Monday night, my roommate Skrybbi was up making piñatas, ten of them--pink and purple fringy things about the size of a six-year-old's head. All last week, our kitchen table was occupied by bowls of flour-water and strips of newspaper; crusty balloons covered in papier-mâché hung drying in our window. My roommate, bless her, is a teen librarian. Well, almost. You see, she's in graduate school right now so she can get paid like a librarian, and while her job title might actually be "librarian's assistant", there is no teen librarian. So it's her.
By now, you've probably gathered that Skrybbi is working full time, going to graduate school, and making piñatas. You might also be thinking she's crazy, but that's a topic for a different post.
What I'm getting at here is this: Skrybbi is busier than I am. I don't have grad school on top of my job. I don't have to spend a lot of my free time researching and making crafts for the teen programs. I spend my free-time writing. But if she wanted to, Skrybbi could do it too.
"I know very well that when I come home every day, I sit down in front of an episode of True Blood and you sit down in front of your computer to write," she told me today. Since we've been rooming together, I've noticed a few things: Skrybbi is super-busy, right? But she watches more TV than me, she goes to bed before me, and wakes up after. How can she be both busier than me, and having more relaxation and sleep-time? The answer: relaxation and sleep are not my priorities.
Nothing is more frustrating than telling someone you've just finished a manuscript and then hearing: "I wish I had that kind of free time."
Them's fightin' words, because you know what? If you really want to make time to write, you're going to have to sacrifice something.
STEP AWAY FROM THE SHEEP! (AND PUT SOME PANTS ON!) I'm not talking about daughters, deer, and sacred bovine. I'm talking about activities. Things you do. Fun things, or even things you consider necessary (like spending time with friends).
I give up a lot of things. I give up my weekends, my vacation time, Dr. Who and Torchwood, afternoons on the lake, getting back into rowing. I give up long phone calls with my mom, and going out with friends. I give up my Friday nights, and usually my Saturday nights too.
There are dishes in my sink, my laundry hamper is full, and I should probably clean out the cat-box. It's 12:13 AM, I have to get up at 6:30, and I haven't showered yet. If your schedule's anything like mine, you have about four hours in any given day to get stuff done...assuming you sleep eight hours, which I almost never do. I just finished a manuscript so this week is an exception, but usually when I get home from work, I don't sit down in front of the TV or go to the gym. I don't grab the latest George R R Martin book and let it eat my face. I don't call my friends. I don't hop in the shower. I might be slightly guilty of playing Angry Birds and checking my email, but the ONLY thing I'm thinking about is getting my hands on that keyboard.
There are days when I would LOVE for things like TV, workouts, showers, and friends to be my priority. It would be awesome to sit down in front of a few episodes of Avatar and not feel guilty because I could be writing.
I don't have a time-turner (okay, I do, but it's fake) and I don't have 28-hour days, but I do have my priorities established.
Sometimes I walk in after work and the overwhelming amount of dishes and the daily disaster of the cats chasing each other around the apartment (and Dragon*Con costume-making) takes precedence. By the time I'm done straightening and eating and all that, I don't want to write. All I want is sweatpants, a cup of Earl Gray, and David Tennant, although not necessarily in that order. We all have those days, and that's fine...but if you're feeling that way every day, you might be letting yourself off too easily.
Why wait for a magical future time when the day has 28 hours and working from 9 - 6 suddenly isn't exhausting? When exactly is that going to happen? I'm hoping to stay busy, because if I'm not busy in this economy, it means I'm unemployed. Been there. Not cool.
Writing will become a habit. You can argue if it's good or healthy or obsessive, but the results are there: I produce work. I get the stories out of my head, and then I try to get them as close to perfect as possible.
So that's it. That's the big secret: you DO have time to write.
Talk to me, gorgeous: Where does writing fall in your list of priorities? Do you have time to write? What have you sacrificed to have that time? Do you have any suggestions to make time?
In "finding time to write", "time", "tips", "writing"


text:
Pacquiao is ready for Marquez
LAS VEGAS (AP) - In the cavernous lobby of the MGM Grand hotel, they were hawking cologne Wednesday that had not only passed Manny Pacquiao's smell test, but had his name on it.
For $50 you could get a small bottle of "Scent of a Champion," though on this afternoon no one was lining up for Pacquiao's latest commercial venture.
Inside the resort's Hollywood Theater, they were selling something else: The opportunity to bring Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez into your living room Saturday night for $64.95.
That deal figures to sell much better than the cologne, especially with a $25 rebate for anyone buying a 12-pack of a certain beer. And pay-per-view is all that's left to sell for a fight that sold out within two weeks of being announced.
The hype is on for the return of boxing's most exciting fighter, who was last seen headed back to his duties as a congressman in the Philippines after dominating Shane Mosley in a 12-round decision in May. And, while he's not fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. as fight fans have hoped for a long time, he will be in the ring against a man who has given him more trouble than any other fighter in recent years.
They've gone 24 rounds together, with not much separating them. Pacquiao escaped in a draw in their first fight seven years ago, then won a decision by the narrowest of margins in the 2008 rematch.
That, however, was before Pacquiao exploded into the public consciousness with dominating wins over Oscar De La Hoya and others. And it was before Pacquiao grew big enough to fight comfortably as a welterweight, where he is not only bigger but stronger.
That's a big reason the bookies in this gambling city make Pacquiao a 7-1 favorite in a fight between two boxers who like nothing better than to mix it up.There aren't too many guarantees in boxing, but one is that both Pacquiao and Marquez will end up at some point in the center of the ring slugging it out.
And that's fine with the congressman from the Sarangani province.
"I think this fight Marquez will fight me toe-to-toe," Pacquiao said. "We know the style Marquez likes to fight and that's his style."
Marquez showed that in both of his two previous fights with Pacquiao, the first one fought at 125 pounds and the second at 130. But this fight has a contract weight of 144 pounds, and Marquez was outclassed in his only fight above 140 pounds, a 12-round drubbing at the hands of Mayweather.
To avoid that happening against Pacquiao, Marquez bulked up for the fight with a new conditioning coach with previous ties to performance-enhancing drugs. The upper body of the 38-year-old challenger is notably bigger, though that too doesn't seem to bother Pacquiao or his handlers.
"I'm very surprised," Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach said. "I thought he'd come in at 135 and use his speed and counterpunching against Manny. They moved in a different direction by getting bigger."
Pacquiao is bigger now, too, though much bigger than Marquez remembers him from their 2008 fight. And that could be trouble for the Mexican fighter, who was dropped three times in the first round in their first fight and once in the second fight.
"I don't think he's going to be able to get up from this Manny Pacquiao punch," Roach said.
Though Pacquiao is the attraction in the fight, Marquez might be the star today had he won either or both of the first two fights. He believes he did win both, angering Pacquiao when he showed up a few months ago at a rally promoting the bout in Manila wearing a T-shirt saying he was robbed.
But he's not doing bad for the rubber match, with a $5 million guarantee against Pacquiao's $22 million guarantee.
"This time is going to be different," Marquez promised. "We're going to be very, very intelligent in fighting with speed."
Roach isn't buying that, saying Marquez will be slower because of his added weight. Still, the fact that Pacquiao inserted a rematch clause in the fight contract should he get beat is evidence enough of the respect he has for a man he has faced for 24 long rounds in the ring.
"You win by knockout," said Roach, "and there's no rematch."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Pints & Pixels
Lunch Special: Double Tokens for Kids Meals - July, 12 at Pints & Pixels
Fri 07/12/19 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM CDT
From 11am to 3pm, it's "Half-Pints" & Pixels Lunch special which gives double tokens with kids meal purchases for kids 12 & under.
View Website View Menu
Type of Place American
Address 115 Clinton Ave E, Huntsville, AL 35801
Parking Street Parking available
Sunday 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Monday 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Tuesday 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Friday 11 a.m. - midnight
Saturday 11 a.m. - midnight
Big bar with pub grub, craft beer & cocktails, plus over 50 vintage arcade games & pinball machines.


What if I Can End This?
Home » Review » What if I Can End This?
I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of horror. I've seen it all and I'm always on the look out for indie directors who make me feel the same thing I did when I watched The Evil Dead for the first time. It's been a few months since Doug Roos film The Sky Has Fallen came into my possession. For some reason, I put this film on the back burner and nearly forgot about it. After an email from Frank and a quick re-visit of the trailer, this film had to happen.
The Sky Has Fallen has racked up many awards at film festivals and with good reason. This has got to be one of the gnarliest films I have seen in recent history. The gore is astounding as is the pacing and the relentless violence. Doug Roos has an incredible eye for film making. This film is on par with Raimi's The Evil Dead and Jackson's Bad Taste, meaning this is an incredible feat for one man to accomplish.
This one is for the true gore hounds and the fans of the splat-stick genre in general. Despite the films flaws in sound, lighting, and editing, the heart is obviously in the right place… and it's pumping blood all over the floor. I can recommend this film to everyone out there who searches for the next nasty film like I do. Give this one a watch and help spread the word — Doug Roos is nasty and he is coming to spill some blood.
I give this one 2.5 swords out of 5.
One Response to What if I Can End This?
Yes! Another film I never heard of wich sounds very good to me.


Abstract. This article explains how barcodes are read mathematically. One numeral is constructed from 7 modules in a barcode. Firstly, a counting method is presented through which the number of different characters which can be expressed is obtained. After touching upon formulae for permutations and combinations, duplicated combinations are expressed explicitly. The use of a modulus of 10 is mentioned with regard to the calculation of check digits.


text:
Myuran Sukumaran was a person.
b. 1981 d. 2015
Media: Painting.
Myuran Sukumaran (17 April 1981 – 29 April 2015) was an Australian who was convicted in Indonesia for drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine.
In 2005, Sukumaran was arrested in a room at the Melasti Hotel in Kuta with three others. Police found 334 g (11.8 oz) of heroin in a suitcase in the room.
According to court testimonies of convicted drug mules, Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were the co-ringleaders of the heroin-smuggling operation from Indonesia to Australia.
After a criminal trial, Sukumaran was sentenced on 14 February 2006 by the Denpasar District Court to execution by firing squad. Born in London, England to a Sri Lankan Tamil family, he moved to Australia as a child.


