The WindTunnel T-Series Rewind Plus appeared around 5 years ago, but it still offers a good quality/price ratio. I would classify this Hoover as your common middle range vacuum cleaner, good for normal regular cleaning tasks. People buy this vacuum cleaner for a lot of reasons, including its bagless canister, its HEPA filtration and its cord rewind feature. Considering its great price, I'm rating this product with a 90 points VGM and I'm including it in my top 5 vacuum cleaners of 2014 under $150.
Basically, this Hoover comes with a decent suction power. It could definitely be better, but it does the job.
Input power This is a vac with 12 motor amps, brought by a 27 feet ergonomic cord that has an auto-rewind feature, as you can see in the left image. It's handy, especially if you have a lot of floor obstacles, and a small storage space.
Dust capacity I really like Hoover's dirt cups. Most of the models have been very generous at this point. This one has a capacity of .65 gallons (approx. 2.5 liters), big enough to receive dust and debris from 400 sqm (depending on the cleanness level). It can be removed fairly easy from the appliance by pressing the release bottom located conveniently at the top of the vacuum, and the dirt may be eliminated from the bottom of the cup by pressing the release lever positioned on the cup. However, you still have to remove the upper side in order to clean the cyclonic filter assembly.
TIP: When cleaning the dirt cup and the cyclonic filter, be careful to use only soft dry clothing, as recommended by the producer.
Filtration system efficiency This vacuum has a great filtration system. It uses both HEPA filtering and washable filters. The HEPA filter needs to be changed once every 2 years. It can't be washed, it should only be tapped clean. The rinsable primary filter is located at the top of the dirt cup, and can easily be reached and washed. However, you should make sure it is completely dry before usage. The producer recommends you to leave it outside for at least 24h.
Weight and Dimensions 16 x 12 x 44 inches at 16.5 pounds, as described by the producer. Its nozzle width is 13.5 inches long.
Warranty 2 year warranty from the producer.
Accessories Comes with the common accessories of most vacuum cleaners out there: a crevice tool, an air-powered hand tool, an extension wand and the classic upholstery/dusting brush. A nice touch is that all the tools have designated spaces on the vacuum cleaner, so that it rides with all tools aboard.
Special features No scuff bumper - protects your furniture from high speed vacuuming.
Brush view window - see the clogs or hair residues from your brush roll, and remove them before they may become a problem.
Usability This vacuum cleaner has a great usability accomplished by the congruence of several systems. The D-Shaped handle allows you to easily maneuver the device. You can move around it freely, thanks to a 8 inches stretch hose. Using the foot activated pedal release, you can change the working angle, thus improving your comfort. You can adjust the height of the brushroll by choosing among 5 predefined values, for cleaning different surfaces, from bare floors to thick rugs. Finally, you have an easy access to the brushroll that may come handy if i.e. you wish to change the belt.
Price Under $94.99 on Amazon, a great price for what it delivers.
Works great on my carpets. My previous Electrolux was 20 years old, so I've decided to get a new vacuum cleaner. After 2-3 days of reviews digging, I've decided for this Hoover, and I'm not disappointed. My carpets fell softer and cleaner than ever, I absolutely love it!
Works really well with pet hair. Although I love my dog, I really hate the mess he unwillingly makes. With my previous vac, I had to get down on my knees and scrub the rugs for all the hairy fibers. I'm astonished by the fact that I don't have to do this anymore. Now, I'm thinking of having a cat, to please my wife.
I got it 5 years ago. Had some minor problems with the cord rewind motor, but aside these, I am very happy with it. It kept its suction power, I don't have to buy a bag anymore, it's light weight. Definitely worth the money!
I wish the retractable cord was a little bit higher. I just have to keep on going under the vacuum cleaner to get it.
A VGM of 90 is great, especially for a vacuum cleaner under $100. This made me place the WindTunnel T-Series in my top 5 vacuum cleaners under $150 in 2014. All things considered and without the fear of being subjective, I like it. If you want to buy this but still have doubts, take my advice: buy it! You won't regret, and you'll still have some money left in your pocket for the movie night. And if you have one already, or you just want to ask me (or the readers of this wonderful blog) something, just use the form bellow.
Especially for bare floors and general cleaning *walls, woodwork, etc,).
If you're referring to the Rotator, the Shark is better.


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The State of Streaming Content
June 24, 2020 The Laugh Button Staff Streaming Video
In this day and age, streaming content is king. Gone are the days of endlessly flipping through channels on the TV. Streaming is the current industry standard for people to binge watch their favorite sitcoms past and present or watch the latest stand-up comedy special. Recent numbers show the average American is subscribed to 3.4 different streaming services.
According to BusinessWire, those monthly subscription fees make up a market that's doubled in size this past year, worth over $50 billion today and is expected a compounding growth rate of 20.4% unitl 20127. Whether you're watching a stand-up special on Netflix, binging on Hulu, or catching up on your favorite comedy podcast on Youtube, you are participating in the growth of an industry that's advancing faster than the eye strain it causes – and this was before a national quarantine had us all holed up in our houses looking to consume some of that comedy content.
The most-recent foray into the game is HBO Max, whose comedy offerings were recently broken down on this very website a few weeks ago.
TECHNOLOGY IS GETTING BETTER
There's currently a major focus on improving production quality of streaming content. It's through the use of technology like AI in cinematography, video editing, and other aspects of the filmmaking process. Streaming platforms are using similar tech to deliver better content, in spite of the exploding amount of mobile users whose screens are too small to notice the difference.
Cloud technology is moving deeper into the framework that keeps streaming services online. Ongoing innovations in performance and security strive to meet the expectations of viewers who can't go a day without complaining on social media about their first-world problems.
The influx of new players poses a growing threat to streaming giants while increasing competition and adding to the mountain of arbitrary daily decisions forced onto the modern consumer. Not just traditional media entities but mobile ones like AT&T and Verizon adding to the list of services nobody asked for. Educational content is making its way into schools online – webinars, courses, and video presentations are improving the learning process. The same technologies are contributing to the growth of online institutions, giving students the opportunity to pursue worthless degrees through web-based universities that aren't recognized by any employers.
From the user perspective the market features a nearly-equal split between enterprise and consumer users. The former is made up of marketing, training, client engagement, and corporate communications among other sub-segments.
On the opposite side is the consumer segment, whose larger share is characterized by live content, gaming, social and digital learning. It's driven by convenience and mobile adoption. Hiding who you are online with VPNs and other privacy tools is also pretty popular thanks in no small part to nosy governments and invasive marketing companies.
STREAMING TYPE
Live and non-linear video form the two segments for streaming type, with the former holding a dominant share. This can be owed to factors like ad-free content, improved connectivity, analytics, and higher quality video. Future growth in the non-linear segment is expected to be fueled by increased watch times, reduced buffering, and live pause. With video conferencing like Zoom becoming the dominant video platform right now, we're starting to see live comedy events spring up with remote audiences for stand-up shows, podcasts, and panels. Making live the next frontier for streaming, leaving some to question if streaming is just the modern version of traditional broadcast, particularly with the bundling of new services. The platform once seen as a liberator to cord cutting now reflects old school cable bundling in some ways.
Mobile devices held the highest market share in 2019, with laptops, desktops, smart TVs and consoles completing the list. The presence of built-in streaming apps on smart TVs will contribute to major growth on the platform in the coming years, while increases in internet accessibility will further drive mobile growth. We've also seen the comedy community move through these platforms as well. Just a few short years ago Comedy Central was awarding comics with specials, then Netflix muscled into the game gobbling up premiere talent and made ambitious moves by releasing specials every week for a year. Now Amazon Prime is clawing some of that special ownership which many comics made the decision to forgo a platform and put their specials out for free on Youtube – whether that be deliberate or because of lack of interest.
DEPLOYMENT TYPE
Rapid growth in the cloud computing sector has made it the dominant segment next to on-premise deployment. This is largely due to the improvements in bandwidth and speed that cloud technology facilitates on content streaming platforms. The shadow cast over on-premise by the cloud will only grow as vendors continue to innovate.
Water is wet, the sky is blue, and North America has the largest market share in streaming services. Europe is seeing steady growth while rapid technological advancement in Asia Pacific will contribute to the region experiencing equally rapid growth. The burgeoning of monetization opportunities in Southeast Asia is particularly noteworthy here.
These are exciting times for content streaming. Perhaps it's a safe bet to add growth and innovation in the streaming market to death, taxes, and whatever else is on the list of things you can rely on as much as tomorrow's sunrise.
Will Ferrell and the cast of n...
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Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
Download presentation-size image
Manufacturer: Tiffany and Company, American, founded 1837
Sterling silver, gilding, and enamel
2 1/2 × 3 7/16 in. (6.3 × 8.7 cm, 47 g) other (body): 1 3/4 × 1/2 in.(4.445 × 1.27 cm) other (wings): 2 3/8 × 1 1/2 in.(6.033 × 3.81 cm)
Gift of Mrs. John Hill Morgan and Mrs. Joseph Hersey, by exchange, and Mr. and Mrs. Philip Holzer
1991.51.1.1-.2
Made in New York, New York
On view*
John and Marie Louise Hungerford Mackey, Paris, France and London, England; descent through the Mackey family; sold Christie's Auction, June 25, 1991; purchased for Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn. by Mrs. John Hill Morgan, Mrs. Joseph Hersey, and Mr. Philip Holzer.
Christie's, New York, American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art, and Decorative Arts, sale cat. (June 25, 1991), 23, lot 16, ill.
"Acquisitions 1991," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (1992): 152, ill.
Charles L. Venable, D. Albert Soeffing, and Tom Jenkins, Silver in America, 1840–1940: A Century of Splendor, ed. Gerald W. R. Ward, exh. cat. (Seattle, WA: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994), 112.
Donald C. Pierce and David A. Hanks, Art and Enterprise: American Decorative Art, 1825-1917: the Virginia Carroll Crawford Collection, exh. cat. (Atlanta, GA: High Museum of Art, 1999), 196, no. 98.
Helen A. Cooper et al., Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2008), 289, no. 180, ill.
Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
Collection Catalogues, Exhibition Catalogues
Collection Catalogues
Artists, Exhibition Catalogues


