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"Hard to Picture: A Tribute to Ad Reinhardt" at MUDAM
Artists: Ad Reinhardt, Luis Camnitzer, Sara Cwynar, Judith Hopf, Kerry James Marshall, Álvaro Oyarzún, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Olav Westphalen
Venue: MUDAM, Luxemburg
Exhibition Title: Hard to Picture: A Tribute to Ad Reinhardt
Curated by: Diana Baldon, Marie-Noëlle Farcy
Date: June 17, 2017 – January 21, 2018
Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump.
Judith Hopf; Background: Ad Reinhardt
Left to Right: Ad Reinhardt, Kerry James Marshall
Olav Westphalen
Sara Cwynar; Background: Ad Reinhardt
Álvaro Oyarzún
Images courtesy of MUDAM, Luxenburg and the Estate of Ad Reinhardt; copyright ADAGP. Photos by Rémi Villaggi.
The exhibition Hard to Picture: A Tribute to Ad Reinhardt focuses on Ad Reinhardt's (1913-1967) largely unexamined work as a published illustrator, which ran parallel to his 30-year career as an abstract painter from the 1930s to the 60s. Featuring over 250 political cartoons and satirical art comics loaned from the archives of the Estate of Ad Reinhardt, New York, it is the largest presentation of this body of work ever exhibited. It is accompanied by Abstract painting (1956), one of the artist's minimal "black" canvases, a colour slide show, and a copious number of documents: a travel journal, pamphlets and sketches. It is their third presentation in Europe since the exhibition Art vs. History at Malmö Konsthall, Sweden, in 2015 and at EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland, in 2016.
Hard to Picture: A Tribute to Ad Reinhardt brings these works into dialogue with artworks by a number of contemporary international artists. The exhibition does not seek to represent Reinhardt's direct influence but addresses, instead, those intricate correspondences within practices and interests – biographical, methodological and conceptual – that preserve the influential ideas established by the American artist almost eight decades ago.
Reinhardt first developed an interest in cartooning as a child, refining his talent for drawing throughout elementary school before earning money for his illustrations in high school. This work-for-hire eventually allowed him to support his studies and career as an abstract painter, thus keeping his painting free of commercial considerations. Throughout the 1930s and 40s, his witty cartoons appeared in wide-ranging American publications, notably the daily newspaper PM, the Marxist periodical New Masses and magazines as diverse as Glamour, Listen, and Ice Cream Field. These activities were accompanied by his fierce commitment to politics, such as pro-labour rights and anti-war campaigns, that remained vital to his identity as an artist and a citizen. As illustrations for newspaper articles, they dealt with a range of topics from US domestic policies to World War II. In their use of collage techniques, they drew upon a variety of styles and techniques of early 20th century artistic movements, such as Dada, Cubism and Constructivism, and combined hand-drawn elements with cut-outs from 19th century engravings and other printed matter extrapolated from old books, a striking feature never seen in daily newspapers before.
Reinhardt's interest in caricature and visual incongruence resonates with Olav Westphalen's art world and political cartoons that he has produced since the 2000s for publications as diverse as the online resource artnet, the Swedish art magazines Nu and Paletten, the German newspapers Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung, among others. Inspired by a traditional crossover between fine art and illustration in Germany, his drawings introduce cartoon entertainment into the art world.
Westphalen makes biting jokes directed against order, familiarity and normalcy within the field of contemporary art – a field known to be increasingly self-regulated. They are uncomfortable and outrageous, drawing attention to and directed at the taboos and moral blind spots of the art world, not dissimilar to the deadpan humour Reinhardt used in his art comics. The series of works on paper A junkie in the forest: doing things the hard way (2012) – shown in the exhibition – moves into the more dysfunctional realm of comedy: it presents jokes without punch lines that become linguistic or rhetoric tools that turn sort of tragic. They were realised using a "gagmaster", a device invented in the 1930s for lowbrow entertainment that enabled cartoonists to create jokes quickly by spinning three concentric wheels. Parodying how creativity and satire rely on something akin to algorithms of data analysis to shape fast decision-making, their painterly gestures in red and blue recall informal abstract art, translating high art into low art craft.
Along a similar vein, the works of Judith Hopf adopt the concept of "bricolage". Her series of caricatural sculptures, Erschöpfte Vase (2009-2017), are overturned and emptied of their functionality, fatigued and vacant heads facing the viewer that could be seen as "disinterested spectators". Her Untitled (Man) (2010) series pokes fun in an analogous way: the formal and aesthetic representation of our use of laptops is absurdly restructured. Nonsense is close to outrageousness, and this is what effectively shifts and disrupts the accepted norms and structures of art, leaving the meaning of her works in crisis.
Reinhardt's critical satire undermined prejudice, instead promoting tolerance, progressiveness and equality in his cartoons. An example is the pamphlet The Races of Mankind (1943), initially meant to be distributed to U.S. troops to combat ethnic stereotypes in fascist Europe during World War II, whose provocative depiction of Adam and Eve caused scandal within the government at that time.
Race is at the centre of Kerry James Marshall's works: black pride, beauty, economic disadvantage, societal invisibility, parody. African and African-American traditions are confronted with the pictorial canons of Western art history and contemporary mass media. His prints, Dailies from Rythm Mastr (2010), are part of a serial comic-strip produced over two decades. They interweave scenes of teenagers in an African-American inner-city neighbourhood, where lawlessness has reached extreme levels. When superhuman intervention is called for, the protagonist, Rythm Mastr, shows up to teach the young heroes how to unlock their secret powers, which resemble those of the religious deities of the Yoruba African culture. The programmatic title of Marshall's painting Untitled, black, (2012), instead, examines the way we look at abstract colour and large-scale formats as aesthetic reference to the systems of mid-century abstraction championed by, for instance, Barnett Newman and Reinhardt himself. Marshall's "monochrome" sheds a different light on the imagery of black, juxtaposing the reduced brushwork and large chromatic expanses of Color Field painting with icons and symbols associated with, among others, the history of the Black Power movement in America. Marshall's painting is confronted with one of Reinhardt's minimal black canvases, Abstract painting (1956). In these works, Reinhardt mixed small amounts of colour (red, green, and blue) into black pigment. The chromatic subtlety of these paintings remains such that their effects are nearly impossible to reproduce in print. Rather, these artworks demand close attention from the viewer in person, allowing the colours, tones and forms to gradually emerge over time.
Lili Reynaud-Dewar's installation, Teeth, Gums, Machines, Future, Society (2016), is a multi-media installation that explores the political, racial and gender stereotypes that make up one's identity. Elements that on the surface seem rather disconnected are brought together: the city of Memphis (famous for its music scene and site of Martin Luther King's assassination, who supported here a protest by African American waste collection workers in 1968), the iconic rappers' "grillz" (a type of decorative jewellery worn over the teeth), and the renowned essay, A Cyborg Manifesto (1985: Socialist Review) by the socialist-feminist scholar Donna Haraway. The core of the work is a film in which four stand-up comedians discuss these topics, embodying the most pared back type of performance using only their voice. Ideas transit through their bodies and, like their personal debris or the "grillz" used in hip hop culture, become public expressions of their identity, desires and consumption. This film is surrounded by posters and quotes from Haraway's post-humanist thesis whereby only cyborgs can reject all rigid boundaries of a stable identity.
Reinhardt's celebrated slide projections, resulting from colour photographs taken during a series of travels abroad, offered a universal reading of picture-making and art history. Sharing an affinity with George Kubler's book, The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things (1962: Yale University Press), the artist juxtaposed artefacts, artworks, and stylistic and architectural motifs in carefully montaged, yet ever-changing sequences, underscoring their timelessness and overlooked affinities. Reinhardt's ground-breaking approach anticipates today's ungraspable flux of images found on the Internet, thanks to algorithms and search engines whose contents are compiled on the basis of the similarities and "tastes" of web users.
To reinforce this perspective, both of Sara Cwynar's photographs in the exhibition result from groups of images that she obsessively collects, archives and reproduces. Digitally manipulated to foreground her interest in photography's power to deceive, their still-life quality is inspired by the aesthetics of antiquated studio photography and the unnatural cleanliness of commercial imagery. Cwynar's video Soft Film (2016) looks into the production and circulation of design and insignificant objects, purchased on the Internet, to explore how, once discarded, they circulate and over time get stuck within economic circuits. The work also focuses with humour on a postfeminist perspective that makes both the sexism and counter-sexism of earlier decades appear dated, even kitsch, just like her digitally-obtained wallpaper, 72 Pictures of Modern Paintings (2016), where all masterpieces are transfigured.
Reinhardt, in both his artistic work and in his teaching of art history at the university level, never lost sight of the role of education. His celebrated art comics series, How to Look (1946-61), focuses exclusively on slow, careful looking. It presents a didactic approach in which Reinhardt satirises the role of "explainer-entertainer", directed not only at the reader but also at fellow artists. Subverting the pedagogical charts made famous by Alfred Barr, the first director of New York's Museum of Modern Art, they introduce readers to the "difficult art of seeing." The popular series appeared in the Sunday edition of PM newspaper between 1946 and 1947 and served as a platform upon which Reinhardt could adamantly defend the growth and understanding of abstract art in America. After this time, Reinhardt published additional art comics only occasionally in the art periodicals ARTnews, trans/formation and Art d'aujourd'hui, among others.
Like Reinhardt, who taught art history most of his life, Luis Camnitzer has worked for decades as an art teacher, cherishing a similar concern in art history as well as art education. His installation, Art History Lesson no. 9 (2000), follows the path of an art history to be written from scratch, no longer imparted according to the accepted structures, where there is an authoritative relation between teacher and pupil, partly determined by slide shows that define what is good and therefore valuable. In this sense, the piece is a sort of "lesson" that takes the opposite course of art history and does not pretend to give any lecture. Chest, chair, books and stool, ladder, stacked pieces of wood and buckets of paint amassed in the museum's storage, all turn into precarious plinths that, allegorically, highlight the instability and the fugacity of knowledge, always in the process of being built.
In response to an invitation from Mudam Luxembourg, Álvaro Oyarzún has realised, on site, a "map" that explores some of the themes that embody the artistic universe of Reinhardt and his posthumous influences. The works of this artist combine intricate drawings and elliptical inscriptions that he brings together in large, organic compositions. Their dynamic lines recall continents, islands and peninsulas, while the scraps of text evoke the complex representation of information found in an encyclopaedia. However, they have no apparent order and appear fractured, contradictory and historically anachronistic. They are mind maps whose itineraries parallel the crisis of art with that of the artist's personal breakdown.
Link: "Hard to Picture: A Tribute to Ad Reinhardt" at MUDAM
Tags: Ad Reinhardt, Álvaro Oyarzún, Diana Baldon, Group Show, Institution, Judith Hopf, Kerry James Marshall, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Luis Camnitzer, Luxembourg, Luxemburg, Marie-Noëlle Farcy, MUDAM, Olav Westphalen, Sara Cwynar


