This month's Spartan Nurse Monthly Wellness topic is fibromyalgia. The name fibromyalgia comes from "fibro" meaning fibrous tissues (such as tendons or ligaments), "my" meaning muscles, and "algia" meaning pain. Fibromyalgia is a common pain disorder and is estimated to affect greater than five million Americans. Women between the ages of 20-50 years are most often affected.
The most prominent symptom of fibromyalgia is persistent, wide-spread pain, with increased sensitivity to stimuli that are not normally painful, and an increased response to painful stimuli. Other key symptoms that can occur are areas of tenderness covering the body and stiffness. People who have fibromyalgia may be depressed, anxious, forgetful, have difficulty concentrating, and experience disorganized thinking. Tension and/or migraine headaches can occur, as well as poor sleep quality, difficulty falling asleep, frequent wakening during the night, and early wakening with difficulty returning to sleep. People may experience increased sensitivity to heat and cold. Other disorders that may accompany fibromyalgia are Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Chronic Pelvic Pain, and depression.
Fibromyalgia can impact a person's social and work life. Because of lack of sleep and energy, this disease can disrupt relationships and cause social isolation. Work life can be impacted as well; career loss or an inability to advance in career or education is common. There is no diagnostic test to diagnose fibromyalgia, but it is important to note that it can be treated.
Fibromyalgia is diagnosed by a focused history and physical examination based on the symptoms that are experienced, which can be completed by your nurse practitioner or physician. Once diagnosed, the treatment goals typically entail adequate pain relief with improved ability to carry out activities of daily living, and improving sleep. The goal is to help you manage your pain. Treatment includes working with nurse practitioners, physicians, pain psychologists, and physical therapists. Your health care provider can provide you with medications. There are several medications that are FDA approved for the treatment of fibromyalgia. The pain psychologist can provide you with coping, relaxation and biofeedback techniques. Physical therapy, like water therapy and gentle stretching, can be helpful. Remaining active with some sort of exercise is an important piece of the treatment plan. Complementary and alternative medicine such as acupuncture, massage, Yoga, and chiropractic therapy have been shown to be helpful as well.
Working together with your healthcare provider is a must in helping you understand the disorder, identify and manage sleep disturbances, and increase your confidence in the treatments you select. Your providers can provide support, help you develop coping mechanisms, and give you the skills to manage your pain.


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What is Parkinson's?
Think you might have Parkinson's?
Finding Things to Do and Support
Overslade House
Myton Hospice
Carer's Trust - Emergency Care
Council Tax Reductions – The Facts
Equipment Help
Rugby Lotto
Coins and Notes
Body Strength and Conditioning
Parkinson's UK - Rugby Branch
If you have found this website because you have just been diagnosed, or someone you know has, welcome. You are not alone, and we want to help.
This is the website for the local branch and support group of Parkinson's UK in the Rugby area.
We aim to bring together people with Parkinson's, their partners, carers and other family members and we want to help improve the well-being of everyone in our area affected by the condition. We also want to help others understand what it is all about.
Mark Pawsey
Our President. The Right Honourable Mark Pawsey MP
Parkinson's UK do such important work nationally helping raise awareness of the challenges faced by people with the condition and our local branch here in Rugby are no different.
I am proud to be the President of the Rugby branch and to do what I can to help raise awareness of Parkinson's, but the success of the branch is down to the hard-work and dedication of the incredible team of local volunteers.
There has been a great deal of progress made in helping those with Parkinson's in recent years but there is still much more to do. I would encourage anyone with the disease, or with a family member who has the condition, to get in touch with the local branch and seek out the support and help that is available.
White Dormers, Colledge Close, Brinklow, CV23 0NT
chair@parkinsons-rugby.org.uk
Parkinson's UK is the operating name of the Parkinson's Disease Society of the United Kingdom. A registered charity in England and Wales (258197) and in Scotland (SC037554). Registered office: 215 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1EJ.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The landmark decree allowing Saudi women to drive has received the seal of approval from the Council of Senior Scholars, the Kingdom's highest religious body that advises King Salman on religious matters.
"King Salman, granted by God the responsibility of protecting his people and the nation's interests, and preserving Islamic values and national interests, does not waver in achieving the national interest in accordance with Shariah," the council's secretariat said.
"The senior scholars decided to adopt and approve the royal decree. King Salman only does what is best for his nation.
"The scholars' advisory opinions focused on the virtues and vices, and not the act of driving itself, which is an absolute right which no one should be deprived of. King Salman should study the matter and look at it from all angles.


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package org.apache.camel.component.netty;

/**
 * Netty constants
 *
 * @version
 */
public final class NettyConstants {

    public static final String NETTY_CLOSE_CHANNEL_WHEN_COMPLETE = "CamelNettyCloseChannelWhenComplete";
    public static final String NETTY_CHANNEL_HANDLER_CONTEXT = "CamelNettyChannelHandlerContext";
    public static final String NETTY_MESSAGE_EVENT = "CamelNettyMessageEvent";
    public static final String NETTY_REMOTE_ADDRESS = "CamelNettyRemoteAddress";

    private NettyConstants() {
        // Utility class
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Mark Walsh Courtroom
Posted Wed, March 16th, 2016 4:23 pm
A "view" from the Rose Garden: Sunny side up for Garland nomination
Posted Wed, March 16th, 2016 4:23 pm by Mark Walsh
We've made our way from our usual workplace, the Supreme Court, to the White House this morning after the dawn brought the news that President Obama would announce his pick for the vacancy on the Court.
I mean that figuratively, since the Court is not in session this week, and we made our way from home, which was potentially a challenge given that Washington's subway system has been shut down for the day for electrical repairs. But the buses are running, along with the rest of traffic.
At 9:45 a.m. in the White House press briefing room and its warren of news organization alcoves, reporters are still wondering out loud about the president's pick. The White House has kept a remarkable lid on this news. Just before 10 a.m., the White House correspondent for a major newspaper knocks on the door to the press office to say that "our congressional correspondent is tweeting that it's [Merrick] Garland." Can the press office confirm? Not yet, comes the answer.
At 10, a TV monitor in the press room tuned to CNN breaks the news. That network's congressional correspondent, Manu Raju (who was my neighbor at the press tables for Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings in 2010) says he has confirmed that Garland is the pick.
At 10:40 a.m., the press is escorted to the Rose Garden. We can choose to stay in the back, behind the seated guests, or sidle up to the right side of the guests. We sidle.
Guests are mostly standing and mingling. Most, if not all, nine Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are here, led by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat. Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, the comedian who turned into an oh-so-serious politician, is finding something to laugh about with another guest in the second row.
Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the assistant minority leader in the Senate and a Judiciary Committee member, is here, as are Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Charles Schumer of New York, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, also committee members. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California soon joins them.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the minority leader, arrives just minutes after he has taken to the Senate floor to praise the forthcoming pick.
There are senators present who aren't on the Judiciary Committee, including Ben Cardin of Maryland and Cory Booker of New Jersey. District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser is here.
The president's cabinet is represented, too. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro are here.
One group that is missing, besides Republicans of any position, is the judiciary. Although members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries, or other administration officials sometimes attend big Supreme Court arguments, there is no tradition of Supreme Court Justices attending nomination ceremonies. (Swearing-in ceremonies are a different matter.)
Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. is here, one of the few familiar faces from the Supreme Court building.
As 11 a.m. draws near, there are some empty seats in the guest section. But there are also scores of young White House aides standing back along the portico leading from the West Wing to the White House. Some of them are asked to fill those empty seats before the ceremony begins.
There is also a palpable sense of surprise that the pick is Garland, and perhaps, a lack of boundless excitement in the air.
Just before the show begins, Garland's wife, Lynn, and daughter Rebecca take seats in the front row. As Garland will point out, the couple's other daughter, Jessica, is of an "adventurous" spirit and is hiking in the mountains somewhere out of cellphone range.
President Obama, Garland, and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. emerge from a glass door of the Oval Office and Obama takes to the lectern, first describing the rigorous process he and his aides went through to pick a successor to Justice Antonin Scalia.
"And today, after completing this exhaustive process, I've made my decision," the president says. "I've selected a nominee who is widely recognized not only as one of America's sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence."
"These qualities and his long commitment to public service have earned him the respect and admiration of leaders from both sides of the aisle," Obama continues. "He will ultimately bring that same character to bear on the Supreme Court, an institution in which he is uniquely prepared to serve immediately. Today, I am nominating Chief Judge Merrick Brian Garland to join the Supreme Court."
There is sustained applause from the guests, as well as the White House staffers in the wings.
The president notes that "in law enforcement circles and in the legal community at large, Judge Garland needs no introduction. But I'd like to take a minute to introduce Merrick to the American people whom he already so ably serves."
Obama proceeds to humanize a person who is probably a quite unknown quantity, mentioning that Garland was valedictorian at his suburban Chicago high school, graduating with honors from Harvard University and its law school, where, Garland had to work and otherwise raise money for tuition by "selling his comic book collection."
Garland pats his hand to his heart.
Obama describes Garland's resume—private law firm, taking a fifty-percent pay cut to become a federal prosecutor, chief prosecutor of the Oklahoma City bombers, and nominee to the D.C. Circuit who won praise from Republicans. The president quotes Sen. Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, praising Garland in 1997, and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. as saying, "any time Judge Garland disagrees, you know you're in a difficult area."
Senator Leahy, a photography bug, is taking pictures with his high-end camera from his seat in the first row. The president turns to the political realities.
"I also know that because of Justice Scalia's outsized role on the court and in American law and the fact that Americans are closely divided on a number of issues before the Court, it is tempting to make this confirmation process simply an extension of our divided politics, the squabbling that's going on in the news every day," he says. "But to go down that path would be wrong."
Obama continues: "To suggest that someone who has served his country with honor and dignity, with a distinguished track record of delivering justice for the American people might be treated, as one Republican leader stated, as a political pinata—that can't be right."
The March sun is growing warmer as the president finally invites Garland to say a few words.
The nominee immediately chokes up as he thanks Obama and says, "This is the greatest honor of my life, other than Lynn agreeing to marry me 28 years ago. It's also the greatest gift I have ever received except, and there's another caveat, the birth of our daughters, Jessie and Becky."
He pays homage to his parents – his late father, Cyril, and his mother, Shirley, who is watching today on TV and "crying her eyes out," as well as his sisters.
"It was a sense of responsibility to serve the community instilled by my parents that led me to leave my law firm to become a line prosecutor in 1989," he says. "Years later, when I went to Oklahoma City to investigate the bombing of the federal building, I saw up close the devastation that can happen when someone abandons the justice system as a way of resolving grievances, and instead, takes matters into his own hands."
"The people of Oklahoma City gave us their trust and we did everything we could to live up to it," he continues. "Trust that justice will be done in our courts without prejudice or partisanship is what, in a large part, distinguishes this country from others. People must be confident that a judge's decisions are determined by the law and only the law. For a judge to be worthy of such trust, he or she must be faithful to the Constitution and to the statutes passed by the Congress."
Now, he sounds like he could be Justice Scalia.
"He or she must put aside his personal views or preferences and follow the law—not make it," Garland says. "Fidelity to the Constitution and the law has been the cornerstone of my professional life. And is the hallmark of the kind of judge I have tried to be for the past 18 years."
Obama, Biden, and Garland head back into the Oval Office. The guests slowly file out. Senator Schumer mouths the word "perfect" to White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough as he files out. Senator Klobuchar praises the nomination to a small gaggle of reporters.
Others, especially Senate Republicans, will offer dissenting views throughout the day.
But on this morning in the Rose Garden, everything is sunny for the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Brian Garland.
Posted in Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court, Featured, What's Happening Now
Recommended Citation: Mark Walsh, A "view" from the Rose Garden: Sunny side up for Garland nomination, SCOTUSblog (Mar. 16, 2016, 4:23 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2016/03/a-view-from-the-rose-garden-sunny-side-up-for-garland-nomination/