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Misti Crane of the Columbus Dispatch (she has covered her fair share of E. coli outbreaks) reported a few moments ago that Health officials in New York have linked a person's illness there to the E. coli outbreak in Columbus, Ohio and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and are looking into at least 12 more possible cases.
As she reported earlier, all five confirmed Columbus cases have now been genetically linked to the outbreak in Michigan where seven cases have been confirmed with 14 probable. Eight other probable cases in Ohio are under evaluation. The Ohio Department of Agriculture is testing four food samples as is Michigan. Students at Ohio State University and the University of Michigan are among those sickened in the outbreak.
Never hear of E. coli O145 before? - click HERE to see why. We have found E. coli O145 in hamburger - "PREVALENCE OF NON-O157 ENTEROHAEMMORRHAGIC ESCHERICHIA COLI IN RETAIL GROUND BEEF IN THE UNITED STATES," but it is still to early to say if this outbreak is hamburger or some leafy green - like lettuce.
E. coli outbreak in Ohio and Michigan: what's the common link?
A week ago, we reported on a developing E. coli outbreak in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Notably, the outbreak is not attributable to E. coli O157:H7--the most notorious of all E. coli strains--but it does appear to be a shiga-toxin producing strain of E. coli. Apparently, the outbreak is no longer confined to Washtenaw County, or even the state of Michigan, as Ohio has now reported illnesses in Columbus-area residents, including several students of Ohio State University.
Certain press accounts have indicated that a single Washtenaw county restaurant is the source of the Washtenaw county portion of this outbreak, but the Ohio and OSU illnesses apparently match the Michigan illnesses, which means that we're probably dealing with an outbreak linked to a regionally distributed food product. Could it be lettuce, as we saw in the September 2008 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to Aunt Mid's and Santa Barbara Farms lettuce? Ground beef? Answers will likely, hopefully, come soon, as investigating health authorities compare the food histories of all infected people.
Columbus Public Health has identified five cases of E. coli infection, some of them in Ohio State University students, and is looking into five others that might be connected to an outbreak in Washtenaw County, Michigan.
The five Columbus residents were sickened by the bacteria Escherichia coli starting in mid-April, said Dr. Mysheika LeMaile-Williams, the city's medical director.
Some were hospitalized, but none so far have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a potential complication that destroys red blood cells and can cause kidney failure and death.
The E. coli tests that have come back from the state indicate that its not E. coli 0157:H7, which is most commonly implicated in outbreaks, LeMaile-Williams said.
All types sicken people in the same way, she said. The primary symptoms are bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps.
So far, the state lab has determined that two of the cases have genetic fingerprints that match an outbreak in Michigan, LeMaile-Williams said.
In Michigan, several cases have been linked to a restaurant, said Ohio Department of Health spokeswoman Jen House. She did not know the name of the restaurant. Calls to Michigan health officials were not immediately returned. Washtenaw County is home to Ann Arbor.
So far, there's no known source for the infections, nor any known risk for others in Columbus, LeMaile-Williams said.
OSU spokeswoman Liz Cook said the university is working closely with Columbus Public Health but would not provide any details about the students.
Eleven inmates at Four Mile Correctional Center may be ill with E coli O111 infections. Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti says three cases have been confirmed, with eight more suspected cases. Officials were working with the state health department to prevent the spread of the bacteria among inmates at the minimum-security prison.
Apparently, an E. coli O145 outbreak is no longer confined to Washtenaw County, Michigan or even the state of Michigan. Ohio now reports E. coli O154 illnesses in Columbus-area residents, including several students of Ohio State University. Press accounts have indicated that a single Washtenaw county, as yet unnamed Mexican restaurant, is the source of the Washtenaw county portion of this outbreak. The Ohio and OSU illnesses match the Michigan illnesses.
Produce safety and traceability were two central topics of discussion this week at the United Fresh Produce Association's 2010 industry conference in Las Vegas.
The increased industry-wide focus on improving food safety and ensuring products are traceable from farm to fork comes as Congress considers legislation to overhaul outdated food safety in an effort to prevent deadly and economically damaging foodborne illness outbreaks.
"Food safety is the new, big hot button demand," said Walter Ram, vice president of food safety for The Giumarra Companies, an international produce business. "It's the one we have to pay the most attention to."
The United Fresh exhibit hall featured two demo centers, one focused on food safety and one on traceability. Each hosted a series of presentations and discussions on issues ranging from micro testing to import safety to the produce safety rulemaking process.
In a speech at the conference, Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who is leading food safety efforts at the agency, emphasized the need for national produce safety standards and invited industry input.
"We need to be risk-based and we need to be scale-appropriate," said Taylor. "We've got to target the significant hazards. We can't just go and set standards that we don't believe will address the significant hazards and are improving food safety. We need input from this association and colleagues throughout the industry to help us figure out in practice to say that we'll have rules that are scale-appropriate."
James Gorny, senior advisor for produce food safety at the Center for Food Safety and Nutrition at FDA, echoed a similar message during sessions at the food safety demo center. Gorny discussed the importance of industry involvement as the agency looks at new rules on preventative controls, metrics, and performance standards.
"We're calling for preventative controls," said Gorny, in a session focused on FDA's proposed food safety rule. "We understand we can't do business as usual. We have to make sure everyone comes up to basic compliance and we need clear standards to get there."
"We recognize that rules will need to be tailored," added Gorny. "We understand the produce industry is not one entity. There are 300 different commodities, and there are different scales."
The traceability demo center sessions, which were very well-attended, focused on the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI), a project launched by United Fresh and the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) in 2008 to standardize produce industry traceability practices.
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 04/23/2010 - 12:12pm.
The comment period on a proposed clarification of standards affecting meat processors has been extended to June 19.
The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is considering a set of revisions to the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) program, of which the public comment period was originally supposed to expire on Tuesday.
But pressure from industry trade groups has led the government to extend the comment period an additional two months.
The proposed revisions, which Jay Wenther, executive director of the American Association of Meat Processors, described as "widely vague and widely interpretable," could hit smaller meat processors hard because it would require them to spend more money on additional testing on things that have been done for years under the existing HACCP system.
"This is going to be a severe financial burden," Wenther said.
Custom butchers would likely be exempt.
The association has estimated that it will cost as much as $12,000 for the initial testing and perhaps as much as $3,600 for each year after, depending on the product line being tested.
In its "Draft Guidance: HACCP Systems Validation," FSIS sites the need to clarify the "validation" portion of HACCP.
HACCP, which is mandatory for the meat, poultry, seafood and juice industries, is a process used to identify areas in which foodborne illness can be prevented using scientifically proven sanitary practices. It was introduced in 1996.
Depending on the product being produced, each one has its own HACCP standard to account for differences.
For example, a processor would have different HACCP plans for slaughtering beef or chicken.
Under the draft guidance, as many as 13 samples of raw meat from each product line would have to be checked for levels of bacteria and other potential sources of foodborne illness.
Along with that, additional samples, as many as 13 more, would have to be sent out for testing after the product is processed into its ready-to-sell form. That would mean a total of 26 tests.
This is where small processors, which often produce a variety of products, could be greatly impacted, according to Wenther.
He questioned the reasoning for the revisions and the government's claim that it is based on food safety issues.
Wenther's organization, along with eight other industry groups, has sent letters urging FSIS to reconsider the changes.
Iowa's Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey sent a letter recently to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack expressing concern over the changes.
The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) also sent a letter to Vilsack, challenging the revisions.
|Local processors are worried about how the changes could impact their businesses.
Michael Smucker of Smucker's Meats in Mount Joy, Pa., said the changes would likely force the business to drop product lines and raise prices.
The average processing bill, which for beef is between $300 and $400, would likely go up between $100 and $200 per head, he said.
Ron Fouche of Seltzer's Smokehouse Meats in Palmyra, Pa., said the revisions would not cause as great of an impact to his business because it sells only one product.
But he is not clear as to what the government actually wants.
Brian Snyder, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA), said the revisions are another example of a broken system hurting small operators.
Wenther said large operators would have to abide by the same rules.
In fact, in the revisions, it states that larger processors would have to provide samples consistent with their level of production.
Whatever the impact, Wenther said the revisions contradict the USDA's push for more locally produced foods.
Raw milk: Personal decision or public danger?
Most of the milk from the dairy cows on South Pork Ranch ends up pasteurized ? heat-treated to reduce the chance that the people who drink it will get sick.
But every month, 300 gallons of the milk are sold raw, much of it to about five dozen regular customers who arrive at the central Illinois farm toting their own containers to tap the creamy drink from a squat, stainless-steel vat in a room next to the milking stalls.
That choice has put the farm's owners, Keith Parrish and Donna O'Shaughnessy, at the center of a particularly American food fight between passionate defenders of personal choice and health officials who warn that drinking farm-fresh milk can be life-threatening.
The federal government and virtually all public health agencies oppose consumption of raw milk because it can carry dangerous bacteria including E. coli 0157:H7, listeria and campylobacter. Last month, 13 people in Michigan were sickened by campylobacter in an outbreak tied to raw milk sold at a northern Indiana farm.
Raw milk drinkers argue that they should be allowed to decide whether to take the risk. Many who drink raw milk believe the unprocessed, nonhomogenized version is more nutritious and can help with ailments such as allergies, asthma and gastrointestinal issues, though public health agencies and nearly every major medical association in the country say those benefits are unproven.
"It's more than a health issue; it's a human rights issue," said Kathryne Pirtle of Addison, a professional musician who credits raw milk with eliminating the chronic pain she experienced for 25 years. "Real food and the raw milk movement are the answers to our health care crisis and the future of our populations."
The FDA bans interstate sales of raw milk, but states regulate its sale within their borders. Sales are now legal in 27 states under some circumstances, with bills to legalize it pending in Georgia and Wisconsin. In several states, including California, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, raw milk can be sold in retail stores.
In Illinois, consumers who want raw milk must take their own containers directly to the farm. Another option is a cow share, in which a consumer contracts with a farmer or "milk club" operator to buy a share of the animal. As part-owner, the customer is entitled to some of the cow's milk.
Legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration more power to safeguard the food supply is in danger of being tripped up by controversy over the plastic additive bisphenol A.
The chemical, BPA for short, is commonly used in hard plastics and coatings inside cans of foods and drinks. Worries about BPA's potential to harm health led the FDA to express concern about its safety and the Environmental Protection Agency to say it is taking a closer look, too.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California wants to ban BPA's use in food containers, telling Politico, "I feel very strongly that the government should protect people from harmful chemicals." Her move to legislate a BPA ban is causing waves on food safety.
The Washington Post reports, business groups that had lined up behind food safety legislation warned they don't like Feinstein's idea at all. In fact, they've written to Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Mike Enzi (R-WY), on the Senate health committee to say they'd withdraw support for a food safety bill passed by the House last year, if the Senate version includes Feinstein's BPA ban, the Post says.
A survey by Consumer Reports last year found quite a bit of BPA in canned foods. With the health effects still a matter of some debate, the National Institutes of Health is slated to spend about $30 million on new studies of BPA, with results expected to start coming in about a year and half from now.
Opponents of Feinstein's amendment say it would be premature, given the BPA work underway, especially FDA's. "We trust the FDA to complete a safety assessment for BPA, and we don't think the Senate should short-circuit and undermine the FDA," Grocery Manufacturers Spokesman Ken Faber told the Post.
Will the USDA doom locally produced meat?
That wailing you hear in the distance is the sound of small meat processors begging the USDA for mercy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service recently proposed a set of new regulations that will require all meat processors to submit their products to a new series of tests, a procedure that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for even a modestly scaled operation, enough to cripple many small processors.
What worries fans of small farms and locally produced food is that the closing of small processors will mean the closing of small farms. Slaughter and processing is the biggest challenge for small-scale meat; they're operations simply too costly and complex for farms to handle themselves. As it is, farmers have few options for meat processing without selling their animals to massive feedlot-meat operations, and without that piece of the puzzle, many farmers may quit. Why is the USDA considering the new testing regime? Some producers wonder if the machinations of Big Food are in play.
