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Christmas Wishes.
Remember the young lady who said all she wanted for Christmas was her "two front teeth"?Well, for the moment I have all my teeth, and I don't need ties, shirts, socks and other useful but predictable gifts. But there are some things for the garden I'd like.Books Top the ListOn my Christmas list are books. Every time I go to the book store, I'm drawn to the gardening-book section. I won't put any of the northern writers on my list, but not out of any residual feeling from the Civil War.I've just had my fill of comments about cool springs, illustrations of lovely, friable soil, and pictures of lilacs and head lettuce. I want books written by Southern garden writers. The ones written by the people on latitude south of Rabun County just may have a better grasp on our climate, pest problems, soil type and growing conditions.Tools That Will LastI want tools that will last. Don't give me those wimpy little hand tools with painted flowers on them. I want heavy duty ones that endure. Cheap tools are just that, and likely to bend just as I'm opening ground, as daylight wanes, for a bag of caladiums. I want rakes and shovels whose heads will stay on the handles.I don't want the accessories – Japanese gardening pants, hose carriers in the shape of frogs, or clever garden signs that proclaim my garden the stopping place for the world-weary traveler. Give those to my wife. I want stuff I can use.Gardening Promissory NotesWhen my children were younger, they gave me gardening promissory notes as gifts. Under a gardening chore was the childish scribble, "Daddy, just let me know when you want me to do this."This is such an unusual gift, so personal, and it always meant so much to me. I probably didn't collect on some of them (Hmm, I wonder if it is too late?) but they were all the more delightful because they gave me an opportunity to spend more time with my growing gardeners.Put Some Thought Into ItWhatever you want as a gift or want to give as a gift to someone, put some thought into it. Is it useable? Or will it just sit there? A load of compost for a gardener is really not a bad idea.Now that I really think about it, all I want for Christmas is a normal gardening year. I've been gardening in Georgia for almost 20 years and am still looking for that "normal season."But then I might miss the challenge. And that reminds me – given our rain deficit, a drip irrigation system would be nice. read more
Holiday help
By Faith PeppersUniversity of Georgia Garden center owners have watched extreme weather pummel their businesses this year. They hope the holiday season will end the troubled year on a greener note. Georgia had a harsh freeze on Easter weekend. It was followed by a summertime drought that has forced many cities and counties to enforce watering restrictions. North Georgia has a total ban on outdoor watering."This double whammy to the green industry in both of its peak seasons for retail sales has been devastating," said Todd Hurt, a specialist with the University of Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture in Griffin, Ga. Big 'green' lossesGeorgia's green industry has had its total revenue cut almost in half this year, according to an October survey by the Georgia Urban Agriculture Council. It has a $6 billion annually impact on Georgia's economy and employs 80,000 people."I'm running as thin as I can to get as much profit as I can," said Terry Kraft, who owns LawnSouth located in Fulton County.Kraft knows some landscape and nursery businesses have recently gone out of business or are facing serious financial trouble. Unlike some, his company also offers Christmas decorating services. He hopes this will save the year for him."Thank goodness for the Christmas décor business," he said. "If I didn't have it, I don't know what I would have done to be honest."Winter is usually slow for businesses, he said. But it is when he needs money to get ready for spring planting."We were facing equipment purchases we needed to make during this season," he said. "Without the Christmas décor business, we would have been faced with keeping the old clunky stuff. If the drought continues we wouldn't survive next year without the extra business."The Christmas décor business is off a little this year, too. Kraft blames the slump in the housing market, which has hurt expendable income for some."Even the Christmas business for clients who are affected by the housing market is off," Kraft said. "Many of those clients like the bankers, loan officers, mortgage brokers and realtors, didn't return for the Christmas business this year." Back to natureBut recent media reports about high lead levels in some imported artificial greenery may turn holiday decorators to more natural décor this year, Hurt said. He urges shoppers to buy holiday plants and greenery from local suppliers. "Any traffic in nursery centers right now is a holiday gift," Hurt said. "The drought has already proven to be the Grinch that stole business. Hopefully, the holidays will get customers back in the stores."(Faith Peppers is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.) read more
Fox-fire glow
The forests of a wet winter and spring are very active. Roots are growing and rains are helping decay last year's woody debris. One of the most curious features of decay in spring forests is fox-fire, which are strange and eerie lights that illuminate the forest. Fox-fire is not fire and is not associated with foxes. Fox-fire is a light source or glow on the ground; a by-product of rotting wood. Not a fairy or a ghostIn the past, people thought fox-fire was a cold fire which burned old stumps in moist areas of oak and hardwood forests. This light has been attributed to fairies, ghosts and assorted other supernatural beings. The much less romantic and less sinister cause for these night lights is special fungi-rotting wood.The lights glowing along the floor of a forest are called fox-fire, fairy-fire, or will o' the wisp. The scientific term for this glow is bioluminescence, which means light given off by living things. The best way to see fox-fire is in old, moist oak woods where plenty of big dead limbs and old stumps litter the ground. Fox-fire can be seen in the spring as the forest floor warms. The light is so dim, many people never notice it. To see fox-fire, pick a night with no moon. Keep away from areas with artificial lights and do not use a flashlight. Your eyes must be well adjusted to the dark.Fungi + rotting wood = lightThe glow of fox-fire is powered by fungi consuming rotting wood. The fungi inside this wood produce light as a byproduct of growth. It is the mat of growing fungal strands, or mycelium, not the mushroom that usually glows. The most common luminous fungi is a root rot fungus found on many hardwood trees. Light is produced when the fungi break down food materials within the wood in the presence of oxygen. Some of this food energy is captured to maintain fungal life, and some is lost as heat. In luminous fungi, a small amount of the food energy, usually lost as heat, is shifted into an enzyme system that emits light.Usually bluish greenFox-fire's luminous glow is bluish green. The colors seen in the woods can be slightly different because leaf litter, woody debris and soil may filter or block some portions of the light. The color is also affected by an individual's color vision at night. In general, color descriptions for fox-fire range from a stark blue to a sickly green.Fox-fire is strongest in the early evening when temperatures are around 71 F. Both hot and freezing temperatures eliminate light production. The rotting wood needs to be moist, not soaked with water. Too much water keeps oxygen away and drowns the fungi. If the wood dries out, the light is extinguished and the fungus dies. Fox-fire specters of dark spring nights can only be seen by those who look carefully in the forests after dark. Sometimes firewood cutters and late-night hikers notice this strange light. Most people never see fox-fire. read more
Concession Stand Safety
Dishwashing liquid: The bottle in the stand is sometimes missing or empty, and you'll need this to clean utensils, equipment or even to wash hands when there is no hand soap.Roll of paper towels: Use these towels for washing and drying equipment and utensils, cleaning countertops and drying hands. Sponges, dishcloths and brushes left from week to week can harbor and spread bacteria. Homemade sanitizing solution: Prepare a sanitizing solution using a tablespoon of chlorine bleach per gallon of water. Some can be placed in a spray bottle to sanitize countertops and equipment after they have been washed with soap and hot water and rinsed thoroughly. You can also use the solution in a clean dishpan or sink to sanitize items after they are washed and rinsed thoroughly. Place the items in the solution for at least one minute and then allow them to air dry on a clean surface. When you sanitize, you go one step beyond clean. You reduce the levels of bacteria that may be left behind after cleaning. Have you ever looked around a concession stand? If not, take a minute to stand back and take stock. You might be a little grossed out. You are likely to see dirty utensils left in the sink, refrigerators that feel too warm, dirty, smelly towels, dishcloths with bits of food stuck to them and sponges that have been there since you graduated. Concession stands can be breeding grounds for bacteria, and some bacteria can make people sick if they get into the food we eat. When it's your turn to work in the concession stand, "stand up and holler" for safe food. To help you and your team enhance the safety of the foods you sell, consider preparing your own take-along concession stand kit. These are the essentials: "Two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar, all for safe food, stand up and holler!" Back to school may mean back to sports for children and back to the concession stand for parents. Donate a refrigerator/freezer thermometer. Make sure refrigerators keep foods at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit or colder, and that freezer temperatures are 0 degrees or colder. Include a box of disposable gloves, food tissue paper and/or tongs so you can avoid contact with ready-to-eat foods. Keep in mind that gloves are meant to protect the food – not your hands. If you collect money and give change with your gloves on, wash your hands and put on a new pair of gloves before returning to food preparation and handling. Gloves and hand sanitizer should not be a substitute for handwashing. These are meant to offer extra protection. Did you know that people can shed viruses from their bodies before they show signs of illness and for a few days after their symptoms have cleared? That means you need to be extra careful when preparing food for others. Always wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with warm, running water and soap. Pay special attention to cleaning around fingernails and in between fingers before handling food.And food safety doesn't stop with the food. Always make sure the ice scoop is kept in a clean place outside the ice bin – not inside where germs on the handle can come in contact with the ice. Wash the ice scoop just like any other utensil at the end of your shift. Always leave the concession stand cleaner than you found it.If you need to thaw foods, the only safe methods are to move them into the refrigerator ahead of time; thaw them in cold water and change the water every 30 minutes; or thaw them in the microwave followed by immediate cooking. If your duties include grilling burgers, carry along a food thermometer. Make sure ground beef reaches at least 160 degrees in the center of the burger and ground turkey reaches at least 165 degrees in the center. Remember, color is not a reliable indicator of doneness.Some foods must have time and temperature controlled to be safe. Make sure hot foods are kept hot for serving and cold foods are kept cold. Keep these foods out of the temperature danger zone between 40 and 140 degrees. Keep hot foods at 140 degrees or hotter and cold foods at 40 degrees or colder. If these foods sit out at room temperature for more than two hours, discard them. Remember, when in doubt, throw it out.For additional information on this and other food safety topics, contact your local UGA Extension office at 1-800-ASK-UGA1. For posters you can print and hang in your school's concession stand and other food safety resources, visit the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences website at http://tinyurl.com/UGAfoodsafe. Here are a few other suggestions from University of Georgia Extension food safety specialists: Dr. Judy Harrison is a professor and UGA Extension foods specialist with the College of Family and Consumer Sciences department of foods and nutrition. read more
