text:
'The Separate And Unequal Health System' Highlighted By COVID-19
By NPR
An ICU nurse helps a COVID-19 patient speak to their family through an iPad. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones for NPR)
By Leila Fadel | NPR
On a recent Friday afternoon, the critical care charge nurse at a South Los Angeles hospital tries to send another nurse off to grab lunch. Maria Arechiga is interrupted by the beeping of an alarm, the vitals of a patient declining, organs failing.
She dons a surgical gown and unzips a plastic tarp that hangs from the doorway of a hospital room -- a makeshift isolation room on this floor temporarily transformed into a larger intensive care unit to make space for the patients that just keep coming. She slips inside.
Dr. Stefan Richter follows her in, both telling the other nurse to get lunch now, because later may never come.
There are two patients in the room. Within an hour, both patients' organs are failing. Arechiga yells for someone to call a Code Blue, a medical emergency.
"May I have your attention please. Code Blue, Code Blue," booms from the PA system.
Reinforcements arrive. In the urgency, there is practiced calm. A team helps each nurse, doctor and respiratory therapist put on protective gear before they go in to try to resuscitate the patients.
They lose one patient, get the pulse back on another. And then another Code Blue is called. They begin again. Every single person in the critical care unit on this floor is COVID-19 positive.
A DEADLY, PREDICTABLE DISASTER
The intensive care unit at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital is at the epicenter of the coronavirus surge that is ripping through Los Angeles County, the country's most populous.
One in three people in the county have been infected with COVID-19.
But at this hospital in Willowbrook, an unincorporated part of South L.A. neighboring Compton and Watts, the pandemic is preying on the inequities that disproportionately hurt Latino and Black communities. The neighborhoods are densely populated and multiple generations of families live together, making it hard to isolate.
It's a place where most people are on public health insurance and where chronic illnesses are much more prevalent because there is a systemic lack of access to quality health care. Add COVID-19 to that mix and it's a deadly but predictable disaster.
"This is a community that is largely low-income, people of color," says Dr. Elaine Batchlor, the CEO of MLK hospital. "This is where the essential workers live. These are the people that are stocking the grocery stores, driving our buses, cleaning up after the rest of us. And they are continuing to be exposed to COVID on the job."
She speaks in her office where she has been managing the crisis.
"Our small hospital now has more COVID patients than hospitals that are three to four times larger in L.A. County," Batchlor says. "We have added beds to the hospital. We've doubled up single rooms. We've added five tents outside of the emergency department. The staff converted an entire medical floor into a critical care unit. So we've been doing everything we can to create enough capacity to care for all of the patients that have been coming in to see us."
"WE ARE IN A CRISIS SITUATION"
On Christmas Eve, Elaine Batchlor sent an urgent letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
"I'm writing with a critical update on how the COVID-19 coronavirus is impacting our black and brown community in South Los Angeles," Batchlor wrote.
The data she cites in her letter is sobering. Sixty-six percent of patients in the hospital are COVID-19 patients, triple if not quadruple what other hospitals in the county are seeing. She describes a recent day when 70 patients were in the emergency department with just 29 beds. She writes about the meditation room below her office now filled with gurneys, a gift shop turned hospital room.
"We are in a crisis situation, with devastation wrought on caregivers and community alike," she wrote.
She pleaded not just for short-term solutions but also for fundamental change to the health care system that brought the community to this point.
She ends the letter: "It is time to address the separate and unequal health system that has been heartbreakingly exposed by COVID-19."
The state sent temporary help. Three National Guard Medical Strike Teams, some 90 nurses and respiratory therapists. This week, COVID-19 hospitalizations are finally going down -- but the number remains high.
"WE NEED TO FIX IT"
Even as Batchlor works to get her hospital through this catastrophe, her focus remains on long-term reforms. Because when this pandemic is over, the systemic problems in health care that are visibly failing this community and communities like it across the country will still be here.
"Our goal is to create the health care structure that's missing here," she says. "We're advocating for the system to be adequately funded so that people in communities like South L.A. can access the same continuum of care that we see in other communities and the same quality."
This hospital has always served more than it was built to, since the day the luminous facility opened in 2015 to replace the hospital that shuttered in 2007 over deadly conditions.
"We've been seeing a bit of a public health crisis in this community for the past five years," Batchlor says.
The year before the pandemic ripped through these neighborhoods and the world, the emergency department saw 110,000 people. It's only set up for some 40,000. The community the hospital serves has the fewest number of hospital beds per 100,000 people in Los Angeles County.
The most common procedures are diabetic amputations and treatment of diabetic wounds. Both are completely preventable with the proper care.
So this moment, this crisis, it's not a surprise, she says.
"We've created a tiered financing system for health care with commercial at the top and Medicaid and uninsured at the bottom," Batchlor says. "And we need to change that, because that's where many of our Black and brown communities are. And that's why they're being harder hit by something like COVID. We need to fix it."