On this date in 1946, fascist William Joyce, famous by the nickname "Lord Haw-Haw" for his English-language Nazi propaganda broadcasts, was hanged at Wandsworth Prison for treason.
But because time loves a good laugh, it had the guy haranguing his countrymen for insufficient patriotism marked out for the last treason execution in British history, and unrepentant about it by the time he got there.
The Brooklyn-born Joyce (he never lost his American citizenship) who naturalized as a German in 1940 had a rather tenuous claim on the patriotic high horse to begin with, and after the war, that meant the treason charge proceeded on legally doubtful grounds: speaking the King's English didn't mean he owed allegiance to the king. Prosecutors ultimately hung him with a British passport he'd obtained fraudulently, and the legal principle has never since sat well with jurists.
However limited the resources at his disposal — sparse intelligence, paltry staff, and of course, after 1942, a disastrously collapsing war effort — he had fashioned them into broadcast spin to twist the British lion's tail in countless British homes throughout the war.
Here's one episode, with Joyce savaging Winston Churchill, selected from archive.org's library of Joyce broadcasts (1-7, 8-16, 17-23).
Joyce's star shone brightest and his invective cut deepest early in the war. Once everything at the front stopped coming up Teutons, he descended into irrelevance and self-parody, albeit without professing the slightest doubt in his fascist convictions.
This last broadcast, prepared just a few days before Germany capitulated, has our day's principal ramblingly drunkenly from the besieged Nazi capital.
In death as in life, I defy the Jews who caused this last war, and I defy the power of darkness which they represent. I warn the British people against the crushing imperialism of the Soviet Union. May Britain be great once again and the hour of the greatest danger in the West may the standard be raised from the dust, crowned with the words — you have conquered nevertheless. I am proud to die for my ideals and I am sorry for the sons of Britain who have died without knowing why.
There's a thorough, and lavishly illustrated, history of Joyce here.
* Authorities passed on prosecuting his wife Margaret, who'd also appeared on some Lord Haw-Haw broadcasts. Under the circumstances, Joyce's daughter (by his first marriage) Heather Iandolo turned out pretty balanced.
My mother was in England during the war and remembered his broadcasts that began with the sound of a telephone ringing and a voice saying "Germany calling".


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You are here: Home > China > Nation
China launches HD earth observation satellite
0 Comment(s) Print E-mail China.org.cn, December 29, 2015
China on Tuesday launched its most sophisticated observation satellite, Gaofen-4, as part of the country's high-definition (HD) earth observation project.
Photo taken on Dec. 29, 2015 shows the Long March-3B carrier rocket is launched with the Gaofen-4 Satellite in Xichang of southwest China's Sichuan Province. China on Tuesday launched its most sophisticated observation satellite, Gaofen-4, as part of the country's high-definition (HD) earth observation project. [Xue Yubin/Xinhua]
Gaofen-4 was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan at 00:04 a.m. aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket. It was the 222th flight of the Long March rocket series, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND).
Gaofen-4 is China's first geosynchronous orbit HD optical imaging satellite and the world's most sophisticated HD geosynchronous orbit remote sensing satellite, according to Xu Dazhe, head of SASTIND and China National Space Administration.
The successful launch of Gaofen-4 was the 19th space mission in this year. It will be used for disaster prevention and relief, surveillance of geological disasters and forest disasters, and meteorologic forecast, according to Tong Xudong, the chief designer of the Gaofen project with SASTIND.
The Gaofen project aims to launch seven high-definition observation satellites before 2020.
Gaofen-1, the first satellite of the project, was launched in April 2013.
Different from Gaofen-1 and Gaofen-2 in low orbits (600-700 km) around the earth, Gaofen-4 is located at the orbit 36,000 kilometers away from the earth and moves synchronously with the earth.
It can "see" an oil tanker on the sea with a huge CMOS camera, reaching the best imaging level among global high-orbit remote sensing satellites, according to Li Guo, chief designer of Gaofen-4.
China launches Wu Kong explorer satellite
China's dark matter probe satellite sends data home
China launched its most sophisticated observation satellite, Gaofen-4, as part of the country's high-definition earth observation project.


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Home Business Transportation
UAE Announces Re-opening of Sea and Air Ports with Qatar
Khalid Abdullah Belhoul, Undersecretary of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, announced that the UAE will begin to end all measures taken against the State of Qatar according to the statement issued on 5th June, 2017, following the signing of the Al-Ula Declaration.
The Undersecretary of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation noted that the Al-Ula Declaration, and the associated permanent agreement of GCC solidarity, is considered a Gulf and Arab achievement that promotes and bolsters the cohesion of the GCC, Arab and Islamic unity.
He indicated that the UAE will work to re-open all land, sea and air ports for inbound and outbound movement, and that all relevant authorities in the UAE have been notified of these measures which will go into effect as of 9 January.
He added the UAE will work with the State of Qatar to resolve all other outstanding issues through bilateral talks.
The Suppliers Complex Seeks to Attract SMEs, Start-ups
Dubai South, Huawei to Develop Smart Transportation Ecosystem
UAE Rail Program Launched
dnata Inaugurates State-of-the-art Cargo Complex at Manchester Airport
Dubai's RTA Launches Region's First Digital NOL Cards
Fenix Launches Middle East's First E-scooter Private Subscription Service
Dubai Metro Route 2020 to Start Operation on 1/1/2021
Inauguration of Dubai Route 2020 Metro
Why the MENA Region Could Be The Future of Global Logistics?
DP World Launches Digital Platforms to Move Global Trade Online
ABCC 2nd Webinar To Cover Challenges and Opportunities in Logistics Industry...
© New Media Group