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Home Australia Elderton
Tags: Australia, South Australia, Vineyards
Elderton Wines is a small, family owned and operated organic winery, situated in the heart of the Barossa Valley. The Elderton vineyard which was planted in 1894 by Samuel Elderton Tolley, was purchased by the Ashmead family in the late 1970's and started producing labelled bottled estate wine from the 1982 harvest. It was well after a decade of hard work and toil that the winery shot to prominence in the early 1990's, after winning the prestigious Jimmy Watson Trophy at the 1993 Melbourne Wine Show.
There has been an amazing amount of further wine show success including the World's Best Shiraz Trophy at the 2000 London International Wine & Spirits Competition. Elderton has also enjoyed being the darling of the worlds wine press, with great endorsements given by James Halliday, Robert Parker, The Wine Spectator Magazine as well as countless others.
Furthermore, in 2005, Elderton was named in the Top 100 Wineries in the World by Wine & Spirit Magazine. The real strength behind the Elderton success is the ancient 72 acre Barossa Floor Vineyard, which produces organic fruit of the highest quality year in year out. Each block on the property is cherished but the two standouts are the 116-year-old Command Shiraz block and the 66-year-old Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon block.
The organic wines of Elderton are enjoyed worldwide for their amazing qualities which come through from varietal character, regional definition and the unique and robust personalities of the Elderton team. In 2010, Elderton will celebrate its 31st vintage as a winery and the Ashmeads still believe that the best is yet to come.
3-5 Tanunda Road
Elderton Chardonnay Unwooded 2008
Elderton Unoaked Chardonnay 2008
Elderton Tantalus 2008
Elderton Semillon Botrytis 2007

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The campaign to elect WASA's 2018–19 President-elect is underway! Candidates for the position are Krestin Bahr, superintendent of Eatonville School District, and John Bash, superintendent of Tumwater School District. To learn more about the candidates, please click on the links below to view each candidate's brochure. Online voting will take place August 1–10, 2018. Please watch your email for the e-ballot. Your participation in this important election is highly encouraged.


interactivity and cost benefits through our intelligent digital signage solutions that move employees, consumers and products.
Cherry Computers provide end-to-end digital signage solutions for any industry or any application with the capability to distribute dynamic digital content direct to display screens anywhere, anytime. We are a trusted supplier of digital signage solutions and handle all requirements from hardware to software and service to support. We help you to empower your business with effectiveness, interactivity and cost benefits through our intelligent digital signage solutions that move employees, consumers and products. We have all the tools to schedule, deploy, monitor and report your digital media, with the ability to instantly update digital content. Our easy-to-use yet infinitely customizable solutions cater to our clients' unique needs.


The Scottish SRUK Constituency invites all Spanish scientists who live in Scotland to join our community. The aim of our Constituency is to serve as a meeting point for science professionals (students, researchers, engineers, etc.) as well as to create bridges between Scottish institutions (Universities, R&D centres, industry, etc.) and Spain. Therefore, our Constituency organizes several events through the year, for instance, talks about scientific outreach, workshops to improve the employability, and events of playful and social nature. Do not miss this opportunity and come to meet us!


Felicia Budi started her designer label fbudi in 2010. A key focus for her is on sustainability to reduce industry pollution. She's also known for her fascination with the characteristics and texture of fabric. fbudi's goal is to inject hope and optimism into the collection. The brand usually uses a single color to give off a feeling of camaraderie among women and to give a sense of movement.
After her fashion show collection in Jakarta Fashion Week 2016, the Indonesian Ballet Gala has chosen fbudi designs and its creation for their dancers that was held on 6-7 August 2016.
fbudi designs can be described by 3 words: lightweight, tear resistant, and very durable and it really conveys for ballet dancer costume.
For this year, a collaboration between the West Australian Ballet with Indonesian Ballet Gala have so many program such as, Tarantella, On the nature of daylight, Megatruh, L'enfant Joyeux, Pas De Quatre from Ambiguous content, Ripple and surge, Echoes of possible future, Trepack Russian Solo – The Nutcracker, La Pluie and Cinderella Ball Scene.
Fbudi received the honour to make a costume for one of the programs of the Indonesian Ballet Gala, namely Megatruh. Megatruh is a new creation by choreographer Melanie Lane and was performed by Juliet Burnett. A meditation on identity and culture through a questioning body, mind & spirit is reflecting W.S.Rendra's writing that is called 'Considering Tradition'. And Megatruh is the manifestation of this idea.
fbudi designed for Juliet Burnett, one of the ballet dancer that performed as the conductor of the Megatruh in Ballet Gala. "The costume that I designed is inspired by Juliet, by Rendra's considering tradition and by picture Juliet showed to me of her grandmother in Serimpi costume" says Felicia Budi, the creative mastermind behind fbudi.
Serimpi is known as a classical traditional dance from central Java, Indonesia. This costume is related to the Megatruh.


Melfi, R and Kondra, S and Petrosino, A (2013) Human activity modeling by spatio temporal textural appearance. Pattern Recognition Letters, 34 (15). pp. 1990-1994.
We propose to model the human activity in space-time as a Bag of Words model, characterized by a new spatio-time interest points descriptor based on a combination of 3D gradient and a method based on textural appearance. The texture capturing approach we propose is based on the assumption that what is meaningful in textured man-made structures is the property of being symmetrical, like correspondence in size, shape, and relative position of parts on opposite sides of a dividing line or median plane or about a center or axis. Differently from recent approaches, we show how the combination of the 3D gradient and textural appearance improves the recognition accuracy, compared to methods based on silhouette or not textural feature extractors. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


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Nemanja Tekijaški (; born 2 March 1997) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza.

Club career

Železničar Pančevo
Tekijaški came through Dinamo Pančevo youth system and was a part of the club's academy until summer 2014. On 8 August, same year, he joined the local club Železničar, who appeared in the Banat Zone League. After the club won the competition, and promoted to the Serbian League Vojvodina, Tekijaški took a place in the first squad for the 2015–16 campaign. During the season, he made 24 league matches, scoring a single goal for the club. Similar to the previous season, Tekijaški scored once time on 27 matches in the 2016–17 campaign. For the rest of 2017, Tekijaški played with the club in the first half of the 2017–18 season, scoring two goals in victories over Dunav Stari Banovci and Radnički Sremska Mitrovica, when he was also elected for the man of the match.

Spartak Subotica
Tekijaški joined Spartak Subotica at the beginning of 2018, after which he signed a -year deal with the club on 17 January same year. Tekijaški made his Serbian SuperLiga debut for new club on 16 February 2018, replacing injured Nemanja Ćalasan in 41 minute of the match against Napredak Kruševac.

Career statistics

Personal life
Born in Pančevo, Tekijaški finished Gymnasium in his hometown. Beside the football career, he is a student at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law.

References

External links

1997 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Pančevo
Association football central defenders
Serbian footballers
Serbian expatriate footballers
FK Spartak Subotica players
Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza players
Serbian SuperLiga players
Ekstraklasa players
FK Železničar Pančevo players
Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Poland
Expatriate footballers in Poland

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Step into the enchanted castle and do everything to melt the beast's heart and save the beauty! Download Beauty and the Beast: Dangerous Romance fairy tale hidden objects game and pass all the levels! Step into the fantasy world and imagine unimaginable. Spot the hidden objects in pictures and be a part of the most beautiful fairy tale!
Download the most amazing search and find game! Beauty and the Beast: Dangerous Romance – fairy tale hidden objects game is translated in 15 popular languages, which make it one of the best language learning games free. Find hidden figures when you are given a picture or a silhouette and search for missing items hidden in anagrams. Play other mini games for brain that will entertain you for hours like find the difference, memory game with cards and puzzle games. Enjoy!


