text:
Bulgaria: Drop in electricity and gas production recorded in march 2016
20. June 2016. / SEE Energy News
According to Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, the production of electricity in March 2016 decreased by 3.8 % compared to February, to 3,564 GWh, while deliveries of electricity increased by 1 % on monthly basis and amounted to 3,004 GWh. Production of natural gas in March 2016 remained on the same level as in February and amounted to 6 million cubic meters, while its deliveries decreased by 2.6 % compared to the month before and amounted to 296 million cubic meters.
Compared to March 2015, the production of electricity has decreased by 19.3 %, and its deliveries also decreased by 5.9 %. The production of natural gas dropped by a third, while its deliveries dropped by 0.7 % compared to March 2015.
In comparison to February this year, the production of unleaded petrol in March decreased by 83 % to 26,000 tons and its deliveries increased by 20 % and amounted to 36,000 tons. The production of diesel decreased in March by 66.2 % to 70,000 tons, while deliveries of diesel increased by 43 % to 153,000 tons in the same period.
In comparison to the previous month, the production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) decreased by 77.8 % to 2,000 tons, while its deliveries increased by 33.3 % to 44,000 tons. At the same period, the production of solid fuels decreased by 32.5 % to 1,919 thousand tons, as well as deliveries of this energy resource, which also fell by 31.5 % to 2,000 thousand tons, transmits Serbia-energy.eu

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This apartment is in the Whitmer-Trilby neighborhood in Toledo. Nearby parks include Chippewa Playground, Wernerts Field and Pine Glen Park.
Hidden Village Apartments has a Walk Score of 45 out of 100. This location is a Car-Dependent neighborhood so most errands require a car.
At Hidden Village, we offer spacious one bedroom apartments, and we have a few floor plans to choose from! Each unit has a spacious kitchen, ceiling fans, ample storage, and a separate eating area.
Please call, text, or email to find out more information and to schedule a tour.
Explore how far you can travel by car, bus, bike and foot from Hidden Village Apartments.
View all Whitmer-Trilby apartments on a map.
Hidden Village Apartments is in the Whitmer-Trilby neighborhood. Whitmer-Trilby is the 19th most walkable neighborhood in Toledo with a neighborhood Walk Score of 39.


27 Easy to Use Horse Racing Systems.
UK Horse Racing Betting Sytems Revealed!
Why some people almost always make money betting on the Horses and HOW you can too by just following the simple techniques revealed here!
Do you think that you are any different than the professional gambler who seems to turn up winners all the time?
No of course your not!
But there are also gamblers out there making good money who cannot and do not spend all their waking hours, reading papers, going to the tracks, watching every race and trying to study the form to pick the right horse!
If they can do it then surely you can?
That's the same question I kept asking myself, so after talking with lots of different people the simple secret was revealed to me.
Believe it or not a great many people have created special systems to try and work out which horse is going to win in a particular race.
The thing is the professionals that use them, don't want to reveal what they are, because they are using them to make loads of cash!
Then you can find the system that suits you and start making money from your gambling!
No matter who you are, where you live or how much experience you have... your about to learn the formulas that generate £1000's in profits using easy to follow techniques.
So now is the time to decide, do you want to be one of those losers that hang out at the bookies, or to you want to turn your gambling in to a profit making enterprise?
Bonus: Order before midnight and receive an extra Betting System, 4 very clever Staking systems and a special software discount.
When you use a horse racing betting system its easier to concentrate on a narrower field of races, so giving you a better chance to pick winners.
You can also try out the systems for a few days to make sure they give you a return and suit the time you have available to study the races.
You do not need any special equipment to run these systems, you are viewing this page on the Internet so you have all you need.
Betting on the horses is a great way to earn some extra money, and many of these systems will only take up a few minutes of your time a day as you collect your winnings!
These betting systems are specially produced for the UK market and many use UK specific information to work!
But I don't like the bookie too much so I would rather give you the chance to get your own back!
So I have set the price very low at £27.77(£19.50)!
With the bonus system that's less than a $1(68p) a system!
Just one small win from just one of the systems contained within will pay for this title.
I am also going to try selling it at different prices so it may go up at any time.
Don't forget just one of these systems followed step by step could give you a return of $1000's of dollars.
You can pay by Credit Card, Debit Card or Paypal and the eBook will be delivered to you electronically within minutes!
You could start making money in no time.
And the 27 Easy to Use Horse Racing Systems comes with this guarantee.


This is a great way to get children out exploring with a mission. Gather your twigs and other natural finds and then head home for an afternoon crafting. The best way to get kids to really engage with the idea of this activity is to do a bit of prep work the night before, by making your own Stick Man to inspire the kids before they begin.
Head out for a nature hunt adventure. Encourage the kids to look for sticks of varying sizes. Keep your eyes peeled for other natural finds that you could use in your stick craft. Moss or lichen can make fantastic hair and leaves can be customised for clothes.
To make your first stick character, get the kids to examine the stick and encourage them to find bumps and nodules that they could use to make the character's nose. Snap the stick so the features are at the top, and then get the kids to stick a pair of eyes above the nose.
Next use your pipe cleaners to create the stick characters limbs. Wind your pipe cleaner securely around the stick to keep it in place. You can also use PVA glue at this stage to help it stay put.
Now it's time to add clothes and a bit of personality to your character. You can either use leaves for clothes or off cuts of material. Get the kids to position these in place, tie securely with string and then for extra durability stick on with glue. Think about hair and even accessories. Encourage the children to give their character a personality or even a job to help them bring it to life.


While I love seeing other photographers' portraiture work, I must admit I feel a little weird posting my own photos of friends and family for all the world to see. However, I do love this quiet, contemplative shot of a special little guy and wanted to share it.
I thought about taking this dark shot to black and white, but instead played with Pioneer Woman's action set and ended up with this soft desaturated look which reminds me of some of Chromasia's work. I am awed by not only his photography, but also his post-processing knowledge. For info on his online tutorials, see here. For more of his wonderful children portraiture, see here.


- 75% of things in life will be things we don't want to do."
I could go on and on… but this time the thing I recall most was his way of making things seem simple that others complicated. At this point of my life I'm learning more and more about the importance and power of clear GOSPEL conversations and presentations.
Charles Hodge says this, "The gospel is so simple that small children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches."
The Bible sheds light on Jesus being about the preach a clear GOSPEL message. So simple that as he travelled he spoke to all generations of men, women and children. It's even recorded in John 6:1-14 that a boy was willing to give up his food because of a need that was present. I think that in most of our churches today that would be one of the modern day miracles… that young people who listen to this gospel are inspired to meet the needs (physical, emotional and spiritual) of others around them.
(1) be clearly understood by all generations.
-Let's communicate a gospel that inspires others to go to PRAYER for others.
-Let's communicate a gospel that inspires others to CARE for others in words and action.
-Let's communicate a gospel that inspires others to SHARE the clear message of the good news of Christ.
God created us to be with Him. But our sin has gotten in the way of this relationship. We can do good things but it won't outpay the price of sin. God made a way by becoming a man (Jesus) and paid the price for our sin. Everyone who puts their trust in Christ alone for salvation will receive eternal life. That decision will put you you into a relationship with your savior that starts now and lasts forever.
If that makes sense to you for the first time… My question is what's stopping you right now from putting your trust in Christ alone for salvation? If nothing, then right now trust and believe in Christ alone for salvation. Then, I would encourage you to find a local church or a person that you know has a relationship with Christ and continue this process.
If you have any questions message me.
Regret can be a good emotion. If used positively it can provoke the feeling of "I've learned from my mistake and I'm making efforts to not repeat them." With that being said… I put my faith in Christ at age 6 but I regret not fully reflecting my love for God in words and actions in teenage years while my dad was still alive. This life that I live today is not so my dad would be proud of me but because I've encountered the love of a Father to the fatherless and by receiving his grace through faith I'm compelled to live my life in a way that reflects the change on the inside. For this reason I want to do my best to be like my earthly dad and do my best to communicate a clear message about my Heavenly Father.
The meathead in life's gym.
My friend Tom McCall does a fitness training program and in the last year I've seen it grow into something incredible. But lately it's gotten pretty serious. So serious that his wife Andrea has recently broken some records in lifting. The cool part is that although they are killin' it as a couple Tom uses his gift to help people in the community reach their fitness goals. But behind the scenes I know they go the extra mile and make exaggerated efforts to make sure people reach their goals.
Have you ever been to the gym and see the people that go ALL OUT and you're like, "Why am I even here? I'll never be able to get there..." and maybe at that time you just stop and start watching the TV in front of the treadmill OR you just stop going altogether? Or maybe you're the person that goes ALL OUT and walks around knowing it and flexing. Or maybe you're the person who can go ALL OUT and you're willing to help those reach their potential.
-Do I even "lift" to where I realize I still need a spotter?
-Do I even notice weights in my life and others that I need to lift in prayer and in action?
-Do I even lift the cares of close friends in prayer and in action?
-Do I even lift the cares of those I come in contact with in prayer and in action?
-Do I even lift the cares of my city and the ones who look, act and behave differently than me in prayer and in action?
-Do I even lift the cares of the world that I live in in prayer and in action?
-Am I looking in the mirror of my own righteousness and looking down at others who are struggling to lift bro?
This type of self reflection will cause us to become slower and speak and quicker to listen.
The moment we put totally put our trust in Christ alone for salvation was the moment we realized we couldn't lift on our own and needed a spotter. Sometimes when we are removed from having community with others in the "gym of life" we forget Luke 18:9-14. We tend to walk through the "gym" of our communities or social media feeds and look down on those who don't lift like us and forget that we need a spotter too.
So you could have the proverbial Pharisee "meat head" approach or come alongside a "Tax Collector" like Tom and Andrea and disciple them through the lifting process.
For the record… Give me a fellowship of tax collectors helping tax collectors who know they can't lift on their own and know they need a spotter… they may not look as "attractive" while staring all day in the mirror of righteousness but they tend to be more humble and helpful.
What's your bench press like?


