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Congress bans kids from libraries?
New safety law may prohibit children under 12 from libraries – or make many books illegal
By LISSA HARRIS | January 9, 2009
Is it possible that Congress has just inadvertently turned millions of children's books into contraband? At the moment, anything seems possible with regard to the sprawling, 62-page Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), passed this past August with overwhelming margins in both the House (424-1) and the Senate (89-3).
The CPSIA, intended to keep lead out of toys, may well also keep books out of libraries, says Emily Sheketoff, associate executive director of the American Library Association.
American Library Association
"We are very busy trying to come up with a way to make it not apply to libraries," said Sheketoff. But unless she succeeds in lobbying Capitol Hill for an exemption, she believes libraries have two choices under the CPSIA: "Either they take all the children's books off the shelves," she says, "or they ban children from the library."
On February 10, the new law gets teeth. After that day, all products for children under 12 — books, games, toys, sports equipment, furniture, clothes, DVDs, and just about every other conceivable children's gadget and gewgaw — must be tested for lead, and fall below a new 600 part-per-million limit, or face the landfill. Thanks to a September 12 memo from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the lead limit applies not only to new products, but also to inventory already on store shelves.
"Under this new regime, you are suspect until proven safe," says Allan Adler, the American Association of Publishers' vice president for legal and governmental affairs.
As the February 10 deadline approaches, the CPSIA has been causing increasing consternation — and, at times, hysteria — among makers and sellers of children's products, who are just beginning to realize the financial and logistical nightmare they face in trying to comply. Lead testing promises to be expensive — from several hundred to several thousand dollars per test, depending on the product. And each batch of each item must be tracked and tested, making compliance brutally expensive for items with small runs.
Historically, books have been considered more dangerous to read than to eat. Regardless, a memo from the CPSC, issued the day before Christmas Eve, explicitly quashed any hope that books might escape the new law. To make matters worse, even publishers that have already had their products tested for lead will be forced to retest. In the same memo, existing test results based on "soluble lead" — a measure of whether lead will migrate out of a product — were rejected by the CPSC because they did not measure "total lead content."
The CPSC has not issued any ruling on whether libraries, schools, and other institutions that loan — rather than sell — books will be subject to the law. Without such clear guidance, says Adler, schools and libraries should assume they have to comply.
"If [the CPSC is] going to say that we're being alarmist," says Adler, "that's fine, as long as they provide an explanation that we can understand and rely on. That's what's been missing from this entire discussion."
Regardless of whether libraries and schools are affected, the CPSIA is poised to take a massive bite out of the book industry. Large retailers are beginning to demand that publishers comply, even in advance of the law's deadline. This Wednesday, Amazon.com sent a general letter informing its vendors that, if they did not certify their products by January 15, the items would be returned at the sellers' expense.
Like their peers in the toy and garment industries, many sellers of children's books are just beginning to try to understand how the CPSIA will affect their businesses.
"All of us are totally in the dark," says Terri Schmitz, owner of the Children's Book Shop in Brookline. "I can't make a decision, because I don't know what the regulations are. We're all sort of in limbo here."
Libraries may yet escape unscathed. The CPSIA is changing rapidly as the CPSC scrambles to clarify the confusing lead law before it goes into effect. Thrift stores, consignment shops, and other used-goods stores got a partial reprieve yesterday in a hastily drafted CPSC memo: While resellers still face stiff civil and criminal penalties if they sell lead-contaminated items, used goods will not have to be tested for lead.
In lieu of actual testing, the memo urged resellers to "pay special attention to certain product categories," like jewelry and painted toys, which are "likely to have lead content."
Which prompts the obvious question: If other children's products aren't likely to contain lead, why is the CSPC regulating them?
From the sweeping language of the law, it appears Congress left them no choice. The Act covers any "consumer product designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age and younger."
"Consider for a minute that a twelve-year-old is a junior high school student," says Adler. "This is not somebody who is likely to be chewing or sucking on a book."
Lissa Harris can be reached atlissa.e.harris@gmail.com.
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Topics: News Features , American Library Association , Books , Congress , More , American Library Association , Books , Congress , House of Representatives , Law , Libraries , library , U.S. Senate , Books , Children's Books , Less
Even if the Consumer Product Safety Commission eventually promises that they won't go after thrift stores, libraries, and schools, how much protection is that really? Right now, the CPSC is made up of Nancy Nord and Thomas Hill Moore. What? Two people? Oh, yes. That was a surprise to me too. The federal government has given two unelected officials supreme power over what can be bought and sold in America! In 2009, the commission will increase to five members, but that's still too few people with too much power. As the CPSC membership changes and their budget increases dramatically with new funding called for in the CPSIA, how can we be confident that this year's promise not to pursue technical "violations" won't turn into next year's special project? We need Congress to *mandate* permanent exemptions. If lead is not used as an ingredient, material, or process of manufacture, the children's products produced should be exempt from needless testing. Americans do not want to see prices of children's products go up across the board over a silly requirement to test lead-free products for lead. Permanent *legislative* exemptions are urgently needed for lead-free books, educational supplies, special needs and adaptive devices, and homemade goods such as handmade sweaters and baby blankets. We also want a permanent *legislative* exemption for used items. Some familes rely on thrift stores and charities to put clothing and shoes on their kids; let's let them continue to do so. We don't want higher prices. We don't want small manufacturers to go out of business. We want to keep specialty products on the market. If lead isn't used in the manufacture of the product, it does not need to be tested. American book publishers, American libraries, and American small businesses and home manufacturers have never been demonstrated to be sources of lead. NEVER. Books are good for children. Books are healthy for children. The more the merrier. Please take the good intentions of this legislation and direct it toward past offenders and likely causes of harm. Valerie Jacobsen JacobsenBooks.com
By jacobsenbooks on 01/09/2009 at 6:33:11
Re: Congress bans kids from libraries?
Didn't the clarification published yesterday exempt resale shops and instock inventory: //cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html??
By judypm on 01/09/2009 at 8:50:53
CONGRESS DOES'NT HAVE THE RIGHT TO BAN CHILDREN FROM A LEARNING CENTER, SINCE WE THE PEOPLE PAY LIBRARY TAXES. IF CONGRESS TRIES TO BAN THIS I'LL WAKE UP AMERICA.ITS AGAINST THE AMERICAN WAY. GLOBAL COMMAND.
By MICHAEL J. SCHMITZ on 01/09/2009 at 9:38:15
The Press Release did nothing except appease the press.
Many industries are feeling the potential effects (unintended consequences) of this law. A note related to the "clarification" CPSC issued - what it said, was yea, we give you permission to not test your products - (the requirement that existing inventory must meet the 600ppm lead requirement), but if you have a product in your inventory (using best judgement) AND it does not meet the law, and someone gets hurt, someone complains, YOU WILL be prosecuted, period. Thanks but no thanks. IF you disagree with this law, write your Congressional Representative- sign the petition at //www.savekidsresale.comDeb
By SaveKidsResale on 01/10/2009 at 1:17:17
This law - every aspect of it - makes me sick to my stomach... Do we need to find ways to keep our children healthy? YES! Do we need to sacrifice WAHM's and raise prices on every day items made by larger companies (who conceivably will be able to afford to do the required testing) to do so. NO!... This is America.. A country this advanced should be able to find ways to do so that aren't so devestating.
By MaxwellsMom on 01/10/2009 at 11:57:08
Obama = Change.........this is just the beginning folks..........
By johnnyb on 01/10/2009 at 3:56:15
You are more likely to find lead in the paint on my 100+ year old building than in the books on the shelves!
By gotsnoenemies on 01/14/2009 at 10:06:00
Sounds like a good idea to me. Those little kids just make noise and get in the way.
By wodsirk on 01/14/2009 at 3:15:03
Seems like some badly-implemented regulation, and
a hysterical response. I think the real worry
here is that by making enough noise about some
problems with the well-intentioned regulations,
manufacturers and toy shop owners will get the
whole thing killed and the lead will linger on.
Libraries are perhaps being used as a pawn here:
"Oh no, Congress is banning kids from libraries !
Therefore, none of my old toy stock has any
lead in it."
By chiral on 01/14/2009 at 8:06:23
Not just libraries, also schools and bookstores, too!
The implications of CPSIA spread far and wide. It's not just books at risk, it is even hand-me-down toys and children's clothing. But the impacts on books for kids is particularly outrageous. It smacks of government censorship, basically outlawing all the children's books ever printed because nobody is going to have the money to test them all. So we'll be left with little diversity in children's books and school text books (they are apparently affected, too) for years. Maybe that's the idea? Control what children learn, and you control the future. More info on CPSIA regarding books, libaries, clothes, and toys
By craigsw on 01/16/2009 at 5:50:02
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The 2012 US presidential election: a Moneyball approach
John Sides interviewed by Romesh Vaitilingam, 07 November 2012
In late September 2012, John Sides of George Washington University spoke to Romesh Vaitilingam about the 'Moneyball' approach to politics – using systematic economic and polling data (rather than 'narrative' and 'gut feeling') to forecast election winners. The US presidential election result confirms the value of this scientific method. The interview includes discussion of the influence of the state of the economy on voters' intentions, the role of campaign finance and what might happen to US political gridlock after the election. The interview was recorded in Washington DC.
Romesh Vaitilingam: Welcome to Vox Talks, a series of audio interviews with leading researchers from around the world. My name is Romesh Vaitilingam, and today's interview is with the political scientist Professor John Sides of George Washington University. He and his co-author, Professor Lynn Vavreck of UCLA, are writing a book called The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election, to be published by Princeton University Press next year. In the meantime they have posted two preview chapters on the press's website. John and I met at his office in Washington, DC, in late September 2012. I began by asking him to explain his approach to analysing US electoral politics.
John Sides: One analogy for the way I do my research on politics comes from the American sport of baseball. There is a famous book and then a movie called Moneyball; it was about the way in which baseball had moved away from trusting the gut instincts of grizzled veterans who evaluated baseball players to trusting quantitative data that provided more accurate metrics about the value of these players, their impact on the team. It was about this one team in Oakland, California, that adopted this philosophy's somewhat controversial way. So my goal with the study of elections is to move things as close as possible towards Moneyball, which is to say I want to measure what's going on, I want to measure the background conditions and the fundamentals that are important in any election, like the economy. I want to measure the news coverage, I want to measure the campaign advertising, all of the things that convey information to the voters about the candidates, and then finally I want to measure the voters themselves, I want to understand why they made the choices they did and what impact, if any, the campaign had. I want to separate that kind of approach from the approach that is based largely on testimonials from campaign consultants, that's based largely on the daily narrative that the journalists produce which is valuable in terms of telling a story of what's happening at that time but it's not necessarily providing you with enough analysis to really get at what's driving what. So part of this goal in writing a book about the 2012 election is to show that you can take that approach and learn a lot of interesting things, and you can still write about it in a way that's engaging to a broader audience.
RV: I guess with this election in particular, that many people are calling 'the economy election', it seems quite obvious to look at economic variables and to think about what impact they have on the polls and on the ultimate voting decisions of the electorate.
JS: It's a really interesting race because, unlike many eras, the economic picture is somewhat mixed, and it depends on what indicators you're looking at as to whether things look pretty good for Obama or they look a little bit better for Romney. Usually all the different indicators – economic growth, unemployment, inflation – they're all pointing in the same direction, so in 2008 there was really no doubt as to which party was favourite by the economy, but in 2012 that's different.
Getting a sense of the economy is particularly important because what I see out there is people who look at this set of economic indicators selectively or not very carefully, and they'll say things like: "Well, the economy's terrible, Obama should be losing in a landslide. Why is he not losing in a landslide? It must be because Mitt Romney's a bad candidate." I think a better reading of the economic fundamentals says that actually it's probably Obama's race to win. They're slightly in his favour, and so the fact that he's leading now is not so much of a surprise, and that shouldn't lead us to imagine that Romney's a terrible candidate. He may not be a good candidate, but I can't say that based on where the race is relative to the economy. If you can get these kinds of fundamentals right, your expectations about the election will be better calibrated, and you'll be less likely to wander down baroque, inferential paths of blaming Romney's personality or all of these other factors which might not actually be truly central to the outcome.
RV: Are there some rules of thumb about the relationship between the state of the economy and the outcome of an election?
JS: There's no definitive law that would make physicists happy, but one thing we say in the book is that, typically speaking, an incumbent president who's running for re-election is favoured to win even with very modest levels of economic growth. So you really have to be presiding over a recession or something close to it, as an incumbent or an incumbent party, to be at risk of losing. That's what made the Republicans endangered in 2008 and that's what made an incumbent like Jimmy Carter endangered in 1980. But for Obama, he's presiding over economic growth. It's not going very quickly and it's not enough to make headline statistics like the unemployment rate go down very fast, but that may be enough. Incumbent presidents are hard to beat.
RV: In the draft chapters of the book that you've put up on the internet, before the actual thing appears next year, you call Obama "the unexpectedly popular president". Can you explain what you mean by that? Is it something to do with the fact that he hasn't been all to blame by the voters for the state of the economy in recent years?
JS: I just noticed anecdotally that his poll numbers were remarkably stable for the last couple of years. Even when the economic news didn't seem to be that good, it was never terrible but I thought that somehow it would be dragging down his poll numbers. So what we did is we looked at the presidential approval data that's been gathered by pollsters since the Truman administration, so we're talking about 1948 until 2008. We looked at the relationship between presidential approval and economic factors, and a few other things that are known to predict presidential approval in a systematic way. Based on that model of presidential approval we said: "Okay, if this is the way the world worked from 1948 until 2008, then what would we expect from the Obama presidency beginning in 2009?"
What we found was that, towards the end of 2011 and at the beginning of 2012, the model's prediction proved to be systematically lower than Obama's actual approval was – somewhere in the range of three to six [percentage] points. There's enough uncertainty associated with our predictions that we can't say for sure that the difference is a truly significant one in a statistical sense, but if it's an accurate estimate then it's the difference between being a president whose approval numbers are in the high forties, which puts him on the bubble at that point in time in terms of getting re-elected, and being a president with approval ratings in the lower forties, which at least in modern elections means that you're more likely to lose than win. We tried to explain that with several different factors, one of which as you mention is this idea of who's to blame for the way the economy turned down, and I think there are still enough voters out there willing to give Obama a pass knowing that the economic mess he confronted as president was one he inherited, not one that occurred under his watch. More people still blame George W Bush than blame Obama. We think that's part of it.
Another thing that may be operating to Obama's favour is the fact that, in this day and age, political partisans in the United States are extremely loyal, much more so than they were maybe 30 or 40 years ago. So Obama's approval rating among Democrats is extraordinarily high. If you go back to 1979 or 1980, Democratic loyalty to Jimmy Carter was much, much lower. He was losing not only substantial portions of Republicans and independents but he was also losing a lot of Democrats, and Obama just hasn't been doing that. It may be that we've entered an era in which it takes a heck of a lot to dislodge a partisan and lead them to actually disapprove of their party's president or of their party's presidential candidate. Ultimately, we think that's kind of an irony because Obama campaigned in 2008 as a candidate who wanted to rise above these forces of partisanship; he said that there's no red America and no blue America, there's only an America. But his poll numbers have been buoyed precisely by the blue America that he didn't want to represent exclusively.
RV: Let's talk a little bit about his opponent and how he came to get that position as the nominee, which is subject to the other chapter that you've posted at the moment. Give us a flavour of how you see his campaign going; from the perspective of the UK and Europe people think: "How can this guy possibly have a chance of winning? The guy's a buffoon!" It's interesting how he came to get the nomination if that is true.
JS: It was an unusual year for the Republican party in the sense that early on, as the candidates were getting in to the race, so throughout 2011, there was no real clear consensus behind any one of them. Often what happens is that party leaders and others will look around and talk to these candidates and vet them and talk to each other and say: "Who do you support? Who should we support?" and by the time the first primary or caucus is held, a large number of party leaders have already endorsed one candidate. And that's the frontrunning candidate. In 2011 that candidate was certainly Mitt Romney. He had many more endorsements from party leaders than any other candidate had, but a lot of party leaders hadn't endorsed anybody. As a consequence they were sitting out, waiting, seeing, keeping their powder dry, so that suggested that the race was more wide open. That, I think, also helped facilitate these surges by other candidates like Rick Perry or Herman Cain or Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum who were able, when the news focused on them, to get enough attention to bring some voters in to their camp. But ultimately that was temporary, and I think Romney's appeal in the party was always quite a bit broader than theirs.
Sometimes people think that the contemporary Republican party is comprised exclusively of people who are evangelical Christians or Tea Party members or pro-life supporters. In fact there's a large part of the party that's not as dogmatic, that doesn't identify with those groups. It's probably still conservative, certainly by European standards and maybe even by American standards, but not ideologically committed to the extent that pragmatism or other kinds of factors might not matter at all. Romney's appeal was to these factions within the party, that are actually larger in numerical terms, and he had the ability to appear the more electable candidate of any of the other ones that were out there. And I think that's one of the reasons that during Gingrich's surges and during Santorum's surges there were very few in the party that were actually jumping on the bandwagon. In fact there were many in the party that came out to criticise Gingrich and Santorum openly, or at least to express reservations about what life would be like if they were at the top of the ticket.
So ultimately Republicans, even if they weren't willing to coalesce behind Romney really early on in the race, did so not necessarily begrudgingly at all. They did so largely willingly, and I think the best evidence for that was that by April 2012, so a few weeks after Rick Santorum had dropped out and Romney was the de facto nominee, 90% of Republicans were already reporting that they were going to vote for him for president. So in some sense all the concerns about a divided party were out of the window pretty quick because Republicans were coalescing behind him, if for no other reason than they want to get Obama out of office.
RV: You said yours is the Moneyball approach to political analysis; let's talk a bit more about money and the role of campaign finance, because this is something that non-Americans find it hard to get their heads around. From what I understand, Obama was very successful because he raised a huge amount of money back in 2008 and a lot of it was of a different style. It wasn't raising huge amounts of money from big contributors, it was a lot of small donations by a lot more people. I gather that Romney's had a lot of money behind him, and I suppose that's now shifting away as the polls go against him.
JS: It's a good question. Obama has been raising a lot of money personally for his campaign. Romney has been doing that, but doing less, raising less for his personal campaign. Romney has been supported by a large amount of spending that's been done in coordination with the Republican party. The Democratic party's been raising money too, but not in quite as large an amount. Romney's been supported in particular by independent groups that can raise and spend money to support a candidate, but they cannot coordinate their efforts with that candidate in any way. There are a number of these groups, they've existed in many forms in American politics for a long time but they've come to the fore in the last two election cycles. By and large those groups are much more well funded on the Republican side than on the Democratic side.
I think that initially people feared that those groups would be able to raise so much money that they could raise unlimited amounts, so you'd have millionaires and billionaires giving huge sums of money to these groups that they cannot give to the candidates under current law. They thought that these groups were going to bury the landscape. It hasn't quite panned out that way, and there are a couple of things that work. One is that Obama's campaign message might be strengthened by the fact that he's doing his own fundraising, and in some sense he's able to control how that money is being spent. He's able to control the message. If you're dependent on independent groups to raise money and spend it on your behalf then you're also making their decisions as opposed to your decisions.
The other thing is that candidates actually get discounts for the advertising that they buy, as a way to facilitate the ability of candidates to reach voters and inform voters even though they have to pay for it themselves, as opposed to elections in many other countries. Independent groups don't have those same benefits, so they might be spending five or six times what a candidate spends for the exact same advertising time in the exact same place at the exact same time of day. Ultimately for the last few weeks, somewhat surprisingly, the Democrats have been out-advertising the Republicans in the presidential race, combining Obama's spending, Democratic spending and independent groups' spending against Romney, the Republicans and their independent groups.
We've still got six or seven weeks to go and that could change between now and then, and it's not a bad idea to husband your resources and spend them at the end when their impact might be greater in the sense that the impact of the ads will be felt and it will wear off by the time the election comes about. But at this stage of the game I don't think that the worst scenarios of people who fear the role of money in this election have come to pass.
RV: We hear a lot about the importance of swing states but I think from outside America it's hard to get a sense of what the micro nature of the race is – what's going on in Ohio, what's going on in Florida, what's going on in Colorado – we just get the top line of "he's leading by this much nationally". Can you give us a flavour of how important those races at state level, perhaps even sub-state level, are in terms of influencing the ultimate result?
JS: The candidates are spending almost all of their time and money in a handful of states that we call battleground states. They're the states where the outcome is enough in doubt that this kind of spending might actually be consequential. Other states – California, Texas, New York – these are big states, they're important in the election but they're not really in doubt. We know that Democrats are going to win in California and New York; Republicans are going to win in Texas. So there's no use wasting your money to try to change that outcome. So candidates spend all of their time and money buying advertising time in these [battleground] states, and they're doing it in ways that play to these sub-state dynamics that you said. They're trying to target media markets within these states, and then within these media markets they're trying to locate their advertising during programming that they think will reach particular groups of voters.
So the targeting extends way beyond just states writ large; they're really trying to focus the microscope even smaller. On top of that they're doing much more precisely targeted communications in these states with mail, with contacts with voters from volunteers and from the campaign, and there they can really target individual voters much more cleanly than they can with television advertising. All the dynamics of the races are really taking place within these battleground states. The one thing about the American elections, though, is that the trends in polls nationwide are often pretty well reflected in trends in the polls in these states. If something were to happen in the campaign, a big dramatic event that really changes the national poll numbers – it's unlikely that something like that's going to happen now, but if it did – then the same thing would happen in the states eventually.
So, to some extent, as the nation goes then so go the states. But there's enough wiggle room in these individual states that candidates believe that their campaigning might make a difference on the margins.
RV: What are the kinds of things that could influence the outcomes of the race right now? You've said the fundamentals basically favour Obama but you also talk about specifics, so are there some specific things that could happen? We're just about to go in to debate season, might that make a difference? Might there be some kind of October or November surprise, or whatever you call these big foreign policy incidents that throw things off at the last minute?
JS: The presidential race at this point in time, historically speaking, doesn't change a whole lot. The biggest events in a presidential race are actually the party conventions, and those tend to produce the widest swings in the polls and they did produce some swings this year, in particular for Obama. After the convention season is over the main event that's going to take place is the debates, as you said. Historically speaking, you can identify movement in the polls before and after the debate on the order of two, maybe three, sometimes four points. But it's rare that that movement is sufficient to change the dynamic of a race wholesale. If this were a race that was similar to 1960 or 2000, in which the candidates were virtually tied, there two points in a debate is worth something. But I think probably more likely in 2012 is that the debates, and maybe some of the other campaign activity between now and election day, will narrow Obama's margin over Romney but not ultimately close it. It's just relatively rare for an underdog to come from behind precisely because of the debates.
The other kinds of events that could take place, the proverbial October surprise, I think that's more of a mythical creature because it's hard to find an American presidential race that was really upended by a late breaking event. Those kinds of events might have a marginal impact, for example some people thought in 2000 that the polls tightened towards the end because of revelations about Bush's conviction for driving under the influence when he was a much younger man. That might matter a little bit at the margins, but the unfortunate thing for the Romney campaign is that history suggests that the state of the race now is likely to be pretty similar to the state of the race come election day.
RV: You've alluded to the influence of the growing polarisation of American society and the polarisation of American politics and I wonder whether, looking beyond the election, whether there are going to be any changes. Are we going to see any breakthrough in the gridlock that seems to be holding the nation to ransom?
JS: I think the basic dynamics of polarisation and gridlock are not going to change. For one I think we're going to have a divided government. If you assume that Obama's going to win and the Republicans will retain the House of Representatives –the Senate is in some doubt – but no matter whether the Republicans take control of the Senate or they don't I think ultimately there's going to be a divided government. It's going to force compromise, and of course it's difficult to force compromise in this day and age when the political parties don't see eye to eye on very many issues, they're increasingly divergent. This is not just a story about them not wanting to be nice to one another or being mean-spirited, it's actually just honest disagreements about the major issues in American politics like the role of government. It's tough to bridge those differences when you're that far apart. Obama's been saying things like he thinks the election's going to send a signal that makes the Republicans compromise with them. I don't think that's true, I think Republicans are going to interpret this election in a variety of ways but none of them mean that they should necessarily compromise with Obama; they could easily just say to themselves: "Well, if we hadn't nominated Romney we would've won," or a thousand other things. If anything is going to make some degree of compromise, albeit temporary compromise, it's the fact that there's a lot of major decisions that have to get made relatively soon where I think neither party really wants the outcome that would result in no decisions made.
One example is that there were a set of tax cuts passed under the Bush administration in 2001 that are due to expire. Once those expire then taxes go back up, and I don't think any Democrat or Republican necessarily wants that to happen in exactly that way. For example the Republicans don't want them to expire at all, and Obama doesn't want them to expire unless you're making $250,000 or more a year is what he's said. So if the parties can't get anything done then I think the result is something worse. That may force them to have to negotiate, and they'll have a few months in what's called the lame duck session between the election of the president and when Congress goes on recess for the Christmas holidays, and then the next Congress comes in after that point. So the lame duck session's going to be a busy few weeks, it seems.
RV: Final question. Just looking even further out, do you think that the Democratic victory in this election will in some way cement a very positive future for the party? There are some people that argue that perhaps there's some truth in the 47% being a Democratic majority. – the growing Latino proportion of the population which seem to be very much in the Democratic camp now – do you see trends that way or can you not look that far out?
JS: I'm really reluctant to make big predictions, and I'll say why. After 2004 people were saying that Bush had executed a real realignment, that we were headed for Republican party dominance, that his main political adviser Karl Rove was some kind of svengali or genius. Then after 2006 and 2008, when the Democrats took control again, people said: "Oh, now it's the Democrats' turn, now we're going to have a real realignment, this is what we always thought was going to be true because of a larger number of Latinos in the United States growing demographic groups that support the Democratic party." And then look what happened in 2010.
So I think these predictions of realignment have a relatively short shelf life, and I'm not prepared to suggest that a victory in 2012's going to solidify anything. Obviously there are some demographic changes ongoing in the country, particularly the decrease in the white population and the rise in the population that identifies as Latino or perhaps as Asian. I think both parties are going to continue to work to engage and to mobilise those groups in their favour, but I think we're a number of years away from saying that we're entering into any kind of permanent majority. Every time people suggest that we're at the end of history, as it were, to use the phrase from Fukuyama's book, it turns out that history has a few things up its sleeve.
RV: John Sides, thank you very much.
Topics: Politics and economics
Sides, John and Lynn Vavreck (2012), The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election, Princeton University Press.
John Sides
Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, George Washington University

