below. The mix of ascenders and descenders was particularly challenging to deal with so I had to hang the occasional numeral a little higher or lower. I also played with using titling figures but they just swamped the text given that I set it all lowercase.
And so, at the end of the playing, we have a 5″x3″ index card with the old-fashioned names of the font sizes. I suspect that a real typographer could do a lot better but this is all about learning!
Cool – I had no idea font sizes had names! I think you have the layout about right, it looks good to me. But – why did you decide to use all lower-case? Was this a style decision, or a subconscious reflection of the growing social internet tendency?
All lowercase seemed right. Words take on a different character with mixed case. In English, in particular, use of uppercase initial letters also implies something specific about the word–either that it is a proper noun, which these aren't necessarily, or that they start a sentence, which these don't. So lowercase seemed more appropriate.
The visual balance is really different as well and I preferred this look.


text:
Sport 2020-2021
Girls Football - The Clarke Shield
On Thursday 8th October the Year 5 and 6 girls football team represented our school at Riverview Junior School. We played for the Clarke Shield. We drew our first game and then won the following three to reach the final. Unfortunately, we lost 1-0 in the final, but we played well as a team. We would like to thank all the parents who came and supported us.
Holly, from Year 5 wrote a match report:
On Thursday 8th October, the girls' football team travelled to Riverview Junior School to take part in the schools tournament to play for the Clarke Shield.
In our first match we played Shorne which was an even game, but despite creating some goal scoring chances the match finished 0-0 thanks to some good defending an goalkeeping.
In our second match we played Riverview A and with some great team work and good performances from Lana and Holly B we scored 3 goals; one of them was a penalty all scored by Holly P so we won 3-0.
In our third match we played Riverview B and we all played very well as a team with some great play by Georgie, Evie and Isabella; we were able to stop them scoring and scored 2 goals both by Holly P to win the match 2-0.
|In the semi-final we played Riverview B; it was a tough game but we battled hard and played great football especially from Freya, Jasmine and Hannah; we did not let a goal in again and scored 3 fantastic goals by Holly P, Freya and Hannah – we won 3-0.
In the final we played Riverview A and had most of the play and created some goal scoring chances including hitting the post, but we were unable to score. Unfortunately, with a minute to go they scored so we lost 0-1. Even though we lost in the final we all had fun and played excellently as a team.
Boys Early 7s Gravesham Football Competition
On Saturday 26th September, the Year 5and 6 Boys Fottball team took part in their very first Tournament of the year – the Gravesham Early 7s
The boys played six group matches where they won all but one of them; scoring over twelve goals and keeping four clean sheets.
They progressed to the semi-final of the tournament where they narrowly missed out on reaching the final after losing a penalty shoot-out.
The boys showed excellent team spirit, respect and superb skill throughout the morning. This performance is made all the better as training was unable to take place beforehand yet they still managed to perform in the way that they did.
On the day, they were a credit to the school and they should be immensely proud of themselves as the school is of them!
We would like to thank all parents and supporters who came along to cheer us on.
Look at all of our fantastic sporting achievements being accomplished inside and outside of school.
#teamMCA
Mr Stevenson
PE Subject Leader
This is an embedded Microsoft Office presentation, powered by Office.
PE Support
Meopham Community Academy have used a proportion of our Sports Premium Funding to employ Physical Activity and Sports Specialists Ltd (PASS) - a specialist Physical Education (PE) teaching company specifically to support and train our teachers in their delivery of PE.
PASS Ltd. was founded in 2013 by a team of enthusiastic PE and Sport professionals with over 30 years of experience between them.
Here at Meopham, we are lucky enough to have with us from PASS Ltd Mrs Barrett - qualified PE teacher with a range of experience in varying sports and at differing age ranges / Key Stages. As well as supporting teachers in their PE lessons,Mrs Barrett also runs an after-school Sportshall Athletics club once a week, weekly lunchtime aerobic sessions on the playground and co-ordinates our new Personal Challenge scheme.


The Oxford Board is actively accepting applications for interested persons seeking consideration for an opening on the OPA Board of Directors. There are currently four voting members of the Board of Directors and the Board seeks to fill the vacant fifth seat.
In accordance with the OPA Board bylaws, each director holds office for four years and until a successor director has been designated and qualified. As part of the election process, the Board will accept applications from interested parties such as parents and community members.


Found in Sanga, Sanga 2003.
Q. Sastra says that there can be only one diksa guru, but there can be many siksa gurus; otherwise, they are essentially the same. My first question is why is the diksa guru limited to one, while siksa gurus can be many?
The diksa guru is a manifestation of Madana-mohana vigraha in the sense that he gives sambandha-jnana in the form of diksa, over which the deity of Sri Madana-mohana presides. The sambandha-jnana is one. It involves the conceptual orientation to the Gaudiya Vaisnava metaphysical worldview and includes the imparting of the diksa mantra. Part of that worldview is knowledge of one's relationship with Krishna. Again, this is present in the mantra. Thus imparting the mantra is likened to the planting of a seed. The seed is singular, and there is no need to plant it twice.
