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I've been looking after my 'ten-month-old' daughter Daisy for the last 19 years
Sep 1 2020, 10:35 ET
A MUM says her daughter's rare undiagnosed condition has left her looking after her 10-month-old baby for the last 19 years.
Teenager Daisy Rainey is completely dependent on her mum Annie, 53, dad Nick, 56, and older brother Harvey, 22.
Annie Rainey has to look after Daisy as though she is still a 10-month-old babyCredit: Matthew Horwood/ Magnus News
Daisy is just like an infant, she sucks a dummy, wears nappies and has to be fed and clothed by her family.
The 19-year-old can walk and hum in tune - but is at constant risk of severe epileptic seizures.
Her parents have even installed a baby monitor in her room that alerts them each time she wakes up, with her doting parents going into her room at least four times a night to put her dummy back in.
Daisy is physically strong and has a high pain tolerance, but just like an infant, Daisy shows no restraint if she doesn't want to do something.
The Cardiff family have sought answers for nearly two decades, but Daisy's condition has confounded every specialist they've seen.
Daisy is pictured above as a toddlerCredit: Annie Rainey/ Magnus News
Annie, who is Daisy's main carer, has written an incredibly moving and powerful account of the raw reality and heartbreak of raising Daisy, called 'Daisy Can't Talk'.
Annie details every aspect of Daisy's life; from humorous incidents like a red-faced man running past because Daisy had his steak in her mouth, to the look on a GP's face as Daisy trashes his office.
But it's not all light-hearted and Annie also details the struggles of living and caring for Daisy.
She describes how on one occasion, she found daisy chewing on razor blades.
She also details one particularly horrific incident where a botched dental procedure led to Daisy losing most of her teeth aged 15.
Annie said she wanted to write the book to let people know what it is really like raising someone like Daisy for nearly 20 years.
She said: "When out having a coffee or something I'd be listening to people talk about their kids and problems in the playground and I just used to think you really have no idea.
Daisy sucks on a dummy and is cared for by her parents 24/7Credit: Matthew Horwood/ Magnus News
"I started writing this book because I wanted to get across how bad Daisy is. I probably felt a little hard done by with how bad she is, which is awful to say isn't it."
Annie, whose husband Nick works as a civil engineer, said as a mum she'd always wanted to know what was wrong with her little girl.
She said: "We've never had a diagnosis in nearly 20 years.
"We've had genetic tests done but Daisy has never been diagnosed with a condition.
"There was a strong indication once that she had Retts syndrome, but Daisy being Daisy can't fit a normal syndrome.
"Retts girls tend to be very slight, and very small, but Daisy is the other end of the spectrum and didn't fully meet the criteria for a diagnosis."
She said Nick feels as though it doesn't matter what condition Daisy has as they will still have to deal with it.
She's so mentally handicapped, her milestones are at about 10 months mentally but she's in a 19-year-old body
Annie Rainey
She said she wanted to share experiences with others mums, but said that hasn't been possible because of Daisy's condition.
Annie said: "Very early on, when Daisy was about three, I was convinced she was autistic but she's definitely not.
"It might sound terrible but if only she was autistic, there's a lot more help out there, she'd fit in a box, she could go to clubs and have a label, it's easier."
Annie said that Daisy's neurologist has been there for her daughter more than most.
She said: "I remember once saying to him can't you open up Daisy's brain and fix it, even if you just make her talk, or understand, or be like a toddler.
Annie said most GPs scratch their head over Daisy's conditionCredit: Matthew Horwood/ Magnus News
"And he told us if he did that he wouldn't know where to start. He's been the most honest person with us through Daisy's life. He's still her neurologist but will be transferring her care over to adult services now she is 19, we're going to really miss him.
"For the rest of the specialists we've seen over the years, they go to college and university, but Daisy isn't in their text books, so they had no answers.
"What I found with all the professionals was that they almost wanted rid of us, they wanted to pass us on to someone else and never gave us any help."
Annie said that most GPs just "scratch their heads" when it comes to examining Daisy as she won't let anyone conduct a check up.
"Everything throughout her life has been guess work. When we ask if she has an ear infection the doctor doesn't know, so she just goes on antibiotics anyway.
Annie said that Daisy has "hair to die for"Credit: Annie Rainey/ Magnus News
"Daisy is there trashing the room or the waiting room or pulling things off the desk and they just want rid of us.
"They all want us in a room to tick a box and then we're out so we're not their problem anymore, and I've felt like that about most healthcare professionals for 18 years."
The family don't receive any support as there is no diagnosis for Daisy's condition.
But Annie said she has never thought of sending her away.
She said: "I think a specialist once said to us, she's got Daisy syndrome, because they'd never met anyone like her.
"She's so mentally handicapped, her milestones are at about 10 months mentally but she's in a 19-year-old body.
Daisy has a condition that has not been diagnosed by doctors Credit: Annie Rainey/ Magnus News
"She's got the strength behind her to be really stubborn and not to move, but the simplest of pre-school toys she can't work them.
"Yet she's able to walk, and I think this is the bit that baffles the doctors, because she shouldn't be able to walk."
Annie said that her daughter also has an "incredible tone for music".
"If she hears a tune, she can reproduce it with her own noises in tune.
"If she heard Lady Gaga on the radio for example and heard it again, she could reproduce the tune perfectly.
"Which is really frustrating in some ways, because if she can do this, why can't she do other things.
"I would love to one day have someone say to us they know what Daisy has, but it's never happened."
Annie said she has never thought about life without DaisyCredit: Matthew Horwood/ Magnus News
Annie said while it's been a struggle, she has come to terms with a sense of loss of what could have been for her daughter.
"I've done my grieving, I've mourned her life, of what we've not been able to do. I've mourned for her for not being a teenager, and not being a sister to Harvey.
"I feel such guilt for Harvey because nothing has ever been normal for him growing up, because Daisy came first.
"And I feel such guilt for Nick because he's never had the daughter he should have had, he's never going to walk her down an aisle. We just have this baby that is huge with the biggest nappies.
"I don't feel that sad for me, but I'd have loved to have taken her girly shopping and have her steal my makeup."
She said Daisy also has amazing hair, and in that respect, has what every girl would want.
The family have recently moved to an apartment in Cardiff Bay so that everything is on one floor.
Daisy suffers from seizures which Annie says leave her in a 'psychotic state'Credit: Matthew Horwood/ Magnus News
Annie said sometimes the one thing about having a child like Daisy was the reaction of other people, or lack of it.
She said: "I am sick to death of apologising, every single day, even if I'm just leaving the apartment, someone will say 'hello' and I say; 'sorry she doesn't talk'.
"And I think why am I apologising?
Harvey, who has recently graduated in law, lives close to his parents and Daisy in another apartment.
Annie said: "I remember we were in Harvey's apartment and Daisy was in a manic state after she'd had a bout of seizures. She can be in this state for about a week, it's almost psychotic.
"She just let out this almighty scream as if she was being attacked and all the doors were open to the balcony and windows, and we fully expected someone to call the police, but there was nothing, no one questioned the screams.
"That's society now isn't it, as long as their world is happy, they'll just ignore the plight of others and walk on by."
The family are set to send Daisy to a residential special needs college.
