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It's been a year, and you and I still need to catch up
Hey Daddy. I dropped by to visit for a minute early Thursday morning before coming to Atlanta for another race. It's hard to believe it's been a year since that night last October when I didn't get back before you had to go. Some days it seems like it has only been a little while. Other days, it seems like it has been forever.
I miss you, like I still miss Mama. A couple of months ago I turned in the relic of a cell phone the paper had me using for a newer model. When I was moving the numbers over into the new phone, I came to yours in the old one. I guess I'd never really reached a point where I was ready to take it out.
We used to talk about how many times the both of us had something happen and our first thought was, "Wait until Sue hears this one." I guess it's sort of like that "phantom pain" people have when a part of them is missing. Or something like that.
Your grandchildren are growing up. Megan graduated from high school in June, which doesn't seem possible. On my side of the family, we've got a son in the Navy learning to work on nuclear reactors and a daughter who just gave birth to your first great-grandchild. Eli has been with us for 3½ weeks now, and I think I've already laid down a pretty good foundation for spoiling him.
I'll have to work hard to match the standards you set in that, but everybody needs goals.
Eli has been a good boy. He fusses a little bit now and then, for the most part he just watches the world go by. I told him the other day as he tried to fight sleep that he should just go ahead and take a nap. "Eating and sleeping and messing up diapers, that's your job right now," I said. "It's not the worst job you'll ever have, either."
Work is a zoo, as always. I know you'd probably be pulling for Mark Martin or Matt Kenseth to win the Chase this year, mainly because they drive Fords. Even though that truck you finally had to give up driving was a Chevrolet, you were always a Ford guy.
Well, that and an "anybody but Earnhardt" guy.
I think it's a shame you didn't get to go to the track more with me, though, because I am fairly well convinced that you would have liked Dale Earnhardt Jr. if you ever got a chance to know him.
Travel stinks. They've had to ban most liquids from airplanes because the world has gone bonkers. It had been a few weeks since I traveled, so when I left to come here I put this vial of lens cleaner in my carry-on bag. The drugstore near my house used to carry it and I love how it works, but they hadn't had it in a while. They got some in and I had a bottle and had barely used it. But there it was and I just had to throw it away. It was my mistake, I could have just put it in the checked bags, but I just forgot about it.
It's supposed to rain Friday at the track, but maybe it'll let up long enough for them to get qualifying in. I remember last year that Friday was a very, very pretty day in Georgia. I was driving back to the hotel to pick up my stuff and head home to try to see you before you left, and the leaves were turning and the skies were as blue as they could be. It was way to pretty too turn out to be one of the worst days a son could ever have, that's for sure.
They're doing an OK job keeping up the place where you and Mama are resting. The grass is trimmed up and even though it has turned colder it's still nice and green. The only reason I don't cry about you being gone every day is that I know you and Mama are together now, watching me trying to play "Paw-Paw" to Eli and laughing at me when I try to figure out how to hold his little head correctly or know just how hard you're supposed to rap on his back when he needs to burp.
Don't worry. I'll tell him about you guys. He'll be sad he never really got to know you, but like I said, I don't think the spoiling gene skipped a generation. All I can promise is that I'll do the best job I can, because that's all I ever saw you do.
Love you and miss you, David
Posted by Unknown at 8:51 PM 17 comments
Come on already, the 'car of tomorrow' isn't a Pinto
I saw the other day where NBA commissioner David Stern said that he doesn't care how much players gripe about the new basketball being introduced into the league this year, the decision to use it is not going to change.
The ball isn't made out of leather, like the old one was, and some of the players think the new "composite" ball will be too slippery or feel too different or something like that. As far as I know, though, the new ball is the same size and it's also still round.
Now you and I both know that every player who's made it all the way to the NBA has spent his whole life shooting any kind of basketball he could get his hands on into any kind of hoop he could find while he was honing his skills. They've played with balls that had too little air in them and too much air. They've played with balls that got soaking wet every time they rolled off the end of a schoolyard blacktop into a puddle or got dirt all over them when they were dribbled off a root that worked its way up through after the grass got killed on the backyard court they first started playing on.
In case you can't figure out where I am going with this and how I am going to get it over to NASCAR, think of the new NBA ball as the "car of tomorrow."
Nextel Cup drivers have almost all raced somewhere in go-karts or midget cars or short-track late model junkers assembled under a bad fluorescent light in some buddy's garage. They helped spend every dime their parents could muster or went around begging for a car to drive just because they wanted to race.
Now, they've reached the pinnacle of their sport and few of them have the time to touch a car any more. A team of engineers and artisans take cars from a computer screen and turn it into steel and rubber and speed, then paint it up and roll it out for these guys to do what they always dreamed of doing.
In a way, you can understand why somebody who gets to do that would be leery of the kind of change that's coming to NASCAR beginning next season. The drivers aren't stupid. They know how much money, time and sweat have gone into the cars they drive today, and when they hear that NASCAR is going to basically make that car obsolete over the next two or three years, you can't blame them for not jumping up and down with glee.
I completely understand the resistance to NASCAR's plan for implement the "car of tomorrow." And there's no way I can tell you right now that the new vehicle, which is taller and wider and boxier than the current car, won't be a total disaster after it's rolled out.
It very well might be too ugly for anybody to love. It very well might do the opposite of what it's intended to do and make it more difficult for drivers to race in traffic, in dirty air and side by side. I might very well be the kind of mistake that "new Coke" was, for all I know, but there's no way that I or anybody else can say that right now.
For the better part of a couple of years now, NASCAR has been telling its teams this car is coming. From the very first time they heard about it, many race teams decided that the car is a bad idea and that NASCAR would eventually "come to its senses" and abandon the project. They decided that it would be a waste of time of effort to worry about it and prepare for its arrival.
But NASCAR hasn't backed down, and now some of those teams are in a panic.
The car of tomorrow is, beginning at Bristol in the spring of 2007, going to be the car of right now. One thing I can guarantee you is that NASCAR will run a race that day, and if teams want to be part of that they'd better be there with a car that fits the templates to NASCAR's satisfaction.
NASCAR is going to have to do a much better job than it has of getting the rules for the new car set and let teams start building the cars with confidence they're not going to have to start completely over at some point down the road. NASCAR also needs to get its inspection process for the new car lined up in a way that makes teams believe things will work with reasonable dispatch when it comes time to put them on the track.
But NASCAR is also going to have to be willing to listen to withering criticism from people who don't like change, from inside the garage and from the grandstands, and be willing to stick by this project. At the same time, it also needs to listen to the people who race the cars and make reasonable changes that might need to be made once the car is actually in use. These changes can't be knee-jerk, either. This project is to important to the sport for it to not to be handled well.
There are going to be some spectacularly bad races in the first couple of years the new car is being used. Some teams are going to be ahead of others in figuring out how to make the new car work, and the people who're getting beat are going to scream bloody murder. But you know what, that also happens right now. There are bad races and good races with the same cars the sport has basically been using for, what, 20 years? And there are days when one team whips everybody else's butt.
That's called racing. I will leave you with the answer Jeff Burton gave when he was asked about the "car of tomorrow" at Martinsville over the weekend, because he's exactly right.
"I think there's going to be a learning period," Burton said. "I think there's going to be things that happen with the car of tomorrow that we don't know about. I think some of those things could affect the quality of racing early with the car.
"But at the end of the day, this is what I truly believe. If you give Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush Racing, (Richard) Childress Racing a Pinto and said 'Here's a Pinto. You guys are going to go racing.' There'd be a heck of a race here Sunday. That's what I believe.
"I believe the race teams will figure out how to make it work. We're all worried about it and talking about it and we're all flipped out about it. A year from now it won't even be a conversation. Is the car safer as intended? I believe it to be. Do I think competition will be better? I don't know. Only time will tell."
Posted by Unknown at 9:10 AM 25 comments
How the suits took Martinsville's hot dog for a walk
At the risk of releasing the "fat joke" hounds, I come today in praise of the Martinsville hot dog.
I am not going to pretend these culinary delights have any nutritional value. They are most certainly not good for you, but they are good. And sometimes, that ought to be enough.
Here's the Martinsville hot dog deal. Bun, bright-red Jesse Jones wiener (has to be Jesse Jones, with extra red dye coloring), with chili, mustard, onions and slaw. The dogs can be ordered with no slaw or with no onions or pretty much anyway you want one, but the get the full experience you at least have to do the chili and mustard.
They're $2 apiece and they come wrapped in wax paper.
A couple of years ago, soon after International Speedway Corp. bought the track from the family of the late Clay Earles, who had founded it, we got here one Friday and something had changed.
The hot dogs were being served in little foam boxes. You got them pretty much plain and had to go apply your own condiments. And they weren't quite red enough.
It was, quite frankly, an outrage.
Eddie Wood, co-owner of the Wood Brothers team from nearby Stuart, Va., was fighting mad about it. He found NASCAR president Mike Helton and demanded things be put back the way they were. Immediately.
Before long, word of the crisis got back to hot dog connoisseur Bill France Jr. and phone calls were immediately made. This was serious business.
The problem, of course, was symptomatic of what's happening in our society. Instead of letting the people who'd made the hot dogs here for years keep right on making them, the people from ISC's concession company, Americrown, came in here and thought they needed to make things "better."
Morons.
By the end of that fateful day, the wax paper was back. Personally, I don't think the hot dogs have ever quite made it back to the quality they were before the Americrown goons got hold of them. But maybe that's just my imagination.
Regardless, people still eat them when they come here. In bunches.
I vividly recall walking into the track one cool, foggy morning several years ago at about 8 a.m. and nodding at Richard Petty as he walked by taking a chomp out of a Martinsville dog.
As I was standing behind Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s hauler telling tales Friday afternoon, a veteran of the garage area told the story of a guy showing up one day and having Dale Earnhardt Sr. motion him into the transporter.
"Here's $20," Earnhardt said. "Go get as many hot dogs as this will buy and bring them to the side door of the trailer. And whatever you do, don't tell Teresa."
Back before the Americrownistas took over, lunch on Friday for the media consisted of someone bringing in several boxes full of hot dogs. This was done as rapidly as possible, with no prior warning, so as the persons making said deliveries might have hope of getting out of the way safely before the locusts swept in.
Make all the jokes you want about sportswriters and buffets, but watching those hot dogs disappear was better than a Las Vegas magic act. Photographers, who frequently wear vests with all sorts of extra pockets, somehow managed to be particularly adept at cleaning out those boxes.
I hear from race fans all of the time telling me how NASCAR is being ruined because too many things are changing too fast. I don't always agree with that, but I will tell you that there are some things that ought not be messed with – like Labor Day weekend racing and the true Martinsville hot dog.
Trying to fathom the Ward Burton mania
There's an interesting fascination with a driver who'll be trying to make his first Nextel Cup start in a long time at Martinsville this weekend.
It has been almost two full seasons, since the race at Phoenix in November 2004, since Ward Burton took the green flag for a Cup race. His last top-five finish came four years ago Friday on Oct. 20, 2002, when he was fifth at Martinsville in the Bill Davis-owned No. 22 Dodge.
But people everywhere still want to know about Ward. At Daytona in July, I ran into him in the garage area and walked along talking to him about his desire to come back to the Cup series. He said he thought he had a sponsor just about lined up and was looking to find the right team to go with so he could be competitive.
As we walked along, I told him that there's hardly a week that goes by without me getting a question either in person on via e-mail about his status. "The fans love you," I told him.
About that time, we turned the corner of the garage and began walking along underneath Daytona' "Fan Walk" area. As soon as people saw Ward, they started yelling at him.
"Ward, when are you coming back?" they said. "Ward, we miss you." I looked at him and said, "I told you."
I wasn't at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the start of this week's Cup test down there on Monday, but I did hear a clip of a media interview with Chase for the Nextel Cup points leader Jeff Burton, who's Ward's younger brother.
Guess what the first question to Jeff was? It wasn't about his third-place finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway or about his lead in the standings. It was about Ward's "comeback."
Jeff Burton said he was glad to see his brother get a shot because he knows how much Ward wants to come back. "I want for him what he wants," Jeff told the reporters.
I could overanalyze this phenomenon and come up with all sorts of explanations for the Ward-mania some fans seem to have. But I think the reasons are pretty simple.
First, I think fans believe Ward Burton is just a good guy. His accent, of course, makes him stand out from the crowd. In college one time, a guy from New England told me "I just love to hear you talk." I told him that as long as we were in the South, I wasn't the one with the accent. But no matter how Southern you think you are, Ward Burton's accent is unique.
There's also the fact that Ward has been around a while, and I think fans enjoy seeing somebody who's old enough to have been able to vote in more than one presidential election get a shot these days. Ward will turn 45 on Oct. 25th, and that's significant when you consider that his brother, at 39, is the oldest driver who's won a Nextel Cup race this year.
The first job for Ward will be to get the No. 4 Chevrolet into Sunday's race. Martinsville's a good place for him to try that, since he started second, fourth and sixth in his previous three races there before the two-year hiatus.
Posted by Unknown at 12:43 PM 29 comments
Let's stop talking about what's wrong with racing and look at ... well, the racing
So I am watching the end of the Busch Series race from Lowe's Motor Speedway at Charlotte Friday night and I find myself wondering about something.
Every couple of days or so, I get an e-mail from a NASCAR fan or read something on a bulletin board about how the guys racing at the top level of stock-car racing don't race as hard as people used to race.
Really? I wonder what races they've been watching lately.Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth at Dover? Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Talladega? Casey Mears and Carl Edwards and then Dave Blaney and Kenseth in the Dollar General 300 at Charlotte?
I think it's time we stopped talking about what's wrong with racing for just a minute or two and say a word or two about what these guys have been up to.
I would suggest we start with "Wow."
The fact that the first and/or second place cars have wrecked three times in the waning laps in the past two NASCAR races – the Vickers-Johnson-Earnhardt Jr. incident at Talladega and the Edwards-Mears and Blaney-Kenseth ones in the Busch race Friday night – tells me that some drivers in race cars these days care a whole lot about finishing first.
This is not about saying who did what or who said what or who's mad at who. Forget all of that middle-school drama. What I want to appreciate for a minute here is the sheer "want-to" factor that has been on display.
Yes, Vickers made a mistake at Talladega and Mears made one at Charlotte, taking out guys who were leading races. But they both made those mistakes going for wins, and race fans ought to be happy to at least know that's what they were trying to do.
Blaney and Kenseth went door-to-door for the win in the Charlotte Busch race, just like Kenseth and Burton did in the Cup race at Dover. Kenseth eventually ran out of gas at Dover and he wrecked trying to hold on to win at Charlotte, but don't tell me that son of a gun doesn't hang it out trying to win.
Let's also pause a minute to brag on Dave Blaney. He's been running markedly better in the Cup races lately and his win at Charlotte was an example of things finally falling his way. Here's a word of warning to those of you who don't think Toyota's Cup driver roster in 2007 looks all that formidable. Give Blaney race cars with the kind of financial and engineering support Bill Davis Racing is going to get from Toyota and you might be surprised at how that teams winds up running next season.It's late Friday night – actually, early Saturday morning – as I write this. The Bank of America 500 at Charlotte could wind up being a runaway snooze fest, but even if that happens it wouldn't change the fact that race fans have seen some pretty cool stuff in the past few weeks.
I just thought that was something I should point out.
What is it about night racing?
Night racing brings out the beast in race car drivers. At least, that's what Lowe's Motor Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler believes.
"Night brings out an intensity in athletes you simply don't get during the day," Wheeler said. "Possibly this goes back to primitive man whose greater alertness at night often meant life or death.
"Animal behavior is certainly different in the dark. Sharks, tigers, lions and other big cats hunt primarily at night. Ask anyone who has ever hooked a big shark at night if it wasn't a great deal scarier than the same hookup in the daytime."
Leave it to Wheeler to equate racing in the Bank of America 500 at his track to caveman survival and late-night shark fishing.
Saturday night's race is the only Chase for the Nextel Cup race that will be run completely at night, so Wheeler has spent the past couple of weeks trying to quantify what that means.
He's right, based on every conversation I've ever had with a NASCAR driver, about at least one thing.
"I believe drivers can actually see and focus better on properly lit tracks," Wheeler said. "The lights here produce about 120 foot-candles of light on every part of the racing surface. Many high school baseball or football fields only produce 40 to 60 foot candles. And with the light concentrated on the racing surface, everything in the background is blacked out and the driver's eyes can focus on the surface itself."
Drivers also will tell you that one thing they really struggle with when it comes to night races is the actual waiting around part.
"On most race days, you're used to getting up at a certain time, eating at a certain time, you go check out the car," said Dr. Bill Thierfelder, a sports performance psychologist and former athlete who's now president of Belmont Abbey College. "You have your normal flow of what you do and then it's race time and it all sequences together.
"Sometimes when a race is at night and, in a sense delayed, it can be a little challenging for an athlete because you feel like you're waiting."
Jimmie Johnson leads this year's Chase drivers with five night victories in 36 starts – all at LMS – over the past five years. In that span, Matt Kenseth has the most top-10s at night, with 24, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. with 22. Both have 14 top fives, with Kenseth winning three times and Earnhardt Jr. twice. Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton are the only two Chase drivers who don't have night wins.
Posted by Unknown at 10:11 AM 9 comments
Jeff Burton and the keys to Talladega survival
I was talking to Jeff Burton about Talladega the other day and he said something that I thought made a whole lot of sense.
"There's probably going to be at least one big wreck that takes out some cars in a race at Talladega," Burton said. "You understand that going in.
"The only thing you can do is try to control what you can control. The cars don't start the wrecks there. The drivers do. So the first thing you have to do when thinking about a race there is to try not to start the wreck."
Burton is not naive. He knows as well as you or I do that wrecks happen at Talladega because cars get into situations there they don't get into at any other track -- even Daytona. But the reality is, as Burton said, those cars don't get into those impossible situations by themselves. Drivers put them there. There might come a point when a wreck is inevitable, but until that point is reached it's still in the driver's hands.
Burton said the key to survival at Talladega is developing a full, realistic understanding of what your car is capable of doing and not asking it to do anything more than that.
This, of course, is insanely difficult to do. You see cars coming from the back to the front in a lap or two and know that if you get in the right line with the right momentum, you could do that, too. But the fact is that even though racing at Talladega looks like a high-speed lottery, there are cars that are better than some others and some drivers who're better at restrictor-plate racing than others.
Get a good driver in a good car and he can set the tone for what's happening behind him. The rest of the cars are reacting to moves that guy (or the handful of drivers who might be in the same position) makes.
That explains why it seems that sometimes at Talladega a driver will "settle" for staying behind one or two guys all day. You have to know what you and your car is capable of, and the trouble most often starts when somebody goes past either of those lines.
Posted by Unknown at 4:03 PM 9 comments
It's been a year, and you and I still need to catc...
Let's stop talking about what's wrong with racing ...


