text:
reunions Nov. 30, 2018
A Scrubs Reunion: Talking Gags, GIFs, and 'Guy Love'
The medical comedy's cast and creator reflect on its legacy of zaniness and warmth.
By Kathryn VanArendonk
Photo-Illustration: Vulture and Photo by Getty Images
Until recently, the cast and creator of Scrubs hadn't all been in a room together since the series wrapped in 2010. That changed at Vulture Festival in Los Angeles, where Scrubs creator and writer Bill Lawrence joined the principal cast for a reunion panel to talk about the legacy of the beloved medical comedy that aired for nine progressively weirder seasons on two different networks.
Vulture moderated the lively conversation between Lawrence and actors Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, John C. McGinley, Christa Miller, Judy Reyes, Ken Jenkins, and Neil Flynn, who shared their behind-the-scenes memories of the show. In between razzing each other and a brief interruption from a certain high-fiving surgeon, the group discussed the stories they weren't allowed to tell on network television, their reactions to Donald Faison's "Poison" dance appearing in Fortnite, and their deep gratitude for the Scrubs fandom.
Jump to a section:
The Janitor's Best Lines: Scripted vs. Improvised
"Why Don't I Have Any Jokes?"
A Scrubs GIF for Every Occassion
Tapping Into Scrubs's Serious Side
The Rhythm of a Scrubs Joke
Suddenly a Wild Todd Appears
What Scrubs Couldn't Show on a Disney-Owned Network
The Battle Behind Dr. Cox's Epic Monologues
Thinking About a Scrubs Reboot
The "Poison" Dance, Then and Now
How long has it been since you guys have all seen each other?
Bill Lawrence: We have not been together as a full group like this, I think, since the show wrapped. And if anybody's doing a TV festival, if you call Zach [Braff] and you say there's going to be free alcohol, there's a chance that we'll all come.
Zach Braff: But the truth is we've passed on a lot of these and this is the very first one we've all come to as a group.
When the show started, it was a slightly weird but not super-weird medical comedy, and then as it developed, it became really very, very weird. How did that happen? What gave you the confidence to say, "Yeah, we're going to have a fantasy scene where J.D. and Turk plant one of Turk's testicles and he grows into …
Lawrence: He grew another Turk.
Donald Faison: [Makes Plant-Turk sound.]
Lawrence: My favorite thing was that when he grew another Turk, he couldn't talk.
So how did the show become that?
Lawrence: The way the show became weird, quite honestly, is we lived in a time that once your show had a very passionate fan base, you knew you could stay on for a while if you kept feeding people what they're enjoying. And we pledged early on to, even if we kinda went down with the ship, to do stuff that we thought was funny and that made us all laugh. I was able to do that with a really talented writing staff, but also with actors and actresses.
You know, I can't tell you how many lines [of dialogue from the show] where people would come up to me and say, "I really loved that." And I know one of [the Scrubs actors] made it up on their feet. And you know what I say? I just go, "Thank you." Like that, because I'm modest. But I think that the show was able to evolve because we had a fan base that followed us from time slot to time slot and year to year.
What were your favorite fantasy sequences? Were there ever any where you were like, "Nope, too weird, can't do it. Not going to do it."
Braff: Well, one thing I always thought was funny was Bill would … sometimes let something go through to the reality world that was completely a fantasy. Like Neil [Flynn] literally built a home-sized sandcastle that he was living in, in the parking lot.
Braff: Right, that was not the fantasy world.
Neil Flynn: That was toward the end, there was a time I remember you particularly saying, "But this … we're not fantasizing at the moment, that means this exists."
Wait, what? Why were you building a sandcastle?
Lawrence: Hey, look, it's a slippery slope. You guys were all around for some of our mistakes. I wrote and directed an episode that I believe that Turk used to smuggle J.D. into movie theaters in his backpack.
Faison: In his backpack.
Braff: Yes, we did this shot where I was literally in a backpack. I mean, I put my head through a table.
Faison: Yes.
Braff: And there was like a fake leg going up. I look back and it's like, no, that wasn't a fantasy. I was in the bag.
Lawrence: [Scrubs writer] Neil Goldman might have been the one that did it the most. But we reached a certain spot in the fifth year that we might have — I don't want to say that there was marijuana involved, it doesn't matter, it's legal now — but we might have gone too far with crossing the line between fantasy and reality.
What are the moments on the show where you thought, nope, that's too far?
Christa Miller: Never, never, never. I don't think ever.
Sarah Chalke: The fantasies were all of our favorite thing to do, like the Star Wars one where we were all the Star Wars cast. And I got to make out with the hot ladies, Judy Reyes, Mandy Moore. But there was one fantasy where Bill was like, "It's too far." It was the first fantasy I did. I was supposed to be a nerd in headgear and lots of zits, and we kind of just were having fun with it, and I came down and Bill was like, "What is on your lip?" I'm like, "It's a corn flake. It's supposed to be a cold sore." He's like, "No. Lose the corn flake. That's too far."
Lawrence: You shouldn't have to say "lose the cold sore" to somebody. They make that decision on their own.
Miller: My favorite thing though, is if you would read a script — Bill, I shouldn't say this because Bill is such a brilliant writer. But it would say …
Lawrence: Say that last part.
Miller: Bill is such a brilliant writer, [but the script] would say, "the janitor says whatever."
Lawrence: If we couldn't think of a janitor line, the script it would say "Janitor," and underneath it, it would say, "Neil say something funny."
Lawrence: People are so nice to ask me about different things in the show and what they were, and I can't remember any of it. But one thing I do remember was … One of the times Neil had to say something funny was you had to explain why you had killed a duck once. You invented a riff that you guys got in a fight in your car, it was a duck by the way, and that you pulled over.
Flynn: Over the radio station.
Lawrence: Yes, over the radio station, and you pulled over to the side of the road.
Flynn: Took our shirts off.
Lawrence: You said, "The next thing you knew, me and the duck both had our shirts off." And I'm like, The duck's got a shirt on? And he's like, "We were giving it to each other," and so you beat a duck to death in a street-side fight. And that is one of the many moments that people come and say that was so funny. I'm like, "Thank you."
Miller: No, my favorite is when you explain to Zach how your wife knitted the shorts.
Flynn: That was written, though. I did not make that up.
Braff: "I'm a doctor, I can't wear short shorts to work!" If you look at the gag reel, the bloopers, I think that's the hardest I've ever laughed. Just Neil explaining to me that his wife, with her limited fingers …
Faison: Right, all she had was a pinky, a pointer …
Braff: Using the scrubs material, she had made me short shorts, and it was an insult to not wear them. And my line was, "Look, I'm a doctor. I can't wear short shorts to work."
Neil, do you have a favorite moment that you remember ad-libbing or like a line that you thought, "I can't even say it, it's too goofy?"
Flynn: I haven't been allowed to do that since, so I remember it even more fondly than I enjoyed it at the time. And I didn't have a very big part in the show. So I got to have this extra fun, which was wonderful. I remember saying to Christa something about God — well this is all credit to Bill, because he would say, "And then if you think of something else, say that." Or I would goof around in rehearsal, and he'd say, "Good, say that." Or, "We'll do one that way, too and we'll do one [a different] way, too." So I was telling you about the janitor's childhood or something, and this just …
Faison: Was it when you had the cage? Was it the cage?
Flynn: I don't remember that. I remember saying that my first pillow was a pile of handguns. I remember that.
Miller: What did I say?
Flynn: I don't know, you just basically handed me the ball and then waited for my mouth to stop moving and then you would talk.
Braff: My favorite was when I said to you, "Is there some kind of underground canal system under the hospital? I think I saw a manatee." And you said, "Was his name Julian?" And I said, "I don't know, we didn't exchange pleasantries." And you said, "That's Julian."
Flynn: "That's Julian." I believe that was scripted, though, that was not improvised. People will sometimes say to me, "Is it true that you made up all your lines?" Of course that's not true, that would be chaos. There's another person in the scene with a scripted line! So sometimes I was allowed to ad-lib. Often times with Zach, we would change the dialogue a little bit. But most of it was written.
So there are some people who are called upon to, I think, be the straight person in the scene more than the goofy ones. Judy, I feel like your job often was to …
Judy Reyes: Have the gravitas.
Reyes: That's what Bill would tell me when I would go to him at least yearly.
Lawrence: And every year Judy would come in …
Reyes: And say, "Why don't I have any jokes?"
Lawrence: She would go, "I'm funny, too. I'm funny as shit."
Reyes: I'm funny!
Miller: Johnny C. [McGinley], say to Judy what you said to us in the car driving here.
John McGinley: I said she's one of the best fucking actresses on the planet.
Ken Jenkins: Here, here. Absolutely, absolutely.
Reyes: I know, but I can act funny! I just need jokes, I need fantasies.
Chalke: But you just bust mad tears so well.
Reyes: I got really, really upset.
Lawrence: The reason we were talking about this in the car, and it's corny, but shows like this only work if you have someone that can ground it and make it seem real, and Judy could kind of help us switch gears to the pathos and the drama and the emotional stuff in the show. And I was trying to catch up on the show and remember it, and was watching a scene that she did with Aloma Wright when Nurse Roberts passed away. She's such a good actress, it was one of the main things that made the show work.
Jenkins: Amen.
Reyes: Well, thank you.
Because you were able to be on together for so long, were there points where you felt like you were really happy that you were pushing the character in new directions? Moments where you thought, "This relationship now speaks to me differently."
Lawrence: One of my favorite ones, and this is how TV shows evolve, is we became a family working together and enjoyed each other. [Ken] Jenkins and John C. McGinley had such a good relationship in real life and were such cantankerous antagonists on the show. I really enjoyed the end when we made them friends. It mattered to me on a personal level, because I could watch those two do scenes, instead of being mean to each other. You guys remember that part?
Jenkins: Yeah, vaguely. I really liked beating him up with balloons.
The J.D.–Turk relationship obviously is one of the cores of the show.
Faison: I think after we sang "Guy Love" I knew this relationship would last.
Braff: Yeah.
Faison: Harmony.
Braff: It is, once you sing a love song into another man's eyes. About his hands being inside of you.
Faison: It was surgery.
Lawrence: One of the fun things, have you guys gone online and seen bachelor parties and weddings where the best man sings that to his groom? They're everywhere.
Faison: I have never seen that, but now I'm going to!
Braff: I'm going to. I see the GIFs a lot. I have to say, nine years of Scrubs GIFs are great because when you're sending a text, there's a GIF of yourself for every emotion. So I often use them, Scrubs GIFs.
Which ones do you use?
Braff: They're often like me and Donald rubbing our heads together. I'm like, "I miss you." And then it's me and Donald rubbing our heads together.
Faison: That's the best … I think that might be my favorite GIF I've ever seen in my life.
Braff: Yeah, but for any emotion you can think of, if I put in like, "Oh, I'm happy," a Scrubs GIF will come up, and I'll say, "Oh, I'll just use that."
But one thing I think that's so unique about the show, and a credit to Bill and the other writers: I've never seen something that navigated in, without commercials, 22 minutes, from the broadest comedy you can think of, all the stuff we're all laughing about, and then find a way to have a scene like the one with my character and Johnny C. [when Dr. Cox becomes depressed], and I played it completely straight. It's just that the hairpin turns of that, on paper sometimes you wouldn't even think that that can work. But it usually did.
Lawrence: The weirdest thing, it's a story we tell a lot, but Matt Tarses wrote an episode in the first year called "My Old Lady" with Kathryn Joosten. It's the third episode of our show, and each one of our interns gets a patient. You're told that one out of three of these people will die. And it was a trick, it was a manipulative trick. We decided in the writers room that all three of them were going to die, and this is how we were going to tell all of you that this show was going to be a little different. Right? The way TV works and network television, I never handed in outlines or scripts or anything on time, but when I did eventually tell 'em what we were doing, the first call we got is, "Do they all have to die?"
I'm like, "Well, yeah." "Well, couldn't one of them die or just get very, very sick?" And I'm like, "No, they're all going to die." Like, "Well, if they're all going to die, could they be racists and horrible Nazis and people that we want to see die?" And I said, "No, they're going to be people you like and they're still going to die."
The fact that we were able to do that show early and the people here embraced it, it was very nerve-racking for us. I thought there was a chance that everybody would turn on a show that they were hoping to laugh at and find that to be not what they wanted to see on TV. But once we got permission, not from the network, but from the audience, we decided to do it for the whole run.
Jenkins: Yes, and good for the network for doing it. I confess, I don't remember much of this, it's sort of like a Chinese chopped salad blowing in the tornado. A little bit, "Oh, yeah, I was there. I was there." And I love it, it's a wonderful feeling, but I remember one of those turns. I just thought of it and my favorite one of those turns was in an episode with Brendan Fraser. Boy, did it … It just felt like he'd been there right from the beginning constantly. But there was one where Johnny C. [McGinley] was talking and he was in an argument with Brendan, and he was having a tremendous argument with him. And Zach says, "Who do you think you're talking to?"
And you pan back and you realize you're at the funeral and you're left with Johnny C.'s face and you just go into that face. And that was the whole drama of his death was just that one shot, just going into his face. You turned on a dime, just on an instantaneous dime. That's a great trick. That's real writing.
Lawrence: Could I tell you guys my random favorite thing about Ken [Jenkins]? There's a lot of people out here I'm sure who are actors, actresses, writers, in and around the industry. You always have to very careful with people this talented if you're going to tell them any … I'm not good at giving notes. You're not supposed to give line readings. When I started my career, if someone did a joke differently than I heard it in my head, since I knew I wasn't supposed to give them a line reading, I'd say, "Don't say it like that, say it like this." [Mimics tone of a line reading, but with nonsense syllables rather than words]. Which is a line reading, just with noises.
Braff: By the way, you said when you started your career. You did that to us all the time.
Lawrence: All right.
Braff: You're not supposed to give a line reading and Bill would get around it and be like, "And don't …"
Miller: Just say it like this.
Braff: "Just be like buh-buh-buh, da-duh-duh-duh!" He thought if he made noises and didn't say the words, it didn't count.
Lawrence: But Ken Jenkins is one of my favorite experiences because — just so you all know, if you program his name onto your DVR, it'll explode because he's been in every movie ever since the dawn of time. And I used to come to Ken nervously when we started having you do really acerbic jokes. And I wasn't sure if you always knew what I was going for, and I would fumfer around and then Ken would just interrupt me. He's like, "Bill, I'm old, just tell me how to say it."
Jenkins: It took me three seasons to get him to give me a line reading. It's all I wanted.
Braff: And I didn't want it.
Miller: And then we all did that. "Bill, just say how you want us to say it. Oh, that's hilarious."
Braff: Another Bill trick, for you aspiring filmmakers out there, directors, was something I've used and I stole from Bill. He'd go, "You know, at the table read you did it in a really, really funny way and I just want to get back to that. You did it like this." And he would say how he wanted you to say it.
Miller: A lie.
Braff: And then it was a total lie.
Miller: It's a lie.
Braff: And the actor would be like, "That is good. That's how I did it?" And he's like, "Yeah, that's exactly how you did it!" And it's fucking genius and I've stolen that. Thank you.
Jenkins: But you know he was right, because if you get somebody to do it right in a rehearsal right before you go in to shoot it, you're sure to fuck it up when you shoot it.
Braff: I just love that he preyed on the actor's egos. They were like, "I was that good, wasn't I? I was killing it at the table read, wasn't I?"
Lawrence: It wasn't on this show but on another show, I actually did that. The actress, Courtney Cox, said, "We didn't have a table read."
McGinley: Busted!
Lawrence: Whatever.
You're all hilariously funny. Who is the worst at keeping a straight face?
Faison: Sarah Chalke is.
Braff: Sarah Chalke.
Chalke: Yeah, I think it got to the point where like these guys could make one noise and …
Faison: [High-pitched hum sound.] Hmmmmm.
Braff: It was this noise. Ready? We'd go like this. Hmmmm. And we'd do it at like 2 in the morning when the crew wanted to go home, and they would be so pissed off, and we just wanted Sarah to get yelled at.
Faison: [Mimicking Chalke asking them not to make the sound.] "Don't you, don't you don't you, God, motha …"
Lawrence: By the way, that moment from an episode where Johnny C. is doing, "Help me to help you. Help me to help you." You guys were enjoying that, and I was flashing back to [when we were filming it], that was at night and every time he got to this move, Sarah would go [mimics laughing sound]. It's like, "Sarah!"
Chalke: And I would literally be like screaming at myself in my head, going, "These people have families! Everyone wants to go home! Get your fucking shit together Chalke!"
Braff: Yeah, so Sarah had a pep talk for herself to make her stop laughing. She would berate herself about the families of the crew. She'd be like, "These fucking people want to go home and take care of their kids."
Chalke: I would literally get to a point where I just turn away and turn back into frame and I just have to see someone's face and I'd be like [breaks into laughter].
Faison: Hmmmm.
Braff: And right after her pep talk, Donald and I would be like, hmmmm.
Chalke: I think we got to a point where, everyone's like, "I guess we just move on, I don't think we have it, but I don't think we're going to get it. So I guess we just …"
Miller: Or as Sarah would say, "One moresies?"
Lawrence: "Sarah One Moresies," you guys remember?
Miller: Sarah One Moresies.
Lawrence: Just so you guys know what that means, that means Sarah wants one more take even when she's had nine takes and everybody wants to go home.
There are so many amazing minor, secondary characters on the show.
Lawrence: One of the philosophies of this show, early on we were talking as a staff, was to do it like The Simpsons. Usually, the secondary character's job is to come in and go, "Where ya going? Who ya dating? What time is it? Where do you work? What's your job?" And on our show, we said what if we made them all be funny, like The Simpsons, whether it's Moe the Bartender or Barney or whoever, they pop on their own. We decided to kind of fill our world with all these odd ducks.
Does anybody have a reference to who their favorite is? Is there a hand anywhere? Is there?
Robert Maschio [appears from the audience, runs onto stage]: I got a question. You guys are doing a Scrubs reunion without the Todd? Hell, yeah! I miss you [high] five. I miss you five. Yeah! And what's under here? You know! You know! [Begins to remove his clothing.]
Faison: Take it off!
[Cast chants "Take it off," and Maschio removes his pants to reveal scrubs underneath to lengthy audience applause.]
Maschio: Let me just say this, Scrubs fans, don't forget this. You're just a little bit better than everybody else. Scrubs reunion [high] five for people streaming at home! Long distance [high] five [to the audience], betrayal five [to the cast] for not inviting the big dog.
Braff: Rob, who told you where we were?
Maschio: Ted. Thank you, good night! [Leaves stage.]
Braff: Oh my God, unbelievable.
Lawrence: All jokes aside, I want to give a shout-out because one of the things that made this show work was that not everybody felt that their job, rightfully so, was the most important. And whether it's Sam Lloyd playing Ted with my favorite a capella band of all time, or Rob Maschio playing the Todd, or Aloma Wright playing Nurse Roberts, just the people we brought into this world — I want to thank them and thank you guys for liking them so much.