In one sense the classic examples of these two manifestations of guru in our tradition are Sri Sanatana and Rupa Goswamis. Sanatana Goswami has written Brhat-bhagavatamrta, a conceptual orientation to the world of Gaudiya Vaisnavism. It is a survey of the interior landscape that orients us to the world of spiritual possibility in consideration of our present position. Rupa Goswami, on the other hand, has written Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, which delineates the nature of bhakti, or that activity that naturally follows from the sambandha-jnana.
Q. Is diksa and the ceremony surrounding it merely a formality?
A. In one sense diksa is the formalization of the relationship between guru and disciple that recognizes something that has already taken place, just as marriage formalizes a relationship already in progress. However, within the formal ceremony something of substance takes place: vows on the part of the disciple and the transmission of the mantra on the part of the guru. While the ceremony may be a formality, the imparting of the mantra is not. This is the substance. The extent to which this act is substantial is dependent on the realization of the guru and the surrender of the disciple. In the same way that the power of one's siksa is dependent on the extent to which one has realized the siksa one gives, similarly the power of diksa depends on the diksa guru's own realization of the mantra he imparts.
For example, if a person has been to India, he can speak about India in ways that will be far more compelling than that which we can read in the travel brochure. His experience is conveyed through his speech. Not only does he have personal examples and insights that only one who has experienced the place would be able to relate, but the very quality of his speech, backed by his experience, is superior to that of one who has only theoretical knowledge.
Therefore, giving diksa requires realization, brahma nistham. Furthermore, diksa also requires fertile soil, and thus it is incumbent on the guru to cultivate the heart of the disciple before imparting the mantra. It is to be given to the faithful soul, not anyone and everyone.
Sri Caitanyadeva told Sanatana Goswami that initiation involves full surrender to be complete, at which time the disciple becomes one with Krishna, diksa kale kare tare atma samarpana. He realizes, that is, his qualitative oneness with God, sei kale krishna kare tare atma sama. At that time, the disciple's sadhaka-deha becomes spiritualized, sei deha kara tare cidanandamaya, and continuing to serve in that body, he gains insight into his internal spiritual body in which he engages in Krishna bhajana, aprakrta dehe tanra carana bhajaya. Thus the process of diksa takes time to complete, and it is completed when the disciple realizes sambandha-jnana, clearing his path to bhajana in the stage of asakti. Then the disciple enters bhava-bhakti wherein the insight gained in sadhana-bhakti is further cultivated—the process of churning bhava into prema. Of course, all of this could happen at the very moment that the mantra is imparted as in the case of some of the eternal associates of Mahaprabhu, but for us it will take time.
Q. Are doubts cleared by diksa in some magical way or is the clearing of doubts dependent on siksa more than the mere act of initiation?
A. Relevant siksa follows diksa and thus doubts are cleared. But doubts are cleared more completely by experience than by siksa itself. This is what we want, tangible spiritual experience resulting from applying the siksa we receive to our spiritual practice.
Spiritual practice (sadhana) in and of itself is not a purely rational act. While it is reasonable to suggest that one engage in spiritual practice, the act itself is transrational. Thus there is truly some magic in it as well as in the imparting of the mantra.
This magic surrounding the imparting of the mantra involves the invisible sharing of the guru's experience of the mantra. It is an act of giving, an act of love motivated by nothing other than genuine compassion, karunayaha purana ghuyam. It is not a business. Compassion is the motive behind the giving of the mantra, and while it may be reasonable to show compassion, compassionate action itself is not a function of the intellect.
There is also magic in the way the mantra works. What we learn from siksa helps us to sincerely apply ourselves in the practice of chanting the mantra. Through sraddha (faith), saranagati (surrender), and mantra dhyana (meditation) performed in the spirit of giving and self-sacrifice leading to the self-forgetfulness of love (svaha), the mantra magically reveals all that is contained within it. If you love something enough, it will reveal all of its secrets.
Even in one's material experience, the act of giving is mystically rewarding. When we give we get, yet that which we get we cannot hold up to show another or adequately describe. The fact that we get something when giving is apparent by our contentment and the enthusiasm through which we try to relate our experience. However, reason does not suggest that by giving one will get; this is the magic of life. The world turns on svaha.
Receiving the mantra means to be given a second birth. Just outside my window in the rafters a bird has given birth to three chicks. Birds are called dwija in Sanskrit because they are born twice, once within the egg and a second time when the eggs hatch. Our material birth is like that of the chicks within the egg. In this birth our possibilities are extremely limited. But if we are fortunate to meet a genuine sadhu and receive a second birth from him in the form of diksa, our possibilities in life expand beyond anything we could imagine within the egg of our material birth. If we get a second birth, we can fly high in the sky of our spiritual prospect! From being a creature of the earth we can live in the sky. Such is the magic of diksa and siksa as well.