Annie said: "It's been a monumental and agonising decision, one that we had always said wouldn't happen, but we feel our hands are tied as our options are so limited for Daisy's future care, so an educational setting, whilst still an option, will give Daisy the specialist setting that we cannot provide.
"Daisy is going to a residential college and I'm beyond worried that they're not going to be able to manage her.
"I feel immense guilt and feel I'm failing her but on the flip side I know the college is the most amazing setting for Daisy and we couldn't be luckier in having her accepted there for the next three years.
Daisy will soon be moving to a residential college and will no longer live with her family Credit: Annie Rainey/ Magnus News
"Daisy is unlike anything they might have come across. She's so 24/7 and so vulnerable."
She added that she has huge anxiety about how Daisy will adapt.
"A couple of days she'll be fine because she's been to respite and a hospice, but after that I don't know, is she going to grieve? Are they going to say 'sorry, you're going to have her back' because they can't cope?.
"But from visiting the place, we can't give to Daisy what they can, they've got all the facilities she would need, with intensive interaction and a sensory-based curriculum.
"And they've got the expertise and patience, but then again, they've probably never met a Daisy before so we will have to see what happens."
A neurologist who has worked with Daisy since she was four years old said her condition may never be fully explained.
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He said: "He said: "She (Daisy) doesn't have a specific diagnosis. But we know that this happens, there are published papers out there, showing even when doing intensive investigation they still don't find a cause.
"In neurology you want to find an answer because you think that might help you understand things, certain processes. But if you do medicine clearly processes are not why you're in it, you're in it to try and make a difference.
"What Daisy has is learning difficulties, certain behaviour traits and seizures, and that's not really a syndrome, but that's the level we are working at. We haven't been able to define it more through the tests we've run, to try to get the aetiology, the cause.
"It's always very humbling to see how amazingly parents of children like Daisy do, if you put yourself into their shoes, well I don't think I'd cope."


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Reporting Entities
Kampala Capital City Authority
Uganda Lord Mayor: Erias Lukwago
Population 1517000
Area 192.0
GDP 17 Billion
Targets by Reduce 22% GHG emissions
Targets by Kampala Capital City Authority
GHG emissions reduction targets
The Kampala Capital City Authority has committed to reduce its Community emissions by 22% by 2030 compared to Baseline scenario (BAU) reduction target emission level.
The target is going to be reached by activities in Stationary energy, Industrial processes and product use (IPPU), Transport, Agriculture, forest and other land use (AFOLU) and Waste management sectors.
Renewable energy target
The Kampala Capital City Authority committed to increase its consumption of energy from renewable energy sources in Community by 191280 MWh by 2020
Current consumption of energy from renewable energy source: 81780.0 MWh 2019
The target is going to be reached by activities in Electricity and Household cooking energy sector.
The Kampala Capital City Authority committed to increase its consumption of energy from renewable energy sources in Local Government by 109500 MWh by 2020
Current consumption of energy from renewable energy source: MWh
The target is going to be reached by activities in Electricity sector.
Energy efficiency target
50% Energy efficiency improvement by 2020
The Kampala Capital City Authority committed to increase its energy efficiency in Primary energy and Local Government energy consumption by 50% by 2020 compared to 2015 levels.
Primary energy energy consumption: 90.77 Mwh
Mitigation Actions
Kampala Cable Car Project - Kampala Capital City Authority
Type: Action plan
Status: Planning phase
The cable car system is envisioned to achieve high order objectives such as; traffic decongestion,
reduction in pollution (air and noise), and improvement in transit connectivity.
This will reorganize the urban environment and city-wide mobility. These more
tangible benefits exist within a larger context; cable car development shall provide the
city and nation an opportunity to demonstrate sustainable public transport leadership
while deeply engaging international partners; inspire the next generation of leaders, scientists
and engineers; and shape public perceptions of the our place in the region.
The ultimate goal of the study has been exploring the cable car development as a catalyst
that shall chart a sustainable path to modernization of a city that delivers the greatest
transport benefits for her residents. This is an ambitious goal, but one worthy of a
great city, achievable in concert with a broad range of public, national and international
Street Parking Policy - Kampala Capital City Authority
Modernising street parking using ITS and increasing street parking fees as a traffic demand management solution. The policy is part of a comprehensive strategy for manageing congestion in the city. It is aimed at dealing with the travel demand management through increased parking charges. Under the policy, which is already under implementation, parking fees were increased by 100% starting from September 2017
Multi-Modal Urban Transport Master Plan for Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA) - Kampala Capital City Authority
Type: Strategy / Policy
Status: Under construction / set up
Purpose of the Study: The Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area is facing several transportation problems, resulting from rapid growth in vehicular traffic and lack of adequate transport infrastructure, traffic management and services. The overall objective of the assignment is to prepare a comprehensive multi-modal transport master plan that, when implemented will lead to the development of an environmentally friendly transport system and promote sustainable urban mobility to a level sufficient and necessary for a world-class capital city.
BRT - Kampala Capital City Authority
The Rationale for the Project:
The objective of the government's medium term transport sector policy is to promote efficient and effective transport services as a means of supporting increased agricultural and industrial production, trade, tourism, social and administrative services. It also aims at enhancing national and regional integration in order to open up and access the entire country, facilitate transit traffic, and promote cross-border trade. To underpin this general policy there are supplementary sub-sector policy objectives which are:
1. Replacing current taxi PSVs with new, high capacity and environmentally friendly PSVs
By 2020, at least 50% of the public transport network should be operated by high capacity buses using environmentally friendly engines.
2. Policy – franchising of bus routes in GKMA by public tenders
All bus routes in the GKMA will be organized into financially balanced groups of routes, and these groups will be tendered for operation by the private sector.
The Bus Rapid Transit project is in line with the objective of NDP II which is to develop adequate, reliable and efficient multi modal transport network in the country. The BRT is also listed as a flagship project in the National Transport Master Plan which was approved by cabinet (the top policy organ of the country).
Pilot (NMT) Non-Motorised Transport Project - Kampala Capital City Authority
Type: Technical / Infrastructural
Objective of the project - To improve the urban quality of the central area of Kampala by introduction of an NMT-zone, and by so doing, improve the economic prosperity of Kampala and inhabitants. Outcomes: About 2.5 km of an NMT corridor to be constructed with stand alone pedestrian traffic signals. The corridor will have benches for pedestrians to rest.
Development of Sustainable School Travel Plan Project - Kampala Capital City Authority
Type: Regulation
Sustainable School Transport Plan aims through a set of mechanisms, targets, and initiatives, to incorporate sustainable transport into the school and influence travel behaviour of children and staff. SSTP is an integrated school transport system (with wider travel choices) which has the potential to reduce traffic congestion, protect children from accidents, improve their health, help schools to be more efficient and support local authorities. Intended outcomes: Reduced car use, Reduced accidents, school travel plans for each school
mitigation inventories
Community inventories
GHG emission from Kampala Capital City Authority
GHG inventory in
Government operations inventory
The Kampala Capital City Authority has reported 1 government operational inventory, since 2014. In its latest inventory, compiled in 2014, the Other and Industrial process and product use are identified as key emission sources.