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The Final Word on Michael Jackson
The Dr. Conrad Murray verdict can't change what happened to the King of Pop. But the trial may have altered the way we'll remember the entertainer
By Jere Hester	• Published at 9:09 am on November 3, 2011
Following the trial of Michael Jackson's personal physician Conrad Murray, found guilty Monday of involuntary manslaughter, proved a depressing exercise -- fraught with feelings of helpless frustration and sadness.
It's almost as if fans bore collective witness to Jackson pathetic final days, a performance wrought in tragedy, starring perhaps the greatest entertainer of his time.
The verdict, of course, can't change what happened to Jackson. But the trial further altered the music great's already confused image and evolving legacy in new, disturbing ways.
The King of Pop proved an emperor without clothes – literally in the photos of Jackson's naked corpse, shown to jurors and forever available to anyone with an Internet connection. And like in Hans Christian Andersen's fable, no adult seemed to bother to try to save man from himself.
Jackson also became exposed in other ways, perhaps most notably through his own audio-taped words – uttered not in the familiar high-pitched voice mocked when he spoke and lauded when he sang, but in an unrecognizable slurred baritone growl. "I never had a childhood," he said in tone that was anything but childish, just weeks before his death in 2009 at age 50.
That may have been the saddest and most telling moment during the legal proceedings, a painful, if necessary attempt to extract some truth – even if why no one could help the addled Jackson remains maddeningly unanswered.
An overwhelming desire to please fans – and help children – clearly drove him. He spoke of building a children's hospital when he badly needed responsible medical help. There are echoes in Jackson of Holden Caulfield, the anti-hero of J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye," who wanted to save children from what he'd become.
Each day of testimony seemed to bring Jackson closer to the pantheon of real-life tragic figures like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, who, with the passage of years, increasingly have become more known for how they died rather than their talent in life.
Jackson, who spent most of his years in the spotlight and succumbed to a cocktail of powerful drugs as he was striving to snatch the lightning of past glory, seemed desperate to solidify his place in entertainment history. His attempted comeback appeared, in part, an answer to his declining music output and his sullied reputation as, at best, a bizarre eccentric, and at worst, a predator.
We'll never know how much was edited from "This Is It," the documentary showing Jackson in rehearsals during the last days of his life. But he comes across as a perfectionist with a clear vision of how he should be perceived. Now, we can expect more posthumous releases of songs he might never have wanted the public to hear, and a new Cirque du Soleil production featuring his music, but not his direct creative input.
Jackson did leave us with his own epitaph, via tapes from the trial that forever changed the way we'll remember him. So let's give him the final word: "When people leave my show, I want them to say, 'I've never seen anything like this in my life. Go. Go. I've never seen nothing like this. Go. It's amazing.
"'He's the greatest entertainer in the world.'"
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.
Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media


