text:
Nebraska Gambling
Nebraska is not a state where the gaming industry thrives. There are no commercial casinos and just four small tribal casinos. Additionally, the state regulates the lottery, charity bingo, horse racing and keno.
However, every state that borders Nebraska has casinos. This includes one in South Dakota that is so close that it uses a Nebraska mailing address. The reservation it is on straddles the state line. Council Bluffs, Iowa hosts casinos across the state line from Omaha.
Daily fantasy sports contests are not regulated in Nebraska. All major operators accept players from the state.
Below is a list of legal gambling options in Nebraska and where to find each:
Horse racing: Trackside and off-track betting
Bingo: Only by registered charities
Lottery: Tickets may only be purchased at retailers
Keno: At tracks and businesses that serve alcohol
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Online Gambling in Nebraska
Nebraska Casinos
Nebraska Daily Fantasy Sports
Nebraska Horse Racing
Nebraska Bingo and Keno
Nebraska Lottery
Games of Skill
Nebraska Gambling Laws
Nebraska Gambling FAQ
Online gambling options are very limited in Nebraska. The two forms of legal online gaming include daily fantasy sports and games of skill. Every other form of online gambling or sports betting is prohibited and unregulated.
Fantasy sports sites in Nebraska:
Online games of skill:
WorldWinner
Nebraska is home to four tribal casinos:
Iron Horse Bar & Casino
Emerson, NE 68733
Lucky 77 Casino
Walthill, NE 68067
Native Star Casino
1501 Industrial Pkwy
77 & 75 Hwy
Winnebago, NE 68071
Ohiya Casino & Resort
Niobrara, NE 68760
Sports betting is not legal in Nebraska. No effort has been made to change that since the Supreme Court ruled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act unconstitutional in 2018.
Casinos in Iowa may offer sports betting and are just a short drive away from some parts of the state. Nebraskans may also register for mobile betting accounts in Iowa and may place wagers online by crossing the border into Iowa.
Poker rooms are not legal in Nebraska. Poker players must go to home games or drive to Council Bluffs, Iowa or Yankton, South Dakota. Residents of western Nebraska will need to drive to Deadwood, South Dakota.
Home Poker Games
Nebraska's law against promoting gambling requires the house to make money from the game. If a rake is not taken, the game is legal, as long as the game is fair.
There are no specific laws that involve fantasy sports contests in Nebraska. The Nebraska attorney general has never opined on the topic, and the legislature has never seriously discussed regulating it. Operators such as FanDuel and DraftKings consider this to be a green light to accept Nebraskan players.
There are three ways to make a wager in Nebraska on horse races. One is to go to a live event at the state's four tracks. Another is to take advantage of the simulcasting facilities that offer off-track betting at each racetrack.
Nebraska requires its racetracks to offer at least one race day a year to offer off-track betting. Most have one or two weekends a year at different times to avoid competing in the struggling industry.
Each Nebraska racetrack offers a mobile betting app, but wagers may only be placed while physically present at the track. Statewide mobile racing betting is not permitted.
Columbus Horse Racing
Agricultural Park
Horsemen's Park
6303 Q St
700 E Stolley Park Rd
Lincoln Race Course
7055 S 1st St
Bingo in Nebraska
Tribal casinos and registered charities are permitted to offer bingo. The charity must be registered in the state at least five years to qualify for a bingo license. This prevents outside companies from operating bingo in the state under the façade of being legitimate.
There is an exception for senior groups. If a club entirely consists of members that are at least 60 years old, and the bingo game is only open to seniors, the game does not require licensing.
Keno in Nebraska
Off-track betting facilities and any business with a liquor license may offer keno. The games draw numbers through an automated method. However, the game may only be played through paper tickets. Video keno games are not legal.
The state's keno industry has not been without scandal. One operator was accused of taking illegal bets on credit. A machine malfunction allowed players to predict numbers, costing a bar owner roughly $150,000.
The Nebraska Lottery offers scratch-off and lotto drawings. Its interstate lotto drawings include:
The first ticket was sold on February 23, 1993 after voters approved a constitutional amendment in the previous November election.
The games of skill legal in Nebraska are few. That is because Nebraska's gambling law considers anything with an element of chance to be gambling and therefor illegal if not approved by voters and licensed by the state. Players could wager on a game of pure skill, such as an athletic competition where participants wager amongst each other. However, any game using cards or drawings would be illegal.
An esports game is likely illegal to wager on in Nebraska, especially if the bettors are not participating. There is no law that covers the activity and it is unclear if it is legal to wager on one's own esports matches.
That being said, competitive esports sites that allow customers to wager money on themselves do accept customers from Nebraska and have had no issues to date. GamerSaloon.com and PlayersLounge.co are both available in Nebraska.
Traditional Online Skill Games
Online skill game companies, as well as those relying on sweepstakes laws, accept players from Nebraska. These companies include King, WorldWinner and WPT Online.
Skill-based Gaming Machines
Skill-based gaming machines are not approved to operate for cash prizes in Nebraska.
Horse racing betting was authorized in 1934 to bring legal gambling to Nebraska for the first time. Charitable bingo was approved in 1958, followed by keno at racetracks and taverns in 1985 and interstate horse racing betting in 1988.
Voters approved a state lottery in November 1992 and the NE Lottery launched the following year.
The links below cover the agencies that oversee or operate these activities:
Charitable Gaming Regulator
Nebraska State Racing Commission
Nebraska Charitable Gaming
Charitable gaming was approved in 1958 through the Nebraska Bingo Amendment. It included bingo and raffle drawings. Several attempts have been made to expand charitable gaming in the state. However, these attempts failed. A charity must register with the state and cannot begin charitable gaming for the first five years that it is chartered there. An exclusion is made for senior groups if all players are 60 years of age or older. Charitable gamers must be at least 18 years of age.
Nebraska Horseracing Law
Horseracing is Nebraska's oldest form of gambling. It started in 1934. There are four racetracks. These facilities may offer off-track betting on interstate races and electronic keno drawings. Mobile racing was added later.
Historical racing is approved by the Nebraska State Racing Commission. However, the state attorney general opined that it did not have the authority to do that as expanding gambling is left up to voters or the state legislature. The state attorney general vowed not to defend the games in court.
Historical racing allows players to bet on past races without knowing the horses involved. It displays the odds from that race and players choose a horse based on that information. Opponents call these slot machines.
A gubernatorial veto killed a bill that passed the legislature that approved these games in 2012. In 2014, the state supreme court removed it from the ballot.
Nebraska Lottery Law
Voters approved a constitutional amendment to create a lottery in November 1992. The state lottery is approved to sell lotto tickets and scratch-offs. Lotto drawings may include interstate ones, such as Powerball and Mega Millions. Lottery ticket buyers must be at least 19 years of age.
Nebraska Keno
The state's racetracks and taverns may operate keno. The games may not be video version. Players must buy paper tickets and the drawings are made by computer systems operated by outside vendors. The tax rate is two percent. Local voters must approve keno within the county or city. Keno drawings are only permitted during the hours of legal alcohol sales.
Video keno proponents gathered enough signatures to put video keno on the November 2006 ballot through Measure 421. The proposal would have permitted video keno machines at racetracks and taverns. The measure was defeated by a 61-39 margin.
Nebraska Casino Referendums
In 1994, casino supporters proposed a constitutional amendment that would have permitted games of chance at racetracks and taverns. Voters shot down every item in the package of gambling referendums.
Are casinos legal in Nebraska?
Nebraska does not have commercial casinos, but a handful of small tribal casinos do operate across the state.
Where are the closest casinos to Omaha?
Council Bluffs, Iowa is directly across the Missouri River from Omaha.
Is poker legal in Nebraska?
Live poker rooms and online poker are not legal in Nebraska. None of the state's tribal casinos offers poker.
What types of gambling are legal in Nebraska?
Horse racing, keno, lottery and charitable gaming are legal in Nebraska.
What forms of online gaming are legal in Nebraska?
The closest things to legal online gambling in Nebraska are daily fantasy sports and games of skill.
Does Nebraska have a gaming smoking ban?
Smoking is not permitted in any off-track betting parlor, keno operation or bingo parlor in the state. Tribal casinos set their own rules on smoking individually.
John Mehaffey
John is a recognized gambling industry analyst based out of Las Vegas, Nevada.


