May 2, 2016 | ProgressTH It is inevitable that the technology currently controlled by large monopolies ends up democratized and in the hands of smaller and smaller organizations and eventually, in the hands of individuals. This includes very powerful biotechnology with the ability to alter our own genes.
Biopunk is a sub-genre of cyberpunk, a psuedo-sci fi version of anarchy or agorism that focuses on evening the odds specifically by using technology.
Gene therapy is currently at the leading edge of medicine, proving itself against some of the most confounding human health conditions we have ever faced from blindness and deafness, to cancer and diabetes.
Gene therapy essentially is a method of identifying where our genetic code has gone wrong, and reintroducing code through a reprogrammed virus to correct it. In the case of cancer, we can reprogram our immune systems to see the otherwise "invisible" cancer cells destroying our bodies. Instead of subjecting ourselves to the devastating and ultimately futile effects of chemotherapy, gene therapy uses our own immune system to eradicate cancer just like it eradicates pathogens invading our bodies naturally on a daily basis.
In the case of diabetes, we can identify genes that should be making or using insulin but aren't, and overwrite them with genes that do. In animal models, this has already proven to be effective, with the corrected genes then replicating themselves over the natural process of cell division until all that is left are corrected cells producing or using insulin correctly.
This technique also offers us another profound and powerful option, to take genetic code of ours that has degraded over time due to aging, and reintroduce a younger, re-corrected version. This is being developed to reverse heart disease, macular degeneration, and a whole host of other age-related diseases. Beyond even that, gene therapy can be administered that actually prevents degradation to begin with, or counters degradation with genetic upgrades to areas of our genes associated with muscle mass.
That is precisely what the people at BioViva (press release) have done, and in order to accelerate advances, they have decided to use their DIY gene therapy on themselves.
Far from the setting of a potential Marvel Comic origin story, the people involved at BioViva are doctors, scientists, and researchers. The techniques they are working with (a therapy to protect DNA from age-related damage and another to increase muscle mass) have been proven in animal models, and have shown promise for human models. The only "controversial" aspect of BioViva's work is that they are doing it independently of a corrupt and inefficient establishment monopolized by oligarchical special interests that poach publicly funded ideas and turn them into overpriced, thus inaccessible treatments.
The worst part is, these treatments are years behind the latest breakthroughs, and the staggeringly slow pace is not to ensure 'safety' for patients, but instead to ensure maximum bank for those controlling this industry. The most infuriating example of this is gene therapy that has literally pulled leukemia patients off their deathbeds and has put them into "durable remission" which essentially means permanently and completely cured.
The research was publicly funded and carried out at state universities and hospitals in the US before pharmaceutical corporations swooped down on the research and attempted to monetize it. The fact that a single 20,000 USD course can fully cure a patient is a miracle for human progress, but for inhumane greed, it is unacceptable. Attempts to place absurd price tags on publicly funded breakthroughs to keep pharmaceutical corporations rolling in money is an extreme injustice capable of existing only in an extremely unjust system, that requires extreme measures to overcome.
engineered DNA material to our cells.
One can't speak for the people at BioViva, but their attempts to sidestep this process and this "industry," represents precisely the sort of measures that will be required to overcome the current obstacles placed in the way of profound breakthroughs that will change and improve the quality of life of everyone on Earth.
Whether their experiment worked or not, their attempt to give the current biotech industry a badly needed shake up, has given us all something to think about.
Biopunk is a subgenre of "cyberpunk," which could be interpreted as a pseudo-sci fi form or subcategory of anarchy or agorism. It is essentially a counter culture that seeks to even the odds. Where anarchy and agorism attempt to do this in a more general way, cyberpunks attempt to do this through IT specifically, and biopunks through biotech.
What defines a biopunk is a matter of opinion. People running a semi-underground biotech experiment to reverse aging using gene therapy through methods very likely accessible to people other than multi-million dollar corporate or institutional labs certainly sounds like a candidate.
The people at BioViva created a therapy that could be duplicated at any properly equipped lab provided people with experience and knowledge were on hand to do it and administer it, as MIT's Technology Review admitted in an article about the procedure titled A Tale of Do-It-Yourself Gene Therapy. For BioViva, they clearly had all of the above.
In the future, it is hoped that "peer review" will be something anyone can do with the interest and motivation to do so, and the days of depending on people you don't know and who could possibly be paid off by a pharmaceutical corporation (or corporations) is no longer necessary.
Still, Science.mic's article makes a good point (but a point BioViva concedes themselves) that an experiment of one patient is very difficult make sense of. BioViva has stated numerous times that data, and lots of it must be collected over time to prove the worth of their experiment. The fact that they skirted the US FDA and are avoiding the regular channels of a compromised industry may appear indicative of BioViva's shortcomings, but may very well instead point out the shortcomings of the industry and regulators it is skirting in the first place.
In the future, personalized medicine will gain prominence, and "clinical trials" will have to adapt to the fact that no two patients will be receiving the same therapy. Should we simply skip the promise personalized gene therapy offers us because we can't fit it into our current paradigm? Or should we shift our paradigm forward to meet this emerging technology? And since every aspect of the current industry that dominates modern medicine seems diametrically opposed to real progress, should we look at BioViva as a potential example of how to move forward without it? What can be done better that BioViva isn't doing?
You might be asking yourself how you, a regular person, can get involved in biotech. The answer is actually quite simple. DIYbio is a real, and emerging community worldwide where regular people are learning about and utilizing biotechnology for their own best interests.
Real DIYbio lab equipment made by real DIYbio enthusiasts. Groups are popping up all over the world and soon they will move beyond simple protocols and into unlocking many of the already solved but institutionally and economically obstructed solutions needed to benefit humanity.
The days of waiting for solutions to biological problems or cures to come at the hands of mega-corporations who honestly do not care about solving any of these issues except for the sake of profits will only come to an end when we ourselves put forth a better alternative… an alternative we ourselves are directly involved in.
It is important, however, that as we build this alternative we resist the temptation to copy and then morph into precisely what DIYbio sprung up in protest to in the first place. There are sound practices in the existing industry that should be considered, many professionals that should be invited to join us, but other practices that should be improved upon or replaced altogether.
The Internet is awash in information about building your own lab equipment, carrying out basic protocols, and even information on groups and labs already assembled around the concept of democratizing biotechnology. If you are interested in learning more about DIYbio or would like to get more deeply involved in it, go through this list of DIYbio labs and see what people are already up to today.


text:
Why is this image so small?
This image is presented as a "thumbnail" because it is protected by copyright. The Brooklyn Museum respects the rights of artists who retain the copyright to their work.
Mariana Yampolsky (Urbach). Flores Celestes, ca. 1980. Gelatin silver photograph, Sheet: 10 7/8 x 13 7/8 in. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcuse Pfeifer, 1990.119.99. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1990.119.99_bw.jpg)
Flores Celestes
Mariana Yampolsky (Urbach)
ARTIST Mariana Yampolsky (Urbach)
MEDIUM Gelatin silver photograph
DIMENSIONS Sheet: 10 7/8 x 13 7/8 in. Image: 8 x 10 3/4 in. (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed lower right verso: "Mariana Yampolsky"
COLLECTIONS Photography
ACCESSION NUMBER 1990.119.99
CREDIT LINE Gift of Marcuse Pfeifer
RIGHTS STATEMENT © artist or artist's estate
Copyright for this work may be controlled by the artist, the artist's estate, or other rights holders. A more detailed analysis of its rights history may, however, place it in the public domain. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
CAPTION Mariana Yampolsky (Urbach). Flores Celestes, ca. 1980. Gelatin silver photograph, Sheet: 10 7/8 x 13 7/8 in. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcuse Pfeifer, 1990.119.99. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1990.119.99_bw.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 1990.119.99_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
In class-based programming, the factory method pattern is a  creational pattern that uses factory methods to deal with the problem of creating objects without having to specify the exact class of the object that will be created. This is done by creating objects by calling a factory method—either specified in an interface and implemented by child classes, or implemented in a base class and optionally overridden by derived classes—rather than by calling a constructor.

Overview
The Factory Method

design pattern is one of the twenty-three well-known design patterns that describe how to solve recurring design problems to design flexible and reusable object-oriented software, that is, objects that are easier to implement, change, test, and reuse.

The Factory Method design pattern solves problems like:

 How can an object be created so that subclasses can redefine which class to instantiate?
 How can a class defer instantiation to subclasses?

The Factory Method design pattern describes how to solve such problems:
 Define a separate operation (factory method) for creating an object.
 Create an object by calling a factory method.

This enables writing of subclasses to change the way an object is created (to redefine which class to instantiate).
See also the UML class diagram below.

Definition
"Define an interface for creating an object, but let subclasses decide which class to instantiate. The Factory method lets a class defer instantiation it uses to subclasses." (Gang Of Four)

Creating an object often requires complex processes not appropriate to include within a composing object. The object's creation may lead to a significant duplication of code, may require information not accessible to the composing object, may not provide a sufficient level of abstraction, or may otherwise not be part of the composing object's concerns. The factory method design pattern handles these problems by defining a separate method for creating the objects, which subclasses can then override to specify the derived type of product that will be created.

The factory method pattern relies on inheritance, as object creation is delegated to subclasses that implement the factory method to create objects.
As shown in the C# example below, the factory method pattern can also rely on an Interface - in this case IPerson - to be implemented.

Structure

UML class diagram

In the above UML class diagram,
the Creator class that requires a Product object does not instantiate the Product1 class directly.
Instead, the Creator refers to a separate factoryMethod() to create a product object,
which makes the Creator independent of which concrete class is instantiated.
Subclasses of Creator can redefine which class to instantiate. In this example, the Creator1 subclass implements the abstract factoryMethod() by instantiating the Product1 class.

