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HomeHealth'You Are Not Listening to Me': Black Women on Pain and Implicit Bias in Medicine
'You Are Not Listening to Me': Black Women on Pain and Implicit Bias in Medicine
July 27, 2020 admin Health 0
"Pain is an area ripe for implicit bias having an impact because it's an extremely subjective area," Janice Sabin, a research professor who studies implicit bias in medicine told TODAY. Shannon Wright / For TODAY
By Vidya Rao – Medicine has a history of bias, the vestiges of which we are still grappling with today.
Amy Mason-Cooley was in so much pain this past June that she couldn't walk, a pain that she describes as feeling like "being sliced open with a rusty hand saw."
Her husband rushed her to USA Health University Hospital, a familiar trip for the Mobile, Alabama resident. Mason-Cooley, 37, regularly experiences excruciating pain as a result of sickle cell disease, a disorder in which abnormally crescent-shaped red blood cells can get stuck in blood vessels and prevent the flow of blood and oxygen to parts of the body.
After 24 hours at the hospital, her pain still hadn't subsided, but her doctor decided to take her off of medications despite her pleas that she was unable to walk and was still in crisis.
Amy Mason-Cooley, 37, of Mobile, Alabama, has struggled to get adequate treatment for sickle cell disease.Amy Mason-Cooley
"As soon as he stopped all my medications, my blood count started dropping," she told TODAY. "It dropped down (low enough that) they started talking about doing a transfusion."
She advocated for herself, telling the doctor, "I don't want you to be in control of my care because you are not listening to me."
He ignored her requests and, according to her, even smirked in response. It wasn't until other medical staff came in and got her back on her medication hours later that she finally stabilized.
"I don't want you to be in control of my care because you are not listening to me."
Mason-Cooley filed a complaint with the hospital, and recounted her experience in a Facebook post that was shared over 13,000 times before she made it private. The post hit a nerve for numerous people across the country who have been denied appropriate care after their own pain was dismissed.
While the hospital did not return a request for comment, they did post a statement to their Facebook page saying they "investigate all complaints," after Mason-Cooley's post went viral.
A shared experience among Black women
Mason-Cooley's experience is all too familiar to other Black women, who are caught between being considered impervious to pain because of their race, and overly hysterical about pain because of their gender.
"Pain is an area ripe for implicit bias having an impact because it's an extremely subjective area," said Janice Sabin, a research professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, who studies implicit bias in medicine. "If a person is bleeding, you can figure out how much blood is lost. But someone who has lower back pain, for example, it's a very subjective measure." Additionally, she said, cultural differences in how people express their pain and how doctors register that expression, can impact pain management care as well.
Mason-Cooley says no matter how she expresses her pain, she runs the risk of being dismissed.
"There's so much judgment. If you're too calm, then they say, 'Oh, you're not sick. You don't look sick.' And then if you're crying and moaning, they say you're exaggerating. I don't really know what they want from us," she said, exasperated.
This particularly impacts people suffering from diseases like sickle cell disease, which almost exclusively affects Black people, or fibromyalgia, lupus and endometriosis — diseases that are often misdiagnosed and misunderstood.
Medicine's history of bias
"Pain is an area ripe for implicit bias having an impact because it's an extremely subjective area," Janice Sabin, a research professor who studies implicit bias in medicine told TODAY. Shannon Wright / For TODAY
Medicine has a history of bias, the vestiges of which we are still grappling with today.
A 2016 study found that nearly half of first and second year medical students believed that Black people have thicker skin than white people, and perceived Black people as experiencing less pain than white people, an idea born from 19th century experiments that were conducted by a physician named Thomas Hamilton. He was a wealthy plantation owner who regularly tortured an enslaved Black man named John Brown, creating blisters all over his body in an effort to prove Black skin went deeper than white skin.
A 2019 study published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine analyzed data from 14 previously published studies on pain management and found that Black patients were 40% less likely to receive medication for acute pain compared to white patients, and 34% less likely to be prescribed opioids.
"The field of medicine was very complicit historically in racial categorization and biological concepts of race," said Sabin. Medicine's role in espousing biological differences between Black and white people laid the foundation for justifying slavery and the inhumane treatment of Black people. Dr. James Marion Sims, known as the founding father of gynecology, conducted experimental surgeries on enslaved Black women without anesthesia, developing a body of work that continues to misrepresent how Black women experience pain.
The slavery-era belief that Black people were hypersexual and simultaneously less intelligent than white people also continues to impact the care that Black women get.
"With Black women there is an assumption that they don't know their bodies, that they don't understand, that they're not educated about their bodies," Dr. Colene Arnold, a gynecologist who specializes in pelvic pain disorders, told New Hampshire Public Radio's The Exchange podcast. She pointed to a study that found Black women are less likely to be diagnosed for endometriosis than white women when they were experiencing pelvic pain, and instead, misdiagnosed as having pelvic inflammatory disease, which is typically sexually transmitted.
"When we look at patient testimonies, particularly from Black women … We're seeing that these typical tropes of Black women are used … that they are hypersexualized and that if they have some sort of illness or pain, that it's likely self-inflicted in a sense that they did something wrong," Keisha Ray, an assistant professor at the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics in Houston, Texas, told The Exchange.
'I'm here because I'm sick'
In another pain crisis just last year, Mason-Cooley recalls being left in a hospital waiting room for 10 hours until she passed out from pain, only to wake up to a nurse telling her, "This isn't a pain clinic," implying that she was seeking drugs.
"I have straight up told doctors and nurses, 'If I wanted it to get high, I could do it on the streets for cheaper, with less judgment. I'm here because I'm sick,'" Mason-Cooley said.
Others on Mason-Cooley's Facebook thread posted about experiencing pain in the middle of the night and forcing themselves to wait until the morning to go to the hospital, because they knew a 2 a.m. trip to the emergency room for severe pain would only result in accusations that they are addicts. It's a lot of added stress to deal with when you're struggling with intense pain.
And having untreated pain can have long-term physical, psychological, social and economic consequences. Additionally, say the authors of the 2019 study, pain that's dismissed causes patients to have less trust in the medical system. That was what Sevon Blake, a 29-year-old Black baker in Queens, New York, experienced.
"I used to have a lot of lower abdominal pain, and I brought up the concern to my doctor multiple times. He would say, "'It's probably just a little gas, you're fine', and just kind of like brush under the rug."
"… It's gotta stop. We're asking you to listen to us."
Blake switched from her Asian male doctor to a Black female doctor who took her concerns seriously. Her new doctor listened to her, discussed her options and eventually referred her to a gastroenterologist. It turns out Blake has a gluten intolerance, an issue that was managed with dietary changes. "I didn't feel like I could talk to my previous doctor, if he was just going to dismiss me, then I'm not going to be proactive and tell him what I'm feeling."
Mason-Cooley, a vocal advocate for the sickle cell community who spoke on Capitol Hill about the disease in 2018, said all she wants is to be heard.
"I don't want to undermine any doctor or any nurse because it's a noble job," she said. "But I know people with sickle cell that have actually died from a heart attack because the pain was so excruciating. No one took it seriously and they passed away. So it's gotta stop. We're asking you to listen to us. We just want to be treated the way you would want your own family treated."
For more on this article visit: https://www.today.com/health/implicit-bias-medicine-how-it-hurts-black-women-t187866vvvvv
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'Lovecraft Country' Team on the HBO Horror Drama's Resonant Themes in Today's America


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Official Most Haunted Experience Events Company..Part Of Most Haunted Tv..
HMP Shrewsbury Ghost Hunt
With Glen Hunt and Gregg Smith from Tvs Most Haunted
Date - 20th June 2020
Times - 9pm til 2am
Price - Only £59pp
Location size - Cat A
HMP Shrewsbury also known as Dana has a rich dark history from murders..suicides and hangings..From haunted cells to the chaple..kitchens and so much more..Very dark..very scary..This location has it all..including the hanging area..This location is huge..with many areas to investigate..From people being grabbed and pushed to full bodied apparitions seen.aswell as items thrown..loud footsteps and cell doors that bang shut of their own accord...Dare you enter ?..Its LOCKDOWN at HMP Shrewsbury...
USE THE PAYMENT OPTION TO PAY TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY..
Hmp Shrewsbury 20th June 2020
Names..Email..Telephone Below
History HM Prison Shrewsbury was a Category B/C men's prison in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It closed in March 2013. The former prison site, on Howard Street, adjacent to Shrewsbury railway station, is near the site of the Dana Gaol, a medieval prison. The name The Dana is still often used for the prison, as well as being the name of the road to one side of the prison and the pedestrian route that runs from near the front of the prison into the town centre via a footbridge over the station. The now disused platform 8 at the station, masked from the opposite platform by a high wall, was used for transporting prisoners between 1868 and the First World War. There has been a prison on the site since 1793, the original building being constructed by Thomas Telford to plans by Shrewsbury architect John Hiram Haycock;[1] the present prison building was constructed in 1877. The prison took female convicts until 1922. Between 1902 and 1961 the following seven people were executed by hanging within the walls of HMP Shrewsbury for the crime of murder:- Richard Wigley aged 34 yrs on Tuesday, 18 March 1902 (Mary Ellen Bowen [girlfriend]) William Griffiths aged 57 yrs on Tuesday, 24 July 1923 (Catherine Hughes [mother]) Frank Griffin aged 40 yrs on Thursday, 4 January 1951 (Jane Edge) Harry Huxley aged 43 yrs on Tuesday, 8 July 1952 (Ada Royce [girlfriend]) Donald Neil Simon aged 32 years on Thursday, 23 October 1952 (Eunice Simon [estranged wife] & Victor Brades [her lover]) Desmond Donald Hooper aged 27 yrs on Tuesday, 26 January 1954 (Betty Smith) George Riley aged 21 yrs on Thursday, 9 February 1961 (Adeline Mary Smith [neighbour)
The Dana, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 2HR
Car parking opposite the main gate..Extra charge to be paid on the night to the prison tour staff..
Your night includes -
Meet..Greet with the celebs
Autographs and photos
Hot drinks and snacks
Table Tipping
Human Pendulum
Ghost Hunting Equipment
Team Assistance
TICKET PROTECTION PLAN
WE NOW OFFER A TICKET PROTECTION PLAN
THIS ALLOWS YOU TO APPLY FOR REFUNDS OR TRANSFERS ON UNUSED BD TICKETS FOR FUTURE EVENTS

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


representing 99 € the 2 Green-Fee.
representing 139 € the 3 Green-Fee.
representing 174 € the 4 Green-Fee.
2 Green-Fee + golf cart : 130 €, instead of 146 €, representing a discount of 15% on the Green-Fee. 2 Green-Fee + 2 ellectric caddies : 130 €, instead of 146 €, representing a discount of 15% on the Green-Fee.