Pumpkin patches and corn mazes are the well known fall attractions in Rowan County, but it turns out we have a haunting secret. We actually have three. Rowan County is home to three terrifyingly haunted, make-your-hair-crawl trails. If you're into the thrill of being scared, you've got to visit these trails this season.
Reapers Realm has 6,000 square feet of pure terror. This adventure is not for the faint at heart, it's where your nightmares become reality. You'll be taken through their haunted farmhouse, haunted trail and haunted barn – did we mention it's haunted? If you survive, you'll be led through the slop lot, slims slaughter house, slims meat house and the hilltop asylum. We make no guarantees, but you should live to tell the story of Reapers Realm.
Tickets: Tickets are $20 and sales begin at 6:30 p.m. each evening.
For 41 years Boogerwoods has provided a horrifying experience for a great cause. All money raised through Boogerwoods' Haunted Trail goes directly to Cystic Fibrosis. Don't let their warm intentions fool you, they're here to make you scream. Boogerwoods' guides lead groups of 10 through their terrorizing trails. You'll travel for about 40 minutes through 14 scenes set to scare. Some of their new scenes for 2018 include; Twisted Saw, Booger Maze and the Booger Asylum Theater. Boogerwoods is the expert is haunting fun, they have been rated #1 Haunt in North Carolina by North Carolina Haunted Houses and the Most Entertaining Haunt in the Carolinas.
Tickets: General tickets are $20, cash only. Tickets go on sale at 2p.m. each day of the event. Tickets are only good on the day that they are purchased. A limited number of Fast Pass Tickets are available each day for $30.
Tickets: General tickets are $15, cash or credit card. Ticket sales begin at 7:30 p.m. If you wait until late to arrive, call 704-223-2765 to make sure tickets are not sold out for the evening. Fast passes are available for $30.
We hope you find the ultimate scare at one of our three terrifyingly haunted experiences in Rowan County. If you're not after the thrill of the scare, check out our family friendly Halloween events in our next blog!


Memorial Helmet Decals are for remembering a fallen or injured teammate.
Memorial Helmet Stickers are printed on our highest quality 20 mil vinyl and measure 1.5″ wide. Our Memorial Stickers have a 50 piece minimum per design or color. Upload your custom Memorial Sticker design and receive proofs in 1 business day.
Standard Design Memorial Decals will ship NEXT business Day, and Custom Memorial Decals will receive digital proofs via email in 1 business day and once Approved, will ship NEXT business Day.


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Kai Oda
Kevin Bowers is the boys water polo captain and has played on the varsity team since sophomore year.
The Campanile: What position do you play?
Kevin Bowers: I'm a driver, but everybody will just play whatever position they have to depending on where they end up.
TC: What are your contributions to the team?
KB: I would like to think that I contribute on offense and defense. I want to work on my defensive game this year, and my main focus is to improve my defensive game and provide a little bit of leadership too.
TC: How long have you been on varsity?
KB: I've been on varsity for three years. I got pulled up my sophomore year, and it has been a blast.
TC: Wow, are there any pre-game rituals that have helped you achieve that success?
KB: Oh boy … there's some good ones. Everybody has their own weird thing. I just like to put on the headphones and get in the zone and eat some weird food.
TC: What are these weird foods?
KB: There's a lot of string cheese, I love the stuff. I'll have like four of those before a game. I don't know, nothing else gets me like string cheese.
TC: List three things you won't miss about water polo:
KB: 1) Not having cheerleaders. I think we should have some cheerleaders in there.
2) On multiple occasions, having see-through speedos, especially this year. If you guys come out to a home game there's a special treat for all of you out there. Some mistakes were made in designing the suit.
3) Not having a pool my senior year.
TC: Spit some words of fire regarding the pool:
KB: F***** sucks man … F***** sucks. But I mean things happen, and they've done a good job compensating us by buying us new goals and equipment. I'm thankful for that, but it does suck.
TC: What are your strengths?
KB: I can rock a speedo. I think I play a pretty good defense, and I play pretty well on offense, and I create opportunities. Outside of the water I would like to think I help the team stay together.
TC: What's your policy on speedos?
KB: I think every sport should have them. It should be a school-wide thing, I mean, honestly, football could use them. Mobility goes up! There's absolutely no disadvantage to using them. Spread the love!
TC: What's your worst injury?
KB: Last summer at Junior Olympics I got elbowed in the face and my teeth went through my bottom lip. I got out, plugged it and kept playing.
TC: What is it like having your mom as athletic director?
KB: Do me a favor here, imagine your mom is at Paly pretty much all day. So she's there, and she is doing her job … that's it. She's just here. She's the athletic director and she's also my mom, and I'm really proud of her.
TC: What is your greatest moment in water polo?
KB: During a game during my sophomore year I jumped into the pool, some Baywatch goin' in … and my suit came off. And there I was, in all of my sophomore glory. That's a wrap.
ASB introduces new night rally for Spirit Week
Football looks to improve after first loss to San Benito
Former Senior Staff Writer
Kai Oda has been writing for The Campanile since the second semester of his sophomore year. He competes for Palo Alto High School's cross country and track team and is also a recreational surfer, fisherman, photographer and snowboarder. When not editing or running Kai can be found watching unhealthy amounts of the "The Walking Dead" or "Arrow." He aims to strengthen The Campanile this year as Editor-in-Chief.
Girls tennis aspires to achieve lofty goals
Allison Wu
Hooligan culture around the world
David Tayeri
When the NBA announced its season would resume without spectators, fans and players rejoiced at the idea of games being ...
When Kevin Durant announced he would join the Golden State Warriors on July 4, 2016, senior Ryan Seto was one of many ba...
As junior Aidan Do watches his beloved San Francisco 49ers football team play on TV, the vast sea of empty red seats sur...
Sports practices change due to COVID-19
Lauren Chung
Carpooling to practice. Sharing snacks. Stealing sips out of teammates' water bottles. These were all elements of a pre-...
An (im)perfect season
Jack Galetti
It is winter and the fall season has yet to begin. Santa Clara County's move to the Purple Tier stopped preseason traini...


The fundamental characteristic of a global company is to arrange itself in a way to provide its product in a timely, rational and efficient manner that will ultimately justify the confidence and satisfaction of its resellers.
Through a combined experience, great attention is paid to the organization potentiality. Now beyond thirty years from the company's birth, we can say we have reached our objective: Offering an extraordinary distribution standard based on a global monitoring system able to cover the traceability, of product from production through assembly then on to the marketing phase, via an advanced logistic information system that directly verifies material handling on a step-by-step basis.


Teen dancers: Register for "Dance Composition Techniques" set for Sunday, Oct. 16!
Want to learn more about how to create your own choreography?
Join conservatory faculty at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, for a workshop with our fall 2011 guest artist from the United Kingdom, Jacqueline Smith-Autard.
Space is available in a variety of music and visual arts group classes and private lessons offered to adults through the Mason Gross Extension Division. Online registration for the fall semester closes Tuesday, Sept. 6; classes begin Monday, Sept. 12 and run through Saturday, Jan. 14.
Let your children camp it up and indulge their inner artist this summer as they immerse themselves in music, dance, theater and visual arts in the Mason Gross Extension Division's Kids Create program.
Concert pianist Sung Tae Park became a specialist at the Left Hand Alone piano repertoire after being diagnosed with focal dystonia in 2002. Thanks to years of treatment and rehabilitation. Park took the stage with both hands for the first time since his diagnosis at his solo recital held at Baruch Performing Art Center in New York City in June 2017.
Private piano instruction for students of all levels ages 7 and older.


When the 24-strong crew of the Golden Wave were released after four months in pirate hands, the Mission in Mombasa was there to help.
In October 2010, Kenyan fishing vessel the Golden Wave was attacked by pirates who took control of the vessel and used it as a 'mothership' to launch more hijackings. Crew members were forced at gunpoint to sail across huge swathes of the Indian Ocean, and at one point were close to Colombo, some 2,500 nautical miles from their original location.
The Mission centre in Mombasa has supported the men with counselling and post-trauma care after this terrifying and prolonged ordeal, as well as helping them to contact their anxious families back at home. The crew also approached the Mission for help in taking up their case for compensation and payment of lost wages with the shipping company.


SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore proposed on Monday allowing private home owners to let out their property for short-term rentals but with an annual cap of 90 days a year - part of a consultation process welcomed by rental service Airbnb.
Private homes in Singapore are currently subject to a minimum rental period of three consecutive months, and such strict rules make the city-state one of the tougher markets in which Airbnb operates.
Two Airbnb hosts were fined S$60,000 ($45,800) each by a local court this month for unauthorized short-term letting.
Singapore's proposal to limit rentals days is broadly in line with measures introduced by other cities such as Paris, London and Amsterdam. The city state has begun seeking public feedback on the proposal and other measures to regulate the sector.
Airbnb, which previously called Singapore's regulatory framework "untenable" after news of the illegal rentals broke late last year, said on Monday it welcomed the consultation.
"We're committed to reasonable solutions that will allow responsible home sharing to thrive in Singapore and welcome the opportunity to provide feedback through the consultation process," said Mich Goh, head of public policy for Airbnb Singapore.
While Singapore has been an early adopter of the sharing economy, it is also keen to minimize any potential negative impact of allowing short-term rentals, as most of the wealthy but land-scarce city-state's 5.6 million people live in public and private apartments.
The proposed rules require that a significant majority of owners in a condominium complex agree to the presence of short-term rentals in their development.
The government is also seeking feedback on issues such as what homes should qualify and the responsibilities of short-term accommodation companies, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said on Monday.
The URA said it will also consider the licensing of operators that advertise or market short-term rental units.
Responsibilities of such companies could include paying relevant taxes on revenue generated from business activities in Singapore and facilitating the collection of taxes from hosts.
The agency said it would consider factors such as the type of residential development and the character of the area when assessing applications for short-term rentals.
The public can provide feedback until May 31.