Vermont Public Television Staffers Earn PBS Development Awards
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) recently honored members of theVermont Public Television staff with national awards for their localfundraising efforts in the 2003 fiscal year. Besides recognizingfundraising success, the awards cite innovation and best practices. VPT'svice president for marketing and development, Lee Ann Lee, and her staffwere recognized for overall development. Sharing the honor were PeterShea, Paul Ugalde, Scott Schultz, David Donegan, Jeffrey Nelson, BrennanNeill, France Hilt, Trish Sweeney and Jeff Cory.David Donegan, pledge/events coordinator, and Kelly Luoma, vice presidentfor programming, headed a project to stage British comedy teas around theviewing area that earned VPT the PBS Development Award for cultivation andstewardship.Peter Shea, director, corporate and foundation support, won a corporateand foundation support award for his efforts in securing support forprograms.Trish Sweeney, auction coordinator, earned a certificate of achievementfor her work on the annual Travel & Leisure Auction.Vermont's statewide public television network must raise about 57 percentof its operating income, more than $3 million, each year from localcontributions to support its programming and services.Lee Ann Lee said, "These are difficult times for non-profit organizations,but we work hard as a team to broaden VPT's support base, while keepingour cost ratios within industry standards. We're encouraged by the manygenerous individuals and businesses who support our work of making ourcommunities stronger." read more
Weekly unemployment claims stay steady, low
There were 836 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, a decrease of 19 from the week before. Altogether 11,842 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 191 from a week ago and 2,690 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 2,026 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 29 more than a week ago. In addition, there were 898 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is a decrease of 24 from the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/(link is external). Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc(link is external) Vermont's unemployment rate also continued to fall. The February rate was 5.6 percent, down one-tenth from January and down 1.1 points from February 2010. CLICK HERE FOR STORY read more
Coal-dependent Serbia moves ahead with new wind farms
Coal-dependent Serbia moves ahead with new wind farms FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailPrint分享Reuters:The Green for Growth Fund (GGF) said on Tuesday it would provide 32 million euros ($37.44 million) financing for Serbia's first large-scale wind farms, to help the Balkan country diversify its energy mix and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.GGF, founded by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and German state bank KfWas a public private partnership, is a specialized fund for advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy in East and South Europe, including Turkey, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa. The fund said it would provide 18.35 million euros for the 158 megawatt (MW) Cibuk wind farm, Serbia's biggest, which will be built 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of Belgrade.The wind farm is being developed by Vetroelektrane Balkana, owned by Tesla Wind, a joint venture between an Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy developer Masdar and Cibuk Wind Holding, a branch of the U.S.-based wind energy developer Continental Wind Partners. It will comprise 57 turbines supplied by General Electric with a capacity to supply 113,000 households.GGF said it would also support the 42 MW Alibunar wind farm with 13.5 million euros of financing through an IFC loan. The Alibunar wind farm, which will have 21 wind turbines provided by German wind turbine manufacturer Senvion, is being developed by Elicio NV, a Belgian renewable energy firm, near the town of Alibunar in northeastern Serbia.The plants are the first of a number to be developed in the next few years in Serbia, which produces 70 percent of its energy from coal and the rest from hydropower and aims to generate 27 percent of its energy consumption from renewables by 2020.More: GGF to provide $37.4 million for Serbia's first wind farms read more
Mitsubishi Financial Group says it will no longer finance new coal plant construction
Mitsubishi Financial Group says it will no longer finance new coal plant construction FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailPrint分享Reuters:Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group will no longer provide financing for new coal-fired power generation projects after July 1, it said on Wednesday in a revised environmental and social policy framework.MUFG, one of the world's largest banks by assets, said the decision will gradually reduce the balance of its exposure to coal power station projects.The company could make exceptions where governments need to build plants to meet local electricity demand, an MUFG spokesman said.It will take a cautious approach to the coal-fired power generation projects for which the bank has started considering financing before July 1, it said in a statement.In an original policy framework issued a year ago, MUFG said it would provide financing to coal-fired power projects in line with international guidelines.In the revised policy, the banking group added forestry, palm oil and coal mining to its "restricted transactions" list, saying it may ask clients to obtain globally recognized certification.More: Japanese bank MUFG rethinks policy on coal-fired power projects read more
Rising renewable generation in Australia undercutting economics of coal-fired power plants
FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailPrint分享The Guardian:Coal power plants in New South Wales are running less than 60% of the time due to an influx of renewable energy, increasing the likelihood some could become economically unviable and close earlier than planned.An analysis by Hugh Saddler, an energy consultant and ANU honorary associate professor, also found coal generation in Queensland had dropped to less than 70% of capacity as more cheap solar and wind came online.Saddler said the resulting fall in revenue for coal plant owners, and the wear and tear involved in ramping up and down decades-old generators designed to be run constantly, increased the likelihood of breakdowns and early closures in the years ahead.AGL's Liddell coal plant is scheduled to close by early 2023 after the company resisted a campaign by the Morrison government for it to extend its life. Saddler said the fall in demand for coal over the past two years suggested other plants that have yet to confirm closure plans could follow.He said coal could be running at 50% capacity in NSW by 2022 and 60% capacity in Queensland by 2025 on current trends."Ageing coal power stations like Liddell will find it increasingly difficult to stay afloat if they are only being used half the time, and that is the direction we appear to be heading in NSW in the next two years," Saddler said. "If there are extended breakdowns, as we had at Loy Yang A in Victoria last year, it may not be economic for owners to keep a plant going."[Adam Morton]More: Influx of renewables sees coal power plants run well below capacity, increasing chance of closures Rising renewable generation in Australia undercutting economics of coal-fired power plants read more
Reviewed: GU Energy Chews & Injinji Socks
Hope everyone has been able to get out and enjoy the amazing April we are having so far on the East Coast. While winter was quite the cross to bear, the end of March brought warmer temperatures and sunshine. It feels pretty good to be hitting the roads and streets in just running shorts and a tank rather than 15 different layers of performance wicking fabric. I wanted to share two items that I have really been enjoying on the trail, which are Injinji socks and GU Chomps Energy Chews. They bring their A game whether you are running, hiking, or biking. Let's dive into each product in more detail.Injinji SocksWell let's get the obvious out of the way; these are not your cookie cutter performance sock. They have separate sleeves for each of your toes! Injinji is the model success story for a company that thought outside of the box. The sock hasn't changed in years, and Injinji decided they could do it better. There toe socks help prevent blisters, wick moisture faster than normal socks, provide better feel, and promote better balance. My friend Nicklaus (ultra runner) swears by them, and I really enjoy the feel and fit they give you while running. I will say they get some getting used to, and some people do not like the feeling of having separate toe sleeves. I think it's worth trying a pair, if only just to try a new sock design. If between sizes go for the larger, and give them a shot!($10-$16); injinji.comGU Energy ChewsAs you avid outdoors people know having treats for the trail is serious business. You can go many routes like the classic PB&J or G.O.R.P., mix it up with the more complex like a burrito or brownies, or go the technical route with chews, bars, or gels. While all are tasty, the chews and more that company's offer many times have far more calories, essential ingredients, and more that will get you through that big day in the woods. GU sent a few packs of their lemon flavored Energy Chomps over and I have been able to test them running and biking. The lemon flavor is new for GU, and they nailed it. Over multiple hours the chews were still tasty and they pack a punch of 180 calories and 60g of carbs per pack. A box of 16 will run you $35, and most shops sell one pack for about $3-$4. Tasty, affordable, and packed with the good stuff, what more do you want?($3/per pack, $35/per box); guenergy.comBe sure to try these two great products out, and hope to see you out on the trail! read more


Miss Universe and Steve Harvey. Those two will be forever entwined after Steve Harvey initially announced Miss Colombia as the winner and then after she had been crowned and taken her walk, announced that he had been mistaken, and that she was the runner-up and that Miss Philippines was the true winner.