Example
A maze game may be played in two modes, one with regular rooms that are only connected with adjacent rooms, and one with magic rooms that allow players to be transported at random.

Structure

Room is the base class for a final product (MagicRoom or OrdinaryRoom). MazeGame declares the abstract factory method to produce such a base product. MagicRoom and OrdinaryRoom are subclasses of the base product implementing the final product. MagicMazeGame and OrdinaryMazeGame are subclasses of MazeGame implementing the factory method producing the final products. Thus factory methods decouple callers (MazeGame) from the implementation of the concrete classes. This makes the "new" Operator redundant, allows adherence to the Open/closed principle and makes the final product more flexible in the event of change.

Example implementations

C#

// Empty vocabulary of actual object
public interface IPerson
{
    string GetName();
}

public class Villager : IPerson
{
    public string GetName()
    {
        return "Village Person";
    }
}

public class CityPerson : IPerson
{
    public string GetName()
    {
        return "City Person";
    }
}

public enum PersonType
{
    Rural,
    Urban
}

/// <summary>
/// Implementation of Factory - Used to create objects.
/// </summary>
public class Factory
{
    public IPerson GetPerson(PersonType type)
    {
        switch (type)
        {
            case PersonType.Rural:
                return new Villager();
            case PersonType.Urban:
                return new CityPerson();
            default:
                throw new NotSupportedException();
        }
    }
}
In the above code you can see the creation of one interface called IPerson and two implementations called Villager and CityPerson. Based on the type passed into the Factory object, we are returning the original concrete object as the interface IPerson.

A factory method is just an addition to Factory class. It creates the object of the class through interfaces but on the other hand, it also lets the subclass decide which class is instantiated.

public interface IProduct
{
    string GetName();
    bool SetPrice(double price);
}

public class Phone : IProduct
{
    private double _price;

    public string GetName()
    {
        return "Apple TouchPad";
    }

    public bool SetPrice(double price)
    {
        _price = price;
        return true;
    }
}

/* Almost same as Factory, just an additional exposure to do something with the created method */
public abstract class ProductAbstractFactory
{
    protected abstract IProduct MakeProduct();

    public IProduct GetObject() // Implementation of Factory Method.
    {
        return this.MakeProduct();
    }
}

public class PhoneConcreteFactory : ProductAbstractFactory
{
    protected override IProduct MakeProduct()
    {
        IProduct product = new Phone();
        // Do something with the object after you get the object.
        product.SetPrice(20.30);
        return product;
    }
}
You can see we have used MakeProduct in concreteFactory. As a result, you can easily call MakeProduct() from it to get the IProduct. You might also write your custom logic after getting the object in the concrete Factory Method. The GetObject is made abstract in the Factory interface.

Java
This Java example is similar to one in the book Design Patterns.

The MazeGame uses Rooms but it puts the responsibility of creating Rooms to its subclasses which create the concrete classes. The regular game mode could use this template method:

public abstract class Room {
    abstract void connect(Room room);
}

public class MagicRoom extends Room {
    public void connect(Room room) {}
}

public class OrdinaryRoom extends Room {
    public void connect(Room room) {}
}

public abstract class MazeGame {
     private final List<Room> rooms = new ArrayList<>();

     public MazeGame() {
          Room room1 = makeRoom();
          Room room2 = makeRoom();
          room1.connect(room2);
          rooms.add(room1);
          rooms.add(room2);
     }

     abstract protected Room makeRoom();
}

In the above snippet, the MazeGame constructor is a template method that makes some common logic. It refers to the makeRoom factory method that encapsulates the creation of rooms such that other rooms can be used in a subclass. To implement the other game mode that has magic rooms, it suffices to override the makeRoom method:

public class MagicMazeGame extends MazeGame {
    @Override
    protected MagicRoom makeRoom() {
        return new MagicRoom();
    }
}

public class OrdinaryMazeGame extends MazeGame {
    @Override
    protected OrdinaryRoom makeRoom() {
        return new OrdinaryRoom();
    }
}

MazeGame ordinaryGame = new OrdinaryMazeGame();
MazeGame magicGame = new MagicMazeGame();

PHP
Another example in PHP follows, this time using interface implementations as opposed to subclassing (however, the same can be achieved through subclassing). It is important to note that the factory method can also be defined as public and called directly by the client code (in contrast with the Java example above).

/* Factory and car interfaces */

interface CarFactory
{
    public function makeCar(): Car;
}

interface Car
{
    public function getType(): string;
}

/* Concrete implementations of the factory and car */

class SedanFactory implements CarFactory
{
    public function makeCar(): Car
    {
        return new Sedan();
    }
}

class Sedan implements Car
{
    public function getType(): string
    {
        return 'Sedan';
    }
}

/* Client */

$factory = new SedanFactory();
$car = $factory->makeCar();
print $car->getType();

Python
Same as Java example.

from abc import ABC, abstractmethod

class MazeGame(ABC):
    def __init__(self) -> None:
        self.rooms = []
        self._prepare_rooms()

    def _prepare_rooms(self) -> None:
        room1 = self.make_room()
        room2 = self.make_room()

        room1.connect(room2)
        self.rooms.append(room1)
        self.rooms.append(room2)

    def play(self) -> None:
        print(f"Playing using {self.rooms[0]}")

    @abstractmethod
    def make_room(self):
        raise NotImplementedError("You should implement this!")

class MagicMazeGame(MazeGame):
    def make_room(self) -> "MagicRoom":
        return MagicRoom()

class OrdinaryMazeGame(MazeGame):
    def make_room(self) -> "OrdinaryRoom":
        return OrdinaryRoom()

class Room(ABC):
    def __init__(self) -> None:
        self.connected_rooms = []

    def connect(self, room: "Room") -> None:
        self.connected_rooms.append(room)

class MagicRoom(Room):
    def __str__(self) -> str:
        return "Magic room"

class OrdinaryRoom(Room):
    def __str__(self) -> str:
        return "Ordinary room"

ordinaryGame = OrdinaryMazeGame()
ordinaryGame.play()

magicGame = MagicMazeGame()
magicGame.play()

Uses
 In ADO.NET, IDbCommand.CreateParameter is an example of the use of factory method to connect parallel class hierarchies.
 In Qt, QMainWindow::createPopupMenu is a factory method declared in a framework that can be overridden in application code.
 In Java, several factories are used in the javax.xml.parsers package. e.g. javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory or javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory.
 In the HTML5 DOM API, the Document interface contains a createElement factory method for creating specific elements of the HTMLElement interface.

See also
 Design Patterns, the highly influential book
 Design pattern, overview of design patterns in general
 Abstract factory pattern, a pattern often implemented using factory methods
 Builder pattern, another creational pattern
 Template method pattern, which may call factory methods
 Joshua Bloch's idea of a static factory method, which he says has no direct equivalent in Design Patterns.

References

External links

 Factory Design Pattern Implementation in Java

 Factory method in UML and in LePUS3 (a Design Description Language)
 Consider static factory methods by Joshua Bloch

Software design patterns
Articles with example Java code
Method (computer programming)
Articles with example C Sharp code
Articles with example PHP code

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
What a new IU Health team member learns from fishing
We are IU Health
One of IU Health's newest team members talks about moving to Indiana from Florida during one of the coldest months in history, and what it means to embrace various cultures.
By some accounts, Roger Chen may have experienced a pint-size culture shock when he moved to Indiana in the middle of February.
He arrived with the same windshield fluid he'd used in a warmer southern climate. When the fluid froze he went to the store to buy a winter survival kit that included weather dependable washer fluid, an ice scraper, and a can of deicer spray.
He spent his childhood in Jamaica and then lived in Florida for 40 years. But it was the stellar reputation of IU Health that lured him north – to colder climates and the position as executive director of the transformation office.
"I saw the commitment to excellence and spirit of teamwork that IU Health has and it was inspiring to hear the vision that President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Murphy has for the organization and all the work that's being done. I wanted to be part of that," said Chen. Before joining the IU Health team, Chen had never stepped foot in Indiana.
His role is one that helps the IU Health system achieve goals and improve and innovate operations. In many ways he's sort of an internal coach – working with teams, empowering members to collaborate and implement creative ways to accomplish tasks.
One powerful example of such a team approach is finding ways to reduce the time it takes to treat a stroke victim.
"We've seen evidence that there are ways to shrink the time from 60 to 30 minutes and every minute saves powerful brain cells in a stroke patient. An interdisciplinary team can approach this with that goal in mind and introduce a more effective process," said Chen.
It's a process that focuses on efficiency and resourcefulness.
In some ways, Chen's upbringing influenced his career choice. His grandparents are of Chinese heritage and until the age of 10, he was raised in Jamaica where the motto written on the money is: "Out of Many People," based on the population's multiracial roots.
"It's an integrated country in terms of people from different races and different ethnicities forming the Jamaican culture. It's a different way of seeing and learning about the world and when you are on an island and resources are limited you truly learn to appreciate those resources and live in harmony. The environment taught me things to value in life and when I found a career path that had the same values it was compelling to me," said Chen. He talks candidly about his heritage and how it has impacted both his personal and professional life.
"I'm very comfortable speaking about diversity and having what others consider as uncomfortable conversations. I think in the work I do with process and improvement, you want to create an environment of diverse cultures and encourage people to bring forth their ideas."
More about Chen:
His first job was a cook at McDonald's.
He graduated from high school at the age of 16, earned his bachelor's degree and began his professional career at the age of 19. "Schooling was different in Jamaica. When we moved to Florida, I tested two years above my grade level."
He has three children – a 24-year-old son who works as a chef; an 18-year-old daughter who is a student at the University of Miami, and a 12-year-old son. Both his daughter and youngest son play competitive football.
What would surprise people to learn about Chen? "I've traveled and fished all over the world – it's a way to truly keep learning and experience different cultures and ways of life. It's a way to see how ingenious people live and experience how good people are and how much we have in common." Among his most surprise catches were a 20-pound Vampire Fish, known for its dagger teeth; a ferocious-looking Wolf Fish, and a 200-pound catfish.
Other hobbies: "I love performance arts and music. I saw one of my favorite Japanese drumming groups 'Kodo' in Carmel and I'm excited to explore the sporting, cultural and music scene in Indianapolis." Chen is also a fan of mangos and grows the juicy fruits on trees at his Florida vacation home and freezes them. "They keep me connected to my Caribbean roots."
His initial impressions of Indiana residents: "It can be cold here, but the people are very warm. People are incredibly welcoming. I've met a lot of people who love to bake and take it seriously."
-- By T.J. Banes, Journalist, IU Health.
Reach Banes via email tfender1@iuhealth.org.
Team Member Profile