Calgary, AB - In December 2014, Ed Kang resigned as an executive director of a conglomerate of companies to become a freelancer and join what is being called the "Gig Economy." Over the previous years, he had been developing a business relationship with Liz Zurek Beaudry, president of Envision an award-winning branding and communications agency located in Minnesota. So when Kang, who has an extensive background in marketing and digital media, was available as a contractor, they began to explore the possibilities. As of April, after working on several projects together, he officially signed on as Envision's digital brand strategist. This spearheaded the launch of Envision's new website (thinkenvision.com) and expansion into the Calgary market.
Ed Kang is also the founder of the MDNA Institute (mdnai.org), which is a non-profit social leadership and business think-tank. MDNA stands for "motivational DNA" and is a framework that combines principles of intrinsic motivation and social DNA for transformation. MDNA starts with a cloud-based assessment (developed by Kang) that identifies each person's gifts delivered.
How Envision and MDNA work together is a differentiator that excites Ed Kang the most. Says Kang, "Liz took the risk of using MDNA during its infancy and applied it to branding. Working together, we realized that not only could we help companies get their customers to love their brands, but their employees to live the brand as well. That's where brand and culture meet. Then when you add my obsession with data and an analytics approach I learned from my experience in Silicon Valley, you get a very interesting set of services to provide for our clients."
Technically, Kang is still a freelancer. But that's an intentional choice based upon the culture and freelance talent Envision wants to attract. The goal is not just a network of talent, but a community that is passionate about doing the best work while maintaining the entrepreneurial spirit that creates a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Kang agrees, "I am really unemployable. I think our entire team is (laughs). We are intrinsically motivated visionaries that don't work for financial incentives. We are driven by doing awesome work with awesome people while being obsessed with results and ROI. We don't punch clocks and create overhead. We have the freedom and choose projects we can be proud of. It's the best of all worlds and the work speaks for itself. Sit with me for a coffee and I will show you."
Founded in 1992, Envision is a brand strategy and integrated digital marketing agency. Strategy first. Online next. ROI always in mind. To learn more visit www.thinkenvision.com.
Envision: Design That Works, Inc.


text:
<?php
namespace Tests\Event;

use Event\EventCommentEntity;
use stdClass;

class EventCommentEntityTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
    private $commentData;

    public function setUp()
    {
        $this->commentData = new stdClass();
        $this->commentData->comment             = "Test event comment text";
        $this->commentData->user_display_name   = "Test comment display name";
        $this->commentData->created_date        = "2014-03-02T08:43:44+01:00";
        $this->commentData->comment_uri         = "Test comment uri";
        $this->commentData->verbose_comment_uri = "Test comment verbose uri";
        $this->commentData->event_uri           = "Test event uri";
        $this->commentData->event_comments_uri  = "Test comments uri";
        $this->commentData->user_uri            = "Test user uri";
        $this->commentData->source              = "Test comment source";
    }

    public function testBasicCommentsData()
    {
        $comment = new EventCommentEntity($this->commentData);

        $this->assertEquals(
            $comment->getUserDisplayName(),
            "Test comment display name"
        );

        $this->assertEquals(
            $comment->getCommentDate(),
            "2014-03-02T08:43:44+01:00"
        );

        $this->assertEquals(
            $comment->getComment(),
            "Test event comment text"
        );

        $this->assertEquals(
            $comment->getCommentSource(),
            "Test comment source"
        );

        $this->assertEquals(
            $comment->getCommentHash(),
            "80c0c6"
        );
    }

    public function testNonExistentTestDataDoesntBreak()
    {
        $comment = new EventCommentEntity(new stdClass());

        $this->assertNull($comment->getUserDisplayName());
        $this->assertNull($comment->getCommentDate());
        $this->assertNull($comment->getComment());
        $this->assertNull($comment->getCommentSource());
        $this->assertNull($comment->getCommentHash());
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Biografia
Figlio di Pietro Maria III, marchese di San Secondo e di Camilla Gonzaga, fu allevato a Firenze presso la Corte di Francesco dei Medici. Dopo aver militato agli ordini di Ottavio Farnese nella guerra di Parma, contrastando gli imperiali e restando ferito da un colpo di archibugio, servì Cosimo I de' Medici nella Guerra di Siena al comando di una compagnia di corazze, distinguendosi nelle vittoriose battaglie di Valdinievole e Montecarlo e nella sfortunata difesa di Pienza.

Dopo la resa di Siena nel 1554, restò in Toscana agli ordini del duca che tre anni dopo lo inviò al comando di un reggimento alle guerre di Lombardia contro i Francesi alleati al duca di Ferrara, venendo ferito in un combattimento presso Reggio Emilia.

Tornato a Firenze fu eletto generale di cavalleria del granducato e nominato il 30 marzo 1562 cavaliere di Santo Stefano. Nel 1565 fu inviato in Germania dall'imperatore Massimiliano per trattare le nozze del principe Francesco de' Medici con una figlia dell'imperatore, nel 1570 fu inviato come ambasciatore a Madrid per felicitarsi delle nozze di Filippo II.

Morì nel 1580.

Discendenza
Dalla moglie tedesca Barbara Trapp ebbe tre figli:
 Gian Girolamo (1566)
 Eleonora
 Barbara

Ascendenza

Onorificenze

Note

Bibliografia
 Pompeo Litta, 1819-1883, Le Famiglie Celebri Italiane, I Rossi di Parma.

Voci correlate
 Rossi di Parma
 Rocca dei Rossi (San Secondo Parmense)
 San Secondo Parmense