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My daughter Maggie is only 3 but she already knows what she wants to be when she grows up.
But not just any princess. She wants to be a beautiful princess. And preferably, one who wears pink dresses. And does ballet.
Three years ago, I despised the princess craze. Why would I—I thought at the time—want my daughter to chase after an unattainable physical beauty that only resides in fantasies and Hollywood-style Disney movies?
But here I am, three years later, with a daughter who wants nothing more than to be pretty and to wear nail polish, and who wakes up every morning wanting to don the latest princess fashion.
How did I get here? Believe me, I didn't promote it.
As much as I'd love to blame Disney, I really can't. If I did that, then I might as well blame the football manufacturer who designed the kiddie pigskin her twin brother recently used to break a light bulb. Just as he is naturally attracted to physical activity, she has a natural yearning to be physically beautiful. And that latter concept terrifies me.
It scares me to think about my daughter growing up in a culture where a simple trip to the grocery store can turn into a fleshly battle, with society screaming at every turn: "You're not beautiful enough!" There, on the billboard, is the perfect-looking Hollywood star, telling anyone who happens to look: "This is what you should look like." And there, on the cover of the checkout-line magazine, is that same woman, only this time she's lost half of her clothes and is promoting a "secret" diet and exercise routine that helped her lose all of that baby weight and get back down to 98 pounds!