USA: Amtrak and the California High Speed Rail Authority issued a request for proposals on January 24 covering the supply of up to 43 trainsets for use on the Initial Operating Section of California's planned high speed network and the existing Northeast Corridor route between Washington DC and Boston.
Amtrak and CHSRA hope that the joint procurement of rolling stock with 'a large degree of commonality' will result in lower acquisition and life-cycle costs. Trains for both operators are expected to seat between 400 and 450 passengers. CHSRA's initial batch of 15 trains would require a maximum speed of at least 320 km/h (200 mile/h) for use on 'largely brand new infrastructure' between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Amtrak's fleet of 'at least' 28 trains would have a more modest speed requirement of 257 km/h (160 mile/h) to reflect its use 'at the time of delivery' on existing NEC infrastructure; these trains would replace the current Acela Express fleet. The request for proposals stipulates that respondents must have had a fleet in commercial operation at speeds in excess of 257 km/h for at least two years.


We offer a full suite of childcare courses covering Levels 1 to 5 for those working with children, young people and their families.
We work closely with industry experts and regulators including the Department for Education, Social Care Wales (SCW), NHS in Wales, the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC), employers and other key stakeholders.
As a result our qualifications are highly valued by employers throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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Tharrhalea is a genus of crab spiders first described in 1875 by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch.

Species
, it contains seventeen species:

Tharrhalea albipes L. Koch, 1875 — New Guinea, Northern Australia
Tharrhalea bicornis Simon, 1895 — Philippines
Tharrhalea cerussata Simon, 1886 — Madagascar
Tharrhalea evanida (L. Koch, 1867) — New Guinea, Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales
Tharrhalea fusca (Thorell, 1877) — Sulawesi
Tharrhalea irrorata (Thorell, 1881) — Queensland
Tharrhalea luzonica (Karsch, 1880) — Philippines
Tharrhalea maculata Kulczyński, 1911 — New Guinea
Tharrhalea mariae Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 — Philippines
Tharrhalea multopunctata (L. Koch, 1874) — New Guinea, Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria
Tharrhalea praetexta (L. Koch, 1865) — Samoa
Tharrhalea prasina (L. Koch, 1876) — Queensland, New South Wales
Tharrhalea pulleinei (Rainbow, 1915) — South Australia, New South Wales
Tharrhalea semiargentea Simon, 1895 — Madagascar
Tharrhalea superpicta Simon, 1886 — Madagascar
Tharrhalea variabilis (L. Koch, 1875) — Queensland, New South Wales
Tharrhalea variegata Kulczyński, 1911 — New Guinea

References

Thomisidae
Araneomorphae genera
Spiders of Asia
Spiders of Oceania
Spiders of Africa


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Oprah Magazine Features Five Jamaican Authors on List of Recommended Caribbean Books
In honor of National Caribbean-American Heritage Month, which was instituted in 2006 by President George W. Bush and is held each June to honor contributions by Caribbean people to the society and culture of the United States, the Oprah Magazine has featured a list of 16 books by Caribbean authors meant to encourage readers to learn more about the Caribbean region, its literature, and the experience of its peoples in the US. Among the 16 writers on the list are five authors of Jamaican heritage: Nicole Dennis-Benn, Alexia Arthurs, Kei Miller, Maisy Card, and Marlon James.
"Patsy" by Nicole Dennis-Benn tells the story of a woman who leaves a life of poverty in Jamaica to make a new life in New York where she hopes to reunite with her oldest friend. To pursue her dream, however, she must leave behind her five-year-old daughter, and upon arriving in the US, must face the hard realities of living as an undocumented migrant in a hostile environment. Dennis-Benn was born and raised in Kingston and currently lives in Brooklyn. She has received awards including the Lambda Literary Award and the New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship. Her first novel was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2016.
"How to Love a Jamaican" by Alexia Arthurs combines the themes of tenderness, cruelty, loyalty, betrayal, ambition, and regret in her debut collection of short stories about Jamaican immigrants to the US and their families on the home island. The 11 stories describe the immigrant experience as people Arthurs is the winner of the Paris Review's Plimpton Prize and is considered by critics to be a dynamic and essential young author. Arthurs was raised in Jamaica and New York and graduated from Hunter College and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her particular interests are writing about the Jamaican Diaspora and Caribbean feminism.
Kei Miller
"Augustown" by Kei Miller was chosen as one of the best books of the year by Slate, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews. It follows Ma Taffy, who is blind, but "sees everything." When her great-nephew comes home from school crying because a teacher has cut off his dreadlocks, a violation of the Rastafarian family's beliefs, Ma Taffy is carried back to her own youth. The book vividly describes Jamaica during the 1980s and tells the story of a family's path over time through history, race, class, violence, and mythology. Miller was born in Jamaica and lives in London. He is the author of two previous novels, poetry collections, and short stories.
Maisy Card
"These Ghosts Are Family "by Maisy Card has been described as a "rich, ambitious debut novel" by the New York Times. It focuses on the ways that a Jamaica family develops and breaks apart over several generations. It tells the story of Stamford Solomon's 30-year-old secret and how it changes the lives of everyone around him: he faked his own death and took on the identity of his best friend. Nearing the end of his life, he is about to meet his first-born daughter, a home health aide who unknowingly took on the job of caring for the father she thought had died. Card was born in St. Catherine in Jamaica and has an MFA in Fiction from Brooklyn College. She works as a public librarian. She was raised in Queens, New York, and has an MLS from Rutgers University and a BA in English and American Studies from Wesleyan University.
"The Book of Night Women" by Marlon James won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2010 and the Minnesota Book Award. His second novel, this book follows Lilith, a woman born in the 18th century on a sugar plantation in Jamaica. An orphan, she learns the brutality of life as a slave, and after defending herself against a rapist, she is sent to work in the house of the plantation owner, where she attempts to earn the master's affections. When this ends badly, she is sent to live with the overseer, and they enter into an unconventional relationship. The novel explores the complex roles of women and their links to Obeah and Myal spiritual traditions common throughout the Caribbean. James was born in Jamaica and graduated from the University of the West Indies. He later migrated to the US to pursue his career and teaches literature. In 2015, he won the Man Booker Prize for his novel "A Brief History of Seven Killings," which describes Jamaica at the time of the attempted assassination of reggae musician Bob Marley in the 1970s. The book involves multiple genres of political thriller, oral biography, and class crime.
In addition to these five Jamaican authors, the Oprah Magazine list of Caribbean books to read include The Book of Lost Saints by Daniel José Older of Cuba, Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo of the Dominican Republic, Everything Inside: Stories by Edwidge Danticat of Haiti, The Girl with the Hazel Eyes by Callie Browning of Barbados, The Housing Lark by Sam Selvon of Trinidad, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys of Dominica, Girlcott by Florenz Webbe Maxwell of Bermuda, The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull of the US Virgin Islands, Love War Stories by Velisse Rodriguez of Puerto Rico, A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid of Antigua, and Love After Love: A Novel by Ingrid Persaud of Trinidad.
The establishment of National Caribbean-American Heritage Month represented a long-time effort by Dr. Claire Nelson, the founder and president of the Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS). The Institute's mission is to recognize Caribbean immigrants to the United States and the contributions they have made to the US since its founding, from Alexander Hamilton to W.E.B. Dubois, Cicely Tyson, and Sidney Poitier.
Information and Photo Source: Oprah Magazine, Alexia Arthurs Twitter, Nicole Facebook
Alexia Arthurs Caribbean Authors Jamaican Achievement Jamaican Authors Kei Miller Maisy Card Marlon James Nicole Dennis-Benn Oprah Magazine
The 7 Breakfast Dishes Every Jamaican Should Know...