"What is it you are reading?" "Ah, I doubt you'd approve." She shot him a glance over the page. "Try me." "Lady Maybelle's Mysterious Suitor." "It's the butler." He leaned forward and grinned evilly. "What? No. You did not… I—" Beatrix stood, closed the book and paced irritatedly. Opening the book, she glanced to the last page and read, her fury rising by the moment. "It was the butler! You ruined it!" she all but shouted as she lifted the book. For a fleeting moment, she wanted to throw it at him! How dare he ruin the fantastic book, the sweet mystery, by giving away the ending! Of all her pet peeves, this was champion. "I do hope you're a poor aim if you decide to follow through with hurling the volume at my head." He stood and held up his hands. "Why? Why would you do that?" Beatrix lamented, tossing the book on the chaise and glaring at him. "Because it amuses me." She stilled, knowing her glare grew more menacing by the moment as she studied the horrible creature she had, only moments ago, thought so devastatingly attractive. "It… amuses you?" "Rather, you amuse me. Your reaction." He lifted his shoulder in a blasé manner, as if he hadn't just provoked her! "I — you — you!" Beatrix ground out then stomped. "Did you just stomp?" he asked, his grin growing. "A lady doesn't stomp. There was a spider," she lied and stalked away toward the window, hoping the horrible man would get the point and take his leave. The sound of footsteps approaching had her stiffening her back. "I'm sorry for offending you so greatly. But I do thank you for being the cause of such a prized few moments of amusement. It was… delightful. And I'll tell you a secret…" His voice was close, sending prickles of awareness up her arms as his velvet voice spoke softly. "Humbled to be your entertainment, sir," she replied frostily, trying to keep her reaction to him hidden away and forgotten. Turning to face him, she shifted her gaze from him to the door meaningfully. His amused chuckle was the only response. Drat. "If you read the next book, you'll find out a little bit more about the butler… because, Miss Beatrix, things are not what they always seem," he replied kindly and then turned to leave. "Wait," she called out before she thought about it. He paused and turned to her, his grey eyes clear and completely drawing her in. "You don't have to leave just yet." "I do believe that is the kindest thing you've said to me." He bit back a grin. Barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Beatrix walked over to the bookshelf where she had originally found the book and looked for the sequel. "What is the title of the second book?" she called over her shoulder. Lord Neville smiled and glanced down, then strode toward her. "The Butler's Secret." "Oh! I can't wait." She smiled as she searched for the book. "Ah! There it is!" She stood on her very tiptoes, reaching for the book, her fingers brushing the spine and missing in the effort to withdraw it. "Blast it all," she mumbled. "Such language from a lady!" Lord Neville scolded, tsking his tongue. In spite of his grin, which bespoke his unoffended nature, Beatrix still felt her face heat with a painful blush. "Allow me." "No, I've got it." Beatrix tried again. "Very well." Lord Neville stepped back, crossing his arms. After several additional attempts to dislodge the book, Beatrix sighed and turned to face him. "Can you please help?" "I thought you'd never ask, though I must say the… stretching… offered a very pleasant view of your ankles," he replied as he brushed past her and began to reach for the book. "Ooo…" Beatrix elbowed him in the ribs just as he stretched. "What the—" He dislodged the book only slightly and turned to glare at her. "Was that necessary?" "You were looking at my ankles," she replied haughtily. "You were looking at me earlier." He crossed his arms, knowing he had won the argument, judging by the triumphant gleam in his eyes. "The book, please?" Beatrix shifted the topic of conversation. "Here." He easily reached the book's spine and removed it to the point of where it was teetering on the edge. "You simply could not resist, could you?" Beatrix grumbled as she reached and pulled out the book. "No," he answered honestly, "but to be honest… if you were in my position, would you have done any different?" "No… wait. Yes." He cocked his head, waiting. "I would have tried to make the book fall on your head," Beatrix replied then dashed across the room. "Unbelievable!" he called out and gave chase. "You're simply jealous I thought of it rather than you." She spoke as she strategically stepped, placing the chaise between them. "I'd never do anything so diabolical to a lady," he shot back then slowly circled the chaise. Beatrix matched him step for step till they'd made a full lap around the piece of furniture. "This is pointless," he replied, walked away and sat in the chair. He reached for a book on the side table and began reading. Beatrix watched him for a moment then took a seat as well. Halfway into the first chapter of her book she glanced up, noticing that Lord Neville was not across from her any longer. "Lesson one… never let your guard down," he whispered from beside her. "How did you do that?" she asked, startled that she had missed his movement. "Shouldn't you be more concerned with why?" he asked. Beatrix swallowed, trying not to notice how his nearness radiated comforting warmth or how the very air was permeated with a masculine spicy scent that called to her. "Why?" "In this case… it was the only way I could get close enough to do this," he whispered as he leaned in slightly. His hand reached up and gently placed a lock of hair behind her ear. "What if… if I don't want you to?" Beatrix asked, knowing full well how much she did want him too; however, the last thing she wanted was for him to know that! "Then simply say no," he murmured, his gaze darting from her lips to her eyes once more. "Are you… going to say no?" Beatrix blinked, unable to break the swirling fog of desire that wound around them like mist from the sea. "No." He leaned away, and Beatrix realized the misunderstanding. He had thought she'd meant she didn't welcome his affection! Quickly, she reached up and placed her hand against his cheek, immediately feeling his warm skin through her glove. Hope dawned in his expression, and immediately he closed the distance and pressed his lips to hers, caressing them softly. Longingly. He withdrew slightly, but only to tilt his head further before placing another kiss to her lips, sliding his across hers softly, invitingly. She reached up and placed her hand at his shoulder, pulling him in closer, a request he immediately obeyed. His kiss deepened, and Beatrix lost herself in the thousands of blissful sensations that were all awakening each moment. She almost gasped when his velvet tongue slid across her lower lip a second before his teeth playfully nipped at it. Not wanting to be outdone, she tentatively mimicked his actions, glorying in his reaction as her hand at his shoulder felt the telling bunching of his musculature as he leaned in deeper to their shared kiss. With each nip and caress, she gave and took, a constant partner in the dance, moving with the music of desire awakening. The sound of voices, angry voices, interrupted Beatrix's blissful state and shook her back to the reality of her situation. She was alone. With an unmarried gentleman. Which was enough to consider her compromised, not to mention she had been willingly participating in a far-more-than-chaste kiss.


text:
The William Inglis Hotel - Luxury hotel - Up close and personal: Event trends for 2018
Up close and personal: Event trends for 2018
As the year draws to a close, predictions for the outlook for next year are coming thick and fast – and the road ahead looks good.
CWT Meetings & Events in its annual industry report Meetings and Events Future Trends says that the overall cost for attendees per day will continue to rise.
"Costs are rising in key M&E markets, globally," said Cindy Fisher, senior vice president and global head, CWT M&E. "With a 3.7 per cent increase in hotels and 3.5 per cent rise in air fares projected for the coming year, that trend is likely to continue."
The top international destinations for meetings and events this year have been Paris, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Locally in Asia-Pacific, the cost for attendees increased by 5 per cent this year, with Sydney coming second after Singapore as the most popular destination.
Business Travel News has reported that by 2020, Millennials will make up 40 per cent of the workforce, which will continue to be a massive influence on shaping the industry now and in the years to come. The digital space will continue to be the central focus of events and being utilised in new ways, from live streaming presentations and using remote speakers, through to engaging through marketing, data collection, digital registration and more.
Venues are also becoming less traditional, with a greater presence of outdoor spaces or unusual locations which can make a massive difference to attendee experience, particularly when incorporating group or team-building activities.
There's also a continuing trend to boost connections with the local area. Event managers Pacific Travel says attendees are increasingly more experienced travellers who are looking for that special, personal touch from their location to give them a more fulfilling experience and a sense of the area's culture and heritage.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-William-Inglis-Hotel-261716757652560/?ref=bookmarks
Instagram: @thewilliaminglishotel
Mute Stop the video


text:
package com.intellij.codeInsight.daemon.impl.quickfix;

import com.intellij.codeInsight.CodeInsightUtilCore;
import com.intellij.codeInsight.ExpectedTypeInfo;
import com.intellij.codeInsight.ExpectedTypeUtil;
import com.intellij.codeInsight.daemon.QuickFixBundle;
import com.intellij.codeInsight.intention.HighPriorityAction;
import com.intellij.codeInsight.template.Template;
import com.intellij.codeInsight.template.TemplateBuilderImpl;
import com.intellij.openapi.diagnostic.Logger;
import com.intellij.openapi.editor.Editor;
import com.intellij.openapi.project.Project;
import com.intellij.openapi.util.TextRange;
import com.intellij.openapi.util.text.StringUtil;
import com.intellij.psi.*;
import com.intellij.util.Function;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;

import java.util.List;

public class CreateEnumConstantFromUsageFix extends CreateVarFromUsageFix implements HighPriorityAction{
  private static final Logger LOG = Logger.getInstance("com.intellij.codeInsight.daemon.impl.quickfix.CreateEnumConstantFromUsageFix");
  public CreateEnumConstantFromUsageFix(final PsiReferenceExpression referenceElement) {
    super(referenceElement);
  }

  @Override
  protected String getText(String varName) {
    return QuickFixBundle.message("create.enum.constant.from.usage.text", myReferenceExpression.getReferenceName());
  }

