Saturdays...yay for Saturdays. It is pretty nice having my own personal barista, it is even better than a coffee shop! I worked a bit on photo editing, blogging etc. while we enjoyed our coffee & breakfast.
Our friends Jordan and Kaitlin invited us to the beach. When they picked us up, Kaitlin brought us a box of salt water taffy from her family reunion to Delaware last week, one of my favorite things in this world to eat.
We went to Trails 1 at San Onofre. It is a state park so the beaches usually aren't as packed as a public beach. You have to hike down a huge hill before you get there but it is completely worth it. Jordan and Kaitlin and Brent surfed while I took photos, hunted for treasures, and soaked up the sun - yay for summer!
After the beach we went to a Mexican taco stand in Dana Point called Aurora's. On the weekends they barbecue whole chickens and for $6 you can get half a chicken, beans, rice, tortillas and salsa. We were all so hungry, we just sat in silence as we blissfully scarfed down our food. I never ever drink soda, but I had a sip of this ice cold, from the bottle Coca-Cola and it was so refreshing!
We rushed home, showered and prettied up a bit then had a drink with Brent's parents and some of their family who were in town.
We had planned to see a movie but after sun and wine, I was exhausted. So a little snack and cappuccino and I was ready to go!
[Observation]: It is amazing to look at this day and see how much I did. If you have followed my blog at all, you know how much of a problem I have had with chronic pain and a year ago there is no way I could have even sat through a full movie. Not only did I sit through a 2 hour movie but I hiked up and down a steep hill, did a lot of walking and sitting in the car. I still have really difficult days with pain and exhaustion but I finally feel things are moving in the right direction. Over the last few months I have finally had relief with the severity of my pain, allowing me to be more active, spend more time with friends and family, and I am so much happier because of it. The hardest parts of being in pain 24/7 was the feeling of not being able to do what I wanted when I wanted to do it, having pain completely control my life, putting on a happy face so I wouldn't make others feel as miserable as I did, and feeling like none of it would never ever get better. But after 3 years of debilitating back pain, finally getting some relief is absolutely incredible. I feel so fortunate to be alive, so fortunate to have the amazing support from my family and unending patience and understanding from my boyfriend. I truly believe I am supposed to use my story and health history to help others, and this is just all part of that story.
[Favorite part of the day]: Reflecting on the above.
[Summary of the day]: Breakfast- cottage cheese with peaches and blueberries. Cappuccino. Work. Lunch - Flatbread pizza. Work. Work. Blog. Phone w/ mom. Shower. 30 minute workout. Walk to the mailbox. Subway. Bonfire. Sleep.
"U.S. Running out of Time for Debt Deal"
"Funerals Following the Norway Attack"
"Apple Grabs 2/3 of Mobile Phone Industry Profits"
"Amy Winehouse's Death: Family Suspects Alcohol Withdrawal"
[Movies released today]: "Cowboys & Aliens" - "Crazy, Stupid, Love" - "The Smurfs"
[Favorite moment]: Singing along to songs at the bonfire. I can't tell you the last time I sang around a fire..probably at camp? It was hilarious and everyone loved it.
On Thursdays I normally go to Brent's house first thing in the morning and we have breakfast & coffee, sometimes exercise and just relax until he goes to work. But I am currently so busy between photo projects, working, and other goals I am trying to meet, so I stayed home and got right to work.
...and ate outside in the sun with a hopeful Ella.
By 5:00 I was exhausted. But I went straight into uploading & editing photos. I have been feeling very overwhelmed lately... tending to take on too much at once and push myself to the point of not enough sleep and high stress levels. Brent was planning to meet up with a friend down at the beach to surf, and although I wanted to go I was worn out and kind of crabby. But I knew it would be good for me, and I am so glad I went.
I love big cities, I always have and absolutely loved the time I spend in San Francisco. But especially in the last few years, I have really come to realize just how much I love and need the beach.
I have such fond memories of beach days with my family when I was growing up, I have never lived more than 10 minutes from the Ocean (even when I was in SF), and it is incredibly therapeutic for me.
No matter what mood I am in, the beach always makes me feel so happy and alive - the never-ending beauty, the feeling of walking on wet sand, the sound of crashing waves, the smell of the sticky salty air, and the sunsets.
When we walked down tonight, I immediately felt the stress leave my mind and body and I felt calmer, lighter and happier. The sunset was gorgeous and it seemed to last forever.
::Observations:: I base way too many decisions on what I think everyone else wants me to do, and not enough on what I actually want.
::Favorite Moment:: Feeling the incredibly warm ocean wash over my feet.
::Picture of me today:: I call it "no makeup & frizz fest but I don't care"
Today I just got up & wasn't feeling well so I made tea and did my best to get some work done.
After work I went straight to Brent's sister's house to photograph their new baby... my quasi-nephew as I like to call him.
His name is Drake and he just turned 1 month old, and is he ever cute!
This last month has really been my first time being around a baby.
Don't have a big family and none of my friends have kids yet.
I headed home & edited photos while I watched my favorite guilty pleasure TV shows...Keeping up with the Kardashians, Teen Mom and Big Brother as I edited photos & snacked on cherries.
Finally, I ate a Drumstick ice cream cone & snuggled with Ella. The best part of those is the very very bottom of the cone that is filled with solid chocolate. YUM.
:: Observations :: This is day 3 of 7 and so far they have all started with me not feeling well. This post seemed all over the place, but that is kind of how I felt today.
:: Favorite Moment :: My first time seeing baby Drake smile.
...more music while I accomplished some photo projects.
Tuesdays are Brent's afternoons off and we had planned to go to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach, something I look forward to it every year.
We had brought our bikes with us and after browsing the festival we rode our bikes into the downtown area and had lunch. Laguna Beach is one of my favorite little towns, so many wonderful art galleries, funky gift shops, incredible views and great restaurants. If you have never been and you are ever in southern California, I would recommend it!
The restaurant we ate at was one of those places where you were definitely paying for the location - looking out at the beach - but we were both starving and it did the trick. I had clam chowder, Brent fish and chips.
After lunch we rode around a little bit and stumbled on this really cute cupcake shop called Casey's Cupcakes. Everything is pink and glam and the cupcakes looked amazing but I was too full to indulge. I know, I know, how could I pass one up right? I would have brought one home with me if I didn't have to balance it on top of my head while biking back to the car. Guess I will have to go back for one. Sigh.
We headed back to the car, went to the grocery store and finally home. I had leftover cream from dinner a few nights ago and I knew I wouldn't cook anything else with it so I made some homemade whipped cream to top a hot mocha for me and a blended mocha for Brent. It hit the spot!
Some episodes of Weeds, relaxing, and the day was done. The end.
Cottage cheese w/ blueberries (from the farmer's market), crackers with ham & cheese & jam, sliced bell peppers, carrots & cucumbers, bowl of clam chowder, green salad w/ balsamic, m&m's and chocolate chips, mocha w/ whipped cream.
Looking at all the art at the Sawdust Festival, riding bikes, day off from work...Tuesdays in general are always great days.


text:
I had to return to Bhutan, my home: Fran Bak
Yangchen C Rinzin
When American tourist Frances H Bak, 70, left Bhutan in February 2020, she had planned to return as soon as possible. Then Bhutan had first positive Covid-19 case and tourism was shut down.
But she kept exploring ways to return to Bhutan.
Apart from her love for the country and people, it was because of the guide Gembo and the driver Tashi Tshering who guided her during her first visit.
Bak said that she always believed guides are true representatives of the country and people, which was portrayed truly through them. "Tourism sector has suffered. Somehow for their sake, I had to return to Bhutan and repay the services they rendered during my stay," she said as she thanked them sitting beside her. "Through them, I have learnt how humble Bhutanese are and how homely Bhutan is."
Through her visit, Bak hopes to give some hope to tourism sector.
Eyes filled with tears, she exclaimed, "I was so happy when I finally found out from a government agency that I can visit if I undergo mandatory quarantine. The first person I called was guide Gembo and only I know how emotional I was to inform I'll be coming to Bhutan."
Bak, who came to Bhutan on August 9, is the first tourist to officially visit Bhutan this year after tourism remained closed since March last year.
The government allows anyone to visit Bhutan as long as the person agrees to go through 21 days mandatory quarantine if not vaccinated, and 14 days if vaccinated with both doses.
She said that although she knew she would have to spend 21 days in the quarantine facility, she had to make a decision because for her to return to Bhutan meant returning home.
"Quarantine was not easy but it's the country's policy and protecting the people from virus is the primary object, which I should respect," she added. "Frontline workers were very kind and they made my stay seamless."
Calling a worthy time to spend in the quarantine facility, Bak was excited thinking how she would soon get to go around the country to meet rural communities again. She visited as far as Merak gewog in Trashigang during her first visit.
"I completely fell in love with the rural communities. They are also partly the reason I wanted to return. I am just in so love with Bhutan," she said.
Bhutan was never on her list to visit but Bak had heard the country being referred to as the home of Gross National Happiness and the last Shangri-La. But one day she decided to visit and met someone who led her to agent MyBhutan. Rest is history.
"I still believe it was a karmic connection that brought me here because now I feel like Bhutan is my home. I belong here," she said. "My first visit itself made me realise that I had taken the right decision."
During her three months stay, Bak plans to visit various monasteries or institutions and play western gong that she carries around. Calling it her passion, she said gong has several benefits that help people relax their mind and soul. "I'll be going around and playing the gong to help people. I'm a trained gong player. In a way, it fulfils my vision to help people with its benefits."
Applauding the government's fight against Covid-19 pandemic, Bak said this would not have been possible without a true leader that the country is blessed with. "His Majesty set an example of how communities should work together and Bhutan's response against the pandemic is an example of how important it is to have a committed leader. This is an honest appreciation from a foreigner who has seen her own country fail the fight."
"That's why I know I'll never regret my decision because I know I am safe here. After three months, let's see what fate decides, but I'll never stop visiting Bhutan."
Edited by Jigme Wangchuk