text:
WEDNESDAY APR 17, 2019 |
Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee, a nonprofit dedicated to providing nutrition and supportive services in Manatee County, has announced recent staff appointments. Amy Towery, CFRE, joins the organization as vice president of development. Most recently, Towery served as the chief advancement officer for The Out-of-Door Academy, where she led the Development Department. Haskell Gates has been named to the new position of chief operating officer, overseeing the senior meal programs, Daybreak Adult Day Center, The Food Bank of Manatee and other PLUS programs. Previously, Haskell served as the chief financial officer for Meals on Wheels Plus for nearly 14 years. Bill Grenier, has been promoted to chief financial officer. Grenier previously served as controller for nearly four years, and has an extensive financial background including for industry and public accounting. Judi Bjork, has been named to vice president of events and volunteer services, where she will plan the signature events for Meals on Wheels Plus and oversee the Volunteer Services Department. Joe Stoddard, VP of Operations, Cindy Sloan, Director/VP of The Food Bank, and Stephanie Grepling, Director of Marketing will continue in their roles.
Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee
« View The Wednesday Apr 17, 2019 SRQ Daily Edition
Selby Gardens Receives $1-Million Gift for Master Plan


1. I would like my name to be added to ANZTB's Certified Testers List?
If you gained your certification through another exam provider please fill out the form here and return it to our office in Auckland. The cost for each certificate to be added will be $90 + GST.
If you gained your certification from an ANZTB eExam please fill out the form here and scan back to info@anztb.org. This will be actioned without charge.
If you gained your certification through the ANZTB, please complete the form here and return it to scr@anztb.org. The Register will appear on the ISTQB® website in December 2017.
3. How do I book an Expert exam?
4. What is the ISTQB®?
5. What about ISTQB® training?
6. What is the exam fee?
New Zealand residents pay in NZD and Australian residents pay in AUD.
7. How do I postpone or cancel my exam?
Please log into Webassessor using your login here to reschedule or cancel.
- Less than 72hrs notice this will incur a fee of USD$100 which will either be collected via Webassessor directly or by ANZTB invoice.
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Results are usually emailed within 1-2 weeks of the exam date depending on public holidays in Australia & New Zealand. Hardopcy certificates and letters are then posted from our office in New Zealand the following week.
Results are usually emailed within 1-2 weeks of the exam date depending on public holidays in Australia & New Zealand. Hardcopy certificates and letters are then posted from our office in New Zealand the following week.
The ANZTB deal with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Please indicate this at time of booking and you will be contacted by one of our representatives.
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Currently feedback is only available for our CTFL and CTFL-AT eExams.
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a) If there is an error on the certificate, the defective certificate is to be returned before a corrected certificate is issued. The cost of postage will be reimbursed to the customer.
b) If the error is due to incorrection information provided by the certificate holder then the certificate will need to be returned and a $30+GST charge is payable for a replacement.
15. If I fail what is the cost to re-sit?
The full fee is payable again for a re-sit.
- ISTQB® Certified Tester Advanced Level - Technical Test Analyst.
The ANZTB are offering a 50% discount for a re-sit on any of the modules listed above. Those wishing to book a discounted re-sit, please contact the ANZTB office directly at info@anztb.org.
This offer will be available for 1 year from the date of the initial exam.
NB: This promotion is for the modules listed above ONLY. For all other modules, the full fee is payable again.


text:
The Lord hath Helped Me Hitherto
History Baptisms Confirmations Marriages Deaths
"…by His surpassing favor…"
"…His mercies every morn were new…"
"…His kindness did not waver…"
"…God hitherto hath been my Guide…"
"…Hath pleasures hitherto supplied…"
"…and hitherto hath helped me."
"I praise and thank Thee, Lord, my God,…"
"…For Thine abundant blessing…"
"…Which heretofore Thou hast bestowed…"
"…And I am still possessing…"
"…Inscribe this on my memory…"
"…The Lord hath done great things for me…"
"…And graciously hath helped me."
"Help me henceforth, O God of grace,…"
"…Help me on each occasion…"
"…Help me in each and every place…"
"…Help me through Jesus' Passion…"
"…Help me in life and death, O God…"
"…Help me through Jesus' dying blood…"
"…Help me as Thou hast helped me."
"The Lord hath helped me hitherto," or, as they would have said in the early years of our congregation, "Bis hieher hat mich Gott gebracht." For 125 years, Bethlehem Lutheran Congregation of Evanston, or Deutsche evangelische lutheranische Bethlehems Gemeinde, as it used to be called, has enjoyed the grace of God through good times and bad. This booklet has been prepared to give the reader a sense of the history of our congregation and of the times through which it has survived. Thus the history of the congregation includes notes about the history of the city of Evanston, the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, the United States of America, and the world, as well as the history of the Lutheran churches in America and of other religious organizations in Evanston.
Bethlehem Lutheran Church is, as Richard Avery's song says, "not a building, not a steeple, not a resting place, but a people." While many, many more people could have been mentioned in this history, the goal was to produce a booklet, not a book. There- fore the names mentioned are representative of all those who have passed through the doors of our church buildings and into the world.
We pray on this occasion that all who read this booklet will be able to say with us, "The Lord hath helped me hitherto…" and will receive the Holy Spirit to accept Christ as their complete and only Savior from sin so that they may join us in eternal celebration.
Marilyn Gardner – November 5, 1997
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1. Providing inspirational teaching and constructive feedback, every lesson of every day.
2. Promoting and modelling high expectations, traditional values and professional standards.
3. Recognising, rewarding and celebrating success.
4. Preparing young people to be 'employment ready' with the skills and confidence to succeed.
5. Providing learning experiences which inspire: meeting the needs and aspirations of all.
6. Ensuring no student is left behind.
7. Sustainable and effective collaboration and partnerships with parents and the community.
8. Highly effective professional development to ensure excellence in the classroom.
The purpose of the Development Plan is to set out clearly the Academy priorities for the year ahead. It does not attempt to list everything the Academy intends to do. Instead, it is a single strategic document which maps out the main actions needed to secure improvement. In order to make this manageable, only the Academy's main priorities are included in this plan. Individual subject area plans are not included but can be located in a copy that is kept under continual review by the leadership team.
Priority 1: To raise levels of progress Year 7 to 13 to ensure that all learners make rapid and sustained gains in their learning and secure positive progression routes.
Priority 2: To ensure all young people develop and apply personal, learning and thinking skills and knowledge to be resilient, independent and successful learners and adults.
Priority 3: To develop a talented work force to work with and support young people through highly effective recruitment and continuous professional development (leadership at all levels).
Priority 4: To build capacity and extend opportunities for all through the raising attainment and school improvement agenda in support of an underperforming secondary school.