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The Gents Place From The Gents: Dustin Tondre
In this ongoing series, we will profile some of our distinguished members from our clubs across the country to find out why they love The Gents Place.
These days, it's not often that people really know what they want to study in college, then go on to build a business around it. But Dustin Tondre has done precisely that. Studying Marketing and Finance at Texas State University in San Marcos, Dustin found a true fascination and passion for financial planning and the process of building wealth. He spent 8 years at USAA Wealth Management, picking up an MBA at Incarnate Word University along the way, before deciding to relocate to Dallas where he would build TL Private Wealth with his business partner and grade school friend, Brad Little. Dallas was where he would also find The Gents Place.
To be honest, I very much saw haircuts as something transactional and that I had to do. I didn't really have a set place or set barber I went to. Even if I did find someone I liked, he/she could beas a rule has high turnover. That was all different at Gents." Dustin's office is by our Southlake club and the geographic awareness of driving past our location that was being built, as well as some targeted social media advertising put the brand on his radar, but it was a networking event at our Preston Hollow club that got him inside a club for the first time, and the realization that this was less about getting a haircut and more about having an experience and meeting like-minded, high-caliber men.
From the roving randomness of his previous haircutting habits, Dustin now has a set time in his calendar for the third Thursday of each month, when he gets a 7-course hair service at our Southlake club. "There are two different stylists who know me and cut my hair. They take such good notes that I don't have to say anything. I can just sit down and know that I'm going to walk away happy and relaxed. I've got a lot of chaos and stress in my life, but never at The Gents Place. It's a monthly experience I get to have just for myself."
Not only has The Gents Place surpassed what he could have ever expected in getting a simple haircut, as he's had a chance to host a fundraiser at one of our clubs, but the Dallas/Ft. Worth area has also been a great place for TL Private Wealth to grow and Dustin's pondering opening a second office and is always on the lookout for possible new advisors to add to the team. Those new advisors have characteristics that a lot of our members have: someone with an entrepreneurial spirit, who appreciates helping others grow wealth, with uncapped income potential. They may already be in the industry but desire to transition to being aligned with a firm that serves as fiduciaries only.
Dustin is a member we are proud to have, and a good example of those hundreds of thousands of gentlemen who would love to get to a Gents Place…if they only knew such a place existed.


