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July 14, 2018 Around Town, Nepal Life, Oral Health Care Project, Work
Politics and Poets
All The Piecesadvocacy, culture, customs, economics, government, Pokhara, rights based health, rural dentistry
With the Nepal government undergoing a major restructuring, a big goal for us this summer is to figure out how the newly formed provincial government works and establish relationships with influential decision-makers. We're just getting started, and as I've described elsewhere, so is the government: most of the province-level officials are quite new to their desks, and in many cases the scope and processes of their jobs are still being decided.
So let me give you an idea of how this works. Honestly, this is my real life. I begin with a friend of mine in Kathmandu, who I was introduced to through an organization that gave us a grant a few years ago. This friend refers me to a colleague of hers, who I'll call Sam, who works inside the new Province #4 government office in Pokhara as a representative of a big nonprofit doing policy work on another topic. So Sam is not exactly a government employee, but he's connected to people in the Province office because he works in the building, and most happily, he is someone I can ring on his cell phone. I set up an appointment. It's our first trip to the Province offices and we'll just have to go meet Sam and see where we get.
Are you with me so far?
Muna and I walk about a mile from our office in burning July sun, and meet Sam in his office at the new Province building. Sam is a friendly, energetic and smart guy, and he begins to orient us to the structure of the Province government (we tried to google it–maybe you'll have better luck). He combs through our present bureaucratic challenge: obtaining official endorsement for a workshop we want to host to train new dental technicians (who will of course work in Government Health Posts). In the absence of clear procedures, we mull over who best to take this to next. Sam makes a call to the Province Health Coordinator, an obvious choice, but the Health Coordinator is out today.
Eventually – and this is only possible because Sam is helping us, and because we've made a satisfactory case to him – he gets us an invite upstairs to meet direclty with the Minister of Social Development, who holds the highest office in the Province, something like a governor. This is great news. Muna and I follow Sam out of his office, and by this act Sam is adopted into our quest and ordained as our guide. Without him Muna and I are just random people in the hallway. We stroll through the almost-finished government building, which like most government offices outside Kathmandu has a concrete austerity produced by minimalist decoration and a building style that leaves stairwells in the open air. Even the walls look somehow unfinished, expectant.
At the top of the stairs we move down an echoey corridor and come to the mouth of a room crowded with men. Peering through the door frame, I see a tall, lean Official sitting at the other end of the narrow office, the throng of visitors clamboring for his attention. Sam and Muna and I are directed to the room across the hall to wait.
We wait. It is very hot.
After some time, we are brought back across the hall to the Minister's office. It is stuffed with as many black faux-leather couches as the room will allow, and as per standard Important Office decorating style, they are situated perpendicular rather than parallel to the desk where the Official in question is seated. I can't explain this, but it's the set up of almost every Important Office I've been to in Nepal. The halls are empty and the offices are packed with extreme quantities of couches, which are almost always lined up along one wall so that visitors find themselves talking to the Official they've come to see at an angle, while the Official gazes past their knees at empty space. A perk of today's office is that, with the July heat pawing at the walls, the ceiling fan is turned on to the highest setting. I am seated directly under it. It feels wonderful for about ten seconds, and then I realize I am doomed to suffer in a singularized typhoon for the length of our Important Meeting.
The last of the previous visitors is just leaving as we get seated, and when the previous callers have cleared out, Sam introduces us to the Official. Muna and I – mostly Muna – describe Jevaia and explain the authorization letter we are looking for. We say are "seeking suggestions on how to properly coordinate and align with the new government." We don't say we are already pretty sure that these procedures are not defined yet; in fact, the inquiry itself is probably the best formal step available.
After some time, the Official falls silent. In my opinion, the Official Silent Phase is one of the great tests of mettle in this line of work, particularly for impatient foreigners. From a western sensibility it's completely perplexing: for about five mintues, the Official taps on his laptop and gazes past our knees without saying anything. The fan blasts the top of my head and wooshes through my ears, and I command my self to sit properly through the Official Silent Phase, like Sam and Muna are doing, without fidgeting or asking to turn the fan off. Take note, impatient American Person With An Agenda. If you come here on a schedule, it will be silently and inexorably bled out of you. The people on the faux-leather couches don't own this timetable no matter how bombastic and fantastic their ideas are, and let me tell you right now that nobody else is in a hurry. It never occurred to me I might need a jacket to get through our first Province government visit in the dead middle of the summer, but I surely wish it had.
Suddenly, the door flies open and an elderly man in traditional daura-suruwal dress walks through the door. He waves his walking stick at the foot of the couch.
I don't have a picture of the Poet, so here's an internet photo of a man in a daura surulwar.
"Son, get up and move over there, I'm just gonna have a seat," the old man says to Sam, who graciously leaps up from the seat closest to the Official desk, and moves down the line of couches to a spot near the door. The old man sits down and leans in to the corner of the Minister's desk with a twinkle in his eye. He begins reciting a legnthy poem.
The Official is, by old man terms, a junior "son" like Sam. In an instant, the hierarchy of the room is reorganized. The Official leans back in his chair with a grin and sets to listening to the poem. All of a sudden, we are all in school.
For forty five minutes–no, I'm not exaggerating–the Official and the Old Man engage in philosophical conversation while the fan hammers my head, Muna waits politely and Sam cycles through expressions of interest. I won't find this out until after the meeting, but the old man is the son of a famous poet, and himself a reknowned scholar. More men–all men, Muna and are I the only women for miles around, it seems–wander in to the room to listen while he holds court. The poet leans dramatically forward and back on the faux-black leather couch, swaying to his recitations, swiveling his attention from the Official to us to other would-be meeting-seekers near the door, and unleashes a reverent Islamic lyric.
"So tell me," our Official says, with somber studiousness. "I want to know something. You're a Hindu man. But you speak eleven languages and you've studied Islamic poetry extensively. How do you reconcile those who eat cow meat?"
I shiver and try to casually hold my hair out of my eyes. I look enviously at a corner door, where more men are periodically filing in and out of the room, and notice that Sam seems distracted by the door too. Why can't the Minister just tell us whether we can have a letter, or what we have to do to get it? Why can't he release us from bondage, and THEN listen to poetry?
"Let's have another poem," the old man says. He turns to Muna, who, following Sam's relocation, has ended up on the couch seat beside the Poet. Leaning toward her, the old man brightens, saying, "Would you like to hear a Hindi Poem?"
"Nobody properly understands Hindi," the Official interjects, boldly. "How about a Nepali poem." I am well aware that we will need to hear all the poems if we want to find out about our letter.
Another gaggle of men comes out of the corner door, and suddenly Sam says, "let's go." Go where? I chatter. The Minister hasn't answered our question yet. I'm confused.
"This way," Sam says, motioning toward the corner door. Why are we leaving? But with no choice, I get up and follow Sam and Muna through the mystery door. We enter the next room, and there, in a grand office, behind a hefty wooden desk flanked by the National flag, sits the actual Minister of Social Development. She rotates on her chair, adjusts her sari over her shoulder, and waves us to sit down on two spacious couches where she can examine us directly from across the carpet.
Who was that guy? I whisper to Muna. Suddenly I am afraid I'm about to start giggling uncontrollably.
"The Secretary," Muna mutters.
"So," the Minister of Social Development commands, wasting no time and leaning forward on her clasped hands. "Who are you?"
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George Takei Discusses Crossing Over From Star Trek To Star Wars and more
| January 22, 2009 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 37 comments so far
Star Trek's original Sulu George Takei is crossing franchises this Friday, voicing the villain Lok Durd in the Cartoon Network show Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In a new interview promoting the episode, Takei talks about going from Trek to Wars and beyond.
Takei, from Trek to Wars to Heres
excerpts from interview with ComicBookResources
Takei on 'switching franchises' from Star Trek to Star Wars
I don't consider it jumping ship. You know, the Star Trek philosophy is to embrace the diversity of life and Star Wars is a part of that diversity. I think that Star Trek and Star Wars are related beyond just the word "star." I think Star Trek is Science Fiction and Star Wars is more Science Fantasy. But with the episodes of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" that I worked on, I think there is a merging there. It does deal philosophically with certain issues of the time, which is what "Star Trek" was known for. War and Peace, technology and humanity, sacrifice and courage, these issues I found engaging.
on differences doing Clone Wars and Star Trek The Animated Series
When we did the [Star Wars] recording, they had the entire cast there so we could bounce off of each other. So you get an idea of the characterization and vocal rhythms of the other characters. When we did the animation for "Star Trek," they accommodated each one of us in our various schedules, so we came in individually. As I was coming in, Leonard [Nimoy] was leaving and I'd go into the recording booth and they would have the script with my lines underscored with a colored pen. I'd just read my lines according to how the scene was supposed to play but not really playing with Leonard. Then when I was finished and I'd be leaving, Jimmy Doohan might be coming in and he'd step into the booth and do his lines. I think this way, the "Star Wars" way of doing the recording, is much more fun as an actor when you can bounce off of each other.
George voices Lok Durd on Clone Wars "Defenders of the Peace" [Cartoon Network]
On Trek references in Heroes:
I chatted with some of the crew people and I found that a great number of them are really wildly dedicated Star Trek fans. The Prop Master was the most avid of them all. He prepared as the license plate of my limousine the number NCC1701, which is the registry of the Starship Enterprise. Then one of the guys on the writing staff is a great "Star Trek" fan and he said, "George had a great sword fighting scene in 'Star Trek' and why don't we work in a sword fighting scene for Kaito Nakmura?" That's how that first samurai sword-fighting scene in the first season came about. Then you may have noticed I had another sword fighting scene with a young man that I took to be a thief, a robber in my own house, in the third season, who turned out to be the future version of my son Hiro. So there is a lot of tie-in and bouncing off of "Star Trek" with "Heroes."
George Takei in Heroes episode "Dual" [NBC]
On John Cho and the new Star Trek
[JJ Abrams] told me that he was thinking of John Cho and I said, "John would be wonderful." I'm on the board of Governors of the East West Players, an Asian-American theatre company, and John had done many plays for us before I had that breakfast. I told J.J. that John was a versatile actor, that I had seen him do comedy and very serious drama and I thought that he would be wonderful. So assured by that he went on to cast him. John then seemed to have been somewhat awed by his new challenge. So he asked me to have lunch with him and I told him, "Do your thing. I've seen your work and you're a talented actor." I assured him that it wouldn't be long before I'd be known as the old guy who played John Cho's part. And assured by that he went on to do his thing. All the scuttlebutt I'm hearing is that John's done a great job. Sulu's got a new lease on life. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the new film.
Takei approves of Cho as the new Sulu in JJ Abrams "Star Trek" [Paramount]
Much more from Takei on Trek, Star Wars and more at CBR.com
"Defenders of the Peace" featuring George Takei as Lok Durd on Star Wars The Clone Wars airs on Cartoon Network Friday January 23rd. More information at the official site. Here is a preview featuring (a little) of Takei as Lok Durd.
WVtrekker
Gotta love George! Classy with his dealing with John. I may actually watch the SW episode.
Lets hope ST doesn't go the way of SW in its vigor to appeal to the younger crowd.
That unmistakable voice…. George is the best, I'm glad they casted him for Clone Wars – definitely gonna have crossover appeal.
spelling mistake… Heres… Heroes
I think Star Wars always had more appeal to younger viewers, so that's not a huge stretch. Star Trek has more mass appeal with adults. Yep, it's true: Star Trek is for the intellectual crowd.
Aaron R.
I agree with George! This talented actor seems like a great choice to be our new Sulu… Smile…