  @Override
  protected void invokeImpl(final PsiClass targetClass) {
    LOG.assertTrue(targetClass.isEnum());
    final String name = myReferenceExpression.getReferenceName();
    LOG.assertTrue(name != null);
    final PsiElementFactory elementFactory = JavaPsiFacade.getInstance(myReferenceExpression.getProject()).getElementFactory();
    PsiEnumConstant enumConstant = elementFactory.createEnumConstantFromText(name, null);
    enumConstant = (PsiEnumConstant)targetClass.add(enumConstant);

    final PsiMethod[] constructors = targetClass.getConstructors();
    if (constructors.length > 0) {
      final PsiMethod constructor = constructors[0];
      final PsiParameter[] parameters = constructor.getParameterList().getParameters();
      if (parameters.length > 0) {
        final String params = StringUtil.join(parameters, new Function<PsiParameter, String>() {
          @Override
          public String fun(PsiParameter psiParameter) {
            return psiParameter.getName();
          }
        }, ",");
        enumConstant = (PsiEnumConstant)enumConstant.replace(elementFactory.createEnumConstantFromText(name + "(" + params + ")", null));
        final TemplateBuilderImpl builder = new TemplateBuilderImpl(enumConstant);

        final PsiExpressionList argumentList = enumConstant.getArgumentList();
        LOG.assertTrue(argumentList != null);
        for (PsiExpression expression : argumentList.getExpressions()) {
          builder.replaceElement(expression, new EmptyExpression());
        }

        enumConstant = CodeInsightUtilCore.forcePsiPostprocessAndRestoreElement(enumConstant);
        final Template template = builder.buildTemplate();

        final Project project = targetClass.getProject();
        final Editor newEditor = positionCursor(project, targetClass.getContainingFile(), enumConstant);
        if (newEditor != null) {
          final TextRange range = enumConstant.getTextRange();
          newEditor.getDocument().deleteString(range.getStartOffset(), range.getEndOffset());
          startTemplate(newEditor, template, project);
        }
      }
    }
  }

  @Override
  protected boolean isAvailableImpl(int offset) {
    if (!super.isAvailableImpl(offset)) return false;
    PsiElement element = getElement();
    final List<PsiClass> classes = getTargetClasses(element);
    if (classes.size() != 1 || !classes.get(0).isEnum()) return false;
    ExpectedTypeInfo[] typeInfos = CreateFromUsageUtils.guessExpectedTypes(myReferenceExpression, false);
    PsiType enumType = JavaPsiFacade.getInstance(myReferenceExpression.getProject()).getElementFactory().createType(classes.get(0));
    for (final ExpectedTypeInfo typeInfo : typeInfos) {
      if (ExpectedTypeUtil.matches(enumType, typeInfo)) return true;
    }
    return false;
  }

  @Override
  @NotNull
  public String getFamilyName() {
    return QuickFixBundle.message("create.constant.from.usage.family");
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Note: This article was co-authored with Jerry Haar, a professor in the College of Business at Florida International University who has studied Latin America for decades.
The election of a right-wing populist as president of Brazil and a left-wing one in Mexico, trade conflicts, massive Venezuelan emigration, drug violence, changing demographics and the invasion of new app-driven business models are disrupting Latin America. As chaotic as some of these changes appear, disruption also delivers health and scientific breakthroughs, a reduction of under-employment, greater citizen engagement and wealth creation.
The most sweeping impacts of Latin American disruption have clearly been in business. Take transportation. Uber began operating in Mexico's capital in 2013 with 20 drivers. At the start of 2019, close to 500,000 drivers and 12 million customers use Uber each month —15% of adult Mexicans. The success of Uber in Mexico and across Latin America's largest markets is not an aberration. Today, Latin America is the world's fastest-growing region for other disruptive business models like Airbnb, Coursera and Netflix.
The first is television. Currently, Televisa and TV Azteca in Mexico and Globo in Brazil dominate traditional TV, limiting programming options. Little wonder that Netflix thrives in both countries. In 2017, Mexicans watched more Netflix content per user than any other of Netflix's 190 worldwide markets. In fact, 5 out of the top 10 Netflix binge watching countries in the world are found in Latin America: Peru (3rd), Chile (5th), Brazil (6th), and Argentina (7th).
Another area with disruption potential is education. Public education in Latin America, which receives more funding (as a percentage of GDP) than most Asian countries, consistently produces lackluster results, with students scoring well below their global peers on international PISA and other tests. The region has proven a promising market for online educators. Coursera, the world's largest player in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) market reported in 2017 that their enrollment grew faster from LatAm countries than any region around the world. Online education firms such as Miríada X and Telefónica from Spain, Kroton from Brazil and Open English and Pearson are some of the disruptive leaders in the educational space at all levels of learning.
Disruption succeeds by exploiting Latin America's economic weaknesses. Statistically low unemployment in Latin America belies the 20-30 percent under-employment of the workforce. Rigid and costly labor laws force up to 50 percent of employers to operate informally, denying their staff legislated benefits. Unsurprisingly, gig-economy business models that offer flexible employment are met with enthusiasm. Long before Uber, multi-level marketing firms like Avon, Amway and Herbalife achieved massive success in Latin America by empowering the most under-employed demographic: women.
Disruption will deliver a new level of competitiveness and transparency to Latin American economies as it upends retailing, logistics, tourism, healthcare and the car rental industry, among others. For example, taxi drivers who infamously evaded income tax in the past are now replaced by tax-compliant Uber drivers, to the delight of honest technocrats working in government. For decades, Latin American governments failed to modernize and formalize large portions of their service economies. Now, cell phone apps and bold entrepreneurs will get the job done.
Of course, these changes won't all be positive. Replacing thousands of cab companies with Uber and a few copycats may create new employment for under-utilized drivers but also destroys a middle-income merchant class of cab company owners. Software-driven disruptive service models can polarize income levels by bankrupting inefficient small business owners. If Latin America's impressive adoption of disruptive business models continues unchecked, hundreds of thousands of small companies will close, replaced by (often foreign owned) new business models. That is bound to have political repercussions in a region with few resources or experience for retraining its workforce. Just as globalization and automation led to politically explosive layoffs in North America and Europe, some anticipate an equally polemic reaction to service sector disruption coming next to emerging markets, starting with Latin America.
The 2019 outlook worldwide is one of volatility and disruption—both positive and negative. The impacts transcend the macro level and directly affect the business sector. In Latin America, the countries, sectors and companies that embrace change will thrive. Those that choose to ignore or fight the forces of disruption will wind up falling behind.
John Price is the managing director of Americas Market Intelligence. Jerry Haar is a professor in the College of Business at Florida International University as well as a Global Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. They are the co-authors of Can Latin America Compete?


Marie is an independent coach for personal and professional development and co-founder of PhDconsult. During her career at Leiden University she was entrusted with positions such as projectmanager, senior policy advisor and businessmanager. At present, her activities include teaching projectmanagement skills and leadership to professionals. Trainees and colleagues qualify her as committed and sharp. You will find more regarding Marie's background and interests in her LinkedIn profile.
Ruben once drowned in an ocean of time called 'doing a PhD'. He has, however, resurfaced and is active as independent advisor, writer and lecturer in academic skills. PhDconsult is his way to give something back to science: empowering PhD's with a firmer grip on their projects. Ruben has an open mind and a sense of humour. His style could be described as somewhat provocative (and his LinkedIn profile as hopelessly outdated).
For me, this has been about consciousness, calibration, and control.
A thorough and simultaneously broad scope of insights, feedback, fun and joy.
the Dutch Association of HRD Professionals.


Chandigarh: It is learned that the Punjab Government here on Wednesday announced waiver of the state government's 50% share in the GST on the Langar at the Darbar Sahib, even as the Vidhan Sabha passed a unanimous resolution to seek total waiver from the Centre.
GST on Lanagr Purchases waived off.
State chief minister Amarinder Singh has announced similar waiver of GST on Prasad for other religious shrines such as Durgiana Mandir and Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal, while directing officials of the concerned department to work out modalities for similar waiver at revered religious shrines of other communities.
The government took this decision after the representatives of different religious groups started mounting pressure on both the state and the central government and made a huge hue and cry about this unjust imposition of tax. To this Amarinder Singh said the state government will not take its share of the GST on the Langar items but would refund the same to the Darbar Sahib.
Meanwhile, the House unanimously passed the resolution to press the central government to immediately waive off its GST share on the Langar items at Sri Darbar Sahib and prasad items at Durgiana Mandir.


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Q: creating javascript array along with variables in local storage - AngularJS Can anyone please tell me how to create arrays like myarray = [] along with other variables in localstorage using angularJS,
ive created variable which is as shown below.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="app">

  <head>
    <script data-require="angular.js@1.1.5" data-semver="1.1.5" src="http://code.angularjs.org/1.1.5/angular.min.js"></script>
    <script src="https://rawgithub.com/gsklee/ngStorage/master/ngStorage.js"></script>

    <script>
      angular.module('app', [
        'ngStorage'
      ]).

      controller('Ctrl', function(
        $scope,
        $localStorage
      ){
        $scope.$storage = $localStorage.$default({
          x: 42  // variable
        });
      });
    </script>
  </head>

  <body ng-controller="Ctrl">
    <button ng-click="$storage.x = $storage.x + 1">{{$storage.x}}</button> + <button ng-click="$storage.y = $storage.y + 1">{{$storage.y}}</button> = {{$storage.x + $storage.y}}
  </body>

</html>

A: It support json, you can store anything except those not supported by JSON:
Demo
<script>
      angular.module('app', [
        'ngStorage'
      ]).

      controller('Ctrl', function(
        $scope,
        $localStorage
      ){
        $scope.$storage = $localStorage.$default({
          x: 42,
          array:[]
        });
      });
    </script>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


A licensed acupuncturist, holistic nutrition coach, Qi Gong instructor, and registered yoga teacher with over a decade of experience, Ari brings a diverse and multi-disciplinary approach to his work. With a keen attention to detail, Ari's teaching style is succinct, highly personalized, and imbues a deep care for integrity of movement. His background in engineering and in-depth study of both biomechanics and human anatomy serve to help clients recover quickly from injury and achieve greater overall stability and quality of movement.
In addition to his academic endeavors, Ari has spent many years gaining direct knowledge under the guidance and tutelage of Sung Baek, a 74th-generation Korean acupuncture master, and Nevine Michaan, founder of Katonah Yoga, whose mentorships have offered invaluable insight into the more esoteric aspects of Chinese Medicine, Taoist Philosophy and the yogic healing arts. To work "smarter, not harder" is Ari's personal motto, and one can see this ethic carry over in to his teaching via his deep commitment to helping students move with more integrity, correcting dysfunctional movement patterns, and allowing them to move with more efficiency, fluidity and ease.


