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Oakland Firefighters Random Acts
Creating A Positive Difference In the Lives of
Individuals Through Random Acts of Kindness
Mission Statement & Motto
Board of Directors & Support Staff
City Council Resolution
National Community
Books & Balls Program
Citizen Hero Program
Random Acts of Reading Program
Hospital Visitations Program
Junior Random Acts Program
Senior Random Acts Program
OFD Parade Fire Engine
Children's Hospital Oakland Family House Firefighter Playground
Random Acts of Science
Nolan & Nader
Irving Perez
Andy Pumphrey
Mr. Esser & Nick
Ben Muchin
Andy Noble
Random Acts Blog
The Random Acts of Science Project Brings Science and Astronomy to Underserved Children and Neighborhoods in the Oakland Community
Random Acts board members Oakland Firefighters Jim Whitty and Melvin Andrews (kneeling), along with Executive Director/CEO of Chabot Space & Science Center Alex Zwissler, and Gasia Mikaelian from KTVU-2 pose in a pre-launch photo for
Random Acts of Science ("RAS") is a new community outreach program that leverages the work of three organizations – Chabot Space & Science Center ("Chabot"), Eastbay Astronomical Society ("EAS"), and Oakland Firefighters Random Acts ("OFRA"). RAS proposes to bring science and astronomy to under-served neighborhoods of Oakland through the use of mobile technology and equipment via traveling telescope, computer hookup, and a large portable "pop up" screen. A portable production system is being created to bring the "Planets to the Playgrounds" with telescopes trained on the heavens, through cameras and video switching, projecting celestial images onto a giant inflatable movie screen, accompanied by a capable sound system. Equipment and personnel can accommodate outdoor (or indoor) presentations up to around 400 people, but a typical sized group would be about 100. Typically the outreaches would be arranged by OUSD school principals, civic organizations, social services organizations, or leaders in the faith community. Combining the astronomy equipment arriving at an outreach with the excitement of a fire engine, along with the role model Firefighter personnel and astronomers, we and our partners strongly believe we have the recipe for a very impressionable community outreach program.
The goals and objectives of the Random Acts of Science program are to help to instill an interest in science and technology in young people who live in under served neighborhoods in Oakland. Chabot Space & Science Center is a notable institution for its massive telescopes, but there are many members of our community (ESL immigrants and under served, living at the poverty level) that are intimidated by the facility and its location that seems far away to them. It is viewed by some in Oakland under served communities as the Center "on the hill."
The Random Acts of Science turns this challenge on its head and commits Chabot to bring telescopes and astronomy education to these families (with primary beneficiaries under served schoolchildren, community groups, seniors, and groups in the faith community) where they live and their children go to school. We propose, literally, to meet them where they live, in a gesture of respect and embrace of their neighborhoods. The psychological divide between members of these under served communities and a science center is a very real barrier, and a challenge shared by other institutions in our own city. Random Acts of Science is meant to bridge this divide, in a way that many existing resources can be deployed and help to reverse the severe decline of science literacy in our region. The end goal is that community members will feel welcome visiting the Chabot Space & Science Center, and, most importantly, allow their kids to participate in classes and after school programs, with the ultimate goal of increasing science literacy, which leads to college readiness and career choices. Melissa Rosengard-Russo of the Chabot Space & Science Center contributed to the information provided here about the Random Acts of Science program that will be launched Summer 2014.
The 1st Random Acts of Science presentation was unveiled
at Franklin Elementary School on October 24, 2014
Watch this slideshow-video of the premiere presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXUno_We6ZY
Watch this video of the 27′ screen inflating in 2 minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzulf2WfWYA
The Super Bowl 50 Fund named Larry Hendricks and the Chabot Space & Science Center a 50 Fund Playmaker on behalf of the
Random Acts of Science Program
Watch this video from 50 Fund Playmaker:
3 Responses to Random Acts of Science
Make A Donation to Oakland Firefighters Random Acts
Donate Now to the Jake Walter Scholarship Fund
For More Details on the Jake Walter Scholarship Fund
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© 2016, Oakland Firefighters Random Acts of Kindness. All rights reserved.


HONG KONG, CHINA--(Marketwired - Dec 16, 2015) - Regarding the article "Chinese Water Accounting Is Slippery" published by The Wall Street Journal, Beijing Enterprises Water Group (hereinafter referred to as "BEWG") issues a clarification statement to explain the accounting treatment of our build-operation-transfer projects (the "BOT Projects") under the Hong Kong financial reporting standards (the "HKFRSs") to enable investors a better understanding of our financial reports.
In accordance with Hong Kong Accounting Standard 11 Construction Contracts and HK (IFRIC) Interpretation 12 Service Concession Arrangements ("HK (IFRIC)-Int 12"), "If the operator provides construction or upgrade services the consideration received or receivable by the operator shall be recognised at its fair value"; and "If the operator performs more than one service (ie construction or upgrade services and operation services) under a single contract or arrangement, consideration received or receivable shall be allocated by reference to the relative fair values of the services delivered". In other words, construction revenue shall be recognised during the construction phase of the BOT Projects and the construction revenue shall be measured at its fair value. In determining the fair value of construction gross margin of the BOT Projects, we adopt a more prudent approach by annually engaging independent professionally qualified valuers to perform the fair value gross margin valuation. The fair value of the gross margin represents a profit margin prevailing in the market of similar business at the time of construction and is reviewed by independent auditors annually to ascertain the fair value of construction gross margin is up to date. We are unable to control the valuation result.
HK (IFRIC)-Int 12 stipulates guaranteed receipts-related and non-guaranteed receipts-related initial investments (i.e. construction receivables of the BOT Projects) alongside the construction gross margin shall be bifurcated as financial assets and intangible assets respectively. After initial measurement, financial assets are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest rate method. Yearly guaranteed receipts are then allocated as the settlements of the interest income, initial value of the financial assets and operating revenue. Interest income and operating revenue are recognised accordingly. On the other hand, initial costs of intangible assets, after initial measurement, are amortised over the service concession period.
As a result, total amount of the guaranteed receipts and non-guaranteed receipts are the same as the total amount of total investment cost, construction margin, interest income and operating revenue recognised throughout the service concession period.
1. Our financial statements are prepared strictly in accordance with the HKFRSs. The accounting policies adopted are in line with the HKFRSs, which are agreed and recognised by Ernst and Young, one of the Big Four auditing firms. In particular, the accounting treatment on service concession arrangements is strictly in line with the requirement of HK (IFRIC)-Int-12, which was effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2008 and was applicable to all entities adopting the HKFRSs engage in relevant service concession arrangements.
2. Prudent approach is consistently adopted in determining our construction gross margin for the BOT Projects, and our construction gross margin is maintained at an average to low level among the peers. Fair value of the construction gross margin is assessed annually by independent professionally qualified valuers and finalised upon agreement with the Big Four auditing firm, and we are unable to revise the construction gross margin without the unanimous consents of these independent experts.
In relation to the increase in fair value of the construction gross margin in 2014 as compared to that of prior years: At the time of the first adoption of HK(IFRIC)-Int-12 in 2008 when the standard first becomes effective, the independent professionally qualified valuers included entities in various construction industries as valuation comparables in assessing the fair value of the construction gross margin taking into account the number of entities engaged in the water-related construction businesses at that time. The valuation was performed annually to ensure the fair value of construction margin is update to date. In 2014, the independent professionally qualified valuers and the external auditors reassessed the construction gross margin by taking into account solely on entities engage in water-related construction businesses with a view of a fairer reflection of our financial performance.
3. We recognised interest income and operating income strictly in accordance with HK(IFRIC)-Int-12 and the recognition of interest income during the operation phase of the BOT Projects will not lead to any profit increment of BEWG based on the accounting principles explained in the above paragraphs.
4. In accordance with Hong Kong Accounting Standard 7 Statement of Cash Flows, the capital investments of the BOT Projects are classified as operating cashflows. In the past few years, water industry has maintained at a high-growth momentum. We seize the expansion opportunities and maintain a high level of investment in the construction of water treatment plants. This is also the main reason that BEWG has a net negative cashflow from operating activities on consolidation level. On the other hand, all of our water plants under operation generates positive operating cash flows and the cash flows keep growing on an annual basis.
5. BEWG always pays significant attention to monitor the quality and quantity investment of the BOT Projects and such business management strategy leads to attractive returns in recent years. We believe that under the close guidance and supervisions of our professional and management teams, our water projects could fuel up the future growth of BEWG, not only at the construction stage but more at the operating stage of the service concession projects. In addition, our other businesses will also contribute strong growth to BEWG.
As a listed company in The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, we will uphold our vision and mission, be practical at work, make every effort on timely communication with investors, be transparent in information disclosures in a timely manner, in order to create greater value and return for the shareholders.
The Company was incorporated in Bermuda as an exempted company with limited liability and the shares of which are listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. The ultimate holding company of the Company is Beijing Enterprises Holdings Limited, (HKSE: 0392). The Group strategically positions itself as a "leading integrated water system solution provider", and specializes in water service and environmental protection businesses, with waste water treatment as its core business segment.
The English translation is for reference only and the Chinese version shall prevail in case of any inconsistency between the Chinese version and English translation thereof.


