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Tag Archives: crime
"Facts Don't Win Elections"
August 1, 2016 Criminal Justicecrime, media, NRA, statisticsSheila
Over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, Ed Brayton recently reflected upon the disconnect between crime statistics and popular beliefs about violent crime.
The disconnect between actual rates of violent crime and the public perception of the rates of violent crime is astonishing. In 2014, 63% of Americans believed that violent crime was going up when, in reality, it's been dropping steadily for 25 years and has dropped 20% in the last 8 years. In fact, a majority of Americans have believed that every year since 2003.
There are several explanations that can be offered for that disconnect, but undoubtedly, the media bears considerable responsibility. Not only do news sources–particularly television news–focus on crime ("if it bleeds, it leads"), but the number of movies and popular television shows that feature crime fighters of one sort or another (everything from the multiple versions of Law and Order and NCIS to lawyer shows to cops and robbers) sometimes seem to dwarf other kinds of subject matter.
It isn't just that the media report so prominently on local crime incidents. In the age of globalization, we see reports from all around the world. Did a bomb go off in a London subway? It makes the evening news. Was someone murdered in Paris? It makes the evening news. The impression is that danger lurks everywhere.
It isn't all that innocent, however, as Brayton points out.
But I think there's one more element to this that is important. One of our two major political parties has a huge interest in convincing people that violent crime is getting worse instead of better. And one of the most influential interest groups for that party, the NRA, has become little more than the marketing wing of the gun industry. And surveys also show that support for gun rights goes up as fear of crime goes up. So there is a huge incentive to lie to people and convince them that crime is going up. And since, as noted above, most people have no experience with actual violent crime, the media images and political messages that focus on violent crime are more likely to be effective.
Thus you get what happened at the RNC, where they were selling not only the idea of a dystopic future but a dystopic present. They presented America as a hellscape of violence that simply does not exist, despite some high-profile situations that got enormous media saturation. It has never been safer to be an American. It's never been safer to be a cop in America. Those are the facts. But facts don't win elections.
Facts. Evidence. Reality. Next to a good story, I guess they don't stand much of a chance.
If We Really Followed the Money…..
June 3, 2016 Random Bloggingcrime, minimum wageSheila
I recently came across a citation to a fascinating report from the White House Council of Economic Advisors. (Yes, I know I'm a nerd and my reading habits are embarrassingly dorkish…). But it was interesting!
When asked to study the cost/benefit of various crime reduction policies, the Council responded with data like this:
The authors consider a few ways of reducing crime. They forecast that hiking the federal minimum hourly wage from $7.25 to $12 would reduce crime by 3 percent to 5 percent, as fewer people would be forced to turn to illegal activity to make ends meet. By contrast, spending an additional $10 billion on incarceration — a massive increase — would reduce crime by only 1 percent to 4 percent, according to the report…
They also calculated the true social costs of crime. It totaled almost $308 billion in 2014. So a simple move like raising the minimum wage to $12 doesn't only reduce crime by 3%-5%, it would save $8 to $17 billion a year.
The problem, of course, is that in the United States, policies are not evaluated and/or implemented based upon any sort of cost/benefit analysis. A continuing influence of this country's early Calvinism is our predictable analysis of even the most prosaic policies as "moral" issues, requiring determination of "deservedness." We don't ask, what would work best? Instead, we ask "How do we avoid rewarding people for behaviors (real or imagined) of which we disapprove?"
It comes back to a conviction–evidently baked into American DNA–that if people are poor, they must be morally defective. Lazy. Unmotivated. Lacking "middle-class values."
And all of the data that demonstrates otherwise is simply disregarded as the product of wooly-headed liberals.
If we made policy based upon evidence, we would add the projected reduction in crime to the myriad other benefits of raising the minimum wage.
Increased buying power and consumer demand (as a result of more people having more disposable income) would drive improved economic performance.
According to research, easing the incredible stress experienced by so many low-wage families would reduce familial dysfunctions and even domestic violence.
Ameliorating the fiscal pressures that cause poor families to move more often would reduce the disruptive effect on the education of children who frequently change schools.
And guess what? We would dramatically reduce the current levels of government outlays for social programs.
Someone trying to support a family on today's minimum wage does not even reach the federal government's poverty line for a family of three. They would make about $14,500 per year. The federal poverty line for a family of three is $18,123. If the minimum wage were increased to a level at which families could sustain themselves, fewer people would end up needing government assistance for housing, food, or health care. This would be a significant benefit to taxpayers and to states' budgets.
So why is it so hard to raise the minimum wage?
One intriguing theory, from the Economic Policy Institute, is that raising the minimum wage may be seen as a women's issue.
While increasing the minimum wage would have a sizable impact on both men and women, it would disproportionately affect women. That women comprise 54.5 percent of workers who would be affected by a potential minimum-wage increase makes it a women's issue… The share of those affected who are women varies somewhat by state, from a low of 49.3 percent in California to a high of 64.4 percent in Mississippi (according to the authors' analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata). California and Nevada, also at 49.3 percent, are the only states where women do not constitute the majority of those who would benefit.
I hate to be a cynic, but maybe the disproportionate benefit to women is why we have so much trouble getting it done.
Misogyny? Or just our usual penchant for stubborn ideology over evidence?
Crime Control: We Need to Learn from the Big Apple
December 10, 2014 Criminal Justicecrime, Indianapolis, NYCSheila
The New York Times recently reported on the state of criminal activity in the Big Apple.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday that a city his opponents once said would grow more dangerous under his watch had, in fact, become even safer.
Robberies, considered the most telling indicator of street crime, are down 14 percent across New York City from last year. Grand larcenies — including the thefts of Apple devices that officials said drove an overall crime increase two years ago — are also down, by roughly 3 percent.
And after a record-low 335 homicides in 2013, the city has seen 290 killings in the first 11 months of this year, a number unheard-of two decades ago.
Indianapolis, by contrast, has had 130 murders through November 25th. In the 2010 census, Indianapolis had approximately 830, 000 residents; New York City has an estimated 8,500,000. In other words, we have not quite a tenth of the population, but nearly half as many homicides.
According to official reports, it isn't just New York (although the Big Apple is among the leaders in the decline.) Homicide rates in cities all across the country are falling.
Ours aren't. The question is: why?
Mayor Ballard–TMI!
October 11, 2014 Criminal Justice, Local GovernmentBallard Administration, crimeSheila
For a Mayor whose administration has been uncommonly secretive about information his constituents have a right to know, Mayor Ballard seems totally unaware of the damage that can come from TMI–too much information.
Ballard has been very defensive about his administration's inability to reduce our horrendous crime rate (which is substantially higher than New York's). That's understandable. He has also insisted that the problem won't be solved simply by adding more police, although he has conceded that IMPD is far, far below optimal staffing. A couple of days ago, he announced–with considerable fanfare–that the officers we do have will be deployed differently; that more police will be assigned to neighborhoods experiencing the most crime.
Okay. Maybe that helps, maybe not, but certainly reasonable.
The problem is, he identified those neighborhoods.
If you think about this for a minute–something I'm fairly confident no one in the Mayor's office did–you can see the problem. Each area identified has neighborhood organizations, urban pioneers, nonprofits and others working hard to improve these communities and trying to encourage people to move in and become part of the area's revitalization struggle. The administration has effectively undercut those efforts, labeling their neighborhoods as places people shouldn't want to live.
The city might just as well have posted "Danger, Keep Out" signs.
As if that wasn't bad enough, folks living in other neighborhoods–areas with problems that aren't "the worst"–look at the Mayor's deployment strategy and worry that the already thin police presence in our neighborhoods will decline, inviting a corresponding rise in crime. (If I were a burglar, I'd certainly consult that map–and confine my nighttime activities to non-targeted areas.)
The strategy of deploying resources to areas that most need those resources is fine. Announcing the specifics is bone-headed.
And this from an Administration that ignores legitimate Freedom of Information requests and refuses to share truly public information with the public.
Crime and (Kneejerk) Punishment
July 14, 2014 Criminal Justicecrime, deterrenceSheila
How many times have discussions on this blog–as well as others–focused on stupid laws? The drug war (especially marijuana prohibition) is one of the biggest offenders, having ruined countless lives, but everyone has his or her favorite example.
The litany is familiar: who thinks up these rules? Who thought X was a good idea? Why didn't anyone consider the adverse consequences?
Well, if we want to know what prompts lawmakers to suggest and pass costly measures ranging from irrelevant to unworkable, we have a perfect case study unfolding right before our eyes in Indianapolis.
Our City is experiencing a serious crime wave. There are a number of explanations–and a lot of excuses–for our public safety problem, ranging from insufficient police presence to poverty to administrative incompetence, and it's likely that all are implicated, along with social pathologies that resist easy answers.
So what are our intrepid lawmakers suggesting? Longer prison sentences for the people we manage to arrest! A quick fix. Easy to understand measures that will allow said lawmakers to boast that they "did something."
Of course, the "something" they propose to do flies in the face of years of criminal justice research.
Here's the thing: when we are trying to deter intentional crime (i.e., not a "crime of passion" committed by someone who acted out of a lack of self-control or often, lack of cognitive capacity), research confirms that what is effective is not the severity of the potential punishment–it is the certainty of that punishment. If an individual is considering engaging in a criminal act for which the punishment is 30 years in prison but the chances of getting caught are less than 5%, he's very likely to go for it. If, on the other hand, the punishment is only 5 years but the likelihood of being caught is 95%, he's much more likely to rethink it.
As the odds of being punished grow, so does the deterrence.
If we respond to the current crime wave by increasing the severity of punishment, our prison system will just cost taxpayers even more than it does now.
As H.L. Mencken memorably noted, for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.