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Effect of socio-economic factors in utilization of different healthcare services among older adult men and women in Ghana
B. I. I. Saeed1,
A. E. Yawson2,
S. Nguah3,
Peter Agyei-Baffour4,
Nakua Emmanuel4 &
Edmund Ayesu5
The older adult population is increasing all over the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, due to poverty and low policy coverage, older adults are not well catered for. The effect of socio-economic inequality in the use of healthcare services among older adult men and women in Ghana was investigated in this paper.
The data employed in the study were drawn from Global Ageing and Adult Health survey SAGE Wave 1 Ghana and was based on the design for the World Health Survey 2003, SAGE Wave 0, Ghana. The survey was conducted in 2007–2008 and collected data on socio-economic characteristics and other variables of the 5573 individuals interviewed.
Using generalized logit model, the study found that health status is a very strong determinant of the type of healthcare services preferred by older adults Ghanaians. Men with higher income preferred the private health facilities, while those who completed tertiary education, those with health insurance and those who self-rated their health as very bad, bad or moderate preferred public facility. Self-employed men and those in informal employment, preferred other health facilities outside the formal public health service. Women with primary and secondary education, preferred the private health facilities. Women with health insurance, those in middle and upper class income quintiles or those with self-rated bad and moderate health status or being relatively younger preferred the public facility to other health services. Self-employed women and those in informal employment preferred traditional treatment. In Ghana, there are important socio-economic gradients in the use of some healthcare services. In both sexes, those without insurance and rural residents preferred the pharmacy and traditional treatment.
These differences may be due to socio-economic inequities but could also indicate that the existing health facilities are not always used in an optimal way. Patient factors may be equally important as supply factors in explaining the differential use of health services. The public health systems in Ghana still have a major role in improving the health of older adults. National commitments in providing basic essential infrastructure and personnel to health centres for the citizenry is imperative. Policy readjustment of the national health insurance scheme to make it truly accessible to the aged is essential.
The older adult population is increasing all over the world, which may be explained by relatively improved socio-economic and livelihood conditions favourable for longevity such as increased access to healthcare, improving food security, urbanization and general security [1]. However the situation does not reflect a global uniformity in terms of access to health improving facilities, especially in sub Sahara Africa, where due to poverty and low policy coverage, most older adults are not well catered for as compared to their counterparts in the developed world [2]. The situation of most older adults in many developing countries is similar to that of other vulnerable populations. Exclusion with regards to favourable accessibility to basic social infrastructure and food security challenges are a stark characteristic of most older adults in these countries [3, 4]. It is arguably true that socio-economic condition affects health related quality of life and utilization [5, 6]. Recent literature has identified income and production resources as good predictors of quality health [7, 8]. People living on low incomes have been identified as standing higher risk of suffering serious illness and death than those in upper income brackets, such that people with reasonably high savings are less prone to predisposing depressive factors.
In sub-Sahara Africa, the older adults population is exposed to antecedent vulnerabilities including poverty, low coverage of health infrastructure and weak social welfare and support institutions [2, 4]. All these and other socio-cultural factors that define the peculiarity of the situation of older adults in Africa can explain utilization of heath and healthcare products. The measurement of these antecedents and their interactions with health and healthcare utilization are underlying imperatives to designing practical policies for the welfare of the aged population.
In Ghana, traditional medicine practices are a significant part of the Primary Health Care system. The entire body of traditional medicines encapsulates the totality of herbal, spiritual, manual and exercise techniques aimed at treating, diagnosing and preventing diseases or maintaining well-being [9, 10]. It has been estimated that about 80 % of the population of Ghana relies on herbal preparation for Primary Health Care as a result of affordability, easy access and cultural beliefs [10].
The country's healthcare system can be classified into four main categories. The first category involves public health facilities managed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) including teaching hospitals, regional and district hospitals, clinics, and health posts. The second and third categories include private-for-profit and private not – for – profit biomedicines which are manned by doctors, midwives and pharmacists. The last category is made up of traditional medicine practitioners who practice as established or itinerant entities throughout the country [11]. In terms of personnel capacity, it is estimated that there is a ratio of 1:200 Traditional Medicine Practitioners per capita compared to 1:20,000 medical doctors [9].
In Ghana, the public health facilities and mission hospitals and clinics offer service through the national health insurance scheme NHIS, unlike most private-for-profit facilities where fee for service is the means of payment. Unfortunately most private not – for – profit manned by NGOs, do not offer mainstream health care services-they may offer family planning and other public services [11]. Traditional Medicine Practitioners operate without the NHIS, however systems of payment are flexible and may include non-monetary forms of payments i.e., payment in kind or provision of services to the practitioner [9, 10]. Generally private-for-profit facilities are seen to be more expensive compare to the public and mission facilities. Traditional medicine may the seen as most affordable and accessible.
Studies as well as policies on health and healthcare utilization in Ghana have predominantly focused on gender, rich-poor and rural-urban gaps [12–14]. This might have been informed by the spread and gender inequities in accessibility to healthcare due to infrastructural deficits inherent to the health care system. It has been estimated that the average Ghanaian needs to travel a distance of 16 km to the nearby hospital for healthcare services. Whilst those in the urban centers have a more favourable average distance of five (5) kilometers. Others in poor and deprived rural regions need to traverse further distances on poor road infrastructure to access health services [14]. Financial accessibility is one underlying phenomenon influencing choices of health utilization in the country [15]. Rich households are more likely to utilize modern hospital facilities for healthcare as compared to poor households who are likely to use herbal medicines and self-medication [16].
Introduction of user fees for health care in Ghana (in 1985) resulted in a sharp and significant reduction in utilization of health care, prevented access for the poor, and imposed considerable financial difficulties on the population. It led to delays in seeking health care and reduced access to health care by the extremely poor including the aged [17–19]. Health insurance is seen as an important alternative financing mechanism for health care in developing countries, with the potential to increase utilization and better protect people against (catastrophic) health expenses [20, 21]. The National Health Insurance Scheme was introduced in 2003 and became operational in 2005 to reduce the financial barriers to accessing health care so as to improve the health of the population [20, 22, 23]. It is almost a decade into its implementation and challenges to access to health care still exists [24].
On the whole, research space on healthcare utilization has not given much attention to the older adult population in Ghana. This may be due to the overwhelming majority of the population being youthful [2] and a weak policy focus on older adults. This study is situated within the context of explaining factors that influence utilization of health and healthcare products among older adult men and women in Ghana. It seeks to analyze socio-economic and intrinsic cultural values and how they affect the spans and depth of health utilization in Ghana to influence formulation and implementation of policies on the aged.
The data employed in this study were drawn from the World Health Organization Global Ageing and Adult Health, SAGE Wave 1, Ghana [25]. This study seeks to explore the use of different health facilities among older adult Ghanaian men and women in relation to socio-economic factors. Data on SAGE is freely available to the research and policy community. SAGE is a longitudinal study with nationally representative samples of persons aged 50+ years in Ghana with a smaller sample of adults aged 18–49 years. Instruments are compatible with other large high-income country longitudinal ageing studies. Wave 1 was conducted during 2007–2008. In this study, 5573 respondents made up of (2824) men and (2749) women were considered. The main aim is to generate valid, reliable and comparable information on a range of health and well-being outcomes of public health importance, in adult and older adult populations. The face-to-face interview was conducted in Ghana (2008–09). Multistage cluster sampling strategies were used where households were classified into one of two mutually exclusive categories:
All persons aged 50 years and older were selected from households classified as '50+ households'; and
One person aged 18–49 years were selected from a household classified as an '18–49 household'.
Household enumerations were carried out in the final sampling units. One household questionnaire was completed per household where a household informant and individual respondent need not be the same individual. One individual was selected from 18 to 49 households, whereas for 50+ households all individuals aged 50+ were invited to complete the individual interview. Proxy respondents were identified for selected individuals who were unable to complete the interview. Household-level analysis weights and person-level analysis weights were calculated for each country, which included sample selection and a post-stratification factor. Post stratification correction techniques used the most recent population estimates provided by the Ghana Statistical Service. A standardized survey instrument, set of methods, interviewer training and translation protocols are used in all SAGE countries.
International standards were used to harmonize education levels and occupations.
Measures of healthcare services
Information of where most frequently respondent received healthcare over the last 3 years was elicited in one question. The respondents were asked "Think about healthcare you needed in the last 3 years, where did you go most often when you felt sick or needed to consult someone about your health?"
Socio-economic measures
The measures were age (50–59 (adults) and 60 year and above (Elderly)), and gender. Enabling measures were assessed in terms of education, job employment, insurance, health status and income. Education was recorded as college/university completed, high school completed, secondary school completed, primary school completed, less than primary school completed and no formal education. Job employment was categorized into four groups: public, private, self-employed and informal employment. Public sector includes employees of state, or municipal governments and their agencies, parastatal enterprises, and semi-autonomous institutions such as social security institutions that are owned by the government or institutions like religious schools if the staff are paid by the government. Private sector includes any employees not working for the government and not self-employed. Self-employed includes those who earn their livelihood directly from their own trade or business rather than as an employee of another. Informal employment could mean employment in the informal economy or informal employment. Informal economy refers to the general market income category wherein certain types of income and the means of their generation are "unregulated by the institutions of society, in a legal and social environment in which similar activities are regulated." Jobs in the informal economy are characteristically without benefits such as health insurance, sick leave, paid vacations or pensions. Insurance status was recorded as respondents who have health insurance coverage.
Type of health facility were categorized into Private, Public, Traditional, Charity and Pharmacy. Pharmacy services in this analysis refer to privately owned drug and pharmacy shops and is an independent service from the prescription medicine that patients receive from physicians/ prescribers in a hospital or clinic. Self-rated health status indicates how Ghanaians rated their health state by using a five-point scale ranging from "very good" to "very bad" coded as a categorical variable that ranges from 1 equals "very good" to 5 equals "very bad" . Income level was divided into five categories: Income Quintile; Q1 (lowest) through Q5 (highest). Wealth or income Quintiles were derived from the household ownership of durable goods, dwelling characteristics (type of floors, wells and cooking stove), and access to services (improved water, sanitation and cooking fuel) for a total of 21 assets. A two-step random effects probit model was used to generate the Quintiles.
Analytical strategy
A generalization of the logistic regression model was applied in the analysis to examine where adult and elderly Ghanaians visited most to receive their healthcare services. Analyses of the association of healthcare services with socioeconomic factors were carried out separately for women and men by means of multinomial logistic regression analysis. Odds ratios (OR) and their respective standard errors were also computed. Firstly, no variable was adjusted for age (age-unadjusted model). Secondly, each variable in the analysis was adjusted for age (age-adjusted model).
For a response with five unordered options (private, charity, traditional, pharmacy and other health services), where public facility was considered reference category due to the highest frequency of reception, the multinomial logistic regression estimates the effects of socioeconomic variables on the different healthcare services with unordered response categories. Stata SE (version 12.1) was used for analysis.
Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics of the data on 5573 respondents used in the current study. Overall, there were slightly more men (50.67 %) than women and more than 50 % were relatively younger (elderly) and (48.84 %) were relatively much older (adults). Table 1 indicated that most of the people preferred to use public health services (44.39 %) while the healthcare service with the least attraction was traditional (2.21 %). A little over half of all respondents were uneducated (50.35 %) and only (2.21 %) respondents completed tertiary education. Almost two-thirds of the respondents had no health insurance coverage (63.59 %). Most respondents were self-employed (81.63 %) and only (8.42 %) were in formal public sector employment. Most respondents self-rated their health as good (38.58 %) and moderate (38.69 %), a few however, self-rated their health as bad (13.10 %) and very bad (2.92 %). Income quintile analysis indicated an almost uniform distribution of a fifth of respondents in each of the five income quintiles.
Table 1 Healthcare Utilization by basic demographic and socioeconomic characteristic, SAGE Wave 1, Ghana