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Q: Create tabbed rectangle with CSS Is anybody aware of any CSS tricks that can achieve the tabbed rectangle look as shown in the image below.
Obviously this cannot be achieved using one div, however, can anybody come up with a better method than overlapping one div over another to make a gap in the border?
This is my current solution, but I feel it could be better:
HTML:

CSS (Have ignored colors and positioning etc):
#handle {
    width: 90px;
    height: 20px;
    border-left: 1px solid #666;
    border-right: 1px solid #666;
}

#menu {
    width: 600px;
    height: 100px;
    border: 1px solid #666;
    margin-top: 19px; /* Notice it is one pixel higher then the bottom of the #handle, this covers the top border where the handle is */
}

Please do not correct the above CSS if there are mistakes, I have not tested this. It is purely to show my current method of achieving this
Any comments much appreciated

UPDATE
This is the HTML for the menu as it stands:

#

#

#

#

This is the CSS for the menu as it stands (I have not included the sub menu css yet):
/* Navigation */
#global-nav {position:absolute;width:460px;height:27px;left:15px;top:43px;}

#global-nav ul {margin:0;padding:0;list-style-type:none;}
#global-nav ul li {position:relative;display:block;width:92px;height:27px;float:left;padding:0;margin-left:8px;z-index:10;cursor:pointer;background-image:url("http://beta.example.net/_images/_global/sprite.png");background-position:-173px -32px;}
#global-nav ul li:hover {background-position:-173px -59px;}
#global-nav ul li:active {background-position:-173px -86px;}
#global-nav ul li a {display:block;width:92px;height:27px;line-height:27px;text-align:center;color:#fff;font-size:12px;text-shadow:#666 0 -1px 0;}
#global-nav ul li:hover a {color:#666;text-shadow:#fff 0 1px 0;}
#global-nav ul li:active a {color:#666;text-shadow:none;}

/* Set styles for specific navigation buttons */
#homNav {width:47px !important;margin-left:0 !important;margin-right:12px;background-position:-126px -32px !important;}
#homNav a {width:47px !important;}
#homNav:hover {background-position:-126px -59px !important;}
#homNav:active {background-position:-126px -86px !important;}

/* Set hovers of sub menu buttons to active images */
#masNav:hover,
#shiNav:hover,
#repNav:hover,
#setNav:hover
{background-position:-173px -86px !important;}

A: After having a good look at this I concluded that my original method of overlaying the border was the best way to achieve this tabbed menu.
HTML:

#

#

#

#

CSS (Sorry for the compression, just my way of formatting):
/* Navigation */
#global-nav {position:absolute;width:460px;height:27px;left:15px;top:43px;}

#global-nav ul {margin:0;padding:0;list-style-type:none;}
#global-nav ul li {position:relative;display:block;width:92px;height:27px;float:left;padding:0;margin-left:8px;z-index:10;background-image:url("http://beta.example.net/_images/_global/sprite.png");background-position:-173px -32px;}
#global-nav ul li:hover {background-position:-173px -59px;}
#global-nav ul li:active {background-position:-173px -86px;}
#global-nav ul li a {display:block;width:92px;height:27px;line-height:27px;text-align:center;color:#fff;font-size:12px;text-shadow:#666 0 -1px 0;}
#global-nav ul li:hover a {color:#666;text-shadow:#fff 0 1px 0;}
#global-nav ul li:active a {color:#666;text-shadow:none;}

/* Set styles for specific navigation buttons */
#homNav {width:47px !important;margin-left:0 !important;margin-right:12px;background-position:-126px -32px !important;}
#homNav a {width:47px !important;}
#homNav:hover {background-position:-126px -59px !important;}
#homNav:active {background-position:-126px -86px !important;}

/* Set hovers of sub menu buttons to active images */
#masNav:hover,
#shiNav:hover,
#repNav:hover,
#setNav:hover
{background-position:-173px -86px !important;}

/* Set the sub menu handles */
#global-nav .subMenuHandle {position:relative;display:none;width:90px;height:12px;margin-top:-1px;border-left:1px solid #666;border-right:1px solid #666;z-index:1000;background-color:#fff;background-repeat:repeat-x;}

/* Set the sub menu container */
#global-nav .subMenu {position:relative;display:none;margin-top:-1px;width:910px;height:180px;border:1px solid #666;z-index:999;background-color:#ddd;background-position:0 -12px;background-repeat:repeat-x;}

/* Set the menu hovers to show sub menus */
#global-nav ul li:hover .subMenuHandle,
#global-nav ul li:hover .subMenu
{display:block;}

/* Set the sub menu container positions */
#masNav .subMenu {margin-left:-83px;}
#shiNav .subMenu {margin-left:-183px;}
#repNav .subMenu {margin-left:-283px;}
#setNav .subMenu {margin-left:-383px;}

/* Set the noise in the menus */
.bg-noise {position:absolute;left:0;top:0;width:100%;height:100%;background:url("https://www.beta.net/_images/_global/bg-noise.png") repeat;}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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First American Data Tree LLC Secures Two Business Method Search Patents
- U.S. Patents #7,877,403 and #7,933,820 -
May 17, 2011, Santa Ana, Calif.
First American Data Tree LLC, the nation's largest provider of digital land records, announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded two patents to the company for its business method inventions.
The first invention, U.S. Patent #7,877,403, allows a user searching an electronic real estate database to select from several similar entries suggested by the system by using a specific type of search logic. The second invention, U.S. Patent #7,933,820, involves instantly collecting and validating property data at its source by using a mobile device.
Data Tree's patents incorporate self-learning search algorithms that expand a database search from a simple word to include word suggestions. For example, "Bill Smith" may be incorrectly entered by a user as "Bill Smitth." The learning technology adapts rules to generalize the training examples specified by the users and learns the intuitive search knowledge of the users over time. As a result of using this technology, building databases may be performed in a more timely and efficient manner. The other patent awarded accelerates the process for collecting property title and tax data by capturing the information at its source, whether locally or remotely, by a mobile device.
"The unparalleled speed and accuracy with which we can deliver information to our clients allows us to remain a leader in the industry. Our innovations create a more user-friendly experience for our customers," stated Robert Karraa, president of First American Data Tree. "These inventions give us exclusivity in using faster and more complete data-gathering methods and further secures our competitive advantage."
About First American Data Tree
First American Data Tree, a member of the First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF) family of companies, is one of the nation's leading providers of public land records and property data. Data Tree instantly delivers millions of quality images and property reports online, everyday to a variety of industries in need of property information. The company uses state-of-the-art imaging systems and software to meet its customers' needs for high-speed, reliable property information and database management services. For more information, please visit www.datatree.com.
First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF) is a leading provider of title insurance and settlement services to the real estate and mortgage industries, that traces its heritage back to 1889. First American and its affiliated companies also provide title plant management services; title and other real property records and images; valuation products and services; home warranty products; property and casualty insurance; and banking, trust and investment advisory services. With revenues of $3.9 billion in 2010, the company offers its products and services directly and through its agents and partners in all 50 states and abroad. More information about the company can be found at www.firstam.com.


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Sicignano may refer to:

 Sicignano (surname), an Italian habitational surname that evolved from the Latin word Sicinianus
 Sicignano degli Alburni, a comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of southern Italy
 Vincenzo Sicignano, an Italian football (soccer) goalkeeper

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Now with 300 millions users and $80 billion in online sales, Amazon is leading the retail industry. What is Amazon's secret to becoming the most relevant brand to millennials in America? This article shares three consumer-first strategies applicable for online-retailers and digital business professionals that paved Amazon's way to success.
Forrester reports that by 2021, consumers will spend $152 billion directly on mobile phones and that mobile phones will influence $1.4 trillion on offline sales. Learn more about the impact of mobile customer engagement and recommendations about how to capture and grow mobile commerce.
Old tactics to retain customer loyalty are not as relevant today. In fact, only 34% of customers say that what makes them loyal to a brand today is the same as three years ago. Instead, loyalty comes from engagement, trust, influence, and emotional connection.
Measuring clicks no longer be the metric used to measure marketing campaign ROI. Instead, analyzing every engagement point will tie directly to a dollar amount. 2017 is the year of of bringing meaningful engagement with customers. This article discusses five trends we expect to see over the next year that will yield higher engagement from consumers. Our own research also supports this research, with evidence of greater consumer value across social platforms, views, branded app adoption, and customer reviews, to name a few.
Recently, social media has had a huge impact on the fashion industry. In America, 35% of millennial women have said that social media is one of the top influencers when making clothing purchases. Learn more about how social media is driving engagement and influencing customers.


