Pure Knead Gluten Free Classic Sandwich Bread is the most wonderful gluten free bread I have ever tasted!! It's my favorite to say the least! Fresh, white, and soft, squishy gluten free bread. Pure Knead also has hamburger buns that are spectacular! A lot of restaurants use their moist and soft hamburger buns. They actually hold up while eating the entire hamburger!
This gluten free bread is a win-win for so many people with different needs.
Pure Knead gluten free bread products are carried in many Kroger locations in Georgia and parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and South Carolina. Look for them in the Natural Foods Freezer section. I always keep two loaves handy in my freezer at home!
When I want an old-fashioned tomato sandwich, I just pop two slices in the microwave and cook for 30 seconds. When I want a slice of toast, or a BLT, I do the same thing and then use my gluten free toaster. It's truly perfect for every type of sandwich! There is no crumbling. A sandwich that stays completely together AND has that back in the day taste! You remember the one! No gritty, mealy or weird aftertaste which is so unpleasant and typical with gluten free bread.
You have got to taste this bread! It's AMAZING!


Years of weight training, dieting and sacrifices are made so you can look your best.All of this is for nothing if you cannot present your body to the best of your abilities, presentation is everything in our game.
Ellena Reidie is former IFBB Pro, Judge and Australian champion within the IFBB, WFF, INBA and WNBF. Renown for her extraordinary posing and presentation skills and with multiple titles in the pro and amateur ranks and over 25 competitions in experience around the world, Ellena passes on her experience and knowledge to give you the best chance at success.
Ellena holds her one on one Pose Like A Pro sessions in a private studio at Fox Fitness, Niddrie.


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What 'denuclearisation' means to Kim Jong-un
21 Sep 2018|Rod Lyon
In the wake of the recent North Korea – South Korea summit, it has become clearer than ever how Kim Jong-un defines 'denuclearisation': it's a series of limited unilateral declarations which constrain the North's nuclear and ballistic-missile programs in the order and to the degree that best suit Pyongyang's strategic interests, and from which he might escape at a time of his own choosing. In going down that path, Kim is playing from an old song book—Asian nuclear arms control has typically relied much more heavily than its Western counterpart on the concept of voluntary self-restraint.
A recent article in the New York Times argued that Kim has figured out he can keep his nuclear program going, just as long as he does it quietly—following in the footsteps of India, Pakistan and Israel. There's a large element of truth in that. But Kim's not just trying to make North Korea look like the other non-P5 nuclear-weapon states. By accepting a series of self-imposed limitations and (conditional) obligations—in relation to nuclear and ballistic-missile testing, missile-engine test stands, and some parts of the ageing infrastructure at Yongbyon—Kim's trying to make North Korea look like the other Asian nuclear-weapon states (China, India and Pakistan), none of which has a particularly strong record of formal, legalistic nuclear arms control of the type most favoured in Washington.
Western arms control—and Russian, for that matter—turns upon exactly that legalistic, exegetical approach, in which constraints are specifically defined. Think of the SALT and START agreements, for example. They wrestled English and Russian adjectives to the floor to define the specific obligations of their signatories. What counts as a strategic nuclear delivery vehicle? How many manoeuvrable, independent re-entry vehicles are allowed, and on which missiles? What do verification measures look like? When do obligations start and finish? What are the provisions for extending the treaties?
Interestingly, the P5+1 'sold' that model of arms control to Iran with the negotiation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action: anyone who cares to browse the agreement will find a dense thicket of regulation, touching even Iranian enrichment research and development efforts in relation to specific centrifuge models. (True, some thought the agreement didn't regulate the right things, but that's another matter.)
Kim's not interested in going down that route. The North Koreans have been suspicious of detailed verification regimes involving international experts ever since the International Atomic Energy Agency picked apart their initial statements about plutonium reprocessing in 1992—back in those heady days when North Korea was a party to the non-proliferation treaty. For obvious reasons, Kim's in no hurry now to clarify North Korea's existing capabilities. He hopes to keep as much of his arsenal as he can—and the easiest way to do that is to conceal the dimensions of that arsenal.
Nor does he believe that he has to accede to the Western model of arms control. A distinctive Asian model has emerged over the decades—one which helps offset the portrayal of Asian nuclear-weapon states as more worrying than their first-world counterparts. True, Asian nuclear powers are less attracted than their Western counterparts to formalised game theory as a guide to effective deterrence—but that doesn't mean their decision-making is emotive or irrational. Their command and control structures are typically less well resourced than those run by the US and Russia—but it's probably wrong to think of those structures as inherently fragile. And Asian nuclear-weapon states are less driven by ideology than were the dominant nuclear players of the Cold War—but they're not rabid nationalists automatically driven towards ready use of nuclear weapons.
Kim's principal challenge, of course, is going to be convincing the Americans that he's done enough to be given a pass mark on denuclearisation. That's going to be hard, for three reasons. First, the pace of North Korean development in 2017 was so frantic—and so astonishing—that what might easily have qualified as a pass mark at the beginning of January almost certainly wouldn't have done so by the end of December.
Second, the perceived value of voluntary self-restraint isn't fixed—it varies from country to country and from time to time, in relation to the nature of both the leadership in the self-restraining state and the intelligence about the probable existence of covert programs that undermine the validity of the original commitment. Both the Kim family's long history of aggressive behaviour and Kim Jong-un's more recent efforts to conceal key elements of his program surely dilute the value of any pledge of self-restraint.
And finally, in the months since the Trump–Kim summit in Singapore, it's become apparent that Kim has no intention of throwing away a capability which has seen him feted at diplomatic summits, redefined the relationship between the two Koreas, and helped to break the back of the previously worrying sanctions regime.
Sadly, North Korea doesn't look self-restrained. Nuclear weapons sit in the foreground of its military capabilities, not in the background. Developments in its nuclear program aren't slow and predictable, but volatile and unpredictable.
Of course, Kim has two things counting in his favour. The international community is fearful that true denuclearisation might come only with a high price tag. And the current US president seems more willing than the broader US national security community to tolerate a degree of smudging of the definition of success—in part to keep alive the notion that the Singapore summit was instrumental in managing the North Korean nuclear threat.
Rod Lyon is a senior fellow at ASPI. Edited image courtesy of the Office of President Moon Jae-in on Twitter.
Deterrence debate ignores the hard questions about nuclear war
In defence of nuclear deterrence
On the eve of destruction? (Part 2)
The art of the (bad) deal with North Korea