Fry the strips of pork in the oil for 3–4 minutes, or until the pork is beginning to brown. Add the strips of green pepper and chopped onion and cook for a further 2 minutes. Pre. heat the oven to Gas mark 6, [200.C. 400 F.] and put the cooked Fusilli pasta in an oven proof dish. Add the creamy tomato sauce to the pork, mix well and pour over the pasta. Sprinkle the grated Cheddar cheese over the top of the dish and bake in oven for 20 minutes. Serve piping hot topped with the parsley leaves.
Heat margarine in pan, then add the meat and onions and cook until brown. Add flour, then cook for a further 5 minutes stirring often. Next add the pepper, mushrooms, tomato purée, origanum, Worcestershire sauce and salt.
Slowly add stock and stir in the mixture until it is thick and smooth. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add the Cappaletti and peaches, cook for a further 5 minutes and serve with tossed green salad.
Place meat in pan, add water and 1 ounce of onions and season with salt and pepper, boil until soft. Take meat out of liquid, cool and save the stock. Finely chop the remaining onions and gently fry them in oil adding the herbs. Carefully add flour and tomato purée to form a roux, use a wooden spoon.
'Cook out' to avoid floury taste, but take care not to burn mixture. Gradually add stock, stirring all the time, until sauce is smooth and of a good consistency. Prepare, core and dice pineapple. Mix meat, pineapple and sauce together, pour into prepared pie dish. Cover with pastry. Refrigerate for a short time to relax the pastry. Brush with a beaten egg. Bake in hot oven until crisp. Serve with fresh vegetables or salad.
Coat the chops in cornflour to which salt and pepper have been added. Heat the corn oil and sauté the chops until tender. Remove to a serving dish and keep warm. Add onion, garlic, mushrooms, beef stock cube, water, paprika and remaining cornflour to the pan, bring to the boil, stirring. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring all the time. Remove from the heat and stir in the soured cream. Pour the sauce around the chops and serve.
Trim the cutlets. Heat the corn oil and fry the veal quickly on both sides until it just turns colour. Remove the veal to a casserole dish.
Add the contents of the onion sauce to the pan and mix well. Stir in the milk gradually and bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Pour the sauce over the veal, cover and cook in a moderate oven 350oF, gas mark 4 for 45 minutes or until the meat is tender.
Remove the seeds from the pepper and cut the flesh into long strips. Place in a pan with a little cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain Well.
When the veal is cooked, remove from the oven and carefully stir in the red pepper, soured cream and olives. Serve immediately.
Place mushrooms, onion and mixed herbs into a large pan with vegetable oil and cook until soft. Remove mushrooms, but retain stock and continue to cook, reducing the amount of liquid in the pan. Add the tarragon and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add the cream and stir well until the liquid thickens. Add mushrooms and kiwi fruit, heat rapidly for 3-4 minutes, serve immediately with noodles and fresh salad.


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https://www.westport-news.com/news/article/Westport-youth-keep-the-gun-control-conversation-14972158.php
Westport youth keep the gun control conversation going
By DJ Simmons
Published 6:00 am EST, Tuesday, January 14, 2020
In 2018 Westporters traveled to Washington D.C. for the March for Our Lives event. Taken March, 2018 in Washington D.C.
Photo: Sophie Vaughan /Hearst Connecticut Media
WESTPORT — It's been nearly two years since the horrific school shooting in Parkland, Fla., sparked a wave of youth activists for gun control, and students at Staples High School students are looking to continue the conversation.
On Jan. 24 at Toquet Hall, the Westport chapter of Students Demand Action are hosting a day of gun violence prevention activism. The event is set to start at 3:30 p.m. and include information on voter registration, speakers and performances.
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"Young people are deeply affected by socioeconomic issues, and especially gun violence," said Elana Atlas, a 16-year-old Staples High School student.
Atlas, who heads the Westport chapter of Students Demand Action, said gun violence is the second leading cause of death for American teens. The intersectional issue is widespread, which is why it's important everyone has a voice on the matter, she said.
"If those voices aren't welcomed in the discussion, then the discourse surrounding gun violence is missing an integral piece," she said. "It's not truly American because it's not representing all of the parties."
People can sign up for the Day of Gun Violence Prevention Activism event by visiting https://act.everytown.org/event/sda-events/29822/signup/?source=&akid=&zip=.
The youth-led event is supported by its parent organization — Moms Demand Action.
"The Fairfield-Westport Local Group of Moms Demand Action is thrilled to have students join with us in this movement to end gun violence," organization head Rachel Dreyfus said. "It is essential their voices are heard because they are the ones most affected."
Students taking a stand could make a difference and help save lives, she added.
"What starts as a single club event today in Westport has the potential to become an ongoing effort that helps bring about the change we need to see from Washington D.C.," Dreyfus said.
The community event looks to continue the dialogue on gun control while also providing tangible actions, including detailed information about legislators' and 2020 candidates' stances on the topic.
"I think it's really important to keep up consistent pressure on our legislators to make sure they know we haven't forgotten about this," Atlas said. "We always have the opportunity when elections roll around to hold our legislators accountable. ... One of the key things we need to end the American gun violence epidemic is gun violence prevention legislation."
Atlas' passion for activism stemmed from her own experience in 2018, when a threat allegedly made by a Staples student led to the building being evacuated. Atlas, a freshman at the time, recalled being fearful in the moment, not knowing if her friends were alright. Luckily, the quick work of Westport police and Staples administrators averted any potential tragedy from occurring.
"That was the last straw for me, and I decided I needed to do something," Atlas said.
She has since participated in and organized rallies highlighting gun violence. With the upcoming event, Atlas said she hopes to show Westport is still very much involved.
"The point of this is to remind our community that this movement hasn't fizzled and neither has the issue," she said. "This is still happening and we're here, and we're still fighting it. "
dj.simmons@hearstmediact.com
Bridgeport woman accused of shoplifting
Westport firefighters battled blaze through wind, cold temps
Woog's World: 'Those things don't happen here,' but they do
Police: Ansonia woman caught selling edibles over the internet
Eight-car crash brings Merritt traffic to a halt
Two arrested after attempted robbery at Panera in Westport

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This is so dreadfully needed. Like myself, I'm sure there are a lot of companies/people out there that would consider the move (or back again) to Producteev if we could mass import tasks. Some apps handle this so gracefully (e.g., Asana which allows you to simply paste up to 100 tasks). How hard would it be to provide us a multiline text field and allow us to assign which project to import the tasks into. You could parse each carriage return as a new task.


Formosa Gardens luxury Orlando villas to rent direct from the owners. Formosa Gardens is only 5 minutes from Disney's main gate and within 15-20 minutes of all the Orlando theme parks so is a great location for your dream Florida villa holiday. VR360FloridaVillas.co.uk has over 30 Orlando villas available on the Formosa Gardens community.


