text:
Hjem Diverse News in English Man confesses to killing 24 boys
Man confesses to killing 24 boys
Prosecutors said today that Franciso das Chagas made his latest confession yesterday after four days of intense police questioning.
If the confessions prove true, they would spell the end to the mystery of who was killing and castrating boys in northeastern Maranhao state at a rate of about three per year since 1991.
Marques said, however, the confessions were remarkable for the richness of detail and could only have come from someone who was at the crime scene or who had a morbid fascination with the crimes and had extensively investigated them.
Chagas was arrested on Saturday after police uncovered the remains of two young boys buried beneath the dirt floor of his shack on the poor outskirts of Sao Luiz.
One of the bodies belonged to 4-year-old boy who was identified by scraps of clothing he was wearing when he disappeared in February 2003. Police were uncertain about the identity of the second corpse.
After initially denying everything, Chagas, over the weekend, confessed to killing 20 boys between 1991 and last year. Since Monday he confessed to four more killings.
Forrige artikkel19 die in anti-US attacks
Neste artikkel5250 cops to guard Miss Universe


text:
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Build.Framework;
using Microsoft.DotNet.InternalAbstractions;

namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Build
{
    public partial class DotNetCli
    {
        public static readonly DotNetCli Stage1 = new DotNetCli(Dirs.Stage1);
        public static readonly DotNetCli Stage2 = new DotNetCli(Dirs.Stage2);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


We leased several (10) of these copiers thinking that they would work fine for what we needed, we were wrong! These machines are so slow to warm up that you can walk away for 10 minutes and it's still warming up. There is also a problem when a large file is sent from a computer it will jam the entire printer and will clear each page printed one by one, restarting after EACH page! This means if you have a 20 page document that gets jammed you have to wait for it to restart 20 times! I've tried calling tech support ; however, they couldn't figure out why it was doing it also. If you're looking into this model... steer clear!
50 ppm devices used to be very large, but this little baby does everything with the same user interface as the big boys. I like it.
The WorkCentre 4250 has been a valuable asset to the productivity flow of our front office. Every feature option has its place and accommodates us every time. Sometimes in my office it looks like a giveaway because there is always a line at the copier machine. My favorite feature is the ability to scan documents to my email or interoffice and I truly enjoy the ability to setup an envelope and print it out prepared and professional. We have a large mail output. I recommend Xerox for all printer/copier needs.
Not the best unit on the market!
We always have trouble with this unit. Lines on the paper - we have to clean the glass everyday! It is slow to start and has to warm up several times a day.


text:
IFA Web News
Property-Casualty News
Groups cheer U.S. House's vote to repeal 1099 tax reporting rule
Insurance industry trade groups praised the U.S. House of Representatives for passing a bill to repeal the 1099 provision of the health care reform.
H.R. 4, the bill to repeal the 1099 provision, passed 314-112, in a decision favored by the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) and the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big I).
The 1099 provision, set to take effect in 2012, is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The provision would require businesses to file 1099 forms with the Internal Revenue Service any time they spend more than $600 per year with any other business.
President Barack Obama called for the bill's repeal in his State of the Union Address in January.
That requirement is a significant expansion of the current 1099 reporting requirement, which applies only to payments to unincorporated service providers, the PIA said.
"The overwhelming repeal vote in the House is a victory for all American businesses, especially small businesses which would face an overwhelming, onerous reporting and paperwork burden," said Mike Becker, PIA's national director of federal affairs, in a statement. "This 1099 provision was ill-conceived from the start, because it would bury small business under a mountain of needless paperwork and act as an impediment to economic recovery."
Repeal of the 1099 provision had bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, although the "point of contention" has been how to offset the lost revenue, according to the Big I.
To pay for the $21.9 billion increase in the deficit by repealing the 1099 provision, the Senate calls for giving the Office of Management and Budget the ability to take away nearly $44 billion of discretionary budget authority, except from the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Social Security, according to the Hill.
The House calls for making consumers repay all of their insurance subsidies under the health care law once their income rises beyond 400% of the federal poverty line, the Democratic Caucus reported.
The House Democrats said the House idea would result in an additional $25 billion in taxes for the middle class.
"The administration strongly opposes the House's offset to pay for this repeal, which would undo an improvement enacted with nearly unanimous support in the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act that eliminated an egregious 'cliff' in the tax system affecting middle income taxpayers," according to a statement of administration policy.
Previous Maryland bill to create single-payer system excludes insurance agents
Next Okla. regulator wants navigators deleted from health reform law
Credit Card or Personal Loan: Which is the More Reliable Option?
D.C. health exchange launches doctor directory, Spanish version
One-third of Americans say Obamacare will delay their retirement: Survey
Despite Obamacare promises, little help for substance abuse patients
Value of benefits begins to erode for employees, study shows
Health Insurance News
Broker fees, administrative costs blamed for high small biz premiums
10 years ago admin
Georgia regulators fine UnitedHealthcare, subsidiaries $750,000
Being 'happy' on Facebook leads to denial of claim for depression
N.Y. man pleads not guilty to shooting investigator checking on claim
IFAwebnews.com and Insurance & Financial Advisor welcome and encourage your inquiries, news submissions, comments and suggestions.
Health Insurance News Health News Life News Maryland National New York On the Record Property-Casualty News Uncategorized Virginia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: How much classes for exceptions What's the usual way to create & handle exceptions in c++?
class CannotRead : public runtime_exception { ... }
class CannotParse : public runtime_exception { ... }

...
throw CannotRead();
...

or
...
throw runtime_error("cannot read");
...

What's the idiomatic way to do this in C++?
Links to articles comparing both approaches would be appreciated.
Thanks

A: There's no cut and dry advice to give, but my personal rule of thumb is:

*

*throw std::runtime_error (or one of its siblings, as appropriate)

*until you find you need to distinguish at catch-time between your various exceptions, then start deepening the inheritance heirarchy.

A: Typically, as others have mentioned in comments, you derive from std::runtime_error and overload the what() virtual method. As an exercise to the reader, a constructor can also be written to capture the exception message. This website provided the following code (although I modified it slightly to reflect the std::runtime_error change).
#include <iostream>
#include <exception>

class MyException : public std::runtime_error
{
    const char * what () const throw () {
        return "C++ Exception";
    }
};

int main()
{
    try {
        throw MyException();
    } catch(MyException& e) {
        std::cout << "MyException caught" << std::endl;
        std::cout << e.what() << std::endl;
    } catch(std::exception& e) {
    }

    return 0;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home » Android » Facebook to soon Introduce a Reminder service called "Your Time"
Facebook to soon Introduce a Reminder service called "Your Time"
Android, Apps, Development, Leaks, News, RumorsBy Akshay Dua June 23, 2018
YouTube has first introduced a feature called "Remind me to take a break" which take care of your precious time. A few days ago some leaked information was there according to which Instagram will soon be releasing a similar feature termed as the "User Insights". Now it looks like the Facebook team is working to bring the identical service to their platform as well. So if you love being social then don't forget to check out the in-depth information provided below.
Basically, all these features help you to remind that from how long you are using the service, they all work in a similar manner but have different names. This fresh service from Facebook will be called "Your Time". This has been found after analyzing the code present in the Facebook Android application. It will allow you to monitor your time spent and will enable a user to set reminders. So that he/she won't waste their precious time using the platform for a long time.
The feature will further show you the entire time you spent in last 7 days. Moreover, you will even be able to know the average time spent in one day as well. Whenever a user will reach the time limits he/she has set, the Facebook app will notify them through the notifications. According to us, it is a great feature to have on every Social platform. They attract a lot of users daily and after using these for more than an hour a user realizes that actually, they came here for something else. For more Android updates stay tuned to GoAndroid.
Tagged under: Android, Android Apps, Apps, Facebook, Facebook Reminder
About Akshay Dua
He likes to play with the latest phones, gaming consoles, PCs, laptops and when he gets some spare time he likes to do VFX stuff. You can always find him playing with tools like Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, After Effects, etc. His current gear is OnePlus 6.


