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USDA Launches Online SNAP Purchases for New Yorkers in Pilot Program
Photo Credit: Dan Gold
A test segment of the 38 million Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP participants who receive vouchers to buy food and groceries at...
Trapped in the Triangle: PIX11 Live with Catholic Charities in Northern Triangle
PIX11 News Christian Benavides Reporting From The Northern Triangle
Image via Twitter @cbenavidesTV
Cardinal Dolan's Lenten Journey with Catholic Charities of New York
His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, accompanied Catholic Charites Executive Director, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan on a Lenten journey in preparation for the celebration of Easter Sunday. The Cardinal visited...
Jacqueline, A Single Mother, Battles Addiction with the Help of Catholic Charities
By Dean Scher, PhD, LCSW
Jacqueline is a 50-year-old single mother of a young teenage boy. She is also a heroin addict who has received treatment services through the peer advocates at Catholic Charities.
As CEO of Catholic Charities of...
On The Hill to Advance the Mission: Catholic Charities New York Meets Legislators
Catholic Charities Directors in Washington, D.C. Photo Credit: Catholic Charities USA
Last week, members of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York met in Washington, D.C. for the annual...
$5.6 Million Raised by New York Times in Neediest Cases: 14 Catholic Charities of New York Stories Featured
The Cruz Family
The 107th New York Times Neediest Cases campaign tells the stories of New Yorkers in desperate need. Many of the profiles feature an individual or a family who benefited from the Fund and...
Catholic Charities Heads Delegation to Northern Triangle to Shine Light on Struggle of Thousands
Monsignor Sullivan at Press Conference Announcing Delegation Trip
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York is leading a delegation of New York State officials to the Northern Triangle – an...
Meet Miguel: Struggling to Survive, Disabled, and Caring for his Disabled Family
Miguel, who lives in the Bronx, owed over $8,220 in rent and was facing eviction before coming to Catholic Charities New York. Unable to find employment, Miguel has three herniated discs and supports his disabled wife...
CYO of New York to Celebrate 83rd Club of Champions Event
Last Year's 82nd Annual Club of Champions Event
The Catholic Youth Organization of New York, a division of Catholic Charities New York, will celebrate its 83rd CYO dinner at the historic University...
Hundreds of Migrants Released by US Customs Need Assistance in Southwest
Photo Credit: Mitch Lensink
Recently, NPR reported that upwards of 400 migrants are released daily to the streets of Texas' Rio Grande Valley by U.S. Customs and Border Protection leaving the local...
Catholic Charities Officially Opens St. Augustine Terrace Housing
With the ringing of a church bell and the sprinkling of holy water, the newest model for affordable housing in New York City -- St. Augustine Terrace -- opened to fanfare and prayer Monday afternoon. On hand...
'What Happens When They're 21?' Cardinal Visits Catholic Charities Pediatric Center
Timothy Cardinal Dolan joined Catholic Charities' Executive Director, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, in a visit to the largest post...
Catholic Charities of New York Joins Interfaith Peace Rally at NYU
Interfaith Peace Rallly: Monsignor Sullivan Shown First from Left
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York employees recently joined nearly 200 people to form a human chain at the NYU Islamic Center. As...
2020 Census Efforts Underway: Immigrant Participation is Key
Photo Credit: US Census Bureau
by John-Mark de Palma and Lori Davis
April 1st, dubbed the, 'Census 2020 Day of Action,' kicked off this week. The goal is to improve the accuracy and participation in the upcoming count. However,...
Families Lose More Than 300K in Yonkers Immigration Scam
Photo Credit: Jhon David
According to Yonkers Police, Juan Cedillo is accused of setting up an elaborate scheme to steal thousands of dollars from undocumented families in need of immigration assistance. So...


It's raining traffic? Congratulations! Your hard work is paying off. But, is it paying really well? Well, I don't doubt your traffic quality and volume, but are you using the right mix of ad networks to monetize your site? That's where I am concerned, because, a lot of publishers focus on content development and lose good chunk of revenue when it comes to ad optimization. Our today's post is devoted to help publishers monetize high traffic sites.
So, what's the big deal about high traffic sites? Are they really very different? How can we make more money?
Yes, monetizing a high traffic site is a bit different. You have to grow and think beyond adsense in terms of revenue opportunities. AdSense works best for niche sites and cater to small and mid sized publishers.
Ezoic is our top recommendation when it comes to ad optimization. Yes, getting started with Ezoic can be a bit difficult but it is always better to take the little pain, and particularly when you can almost increase your ad revenue by 50-100% by simple optimization (where you're actually not doing anything). The Ezoic's platform is completely free for 30 days and you'll be charged post 30 days of being live. They have a range of tools like ad tester, layout tester, script tester, mediation to get you started. You can get started with the ad tester tool. With Ezoic, you can enable native ads and other ad networks too. You don't need to signup with them separately. Thus it saves much time and since the revenue comes from a single source, you can see $$$.
Thinking of native? Think right away and sign up! Native ad networks help you make additional revenue and is recommended for any high traffic site. Since the adsense RPM rates tend to be on an average, these native ads can give you as much as 30% of what you're earning from AdSense. Taboola, Outbrain and RevContent are the top paying native ad networks in the industry. However, I suggest you try all three of them and see which is working best for your site. We have heard quite a lot of publishers doing extremely good with RevContent and on some sites, the revenue from RevContent outperforms Google AdSense.
A lot of publishers earn good revenue from media.net particularly when they have volume traffic coming from US and Cananda. Media.net works exceptionally well for certain keywords and can give you RPMs as high as that of AdSense. A lot of optimization in terms of keywords, texts, and colours are required and you need to keep testing the high performing media.net ad units. Also, they do provide a back-fall for their display ads which is generally served from Ad Exchange. Want to take a whirl with Media.net? Signup below.
AdRecover help publishers monetize their adblock traffic. A lot of countries especially in Europe have ad blockers ranging to double digits of a publisher's total traffic and that's a lot of money when you consider each site getting over 1,00,000 page views each day. You can monetize your Adblock traffic with AdRecover. To get approved, you need to have a minimum of 50,000 page views a day. And I hope that makes sense since there would a small percentage of your traffic that would be using adblockers, and anything less than that wouldn't really substantiate the effort of joining another ad network.
There are some ad networks which are working on the native video advertising sector. Getting a fill rate of 100% with native video ads is difficult, but you can get an average fill rate with high CPMs. Again, getting approved with native video ads networks is something exclusive to high traffic sites with daily pageviews threshold of 50,000 to 1,00,000. Some of the recommended native ad networks are Teads.tv, Zinc by Zedo, AdZouk.
Criteo has evolved to be the most significant ad network to help brands drive conversions and sales. If you've good Eu traffic, definitely, Criteo can help you increase your overall ad revenue. In additional, you can signup with Natomx, they specialize in e-Commerce sales and provide high RPMs to publishers. Most retargeting ad networks pay higher CPM rates since they take the traffic which is relevant to their advertisers.
Our top recommendation for exit-intent ad network is Spoutable. We've seen very good CPM rates with Spoutable for US traffic. If you've Asian traffic, you may not make much from Spoutable. Even then, I would say Spoutable is worth a try! They also have a very lucrative referral program where they pay publishers a 5% rev share of the earnings accrued by the new publisher for 6 months. If you're looking to monetize your site with an additional network, Spoutable should be your choice.
Header Bidding is also in demand and can do well if you've good volume of traffic, that's over 10 million page views and more. However, with a traffic of around 1-5 million, which most publishers generally fit into, the following networks can help you make cool money. You can additionally browse our network of ad networks for more recommendation.
Don't simply use google adsense or adx ads.
Video ads can make you good money if you've high percentage of desktop traffic.
Make sure you've different ad layout for desktop and mobile.
Do refer for more ad networks relevant to your niche.


From all of us at LogicWave, we would like to wish you a happy and bountiful Thanksgiving!
We are most thankful for our clients, customers, and colleagues. We are grateful for the opportunities that have been afforded to us, and hope for a successful end to this year and many more prosperous years to come.
Take time to appreciate all the good things in life, no matter how small they may seem.
May your meals be delicious and your Black Friday lines short!