Greg Higgins, chef/owner of Higgins Restaurant in Portland, Ore., and a founding member of the sustainability and local-food-focused Chefs Collaborative, has darker suspicions. "What's always in the back of my mind is the industrial food lobby," he says. He suspects that the change in the USDA regulations, and the way they will affect small meat producers, was probably "fairly well thought out by the lobbyists." The popularity of small farms, grass-fed meats, and artisan products like salumi and prosciutto is expanding rapidly, and Higgins suspects that the industrial food lobby is trying to squeeze producers out so as not to lose a share of the market."They don't want any competition," Higgins says. "They're very powerful and I think they would relish the opportunity to keep the market closed."
Mario Fantasma of Paradise Meats in Trimble, Mo., wants to trust the USDA. "I'm sure their intentions are good," he says, "but I don't think that they see far enough into what it can do to small companies -- and even large companies for that matter."
Higgins says that it's unfair for small plants to suffer when health safety risks are disproportionately linked to large-scale processing. "Think about all the big health scares we've had," he says. "They're all related to large-scale food production, whether it's spinach from a massive grower in California or ground beef out of the Midwest, they're all gigantic, they're never these little tiny plants."
And Fantasma argues that small plants are, by necessity, already more conscious about food safety. "At small facilities, we've always had food safety in our top priorities. We can't afford not to. If one of our customers came here and got sick, what do you think would happen to my business? That alone would kill us. It's common sense that we want to do everything in our power to make sure that our product is safe."
"The thing that's going to affect us is the cost of the testing," Fantasma says. Regulations for small plants like Fantasma's will require 13 samples of every product to be tested before processing, and another 13 samples after processing. "When you add all those products and tests, it racks up a super amount of money," he says. "Right now we're sitting at about $500,000 for the initial validation tests, just for the first year. We wouldn't be able to do it. It would just really devastate our business."
Fantasma recognizes the trickle-down effect of the new regulations. "It's not just about us, the processors. Look at what would happen to the farmers who are trying to offer their farm-raised products to their customers. [The USDA is] taking away their ability to market their own products. Their farms would wither up. They would have to go back to selling to commodity markets, whether they want to or not. And what's bad about it is that these guys raise some nice animals, hormone- and antibiotic-free. They work real hard for their living, trying to keep a sustainable farm running, and when you take their market away from them, it shuts them down."
The American Association of Meat Producers and the Iowa Department of Agriculture have both made public statements against the new regulations and have started a letter-writing campaign. VandeHoer is hopeful that the USDA will heed their concerns about the fate of small plants, and Fantasma says the letter writing is his only hope. "All we can do is go to them and say, 'Look, this is going to kill us.'"
What do fruit juice, milk, egg products and ground beef have in common? They are all produced by comingling product from hundreds of sources. Hundreds of eggs from many laying operations, broken into one large vat to eventually become a liquid or dried, shelf-stable product. One bad egg loaded with pathogens, and the whole lot could be contaminated. Hundreds of gallons of milk from many dairy farms dumped into one large vat. One bad gallon of milk and the whole vat could turn deadly. Hundreds of apples squeezed into juice. But first one falls to the ground and lands in a pile of you know what and the product may sicken many children getting their daily juice fix. And, of course, trim from hundreds of cattle, many farms and even a few countries being blended to get the perfect percent lean that the consumer wants. One contaminated carcass and we have another outbreak and subsequent recall.
Fruit juice, milk, egg products and ground beef. What do they not have in common? The final kill step to guarantee (almost) the safety of the product.
For 100 years milk has been pasteurized, a step that was instituted when dairy farms already had very high sanitation levels, but the product was still making people fall ill. It was fought then, and today people still have a choice of pasteurized versus raw milk. And those drinking raw milk because they feel pasteurization decreases nutritional value or changes the composition of the milk often suffer food-borne illnesses.
In 1970, the Egg Products Inspection Act was passed and the industry changed for the better, including routine pasteurization of egg products. Not because the eggs going into the product were necessarily bad, (in fact the Act mandated that they be safe and wholesome) but because the comingling increased the chance of one bad egg turning a whole batch bad.
And talk about one bad apple changing an industry! It is just in recent years that fruit juices also benefit from almost routine pasteurization because of a serious outbreak caused in part by commingling product. But does the average consumer even understand that they should read the juice label to be certain they are buying the safest product, or do they go for the least expensive?
Some shell eggs are pasteurized, and some ground beef products are pasteurized, but those that are make up a minority. When will the consumers demand that the vast majority of these two products that still carry a relatively high risk of contamination be pasteurized and labeled so we can make an intelligent (or not so intelligent) selection of foods for our tables?
The United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) now has a Web page specifically for kids' and teens' food safety education.
This Website has everything from comic books, word searches, and puzzles, to coloring and activity pages. There are also easy to read articles about food safety designed to engage kids and teens.
The comic books aim to deliver information through easy to understand principles and fun story lines.
One of the comic books, Let Me Tell You How Dad Got Sick (URL: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/How_Dad_Got_Sick.pdf ), is particularly engaging. It is scripted like a comic book, and is at a fairly easy reading level. It's both a fun and exciting way for kids and teens alike to learn about food safety.
In the comic book, a young boy tells the story of how his dad became ill after eating chicken that had been left on the counter for a long period of time. Near the end of the story the doctor explains to the family why the Dad was sick and how his illness could have been prevented by refrigerating the chicken within two hours of cooking it.
This comic book is quite short; only about eight pages, which keeps children interested while teaching them important food safety principles.
Let Me Tell You How My Dad Got Sick focuses on the principle of preventing illness from spoiled food. Towards the end of the comic there is a chart with different types of food and the length of time they can be in the refrigerator and freezer before going bad.
FSIS has also provided four simple steps to prevent foodborne illness. These steps are also illustrated using the characters from the comic book. These steps include washing your hands for 20 seconds, keeping raw foods away from ready to eat foods, cooking food to safe internal temperatures, and placing leftovers in the refrigerator right away.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is urging USDA to deem an additional six strains of E. coli as adulterants for which the agency must test in beef products, contending they are as hazardous as E. coli O157:H7.
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Gillibrand asked that USDA also list non-O157 Shiga Toxin-producing Serotypes of Escherichia coli (non-O157 STECs) as adulterants, recognizing the "scientific and legal bases" for doing so as detailed in two petitions to the agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
A group called Safe Tables Our Priority (STOP) is leading the petition campaign.
"Such listings will avoid the same kind of large-scale disaster that precipitated the 1994 declaration of E. coli O157:H7 as an adulterant," the senator wrote in the letter. "S.T.O.P.'s petition also calls for the expansion of the definition of adulterant to include E. coli O157:H7 and these six other STEC when they are in any type of beef, not just ground beef or beef intended for ground beef."
Gillibrand contended in a news release that non-O157 STECs "are just as hazardous as E. coli (O157:H7)." She noted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that these other strands cause 36,700 illnesses, 1,100 hospitalizations and 30 deaths in the United States every year.
Ferd Hoefner, Policy Director, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), talks about S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.
The contents of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act represent a major new approach to food safety. Looking at it with the customary cautious optimism characteristic of many food trade organizations is the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Few people doubt that a fresh approach to the nuts and bolts of a sane and effective program is necessary and the need to get it done is immediate. It's the details that can kill it.
The real test will be the FDA's ability to execute the program, whatever the final bill might contain. Any increase in oversight requires a corresponding increase in manpower and cash, something the Feds have too often been unwilling to supply. It's a problem recognized by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. I asked Ferd Hoefner, their policy director, to talk about his concerns.
In Part I, Hoefner talks about what the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition likes about S. 510, what concerns the coalition has with the bill, and whether proposed amendments to S. 510 that have been introduced to help small, sustainable agriculture will jeopardize food safety.
Q: A recent Food Safety News article about the food safety bill wrote about 'important improvements' urged by your organization (See Farmers Gain in Senate Food Safety Battle, April 15). Let's look closely at the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. What provisions can the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition applaud and what were the points that concerned you as a spokesperson for small, sustainable organic agriculture?
A: The bill that was passed out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee last November included practical, common sense improvements to the Produce Standards section of the bill that simultaneously improve food safety outcomes and support a stronger family farm system. These Committee-approved amendments include provisions to require the FDA to coordinate with USDA, EPA, and Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure that any on-farm food safety standards they develop are not in conflict with conservation and environmental standards. It also includes strengthened language requiring science-based risk analysis before proceeding to regulations.
The changes from Committee markup also include language directing FDA to consider farm scale and diversity issues as well as special consideration for certified organic farms and ranches and language instructing FDA and USDA to coordinate to establish food safety standards that are relevant to certified organic production.
These provisions make sense because they recognize that conservation practices many farmers use to mitigate food safety risks by establishing vegetative buffers that can filter pathogens from streams and runoff and protect cropland from windborne pathogens. FDA sensitivity to farm scale and diversity will also be critical. Ensuring that new food safety regulations do not undermine existing National Organic Program food safety standards helps protect the market viability of one of the fastest growing sectors in the American agriculture.
i) Adopting a risk-based approach to farm facility regulation that recognizes the broad spectrum of types of farm facilities and tailors requirements to the degree of risk that the operations could introduce into the food system.
ii) Directing FDA to reduce the amount and type of regulation and paperwork for farm facilities and for farms subject to produce standards so that food safety goals are met without creating such a complex system that it would be financially unsupportable except by very large or non-diverse farms.
iii) Ensuring that traceback requirements are practicable for farmers, including recognizing that direct marketers and identity-preserved products have traceability inherent in the market relationship and so should be exempted from further record keeping and that farmers should just be required to maintain records on the first point of sale beyond that farm gate.
iv) Including a new authority for a USDA-delivered competitive grants program for food safety training for farmers, small processors and wholesalers to help translate rules and guidance into the real world of farming and local and regional food systems.
Q: Proponents of a stronger food safety bill are delighted that both the House and Senate version of the bill give the FDA 'mandatory recall authority, require more frequent inspections, and ask food facilities to implement food safety plans.' You want a lessening of the bill's requirements for small producers. First, define 'small producer' and then talk about the reasons behind your position.
A: First, we support mandatory recall authority.
Second, we want FDA to do a rulemaking, open to public comment and based on a scientific risk analysis, to determine which farming activities and on-farm processing activities are high risk and therefore truly require that farmers develop expensive HACCP-type plans, regular on-farm FDA inspections, and full-scale traceback requirements beyond basic recordkeeping of farmgate sales. The bill reported by the Senate Committee, and the House-passed bill, did not require such a rulemaking. Many farmers will be surprised that things they may well consider normal farming activities that carry little or no food safety risk will make them subject to major new regulatory requirements with substantial new costs involved.
The Senate sponsors of the bill have now agreed to incorporate a proposal sponsored by Senator Sanders of Vermont to require FDA to do such a risk analysis and publish a rule for public comment, with direct authority to exempt or modify new regulatory requirements for low risk on-farm activities. This is an important, common sense improvement to the bill--it reduces unnecessary regulatory burdens on farmers while focusing precious FDA human and financial resources on high risk activities. Hence, it will help produce better real world food safety outcomes.
Third, we did not ask for this provision to be limited to farms that qualify as small businesses, nor did Senator Sanders to our knowledge. That restriction came from FDA and the staff of the bill's sponsors. It was agreed to in the process of negotiation.
Q: Improvements in food safety, first and foremost, is the goal of the bill. According to the Food Safety News article, an amendment sponsored by Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) is "intended to reduce paperwork and excess regulation and FDA will be instructed to provide flexibility for small processors including on-farm processing, minimize the burden of compliance with regulations, and minimize the number of different standards that apply to separate foods.