Opening of the new Water Park in Scarboro. Hayley & Sonny McCarthy from Leeds.
A long-awaited £14 million water park in North Yorkshire boasting the UK's four longest and fastest water slides has opened after its initial unveiling was delayed due to technical difficulties with water temperature.
Alpamare Scarborough had been due to open on Thursday in North Bay but was put back so a new part could be fitted.
It includes indoor and outdoor pools, waterslides and a spa, and is part of the £150m Sands development in the North Yorkshire seaside town. Park plans were first proposed in 2005 but have faced several set-backs.
The political and financial rollercoaster that came to a halt with Saturday's grand opening has seen the project scale the heights of ambition and plumb the depths of near-disaster.
The new Water Park in Scarborough.
The drowning tragedy of a 16 year-old swimmer, whom a lifeguard had refused to believe was in trouble, landed the council with a £20,000 legal bill and spelled the beginning of the end.
In the 2007 season, amid concerns for the soundness of the flumes, the doors of the attraction stayed locked shut.
At this week's preview, however, they were looking to Scarborough's future, not its past. Alpamare was hailed by council leader Derek Bastiman as "the most exciting thing we have seen open in recent years".


The super strong, reinforced backpack is ideal for carrying everything you'll need for a day on the mountain.
I have this bag and it is perfect for holding everything together on my way to the mountain. If you need something to hold everything for you, but this bag its amazing.


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Flavor of the Week
Menu>Beverage Trends
Flavor of the Week: Smooth, refined Japanese Whisky
Datassential. | Jun 01, 2021
Start Slideshow ›
Whiskey has been made in Japan since the 1800s. Though influenced by Scotch, it tends to have lighter, more dialed-in flavors. It's perfectly suited to be drunk neat or on the rocks, but it is most frequently enjoyed in Japan with club soda and ice in a highball glass.
The Japanese Highball has grown in popularity in the United States in recent years, too, as has demand for Japanese whisky which, like Irish whiskey (another increasingly popular spirit), tends to be lighter in flavor than Scotch and American whiskeys. The increase in popularity in Japanese whisky — seen on nearly 140% more menus than just four years ago — also has contributed to its rising price, which can make it some of the most expensive liquor on the market, although moderately priced bottlings are available as well.
Market research firm Datassential reports that awareness of Japanese whisky is highest among men, Millennials and Asian consumers.
Click through the gallery to learn more about this Flavor of the Week and get inspired by how one restaurant is showcasing Japanese whisky on its menu.
TAGS: Consumer Trends


It takes approximately 40 weeks to create and grow a baby.
If you ask a pregnant woman whether or not she's ready to deliver, you'll get a different answer on any given day. She could be desperate to deliver: days may feel as if they're doubling in hours, and the end result seems like it will never happen. She may also be shocked by how quickly time has passed since her child was first conceived. You may catch her worrying about all that's left to do and how she'll make it happen—she just isn't ready.
It's been about 40 weeks since we published the sixth issue of Spry, and we're proud to announce our newest pride and joy: Issue 07. It's 15 poems long, with 10 pounds of prose.
There were days in its gestation that we weren't sure we'd ever be ready to announce its launch, days in which we were so ready to hit publish. While issues don't usually take this long to curate, we're so please at the final outcome.


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Uber faces lawsuit from courier claiming employee status
The company already faces lawsuits over employee classification and benefits for drivers
Martyn Williams
Taking a cue from Uber drivers, a 'foot and bike' courier has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the ride-hailing company and a subsidiary, demanding minimum wages, and reimbursement of tools-of-the-trade expenses and gratuities as would be typically provided to regular employees.
Uber has introduced its delivery services, called UberEats and UberRush, in some cities in the U.S. and other countries.
In a proposed class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and other Uber couriers in New York, Matthew B. Burgos, claims that among other things, Uber circumvents its duty of supplying safety gear by misclassifying its couriers as independent contractors. Couriers are also required to purchase their own 'tools of the trade' including their own bicycles, helmets and reflectors in making deliveries for Uber.
The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York cites New York City Bureau of Statistics reports that there were 225 bicyclist deaths between 1996 and 2005. "Over seventy percent of those deaths were delivery workers, and 97% of the delivery who were killed were not wearing helmets," according to the complaint.
A federal judge in California rejected in August a proposed settlement between Uber and drivers in Massachusetts and California in lawsuits that claimed that they should be classified as employees with full benefits rather than as independent contractors. The proposed settlement did not address the classification issue, but would have given the drivers in the class-action suit a US$84 million payment, which could see a hike of $16 million depending on Uber's valuation if it goes public.
District Judge Edward Chen of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found that the amount was not fair and adequate as most of the drivers would receive less than $100 each from the settlement. An appeals court ruled in September that drivers had to settle issues through individual arbitration provisions instead of through class action.
Uber could not be immediately reached for comment on the complaint by Burgos.
The company has held that its model, based around freelance contractors over whom it says it has minimal control, gives drivers flexibility to choose when to work and be their own bosses. Recognizing its drivers or couriers as employees would require the ride-hailing company to pay them benefits, which would push up its cost of operation.
The lawsuit by the couriers will likely have reverberations in the on-demand economy, which mainly uses contractors to deliver a variety of services to help keep costs down.
"Uber controls nearly every aspect of the Couriers' employment," according to the complaint by Burgos, which claims that a person "is an independent contractor only when free from control and direction in the performance of such services."
While the agreements state that couriers have the right to work for other delivery companies, the couriers including Burgos were told during an orientation course in December last year that a courier would be "deactivated" from Uber if found to be working for any other service, according to the complaint. Couriers must also take the assignments given, and complete them in time frames set by Uber.
The company had a setback recently in the U.K. where an employment tribunal ruled that it should treat its local drivers as employees, and pay them the minimum wage and give them paid time off. The judge decided that Uber was an employer because of its control of pricing, of the route taken by the drivers, and of key information about passengers.


Rhodes State College, along with the West Central Ohio Manufacturing Consortium (WCOMC) and Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) will offer Level 1 Infrared Certification training and exam February 20-24.
This 4.5-day course meets American Society of Non-Destructive Testing (ASNT) requirements for third-party certification of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) personnel in Thermal/Infrared Methods. Price for this program includes all materials and written exam at the end of the course. Price includes lunches Monday-Thursday.
Instructor is Craig Preston of OMI Infrared LLC.
There is a discount to employees of WCOMC members.
Please refer to the attached flyer for more information and to register. Registration deadline is February 13.


March, 2005: Rebiya Kadeer. Photo: RFA.
WASHINGTON—Chinese authorities have released two officials working in Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer's company in Xinjiang after holding them without charge for seven months.
Company secretary Ruzi Mamat and Kadeer's former assistant Aysham Kerim were freed Dec. 14 and allowed to return home, Kadeer told RFA's Uyghur service.
Both of them lost weight—they looked like bags of bones...Especially Aysham Kerim. She used to have hair down to her feet, and now she looks like a fleeced sheep.
Both were arrested May 11, and witnesses said at the time that Aysham Kerim, the mother of a seven-month-old infant, was dragged by her hair into a police car.
Chinese authorities in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the northwesternmost part of China, gave no explanation for their release. No further details about their detention or release were immediately available.
On May 11, Chinese officials made a surprise raid on Kadeer's company offices, arresting the two.
Two days later, on May 13, more than 100 police raided the firm, taking 15 large bags full of documents, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch quoted witnesses as saying.
Other sources said they had also opened the company safe and removed 35,000 yuan (about U.S. $6,000) in cash, saying the company was suspected of tax fraud, sources said.
In May, Kadeer's husband, Virginia-based Sidik Haji Rouzi, described Aysham Kerim and Ruzi Mamat as uninterested in politics.
"These guys are just employees of the company—they're not involved in politics. They're just loyal to the company, to Rebiya Kadeer, and to the Uyghur people," he said.
In a March 28 interview, Kadeer—one of China's most famous political prisoners—said Chinese guards had warned her that the five grown children she would leave behind in China would be "finished" if she revealed sensitive information or associated with Uyghur separatists in exile.
Kadeer quoted the guards as using the colloquial Mandarin word wandan , meaning "to finish or put an end to" something.
She served five-1/2 years of her eight-year sentence before she was released on medical parole and permitted to join her husband in exile in the United States. Six of her 11 children remain in China.
Many of the Turkic-speaking Uyghurs—who account for most of Xinjiang's 19 million people—want more autonomy for the northwestern region.
Beijing has waged a continuing campaign against what it calls violent separatist activities in Xinjiang. Uyghurs twice declared a short-lived independent East Turkestan in the 1930s and 40s.