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The Remaining Uninsured
As part of the 2014 California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowship, a program of USC's Annenberg School for Journalism and Communication. I'm producing a series of pieces about Californians who remain uninsured after the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act.
The first is this piece which ran Wednesday, April 16th on The California Report:
http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201404160850/b
And on Latino USA on May 16
http://latinousa.org/2014/05/16/serving-still-uninsured/
California leads the nation in the number of people getting insurance through the Affordable Care Act. But now that the final deadline has come and gone on Tuesday, millions are still left uninsured. These people will still turn to community clinics and public hospitals for care — they are the safety net institutions that serve Californians with nowhere else to go. But as the ACA is implemented, those institutions are facing changes.
California leads the nation in the number of people getting insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Even so, there are still millions here without insurance. Community clinics and public hospitals are part of the safety net for uninsured Californians. But as the Affordable Care Act is implemented, they're facing changes - See more at: http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201404160850/b#sthash.Ce5tVaSs.dpuf
California leads the nation in the number of people getting insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Even so, there are still millions here without insurance. Community clinics and public hospitals are part of the safety net for uninsured Californians. But as the Affordable Care Act is implemented, they're facing changes. - See more at: http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201404160850/b#sthash.Ce5tVaSs.dpuf
People of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Aired on The California Report Magazine April 4th, 2014:
Deep Connections to Rich Agricultural History
http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201404041630/c
Delta Livelihoods Take Hit As Recreation Declines
http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201404111630/f
Levee Upkeep a Crucial Job on the Delta
http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201404181630/e
Anza Borrego: Drought Takes Toll on Park Renowned for Wildflowers
Aired on The California Report Magazine March 28th, 2014
San Diego County's Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is famous for its amazing wildflowers. But this is the third year in a row of drier-than-usual weather at Anza-Borrego and wildflowers are scarce. As Lisa Morehouse reports, that's creating some anxiety and a few opportunities for those who live near -- and love -- California's biggest state park. - See more at: http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201403281630/c#sthash.57gpaHdJ.dpuf
Yes, it's in the desert, but Anza Borrego is best known for its amazing wildflowers. I visited California's largest state park to learn how three years of dry weather are impacting the bloom, visitation, and the economy (and to find out if there's a silver lining).
Posted by Lisa Morehouse at 12:28 PM
Anza Borrego: Drought Takes Toll on Park Renowned ...


