Gentug offers functional wheelchair accessories specifically designed to provide a better life quality for disabled people who use wheelchair.
Slide & Lock Non Slip Chair Pad Slide and Lock Non Slip Chair Pad, is the most practical and safest solution for the recovery of a disabled person on the chair without taking help from others. Its cutting edge design prevents the re-sliding.
Wheel Chair Poncho Caretex Wheelchair Poncho is adaptive handicap clothing at its best. This wheel chair poncho provides winter warmth and comfort to anyone who uses a wheelchair.


text:
HomeCommentaryMaking America Great… Again?
Making America Great… Again?
May 16, 2017 TFD Commentary, Freedom 0
by Ghassan Kadi
The more pre-election, post-election and even post-inauguration promises that President Trump breaks, the harder he makes it for himself to "Make America Great again". But this narrative herein is not based on the political rhetoric and broken promises, rather, it is about a hypothetical scenario that questions if America is realistically able to bring Trump's slogan to fruition.
"Make America Great Again" is a catch phrase that implies a restoration process of a bygone station of greatness. So before one explores the chances of success of such an ambition, one ought to go back to the basics of how and when America was great in the first place.
Admittedly, America has historically been a country of dreams for many. The pop culture of the 1960's has even had songs about wanting to live in America and surfing USA. The dream has been realistic and fathomable, especially for Europeans who wanted to seek a better life, and thus the flow of migration began as soon as settlement began, and that flow was later on mirrored by the rest of the world, and it did not stop as yet.
But historically also, America was never a dream for its native people; quite the contrary. The influx of white migrants into America has resulted in one of the greatest, bloodiest and definitely the longest lasting genocides that spanned for over four whole centuries.
As for the young African men and women, even boys and girls, who were raided and stolen from their tribes and villages, taken away from their parents, loved ones and friends, to be sold and traded as slaves, put to hard labour, raped and killed, there was nothing for them to dream for at all in regard to America.
A dream for some and a nightmare for others, it would be hard to say that defining America as a dream has ever been a description that has been ubiquitously endorsed during its early-mid stages of nation-building. Did the global consensus change later on?
As the new nation that became known as the United States of America became independent in the late eighteenth century, another century later, it suffered from a brutal civil war and the new nation was not really able to stand on its feet and have its place on the global scene until the union was saved and Lincoln managed to pass his 13th amendment.
As a result, America prospered, and later on, late in the nineteenth century, America became the biggest global economy, and in hindsight, the few decades that followed up until WWI, America came the closest ever to being great at different levels. President Woodrow Wilson made it clear that the USA did not join the war for any gain of territory or to build an empire. He was instrumental in setting up the "League of Nations", the predecessor of the UN.
All the while ignoring that the 13th amendment did not stop racial segregation and we shouldn't, ignoring that racial inequality persisted and we also shouldn't, was this short period, the few decades spanned in between the presidencies of Lincoln and Truman enough to classify America as a great nation?
To answer this properly, we must define greatness from a humane perspective. After all, if we allow ourselves to base greatness on wealth, we will have to accept that the Rothschilds, the Soroses and the Rockefellers are the greatest people on earth, but are they? Who is a greater person George Soros or Jonas Salk who invented the anti-polio Salk vaccine and donated it to the world and refused to take any royalties?
The real greatness of people and nations ought to be gauged by their contribution to humanity, easing its pain, spreading knowledge, spearheading liberation and enlightenment, and not by their wealth.
Or is greatness a subject of might? The post-WWII era in which America was elevated to the level of the world's first nuclear power and most powerful nation, has left behind a legacy of wars that began in Korea and went on unstopped to Syria and counting, and has left a trail of destruction, tens of millions of civilians killed, mostly from impoverished developing countries. Economies were destroyed, infrastructures decimated, which again begs the question, how and when exactly was America ever great?
Whilst America did offer great opportunity for a great number of select people for a great number of years, based on the proper and relevant criteria of greatness, it can be fair to say that America was never really great.
Surely, many people were attracted to America to go and live there and partake in the big "American Dream", be able to buy a Chevy, buy a house in the suburbs and send their kids to the best schools and universities in the world, all the while have the best doctors and hospitals at their beck and call. But in reality, what is the percentage of Americans who were able to afford those luxuries even during the years of economic boom?
Whilst it might be true to say that in the 1950's – 1970's or so, America might have had a living standard that was higher than most other nations, the standard is shrinking at an alarming rate. With nearly 50 million Americans currently on food stamps, it becomes imperative to realize that today's USA is a country that is wrought with poverty.
But poverty is not America's only current problem, and when Trump claims that he wants to" Make America Great Again", assuming he means it, one wonders if he is simply talking about rebuilding America's financial prowess.
So if Trump's take on greatness stops with money, how far can the best ever financial reform process go? Not that there is any sign of it coming from the Trump administration, not that we can see that he is keeping his word by putting America first and stopping all wars, but we must remember that we are looking at a hypothetical situation here, one that has nothing to do with Trump.
In other words, is America able to become great again if Trump was indeed serious about his promise?
The formal and declared American debt stands at nearly $20 trillion dollars, and if calculated on a per capita basis, the figure amounts to $60,000 per every man, woman, and child. But this debt is the tip of the iceberg. With collapsing infrastructure like roads, dams, river levees, schools, airports etc, the restoration of those public facilities constitutes overhead costs that are not budgeted for. They are simply ignored and allowed to decay and rot. These are referred to as "unfunded liabilities".
It is hard to put an accurate figure on the value of those unfunded liabilities and the estimates vary greatly from a low of $150 trillion to a high of $350 trillion. At the higher estimate figure, the individual debt balloons to nearly $9 million, again, for every man, woman and child. But even at the lower end, the per capita figure is shyly short of $4 million.
When we make balance sheets we have to look not only at liabilities, but also at assets. The estimate of America's total assets is another elastic figure that also varies from $300 to $550 trillion. That said, if the liabilities figure is indeed in the vicinity of the high $350 trillion figure and that of assets is in the vicinity of the low $300 trillion, then America could well and truly be literally insolvent.
We must remember here that even if the high $550 trillion figure is the correct figure of assets, it does not truly mean much because much of the sub-estimates are based on untapped natural and human resources and are based on today's value of commodities that can easily crash.
Apart from material assets, there was a time when people around the world talked about "the latest thing from America". America was the world centre of research and development and innovation in all fields of science and technology, but today's America does not produce enough engineers, doctors and scientists who can bear the load of a techno-financial revolution that can take America out of the trouble it is facing. When we look today at developments such as China's massive ultra-fast railway, we can foresee that we are not far from talking about "the latest thing from China".
On the other hand, the slick, "low budget", and highly advanced Russian military technology has given America a run for its money. The Russians have been playing their game very smartly, exposing the Americans to a taste of what's up their sleeve, and –God forbid- in the event of a major escalation between the two super powers, America may find itself with bases and fleets exposed as sitting ducks facing an invisible enemy. It is highly likely that the Russians are not trying to "show off"; as it were, but they are sending strong and clear messages of deterrence to their "American partners".
Back to economy, it seems likely, as a matter of fact we can safely say that it is highly probable that the demise of the American economy has gone too far and beyond repair. It is also possible that Trump has come to this realization after his inauguration, and that after reaching this realization, he made his U-turn on his promises on the basis that all he has left up his sleeve is a stash of nukes and a mighty war machine.
To reconsider the definition of greatness, does President Trump believe that might alone brings greatness and that by escalating the global bullying role of the United States of America he is going to "Make America Great Again"?
America is certainly a nation that has the highest military budget, largest navy and more off-shore military basis than the rest of the world combined, it has had the world's biggest economy for many decades and continues to enjoy this status, but has never been a great nation that has spread knowledge and wisdom to the rest of the world. It has used its military might in the past to pillage poor countries and its current financial woes are literally impossible to resolve.
But when it comes to military matters, what is pertinent is that most, if not all, American military ventures have failed to achieve their objectives. After reaching a stale-mate in Korea, a total defeat in Vietnam, after two decades into the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, America is still incapable of gaining the upper hand on the ground.
So if the military is the only trump card left up Trump's sleeve in order to "Make America Great Again", on what grounds is he basing his assumption that he can confront and subdue Russia and China combined given that the 125,000 strong American army that invaded Iraq in 2003 was not even able to control the streets of Baghdad?
Ironically, Obama and Trump have both won their campaigns using slogans that are based on desperation; from "Yes We Can" to "Make America Great Again", the slogans were effectively used to lure in voters who cognize that America is in deep trouble and needs a saviour. Obama has failed and left America with twice the official debt that he inherited on his inauguration day, and Trump will not be able to do much, because like a rusty old car, America is too far gone, and I feel sorry for the good people of America, and there are many of them, including some very good and dear personal friends.
Click above logo for original story.
Can Trump Succeed?
Trump And The Bubbles From A Sunken (Old) World
China Warns Trump It Won't Make Trade Concession If US "Plays Hong Kong Card"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