Firstly sorry its a little late just been busy , Wife must have read blog last week and came up with lots of " important " jobs that I had to do; Monday; Weather very poor, snowing, noticed that the" Racing Pigeon " had left obviously the first bit of cold and his well toned body was of little use. All the female Rock Doves looked fed up while the males seemed to be happy.
Tuesday; After yesterdays weather I told myself to "cheer up things could be worse " so I cheered up and things got worse. Other than fly passed by sparrow hawk little else to report. Wednesday; lets not go there.
Thursday; weather a lot better out on pm tour with sightings of WTE at nest site at Loc G&K, GE fighting with WT over nest site at Loc B, HH both M&F at Loc S. Whinchat and Whitethroat in gorse bushes. Otter, Sparrow hawk and Kestrel at Loc N and GE at nest site Loc T then at the end of the day WTE flow back into trees opposite home. Friday; Weather pleasant out on pm tour plenty of WT and G Eagles Kestrel Sparrow Hawk, HH and first one this year Osprey at normal site. Flock of Whimbrel and Hedgehog walking up garden. Saturday: Start of 4 day break with nice group of people and not so nice weather. Saw plenty on way back home then out at night on an Owl hunt. Watched SEO hunting with good views then went to the TO nest site only to find that it was destroyed with only a large piece of shell left. As we drove home rather deflated the weather started to rain putting the chance of seeing the Barn Owl,at nil.
Sunday: weather again wet so we all went north of the island, nice viwes of 3 and 1 Otters playing in the rain.
Large flock of Whimbrel, 11 Dunlin at Dervaig, new WTE nest site at Loc D with Eagle sat in the tree. Little Gredes on Mishniss Lochs then as we stopped to look at the first Common Terns of the year Ken was attacked by the same pheasant that saw off Fran in early April.
Still not seen the Cuckoo but hearing him often and going to look for the Corncrake tomorrow and better weather.


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Community: We would love to share your upcoming event with our audience in our 'What's On' section. Please complete the below application form and we will be in ...
Russian athletes could be banned from 2016 Olympics after report
By Sarah Harvey	| November 10, 2015
Russia's Mariya Savinova reacts as she wins gold in the women's 800m final at the London 2012 Olympic Games. REUTERS/Phil Noble
Russian athletes could be banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics following a report which alleges a state-sponsored doping system.
The independent report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and carried out by the organisation's former president, Dick Pound, found a "deeply rooted culture of cheating at all levels" within Russian athletics.
Pound, speaking at a news conference on Monday, was asked if the allegations amounted to state-sponsored doping: "In the sense of consenting to it, there's no other conclusion."
WADA welcomes Independent Commission's Report into Widespread Doping in Sport https://t.co/8dYLCZB1PU #cleansport
— WADA (@wada_ama) November 9, 2015
The report says more than 1400 samples were "intentionally and maliciously" destroyed by a Moscow laboratory even after a WADA plea to preserve them.
It even suggests the London Olympics were "sabotaged" by the appearance of 24 Russian athletes who should not have been eligible, criticised the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) – the sport's governing body – and recommended five athletes and five coaches, all from Russia, be banned for life.
Among them are 2012 Olympic 800-metre champion Mariya Savinova and bronze medalist Ekaterina Poistogova.
Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) director Nikita Kamaev denounced the report as "unprofessional, illogical and declarative," according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. It's sports minister has said Russia has done all it could to prevent doping.
WADA's current president Craig Reedie said the report would "shock and appall athletes and sports fans worldwide."
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Benjamín Šrenkel (10. října 1934 – 26. července 2019) byl slovenský a československý politik a bezpartijní poslanec Sněmovny lidu Federálního shromáždění za normalizace.

Biografie
K roku 1976 se profesně uváděl jako soustružník. Ve volbách roku 1976 zasedl do Sněmovny lidu (volební obvod č. 195 – Gelnica, Východoslovenský kraj). Mandát obhájil ve volbách roku 1981 (obvod Gelnica) a volbách roku 1986 (obvod Krompachy). Ve Federálním shromáždění setrval do ledna 1990, kdy byl odvolán v rámci procesu kooptací do Federálního shromáždění po sametové revoluci.

Odkazy

Reference

Externí odkazy
  Benjamín Šrenkel v parlamentu

Narození v roce 1934
Narození 10. října
Českoslovenští politici slovenské národnosti
Úmrtí v roce 2019
Úmrtí 26. července
Poslanci československého Federálního shromáždění
Muži

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I was there when we transformed the economy. Were you?
It happened 15 – 17 May 2017 in Boulder, Colorado, at the Regenerative Future Summit. The Summit featured leading thinkers in the new economy, CEOs, activists and 300 citizens who gathered to create a new narrative for a Regenerative Economy: a world that works for 100% of humanity.
Scholars who framed the concepts that now guide global sustainable business and development set the context. Bob Costanza, one of the team who established the Planetary Boundaries, teamed with John Fullerton, author of Regenerative Capitalism, and Kate Raworth, the renegade economist, whose new book, Doughnut Economics, shows how to ensure dignity and prosperity for all people.
The Summit announced a narrative for an economy in service to life. Based in the discipline of Humanistic Management, it tells a new story of who we are as human beings. If you've had an economics class, or even been around more than a few years, you've been told that people are basically greedy. Despite the urgings of all of the world's great religions, "neoliberalism," the economic narrative that now runs the world, has convinced us that "greed is good." The sole goal of the economy and business, it says, is to generate financial wealth. The freedom of the individual (person or corporation) is the primary societal value. Markets are perfect and all of us individualistically maximizing our own desires will somehow deliver a world that works.
Except that it didn't. Today eight men have as much wealth as the bottom 3.5 billion humans on earth. The middle class is sinking into poverty with mothers working two jobs to support their families, while proponents of austerity cut social services to give greater tax benefits to the richest one percent. Give money to the rich, they tell us, they're rich, they'll invest it and we'll all be better off. If we just let the free market sort things out, all will be well.
Except that we aren't. The rich call themselves "job creators." But they invest not in new companies, but in financial instruments that benefit the big banks. So in 2016 the bonuses paid to Wall St. bankers, if shared among minimum wage earners, would have doubled the minimum wage. Just the bonuses.
"Government is the problem," say the neoliberals. "The only role for government is to maintain a strong military. Government should be small, and used only to protect individuals and their private property. Regulations (which to most of us mean the rules that protect us from shoddy workmanship, pollution and products that may harm our health) are cut wherever possible." And people die.
· A growing thirst for meaning and connection.
The old narrative is based on is an incomplete view of what it means to be human, assumptions that scientists now reject. Psychologists, evolutionary biologists, anthropologists and others find that most people are not greedy, rugged individualists. We seek to meet our needs, but more, people seek goodness, connection, and caring. We desire to be rewarded for meaningful contributions with a decent living. We are not mostly motivated to acquire wealth.
True freedom and success depend on creating a world where individuals flourish and we all prosper. Governments serve us best when they recognize our individual dignity and enhance our interconnectedness. To thrive, businesses and society must pivot toward a new purpose: shared well-being on a healthy planet.
This new narratives balances our innate entrepreneurialism and individualism with fairness and with our desire to bond with others. There is a business case for this view: purpose-driven organizations that respect dignity enjoy greater productivity. More sustainable brands and ethical investments deliver higher profitability.
But there is also a personal case: this approach delivers a higher quality of life. Science now tells us that life itself is interconnected and mutualistic, not separate, and competitive. Implementing more regenerative practices drawn from natural systems principles is a better way to achieve true freedom and a world that works for everyone.
The people who met in May reached consensus on ways to meet the challenges facing us. They embraced the value of market mechanisms and cooperative action for shared prosperity. They distilled the best of both approaches to create a new narrative of an economy in service to life.
And you can be, too. Because this event hasn't happened yet. You haven't missed it.
Be there. Enjoy a rare opportunity to interact with many of the world's top experts and help build the Regenerative Future. Join us. Register at the Summit website.