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The dioramas at New York City's American Museum of Natural History—those vivid and lifelike re-creations of the natural world, in which the taxidermied specimens almost seem to breathe and the painted horizons seem to stretch for miles—are very much products of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century milieu in which many of them were created. Temporally and aesthetically sandwiched between the cabinet of curiosities and "Planet Earth," the dioramas grew out of the intersection between a nascent conservation movement and an age of swashbuckling adventurism.
Chapman also instituted the museum's practice of sending teams of artists, taxidermists, and naturalists to the habitats they were re-creating, so that everything from the vistas to the grasses in the dioramas would be true to life. (Such expeditions were not light undertakings: a 2006 book about the museum's dioramas, "Windows on Nature," by Stephen Christopher Quinn, features two pictures of Akeley heavily bandaged after ill-fated encounters with a leopard and an elephant. It was reportedly while he was recovering from the latter injury that he first envisioned the African Hall.) This close attention to accurate detail was not only scientifically rigorous but was instrumental to the artistry of the scenes. Akeley developed a taxidermy method that involved creating a full sculpture of the animal's muscular structure, built on its articulated skeleton, before the skin was stretched onto it. The photos above, from the museum's archive, show that even these unadorned sculptures are beautiful pieces of craftsmanship. The men creating the scenes look businesslike in their work, in shirts and ties like Ward Cleaver on a weekend. We can imagine them calculating every small detail for verisimilitude—the angle of each feather, each ridge in each leg of a giant millipede.
Diorama-based museum exhibits waned in popularity in the nineteen-fifties, although the museum continued to try to bring lifelike representations of nature to its visitors. The museum's iconic blue-whale model was installed in 1969—and then was given a touch-up in 2003 to correct its color and shape, including the addition of a navel, in light of more up-to-date information on the hard-to-observe species. But although the techniques and goals of diorama art can be seen in contemporary museum exhibits, it's hard to imagine a large-scale undertaking to create anything like the diorama halls today: our culture doesn't look as kindly on the collection of exotic and endangered specimens; and, anyway, there are so many ways for people today to see images of animals as they are in nature. But as any child who has pestered her parents to go look at the elephants or the majestic whale can attest, there is something uniquely stirring, if also a bit uncanny, in the way these scenes can lift the viewer out of her surroundings—not quite into faraway wilds, but closer to them than she might otherwise get.
Examining the death rites of others, a new book argues, might help us fix what has gone wrong with our own.
Crewdson describes his new series, "Cathedral of the Pines," as the most intimate and private of any work he's made.


text:
Home court The Supreme Court just stripped thousands of teachers of their civil rights
The Supreme Court just stripped thousands of teachers of their civil rights
Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru is a difficult case, which raises profound questions about how much control a religious institution has over the individuals who instruct others in the faith.
But the Court's resolution of Morrissey-Berru is also a fairly maximalist decision. The upshot of Justice Samuel Alito's opinion for a 7-2 Court is that thousands of teachers at religious schools are no longer protected by anti-discrimination laws. If one of them is fired for being Black, or gay, or a woman, the law may do nothing to intervene.
The case involves the "ministerial exception" to civil rights laws. As a general rule, religious institutions have total control over whom they employ as "ministers." That means that if a church wants to fire its preacher because of that preacher's race or gender, it may do so, even though such discrimination ordinarily is illegal.
As Alito explains, the Constitution protects "the right of churches and other religious institutions to decide matters 'of faith and doctrine' without government intrusion." Implicit in this right is a certain "autonomy with respect to internal management decisions that are essential to the institution's central mission. And a component of this autonomy is the selection of the individuals who play certain key roles."
Yet while the Supreme Court held in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC (2012) that "ministers" are beyond the reach of civil rights laws, it provided only the vaguest guidelines on who qualifies as a "minister." Alito's opinion in Morrissey-Berru adds some meat to those dry bones. Under his opinion, "when a school with a religious mission entrusts a teacher with the responsibility of educating and forming students in the faith, judicial intervention into disputes between the school and the teacher threatens the school's independence in a way that the First Amendment does not allow."
Thus, a teacher at a religious school whose duties include religious instruction qualifies as a "minister," and is therefore unprotected by anti-discrimination law.
The plaintiffs in Morrissey-Berru had fairly minimal religious duties
One upshot of Morrissey-Berru is that the ministerial exception attaches even to teachers who spend the bulk of their time engaged in secular instruction. The case concerns two Catholic school teachers, Agnes Morrissey-Berru and Kristen Biel, who claim they were fired for illegitimate reasons.
Morrissey-Berru alleges age discrimination, while Biel's estate claims that she illegally lost her job after she "requested a leave of absence to obtain treatment for breast cancer" — she eventually died of the disease. The schools, meanwhile, claim that both women's contracts were not renewed due to legitimate concerns about their job performance.
But these factual disputes will never be resolved, because the ministerial exception places both women beyond the reach of civil rights laws such as the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Both women were elementary school teachers at Catholic schools. Like most elementary school teachers, they taught a broad range of subjects rather than specializing in any one area. Most of their time was spent on secular topics such as arithmetic or grammar, but both women also spent some time instructing their students in the Catholic faith. Biel, for example, was "required to teach religion for 200 minutes each week" and administer a weekly test on religious subjects.
Under Alito's decision, this fairly small amount of religious instruction — a little more than three hours a week — was enough to trigger the ministerial exception. "Implicit in our decision in Hosanna-Tabor," Alito writes, "was a recognition that educating young people in their faith, inculcating its teachings, and training them to live their faith are responsibilities that lie at the very core of the mission of a private religious school."
It's unclear how far the ministerial exception will extend to non-teachers
One upshot of Hosanna-Tabor is that many teachers — perhaps all teachers in religious schools with good lawyers — are no longer protected from discrimination. Teachers who already provide religious instruction are now overwhelmingly likely to be classified as "ministers," and religious schools could potentially bring all of their teachers within the ministerial exception's umbrella by assigning them new religious duties.
But what of other employees of religious institutions? As Justice Sonia Sotomayor writes in dissent, "the rights of countless coaches, camp counselors, nurses, social-service workers, in-house lawyers, media-relations personnel, and many others who work for religious institutions" are now uncertain.
Alito's opinion is vague regarding these employees, stating that courts must "take all relevant circumstances into account and to determine whether each particular position implicated the fundamental purpose of the exception." But its heavy focus on individuals who teach religion suggests that the ministerial exception could sweep quite broadly.
Here's a personal example: Starting when I was 16, I had a summer job as a junior counselor at a Christian-identified summer camp. I spent the bulk of my time on entirely secular activities — like playing capture the flag or teaching students to refer to the rear end of a boat as the "stern." But a couple of evenings a week, I would lead a group of children in a 10-minute "devotion" and close that devotion with a prayer.
In effect, I spent 20 minutes a week providing religious instruction to these children.
Was that enough to qualify my 16-year-old self as a "minister"? Morrissey-Berru, with its emphasis on employees tasked with "educating young people in their faith," suggests that I very well may have qualified, as could many other workers with minimal religious duties.
Meanwhile, it is likely that at least some employers will try to game Morrissey-Berru to immunize themselves from liability for discrimination. Consider, for example, a 2015 manual called Protecting Your Ministry From Sexual Orientation Gender Identity Lawsuits, which was published by the Southern Baptist Convention and a leading Christian-right law firm. That manual advised religious employers to assign religious duties to low-level employees in an attempt to bring them under the ministerial exception:
When feasible, a religious organization should assign its employees duties that involve ministerial teaching, or other spiritual qualifications — duties that directly further the religious mission. For example, if a church receptionist answers the phone, the job description might detail how the receptionist is required to answer basic questions about the church's faith, provide religious resources, or pray with callers. Consider requiring all employees to participate in devotional or prayer time, or to even lead these on occasion.
It is still unclear whether a receptionist, who is told to "answer basic questions about the church's faith" in a bad-faith attempt to strip that receptionist of their civil rights, would qualify as a minister. Alito's opinion does instruct courts to "take all relevant circumstances into account" when determining "whether each particular position implicated the fundamental purpose of the exception."
But, at the very least, Morrissey-Berru is likely to plunge victims of such tactics into months — or even years — of expensive litigation just to determine whether they have any rights at all.
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text:
Education and state
Chegg Inc
eBooks Corp.
Higher Education and Democracy: Essays on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement
edited by John Saltmarsh and Edward Zlotkowski
Temple University Press, 2011
Cloth: 978-1-4399-0037-6 | eISBN: 978-1-4399-0039-0 | Paper: 978-1-4399-0038-3
Library of Congress Classification LB2322.2.H512 2011
Dewey Decimal Classification 378.015
Higher Education and Democracy is a collection of essays written over the last ten years on how civic engagement in higher education works to achieve what authors John Saltmarsh and Edward Zlotkowsi consider to be the academic and civic purposes of higher education. These include creating new modes of teaching and learning, fostering participation in American democracy, the development and respect for community and civic institutions, and encouraging the constant renewal all of these dimensions of American life.
Organized chronologically, the twenty-two essays in this volume provide "signposts" along the road in the journey of fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. For the authors, service-learning is positioned as centrally important to the primary academic systems and structures of higher education, departments, disciplines, curriculum, and programs that are central to the faculty domain. Progressing from the general and the contextual to specific practices embodied in ever larger academic units, the authors conclude with observations on the future of the civic engagement movement.
Dr. John Saltmarsh is the Director of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston as well as a faculty member in the Higher Education Administration Doctoral Program in the Department of Leadership in Education in the Graduate College of Education.
Edward Zlotkowski is a Professor of English at Bentley College. He writes and speaks extensively on a wide range of service-learning and civic engagement-related topics, and served as general editor of the American Association for Higher Education's 21-volume series on service-learning in the academic disciplines.
Introduction: Putting into Practice the Civic Purposes of Higher Education, John Saltmarsh and Edward Zlotkowski
SECTION I: General Need
SECTION II: Antecedents
SECTION III: Service-Learning Pedagogy
SECTION IV: Service-Learning in the Curriculum: The First Year
SECTION V: Service-Learning in the Curriculum: The Disciplines
SECTION VI: Engaged Departments
SECTION VII: The Engaged Campus
SECTION VIII: Over a Decade Later
Conclusion: Looking Back, Looking Ahead: A Dialogue, John Saltmarsh and Edward Zlotkowski
See other books on: Civics & Citizenship | Education and state | Education, Higher | Higher Education | Political participation
See other titles from Temple University Press
Nearby on shelf for Theory and practice of education / Higher education:
Paper: 978-1-4399-0038-3