text:
The Longest Rescue
The Politics of Trafficking
Group Harmony
Remembering The Battle of the Crater
Bluffing Texas Style
The Insanity Defense and the Mad Murderess of Shaker Heights
Mexico's Illicit Drug Networks and the State Reaction
Emmett Till
Thirteen Loops
Race, Violence, and the Last Lynching in America
B. J. Hollars
Society of Midland Authors Adult Nonfiction Award
Narrated by James K. White
Book published by University of Alabama Press
Thirteen Loops: Race, Violence, and the Last Lynching in America recounts the story of three innocent victims, all of whom suffered violent deaths through no fault of their own: Vaudine Maddox in 1933 in Tuscaloosa, Sergeant Gene Ballard in 1979 in Birmingham, and Michael Donald in 1981 in Mobile.
The death of Vaudine Maddox — and the lynchings that followed — serves as a cautionary tale about the violence that occurred in the same region nearly fifty-years later, highlighting the cowardice, ignorance, and happenstance that sustained a culture of racial intolerance far into the future.
Nearly half a century later, after a black bank robber was acquitted for the murder of police Sergeant Gene Ballard, two Klansmen took it upon themselves to exact revenge on an innocent victim—nineteen-year-old African American Michael Donald. Donald's murder—deemed the last lynching in America—reignited the race debate in America and culminated in a courtroom drama in which the United Klans of America were at long last put on trial.
While tracing the relationships among these murders, B. J. Hollars's research led him deep into the heart of Alabama's racial, political, and legal landscapes. A work of literary journalism, Thirteen Loops draws upon rarely examined primary sources, court documents, newspaper reports, and first-hand accounts in an effort to unravel the twisted tale of a pair of interconnected murders that forever altered United States' race relations.
B. J. Hollars is the editor of You Must Be This Tall To Ride: Contemporary Writers Take You Inside The Story. He is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
"Through newspaper accounts and copious interviews, Hollars has wrought a highly stylized ... account of the murder [of Michael Donald] and its aftermath, with discussions of two other homicides.... However, the substantive central narrative justifies the effort of following these twists and turns. Hollars compares Donald's legacy to those of Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, James Meredith, and Martin Luther King Jr. Though this might be a stretch, Donald's life and death are certainly worth remembering."
"Thirteen Loops offers a compelling narrative, an interesting analysis of three not necessarily related events. It is readable and imaginatively put together, and well worth the attention of anyone interested in the history of lynching in the U.S. South."
—The Journal of African American History
"Hollars puts a creative spin on his analysis of three lynching cases in the American South ... With meticulous detailing, the author describes the three cases, individually and, in concluding updates, how they coalesce.... Hollars' text is scholarly and comprehensive but delivered in a fresh, far-from-dry journalistic style.... The author is also quite astute at drawing meaningful comparisons. He discusses Donald's lynching in 1981 alongside the murder of gay man Matthew Shepard in 1998, each established as a 'hate crime' and further solidifying the terminology in police work and legislation alike. A creatively written, edifying work of historical significance and a boon for those interested in Southern race relations."
"Thirteen Loops is a cogent and valuable history, documented extensively in a lengthy bibliography; it is an important academic document. It is more than that, though. It is written in story form, conversationally, as though recounted by a friend, and this form makes it a very personal experience to read. It makes Thirteen Loops one of those rare books that is impossible to put down, that is transformative, that will remain forever in memory."
—Haydens Ferry Review
"Thirteen Loops, written in the "new journalistic" style, is riveting and fascinating. There is no question that it is an original and important piece of nonfiction written in a highly accessible—indeed a gripping—style. Thirteen loops is a literary device that refers simultaneously to the number of knots in the classic Klan lynching noose and to the 'loops' of the story that Hollars skillfully interweaves."
—Glenn Feldman, author of Politics, Society, and the Klan in Alabama 1915-1949
"Thirteen Loops is a solid and much-needed addition to the history of race violence in America.... In exploring the testimony and lives of Donald's murderers, Thirteen Loops also reveals that the impetus behind hate-crime lynchings—the desire further to oppress marginalized groups through fear—remains a conscious option in the collective consciousness, one that hate crime legislation acknowledges but cannot eliminate."
"Thirteen Loops is an ambitious book. It seeks not only to tell the story of one man unjustly killed for the color of his skin but it seeks to explore racial dynamics in the South resulting from slavery, the stew of hatred and resentment that makes people lash out in anger, the attitude of complacency and complicity from those in leadership positions that allowed such violence to continue. It also seeks to review, discuss and condemn the role of the KKK in perpetuating violence and needless deaths in the South."


What do you do when something bad is happening? You have a protest!
Recent examples of protests include protests against space exploration, protests against protests against space exploration, and protests against protests against protests against space exploration.
Usually, these pass off peacefully. But sometimes... there is a fight! And where there's one fight, more fights are bound to follow!
Predictably, the least peaceful protest saw a great many fights occur. It was all vs all, and everyone later died.
The least peaceful protest happened thousands of years ago, during some old war. But I can't remember the details, since it happened before I was born, so shut up.


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The linked open access reference suggests that due to vegetation-albedo feedback the rate of desert expansion may average 34% from 2009 to 2100.
Abstract: "Many subtropical regions are expected to become drier due to climate change. This will lead to reduced vegetation which may in turn amplify the initial drying. Using a coupled atmosphere-ocean-land model with a dynamic vegetation component that predicts surface albedo change, here we simulate the climate change from 1901 to 2099 with CO2 and other forcings. In a standard IPCC-style simulation, the model simulated an increase in the world's 'warm desert' area of 2.5 million km2 or 10% at the end of the 21st century. In a more realistic simulation where the vegetation-albedo feedback was allowed to interact, the 'warm desert' area expands by 8.5 million km2 or 34%. This occurs mostly as an expansion of the world's major subtropical deserts such as the Sahara, the Kalahari, the Gobi, and the Great Sandy Desert. It is suggested that vegetation-albedo feedback should be fully included in IPCC future climate projections."
Title: "The High Price of Desertification: 23 Hectares of Land a Minute"
Extract: "Desertification is on the march. Many people are going hungry because degraded lands affects agriculture, a key source of livelihood and food in much of Africa. More than 2.6 billion people live off agriculture in the world. More than half of agricultural land is affected by soil degradation, according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
It gets worse. The UN body says 12 million hectares of arable land, enough to grow 20 tonnes of grain, are lost to drought and desertification annually, while 1.5 billion people are affected in over 100 countries. Halting land degradation has become an urgent global imperative.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that by 2030 Africa will lose two-thirds of its arable land if the march of desertification — the spread of arid, desert-like areas of land — is not stopped."
The linked open access document summarizes extant IPCC knowledge about "climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems".
IPCC- WGIII [Pete Smith (Chair), Mark Howden, Thelma Krug, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Cheikh Mbow, Hans-Otto Pӧrtner, Andy Reisinger, Josep Canadell & Phillip O'Brien] (2017), "Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems (SR2) - Background report for the Scoping Meeting"
Forward: "This background documentation provides a summary of the available knowledge from previous IPCC reports and other relevant sources to act as a foundation upon which to build discussion at the Expert Scoping Meeting in February 2017 for the IPCC Special Report on "climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems". The aim of the background documentation is not to provide a comprehensive exploration of all of these areas, nor to propose outcomes, but to support participants by providing a summary of relevant information before and during the scoping meeting. We review relevant reports and other outputs before providing a final section on key known unknowns and issues arising since AR5, as a means to stimulate discussion."
"The UN body says 12 million hectares of arable land, enough to grow 20 tonnes of grain, are lost to drought and desertification annually" - even knowing nothing about the subject, I knew this statement was off. But after looking into it, I still can't figure out what it was that they actually meant, or what their error was.
In any case, annual wheat yield is 3 tons per hectare, if anyone was wondering.
I doubt it was all 'marginal land about to be desertified'.
I suspect marginal land on the edge of desertification has a much lower yield then normal, properly cultivated arable land.
Climate change brings more water vapour. We also know that colder periods were drier with much less rain and bigger deserts, paleodata support this. Think of Green Sahara during the Holocene Climatic Optimum. So I do not believe that global warming creates more deserts, on the contrary, it reduces the size of deserts.
The usual view is that, while overall there will be more water vapor (already increased by some 7%), there will also be areas that will get drier, especially many places already dry now, and interiors of large continents. Also, as climate zones move poleward, arid regions will move (are already moving) poleward, so in the Northern Hemisphere, places now north of major deserts are likely to become drier.
Yes, ag, overgrazing can make things much worse, but there have always been areas that were drier and areas that were wetter, and the dry areas tend to fall at certain latitudes because of Hadley Cell behavior, which others who know more about such things can certainly elucidate much more clearly than I can.
...there will also be areas that will get drier, especially many places already dry now, and interiors of large continents. Also, as climate zones move poleward, arid regions will move (are already moving) poleward, so in the Northern Hemisphere, places now north of major deserts are likely to become drier.
That is true. The African Humid Period was a time roughly 10k years ago, in which North Africa teamed with lush vegetation and numerous wildlife. This corresponded with warmer temperatures and a healthy monsoon season. Paleo data suggests that the transition to its current death state began about 5k years ago, and was complete in a relatively short timeframe. In recent times, the most widespread droughts have been associated with colder periods.
The end of the glacial period brought more rain to the Sahara, from about 8000 BC to 6000 BC, perhaps because of low pressure areas over the collapsing ice sheets to the north. Once the ice sheets were gone, the northern Sahara dried out.
In the southern Sahara, the drying trend was initially counteracted by the monsoon, which brought rain further north than it does today. By around 4200 BC, however, the monsoon retreated south to approximately where it is today, leading to the gradual desertification of the Sahara. The Sahara is now as dry as it was about 13,000 years ago.
So according to this in the first instance it was actually the presence of ice-sheets that allowed North Africa to be relatively green...not exactly a simple--warmer globe/less desert--correlation or causation.
And 'lush' may be overstating it a bit...it was certainly greener than most of the Sahara currently is, but still a rather arid, grassland environment: "During periods of a wet or "Green Sahara", the Sahara becomes a savanna grassland "
"Strengthening summer-season solar radiation causes the North African landmass to heat up relative to the adjacent Atlantic Ocean due the lower thermal inertia of the land surface relative to the upper ocean mixed layer. The warmer land mass creates a broad low pressure zone, driving the inflow of moist air from the tropical Atlantic. The resulting summer monsoonal rains nourish the landscape. During winter, the land cools relative to the ocean and the winds reverse (one definition of a monsoon), returning dry conditions across North Africa. Since precession controls summer insolation, it effectively controls the amount and northward penetration of the monsoonal rains into North Africa. Simple atmosphere-only climate models have shown that a 7% increase in summer radiation, similar to what occurred during the AHP, results in at least a 17% increase in African monsoonal rainfall, and up to 50% if ocean feedbacks are included (Kutzbach and Liu, 1997)."
The warming up (even more than now!) of North Africa during summer caused monsoon rains to appear during the hot season. It is reasonable to think that when North Africa warms up again, the same thing will happen.
Yes, over all, a wetter atmosphere should generally mean more places getting wetter than places getting drier. I'm just saying turning that into predictions for specific locations can be difficult.
And the two are not mutually inclusive. Many places will see both deeper and longer periods of drought interspersed with ever-more intense rain-bombs that will tend to wash away the drought-killed soil rather than foster new thriving life.
As mentioned earlier, though, the effects that locals have are likely to be at least as important wrt desertification or restoration.
In the American Southwest the dry lakes now found throughout the desert ~uniformly dried up at the end of the ice age, often referred to as the cooler, pluvial period.
Herds of giant Bison and families of Mammoths simply couldn't have survived on the sparse vegetation now extant, but their bones prove their earlier existence.
Yes, I can agree with the above. This, however means, that good practices, eg: rain harvesting, soil erosion control, forest/plant cover, etc. could help a lot to avoid desertification even in areas with less rain.
The biggest problem is not less rain as we all know, but possibly changing precipitation patterns and adaptation to that.
While warmer means wetter, it also means increased evapo-transpiration. This can result in local conditions becoming more desert like despite increased precipitation. For example, here at the northern frontier of the boreal forest, one would assume that a warmer wetter climate would result in better conditions for trees. However, the dominant species, white spruce cannot grow when summer temps rise above a certain threshold, about one degree more than the current July temperature. Combine this with the higher rate of evapo-transpiration and it is predicted that the climate will soon be more suitable for aspen parkland than for boreal forest. And aspen parkland feels pretty desert like compared to boreal forest!
I recall reading (decades ago) about some research somewhere in the Southwest USA concerning the widespread development of arroyos during the 18th and 19th centuries. [Edit: apparently there were 'few' arroyos in the 16th and 17th centuries when the first Spaniards explored the region.] The 'prevailing theory' was that overgrazing was the cause. The researchers wondered why there were arroyos 'everywhere', not just around where settlements were. They discovered, IIRC, there was a grass that was dying out (regionally) due to a slight increase in rainfall; there were two forces supporting erosion (more water and fewer roots). A different grass migrated in that relatively stabilized the region or had a different sort of root structure that didn't hold soil as well, or something (some details I don't recall!). Overgrazing, of course, was and remains a force that supports arroyo development.
"we here show that the CO 2 physiological response has a dominant role in evapotranspiration and evaporative fraction changes and has a major effect on long-term runoff compared with radiative or precipitation changes due to increased atmospheric CO 2 . This major effect is true for most hydrological stress variables over the largest fraction of the globe, except for soil moisture, which exhibits a more nonlinear response. This highlights the key role of vegetation in controlling future terrestrial hydrologic response and emphasizes that the carbon and water cycles are intimately coupled over land."
"Contrary to previous wisdom, changes in precipitation and radiation do not play the primary role in future drying and moistening in most regions. Rather, biosphere physiological effects and related biosphere–atmosphere interactions (42) are key for predicting future continental water stress as represented by ET, long-term runoff, EF, or leaf area index. In turn, vegetation water stress largely regulates land carbon uptake (43), further emphasizing how tightly the future carbon and water cycles are coupled so that they cannot be evaluated in isolation"
Open access. Read the whole thing.
Climate change brings more water vapour. We also know that colder periods were drier with much less rain and bigger deserts, paleodata support this.
Can you back this claim up with specific studies? Not studies showing higher rainfall when warmer, but rather higher soil moisture/less deserts/more vegetation. And global, not limited to a specific area such as Sahara.
A warmer world will put more water vapour into the atmosphere. It will also increase evaporation rates. A naive expectation is that the two effects would cancel each other out. However even if the effects cancel each other out, more stress might be placed on plants during dry periods, and wet periods might result in a greater percentage of water running out to sea in rivers.
Also warming now is much faster than known from paleoclimate studies. The result is that the land warms up faster than ocean. Global rain will depend more on ocean temps, and plant stress due to evaporation depend on land temps, so global rainfall will not keep up. However especially for monsoon regions a faster land warming may result in a greater percentage of the global rainfall falling on land. As models tend to show a reduction in soil moisture in the future, I guess the first factor wins. Or other factors are at play. A flip side is that as soon as action is taken to stabilise CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, we may still have more warming in the pipeline, but the rate will slow down and the land vs ocean temperature difference will reduce.
Can you back this claim up with specific studies?
stating: "Desert areas reduce significantly in the Northern Hemisphere, but increase in northern Australia"