Since then it has expanded into a global business. By submitting your email, you're accepting our. Shop Wayfair now to browse millions of products perfect for your style and budget. The very beautiful and gorgeous @Lucyzaraxx sheer perfection guys?
It's a code that gets you dicounts, prizes or somthing free. (more updated ix Flags Promo Codes: 33 for Six Flags Over Georgia - code: csoa12 Six Flags Discovery Kingdom for only.99 - code: retail2 Good Luck. US-57 N and US-90 E 3 hours 12 minutes 159 miles. Louis, maybe a new coupon code will appear. If you're a shallow water lifeguard, you get paid around.90, but special facilities (wave pool) lifeguards get paid a tad bit more. I bought one down here in MD cuz they are.99 and i have to goto my crappy home park before i can goto the one in New Jersey and i think that is crap because NJ park opens a month earlier than mine. In-Store Offers Print out your coupon, or bring it up on the Groupon app, and present it to the cashier. The zip code is 60031. Six Flags Regular Memberships and Gold Memberships (which have allof the benefits of Season Passes but are paid monthly instead ofall at one time) are also valid during Fright Fest.
Louis is very respectful to clean his park. You can check the six flags website for current promotions or join their official update like email newsletter, Facebook or twitter to get notified if they launch code promo hotel econology promo codes. However, your season pass does not work at Six Flags waterparks. Sign Up Have more questions? Louis (Eureka, Missouri) on June the fith, 1971. The entire rangeis 63101 which is centered on Washington and to 63199, which iscentered on Walnut and S 11th Street. The only stipulation is if the ticket is for a child in which case they will not require. They just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. 11, counting the one they just won recently against the Texas Rangers on October 28, 2011. The season pass will be available for purchase on that website. At the gate, they will ask you for.


Home » Spirituality & Prosperity I » 059. Why are Pious, Orthodox, GOOD People Sometimes Poor?
Maybe they are not sometimes poor, but often times poor. There are several reasons, at least three major reasons. 1. They are NOT orthodox in the best sense of the word, 2. They lack the right discrimination to sift the chaff from the grain, 3. They often worship harmful vital spirits in the name of the venerable gods Shiva, Vishnu, etc.
Orthodoxy is not a ritual. It is chaste condition of a pure mind devoted to Truth as an article of faith. Tradition does not even enjoin on their worshipping the idol in the temple. They are to worship the inner Brahman who is of the size of a thumb seated in the heart. As the Rishi loses years of tapas by the burst of anger or touch of lust, ONE single lie uttered will render him unorthodox. They are NOT to consult horoscope or observe auspicious hours. These are meant for the laity.
Divine Spirit at all levels is intermixed with what is not true. The tradition says one must discriminate and choose ONLY the Truth. Most pious people are not of high discrimination. They choose what is convenient to be good or orthodox and fall a victim to dark forces.
A time was when a Congress volunteer carried a little aura of the Great Mahatma. Now Mahatma is not, nor his Spirit actuates. To mistake today's politician, thinking of the great Soul of Mahatma, will at best lead to be politically exploited. Great Temples were built by Great Saints. As long as the worship was PURE, the ORIGINAL spirit of the gods presided over those institutions. Once that recedes, spirits appropriate to the worshippers as well as management OCCUPY the subtle atmosphere of these Divine Institutions. Two indications will tell us about the purity of the place 1. A sense of inner calm and peace that is spiritual elevation, 2. Impeccable cleanliness as maintained in Guruvayoor Temple by the Namboodiris. Spirit never fails to give prosperity. Man may worship the wrong deity.


We would like to introduce you to our newly founded H-Net group focused on the study of Europe and the Black Diaspora: H-Black-Europe (https://networks.h-net.org/h-black-europe). H-Black-Europe provides a discussion forum for scholars, intellectuals, and activists who are interested in studying the Black Diaspora to Europe and Black European culture and history. In addition to serving as a central hub for scholarly activity, we aim to connect different and fragmented scholarly communities together who research Black European studies. Our broad framework and shared interest in discussing topics such as racism, gender and sexuality, nationalism, colonialism, globalization, multiculturalism, and transnationalism permits and encourages different kinds of intellectuals and activists to come together to find common ground.
The primary goals for H-Black-Europe are: to enable scholars in many different disciplines (history, modern languages and literature, cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, et. al.) to more easily engage with one another in current research; to facilitate discussion on new books, articles, methods, and tools of critical analysis; to explore these issues as they relate to the overall development of the Black European Studies and other similar subject matter (postcolonial studies, critical race theory, nationalism, etc.); to collect and circulate materials related to the teaching of Black European Studies; and to serve as a clearinghouse for events (conferences, workshops, projects, websites, etc.) dealing with the study of Europe and the Black Diaspora. H-Black-Europe welcomes questions concerning research, literary recommendations, historiographical debates, and the teaching and application of Black European Studies.
We encourage you to join our group and to familiarize yourselves with our site: https://networks.h-net.org/h-black-europe. And when you have something to say, by all means have a go at creating a new discussion post.
We look forward to cultivating a dynamic scholarly group!
H-Black-Europe, 03.04.2016 – 03.04.2020 Michigan, in: H-Soz-Kult, 06.03.2016, <www.hsozkult.de/project/id/fp-1218>.


The SSL does not work. How can I open the port required from CWP for the SSL funtions to work?
Can I enable client accounts the permission to change their own DNS zone?
Also, is this possible for PHPmyAdmin? For example pma.mydomain.tld or mysql.mydomain.tld or phpmyadmin.mydomain.tld etc.
I have not understood how do we change DNS records.
What should I write in my DNS zone file? If I wrote those, will it work? Is there any manual, which explains how do we create DNS records? Will CWP releasy any graphical DNS zone manager, where the user would be able to add easily records, change or delete and don't have to edit file with strange records, numbers etc? For example I can see a record showing something IN A number something Can you help me, in creating those records?


Space was a bountiful commodity for Portishead at the Shrine Expo Center in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday night. The group understands the word in its many forms, both inner and outer: the kind that takes on the role of silence when sound is involved; the kind such as that at the cavernous Shrine Expo Center, the perfect venue to focus on echo and depth; and that which is up in the sky and filled with stars.
Portishead, returning as part of its first American tour in a decade (though the band did a massive, career-defining Coachella performance in 2008), rose out of Bristol, England, in the '90s and broke through with a unique blend of instrumental hip-hop, Jamaican dub and deep '60s and '70s soul music that spawned the hits "Sour Times," "Glory Box" and "Cowboys," all of which were performed Tuesday.
The three-piece group features producer-DJ-percussionist Geoff Barrow, guitarist Adrian Utley and vocalist Beth Gibbons. At the Expo, the band was augmented by a guitarist, a drummer and a keyboard player, who filled the 54,000-square-foot room -- one gigantic, 21,000-square-foot dance floor and a balcony overlooking it -- with tense, minimal electronic and electric music.
Portishead went into hibernation for much of the '00s before a somewhat improbable return with its best record, "Third," in 2008. Improbable, because by then, the '90s movement with which the band was most associated, trip-hop, had gone from fresh and innovative to fetishized and nostalgic. In the decade that Portishead slept, its contemporaries in the Bristol scene, such as Massive Attack and Tricky, continued to release records and proceeded to paint themselves into aesthetic corners.
Meanwhile, Barrow and company traveled in a magnetic new direction for "Third," one that wed the rumbling basslines of their early work with retro-futurist analog tones of the '60s and '70s, when synthesizers were celebrating space (as in the Final Frontier) and exploring the early sounds of the Computer Age.
On Tuesday, it was these newer songs that held up the best. Though there's little to defend oneself against Gibbons' sorrowful soprano on "Sour Times" or her pinched, softened lament on "Wandering Star," both from Portishead's 1994 debut album, "Dummy," the early songs sometimes felt thin, as though Gibbons had long since lost touch with their original emotion; "Sour Times," especially, seemed rushed, like they couldn't wait to move on.
It was the right reflex: With the next song, "Magic Doors," the weird cowbell-augmented breakbeat gem from "Third," Portishead hit its peak. And the performance of its most recent recording, a one-off single called "Chase the Tear," was an autobahn cruise of Steve Reichian repetition, hookless and insistent; while Gibbons offered moans, Barrow kicked out a repetitive rhythm and Utley poked and jabbed at his strings during a weird quasi-solo so minimal that the notes barely felt connected.
And then, in the middle, came the space: The beat dropped, Utley let his guitar rest, Gibbons stayed silent and for four absolutely noiseless, John Cage-ian bars, the music stopped and the room's acoustics echoed with the last remnants of the soundwaves. Where once was noise was now silence, and it felt monolithic.
A moment later, on the other side of the aural canyon, the beat and the drone returned, stronger and more pressing, and continued over and over again ad infinitum. Somewhere in the deepest crevices of the Shrine, that beat's no doubt still reverberating, albeit minutely, through the floorboards and into the foundation, burrowing its way into the earth below.
Updated, Oct. 20: An earlier version of this post said that Portishead performed at the Hollywood Palladium in 2010. They did not, in fact, perform in Los Angeles in 2010. We have adjusted the text accordingly.