Sigismondo

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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text:
The Failed Promise of Technology (Not)
This was the title of a speech that one of my former Chief Scientific Officers used to give on a regular basis. I added the NOT because, for the past decade I've been working with scientists in a field that provides a technology that is proving to be invaluable. Unfortunately, it is still not being utilized by the vast majority of the physicians in the medical community because it is not being taught in the majority of the medical schools. This is primarily because it takes about 17 to 20 years for many discoveries and new technologies to become mainstream.
This technology involves genetic analytics and is called Pharmacogenomics, a long word with an easy explanation. By analyzing the 300 genes that metabolize medicines, science can now pinpoint how we, individually, will respond to specific drugs. This is truly precision medicine. With just two cotton swabs of saliva, the genetic equipment and the scientists can predict how you personally will respond to specific drugs. Imagine not having to take the drug to see if you will have the side-effect before you have that side-effect.
Not ironically, the physicians who are happy to use the pharmacogenomics test are psychiatrists. As a non-physician and non-scientists, these docs have explained to me that some psychotropic drugs actually exaggerate the symptoms for which they have been prescribed. So, if you get a prescription for schizophrenia, it may cause you to be more schizophrenic. If, though, you can tell how the patient will react to the drug before it's given, why not?
Ironically, this test has touched both my life and the life of many of my friends. The examples are both moving and, in some cases, terrifying. In my own personal experience, I was admitted to the hospital 20 years ago on the verge of having a myocardial infarction. Two decades later, I received the results of my Pharmacogenomics test and read the following, "If you take x-statin, it could cause you to have a myocardial infarction." X – was the drug that I was taking at the time.
My wife was experiencing severe gastric distress from a drug that she was on, and when she received her test results, one of the warning symptoms based upon her genetic make-up, was that she would have severe gastric distress. The good news was that there were five other drugs that could be used to treat her symptom that did not produce those outcomes.
My brother had experienced negative effects from pain medicines during previous medical encounters, and when he was admitted to the hospital with a collapsed disc, he cautioned his caregivers about these sensitivities. They simply replied, "We will be mindful of your sensitivities." He was overdosed the following day, and his kidneys were permanently damaged.
One of my friends who, ironically, had worked at a hospital, called me to inform me that, at age 42, she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She asked me to help her find the best physicians and the best hospital for her care. One of my suggestions was a pharmacogenomics test prior to chemo. She took the test, informed her physician that the drug he was prescribing would not work with her genetic makeup, and he said, "Don't worry, it will be fine." Eighteen months later, the cancer came back in exactly the same place.
This test is not negative toward pharmaceutical companies or physicians, it simply provides them with a "tool box" for decision making in regard to the individual genetic make-up of the patient. The best news is that these tests not only provide you and your physician with the information that you need regarding your personal ability to metabolize the prescription you're being given, but it also contains a myriad of data substantiating the information you're being provided.
Get the test. It just may save your life.
A Pennsylvania Guy
The other morning I overheard an Uber driving pouring his heart out to the barista at the local coffee shop about the horrible weather in Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, I had just driven in from the Johnstown/ Somerset weather and thought to myself, "Man, you ain't seen nothing yet." But this is where I have to come clean. I love the seasons, love the weather here, and hardly ever complain about it. One of my mentor/ friends once told me that some of us are just about "place." We're essentially in the place where we're supposed to be.
Now, who can say if he was right, but my life has been a little like a deer. OK, deer stay within about a 25-mile radius of their home, and my circle has been about 50 miles, but for whatever reason, I'm a Pennsylvania guy.
I've spent the last 10 years traveling around between New Jersey, Chicago, Indiana, Florida, and California – mainly California and Florida – and I have to say I still prefer Pennsylvania. I'm tied here because of family, history, comfort, but also because I love the seasons.
My son lived in Vermont, and that was waaaay too extreme for me. Florida and California felt like Groundhog Day, perfect every day, and well, places like Seattle and Oregon were too much like England and Scotland for me. Yeah, yeah, I know there are hundreds of you who are mentally crying out, "What's wrong with this guy?" But it is what it is, and I'm OK with that.
One of my oft-repeated sayings is that Western PA and Seattle residents purchase more sunglasses than any other populations in the United States because the sun comes out so rarely that we forget where we left them.
That's probably true, but there's nothing like driving from the airport, through the Ft. Pitt tunnel and seeing the amazing skyline of the lights of Pittsburgh. It's the only city that actually has an entrance.
Just like that first breath of spring when the sun shines, the birds chirp, and the first flowers begin to blossom. Each season has special challenges, special quirks, special gifts, and special entrances for me.
Celebrating Christmas in Florida, Arizona, and California is like playing my trumpet with a mute in it. Something is just missing when you see a palm tree with holiday lights or cactus with a Santa sleigh. It's borderline pathetic.
It's also sad to watch the folks in those warm climates wearing down-filled jackets and boots when the temperature drops to 64. Give me the seasons. Let me appreciate the frigid nights and in the summer, the hot days. Let me live a life without the constant threat of hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and mosquitoes carrying post-climate change diseases.
Let me have four seasons of clothes that vary as widely as those seasons. Let me enjoy a warm fireplace, a cup of hot chocolate, a great pair of gloves, or flip flops and shorts. It's all about change, lack of predictability and unending variation.
I like a good storm that doesn't drown and kill people. Throw in crisp fall evenings, amazing firefly-filled skies in early summer, campfires, falling autumn leaves crackling under my boots, and horribly treacherous drives on fog-covered, ice-covered mountains.
Maybe I'm a traditionalist, an adrenaline junkie, or just some kind of a nomadic homebody, but this is where I was born and where I want to return to stardust.
Give me five days, not six or seven, at a beach. Give me three days in the Rockies, and I'll take a warm long weekend in Ft. Lauderdale, but that's it. Seriously, Goldilocks has nothing on me. I'm the original "not too hot, not too cold, just right" kinda guy.
God Bless the rest of you as you long for the traffic, crime, drought, or horrendous humidity of those eternally perfect-boring places. I'm good with Western Pennsylvania.
Several books have had a major impact on me: books such as "The Naked Ape" by Desmond Morris, "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibrand, "I'm Okay. You're Okay" by Thomas Harris and Gail Sheehy's "Passages." Her book explored the natural personality changes common to each stage of life, and she takes the reader through the passages of each decade of life, what to anticipate, and how to use each of these passages as an opportunity for growth. Much of "Passages" content has remained embedded in my mind because of the way she described our twenties and all the things we tend to do wrong during that important beginning adult decade of our lives. I was in my early thirties when it came out, and, to my delight, she explained that those second decade mistakes we made can be cleared up and corrected during the next ten years of life. It worked.
By embracing that life lesson as we move through our personal passages, there are things that we can undo, things we might not repeat, and things we can fix to help us grow toward a higher consciousness and level of achievement, however we define that for ourselves. And it sometimes takes mistakes to get there, but that's okay.
Not unlike that hackneyed Thomas Edison quote, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." And "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." We can try, fail, try, fail, try, fail and finally get it right if we just stick to it. Persistence is frequently the only commitment that's needed to move things forward in positive ways. The other thing, though, is knowing when to quit and move on when a lesson is learned and not to be repeated.
Personally, as a musician or artist, it was never good enough for me to have a Plan B. In fact, when teaching leadership classes, my recommendation to the participants is to have as many plans as it takes to get it done, even if it means having a Plan Z.
Much of life requires risk-taking, and if you're completely risk-adverse, you will be stuck in place because of your own fears and insecurities. You don't have to fight the ocean to ride the waves. Even in the most horrendous situations, there are amazing life lessons that allow us to grow and make unbelievable progress during that next opportunity or challenge.
If at first you don't succeed . . . Remember, it's how we learned to walk, and it applies to most other challenges that we face. I remember asking a genomics scientist what happens if we block the communication pathway between genes and proteins, which are the workers and foot soldiers of the human body, and he responded casually yet assertively, "They do the same thing we do as people. They find a different way and get it done."
Watching very young children who are presented with a problem creatively work their way through obstacles is always fun because they aren't encumbered with our give it up attitude. They just keep trying until they figure it out. That spirit of creativity, stick-to-it-iveness, and optimism is the child portion of our brain described in the book "I'm Okay. You're Okay" that we need to continue to embrace throughout life.
We can't let our amygdala talk us down or convince us to quit, or that we're not good enough, not bright enough, not creative enough. We just need to make the mistake, fix it, learn from it and move on. Growth comes from challenge.
Winners never quit, and quitters never . . . you get the idea. You can make life work for you by being persistent, determined and tenacious. Wait. Those are all synonyms.
23&Me
After putting this off for years, I sent my saliva to 23 and Me to find my health risks, my relatives and my ancestral origins. The information that I received via email yesterday was exciting, fun, and, thank goodness, it was mostly okay.
There are 1,001 relatives I didn't know on my list, and one is impressive. That one is J. Craig Venter, the former president and chief scientific officer of Celera Genomics. Craig and Francis Collins are credited with the first mapping of the human genome. Up to this point, my only famous relatives were the ones who founded Uniontown, and cousin who owned "Gunsmoke's" Long Branch Saloon.
The report revealed that I didn't have the genes for Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, and that was a relief. There were no major genetic abnormalities that I've passed on to my kids or grandkids, and that was a relief, but there were some more interesting facts that cracked me up.
For example, I'm a tiny part Neanderthal. Today, that's probably not something to put in your curriculum vitae, but it's a minute enough portion that it explains some of my physical traits like straight hair and a little hair on my back. I know, TMI. Thankfully, the percentage was low enough that I'm not a knuckle dragger.
My very favorite part of the report came from the page entitled traits. This was something I hadn't expected to find from a tablespoon of saliva. For example, the very first trait is that I have the ability to match musical pitch. Once again, what a relief. Especially since I had majored in music in college. That is a trait that I had not realized could be determined from genetics. So, when adults tell me they have absolutely no ability to match pitch, maybe it isn't just because some music teacher didn't want to deal with them.
Here come some of the funnier and more interesting ones that caught my attention. For example, I will not have a uni-brow. Oh, and how about this one? There are slightly higher odds that I will not like cilantro. After all these years, I finally understand.
For those of you who wonder about the unusual smell when you go to the bathroom after eating asparagus, it's heredity! Apparently, some people don't notice any difference, but for me? Post asparagus potty-time is clearly noticeable, memorable and well-defined.
I'm more likely not to be bitten by mosquitoes any more than the average human. I'd argue that one to my mosquito scratching grave, but hey, it's not a perfect test.
How about this one? I'm likely to wake up around 6:58 a.m. every morning. OMG, that is soooo true. What the heck is that? I don't want to wake up at 6:58 a.m., but regardless of the time zone, that's my wake up time. OK, it's not always my get-up time. When I ran hospitals and had to be at work by 6:30 a.m. for meetings, I'll admit that sometimes I didn't wake up during those meetings until almost 8, but who knew?
This one is a little gross, but I'm more likely to have wet vs. un-wet ear wax. Not that any of us needed or wanted to know that, but there it is. Hazel or brown eyes, no dimples, and detached ear lobes that I'm hoping won't become too detached.
And here's the one that's been bugging me for years. When I get my picture taken, my hair will be photo bleached. That means I'll look even more bald than I am. Photo bleached hair, a genetic trait? Who knew? 23 and Me, that's who.
On the passing of time
Because I've recently been eagerly searching for my next chapter, it's taken me down some very interesting, sometimes brilliantly lit, passages. Frequently, getting older feels challenging and emotionally wasteful to me, and because of that, I've begun to realize that there's plenty of time, but sometimes not enough life.
Leonardo Da Vinci said, "Time stays long enough for those who use it." But Albert Einstein had his own viewpoint when he said, "Time is an illusion."
When I revisit all the negative experiences of my lifetime –the Korean War, Vietnam, the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy, the Chicago riots, Kent State, Nixon, Iraq, 9-11, Iraq and Afghanistan, Hurricanes Katrina, Maria, Sandy and Michael, mass shootings in schools, movie theaters, concerts and night clubs, and the Boston marathon bombing – a quote from J.R.R. Tolkein's "The Fellowship of the Ring" comes to mind:
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Instead of watching life passing by, my goal has been to enthusiastically work to create a legacy that helps others. I'm not striving for immortality through these actions, it just seems so much more productive than the alternatives.
As we begin to notice the sands in our own personal hour glasses rushing through like darting fireflies on a warm summer evening, we realize that the panic or unrest that we sometimes experience is not so much fear of death, but fear of not having the time left on this planet to get done whatever we think we were put here to do.
One of my favorite quotes about time and life is from Sarah Dessen."There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying." Just listen.
If we embrace science's theory that man and all of life simply evolved through billions of years of chemical interactions, there has to be some safety net, some handle to grasp onto tightly or we might free fall through infinite intellectual space.
Obviously, it could be much more fun to go through this fleeting journey with no guiding principles, no moral compass and no ethical boundaries because every day would be a random holiday of self-gratification without retribution and many days it feels as if we're living in an era where positive values are being denigrated, ignored and vilified, but the emptiness of that type of narcissistic journey is well documented.
We now know definitively that we are connected at a molecular level with everything and everyone in the universe.
If we think positively, we can feel peace as in this quote by Rabindranath Tagore, "The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."
Possibly, just embracing goodness is the very best answer and a wonderful brass ring to grasp.
Think about the ethical implications of The Golden Rule. It exists in some form in every religion of the world. Maybe just doing the right thing will be enough.
If we acknowledge our complex web of connectivity, why not spend each day being good to others, and thus being good to ourselves?
It shouldn't be about guilt. It should be about making clear, positive choices between things like giving vs. greed; or loving vs. hating; kindness vs. meanness; positive actions vs. negativity. Those positive choices are good choices.
What if we're born, we live, and we die and that's it?
My personal recommendation is to embrace the goodness.
Saving Hospitals
The hospital environment in the United States is quickly changing nationally and exponentially more rapidly in Pennsylvania. According to Moody analysts from a Modern Healthcare article by Alex Kacik, hospitals are successfully lowering their operational expenses but not as quickly as their revenue is dropping. The implications of that statement are onerous. There are only so many ways to cut until you reach rock bottom as an organization and the point of no return. Shrinking to greatness is typically not considered a viable option to survival.