After you have mastered the material in this chapter, you will be able to: Differentiate between horizontal and vertical analysis, calculate ratios for assessing a company's liquidity, calculate ratios for assessing a company's solvency, calculate ratios for assessing company management's effectiveness.
In the paper, the investigation results of shock waves, propagated in the liquid and two-component gas (one component is neutral, the other is condensed) mixture, are presented. The influence of the relative gas ratios, initial gas volume, wave intensity etc. on the main wave characteristics, is analyzed and illustrated as examples for two mixtures. The first is a mixture of water and gas (air and water vapour).
In all fields of inquiry, whether financial, scientific, or any other, there is danger of not seeing the woods for the trees. Nowhere is this danger greater than in the analysis of assets and liabilities as well as in cash management, in a leveraged financial environment with derivative instruments that change from assets to liabilities, and vice versa, depending on their fair market value.
Chapter 13 Analysis of Financial Statements a. A liquidity ratio is a ratio that shows the relationship of a firm's cash and other current assets to its current liabilities. The current ratio is found by dividing current assets by current liabilities. It indicates the extent to which current liabilities are covered by those assets expected to be converted to cash in the near future.
BÁO CÁO " NGHIÊN CỨU ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA CÁC YẾU TỐ pH, NHIỆT ĐỘ, THỜI GIAN, TỶ LỆ RẮN LỎNG VÀ DUNG MÔI ĐẾN QUÁ TRÌNH CHIẾT TÁCH TANNIN TỪ VỎ THÔNG "
Tuyển tập Báo cáo Hội nghị Sinh viên Nghiên cứu Khoa học lần thứ 8 Đại học Đà Nẵng năm 2012 STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCE OF pH, TEMPERATURE, TIME, AND LIQUID RATIO OF SOLID TO SOLVENT PROCESS FROM BARK TANNIN EXTRACT SVTH: Huỳnh Tấn Luân, Võ Trung Định, Dương Thị Ni, Nguyễn Thị Thanh Thảo Lớp: 09H, Khoa: Công nghệ Hóa học, Trường: Cao đẳng Công Nghệ, Đại học Đà Nẵng GVHD: ThS.
The purpose of this research is to determine the factors that affect the profitability of commercial banks in Vietnam. Beside, the article has given the best solution to managers and investors to decide their business strategy and minimize financial risk.
(BQ) Part 2 book "Financial accounting - An international approach" has contents: Financial statements for a group of enterprises, measuring and reporting cash flows, corporate liquidity and solvency, operating performance, investment ratios, corporate reporting and corporate governance,...and other contents.
Standardized option contracts provide orderly, efficient, and liquid option markets. Except under special circumstances, all stock option contracts are for 100 shares of the underlying stock. The strike price of an option is the specified share price at which the shares of stock will be bought or sold if the buyer of an option, or the holder, exercises his option. Strike prices are listed in increments of 2.5, 5, or 10 points, depending on the market price of the underlying security, and only strike prices a few levels above and below the current market price are traded.
As is common in the region, India is a bank-dominated market (Figure 3), and the relative importance of bank assets as a percentage of GDP has continued to grow—partly as banking penetration has deepened with financial liberalization, and partly as a result of the ongoing need for deficit financing. However, the ratio of bank assets to GDP is still low by comparison with other emerging East Asian economies, indicating that India still has some way to go before its banking sector is fully developed.
Chapter 10 - Credit analysis. This chapter begins with additional tools for assessing short-term liquidity. We explain liquidity and describe analysis tools capturing different aspects of it. Attention is directed at accounting-based ratios, turnover, and operating activity measures of liquidity. This chapter also focuses on capital structure and its implications for solvency. We analyze the importance of financial leverage and its effects on risk and return. We also describe book values and earnings coverage measures and their interpretation.
This research examines the determinants that affect the dividend payout ratio of 156 listed companies in the Vietnamese security market during 2009 and 2014. This study considered the influences of ten independent variables including free cash flow, sales growth, company size, financial leverage, profitability and liquidity.
The paper analyzes the current situation of the Vietnam's banking system and figured out four primary difficulties facing it namely high ratio of bad debts, low owner's equity, unsustainable liquidity and unfair competition.
Chapter 13 - Analyzing financial statements. After studying this chapter, you should be able to: Explain how a company's business strategy affects financial analysis, discuss how analysts use financial statements; compute and interpret component percentages; compute and interpret profitability ratios; compute and interpret liquidity ratios; compute and interpret solvency ratios; compute and interpret market test ratios.
Shrimp head waste has been used as raw materials for production of chitin and protein hydrolysate. In this study, a facile and efficient pressing method was developed to separate the solid and liquid phases from shrimp heads. The different solid/liquid ratios as well as the size of the solid component can be obtained easily by changing the pressing operating parameters. The solid fraction was used to prepare chitin and chitosan. This pressing method can save large amount of water and chemicals in the production of chitin and it can be used in the large-scale.