text:
Carrick Acquires Rights to CT900, Plans New Trial in Ovarian Cancer Patients
by Marta Figueiredo
Click here to subscribe to the Ovarian Cancer News Today Newsletter!
Carrick Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, has acquired the rights to CT900 and plans to conduct a later-stage clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the investigational therapy in women with resistant or refractory ovarian cancer. The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and global health company BTG, the original developers of the therapy candidate, have reached an agreement with Carrick to move CT900 to next-stage clinical trials. Under the new deal, Carrick now has exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize CT900 and is already planning a trial for it. "We're very pleased to be partnering with Carrick to bring CT900 into the larger trials that are needed to confirm that it's an effective drug for the treatment of some high-grade ovarian cancers," Toby Richardson, ICR's deputy director of enterprise, said in a press release. CT900, created by a team from the Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit at ICR and formerly known as BTG945, is the first of a new class of small molecule therapies. It mimics folic acid — or vitamin B9 — to selectively enter ovarian cancer cells, and kills them by blocking an enzyme called thymidylate synthase, which causes irreparable DNA damage. CT900 specifically targets ovarian cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells alone, because they have an
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Tagged advanced ovarian cancer, BTG, BTG945, Carrick Therapeutics, CT900, folate receptor alpha (FRα), Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), ONX-0801, Phase 1 clinical trial, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
Previous: Tina's Wish Annual Benefit Dinner Raises $2 Million for Ovarian Cancer Research
Next:First Patient Dosed in Phase 1 Trial of MCY-M11 in Ovarian Cancer, Peritoneal Mesothelioma
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Add-on NAMPT Inhibitor Prolonged Survival in Ovarian Cancer Mouse Model, Study Found
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Anixa and Moffitt Seek to Improve Potency of CAR T-cell Candidate for Ovarian Cancer
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Collaborators Aim to Identify OC Patients Likely to Benefit from New Combo Therapy
Ovarian Cancer News Today
Ovarian Cancer News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.


current roll of the dice and position of the counters on the board.
emotionally skewed. I just address@hidden, you stay with us.
don't recognize it in the last 15 years?
@all Other: How often do you have convinced one of the conspiracy theorists?
Next by Date: [Bug-gnubg] Anyone with a Microsoft Surface Pro?
Next by thread: [Bug-gnubg] Anyone with a Microsoft Surface Pro?


Times are getting tough and despite the elevating economy, having multiple part-time jobs is the only way to make ends meet for many people. With apps specialising in this lifestyle, juggling multiple jobs might become more common than we realise.
The unforgiving nature of having more than one employment spot can be taxing on the body and mind so pay attention to these five tips and get closer to having an almost normal routine.
If you work days and evenings, finding time for yourself and sleep is almost impossible. Having an irregular schedule can have it's advantages but there's no better way to keep your spirits peaking than a good night's rest. When that isn't an option, taking 30-90 minute power naps throughout the day might salvage your sanity.
With extra hours comes extra dollar. Your second or third job will supply you with some handy cash for expendable purposes and since you'll be pushing yourself harder than the average working stiff, you should let loose to a similar degree. Don't hoard your cash because without financial catharsis you'll grow to resent your routine.
Try and take jobs in multiple industries. If you're spreading yourself across numerous positions, there's nothing to be gained from doing the same thing twice. Having two contrasting jobs will break up the monotony of your schedule and boost your CV.
There's no doubt about it, having multiple jobs will set your routine into a whirlwind. The best advice to give is to not resist the madness and accept the lack of stability as another chapter in your career and one you cannot control at this point in time.
Whether it's to move out of a grotty flat or to afford to move country – you accepted two positions for a reason. Set yourself a date or month to achieve this goal and move forward in your life and career.


text:
Our View: GovGuam must fix outstanding financial problems, not just current crisis
Solutions must be found to not only the newest financial crisis, but the financial problems that have plagued this government for years.
Our View: GovGuam must fix outstanding financial problems, not just current crisis Solutions must be found to not only the newest financial crisis, but the financial problems that have plagued this government for years. Check out this story on guampdn.com: http://www.guampdn.com/story/opinion/editorials/2018/03/08/our-view-govguam-must-fix-outstanding-financial-problems-not-just-current-crisis/405998002/
Pacific Daily News Published 6:23 p.m. ChT March 8, 2018
Sen. James Espaldon and Bureau of Budget Management and Research Director Lester Carlson, debate a calculation method on determining how a tax increase could affect the spending of a Guam household. Rick Cruz/PDN
In this Feb. 13 file photo, Gov. Eddie Calvo delivers the State of the Island Address.(Photo: Rick Cruz/PDN)
The government of Guam's current financial crisis, and its long history of poor financial performance could translate into a lower bond rating.
A summary report by ratings agency S&P Global Ratings stated GovGuam's bond ratings could be lowered unless it resolves its current revenue shortfall "as well as its overall financial position." S&P placed a "credit watch" with negative implications on $10 million in remaining bonds from 1997, and $177 million in certificates of participation used to fund the construction of several new schools.
More: Calvo warns of deeper cuts, sends bill on shortened furlough process
More: GovGuam bond ratings at risk of dropping
"If we don't receive evidence from Guam officials addressing these rating considerations, we will likely lower the ratings," the ratings agency stated.
$67 million revenue shortfall
Because of federal tax reform, the government of Guam is projecting a $67 million revenue loss for fiscal 2018, which elected officials have yet to address. Cost-cutting measures have been put into place and Gov. Eddie Calvo has submitted multiple bills to increase the business privilege tax by 50 percent to cover the shortfall, as well as fund the Guam Department of Education and Guam Memorial Hospital. The Legislature has rejected those bills.
But it should be noted that the ratings agency said more than the revenue shortfall would go into its decision.
"Guam has a history of structural imbalance in its General Fund, including recurring deficits, a very large negative General Fund balance, and massive long-term liabilities," the report stated.
As elected officials work to resolve the current financial crisis, they also must address these longstanding fiscal problems.
More: Tenorio-Ada campaign sign burned in Agat
More: GovGuam makes payroll "by the skin of our teeth," says DOA acting director
The government of Guam must become a much more lean, efficient and effective entity. It must be streamlined, with fewer agencies and a focus on priority services. New technology must be adopted and outmoded manual processes, and thus employees, eliminated.
Read or Share this story: http://www.guampdn.com/story/opinion/editorials/2018/03/08/our-view-govguam-must-fix-outstanding-financial-problems-not-just-current-crisis/405998002/
Congress must expedite war reparation payments
True liberation still awaits Guam
Grant will help people find good jobs on Guam
Expand your spirituality, secularity
Policy beatings good for others, but not us
We can and should vote


text:
// Originally submitted to OSEHRA 2/21/2017 by DSS, Inc.
// Authored by DSS, Inc. 2014-2017

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace VA.Gov.Artemis.Vista.Broker
{
    public enum RpcResponseStatus { Unknown, Success, Fail }
}


Former safety turned corner with plus ball skills, especially down the field. When he recognizes, he strikes coming downhill on outside runs and screens. Lengthy and tall. Good, not great speed. Best in zone scheme or as hybrid cornerback / safety.
A two-star recruit from Murphy, Texas, Kelly saw action as a true freshman for the Aztecs before missing six games due to injury. He returned to start all 13 games as a sophomore, recording 58 total tackles while intercepting two passes. He then intercepted five passes as a junior, including two against Houston in the Las Vegas Bowl at the end of the year.


text:
The Golden Book on Kindle, press release.
We decided that my Golden, Museum Art book comprising volumes III and IV of "Time Gates" will be first published as an eBook on Kindle. Here is the press release announcing our second digital version holding almost three hundred images of past, present, and future times. https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/01/10/2364195/0/en/A-New-Art-Renaissance-Museum-Art-Book-Release-Date-April-1-2022-by-Santo-Cervello-from-Actor-s-Corner-Caf%C3%A9-Time-Gates-The-Intuitive-Art-of-Santo-Cervello-Volume-lll-lV.html
Our third press release announcing Volume V
After volume II was done, I was working nonstop, sometimes producing 1-2 images per day. The pandemic continued in the outside world but in my own space, the images were pouring out of my being with a fierce intensity. In the epilogue of volume V, I wrote: "The Silent Organ Pipes Playing," is the image
Our second press release by Globe Newswire went out in July 2021
We were excited about creating and releasing another press news about my upcoming "Time Gates" volume II in October. We were in the middle of the global pandemic. I wanted to capture and record The Time of a Great Transition when we all become part of Humanity as One. This time we have dedicated this