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The Ministry of Information and Culture has within it the Lao Department of Cinema (aka Film Department). They also have a Youtube channel where they post current and old film footage of news occurrences, educational stuff and even fictional shows.
The video shown here gives some background on what they do. It's an older video but it's still interesting and informative to watch.


First there was the PC. Then came the laptop, the iPhone, and the tablet. Next up? A computer you can wear.
The two heaviest hitters in Silicon Valley—Apple and Google—are both preparing to release devices that are designed to be strapped to consumers' bodies.
Apple's iWatch reportedly will let users read emails by glancing down at their wrists and could include a heart-rate monitor. Apple has not yet announced publicly that it is working on iWatch, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office confirmed that the notoriously secret company has applied for a patent on a wearable computer in the form of "a flexible bracelet that wraps around the wrist."
The Google Glass project is said to be farther along. These smart glasses will allow users to integrate many of the functions that Google already offers through its online and mobile platforms, while also allowing them to make phone calls, photograph what they see, and record hands-free video. Google Glass could hit the market as soon as this year, though not everyone is enthusiastic.
As Telegraph columnist Nick Pickles points out, the goal could be to bridge the current divide between our private lives and the monetized world of digital business. The trove of data collected by a device that sees what you see or knows intimate details about your health could have potentially lucrative appeal to online advertisers. Since Google's revenue model is based on selling ads, many have surmised that the Internet search giant's ultimate aim is to create hyper-personal, real-time advertisements and project those ads directly to your eyeballs.
What do you think? Are wearable computers nothing more than the next big thing in electronics, something to help consumers in all sorts of ways? Or are they a threat to privacy and an advertiser's dream come true?


RedBuilt™, a leader in the design, manufacture and support of patented engineered structural wood products for commercial and industrial applications, recently featured a Hardin Design Build project – Specialty's Cafe & Bakery.
Specialty's Café serves made-from-scratch breakfasts, lunches and baked goods. Yet this 7,000 square foot dine-in or take-out café provides guests with more than just good food.
To achieve the sloped roofline, RedBuilt's tapered Red-H™ open-web trusses with RedLam™ LVL chords were specified. The 13 trusses are 72" deep at one end and 24" at the other. While at the manufacturing plant, additional effort was made to ensure no finger joints were revealed within the chords as the trusses are in an exposed application.


text:
Defense IRM: Alternatives Should Be Considered in Developing the New Civilian Personnel System
AIMD-99-20 Published: Jan 27, 1999. Publicly Released: Jan 27, 1999.
Skip to Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to reduce the costs associated with civilian personnel management, focusing on: (1) how DOD determines the number and locations for civilian personnel regional service centers and why is there a wide disparity in the number of regional centers among the services; (2) whether DOD is applying the investment principles of the Clinger-Cohen Act in overseeing, managing, and developing the Defense Civilian Personnel Data System (DCPDS); (3) whether DCPDS duplicates the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Employee Express System: (4) whether DOD leadership is aware of the extent and cost of the needed modifications to the commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software applications; and (5) whether DOD identified and mitigated the risks associated with the major COTS modifications.
Skip to Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
Agency Affected
Department of Defense Before Defense starts to deploy the new system beyond test sites, the Secretary of Defense should rigorously evaluate all business and system alternatives to providing personnel services as envisioned by the Clinger-Cohen Act, and, using this data and the system test results, select the most cost beneficial business and system alternative and develop and implement a transition plan for that alternative. Specifically, business alternatives considered should include: (1) use of regions or local offices to serve specific agencies or services; (2) use of regions or local offices to serve multiple agencies and services; (3) centralizing all or parts of personnel management operations that currently operate at component headquarters and major commands; (4) integrating DOD's civilian personnel and payroll management systems; (5) outsourcing civilian personnel computer operations; (6) outsourcing all civilian personnel management services; and (7) acquiring other commercially available products.
Closed – Implemented Closed – Implemented

Actions that satisfy the intent of the recommendation have been taken.

Defense' Civilian Personnel Management Service officials informed GAO that DOD has considered business and system alternatives and will continue to consider alternative approaches to improve DCPDS. Based on the alternatives that GAO recommended, the Departments of the Army and Navy have closed three regional centers and they provided documentation indicating these actions will improve operational efficiency and customer service and reduce operating costs by about $2.15 million a year. The officials also stated that the Army also consolidated ten regional databases into one, reducing operating costs by about $619,000 a year and created an electronic personnel folder that will result in about $20 million a year in savings.
Department of Defense In analyzing commercially available products, the Secretary of Defense should consider the costs, benefits, and returns-on-investment of all commercially available products that support personnel management. The analysis of commercially available products should consider technical risks, including whether each one can be modified in the future at a reasonable cost. In evaluating the range of business alternatives, consideration should be given to the substantial investment that has already been made in the current approach.
DOD established a civilian HR systems innovation sub-committee consisting of user representatives and chaired by the Civilian Personnel Management Service (CPMS) to evaluate and recommend new COTS applications and other initiatives for consideration by the DCPDS Change Control Board. DOD assigned its technical contractor (Lockheed Martin) responsibility for continuous evaluation of software products for consideration by CPMS. DOD has conducted a functional analysis of several COTS products to enhance the capabilities of DCPDS, but has not selected any of the products for implementation.
Department of Defense Regardless of the business and system alternative selected, Defense should optimize it by collecting, analyzing, and using reliable cost and performance data and making improvements.
Civilian Personnel Management Service (CPMS) drafted a set of performance measures based on those used by Fortune 500 companies. CPMS plans to obtain comments on these measures from the Defense components and agencies, incorporate their recommendations, and begin reporting information on the measures in fiscal year 2004.
Department of Defense Regardless of the chosen approach, the Secretary of Defense should take the following actions to mitigate technical, security, and year 2000 risks. To ensure that the system is adequately maintained and that modifications are carefully controlled, Defense should: (1) develop agreements with system partners and interface partners to define responsibility for system operations, maintenance, and security; (2) establish a configuration control board comprised of system users to assist in deciding on which changes need to be made to the system, prioritizing change requests, and ensuring that changes are correctly made; and (3) assign clear responsibility for providing technical assistance to Defense components.
Civilian Personnel Management Service (CPMS) drafted a charter with its system partners and signed an agreement with its interface partner, Defense Finance and Accounting Service; established a Change Control Board and a charter defining the authority and responsibilities of the board; developed a concept of operations document describing responsibilities for the maintenance, sustainment, and operation of DCPDS; awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin for system operations, sustainment, and maintenance.
Department of Defense Regardless of the chosen approach, the Secretary of Defense should take the following actions to mitigate technical, security, and year 2000 risks. To ensure that sensitive personnel data are adequately protected, Defense should: (1) assess its risks and determine security needs; (2) define and implement appropriate policies and related controls, including standards for encrypting data and firewalls; (3) promote security awareness at all sites maintaining the system; and (4) continually monitor and evaluate policy and effectiveness.
DOD conducted a security test and evaluation to evaluate security features of DCPDS; the Air Force Information Warfare Center performed a computer security engineering assessment of the system; performed security certification visits to contractor (Lockheed Martin) sites, including the disaster recovery site; developed security policies and related documents and disseminated them to user organizations; purchased and tested a data encryption package; instituted a 24 by 7 intrusion detection reporting process for contractor and regional operations; developed a security features users guide, a security annex to the training support plan, and a set of trusted facility manuals to support security awareness and training; developed a technical and functional certification checklist for use during site visits that DOD plans to conduct periodically; and is conducting a review of all contingency plans to ensure component regional centers are prepared to respond to emergencies.
Department of Defense Regardless of the chosen approach, the Secretary of Defense should take the following actions to mitigate technical, security, and year 2000 risks. To mitigate year 2000 risks, Defense should: (1) establish interface agreements that clearly specify date format changes, timeframes for these changes, and processes for resolving conflicts; (2) refine business continuity and contingency plans to ensure that they consider risks posed by external systems and infrastructure; assess the costs and benefits of alternative contingency strategies; and describe resources, staff roles, procedures and timetables needed for implementation of the plan; and (3) test contingency plans to ensure that they are capable of providing the desired level of support to the agency's core business processes and can be implemented within a specified period of time.
The remediation for the legacy DCPDS system was completed and contingency plans were completed and fully tested as of August 1999.
See All 6 Recommendations
Full Report (51 pages)
Chuck Young
youngc1@gao.gov
Civilian employeesCommercial off the shelfCommercial productsCost effectiveness analysisDefense cost controlEmployee ExpressInformation resources managementLegacy systemsManagement information systemsPersonnel managementPrivatizationProductivity in governmentSoftwareY2KInformation management