"I assured him that it wouldn't be long before I'd be known as the old guy who played John Cho's part."
Like hell, but that's an extremely warm thing to say. George has it in him to be a real class act; it makes me honestly think his feud with Shatner is just a publicity thing.
Clone Wars is garbage. My two kids, 6 and 8, love the two trilogies, but cannot get into these truncated mini-eps. My six-year-old asked me last week why the ep ended so quickly when nothing happened.
As an adult who grew up with SW, I find it obscene that Lucas has turned a mass-murderer of children and civilizations into some kind of animated action hero for kids.
Anakin Skywalker personally murdered every Jedi student on Coruscant with a handheld weapon. Why is he the star of a show on Cartoon Network?
#9-
Because George Lucas has proven time and again that he doesn't know what the heck he's doing and is making this stuff up as he goes along. He's no better than a teenager writing space opera nonsense in creative writing class. "Lok Durd?" "Count Dooku?" Need I say more?
Devon Richards
AJ – To answer your question, it is because Lucas completely forgot to depict Anakin as the great Jedi who fell from grace in the prequel trilogy.
9: Good point
10. Im convinced he lets his teenage daughters write this S**** for him
Will H.
I think George has to be the most likable of the TOS people. I mean Shatner's great, but he does seem to pick a lot of fights.
Devon: There's a good point.
Just how should Lucas have depicted it? I think the mass-murder of sand people and children essentially destroyed Vader as a redeemable character. The fact he gets to 'sparkle' next to Ben and Yoda in "Jedi" has become appalling. I have trouble explaining it to my kids, 6 & 8, who love SW, but are grappling with Anakin's actions. Lucas turned that story to sh*t.
The fact that he was only a dumb kid makes it all the more stupid. "Clone Wars" is like doing a sit-com of Hitler as a frustrated artist.
mooseday
I have to admit, one on my pet hates with both "Stars" was the unimaginative naming of things:
Klingon names must begin with K
Vulcan names must being with S
Romulan names must be linked with Roman
Anything post Jedi must sound like a sex act with a badger
Not saying these are absolutes, but really … Durd? Dooku? General Grevious? Sybok? Kang? Kolos?
Why can we have a Klingon called Jeff, a Vulcan called Dave or Darth Susan? :P
15: Mooseday.
Sounds like you just created a new sitcom!
In this hilarious new sitcom, Dave, a Vulcan, works at a New York advertising agency for his sexy, divorced and permanently PO'd boss, Darth Susan,
His clunky and slovenly, but lovable roommate, a Klingon named Jeff, keeps Dave centered in his topsy-turvy world!
Jeff and Dave's apartment. Jeff stumbles through the door as Dave sits on the couch meditating.
Jeff: Heyyyy, Dave! (laughter). Why don't you and I go out to the bars and pick up a few Rommie girls?"
Dave: "You mean like the one you brought home the other night? You murdered her!"
Jeff: "Only doin' me job!"
Phone rings
Dave: "This is Dave."
Darth Susan: "That copy from the agency never arrived! We need to present it tomorrow at 8:30!"
Jeff winks at Dave
Dave: "No problem, my Lord…Would you like to have dinner tonight? Chez Louis at 8?"
Darth Susan: "Well, alright, you sexy logical man."
And you get the picture….
starfleetmom
TRAITOR!!!
I think "Dave" the sitcom would be perfect as seven-minute animated shorts.
Brett Campbell
How can they name a character "Durd" without expecting a lot of scatologically-referenced parodies in turn? Let's see what hits the fan.
Olley Olley Olley
like Rick Berman?
good on you George
anything that makes nerd stalkers like #17
scream is good in my book.
btw #15
Worf does not start with a K
Tuvok does not start with a S
Pardek, the name has nothing to do with the ROMANS
#16 ROTFLMAO
#20 I did append these are not absolutes .. though now I suppose that Vulcan names begin with "S" or end with "OK", and Klingon names need to sound like a cat coughing up a yacht … :P
CmdrR
17. starfleetmom – January 22, 2009
No… it's: "You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor! Take h(im) away!"
Daoud
#21 t'POWWWWWW
Ever notice how Irish names all start with O' or Fitz or Mac? Why do so many German names start with 'von'? Why is the most common French surname 'Martin'? Why are all the Caesars Caesars? The Khans Khans? Why are Chinese names all monosyllables? Gosh, humans are just *soooooo* unimaginative.
Ralph F
"Durd"? Seriously?
Does no one review this stuff before they go final with it? Reminds me of an old ToyFare panel, the ones where they put toys and do the word balloons. It was a pack of monkeys with a George Lucas figure, and George said, "And we'll call it… THE PHANTOM MENACE" to which the monkeys replied, "Brilliant!"
Ever notice how Irish names all start with O' or Fitz or Mac? Why do so many German names start with 'von'?
I'm pretty sure there's a reason. Not really certain about Fitz, but each of these means "house of," "clan of," "son of"… as do the arabic 'al' and the suffixes -son, and -sen, -stein, while -man associates the patriarch of a family with a trade or virtue.
#15 — We have a Klingon called Alexander.
'Beach
10, et. al.
To be fair, Lucas isn't involved in the day-to-day of the Clone Wars thing. He has final approval on everything, but he doesn't write it.
As far as sparkling with Ben and Yoda, I reach. How can the ONE arguably good act of destroying the Emperor (which he should have done in his twenties in EP III and had done with it) redeem him sufficiently after all the slaughter, especially of the younglings? Bad. Very bad taste left after that.
Yes, named so by Worf, after his adoptive HUMAN father, Alexander Rosenko….
hitch1969©, producer of "If I Did It, Jr"- a musical for children, starring children.
SULU DANCE!!
balloonknot!!
=h=
T.U.M.
#21 – It's only spelled "yacht." It's pronounced "Throat-warbler Mangrove."
Can't get enough Kaito Nakamura. Liked him better before I found out he had a power, 'cause that just made his awesomeness more awesome in its own right. But he still lights up the screen.
bolianbob
Hellloooooooo
Nivenus
I'm going to have to disagree with the idea that Anakin killing the Sand People makes him any more irredeemable than his actions in the OT. What about all the children on Alderaan?
The idea behind Star Wars, from the beginning, has been one of redemption. If it only became obvious to you in the prequels that Anakin was an !ss then I have to say – you"ve been deluding yourself.
Actually, while I think Padme's reaction to Anakin was abyssmally written (as was just about everything that involved the romance plot) I think Anakin killing the Sand People was a good way of showing that, even at his height of heroism, Anakin was very much plagued by dark emotions. Nor is it to be unexpected. A lot of real-life "heroes" (I use quotations since the meaning is subjective) have committed atrocities.
But I suppose some people want their heroes to be "better" than reality would expect them to be and I can't say I truly blame them.
Nivenus/32:
That may be, but Star Wars has always been marketed primarily towards children.
Tell me what "heroes" have murdered dozens of individual schoolchildren one by one, or stood by as a colleague (Tarkin) committed global genocide? Or taken out busloads of innocents to avenge his mom?
A lot of us have "dark emotions," but as soon as we kill someone in a premeditated fashion, we become a murderer and a criminal. Anakin was a psychopathic mass murderer who most often did the deed with his bare hands.
George Lucas dropped the ball with Vader in the prequels, and, in his older age, forgot how to frame the character so that his 'sparkly' end would not seem so bizarre and undeserved. Charles Manson surely has some good in him as well.
Babel Girl
I love Star Wars and Star Trek! I got this email from StarWars.com giving all the Trek and Wars actor crossovers. Enjoy!
This week is truly a moment in history. No, not the US Presidential inauguration; we're talking about the collision of two major sci-fi universes. A Star Trek legend is guest-starring in this week's The Clone Wars episode, "Defenders of Peace." George Takei of Hikaru Sulu fame is voicing a Neimoidian officer, General Lok Durd. Though some fans like to imagine a competition between both venerable franchises, Star Wars and Star Trek have on occasion pulled from the same pool of acting talent. Here's a sample of cross-overs that have occurred in the past:
William Shatner: Okay, the legendary Captain Kirk has not appeared in any Star Wars materials, but he did memorably serenade George Lucas at 2005 AFI Lifetime Tribute and was carried away by dancing stormtroopers. That's gotta count for something.
Brock Peters: The actor most well known for his role in To Kill a Mocking Bird had several notable Star Trek appearances, as Admiral Cartwright in the classic Trek movies and the elder Joseph Sisko in Deep Space Nine. Star Wars fans may recognize his voice as Darth Vader in the National Public Radio dramatizations.
Malachi Throne: Another extremely distinctive voice in sci-fi, Throne played Commodore Jose Mendez in "The Menagerie" episodes of the original series, and Romulan Senator Pardek in TNG. It's his voice that narrates the very first Star Wars trailer that announces "somewhere in space… this may all happening right now."
Michael Bell: Kids who grew up in the '80s will remember Michael Bell's voice from a slew of cartoons, where he most famously played Duke in G.I.JOE. Bell was in the first TNG episode as Groppler Zorn and later played a Bajoran resistance fighter on DS9. In Star Wars, he is the voice of Commander Willard, who greets Princess Leia upon her arrival at the Yavin base.
Carel Struycken: Carel
Struycken has made a career of playing outlandishly tall characters; you may remember him as Lurch in the new Addams Family movies. He played Mr. Homn, Lwaxana Troi's aide in TNG, and the evil Marauder King Terak in the second Ewoks live action TV Movie.
Fionnula Flanagan: She has played multiple roles in Trek, including Data's "mother" in TNG, a former lover of Dax's in DS9, and a Vulcan diplomat on Enterprise. In the first Ewoks TV movie, she played Catarine Towani, young Cindel's mom.
Ethan Phillips: Best known for his role as Neelix, the alien cook on Voyager, Phillips has provided voices to numerous Star Wars video games, iuncluding Force Commander, Galactic Battlegrounds and Knights of the Old Republic.
David Warner: Another unmistakable voice, Warner is best remembered as the Master Control Program in Tron. He has several major Trek roles, including Chancellor Gorkon in The Undiscovered Country and Gul Madred in TNG. He supplied his voice to an Imperial general in Star Wars video game, Force Commander.
Clive Revill: Revill was the voice of the original Emperor who appeared in the theatrical version of The Empire Strikes Back. He played Sir Guy of Gisborne, enemy of Robin Hood, in the fanciful TNG episode, "Qpid."
Raphael Sbarge: He played the recurring character of former Maquis crewman Michael Jonas on Star Trek: Voyager, as well as Carth Onasi, one of the main leads in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Felix Silla: A little person performer with plenty of sci-fi credits (he was Twiki on Buck Rogers!), Silla was both a Talosian in the very first Trek pilot, and also a stunt Ewok in Return of the Jedi.
Brian George: You may know him as Babu Bhatt on Sienfeld, this versatile character actor played Julian Bashir's father on DS9 and Anatarian ambassador O'Zaal in Voyager. In The Clone Wars, he plays the Toydarian monarch King Katuunko.
Jason Wingreen: Who would have thought Archie Bunker's bartender, Harry Snowden, would have such sci-fi cred? In addition to playing Dr. Linke in the original series episode "The Empath," he was the original voice of Boba Fett in the theatrical edition of The Empire Strikes Back.
I seem to recall Darth Vader Halloween costumes in 1977.
#16 AJ – I hate using the abbreviation "lol", but I honestly did laugh out loud at your amazing sitcom idea. If only someone would actually make a show like that…
I bet a lot of people would watch it. I know I would.
AJ: What's this obsession with 'making it nice for the kids'? Fairy tales aren't nice, children get eaten by witches, innocent giants get killed after being repeatedly burgled and so on. Stories reflect life. As a child I never had a problem understanding that Vader could kill a planet full of people, but couldn't watch his son die. If your six year old is too young to understand that, he shouldn't be watching Star Wars.
He was a Sith Lord. A particularly nasty one at that, the most powerful Sith Lord to date. What do you expect, he lets the future Jedi, all a threat to the new order, run away?
I don't get it. Are you trying to tell us Anakin should have been nice, because children watch the film? It's for the film makers to tell the story, and the parents to decide if they want their children to watch. I'd be happy to have my children watch Star Wars and read fairy tales.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A northern New Jersey native, Pastor Andrew Foss started as lead pastor here in April 2012 after serving as interim pastor of 59th Street LBC in Brooklyn, NY and nearly 6 years as the Bible and Worldview instructor at Hillcrest Lutheran Academy in Fergus Falls, MN. He's a 2008 graduate of the Lutheran Brethren Seminary, and plans on continuing his education sometime in the near future at Knox Theological Seminary.
In his downtime he enjoys surfcasting the shorelines up and down the east coast, playing golf, basketball, and volleyball, as well as reading books authored by his intellectual mentors and theological soul-mates: Martin Luther, C.S. Lewis, Gerhard Forde, Edmund Clowney, Timothy Keller, Tullian Tchividjian, Paul Tripp and others. He enjoys vintage furniture picking -- both restoring and repurposing older pieces. He loves all things Marvel comics, Star Wars & Harry Potter, 80's music, and he's a diehard New York Yankees fan. He enjoys spending time with his family, especially his 11 precious nieces and nephews. He's passionately devoted to seeing people set free by the amazing power of God's grace, so in addition to pastoring Hope Community he's a conference speaker and founding Board member of Fifth Act Church Planting!