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In another recent statement, Gruevski spoke of a need for the "de-Sorosization" of Macedonian civil society and argued that rather than seeking support from foundations and governments outside of Macedonia, the country's civil sector should instead rely on the Macedonian government for financial support. This proposal would make CSOs entirely dependent on the government and undermine the basic premise of many civil society organizations, which is that they decline financial support from the government in their jurisdiction, in order to maintain accountability to the public. It is also difficult to imagine that the ruling party would provide support to any of the groups that it has routinely attacked over the last two years.
Gruevski also has alleged that 90-95% of CSOs in Macedonia are financed by liberal billionaire and foundation chair George Soros, or by foreign governments under Soros' control. These claims are baseless and false.
Coinciding with these claims has been the appearance of a "Stop Operation Soros" campaign, now known informally as "SOS", which promotes a message seemingly in line with Gruevski's party position on the issue.
These rhetorical threats come in the wake of special parliamentary elections that took place in December 2016 and left neither the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party nor the leading opposition party, the Social Democrats, with a majority of seats in the parliament. The special elections were held in an EU-brokered effort to re-stabilize the country, which has been in mired in political crisis since revelations of widespread illegal wiretapping by the ruling government surfaced in 2015.
While many civil society organizations are accustomed to pressure from Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party — the party was previously implicated for using state resources to conduct massive illegal surveillance, including wiretapping of journalists and activists — threats against CSOs have spiked since the elections in mid-December.
A defamatory flyer with blacklists of CSOs and activists signed by GDOM, a ruling party proxy group in Macedonia.
Flyers listing the names of dozens of civil sector activists were distributed in the mailboxes and under windshield wipers of citizens of Skopje, the nation's capital, shortly before the December elections. They included allegations about civil society advocates receiving "mercenary" money, repeating claims from defamatory articles in pro-government about some of the individuals on the blacklist. The flyers were signed by GDOM (Gragjansko dviženje za odbrana na Makedonija – Citizen Movement for Defense of Macedonia), an entity that acts as a proxy for the more radical positions advocated by VMRO-DPMNE.
Individual activists also have been regularly targeted with threats and hate speech on Twitter and other social media platforms, a phenomenon that has had increased concerns about the safety of CSO workers and their families.
Gruevski's surrogates in recent weeks has openly smeared CSO leaders, promoting unsubstantiated claims of collusion between foreign forces, Macedonia's leading opposition party and a certain set of CSOs. Affected CSOs held a public conference stating that the allegations of wrongdoing are lies and only intended to intimidate and silence the civil society sector and independent media. They have demanded retractions and apologies for the lies.
In recent weeks, state institutions such as the Public Revenue Service have launched a series of inspections and financial audits of 21 CSOs, many of which were also targeted in the aforementioned flyers and online attacks.
An additional 106 organizations in the country have publicly declared their support for the group, with total of 127 CSOs signing the joint open letter.
The same 21 organizations all participated in the pre-election civil campaign "We decide", which sought to improve public understanding of the electoral system and rules, given that a large percentage of Macedonian citizens believe that their ballots are not secret, and that political parties can find out how they've voted. A primary goal of the campaign was to encourage citizens to vote according to their own preferences, despite these fears.
Activists holding sings reading "I won't be silent!" during a "We decide" event in Kumanovo, Macedonia, Nov 5, 2016. Photo by Vančo Džambaski, CC BY-NC-SA.
On February 4, Nova TV reported that the Organized Crime Department at the Public Prosecution Skopje had started a preliminary investigation for unlawful financing of the electoral process against several CSOs and the opposition political party Besa.
By law, all CSOs must publish their annual financial reports by April 30 every year. The targeted NGOs are in compliance with this law, and some have published external audit reports. Other registered CSOs, such as Macedonian Association of Journalists (MAN) and the Association for Spiritual Unification of Setinci, Popadinci and Krushodari that had received government grants, have not been fulfilling this obligation and have not been subject to inspections. They also are known for promoting the positions of the ruling party.
As part of the inspections, auditors asked multiple CSOs to submit five years' worth of documentation of their funds and spending, and it has required that these documents be submitted in the Macedonian language. The majority of the funding received by these CSOs comes from entities outside of Macedonia, such as private and intergovernmental foundations in the EU, with whom contracts are typically written in English. So far, all communication with the state involving English-language contracts with foreign donors has not required providing translations, including communication for tax purposes with the Secretariat for European Affairs, and the CFCD unit of the Ministry of Finance.
The Public Revenue Service has also stipulated that CSOs will need to hire court-approved translators to translate the materials from English to Macedonian, at a rate of approximately USD $10 per page. With hundreds and in some cases thousands of contract pages needing translation, the requirement has placed substantial administrative and financial burdens on CSOs. The legal basis for the request has not been officially explained, and has left some CSOs asking for reconsideration by the State Revenue Office.
The 21 CSOs say inspectors also requested that they prepare additional information regarding financial flows in and out of the organization. Staff members were asked to complete tables detailing the names, tax/personal ID numbers, the purpose, country, amount, date, currency for each grant or revenue instance, as well as for each payment made. Completing these forms requires large amounts of manual work copying data from hundreds of invoices and contracts. The time necessary to comply with this order (months of man-hours) far surpasses the initial deadlines set by the Public Revenue Office.
All told, the inspections combined with other investigations into CSO activities and the smear campaigns have leave little doubt that these are not isolated incidents, but rather part of a coordinated effort to drain them of resources and ultimately weaken their influence on public life.
At the moment, significant resources of the targeted CSOs have been focused on dealing with these forms of pressure, with complete dedication to providing full cooperation and fulfilling the requests of the state institutions. In parallel, civil society groups around Europe — including European Digital Rights, Young European Federalists and the European Federation of Journalists — have expressed concern about the targeting of their colleagues in Macedonia.
Just wait until the Albanians begin demanding equal rights, and substantial territory, in your native Greece, where more than 50% of modern Greece's population is Albanian/Arvanites.
Your Turkish family name doesn't lie and neither does your DNA but as a Greek, you do!
i dare you take take a dna test. this isnt about me. its a bout you. you have the issue with the name. you want recognition. proof it. take a dna test. if you test Slav you demolish your statues, rename your airport and roads. change your flag and rename your country to slavomacedonia. fair right?
Tedi is correct, what a deflection on your part. Since you are so adamant about taking DNA tests and profess that the Greeks are some kind of "pure" race descended from the ancients, then prove it if you have nothing to hide. A substantial majority of modern Greeks are of Albanian/Arvanites descent, as well as Turkic-Christian descent deriving from the population exchanges of the 1920s. I haven't even mentioned the Vlachs, many of whom were former military commanders and prime ministers of Greece.
Greece needs to become a bicultural and bilingual society: Greek and Albanian standing shoulder to shoulder. I think those seven army recruits of Albanian descent would agree.
Gruevskis has spend too much time on his antiquization program creating a false history via his Las Vegas style 2014 program. By creating the myth which has permeated all levels of Slavic Macedonia's uneducated society he has alienated the Albanians. Let us not forget that Albanians are indigenous to this territory and as such have the right to determine their identity and language. They either change their name and destroy their cheap Italian reproduction statues and become an inclusive society or the country will disintegrate. Had Gruevski not forged along with brainwashing of his population and his cultural theft, Slavic Macedonia would have been a productive member of Europe. Right now the country is a basket case with no positive future. They know what they have to do. The Albanians are on standby. 2001 was merely a warning. The USA has proven loyalty to the Albanians in Kosovo. They would not hesitate to fund an offensive against Slavic Macedonia in the name of selling arms. Gruevski through rejection desperately gravitates towards Russia. It will all turn nasty i feel. They need to change their name. They need to remove all reference to antiquity. They need to embrace the Albanians. They need to make friends with their neighbors. Politicians like Ljubo Georgievski and Zoran Zaev, although extremely different to each other, offer hope. The Slavic population must swallow their pride and listen to the world. Irredentist and antiquization platforms need to be eradicated. Albanians and Turks make up 35% of Slavic Macedonia's population. This is too high of a percentage to ignore. They either work with their minority groups or the territory will be partitioned via a nasty civil war. Think twice Slavic Macedonia before commissioning another statue from the Italians and naming another airport.
what a bunch of miscombobulated nonsense/greek propaganda. Macedonians exist(in Greece too). Macedonia exists. It's Greece the one with territorial pretensions against Macedonia.


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The Red Devil Claims Three More Victims On 'Scream Queens' [RECAP]
October 21, 2015 by Bobby Hankinson Leave a Comment
Hope you had your fill of bloodshed on tonight's episode of Scream Queens, because it's going to be two weeks until our next installment.
Tonight's conclusion of the show's three-part Halloween spectacular played up a classic horror movie trope: the co-ed sleepover. There was Spin the Bottle, Truth or Dare and Seven Minutes in Heaven (though there was a disappointing amount of pillow fighting).
The superstar of the hour? Chad Radwell (Glen Powell). I just love every moment he's on screen, and everything that comes out of his mouth is hilarious. However, I worry he's going to get the Sue Sylvester treatment, so next season he'll be overused to the point of driving me insane.
Speaking of insanity, let's dive into all the crazy that went down in the most recent episode. Major SPOILERS below.
Who doesn't love a slumber party? Everyone gets to wear their cutest pajamas, you get to witness everyone's weird beauty regiments and, as Zayday (Keke Palmer) reminds us, "someone experiments with lesbianism and secrets are revealed."
It makes it the perfect activity to serve as Zayday's first co-Presidential act. That's right, the ladies of KKT hit the polls, and it was a dead tie between Chanel 1 (Emma Roberts) and our girl Z. You'd think this would enrage Kappa's former dictator, but she's actually pretty thrilled with the outcome. For starters, she can look super diplomatic and collaborative, but, more importantly, it makes her less of a target for the serial killer who's picking off the sisters. If there's anything she's learned from watching mafia documentaries on A&E, it's that you don't want to be in charge during a crisis. So, if Zayday wants to take the reigns, great. Bring on the great Slumber Party Act of 2015, or whatever.
Chanel No. 3 (Billie Lourd) is particularly stoked about the prospect of a slumber party, especially if it involves playing Spin the Bottle. It's the first activity she demands, not-so-secretly hoping it will give her a chance to explore her complicated feelings for the "predatory lez" Sam (Jeanna Han). No. 3 reveals to her that all her ex-lovers have been driven insane (her last boyfriend was so obsessed with her ears, he threatened to cut them off if he ever saw them again — hence the earmuffs). It must be that Charles Manson blood running through her veins.
Word certainly travels fast across campus, because over at the Dickie Dollar Scholars' house, the guys catch wind that there's a sexy slumber party going down at Kappa Tau. After a brief convo about how Chad Radwell (Powell) needs to stop doing it with some many older women, the DDS leader is ready to commit to Chanel No. 1. What better way to show his love than a panty raid?
The guys head over to the Kappa House, and Chad receives a distressing call from Chanel Prime: They're all locked inside the house and he'll need to bust the windows to free them. The guys arrive with a ladder so they can smash the second-floor windows (all the first-floor windows are bomb-proof). Chad climbs up to an awaiting Chanel, who promises to love him forever for saving her. That kind of commitment gives him pause, and, in one of the evening's most hilarious moments, he refuses to break open the window until she agrees that she's his "for an amount of time you feel is appropriate."
Once safely inside, Chad spies the Red Devil lurking on the lawn. The other Dollar Scholars start shimmying up the ladder, except for poor, armless Caulfield (Evan Paley). Alas, for climbing is not quite his strong suit. The Red Devil dispatches him with a few whacks from an ax right to the belly, followed by a swift decapitation.
The dwindling number of Dollar Scholars join the girls now for a rousing game of Truth or Dare — Zayday's and Grace's (Styler Samuels) brilliant way to extract intel on who the killer may be. According to Chad's airtight logic, it's not Truth, Dare OR LIE, so, therefore, anything said during the game must be taken as absolute fact.
It's a theory that seems to hold up immediately when Sam reveals Chanel No. 3's paternal lineage without hesitation after she's asked what No. 3's biggest secret is. That, obviously, draws the suspicions of everyone present, and No. 3 is pissed Sam has now made her a prime suspect. In retaliation, she dares Sam to go down to the basement and sleep in the bathtub.
Climbing into the bloodstained bathtub, she's bonked on the noggin by the Red Devil and murdered via suffocation. Interestingly, before the Devil can do her in, she asks if he will reveal himself. He does, and she tells him she could have helped him/her. Then, the Devil puts his/her mask back on and dispatches "predatory lez" to the great, big women's studies class in the sky.
The rest of our partygoers have now moved on to Seven Minutes In Heaven. First, Chad and Chanel hop in and, between makeouts, vow to take their relationship to the next level. Then, Chanel No. 5 (Abigail Breslin) and Roger (Aaron Rhodes) take their turn. During their stint in the closet, the Red Devil appears and fires a nail gun into Roger's head, reuniting him with his twin, Dodger (Austin Rhodes) who bit the bullet last week.
The girls discover a series of secret tunnels running underneath and throughout the KKT house, so Chanel No. 1 and Zayday volunteer to explore. Of course, the Red Devil is there and gives chase. He catches up to Zayday, but before he can assassinate Kappa's newest pres, Chanel No. 1 bonks him on the head, and they make their escape.
Cut to the police and Dean Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis) arriving on scene. By now, it's clear that this serial killer is targeting Kappa. So, the detective is going to post an officer there, and the Dean is just happy she can put the rest of the students' parents' minds at ease. As long as they aren't a Kappa or a Dollar Scholar, they've got nothing to fear.
Perhaps still high on the adrenaline of saving Zayday, Chanel No. 1 is all about promoting solidarity. She's even bought all the girls gifts: Hot pink nunchucks. Unbeknownst to her, Chanels No. 3 and No. 5 have made their own pact to outlive Chanel No. 1, no matter the cost.
OK, so the big thing to discuss here is the Red Devil reveal with Sam. Her plea that she could have helped him/her makes me think it was Boone (Nick Jonas). Perhaps she meant she could've helped him come out of the closet and be proud and live his truth and be his authentic self and also fall in love with me, personally. We know Boone is at least working with one of the Red Devils, and after one of the Devils spared his bro Chad, I'd say this is the most likely choice.
Now it's time for my barely coherent theory of the week. (Hey, I'm a TV blogger, not an FBI agent.) I still feel like Zayday has a bigger part of this than we know. It's weird that they made a big deal about Chanel giving her a key (not necessarily THE key; there could be more than one) to the room of secrets, and then someone got murdered in there. Did Z let them in? Maybe! I also have my suspicions about Earl Grey (Lucien Laviscount). For starters, he's the only non-idiot in the Dollar Scholars, so already he seems weirdly out of place. He was also the one who initially floated the slumber party info to his brothers. Could the two of them be in HASHTAG CAHOOTS with Boone to destroy the straight, white, cis, heteronormative hegemony? MAYBE. You know how Ryan Murphy loves a good morality tale as told by a bunch of morally bankrupt characters.
What are your thoughts? Share your theories, no matter how implausible or logically flawed they may be, in the comments.
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: lea michele, Nick Jonas, Recap, Ryan Murphy, Scream Queens, Television
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Chances are you will have some conflict with your partner during the first half of the month. Absorb what they are telling you before you fly off the handle. Doing this will keep everyone calmer. Simple things around the house may be difficult when they used to be easy and this will only add fuel to your fire during the later half of the month. This is only temporary.
Your bosses are taking of note of the job you do and are evaluating constantly. Monthly astrology forecast predict that you will reap the benefits of all this once it is solid as stone.
You will have a rare chance here to decide what you hope to create in your life. This month, as you chart your course, no dream will be too big to fulfill.