SAP is hoping to rebuild customer relations and drive more innovation within the company, after the sudden removal of Léo Apotheker as CEO of German ERP giant.
That was the message from a conference call with co-founder and chairman Hasso Plattner today.
Analysts, aware of the company's recent stumbles in the marketplace, are taking a hopeful but cautious stance to the announced changes.
SAP announced that it had not renewed Apotheker's contract as CEO, and appointed two co-CEOs to fill the role: Bill McDermott, who was the head of the field organization and Jim Hagemann Snabe, who was in charge of product development.
SAP has been beset on all sides by a number of difficulties over the past few years. Like many companies, SAP has been fighting a difficult economy. Revenue had declined from €11.5 billion (US$15.7 billion) to €10.6 billion, from 2008 to 2009. Customers had groused over maintenance fee increases implemented in 2008.
On the technology side, SAP has been slow to catch up with IT industry trends such as cloud computing and software-as-a-service. And Plattner hinted Monday at employee dissatisfaction as well. Going forward, the company plans to address all these concerns, Plattner promised.
"The focus is on growth, margin and innovation. It has to be kept in mind that all three have to be dealt [with] simultaneously," Plattner said. "Without growth, even strong margins don't help. Without innovation, you cannot grow. And without margin you can't have a streamlined company."
The company will change its approach in developing new technology, moving from simply updating existing products to boldly developing entirely new lines of software, Plattner said.
"Incremental improvements were once one of the favourite styles for development. This is OK where it makes sense," he said. "But radical changes have to take place where the opportunity presents itself. We are at a crossroads in technology. We will see radical changes on the horizon. SAP is more than prepared to take advantage of super-large in-memory systems with a high number of parallel cores."
In order to make this innovation happen, some reorganization will be necessary.
"We will have changes in management style," Plattner said. He promised fewer hierarchical levels of management and more agile software development teams "with a flat structure," he said.
Plattner admitted that customer trust and employee morale have suffered recently. "I will do everything possible to make SAP a happy company," he said.
He addressed head-on one of the most heated issues in SAP's recent history: Its 2008 decision to move customers to a richer-featured but more expensive Enterprise Support service. The plan rankled users worldwide, particularly those with older, stable systems and little need or desire for additional support.
SAP and the dual CEO model: Does it work? SAP's co-CEOs: are two heads better than one?


text:
Old photographs preserving the memory of old friends and small events
Posted byvermilionphotojournalonline September 7, 2017 Posted inColumnsTags:Rich Tarrant, Vermilion history, Vermilion History Museum, Yesteryears
By: Rich Tarrant
While my niece, Barb Akers, was manning the old news desk at the Vermilion History Museum last week she began looking through some old manila envelops in a bookcase near the desk and came across the photo accompanying this week's column. Though I don't believe she immediately recognized any of the persons pictured. But when I, and my sister, Nancy Alice, saw it – we did. Pictured are: Frank Blattner, George Villa and Fred Fischer respectively.
I don't know about my sister, but I have some rather vivid memories of each of these fellas. Fred Fischer, as many people may recall was, among other things, a well-liked and highly respected Mayor of Vermilion Village for a decade. George Villa along with his brother Joe were extremely affable men who came to town from Pennsylvania shortly after WW2 and, unlike some folks who came to town and had a hard time being accepted by the natives, they somehow managed to quickly establish themselves as genuine Vermilionites. Frank Blattner truly a "home grown" boy – one of the town's first Eagle Scouts – worked as a plumber for Brushaber Plumbing.
Looking as this photo now it occurs to me that one of the big things all these guys had in common was their attitude. They were all calm and very good-humored gentlemen; at least most of the time.
I know that Mayor Fischer was both fair-minded and progressive. Things that needed doing in the town got done when he was at the helm. Among those things was to build the road (Thompson Street) and bridge over Edson Creek between Jefferson Street and Adams Street. It was an important improvement for both convenience and safety reasons. But that was only one of his many accomplishments. Considering the fact that the elected officials were part-time and paid very little it was a wonder that anything was ever accomplished. Fischer worked for the B&O Railroad for 45 years and still found the time to be extremely active in the community. This photo, for instance, was captured in front of his home at 409 Washington Street. After his retirement Fred and his companions could often be found passing the time on a bench in Exchange Park during the summer months. It was a good place to discuss events of the day. Were it not for the fact that his wife, Hattie, having been hit and killed by a car very near the park back in 1968 he'd likely been spending his time on his front porch with her instead.
Frank Blattner lived just up the street from the Fischer residence – the second house north of the railroad tracks on the same side of the street. His father, Lewis "Charles" worked at, and later purchased, the Blattner Hardware Store on Liberty Avenue from his uncle. That may be how and where Frank became involved in the plumbing trade. His wife, Bessie, was a familiar face to the many children who ate in the school as a cafeteria cook at South Street School. Their only child, a daughter named Barbara was a very popular Vermilion gal. Frank, a laid back soul, was customarily seen puffing on a pipe that he held between his teeth. On his way home every night from work he'd stop off at Stan Kowalski's Liberty Tavern for a glass of beer and news (men don't gossip) from around town before dinner.
George Villa worked as an electrician at Crystal Beach Amusement Park, the American Shipyard and later Sawmill Creek. He was also a dedicated member of the American Legion. He, and his brother Joe were one of a kind. They were hard not to like.
When my father passed away at the tender age of 86 in 1985 George dressed in the class "A" uniform he had worn while in the service and stood as honor guard aside my dad's casket during the funeral service. No one asked him to do this. It was just that his respect for my father (a WW1 veteran) was so great that he felt duty bound to do so. But that's the kind of person he was. If you were his friend you were his friend forever.
Now back to the publicity photograph. That is, of course, what it was. They were promoting Poppy Day sponsored by the local Legion chapter. On the Friday before Memorial Day and on Veteran's Day members of the Legion along with their children could be found standing on the corner with a handful of artificial poppies and a container similar to that held by Mr. Blattner in the picture seeking donations. The funds would benefit veterans and active duty soldiers and sailors. And in short order, everyone in town wore one of the poppies.
Yeah, looking back at the yesteryear frozen in this photo these were some of the people I knew as a young man: Fred, George, and Frank. It didn't matter that I was significantly younger, or that they were significantly older. And it didn't matter that their war preceded mine by two decades: not at all. We were all Americans, of course. But, most of all, we were friends then and forever.
Vermilion resident Rich Tarrant has agreed to share many of the photos and stories he has acquired from the former Vermilion News and other local sources with the readers of the Photojournal. Rich is the youngest son and a grandson of the late proprietors of The Vermilion News (1897-1964). Readers may email him at: rnt@twc.com
Brownhelm Zoning Commission hears multiple sides regarding firing range
It's all in the family for generations of local Delmonico barbers


text:
Michael Gordon signs with Roosters
roosters.com.au
Wed 22 Jun 2016, 02:15 PM
The Sydney Roosters have today announced the signing of Michael Gordon to a one-year deal commencing in 2017.
32 year-old Gordon will join the Roosters from the Parramatta Eels where he has played 14 games to date since joining them this season.
"With almost 200 NRL matches under his belt, Michael will add experience and depth to our squad," said Roosters CEO, John Lee.
"Michael will also be a terrific mentor as we continue to develop our younger backs, and we're pleased to have secured his services," he added.
Gordon made his NRL debut in 2006 with the Penrith Panthers where he played 108 first grade games over seven seasons. He played 71 NRL matches with the Cronulla Sharks (2013-2015), before joining the Parramatta Eels in 2016. He has also represented NSW (one game in 2010) and NSW Country (2011, 2013).
Players agree to new pay deal
Battle for positions heats up among Sydney Roosters junior squads after strong trials
Club's juniors excited to wear the Sydney Roosters colours
NSWRL News
NSWRL to bring more than 100 games to fans