Books Written By Francis Frith, Julia Skinner - Northampton A Miscellany: Did You Know?
Northampton A Miscellany: Did You Know?
Size: 16mo - over 5¾ - 6¾" tall"
Glazed pictorial boards. Glazed pictorial unclipped dust jacket, now in a new removable protective clear sleeve. No inscriptions, £5.99 net, 64pp. Clean and bright pages with black and white photographs throughout. (Any digital image available on request).


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Nikki Chapdelaine is one of the students enrolled in the first-ever Licensed Practical Nursing program at the College of New Caledonia here. She's shown here in the room dedicated to digital delivery instruction. The program begins this fall. Photo courtesy College of New Caledonia.
Practical nursing program fills many needs
It's a first for the community and the north
Rod Link
Jun. 27, 2018 1:30 a.m.
In a first for the community and the north, a licensed practical nurse training program is starting this September at the College of New Caledonia (CNC) campus here.
Half of the students for the 12-person class have already been accepted and applications are now being considered for the remaining spaces, says Guillermo Leon-Torres, the Prince George-based coordinator of the college's practical nurse training program.
"I can tell you we're very excited. This has been a long time coming," he said last week of preparation work which has included getting the approval of the College of Licensed Practical Nurses of B.C.
"And I can tell you Northern Health is also very excited," Leon-Torres added.
This is the first time CNC is to offer practical nurse training outside of its Prince George campus and Burns Lake will be the smallest community in B.C. to be the home of a practical nurse training program.
CNC is hiring two Burns Lake-based instructors and Leon-Torres will be traveling from Prince George to Burns Lake regularly to teach a course.
The program is two years long with students starting classes each year in September and continuing for 10 months.
Depending upon their career aspirations, graduating students can apply to continue studies toward a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
Leon-Torres said students typically represent a broad range of ages, education and life experience.
"Students can be anywhere from just graduating with their Grade 12 or equivalent to grandmothers," he said.
Successful applicants must also have a grade of C+ or better in specific courses.
Mature student applicants are defined as being at least 19 years of age on the first day of the term for which admission is sought and have been out of the regular school system for at least one year. They must also speak with a CNC counselor or another CNC official prior to applying.
There's a clinical placement requirement within the program with Leon-Torres saying those could be accomplished at the Lakes District Hospital, The Pines and, potentially, at the Southside Health Centre and the Houston Health Centre.
But for some clinical placement aspects, such as surgical, students will have to travel to the hospital in Prince George, he added.
"What makes this exciting is that students from Burns Lake and area don't have to leave to take this training," said Leon-Torres of the program.
"The goal is that people trained in the north will stay in the north."
That objective was echoed by Northern Health recruitment manager Emelye Boyes who said there is a high demand for licensed practical nurses in the north.
"They are very valued professionals and like other professionals, they can be hard to come by. There's definitely a need and it'll be exciting for our recruitment department to meet with them," she said of the Burns Lake group.
Boyes also welcomed the possibility of clinical placements in Burns Lake and area, noting that the number of such placements and specific categories would ultimately depend upon finding Northern Health employees to act as preceptors, people who work closely and supervise students.
As of last week, Northern Health's website contained 30 openings for licensed practical nurses with many stating "open until filled".
Another Northern Health official, Eryn Collins, noted that the senior Northern Health official in Burns Lake, Marie Hunter, was instrumental within Northern Health in support of the Burns Lake program.
Maxan Lake fire under control
Gordon Alec is Lake Babine Nation's new chief


How Clean Is Your Indoor Air?
The extensive amount of time we spend inside buildings exposes us to a variety of indoor air pollutants, some of which are more harmful than outdoor air pollutants!
Read on to learn about the types of indoor air pollutants you may encounter in your home and workplace, how these pollutants impact health, and what you can do to clean up the air in your living and work environments.
In addition, it is estimated that nearly 2.6 million people globally die per year from illnesses attributable to indoor air pollution. Together, these two sources of pollution are a looming threat to our health with significant long-term, even transgenerational, consequences.
Indoor air pollution represents the sum total of outdoor air pollutants, which easily enter indoor environments through windows and air ventilation systems, and pollutants originating indoors. Some of the most common indoor air pollutants include asbestos, gases, biological particles (bacteria, fungi, pollen, and animal dander), particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
What is it? Asbestos is a type of mineral fiber that naturally occurs in rock and soil.
Why is it in our air? The strength and heat resistance of asbestos fibers was discovered in the early 20th century, leading to the enthusiastic incorporation of asbestos into numerous building materials as an insulator and fire retardant.
Is it harmful? While scientific research first linked asbestos exposure to mesothelioma, a type of lung tumor, in the 1930s, it wasn't until the 1970s that the U.S. government passed legislation to limit asbestos use in construction and manufacturing. However, contrary to what many people believe, asbestos is not banned in the U.S!
Asbestos exposure is an established cause of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other chronic, debilitating respiratory conditions. Remediation by a highly-qualified professional is the only recommended strategy for eliminating asbestos in living and workspaces; DIY attempts to remove asbestos can significantly worsen the problem by spreading the asbestos, further contaminating the indoor environment.
What are they? The term "biological pollutants" refers to indoor air pollutants that are biological in nature, such as mold and mycotoxins, bacteria, viruses, animal dander, cat saliva, dust mites, cockroaches, and pollen.
Why are they in our air? Standing water and water-damaged materials are particularly hospitable substrates for the growth and proliferation of mold, bacteria, viruses, and their toxic byproducts.
What is it? Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless, deadly gas.
Is it harmful? Because it is impossible to see, taste, or smell, carbon monoxide can cause adverse health effects (at low levels) or kill you (at high levels) before you are even aware that it is in your home. Properly maintaining gas appliances, opening flues when fireplaces are in use, not idling your car in the garage, and hiring a trained professional to inspect, clean, and regularly tune up your central heating system can reduce the potential for exposure to carbon monoxide.
What is it? Nitrogen dioxide is a highly reactive gas.
Why is it in our air? Nitrogen dioxide is produced indoors by unvented combustion appliances (gas stoves and wood stoves), welding, tobacco smoke, and kerosene heaters.
Is it harmful? This gas is linked to respiratory problems and other issues. Properly maintaining and venting gas appliances, regularly maintaining and cleaning your central heating system, and not idling your car in the garage can reduce your exposure to nitrogen dioxide.
What is it? Radon is another colorless, odorless gas.
Why is it in our air? It results from the radioactive decay of radium in soil. It has a high density that causes it to sink in air; as a result, it is often found in the basements of homes.
Is it harmful? Exposure to radon is also linked to respiratory issues and lung cancer. Sealing basements to prevent gas exchange with the surrounding soil can reduce the potential for radon pollution.
What is it? Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with an acrid odor.
Why is it in our air? It is emitted by many indoor sources, including plywood, particleboard, pressed/composite wood products, permanent press fabrics, and combustion appliances (6).
Is it harmful? Formaldehyde is highly irritating to the eyes, nose, and lungs as well as cytotoxic and carcinogenic.
What is it? Lead is a toxic heavy metal.
Is it harmful? Heavy metals in our bodies are linked to many health issues. Unfortunately, merely painting over lead-based paint with conventional paint does not eliminate the problem; typically, remediation by a professional is required to manage the existing lead and prevent further contamination of your living space. High levels of airborne lead can also originate from lead-contaminated soil tracked indoors.
You can reduce airborne lead levels in your home by remediating existing lead-painted surfaces and by removing your shoes when you head indoors.
What is it? Pesticides, including Roundup, are simply chemicals used to kill off unwanted plant growth.
Why is it in our air? According to recent statistics, a whopping 75 percent of U.S. households used at least one pesticide product indoors in the past year. (8) In addition, farm fields, public parks, and soccer fields are all subject to pesticide spraying, so whether you live in a rural or suburban area, it is likely that your shoes are in regular contact with pesticide-contaminated soil and dust.
To reduce your exposure to pesticides, avoid using them in your home and make your living space a "no shoes" zone to minimize the opportunity for pesticide-contaminated soil or dust to enter your home.
It's abundantly clear that secondhand smoke represents a serious form of indoor air pollution. However, recent research indicates that e-cigarettes, widely promoted as "less harmful" than cigarettes, produce equally harmful indoor air pollution (9).
What are they? Volatile organic compounds are substances emitted as gases from certain liquids and solids.
Why are they in our air? Indoor volatile organic compounds are released by paint, varnishes, cleaning and disinfecting agents, aerosol sprays, paraffin candles, furniture, and automotive products.
Is it harmful? VOCs have been linked to various issues, including respiratory, liver, kidney, and nervious system problems.
What is it? Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of solid and liquid particles.
Why is it in our air? PM is released into the air during the combustion of wood, coal, gasoline, and diesel as well as from natural sources such as road dust and wild fires.
Is it harmful? Surprisingly, indoor PM levels frequently exceed those of PM found in outdoor environments, making indoor PM pollution a significant threat to human health. (10) The most common sources of indoor particulate matter include wood and gas stoves, heaters, fireplaces, candles, cooking, and cigarette smoke.
The health effects of indoor air pollutants may be experienced shortly after exposure or, possibly, years later. Regardless, indoor air pollution has a host of adverse effects on our health. Leaving indoor air pollution unaddressed is arguably equally as harmful to our health as eating an unhealthy diet or skimping on sleep.
Air pollutants of all types have demonstrated adverse effects on the respiratory system.
Indoor mold and mycotoxins increase the risk of asthma-like symptoms, respiratory infections, and allergic rhinitis.
Of course, asbestos is notorious for its harmful effects on the respiratory system – it is firmly established that they cause pulmonary fibrosis (scar tissue accumulation in the lungs), lung cancer, shortness of breath, cough, and chest pain.
Gaseous pollutants (carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide) appear to promote atherosclerosis by crossing the airway epithelium, entering blood vessels, and instigating the production of free radicals and pro-inflammatory cytokines. These inflammatory molecules raise blood pressure, alter the nervous system's control of heart function, and oxidize circulating cholesterol, causing atherosclerosis.
If you or someone you love is struggling with autoimmune disease, as so many people are today, then cleaning up your indoor air should be a priority!
Alarmingly, indoor air is a significant source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Employees in office buildings and students in schools share enclosed spaces with a broad spectrum of microorganisms present on their skin and in their mouths and nasal cavities.
These crowded environments allow for the transfer of microbes from one person to another and for the evolution of dangerous drug-resistant bacteria (17, 18). Furthermore, these microorganisms produce bioaerosols, tiny airborne particles that are biological in nature and have adverse effects on human health.
While air pollution is classically associated with respiratory and cardiovascular disease, emerging research indicates that it also affects the brain. (19) Indoor fine and ultrafine particulate matter from sources such as cooking, scented candles, and cigarette smoke, poses a unique threat to the brain because these tiny particles cross the blood-brain barrier and subsequently induce brain oxidative stress and neuroinflammation.
This can really add up on poor air quality days! If you want to optimize your children's brain health and preserve your own cognitive function, then cleaning up your indoor air is a must.
Get your indoor air quality assessed by a home air quality testing company.
Work with an indoor air specialist to remediate sources of indoor air pollution, including asbestos, moldy and water-damaged areas, and lead-painted surfaces. Repair existing water leaks to prevent future water damage.
Maintain a relative home humidity of 30-50 percent to inhibit the growth of mold and other biological pollutants in your home. A dehumidifier can help you accomplish this. Be sure to empty the water-collecting reservoir of the dehumidifier regularly to prevent mold growth in the machine.
Properly maintain, clean, and fine-tune combustion appliances and make sure that all appliances are vented to the outdoors.
Regularly replace the filters on central heating and cooling systems.
Swap formaldehyde-containing building materials for solid wood, stainless steel, adobe, bricks, and tile. Avoid upholstering your furniture or wearing permanent press fabrics.
Use low-VOC paint, varnishes, furniture, and fabrics in your home.
Don't use pesticides in your home or yard.
Don't burn paraffin candles or use aerosol sprays like Pledge or Febreze. Opt for 100 percent beeswax candles scented with essential oils instead.
Don't idle your car in the garage.
Regularly clean your home with a HEPA vacuum and keep surfaces free of dust.
Make your home a "no shoes zone" to limit the tracking of lead or pesticide-containing dust indoors.
Prohibit smoking of any sort inside your home.
Once you've taken these steps, you should also consider investing in a high-quality air filter to clean the air in your living space continuously.
I do think an air filter is worth the investment, for all the reasons outlined above! But it can be hard to choose one. I have spent some time reviewing air filter options and I now recommend Air Doctor.
Air Doctor does a better job than filters you'll find at Target and the like. It's also more effective than filters like Everest and Molekule. While these 'filterless filters' sound great, because there's no filter to change, they are just dropping contaminants to the floor. If you don't capture contaminants in a filter, they will be in your house dust where your baby and your dog will roll in them and your kids will kick them back up. House dust is already laden with toxins, and we don't need to increase the load!
You can purchase an Air Doctor through our affiliate link here. The price point of an Air Doctor is very reasonable, and it doesn't use much electricity. Considering that indoor air quality is worse than ever these days, this is a great investment for your family's health!
Now, I'd love to hear from you! Do you live or work in a building with air quality issues? What steps have you taken to improve the air quality in your living environment? Let me know in the comments below.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP, is trained in functional health coaching and has worked with thousands of women over her career since 2004. She is the founder of Women's Wellness Collaborative llc and HormoneDetoxShop.com.