Working on ships and in shipyards is dangerous work. The LHWCA provides medical benefits and lost wage compensation to longshore workers, stevedores, machinists, boilermakers and others injured, and to the families of workers who die, while building, repairing, and loading and unloading ships on navigable waterways and working in nearby areas. The Jones Act provides benefits to seamen injured aboard ships. Both Acts include claims for occupational exposure injuries, including asbestos-related diseases, silicosis and hearing loss.
The Law Offices of Devin Robinson protects the rights of injured ship and shipyard workers.


Great fun day out on the river.
The Mambucaba River is located on the National Park Serra da Bocaina. It is a clear water river in between the gorgeous Atlantic Rain Forest and the mountains. The Rafting goes on the last five kilometers of rapids classified as class II e III (IV). The rapids are almost nonstop, there are few places to rest and enjoy the forest with its high trees full of bromeliads and e orchids. At the middle of the descent, will be a spot to jump off a rock in deep and safe water. Snack included. The interaction with the nature is perfect – water, rocks, forest and mountains. Jeep transport to the valley.


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Staffing Pattern of NCHPE
Resource Persons of Faculty Development Training
Name list of participant of Faculty Development Training (FDT)
CD and EC
Communication Skills Unit
Distance Education Unit
Ethics Unit
Facilitating Change
Facilitating Innovative Approaches
Faculty Development Program
Global Health Unit
HLMC Unit
Elective Program
Centificate of Attendance
Lodging and Fooding
Information on Nepal
Elective Program Online Form
Nchped
Elective Students
Onlineform
Global health course: An introduction
The Global Health Course (GHC) is an international and multidisciplinary training program in Global Health which is funded mainly by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It aims to train health professionals and students on the impacts of globalization on health and other global-public issues. The program, principally coordinated in Finland, entails an international network of public health oriented organizations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. As a part of this program, a diploma course on global health (DGH) has been started and organized in Finland five times during 2001-2007.The 3 subsequent courses (sixth, seventh and eighth course) were arranged in University of Tampere in 2009-2011.The course also has been arranged in Tanzania in 2008 and 2014 and Philippines in 2009 and 2014.
Institute of Medicine (IOM), Nepal was enrolled as a part of the global health course since 09/11/2009 and it has participated in the diploma courses held in Finland in 2010,2011 and 2013.
The Finish Medical society DUODECIM, based on Helsinki, Finland, is the main coordinating and contract holding body. DUODECIM was founded in 1881, as avenue to promote various activities that serve the medical profession and health care in Finland, with the aim of promoting public discussions on priorities and ethics in medicine.
First diploma in Global Health course in Nepal
IOM is proud to be the part of this global health community by organizing the diploma course in Nepal which was held in the month of August, 2013. More like the previous diploma courses, this course includes 2 and a half weeks of theoretical part and one and half weeks of practical part. The theoretical part will be run by the highly skilled national and international professionals, on relevant topics, within the premises of National center of Health Professions Education (NCHPE). As a part of the practical aspect of the course, the participants, both national and international will be able to have experiences with the different health sector stakeholders including the health ministry, NGOs and INGOs of Nepal. There will be total of 34 participants from different Global Health partner countries including Nepal, Finland, Chile, Tanzania, Philippines. Among the total participants there will be 13 participants from Nepal, 12 from Finland, 3 from Tanzania, Chile, and Philippines each. The program will be funded by DUODECIM and the course will be certified by the University of Tampere, Finland. The academic course will be fully run by Global Health Unit (GHU).
Upcoming diploma in Global Health course in Nepal
IOM is proud to be the part of this global health community by organizing the diploma course in Nepal for the second time which will be held from 3rd-22nd August, 2015. More like the previous diploma courses, this course includes 2 weeks of theoretical part and one week of practical part.
There will be total of 34 participants from different Global Health partner countries including Nepal, Finland, Chile, Tanzania, Philippines. Among the total participants there will be 13 participants from Nepal, 12 from Finland, 3 from Tanzania, Chile, and Philippines each. The program is funded by DUODECIM and the course is certified by the University of Tampere, Finland. The academic course will be fully run by Global Health Unit (GHU), National Centre for Health Professions Education(NCHPE),Institute of Medicine(IOM).
Further infromation please Click Here
An introduction to Global Health Unit (GHU)
The unit, established in 2011, works under the National Center for Health Professions Education (NCHPE) within the premises of IOM.
Objectives of the global health unit
Short Term objectives
To develop an e-learning course in Transition in Health jointly initiated by IOM, DUODECIM and University of Tampere, Finland
To conduct diploma in global health course going to be jointly organized by IOM, DUODECIM and University of Tampere in August 2013
Long Term objectives
To continue and strengthen the diploma in Global Health Course in IOM and try to establish it as a part of the curriculum of Maharajgunj Medical Campus
Team members of Global Health Unit
1. Dr. Archana Amatya Co-ordinator, drarchu67@yahoo.com
2. Prof. Dr. Jagadish Prasad Agarwal Member, jpagrawal@healthnet.org.np
3. Prof. Mandira Shahi Member, mandiranp@yahoo.com
4. Dr. Pradip Gyanwali Member, prgyawali654@yahoo.com
5. Mr. Prem Basel Member
Global Health Unit (GHU),
National center for Health Professions Education (NCHPE),
Institute of Medicine (IOM)
Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, Nepal
Phone No: 977-1-4416025, 977-1-4416734, 977-1-4410792
Email: mededu@iomdit.org.np, nchpe_elective@yahoo.com
URL: http://www.nchped.org.np
Notices/Events
Faculty Development Training (FDT)
"Faculty Development Training (FDT)" will be held from 07th April to 12th April, 2019 (24th Chaitra to 29th Chaitra 2075).
This is to notify that Ms. Urmila Lama is no more working in National Centre for Health Profession Education (NCHPED)
Please do not correspond or do any transaction with her concerning NCHPED. If anybody has corresponded with Ms. Urmila Lama in relation to Elective study at various departments in T.U. Teaching Hospital, Institute of Medicine, kindly redirect your correspondence or queries to Elective program coordinator: Prof. Ms. Mandira Shahi. She can be contacted during office hours (9 AM to 5 PM) on +977-01-4418059 or can be emailed at mededu@iomdit.org.np / nchpe_elective@yahoo.com
Elective Programme
© National Centre for Health Professions Education (NCHPE), TU Institute of Medicine. 2017