NAPLES, FL--(Marketwired - June 11, 2016) - The independent authority on internet marketing, topseos.com, has named SEOP the best digital marketing agency for June 2016. SEOP was selected due to their impressive performance in the rigorous evaluation process. Thousands of agencies are considered while only the 10 best are showcased in the rankings.
The independent research team at topseos.com performs a thorough evaluation of the competing services in order to stay apprised of their latest developments within the industry. Contending services are researched through the use of five verticals of evaluation in areas including interactivity, customer involvement, design standards, customer support, and project analysis. The rankings consist of the best digital marketing services each month with the rankings being updated due to the latest information obtained from the evaluation.
In order to obtain a more in-depth picture of the service, the topseos.com research team also connects with client references. Competing agencies provide at least three client references to give the research team the opportunity to obtain insight directly from buyers. In some cases clients contact topseos.com directly to voice their opinions.
Based on a pattern of remarkable results, a continued dedication towards exceptional customer satisfaction, and the results of a in-depth analysis, topseos.com has named SEOP the top digital marketing firm. Those searching for an effective firm to assist them should consider SEOP.
topseos.com is an online provider of independent reviews and ratings. The ratings of the best search engine marketing services are released monthly to assist businesses in connecting with digital marketing services which feature a history of effective solutions. Thousands of search engine marketing services are put to the test while only the absolute best services are highlighted in the ratings.