The statistics from 2017 are very telling as expense growth was cut by 5.7% but revenue has only grown by 4.6% and that was in spite of the numerous mergers and acquisitions that have taken place. In fact, with 13 M&A transactions, Pennsylvania was the most active merger and acquisition state nationally followed by Georgia and Texas at nine and eight each. In the year 2000, there were approximately 122 independent community hospitals in Pennsylvania and now there are just 36 with several of these hospitals hanging by a proverbial economic thread.
Without getting too deeply into the financial woods, Medicie and Medicaid payments as a percentage of gross hospital revenue increased slightly, but higher paying commercial insurances have gone down by 33.9%. In a financial structure where less than 3% of net patient revenue came from capitated and risk-based contracting in 2017 and 41% from DRG's (Diagnostic Related Groups), 28% from fee schedules and 17% from the actual charge master or list price, based on a traditional operating model, there is no clear pathway for small and rural hospitals to remain viable.
Add to these economic challenges, the 2868 total number of retail clinics in the United States supported by Minute Clinic, Walgreens, The Little Clinic, Walmart, Target and dozens of other smaller corporations as well as an exponential growth in free-standing surgi-centers and independent physician-based clinics, and hospitals must take additional aggressive steps to change their business model.
In the Modern Healthcare article, Lyndean Bric, President of Advis Group, a healthcare consulting firm, states that hospitals must find ways to grow volumes, be creative, and do things differently than they have by looking to monetize assets and seek out non traditional revenue.
What if your hospital could afford to have its own Innovation Officer, and creativity could be added to your C-suite agenda at every meeting? With experience in the latest "Omics" research, expertise and connectivity in Integrative Medicine, and other cash income producing innovations, we can change the way a community utilizes their local hospital facilities while generating significant financial gains to their bottom line.
Although some of the areas that we may recommend may seem a little like "driving in front of your headlights" to the traditionally trained C-suite executive, each of them comes with a proven track record of success from multiple settings. Ultimately, the hospitals that work with us have experienced new levels of community acceptance and involvement that helps to reposition them as true partners with their patient base on a level that drives increased volumes and patient revenue.
Be it cash paying integrative treatments, pharmacogenomics testing, human longevity, federal and state grant opportunities, new technologies for treating depression, opioid testing labs, the creation of a 501©3 Foundation, mobile imaging, polypharmacy, or just creative supply chain payment methodologies, we hav experience, knowledge, and connectivity in all of these areas and because of that can bring the right people to the table to make "creative things" happen in an economically viable way for you and your organization.
Growing up in a Catholic Family
Full disclosure. I was never physically molested by a person of the cloth. I've been verbally abused, but most of us have had that experience sometime from someone in power regardless of our faith.
When I was a pre-teen and wanted to be a priest, my Italian grandfather used to tell me regularly that I shouldn't be so "impressed" by them. He used to say, "Nicky, the Pope is just an old man." When he said that, I was worried that he'd be going straight to hell, but I'm pretty sure now that wouldn't have been a problem.
When President Kennedy was killed, I was a complete wreck because I had read that he ate bacon for breakfast that Friday morning. At that time, that was also a "Hell" infraction. Of course that was before I had heard about his other extracurricular activities. Naivety can be a wonderful protector.
A decade after that, my dear Italian grandmother died. To say she was religious would literally be "the understatement of the year." As a young woman, she had made a Pilgrimage to Assisi and even had a tattoo on her right arm that the participants received for making the last mile up the mountain to the Church of St. Francis on her knees.
Grandma died and the new priest pulled up to the funeral home in a white Mercedes. He came inside to talk to my dad about her funeral, and then this happened. "Mr. Jacobs, I don't care if she came to church every day of the year, I won't do this funeral mass unless you pay me $100 upfront." (That's $580.06 now.)
Two years later my dad died. He had been suffering from lung cancer and didn't make it to church very often because of that. During that time, he received last rites from another new priest.
Except for that meeting, they were not well acquainted. During the sermon at my father's funeral, the priest said, "Charlie, snuck into heaven through the back door" because he wasn't attending church regularly. Then his entire sermon was a lecture about abortion. Nothing about my dad.
Later in my life I went to work for a Catholic Hospital. There I met several nuns who, when you looked into their eyes, you could literally see heaven. They used to say, "Don't go to those priests for confession. Some of them are very bad people." I should have listened.
As it turned out, several of those priests were exposed in the Altoona/Johnstown predator report. Some of those ladies must have known and had no where to go because even the DA's of that era along with the monsignors, bishops, cardinals, and the Vatican have been implicated.
Many of my Catholic friends will point out to me that the church is not solely its leadership, but its members. It is also a human organization run by humans with human flaws. No human organization is perfect. They will say they are members based on their personal faith. So by lumping all members with these criminals I am basically accusing all of them who continue to remain faithful to the teachings of the church of the same crimes.
That is certainly not my intent. Just like I didn't accuse my Penn State friends of being part of the Sandusky scandal. What I am saying, however, is that these heinous crimes should be punished to the full extent of the law. The statute of limitations should be lifted. Judges should not be able to take donations as potential hush money from those related to the church, and, for God and the kids' sake, let priests get married, or at least screen out the pedophiles. Let women enter the priesthood. These were illicit sex rings run with the knowledge of church leadership.
As Blood Sweat and Tears used to sing… I pray there ain't no hell. (Because it's gonna be full of unholy men.)
Having served in healthcare senior leadership for over two decades, my tolerance level for various "healthcare norms," that revolved around the sometimes-insensitive treatment and care of patients and their families had reached the breaking point. Consequently, at the end of my 40th decade when I became a hospital CEO, I arrived in the position with a quiver full of change arrows that were sure to shake up the status quo, and it did.Because I had entered the healthcare field some twenty years after most of my senior leadership peers, my life experiences were much more varied and non-traditional. For ten years, I had been a band and orchestra director in both City and Urban school districts. After that, I ran what became a successful arts organization in a rural area, and finally, served as the CEO of a convention and visitors bureau. It was during those years that I went back to school for another Masters degree in public management/health systems management.
When this CEO opportunity presented itself, I realized how each and every one of my life experiences could help me run a hospital, but not just any hospital. It was my vision to create a hospital that embraced all modalities used in integrative medicine with the ambiance of a fine hotel and the amenities of a health spa. We carefully scrutinized and then credentialed practitioners specializing in massage therapy, integrative nutritional counseling, acupuncture, osteopathic manipulation, pet and music therapy, reiki, and spirituality to name a few. These practices intermixed with traditional Western medicine became our new norm.
As the traditionalists who are reading this article begin to shake and scream about a lack of medical evidence, I can only point to the 19,000 papers written supporting the efficacy of acupuncture and the thousands of other medical papers written about the healing powers of music, massage, and such. In that same spirit, there is also the fact that the head is connected to the body and provides a mind-body connection that doesn't fit neatly into the scientific "heal to the pill" mentality of our current system.As a non-clinician, non-scientist, it was easy for me to believe in things like "the Placebo effect" as well. It really didn't matter to me why people got better. It was our goal to create a healing environment where people would not be immersed in fear and trepidation, where their loved ones could comfortably stay with them, and where unnecessary paging, and middle of the night prodding, and wake-ups were avoided as much as humanly possible.
It seemed to me that by training our employees at Disney University, allowing them to learn from the Ritz Carlton, and exposing them to sensitivity and emotional quotient training, we could create a healing environment. Because my philosophy was that you could not change the human condition, but you could change the condition under which humans worked, we also embraced an anti-bullying environment where employees were cherished and recognized for their contributions to the welfare of our patients.
How did implementing all of these ideas change healthcare in our little slice of Camelot? Our infection rate dropped to below 1% and stayed there for eleven years. (The national average is nine percent.) And I know we weren't washing our hands more than they were at other hospitals. Of our peer hospitals, we had the lowest readmission rates, restraint rates, and lengths of stay, and when the naysayers saw these numbers, they said it was because we were not a large hospital. My belief was that we successfully had created a healing environment where our patient's white blood cells were actually able to function to fight off infection. We were transparent, nurturing, and caring. We were not a "Healthcare FACTORY" where the patients became widgets in an Industrial Revolution model of care.
Music was always used in healing ceremonies by an indigenous man. Acupuncture has been deemed effective for over 5000 years. Massage makes you feel better, and sometimes your spine gets out of alignment and needs to be corrected. This is neither rocket science nor brain surgery. It's about love, kindness, and caring, wrapped up in good Western medicine. Oh, and one more thing. Even with a palliative care unit, a hospice, we had the lowest death rate of our peer hospitals. I had always wanted to put up a billboard that said, "Come to our hospital . . . you'll die less often."
Posted in Healthcare, Hospital Administration, Hospital Blog, Integrative Health, Leadership, Public Health, Uncategorized
Grandma and Grandpa
A few weeks ago, I got a box of cassette tapes. One of the tapes had "Grandpa and Grandma" on the label. I instantly remembered sitting with my family with my little tape recorder as I interviewed my grandparents for posterity in 1960. Let me share just a few tidbits from those now deceased voices talking, laughing, and telling, in broken English, their story of poverty, struggle, and life. While they spoke I thought about the life of my English grandparents whose families came here in the 1600s. It was like "Downton Abbey" or "Up the Down-staircase."
I asked my grandmother what her family told her life was like in the early 1800s she said, "Longa time ago, our family lived in a family cave, and even when we were little, we useda olive oil to light our house with little lanterns."
Then my granddad who came to America at age 13 said, " When I was a kid, I had to take care of the cows. My brother and dad would use them to plow the fields, and I had to clean up after them, feed them, and take care of them. I hated that. That's why I ran away."
I asked him, "Did you go to school?" And he said, "The old man used to say, 'Get a book and learn to read.' So, I taught myself everything."
Then I asked what he remembered about his mother, and he said, "She went to church every day, and every dime she got, she gave to the priest. She gave him bread all the time even when we were hungry. He had a big belly." Then I asked him, "Did you ever go to St. Peter's in Rome?" He said, "When I lived away from home, we went there all the time, but I don't know whata you people think. The Pope is just an old man." (Obviously, he wasn't happy the priest got all the bread.)
Both families had farms close to the town of Alvito between Rome and Naples. Her family's was three miles away, and both fathers were sharecroppers. Half of what they grew went to the rich men who controlled the land. My grandfather said, "One summer dad cried like a baby because everything dried up, and another summer he didn't geta good grapes for wine, and he cried even harder that time."
I asked if they made wine, and my grandmother said, "The mena mada the wine by stomping on a da grape in their bare-feet." My English mother asked, "Did they wash your feet?" The result of that question was lots of laughter. "The alcohol killed the germs," my grandfather said laughing between breaths.
"When we were ina this country and was married, I made a jug of wine," my grandmother said, "and Patsy (my grandfather) tested one time." Then she said, "My winea was betta than his dad's wine." My granddad looked at me, smiled and winked. "Yep, he laughed, yours was better." (That's why they were married for so long.)
"Did you wear shoes?" I asked. My grandfather burst into laughter, "The first shoes I have was when I come in America." "So, what did you do in the winter?" I asked. He said, "We would wrap rags around our feet in the winter time."
For whatever reason, as a 13-year old boy, I asked, "Did you ever see a wolf?" To which my grandmother said, "My dad had to walka to church one time at 4 in the morning and something came after hima growling. He yelled because he thought it was a wolf, but it was a biga dog." Then she laughed and laughed. Grandad said he saw wolves.
Then he said something that stuck with me. He said, "We had a lot of fun, but it wasa stupid fun." From the sound of the laughter on that tape, maybe it wasn't so stupid.
Posted in Boomers, Family, Uncategorized
Many of us are proud of our fathers, and with Father's Day fast approaching, we're definitely expecting to see posts praising our dads. OK, so, here you go.
My dad was relatively short in stature at about 5'6," but incredibly tall in my eyes. Although Dad held jobs that usually preferred a college education, and he didn't have one, he was one of the smartest men I've ever been around. Whenever something interested him, he attacked it with wild abandon. When it was iron furnaces and cannonballs, we traveled all around our area seeking cannon balls with bent coat hangers or twigs as dowsing rods. When he became enamored with electronics, we got to play with every type of electronic analytical machine that he could buy used. (We didn't have much money.)
Dad dove into bees, not literally, and learned all about them. Then, as he reached his 40s, he turned to our community. First he decided that any peaceful little community should have gray squirrels so he drove back and forth to Jeannette, where a friend would live-catch squirrels for him. He populated our little town with these frisky bushy tailed devils. He loved to watch them, but, unfortunately, our neighbors loved to shoot and eat them.
After his squirrel adventures, dad turned to getting water and sewage into our little village, then a bridge, and finally, a Coal and Coke Museum. During his work days, he was able to convince an entire community along the Mon River to work together to bring in the Pittsburgh Wind Symphony for summer concerts.
To say that he didn't teach me a lot would be a bona fide distortion. Every night he'd drill me in recitation of vocabulary words. We had a large box of vocabulary words that he practiced with me, words that won't appear in this column because they are too obtuse. His charge to me was that I'd learn five new obscure words from the lexicon each and every day, use them in sentences until I was comfortable with them so I'd get a great score on my College Board exam. (That worked in English but not so much in math.)
Dad also taught me to spade a garden, control copperheads that were about to strike me with a two pronged snake stick, shoot rats at the local dump, identify all poisonous plants, recycle bottles, make compost piles, shovel coal into the coal bin, stoke a coal fired furnace and then empty the ashes from that furnace, solder, use a hand saw, pound nails, change the oil and do body work on a car, and most importantly, avoid physical harm by outsmarting my potential opponents. He taught me how to make money from a lemonade stand, from grass cutting, and running errands for retired people. He also taught me how to manage my paper route like a business. He would sit with me and go over my collections, explain how to approach the two deadbeats on my route and how to up-sale my customers into getting the Sunday paper.
Our grade school was only a few blocks away, but I always begged my parents to allow me to periodically take my lunch to school.
Dad wanted me to feel special, so he bought white lunch bags. I was the only kid in the school who ever had a white lunch bag. He also encouraged my imagination by buying me little tablets and making sure I always had lots of pens and pencils.
He bought me my first bike and car but then taught me how to save for the second of each. Above all he taught me how to be a good, loving, kind, resourceful, provider and Father.
Dad smoked until 1960, but he died in 1975 from lung cancer. It was an outrageous loss for my family and for the world. Love ya, Dad.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Translations in the Js file RAILS How to add translations in .js file
I am having a line like
$(display_charsleft_id).innerHTML = var1 + " characters left!";
I amtrying to add translations by
(display_charsleft_id).innerHTML = var1 + <%=t :str_chars_left%>;
but this shows only the translation value and not appending the value of var1
str_chars_left: "characters left!"