Q. In what spirit should one chant the diksa mantra?
A. The spirit (pracodayat) in which one should chant the mantra was expressed by Mahaprabhu thus when elaborating on the fifth verse of his Siksastakam: 'dasa' kari' vetana more deha prema-dhana, "Make me your servant, my salary the wealth of love of God." In other words, "Let me engage in divine service for its own sake and nothing more, and let that divine service increase without measure." Full investment in the bank of service with no thought of withdrawal finds one living grandly on the interest accrued. It is significant that Mahaprabhu made this statement while explaining his fifth sloka of Sikstakam. This fifth verse corresponds with the devotional stage of asakti, the final stage of sadhana-bhakti before one enters bhava-bhakti and the world of spiritual emotion proper. Thus Mahaprabhu implies that the diksa mantra helps us within the realm of sadhana up to the stage of asakti and retires when one enters bhava-bhakti as a liberated soul. After liberation is attained, the holy name of Krishna received from Sri Guru comes to the foreground, as the eternally liberated name can only be chanted by a liberated soul.
Thus the Krishna mantra helps us to take advantage of Krishna nama, and Krishna nama takes us to Goloka. In Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Mahaprabhu says that his own guru instructed him like this, krishna mantra hoibe habe samsara-mocana, krishna nama haite pabe krsnera carana: "By chanting the Krishna mantra one will be freed from samsara. By chanting Krishna nama one will attain the feet of Krishna." There is also evidence for this in Brhad-bhagavatamrta, wherein Gopa Kumara desists from chanting his mantra after attaining liberation and goes on to attain Goloka by nama-sankirtana and lila-smaranam.


A young mother sat at the end of the last pew, in a church filled with wedding guests. In her lap, a nine month old baby girl squirmed, threatening to destroy the peaceful decadance of the sacred occasion. Alone in a sea of strangers, there to witness her childhood friend's special moment, the young mother began to wish she hadn't come. Where does one retreat, in a strange church, with an unruly baby, when every ear is craning to hear the maiden whisper of emotion filled vows?
At the reception later, she planned to stick it out through the receiving line so her friend at least knew she'd made the journey to be with her, when an older woman behind her in the long line tugged playfully at her baby's foot.
"Yes, she is." The mother turned, and recognized the older woman as one who had spoken to their MOPs group about homeschooling. Quickly she re-introduced herself to the tall blonde, and in turn was treated to meeting each of the woman's teenage daughters.
"Where do you live now?" The older woman asked, resuming their initial socializing.
The line of guests moved along, and the two women chatted like old friends. The young mom went from feeling lost, to deciding to stay longer. Soon a dark-haired toddler tumbled to the floor, landing at her high heels.
"This is Clarissa." Sheila, the older woman, stooped to steady the little one and help her on her way.
The younger mom's arms ached from corraling her own youngster the past two hours. She watched curiously as Clarissa's mom reclaimed her little girl and thanked Sheila.
Surprise heated her face when Sheila beckoned her to come over.
And come to find out, we were. Kim had been praying fervently for a heart-to-heart friend, someone who shared her values and had children the same ages as hers. Right there in the line, with the friendship only five minutes old, she confided to me that she was expecting her second baby and hadn't told anyone but her husband yet. Our bond forged, we planned a playdate for our little girls and we've been great friends ever since. We started homeschooling together; we attended Taste of Home cooking shows together; we've canned pickles and peach lemonade together, in her kitchen and mine, at night and during the day; we've bemoaned our shabby back porches together and brainstormed parenting issues for many phone hours together; we've welcomed each other's new babies with casseroles and home made baby wipes…and best of all, out of all our acquaintances with kids the same ages as ours, we couldn't pick any children we'd rather have our own hang out with.
We parents have the great responsibility of protecting our children by choosing appropriate playmates and families with which to form lasting bonds.
Are you feeling alone, wishing you had another mom who loved the Lord as you do, someone to sharpen and grown alongside as you raise your children together? If you have young children and haven't yet found another family at your pace in life, I encourage you to pray about it. Give the desire of your heart over to the King of Kings. Don't you think He wants to pair us up with godly friends, so together we can spur ever onward and let His glory be made known?
This gives me hope! Such a nice, inspiring story to read. Thank you! Funny how God works in such mysterious ways…like how I found this site through searching for an Amish Friendship Bread recipe!
This is such a great story and gives me hope too. I long to find another step-family like ours or at the very least a step-mom who's "been there". The kids are great, but I just want to find another woman who I can confide in that will just understand! Your story touched my heart. Thanks so much for sharing.
I also found this site because of the friendship bread. My sister found it, and said that I would love this, and I have been reading it ever since. God does bring us to one another. This story brought tears to my eyes, and hope to my heart.
yes God IS good – he's amazing. I think the thing to remember about such a young child is that at this age they do tend to squirm and not want to sit still. Anyone who thinks they should "behave themselves" at 9 months is dreaming – unless they're asleep then it just doesn't happen.
Friends are so important! I've not always had that "close" friend…depending on where we've lived. But I've sure missed having one when I did not!