This story first appeared in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 7.3 (Autumn 1972): 27-36. Reprinted in The Rummage Sale (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985). Marshall received the Award in Fiction from the Association for Mormon Letters in 1978 for his second collection of short fiction, Frost in the Orchard (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1977).
 When her mother died, Thalia Beale knew that a change was in order. Her mother must have known too, for her last words, as she rolled her filmy eyes one final time in their yellow-gray cavities, were "You've been good, Thalia. Always stay--." Thalia was not quite sure what her mother had meant. There was little question about her remaining good. She scarcely had a desire to be otherwise. But "stay?" If her mother's last request had concerned her staying on in the little house in Ephraim, then here was a problem of quite a different sort.
 There's no question, I guess, but what it was a great loss for Thalia. Her father was killed when the scaffolding gave way back when they were first laying bricks for the Whitney house. She wasn't more than a year or two old then, and all that Elvina had in this world, her only brother having died of diphtheria even before Thalia was born. For forty- three years Thalia and her mother (Elvina and Thalia we always called them) lived alone together. Before her mother took ill- -but this, mind you, was a long time ago--they did things, the two of them: they went visiting (not, of course, a great deal, but they did like to stop in on Sophora and Pauline and sometimes take a fruitcake or a pint of bullberry jelly down to Walter and his mother), they quilted together (usually over at Reva Willis's house because she had the frames), and they even took the train once to Boulder, Colorado, to attend the Pinkney reunion, only that was the summer that Homer and Ruth got word that Jeddie B. had been killed in Guam and the whole thing had to be called off. For a year or more they came to Relief Society meetings together, but Elvina got her feelings hurt again over the bazaar (some say both of the loaves of bread she baked went for fifty cents and nobody knows what all became of the four bottles of chili sauce and chow chow) and told Nilene Bolander that that was the last they would ever see of her inside that chapel. Thalia came out to Sunday School fairly regularly before Elvina got so sick, but after that she stayed right at home with her most of the time. There was a time just before that when Thalia seemed to take quite an interest in M. I. A. for a while and was even asked to take a position--Speech and Drama Director was what they wanted her for--but when Elvina got wind that Brother Bettenson had his eye on Thalia for that scoutmaster with five kids whose wife had up and left him, she put a fast stop to that. We didn't see much of Thalia at church at all after that. The visiting teachers, though, they continued to go there and, like as not, the ward teachers as well, but Cora Stokes and Idonna both said that it was not likely that Thalia would even step foot in the chapel as long as Elvina was drawing breath.
 But it was a great loss for Thalia. I suspect her mother was her whole life. Thalia did have her outside interests. You'd see her taking walks, long walks she'd take clear out to Haney's south pasture and way up to the other end of town and who knows where all. But I guess that's partly what kept her thin, those walks. And she would take a class or two up at the school. You'd see her bringing home a stack of books now and then from the library that she couldn't possibly have read in a year. And then, of course, she had her work. She did it all at home, typing and proofreading. With the college and all, I don't think she ever lacked for work. That and Elvina's relief check kept them going. Heaven knows Thalia must have always eaten like a bird and I doubt if either one of them ever gave two hoots for a new dress. The last time Elvina was out of the house she had on that same black crepe she must have got for Woodruff's funeral and I think she would just as leave have been buried in it. Thalia, she always seemed content in just that little gray sweater of hers and a plain wool skirt a darn sight longer than mine or yours or anybody else's. Most likely her life was always just as full as yours or mine, in its own way. I do know she saved her money and bought a TV set for the two of them. And I suspect that she was just as happy there caring for her mother as she would have been if things had been different for her somehow.
 Things were different after her mother died. Thalia sensed this almost immediately. The day after the company left she spent the morning at the cemetery, arranging and rearranging in the cold wind the few wilted flowers that had survived the chill March gusts, and pulling up a few dried weeds stranded among the dingy patches of crusted snow on the Beale plot. But this task occupied only a few minutes; most of the time she walked without plan or purpose between the rows of headstones, under the bare branches of the gray trees, over the frozen and sterile earth. When the gnawing in her empty stomach finally brought her to gather her coat about her and walk down the long road to the little frame house, she began to sense that nothing inside those quiet walls could ever be, had ever been, the substance needed to assuage her incessant hunger. One would have thought that the little house with its single straggling brown vine and the vacant spot where the hollyhocks came and went each year would have seemed unbearably empty when she stepped inside, that the near-hollow stillness of its rooms might have made it seem suddenly almost uncomfortably and unnecessarily large. Yet Thalia was surprised how the house, bereft as it was of fully one half of the life that had wheezed and coughed within it, now seemed different to her for its very smallness and for the uncanny impression of maximum occupancy, not spaciousness, that pervaded the four rooms, pushing at the yellowing papered walls and crowding the dark corners filled with ceramic knickknacks and tinted photographs in their dusty cardboard frames. Thalia sensed this difference as soon as she opened the front door and was met by the almost suffocating, hot, indoor smell of gray days accumulated upon gray days, days boiled cabbage and camomile tea, of camphor, Vicks Vapo-Rub, and dark brown cough syrup. What should have been conspicuously missing from the house now suddenly seemed overwhelmingly present. Her hand fluttered at her collar. The stifling warmth from the oil heater almost took her breath; the unending multi-colored circles of the braided rug beneath her caused her head to spin. She let herself sink down upon the brown davenport with its faded afghan and crocheted doilies, taking, care, like a visitor, to sit only on the edge rather than giving herself to its sagging and lumpy softness. "I'm a stranger," she heard herself say quietly. The words, heard not without some odd sense of pleasure, even caused her body to tingle a little. "I don't belong here."
 She had no business running off like that. If Elvina had lived you can bet she wouldn't have just up and run off one day without so much as a how-do you-do. What got into her I guess we'll never know. But I suppose that when you get right down to it, it was the grief that drove her. She must have just grieved so after her mother died that she couldn't bear being in that empty house. It's hard on a person, after you've waited hand and foot on someone else, to find yourself alone in the world. Believe me, I know. Anyway, Thalia somehow got it in her head to run off to California. I don't think she told a soul. She must have just woke up one morning with the notion that she had to get away and marched right down there and got her a ticket on the bus and away she went. I don't begrudge her a little trip. I suppose she felt she had it coming. But what beats me is what in the world she thought she'd find in California. Velta Lytle asked her if it was relatives or something she went to see but Thalia just told her no, it was not. So there you are. Now Lige and Elouise go down there almost once a year, but, good Lord, they've got more folks down there now than they've got up here, with Carl and Melba down at Oceanside and Cleora and her family still in Anaheim. But Thalia, now, had no more business than the man in the moon to go scooting off where she didn't know a living soul. Why on earth she didn't go up to Tremonton with Myrtle Dawn and Nida for a week or two after the funeral--or let Nils and Leona take her back with them to Blanding--sure beats me. Idonna said that, as far as she could tell, Thalia just shut up the house one day without a thought as to who was going to feed that cat or water her plants and off she went. And I know for a fact that Elvina had a canary that she wouldn't have parted with for the world, and now who, I ask you, did Thalia think was going to feed that poor bird with the house locked up tighter than a drum and nobody the wiser? Of course the poor thing died. Cora Stokes told me that. And I don't know if Thalia just left the cat in there to die too or if she turned it out to fend for itself. But I suspect she didn't give it a thought one way or another. But then, again, who are we to judge? Grief just turned her mind, I guess, and off she went.
 Thalia's mind kept turning. `'You've been good, Thalia. Always stay--." Stay? She looked around the dark little room until her eyes stopped at the Woolworth card table cramped in the corner, one wobbly leg threatening to collapse under the heavy looseleaf folder, the Smith-Corona in its worn case, the tottering tower of books stacked hastily against the wall the day before the funeral. The books would be due at the library March 23 and would have to be taken back. But there were no classes to hold her. For almost the first time in thirteen years, she had not enrolled in any courses at Snow College. How lucky for her! She had deliberated--"stewed around," her mother had said-- going back into Theatre Arts. Oh, not seriously. She would never try out for any of the parts, never let them talk her into being in one of their productions. Just a class or two. And not for credit. She would just have paid her auditing fee again and sat in the back with her notebooks while Dr. Hall talked over the hissing radiator to his class about Marlowe or Chekhov or Ibsen. She had thought too about trying Art one more time but then she remembered the stack of pale watercolors yellowing secretly under her cot--the still lifes with their lopsided vases and muddy onions cramped between anemic tomatoes, the landscapes with the light green trees and stiff barns--and Mr. Swanstrom pleading, "Loosen up! Loosen up!" ("Why, I don't think the man's fit to be a painting teacher," her mother had said). She had tried the course first from Mr. Weedly, then four years later from Mr. Folger who kept forgetting her name, then twice from Mr. Swanstrom, but she could hear them all, like a Greek chorus, chanting "Don't be afraid to put color in your brush! Let yourself go!" She had not wanted to go into English a third time. Not just yet. If Miss Hibbard taught Wuthering Heights again--or Jane Eyre or Tess of the D'Urburvilles--she would ask permission to audit and sit once more in the corner by the door, but she would not go back to creative writing. "Your work betrays a lack of experience," Dr. Woolley had written on one of her little stories. She had hidden the penciled comment from Mother but her own sense of humiliation kept her from going back. She longed to write, to open a magazine one day and find her name, in type not too large and maybe not so dark, in some small corner of the page. It almost made her tremble. But not, she quickly reminded herself, until she had had her little adventure, her--again she trembled-- "experience."
 She moved around in the dim little room. There was nothing to hold her now. Beyond the doorway that led to the quiet kitchen with its sallow oil cloth and linoleum, she could see the bedroom door slightly ajar, the room's bilious yellow-green hue, consequence of March's light wasting through the dull blinds, oozing infectiously into the remainder of the house. Nothing to hold her back. How fortunate that she had not tried to take a class, that she had contented herself with looking into whatever books had enticed her from their dusty shelves in the library. She looked back at the books on the card table. The Art of Writing Fiction, Fairy Mythology in Shakespeare, Arthurian Legends in Medieval Art, Art as Experience, Wildlife Along the Pacific Trail, Art and Artists in California. There was little doubt where she would go if she indeed really dared to go. The beautiful words had called to her each time she saw them written, a far-away whisper of sea and cypress, luring her on: Carmel by-the-Sea. To say them again to herself made her tremble. Could she really allow herself to go? The books would have to be taken back, she reminded herself. And the fern. Someone would have to water the fern. She could take it to Walter and Maude. Poor Maude would like something green. Her eyes surveyed each item cramped in the dim corners of the room. The cat was gone. No need to worry about Flossie, poor thing. Was it wrong not to have told her mother in those last days that Flossie too had been withering away--distemper Mr. Stubbs at the drug store had suggested--and was finally buried out back under the plum trees? And Dickie too, as if something contagious, unnoticed under the heavy medicinal smells, had spread through the whole house, poor Dickie too had begun to lose her feathers and stopped her quiet little song. There had still been some of the Hartz seeds in the glass feeder when she found the bird lying stiffly on its back. And Flossie couldn't be blamed-- everyone marveled at how they got on together--unless something in Flossie's own illness had caused her to do something to Dickie that she had not known about. But that was not likely. Poor Flossie herself had been beneath the bare trees two days before Dickie was finally laid beside her. Thalia stared at the empty cage dimly lighted by the little window facing the street. Something fluttered briefly in her chest. There was nothing now to hold her.
 But then I suppose there are worse things than letting a canary starve to death in its cage. Lord knows, though, that Thalia was devoted to Elvina and attentive as could be. It makes you wonder sometimes how she could have suddenly been so selfish as to let those animals just wither away while she gallivanted off to some ritzy resort. Lords knows where she stayed or who she thought was going to pay for her whims. It's grief, that's all there is to it. It must have been grief, because it was just not like Thalia to go off and do a thing so completely uncalled for and unnatural.
 Listen, do you want to know what she told Nell Lister? Not that Thalia was ever one to tell anyone anything, but Nell has a way of getting things out. Talk about your woman's intuition. Lord, you've never seen a person that's got the knack of reading between the lines Nell's got. Point her out a woman on the street with a suitcase in her hand and she'll tell you the whole story. Just like her Aunt Thule used to be. Thule even read tea leaves until she saw a house in flames in her cup one day and a week later her own son Ned set fire to the seminary building. Be that as it may, here's what Thalia told Nell: she went down there, she said, to have a little adventure for herself. Now your guess is as good as mine what she meant by that. But she told Nell that she had one week-end that she will never forget as long as she lives. Now I want you to keep in mind that Thalia Beale is almost as old as I am. In fact, she was in the same class as my younger sister Lila June, but Lila now was always a pretty little thing. Now what business Thalia thought she had to go down there around all those artists and poets--and hippies, too, mind you--sure beats me. I can tell you one thing: she never showed her face at church down there any more than here. LaRee Shurtz and her husband are there at Pacific Grove Ward and when Lida wrote and asked them if they ever saw Thalia, LaRee was surprised to even know that Thalia had been down there at all.