The softest and laciest of the asparagus is the asparagus fern, Asparagus setaceus. The extremely small 'leaves' (or 'cladodes') are less than a quarter of an inch long. The tiny and mostly unnoticed pale white flowers that bloom sporadically in warm weather make it obvious that asparagus fern is not really a fern. (Ferns do not bloom.) If any green berries develop, they are toxic.
The wiry perennial stems can climb like vines to almost reach upstairs eaves, although most get less than half as high. Individual plants produce only a few stems, rarely more than ten. Pruning out old deteriorating stems stimulates new growth. Potted asparagus fern eventually gets crowded with swollen roots, so needs to graduate to larger pots. As a houseplant, it needs regular watering.
Just learned some things about these!! I have never liked them much, but that's because they're always potted. Now, outside, they would be quite different, but i doubt they would work here.
They can be weedy and difficult to get rid of if they happen to seed where they are not wanted. I happen to like them in the right spot.
I love the Asparagus fern. We had one for thirty years and it was at least twenty years old when we inherited. Sadly it died when we were away for a month and I forgot to ask the person looking after the garden to water my two house plants.
How sad to lose a houseplant that was half a century old!


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About PMG
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PMG Offers Label for Singapore Bicentennial Notes
A special label is being offered by PMG to commemorate the notes that celebrate the 200th anniversary of the establishment of Singapore. This label is available by request for no additional fee until December 31, 2019.
Paper Money Guaranty (PMG) is offering a special label for the 2019 $20 commemorative notes that Singapore is issuing to celebrate its bicentennial.
Note: This special label will be available by request for no additional fee until December 31, 2019. After that date, it will be available for a $5 (USD) fee per note.
Modern-day Singapore traces its roots to the establishment of a British port in 1819. That trading post grew into an international business hub with a population of more than 5 million, a nation that today has a gross domestic product per capita that is among the highest in the world.
2019 Singapore Bicentennial Commemorative $20
The front of the note shows Yusof Ishak, who served as the first president of Singapore from 1965 (when it separated from Malaysia) until his death in 1970. At the center of the note is the National Gallery Singapore, an art museum whose complex previously housed the Supreme Court Building and City Hall.
The back of the note shows eight pioneers who made significant contributions to Singapore's history, including Munshi Abdullah, a writer who moved to Singapore in 1819. A vintage view of Singapore is shown in the foreground, contrasting with modern skyscrapers situated toward the horizon.
The special PMG label celebrates these notes by showing a modern Singapore cityscape. This label is available at no additional fee for a limited time, provided notes are submitted according to the special submission instructions below.
Submit the Singapore Bicentennial $20 commemorative notes under any applicable PMG grading tier. These notes must be submitted on a separate PMG Submission Form to receive the special label.
Write "Singapore Bicentennial Label #0126" in bold letters on the PMG Submission Form to request this special label. The Special Label Fee is waived for notes received before December 31, 2019.
Notes received by PMG within 30 days of release are eligible for the "Early Releases" or "First Releases" special designations. There is an additional fee of $10 (USD) per note for the special designation verification and attribution. If you would like the Early Releases or First Releases designation, select the appropriate box on the submission form. Submissions must be received by PMG on or before Wednesday, July 10, 2019 to be eligible for the Early Releases and First Releases designations. See cutoff dates >
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The technique does not include toxins or secondary metabolites that are produced from living organisms as these are nonliving. In 2000, biopesticides sales worldwide had a value of US $160 million of which about 90% contained Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a Gram-positive bacterium found in soil or on plant surfaces. The sales of biopesticides have been increasing rapidly since the 1980s.
This market is mainly driven by consumer requirements for environmental and human health and the increasing problem of pest resistance. Currently, key markets for these products are organic and integrated pest management (IPM) systems and systems with high pest resistance and high-value speciality crops.
The first example of a commercially available biopesticide was in the 1920s, where Encarsia formosa was sold to control greenhouse whitefly. This biopesticide is currently widely available commercially and has been sold in increasing amounts since initiation. This is one of the several examples where an invertebrate species has been used as a biopesticide agent and is largely successful because of the controlled environment of a greenhouse. Generally, invertebrates are not considered to be appropriate for the technique as they are too difficult to apply and are generally too mobile for field conditions. The first biopesticide containing a microorganism as the biologically active ingredient was Bt and was used in France in the 1930s; it is a product which has dominated the biopesticide market ever since. From this time, development in the area has been focused on creating a product that is easy to culture, store, and apply, has a fast impact, and is environmentally robust. Initially potential agents were usually tested and found to be effective under the ideal environmental conditions of the laboratory, then applied under field conditions where they often failed. Failures were commonly a result ofpoor spray coverage, low spore viability, or unfavorable environmental conditions. The importance of the environment for agent virility was then fully acknowledged and agents were then screened and tested for effectiveness under different climatic conditions. This approach not only assessed compatibility between the agent and the host, but also propagule hardiness and viability under adverse conditions. Efforts were also spent on formulating a nutrient-rich, stable medium in which the propagule could be stored and applied, in an attempt to maximize the agent's efficacy.
Currently, research in the area comprises many disciplines including pathology, physiology, genetics, mass culturing, formulation technology, and propagule stabilization and application; yet there is little collaboration between the disciplines and this hinders the rate of development of the technology. Interest in biopesticide products from agriculture is also generally low due to the fragmented nature of the industry, the lack of interest from agrochemical industries, the availably of 'soft' orthodox pesticides, low grower awareness, and their education about and perception of biopesticides. For the technology to develop further, these things need to change and growers need to change their view of biopesticides from purely a substitute for agrochemicals to a biological organism with environmental requirements.


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Владислав Теофилович Малаховский (, 26.05.1837, имение Мацы, Кобринский уезд, Гродненская губ. — 07.10.1900, Женева) — офицер царской армии, инсургент, изобретатель прототипа современного фотоаппарата. В эмиграции был известен под именем Леон Варнерке ().

Ранние годы
В 1837 году у полковника Теофила Малаховского в его поместье под Кобрином родился сын Владислав. Поместье Мацы Стрыговской волости насчитывало примерно 300 жителей. Семья Малаховских владела порядка 415 десятинами земли. После домашнего обучения юноша получал знания в Свислочской гимназии. Когда ему исполнилось тринадцать, его отправили в Петербург учиться в Институт инженеров путей сообщения (закрытое военно-учебное заведение, в которое принимали только детей потомственных дворян). Владислав окончил курс в 1859 году третьим в списке и в чине инженера-поручика был направлен служить под Динабург (совр. Даугавпилс). В Вильно работал на строительстве железной дороги Петербург-Варшава.

Участие в восстании
В 1863 году вспыхнуло польское восстание и быстро охватило Беларусь и Литву. Владислав Малаховский стал его активным участником, ближайшим сподвижником одного из вождей левого крыла Кастуся Калиновского, с которым вместе учился в С.-Петербурге.

Виленский генерал-губернатор М. Н. Муравьёв принял все возможные меры для подавления восстания. В Вильно, где находилась резиденция генерал-губернатора, был к тому времени переведён служить Малаховский.

Сохранились письма Малаховского, в которых прослеживаются его радикальные революционные взгляды : «Пусть хотя бы один угнетатель крестьян захрипит на виселице перед прежними своими неграми за донос, за невыполнение приказа и долга, за неизгладимые и невознаградимые обиды, принесенные народу».Летом 1863 года Малаховский отдал приказ казнить виленского предводителя дворянства Домейко. Покушение не удалось, но стало поводом для новых арестов среди тех, кто сочувствовал повстанцам. Против Малаховского прямых улик не было. В день покушения он находился во дворце генерал-губернатора и даже был ему представлен. Тем не менее, молодой инженер попал под подозрение. Генерал-губернатор М. Н. Муравьёв выдал ордер на его арест и назначил 10 тысяч рублей вознаграждения за его голову. Малаховский был заочно приговорён к смертной казни. В списке разыскиваемых значился как «Малаховский — Корпуса Путей Сообщения поручик».

В начале августа подпольный комитет поручил ему наладить связи с «Землёй и Волей». Задание он выполнил.

В 1863 году Малаховский перебрался за границу — в Кёнигсберг, где занимался закупкой и доставкой оружия для повстанцев Калиновского. Участвовал в издании газеты «Głos z Litwy» («Голос из Литвы»,1864). Около 1870 г. он поселился с женой и дочерью в Лондоне. У него был фальшивый паспорт на имя Леона Варнерке.

Изобретатель и фотограф
В 70-х гг. XIX века в лондонском квартале Чемпион Хилл на первом этаже виллы «Сильверхоу» располагалась фирма «Варнерке и Ко» (название виллы владелец сделал светящимися красками, что привлекало внимание прохожих в вечернее время суток). На фирме изготавливали обычные фотоматериалы и принадлежности. Также Л. Варнерке начал энергично заниматься научной работой и проектными исследованиями в области фотографии. Проживая в Лондоне, он имел возможность познакомиться с достижениями в области цветной фотографии братьев Люмьер и Габриэля Липпмана.

Леон Варнерке придумал, как создать для фотопластинок сухой коллодионный светочувствительный слой, что впоследствии позволило отказаться от мокрых коллодионных пластинок, требующих полива непосредственно перед съёмкой. Таким образом, изобретение позволило полностью разделить съёмку и обработку фотоматериала, а кроме того резко снизить его вес. Варнерке принадлежит ещё одна идея, изменившая всю технологию фотографии — рулонный светочувствительный материал.