Feeling Like you Have a Broken Heart?
Heartbreak, also referred to as heartache, is a painful emotional experience. This kind of suffering occurs after you lose a loved one. This loss can be in the form of death, betrayal, a breakup, separation, divorce, or rejection. In this article I'm going to give you many steps to heal your broken heart.
This experience is not just limited to human loved ones. It can and does happen with the loss of our pets and even other things that we have a strong emotional attachment to. In this article I will speak primarily to breakup these very principles are paramount with loss of any kind.
There are typically 5 stages that will be encountered in a heartbreak experience. Observe yourself as you move through all 5 of these stages. Avoiding or denying any of them will slow your recovery and healing process.
Although a broken heart is a metaphor, there can be very real physical pain in addition to the emotional turmoil that is associated with this experience.
As devastating as this might be, it is important that you decide what you are going to do. You need to learn how to heal a broken heart. At times it can feel as though the heartache will never end. It is important that you maintain faith in the fact that you do in fact possess the ability to overcome this.
Ultimately, it is all about grief.
#1 Devote some time to nurturing yourself – During and after the rollercoaster of heartache, you need to devote some time to healing yourself. It is a time when you can take a step back and evaluate your life: where you are, and where you want to be. Spend some time doing the things that they enjoy most. It's also important that, at the same time, you surround yourself with people who make you happy.
#2 Lean on your support network – It's at times like these that your friends and family can be of immense help and support. Don't be afraid to lean on them for support as you go through this adjustment in your life. If necessary, seek professional assistance from a counselor or psychologist to help you deal with your circumstances.
#3 Discover the relief that catharsis brings – It often helps to write a letter to the person in question – without sending it. This gives you the opportunity to vent your feelings and really express what you are thinking and how you are feeling. When writing this letter be sure to write with deep passion and your full on emotions being expressed. Tearing up the letter or even burning it can add to the feeling of catharsis and letting go.
Many people find that writing in a journal is a powerful and cathartic experience. I personally use journaling to help me center myself and let go of trapped emotions that many time I did not even recognize as being there. It is a great way to release the buildup of emotions that typically accompanies heartbreak.
#4 Allow yourself to feel your emotions – One of the important things about using a journal is that it allows you to identify and get in touch with your emotions. It is never a good idea to deny your emotions.
Allow yourself to feel sad, angry, upset, and everything else that goes along with heartache. Rather than fighting your emotions, allow yourself to feel them. But don't hold onto these feelings – allow them to flow through you.
Don't criticize yourself if you feel the need to cry – this too can be cathartic, and some degree of relief frequently follows an emotional release.
#5 Identify and minimize things that trigger your heartache – Unless you have been bereaved, it is a good idea to remove all visible and tangible items that act as triggers for feelings of heartache. You don't have to destroy any items. Think about removing photographs, letters, and other reminders from your immediate environment.
This is not about pretending that the other person never existed – it's about removing triggers that send a fresh wave of heartache through your being.
#6 Create some distance – If you are trying to come to grips with how to get over heartbreak, then it's a good idea to consider lessening your contact with the person. Clearly, this depends on the circumstances.
However, if it is feasible it can help to remove all links to the other person on social media. Seeing their posts, tweets, etc will only serve as reminders of the pain you are experiencing. Allow yourself some distance in order to heal and reevaluate your life.
#7 Lead a healthy lifestyle – When it comes to how to mend a broken heart don't believe what you see in movies – hiding in a blanket fort and eating ice-cream is not going to help. Even if it's the last thing that you feel like doing, you need to look after your body in order to heal your emotions. GEt up, get out the house and live your life!
As devastating as a breakup is, it is still an opportunity for you to learn something that will aid your future. As silly as some of those breakup quotes might seem, some do hold some wisdom.
In fact, quotes about heartbreak may reveal more than wisdom. They can also be a source of motivation, a reminder that others do understand what you are going through, and encouragement to go on.
#8 Understand and forget – Unfortunately, many breakups end in casting blame and an obsession about who was at fault. The important thing is to understand what went wrong, and how you can avoid those mistakes in future relationships. Keep in mind that everyone makes mistakes, and it's seldom the case than one person is completely to blame and the other is entirely blameless.
Feeling ready and able to forgive the other person is a significant step in the healing process. Forgiving someone does not mean that you condone what they did or said. However, it is only when you are able to genuinely forgive another person that the issues can be resolved and you will be able to move on in your life.
#9 Physical Support – On final consideration is Homeopathy or Flower Essences. Ignatia is a wonderful homeopathic remedy that can be very helpful with speeding up the process of healing with grief. I would recommend a potency of 30X or 30C. Dissolve 5 pellets under your tongue 4 times a day. Take it away from food and avoid strong mint, raw garlic, camphor and eucalyptus as they will cancel the remedy (but no harm will occur).
A powerful flower essence for grief is Star of Bethlehem.
It may not feel possible now, but there will come a time when you will have a new lease on life. This is the time when you will be able try new things and meet new people. Travelling, being creative, or learning a new skill, are all things that will bring productivity to your life – and with it a new sense of energy and purpose.
Time is a POWERFUL healer!


text:
Former Wave Hill chair, executive David Beim, 79
Posted Friday, June 14, 2019 12:05 am
David Beim
Courtesy of Nick Beim
David Beim died peacefully at his home in Riverdale from cancer on June 6, 2019.
He was 79.
He was born in Minneapolis, the youngest of three children born to Raymond and Moana Beim. His grandfather, Clinton Odell, was the founder of Burma-Shave, whose signs and roadside verse became well-known during the early years of America's romance with the automobile.
He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Stanford University and Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
He spent his first 25 years of his career in investment banking, including 10 years on Wall Street at The First Boston Corp., and executive roles at the Export Import Bank, Dillon Read & Co., and Bankers Trust. It was there he built the company's corporate finance function.
He spent the next 25 years as a professor of finance and economics at the Columbia Business School, where he taught courses on finance, banking, emerging markets and business ethics.
He was very active philanthropically in civic and educational causes. For 17 years, he served as the chair of Wave Hill, which he helped become financially sustainable by establishing its first endowment. Driven by his passion for the outdoors, he served on the board of Outward Bound, including five years as chair. He served as a trustee of Exeter, where he wrote an influential paper that encouraged Exeter to increase the financial aid it provides to lower-income students.
He also was an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
His greatest joy was his family, and he is survived by his beloved wife Elizabeth, his children Amy and Nick, and five grandchildren.
David Beim,