[Rob Maschio briefly returns to stage holding a fiery-patterned men's swimming thong, prompting the cast to chant "Put it on!" before Maschio eventually waves and leaves the stage again.]
Braff: You know, when we moved from NBC to ABC 'cause it's Disney, we were no longer allowed to show Rob in his banana hammock.
Lawrence: That's true.
Braff: That's true. When I was directing, I had to frame above his penis.
Lawrence: In the Bahamas episode, he comes out and flexes on the beach and we had to blow up that shot because it showed the banana hammock.
Braff: Rob's banana hammock is not Disney-approved.
It's a loss for humanity, really.
Lawrence: It is.
Were there other changes you had to make when you switched networks?
Braff: One thing, a lot of people don't know this trivia, is we only shot one thing ever that Bill had to throw out, if I'm not mistaken.
Lawrence: True.
Braff: It was a medicinal marijuana thing. That many years ago, they were like "medicinal marijuana, get the hell outta here."
Lawrence: I don't want to make a dumb point, but this is how screwed up network television is.
Braff: Bill, there's people watching.
Lawrence: Donald Trump.
Braff: The lights go down.
Lawrence: No, they would not let us do a story about getting medicinal marijuana for somebody that was having trouble with chemo and cancer. And so to make a point, I said, "What if the patient that's dying is a virgin and they want to have sex for the first time and Carla and Elliot want to go looking for a male prostitute for her?" And they're like, "Oh, that's fine."
Chalke: But no pot.
Lawrence: I mean the kids on Disney can see us getting a prostitute, just not medicinal marijuana.
You actually shot it and you couldn't use it?
Lawrence: We shot a couple scenes.
Faison: There was one where these two [John McGinley and Christa Miller] had a story line. It was one where, now forgive me if I'm wrong, if I remember this incorrectly, but didn't you guys have a kid that didn't make it and it got cut out of the show? Am I wrong for that?
Lawrence: Oh yeah, you're right. We had a couple where, you guys, when you were married, we said that your marriage dissolved at one point because you had a kid that didn't make it and we took that out.
Miller: Oh, wow. That's a downer.
Faison: Thank you very much. Inside scoop y'all. Inside scoop.
Chalke: My most embarrassing moment, actually, was something that almost got [cut]. What happened was I had never gotten in trouble from Bill except for this one time.
Braff: That's not true, but go ahead.
Faison: Because we can talk about the tan.
Chalke: There was something they almost had to take out, but they fixed it and Bill came up to me one day. He's like, "Okay Chalke, so harder than any special effect we had to do in eight years, harder than making Zach's head explode in a fantasy sequence, was making you look less like an Oompa-Loompa." Because what had happened was I …
Lawrence: Somebody told Sarah that self-tanning is cool.
Chalke: No, wait, when Scrubs had gotten nominated for an Emmy, everyone was super-excited. I didn't have anything to wear. Everyone's like, "You've gotta hire a stylist." I had never done that before. I did. She said, "You need to be tanned." I said, "I'm not going to do that. I'm not going in the sun."
She said, "Go to one of those booths." And it was like the episode of Friends where Ross ends up like a nine. It's really complicated! I mean, there's this weird cream and there's a mask and there's all this stuff, and I had my dog with me. Anyways, I get to Scrubs and the tan increases over time.
Braff: You've never seen anything like it.
Lawrence: By the way, not to bring it back, she looked like Donald Trump. She was orange, she was literally a Cheeto.
Chalke: I did, and you were like, "You're in the scene with Donald [Faison], and so we can't adjust the …"
Faison [mimicking his response]: "Did you get a haircut or something? There's something different about you. Have your eyes always been that blue?"
Chalke: Thank you. It was so embarrassing.
Faison: And you were like, "No, it's a spray tan."
Miller: You know, I think Bill called me from work.
Chalke: Oh shit.
Miller: He's like, "What do you do?"
Chalke: I didn't know that.
Miller: I said, "I don't know what you do."
Lawrence: Don't do that stuff. It smells like rotten meat, too.
Chalke: It does.
Lawrence: It's gross.
That sounds terrible.
Lawrence: I have an apology to make because … it was my fault. We always gave these guys material late. I think sometimes you guys would be shooting a scene from a show that you didn't know what the show was yet because …
Faison: Dude, we used to get scripts in your handwriting.
Lawrence: But I used to hand John C. McGinley two-page monologues, handwritten. The morning of, I'd be like, "Hey John, if it's cool, we're going to shoot this right before lunch." And then I would run. He's a very scary human being, so I would scurry away as quickly as I could.
How did you do that? Do you have strategies for when you get handed a handwritten monologue and then you have to learn it right away?
McGinley: I'm just filled with self-loathing. So order to hate myself less, I had to do it. Otherwise, I would have to face the man in the mirror and just want to wrap my fist around my esophagus and kill myself.
That sounds very healthy.
McGinley: I was so competitive with Billy, I was like, "Fuck you. I'll learn this motherfucker."
Lawrence: He thought he was winning, but then in my 29-year-old head, or 30-year-old head, I would go, "Oh, I obviously don't need to get him the material that early next time." I could push it up right up against lunch.
Braff: Sometimes the scripts would come so late and we would be like, "Hey, Bill," call down the writers room. "Can you tell Donald and I why we're on a table because the scene just opens and we're standing on a table, and we have no idea what's going on." He goes, "Oh, oh, sorry. Yeah, here's what happens." And so we'd like shoot a scene out of total context.
Miller: Well, Bill threatened Zach. I guess they had an argument over something.
Braff: He goes, "You know, a new intern can always walk in."
Braff: And I was like, "Oh shit … he's right."
McGinley: I remember I was going to get back at Billy one time, I don't know what season. It was the season you brought on the actor from Kids in the Hall, Foley. What's his name?
Chalke: Dave Foley.
McGinley: Dave Foley, so you brought Dave Foley on, and he was going to walk everybody through the seven stages of loss or something. And so I had a monologue with him because I wasn't buying any of the stuff that he was doing. And you gave it to me and I'd had enough time to subvert it, and so …
Lawrence: I remember this, by the way. You're going to see a cathartic moment between the two of us because we battled.
McGinley: And so it was late in … the sixth episode, year five or six or seven, and so I had gotten into this [place where I was] playing with this really weird cadence for Dr. Cox, this really strange sound. And I'm like, all right, well, I'm going to take this to its logical extreme and the logical extreme was, I was going to make it incoherent.
I did it and I did it really fast, like this Martin Scorsese syncopation, really fast, and we shot it and we were good.
Lawrence: You guys don't understand. When it went into editing — 'cause the crew was just happy to be done. We were six years in, and they're gone, and I'm like, "I gotta cut this scene." And I'm looking, and it's literally John C. McGinley giving a speech, going like this. "You guys [completely incoherent babble]." I thought I had a stroke. I thought I wasn't hearing correctly.
McGinley: Billy had the last laugh on this one 'cause he made me reshoot it, and Johnny C. don't reshoot.
Lawrence: Here's a good piece of trivia. You can see when John C. McGinley, as a performer, whether it's because of the way it's being shot or how the day is going, you can see when he's actually angry. When you see this part of his jaw just start to twitch. Can you do it now? Can you flex that thing now?
McGinley: I'm not angry.
So when we were talking on the phone about doing this, one thing you said, Bill, was, "Well, we're not really reboot people." Could you explain a little bit about why that is, and why you don't want that sweet, sweet reboot money?
Lawrence: All right, I'm going to navigate this without getting myself in trouble. I would do anything to get to work with not only this group, but the writers that are around and do it again. It was the best time in my life, so much so that I often find myself now trying to grab a gold ring that I've already been lucky enough to have grabbed before. You can never equal that experience.
That said, sometimes reboots, not all the time, sometimes they feel like a money grab. If this group came to me destitute and unemployed and said, "Oh my God, we need to do Scrubs again," or the crew did, or the writing staff did, we would do it. But you are looking at a group of people that work whenever and however they want to because of how talented they are. So the only reason to do it would be to do something for you guys and enjoy the time together. If we ever do it, we'll do it as a short little movie or something like that.
By the way, on that topic, you guys know everyone here is just crushing it. My son is here somewhere, and he's so excited because Chalke is one of the voices on Rick and Morty. In the car [on the way here] with Johnny C. and Christa and me, [my son] said, "I just recently binge-watched the whole series of The Office." And I said "Well, have you seen Scrubs yet?" And John, do you remember what he said?
McGinley: "I watched an episode or two."
If you were in a position where you were going to do a revival, though, what kinds of stories would you imagine you wanting to tell about your characters now?
Chalke: The marijuana episode.
Lawrence: I've been asked [this] when people have asked me about doing the show again, and I think the problem for me is if I did it, I would just want to see where everybody was in their life. I would want to see where their marriage is. I would want to see if they're still friends.
Flynn: The janitor's back working for the CIA.
Braff: That'd be great.
Faison: That's … speaking of favorite episodes, hold on. Let's talk about frickin' watching The Fugitive and waiting for the credits to roll just, so we could find out what the janitor's name is.
Reyes: Oh yeah.
Lawrence: Raise your hand if you're one of the people that found a way to contact me and go, "If the janitor was in The Fugitive, then his name is Neil Flynn." By the way, everybody that found a way to contact me and say that, I personally got back to them and said, "He lied, that's not his name. His name's Glen Matthews."
Braff: Or is it?
Neil, did you feel like your character had a name, he just never told anyone what it was going to be? Did you secretly pick a name for yourself?
Braff: Your backstory, Neil.
Flynn: No, I would have been fine never having a name. And at the end when it said Glen Matthews, that could easily be a lie. In fact, the very next day, someone says, "Hey Joe." I'm like, "Hi, how ya doing?"
Lawrence: Do you know when we decided on the name Glen?
Flynn: Because of Clone High?
Lawrence: In Clone High, he played a janitor named Glen, we decided it was his actual name.
Jenkins: I liked it when he was Jan Itor.
Judy where do you imagine Carla would be now?
Reyes: Definitely with a couple of kids. And we talked early in Scrubs about her aspiring to be a doctor, and I didn't think … I liked her running the show as a nurse.
Lawrence: Judy and all the actors and actresses were so protective of their characters. I would talk about things to them and Judy took the time to say that she thinks that Carla's very proud of her job and would do it for life and that's who she was.
Reyes: I'm protective, I'm like defensive. It's like, "I think she wants to be a doctor." I'm like, "Why? She's an amazing nurse. No." And then I'd feel bad. I was like, "I think I was a little bitchy."
I have one question that I was told that I had to ask if I was going to come out here, which is about the "Poison" dance.
Braff: Oh yeah.
Miller: Are you going to do it?
Faison: No, there's no way I'm doing, no, absolutely not.
Chalke: Do it, do it.
Faison: Absolutely not, absolutely not.
Braff: Dance, dance.
Faison: No. If you want to see it, you can play Fortnite because they jacked that shit.
Reyes: Yeah, they did. Look, my kid is here and she's a huge fan and she [plays] that, yeah.
Lawrence: By the way, just so you guys know, it's real trivia. Fortnite had to inquire for the legality of it.
Braff: Did they?
Lawrence: They did, and it's fine because it's just a character dancing.
Faison: I didn't get no money. No, I didn't get no money. I know, that's what y'all are thinking, right? Somebody got paid. No, no, I did not. Somebody stole that shit. That's not mine no more.
Lawrence: I made the decision, I knew that Donald would be cool with me getting the money for that.
Faison: No, hold on. Hold on. God damn it, no.
Miller: That was good money for us.
Faison: Will [meaning Bill Lawrence], you owe me some money, man. That private school that you're going to right now? [Gestures to Lawrence and Miller's son sitting in the audience.] Fortnite.
Braff: Bill and Christa sent me a picture of them on vacation and I was like, "What are you doing?" And they were like, "We're spending our Donald Fortnite money."
Faison: Now that's some bullshit. That's not true, it's not, it's not true. Nobody got no money. Nobody got money for it.
Lawrence: Seen side by side, by the way, it's awesome.
Faison: Yeah, it's the exact same dance.
That's amazing. How long did it take you to learn the dance?
Braff: He made it up.
Faison: I made it up on the spot.
Lawrence: He made it up that second.
Lawrence: I don't think you had even read the scene when you got there.
Braff: No, he hadn't. Sometimes Donald …
Faison: Shut up.
Braff: Let me just say this one part.
Faison: Shut up. Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up. Shut up, shut up. Shut up.
Braff: Donald didn't know his scripts.
Faison: That day I was late. Hold on let's be clear …
Lawrence: "What am I doing, an air band?"
Faison: Right, yeah. I walked in and I was late, and I remember you being like, "Yo, what the fuck, man?" And me being like, "All right, all right." And I remember the whole studio, the whole crew being in the room when I had to do that dance, and I was like …
Lawrence: By the way, here's the best thing about Donald, just so you guys know how talented he is. I go, "Did you work on this shit, because it's supposed to be good." He's like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." But when they played the song you could see him registering, because he had no idea what the song was gonna be, even though it was in the script. He's like, "Oh, 'Poison,' I get that."
Faison: I know this one.
Chalke: And I'm the opposite. I'm so type A, Bill's like, "Will you do an 'I told you so' dance?" I'm in my dressing room trying to plan every single move, and such a dork.
Audience question: I am doctor myself, because of you guys. You kept the sense of humor alive and I wanted to know throughout your time filming, did you guys yourselves get to go to a hospital and really see how boring and lame it is on a daily basis?
Lawrence: Before these guys talk I'm gonna say two things. One thing that I'm most proud of about this show is the amount of medical professionals that have said that we either caught what they were going through, or influenced them in becoming nurses or doctors. It means so much to me, so thank you so much for saying that, for doing it. I think it's really cool.
Number two. My best friend, the real J.D., Doctor John Doris, is a cardiologist, a heart surgeon. He was my best friend from age 18 on. We went to college together and were roommates. I don't know about you guys, but he was a screwup, and my nightmare would be waking up in an emergency room and seeing him [standing] over me and going, "You're going to be fine." I'd be like, "I've seen you so drunk."
But it created a feeling for me that doctors and nurses are like any of us. They laugh, they joke, they do what they can to get through stuff. And I think everybody here had moments with him. One of my favorite things about this show is that he and his wife, who Elliot was based on, he married a doctor who's also a family physician out here named Dolly Clock. When they were medical advisers on the show, and when he was on set helping us with the medical stuff, they all called him …
Chalke: Real.
Lawrence: They called him Real J.D. So his nickname was Real.
Braff: The best part is he's a real cardiologist and he'd be advising us, saying, "Okay, you're gonna hold this like this and this." And then this was still in the time of pagers I think, right? Wasn't it? Well doctors have pagers and he'd be like [pauses to look at a pager], "… I got to go."
Lawrence: If you all watched the real finale of the show, this would mean a lot to me. The real finale of the show is when Zach …
Braff: Season nine. [Ed note: This is a joke about the widely unpopular season nine; Lawrence is referring to the end of season eight.]
Lawrence: Zach walks by a doctor that looks a little like him with black, slicked-back hair and says good night. And that guy is the real J.D., and he's the one the whole show is based on.
Chalke: He's made the mistake of giving me his cell phone number, and numerous times I've [called and] been like, "Real, do you think this is a problem?"
Braff: And you know Bill [Lawrence] not only played the guy who married [Janitor and Lady Janitor], he also was the janitor at the very end of season eight that pulls down the sheet.
Lawrence: By the way, the Bahamas part, I feel I was amazing in it. I knew it was my moment to shine and the entire cast was in the pool off camera watching me and drinking. I feel I was amazing. They feel I was horrible.
Braff: It's a good thing you're such a great writer.
Faison: No, I thought you was amazing Bill.
Braff: You were great.
Lawrence: Just so you guys know, that tiny island in the Bahamas [where they filmed the wedding in season eight] is called Hope Town. The population is about 600. We took the whole island over to shoot it. The reason I did it there, the gentleman sitting next to Ken Jenkins at the bar for the whole show is my father. And that's where they live.
Jenkins: And he's a terrific actor. He was really putting away those Bahama Mamas.
Chalke: How did we get that episode shot? I don't even know how that … We got a talking-to at the beginning, and they were like, "Guys, if you don't show up at your call time we're going to have no way of getting a hold of you."
Lawrence: That island had no roads, we just took our entire crew there and a whole bunch of booze and went around on boats and shot that show for weeks. It was super-fun.
Audience question: You guys did an episode where Turk gets a new cell phone and his cell phone number was 916-Call-Turk. I was in high school on the message boards on NBC.com, and people were like, call this number you'll get to the set. And I did. And Donald Faison answered.
Faison: I remember dude! How have you been?
Audience member: My boy.
Faison: How you been? I recognize that voice. I recognize that voice. Wait, wait. Steve?
Audience member: Close — Sam.
Faison: I knew it. Sam. Dude, I fucking miss you, man.
Lawrence: Can I tell you the funniest part to this, and then you'll do your question. It's a good opportunity to say how grateful we are, because this show stayed on because people this loyal to the show stayed engaged, you know, and did stuff like this. The phone was a marketing moment, and we all took turns answering that phone 'cause we thought it would be a great idea to put that number out. That number is discontinued, because ten years after, if you turn that phone on, it never stops ringing.
Every person up here took turns answering it. My favorite moment, and I'm sorry I'm gonna tell them this [looks at Christa Miller]: I was working late and my wife loves to sleep. She has this magic trick, where if you look away, when you look back she's got a mouth guard and sleep mask on. It's very weird. I came home talking to a fan [who'd called the phone number] and because I'm a nerd, I'm so excited that someone cares about a writer. My wife screams from the bedroom, "Are you fucking talking on the phone at 1 in the morning?!" And the girl on the phone goes, "Oh, my God, is that Jordan?" I go, "It is, but I have to go."
Sorry, your question man. Look, I believe and the staff …
Reyes: Just say thank you.
Lawrence: All right, yes, thank you. One of my things that I think you have to do if you're creating any type of art out there, any of you. We live in a world that if you're passionate about it, market it yourself. And we used to sit around coming up with ideas to engage you guys and take it to people, and that was one of mine.
We did a multi-camera episode of show and we brought in a lot of Scrubs fans to see it tape live, even though it's not a sitcom. I just believe that if people are [so] passionate they're going to show up 17 years later, you've got to feed them stuff like that, so that they can have access to you. It's part of the fun, you know?
The last thing I told myself and my wife that I would do [is this]: You guys might not realize it. It is a gift that anybody would still care about something that we did this long after the fact. I'm touched, I'm grateful. This show would not exist were it not for the fans and for people still keeping it alive. I just wanted to take this opportunity for me and for the whole cast to say thank you. That's it.
vulture fest la
vulture fest 2018