text:
CrimeCultureFamilyLawVideos
Vengeful Monster Merrick McKoy Takes Facebook Picture Moments Before Killing Infant Daughter And Shooting Himself
Janna Brock November 19, 2013
Merrick McKoy, 22, is a monster. In a disgusting display of unbelievable cruelty, McKoy posted an adorable picture of himself and his 19-month-old daughter Mia, just moments before he shot her in the head and killed her. He wrote 'I told u I can't live without u lol u thought I was joking now me n Mia out this b—-.'He then turned the gun on himself. Right now, he is alive and in critical condition. What father would do this? A father who only cares about himself and seeking revenge on his ex-lover. McKoy is a cold-blooded killer, and the worst kind of killer; a father who mercilessly gunning down his own baby girl to spite her mother.
Merrick McKoy posts on Facebook before murdering daughter Mia
Merrick McKoy wanted to make the mother of his infant daughter suffer. To take the life of another for one's selfish desire is unjustifiable. There is no way to make this right. If anything, this is an indictment on America and social media. While social media can be a very useful tool, it is also reveals the worst about our sin-sick human nature. People desperately seek attention in any way, shape, or form. In the most cruel irony, a young man takes a "selfie" with his infant daughter, and then viciously ends her life, before shooting himself. How does it get more sickening than this? It can't, especially knowing this was all to get back at the baby's mother.
Grieving family members tell 7NEWS a man took a picture of his baby on Monday, posted it on Facebook, then shot and killed the girl and then shot himself.
The mother of the baby called Westminster police about 9:35 a.m. and said when she woke up, her ex-boyfriend was standing over her with a handgun.
The mother, Kimphone "Kim" Phanthavongsa, 21, told police there was an altercation and she ran out of her apartment at 7030 Stuart St. She called police from a neighbor's apartment, saying her ex-boyfriend, Merrick McKoy, 22, had a gun and he was inside her apartment with their child.
Westminster Police Investigator Wayne Read said when officers arrived, they heard gunshots. He said they found a child and an adult male with gunshot wounds.
In that moment, 19-month-old Mia McKoy-Phanthavongsa was dead, shot in cold blood by her father. McKoy then turned the gun on himself. If he was going to commit suicide, why didn't he just shoot himself instead of taking the life of his baby? This is unforgivable. This is no loving father.
"She just learned how to walk," said a tearful Vannatda Sivixai. "What an angel. Whenever she smiled it was bright."
Police said McKoy had an active restraining order prohibiting him from being at that apartment.
McKoy's Facebook page shows a photo of the man and the girl posted just before the shooting. Two other posts after the photo said, "Ima miss stall lol [sic]" and "Don't judge me had no choice [sic]."
The Facebook messages posted right before the crime are haunting and horrific. They show that Merrick McKoy was a man with a singular mission: to kill his baby girl and then shoot himself; all because of his anger toward the baby's mother. Don't judge him? He had a choice, and he chose the most cruel punishment for everyone involved. McKoy only cared about himself, and he will surely pay for this crime, whether he lives or dies. Baby killers aren't popular anywhere.
A neighbor who lives in the same complex said McKoy was apparently angry that Kim broke up with him.
She said Kim told her that McKoy threatened her.
"He would just say that he wanted to be with her and if he can't be with her, nobody can be with her," the neighbor said. "I'm shocked. It's hard to believe that someone you know would do something like that."
McKoy had been charged with trespassing, harassment, and burglary in September, but to resort to murdering your own child is mind-blowing. To take her life to get back at her mother shows a complete disregard for life. McKoy is a psychopath, and his prior behavior demonstrated that he was a man ready to explode, but no one could have imagined this would happen.
Police spoke to McCoy's brother, who drove to the scene Monday afternoon. The brother declined to comment about the situation.
The girl's grandmother broke down after learning about the shooting, and again when she learned that Mia did not survive.
Merrick McKoy did the most selfish thing imaginable. In taking the life of his baby, he cheated everyone out of seeing the child grow up. He took a baby from her mother in the most senseless and brutal way possible, and he also will force people who are innocent to feel forever guilty for not doing something to stop this; as if anyone can stop a monster. The only monster here is Merrick McKoy.
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Janna Brock
I am a Christian and a staunch conservative. I am very interested in civil liberties and also arts and entertainment from a conservative point of view. I am interested in a wide variety of topics that have to do with the liberal war against conservatives. Christians are being attacked on all fronts, be it the homosexual agenda, abortion issues, and other forms of persecution. It is time to stand for Christ in a sin sick world. Janna Brock also contributes to The BrennerBrief.com.


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On the right track: Industry backs Minister's CRR financing position
Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe's aversion to utilising new levies and taxes to pay for the Cross River Rail project has received the strong endorsement of Queensland's property industry.
Property Council Queensland Executive Director, Chris Mountford, said the Minster's preferred method of financing would encourage economic growth and ensure the project achieves the maximum benefit for Brisbane.
"The Cross River Rail project will not only alleviate the rail network's looming capacity problems and greatly increase Brisbane's economic productivity, but also potentially increase land values along parts of the project corridor," Mr Mountford said.
"If property values do increase, as expected by the State Government, then the government will receive a financial windfall from this increase through land tax and stamp duty receipts. It is also likely that the council will receive an increase in rates revenue as well through higher property values."
Minister Hinchliffe has outlined a preference for the Government to borrow against this future revenue to assist in funding the project's construction, instead of introducing new charges.
"Although the Government has outlined that all funding options are still being considered, the Minister's aversion to new charges demonstrates an understanding that taxing growth is unlikely to encourage growth.
"The property industry is encouraged by the Minister's desire to make smarter use of existing taxation to fund these types of game-changing projects."
The Federal Government has today announced that their impending 'cities policy' will promote the use of innovative financing models for major projects.
"With the State Government committing to seek Commonwealth funding for Cross River Rail by mid-year, their funding proposal will need to align with the Federal Government policy."
"The Federal Government has made it clear that financing models cannot just be new taxes but should be "win-win" propositions."
"By adopting Minister Hinchliffe's preferred financing method, the State Government stands the best chance of making this project a reality."
The Property Council's response to the Government's Cross River Rail announcement can be found here.


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Алма́зне — селище в Україні, Макіївської міської громади Донецького району Донецької області. Населення становить 40 осіб. Відстань до Макіївка становить близько 24 км і проходить автошляхом місцевого значення.

Населення
За даними перепису 2001 року населення селища становило 40 осіб, з них 75% зазначили рідною мову українську та 25% — російську.

Примітки

Донецько-Макіївська агломерація
Селища Донецької області

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DII DIRT: Coaching Change made at DII Holy Family University
I can confirm that Melissa Dunne is no longer the head women's basketball coach at DII Holy Family University (PA). She had been at the school for the past three seasons where she compiled a 26-58 record. Before coming to HFU, she had been an assistant at Loyola (MD), and George Washington. An official announcement
Jennifer Pruett named Head Women's Basketball Coach at Saginaw Valley State
Saginaw Valley State University Director of Athletics John Decker has announced that Jennifer Pruett has been named head coach of the Women's Basketball program. Pruett comes to Saginaw Valley after serving as an assistant coach at Division I St. Bonaventure University. "I would like to thank John Decker, Angela Pohl, the search committee and everyone
Gannon parts ways with Women's Basketball Head Coach Jim Brunelli
Gannon University Athletics has announced a change in leadership to the women's basketball team as head coach, Jim Brunelli will not return to the Golden Knights next season. To care for and respect all individuals and their privacy, it is Gannon University policy not to discuss details of personnel matters further. Brunelli had compiled a
Long Named Head Women's Basketball Coach at DII North Greenville U.
North Greenville announced that Kelvin Long has been named the new head coach of the women's basketball program. Long is NGU's third head coach since joining the NCAA Division II in 2001. Long joins NGU after serving as an assistant coach at the College of Charleston for three years where he was also the recruiting coordinator.
Wade Scott not retained as Women's Basketball Coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville
Following the conclusion of the 2018-19 basketball season, Texas A&M-Kingsville Executive Director of Athletics and Campus Recreation Steve Roach announced a change in the women's basketball leadership on Wednesday, as head coach Wade Scott and assistant coach DJ Slifer will not have their contracts renewed for the following year. "We appreciate Wade Scott and his staff's dedication and commitment to the women's basketball
Walsh resigns as Head Women's Basketball Coach at Converse College
Converse Athletic Director Jennifer Bell announced the resignation of head basketball coach Dean Walsh on Wednesday, along with plans to begin a national search for the next leader of the Valkyries' rising basketball program. "Dean Walsh has built a winning tradition for our Valkyries basketball program that has generated excitement and momentum on campus, within
Vogel named Head Women's Basketball Coach at Texas A&M International
Texas A&M International University Director of Athletics Griz Zimmermann announced the hiring of Nate Vogel as the new Head Women's Basketball Coach on Tuesday. Vogel brings with him over a decade of coaching experience and success. "We are incredibly excited to have Nate join the Dustdevil family," Zimmermann said. "His track record of recruiting both
Purdue Northwest makes Women's Basketball coaching change
Purdue Northwest Director of Athletics Rick Costello announced on Monday a change in leadership of the women's basketball program. "I want to thank Tom Megyesi for his leadership of the women's basketball program for the past twelve seasons," stated Purdue Northwest Director of Athletics Rick Costello. ""Coach Megyesi's teams always exhibited class and sportsmanship on