Is It Safe For Girls To Travel On An Overnight Train?
Discussion in 'Transportation' started by MegnaSinha, Feb 13, 2016.
My friend and I (both of us girls) will be traveling from Ambala to Mumbai on an overnight train which we had made a booking for around 2 weeks ago. At first, we were fine about the overnight train journey but a lot of people have said we should avoid the overnight trains especially if it is just myself and my female friend. It has made me and my friend really scared and I don't even think I would be able to get any sleep on the train or even be able to stay in peace. On top of all that I watched one of those programs on Savdaan Indian and guess what it was about a girl travelling on her own in a train.
Please advise what I should do, cancel the tickets or keep them?
Any tips or advise would be good.
If you are able to change your trip to a day trip, I would advise you to do that instead. I would not be okay with my girlfriend traveling alone on a night train. I am not saying that something bad will definitely happen, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
I would not feel comfortable traveling overnight alone or with a female friend either. When you are a stranger in a country, it's always better to choose safer options.
To be safe, maybe you should avoid traveling on trains at night. I'm sure you will be fine but why take the chance? I would probably avoid it myself.
I don't know if it's possible to rebook the tickets you already purchased but if there's that option then you should take advantage of it. I'm sure if you ask the train operator's management, then perhaps they can help you remedy this situation.
Ah, @MegnaSinha I hope you haven't already changed your tickets! You'll be fine. Really, really you will. I went to India with a friend of mine on my first trip. We're both female, and we took the sleeper trains many times, and it was never a problem in the slightest. I also travelled on my own on the sleeper trains, and I never had anyone say or do anything that made me feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable. It's really not a problem, and it's actually quite a fun experience - definitely a tick on the travelling list. I usually took AC3 tickets, and it was always fine, so you don't even need to be in one of the top two classes to feel secure. There are so many horror stories out there for women travelling, whether in groups or alone, but don't forget that there are also horror stories for women everywhere - walking around neighbourhoods near their own homes, or even just being IN your own homes. It doesn't look like the people who commented above have taken these trains, and I understand their caution, but please believe me when I say that honestly there is nothing to worry about at all. Take the same precautionary measures that you usually should - lock your backpack to your bed, keep your valuables with you, you'll be assigned bunks next to your friend, and you'll find that people go to sleep pretty early on the train anyway.
All this said, the important thing is that you feel comfortable, so if you didn't feel comfortable and you changed/change your tickets, then that's obviously perfectly fine, too. I'd be interested to hear what you decided in the end, and how your experience of either choice was!
It really depends on the type of train you're boarding. If your train is an Express train, it'll only stop at the major stations and it'll also have its own police crew to make sure everyone is okay. On the other hand, boarding a train that'll stop at any and every station is not really a great choice for women travelling alone at night. And also, travelling on one of the AC coaches will definitely help a lot as they're strictly monitored for unreserved passengers and potential troublemakers.
I think since she's not comfortable with the idea of riding an overnight train, then she should just ride during the day, where she feels safer and less tense.
If it makes her that fearful, then it could be better to switch the tickets to a day trip. India is beautiful day or night. However, I would not be the least bit afraid. I won't let my fear, especially my fear of being a woman, keep me from discovering what is beautiful and exciting about the world. The train has security, and think about it, if someone does something they shouldn't, they won't get very far.... unless they plan from jumping from a train.
Fear of crime rather than crime itself is what cripples people's lives in most cases.not just in India of course. As the seeds have already been planted in your head, Megna, you may as well make another plan as it will be hard to feel comfortable on the train now. If you feel you can go ahead perhaps you could take it in turns to sleep?
For me personally, as someone who has travelled pretty extensively solo, I don't know how I would feel about an overnight train unless I had a private room where I could lock a door. I just wouldn't be able to sleep otherwise - I know I'm probably being dramatic but I do try to avoid putting myself in a situation where I would be vulnerable with others around, and if it was an open sleeping group type setting I don't think I would do that. Ultimately though it's up to the individual. If your friend is really scared, to the point that it's going to ruin her pleasant trip with stress, then I would just try and rebook.
You have to accept that even if it is safe to travel on the overnight train, it is still better to be cautious and take preventative steps. Such choices are a mentality which is better than recklessness, and has impact in all actions, from big decisions to the mundane. Safety must be the primary concern. That does not mean being paranoid, but it does mean recognizing that there are safer options, and those should be undertaken where available. Being reckless, putting oneself in danger, is being a bad tourist, and is, in my opinion, disrespectful to the host country.
An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. I'm not saying it's guaranteed that something bad will happen, but there MIGHT be something that could happen at these night trains. Maybe swap for a day time train schedule, as you really wouldn't be able to see much of the scenery at night, and it is really a lot safer when there's more people during the day. I hope you guys would be alright.
While I'm not going to say your taking your life in your own hands, I do think you would be a little safer travelling through the day. If that isn't possible though, make sure you use your common sense, and try and stick together at all times and I'm sure you'll be fine.