Sometimes I've prayed for years, and God has not provided. It must have been for a reason – a deepening in me. What a refreshment when a good friend was once again provided! I think that women who move a lot have to work harder at making the friendships – military, pastor's wives, etc…if you know you will be moving sometime it is harder to make friends, to put down roots.
But we are ALL missing something if we do not have at least ONE good friend close to where we live!
Great post Mary. I've been thinking about this some lately. I wish you and I weren't 7 hours from each other. I'll be praying that I can make friends with a gentle woman closer to home as well.
Colleen, thank you for blessing me with your response to the story. I pray that you'll find that step-support in a special friend. God wants you and SR to succeed, and a huge part of that includes your relationships working with the kids. Family is such a multi-faceted word. Belonging is so important. I know that everything can seem all goodness and light before the ceremony, and then the real struggles begin. If only we could all see the wonderful goodness of the big picture (such as the fact that you are completing SR's family) and not let all the little things (that are sure to hurt as you adjust) erode away at it. Your experience working with young people is sure to come in handy, but even more important is having a "flight plan" spiritually in place before you even need it! Wishing you God's best, and praying for you guys!


text:
Frank Islam & Ed Crego
The Trump Administration: The Plot Sickens for Our Democracy
Feb 18, 2020·12 min read
Photo Credits: Tom de Boor et al
This past decade was a one of loss for the United States. We've hoped that this decade would be one of recovery.
As we noted in our last blog, however, we are not off to a good start in this regard. There were five disquieting events in the first week of February indicating that the loss in the 2010s might continue and even accelerate in 2020s. They were:
President Trump's State of the Union address
The Senate's acquittal of Donald Trump on the impeachment charges
President Trump's National Prayer Breakfast performance
President Trump's White House event after his acquittal
The Iowa Democratic caucus catastrophe
In the second week of February, things went from bad to far worse. Because of the abhorrent and aberrant behavior of President Trump and his aiding and abetting administration, the plot sickens for our democracy.
Our democracy is in a cancerous state. It is not in a terminal illness stage yet, but its condition is far graver than when Donald J. Trump took office a little more than three years ago.
Trump started spreading the seeds and polyps for cancer in our democracy in his campaign to gain the presidency. He did this by channeling the anger, hostility and alienation of segments of the citizenry. He amplified and transmitted those sentiments through his own infectious and malignant personality to cause it to metastasize across the country.
As President, he has continued to do this through a variety of means, including his rapidly multiplying lies, tweets, campaign rallies, and unpresidential behavior, and the cancer progressed to a stage 1. After his impeachment acquittal, and with the support of his enablers in the first five weeks of 2020, the cancer progressed to stage 2.
With numerous actions of the past week, Trump and his enablers are establishing the conditions for the cancer to advance to stage 3 and to become terminal if not treated effectively. The most serious included:
Trump's tweets related to the Roger Stone case. The Department of Justice's decision to lower its recommended sentence for Stone. And Attorney General William Barr's comments on all of this.
Trump's removal of Lt. Col Alexander Vindman and his twin brother Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman from the White House staff.
Trump's merciless and meritless budget proposal, which would harm Americans and America if it were passed as proposed.
The reduction in Roger Stone's proposed sentence, for the seven felonies on which he was convicted, came from Timothy Shea, a confidante, advisor and hand-picked temporary successor of William Barr to replace Jesse Liu as head of the Washington, D.C U.S. Attorney's office, and led the four federal prosecutors who had recommended the original sentence to resign. It also became a national brouhaha, and source of considerable concern for many experts, because the reversal appeared to be politically rather than legally motivated.
The political motivation came from none other than Donald Trump. His tweet-prints were all over it.
It began with a tweet on the sentencing of his friend and close confidante Stone in which Trump stated, "This is a horrible and very unfair situation…Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice." Later, after Barr's team had reduced the sentence, he tweeted, "Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control…" Finally, the tweeter-in-charge went after Justice Amy Berman Jackson, who would be sentencing Stone, in a tweet in which he falsely asked "Is this the Judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, something that not even mobster Al Capone had to endure?"
All of this, along with significant pushback from the media and the legal profession, was too much for Trump's made-man A-G William Barr. He went on ABC News and suggested that Trump should stop tweeting about Department of Justice cases because they "make it impossible for me to do my job."
In his interview, Barr defined his job as doing what he thinks is "the right thing." In this instance, and with his leadership in the cover-up and misrepresentation of the Mueller Report, the question becomes: is the job and doing the right thing managing the department and its legal proceedings fairly and impartially, or serving as a toady for the President?
A New York Times article on his intervention in Michael Flynn's sentencing supports the latter perspective. So, too does the fact that more than 2,000 alumni of the Department of Justice who served in Republican and Democratic administrations have signed a letter calling for Barr to resign because of his interference in the Roger Stone case and its "grave threat to the fair administration of justice."
This evidence makes it "impossible" to conclude anything but that AG Barr is a "fixer" for the President. No matter whether this approach is driven by Barr's personal commitment to a monarchial presidency or a monarchial individual, the potentially fatal consequences for the rule of law would be the same.