The problem is glaringly obvious, she says. The majority of patients in this community are on public health insurance. And while a hospital gets supplemental funding if a patient is so sick they have to be admitted, it is a fraction of what private insurance pays for outpatient care. That includes the emergency department triaging below her office and the preventative medical care that keeps people healthy.
"We're getting paid adequately to amputate someone's leg," she says. "But we're not getting paid adequately to prevent that leg from being amputated."
The hospital loses some $10 million a year operating the emergency department. It loses money for the specialty care and primary care programs it offers for things like behavioral health care or nutrition programs to prevent diabetes.
"You can't send these patients to other places, no other places will take them ... Why? Because we lose money on these patients," Batchlor says. "Our goal is to create the health care infrastructure in the community that's missing here."
To bridge the gap, the hospital relies on millions of dollars in philanthropic donations to subsidize doctors' and nurses' salaries, bring in cutting-edge technology and create disease management and prevention programs.
"This is not a sustainable model," she says. "This will not work forever. It works for a limited period of time when you have that philanthropic funding."
NOWHERE ELSE FOR PATIENTS TO GO
Outside the hospital grounds, it's a health care desert. Doctors won't set up in communities where they can't make money.
"Physicians can't sustain a practice in a community like this. So that's why they aren't here," Batchlor says. "That's why we're missing 1,200 physicians."
So there's nowhere else for patients to go.
The lack of options is on display in the emergency department. The halls are lined with beds. An older woman yells out in Spanish "please, no." She's scared and alone. Nurses calm her as medical staff move quickly to tend to dozens of people.
Dr. Ryan McGarry compares this moment to battlefield medicine.
"We're surrounded here by multiple tents and tubes and lines and, effectively, temporary structures to handle overflow on overflow," he says. "Unfortunately, we're having to make sometimes decisions about who we can move inside or who's sickest between 10 sick patients. That's not an easy decision to make for anybody, let alone when you're trying to help everyone get through this."
Despite the overflow, the hospital has found a system to expand what they have to accommodate what McGarry calls "a surge, on a surge, on a surge."
"If you need the ICU here, you're going to get it. It just means that maybe that ICU will be here in the emergency department," he says.
"IT'S BEEN HORRIBLE"
Back in the ICU, Arechiga's shift has gotten progressively busier, progressively deadlier.
And this day is not the worst that she has seen.
"Tough is an understatement. It's been ..." Arechiga pauses. "It's been horrible."
Most of the patients who end up here, she says, look like her.
"I grew up in Compton," she says. "I know the community. So potentially, you know, this could be any of my family."
In addition to supervising nursing staff, tending to patients and recording vitals, Arechiga also finds herself translating.
"Some of our doctors don't speak Spanish and I feel like 90% of the population is Hispanic," she says. "I have to sit there -- or one of the nurses that speak English and Spanish -- with a straight face and tell them: 'Your family member is going to die.' It's just really hard."
That bears out in the numbers. Take this Wednesday for example: More than half of the deaths reported that day in Los Angeles County were Latino.
In the tragedy, the nurses and doctors have found the bond that comes with getting through hardship together -- hardship the rest of the world may never understand. They console one another, some dealing with their own losses due to COVID-19, and then they keep going.
"I feel like this time around, people are coming in sicker and dying quicker," Arechiga says. She's comparing what she's seeing now to the smaller surges of patients that came before. This time, the deluge is unparalleled.
TRYING TO PREVENT THINGS FROM GETTING WORSE
Nearby Dr. Stefan Richter goes back and forth to one room. He's monitoring a patient whom he expects will soon pass away.
"When her heart stops, we will be doing chest compressions, even though the understanding is that probably they aren't going to help," he says.
Most of the patients on this floor are on ventilators and many are on dialysis.
"We've been taking the brunt of a kind of medical epidemic for years," Richter says. "A lot of the diseases that we see here during nonpandemic times are preventable, but they've gone untreated for years and years and years. And so the fact that we're continuing to see the brunt of this pandemic doesn't really surprise me that much in a really unfortunate way."
The vaccine is providing a sliver of hope, but the county rollout has been slow. Health care workers have gotten it here, but no one knows how long it will be before this community has access.
By the end of the shift on this day, five people are dead. Four are Latino, one is African American. The hospital gives the families a one-time exception to visit when end of life is near.
Jason Prasso, an ICU doctor, is often the one that makes the call and breaks the news.
It's time to come in. Time to say goodbye.
"Modern medicine has a lot of interventions and a lot of therapies that we can offer, but this virus has proven resistant and extremely difficult to manage," he says. "Realistically speaking, there isn't a whole lot that I can offer besides supportive care as an ICU doctor and trying to prevent things from getting worse. It hurts as a doctor to say that."
Prasso is cut off by the sound of another Code Blue call.
"Excuse me," he says. It's a bad day, a familiar day.
This story was originally published at NPR.org.