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Jimmy Carter, Andrew Young reunite to teach Sunday school
By Ernie Suggs, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When Andrew Young was sworn in as Jimmy Carter's U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 1977, he remembers the president handing him a note with his first assignment.
It was to go to Africa and ask that continent's leaders how America could help them.
"We were asking the world, 'What is it that you expect of us?'" Young said.
Teaching from the 16th chapter of Proverbs, Young joined Carter on Sunday to co-teach the former president's Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia.
"Andy is the first one I let use my chair," Carter quipped about the use of his white leather motorized chair in which he sits when he teaches Sunday school at his hometown church.
As has been the custom, when Carter teaches, the tiny church 160 miles south of Atlanta was packed with visitors from all over the world. The addition of Young, a civil rights icon and former mayor of Atlanta, was an added treat.
"I will never forget this moment in my entire life," said Maranatha pastor Tony Lowden, who had dinner with the two Saturday night. "The hour and a half I spent with these two great men was phenomenal and absolutely incredible."
With two of Georgia's most outspoken Democrats sharing the stage, their lesson was atypically apolitical. They touched on political themes as they related to Proverbs, but neither mentioned President Donald Trump or anything specific going on, such as the shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
Instead, Young taught about how America could become a better nation, based on lessons that Carter promoted during his four years in the White House and nearly 40 years outside of it as a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
"Most of the experiences that I have had with President Carter, between the two of us, have always been spiritual," Young said. "That meant it wasn't political. He never asked what the public opinion of something was. He only asked if it was morally right for the country and the world that we live. Does it lead to peace and understanding?"
Re-assuming his chair and returning to the theme of Proverbs, Carter called on the class to adopt a "spiritual attitude" to apply Jesus' teachings to their lives.
"Wouldn't it be nice if our country was the champion of all countries in promoting peace?" Carter said. "Wouldn't it be nice if other countries said, 'Why don't we go to Washington, because they know how to keep the peace?'"
Carter paused as the class laughed at that suggestion.
"For four years," Young shouted, "we did."
Ernie Suggs, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


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AIRLINES EXPERIMENTING WITH IN-FLIGHT TELEVISION
New York Times News ServiceSUN-SENTINEL
Three-inch TV screens mounted on seat backs and armrests are being tested by three airlines as an alternative to in-flight movies.
The sets, made by Airvision, a joint venture of Warner Bros. and Philips, the giant Dutch electronics company, allow viewers to choose from among six channels showing tapes of feature films, current TV shows, sports, documentaries and children's programs. Some will show commercials.
The brightness of the liquid crystal display screens eliminates the need to lower cabin lights and close window shades.
Northwest has had 116 sets on a Boeing 747, mainly on the Detroit-to-Tokyo route since the summer, and plans to finish its trial this month.
British Airways has been testing the sets since Oct. 10 in the rear part of coach on a 747 making trans-Atlantic trips, and plans to use them for four months, according to a spokeswoman.
Qantas was set to begin a four-month trial earlier this week using 36 screens in first class. The sets are mounted on the armrest because first- class seats recline too far to allow viewing from behind.
Northwest varied the programming and the rental price of headphones for the sets, charging $4, $6 or $8 at different times, according to Bob Gibbons. At one point Northwest showed four different movies on a 13-hour flight. British Airways has not been charging, nor does Qantas plan to.
Officials for both companies said they had not yet decided whether to use Airvision in greater numbers.
"The passengers liked it a lot," said Gibbons. "They liked being able to choose what to watch rather than be captives of what's on the screen."
With future generations of the sets, according to Airvision, passengers will be able to use the set's multibutton touchpad to order drinks and meals, make duty-free purchases of goods that will be waiting at the airport or to buy tickets for future flights.