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Former Orca Trainer For SeaWorld Condemns Its Practices John Hargrove says he left SeaWorld after seeing "devastating effects of captivity" on orcas. His new book is Beneath The Surface. SeaWorld's Christopher Dold says such criticism is "unfounded."
< Former Orca Trainer For SeaWorld Condemns Its Practices
March 23, 20155:11 PM ET
Former Orca Trainer For SeaWorld Condemns Its Practices
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross, who's off today. Last year, 4 million people visited SeaWorld's theme parks where the prized attractions are shows featuring massive killer whales or orcas. For years, activists have charged that keeping orcas in captivity is harmful to the animals and risky for the trainers who work for them - a case that gained urgency in 2010 when Dawn Brancheau, a veteran orca trainer, was dragged into the water and killed by a whale at the SeaWorld Park in Orlando.
(SOUNDBITE OF PHONE CALL)
CHUCK TOMPKINS: Orange County Sheriff's Office.
CHRIS DOLD: We need SO to respond for a dead person at SeaWorld. A whale has eaten one of the trainers.
TOMPKINS: A whale ate one of the trainers?
DOLD: That's correct.
DAVIES: That 911 call was featured in the documentary "Blackfish" released in 2013. Brancheau was not eaten, as the caller said, but the whale did kill her. The documentary also covers an incident two months earlier at a theme park in Spain, when an orca killed a trainer named Alexis Martinez. The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the tragedy in Orlando and concluded SeaWorld had exposed trainers to hazardous conditions, and it fined the corporation. And its order later upheld on appeal. OSHA also effectively banned SeaWorld from permitting its personnel to enter its tanks to train and perform with orcas, a practice known as waterwork.
Our first guest today is John Hargrove, who spent 14 years as a killer whale trainer, mostly at SeaWorld. He eventually became disillusioned with the company's treatment of the orcas and is one of seven former trainers who criticize the company in the documentary "Blackfish." Later in the show, we'll get a response from SeaWorld's curator of zoological operations, Chuck Tompkins, and its vice president of veterinary services, Dr. Chris Dold. Former SeaWorld trainer John Hargrove has a new memoir called "Beneath The Surface."
John Hargrove, welcome to FRESH AIR. I'd like to begin with the incident that you describe at the very beginning of the book. You're in France at this point, and you're in the water with a whale named Freya. What happened?
JOHN HARGROVE: I had an aggressive incident with her. It was the most severe waterwork aggression I had in my career, and it was the only time in my career in a waterwork aggression where I remember being truly unnerved by it - feeling like that I may not be able to get out of the situation. I had been swimming with her son in another pool, and then I ultimately ended up swimming with Freya. And as soon as I dove into her pool, I had another trainer throw me some fish. And Freya came at me, and I offered the fish to her. She refused the fish, and she immediately started pushing me, with a closed mouth but into my chest, and pushing me into the middle of the pool. While I was trying to deflect off her best I could, but those animals are so incredibly agile. There's no way. So she just stayed on me and just kept on me where there was no way I could deflect off till she had me right in the middle of the pool. And they do that because you're furthest away from safety. You're furthest away from land. You're furthest away from the other trainers. And then she drug the entire length of the side of her body down my body, making contact, so with her underside, her ventral side of her body, with the side of my body. And then she stopped with her tail flukes, one submerged, one above the water. And I didn't know if she was going to hit me in the head with her tail flukes, which would've easily broken my neck. She did not do that, thankfully and obviously, but then she went under. She ultimately sank down below me. She turned sideways. She opened her mouth, and she put the entire width of my body in her mouth right as I called out to the trainer that was closest to me to, you know, get ready to call paramedics. As soon as I said that last word, she pulled me under. She didn't hold me under very long or pull me very deep. And she ultimately opened her mouth, and she and I both floated to the surface together. And I repeated it - call paramedics. And she rolled. She grabbed me again in her mouth. She pulled me under. It was the exact same topography as the first pull-under.
DAVIES: And was this a pattern that you recognized?
HARGROVE: Certainly, I had seen trainers being pulled under by whales before, and I had been pulled under by whales before. But I had never seen a whale grab a trainer by their torso before. So to feel her entire jaws - and she's 7,000 pounds - around my hip bones. I mean, you know, seeing her, looking her in the eye during the entire incident. So I knew - I could see Freya's eyes still focused on me also, and I knew she wasn't going to let me swim out.
DAVIES: This is a harrowing tale, and it goes on. When I read that - and I'm sure as other readers read about that incident, their thought will be, how could you possibly ever get back in the water with a whale again? And when you read the book, I understand because I understand your great affection for these animals and the relationship you built with them. So I want to talk now a bit about these animals, these killer whales, the orcas. You know, it's interesting. You say you have trouble calling them animals. You call them beings. You write that when a killer whale looked you in the eye, you'd see an intelligence. Tell us about that.
HARGROVE: There's something almost scary to it - the intelligence level of these animals - their level of problem-solving, how tightly united their social groups are, their family units, especially - not so much just these whales that have been moved around to different parks, but the animals that are true family members. It's really remarkable.
DAVIES: You know, few of us follow careers that we've aspired to since childhood, but you have. When did you become enchanted with orcas?
HARGROVE: Six-years-old, 1980. It was the first time I ever went to SeaWorld. I was with my mother and my stepfather, and it was the first Shamu Stadium show that I saw. And I just remember being so seduced and mesmerized by it, just seeing, you know, this large stadium and 5,000 people and these incredible animals and seeing people in the water with these animals. And at that point, I was already, of course, an animal lover, but I had never seen anything this size and the magnificence of a killer whale. And so seeing a person interact and having this, you know, relationship with an animal like that - it hit me at a cellular level and never left me. And I, you know, obsessively pursued it from that point forward.
DAVIES: Yeah, you describe how you spent time at SeaWorld. You pestered the trainers, talked to them and eventually did all the things you have to do - become an excellent swimmer, go and study, eventually got to Sea World and got to work with killer whales. I'd like you to describe a little bit about what the performances are like there, what you would actually do in the water with the whales, what people would see.
HARGROVE: Well, when we'd do shows? When we were still...
DAVIES: Yeah.
HARGROVE: ...Swimming in the shows? You know, what we would try to highlight in the show is we would try to show the smaller waterwork behaviors that would really kind of show off our relationship with the animals. And then ultimately, we would work our way into the more dramatic behaviors - you know, the hydro hops, the rocket hops where you see the whales throwing us through the air and we're diving off the whale, surf rides...
DAVIES: Surf rides is where you're holding onto the whale and it just cruises around the arena, yeah?
HARGROVE: Well, you're standing on their back and you're riding them like - essentially you're surfing on them. You know, surfing on the back of them like you would a surfboard. You know, so those types of bigger, more dramatic behaviors. So we would like to, you know, showboat the smaller behaviors and show the relationship. And then get into the big, dramatic stuff that, you know, you can't do off of a dolphin, but you can do off of an 8,000-pound killer whale just because of the sheer size and strength of the animal.
DAVIES: You mentioned their size. How big is an orca compared to dolphins?
HARGROVE: You know, I never worked with dolphins, but my understanding, say, of a bottlenose dolphin, they're roughly around 500, 600 pounds. I'd say more 500, even less than that, certainly, if it's a female. And killer whales - the largest female in the world and actually the first killer whale I ever swam with, Corky - she's in California, she's still alive - she's 8,200 pounds. Tilikum, who killed Dawn, he was - he is 12,000 pounds. Ulises in California, he's an adult male, he's 10,000 pounds now. So you can see the radical difference in size.
DAVIES: Many times larger than a human. Like, it's like being...
HARGROVE: Absolutely.
DAVIES: ...In the tank with something the size of a truck.
HARGROVE: It's an amazing force. I mean, even the smallest behaviors that we do on the animals, people don't realize the force that that creates on our body and the compression on our joints. When you're having an 8,000-pound animal push you around the pool, it's not - you're not effortlessly gliding through the water like most people think. You know, it's like having two SUVs pushing you around and you're just on one foot. And then you're making all the turns and moves and the animal's shifting and - so it's an enormous amount of pressure on your body and joints. And that's why we have so many injuries and so many problems with our bodies later.
DAVIES: One of the things you write a lot about in your book are the stresses that killer whales experience living in captivity in SeaWorld. And I want to talk about some of those. Now, in the wild, of course, these animals live their whole lives with a social group that they're very accustomed to who understand their vocalizations. What happens when they're in SeaWorld and are mixed with whales outside their social group?
HARGROVE: We see a lot of aggression between the whales. We see - and we would describe it as hyper-aggression. There's a lot of it. There's a lot of raking. So that's when one whale is cutting another whale with their teeth. Sometimes those rakes are superficial, and other times they are very deep and just deep gashes where the whale is, you know, just looks like, you know, profuse bleeding and bleeding out. And, you know, they would have to be on heavy, heavy doses of antibiotics to try to prevent infection setting in, and sometimes infection would set in. And one time, Ulises bit Corky's tail flukes. You can actually still see it if you go to a show - which I don't encourage people to do - but if you just see on video there's a big notch taken out of Corky's fluke, and that was from Ulises biting her, and she nearly died from that from it getting infected. So you see a lot of that type of behavior with the whales in captivity.
DAVIES: You know, I - the SeaWorld officials that we spoke to, I asked them this, I mean because clearly there is a lot of raking, which does damage to the whales' bodies. And I said, is this something that you see in the wild? They said yeah, you see it all the time. What do you think?
HARGROVE: Well, I think what they're doing is - there's always a half-truth or a part truth to that. You can see raking in the wild, and it's mild, and it's - a lot of times it's playful and, again, it's superficial. And it's not to the level of what I'm describing in captivity. So they try to explain it away with well, you'll see that in the wild, but, no, it's completely different. What you see in the wild - that type of raking is not what you see in captivity in places like at SeaWorld. It's completely different.
DAVIES: Our guest is John Hargrove. He spent many years as a trainer of killer whales at SeaWorld. His new book about the experience is called "Beneath The Surface." We'll continue our conversation in a moment. This is FRESH AIR.
DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and if you're just joining us, we're speaking with John Hargrove. He spent many years training orcas - killer whales - at SeaWorld and has written a book about his experiences. It's called "Beneath The Surface."
Now, you say mothers and their offspring will spend their entire lives together in the wild, staying in the same social group. SeaWorld says that it never separates mothers from calves, young children. What is your observation of that?
HARGROVE: This is one of the most infuriating things to me because I can tell you, my own personal knowledge - so this is a conservative number - I know of 19 calves we have taken from their mother.
DAVIES: Are we talking about a distinction of language here? I mean, is this semantics? I mean, they - I think when they say calves, they mean offspring who are still dependent on their moms, as opposed to, you know, those that are grown and self-sufficient.
HARGROVE: This, again, is where SeaWorld tries to be clever and tries to get people with semantics. They've - what they've tried to do is redefine the word calf by saying a calf is no longer a calf once they're not nursing with their mother anymore. And that's just simply - that's just not true. A calf is always a calf. So for example, Kasatka and Takara, when they were separated when Takara was 12, Takara is still Kasatka's calf, and they would remain together for life in the wild. So but of course...
DAVIES: Did you witness this yourself?
HARGROVE: I worked and swam with both of those whales, but when the separation actually happened in 2004, I had just left France. I went on to France, and then I had left France. But then when I came back to the SeaWorld Park in 2008, I was privy to all the details of that incident because Takara then came to Texas. And so now I was working and swimming with Takara again, so I needed to know every single thing that had happened with her since I had last worked with her for my own safety. So one of those things that I had to have knowledge of was that separation that took place in 2004.
So I knew every detail and every - of that incident and how the animals responded. And you know, and it was horrific. It was horrific what happened to Kasatka and Takara and still affects them years later. But you know, Takara was not nursing Kasatka at age 12, but she was still Takara's calf. And it was an extremely traumatic event to separate them, and like I said, still is years later.
So that's where SeaWorld tries to get people with semantics. And besides, even if - just say, even if that were true, which it's not, SeaWorld has separated mothers from their calves before they had stopped nursing. They took Keet away from Kalina, and he was only 20 months old. And he was still nursing. So, I mean, it has happened.
DAVIES: Going back to the separation of the mother Kasatka from her daughter Takara, what manifestations of stress or grieving, if you want to call it that, did Kasatka show when that happened? I mean, they literally took her daughter out of the water.
HARGROVE: That's right. We trick the whales when this happens, when there's a separation like that. We'll wait to even bring up the cranes until after we get the animals that are going to be transported to another park. We'll first make sure that we get those whales into the med pool because the whales are so smart, they know that even if they hear the cranes coming up the pathway or certainly if they see them, they won't separate. They won't allow it to happen because they know the - what's the possibility. They're so smart, and they've seen it before that, you know, one of the members of their family or their social group could be taken away from them. So we'll wait until we get them into the med pool, and then once we have them in the med pool, then we drive the crane up. But you know, you'll see just extremely upset vocalizations from whales that are in the med pool and whales that are being taken away and then the whales that they're being taken away from.
And in fact, with Kasatka and Takara, Kasatka, who had been in captivity for 30 years, she was emitting vocalizations that had never been heard before ever by anyone. And so they brought in one of their own SeaWorld researchers from the Hubbs Research Institute - SeaWorld Research Institute. She analyzed those vocals and determined that they were long-range vocals. And she was emitting those vocalizations that were determined to be long-range 'cause she was looking - you know, obviously Takara was gone, and she was trying something that - anything that she could to try to locate and communicate with Takara, which is absolutely heartbreaking. And those vocalizations continued on for a long time.
DAVIES: You know, I asked the SeaWorld officials about that, and they said, well - they thought that, you know, people like you were misinterpreting some of the vocalizations that occurred in circumstances like that. And further, they said that when they move whales from one facility to another, it's done with careful attention to the social groups so that conflicts don't occur and they don't feel stress from missing family members.
HARGROVE: Well, there was no misinterpretation of those vocalizations because I certainly understand what types of vocalizations whales make and what those vocalizations mean. And this information was communicated to me by a senior manager from Shamu Stadium at SeaWorld of California. So obviously that was their determination of their vocalizations, which was communicated to me rightfully so. So there's no real gray area there for any misinterpretation of what those vocalizations might have meant. Everyone clearly understood that it was an extremely traumatic event for both Kasatka and Takara. And I'm sorry, the second part of your question was...
DAVIES: Well, they were saying that they manage this stuff carefully and pay a lot of attention to social groups, which whales get along, that kind of thing.
HARGROVE: Well, OK, then a great rebuttal to that is, if they paid such careful attention to that, they wouldn't have taken Kohana from Takara. Kohana was only 3 years old when they took...
DAVIES: Kohana was the daughter of Takara, right?
HARGROVE: Exactly.
DAVIES: OK.
HARGROVE: And ironically, up on SeaWorld's - their own page, The Truth About Blackfish, they have a picture of Takara with her calf Kohana, and they say, we do not separate mothers from their calves. OK, right now, Takara is at SeaWorld of Texas, and Kohana is in Spain. So they are separated. And they actually took Kohana away from Takara when she was only 3 years old. And that put Kohana in a social situation where she had no mother at the age of 3 and no other adult females. So what happened was, she was inbred with her Uncle Keto. He inbred her twice. She had the calf. And because she was just a baby, really, no other whale to learn from, no mother to learn from, she rejected both of her calves, and the second calf died within its first year. So I don't think that that would classify as them taking into careful consideration what's best for social pairing when you're starting to inbreed animals.
DAVIES: You write that the whales in SeaWorld chew the paint from the bottom of the pools.
HARGROVE: They do. They chew it everywhere. They'll chew it off the bottom of the pool. They'll bite the stage. They'll peel it from the sidewalls. They'll peel it from the ledges of the pool just out of sheer boredom because their environment is so horrifically sterile. And in the process, they wear down their teeth. And once their teeth are so badly worn down, they'll develop a pinhole in it. And once that pinhole develops, then they'll get an abscess which can kill them very quickly. So then we're forced, for health reasons - which is a horrible thing for the whales, but it's kind of the lesser of two evils. We have to manually drill that tooth in what's known as a pulpotomy.
And then after that, now they have this open pathway directly to the bloodstream, which can kill them. And we have had whales that we believe - that have died from those problems with their teeth. So we have to, every day, invasively irrigate those drilled holes in their teeth. We go in with a metal catheter with a hydrogen peroxide solution and have to invasively irrigate two to three times a day just to try to keep that hole open and not blocked because if you don't - if you don't irrigate very well and you miss something, it does become blocked. They can get that abscess, and they can die, which is what we believe happened with Kalina, the original baby of Shamu who died in 2010.
DAVIES: And you would participate in these dental surgeries a lot, right?
HARGROVE: Absolutely. Every day, I was a irrigating the whales' teeth that needed to be irrigated, which is, you know, roughly about 50 percent of the whales in our collection. Their teeth are so bad that we've had to drill - so every single day, I was irrigating killer whale teeth.
DAVIES: John Hargrove's new memoir is called "Beneath The Surface." After a break, he'll talk about the 2010 incident at SeaWorld's Orlando Park when a whale pulled an experienced trainer into the water and killed her. We'll also hear from two senior officials at SeaWorld. I'm Dave Davies, and this is FRESH AIR.
DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross. We're speaking with John Hargrove, a former senior trainer of killer whales at SeaWorld's theme parks, who became disillusioned and left the company in 2012. He has a new memoir about his experiences with orcas called "Beneath The Surface."
Everything changed for SeaWorld in 2010 when a senior, experienced trainer, Dawn Brancheau, was dragged into the water and killed. Do you want to tell us what happened - your take on that event?
HARGROVE: Sure. Dawn was very experienced. She was working with Tilikum during a "Dine With Shamu," the show out front.
DAVIES: Tilikum was the whale? Yeah, go ahead.
HARGROVE: Yeah, exactly - a 12,000-pound male. And Dawn was on his close-contact team, so only certain approved trainers were on his close-contact team. And she was working with Tilikum the way she was allowed to work with Tilikum. She wasn't breaking any rules or protocols. She wasn't swimming with him. And, you know, he made the choice to grab her and pull her into the pool. We will never know why Tilikum made that choice. And we will never know for sure if Tilikum intended to kill her or if he was just in such a rage.
But what we do know without question - even though SeaWorld denies it now publicly, but internally we never denied it and we always discussed it as so - is that it was an aggressive event. So, I mean, even in court, in the OSHA hearings, SeaWorld attempted to try to say it was not aggressive behavior. But I can tell you, all of our senior-level internal meetings, we always discussed it as what it was, which was a highly aggressive event. I mean, he didn't just drown Dawn, he dismembered her. So, I mean, it was definitely - and he never responded to any attempt to call him over. All the emergency recalls that the whales are trained on failed. He never came over, and he was emitting highly upset vocals throughout the entire incident. And again, like I said, in the end, tragically, she was not only dead, but she was dismembered. To say that - even try to claim that it was not aggressive is just vulgar.