text:
U.S. Department of Commerce Issues Affirmative Final Antidumping Duty Determinations on Tool Chests and Cabinets from China and Vietnam
Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of imports of tool chests and cabinets from China and Vietnam.
"The United States is committed to free, fair, and reciprocal trade with these countries, and this case was decided strictly on a full and fair assessment of the facts," said Secretary Ross. "The Department of Commerce will defend U.S. companies being hurt by foreign manufacturers that refuse to play by the rules. There are 161 antidumping or countervailing duty orders in place against China, and it is time for them to realize that their actions have consequences."
The Commerce Department determined that exporters from China have sold tool chests and cabinets in the United States at 97.11 percent to 244.29 percent at less than fair value. Commerce determined that exporters from Vietnam have sold tool chests and cabinets in the United States at 327.17 percent at less than fair value.
As a result of today's decisions, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to collect cash deposits from importers of tool chests and cabinets from China and Vietnam based on these final rates.
In 2016, imports of tool chests and cabinets from China and Vietnam were valued at an estimated $230 million and $77 million, respectively.
The petitioner is Waterloo Industries, Inc. (Waterloo). Waterloo manufactures tool chests at its production facility in Sedalia, Missouri.
Enforcement of U.S. trade law is a prime focus of the Trump administration. In the first quarter of 2018, the Department of Commerce has already initiated 22 new AD and CVD initiations – a 150 percent increase when compared with the first quarter of the prior year (2017).
The AD law provides U.S. businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of unfair pricing of imports into the United States. Commerce currently maintains 428 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is scheduled to issue its final determinations on or around May 18, 2018. If the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue AD orders on subject merchandise from those markets. If the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated and no orders will be issued.
Click HERE for a fact sheet on today's decision(s).


That was kinda frustrating since (Reliance Big Entertainment (uk) Private Limited) remove our bot access. However, we can not be silent watching for this one. We try to create another bot that your function is to breach the server. After our bot enters the server, we could change any value including player's Gems amount. We do not share the hex algorithm as we have created Super Pixel Heroes hack generator. This one is generator based because it would be easy to use. You may get Gems for free if you use this method.
Everyone should use this Super Pixel Heroes generator at the earliest opportunity! It is absolutely amazing, guys!
You must check this one because you won't ever regret for the rest of your life, I've get Gems to my Super Pixel Heroes account.
This Super Pixel Heroes hack tool is exactly what I am looking for the whole time!
One of the better Super Pixel Heroes hack tools out there.. You're working so awesome 7gam!!
I'm speechless when I acquired free Gems. This is Super Pixel Heroes hack tool is really amazing. Nothing else to say but I absolutely think it's great!
I can apply this Super Pixel Heroes hack tool easily.. Wow! You are excellent 7gam!
The first hack tool for Super Pixel Heroes which is free from any requirements such as survey and human verification i ever met! Absolutely wonderful!!!
I simply applied this Super Pixel Heroes hack tool, created my android and IOS, just a few minutes playing this game, and I've got free Gems. So how exactly does it work?
This Super Pixel Heroes hack tool is what I am looking for the whole time!
No complaint from me concerning this Super Pixel Heroes hack tool. Overall is good, good. Good job!
The pretty hack tool that I've ever found. It's my first time I use this Super Pixel Heroes hack tool and I'm really satisfied with it. I love it!
Super Pixel Heroes hack tool is actually helpful. You should try this generator as well, guys!
This Super Pixel Heroes hack tool is pretty cool, everyone must think it's great!
I am a big fan of this Super Pixel Heroes hack tool!
It proves what people say about it. Very great Super Pixel Heroes hack tool. Good job buddy!
I Never trust anything except it have a good proof. But it is an alternative case with this one. This is actually the first hack tool I really believe in my life time. Hopefully, that one never betrays me to obtain unlimited free Gems!!!
I cannot say anything for this Super Pixel Heroes hack Gems except AWESOME!!!
That is so unbelievable! So thank you to Super Pixel Heroes hack tool. I get free Gems. So how exactly does it work?
An extremely fantastic Super Pixel Heroes hack as we can get Gems to our account easily, many thanks 7gam.
All people will not waste their time when using this generator. It could grant all wishes to create unlimited Gems!
The best Super Pixel Heroes hack tool. Your fellas must try it!
I really love that one because I could do almost anything in Super Pixel Heroes.
We are sure this is actually the best Super Pixel Heroes hack generator in .
Exactly the most effective Super Pixel Heroes generator at any time.


Nick was raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina before moving with his family to Miami, Florida. An interest in photography drew him to San Francisco where he attended art school. In California he discovered an interest in climbing and ultimately split time between the bay area and Yosemite in order to become a professional climbing guide and work for Yosemite Search and Rescue. Nick set world records for speed ascents and completed many first ascents on alpine routes. An alpinist at heart, he has traveled across the globe to places like Baffin Island, the Himalayas and the Alps to pursue his passion. Nick is driven by an evidence based approach to the sport of fitness. He is interested in designing sport-specific coaching and training programs using data collection and testing assessments.
What makes Nick an effective coach is his passion for knowledge in this rapidly evolving field and his ability to synthesize the latest information to create an individual program design that works. During his employment as a Wildland Fire Captain, he was able to restructure physical fitness programs for multiple agencies. He has closely worked with Smokejumpers and Hotshots to create off season training programs and is currently the State of Utah Fire Operation Specialist responsible for the Strength and Conditioning program for all Physical Training. As owner of Massif Athletics in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nick has been implementing individual program designs for multiple Crossfit Games clients and has successfully implemented this model to improve group training programs for other Crossfit affiliates. Nick's clientele include specific training programs for Special Forces members, skiers, elite climbers, endurance athletes, and competitive CrossFitters.


Kendall Kulper's Salt and Storm is a romance novel so good that it kept someone who squirms during kissing scenes glued until the end. The main character is your classic "average-looking-but-talented" teenage girl. The love interest is the handsome and mysterious islander Tane, who's coincidentally covered in magical tattoos.
The girl, Avery Roe, descends from a long line of Roe witches. The Roes are also a distinctly female line and never get married. They instead spend their days taking care of their island home and whaling town. Each one has a special power, and Avery's is the ability to see the future. Avery predicts that she will die before becoming the official Roe witch, so she tries to find a way to save herself to continue the line of witches, as her mother rejected magic to become a lady in town. This results in a race against the clock, so Avery decides to enlist Tane for his magical assistance, and the beautiful romance unfolds, touching on loss and love.
What's really interesting is that the novel is set around the time of the Salem Witch Trials, and definitely shows how the times change in Avery's lifetime. The townspeople evolve from loving the witches to hating them as Avery's aging grandmother cannot save them from the sea. Their desperation from the slow decline in the whaling business drives them to turn against the Roes, which leads to an exciting chase and terrible death.
This book is one worth devouring.


Every year EURA sponsors an annual conference hosted by an institutional member of our network. Previous conferences have been located in cities such as Glasgow (2007), Milan (2008), Madrid (2009), Darmstadt (2010), Copenhagen (2011), Vienna (2012), Enschede (2013), Paris (2014), Sibiu (2015), Torino (2016) and Warsaw (2017).
If you are an institutional member of EURA, and would like to host a future EURA please contact the Secretariat.