В 1875 году Леон Варнерке создал и выпустил на рынок фотоаппарат, который в основных чертах стал прямым предшественником современных любительских камер. Фирма Варнерке изготавливала фотоаппараты, кассеты которых заряжались рулоном светочувствительной бумаги с переносимым сухим коллодионным слоем на сто снимков. В 1881 году светочувствительность фотобумаги была увеличена заменой сухого коллодионного слоя желатиносеребряной эмульсией с бромидом серебра. Л. Варнерке охарактеризовал свое изобретение следующим образом: «Фотография становится доступною отныне ученым путешественникам и артистам и вообще всем, желающим пользоваться ее услугами, даже без предварительного знания фотографических манипуляций или надобности производить их лично. Путешественник, естествоиспытатель, офицер в военной рекогносцировке, метеоролог, живописец, механик, техник и т. д. снабженный аппаратом с кассетою, должны только знать, как получить изображение на матовом стекле, что столько же легко, как употребление бинокля в театре. Затем, вставив кассету на место матового стекла, остается только отворить крышку объектива на время, указанное более или менее точно при высылке аппарата; вот и вся работа, которая может назваться фотографическою. Негативная ткань, содержащая полученное таким образом невидимое изображение, может быть передана потом или переслана, для проявления, более знакомому с тайнами фотографического искусства».Камеры и светочувствительный фотоматериал его фирмы стоили недешево, фирма приносила владельцу солидный доход. В связи с продвижением своего товара, Варнерке постоянно находился в разъездах — Париж, Брюссель, Берлин, Москва, Петербург. Изобретения Варнерке широко применялись на практике известной фирмой «Кодак».

В Петербурге, на Вознесенском проспекте (ныне проспект Майорова), в доме 31 размещалась Фотографическая лаборатория «Варнерке и Ко», удостоенная серебряной медали на Всероссийской выставке 1882 года в Москве.

28 января 1878 года Л. В. Варнерке выступил с докладом на заседании Русского технического общества. Варнерка Лев Викентьевич числился среди членов-учредителей V (фотографического) отделения Императорского русского технического общества, наряду с Д. И. Менделеевым. Сохранилась его фотография с дарственной надписью на русском языке: «С выражением глубокого уважения к Д. И. Менделееву. Л. Варнерке. 2 марта 1878, С. Петербург», а также его письма, адресованные Менделееву.

В 1880 г. изобрёл «сенситометр Варнерке» — приспособление для измерения светочувствительности фотоматериалов. В 1881 г. Малаховский разработал другую модель камеры для фотоплёнки на 40 негативов.

Известен Варнерке и по обвинению в изготовлении фальшивых российских рублей. В одном из филиалов лаборатории Леона Варнерке были обнаружены фальшивые деньги. Суд не смог доказать причастность Владислава Малаховского к печатанию фальшивок. Однако 7 октября 1900 г. Владислав Малаховский покончил с собой: застрелился в одном из отелей Женевы.

Коллекции и инструменты Варнерке, которые после его смерти принадлежали дочери, сгорели в Лондоне во время Второй мировой войны при бомбардировках люфтваффе.

Долгое время Варнерке воспринимали как русского либо венгерского фотографа. Истинная идентичность Малаховского с Варнерке была определена известным фотохимиком Витольдом Ромером.

Примечания

Литература
 Вендеровский К. В. «Вы нажимаете на кнопку — мы делаем остальное»// Химия и жизнь. — 1988. — № 11.
 Рублевская, Л. И. Рыцари и дамы Беларуси: исторические очерки. Кн. 2 / Людмила Ивановна Рублевская.— Минск : Мастацкая. літаратура, 2016.— 254 с. -ISBN 978-985-02-1672-4.
 Рублевская Л. Вино, кассеты и фальшивые банкноты// Советская Белоруссия (Минск). — № 199 (24580). — Пятница, 17 октября 2014 г.
 Капылоў І. Малахоўскія// Звязда (Мінск). -№ 11 (26). — 23 красавіка 2013 г.
 Latoś H. 1000 słów o fotografii. — Warszawa: Wydawnictwo MON, 1979. — s. 166, 167, 329. — ISBN 83-11-06232-3,
 Słownik polskich pionierów techniki/ pod red. Bolesława Orłowskiego. — Katowice: Wydawnictwo Śląsk, 1984. — s. 131—132.- ISBN 83-216-0339-4,
 Orłowski B. Nie tylko szablą i piórem. — Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Komunikacji i Łączności, 1985. — s. 180—183. — ISBN 83-206-0509-1.

Документалистика

Ссылки
 Алямкин А. В. Новые данные о подделках Леона Варнерке, доклад на VII Всероссийской конференции бонистов, Москва, 30 ноября 2013
 Парамонов О. В. Дело Леона Варнерке, доклад на I международной конференции «Деньги в Российской истории: вопросы производства, обращения, бытования», Санкт-Петербург, 18-19 октября 2018

Польские повстанцы 1863 года
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Welcome back to Wellness Wednesday everyone! Since February is Heart Month, I thought we'd talk a little about taking care of our hearts. Our hearts work hard for us, pumping around 2,000 gallons of blood throughout our body each day. The least we can do is show them a little love….
Did you know that heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States?
According to healthfinder.gov, "every year, 1 in 4 deaths are caused by heart disease." That's pretty scary, isn't it? It's especially distressing because so many of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease are things we're doing to ourselves.
That's the bad news. Now for the good news: Heart disease can often be prevented by making healthy lifestyle choices and managing health conditions. Let's take a look at a few things that may help us reduce our risk.
Know your numbers. We've probably all heard the saying that what we don't know can't hurt us, While that may be true in some cases, it certainly is not in this one. It's important to know our blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose numbers, as each of these can contribute to heart health or heart disease.
Manage blood pressure. Keeping our blood pressure within normal ranges can reduce strain on our circulatory system. This helps reduce one of the major risk factors.
Keep cholesterol within healthy ranges. We need to work with our medical team to make sure not only our total cholesterol, but our LDL and HDL cholesterol, as well as our triglycerides are at the desired level.
Keep blood sugar under control. Chronic, high levels of glucose in the blood can damage our hearts, kidneys, and other organs.
Eat healthfully. Diet plays a huge role in our overall health, and eating a heart-healthy diet can help us feel our best and reduce our risk of heart disease.
Get (or stay) active. The recommended level of activity is currently 150 minutes of moderate activity per week, but if you're not there, don't stress about it. Remember, something is better than nothing. Every little bit of movement helps. Just start where you are and build up slowly.
Stay at a healthy weight. Maintaining a healthy weight helps us reduce stress on our heart and other organs, as well as our musculoskeletal system.
Reduce stress. Let's face it – stress puts a strain not just on our mental health, but can increase inflammation in the body, which can begin to affect our hearts.
Don't smoke, and avoid second-hand smoke. Smoking can greatly increase our risk of developing cardiovascular disease, and even if we're not smoking ourselves, breathing in someone else's smoke can do the same damage.
If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. Although some studies have shown that red wine can be beneficial for heart health, studies have also shown that too much alcohol can damage our hearts and other organs. "Moderate" alcohol consumption is defined as no more than 1 drink per day for women and no more than 2 drinks per day for men.
If you'd like more information, the American Heart Association has a wonderful resource to help us take small steps toward heart health, called Life's Simple 7. They include seven steps we can take to improve our cardiovascular health, and with each step, they have links that take you to resources that can help with each step.
Let's be our own valentine this year. Let's make a commitment to be more intentional about our heart health, and do things that help us strengthen our hearts and weaken our risks.
Do you know your numbers? What's one thing you do for your heart health? Please share!
Some great reminders Terri and very appropriate and practical take on Valentines!
Thank you Marie! Leave it to me to have a practical take on a day that's supposed to be about romance….😂 Hope you're doing well!
I like this twist on Valentine's day.
Thanks V.J.! I hope you and your hubby have a great Valentine's Day!
A happy heart is a healthy heart this Valentine's Day. I need to pay attention! Heart disease runs in my family, especially in the women. Great post and resource. Thanks Terri! xo~k.
Thanks so much Kim! I know I'm really going to start paying more specific attention to my heart health now that I'm not a spring chicken anymore…. I hope you and your hubby have a happy Valentine's Day!
Thanks so much Caz! It's amazing what workhorses our hearts actually are…. I hope your heart is feeling great, and that you have a lovely day today!
Thank you Terri. Heart disease is a big issue on my mother's side of the family. It is always at the back of my mind. Thankfully, my sisters and I are doing OK. Happy Valentines Day.
I'm so glad to hear you and your sisters are doing well with your heart health Brigid. Happy Valentine's Day to you as well!
I loved how you tied Valentine's Day with heart disease. I've had several family members succumb to heart attacks when I was younger and it's because of that that I've always made sure my ticker was in functioning order. It's always good to know these things because our heart is what keeps life flowing through us.
Thank you so much Resa! I appreciate your kind words.
Thank you so much Kate! Hope your week is off to a great start!
indeed it is, thanks so much!


Discussion in 'Components, Accessories and Clothing' started by postman, 24 Jan 2008.
The courier has just left me a box.The shirt is superb.Boy will we all stand out.I went for the blue one a good summer colour choice.You will not be dissapointed.
I seem to have missed the thread about these jerseys. Are there any available? Would it be poss to see a pic of one?
More news and photo here.
Pics of the blue ones put on the other page.
Any chance of sending mine to Lebanon instead of the london address?
Just read the stuff about the typo. Can i have the one with the typo and a proper one with the correction?