In what could only be described as one of the most awkward moment on live television ever, they removed the crown from Miss Colombia and placed it on Miss Philippines' head. It's unclear how much English Miss Colombia knows, and if she understood everything that was happening.
Steve Harvey showed the card and it clearly said that Miss Philippines was the winner, and that Miss Colombia was the 1st runner-up. In a tweet, Harvey said that the teleprompter had Miss Colombia as the winner. Harvey in a rush to apologize ended up irritating more, by referring to Miss Philippines as "Miss Philippians" and Miss Colombia as "Miss Columbia."


Cheryl Taylor-Smith is a former Pershingnite from the John Jay Pershing Junior High School 220 in Brooklyn's, Boro Park. Her story captures the innocence of a young teenage girl entering the 7th grade in a new school in 1969. It is her spiritual awakening, along with her experiences, that facilitated the making of the woman she is today. Compounded by issues of commitment, family ties, and domestic violence, Cheryl manages to conquer her insecurities that hindered her better judgment. One Hundred Letters: From Me to You is a memoir that encompasses additional thoughts and feelings that she never shared with anyone, not even those who knew her better than most.
As a reader, you may ask yourself if the tenderness of your first kiss, touch, or first date will ever be reinvented with another, or do you only get one chance to have that experience and see it only as a memory. Within these one hundred letters, you will see how Cheryl uses her wit, enthusiasm, and life choices to write her story and hand it eternally to Regg, her first love.


We don't all grow in the best soil. At times it is harder to put down roots, sometimes we might be barely holding on but we pull on our resilience and make the best of what we have. To survive and flourish in such environments shows a determination hard to match.
Awe thanks. It's amazing, that pic is 7 maybe 8 years now, and since I've turned snow white. Cause I never dyed my hair. Although if I can get someone to go to the store, I'm thinking of going gentle lilac as it fades into gray quite well. What you think?
And thank you that was so sweet of you.
Your so precious! You probably have no idea how much you mean to me and how valuable I find all you share. It still amazes me how, through the media we use to speak conveys what is inside those we talk with, but it does and I simple adore you.


The France 2023 logo is a unique blend; different, powerful and modern. The logo resembles an unbreakable bond, which is as infinite as the Möbius ribbon, as strong as a beating heart, which inspires people to connect with each other. It is a new take on the blue-white-red of the French tricolour flag, a balance between the authenticity and modernity that are characteristic of France.


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Influence of Bioaerosol Source Location and Ceiling Fan Direction on Eggcrate Upper-room Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation
http://dx.doi.org/10.9734/BJAST/2014/11762
Br J Appl Sci Technol. 4(26):3856-3861
Br J Appl Sci Technol
Rahman, Sumayah F.	; Rudnick, Stephen N.	; Milonova, Sonya P.	; McDevitt, James J.	; Nardell, Edward A.	;
Rahman, Sumayah F.	; Rudnick, Stephen N.	; Milonova, Sonya P.	; McDevitt, James J.	; Nardell, Edward A.	Less ▲
Eggcrate upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI), an engineering control method for reducing the airborne transmission of infectious diseases, was recently developed as an alternative to conventional upper-room UVGI using conventional louvered fixtures. A UV screen, which is composed of open-cell eggcrate panels supported in a frame designed for a conventional suspended ceiling, was used to minimize UV radiation in the lower room. A ceiling fan, which was blowing upward directly above the microbiological source, provided vertical air exchange between the upper and lower room. This system has been shown to be significantly more effective than conventional upper-room UVGI.
In the present study, the microbiological source location and the airflow direction due to the ceiling fan were varied in order to evaluate their impact on germicidal efficacy.
The test results clearly showed that placing an aerosol source directly underneath an upward blowing ceiling fan produces the maximum efficacy.
The likely explanation for this outcome is that the fan sucks the microorganisms emitted by the source into the UV beam before being mixed with the air in the room. This is somewhat analogous to local exhaust ventilation in which the contaminant is removed prior to being mixed with the air in the room. Thus, when possible, the ceiling fan should be blowing upward and directly above the source. However, for experimental testing, the source location should be varied in order to access the range of germicidal efficacies that can be expected.
Airborne Disease Transmission
Air Disinfection
Air Mixing
Bioaerosol
Eggcrate
Upper-room Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation
Whole Ceiling Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation System
D43 TW009379/TW/FIC NIH HHS/United States	; R01 OH009050/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States	;
D43 TW009379/TW/FIC NIH HHS/United States	; R01 OH009050/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States	Less ▲
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Environmental control for tuberculosis; basic upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation guidelines for healthcare settings guide
Whalen, John J.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Applied Research and Technology
"Although the number of cases of tuberculosis (TB) in the United States has declined in the last several years, there is still a continuing need to protect healthcare workers and the public from risk of infection. One of the primary risks to healthca...
Proceedings of the Workshop on Engineering Controls for Preventing Airborne Infections in Workers in Health Care and Related Facilities; July 14-16, 1993, Cincinnati, Ohio
Bierbaum, Philip J.; Lippmann, Morton;
Workshop on Engineering Controls for Preventing Airborne Infections in Workers in Health Care and Related Facilities (1993 : Cincinnati, Ohio)
"This publication includes the keynote addresses and plenary papers presented at a workshop on engineering controls for prevention of airborne infections among health care workers. The purpose of the workshop was to review the nature and extent of ai...
Guidelines for preventing the transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in health-care settings, 2005
Jensen, Paul A.; Lambert, Lauren A.; Iademarco, Michael F.; Ridzon, Renee.;
National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention (U.S.). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.).
MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports / Centers for Disease Control. 2005; 54(RR-17):1-141.
MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports ; v. 54, no. RR-17
In 1994, CDC published the Guidelines for Preventing the Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Health-Care Facilities, 1994. The guidelines were issued in response to a resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) disease that occurred in the United State...
Occupant UV Exposure Measurements for Upper-Room Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation
Milonova, Sonya; Rudnick, Stephen; McDevitt, James; Nardell, Edward;
J Photochem Photobiol B. 159:88-92.
The threshold limit value (TLV) guideline for ultraviolet (UV) radiation specifies that irradiance measurements to ensure occupant safety be taken over an angle of 80° at the sensor. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of an 80° fi...
Guidelines for preventing the transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in health-care facilities, 1994
MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and report ; v. 43, no. RR-13
This document updates and replaces all previously published guidelines for the prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission in health-care facilities. The purpose of this revision is to emphasize the importance of a) the hierarchy of control...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Join us at our Wedding Expo at Richfield Regency in Verona, NJ. The #1 Bridal Show in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania! Elegant Bridal Productions is one of the longest running Wedding Expos in the United States and our years of success has caught the attention of such syndicated television programs including "The Martha Stewart Show"!


The Model 9303 features a sturdy yet lightweight high-impact injection-molded plastic design for easy handling. The instrument is easy to configure using an intuitive keypad. The instrument reports up to three particle sizes simultaneously. The middle channel is user selectable for either 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, or 2.5 μm. The Model 9303 complies with all the stringent requirements set forth in ISO 21501-4. It is calibrated with NIST traceable PSL spheres using TSI's world-class Classifier and Condensation Particle Counters, the recognized standard for particle measurements. Backed with TSI's long-standing reputation for high quality, the Model 9303 sets the standard for basic particle counters in the market today.


Sunday, April 21, 2019 • R.I.P. Edition • At least we're not The Comics Reporter!
Yea, so RU messed up, and this article is being retconned into a Free For All!
Free For All Rules: Post as many reviews as you want, but only one will count twoards your number.
Post your review in the forum thread or in the comments section here on the front page.
Review as often or as little as you like. Once you've posted 5 reviews, you will be awarded 1 pick. You can post 5 reviews, right? That's a totally achievable goal and with day and date digital releases becoming the standard, it shouldn't matter if your shop ordered enough copies of this weeks comic or not.