 Well, anyway, she went down there to this Carmel place until she got good and tired and then she went over to Monterey and stayed there for a while. Monterey, you might recall, is down there where all those soldiers and sailors and I suppose marines and everything else have their bases. Reva's oldest boy Garn was there at the Naval Post Graduate School and I think Delma Lowder's got a boy at Fort Ord right now. Well, Thalia never let on but I've got a hunch there was some man involved. And Thalia Beale forty-three years old. Who knows what all went on. She said she bought her a book that told her a lot of things she'd always wanted to know and that she was really beginning to appreciate the wonders of Nature. Nature, my foot. When Nell asked Thalia how she found the people down there, Thalia just sort of hemmed and hawed and finally owned up that there was some man she met at the post office that was awfully good to her. Well, she says she had her one week-end, anyway, that she just did everything she had always dreamed about and some things, mind you, she'd never even thought of. I'd like to think she has come back to her senses now, but Nell thinks--and Idonna will tell you the same thing--that Thalia has no regret for whatever she did.
 Thalia did not regret that she had chosen Carmel-by-the- Sea. There had been anxious moments when she wanted to ask the bus driver to help her make immediate connections back to Ephraim, Utah. And the absolute incredibility of arriving in Monterey in the almost ethereal nebulosity of an evening fog had made her heart pound in her throat and her skin suddenly feel feverish as she pressed her forehead against the cool dampness of the bus window. But the salty, fishy moistness of the air had at once terrified her and thrilled her as she stepped down into the alien white mist and felt her legs almost buckle when her swollen feet touched the asphalt of this new world. Someone had pointed out the direction in which the ocean--how long she had dreamed of witnessing its dynamic actuality!--might be found, but she had felt better sitting in the corner of the bus station writing a postcard to herself ("I have sailed forbidden seas and landed on barbarous coasts," she wrote with her lavender Flair pen) until 8:35 when another short bus ride through black pines and smoky darkness brought her at last to the dim lights of Carmel's sequestered cottages and hilly lanes. And in her room for $14.00 (she had been too weary to carry her suitcase and her typewriter to more than three motels), still fully dressed in the wrinkled grey tweed, she had fallen asleep on the chenille spread while figuring how long she might stretch the remaining $229.37.
 She was afraid to leave the room until the marks, pinkly visible on the left side of her face until after ten-thirty the next morning, could no longer reveal the secret of her inexperience. Then she left her two pieces of baggage with the woman at the desk, bought an orange at a little market (how it thrilled her to see the fruits and vegetables tucked among the tidy miniature shops clustered along the street that led down to the ocean), and spent the day with a crumpled copy of the weekly Carmel Pine Cone looking for a little room to rent. The village, its twisted trees and creeping vines and tiny lavender-blue flowers almost hiding the quaint houses, left her breathless. The silver-haired men with soft silk ascots, the slender women in their strange boots and gaucho hats leading dogs on long leashes--these made something cry out within her. And once when a bearded gentleman was showing her through the sky-lighted studio wing on a half-timbered Tudor home for rent, she even stepped back in the cool green shade of the hallway to cry against her white knuckles and then ran down the road to the beach to sob alone in the wind.
 By evening, after three people had suggested that she try looking for something more suitable to her needs and pocketbook in one of the surrounding communities, she reluctantly picked up her bags and boarded the bus for Monterey. The place she found--it was "only temporary" she kept telling herself--was a narrow little sleeping room with an electric hot plate and some yellow plastic dishes. It was not in a neighborhood she would have chosen but it looked less grim by daylight and was only a five-block walk from the public library. It would be only $90 a month the old deaf woman downstairs told her, if she would be careful about the electricity and furnish her own sheets and towels. Thalia stayed the month. For the first week she looked elsewhere but some areas of the town frightened her while her own little place on Union Street gradually offered some of the comfort and security of things grown familiar.
 Nevertheless, her heart, she had to own, was in Carmel. She went there almost every day by bus, always walking down to watch the blue waves crashing on the sand and, further out, against the rocks. She walked quietly through the tiny galleries, listening inconspicuously to others as they eulogized, in loud and confident voices, paintings she couldn't understand. One day, feeling bold, she even determined to try to merge with the audience at a piano recital she had seen advertised, but her watch must have been slow for when she walked up the long hill to the church the doors were already closed and she had to listen to the music from the steps at the side door. At intermission she thought of peeping in to see if there might be a seat near the back, but when the ladies with their fur stoles and little name cards pinned to their knits and jerseys flittered out onto the patio to sip coffee from tiny cups, she pretended she had only been admiring the architecture in passing, and hurried, her chest and eyes burning, up the hill to where the 3:30 bus to Monterey was just driving away.
 When it rained she spent her afternoons near the big stone fireplace in the library at Carmel, but when the sun was out she tried to devote as much time as possible to exploring the shady little streets with no sidewalks, stopping to read the identifying labels--names like Sea Cradle, Journey's End, Harbor Lights--which the neat cottages, with their ornamental doors and oriental gardens, bore instead of numbers. One day after much deliberation, she bought a shiny-covered book-one of two extravagant purchases she permitted herself during that month--that identified for her the trees and plants of the region. Afterwards she took much care to check the colored illustrations against the variety of unique and lovely things she found on her little excursions; memorizing that the blue myrtle was really ceanothus thyrsiflorus, she liked to think, might help her to feel less a stranger to this enchanted region. Her other extravagance came when she allowed herself to buy a pink-orange sweater. She had seen a similar one in the window of a tiny boutique in Carmel --"Italian imports: original creations in melon and coral" the little card had read--at the same time she had noticed in a reflection of herself in the same window that her own gray cardigan would not survive many more washings. The colors of the sweater in the window both terrified and excited her, and it was only after a long internal debate that she allowed herself to search out something similar, it finally being her fortune to locate the one she bought--luckily marked down on a Discontinued Items Sale--in the Monterey Sprouse-Reitz. The first day she wore it to Carmel she felt everyone's eyes on her. It was ten days before she dared to take it from the drawer and try it again.
 The month passed quickly. She had hoped that when April came she might write to someone and say, "Our spring here is lovely! There is so much to see and do!" but, even though it seemed quite true, she was unable to write it and was unable furthermore to even think of who she might write it to. Twice she had gone to the post office in Carmel and asked at the General Delivery counter if there was, by chance, anything for Thalia Beale. There never was--for who even knew where she had gone except Walter and Maude who only knew it was "somewhere out there in California?" but the little man behind the counter had, on both occasions, looked at her sympathetically with his apologetic eyes and once even asked "Are you just here on a visit?" One Sunday morning, having missed the bus to Carmel, she had walked down Monterey's deserted main street and experienced a sudden longing for the familiar streets and faces of Ephraim. At first she had refused to recognize it, but as it grew stronger she even went to a telephone directory to try to locate the church: she would know no one, she had reasoned, yet perhaps she might feel some sense of belonging. But the nearest church listed had been Pacific Grove; fearing to venture by bus to an area even less familiar to her, she had settled for going back to her room and writing three little poems all of which she tore up in tears before she fell asleep on her bed at five o'clock.
 The idea for the week-end had been growing since the day she discovered that her adventure in Carmel-by-the-Sea would have to be primarily the adventure of a daily visitor, of an onlooker, an outsider. It had started that first evening as she waited disappointedly by the road for the bus to take her back to Monterey to look for a place to stay. And each day thereafter as she rode the bus back down the highway through the pines, she had added mental notes to the original plan. Finally, in mid-April, she sat in her narrow room and carefully counted the rewards of her frugality besides the money required for her return ticket, $53.16 remained. This time, as she took her bags and made the twenty-minute trip to Carmel, it seemed as though tiny wings were flapping wildly inside her breast. Her own boldness made her tremble. Her little adventure was one that she wanted no one, and yet, strangely, everyone, to know.
 The week-end was going to be beautiful. Yet when she arrived at the house she had chosen after days of meticulously studying the Want Ads at the library, the experience was not without a tinge of disappointment. Its hacienda-like appearance seemed somehow less exotic and more stark than it had that late sunny afternoon when she had followed tremblingly behind the boisterous realtor through the tangled garden and throughout its bone-white rooms with their mock- Florentine tapestries and Moroccan cushions. Yet she was so fortunate to have it at all, she told herself; it would have been impossible to rent such a place for three mere days, she had been informed, were it not that a couple from Honduras had just vacated it and the new tenants were not due from Connecticut until Monday. It would be $45 for the three days-- half of what she had paid for a month in Monterey, she worried--yet it was precisely, or at least almost precisely, what she had come for. And she must have it. She must not wince, must not falter.
 Two things bothered her, however. The street appeared as quaint as any other, but why, oh why, she asked herself, could it not have borne a name like the ones running below it--Monte Verde, Camino Real, Casanova--or even Dolores, the one above it? Why must it have been called simply Lincoln? And there was something else, but this she had resolved to do something about. The house--once she even tremblingly dared to call it "my hacienda" to herself--had somehow escaped the wonderful little epithets she had seen tacked on rustic gates and ornate lamp posts elsewhere in the village. Not La Casablanca, not even Wee Hideaway, the house was simply identified, evidently because of its original owner, by a little wooden placard that read Vosbrink. But she had planned ahead here: having found on one of her excursions a piece of driftwood large enough to cover the weathered placard, she kind carefully lettered upon it with her watercolors the name--product of much deliberation and many nervous headaches--which she had chosen. For several days she had invented new names, trying them out quietly to herself--Thrushmore, Sea Room, Set Adrift, Linnet's Landing-- but she finally settled on something foreign that she had seen on a magazine at the library: BEAU MONDE.
 For the three glorious days Thalia's heart ached with inexpressible passion --joy or sadness, she could not be entirely sure which. She wore her new sweater every day and whenever she left the house she carried with her the looseleaf in which she had jotted down her impressions, the beginnings of poems, even the idea for--the thought made her tremble--a novel, which she had reluctantly promised herself to identify, had anyone ever asked, as her "work in progress." Much of her time she spent walking through the rooms of her house, remarking confidently, if quietly, to the white walls, "This room is especially nice during our rainy season. And here, on the patio, is where I usually spend my afternoons." Twice, indeed, she took a little snack of V-8 juice and Ritz crackers and went out to sit on the little bench under the gnarled cypress. Although she had jotted down lists of things to do during her little week-end, she found it difficult deciding how to do them. Friday after she had put things into a drawer and hung up her wool suit in one of the spacious closets, she had gone leisurely about her schedule, even determining that night to sleep as late as she wanted in the big Spanish bed, but when she had opened her eyes at 8:30 on Saturday, she was cross with herself for wasting such valuable time and made certain that every precious moment counted for the two remaining days. She delighted in being just a five-minute walk away from the shops and galleries on Ocean Avenue and, each day, on one of her little pilgrimages, she treated herself to something special. This was not counting the three scented candles and the jasmine incense she had bravely bought to burn in her hacienda while she read her new flower book and worked on her poem about the daffodil; these were little surprises that came from the shops she had not previously allowed herself to enter. There was no limit to what she might have, she promised herself, no limit except the diminishing budget she had set aside for these last three beautiful days. One day she chose a Danish pastry at a tiny bakery where the pink- checked lady spoke with an accent; on another she had a hot- fudge sundae in the red-and-white-striped candy parlor she had passed so many times; and on the third day, after much vacillation, she went into the Mediterranean Market and emerged with a bottle of marinated artichokes. She was disappointed that she did not particularly like them, but contented herself with the knowledge that there were people back in Ephraim who did not even know whether they liked them or not. The thoughts of Ephraim caused her to become suddenly and unexpectedly excited. She wondered if anyone had died, if anyone would look changed, if the hollyhocks could possibly be starting to bloom.
 Like I say, you'll see her puttering around out there by her hollyhocks or she'll be passing by here in that little gray sweater of hers on her way out to the edge of town or Lord knows where. With Elvina gone she doesn't like to stay there in the house too much, I suspect. But I guess she's got plenty to go. Lloyd Tenney over at the school is working on his master's (he and Rayola Dodd's boy have both gone up to Utah State almost every summer) and Frieda says that Thalia's typing his thesis for him. It's on breeding sheep and the various diseases they get and I don't know what all. She normally gets twenty-five cents a page but Frieda says she asked her to do it for twenty. I don't know how many she can do an hour, but then, when it gets right down to it, what else has she got to do?
 I suspect she's glad to be back home here. People are different down there. Nell asked her if she thought she'd ever want to sell the house (Dewey's boy has been looking for a little place just about that size) and go down there to live and Thalia said no, she didn't hardly think she would. She said she didn't really think she would fit in. And, of course, you know as well as I do that it's best if she stays here. Elvina would have wanted that. And too, if like she says she had her a week-end she'll never forget, well, I guess she'll always have that to remember. Lord forgive her.