My name is Soon Chai. You can call me S. C. for short.
I've been eating lots of coconut oil and using it on my skin day in, day out since 2006.
And it's only in 2013 that I decided to create FussyBody to share my experience and insightful knowledge with anyone who is dying to gain better health with coconut oil.
You probably are skeptical due to some very different voices out there slamming coconut oil for its "poisonous" saturated fat.
I would have died long ago if coconut oil were poisonous. On the contrary, I'm doing super good with my health.
Look, the reason why we all fall sick easily is due to us being exposed to free radicals and malicious microbes in the air all the time. We unwittingly bring them into our body via food and beverages too.
The way coconut oil works to enhance health is actually very straightforward. It protects you against the attacks by free radicals and malicious microbes. That's all it does.
Anyway, the best way to find out whether coconut oil lives up to what I just said is to test it out yourself. Nothing beats personal experience.
If it works on you, great. Continue to see your health improve over time.
If it doesn't however, just dump it. Simple as that.
Okay, I think I'll leave it to you to explore Mastering Coconut Oil.
I hope that the articles I've written based on my experiences can help better your health and restore your body back to its "default factory setting" (the point before your health deteriorates).
I'll definitely add more articles in the near future. I also update my contents frequently as my experience and knowledge about coconut oil grow. So, do come back often to breathe in new air.
Or you can fill in the form below so that I can inform you whenever I write something cool about coconut oil, which might benefit you in one way or another.
You can also follow me on Twitter if you're more comfortable with that.
If you have any questions for me, feel free to drop me a message too. As long as your message gets into my inbox, I'll definitely get back to you personally. But don't spam me. I never respond to spam.


 FIB - Almaz Mirgazov Russian Hero!
Russia won the Golden Final in World Championships in Vänersborg against Sweden after a dramatic game. Sweden was in the lead several times in the game but Russia scored 5-5 in the end of regular time. As usual it was a coincidence that decided the game. Almaz Mirgazov (picture) was the last happy scorer for Russia after a little bit more than 1 minute of extra time "Sudden death".


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Home Music On Building National Character
On Building National Character
What builds national character? Poets and troubadours and musicians, who are peripatetic men and women of immense erudition, who make proverbial journeys as did Odysseus; wandering like medieval apothecaries in search of the magical and the mystical; and those who are also ready to sing to anyone who will give ear. They would naturally be griots and keepers of the collective consciousness who sing the world and its nations of their history.
Vaughan Williams: Warlock – Mark Padmore tenor – Britten Sinfonia
It is this tradition comes the Lieder in a record that builds character—the one entitled Ten Blake Songs/On Wenlock Edge plus The End and The Curlew by the late English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams. The songs attempt to define and then build upon the national character of Britain, in the wake of Germany, where Lieder originated. On this recording, the composer begins the remarkable repertoire with the stirring poetry of A.E. Houseman (1859-1936) whose angular imagery cuts through the bitter chill and the bleak air in a song cycle "On Wenlock Edge," to William Blake's (1757-1827) cycle of "Ten Poems," from the film The Vision of William Blake Songs of Innocence and Experience reminded a faltering English consciousness that they were still God's creatures if they aspired to be so. The recording also features "The Curlew," a brilliant series of little-known poems W.B. Yeats (1865-1935), who challenges the poets of the Isles to "sing" with a more concrete image that still howled in the wind as Mr. Yeats poems often did. There is also a fine poem by Mark Strand (1934- ), "The End," which contemplates the tumultuous slipping into nothingness, with stark imagery. And all this sung by the great tenor, Mark Padmore, master of English song and a modern griot; enabler of national character and narrator of history. Mr. Padmore is one of those superior musical intellects with superb diction, wondrous enunciation and a passion for wringing everything out of a beauteous image.
Label: Harmonia Mundi | Release date: January 2014
Website: brittensinfonia.com | Buy music on: amazon
Songs of Olden Times: Estonian Folk Hymns and Runic Songs: Heinavanker
National character may also be built when contemplating the face and heart of the Divine God, who made heaven and earth. Such inspired music traverses the spiritual topography of the soul and maps the tabula rasa, upon which is written God's word to the individuals that make up the nation, and who become responsible for the resplendent character of the nation of Estonia. There is something almost eerily beautiful about the a capella ensemble that delves into ancient liturgy and as if mastering the spiritual work of the theology in the worship of the 15th Century Western Orthodox Church, a veritable table is placed before a people where the mystical sacrifice is taking place. Some of the songs come from an oral tradition and mastering these does require the singers to improvise, rare for repertoire that is as ancient as conventional wisdom dictated that music such as this was largely programmatic. This is the inspiring work of Margo Kölar, who archived and directed this choir whose name is inspired by the Haywain Triptych Hieronymus Bosch (1453-1516) and whose majestic voicings calm the savage breast,
Website: heinavanker.ee | Buy music on: amazon
The Phoenix Rising: Stile Antico
Though not quite as ancient as the Estonian folk hymns and runic songs, this collection of ancient Tudor Church Music is equally fascinating. Composers of this exciting a capella repertoire include 16th Century composers, William Byrd (1540-1623), Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), Thomas Gibbons (1557-1602), Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), Robert White (1538-1574) and John Taverner (1490-1545). The hymns and liturgy composed at the height of the glory of European polyphony symbolise a refinement of the revolutionary movement—invented at the time of the Gregorian chants. This kind of religious music forever influenced the music that was to follow, right up to the present day a capella groups including those in jazz. The highlight of this repertoire is William Byrd's fabulous Mass for Five Voices, which is truly inspirational and is certainly path-breaking. Much of the kudos must go to Stile Antico, a choral ensemble that has been established as one of the most exciting groups in Europe and now in the rest of the world as well. Their interpretations of Tudor repertoire exists in a magisterium characterised by complete devotion to accuracy and an astounding degree of mastery of salvation history as proffered by the English church—first Catholic, but, eventually, after Henry VIII, which became Anglican. Essentially though the theology and doxology remained unchanged through the ages until the Latin liturgy and the subsequent modern English liturgy that came after the twenty-first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican (Vatican II) where the liturgy of the Catholic church was dramatically modernised under Pope John XXIII.
Website: stileantico.co.uk | Buy music on: amazon
Heinavanker
John Taverner
Mark Padmore
Orlando Gibbons
Thomas Gibbons
Thomas Tallis
William Byrd
McCoy Tyner: In Memorium
Bedazzled by Diana Panton
Sheila Simmenes: Love Was Easy


There's a lot of truth in your answer to #15. Money is said to be the root of all evil and we're warned that it can't buy happiness, but I still contend that having enough goes a long way to smoothing the way and removing stress.
I forgot completely that knitting also involves a lot of touch, always feeling the tips of the needles and the tension on the yarn. And, yes, money, or the lack of it, plays a BIG role in modern life. Not all qualified kids get scholarships, for instance. I can really see this.
I like that you have faith in yourself. I wish I did. Bravo to you for having it.
ROFL You said your sense of touch was critical as a knitter. I read that as "a killer." I have to stop watching crime programs.
Ms, CountryDew. We all have faith in you. I'd take a solemn oath on that, too.
How's this for freaky? Our groceries/fast foods $ are the same, but swapped.
Boxwood--Yuck!----smells like a cemetery to me.


The machine uses linear X- and Y-motor axes and the work piece is fixed on an M6-thread table. An optional B rotary axis can be mounted on the table allowing to position the work piece with a different rotation angle.
The state-of-the-art CNC machine system includes a high-power green or infrared laser, a compact high-pressure water pump with an ultra-pure water unit, a touch-screen control panel and a vision system with the motorized zoom.
Stainless steel, Durnico, CuBe, copper, brass, aluminum, shape-memory alloys (Nitinol), titanium, nickel, super alloys etc.