While the Stone imbroglio captured the majority of the media coverage, the Vindman incident ran down a parallel path with Trump trying to influence the administration of justice there as well. Talking to reporters in the Oval Office after Vindman was removed from the White House and returned to the army, Trump said "I would imagine that the military would take a look at" whether Vindman should face disciplinary action for the "horrible things" he said during his House testimony regarding the President's "perfect" phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Unlike the Department of Justice, the Army adhered to its Code of Military Justice and was not obsequious in response to the suggestions from the Commander in Chief. On Friday, February 14, three days after Trump provided his opinion, Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy announced that they would not investigate Vindman.
Finally there is Trump's proposed budget for the 2021 fiscal year, which reflects his disregard and dismissiveness for a large segment of the American people and the part of the planet our country occupies. As reported in the New York Times,
The president's plan includes about $2 trillion in cuts to safety net programs and student loan initiatives. These reductions include new work requirements for Medicaid, federal housing assistance and food stamp recipients which are estimated to cut $300 billion in spending from the programs. The budget would also cut spending on federal disability insurance benefits by $70 billion and on student loan programs by $170 billion.
In addition, the proposal cuts the Environmental Protection agency's budget by 26 percent, eliminating 50 of its programs, and reduces the Center for Disease Control's budget by 9 percent.
Each and all of these cuts would affect the nation's health, and would increase the societal cancer engulfing our democracy. Use of the term cancer, and the potential for its fatality, might seem to be inappropriate or an overstatement for what is happening to and within the United States and its body politic.
We believe not. Let us explain why.
Since the "breaking news" surrounding Trump's manipulation of the Department of Justice, the media has continued to refer to the fact that it breaks or violates "norms". To the casual observer that might not appear to be a big deal.
It is a very big deal though, because Donald Trump, in the way he comports himself and the actions he has taken, has consistently broken norms on matters large and small in the United States and around the world. That's a very big deal because of the central importance of norms to the organization and maintenance of a civil society and a functioning democracy.
The first two definitions of norm in the Merriam-Webster dictionary are:
1. An authoritative standard
2. A principle of right action binding upon the members of a group and serving to guide, control, or regulate proper and acceptable behavior.
Under the Trump regime, the new norm has become "an authoritarian standard" and "a principle of wrong action binding upon the members of a group to engage in and to legitimate improper and unacceptable behavior." If this "alternative" form of norm is allowed to pervade and persist, it will eventually kill our American democracy.
Harvard University government professors, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, warned of this in their book, How Democracies Die, published in January 2018. In an article in The Guardian extracted from their book at that time, Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt make the following points:
An essential test for democracies is not whether such figures (demagogues) emerge but whether political leaders, and especially political parties, work to prevent them from gaining power in the first place…
Once a would be authoritarian makes it to power, democracies face a second critical test: will the autocratic leader subvert democratic institutions or be constrained by them?
America failed the first test in November 2016, when we elected a president with a dubious allegiance to democratic norms.
Two basic norms have preserved America's checks and balance in ways we have come to take for granted: mutual toleration, or the understanding that competing parties accept one another as legitimate rivals, and forbearance or the idea that politicians should exercise restraint in deploying their institutional prerogatives.
Two years ago, Levitsky and Ziblatt proceeded to comment that because of the conditions at that time "… the guardrails of American democracy are weakening." Today, in 2020, Trump and his entourage have taken America's democracy and run its "freedom train" almost completely off the rails.
Given this, who is responsible for treating and what can be done to cure the cancer that derailment has caused? In our blog preceding this one, we emphasized the need for us, as individuals, to be 21st century citizens who are interested, issues-oriented, informed, independent, and involved in order to confront this condition and to revive and renew the American dream.
In this blog, let us add to that call to action, thoughts to address and eliminate this cancer from Marie Yovanovitch — civic commitment; Rebecca Winthrop and Meg Heubeck — civic injections; E. J. Dionne, Jr. — radical civic surgery; and the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) — civic immunotherapy.
On February 13, Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to the Ukraine who testified against Donald Trump in the impeachment proceedings, was given the Trainor Award for "distinction in the conduct of diplomacy" at Georgetown University. In her acceptance speech, the ambassador commented on the current "troubled" and "amoral" condition of the State Department where "the truth is being hollowed out."
In spite of all of this, Yovanovitch declared near the end of her speech that she was optimistic, because of the interest she has seen from so many who still want to go into the foreign service and to be "…the man and the woman in the arena. They are not giving up. They are committed to make this nation and the world a more democratic, more prosperous, and more secure place…"
After that observation, Yovanovitch concluded by stating:
I believe that this is a time for each one of us to pick our passion, whether it is in diplomacy or a different area. We all need to be contributing to making our community, our country, our world, the kind of place we want it to be. No one else will do it for us.