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2024 BMW M3 Touring Wagon Rumors
2024 BMW M3 Touring Wagon
2024 BMW M3 Touring Wagon – Maybe soon BMW will reveal the new M3 sedan and M4 coupe. While fans have long craved the M3 Touring – a wagon – it will once again be absent from disclosure.
However, that may change in a few years. We hope that M3 Touring will be relaunched in 2024.
A new report from BMWBlog says the M3 Touring has got the green light in Munich, although nothing official. This will be a welcome edition, although we will have to wait for the opportunity to drive it.
BMWBlog said news of the model's approval came from a reliable source, adding, there is a real possibility this is true. For years, BMW insisted it did not want to expand the M brand to include 3 Series wagon models.
If those rumors are proven true, then we won't see M3 Touring arrive until after 2023, meaning US customers will likely wait a little longer to buy it if it comes to fruition.
When BMW reveals both in September, the automaker's 3.0-liter B58 inline-six engine will produce more than 500 horsepower (373 kilowatts) in top models.
In addition, there will be a less powerful Pure trim for both that sends power through the manual gearbox to the rear wheels.
We don't know what M3 Touring looks like, but unofficial renderings see what it looks like. Both shots show the back, giving us a great look at the roof and elongated hatch.
The bottom bumper is sporty, with a quad exhaust tip. Other M3 Touring designs will resemble regular M3 sedans, especially on the front – including a prominent grille. It's just a rumor, and we won't know anything official until BMW launches the model.
2022 BMW M3 and M4 Competition xDrive
The xDrive version has emerged since BMW introduced the rear-wheel-driven M3 Sedan and M4 Coupe in September 2020.
Both new cars are much faster than their respective Rwd Competition versions. It was the first M3 and M4 model to offer an AWD drive system.
BMW M3 and M4 Engine
Available exclusively with an eight-speed automatic transmission and torque converter developed by ZF, the new BMW M3 Competition xDrive and M4 Competition xDrive share the same twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six engine as the RWD Competition model.
Output remains equivalent at 503 horsepower and 479 pound-feet (650 Newton-meter) of torque. However, the acceleration time of 0-60 miles per hour has been trimmed by about 0.4 seconds – to just 3.4 seconds.
Maximum speeds are electronically limited to 155 mph (250 km/h), but the optional M Performance Package will loosen it to 180 mph (290 km/h).
The M3 and M4 models weigh about 3,990 pounds.
There is no doubt that the hardware carried by xDrive has increased the weight of the vehicle. However, BMW is confident that it will bring more profit rather than a burden.
in addition to faster acceleration, the AWD-driven M3 and M4 Competition models have a total amount of torque, which is available "to a greater extent during acceleration and dynamic driving."
The xDrive system automatically delivers torque between two axles via an electronically controlled multi-plate clutch.
During everyday driving with the default 4WD setting enabled, torque is distributed to the rear axle and delivered to the front wheels only if additional traction is required.
Switching to the 4WD Sport sends more torque to the rear axle.
While the 2WD mode allows for a pure rear-wheel-drive experience like the larger M5 sedan, dynamic stability control must be turned off as a condition.
The 2022 BMW M3 Competition xDrive is priced at 76,900 US dollars, making it 4,100 US dollars more expensive than the equivalent RWD model.
While the M4 Competition xDrive costs you $78,800, excluding destination and handling costs of $995.
BMW will sell this performance car duo in the United States (U.S.) starting next August. The M3 and M4 ranges will also grow with the M4 Convertible and the first M3 Touring.
New 2022 BMW M340i Redesign
New 2023 BMW M3 Touring Release Date
2022 BMW M3 Rumors, New Powertrain Update
2021 BMW M3 Pure Horsepower, New Concept
Categories: BMW M3
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H Blog / Get Educated / Making Connections That Last In The Industry
Lauren Rebecca Roth January 24, 2018
Making Connections That Last In The Industry
How do you make connections that last in the creative industry?
Making Connections | Photo by Michelle Terris
The longer I'm in the industry, the more I realize that almost all of my friends work in fashion. The fashion industry is an insanely close network, not just in your main city, but all over.
Related: The Best Creatives in the USA
With the use of social media, it's easier now more than ever to be in contact with photographers, stylists, makeup artists and other creators.
It can be intimidating when you're trying to build your book, or going to a new place for the first time, but reaching out and trying to make those connections can completely change your life.
When you're reaching out online, always be as detailed as possible. Here's an example that I wrote when I was going to LA and wanted to meet a big name photographer:
"Hey *photographer's name*,
My name's Lauren, I'm from Chicago and will be in LA from May 1-10 for a booking. I was wondering if you'd be interested or available to work together while I'm out there. If not, I'll be meeting up with a group of people to hang out at *insert club name here* on the evening of May 8th. Let me know if you're down to hang out.
Best, Lauren"
If a photographer gives you their rates, don't be offended since doing photoshoots is the way photographers make money. By saying if they can't shoot you're meeting up with a bunch of other people in the industry, you're leaving the door open or a friendship, which could lead to shoots in the future.
Related: How To Navigate The Industry
Appreciate The Work Of Others
On top of reaching out to photographers for shoots, if you appreciate someone's work, tell them! Tell a creator how their work inspires you and how much you enjoy seeing their work on your feed! This is more about building a relationship with creators you love and spreading positivity and encouragement throughout the community.
When you're reaching out and thanking people for creating such beautiful shots, you're showing you're more interested in the growth of everyone rather than just yourself and your book. Replying to Instagram stories or commenting on Facebook and Instagram posts is a great way to say you're engaging with their work and enjoying it.
So you're shooting with your dream photographers, who you've become close friends with, now what? Maintaining these friendships, and making sure they're actually genuine, is the most challenging part. A good way to support them is sharing their accomplishments in your own story or through interacting with their work. Attending their events, gallery openings and other social events is a good way to maintain these working relationships.
Related: How To Get Started As A Stylist
Develop Closer Relationships
For a closer relationship, my friends who are in the industry and I will host game nights and other activities, like bowling–sounds lame but is actually a great way to have fun and introduce new people into our group.
Find something fun to do with your core group, at least once a month, that fits what you guys love to do! When we create events, we try to include at least one new person from the industry to make sure we're always meeting new people and growing as a group.
Ultimately these friendships and connections are like any other friendship you're trying to build. Find a way to make connections that are uniquely you.
Subscribe to receive updates on branding, marketing and how to build your business.
How To Network As A Model
This Is Why Networking Is Key If You're A Creative Professional
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Мухаммед Штайе (, 17 января 1958, Наблус, Иордания) — палестинский политический и государственный деятель. Премьер-министр Государства Палестина с 10 марта 2019 года. Экономист, педагог. Доктор наук (1989).

Биография
С 1976 по 1981 год изучал деловое администрирование и экономику в Бирзейтском университете. В 1989 году получил докторскую степень по экономике в Университете Сассекса. С 2009 года работал министром Палестинского экономического совета по развитию и реконструкции.

Член ФАТХ.

Автор многочисленных публикаций в области экономики, политологии и истории. Активный переговорщик в израильско-палестинском конфликте. Преподаватель Бирзейтского университета. Был министром общественных работ и строительств, министром внутренних дел (2019-2022).

13 апреля 2019 года М. Штайе и его кабинет были приведены к присяге. Новое правительство состоит, в основном, из членов «ФАТХ» Махмуда Аббаса. Другие партии, такие как Народный фронт освобождения Палестины, отказались участвовать в правительстве, потому что хотят, чтобы правительство объединилось с радикальной исламистской группировкой «ХАМАС».

Штайе считается сторонником решения конфликта с Израилем на основе сосуществования двух государств.

Примечания

Ссылки
 Mohammed Shtayyeh wird palästinensischer Regierungschef

Премьер-министры Палестинской национальной администрации
Палестинские политики
Палестинские экономисты
Палестинские педагоги
Доктора наук
Действующие руководители государств
Члены ФАТХ
 Министры Палестинской национальной администрации
Премьер-министры, вступившие в должность в 2019 году