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Koh Phi Phi – Don't Go There
Ugh. Where to begin with Koh Phi Phi? Maybe 20 years ago: a curious man from Finland arrives on Phi Phi Don with his friend, finding just one restaurant that doubles up as a bar. He stays in a tree house, high up in a huge tree, with ants making trails across his room and only a candle for light after sunset. During the day, he swims naked on the beach because there is absolutely no one around to be offended by the sight of his bare flesh.
Our new year's eve arrival at this National Park site was somewhat different. We hopped off a long-tail from one of the most calm, peaceful and beautiful Thai islands (which will not be named in relation to Phi Phi for safety reasons) and joined a crowd of a thousand tourists, all desperate to consume, to flog this dead community some more, to take selfies with their buckets of SangSom and their new ill judged tattoos.
Once you become part of this sweaty, braying mob, there is little you can do to escape it. The restaurants, bars and shops are so crammed in that finding a quiet spot is a futile quest. Even hiding out in our shabby, bed bug infested bungalow offered no relief because we could still hear the tourist torrent rushing past.
One option is to head to the beach, but this is not so easy on this tiny island. Ton Sai beach is lined with longtails and serves mostly as a ferry port, so swimming from its golden sands is pretty perilous. On the other side of the thin strip of human habitation, there's Lo Dallam beach. Aside from the name sounding like one of those floodlit sports shops from the 90's, this beach serves as the main party scene and is therefore awful. During the day you'll find some peace here, but the sand is full of glass from the night before, making swimming and a stroll on the sand too dangerous. By early evening, the various bars pumping out house music, and only house music because apparently there are no other genres of music suitable for parties, make this an awful place to watch the light fade over the beautiful limestone cliffs that frame the island. By night, the party goers eschew the pay-to-pee toilets and use the sea instead, so think twice before taking a midnight amble along the shore.
We took a lengthy walk over to long beach and found this to be a reasonably nice spot to spend the afternoon. It's still over crowded but this is a different crowd. Think well groomed Scandinavian families on holiday instead of lads in vests from Manchester on the pull, and you get the idea. Even so, there are far too many long-tails lining the shore and not enough shady spots. By Thai standards, it is not a great beach.
We recommend hiking up to the various viewpoints from Long Beach, rather than from Ton Sai. You'll avoid walking up hundreds of steps, teeming with hungover tourists, taking a free gentle hike up to the island's ridge instead. On this mostly solitary amble, you'll pass surprisingly friendly locals living in Tsunami Village, hastily erected after the 2004 disaster that struck the island, and become immersed in the lush rainforest that covers the highland. The actual viewpoints themselves are disappointing, offering views of an island that has been utterly destroyed by tourism, from spots that are themselves packed with lager swilling, selfie snapping tourists, but the hike was a high point for us.
From the viewpoints, it's obvious that Phi Phi has grown far too fast for its own good. Although much of the island's infrastructure was destroyed by the tsunami, the money that flooded in its wake has evidently been used to build massive new hotels and resorts, alongside row upon row of bars, restaurants and tourist tat shops, instead of proper sewage facilities and safely habitable spaces. Whilst the central garden, irrigated purely by sewage runoff, is a step in the direction of sustainability, it stinks and we saw no one, apart from ourselves, wandering through it. More must be done to solve the sanitation crisis that everyone is just turning their noses from.
The result of all of this is an artificial town that smells worse than anywhere we've visited, and a constant risk of death by fire or cholera. If one of the shops were to catch fire, this would quickly spread throughout the whole town. We have no idea how the hordes of visitors, most of them drunk, would find their way to safety in the panic of the crowd. You're probably not meant to think about this and just drink more cheap rum, but the reality of the situation is fairly alarming.
It may be that the whole point of Phi Phi is to put yourself in danger and even in pain before you leave. We're not just talking about hitting the jaeger bombs and battling a hangover later. Nope, we're referring to Reggae Bar, a pub that boasts a full size muay Thai ring at its centre so that drunk tourists (mostly Brits, of course) can fight each other for a free bucket of booze. Fighting without any proper training is stupid and dangerous, but doing it drunk is really stupid and really dangerous. We saw 4 fights in the bleak half hour that we were in the bar, and while the bloodthirsty audience had a great time, we left feeling depressed, especially as they didn't even play any reggae there.
Sadly, the constant throb of greedy tourists has drained the island's soul, creating an atmosphere of contempt from shopkeepers, hoteliers and restaurant staff. The massively inflated prices of everything, from food to accommodation, also suggest that the visitors are only tolerated because of their economic benefit. We felt unwelcome everywhere we went in town, and it's easy to understand why when really we're not any different from any one else visiting the island.
Spending new year's eve on Phi Phi was not one of our better ideas, in fact it may have be our worst decision on this trip. It made us question the reasons that we chose to travel in the first place, and whether this is such an honourable thing to be doing when the environmental consequences can be so obscene. These are questions we still haven't answered, but we're taking a much more measured approach to our journeying from now on. If it wasn't for our excellent diving trip with Blue View Divers to Phi Phi Lae on our third day, we'd have nothing good to say about the whole trip. But swimming through an underwater cavern teeming with fish just about made up for the horrors we'd witnessed on the shore. When we inevitably return to Thailand, just like our friend from Finland, we will certainly not be heading back to Koh Phi Phi.
A Trip to Tonsai
January 12, 2017 February 26, 2017 3 Comments
After a few glorious days being pampered at a Centara resort in built up Ao Nang, it was time to say goodbye to close friends from home and hit the road, or more precisely, the sea, again.
We were headed to Tonsai, just for one night, before settling down in Koh Lanta for a month. Our trip to Tonsai, totally unplanned, arose out of a desire never to return to boring old Krabi town. Why go back to that washed out transport hub, full of weary folk just passing through and taking depressing photos by the big crab, when we could take a long-tail to mythical Tonsai and a ferry onward to Lanta?
This turned out to be one of the best decisions we've ever made. Tonsai is a truly exceptional place, so exceptional that it is incredible that it really exists. Indeed, most of the time we were there we felt far removed from reality.
Cut off from civilisation due to the enormous limestone cliffs that form the bay, Tonsai feels like an island. People there often talk of it being on island time, or comment on the joys of island life, but it is firmly attached to the mainland. It is inaccessible by road, like neighbouring and more upmarket Railay, preventing busloads of tourists arriving on day trips from Krabi. You can only reach it by long-tail boat, either direct from Ao Nang or transferring from an island hopping ferry.
Do not go to Tonsai if you want efficient service, constant access to electricity or a quiet evening. You will not find them here.
The good folks renting out the bungalows barely know what day it is, let alone whether they have any vacancies. You can find a place to rest your head from around 200 – 700 Baht depending on the size and the view. We can recommend Jungle View Resort for a clean, spacious bungalow high up in the canopy with the monkeys for 400 Baht per night (like most places in Tonsai, you can't book in advance so just show up on the day). Whilst choosing our abode, we noticed a few places expanding and building more concrete apartments. Not only is this material awful at keeping out the heat in the tropical climate, it's also pretty unsustainable. Vote with your feet and choose bamboo over concrete where you can.
In most places, electricity runs from 6pm until 6am (sunset to sunrise) because why should they keep the generators running all day long? The joys of being off grid are numerous, but bear in mind that your chicken burger has probably not been refrigerated all day and may lead to the infamous Tonsai belly. That being said, the barbecue chicken at Mama's Chicken' was delicious and left our guts intact.
As for a quiet night, this is a place to indulge your senses, open your mind and share your dreams. With several bars to choose from in this tiny enclave, there's no shortage of nightlife and you'll be welcomed in by the friendly community.
If you're thinking of staying at the fairly new Tonsai Bay Resort and you reckon you'll be cut off from the hippy free for all, think again. Those limestone cliffs have amazing acoustics and our midnight stroll through the swanky settlement showed us sad, sleepless souls. This resort is not Tonsai.
The real Tonsai village is set back from the sandy beach, which is fringed with rocks, a couple of longtails and crystal clear waters. The village is hidden by jungle and backed by enormous cliffs, creating a refreshing feeling of isolation. A friend tells us that years ago, everything was located on the beach but has been moved back over time. Sadly, and probably because of the above mentioned resort, the Great Wall of Tonsai has been built along the main road, cutting the village off from the jungle and keeping the ruffians in their place. On the plus side, this totalitarian concrete erection has become a canvas for astoundingly good street art. Sources inform us that it looks great after a mushroom shake.
In the village, among the rainbow painted, driftwood pillared bars, you'll find an array of restaurants, as well as shacks serving shakes of all kinds. Some of them happy, some of them just fruity.
A good number of people visit Tonsai for the awesome rock climbing scene. We're told it's one of the best climbing sites in the world, and it certainly is a beautiful spot to climb. Looking up at the climbers, we noticed that their muscles were much larger than ours and decided to give it a miss. If we stayed for longer, we would have been convinced by someone to have a go. We'd also have gone for a kayak around the craggy bays and trekked to the Emerald Lake. Instead, we found a spot in Chill Out Bar and chilled out.
During this time, we met Kev and Frankii, a formerly hard grafting, but now happily unemployed (this isn't quite true as they do a lot of volunteering out here) couple from Bournemouth, where we used to live. It was a surreal experience talking about our town, hearing all the place names spoken aloud in a place so different, so far away. But surreal is what Tonsai does best.
We spent our evening with these beautiful people, becoming one with the soft furnishings, watching the world drift gently by, reflecting on every passing moment.
When it became apparent that the scheduled fire show would not be happening (the word 'scheduled' means nothing in Tonsai), we took a walk on the beach. We were stunned by the majesty of the lit up cliffs, the colours emphasising their power, giving every nook and cranny an eerie consciousness. Beyond the clifftops, the stars glittered like whispers, forming patterns we'd never seen before. These distant suns reminded us of our insignificance and eventually guided us to bed.
As our longtail took us out to sea early next morning, the cliffs stood proud with their earthy silence, an unspoken promise that they would still be here when we return. Yet who knows what will remain of the Tonsai that we found?