If you're like most homeowners, you're watching today's mortgage rates with a sense of awe and a silent rage.
If you just closed a deal on a home refinance loan, you may be wondering if you should have waited another week to see if rates went down again. If you're waiting for your application to clear, you are probably gritting your teeth when rates go up each week. Even sitting down to shop rates feels like an invitation to get burned.
Here's the closest feeling I can compare this to. Imagine yourself in a casino with a thousand dollars to blow on any table game you wish. You wind up shooting craps, rolling a four the hard way five times in a row. You're up a few grand, no matter what, but it feels like the pressure's closing in on you. Shoot a seven now, and you'll still feel bad about the bet you lost instead of all the bets you won.
The mortgage market's like that right now, and CNBC's Diana Olick calls this feeling "mortgage rate anxiety." Even qualifying for a home refinance deal these days comes with a certain degree of survivor's guilt, having scraped through the recession with enough home equity to score a refi in the first place. To have missed the bottom of the market can fill you with a type of buyer's remorse: you made it so far, only to miss the lowest mortgage rates of all time by a few percentage points.
With today's mortgage rates on 30-year fixed deals still hovering in the four-or-five percent range, does it really matter so much that you locked at 4.4 percent or 4.5 percent? A decade ago, mortgage rates hovered at around 8 percent, and those seemed like pretty good deals at the time. Homeowners in the early 1980's got excited when mortgage rates fell below 10 percent for the first time in a decade. By comparison, we've got it pretty good.
If you're capable of locking down a refinance rate under today's conditions, and you're confident that you want to stay in your current home for the next ten to fifteen years, the market's ready for you.
Every time rates go up just slightly, brokers and underwriters get less busy, so you're going to get top notch service. So don't sweat the small stuff; just remember to check out today's mortgage rates online and to request quotes from as many providers as possible.


Salad: Rinse the tomatoes and salad. Cut the tomatoes in halves and slice the red pepper. Cut of the corn kernels. Place all the ingredients in a big bowl or wooden tray. Combine all the ingredients with your hands or by using a big spoon. Add the black olives and chop some parsley leaves on the top. Sprinkle salt & pepper.
Mango dressing: Peel and slice the mango. Squeeze the lime to get juice out of it. Chop the onion,chili and fresh coriander leaves. Add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them by using a food processor or blender until smooth.
Spicy seeds: Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Cover a baking tray with some parchment paper. Place the seeds on the top and drizzle two tablespoons of maple syrup on the top. Sprinkle the turmeric, cayenne powder and salt. Combine by massaging with your hands all the ingredients. Roast in the oven over 15-20 minutes aprox. Stir from time to time. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Garnish the salad spreading some roasted spicy seeds on the top and add some spoons of dressing before serving to keep the salad crispy and fresh.


New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to make good on his promise to tackle India's water woes. He isn't the first Indian leader to make such a vow.
Indira Gandhi was among the previous prime ministers who have tried, even though she was skeptical of mega dam projects. She approved the $1.2 billion Tehri dam, India's highest in the Himalayan foothills, while saying it "will benefit only the contractors." Construction began in 1978, and 100,000 people whose lands and homes were to be submerged by reservoir waters were relocated. The dam didn't open until 2006.
Now, one of the Modi government's bigger initiatives will be to start implementing a three-decade-old plan to connect 30 rivers, the priciest step yet to begin solving some of the water, sewage, health and pollution issues that bedevil India.
Asia's third-biggest economy, home to 18% of the global population, within six months will begin to link the Ken and Betwa rivers in northern India that flow through Uttar Pradesh, its most populous state, the director-general of the National Water Development Agency, S. Masood Husain, said in an interview in New Delhi. It's part of plans estimated a decade ago to cost $92 billion to connect the waterways.
The projects linking 14 rivers from the Himalayas and 16 across the India peninsula are to bring waters from one area with plentiful supplies to others with not enough, aiding farmers and help with supply shortfalls and contamination.
The first river link was approved in July by Modi's cabinet, which is under a mandate from the new government to start cleaning the Ganges River, India's holiest waterway.
Not everyone sees the water projects as beneficial.
The river link "ignores the reality that the mainstay of India's water needs is groundwater and is going to remain for many years to come," said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator at Delhi-based South Asian Network on Dams, Rivers and People. "River-linking will not help sustain our groundwater lifeline; on the contrary, it will make the situation worse."
India extracts 230 cubic kilometers of groundwater every year, the world's largest user of the resource, according to the World Bank. In comparison, the US, suffering droughts in California and Texas, uses 111.7 cubic kilometers of groundwater a year.
With access to just 4% of global water resources, India is trying to move forward as it runs the world's biggest food subsidy programme and plans to increase irrigated land to grow more crops for its population by connecting the rivers.
The government's river-revival plan in essence is looking to cut dependence on groundwater, source of 85% of the drinking water and 60% of irrigation in India, by relocating water.
Channeling water from abundant basins to deficit ones with dams and canals is intended to add 35 million hectares (86 million acres) of irrigated farmland as well as 34,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power three cities the size of New York.
When the river-linking plans were first readied in 1980, "the main stumbling block" was building consensus, Husain said of the National Perspective Plan his agency prepared.
Now, the government wants to complete its river-linking projects in 10 years, water minister Uma Bharti said.
That's an ambitious plan as not all states agree with sharing water and environmental fears exist. The plan to build the river links also goes "against the declared objective of river rejuvenation," according to Thakkar.
Water resources are governed by state governments under India's constitution. As a federal union of 29 states, the nation has yet to implement even one of the proposed links and costs are likely to be much more than the estimated ₹ 5.6 trillion ($92 billion) calculated a decade ago, according to Husain.
"It's not the first time that India will attempt inter-basin transfers," Husain said. "Water from surplus basins have been transferred to deficit ones before." He cited the Sardar Sarovar project that transfers waters of the Narmada River in central India across four states.
Sardar Sarovar is a single dam, Thakkar said. "Each of the 30 schemes have multiple dams with interstate, and some with international, implications," he said.
Linking the Ken and Betwa rivers, which also flow through Madhya Pradesh, will bring drinking water to 1.35 million people and irrigate 600,000 hectares of land, according to Husain.
While his agency has submitted a detailed project report to two states, work cannot start until India's environment ministry approves the plan, because 7% of the Panna tiger reserve would be submerged.
"We don't see how this project and the other river-linking projects will help us," said Ashish Sagar Dixit, who heads Prawas, a rural advocacy group in Banda on the banks of the Ken. "Both river basins have been facing droughts in the past four to five years."
The Ken has little water left for diversion, Dixit said in a phone interview on 9 September. Growing industries using the waters and urbanization put pressure on the rivers.
According to Unicef's 2013 water and sanitation report, about 71% of India's water resources are available to only 36% of the area, while the remaining 64% has the balance, or 29% available.
Meanwhile, cost estimates for the links have risen greatly, Husain said. Each will involve building large dams and canals. In many places the government will need to compensate for loss of land and livelihoods, he said.
In 2006, the government estimated the two-phase Ken-Betwa project to cost 76 billion rupees. That was revised to almost ₹ 9,400 crore in 2008.
Modi's government will fund 90% of the Ken-Betwa and subsequent projects, with states providing the rest. India may also consider private sector investments in certain projects, according to Husain.
The government-run Water Agency, which employs about 150 engineers, has also completed work on project reports for the Damanganga-Pinjal river link in the western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, Husain said.
Reports on connecting the Par, Tapi and Narmada rivers in the same states will be completed by March, he said.
It may take longer for Modi's government to bring about the water changes it envisions.
"The Ken-Betwa link has none of the statutory clearances, and I do not think they will get it in six months," Thakkar said. Husain on the other hand expects the projects to move faster.


text:
Inside 7 of East Africa's Hottest Tech Hubs
Jonathan Kalan • 20 February, 2013
Part 1 of this three-part series offers a look at 7 of East Africa's most popular coworking spaces for tech startups, investors, and innovators, shown in the slider above.
iHub, Nairobi, Kenya
m;Lab, Nairobi, Kenya
kLab, Kigali, Rwanda
Kinu Hub, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
TanzICT, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Nailab, Nairobi, Kenya
88mph, Nairobi, Kenya
Click here to see the original photos on Picasa Web.
Back in 2010, when by a fortuitous string of events, I crash landed in Nairobi, Kenya, there was just one place I was told to go.
"You've got to see the iHub," at least half a dozen implored me.
So, I did. And now, almost three years later, I'm still here. I drank the Kool-Aid (also known as Pete's mouth-watering espresso milkshakes), and settled in to enjoy the company of a rotating cast of good friends and creative entrepreneurs; in a place where I can keep my finger on the pulse of technology in east Africa.
Lately, I often see people wandering into the iHub for quick tours- eyes lit up, mouths agape, marveling at the sight of dozens of young Kenyans and a handful of expatriates building companies, applications, ideas, or, occasionally, just downloading torrents on one of the fastest internet connections in town. Just last week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt strolled through for a peek.
There is good reason for their marvel. Since iHub, one of Africa's most prominent collaborative workspaces and tech hubs, opened in 2010, more than 90- yes, 90- hubs, labs, incubators and accelerators have sprung up across Africa, spanning more than 20 countries, hoping to replicate iHub's success.
From Dakar to Dar es Salaam, Lusaka to Kampala, and across the African continent, these new collaborative workspaces and ICT hubs are emerging as beacons for the ICT hopes and dreams of the continent.
Why Hubs?
In a region with a near-total absence of true "3rd spaces"- physical spaces like coffee shops, libraries, and internet cafes, Africa's "hub boom" has emerged to fill the gap, fostering openness, access, collaboration, education and sharing in the region's tech community, while offering nodes for international exchange, where people like Eric Schmidt can drop in to get a sense of what's going on.
Crucially, they address the ecosystem's essential need to grow startups beyond ideas. There is no shortage of entrepreneurs with great ideas on the continent, yet many lack the knowledge and skills to build and scale companies. Through workshops, accelerator programs, incubators and mentorship, these hubs are helping to building local capacity.
Here's a look at the hubs in East Africa, which come in all shapes and sizes. Some are funded from governments, other from donors or private owners, yet all are leaders in the global hub "movement."
Author: Jonathan Kalan
Startup advice: Six tips for early stage founders from Bayzat's Talal Bayaa
When we can't build startups from a garage, how do we create strong teams?
The basics of IP: Trademarks