For the first since their 2001-2002 season, the Ryerson Rams women's volleyball team secured an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) silver medal, losing to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in straight sets at the OUA championship game Saturday night at the Goldring centre.
After coming off a Friday night game that saw Ryerson handedly defeat the University of Western in straights sets, the Rams battled all night against the undefeated Blues, who showed why they've been so dominant all season long.
In a game that saw the lead change hands numerous times, the Rams came out ready to play, with two straight kills from outside hitter and first team OUA all-star Veronica Livingston putting the Rams up 10-7. But as the Blues have been showing all season, they're not a team to settle on as Toronto carried a 16-14 lead into the first technical timeout. Despite Livingston's game high six kills the Blues took the first set 25-20.
The second set saw both teams jockeying with a back and forth one point lead with middle blocker Jena Bonello shutting down Toronto's Annie Feore to put the Rams up 6-5 early. After a quick timeout, the Rams came out swinging, stringing together four quick points to get ahead 11-10 forcing the Blues to take a timeout. Yet leading into the second break, the blues carried a 16-15 lead. And despite the strong play by the Rams, Toronto would take the second set 25-20, with momentum on their side heading into the third and final set.
It was outside hitter Sam Gill who got things started for the Rams in third, putting together three straight kills to put the Rams within one 6-5. But it was all Blues from there, going on six point run to put them 12-6 trying to push for the homecourt sweep and an appearance in the CIS championships. And despite sitting Livingston due to unforced errors, the Rams never say die attitude was on full display. Even when the Blues were a single point from OUA gold, the Rams making them work for it, scoring three points before Toronto finally secured their victory.
Coming away with a silver medal, Veronica Livingston, Theanna Vernon and Emily Betteridge all earned first and second team OUA all-star honours, while Rams newcomer Kate Mcllmoyle earned all-rookie selection.