[T]he Federal Circuit shall review the decision from which an appeal is taken …. Upon its determination the court shall issue to the Director its mandate and opinion, which shall be entered of record in the Patent and Trademark Office and shall govern the further proceedings in the case.
The particular case here is narrow – what exactly is disclosed by the cited prior art – and how a prior art pin assembly is grounded. Truly a narrow issue, but what the oral arguments suggest is that the court did not really understand the technology at issue and instead planned to rely upon the substantial evidence standard of review.
Apart from the two positions that require Senate confirmation (Secretary and Deputy), the only top commerce department position not filled by either an acting chief or appointee is Undersecretary of Intellectual Property and USPTO Director.
With conflicting media reports and no statement from the USPTO or Department of Commerce, we are left guessing as to whether Michelle Lee continues-on as USPTO Director and Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property. The Commerce Department leadership has been substantially filled – but the IP position remains blank. My request for clarification from the office have also been denied. I have also submitted a FOIA request, but that process tends to be slow. We will likely have to wait for the Confirmation of Wilbur Ross as Commerce Secretary before stakeholders are informed of the state-of-affairs.
I want to give my congratulations and thanks to Michelle Lee, Russ Slifer, and other members of PTO Leadership. The past five years have been a time of tremendous shifting in the patent system led by the legislature (the AIA of 2011) and the Supreme Court (Alice/Mayo). PTO Leadership has offered a stabilizing force with a constant push toward an efficient and high quality system. Many patentees were saved by by the PTO's intentionally narrow reading of Alice and Mayo and the long-complaint-of backlog of pending cases is substantially reduced. These days I hear two major competing complaints: (1) the PTO continues to issue too many invalid patents and (2) the PTAB is too tough on patentees. It will be interesting to see where we arrive four years from now.
If I were a patentee, I would certainly have great concern that the next director may be far worse.
Folks are having fun today with Federal Government web page conversions.
We still do not have confirmation that Michelle Lee will stay-on as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and USPTO Director. The newly updated COMMERCE.GOV website shows the position vacant while other positions remain filled.
It should all be figured out by Monday.
If you remember, Dir. Lee's initial appointment by President Obama was also filled with some amount of discord and confusion a la The Office with her "acting as director" for several months before actually being nominated for the position.
Major Crossover Move: Michelle Lee Staying on as PTO Director?
The Hill and others are reporting that USPTO Director Michelle Lee will stay on as PTO Director under President Trump. No official statement yet (perhaps because PTO Chief Communications officer Patrick Ross resigned yesterday).
The USPTO only houses a handful of political appointees – Director (Michelle Lee), Deputy Director (Russ Slifer), Chief of Staff (Vikrum Aiyer); and a couple more senior advisors including the Chief Communications Officer (Patrick Ross). These folks will all resign on or before noon on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017. Through an Agency procedure put in place by former Director James Rogan, Commissioner for Patents (Drew Hirshfeld) will then step-in as acting director. One unlikely potential kink in the tradition is that this is the first presidential transition with competing PTO leaders – namely the four Regional Office directors (John Cabeca, Molly Kocialski; Cristal Sheppard, and Hope Shimabuku) any of whom could step-in as acting director (recognizing that is the pathway taken by Michelle Lee). However, the Regional Directors are really outside of the ordinary PTO chain of command.
Recognize that these transitions and traditions are subject to immediate adjustment by the incoming Trump Administration. I would expect significant shake-up in PTO Senior Staff in the coming months: General Counsel, regional PTO Directors, and perhaps Solicitor and PTAB Director. However, every president struggles through how to deal with career federal employees loyal to the efforts of the prior administration.
Last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office released its annual Performance and Accountability Report. If you've never read this document before, I highly encourage giving it a look. It's chock-full of information on the PTO, from summary overviews to financials to performance metrics to changes in agency operation. There's also an extensive set of tables with tons of data for those who like that kind of stuff.
Law students and junior attorneys who want to quickly get up to speed on the PTO, in particular, can obtain a lot of information about the agency from the PAR. But there's something in there for everyone.
The chart below shows the number of utility patents granted each year for the past few decades. I have included images of PTO chiefs as well. Although only small view of PTO work-product, the dramatic shifts in the number of grants (all occurring while facing a large backlog of cases) helps highlight the importance of the role of PTO Director. You'll note that more utility patents were issued in 2016 than any prior calendar year – 303,000. However, the rate-of-increase seen under Dir. Kappos is clearly gone.
Non-animated version to the right.
Directors shown are Q.Todd Dickenson (1998-2001); Jon Dudas (2004-2009); David Kappos (2009-2013); and Michelle Lee (2014-2017). J.Rogan and the acting directors are not shown.
Make Patents Great Again – PTO Speculation: Judge Rader?
Judge Rader is a longtime member of the court and has been a gregarious Chief Judge. His willingness to have frank and open discussions on a variety of patent law issues has been welcomed by the bar as has his work to build ties with patent law authorities from around the globe. Those connections will continue to serve the court well into the future. However, this outgoing approach has also been criticized as contrary to the traditions of judicial detachment and seclusion.
Judge Rader has the patent law and political expertise to do this job — question whether he would really want to run a 10,000 person organization. Rader likely has strong support from President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate Orin Hatch.
In my mind, the other leading candidate is Phil Johnson. The PTO directorship would serve as a capstone to a truly incredible career. Trump and his team have substantial trademark experience, and so an internal dark-horse candidate is always likely.
Because of her ties to the Obama Administration, I see it as highly unlikely that current PTO director Michelle Lee would be asked to stay-on even temporarily in that position.
PTO Director wears many hats, but I see the primary job as leading the 10,000+ examiners and judges to ensure a high quality work product at a reasonable cost and speed. Patent and trademark experience are certainly necessary – but I would think it is also important to have experience or understanding of managing such a large workforce of unionized employees.
Congratulations to Harold McElhinny on his retirement from MoFo; he has apparently refused calls from Trump Tower.
The AIPLA letter to director Lee is here.
First, I'm not sure the USPTO has power to do this. Whether or not there is privilege turns, under Fed. R. Evid. 501, on federal common law, federal statutes, or the Constitution, not agency rule-making.
Second, the scope of the privilege is a quagmire. The problem is that the scope of privilege, at least so far as the Federal Circuit in a 2-1 panel decision in Queen's University (and other courts) has said, turns on the scope of authority of patent agents. So, a patent agent who, for example, emails after a patent has issued about, say, its potential infringement: no privilege.
For now, and I would say even after/if the USPTO adopts a rule, be very careful if you have patent agents communicating directly with clients, without supervision of a lawyer, because there's also the possibility that a court won't follow the Queen's University case and hold there is no privilege, anyway. That's already happened in Texas.
Guest Post: Can an Inventorship Be Challenged in a PGR Proceeding?
The enactment of the AIA brought several changes to processes for correcting and challenging inventorship. Perhaps most notable were the elimination of 35 U.S.C. § 102(f) and the replacement of interference proceedings with derivation proceedings. These changes have raised several questions on the implications of improper inventorship in a post-AIA patent. See, e.g., Crouch, With 102(f) Eliminated, Is Inventorship Now Codified in 35 U.S.C. 101?, Patently-O (October 4, 2012). Of the many questions yet to be addressed, one is whether an allegation of improper inventorship can be raised in a Post Grant Review (PGR) proceeding.
The PTAB recently had a chance to address that question when it ruled on the first ever PGR petition filed against a design patent. Galaxia Electronics Co. v. Revolution Display, LLC, PGR2016-00021, paper 11 (PTAB November 2, 2016). In deciding not to institute trial, the PTAB also made the first ever decision on an alleged inventorship error in a PGR proceeding. However, the PTAB chose to not address the fundamental question of whether an alleged error in inventorship is a statutorily proper ground for institution of a PGR and instead denied institution by deciding the Petitioner failed to present adequate evidence to support its allegation. While this may have been the judicially expedient way to resolve this specific petition, sooner or later the PTAB is going to have to deal with the question of whether inventorship challenges should be grounds for PGR. When it does get to that question, the PTAB should decide there is no place in a PGR proceeding for inventorship challenges.
A PGR trial cannot be instituted unless the information in a petition demonstrates that it is more likely than not that at least one challenged claim is unpatentable. See 35 U.S.C. § 324; see also 37 C.F.R. § 42.208. Even before the AIA, however, an allegation of improper inventorship typically did not result in invalidation. See Viskase Corp. v. American National Can Co., 261 F.3d 1316, 1329 (Fed. Cir. 2001) ("Absent fraud or deceptive intent, the correction of inventorship does not affect the validity or enforceability of the patent for the period before the correction."); see also 1-2 Donald S. Chisum, Chisum on Patents § 2.03 [a] (Matthew Bender) ("Misjoinder and nonjoinder [of inventors] have long been viewed as 'technical' defects, not to be favored as objections or defenses to patent rights."). The reason being that, despite 35 U.S.C. § 102(f) (pre-AIA), inventorship could be corrected in most instances under either §§ 251 ("Reissue Of Defective Patents") or 256 ("Correction Of Named Inventor").
A limited pre-AIA exception where inventorship could not be corrected was if a movant could not demonstrate the error arose without deceptive intent. See, e.g., Pannu v. Iolab Corp., 155 F.3d 1344, 1350 n.4 (Fed. Cir. 1998) (noting the requirement of showing the error occurred without deceptive intent, but also that "good faith [was] presumed in the absence of a persuasive showing of deceptive intent"). The AIA removed that limited exception, thereby eliminating any possibility of invalidating a patent based on improper inventorship, assuming at least one of the owners is willing to make corrections deemed necessary. Specifically, besides eliminating § 102(f), the AIA also amended sections 251 and 256 by removing the "without any deceptive intention" requirement from those two sections. While commentators have questioned whether that pre-AIA requirement had any practical effect, see Chisum § 2.04[d], the amendments to sections 251 and 256 make it clear that any demonstrated inventorship error can be corrected; either by a certificate of correction, a reissue application, or by a suit under § 256 in Federal court. See, e.g., Vapor Point, LLC v. Alford, 832 F.3d 1343, 1348 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (ruling on an action to correct inventorship brought under § 256).
Admittedly, in situations where a party has raised an inventorship issue in a PGR, it is unlikely that all alleged inventors would be willing to cooperate with the patent owner. But this still is not a stumbling block to correction of inventorship because cooperation of all inventors is not necessarily required. As noted in MPEP § 1481.02(I), in the event an inventor is unavailable or uncooperative, a patent owner can still obtain correction via reissue. See 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.175, 1.64; see also MPEP § 1412.04(II) ("Reissue As A Vehicle For Correcting Inventorship"). Further, the patent owner may establish the right to take action pursuant to procedures described in MPEP § 325. To the extent there was a legitimate dispute as to ownership affecting entitlement toact, that dispute is separate from inventorship and a matter governed under state law—a matter that simply cannot be resolved by the PTAB or anyone at the USPTO. See, e.g., Ethicon, Inc. v. U.S. Surgical Corp., 135 F.3d 1456, 1471 (Fed. Cir. 1998).
There is a further, practical problem to permitting inventorship challenges in a PGR. If the PTAB were to institute trial on that ground (alone or among others), nothing would appear to prevent the patent owner from admitting the error and filing a reissue application or § 256 court action to correct it. It would then seem that fundamental due process considerations should allow the patent owner to correct a correctable error. But the PTAB may not be able to wait to see if inventorship is corrected before ruling in the PGR because it is statutorily obligated to reach a final determination within 12-18 months of instituting trial. 35 U.S.C. § 326 (a)(11). Based on the current backlog of reissue applications and other matters before the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU), it is unlikely that a reissue application could reach final disposition within the 12-18 month time period. The USPTO would thus seem to be stepping into a quagmire if it does not eliminate inventorship error as a ground for PGR—a patent owner has a right to pursue correction of inventorship, yet the PTAB is obligated to reach a final decision before that correction can be effected. On the other hand, if inventorship challenges before the PTAB are limited to Derivation proceedings, which are not statutorily mandated to be completed within a specific time frame and also contemplate correction of inventorship as a possible outcome (35 U.S.C. § 135(b)), that potential quagmire is avoided.
So even if, despite the elimination of § 102(f), inventorship can still be challenged under 35 U.S.C. §§ 101 or 171, such a challenge is not a statutorily proper ground for institution of a PGR because such a petition cannot demonstrate that it is more likely than not that at least one challenged claim is unpatentable. And such a ruling would comport with the statutory-framework of the AIA—Congress created Derivation proceedings, the replacement for Interference proceedings (35 U.S.C. § 135 (pre-AIA)), as the sole proceeding before the Board for inventorship challenges to post-AIA patents. See 35 U.S.C. § 135; see also 37 C.F.R. § 42.401 et seq. Thus, inventorship challenges can still be brought before the PTAB, it is simply a matter of choosing the correct vehicle through which to do so. While the PTAB chose not to address this issue this time, when next raised, it should decide the Derivation proceeding is the sole process to bring such a claim before the Board.
But until the PTAB rules definitively that inventorship error is not a ground on which PGR may be based, it is our view that failure to raise that ground in a petition will most likely lead to an estoppel on the issue. See 35 U.S.C. § 325 (e). Thus, for now, any PGR petitioner that thinks it might have a possible basis for challenging inventorship better raise that ground in its PGR petition or risk being estopped from later challenging the patent on that basis.
Tom Kohler and Kevin McGrath are director and associate, respectively, at Downs Rachlin Martin, PLLC which represented the Patent Owner in Galaxia Electronics Co. v. Revolution Display, LLC, PGR2016-00021 (PTAB May 18, 2016); the first PGR petition directed to a design patent.
Today, USPTO Director provided her first Post-Election speech that includes some thoughts on IP policy after Obama.
I believe the incoming administration must and will continue our effort to promote innovation fueled by a strong and robust IP system. Support for IP in the United States has a long history of bipartisanship, and there's no reason to imagine that changing with a new president and a new Congress, both of whom have economic growth as a top priority. . . .
I'm optimistic the incoming administration will share our appreciation of the importance of intellectual property as a driver of economic growth. As I look ahead, I foresee legislative patent reform changes will continue to be discussed in Congress, though those conversations will likely occur later in the term after some of the other priorities including filling a Supreme Court vacancy, immigration and tax reform are addressed, and any legislative patent reform will likely be more targeted, rather than the comprehensive reforms we've seen in prior Congresses. I would hope any legislative proposal will take into account the numerous positive changes that have occurred recently in the patent system including: through the courts, including on attorneys fees, pleading requirements and discovery limits, and at the USPTO through the PTAB and the agency's efforts to improve the quality of patents in our system. As far as issues, I predict legislative discussions may include venue reform and possibly changes to Section 101 and PTAB. On venue, with nearly half of the patent cases filed in 2015 filed in a single district out of 94 federal judicial districts, it is easy for critics to contend that plaintiffs seek out this district preferentially for the wrong reasons. And the mere perception that there are advantages to be gained by forum-shopping challenges the public's faith in the patent system. So there will be continuing pressure for legislative (and likely judicial) action on the issue of venue. The scope of any legislative reform remains is to be determined, but I predict that the focus will be on more targeted, rather than comprehensive reform as we saw these past couple Congresses. Further, I anticipate that the USPTO's work across the globe to ensure that other countries have strong IP protections adequate enforcement mechanisms and remedies, and appropriate technology transfer (or licensing and competition) policies, will continue in the next Administration particularly in such countries as China and others. This is a President-elect that has promised economic growth and job creation in our country, and IP will necessarily be a key piece to achieving that goal. . . .
I firmly believe that the USPTO is healthy, well-functioning and poised to successfully handle whatever challenges and opportunities lie ahead. . . . When President Obama was inaugurated in 2009, his focus was on leading this nation's recovery from the Great Recession. One of his first acts was to ask the Smithsonian to provide for display in the Oval Office some patent models that demonstrated past American innovation that led to new jobs and new industries. The president said that throughout our history, Americans solved problems through innovation and IP. He wanted to see reminders of that every day as he encountered the challenges he faced. The Smithsonian provided him with three models: Samuel Morse's telegraph (1849), John Peer's gear cutter (1874), and Henry Williams' steamboat wheel (1877). As I stood behind the President in the Oval Office earlier this year when he signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act, I couldn't help but notice those three models along the wall to my left—still there almost eight years later—and feel extraordinarily humbled and honored. I feel that same honor and humility today standing before all of you and reflecting on just how much we have accomplished under this administration. I've been fortunate to lead the USPTO at a time when intellectual property issues have been front and center on the consciousness of the American public and President and to have had the opportunity to help guide the direction in a small way. My hope is that the President-elect keeps the patent models from Morse, Peer and Williams in his office as a reminder of the importance of intellectual property to the economic prosperity that I know he wants for our country.