Thanks for taking the time to read this important explanation of how TNNM is working this year.
Note: we have updated this page slightly for the 2018-2019 concert season.
Submit your submission form here three weeks before the concert date on which you want to program a piece. Pieces submitted must not exceed fifteen (15) minutes, and each composer is limited to one piece per concert.
Late submissions will be accepted on a case-by-case basis, logistics permitting.
You have until two weeks before the concert date to submit performer information and program notes. Submissions failing to meet this deadline are subject to removal from the concert.
Fill out a stage diagram here and put it into Matthew's mailbox in the Jordan Hall basement no later than one week before the concert date (or email it to tuesdaynightnewmusic@gmail.com).
Concerts are limited to 90 minutes of music. If more than 90 minutes' worth of music is submitted, pieces will be selected based on order of submission, and remaining music will be rolled over automatically to the next concert date.
Pieces with large percussion requirements (like timpani and marimba) and/or other spatial considerations may be restricted to concerts in venues that can accommodate larger setups.
One to two weeks before the concert you will receive a draft of the program. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of your piece's information (performers' names, program notes, etc.).
Two weeks before the concert, we will send out a dress rehearsal signup sheet to those composers on the program. Dress rehearsals happen from 3:30 – 5:30 pm on the day of the concert (in the same hall as the concert). Please be courteous and move off the stage by the time the next rehearsal slot starts.
Official TNNM posters will be posted one week before the concert. Questions or suggestions about posters can be emailed to tuesdaynightnewmusic@gmail.com.
Recordings will be obtained from Audio-Visual Services after the concert. If receipt of your recording is time-sensitive (e.g., for applying to a competition or festival), let us know as far in advance as possible (tuesdaynightnewmusic@gmail.com).
Any other questions, comments, or lamentations can be directed to tuesdaynightnewmusic@gmail.com. Charlie has enough on his plate already and will be happy not to have to forward your query to us.
Share our Facebook event on your page and invite your friends to like our Facebook page! Facebook's algorithms are such that once we get above a few hundred likes, facebook will help our posts become visible to people it thinks would be interested in new music concerts.
Schedule more rehearsal time than you think you'll need. Well prepared = great performance, and the recording of that performance is one of the best things that you'll get from TNNM.
Make sure your performers know what to wear!
Make sure your performers know to acknowledge you after they are done playing. Stand up and take a good bow.
Whether or not you've got a piece on the concert, stay for the whole concert (obviously).