GHG inventory in 2014
Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago
Kampala Capital City Authority, Uganda
Status of compliance
Compact of Mayors
Sign up for our regular Low Carbon City News and get key updates on current developments in local climate action.
2017 © Carbonn All Rights Reserved

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Their work [Snowden, Greenwald, Poitras] was organized like an intelligence operation, with Poitras as the mastermind.
The Program: The filmmaker Laura Poitras profiles William Binney, a 32-year veteran of the National Security Agency who helped design a top-secret program he says is broadly collecting Americans' personal data.
ALEXANDER DEMIANCHUK/Reuters - Former Russian paratroopers shove gay rights activist Kirill Kalugin aside to stop his one-man protest in St. Petersburg, August 2, 2013. The former servicemen were gathered in central St. Petersburg to celebrate Russian Paratroopers Day.
Capital Journal: In deciding to ask lawmakers to authorize a military strike in Syria, President Obama is betting he can achieve the elusive goal of bipartisan consensus.
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan reiterated on Wednesday that Turkey would take part in any international coalition against Syria, but stopped short of saying whether that would include military action.
In an interview published on Wednesday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia pointedly warned that an attack on Syria without authorization of the United Nations Security Council would be a violation of international law.
Russia says it will act "decisively" if a regime gas attack is proven, but warns against the use of force without UN approval.
The public shaming was ordered by a judge in Ohio after the man drunkenly threatened police in 911 calls.
Vladimir Putin warned against attacking Syria without Security Council support but also said Russia "doesn't exclude" backing strikes given proof Damascus gassed its own people.
RAMALLAH (Reuters) - Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are proving pointless and will not bear fruit without much greater pressure from Washington, a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday.
The former school bus driver was jailed for life last month for holding three women captive for a decade in his Ohio house.
President Obama's drive to build support for an attack against Syria gained significant momentum as a range of congressional leaders urged wary lawmakers to back a resolution authorizing the use of military force.
French President Francois Hollande has promised he won't go it alone if US Congress opposes an armed offensive.
Владимир Путин дал эксклюзивное интервью Первому каналу и агентству "Ассошиэйтед Пресс"


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I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and I will work tirelessly in Congress to ensure that our constitutional rights are never infringed. I do not believe an assault rifle ban would be a wise or useful policy. I do, however, believe we have an obligation to do our best to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those that are truly mentally ill in order to protect our families and friends. Therefore, I am open to considering legislation that requires background checks for all guns sold at gun shows so long as the background checks remain quick and efficient, do not lead to any national registration of firearms or gun owners, and does not extend to sales between private citizens.
More on Second Amendment
Gun violence reduction bill reintroduced in House
The bipartisan Jake Laird Act was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last week during National Police Week and Mental Health Awareness Month.
The bill enables local law enforcement to temporarily remove and retain firearms with probable cause from individuals who are determined to be an imminent danger to themselves or others.
The bill also provides grants to states to provide police officers with additional training with the goal of deescalating life-threatening crises and preventing future potentially deadly events.
Brooks, others reintroduce gun violence reduction bill
Last week during National Police Week and Mental Health Awareness Month, U.S. Representatives Susan W. Brooks (R-Ind.-05), Ted Deutch (D-Fla.-22), Fred Upton (R-Mich.-06) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.-12) reintroduced the Jake Laird Act, a bipartisan bill named after an Indianapolis police officer who was shot and killed in 2004 in the line of duty by a man who struggled with mental illness.
Rep. Susan Brooks: Bill would remove guns from those who pose a threat
As we reflect on National Police Week, which ended Saturday, let's provide our law enforcement across the country every tool possible to prevent senseless acts of gun violence from harming or claiming the lives of innocent people, including our law enforcement officers.
Children are frequently asked the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The answer for Timothy "Jake" Laird from Noblesville was always the same. He dreamed of becoming a police officer.
Brooks, Deutch, Upton, Dingell Hold Press Conference to Introduce Jake Laird Act
May 9, 2018 News Releases
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Representatives Susan W. Brooks (R-IN05), Ted Deutch (D-FL22), Fred Upton (R-MI06) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI12) held a press conference to introduce H.R. 5717, the Jake Laird Act, a bipartisan bill named after an Indianapolis, Indiana police officer who was shot and killed in 2004 in the line of duty by a man who struggled with mental illness.


As a national leader in the rehabilitation of individuals with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, Craig Hospital is dedicated to providing the highest quality care to our patients and their families.
As the only stand-alone, not-for-profit hospital in Colorado, Craig Hospital relies on donor support to provide cutting-edge, holistic care.
The Craig Hospital Foundation is an independent 501 (c)(3) that exists solely to support the hospital, its programs and patients.


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Science Health and medicine Health care system
Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Conversation about drug pricing
Health care costs in US vs Europe
Healthcare system overview
Paying doctors
Medicare overview
Current time:0:00Total duration:16:01
Science·Health and medicine·Health care system
SALMAN KHAN: I'm here with Dr. Laurence Baker from Stanford Medical School, and we're going to talk about what? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: How about Medicare? SALMAN KHAN: Medicare. I think we knew that was going to happen, because we had this picture here already. So what is this a picture of? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: I think that's a picture of LBJ signing the Medicare Act in 1965. This is the time that we passed Medicare. SALMAN KHAN: Lyndon Baines Johnson, LBJ. This is Truman right over here. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: I think so. SALMAN KHAN: Maybe he was there because I think he was probably old enough by that point to be a recipient. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. 65 and over. SALMAN KHAN: So, I think we all have a general idea of what Medicare is, that it's kind of a health care program, or insurance program for people who are retired. But then, it starts to get fuzzy after that. There are all these details that confuse most of us. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah, so we talked about Medicare in a bunch of different ways. Medicare is a program. It's a US government program run by the federal government. SALMAN KHAN: So it is run by the federal government? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yep. SALMAN KHAN: And sometimes, it's thrown in with Medicaid. How are they different, just at a very high level. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Oh, so Medicaid is another different insurance program run by the federal government in coordination with state governments. Medicaid is a federal and state program. Medicare is a federal program. Medicare is for folks who are 65 years old and older and people with disabilities. Principally those two groups. Medicaid is a program that's aimed at lower income populations, and so-- SALMAN KHAN: OK. So this older people and disabilities. This is low income, kind of a poverty issue. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yes. Mostly. SALMAN KHAN: I'm gonna write that down. Low income. And this is primarily retirees? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. The vast majority of people in there are folks who are there because they are over 65. SALMAN KHAN: OK. And we're just going to focus on Medicare. And Medicare is federal government. Medicaid is the federal and the state government are on Medicaid, because they always sound very similar. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: They sound very similar. Yeah, I know. They're easily confused, certainly at the name level. Really different programs. They operate completely separately. In a few cases, there are people who get access to both of them, but they pay differently. They run differently. They're-- SALMAN KHAN: But at federal level, they are still run by the same organization, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare. Or Medicaid-- DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. The Department of Health and Human Services has a subpart called the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. SALMAN KHAN: --executive branch. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. SALMAN KHAN: The executive branch of our government, obviously. And then you have the Secretary of Health-- DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Health and Human Services. SALMAN KHAN: So, Health and Human Services. And then within that, you have CMS. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: You have CMS. SALMAN KHAN: Which is the Centers for-- and you were saying earlier, it should have two M's in it. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. It's the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. So I think it's just shorter to have one M. But really, there's two in there. SALMAN KHAN: [INAUDIBLE] instead of calling it CMMS. OK. They administer at the federal level, both Medicare and Medicaid. But just to reiterate, Medicare is really mainly a federal thing, while Medicaid is both. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah, Medicare-- SALMAN KHAN: And they're run separately, so you have Medicare here. Medicare. And then you Medicaid here. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. SALMAN KHAN: I see. All right. All right. So let's dive deep into Medicare. So I guess, what is it? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: So Medicare is an insurance program. It provides insurance coverage for people who are eligible for it. So if you're age 67 and over, or if you have a permanent disability, a couple other small groups. If you have Lou Gehrig's disease, or end stage renal disease, kidney failure, then you can get access to Medicare too, but those are small populations. So if you're in those groups, you're eligible for Medicare. Medicare will provide you with insurance that will cover hospital bills, doctor bills, some prescription drugs. It'll cover lots of medical care-- SALMAN KHAN: You know, I hear these things-- this is the part that I think gets confusing for everyone. Is that you start hearing Part A, Part B, Part C, Part, D. I don't even if those are all the parts. What are those referring to? And are they exactly insurance, or are they something slightly different? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: OK, so Medicare has these four parts. Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D. And it can get a little confusing, but we can break it up into some different pieces. So the biggest one, in terms of the number of people who are in it, is what sometimes we call traditional Medicare. And that's what historically is Part A and Part B. And you kind of want to take those two together, because they make a package. And we call that maybe traditional Medicare. Sometimes people call it original Medicare, standard Medicare. But when they passed the program, when they first did it, Part A was meant to cover hospital expenditures, and Part B was aimed at doctor costs, costs for seeing physicians. Of course, those things go so closely together that nowadays, Part A and Part B are kind of a pair. So you really rarely would find someone who only wanted Part A, or only wanted Part B. SALMAN KHAN: Right. Sometimes, you hear the doctor processes it as outpatient. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: It's [INAUDIBLE]. SALMAN KHAN: Hospitals, sometimes you hear the word inpatient, means you're living there while they're treating you. Outpatient, you go visit them for an hour or two and leave. And that's where you hear those. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. So that's a way of breaking up the kinds of services that medicine provides. Medicare actually gets a little bit-- it's mix and match. So really, Medicare Part A expenditures when a hospital bills Medicare for use of the hospital, use of a room, use of the services at the hospital. Anytime a doctor bills Medicare, even if they saw the patient in the hospital, they're going to be a Part B expenditure. SALMAN KHAN: I see. I see. So it isn't strictly inpatient, outpatient. It really is much more along the lines of hospital and doctor. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yep. SALMAN KHAN: OK. So I'll maybe put this in some type of [INAUDIBLE] way or something. It's not necessarily outpatient, inpatient. That's maybe one way of-- DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yes, it is useful to think about that, outpatient, inpatient. SALMAN KHAN: And will it cover everything that happens? Including drugs? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: OK. So drugs is one key issue. To the main question, the first thing I guess I'd say is that traditional Medicare is pretty comprehensive. It covers most of the things that people would normally encounter in their needs throughout the year. SALMAN KHAN: Right. Does it cover everything? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Prescription drugs is one big exception. SALMAN KHAN: It does not cover-- so Parts A and Part B do not cover prescription drugs. So when Lyndon Johnson was signing this, if Truman had to get prescribed some drug, and if he was a Medicare recipient, in 1965, he would have had to pay that out of pocket. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. So I guess one caveat I'll note is that if you get prescription drugs that are administered to you while you're in the hospital-- SALMAN KHAN: I see. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: --you're staying in the hospital, they give you drugs, that's going to be generally covered under Part A. It's when you're outpatient, and you're going home, and somebody sends you to pharmacy to pick up a-- SALMAN KHAN: I see. Medicare in its original form would not cover that. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: They would not cover the outpatient prescription drugs. So that became a problem for some folks, and that has generated changes to the Medicare program. SALMAN KHAN: Right. Since then, there is a part now that cover that. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yes. So that's the Part D program as a Medicare extension. I don't know how far you want to get-- SALMAN KHAN: We can-- I'll write that right here. Well just, D for drugs. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. The whole story of prescription drugs and Medicare has a lot to it. People would buy additional policies if they had A and B. They'd buy themselves a private supplement that might cover drugs sometimes. But now, with the new Part D plan, maybe people would buy that instead. And there's other stuff. SALMAN KHAN: There's probably a C right there. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: There's a C that's coming. SALMAN KHAN: We can get to that in a second. But so, A and B, traditional. A, hospitals. B, doctors. And what percent would-- with my health insurance, there's a copay every time I visit the a doctor. It's $20. How does it work with traditional Medicare, with Parts A and Part B? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: So if you just have Part A and Part B, then on the Part B side, doctors are covered 80% of the Medicare allowable charges. So Medicare has a fee schedule that governs what doctors can be paid for services. And Medicare will cover 80% of that, and the patient pays 20%. SALMAN KHAN: I see. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: For Part A, it gets a little more complicated, but there's a co-payment that you have to make. If you go to the hospital, Medicare is going to have a copayment of a fixed amount, several hundred dollars, coming up. SALMAN KHAN: OK. It's just not as simple as 80-20. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: No. Not as simple as 80-20. You're going to pay a copayment there too. So they're not bad coverage. But there's certainly some costs you can run up. And if you're pretty sick, you might really have a bill that's left [INAUDIBLE]. SALMAN KHAN: And there's extreme flexibility here. You can see any doctor you want, go to any hospital you want. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. Medicare Part A and Part B is, to one way of thinking, one of the last bastions of health care as it exists, or health insurance as it existed in America in 1965, '70, '75, when there were really minimal restrictions on what doctors you could see, what hospitals you could use. Doctors get lots of discretion here about the services they're going to provide, and there's not a lot of oversight that you might see in today's HMOs, or other kinds of-- SALMAN KHAN: Right. But there are still-- maybe I'm wrong here-- there still are doctors that won't take Medicare patients? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: So, doctors can elect to be Medicare doctors or not. And some doctors, I think, decide they have enough business or enough patients from other places. And Medicare's a plan that's got its rules, and you have to follow the rules. And some people think that Medicare doesn't pay as well as other options they have. So there are a few. Most of the doctors, the vast majority of doctors in the country, will work with Medicare. SALMAN KHAN: And you're saying, it is kind of the super flexible thing. If you do have an illness, you can go see multiple doctors, get second opinions. You could go to the specialist on the other side the country. So it is pretty good that way. Although you have to pay 20% of at least the doctor's visit, so it's a pretty-- so what happens if I'm a retiree? I don't have a lot of money. I have a major bill. Say I have a surgery that's $50,000. I know that's more of a hospital inpatient thing. Are there other options so that they don't have to pay that out of pocket? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. So there's a bunch of things that go into trying to figure out what the cost to getting this are, and how you might get covered for some of these other services. The main thing that would be the answer to the question is, there are supplemental policies. So if you're a retiree, and you've gotten Part A, because you're eligible for that, and you've Medicare tax, and you've got Part B, for which you do have to pay a little bit of money every month-- subsidized, but still a premium you have to pay-- you might decide in addition to that to pay for a supplemental insurance policy, which you'd buy from a private place. The AARP is one place that sells these. There are other folks that sell them. You pay an extra premium for that. That's an additional insurance plan that you have. And that might agree, or you might have a method there to have them cover that 20% co-pay, the additional hospitals. And those plans, there's some different varieties of those that cover more or less generously, and of course, charge a higher or a lower premium for. SALMAN KHAN: I see. That makes complete sense. And do people have to pay any premium to be in Medicare? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: To get A and B both, you have to A, you generally don't. If you pay your Medicare tax for 10 years, you work for 10 years here, and you pay your Medicare tax, you get Part A for free. But Part B charges a premium. So you do have to pay a small monthly-- SALMAN KHAN: And it's what? It's like on the order of like, $100 a month? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah, generally. It's gone up a little bit over time, or something like that. SALMAN KHAN: So it's not too much. Maybe $100 or a little bit more per month, which is nothing. I mean, if you're 65 or over, and you try to get a private policy, you're probably looking at something like a thousand dollars a month. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yes. So I guess two ways of thinking about it. One, this is heavily subsidized. Compared to what a person 75 years old or 80 would pay for an actual private insurance policy would be much, much higher than that. There are people who look at that $100 a month in fixed income and Social Security and things, and you say that's an issue. And so one of the things that's just in the news the last few weeks is the fact that this number, the number went up a bit. Social Security payments went up a little bit. But less, actually, than the Medicare. So people are saying-- SALMAN KHAN: I see. So there's a net decrease. I see. I see. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: --if you're buying both. So there's some people who will still be worried about that, even though it is heavily subsidized, and looks like a great deal. SALMAN KHAN: I see. And then finally, so we have no A, B. And then we have a little bit of D. We know it's all about covering drugs. What does C do? [INAUDIBLE] exist? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yes. C exists. C has been around for 20 or 30 years now. C is a separate choice. So when you turn 65, let's say, you can make this choice a little bit differently sometimes too. But when you turn 65, you might decide to take part A and part B, maybe by a traditional supplement. Maybe you add the first Part D drug plan on and make yourself package. Or you can elect Part C, and Part C is an alternative. Under Part C, what happens is the CMS, federal government, has contracted with some HMOs. Kaiser, Blue Cross, other places. Sometimes, they've contracted with a few PPOs. They've tried other kinds of plans too. Mostly it's HMOs. So you have a choice then. You can join Kaiser, and have Kaiser be your Medicare plan. You can join the Blue Cross one. Depending on where you are, you'll have different choices of different private plans that have contracted. And you can do that. The federal government will then pay a bunch of your premium to them. SALMAN KHAN: I see. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: So you'll get covered by the private plan with the federal government covering your costs. They might ask you to pay some additional premium. You're going to have to pay your Part B equivalent already. So you've got to pay that amount. But then, you might have to pay a little bit extra. And then, you'll get access to what services that has. And for some people, that's attractive. Because though the co-payments and deductibles will be lower-- you'll often have more like the $10 copay-- you might have access to some prescription drug coverage automatically built in there. Sometimes those cover some vision and other things, which might be nice. SALMAN KHAN: So this one or plans. I could get this, while it's 80% coverage-- well, I can't make that rule, because hospitals, it could be different. But you get this kind of flexible thing. But you have a pretty significant co-pay, the 20% patient. I could get supplemental insurance for me to cover some of that right over there. Or I can do Part C. Is there a name for Part C? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Part C these days is called Medicare Advantage. So the plans in Part C are called Medicare Advantage plans. SALMAN KHAN: Which is really just Medicare subsidizing me to get private insurance. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Right. From some plans that have agreed to work with Medicare patients. SALMAN KHAN: And there's various checking up on them. So they agree to basically cover everything that A and B would cover, so you're not going to get skimped on too much. SALMAN KHAN: And what do most people do? Do they go A and B? The traditional route? Or do they go the C route? DR. LAURENCE BAKER: So historically, the vast majority of people have gone A and B route. It changes. It kind of goes up and down over time, depending on various factors. But over a historical average, it would be something like 80%, 85%, 90% in A, and maybe 20%, 15%, 10% in B and C, depending on which year you're looking at over the last 15 year. SALMAN KHAN: Right. And we could probably do a whole series of videos on it. So when did D come about? It wasn't part of the original-- DR. LAURENCE BAKER: D was not part of the original. D comes about in the early 2000s under George Bush. George W. Bush. SALMAN KHAN: This is what we heard about. I think it was like, 2003. I think I it was-- DR. LAURENCE BAKER: I think that's probably about right. And the issue there was there's a lot of folks who were having trouble getting their outpatient drugs covered. So this is a plan, this is another part of Medicare. You can elect to buy this. You normally would think about this if you got A and B, and you wanted to get outpatient drugs covered, you'd think about a D plan. Part D is run by the federal government, kind of the way that C is. They subsidize, and they pay a premium to the private plans that cover drugs. Or at least they organize the market, and the person then pays also some premium to get-- SALMAN KHAN: I see. So a private-- DR. LAURENCE BAKER: So it's private. SALMAN KHAN: A private entity will handle the actual reimbursements for the drugs, but Medicare will pay them. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yeah. So the way to think about it is, just a bunch of private entities with funds flows coming in, partly from the person, partly from Medicare, to buy these. SALMAN KHAN: OK. And who do you pay your money to? You pay it to Medicare? You pay it to these-- DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Uh. SALMAN KHAN: Actually-- it works out the same way one way or the other. This is optional. A retiree or someone over 65 would pay money to essentially get a drug plan subsidized. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Yes. SALMAN KHAN: OK. Cool. Cool. Well, no, this is super. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: Well, actually, we're trying to think about subsidies. But there's some interesting-- [INTERPOSING VOICES] SALMAN KHAN: Oh, I guess to be able to participate in a drug plan. DR. LAURENCE BAKER: I mean, they are subsidized. And the federal is taking a bunch of money in. But how exactly the economics of these plans works out has been an interesting discussion over the last couple over year. SALMAN KHAN: Right. Right. No, we could make a ton of videos. No, this is super helpful. Because, I think, frankly, I didn't know about the differences right here before about 15 minutes ago. All right. Well, thanks a bunch.


In the beginning, Hubert de Givenchy thought he would stage "a simple retrospective" in Los Angeles. Thirteen months later, struggling with last-minute details and literally knee-deep in dresses from his past, the man who memorably dressed Audrey Hepburn for movie escapades and the Duchess of Windsor for her graveside farewell to her husband conceded the event had grown beyond his expectations.
As he sat in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel on Wednesday, he apologized for keeping his suite off-limits. It was, he said, in a state of disarray--filled with boxes and tissue-stuffed ball gowns sent at the last minute from New York and Brazil by two adoring clients.
Over at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel--site of tonight's retrospective spanning his 36 years as a prince of haute couture--there were more clothes. They had come from Paris in trunks, but the keys had somehow gone astray and Givenchy and his aides spent much of the morning making frantic efforts "to liberate the dresses."