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Confessed Child Rapist Set Free Due To Attorney Negligence
On behalf of Ball, Bonholtzer & Evans | Oct 29, 2015 | Uncategorized |
Judgement states attorney negligence on behalf of prosecutor caused delays that violated defendant's right to speedy trial.
Aaron Fisher, who confessed to sodomizing his infant daughter, was set free this week due to a judge's ruling which points to a systemic problem in the Lake of the Ozarks region's justice system, resulting in citizens being held for excessive time while awaiting trial.
Fisher will not stand trial for the crime he confessed to—and had previously pleaded guilty to—due to Cole County, Missouri Judge Patricia Joyce's ruling, unless Miller County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Winfrey is successful in appealing the decision and having it heard in the court of appeals.
LakeExpo.com staff obtained an unsigned copy of Joyce's decision from an anonymous source, in which she spelled out her reasoning for letting Fisher go.
In her decision, Joyce referenced the "Prosecutor's negligence," and a 26th Circuit court system that, with only two judges, "has failed defendants over and over."
Former Miller County Prosecutor Matt Howard concurred that trials can be tricky to schedule in the 26th Circuit, with only two judges covering five counties. In a normal year, he told LakeExpo.com, it might be possible to schedule six major felony trials in Miller County. Likely half of those, he said, would experience delay, whether attributable to the state or the defense.
The first half of Joyce's written opinion on the case tracked closely with the arguments for dismissal made by the defense. On Sept. 16, 2015, Fisher's state-appointed attorney Jason Emmons made the motion to dismiss the case, due to an alleged violation of Fisher's right to a speedy trial.
Joyce criticized Winfrey—who inherited the five-year-old case when he took office at the beginning of 2015—saying, "[O]nce newly elected prosecuting attorney Ronnie Benjamin Winfrey took office, the State once again was derelict in its duties to bring Mr. Fisher to trial… Then on October 15, 2015 when this motion was heard, Mr. Winfrey failed to make any argument, instead allowed newly appointed counsel to misrepresent to the Court that the Defendant had made numerous requests for continuances when in fact the State could only point to one such request for continuance on May 23, 2011."
In opposing the motion to dismiss, Winfrey's office had submitted the only known document that shows a continuance requested by the defense. It was a transcript of a pre-trial conference, on May 23, 2011, just before the commencement of a trial, which had been accelerated due to a handwritten speedy trial petition submitted by Fisher from jail without the assistance of an attorney. In the transcript, Fisher voices his assent to the delay and agrees with the judge that in so doing, he is waiving his right to a speedy trial. His then-defense attorney Keith Halcomb spoke up after that, saying Fisher was not waiving his right to a speedy trial but was simply agreeing to the delay caused by that continuance request.
Many other continuances were requested by the defense, according to former prosecutor Matt Howard, but there is not any documentation to show it. Miller County Circuit Clerk staff confirmed many interactions in the courtroom are not recorded. Howard told LakeExpo.com that specific interaction on May 23 had been transcribed by a court reporter because Judge Stan Moore wanted to ensure Fisher's waiving of his right to a speedy trial and assent to the delay was recorded.
Joyce excoriated Howard in her judgment, saying, "This case was first set for trial January 10, 2011. Since that time, 'then' Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Howard has blatantly disregarded the United States Constitution and Missouri Constitution in that he had at least 6 trial settings over a 5 year period and failed to bring any type of justice to the County of Miller. Over this 5 year period, Matthew Howard allowed this case to decay."
Howard and Winfrey have since contended Joyce misunderstood the source of the delays. She was placed on the case in early 2015—five years into the proceedings—after both 26th circuit judges, Stan Moore and Kenneth Hayden, recused themselves.
Responding to Joyce's decision, Winfrey said, "The Judge glossed over the many plea hearings which were cancelled and [Fisher's] withdraw of a plea which caused considerable delays – in addition to his continuance the day of trial."
In July of 2014, Fisher had pleaded guilty and confessed to sodomizing his infant daughter. But at his sentencing hearing in November, he said he did not really remember the events of that day in 2009, so his plea was set aside. In the following months, both Hayden and Moore recused themselves, and the case was reassigned to Joyce.
In the penultimate paragraph of Joyce's opinion, she wrote, "This court does not and will not begin to choose which defendant or which defendant's rights it will stand for. The courts have a duty to uphold the rights of every citizen in the United States and Missouri no matter the cause. Without the right to a speedy and fair trial, defendants charged with crimes would be allowed to rot in the wallows of our jail system forcing them to make a choice to plead to something they did not do or roll the dice after evidence good and bad has spoiled. Otherwise, citizens could be held against their will, for excessive amounts of time, without regard to whether they matter. This Order does not pick, choose, or discriminate against any citizen's rights. Instead, this Order stands for the United States Constitution and the Missouri Constitution."
Originally posted on LakeExpo.com by Nathan Bechtold.
Attorney Negligence Representation – Ball & Bonholtzer Trial Attorney – Los Angeles