Wonderful Decoration Interieur Petit Espace #7 - Comment Incorporer Des Couleurs Sombres Dans Votre Int233rieur was published in May 28, 2018 at 5:40 pm. If you like to utilize this picture as your desktop wallpaper, please click the download link at the bottom or you can just right click on the picture at the top and choose "Save Image As" to download the Wonderful Decoration Interieur Petit Espace #7 - Comment Incorporer Des Couleurs Sombres Dans Votre Int233rieur or by tap the "Set Desktop Background As" choice if your browser has this option. If you were no able to take the the most beautiful photo you are awaiting for, you need to go for "Search Column" at top right or browse some other picture backgrounds which you love. This image has the file size is 161kB and the resolution of 1200x705. Wonderful Decoration Interieur Petit Espace #7 - Comment Incorporer Des Couleurs Sombres Dans Votre Int233rieur has been seen by 25 viewers and it is an image from Decoration Interieur Petit Espace.


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package com.yuntongxun.ecdemo.photopicker;

import java.util.List;

import android.content.Context;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;

import com.bumptech.glide.Glide;
import com.patr.radix.R;
import com.yuntongxun.ecdemo.photopicker.model.PhotoDirectory;
import com.yuntongxun.ecdemo.photopicker.utils.PhotoUtils;

/**
 * 图片目录适配器
 * @author 容联•云通讯
 * @since 2016-4-6
 * @version 5.0
 */
public class FolderAdapter extends BaseAdapter {

    List<PhotoDirectory> mData;
    Context mContext;
    int mWidth;

    public FolderAdapter(Context context, List<PhotoDirectory> mData) {
        this.mData = mData;
        this.mContext = context;
        mWidth = PhotoUtils.dip2px(context, 90);
    }