By the designer's own reckoning, he and his entourage arrived from Paris with 27 trunks filled with everything from hundreds and hundreds of pairs of shoes and myriad accessories down to ribbons and straight pins. "Crazy," he said. "I've never done anything like this."
As he worked on last-minute preparations, he asked for a 5-year-old model who could resemble the young Princess Caroline of Monaco as she stood in a photo with a dog. Givenchy had found a good dog, but not the right child. And there would only be a copy of the dress. The original, the princess had told him, "was somewhere in the palace but she couldn't find it." Among other copies in the retrospective, there is the "famous blue-and-white dress" the Duchess of Windsor--and, as it happened, 24 other women--wore for a"big soiree. The Duchess was a good sport," Givenchy says, smiling at the memory of 25 women in the same dress. "She took all of them on a tour of the ballroom."
Missing from the retrospective will be dresses from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ("They're in the Boston Museum"). Paramount and other studios, he says, would not lend any Givenchy costumes they had.
But Audrey Hepburn, his muse and friend, flew in from Ecuador to be by his side when he receives the first State of California Lifetime Achievement Award. She will be wearing a "fabulous red dress" that the designer took time to deliver--via taxi--on Wednesday. "He's sweet and thoughtful and not the least bit pompous," marveled Hepburn.
She first met tall, elegant Givenchy in Paris when he was "this young, barely started genius. I had done 'Roman Holiday' and was about to do 'Sabrina' for Billy Wilder. If you remember, the girl is sent to Paris and transformed by French couture.
"I was in Europe and I thought it would be lovely to come back with couture," she added. Edith Head, in charge of wardrobing for Paramount, said "yes" and Hepburn went looking for the much-talked-about Givenchy. "It was just before the collections, and the last thing he needed was this unknown actress walking in, asking 'Could I see your clothes for a movie?' But in his usual simple, unpretentious way, he said, 'Why not?' "
He showed her the famous black-and-white embroidered evening gown she wore in "Sabrina," along with some suits, "and fixed them for me right then and there. We became great friends from that day."
After their first collaboration came Givenchy creations for films such as "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Funny Face," "Charade" and "Bloodline," in which Hepburn recalls there were 24 Givenchy costumes.
She has no favorites, but "Something I loved was the short black dress and wonderful lace mask-veil I wore in 'How to Steal a Million,' with Peter O'Toole. I was trying to be mysterious and the mask was such a pretty way to be incognito. Hubert always had a wonderful understanding of the scenes."
Leading a quiet life in Switzerland these days, Hepburn wears only jeans--or Givenchy: "I like unadorned simplicity . . . Somehow his clothes have always been right for me, for my body. It's never elegant and pompous. There's always that little bow or something that gives it a lightness."
The man himself, she said, "is like his clothes: simple with a sense of humor."
For Della Koenig, chairman of the retrospective fund-raiser, Givenchy is "the best designer in the whole world. He makes the most beautiful evening and cocktail clothes. They're exquisite but not flamboyant . . . He is, as they say in Paris, 'a grand signor.' "
It was last year, Koenig recalled, that she asked Givenchy if he would accept the Lifetime Achievement Award and do a retrospective in L.A. "He took both my hands," she said, "and told me, 'I want you to know I owe my successes to you American ladies. May I kiss you?' " When he kissed her on the cheek, Koenig "was a little flustered. He's the most dashing cavalier I've ever seen in my life."
Givenchy is indeed dashing, and at six-foot-six he's often the tallest man in the room, his impeccable frame made all the more outstanding by silver hair and vivid blue eyes. He grew up in an atmosphere of art and design (his grandfather was a director of the Beauvais Tapestry Works). "As a young boy," he recalled, "I always wanted to be a designer."
At 17, he became an apprentice-designer for Jacques Fath and subsequently worked with Robert Piguet and Elsa Schiaparelli, a woman he remembers as "not an easy person but fascinating." It was at the house of Schiaparelli that he met countless famous clients, including the Duchess of Windsor.
In 1952, he opened his own maison de couture , operating on a shoestring and creating his first collection entirely of white shirting fabric. He immediately became one of the most talked-about designers in Paris.
"I didn't have much money," he explained. "I showed the line with the intention that the shops could order in silk or more expensive fabrics." But the white cotton garments "were lovely and very young. I think that is why the press had so much enthusiasm. There was no comparison with any other collections in Paris at the time."
To this day, he loves "fresh cotton," linen and silk. But he is hardly a fabric snob. When Du Pont invented Orlon he designed the first sweaters in the synthetic yarn and even went into American department stores to promote the product. Years later he was seen on television extolling the beauty of the Lincoln Continentals for which he had chosen the interior colors.
Aside from his haute couture and ready-to-wear lines for women, there is a vast array of licensed designs including perfumes (among them L'Intedit created for Audrey Hepburn), menswear, luggage, home furnishing fabrics, sunglasses, jewelry and hosiery. Early next year a line of makeup will be introduced.
Among the more unusual Givenchy-licensed lines are Japanese wedding gowns and dresses for widows. There is also a collection of large-size clothing, made in Germany and carried locally in Bullock's, that began when Givenchy designed a dress for a friend who had complained she couldn't find anything to fit her.


text:
The role of accounting in high-technology investments
Julia A. Smith (Lead / Corresponding author), Renzo Cordina
We present new qualitative empirical evidence from a series of interviews with representatives of venture capital support organisations, which discusses the role of accounting in high-technology investments. Our discussion is framed around three propositions on: whether or not the stewardship role of accounting still holds; the usefulness, or otherwise, of accounting information in the valuation of high-technology investments; and assessing the value of intangible assets in the investment decision. We find that accounting no longer plays such a strong stewardship role, certainly for the venture capital investor. Further, its role in enabling investors to make decisions on how, when and how much to invest is limited. We propose that standard setters take this on board in revising reporting requirements.
British Accounting Review
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2014.03.002
Technology investment
Accounting information
Empirical evidence
Investment decision
high technology ventures
stewardship accounting
high technology investments
Smith, J. A., & Cordina, R. (2014). The role of accounting in high-technology investments. British Accounting Review, 46(3), 309-322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2014.03.002
Smith, Julia A. ; Cordina, Renzo. / The role of accounting in high-technology investments. In: British Accounting Review. 2014 ; Vol. 46, No. 3. pp. 309-322.
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This week, Bend went crazy with fights, a murder and now Lars Larson is coming.
Greg Walden was back in Bend soft pedaling his Bush-onomics and fomenting small business owners with his patented Washington-is-out-to-get-you rhetoric. This time Walden was meeting with the local chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business Owners.
Based on a news report, the event read like a who's-who of the Bend Chamber of Commerce with festivities hosted by Peter Carlson of Carlson Sign. It included such delicious obliviousness as this nugget from Chamber President Troy Reinhardt who lamented that his wealthiest clients won't have as much to invest in his financial firm if the Bush tax cuts aren't extended. Oh, the horror! But it was Walden who took the hyperbole award as usual, advising attendees that, if Republicans don't prevail in the midterms, they should, "bury all your money in the back yard and lock up our dogs and your children on Nov. 14 when Congress reconvenes." Seriously, Greg, you're not helping here. Wtf?