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Please be patient website under new construction
We offer Quality Traditional and Parti Yorkshire Terriers
Our Color Male Yorkies
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*Available Yorkies*
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COI and Inbreeding
Dark Side of Inbreeding
Printable BreedersCharts
Genetic Diversity - the Dark Side of Inbreeding
If you can imagine building a house, there are numerous subcontractors working on it, the framer, the electrician, the plumber, the bricklayer etc. Now each worker gets two sets of plans for his part of the job. Of course there are a number of other sets of plans or blueprints for this kind of job back at the main office, but for the job in this house, the worker only gets two of the many possible plans.
A gene is like a long blueprint given to the subcontractors in the body. If there is a mistake in the blueprint, the worker either does the job incorrectly or he doesn't finish the job. All the possible plans (or genes) that one might use for a particular job are termed alleles. In this case, the worker gets two sets of plans (genes) of the many possible ones (alleles), and he puts one set in each hip pocket. If one of these sets of plans gets damaged, the worker still has a good set, and the work can proceed on schedule.
The pocket is the analagous to the "gene locus". The locus is an actual location on each of a pair of chromosomes in the cell. Each cell has multiple pairs of chromosomes, - the number is species specific. Each chromosome contains many loci for all the jobs that have to be done in the body. There is one allele, specific for each job, residing at the identical locus on each of a pair of chromosomes, - just like the two sets of blueprints in the worker's hip pockets. The animal got one set of those paired chromosomes from each of it's parents. In the carrier state of a recessive genetic mutation, the animal has gotten one good copy of the gene in question, and one defective copy. In this case, one good copy is sufficient for the work to proceed and the animal to be healthy.
Genetic diversity in a population means that the population contains most of the possible alleles (alternate sets of plans) for a particular gene locus rather evenly distributed throughout the population. (Of course an individual animal can only have two of those alleles, for every gene locus, in his or her private collection.) This is where you start getting into trouble in an isolated population, such as in quarantine countries, or in very small countries. A very popular stud arrives in the country. Soon every bitch in the population is bred to him. Suddenly every puppy in the country has one or the other of his alleles for every gene locus. This would be bad enough in itself, but even worse, by breeding every bitch to the one male, you have selected AGAINST all the other alleles in the adult male population. These alleles will disappear unless they are handed down to offspring. This is genetic death. (death before having a chance to reproduce). Genetic diversity has been lost.
Let us suppose that there were 200 males, and 200 females in our hypothetical breeding population. But all 200 bitches were bred to Mr. Wonderful. Now, instead of having 200 different paternal gene collections represented in those 200 litters, we have only one. Now someone says, "We got such great type from this dog, let's breed his daughters to him as well." Now you are throwing away another whole set of alleles.
Even assuming Mr. Wonderful is perfect - an unlikely event that he carries no hidden defective alleles, since the average is around 7, many alleles carried in the former population have been ruthlessly discarded by overusing Mr. W. We have no idea what they are until something bad happens in the population. For instance, some genes MUST be carried in a heterozygous state for the animal to have an intact immune system. In an inbred population, this heterozygosity is lost. Modifiers that keep otherwise bad genes from being expressed can be lost. Genes responsible for subtle changes in longevity or fertility can be lost. Numerous studies have shown that declines in fertility are directly linked to the degree of inbreeding. So even Mr. Perfectly Wonderful is dangerous if he becomes the father of the majority of a population!
Now suppose this dog carries a hidden defect. In the first 200 litters sired by Mr. Wonderful, one half of the pups are carriers of that same gene. In selecting for the gene set that this dog carries, you have selected FOR the defective gene, and AGAINST a "good" one which may have been in the population before Mr. Wonderful came along.
Lets say that by now, (which is usually the case in popular sire effect), the overall carrier rate for the bad gene is 50%.This means that every other animal in the population carries at least one copy of Mr Wonderful's defective gene. The chances are 1/2 that any dog carries it and 1/2 that any bitch carries it. The chances are 1/2 x 1/2 or one in 4 that two carriers will be mated, even if we bred them randomly. But by now Mr. Wonderful's "look" has become a showring necessity. In all likelihood, we will be selecting, for our breeding, that dog and bitch who look most like Mr. Wonderful. The very plain pair have been neutered and placed as pets.
Again we have selected for the genes of Mr. Wonderful and against the other genes in the original population. But the pair resembling their famous sire are the very ones most likely to be carrying the heaviest helping of Mr. Wonderful genes, both good and bad. So the chances are that more than 3 out of four litters will produce carriers, and one out of 4 litters will now have affected puppies. In each of these affected litters, 3 out of 4 pups will carry the defective gene. Only one in four pups in each of these litters will be "clean".
What is the solution? The most obvious response is "don't breed any dogs carrying that gene". Now suppose we decide we will not permit breeding of affected dogs or carriers. Abruptly, we eliminate from our breeding the the 50% of the population which carry the defective gene. Which dogs are most likely to be carriers? The ones that look like Mr. Wonderful, of course. What is now left in this genetically decimated population? Precious little, perhaps not enough to go on with. There may be genetic problems that have surfaced because of the lack of "good" genes in the population, neonatal losses, failure to thrive, allergies, etc.
What happens, on the other hand, if we outcross to a line which has never had this problem? Suppose we assemble a number of unrelated dogs, - lets call them all "Mr.Clean" - and breed each of our bitches to a different Mr. Clean. Again 1/2 of the bitches which are bred to our Mr.Cleans, are carriers. This means that they have one "bad" copy of the gene, and one "good" copy. Since the sires have only good copies of the gene, half of the pups from the carrier mothers will be carriers, but NONE will be affected. In a late onset disease, identifying affected animals before they are bred will be a problem, but testing for the disease before breeding will reduce the number of litters an affected animal is likely to have. By using mainly outcrosses, even the accidental use of affected dogs will not increase the prevalence of affected offspring.
What about other problems? If this group of sires carry undesirable traits, they will each have a different collection, - alleles different from the inbred population and from each other. The likelihood of two "bad" copies of any gene getting together is thereby markedly reduced. And this infusion of new genes has introduced new genetic diversity into the impoverished line.
Put these two approaches together. Let's say we do not intentionally breed any animals who carry two copies of the defect, and we only use known carriers when there is a good reason to do so, and then ONLY to unrelated animals. This approach allows the gradual removal of the defective gene from the population, and the preservation of most of the good qualities of good old Mr. Wonderful. It restores a healthy degree of genetic vigor to the population, and lessens the likelihood that other "bad" problems will manifest themselves.
This is what the "genetic diversity" approach to breeding is all about. The "wholesale genetic slaughter" method may be appropriate in a genetically diverse population with only an occasional individual case of the disease in question. (Of course you rarely have this kind of problem in a genetically diverse population.) You get into the heavily "loaded" state only by inbreeding. Using the "wholesale genetic slaughter" method, even if it were practically possible, will not cure the problem in this inbred population, because the real culprit is not the defective gene, but the inbreeding. Besides you have to wonder what you will have left when you are finished. The dogs are still inbred, with all the problems that go along with inbreeding. In fact, they are twice as inbred as when you started, because you threw away half the genes. You won't have much of the genetic disease you select against, but maybe you won't have dogs either.
A reasonable course of action in any genetic disease demands that attention be paid both to removing the gene where possible without seriously degrading the genetic viability of the population, and taking steps to provide increased genetic diversity if it is needed.


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A new brand identity: Legler becomes small foot
The entrepreneur Philip Rosenthal once said, "He who stops improving has already stopped being good." In the spirit of this quote, there have been things happening behind the scenes of the toy manufacturer Legler. Since the start of the new year, the company has made the sweeping decision to re-brand itself and boost the brand awareness of small foot even further.
It's not always easy to be self-critical, but it's necessary and paves the way for ongoing further development. In past interactions with our customers and business partners, we've determined that the coexistence of our trade brand Legler and the product brand small foot can be confusing. To address this, we are eliminating the coexistence of the two brands and transforming Legler into small foot. This will be seen for the first time at the 2023 Spielwarenmesse toy trade fair in Nuremberg, which is finally opening its doors again after a two-year COVID-related break.
There are strong motives for the new look and feel: the company's message is becoming more clear and comprehensible for its customers, and the wooden toys have become the main focus of the business. With a clearer brand image and focused brand communication, we can generate significantly more reach and visibility while avoiding future instances of confusion.
The small foot brand is growing rapidly in the end customer segment! It is perceived more and more as a brand of environmentally sustainable wooden toys by the ideal target demographic (mothers aged 25 to 40 years old), as can be see in the following figures:
For Google searches, the term "small foot" generates 4x more search requests than the term "Legler"
More than 55,000 people follow small foot on social media
In 2022, small foot achieved a total reach of 9,943,460 impressions
For the first time, our corporate strategy is centered on the product brand! Sustainable wooden toys are the focus of our business – and we are carrying this message to the rest of the world in 2023. We're dedicating a six-figure investment into the development of small foot's brand image in 2023. That is how we can generate even more demand for small foot products – also for you.
Together with you, we can and will reduce brand confusion and achieve lots more brand visibility and reach for small foot with clear brand communication!
"We're pressing forward with this milestone in our company history with lots of courage, plenty of excitement for the change, and confidence from the knowledge that 'business as usual' can lead to stagnation and regression. The 2023 Spielwarenmesse toy trade fair in Nuremberg will mark the birth of a new direction of brand communication for small foot, and we're looking forward to meeting our customers in person for this event and tell them more about this decision we've made," says Pascal Adam, Managing Director of Legler OHG small foot company.
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Your loan number should be in the following format: YY-OH###. For example, 14-OH180.
Please note that our form has changed and now requires a loan number to process and not an address. If you do not know your loan number, you can find it in on the top of the HUD-1 statement from your closing.
Amount Requested may not reflect the amount you will receive in your draw check. This field is provided for your convenience and is simply a guide for the inspector.
You must provide a lockbox code or a way to access the property if no one is there.
A lockbox code is required for all inspections. Failure to provide an accurate code may result in delays for your draw release. We strongly caution against access instructions such "back door is unlocked" or "key is in mailbox" as this has created many issues for the inspectors in the past.
If your request is missing required information you will not be notified, your inspection will simply not happen! We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
I understand that, regardless of the amount I am requesting for my draw, ultimately the amount of my draw release is at the sole discretion of the inspector and is based on the work completed as shown in my rehab budget.
I understand that if the access instructions I have provided for the inspector are inaccurate and the inspector is unable to access the property (incorrect lockbox, missing lockbox, key missing, etc) I may be charged a $50 trip fee and will not receive a draw payment.
I understand that if this form is submitted after Midnight EST on a Sunday my inspection will not take place until the following week that my request was submitted.
I understand that if I am submitting this draw request before Midnight EST on a Sunday, the inspection will take place between Monday and Thursday and my draw payment will be initiated via ACH on Friday.
If you request your draw on 3pm, Friday, December 5th, your draw check will be available after 3pm on Friday, December 12th.
If you request your draw on 8am on Monday, December 8th, your inspection will take place the week of December 15th, and your draw payment will be initiated on Friday, December 19th.
Please call us at (513) 247-0501 so that we can clearly explain our draw process before you submit your request.