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Poets and Poems: Maurice Manning and "Railsplitter"
Poet Maurice Manning has done something unusual for a poetry collection. He's crawled inside the head of a famous historical figure and told stories about the man's life from his own posthumous perspective.
In Railsplitter: Poems, the historical figure is Abraham Lincoln. Manning explains that his affinities for Lincoln have been long-standing. "I grew up near his birthplace," he writes in the preface, "and I live in the same county where his parents were married. My ancestors were early settlers of Kentucky. All my life I have had a sense of the world Lincoln came from, and meeting him through poetry has seemed, especially in recent years, inevitable." He says his great-great-grandfather would boast that he voted for Lincoln twice.
It was Lincoln who drew me to Manning's collection. I came late to Lincoln, growing up in the South, with a family invested in the Civil War and its memory and re-invention. Lincoln was rarely spoken of, and when he was, it was not with admiration. When I was an adult, and working as a speechwriter, I discovered Lincoln first through his speeches, like the Second Inaugural Address and especially the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Once I discovered him, Lincoln became almost heroic, because he was, a plain-speaking frontier lawyer who led the United States through the most difficult period of its history.
In Manning's poems, you find a Lincoln who sounds so authentic and realistic that you think the man himself must have written these first-person poems. It's that realistic and compelling. In no chronological order, the poems consider scenes of boyhood, his years as a frontier lawyer, his own family, the Civil War period, and even his assassination at Ford's Theatre in April 1865. Avoiding chronological order is important. Manning's Lincoln understands and remembers his own life like we all do—with the stories we and others tell about ourselves; we don't tell them in the order that they happened.
The collection begins with the surprising "To a Chigger," the mite long famous for aggravating and irritating people in woods, grasses, beds, and anywhere else people inhabit. Growing up on a farm and sleeping in hotel beds when he argued various legal cases, Lincoln would have been more than familiar with this pest. But then the collection moves on to consider language, the Wilmot Proviso, rumors about rearing his children, the Know-Nothings, Transcendentalism, his law partner William Herndon, the Civil War, his assassination, the poems he wrote (including the vulgar ones), the Civil War, reading Robert Burns, and more.
The collection contains many poems that are moving, and they tend to be the ones that capture his struggles as a leader and the great loneliness he must have felt.
The Winter of My Discontent
That was 1862,
and February was the depth,
and yet the grief went deeper still,
continuing as an endless valley,
and I was walking down it alone.
Death was everywhere a fog
over the land, and in my house,
I concluded, was where the fog began,
I was alone, as I am now,
to pronounce my soliloquies in the dark,
and my thoughts did dive down.
Am I a living ghost? What fate
is now foreshadowed by this moment?
How desperate must I be in this scene?
What resolution must I make?
To call for a horse? Where would I go?
Something happens to time in despair.
It ceases to divide, and yet
division was my residence.
So practicing soliloquies
revealed my mind, and the absence of time
gave me, strangely, time to practice.
And I had a discerning audience,
one who was familiar with my voice.
Maurice Manning
The title poem, "Railsplitter," is the final poem, a meditation upon Lincoln's death, his legacy, and the meaning of one's life. Rarely have I been so moved by a poem.
Manning has published six other poetry collections, including Lawrence Booth's Book of Visions (2001), A Companion for Owls (2004), Bucolics (2007), The Common Man (2010), The Gone and the Going Away (2013), and One Man's Dark (2017). A native of Kentucky, he attended Earlham College and the University of Alabama. After teaching at both DePauw and Indiana universities, he joined the faculty of Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. His poems have appeared in numerous literary publications. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2011 for The Common Man and was named a Guggenheim Fellow that same year.
Railsplitter is a collection for our divisive time. Like Lincoln, we live in a sharply divided country, and we're not even sure if we want to continue living together. Lincoln, and Manning's poems about him, remind us that the difficulties may seem insurmountable but that there is always hope, and we were born for such a time as this.
Photo by Johan Neven, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Glynn Young, author of the novels Dancing Priest, A Light Shining, Dancing King, and the newly published Dancing Prophet, and Poetry at Work.
Filed Under: Americana Poems, article, book reviews, Books, poetry, poetry reviews, Poets
I will have to read this collection (Lincoln is one of my heroes).
You would appreciate Gray Jacobik's 'Eleanor: Poems' from CavanKerry Press. A week or so ago, I heard Jacobik read from the collection. She was marvelous, and her monologues in Roosevelt's voice are wonderful.
Maureen, thanks for the reference. I will check it out.
This sounds wonderful. My husband loves Lincoln. This could even get him to like a little poetry.
Bethany R. says
That's a cool idea, Sandra. Makes me wonder, what first drew you (and anyone else reading this) into poetry? Or have you always loved it?

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text:
package fluentd

import (
	"bytes"
	"context"
	"net"
	"sync"
	"testing"
	"time"

	"github.com/fluent/fluent-logger-golang/fluent"

	descriptor "istio.io/api/policy/v1beta1"
	"istio.io/istio/mixer/adapter/fluentd/config"
	"istio.io/istio/mixer/pkg/adapter"
	"istio.io/istio/mixer/pkg/adapter/test"
	"istio.io/istio/mixer/template/logentry"
)

func TestBasic(t *testing.T) {
	info := GetInfo()

	if !contains(info.SupportedTemplates, logentry.TemplateName) {
		t.Error("Didn't find all expected supported templates")
	}

	cfg := info.DefaultConfig
	b := info.NewBuilder().(*builder)
	b.SetAdapterConfig(cfg)

	if err := b.Validate(); err != nil {
		t.Errorf("Got error %v, expecting success", err)
	}

	handler, err := b.build(context.Background(), test.NewEnv(t), func(fluent.Config) (*fluent.Fluent, error) { return &fluent.Fluent{}, nil })
	if err != nil {
		t.Errorf("Got error %v, expecting success", err)
	}

	logEntryHandler := handler.(logentry.Handler)
	err = logEntryHandler.HandleLogEntry(context.Background(), nil)
	if err != nil {
		t.Errorf("Got error %v, expecting success", err)
	}

	if err = handler.Close(); err != nil {
		t.Errorf("Got error %v, expecting success", err)
		return
	}

	if err = handler.Close(); err == nil {
		t.Errorf("Close(): expected error on second attempt; got none")
	}
}

func contains(s []string, e string) bool {
	for _, a := range s {
		if a == e {
			return true
		}
	}
	return false
}

func TestBuilder(t *testing.T) {
	env := test.NewEnv(t)

	cases := []struct {
		name    string
		config  config.Params
		success bool
		inject  bool
	}{
		{
			"Empty Address",
			config.Params{
				Address:         "",
				IntegerDuration: false,
			},
			false,
			false,
		},
		{
			"Bad Address",
			config.Params{
				Address:         "dummy",
				IntegerDuration: false,
			},
			false,
			false,
		},
		{
			"Good Address",
			config.Params{
				Address:         "1.2.3.4:1234",
				IntegerDuration: false,
			},
			true,
			true,
		},
		{
			"Overrides",
			config.Params{
				Address:              ":0",
				IntegerDuration:      true,
				MaxBatchSizeBytes:    40000,
				InstanceBufferSize:   3,
				PushIntervalDuration: 3 * time.Minute,
				PushTimeoutDuration:  10 * time.Second,
			},
			true,
			true,
		},
		{
			"Bad Batch Size",
			config.Params{
				Address:           ":0",
				IntegerDuration:   true,
				MaxBatchSizeBytes: -14,
			},
			false,
			false,
		},
		{
			"Bad Instance Buffer Size",
			config.Params{
				Address:            ":0",
				IntegerDuration:    true,
				InstanceBufferSize: -5,
			},
			false,
			false,
		},
		{
			"Bad Push Interval",
			config.Params{
				Address:              ":0",
				IntegerDuration:      true,
				PushIntervalDuration: -14 * time.Millisecond,
			},
			false,
			false,
		},
		{
			"Bad Push Timeout",
			config.Params{
				Address:             ":0",
				IntegerDuration:     true,
				PushTimeoutDuration: -18 * time.Millisecond,
			},
			false,
			false,
		},
	}

	for _, c := range cases {
		t.Run(c.name, func(t *testing.T) {
			info := GetInfo()
			b := info.NewBuilder().(*builder)
			b.SetAdapterConfig(&c.config)

			ce := b.Validate()
			if (ce != nil) && c.success {
				t.Errorf("Got %v, expecting success", ce)
			} else if (ce == nil) && !c.success {
				t.Errorf("Got success, expecting failure")
			}

			if ce != nil {
				return
			}

			var h adapter.Handler
			var err error
			if c.inject {
				h, err = b.build(context.Background(), test.NewEnv(t), func(fluent.Config) (*fluent.Fluent, error) { return &fluent.Fluent{}, nil })
			} else {
				h, err = b.Build(context.Background(), env)
			}
			if (err != nil) && c.success {
				t.Errorf("Got %v, expecting success", err)
			} else if (err == nil) && !c.success {
				t.Errorf("Got success, expecting failure")
			}
			if (h == nil) && c.success {
				t.Errorf("Got nil, expecting valid handler")
			} else if (h != nil) && !c.success {
				t.Errorf("Got a handler, expecting nil")
			}
			if h != nil {
				h.Close()
			}
		})
	}
}