DAVIES: There are a number of really harrowing episodes that you describe in the book where trainers - there's another one where a trainer named Alexis Martinez was killed at a park in Spain, that while distinct from SeaWorld uses SeaWorld trainers. And then many examples in SeaWorld parks where trainers were in danger. When we spoke to the SeaWorld folks, they said these incidents are extremely rare. Would you agree?
HARGROVE: I think they're extremely rare when they're killed and they're dismembered, like with Alexis and Dawn. But aggression towards trainers is not extremely rare, and in fact we just keep that from the public. And if it doesn't happen in the media, if the media doesn't get hold of it, then you guys never hear about it. And the perfect example of that is the one in "Blackfish" where Tamarie is pulled in by both Splash and Orkid. We had that videotape under lock and key at Shamu Stadium, and only us Shamu Stadium trainers ever saw that video. But...
DAVIES: Now, this was Tamarie Tollison...
HARGROVE: That's right.
DAVIES: ...Who was dragged into the water by a whale named Orkid and bitten, right?
HARGROVE: Yeah, Orkid grabbed her by the foot. But then after Orkid pulled her under, Splash and Orkid both held her under, and then Splash crunched her arm, bit her arm, and compound fractured her arm. And she nearly died in that incident; she would've died if Robin Sheets wouldn't have made the decision to take the chain off Kasatka's gate...
DAVIES: That's an...
HARGROVE: ...Because Kasatka was more dominant. So that video only surfaced to the public under the Freedom of Information Act because it was included as evidence in the OSHA hearings - OSHA versus SeaWorld, over Dawn being killed. And my point of that is, is that there are many of those and there are still many of those that the public are not aware of. You know, we would have a lot of major water-work aggressions, we just would not tell them to the public for obvious reasons.
DAVIES: For many years, people have criticized keeping orcas in captivity, have criticized SeaWorld. You stuck with the company for a long time, defended it, believed in it. What finally made you leave?
HARGROVE: You know, I was a 100 percent SeaWorld loyalist and respected people like Chuck Tompkins. I still have a very high level of respect for Chuck. I know that Chuck loves the whales, but I also understand the position that he's in to protect the company. But what changed for me was that I really - as I became higher ranked, I saw the devastating effects of captivity on these whales, and it just really became a moral and ethical issue.
And, you know, when you first start to see it, you first try to say, OK, well, I love these animals; I'm going to take care of them. Then you think, well, I can change things. And then, you know, all these things of course never improve. And then you start getting directed; you start seeing mothers separated from the calves; you start seeing trainers being killed and then they blame them for their own death, and then you - ultimately in court, you know, SeaWorld testify they had no knowledge we had a dangerous job. And for me, that was the final straw.
DAVIES: What did your years in the water with orcas do to your body?
HARGROVE: Oh, gosh. Well, I have - I've had major sinus surgery here in New York where they had to cut out scar tissue in all four compartments of my sinuses and saw away bone because of the cold, so many years of being exposed to the cold water had caused my bones to thicken in my skull. I have major cartilage destruction in both of my knees and in my back. I've lacerated my face to the skull - 17 stitches to close up. I've broken my foot. I've broken toes. I've broken fingers. I've broken my ribs two times. I've been treated for thoracic strain for a couple of years. Actually, I'm glad it's a little easier now. But, you know, it helps when you're actually not swimming with the whales anymore. But, you know, so I have a laundry list of injuries, and, you know, they're only going to get worse. I'm 41 years old now, and I have these injuries. I mean, they were taking x-rays of me and saying that my back already was reflective of a back of someone in their 60s.
DAVIES: And yet you stayed in the water, and I gather in a lot of ways, you really miss it still, don't you?
HARGROVE: You know, I'm conflicted. You know, I'll always miss the whales. I love those whales, and they gave me the most unbelievable memories that I'll cherish for the rest of my life. And I was there because I loved them and because I wanted to have that life with them. But I hate the fact that I was a part of a system that took these animals from their natural environment, stripped them away from their family, often killing members of their family in the process. And now that they are treated as a breeding, you know, baby machines and just, you know, stripping the calves away from their mother and moving them around and now there's inbreeding going on.
You know, one of the worst examples is the forced artificial insemination. You know, just in July of 2013 they forcibly artificially inseminated Kalia, and she was only 8 years old. In the wild, she wouldn't breed until 13 to 15. So she's not even - she's years away from being fully developed at 8 years old, and they forcibly inseminated her at 8. And I don't think - how can anyone look at these types of things that are going on and say that this is morally and ethically acceptable? It's just not.
DAVIES: John Hargrove, thanks so much for speaking with us.
HARGROVE: Thank you so much for having me.
DAVIES: John Hargrove's new memoir is called "Beneath The Surface." Coming up, we'll hear from SeaWorld's curator of zoological services and its supervisor of veterinary services. This is FRESH AIR.
DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. We've heard a lot of criticisms of SeaWorld's treatment of killer whales at its parks and the risks its trainers face. A trainer was killed by a whale in Orlando in 2010. After a lengthy court battle, a judge upheld the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's conclusion that SeaWorld had exposed its trainers to danger and that it should not be allowed to let its personnel enter the water with whales. For a response, we spoke with SeaWorld's curator of zoological operations, Chuck Tompkins, and its vice president of veterinary services, Dr. Chris Dold.
Dr. Chris Dold, Chuck Tompkins, welcome to FRESH AIR. Thank you for joining us. You know, a common theme in the film "Blackfish" and in John Hargrove's book about his experience is the assertion that the conditions of captivity to the killer whales at SeaWorld are cruel to the animals and create dangerous situations for their trainers. So I want to kind of go through some parts of that. In the film "Blackfish" - and John Hargrove makes the same point in his book, that there are cases where mothers were separated from offspring. And it was very traumatic for them. There are clear signs of mourning. And Hargrove believes that this creates behavioral - stresses and behavioral problems. I know SeaWorld says it doesn't separate calves from mothers - calves as - defined as, I guess, younger offspring. But are there - but are moms separated from daughters or sons they've been with their whole lives, and is that a potential - does that then create stress and potential behavioral problems?
TOMPKINS: Well, this is Chuck. I've been involved in several moves where we have moved the animals because of social needs or a particular group of animals didn't get along or we wanted a breeding group to be more successful. We have moved adult animals or sub-adult animals, but we've never moved a calf from a mom.
DAVIES: What's a calf? How do you define a calf?
TOMPKINS: A calf is some - an animal young enough who's still dependent on the mom, still nursing with the mom and still requires the mom's leadership. We think they're probably dependent probably for four to five years. So after that, they start to gain their independence, and very quickly, they become their own animals in the social group. So a calf, to me, is a very young animal who's dependent on the mom. And we've never moved any of those young animals like that.
For the animals that we have moved, we obviously are aware of what we're doing and what we're about to do, and we prepare those animals for that move. They spend more time in their own social groups. They've already shown that behavior anyway. And we've trained them to be relaxed during that move. To say that they're uncomfortable or stressed, that's just not the way we do our business at SeaWorld. We don't put any animal in any stressful situation.
DAVIES: OK. Now, in the book, and this is also in the film, John Hargrove describes a heartbreaking scene in which a mom - it might've been Kasatka - I have trouble with the whale names - but clearly was distressed and making vocalizations that he'd never heard before, indicating that whatever preparation, she found this very difficult and behaved differently immediately afterward.
TOMPKINS: His interpretation of the environment is completely different from mine or any other trainer that was there. These animals are very vocal. And anytime you're doing something different in the environment, these animals can become vocal. But never during these situations have we heard those type of vocals that would indicate stress or uncomfortability or anything of that nature, or we wouldn't continue with the process.
DOLD: This is Dr. Dold. There's a theme, and maybe a bit of exaggeration, about each of these processes as described in the film, which I'm certainly familiar with, that really sort of sensationalizes what we're doing in those stories that are told from the standpoint of those who are criticizing us. The main point is that every decision we make around a social setting for the whales, around moving a whale from one park to another one, is founded in respect for the animals. We spend a long time not just, as Chuck mentioned, preparing a whale, if it's going to move, for that move, behaviorally, but also working as a team to decide, is this social situation that we may be creating or changing still going to work for the health and well-being of all of the animals?
And there's one last part of this story that I'll share here because the way we manage our whales, as close as we are with the whales that we care for in our parks, it is very different than what a wild killer whale experiences. Remember, 80 percent of our whales, or more now, were born at a park at SeaWorld, and so one of the fundamental differences between a wild killer whale and the killer whales that live at our parks is that they have humans working with them every day. Human beings are a part of their lives. And so when we move a killer whale away from killer whales it's been living with for a long time, and that may be a mother killer whale or another sibling, some of that social group still goes with that whale. If it isn't a couple of the whales already that it grew up with moving with it, it's the trainers that that whale knows, as well as the other whales in its environment.
DAVIES: John Hargrove says that the whales chew on the paint in their tanks and sees this as - that this is harmful to their teeth and that it's a sign of stress.
DOLD: Killer whales do have worn teeth and a number of our whales have worn teeth. And it's important to note that wild killer whales wear their teeth as well. And just like our killer whales, it's a result of manipulating things in their environment. Remember, killer whales, bottlenose dolphins, these species of toothed whales and dolphins, they don't have hands, and so they use their mouths to manipulate their environment. And you'll see if you look on the Internet, you'll look at photos of stranded killer whales, and you actually see that a lot of them have the exact same tooth profile as our killer whales. If they are manipulating things in their environment or they're brushing against a more abrasive surface, like a wall, there may be some tooth wear as a result. The important difference is, of course, that we have a team of veterinarians there to intervene. If that were to develop into a problem and on the rare occasion that it does, we can step in and provide comprehensive care for it.
DAVIES: You spoke earlier about raking. And raking is this activity where one whale will rake its teeth along the skin of another and create some kind of injury. And there are a lot of pictures in the film of raking, of whale skin being damaged and sometimes cuts that bleed. Hargrove writes about this as well. And what they say is that this is evidence of the stress and conflict that these whales experience in captivity. In the wild, when they can swim away from someone there in conflict, you just don't see much raking. Is that true?
DOLD: That's not true at all. Raking as a behavior isn't just prevalent in killer whales. It is the norm in any whale or dolphin species with teeth. That's how - one of the fundamental ways that these animals will exert dominance and, as Chuck mentioned, during aggressive interactions. And so this is completely part of normal killer whale behavior and killer whale interaction. It's normal part of bottlenose dolphin behavior and bottlenose dolphin interaction.
And, in fact, if you look at some of the very well-known and widely published photo ID catalogs that are out right now that are freely available - and it's great work done by field biologists looking at killer whales as a way of identifying individual whales and following them over time - you'll see that well over 80 percent of those photographs of just the dorsal fins alone and the little part of the back have rake marks from other killer whales as part of those whales. And that's just one small part of the whale. So it's well-known to be part of normal killer whale behavior, even wild killer whales that presumably have the ability to swim out of the way.
DAVIES: Dr. Chris Dold is vice president of veterinary services at SeaWorld. Chuck Tompkins is the corporate curator of zoological operations at the parks. This is FRESH AIR, and we'll continue our conversation in just a moment. This is FRESH AIR.
DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. And if you're just joining us, we're talking with Dr. Chris Dold; he is a vice president of veterinary services at SeaWorld. Also with us is Chuck Tompkins, the corporate curator of zoological operations. And we're talking about some of the issues raised by the film "Blackfish" and a recent book by former trainer John Hargrove.
Well, as you know, I mean, there was a terrible tragedy at the SeaWorld in Orlando in 2010 when a trainer, Dawn Brancheau, was killed after she was dragged into the water by a whale. And one of the things that a number of trainers were - felt very angry about was a sense that SeaWorld essentially blamed her for this accident, asserting that she'd had a ponytail and that that might have been the cause, and I think a lot of trainers felt betrayed by it - by the company's posture or what they see as the company's posture on that. Do either of you have opinion - an opinion to share about that?
TOMPKINS: Yes, I do. This is Chuck. I was actually the company spokesman during that time. And to be clear, I worked with Dawn her entire career. She was not only somebody that worked with us, but she was also a very, very close friend. That was a terrible emotional time for a lot of people. And we knew the facts and we - as much as we could at the time, we knew that her hair was grabbed, but that was not blaming anybody. We never, never publicly came out and blamed Dawn for anything. I think we were very respectful towards Dawn. I think we were very respectful towards the family. And in the hundred-something interviews that I did shortly after that, we simply stated the basic facts - that we knew what had happened, but we would seek what would happen, what were the facts - and we eventually decided that it was an accident that happened and there was not going to be blame. So I adamantly disagree that we disrespected Dawn in any way, shape or form.
DAVIES: Right. Well, and I never found a corporate statement to that effect. However, I mean, as you know, in the subsequent court case, the SeaWorld expert witness, Mr. Andrews, said in his report what led to the event was a mistake by Ms. Brancheau, and the judge quotes that in his opinion and strongly takes issue with it. Is that not in effect blaming her?
TOMPKINS: Well, Jeff Andrews was not working for SeaWorld during the time...
DAVIES: No. But he was represented by your attorneys as an expert witness offering an opinion on the case.
TOMPKINS: Yeah, and it was his opinion, not necessarily the opinion of SeaWorld. And I stick by the fact that we've never publicly blamed Dawn and we never would.
DAVIES: And there was an initial statement in the initial press accounts by a member of the sheriff's office that the trainer appeared to have slipped or fallen in the pool, which clearly was not the case. And it was said that the sheriff's official made that statement after meeting with SeaWorld officials. Is that right?
TOMPKINS: I can't speak to all the specifics. I do know that there was a lot of statements made without sitting down and making sure that we got the right information. I can't speak to what the sheriff said and the validity of what he said, but I do know that after talking with everybody and the trainer who was a witness there as well as some of the other people that were by the side of the pool, that was not the case.
DAVIES: As you know, I mean, the judge - the administrative judge in that case, in an opinion which was later upheld in an appeal, I mean, found that SeaWorld had placed its trainers in a hazardous circumstance and ordered changes. Do you think trainers should be in the water with whales?
TOMPKINS: Well, obviously having spent 38 years working with killer whales and 25 of those years in the water developing the relationship with those killer whales, there is a very unique relationship and trust that you can acquire with a killer whale. We also need to remember that we need to leave Tilikum out of this mix. Tilikum was never a waterwork animal, never was going to be a waterwork animal. We never treated him like a waterwork animal.
DAVIES: Just, just - wait, just - you're using terms - Tilikum is the whale that killed Dawn Brancheau. Waterwork means...
TOMPKINS: Correct.
DAVIES: ...A trainer...
TOMPKINS: Getting in the water with a killer whale.
DAVIES: Very good, go ahead.
TOMPKINS: That's right. But with all the other killer whales, we really develop these type of relationships that there's no way on land that you can develop that type of relationship. These animals are aquatic. They relate in the water. Now, does that mean that we don't have that type of relationship? We have definitely learned to adapt. We're now working these killer whales from the deck, but we're working very hard to keep that relationship. But in my opinion, I still think, based on our safety record and our past experiences, being in the water would be a good thing for a killer whale.
DAVIES: After the death of Dawn Brancheau in 2010, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration brought a court action that was an extensive testimony taken in that. And the judge found in that there had been many incidents over the years in which trainers had been involved in dangerous situations, in some cases injured or killed. I mean, doesn't that suggest that your monitoring of these interactions of the animals is far from foolproof?
TOMPKINS: No, not at all. I, obviously, was the person that testified during that OSHA case, and, you know, there's a lot of numbers tossed out there and stuff. The reality is we only had a handful of injuries where people left the park to go to the hospital. And that's based on - at that particular time, we had 1.6 million water interactions with these animals. If you do the math on that, there's a very small percentage of people that had a situation where they were injured working a killer whale. We feel like we had one of the safest programs, and we still have one of the safest killer whale interaction programs in the world.
DAVIES: As you know, Judge Welsch's opinion was very critical of the math that you just described.
TOMPKINS: I understand that. And I would disagree because I've spent 38 years looking at the statistics and knowing each and every one of those situations. The problem was that a lot of those incidents who were written down were observations where trainers felt like they needed to put it on paper, but nobody was injured. No killer whale acted aggressive more than there was an unusual behavior. An incident does not necessarily mean there was an aggressive moment. An incident means it was a notable behavior that we wanted to keep track of.
DAVIES: Well, again the judge says that the record of incidents that SeaWorld produced left out a lot of encounters that probably should've been included.
TOMPKINS: No, that was not the case. There was two that was not documented in the document that I showed. But they were - showed up in another document that trainers still had access to. So there was not one situation that all the trainers did not have access to. And to be clear, each trainer is fully aware of the potential of what they're doing, how they're interacting with these animals and also the specifics of the animal that they're working with.
DAVIES: Let me ask a broader question. As you know, there are a lot of people who just believe that these animals should not be held captive. And your case is that you do an awful lot for the animals, that they're healthy and well-adjusted. What affirmative good comes from having these animals in captivity and performing?
DOLD: There's a lot of good that comes of it. Very, very basically, we as humans are interested in these animals, and so we're interested in everything about them. Those of us who have the privilege to care for them on a daily basis and work with them on a daily basis take as deep a caring and understanding for these animals as we possibly can. And we recognize that we have a social contract, if you will, to do as much as we can with these animals and for these animals. And fundamental to that is not just providing for their comprehensive care and well-being, but it's also to study them and understand them and make them available for others who wish to study and understand them so that we can continue to contribute to the global understanding, scientific understanding, society's understanding of these incredible animals.
DAVIES: Dr. Chris Dold, Chuck Tompkins, thanks so much for speaking with us.
DOLD: Thanks very much.
TOMPKINS: Thank you.
DAVIES: Dr. Chris Dold is SeaWorld's vice president of veterinary services. Chuck Tompkins is curator of zoological operations. Earlier, we spoke with John Hargrove, a former SeaWorld trainer. His memoir is called "Beneath The Surface." Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, we talk with actor Benito Martinez who stars in the TV series "American Crime" and with John Ridley, creator and executive producer.