The networking platform LinkedIn has exploded in growth over the past few years and there is still more and more people who want to present their skills, knowledge and professional achievements. With its rapid expansion, it has experienced a growing problem with fake profiles.
The question is: why you should want to detect a fake profile? Connecting with a fake LinkedIn profile can give scammers access to important and powerful information about you, such as details about your history, company and professional contacts.
Often, scammers will use the photo of a lesser-known actor or actress (or even an image of well-known public figure). How to find out that it is not a real person? Click on the person's profile photo and then right-click to select "copy image address". Then open the tool Tin Eye, upload the image URL and see the result.
One common signifier of fake LinkedIn accounts is the lack of any real information about the individual. If there is some information, it is often in the form of mostly generic statements that lack any specificity.
Profiles of real people typically include a mixture of personal details such as causes, hobbies, education, recommendations and others.
It is not the rule, but it occurs very often, too. If someone cares about their LinkedIn profile, they try to find new connections and people who they know or want to know. However, the scammer often does not care about it, so the number of his connections is low.
In many fake profiles, there are some clear presentation errors - misspellings and poor grammar. The scammer does not waste his time by checking the written (or even copied) text and then can overlook some mistakes.
Scammers do not have a time for creating and specifying their experiences or previous positions. Of course, there is something so they do not have a completely empty profile, but in that case you can discover this "cheap" trick.
If you get a request from Bill Gates, Richard Branson or someone else who is not likely to send you a LinkedIn request unless he knows you personally, something is wrong. In this case, you can be sure that this is definitely a fake profile.
Social media is designed to foster two-way conversation. It means that when someone sends you a request, you retake it and send it back to the person. You should also be involved in the community and be active - if you really care about your profile. However, fake profiles do not generally show any activity and especially no interaction.
And there is, of course, a fake name. It is hard to guess whether the name is right or nor, but the scammers are often inspired by a known surname.
Tentokrát sme AR technológiu využili v strojárstve a pre klienta vytvorili hneď niekoľko modelov. Čo na to hovoríte?
The key is to keep an eye on actually running or coming trends and adapt your plans to them. For what you should prepare in 2018?