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When patients get to buy their own health care
The time is coming when you&ll negotiate fees with patients, not insurers. You&ll tailor your practice to suit your target clientele. And you&ll have more opportunity to deliver high-quality care.
When patients buy their own health care
Jump to: Choose article section... How defined-contribution purchasing works Exploring the new frontier in health care What does defined contribution contribute to doctors? What it will take to gain converts Getting the market going
The time is coming when you'll negotiate fees with patients, not insurers. You'll tailor your practice to suit your target clientele. And you'll have more opportunity to deliver high-quality care.
By Michael Parrish
If you yearn to redesign your practice, even to survive without managed care, take heart. After decades of discussion, defined-contribution health benefits have caught the eye of a substantial and growing number of employers. Most doctors have yet to be affected. But it's already high time to learn why proponents say these systems could let you take charge of your business side again—and to reforge the bond with your patients. "Particularly for primary care people, there may be light at the end of the tunnel," declares James R. Emshoff, executive in residence on the faculty of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Defined-contribution strategies are part of a powerful trend to consumrism in health care. They'll give patients far more say in choosing their health care, much as 401(k) plans gave employees more control over their retirement plans. Leading the charge are employers who are facing a new round of health plan premium hikes and are concerned about their employees' exasperation with managed care restrictions. And as many physicians become familiar with the defined-contribution concept, they see potential benefits for themselves, too, particularly in the areas of finance and patient care.
A central goal in defined-contribution arrangements is to return medical and financial decisions to doctors and patients, with minimum intrusion and administrative overhead from insurers. Direct purchase of routine treatment cuts out such managed care bottlenecks as claims forms. And in these new plans and marketplaces, doctors set their own fees and can customize their services to compete for employees' discretionary dollars.
"The beauty of the idea," says San Francisco internist William S. Andereck, "is that it puts at least some of the buying power—especially the added-on, discretionary buying power—back where it belongs, in the patient's hands." Andereck, chair of the California Medical Association's Solo and Small Group Practice Forum, urges doctors to evaluate the defined-contribution model. It's been a hot topic for the 9,000 doctors in his forum lately, and Andereck is eager for them to be a test group for the system.
Meanwhile, a crop of new companies has already signed up the first defined-contribution generation of patients, doctors, and employers (see below).
How defined-contribution purchasing works
Conventional employee health programs offer defined benefits. That is, the employer decides what health insurance, with what level of benefits, the company will offer. Physicians negotiate fees with insurers, not patients.
With defined contributions, the employer decides how much the company will spend on health care benefits for each employee. It's up to the employee how to spend that allotment. Typically, the employer deposits part or all of the company contribution into individual employee health-benefits accounts. Patients pay routine fees to doctors and other providers directly from these accounts, usually with a debit card that transfers the cash immediately. Any cash left in the account at year-end can be rolled over and saved for subsequent years.
Usually, a defined-contribution account is paired with a high-deductible catastrophic insurance policy. As they can with a medical-savings or flexible-spending account, employees can use the cash for a wide range of medical purposes, including office visits, copays, extended consultations with doctors, new eyeglasses, alternative therapies, or elective treatments such as laser eye surgery. The insurance kicks in when big-ticket outlays are incurred and patient expenses surpass the policy's annual deductible. Some plans also cover routine preventive treatments before the deductible is reached.
Employees who want a wider choice of doctors in their plan, or first-dollar insurance—which pays the entire bill, with no deductible—can take money from their individual accounts or have pre-tax dollars withheld from their paychecks to pay the higher insurance premium. Those who choose bare-bones insurance will have more discretionary money in their personal accounts.
Most of the new companies vying to operate in the defined-contribution arena are selling health plans aimed at replacing conventional insurance. They administer an employer's defined-contribution employee accounts, offer employees choices of how to spend that money—usually through a PPO or an online marketplace of individual doctors and other providers—and they manage the high-deductible insurance that is underwritten by established insurers or self-insured employers.
This gives employees direct control over much of their money and essentially makes them their own gatekeepers. Under such plans, patients can self-refer to a specialist, for example—without managed-care-style preauthorization—because they're paying for the consultation out of their personal medical accounts.
These new companies operate mainly online, where employees can compare insurance premiums and benefits, doctors' and hospitals' fees and services, and, increasingly, medical outcomes. An employee who has a question takes it to the defined-contribution plan, not to an employer or insurer.
Employees still buy their catastrophic insurance at the group rates employers have always received, which remain lower than rates on the open market. Remaining in an employee risk pool also ensures that chronically ill employees won't be denied insurance. At the same time, premiums paid to insurers are risk-adjusted so that no single insurer bears an unfair share of the cost of treating the sickest patients.
Instead of online marketplaces, aimed at helping employees decide how to spend their money, a defined-contribution company might operate an online cash-and-carry market in which employees use their accounts to shop for complementary health care goods and services not usually covered by conventional health plans. HealthAllies, a Glendale, CA-based online market, is already doing a brisk business listing participating physicians who offer discounted cosmetic surgery, laser eye surgery, infertility treatments, and acupuncture, in addition to primary care and conventional specialties. Patients place their selections in online shopping carts, a la the Internet merchant Amazon.com.
Cleveland-based HealthSync administers a defined-contribution marketplace for health insurance, just as Fidelity runs employer retirement investment plans. Employers decide how much they'll pay for employee health care. HealthSync offers those employees a wide variety of conventional and defined-contribution plans to choose from—with the insurance portion of each one priced at the employer's group rate. Premiums paid insurers are also risk-adjusted so that no single insurer bears an unfair share of the cost of treating the sickest patients.
What's more, the new health plans encourage physicians and physician groups to market themselves on their own terms. One such plan, developed by Minnesota-based Vivius, allows employees to individualize their provider network—choosing doctors and hospitals one by one. "We create a supermarket with 22 different 'aisles'—for family physicians, orthopedists, ob/gyns, hospitals, and so forth," explains Vivius Chief Medical Officer Lee N. Newcomer, who once practiced as an internist and medical oncologist and is a former vice president of health policy at the managed care giant UnitedHealth Group. "At Vivius," says Newcomer, "every one of those doctors has different prices."
Exploring the new frontier in health care
Most of the new companies have their own approach; Vivius, for example, lets doctors choose between fee-for-service payments and monthly capitation payments. Some skeptics note that many physicians aren't well-equipped to take on financial risk. But Newcomer points out that they take on only the risks associated with their own time and services. Pharmacy and catastrophic-disease risks are carried by companies with insurance expertise, which market their wares to patients in other aisles. And if the doctors set their fees too high for the patient market, or too low to cover their cost of doing business, they're free to adjust their rates.
A larger concern is the potential for employers to use defined-contribution plans to shift too much of their health care costs to employees. Some unions and consumer groups worry that employers could use defined-contribution accounts to lock in their health care expenses at a fixed level, and to transfer all future cost hikes to workers.
And perhaps some will. To employers, defined contribution implies a fixed expense. It helps them both limit that expense and more accurately predict it. At the same time, such plans could make patients less willing to seek treatment, since they'll be paying for it from their health care accounts—or their bank accounts.
Among health care experts, there's also some concern that defined-contribution plans might take money out of the health care system, unless employees made up the difference out of their own pockets. But most proponents don't expect employers to shift the full load of future cost hikes to their workers.
Uwe E. Reinhardt, a health economist at Princeton University, agrees that companies might be tempted to "play games" with their employees' share of health costs. But he believes that as more workers perceive their companies' health care contribution as part of their total compensation—not a free perk—companies won't want to look stingy. After all, they compete for workers with their total compensation packages. "Ultimately, in a tight labor market, there are limits to the cost-containment that can be had," says Reinhardt.
Portland, OR, family practitioner Dave Sanders agrees. Sanders and two other physicians founded Myhealthbank, a defined-contribution company offering plans to small and medium-sized companies. "That notion of fixing the contribution is just too short-sighted," he says. "It's not part of the intent of any employer I'm talking to."
Another concern has been that if employees are turned loose to buy health care, they'll forfeit the reduced rates of group risk pools under conventional employer insurance policies. Reinhardt acknowledges this possibility by dividing defined-contribution schemes into "maternal" and "you're on your own" models.
The maternal model resembles the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, in which the federal Office of Personnel Management negotiates premium rates with insurers, then offers government employees a wide variety of health care options. In this model, private employers offer workers a wide choice of plans, but still negotiate with all insurers to keep rates based on company-specific risk pools.
Reinhardt sees the "on your own" model—in which employees would simply be given a voucher to buy care on the open market—as a less likely scenario. Employers would be reluctant to adopt this model, he says, since it "would basically be the kiss of death to the employer-based health system." It would be particularly hard on chronically ill employees, who would have trouble finding policies since their risk wouldn't be pooled.
Regina Herzlinger, a professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School and author of the forthcoming Consumer-Driven Health Care (Jossey-Bass, 2001), agrees that the switch to consumer choice will occur under the employer's umbrella. "Incentives for plans to enroll sick patients are very important in a consumer-oriented system," she says.
What does defined contribution contribute to doctors?
Most important, defined contribution makes the patient—not the managed care plan—the consumer again. "If patients choose to fire doctors," says Duke University's Emshoff, "it'll be because they're dissatisfied, not because the employer pulled the plug on a medical program."
A stable patient base is more cost-effective to a practice and helps to build loyalty and trust. "Continuity of care has a substantial economic value," adds allergist Joel M. Karlin, chairman of the board of Health Insurance Select, a company that expects to offer employers an online marketplace for conventional and defined-contribution plans later this year. "And branding is becoming important for health plans, clinics, and physicians."
More and more patients will pay their doctors in cash, proponents say. And more patient information and health care transactions will be on the Internet. For physicians' staffs, this will simplify billing, appointment scheduling, eligibility and referral processing, and other contacts with insurers, employers, specialists, and patients. Also on the plus side: avoiding the claims-processing and other overhead required by managed care saves money. Newcomer, of Vivius, estimates that doctors could see their overhead drop by 20 to 25 percent if their practice were allied with a Vivius-model plan.
As in other consumer-driven markets, market segmentation will allow doctors to find a practice niche of their own choice. Some solo practices and medical groups might still want to compete by charging low fees to a large panel of patients. Others might charge higher fees to affluent patients in a small "concierge" practice. No matter which route they choose, doctors will have the luxury of rethinking their options.
Admittedly, some of those options will look awfully familiar. Reinhardt predicts that defined contributions will create a four-tier, income-based US health system. The first tier, he says, will be the 42.6 million uninsured Americans. Tier 2—the likely dominion of low-income employees—will feature tightly managed HMOs with gatekeepers. Middle- and upper-class workers in a third tier will have more choice under PPOs and the new plans designed for defined-contribution benefit systems. The fourth tier, says Reinhardt, will be for those willing and able to pay for boutique medicine—the concierge practice—which he expects to flourish. "If you have 50 families, each paying a $20,000 annual retainer for 24-hour access to their doctor," he notes, "that's $1 million for fairly light work."
In any case, primary care doctors will have to size up their target clientele, and shape their practice to appeal to it.
The downside of defined contributions, as Reinhardt sees it, will be a form of competition—involving open pricing of services and comparative performance information—that may take doctors a while to get used to. Virtually everyone in the consumer-driven health movement believes that Web pages, the Yellow Pages, and toll-free call centers will sooner or later list a doctor's specific charges. Reinhardt believes this will place patients and their doctors across the bargaining table from each other. "The natural alliance lately has been the good physician and the good patient against the evil insurance company," he notes. Reinhardt predicts that "a real, efficient market with price and quality information will scare the pants off doctors."
As for quality information, Regina Herzlinger says, "Performance measurements cannot be collegial." Neither are they yet in a state of development that makes many doctors comfortable. William Andereck, of the CMA's Solo and Small Group Practice Forum, recalls a patient who came to his physician group to be screened for a cataract operation. At the time, primary care physicians in his group were being rated by standards that included whether they screened for domestic violence and asked patients if they wore seat belts. The patient told Andereck later, "It was a fascinating interview. I was asked which eye it was—and did I beat my wife."
Herzlinger sees great opportunity for medical "focused factories," which she has long advocated. These integrated teams of doctors, clinics, and hospitals would specialize in specific diseases and procedures. About three-quarters of the health care pie is spent on chronic diseases, Herzlinger notes. "And yet most people who have these diseases receive very poor care." In a marketplace, focused factories could compete for chronically sick patients—in part because many of their costs are fixed. Adding a few low-paying patients greatly increases profit while raising overhead only nominally.
What were once called integrated delivery systems could compete well for one-time procedures. Internist John Danaher, president and chief operating officer of Connecticut-based HealthMarket, one of the new plans, recently spoke with two big medical groups. Both liked the idea of competing in HealthMarket's marketplace to provide episodes of care. One hoped to attract patients by offering lower fees and good quality. The other wanted to show patients that its higher prices were worth it. "They saw our online exchange as an effective marketing tool," says Danaher.
And marketing, in most defined-contribution scenarios, would be free. "Discretionary specialties are spending a lot of money on marketing," notes Michael S. Sherman, an anesthesiologist and vice president for provider business development at HealthAllies, the cash-and-carry marketplace. "But even for conventional practitioners, we can bring high-quality patients, with good jobs and good credit, to our Web site. And the doctors get new patients without paying us a cent." HealthAllies makes its money by charging patients a small transaction fee.
In this new competitive world, marketing could be a more decisive factor than physician performance statistics when patients choose a doctor. Bedside manner, a willingness to be a wise guide to Web-based information, minimal office waiting times, convenient office hours, bilingual ability, ethnic sensitivity, and even the cleanliness of the doctor's lab coat will factor into that choice.
What it will take to gain converts
Optimists see employers making a major shift to defined contribution within a few years. "I don't think the whole world will go to defined contribution," says Vivius' Newcomer. "But there's clearly a segment of the employer market that's saying, 'This makes more sense for us.' "
Even pessimists see an almost inevitable shift that stretches over the next decade. Reinhardt believes that employers will switch, though the pioneering companies already promoting their plans may have jumped ahead of the market. "Everyone's been talking about defined contribution," he says, "and technically, corporations could make that move now—if they made their contributions generous enough." But Reinhardt predicts it will take a mild economic recession to spark mass conversion.
According to Jim Emshoff, "A defined-contribution program is a very small step for an employer to make; after that, it will be a couple of years before the really innovative plans start to take shape." Emshoff is founder and CEO of IndeCap Enterprises, a corporate outsourcing consultant. He predicts a smooth and fairly rapid evolution as employees learn to appreciate more choice—and as long as employers also offer them the option of keeping their old health plans.
Not all employees are eager to shop for a health plan yet. First Consulting Group, a Long Beach, CA-based health care and life-sciences consulting organization, released a report last June that found many employees wary of any changes in their wages or health benefits. "A large part of the problem," the researchers speculated, "may be lack of confidence that they could competently purchase health insurance on their own."
Employers are generally more optimistic about the change. In a study by the human-resources consulting firm William M. Mercer, released last October, 91 percent of 276 major US employers said they were interested in Web-based programs to enroll employees and help them choose physicians. But 70 percent said they weren't likely to relinquish all control of their employee health benefits—that is, to adopt Reinhardt's "you're on your own" model.
At the end of 1999, the accounting firm KPMG, working with Harvard's Herzlinger, polled almost 15,000 employees and more than 100 top executives at Fortune 1000 companies and found that 73 percent of employees and almost half the executives were interested in defined-contribution plans. More impressive, almost 80 percent of these large-company executives would switch to defined-contribution strategies in the next two years if tax laws were changed to give employers the same tax benefits they now get with conventional defined-benefits plans.
Meanwhile, among various endorsers of the concept are the AMA; Intuit, makers of Quicken personal-finance software; and Pittsburgh's Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. Last September, Highmark offered its 2.5 million members and 11,000 employees discounted computers and Internet access as a necessary step into the new defined-contribution world.
Most active are the small but growing companies—many of them founded by physicians—that are already making deals with employers and insurers around the country. When Dave Sanders' Myhealthbank opened shop last July, it had an agreement with Regence BlueCross BlueShield to offer employers 45 different insurance plans. Other companies promoting their variations on the basic idea include Cleveland's HealthSync; HealthMarket in Norwalk, CT; Definity Health in Minneapolis; Vivius, in St. Louis Park, MN; and HealthAllies, in Glendale, CA (see below).
Getting the market going
Defined-contribution arrangements are still in their infancy. But early adopters have been generally optimistic.
PreferredOne, a Minneapolis PPO, signed on in October as a provider for the new Definity Health plan. "There are a lot of positive feelings about these new ideas and new opportunities," says Phil Griffin, vice president of public policy. "Our physicians are struck by the problem that we all have: How do you deal with patients' lack of responsibility in the current system? Patients really don't have any buy-in or know what's going on." Under the defined-contribution system, it's their money and their buying decision.
Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia, MN, is an employer that offered Definity Health as an option during open enrollment last November. Carol Embertson, director of community relations, reports: "More people signed up than we expected. People are really starting to see the benefits and flexibility of the plan."
The new defined-contribution companies still have plenty to slog through, and an inevitable period of consolidation as some concepts prove more resilient than others. But for the moment, says Ray Herschman of HealthSync, the challenge is to assemble a critical mass of employers, new health plans, and physician groups to make consumer-driven health care a practical reality. "The toughest part about getting a market going," says Herschman, "is getting a market going."
The author, who is based in Los Angeles, is a Contributing Writer to Medical Economics.
New companies offer variations on the defined-contribution theme
HealthMarket (www.healthmarket.com). Launched last July, Connecticut-based HealthMarket expects to offer defined-contribution health plans underwritten by Centre Insurance, part of the Zurich Financial Services Group, in up to 48 states. HealthMarket uses an online exchange to let employees evaluate and buy services from any doctor who wants to be listed—the company's "virtual PPO." Physician groups and hospitals can also bid to provide bundled services for 80 specific episodes of care. More than 175,000 physicians have signed up so far.
Lumenos (www.lumenos.com ). For more than a year, Virginia-based Lumenos has been making deals with employers to provide a defined-contribution health plan. Currently focused on self-insured companies, the plan offers a health savings account coupled with catastrophic insurance. Its online Docs Plus directory lists physicians' services, fees, and—later this spring—outcomes information.
Vivius (www.vivius.com ). Employees assemble their own network of doctors, hospitals, and medical labs in what Vivius calls a "personalized healthcare system." Physicians and other providers, with actuarial help from Vivius, if requested, set their own fees. Doctors may opt for a monthly capitated payment, straight fee-for-service, or various combinations of fees and copays. Vivius formed its first partnerships with doctors late last year in Kansas City and in Minneapolis, where the Park Nicollet Medical Center has agreed to be a provider.
Definity Health (www.definityhealth.com ). Already up and running, this Minneapolis-based company administers a defined-contribution account—dubbed a personal care account—for self-insured employers. Definity has agreements with 320,000 physicians, including two PPOs—PreferredOne and Beech Street. The first employers to sign up are Aon, a Chicago-based international insurance broker; Ridgeview Medical Center, a Minnesota hospital and clinic system; and Medtronic, the world's largest medical technology company.
Myhealthbank (www.myhealthbank.com). This physician-founded, Portland, OR-based plan, which offers a variety of defined-contribution options from a single insurer, targets small and medium-sized employers. Its first contracts are with a printer and an advertising agency, with about 300 employees between them. Regence BlueCross BlueShield, Oregon's largest insurer, underwrites the plan. Physicians' practices and self-determined pricing structures are described on a Web-based marketplace.
HealthAllies (www.healthallies.com ). This company, based in Glendale, CA, offers doctors cash customers—employees with defined-contribution accounts, the uninsured, and those who want treatments their insurance doesn't cover. Laser eye surgery is a popular service offered through HealthAllies. Fees and practice information for thousands of doctors are listed, at no charge to the physicians. "Doctors get a Web presence if they don't already have one," says anesthesiologist Michael S. Sherman, vice president of provider business development. Fees are set by the doctors. "And they can afford to discount those by 30 or 40 percent," Sherman says, "and still bring in more revenue than from a typical managed care, Medicare, or Medicaid patient."
HealthSync (www.healthsync.com). Later in the year, when this ambitious online insurance marketplace is launched, it will offer medium-to-large employers a wide variety of conventional and defined-contribution health plans—everything from Cigna and Kaiser to HealthMarket and Vivius. HealthSync predicts that if its cafeteria business model becomes popular, doctors should have a better chance to build patient loyalty since they're likely to be affiliated with a plan available to job-hoppers. "We're creating portability," says CEO and founder Ray Herschman.
Health Insurance Select (www.healthinsuranceselect.com). By late 2001, this Denver-based company, co-founded by allergist Joel M. Karlin, will offer employers an online marketplace with a full range of conventional and defined-contribution plans. Health Insurance Select is also developing highly interactive software designed to help employees easily choose their own plan. And the company plans to contract with large physician groups to provide disease-management programs.
Michael Parrish. When patients get to buy their own health care. Medical Economics 2001;5:94.