func TestHandleLogEntry(t *testing.T) {
	types := map[string]*logentry.Type{
		"Foo": {
			Variables: map[string]descriptor.ValueType{
				"String":    descriptor.STRING,
				"Int64":     descriptor.INT64,
				"Double":    descriptor.DOUBLE,
				"Bool":      descriptor.BOOL,
				"Duration":  descriptor.DURATION,
				"Time":      descriptor.TIMESTAMP,
				"StringMap": descriptor.STRING_MAP,
				"IPAddress": descriptor.IP_ADDRESS,
				"Bytes":     descriptor.VALUE_TYPE_UNSPECIFIED,
			},
		},
	}

	mf := &mockFluentd{}

	tm := time.Date(2017, time.August, 21, 10, 4, 0, 0, time.UTC)

	cases := []struct {
		name       string
		instances  []*logentry.Instance
		expected   int
		maxBytes   int64
		failWrites bool
		intDur     bool
	}{
		{
			name: "Basic Logs",
			instances: []*logentry.Instance{
				{
					Name:     "Foo",
					Severity: "WARNING",
					Variables: map[string]interface{}{
						"String": "a string",
					},
				},
				{
					Name:     "Foo",
					Severity: "WARNING",
					Variables: map[string]interface{}{
						"tag": "fluent-tag",
					},
				},
			},
			expected: 2,
			maxBytes: 11,
		},
		{
			name: "Complex Log",
			instances: []*logentry.Instance{
				{
					Name:      "Foo",
					Severity:  "WARNING",
					Timestamp: tm,
					Variables: map[string]interface{}{
						"String":    "a string",
						"Int64":     int64(123),
						"Double":    1.23,
						"Bool":      true,
						"Time":      tm,
						"Duration":  1 * time.Second,
						"StringMap": map[string]string{"A": "B", "C": "D"},
						"IPAddress": net.IPv4zero,
						"Bytes":     []byte{'b'},
					},
				},
			},
			expected: 1,
			maxBytes: 11,
		},
		{
			name: "Integer Duration",
			instances: []*logentry.Instance{
				{
					Name:     "Foo",
					Severity: "WARNING",
					Variables: map[string]interface{}{
						"String":   "a string",
						"Duration": 10 * time.Millisecond,
					},
				},
			},
			expected: 1,
			intDur:   true,
			maxBytes: 11,
		},
		{
			name: "Too Large Log",
			instances: []*logentry.Instance{
				{
					Name:      "Foo",
					Severity:  "WARNING",
					Timestamp: tm,
					Variables: map[string]interface{}{
						"String":      "a string",
						"OtherString": "too large",
						"Int64":       int64(123),
						"Double":      1.23,
						"Bool":        true,
						"OtherBool":   true,
						"Time":        tm,
						"Duration":    1 * time.Second,
						"StringMap":   map[string]string{"A": "B", "C": "D"},
						"IPAddress":   net.IPv6loopback,
						"Bytes":       []byte{'b', 'a', 'd', 't', 'o', 'o', 'l', 'a', 'r', 'g', 'e'},
					},
				},
			},
			maxBytes: 2,
		},
	}

	for _, c := range cases {
		t.Run(c.name, func(t *testing.T) {
			han := &handler{
				logger:        mf,
				types:         types,
				env:           test.NewEnv(t),
				intDur:        false,
				dataBuffer:    make(chan dataToEncode, 5),
				pushInterval:  1 * time.Millisecond,
				maxBatchBytes: c.maxBytes,
				stopCh:        make(chan bool),
			}
			go han.postData()
			mf.Reset()

			han.intDur = c.intDur
			err := han.HandleLogEntry(context.Background(), c.instances)
			if err != nil && !c.failWrites {
				t.Errorf("HandleLogEntry(): Got %v, expecting success", err)
			} else if err == nil && c.failWrites {
				t.Errorf("HandleLogEntry(): Got success, expected failure")
			}

			time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond)

			mf.mutex.RLock()
			defer mf.mutex.RUnlock()
			if got, want := mf.Batches, c.expected; got != want {
				t.Errorf("Got %d batches; want %d", got, want)
			}

			if err := han.Close(); err != nil {
				t.Errorf("Close(): Got error %v, expecting success", err)
			}
		})
	}
}

func TestHandleLogEntry_Errors(t *testing.T) {
	types := map[string]*logentry.Type{
		"Foo": {
			Variables: map[string]descriptor.ValueType{
				"String":    descriptor.STRING,
				"Int64":     descriptor.INT64,
				"Double":    descriptor.DOUBLE,
				"Bool":      descriptor.BOOL,
				"Duration":  descriptor.DURATION,
				"Time":      descriptor.TIMESTAMP,
				"StringMap": descriptor.STRING_MAP,
				"IPAddress": descriptor.IP_ADDRESS,
				"Bytes":     descriptor.VALUE_TYPE_UNSPECIFIED,
			},
		},
	}

	mf := &mockFluentd{}

	cases := []struct {
		name      string
		instances []*logentry.Instance
	}{
		{
			"Drop Instances",
			[]*logentry.Instance{
				{
					Name:     "Foo",
					Severity: "WARNING",
					Variables: map[string]interface{}{
						"String": "a string",
					},
				},
				{
					Name:     "Foo",
					Severity: "WARNING",
					Variables: map[string]interface{}{
						"tag": "fluent-tag",
					},
				},
			},
		},
	}

	for _, c := range cases {
		t.Run(c.name, func(t *testing.T) {
			mf.Reset()

			han := &handler{
				logger:        mf,
				types:         types,
				env:           test.NewEnv(t),
				dataBuffer:    make(chan dataToEncode, 1),
				maxBatchBytes: 3,
				stopCh:        make(chan bool),
			}

			if err := han.HandleLogEntry(context.Background(), c.instances); err == nil {
				t.Fatalf("HandleLogEntry() did not produce expected error!")
			}

			if err := han.Close(); err != nil {
				t.Errorf("Close(): Got error %v, expecting success", err)
			}
		})
	}

}

type mockFluentd struct {
	bytes   bytes.Buffer
	Batches int
	mutex   sync.RWMutex
}

func (l *mockFluentd) Close() error {
	return nil
}

func (l *mockFluentd) EncodeData(tag string, ts time.Time, msg interface{}) ([]byte, error) {
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func (l *mockFluentd) PostRawData(data []byte) {
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func (l *mockFluentd) Reset() {
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Acts as a chaperone to prevent the harmful aggregation of alpha-hemoglobin during normal erythroid cell development. Specifically protects free alpha-hemoglobin from precipitation.
Below are the list of possible Alpha-hemoglobin-stabilizing protein products. If you cannot find the target and/or product is not available in our catalog, please click here to contact us and request the product or submit your request for custom elisa kit production, custom recombinant protein production or custom antibody production. Custom ELISA Kits, Recombinant Proteins and Antibodies can be designed, manufactured and produced according to the reer's specifications.
Also known as Alpha-hemoglobin-stabilizing protein (Erythroid differentiation-related factor) (Erythroid-associated factor).
Eraf: Acts as a chaperone to prevent the harmful aggregation of alpha-hemoglobin during normal erythroid cell development. Specifically protects free alpha-hemoglobin from precipitation. Belongs to the AHSP family.


SACT - Preferred Volunteer Driver Scheme.
Now that SACT is VAT registered, you should be aware that any group hiring one of our vehicles to be driven by their own volunteer driver will incur an extra charge of 20% VAT. The other option is that groups use one of SACT's volunteer drivers. In that case, the hire will be zero rated.
In order to improve our service we are pleased to offer our preferred volunteer driver scheme. This means that Member groups are at liberty to express a preference for a particular volunteer driver when they book their minibus.
Anyone can become a SACT volunteer provided that they have D1 on their license (in order to drive the larger minibuses) and 6 points or fewer! All our volunteer drivers go through the same SACT induction process as our sessional and contracted drivers and are issued with an ID badge identifying them as a SACT driver.
Once inducted, any organisation is free to express a preference for any volunteer driver on the booking form. The SACT office will contact the volunteer driver to confirm availability and inform them of the date, destination and duration of the hire based on booking form received.
On the first hire for which they have been nominated as a preferred volunteer they will be issued with a SACT ID badge and ensure that a familiarisation of the vehicle has been completed.


JohnPaul Trotter is a guitarist whose interests are consistently broadened by a range of genres. Throughout Southern California, he has performed solo, with singer/songwriters and as part of classical, reggae, hip-hop, blues, rock, and jazz groups.
As a result of growing up on both American coasts and touring Brazil as a young man, JohnPaul's nomadic life experience has significantly informed his musical tastes and perceptions. Furthermore, he views every musical experience as a chance to learn and grow. Whether he performs in the street or on a stage, JohnPaul remains grateful for the opportunity to champion inspiration, reflection, and creativity.