In my last post, I talked about some of the issues surrounding the consumption of gluten and wheat and why someone might consider going without for awhile. As you may remember, I am going to go gluten-free myself for 21 days starting on March 1st ,which is a mere 5 days away. Gluten tends to be rather ubiquitous, hiding in not only foods(like black and red licorice, I just discovered) but also in makeup, toothpaste, personal health care items and prescriptions.
In November, I attended an all-day seminar on gluten-related disorders put on by Nadine Grzeskowiak, a nurse who discovered that she herself had serious health consequences from gluten consumption. Once she eliminated it from her diet, her quality of life changed so much that she started to devote herself to educating others on this topic. You can find out more about her and her programs at http://www.GlutenFreeRN.com.
Going gluten-free can feel a bit daunting if you have never really thought about it but it is also extremely manageable to do so. Those of us who are fortunate enough to live in the Pacific Northwest are particularly lucky as we have a wide choice of health-conscious stores to choose from . During the past few weeks, I have been perusing the aisles and have amassed a nice selection of gluten-free grains(remember I love to bake and cook) and things that I can snack on. The choices are amazing! I have 'practiced' going gluten-free for a few days at a time and I can honestly say that it has not been very difficult. I know that I will miss Italian focaccia bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, as well as New York style pizza….but I will live and not only that, I will thrive: of that I am certain. Perhaps I will even discover something without gluten that I will love as much: one can only hope.
Okay, here goes: the lists of what you can and cannot eat if you are choosing to join me. These lists are gleaned from "Wheat Belly" and Nadine's workshop and may not include everything that you CAN eat but I believe that they do list everything that you cannot eat. I always advise my patients who are adopting this lifestyle change to pick up a book on this topic AND to take a 'gluten-free' tour in their local Whole Foods/ New Seasons -type grocery store.
What you CAN eat: vegetables, fruits, organic meats, fish, nuts, seeds, rice, corn , potatoes, beans, dairy , 'safe grains': this includes nut flours(such as almond, chestnut, coconut, pecan and hazelnut), grain flours(rice, corn, millet, sorghum , teff and quinoa), legume flours(peanut, lava and chickpea), seed flours(amaranth and buckwheat: yes buckwheat is NOT a wheat), tuber flours(potato, tapioca and arrowroot).
Something else you should know is that according to Dr. Davis(author of 'Wheat Belly'),the tuber flours in particular can raise your blood sugar. This is particularly important if you already know that you have insulin resistance or are hoping to lose some weight by adopting a gluten-free diet. Before buying something, read the label and decide if this product is right for you.
If you are a baker, you can make your own gluten-free baked goods and know exactly what is in each item. I am excited to try some new recipes in the gluten-free world as there are some delicious substitutes already out there. Here in Lake Oswego we have one of the best GF bakeries around: Kyra's. The owner actually won a baking contest against bakers that cooked the traditional way. I have tasted her cinnamon rolls and cupcakes, which were simply amazing. Again, switching out sweets that are gluten-free for those that contain it will not be part of a weight-loss plan, but living without any treats forever is not a realistic goal for most of us and it is lovely to know that there are suitable choices for a gluten-free lifestyle.
There are some excellent mail-order sources for gluten-free products(like oats). Two that immediately come to mind are Bob's Red Mill,located in Portland, and Lingonberries Market, which is located in Vancouver, WA. If you happen to live in the Portland metro area, take a trip to both of these stores to see the incredible selection of delicious gluten-free choices that are available. Otherwise, go to their websites and do your shopping online. Once you gain awareness of how many great choices you still have, I promise that you will not feel deprived in any way.
So if you are joining me, take inventory of the things you have in your fridge and cupboards and make room for the new foods that you will be eating. I will be sharing some of my observations and recipes with you and I hope that you will do the same. A toast(gluten-free of course) to healthy eating and living!
Gluten: what is all the fuss about anyway????
Isn't it amazing how hard it is to make sustainable changes in your diet and/or exercise program between all of the holidays and celebrations that just seem to keep coming? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE holidays, birthdays, parties for no apparent reason, book club meetings, happy hour, after-work get-togethers, lunches with friends: my point is that there never seems to be a 'perfect time' to try to create some new habits. I have been thinking about this long and hard as 2014 has started and is now well under way(almost 1/6 th over, how did that happen???). Lately I have been immersing myself into reading about gluten/wheat/inflammation/belly fat. I am just about done reading the excellent book "Wheat Belly" by cardiologist William Davis, MD. In addition, I recently attended a terrific conference on gluten and I am getting more and more convinced that for some of us, gluten can cause some significant health problems.
My beautiful birthday group: yet another celebration!
Candace and I are both fascinated by the links between diet, hormone balance and weight issues. This has become quite a hot topic in the last few decades. There is so much information that it can be overwhelming for most of us to sort through: which diet is best?: low-fat, low carb, high protein, no grains, no sugar, vegan, vegetarian, Paleo: the list is endless and the media is constantly profiling contradictory studies about each of these programs, therefore adding more confusion to the mix.
Obviously, there is not one diet type that fits everyone on this planet. Each of us is born with a certain 'genotype', or genetic code, that determines about 30% of who we are and how healthy we will be. The great news, however, is that our 'phenotype'(how we look and who we are, in terms of personality, health and everything else you can think of) is shaped by our environment and the choices we make. In other words, we have a great deal of say in who we become and what level of health we can reach and maintain.
Getting back to gluten and wheat: what we now know is that the wheat that we consume now compared to what we consumed 50 years ago is very different. There has been a push to make the grains that we eat grow faster(leading to greater yields of crops, i.e. more profit for the farmers and all involved in the food supply chain). The wheat we now consume has between 50 and 500% greater gluten content than what was available a mere half century ago. Why is this important? Studies have shown that an individual consuming present-day wheat has a jump in blood glucose(sugar) higher than when then that same person eats white sugar. This is very alarming indeed.
Here is a quick overview of what happens when your blood sugar goes up after eating: Your body can do only 3 things with an elevated blood sugar: use it as energy, store it as glycogen in the liver or store it as fat. Well, guess what? If you are consuming more calories than what you are burning, you don't need the glucose for energy. In addition, your body can only store so much as glycogen, so the majority gets stored as fat. Insulin is the hormone that is released by the pancreas in response to an elevated blood glucose and allows your body to use the glucose(and store it as fat). Over time, if your body is continually bombarded by a rise in blood sugar, your insulin becomes resistant and you need more of it to utilize the glucose, leading to more fat storage: this becomes quite a vicious cycle! Once your body becomes insulin resistant, it is harder to lose weight, something we hear all the time: "I just don't eat that much and I cannot seem to lose weight, especially around my middle". Eventually insulin resistance leads to Type II Diabetes, a road that you would rather not go down if you can avoid it. And you can: that is the excellent news. By changing your diet and your exercise routine, you can return to the path towards optimal weight and hormone balance.
So is going gluten-free for you? Honestly, I cannot answer that and I don't know if it has a huge impact on me. What I DO know is that many of the women that I see as patients have given up gluten, either by my or someone else's recommendation, and the effect for many has been profound. I am going to ask several of them to write some comments about what happened to them individually, as I think that will be more powerful than hearing it from me. Briefly, they have noticed weight loss, clearer skin and thinking, increased energy, loss of belly fat and an overall sense of well-being. If it sounds too good to be true, it is not. For the millions of people who are gluten intolerant, giving it up can be a game changer. My goal is to go off of gluten completely starting March 1st and stay off for 21 days. Please feel free to join me, as so many of you have in the past with our 'consciousness cleanses'. It is nice to have company when embarking on a new way of eating and it will be fun to see what we notice individually and as a group.
Stay tuned: more info to come on what you can and cannot eat. But don't worry: there is still an amazing selection of food out there that is without gluten. We will eat well and hopefully we will notice some significant differences in how we look and feel.
That's me inside of a 1000 year old plus tree: now that's sustainable living!
This year is 'the year' that I am going to….
Happy 2014 to all of our wonderful readers and followers. Candace and I have been blogging together for 2 years and this is the year that we are hoping to take a synopsis of our book, with several chapters written up in the format we think will be the most readable and visually lovely, to a perspective publisher and see what happens. We realize that there are scores of books written on the top of hormone balance but we think we have a unique perspective and style that is not only accessible, but that resonates with our readers. We have punted around many ideas(you have no idea how many!!) from publishing an e-book, to self-publishing, to throwing in the towel(gasp) ….But we keep coming back to the idea of a real, hold in your hand, prop on your shelf, cuddle up in your bed, kind of book as that is what WE like and what most of our friends/family members/patients/colleagues/acquaintance turn to for the kind of content we are offering. So we would like to hear from YOU: what do you like about our blog, what have been some of your favorite topics, what haven't we covered that you want to know more about?? Of course we value your honesty as that will help us write a better book so please give us your 'from the heart' feedback. We will keep you posted as to our progress, but that is MP's overriding goal for this year.
What have YOU been saying that you hope to do, to change, to re-invent, to re-consider, to move towards or perhaps away from, in this coming year? Every newspaper and magazine that I have opened this past week had something about weight loss, exercising more, eating cleaner, etc but one thing I did notice that was different this year was the wording of the articles. Almost every one alluded to the concept that our goals should be towards making sustainable changes, not radical ones. To do that , it helps to make small changes, ones that you can stick to (like our 10 day 'consciousness cleanses', something anyone can do and benefit from): not saying , "I will NEVER eat potato chips and sour cream again after work(one of my personal favorite guilty pleasures…)" because that is just never going to happen. It is so much more realistic to write down what you hope to accomplish and then identify the obstacles, your strengths, a timeline and then formulate a plan. We will keep coming back to this topic in the upcoming weeks and months but I just want to leave you with a few simple thoughts as you think about the year ahead.
1. It DOES matter what you eat. This is probably the single most important thing that you do each day in terms of supporting or hurting your body. You can exercise until the cows come home, but if you are eating a diet high in processed foods, sugary beverages, calorie dense/nutrient poor foods(most of these come in a box/can/or a wrapper, by the way), you will gain weight in all the wrong places and you will not achieve optimal fitness….or fit into those favorite pair of jeans.
2.Follow the wise words of Michael Pollan: "Eat food(WHOLE food), not too much, mostly plants". Do this and you will see results, sustainable ones.
3. Spend a few minutes each day being grateful for the wonders of your body. Focus more on how your body feels and how it does whatever you ask it to do day after day, a miracle in and of itself. Take care of your body: feed it whole foods, clean water, take it out for a walk, a jog, a hike, expose it to natural vitamin D and the elements like the wind, the rain, the snow. Take note of how alive you feel when you have spent some time outside or just being active. Your body will thank you by continuing to do what you ask of it and by sticking around for awhile.
4. Take time to sleep, to rest and to restore yourself. You need this more than you know(see Candace's last post).
5. Make time for play, for love, for friendship, for prayer and meditation, for doing the things you love to do, for visiting someone who needs you to be there. Life often goes by in a blur so paying attention each day to the moments that matter and making time for the things that matter to you is crucial for living a life that has meaning.
Our conversation will continue. We look forward to writing to you and hearing from you in the upcoming year. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. We so appreciate all of you.