In November of 2019, Winthrop and Heubeck of the Brookings Institution presented a "bucket list" of 76 things involved citizens can do to boost civic engagement. As they note, "Civic engagement is the glue that holds self-government together," but that engagement has "been on the "decline for decades."
Their list contains recommendations in the following categories: Stay Informed — e.g., Read and subscribe to daily, local, regional or national newspapers. Vote: — e.g., volunteer to work at a polling place. Participate — e.g., communicate with your local elected officials; Build Community — e.g., identify a problem in your community and work with your neighbors to improve it; and Get Social — e.g., use your social media accounts to post uplifting information relevant to making our society more civil.
The bucket list is solid, but given the seriousness of this cancer, radical surgery will be necessary to excise it. E.J. Dionne, Jr., explains why that approach will be required in his new book, Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country.
In a past work, and one of our all-time favorites, Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent, published in 2012, Dionne provided an in-depth and historical examination of the state of our political condition at that time and how we got there. In the final chapter, he advised a more "consensual balance" from both parties — especially from the Republican Party, which he argues had lost its commitment to classic conservatism and communal values due to the stranglehold of the Tea Party.
Fast forward eight years, and in Code Red the call for a consensual balance has disappeared. That's the case because Donald Trump has subsumed and replaced the Tea Party and strangled the Republican Party. As a result, Dionne now argues — and we agree with his argument — that it is up to moderates and progressives to overcome their differences and come together, maintain the unity they showed in the 2018 mid-term elections, and use it to vote Trump out of office.
That action alone will not cure the cancer on our democracy, but it would arrest its development. It would establish the basis for creating some form of "consensual balance" and collaborative problem-solving in the political arena again. There would be breathing space to begin a renewal and revival of our democracy, created by people and politicians of good will finding common ground and the capacity to work together once again.
With that going on, the last phase of this recovery from cancer must be a nation-wide recommitment to civic education for our future citizens. In March of 2019, the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) issued a position statement, which began,
At its core, civic education should provide students with the ability to take informed action to address problems relevant to life in a democratic republic. It should target the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to ensure that young people are truly capable of becoming active and engaged participants in civic life.
Since the beginning of this 21st century, due to the nearly singular emphasis on science, technology, education, and math (STEM), and the associated testing, there has been precious little civics in elementary and middle school. And what passes for civics in the majority of our high schools across the country is a history course and some type of citizenship test focused on knowledge of the Constitution and U.S. government.
This is grossly insufficient and must be corrected to ensure the next generation of citizens that will be essential to maintaining a vital and vibrant democracy. Those citizens need to be educated citizens to ensure that the past two decades will not be prologue and to help repair the damage created during this generation. (See our blog on civic education and democracy for more in-depth and detailed thoughts on what would constitute a high quality and effective civic education.)
In conclusion, in spite of the current chaos being generated by the Trump administration, and the cancer it has spread across this great nation over the past three years, we remain optimistic. This is just another pivot point for this nation struggling along the way to becoming "a more perfect union." Consider the Constitutional Convention, the civil war, social security, the G.I. Bill, the Civil Rights Act, and think about alternative scenarios and what they might have meant in terms of the evolution of this great nation and our American democracy. (See our book Working the Pivot Points: To Make America Work Again for additional insights and information on pivot points.)
Our democracy was also threatened during the Great Depression in the 1930's, and citizens of all stripes stepped forward to keep it alive. (Read Jill LePore's masterful New Yorker article on this, in the online version titled, "The Last Time Democracy Almost Died") Our American history and memory of our American foremothers and forefathers gives us hope and faith in the collective strength and resilience of the American people. It makes us confident that we will find the resolve to heal this nation and democracy and put it on the road to recovery from this cancer.
It will take a while to get there. The journey will be a long and difficult one. In spite of that. we believe firmly that "we shall overcome" and the American democracy will be restored to health once again.
Photo Credits: Tom de Boor et al. Have a Trump-free day!
Originally published by the Frank Islam Institute for 21st Century Citizenship. For more information on what 21st century citizenship entails, and to see exemplars from around the world, please visit our website.
Frank Islam is an entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. Ed Crego is a management consultant. Both are leaders of the 21st century citizenship movement.
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m2c4


text:
Barrier Waterman LLC
Current Inventory For Sale
Lifeguard Rescue Boards
Ergo's
Barrier Waterman LLC is based in Nags Head, North Carolina, USA.
Phill Lloyd, owner of BW, was raised on the Gold Coast of Australia and has grown up surfing and competing in Lifeguard competitions. He was a volunteer in the Surf Life Saving Association and has worked professionally as a Lifeguard for over 20 years. Phill currently works as an EMT / Fire Fighter on the Outer Banks of NC. To this day, Phill surfs as much as possible and competes in Lifeguard competition to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to stay in touch with Lifeguards from all over the world.