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Added bonus: It can be controlled by an app on your phone. This makes it pretty ideal for long-distance relationships (talk about taking sexting to another level), but that doesn't mean couples who get tons of face-to-face time can't enjoy it, too. You and your partner can download the free We-Vibe Sync app and connect your toy to it by inputting the serial number. You can then invite each other to "connect" on the app and sync up. We'll let you take it from there.
Cock rings can be used to restrict blood flow in the penis to create a larger, harder and longer-lasting erection. We like the Sexooxx Cock Ring Set for its simplicity. The stretchy silicone material is easy to slide on and off. The Sexooxx Cock Ring Set come with three rings of varying sizes so you can explore the most comfortable fit, and even wear them in combinations. Adult Toys Women
If it's simple and rudimentary sex toys you seek, there's no package better suited to your needs than JimmyJane's Boy Meets Girl Vibrator Set. In the set, customers will receive JimmyJane's ICONIC RING: a vibrating cock ring, as well as the ICONIC POCKET: a compact and powerful clitoral companion that can be discreetly packaged in a handbag for "pleasure on the go." Adult Shops Online
Ladies, we have our winner. Funny that the We-Vibe brand disappointed me so much when it came to their "No. 1 couple's toy," but knocked it out of the park so hard on this one. Its shape, which is easy and intuitive to hold, is on point. There are eight different settings for every kind of intensity and sensation, and at full charge, I would be shocked if this doesn't get you off.
Are things getting a little stale in the bedroom? Jack and Jill can help! We've got sex swings, vibrators controlled by a mobile app, we-vibe, vibrating rings, fetish gear, sexy books, bondage toys, and more. Whatever mood you're in, you can indulge together with many of our toys. You'll have better sex, more pleasure, and reconnect with your relationship. Don't forget to stock up on lubricant. Think of it has a pleasure enhancer, making sure everything moves smooth and easy.
To go along with the Afterglow Massage Oil Candle (or just on its own), the Contour M is a great rubbing stone for couples massage. Straight up, sometimes our partners want us to rub their backs, but we're feeling tired and kind of lazy and don't want to show it. This stone is the savior. It cuts down the work, while also giving your partner a strong, enjoyable massage (which probably beats your lazy hands, anyway). Plus, the Contour M holds to body temperature, and is ergonomic. Sex Toys Kit
I sent this over to my boyfriend who was in Iraq at the time. All of the guys in his unit got a kick out of it. They thought it was so hilarious. They all took pictures with it. It gave them a good laugh from all the stress out there. But it eventually popped from the cheap plastic. I guess it wasn't made to handle a bunch of Marines rough-housing with it. But over all I would recommed it as a great gage-gift for anyone. Canada Sex Shop
For women who want more satisfying penetration play during their solo sessions, dildos are the perfect female sex toys for you. Most dildos are designed to look and feel like the real thing to give you more personal pleasure (anally or vaginally), and some even come with extra functions, such as doubling as a vibrator for a 2-in-1 sex toy you'll never let go. Whether you're a beginner or a size queen, dildos come in a wide range of forms and sizes that will satisfy your needs and give you the experience you desire. Learn more about the different types of dildos available and their benefits in our Dildo Buying Guides.
In Japan one can purchase inflatable love pillows or "dakimakura" that are printed with a life-size picture of a porn star or anime character. Other less common novelty love dolls include overweight, intersex, elderly and alien dolls, which are usable for pleasure but also tend to be given as gag gifts. Some inflatable dolls even have the form of children.
Not only is the blooming flower design of the Iris super pretty to look at (masturbating with a flower is girly AF and I love it), but those ridges feel great in your vagina. This toy is big at 9 inches long, but it's still quiet and operates on a few different modes so you can make sure you get the best orgasm possible. The tip is curved for some really great clit stimulation, and then those fake vibe petals feel great if you're into internal stimulation. It's also rechargeable, which is truly 🙌.
The corollary to men avoiding sex toys is that penises are majorly underserved when it comes to selection. For that reason, most of these models have clitorises in mind. On the plus side, there's a wide variety—from vibrators that double as high-end jewelry to couples' toys to prostate pleasurers, we've found tested-and-proven picks for giving everyone involved the gift of orgasm.
Glass and steel dildos have similar features. In most cases, glass toys are solid, and made of Pyrex or other types borosilicate glass (Schott-Duranglas and Simax), although their construction can vary depending on the manufacturer. Like steel, glass toys may be used to apply firmer pressure than silicone can to a female's G-spot (urethral sponge) or a male's prostate gland. Unlike other types of toys, glass sex toys can also be personalized with inscriptions.
Dildos can be used for vaginal and anal penetration by one person for solo pleasure, while double dildos enable the both of you to enjoy the thrill of deep penetration at the same time and share an intimate moment as you use your new toy. We have numerous glass dildo options, which many users prefer because they're easy to clean, odor resistant and may make your orgasms even more powerful. You can even put a glass dildo in the freezer or run it under hot water to experiment with different sensations. There are even suction cup dildos that will stick to the wall for fun shower sex, which you can enhance even more with a waterproof G-spot vibrator. They can be used for anal play as well as vaginal penetration, making them versatile as well as arousing.
This one may seem like it's just for the ladies, but we consider it more of a male-female win-win. Kegel balls work to strengthen the vaginal muscles of the pelvic floor, creating tighter muscles and more control that both women and their partners will notice in the bedroom. Kegel balls can also be incorporated into foreplay and sex, and can be inserted for up to 6 hours (check the manual on this one). Kehel by Joy ON outperforms the competition by providing a variety of vibration modes and intensities that can be controlled through a free app, a feature that allows partners to participate in pleasure training. Kegel balls also help improve bladder control and post-partum recovery — a fact that may help to sway your partner into giving them a try. (You're welcome.) Bdsmtoys
After Nelson Mandela backed the anti-discrimination law that legalised sex toys,[8] "Adult World" was established in 1994 as South Africa's first sex shop. Adult World came to operate a total of 52 shops within South Africa and 15 shops in Australia.[9] Many religious Christian communities believed that the use of these adult lifestyle centres would lead to higher crime rates and attempted to organise mass demonstrations at their opening to force the closure of Adult World.[10] Adult Warehouse
Some of our best-selling clitoral vibrators include rabbits, bullets and The Womanizer massagers in all shapes and sizes. If you're a frequent traveler, then you can bring racy thrills with you with a discreet vibrator tucked in your luggage. Whether you're a pro looking for a high-tech, multi-speed rabbit vibrator, or a beginner just looking for your first bullet vibrator, Spencer's offers a wide selection that's sure to have something for every experience level. Luckily, if you're new and you're unsure of where to start, we've got a selection of vibrators for beginners to help anyone who's looking to experiment with a vibrator for the first time. Best Clit Vibrators
"The main thing we told each other is we don't want it to look like anything that exists right now, we want it to look like a boutique. We have a ton of plants — it's very botanic and green. It was very important to us that it was not neon, not plastic. I like the word erotic as very natural and a kind of primally sexual experience, not pink and fake," explained Kalasz. Vibrators Silicone
Rubber dildos, usually incorporating a steel spring for stiffness, became available in the 1940s. This arrangement was unsatisfactory because of the potential for injury from cuts by the spring if the rubber cracked and came apart. Later, PVC dildos with a softer PVC filler became popular. Most of the inexpensive dildos sold in the 2000s are made this way.
After Nelson Mandela backed the anti-discrimination law that legalised sex toys,[8] "Adult World" was established in 1994 as South Africa's first sex shop. Adult World came to operate a total of 52 shops within South Africa and 15 shops in Australia.[9] Many religious Christian communities believed that the use of these adult lifestyle centres would lead to higher crime rates and attempted to organise mass demonstrations at their opening to force the closure of Adult World.[10] Sex Machine Sale
If your partner has a penis, this aptly-named "Clone-A-Willy" lets you create a silicone mold of it — one that vibrates. Ideal for couples in long-distance relationships, the toy comes in a variety of skin tones, so you can get as realistic as you'd like. (You also have the option to make it neon pink and glow-in-the-dark, which…yes.) If creating a penis clone sounds daunting, fear not: According to customer reviews, the Clone-A-Willy comes with detailed and easy to follow instructions. Big Vibrator
The great thing about finger vibrators is that it's basically just making your hands that much more stimulating. The sex toy isn't dictating what you and your partner do, but just bettering the things you're already doing together. The Hello Touch is a two-finger vibrator with multifunctional settings. It's waterproof and the power pack is worn on your wrist so it isn't in the way. Yes, you may feel slightly alien wearing this super-tech fingers, but your partner will be really glad you did. Dildo Buy Online
The great thing about finger vibrators is that it's basically just making your hands that much more stimulating. The sex toy isn't dictating what you and your partner do, but just bettering the things you're already doing together. The Hello Touch is a two-finger vibrator with multifunctional settings. It's waterproof and the power pack is worn on your wrist so it isn't in the way. Yes, you may feel slightly alien wearing this super-tech fingers, but your partner will be really glad you did. Cheap Sex Toya
Upon first inspection, this toy might look really complicated — don't worry, it just has lots to offer. This double strap-on features two 6-inch vibrating dildos with a curved design and rippled texture, meaning your G-spot will be well taken care of. Each dildo can be controlled individually by separate remotes; you and your partner can take charge of your own settings, or switch controllers and surprise each other. The set even comes with a free blindfold to add some sensory play to your fun. Woman Vibrators
The Hitachi Magic Wand is referred to as the "Cadillac of vibrators" for a reason. It's big, it's powerful, and it's reliable. Originally created to relax muscles, the wand quickly gathered a cult following as a vibrator for its undeniable ability to relax people (especially those with clits) in other ways. While the sex toy works wonders for solo play, it's fun to use in a relationship to help a partner with a vagina reach orgasm during penetrative sex. For those into BDSM, the magic wand is often used by the dominant on the submissive partner to bring the sub to orgasm while they're bound or tied up. Cheap Sexual Toys
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These types of toys range from simple and to the point to elaborate, detailed, and over the top. Vibrators are often battery powered, and offer multiple settings to increase the chance of orgasm. While some double as body massagers, others have their own special features, such as a waterproof exterior, G-spot tip, various tips that offer a variety of sensations, or realistic materials, such as latex. Dildos are mainly for insertion and stimulate partnered sex play or spice up everyday masturbation.
Ah, the dildo! Realistic, silicone, quirky or classic, very probably the first sex toy, the point of origin, the basis for everything that came after. Science types speculate that the very first dildo was a 20 centimeter phallus made of siltstone found among artifacts from the Palaeolithic period. We speculate that people have been putting things in their vaginas, butts and otherwise since the dawn of time.
I sent this over to my boyfriend who was in Iraq at the time. All of the guys in his unit got a kick out of it. They thought it was so hilarious. They all took pictures with it. It gave them a good laugh from all the stress out there. But it eventually popped from the cheap plastic. I guess it wasn't made to handle a bunch of Marines rough-housing with it. But over all I would recommed it as a great gage-gift for anyone.
Okay, so maybe you're interested in anal play, but butt plugs aren't exactly what you want—chances are, you may prefer anal beads. A string of beads attached by a handle or ring, anal beads can be inserted gradually, allowing their user to get use the sensations. Anal beads can also be a great first step to anal play, as you can insert as few or as many beads as you want. You can do this yourself, or have your lover do it for you during foreplay. And when you're ready, you can pull the beads out as slowly or as quickly as you'd like, creating moan-worthy stimulation in the already sensitive area. Most people who use them would agree that one of the best sensations is having the anal beads pulled out of you.
This website contains information, links, images and videos of sexually explicit material (collectively, the "Sexually Explicit Material"). Do NOT continue if: (i) you are not at least 18 years of age or the age of majority in each and every jurisdiction in which you will or may view the Sexually Explicit Material, whichever is higher (the "Age of Majority"), (ii) such material offends you, or (iii) viewing the Sexually Explicit Material is not legal in each and every community where you choose to view it. Fifty Shades Of Grey Sextoys
At the middle market price-range ($100 to approximately $1,000), dolls are made of thicker vinyl or heavy latex without welded seams or a polyurethane and silicone mixture, typically surrounding a foam core. Most have plastic mannequin-style heads and styled wigs, plastic or glass eyes, and occasionally properly moulded hands and feet. Some vinyl dolls can contain water-filled body areas such as the breasts or buttocks. Latex dolls were made in Hungary, China and France but only the French manufacturer Domax now remains in production.[citation needed]
Dildos are obliquely referred to in Saul Bellow's novel The Adventures of Augie March (1953): "....he had brought me along to a bachelor's stag where two naked acrobatic girls did stunts with false tools".[25] A dildo called Steely Dan III from Yokohama appears in the William S. Burroughs novel The Naked Lunch (1959).[26][27] The rock band Steely Dan took their name from it. Male Strapons
Besides looking like those tangly stress things they sell at museum gift shops, the Picobong Transformer is actually kinda amazing. Two vibrators on each end mean that this baby can be a rabbit vibrator, clitoral massager, cock-ring, G-spot stimulator, prostate massager, and more. It's like the swiss army knife of double-ended vibrators, or the convertible pants of vibrating double-ended dildos. Five for the price of one! Party!
Above all, you should remember that your sexual health and wellness must always come first! Some sex toys cannot be cleaned with soap and water, which is why our anti-bacterial cleaner is a must after any bedroom play. You should be cleaning your intimate products after every use, whether that means spraying your dildo with cleaner or using refreshing powder on your stroker or Fleshlight. It could even be as simple as using condoms on your toys when sharing them with partners, or even just to protect its surface. And for those of you who want to practice safe oral sex, our flavored condoms will make the experience much tastier.
These dildos are designed to have a bit of a curve that will help it position right at the g-spot for an intense sensation every time you use it. They can come in different shapes, sizes and colors, but always have a slight curve in one way or another. Check out my article on g-spot vibrators which can give you that g-spot stimulation you're after. The below youtube vid will help you hit the right spot. G Spot Vibes
For our more experienced players, Spencer's offers extra-large dildos to satisfy to your largest of cravings. We offer a selection of dildos that are as long as 10 or 11 inches, all featuring different styles like realistic looks, double-penetrating, and ones made of glass. If you're serious about using one of these for the first time, then we definitely recommend using plenty of lubrication. And if you intend on using an anal dildo, then you should absolutely use lubrication, regardless of the dildos size. Keep in mind that silicone lube should never be used with sex toys made of silicone, so if you're unsure of what your toy is made of, then water-based lubricant would be your best bet.
Find the best lubes, clit creams and sex-enhancing gels for women who want to improve female masturbation and sexual intercourse with a partner. Experience the most incredible sex sensations with tingling gels and heating massage oils that will intensify your intimate sex life. These are the best sex tools for female sexual enhancement and orgasmic pleasure so you can enjoy extreme female orgasms during solo masturbation or with a lover during sex! It is important that you satisfy your sexual desires and receive the sexual thrills your crave, so we made it easier than ever to find the sex tools, lubes, creams, and toys you need to fulfill your every need! Nobody knows women like women, and this was hand-tailored to suit the needs of all ladies.
Not only is bondage fun to experiment with, it's also a great way to build trust in your relationship. If this is going to be your first time ever trying BDSM, make sure you and your lover talk it out before hand: the dominant person should tell their submissive partner exactly what they want to do, and the submissive partner should make clear exactly what is okay and what isn't okay to do. You should also make sure to agree on a safe word; when either of you say this word, the other should immediately stop what they're doing and make sure their partner is okay. Experimenting is a huge part of BDSM, but you should never do anything you don't want to do.
Until recently, many Southern and some Great Plains states banned the sale of sex toys completely, either directly or through laws regulating "obscene devices".[25] In 1999, William H. Pryor, Jr., an assistant attorney general in Alabama commenting on a case involving sex toys and discussing to what end the devices are used, was quoted as saying there is no "fundamental right for a person to buy a device to produce orgasm". A federal appeals court upheld Alabama's law prohibiting the sale of sex toys on Valentine's Day, 2007.[26]
As you can see, Boy Butter looks, feels, and is packaged like the butter you'd traditionally find at a supermarket. Niche appearances aside, this hybrid lubricant (made from both coconut oil and an organic silicone blend) is homogenized like real butter! The result: lubricant that lasts longer than both water- or silicone-based lubricants, ideal for masturbation and/or anal sex.
I bought the original model back in my early vibrating days, and had the same problem I had with the newest version this time: it's just too big for me. Probably because a lot of women had the same complaint, the redesigned We-Vibe 4 Plus is smaller than the original model — but it was still too long for me. The tip of the vibe, designed to hit your clit, rested well above my bikini line, making it pretty pointless.
If you're looking to strengthen your Kegel muscles, which are part of your pelvic floor and may help enhance your orgasms, then Ben Wa balls can be your new best friend. These small spheres come in materials like high quality gold, and can both turn you on and help make sex feel even better. This unique, adult workout will tighten your muscles in all the right ways, while the feeling of these balls moving inside you will heighten your sexual pleasure and make your orgasms even better. Unlike most sex toys, Ben Wa Balls don't require batteries or charging time. All you need is the ball size of your choice, some alone time, and maybe a little bit of lube if you'd prefer. Vibrator Nipple