Hippokrates Power™ was created so that you can easily consume several superfoods all at once, thus saving you time and money. These superfoods were chosen due to their ancient roots as potent fuels for energizing the human body. When combined these whole foods help your body have long-term sustained energy, endurance and strength. They also provide protection from catabolic damage. We recommend taking it on a daily basis to supplement your food intake and control hunger and blood sugar. Best when used as part of the 10-Day Transformation along with MAP and Apothe-Cherry.


Does Time Warner Cable still open now? Time Warner Cable near me? Get detail information about Time Warner Cable In Irving, 75063 (Texas) Hours & Address. See Time Warner Cable hours, telephone, directions, contact email, website and related information here.
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A leaf and clod were good friends. The leaf resided on a tree and the clod lived beneath the tree.
As time passed the friendship grew stronger between them. The seasons are in a rotating cycle. As time passed there was a change in the season. The summer ended to give way to the rainy season. Thundering clouds and sparkling lightning filled the sky. The clod said to the leaf, while worrying about the onslaught of thundering rain, "Brother leaf, now bid me a heart departure." "Why, why all of a sudden?" asked the leaf. "Brother, look it is likely to rain and I will rain heavily. The rain drops will melt me in to liquid and the stream will swallow me, the rain will end my life existence" said the clod with tearful eyes.
"I am here, I will save you. I will protect your existence." With these words he covered the body of the clod and saved him from the rain. The heavy rain passed away in quickly. The uncovered land was washed away but the clod existed due to the protective cover of the leaf. Both of the friends were small and weak but they saved each other's life through mutual help.
Dear devotees, a friend in need is a friend in deed! One who stood by your side in adverse times is your truest friend. The word 'friendship' is a broad term reflecting the subtlest relationship between souls. It is sublime and majestic and is distinct oneness between the souls. It is sacred and pure. Such unique oneness should exist this year in our heart in regard to our Acharya Maharajshri, saints and Sampradaya. Resolve firmly and finally to dedicate yourself solely at the lotus feet of Lord NarNarayan Dev and HH Acharya Maharajshri. Participate whole heartily in the events of the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations. May Shri Hari bless us with unshaken devotion at the lotus feet of Shri Sahajanand Swami.