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Snooker, skiing and smuggling in cider – lessons from a long-stay hospital
October 1, 2018 admin	1 Comment
A new heritage project aims to dispel misconceptions about learning disability and the lives of people who lived in long-stay institutions. The charity CASBA (Citizen Advocacy South Birmingham Area) spent a year collating stories and archive material relating to Birmingham's Monyhull Hospital. Myth and rumour about the hospital was rife; it was referred to as the local madhouse and the term 'Mony' was used as a playground insult at local schools. In what is Birmingham's first learning disability heritage project, the free event From Institution to Community, runs on Saturday October 6th.
Guest post by Joe Peacock, heritage project coordinator, CASBA
Roland Clewley was 16 when he was first admitted to Monyhull Hospital, a long-stay institution for people with learning disabilities. It was 1966 and before Monyhull, Roland been in a pupil referral unit in North Wales for 18 months and had grown up in a care home in South Birmingham. He quickly grew to hate being locked up.
Roland spent almost 15 years in institutional care.
Former Monyhull Hosptial resident Roland Clewley today
Roland says: "It was okay at first, but I wanted to get out, you see. I wanted my own place – a flat or something. I said that to them, but they said; 'They're all the same, just like you' so I started running away."
This was not the easiest thing to do, but he remembers: "I got through the window and then went down the pipes and ran off along the canal. It was dark down there and you couldn't see what you were doing. We didn't get very far, then we got picked up by the police. They put us in a van and put us in a cell for a few hours until Monyhull picked us up."
Such attempts weren't looked upon kindly by the hospital. Contrary to local myths, there was no alarm that went off when someone ran away, but they were punished on their return. "They put me in a side room. It was like a cell. It was a bare room with just sheets and blankets on the floor to sleep on. The first time, I did a week in there, then the next time two and then three weeks at a time." He was let out to go to the toilet and to eat, but it was a severe punishment for someone who just wanted his freedom.
He was then sent to a stricter institution called Moss Side: "Terrible, that place was" he recalls; "You were locked in all the time. You could go out in the grounds, but there were walls all the way around – it was like a prison. I was there for nearly eleven years." In fact, Moss Side was a high security psychiatric hospital and later merged with another similar institution to form Ashworth Hospital. Roland is reluctant to disclose much of his experiences there and it is hard to imagine how tough it would have been for him. Roland was then sent back Monyhull, and it must have been quite a relief in comparison.
"It was a bit better second time – it changed a lot. When we used to be on the ward it was a male ward and you'd have male staff, but the next time I was there it was all mixed – you'd got male and female staff working there."
He also felt more optimistic that he would be allowed out with the increased emphasis on care in the community and deinstitutionalisation in the 1980s: "What else changed is that they were taking the patients out of there. Before, you don't know how long you're there for, or anything like that. I thought I was going to be there until I was about 80."
He began to be given more responsibilities, helping the physiotherapist to get patients to appointments and was even paid for working with the porters; collecting laundry from the wards. Some of the porters befriended him and they would socialise as well as work together.
He was quite a decent sportsman, too, who won a snooker tournament and has a photograph on his wall of him being presented with the trophy to remember it by. There was a table in his ward and he'd play with anyone who was up for it or just practice on his own. He also played table tennis, football and was keen to try any other activities on offer.
Roland Clewley winning a snooker competition (photo: CASBA)
Perhaps, one of the most surprising things he did, due to his close work with the physiotherapist was to go skiing in Italy. "Went for a week. I kept on standing up when I fell over all the time. You want to do it – it's a laugh."
Another way in which he'd try to beat the boredom of institutional life was to sneak off to the local pub, the Cartland Arms. More often, though, he remembers that they would smuggle cans of cider in from a nearby shop and sit in bed drinking those after lights out.
In 1980, he was moved out of the hospital into a hostel and then into a flat where he still lives. Ironically, for a man desperate to escape the hospital, his flat overlooks the site of the former institution he was in. Surprisingly, he continued going back to Monyhull to work with the porters them even after he'd moved out and right up until the time it was closed down and demolished. He retained his income, was fed and had a social life.
Now, in his late 60s, Roland seems happy enough with his life, although when I asked when he'd last been on holiday, he replied that it was 25 years ago. With limited mobility, he must be in danger of becoming more and more isolated.
The biggest shame of his life for me, though, is all those wasted years when he was locked away. With the right support and encouragement, he was capable of doing so much more.
•	Joe Peacock is heritage project coordinator at learning disability advocacy charity CASBA
•	CASBA's From Institution to Commununity is at Monyhull Church from 1.30pm on Saturday October 6th and you can watch a trailer about the project here
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How a national scandal goes unnoticed
May 30, 2018 Saba Salman	Leave a comment
Tomorrow is the seventh anniversary of an event that reflects an enduring national scandal. A long-running scandal that doesn't trigger public or political outrage.
I've written an opinion piece for the Guardian about this today.
On May 31 2011 BBC's Panorama exposed the abuse of people with learning disabilities at the NHS-funded Winterbourne View assessment and treatment unit (ATU) in Gloucestershire.
There are around 1.5m learning disabled people in the UK, including my sister, Raana. But the general disinterest in learning disability means that tomorrow's anniversary will not trouble the national consciousness.
Rewind to 2011, and Winterbourne View seemed like a watershed moment. The promise that lessons would be learned was reflected in the government's official report [pdf], and in its commitment to transfer the 3,500 people in similar institutions across England to community-based care by June 2014. Yet the deadline was missed, and the programme described by the then care minister Norman Lamb, as an "abject failure".
Since then, various reports and programmes have aimed to prevent another Winterbourne View. These include NHS England's "transforming care" agenda, which developed new care reviews aimed at reducing ATU admissions.
Yet despite welcome intentions, government figures [pdf] for the end of April 2018 reveal that 2,370 learning disabled or autistic people are still in such hospitals. While 130 people were discharged in April, 105 people were admitted.
This month, an NHS investigation reflected how poor care contributes to the deaths of learning disabled people. It found that 28% die before they reach 50, compared to 5% of the general population.
Unusually, this "world first" report commissioned by NHS England and carried out by Bristol University came without a launch, advance briefing or official comment. It was released on local election results day ahead of a bank holiday. Just before shadow social care minister Barbara Keeley asked in the Commons for a government statement about the report, health secretary Jeremy Hunt left the chamber.
The most recent report was partly a response to the preventable death of 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk at a Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust ATU. The Justice for LB ("Laughing Boy" was a nickname) campaign fought relentlessly for accountability, sparking an inquiry into how Southern Health failed to properly investigate the deaths of more than 1,000 patients with learning disabilities or mental health problems. The trust was eventually fined a record £2m following the deaths of Sparrowhawk and another patient, Teresa Colvin.
Recently, other families whose learning disabled relatives have died in state-funded care have launched campaigns, the families of Richard Handley, Danny Tozer and Oliver McGowan to name just three. Andy McCulloch, whose autistic daughter Colette McCulloch died in an NHS-funded private care home in 2016, has said of the Justice for Col campaign: "This is not just for Colette… we've come across so many other cases, so many people who've lost children, lost relatives". Typically, the McCullochs are simultaneously fighting and grieving, and forced to crowdfund for legal representation (families do not get legal aid for inquests).
To understand the rinse and repeat cycle means looking further back than 2011's Winterbourne View. Next year will be 50 years since the 1969 Ely Hospital scandal. In 1981, the documentary Silent Minority exposed the inhumane treatment of people at long-stay hospitals, prompting the then government to, "move many of the residents into group homes". Sound familiar? These are just two historic examples.
If there is a tipping point, it is thanks to learning disabled campaigners, families, and a handful of supportive human rights lawyers, MPs and social care providers. Grassroots campaigns such as I Am Challenging Behaviour and Rightful Lives are among those shining a light on injustice. Care provider-led campaigns include Certitude's Treat Me Right, Dimensions' My GP and Me, Mencap's Treat Me Well.
Pause for a moment to acknowledge our modern world's ageing population and rising life expectancy. Now consider the parallel universe of learning disabled people. Here, people get poorer care. Consequently, some die earlier than they should. And their preventable deaths aren't properly investigated.
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Social Issue opinion piece: learning disabled people should have equal access to heritage and culture
May 14, 2018 Amber Opka Stother and Amanda Sutton	Leave a comment
Amber Okpa Stother leads a creative workshop (photo: Martin Livesey, Venture Arts)
Isn't it about time that learning disabled people enjoyed the same access to cultural lives and work as everyone else?
This is one question that Venture Arts (VA) and our speakers will be asking the heritage and cultural sectors at our symposium, Making the Case, at the Grand Hall, Whitworth Art gallery on the 25th May. VA is an organisation that specialises in visual arts in the North West.
"People with autism can do things like other people that don't have autism in society. Society should be more accepting of people and not assume people can't do things." This is what Amber Opka Stother says – Amber (pictured above) chairs the VA steering group, has worked at Manchester Museum and arts centre HOME Manchester and is an ambassador for learning disabled people in the heritage and culture sector.
Our symposium will showcase the experiences of learning disabled people who have formed VA's Cultural Enrichment Programme, funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund. The programme has seen over 20 people undertake 16 week work placements in some of Manchester's best known cultural and heritage venues.
On the day we will also be seeing and hearing about other projects from across the country and highlighting areas of best practice.