How we came about
Barrier Waterman was initially incorporated to build surf craft in the USA and avoid the importing costs associated with shipping equipment from Australia. Early on though, Phill found that no one could match the quality of the craft coming from Australia. Consistent weight and strength along with perfectly computer shaped boards are why we teamed up with Dolphin Surf Craft in Australia. Barrier Waterman has teamed up with Brian Miess, from the Canadian Lifesaving Society, to sell Dolphin Surf Craft. A container from Australia to Canada and USA lands every winter. We have salesman in southern California, A.J Miller in Daytona Beach Florida, Ryan Mathews in Belmar N.J and myself in Nags Head N.C. You can arrange pick up from any of these locations or we can ship via domestic freight companies but we advise against this as damage occurs regularly and it's very expensive. We also have a personal delivery system on the east coast. If you call we can let you know when we will be doing an east coast delivery run. Its usually in the winter and spring.
New prone paddle boards are $1955.00. New adjustable drive 2 surf ski's are $3,300.00 for the latest and best model.
We have 10'6 prone paddle boards, 10'6 prone Lifeguard paddle boards, junior prone paddle boards, soft prone paddle boards and racing surf ski's.
Barrier Waterman will have demo prone paddle boards & surf ski's available at the Mid Atlantic regional and National Lifeguard Titles. They are also available to demo via our salesman. Please "Like" our Facebook page and stay up to date with all of our announcements.
Phill Lloyd
info@barrierwaterman.com


We just released WPForms 1.2.6 that came with a lot of payment enhancements that you were looking for. Here's what you need to know about WPForms 1.2.6.
This was by far one of the most popular feature request. While it seems simple in concept, there's a lot more that has to be done behind the scenes to make it work.
Well, it's available now with both payment providers (PayPal and Stripe).
Currencies we support include: U.S Dollar, Great Britain Pound, Euro, Australian Dollar, Brazilian Real, Canadian Dollar, Czech Koruna, Danish Krone, Hong Kong Dollar, Hungarian Forint, Israeli New Sheqel, Malaysian Ringgit, Mexican Peso, Norwegian Krone, New Zealand Dollar, Philippine Peso, Polish Zloty, Russian Ruble, Singapore Dollar, South African Rand, Swedish Krona, Swiss Franc, Taiwan New Dollar, and Thai Baht.
Now you can see payment details on individual entry details page.
You can also see the status and amount on the forms page, and you can sort the items by status and price as well.
I know I promised the Zapier integration will be part of this release. We did our best, but we couldn't get it live this week.
We're in the working beta phase with the Zapier team and hoping to get it live as soon as possible (ETA next week).
Update: The Zapier addon is now available!
Thanks once again for all your support and feedback in making WPForms the best WordPress form plugin.
I recently bought wpforms pro. Unfortunately, my country currency ( AED/Dirhams ) is not available in the list payment of Paypal and Strip. Although, and also in wpforms. I'm preparing a quote form to estimate total price in ( AED/Dirhams ) based on client selections.
Any advise that I can change symbol ( $ ) in wpfrms to my country currency ( AED/Dirhams ), just for online calculation.
I would like to suggest providing currency switcher feature, the price based on currency rate and payment will be in currency available payment of Paypal and Strip.
Sure, we'd be happy to help. When you get a chance, could you please get in touch with our support team? We'll be able to share the steps from there.
Is it possible to have different forms support different currencies?
In the screen shot on this page there seem to be individual entries in both GBP and USD. However the settings only allow for one option to be selected.
Currently we don't have the option to set different currencies in across different forms on your site. I apologize for the inconvenience and confusion!
Are there any plans to implement multiple currencies for a single form in the future?
I definitely agree that allowing the option for multiple currencies in a single form would be extremely helpful but at the moment I don't have an ETA on if and when this feature will be available on WPForms. Our development team is always working on adding in new features that will make the plugin easier and more helpful for our users.
I have your wpforms subscription but i can only add one currency? i want to add euro to.
To change the currency used in your forms, go to WPForms > Settings and open the Payments tab. The very top item is a dropdown for Currency.
Please note, however, than you can only apply one currency at a time for all of your forms so you can't use, for example, both Euros and USD at the same time.


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text:
Sofia Plovdiv Varna Burgas
PLOVDIV -
Home EN -
SOFIA CELEBRATES
134 Years since the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and the Province of Eastern Rumelia On September 6, 1885 Bulgaria managed to return Eastern Rumelia within the borders of the Principality of Bulgaria without any external help. This great political conquest of the Bulgarian people is a day of unification, a national act and the first firm claim for an independent, equal participation of Bulgaria in the modern history of Europe. In honour of the 134th anniversary of the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and the Province of Eastern Rumelia, the National History Museum and the National Museum of Military History have announced that on September 6 everyone will be able to visit the museums for free.134 Years since the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and the Province of Eastern Rumelia On September 6, 1885 Bulgaria managed to return Eastern Rumelia within the borders of the Principality of Bulgaria without any external help. This great political conquest of the Bulgarian people is a day of unification, a national act and the first firm claim for an independent, equal participation of Bulgaria in the modern history of Europe. In honour of the 134th anniversary of the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and the Province of Eastern Rumelia, the National History Museum and the National Museum of Military History have announced that on September 6 everyone will be able to visit the museums for free.In Sofia, the 134th anniversary of the Unification of Bulgaria will be celebrated on September 6 in front of the mausoleum and final resting place of Prince Alexander I of Battenberg.