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The News Agency of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Spanish Senate Approves New Abortion Law
By: Ciaran Giles for AP on March 4, 2010
Photo Credits: gomadrid.com
Spain approved a sweeping new law that eases restrictions on abortion, declaring the practice a woman's right and doing away with the threat of imprisonment, in part of a drive toward liberal policies that has angered conservatives and the Catholic Church.
The new law allows the procedure without restrictions up to 14 weeks and gives 16- and 17-year-olds the right to have abortions without parental consent. The senate's passage of the bill Wednesday gives it final approval.
The bill brings the country in line with its more secular neighbors in northern Europe is the latest of a series of bold social reforms undertaken by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who first took office in 2004 and has ruffled feathers among many in the traditionally Catholic country.
Carmen Duenas, a spokeswoman for the leading conservative opposition Popular Party in the Senate, accused the government of trying "to bring in unrestricted abortion."
"The government wants to do away with one of the pillars of Spanish society, which is the family," she said.
But Senator Leire Pajin, the ruling Socialist party's No. 3, said the new law "paid off an outstanding debt" to women, offering them a choice and bringing an end to illegal abortions.
Under the previous law, which dates back to 1985, Spanish women could in theory go to jail for getting an abortion outside certain strict limits -- up to week 12 in case of rape and week 22 if the fetus is malformed.
But abortion has been in effect widely available because women can assert mental distress as sole grounds for having an abortion, regardless of how late the pregnancy is. Most of the more than 100,000 abortions carried out each year in Spain were early-term ones that fell under this category.
The new bill was automatically approved when a majority of senators rejected three proposals by conservative parties to have it vetoed, and then rejected a total of 88 amendments.
It will be published in the state bulletin next month and will take effect four months later.
The part of the new law allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to have abortions without parental consent puts Spain in line with other European countries such as Germany, Britain and France.
It was among the bill's most controversial elements. In the end, the government amended it so that minors must inform their parents or legal guardian if they plan to undergo an abortion, but do not need their permission. They are, however, exempt from this requisite if they can show that fulfilling it would expose them to violence within their family, threats or coercion.
Under Zapatero, Spain has also legalized gay marriage and made it easier for Spaniards to divorce.
Rallies against abortion reform drew hundreds of thousands onto the streets in recent years.
The new bill also permits abortion up to 22 weeks if two doctors certify there is a serious threat to the health of the mother, or fetal malformation.
Beyond 22 weeks, it would be allowed only doctors certify fetal malformation deemed incompatible with life or the fetus were diagnosed with an extremely serious or incurable disease.
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Bacteria that colonize and form biofilms on living tissues and medical devices are a global healthcare concern. They cause life threatening infections and are associated with increased mortality and morbidity in the hospitals. Although antibiotics have been successfully applied for treatment of bacterial diseases, the adaptive and genetic changes of the microorganisms within the biofilms make them inherently resistant to all known antibacterial agents. Therefore, novel antimicrobial strategies that do not exert selective pressure on bacterial population and minimize the risk of resistance occurrence have been sought to prevent and treat biofilm related infections. A critical overview of the numerous groups and the rationale of advanced materials and surfaces with antibacterial and antibiofilm properties is the aim of this review. The development of antibiofilm coatings based on molecules interfering with bacterial cell-to-cell communication and biofilm integrity are discussed. Nano-scale transformation of obsolete antibiotics and surface functionalization with bacteriophages and natural antibacterials including enzymes, antimicrobial peptides, and polyphenols are also considered. Finally, recent efforts to design new generation of integrated antibacterial materials are reported.
Keywords: Biofilm prevention, Antimicrobial peptides, Polyphenols, Bacteriophages, Enzymes, Nanoparticles, Drug resistance.
Keywords:Biofilm prevention, Antimicrobial peptides, Polyphenols, Bacteriophages, Enzymes, Nanoparticles, Drug resistance.
Abstract:Bacteria that colonize and form biofilms on living tissues and medical devices are a global healthcare concern. They cause life threatening infections and are associated with increased mortality and morbidity in the hospitals. Although antibiotics have been successfully applied for treatment of bacterial diseases, the adaptive and genetic changes of the microorganisms within the biofilms make them inherently resistant to all known antibacterial agents. Therefore, novel antimicrobial strategies that do not exert selective pressure on bacterial population and minimize the risk of resistance occurrence have been sought to prevent and treat biofilm related infections. A critical overview of the numerous groups and the rationale of advanced materials and surfaces with antibacterial and antibiofilm properties is the aim of this review. The development of antibiofilm coatings based on molecules interfering with bacterial cell-to-cell communication and biofilm integrity are discussed. Nano-scale transformation of obsolete antibiotics and surface functionalization with bacteriophages and natural antibacterials including enzymes, antimicrobial peptides, and polyphenols are also considered. Finally, recent efforts to design new generation of integrated antibacterial materials are reported.