text:
on 11. July 2015
Leading at the ballot box from Alaska to Washington, D.C., Americans are charting a path to a saner national drug policy
By Tim Dickinson Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-war-on-drugs-is-burning-out-20150108#ixzz3OFDhJgpJ
The conservative wave of 2014 featured an unlikely, progressive undercurrent: In two states, plus the nation's capital, Americans voted convincingly to pull the plug on marijuana prohibition. Even more striking were the results in California, where voters overwhelmingly passed one of the broadest sentencing reforms in the nation, de-felonizing possession of hard drugs. One week later, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD announced an end to arrests for marijuana possession. It's all part of the most significant story in American drug policy since the passage of the 21st Amendment legalized alcohol in 1933: The people of this country are leading a dramatic de-escalation in the War on Drugs.
New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and Mayor de Blasio announced that the city will start giving out tickets (and court summons) rather than arresting people for possession of 25 grams of marijuana and under. Spencer Platt/Getty
November's election results have teed up pot prohibition as a potent campaign issue for 2016. Notwithstanding the House GOP's contested effort to preserve pot prohibition in D.C., the flowering of the marijuana-legalization movement is creating space for a more rational and humane approach to adjudicating users of harder drugs, both on the state level and federally. "The door is open to reconsidering all of our drug laws," says Alison Holcomb, who led the pot-legalization push in Washington state in 2012, and has been tapped to direct the ACLU's new campaign against mass incarceration.
The Great Marijuana Experiment »
On the federal stage, the Justice Department continues to provide what Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Drug Policy Alliance, calls "a discreet form of leadership" on state experiments in drug reform – giving tax-and-regulate marijuana laws broad latitude, and even declaring that Native American tribal governments can also experiment with marijuana law, opening a path for recreational pot on reservations in, potentially, dozens of states. Congress, in the same legislation that sought to derail D.C. legalization, carved out historic protections from federal prosecution for state-legal medical-marijuana operations. And in November, in a signature reform for outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, the Obama administration lightened prison sentences for federal drug offenders. This reform, modest on its face, nonetheless marks a striking- departure from three decades of ever-harsher federal enforcement. For the first time since Ronald Reagan took office, the federal prison population is shrinking. "We are witnessing a historic sea change," Holder said in a speech this fall, "in the way our nation approaches these issues."
The trajectory of the citizen-led drawdown of the Drug War is clearest in California – where four years ago the pot-legalization movement's biggest stumble, ironically, helped clear a path for one of the anti-Drug War movement's most transformational successes this past November.
Pushing the envelope back in 2010, California activists qualified a ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana. At the time, Holder warned the Justice Department would "vigorously enforce" federal marijuana prohibition in California. Eager to pre-empt a constitutional crisis over fully legal weed, then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger steered passage of a half-measure – an October 2010 law decriminalizing marijuana use.
2014 in Weed: Grannies, Gummy Bears and Ganjapreneurs »
The Governator's gambit worked. Decriminalization helped take the wind out of the sails of the legalization campaign, which failed at the ballot box. But having spurred the legislature to action, pot activists indirectly scored a huge victory for criminal and racial justice. Possession of up to an ounce of marijuana became an infraction, like a parking ticket, with a maximum $100 fine. And the California law applied to users of any age – not just tokers 21 and over.
The impact of this tweak has been remarkable: By removing low-level youth pot offenses from the criminal-justice system, overall youth crime has plummeted by nearly 30 percent in California – to levels not seen since the Eisenhower administration. And decriminalization didn't lead to any of the harms foretold by prohibitionists. Quite the opposite: Since the law passed in 2010, the rate of both high school dropouts and youth drug overdoses are down by 20 percent, according to a new research report from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. Non–marijuana drug arrests for California youth, meanwhile, are also down 23 percent – fully debunking the gateway theory.
Decriminalization in California, the report concludes, has reduced the harms of prohibition for thousands of California teens. "Fewer young people," its authors write, "are suffering the damages and costs of criminal arrest, prosecution, incarceration, fines, loss of federal aid and other punishments." Perhaps most important, the Darren Wilsons of California have one less pretext to disrupt the lives of the state's Michael Browns.
Inmates at one of California's overcrowded jails, which have helped spur drug-sentencing reform. Kevork Djansezian/Getty
In November – building on the success of decriminalization and on public disgust at the state's criminally overcrowded and ruinously expensive prison system – California voters took an even bolder leap with Proposition 47, which reduced possession of hard drugs including cocaine, heroin and meth from a felony to a misdemeanor. (Prop 47 also de-felonized nonviolent theft of less than $950.)
In a year of record-low voter turnout, Prop 47 passed with 59 percent support, thanks in part to endorsements from nationally prominent Republicans like Rand Paul and Newt Gingrich. The new law is expected to affect 24,000 drug convictions a year. And the reduction in the ranks of the incarcerated will create savings, the state estimates, in the "low hundreds of millions of dollars annually." Innovatively, Prop 47 captures those savings and steers them into community programs. "This is the first voter initiative to literally take money out of the prison budget and put it into prevention and treatment," says Lenore Anderson, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, which spearheaded the campaign for Proposition 47.
The new law also allows current convicts to petition to get their sentences- reduced retroactively. In the cases of some convicts under California's notorious "Three Strikes" laws, this will mean the difference between a continued life sentence and freedom. Additionally, as many as 1 million Californians will qualify to have felony records expunged – removing what Anderson calls the "Scarlet- F" from their chests – opening doors to fuller integration in society, with fewer obstacles to getting a job, finding an apartment or enrolling in public assistance.
"We're not only stopping overincarceration," Anderson says. "We're also going to clean up its legacy."
As California moves dramatically, the federal government is taking more modest steps to stem a tide that has swollen the number of federal inmates imprisoned for drug crimes by more than 2,000 percent since 1980. In 2013, 100,026 inmates – roughly the population of Boulder, Colorado – languished in federal prison for drug crimes, accounting for half the federal prison population.
Under federal law, sentences are doled out according to a complex formula in which a given quantity of a trafficked drug is punishable at one of 38 levels of increasing severity. Under sentencing reforms that took effect in November, Holder's Justice Department has stepped down those sentences by two degrees. Someone convicted for trafficking five grams of meth, for example, will now be sentenced at level 24 instead of 26 – a maximum of 63 months, instead of the previous 78 – knocking more than a year off the sentence.
Congress Ends Federal Medical Marijuana Prohibition »
The Justice Department is also making these sentencing guidelines retroactive. Beginning in November 2015, more than 46,000 federal inmates can appeal to shorten their prison terms, with the average beneficiary receiving a two-year reduction. The move is expected to save taxpayers more than $2 billion.
Federal drug sentencing remains draconian: Locking a person in a cage for five years for possessing five grams of an intoxicant is not a rational policy. But the Holder reforms may signal that the flood of Drug War incarceration has reached its high-water mark. For the first time in 34 years, the federal inmate population is falling, down 4,800 in the past year. By 2016, a drop of 12,200 is projected – equivalent to more than six federal prisons filled to capacity.
Holder, who will be leaving office upon the confirmation of his successor, views this as a legacy issue. "For far too long," he said in a September speech focused on the harms created by the Drug War, "our system has perpetuated a destructive cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration that has trapped countless people and weakened entire communities – particularly communities of color. . . . We are bringing about a paradigm shift."
In fact, the federal government is moving into political space created by voters, most recently in November's election. Top drug reformers had been wary about putting marijuana initiatives on midterm election ballots – worried that younger, pot-friendly voters might stay home, dealing the anti-Drug War movement a costly setback. "The midterm electorate in 2014 represented a wave of anti-progressive, pro-conservative voters," says the ACLU's Holcomb. Voters under 30 comprised just 12 percent of the national electorate, while voters over 60 – seniors are the one demographic that strongly opposes legalization – made up a whopping 37 percent. Nonetheless, each legalization measure passed, easily. In red-state Alaska, 53 percent endorsed legal pot. In Oregon, the tally was 56 percent – 35,000 more votes than any statewide elected official received. In Washington, D.C., legalization romped with 65 percent of the vote, carrying 142 out of the city's 143 precincts.
Shane Mckee, co-founder of Shango Premium Cannabis dispensary, pulls a medical marijuana sample from their display of cannabis flowers in Portland, Oregon. Don Ryan/Corbis
In substance and salesmanship, Alaska's pot proposal, Measure 2, was much like Colorado's – seeking to "regulate marijuana like alcohol." The campaign's backers led with a pot-is-safer message because alcoholism looms large as a destructive force in Alaskan life, particularly among the state's tribal populations.
Measure 2 faced opposition from political heavyweights like former Republican senator and governor Frank Murkowski. But the "no" campaign stumbled when a spokesperson conceded in a debate that pot is, indeed, less harmful than booze – a point the "yes" campaign seized on, plastering stickers reading our opponents agree! on billboards touting cannabis as safer than wine, beer or whiskey.
Beginning in mid-February, it will become legal for anyone over 21 to possess, transport or give away up to an ounce of pot in Alaska. Measure 2 expands the oversight powers of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board to regulate marijuana from seed to store, but the law gives ample lead time to state authorities to license pot shops, and commercial sales aren't expected until mid-2016.
Pot in Alaska will be taxed at $50 an ounce, at the wholesale level, padding the state's general fund. By the time the market matures, Alaska expects to reap about $24 million a year in pot revenue.
In Oregon, meanwhile, taxation and regulation were marketed with a stronger criminal-justice bent. Proponents highlighted not only the wasted law enforcement resources of arresting and citing 12,000 people a year for marijuana – a bust every 39 minutes – but also the racial inequities in a state where people of color make up less than a quarter of the population but are twice as likely to be arrested for pot.
"There are lots of good arguments for [pot] legalization," Says Burnett. "But the argument that enforcement is racially biased is undeniable."
Oregon's new law is more far-reaching- than other states, and Nadelmann has lauded it as "the new gold standard." Beginning in July, Oregon residents can legally possess up to eight ounces – that's right, half a pound – of marijuana. Oregonians can grow at home; commercial sales will be overseen by the same state agency that regulates liquor sales, and retail outlets are expected to open in 2016. In an overture to more conservative communities in eastern Oregon, the measure also legalized hemp as a new cash crop.
Aiming to compete with the black market on price alone, taxes in Oregon will be significantly lower than across the Columbia River in Washington. That state taxes pot at 25 percent three different times – at wholesale, at distribution and at retail. Oregon will charge a single tax of $35 an ounce, levied on producers. Forty percent of this new weed revenue goes to schools, 25 percent to abuse prevention and treatment, with the remaining 35 percent funding state, county and local law enforcement. Localities can vote to ban marijuana commerce, but at the cost of cutting themselves off from this new revenue stream. The measure is expected to raise close to $40 million a year.
D.C.'s campaign took a strikingly different approach. By law, the initiative process couldn't be used to create a new tax regime there. Without new revenues to tout, the capital's campaigners almost exclusively emphasized the racial disparities of marijuana enforcement, with the slogan "Legalization Ends Discrimination."
A 2013 ACLU report showed that D.C. was second only to Iowa in the racial disparity of marijuana enforcement – with blacks eight times more likely than whites to be arrested for pot; this in a city where blacks make up half the population. In March 2014, the D.C. city council responded by passing a sweeping decriminalization bill, making up to an ounce of pot punishable by just a $25 fine. But it quickly became apparent that, even so, racial bias persisted, with black residents accounting for nearly two-thirds of those cited.
Medical marijuana is dispensed at the Takoma Wellness Center in Takoma Park, D.C. on October 10th, 2014. Evelyn Hockstein/Washington Post/Getty
"There are lots of good arguments for legalization," says Dr. Malik Burnett, a top organizer of D.C.'s legalization campaign. "You can argue that it's safer than alcohol, or that regulation helps keep it out of the hands of kids. But the argument that enforcement is racially biased? That's undeniable!"
In no small irony, the greatest resistance to legalization was centered in the black community itself – where conservative elements, in particular churches, remained wary of condoning pot use. But working through African-American religious leaders and community groups, legalization campaigners swung support in the black community from just 33 percent in early polling to 63 percent at the ballot box. On Election Day, the racial and criminal-justice argument cut across color lines. "Both blacks and whites, when asked why they voted for the initiative, said the racial-justice argument was the number one reason they voted in favor," says Nadelmann.
In December, the House GOP attempted to block D.C.'s legalization through the appropriations process, denying funding to the district to "enact" marijuana legislation at odds with federal law. But anti-prohibition forces believe this legislative language still provides a path forward – on legalization that they argue was already enacted by voters. The spending bill "does not block D.C. from 'carrying out' enacted marijuana policies," said Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.'s congresswoman. District lawmakers are now blocked from creating new laws to tax and regulate commercial pot, as they had intended. But it may yet become legal, in the coming months, to stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue with two ounces of marijuana in your pocket, or to grow up to six plants in an apartment a stone's throw from the drug czar's office.
Citizen-led criminal-justice reform is already having an effect outside of the states where voters put the issue on the ballot. California's de-felonization model is taking root in the West – even in deep-red strongholds. In the days after the November election, Utah unveiled a proposal to reclassify most drug-possession felonies as misdemeanors, and to try small-fry dealers, particularly those selling drugs to support their own habits, under lesser felonies. "We are not in any way going soft on crime," said state Rep. Eric Hutchings, a Republican member of the justice commission that recommended the reform. "We are going smart on crime."
And in New York, Mayor de Blasio has finally followed through on his campaign commitment to stop arresting residents for pot possession. Pilloried for statistics showing marijuana busts had actually increased under his tenure, de Blasio announced in November that public marijuana possession will now be punished with a court summons and a $100 fine.
That's a dramatic improvement in a city where 28,000 residents were arrested for weed last year – 86 percent of them black or Hispanic – wasting nearly $75 million in taxpayer funds to adjudicate. But top drug reformers warn that New York's system is far from fixed. Unlike an open-container violation, a ticket for pot possession can't be resolved by paying a fine by mail. Violations require a court appearance – and historically, about 25 percent of residents don't show up for their court dates, resulting in a bench warrant for their arrest. Worse, police do not collect racial data when issuing citations, making future disparities harder to track. "There's still a sneaky, insidious aspect to the de Blasio reform," says Nadelmann.
For opponents of the Drug War, prospects are bright for 2016. Any rational examination of the experiments in Washington and Colorado leads to one conclusion, says Holcomb of the ACLU: "The sky didn't fall." In Colorado, legal pot has brought in close to $19 million in tax revenue – and few other discernible changes. Harvard professor Jeffrey Miron, the director of economic studies at the Cato Institute, released a working paper in October revealing that essentially none of the harms opponents claimed would accompany legalization have materialized. Even pot use itself in Colorado has hardly budged.
Former World Leaders: End the Failed War on Drugs »
Assuming the rollout of commercial cannabis is similarly banal elsewhere, 2016, with its younger, more progressive electorate, could produce a wave of legalization victories. The Marijuana Policy Project is targeting ballot measures in five states: California, Maine, Massachusetts, Arizona and Nevada. Nadelmann, whose Drug Policy Alliance provides funding and legal support for state initiatives, suggests that even Missouri could be on the table. "What I tell the activists is: Show me 55 percent in favor and a significant edge of those who feel strongly about this issue," he says, "and I'll look at any state."
The biggest story for 2016 is shaping up to be California – where full legalization of marijuana now has an air of destiny. The state's next-generation leadership is already moving out in front of the issue. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has come out forcefully – "It's time to legalize, it's time to tax, it's time to regulate marijuana for adults in California," he has said – as a step toward ending the War on Drugs, which he describes as "a war on people of color, and a war on poor people." Even the state's Attorney General, Kamala Harris, admitted in November that she does not oppose pot legalization and sees it as "inevitable."
Kamala Harris Jason Merritt/Getty
A successful legalization vote in California, advocates believe, would force a national reckoning on marijuana law – and a cultural tipping point similar to what we've seen in the acceptance of gay marriage. "When California goes in 2016, that will be the determinative moment," says Holcomb. "I don't think Congress can ignore the issue." In the December spending bill, Congress took the historic step of blocking the Justice Department from busting state-level medical-marijuana operations. Similar protections, Holcomb says, could be extended to state-legal commercial pot.
Legal weed on the West Coast, from Calexico to Kodiak Island, would also give cover to governments in states without ballot initiatives – places like Rhode Island, Vermont and Hawaii – to begin passing tax-and-regulate through the normal legislative process.
California remains a challenge, in part because the current quasi-legality of pot robs the issue of urgency for some consumers, while the state's larger medical-marijuana business may fight reforms that would bring an influx of commercial competition. For longtime activists, the biggest danger is that a sense of inevitability – 75 percent of Americans believe weed will be legalized nationally – may translate to complacency. "One of my greatest challenges is to guard against overconfidence," says Nadelmann. "This is not yet a lock."
Democrats would do well to get as many states as possible on the legalization bandwagon. This past November, marijuana provided a strong updraft for blue candidates: In Oregon, pro-pot voters went three-to-one in favor of incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, who beat his Republican challenger – a charismatic pediatric neurosurgeon – with a comfortable 56 percent of the vote. Merkley became the first senator to vote, himself, for legal marijuana, telling reporters his decision was based on justice reform: "We spend a lot of money on our criminal-justice system in the wrong places," he said.
In Alaska, the marijuana initiative appeared to give Democratic Sen. Mark Begich a fighting chance in what might otherwise have been a red-state rout. Pro-pot votes swung for Begich 71 to 29. He didn't win, but Begich kept the margin close enough that his concession speech didn't come until 13 days after election night. The Alaskan waged a much closer battle than blue-state Senate candidates in places like North Carolina. Had pot been on the ballot in the Tar Heel State in 2014, Kay Hagan might still be a U.S. senator.
The issue of pot could prove more complicated on the presidential stage in 2016, where the big question, says Holcomb, is: "Will Democrats grab the issue as strongly as Rand Paul?"
Among likely 2016 contenders, of either party, the Kentucky senator is the most progressive on marijuana. He's sponsored legislation to make medical marijuana fully legal in states that have adopted it. In the last election, Paul championed the right of D.C. voters to decide on legalization for themselves. Paul has also been a vocal advocate for decriminalization, decrying the practice of booking kids for cannabis. "I don't want to encourage people to do it," he has said. "I think even marijuana is a bad thing to do. But I also don't want to put people in jail who make a mistake."
If Paul were to face off in a contest with Hillary Clinton, pot could emerge as an unlikely wedge issue for the Republican – particularly in libertarian-leaning swing states like Arizona and Nevada, where legalization initiatives are expected. That's because Clinton has continued to talk like a 1990s drug warrior, recently fretting over the dangers of marijuana edibles to children in Colorado, and even declaring that "the feds should be attuned to the way that marijuana is still used as a gateway drug."
The political logic here is not mysterious. White male independents – those most open to a Paul candidacy – are firmly in the legalization camp. (In Oregon, this slice of the electorate voted 65 percent to tax and regulate.) Female voters, Clinton's base, are generally more hesitant. A 2014 CBS poll found that majority support for legalization nationally had a strong gender gap, with just 46 percent of women saying they support commercial pot.
Regardless of the final presidential matchup, pot initiatives in battleground states will make it impossible for the 2016 candidates to ignore, or to simply laugh off, the marijuana issue as they've done so often in the past, says Tom Angell, chairman of the advocacy group Marijuana Majority. "The road to the White House," he says, "travels through legal-marijuana territory."
From The Archives Issue 1226: January 15, 2015
Gotfredsen modtage dommer Gerald Le Dain's hæderspris 2011
U.S. NARCOTICS CAMPAIGN COSTS MORE THAN GULF WAR
(English) A First in Sub-Saharan Africa: Methadone Maintenance Program
Posted on 21. February 2011
(English) Heroin and coffee – the saga of Lao Ta Saenlee
Oslo Politiaksjonens tragiske konsekvenser
Berømtheder opfordrer den engelske regering til at afkriminalisere besiddelse af narkotika.
Thailand: Drugs Case Britons Are Released From Thai Jail