Yet another example (below) of wasted taxpayer dollars. When will taxpayers ever realize that we just don't get our moneys worth from any public agency and that the Kings and Queens of LA County (The Board of Supervisors) are not really beholden to the taxpayers but public employee unions?
WHITTIER - The county Board of Supervisors is facing $6.4 million in cost overruns stemming from a relocation project run by the Sheriff's Department.
As a result, the supervisors are weighing whether to restrict the department's ability to manage future capital projects.
The board was supposed to take up the issue of the Special Enforcement Bureau relocation project at Tuesday's meeting, but the matter was continued until Feb. 27.
The relocation project's aim is to create a centralized area for homeland security training and response, according to the board's agenda.
To do that, officials decided in 1999 to upgrade the sheriff's Biscailuz Regional Training Center in Monterey Park in order to relocate the Whittier-based Training Academy and the East Los Angeles-based SEB to that site.
However, project costs began to rise when builders encountered old landfills at the Monterey Park site, which meant making significant changes to the original grading, drainage and site preparation plans.
Heavy rains in 2005 exacerbated the situation, officials said.
Sheriff's officials authorized cost increases and other changes without first getting the board's approval - a violation of county procedures, according to the agenda materials.
Now, the county's Chief Administrative Office is recommending that from now on Public Works should manage any capital projects that cost more than $1 million and involve "building new structures."
Supervisor Don Knabe said in a written statement that cost changes need to be "determined by the Board of Supervisors through approval of change orders and not validated after the fact."
Meanwhile, Sheriff's Department officials are conducting an internal investigation to identify where the management problems occurred and will issue a report to the CAO within 60 days.
"Even though the work we did was all reasonable and necessary, protocols were not followed," said Sheriff's Department spokesman Victor Rampulla. "And so we're doing an inquiry into the decision-making process. We can't just say everything's fine. The public doesn't expect that. We have a responsibility to follow procedure."
According to Knabe, when the board first approved the project it was supposed to be overseen by Public Works. The project was given to the Sheriff's Department in 2004 in an attempt to stay within budget.
Officials expected that moving the training academy would save the department $1 million annually, money that otherwise would have been spent on leasing office space.
The first of two phases of the project was the SEB relocation, which is nearly complete. Moving the training academy from the Sheriff's Training and Services Center from South Whittier will be the project's second phase.
Original cost estimates for each phase were approximately $9 million. Now, Phase I will cost more than $16 million and Phase II is expected to be $19.3 million, including "improvements and refinements" to the original plans.
Sheriff's officials are asking that the Board of Supervisors allow them to take $6.4 million from the Phase II account and spend it on completing Phase I. The money will go in part to contractors and consultants for work that is already done.
In the meantime, officials will re-evaluate Phase II, said Rampulla.
"While I am certainly unhappy with the way this project has been managed," Knabe said, "I am pleased that the cost overruns are being absorbed by the Sheriff's Department within their existing budget as opposed to this board bailing them out with additional general fund dollars."