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From green box to greenhouse; Gloucestershire school recycle plastic bottles
Gloucestershire based Widden Primary School has taken on a challenging, but fantastic educational project and built a greenhouse out of 1,000 plastic bottles!
Donated by Printwaste, the recycled bottles have not only been used to create the greenhouse structure, but have also provided 'grow-bags' for plants, been used to create carrier bags and helped to support a wheelchair charity.
Our Director, Sally Robins says "Each year we support a school with an Eco-project and this year we were amazed by not only the ingenuity of the teachers, but also the enthusiasm of the pupils at Widden Primary School! What they have done with 1,000 plastic bottles, which originated from homes in Gloucestershire, is nothing short of amazing! These kids and this project can certainly teach the rest of us a thing or two about recycling and reusing!"
For top tips on helping schools be green, read on.
How the bottles were used:
· Building a greenhouse: Added to a timber frame structure produced by some of the staff, the plastic bottles were stuck together to make wall and roof panels. The plastic offers insulation, lets in light and is a great, low-cost replacement for traditional glass houses.
· Making carrier-bags: Believe it or not, the labels from the plastic bottles were soaked off and dried in the sun; they were then stuck to sheets to create quirky patterns and combined with cereal packets to create carrier bags; a great alternative for shopping!
· Charitable donation: The tops of all 1,000 bottles were saved and more were collected, before being sent off to a charity that buys wheelchairs. Exchanged for money, the revenue will be used to purchase additional wheelchairs.
· DIY 'grow-bags': cut lengthways or using the bottoms, the plastic bottles were filled with compost produced from the school's fruit waste; these were then used to nurture the seeds and give them space to grow in the greenhouse. Plants included cress and rocket.
As well as getting hands-on and learning in this educational project, the children also benefitted from an 'Eco-Festival' which included activities and workshops to help with recycling education and caring for the environment. Also in attendance were representatives from schools in Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, France as well as Devon, who have partnered on the event. Our Director, Sally Robins, who attended the event continues "the commitment from the staff and pupils at Widden Primary School cannot be underestimated. I had a fantastic afternoon with them and am honoured to have been included. It's great to see Printwaste's donation put to such good use."
Meanwhile Heather Jones, a representative of Widden Primary School has issued a lovely poem to Printwaste from the school that said;
Please bring in bottles.
Don't throw them away.
We're building a greenhouse.
With bottles, you say?
With help from Printwaste
We built it in haste.
And believe it or not
There was no waste!
The labels were stripped,
Washed and dried in the sun,
Made into gift bags for visitors
From the European Union.
Exciting learning and a fulfilled future,
We look forward to working with you more and more.
Recycling and bins are just part of what you do.
To Sally and all at Printwaste,
Widden Primary School says a BIG "Thank you!"
Top Tips For Helping Schools To Be Green:
– Reduce
This method is simple! Just use less stuff. We don't always need to use as much as we do! For example, encourage students to be more aware of how much paper they use. Those scribbles and doodles do tend to be wasteful; or at lunch rather than grabbing a handful of napkins, just take one.
– Reuse
More and more schools are beginning to reuse textbooks, notebooks, stationary and more. But take it one step further and encourage the parents to recycle their kid's school supplies by starting up a hand-me-down shop. The children drop off school uniform that they have outgrown or stationary that they no longer need and the shop passes it on to the younger students.
– Recycle
Most schools now have recycling bins everywhere, but if students don't use these facilities the impact will be low. Encourage students to use the facilities available.
– Power Down
Make students more aware of saving energy. Ask students to switch off the lights if they are the last one leaving a room, and especially if they are leaving a computer – there is no need to leave the computer screen on!
– Educate!
The pupils at the school are the future generations on this planet, so let's get them involved and learning about the importance of recycling from a young age! By educating them you are encouraging them to use the recycling facilities around the school, reuse their school materials and equipment, recycle, be more aware of what they are throwing away, and making recycling second nature!
– Tree Planting
The trees absorb the CO2 generated by the school. Therefore the more trees you plant, the more you are counteracting the schools CO2 generation, and fighting climate change. So get the children involved in this creative, outdoors activity with science and nature. Widden Primary School have planted several fruit trees including apple, which they're eating and then composting!


To make my first Just4Fun's library for AndEngine to handle Menus, external SDKs and other various common things for all my next games.
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Fight your friends or play against your girlfriend in the one board 2 player mode.
The more you exercise your brain, the more you train your automation! your memory will react more instinctively.
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– 2 All in a row : See all the board then open pairs one by one without any error !
– 4 Two players One board : Play turn by turn. If you find a pair, keep the toss.
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An infinite gameplay! Addictive game !