Shouldn't be a surprise to the guests, the owners of the B & B could be upfront about the charges..Nah, how could that happen??
No Surprise here. This same stuff is going on all over the country. It is a simple matter of greed.
In the case of Sea Girt,simply milking the cow dry. Sea Girt like Belmar will not learn their lesson until they have driven away all the business, both locals and tourists.
When that happens, I'll not feel sorry for them. They have reaped what they have sown.
Maryland ,VA has no such tax .better yet it's beaches are FREE ,just like in the rest of the country ….
yup I would say we are about done with being financially raped everywhere we go! What's left to tax?


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Baseball 16:41, 18-Dec-2022
Cubs enhance defense by landing Swanson on a 7-year, $177 million deal
Shortstop Dansby Swanson of the Atlanta Braves passes during the third inning in Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, October 12, 2022. /CFP
The Chicago Cubs have reached an agreement with free agent shortstop Dansby Swanson on a seven-year, $177 million contract which includes a full no-trade clause, ESPN reported on Saturday.
Having appeared in all of the Atlanta Braves' 162 regular season games in 2022, Swanson hit a batting average of .277 with an on-base plus slugging of. 776. He was selected into the MLB All-Star Game for the first time in his career and received his first Gold Glove Award. One year ago, he won the World Series championship with the team.
The Cubs spent the past two seasons on rebuild and they made several moves during this offseason to start with defense. Swanson's arrival will enable Nico Hoerner to go back to the second base, where he was a Gold Glove finalist in 2020. Moreover, the team signed Cody Bellinger, who won the Gold Glove Award in 2019, to play in the center field.
Shortstop Dansby Swanson of the Atlanta Braves receives the ball during the eighth inning in Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 15, 2022. /CFP
Swanson's contract became the largest deal the Cubs have offered since they inked outfielder Jason Heyward on an eight-year, $184 million contract in 2016. Star free agent shortstops were very popular during this MLB offseason. Before Swanson (13-year, $350 million with the San Francisco Giants), Trea Turner (11-year, $300 million with Philadelphia Phillies) and Xander Bogaerts (11-year, $280 million with the San Diego Padres) all signed juicy contracts.
The signings the Cubs completed this winter may be only the beginning because they have too many problems to fix. For example, they decided not to re-sign Willson Contreras, which meant the team must find another catcher to join Yan Gomes. Furthermore, Matt Mervis may be the Cubs' first option on the first base, but they will need a backup plan if things go south with the 24-year-old prospect.
The Cubs can use another star to shore up their pitching rotations too and they will need to move quickly before all the good ones on the market are booked.


International cellular healing expert and author of The Cellular Healing Diet book, Dr. Dan Pompa, PSc.D, is a man on a mission to change lives around world using uncommon solutions to common problems. Borne from a painful battle and triumph over mercury toxicity, Dr. Pompa exposes and demystifies conventional myths on health and nutrition, using a lifestyle approach known as the 180 degree solution™.
Cellular Healing TV live weekly podcasts offer free nutrition, weight-loss, exercise, and wellness advice from Dr. Pompa and guests, including interviews with top health experts from around the world. Tune in to hear cutting-edge research and information on today's hottest health issues such as dieting, diabetes, weight loss, weight loss resistance, heavy metal detoxification, thyroid conditions, Lyme disease, and biotoxic illness. Dr. Pompa, a relentless self-experimenter, shares his best secrets and tools to improve your life by increasing your health. Join the fun!
For more information, articles, and healthy recipes check out www.drpompa.com.
Notice: Dr. Pompa is licensed by the Pastoral Medical Association to provide natural health services to individuals registered in the Member Share Network. All information on this podcast is intended solely for registered members of the network and for individuals interested in learning more about natural health services.
This podcast is full of good information but I'm considering unsubscribing because of the audio. At times it is horrible. I hope this will be fixed so I can stay a listener!
Dr. Pompa is on the cutting edge of cellular healing and cleansing and delivers great podcast content. However, I agree with Laurelmtaylor that the audio needs a lot of improvement. For someone like me that listens to podcasts in my car, I appreciate good audio quality, yet Dr. Pompa seems to be recording on a low-quality microphone. With an improvement to the audio quality, this would definitely be a five-star podcast.
Drainage, parasites, Lyme, co-infections, mold, heavy metals toxins, latent infections, pathogens, and more.


text:
Q: Make animation repeat while speeding up upon each repetition? I'm using an XML animation to simulate an image being flipped vertically:

<scale
    android:duration="30"
    android:fillAfter="false"
    android:fromXScale="1.0"
    android:fromYScale="1.0"
    android:interpolator="@android:anim/accelerate_interpolator"
    android:repeatCount="30"
    android:repeatMode="reverse"
    android:startOffset="200"
    android:toXScale="0.0"
    android:toYScale="1.0" />

<translate
    android:duration="30"
    android:fromXDelta="0"
    android:interpolator="@android:anim/accelerate_interpolator"
    android:repeatCount="30"
    android:repeatMode="reverse"
    android:startOffset="200"
    android:toXDelta="50%" />

The animation above basically shrinks then enlarges and repeats 30 times. I want it so that, as each new animation happens, it gets a little faster. I tried using @android:anim/accelerate_interpolator, but it seems like that option only speeds up the actual animation, so I only have the same-paced animation happening 30 times.

A: AFAIK, you can only do this via the Java and not through XML.
You need to create your translation animation in the Java code, and there you can use yourTranslation.setDuration(1000); where the int is in milliseconds.
So you can put your animation in a for-loop that will run 30 times, and use a variable that will increase on each iteration (corresponding to the i++) and so will increase your animation speed.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Board index Modern Drunkard BBS Drinking Stories
You Are A Bartender, Part I
Remember what happened last night? Good. Now tell the world.
Dear Booze
King Cockeyed
Post by Dear Booze » Sat Jan 02, 2016 7:10 pm
You wake up to the bright afternoon sun shining through the smoke-stained slats of your window blinds. It's 2:30 and there is only a vague recollection of details from the night before. But the details aren't important; it will be the same tonight as it was last night.
You wonder around for a few minutes trying to decide what to do with yourself for the next three hours, when your next shift begins. The apartment is quiet and cluttered with chores that haven't been done in at least a week. Priorities, they're all relative. And you think to yourself "God, I need to get some laundry done. I can only wear that pair of black slacks to work one more time before coworkers and customers notice how truly filthy they are."
There's a low-level pounding in your head and a total lack of energy. So you make a cup of instant coffee and turn on the TV. Food doesn't sound good at all. As a matter of fact, it makes you sick to even think about it. But the Folgers is your best friend.
The next hour is spent watching Cops with hollow interest. Only you are able to understand the need to just sit and thaw out for a while.
As 5:30 gets closer, you have to start rushing around to get ready for work. How is it possible to be running late? You ask yourself this same question every day but there's never an answer.
You quickly iron a white tuxedo shirt, wipe off your black apron with a wet wash cloth, pull on a clean pair of white athletic socks and pull a pair of dirty black dress socks on over the top of the tube socks. Those dress socks just don't have the support you will need to stand on your feet and perform for a live audience for the next seven hours. Why don't they make thicker dress socks?
As you climb into your car, you hope that you have enough gas to get to work. No time to stop, you can't be late again.
You are a bartender.
As you stroll through the door at 5:29, you are greeted by familiar sounds and smells. This feels more like home than home does. You start to feel alive.
You say hello to several regulars as you make your way through the dining room on your way to the bar. You stop, shake hands and make small talk that is filled with witty remarks. You are the only one who realizes that each remark you make is practiced and unoriginal. They think you are charming. You know that you are not.
"What did you order?" you ask a middle aged couple.
"We're splitting the Zuppa di Mare and Pappardelle with Saffron," the gentleman replies.
"You're making me jealous," you tease. "Those are my two favorite things on the menu. You're going to love them. Come by the bar and give me a report when you're finished with dinner."
You hurry into the lounge and find Katie, the daytime bartender visiting with one of the busboys. You look around and can immediately see that she hasn't cleaned or restocked anything. The place is a disaster. And there's a list that she has taped to the side of the cash register. It says
"Saterday - day shift.
1. Theres alot of water in the bottom of the refrig.
2. Need more Kettel 1
3. Out of olives."
Good thing she's pretty.
When Katie started working at Giuseppe's, she said she had experience. But you highly doubt it. The owner, Giuseppe DiGregorio probably hired her for her big fake tits. He's an idiot.
Gently persuading Katie to restock and clean before clocking out never works. You've learned that you have to be direct. You have to treat her like a child. Sometimes you have to be flat-out rude. What's her deal? You wonder what type of abuse she suffered from daddy, or mommy's boyfriend, or mommy's boyfriends that would make her more likely respond to abuse. Who the fuck cares? She won't be around long. You've seen it before. Giuseppe will get tired of looking at her and will get rid of her.
No, he won't actually fire her. He's too much of a pussy to do that. Instead, he will start cutting her shifts down to the point where she can't afford to stay here. This is the way it always happens.
There they are. The same three regulars that show up at the beginning of your shift every night. You spend at least two hours with them every night, yet you know very little about them.
There's Craig. He's about 40, maybe 50-years-old. You have no idea where he works, but you can tell by looking at him that he certainly doesn't do anything physical for a job; he's pasty and soft. He's not married and you're pretty sure that he has never been married. Hell, your pretty sure he's still a virgin. But he loves the idea of being in love. He just can't grasp what it takes to be charming and appealing to women. He can't seem to NOT act creepy or geeky when it comes to chatting up the ladies. You are embarrassed for him.
Then there's Annie. She's probably about 40. She's attractive and fit and works in some office that's close by. She usually only has one or two drinks before heading on to whatever she does. But sometimes she gets carried away and has several more and ends up sticking around for most of the evening. You like that Annie the best. She can be funny and sexy when she gets a little loaded.
Finally, there's Roger. He's an attorney and a friend of Giuseppe. He never pays for anything and you're fairly certain Giuseppe owes him money. He's nice enough, but tends to be a little demanding.
The bar has fourteen comfortably upholstered stools, two booths and two two-top tables. At the other side of the room, there's a baby grand piano. Arthur, a tall skinny 40-year-old guy with a toilet seat hair line and a shitty black suit is sitting at the keys playing Somewhere My Love, the theme to Dr. Zhivago, the wildly popular 1965 film starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie. Most of the songs that Arthur plays are from the same era, which makes you wonder about his background. Perhaps he was taught to play by an overbearing mother who made him play the songs from her youth? He reminds you of a balding Norman Bates, the wierdo from Alford Hitchcock's Psycho.
For the next hour, you make small talk with Craig, Annie and Roger while keeping an eye on the server station. Although the orders are steadily coming in from the dining room, there are still only your three regular guest at the bar. This is the way it is where you work. The early crowd aren't big drinkers. You won't get really busy until at least 7:30.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Give a drunk man tortilla chips, Velveeta and a hair dryer and he has nachos.
Return to "Drinking Stories"