text:
Rate & Review: "Crystal Blue-Haired Persuasion" (YABF16)
View Poll Results: How would you rate this episode?
Thread: Rate & Review: "Crystal Blue-Haired Persuasion" (YABF16)
Original Airdate: May 12, 2019
Writer: Megan Amram
Director: Matthew Faughnan
Showrunner: Al Jean
Synopsis: After Homer's work cuts children's healthcare benefits, Marge turns to buying healing crystals as a cheaper solution for Bart's ADD. Bart begins to succeed in school, prompting Marge to open her very own crystals empire and sell to the naive mothers at school.
Previous R&R
Financial Panther
Kinda like Jesus
I really wanted to give this a 4/5, but there were some pretty big flaws that brought it down. I found the story quite interesting; it eventually became another "Marge opens a business" episode, but I thought it was done pretty well, and I was interested in the story throughout. Homer and Marge's relationship throughout the episode was strong, and it was nice to see. As usual, there were scenes that went on too long, such as the video and side effects the medicine had on Bart, and the crystal montage thingamajigger could've been cut down too. There were a couple shock jokes in here that just made me look blankly at the screen. First we had the guy in the video roll into traffic, and then there was the scene at the end with Marge and the crystal lady running out what seemed like a war zone.
But what I really didn't like about this was Lisa. I'm usually fine with her, but I have to side with the people who generally dislike her in this one. I understand that she wanted to expose Bart for doing something wrong, but it seemed as if Lisa was becoming insecure about how her brother was equaling her school achievements, and she wanted to knock him back down. That's just a bitchy thing to do. I did like the reveal of how he was cheating, but I wish he had been found out by Flanders or something instead of Lisa being unlikable throughout the episode. It was about average all told. Too bad, because it could've been more. 3/5
Favorite and least favorite by season
1. Krusty Gets Busted There's No Disgrace Like Home 2. Bart Gets an F Dead Putting Society 3. Homer at the Bat Like Father, Like Clown 4. Brother From the Same Planet Krusty Gets Kancelled 5. Cape Feare Lady Bouvier's Lover 6. Homer Badman Another Simpsons Clip Show 7. King-Size Homer Lisa the Iconoclast 8. Homer's Enemy El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer 9. Bart Carny The Trouble With Trillions 10. Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble" 11. Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner? Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder 12. HOMЯ Tennis the Menace 13. Tales From the Public Domain She of Little Faith 14. The Dad Who Knew Too Little Helter Shelter 15. I, Annoyed Grunt)-bot Bart-Mangled Banner 16. A Star is Torn On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister 17. My Fair Laddy Bonfire of the Manatees 18. The Haw-Hawed Couple You Kent Always Say What You Want 19. Funeral for a Fiend All About Lisa 20. Gone Maggie Gone The Good, the Sad and the Drugly 21. The Bob Next Door The Color Yellow 22. Donnie Fatso Love is a Many Strangled Thing 23. The Falcon and the D'ohman A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again 24. Hardly Kirk-ing Moonshine River 25. The War of Art What to Expect When Bart's Expecting 26. Sky Police Let's Go Fly a Coot 27. Halloween of Horror Lisa With an 'S' 28. There Will Be Buds Moho House 29. Springfield Splendor Throw Grampa From the Dane
by: Brad Lascelle
PatrickButler21
Junior Camper
Oswego NY
Originally Posted by Financial Panther
I think Lisa was the best part about the episode. I liked the whole detective story with her trying to find out if Bart was hiding something. My problem with the episode is with the lack of good jokes. Most of the good jokes were in Act 3. I thought the story was really good though.
3t8yb
New Jersey, U.S.
Pretty disposable episode. Things got off to an underwhelming start with the long list-esque gag with the video, which didn't even really end up mattering. The plot with the crystals might've been nicer if Lisa's cheating accusation didn't come until later; it telegraphed them being phony far too early in the episode for my liking. There weren't any egregiously bad jokes, but not too much in this one was funny, and the plot was too recycled and predictable for my taste. Wish I had more to say about the finale, but this was just an unremarkable end to an unremarkable season.
airalba
on the cards
Now granted, I haven't seen every episode, but season 30 might be a new low for the show. Just borefest after borefest after borefest, they can't even be interestingly bad anymore. This one was more of the same: two recycled tropes (Marge opens a business/Lisa exposes Bart) combined with flat gags throughout. At least do something zany with the crystals to keep my attention, like make Bart psychic or something. This was just sleep-inducing. But I'm sure 31 will be the season the show finally picks it up.
lionelhutz123
Dinner at 80 mph
They sure do love playing Crystal Blue Persuasion a lot for montages on this show. Back to back episodes of it and three times overall if you count the couch gag from however many seasons back.
Anyway, an okay finale. My sister collects those crystals so it was neat to see a story about them. I laughed at the idea of Luanne sprinkling them on the bed so Kirk doesn't crawl over to her.
Frankbags
That was a decent episode. there were a few good gags throughout, the musical sequence was a little too long, I'm usually not a fan of visual jokes like those plus they shoehorned the fox in there.. this always feels cheap to me.
I was going to give this a 4/5 and then thought a 2/5 might be more accurate.. I've settled on 3/5.. there were some great moments, the bit with cletus at the book club was funny.. I didn't hate lisa playing the detective storyline but I thought it wasn't as fleshed out as it could have been, her motivation was too undefined to really set the narrative... between all the gags they stuffed this episode in, it feels like they were a little too scattered to truly give the two stories the time they deserved.
paranormal investigator
dicksville, usa
Originally Posted by friz
prediction: bart uses the crystals as an elaborate set of mirrors to see the answer sheet on the teacher's desk
Originally Posted by simpsonsbart
About milk, remember that this word has several meanings...
Venomrabbit
Actually an Esquilax
The Mists of History
Woo-hoo-dunnit really did feel more like finale material. Still, guess it wasn't too bad. It's been kind of a common theme that whenever anything does go right for Bart, Lisa always has to find some way to either expose it as fraud or undermine it because god forbid something goes right in his life? And it's like Peeping Mom where it all falls apart because she's right. It would have been a lot better if he wasn't cheating but there was something else to it. Like maybe it had a placebo effect on him? Episodes like Separate Vocations have him do better in school simply because he had been given something to aim for or look forward to so maybe he bought into them and put the effort in but Lisa's continued harassment shook his belief and he slipped right back down?
Main one wasn't super notable but it had its moments, like the Bouvier family harassing Marge's rival. I dunno, it was alright but I think the previous was more of a finale.
BloodySimpsonChibi
Done with life
This was a pretty boring episode.
Originally Posted by Kaine
I'd imagine patting Lisa on the head would sting, damn kids with their spiky heads.
angeldeb82
Stonecutter
East Hartford, CT.
The A.V. Club: B-
https://tv.avclub.com/marge-finds-on...ons-1834707050
Den of Geek: 2.5/5
https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/fox/...red-persuasion
Nitsy
Proud of Being Lame
-Two out of the last three episodes they shoehorn in the political commentary about health care and tax cuts. On the nose, much? At least this didn't become a travel episode where they go to Uzbekistan to get better health care. Homer doing Marge's voice is always funny, though.
-Wow, Bart's been taking Focusyn since Season 11.
-Yes, this video is a list gag, but I laughed at "sudden relocation".
-Bart likes it up the ass.
-Two death scenes and we're only a few minutes in. This episode's off to a weird start.
-This is a long and strange montage. I'm not surprised they referenced Space Coyote here.
-Well this Piper woman is annoying and unnecessary.
-A Confederacy of Dunces It's kind of funny to see Homer as a housewife.
I'm not sure I agree with the anti-Lisa sentiment here. It's not as if Bart did much of anything to make it seem like he was telling the truth. When he couldn't solve that math problem, he just started to distract Lisa because he knew he was going to be found out. I don't think this was just a matter of Lisa being jealous, but more Lisa being suspicious and then having her suspicions confirmed by Bart's behavior. This wasn't an actual instance of Bart doing well and Lisa trying to bring him down (like say, "Jazzy and the Pussycats"), Bart was just a fraud here so I can't sympathize with him. I guess her initial assumption that Bart's A could only be from cheating was a bit unfair, but skeptic that she is, Lisa wouldn't assume the crystal had any role in it and would assume something else was at play. But at least it led to a nice moment of Bart realizing how much Marge has done for him and how she's always the one who continues to believe in him (as previous episodes have shown). Anyway, overall this episode was okay but nothing special. We've seen Marge start a business and get rich before. "Healing crystals" is not something I ever imagined would be a major plot point, so that's new, but it didn't make for much of a compelling plot and a lot of it was just odd, like the cult and the random cutaways.
Could've been better.
"Your tears say more than real evidence ever could."
SuperFriend
An alright episode. The plot wasn't anything special with Marge opening another business and Bart cheating all of his tests. I liked the Lisa sub plot despite having some of Millhouses obsession towards Lisa being used for a few gags. Didn't care for this piper character who for some reason is being affected by Marge's business despite that her shop is in Shelbyville's mall. I didn't like Homer's sub plot either if you can really call it one, where he keeps pretending that he has no job with his latest scene having him pretend that he's Marge's wife or something. I liked that they kept some of the continuity like Bart still using Focusyn and Ned being his teacher which we don't actually see that often. The business aspect of the plot didn't bring much new, all the moms were to easily fooled into believing that healing crystals worked.
There were some funny gags like Bart's side effects, the crystal lady joining a cult, Homer's body absorbing all of Marge's dollar bills and probably the funniest gag is where Cletus gets all worked up during the book club meeting. The montage with Homer/Marge in the healing crystal cavern was done really well with the animation, and is probably the best part of this episode. I only think that the rivalry between Marge & Piper and the parts with Bart feeling guilty and trying to confess to Marge were lacking. It was pretty fun that Marge sended her mother and sisters to Piper as some sort of weapon.
This episode doesn't feel like its a season finale material, especially compared to ''Woo-hoo-dunnit'' which felt a lot more gimmicky. It did alright for what it wanted to do. The jokes were mostly funny, a lot of proper screentime for every family member, the pacing was alright, the story was mostly lacking and rather uninteresting. Overall its not an exciting episode to end the season with, but as it stands by itself I would say its alright.
Episodes rated best and worst from each season:
1: Krusty Gets Busted/Homer's Night Out 2: The Way We Was/Bart's Dog Gets an F 3: Colonel Homer/Dog of Death 4: Marge vs. The Monorail/So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show 5: Cape Feare/Bart Gets An Elephant 6: Treehouse of Horror V/Another Simpsons Clip Show 7: Mother Simpson/Homerpalooza 8: You Only Move Twice/The Canine Mutiny 9: Lisa's Sax/The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons 10: Lisa Gets an A/Sunday Cruddy Sunday 11: Behind The Laughter/Beyond Blunderdome 12: Trilogy of Error/The Computer Wore Menace Shoes 13: I Am Furious Yellow/Homer the Moe 14: The Dad Who Knew Too Little/Large Marge 15: The Way We Weren't/Diatribe of a Mad Housewife 16: Thank God Its Doomsday/Mommie Beerest 17: Marge's Son Poisoning/Bonfire of the Manatees 18: Marge Gamer/Revenge is Best Served Three Times 19: Treehouse of Horror XVIII/That 90's Show 20: Gone Maggie Gone/Coming To Homerica 21: O Brother, Where Bart thou?/The Devil Wears Nada 22: Homer Scissorhands/The Fool Monty 23: Holidays of Future Passed/Moe Goes From Rags To Riches 24: Adventures In Baby-Getting/Whiskey Business 25: Brick Like Me/White Christmas Blues 26: Bart's New Friend/The Musk Who Fell to Earth 27: Halloween of Horror/Every Man's Dream 28: There Will Be Buds/Moho House 29: Gone Boy/Throw Grampa from the Dane
MilesW1998
I thought it was pretty decent for a season finale, if a bit forgettable though. The jokes were passable at best, and I do like the idea of Marge being a sales woman, I thought it was nice. But Lisa's attitude did bring it down for me, especially with how she wanted to prove that Bart is a cheater for no good reason. But you know I did like that Bart did apologize to Marge for lying and it felt like a decent end, I kind of wish they made it more of a mother's day episode, but eh the ending won me over.
Shoskin
Release the Hounds
What wreck this episode: Lisa
Another stupid Bart doing something and miss righteous having to prove he's doing something wrong. Though this coming from a girl who once thought alternative medicine, and dream catchers were hip. Plus Bart cheating, what a surprise. How Bart cheated, pretty f'in genius don't you think. Which makes you think, Bart is much smarter than Lisa thinks. She even calls him a dummy. Putting the answers into the pictures. Lisa is a tool. She will always be a tool. I have an idea maybe let Bart come to the idea what he has done is wrong, oh wait that has been done before.
Next season I want an episode of Lisa does wrong, Bart catches her and nrings her fat head down to earth. This narrative from the writers is getting stale. Even when Bart tries to bring her down to earth, Lisa the Veterinarian, her ego won't let her see she's wrong.
Plus enough with the long winded gags. I have an idea put more into your plot and dialogue.
I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries.
GlitterCat
Pin Pal
I'm just baffled by Foot Clocker. Watches on your legs, how is that funny? I think the only thing I laughed at was Luann wanting to use crystals to avoid being near Kirk. (they should've stayed divorced)
Pokemon Moon Friend Code 5473-2104-2310
Looking for shiny, legendary, and mythical. Got shiny Sandshrew (Alola)
Have various starters, zorua, can breed many pokemon.
Current egg move hatching: Tyrunt with fire fang
Here's Phil Payton's review:
CousinMerl
don't quite cover all
Spittle County
The episode was very average and bordered on really weak. The plot idea was good, that with Marge going into the healing item business after the power plant cuts the kids' health care which forces her to get healing crystals for Bart as a cheaper and supposedly better option for his usual ADD medicine from an new age healing store (speaking of which, I though his ADD with the Focusyn was only a one-episode thing in 'Brother's Little Helper' but now it's always been there in the background? a neat piece of continuity, I guess), and for a "Marge starts a business" episode it was an interesting and down to earth story, but it didn't have the writing of a very good episode and some of it's choices felt so artificial and clumsy if even unnecessary that it brought it down a lot, leaving it only held up by the interest raised by the premise itself and some other small things that worked like the humor, but nothing more than okay.
To give it some credit, it did start off pretty solidly and got into the story rather quickly; the health care gets cut by Burns, Homer informs the family and Marge gets a cheaper pills for Bart but after Lisa shows her one of those health help online videos where the doctor lists the side effects (kind of a fun jab at the those videos) and it's followed by Marge getting crystals for Bart who soon improves his school grades which starts her business idea. It was a good start and progressed well but things started to sour with Lisa's being overly obsessed on finding out that it's not because of the crystals Bart's doing so well in school. She had a point (there was no way he became that good) but she was overly aggressive; she came off as scared that he actually rivaled her which she couldn't have and needed to prove he's a fraud. It left a sour taste when she should have been portrayed as more intelligent and level-headed and not this raving jerk who yelled at Bart because of assumptions (whether it was true or not, though his smug defense to her shouting showed that he was hiding something). It would have been neat if Bart had either had someone else found it out rather than the obvious Lisa or had another explanation of why he was doing so well with his schoolwork.
There were also some other problem like some joke going on for far too long (the medical help scare video with the listing of the side effect with Bart showing off each one, Marge bribing Chief Wiggum by giving him free samples to get out of not having a license & the fantasy with them in the crystal world) and a really odd and jarring shift towards the end with this nutty woman Piper driving to Marge's health shop all the way from Shelbyville to threateningly tell her to cut it out and close down as to not compete, which Marge gets triggered by and opens a rival kiosk; Why? It's such a pointless and forced conflict (Why did she even bother with this lunatic? She should've told her to take a hike) and it even came so late. It was a mistake having it since it never really went anywhere other than the obvious Bart confessing cheating (the way he did cheat was pretty clever) and telling Piper she's shutting down and latter celebrates like a crazy person and gives Marge a pointless burn (Piper was as pathetic as she was unlikeable). The rivarly made little sense as they don't even live in the same town and the same resolution with Marge finding out the crystals do nothing, not only with Bart but the other customers too, would've come either way so it added nothing except an eyerolling late conflict.
Still, aside from those drawn-out gags that wasted some time, that sudden and unneeded conflict towards the end with it's pointlessness and how excessively spiteful Piper was, Lisa being portrayed pretty poorly with her extreme attitude towards Bart and the mystery of how he was so good at school, some shock gags that were pretty lame and not having anything that stood out it didn't have a lot of other things against it and did have some aspects to it that worked quite well, such as the premise of Marge and her new age healing business ( and the stuff with previous owner woman who jumped ship onto a cult), and the subplot with Homer staying at home while Marge is doing the work. It had some nice jokes and gags (not much but it did have some good laughs like Bart's sudden relocation), the animation was nice and pretty expressive overall and the characterizations (aside from the overdone Lisa) were fine, like the rest of the family and more. As for the guest stars, Werner Herzog appears as the doctor in the online video and he did well (at first I was thinking this was his character from 'The Scorpion's Tale' but probably not) as did Jenny Slate as the pretty crazy Piper (despite the character being annoying) and Illeana Douglas as the original new age medicine store owner.
To sum all of this up, I did enjoy the episode to a point but even with the good and entertaining premise of Marge going into the healing item business and some good moments and jokes it didn't fully had me invested as the things that detracted from it, like the overlong fantasy montage of Homer & Marge and Lisa going too far with her obsession of proving that Bart is a no-good cheater, took away from what could've been an nice and natural story and that forced conflict with Piper just had me zone out a little and care less (despite a nice joke of Marge using her sisters and mother against her rival). It had a good idea, plot premise and some other good stuff in there but suffered from poor execution that hurt the episode. Still, it wasn't that bad and as I enjoyed maybe half of it fine so it's near middle of the road. Not a great one to end the season with but mostly fine to a point.
Last edited by CousinMerl; 05-26-2019 at 01:57 AM.
by: Mikesuper26
PreciousBodilyFluids
her cocoa is so chuggable
Bold of the Simpsons to end a round 30 seasons with Marge being blown to pieces by a cult
0/5 Megan Amram thanks for trolling
Grappling with Local Oaf
Pretty much by the numbers, I'd have to agree that Lisa and Bart's plot could've been fleshed out a little more, with a bit more cat and mouse before Lisa finally figures it out and catches Bart out. The scheme itself was clever, which goes back to a trait Bart had in his classic characterisation: he's a poor student, but clever and resourceful, to the point where he could do better at school if he cared to put in the same amount of effort as he does his pranks and schemes. That being said, they have to gone Lisa vs Bart a lot in recent years, and the dynamic isn't handled as well as it used to be in that regard, so that doesn't help matters.
The main plot was fine. They're not exactly the first show to tackle the subject matter, but at the same time, it's an evergreen topic. The resolution was abrupt, and Marge's customers having complaints felt a bit tacked on and conveniently timed to bring about the ending. Also, there seemed to be a lot of Springfield residents wandering around in Shelbyville. That was a little weird.
Homer's book club was one of the better jokes, while the lengthy montage was unnecessary filler. The side effects video also ran too long, though the nihilistic turn and the doctor rolling into traffic did actually get a laugh out of me for how absurd it was. Some decent ideas and moments, but again, mostly by the numbers. 3/5
A little less Generic than before.
Szyslak100
We arrived at the end of the thirtieth season with a new contribution from Megan Amram. And I take the opportunity to reaffirm that she would be an excellent successor to Al Jean. I feel that she can take the show to new horizons, I see that she has an incredible capacity to make the spectator laugh, that she can tell new stories and that she knows quite well what this is about. I know it's a utopia, but I really want it to happen.
We have several episodes in which Marge starts a new venture, and this is not very different from the others. But, although the premise is not very original, the development was very interesting. Even though Al Jean had already said in an interview that, in the end, the crystals would not really work. I liked how they implemented the concept of healing crystals. I thought the way Marge got her merchandise was very lazy, but New Age Clerk's entry into the sect was sublime, even if it only includes one scene and the epilogue. I loved the montage in which Homer and Marge have a fantasy about crystals while they make love. The animation is fantastic, the visual jokes are good and I liked to see the Mystic Coyote again. Although they were brief appearances, I enjoyed seeing the female repertoire participate in some scenes. Luann Van Houten, Mrs. Muntz, Lindsey Neagle and Mrs. Hoover have their brief moments, and many others make cameos as background characters. I think the turn of the Shelbyville competition was not very good, and Piper's character is too disgusting; It is very difficult to generate empathy with her. I do not understand what was the grace of the scene in which it is competitive with Marge. But, even with this against, there was room for a funny scene in which Patty, Selma and Jacqueline try to boycott their business. Carolyn Omine and Megan Amram have shown how to use female characters, and I think there is a lot of potential in them to exploit.
There is no definite subplot in this case, although some characters get involved in Marge's plot in different ways. I was fascinated by Homer here. It was hilarious as in its best times. Her conversion into 'housewife' was spontaneous. His particular dress, the debate of books and the practice of aerobic exercises compose the best moments of this episode. Bart's moments could be treated with a better pulse. I mean, it would have been better if Bart actually got good grades legally. But they chose the simplest path, the one that does not require a clever explanation. The one that makes Bart fail his mother and lie to everyone, and the one that gives Lisa the place that fits him the worst: the one of marauder, gossip, symbol of the morally correct. Fortunately, there is a good use of the rest of the secondary characters. I liked Mr. Burns' lines at the beginning. The Cletus scene was very funny for me. Also, I liked the return of Nick Riviera (why do not they use that character more often?) And was very willing to try a bite of what it means that Ned Flanders is Bart's teacher. That serves as a lesson for the future of this series. The internal law that everything returns to its status quo must be obsolete in a show that culminated its thirtieth season. Remove the surprise factor, as happened here. Or someone thought that Marge would continue working in Murmur? Or someone thought that from now on Bart would get good grades in classes? My criticism is not directed to this particular episode, but to the series in general. I just found this moment propitious to say it.
In general, we are talking about a season finale that represents your season. It was pretty good, but it could have been much better. The lack of originality and the bland plot put this far from the perfect note, but some funny scenes, the good use of secondary characters and the masterful use of Homer, also distance this from mediocrity.
UK-Land
That was... weird in spots, certainly, but alright - strange patches but otherwise a little bland, low on big laughs. Not much more to say about it. C+
Season 30 Ratings
Bart's Not Dead C- Heartbreak Hotel D My Way or the Highway to Heaven D- Treehouse of Horror XXIX C- Baby You Can't Drive My Car B+ From Russia Without Love B- Werking Mom C Krusty the Clown B Daddicus Finch B+ 'Tis the 30th Season D+ Mad About the Toy C+ The Girl on the Bus C I'm Dancing as Fat as I Can C- The Clown Stays in the Picture C- 101 Mitigations C+ I Want You (She's So Heavy) C E My Sports B- Bart vs. Itchy & Scratchy C- Girl's in the Band B- I'm Just a Girl Who Can't Say D'oh B- D'oh Canada C- Woo-hoo Dunnit? B Crystal Blue-Haired Persuasion C+
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Being a member of the Souvenir Building Collectors Society, I assemble, gather, and organize small replicas of architectural structures.
Politics aside, I generally garner items based on spots I've visited, sites I've studied, and the historical significance I see attached to them. I do this without regard to my own political leanings, and find value in the events and names linked to specific locations.
The 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, has many buildings named after him. I decided to collect the ones I could find available.
Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, in Atlantic City. Initially a 50/50 partnership with Harrah's, then wholly owned by Trump since 1986. Closed on September 16, 2014.
This Atlantic City casino was the scene of a notorious baccarat session in May 1990, in which the Japanese high roller Akio Kashiwagi lost $10 million. The incident was later fictionalized in Martin Scorsese's film Casino.
Trump World's Fair at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. Operated with its own casino license in a wing of Trump Plaza. Closed in 1999 and demolished in 2000.
Trump 29 Casino, in Coachella, California, now Spotlight 29 Casino. Former 50/50 partnership with the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians of California; Trump exited the business in 2006.
Trump Casino in Gary, Indiana, now the Majestic Star II.
In film fiction, Trump Tower served as the location for Wayne Enterprises in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012). The penthouse in Trump Tower was used as a filming location for the action film Self/less (2015).
For Devil's Advocate (1997), the "deliriously kitsch, nouveau stinking-rich living room of property developer Alex Cullen (Craig T Nelson) could belong to only one person. It's the real apartment of Donald Trump, occupying the top four floors of Trump Tower, 725 Fifth Avenue." Source.
In political reality, the Trump Tower meeting took place on June 9, 2016 in New York City between three senior members of the 2016 Trump campaign – Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort – and at least five other people, including Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Others may have been there. Originally it was said to be a meeting about Russian adoptions. It eventually was revealed to be about data leaks concerning Hillary Clinton's emails. Source.
Trump World Tower is a residential condominium in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was developed by Donald Trump and opened in 2001. The tower is located at 845 United Nations Plaza (First Avenue between 47th and 48th Streets, Manhattan). The building also featured heavily in the 2007 film Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.
The final confrontation scene between Batman and The Joker in the 2008 film The Dark Knight was shot at the construction site of the then partially completed tower. The tower was also one of the key locations filmed in Chicago for the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
The United States Information Agency often used it as a backdrop for propaganda films to be shown in foreign countries. In one instance, a portion of a film about Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn was taped in the tower.
Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Share others you know about.
The Ambassador Hotel, 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90010, the site of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, June 5, 1968; he died on June 6, 1968.
"Thanatourism: Disaster and Dark Tourism," May 26, 2018.
"FLW's Ennis House and Hollywood Movies," March 1, 2014.
How's about a 666 replica?
The tower card is a trump.