Bring in the catch of the day with the King Kooker® 20" Fish Fryer Package with a 6 Quart Cast Iron Pot. This propane cooker includes a 54,000 BTU cast burner with a recessed top ring and large bottom for added safety. A protective wind guard keeps Mother Nature from extinguishing the cooker's flame, and the cast iron pot and punched aluminum basket make cooking frying up your favorite food a snap.


text:
Home | About Us | Archive | Documents | Campaigns & Issues | Links | Contact Us
Volunteering, Culture, Politics & Fun!
Join the Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade to Cuba
By Janine Solanki
While we may be in the midst of Canada's winter during a pandemic, the warmth of Cuba is not so far away with the Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade!
What is the Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade?
The Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade has travelled to Cuba 26 times annually, bringing brigadistas from Canada to Cuba. This unique trip is a project of the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC) in Canada and the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) in Cuba. The two-week program is an opportunity to experience the Cuban Revolution and its accomplishments. There is no better way to get to know the Cuban people than working alongside them, sharing meals, and leisure time - including going to the beach! The Che Brigade's vibrant program also includes visiting cultural sites, health and educational institutions, historical sites, workshops, concerts, dance classes, and more! This year we are all living in the unprecedented situation of the Covid-19 pandemic. As international travel has come to a halt around the world, this has included travel to Cuba, where the focus has been on keeping people safe and effectively containing the outbreak in Cuba. However, the 2021 Che Guevara Brigade to Cuba is on the not too distant horizon, and we are looking forward to a much anticipated return to Cuba, April 28 – May 11, 2021!
Bringing Cuba's Warmth to Your Homes!
While it was not possible to travel to Cuba in 2020, that has not stopped the Che Guevara Brigade from hosting online events! On September 27, the Che Brigade hosted a Cuban Cultural Night and brought Cuba's warmth and culture to distant homes. The event, facilitated by Janine Solanki, national coordinator of the Che Guevara Brigade, included speakers such as Tania López Larroque, Consul General of the Republic of Cuba in Toronto; Yamil Martínez Marrero from the Canada Desk of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP); and Marcia Krawll, an educator, Clinical Social Worker and human rights activist who developed adult literacy programs in New Zealand and Canada in collaboration with Cuban institutions. The cultural elements of the program included poetry readings of Nicolás Guillén, Cuba's national poet and José Martí, Cuban poet and hero of Cuba's War of Independence. Music from Trio Bembe, an incredible Latin music trio, and Obsesión, pioneers of Cuban Hip-Hop, kept everyone's toes tapping in front of their computer screens. Some may have gotten out of their seats to dance in their living rooms, with a Cuban salsa dance lesson and demonstration from Harold Rancano, an internationally recognized Cuban dance instructor and performer!
How Can I Join the Next Che Guevara Brigade to Cuba?
The next Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade is scheduled for April 28 – May11, 2021. The Che Brigade is open to people of all ages and abilities, and although we are based in Canada, we welcome those wanting to join from other countries too! For more information, check out www.canadiannetworkoncuba.ca/brigade, and for any questions to receive updates on the price and program, you can call or email the National Coordinator Janine Solanki at 778-881-6156 or chevolbrigade@gmail.com. Stay tuned to your social media accounts for news and updates on the Che Brigade too! You can follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CheVolBrigade on Twitter @CheVolBrigade, or Instagram @cdnntwrkoncuba
Back to Article Listing


Giselle's statement feature is it's cowl neckline and mirroring deep cowl back. The cowl drapes beautifully at both the front and back in the Italian crepe fabric creating an elegant look. The slim skirt of the Giselle emphasises curves with a soft fishtail shape but has plenty of movement in the bottom of the skirt to dance the night away!
Light chantilly lace panels run down the sides of the dress and onto the skirt. This lace is used down the back of the dress and for the small train which makes the whole dress look soft and romantic.
Fabric used: Italian Crepe and Lace.