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Respect Human Rights
Recognized for Health Management Excellence for Fourth Consecutive Year
Seiko Epson was recognized for the Fourth consecutive year under the Certified Health and Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program (White 500), in the large enterprise category. The program, which is jointly administered by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Nippon Kenko Kaigi, honors enterprises who work with insurers to promote good health and productivity. (March 2020)
SBTi Approved Epson's GHG Reduction Targets
Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has approved Epson's global greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. SBTi recognized Epson's targets as being science-based and in line with keeping a global temperature rise this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a central aim of the Paris Agreement. (November 2018)
Earned the Highest (Grade 3) Eruboshi
In 2016, the Japanese Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare granted Seiko Epson the top "Eruboshi" mark in recognition of its efforts to promote the active participation and advancement of women in the workplace. (July 2016)
Earned Platinum Kurumin Certification
As a result of Epson's efforts to establish a friendly workplace environment, we were awarded use of the so-called Kurumin symbol from 2007 and the Platinum Kurumin symbol in 2016. Use of these symbols is awarded by the Japanese Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare to companies that implement policies that support employees who are raising families, in accordance with the Act on Measures to Support the Development of the Next Generation. (May 2016)
Certification as an Employer of Persons with Disabilities
Epson Mizube Corporation, a special subsidiary of Seiko Epson, received certification as an "Employer of Persons with Disabilities" in recognition of its initiatives to expand employment opportunities for persons with mental disorders and intellectual disabilities and to promote the active participation in society and independence of persons with physical disabilities. (January 2020)
Epson Subsidiary in Thailand Awarded Gold for its Zero Accident Record
Epson Precision (Thailand) Ltd. (EPTH) was awarded the Gold Level Award under the Zero Accident Campaign certified by the Thai Ministry of Labor.
This award recognizes companies that have operated without an occupational accident for 10,000,000 consecutive hours or more. EPTH recorded 13,150,385 hours of accident-free operations between March 19, 2017 and December 31, 2019. In the 2019 fiscal year, 75 companies were recognized with the Gold Level Award, 16 of which were Japanese companies. (August 2020) Winners include subsidiaries of blue-chip Japanese companies such as Toyota Motors, Oki Electric Industry, Panasonic, and Mitsubishi Motors.
Epson Korea Wins the Environmental Preservation Prize at the Chosun CSR Awards
Epson Korea Ltd., Co., won the Environmental Preservation Prize for the second consecutive year at the Chosun Corporate Social Responsibility Awards. These prestigious awards are operated by Chosun Media and sponsored by multiple ministries within the Korean government. Reviewers analyzed and evaluated approximately 750 companies in South Korea by looking at their SDG, CSR, and environmental reports for the past three years. The field was narrowed down finally to 12 winners. Epson was the only winner in the Environment Preservation award category. The other 11 companies received awards for excellence or contributions in areas such as social welfare, the environment, culture, and the economy. (March 2020)
Received Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award at the 29th Grand Prize for Global Environment Awards
Seiko Epson won the Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award at the 29th Grand Prize for Global Environment Awards. The award recognizes Epson's inkjet innovation efforts to minimize environmental impact. (February 2020)
Solving Social Issues Through Inkjet Innovation
Winner of the METI Minister's Prize
Akita Epson Corporation received the METI Minister's Prize at the eighth Monodzukuri Grand Awards for its role in helping to develop, in partnership with the Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, Akita University Hospital, and the Akita Industrial Technology Center, the world's first rapid cancer diagnosis support system using AC electric field mixing. (January 2020)
The Fantas Aquarium won the Global Corporate Sustainability Best Practice Award
The Fantas Aquarium won the Global Corporate Sustainability Best Practice Award at the Global Corporate Sustainability Forum, which is sponsored by the Alliance for Sustainable Developments Goals, an organization made up of groups from Taiwan's industry, government, academia and NGOs. (November 2019)
Recognized for Excellence in Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Seiko Epson has been awarded the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy Director-General's Award for Epson's LX-10000F series and LX-7000F series of high-speed linehead inkjet multifunction printers sold in Japan. This award, which was part of the FY2018 Grand Prize for Excellence in Energy Efficiency and Conservation awards program, was sponsored by the Energy Conservation Center, Japan, with support from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. (January 2019)
Received the first EcoPro Award (METI Minister Award)
Epson's PaperLab A-8000 dry-process office papermaking system has been awarded the first EcoPro Award (Economy, Trade and Industry Minister's Prize) by Japan Environment Management Association for Industry. (September 2018)
Received PEZA Outstanding Environmental Performance Award
Epson Precision (Philippines), Inc. received its 3rd PEZA*1 Outstanding Environmental Performance award. This award recognizes the efforts of companies for sustained compliance and innovative systems for the period of 3 years (2016-2018) as they strive for continuous improvement in environmental management. (May 2019)
*1 Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)
Received the PROPER Rating
PT. Epson Batam, which is the one of Epson's manufacturing plants in Indonesia, received the Green PROPER rating from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Indonesia. Additionally, PT. Indonesia Epson Industry received the Blue PROPER rating. (2018-2019)
Received the JAPAN OEKO-TEX® AWARD 2017 OEKO-TEX® Association
Seiko Epson received the JAPAN OEKO-TEX® AWARD 2017 OEKO-TEX® Association prize. OEKO-TEX® is a worldwide certification system that certifies that textiles and related products are free of substances that are harmful to the human body. (2017)