When multiple Review Groupers have posted 5 (or more) qualifying reviews, they will be awarded their pick in the order that they qualified. What constitutes a qualifying review? Any review posted (with a score on a scale from 0-10, that's right 0!) within 1 calendar month of the thread going live. Reviews are to be at least 5 sentences long. It shows that a) you have at least read this week's pick and b) you have some unique insight into the comic.
Reviews posted while waiting in line for your pick will be applied to your next pick.
I'll be keeping track of everyone's progress with the newly christened Spreadsheet of Fantastic (RIP, Spreadsheet of Doom) and reporting the results in the Current Members list in the weekly OP. When it's your turn to make a pick, I will PM you. If you do not respond to me by Midnight EST the following Sunday, you will lose your pick and I will start a poll to determine that week's selection.
Any week in which we do not have a Review Grouper with 5 qualifying picks, we will determine the week's comic via poll.
If it's your week to pick, remember to keep it under $3.99.


She was designed in the style of the traditional of Halong Bay, only on a slightly smaller scale with 2 cabins.
Like all of our boats, Paloma Family 2 cabins is designed with sophistication and a meticulous attention to detail for our guests' enjoyment, especially their viewing pleasure.
The Deluxe cabins( 23metres) are located on the second deck with large window panoramic seaview, 1 double queen sized bed and 1 single bed , offer spacious and comfortable accommodation.
15:15 - 15:40 : Head to Bai Tu Long Bay. Pass the towns of Hon Gai and Cam Pha, Oan Lagoon, Monster Head and Teapot Islets and Thien Canh Son Cave. Explore the well- hidden Thien Canh Son cave.
08.30 - 09.30 Visit the Vung Vieng floating fishing village by bamboo sampan for an hour in to the village. Short visit to Pearl Farm to learn how natural pearls are created. Then return to Paloma Cruise for your leisure or join one of the following optional activities: Sunbathing, traditional massage, swimming etc.
New bookings must be deposited 50% within 3days from the day of reservation and full payment before check-in.
Other terms & conditions remain unchanged as per main contract.
Only applied to travel agent and hotel partners.


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Lecture Details
« Past Lectures page
SLAC Public Lecture Series
Past Lecture
Electron Superhighway: a Quantum Leap for Computing
Shoucheng Zhang , Stanford physics professor
Kavli Auditorium
Public Lecture: Electron Superhighway
For the past 60 years, progress in information technology has been governed by Moore's law, which states that the number of transistors on a semiconductor chip doubles every 18 months. However, this remarkable trend is drawing to a close, mostly because the electrons that carry current in chips move like cars driving through a crowded marketplace, swerving around obstacles and dissipating too much of their energy as heat. The recent discovery of a new state of matter – the topological insulator – may lead to a new paradigm of information processing, in which electrons moving in opposing directions are separated into well-ordered lanes, like automobiles on a highway. This talk will explain the basic principles behind this amazing discovery.
TICKETS ARE REQUIRED
Event registration will open on Jan. 21
Please note that seating is limited and online registration is required in advance of this talk.
If you register and later find you are unable to attend, we ask that you cancel your registration to make room for those on the waiting list.
Tickets for this lecture are sold out, but we will be streaming the lecture live for those who are unable to attend in person.
View live stream (begins January 28 at 7:30 pm)
Zhang is the J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professor of Physics at Stanford University. He is a condensed matter theorist known for his work on topological insulators, spintronics and high temperature superconductivity. He received his bachelor's degree from the Free University of Berlin in 1983 and PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1987. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara from 1987 to 1989 and a research staff member at the IBM Almaden Research Center from 1989 to 1993. He joined the faculty at Stanford in 1993. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2007, the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award in 2009, the Johannes Gutenberg Research Award in 2010, the Europhysics Prize in 2010, the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize in 2012, the Dirac Medal and Prize in 2012 and the Physics Frontiers Prize in 2013 for his theoretical prediction of the quantum spin Hall effect and topological insulators.
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Are you ready to go out on a vacation with your beloved ones? Have you been looking for this wonderful opportunity for a very long time? Here is the chance for you to avail our Bangkok itinerary 5 days to get a break from the city life. Thailand is an amazing nation in the Indochina peninsula in the mainland of South East Asia. The country has wonderful people following rich and ancient cultural values. The country is majorly famous for its shopping centers.
The tropical beaches of Thailand are very famous. These stunning beaches never fail to impress its travelers. The adventurous water sports like banana boat ride, water scooter as well as parasailing in the beaches enthrall you to the fullest. They give you a wonderful to chance to spend some quality sporty time with your family. Relive the child within you, experiencing these amazing water sports. Also, take the massages and spa treatments to lighten yourself with the help of the masseuse in the beach.
Enjoy your tour to the fullest with our Bangkok itinerary 5 days. If you wish to explore the nightlife of the city then do visit the Bangla Road Nightlife. It has various clubs, pubs, lounges as well as bars to amaze you with their hospitality, taste, and music. The next amazing destination to visit in Bangkok is the Coral island. Experience the Picturesque beaches and the islands, relaxing in the shacks in the wonderful Coral island. A visit to the Coral island with your family will definitely prove to be an astonishing and unforgettable experience for everyone.
Avail our Bangkok itinerary 5 days give us the opportunity to serve you the best. We always ensure that our travelers have the best experience of this beautiful country of Thailand at a very affordable price. You will never regret booking our tour instead will always cherish the wonderful moments created with our service.
Join us in this Bangkok itinerary 5 days so that we can serve you the best of our capabilities. We always try to bring something new for our travelers to make them content and satisfies.
Have some delicious breakfast in the hotel, commence your day riding to the Koh Larn in a speed boat with your loved ones and experience the picturesque coral island. After this take some delicious lunch in any local restaurant in the island with some local cuisine. Later relax for a while on the beach, get tanned and then pull your socks to indulge in the world renowned adventurous water sports in the island. Make the most out of your day with your family and enjoy doing several sports activities such as Parachuting, banana boat ride, under sea walk, water scooter and parasailing. Do take extra towels, napkins and a set of clothes, sunglasses, sun protection cream, as well as beach wear for some amazing experience.
The third day commences with mouthwatering breakfast enjoying with your loved ones. This day is a leisure day. Enjoy your first half relaxing in the hotel and in the second half we will take you to explore the neighborhood or will take you for a city tour. Savor some delicious lunch in any local eating joint and get ready for experiencing one of the most amazing show held in Pattaya called the Alcazar show. The show will leave you awestruck and will make you fall in love with the city. Capture all the beautiful moments there and fill your bag with loads of its memories. Post the show head back to the hotel, have your diner and take rest for the night.
Start your day with breakfast and get transferred to the city of Bangkok in the morning. The representative will guide you to the hotel. Post-check-in, get ready for shopping at various markets. Like Street shopping market, flea markets as well as the weekend market. Don't miss the chance to visit the world famous weekend market, Chatuchak and buy everything you had in your shopping list. If you are a shopping freak than you must also visit the twenty-seven sections of the market in Bangkok for beautiful exclusive stuff. You can also visit the Flower market and the Floating market in the city. The list of markets is never ending so visit as many places as you can and have fun.
Commence your last day with some mouth-watering breakfast in the hotel and treasure the astonishing time versed in Pattaya and Bangkok. After the breakfast complete your check out formalities in the hotel and move towards the airport in a private cab as guided by our representative. Enjoy your ride with your loved ones and cherish the wonderful moments. We made full efforts to make your journey memorable. We also wish to serve you again and again in your future tours with your family, friends or your partner. We ensure that this fun-filled five days of Pattaya and Bangkok will always be the most amazing days of your life. So, don't miss the chance and come join us.
Why is shopping so famous in Bangkok?
Bangkok is called the paradise of shopping. There is a various market where you can find such exclusive stuff which you might not find anywhere that too in a very affordable price. You can also have a bargain because most of the products have a high mark-up profit percentage. Bargain to an extent which keeps both the parties happy.
Why is Thailand famous as a tourist attraction?
Thailand is full of beautiful nature and amazing picturesque landscapes. It is enveloped with oceans as well as forests. The neutral weather of Thailand ads to the beauty of the country. It has managed to develop some wonderful cities like Bangkok and Pattaya which are full of amazing destinations. You will never regret visiting this worth visiting country with your loved ones.
Is drinking tap water safe in Thailand?
How safe is Thailand for women tourist?
In a way it is totally safe for any kind of travellers. But when it comes to women it's always good to carry some safety tools and it's better to be cautious. All the time. Although being such a famous tourist destination, people ensure they take care of their tourists and treat them well so travellers need not worry allot for safety.
Thai Baht is the currency accepted and used in Bangkok.