Just a week ago, I was in new York City, staring across the table at 3 beautiful, vegan, Impossible Burgers. I had waited years to try this meal, and it was finally in front of me. For me, a milestone, but for the two carnivores, I feel it was just something new to try.
However we all left stunned. I, with a renewed sense of excitement for the future of veganism, and my friends with an interest in vegan products they never thought they would have.
So I was a bit disheartened this week to see some media outlets raising ethical concerns with the Impossible Burger.
Drove to Knox for #vegan cinnamon buns!


Incredible Functional/Family Medicine Opportunity. Work in a beautiful place and practice medicine in a way that feeds your soul. A place where human relationships are the foundation of the practice.
Seasoned board certified family physician and certified functional medicine practitioner seeks to share space with experienced family and functional medicine physician. Existing practice has been in Santa Fe for 30 years with a cadre of wonderful patients. Current practice includes pediatrics, adult medicine, gynecology, dermatology, and a variety of office surgical procedures. Functional medicine is the unifying approach to treating all patients with chronic medical problems. Bio-identical HRT is one of the anchors of the practice. I am looking for another practitioner who wishes to be part of a clinic where practicing medicine is still rewarding and fun.


MLP Training helps delegates achieve their goals and become the best that they can be, developing their sales and business management skills.
The open courses and in-house training solutions provided by MLP Training fit an organisation's business needs and help delegates develop their skills in the areas they need.
Whether delegates opt for an open public course or go for in-house training, MLP's role is to help them clearly identify their goals and provide the inspiration, motivation and training to help them become leaders in their chosen fields.
MLP's trainer, Mike Le Put, is an experienced author, publisher, trainer and motivational speaker, who has trained over 10,000 people and inspired professionals across the UK, USA and Asia.
Mike currently works as a Training Consultant to many of the UK's largest companies and his programmes are distributed worldwide by the BBC.
Over the last twenty years, MLP Training has had the pleasure of working with some of the world's leading companies, helping them to gain efficiencies in their businesses.
MLP Training can also provide in-house training that can be customised for the needs of a particular business or organisation and be offered at the client's location for specific number of participants.


Check out the Great West Casualty Company's winter edition of Safety Talk. This article is full of safety tips and useful information for Trucking that you don't want to miss.
View Safety Talk Winter Edition.


Since our recent articles have focused on dog training, we though it might be useful to provide a list of items that we frequently use for dog training. If you don't have any of these, you'll have easy links to view them and add them to your cart. You can also just pick the ones you don't have.
We'll do similar lists for cats and horses soon, but in the meantime, these are products we have tried, we like, and that we really use.


text:
Our creative, inspiring, and passionate team bringing play and joy to your inbox.
Ann McQueen
Anne Basting
Founder, Lead Creative Strategist, Board President
Project Manager, Imagination Kits & Engagement Parties, Certified Trainer
Angela Fingard
Program Director, Certified Trainer
Mary Miho Schuler
Sam Goodrich
Tele-Stories Program Manager, Certified Trainer
Kathy Hawkins
Engagement and Training Manager, Certified Trainer
Maureen Smith
Treasurer: Cris Ros-Dukler
COO Of Public Allies (Retired)
Secretary: Chris Abbott
Healthcare Consultant
Dhruv Gami
Technology Strategy Consultant
Marie-Therese Connolly
Elder Justice Lab
Grant A. Johnson
CEO Of Responsory, A Johnson Direct Company
Elaine Maly
Former Executive Director of the Women's Fund of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, development director for Aurora Healthcare Foundation, and Chief Development and Marketing Officer for the YWCA of Greater Milwaukee. Maly is recognized as both a social innovator and an award-winning essayist and storyteller. She is particularly passionate about intergenerational projects with underserved communities.
Jackie Kostichka
Jackie received her undergraduate degrees in Dance and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and her Masters in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. She first trained in TimeSlips in 2015 and has been involved in creative aging in many ways. She taught Folkloric Mexican Dance at the UCC Senior Center, has been a facilitator for Stage Right Theatre, was a Student Artist in Residence (SAIR) at Milwaukee Catholic Home, choreographed and performed a piece called "Moving Images" based on TimeSlips stories, interned at St. Ignatius Nursing and Rehab in Philadelphia, PA, as a dance/movement therapist from 2018-2019, and worked as a Life Enrichment Director at a skilled nursing facility in Port Washington, WI, from 2021-2022. She has also been a Community Engaged Artist for TimeSlips's Tele-Stories in 2021 and 2022. Jackie loves to use music, movement, and person-centered care to help promote creative expression within her groups.
Liz Nichols
Liz has been sharing TimeSlips with residential communities, adult day care centers, eldercare professional groups, memory cafes, and senior clubs and centers since 2007. As a Certified Trainer, she has helped establish Creative Communities of Care in California and Arizona, bringing the talents and passions of community artists and eldercare staff together to create more joy and connection for elders. Liz is the former Storytelling Director at Stagebridge Senior Theatre in Oakland CA. She is also a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader. Liz shares the POWER OF FUN -- the value of play and creative expression -- with folks at every stage of life. Helping others try something new is what keeps her growing and thriving too.
Michael Snowden
Michael is a storyteller who uses multiple media of artistic expression to create experience. He is also the executive director of Evelyn's Angel, working closely with family caring for loved ones with Alzheimers and Dementia utilizing his 10+ years of experience as a caregiver.
Nephelie Andonyadis
A theater artist and educator, gerontologist, and a Certified TimeSlips Facilitator, Nephelie works at the intersection of community, arts and policy to help change the culture of care and care systems for all older adults. With a long-time practice in community-engaged art-making as an ensemble member of Cornerstone Theater Company, Nephelie brings twenty-five years of university experience (in the classroom and in leadership) and her artistic practice into conversation with health care economics and policy to help transform the lives of older adults. With an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and an M.S. in Aging and Health from Georgetown University, Nephelie works in the space of creative aging to empower and advocate for older adults.
Rob is a singer, songwriter and producer based out of Milwaukee. He graduated from UW-Milwaukee with his Bachelor of Fine arts in acting in 2016. Since graduation, Rob has focused on expanding his music career and has been a staple artist in the local scene ever since. He specializes in audio editing, poetry and creating original content using words and music. Rob started working with Timeslips in 2020 as a Tele-Stories artist and enjoys his continued connection with the community through creativity.
Sarah Jacobus
Sarah is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with an MFA in creative writing. She facilitates TimeSlips and poetry groups based on the Alzheimers Poetry Project model in residential care communities, senior centers and adult day programs and sees individual elders in their homes. She is a teaching artist in storytelling and creative writing with EngAGE, a non-profit that provides arts programming in senior housing, and also serves as an improv coach for elders through the LA studio, Improv for the People. Sarah is committed to the practice of creative engagement as a tool for meaningful self-expression, community building and fun.
Questions about our services?