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Kings of Cash online slots was launched in the online world back in 2009 through the Microgaming programming system. Currently there are plans to introduce it into the iPad casino world as well. Microgaming itself was already a popular choice for people who enjoyed online slots and Kings of Cash slots just added to the already immense fun.
What are Kings of Cash slots?
Kings of Cash is a five-reel slot machine game that has 15 different paylines. It also has animated graphics, all of which have a royal theme offering great potential rewards.
The video slot game has two scatter symbols, one of which is the scatter logo and the other which is a crown. If you get three or more crowns on your screen at the same time, you automatically trigger the bonus game that is special to Kings of Cash.
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If you get at least three scatter symbols on the screen at one time, you can win up to twenty-five free spins. You could also double your payout or get re-triggering powers. There are even extra gambling features that allow you to decide which color, card or suit will win. If you choose correctly, you can quadruple the amount of money you win in each spin.
The Kings of Cash logo itself is a wild symbol that you always want to see as it can help you form winning combinations when you would have otherwise lost. Kings of Cash slots is one of the all-encompassing online slots games that has been created through Microgaming. As far as online slots go, it is highly recommended for players to enjoy for entertainment and the chance at winning big.


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Q: cannot open file libboost_thread_vc-100-mt-gd-1_48.lib On compiling my program in Qt Creator I m getting linker error
:-1: error: LNK1104: cannot open file 'libboost_thread-vc100-mt-gd-1_48.lib'

I add the following lines in the .pro file for the same
win32: LIBS += -L$$PWD/../../../../../../../boost_1_48_0/stage/lib/ -lboost_thread-vc100-mt-gd-1_48

INCLUDEPATH += $$PWD/../../../../../../../boost_1_48_0/stage
DEPENDPATH += $$PWD/../../../../../../../boost_1_48_0/stage

I still have get the same error so I rebuild the library
C:\boost_1_48_0>bjam.exe --toolset=msvc --build-type=complete link=shared runtime-link=shared --with-thread --clean
C:\boost_1_48_0>bjam.exe --toolset=msvc --build-type=complete link=shared runtime-link=shared --with-thread

On using static library
win32: LIBS += -L$$PWD/../../../../../../../boost_1_48_0/stage/lib/ -llibboost_thread-vc100-mt-sgd-1_48

INCLUDEPATH += $$PWD/../../../../../../../boost_1_48_0/stage
DEPENDPATH += $$PWD/../../../../../../../boost_1_48_0/stage

win32: PRE_TARGETDEPS += $$PWD/../../../../../../../boost_1_48_0/stage/lib/libboost_thread-vc100-mt-sgd-1_48.lib

I get some more errors
msvcprtd.lib(MSVCP100D.dll) : error LNK2005: "public: void __thiscall std::_Container_base12::_Orphan_all(void)" (?_Orphan_all@_Container_base12@std@@QAEXXZ) already defined in libboost_thread-vc100-mt-sgd-1_48.lib(thread.obj)
msvcprtd.lib(MSVCP100D.dll) : error LNK2005: "public: __thiscall std::_Container_base12::~_Container_base12(void)" (??1_Container_base12@std@@QAE@XZ) already defined in libboost_thread-vc100-mt-sgd-1_48.lib(thread.obj)
msvcprtd.lib(MSVCP100D.dll) : error LNK2005: "public: __thiscall std::_Container_base12::_Container_base12(void)" (??0_Container_base12@std@@QAE@XZ) already defined in libboost_thread-vc100-mt-sgd-1_48.lib(thread.obj)
msvcprtd.lib(MSVCP100D.dll) : error LNK2005: "public: static unsigned int __cdecl std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::max(void)" (?max@?$numeric_limits@I@std@@SAIXZ) already defined in libboost_thread-vc100-mt-sgd-1_48.lib(thread.obj)
msvcprtd.lib(MSVCP100D.dll) : error LNK2005: "public: static __int64 __cdecl std::numeric_limits<__int64>::max(void)" (?max@?$numeric_limits@_J@std@@SA_JXZ) already defined in libboost_thread-vc100-mt-sgd-1_48.lib(thread.obj)
LINK : fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file 'libboost_thread-vc100-mt-gd-1_48.lib'
    link /LIBPATH:"c:\Qt\4.8.1\lib" /NOLOGO /DYNAMICBASE /NXCOMPAT /DEBUG /MANIFEST /MANIFESTFILE:"debug\Player.intermediate.manifest" /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS "/MANIFESTDEPENDENCY:type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*' processorArchitecture='*'" /OUT:debug\Player.exe @C:\Users\vickey\AppData\Local\Temp\Player.exe.948.15.jom
    c:\qt\4.8.1\bin\qmake.exe -spec c:\Qt\4.8.1\mkspecs\win32-msvc2010 CONFIG+=declarative_debug -o Makefile c:\cygwin\home\vickey\tunebasket\p2p\test\Player\Player.pro
    C:\QtSDK\QtCreator\bin\jom.exe -f Makefile.Debug

Any Ideas what is wrong ? Thanks.