Gancia was founded in1850by carlo gancia who created the very first italian sparkling wine and paved the way to the birth of the italian sparkling wine industry.
Jackie says the who's who of new york is gonna be there tonight.
Reputediy with a miiiion-doiiar pay-off to jackie.
Meggie was so against a fuss she even refused to wear bridal regalia.
Michelangelo's highly idiosyncratic style of painting.
Michaelangelo is the master of the whirling nunchakus.
Michelangelo's famous frescoes are in the sistine chapel in rome.
She looked up and nettie's eyes resting on her with tenderness and exultation.
Is it true mona vaginus is a tramp?
I well knew that any dealing with a vichyite would create great revulsion among these in england and america who did not know the harsh realities of war.
Action: pretend to be a mouse by wriggling fingers at end of nose and squeak I I I i.
The company and its trademarks are currently owned by the swatch group.


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bauma CTT RUSSIA features a number of international pavilions where exhibitors will showcase their innovations and technical expertise.
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Dear Bloggers, I have several articles about Blogging Tips which are useful for us in order that we can make an interesting Blog. But, because of my busyness I have not had time to write more.
Tips for Making "Table of Contents"
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A mother has revealed her joy at becoming pregnant again after giving birth to her stillborn daughter almost KILLED her.
Destiny Young, 23, almost died while giving birth to her stillborn daughter after the delivery caused her to lose almost half the blood in her body.
After suffering two heartbreaking miscarriages, Destiny was delighted to find out she was pregnant with her first child in January 2017.
But after falling unwell and heavily bleeding at just 32 weeks, Destiny was rushed into surgery for a c-section in the doctor's bid to save her daughter – however, once surgery was over, she was told that her child's heart had stopped beating.
The surgery, alongside suffering a placenta abruption, caused the delivery driver, from Massachusetts, US, to lose over four pints of blood and left her on deaths door for the following six weeks.
However now, Destiny and her husband Christopher, 28, are filled with joy now they are 17-weeks pregnant, and are optimistic about the future.
Destiny said: "When we first tried to get pregnant, we had two miscarriages, but we really wanted a child so continued to try.
"When we were pregnant with Kaia, everything was looking great and there were no indications that anything was going to go wrong.
"But then when I reached 32 weeks, I was really sick so went to the hospital and later on that day I started bleeding so the doctor's rushed me to surgery.
"They gave me a c-section in hope that they would be able to save my baby's life, but after the surgery was done they told me her heart had stopped beating.
"When I had the surgery I lost a lost of blood that it almost killed me – so I was fighting for my life for six weeks while they tried to restore what fluids I had lost.
"Dealing with something so physically painful, as well as emotionally, made it the hardest thing I had ever done.
Despite Destiny and Christopher's excitement at becoming parents again, they are still holding their excitement in until they have confirmation their baby is healthy.
Destiny said: "For over a year after we lost Kaia I wasn't ready to try again, but we got pregnant right away after deciding we were ready.
"We're both really excited, but also holding a lot back until we know that she's healthy.
"Due to our last pregnancy, I am now being monitored really closely to make sure everything goes well – higher levels of ultrasounds, and being seen at hospital more often.
Destiny is sharing her story to open people's eyes to why abortion can help people – and even save lives – in light of new abortion laws coming into play in New York, US, which allows women to have abortions after 24 weeks if necessary to preserve the mother's health or if the fetus isn't viable.
She said: "If people find out that their children may not make it, or that they are going to have a condition which may cause them to be stillborn, I believe a woman should be entitled to having an abortion.
"It is someone's own choice, and at the end of the day it could save someone else's life and stop them from having to go through something that could kill them.
"A woman should be able to make her own choice if she finds out her baby is going to die anyway.


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By Topic & Competency
Every Gold Nugget
555: Why We Fail to Empower, Inspire, and Engage: Unmasking the The Advice Trap with Michael Bungay Stanier
By Marco BartolomeMarch 19, 2020Podcasts
Michael Bungay Stanier explains why we need to stop giving advice and start asking questions instead.
Three reasons why advice is overrated
A step-by-step process for breaking your advice-giving habit
How to ask more insightful questions
About Michael:
Michael Bungay Stanier is an author and the founder of Box of Crayons, a company best known for teaching 10-minute coaching so that busy managers can build stronger teams and get better results. He was named the first Canadian Coach of the Year. He left Australia 25 years ago to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.
Michael has been featured in several publications such as Business Insider, Forbes, The Globe & Mail, Fast Company, and The Huffington Post. He has held senior positions in the corporate, consultancy, and agency worlds. He has lived and worked in Australia, the UK, the US, and Canada. He currently lives in Toronto.
Michael's book: The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious & Change the Way You Lead Forever
Michael's book: The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever
Michael's website: TheAdviceTrap.com
Michael's website: MBS.works
Items Mentioned in the Show
Book: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Past Episode: 297: Encouraging Insight Through More Coach-like Conversations with Michael Bungay Stanier
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Michael Bungay Stanier Interview Transcript
Pete Mockaitis
Michael, thanks for joining us here on the How to be Awesome at Your Job podcast again.
Michael Bungay Stanier
I know. Thank you for having me back, Pete. It's really nice to be here.
Oh, yes. Well, I was having a lot of fun during chats because you're not afraid, again, putting the pressure and expectation on, not afraid to get a little silly and neither am I.
I strive to be hilarious yet useful at the same time.
Oh, that's a winning combo in my book. So, we're going to talk about advice. And you've got a fun turn of a phrase, the advice monster. Can you tell us what is that? And can you maybe give us a wild example, like if you've got one or two, of the advice monster in action?
Oh, the examples are a legion. People are going to know this right away. So, when I wrote the last book, The Coaching Habit, as a throwaway line, I'm like, "You've got to learn how to tame your advice monster." And people have loved that idea, they're like, "Oh, I know what an advice monster is. I know my advice monster. I have it." And, in fact, you all do. As soon as somebody starts talking, and even though they're telling you about a situation you don't really understand, involving people you haven't properly met, with a context you don't know at all, and technical specifications that you don't get, after about 10 seconds in your brain, you're like, "Oh, I've got some ideas here. Step aside, I've got something to say to you." And that's our advice monster. We've had to train for years, we spend our lifetime nurturing, feeding this insatiable part of ourselves.
And in this new book, The Advice Trap, I'm like, "You know what, the barrier to staying curious turns out not that we don't know what a good question is, not that we don't know the value of staying curious and being more coach-like. The barrier to actually making this behavior change is our advice monster. We've got to learn to tame our advice monster."
Okay. Well, so you've got examples are legion. But could you give us one or two that made you go, "Wow, that is not what to do textbook"?
It's like, do you want me to just talk about the ones that have happened over the last three hours for me or should I go back to the rest of my life? So, let's talk about my marriage.
All right, this is getting good.
I have been happily married for almost 30 years. I met Marcella, my wife, when we were studying at Oxford together. It was one of the two great outcomes for me being a Rhode Scholar. But there's nothing like a spouse just to drive you nuts. You know, somebody once said, "Your soulmate is the person who pushes all your buttons." And Marcella does that for me. She has all the right things as well but she also has a way of me going, "Right. If I'm going to give anybody advice, it's going to be her."
So, she starts telling me something that she's up against, and I'm like, "Okay, just stop talking. Just let me tell you what to do." And if any of your listeners are married, or in a longer-term relationship, or you've been in a relationship, or maybe you have kids, or maybe you have parents, you will recognize that need to kind of go, "Okay, with this person I'm close to, or this person that I love, this person I actually like and I want to support, part of what I default to is this, 'Let me rush in and try and fix it and solve it for you.'"
Okay. Understood. So, that sort of the impulse, the inclination there, "Let me fix this and solve this for you." And so, I can see that, hey, that's not sort of fun on the receiving end frequently. But could you make the fuller case for how that's really problematic and just what can be at stake if we let our advice monster roam wild?
Yeah, advice is overrated for three reasons. The first thing to say, Pete, is, look, don't think that I'm saying never give advice because that's obviously ridiculous. I mean, the podcast is actually this moment of advice-giving so it'd be ridiculous to say never give advice. The problem isn't with advice, the problem is when giving advice becomes your default response, and we have this ingrained way of behavior. And it turns out that advice kind of goes bad in three ways.
So, here are the three ways. Number one, you're often trying to solve the wrong problem. We get seduced into thinking there's all the time that we believe that the first challenge that shows up is the real challenge. It almost never is. It's the best guess, it's the stab in the dark, it's an early hypothesis. But almost never is the first challenge the real challenge.