Great news from the House of Representatives!
Yesterday the House Labor-HHS Subcommittee on Appropriations released the mark-up of its annual spending bill. The proposal sets the FY 2011 spending levels for all discretionary health programs located within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the Health Centers program.
As you know, NACHC has been advocating that Congress fund the Health Centers program at least at last year's level, which was $2.19 billion. This funding level, coupled together with the $11 billion Community Health Center Fund passed as part of the Affordable Care Act, will allow the full intent of the health reform bill to be realized. Recognizing this, the House Subcommittee has now officially proposed that the Health Centers program be funded at $2.19 billion in FY2011! Health Centers will now be on a path to serve an additional 20 million patients over the next five years, doubling the size of the program to 40 million patients.
While NACHC is pleased with the recent Subcommittee activity, our work on the appropriations front is not over yet! The Senate Labor-HHS Subcommittee on Appropriations will mark up its bill on July 22nd, and then the full Senate Appropriations Committee mark up will be held on July 27th. In the meantime, NACHC will continue to focus our attentions to key Senate Appropriations Committee members, especially those who are members of the Labor-HHS subcommittee.
It is great news that the House Subcommittee has now supported adequate funding of the Health Centers program, but our advocacy in the Senate will be critical during this extremely tight appropriations season. Therefore NACHC will continue to push for funding in the Senate that will enable the vision of the health reform bill to become a reality in FY2011.
NACHC would like to say thanks to those of you who contacted your Members of Congress in support of FY2011 funding, and we will continue to keep you all up-to-date on the appropriations process as we move into next week's Senate mark ups!
Can someone explain how we are going to be able to double the number of patients seen at the same appropriation level as last year?
Is there a different piece of legislation that appropriates more for the next fiscal year? We are overwhelmed with uninsured patients (tripling our patient numbers between 2008 and this year).
While our discretionary appropriation may stay the same at $2.19 billion, the Health Centers program will be receiving an increase in funding through the CHC Fund, which was passed as part of health reform. Health centers will receive $1 billion from this Fund for FY 2011, above our estimated level-funding of $2.19B.
The CHC Fund will serve as the increase for the Health Centers program for the next 5 years. Because all the money from the Fund will be in addition to regular discretionary appropriations, NACHC does not anticipate the need to request a discretionary increase over the next 5 years.
Because the CHC Fund will act just like the current 330 grant, it should provide additional funding for health centers, and assist health centers such as yours with providing services to the uninsured.
Hopefully this was helpful! Feel free to email me or leave another comment if necessary!
Could you tell me if this includes funding for New Access Point grants? And if so, do you know how much and how many grants?
$9.5 billion of the CHC Fund is dedicated to health center operations, and we're sure it will operate just like the 330 grant: it will fund new sites/starts, expanded medical capacity, and service expansions. So it will definitely go towards funding NAP grants.
We're not sure exactly how many grants will be funded, but we know that HRSA is dedicated to expanding the program, and wants to have a lot of them funded. As soon as we have more information on this front, we'll let you know!
Is any of the HRSA CHC Fund dedicated or inclusive of capital funding? Or is discretionary appropriation — that is, earmarks — the only path to receiving capital funding through HHS in 2011 or 2012? Thank you, Barbara E.