Harmony of Elements is an amazing game which is little bit different and you will have lots of fun by playing this game. In this online game you will have to match different elements to create new elements and it will give you great fun.
Harmony of Elements is free game to play and this game will give you very nice time. The game is very amazing one to play and it can give you awesome time. The game is very exciting game which can give you awesome time and you will have great time. Here your aim is to find different elements to make new elements. The game has very good graphics and it can give you great time. You can play the game online for free and you will have lots of fun by trying this game. Whenever you want you can try this free game and you will just love your time.


text:
Sport24 Home
CWC 19
Thabang Moroe (Gallo Images). Credit: Gallo Images
CSA boss admits Proteas have issues dealing with pressure
Lynn Butler - Sport24, 02 July 2019 12:57
Cape Town - Cricket South Africa (CSA) CEO Thabang Moroe has shared his disappointment and frustration over the Proteas' performance during the ongoing World Cup.
This is arguably South Africa's worst performance at a World Cup having only registered two wins from eight games thus far.
The South African public have been understandably brutal in their critique of the Proteas' epic downfall in the 50-over showpiece.
READ: Proteas brace for day of farewells in Manchester
Moroe has sympathised and shared his disappointment with fans and said that the Proteas need to find a better way to handle pressure.
"If I didn't feel disappointment I wouldn't be patriotic. We are disappointed, we were hoping for far better results but things didn't go our way. The guys tried as hard as they could to string up a few performances," Moroe told reporters at the KFC Mini-Cricket National Seminar in George.
"It was frustrating witnessing the body language of our team and how we managed to get some of the simplest things wrong but having said that we just need to find better ways of dealing with pressure."
When asked to elaborate on the issues, Moroe said some of South African cricketers need to become tougher.
"I think it's a systematic thing and it's not necessarily a psychological thing for cricketers. I think for me is how do we tweak one or two things in our system to make sure that we breed strong tough-minded cricketers," he suggested.
"We've had individuals who don't get picked in a team and instead of giving themselves one more season... or putting the numbers in asked by the selectors or coach... they'll rather go Kolpak.
"It's just needing to find a way of tweaking the system and breeding strong cricketers.
"If you look at a team like Australia... after the saga that they had to go through in Cape Town... the team was down and out for a couple of months but if you look at them today it doesn't look the same team and it's mentally because Australians are tough.
"You see it with David Warner and Steve Smith walking in to bat, being booed every day and every day they are putting up their hands saying, 'We don't care'."
There's been a cry from fans alike to see some repercussions after the tournament and while Moroe couldn't divulge on what those will be, he did reveal that they will go through various reports including from Proteas team management and the board.
Match,SuperOver tied, Eng won on boundary count
England won by 8 wickets
New Zealand won by 18 runs
South Africa won by 10 runs
Terms & Conditions Advertise About Us Contact Us
© 2019 (v6.10.2-3) 24.com All Rights Reserved