text:
Alex Hutchinson — Author of "Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance," 2X Canadian Olympic Runner, Cambridge Ph.D.
Dana Safa
1Huddle Podcast Episode #71
On this Bring It In podcast episode, 1Huddle's CEO and Founder Sam Caucci sat down with Alex Hutchinson, 2X Canadian Olympic Runner, award-winning journalist, and author of the book Endure, which explores the science and mysteries of endurance.
On this episode of Bring It In season three, Alex sat down with Sam and discussed failure being a choice, the importance of positive leadership, and the effects mental fatigue can have on your employees.
Audio available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.
TOP 3 HIGHLIGHTS
Below are some of the insights Hutchinson shared during our chat, edited for length and clarity. You can find more Bring It In podcast episodes here.
"Reaching your limits is a decision."
"It's our perception of things that dictates our response to it, rather than the things themselves."
"The belief that you can do better is that key prerequisite to doing better."
FULL TRANSCRIPTION
Sam: Alex, I guess to start off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Alex: Yeah, I guess I would describe myself these days as a science journalist or maybe even a science of sports journalist. It's become my niche over the last decade or so. My background is I was a competitive middle-distance runner for the Canadian National Team, and I also was a scientist. I started out in physics, did a Ph.D. and worked as a researcher for about a decade, and then shifted into journalism, merging those two areas of interests, sports, particularly endurance sports, and science. And yeah, I write about research into human performance, and also health and fitness and more generally, but we're really interested in the evidence-based like not what we think we know, but what we actually know, and with what level of certainty.
Sam: I love your book Endure, which I have right in front of me, all marked up, has got me thinking a lot when I get on the Peloton these days, the pain I feel, I just, I process it a little bit differently. I hear you like the words in your book, encouraging me.
Alex: That's excellent to hear. And yeah, hopefully, that at the moment when you're about to give up, you hear a passage saying, you know, yeah, it hurts. It is just your brain deciding you're getting up. It's not that your legs are going to fall off. And that doesn't make it easy. But for me, at least that's the key insight from that book. It's just that failure is a decision. Not failure, but reaching your limits is a decision. It's an epiphenomenon in your brain. And very few of us die because we pushed you out on the Peloton.
Sam: I got it. There's one quote that says, 'endurance is the struggle to continue against a mounting desire to stop.' When you went through the process of writing the book, what were the takeaways you hoped that readers would glean from the experience?
Alex: Yeah, I mean, it really started out as, in a sense, an attempt to understand my own tracker. Why wasn't that faster, what was it that in those races where I was good, but not quite good enough that that taught me? And it really evolved away from this sort of, oh, it's all about my lungs or my heart or my muscles, and ended up being a book almost entirely about the way the brain interprets signals from the lungs, the heart, the muscles, but also your coach, your peers, how you're feeling about things.
So the real takeaway for me was that that was an epiphany for me, and I think for a lot of other people, hopefully it will turn out to be the same. It's our perception of things that dictates our response to it, rather than the things themselves. And ultimately we ended up sounding like regurgitating Buddhist philosophy, which in a sense says some of the same things, but yeah, that's the real takeaway for me.
And I think it also, as time has gone on, I've realized that it's not just about how you run a race, but how you approach challenges in other parts of your life, too, whether it's your career, your personal life, the struggle to continue against a mounting desire to stop is a very general thing that we all experience.
Sam: Could it be said that, I guess what separated, in your research, what separated top-tier athletes from the rest? I would assume it's not just maybe some level of skill or natural-born talent. I mean, what in your research maybe were surprising?
Alex: Yeah, one of the sort of questions I wrestled with is, you know, okay, it's not all in your head, but it's not all in your body either, but what's the balance, right? Like what separates it? And I think it depends, so the way I think about it is if I took a hundred random people from the street, and had to place bets on them for running a marathon, and I was allowed to gather whatever information I could, I would take them to a lab and I would test their physiology. I would test their ability to process oxygen to their muscles because at that level, with a group of heterogeneous people, it's the physical stuff that really matters. It doesn't matter how tough, mentally tough I am.
I'm not going to beat the Olympic marathoner or the Olympic marathon champion because we're different species, almost. But once you take a group of people from a similar context, let's say you take all the people who have already qualified for the Olympic marathon or whatever the case may be. Then the physical characteristics are much more similar. And so then this is where these factors, like how much are you willing to endure? How much are you willing to push? How much are you willing to suffer? They become much more important. So it's never all one or all the other, it's just like nature vs nurture in biology, right? It's not that people are born to their fates and no one can change anything, but it's also not correct to say that anybody can become the world chess champion if they just practice. People have different aptitudes and different skills. And some people have natural aptitude for certain tasks and others for other tasks. So, yeah, I'm rambling a little bit, but the point is you have to consider the physical reality, but also how you respond to that reality and what you're able to do with your opportunities.
Sam: What are the implications for coaches or managers in the workplace who are trying to, you know, workers are running a really long race every day, if you kind of maybe think about it that way as well. That's tough, but are there any implications for coaches, or advice for coaches, that you think maybe it comes out of the book?
Alex: I mean, I think in a way, the great coaches or the great managers have already intuited the things that I'm going to say, right? Like some people, and in the same way that great athletes already know anything a sports scientist can tell them they've already intuited. So I think the big key thing is that one of the most important things you can do for people you're leading or managing or coaching is create in them a sense of positive self-belief, that they're capable of achieving the goals you've set out for them. And this is an argument in favor of positive leadership as opposed to negative leadership because there's some really fascinating research which I do discuss in the book about how physical limits can be changed by the words you say to people, the facial expressions of people around them, when you're feeling more positive about things, you're more willing to keep pushing because you believe it's possible and it's worthwhile and you have self-efficacy, meaning that you believe you're capable of doing this thing, therefore you're more willing to work hard to do it. So it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So I think, in the sports context you can talk about how in running workouts you can do where the coach deceives the runners about how fast they're running, and they end up realizing, oh man, I'm capable of more than I thought it was. You can't translate that directly in the workplace, you can't lie to your employees about what they're doing and say, Hey, you produced seven more memos than you thought you did, but I think the general principles are similar that you want to try and find ways of supporting the belief that people are on track to achieve their goals, within the bounds. If they're not, you have to tell them that too, but you want to make them confident that they're capable of doing it if they do the right things.
Sam: Yeah. I mean, it's so simple, but it's kind of so important right now.
Alex: And I think that's a really important point, the simplicity of it. And so one of the big things for me was that I spent like 10 years working on this book and I saw hundreds of researchers and I came out with these radical conclusions and I'm like, oh, wait. In the mid-nineties, when I was a college athlete, we had a sports psychologist working with our track team who was telling us all this stuff already.
And you know, stuff about negative thought stopping and about positive belief and self-talk motivation. And at the time, we just laughed at this sports psychologist. We were all 20 years old, we thought we knew everything. We didn't care about what she had to say. And I went back and was like, but she was telling us everything that I'm now like writing in my book and saying, look at this radical new breakthrough.
It's a really key distinction between, the messages are simple, but the messages themselves don't do anything unless you buy-in. And so for me, part of this book was a journey of looking at the empirical evidence saying, oh wait, no, not every self-help message is useful, but some of them are right on the money.
And so I had to, in a sense, believe the messages that I was reading about belief before they became useful. So I think it is simple and that's actually one of the hardest things about it because you say some of this stuff that everyone's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I know that it can't be that easy.
And so I think it's worth thinking really carefully and looking at the evidence about things that you can talk about in the context of things like growth mindsets and things like that, and understanding that the belief that you can do better is that key prerequisite to doing better.
Sam: Yeah. Carol Dweck was definitely ringing in the back of my mind at different times.
Alex: Absolutely. And you know, it's sort of similar to similar messages in a completely different context, but the point is the same, that if you don't believe you can get better at something that doesn't mean it's true, but it does mean it's going to seem like it's true because you're not going to put in the effort to get better.
Sam: Yeah. What was your favorite chapter?
Alex: So a lot of this stuff was, I've been writing about the science of endurance for a long time, so I already knew a lot about the physiology I wrote, but there were some areas that were totally mind-blowing to me. The one that sticks out was I wrote a chapter on to what extent is oxygen truly limiting for athletes?
Like when you're out of breath, does this actually mean you're about to die or is it just a warning signal? And I read about the high altitude mountaineers, but I also read about free divers, and that freediving led me into the world of breath-holding, extreme breath-holding. And that's that just blew my mind that, just for the record, the world record for holding your breath without any tricks, like magicians will pre-breathe oxygen, pure oxygen, and stuff so that they can hold the breath longer, but just ordinary dude, hold your breath, 11 minutes and 40 seconds.
And as soon as I read that, I'm like, okay, I'm going to see how long I can hold my breath. And you're like, you get to, for me, a minute, minute and a half, and it's so unpleasant, it's just inconceivable that someone could do it for 10 times longer.
And then I had actually, after I wrote the book, had a chance to interview the North American record holder for breath-holding which he had just set, a guy named Brandon Hendrickson from Olathe, Kansas, I think. And I was asking him about it and it's like, what changes? It's not that his lungs get bigger or anything. What changes is his understanding that when it feels like crap, that's just a feeling. And so you have to then just ignore that feeling. So it's extremely unpleasant, I think he held his ground and held his breath for like eight minutes and 35 seconds, something like that. It was really, really, really unpleasant for the last four minutes. But he learned that, Hey, it's a warning signal. I can ignore it.
Sam: It's like the thing you said earlier that limits are a decision.
Alex: They are a choice. One of the researchers whose work I really described a lot in the book, he has this sort of psychobiological theory of endurance, and one of the sort of the fundamental tenets for him is that the moment of failure is just as a conscious choice, it's a decision. You decide that you're no longer capable of doing it anymore. It's probably the right decision in 99.99% of the cases, but don't kid yourself that it's not a decision. You're choosing to slow down, to clock out, whatever the case may be in the context.
Sam: Sure. Thinking about some of our audience being workforce leaders and folks that wake up every day, thinking about how we get the most out of our people that show up to work, I just see so many parallels between in a running a race and sprinting through a work day or a long work life, like that's happening for so many workers globally today. Are there any, and as I raise that to you, are there any parallels that you see between the research and, maybe, powerful advice for HR leaders out there today who are trying to do that?
Alex: Absolutely. I do think there are parallels. Maybe the most important one is actually kind of the opposite of the message of the book. The book is all about push, push, push. How do you suffer more? But there's an important caveat to that. You can't just keep pushing indefinitely if you want to have achievements in the long run. So I guess for people who are leading workforces right now, the last message I would want them to take away is that if you give a fiery enough speech and get people to buy in, you can have people work until they literally drop dead out of exhaustion. That is not helpful, it's not good for the workers, but it's also not good for productivity overall.
So there's a section of the book that I think is really fascinating on mental fatigue, and the protocol they use is actually pretty relevant. They use 90 minutes of focused attention at a computer screen. So on your screen, there are letters flashing on the screen, you're clicking buttons, depending on which letters show up. And what they find is after spending 90 minutes doing that, your physical performance is harmed by 15%, which is the equivalent of the effect of you doing like a hundred drops jumps.
So something that totally smashes your muscles, and you know that your muscles are messed up, but you get as much of a performance decrement if you do this 90 minutes of close work on a computer, but you don't realize and that's the dangerous thing. You're mentally fatigued.
And they also do simulations of this. It's not just physical performance here, your cognitive performance, your decision-making, your reaction time. All of these things are harmed by mental fatigue. But it's kind of like carbon monoxide. You don't realize that your performance is being poisoned.
And so I think once you understand that it's the brain that determines the limits of your endurance, then you realize that actually you really need to respect the brain. The brain can help you push harder sometimes, but you also need, if you want to be performing at your best, if you want to be getting the most of your workers, you need to make sure that they're not doing seven hours of extremely hard work, and then at that point, you're expecting them to make a good decision or not miss a crucial detail. Because at that point, their performances are down the tubes.
So anyway, I think that there are a lot of ways of analogizing it, but I think understanding the limits that are imposed by the fact that it's your brain is also really important.
Sam: Yeah. And it's almost like mental fatigue, and I think about the varying levels of mental fatigue associated with different workers within maybe a signal brand. If you're working on the front line, you probably have a lot more, you're probably coming, you're clocking in in the morning with a lot more. You're like coming out of a workout already, all day long, versus a worker who may be in a corner office whose journey to work that day maybe was not as stressful, like varying as a manager, trying to lead folks that have, not everybody's starting the race with the same full tank, so to speak.
Alex: Yeah, absolutely. And the specific demands of different roles, and in different contexts, you have to have some sort of appreciation of what's reasonable to expect from someone and not just for their sake, but for your sake, if you want them to be performing at their best, what are some allowances that you might be able to make to say, Hey, I realized that you were mentally fatigued or you're physically fatigued, or you're just emotionally or motivationally fatigued or whatever the case may be.
Sam: So what's the next book?
Alex: We're sort of boring with some of my answers. Endure was all about how you push harder. And now as a 45-year-old, trying to figure out what the rest of my life is all about, I'm trying to explore why we push harder. Why I feel like I need another next challenge, and you know, beyond paying rent. And I think it's a hard question, I'm thinking about why we are driven to explore, to push?
Sam: That's great. That's really timely, again, I'm coming from the workforce side, but you know, we see workers coming unstuck from brands right now, because why do I do this every day? The pandemic shifted people's perspective of where they want to spend their time.
Alex: Yeah. It's interesting. I started thinking about this before the pandemic, but boy, is it intensified as I'm like, what am I doing and why? And rather than fight it, I want to understand this sort of the evolutionary and neuroscientific origins of why are we wired this way? Why are we wired to push? And what are the dangers of pushing or not understanding those impulses in the modern world where we're not chasing antelopes, we're chasing whatever promotions?
Sam: Well, that's fun. I'd be excited to see what the outcome is. I tell one of the stories from the book that I tell is that, it was early in the book, it was about almost like the splits. I think it was maybe a hundred meter or 200…
Alex: When I was getting the wrong times? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's really the origin of my interest, I think, the way that being deceived. And if we could harness it, if we could fix this, I guess I was saying that a little bit in interviews, if you can figure out a way to trick people like that systematically, it'd be great, but it's not. You can't just lie to people gratuitously. So I got lucky that someone lied to me in just the right way.
Sam: Well Alex, thank you. I have one more question for you, so much about what we're talking about is around the future of work. I think that, like you just mentioned, there's so much that people have to think about today in order to get the best out of their team every day and individually, whether it's positive thinking or otherwise. I want to ask you, what is your hope when you think about the future of work?
Alex: Yeah. You know, one of the issues that I've been thinking a lot about lately is the question of kind of meaning and challenge and making sure that people who are most satisfied in their career, they have a why, they're doing it for a reason and they're challenged.
One of the things people talk about with flow is you need to have a challenge that's at the sort of utter edge of your capabilities, but it's not so hard that you can't do it, but it's not so easy that it's just it's rote. And so I think, in a utopian future, in terms of a direction we want to go, it's finding ways of employing these people's talents in a way that challenges them and in a way that pushes them, not in a way that just is a bottomless pit and demands more and more and more of them, but demands just enough of them, that they're using their talents and they're being challenged without being sort of squeezed dry.
Sam: Alex, thanks for taking the time.
Alex: Thanks, Sam. I really appreciate the opportunity to have a chat.
Topics Discussed: Leadership, Endurance, Failure, Future of Work
Dana Safa, Manager of Digital Marketing at 1Huddle
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Here's the home of another creative lady behind All The Way to Paris, Tanja Vibe. She definitely has a great eye for details, and an incredible sense of style. The spacious apartment has beautiful wooden floors, high ceilings and original mouldings. It's decorated with iconic design pieces in a simple and effortless style, with lovely green accents. What a beautiful place!
Do you see any similarities with another recent post..? Seems like it was the set for this beautiful photo shoot for Åhléns Magazine!