A: I have no experience with Rails, but from your question, I think
<%=t :str_chars_left%>
should be <%= t:str_chars_left%>. However it may not change anything.
How we usually do JS i18n here, is we create some Array populated on the server and then assign translations to correct variable:
Translations = new Array();
Translation['chars_left'] = 'something written by server side';
.
.
.
(display_charsleft_id).innerHTML = var1 + Translation['chars_left'];

But unfortunately I cannot give you exact example.
You can also think of better support for Localization by providing placeholders like in this question.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Blackberry Farm Brewery Partners with Brew Hub for Canned Beer Production
Jun. 7, 2017 at 11:25 AM
Walland, T.N. — The Blackberry Farm Brewery has partnered with Brew Hub of Lakeland, FL, to introduce a line of canned craft beers launching in July 2017. While the brewery's cork and cage bottles have been the brand's hallmark and a great success in the craft beer market, the line of canned beers is designed to offer a Blackberry Farm beer option ideal for outdoor adventures, spending time with friends and being present to enjoy everyday moments.
Packaged in twelve ounce cans, the initial launch consists of three new Blackberry Farm Brewery beers: Coyote Tactics IPA, TN Times Pilsner and Screaming Cock Pale Ale. Each can features unique label art created by Southern artists who have relationships with Blackberry Farm. "Much like the beers, we wanted each label to have its own personality," said Roy Milner, Blackberry Farm Brewery's Chief Fermentation Officer. "Working with artists familiar with Blackberry Farm's culture ties this project closer to the people that we interact with on the Farm. We want the cans to feel more youthful, bold, and in the moment. These new beers are meant to inspire recreating, connecting, and enjoying yourself and an active lifestyle."
Having established themselves as a quality producer in the craft beer world, Blackberry Farm Brewery wanted to create a format that fits into more environments and offers more people access to their product. Can options appeal to a broader audience of craft beer drinkers and serve as a more playful addition to the Blackberry Farm Beer family. "We're incredibly happy to be working alongside the team at Brew Hub to begin offering our new can line of beers. Their dedication to quality and attention to detail are second-to-none, and reflect the same passion and care that have been the foundation of our own brewing program since day one. It's a natural fit and an exciting new chapter for our brewery," said Roy.
"We are thrilled to have Blackberry Farm Brewery as a partner and to help them offer cans for the first time," said Tim Schoen, founder and CEO of Brew Hub.
The cans will be available at taprooms, restaurants and grocery stores throughout Tennessee. For more information contact Sarah Chabot at (865) 380-2626.
About the Blackberry Farm Brewery
The Blackberry Farm Brewery team began producing beer in 2011, selling their products to Blackberry Farm guests and a few select restaurants in the Southeast. In response to increased demand, they moved into a larger production facility in Maryville, TN in 2015 and expanded distribution to 36 states. In keeping with the sense of place at Blackberry Farm, the brewery and processes are rooted in centuries old traditions. The Blackberry Farm Brewery is respectful of the time honored methods of making beer, while constantly pushing the boundaries to employ modern techniques to enhance the complexity of their releases. To learn more, please visit www.blackberryfarm.com/brewery
About Brew Hub
Brew Hub was founded in 2012 in St. Louis, MO by a team of beer-industry executives and craft-brewing experts led by Tim Schoen. "Where Craft Brewers Go To Grow", Brew Hub provides full brewing, packaging, distribution and selling services for craft brands that are constrained by capacity, geography or capital. The company's first brewery is located in Lakeland, Florida. The company plans to have five breweries located throughout the country that will cater to craft breweries. Each facility will allow craft brewers to partner brew their beers on-site. Brew Hub's financial sponsor is a private investment firm, The Yucaipa Companies.
Brew Hub, LLC