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John Redwood's Diary
Speaking for England
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Better airports at last? Will competition fly in Scotland?
By | Published: August 20, 2008
Today brings the judgement of the Competition Commission on the BAA. As an early advocate of competitive airports for London, I look forward to being able to offer at least a couple of cheers for getting some of the way there at last. In an ideal world there would be different owners for each of the three BAA London airports at Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick. Failing that, the Commission should demand that BAA chooses either to own Heathrow, the major airport, or the other two. Even requiring the sale of one would be progress.
Why does competition matter? The current level of service to airlines and to travelling passengers is not good enough, and the prices charged are high. If airlines and passengers have some choice of airport under competing managements, each airport will have to try harder to raise service standards and to cut prices. The current owners of BAA have substantial borrowings. New owners might have more borrowing capacity, to make faster and more substantial improvements that require capital outlays.
Improving the service requires new technology and new thinking. It requires collaboration with the government to raise their game over Passport Control and Security. How many times coming back into England do people face long queues to have their passports checked, simply because there are not enough staff present to deal with the numbers? For outbound passengers the delays are mainly at Security, where too few lines are offered and where the checks are clumsily managed. Passengers who do not know the routine are not asked to use their time in the line to prepare themselves for sending their belongings through the machines, so more time is wasted when they do reach the staff. Each time a disaster or attack occurs more retrospective checks are added on the odd assumption that the next attack will mimic the last one. Instead of using intelligence and detailed checking on people more likely to be terrorists, the system produces general checks on everyone. In contrast Customs where there are never queues target their searches and enquiries, choosing sensible random checks to supplement Intelligence driven thorough checks on people they suspect.
A new owner could seek a sensible security review with the government to seek to streamline the service and make it more effective at the same time. It would also allocate more space to the security checks function so we could have more lines for whatever checks are needed. Passport Control probably has enough space, it just needs more people some of the time. A new owner would talk to airlines about streamlining their check in systems, and raise the game on baggage handling. Above all it would provide more capacity, to cut wasted fuel and delays through aircraft having to circle or taxi awaiting a stand. That would be greener as well as better.
Let's hope the Competition are bold. This could usher in a much needed improvement for the UK's airports. Maybe they will even demand a similar disposal in Scotland. It will be interesting to see Scottish reactions. Usually MPs from Scotland favour monopolies rather than the "waste" of competition, and favour more rather than less government involvement in things. That is one of the reasons why Scotland remains poorer than England. Perhaps this time they will be offered a dose of something that works? Will they like it? Could it ever prove catching in the Northern air? It will be an interesting challenge for the Scottish economy, and for Labour struggling to explain the poor economic performance of Scotland compared to London .
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Johnny Norfolk
With labour in power, this potential improvment will nerver be reached. It is just tinkering round the edges.
A new Conservative government needs to create the atmosphere of enterprise again, be removing government from trying to run everything.
I would like to hear much more about this from the party.
Posted August 20, 2008 at 12:04 pm | Permalink
I think the issue goes wider than competitive airports for having lived in SW London and suffered the extreme blight that Heathrow imposed on us, its my belief the real problem is that the British state is in the airport patronage business and shouldn't be.
To explain, Heathrow is in the worst possible position for an international airport, but because of the British states patronage it has been allowed to be developed, though a very compromised development due to the blight it brings to 100's of people living in SW London. The fact is if the British state had taken the position it takes with any other business, that you stand on your own two feet, they would have demanded that Heathrow came to financial arrangement with the people whose environment it blights, ( don't we believe in property rights?) with the result the management of Heathrow would have very quickly realised there are better places to develop a hub airport. This is the line I think the Conservatives should take on the third runway at Heathrow, saying the Heathrow that they can build their runway, but they have to come to a financial arrangement with the people whose lives and homes they are going to blight. What's the betting when Heathrow realises it doesn't have the state patronage, and has to pay compensation to people for blighting their living environment, that they will rapidly drop the idea, and realise there are much better and cheaper sites to develop.
Richard Havers
I've been a critic of the BAA and I remain so in some aspects of what they do. However, having read the Competition Commission's report I find myself agreeing with the BAA that it is flawed. Take this one statement. "In Scotland, BAA has until recently been noticeably slow to develop new routes at Glasgow and Edinburgh, whilst at Aberdeen, its investment plans are regarded as unambitious despite relatively high levels of profitability. At Southampton, it has shown a reluctance to respond to its customers' demands." It's not the BAA's job to develop new routes, that's a job for the airlines. Of course they have a part to play, but it's a small part. For Scotland's size and with all the other factors air travel is well developed and will not be magically bettered by a bit of airport competition.
The Competition Commission's report reads like a thesis and they need a sharp dose of reality. Many of the problems that exist are about capacity, government, planning and CAA regulations; all this is against a background of demand for air travel. While it's easy to talk about these things it's much harder to fix them and splitting up the airports is not a panacea, nor much of a solution. I remain unconvinced that it will help and once again I'm minded to think that none of this may have happened if BAA hand not been bought by a Spanish company.
mikestallard
When we go abroad, we never go to London even though we live just one hour away by train. It is always Manchester or Midlands for us.
Air travel is, today, crucial. Dubai exists simply because its airways are so efficient and they go everywhere that their customers want – and they do not waste time or money on other places either. We English are really falling behind. Compared, even with Bangkok or Singapore airports, Heathrow is appalling. Dubai airport is now as big as Heathrow and, believe me, it works too.
If – big if – we could actually link our airports with our cities by efficient train services, then, surely, it would not matter whether you landed at Birmingham or Manchester even – you would be in central London in an hour and half.
Have to agree with Richard [4:27 pm]. This is not an ownership/competition problem, it is a capacity/planning problem. When an airport is fully slotted in its allowable operating hours; that's it. You will only get price competition when there are enough airports with spare take-off and landing slots that they can't sell.
Anyway, everyone knows that Heathrow Two, has to be on Salisbury Plain. Low population density, fly in and out over West Dorset; again low population density; major roads not far away. [ I can hear Natural England quango screaming already].
Scary Biscuits
I agree with Iain above. John Redwood has made the mistake of thinking like a socialist!
The question shouldn't be how we modify the regulation to improve airports/hospitals/etc but how we remove this regulation to allow them to do it better themselves.
The main problem with airports isn't lack of competition although that doesn't help. Like the railways, they may be partially privately owned but in practice almost everything they do is, in shockingly minute detail, mandated by the state. The government is doing to air travel exactly what has done to the railways since 1946, ossifying them. That's the reason the train from Paddington to Slough still takes 20 minutes, no quicker than it was 150 years ago and less comfortable. (People in the Labour party call this progressive politics!)
There's no good reason why transport should be run by the state. They invariably do a worse job than businessmen.
More radically, the state (both here and in the U.S.) should stop telling private companies how to conduct security. Did the U.S. security services stop any flights hitting their targets on 9/11? No, but at the cost of their own lives the passengers of Flight 93 did. Did the extra security checks after 9/11 stop Richard Reid? No again, private citizens acting on their own initiative did. Are the 2 hour queues we all have to endure likely to stop the next terror attack? No again. But that doesn't stop the state charging us for the privilege.
As with that poor butcher in Scotland who caused the UK's worst recent food poisoning outbreak, the result of enquiry decided that more regulation was required. This was despite the fact that he had just been inspected and officially given top marks. Everytime the state fails to protect us, they propose more laws and more inspections. Nowhere is this persistent failure more visible than at Heathrow.
As Ronald Reagan said, get the government off our backs!
I would like to see a Kanzai-style airport in the Thames estuary, and Canary Wharf shows it could be done, even in this backward country.
But what is your answer to the question of the Scottish ferries? They need to be a subsidised monopoly, or they couldn't serve the islands all year round. One could suggest the odd improvement, e.g. linear, Norwegian style routes, but on the whole they are an excellent institution with a very good workforce and ethic, (as the old BR might have been if it hadn't been for the unions.) Young men in a hurry say everyone should fly, but that would be a great loss. The ferries are a real asset, adding greatly to community life, and good for tourism. The EU is bent on spoiling them as it did our railways, saying the monopoly must be broken up and the subsidy removed.
About John Redwood
John Redwood won a free place at Kent College, Canterbury, and graduated from Magdalen College Oxford. He is a Distinguished fellow of All Souls, Oxford. A businessman by background, he has set up an investment management business, was both executive and non executive chairman of a quoted industrial PLC, and chaired a manufacturing company with factories in Birmingham, Chicago, India and China. He is the MP for Wokingham, first elected in 1987.
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Le Mimosa from the House of Annick Goutal was launched in 2011. Attract and entice . . .
It is an accord of floral, musky, sweet, fruity and woody notes. The fragrance opens to the tunes of the mimosa enchantment accompanied by the fougère green notes, iris, and anise. The peachy heart lends the perfect long-lasting freshness with the firm woody base of musk and sandalwood.
Dedicated to the lovely yellow mimosa that is both an attractor and an enticer. The noses behind the creation are Isabelle Doyen and Camille Goutal. The perfumers, motivated by the liveliness of the radiant mimosa, divulged its spirits for the candid woman of today.


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Why do we compete and compare? How do we move from competition to collaboration? How can we become a #sheforshe movement of faith?


OCUMAX is a pharmaceutical line focused on an eyes moisturizing. It includes both eye drops and diet supplements to support the natural function of restoring the tired and dry eyes the natural moisture.
For the Ocumax brand Kiwi Marketing designed series of product flyers, ensuring an attractive visual aspect of advertising.


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Movie Review: The Aeronauts
by Tom Harper & Jack Thorne
Not a Book
The Aeronauts may not be a very good movie, but it sure is a captivating one. I was cranky going into to the movie (for reasons I'll explain later) and cranky after the fact. During the movie, however, I was charmed. There are few flaws that can't be masked by beautiful photography and by the combined charisma of Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, both of whom looked like they needed a hug at all times.
The Aeronauts, set in England in 1862, is about the efforts of James Glaisher, played by Eddie Redmayne, to break previous hot air balloon height records in order to study the skies. Glaisher was a real scientist, but this movie works best if you approach the character as entirely fictional (more on that below under "Historical Rant"). James believes that by studying the skies, scientists can learn to predict the weather, which would save lives. He's nice to his parents, he's a good friend, and he respects strong, intelligent women. Readers who follow my reviews will already have guessed that this character is so much my type that he might as well have "Carrie Bait" stamped across his forehead.
Be still, my nerdy heart.
James cannot find a man who will be a pilot for his venture so he hires Amelia Wren, played with the most amazing courage and vulnerability by Felicity Jones. Amelia is an entertainer who flew with her husband before his death in a balloon crash. Initially Amelia and James clash because he thinks her entertainer persona will jeopardize his scientific respectability. Happily, that pretty much ends once she points out that the only reason he has a balloon is because the crowds she entertains pay for it. Once they get that over with, they can get on with the meat of the movie, which involves a lot of teamwork and mutual respect and fantastic chemistry between the two leads, who previously starred together in The Theory of Everything.
The movie has a lot of flashbacks that explore James' ostracized position in the science community and Amelia's grief and trauma following her husband's death, but what we are here for is competence porn, chemistry, and people climbing around on ropes at great heights. Those things are delivered in abundance. The movie is beautiful and looks much more realistic than trailers suggest. It's an ode to science, the sense of wonder, and resilience.
Given that this movie is pretty much made specifically for me (Feminism! Victorian Science!) you'd think I'd like it better, but although I liked many of its parts, it's weak as a whole narrative. The flashbacks are unnecessary. These actors are capable of conveying their emotional journeys through their eyes but alas the movie spells everything out for the audience lest we miss such subtle themes as "You can't just fly away from your problems!"
If you don't want historical context, STOP HERE. The less history you know the more you will enjoy the movie. So READ NO FURTHER unless you want to be exposed to my HISTORICAL RANT. THE RANT COMMENCES NOW.
The movie is loosely inspired by the real James Glaisher, specifically on a flight he took with Henry Tracy Coxwell. By replacing Coxwell with the fictional Amelia, Coxwell's contributions are effectively erased. Meanwhile, by suggesting romantic chemistry between Amelia and the very single James, the real James Glashier's wife (Cecilia Gaisher) is also erased, which is a damn shame since she was an artist and scientist as well. At one point in the movie James' friend tries to convince Amelia to pilot the balloon for James by giving her a copy of a book about snowflakes written and illustrated by James. In real life, the book was illustrated by Cecilia Glaisher, whose existence is not even hinted at in the film.
Amelia is a composite character largely inspired by Sophie Blanchard. Guys. It does not do a service to Sophie Blanchard to dump her several years in the future and stick her in a balloon with James Glaisher and call her Amelia. If you want to make a movie about Sophie, make a movie about Sophie. She's much more interesting than most of the people in this movie.
I don't ask for detailed accuracy in historical fiction, and I'm very much in favor of more representation of women in adventure and in STEM fields. However, in order for Amelia to exist, the lives of one man and two women have to be erased completely. If James were presented as entirely fictional, than this could have worked as a story loosely based on composite characters. However, as soon as you give him the name of a real person, you have a responsibility to that person. If you want to make a movie about James Glaisher, by all means do so, and if you want to make a movie about Sophie Blanchard, by all means do that and I will personally buy all the tickets. But don't create a composite female character who erases the contributions of real people, two of whom were women. That's not feminist. It's sloppy.
THUS ENDETH THE RANT.
I complained about the historical problems with this movie all the way to the theater and all the way home. And yet, I cannot deny that while the movie was actually playing I was entirely within its spell. The scope, the cinematography and music, the chemistry and likeability of the leads, the adventure – it all reminded me of why I used to go to movies in the theater in the first place. The movie currently on Amazon Prime. This really is a fun movie to see, if you can handle the rant fuel.
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Knowing that I have contributed a little to someone's education, and made a difference.
Keeping up with changes in technology. The media industry, i.e. journalism, public relations and advertising, is a constantly changing environment, and upskilling keeps me current.
I started my working life in London in the publishing industry for Haymarket Publishing. It was a long time ago, but some things, such as writing, editing and proofreading have not changed much, although the technology has.
I am lucky to have a house in Raglan. I hope to retire there, but it gives me inspiration and relaxation, and an opportunity to live the beach life I love.