"FDA will also be prohibited from requiring farms and other food facilities to hire consultants to write food safety plans or to identify, implement, certify, or audit those plans." While it certainly gives the little guy a significant break financially, doesn't it also unnecessarily expose the public to health risks?
A: Like the Sanders amendment, the Bennet amendment is an important, common sense provision that improves the bill. Without the new Bennet language, the bill would require FDA to do separate food safety regulations on each crop even if a substantial amount of the rule would be common across all or most crops. It would have also required separate rules even where a single rule for a particular category of crops makes more sense.
In our view, it is very important that the bill, as amended by Senator Bennet, now directs FDA to reduce unnecessary paperwork burden on farmers and small processors. It is also very important that the legislation is clear that FDA as a general rule will not require food facilities, including farms that are declared food facilities, from hiring expensive consultants or auditors. FDA has always said that was never its intent, but now that statement of intent is actually in the bill, where it appropriately belongs.
Editor's Note: This article was written by Chuck Jolley, special to Food Safety News.
See Food Safety News tomorrow for Part II of the discussion about the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.
Yet in the years following the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box outbreak, there was a clear shift away from this perspective. In mid-1994 a man named Michael Taylor was appointed as Chief of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. Shortly thereafter, on September 29, 1994, Taylor said that the USDA would from that date forward regard E. coli O157:H7 in raw ground beef as an "adulterant," because the epidemiological evidence showed that in the hands of consumers it was "ordinarily injurious to health" ? thus it was an adulterant that should never, ever be present in the product.
A positive result would prompt product recalls of the entire affected lot, effectively removing it from any possibility of sale ? even though no one had gotten sick and consumers and restaurants could make the hamburger 100% safe just by thoroughly cooking it.
Although those on the Left have doubts about Michael Taylor ? his bio is deemed tarnished by some as he once worked for Monsanto, which makes him highly suspicious, if not certifiably evil, to a certain group of people ? his declaration of E. coli 0157:H7 as an adulterant in ground beef made him the pivotal person in shifting to an absolute industry responsibility standard in food safety and led many to cheer when he was appointed to this newly created FDA position 2009.
Everyone accepts that "one size fits all" food safety standards make no sense. So if there is a relevant difference, variable standards not only make sense, but are required. For example, imagine there is a greenhouse that uses municipal water ? that is to say fully potable drinking water that is already constantly tested by a municipal water system. To require that greenhouse to test that water at source, the way we might require someone using river water or well water to do, would be unfair, unnecessary, redundant and needlessly burdensome.
The problem in the statistics thus becomes obvious. If the sale of a few million servings of a produce item by a giant producer only produces an outbreak with a couple hundred known illnesses, a small grower ? if his product is contaminated to the precise same percentage as the large grower ? will produce too few known illnesses to ever be traced back.
Typically outbreaks are identified because the sick people answer survey questions differently than a base study of healthy people. So if, typically, 10% of the population has eaten raw spinach within the past 72 hours and a group of sick people show that 99% of them had eaten spinach within the 72 hour period, that is a strong indication that they are sick due to spinach or something associated with spinach ? say bacon bits. But you need a critical mass of people sick to answer the survey and contrast with the control survey. If you only have one sick person, the survey isn't that helpful.
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service on Tuesday announced it has signed an agreement with Mexico's National Service of Health, Food Safety, and Agro-Alimentary Quality (SENASICA) that outlines a procedure for interaction between the two agencies.
"FSIS has been working diligently with SENASICA on this agreement to improve how we work together," FSIS Administrator Al Almanza said in a news release. "Through the cooperation of SENASICA, we can jointly continue to enhance our efforts in ensuring food safety and protecting public health."
The document, "Terms of Reference for the Operational Relationship of the Mexican National Service of Health, Food Safety, and Agro-Alimentary Quality and the United States Food Safety and Inspection Service in the Trade in Meat, Poultry and Egg Products Between the United Mexican States and The United States of America," focuses on matters of equivalence, audit procedures, the listing and delisting of eligible establishments for export to the two respective countries, and establishing more effective means of communication in areas of public health. Almanza and SENASICA Director in Chief Enrique Sanchez-Cruz signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments.
The agreement aims to improve established procedures. FSIS and SENASICA worked together after the latter's request to FSIS for written standard procedures by which the agencies interact on matters of food safety and public health.
To view the full written procedural agreement, click here (URL: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Terms_of_Reference_Mexico_US.pdf ).
Ferd Hoefner, Policy Director, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), talks about S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. Part II: On traceability and recordkeeping, exemptions for small food facilities, and S. 510 in its current form.
Q: Update me on the negotiations over Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) amendment to the traceability and recordkeeping section of the bill. What were the details of the amendment and were all parties able to reach an agreement?
A: Senator Sherrod Brown's office has been working on an amendment to ensure FDA full and speedy traceability in the case of a food safety emergency. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has worked with the Senator's office to craft language that would not reduce FDA's ability to identify the source of contaminated food but would recognize the different ways that food moves in the US food system. For example, farmers selling at farmers markets cannot be expected to keep track of the names and addresses of all the customers they sell to directly but that does not create a problem because in the unlikely event that someone should get sick the customer knows where the product came from--the direct relationship between the producer and the consumer is the best protection and further recordkeeping would be unnecessary. The negotiations are continuing on the amendment and we have not seen final language, but we trust issues related to direct marketing and to farm identity-preserved marketing will be dealt with appropriately.
Q. Senator John Tester (D-MT), wants to exempt food facilities with under $500,000 gross sales from preventative control plan requirements, and traceback and recordkeeping provisions. It gained strong support within the sustainable Ag community and it's based on the assumption that locally grown foods are inherently safer. Do you agree?
A: The current FDA regulations in our view make little sense. All farms that would otherwise be declared food facilities by FDA because of specific normal farming activities or on-farm value-adding processing activities are currently exempt from all requirements on all of their production if more than 50 percent of their gross sales are direct sales to consumers. From the farmer perspective, an operation with substantial direct sales may be over 50 percent one year, and under 50 percent the next year depending on markets and other variables. From the government perspective, there are no government statistics at FDA or USDA or anywhere else that track the amount of sales made directly to consumers. In a word, the current regulation is impractical and perhaps also illogical. The Tester approach is a great improvement over the current situation and in our view could be further improved to make it even more practical.
Support for the Tester amendment does not rise or fall on whether one supports local food systems or not. Current FDA regulations, which are assumed by S. 510, presume that local, directly purchased food is safer. But it is impractical. The Tester amendment creates a practical standard, but in no way ties it to either local food or to direct purchase. So in reality it is current law, not the Tester amendment, which is based on assumptions about the safety of local food.
Q: Quoting several people in the Food Safety News story, Farmers Gain in Senate Food Safety Battle, David Acheson, former associate commissioner of foods at FDA, sees no solid evidence that unconventionally-grown food is microbiologically safer and said Tester's proposal goes too far. "It is asking for trouble...and it is not sound public health policy," he said. Tony Corbo, a lobbyist for Food & Water Watch, pointed out that, based on the 2007 Agriculture Census released by the USDA last year, nearly 95 percent of domestic farms would be exempt. To me, it seems to leave an enormous amount of the nation's food production unregulated. How should the issue of food safety be managed by those producers?
A: What is Food & Water Watch's view on how many farms are exempt under current FDA regulation? The answer is they don't know. Neither does FDA, or anyone else. What they do know, but choose to obfuscate, is that 75 percent of the market value of all agricultural products are from farms with over $500,000 gross sales. So yes, 95 percent of all domestic farms, but representing just a quarter of total product, would be exempt under Tester. However, even that understates the case, as that is for all of agriculture, and the bill does not deal with livestock at all and it emphasizes specialty crops in particular.
The percentage of the market value of specialty crops that would be exempt under Tester is far smaller than for agriculture as a whole. So Food & Water Watch should stop playing fast and loose with numbers. More importantly, the proposed Tester-crafted exemption is more practical and makes more sense than the existing FDA-crafted exemption. Both, on the other hand, could be improved.
Q: Let's wrap it up. What do you think about the bill in its current form?
A: Watching the evolution of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act has been an interesting experience. National Sustainable Agriculture Committee members approached the process with deep misgivings but have been impressed by the genuine bipartisan commitment to crafting meaningful legislation. However, in our view, the bill's supporters and even its detractors do not generally say very much about the bill's cost. In a word, it is very high. If many of the promises in the bill are ever to become reality, it will take a very significant boost in congressional appropriations for the FDA budget. That being the case, it is paramount that everything that can be done will be done to focus the bill on the most pressing and important food safety concerns. Spreading the net too wide will doom the effort to failure, waste taxpayer resources, and not help create a safer food supply.
See Part I of the discussion from yesterday on what the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition likes about S. 510, what concerns the coalition has with the bill, and whether proposed amendments to S. 510 that have been introduced to help small, sustainable agriculture will jeopardize food safety.
More on Hawaii/Tuna/Salmonella: national outbreak? international?
illness occurring on O'ahu caused by Salmonella Paratyphi B infection related to eating previously frozen internationally imported raw ahi. The individuals, who became ill, reported eating raw ahi (often prepared as poke) purchased or served at various locations on O'ahu.
As of April 12, 2010, there were 13 laboratory confirmed cases with the same S. Paratyphi B pattern in five other states: California (7), Maryland (2), Pennsylvania (2), Massachusetts (1), and New York (1). DOH is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the other states to identify if those cases were also exposed to raw ahi. DOH has informed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and requested an investigation of international sources of frozen raw ahi.
"The Department of Health is concerned about these cases that are similar to a cluster of cases we investigated two years ago," Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said. "With the help of the USFDA, we hope to identify the source so we can prevent any further illness."
Between October 2007 and February 2008, DOH identified a total of 35 confirmed cases of Salmonella Paratyphi B infection on O'ahu. An exhaustive investigation by the department identified raw imported frozen ahi used in ahi poke as the probable source of illness. At that time, confirmation of additional cases in Colorado and California related to the consumption of raw fish prompted an investigation by the USFDA, but a definitive source for the implicated ahi could not be identified.
Today marks the second anniversary of MBC's airing of an investigative report on U.S. beef over fears of mad cow disease. Spurred by the report and groundless Web rumors about the disease, groups of female students took to the streets on May 2, 2008, holding candles. A coalition of leftist groups opposing U.S. beef imports came to the fore four days later and organized the protests. The movement escalated into a campaign to oust the Lee Myung-bak administration, which had recently been inaugurated. The protests plunged central Seoul into violent and lawless chaos for more than three months.
At the time, the protesters seemed to believe the argument that consumption of U.S. beef would instantly cause mad cow disease and that 94 percent of Koreans were genetically vulnerable to the disease. American beef, however, accounted for just 26.5 percent of imported beef sold in the Korean market last year, a figure that grew to 33.3 percent in the first two months of this year. Despite the lingering aftereffects of the beef protests, fears over U.S. beef are rapidly disappearing.
Where are those who lauded the protests as "agora democracy" and "direct democracy?" The protests that shook Korean society two years ago have been forgotten too easily without thorough research and analysis. The demonstrations, through which certain leftist groups drove the country into madness for political purposes, remain a sore memory. Time is needed to calmly reflect on the incident to achieve true democracy.
The Lee administration hid itself throughout the protests. Rather than standing up against the ungrounded agitation and false information in a dignified and cool-headed manner, it went as far as to kowtowing to the violent and illegal activities of the protestors. The government simply did nothing about the anarchic situation for 106 days until the protests lost steam in mid-August 2008. Prosecutors published a white paper on their investigation into the illegal and violent disturbances last year to mark the first anniversary of the incident. That was not good enough, however.
The government should humbly reflect on what lessons it learned from the experience and how it strengthened its ability to overcome a crisis. Britain, which suffered from an outbreak of mad cow disease in the 1980s, issued a report on BSE in 2000. The Korean government should consider publishing a BSE candlelight protest report this year to hand down the lessons to future generations.