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Specific Type: Wooden, Bobsled
Manufacturer: Knobles
Official Debut: 10/5/2013
In 2006 the construction crew at Knoebels Amusement Resort in Pennsylvania began construction on a coaster that is a throwback to the golden age of coasters. John Fetterman took inspiration from 1920's era designers Norman Bartlett and John Miller and designed a wooden bobsled coaster under the name of Flying Turns. The crew atKnoebels took this design and began work on the coaster instead of sending the coaster through a major manufacturer like most modern day coasters. This bobsled coaster runs in a trough rather than on tracks like most coasters. This means the cars are free to slide back and forth in the trough just like you see with bobsledding in the Winter Olympics. Bobsled coasters are rare enough themselves in today's amusement parks, but most of these use a metal trough for the train to run in. Flying Turns takes the uniqueness to a whole new level by featuring a completely wooden construction; both the supports and the trough in which the train travels in are made of wood just like the bobsled coasters of the old days
However, bridging the gap between the new and the old brings its own sets of challenges. Construction began in January of 2006, but unfortunately the crew has stumbled upon several challenges and problems so Flying Turns is still yet to open. Things were looking good in 2007 as the crew completed the track work and ran successful test runs of a single car. By the end of 2007 the crew was running powered test runs of the whole train; things were looking good for the throwback coaster. However, problems began arising when a problem with the trains' wheels was discovered. The wheels had to be shipped back to their manufacturer in California in order to be fixed. After that problem was fixed a more serious problem arose. The train was traveling through its layout too quickly which put riders' comfort and safety at risk. Knoebels began work on the ride, but this work has proven to be quite tricky. The park hoped to openFlying Turns for the 2009 season, but unfortunately this goal was not able to be met.
In 2011, Knoebels added another entry to their blog with a new Flying Turns update. It said that they were very encouraged with the new Flying Turns trains. With the blog post was a video, which showed a point of view from the prototype chassis. Knoebels also stated in their blog that there is still a lot of work to be done to finish the ride. The ride remains closed to this day.
The ride begins with a left turn off of the lift hill that transitions right back into a right hand turn while traveling at a slight downward grade. Next up in the layout is a 90 degree left turn in which the train rises up the side of the trough.


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India Blacklists Russian Defense Company
The Indian Defense Ministry has barred six companies, including a small Russian defense firm, from bidding for defense contracts for the next 10 years... 07.03.2012, Sputnik International
newsfeed, military & intelligence
The Indian Defense Ministry has barred six companies, including a small Russian defense firm, from bidding for defense contracts for the next 10 years, Russia's Vedomosti newspaper reported citing Indian media.
The Corporation Zashchita (Protection), which Indian officials identify as Corporation Defense Russia, has been put on the Indian "black list" in connection with a corruption case involving former Director General of Ordnance Factory Board Sudipta Ghosh that came into the spotlight three years ago.
The list also includes Israel Military Industries, Singapore Technologies Kinetics, Germany's Rheinmetall Air Defense (RAD), and India's T S Kisan and Co Pvt Ltd и R K Machine Tools Ltd.
Corporation Zashchita, founded in 1993, specializes in the development and manufacturing of armored protection for civilian and military vehicles. The company has not yet commented on the Indian move.
A criminal case against Sudipta Ghosh and 11 other officials was filed in 2009 on charges of bribery and "preferential treatment" of certain suppliers.
Military & Intelligence