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Category: Build Community
How to Create Welcoming Local Playgroups
May 5, 2016 May 22, 2016 Leigh Fryling Build Community
Standing up for what's right when you're sitting down playing
You may remember my friend James, owner of The Two-Headed Giant, from my last article on creating an inclusive playgroup. You may also remember that we were successful in starting a healthy and inclusive P4D/LPS chapter in the shop using our combined super-powers of being aggressively friendly/persistent, and free coffee. We also consistently shut down negative, destructive, and inappropriate language and behavior by following the platinum rule to which we held every patron; namely, 'don't be s*^tty'.
No, that's not 'don't be Scotty'- these are the expletives you are looking for.
A lot of behavior can fall under the platinum rule, but for us it was specifically reflective of any behavior that would reflect badly on the character of the shop. This doesn't mean we jumped the case of anyone who dropped an f-bomb (we dropped a few ourselves) or had words with anyone who made a snarky comment, but we did maintain vigilance against anything that made other patrons or ourselves uneasy. We also took the LPS/P4D mission statement very seriously, and made a point of calling out derogatory language (using the word gay as a slur, making derogatory comments about women, etc).
Now that's easy for me to say and do, I'm a teacher (and an extrovert) so I am monitoring and correcting behavior all the time. How can I possibly expect you to comfortable doing the same in your shop or chapter? Calling people out is scary and uncomfortable, could easily be taken too far, and could end in shouting or table flipping or all sorts of shenanigans… can't it?
Well FEAR NOT! That's exactly why I'm typing away at this article. You can do it, and while it may initially give you that little butterfly-flutter, I can promise you that it is both worth the momentary discomfort, and vital to your shop and chapter. Your example to others, establishing standards of behavior, and keeping your space positive and friendly is a major key to your group's success. Here's how.
1) The language of 'We'
There's a game of Boss Monster going on at the table next to you. Someone laughs as a Boss levels up, and says "damn, that monster is so gay!" You feel a subtle flinch from the person across the table from you; the time to act is now. You screw your courage to the sticking place, and tap the gay-sayer on the shoulder. They turn, still laughing, and your mouth goes dry.
A lot of the anxiety and difficulty people experience when confronting unwanted behavior in others comes from feeling alone, of putting themselves at personal risk. The best way to alleviate these concerns is to use language that indicates group consensus, or 'we' speak. Instead of standing up and saying 'Please don't use the word 'gay', it's not okay', modify the sentence to include others. For example "Hello! We're working on making this store an inclusive safe space, so we don't use 'gay' as a slur here. We just wanted to let you know for the future, thank you!"
Cheesy? A little..but it works. And it gets a lot less cheesy after you do it a few times and it becomes a genuinely natural way of speaking for you. By saying 'we', the speaker sub-textually includes everyone else in the space, as well as the person being addressed. It implies a behavior code backed by group consensus, even though there is only one person speaking, and includes the person being addressed as part of the group; in this way, the addressee is not made to feel singled out or excluded, and the speaker is not putting themselves as an individual at risk for reprisal.
2) Have my back, 'bro
When truly troubling situations arise, such as particularly objectionable comments or a consistent unwanted behavior, LPS/P4D members as well as shop staff should support each other through proximity and reinforcement. If you see someone standing up for your rules, physically move to be near them. Be persistent in asking for unwanted behavior to change. In a gentle and friendly manner remind everyone of the culture you're trying to create in the shop or the chapter, and above all be patient. In general, it takes eight repetitions for a person to create a habit; it takes at least a month to change one. I'm thinking in particular of a young man who had a tendency to swear almost every other word. Again, while swearing is tolerated a the THG, this was excessive. It took a few weeks of friendly reminders from everyone, but eventually the habit dissipated, and now he is the one asking new members to watch their language. Did I laugh? Oh yeah. But really happy laughter.
3) Call in the big guns
The most important support comes from the shop owners and staff. Without their backing, the most you can do is continue to politely request change. But if the staff and the owners are on board with the platinum rule, they can be a true ally in helping to affect shop culture. Either way, these are the people to turn to if altercations get significantly out of hand; if situations become angry, violent, or insults/slurs become harassment. Most stores have anti-harassment policies or protocols for when things get out of hand, but some may not. Just as important, Magic has very clear rules about respectful behaviour in both regular and competitive events: judges and tournament organizers alike have not only the right but an obligation to call out or even throw out players for bad behaviour.
Bottom line, talk to your owners and staff about what to do if a tense situation arises, or under what circumstances you will want/need their help in dealing with a patron. Clear communication is imperative!
4) Make and Keep Your Cool
Always, always always always, no matter what gets said or done, be polite, calm, and respectful. This is not a war, you are not the Vikings of Social Justice; you are a group of people trying to make a positive change in a subculture, and that requires patience. LPS/P4D members and especially leaders should set the example of the culture they want for everyone. If you get called a name, get sworn at, gestured at, mocked, etc, it is imperative that you are the one who is calm, collected, polite, respectful, and positive. You don't break the rules, you try to make the rules by obeying them yourself, in all circumstances.
5) Keep it simple- and pick your battles
Sometimes, the moment just isn't right to deal with a particular problem. If you've recently had a blow up about a sexist comment and everyone is still tense about it, that's not the time to get on a soapbox about not using 'man-lands' as a descriptor for creature lands. Remember that change takes time and patience, habits are hard to break, and people may say things offhand without thinking that are mildly offensive. Don't jump down their throats swinging the righteous sword of political correctness (not Vikings, remember?) but pull them aside quietly and individually when you have a moment, and just mention that the comment might make people uncomfortable. Nine times out of ten, you'll get a sheepish apology. Open dialogue, don't shut it down.
This example comes from my friend Trevor;
"I am thinking of a guy who used to use derogatory terms for women and gay peo ple on a regular basis. One time, when I played Thragtusk and he responded by saying "Thragtusk, fagtusk" all I needed to say was "that's not cool" Most people aren't looking to be malicious but are just pursuing misguided attempts to be clever. Letting them know that the result is the opposite of that can be very effective. In this case, the player is now a regular at LPS/P4D events and has eliminated his bad habit of derogatory language."
At the end of the day, be friendly. Be forgiving. Be patient and kind. People will see and respect the difference you are trying to make.
And whatever you do, don't be sh*tty. Everything else will follow.
March 3, 2016 April 12, 2016 Leigh Fryling Build Community
How We Started An Inclusive MTG Playgroup and Rocked It
"Hey, I was at Value Village the other day and I saw a new game shop had opened, thought you might want to check it out, looked really cool!"
"Yeah? What's it called?"
"The Two-Headed Giant."
Already I'm divided. New shop in Nanaimo! Different stock from the same old same old at the local (unfriendly) Magic vendor, maybe some older release packs, different sleeves…and yet that shadowy, ever present concern in the back of my heart that it would be another stereotypical game shop. A dim place full of dark corners and mouldy copies of Fangoria on mismatched shelves, a washroom of doubtful cleanliness, and the obtrusive male stares and snickers that have been my game shop experience in two decades of gaming.
Age 6: "Give me that controller, this is a boy game."
Age 9: "You got lucky, that's all, give back the controller."
Age 11: "You cheated, no one wins Clue that fast without peeking."
Age 12: "I don't think you want to play this, Magic is really complicate d, there's a lot of math. The girls are playing with ponies at the other table, if you want."
Age 14: "Are you someone's girlfriend? Oh. Roll a character if you want, I guess."
Age 16: "Playing goblins, yeah, girls always go for the easy tribal decks."
Age 18: "Are you single?" or uncomfortable stares, sideways glances, and the silent assumption that I must be waiting for a boyfriend or picking out a gift.
Age 20: (during a complicated interaction my opponent doesn't un
derstand) "Ugh! Judge! Can I get a disqualification? This chick doesn't know the f*#$%(* rules!"
Age 23: "I can't believe I just lost to a girl!"
Age 25: "Have you played Magic before? You're really pretty for a gamer chick."
I pick a Sunday afternoon and go. I tell myself as I prepare for battle, "Maybe it'll be different." I know I can emerge victorious with at least one booster pack and a set of pretty new sleeves for a green-black elf deck I'm brewing, but that's not really the battle for which I need to steel myself.. The door swings open.
I am dead wrong about everything I had preconceived about this place.
The room is open and bright. There's a deep red couch in front of an old tube TV, 80's all the way, with two primary school kids taking their first romp into Mario Bros on an original NES. I waver, not quite believing what I'm seeing. There are rows and rows of comics, from My Little Pony to Deadpool and a thousand shades of glorious storytelling in between. Board games, Dungeons and Dragons, practically a swimming pool full of gem coloured dice glimmering in the late autumn sunshine. There are two women playing Boss Monster at one of three kitchen-style tables filling the rest of the room. There's an entire wall section covered in Magic. Boosters, sleeves, spin-downs. My jaw almost hits the floor. There is simply no way this place was real. It's too special. It's too friendly. There are other women here and they are not here with guys and they are playing a game I love!
"Can I help you find anything today?"
Now, I'm a talker. A chatterboxing, glad-handing, elbow-rubbing, shoulder-bumping extrovert of the first order. James McIlwraith — the store's welcoming and magnificently bearded owner — and I talked for at least half an hour about Magic, gaming, my history as a gamer, the shop, Star Wars, and sushi. In spite of that, I was so flabbergasted that I don't remember a thing that I said to him outside of a half-stammered, "This place is amazing," and, "Absolutely, what do you need?" At some point I told him that I'd been gaming since I could remember, playing Magic since I was 12, that I was a teacher in training, and at completely loose ends for anything to do on weeknights. Before I knew it, I was going to open a chapter of the Lady Planeswalkers Society (LPS, about which I knew nothing), hold regular meetings and events, and help create a community in the store that was open and welcoming to women and anyone else who wants to draw some cards or roll some dice.
How did this happen? James is very, very convincing. I also believe he has magical powers in his long dark ponytail.I'm going to let James tell this part of the story because he remembers it better.
"I met Tifa Robles (founder of The Lady Planeswalkers Society) at Emerald City Comic Con in 2015 before we had opened The Two-Headed Giant. The purpose of LPS matched perfectly with ours, put simply, everyone is welcome and no one is a dick about it. I immediately knew I wanted to open a chapter once the store was up and running. However, I would need to find someone to run, it felt slightly odd and presumptuous to run a Lady Planeswalkers Society as a man, even though everyone is welcome. Enter Leigh Fryling:
Coming in roughly a month after open, she was boisterous, engaging, fun and, most importantly, ready to approach and teach anyone who walked through the door. I think she had been in the store for maybe an hour playing Magic the Gathering when I asked her if she would be interested in opening a chapter of LPS. Happy to take on the responsibility, we arranged for an introduction, a draft, and mapped out several weeks of activity."
D'aww. Give me a moment to blush. Ok, we're back. As most life changing events do, it happened quickly: "Want to do this thing?" "Yes I do." "Awesome, do the thing."
I went home to look up what exactly LPS was and figure out what the heck I was going to do. I immediately wanted to do everything I could to make our chapter of Lady Planeswalkers Society success. I also learned about another organization with the same mission but a slightly different focus. Planeswalkers for Diversity (P4D) is the sister organization to LPS. Both groups work to ensure places where Magic is played are welcoming to women as well as all minorities, LGTBQI folk, and anyone else. I felt, and still feel passionately, that something was finally starting to shift in game culture. The joint chapter of both LPS/P4D was a manifestation of changes I had been quietly hoping for my whole life.
There are two really wonderful advantages James and I had in creating our LPS/P4D chapter that others may not. First, the store was brand new and James had a very clear vision for how he wanted his community to look and feel. Second, both organizations have websites with very clear mission statements for what they intend to achieve, but not how it has to be done. Do not go to the website expecting "On Saturdays you will run an 8 person draft of the latest release and on Tuesdays you will have your new player recruitment events." Instead, what LPS & P4D lay out as their mission is almost verbatim what James and I discussed; create a safe, welcome, inviting place for literally anyone who comes in the door, but most especially for the young, the new, and the fringe. There are no rules in the mission about playing Magic, or membership, or events, or anything. Just that wonderful driving goal of 'make it great for everyone'.
Awesome. How?
This is how we did it.I'm sure it looks different from every other chapter because every chapter has their own community and needs. We had the double-edged sword of not knowing who was coming or what they would need. I sat down with paper and pen and asked myself the following questions:
"If I could go back to 12-year-old me and show her the amazing things that could come out of gaming, how would I introduce her to this world?"
"How would I teach her the games that I grew to love but also teach her how to appropriately handle other gamers and the challenges that sometimes come with belonging to our particular hobby?"
This was going to be about more than explaining the stack — it was about behaviour, protocol, winning and losing with grace, and having patience for everyone. Phew.
Step One: Doing
I decided that the best approach would be a series of workshops, a sampler of staple games (D&D,Magic, Munchkin, etc). Gamers who were curious about Dungeons and Dragons could come and try it out but disregard the Magic nights if that wasn't their thing. I could take a Magic night and focus on just one aspect of the game, such as deck building or the stack, so new players wouldn't be so overwhelmed with ideas and information. The list looked something like this:
Newbie Tuesday: Intro to Deck Building
Wednesday: P4D Nerdcrafting! Make your own life counter!
Saturday: Beginner Draft 12:00 with "How to Draft" training, Open Draft 4:30
Newbie Tuesday: Intro to Dungeons and Dragons- character creation
Wednesday: LPS MtG; Deck Building Basics and Strategies, all welcome!
Saturday: Intro to DMing – build dungeons, make adventure happen!
I deliberately placed the focus on the words 'Intro' and 'Beginner' when making the workshop list, balancing those with 'open', 'free play' and 'Nerdcrafting!' days. Those gamers who were dipping their toes would have dedicated time and guidance, but more advanced players would also be welcome and have a chance to engage with the new players. For example, our opening day was a double draft. One specifically for beginners with time set aside for explaining the format and a slower pace, followed by an open draft. Because the two drafts happened one after another, players who enjoyed the first draft had the chance to play again with the more experienced players, and experienced players who showed up early caught the end of the beginner draft and would sometimes help out with advice and pointers.These were specifically not sanctioned events, which kept the pressure of winning off and made sure the focus remained on the game. This was key in setting the tone for future events. We made it clear that the idea was to mingle beginners and advanced players. The beginners could feel comfortable and supported and the advanced players were welcome and encouraged to help. Since no one knew what they were doing on craft nights before I showed up with craft glue and glitter and balsa wood, everyone was on level ground being creative and having fun.
After approving activities and times with James, the next step was setting up a Facebook community and connecting it to the Two-Headed Giant page so announcements and events could pass easily between the two. A permanent schedule was pinned on the Facebook group with some TBA dates included so that in future members could request games or strategies they wanted to focus on for an evening. We also made sure that LPS/P4D nights and events were clearly posted in the shop. James and Scotty (the beaming co-owner of Two-Headed Giant) made mention of it to every new player that came through the doors and — more importantly — to parents. There were also plenty of little parties, drafts, and celebrations that kept things lively. Halloween was a real doozy! But, as ever, the focus was on the balance between introductory and open play.
Step Two: Open and Outreach
Key 1: Be willing to be the face of your chapter. We talk about LPS and/or P4D at every opportunity; what it is, why it is, what we are doing, where, when, who, and to anyone who comes into the shop. Several of the regulars turned up to the Chapter Opening day just because they'd listened to us talking about it day after day and wanted to know what the fuss was about. They became some of our staunchest supporters and allies. Anyone who came in the doors was fair game, especially if there was an event later that evening. Talk, talk, talk!
Key 2: Invite everyone. At all times. Interrupt games. Give up your spot to a new player who has just walked in. Introduce them to everyone even if you only met everyone else three minutes ago because the same thing happened. As the organizer, you're there to facilitate the community. It starts being open, welcoming, and friendly if you are these things also. James and Scotty giving new players free D20's and occasionally booster packs for brand new players didn't hurt, either. It's about generosity of spirit, but that needs to start with you. Everyone is invited to the table.
Key 3: Keep it friendly. I don't just mean "Have cookies." Take the competitive edge off as much as possible; that's what FNM is for. This is the game for the love of the game, for whomever wants to play. We all scoot down and make room for the seven-year-old who can't remember how many mana anything costs, but gets excited when he plays any card at all. Play mistakes are laughed over and gently corrected. Players are allowed to take things back or take as long as they need to plan their move. Mechanics and strategy take back seats to just playing and enjoying each other's company. There can always be specific times when those things are the focus, but in general the joy of the process is the point for all levels.
Step Three: Prosper
Both the chapter and the shop have grown and thrived. One or two players who had a great time on Tuesday night became three or four on Wednesday night. Players who came in once in awhile came in once or twice a week (or once or twice a day, in some cases), always sure that they would see a friend in the shop and strike up a game of something. The more they played, the better their decks became, and the more cards and sleeves and boxes and mats came off the shelves. Board games people brought to share at LPS/P4D nights turned into purchases of the same games from the shop, and strangers a week ago were now meeting up to play them once a week. Members of their own accord started inviting new people to play, even when the organizers weren't there. What was good for the group was good for the community, good for the shop, and good for everyone.
And it continues to be good. There's a bittersweet part to this, though. After four months it was time for me to move back home to Michigan, which is about a thousand miles away from this community we built love.The core group of middle-just-past-high-school kids came in night after night to learn, to share, and to play, who made ridiculously cool and silly crafts and more importantly created strong and lasting friendships.
Most importantly, the community has continued to grow and reach out on its own. Though I cried when I left, I'll admit that I cried harder the day that James called me to tell me that the kids had started taking on the role of the organizer. They had begun inviting new players. They were greeting the people coming in the doors, making new friends and connections. They were teaching the strategies, smiling at mistakes, and offering kindness and advice.
I want to tell you more about them in the future, because that journey and those transitions are moving and worthwhile (and hilarious) and I'm sure that I will, but I want to close with this:
The LPS/P4D community we built was important for two reasons that feed each other.
First, it significantly helps the shop. Not to sound mercenary, but more people staying l
onger means more money. We all loved the shop so much that most people would buy something at least once a week (some of us with a pack-a-day habit). Hanging out at the shop is free, and so is the coffee, but there was the understanding that it was our responsibility to help make sure the shop stayed open so we could keep our home. There are more than a few members who helped upsell a game or bring new players to our favourite mental addictions, and continue to support the store in any way they can.
Most importantly for me, they were good for each other. People who barely made eye contact or spoke above a whisper in September were leaders and cornerstones of the shop by December. Kids who struggled to make a friend suddenly had new ones every time they walked in the door. I never saw a fight or bad sportsmanship. I saw stumbles and mistakes and tense moments, but as time went on the LPS/P4D crew learned to laugh through those moments and then reach out to each other.
I miss it every day. I know I'll start another chapter, and someday my own shop. James keeps on me about making sure I don't give up on that idea, and I was lucky to find two such stout friends in he and Scotty. We're in contact every day, and I get regular updates about the shop, and how the LPS/P4Der's are doing. "Wonderfully," is the answer. There are few things in my career working with youth that I'm more proud of than the Nanaimo chapter of Lady Planeswalkers Society and Planeswalkers for Diversity; and there's nothing I'm more excited for than our next adventures.
February 13, 2014 April 12, 2016 wluton Build Community
How to Deal with Antisocial Behavior in Magic
Likely if you've played a lot of Magic in local game stores (LGS) then you have heard or seen some antisocial behavior.
Other than just bad toilets I have been made to feel unconformable at LGSs due to openly expressed homophobia, sexism, transphobia, bullying and sleeves depicting semi-clad prepubescent anime girls. I have seen grown men bullied and a first time female player walk out of a store before they even started playing.
When this behavior occurs it makes me incredibly sad, but what can you do?
Talk to a judge: If your store is lucky enough to have a judge then you should bring incidents to their attention as they're trained to deal with such things and are by far the best people to sort out problems. It's their job.
Talk to the store owner or the group organizer: Be polite and open, talk about how the environment makes you feel (and could make others feel) and specific incidents. Likely you'll be upset and this can certainly be awkward. I believe the tone is key – give them the option to change and not retreat to defense by offering a solution such as "could you talk to this person?" or "could you make an announcement about being more respectful?"
Start a local Planewalkers for Diversity group: P4D groups will help to encourage a more diverse group of players in your local area. More diversity at events will improve the environment as they lose their boys club feel and what is ostensibly acceptable making your store more welcoming and friendly.
If none of the above are useful then speaking with Wizards of the Coast is a great course of action. You can contact them at http://wizards.custhelp.com/ with information on what occurred or what is occurring.
Speaking with Hélène Bergeot (Wizard's Director of Global Organized Play) she informed me that the company takes this very seriously and that "every complaint is treated confidentially (when we follow up with a store, the player's name is not mentioned). Confidentiality works also both ways, meaning that we won't disclose the outcome of any follow up we make with a store; the same applies to any investigation we conduct."
Whilst I play Magic to compete, it is also a social activity. I have met and kept great friends through the game and having a place where I can feel comfortable and happy to play is not only important but a right. You deserve to have it and can make it happen. If you see people making your store unwelcoming then take action for everybody.
Reposted from willbotmtg.tumblr.com