text:
stated on August 3, 2016 in a town hall meeting:
Legal prescription drugs "statistically kill 100,000 people a year, (but) there are no documented deaths due to marijuana."
By Joseph Cariz August 16, 2016
Is it true that marijuana hasn't caused any deaths, while prescription drugs have caused 100,000?
Gary Johnson, the libertarian 2016 presidential candidate, recently assailed strict federal regulations on marijuana, saying that the drug causes far less harm when compared with legal drugs.
Johnson was asked about the potential public health dangers of marijuana in states where it was recently legalized, during a CNN libertarian town hall on Aug. 3, 2016. He responded by arguing that the drug hasn't actually killed anyone, and that prescription drugs are far more dangerous.
"I just think that so much research and development needs to take place that hasn't taken place. And that marijuana products deal -- or compete directly with legal prescription drugs that statistically kill 100,000 people a year, and there are no documented deaths due to marijuana."
Johnson later repeated the claim during an Aug. 10 interview with On Point with Tim Ashbrook, a call-in radio show.
Many supporters of marijuana legalization like to say that the drug poses no grave risks to a person's health, but how does it actually compare with prescription drugs in terms of death statistics? We decided to dive into the data to find out.
Clearing up the contextual smoke
One immediate problem with Johnson's claim is that it leaves out important context about how a drug can actually kill someone.
Drugs directly kill people through toxic overdoses, but they can also indirectly kill people by causing accidents. We'll look at both cases for marijuana. (The Johnson campaign did not respond to requests for clarification.)
We decided to look at direct overdose deaths first. It's very difficult to overdose on marijuana's active ingredient. A review study comparing the acute lethal toxicity of commonly abused drugs shows that the lethal dose for marijuana (around 15 grams or above) is at least 1,000 times greater than the effective dose (15 milligrams), or the dose required to achieve a noticeable effect. In contrast, alcohol can become lethal at only 10 times the effective dose.
Additionally, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration drug sheet for marijuana reports that no deaths from marijuana overdose have ever been recorded.
However, marijuana has played an indirect role in fatalities. Experts that we talked with agreed that the drug itself doesn't cause major acute health problems and is far safer than other medications. However, they said that it can still dangerously inhibit someone's ability to make safe decisions.
Dr. Ryan Vandrey, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University who specializes in the behavioral effects of marijuana, stressed that looking only at deaths from direct overdoses is a narrow way of examining a drug's health effects.
"Too often individuals cite that individuals haven't died from cannabis -- I don't think that's true. It certainly can be argued that cannabis use has contributed to the deaths of individuals, such as due to impairment during driving," he said.
Dr. Jerome Avorn, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told us, "The main risk from marijuana is from the risky or stupid things people do after using it, such as driving, rather than from any toxic effects of the substance itself, which is remarkably safe."
stated on December 27, 2020 in a tweet
Says "Dr. Fauci lied about masks in March."
By Jon Greenberg • December 28, 2020
A 2013 literature review article noted that higher levels of THC in the blood are associated with substantial driving impairment and a higher risk of accidents, especially when combined with moderate alcohol consumption. However, the authors emphasized that more research needs to be done on the issue.
Other accidental deaths involve marijuana users who seemingly became out of touch with reality and took reckless actions. A report from 2015 detailed the case of a 19-year-old male who jumped off a balcony after consuming multiple servings of a marijuana cookie. The study suggests that a high enough dose of THC can result in a greater risk of "adverse psychological effects."
In summary, it appears that marijuana doesn't directly cause overdose deaths, but there are documented cases where it likely led to accidental fatalities.The exact number of marijuana-related deaths that occur annually is difficult to pin down.
One more caveat: synthetic marijuana has been attributed to overdose deaths. However, the experts we talked with told us that these drugs have nothing to do with marijuana and are a completely different class of substances.
How about prescription drugs?
As with marijuana, Johnson was unclear about whether he was referring to only prescription drug overdoses or to all deaths associated with prescription drugs, such as though allergies or deadly complications.
Deaths from prescription drug overdoses are very common in the United States. The National Institute of Drug Abuse's website shows that approximately 25,000 people died from prescription drug overdoses in 2014. Around 19,000 of these deaths came from prescription opioid pain relievers such as methadone and oxycodone.
But Johnson said that prescription drugs, "statistically kill 100,000 people every year." Where is he getting his data from?
There's a study from 1998 that showed there were over 100,000 fatal "adverse drug reactions" in hospital patients in the U.S. However, the study is 18 years old, and the National Institute for Drug Abuse told us that the study was based on invalid calculations that overestimated the number of deaths.
Dr. Avorn emphasized that counting all deaths from prescription drugs is "horrendously complicated," and that estimates vary wildly. A recent article in the New York Times pointed out how the interplay between a large number of potential causes of death makes it difficult to determine how many people die from improperly administered prescription drugs or other "medical errors."
Although Johnson's claim is difficult to verify, the data show that at least tens of thousands of people do die from prescription drugs yearly.
Our ruling
Johnson said that marijuana competes with "legal prescription drugs that statistically kill 100,000 people a year and there are no documented deaths due to marijuana."
Marijuana is far less toxic than many prescription painkillers, which kill tens of thousands of people every year. Marijuana has never killed anyone through overdose, but Johnson's vague claim leaves out the crucial fact that marijuana has played a role in accidental deaths. And the number of prescription drug deaths isn't estimated to be as high as Johnson said.
The claim is partially accurate but leaves out important context. We rate his claim Half True.
https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/455541b7-e999-4df3-be01-918edecb86ec
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, "Notes from the field: death following ingestion of an edible marijuana product," July 24, 2015.
CNN Transcripts, "Libertarian town hall meeting," August 3, 2016.
Drug Enforcement Administration, "Drug fact sheet: marijuana," accessed August 11, 2016.
E-mail interview with Dr. Beatriz Carlini, Senior Research Scientist at the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, August 11, 2016.
E-mail interview with Dr. Jerome Avorn, Professor of Medicine at Harvard University, August 11, 2016.
Gable, Robert. "Comparison of acute lethal toxicity of commonly abused psychoactive substances," Addiction, 99, pp. 686-696, 2004.
Hartman, Rebecca, and Huestis, Marilyn. "Cannabis effects on driving skills." Clinical Chemistry, 59(3), March 2013.
National Institute on Drug Abuse, "Overdose death rates," December 2015.
Phone interview with Dr. Ryan Vandrey, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, August 11, 2016.
The New York Times, "Death by medical error: adding context to deadly headlines," August 15, 2016.
WBUR, "Gary Johnson on what it means to be a libertarian in 2016," August 10, 2016.
More by Joseph Cariz
stated on October 11, 2016 a speech:
Global warming leads to much quicker spread of the Zika virus because the increased temperature, "makes mosquitoes mature faster, . . . bite more due to having a higher metabolism, and makes the Zika virus inside of them incubate faster."
By Joseph Cariz • October 28, 2016
stated on September 20, 2016 a speech to the Leader's Summit on Refugees:
"Refugees are subject to more rigorous screening than the average tourist in the U.S."
stated on August 25, 2016 a letter:
Young women, "account for a shocking 74% of all new HIV infections among adolescents in Africa."
By Joseph Cariz • September 7, 2016
stated on August 3, 2016 a town hall meeting:
By Joseph Cariz • August 16, 2016
stated on April 20, 2016 a speech:
"Over the last six years, the state of Illinois spent about $320 million on illegal immigrants."
By Joseph Cariz • July 14, 2016
stated on June 30, 2016 a snapchat:
"90% of rural women and 55% of all women are illiterate" in Morocco.
stated on June 21, 2016 an email:
"As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton laundered money to Bill Clinton through Laureate Education, while Bill Clinton was an honorary chairman of the group."
By Joseph Cariz • July 1, 2016
Photo shows Rep. Lauren Boebert with Capitol rioters before she gave them a tour of the building "one day before the insurrection."
stated on January 12, 2021 in blogs:
Antifa provoked the shooting of Ashli Babbitt at the Capitol.
By Noah Y. Kim • January 14, 2021
Says Rep. Pramila Jayapal was not wearing a mask in Congress during the U.S. Capitol mob.
By Bill McCarthy • January 14, 2021


We're back for week 11 in the 52 Week Money Savings Challenge which means this week's deposit is $11, bring the total balance of deposits to $66. Last week, we chatted about Keeping the Change or rounding our purchases up mentally and depositing that extra into the savings account. This week, we're going to chat about cashing out credit cards.
I know credit cards get a bad rap, and for good reason, as one has to be very careful with them. It's super easy to just start adding charges to a card and forget to pay it off or get so overwhelmed with the debit amount that you just don't want to deal with it. We've been there before. However, I do believe you can use credit cards for good, if careful in doing so. If you watch your spending and make sure not to waver from the things you plan on using the credit card for (example: using one for all your gasoline expenses), you can add a nice little sum in rewards that can be used to either pay on the credit card itself or cash out and put that into your savings.
Do you use credit cards in a special way? They're aren't for everyone, but I'd love to hear how you use them.