text:
Miloň Novotný
AMONG US PEOPLE
A retrospective exhibition of the Czech photographer Milon Novotny who would have celebrated his 90thbirthday this year. Novotny, who died in 1992, is considered a pioneer and outstanding representative of the 20th century Czech humanistic photography. Novotny was a photographic poet of everyday life, seeing and capturing deep human contents in seemingly banal scenes.
Děti s flétnou, Praha 70. léta © Miloň Novotný
Varieté Alhambra I, Praha 1959 © Miloň Novotný
Vojenská přehlídka, Praha 1985 © Miloň Novotný
Prodavač hub, Prostějov, 1955 © Miloň Novotný
Václav Neumann 70.-80. léta © Miloň Novotný
Před dovolenou, Moskva 1962 © Miloň Novotný
Prysk 1977 © Miloň Novotný
Nové Dillí, 1973 © Miloň Novotný
Oslava vítězství v hokeji nad SSSR 28.3.1969 © Miloň Novotný
Noční jízda, Londýn 1966 © Miloň Novotný
Maminka, Stotovice, 1986 © Miloň Novotný
Kopání zákopů na Playa Larga, Kuba, 1962 © Miloň Novotný
Josef Sudek, Praha 1972 © Miloň Novotný
Milon Novotny (1930 – 1992) belongs to the generation influenced by E. Steichen's legendary exhibition The Family of Man. Similarly to H. Cartier-Bresson, his photographs were exclusively black and white, he worked solely using a Leica camera and was a practitioner of the so called "decisive moment". Although we can find photographs capturing the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia or the funeral of Jan Palach amongst Novotny's work, his main focus was not reportage. Novotny was a photographical poet of the everyday, his photographs beam with empathy for the situation in front of his camera, with the ability to see beyond the seeming everydayness and his talent to rapidly identify the most fitting moment and detail.
Milon Novotny's family of origin was a simple and rural one; his childhood was set in his hometown Stetovice in Moravia. Later he commuted to a grammar school in Prostejov. In his final year of high school he fell very ill with a lung disease and spent a year recovering in Novy Smokovec. It was in this period of existentialist uncertainty that he received his first camera; in that moment, his future was more or less decided. His first exhibition took place in 1956 in Olomouc. The young photographer travelled to Prague to ask the then sixty year old Josef Sudek for help with selecting photographs and writing Novotny's exhibition a recommendation. A lifelong friendship developed between the two photographers and thanks to Josef Sudek, Milon met the prominent photography scholar Jiri Jenicek who immediately recognized exceptional talent in the young keen photographer. In 1957 Milon moved to Prague permanently, married the beautiful seamstress Alena and began collaborating and publishing in Literary and Theatre newspapers and magazines Theatre and Culture. He captured the beginnings of Laterna magika, photographed in the Na Zabradli theatre and later alongside with the painter and friend Libor Fara created an original and modern style to the Cinoherni (Drama) Club and its propagation materials. He published around five hundred photographs yearly with most of his royalties spent on travelling. Sixties were Milon's most fruitful and successful life period that culminated in the now legendary publication London in 1968.
In the 70s and 80s, Literary newspaper to which Milon contributed for years ceased to be published and his photographs gradually disappeared from the pages of other newspapers and magazines. Milon Novotny was relegated to the sidelines like many other prominent figures of Czech culture and he was barred from photographing in theatres. Spending most of his time with his family in their Prysk dacha, he photographed the countrymen from this village in the north of Czech republic, which formed the focus of his work during the normalization period. He made a living by working with the Association of Czech Composers and Concert Artists, namely by portraiting musicians, which didn't come close to fulfilling his creative ambitions. Nevertheless, even these photographs reveal a sensitive photographer's touch. The extensive set of portrait negatives is currently stored in the archives of the National Museum.
After the Velvet revolution in November 1989, Milon Novotny was again travelling the world. He celebrated his sixtieth birthday and it seemed as if the upswing of his photographic potential was unstoppable. Unfortunately, he was only granted another two and a half years of life. The few magnificent photographs that he brought back from his last few journeys are a proof that he upheld the reputation as one of the most prominent Czech documentary photographers until his last days.
Dana Kyndrova,curator
Exhibition Opening
Photo: Martina Klirova
Milon Novotny
1930 Milon Novotny is born on the 11th of April in Stetovice in Hanakia. His father is a locksmith working all life for the sugar factory in the neighbouring town Vrbatky. His mother occasionally lends a hand with field work while raising a son and a daughter.
1948-49 After turning eighteen, Milon falls ill with an infectious joint rheumatism and a lung disease. Instead of completing high school he spends a year rehabilitating in High Tatras. He is enchanted by the surrounding literature and visual art. He begins photographing on a borrowed camera.
1954 Beginnings of serious work; Milon photographs the activities painters usually busied themselves with before photographic technology allowed for rapid exposure.
1956 Exhibition debut in Olomouc, the historical metropolis of Milon's home Moravia. His work is an upsurge for the Gallery of the Union of Czechoslovak Fine Artists. The catalogue text is written by more than a decade older colleague Jiri Janecek, who considers Novotny a homo novus. Janecek also recommends Novotny to his peer Josef Sudek. This gives rise to a years-long friendship.
1957 The weekly magazine Culture publishes Novotny's photograph on its title page. Novotny relocates permanently to Prague.
1958 On June 5th Novotny marries Alena Hronikova. He becomes a candidate of the Union of Czechoslovak Fine Artists. He switches from the classical Rolleiflex camera and the negative format 6x6cm to a film roll Leica. From late 50s Novotny photographs for a wide range of magazines and documents theatre for more than two decades.
1962 First son Marek is born.
1964 First short trip to London.
1965 Beginning of intensive collaboration with the recently founded Cinoherni klub (Drama club) theatre.
1966 Novotny is accepted as a full member of the Union of Czechoslovakian Fine Artists. He contributes substantially to the collective image book New York. Throughout mere three weeks he takes the majority of the London photographs.
1968 First publication of London. Expectations are high not only in London or Prague, where the work was initially published by the publisher Mlada fronta, but in other places across the globe. London soon disappears from the shelves of Czechoslovak bookshops and despite the high volume of initial prints – eight thousand – it can be found only rarely in the display cases of second hand bookshops. The work was not coveted only for its masterful photography; London was also a symbol of the free world. Novotny's work on Prague Spring culminates with him graciously giving foreign newspapers the negatives capturing the August occupation of Czechoslovakia by communist armies led by the Soviets. The period of Novotny publishing more than 500 photographs annually is coming to an end.
1969 Novotny's photographs from the funeral of Jan Palach, a student who burned himself alive in protest against soviet occupation, grow into a parable about the end of an extraordinary decade. In the 70s Novotny continues working with the Czechoslovak academy of sciences, and he photographs for the Union of Czech composers and concert artists. He mostly contributes photographs to the magazines Gramorevue and Musical Views. He is so self-critical that he destroys bespoke negatives after use.
1975 The album ČSSR (Czechoslovak socialist republic) is published, to which Novotny contributed with a multitude of black-and-white and colour photographs. The escalation of totalitarian repression following 70s and 80s means that London's lightness and freedom cannot be repeated.
1989 Novotny finds himself in the streets of Prague again while photographing the Velvet revolution.
1991-92 Photographic journeys to the USA.
1992 After a brief illness, Novotny passes away in a Prague hospital on August 9th.
2000 The monograph Milon Novotny: Photographs arranged by Dana Kyndrova reminds Novotny's flagship project London with more than a quarter of reproductions.
2010 The retrospective exhibition to what would have been the photographer's 80th birthday is debuted in the Old Town Hall in Prague. Novotny's creative humanism is demonstrated in the words of the critic Jiri Penas: "People captured in the photographs make one wonder what happened with their destinies, how did their lives unravel afterwards, what happened to them, if and how do they live." (Where did all those people go?, Lidove noviny, 17. 4. 2010.)
2014 London exhibition in Leica Gallery Prague.
2020 The book Musicians 70s-80s containing previously unpublished photographs of important personalities of the Czech philharmonic is published by Kant.
Botanical Portraits
StreetPhoto is not just a Click in the Street