Above is 15 minutes of our hour and 17 minute conference call discussing the first two chapters of the Inner Game of Tennis, the classic mental training text which tells us now to quiet the Inner Coach in all of us, and access deeper capacities found in our instincts and body.
Yesterday we had our first conference call discussing the Inner Game of Tennis, and it was more or less awesome. Just having people from around the world reading the same text together, and bouncing ideas off of each other shows what is possible with tech today, it's an experiment in discussion that is already taking off. For those interested, this post by Sylvie talks about the reading group.
Today was the first meeting for the reading group, focusing on chapters 1-2 of The Inner Game of Tennis. In short summary, the first chapter is about the revelations the author had as a tennis instructor, that he got more out of his students and they got far more out of his lessons when he gave less verbal instruction. Instead, he focused more on "showing and feeling" rather than telling.
The author admits this was a blow to his ego, as he felt the need to justify his authority (and likely his paycheck) as a "teacher," and so he felt compelled and obligated to offer lots of verbal corrections. However, this tended to gum up his students. By observing and encouraging his students to feel their way through while imitating his example, everyone got a lot more out of each lesson. Kevin asked the group what they thought about this, as it seems that in western gyms the authority of a teacher is squarely in the position that the author finds himself at initially. Students expect and want lots of correction and instruction. Trainers want to have authority by giving and enforcing lots of correction and verbal instruction. It's how we learn, so how do we "unlearn" this and move forward in a more natural way of learning, as the author discovered and ultimately wrote a now-classic book about?
Mary is a fighter and also a coach at VIII Limbs Academy in Philadelphia. She noted that when she is instructing her partner and roommate, she finds it hard to not over-coach. Her intentions are all good, just wanting to give more and offer shortcuts to realizations she's had, but the dynamic between Mary and her partner makes this even more complicated than it would already be with just a clean-cut student/teacher dynamic. I can relate. I feel over-coached by my husband, because he's my husband, even if he offers the same points that my trainer might, or even something I already know to be true. This is a good example of how over-thinking can be with the best intentions, as well as how our pre-existing emotions, relationships, thoughts, feelings, etc. influence our learning processes.
Casey and Yvonne are both dealing with long-term injury, so the relationship between mental and physical expression is poignant to their current experiences. Kevin had pointed out that how we feel about any given movement influences how it fits into our arsenal. I thought this was relevant to Casey and Yvonne's injuries because, when injured, you end up feeling pretty pissed and sometimes depressed about what you can't do, rather than focusing on what you can. Yvonne looked for examples of folks who couldn't train with their feet, which she is experiencing with her injury, and replicated those examples to a positive outcome. Casey had a profound experience of "learning to walk again," with her broken leg, looking around her at people just naturally walking to try to understand the mechanics because her body had "forgotten." This is a great example of how the author of The Inner Game has developed his teaching – toward a natural process of watching and imitating. Believing that you already know how to walk is a good thing (she didn't really forget), but when the mechanics offer new struggles, getting out of the mind-trap of thinking that you cannot walk anymore and just letting the body figure it out is what her doctor advised.
If you'd like to read along with us, you can get The Inner Game of Tennis here . We'll be live on Friday October 19th, 10:30 am Thai Time (Oct 18th, 11:30 pm New York time), if you'd like to get in on the discussion. You can get the link as a patron here. If that time isn't convenient you can watch the full discussion video at your leisure.
You can also follow and join in the reading group in the Open Facebook Group: MTMT Reading Group – Reading for a Better Muay Thai which is open to everyone, and where notes from our discussion and reading will be posted. You are free to join in.
For my part, I'm very interested in aspects of Gallwey's approach that maybe are not emphasized so often. I'm posting my notes from my readings on my Instagram. In particular I find the idea that coaches in the west feel a pressure to over-instruct because the way that gyms and commerce function is that you as a coach repeatedly have to prove your value to changing customers. This can lead to lots of verbal corrections, which while technically quite correct, may actually retard learning in a client. You can see this in this note.
I'm a little interested in how unconscious power dynamics are structured by the situation students and teachers find themselves in, in the west, dynamics which are quite different from otherwise more traditional transmissions of knowledge. These differences in teaching may result in very different skill levels.
I was also interested in the way that Gallwey is leading us to tap into what he calls Self II. I see this as us circumventing our conceptual brain, and accessing what is basically 100 million year old software, the ways our bodies have evolved through eons of iterations to navigate space, anticipate movement and intention, and to learn through mirroring. These largely are not skills the human animal developed in the last 10,000 years, so much as through the epics of life before that. When a software has gone through that much development iteration, it is probably pretty damn good at what it's good at. I'm only 2 chapters in, but I think in very different words, that is what Gallwey is talking about. Getting into our deeper operating system. Our Lymbic Brain. Our virtual reality (spatially projective) Brain. You can see this in this note.
Sylvie in the reading group talks a lot about the connections between the Inner Game of Tennis and Vipassana meditation. As a fighter she is ever honing her inner experiences, and her ability to become aware of them, and direct them to best ends. For me, I'm interested in structures and operative patterns that shape how we have that those experiences. I'm always looking for element keys, that if changed, would send a process in a very different direction.
You can read along looking for your own application of the ideas in this beautiful book. The reading sections are quite short, so it's easy to get up to speed, and this is a book that many have said changed their life. If you'd like to join in you can see our full discussion here on Patreon. If you become a patron at that level you'll get access to the greatest internet resource for Thai technique in the world, the Muay Thai Library.
So join Us for the Next Meeting, or join the public discussion on Facebook.


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HomeParents Face Dilemmas When Jewish Schools Close
Parents Face Dilemmas When Jewish Schools Close
Seth BerkmanJanuary 22, 2013Image by patty bloom
Image by patty bloom
In January 2012, Irit Pinkus was shocked to learn that her daughter's Jewish day school would close at the end of the semester, leaving her and the parents of the school's other 150 students with a tough decision: where to place their children next year.
It's a decision faced by an increasing number of families. According to a new survey released in January, the number of non-Haredi Jewish day schools in America has shrunk by 5.6% over the past three years.
How families respond can depend on their degree of commitment to Jewish education and their financial means. For Pinkus, there was never any consideration of sending her 7-year-old daughter to a secular public school, or even to a private secular school.
"It's important to me that the children go to a Hebrew day school to develop a sense of Jewish community," she said. But Pinkus had other concerns, too. The school that her daughter attended, Reuben Gittelman Hebrew Day School, which is in New City, a suburb north of New York City, was a Solomon Schechter School, part of the network of schools affiliated with the Conservative stream of Judaism. Pinkus appreciated its proximity to her home and the type of Judaism her daughter learned there.
To Pinkus's great relief, at the meeting the administrators called to announce the Gittelman School's closing, representatives were on hand to talk about the opening of a new school nearby — Rockland Jewish Academy, which would be run under the supervision of the Solomon Schechter School of Westchester. "It went from a funeral to a wedding," Pinkus said.
Not every parent whose child attends a Jewish day school that closes is as fortunate as Pinkus. According to the survey of Jewish day school trends, conducted by Jewish educator Marvin Schick for the Avi Chai Foundation, 11 Jewish day schools have closed within just the past year. These closings can confront parents with an array of difficult choices, including sending their children to public school; to another Jewish school whose religious ideology they may or may not agree with; or, frequently, to a new school that comes from a merger of the school that is closing with another, already existing school whose future viability can be hard to predict.
According to the Avi Chai survey, some of the recent trends in school closures are surprising. While the long-term decrease in the number of Schechter schools has received some attention, over the last three years, Modern Orthodox schools have led the decline in percentage terms, shrinking in number by 7.2% during this period. The Schechter schools follow, falling in number by 6.8%.
But since 1998, the number of Schechter schools has dropped by more than 35%, down to 41 nationwide in 2012 from 63. (No comparable data going that far back were immediately available for the other religious streams.)
The number of students enrolled in non-Haredi day schools nationwide also has been dropping in recent years, albeit more slowly: to 83,008 in 2012 from 85,624 in 2009 — a decrease of about 3% over four years.
Frequently, when a day school closes, parents are presented with the option of sending their child to a merged "community" school. It's an option often encouraged by local Jewish philanthropic federations.
"Mergers often come about when the local federation doesn't want to support two local non-Orthodox schools," Schick said, abstracting from his data. "So Schechter schools merge with community day schools. When that happens, there's invariably a falloff in enrollment and a falloff in the Judaic content of the curriculums."
Indeed, only two community schools closed between 2010 and 2012 — a drop-off to 93 schools from 95, or just 2.1%. This was the smallest decrease of any Jewish stream. Meanwhile, enrollment in these community schools since 2009 has actually jumped by 5.2%, to 20,052 from 19,050. Only schools that define themselves as Centrist Orthodox showed a bigger enrollment increase during this period, to 19,442 from 18,453, or 5.4%.
In the Philadelphia area last December, the boards of Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, a pluralistic school, and Perelman Jewish Day School, a Conservative-oriented school, voted to merge their middle schools by this coming September. Students from Perelman's middle school will attend school at the Barrack campus, while Perelman's kindergarten through grade-five students will remain on the Perelman campus.
The merger did not come without difficulties. In late November, the two schools reached a stalemate in their negotiations, and outside mediators were brought in. Steven Brown, who was the head of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Philadelphia before it became Perelman, worked at a time when enrollment was booming. But now, he said, a majority of students attend public high schools after eighth grade, or they go to prestigious Quaker day schools, like Friends' Central.
"Parents see [the non-Jewish schools] are highly academic, and they feel comfortable in those places," said Brown, who also served as head of Barrack. For those who choose public school, he said, it comes to a point where parents say, "I can't keep putting up this money if we have a perfectly good public school in our neighborhood."
But the merger may only reinforce this trend for some.
Jonathan Scott Goldman, who has one child in second grade at Perelman's Forman Center in Melrose Park, Pa., disagreed with the decision to combine the middle schools. He worried that the K‑5 program could also be in jeopardy. "If they do it once, I don't know why they wouldn't do it again," he said. "Also, institutionally, it makes it harder to sustain a lower school if there's no middle school." Goldman said that when his son ages out of elementary school, he will not send him to the combined school.
Sharon Levin, head of Barrack, said she has already met with every Perelman elementary school family, and there will be incentives such as transportation initiatives and scholarships to support the merger of the two schools. "We want to feel like one integrated mishpucha by September," she said. "We will bring the best from both schools."
In St. Louis, parents have been more enthusiastic over the combining of two local day schools. The Saul Mirowitz Day School-Reform Jewish Academy and the area Solomon Schechter Day School merged in January 2012 to create the Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School. As separate schools, the two institutions had 170 students. In August, 165 students moved into the Schechter building for the merged operation.
A representative of the Reform movement's Mirowitz School estimated that it lost about two students to the merger, with a few others having moved away from the area. Cheryl Maayan, the head of the new school, said that very few Schechter school students did not move on to the Mirowitz community school. The fact that it is located in the old Schechter building, she said, made students and parents feel more at home.
Even the best mergers entail significant financial risks. And some school mergers have brought financial disasters. In 2005, Providence, R.I.'s Alperin Schechter Day School merged with the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island, also in Providence, promising a school that, as the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island's website put it, "embraces the entire Jewish community, offering the highest quality of Jewish day school education."
In August 2011, the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island filed for receivership to get out of the debt it had accumulated in seeking to expand staff and increase capacity for the merger. The economic crash of 2008 and the recession that followed led to lower than expected enrollment and made the debt impossible to service.
Calls to representatives of JCDSRI were not returned, but Schick said that the Schechter school in Providence had been "very successful." Nevertheless, he said, the local federation "pressed it to merge with the local community day school, and the result was a disaster." Schick said there was a "massive drop off in students," causing JCDSRI's default on its debts. "It's a pale shadow of what it has been," he said.
Elaine Cohen, director of the Schechter Day School Network, said her organization was conducting its own study of enrollment figures. She admitted that there were some schools experiencing enrollment decreases, but said that Schechter schools in some areas were showing enrollment growth. Overall, enrollment in Schechter schools dropped by 3.6% between 2011 and 2012. Schick said he had expected a greater falloff in Schechter School enrollment last year.
Cohen said one of her main concerns is finding the extent to which day school tuitions are affecting enrollment. "With multiple children and the economic climate, affordability becomes a big issue," she said. "It's been hard for parents to keep up."
In several cities, local federations have provided tens of millions of dollars in scholarship aid for day school student to address this issue. But in Westchester, such outside support was not enough to save the Gittelman School. In the end, the school's board of directors sought to use their own dissolution to help the Rockland Jewish Academy escape a similar fate. At one of their last meetings, the directors voted to establish a fund from the sale of their school to support the academy.
Contact Seth Berkman at berkman@forward.com
Seth Berkman
solomon schechter