    @Override
    public int getCount() {
        return mData.size();
    }

    @Override
    public Object getItem(int position) {
        return mData.get(position);
    }

    @Override
    public long getItemId(int position) {
        return position;
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        ViewHolder holder;
        if (convertView == null) {
            holder = new ViewHolder();
            convertView = LayoutInflater.from(mContext).inflate(
                    R.layout.picker_item_floder_layout, null);
            holder.photoIV = (ImageView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.imageview_floder_img);
            holder.folderNameTV = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.textview_floder_name);
            holder.photoNumTV = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.textview_photo_num);
            holder.selectIV = (ImageView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.imageview_floder_select);
            convertView.setTag(holder);
        } else {
            holder = (ViewHolder) convertView.getTag();
        }
        holder.selectIV.setVisibility(View.GONE);
        holder.photoIV.setImageResource(R.drawable.picker_ic_photo_loading);
        PhotoDirectory folder = mData.get(position);
        if(folder.isSelected()) {
            holder.selectIV.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
        }
        holder.folderNameTV.setText(folder.getName());
        holder.photoNumTV.setText(folder.getPhotos().size() + "张");
        Glide.with(mContext).load(folder.getPhotos().get(0).getPath()).dontAnimate()
		.thumbnail(0.1f).into(holder.photoIV);
        return convertView;
    }

    private class ViewHolder {
        private ImageView photoIV;
        private TextView folderNameTV;
        private TextView photoNumTV;
        private ImageView selectIV;
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Some Ifs: (To help you to decide if you should buy this record) If you are tired of how W. is running this country, you will like the politically charged songs on this record. If you like early Bruce Cockburn, you will like the songs on this album. If you want to know what the Word is from the Streets of the once Rural but now growth exploding big money influenced Central Oregon high desert, you need this record. If you like Michael Moore's take on America, you will like these songs. If you know that positive thinking and your attitude do make a difference in your life, this record will affirm those beliefs. If you believe the Universe is compassionate and that we are spiritual beings in spite of all the materialism in America, and that it is still worth praying about, these songs will resonate. If you have truly loved or been loved, there is a song or more here for you. If you have a missing biological parent, there is a song here for you. If you have eaten Fast Food or thought of living in Outer Space, you must have 'Food on the Run.' If you are 'Facing 50' or older, or you are young and wonder about what it's like to get older, you need this record in your music library. If you have 'Questions for God,' give a listen. I do, too. If you have realized that sometimes, no matter what, you just can't protect and safeguard those you love, you need to hear 'Girl Hold Me Tight.' If you relate to the writings of James Redfield and/or John Shelby Spong, we are family and you need this record. If you answered yes to any of the Ifs above, you must have this record to take the next step on your life adventure spiritual quest. And as my brother Dean Prescott of The Substitutes says in 'Wallpaper Music,' 'If he sings above their laughter, He's taking it too far, But if he croons away in whispers, They only hear his guitar. Sing for your supper, we need you around. We may not hear you, but we still like the sound.' *Thanks to Dean for reminding me that sometimes we can provide more than just 'Wallpaper Music' for the audiences we play for.


QUIRKY, CHARMING AND STUNNING these are just some of the first words that you think of when you step foot in this beautiful cottage, which is situated within the rural village of Ramshaw. This is a brilliant purchase for numerous types of buyers including first time buyers and investors. The property is only a short walk from the stunning countryside and only a short ten minute drive to Bishop Auckland town center and all of its fantastic amenities. Built in 1885, Miners cottage is the former Sunday School of the Methodist Church and has been updated to a high standard and has never lost any of its character. Some of the added benefits include; multi-fuel stove, hive heating, high ceilings and spotlights, stylish kitchen, ultra modern bathroom, three bedrooms - the master bedroom boasting a stunning en-suite -,off-street parking for numerous vehicles and beautiful views from every window. An early viewing is advised to avoid disappointment.
Space to hang coats and original beams on show.
Wall and base units, electric oven and hob and tiled splash backs.
The property benefits from a double drive way and an easy to maintain garden/patio area.