In addition, Table 2 shows that relatively higher proportion of urban residents used public health facility compared to rural residents (46.60 % vs. 42.89 %) and also used private health facility more (13.68 % vs. 7.81 %). However, compared to urban residents, a higher proportion of rural residents used traditional practitioners (2.46 % vs. 1.84 %) and the pharmacy (14.62 % vs. 10.17 %).
Table 2 Healthcare Utilization by location of older adults, SAGE Wave 1, Ghana
Table 3 demonstrates that, among men, the elderly were less likely to utilize the pharmacy services instead of public services and men in the second income quintile category, were more likely to use private facility compared to those in the least income quintile (Table 4). It is important to note that income and education showed very strong association with utilization of private health facility by men. Those with higher incomes and those who had completed secondary education or higher tended to use the private health facilities.
Table 3 Healthcare Utilization by socioeconomic indicators among men (Age –adjusted (except age category) odds ratios (OR) from multinomial logistic regression and their standard errors (SE)), SAGE Wave 1, Ghana
Table 4 Healthcare Utilization by socioeconomic indicators among women (Age –adjusted (except age category) odds ratios (OR) from multinomial logistic regression and their standard errors (SE)), SAGE Wave 1, Ghana
The most elderly among the men tended to patronize charity facility compared to the public health facility (although they had insurance). However, among all men, those with health insurance were less likely to utilize traditional treatment. Those who completed tertiary education were less likely to use the pharmacy compared to public facility. In addition, men in informal employment and the self-employed preferred the use of pharmacy. Men who self-rated their health to be very bad, bad, or moderate preferred public facility.
In summary, men with higher income preferred the private health facilities, while those who completed tertiary education, those with health insurance and those who had worse self-rated health preferred public facility. Self-employed men and those in informal employment, preferred other health facilities outside the formal public health service.
Similar to men, women in the highest income bracket (Q5) preferred private to public facilities. Women who completed primary education or higher preferred the use of private facilities. This was in contradistinction to the findings among men, the difference in education and preference for a particular choice of health facility among men and women was not significant. Self-employed women and those in the informal employment sector preferred traditional treatment. However, women with health insurance, those in higher income brackets (Q4 and Q5) or those with worse self-rated health status preferred public facility. In addition, women who were self-employed preferred the use of the pharmacy.
Among women, traditional treatments was statistically significantly associated with all studied variables except age; it should be noted however, that the proportion of respondents who used traditional medicine was relatively small in this analysis.
In summary, women with primary and secondary education, preferred the private health facilities. Those with health insurance, those in middle and upper class income quintiles or those with worse self-rated health status or the relatively younger older women preferred the public facility. Self-employed women and those in informal employment preferred traditional modes of treatment.
Among men, the elderly prefers attending public health facilities to attending pharmacy stores for treatment as compared to their adult counterparts. In contrast to men, elderly women preferred public facilities to other health services for treatment as compared to their adult counterparts. Other studies have confirmed the preference of orthodox (public facility) to alternative health practices [26]. This may also be supported by another study that relatively improved socio-economic and livelihood conditions are favorable for longevity such as increased access to healthcare [1].
Men in the upper income class preferred public health services. Interestingly, women in the middle to upper levels of income also preferred public health services to pharmacy usage. In addition women in the middle to upper classes preferred public health services to other health services which was unlike the case in men. This is in clear support of previous literature that socio-economic condition, income and resources affect health related quality of life and utilization [5–8]. Low income, inadequate or unavailable pensions have been identified as a major risk for illness and death in older persons [5, 6]. Financial accessibility is one underlying phenomenon influencing choices of health utilization in the country [15]. Older men and women with insurance were noticed to prefer charity organizations for health care. This may potentially indicate the preference for a particular public and social service provided by these organizations who are mainly non-governmental (i.e., not-for-profit organizations) or that the challenges in the public sector (e.g., long waiting times) may be accounting for this interesting finding.
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) of Ghana was introduced to overcome the financial burden on families and households. However there are critical challenges inhibiting universal coverage as well as limitation on the care for persons 60 years and above who were not in formal sector employment [20, 24, 27]. To improve access to health care among older persons in Ghana, this policy should be looked at.
Analysis of education indicated that among the sexes those with some level of education (and by implication being previously or currently employed) preferred the private health facilities; probably because they could afford the cost of health care. The public sector in Ghana is beset with poor infrastructure, misdistribution of facilities and limited skilled personnel [11]. Therefore older persons who can afford to pay for service go to the private sector where they may been seen early and would not have to join long queues. Access to public and private health facilities are especially worse in the rural parts of the country [14]. It is therefore not surprising to see that relatively higher proportion of urban residents used the public facilities compared to rural residents-primarily as a results of barriers to access. National efforts at improving geographical access to public sector health services especially in deprived areas of the country is a national health policy that requires urgent attention.
The analysis clearly indicates that men and women with health insurance preferred the public health services and those who are self-employed or in informal employment preferred traditional treatment and the pharmacy. Although it is estimated that about 80 % of the population of Ghana relies on herbal preparation for Primary Health Care as a result of affordability, easy access and cultural beliefs. This analysis however, found relatively lower proportions for the use of traditional treatment, probably due to under-reporting by respondents. SAGE Wave 1, relied on self-report and had no means of verifying the type of health care system respondents used. Interestingly, a relatively higher proportion of rural older persons preferred traditional treatment and the pharmacy. The traditional sector is beset with poor regulation and licensing of practitioners which affect the health of patrons [11]. The health of the rural older adult Ghanaian cannot be left entirely in this poorly regulated health sector. This observation strengthens the need for a policy revision to include all older persons above 60 years in the NHIS in Ghana, irrespective of whether the older person was in public sector employment or not.
A previous study established that health utilization was independent of employment status such that regardless of the working condition of the aged, his or her willingness to use alternative health practices instead of orthodox physician was fixed [26]. This was not in conformity with our analysis, where self-employed male and female preferred the pharmacy and other health services to the formal public services. Being employed currently or previously may afford the older adult in Ghana ability to procure care at the most convenient facility, especially in the rural areas the pharmacy or drug stores may be the only available and most convenient source of health care.
It is interesting to note that despite the challenges in the public health sector, older adult men and women who self-rated their health care as very bad, bad or moderately good preferred it as opposed to the other avenues for health care. This may indicate the confidence the population has in the public sector, that critical health care need may be available in the public health centres. This may be especially so in the district capitals, regional and national levels where curative and specialist care are mostly available in public or Government owned health centres. Measures to improve the public sector health system is imperative and improving geographical access to health care in underserved areas of the country will garner improved health and social wellbeing of the older adult Ghanaian.
A major limitation of the study is that, its cross-sectional nature, did not permit cause and effect examination. Marital status, physical exercise and certain cultural factors which could play a role in the choice and utilization of health services as indicated in the literature elsewhere, were not included in this analysis.
The analysis provides substantial grounds for further research on the interplay between the effect of socioeconomic factors and receiving healthcare services among the aged. It is clear from the findings that the public health systems in Ghana is still a preferred choice and play major role in improving the health of older adults in both rural and urban locations. National commitments in providing basic essential infrastructure and personnel to health centres for the citizenry is imperative. Policy readjustment of the national health insurance scheme to make it truly accessible to the aged is essential.
MOH:
NGO:
NHIS:
National health insurance scheme NHIS
QI:
Income quintile
SAGE Wave 0:
World health survey
Global ageing and adult health survey
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Arthur E. Wealth and antenatal care use: implications for maternal health care utilization in Ghana. Heal Econ Rev. 2012;2:14. www.healtheconomicsreview.com/content/2/1/14.
Salisu A, Prinz V. Healthcare in Ghana. Austrian Red Cross, Austrian Centre for Country of Origin & Asylum Research and Documentation. 2009. www.ecoi.net.
Odeyemi IAO, Nixon J. Assessing equity in health care through the national insurance health insurance schemes on Nigeria and Ghana: a review-based comparative analysis. Int J Equity Health. 2013;12:9.
Yarney J, Donkor A, Opoku SY, Yarney L, Agyeman-Dua I, Abakah AC, Asampong E. Characteristics of users and implications for the use of complimentary and alternative medicine in Ghanaian cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy: a cross-sectional study. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2013;13:16.
Waddington C, Enyimayew K. A price to pay: the impact of user charges in Ashanti-Akim district, Ghana. Int J Health Plann Manage. 1989;4:1747–52.
Asenso-Okyere W, Anum A, Osei-Akoto I, Adukonu A. Cost recovery in Ghana: are there changes in health seeking behaviour? Health Policy Plan. 1998;13:181–8.
Nyonator F, Kutzin J. Health systems financing in low-income African and Asian countries. Health for some? The effects of user fees in the Volta Region of Ghana. Clermont Ferrand, France: 2000.
Yawson AE, Nimo KP, Biritwum RB. Challenges of Health Care Delivery at a Municipal Health Facility under Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme. Postgrad Med J Ghana. 2013;2(2):56–64.
Carrin G. Social health insurance in developing countries: a continuing challenge. Int Soc Secur Rev. 2002;55:57–69.
McIntyre D, Garshong B, Mtei G, Meheus F, Thiede M, Akazili J. Beyond fragmentation and towards universal coverage: insights from Ghana, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania. Bull World Health Organ. 2008;86:817–908.
Ghana National Health Insurance Act. National Health Insurance ACT 650 of the Republic of Ghana. Author-Government of Ghana. Accra, Ghana: Ghana Assembly Press; 2003.
Witter S, Garshong B. Something old or something new? Social health insurance in Ghana. BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2009;9:20. doi:10.1186/1472-698X-9-20.
Biritwum RB, Mensah G, Minicuci N, Yawson AE, Naidoo N, Chatterji S, Kowal P. Study on global AGEing and adult health in Ghana: methodology and household characteristics in Wave 1. Glob Health Action. 2013;6:20096. http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/gha.v6i0.20096.
Tokuda Y, Ohde S, Takahashi O, Shakudo M, Yanai H, Shimbo T, Fukuhara S, Hinohara S, Fukui T. Relationship between working status and health or health-care utilization among Japanese elderly. Geriatr Gelontol Int. 2008;8:32–40.
Ghana National Health Insurance Authority. Annual Report of the National Health Insurance Scheme of Ghana, 2012. Ghana: National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA); 2013.
A special gratitude is extended to all who in diverse ways, put in time and other inputs towards data collection for SAGE in Ghana and for all the respondents involved. We also acknowledge The WHO SAGE Study Team consisted of: Vitaly Belov, Richard Biritwum, Ties Boerma, Somnath Chatterji, Wu Fan, Kathy Kahn, Paul Kowal, Ruy Lopez-Ridaura, Tamara Maximova, Nadia Minicuci, Nirmala Naidoo, Nawi Ng, Sulabha Parasuraman, Karl Peltzer, Arokiasamy Perianayagam, Nancy Refilwe Phaswana-Mafuya, Rosabla Rojas, Steve Tollman, Emese Verdes, Guo Yanfei, Zheng Yang, Alfred Edwin Yawson, Jiang Yong.
Financial support was provided by the US National Institute on Aging through Interagency Agreements (OGHA 04034785; YA1323-08-CN-0020; Y1-AG-1005-01) with the World Health Organization and a Research Project Grant (R01 AG034479- 64401A1).
Data have been presented in the main paper and additional links to the WHO SAGE Data set has been provided through this link:
SAGE Multi-country research
http://apps.who.int/healthinfo/systems/surveydata/index.php/catalog/6/study-description
www.who.int/healthinfo/sage
BIIY, SN and AEY developed the concept., PB, NE, and EA and contributed to the drafting and reviewing of the different sections of the manuscript. All the authors reviewed the final version of the manuscript before submission. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
The authors declare that they have no competing interests. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors. No official endorsement by the World Health Organization and Ministry of Health of Ghana is intended or should be inferred.
Data on SAGE is freely available to the research and policy community. The World Health Organization, Ministry of Health of Ghana and the University of Ghana gave approval for dissemination of the SAGE Survey in Ghana.
SAGE has been approved by the World Health Organization's Ethical Review Board. Additionally, the study in Ghana was approved by the Ethical and Protocol Review Committee of the University of Ghana Medical School, Korle-Bu, Accra. Informed consent has been obtained from all study participants.
Mathematics and Statistics Department, Kumasi Polytechnic, Kumasi, Ghana
B. I. I. Saeed
Department of Community Health, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Korle-Bu, Accra, Ghana
A. E. Yawson
Paediatric Department, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana
S. Nguah
Department of Community Health, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Peter Agyei-Baffour & Nakua Emmanuel
Kumasi Polytechnic, Kumasi, Ghana
Edmund Ayesu
Peter Agyei-Baffour
Nakua Emmanuel
Correspondence to B. I. I. Saeed.
Saeed, B.I.I., Yawson, A.E., Nguah, S. et al. Effect of socio-economic factors in utilization of different healthcare services among older adult men and women in Ghana. BMC Health Serv Res 16, 390 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1661-6
Healthcare utilization
Generalized logit
Socio-economic inequities