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Jul 9, 2018, 10:24pm EDT
Cryptocurrency, S Corporations Make List Of New IRS Compliance Campaigns
IRS Closing Offshore Account Amnesty, Here's How To Cut Huge Penalties
Tax Lawyer Advises Jeff Bezos To Use Social Welfare Organization For His Philanthropy
Delaying Tax Refunds Constrains Spending On Daily Living Expenses
What Kids And Their Parents Should Know About Summer Jobs And Taxes
On July 4, How Taxes, Tariffs & Tea Led To American Independence
Users Take To Courts, Twitter To Protest Tax On Social Media
IRS Offshore Account Amnesty Closing, How To Get In Under The Wire
IRS-CI Joins International Effort To Fight Tax, Cryptocurrency And Financial Crimes
Mar 15, 2013, 11:40am EDT |
New Yorkers Work For A Sober Saint Patrick's Day While Maine Enables
Peter J Reilly
I focus on the tax issues of individuals, businesses & more
I find it really troubling that we have a holiday seemingly dedicated to binge drinking and an ethnic stereotype. That would be St. Patrick's Day. Just poking around, I stumbled on this:
It wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without a good drink and the Irish have been so kind over the years to share their taste for alcohol.
It gets worse. In Maine, alcohol cannot be served before 9:00 AM on Sundays. According to this release, Governor Paul LePage is signing emergency legislation to move that back to 6:00 AM when March 17th -- St. Patrick's Day -- falls on a Sunday. We need emergency legislation so that people don't have to wait until 9:00 AM to start drinking ? I have trouble believing it. My Aunt Mary used to tell me that this was not something that went on in Ireland, but apparently she was either mistaken or things have changed. This article from Science Daily explains why some people in Ireland may feel compelled to drink on Saint Patrick's Day:
Matthew, from Coleraine in Northern Ireland, said: "Alcohol consumption, when placed in the context of Ireland becomes instantly romanticised, attributed to one's underlying Celtic soul. Ireland is synonymous with alcohol; although Ireland boasts world heritage sites, titanic museums and the birth and death sites of numerous authors and poets, its most popular tourist attraction is the Guinness Storehouse.
"When Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip make a point of publicly enjoying a Guinness experience while visiting Ireland, it starts to become even more apparent that alcohol consumption is so completely intertwined with 'Irishness.'"
The Irish-St. Patrick's Day equals binge drinking phenomenon can seem funny if you don't think too hard about it.
It is nice to see that somebody is doing something about it. The second annual Sober St. Patrick's Day celebration will be held at Regis High School in New York City on March 16th from 3 to 6 PM. That corresponds with the end of the St. Patrick's Day Parade, which in my high school days was the epicenter of St. Patrick's Day binge drinking. The Parade is on the 16th this year, because the 17th being a Sunday and all there was some thought that people might be reminded that St. Patrick's Day is supposed to have some religious significance.
Sober St. Patrick's Day was the brainchild of William Reilly (I would say no relation, but I feel certain that if I turned my genealogically inclined brother loose on the project, he would show that we were somehow cousins.) This is from their press release
In one year, Sober St. Patrick's Day® has established itself as a family friendly option for celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Over the years, the holiday has become associated with binge drinking and public intoxication, which reinforces the stereotype of the "Drunken Irish." This negative image alienates large segments of the community: families with young children, teens, senior citizens, members of the recovery community and many others who have stopped celebrating the day due to concerns about out-of-control behavior.
A friend of mine attended the inaugural event last year. He said:
The music was wonderful, the people were friendly.And it was nice to be able to celebrate St. Patrick's Day; something I've never done before. When I was drinking, it was Amateur Hour. Afterwards, it was annoying to be around so many drunk people.
Can't Make It To New York ?
This year's event is already sold out, although there may still be tickets available for an overflow event. When I spoke to Mr. Reilly, he indicated that there is a lot of interest in sponsoring the event in other cities. I'd like to get one going in Worcester, but what with the day job and the blog, I haven't gotten very far. Nonetheless, there is another St. Patrick's Day event that I am promoting. Right now it is a Facebook site, with just a couple of members. It is called San Patricios Against Hunger. The idea is that a large percentage of Americans of Irish descent are descendants of famine refugees like my great-grandfather Patrick Lyons, who 150 years ago today was camping somewhere in Virgina with the 22nd New Jersey. So the appropriate way to commemorate Irish heritage on St. Patrick's Day is to make a donation to a hunger fighting charity. Just another one of my ideas that hasn't gone viral - yet.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day and be sure to follow me on twitter @peterreillycpa.