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Santa Fe Reporter Editor Julia Goldberg Says Goodbye
Posted on April 27, 2011 by Jason Zaragoza - Industry News
"Perhaps it's time to sign off," writes Santa Fe Reporter editor Julia Goldberg in a farewell column published today:
After two stints as a staff writer (with a few other titles here and there), I have served as SFR's editor for more than a decade. All told, my relationship with the Reporter has pretty much defined the bulk of my adult life. Certainly, SFR has been the backdrop for the majority of my 24 years in Santa Fe.
Golberg announced her departure last month and although her replacement has not yet been named, she says, "I expect the next editor will be named in the not-too-distant future."
Web editor Zane Fischer has been tapped to serve as interim editor.


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Wedding Stationery Celebrating All Couples and All Weddings Feature Freshly Curated Designs by Minted's Community of Independent Artists
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Design marketplace Minted (www.minted.com) and Brides (www.brides.com), the iconic brand and go-to resource for all-things-weddings, today announced the launch of a partnership to introduce an exclusive Minted + Brides Collection of wedding stationery that celebrates all couples and all wedding celebrations. Reflective of the newest and emerging wedding style trends, the collection speaks to the perfect union of unique design, customization, and craftsmanship for every detail of your wedding day.
Today's Minted + Brides announcement marks the first of three exclusive drops, and includes invitations and free and premium wedding websites. To complete couples' wedding stationery from the beginning to the end of their wedding journey, matching ceremony and reception essentials, including programs, signs, place cards, and thank you cards, will be released in subsequent drops planned for November 2021 and January 2022. The exclusive Minted + Brides Collection is available to shop at http://minted.com/brides.
"We're thrilled to partner with Brides, an 86-year-old brand that has serviced and withstood the rapidly evolving wedding industry," said Minted Founder and Co-CEO Mariam Naficy. "Together, we are expertly positioned to offer real-life solutions to today's modern couples navigating the wedding planning process. Our collection of wedding websites and invitations, crowdsourced from Minted's community of independent artists, features the freshest designs and serves as the first occasion to set the overall wedding tone for guests. Alongside Brides, we look forward to extending our expertise for every couple's big day."
"Brides editors are the ultimate wedding trendmakers, and through our content, the team already offers inspiration and guidance to those planning weddings," said Leah Wyar, Brides' Senior Vice President and General Manager. "Now, with Minted, Brides will actually be a part of our readers' celebrations, starting with their stationery and wedding websites. It's an honor to partner with Minted, and will be a great honor to be a participant and presence at upcoming weddings!"
Minted's design expertise and Brides' editorial authority are positioned to identify the wedding themes and designs most relevant to today's engaged and soon-to-be-engaged couples. The resulting Minted + Brides Collection is a freshly curated assortment of 90 coordinating and customizable wedding invitations, websites, day-of stationery, and thank you cards that engage and inspire couples and guide their planning process.
The Minted + Brides Collection features the following curated trends:
MODERN: Chic, clean lines, updated silhouettes, formal
NATURAL: Fresh, whimsical, refined
ROMANTIC: Natural, airy, botanical, muted, romantic
BOHO: Modern, warm palette, dried leaves/palms/pampas
Each Minted + Brides design was submitted to a design challenge by one of 16,000 independent artists from Minted's community. Consumers are empowered to vote for the designs they love and want to see sold. Minted's proprietary algorithms parse millions of these votes to determine the winning designs. Minted's crowdsourcing process champions meritocracy and inclusivity. Artists submit to Design Challenges that are open to everyone regardless of formal training, education, geography, race, or age. Each purchase directly supports the independent artist who designed the stationery.
Countless customization options make every detail unique to each couple, who will also enjoy the help of a dedicated Minted designer to bring their vision to life. Each piece of stationery features luxurious paper and printing techniques, including foil-pressed designs and innovative white script on colored envelopes, creating something truly one of a kind. All invitations and thank you cards come complete with complimentary envelopes and free guest addressing to make planning for the big day even easier. Invitations start at $154 for 50; Standard Wedding Websites are free; and Premium Wedding Websites are $15 for the first year.
Shop the Minted + Brides Collection at http://minted.com/brides
About Minted
Minted is an innovation-led empowerment company, committed to discovering and fostering the world's untapped creative talent and bringing it to market. The company's art, stationery, and home furnishings products have reached more than 75 million homes worldwide. Using Minted's crowdsourcing technology, consumers are empowered to vote for the designs they love and want to see sold, ensuring that Minted always sells continuously fresh and trend-forward products. The winning designs are manufactured by Minted, enabling artists from around the world to sell their work while letting Minted do the rest. Since launching in 2007, the company has expanded to serve consumers in new categories including wall art, textiles, digital content, and home furnishings. Minted also builds traditional retail distribution for its independent artist community, partnering with major retailers and consumer products brands. The company has raised more than $300 million from top-tier investors including Benchmark Capital, T. Rowe Price, Permira, Ridge Ventures, Technology Crossover Ventures, and Norwest Venture Partners.
About Brides
Brides inspires and guides nearly five million monthly users as they make decisions from pre-engagement through the honeymoon. Brides is committed to bringing readers an inclusive look at the world of weddings, with every type of couple, every type of wedding and every type of celebration. Brides is part of the Dotdash publishing family.
SOURCE: Brides
https://www.brides.com
Strategies for Event Designers to Use Flowers in a Cost Effective Manner
Jennifer Gates Marries Nayel Nassar in Lavish Nuptials