Wes Anderson's new film Isle of Dogs is a stop-motion animation with canine heroes set in a near-future Japan. While the dog puppets speak English, the human characters speak Japanese—but their words go untranslated for American audiences. For those who do understand Japanese, however, the jumbling of two languages cooks up a delightful confusion.
The story takes place 20 years from now in the city of Megasaki, where dog flu is starting to proliferate among the canine population. Claiming that it could spread to the people of the city, Mayor Kobayashi issues a decree banishing all dogs to a waste disposal site known as Trash Island. As a first step, he sends the Kobayashi household bodyguard dog Spots into exile.
Some months later, on an island full of exiled dogs, a stray called Chief leads Rex, King, Boss, and Duke in a dominant pack. The main action begins as Atari, the mayor's adopted ward, arrives in search of his beloved Spots.
Anderson lists Kurosawa Akira and Miyazaki Hayao among the Japanese filmmakers he respects. Mayor Kobayashi's appearance in the film is modeled on the character played by Mifune Toshirō in Kurosawa's High and Low (1963), down to his suit and hairstyle. Yet there is no part of the story that seems particularly influenced by the Japanese director. In the 2015 documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut, Anderson enthusiastically analyzes the pleasures of Alfred Hitchcock's films. There is very little about his style, however, that recalls the Hitchcockian thriller. While Anderson appreciates and has taken hints from directors from around the world, he has an established approach and view of the world that makes it hard to detect any level of cinematic influence beyond homage.
For long-time followers of Anderson's work, his citation of Miyazaki Hayao is surprising, or even puzzling. There is none of Anderson's black humor in Miyazaki's films and their brands of fantasy are entirely different. Miyazaki's works transform familiar scenery into mysterious worlds through imaginary beings like Totoro or the Cat Bus. By contrast, in his animations Anderson tell stories of animals with distinctly human mannerisms amid intricate, artistic backdrops. Given their disparate styles, it is incongruous how prominent talk of Japanese directors' influence has been in publicity for Isle of Dogs.
The film takes place on the imaginary waste island and in Megasaki, which reflects contemporary Japan despite the near-future setting. Iconic aspects of Japanese culture like sumō and taiko drums appear on screen, but it is the startlingly realistic reproduction of everyday aspects of street life, like boarding houses and ramen shops, that catches the eye. While there is some exaggeration to fit the animated style, it is never dishonest or inaccurate. By contrast, the island where the dogs are isolated is entirely fictional. The dogs are the main characters here, and they speak English and have English names, so there is little sense that this is a Japanese location.
Some have criticized Isle of Dogs as politically incorrect. The age now increasingly demands that creators consider other countries' cultures and take care to avoid errors and disrespect. If they fail to do so, they can expect to have their errors pointed out on social media.
When setting a film in another country, it is probably impossible to achieve 100% approval along these lines. Given these circumstances, I think it is important for a filmmaker to thoroughly study that culture and take a careful and respectful stance, while at the same time having the courage to work freely and make imaginative leaps.
A good example is this year's global blockbuster Black Panther. The Hollywood movie was set mainly in a fictional African country, and won plaudits for successfully fusing aspects of various localities and cultures across the continent with contemporary American culture. But even Black Panther was also criticized for featuring customs that are now obsolete. Both arguments have their merits, and I think there is no way of avoiding mixed reactions.
I did not personally think there were any PC issues with Isle of Dogs, but I felt there may have been some problems with the handling of language. The dogs are portrayed speaking English and they perceive the Japanese spoken by humans, which is not subtitled, as a foreign language. There has been criticism that the simple words of Japanese characters compared with the complex English conversation of the dogs leads to stereotyping. As there is a limit to how much subtitles or dubbing can do when two separate languages are flying back and forth, I think Anderson should have considered the difficulty of working outside his native language.
There may also be some Japanese viewers who feel uncomfortable with the idea of an American director using Japan as a setting for a story where sick dogs are forcibly isolated. However, if they see the careful depiction of Japanese culture present throughout, they will understand that the country is not being looked down on. The movie tells the tale of a hardened stray who learns to care again through meeting a boy who loves dogs. Above all, Anderson's puppet world is thoroughly charming.
Both creators and viewers should be sensitive to political correctness. It is necessary to draw attention to prejudice as something for filmmakers to avoid. At the same time, if someone makes creative leaps based on a deep fascination for another country, misunderstanding and stubborn lack of acceptance of that person's motivations are unsophisticated responses.
Written, produced, and directed by Wes Anderson. At the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival, Anderson won the Silver Bear for Best Director for his work on the film. The all-star cast includes Bryan Cranston, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Scarlett Johansson, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, and Ono Yōko. As well as co-writing and acting as a consultant on the Japanese language, Nomura Kun'ichi provided the voice of Mayor Kobayashi. The film opens in Japan on May 25, 2018.


Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Christmas Scorpion by Lee Child. Jack Reacher likes to head south for the winter, to stay warm, so just before Christmas he arrives in a small town in Southern California. But the weather there is not warm and dry, as it's supposed to be: he arrives in a freak blizzard. Reacher finds refuge in a snowed-in roadhouse with four other strangers stranded by the storm.
narrated beautifully as usual good little story keeps you guessing but satisfied at the end.
This trilogy of books was a great find. I started listening and just couldn't stop. The main characters were so well written and the narrator was very expressive. Great finish.
What made the experience of listening to After It Happened the most enjoyable?
R.C.Bray will always be Dan to me.


Voters in Bellevue, Carey, Picabo and other parts of southern Blaine County on Tuesday elected Carey resident Shawn Bennion as the new Zone 1 representative on the Blaine County School District board of trustees.
In a close race defined largely by hometown support, Bennion defeated Bellevue resident Hallie Kelly Star. Bennion received a total of 268 votes to 203 for Star.
Bennion was the overwhelming victor in the Carey precinct, receiving 191 of 202 votes cast there. In the Bellevue precinct, Star had the advantage, garnering 170 votes to Bennion's 47. Bennion won a slight edge in the Gannett-Picabo precinct and among absentee voters.
Bennion will replace Trustee Daniel Parke, a Carey resident who did not file to reclaim his seat.
Of three seats up for election this year, Zone 1 was the only contested race. Candidates for Zone 3, representing the north Hailey area, and Zone 5, representing the Sun Valley and east Ketchum areas, had already won their seats by default.
New trustees will be sworn in at a school board meeting July 12. Trustee Kathryn Graves, who was appointed to the board in 2010, will retain her seat in Zone 3 and Don Nurge will replace board Chair Julie Dahlgren to represent Zone 5. Dahlgren did not file for re-election.


Modeling forest succession in balsam fir-red spruce-yellow birch mixedwood ecosystems using the ZELIG model. 2004. Larocque, G.R.; Archambault, L.; Delisle, C. Page 51 in Proceedings: Ecological Models as Decision Tools in the 21st Century (International Society for Ecological Modeling). August 22-24, 2004, Québec, Québec, Canada., Abstract.


It's just been the most amazing weather in Montreal this week. Sunny and hot and so conducive to running last minute errands and seeing everyone i needed to see before taking off. Tomorrow i start a new life in new york. I'm freaking out!
are you really here tomorrow? like as in TUES of this WEEK?