This is post 5 in my series of blog/journal entries from my Europe trip. The text may be incomplete, fuzzy, with a side of terrible grammar. Please excuse the mess.
Today we left Vienna for Salzburg. We hopped on a train and arrived in Salzburg around 12. We checked in to our hostel but it was raining very hard. We stayed in our room until we were too hungry and then left to get some food. We found a nice place with Schnitzel which was awesome. I forgot my wallet so I had to bail out and get some cash real quick.
We spent the rest of the day on Rick Steve's walking tour which was fun. After finishing we went to the Augstiner Brau which is a monastery that brews in Salzburg. It has a beer garten and hall that holds 1600 people. I had 1.5 liters and a schnitzel.
Today we slept in a bit because Lindy was being lazy. We got up and headed to the Salzburg; "The Castle". The castle was fun and was a perfect example of a medieval castle. It is one of the biggest in Europe! We had a nice lunch up on the castle as well. I had my first Steigl beer as well!
We also stumbled upon a huge farmers market a short walk from our hotel. We got breakfast, and I bought a new wallet there.
Spent the day at Obersalzburg today. We got breakfast and headed for the bus which took us to Bertchesgarten. Lindy felt sick on the bus which is no fun. At Bertchesgarten we switched buses to take us to Obersalzburg. Once there we went to the museum about Hitler's compound there. We walked through a small amount of his bunkers as well. We then took another bus to the top of Eagle's next which had great views. It is also the only original free standing building from Hitler's compound. After this we ate lunch at the Eagle's Nest and took another bug to Lake Koingsee. We stayed a bit long and had to get a Taxi back to make the Salzburg bus. We made it back and ate at a small pub/Biergarten on the way.


The Wilmington business community has one less worry, thanks to a $7 million project designed to reduce flooding in the area.
On Monday, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control celebrated the completion of a project along Little Mill Creek, where 40 nearby businesses have been dealing with a long history of recurrent flooding.
What used to look like muddy ground is now a stabilized bank along the creek with planted trees and shrubs to further slow floodwaters. As a result, pollution in the area has also been reduced due to the clean-up.
"We're grateful to have this work done," said business owner Doug Suiter who has worked in the area since 1981.
"For many years, flooding has caused costly damages to the businesses here, and I'm so glad federal, state and local partners could work together to get funding to fix this devastating problem," said U.S. Sen. Tom Carper.
Senator Carper was joined by New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon, local business owners as well as state legislators. Officials from the Army Corps of Engineers who managed the overall project were also there. In fact, all those involved toured recent improvements made to the channel, primarily on the lower portion of Little Mill Creek.
Officials even shared stories about the project, which extends from the Maryland Avenue Bridge to the Amtrak Railroad Bridge in Wilmington. The goal was to deepen and widen the existing creek channel to increase flow capacity to businesses along Germany, Meco and Brookside Drives.
The first phase of the project was completed back in 2007, which reduced flooding to residential properties along the upper portion of the creek, from Kirkwood Highway Bridge to the CSX Wilsmere Railroad Yard Bridge.
"This was a massive project that was critically important to do right," said Senate President Pro Tem Patricia Blevins of Elsmere.


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Birmingham-Southern women's tennis fell 9-0 to Centre College Saturday in Southern Athletic Association action. The Colonels are ranked ninth regionally and have two singles and a doubles team ranked regionally as well.
Isabella Wisener (Horton, Ala./Douglas HS) played well, rebounding after losing her first No. 1 singles set 6-3 to take set two 6-4 and force a tiebreak. She eventually fell 10-7 to Katharine Sherman who is ranked 18th in the region.
BSC (9-6, 3-2 SAA) closes its home season tomorrow against No. 28 Sewanee. Match time is set for 11 a.m.