Children begin their day with a wide range of play activities set out around the nursery, from which they freely choose. Parents can accompany their children into the classroom and can have a quick chat with the teacher if they wish. We aim for a friendly and unhurried start to the day. Staff offer continual support and encouragement, facilitating the children's choices, and there is always a planned creative activity on offer. When everyone is settled in we offer children the option of playing outdoors, and during the morning and afternoon sessions a range of additional activities are offered in the school garden, depending on the weather conditions.
Mid-morning, we join Rainbow and Mountain Class for playtime in the front garden, followed by snack time.This is an important part of our day, and gives us an opportunity to introduce the children to mindful eating. Everyone sits down around a table together, listens to our mindfulness bell, and enjoys a moment of bringing awareness to the breath. We sing the Thank you Song, and then share a healthy snack, such as a selection of fruit pieces, an oatcake or rice cake, with a drink of milk or water. This is followed by our puja (carpet time), when we share another whole group activity such as a story or game, chosen by the teacher to promote good listening, mindfulness and thoughtful interactions.
This is followed by more free play, and the children are also encouraged to join in with specially planned adult-led activities, which might relate to the story we have shared at puja, or which aim to develop specific skills. The morning usually finishes with songs and rhymes on the carpet.
Children who stay for lunch eat together in the classroom, and then have outdoor play until 13:00. The afternoon begins with a quiet time for relaxation and reading, followed by more indoor and outdoor play activities. The afternoon draws to a close with snack time and outdoor play in the garden, ending with a story and the Goodbye Song.
On Monday mornings we have a dance and art session led by our school dance specialist, Johanna, and on Wednesdays Mei Mei leads a special session focusing on physical development, and including yoga and dance. We also like to take the children on local walks, and sometimes visit the playground at our local park. Occasionally we take children on outings in the school minibus.
The intimate and nurturing environment drew us to the Dharma Nursery and our expectations have been totally exceeded. Our daughter has been allowed to develop her independence by being given the space to choose how she wishes to spend her day. She has developed a great love of singing and also really enjoys being able to help look after the younger members of the Nursery.