Washington — XM appointed Vernon Irvin, a VeriSign executive, to the post of chief marketing officer, as part of a restructuring of the company that began in July.
Irvin was previously executive VP and GM of VeriSign, where he oversaw the launch of VeriSign's Jamster ringtone business, which had millions of subscribers at its peak. He assumes his new post at XM on Nov.14, where he is charged with leading XM to its next level of subscriber growth, said XM.
Irvin's appointment follows the appointment in July of Nate Davis as new XM president and COO. That relieved CEO Hugh Panero of the dual role of president and CEO. At the time, the company said the restructuring was to accommodate the growth in subscribers and to reposition XM for future growth.
XM said the new chief marketing officer will oversee XM's media and brand marketing, retail, direct and partnership marketing, and marketing operations including pricing, retention and research.
Prior to joining VeriSign, Irvin was an executive VP at American Management Systems, an international business and technology consulting company catering to corporations and government agencies.


This is Tiga's second LP and I am loving it, different than the first one of course. Tiga is a producer/DJ from Montreal, Canada.
Tiga is widely known for his remixes: Tomas Andersson's "Washing Up", Scissor Sisters' "Comfortably Numb" and Felix da Housecat's "Madame Hollywood" but also for his covers of Nelly's "Hot in Herre" and Corey Hart's "Sunglasses at Night". He produces his own material, but has also worked with Zyntherius, Richard X and Jake Shears from Scissor Sisters.
Phew. I'm glad you were able to cover this topic after all. Time to get back and do some more research.


text:
Hirams Knob is a mountain located in the Catskill Mountains of New York southeast of Mapledale. Balsam Lake Mountain is located southwest, and Haynes Mountain is located southeast of Hirams Knob.

References

Mountains of Ulster County, New York
Mountains of New York (state)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Scott says Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
by Matthew Fletcher | Sep 5, 2016 | blog | 0 comments
If there is one message to emerge from Scott Austen's journey as an entrepreneur it is the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone. His decision to immerse himself in the life and culture of Japan gave him the confidence to learn, a capability on which he continues to depend as managing director of the Geelong-based family business, Austin Wines.
Scott elected to have a gap year in Japan after attending Geelong Grammar and its Timbertop rural campus which he found "emotionally challenging".
Having studied Japanese at school he headed for Japan where he lived with a local family for a year. Enrolled at a high school his adopted tongue was put to use when on his first day the principal asked him to address the 1500 pupils.
"Japan gave me the confidence to learn," Scott says.
Returning to Australia he gained a commerce degree but was still undecided on a career path when his brother asked him to partner in a clothing company. But it would be 2004 when he joined the wine business that had been the dream of his parents from the 1980s. In a bold move, they had bought 1500 acres of land, of which 90 was planted out in pinot noir. It remains today Australia's largest planting of that grape type, reflecting a goal of "pinot noir for the people."
From a mere 2000 case of wine and a turnover of $150,000 in its early days to production of 20,000 cases Scott was staring down a challenge of how build a production-driven business quickly, given the need to create a brand and sell increasing quantities of wine.
The multi-generational nature of the business created a further challenge to achieving that objective: the need to make changes from the way his parents ran the business.
Never having had a job interview, Scott believes entrepreneurialism is inherent and a pay packet is not necessarily a driving force. But his Japan experience and the desire to learn was well entrenched so he undertook a Government program to help build the brand and the business.
"The Geelong region has a history of growing good grapes as well as good people, so we identified the need to tell the regional story in order to build a brand and sell product."
Emerging from that branding exercise, Austin Wines 6 Ft 6 pinot noir is the 3rd fastest growing product by value in the national market, exemplifying the accelerating momentum of the company.
Now managing director of the business, Scott advises that growth shouldn't be too quick, nor should a company carry too much debt. These principles are complemented by the importance of surrounding oneself with good people an operational level.
He agrees with the mantra of "hire slowly, fire quickly" and to this end he advises getting to know the people you may want to hire. Do less talking than listening to them over a coffee and maybe get them to show you what they can do, rather than just talk about it.
"Don't be afraid of having three or four interviews for potential senior staff. And, when you do hire them, make them aware of your expectations," Scott says, admitting to being guilty of having given some staff too much rope.
The very competitive nature of the wine business raises major questions says Mr Austin.
"First, it's a product that is grown, made and packaged once a year. There are fewer places to sell wine so being production-driven we must get onto the shelves of the major retailers and this is dictated by everything from packaging to how we deal with those companies.
"Along the way we face challenges such as do we change from old to new branding while still holding old stock?"
Participation in the Government program to help build the business laid the foundations for an ongoing move to full vertical integration. This has seen the company recently employ a wine maker on-staff, while an investment of $1.5 million is supporting the installation of an in-house bottling line and the opening of a cellar door to sell the company's story to consumers "face to face".
'Adventuresome' joins 'contemporary' and 'teamwork' in summarising Austin Wines corporate values.
"We aim to foster those values in everything we do," Scott Austin says.
To this end he advises having a succinct vision which staff can embrace. For Austin Wines it is to be Geelong's leading producer of cool climate wines.
Scott says believe in your product or service because you can't sell what you don't like and above all show leadership 'by doing' as a guide to your staff. Teamwork is essential, especially for business owners. Teamwork depends on respect for one another and exemplifies an organisation's values.
The business regards the digital world, including online marketing, as more of a growth opportunity rather than a threat which harks back to the company's decision "not to sell on price but on its story."


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Burn-area residents prep for more rainfall
TUJUNGA, Calif. Residents who live just below Deukmejian Wilderness Park on the border of Glendale and La Crescenta know they are in a vulnerable spot.
The vegetation was burned out by the Station Fire, leaving the park grounds bare, and residents know that the mudslides can start coming at any time.
Glendale resident Stacy Gustafson is hoping for the best this weekend hoping that her neighborhood will be spared from mudslides and debris flow, but she says her family is prepared to go if they have to.
"We just have things all ready to go. It's a little unnerving but you get used to it because it's your way of life now, so we have certain things ready to go. They're not in the car but they're right inside the garage door and they'll go as soon as someone says to leave," said Gustafson.
Gustafson and her neighbors have been warned that they could face serious flooding and mudslides for the next three to five years as a result of the Station Fire that burned for weeks from August to October.
"Some of the people that were here for the '78 disasters say it was a couple of years after the fire when the hillside gave way and there were trees and cars just tumbling down," described Gustafson.
La Canada already experienced a post-Station Fire mudslide in early November. In Gustafson's neighborhood, city crews are staying on top of the Dunsmore Debris Basin to keep it clear just in case the hillsides above come tumbling down again.
"They've said they put cameras up in the debris basins. They say if the debris basins get five percent full, then they will come up and empty them so during the night, every night practically, we've had trucks going by and we always wave because we're so glad they're here emptying out the debris basins," said Gustafson.
There are K-rails and sandbags at the base of the basin to stop the debris and slow the flow of any runoff.
La Canada-Flintridge is also getting a significant amount of rainfall and all the hillsides are very muddy, creating very dangerous conditions on the road.
If you plan on driving into portions of the Angeles National Forest, you might have to change those plans.
The L.A. County Department of Public Works announced that based on the stormy conditions, it is closing all county roads within the Station Fire burn areas. So at 11:59 p.m. Friday, officials will close Angeles Crest Highway, Big Tujunga Canyon Road and Upper Tujunga Canyon road. Only emergency vehicles and DWP personnel will be permitted to get through.
The Angeles Forest Highway was blocked to traffic during Monday's rain storm.
"It was closed for quite a while of course due to road repair and guardrail repair. The fires really did a number on the Crest and we want to make sure that motorists are safe when they're traveling through the Crest," said Saul Gomez of the California Highway Patrol.
Deeper into the Angeles Crest Highway, officials are concerned about the burned hillsides caked with mud and rocks. The rocks could come tumbling down to the roadway, and the mudflows could also come crashing down onto the roadway which could be dangerous for drivers moving through there, if not tragic.
Drivers who use the Crest from time to time had this to say about the closure of the highway and other burn areas.
"If there's a danger of rock slides or mudslides, I think that's for the safety of the public, so I'd have to agree with them on that, and I don't know what the situation is now, but with all the forest burned off, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of mudslides this year, this season," said John Petriel of Alhambra.
"We want everything for safety factors and shut it down if the weather is bad," said Stella Petriel of Alhambra.
"Normally, it's already dangerous as it is, so with all the extra mudflows and things coming down it'll provide a lot of safety," said John Lee of Monterey Park.
"As of now we don't have an anticipated time of opening for those roadways. It all depends on the weather conditions," explained Gomez.
Long-time Tujunga residents say that they will be keeping a close eye on the weather conditions for road safety as well as house safety.
Alexander Waintrub has taken extra precautions to try to prevent any damage to his Haines Canyon home. The hills surrounding his Tujunga property have been left blackened and barren by the massive Station Fire, putting the entire area at risk for potential mudslides.
"Well, we are a little concerned, but it's not too much because we feel that the channels in the area should handle the situation within reason," said Waintrub. "Of course, if there is a major catastrophe, I doubt that anybody could do anything about it, but that's par for the course for anybody living around here."
County officials have made sure that the channels and catch basins are clear and ready for when Mother Nature lets loose.
"It's a little concerning just because there's six miles of mountain that may come down, but I was here for the '75 fire so I'm not too concerned," said Samantha Harris of Tujunga.
Some K-rails and sandbags have been strategically placed to divert any runoff, but so far, there's been no sign of any serious trouble. Most residents say they don't expect any trouble, but they also know that could change in an instant.
"It if does come down, we're pretty much locked in. There's no way to go. So, we're pretty much stocking up on hay and dog food and food and water, and that's it," said another Tujunga resident Nicolle Maggie.


text:
Reteplase è un principio attivo trombolitico, usato per trattare gli infarti del miocardio rompendo i coaguli che li causano.