The Health Services Journal recently published their Top Chief Executives list for 2019, an annual ranking of the pre-eminent leaders of NHS trusts. Healthskills is delighted to congratulate the outstanding leaders of the following trusts, all of which we have worked with previously or currently: Michael Wilson at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust; Rob Webster at South West Yorkshire Partnership FT; Nick Hulme at East Suffolk and North Essex FT; Alwen Williams at Barts Health Trust; Tracy Bullock at Mid Cheshire Hospitals FT; Nick Carver at East and North Herts Trust; Garrett Emmerson at London Ambulance Service Trust; Andrew Ridley at Central London Community Healthcare Trust; Roland Sinker at Cambridge University Hospitals FT; Lesley Watts at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital FT and Owen Williams at Calderdale and Huddersfield FT. Well done to all!
Had a great night at the HSJ Partnership Awards, with our peers and partners, celebrating effective partnerships with the NHS to improve patients' lives through innovation and exceptional dedication to top quality service. We are so proud to have been shortlisted with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for the Best Educational Programme for the NHS award.
Well done to Sussex MSK Partnership (Central), Here (Care Unbound) and Sussex Community FT – a worthy winner with a great, patient centred-project.
HSJ Partnership Awards – Finalist!
What a great start to 2019! We are absolutely thrilled to be shortlisted with Chelsea & Westminster Hospital FT (CWFT) in the 'Best Educational Programme for the NHS' 2019 HSJ Partnership Awards for the Leadership Development programme we delivered during 2018.
In partnership with the Learning and Development team at CWFT, the Executive team and focus groups, we designed an 'Established Leaders Development Programme' for strategic leaders including senior clinicians.
The Trust initially commissioned 3 cohorts of up to 20 leaders and following the success of the programme, cohorts 8 and 9 will commence in 2019.
We are thrilled that the achievements and hard work of the delivery teams and the participants have been recognised. Well done to all involved.
In the NHS's 70th year, we are thrilled to see that two of our Healthskills NHS clients have been recognised in the 2019 New Year's Honours list, for their tremendous work. Paul Woodrow, Director of Operations at London Ambulance Service has been awarded the OBE for his leading role in coordinating the emergency responses for victims of the London Bridge terror attack and the Grenfell fire. Margaret Kitching, chief nurse for the North Region, NHS England was awarded the MBE for services to nursing. Healthskills sends our warmest regard to both.
We are delighted to congratulate Lesley Watts, Chief Executive at Chelsea and Westminster FT on her 2018 HSJ Award as Chief Executive of the Year. The awards judgement said that "Lesley showed truly outstanding, engaging and sensitive leadership of the trust and her work with partner organisations to deliver improved performance and patient outcomes." Lesley has been a really visible and proactive sponsor of the Healthskills leadership development programme at the Trust, where we have been successfully working with over 100 leaders since 2016. We would also like to congratulate Newham CCG on their award for Community or Primary Care Services Redesign. Healthskills has been a partner with Newham CCG since 2016, supporting talent management and succession planning with development centres, skills training and leadership programmes. We greatly value our collaboration with both organisations and look forward to continued success in the months ahead.
Shifting cultures, developing people, more than a process!
Chelsea and Westminster NHS Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are implementing a new Performance and Development Review (PDR) process. The Trust has developed a clear policy and Healthskills were invited to shape a development day to focus on the new approach and to enable managers to 're-energise' their engagement with staff. Aligning and motivating the workforce to deliver business objectives within the challenging context of the NHS is important work. Valuing the workforce in the fast pace targeted acute environment can be forgotten unless we pay attention to 'ourselves and relationships'.
Healthskills worked in collaboration with the senior OD staff at the Trust to provide an engaging day to develop the confidence and capabilities of more than 500 managers to undertake the PDR. We aimed to support managers to understand the process but more importantly focus their energies on the individual staff member and their work within teams and the organisation. Clarity of performance expectations and delivery but also to creatively consider how development opportunities could be explored and targeted.
The initial outcomes of our work are positive. We hope we have left managers with 'growth' mindsets to begin to shift how they work as individuals and in teams at the Trust. The Trust have begun a positive journey as a result of the passion and commitment of senior OD staff at the Trust, the collaborative approach with Healthskills and the commitment from managers to change. The work in the Trust is ongoing.
Healthskills has just launched a new multi-disciplinary training programme to support staff in the delivery of the Local Care Network (LCN) Coordination Care Pathway at Lambeth and Southwark CCGs. 120 local leaders will be undertaking a series of learning modules, action learning sets, simulations and reflective practice over the next six months to improve their confidence, skills and knowledge at implementing coordinated care. Over the last 18 months, Lambeth and Southwark LCNs have worked together to co-design and deliver this new approach to place based care coordination for adults with multiple long-term conditions. We are really looking forward to this ground-breaking and progressive partnership over the coming months.