"Unfortunately, our experience shows that people often don't feel that big cultural institutions are for them or know how best to welcome people into their buildings. In my view we need to see more learning disabled people working within culture to be able to start to overcome this and make real change happen", says Amanda Sutton, VA director.
This kind of inclusion makes sense, adds Amanda: "You are going to feel much more comfortable about going into a building, that can otherwise feel quite austere and foreboding, if you can relate to and identify with the people welcoming you and working within the venue."
In 2015, researchers Lemos and Crane looked at learning disabled people's access to museums and galleries (pdf). It stated: "Despite longstanding commitments to access, participation, learning, equality and diversity, museums, galleries and arts venues are not currently required by funders or policy makers specifically to promote access for people with intellectual disabilities as they are in relation to other groups…Mainstream arts organisations did not seem always to have a clear framework of good practice for improving access for people with a learning disability. This was perhaps the consequence of widespread uncertainty and anxiety among those with little personal or professional experience of people with learning disabilities."
So Venture Arts aims to rectify this through working with cultural institutions to introduce learning disabled people to every aspect of their working operations. We reckon that if we can get people in "through the back door", they will gradually change attitudes and integrate into institutions. Through our work so far, this has indeed happened. People have been back stage, in the conservation rooms, behind the scenes, delivering tours, in museum shops, in the staff room and are now well known by all the staff and visitors alike.
Here's what Amber thinks about her experiences with VA so far:
At Manchester Museum, I volunteered and worked in the shop and in the postroom and in the vivarium as well. I ended up doing a tour for my friends and family which they really, really enjoyed, it boosted my confidence about speaking to people. It was really nice meeting lots of new people I did things that most people don't . It's nice to see the different parts of the museum.
People were, very welcoming and I think I am helping them to learn more about working with people with autism too, maybe like how people communicate or something.
Now I've started a new placement at HOME, an arts centre, which I'm really enjoying. We get to go behind the scenes and see how the cinema works which is really interesting and we have worked at the front of house and we get to see some free shows as well and that's really, really good.
I think it's important to have people with autism working in these places to see what great skills people have and how it makes a difference to volunteering. They will be more interested in employing people with autism, it will make a big difference.
On a personal level, it has helped me to be more confident and it's helped me to become more confident in doing other jobs and things. I also work in a school and this experience has influenced how I am with the children, I feel more confident because I had to speak to people and that has lifted my confidence.
Last year I also delivered a workshop about making galleries accessible at a conference called Creative Minds and I loved every minute of it. I probably wouldn't have been able to do this if I hadn't worked at the Manchester Museum beforehand. There were a lot of people there too so I was really happy with myself.
I'm really looking forward to the symposium at the Whitworth as well and to interviewing people from museums and galleries. I'm going to interview them about the job and what we do. It will be really important to come to the symposium because you will get to hear about the great work that museums do with people with disabilities.
Even though I've got autism I try and do things that people without autism think that people can't do like drive, I've passed my driving test that was a big achievement for me because I've always loved cars. People with autism can do things like other people that don't have autism in society. We need to celebrate difference and make sure that people recognise what great things people with disabilities can do. I get upset sometimes if people don't understand me, like my driving instructor who didn't think I could pass my test. It's important to listen so people can know what message people are trying to get across.
My advice for other museums? People have really great skills and they should give people the chance. People with disabilities can be really good at doing lots of great things and have skills that other people without a disability might not have, which can be valuable in a workplace. For example, people can be more understanding of other people.
It would make me happy to see people with disabilities working in museums because it's good to see people with great skills doing a good job. If people give them a chance it would be a great place to start when people don't feel comfortable about going into a museum.
Barriers for learning disabled people in going into a museum can be the staff of a museum because they might be a bit rude towards them or can't understand if someone has no speech or something. It might not have a ramp or the lift might not be working or someone might be deaf as well so that could be a barrier. Museums should be more accessible to people with disabilities and people should make sure they don't put jargon and put language that people understand on their walls.
I'm looking forward to the 25th to hear about what people are going to say. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and to what people have to say about their experiences at the museums and it should be a great day.
Find out more about the Venture Arts symposium here or follow on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Venture Arts symposium is on Friday 25 May in Manchester.
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Access, Autism, Charity, Community, Disability, Learning disability, Travel
Making buses more accessible for learning disabled passengers
April 10, 2018 Saba Salman	Leave a comment
For Mario Christodoulou, buses are essential. "I use buses every day to get to work and to the shops – it is my only way of travelling," he says.
Christodoulou, from south-west London, is a peer advocate at learning disability charity Kingston Involve. As part of his work championing the rights of learning disabled people, he is involved in the Transport for London (TfL) Big Day Network, which holds learning disability awareness days in bus garages, bringing together learning disabled Londoners, their support staff, bus drivers and managers.
The network has 50 members from self-advocacy groups in London – 37 people with learning disabilities and 13 supporters – and has run events at 15 of the city's 80 garages over the last three years in partnership with George Marcar, a TfL driver communications manager, surface transport. Discussions are held in a stationary bus, which helps people to visualise the issues raised.
Areas of debate include confusing signage or drivers being unaware of so-called "invisible disabilities" – to find out more, read the rest of my article in the Guardian.
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Community approach to social work delivers more personalised care
December 11, 2017 Saba Salman	Leave a comment
If you need social care support, why can't services respond better to your individual aspirations – instead of fitting you into what's already on offer?
This aim – shifting traditional social work practice to "community led" methods – is at the heart of a new programme I've just reported on.
Leeds is one of nine local authorities changing adult social care by developing community-led social work (in a nutshell – more local solutions). The councils are being supported in this drive by social inclusion charity National Development Team for Inclusion's community-led support (CLS) programme. NDTi has just published an evaluation from the first year of delivery in the participating areas
Gail*, for example, has a learning difficulty, mobility problems and is prone to angry outbursts. Leeds council adult social care staff have supported her intermittently over a few years, helping with self-care and chaotic living conditions.
Recently, it considered commissioning weekly visits from a support worker to help Gail manage her home. But instead, under a new approach launched in Leeds last year, Gail met social work staff at community "talking points" – venues such as libraries and churches instead of at home or at the council. The neutral environment sparked different conversations about support. Gail said she wanted to volunteer and staff felt able to be more creative with her care.
A social worker supported Gail to explore opportunities at her community centre, where she began volunteering. Her self-esteem has grown, her personal appearance has improved and she has begun anger management classes.
Feedback from people like Gail involved in the new support method includes comments about staff such as "they listened to me" and "we did talk about the important things".
The concept of community social work is not new, but demand for social care, pressure on staff and funding cuts mean less time and freedom to develop innovative solutions. The 2014 Care Act encourages community-focused support, but this has been hard to achieve. A difficulty in developing "strengths-based" solutions is well documented, for example, in recent guidance from Think Local Act Personal.
At Leeds, adult social services director Cath Roff says the council had two choices: "Either we go down the road of ever-tightening interpretation of eligibility criteria to manage resources, or try a new approach. Social work services are increasingly becoming the 'border patrol', policing in order to manage reducing budgets. None of us came into social care to do that."
Read the rest of the piece here
*not her real name
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Prejudice and inadequate support: the situation for minority ethnic children with learning disabilities
August 9, 2017 Saba Salman	Leave a comment
Callum and Parmi Dheensa (photo: Parmi Dheensa)
When Parmi Dheensa's son Callum kissed a classmate on the cheek not long after starting at a special needs primary school, a teacher asked his mother if this was "culturally appropriate". Dheensa said that as long as the classmate was happy, nothing in her son's Punjabi heritage forbade such displays of affection.
It is just one example over many years of professionals leaping to incorrect conclusions based on the ethnicity of her severely learning disabled son, who is now 19, says Dheensa. They also assume she does not work and is supported by an extended family when in fact she is a lone parent who works full-time. Dheensa, 43, was once told that her son's support – he lives at home and is at a special school – was "better than it would be in India". Fair point maybe, she says, but irrelevant to a British-born, Midlands-based family.
My Guardian article focuses on Parmi's charity, Include Me Too, which works with 1,500 families a year. It has launched a campaign for the government to review its equality duties in relation to special needs education and support for BAME communities.