My husband cracks me up. He doesn't tell a lot of jokes, not in the conventional sense anyway ("Did you hear the one about…"), but his silliness quotient is pretty high. In fact, he can be a total dork… and I love it.
Having a good sense of humor is one of the most important traits I looked for in anyone I'm going to spend time with, let alone live with. If someone can laugh at themselves and find the humor in less-than-humorous situations, it is a sign of self-confidence and flexibility. Who wants to hang out with anyone who needs to maintain a polished image or present their best self at all times? People who generally feel good about themselves and aren't too self-conscious are usually confident enough to be silly. And being silly is when life gets fun.
I love our inside jokes… some that date back to the first days of our relationship. I love how just one word or look can instantly recall a funny story that resides in both of our memories. I love how we riff off of each other when one of us starts a silly streak, and the other picks it up, adds to it, and then sends it back for more. I love how we can laugh at ourselves and – gently – laugh at each other, confident that we are safe in each other's heart.
We don't celebrate Valentine's Day in traditional "Hallmark Holiday" ways; we don't go out to dinner nor do we give each other gifts of flowers or chocolates. In fact, we spend Valentine's Day pretty much like any other day… but that's OK. As long as our day contains a fair amount of fun and a good dose of silliness, I have all the hearts and romance I need.
I am so grateful to my husband for bringing his special brand of joy and laughter into our marriage. I wouldn't trade my funny valentine for any other.
Wonderful tribute! I feel the same way about my husband. He did the flowers and dinner thing when we started dating but we have settled into something better.
Flowers die and chocolate gets eaten. Laughing is good aerobic exercise, works off the calories (that's my story anyway), and has lasting power.
What a wonderful insight into your marriage, and one of the bonds that glues you together. And thank you for reminding us about what is really important! One of the best feelings in the world is when I make Sailor laugh, and he makes me laugh right back. Much more precious, and long lasting, than chocolate and flowers. Happy Valentine's Day!
Happy Valentine's Day to you too! May your day be full of fun!
I like the photo of your husband and the canon. Made me laugh out loud. Sounds like you two have a good fun relationship– which is far better than any old Hallmark greeting card.
I love that one too! He's always so good about posing for silly pictures.
Love and laughter – the best recipe!
It's hard to mess up a recipe with those ingredients.
So cool that you appreciate each other's humour and have shared private jokes. That's what it's all about.
I can't imagine being in a relationship that didn't include a large dose of fun. Private jokes are the best!
Isn't it great being able to feel like every day is Valentine's Day?!
It's good to be married to my best friend… who also happens to be pretty darn amusing.
I'm with you. It's wonderful to have so much shared history that even a word or a flash from the past sets us both off. Having someone to laugh with is so important that I had it written into our wedding vows that Bill had to make me laugh at least once a day. He's still holding up his end of the bargain.
What a great item to include in your vows! It sounds like laughter and general silliness is an important part of your marriage too. Happy Valentine's Day!
Humor is a wonderful thing to have in a marriage. And, I agree that you don't need a date on a calendar to remind you of what you have all year long. So instead of saying Happy Valentine's Day, let me just say – Happy Marriage!!
"Happy Marriage"… I like that! Thank you!
On to your next adventure "… together as a team…" I like that! We also enjoyed meeting you and look forward to next time!
Thank you, Marty. You are so right about a sense of humor getting you through the tough times – that's when it's the most difficult to maintain a smile… and the most important.
I hope you had a great Valentine's Day too!
My wife and I feel very similarly. (She would also probably agree that I'm a dork) Feb 14 for us is the day after Feb 13. Everyday is Valentine's Day, and we are the better for it as well.
Ummm. It's a lot easier for me to be vivacious and to paint my recollections in a more colorful light throughout the lens of virtuality.
But yes, playing more and not being afraid to be silly, these are things I'm actively trying to incorporate into my life now that I (like you) don't have to put on my "work face" anymore.
Sounds like a beautiful marriage! Congratulations … many go through life and never experience that.
If you can't be safe to mess up or be silly in front of your loved one, I think life would feel too stressful.
What a sweet reminder that there are wonderful, happy, enviable people in our world! Some days I almost forget.
I'd like to think there are more happy people than not, but maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part. But you are right, there does seem to be a lot of unhappy people around lately… especially if you get too far into the comment sections of political news articles.
Gorgeous photos and an absolutely brilliant Valentine's Day tribute!
Thank you Donna! It was fun finding the goofiest photos I had of him (and there were many to choose from 🙂 ).
Great tribute to your partner. I loved the photo of you two framed as a heart.
Thank you! He definitely has his serious side, but I love that he also likes to goof around.
I love this! You are so right about a sense of humor being so important! Most Definitely! It helps you get through the rough bumps in life and just adds more fun to life in general! Sweet post!
Thank you! I think having a good sense of humor is one the top things to look for in someone you plan to go through life with. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Good post! Funny is everything, I can't imagine not being married to a funny man.
Life would be so dull! Funny gets us through any hard times. Thanks for your comment.