Clozapine - synthetic neuroleptic drug used in various psychiatric and sleep disorders, including children.
The active ingredient has a strong sedative and antipsychotic effects. It refers to a group of "atypical" antipsychotics, since practically does not cause movement disorders.
Clozapine acts quickly, within a week relieves agitation, anxiety and aggression, in a few weeks is beginning to have antipsychotic effects.
In the opinion of clozapine has muscle-relaxing properties and normalizes sleep, including children. Symptoms of negativism are at a long-term use of the drug, on average during the month.
In the opinion of clozapine does not cause violations of the higher intellectual functions.
2, 5% solution for injections in 2 ml ampoules.
Suppression of bone marrow hematopoiesis.
Clozapine for instructions contraindicated in pregnancy, in children under 5 years old, and during lactation.
The dose of clozapine instruction set individually.
Usually a daily dosage of 200-400 mg. Treatment starts with small doses - 25-50 mg daily and adjusted to within one to two weeks. In the opinion of Clozapine optimally taken once before bedtime dose or divided into several times. Cancelling the drug should be gradually, not faster than two weeks, gradually reducing the dose. Once the therapeutic course you can go maintaining course with taking minimum dose - 25-200 mg. Also, lower daily doses taken in renal, hepatic, chronic heart failure and cerebrovascular disorders. Small doses of 25 - 50 mg clozapine instructions used in a variety of sleep disorders. The daily dose of clozapine not exceed 600 mg.
If necessary, clozapine is used intramuscularly.
Babies Clozapine typically administered as a solution, for which pellets of the package is diluted in 5-10 ml water. Single dose - 5-20 mg, depending on age. The maximum daily dose should not exceed 100 mg.
With lithium carbonate, because of the possibility of myoclonus, cramps, delirium, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, psychosis.
When using clozapine should not drink alcohol.
Clozapine is usually well tolerated. In the application may be headache and drowsiness.
In the opinion of clozapine significantly less likely to cause confusion, tremors, insomnia or restless sleep, depression, seizures, fever, or tardive dyskinesia.
Clozapine can also cause tachycardia, a significant decrease in blood pressure, dry mouth, sweating, constipation, anemia, weight gain.
Clozapine related to drugs List B and is released under the doctor's prescription. The shelf life of the drug - 3 years.


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Home Stories NOVEMBER 1, 2013 AMERICAN COMPETITION FOR THE VW HIPPY WAGON TITLE: THE...
NOVEMBER 1, 2013 AMERICAN COMPETITION FOR THE VW HIPPY WAGON TITLE: THE 1968 CHEVY VAN
You do not see many 1968 Chevy vans on the road in 2013, so I headed right over to this van when I spotted it at a car show.
Its current owner was far too young to have any first-hand knowledge of the Summer of Love in '67, but he looked the part and so did his van in a retro-hippy kind of way.
Seriously, I doubt the 20-something owner of this 1968 Chevy van has even heard Sammy Johns' 1975 anthem to four-wheeled romance (Chevy Van) in his brief time on earth, but he seemed pretty happy with his van.
I had seen plenty of these vans back in the day and thought Sammy Johns had exactly the right idea in his song.
Some were simple hard-working delivery vehicles; others were seen on job sites with surveyors, while others hauled band equipment for wannabe rock stars back in the day.
They became party wagons and hippy transport vehicles and were homely enough to rival the more famous Volkswagen microbuses.
The big difference was the '68 Chevy vans had power-train options that included water-cooled V-8 engines, so these vans and their shaggy passengers could have gotten to Woodstock a lot faster in this van than a VW bus.
The owner of this '68 Chevy van was a young guy named Craig Fenrick and he seemed more connected with the old school hippy philosophy from the 60s than the car guy culture. He said, " I always wanted one and fell in love with it when he saw it".
The van was upgraded to a 350 Chevy engine bored out to 400 sometime on its past and Craig said that its history included some time on a quarter mile track as part of its legacy along the way.
Craig also said the van is very comfortable at 70 mph on the highway, so the bored-out 350 is more than adequate in the power department for this light van.
Craig bought the van in November 2012 and has put enough time behind the wheel to appreciate his purchase. The van seemed pretty solid and ran well when he pulled into the show, so Craig's investment seems like a good one, well beyond its unique appearance.
A 1968 Chevy Sport Van was part of the automotive scene in the 60s, but it garnered little attention at the time from car guys because the vans were not exactly a new Camaro or Road Runner in the hearts and minds of the average gearhead.
However, a 1968 Chevy Sport Van gets a lot of attention at today's car shows because they are not a common sight in 2013.
These vans were used up by delivery guys, tradesmen and hippies many years ago and they were crushed when they ceased to serve a useful purpose for any of these groups of people.
Craig's Chevy van drew plenty of attention when he brought it to show for that very reason: what was once common and unnoticed is now a rock star at car shows.
This '68 Chevy Sport Van is a true car show rock star in 2013 and its owner looks like one.
Jim Sutherland
1968 Chevy van
Sport Van
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text:
Patrick Reardon
#1 Midfielder - Indiana
Hometown: Granger
High School: St. Josephs High School
2007 Indiana 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0
02/10/2007 @ Pittsburgh L 9-11 0 0 0 0 0
02/17/2007 Western Michigan W 12-10 0 0 0 0 0
03/23/2007 @ Central Michigan L 8-13 0 0 0 0 0
03/24/2007 @ Oakland W 8-7 0 0 0 0 0
03/26/2007 West Virginia W 15-7 0 0 0 0 0
03/31/2007 @ Illinois State L 5-6 0 0 0 0 0
03/31/2007 @ Illinois L 6-8 0 0 0 0 0
04/06/2007 @ Ball State University W 10-3 0 0 0 0 0
04/15/2007 @ Miami (Ohio) W 8-4 0 0 0 0 0
04/18/2007 Purdue W 15-12 0 0 0 0 0
04/14/2007 Buffalo D 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
02/04/2006 Western Michigan W 12-4 0 0 0 0 0
04/09/2006 @ Missouri State W 13-9 0 0 0 0 0
03/20/2006 @ Washington (Mo.) W 11-5 0 0 0 0 0
03/31/2006 Oakland L 9-13 0 0 0 0 0
02/24/2006 @ Clemson W 14-6 0 0 0 0 0
02/24/2006 @ Auburn W 11-9 0 0 0 0 0
02/24/2006 @ Vanderbilt L 8-9 0 0 0 0 0
04/01/2006 @ Miami (Ohio) L 10-12 0 0 0 0 0
04/02/2006 @ West Virginia W 7-6 0 0 0 0 0
04/02/2006 Buffalo W 10-7 0 0 0 0 0
04/08/2006 Pittsburgh W 12-8 0 0 0 0 0
03/04/2006 Michigan State L 9-15 0 0 0 0 0
03/03/2006 Ball State University W 21-9 0 0 0 0 0
03/04/2006 @ Purdue W 10-9 0 0 0 0 0
No records found for 2005