text:
We have years of experience caring for families, from all walks of life. Each family comes to us because they know we are leaders in our profession, dedicated to excellence in service, and have the highest integrity.
Over 100 years ago the Heflebower family settled in the Arkansas Valley of Colorado. In 2013 the family opened their own family funeral and cremation service in the south Denver metro. Serving their friends and neighbors like family is the purpose behind their company. Heflebower Funeral & Cremation Services is a heart based, "family" business. The photo is of my grandfather, Charles L. Heflebower, in front of the family home in Fowler, CO.
Our Valued Staff
Mike Heflebower, Funeral Director/Owner
Mike Heflebower has over 30 years of funeral service experience in all facets of the industry. Mike has led his work in large corporate locations, as well as small-town, family-owned and operated sites. He has served families in Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas.
Mike has many years of multi-cultural experience and a vast knowledge of most of the world's religions.
Mike has experience in managing funeral homes, cemeteries, pre-need trusts companies along with markers and monuments.
He is a 1990 Graduate of Kansas City, Kansas School of Mortuary Sciences. Mike obtained his national board certification in 1990 and has held the Certified Funeral Service Practitioner (CFSP) designation from the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice since 1997.
Mike is married to Dr. Tammy (Saville) Heflebower. Tammy is an educational leader and is Senior Scholar of Marzano Research Laboratory in Centennial, CO. Mike and Tammy have two sons that attend schools in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Mike's parents, Lee and Betty Heflebower, are also involved in the company. Both were born and raised in southeastern Colorado.
Abby Ortmeier, Funeral Director
Abby Ortmeier is a licensed funeral director from West Point, Nebraska. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Hastings College before moving out to Littleton, Colorado. There, she obtained her Associate's Degree in Mortuary Science from Arapahoe Community College. In March of 2019, Abby passed her board exams and became a nationally licensed funeral director. She has multiple years of experience at a handful of funeral homes in both Colorado and Nebraska. Abby also has experience working at Seven Stones Botanical Gardens Cemetery as a family advisor.
One of Abby's favorite things to do is go on hikes and explore this beautiful state with her boyfriend Reid, and their pup, Baer, who regularly keeps them on their toes. Although she adores mountain life, she misses her family and friends back home. Her parents, Warren and Joyce, and sister, Kristine, always send their love from Nebraska.
In the next few years, Abby hopes to expand her knowledge and experience as a funeral director. She is excited to watch the industry grow and change, and looks forward to many more years of serving families on the Front Range.
Jessica Faust, Funeral Director
Dennis Kramer, Funeral Director
Dennis Kramer was born and raised in Scottsbluff, NE. He received his education in Nebraska and graduated from San Francisco College of Mortuary Science in 1970. He returned to Scottsbluff where he managed funeral homes in Western Nebraska. He married Connie Sams, also of Scottsbluff, and they raised two children, Jason, who lives in Colorado Springs, CO with wife Becky and 3 sons, and Jacqueline who lives in Spencer, IN with husband Adam Goss and 1 daughter and 2 sons. While in Scottsbluff he was active in many civic affairs and the First United Presbyterian Church.
In 1974, Dennis sold his interest in the funeral homes and moved to Colorado Springs. He is currently an active elder of the Monument Community Presbyterian Church.
Dr. Lee Heflebower, VP
Dr. Lee Heflebower, Mike's father, has his PhD from the University of Nebraska in Educational Psychology. Lee and Betty (Higby) Heflebower were both born and raised in Colorado. Lee has his undergraduate degree from Western State College in Gunnison. He has worked in the funeral industry for over ten years and manages the Highlands Ranch office. He and his wife live in Littleton.
Betty Heflebower
Betty is Lee's wife and Mike's mother. She is a Colorado native from the Fowler and Pueblo area.
If you ever have a homemade cookie at the office, it was made by Betty!
Paul Dwyer, Associate
Jim Moon, Funeral Director
At the time of his father's death in 1988, Jim's professional life was in corporate relocation and residential real estate sales, and the experience he had in making his father's arrangements told him there had to be a better way to do this. Finally, in 1995, Jim decided to find that better way and entered funeral service as an advance planner helping families plan their funerals in advance of need with a large funeral home in Orlando, Florida. Working side-by-side with the funeral directors, he saw many similarities in what they did as to what he did as a project manager in corporate relocation, and in 1996 Jim applied to and was accepted into the Funeral Service Program at St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, Florida.
After graduating, he worked as an embalmer for five years in Orlando with the same funeral home. Then came 1999, and Jim and his family vacationed in Colorado and fell in love with it! Thirty days later he had a job, they moved and he began working solely as a funeral director.
He met Mike Heflebower when they worked together at a large Denver funeral home before Mike opened his own. After Jim retired from that funeral home, the two met up, and Mike invited Jim to join Heflebower Funeral Service. Jim's work in funeral service has been the most personally rewarding experience of his life, and he is very pleased to be affiliated with Heflebower Funeral Service.
Al Germain, Associate
April Schauer, Certified Celebrant/Associate
Maureen Herzog, Associate
Merv Leaman, Associate
Ron Mitchell, Associate
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Kathleen has been in the funeral industry for many years throughout the Denver metro.
Milt Jensen, Associate
Milt is a retired Pastor and educator. Milt lives in Castle Rock.
Heflebower Funeral and Cremation Services
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Q: what are webhooks? what is its use?how can i use it in my woocommerce wordpress site? I would like to know the following things about the web-hook,
1. Actually what are web-hooks and what is its functionality?
2. I have a woo-commerce word-press site, how can i make use of the web-hook in my android app for my woocommerce sie?
3. For integrating web-hooks in android application which have a woo-commerce site what all things i need to do?
Can anyone help me please..
Thanks in advance..

A: From WooThemes WebHooks Documentation,

What are Webhooks?
  A Webhook is essentially an event
  notification sent to a URL of your choosing. Users can configure them
  to cause events on one site to invoke behaviour on another.
Webhooks are therefore very useful for integrating with third party
  services and other external API that support them.

The site goes on to explain how to manage web hooks and gives some examples that could be useful.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I'd always wanted to read this book, the 1903 grandfather of the espionage genre. Found it at Slightly Foxed on Gloucester Road. So excited. Saved it for the perfect time, cracked it open, read it slow to savor it.
Look, I've read all sorts of books out of history, books hundreds of years old. I absolutely love everything H.G. Wells ever wrote. And the book starts off well, with lonely Carruthers kicking about London during the summer vacation month. He gets a strange invitation to help pilot a small yacht around the Baltic from a one-time friend, a drifting failure of a man, which he desperately and whimsically accepts. And so he arrives and they bump about the Baltic for a bit, with Carruthers shaking off his preconceptions (and rediscovering them) over and over.
So finally, we get to the crux of the issue. We learn that someone has tried to kill his companion Davies. Horrifying. Except it was a pretty inept attempt on his life, to draw him away from the spot on the North German coast he'd been puttering about in, to lead him over the sandbanks off Neuwark to beach him in hopes that his boat tipped over and he drowns (which is about as likely to work as putting a rake on someone's front lawn at night in hopes they walk out and whack themselves in the head with it). The attempt was a long shot, very circumstantial. If I'd been Carruthers, I would have been more likely to slip ashore at the next port and find better amusements elsewhere.