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Guide businesses internationally
Doing business in Canada
Benefit from international treaties
CMKZ 2018 International Trade Law Forecast
On February 26, 2018,	Posted by Bernard Colas ,	In International Analysis,
Available | Disponible : French
NAFTA | Trade Remedies | Asia-Pacific, Europe and South America | Progressive Trade | World Trade Organization | Economic sanctions | Tax | Mediation and International Arbitration
The beginning of the year provides CMKZ with an opportunity to inform companies trading internationally of developments that may affect their activities and strategies.
According to CMKZ, 2018 will be particularly influenced by:
Canada will continue to focus in 2018 on the NAFTA renegotiations and defending its commercial interests. It will continue to seek constructive solutions to modernize NAFTA and to mitigate some of the most excessive US demands. At the same time, many federal and provincial delegations will continue to make their presence felt in the US by visiting elected representatives and the business community to support the talks and to promote the merits of NAFTA.
While a full-blown crisis has been avoided until now, pressure is expected to mount on the negotiations as Mexican presidential elections will take place in July and US mid-term elections will be held in November. Despite the uncertainty, it is unlikely that the negotiations will result in the unilateral withdrawal of the US from NAFTA. The economies of many US states and industries depend on NAFTA and few US officials have said they support such a withdrawal. Moreover, a withdrawal decreed by President Trump would certainly lead to a constitutional crisis and give rise to court battles by many elected officials, chambers of commerce and entrepreneurs opposed to such a decision.
Trade Remedies
Given the imposition of duties and trade remedies to restrict the import of lumber into the US, as well as Bombardier's CSeries and various types of paper, Canada will continue to defend its interests under Chapter 19 of NAFTA (lumber) and rules of the World Trade Organization. In 2017, Canada filed WTO complaints against the United States denouncing the various softwood lumber decisions as well as certain aspects of the US trade remedy system. Recently, the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) determined that the CSeries did not cause injury to Boeing thereby eliminating countervailing duties imposed by the US Department of Commerce. It is possible but unlikely that Boeing will appeal the decision.
The next trade dispute could be on steel and aluminum. President Trump must decide before April 2018 whether or not to adopt restrictive import measures for steel and aluminum in order to protect his domestic industry which is not producing at full capacity according to the report submitted to him in January 2018 by US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. If this is the case, Europe, China and other countries exporting such products would react strongly. As for Canada, it may be exempted from such measures.
Diversifying Trade: Asia-Pacific, Europe and South America
In order to mitigate the impact of US isolationist tendencies, 2018 will see Canada turn towards the Asia-Pacific region, given its key role in international commercial relations, as well as towards Europe and South America.
In March 2018, Canada and the 10 other participating countries will meet to sign the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP), whose negotiations were completed in January 2018. The CPTPP takes over from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and suspends certain of its provisions. It is supplemented by series of side letters concluded between States on a bilateral basis. To come into force on this side of the Pacific, the CPTPP will be subject to the ratification and implementation process by Canada; which will result in many consultations and discussions.
With regards to China, the slow rate of progress towards a free trade agreement in 2017 might have disappointed many observers, given that the Canadian government only entered into limited agreements related to beef and pork exports. Nevertheless, Canada's talks with China have opened up an important line of high-level communication with senior Chinese and Canadian officials. Canada should continue its efforts to maintain its economic and diplomatic relations with China, while remaining cautious in view of the US-China economic rivalry.
Finally, having begun a dialogue with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2017, formal negotiations for a free trade agreement could begin in 2018.
Promoting the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union (EU) will remain a priority in 2018. CETA has been applied on a provisional basis and needs to be ratified by all of the EU's thirty national and regional parliaments to be fully implemented. Among such governments, France, Italy and Germany could seek to approve CETA in 2018.
Given Britain's March 2019 deadline to leave the EU, 2018 will see negotiations continue between the UK and the EU to determine the outcome of their future trade relationship. Of crucial importance for the UK is the inclusion of its vast financial services sector in any future trade deal with the EU. However, until such a deadline, Britain will remain a member of the EU and CETA rules will govern trade with the UK. 2018 will also probably see a more active agenda for informal bilateral trade talks between Canada and the UK in order to sort out a trade relationship for the post March 2019 era.
The EU will also be very active, as it should finalize negotiations with Mexico and continue negotiating a free trade agreement with the four founding countries of the Mercosur bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay). The EU will take advantage of these negotiations to modernize its free trade agreements, and in particular drawing on innovative elements of CETA. Moreover, the approval and ratification of trade agreements with Singapore, Vietnam and Japan will remain a priority for the EU and its members in 2018.
Lastly, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will enter into force in the EU in May 2018. The Regulation will apply to all companies offering goods or services to EU residents. Canadian companies will need to be aware of these new rules which intend to strengthen how companies handle data breaches and protect their own employees' data. The new regulation will simplify the regulatory environment for international business as data protection rules will be identical in every member state of the EU. Of particular importance, due in part to the entry in force of CETA, is for Canada to maintain its status as an adequately protected jurisdiction under EU law – allowing Canada to enjoy a more fluid trade with the European market. On the other side of the Atlantic, due to changes made to the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA") and related regulations, new mandatory data breach notification and record keeping requirements are expected to come into force in 2018.
The diversification of trade flows sought by the Canadian government will also include South America. 2018 will see the official start of negotiations to establish a free trade agreement between Canada and Mercosur, a regional economic bloc that includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. With a meeting planned in March 2018 to begin negotiations in Paraguay, an important work of reconciliation and compromise will have to be carried out as relations between the parties have often been difficult, especially between Brazil and Canada in the aerospace and the cattle industries.
Progressive Trade
So-called "progressive" values, which are increasingly used in free trade agreements, will come to the fore in 2018. In Canada, this trend is reflected in increased attention to issues such as gender and indigenous rights, environmental regulations and labor standards. 2018 will reveal if governments value such social issues and if they will consider them as a new standard in international trade or simply as an obstacle to trade negotiations, especially for Canada, as far as NAFTA, China and ASEAN is concerned. Progressive trade issues will likely be discussed at the G7 meeting to be held in Charlevoix, Quebec, in June 2018.
Moreover, on January 17, 2018, the Canadian International Trade Minister, François-Philippe Champagne, announced the creation of an independent Canadian ombudsman position for corporate social responsibility, a first step in support of such progressive values. The ombudsman will be responsible for conducting independent investigations into allegations of human rights violations related to the activities of Canadian companies abroad, recommending non-binding solutions, monitoring their implementation and where possible, to collaboratively help resolve conflicts between businesses and affected communities. The ombudsman is expected to be appointed by the federal cabinet this year, along with members of the multi-stakeholder Advisory Group tasked to provide advice to the government on responsible business conduct.
In view of the possible paralysis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism and the stagnant state of the Doha Round negotiations, 2018 will be a crucial year for the multilateral organization. In recent months, the US has blocked appointments of several judges to the Appellate Body, leaving it with only four judges to conduct business, with one judge's term expiring in September 2018 and with the two remaining judges from countries frequently involved in disputes (the US and China). To function, at least three judges need to be free of conflicts of interest. It is difficult to predict the outcome of this situation. The stakes are high for the stability of the international trading system.
Among the Appellate Body's expected decisions this year are those on Airbus, Boeing and the market status of China. The latter case will decide whether China is considered a market economy, as this will influence how the value of Chinese products in set in anti-dumping proceedings. This decision will be a decisive for the future of trade relations between China, the EU and the United States.
Under the new trends at the WTO, let us highlight the movement that appears to be emerging in order to circumvent the difficulties in obtaining the consensus of all WTO members for the adoption of agreements. At the Buenos Aires ministerial meeting in December 2017, subgroups constituted of various governments affirmed that they desired to tackle issues at a plurilateral level related to investment facilitation, electronic commerce, fossil fuel subsidies, domestic regulation and small and medium-sized enterprises. If an agreement arises from the work of such subgroups, it would then be open for signature to other WTO Members, with the scope of such an agreement being extended to all WTO Members on a most-favored-nation (MFN) basis unless otherwise decided by all WTO Members.
WTO accessions will remain a priority for the WTO in 2018. It is expected talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Union of Comoros will continue, with both States slated to accede to the WTO in 2018.
Attention should be paid to the situation in Myanmar. Following the persecution suffered by the Rohingya, the country has attracted the wrath of the international community. It is likely that Canada will adopt important measures as a result of such violence, but probably not until the final report of the Canadian Special Envoy to Myanmar Bob Rae, appointed in October 2017, is submitted. The Canadian government has decided to act in the meantime by directly sanctioning a Burmese general in February 2018 for his role in the clashes.
After adopting its own Magnitsky law (based on the US law of the same name in memory of a Russian whistleblower who died in prison) in 2017, the government of Canada can now impose a freeze of financial assets or a travel ban on any foreign official guilty of serious human rights violations.
Moreover, in 2018 attention should be paid to potential new sanctions from the US government against the restricted circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a reprisal against Russia's interference in the US elections, as well as any developments concerning the US opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA).
2018 will see Canada continuing negotiations on international tax treaties with Switzerland and Germany, and the amendments to tax treaties with Taiwan and Israel will come into effect.
In addition, new changes to the Government of Canada's Voluntary Disclosures Program are expected, which gives legal persons a second chance to amend a filed tax return or to file a tax return that should have been filed. As of March 1, 2018, eligibility criteria for the program will be restricted to bar fraudulent companies that have deliberately avoided paying taxes.
Canada also announced the establishment of a website entitled Registering a trade barrier. This is a forum where Canadian companies doing business abroad will be able to report any impediments, fiscal or otherwise, encountered during their overseas operations. Companies will now be able to work directly with the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service and other government departments to reduce these barriers to international trade.
Mediation and International Arbitration
In the area of private law, a special committee of The Hague Conference on Private International Law should complete the draft Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments, also known as the "Judgment's Project". At its meeting in July 2018, the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is expected to adopt the Model Law on the Recognition and Enforcement of Insolvency Related Judgments as well as the draft convention on international commercial settlement agreements (resulting from mediation) and the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Mediation which amends the previous Model Law of 2002. Finally, a UNCITRAL Working Group will continue its work on investor-State arbitration reform.
In the field of securities interests, a diplomatic conference should be convened by the UNIDROIT Council for the adoption of the 4th Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on Matters Specific to Agricultural, Construction and Mining Equipment.
In light of these developments, in 2018 businesses will have to keep a close eye on:
The outcome of the NAFTA renegotiation and its effect on North American trade and on Canadian commercial strategy;
The evolution of trade remedies, and economic sanctions and other measures that disrupt trade;
US arm wrestling to weaken the ability of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to settle trade disputes between States and to ensure compliance with international trade rules;
The development of privileged trade relations between Canada and the Asia Pacific, Europe and South America, and the consequences of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU on contracts, intellectual property and access to the UK and European markets;
The entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation in EU countries and its direct impact on the business operations of companies offering goods and services to the EU; and
Initiatives to facilitate international recognition of mediation agreements and judicial decisions.
For further information on these developments and on the potential impact they may have on your activities, please do not hesitate to contact Bernard Colas, Julius Dunton or one of our other lawyers at CMKZ specialized in international trade law.
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A complex multi-site, multi-lingual migration to Optimizely
Headquartered in Norway and represented in more than 100 countries, Jotun is a global paint manufacturing company that specialises in decorative, marine, protective and powder coatings. The £1.94 billion turnover company operates 38 production facilities and 67 companies across the world. The team turned to DEPT® to advise on CMS selection and migrate all 91 variations of its B2B and B2C websites, including more than 60,000 pages, to a new Optimizely solution.
Scoping the challenge
As a global manufacturer of paint products for both the industrial and home segments, Jotun has distinct B2B and B2C sites with radically different purposes and requirements. The primary purpose of the consumer site is to provide inspiration and stimulate in-store demand, which is done through beautiful imagery, interactivity and design ideas, supported by practical guidance such as product information and how-to guides.
Jotun's trade site serves as a customer portal where dealers and distributors can log in to access personalised tools, product and technical information to expand their knowledge of Jotun products and accelerate their own business operations. Products, tools and content are dynamically displayed to individual users relevant to their sector, as well as personalised messaging and account information.
The aim of the project was to source a new technology solution and migrate all 91 (and increasing) country and language versions of the B2C and B2B sites within 12 months.
Finding a future ready solution
With wide ranging requirements and defined future plans, Jotun needed to migrate to a truly versatile, future-ready solution. Following a thorough analysis of the company's current and upcoming requirements, an in-depth platform comparison and proof-of-concept review, Jotun identified Optimizely as the optimal platform to meet their needs.
While the existing B2B and B2C platforms had been built on the SDL Tridion CMS, Optimizely's DXP (digital experience platform) provided the flexibility and opportunity for Jotun to accelerate its digital capabilities in the future.
As well as providing an improved CMS editor experience, the DXP has strong content and commerce offerings that the team could utilise to lay the foundations for Jotun's future website improvements. The platform also handles multiple websites and languages with ease, and provides a range of hosting options, including fully managed cloud with Microsoft Azure, to help minimise overhead for the internal IT teams.
Discovery deep dive
Having worked with Jotun since 2016 to build its existing platforms, DEPT® understood the complexity of the business and its goals. DEPT® is also an expert in developing large scale content management solutions, making the team well placed to not only consult Jotun on the optimum CMS choice, but to manage the complex migration.
Although DEPT® was already familiar with Jotun's digital operations, the discovery phase was essential to fully understand the current landscape, authoring needs, non-functional requirements, and determine the technology architecture and integrations required for the future state.
Through a range of workshops, we conducted a page and component audit to understand and document all templates, features and functions. This helped us to understand where and how often they were used across the sites and informed the new technical specification.
We reviewed SEO to develop a specific migration strategy that would ensure no equity was lost, as well as analytics to understand requirements of the new sites and ensure all tagging specification was integrated ahead of the live date. We also ran sessions with end users so that we could recreate what they liked about the existing set up, and remedy elements that they found frustrating.
Architecting a flexible technical solution
Once the existing landscape and future needs had been fully reviewed within discovery, DEPT®'s technical experts were in a position to architect the optimum solution to meet all security and non-functional requirements. To form the basis of the build, they produced a specification to detail all of the required elements, the approach to each, and the overall technical approach.
The project was somewhat simplified by the fact that we had initially architected both the B2B and B2C solutions in a headless fashion, utilising React.JS for the front end and SDL Tridion for the back end. Having the front and back ends decoupled in this way meant we could proceed with the CMS migration with little work to the React application, integrating Optimizely via an abstracted API layer.
Maximising functionality
01 Enabling access and personalisation
Different solutions were implemented to ensure the correct and relevant content was displayed to customers of the B2B and B2C sites. To power the B2B My.Jotun portal, DEPT® built an IAM (identity and access management) solution utilising Azure Active Directory (AD) and AD groups, dynamically mapped to Optimizely Visitor Groups, to define high level access to the portal and deliver personalised features, content and applications to the relevant user. Meanwhile for the B2C site, Optimizely's Visitor Groups function was utilised in a simpler fashion to manage personalisation of content based on a range of signals and personalisation journeys.
02 Optimizely Find
Optimizely Find was implemented to power global search, the product finder, colour grids, related colours and products, and various listing pages; delivering intelligent search results across the B2B and B2C sites.
03 Combining content and commerce
We leveraged Optimizely Commerce Cloud and Content Cloud to bring together all product and colour information within the solution in a way that enables the data to be combined with more 'inspirational' marketing content. This was previously managed via two custom databases, brought together using search and custom code, but the tighter integration within Optimizely allows the rapid creation of seamless experiences.
Just Say Hi New Business Press Inquiries Working at DEPT®
Complex content migration
Through DEPT®'s in-depth approach to discovery, where its content specialists had direct access to the existing CMS, conducted visual reviews, and discussed needs with content editors, the team had a strong grasp of content needs to develop an effective migration plan.
When it came to the main task at hand, content migration, one of the main challenges we identified during the discovery phase was that SDL Tridion is a component based system, allowing editors to build pages from a range of components, whereas Optimizely is a page based solution, where editors can add/amend content on pre-built page templates.
Content migration is already the riskiest phase and the one most likely to cause delay, particularly when handling the page volume that Jotun has; but this added an extra layer of difficulty, as regional sites often had vastly different page layouts for the same page type on the global site, making automation of page migration almost impossible without major error.
Through a series of content audits, our specialists identified more than 35 page templates and +100 components that had been used without standardisation across different market sites. To ensure the effective migration of the 35 templates across all pages, we first implemented a tiering system to identify the highest-lowest value pages, and therefore highest-lowest risk pages, depending on the structural complexity and prominence of the page.
From here, we were able to identify nine page formats that were being used most consistently across the vast majority of the 60,000 pages, where we could run automated scripts to test for any variances in page structure and migrate these lower risk pages. The remaining, higher risk, pages, of which there were around 800, were manually reviewed and migrated by DEPT® and Jotun's content editors.
DEPT® quickly became embedded in Jotun's marketing team and experts on its content management. Our specialists delivered more than 20 training sessions to Jotun's content editors in regional offices across the world, to ensure a smooth transition to the new CMS.
DEPT® is proud of the part it is playing in Jotun's digital journey. After the successful migration of all 91 sites and 60,000 pages from SDL Tridion to Optimizely, Jotun's new digital architecture is more efficient and effective for both internal and external users. Greater standardisation across sites adds strength to the brand, and the foundations have been laid to accelerate Jotun's digital activity in the months and years ahead.
Managing Director UK
Brian Robinson
Transforming the Eurovision village into a 3D virtual world
Supporting farmers every step of the way
Indigo AG