This day in the Easter cycle commemorates this parable about remaining attentive, vigilant, at the ready to receive the invitation to join in when that offer comes.
Recalling the parable, ten virgins awaited the Bridegroom of which only five were really well prepared when he arrived. The attentive five had procured what they needed by way of oil for their lamps. The other five were lax and put off doing so, and when word came of the Bridegroom's approach, they begged the well-prepared five for some of their supply. The vigilant five denied them realizing that all of them had equal opportunity and resources to get ready. The "foolish" five then rushed to the market to buy the necessary oil, but the Bridegroom arrived before their return and so they were shut out. The five that had planned were ready and were received with open arms and enthusiasm. The other five were denied access. G-d favors the well prepared.
This is a story about "mindfulness," a much used, if not abused, word in today's lexicon. There are many moments in the Gospels ( and, indeed, in the Jewish scriptures overall) about the need to be watchful. It is also a story about the differences between false and true compassion. Doesn't the Master's rejection of the five "foolish" ones betray a lack of compassion on his part?
Not at all! He simply holds the lax five accountable; a lesson in "tough love." They failed to be ready, so he moved on. They squandered the time they had with trivialities. They allowed themselves to become distracted. Authentic compassion is not saccharine and undifferentiating. Quite the contrary, it respects each person enough to hold them accountable.
We are all accountable for what we say, do, and think. We must answer for who we really are. In facilitating executive leadership development sessions, there are those who invariably return late from a break or from lunch. Some argue that it is best and more gracious to wait for all to arrive. Others contend that at the appointed time, our session continues regardless of who isn't yet in the room. I am an advocate of the latter over the former philosophy. Out of respect for those who are there on time, I begin on time. The stragglers simply have to catch up.
In these days of political spin-meisters and subterfuge, excuse making and deceptive speech and advertising, the art of lying has been elevated to a seemingly grand and noble art form. The gift of gab and salesmanship has taken a front seat, and quiet leadership, diplomacy, and inviolable integrity, a back seat. With but a very few refreshing examples of notable leaders who are working hard to be otherwise in a terribly dysfunctional system ( e.g., Barack Obama), the choir of demonizers, hate mongers, fear peddlers, and distractors are legion.
It would seem that telling a lie over and over, despite clear factual evidence to the contrary, is held equal to truth in the easily influenced minds of way too many. Whatever happened to accountability? Ignoble and disreputable behavior should result in penalty. In these days of rehab clinics for all things, taking a brief time away in so-called "rehab" ( e.g., Tiger Woods and the sexual addiction rehab clinic), and all is forgiven. Remarkable, it seems, is the rate of rehabilitation among those with means.
Camouflage, gamesmanship, coercion, lobbying, advertising, bargaining and calling in favors, and buying votes does not a well prepared "virgin" make!
Today is a day for inner diagnosis. In fact, all of Easter week is a time for self-assessment, and this day is set aside as the one on which we test our integrity, our attentiveness to detail, our discipline, or the lack thereof, and the mindfulness with which we step through our daily round. It is a time to ask about whether we too are caught short and find ourselves rushing off to the store to buy some 11th hour oil as we've just heard of the Master's approach. As usual, the best tests are not those that involve big things, but the small ones that betray our careless distractibility.
Yesterday, our gardener was scheduled to stop by the house to pick up the signed contract for his continued work with us over the upcoming growing season. I marked down that he would be stopping by and had the contact in hand when we spoke by phone of his intent to do so. Well, he came by the house and my wife answered the door and then notified me that he was waiting. I then rushed around my office desperately looking for the contract that was nowhere to be found. Obviously, I mindlessly set it down somewhere meaning, no doubt, to put it out so it would be handy when he arrived.
In effect, when I spoke with the gardener, a very good and hard-working man who cares deeply about the fine work that he always does, a generous and gracious man, I was not really paying close attention. My mind was divided among several things. As a result, I embarrassed myself by not having the contract to give him. He was, as always, gracious and understanding. He laughed it off and said he would catch it two weeks from now when he stopped by to begin the Spring cleaning.
As I meditate on this event today, I must confess to being like one of the "foolish five" having allowed myself to get fragmented and lose focus and so make a commitment that I couldn't keep. When I spoke with him on the phone, I was clearly NOT present!. This is a call to fresh action. I apologized for my lapse and I was sincere in that apology but what was also necessary was an immediate change in how I handle planning for meetings after such phone conversations. The only proper response is an accountable one which means one followed by demonstrable and reliable change. There is no excuse. He came out of his way and I wasted his time, and his time is no less important than mine.
This is the meaning of this day. To recalibrate our inner resources so that we are fully vigilant. To practice real, not theoretical zen, in being alive to the compelling NOW, and embrace the real and emergent over the anticipated and imagined.
Final questions: Why ten virgins? Why not two, or four, or six ( three wise and three foolish)? The Bible in fact makes much of the number "10." It recurs often. For example: the 10 plagues visited upon Egypt, Abraham's 10 trials, completion of the Lord's Prayer in 10 clauses, Noah's completion of the Antidiluvian Age at the 10th generation from G-d, etc. The examples are many. Many commentators refer to the Biblical reference to "10" as symbolic of the perfect Divine Order.
The number ten completes a decade cycle and is a short-hand representation of all numbers. It is the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. The "10" Virgins are symbolic of the entire nation of Israel and the fundamental paradox of maintaining the sacred vigil vs losing heart, focus, and becoming lost on the narrow path of righteousness.
Why virgins and not mature women? Well, this seems more straightforward. The Bridegroom brings experience to innocence. There is more of a trembling expectation among the young and inexperienced, and a mix of intoxicating excitement and profound tension and apprehension about being all the other expects.
When one pictures the scene and recalls that time in life, it is easy to feel the rightness of the parable. To be distracted on the night of the Bridegroom's arrival is truly a sinful condition. It suggests that the full import of this night and the transformative character of it compared to all others is unappreciated. The foolish virgins betray a lack of right and natural anticipation.
The characteristic enthusiasm of such a night would never permit even the possibility of being so blatantly ill prepared. Is the "Nation of Israel" keeping faith, eyes wide open on the truth, and seeking after true Knowledge, or is she seduced by matters of power, wealth, status, territoriality, gossip, and game-playing?
This day challenges us to answer this query personally.
I Am, Am I Not?
So much of life is fantasy. We delude ourselves, collude with the self, and allude the Self. We play with existential dilemmas, anguish over them, turn ourselves inside-out, and hold ourselves too often incompetent in the face of life's drama. This is the dark side of our imaginative capacities. We are creative spirits and we delight in the construction of new worlds including those in which we are hero and anti-hero. This is all thoroughly beautiful as long as we stay in touch with what we are doing.
I am a novel full of intersecting plots and diverse characters ( from simple to complex, wise to foolish, grand to petty, beautiful to ugly, well-meaning and kind to selfish and misanthropic), places ( real, imagined, and an amalgam of the two), and times (the present, a distant future, or an, as-if remembered, past). This is the Kabuki theater of the mind and the manufacture of selves.
So, it's no wonder that we love going to the theater and the movies, and enjoy the art of story-telling and having stories told to us. The state of play of our condition can be perhaps best assessed by watching the changing face of the Best Seller Lists, what makes it big at the box office, what thrives and what dies in dramatic television series. It is all the projected stuff of our nature externalized on paper, celluloid/ acetate, stage, or digital media.
So what do we then do when our own stories of self intersect with those of others, and the grand collective, interactive story that our cultures and world is ever actively weaving? What are we to do when we find ourselves caught up in challenges that we didn't make, but that others and other forces seemingly conjure up for us?
Think Less, Move More: It would be good to dance. If you are able, dance, free form or otherwise. Get lost in movement and let the cognitive circuits cool down. It can be as simple as a brisk walk, but a dance with more complex movement would be best. Tai chi or Yoga would also fit the bill.
Leap To Faith: It is important to take a leap and put the logical machinery aside. Note that this is not a leap "OF" faith, or blind belief, but a leap "TO" faith, a choice to suspend analysis and go with gut instinct. If writing, switch to poetry. If not, vocalize what you feel, and know that you know what to do even if you think you don't.
Consult the Sacred Scribe Within: Many have discovered the virtues of "proprioceptive writing,' automatic writing, or stream of consciousness writing and these are powerful tools. In addition, paying close attention to dreams, what Erich Fromm once referred to as the "forgotten language" in his book of the same name, is perfect practice. In doing the latter, watch the images. Remember, that the one who writes your dreams, the Divine Inner scribe, the Beloved, already knows all the secrets and wants to show them to you.
Laugh: Find cause to really laugh because the only cure for the tragic in life, as Shakespeare knew so well, is high comedy.
The past and present wilt–I have fill'd them, emptied them.
Who has done his day's work? who will soonest be through with his supper?
In telling the tale of ourselves, let us write the story forward with exuberance. Embrace the grays and shadows as punctuating edges and frames for our colors. Let us abandon ourselves to the weaving we do on our looms of song and image and weave from the heart.
It is a great solace to know that the grand writer, song-maker, choreographer, and artist who resides in our souls, who is our soul, already knows how it all turns out. We pose the riddles for which we already have the answers but, as a matter of right order and creative decorum, it is a compromise with infinity that we feign ignorance of them ( forgetting) lest the Agatha Christie mystery of life lose its suspenseful and electrifying savor.
Quantum superposition is the bizarre physical principle that, if the world can exist in any configuration, than it can also exist in one that is a combination of any number of them at the same time. The mind similarly demonstrates this property in ways that substantiate the fact that we are not separate. We exist in many potential simultaneous configurations of consciousness, span time and space, and the world of dreams manifests these configurations.
Last night, I dreamt that my son was in trouble with the law. He was in jail with pending charges. At the same time, I was in jail awaiting arraignment on pending charges. It seems that I was both my son and myself.
This is not especially remarkable as we have all experienced elaborate and confusing dreamscapes where space and time simply do not behave themselves as they seem to in waking time and where we can live many lives in diverse places and as many people. Here's the more interesting twist.
In realtime, the 21-year-old son of a family friend is awaiting the court's disposition on charges that were recently brought against him during the holidays. A police officer responded to reports of a domestic argument in which this 21-year-old was caught up in a moment of rage in his home.
Shocked to then see a police officer at his bedroom door, he continued his angry tone and did so with the officer as the target. In response, the officer chose to forcibly restrain him, push him to the floor while hurling profanities at him, and handcuff him. Once subdued, this officer is then alleged to have started beating the young man with his bare fists.
Now, his dad, expressing understandable concern for his son, asked the officer to please stop hitting him. In response, the policeman handcuffed and arrested him also. His wife, a very sweet woman, who wouldn't hurt a fly, then became very upset and tugged on the police officer's jacket asking him to stop hurting her husband.
At this point, the officer handcuffed and arrested her. The entire family spent the night in jail and no one actually did anything wrong. The police were originally called out of concern for their son's rage in hopes of calming him down. Last I heard, the court is talking about 30 days of community service for both parents, which their lawyers are contesting, and the multiple charges against their son are being legally reviewed.
So, in view of these circumstances, a Kafkaesque dream about my being jailed with my son in jail for no clear reason is not especially surprising. One could argue that the dreams were simply a reflection of my concern for this good family that lived through a night of hell and who face an ongoing and, by all indications, undeserved legal battle in the months ahead. I would agree with that, were it not for one further development.
When I awoke, I heard from my son in Korea who was just back from the hospital there after a night of violent and unrelenting gastrointestinal symptoms. It turns out the dream was prophetic. While having nothing to do with the law, it was symbolic of my son's distress and his need to get in touch with me. The surreal plot surrounding the arrest of this family and their pending charges served as a frame for my sense that my son was having trouble. This scenario involving prescient dreams has happened many times over the years. In addition, many people, who share their dreams with me, report similar experiences all the time.
Consciousness laces the universe together. We walk around each day wrapped in the delusion that we travel independent pathways. In fact, our pathways mystically intersect in complex ways. There is no such thing as meaningless coincidences. This is not an example of magical thinking but of synchronistic event horizons. Denying this ubiquitous human experience is poor science. It rejects phenomenological data about archetypal fields in favor of simpler and more easily analyzed effects.
We are beckoned every day to embrace our legacy as children of the stars and mature physical science is leading the way in revealing the entangled and infinite reach of consciousness.
One of the most exciting and provocative of Carl Jung's ideas, revolving around his analysis of dreams, is the enantiodromia.
The notion can be traced to the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus. It refers to natural tension that exists among opposites: the one exerting pull on the other. This pull is especially pronounce when the experience of one side of the opposition is especially extreme.
(1)When darkness is long and deep, as in Alaskan winters, the summer light is intoxicating, and too much so if one isn't careful.
(2) The inseparability of young lovers invariably leads to their getting on each other's nerves and the need for "space".
(3) Political leaders preaching extreme puritanical views are often keenly tempted by the very things they claim to abhor.
Dreams are messages from the realm of the archetypes: guiding patterns within the fabric of space-time. Scripture is replete with dreams interpreted as divine revelations of destined roles and mandates. They were gifts from above and were experiences approached with great respect and gravitas.
In examining our own dreams, it is a rich spiritual practice to search for enantiodromia ( things represented in the extremes) exciting their opposites. Once flagged, it is often valuable to test the degree to which the extreme occurrence is a finger pointing to the real drama in the realities that lie opposite the given imagery.
For example, I recently dreamt that I was on bleachers at great altitude with water far below. The bleachers were more like steel beams on skyscrapers under construction.
Suddenly, a ship careened into the structure and it crumbled beneath me and my family. I moved with uncommon agility to dodge falling metal to get them to safety.
The extremes in this dream are the bizarre height and my uncommon agility.
This dream surfaces at a point when I am no longer a man of youthful strength, endurance, and daring. The enantiodromia is the archetypal reflection on aging and the second half of life. Is it a message about battling the natural life process and its necessary stages, and a call to accept new limits and new age-appropriate activity? Each stage of life brings with it new lessons and opens up novel vistas. In one's middle to late- middle years, there is a chance to see more and take it in more fully as the pace slows.
The Spirit calls on us to find a right pace that is attuned to archetypal patterns that guide each stage of life. A dream of youthful vigor and speed, strength, heroism and thrill-seeking on mile high bleachers is a striking contrast to the natural state for a middle aged man.
So, looking at one's dreams in terms of the enantiodromia provides a powerful perspective on the emerging hurdles along life's journey. Next time you have a dream of extremes, ask yourself if the embedded story being told revolves around realities quite opposite to given plot lines, characterization, timing, or place.
May your dreams be occasions for fascination, spiritual insight ,and able guides on your search for joy and deep fulfillment.