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© Rachel Eck 2021
The C-Word Podcast
The C-Word is hosted by Lena Dunham and Alissa Bennett. With each episode, they take you on a historical deep-dive into the life of a woman society dismissed by calling her mad, sad, or just plain bad. The show is a rich, hilarious, and heartbreaking look into exactly what it means when we call a woman "crazy".
Their original concept was to create a tabloid-looking cover, hinting at the way many of these notorious women have gotten press coverage. They needed a creative refresh to convey this idea more clearly and so we made an "US Weekly" version of a show tile, complete with bold headlines, paparazzi photos and a bar code.
For every episode we created promotional illustrations to post on organic social channels. Each graphic features a symbolic object of the "mad, sad, or just plain bad" women that Lena and Alissa feature each week. These were for the hosts and production partners to share on their own accounts.


Poems and Prose: Gibbons Street America's Press. Click here for reviews and to purchase.
Poem: (Swap.Play. Churn.) "Inner Landscapes: Writers Respond to the Art of Virginia Dehn," Grayson Books, W. Hartford, Connecticut, April 2013.
Various Short Stories and Poems: Bayousphere, University of Houston-Clear Lake, Fiction winner.


DFS, the UK's largest sofa manufacturer's new advertising campaign makes heroes from it's talented team of craftsmen and women. Kristyna Litten was asked to create character designs based on real DFS employees by Aardman Animations. Working from photographs, they asked her to interpret each person as if they were made out of fabric to reflect the materials used in the sofas they make.
The result was this lineup of 15 characters which Aardman transformed into puppets measuring approximately 30cm tall, constructed out of a metal armature and different fabrics with each one taking up to five weeks to make.
You can watch the 'Making of' video here.


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Leidos to Develop Electro-Magnetic Technology for U.S. Air Force
By Richard Tomkins, United Press International | March 13, 2017
Leidos was awarded contract to develop electro-magnetic technology for the U.S. Air Force, the company announced this week.
The performance period of the cost-plus-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract is five years. It carries a value of $38 million, including an initial $11 million task order.
Leidos said its work will primarily be performed at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., for the Air Force Research Laboratory, and will involve development of high power electromagnetic, or HPEM, technology. The work will include establishing a program and research facility, conducting component research, and working with the government and other researchers toward HPEM objectives.
"We look forward to continuing our efforts for the Air Force by developing critical next-generation capabilities such as this HPEM technology," Mike Chagnon, president of Leidos Advanced Solutions Group, said in a press release. "As threats become more advanced, Leidos is committed to creating innovative solutions that enable our customers to achieve their missions."
Filed Under: Aerospace + defense
Nye Lubricants' Pennzane Oil to launch on James Webb Space Telescope
Vibration tests boost NASA's electric aircraft project
AstroAccess completes ZERO-G Parabolic flight with crew of 12 disability ambassadors
Ruggidized modular computers come in small form factor


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How much does the North Carolina Collection Agency - Domestic bond cost?
North Carolina Collection Agency - Domestic bonds typically cost between $100 and $500 depending on the personal credit, license history, and experience of the business owners and the surety carrier issuing the bond.
Is a Credit Check Required for North Carolina Collection Agency - Domestic Bonds?
Why is the North Carolina Collection Agency - Domestic bond required?
How does the North Carolina Collection Agency - Domestic bond work?
North Carolina Collection Agency - Domestic bonds must be issued by an insurance carrier admitted by the North Carolina Department of Insurance. The insurance company issuing any surety bond, such as the North Carolina Collection Agency - Domestic bond, will also be referred to as the "surety company" or the "bond company". The business is referred to as the Principal, the surety bond company as the Obligor and the State of North Carolina Department of Insurance as the Obligee.


A custom made display box created for the card collector. The display box fits twelve decks and two manuals. Boxes can be stacked to create beautiful miniature display shelves and can be used for playing cards or other small collectible items! Simple, classic and easily blends into any decor.
Proudly handmade in Los Angeles California in collaboration with Jar Joy Goods.
Constructed of natural bamboo with a non-toxic linseed oil finish and embossed with the Eads logo.
The larger two cubbies measure 4.5" and perfectly fit six playing card decks each.
The smaller two slots measure 1" wide and fit the Open Portals Manuals.
Only 50 made in the first batch.
Open Portals cards sold individually.


It's almost three years, Google introduced its first set of smartphones under "Android One" project in India. Soon after, the company rolled out the similar Android One smartphones in selected European and Asian markets. The main objective behind Google releasing of these Android One phones is to provide the affordable smartphones in the emerging markets. After a great hit of these devices into Indian markets, Google is all planning to collaborate with Xiaomi to launch its second-gen Android One smartphone.
Xiaomi phones are already a great hit in the Indian markets and thus the reason Google wants to make partnership for its second-gen of Android One phones. Some of the Xiaomi models who broke sales record in India are Xiaomi Redmi 3S, Redmi Note 3, Redmi 4, and Redmi Note 4.
According to the latest reports, the Android One device comes with the model number MDG2 and might be launched as "Xiaomi Mi A1". Looking at the past, the latest Xiaomi-developed Android One smartphone runs on stock Android instead of its own MIUI skin.
The listing also reveals that the alleged Mi A1 could be inspired by the Mi 5X as it is claimed to feature a 5.5-inch FHD 1080p display. Interesting, the Mi 5X features 12MP dual rear cameras. If these rumors becomes fact, then Xiaomi Mi A1 will be the first Android One smartphone with dual rear camera setup.
The 5.5-inch Mi 5X is powered by a 64-bit Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor clocking at the speed of 2GHz. It comes coupled with Adreno 506 GPU and 3GB/4GB RAM. It device comes in 32GB and 64GB variants and has a microSD card slot for further memory expansion up to 128GB.
There is a 5MP front camera and features a fingerprint scanner on the rear panel. It is backed by a 3,080mAh non-removable battery with fast charging feature.
Stay tuned to Xiaomi Advices as we'll be updating once the smartphones goes official in the coming days!


Looking for the subject research guides?
As of December 2016, the research guides – which outlined subject-specific material at the Barristers' Library in Halifax and free authoritative online sources of legal information – have been taken offline.
For risk and practice management materials, including guides, forms, checklists and other resources on opening a law office, see Opening a new practice on the Society's website and Resources on the Lawyers' Insurance Association of Nova Scotia website.
For cultural competence and employment equity resources, visit the Equity portal: Developing an equity strategy in your legal workplace.
For commentary, texts, precedents and full-text articles, find resources through the Barristers' Library Discovery Catalogue.
For listings of organizations, services, resource guides and websites that can assist members of the public with legal information needs, see Legal resource information.
Questions? Please contact us at the Barristers' Library at 902 425 2665 or 1 866 219 1202.


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Q: How to configure code scanning tool in Azure AD to scan github code I have a code scanning tool configured as enterprise application in my Azure AD. The idea is to scan the GitHub repository. I think, service principle is one of the option ( instead of creating a service account - which is old and Azure does not recommend it).
My question is how can I use the service principle ( application ID) to make the scanning tool to scan the git hub code repository ? I was going via Microsoft documentation, however, unable to find any such link, Thanks.