Cat & The Hounds Swing Band | Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?
Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? has been distracted this summer. There's been a lot going on, musically speaking, around NYC and environs so far. As a result, we've neglected our friends at Midsummer Night Swing at Lincoln Center.
The fun starts at 6:30 p.m. with a dance lesson with Sahr Ngaujah, star Fela!, and the music starts at 7. Tickets are $17 and available at Damrosch Park, at West 62nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, or online. And there are more shows throughout the week: Catherine Russell and Cat & The Hounds Swing Band on Wednesday, Loser's Lounge Ladies Night on Thursday, La Exelencia on Friday and, wrapping up this year's dance season, a kids' dance party at 3 p.m. Saturday followed by the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra on Saturday evening.


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Pic(k) of the Week: Cask Stout Pour
A photo of a pretty pour, hand-pumped from a cask of Peg Leg Stout —brewed by Heavy Seas Brewing (of Baltimore, Maryland)— is this week's Pic(k) of the Week.
The cask was stored in an under-bar-counter refrigerator, kept at 50 °F.
It was vented, tapped, and served, standing upright, using a cask widge.
To forestall spoilage, a cask breather provided blanket carbon dioxide (CO2) coverage, but at zero pressure. *
Served at:
American Taproom
Arlington (Clarendon), Virginia.
at 5:44 PM 0 comments
Labels: cellarmanship, Pic(k) of the Week, real ale
Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 40/41, 2014.
A bi-weekly, non-comprehensive roundup
of news of beer and other things.
Weeks 40/41
"Tasting Whiskey," new book by Lew Bryson —editor of Whiskey Advocate Magazine— released.
—Via Facebook.
The 6th annual Baltimore (Maryland) Beer Week began today. Runs through 19 October 2014.
—Via Baltimore Beer Week.
Stone Brewing Company, of Escondido, California 10th largest U.S. craft brewery, to build an East Coast brewery and restaurant, in Richmond, Virginia, opening in 2016, employing more than 288 people.
—Via Barley Blog.
The 'best' beer of each U.S. state, as determined by the highest RateBeer.com scores.
—Via Business Insider.
Is drinking local beer always the best way? Greg Engert of Bluejacket, Washington, D.C., looks at beer quality and flavor as obvious, but sometimes ignored, factors in choosing a 'good' beer.
—Via Esquire Magazine.
The great American beers of 2014, as judged at the Great American Beer Festival, in Denver, Colorado.
—Via YFGF.
"If craft brewing had come along just a little sooner, Ballantine IPA might well now be considered [craft beer's] grandfather."
—Via Jeff Alworth in All About Beer.
"Beer is the purest of all alcoholic beverages." Franciscan Roman Catholic nun, Sister Doris Engelhard, Europe's last brewmaster nun, at Mallersdorf Abbey, in Bavaria, Germany.
—Via The Atlantic.
U.S. government to reduce brewers bond and paperwork, for breweries producing fewer than seven thousand five hundred barrels of beer per year.
—Via Brewbound.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed the first-ever case of Ebola in the U.S., in Dallas, Texas.
—Via Washington Post.
Beer writers continue to equate the complex flavor of wet-hopped beers (beers hopped with hops only hours removed from the harvest) with insipid, immature, Beaujolais Nouveau wines.
—Via Bon Appetit.
Pumpkin beers in early Colonial America.
—Via Library of Congress.
German waiter sets world record, carrying 27 liter-mugs of beer, weighing 62 kilograms (136 pounds), for a distance of 40 meters (43.7 yards). Some spillage allowed.
—Via Daily Mail.
For the 2012 vintage, two hundred and sixty-seven Medoc chateaux have been classified as Cru Bourgeois; the most ever.
—Via Decanter.
A ten-step primer to pouring draught beer correctly —and actually pouring the beer is only one of the ten.
—Via Brewers Association.
"Wine should be paired with a meal, not a weather report." The wine reviewer for the Washington Post recommends Riesling (for its acidity and relatively low alcohol content) for Oktoberfest-style meals of wurst and sausages.
—Via Dave McIntyre.
In 2014, two-thousand acres in New York were devoted to growing barley for malting. Future demand in the state could support thirty-thousand acres.
—Via Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.
Labels: clamps and gaskets
Pic(k) of the Week: Wine Contemplations
As seen at a wine café and market, only latterly opened: two, in seeming wine reverie.
Arlington (Rosslyn), Virginia
at 6:25 AM 0 comments
Labels: Pic(k) of the Week, wine, wine tasting
Chesapeake Real Ale Festival 2014
Baltimore Beer Week 2014 began last Friday, 10 October. It ends this Sunday, 19 October. (Yes, that's a ten day week.)
Before it all ends, the Pratt Street Ale House and the Baltimore chapter of the Society for the Preservation for Beer from the Wood (SPBW) present the 11th annual Chesapeake Real Ale Festival, this Saturday, at the brewpub, in downtown Baltimore, Maryland.
Festival host brewer, Steve Jones, of Oliver Brewing.
There will be at least forty-one casks of real ale (and one 'real' lager) at the festival. And, what is 'real ale'?
Also known as cask-conditioned ale, 'real ale' is beer brewed from traditional ingredients; matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed; served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide; presented unfiltered, yet 'bright' not cloudy; served at cool 'cellar' temperature, approximately 50 - 56 °F, at which point the subtleties of flavor become prominent. It's the beauty of beer at its freshest.
The festival takes place both inside and out the Pratt Street Alehouse. Outside, no problem. The weather forecast for Saturday is for good autumn weather. Or, as some might say, good cask ale weather. And, the festival is a bargain. For one admittance fee, a festival go-er can drink unlimitedly (within the bounds of supply and good and decorum), without the nuisance of purchasing drink tickets. Food, however, is not included, but can be purchased off the pub's menu, in the dining rooms or at the bar.