text:
Hannah Coley grew up in Chicago, Illinois but calls the small northeast Ohio town of Cuyahoga Falls home. She graduated from Loyola University Chicago in May of 2016, majoring in Philosophy with a concentration in Social Justice and minoring in Peace Studies and Dance. She served for two years as a Jesuit Volunteer in Punta Gorda, Belize as the Youth Ministry Coordinator for St. Peter Claver Jesuit Parish from 2016-2018.
Living the Magis: Choosing the Jesuits
By Ben Gartland
Hannah Coley had a choice to make.
About to graduate from college, she attended a retreat to discern whether to accept a placement with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) as a pastoral assistant and retreat minister in Punta Gorda, Belize. Walking with a trusted spiritual advisor, Fr. Steve Mitten, SJ, he told her to close her eyes and listen closely to the nature surrounding them.
"Well, I definitely hear birds," she told him.
Father Mitten, an expert birdwatcher, told her there were numerous species of birds calling out at that moment. "And I think they're telling you to be in Belize," he said.
Coley's Jesuit education started at Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where she began to understand the concepts of Ignatian spirituality and Catholic social teaching during her junior and senior years.
Drawn to these concepts, Coley chose to study philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. She grew close to several of the Jesuit scholastics who were her classmates and who would later become both spiritual advisors and friends. They and the surrounding campus ministry community allowed her to have conversations about faith and larger philosophical questions about social justice and ethics.
"The Jesuits, other than family, have been the most important and incredibly consistent source of support and guidance in my life."
"I wanted to craft questions for myself and about my identity as a woman who is spiritual and religious," she said. "Being part of a Jesuit network in a Jesuit university is exactly where I wanted to be."
Coley had been fully immersed in the Jesuit experience, and as she began to think about life after graduation, applying for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps appealed to her. Like many applicants to JVC, she was hesitant, but she was unique in that she was worried JVC might be too comfortable given her Jesuit history.
"I knew it would be a challenge no matter what, but I thought maybe I should explore another service organization or another opportunity for that kind of work after graduation," she said. "It was something I had been wanting but I wasn't sure if I should be doing exactly what I wanted."
Still undecided, she applied and received the offer from JVC to be placed in Punta Gorda. She remained undecided as she went on the retreat and walked with Fr. Mitten and realized, as she listened to the birds, that joining JVC was, in fact, God's call for her.
The day after the retreat ended, she accepted the placement and five weeks later moved to Punta Gorda.
As a Jesuit Volunteer, she continued to develop her spiritual life through relationships formed with both Jesuits and other people in the communities. She learned the most about God and spirituality while in the villages because of the long journeys it took to get to some of these places, saying each trip was "like a pilgrimage."
She continued to ask questions and receive answers about her identity as a woman in the Church, forming relationships with the "extraordinary" female leaders in the community's churches and learning to recognize the ways women in the Bible were called to be disciples and leaders.
Hannah Coley (center) poses with the altar servers from St. Peter Claver Parish in Belize.
Following her two years in Belize, she heard another call and moved to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to become a spiritual formation teacher. Again, the Jesuits were there to guide her through her transition as she intentionally chose to work where the Jesuits are.
Now, as a teacher at Red Cloud Indian School, she engages with kids whose faith journeys don't always mirror her own in a community that has faced many hardships. She continues to examine her role as a disciple and woman for others through prayer and conversations with others, which she knows how to approach thanks, in part, to her life with the Jesuits.
"The Jesuits, other than family, have been the most important and incredibly consistent source of support and guidance in my life thus far," she said.
Return to Jesuits Summer 2019 Index
Jesuit Retreat House on Lake Winnebago
Located 80 miles north of Milwaukee, the Jesuit Retreat House on Lake Winnebago welcomes men and women of all faiths to its silent preached and directed retreats.


Dubbed the most widely used container management tool in the enterprise, Kubernetes is a crucial platform for many DevOps organizations. It allows developers and operations engineers (DevOps) to develop and deploy applications at scale with great efficiency. However, an aspect that's just as important as using the container management tool is managing user access to it. The good news is DevOps organizations can leverage Kubernetes LDAP support from JumpCloud® via LDAP-as-a-Service. Doing so enables your DevOps engineers to spend more time on high value tasks and less time on managing access to IT resources. Let's take a look at how this is the case, starting with the time sinks associated with traditional user management options.
Typically, DevOps organizations leverage OpenLDAP™ infrastructure, manually manage engineer access, or use a combination of both to manage user access to Kubernetes. More than likely, you are well aware of the hassles that are common with either method. For example, while OpenLDAP is a great way to achieve a flexible directory service, it comes with its fair share of babysitting: you're responsible for the configuration, maintenance, and management of the solution. Plus, OpenLDAP doesn't integrate well with non-LDAP IT resources. So, while OpenLDAP may offer Kubernetes LDAP support, you're likely putting in a decent amount of time into creating scripts or manually managing user access to tools like GitHub as well as cloud infrastructure. With manual methods like these, some DevOps organizations have reported that it can take up to a week to provision new hires to all of their necessary systems, apps, file storage, and networks. That's a lot of time to just onboard a new employee. That's also a lot of time that a new hire has to wait to gain access to everything they need to start working.
Organizations that implement JumpCloud Directory-as-a-Service®, on the other hand, don't have to waste time configuring, maintaining, and managing OpenLDAP infrastructure. Instead, DevOps engineers can off-load these responsibilities to the cloud LDAP platform. Further, because this Directory-as-a-Service solution serves as a core identity provider across an entire organization, IT admins and DevOps engineers can centralize user access to virtually all IT resources. JumpCloud enables authentication services for applications such as Kubernetes via LDAP, web applications such as GitHub via SAML, AWS® infrastructure via SSH keys, and more "as-a-Service". As a result, security and control are increased while user management tasks like onboarding are reduced to minutes—empowering everyone with more time to Make Work Happen™.
If you have questions related to Kubernetes LDAP support from JumpCloud, send us a note. We'll gladly work with you and see what we can do to help. Also, consider viewing the video above, as it offers an in-depth look at how LDAP-as-a-Service works. Ready to get hands on? Sign up for a free account. You don't need a credit card, all of our features are available, and your first ten users are free forever.


text:
Q: SFML - Not displaying Text Playing around with SFML, I do set a font but it still does not want to display the text. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Owen
// Choose a font
Font font;
font.loadFromFile("fonts/arial.tff");

// Set our message font
scoreText.setFont(font);

scoreText.setString("Score = 0");
scoreText.setCharacterSize(100);

// Choose a color
scoreText.setFillColor(Color::White);

// Position the text
scoreText.setPosition(20, 20);

window.draw(scoreText);
window.display();

A: -Firstly: To be able to use your font it must be present in the fonts folder in the main folder of your project, otherwise the function loadFromFile() should returns a false, but note that this is written in the official documentation :

The loadFromFile function can sometimes fail with no obvious reason

-Secondly: as mentioned by @pmaxim98, you need to call the clear() function before drawing anything, and the color argument should be different from the text fill color so that you can view the displayed text.
-Thirdly: try to put the font file in the main folder of your project and try this minimal code :
#include <SFML/Graphics.hpp>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;
using namespace sf;

int main()
{

RenderWindow window(VideoMode(800,600),"TEXT");

/****************************************************/

//Declare a Font object
Font font;

//Load and check the availability of the font file
if(!font.loadFromFile("arial.ttf"))
{
    cout << "can't load font" << endl;
}

//Declare a Text object
Text text("Score = 0",font);

//Set character size
text.setCharacterSize(100);

//Set fill color
text.setFillColor(Color::White);

/****************************************************/

while(window.isOpen())
{
    Event event;
    while(window.pollEvent(event))
    {
         if(event.type == Event::Closed){window.close();}
    }