text:
52: A Urologist Answers Your Questions
Do exercises that promise more size or stamina work? Is a lump always cancerous? Can men get urinary tract infections? Urologist Dr. John Smith tackles those questions and tells Scot and Troy about some do it yourself ways some men have attempted, unsuccessfully, to solve their own urological problems.
Dr. John Smith tackles those questions and tells Scot and Troy about some do it yourself ways some men have attempted, unsuccessfully, to solve their own urological problems.">
This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.
Scot: Nobody's got any questions? Good.
Dr. Smith: I thought you brought the questions.
Scot: I do. I've got the questions.
Troy: That's Scot's job.
Scot: That's right. I have two jobs. One is to provide everybody with microphones, although you bought your own, so I feel pretty . . .
Dr. Smith: I did. I brought the heat today.
Scot: Yeah, Troy, Dr. Smith bought his own mic.
Troy: Exactly. Why buy it when you're getting it for free? You gave me mine, so I'm like, "I'm not spending money on this thing."
Dr. Smith: Well played.
Scot: It's "Who Cares About Men's Health." That's the name of the podcast. What do we do here? We provide information, inspiration, and motivation to understand and engage in your health so you can feel better today and in the future. My name is Scot Singpiel. I am the manager of thescoperadio.com, and I care about men's health.
Troy: And I'm Dr. Troy Madsen. I'm an emergency physician at the University of Utah, and I care about men's health.
Dr. Smith: And I'm John Smith. I'm a non-surgical urologist at the University of Utah and I care about men's health.
Scot: All right. Dr. Smith, Dr. John . . . can I call you John, Dr. Smith? Is that okay?
Dr. Smith: You can surely call me John.
Scot: It's John's first time on the show. Welcome. This is exciting.
Dr. Smith: Thank you.
Troy: Welcome, John. Thanks for joining us.
Scot: I noticed Troy is not clapping. He's not nearly as excited as I am, but that's okay.
Troy: I'm very excited.
Scot: He's tough to win over sometimes, so . . .
Troy: Thanks, Scot.
Scot: We'll see how you do.
Troy: We'll see how you do. I'm still warming up to you, so . . .
Dr. Smith: We'll see if I can get him to clap by the end of the show.
Troy: We'll try.
Scot: Dr. Smith, thank you for being on the show. We're going to do some listener questions today. We're going to get to those in just a couple of seconds. But first, Troy, I'm curious, as an emergency room physician, what is the general take in the medical field on urologists? Like, when I said, "We're going to have a urologist on," what goes through your mind?
Troy: What goes through my mind? Well, we very regularly talk to our urologist. We see all sorts of urologic emergencies in the emergency department, whether it's trauma related or other issues we're seeing. They're people we talk to frequently. So, it's someone we rely on in the emergency department and we're very grateful always to have their assistance.
Scot: All right. So, it's great to have their assistance. But, I mean, what do you really think about urologists in general?
Troy: Scot, what are you getting at here?
Scot: I mean, in all fields of medicine, isn't there a little friendly competition between you all and there's some . . .
Troy: I'm jealous of urologists. It's a great field. It's a really great field. It's a very competitive specialty. It's a great field. It's one of those things where the people I knew who went into urology in med school were great people, like good friends of mine. I think it's a very well-respected specialty.
Scot: Dr. Smith, are there some urology stereotypes out there?
Dr. Smith: Oh, of course.
Scot: Yeah? What are some of these urologist stereotypes? Because I think I've noticed some patterns when I've met a few urologists.
Dr. Smith: I guess, on the other side, I . . .
Troy: Are you just trying to get him to cracks and dirty jokes? Is that where we're going, Scot?
Scot: Anything for ratings.
Dr. Smith: There are a few urologist jokes out there that are semi-family-friendly.
Scot: Well, hold on that because, actually, at the end of the show, I'm going to ask you to end with a urologist joke. So, hold on to that, okay?
Dr. Smith: Well, I'll save my favorite for then.
Scot: All right. But are there kind of some stereotypes in the medical field when it comes to urologists? It seems like urologists tend to have a better sense of humor than some of the other specialties. They're cracking jokes a lot. Is that fair or . . .
Dr. Smith: I would agree with that, I think. Most of them are good-natured, fun-loving guys and gals that they like to have a good time, but they also are very intelligent, like to work hard, and take care of folks.
Scot: All right. Sounds good. I can't wait for the joke at the end though. I'm really looking forward to that. That's going to be great, a good urologist joke.
Troy: Yeah. Stick around for the joke. For no other reason. We've got a good joke on the way.
Scot: These questions for our urologist, Dr. John Smith, came from a few different sources. First of all, we have a listener line. You can call and leave a message, and that is 601-557-2673, or easy way to remember it, 601-55SCOPE. You could also email hello@thescoperadio.com, and we also got a few Facebook direct messages. So, if you have a question for a urologist, those are the channels that you can get those to us.
But we figured we'd start with a urologist because a lot of times, when it comes to the medical field, it seems like urological questions are the ones a lot of us guys are hesitant or embarrassed to ask. Why is it that guys are embarrassed to talk about this stuff, do you think? I mean, it's just our bodies, right?
Troy: Sure, it's our bodies, but it's something that's obviously very personal and people crack jokes about their genitalia, and so I think it's one of those things where, yeah, it's something that . . . And it really gets at the essence of our manhood. If you're talking about erectile dysfunction, sure, it's a medical issue, but it really gets at the essence of your virility and your manliness. So, I think it's tough to bring up and it's tough to really be willing to address it, for sure.
Dr. Smith: I think that's true. And then you also have the society stereotypes. It does get to the heart of manliness. A lot of people feel like, "Well, if I can't perform, I'm not a certain one way or another." I mean, I've heard it all from different guys who have different perceptions of things.
But again, it is. It's a body part that can break down just like anything else. You see an athlete tear their ACL. I mean, it happens. People get injured. Not necessarily with the erectile dysfunction, but sometimes it's related to other medical problems where it's very difficult to avoid.
Scot: If you want to ask a question and you are a little embarrassed or hesitant, we're going to make this as simple as possible. So, you can say that you're asking for a friend if that makes you feel better. We'll totally believe that. You don't have to use your real name. You can make up a name. You can even use a fake name that's obviously fake, like John Smith, for example. We're just trying to make it super safe. And as a matter of fact, we're making it so safe that we have a urologist who's obviously also using a fake name. So, this is about as anonymous as it gets.
Dr. Smith: Witness protection has been good to me through the years.
Troy: There you go. Nice.
Scot: All right. Here we go. Question number one.
John: Hi. My name is John Smith and I'm calling in the urology line to ask the question "Can guys really get urinary tract infections?" I thought that was more of a woman thing. Anyway, just asking for a friend. Thank you.
Scot: Okay. So, yeah, great question. I guess I am in the same camp. I guess I figured that urinary tract infections, mainly women get them. Can men get them?
Dr. Smith: So, a couple of different reasons why a man would get a urinary tract infection. As men age, their prostates continue to grow. Your nose, your ears, and your prostate continue to grow, but they only told you the first two in school growing up. But when your prostate gets larger, it can obstruct your urinary flow and predispose you to urinary tract infections. That's one of the most common things that we'll see. A gentleman has urinary tract infection and he's older, prostate is generally the cause.
Another common thing we'll see where men will have a urinary tract infection is if they have a stricture of their urethra. Sometimes you can have a narrowing of the urethra for whatever reason. Sometimes it's trauma-related. Sometimes we can never pinpoint why it happens.
Anything that obstructs the flow of urine. So, another way a man could get a urinary tract infection, sometimes kidney stones that are infected can cause a urinary tract infection or even a kidney infection.
So, those would be a couple of the ways that a man could get a urinary tract infection.
Men are less likely to get a urinary tract infection because their urethra is about 20 centimeters long and a female's is about 3 centimeters long. So, the distance travelled is much further, but it definitely can happen.
Scot: What if you have to pee and oftentimes find yourself in a situation where you have to pee but you don't have the ability to do so? Can that cause urinary tract infections? If you're a long-haul truck driver or something like that and you're not going to the bathroom as often as you should . . .
Dr. Smith: You can predispose yourself to that. It's less likely. If there's not an obstruction . . . so I tell my patients, "You're either a pond or you're a river." And what that means is if you've ever been around a pond of stagnant water, you know what happens to it. A river generally doesn't look like that.
So, someone without an obstruction is more like a river and things are just kind of cleared out with the urine flowing. And then when you become a pond and have urinary retention where you don't empty your bladder the way that you should, you predispose yourself to an infection and looking like that stagnant pond water.
Scot: All right. And what does that urinary tract infection feel like? I mean, I've heard about it a lot from men and women in my life, but . . .
Dr. Smith: So, it depends on . . .
Scot: And rightly so, it's painful.
Dr. Smith: It sounds awful, yeah. It's miserable.
Scot: I can get myself in trouble here.
Troy: You are going to get yourself in trouble, Scot.
Dr. Smith: Asking for a friend, right, Scot?
Scot: Yes. Friends have told me they've heard this.
Troy: Yeah. Women in your life have said things . . .
Dr. Smith: "I've heard . . ." So, generally, folks will end up with dysuria or burning with urination. Some people go to the bathroom more frequently. Some guys will get kind of groin pain, flank pain. Testicular pain can also occur. Those are signs that you could have that. Fever and chills can also be a sign.
Some people complain of a change in their urine color or cloudiness, or a smell to the urine. Those ones aren't as well kind of . . . they don't necessarily mean you have an infection as much as some of the others do. But you should definitely come and have your urine evaluated to make sure that there's not something that we need to get treated and taken care of.
Scot: Yeah. The good news about all those symptoms you mentioned, if any of that stuff start happening on a regular basis, I think I'm going to go visit a doctor.
Troy: Yeah.
Dr. Smith: You probably should.
Troy: Those aren't subtle things. Once you start seeing blood in your urine and burning, you're going to get checked out.
Scot: Question number two, this one is one that came in through Facebook Messenger. No shock here. It's from John Smith and asking for a friend. "Is there any legitimacy to exercises that promise more size, girth, stamina, those sorts of things?" You know those emails you get that say, "Do these exercises and all these good things will happen."
Troy: Now, you're referring to bicep girth, or what's the gist here, Scot?
Scot: These emails are generally in your junk folder and they're promising . . .
Troy: And referring to your junk. Okay, right. Got it.
Scot: Yes, exactly
Dr. Smith: That's why it's a junk mailbox.
Troy: That's right. Got it.
Scot: Yes, because that's all that's in there. Dr. Smith, is there any legitimacy to any of those exercises?
Dr. Smith: I can't confirm that there's any legitimacy there to any of that stuff. The one thing we do know is that diet and exercise can help the quality of your erection for men with kind of mild erectile dysfunction. But there are no exercises or stretches or anything that has been shown to be super effective in that category.
There are different devices to help different conditions, like a condition where there's curvature of the penis. There are some devices that can help to straighten things back out, so to speak. Those have been shown to be effective, but there's not anything that's been shown to give increased length, girth, or quality of the male member, so to speak.
Scot: All right. And even those ones that are for medical use, I'd imagine, if you were experiencing something like that, probably best to visit a physician first and use those under the guidance of a physician, not just kind of a do-it-yourself thing. Or is that okay?
Dr. Smith: Absolutely. You want to be evaluated to make sure that you're a candidate for a lot of those devices. It's always smart to go see a doctor. When in doubt, you should probably go and see a physician about things. It just makes sense and it's safer that way to kind of be under the guidance of someone who's done this before.
Troy: Any downside to using those devices? Have you ever seen things go wrong with those sorts of things?
Dr. Smith: So, I've seen some folks come in with certain cultural injections that they've had put into the penis and things that have promised to give increased size or girth, where they've had an infection from that, and had to have some things taken care of that way. I've also seen people who have tried to inject caulk or silicone.
Scot: What?
Dr. Smith: Oh, yeah.
Scot: What? How? Where?
Troy: Just like something from Home Depot, like some silicone caulk or something?
Dr. Smith: Exactly.
Scot: The way I'm imagining that they would inject it, I mean, there's like one way that I'm thinking that gets in there.
Dr. Smith: And you're probably thinking of it the right way.
Scot: Okay. Wow.
Dr. Smith: I've also had people who've come in with urinary retention who've placed things like that inside their urethra to try to help with rigidity of their erection, so . . .
Troy: Wow.
Scot: Wow. There's a do-it-yourselfer right there.
Troy: So, when you say inject, you're not talking . . . they don't have a needle. They're just going in the urethra, right in the hole there, with the silicone.