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The Oklahoma UAS study away program, led by faculty members Scott Burgess, Dan Macchiarella and Joe Cerreta (this page: far left, center and far right, respectively), leveraged the talents of students Michael Morgan, K'Andrew France-Beckford, Judy Dun, Andrew Hardy, Andrew Bieniek, Rohit Gohil and Max Dunphy. The group used UAS paired with augmented reality software to survey damage left behind by the Elk City storm.
The first test of small drone-based augmented reality software suggests a new way to help emergency teams find roads, bridges and victims when disaster strikes.
On May 13, during the height of twister season across America's notorious Tornado Alley, faculty members Joe Cerreta, Dan Macchiarella and Scott Burgess headed to Oklahoma, along with seven students. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's colorful online tornado-prediction map was showing a dark bull's-eye over central and western Oklahoma.
The Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University team drove straight into the danger zone.
The group had just set up operations in Alva, Oklahoma, when an EF2 tornado struck 100 miles to the south, in Elk City. Spinning winds as fast as 135 miles per hour, the storm caused damage to at least 150 homes and killed one person, according to Keli Cain, a public information officer with the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. Soon after the storm had passed, the Embry-Riddle team, working from a mobile command trailer, provided high-resolution damage assessments based on imagery captured by small unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
They also conducted what is believed to be the nation's first test of an emerging UAS technology to benefit first responders at disaster scenes. The team's demonstration of the technology was livestreamed by the National Weather Service – another first.
The Embry-Riddle group provided proof of an important new concept.
Augmented reality software, coupled with livestreaming video captured by small drones, can provide emergency management personnel with real-time aerial damage assessments, as well as critical assistance in navigating roads and bridges obliterated by fallen trees, flattened homes and floodwaters. The technology lets first responders communicate with UAS operators via smartphones, using either voice or text messages to quickly clarify coordinates or request close-ups of shadowy debris.
Combined with virtual "pins" indicating the Federal Emergency Management Agency's four damage-assessment categories (affected, minor, major and destroyed), the augmented reality imagery may prove instrumental for getting communities the help they need when disasters happen, says Cerreta, an associate professor in the College of Aviation at the university's Daytona Beach Campus in Florida.
Cerreta's assessment was confirmed by Michael Abernathy, director of technology for Rapid Imaging Software Inc., maker of the SmartCam3D View augmented reality software.
The goal of the UAS trip, says Rohit K. Gohil, a senior Embry-Riddle student studying unmanned aircraft systems science, was to "have aircraft in the sky within 15 minutes of finding a parking spot." Working quickly, the group deployed a variety of drones, including a tiny fixed-wing senseFly eBee, a quadcopter DJI Phantom 4 and two DJI Inspire I models equipped with a Zenmuse X3 12-megapixel camera or thermal night-vision Zenmuse XT FLIR camera.
The team trimmed its operational tear-down time to eight minutes, flat. They also learned to "scout and jump" locations by sending a small advance reconnaissance team to set the stage for the rest of the group. "This made it possible to be very responsive and transition from the initial touchdown location all the way to the end of the tornado's path," Burgess explains.
Also during their trip, the group provided homeowners with UAS-captured images to be sent to an insurance company. Macchiarella documented the car where a man in Elk City tragically lost his life during the tornado.
The Embry-Riddle team further worked with industry partners Textron Systems and Aeryon Labs Inc. to provide community-engagement demonstrations at locations such as the Northwest Technology Center. They teamed up with Oklahoma State University partners as well as Oklahoma-based Embry-Riddle Worldwide faculty members, who provided access to private airspace.
Maxwell Dunphy, a junior at Embry-Riddle, says helping people was his top priority during the study away program. He wasn't disappointed.
"I was able to help out a lot of people on this trip, and that's one thing I was really looking forward to," he says.