While this week has been very interesting. I've actually left Saint John twice this past week. On Tuesday, I went to Fredericton and on Wednesday I went to Moncton, both days to help shoot promos for the upcoming season on Rogers Television. I've also had two rolls of film developed recently, some of the pictures have turned out fairly well. I've also got a set of digital pictures as well. I'll be formatting them and posting them as 3 new photo albums on my website. I'm going to use html format and not the flash because I found a program that makes them automatically and is a lot easier.
I've also was doing TV Bingo this past week, it is great to have it back. Especially since Jeff and Tony are the best.
This week I'm going to continue some job hunting on Monday and Tuesday. And on Monday at 11:15 I have an appointment to have photos taken at the Sears Portrait Studio.


Screwdrivers are the 2240th most traded product and the 357th most complex product according to the Product Complexity Index (PCI).
The top exporters of Screwdrivers are China ($316M), Germany ($106M), Other Asia ($87M), the Czech Republic ($36.5M) and Switzerland ($20.1M). The top importers are the United States ($125M), Germany ($82.2M), the United Kingdom ($35.4M), France ($33.3M) and Belgium-Luxembourg ($24.5M).
Screwdrivers are a 6 digit HS92 product.


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KN and his family are the third family to participate in Peaksneng Thormacheat's Rent-to-own program and couldn't be happier. KN and his family have gone from living with their in-laws, to renting, to owning their own robust home and land!
The program allows them to live in a quality weather tight home, grow organic vegetables, have a space for raising livestock and have their own supply of clean drinking water; all for an affordable monthly payment. KN says that these improvements to their lives are not only going help their income but his family's health as well. The church farm where he works is adjacent to the Development lot, where his new home is, so he even reduced his daily commute!
Since moving to his new home, he has faced some challenges with keeping his unruly cow under control! He plans to build a robust cow shed at his new home, so that his cow cannot escape in the middle of the night and disturb his neighbors.
KN dreams of sending his young children to school without financial worries. To achieve this he would like to buy a few more cows to increase his family's income.