text:
INSIGHT - The Health Data Research UK Hub for Eye Health
Blind Veterans UK join Action Against AMD partners, leading organisations and the UK Government to establish the Health Data Research Hub for Eye Health
It has been announced today that Action Against AMD, the research organisation of which Blind Veterans UK is a founder member, will partner with leading organisations and the UK Government to establish the Health Data Research Hub for Health.
The hub, called INSIGHT, is focused on eye disease such as AMD and Glaucoma, and its application to wider health, including diabetes and dementia. It will use anonymised large-scale data and advanced analytics to bring new clinical insights: from detection, diagnosis and referral, to new treatments and personalised healthcare.
There is an increasing demand for 'big data' to enable innovation in health technologies and improve patient care. INSIGHT creates an NHS-academic-industry partnership to make anonymised datasets accessible and provide critical services that respond to user needs (patients/industry/other), including 'real-world evidence' and 'smart' clinical trials for new drugs or devices, and accelerating AI-algorithm development for the NHS and beyond.
INSIGHT turns routine eye imaging - currently >25million/yr (UK) - into an exceptional asset for innovation as a convenient, uniquely valuable health snapshot. INSIGHT unlocks this opportunity by pairing unique anonymised data assets to hubs of expertise where patients and clinicians can, with industry, more efficiently explore the safety and use of new AI systems. This will accelerate the pace with which AI is able to translate to real patient benefit for the NHS and accelerate innovation across all sectors.
Prof Alastair Denniston, Consultant Ophthalmologist - University Hospitals Birmingham and University of Birmingham, and Director of INSIGHT, said:
"Sight is the most precious of all the senses and yet in the UK around 2 million people live with sight loss. As an eye doctor, I am dedicated to working with the whole community to improve treatments for people with sight-threatening conditions like age-related macular degeneration and diabetic eye disease. I have also seen how our incredible imaging technologies can be used to identify and predict diseases beyond the eye such as dementia or heart disease.
INSIGHT is about using the power of health data and the development of artificial intelligence solutions to tackle blinding diseases and other serious conditions. INSIGHT will be a resource that will accelerate our understanding of disease and enable us to detect disease earlier, personalise care and accelerate the development of new therapies."
Dr Wen Hwa Lee, CEO Action Against AMD, who also represents Blind Veterans UK, Fight for Sight, Macular Society and Scottish War Blinded, said:
"We welcome Health Data Research UK's and INSIGHT's ground-breaking initiative to include patients and public in transparently deciding how health data can be used. This is a great way to establish trust among all stakeholders, who can create together the future of eye health and possibly even other conditions."
"The majority of the blind veterans we support have lost their sight due to age-related conditions such as macular degeneration. Blind Veterans UK is proud to be part of the INSIGHT partnership, a project that harnesses the power of health data to improve quicker diagnosis and future treatments."
Blind Veterans UK Chief Executive, Major General (rtd) Nick Caplin CB
INSIGHT Partners:
University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Google Health UK
Action Against AMD
The Health Data Research Hubs
Led by Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), these hubs aim to improve the lives of people with debilitating conditions, and will link up different types of health data and make it more easily accessible and user-friendly for research, while maintaining strict controls around data privacy and consent.
The potential benefits to patients include earlier diagnosis, the development of more effective treatments and more efficient management of the health service, all of which have the potential to improve outcomes, helping patients enjoy longer and healthier lives.
Patients, researchers and clinicians will work together to explore the safe and ethical use of health data for research into specific therapeutic areas, including eye health. Patients will be involved in decisions about how their data is used to ensure the benefits are returned to the NHS and the wider UK community, and existing rules for accessing data safely and securely will continue to apply.
The Health Data Research Hubs are part of a four-year £37million investment from the UK Government Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) announced in November 2017 led by UK Research and Innovation, to create a UK-wide system for the safe and responsible use of health-related data on a large scale. The hubs will also stimulate further economic growth through greater research activity.
HDR UK's full press release
Our work on circadian studies
Dementia in the blind and veteran populations
New research to examine wellbeing of blind veterans

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Replace a cracked or broken leather watch band.
As a leather watch band is exposed to heat, moisture and other environmental factors, it can become brittle and may even crack or break all together. Many inexpensive leather watch bands are also glued together, and this glue can begin to come apart. A leather watch band that becomes unglued can be repaired at home. A leather watch band that is severely cracked or falling apart should be replaced, which can also be done at home.
Examine the watch band. If it is stitched and coming apart, the band should be replaced. If it is glued and the glue has separated, continue to Step 2.
Place a thin line of super glue on one side of the parted watch band. Avoid overusing the glue as it could seep out and cover your fingers.
Pinch the two halves together and hold for five minutes. This will give the glue time to bond.
Allow the glue to dry and set for 30 minutes before wearing the watch.
Locate a new watch band. Take the watch to a department store and ask the associate to find a suitable replacement. If you can't take the watch with you, measure the length of the band and the width at the spot where it attaches to the watch's face and buy a similarly sized band. Set the watch upside down on a soft cloth or towel. This will help prevent any scratches on the watch's glass face.
Find the spring bar on the watch. It will be located between the watch band and the main body of the watch itself. Place the end of a mini spring bar tool onto one of the ends of the spring bar.
Push down on the tool to release the spring bar from the watch head. Pull out the spring bar and set it aside. Discard the old watch strap. Place the spring bar into the the end of the replacement watch band.
Position the watch band between the two lug bolts of the main watch body. Use the forked mini spring bar tool to push the spring in.
Remove pressure from the mini spring bar tool to release the spring bar. Pull on the watch band gently to ensure that the spring bar is in place.
How do I Unclasp a Ebel Wave Watch Band?


text:
Q: Quickest way to insert dataframe into a SQL server from Python I have a dataframe with 1883010 rows.
Wrote the below snippet to insert the dataframe into the SQL server as:
import pandas as pd
import pymssql

df_MthProd= df_MthProd.where((pd.notnull(df_MthProd)), None)  #convert nan values to NULL

df_Tuple = list(df_MthProd.itertuples(index=False, name=None)) #convert to tuples
my_query_syntax = """ INSERT INTO [dbo].[TBL_TEST]
           (
           [col1]
           ,[col2]
           ,[col3]
           ,[col4]
           ,[col5]
           ,[col6]
           ,[col7]
           ,[col8]
           ,[col9]
           ,[col10]
           ,[col11]
           ,[col12]
           ,[col13]
           ,[col14])
VALUES ( %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s,%s, %s, %s, %s); """

conn = pymssql.connect(server = "SQLSERVER1", user = "USER1", password = "PASSWORD", database="DATABASE1")

with conn:
  with conn.cursor() as cur1:
    cur1.executemany(my_query_syntax, df_Tuple)
    conn.commit()

When I tried the same code for let's say 20 rows of data, it worked but for the entire dataframe, it has been running for 30 mins.
Is the above code not optimized for large datasets?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
The Code for Private Prosecutors
The Code for Private Prosecutors – A new beginning?
The recent and much published attempt by Marcus Ball to bring a private prosecution against the latest incumbent to now occupy 10 Downing Street, Boris Johnson, has resulted in a media frenzy into this still evolving area of criminal law the like of which has not been seen before. Mr Ball had sought to prosecute Mr Johnson over allegations he committed misconduct in a public office by "misleading the public" about Brexit. However the High Court quashed the summons which had been issued after the hearing the case was the "culmination of a politically driven process".
By way of definition a private prosecution is a useful and alternate means of recourse open to either an individual or a corporate who has been the victim of a crime and wishes to commence criminal proceedings themselves. The victim must have previously exhausted all other avenues open to them.
It therefore seems fitting that the Private Prosecutors Association ("PPA") which was set up in September 2017 as a membership organisation to bring together professionals with expertise in bringing private prosecutions, should now publish its first Code for Private Prosecutors ("the Code"). The intention of the Code is twofold, firstly to raise awareness for all those considering bringing a private prosecution and secondly to set out a framework of best practice for those instructed to act on their behalf.
The PPA's wish is for the Code to be referred to by judges and used as the benchmark document in any future private prosecutions. Although voluntary, all members of the PPA have confirmed their intention to abide by its terms.
This new Code follows a number of recent publicised failed private prosecutions where criticism had been levelled against those bringing the proceedings. This included bringing vexations proceedings or simply failing to satisfy the CPS Code of Conduct by either not having a realistic prospect of success or not being in the public interest to bring such a matter to Court.
In addition critics have for some time pointed to a lack of regulation and independence of those parties involved in bringing private prosecutions. We have also seen an increase in "controversial" joint enquiries with the Police due to the lack of powers available for the private prosecutor. The Police have also been known to approach insurance companies to contribute to the cost of an investigation. It has also been suggested that such proceedings are, due to legal aid not being available, restricting justice to wealthy individuals and private industry and so contributing to the growth of a two tier criminal justice system.
The Code provides guidance on a number of different topics, from the initial investigation stage, to dealing with complex disclosure issues through to the policy governing the recovery of costs. What is abundantly clear from the Code is the requirement for the private prosecutor to act at all times with the highest standards of integrity and regard for their client whilst not forgetting their duties to the court to ensure proceedings are conducted fairly and justly.
Despite the government's recent pledge to recruit 20,000 additional police officers over the next three years current police budget cuts continue to bite and our criminal justice system faces increased pressure. Indeed according to the most recent Home Office data the proportion of crimes solved by police in England and Wales has actually fallen to the lowest level recorded.
In light of this private prosecutions are only likely to increase over the coming years as individuals and corporates turn to them as a means of recourse in order to seek justice. As such any attempt to drive up standards and increase the public's confidence in this process must surely be a positive step forward.
Should you require any further information in relation to private prosecutions then please contact Jeremy Bird (jeremy.bird@dwf.law or 0161 604 1883).
Care Costs 2022 14 Jan 2022
Ian Slater considers whether the forthcoming Health & Social Care Levy is likely to have any impact on the rising cost of care.
DWF assists Società Privata Amministrazioni Fiduciarie S.R.L. in the authorisation procedure 13 Jan 2022
DWF assisted Società Privata Amministrazioni Fiduciarie S.R.L. in the procedure for the authorisation to exercise fiduciary activity at the Ministry of Economic Development.
Data Protection New Year's Resolutions 2022 13 Jan 2022
Happy New Year! Here are our suggested resolutions to help you meet the continuing data governance challenges in 2022.