This Blue Quill pattern is another excellent and essential early season pattern. It imitates a number of smaller mayflies with essential hook sizes 14-20. If those are not available, substituting them with Blue Dun dry and Blue Dun Midges can be effective. The hatch will invariably occur in large numbers and the trout will feed greedily after a hungry winter. The hatch occurs in the late morning to midafternoon.
Blue Quill's are a smaller species of mayfly, however will be found in midstream and slightly faster runs than the Blue Winged Olive, for example. A precursor for this hatch to occur is that water temperatures have reached and maintain 50 degrees or better.


Make the American Revolution Come Alive!
In the Boise and West Ada School Districts, we know that Fifth Graders are introduced to the American Revolution and the drafting of the United States Constitution for the first time. We want to make this a memorable and exciting time for your students!
* PLUS! Request a Pioneer Chapter Daughter to come and speak to your class! Our volunteers love to share the stories of our Revolutionary War Patriots and our personal connection to this very special time in history.
Just click on the "Order Resources" button and send us an email requesting the resources you'd like to use in your classroom. We'll hand deliver them to your school within a week of your request. We reserve the right to limit quantities.
Just send us an email using the button below. All resources are provided FREE of charge, while quantities last. We reserve the right to limit quantities to make sure as many 5th Graders receive these resources as possible.
If you are interested in a lesson plan, just scroll down and download them right now. If you would like a volunteer speaker, please provide two or three potential dates, a general time frame (morning or afternoon) and we'll match you up with one of our Pioneer Chapter Daughters!
Please feel free to download as many of these documents as you may find useful. Some are worksheets; others are full lesson plans. We hope you find these collected resources from other teachers and resource providers around the nation helpful as you excite your students on the beautiful story of our Country's birth and its most precious symbol.