È stato approvato per l'uso clinico in Europa e Stati Uniti nel 1996. Il principale nome commerciale con cui è venduto è Rapilysin.

Meccanismo d'azione
Reteplase è un attivatore ricombinante del plasminogeno che catalizza la scissione del plasminogeno endogeno per generare plasmina. Tale plasminogenolisi si attua in presenza di fibrina. La plasmina degrada a sua volta la fibrina, che è il principale componente della matrice del trombo, esercitando così la sua azione trombolitica.

Indicazioni
Indicato nel trattamento di infarto miocardico acuto, per eliminare occlusioni delle coronarie, in alternativa ad interventi chirurgici.

Controindicazioni
Controindicata in caso di emorragie, traumi, anamnesi positiva per ictus o recenti interventi chirurgici. Da evitare in caso di patologia polmonare, pericardite, epatopatia, ipertensione portale.

Interazioni
Analisi retrospettive effettuate in studi clinici non hanno evidenziato interazioni rilevanti con i medicinali usati in concomitanza con reteplase in pazienti con IMA. L'eparina, gli antagonisti della vitamina K e i medicinali che modificano la funzione piastrinica (ad es. acido acetilsalicilico) possono incrementare il rischio di emorragie se somministrati prima, durante o dopo la terapia con reteplase.

Si deve prestare attenzione a questo effetto specialmente durante i periodi in cui siano presenti bassi livelli plasmatici di fibrinogeno (fino a 2 giorni circa dopo la terapia fibrinolitica dell'IMA).

Effetti collaterali
Fra gli effetti collaterali si riscontrano nausea, vomito, comparsa di aritmie, febbre, più raramente convulsioni, ipertensione.

Note

Bibliografia

Voci correlate
Alteplasi
Streptochinasi
Tenecteplase
Aprotinina
Infarto miocardico acuto

Trombolitici


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Building back better – Boosting research in Seychelles after the Covid-19 pandemic |06 October 2020
The research facility will be based on Cousin Island Special Reserve (Photo: Serge Marizy)
Nature Seychelles has received £60,000 for its 'Building back Better in the Age of Covid' campaign.
The funds are to be used to boost high level science in Seychelles by contributing to the construction of a new research centre on Cousin Island Special Reserve. The Seychelles Warbler Research Group, a team of biologists from the European universities of East Anglia, Groningen and Sheffield is donating the funds to help build the new facility.
Cousin Island's iconic International Field Station, which was set up by BirdLife International in 1971 and has housed hundreds of students, researchers, volunteers and conservation boot camp participants, was rendered structurally unsafe after severe beach erosion that impacted the island early this year and ate away at its foundation. The added economic catastrophe caused by the Covid-19 impact has made it impossible for the NGO to fund a rescue of the house or to build a new facility.
"Hundreds of scientific reports, articles and papers have been produced by researchers from this Field Station over the last 50 years," says Dr Nirmal Jivan Shah, the chief executive of Nature Seychelles.
The Seychelles Warbler Research Group, which donated the funds, has been studying and helping in the conservation of the Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalussechellensis) since 1985. This unique long-term research programme in partnership with Nature Seychelles, the NGO that manages Cousin Island, has not only helped save this once critically endangered bird from the brink of extinction making it a poster-child for successful conservation, but also generated a series of high-profile scientific discoveries and publications in the most prestigious journals that have made the Seychelles warbler famous across the academic world. The bird is the most studied species in Seychelles. The group's close partnership with Nature Seychelles has rightly gained a worldwide reputation as an outstanding example of how Science and Conservation can work hand-in-hand.
Signing a memorandum of understanding remotely in the UK, Prof. David S. Richardson from the University of East Anglia said: "We are happy to donate the £60,000 that we have raised towards the building of the 'Seychelles Warbler Research House' on Cousin Island to enable research and conservation to continue and flourish on this amazing nature reserve."
Richardson works alongside colleagues Professor Terry Burke of the University of Sheffield, and Prof. Jan Komdeur and Prof. Hannah Dugdale from the University of Groningen to make up the Warbler Group.
Receiving the donation, Dr Shah said: "This special bird, whose rescue caused a chain reaction that saved an entire island, whole ecosystems, and many other species, is doing it again. This time round, it is bringing research back to Cousin. We sincerely thank our friends and colleagues of the Warbler Group and hope to continue what is actually the longest-running international research programme in Seychelles and also to cascade other types of research."
Dr Nirmal Shah (L) and Dr David Richardson (R) signing an MoU remotely for the Seychelles Warbler Research House
The Seychelles Warbler Research Group has been studying and helping in the conservation of the Seychelles warbler (Photo: Arne van Eerden)
The Seychelles warbler is a poster-child for successful conservation (Photo: Charli Davies)
First multi-site assessment of white-tailed tropicbird population status and breeding trends in Seychelles Study shows value of collaborative multi-site research |05.01.2022
A review of environment headlines during 2021 |31.12.2021
Environment Protection (Waste Services) Regulation, 2021 |04.12.2021
Washington DC based Adaptation Fund hosts virtual monitoring mission to learn more on EBA project |01.12.2021
Nairobi Convention |29.11.2021
COP26: 'Seychelles not satisfied with major carbon emitters' failure to commit' |17.11.2021


The Dog & Lamb weather vane comes flat packed & assembly is simply by slotting the pieces together which takes a few minutes (instructions supplied).
Complete package North-South & East-West, the design of your choice & a straight bracket which has four screw holes for easy mounting.
We also sell a special off-set bar to extend the supplied bracket as an 'extra', which is designed for a protruding roofline.


Duncan Rand, age 76 years of the Fairplay Community in Adair County passed away Friday, July 14, 2017 at 2:25 PM at Signature Health at Summit Manor in Columbia.
He was born August 5, 1940 in Rumford, Maine.
The son of the late Clarence Winslow and Dorothy Morton Ross Rand. Duncan was preceded in death by his wife Faye Hitchens in 1986.
He is survived by one son; John Rand and his wife Diane of St. Cloud, FL.
One brother; Roderick Rand of Berlin, New Hampshire.
One sister; Dorothy Young of Bedford, New Hampshire.
A special friend; Bradley McClister of Columbia, KY.
Several nieces, nephews, a host of other relatives & friends survive.
Duncan was a retired carpenter and served as a United States Marine Corp. He enjoyed reading, working jigsaw puzzles and caring for pets.


The replacement for the Zebra GK420, the ZD420 offers a simple, hassle free upgrade option. If you need new communication or media handling options in the future, no problem. Add serial or Ethernet connectivity, plus a peeler or a cutter, right on site — without taking the ZD420 out of service. The result? Maximum functionality and uptime.


Hi Kezzalou, it sounds like you have several conditions, welcome to the club, hypothyroid, B-12 and iron anemia. If all three conditions are not corrected, you will have symptoms of shortness of breath, tiredness, etc. As I said my hematologist said ferritin levels below 50 can lead to anemia. I know most lab does not flag until you are under 10, therefore, most pcp will not see it as an issue. It can take several weeks for you to feel better on corrective thyroid meds ,ie synthyroid. It can take several months if you are anemic to feel a huge difference even with iron replacement. But in my case, my iron goes up after the IV and then back down, thus causing symptoms to continue. I take previcid for gastris, but I know this medication and other PPI will interfer with synthyroid and oral iron, vitamins and iron in foods. I do not take my meds at the same time, I usually wait few hours.
What is your hemaglobin count? You are consider anemic for a woman 10 and under. You can be have low ferritin with normal hgb, whereby you are not consider anemic, but have iron deficiency which could lead to anemia if left untreated. If it were not for the chest pain, shortness of breath and the extreme fatgue, I prob would not have bothered going to the dr two years ago when they my blood test came back really abnormal, with anemia, hypothyroidism, no ferritin, high cholestrol, and I had really high blood pressure. I thought I was having a heart attack which scared me enough to go to the dr in the first place. Did all the heart test and good news, no heart problems.