text:
Tagged: underprivileged children
IIT professor who left his job to serve the underprivileged – the story of Professor Alok Sagar
He is an ex-IIT professor, now living with the tribal inhabitants of a village in Madhya Pradesh. Professor Alok Sagar, left his job in 1982 and since then he has been serving the underprivileged....
This retired engineer runs a school for poor kids under makeshift tents
There are many inspiring souls on this earth; one of them is Mr. J. D. Khurana. Khurana and his staff do not have roof or even a school building, but he has an open gate for hundreds of poor, orphan kids who need education.
BETTER SOCIETY
This school in Mysuru welcomes only 'out of system children' and it is successful
Schools for children, not children for schools. About 15km from Mysuru, in Kenchalagudu village, there is a school called Kaliyuva Mane. But, this school doesn't fall in the category of conventional group of schools. Kaliyuva...
Through his free coaching, Sunil Jose, a teacher in Ajmer is brightening up underprivileged girl students
Sunil Jose is a school teacher who teaches at the Missionary school in Ajmer. There is nothing that differentiates Mr. Jose from any other teachers, besides the fact that he gives free coaching to...
Defying cancer to start India's first private jet service 'JetSetGo' – Kanika Tekriwal's inspiring story will win every heart
'No More Missing' – Take a picture, save a life
'I WILL WIN', say this to yourself and see the difference
Tabassum Bano, Tarannum and Rubina, the change makers of Sajoi village, who restarted the village madrassa after 17 years
Glenn Cunningham was declared to be a cripple throughout his life! But he became one of the greatest American miler
If you could make any wish, what it would be? The answers of these kids will melt your heart
CNN Hero Umra Omar and her group, Safari Doctors braves danger to deliver health care in the rural Kenya
Abandoned at birth, she is only 12 years old, yet her heart beats for the children in crisis
Once bullied as 'world's ugliest woman', Lizzie Velasquez is now defining the beauty of life through her motivational speeches


THE TEAMS: Thomas More, an independent, is 1-1 on the season after defeating traditional rival Hanover College, 27-18, last Saturday in Hanover, Indiana. UW-Platteville, a member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, is 1-0 after defeating East Texas Baptist University, 59-44, in week one.
THE COACHES: Trevor Stellman is in his first season as the head coach at Thomas More and has a 1-1 career record. He is no stranger to the Saints as he is a 2010 graduate of Thomas More and has been a Saint assistant coach the previous eight seasons. Mike Emendorfer is in his 20th season as the head coach at Wisconsin-Platteville and has a 97-95 career record.
THOMAS MORE: The Saints are averaging 27.5 points per game this season. Thomas More has 461 yards per game in 2018 as it has 238.5 yards per game on the ground and 222.5 yards per game passing. Junior quarterback Justin Post is 37-of-65 passing for 445 yards and two touchdowns and also has 12 rushes for 42 yards and two touchdowns. Senior running backs Hjavier Pitts and Luke Zajac are splitting time at running back. Pitts has carried the ball 45 times for 261 yards and three touchdowns, while Zajac has 33 carries for 174 yards and a touchdown. Junior wide receiver Mitchell Hogue is the Saints' top receiver has he has 11 catches for 118 yards, while senior wide receiver Logan Winkler has seven catches for 102 yards and on touchdown.
UW-PLATTEVILLE: In 2018, the Pioneers are averaging 59.0 points per game. UW-Platteville is averaging 567.0 years per game as it has 223.0 yards per game rushing and 344.0 yards per game passing. Sophomore quarterback Colin Schuetz is 27-of-51 passing for 344 yards and one touchdown. Senior running back Sean Studer has 16 carries for 24 yards and one touchdown to lead the Panthers' ground game, while sophomore running back Bo Babich has 17 carries for 104 yards and four touchdowns. Sophomore wide receiver Donald Allender is the top receiver has he has eight catches for 140 yards.
THOMAS MORE: Thomas More held its opponents to 26.5 points per game in 2018. The Saints' opponents have rushed the ball for 126.0 yards per game and 290.5 yards passing for total of 416.5 yards per game. First-year linebacker Peyton Van Horn has 14 tackles (eight solo/six assisted), junior defensive back Thomas Williams has 15 tackles (eight solo/seven assisted), junior linebacker Cody Coffey has 12 tackles (seven solo/five assisted) and senior defensive back Steven Everson has 12 tackles (seven solo/five assisted) and one interception.
UW-PLATTEVILLE: In 2018, the Pioneers have held their opponents to 44.0 points per game and 505.0 yards of total offense. UW-Platteville's opponents average 176.0 yards per game rushing and 329.0 yards per game passing. The Pioneers' defense is led by senior linebacker Clayton Becker with 12 tackles (six solo/six assisted), including one sack. Junior linebacker Jordan Zilbar has 10 tackles (six solo/four assisted), senior linebacker Cleveland Redd has 10 tackles (three solo/seven assisted) and junior defensive back Luke Johnson has eight tackles (seven solo/one assisted).
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.
BROADCAST: Thomas More will provide a LIVE video webcast and LIVE stats of the game and links to each of those can be found at the top of this page or on Thomas More's football scheduled page on www.thomasmoresaints.com and on the top of this preview. Nate Metz and Brady Laber will be on the call for the Saints Sports Network at BB&T Field beginning at 11:50 a.m. If fans want to watch the game afterwards, the game will be archived on the football team's schedule page on www.thomasmoresaints.com.
UP NEXT: Thomas More will hit the road next week as it will travel to Montgomery, Alabama to take on Huntingdon College. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Central.


The Chomp Chomp Food Centre is one of the popular food centre in Singapore. Situated near Affinity At Serangoon, residents are able to get to the food centre within minutes of walk. Here you can enjoy famous BBQ stingray, satay, giant sugar cane drink and many more.


text:
Q: Google PubSub does not trigger Function with each new message I have a Google PubSub stream that has a set of addresses added to it each day. I want each of these addresses processed by a triggered Google Cloud Function. However, what I have seen is that each address is only processed once even though there is a new message added to the stream each day.
My question is, if the same value is added to a stream each day will it be processed as a new message? Or will it be treated as a duplicate message?
This is the scenario I am seeing. Each day the locations Cloud Function is triggered and publishes each location to the locations topic. Most of the time these are the same messages as the previous day. The only time they change is if a location closes or there is a new one added. However, what I see is that many of the locations messages are never picked up by the location_metrics Cloud Function.
The flow of the functions is like this:
Topic is triggered each day at 2a (called locations_trigger) > triggers locations Cloud Function > sends to locations topic > triggers location_metrics Cloud Function > sends to location_metrics topic
For the locations Cloud Function, it is triggered and returns all addresses correctly then sends them to the locations topic. I won't put the whole function here because there are no problems with it. For each location it retrieves there is a "publish successful" message in the log. Here is the portion that sends the location details to the topic.
        project_id = "project_id"
        topic_name = "locations"
        topic_id = "projects/project_id/topics/locations"

        publisher = pubsub_v1.PublisherClient()
        topic_path = publisher.topic_path(project_id, topic_name)

        try:
            publisher.publish(topic_path, data=location_details.encode('utf-8'))
            print("publish successful: ", location)
        except Exception as exc:
            print(exc)

An example location payload that is sent is:
{"id": "accounts/123456/locations/123456", "name": "Business 123 Main St Somewhere NM 10010"}
The location_metrics function looks like:
def get_metrics(loc):
    request_body = {
      "locationNames": [ loc['id'] ],
      "basicRequest" : {
              "metricRequests": [
                 {
                   "metric": 'ALL',
                   "options": ['AGGREGATED_DAILY']
                 }
              ],
              "timeRange": {
                   "startTime": start_time_range,
                   "endTime": end_time_range,
              },
        }
    }

    request_url = <request url>
    report_insights_response = http.request(request_url, "POST", body=json.dumps(request_body))

    report_insights_response = report_insights_response[1]
    report_insights_response = report_insights_response.decode().replace('\\n','')
    report_insights_json = json.loads(report_insights_response)

            <bunch of logic to parse the right metrics, am not including because this runs in a separate manual script without issue>

            my_data = json.dumps(my_data)

            project_id = "project_id"
            topic_name = "location-metrics"
            topic_id = "projects/project_id/topics/location-metrics"

            publisher = pubsub_v1.PublisherClient()
            topic_path = publisher.topic_path(project_id, topic_name)

            print("publisher: ", publisher)
            print("topic_path: ", topic_path)
            try:
                publisher.publish(topic_path, data=gmb_data.encode('utf-8'))
                print("publish successful: ", loc['name'])
            except Exception as exc:
                print("topic publish failed: ", exc)

def retrieve_location(event, context):
    auth_flow()
    message_obj = event.data
    message_dcde = message_obj.decode('utf-8')
    message_json = json.loads(message_dcde)

    get_metrics(message_json)