Here's the line-up of casks: some TBDs (to be determined), some MIAs, and, as always, some yet-to-be-named guest beers.
Cask Additions
Blue Mountain Afton, Virginia Double Oat IPA Centennial hops 8.4
Breckenridge Colorado Oatmeal Stout Salted caramel and coffee beans 4.9
Brewers Alley Frederick, Maryland IPA ... 5.8
The Brewer's Art Baltimore, Maryland Proletary Brown Ale ... 5.3
The Brewer's Art Baltimore, Maryland Apres Saison Citra hops 5.3
DC Brau Washington, D.C. Stone of Arborath Scotch ale Gin-soaked oak chips, rosemary, thyme 8
DuClaw Baltimore, Maryland Neon Gypsy IPA Simcoe, Amarillo, Chinook hops 6.5
Evolution Salisbury, Maryland Lot 3 IPA ? hops 6.8
Flying Dog Frederick, Maryland The Fear Imperial Pumpkin Ale vanilla 9.0
Flying Dog Frederick, Maryland The Truth Imperial IPA ... 8.7
Flying Fish New Jersey Exit 16 Wild Rice Double IPA Citra hops 8
Flying Fish New Jersey Red Fish Amber Ale Simcoe hops 7
Frey's Mount Airy, Maryland Pussy Pilot Parade Black Rye IPA ... 5.9
Full Tilt Baltimore, Maryland Hop Harbor IPA Mosaic hops 8.3
Gordon-Biersch Baltimore, Maryland Heather Mel Scotch Ale (aged in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels) 7.5
Harpoon Massachusetts IPA El Dorado hops ...
Heavy Seas Baltimore, Maryland Plank III (Wood-aged tripel) ... 8.5
Jailbreak Laurel, Maryland The Carrot Cake Conspiracy (Amber Ale, with roasted carrots and spices) ... 6
Milkhouse Farm Brewery Mt. Airy, Maryland IPA ... 6
Monacacy Frederick, Maryland Riot Rye Amber Ale ... 6.2
New Belgium Colorado 1554 (Black Lager) Fuggles hops 5.6
Oliver Brewing Baltimore, Maryland Bizarre Gardening Accident (Anglo-American Brown Ale) ... ...
Oliver Brewing Baltimore, Maryland The Black Code #2 Black IPA ... 7
Oliver Brewing Baltimore, Maryland ESB ... 6
Oliver Brewing Baltimore, Maryland Modern Life is Rubbish Porter ... 5.9
Oliver Brewing Baltimore, Maryland My Monkeys Gone Sour (Oak-aged, soured barleywine) ... 10.5
Oliver Brewing Baltimore, Maryland Pink Torpedo Raspberry Saison ... ...
Oliver Brewing Baltimore, Maryland There's A Fine Line Between Stupid And Clever (Smoked Black 'Pseudo' Lager) ... ...
Pub Dog Brewing Westminster, Maryland Imperial Dog IPA ... 6.5
Pub Dog Brewing Westminster, Maryland Pumpkin Ale ... 6.66
Oskar Blues Colorado/North Carolina Dales Pale Ale mangos 6.5
Oskar Blues Colorado/North Carolina Old Chub Scotch Ale coffee, vanilla 8
Real Ale Revival Cambridge, Maryland Nanticoke Nectar IPA Citra, Cascade hops 6.0
Sly Fox Pennsylvania Chester County Bitter ... 4.5
Sly Fox Pennsylvania Hop Project #05256 #05256 hops 6.1
Terrapin Georgia Midnight Monk Black IPA ... 9.8
Union Craft Baltimore, Maryland Hampden on Rye Ale coriander 5.9
Weyerbacher Pennsylvania Last Chance IPA Simcoe hops 5.9
Weyerbacher Pennsylvania Last Chance IPA Centennial hops 5.9
Yards Pennsylvania Presidents Peculiar Bitter Ale ... 5
Yards Pennsylvania Brawler English Mild French Aramis Hops 4.2
Labels: "beer week", Baltimore, beer festival, real ale
14 September - 27 September 2014
Cold temperatures and wet weather damage already historically small North American barley harvest. Malted barley prices may rise. Will beer prices increase as a result?
—Via Reuters.
Cask ale volumes (in the U.K.) grew in 2013, despite a declining market. The 2014 U.K. Cask Report has been released.
—Via Pete Brown.
Britain celebrates Cask Ale Week, 25 September through 5 October, organized by Cask Marque: "only in UK, only in pubs."
—Via Cask Ale Week.
Belgian brewery, De Halve Maan in Bruges, to move its beer via an underground pipeline from its brewery to its bottling plant, three kilometers away.
—Via AFP.
Autumn began on Monday, 22 September 2014, at 10:29 EDT in the Northern Hemisphere, with the occasion of the Autumnal Equinox.
NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) probe arrived in Mars orbit late Sunday, 21 September 2014.
—Via Space.com.
India's first-ever Mars probe, the Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter Mission, arrived at Mars orbit on 23 September.
The best beers in Maryland as determined by the Maryland Comptroller's Cup.
—Via Brewer's Association of Maryland.
Pabst —the non-brewing owner of several American 'legacy' brands including Pabst Blue Ribbon, Old Milwaukee, Schlitz, Colt 45, and National Bohemian— has been sold to a consortium including a Russian company, Oasis Beverages.
—Via Baltimore Sun.
Scottish voters have rejected independence, opting to stay in the U.K.
—Via CBS News.
Anne-Françoise Pypaert is the first-ever woman brewmaster at any Trappist brewery, directing brewing operations at Brasserie d' Orval, where she had been Director of Quality Control since 1995.
—Via Belgian Beer Specialist.
Daniel Bradford, owner of All About Beer Magazine for 22 years, has sold the magazine and the World Beer Festival to a North Carolina company. The sale marks a generational change in craft beer, Bradford was former director of the Great American Beer Festival, former president of the Brewers Association of America, and former marketing director of the Association of Brewers.
—Via Real Beer.
Nearly one in every three beers in the world might soon be owned by the same company. Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest beer maker by volume, is preparing to offer as much as $122 billion for SABMiller, the world's second-largest brewing company.
The twenty-five 'Best' Beer Bars in America in 2014, as selected in a national poll, run by the Brewers Association.
—Via CraftBeer.com.
Why does a 6-pack of craft beer cost what it does? An explanation, via writer Joe Satran.
—Via Huffington Post.
Sad legal kerfuffle at Balcones Whisky, one of America's 1st 'craft' distilleries, in Waco, Texas. The distillery founder, Chip Tate, has refused to attend board meetings with the venture capital group that now owns a majority stake in the company.
—Via Whisky Advocate.