The charity has now launched a campaign asking the government to review BAME representation in government decision-making (existing involvement is, says Dheensa, "tokenistic") and a new disability and equality strategy to ensure families get better support. The criticism is that professionals do not fully involve parents in reviews of the support they require, or in drawing up education, health and care plans, and parents or carer forums are predominately white British.
Read the article on the Guardian website.
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Campaigning new disability rights network for London
Disability campaigners in west London have long fought against cuts
A new organisation bringing together disabled people's organisations in west London has just been launched. The launch of Hammersmith and Fulham Disabled People's Organisations Network was made on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities last week and coincided with the local authority's decision to abolish home care charges – something that the campaigners behind the new network (Hammersmith and Fulham Coalition Against Cuts HAFCAC), has long fought for.
The new network will collaborate with the council "to ensure disabled people's involvement in the design and delivery of new policies and programmes". In this guest post, Kevin Caulfield, who chairs HAFCAC, and fellow campaigner Debbie Domb, explain more about the new organisation and you can read more here.
Why we launched the Hammersmith and Fulham Disabled People's Organisations Network:
DD: Our main aims are to promote the rights of disabled people, to support local disabled people to speak up and get their voices heard and to promote the social model of disability.
KC: This is hopefully dawn of new era in Hammersmith and Fulham. We want to work in equal partnership where we can with the new council. Bringing together the borough's disabled people's organisations (DPOs) unites our experiences, expertise providing peer organisational support.
How the new group will be different to existing organisations:
KC: We believe it's the first local network of DPOs certainly in London. We need more than ever to work together to defend and promote inclusion human rights of disabled people.
We believe there's something of a "tipping point" in disability rights at the moment:
KC: We have had enough of the scapegoating, punitive policy changes pushing us back to the margins and some of us over the edge to desperation, isolation, destitution and in some cases suicide or death by negligence.
DD: In the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, these factors were magnified as we were 'David Cameron's favourite borough.' (Thankfully no longer ) Policies were implemented here prior to being rolled out nationwide. Disabled people were treated with total contempt by [Tory former council leader] Greenhalgh et al; we were laughed at in council meetings and not allowed to speak. cuts to our services were disguised as 'efficiencies' and we were treated as cash generators.
HAFCAC started as a grassroots campaigning group that was entirely self funded. Since then many grassroots campaign groups of disabled people have formed. Ian Duncan Smith particularly targeted disabled people as we were perceived as unable to fight back, groups like DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) which spearheaded actions by hundreds of disabled activists show he was mistaken.
There is a raft of issues locally that disabled people are concerned about:
KC: Nearly every aspect of our lives [concern us] but locally
· Hospital closures
· Accessible and truly affordable housing
· The breaking up of schools making inclusion of disabled students less likely
· Charging for services
· Eligibility for state support
· Cuts to standard of living, destruction of the welfare state.
· Closure independent living fund
· Taking our direct payment support service in house with no consultation
· Quality of home 'care contracts.
HAFCAC is currently campaigning on a number of issues:
DD: Hospital closures, continuing to work with other activists with DPAC and other DPOs currently on saving ILF; we're waiting for judgement any day now [a high court case has since been lost but campaigners are determined to fight on].
We have a vision for the future work of our new organisation:
KC: I hope we have created a new model for working effectively with a council that is different from involving us just when the decision is about to be made that we are seen as a flagship borough all over for promoting disabled people equality and starting to make it really happen. That we can expose austerity for what it is a calculated pernicious opportunity used to demonise, discriminate, worsen life chances by punishing the poor and marginalised.
DD: Finally we have a council that wants to engage and work with us, the relationship is mutually beneficial. It will be fantastic if Hammersmith and Fulham can be seen as a flagship borough for disabled people's equality, as rather than as previously the borough who 'put disabled residents last.'
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Charity helpline supports abuse victims with learning disabilities
May 7, 2014 Saba Salman	Leave a comment
If Simon Tovey gets anxious before using the bathroom, you might assume his panic is linked to his learning disability. Maybe the public convenience is unfamiliar?
Yet Tovey's fear is the result of the abuse he suffered at Winterbourne View assessment and treatment unit. He featured in the 2011 Panorama expose of the privately run unit near Bristol where he was kicked, punched, verbally tormented – and threatened with having his head put down the toilet.
Tovey's mother, Ann Earley, says of her son, 40: "The Simon that returned to us was not the same one who left. He was profoundly affected and unable to put into words how he felt. He has a long-term fear of toilets – that's just one small thing. The other impact is incalculable, like his fear about what's going to happen next."
Three years on from the Winterborne View scandal, the effect on residents has been huge – but a specialist helpline offers support for them and their families. Read the rest of my piece on the work of the charity Respond on the Guardian's social care network.
Ann Earley and her son Simon, who was abused at Winterbourne View specialist unit in 2011
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Blogging, Disability, Health, Learning disability, Social care, Uncategorized, Young people
Indignation and initiative vs institutional inertia
This is a post that originally appeared on the #107days of action campaign site, raising awareness about the death of Connor Sparrowhawk who died a preventable death in specialist NHS unit last year:
Imagine if you had £3,500 a week to run a campaign, consider the awareness you could raise with even a tenth of that.
Now multiply £3,500 – the average weekly cost of a place at an assessment and treatment unit (ATU) – by 3,250 – the number of learning disabled people in such units. That's an indicator of the costs involved in using controversial Winterbourne View-style settings.
Just over a year ago, 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk, aka Laughing Boy or LB, was admitted to a Southern Health NHS Trust ATU where he died an avoidable death 107 days later.
In contrast to the vast amounts spent by commissioners on places like the one where LB died, the #JusticeforLB campaign sparked by his death is 'funded' solely by goodwill. No PR team crafting on-message missives, no policy wonks collating information, no consultants advising on publicity.
#107days of action began on Wednesday 19 March, a year to the day Connor went into Slade House, and continues until the first anniversary of his death, Friday 4 July 2014. Half the aim – and I'll come to the other half at the end of this post – is to "inspire, collate and share positive actions being taken to support #JusticeforLB and all young dudes". The goal is to capture the "energy, support and outrage" ignited by LB's death.This post, around halfway through #107days and written from the perspective of having reported on #JusticeforLB at the start of the campaign, looks at what's been achieved so far.
I'm not describing the "abject failure" of progress to rid social care of Winterbourne-style settings – care minister Norman Lamb's words – the sort of apologies for care where compassion is often as absent as any actual assessment or treatment. Nor do I write about the errors at Southern (you can read here about the enforcement action from health regulators after a string of failures). I want to explain, from my interested observer's standpoint, the impact of #107days and what might set it apart from other awareness drives.
It's a timely moment to do this. It is now three years since Winterbourne, less than a week after Panorama yet again highlighted abuse and neglect in care homes and a few days since new information on the use of restraint and medication for people in units like LB's. The campaign reflects not only the importance of #JusticeforLB, but also an unmet need to finally change attitudes towards vulnerable people (and it's not as if we don't know what "good care" looks like).
There is a palpable sense that the #107days campaign is different. Talking to journalists, families, activists, academics, bloggers and social care providers, the word "campaign" doesn't adequately define #107days. It's an, organic, evolving movement for change, a collaborative wave of effort involving a remarkably diverse range of folk including families, carers, people with learning disabilities, advocates, academics and learning disability nurses.
It's worth noting the campaign's global reach. LB's bus postcard has been pictured all over the UK and as far away as Canada, America, Ireland, France, Majorca and São Paulo. LB has touched a bus driver in Vancouver and brownies in New Zealand.
Because of the blog run by Connor's mother Sara Ryan (launched long before his death), LB and his family are not mere statistics in a report or anonymised case study "victims" in yet another care scandal. Instead we have Connor: a son, brother, nephew, friend, schoolmate, neighbour – and much more – deprived of his potential. We forget neither his face and personality nor the honest grief of a family facing "a black hole of unspeakable and immeasurable and incomprehensible pain".
Yet while anger and angst has sparked and continues to fan #107days, the overwhelming atmosphere is optimistic. There is the sense that outrage, can should and will force action (and it's worth mentioning, as #JusticeforLB supporters have stressed, exposing bad care begs a focus on good care – lest we forget and tar all professional carers with the same apathetic brush).
Both in its irreverent attitude and wide-ranging activity, this is no orthodox campaign. It is human and accessible because of its eclectic and inclusive nature (see, for example, Change People's easy read version of the report into Connor's death). And at the heart of the campaign lie concrete demands. In its bottom-up, social media-driven, grassroots approach and dogged determination, #107days has a hint of the Spartacus campaign against welfare cuts (Spartacus activist Bendy Girl is supporting #JusticeforLB through her work with the newly formed People First England).
As for impact so far, daily blogposts have attracted over 25,000 hits with visitors from 63 countries. There have been 7,000 or so tweets (which pre-date #107days) 1,380 followers, the #justiceforLB hashtag has been used more than 3,560 times and the #107days hashtag more than 2,000 times in the last month (thanks to George Julian for the number crunching). So far, the total amount raised for Connor's family's legal bills is around £10,000.