The Protestant Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (also: colloquial short Memorial Church and the Berlin popularly called "Hollow Tooth") stands on the Breitscheidplatz between the Kurfürstendamm, Tauentzienstraße and the Budapester Straße in Berlin's Charlottenburg district. The undestroyed, old part, of the church is now a museum and a war memorial. It is considered a landmark of West Berlin.


Baseball Cap in 5 Panel coronet shape featuring Big Poppa logo. This exclusive baseball cap is a tribute to a rap king, the Notorious B.I.G.
The Big Poppa baseball cap features letter B logo with a king's crown on the top. On left side is a circled stamp logo featuring ''Notorious Poppa''. The right side of the cap is the year 1997, embroidered in Roman numerals. Tribute to a king! Designed for legends!


Wages & salaries for Taxi drivers and chauffeurs in Greenville, NC ?
The BLS estimates that in Greenville, NC there were around 80 employed in the field of Taxi drivers and chauffeurs.
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs in Greenville, NC earned 18% less than average for Taxi drivers and chauffeurs in the United States.
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs in Greenville, NC earned 45% less than the average worker in Greenville, NC.
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs in Greenville, NC earned 49% less than the average worker in North Carolina.
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs in Greenville, NC earned 54% less than the average worker in the United States.


Migrants' rights and entitlements are very complex and dependent on a variety of factors. These rights can also be subject to change on a relatively regular basis. This section focuses specifically on migrants' rights to benefits and welfare services, and identifies a number of sources of support and advice related to this.
Nationals of countries that the UK has a political agreement with - mainly European Economic Area nationals - who have access to a wide range of benefits and services.
People who come to the UK for protection from persecution or human rights abuse. If protection is granted, these people will be able to access their rights from the UK as a surrogate state. However, while their claim for protection is being processed, their rights are strongly curtailed.
Third Country Nationals who don't fall into the above groups. These people generally have minimal access to benefits and services in the UK, and are often living, working or studying in the UK on the condition that they have 'no recourse to public funds'.
In 2012, we published guidance on the different categories of migrants' entitlement to benefits and local authority services. This was produced to support Scottish local authorities to take into account all relevant factors, when making decisions about service provision and migrants' entitlements. Although still useful and relevant, it should be noted that some aspects of migrants' rights and entitlements have changed since the guidance was published. In addition, the guidance does not provide an exhaustive statement of the relevant law. Therefore, local authorities may still wish to seek their own legal advice when dealing with complex issues associated with migrants' rights.
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) is a source of comprehensive information on migrants' rights and welfare rights more generally. In particular, their 'Benefits for Migrants Handbook' is a particularly useful guide for practitioners.
Further guidance on migrants' housing rights is available from the Chartered Institute of Housing.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are able to provide localised advice to local authorities regarding migrants' benefit entitlements. For further details, please contact us.
There is a UK-wide No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) Network which allows local authorities and other partners to share learning and best practice in fulfilling their statutory duties to migrants with no recourse to public funds. We host a Scotland sub group of the Network. For more details on this, please contact us.


The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering is a unique partnership and a spectacular success story. The department is dedicated to improving health and well-being by fostering the next generation of leaders in biomedical engineering worldwide; and our biomedical engineering bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs are consistently recognized among the best in the world.
This growth of the department has been organic and builds on a strong foundation of successful research and educational programs. There are two compelling factors driving this growth – first, there remain unmet clinical needs – like tackling debilitating conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer, arthritis, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, and immune disorders. Second, biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory attracts some of the brightest undergraduate and graduate students, from Georgia and every corner of the world, and our growth will better help us spark their curiosity, instill scientific rigor, and develop future leaders of our society.
The mission of the Biomedical Engineering Department is twofold: to educate and prepare students to reach the forefront of leadership in the fields of biomedical engineering; and to impact health care significantly by assembling a world class faculty who shape the cutting edge of research in key biomedical areas.
Students are encouraged to blend scholarship, engineering innovation, and entrepreneurship to create their own start-ups. Students also carry this unique skill set and entrepreneurial mindset into industry positions.
Our curriculum enables the world's pre-eminent scholars and learning scientists to closely interact with students to solve complex, real world problems with creativity and innovation.
Coulter Department students are routinely placed in the best medical, graduate and industry positions across the globe.
Our students are comfortable solving open ended complex problems and have strong engineering design skills.
The Coulter Department has five graduate training grants in biomaterials, cell and tissue engineering, computational neuroscience, and a graduate leadership program.
Student and faculty work closely with clinicians to gain fundamental insights into human health and pathology and to translate our research to impact industry, medicine and ultimately patients.
Faculty are enabled by a world-class infrastructure and a collaborative environment. They are conducting breakthrough research to address unmet clinical challenges.