I took a walk today- up the hill behind our house. It was hot, and the south-facing slope I toiled up was baking. Spring life was bursting out- in fact, you could actually hear the bracken pop and squelch as it was growing and unfolding.
The walk took me up into the Argyll forest, but it is not what it was. Not even remotely.
Of course, the giant elk and hairy rhinos are long gone, along with the bears and wolves and lynx. The western Atlantic seaboard was once covered in the great arboreal rain forest; mighty oaks, beech, birch- all of which supported a vast hierarchy of teeming life.
The forest I walked up into was not like this any more. In many respects, it has become a barren desert. A graveyard of giants, like the bones of dinosaurs long gone- except in this instance, we have no meteorite to blame for their demise. The finger points at us.
The forest is now made up almost entirely of fast-growing cash crop spruces, planted in serried ranks, acting as a barrier to wilderness. The life they support is sparse, and totally out of kilter. Deer do well in the cover of needles, with nothing to control their numbers but the front end of our cars. Other animals are remarkable when we see them more because of their rarity.
Insect life is another new barometer, and we see a reduction in both numbers and variety.
This is not the rain forest, it is hollow cultivated imitation of it.
In my context, I think this means seeing the forest for what it is, both in it's remnant and it's hollow imitation. I feel this like a kind of reverence.
Preserve what we have- but this is not enough. We need a massive programme of rewilding and restoration of natural resources. We need to allow the land to recover, and re-introduce apex predators, and large mammals. This will have costs and impacts which we may not fully understand until they happen. Agriculture has to fundamentally change, as will forestry. We have to support farmers and foresters financially and practically to become heroes not villains.
ER want to establish people's assemblies, because they believe that change is only possible if we establish a mass movement. We have to literally change our consiousness and our ways of life. We have to break the chains of materialism and commercial distraction.
This is my own small, on-line rebellion. I aim to make more.
Mindfulness. We see/hear it everywhere. It is touted as a spiritual/therapeutic hit for all; Lily-the-pink for the post modern age. It has much to recommend it; a simple moment of stillness that we can carry with us into our crazy lives.
Whilst appreciating the potential of mindfulness as a tool, something about it has always made me uncomfortable.
Is mindfulness just being used as a way to make the madness bearable, whilst changing nothing?
Perhaps it was the sense that a core tenet of an ancient faith was being appropriated.
Perhaps it was some of the people who I saw promoting it; expensive mindfulness retreats, shiny books, lots of mindfulness product.
Perhaps too it was a feeling I had that mindfulness should be a bi-product, not a short cut.
Then I read an article that summed up all of these feelings for me, entitled How capitalism captured the mindfulness industry.
The other reason I am thinking about this is that every year, I lead a 'Wilderness retreat' over the May bank holiday weekend. An ever-expanding small band of friends hire some boats to drop us off on a small deserted Hebridean island for a few days. It is all about immersion in wilderness, the formation of temporary community, and engagement with Christian spirituality, albeit of a non-confrontational kind.
To extend the analogy used above, how is this not just a McWildernessretreat? Are we not just doing the same thing- consuming some space, taking lots of photographs to show what a adventurous people we are then returning to the same tramlines that we had only so recently vacated?
How is our own smug spirituality any different from those practitioners of McMindfulness who are after all doing their best to survive the wilderness of their own lives?
The Wilderness is real. It is challenging, humbling, uncomfortable and awe-inspiring.
The friendships are real. The conversations are real. The tears are real. The uncouth and poorly-judged jokes are real. The silent companionship is real.
Faith is real- or at least we make faith a deliberate part of our encounter. This is of course highly individual, but even on the level of 'suspension of disbelief' it is a vital component of our gatherings.
The hope for MORE is real. Not more stuff, more achievement, but just better. We are a group of people who want to be a force for good, even whilst the great wilderness forces us to acknowledge our own silliness and inadequacy.
You may feel (with some justification) that this does not get us off the hook – we too are creatures of our own culture – but nevertheless, I head out to the wild places with my friends in great anticipation, anxious to encounter the Great Stillness not as a cure-all, but as a discomfort, a disatisfaction.
How else can things change?
I officiated at a funeral yesterday- something I have never done before. I found myself having to learn the language and rhythm of collective expressions of grief. A friend of mine who does all this for a living (or used to) helped me to appreciate how the way we shape the service can act as an essential grounding rod for our emotional response to death.
So yesterday, we celebrated the life of Bob, who left behind a wife of almost 70 years, two daughters, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
His eldest daughter, my dear friend Pauline, told me a story about his last days.
She was alone with her father in the hospital room. Bob was very unwell, slipping in and out of consciousness, but when he was awake, she noticed that he was distracted by something in front of him. It was so real to him that he assumed Pauline must see it too.
Bob said that he knew he had to go through this door, and that he could take nothing with him.
Of course, we don't know what this means. Perhaps his mind and body were preparing him for death; his subconsciousness was somehow allowing him to confront the inevitability that is facing all of us.
Or perhaps he was indeed being called onward for the next part of his journey.
We could never feel the searing pain of loss.
…I cancelled my registration as a social worker.
No big deal I suppose- after all, I have not worked in that capacity for over two years now,since leaving my last job as Service Manager for a mental health service.
But then again, it has been a defining factor in my life. I became a social worker straight from university full of a missionary zeal; I was going to be one of the good guys. In a world full of injustice and brokenness, I was going to make a difference, one person at a time because emerging as I was from my own experience of poverty and deprivation as a child of the Welfare State, I could imagine no higher calling.
There were moments of deep beauty. People whose lives touched mine- professional detachment be damned.. There were even successes in the justice-making and people-mending business. But overall, my career also knew enervating disappointment. There was never enough of me. Never enough resources, never enough energy. Despite the manifest failure of the system, I often internalised this as personal failure, like many of us do, leading to a depression and a sense of impotence. Also, the loss of any kind of ethical missionality that began to overtake the whole profession ate at my soul. Perhaps in the face of so much bad publicity, we no longer believed in what we were doing. We became 'professionals' but lost our radical edge entirely.
In hindsight, I made other mistakes. I accepted promotions, thinking I could make a difference higher up. I had some very relevant skills to take on management tasks, but lacked other crucial ones entirely. Perhaps above all, my skin was too thin.
Even though I made a positive choice to STOP and to use my life for something else, I kept paying my registration fee, until today that is. I told myself that I might need to work to earn money (which of course is still true) but the greater truth was that this was it a connection to the old me that I was not quite prepared to let go.
So what now? What am I, now I am no longer a social worker?
There are other labels I can apply. Some of them (writer, poet, artist) feel self-aggrandising and not really me. Others (craft worker, picture framer, carpenter) are too specific and task centred. Anyway, after being a social worker t is not enough merely to 'do'.
Neither is it enough to just be a 'former social worker'.
Social work was about reaching for something better, for others as well as ourselves. It was about being part of the resistance. Remember how we used to talk about being both 'in and against the state'? The fact that the reality was often reduced to mundane administration and form filling never killed this hope in me, and it remains still.
Since I stopped working as a social worker, the lack of urgency has dogged me at times. After all, social work is mostly driven by a series of life-and-death crises and after that finding motivation is not always easy.
But I am not done yet. I am 52 years young, fit and mostly intact with half a life time of experience working on the ragged edges of the welfare state, doing a job that became almost synonymous with tabloid hatred, even though 'normal' people had no idea just what it entailed and how much it cost. There are missions left in me.
My life of late has become rather inward looking. I write after all. I spend a lot of time at my desk, or working with my lovely wife, or digging veg . I like it. I am happy, but I am not totally fulfilled. Social work stole that from me, for a while at least.
Now I am no longer a social worker, I have no excuse any more.