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Click to copyhttps://apnews.com/823f4a51372042a5b8fc029cf922f94b
Mevlut Cavusoglu
Erdogan names Cabinet for Turkish presidency with new powers
By ZEYNEP BILGINSOYJuly 9, 2018
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waves at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, July 9, 2018 when taking the oath of office for his second term as president. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan named the members of his new Cabinet after he was sworn in Monday under a new governing system that grants him sweeping executive powers and which critics think gives him far too much control.
Mevlut Cavusoglu will remain as Turkey's foreign minister and Suleyman Soylu as the country's interior minister. The revamped 16-ministry Cabinet also includes Erdogan's son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, who will head treasury and finance as the Turkish economy shows signs of instability.
The executive system of government that began with Erdogan's swearing-in scraps Turkey's parliamentary governance structure and boosts the powers of the formerly ceremonial presidency.
"One of the most important democratic transformations of our country in its history has been successfully completed today," Erdogan said.
Under the new system, the president forms government, appoints ministers, vice presidents and high-level bureaucrats. Previously, the prime minister —now a defunct post— formed the government by making elected members of parliament ministers.
The process began in a contentious referendum last year when the executive presidency was voted in and last month's snap elections solidified Erdogan's power, which he won with 52.6 percent of the vote.
The president can issue decrees, prepare the budget and has the power to impose a state of emergency. Parliament legislates, can ratify or reject his budget and the president needs parliamentary approval for emergency rule and decrees passed during that time.
"Turkey is among the few countries in the world that has changed its governing system in democratic means," he said Monday.
Erdogan unveiled the rebranded presidency during his inauguration at the sprawling presidential compound, saying it would bring strength, stability and efficiency to the country. He said it did away with a "system that heavily cost our country through political, social and economic chaos."
Erdogan's son-in-law, who previously served as energy minister, assumes responsibility for Turkey's finances at a precarious time. The economy is experiencing high inflation, a declining currency and twin current account and budget deficits even as Erdogan insists on low interest rates.
Crowds cheered Erdogan along his convoy's route as he made his way to the inauguration ceremony. The presidency tweeted with the hashtag #NewEraWithErdogan. A special one lira coin (less than 25 U.S. cents) was minted for guests with the image of the presidential palace, dated July 9, 2018.
Some 50 countries were represented at the ceremony, among them controversial figures like Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, according to official Anadolu news agency. Major Western leaders were not in attendance.
Erdogan will not only run the executive branch but also lead his Justice and Development Party in parliament where he is short of a majority and therefore allied with a nationalist party.
Critics say the new system undermines impartiality and could lead to one-man rule with limited checks and balances, especially with a weakened judiciary and parliament.
A former Istanbul mayor, Erdogan has been at the helm of Turkey since 2003 as prime minister and then the first directly elected president since 2014.


André Philippe universal plastic travel adapter with nylon pouch. Size of the pouch: 140×100 mm. In black gift box.
Product description: Plastic, universal travel adapter with nylon pouch. Size of the pouch: 140×100 mm. In black gift box. André Philippe brand product.
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Progress of recent years in the development of high performance electronic device faces a number of fundamental limitations. These limitations motivate the transition from electronics to photonics technologies using photons instead of electrons. However, such transition encounters a set of serious challenges. In particular, photons, unlike electrons are neutral which leads to the problem of an effective light control. In addition, the "size" of the photon is limited to its wavelength which creates an obstacle on the way to high integration level of photonic circuits. We present theoretical analysis of ultra-thin metasurfaces based on 2D array of superconducting fr-SQUIDs, which are able to control key properties of the light scattering. We show that the scattering type changes for large amplitudes of the incident electromagnetic wave; there are two different refraction states if amplitude of the incident field is above critical value. The transmitted wave polarization and angle of refraction are different for these two states. Such scattering bistability allows switching the propagation direction of electromagnetic wave and its polarization by means of a "thin film", whose thickness is much smaller than the wavelength.


This Demonstration shows the exact and the numerical solutions using a variety of simple numerical methods for ordinary differential equations. Use the sliders to vary the initial value or to change the number of steps or the method.
* Euler's method is the simplest method for the numerical solution of an ordinary differential equation . Starting from an initial point , ) and dividing the interval [ , ] that is under consideration into steps results in a step size ; the solution value at point is recursively computed using , .
The last right-hand side given belongs to a stiff equation, such that the behavior of the method for this type of equation can be studied. See M. Heath, Scientific Computing: An Introductory Survey, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.
Note that Mathematica provides all of the methods outlined here and many others as part of the NDSolve framework. In contrast to the simple implementations used here, Mathematica uses more advanced methods which are e.g. equipped with error estimation and step size selection strategies as well as a stiffness switching; see Mathematica's advanced documentation for NDSolve.
Edda Eich-Soellner "Numerical Methods for Differential Equations"


Without much press, Governor Kasich signed the budget bill into law with a couple of changes that impact individuals in Ohio.
Small Business Owners will continue to receive favorable tax treatment with 100% of business income deductible up to $250k per year. Above that level, it is taxed at a flat 3%.
Parents with Kids in College will receive a nice perk when the Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 deduction raises from $2,000/yr to $4,000/yr.
All Taxpayers will benefit from the inflation adjustments to the tax brackets and personal exemptions for 2017 and 2018. Some may benefit from the elimination of the bottom 2 tax brackets (now 7 brackets instead of 9).
There were also changes to the sales and use taxes, municipal income tax and Commercial Activity Tax (CAT Tax). To read a summary of all the changes from the Ohio Society of CPA's click HERE.
To discuss how to take advantage of the Small Bussiness Owners credit or the new higher limits on college savings contact me!


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FTI Publications for Author: Yasar, O.
UWFDM-714 DKR-ICF: A Radioactivity and Dose Rate Calculation Code Package (Volume 1); Qingming Wang, Osman Yasar, Douglass L. Henderson, November 1986 (revised December 1994). (53 pages, 2.4 MB)
UWFDM-714a DKR-ICF: A Radioactivity and Dose Rate Calculation Code Package - Volume 2: Sample Problems for the DKR, CONVERT and DOSE Codes; D.L. Henderson, O. Yasar, November 1986 (revised April 1987) [available from the Radiation Information Shielding Center at ORNL, Report CCC-323/DKR]. (180 pages, 7.4 MB)
UWFDM-726 Radiological Dose Calculations for the Chamber and Diode Region of the Light Ion Fusion Target Development Facility; O. Yasar, M.E. Sawan, D.L. Henderson, G.A. Moses, July 1987. (31 pages, 1.5 MB)
UWFDM-734 Radiological Dose Calculations for the Chamber and Diode Region of the Light Ion Fusion Target Development Facility; O. Yasar, M.E. Sawan, D.L. Henderson, G.A. Moses, October 1987 [Presented at the 12th Symposium on Fusion Engineering, 12-16 October 1987, Monterey CA]. (7 pages, 767 kB)
UWFDM-752 Light Ion Beam Fusion Target Development Facility Studies: Progress Report for the Period November 1, 1986 to October 31, 1987; B. Badger, D. Bruggink, R.L. Engelstad, D.L. Henderson, E.G. Lovell, G.A. Moses, R.R. Peterson, M.E. Sawan, O. Yasar, January 1988. (69 pages, 2.9 MB)
UWFDM-823 A Computational Model for Z-Pinch Plasma Channels; Osman Yasar, February 1990 [Ph.D. thesis]. (259 pages, 6.8 MB)
UWFDM-841 Plasma Channels for the LIBRA Reactor Design; O. Yasar, G.A. Moses and R.R. Peterson, October 1990 [Presented at the 9th Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy, 7-11 October 1990, Oak Brook IL]. (7 pages, 573 kB)
UWFDM-845 R-MHD: An Adaptive-Grid Radiation-Magnetohydrodynamics Computer Code; Osman Yasar and Gregory A. Moses, January 1991. (49 pages, 1.4 MB)
UWFDM-846 Discrete Ordinates Solution of the Time Dependent Radiation Transport Equation on a Distributed Network of UNIX Workstations; Timothy J. Tautges and Osman Yasar, January 1991. (47 pages, 849 kB)
UWFDM-854 Target Chamber Issues for the Sandia National Laboratories Laboratory Microfusion Facility - Final Report for the Period 10/1/88 through 12/31/90; R.R. Peterson, R.L. Engelstad, R.D. Griffin, H.Y. Khater, E.G. Lovell, J.J. MacFarlane, G.A. Moses, J.W. Powers, S.C. Rutledge, M.E. Sawan, P. Wang, O. Yasar, April 1991. (89 pages, 1.1 MB)
UWFDM-910 Numerical Simulation of High Energy Density Plasmas in Support of KALIF Experiments; J.J. MacFarlane, P. Wang, D.L. Henderson, O. Yasar, January 1993. (58 pages, 850 kB)
FPA-93-1 Numerical Simulation of High Energy Density Plasmas in Support of KALIF Experiments; J.J. MacFarlane, P. Wang, D.L. Henderson, O. Yasar, January 1993 [also UWFDM-910].