A: #define BOOST_ALL_NO_LIB

worked for me. The problem I guess was that linker was looking for  libboost_thread_vc-100-mt-gd-1_48.lib while I had configured boost_thread_vc-100-mt-gd-1_48.lib in my .pro file. Defining the macro makes it explicitly upload the library defined in the .pro file.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Mother's Day Last-Minute Gifts: 17 Subscription Boxes Mom Will Love
With boxes for self-care, beauty, fashion and food, there's something in here for everyone this Mother's Day.
By Carolin Lehmann, Marenah Dobin, Kristine Fellizar May 06, 2022 11:00 AMTags
FashionBeautyLife/StyleShoppingMother's DayShop BeautyE! Insider ShopDaily DealsWellnessShop FashionShop WellnessShop Mother's DayGifts by Recipient
We independently selected these products because we love them, and we think you might like them at these prices. E! has affiliate relationships, so we may get a commission if you purchase something through our links. Items are sold by the retailer, not E!. Prices are accurate as of publish time.
Want to give mom the gift that keeps on giving? Then subscription boxes are your best bet. Not only do they make excellent gifts, they're good options if you need something last-minute because they actually look like you've put a lot of thought into it. So there's no excuse for not giving your mom a gift for Mother's Day this year.
After all, who would be upset to receive a box full of fashion must-haves and full-size beauty products from brands they love? We know we wouldn't. But fashion and beauty subscription boxes aren't the only ones out there. In fact, there's something for everyone: the fashionista, the health and wellness fanatic, that one who is obsessed with her dog (can you blame her?).
Plus, subscription boxes make gift giving super simple. All you have to do is pay a regular fee (sometimes monthly, sometimes less often depending on the subscription), and then the recipient gets a box full of goodies on a semi-regular basis.
To set you off on the right foot, we've picked out some subscriptions that are perfect for moms. Find the one—or ones—they'll love most, and sign them up today!
50 Gifts for Mom That Will Guarantee You the Favorite Child Award
TheraBox- Self Care Subscription Box
Treating yourself is easier said than done, but if you gift someone all of the self-care supplies, it's hard to resist, right? TheraBox is all about self-care. Every month, you'll receive 6-8 full-sized products like bath bombs, oils, mindfulness activities, bath soaps, body creams, oils, skincare products, and more. Each box is valued at $120+ and you can get one for $45 a month, or just $40 for the first month. And there's no commitment. You can cancel at any time.
Silk and Sonder
Silk and Sonder is a subscription that offers themed monthly wellness planners that you can incorporate into your self-care routine. The journals are all very pretty and the prompts are created using science-backed techniques made to help reduce burnout, stress and anxiety.
Cocotique- Beauty & Self-Care Subscription Box for Women of Color
The Cocotique subscription box is a beauty box curated specifically for women of color. You'll receive hair, skin, and self-care products every month for just $35.
Bath Blessing Sanctuary Bath Subscription Box: 5+ Bath Products
Give yourself a spa-like bath experience at least once a month. You'll get 5 products including, artisan soaps, bath bombs, scrubs, body butters, body wash, and lotions. If baths aren't your thing, but you want a relaxing shower, there's an option for that too. Pay $35 for the first month and then $45 for each month after.
Vivrelle
Get monthly access to luxury handbags and accessories from Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and more through Vivrelle. Plans start at just $99 a month. You can hold onto an item for as long as you want or just switch it up every month. If you really adore a bag, you can even purchase it at an exclusive members-only price.
The Bouqs- Flower Subscription
Save up to 30% and get free shipping with every flower delivery when you sign up for The Bouqs subscription plan. Plans start at just $40.
The Bouqs
Lip Monthly- Beauty and Makeup Subscription Box
If you're one of those people who isn't looking for new face makeup or skincare products, but you love a fresh lip color, get the Lip Monthly subscription plan. You'll get 4-5 full-size lipsticks, lip glosses, liquid lipsticks, lip balms, lip liners, lip scrubs, lip crayons, lip pencils, and more every month. And instead of a box, they arrive in an adorable makeup bag. Your first box is $7. Then, it's $14 a month after that.
Fill out a profile and get a curated box of beauty treats from top-name brands in hair, makeup and skin care, like Oribe, Sunday Riley, Glow Recipe, Kiehl's and more.
There are so many delicious Goldbelly food subscriptions to choose from including shipments of pizza, BBQ, cookies, pie, ice cream, bacon, cake, sandwiches and more starting at $49 a month.
Winc
Get four bottles of wine—starting at $30—matched to your particular palate and delivered direct to you once a month. And you can skip or cancel whenever you want.
Sign up for a trial subscription for $69 for the first month, and they can rent four items at a time, plus swap them once a month. Once the trial month is over, it costs $89 per month—but you can choose from over 10,000 styles from 400 designers with a monthly retail value up to $1,400.
Start each season off with a box full of eight to 10 full-size, premium products chosen just for you, valued at over $200. FabFitFun boxes have items for beauty, fitness, wellness and home—and brands like Amika, Anthropologie, Kate Spade and more—you can't go wrong.
Bark Box
Because your dog deserves a subscription box too! Get your pooch a customized box of themed toys and treats, with themes like "Thanksstuffing" and "Chewrassic Park." At only $23 per month, how can you resist?
KiwiCo
Subscription boxes aren't just for adults and their pets. With this service, you can subscribe for a monthly kid-friendly crate of STEM, STEAM and science kits across a wide range of ages and interests. Not only can you pause or cancel at any time, prices start at $18 a month. This is one moms and their kids can bond over.
Lookfantastic Beauty Box
Beauty lovers need this box whose price varies depending on how many months you subscribe for. It comes with six beauty goodies a month worth over $79, and each box has a theme.
If they love travel and snacking, there's no better gift for them than this box. It comes with snacks from a different country each month, plus a booklet with trivia, recipes and more.
BootayBag
Score new undies each month to keep things fresh with a BootayBag subscription. You can add in cute bras too.
If you've ever wondered which online retailers have the fastest shipping, we've got the answer for you right here.
—Originally published Dec. 6, 2019, at 3:00 a.m. PT
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DVM Blogs: Heartworm Season is in Full Swing!
This is a heartworm larva, found in a blood sample of one of our patients this year!
As temperatures start to climb in the city of Toronto and we enjoy the milder weather with our canine companions, we renew our focus on parasite prevention at Wellesley. In a previous blog post, Dr. Pilar discussed how to protect our pets from the growing threat of ticks and Lyme disease, and in today's blog, I will review the biology of heartworm disease, treatment and prevention strategies to keep your pet safe and protected all year long.
Heartworm disease is transmitted from animal to animal by mosquitoes. Therefore, whenever mosquitoes are active, dogs are at risk of contracting this deadly disease. Even cats can be at risk if they go outdoors, or are exposed to mosquitoes in the home. In Toronto, heartworm protection is typically recommended from June 1st to November 1st.
A mosquito close-up. They average 3-6mm in size, which is about the size of a popcorn kernel.
Because dogs with recent or mild heartworm infection may not manifest any signs of disease at all, heartworm testing becomes an important tool for veterinarians to detect early infection (as early as 6 months after heartworms enter the body). This allows treatment to occur in a timely manner and gives the pet the best chance of recovery with minimal complications. Heartworm testing consists of a simple blood test, which can be performed with great accuracy within minutes in the hospital.
Treatment for heartworm disease is costly, and carries substantial risk. However, successful treatment is possible with a carefully staged treatment protocol that usually takes several months to a year to complete.
The good news is that heartworm infection is easily preventable in dogs and cats. There are several safe and effective heartworm preventives available in a variety of formulations. Please speak to a team member at Wellesley to discuss the best preventive method based on your pet's risk factors and lifestyle.
It is important to note that some heartworm preventives are not safe to give to animals already infected with heartworm. Therefore, the American Heartworm Society recommends having your pet tested for heartworm BEFORE starting their heartworm preventive. This is typically done once a year in the spring, before the official heartworm preventive start date of June 1st. It is also important to remember that no preventive medication is 100% effective, which further highlights the importance of annual testing.
If you haven't yet scheduled your pet's parasite prevention visit, it's not too late! Please give us a call, email or text to book your appointment today. And as always, please don't hesitate to contact the team at Wellesley if you have any questions on keeping your pet protected. Wishing you and your furry companion a safe, joyful and parasite-free summer!
For more information on heartworm disease, please visit the American Heartworm Society (https://www.heartwormsociety.org/).
DVM Blogs: Is My Pet In Pain?