But let's just say, for the sake of argument, that actually you are working on the real problem, the real issue that needs to be fixed. Here's the second issue with advice, your advice is not nearly as good as you think it is. Now, there's all these cognitive biases that are wiring us to make us believe that we're smarter, wiser, more able, more insightful than we actually are, and so often our advice is just our projection around, "This is what I did once or what I thought of once. This should work for you as well." So, there's your second issue which is not only is often solving the wrong problem but, secondly, even if you're solving the right problem, the advice you're offering up isn't nearly as good as you think it is.
But let's just say, for the sake of argument, the knowledge you have the right challenge at hand but you have this awesome piece of advice, I mean, it's brilliant, it's gold dust, it's pearls of wisdom, you're like, "This is amazing." The third challenge with advice is, "Is this the right form of leadership? Is this the right way of showing up and supporting the person you're in conversation with right now?" Because there's a deep insight to say that the idea, the solution, the advice that a person gives themselves is a much more powerful intervention than the advice that you give them.
Even if their idea isn't quite as good as your idea, and our cognitive biases will have us believe that that's almost always the case, but there's something really powerful as a leader, and by a leader it doesn't mean that you're actually literally managing a team or if you just interact with other human beings, if you show up with other people and you help people figure out their own stuff. What you're doing is you're empowering them to get smarter, to own the idea, to get the wisdom, rather than having it coming down from you because, honestly, when you have somebody giving you an idea, your natural reaction is just to push back against the idea even if it's well-meant, as it so often is.
Okay. So, that's the advice monster and what is problematic about just letting it roam. So, your book is called The Advice Trap. Is it fair to say the trap is just that you have a temptation to give advice and then you fall into it and that's a bad thing? Okay.
Yeah, basically, again, advice, fine. The default response to going, "Look, my job here is to give advice." That's the advice trap, into seducing to thinking that that's your role. In fact, it goes a little deeper than that. So, the double-click on this whole advice monster thing, it turns out the advice monster has three different personas, and each one of it kind of feeds a deeper need for us, which makes it hard for us to step into this way of behaving which is around the power of being more curious.
So, I'll take you through the three advice monster personas because people like this. And for the folks listening in, listen up because you'll hear the advice monster persona that resonates most for you. So, number one is tell-it, and tell-it has convinced you that the way you add value, in fact, the only way you add value is to have the answers. In fact, you need to have all the answers. In fact, you probably need to have all the answers to all the problems all the time. And if you don't have all the answers, you fail. So, that's the first one, that sort of sense of that weight, that obligation of, "I've got to know everything. I've got to always be providing answers or else I'm not adding value."
Okay. So, that's a persona, "My persona is tell-it and I'm telling it." Okay.
You've got it. Number two, save-it. So, save-it, a little more subtle than tell-it which is a noisy one. Save-it, you put a time around you, "Pete, your job is to keep everybody safe at all times. You can't let anybody stumble, you can't let them struggle, you can't let them fail, you can't make them sweat. Your job is to keep everybody protected, keep everybody safe, keep everybody comfortable. If they struggle, if they stumble, if they fail at all, you fail." So, that's that second piece, that kind of that weight of going, "I've got to make sure everybody is okay all the time."
And then the third advice monster, which is the slipperiest, the sneakiest of the three, is control-it. So, control-it has convinced you that your job, the only way you win, is to maintain control, keep control at all times. Don't give up control. Don't let others have control because if that happens, you fail. You'll definitely fail. So, you got those three different advice monsters: the tell-it, the save-it, and the control-it. And each one of them speaks to a deeper need that we hold onto that keeps us stuck in the advice-giving mode because we're like, "You know what, I feel obliged to have the answer. I feel obliged to save the person. I feel obliged to control the situation." And when you do that, you don't let curiosity really blossom.
Okay, certainly. And so, you call these personas because…well, I guess, I think of them as verbs, "So, I want to tell it, I want to save it, I want to control it." So, it's a persona in so far as there's kind of like a personality or a character associated with the kind of person who feels the need to tell it, to save it, to control it?
That's a really good question. On the website TheAdviceTrap.com, we've actually got a questionnaire which is like 20 questions or so, five minutes to do, and you can follow it through and you'll actually end up with the advice monster that kind of is your go-to, your default, the one that you're kind of most familiar with. When I was writing the book, I'm like, "Do we have three advice monsters, and each of them is a different advice monster? Or is it one advice monster but kind of shows up in different ways with different traits depending on who you are and depending on the situation?" In the end, I was like, "No, I think it's better as a persona. We all have the advice monster. How it shows up, the clothes it wears, the behavior it has, is different for different people."
Okay. So, then let's see, we've got three personas but we've all got an advice monster. So, I imagine you probably have some universal solutions and some particular prescriptions, given which persona you fall into. So, yeah, what do we do? So, someone is telling us something, we've got that urge, the impulse, to pour forth the advice, so what's the appropriate response?
Well, you can guess that the easy solution here is to just stay curious a little bit longer because curiosity is the light that holds back the advice monster. I mean, questions are the kindling of curiosity. So, the easy, fast answer for people is go, "Look, just ask them good questions. Stay curious a little bit longer." But, Pete, this is actually what took me to writing The Advice Trap because the first book, the one we talked about when we did the previous interview is called The Coaching Habit. Well, The Coaching Habit is like, "Here we go, I'm trying to unweird coaching for you. I'm trying to make curiosity feel like a useful everyday skill. Seven good questions can take you a long way down the path."
And we've had a lot of people go, "These questions are fantastic. I've started using them with my spouse, with my kids, with the people I work with, with the team that I lead, and things are getting better." And I'm like, "I love that."
There's also a lot of people out there who go, "You know, Michael, I like your questions, I like your book, I like the podcast you did with Pete, it's all great, and I'm finding it really hard to change my behavior. I'm finding it really hard to shift from being advice-driven to being curiosity-led." And so, there's kind of a deeper piece of work that's required.
In the book, this is kind of the opening part of the book, I talk about this difference between easy change and hard change. We are all good at easy change, that's why it's called easy change. And the metaphor I'd give you is it's a little bit like downloading an app on your phone, it's adding a little bit of knowledge to the current version of you. So, easy change, anytime you get a new phone, or walk into a new hotel room, like I'm in at the moment, or show up in a new place, you're like, "Okay, I've just got to figure this stuff out." And you do. You listen to a podcast, you watch a video, you read a book, you go and talk to a teenager who explains it to you, and you're like, "Okay, I kind of get it."
I go to Amazon.com and buy a little something. Well, this problem's solved for $15. Thank you. All right.
Exactly. So, you kind of figure it out and you start off and you're a little bit incompetent when you do it the first time, but you quickly get competent, and then you quickly get to a point where you're like, "Yeah, I've got it. I'm fine with it." So, that's easy change. No problem with that.
Hard change, obviously, is trickier, harder, slipperier, and we all know this because we've all tried to take on something where you're like, "This should be relatively straightforward," and for some reason it's really difficult. For some reason, it just seems to be elusive for you. You keep trying, you keep reading more books, you listen to more podcasts, you watch more videos, you buy some more stuff from Amazon, and it just isn't enough to help you crack this dilemma, this piece around, "I'm trying to figure out how to do this."
If you've ever had a New Year's resolution where you're like, "Okay, I've made this resolution for the last seven years, but I'm going to make it again this year because, damn it, I'm actually going to get it sorted out this time around." Well, this is what hard change is. And if easy change is downloading the app on your phone, hard change is when you realize that an app won't do it. You need a new operating system. The other way of talking about this, Pete, is like if easy change is about tweaking current you, present you, hard change is a commitment to future you. It's like, "You know what, to do this, I need to become a bigger, different, better version of myself. So, what needs to change so that I can actually step into that way of doing it?"
And that's a very long answer around your question around, "Okay, we notice your advice monster, what do you do about that?" Well, for some of us, it's easy change, which is like just ask some questions, and some of us it's hard change, which is like, "Oh, you've got to learn to tame your advice monster." And that can be tricky, that can be difficult, and that's absolutely worth the battle because you get to show up in a whole different way.
Okay. So, it's going to take some hard change, and it's not a matter of downloading the app. So, what is it a matter of doing?
So, step number one is going, "Are you up for this? Are you actually committed for actually going to do this?" Because some people are like, "Yeah, in theory, I kind of wouldn't mind being a bit more curious, but in practice, I can't be bothered." So, the first step is to go, "You know what, it's really worth it. It's now irritating me how much I give advice. It's irritating the people I work with how much I give advice. I want to do this change."
Step number two is to actually say to yourself, "Look, I've got to start recognizing my advice monster because until I start seeing it, until I start knowing how it shows up, then it's really hard to tame something that you're not quite sure where and how it exists in the world." So, there's a way for you to actually take the time and going, "So, when does my advice monster really get loose where they go crazy? What's the situation and with whom is the person?"