LIESE Creamy Bubble Hair Color now at Watsons!
Being born with jet-black hair, I have experimented with hair color many times. I've gone from brown to purple and ombré. But having my hair done at salons can be quite expensive, so I've resulted to DIY since this year started. :) Not only is it convenient, but much cheaper. Though, it can get challenging since you really can't see every part or strand of your hair when you're trying to apply the formula. I often had to call the Hubby to help me cover everything.
Lies Creamy Bubble Hair Color (BHC), Japan's no.1 hair color brand, has partnered with Watsons Philippines and So Much Beauty stores to change how Filipinas color their hair at home.
Liese Creamy BHC sets itself apart with its unique formula that leaves long-lasting effects through a hassle-free process.
Plus, Liese Creamy BHC offers six color variants, namely Rose Tea Brown; Raspberry Brown; Chestnut Brown; Milk Tea Brown; Milky Beige; and Marshmallow Brown, that Filipinas can choose from.
Now, Filipinas can skip the long hours at salon and avoid its expensive costs by just grabbing a box of Liese Creamy BHC and allotting half an hour at home for some good old DIY hair coloring.


text:
const path              = require('path')
const webpack           = require('webpack')
const HTMLWebpackPlugin = require('html-webpack-plugin')

const devBuild = process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' && process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'staging'

const HTMLWebpackPluginConfig = new HTMLWebpackPlugin({
  template:   `${__dirname}/client/index.html`,
  filename:   'index.html',
  inject:     'body'
})

const configs = {
  entry: [
    `${__dirname}/client/index.jsx`
  ],
  output: {
    path:       `${__dirname}/public`,
    filename:   'index_bundle.js',
    publicPath: '/'
  },
  module: {
    loaders: [
      {
        test:     /\.jsx?$/,
        exclude:  /node_modules/,
        loaders:  ['babel-loader']
      },
      {
        test: /\.css$/,
        use:  [ 'style-loader', 'css-loader' ]
      },
      {
        test: /\.sass$/,
        use:  ['style-loader', 'css-loader', 'sass-loader']
      }
    ]
  },
  plugins: [
    new webpack.NoEmitOnErrorsPlugin(),
    HTMLWebpackPluginConfig
  ],
  resolve: {
    modules: [
      path.resolve('client'),
      path.resolve('node_modules')
    ],
    extensions: ['.js', '.jsx', '.json']
  }
}

if(!devBuild) {
  configs.plugins.push(new webpack.optimize.UglifyJsPlugin({
    compress: {
      warnings: false,
      screw_ie8: true,
      sequences: true,
      dead_code: true,
      drop_debugger: true,
      comparisons: true,
      conditionals: true,
      evaluate: true,
      booleans: true,
      loops: true,
      unused: true,
      hoist_funs: true,
      if_return: true,
      join_vars: true,
      cascade: true,
      drop_console: true
    },
    output: {
      comments: false
    }
  }))
}

module.exports = configs

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Sandra Bullock And Tim Mcgraw
Sandra Bullock is among the most cherished starlets in Hollywood. With a profession spanning more than 30 years, she has actually become a household name and a symbol of strength and strength. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at her life and profession, and explore what makes her such an long-lasting and cherished figure in the entertainment industry.
Sandra Bullock was born on July 26, 1964, in Arlington, Virginia. She was raised in a military family and spent her childhood exploring the world. Her daddy, John Bullock, was a U.S. Army employee and her mother, Helga Bullock, was an opera singer and voice instructor. She has one older sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado.
Bullock started her profession as a suffering actress in the late 1980s, appearing in different stage productions and small television roles. However, it was not until the 1990s that she began to acquire acknowledgment for her skill and versatility. Her breakout role was available in 1994 when she played opposite Keanu Reeves in the smash hit film, Speed. The movie was a substantial success, earning over $350 million worldwide and sealing Bullock's status as a leading partner.
Over the next few years, Bullock continued to prove her versatility as an actress, starring in a large range of movies such as While You Were Sleeping, The Net, and Hope Floats. She likewise starred in the hit romantic comedy Miss Congeniality, which assisted to establish her as a leading actress in Hollywood.
In the 2000s, Bullock continued to have a prosperous profession, starring in a number of popular movies such as Two Weeks Notice, Crash, and The Proposal. She also produced several of her own films, including Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous and All About Steve.
In addition to her acting career, Bullock is likewise known for her philanthropy and advocacy. She is a strong supporter of education and kids's charities, and has actually been involved with numerous organizations such as the World Association of Children's Friends and the American Red Cross.
Bullock has actually also been recognized for her work, receiving various awards and honors throughout her career. She has been nominated for an Academy Award two times, winning the award for her part in the 2009 movie The Blind Side. She also won a Golden Globe award for her performance in the movie.
In recent years, Bullock has continued to operate in Hollywood, appearing in films such as Gravity and Our Brand is Crisis. She has actually likewise produced and starred in the Netflix series, Bird Box.
Regardless of the ups and downs of her career, Bullock has actually remained a precious figure in Hollywood and continues to be an inspiration to many. With her ability, strength, and dedication, she has actually proven herself to be one of the most gifted and accomplished actresses of her generation.
In her personal life, Bullock has actually had her share of heartbreaks and challenges. She had actually been in a relationship with star Tate Donovan in the early 90s, but the couple separated agreeably in 1995. She then wed bike contractor and Monster Garage host Jesse James in 2005, however the couple separated in 2010. She then adopted her first child, Louis Bardo Bullock, as a single mother in 2010 and after that her 2nd kid, Laila Bullock in 2015.
Bullock is also known for her personal and easygoing lifestyle, choosing to keep her personal life out of the spotlight. She has said that she values her privacy and wishes to secure her children from the glare of the media.
In conclusion, Sandra Bullock is among the most accomplished actresses of her generation. With her talent, adaptability, and commitment, she has ended up being a precious figure in Hollywood and an influence to many. Her profession has actually been marked by a string of critically well-known performances, and she has shown herself to be a talented and versatile starlet. Bullock has likewise shown a remarkable ability to recuperate from setbacks and challenges, both in her professional and individual life.
Off-screen, Bullock is known for her philanthropy and activism, and her dedication to education and kids's charities. She is likewise a dedicated mom to her two kids, whom she adopted as a single mother. Despite the ups and downs of her career and individual life, Bullock has stayed a down-to-earth and relatable figure, and her fans continue to adore her for her skill, her kindness, and her humility.
Sandra Bullock is really a remarkable woman, and her legacy will continue to be celebrated for many years to come. She continues to show herself to be an starlet of great skill and flexibility, and a role model for women everywhere. So, it's not an exaggeration to state that, Sandra Bullock is among the most accomplished and admired actresses of our time.
Recent Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock Es Casada


There are 21 Regular gas price reports in the past 5 days in Smyrna, GA. The average Regular gas price in Smyrna, GA is $2.74, which is $0.2 lower than U.S. national average Regular gas price $2.94.
The lowest Regular gas price is $2.61 of Lucky Food Store located at 540 Concord Rd, Smyrna, GA 30080.
The highest Regular gas price is $3.09 of Sunoco located at 3601 Atlanta Rd, Smyrna, GA 30080.


Back in the day, colleges and universities could easily replace students who dropped out. But nowadays, with a staggeringly increasing number of students with their sky high expectations, many worthwhile institutions are also finding it challenging to retain students and increase graduation rates.
Colleges are constantly in search of better and effective ways to stay ahead of the competition. Improving the quality of education is one thing but there are a number of other factors which need some attention as they contribute to student retention hugely. A tried and tested method institutions are taking advantage of these days is - deploying data analytics in order to gain valuable insights related to all the significant parts of a student's academic life cycle.
As the name suggests, business intelligence dashboard tools help in efficient analysis of vital bits of information by providing data in a much more lucid and understandable format. This data can be used in a number of ways as various filters provide different kinds of data related to every part of academics. For instance, which week or month has the least number of attendance, which students are failing, which faculty has the least attendance, etc. Such patterns prove immensely helpful in finding out the weak points and rectifying them.
More often than not, colleges see increased student dropout rates because of not being ready to tackle with the problems that may arise. Besides, without knowing the problem, no solution can be found. Academic data analytics prepares the faculties and counsellors to face the challenges by giving them early warning signs such as, reduced attendance, less marks in class tests of a particular subject, etc. Keeping track of individual students can help identify and assist struggling students. Especially students belonging to a particular section, gender or category. Colleges can figure out as well as determine the next steps to help out such students if they know what's bothering them.
Not only the faculty or management but also the students need to see and be able to analyze their progress. Some courses can prove to be quite challenging for them or there maybe a particular course in which they are excelling. Such information is actually important since it could shape their future. Colleges can provide timely counselling to those students who are failing or are likely to fail. When the students see their results along with their progress graph they are encouraged to analyze themselves. This makes them alert and attentive ad they automatically tend to improve their performance. They may also be able to take a well timed and appropriate decision to change or drop a particular subject or decide upon their major stream. These facilities will certainly help in retaining such students and the university is bound to see an increased graduation rate.
As more and more institutions are making student retention a priority as well as increasing graduation rates, it's high time to start looking for the most effective and reliable ways to achieve this. Data analytics in education have the potent to bring colleges one step closer to the digital revolution. Data driven information may very rightly be called as one of the key aspects of a 21st century college or university. Higher education dashboard tools allow institutions to better target and aid those students who might be at risk of failing or ultimately dropping out of school.


Anti-Malware/Anti-Spyware. Detects and eliminates malware your antivirus will miss.
Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit is a security program that protects you from zero-day exploits that target browser and application vulnerabilities.


To make an appointment for the Child Study Center, located at Arkansas Children's Hospital, call (501) 364-5150. Our business hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
To make an appointment with STRIVE, located in North Little Rock, call (501) 771-8261. Our business hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
To have a child admitted to PRI's Child Diagnostic Unit, which accepts patients between the ages of 2 and 12, call (501) 413-6413. You will be contacted by a staff member who will provide the materials necessary for admission.