I gaze through a frosted window on a mountaintop near Lake Tahoe. It's a church youth group retreat. The students play in the snow, sledding and laughing. I'm sipping Earl Grey while scrawling notes into a journal — combined with snowfall, it's a recipe for sentimentality.
I glimpse snowflakes and see each as representative of the unique story of a person with CF who passed away, diagnosed or not, so I pause to remember those I never met. I see the laughing students and remind myself that fun is allowed even when the CF community is steeped in death's pool again and again — we seem to die in waves.
My lung transplant sparked an addiction to both life and death. The two forces complement each other perfectly, working in balance rather than antagonistically as most people think. It is when you taste death that you appreciate life; it's when you live fully that you become comfortable with death as something natural.
I never felt more alive than when I was dying during my wait for transplant. My world was a tundra: cold, desolate, deprived of oxygen, surrounded by dead things. Yet, wildflowers sprouted here and there, defying the intimidating abyss, hope for future life in a hopeless place. In a place so dark, any stirring of life created a spark of joy. I was thrilled by my girlfriend's laughter (despite being deaf), by the cat lounging in my driveway, by the father and his toddler son having brunch at a cafe, by how tall the tree next to my local library was. Close to death, I grew passionate for life, despite accepting that I would likely soon leave it.
As I sit here now, transplanted and in front of this frosted window, I realize I wasted much of my life by not spending more time sitting and doing nothing. Oh, how I tragically neglected the power of nature for most of my life. My eyes flitted between shiny, neon screen things and skimmed over the earthy, watery, heavenly things. I sat at the Grand Canyon as a kid with my head buried in a literary fantasy land, "Harry Potter," when before me laid a land as wondrous yet much more real.
I live my life in repentance for these sins against myself, lusting after adventurous thriving while clinging to life by a split nail, which makes it all the more exciting. All adventures, regardless of risk and responsibility, call to me like sirens I can't resist. My remote job privileges me with frequent travel opportunities — I can't bear the thought of living mundanely in a cubicle for eight hours a day. Transplant rejection could kill me quite rapidly, and that's OK, but I want to pass with my eye fixed on the Pacific Ocean or a Redwood tree or Yosemite's majestic cliffs. And close my eyes knowing I'm about to see something unimaginably more beautiful.
The students continue to laugh in the snow and probably think I'm not having fun up here. I might look like the cranky old man who doesn't leave his house window. I would have thought the same at their age, but I didn't know death, and death is the greatest teacher of all. Coming close to death taught me that sitting here and gazing is as meaningful as playing in the snow.
But yes, there is a time for fun, too, amid the death that permeates my life. After all, I work with youth because they remind me of the importance of vitality and laughter. I tug on my coat and step outside. It's freezing, but in a less harsh way than the hospital clinics froze me. I wave at a group of high schoolers and pick up a sled.
Tagged be still, death, dying, life, mindfulness, nature.


3500 words report under Occupational Health and Safety subject.
Assignment description: For country and occupational health issue of your choice, for example ,MSDs, mental health,…etc (I select Occupational stress among healthcare workers in UK) , analyse synthesis the current literature on recent changes in demography, industrial structure and labour markets and their potential impact on the health of workers. Produce an evidenced based occupational health intervention strategy suitable for your chosen occupational health issue.
1.Critically evaluate social, demographic and industrial influences on occupational safety health and well-being.


text:
Шкумба () е река в Централна Албания, разделяща условно страната на две – Северна и Южна Албания. Константин Иречек също приема условно, че реката разделя двете етнографски албански общности геги и тоски една от друга.

Шкумба извира от планинския югозападен район Поградец на Охридското езеро. Реката първо тече на север, после на северозапад и накрая, преди да излезе в равнината край Елбасан, взема западна посока, за да се влее в Адриатическо море. Средният дебит на реката е 70 m³/s като пълноводието ѝ настъпва през есента и зимата, а през лятото е маловодна. Шкумбини има дължина 181 km, като водите ѝ се ползват за напояване.

Източници

Реки в Албания

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Writing a contributed article, or byline: easy. Getting it to look in print the way you intended: not so easy. A few tips for marketing managers getting from A to Z.
It's like a bucket brigade, really – the path between the marketing communications writer and the finally posted content. The bucket starts out full, but by the time it's gone through a dozen or so hands, there's quite a bit missing.
The publication had some guidelines for writing, mostly about style rather than mechanics. It offered even fewer about what to expect once the article ran.
So we got to work: interview, drafts, contributor's bio, images, carefully selected links, approvals, ready. That took about two weeks.
The marketing manager handed the finished copy (~1900 words) off to the PR agency, who passed it to the publication. It ran on the Web the next morning, and the eye is never so able to find problems as just a little after it's too late.
Maybe some of our problems stemmed from working in Microsoft Word. Fortunately, it's lingua franca for moving copy around during review cycles. Unfortunately, it's not like HTML, and it's really not like Drupal or WordPress or Joomla or any of the other content management systems online publications use.
Mostly, though, it's a few questions we didn't ask. We're smarter now, and I want you to be that much smarter as well.
Problem: We included two images and a sidebar in a text box. Knowing how fussy people get about images, we shipped them as colossal, high-resolution JPEG files and let the publication crunch them down as much as they needed to. The images included captions (Figure 1, Figure 2) and the copy referred to them.
The problem was the sidebar, which the magazine had recommended we include. It supplemented a paragraph near the middle of the article, but the magazine dumped it at the bottom, just before the author bio. It was useless down there, but the moral of the story (which I had forgotten – my bad) is that sidebars don't get along well with these pages.
Fix: Use a sidebar, but create it as an image near the text you want to emphasize.
Problem: We embedded several hyperlinks in the article, mostly to webinars and pages on the client's site. Not all publications like that, because you're using their real estate to promote your content. In fact, the author bio contained four links; the publication scrubbed them all on the main page, but allowed them on a separate About the Author page.
Fix: Find out the publication's policy on hyperlinks. They may have a limit of one link per 500 or so words, and they may have a policy that favors authoritative links (e.g., to Wikipedia or Reuters) over linking to your own assets. For that matter, include links to other content in the publication; they'll probably like that even more than links to Wikipedia. Is there a more sincere form of journalistic flattery?
Problem: It's hard enough in MS Word to list four numbered items, then enter some non-numbered text, then resume the numbered list. It's even harder on the Web.
Fix: Don't clown around with this kind of formatting if your article is destined for the Web. It just annoys the people who have to tear it apart and disrupt the structure of your article. Or, hard-number the items into the text instead of using automatic numbering and list items (<li>).
Problem: To the extent that a keyword-rich URL gives your content an SEO boost, it's a nice thing to hope for. Unfortunately, the CMS assigned the article a lame URL: http://www.sys-con.com/node/2207848. Not much SEO juice from that, and no benefit to the publication, either.
Fix: Ask for a decent link. All they can say is "no." The CMS should be able to accommodate this.
These four fixes should ensure that more of your water survives the bucket brigade.
What else have you found out about submitting contributed articles to Web publications? It's a different world from paper-based press, isn't it?
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