In this interview, Clayton Christensen spells out some ideas which are so right that they almost have the force of Laws for Business.
Clayton Christensen is the godfather of innovation. His books define how people think about innovation, education and disruption (and more recently, values). Strategy + Business, the management journal from Booz and Co., published a great interview with him here.
In it, he says two things that ring so true that I think they deserve to become laws of business, especially when looked at through a customer lens.
He's talking here about our personal lives, but it applies in spades in the customer world. The contact centre which drives agents to keep calls as short as possible for cost purposes almost always pays a higher eventual cost in terms of customers calling again, customer dissatisfaction, agent retention and customer churn. The website which skimps on early customer testing during the design phase will almost certainly have to spend a fortune in redesign once it goes live and customers don't like it.
If you skimp on things early, you pay much more later. Every time.
Who is doing "the job?" The customer.
Focus on the job to be done or you'll be beaten by someone who does.
It's a short interview, but full of good things. Read and enjoy.
(Tip of hat to Petrina Alexander, who first drew my attention to the article).
As some of you may know, I have spent a little time in the arcane world of mobile payments. Dave Birch is one of the good guys in this space (an excellent mix of enthusiasm and scepticism in equal parts). In this piece, he shows (with tongue firmly in cheek) what happens when new technologies hit the market but the preferred customer experience is still being worked out.
How do you know your strategy is working? You say no.
A good strategy sets out our priorities. Priorities, however, are only valid when we know what we won't do.
It is much harder to find managers willing to say "…X is our top priority, so we won't do Y." Which is funny, because this is what top priority means: other things won't get done. And this is OK, because we are putting our resources and attention into the things that matter most instead..
What tells us what matters most? Our strategy. If our strategy is clear, we know which markets, customer, products, services and capabilities are most important to us. By implication, we also know which are not.
For those of us interested in customers (and I assume that is pretty much all of us), then if our strategy is any good, we have to make some tough calls.
For example: Are all our customers equally important?
For most organisations, the answer is probably no. So the next question follows. What are we doing to make sure that our most important customers get the service they need and expect? And what are doing to make sure that lower priority customers do not get service or resources at the expense of our top priorities?
This is often a tough call. But organisations which genuinely answer these questions can be very successful. Apple, as one example, do not seem interested in mobile phone customers on tight budgets, and they are doing all right. Low cost airline Ryanair, as another, are interested only in the budget customer – and they are one of the most profitable airlines in Europe.
Setting strategy is easy. Doing it is hard. And our willingness (or otherwise) to use strategy to set high and low priorities is one of the one of the reasons why.
What's the difference between sales and service? Nothing.
When a customer expresses a need, then a failure to sell to that need is a failure of service. Thinking about sales as a service opens the door to genuine alignment of customer experience.
A long time ago, I spoke to someone who helped set up the contact centre for a new retail bank. He explained that the philosophy of this bank was different from any other than in operation in the UK. Its aim was to help customers and give them a good experience.
I was intrigued when he explained that for the contact centre this meant not distinguishing between sales and service. The same agents handled all customer queries, including selling new products to the customer .
He smiled. "Just the opposite. We train our agents to understand that their role is to help customers with their needs as much as they can. Each customer who calls us needs help – or else they wouldn't pick up the phone. Most of these needs we can help directly: make a payment, check a transaction and so forth. But sometimes a customer's need can only be helped with a new product.
"For example," he continued, "a customer might want a better return on the surplus money sitting in their zero-interest current account. The best way we can help them is to explain the kinds of additional services we can offer such as savings accounts, bonds or ISAs. We then give them a chance to buy.
This philosophy seems to have worked. From its founding, this bank has balanced solid customer and revenue growth with a reputation as the UK bank with the most satisfied customers.
This principle seems to me to lie at the heart of the term 'customer-centric'. It connects sales and service with the same goal: helping the customer.
It means that agents have to believe that what they are selling is of genuine value to the customer: as they have to service the customer afterwards, there is no incentive to sell them a pup. And it properly positions sales as part of a positive customer experience – which is as it should be.
For those of us who are striving in our organisations to make things better for customers, this story poses two challenges.
First, how is the way we sell genuinely part of a joined-up philosophy of customer service – or are sales 'pushed' on customers regardless of value?
As for the second challenge? Customers now have many more channels for service. These include email, chat, forums, web sites, mobile or social media.
This challenge, it seems to me, is not the technology. Nor is it the need to design for the interactions we might have with customers (and which customers might have with us) (and with each other).
How do we make sure that every customer touch point adds value to the customer, helps them with their needs and, yes, sells to them as part of the service?
As my friend with his contact centre showed, if we can meet this challenge and begin with this principle, the results, for our customers, and for our business, can be phenomenal.
Only when we build for our customers will they come.
Seth Godin's blog offers profound, sparse and almost haiku-like wisdom about the new marketing. If you don't follow him yet, you should.
In this post, Choose Your Customers, he explains, in very few words, what in my experience is the most common problem leading to product and market failure: when we begin with the product, not the customer.
When we begin with our great product and try to sell it, we are doomed to fail. If we want people to buy what we do, we have to begin instead with what they need and want, and build (and sell) (and service) from there.
Simple, really – but so easy to forget in the daily muck and bullets of business.
Complexity kills good customer service. We can use the rule of 50/5 to cut through this complexity and transform the customer experience.
I once worked for a multi-national technology company with a turnover of tens of billion of pounds. The organisation's processes and systems were so complicated and intertwined that any improvement efforts were doomed, if not to failure, then to mediocrity.
Any new customer fix – a system, a process, a metric or a behaviour change – was just another complication in an already complicated environment. Sooner or later, those in the customer front line would make mistakes because complexity introduced by the new fix made errors more likely. Their normal tasks might often take longer, as the new fix might need new skills or new thinking. It might increase complaints, perhaps through teething problems, or because expectations for improved performance were too high.
In short, because corporate sclerosis was gumming up the customer experience veins, 'improvements' were likely to make things more error-prone, slower, less easy, and, almost certainly, substantially more expensive.
This is because of one of the infallible laws of business, something I was fortunate to learn early in my career, courtesy of George Elliott: complexity ALWAYS increases costs, and by much more than we think.
Paradoxically, however, how complexity drives costs offers a powerful way to enable customer transformation. This is because (again as George explained in my youth) these costs always appear in the same way: they follow the rule of 50/5.
50% of your costs are associated with 5% of your activity, and vice versa.
In the almost one hundred companies with which I have worked, while some the precise numbers have varied a little, I have never seen this rule to be wrong. It is a cast iron law of business.
For each one of these, the complementary statement is also true: as well as 5% of customers causing 50% of service costs, so 50% of customers cause only 5% of service costs.
Why is this important? Because it means we have a practical way to focus our improvement efforts to deliver effective transformation, reduce complexity and make things genuinely better.
So for one tech company for which I worked, we found that 3% of escalations were consuming 38% of engineer time. We identified and eliminated the causes of almost all these escalations. This enabled the organisation to free up a quarter of their engineers to work on proactive services, adding value to their customers. At the same time they kept some engineer capacity in reserve to handle the many fewer new escalations which inevitably would still arise.
For another company, recognising that 4.5% of their customers yielded 53% of their revenues drove them to offer premium services to these customers – increasing revenues and retention.
At the same time, they reduced services to the 48% of customers who contributed only 4.9% of revenues, but offered them the chance to upgrade. Result? Some of these unprofitable customers left, some stayed, but cost less to serve – but enough upgraded to make this customer segment twice as profitable.
But beware. Standard accounting cost models don't give you a true picture of these costs (because they assign overhead costs uniformly across the board as opposed to how the costs are actually being consumed) .
So let's begin using the rule of 50/5, but not by looking at budgets and costs on a spreadsheet. Let's get out from behind our desks to see what is really happening. Let's look, not at the cost numbers, but where our people are putting in the work with our customers. We'll soon see where the rule of 50/5 works in our business, and how we can use it to cut through complexity to make things better for our customers.


I have been attracted to painting right from my childhood. Most of my paintings depict the true facets of nature, love and beauty in all its forms. My early passion for painting evolved into a strong desire to contribute to this art. My paintings are mostly reflections of my own experiences in life. They are depictions of my inner most feelings about beauty. I was always immersed in the creative stimuli of this unique and diverse environment of art.
I owe a lot to this passion as it gives me a great sense of joy, inner serenity and overall happiness. The satisfaction I derive after completion of my each painting is second to none. Learning is a never ending process, I improve my knowledge and painting by attending workshops. I have always believed in the philosophy that painting is not just for the chosen few – it is for everyone.
© 2017 Zora's Art Gallery. All rights reserved.


Ascending to the higher Gan Eden, the soul will once again bathe in the River of Light, this time to forget the tumultuous emotions of the lower Eden. Here the goal is to gain understanding of the divine mind, for which purpose groups of souls are organized into schools. Each midnight God Himself visits upper Gan Eden to share His wisdom with those who have attained it.
Once the soul has gained all the understanding of which it is capable in heaven, it will be permitted to strive for further perfection on earth through reincarnation, a process which is repeated until the soul has built a complete spiritual body through good deeds.
After the number of souls meant to be created has been achieved, God will bring about the reunion of souls and bodies. At this time, the Messiah, an ideal ruler of an earthly Kingdom of God, will summon all humankind to dwell in peace and righteousness under divine sovereignty. The resurrection of the dead will take place; the spiritual body will be reunited with the physical body it formerly inhabited. Or, alternatively, the resurrection will be a materialization of the level of spiritual body that the soul has attained through many incarnations. These materialized souls will then perform the remaining deeds required of them to complete their spiritual bodies in a world free of death and evil.
After a time the earthly rule of the Messiah will end and the Last Judgment will take place. God, "ancient of days," garbed in white raiment, with hair like pure wool, will sit upon a throne of fiery flames to judge all people in one another's presence. The wicked will be doomed and the righteous will be transported to a newly created heavenly or earthly paradise.