Maybe you're familiar with the traditional English paper-piecing technique used for many one-patch quilts, like hexagons. But how about a novel approach that will allow you to work on not one, but two quilts at a time? Let's make it reversible!
This practical tutorial features step-by-step, illustrated instructions on how to create and join these reversible hexagons, and includes a practice project for a reversible 45" table topper.
This booklet is available as a downloadable PDF file.
Have you ever heard of a yo-yo quilt and wondered what on earth that is? Traditionally, in quiltin..
A useful booklet with step-by-step, illustrated tutorials on how to create three-dimensional leaves ..
Always an elegant quilt, Cathedral Windows are fun and very portable. But don't stop at the traditi..
Here's a chance to practice your skills with Reversible Hexagons and, while at it, make this cute pu..
Whether you are experienced or new to English Paper Piecing, here's a quick project to practice o..


text:
'use strict';

const test = require('supertape');
const jessy = require('..');

test('arguments: no', (t) => {
    t.throws(jessy, /selector should be string!/, 'should throw when no path');
    t.end();
});

test('arguments: no obj', (t) => {
    const fn = () => jessy('hello');

    t.throws(fn, /obj should be object!/, 'should throw when no obj');
    t.end();
});

test('result: value from object', (t) => {
    const obj = {
        hello: {
            world: 'something',
        },
    };

    const actual = jessy('hello.world', obj);

    t.equal(actual, 'something', 'should return value from object');
    t.end();
});

test('result: value from object', (t) => {
    const obj = {};
    const result = jessy('', obj);
    const expected = {};

    t.deepEqual(result, expected, 'should return value from object');
    t.end();
});

test('result: missing value from empty object', (t) => {
    const actual = jessy('hello.world', {});

    t.equal(actual, undefined, 'should return undefined');
    t.end();
});

test('result: missing value from object', (t) => {
    const actual = jessy('hello.world', {
        some: {
            value: 'hi',
        },
    });

    t.equal(actual, undefined, 'should return undefined');
    t.end();
});

test('result: empty selector', (t) => {
    const obj = {
        hello: {
            world: 'something',
        },
    };

    const actual = jessy('', obj);

    t.equal(actual, obj);
    t.end();
});

test('result: value is an object', (t) => {
    const obj = {
        hello: {},
    };
    const actual = jessy('hello', obj);

    t.deepEqual(actual, {}, 'should return value from object');
    t.end();
});

test('divider', (t) => {
    const obj = {
        hello: {
            world: 'something',
        },
    };

    const actual = jessy('hello-world', '-', obj);

    t.equal(actual, 'something', 'should return value from object');
    t.end();
});

test('jessy: name with "_"', (t) => {
    const obj = {
        hello: {
            world_min: 'something',
        },
    };

    const actual = jessy('hello_world_min', '_', obj);

    t.equal(actual, 'something', 'should return value from object');
    t.end();
});

test('jessy: name with "_": similar', (t) => {
    const obj = {
        hello: {
            world: 'hello',
            world_min: 'something',
        },
    };

    const actual = jessy('hello_world_min', '_', obj);

    t.equal(actual, 'something', 'should return value from object');
    t.end();
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


You were a real scorcher and made me rethink my love for summer but nevertheless, I'm glad you came around.
-Vadim and I celebrated our ten year dating anniversary! I still can't believe it. I think my 17 year old self is pretty stoked about how things turned out 😉.
-I finally got my business cards from work so I'm feeling pretty legit these days. By the way, did I mention this is my first ever business card? Yup, that's right, I'm officially an adult.
-I got my first ever 30 minute facial from Sephora (a free perk if you spend a min. of $75) and got to see all the gunk from my face. It was delightfully gross. And my skin felt so fresh and free of NYC toxins. I recommend going to the Sephora on 47th and 5th Avenue and making an appointment with MJ. Did I mention she's my best friend?
-Our couch from West Elm that we've been waiting two months (!!!!) was nowhere to be found, according to them. Vadim kept calling and calling, and in the end we just called the store where we made our purchase in person. And by some miracle they were able to locate our couch. How does a couch go missing? After a month of back and forth, we're allegedly getting it this Wednesday (aka today when this post goes up). I won't hold my breath but I'll be over the moon when I get home at the end of the day and see a couch in my living room. *Edited on Wednesday evening: WE FINALLY GOT OUR COUCH!
-Health wise things were a mess last month. My eczema flared up on my face and this time it was the last straw. I decided to make the complete switch over to clean skincare and makeup. I'm not going to lie, it has been expensive and difficult. THEN, there's the pulsing headache that stuck around for a whole week. I thought I had the flu, then a migraine, to find that it was a stress-induced situation. Ugh. I didn't even realize I was stressed but then I look back now and think, uh-yes, yes I was stressed. Really trying to let things slide off my back as much as possible these days. But my New York brain won't make it easy, I tell ya.
And now that I've poured my guts out to you about my month, let's get into the fun stuff: my fashion, beauty, and lifestyle favorites.
I wrote a whole review on these (here) but long story short, I really really like these pants. The cropped length is perfect for me and the comfort level is 100/100. So glad to finally have pants that are work appropriate and made of cotton and not polyester (ick). Is it just me or are all women's pants made out of poly?
I also wrote a review about these (here). I like these shoes so much I have been wearing them seven days a week. I think my other shoes are jealous. If you're looking for a cute pair of shoes that you can depend on, look no further than these loafers. I swear I'm not being paid to say this, but it wouldn't hurt 😉.
I honestly didn't know I could feel so much love for a cleanser until this baby. It comes out this coral-y orange color and then disappears into the skin. I massage onto dry skin (as instructed), let it melt the grime away, rinse with warm water, and after all that I'm left with baby soft skin. I'm not kidding. My skin feels so clean and nourished afterwards. Two feelings that are often promised but not delivered. Anyway, I really enjoy using this in the morning as a gentle way to wake up my skin and get it prepped for a long a$$ day. P.S. Oskia is a British natural skincare brand that uses nutrients, vitamins, and minerals to nourish the skin, and I think it really delivers on all of that.
Finding a natural/non-toxic cleansing oil that doesn't sting my eyes was a much harder task than I thought it would be. But I finally found one that doesn't sting and that I actually enjoy using. I'm not kidding I must have massaged this in for five whole minutes the other day because it felt so nice and relaxing. And when I use this, I can feel the oily gunk from my pores coming out. Sounds gross but feels incredible. I really look forward to using this when I get home after a long day at work. For a split second I can pretend I'm at a spa until I hear Esteban meowing at me to feed him. Can't he see that I'm busy?
The last time I used a facial oil in my skincare routine, things didn't go so well. My skin broke out like crazy and I swore it off for life. Well I guess I couldn't stay away forever because it's back and working miracles on my skin. This oil sinks deep into my skin and makes my face feel hydrated and nourished. There's no greasy look or feeling. My suggestion would be to start with three drops and layer on more if feel you need it. I currently use about 4-5 drops at night in lieu of my moisturizer. And when I wake up, my skin feels so soft. Goodbye dry, tight skin. I won't be missing you. **Update: This was too much for my oily/combination skin and did end up making things worse for skin in the acne department. I would suggest to replace this as moisturizer if you have dry skin. I no longer use this because it did clog my pores.
I've been getting these annoying tiny bumps on the left side of my forehead. It's been stubborn and aggravating and this oil is the only thing that seems to be helping. It even prevented a painful chin pimple from fully coming to the surface. If this isn't magic then I don't know what is. If you have breakout/oily skin, I would definitely give this a go. This is supposed to balance the oils in the skin to help with acne, redness, and enlarged pores. And so far, I think it has really helped me in the acne department. Not too hopeful with minimizing my pores though since I'm pretty sure I would need actual witchcraft for that. Anyway, I like to use this in the morning in lieu of moisturizer, and at night on the areas where my pores are clogged/breaking out.
The idea of exfoliating my skin sounded terrifying since I didn't want to make my angry, eczema ridden skin even more furious. But exfoliating the skin is still super important for improving skin texture and acne. So I searched for a clean/non-toxic mask that was going to be gentle on my skin but tough on dead skin and acne. And luckily, I didn't have to go far to find this Herbivore blue tansy mask. It's recommended that you use it consecutively for three days and then bring it back down to once a week. So far I really like this mask. My skin feels so soft afterwards. It's definitely one of those masks that actually does something right away. If you're looking for a new exfoliating mask and you care about nontoxic beauty products, I'd give this one a go. Warning: it does smell very herbal, which I don't mind but if you're sensitive to smells, I'd sniff this one in store before buying.
I used to think toners were pointless. You spritz it on your face and your skin feels wet for a few seconds and then that feeling dissipates. But with this Indie Lee toner, you really feel like you're adding good stuff right back into your skin after you wash your face. It comes out as this fine mist which initially made me feel like I wasn't getting much of it on my skin. But then I touched my skin that first time and realized this must be some witchcraft because my face is now suddenly soft and hydrated. I think this bottle is going to last me a while. I've been using it nonstop and it still looks like it's been unused. If you're looking for a toner that actually does something, definitely give this one a whirl.
This concealer is the only thing I've been wearing makeup wise these days. My eczema flare up basically forced me to find a clean concealer that wouldn't make things worse. I tried the RMS "un"cover up but didn't like how it started to separate after a few hours of wear. The opposite of looking like I woke up like this. I went in to return it and asked the salesperson at Credo to help me find something for oily skin, and she recommended this Alima Pure cream concealer. I wear the shade "lush" and let me tell you, best concealer ever. The packaging comes with a mirror which I truly appreciate. And, once you're done with the concealer you can buy a refill. Isn't that so cool? I think more beauty brands should consider "refillable" options. Less plastic in the ocean? Why yes, I'd like that very much. Oh, and did I mention it covers my under-eye area and my acne spots like a dream? Yup, it's true.
If you're looking for something sweet and light, watch this. This reminds me of the best/romanticized parts of love in high school. And, how cool is it that the main actress is Asian-American?
I can't relate to the crazy rich part but seeing an all Asian cast in a movie on the big screen? That was incredibly comforting. My favorite scene? The mahjong playing moment between Rachel (the main character) and Eleanor (Rachel's boyfriend's mother). If you watch it, you'll know what I mean. Vadim really enjoyed it too and he even commented that anyone coming from an immigrant family could relate to this story on some level. If you've seen it, I'd love to know your thoughts!
Vadim and I have been binge watching this. I've never been a car person but this makes me appreciate the quirky and crazy car designs of the past. If you like comedians and lots of coffee imagery, this might be the show for you. My favorite episode is the Zach Galifianakas one. He is undeniably funny. And Jerry Seinfeld? He's equal parts New York dry humor and dad jokes. If any of this sounds good to you, give this a go.
Cheese puffs without the dairy. Nuff said. I found these at Whole Foods but they're also available on Amazon (affiliate link above). Warning: highly addictive.
That's everything! What are some of your favorites from last month?


"Little did Shailendra know that on Monday morning would be his last time with her. Just the night before he joined community members on the roadside to discuss the escalating crime in the area.
In an instant the apple of his eye was snatched from him in the most gruesome manner'" Pastor Paul Lutchman told mourners at the funeral service. As he uttered these words' Shailendra leaned into his wife' Lorraine' and wept. The inconsolable couple held onto each other throughout the service.
Tears streamed down both parents' faces as they watched a video tribute which featured photographs of their daughter as a toddler at the beach' her birthday parties and cuddling in bed with them.