Dr. Smith: Oh, no, both ways.
Troy: Both ways? Wow.
Dr. Smith: Oh, yeah. A lot of them will get an infection under the skin because they've injected some of those things at times.
Troy: So, they've injected with a needle under the skin and then just shot it directly in the urethra? Wow. That sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Scot: You haven't had any of those come through the emergency room ever, huh, Troy?
Troy: I have never seen that. After 15 years of doing this, you think you've seen just about everything, but that is one thing . . . I mean, I've seen some crazy things and some crazy things people have put in their urethra, but I've never seen silicone shot in the urethra. That sounds awful.
Dr. Smith: You must not work nights, Troy.
Troy: I worked plenty of nights, yeah. That's just one thing I haven't seen. It's crazy. I haven't seen it, so . . .
Scot: Wow. All right.
Troy: Interesting.
Scot: So, question number two, is there any legitimacy to exercise to promote more size, girth, or stamina? According to what Dr. Smith says, there's no real good research that says that there is. So, don't spend your money on that stuff, I suppose, and don't be injecting either.
Troy: But he did say, though, and it's worth noting, it sounds like . . . John, you did mention that exercise and diet can improve the quality of erections. Maybe not necessarily just the size of a man's penis, but it sounds like there is potentially benefit from diet and exercise.
Scot: And it comes back to that core four that we talk about here. To stay healthy now and feel good now and in the future, you want to work on your nutrition, your activity, your sleep, your stress management, and, of course, know your genetics as well and manage those addictive behaviors and those nagging health issues. So, diet and exercise, it seems like it always comes back to that.
All right. Question number three, our final question for our urologist, Dr. John Smith. Of course, you can use an alias if you'd like to, like an obviously made-up name, like John Smith. Let's see who this is.
John: Hi. This is John Smith here and I'm calling about the "Who Cares About Men's Health" podcast. I was just wondering if I found a lump on my testicle, is it cancer? Just curious.
Troy: So, Scot, were these guys all planted? Did you tell them just to make up the name and call themselves John Smith?
Scot: On the Facebook page . . .
Troy: What are the odds?
Scot: Here's the thing. On the Facebook page, I said, "If you don't want to use your real name, use an alias like John Smith. You could also say you're asking for a friend." I'm trying to . . .
Dr. Smith: So, you set all these guys up then. Okay.
Scot: Dr. Smith, lump on testicle, does that mean cancer?
Dr. Smith: It does not mean cancer. It can mean cancer, but it quite often does not mean cancer. The other thing is a lot of men like to say, "I have a lump on my testicle," and then I'll do an examination and it's not even on the testicle. There's something that's very common called an epididymal head cyst or an epididymal cyst. Sometimes people will call it a spermatocele. It's kind of a cystic little area of the epididymis, which they can continue to grow, get larger. And a lot of times, men will notice those and they think that there's something going on. I see quite a bit of those, especially younger and middle-aged men.
Something that can actually be on the testicle itself that wouldn't be cancer would be a tunica albuginea cyst, or albuginea, depending on who you ask and where they went to school. But it kind of feels like a BB right under the testicle. They're generally benign. There's nothing really to them. It's just kind of a fibrous little ball underneath the layer of the testicle there and you can kind of feel it. It feels like a little BB.
But the best thing to do is if you're worried at all, come in, and we can order an ultrasound to make sure that there's nothing sinister going on. But it doesn't always mean that it's cancer. Oftentimes, it's benign. However, it's definitely worth getting checked out if there's any concern whatsoever.
Troy: So, John, I guess that raises the question as well, as a young man going through sex education in fifth grade, I was taught I should be examining myself every month in the shower to feel for lumps and bumps, get it checked out, and then from my understanding, it's kind of gone out of vogue. Is that something we should be continuing to do, that men should do?
Dr. Smith: So, I think self-examination is important. The biggest thing is just knowing your body, knowing yourself. I don't know that marking the calendar for the 24th of every month to check your scrotum is the way to go. But, you know . . .
Troy: So, you're saying I've been doing it wrong?
Dr. Smith: No, I'm saying you're probably doing it just fine.
Scot: That's so weird. I was over at Troy's house and saw the calendar on his kitchen refrigerator. I'm like, "Well, that's weird, but okay." But now I understand.
Troy: Scot's like, "What's TSE?" "Scot . . ."
Dr. Smith: But yeah, I think to know yourself . . . I mean, most guys, if you have the opportunity to just check things every once in a while and make sure that things are normal. And if anything feels abnormal, it's worth coming in and having someone take a peek at it.
Scot: Yeah, and . . .
Troy: It sounds like . . . oh, sorry, Scot.
Scot: Go ahead.
Troy: It sounds like from what you're saying, though, you don't have to feel like you've got cancer. It's worth checking out. What percentage of these cases that you see actually end up being cancer, people that come in for lumps and bumps they're concerned about?
Dr. Smith: So, for me, it's a lower percentage that I would see that are cancer. Most of them are these very small little lumps that end up being epididymal head cysts or things like that. Testicle cancer, or testis cancer, you tend to have your testicle . . . it feels like a rock. It changes its consistency more so than just a teeny little lump or bump. Those teeny little lumps and bumps are often benign. However, you will find some of those that are cancer, and so it's good to just get it checked out.
But when you have testis cancer, oftentimes, you'll see growth of the testis itself, and it changes in consistency. Now, that's not an everyday, all the time, but it's always worth getting checked out regardless.
Scot: You know what? This is a podcast about understanding your health, and here I am, not going to be as educated as I'd like to be, I discovered a lump about 10 years ago, went in, and it was . . . help me out here. It was benign. They did an ultrasound on it and it was on the spermicidal cord. That's not right, because spermicidal is some . . .
Dr. Smith: Yeah, the spermatic cord.
Scot: Spermatic cord, yeah. It was just something on the spermatic cord and they just said, "Watch it." And if it ever starts hurting, that's when I need to come back. Otherwise, don't worry about it too much. Did I get good information?
Dr. Smith: You did. That's in a similar family to those epididymal cysts. It's in a different location. But those cystic structures, they just end up . . . it just turns into a little sac of fluid, a little sac of water.
One other thing that guys will come in sometimes, they'll say, "Oh, my testicle has gotten larger." There's something called a hydrocele where you can have a fluid build-up around the testicle itself that can make the testicle appear large or fill up the scrotum. They can be quite large. And again, you can come in and we can take a look at it, get imaging if we need to. But that's, again, something that's not cancer. It's just a bag of fluid that develops around the testicle. Those things are all benign and we just watch them.
Troy: John, getting to your point here, this is kind of what I see too in the ER. We do occasionally see people who come in for this and they find a lump. They're concerned. They don't want to wait to try and get in to see a urologist. But it's a small percentage of the time it's cancer. But like you said, it's worth getting checked out, get an ultrasound just to make sure everything's okay.
Dr. Smith: And ultrasounds are relatively inexpensive, too. There's no reason not to get one, really.
Scot: And probably not go to the ER for it.
Troy: Yeah, not necessarily.
Scot: Unless Troy's on at night.
Troy: Yeah, unless it's 3:00 a.m. on a Friday night, because I have nothing better to do then. Please come in.
Dr. Smith: Well, a lot of times, a good primary care doctor will order an ultrasound for you and get you a referral to the urologist's office where you can get some peace of mind. Because specialists can be difficult to get into at times, but . . .
Scot: All right. Well, that was a good session. How are we feeling about that? Dr. Smith, how do you feel about your first experience on the "Who Cares about Men's Health" podcast?
Dr. Smith: I like it. It's a lot of fun. I think I feel a little ill-prepared at times because there's always more. I mean, in medicine, it's never just as simple as the wham-bam, as Troy will tell you. But I think this is great. I appreciate you guys having me on. It's a lot of fun.
Scot: It's been a lot of fun having you on. And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. Oh, boy. I tell you what. I'm sure that everybody woke up this morning thinking . . .
Troy: I thought it was this, Scot. I thought it was me clapping.
Dr. Smith: Is that Troy clapping?
Troy: I'm clapping.
Dr. Smith: Wow.
Troy: I'm clapping for John. He did a great job. I've warmed up to him now. I'm going to give him some applause. So, it's great having you on here, John.
Dr. Smith: Hey, I appreciate you guys having me. This has been a lot of fun.
Scot: All right. Time to end with a good urologist joke. Dr. Smith, go ahead.
Dr. Smith: All right. What does the urologist say before he starts the procedure?
Scot: What does a urologist say before he starts the procedure? Troy?
Troy: I don't know.
Scot: I know what a urologist says if he or she has a breakthrough. They say, "Urethra!" But I don't know what the urologist says when they start the procedure.
Dr. Smith: "It won't be long now." That's my dad joke/urologist joke. It works for both.
Troy: Yeah. That's good.
Scot: Fine work. Thank you so much for being on the podcast, Dr. Smith, and thank you for caring about men's health.
Time for "Just Going To Leave This Here." It could be something completely random or it might have something to do with health. I guess we'll find out now. Troy, kick it off.
Troy: So, Scot, I'm just going to leave this here. The silver lining in the pandemic, I think, for a lot of us . . . I know you've talked about some different things you've done. But one thing for us is I've gained a greater appreciation of getting takeout. We have now done where we're regularly getting takeout at least once a week from a local place. We like to try different places out. We really had some pleasant surprises in trying out new places where we'd never eaten before.
But I think it's more just fun, the whole process, because we're taking our dogs with us. If we went to a restaurant to sit down and eat, we would never take the dogs. We're taking the dogs. They love going for a ride with us. They think it's the coolest thing to get in the car and go somewhere. Now, we are not eating the takeout in the car because, usually, our dogs are not the most well-behaved animals.
Scot: So the takeout always goes home.
Troy: The takeout always goes home because, otherwise, the dogs are leaning over the takeout and drooling in it. That never goes well.
Scot: Maybe you could take the takeout to a park sometime, though.
Troy: We could.
Scot: They could watch squirrels and . . .
Troy: They could watch squirrels and then try and jump up on the picnic table and eat our takeout.
Scot: Just going to leave this here. So, last week, we had "windmaggedon." I don't know what people are calling it. They called it the inland hurricane here in Utah, in the Salt Lake area, in the valley where we had these category two hurricane winds. Now, the difference being that we didn't have water, and the other difference being that category two hurricane winds are constant and these were just the gusts would be up to category two.
But it was windy enough to knock down a lot of trees. Took our power out for about 36 hours, and it just really shocked me how dependent I am on power. Just one thing in our world, if it was to be disrupted, would just bring the entire country to a screeching halt. Thirty-six hours later . . .
I tried to work. We were still supposed to work. But around 11:00 that morning, my laptop ran out of juice. My cellphone, because I was tethering it for Wi-Fi, ran out of juice. And I couldn't do anything else. I was done. My work was done, which just really kind of shocked me.
There are so many people that have it so much more worse. And the other weird thing was that was just limited to our area, so in other parts of the United States, it was just life is normal. But here, life was just so disrupted without electricity.
Troy: But talk about that feeling of the haves and the have-nots. It was 7:00, 8:00 at night. The sun is going down. I look across the street, and all the houses on the other side of the street, their lights are on.
Scot: That was us, too.
Troy: Like, "Wait a second. This is not fair. I'm over here . . ."
Scot: I know.
Troy: Yeah. "I have nothing here." I am here in my 50-degree house with no heat and my neighbors all are just enjoying it and their heat is on, and their lights are . . . I'm like, "Wait, this isn't right."
Scot: That's when you find an outdoor outlet at your neighbor's and run an extension cord across the street.
Troy: Exactly. That's a good thought. I did not do that. I should have.
Scot: All right. Time to say the things that you say at the end of podcasts because we are at the end of ours. As always, thanks for listening. Please subscribe if you like the podcast so we can be sure to be in your podcast player of choice every single week, and we're on all of them. And if you want to reach out, Troy's got the details on that.
Troy: Yeah. You can reach out to us. Drop us an email at hello@thescoperadio.com. We're on Facebook, facebook.com/WhoCaresMensHealth. Website is whocaresmenshealth.com. We actually have a listener line as well. You can call in and ask questions, and I'm hoping Scot has the number for that line.
Scot: 601-55SCOPE. Go ahead and write that down, Troy, and write that down, everybody else. 601-55SCOPE. If you have any questions, comments, you just leave your message right there. Thanks for listening and thanks for caring about men's health.
129: Why Goals Fail and How to Fix That
128: A Hierarchy of Health
126: Balance is the Key with Listener Neil
The Basics: Your Daughter's Painful Urination
122: Holiday Game Plans for Health
121: Fatherhood, The Core 4, and More