NOVOFLEX lens adapters allow lenses from various manufacturers to be used on yet another brand of camera. These precision made adapters are all metal construction for years of durability.
NOVOFLEX lens adapters allow lenses from various manufacturers to be used on yet another brand of camera. This will provide you with a broad range of focal length and lens type options to use on your camera. This is a completely manual adapter: no electronic information passes from lens to camera and manual focusing is required. Using the camera's aperture priority mode for exposure metering is suggested. Focus to infinity is possible with this adapter. These precision made adapters are all metal construction for years of durability.
NOVOFLEX products purchased in the USA requiring service may be sent through your local authorized dealer or directly to the NOVOFLEX Service Department.


text:
Q: Hardware/topology recommendations for low latency UDP network I'm setting up a LAN comprised of 60 end nodes that are receiving a high volume of UPD datagrams from one master server.
The server sends 60 unique datagrams every 100ms, each datagram is 64 bytes. This means I'm sending 38400 bytes per second.
Each one of the 60 nodes should receive it's unique datagram at roughly the same time, ideally all end nodes get their message within a timespan of <20ms. And this is what I need help with. How should I build this network?
My only real concern here is latency. Security is not an issue since it's a standalone LAN.
What is the best way to build this network and how can I assure this low latency and have all my nodes be roughly in sync?
Thanks

A: At a frequency of 60 packets per 100ms (600 packets per second) you should have no trouble achieving your goals with simple unmanaged gigabit Ethernet switches cascaded (heaped) together, assuming that there's no other traffic on the network. You'll have sub-1ms delivery times of such small frames with even consumer-grade switches provided that yours is the only traffic.
If there is other traffic then you'll start getting into the fun, non-deterministic world that is Ethernet.


famous chair model 3107 also refered to simply as no. 7. Each chair represents one of the sins.
that the sins have become virtues in modern western society.
The chairs have been auctioned off for charity and now reside at gallery Sicart in Stavanger, Norway.


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The unsaved world has much to say about "love" these days, promoting harmony and ecumenical compromise at all cost; but that is NOT Biblical love. So many people nowadays condemn religion and speak of "love" as a magic solution to the world's problems. They make such statements as: "If only the world had love then all the killing would stop" or "If you have love then nothing else matters." They are dead wrong!
This apostate form of New Age thinking is especially common amongst islanders along the equator (e.g., Hawaii) where the weather is always warmer, ecumenism flourishes, modesty is almost non-existent and true Christianity is very unpopular. What does the Bible teach?
Jesus said in John 4:24, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." God is a Spirit and MUST (not perhaps nor maybe; but MUST) be worshipped in TRUTH. All the love in the world means nothing if you don't have the truth. Some of the most loving people in this world are going to split Hell wide open when they die, because they have never been born-again as the Bible mandates for salvation... "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Proverb 14:12 warns, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." It is infinitely better to trust the Scriptures and obey the Gospel; than to foolishly trust one's instincts and feelings and go to Hell (2nd Thessalonians 1:8,9). No amount of love will suffice on Judgment Day when the books are opened and one has to give account for all their sins (Revelation 20:11-15).
The Bible teaches that we cannot worship God without truth; no matter how much love we may possess. Biblical love always includes the truth. If one cannot worship God without truth, then it is critically important to have THE TRUTH. This is "why" I make such a big fuss over modern corrupt versions of the Bible. If Satan succeeds in perverting the Word of God, then he has changed the truth of God into a lie... "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen" (Romans 1:24, 25).
The Devil came to Eve in the Garden of Eden, perverting God's Word (Genesis 3:1). The Devil came to the Jews through false prophets, perverting God's Word (Jeremiah 5:31). The Devil came to Jesus in Matthew 4:6, perverting God's Word. And the Bible warns that Satan will come to us via wolves in sheep's clothing, perverting God's Word (Matthew 7:15; 2nd Corinthians 11:13,14). Satan's primary goal is to pervert and corrupt the truth. This is why the truth is always found amongst lies. Thankfully, God always makes the truth obvious to those who desire and want it.
When the Apostle Paul speaks of "charity" (i.e., love) being the greatest in 1st Corinthians 13:13, carefully notice in 1st Corinthians 13:4,6 that Paul says, "Charity... Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." As evidenced by 1st Corinthians 13:6, Biblical love rejoices in THE TRUTH.
The world's false love excludes truth. What the world commonly calls "love" is nothing more than sinful compromise. Satan has duped many people into believing the BIG LIE that love means refraining from preaching against sin, or taking a stand for righteousness or offending anyone. That is NOT love at all. As we just learned from 1st Corinthians 13:6, true love rejoices in THE TRUTH. If we truly love someone, then there should be no hesitation to tell them the truth. This is why believers are supposed to go soulwinning (Matthew 28:19,20), i.e., because lost sinners are going to Hell and we have a duty to warn them of the judgment to come (Proverb 11:30; Luke 8:15; Daniel 12:3; Matthew 28:19,20).
2nd Thessalonians 2:9,10 state: "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." This passage of Scripture speaks about the 7-year Tribulation Period, after the Rapture, when the masses of this world will eagerly follow the Antichrist, thinking he is a wonderful person. Most people in the world today DON'T love the truth, nor do they have any desire to hear the truth. When you tell them the truth they become defensive and argumentative. Some people get very angry.
Only a small fraction of people love and receive the truth of the Gospel to get saved. The first step to salvation is a desire to know the truth. Sadly, most religious people today refuse to acknowledge the truth, which Jesus witnessed in his time as well... "And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." Hundreds-of-millions of Catholics have heard the Gospel preached; but they are stubborn, grounded firm in their sinful pride, and are committed to the demonic doctrines of Catholicism. Woe unto the Catholic Church for teaching a false gospel and for their idolatrous worship of statues and icons. Hell will be hot enough!
Society is saturated with lies today, intended to blind us from the truth. The truth needs to be told. We must not censor or suppress the truth for the sake of popularity, expediency or making money as MOST ministries do nowadays. The average pastor wouldn't dare preach against the blatant crimes being committed by our government leaders in Washington. Most ministers don't care. It's not an issue with them. If we as believers don't care about crime in high places, then who will? It is tragic when unsaved people care more about the future of our children than we as professed Christians do. In fact, it is utterly irresponsible and apostate of America's churches. Woe unto silent churches!
This is why I personally believe that the Lord's return, i.e., the Pretribulation Rapture is very near. Even so come Lord Jesus. Amen!
Biblical love is rooted in gratitude towards God and a love for the truth... "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened" (Romans 1:21). A thankful heart is the first step to finding the truth, as we've read in Romans 1:21. Most people today are ingrates and don't appreciate what God has done for them. Those who are appreciative and humble are much more likely to obey the truth of the Gospel than ingrates who blame God for the world's problems.
What the world thinks is true love is nothing more than a strong fondness for one another; but this is NOT Biblical love. God's love is unconditional, which means that it has nothing to do with the person who is the object of that love. In other words, no matter what you do to God, He will still love you (Romans 5:8; 1st John 3:16). This is vastly different than the conditional love of the world that requires a person to meet certain requirements to continue receiving that so-called love. This is why the divorce rate is so high—because people don't have God's unconditional love in their heart. God's unconditional love is based upon one's gratitude towards God for sending His Son into the world to pay for our sins. If Jesus was willing to die for our sins, then we ought to be willing to suffer for our loved one's.
Thankfully, Jesus died for all men (1st John 2:2); thus, making salvation available to anyone, rich or poor, healthy or sick, beautiful or ugly, nice or mean, religious or non-religious, who will acknowledge their GUILT of sin (Romans 3:19) and BELIEVE on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins (Acts 4:10-12; 10:43; 16:31). We are saved by HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, i.e., the righteousness of Jesus Christ made possible only by the precious literal blood that He sacrificed for our sins. This is THE TRUTH of God's Word. It is called the Gospel. Jesus paid a debt that He did not owe, because we owed a debt that we could not pay. Jesus died, was buried and rose again after 3-days (1st Corinthians 15:1-4), and applied his physical blood to the mercyseat in Heaven (Hebrews 9:12) for our justification. You won't hear this truth in most religious denominations today, nor will you hear it from the greedy televangelists, nor will you hear it on the Oprah Winfrey Show; but I love the truth and want you to go to heaven when you die.
In closing, I wrote this article because many people nowadays have the erroneous notion that love is all that matters. Not so. And any so-called "love" that excludes THE TRUTH is fraudulent. God's love always dwells amongst truth. Anyone who speaks about love, while diminishing the importance of Biblical doctrine, is of the Devil. The Beatles sang their hit song, All You Need Is Love. No my friend, you need truth more than anything, for without the WORD OF TRUTH you cannot be saved and escape the fires of Hell, which is where John Lennon and George Harrison are burning this moment.
Note: All quotes are from the trustworthy King James Bible.


Happi How-To: Learn How to Clean…Naturally!
The Happi House comes clean! Amy Haggerty, wellness expert from Lakewinds Food Co-op, teaches Happi how to make natural cleaning products with items that can be found in your own kitchen. Get stains out of clothing and linens with a vinegar and baking soda concoction you make yourself. Learn how to remove pet stains and other spots left in carpet. Watch us clean up our act!