text:
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<title>HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality (POI API Documentation)</title>
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org.apache.poi.hwmf.record

Enum HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality

java.lang.Object

java.lang.Enum<HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality>

org.apache.poi.hwmf.record.HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality

All Implemented Interfaces:

java.io.Serializable, java.lang.Comparable<HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality>

Enclosing class:

HwmfFont

public static enum HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality
extends java.lang.Enum<HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality>

The output quality defines how carefully to attempt to match the logical font attributes to those of an actual
 physical font.

Enum Constant Summary

Enum Constants

Enum Constant and Description

ANTIALIASED_QUALITY

Specifies that anti-aliasing SHOULD be used when rendering text, if the font supports it.

CLEARTYPE_QUALITY

Specifies that ClearType anti-aliasing SHOULD be used when rendering text, if the font supports it.

DEFAULT_QUALITY

Specifies that the character quality of the font does not matter, so DRAFT_QUALITY can be used.

DRAFT_QUALITY

Specifies that the character quality of the font is less important than the
 matching of logical attribuetes.

NONANTIALIASED_QUALITY

Specifies that anti-aliasing SHOULD NOT be used when rendering text.

PROOF_QUALITY

Specifies that the character quality of the font is more important than the
 matching of logical attributes.

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type
Method and Description

static HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality
valueOf(java.lang.String name)

Returns the enum constant of this type with the specified name.

static HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality[]
values()

Returns an array containing the constants of this enum type, in
the order they are declared.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Enum

clone, compareTo, equals, finalize, getDeclaringClass, hashCode, name, ordinal, toString, valueOf

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Enum Constant Detail

DEFAULT_QUALITY

public static final HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality DEFAULT_QUALITY

Specifies that the character quality of the font does not matter, so DRAFT_QUALITY can be used.

DRAFT_QUALITY

public static final HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality DRAFT_QUALITY

Specifies that the character quality of the font is less important than the
 matching of logical attribuetes. For rasterized fonts, scaling SHOULD be enabled, which
 means that more font sizes are available.

PROOF_QUALITY

public static final HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality PROOF_QUALITY

Specifies that the character quality of the font is more important than the
 matching of logical attributes. For rasterized fonts, scaling SHOULD be disabled, and the font
 closest in size SHOULD be chosen.

NONANTIALIASED_QUALITY

public static final HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality NONANTIALIASED_QUALITY

Specifies that anti-aliasing SHOULD NOT be used when rendering text.

ANTIALIASED_QUALITY

public static final HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality ANTIALIASED_QUALITY

Specifies that anti-aliasing SHOULD be used when rendering text, if the font supports it.

CLEARTYPE_QUALITY

public static final HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality CLEARTYPE_QUALITY

Specifies that ClearType anti-aliasing SHOULD be used when rendering text, if the font supports it.

 Fonts that do not support ClearType anti-aliasing include type 1 fonts, PostScript fonts,
 OpenType fonts without TrueType outlines, rasterized fonts, vector fonts, and device fonts.

Method Detail

values

public static HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality[] values()

Returns an array containing the constants of this enum type, in
the order they are declared.  This method may be used to iterate
over the constants as follows:

for (HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality c : HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality.values())
    System.out.println(c);

Returns:

an array containing the constants of this enum type, in
the order they are declared

valueOf

public static HwmfFont.WmfFontQuality valueOf(java.lang.String name)

Returns the enum constant of this type with the specified name.
The string must match exactly an identifier used to declare an
enum constant in this type.  (Extraneous whitespace characters are
not permitted.)

Parameters:

name - the name of the enum constant to be returned.

Returns:

the enum constant with the specified name

Throws:

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException - if this enum type has no constant
with the specified name

java.lang.NullPointerException - if the argument is null

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                Copyright 2016 The Apache Software Foundation or
        its licensors, as applicable.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Jumping into a pool isn't top of mind for most of us as we hunker down to face our Canadian winter. But that's one of the things my team and I were thinking about earlier this week as we learned about the traits and preferences of the four DISC personality types.
Our training leader (Grant Mellow of ActionCOACH) used the pool analogy to help us grasp the differences between each so we could recognize them and adapt.
We'll "dive" into the details a bit later, including some tips you can use in communicating with your own team and customers.
First I want to tell you why we were going through this exercise.
Most of you, like me, are business owners. We in particular have to be able to adapt to changing times and circumstances in work and life. Sometimes we need to learn new skills as do our employees. Such changes are harder for some than others. But once mastered, the individual and the business both benefit from the growth.
My recent changes include a series of steps to increase the number of businesses we have available for sale (our inventory) and closings (our sales). Among these are systems and training to better equip our team and their clients for success. The DISC exercise was structured to help us communicate with our prospects and clients in a manner that works for them.
While we're a professional services firm, we are also a store. When buyers come to us, it's important that we have the right business to enable them to be successful; to do this, we need to have significant inventory with a mix of every size and kind of business for sale. 2014 update: I am noticing a marked increase in the number of owners coming to us for assistance in selling their businesses and the growth in businesses for sale will continue for some time.
So to increase our inventory, we need to change tactics—to go out and directly contact potential sellers in a manner they're comfortable with. We'll do this more effectively as we apply the insights from our training, learning how to offset our own tendencies for a better connection with those around us.
DISC stands for the Dominant, Influential, Steady and Conscientious personality preferences and dates back to the 1920s when they were identified by American psychologist William Marston.
Our local team's individual tendencies were identified after scoring and plotting based on a series of 24 questions pinpointing two styles—one natural and the other adapted. As I understand it, the natural is our basic style, while the adapted is how we respond to our environment, e.g. when under stress. Some people stay mostly the same; more tend to change. Our results were half and half.
With better organization, I's will avoid misplacing orders and contact information. They'll also benefit by ending their day on a positive note–listening to a motivational CD or reading from a positive book.
It's important for S's not to take a "no" personally. They'll project greater confidence by practicing assertive communication skills.
C's can be too focused on facts and details that can overwhelm other personality types on the receiving end of the information. They can connect better with more people by loosening up and smiling. So can D's.
D's will also get better results if they slow down, cultivate active listening skills and learn to speak in softer voice tones so they don't come across as pushy or overbearing.
Match the pacing of the person you're talking to. A person's energy and the pace of their conversation are good clues to their style. An example: I's and D's are energetic and faster talkers.
I's and S's need to like you so building your relationship comes first. And without respect, your relationship with C's and D's will go nowhere.
Ask someone you trust to monitor and critique your performance.
A C studies the topic first and starts with lessons.
Have you taken training like this before? Have you put it to use? Most people take the training and then fail to put what they learned into practice. Start questioning yourself as to the personality type of each person you meet over the coming weeks and develop the habit of adjusting your communication style to them. You may be surprised at how much more effective you become.
Oh, and don't forget, for tips on buying, building or selling a business, make sure you sign up for our free monthly newsletter.