As Christians, our belief and our behavior cannot be separated.
Our return to God always begins with genuine confession of sin.
Trials remind us of our need for God.
In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches a lesson on how to pray and how not to pray.


text:
Bose Aviation
Dragonscale
Why are aircraft intercepted by Fighter jets? Booms over London
by Mentour Pilot Admin | Dec 1, 2019 | News | 0 comments
In the Early morning of December 1st, people in London was woken up by the sound of distinctive booms. Several calls were made to local emergency services but it was quickly established that the booms did not come from any criminal activity but rather from two fighter-jets, breaking the sound-barrier, whilst scrambling to intercept a Civilian Aircraft on its way from Germany to the US.
How is the sky divided?
So why were these two Typhoon fighters in such a hurry and was there any threat to safety? In order to understand this you have to understand how the Airspace structure works between countries and how aircraft move between one Air-traffic-Controller to the next. The airspace over the globe is divided into small sectors called FIR's (Flight Information Region). Sometimes there might be many Air Traffic Controllers operating inside the same FIR and the amount of controllers depends on the traffic intensity.
The reason it is divided into different sectors is both because of the physical reach of individual radio transmitters and the amount of traffic that can communicate effectively on one frequency. To put it simply, if all the aircraft flying over London would share the same frequency, there would be no way that they all could communicate since they would all share the same time and radio calls can happen in parallel. It would sound like a Spanish restaurant at lunchtime with constant interference.
Because of this, and the fact that all Countries have control over their own airspace, the aircraft have to constantly remain vigilant and listen out for instructions to change to a different frequency to talk to the next controller. If a crew would miss such a call, the Air traffic controller (ATC) would try several more times to contact the aircraft. If there still is no response, ATC will try to contact the aircraft on the international emergency frequency 121.5Mhz, which all aircraft should have tuned on their secondary radio onboard.
Why does this happen? (my video on the subject)
The reason that a crew would miss calls like this could be many, but in most cases its because of distractions like discussions, crew turning down the volume to speak to cabin-crew or just inactivity so the aircraft has flown outside over radio-coverage at the time of the call. The airlines normally have robust SOP;s (Standard Operating Procedures) to keep this from happening but sometimes it happens anyway.
If ATC have tried to get in contact but there is no response, the military will be informed of the situation. The reason for this is that there is no way for ATC to determine if the aircraft has "gone silent" because of a mistake by the crew or by hostile interference. Ever since 9/11, the treat of terrorism using aircraft has been painfully obvious for anyone and no one want to see that repeated. Because of this the military jets will be scrambled whenever a PLOC (Prolonged Loss Of Contact) event occurs. The military jets will scramble and as quickly as possible intercept the aircraft to check if they can establish visual contact with the pilots onboard or confirm an actual terrorism attempt.
What are the procedures?
There are very clear international procedures for how Pilots, who are being intercepted, should act in order to respond to the presence of military jets. The pilots will flash the landing lights and in some cases rock the wings to tell the military jets that they will comply with their instructions. The first thing the pilots will do however, is to try and contact the military on the emergency frequency 121,5Mhz. If contact can be established, the military will verify that everything is OK and will then leave the aircraft to continue their flight often followed by a heavy bill, sent to the airline in question if the PLOC is due to crew negligence.
Could the reason be technical?
There are, of course, times where the pilots are experiencing actual problems with their radios. If such a situation would appear, the pilots will set a specific code in their transponder (a small radio device used to identify the aircraft). This code will tell ATC that the aircraft is not responding due to radio problems and it is then up to the local authorities to decide if they want to dispatch fighters or not. The pilots will follow established procedures for "loss of radio contact" and normally continue according to their filed flight-plan to land at their destination.
So the Sonic booms that were heard over London this morning was part of this well established procedure. The reason they had to go super-sonic is that the aircraft had entered into UK airspace without radio-contact and the time to intercept to establish the reason,was very short. If you want to know what a Sonic boom is, click here
If you enjoy getting things like this explained in detail, in a fun and understandable way, then visit my Youtube Channel, Mentour pilot or download my FREE Mobile application Mentour Aviation
Mentour Pilot Admin
Hi! I am a middle aged Line-training Captain, Base TRI/TRE and Youtuber. I Live in Beautiful Catalunya together with my wife, two sons and two dogs. Enjoy my website!
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I said in my recent 2017 goals post that I wanted to try and experiment a bit with menswear. I'm not sure if this really counts - a button down shirt and a sweater vest aren't always necessarily menswear, and I am wearing a skirt with them - but I feel like this is a good first stab, given the clothes that I currently own.
I also enjoy the edge of Gothic severity to this look. I feel kind of a like a strict governess in the late 1800s who might also be a witch who thinks about eating the children when they misbehave, which seems to fit in with my character, actually.
I absolutely love this lipstick - Stone Fox by NYX. It's a weird color, kind of a dark blue gray, but I feel like it really makes my eyes pop. I'm going to talk more about it, and some other products that I've really been digging, a little later this week.
I usually like to have a little more variation to my shots - like, you know, not looking off into the distance in literally every shot - but it's been really, really cold here recently, and I didn't want to stay outside any longer once I got a few usable shots. You know how I was kind of over summer a few months ago? Yeah, wtf was my problem? Please remind me how much I hate winter when I start faffing on about being tired of the heat.