    //Clear the window
    window.clear();
    //Draw the text
    window.draw(text);
    //Display the text to the window
    window.display();
}

return 0;
}

Good luck.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's military has approved plans to buy 45 to 60 new heavy-lift helicopters, kicking off a competition between the two largest U.S. weapons makers for the contract worth nearly 4 billion euros ($4.72 billion), a military source said on Friday.
Lockheed Martin Corp <LMT.N> will bid with its massive CH-53K helicopter, while Boeing Co <BA.N> will seek to sell its smaller twin-rotor CH-47.
General Volker Wieker, chief of staff of the German Bundeswehr, signed the document that begins the contract bidding process on Thursday, the source told Reuters. "No decision has been made on a preferred model," the source added.
The defense ministry expects to issue a request for information in the second half of 2018 after completing a fleet capability study, with a contract award seen in mid-2020.
Initial deliveries would begin in 2023, replacing Germany's existing fleet of CH-53G aircraft, the source said.
Wieker's decision calls for a combined contract to include both manufacturing and maintenance, defying a call by Airbus <AIR.PA> and other German firms that the ministry split the contract into two segments.
Lockheed said it had not been officially notified, but would look forward to working with the German military.
Nathalie Previte, vice president of international business development for Lockheed's Sikorsky helicopter unit, said the company planned to involve "German industry to the maximum extent possible around the life of the program."
No comment was immediately available from Boeing or Airbus.
Both Boeing and Lockheed already work closely with German industry and have said they would seek to form partnerships to build and maintain a future German helicopter.
Some military sources had expected the competition to begin only after a new German government was in place. But Wieker decided to press ahead amid signs it could take months until Chancellor Angela Merkel forms a new ruling coalition.
The ministry has proposed spending 3.84 billion euros on the program from 2018 to 2029, although it must still be approved by parliament.
Boeing's CH-47 Chinook, already used by eight other NATO countries, will compete against Lockheed's Sikorsky CH-53K, a redesigned version of the CH-53G that Germany now flies and which the U.S. Marine Corps will start using in combat in 2019. Israel is also considering buying 20 of the Lockheed aircraft.
The CH-53K will make its international debut at the Berlin air show next April.
Two Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters were brought to a conference in Germany in July, but the Lockheed aircraft, just entering production for the U.S. Marine Corps, was not on site.
German military officials would now study the capabilities of the two helicopter models, comparing their effectiveness in different scenarios, the source said. Some officials favor the CH-47 which they say is combat-proven and cheaper, but others say the larger CH-53K would allow growth in future missions.
The U.S. Marine Corps has said the average cost of the huge aircraft will be around $88 million per aircraft. The cost could drop if Germany, Israel and Japan all bought them.
Experts say it would cost less for Germany to buy the Chinook, but that helicopter will require several upgrades in coming years that could add costs. It also carries less, so it takes more flights to accomplish the same mission.


text:
Home » Press Release » Bitget Continuing the Successful Journey as Juventus Official Sleeve Partner
Bitget Continuing the Successful Journey as Juventus Official Sleeve Partner
Author: Press Release
Last Updated Aug 17, 2022 @ 10:34
[PRESS RELEASE – Please Read Disclaimer]
Another season side by side with Juventus on and off the pitch
August 17, 2022 – Leading global derivatives exchange – Bitget, is pleased to continue the partnership with Juventus as the Official Sleeve Partner to commence Season 2022-2023.
Juventus is one of the leading and most established football clubs in the world. The partnership began in September 2021, as Bitget became the first Juventus Sleeve Partner, and enabled the brand to gain considerable visibility thanks to the large global audience that Juventus reaches.
In addition to reside the black and white sleeve match by match, side by side with Juventus players, Bitget will put their best efforts to explore opportunities for cooperation for possible CSR projects.
Commenting on the partnership, Managing Director of Bitget, Gracy Chen said, "We are honoured to be the Official Sleeve Partner for Juventus for the second year. It has been a nice and rewarding journey to partner with them, helping Bitget better engage in the sports space. We appreciate the impressive reputation and vast popularity of Juventus and believe those virtues will continue to help Bitget reach wider audiences and share its vision for the rest of the world."
Giorgio Ricci, Chief Revenue Office of Juventus added, "Our partnership with Bitget has been undoubtedly successful. Bitget have confirmed once again their commitment to be close to the team, by featuring on the club's left sleeve, next to the hearts of Juventus players and fans. We are thrilled to extend our partnership with this innovative partner, who will accompany us match by match throughout the season."
About Bitget
Established in 2018, Bitget is one of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchanges with a core focus on social trading. Currently serving over two million users in more than 50 countries around the world, Bitget accelerated its mission to promote decentralized finance with a 600-strong workforce. Bitget is one of the world's largest crypto copy trading and derivatives exchanges and is ranked in the top five globally by CoinGecko for derivatives trading by volume. Its flagship offering, One-Click Copy Trade has amassed over 55,000 professional traders, with approximately 1.1 million followers, innovating the experience for crypto derivatives traders worldwide.
About Juventus
Founded in 1897, Juventus is a professional football club which, thanks to its more than century–long history, has become one of the most representative and popular teams at a national and international level.
CryptoPotato press release service.
CryptoPotato has no responsibly on any content published as Press Release. The content is provided by the publisher. If you would like to submit a new press release - please contact us.
Become a CryptoPotato VIP
One Weekly Email Can Change Your Crypto Life.
Sign-up FREE to receive our extended weekly market update and coin analysis report
We NEVER send spam. You can unsubscribe at any time.
We never send SPAM. You can unsubscribe at any moment


Who doesn't want to be in great shape?!
Health Advice Now is where to find health and fitness tips that'll help you get and stay in great shape. We provide you with the advice and tips that you'll need to become fit and healthy.
No items found in feed URL: http://www.mayoclinic.com/rss/AskASpecialist.xml. You requested 5 items.


Sometimes a good thing leads to something even better. For artist Arden Scott, seeking space to photograph recent work has led to a one-night only art exhibition and opening.
This Saturday night, two new sculptures and a selection of mixed media cardboard and handmade paper works will be celebrated. The exhibition, A Calculus of Possibilities, will be held at Aldo's in Greenport. The opening takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. Aldo's is located at 110 Front Street. The entrance is on Adam Street (formerly BB Balsam).
On Sunday, the show will be history. All of the artworks will be removed and Aldo's reverts to a vacant store.
The exhibition came about when Ado's, the Benton Nyce Gallery and Kathryn Markel Fine Arts teamed up so the public could see Ms. Scott's latest works. Last week, she moved the two sculptures into Aldo's so she could see them away from her art-filled studio and photograph them for upcoming shows. Jennifer Benton of the Benton Nyce Gallery saw them and the guerilla show was born.
Ms. Scott's art is typically exhibited in museums, public spaces and galleries. This includes The New Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Parrish Art Museum and others. Public works have been installed in the New York Harbor, the Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts, in Greenport and other places. Her work is represented by Kathryn Markel Fine Arts.
Much of Ms. Scott's art depict boats through the structures that form them. The vessels are conjured by her use of lyrical lines and graceful curves. The art can be minimal, abstract, implied or specific. They capture motion, perseverance, elegance, beauty and strength. Her art can be viewed at www.ardenscott.com.
A Calculus of Possibilities is the third guerilla opening organized by Benton Nyce Gallery. Prior one-night-only shows were held on the North Fork at the North Fork Press building and at Aldo's.


It's election year, but it doesn't have to be an election year to talk about elections related to the business of law. One type of election that could occur in any year is the election of a bank for your firm.
Credit arrangements to finance office relocation, leasehold improvements, capital expenditures and capital contributions, and other aspects of firms' cash needs.
Online financial network to facilitate cash management. Banks offer, for example, the opportunity to set minimum and maximum cash balances in the firm's general account with "extra" funds being transferred daily to money market, interest-bearing accounts and cash advances being drawn from a line of credit in the event that the general account falls below the minimum.
Attorneys' Investment Account (also known as Clients' trust account) that can simplify the management of clients' funds, consolidate recordkeeping and year-end Internal Revenue Service report preparation.
Payroll administration including tax reporting and recordkeeping.
Banking services for staff of the firm.
Short-term investment instruments such as certificates of deposit, business money market accounts, commercial paper, U.S. government agency repurchase agreements and other portfolio options.
Not all services are necessarily available at all banks. Thus, lawyers need to carefully elect the candidate that will best represent their needs.
If you are looking for helpful advice on banking for your law firm contact us today at 800-837-5880.