Brilliant, insightful article on the Tharoor-Modi IPL saga by Tehelka magazine. Even in its new avatar, Tehelka continues to justify why it's such an acclaimed media agency. (Remember 'Operation West End'?) Until now I only had (relatively) vague idea about what was going on, but this article sums everything up and brings forth new facts to light at the same time, while also offering analysis.
The thing about staying many times zones away from your home country, without easy access to newspapers or TV media is that it's extremely difficult to follow what's happening 'back home', especially in rapidly developing news stories such as the IPL controversy. Of course, there are news sites but then sitting down and browsing through news on a site is so much harder than reading a 'compiled' version, i.e., a newspaper or a news bulletin.
Maybe there's hope for 'mainstream media' after all. But let's not forget that even Tehelka started off as an unconventional outlet, in that it was a website.
Thanks for pointing out that article. Told me somethings the rest of the media didn't.
Did you notice the irony of Lalit Modi giving out the Fairplay award?
I thought the irony was the reason he was allocated to hand out the prize in the first place.


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Readers ask: What Was The Currency Of Rome During The Days Of Apostle Paul?
1 What was Roman currency called?
2 What money did they use when Jesus was alive?
3 What was the currency in biblical times?
4 What 3 currencies are mentioned in the Bible?
5 Why are Roman coins so cheap?
6 Did ancient Rome use money?
7 How much was a drachma worth in Jesus time?
8 How much is 100 denarii worth in the Bible?
9 How much does a Roman coin cost?
10 How much was a shekel in Bible times?
11 How much was a piece of silver worth in Bible times?
12 How much was silver worth in Bible times?
13 Is gold and silver God's money?
14 Is Penny in the Bible?
15 Is silver God's money?
What was Roman currency called?
Aureus, basic gold monetary unit of ancient Rome and the Roman world. It was first named nummus aureus ("gold money "), or denarius aureus, and was equal to 25 silver denarii; a denarius equaled 10 bronze asses.
What money did they use when Jesus was alive?
Silver was basically the main currency used, for example, merchants at the time were called "weighers of silver". After that, was bronze coins. They were not quite as valuable as the gold or silver because it bronze is more easily obtained. The Jewish lepton was minted in bronze.
What was the currency in biblical times?
The word shekel came into the English language via the Hebrew Bible, where it is first used in the Book of Genesis. The term "shekel" has been used for a unit of weight, around 9.6 or 9.8 grams, used in Bronze Age Europe for balance weights and fragments of bronze that may have served as money.
You might be interested: Often asked: Who Was The Nephew Of The Apostle Paul?
What 3 currencies are mentioned in the Bible?
THE BIBLE SET THE Several currencies were used in the Bible, including gold, silver and barley. Silver was popular for everyday use because it was scarce, but not as scarce as gold – and more durable than barley.
Why are Roman coins so cheap?
So the value of them is based on that. There is a large number out there and a market only collectors really care to explore. Supply and demand. If large numbers of them are found, or not many people are interested in them after they are found, or both, then they will be cheap.
Did ancient Rome use money?
Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage (see: Roman metallurgy). From its introduction to the Republic, during the third century BC, well into Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denomination, and composition.
How much was a drachma worth in Jesus time?
It is difficult to estimate comparative exchange rates with modern currency because the range of products produced by economies of centuries gone by were different from today, which makes purchasing power parity (PPP) calculations very difficult; however, some historians and economists have estimated that in the 5th
How much is 100 denarii worth in the Bible?
Therefore, if 100 denarii equaled four months' salary, at current minimum wage, it would be equivalent to $11,733.33, which is substantially more than the NIV footnote of "a few dollars."
How much does a Roman coin cost?
A decent denarius can be found from 20 $ to 200 $, and it can be even more expensive if it is a rare type. The sesterius is also a little bit expensive, around 100-200 $, sometimes cheaper or not. The other bronze coins are easy to find.
You might be interested: Question: Who Did The Apostle Paul Teach?
How much was a shekel in Bible times?
Key Verse. The word shekel means simply "weight." In New Testament times, a shekel was a silver coin weighing, well, one shekel (about. 4 ounces or 11 grams).
How much was a piece of silver worth in Bible times?
Depending on which of the coins was used, in modern values of silver, these known coins would bring the sum to be between $250 and $300. Some scholars have observed that one silver coin was a working man's wage. So in modern terms, a worker getting $15 an hour in an eight-hour day would take would take home $120.
How much was silver worth in Bible times?
How much was 20 pieces of silver worth in Bible times? So 30 pieces are about 5 weeks money (based on a 6 day working week.) In terms of purchasing power, each silver piece was probably worth about $20. The standards of living being much, much lower than in modern (Western) societies.
Is gold and silver God's money?
The Bible says God created the world and the elements within it. Gold is depicted as an asset of value. "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts." Gold and silver are products of God – they are not a creation of man.
Is Penny in the Bible?
A number of coins are mentioned in the Bible, and they have proved very popular among coin collectors. Specific coins mentioned in the Bible include the widow's mite, the tribute penny and the thirty pieces of silver, though it is not always possible to identify the exact coin that was used.
You might be interested: FAQ: What Were The Games That The Apostle Paul Was Referring To In His Writings?
Is silver God's money?
Gold & Silver belong to God alone. 2:8 tells us that "the silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord." This cannot be said of man's counterfeit credit instruments which are contrary to God's commandment that we use a just weight and measure in our transactions.
Readers ask: Who Is James The Apostle In The Bible?
Readers ask: Which Apostle Died After April 2017 General Conference?
The Apostle Paul Ignore Those Who Moral Authority?
Question: Where Are The Churches Planted By The Apostle Paul?
Quick Answer: What Year Did The Apostle Peter Ie?


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home » JIS News » Education
Professor Archibald McDonald Inducted as 13th Principal of UWI Mona
Written by: Douglas McIntosh
Photo: Mark Bell
University of the West Indies (UWI) Chancellor, Sir George Alleyne (left), and Vice Chancellor, Professor Nigel Harris (right), share pleasantries with newly inducted Principal of the UWI's Mona Campus in St. Andrew, Professor Archibald McDonald, following his installation during a ceremony at the institution on Tuesday (October 29).
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UWI Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Archibald McDonald, has been formally inducted as the 13th Principal.
Professor McDonald also served as Head of the Department of Surgery, and Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences.
Professor McDonald has had a distinguished pioneering career in the area of trauma and emergency medicine.
University of the West Indies (UWI) Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Archibald McDonald, has been formally inducted as the 13th Principal of the institution's oldest Campus, at Mona, St. Andrew.
He was installed during a ceremony at the institution on Tuesday, October 29, presided over by UWI Chancellor, Sir George Alleyne, and witnessed by a wide cross-section of government, diplomatic, and academic officials from across the region.
Among them were: Education Minister, Rev. Hon. Ronald Thwaites; UWI Vice Chancellor, Professor Nigel Harris; Chairman, UWI Mona Campus Council, Dr. Marshall Hall; and the Principals of the UWI's Campuses at Cave Hill, Barbados, Professor Hilary Beckles; and St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, Professor Clement Sankat; and the Open Campus, Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald.
Professor McDonald succeeds Professor Gordon Shirley, to whom he was Vice Principal. After serving for six years, Professor Shirley demitted office earlier this year, following his secondment to the Port Authority of Jamaica as President and Chief Executive Officer.
In addition to being Vice Principal, Professor McDonald also served as Head of the Department of Surgery, and Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Mona Campus.
An accomplished surgeon, Professor McDonald has had a distinguished pioneering career in the area of trauma and emergency medicine. His work in these areas as well as hospital emergency services, university administration, and medical education, has had an indelible impact throughout Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. He will have as his Vice Principal, Professor Ishen-Kumba Kahwa.
Education Minister, Rev. Hon. Thwaites, who delivered brief remarks, congratulated the new Principal, and underscored the high level of confidence reposed in Professor McDonald's ability to effectively spearhead the university's administration.
"The University of the West Indies retains pride of place in the firmament of tertiary educational institutions in Jamaica. The nation requires the service of the entire university community in fulfilling urgent national needs. Professor McDonald, during his tenure, as with his predecessors, must continue to play a crucial role in the ongoing transformation of Jamaican education. We wish him well, and pledge (the government's) unstinting cooperation," Rev. Thwaites said.
In executing the induction formalities, Sir George told Professor McDonald that maintenance of the Mona Campus' current "luster" and cementing its future "are, to a great extent, in your hands and will depend, in large measure, on the skill and assiduity with which you guide…and manage its affairs."
The Chancellor noted that Professor McDonald's illustrious career makes him fit to undertake the task.
"A brilliant graduate of this university, your training in your chosen discipline of surgery, your outstanding achievements in the treatment of trauma, your ascendance of the academic ladder to become a Professor of Surgery, your election to the Deanship of your Faculty, which, under you, doubled its enrolment, and the demonstration of your competence as an administrator, as evidenced by the erection of a splendid building, the Faculty Teaching and Learning Complex, and the capstone, the award of the Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence,…are all earnest of your fitness for (this) purpose," Sir George stated.
Professor Harris, in welcoming Professor McDonald's appointment, noted his "commendable and solid record of leadership" on the Mona Campus.
"Given your proven track record, I believe that there is very good reason for optimism about your tenure as Principal. Let me urge you that you become, not only an effective leader for your campus, but one who can ably team up with your regional counterparts to make our university a truly great one," Professor Harris said.
Dr. Hall, in his remarks, noted that Professor McDonald has been asked to lead the university at a time when "there is no honeymoon period."
"He has to instantly wrestle with financing needs at all levels, students, faculties, staff, and capital requirements. But he has to find time to step (back) from these complex day-to-day issues and, with his colleagues, continue the growth and diversification of the UWI Mona. He will (need to) do that within the framework of his own vision and his own priorities, as he brings to these tasks a wealth of administrative experience and proven academic excellence," Dr. Hall stated, while assuring Professor McDonald of the campus' council.
In his inaugural address, Professor McDonald said he was "truly honoured" and "immensely humbled" to be appointed Principal.
He acknowledged the "laudable contributions" of his immediate predecessors, Professors Sir Kenneth Hall, Gordon Shirley, and Elsa Leo-Rhynie, each of whom, he said "crafted unique styles in educational leadership that are worthy of emulation."
"I am extremely humbled to have been asked to step into the ranks of these incredible trailblazers, who have made significant contributions to tertiary education and the development of the Jamaican society. All three of my predecessors have created a long lasting legacy of transformative leadership at the university and it is this legacy that I am humbled to now follow," Professor McDonald stated.