I've probably grown overly ambitious, but I've decided to read the Canterbury Tales and to post on them piecemeal here. Mine is the Penguin Classics version, and it's written in our modern equivalent of Middle English. This is the poetry of that age, and is written in almost perfect (as near as I can tell at this early point) iambic pentameter, the rhyming scheme in what eventually came to be called doublets, i.e., each succeeding pair of lines ends in a rhyme. There are no stanzas; instead, the text goes on continuously without the breaks we normally see in modern poetry.
This first segment on the Tales sets up the rest: Chaucer, in his own voice, supposedly, has a dry wit and an acerbic view of his fellow pilgrims. His is part of a group traveling from Southwark to Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, it was a more than common sight to see such groups of pilgrims traveling to the various holy sites, each site supposedly home to relics considered sacred to these early Christians. As they travel, to pass the time, they regale themselves with tales – some possibly true-to-life, other considerably wild.
It doesn't seem proper to list Chaucer's fellow pilgrims; each will have the author's spotlight on him/her as the group travels. So I won't waste words on that here. From this initial reading, it's evident that German and French – and to some degree Latin, have made their way into the Middle English tongue. Each section is well annotated, but some expressions and words are far from modern English usage.


Frontier Almond flavoring is great for any recipe that calls for Almond flavoring.
Great Banana flavoring from Frontier Co-Op.
Real Bay Leaves packed in a re-closable tub.
Frontier Cinnamon flavor is great for any recipe.
Frontier Flavoring is great for any recipe that requires a Coffee flavoring added.
Made with Canola Oil, Natural Flavors and Mixed Tocopherols this Lemon flavoring will make all your recipes taste great.
Non-GMO and made Sunflower oil and Orange oil this flavoring will make all your recipes wonderful.
Frontier Peppermint flavoring is great for any recipe requiring peppermint flavor.


When it comes to finding the perfect shoes, comfort is key. Heels, mules, pumps, sandals or sneakers … we all have our preferences. However, finding the right pair can be easier said than done. Woolworths offers shoppers a wide variety of shoes available in an array of different colours, styles and, of course, the latest trends. Shopping for the perfect fit has never been easier and you can even shop online.


Nice, bright and quiet apartment of 75 smq, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms with shower, kitchen, living room with sofa bed, balcony overlooks inner gardens. Recently restored, 1st floor without elevator (22 steps), washing machine. The San Marco square is 5 minutes walk the Duomo and the train station is just 10 minutes walk. Partilally air conditoned.
The area is quiet with shops, the closest supermarket is 10 metres far.


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China's NIO expands mobile charging service to all electric cars, including Tesla
(Photo: Roger Atkins/LinkedIn)
China's NIO announced at the Shanghai Auto Show that any electric vehicle will soon be able to use their "One Click for Power" services. The service allows EV owners to order valet charging and mobile charging vans right from the NIO app.
NIO, founded in 2014, began production of their first vehicle last year and has since delivered over 15,000 vehicles. Up until this point, the NIO Power services have only been available to NIO owners. The services division includes the company's quickly growing rapid charging network, charging vans, and battery swap stations. Shen Fei, VP of NIO Power, stated that the company has had several owners order power services seeking to charge their other electric vehicles, including several Teslas. While the company had accommodated those owners in the past, they are now opening up the services to all types of electric vehicles.
[Photo: Christian Prenzler/Teslarati]
While nearly all EV owners in the US and Europe charge at home, it can be difficult to install in-home chargers in China. Fei stated that 22% of NIO owners lack home charging stations, creating a need for other power solutions. While public chargers are becoming quite prevalent in most major Chinese cities, NIO's One Click for Power services allows owners to skip the trip to the charging station.
The China-based electric car maker highlighted that NIO owners have used the service over 93,000 times since the company started vehicle deliveries last year. Approximately 70% of NIO owners have used the One Click for Power service, indicating that there is a real desire for flexible charging solutions.
On the same day that NIO announced the expansion of their power services to other EVs, NIO was charging up a customer's Tesla (the customer owned both a Tesla and a NIO ES8). Other EV owners, including Tesla owners, will be able to pay just 280 yuan ($42 USD) through NIO's WeChat mini-app to have their vehicle charged. The company has more than 510 mobile charging vans across 95 cities in China.
NIO CEO William Li told Teslarati that he sees the expansion of their services business as an opportunity to both grow revenue and expose more users to the NIO brand. "Lots of EV owners want to have better [charging] service and we have the capability to serve them," Li stated. "Even if they don't want to buy our car, we can introduce our brand and our service to other buyers. I think it's very good for us," he said.
In addition to expanding their power services, NIO also unveiled a new DC-fast charging station. The company previously partnered with ABB to deploy 60 kW fast-charging stations across China. NIO's new DC fast chargers are far more compact than the previous generation chargers and now have a charging capacity of 105 kW.
NIO debuted on the New York Stock Exchange last fall and has since been on a bit of a rollercoaster as investors react to changing market conditions in China. Despite the swings in value, NIO is focused on servicing its growing customer base. The company now has ~9,500 employees globally, including a team of more than a 1,000 NIO Power service workers. NIO expects to start deliveries of their mid-size SUV, the ES6, in June which starts at ¥358,000 ($53,500) and delivers 315 miles of range.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk's views on Full Self-Driving safety get validated by TSLA bears
Tesla Model 3 becomes focal point of EV debate between VW and Toyota


I hope that you all have enjoyed the start to the 2017-18 school year. It has been nice seeing the students adjusting to new teachers, new programs, and new challenges. Every day seems to present our children with increasing opportunities for success...and the overall atmosphere around here is extremely positive!
Before School Supervision for Elementary Students--this is provided (at no cost) from 8am. Ms. Deborah, Mr. Slahor, and I (most of the time) will be outside (when the weather is nice) with the elementary kids or in the cafeteria (when the weather is not). At 8:45am students are welcomed into their classrooms.
QSI/PSG International Brunch is now set for Saturday, 30 September @ 11am - 2pm. Please look to Facebook, the QSI Bratislava website, or an upcoming email from Ms. Mirka with more details. You do not want to miss this wonderful celebration of diversity...save the date on your calendars and get ready for a event to remember!
The Parent Support Group (PSG) had a fantastic--more than 30 parents--opening meeting on Friday...WOW! If you missed it, no worries, please come join these energetic planning parents on Friday, 8 September @ 3pm (in room 121) for a session dedicated to International Brunch planning.
Elementary Activities (3:25pm - 4:10pm) and MS/Secondary Sports & Clubs (4:10pm - 5:15pm) are off and running...thank you to our teachers for offering such an interesting and engaging variety of options. We will be confirming with parents and students to ensure that those activities with enough interest will continue, while some of the less populated activities may be cancelled.
That's all for now....have a great week!


When you have a family issue, there are many benefits to choosing a local family lawyer. In addition to supporting a member of your Armuchee community, you are also choosing a lawyer that is more convenient to travel to, being local to Armuchee, than if you were to choose a lawyer outside of the Armuchee area.
By hiring a reputable Armuchee family lawyer, you can ensure that your case will be handled in the most professional manner possible. And finding a good, experienced local Armuchee family lawyer will give you the comfort of knowing that if you should have another family issue in the future, your lawyer is right around the corner.


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Home › Parameswaran Law Relating to Power of Attorney, 7th Edition
Parameswaran Law Relating to Power of Attorney, 7th Edition
Author C.A S K Kataria
S. Parameswaran's "Law Relating to Power of Attorney" has been appreciated by Padma Vibhushan (Retd.) Justice V R Krishna Iyer as a must for every lawyer and attorney and a service to the lawyer and the lay alike, which may legitimately claim a place not merely in the libraries of advocates or lawyers, but also of all other allied professionals and the mercantile community.
Now in its Seventh Edition after thorough revisions, and updations, it is the most authoritative work on the Powers of Attorney Act, 1882 (7 of 1882) and a plethora of related statutes, on the laws relating to civil, contractual, commercial, company, and business matters, and properties, stamp duty, registration, evidence, crimes, banking, arbitration, taxation, litigation, suits & proceedings.
This edition contains most exhaustive coverage of statutory provisions, judicial decisions, over 135 specimens or model forms of Powers of Attorney (PoA), Vakalatnamas or Memorandums of Appearance from the official website(s) of the Central & State government(s), the Supreme Court, jurisdictional High court(s), district courts, e-courts, tribunals, ministries, and public offices.
This work is an indispensable practical handbook and practice guide for powers-of-attorneys, solicitors, recognized agents, lawyers, advisors, property & real estate consultants & developers, authorised representatives, chartered accountants, company secretaries, companies, the mercantile community, litigants, courts, tribunals, the bench and the bar.
C.A S K Kataria, B.Com, LL.B, F.C.A., is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and a practicing chartered account-ant. He also serves as Independent Director and Chairman of Audit Commit-tees at the nomination and remuneration committees and stakeholder rela-tionship committees on the boards of listed companies.
He is renowned Author of Law Books with over 37 years'.
He has authored multiple law books with his experience and expertise of over 37 years in Company Law, Income-tax-law, Banking Law, and Deeds & Documents.
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We have an assortment of males from proven and unique bloodlines available for stud or purchase on our farm. We both breed and show our animals, and so many of our males have been tested and proven in the ring, and continue to prove themselves in the breeding shed. Strong fleece characteristics, including longevity of fineness and handle, in conjunction with sound conformation and stellar temperaments are among many of the standards we hold our males to.