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Tag: scotland author
Meet the Author: The Fenian by Mike Kernan
Today we travel to the west coast of Scotland to chat with Mike Kernan about how being a journalist, listening, reading, early retirement, winters in Tenerife, being a sucker for a story, being a grandad, Back to the Future, fishing, heart surgery, and Friday the 13th come together as part of Mike's current and past life.
I live with my wife Margaret in a small seaside town on the beautiful west coast of Scotland and think of myself as a grandad and writer – in that order. I was a journalist in newspapers and TV for more than 40 years, the last 20 as a national paper executive. I've been working on a couple of novels since taking early retirement four years ago but Covid focused my mind.
Without wishing to be over-dramatic, I decided it was now or never as I have underlying health issues and wasn't sure if I would survive the pandemic. Finishing a book became my lockdown project and I published my first novel, The Fenian, in August 2020. The book has today received its 100th five-star rating and I am now working on the sequel. I also released a non-fiction book on angling, Fishing In The Sun, in November 2020.
What a great start – a question I can't answer! I've been asked this a few times about The Fenian, my first and only published novel so far, and I'm afraid I can't pin it down. It's definitely a coming-of-age story and the easy way out would be to leave it at that. But it's also a drama, a romance, probably a saga, definitely a comedy and a tragedy. Overall, it's just loads of hopefully interesting and entertaining people stuff – the good, bad and crazy things folk do to each other. Can that be a new genre – people stuff?
Before the writing came the reading and before the reading came the listening. To borrow from the opening line of Goodfellas, as far back as I can remember I was always a sucker for stories. The earliest one I can remember was my grandfather telling me about catching an enormous pike in Ireland that trailed on the ground and tried to bite his face as he dragged it home. That, and tales like it, stuck in my head for, well, forever because I still recall it now.
I was able to read at four so my mum took me to the library and told me later it was as if I'd walked into my own Aladdin's Cave. Apparently, I took home two books that morning and wanted to go back in the afternoon because I had finished them. The moment I knew I wanted to be a writer was when, aged seven, we were told to create a true story about our pets and my teacher read mine out to the class. It was a dizzying high which lasted until parents' night when she discovered I'd made it up.
I've had book ideas in my head and in various drafts for decades but, cliched excuse, life and a busy career as a journalist kept getting in the way. I took early retirement four years ago and since then have been trying to make up for lost time.
What is an interesting writing quirk you have, that we wouldn't know by reading your biography?
I'm not sure how unusual it is, but I always start by writing the first chapter and the last chapter, then join the dots in a random way as the ideas flow. I need to know the root of the story and where it ends up so that I have compass points to guide me.
I wish I was more disciplined because this haphazard approach means that at some point, I have to shut myself away for a day (a few days more like) and make a giant chart of everything I've written and drag it kicking and screaming into some kind of order. I think my method – or lack of method – stems from a fear that if I don't act on ideas for scenes or chapters immediately, I will lose the spark.
This question saddens me because I haven't been to my writing sweet spot for nearly two years and don't know when I'll make it back because of the curse of Covid. I like to escape the worst of the Scottish winter and flee to Tenerife, which has become like a second home. My wife Margaret and I have a routine of lazing on the hotel terrace after breakfast which, for me, translates into two hours of writing time. We go off and do the usual holiday stuff before returning to the hotel late afternoon. My wife reads and snoozes while I take the laptop and a glass of wine (OK, a bottle of wine) on to the balcony and either write or edit for another couple of hours in that brilliant Canarian light and warmth. We are tempted to return at New Year but we're still wary about travelling due to other health issues.
I have to admit to a bit of a nationalist streak when it comes to book choice. I'm always on the lookout for new novels by Scottish authors and this has dominated my reading in 2021. Highlights of the year have been Mayflies by Andrew O'Hagan, The Less Dead by Denise Mina and The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong. I'm coming towards the climax of 1979 by Val McDermid. Like many people, I'm sceptical about books set in my own field but the 1970s newspaper world of the novel gets high marks for authenticity. And to put it simply with a good Scottish word, that lassie knows how to write a good yarn.
The Fenian started life as a short story which I planned to enter into a competition. It was inspired by a real-life experience about a couple split up by religious divide who then come back into each other's lives many years later. A writer who looked at it told me I needed to flesh out the supporting characters a little, so I started adding memories of people and incidents from my own youth. It occurred to me that these back stories were just as interesting as the central plot and I realised I had a bigger-scale work on my hands.
What movie can you watch over and over without ever getting tired of?
I'd love to get all intellectual here and cite a seminal black and white art movie made by a cult Peruvian director which uses washing dishes as a metaphor for life. But I have to admit it's Back To The Future all the way for me. It's not the best film ever made but it's probably the most perfect in terms of story, performance and entertainment. It also means a lot personally because it was the first film I took my daughters, Lynn and Laura, to see in the cinema. I've probably read and watched more about the background to the film than is healthy and the three of us can still voice it all the way through. Definitely my specialist subject if I ever go on Mastermind.
Just when my wife and I had given up hope, my daughter Lynn finally got round to producing a grandson and he is now my No1 interest. I have pretty much stolen him and two-year-old Jimmy and I are now partners in crime. For the two days a week he stays with us, I'm off the grid – no writing, minimal social media, kids TV only and no checking headlines, which is tough on a news junkie. Other than that, I do a bit of fishing and write a column about it, as well as the odd university lecture though I'm trying to scale back on that.
What's a great piece of advice you've received lately?
A fellow author told me that even if the ideas aren't coming as much as you'd like, it's important to always write something. The thinking is that you cannot change, edit, improve or polish a blank page. It is so simple but true and has been extremely useful to me.
Have you ever had any Do It Yourself disasters?
My only possible DIY disaster is that I'm forced to do any. I am completely useless around the house though my wife insists I'm that way on purpose. I'm really not. I have reached my sixties unable to put a screw in straight or wash windows without leaving them worse than when I started.
My argument is that people earn a living by doing these things and I would be stealing from them if I dedicated myself to learning their skills. Besides, I didn't expect readers to write their own headlines when I worked in newspapers. (No, my wife doesn't buy the argument either.)
I'm afraid to tempt fate by answering this question but OK, here goes. There is something magical that happens when I sit down to write – and I have heard other authors talk about this. I will have the seed of an idea for a scene or chapter and every single time, I worry it won't go anywhere or that I don't have enough material. Once I start, the ideas flow and it sometimes feels like it's nothing to do with me – I'm just the conduit, which never ceases to surprise and amaze me.
The biggest single bonus to publishing The Fenian has been the response from readers. I acknowledge I am fortunate in that I don't have to earn a living from writing so the only reason for doing it is to have my stories read. But I had no idea how rewarding it would be to receive messages from people who had done just that then taken the time to tell me how the book touched them and triggered memories. This is especially true when the messages are from people who grew up in the era and the place where the story is set.
As if that wasn't enough, a number of old friends and schoolmates from the time have got back in touch after picking up the book. They remember many of the incidents and characters which inspired episodes in the story. Just last month I met up with three old friends, two of whom I'd had no contact with for nearly half a century.
What is the most craziest thing that has ever happened to you?
By far the craziest and most life-changing moment came when I was awaiting surgery in 2015. My heart had packed in which was not surprising given my lifestyle of high-pressure job, lack of exercise, poor diet and heavy smoking. I was put on the waiting list for a triple heart bypass and had the worst conversation of my life when the cardiologist told me I probably wouldn't make it to the first date I was given. She promised to push for an earlier op. A few days later, she told me that a superstitious patient had refused to have surgery on Friday the 13th and asked if I wanted the slot? Naturally I said yes and believe I was given a second chance which I have grabbed with both hands.
How do you prepare yourself to discuss your book?
I am not a natural when it comes to preparation. I didn't get the results I should have at school because I never studied and instead relied on memory. It's the same when I'm about to talk about my book. I think of it as being like my children – I know it intimately and should be able to answer any questions thrown at me. I've probably just jinxed myself and will forget a character's name next time out.
Honestly? Without overthinking it, playing football in the street.
Share an interesting or funny story from your childhood.
When I was eight, we had a day off school – no idea why – and I was running home from the park at the top of our street when I was blocked by a crowd of people who were waving and cheering. I squeezed through, ducked under a rope and asked a woman standing in front of me for the right time. Someone grabbed me and took my name and address. That evening a reporter from a national newspaper came to our house and told my parents I'd walked up to the Queen, who was on a royal visit, and chatted to her. The story and my picture appeared on the front page next morning. I used an exaggerated version of this incident in The Fenian.
I am three-quarters way through the sequel to The Fenian. It was written as a standalone and I wrapped up the lives of the characters in an epilogue which limited the possibility of a follow-up. I also have four completely separate novels on the go, ranging from final edit to partly plotted, so a sequel was definitely never on the agenda. However, the response from readers has taken me by surprise – as have the ongoing sales figures – so that made me wonder whether there might be another book there. I was concerned about trying to force it but once I gave it some thought, the ideas came pouring out. On one of my daily walks along the coast where I live, I came up with the beginning, the end and a rough outline. It is provisionally titled Stopping To Rain after a grammatical anomaly one of the main characters utters as a young child.
The Fenian tells of the crazy, funny, tragic and outrageous adventures of two lovestruck teenagers and their pals growing up in a Scottish new town in the 1970s. The couple are split up by a deathbed promise but unexpectedly come back into each other's lives at the turn of the millennium. As they assess the effects of that promise, they face up to the biggest question of their lives: What if you got a second chance to put right your biggest regret?
It was wonderful learning more about you and having you be a part of MTA, Mike. I've added The Fenian to my "to be read" list. Wishing you all the best and much success with future books. – Camilla
Available from Amazon on paperback, ebook and Kindle Unlimited, and as an audiobook from Audible.