I can't list each #107day but suffice it to say that the exhaustive activities and analysis so far include creative and sporting achievements highlighting the campaign as well as education-based events (or as Sara described progress on only Day 6 of #107: "Tiny, big, colourful, grey, staid, chunky, smooth, uncomfortable, funny, powerful, mundane, everyday, extraordinary, awkward, shocking, fun, definitely not fun, political, politically incorrect, simple, random, harrowing, personal, in your face, committed, joyful, loud, almost forgettable, colourful and whatever events").
Along with blogs, beach art and buses in Connor's name, there's an LB truck, the tale of two villages' awareness-raising, a hair-raising homage, autobiographical posts about autism, siblings' stories, sporting activities, and lectures. And patchwork, postcards, pencil cases, paddling (by a 15-year-old rower) and petition-style letters (open to signatures).
It's worth noting that while learning disability should be but isn't a mainstream media issue, there have been pieces in the Guardian and Daily Telegraph plus important coverage on Radio 4 , BBC Oxford and in the specialist press. BBC Radio Oxford's Phil Gayle and team have followed developments relentlessly and Sting Radio produced an uplifting show on the first day of the campaign. While some of this coverage pre-dates #107days, it reflects how media attention has been captured solely thanks to the efforts of Connor's family and supporters (links to other coverage are on Sara's blog).
As for reaching the key figures who could help make the changes #107days wants, the campaign has had contact with health secretary Jeremy Hunt, care minister Norman Lamb, chief inspector of adult social care Andrea Sutcliffe and Winterbourne improvement programme director Bill Mumford, care provider organisations and staff.
Earlier, I described the first half of #107days' aims to "inspire, collate and share positive actions" and capture the "energy, support and outrage" ignited by LB's death. Based on the efforts and impact so far, and the campaign is clearly on track.
But the remaining target – to "ensure that lasting changes and improvements are made" – is more elusive, largely because it lies outside the responsibility and remit of members of the #107days campaign.
Contrast the collective nerve, verve, indignation and initiative of the last 46 days to what Norman Lamb calls the historic "institutional inertia" of NHS and local government commissioners, a cultural apathy undermining plans to move more people out of Winterbourne-style units.
The existence and continued use of ATUs might be a challenging and seemingly intractable problem. But that's not good enough a reason for commissioners – and those who run and govern such places – to ignore the problem. There are good intentions coming from some in authority; people just need to put their collective muscles where their mouths are. Doing that sometime during the remaining 60 days of the campaign for Connor seems like the right thing to do.
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Learning disability, Social care, Uncategorized
Papers, policies, progress and people
March 20, 2014 Saba Salman	3 Comments
While researching a recent piece about the preventable death of teenager Connor Sparrowhawk in a specialist NHS unit, I re-read a lot of old – very good and still very relevant – policy and reports.
As the piece yesterday stated, an independent report found 18-year-old Connor's death at a Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust assessment and treatment unit was avoidable – reigniting criticism of care for people with learning disabilities.
But for more than 20 years – from 1993's influential Mansell Report to its 2007 revised version, to the 2001 report Valuing People and the 2006 Our Health, Our Care, Our Say white paper, it's been clear what "good looks like".
I started this blog specifically to look at good projects, people and places, mostly related to social care. I spend some of my time finding out and writing about the good stuff that goes on – it was what I was doing before I turned to "the Connor Report". It was a cataclysmic shift from one extreme of care to another (that brilliant, easy read version of the report is from Change Peopleby the way).
I know some brilliant folk who support people with learning disabilities and complex needs. I've seen first hand some of the excellent and groundbreaking support that exists for autism, learning disability and for people with challenging needs. My sister's benefitted from the right support (albeit after a bit of a fight).
Yet despite the good practice, great intentions, campaigns, official frameworks and guidelines and reams of evidence, the pace of change for people with complex needs is slow. And poor practice remains.
When you find out about the experience of Connor's family – his mother Sara Ryan and stepfather Richard Huggins – it is impossible not to compare it with what's meant to happen.
Below, are just three areas I very quickly plucked from some of the papers I've been revisiting:
– commissioning of care services
– the concept of personalisation (tailoring care to the individual rather than a "one size fits all" approach)
– the wider issue of the status of people with learning disabilities in society (something that angers me enormously).
The gap between the rhetoric and the reality – most notably when it comes to people with "challenging behaviour" and complex needs – is clear. Cast your eyes over these "then" and "now" juxtaposed extracts and comments.
Then – commissioning of care services:
Mansell Report 2007 :
"Combining the different elements of services to ensure that people with learning disabilities whose behaviour presents a challenge are served well is the job of commissioning. Models of good practice have been demonstrated and service providing organisations committed to good practice exist. However, in the period since 1993 development has not kept pace with need. Placement breakdown continues to be a widespread problem in community services; people are excluded from services; assessment and treatment facilities cannot move people back to their own home; some of the placements eventually found are low value and high cost. What is it that commissioners need to do to tackle these problems? …Failure to develop local services threatens the policy of community care. Doing nothing locally is not an option. Out-of-area placements will `silt up' and reinstitutionalisation (through emergency admissions to psychiatric hospitals or via the prisons) will occur. Special institutions and residential homes for people whose behaviour presents a challenge will be expensive but of poor quality and will attract public criticism. Overall, the efficiency of services will decrease because of the widespread lack of competence in working with people who have challenging behaviour. Commissioners will have less control over and choice of services. Individuals, carers and staff will be hurt and some individuals whose behaviour presents a challenge will be at increased risk of abuse. Staff will be at increased risk from the consequences of developing their own strategies and responses and managers will be held accountable where well-intentioned staff operate illegal, dangerous or inappropriate procedures."
Now – commissioning of care services 2014:
Sara Ryan: "How can the commissioners not do anything [with reference to why assessment and treatment units are still commissioned]…If you commission a young person to staying in a £3,500 a week unit, then it is your duty to go and make sure that is worth it."
Richard Huggins: "Commissioners commission public services on our behalf..Clinical commissioning group decide between competing NHS provision, so you can't have model like that [where you buy a service and then when it goes wrong] say 'well it's not our fault'."
Then – being 'person-centred'
Valuing People, A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century (2001) :
"A person-centred approach will be essential to deliver real change in the lives of people with learning disabilities. Person-centred planning provides a single, multi-agency mechanism for achieving this. The Government will issue new guidance on person-centred planning, and provide resources for implementation through the Learning Disability Development Fund."
Now – being 'person-centred' 2014
Sara Ryan: "There is no personalisation in these units…"
Richard Huggins: "We thought they'd say 'this is what Connor needs this is what we should do'. How that would be achieved, we had no preconception. But we thought he'd come back with a better plan, we wanted an outcome that would suit Connor."
Then – the status of people with learning disabilities in society
Valuing People (2001) :
"People with learning disabilities are amongst the most vulnerable and socially excluded in our society. Very few have jobs, live in their own homes or have choice over who cares for them. This needs to change: people with learning disabilities must no longer be marginalised or excluded. Valuing People sets out how the Government will provide new opportunities for children and adults with learning disabilities and their families to live full and independent lives as part of their local communities."
Now – the status of people with learning disabilities in society 2014
Sara Ryan: "There is a prevailing attitude about learning disability that somehow, if you're born 'faulty' you cannot expect to lead a full life. What is really upsetting is fact that Connor and most young people I know are learning disabled have so much to contribute, and so much people can learn from them, but people can't see any value in them and don't see them as human beings, I find that really distressing."
Richard Huggins: "There are three issues here. What happened to Connor – the care he received and how he was treated, which is still not accounted for – the way Southern Health Trust behaved as an organisation, and then there is a more general issues about the status of learning disabled people in British society."
I could add more examples, but I think the contrast is clear.
There is a strong and growing momentum for action following Connor's death. There is also anger but, as someone wisely told me yesterday, the anger can be channelled into action. There is also, as one chief executive of a care organisation tweeted about Connor earlier today "an onus on all of us who care to stand together alongside families seeking justice".
* There is a "Connor Manifesto" which outlines what needs to happen next and you can find out more about the campaign on the 107 Days site and Sara Ryan's blog.
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One's initial reaction on hearing that your dream vacation destination has been hit by a super storm might be to despair.
However there are plenty of reasons why such an event may not be such bad news after all. In fact, for several reasons, now could be a great time to visit this breathtakingly beautiful Pacific island holiday destination.
The 330 island nation that makes up Fiji in Melanesia was hit by a category 5 cyclone, Winston, on February 21st. This disaster has been more devastating for some islands than others. Taveuni in the north was hit particularly hard.
Many areas were buffetted, but not materially damaged. The storm passed. The seas grew calm. The Fiji government was quick to respond and issued a curfew for the whole of Fiji. This was designed to restrict movement and to ensure the safety of all Fijians.
If you have any queries regarding the status of hotels or liveaboards, contact us. We have all the latest information about the resorts and liveaboards that Dive The World promotes.
Fiji Airways are offering sales fares to Nadi, from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne until the 16th March.
or send us an email to enquire about your current Fiji holiday or to make a Fiji booking now.
By Gavin Macaulay on 22 March 2018 .