I've mentioned avenue Jean Médecin quite often because it's one of the most popular avenues in Nice and it is where you can find anything you might need.
The street is named after former Nice Mayor Jean Médecin and his son Jacques, who together held the position of mayor for a combined 57 years.
As it is a commercial hub with several amenities as well as luxury shopping, it's definitely one of the major arteries in the city. Here you will find the architecture is a mixture of traditional and modern.
I love walking down avenue Jean Médecin at any time of the day or night, but especially in the morning when the city is just waking up. Watching the locals head to work and shops opening give the perfect start to my day.
I usually don't even bother to take the tram that goes down the avenue as part of the main route as I prefer a leisurely stroll to get me to where I want to go.
At the South end of avenue Jean Médecin, closest to the beach and right at Place Massena is the national department store Galeries Lafayette, located at: 6 avenue Jean Médecin.
Close by is a very large Sephora at: 8 avenue Jean Médecin, and next door is the equally sizeable Zara boutique at: 10 avenue Jean Médecin, where you will always find very hot, yet professional, retail clerks working.
There are numerous other retailers in the immediate vicinity. Crossing the street will put you at Virgin Megastore, located at: 15 avenue Jean Médecin.
Update: Unfortunately it was announced in late 2012 that all the Virgin Megastores will be closing for business across France.
Back across the street and a few blocks down you will come across Nice Etoile shopping mall, located at: 30 avenue Jean Médecin.
Etoile is so large that it takes up its own block of services and specialty shops covering a number of floors. I will explore this mall in greater detail in a later blog post.
Keep in mind that avenue Jean Médecin is the place to go too if there is something you forgot to pack for your trip.
One block over and you will find Monoprix, located at: 42 avenue Jean Médecin. This is a big grocery and department store. Any food, clothing or drugstore item you may need can be found there. Did I mention that the store also has a fully stocked liquor area with a number of great wines?
Next door you will find Fnac at: 46 avenue Jean Médecin. Fnac is a national chain that sells everything from books, concert tickets, audio and visual equipment to CD's and DVD's. Fnac is quite a large store that covers at least 5 floors, I love how the interior and exterior architectural details have been kept and maintained.
In the same building as Fnac, on the corner is the ever trendy Bershka shop and literally across the same side of Avenue Jean Médecin is the popular Pull & Bear. Both are great places to shop if you wanted to find something quick and casual for everyday use or a night out!
If you need to do some banking, there are also several major bank branches along the way.
You'll find a little bit of everything on avenue Jean Médecin, discount 2 Euro shops (that's "dollar store" to North Americans), sports stores, tourist shops, a wide variety of hotels plus wonderful cafes to relax and people watch.
From one end to the other, avenue Jean Médecin is a great place to explore, find what you need and use as a guide as a first timer to the city in order to find your way around. It's a main corridor that I have always found safe and friendly to use.


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The Laemobothriidae are a family of a larger group Amblycera of the chewing lice. Most commonly they are ectoparasites of birds. The genera are sometimes all united in Laemobothrion.

References

Lice
Insect families


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Excessive Antibiotic Use in Newborns Can Permanently Damage Lungs' Defenses
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Media Announcements
Study Raises Questions about How Antibiotics Are Prescribed
Hitesh Deshmukh, MD, PhD
Doctors have long understood that antibiotics that protect infants from infection also can disrupt the normal growth of their gut bacteria. However, a new study reveals that the consequences of routine antibiotic use may be deeper and longer lasting than expected.
The study, published Feb. 8 in Science Translational Medicine, shows that short-term disruption of gut bacteria makes infant mice more likely to develop pneumonia. It also makes them more likely to die from it. Longer term, continued disruptions to gut bacteria appears to cause permanent immune system damage.
Led by researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, the study may spark a wider conversation about antibiotics use, including the near-automatic practice of prescribing them to women before Cesarean section deliveries, according to the authors.
"It is time to begin pushing back on practices that were established decades ago, when our level of understanding was different," says Hitesh Deshmukh, MD, PhD, a neonatologist, pulmonary biologist and lead author of the study. "To prevent infection in one infant, we are exposing 200 infants to the unwanted effects of antibiotics. A more balanced, more nuanced approach is possible."
Nearly every C-section in the U.S. involves prescribing antibiotics to mothers shortly before delivery. Up to 30 percent of newborns in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) also receive antibiotics.
The treatments help prevent Group B streptococcal infections—the leading cause of deadly infections in newborns. However, in most cases the drugs are given as a precaution, not because infections have been confirmed, Deshmukh says.
Once taken, the antibiotics act against a wide range of bacteria, be they good or bad. It turns out that commensal—or "good"—bacteria play a vital role in building a healthy immune system.
Why do lungs need healthy bacteria in the gut?
Even after birth, an infant's lungs are still forming and their immune defenses remain under construction.
For more than two years, Deshmukh and colleagues conducted experiments in mice to define how this process works. They found that strong defenses depend on a flow of molecular signals occurring as the body reacts to waves of normal bacteria colonizing the gut. These signals tell the lungs when to build immune cells, how many, and where they should be deployed.
Specifically, the presence of commensal bacteria triggers the production of group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3). These sentinel cells migrate to mucosal linings in the lungs, where they produce Interleukin-22 (IL-22). This vital signaling protein helps activate the immune response to infection.
The problem is when antibiotics wipe out good bacteria, they cut off that important flow of signals. As a result, the lungs build weaker castle walls with fewer guards on duty.
Damage can become permanent
If antibiotic use is limited and early, a human infant would have some time to replenish commensal bacteria. But the process can take months, Deshmukh says, and the result may not be a normal mix of bacteria.
After about a year, human infants have completed building their immune systems. That means any construction weaknesses are likely to be permanent.
This outcome of excess antibiotic use may help explain why some people with no obvious genetic risk factors develop asthma or other lung diseases later in life, Deshmukh says.
Rapidly restoring good bacteria may help
The need to use antibiotics to save lives when dangerous infections strike has not changed. However, these findings do suggest re-thinking routine preventive use in newborns, the researchers say.
The good news: methods exist for restoring normal bacteria levels. In fact, when the researchers used such methods in mice, it restored their resistance to pneumonia.
Do mice experiments in the current paper apply to humans? A clinical study to evaluate the safety and benefits of limiting antibiotic use among expectant mothers and newborns is among the next steps researchers are pursuing, Deshmukh says.
In addition to Deshmukh, co-authors included Jeffrey Whitsett, MD, Co-Director of the Perinatal Institute at Cincinnati Children's; Theresa Alenghat, VMD, PhD, Division of Immunobiology; research assistants Jerilyn Gray and Katherine Oehrle; and George Worthen, MD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Funding support for this study includes grants from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (1K08HD084686), the Francis Family Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, and the Pew Trust.
nicholas.miller@cchmc.org


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BOB DAISLEY Says It Was 'Pathetic' Of SHARON OSBOURNE To Have His Parts Re-Recorded On OZZY First Two Albums
In a brand new interview with Rolling Stone, Bob Daisley spoke about the controversial 2002 re-recordings of the drum and bass parts on OZZY OSBOURNE's classic first two solo albums, 1980's "Blizzard Of Ozz" and 1981's "Diary Of A Madman".
The tracks originally played by bassist Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake on both albums were replaced on the reissue by Robert Trujillo (now in METALLICA) and Mike Bordin, respectively, after Daisley and Kerslake sued Ozzy and his wife/manager Sharon Osbourne over royalties. They were restored for the 30th-anniversary editions.
Asked how he felt when he learned that his parts on the first two Ozzy records had been re-recorded, Bob said: "To be honest with you, I thought it was pathetic. Someone sent me a copy of one of them, and I laughed. I thought, 'Is this a joke?' I just didn't think it was done right. The thing is, you can't reheat a soufflé. You can't take the ingredients out of a cake and then try and bake it again. It happened once. We did various takes of each song and we used the parts where each of us shined the best. There might be five takes of 'Crazy Train' or four takes of something else, or eight takes of something else, and we picked the one that had the best vibe. And it was four people being recorded in a room together. You can't change that.
"And the fans hated them for it. It was, like, 'God, you've got no respect for the fans and everyone that spends money on this music.' They were hated for it. I'm just quoting what fans said, not me."
Ozzy told The Pulse Of Radio he was against the idea of replacing the original tracks when he found out about it. "Believe me, it wasn't my doing," he said. "I mean, I didn't know that was being done, 'cause Sharon was fighting all the legal things that were going down at the time. I said, 'What did you do that for?' And she said, 'The only way I could stop everything was if it went to that level.' And I said, 'You know what, whatever the circumstances were, I want the original thing back.' I mean, I wouldn't have done that."
Daisley told Rock Cellar in a 2012 interview that the 30th-anniversary reissues of both albums could have featured the material as bonus content. He explained, "I offered to supply tapes of our rehearsals and writing sessions, to go as proper bonus material. And I just said that I wanted a royalty out of it, because it's my stuff. But they wouldn't do it because they didn't want to give me a royalty — they just wanted to buy it."
Daisley said that he and Kerslake were fired because of disagreements with Sharon over a number of things, including refusing to do two shows in one day out of worry that Ozzy would blow out his voice.
According to the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA), 1980's "Blizzard Of Ozz" has been certified quintuple platinum for shipments in excess of five million copies, while 1981's "Diary Of A Madman" has been certified triple platinum for more three million units sold.
Tags: ozzy osbourne
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