So, it might be when I have my weekly check-in with Pete, "Oh, that man drives me crazy. He starts talking and my advice monster is absolutely loose." So, the next step is for you to identify when your advice monster is on the loose, so you're not trying to do a generic, "I'm just trying to be more curious." You're like, "No, this is the moment where I'm trying to change my behavior." And, Pete, this comes from our last conversation, actually, which this ties in with what it takes to build a new habit, which is like be specific, be singular, be focused, don't be generic but actually pick a moment, pick a new behavior, pick a context, so that you can actually change your behavior in this way.
So, step number one, declare the battle is on. Step number two, identify the moment where your advice monster shows up. Step number three, it gets a little more personal. It's a little deeper dive. And it's to understand the prizes and the punishments of your current behavior. This is the thing. You give advice because you get something from it. It's actually a win for you. So, there's a way of actually identifying how you're showing up, "What do I get out of that?" And it's like, "You know what, I feel smart. I feel in control. I get them out of my office faster. I feel like I'm adding value to the conversation. I feel like I'm in control of what's going on." It speaks to some of those three different types of advice monsters that we talked about before.
Or there's like this pressure, I feel this in my brain sometimes. It's like if I don't somehow capture what's in my head, either by saying it out loud, or writing it down, or sticking it somewhere, then it's just going to have a piece of me, and that's uncomfortable, and it's like I need the resolution and breadth and peace associated with knowing that it's been captured, otherwise it might disappear forever, and it's a treasure trove that I can't allow to just run away, Michael.
Exactly. I love that. That's pretty powerful insight, Pete. That sense of, "Oh, no, no. What I've got is essential and it's vital, and it's like, honestly, it's genius, so I can't not offer that up to the world, that would be irresponsible." So, it's really helpful to see that. And, actually, I love how you talked about that because you can see, in you saying it, there's an honesty and a kind of vulnerability and a self-awareness around, "I can see how this is a little bit ego-driven, but it's also true. It's kind of what's there for me."
And it's just so fun, it's like, "Ooh, this is a really interesting idea. It'd be fun to explore it and maybe we're going to do that right now with the person since they brought it up or maybe we'll do it later. It's a little uncomfortable for me to imagine. Well, maybe we'll just never get to explore, and that fun thought is just going to run away because I put all my attention back towards listening and being curious."
And miss that moment.
Well, understanding the benefits you get from it sets you up for the next piece, which is, "What's the price that you and others pay for your need to share this little piece of genius?" And all parts of equation kind of can suffer as part of this. You can pay the price of being the person who feels that they have to always have the answer, or they always have to have the little genius idea, or they've become the bottleneck to the conversation, or they disempower the other people because they're like, "You know what, is there a point in coming to Pete with ideas because he's always got his own little genius idea that he always has to share with us and he's always telling, well, that's kind of the thing we should be doing?" So, there's a way that both you and the other person can pay a price around that.
And having done that, you're actually at a bit of a crossroads, which is to go, "You know what, do the prizes outweigh the punishments, or is it vice versa?" And until you get to a point where you're like, "The punishment of my advice monster, the price I pay and the price other people pay, are now sufficiently significant enough that they outweigh the more short-term," you know, in the book we call them winds not wins, that short term, "Oh, I get to be genius, I get to be smart, I get to have the answers." When you see the punishment outweigh the prizes, you're like, "Okay, I'm up for the change here because the current equation isn't working as well as it used to."
Then you go a little deeper. And I will say, Pete, at TheAdviceTrap.com, there's actually a way, a little video of me facilitating people through this process. So, if people are going, "Yeah, I'm kind of following this but I would like it a bit more." There's a video and there's a worksheet and stuff that people can grab at TheAdviceTrap.com.
We get to that next level down where you're like, okay, so if what you've done with prizes and punishments is kind of figure out the equation for present you, let's go down to future you and kind of go, "All right, two things to look at here. If you were to tame your advice monster, if you were to stay curious a bit longer, what would you be worried about? What would make you anxious about that?" Because you've got to acknowledge which is like, and you've got to talk about it, which is like, "I don't feel like I'm adding value. My little bits of genius might never see the light of day and a little bit of me dies if I don't get to be a genius every time I show up. That other person might struggle. I might lose control of the conversation. I might not get to be the smart person in the room."
You get to see all of those kinds of anxieties that you have but then you weigh that against them. But what would future you gain from this new way of behaving? What would you find? It's like, "Oh, I get to allow other people to be brilliant. I get other people to share their genius with me. And I'm a catalyst and a space for them to be brilliant rather than me to be brilliant. I get to not be a bottleneck. I get to have other people be more confident and more competent and more self-sufficient and more autonomous so I, honestly, I work less hard because they're all doing their own stuff without having to come to me for their blessing or the idea or whatever it might be."
And then when you kind of weigh that up, you're like going, "Okay, I see the choice now." And it's actually only when you do that, people work, Peter, that you kind of go, "Right. Now, this is setting me up for a place where I can go. It's worth me asking a question because I've actually kind of gone deeper into the kind of the complexity of the behavior change that's required." And you're going, "You know what, now is the time for me to invest in this future-you state so that I can have more impact as a human being in the life that I live."
Well, I really like that process, that framework, in terms of I think you can use that anytime you think about a behavior change or a should, "Oh, I should work out more," or, "I should eat better." It's like, "Well, maybe, but I think what's probably most appropriate is rather than just sort of have a kneejerk reaction if you're guilty for doing or not doing all the things, to really zero in on, all right, a true sense of the cost and benefit and opportunity that is awaiting you if you embark upon that kind of a change." And so, I think that's super handy that a lot of things you think maybe that you should do, you can realize, "Hey, you know what, actually not worth it. Not worth the cost so I can just sort of let go of that peacefully and move onto something else."
At the same time, let's say maybe you do get that perfect clarity and conviction that, "Yes, this is the thing. It needs to happen. I can absolutely see it's worth doing. The benefits massively justify that investment." And, nonetheless, much like a diet exercise, temptations arise. What do you recommend for in the moment, you're committed and yet, ooh, you're feeling it? What do you do there?
I would go back to some of the stuff I talked about in the opening chapter of The Coaching Habit book. I'm like, "You know what, pick a person, pick a moment, pick a question. Don't go, 'Look, I'm just trying to be more coach-like. I'm committed to being more curious in every aspect of my life.'" All that does is set you up for failure.
What I'm saying instead is like, you know what, pick a question and go, "I'm going to try and ask that a few more times per day than I currently do." And if you're going to pick one of the seven questions I talked about in The Coaching Habit book, I might go for number two, which is the shortest and the most powerful of the seven questions, which is "And what else?" Like, "What else?" So, the acronym of that is AWE, so it's literally an awesome question which I love.
And what I found is that what that question has is it kind of built within it is the insight that the person's first answer is never their only answer and it's rarely their best answer. But what happens in this is our advice monsters, you ask a question, somebody comes up with an idea, and you're like, "Nailed it. We've got something. Let's go with it. Let's run with it. Let's implement it. Let's make it actionable," or whatever it might be.
And what I would encourage people to go is like, "You know what, their first answer is almost never their only answer." So, ask "And what else?" because it will mean that you get more, you squeeze more out of the lemon of any question that you've asked them, and you'll get better and more diverse answers from the person that you're working with. So, I think there's my generic piece of advice on how not to give advice, which is like, "Hey, if you only got one question, make it 'And what else?'" Because you know what, you can slip that into almost any kind conversation. People won't even notice.
Certainly. I think that I've been using a lot of the questions that's come up with a few guests, it's comparable although you've got a knack, Michael, for identifying the nuances between how one question is, in fact, quite different from another given the words and the triggers that it does for people, so let me put you on the spot with this. I've been loving "Tell me more about that." Let's compare or contrast. Are those interchangeable or do those have some nuances that you'd like to discuss?
Well, "Tell me more about that" has some inherent landmines built into it.
I'll tell you why. So, if I go, "All right, Pete, what's on your mind?" And you give me something, I go, "Great."
This coffee, I've been so engaged, I have barely sipped it.
I know about that. And you go, "Okay, here, Michael, here's a thing that's on my mind." And I go, "Oh, interesting. Tell me more about that." Now, this question feels like it's in service of me rather than you because I'm going, "I want to find out more about what's going on secretly because the more I know about that situation, probably the better advice I can give you when it comes to actually my time to give you advice."
And one of the nuances about asking questions, and this is kind of a real step towards mastery, is to go, "In whose service is this question? Is this more for me or is it more for them?" Because if I go, "Well, tell me more about that," you're like, "Well, I already know a bunch about it, but sure, now I'm helping you out by telling you more."