Sofia celebrates its official holiday this month! The 17th of September marks the memory of the Christian Orthodox saints Faith, Hope and Love and their mother Sophia – a family in second-century Rome who sacrificed themselves fighting for their religion in the name of Jesus Christ. Sofia celebrates its official holiday this month! The 17th of September marks the memory of the Christian Orthodox saints Faith, Hope and Love and their mother Sophia – a family in second-century Rome who sacrificed themselves fighting for their religion in the name of Jesus Christ. The holiday will be accompanied by many events in the center of the city throughout the whole day. Around noon the military forces along with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church will hold a ceremony of sanctifying and raising of the Bulgarian national flag. Just take a walk around on the yellow pavement – the Saint Sophia Basilica, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Sofia History Museum, as well as many attractions with free entrance for the day will bring you the festive mood. You will have the chance to experience a part of our culture, religion, traditions and history altogether! THE COAT OF ARMS OF SOFIAAs a way to celebrate the day of Sofia, we decided to spark your curiosity and dive into a special story. And it is namely about the coat of arms – the most distinctive symbol of our capital! The creator, Haralambi Tachev, has explained in a newspaper interview from 1937 in detail how he chose the different components, so it could represent Sofia at its best. He was given the task of creating a coat of arms of the city in 1900 – shortly after Bulgaria was liberated from the Ottoman rule and Sofia was chosen to be the new capital of Bulgaria. Sofia is an ancient city which succeeded to preserve portions of every epoch it went through. When it comes to history, we can all agree is it one of the main parts that create Sofia's unique charm. On the upper left corner of the emblem you can see Ulpia Serdica - the head of a woman with a fortress on her head. That is thought to be Julia Domna – a Roman empress from the second century who was worshipped in the ancient city of Serdica and had influence of many of its culture and architecture. On the upper right side stands the Saint Sophia Basilica, which gave the city its name and is one of the oldest churches of the capital, holding a necropolis underneath it dating back to III – IV century. On the bottom left corner stands the mountain of Vitosha – the only century-old witness of all the eventful years of the city and a favourite place to relax these days for all tourists and locals. Right next to it is positioned the statue of Apollo Medicus inside a golden canopy – which represents the mineral springs in and around Sofia. This image is from an ancient coin found in the city as well. In the middle of the coat of arms you can see a lion – a symbol used only for the cities. It comes to show that Sofia succeeds Veliko Tarnovo as the new capital of Bulgaria. On top of it the three tower fortress resembles a crown and on the sides are positioned two twigs which symbolize victory. The motto of Sofia, written below, is translated to "Grows, but does not age". Seeing all the symbolism put into the coat of arms, we are easily guided to the parts of Sofia which it should be remembered with. So, if you have any doubts about what to do during your stay here, take a second look at Sofia's symbols and they will give you all the answers!Get to know Sofia better with our free app VisitSofia, at www.visitsofia.bg and on our Facebook page – Sofia Information Centre!


Maggie is Main Oak Family Dentistry's office manager. She has lived in the Gaylord area since 1987 and has been with the practice since 2005. Previous to her move, she had studied at Central Michigan University in the hospitality program. Maggie and her husband, Tim, have one son and two daughters, a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law. A toy schnauzer named Charlie rounds out the Granahan family. When not managing our office, Maggie enjoys gardening and travel.
Casey has been Dr. Hoyner's chairside dental assistant since 2012. After graduating from Gaylord High School she attended Western Michigan University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Advertising and Promotion and a minor in General Business.
Outdoor adventure is Casey's passion; her previous endeavors include skydiving and competitive running. Currently she is enjoying Grand Traverse Bay paddleboarding as often as her schedule allows.
Kim Sewell and her husband, John, are thrilled to be making Gaylord their permanent residence, returning to John's hometown. Having recently purchased a house and adopted two cats, Lucy and Amos, they are now settled and excited to become involved in the community.
Kim grew up in Niles, MI and obtained her Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene degree from Ferris State University. She was a registered dental hygienist in Frankfort, MI before accepting her position at MainOak Family Dentistry in 2013. Feel free to challenge Kim with any question regarding trends in dentistry as she loves exploring evidence-based research to satisfy her curiosity as well as to educate her patients.
When not working or doing DIY projects at her house Kim can be found enjoying the great Up North outdoors--hiking, biking, kayaking or playing in the snow.
Mallory has been part of our Main Oak Family Dentistry team since 2006. She took some time away to attend Ferris State University's School of Dental Hygiene, graduating in 2010, then returned to lead our hygiene department. In her leisure time Mallory loves outdoor activities including running, biking, and Jeep rides. She also is an avid crafter, her main focus being knitting, sewing, and soap making. Mallory has enjoyed getting to know her patients as individuals and looks forward to managing their continuing care.