Doron and Laurie Tisser founded Team Tisser Foundation (TTF), a non-profit corporation in 2004. TTF is designed specifically to raise money for charitable purposes and does not focus on any one charity or charitable purpose; rather, its goal is to raise as much money as possible to help make a difference by improving life for others.
Our Firm understands that life is about more than just work; it involves commitment and the willingness to give to others, whether directly or through fund-raising. Team Tisser Foundation is our Firm's commitment to our clients, friends and family members and the fight against cancer. This is an important matter to both Doron, who has lost several members of his family to cancer, including his Dad, aunt, uncle and his mother-in-law.
TTF has made contributions to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Challenged Athletes Foundation, Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, American Red Cross, American Red Magen David, Habitat for Humanity, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, American Jewish Joint Distribution, American Jewish World Services, Catholic Relief Services, Oxfam America, Save the Children, Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, and Multiple Sclerosis Society. If you have other charities you would like to have benefit from TTF, please contact Doron at doron@teamtisser.org.
Fund-raising is accomplished in several ways. First, TTF raises monies through donations supporting participation by Doron and Laurie in activities including triathlons, half-marathons, marathons, and breast cancer walks. You can call us about these events or you can see them at TTF's web-site, www.teamtisser.org.
TTF also raises monies through donations from people who want to donate to charities without being placed on the charities' mailing lists. You can donate monies to TTF with directions as to which charity you want your donation to benefit. TTF will then forward its own check to your charity of choice, thus eliminating your being placed on mailing lists.
Additionally, TTF accepts donations of items that can be auctioned or sold to raise money. Such items include autographed memorabilia, tickets to concerts and sporting events, gift certificates for hotel stays, airline tickets and new items such as toys, CDs and DVDs.
We welcome your donations to TTF and ask that you give as much as you can to help TTF in its support of various charities. Remember, all donations made to TTF are tax-deductible and TTF will send you a letter acknowledging your donation, which you can use for your tax purposes.
If you want to participate in an event with us, if you would like to have Doron help train you to complete a particular race or event, if you want to participate in your own event on behalf of TTF, or you want to help us raise money, please contact Doron at doron@teamtisser.org.
Click here for more information on Team Tisser.


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text:
Q: How to know when an exception is thrown I'm working with the Apache Thrift tool and i'm throwing some Exceptions from the server side to the client side.
The only problem is that when the client is calling a method returning a boolean Thrift is ignoring the Exception and the server is sending back the value of the boolean:
Here is the issue opened
So i was wondering if it's possible after calling the method to check if an exception has been thrown since my try/catch block is not doing it.

A: To solve my problem I used something not very clean but it does the trick:
I defined a new struct in Thrift acting like a wrapper for the boolean value:
struct thriftBool{1: bool success = false,}

Now my client receives all the exception and instead of doing
if(client.myMethod())

I'm doing:
if(client.myMethod().success)

Edit: It seems that the 0.9 version of Thrift fixes the issue.

A: You could use AOP.  Just add an exception handling pointcut.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Why is Hakhel done specifically after the shemittah year is completed?
Does one need to worry about shmitah on Arab produce in Israel?
Is the Samaritan Sabbath Year Concurrent with the Shmita?
Hydroponics – Allowed on Seventh Year?
Would hydroponics be allowed in Israel on the seventh year, when there are additional restrictions on farming the land?
What are the procedures for commissioning a pruzbul, e.g. in the greater Monsey, NY area? Are there local batei din or shul rabbis who do this? Can it be done online?
Kadosh-status of fruit grown during shmita but picked afterwards?
Shinui and Shemittah: Is there such a thing?
What is to be done with food illegally harvested in shmita year?
Was the Shmita year ever observed before the first exile?
Was biblical Shmita observed during the time of the second temple?
Was biblical shmita observed during the second beit hamikdash? Is there a source for this?
Can the concept of Heter Mekhirah truly be supported from the Rambam?
What should one do with Shemittah produce?
What should one do with Shemittah produce he owns, outside of Israel?
Mah inyan Shmita eitzel the price of tea in China?
What if one is served a shmita product that is not shmita kosher? Eat it or throw it?
Is moving a potted plant with vegetables from the ground to a table change its status as far as Shmita?
If potted vegetables on the ground (considered shmita worthy) is placed on a table, does this change its status as far as the laws concerning shmita food?
Does Shmita apply in Jordan?
Since the East bank of the Jordan River was given to shevet Reuven as an inheritance, was Shmita observed there as well? If so, does shmita still apply there?
Is it usury to give a lender more than you borrowed on a Shemittah-cancelled loan?
When was the first Shemita year? I want to compare with our years from 1800 til now.
What is Otzar Beis Din?
During shmittah, some stores sell otzar beis din produce which is ok to eat. What is otzar beis din and why does it make the produce permissible to eat?
I was reading up on Heter Iska and it said that Shmita and Shmitat Kesafim are only Rabbinic today. Why do the Biblical laws no longer apply?


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text:
Alcohol sponsorship of women's football questioned
First tenants for new Grade-A Office Block at Baltic Quarter announced
Warning to parents about summer drinking
Birtley firm fined for waste transfer failures
Plans considered to reduce heating costs for Chopwell residents
Gateshead's director of Public Health has questioned the ethics of the Football Association for accepting alcohol sponsorship for the England Women's team.
Alice Wiseman, who is also lead Director of Public Health (DPH) for Alcohol for the North East is concerned that alcohol sponsorship for the England Women's team will put alcohol messages in front of a whole new audience of teenage girls.
"The FA deserves credit for making strides to involve more women in football and all the fitness and health benefits that go with sport," she says. "However it is worrying to see alcohol getting its foot in the door."
"Here in the North East we see some of the worst alcohol harms in the country and there are many parallels with Scotland.
"Alcohol leads to weight gain, liver disease and cancer for thousands of people every year but you will never see this on the alcohol adverts showing superbly fit young footballers."
The FA's decision is in contrast to that of Scottish Women's Football (SWF) who have ruled out taking money from alcohol or gambling, saying that with 80% of their members aged under 18 years they had a duty to only associate with "positive" brands.
"...questions need to be asked about the ethics of big alcohol producers targeting this whole new market. " Susan Taylor, Balance
Millions of children were exposed to alcohol sports sponsorship during last year's 2018 men's World Cup. Research shows that exposure to alcohol marketing encourages children to drink with evidence of a link between alcohol sports sponsorship and harmful drinking among schoolchildren and sportspeople.
Susan Taylor from Balance, the North East of England's alcohol office, said: "At a time when women's football is taking off in this country among girls and young women and teenage players will be inspired by the Lionesses, questions need to be asked about the ethics of big alcohol producers targeting this whole new market.
"The players of England Women's team are sending out a positive message to fans about fitness, about health and about achievement among women - but now the big alcohol brands with their huge marketing budgets want those values equated with their beer.
"Just as with men's football, we believe people have a right to watch their sport without being constantly exposed to alcohol marketing."
Currently alcohol advertising in the UK is self-regulated by the industry through a voluntary code of practice. For example, adverts should not link alcohol consumption with sports achievement or sexual success, and should not be shown during programmes with particular appeal to children. However, the evidence is clear that children are still exposed in large numbers.
More Gateshead news
Gateshead Now is a collection of the latest news from Gateshead Council. To keep up to date, why not follow us.
Filming and photography in Gateshead
Council News magazine