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Report ALL motor vehicle accidents, regardless of dollar amount, to the Risk Services, (541) 737-7350 IMMEDIATELY.
Motor Vehicle Claims are subject to a $5,000 deductible; departments or units are responsible for the $5,000 deductible.
Complete the Auto Accident Report Form when the incident involves a university-owned, Motor Pool, state, rental, courtesy, or personal (driven on university business) vehicle and submit the completed form to Risk Services.
When a university vehicle is damaged by another party (third party) who is at fault for the accident, Risk Services will file a claim with the third party's insurance company.
If the loss is due to a hit-and-run, theft, break-in, or vandalism, these incidents are criminal and need to be reported to law enforcement immediately. If the incident occurred on university property, contact the Department of Public Safety, otherwise contact local law enforcement.
In Oregon, if the damages are greater than $2,500 and/or involve injury of any kind, you are required by law to report the accident to the Department of Motor Vehicles within 72 hours on an Oregon Traffic Accident and Insurance Report form (included in the Accident Report Packet located in university vehicles). You must forward a copy of this report to Risk Services. Risk Services highly recommends completing this form regardless of the estimated dollar loss.
Third parties who incur vehicle damage or injury at the fault of University drivers must contact Risk Services to initiate the claims process.
If you need an Accident Report Packet for your University-owned vehicle, you may contact (541) 737-7350 or you may print the documents to place into the Accident Report Packet envelope, which should be kept in the glove box of the vehicle (ONID required).


text:
Q: Does Spark streaming process every JSON "event" individually when reading from Kafka? I want to use Spark streaming to read from a single Kafka topic messages in JSON format, however not all the events have similar schema.  If possible, what's the best way to check each event's schema and process it accordingly?
Is it possible to group in memory several groups each made of a bunch of similar schema events and then process each group as a bulk?

A: I'm afraid you can't do. You need somehow to decode your JSON message to identify the schema and this would be done in your Spark code. However you can try to populate the Kafka message key with a different value per schema and get assign Spark partitions per key.

A: Object formats like parquet and avro are good for this reason since the schema is available in the header. If you absolutely must use JSON then you can do as you said and use group-by-key while casting to the object you want. If you are using large JSON objects then you will see a performance hit since the entire JSON "file" must be parsed before any objects resolution can take place.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
COVID19 / Law and Public Health / Law and Race
Toussaint on American Fragility: Public Rituals, Human Rights, and the End of Invisible Man @EtienneT_Esq
by · Published September 9, 2020 · Updated September 23, 2020
Etienne Toussaint, UDC School of Law, is publishing Of American Fragility: Public Rituals, Human Rights, and the End of Invisible Man in the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. Here is the abstract.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of American democracy in at least two important ways. First, the coronavirus has ravaged Black communities across the United States, unmasking decades of inequitable laws and public policies that have rendered Black lives socially and economically isolated from adequate health care services, educational resources, housing stability, environmental security, stable and living wage jobs, generational wealth, and other institutional structures necessary for resilience. Second, government-mandated social distancing in response to the coronavirus has failed to dampen America's racially biased, violent, and supervisory policing culture, reigniting demands from the Movement for Black Lives for police abolition and, more generally, the dismantling of white supremacy in sociopolitical life. In response, scholars have called for a radical (re)imagination of American democracy. This Article argues that resolving the fragility of American democracy amidst the terrors of COVID-19 warrants a renewed commitment to the emancipatory language of human rights.
In recent years, scholars have sharply critiqued human rights law as a tool for social transformation. Accordingly, this Article grounds its assertion on three claims, using the issue of housing insecurity as a guiding explanatory thread. First, the geography of health inequity in Black communities across America embodies not merely discrete instantiations of historical governmental neglect, but more poignantly, the collective rituals of white supremacy that create and reconstitute the racial social order. As a result, beyond coordinated public health measures and short-term economic stimulus plans, the future of American democracy demands new tools to confront the embeddedness of racial ritualization in everyday life. Second, human rights discourse challenges the normative underpinnings of contemporary public policy, too often tinged with liberal assumptions about the human condition that enshrine structural inequality and contain economic power. Third, human rights discourse expands the social imaginary, fostering innovation in lawmaking by deconstructing antiquated valuations of equality and reconstructing contextual notions of liberty. Taken together, these insights reveal human rights discourse as a project of reimagining legal subjectivity and state responsibility.
To further elucidate the benefits of human rights discourse in view of compelling arguments to move beyond rights-based framings of equality and discrimination, this Article places Martha Fineman's theory of vulnerability in conversation with Ralph Ellison's articulation of the Black American experience during Jim Crow segregation in his novel, Invisible Man. This dialogue reveals the erasure of 'sacrifice' from ongoing discussions of social and economic inequality, a critical dimension of democratic citizenship that has been rendered invisible in contemporary rights-based discourse and emergent strategies for poverty alleviation. Even more, drawing insights from the Movement for Black Lives and contemporary theorists of political philosophy, this dialogue clarifies the central role of 'dignity' in establishing the preconditions for an engaged citizenry in the context of American racial capitalism.
Download the article from SSRN at the link.
Tags: Martha FinemanNewsRalph Ellison
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Top setting with another 1/2 top spacer. I currently have 2.5" leveling kit and need the clearance with 305/55R20's. Now just trying to figure out if I want upper control arms or not.
Not yet...MRT said they didn't get the delivery from Bilstein yet and therefore obviously have shipped them out. Getting a little frustrated but I'm sure (hoping) that MRT pulls through and gets this figured out quickly as I'm needing new tires soon.
Came off my current truck. I decided to go with the E2-X.
I've read this whole post and went back a few time but still have a few questions. I'm going to be putting on some Bilstein 6112 shocks on the top level with a .5" upper spacer for about 2.25" lift. I really want to go with 275/65R20 BFG KO2's. I'm also looking at some Fuel Maverick 20x9 wheels and not sure if I can get away with the +1 offset or if I should go with +20. I want the wheels/tires to stick out just a little past the fender but also don't want any rubbing. With that all said, do you think can I do the +1 with the 275/65's? Or should I go with the +20 offset with 275/65's? Or are the 275/65 to much and I should go with 275/60's? Appreciate your input...just want to do this once! Truck info in signature.
Not yet..I was on the pre-release email/list but I guess that didn't happen. They said they are getting more in Friday and should ship them out that day. I hope to have them early next week.
Just ordered the 6112. Look forward to getting them and testing them out. I was going to get .5" spacer for a little more lift. Is it better to get the top or bottom spacer? I'll looking into UCA later. Will the 6112 have more travel? I wanted to get some 275/65R20 KO2's...should I be concerned? Thanks in advance.
I have the same message and don't worry about it. I have 55 watt HID with a harness only. Since I don't get a message that my light is out I don't worry about my On Star message.
I could use my credit for accessories plus install or just accessories. I got everything and installed it myself (exhaust, bedcover, window vents). Kind of bs if you ask me.


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Symptoms of worm infestations can include diarrhea, bloating, or a lack of appetite.
Some worms can be transmitted to people. Therefore, it is important to wash your hands after cleaning your cat's litter box or picking up your dog's stool.