Whereas, if I go, "All right, that's interesting. I hear what's on your mind. Tell me what's the real challenge here for you." Now this question is in service of you. It's for you to go, "Well, what is the hard thing here? What is the challenge? Where am I struggling with this?" And then I go, "What else is a challenge here for you?" You're like, "Oh, yeah, what else?" And as you go deeper, then I go, "Great. So, Pete, of all of that stuff, what's the real challenge here for you?" Now you're working and you're figuring stuff out, because the stance I hold is, look, if I'm in a conversation with you or I'm asking you questions, I don't need to know a whole lot about what's going on.
I mean, when we finish this conversation, I'm in Anaheim at the moment to speak at a big tech conference for a big tech company, and I'm going to coach a very senior leader on stage in front of about, I think it's 1500 people. Now, what do I know about the impossible job of being an executive vice president of one the top three tech companies in the world? The answer is I know nothing. I know absolutely nothing. So, if I sit down with this person, and I go, "What's on your mind?" and they tell me, and I go, "Well, tell me more about that." Now, they're like, "Okay. Well, you don't know anything about this anyway, and I'm not sure that this covered under our NDA, but I'll give you some topline stuff." And I'm like, "Okay, tell me more about that. What else can you tell me about that?"
And now he's explaining to me what the situation is so I can try and figure out a solution. But if I go, "Yeah, okay, I don't even know what that means. But what's the real challenge here for you around this?" And they're like, "Oh, yeah, it's this." I'm like, "Great. What else is a challenge here for you around this?" And they're like, "Amazing." It's them, they're in the spotlight, I'm in service to them. And "Tell me more about that" is often in service to me.
Well, that's a powerful distinction there in terms of who's the question in service to. And, also, when we're reviewing coaching contexts in terms of, hey, on stage and such, that's really handy. I think in previous contexts, "Tell me more about that" was handy in terms of someone said something to you that made you kind of angry, like they're volunteering some feedback or they're about to let you know just how you've screwed up. "Tell me more about that" is great for disarming versus "And what else?" It's sort of like, "Oh, really? You're going to dismiss what I've just said?" So, that's perfect in terms of the different contexts, making one versus the other a bullseye.
So, in the context of somebody said something, feedback, or aggravating, or something like that, the power of "Tell me more about that" is it's a self-management tool to stop you leaping…
Oh, that too, yeah.
You know, strangling, you're like, "You're triggering me here. I want to kill you." Here's a nuance then in that context, which is like, "Tell me more about that" is a pretty broad question. There's a way that you might direct that conversation to become more useful for you. And here's how it could look like. You could say, "What's the data for this?"
Because when people give you feedback, it tends to be a mix of a little bit of fact and a whole bunch of judgment, and a whole bunch of unspoken feeling, and an unspoken want or need, and there's a way that "Tell me more about that" you may get a bit more of a repeat of what you've already heard, which is the same kind of mess of all of that stuff. But you could take it in different ways, you go, "Okay, I hear there's something going on here. Tell me what the data is. Tell me what the facts are around this because I'm curious to know what's making you think that."
You could say, "I hear what's going on. Just so I'm clear, what do you want here? What do you want from me? What do you want from this conversation? What do you want from this outcome?" Because sometimes actually everything they've told you is entirely separate from what they're really trying to get out of this, and knowing what they want is a much more specific and useful question to actually figure out.
And then the third question that you could ask around that, you could ask, I mean, I love putting feelings and judgments together. In my head, I've got this model which is like every conversation has four parts to it: data, feelings, judgments, and the wants and the needs. And the context of like a tough conversation, I'm like, I'm trying to get clear on what falls into what bucket. So, it's like I'm just trying to find the right articulation of the question, Pete. It's like, "If that's the fact, if that's the data, what are your assumptions based on that? What do you assume to be true about me, about you, about this situation at hand?"
And what you're doing is you're effectively asking the same question you're asking, which is "Tell me more about that" but you're being a little more direct, it's like, "I want to find out about the data. I want to find out what you want. I want to find out what you assume to be true." And all of those questions can be helpful but one in particular might particularly serve you in the moment.
Oh, that's great. And so then, maybe could you give us an example of disaggregating those four components there in terms of let's just say I'm saying…? Okay, I just looked at your hotel room, so I'll just say, "You go up to the front desk and you tell them that your bed is unacceptable." Can you disaggregate that for us?
Yeah. And if they go, "I can hear you're frustrated there, sir. What is it that you want?" "You know what, I just need a bed, a pillow." And they're like, "Oh, that's easy. We'll just send over there a pillow." Or I'm like, "I've got a colony of bedbugs." And they're like, "Oh, okay. Well, we'll move you to a different room." Or, it's a hammock and I don't sleep in hammocks, "I thought I was getting a king-sized bed and you put me in the nautical-themed room, and there's like pictures of pirates on the wall, and it smells of brine, and I don't like hammocks." So, that curiosity can help.
Now, it might be for them, they're like, "Tell us more. What seems to be the issue, sir?" But you're like, the bigger insight in all of this is that piece around curiosity and the power of it, because "Tell me more about that" is an invitation to stay curious. And that's the big win around that.
Well, I'm thinking like a more complex situation because with the hotel and the hotel bed, it's a transactional relationship, like, "We're just talking about a bed and then we're never going to talk to each other again." If it's somebody I have a relationship, like it's my wife, and I go, "Well, I'm just curious. What makes you think that? What's the data behind what you've just said?" And she goes, "Well, I just saw the rubbish bins, the trash cans, out on the pavement, and they were this and they were that." And I'm like, "Oh, yeah, actually those aren't our trash cans. Our trash cans are on the back. I brought them in." And she's like, "Oh, all right. My mistake." And that data diffuses the whole situation.
But if I'm like, "Tell me more about that," she's like, "I never liked you. You've never been good at household chores. You've been a burden to the family for 30 years," and I'm like, "Okay, this has gone really dark really quickly."
Yeah, exactly.
And so, in that trash can example, that's actually really handy because if we look at those four components, so the data are "I witnessed some trash cans that were askew." Their feelings are "That's gross and I hate looking at it and it's very unpleasant." The judgment is "You're unresponsive in doing your chores, Michael, and my need is for you to fix that."
It actually goes deeper than that, which is that, "You're bad at your chores. You're a roundabout lazy man. You're a parasite. You're sucking me dry. You never carry your weight in this relationship. You don't love me." That stuff can kind of escalate pretty quickly.
Okay. Understood. And so then, Michael, tell me, anything else you want to make sure to mention before we shift gears and hear about some of your favorite things here?
No, I think that's it. There's a bunch of good resources at TheAdviceTrap.com, there's a questionnaire around which of the three advice monsters is the one that you're most familiar with, there's that process around going into hard change versus easy change. All that resources that people can make the most of it they'd like.
Okay. Well, now, can you share with us a favorite quote, something you find inspiring?
I have so many good quotes. I will point to that I'm sitting with at the moment is from Muhammad Ali, and somebody once said this is the shortest poem ever written. And it is, "Me, we." And I love the profundity of that which is to say we are all connected. There's no me without the context of us. And what you do here for you is in service to us, and remember that connection. So, me, we. Muhammad Ali.
Okay. And could you share with us a favorite book?
The book that I keep coming to because it's an amazing combination of science and just the kind of celebration of the miracle of this planet, being a planet that we can live on, is Bill Bryson's book A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's hilarious. That man can write a metaphor better than anybody else I know. And, really, it just opens up the kind of the unlikelihood of being this life on this planet at this time where you and I are able to do a podcast together. It's like spectacularly unlikely that this could ever happen, and yet here we are.
And how about a favorite tool, something you use to be awesome at your job?
The thing that I am enjoying most is a pen given to me by the people that are helping me publish the book, it's by a company called Baronfig, which are a New York stationary cover. And it just is a beautiful pen.
Great. And if folks want to learn more or get in touch with you, where would you point them?
TheAdviceTrap.com is a place to find out about the book. But if you're going to go to a singular place, basically, a newish website called MBS.works, and that's kind of a collection of my works, all the stuff that I'm working on, so you can access the books I've written. So, MBS.works is a good place to go.
And do you have a final challenge or call to action for folks looking to be awesome at their jobs?
Yeah, add a question, just one question per day to your conversation. Make it "And what else?" Make it any other question but I would love you to take one small step in the direction of curiosity.
All right. Michael, this has been fun. I wish you lots of luck with The Advice Trap and all your adventures.
Pete, it's been a pleasure. Thanks for the great conversation. I appreciate we kind of went deep and interesting, and you threw yourself in the mix there as well, so thank you.
Oh, well, thank you. It's my pleasure.
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