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The Spread.
Porttia Portis May 18, 2016
Bisous Bisous Tinkers With Cruffins, And The Bread Winners Folks Eye Deep Ellum.
Welcome to The Spread, our weekly feature that aims to share all the area restaurant, food and beverage industry news that's fit to print. Except, this is the Internet, so space isn't a concern. Also: Good thing, because this is Dallas and this town always has breaking restaurant news going down like whoa.
Downtown coffee drinkers, rejoice! An outpost of Ascension Coffee is headed for Thanksgiving Tower. The local coffee chain's third location will be a part of the $37 million renovation plans for the building, which also include introducing a number of retail concepts. The new space will include a full premium bar, alongside a full-service breakfast and lunch program and extended weekend hours. But hold your horses: The opening isn't slated to happen until January 2017.
In other opening news, Culture Map reports that yet another new restaurant is on its way to the city's hottest dining neighborhood. Later this year, the owners of Bread Winners will bring a new concept called Harlowe MXM to the corner of Malcom X and Main in Deep Ellum. The brunch-heavy spot will feature a rooftop patio and fancy cocktails, as is to be expected considering the folks behind the concept.
Meanwhile, a Taiwanese export is making its way to the Metroplex this fall. 85C Bakery Cafe is setting up shop in the Carrollton Town Center, near Daiso Japan. Per Guide Live, the bakery is better known as "the Starbucks of Taiwan" and it will feature a variety of coffee, espresso and boba milk tea drinks in addition to freshly baked breads and pastries like their seasonal Mooncakes. Look for an opening in September.
In other sweets news, Kate Weiser Chocolates is opening a location in NorthPark Center. The latest addition to this artisanal chocolate empire will include a build-a-box station, according to Side Dish. An opening is slated for August.
In a more savory side of the news, an outpost of New York's popular food cart The Halal Guys is slated to hit Oak Lawn. The Lemmon Avenue location follows Houston in the fast-casual concept's foray into Texas. Look for an opening in July.
Back in Deep Ellum, Amsterdam Falafelshop is now open. Per Eater Dallas, the fast-casual concept focuses on falafel served in freshly made pita or bowls, in addition to frieten (read: Dutch-style fries) with all of the fixings. The restaurant joins the area's late-night dining options, with hours until 3 a.m. on Wednesdays through Saturdays.
And then there's the pastry purveyors at Bisous Bisous Patisserie, who are experimenting with a pizza cruffin (read: a muffin made with croissant dough). The savory cruffin is made with Luscher's Red Hots Italian sausage, house-made pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella, provolone and pepperoni, then topped with quattro formaggi. The pastry shop is currently beta-testing its latest addition to its hybrid desserts, with the hopes of rolling them out in late May.
Another savory hybrid comes courtesy of Easy Slider, which has partnered with Cholula Hot Sauce for a Cholula shrimp "Not So" Po' Boy. The slider will be available on Thursday, May 19, in the Dallas Arts District from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Onto craft beer news!
The still-pretty-new Oak Highlands Brewing is hosting its first-ever cake and beer pairing on Thursday, May 19. Guests will receive a flight of four OHB brews paired with four mini cakes from Jar Cakery for $15. Only 100 pairings are available, so it is first-come, first-served. The event takes place from 6 to 8 p.m.
Then, on Saturday, May 21, Intrinsic Smokehouse & Brewery is having a crawfish boil. Attendees can enjoy all-you-can eat mudbugs with the purchase of a $20 ticket online, or $25 at the door. The event starts at 2 p.m. and will last until supplies are sold out.
And, finally, this past weekend, the new and aptly called Oak Cliff Brewing Co. debuted during Brew Riot, despite not having a brewery home to call their own just yet. According to the Dallas Observer, the brewers debuted four solid beers during the event, then revealed a search for an Oak Cliff space now that plans for a location across from the Dallas Zoo fell through. The brewery is currently in the market for a 10,000 to 20,000 square-foot space in the area. If you happen to have an extra one of those on your hands, maybe give them a shout!
Cover photo via Harlowe MXM's Facebook page. Got a tip for The Spread? Email us!
Previous ArticleIt's Just Banter.
Next ArticleTaking Flight.
Porttia Portis
Porttia Portis is a self-professed coffee geek via the Midwest. When she's not out over-caffeinating herself and exploring the Dallas food scene, she's avid hip-hop fan (once dubbed by Pete Freedman as "old school") and a pretty decent barista.
Cory Graves December 25, 2022
The Spread: Highlighting Some Of Dallas' 4th Of July Specials.
Frances Tingle June 29, 2022
On Tap: Community Beer Co.'s Citra Slice.
Bob Floyd June 23, 2022
The Spread: Leon Bridges Drops Song About Texas Coffee Chain.
On Tap: Intrinsic Brewing Co.'s Heeey Czech.


text:
Listed companies' analysis | Ranking | Industry ratios | Ratios (HALL) | Statements (HALL)
Hallmark Financial Services, Inc. (HALL) financial statements (2021 and earlier)
Business Address 777 MAIN STREET, SUITE 1000
State of Incorp. NV
Fiscal Year End December 31
SIC 6399 - Insurance Carriers, Not Elsewhere Classified (benchmarking)
More info Complete financial analysis Financial benchmarking
Balance sheet (Statement of financial position) ($ in millions)
Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments 36 65 80 114 131 142
Cash and cash equivalents 36 65 80 114 131 142
Total current assets: 36 65 80 114 131 142
Noncurrent Assets
Property, plant and equipment 7 8 7 4 2 2
Long-term investments and receivables 2 2 2 2 2 2
Long-term investments 2 2 2 2 2 2
Intangible assets, net (including goodwill) 52 55 57 60 62 65
Goodwill 45 45 45 45 45 45
Intangible assets, net (excluding goodwill) 8 10 12 15 17 20
Regulated entity, other noncurrent assets 1 1 1
Total noncurrent assets: 62 65 67 66 65 68
Other undisclosed assets 1,167 1,101 1,016 897 784 699
TOTAL ASSETS: 1,265 1,231 1,162 1,077 981 909
Noncurrent Liabilities
Other undisclosed liabilities 1,009 980 897 815 729 671
Total liabilities: 1,009 980 897 815 729 671
Stockholders' equity
Stockholders' equity attributable to parent 256 251 266 262 252 238
Common stock 4 4 4 4 4 4
Treasury stock, value (26) (25) (20) (14) (12) (12)
Additional paid in capital 123 123 123 123 123 123
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (7) 12 10 7 18 17
Retained earnings 161 136 148 142 120 106
Total stockholders' equity: 256 251 266 262 252 238
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY: 1,265 1,231 1,162 1,077 981 909
Income statement (P&L) ($ in millions)
Revenues 379 386 376 372 337 389
Cost of revenue (256) (288) (254) (230) (210) (261)
Financial services costs ✕ (256) (288) (254) (230) (210) (261)
Gross profit: 123 97 122 142 127 128
Operating expenses (103) (107) (107) (104) (105) (114)
Operating income (loss): 20 (10) 15 38 23 14
Nonoperating income (expense)
(Investment Income, Nonoperating) (0) 10
Interest and debt expense (5) (5) (5) (4) (5) (5)
Other undisclosed income (loss) from continuing operations before equity method investments, income taxes (2) (2) (2) (2) 1 (8)
Income (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes: 13 (17) 8 32 19 11
Income tax expense (benefit) (2) 5 (2) (10) (5) (3)
Net income (loss) available to common stockholders, diluted: 10 (12) 7 22 13 8
Comprehensive Income ($ in millions)
Net income (loss): 10 (12) 7 22 13 8
Other comprehensive income (loss) (5) 2 3 (10) 1 9
Comprehensive income (loss), net of tax, attributable to parent: 6 (10) 9 11 14 17
Statements sources
The financial statements are based on the company's filings with the The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system (EDGAR). The information is derived from the 10-K and 10-Q reports submitted to the SEC in XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) format and presented according to the US GAAP Taxonomy. Please review the original filings for a more detailed information.


If you read our previous post, you know that Austin Kieff is sick again. After a trip to the doctor and a few tests later we know that he has another bacterial infection. We also learned that his body is not fighting the infection. His white blood cells were barely in the normal range. Apparently his body compensates for this with high fevers. We are on two weeks of a strong antibiotic. Because of the effect of the infection in his respiratory system we are also adding albuterol every 2-4 hours and orapred twice a day in addition to his pulmicort treatments. Three days into the antibiotics and we are seeing some improvement. His fever finally broke on Saturday and has not been higher than 102 since.
Right now he is climbing up into my lap so I am going to try and get this little guy to bed. The one thing we hate about the albuterol treatments is that they interfere with his sleeping!
Thanks for keeping him in your prayers!
Austin Kieff's 20 day streak of being healthy is officially over. I came home to a 105.3 fever. A call to the on-call doctor. His response was that it sounds like flu and to have him at the office first thing in the morning. We are maxing the doses on Tylenol and Motrin every six hours. Please keep him in your prayers.
Stir the soup, water, rice, onion powder, black pepper and vegetables in an 11 x 8-inch (2-quart) shallow baking dish. Top with the chicken. Season the chicken as desired. Cover. Bake at 375°F. for 50 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender. Top with cheese. Let casserole stand for 10 minutes. Stir rice before serving.
Trim It Down: Use Campbell's® 98% Fat Free Cream of Chicken Soup instead of regular soup and use low fat cheese instead of regular cheese.
Mexican: In place of onion powder and pepper use 1 teaspoon chili powder. Substitute Mexican cheese blend for Cheddar.
Italian: In place of onion powder and pepper use 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, crushed. Substitute 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan for Cheddar.
Tonight was Open House at my office. We recently expanded our home office with a new wing which houses our IT, Accounting, and Support Services Departments. I am very excited about moving into the new addition. One of the most exciting things is that I am moving into an office! No more cubicle for me :). Although, I must say that I have a really nice cubicle with tons of space. In fact, I probably have more space in my cubicle than in my new office. I am going to miss my workspace and chair room. It will be nice to have a door though!
Tonight we opened our office to the public to tour the expansion and to celebrate our sixtieth year. A really neat tidbit of information is that the second person employed by the founder of our company continues to work for our company!
Check out the Kindermusik website for more information.
These are a couple of pictures taken February 9, 2008 at my parents' house. Sorry for the side ways shot!
We are attempting to create an easy and QUICK method of keeping family and friends updated on our family. I have been turned on to blogger by my Company's audit manager, a truly great guy. He said it is how his wife keeps her family up-to-date on their family as well as how he stays in the know when he is working out of town. So, thanks Scott!
Quick and easy sounded great to me considering it is "that time of year" for me. "That time of year" simply means I am busy working on our GAAP financials and preparing our proxy, 10-K and annual report. Of course I am not the only one working on them, but being the financial reporting season I am busy!
Who knows, David may even learn to create a post :-).
We are not abandoning our website. I may even learn how to add the blog to our website...although it will most likely be sometime after May when that happens.
Drop us a note and let us know you visited!