For example, if values is [1, 3, 5, 7] then the mean is 4. If the weights were specified as [1, 1, 0, 0] then the mean would be 2.
This metric creates two variables, total and count that are used to compute the average of values. This average is ultimately returned as mean which is an idempotent operation that simply divides total by count.
Accumulates statistics for computing the mean.
For example, if values is [1, 3, 5, 7] then the mean is 4. If the sample_weight is specified as [1, 1, 0, 0] then the mean would be 2.
sample_weight: Optional weighting of each example. Defaults to 1.


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Riverside School's 2nd Annual STEM Fair Offers Opportunity to Develop Innovative Solutions to Real-World Challenges
By: greenwichfreepress | May 17, 2016
Nearly 200 Riverside School students will participate in the school's second annual STEM Fair, presenting their original research projects pertaining to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Building on the success of last year's inaugural STEM Fair, and the previous ten years of Science Fairs, the event is an exciting part of the student experience at Riverside.
A STEM Fair Open House will be held for Riverside School families on Wednesday, May 18th, from 6-7:30 pm. Students will also present their projects to their classes the following school day. Nearly 200 students from grades K-5 have chosen to participate in this PTA-sponsored event.
Principal Christopher Weiss has made innovation a focus of the school.
"Students are encouraged to think creatively and sharpen their STEM skills, whether it's through our use of technology in the classroom or our Genius Hour," he said. "We recognize how important it is that they explore these fields, as they will be vital for all 21st century citizens."
Students will tackle a broad range of projects from computer coding to understanding how fiber optics really work. The Fair will include scientific evaluations to determine whether family members have similar fingerprints and whether watching television affects a student's ability to do math. What makes fresh flowers last longer and why? How is a circuit constructed? How does sight affect taste? How do tornadoes form?
These dynamic questions and more will all be answered at the STEM Fair.
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Greenwich High School Seniors Named as Top 300 Scholars in 2021 Regeneron Science Talent Search
Program alumni of the Regeneron Science Talent Search include recipients of the world's most coveted science and math honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes, 11 National Medals of Science, six Breakthrough Prizes, 21 MacArthur Foundation Fellowships and two Fields Medals.
ISD's Jane Martellino Honored by the American Library Association
Grace Daycare & Learning Center: Quality, Affordable Programs, with Live Streaming for Parents
View all Schools Posts →
Update on the Metro North Tree Trimming in Riverside
It is Metro North's right to perform tree trimming in their right of way, and they say it is critical to preventing service disruptions, especially during storms.
Riverside School's "Holidays for Haiti" Community Service Event to Match Participants with 350+ Haitian Children
Riverside School's Performs 21st Annual School Musical, "Frozen"
View all Riverside School Posts →
Letter: Billboard is Demeaning and Insulting to Nurses of Both Genders
Reeling in the Fish at Greenwich Scouting Fishing Derby
UPDATE: Bank of America Branches Temporarily Closed;…
WATERS: A Clear and Present Debacle for Local Republicans
Yale New Haven Health to offer COVID-19 Vaccinations…
Greenwich Covid-19 Update: A Downward Trend Despite…
Sun Shines on Marie D'Elia's 100th…
LITTMAN: Being silent is a choice.
Driver Charged with Permitting Minor to Possess Alcohol
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YWCA to Host: Overcoming Racial Health Disparities and Beyond Covid-19
Each year YWCA Greenwich honors the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a community event that focuses on a topic that he would have cared deeply about. Last year, they examined Women's Power and Vote at 100.
Barbara Ann Dalton, 75
Barbara Ann Dalton, a resident of Greenwich for 30 years, passed away peacefully at home on January 13, 2021, after a courageous five-year battle with cancer. Barbara was born on January 24, 1945 in New Rochelle, NY to the late Charles F. Dalton and Mildred O'Neill Dalton.
© Copyright 2021, Greenwich Free Press


The homeopathic treatment of children is one of the most promising areas of homeopathy.The correct remedy can often give the child a new lease of life.
Didier Grandgeorge is one of the most experienced homeopathic pediatricians in the world today. In this practical handbook, he conveys his immense knowledge and explains the use of proven remedies for all kinds of childhood illness.The book demonstrates the full spectrum of homeopathic treatment of children: from respiratory disease, fever, flu, diarrhea, constipation, and cystitis through warts, eczema, diaper rash, herpes, acne, and head lice to injuries, tendonitis, insect bites, allergies, teething complaints, travel sickness, and fever cramps.Even disturbances such as bedwetting, delayed walking, speech problems, migraine, stage fright, fears and anxiety, and the after effects of vaccinations are discussed.
Summary: an original work that goes well beyond acute cases.
A special chapter deals with the illnesses of pregnancy (varicose veins, nausea), birth and the postnatal period (asphyxia, malformations, jaundice, breastfeeding difficulties) up until the typical diseases of childhood.
Dr. Grandgeorge also explains the deeper significance of symptoms, so giving valuable hints to help identify the underlying problem. It is clear that the remedy pointers emerge directly from the experience of a great clinician, which invests the book with unusual originality.
Firsthand knowledge from a skilled practitioner a real treasure!
Didier Grandgeorge has written a book on acute cases in paediatrics. It is a reference for all specialists in homeopathy looking after children in such acute situations. Acute cases in young children are very tricky and need acute diagnosis. Didier , with his amazing knowledge of the repertory and his approach to homeopathy that is under the influence of psychoanalysis has the ability to go straight to the core of the patients situation. His method is clear and gives the opportunity to work quickly and efficiently!