The Railway Complex is an amalgamation of five structures into an integrated whole. Despite differing design requirements, the result is a united finish which diminishes the scale of the structures and complements the environment. The crucial factors of economy and low maintenance dictated the choice of structural form and use of concrete. Close attention to detail and good workmanship resulted in a structure that challenges the opprobrium so often unfairly associated with the word 'concrete', and is testimony to concrete's positive contribution to the built environment.
The River Crossing scheme is the final component in a link between the A548 North Wales Coast Road and the A550 Trunk Road. The main feature of the scheme is Pont Sir y Fflink, the new cable-stayed crossing of the River Dee. Another important element is the carrying of the route across the main Chester-Holyhead railway line. In all, five separate structures were built. These include a railway-retaining wall, a railway bridge carrying the road over the railway, a cable bridge (a top-hat protection to buried 132kV cables), a piled raft supporting the embankment and limited soil movements, and a cable wall preventing the road embankment encroaching onto the buried cables.
Construction techniques had to suit the 'rule of the route' working for most of the construction period. Accordingly, free-standing reinforced- concrete cantilever abutments were chosen for the railway bridge, with the deck formed from standard precast prestressed inverted T-beams. To minimise maintenance, the beams were integrated with the abutments by an in-situ reinforced-concrete corner detail poured concurrently with the concrete topping to the beams.
The structural action is such that the beams are simply supported for their self-weight and the wet concrete but the final structure is a portal frame for loadings from embankment fill and traffic. A similar structure was chosen for the cable bridge but, since the falsework could be simply erected, with a totally in-situ structure.


Bobbi J. Cooper, 36, 500 N. Madison, Middletown; July 2005, deceptive practice; pleaded guilty, 12 months court supervision, $100 fine plus court costs, $320.32 restitution.
Daniel C. Pedone, 21, 100 Campus View Drive; 10-2-05, unlawful delivery of alcohol to a minor; pleaded guilty, 12 months conditional discharge, $500 fine plus court costs.
Joshua T. Vischer, 20, 408 S. Josephine St., Atlanta; 9-6-05, unlawful consumption of alcohol; pleaded guilty, 100 days Logan County Jail day-for-day with credit for 100 days served, court costs.
Wife received custody of the couple's one child.


Plastic bags have been around for over thirty years, and due to their cheapness, versatility, lightness and ready availability, have been adopted globally as a handy carrying bag. However this has come at a huge cost to the environment, with plastic bags adding significantly to landfill, clogging waterways and spoiling the natural beauty of the planet. Animals mistake plastic bags for food and die from starvation, entanglement or choking, with the cycle repeated again once the animal decomposes. Plastic bags do not 'go away', they remain ever present in our environment, taking up to 1000 years to break down, and then only into smaller, ingestible pieces.
The world has become the unwitting recipient of a slow disaster by being complacent about a too easy option for transporting our food, groceries and general shopping. But globally there is now awareness about the damage that plastic bags do to the environment – ignorance is no longer an option. Plastic bag use has to stop. And if this problem feels too hard, too entrenched, and too big to turn around, remember that it has been created over time, by individuals' actions, so it can also be solved over time, by individual actions. One bag at a time.
Australians use 5 billion plastic bags per year, equating to over 13 million per day. In Australia 3.76 billion bags end up in our landfill sites every year and 50 – 180 million bags enter litter streams. Globally up to 1 trillion bags are used each year.
Plastic, quite simply, is not meant to end up in the ocean. It is doing irreparable harm on many levels that is both visible and unseen, occurring immediately and into the future, and will continue to do so for hundreds if not thousands of years. The long term effects of this ticking time bomb on human health, let alone for the rest of the planet, are likely to be catastrophic in terms of fertility and cancers.
Plastic bags make up a large portion of plastics in the ocean – in clean up operations, they are the fourth most common item collected.
The most visually confronting and heartbreaking impact plastics have on the environment is to marine life, such as sea birds, turtles, fish and mammals. This includes entanglement, which causes starvation, strangulation, wounding and lacerations. When plastics are ingested, animals can suffer from blockages, have difficulty in feeding and digestion, and accumulate plastic in the gut which is absorbed by body tissues and is toxic.
The next highly visible aspect of this problem is the mass of plastic accumulating at sea and being washed up on beaches, where local governments, businesses, communities and individuals are obliged to clean it up, at considerable personal and economic expense. The tourism industry is particularly affected by this, which has a flow on effect to local communities and economies. Plastic debris floating in the ocean is a cost to recreational and commercial fishing vessels, causing damage and loss of livelihood. In addition it causes damage to habitats through abrasion, scouring, smothering and ensnaring. Then there is the existence of floating garbage patches, which are visible but unseen to the majority of people, and have their own harmful impact on the environment. Then there are the unseen results of plastics in the ocean. Large pieces of plastic that are now in the ocean break down into smaller particles called microplastics. The concern here is that during this process toxic chemicals are released into the environment, but also that microplastics are now ingested by marine species, and enter the food chain, spreading the plastic. There is now not one single known waterway on the planet, including fresh water, that does not contain plastic – it is everywhere, and it is inevitably ending up on people's dinner plates. We are literally eating our own rubbish.
Another largely unseen part of this problem is where plastics in the ocean provide floating transport for species to attach to, and are transported to habitats far away, where they upset the delicate and fragile balance of other natural ecosystems. This particular issue has long term consequences that can only begin to be imagined, and will be difficult if not impossible to reverse. Australians can think of cane toads as an example of a non-indigenous species being relocated, and the enormous harm that this has had on local environments.
One of the biggest challenges of this crisis is the lack of information, as plastics sink to the bottom of deep oceans, and the majority of marine animals that die as a result of plastic also either sink or are eaten. The documented impact of plastic debris is what washes up on beaches, and is counted in clean up campaigns. What lies at the bottom of the ocean is largely unknown and unaccounted for in statistics and data. The plastic already in the ocean, breaking up into smaller pieces, is causing long-term harm as it releases toxic chemicals as a result of additives when manufactured. These plastics are highly resistant to natural degradation and are ingested by animals, enter the food chain, and will continue to do so for decades to centuries. Even if all plastic was immediately magically stopped from entering into the ocean, which it is not, what is already there is continuing to add to this critical and unfolding disaster. And more plastic is being added, all the time.
Due to ignorance and a lack of awareness of the damage that plastics cause and the long term consequences, plastic has been mismanaged and allowed to enter ecosystems across the entire planet. The damage caused by plastics is current, increasing, largely unseen, and the long term consequences are only beginning to be understood or estimated.
On an individual level, the main offenders are plastic bags, plastic drink bottles and coffee cups. Buy reusable, long lasting products (preferably ones that can be recycled at the end of their lifetime) to replace these, and use them as much as possible, as often as possible. Get used to leaving home with your reusable shopping bags, reusable water bottle and reusable coffee cup. Become aware. Educate yourselves, your friends and your family. Watch out for news and support whoever is taking action, whether they are governments, businesses, communities or environmental organisations by signing petitions, writing letters and sharing information on social media.
On a global level, there needs to be action plans and commitment by all levels of government, researchers, policy makers, NGO's and businesses as well as stake holders in the plastic, tourism and fishing industries. To quote David Attenborough, 'Man-made problems need man-made solutions' – radical creative solutions are needed to solve this complicated and entrenched disaster that humankind is now facing.
To do nothing is a crime.
Davis, M. (Director), Geffen, A. (Series Producer). (2015). David Attenborough's Great Barrier Reef (Television documentary). London, UK: Atlantic Productions for the BBC.
Eerkes-Medrano, E, Thompson, R, C & Aldridge, D, C. 2015, Microplastics in freshwater systems: A review of the emerging threats, identification of knowledge gaps and prioritisation of research needs, Water Research, vol. 75, pp. 63 – 82.
Summerhayes, S 2011, Plastic in the Marine Environment, Sydney Coastal Councils Group Inc.
Thevenon, F., Carroll C., Sousa J. (editors), 2014. Plastic Debris in the Ocean: The Characterization of Marine Plastics and their Environmental Impacts, Situation Analysis Report. Gland, Switzerland:IUCN. 52 pp.


text:
'They're gone, they won'..
'They're gone, they won't play finals now': Shaw's blunt Demons assessment
LEVY & RIDDELL
AFLMelbourne DemonsTony SHaw
Melbourne's miserable start to the season has worsened after they suffered a 43 point thrashing at the hands of Tigers on Anzac Eve.
The Dees could only manage 6 goals in a listless performance and it's prompted AFL legend Tony Shaw to issue a blunt assessment of their performance.
"They're gone, they won't play finals now," Shaw tells Levy and Riddell on Macquarie Sports Radio.
"They are only a shadow of what they were last year, top 4 last year, get to a preliminary final, now they have just gone right off the boil,
"There's a lot of questions being asked about their preseason, blokes coming back underdone,
"But it's even the style that they're playing, the pressure they had last year ins't there, they can't connect from their midfield to their forward line, and their backline gets scored against so easily,
"It'll be one of the biggest turn arounds in AFL history for the Dees to play finals."
The Demons have been marred by injury over the first six rounds while also dealing with a backlog of players recovering from off-season surgery and the impact this has on their list appears to have forced the club to rush players back.
"Come on, you're a professional unit, if they've had their operations you don't play them until they're right," Shaw said.
"I don't understand it, each individual has to look after themselves and them become an integral part of the team,
"If that's happening in the modern game, geez, someone needs a kick in the backside in their performance department,
"It's probably one of the biggest falls from grace I've seen from a team in a short period of time."
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Holidays in Kos Town take to a city built around a busy harbour underneath a fourteenth century castle. It is an attractive town with a mix of the historic buildings and modern tourist accommodation, traditional tavernas and fast food outlets. Kos Town holidays are popular with couples of all ages as well as groups of young singles. The town is a favourite with sightseers with its squares and pretty gardens, its wide boulevards, and its historic buildings and ancient remains.
Holidays to Kos Town offer both relaxation by the sea with an abundance of recreational activities and also a lively nightlife. If you are seeking sun, sea and a vibrant atmosphere, check out our cheap Kos Town holidays and you may be pleasantly surprised. Hotels and apartments provide comfortable accommodation, numerous restaurants and tavernas cater for every possible taste and bars, discos and clubs offer dusk to dawn entertainment. If tire of this and fancy a change of scene, there are excursions from the harbour to other islands and also to mainland Turkey.
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