There was nothing remarkable about it, a double and a single block (like our peak halyards), the lower one hook into a ring in the boat, the hauling part made fast to a clear on the davit itself.
Eventually the two use their rowboat to skit over the sands one night, so Carruthers can listen through a window and pick up precisely… nothing. And then Carruthers leaves Davies to ride a train, doubling back to trudge across bleak salt fens, discovering a lot of nothing either. Nobody shoots at him. Nobody follows him. He gets rained on. And finally he sneaks onto a towed barge. There, he spies the Kaiser (okay, that could be a clue) and witnesses a lot of circumstantial evidence (that the Germans are towing a half-loaded barge in every direction, so this means they are going to barge their troops to England and invade! Huh?
And so the hero grounds the villains onto the sands and escapes on a boat, to carry this news back. Evidently this is enough for a man to commit suicide (for reasons and backstory we never learn) and that the British Admiralty place a new port facility on the North Sea approaches.
It's one of those books you put down and think, Waitaminute. What?
The publishers knew this, of course. As I closed the book, I reexamined the cover, a drawing of Davies and Carruthers in a small fen-hidden boat, looking out at flotilla of dark and distant cruisers. Yes, that would have been exciting! That would have been something! Not a long tangled string with newly-build coastal barges, 20 tons of coal, and the vague appearance of the crown prince.
For you literary history buffs, I'm going to recommend a pass. Very disappointing.


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NFL FPINFL FPI
Total QBRTotal QBR
The Jimmy Graham mistake 2.0: TE a rare miss for Packers GM
1yRob Demovsky
Crowning achievement: Packers receivers prove worthy once and for all
2dRob Demovsky
'Too much information' never enough for Packers' dominant offense
First look at Bucs-Packers, Bills-Chiefs: Matchup previews, X factors, big questions, more
3dKevin Seifert and Dan Graziano
Ranking the NFL's non-quarterback MVPs: Can anyone top Aaron Donald?
2dSeth Walder
Rodgers relishes long-awaited title game at home
NFL playoffs: Packers-Rams matchup features clash of No. 1 offense, defense
Best buds Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur to lock horns when Rams battle Packers
Game plans for Sunday's NFL divisional matchups: How each team could win -- and lose
7dMatt Bowen
Rob DemovskyESPN Staff Writer
Covered Packers for Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1997-2013
Two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Jimmy Graham versus Zach Brown. Six-foot-7 against 6-foot-1. It was a classic mismatch.
Except here's the thing Graham forgot: Two hands are better than one.
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For reasons only Graham knows, the Green Bay Packers tight end extended only his right hand and failed to corral what should have been a 1-yard touchdown that could have tied Thursday's game against the Philadelphia Eagles midway through the fourth quarter.
Excuse Graham for not making a similar catch on first down three plays earlier. That ball could have been thrown higher, and Eagles safety Rodney McLeod put up a good fight on the fade to Graham.
But the fourth-down play, one on which Aaron Rodgers peeled off to the right and Graham got Brown, the Eagles' linebacker, turned around, was exactly what the Packers brought Graham in for when they signed him in 2018.
"He's well aware that he should have gone up with two [hands] on the last one," Packers tight ends coach Justin Outten said.
The longer Graham plays in Green Bay -- it's going on 21 games heading into Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys -- the more it seems that's the way his tenure with the Packers will be marked. Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst made Graham one of his first major moves. He signed him to a three-year, $30 million deal on the day in March 2018 when he released receiver Jordy Nelson.
Gutekunst hasn't made many mistakes during his early run as GM. His two drafts look fruitful, especially at the top, with 2018 first-round pick Jaire Alexander and the second of his two 2019 first-rounders, Darnell Savage. His four high-priced free-agent signings this offseason -- Adrian Amos, Preston Smith, Za'Darius Smith and Billy Turner -- have produced already.
Packers tight end Jimmy Graham has "declined a lot," an NFL scout said this week. Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire
But it looks like Graham will go down as one of the two biggest mistakes of Gutekunst's first two seasons.
The second mistake? Bringing Graham back for a second season.
Gutekunst could have gotten out of the contract after one year and $13 million, had he released Graham before he had to pay a $5 million roster bonus in March. But Gutekunst, perhaps convinced that Graham would flourish in new coach Matt LaFleur's offense in ways he did not under Mike McCarthy last season, made it clear at the combine in February that Graham remained in the 2019 plan.
"I look forward to seeing what he can do for us this year," Gutekunst said at the time.
The offseason and training camp showed only bits of evidence to suggest that things would be different. Still, coaches and teammates alike thought Graham was poised to play more like he did in 2017 -- when he caught 10 touchdowns during his final season in Seattle -- than last season, when he caught just two and admitted late in the season that "my numbers suck."
Graham will turn 33 next month, and while he has already equaled his touchdown total from last season -- his second of the season was a 14-yarder in the third quarter of Thursday's game against the Eagles -- he hasn't had the kind of impact performance the Packers thought they'd get from him on at least a semiregular basis.
"He's declined," one NFL scout this week. "He's declined a lot."
When asked about the fourth-down play, another scout said Graham would've made that play two years ago.
"No doubt," the scout said. "Now it's probably a 50-50 [play] at best."
Yet the Packers still plan to try to get Graham involved.
LaFleur has regularly mentioned Graham as one of the team's top playmakers, along with Davante Adams. With Adams' status in doubt for Sunday's game at Dallas because of a toe injury, LaFleur might have no choice but to try to get Graham more involved.
Meanwhile, Rodgers seemingly praises Graham at every turn.
Last week, he said: "Jimmy's the best. He's a great teammate. He's one of my best friends, not just as a teammate. I love our conversations, getting to talk to him. He is a very positive person. He's a realist. His focus and preparation has been second to none, as usual."
After Thursday's game, Rodgers said: "The trust is high with Jimmy. I've got a lot of faith in him. He made a great adjustment on the touchdown in the first half, the two-minute drive. Not something we talked about -- he just wheeled it up. I saw him, and he made a nice catch on the ball. I know he probably expects to make one of those two plays there [from the 1-yard line], but I have a ton of confidence in Jimmy."
Games in Dallas are also a reminder of why the Packers turned to Graham in the first place. It was in Dallas that tight end Jared Cook made that toe-tapping, 35-yard, sideline catch to set up the winning field goal in the Packers' divisional playoff win following the 2016 season. Botched negotiations on both sides then led the Packers to turn to Martellus Bennett, whose disastrous tenure led the Packers to Graham.
Graham has not discussed whether he was surprised the Packers brought him back for a second season. Whatever he thinks of his role and performance this season has come via others.
"He's a true competitor, and a true competitor obviously wants to have a big part in helping the team win," Outten said. "He was a little frustrated going into this game. It was our job to get him the ball. In previous weeks, when you have him as the first look and first read, sometimes the defense has other plans.
"Certain situations the last couple weeks against good defenses, they took away some of those situations. It was good to see him get rolling [against the Eagles]."