Please do something about spam please.
I tried that so far so good i had to check it and uncheck it.
Well it already is unchecked, Weird any ideas? I check and unchecked it again seems fine now weird.
Well it happens to me a way to shut off tab preview would be nice.I also think having too much bloat will lag the browser and cause other issues. Either remove that or have an option to disable it would be nice.
When I am watching netflix and hover my cursor over another tab, I see a preview of that site well that preview makes neteflix player straight black nothing I can do but refresh Netflix over 5 times? Also the plugins in Opera stop working.


I've already posted Tekken 6 Full Version in 250MB for Android/iOS & Tekken 3 in 20MB Only Apk. But this time I've got its previous version Tekken 5 PPSSPP ISO Highly Compressed For Android/iOS in 650MB! It has many popular characters such as Paul, Jin, Nina, Xiaoyu, Heihachi, Kazuya, King etc.
2. Extract "Tekken 5.7z" using zArchiver.
And done! Enjoy Tekken 5 PPSSPP ISO in Android/iOS Device!
Tekken 5 is a fighting game developed and published by Namco in 2004 for the arcades and in 2005 for the PlayStation 2. It is the fifth canonical installment, and sixth main installment, in the Tekken series, marking the tenth anniversary of the series. The game was upgraded to Tekken 5.1, which had mostly balance changes to the gameplay, and later an update Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection which was released for arcades in 2005 and later ported to the PlayStation Portable as Tekken: Dark Resurrection and on the PlayStation 3.


material to worry about skin and present solution.
In the last decade, Korean makeup and skin care products have taken the world by a storm, giving birth to a whole new trend called K-Beauty. What is the secret behind its tremendous success? It must be the combination of the four factors Korean consumers value the most: innovation, natural ingredients, attractive packaging, and reasonable prices. If you are looking for the same exact things, you have come to the right place!
Belieef.com is a Korean cosmetics online shop that offers a wide range of decorative makeup and premium skin-care products for young and sophisticated people who share our vision that beauty products should be fun and affordable.
Modern-day consumers are deeply concerned about what they put on their face and bodies. Most Korean brands prefer using natural ingredients instead of harsh chemicals, synthetics, and silicones. At the same time, Asian products are much more affordable than their Western organic analogs. So in our Korean makeup store, you can purchase luxury products for less.
Most Koreans have sensitive skin, so a lot of research goes into coming up with innovative cosmetics that contain mild ingredients but still are extremely effective. If you struggle with finding the right skin care products for your sensitive skin, try Korean cosmetics! We guarantee that the results will exceed your highest expectations.
K-Beauty brands deal with a lot of competition on the market. How do they manage to stand out from the crowd? By using eye-catching packaging, of course. We dare you to try and keep your hands off the panda-faced sheet masks, flower-like BB-creams, and bunny-shaped lip-gloss balms! In our Korean cosmetics online shop, you can find a lot of cutesy makeup and skin care products that can become a perfect present for any beauty junky.
It doesn't matter if you are ready to commit to the signature Korean 10-step skin care routine or just looking to try something new – Belieef.com has something for everyone!
There are a lot of stores on the Internet where you can buy Korean makeup online. What sets us apart from the competitors is our dedication to providing you with impeccable customer service at all times. That means 100% authentic products, quick delivery, fast online support, and free gifts almost with every order. Belieef.com store offers worldwide shipping of Korean cosmetics at affordable rates that depend on the weight of the package. If you are not satisfied with your purchase, you can return it to receive a full refund or store credit. Order at Belieef.com and get reward points that you can cash in later in our store to buy even more fantastic K-Beauty products! If you have any questions about our merchandise or delivery details, please contact us at any time.


The Noise Regs are very specific in what training has to be provided for employees our employee noise awareness training service can help you comply with this.
The training requirement applies to anyone who may experience daily noise exposures of 80 dB(A) and above - the lower of the two action levels.
What is the employee noise awareness training course content?
Before diving into the nuts and bolts of it all, some time is spent getting some key concepts about noise over to the enthralled attendees, in a rather chatty way using loads of examples. This means things like explaining that 0dB is not silence, that 3dB is doubling of the power of the noise which is important as it means 90dB(A) is twice as dangerous for them as an area at 87dB(A). Also a walk through common noise levels so they have something to relate to, hopefully giving it some meaning rather than it being just a load of random numbers. Time is spent in this part on non-occupational noise exposures as well as workplace ones so they get the idea that noise is a total exposure, not just something they get at work.
If the client can give us a copy of their noise assessment a week in advance we can modify this section for each specific course so it includes the noise levels in their workplace as part of the noise levels run-through.
This gives them some rough and ready ideas of how they can identify when noise levels are getting too high and may start to have an impact on their hearing. This is one of the mandatory parts of the training in L108.
The Noise Regs require employees to be trained in the effect of noise on hearing, which can sound a bit dry but from experience this is one of the parts attendees really seem to perk up about and take in. Admittedly, that could be because as well as describing how the ear actually 'hears' we talk about real cases we have come across of how people have damaged their hearing and we've never met a group of people who don't enjoy a good 'oooo, noooooo!" collective wince. And it makes them remember it.
While a section on anatomy followed by another explaining how noise damages hearing sounds utterly tedious on the surface, alongside the anatomy this is probably the part of the course attendees talk the most about afterwards.
The section starts off explaining how noise damages selective parts of hearing and how it develops and worsens, but the key bit is then a piece of music to which we have applied a series of filters to mimic developing hearing loss. This was created as it is hard for people to imagine the effects of hearing loss if they haven't suffered it themselves but this makes the deteriorating hearing stark, not just in terms of volume but in how 'mushy' sound gets with increasing noise-related losses.
The aim of this is dual-pronged, with the first intention being to turn all the theory into something they can actually hear and understand, and secondly to make them aware of the insidious nature of hearing loss and make them more aware of the risks, the impacts and hopefully, more compliant with the use of hearing protection at work.
Also the course then briefly talks about audiometry here as that is another mandatory part of the training, but it is kept brief as there is no benefit to them in wading through it in depth. Rather than talking about audiometry on its own, its done by mixing the audiometry parts in with examples of deteriorating hearing so they get the audiometry information without a dry 'this is a bit about audiometry' section.
This section, again a mandatory part, covers a few bits ranging from the dangers of removing hearing protection in a high noise area to talk to other people via a worked through example, the types of hearing protection available, plusses and minuses of each type, how to use it and how to maintain it.
There is then a summary of it all and a verbal Q&A to reiterate all the main parts.
Ideal attendee numbers per course are a max of 15 to 20.
Multiple courses are available in a day, covering shifts if needed. This reduces the overall equivalent cost per course quite nicely.
Noise awareness attendee sign-in records are maintained and given to the client after the session.
Noise awareness courses offered by The Noise Chap are available as bi-lingual courses, with them being offered in both English and Northern. "Now then lad, sit thee down as a've got fot tell thee about this 'ere noise gubbins".
With an online or DVD training session the employees get the same content, in the same standard way, every time, no matter what their specific circumstances are or whether they are taking parts of it in or not. With our noise training, the training is delivered by someone who has years and years of training experience but who also does noise assessments and audiometry, meaning they have the depth of knowledge to deal with any situation which arises or to answer any question and can tweak courses as needed to ensure maximum value on the day. If attendees ask questions time can be spent dealing with a situation which they are clearly interested in which can't be done with online or DVD training.
Face to face training may be old-fashioned and a bit more expensive, but it is far and away the best value.
As an example, on a recent course the attendees wanted to know why noise-cancelling headphones can't be used as hearing protection at work so the trainer diverted into this part at length and explained the logic behind it, also talking through the alternatives available to them. The result was they ended up perfectly happy with the reasoning and understood the issues and why their normal headphones couldn't be used.


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Taxi fare App to be launched soon
The information and communications ministry has developed an application, which will provide information on taxi fare for local and national destinations in the country.
The taxi fare App will provide taxi rate depending on the number of seats of the vehicles and the kilometers run while reaching the destination.
During a session with the ministry, a graduate at the national graduate orientation programme (NGOP) said that the taxi fare in the city is not uniform and that drivers charge high rates most times.
Road Safety and Transport Authority's (RSTA) Director General, Pemba Wangchuk, said the App would make the taxi fare system more transparent.
He added that the public transport buses also carry extra passengers and charge more. "After receiving complaints, RSTA has taken action against four buses in the past."
Information and communications minister D.N. Dungyel said that the passenger must try and report to RSTA with the name of the driver and the vehicle number when they are overcharged. "RSTA has already set a certain rate for taxi drivers and the information is provided on the RSTA website," he added.
Senior Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) officer, Tshering Dhendup, said that the App would be updated with the revised taxi fare. "The App has been developed and we will launch it soon."
The ministry will develop a similar App for bus fare and bus tracking system, which will give an estimate on the arrival of the public transport buses at destinations.
Lyonpo D.N Dungyel said that the ministry revises the rate twice a year.
The graduates also shared concerns regarding traffic rules applying only for certain vehicles.
Pemba Wangchuk said that the complaints regarding traffic rules are frequent and that it might be true. "This must not happen and we will ensure that this doesn't happen. The rules apply for all vehicles," he said.
During a session with the labour ministry, a graduate questioned the age limit and experience as criteria to get employment in certain sectors. Labour minister Ngyema Sangay Tshempo, said that the private and corporate sectors work to generate profit and has different rules and regulations.
However, he said that the ministry after discussing with private and corporate sectors provides jobs on a cost-sharing basis through direct employment scheme.
The eight-day orientation programme started on August 12.
Phurpa Lhamo