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GeneralUncategorized
Building a Balanced Team: Conclusion
Eric Erhardt 2016-03-30
Eric Erhardt · March 30, 2016
Over the last several weeks, we have identified catchers, first basemen, second basemen, third basemen, shortstops, and outfielders who have the potential to contribute to three or more hitting categories. Today, we'll compare our evaluations of each position to determine relative values and scarcity. As a reminder on the methodology behind this series, I began this exercise by gathering data for each position over the past decade (plus a bonus year because why not?) to determine the average production for each hitting category. In order to eliminate outliers resulting from limited sample sizes, I used a 400-plate appearance qualifier for all positions with the exception of catcher, for which I set the threshold at 300 plate appearances. I also wanted to control for lost playing time resulting from unforeseeable injuries, so rather than calculate the average counting stat totals for each category, I calculated the ratio of plate appearances to each counting stat (e.g. 30 plate appearances per home run as opposed to an average of 20 home runs).
After calculating the baseline for each category and year, I tallied the number of players who met three or more category thresholds as a measure of positional scarcity. I then calculated the average for each category and position over the 11-year period to reduce the noise and determine the baselines we will use to identify multi-category contributors in our draft. Once the 11-year baselines were calculated, I converted the ratios back to counting stats based on 600 plate appearances (450 for catchers) so that we could easily compare each position. Finally, since not all positions will produce the same value, I calculated the composite z-score for each, which reflects the sum of standard deviations each position falls above or below each of the categorical averages over the 11-year period. Since most five-category players are properly valued in drafts and dynasty leagues, this value will help us prioritize the positions we should target when attempting to build a balanced roster.
Now that we have reviewed all of the positions, let's take a look at how they stack up against one another for overall value and measures of scarcity:
There are some interesting take-aways from this exercise. First, the lack of outfielders qualifying for our five-category benchmarks was the biggest surprise. Historically, the outfield has been the most difficult position to secure a five-category contributor based on our measures of scarcity. This is likely due to the fact that the outfield pool is composed of a group of players with diverse skill sets, which in turn buoy each of the categorical averages. Additionally, our positional z-score values indicate that the average production provided by outfielders is the most valuable relative to the other positional averages. Based on these results, dynasty league owners should put extra emphasis on acquiring five-category outfielders. AJ Pollock, Starling Marte, and Mookie Betts are all well worth the premium you will likely have to pay to acquire them. For teams that are building for the future, there are a number of unproven major-leaguers and prospects that have demonstrated the potential to become five-category contributors, including Eddie Rosario, Aaron Hicks, Lewis Brinson, David Dahl, and Jordan Patterson. Based on the overall value of the production provided by this position, there is huge profit potential relative to the price you will likely need to pay to acquire them.
Shortstop is the second-scarcest position based on the results, and has returned negative value relative to the overall league average for the last 11 years. With the recent influx of new talent (and more on the way), we may see a reversal in both of these trends in the coming years. Even if you don't have Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, or Francisco Lindor, there are plenty more prospects in the pipeline with promising offensive skill sets, including JP Crawford, Dansby Swanson, and Trea Turner just to name a few. I wouldn't be surprised to see significant improvements in production per plate appearance at this position as soon as next season.
Not surprisingly, the average production at the catcher position is the least valuable of all of the hitters. Catcher is also the third-most difficult position to acquire a five-category contributor. Therefore, we not only need to find a catcher who meets our positional thresholds, but ideally we want to find one who meets the average production benchmarks for all positions so that we can separate ourselves from the competition. We identified Nick Hundley as the only potential five-category contributor according to Steamer's projections, but based on the state of the position, Buster Posey and Kyle Schwarber are also excellent targets, as they will easily exceed the positional benchmarks in multiple categories. Many dynasty league owners are leery to invest in the position due to injury risks and playing time concerns, but I'd rather spend my resources on a stud catcher than a stud first baseman. The production you'll receive from a combination of Buster Posey and a lower-tier first baseman will likely exceed the combined production you'll receive from Paul Goldschmidt and a lower tier catcher. For instance, if we pair each of the above with the 12th ranked player at the opposing position based on 2015 standings gained points (in this case, Adam Lind and Wilson Ramos), the Posey-Lind tandem outperforms the Goldschmidt-Ramos tandem in three out of the five categories. By employing this strategy, you'll gain an edge on your competition in the hitting categories.
Second base is just about average for both production and positional scarcity relative to the field. While we did not identify any potential five-category contributors based on Steamer's projections, it doesn't mean they don't exist. Jose Altuve was almost a five-category contributor last season, and could accomplish the feat this season with just a slight uptick in pop. Rougned Odor showed a great deal of promise last year after he was recalled from Triple-A, and he owns a diverse skill set that could make him a five-category contributor as early as this year. Anthony Rendon is only a year removed from a five-category season, and while he may project to end up a third base in the long term, anything is possible when Daniel Murphy is playing second base.
First base and third base provide excellent production and are the easiest positions to acquire five-category contributors. While your league-mates are fawning over Paul Goldschmidt, Manny Machado, and Kris Bryant, the savvy dynasty league owner will invest their resources in five-category contributors at more difficult-to-fill positions and compliment them with boring-yet-productive players such as Freddie Freeman and Kyle Seager.
Building a balanced roster allows us to mitigate risk and target value in drafts, on waivers, and in trades, as opposed to using our resources to acquire players that address specific categorical needs. A well-balanced team can weather a storm of injuries, and provides you with a solid foundation from which to build. I hope that you'll find these benchmarks and measures of scarcity useful as you approach your drafts for the upcoming season.
Tags:Aaron HicksAdam LindAJ PollockAnthony RendonBuster PoseyCarlos CorreaCorey SeagerDaniel MurphyDansby SwansonDavid DahlEddie RosarioFrancisco LindorFreddie FreemanJordan PattersonJose AltuveJP CrawfordKris BryantKyle SchwarberKyle SeagerLewis BrinsonManny MachadoMookie BettsNick HundleyPaul GoldschmidtRougned OdorStarling MarteTrea TurnerWilson Ramos
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Obama Calls Korean War a "Victory," Hails Veterans
By Peter Maer
President Barack Obama greets military personnel and their families after he laid a wreath at the Yongsan War Memorial in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010. AP Photo
SEOUL, South Korea -- President Obama has used a Veterans Day speech in South Korea to remember "the forgotten war."
On the 60th anniversary year of the start of the Korean War, Mr. Obama told veterans of the conflict, "We remember. We remember your courage. We remember your sacrifice. And the legacy of your service lives on in a free and prosperous Republic of Korea."
The president spoke to the veterans and thousands of troops who still guard the tense border with North Korea. Mr. Obama is in South Korea for the annual G20 Summit. He reminded the audience at Youngsan Garrison that since the war ended where it began at the 38th parallel, some used the phrase "die for a tie" to describe the sacrifice.
Mr. Obama rejected that characterization. He said, "This was no tie. This was a victory." It was a victory then, and it is a victory today."
Bill MacSwain, president of the Korean War Veterans Association, is among the former soldiers who still believe, "Our war was of course a forgotten war." The Fort Worth, Texas, man told CBS News, "The public forgot about it and so did the veterans."
He thinks the veterans forgot "because when they came back they suddenly found that not too many people in the United States knew what the Korean War was all about and how really tough it was."
Six decades later, MacSwain says there are Korean War vets who still suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and pain from cold weather injuries suffered during the harsh Korean winters. He describes the war as "a stigma in our history."
Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Joe Davis says, "Much like Vietnam War veterans, Korean War vets simply cannot be thanked enough." Davis reports one of their main concerns is proper and accessible health care.
North Korea is a big part of the stigma MacSwain mentions. Mr. Obama warned, "Pyongyang should not be mistaken: the United States will never waver in our commitment to the security of the Republic of Korea."
Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said the U.S. military presence in South Korea "is as necessary as it's ever been."
Longtime Korea watcher Mike Green, an expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, thinks the unpredictable North is watching to see if Mr. Obama has been weakened by the outcome of the recent midterm elections. Green told CBS Radio News U.S. adversaries "in the past have over-interpreted these kinds of electoral results as a sign of collapsing leadership." Green suggests the president should "push back" against any notion that he's "weaker."
CBS news contributor correspondent Peter Maer CBS
Peter Maer is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here. You can also follow him on Twitter.
Peter Maer
Peter Maer is a CBS News White House Correspondent.


FGH conducted minor alterations and renovations in most clinical sites, including repairing water supply systems, installing power generating sets, equipping clinic laboratories and furnishing HIV clinics. Project activities also included local human capacity-building whereby over 1,500 Nigerian physicians, nurses, counselors and allied health staff were trained in HIV counseling and testing, basic care and support, adult/ pediatric care and treatment, adherence, prevention of mother to child transmission, home-based care and laboratory management. Provision of quality HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment services were at the forefront of FGH's work in Nigeria. Throughout the project period FGH staff counseled and tested a total of 171,316 clients, 8,577 adults and children received at least one service of HIV care and 5,034 adults and children were enrolled onto HIV antiretroviral treatment.
FGH also established family-centered, facility- and community-based services targeting orphans and vulnerable children in Kwara state through partnership with a local community-based organization, the Society for Youth Development and Orphaned Children (SYDOC). This alliance highlights the priority FGH attaches to cultivating strong collaborative relationships with local groups involved with development work, as such partnerships enhance the capacity of local organizations to build sustainable, high-impact public health initiatives.
At the end of the project's fifth and final year, VU/FGH was able to transition a substantial portion of its resources to a newly registered local indigenous implementing partner, Friends for Global Health Initiative in Nigeria (FGHiN). This process enabled successful capacitation of the local entity partner, which is now implementing its own 5-year CDC/PEPFAR funded care and treatment program in Nigeria.