David and Goliath, Sistine Chapel. Piublic domain via wikimedia.
First off, go listen to my old podcast here where I talk about David, Goliath, and the Philistines.
One important concept that appears this week has been seen before, but I don't think I've talked about it. This is the idea of ḥerem or cherem (that's a guttural ch, like Loch, not a "cheese" ch.) This word and associated noun are translated various ways. It's important to understand the concept, as it is largely foreign to us today, as closely related to the idea of holiness (which is also not generally well understood).
Within the Old Testament there is the idea that some things are singled out as particularly taboo for the community to handle. In Hebrew, the term used is ḥerem which is sometimes translated as "banned thing" or "thing devoted." To the writers of the Old Testament, an object was in ḥerem either because of extraordinary uncleanness or because of exalted sanctity.- "The Palace of Zimri-Lim at Mari" in Biblical Archaeologist Vol 47:2 (1984).
This is one of those words that gives rise to many different translations dependent upon context. As the subject can be either extremely holy or extremely unclean, we really get a variety. The KJV gives us "be utterly destroyed" (Exo 22:19, frequent translation), "holy unto the Lord, as a field devoted (hrm)" (Lev 27:21), "cursed thing" (Deu 13:18), "accursed" (Josh 6:17), "man whom I appointed for utter destruction" (lit. "man of my herem" 1Ki 20:42) "doom" "place under the ban" and other translations.
Chaim Potok novels use cherem in the later Jewish meaning for being cut off/excommunicated/forbidden. The Islamic term for Temple Mount in Jerusalem is Haram Esh-Sharif where it means "sanctuary" or holy place. This is a similar usage to the harem, the circle of women that is off-limits/forbidden/holy.
The Context of Scripture, 2:138, lines 14-18.
It may well have functional parallels elsewhere in the ancient Near Eastern, such as at Mari.
One of the reasons Saul is rejected has to do with how he has carried out a cherem. Saul is portrayed as disobedient in this respect, but Jewish scholarship disagrees.
Again, the question of who is doing the writing and how their perspective affects the story comes into play. Let's set that aside for some better questions.
Both Saul and David are chosen and anointed by Samuel.
Imagine you have a big decision that will affect lots of people. You make the best use you can of mind and spirit, and it seems good at first, but eventually turns out to have very negative consequences. Then you're called upon to make the same kind of decision again.
What's Samuel's first impression in picking Saul's replacement? The tall handsome oldest. When he picks again, he picks wrong.
Apparently, Eliab's being the firstborn, tall, and handsome made him kingly in Samuel's eyes… like the last time with Saul. But not so. Note that Samuel then has to go through process of elimination with the other sons.
Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel. (Then) the LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul?
Is Samuel mourning over his own failings or perceived failings in 16:1? Did Samuel pick the right guy with Saul? Did it undermine Samuel's confidence that the guy he choose went bad?
I'm operating off the assumption that Saul was indeed chosen, but how does Samuel feel about it? Can the prophets make mistakes?
Now, let me insert here. I tend to find two extremes, two poles of LDS assumptions. One end places far too much emphasis on divine control and revelation, and too little on the humanity of God's chosen servants. Every scripture, program, General Conference talk, General Authority statement, Ensign article, etc. is inspired from on high as if God himself had written it in stone on tablets. It's a caricature. This view is often accompanied by an assumption of complete harmony and consistency in history, doctrine, and scripture. When I encounter this kind of view, I try to gently acquaint them a bit more with reality, from within a faithful perspective, so they see that this assumption is not necessary. I find this view and assumption fairly rigid and dangerous.
The reality is in-between, that God chooses humans to inspire, with all the human baggage that entails, and scripture/revelation are inevitably affected by that (see my posts here, here, here, here,here, and here), but I suspect there are more of the first view in the English-speaking Church than the second, so I tend to try to counter-act that view more than the other. YMMV, but know your local audience/Gospel Doctrine class.
See my own takes on the nature of prophetic knowledge (part 1 and part 2) and why even "direct revelation" has human aspects to it.
And since I've already spent too much time writing, let me conclude cheaply, with some quotes from a handout I use on these chapters. Make of these what you will.
What was Brigham Young's view of prophets and revelation vis-à-vis the people? Too much rejection, or too much complacent pedestal worship?
I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation, and weaken that influence they could give to their leaders, did they know for themselves, by the revelations of Jesus, that they are led in the right way. Let every man and woman know, by the whisperings of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not. "-President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, p. 150.
On dealing with things from the pulpit we may not like.
On apostasy, policy, and differences of opinion.
A friend . . . wished to know whether we had said that we considered an honest difference of opinion between a member of the church and the authorities of the church was apostasy, as he said, we had been credited with having made a statement to this effect. We replied that we had not stated that an honest difference of opinion between a member of the church and the authorities constituted apostasy; for we could conceive of a man honestly differing in opinion from the authorities of the church and yet not be an apostate; but we could not conceive of a man publishing those differences of opinion, and seeking by arguments, sophistry and special pleading to enforce them upon the people to produce division and strife, and to place the acts and counsels of the authorities of the church, if possible, in a wrong light, and not be an apostate; for such conduct was apostasy as we understood the term. We further said that while a man might honestly differ in opinion from the authorities through a want of understanding, he had to be exceedingly careful how he acted in relation to such differences, or the adversary would take advantage of him and he would soon become imbued with the spirit of apostasy, and be found fighting against God and the authority which He had placed here to govern his church." -Deseret News editorial, President George Q. Cannon, editor, impression of Nov. 3rd, 1869.
The purpose, as listed in the manual, is "trust in the lord rather than their own understanding." I know this riffs of Proverbs 3:5, and it's great rhetoric, but… what does it actually mean? We should only do what seems counter-intuitive or illogical? We should seek inspiration? We should cede our own agency and moral responsibility to Church leaders? All of the above? None?
Not until David is established do we get a king the way we think of them. Jerusalem becomes the capitol, a stone temple is constructed as well as a palace, and David doesn't appear to work in the fields the way Saul does. For more on ancient kingship, see here.


A Spy Another Day Prequel.
It's the day a significant proportion of the population dreads, a day they are reminded of everything they don't have, a day that lives in infamy. You may know it as "Valentine's Day," but if you're unattached, a better name might be… Singles Awareness Day.
On the other hand, there are worse fates than being alone, even on Valentine's Day. For example, a totally hot guy you can't seem to get away from, pursuing you when you're really not interested—and he can't take a hint. CIA operative Talia Reynolds doesn't do romance, but her new coworker doesn't care.
Canada's the last place you'd expect to find an American spy, but CIA operative Talia Reynolds has problems piling up higher than a Canadian snowbank. When Elliott Monteith, her ridiculously handsome new coworker, shows up (and shows her up), Talia decides it's game on. She'll be the first to track down a dangerous counter-spy, and she'll give Elliott an unforgettable souvenir of his time in Ottawa: some humble pie.
Her plans don't work as well as she expects, though. Elliott's over-the-top flirting dredges up too many painful memories for Talia and undermines the confidence she's worked hard to regain. To do her job and keep her integrity intact, she'll have to keep her personal feelings at bay. Now Talia must find a way to work alongside Elliott—and maybe even trust him—to outsmart the enemy.
An award-winning author, Jordan McCollum can't resist a story where good defeats evil and true love conquers all. In her day job, she coerces people to do things they don't want to, elicits information and generally manipulates the people she loves most—she's a mom.
I LOVE the spy/espionage theme!
I LOVE the way the two characters work together!
If you love ROMANTIC SUSPENSE you will LOVE this series!
Short prequel to "I, Spy" (which I read quite a while ago). It was fun to get a glimpse of Talia and Elliott's first assignment together!


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