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Den Patrick - Witchsign - Signs New Three Book Deal In The Ashen Empire Series ( HarperVoyger)
Natasha Bardon, Publishing Director at HarperVoyager has bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to three books including WITCHSIGN by Den Patrick from Julie Crisp Literary Agency. WITCHSIGN will be the first of three books in The Ashen Empire series.
It has been seventy-five years since the dragons' rule of fire and magic was ended. Out of the ashes, the Solmindre Empire was born. Since then the tyrannical rulers have worked hard to banish all manifestations of the arcane from existence. However, children are still born bearing the taint of the arcane, known to all as 'witchsign'. Vigilants of the Synod are sent out across the continent to find and capture all those bearing the mark.
No one knows when they'll will appear and enforce the Empire's laws.
But they're coming. And gods help those who bear the sign of the witch.
Natasha Bardon said: 'I'm delighted to welcome Den Patrick to the list. Den is a gifted writer and this new trilogy is packed full of the fantastically complicated and deep characters that readers have come to expect from Den's work.'
Den Patrick is the author of the Erebus Sequence, published in 2014. The first installment, The Boy Who Wept Blood, was longlisted for British Fantasy Society Best Newcomer in 2015. He lives in London with his fiancée and their two cats.
Den Patrick says: 'I am delighted to sign with Harper Voyager and introduce readers to a world of Vinterkveld, with its many dangers, adventures, and surprises.'
Julie Crisp said: 'With all the grit and imagination fantasy readers of Joe Abercrombie and Mark Lawrence love, Den's series is a perfect fit for Voyager. We're very excited to be working with Natasha and the team there.'
By Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books on August 15, 2017
Labels: 2017, 2018, book deal, Book News 2017, Den Patrick, HarperVoyger, Press Release, Sci Fi Fantasy, Series
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If you're looking for a TEM provider and not asking the above questions, you're missing out on a big part of the equation. Help drive your business by realizing a fully-optimized Telecom and Mobility environment.
Download a full list of Telecom and Mobility activities (including Telecom Expense Management).
As you gear up for the 2014 IT budget season, you know there are many areas competing for IT time and attention. According to a recent article from CIO.com, you're also trying to secure the best talent when it comes to areas like application development, project management, and technical support. At the same time you're probably facing the annual budget dilemma of how to design your 2014 IT budget for more strategic impact and reduce IT operating costs. You're dealing with 'keeping the lights on' expenses that are known to eat up nearly 70% of your budget year after year. If you want to make a real impact to this recurring problem, you need to entertain a structural change to how you organize and prioritize your IT organization.
Did you know that 12% – 20% of corporate telecom charges are in error and unfortunately for businesses, 85% of these charges are in the carrier's favor? (Gartner Group) This is the time to take charge of your telecom costs – take a close look at these 5 Reasons Telecom Expense Management is Essential to Reducing Costs.
Chasing down billing error corrections and credits requires timely documentation and persistence. Most carriers have a formal process for submitting dispute and credit requests and submissions must include proper documentation. Carriers are rarely proactive in resolving these types of issues therefore the burden is on the customer to be persistent and follow up. Always obtain the rerate calculations to ensure you receive the full amount you are entitled to.
Within the telecom environment, wireless assets are often the most dynamic. Factors such as voice and data pooling, addition of new service, upgraded service, equipment changes, overages and other miscellaneous fees can all lend to significant monthly variances. Monthly analysis is critical in monitoring accuracy and ensuring optimization.
Comprehensive monthly audits are imperative in eliminating telecom cost creep. Pricing errors, missing discounts, incorrect service periods, excessive technician charges, unauthorized features and add-ons are all commonplace in the world of telecom billing. Identifying such anomalies requires attention to detail and diligence to locate an informed carrier representative who can validate the charges.
Contract negotiation should begin 3-6 months prior to the contract termination date to allow for a full evaluation of current market pricing and options. If your contract contains an automatic renewal clause and you wish to cancel service it's often a requirement to provide written notice 30-60 days in advance.
As you can see, Telecom Expense Management requires diligence, expertise, and time. In addition to reducing costs, Telecom Expense Management is also essential in understanding what your true telecom environment looks like.
Unsure how to pursue Telecom Expense Management in your organization? Contact a trusted expert like Renodis to walk you through the details and show you how you can save time and reduce costs on your next telecom bill!
Diane Kisch is an industry leader in Telecom Expense Management and Practice Manager for Renodis Telecom Management.
A telecommunications enterprise is a complex and multi-faceted organization that is both a strategic necessity and a likely source of economic drain. Most companies aren't aware of the cost outflow within their wireless telecom environment, or if they are, managers don't have the time or resources to identify and correct the source. The lack of focus on the daily cost management of telecom can continue and snowball into significant losses to the enterprise.
Identifying and managing these areas of loss could most certainly be a full time job. The problem with continued waste is that most enterprises do not have resources focused on the day to day management of wireless telecom expenses. Wireless telecom cost drains can be obvious, some can be insidious, and still others need to be drudged up to the surface. All, however, require time and a tedious level of commitment to overcome.
As the list of unmanaged wireless telecom expenses can be lengthy, a good place to start is with the lowest-hanging fruit – those problems that are the easiest to resolve and which can reap immediate savings. In review of wireless expenses, immediacy of savings can best be realized by reviewing some key areas of your wireless expenses, move on to dig up the stealthy issues that contribute to cost outflow.
Own pool optimization by specifying if and when automatic optimizations occur to improve device performance – don't let this run unmanaged.
Unless your mobile user base has an unlimited plan for voice, data and texting, monthly overages can voraciously eat away at your budget. Overages comprise one of the most common problems amongst mid-sized organizations today. Research and review who your mobile user is, what he/she will be utilizing the mobile device for (cellular telephone, email, presentations, web browsing, etc.) and optimize a monthly plan that will be built around users' needs.
If your mobile users are racking up roaming charges then it is time to re-evaluate their plan. Move them to a global plan that will enable them to utilize their device when and where necessary. Roaming charges nonsensically creep into expenses but can be easily avoided.
Another source of escape occurs by providing an employee with too much functionality or service that goes unused. Allowing unnecessary add-ons such as insurance, roadside assistance, or visual voicemail will only ensure that telecom cost creep will continue to erode your bottom line. Review each mobile user contract to determine which features are absolutely necessary for him or her to perform their duties, and eliminate the rest.
One of the more common problems, the management of devices that are no longer utilized, such as those that belong to terminated employees or those that have been replaced or upgraded, requires more time and effort to optimize, but can result in modest cost savings. Having a strictly enforced mobile user policy in place that addresses zero usage device management is essential.
Rectifying what is actually billed with what is used is an arduous task but one that can pay big dividends. Assess those plans that are underutilized or not used at all to determine what can be eliminated or consolidated. Get rid of those plans that are unnecessary. Perform an audit amongst your mobile user base to determine the exact nature of plan usage on an employee by employee basis to ensure the best plan fit.
This happens to be one of the most common areas of cost drain amongst mid-sized businesses with 500-5,000 employees. In mobile app or subscription 'slamming', customers are switched to another telephone provider without their knowledge or permission. These types of misleading sales practices among mobile service providers can lead to intentional fee increases and can also change the terms of service. If not carefully monitored and guarded against, slamming practices can unknowingly increase costs and detrimentally alter contracted terms.
Tighter controls and regular audits can make a significant difference to the bottom line of a mid-sized company. In auditing and assessing wireless expenses in corporate mobile telecom environments, these seven points are quite common among nearly 70% of companies we work with.
Get your Telecom Outsourcing Assessment now to see if any of these items apply to your business, and follow our blog for additional articles relating to Turnkey Telecom Management™ (TTM™) and Telecom Outsourcing.
Improving financial management of telecom services within your organization is never easy, but managing the financial component of telecom can be a nightmare. Multiple carriers, multiple contracts, different locations; these factors can all lead to poor financial management and cost creep. Add mobility into the picture and you get a hodge-podge mess (I use hodge-podge because a customer used that very term the other day!).
What are the components of Financial Management in Telecom?
The first step in determining the areas of focus would be to conduct an Inventory Audit and Assessment. The following items should be sections of analysis.
Maintain and enforce approved policy for devices, plans, etc.
The bottom line is, once you do a current state review and analysis of every aspect of your telecom environment, it becomes easier to determine where you can cut costs and lower the cost of managing these services, however, not doing anything leads to a continued state of chaos.
Contact us to learn more about our Telecom Assessment.


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Save more Water
by Aflathoon In: News - 4 Comments
Don't bother with pre-wash (you're just wasting 6billion litres of water a year)
An interesting article I came over By DAVID DERBYSHIRE
Last updated at 23:37 24 February 2008
Britons waste six billion litres of hot water every year putting clothes through the pre-wash cycle of their washing machines, experts have said.
Although most modern powders remove stains without pre-washing, one in four households uses the setting for every load of laundry.
Campaigners say families are simply wasting water…and money.
Pre-washing is designed to give clothes a longer soak to shift stubborn stains. However, advances in washing machine design and improved detergents mean it is often not needed, according to the makers of Ariel and the environmental group Waterwise.
They say if everyone stopped using the setting, which wastes 15 litres of water with every use, it would save enough to fill 6,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Jacob Tompkins, director of Waterwise, said: "The past two years have seen the worst droughts and floods for a century in parts of the UK.
"Although these events give different messages to the public about available water supply, and the need to be water efficient, both lead to restrictions on public water supply.
"Already, the South of England has less available water per person than Sudan and Syria."
The campaign comes as a survey found that most householders significantly underestimate how much water they use for washing, cooking and cleaning.
Three in ten people think the average house uses less than 50 litres of water a week. However, the figure is 150 litres per person each week.
In a survey of 1,002 people carried out by Ipsos Mori, half of those questioned said they do not wait until they have full loads before washing. Adding two garments would save around 608million litres of water each week.
One in six of those surveyed admitted to flushing junk such as cotton wool balls or make-up tissues down the lavatory at least once a week. With each flush using an average of 7.5 litres of water, that wastes 27million litres a week.
A quarter said they left the tap running while brushing their teeth, wasting six litres of water each minute, or 446million litres a day.
The memory of recent droughts seems to have been washed away by last year's flooding, with water scarcity seen as the least important environmental issue.
Only 7 per cent said water shortage was the most important issue ahead of climate change, excessive energy use and carbon footprints.
A spokesman for Ariel said that modern detergents dissolve dirt without the need for longer machine cycles.
He said the amount of water wasted by British households in a week was enough to supply more than six million families.
Phil Woolas, climate change minister, said: "We all know that climate change is happening but many of us don't connect it with the need to waste less water.
"Making a few simple changes to some of our everyday habits can cut down the amount of water we use."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-518457/Dont-bother-pre-wash-youre-just-wasting-6billion-litres-water-year.html#ixzz3Tav6yXUE
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