The 200th anniversary of Francis Scott Key's writing of the "Star Spangled Banner," in 14 September 1814.
Pic(k) of the Week: Stouts & Dirndls.
Attending an Oktoberfest celebration, these two were into the spirit of the thing, wearing dirndls, traditional Bavarian peasant dresses.
But the beers they were holding?
Dark ... cask-conditioned Oatmeal Stouts. Brewed byOliver Brewing of Baltimore, Maryland, which served them hand-pulled from a firkin (10.8-gallon cask), via a 'beer engine.' Not so Bavarian-traditional, but quite the traditional English way of doing things.
'Chick' beer? Hah!
Photo taken at the Mid-Atlantic Oktoberfest, organized by the Capitol City Brewing Company, in Arlington, Virginia, a close-in suburb of Washington, D.C.
4 October 2014.
Labels: beer festival, mid-Atlantic, Oktoberfest, Pic(k) of the Week, real ale
Happy birthday, Mr. Monk.
Thelonious Sphere Monk, the great American composer and jazz pianist, would have been 97 years old today. He was born on 10 October 1917. He died on 17 February 1982.
I would like to play a beautiful tune I composed not so long ago, entitled Pannonica. It was named after this beautiful lady here. I think her father gave her that name, after a butterfly that he tried to catch. I don't think he caught the butterfly.
Monk's performance, here, of Pannonica —named for Kathleen Annie Pannonica de Koenigswarter (Rothschild), an English-born patron of late 1940s and 1950s American bebop jazz ('Nica' for her friends)— displays his compositional ethos and keyboard virtuosity distilled to its essence. Utilizing null time, rhythmic surprise, dissonant harmonies, 'wrong notes,' and then seemingly coaxing tones from between a piano's keys, he transformed his deceptively simple melodies into miniature gems of severe beauty.
Along with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and a handful of other players, he developed the style of jazz that came to be known as bebop. Monk's compositions, among them "Round Midnight," were the canvasses upon which these legendary soloists expressed their musical ideas. In 1947, Monk made his first recordings as a leader for Blue Note. These albums are some of the earliest documents of his unique compositional and improvisational style, both of which employed unusual repetition of phrases, an offbeat use of space, and joyfully dissonant sounds.
—Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz
Happy birthday, Mr. Monk, wherever you are!
Labels: appreciation, jazz, JOURNAL
Birthday in Beer: Greg Engert
Greg Engert is the Beer Director for the Neighborhood Restaurant Group (NRG) of Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia. A past English literature major at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Engert now oversees the beer program for seventeen restaurants and retail shops.
Already successful by 2009, Engert, and NRG's principal, Michael Babin, really hit their stride when, that year, they opened their first Washington, D.C. properties, the beer-centric restaurant Birch & Barley, and —just up the stairwell— Churchkey, its accompanying beer bar. There, Engert arranged a beer list —500 in bottle, 50 on draught, and 5 served from cask via handpumps— by weight and flavor, a practice often thought (more for exclusive snobbery) exclusive to wine. His categories are Crisp, Hop, Malt, Roast, Smoke, Fruit & Spice, Tart & Funky.
In 2010, Food & Wine Magazine selected Engert as one of seven Sommeliers of the Year: the first time the magazine has brought beer on-board its list.
In October 2013, the group opened Bluejacket, a brewery and restaurant in southeast Washington, D.C., in the now-bustling neighborhood near to Nationals Ballpark. Engert presides there as brewmaster and beer director.
A young man in a hurry to success, Greg Engert celebrates his 35th birthday, today.
Labels: beer birthday, mid-Atlantic
The Great American Beers of 2014: across the U.S. (and in the DMV).
Judges have judged. Medals have been awarded. Champions declared. Thousands of beers drunk. The 2014 Great American Beer Festival —held at the Colorado Convention Center, in Denver, Colorado, Thursday through Saturday, 2-4 October, with 49,000 good beer fans in attendance— is now history.
The Great American Beer Festival is the premier U.S. beer festival and competition. Each year, GABF represents the largest collection of U.S. beer ever served, in the format of a public tasting event plus a private competition. GABF was founded in 1982, and has been growing and evolving along with the American craft brewing industry ever since.
[...] The 2014 Great American Beer Festival competition awarded 268 medals (in 90 categories), plus three GABF Pro-Am medals, [from 1,309 breweries, in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.] In its 28th year, the 2014 competition surpassed all previous participation records... with 222 beer experts from 10 countries evaluating 5,507 commercial entries, plus 89 Pro-Am entries, with assistance from some 150 competition volunteers.
A world-class beer that accurately exemplifies the specified style, displaying the proper balance of taste, aroma and appearance.
An excellent beer that may vary slightly from style parameters while maintaining close adherence to the style and displaying excellent taste, aroma and appearance.
A fine example of the style that may vary slightly from style parameters and/or have minor deviations in taste, aroma or appearance.
If judges believe that no beer in the category meets the quality and style-accuracy criteria, they may elect not to award a medal. Judges may award a beer with a silver or bronze medal and yet not award a gold medal.
If all the substyles recognized at this year's GABF were added to the number of all the style categories, the total count of beer styles for the competition would reach 180. As evidence of this conspicuous inflation, the 2014 GABF competition featured three new categories: Belgian-Style Fruit Beer, with 41 entries; Historical Beer, with 12 entries; and Kuyt Beer, which had no entries. Saké, for example, was considered a sub-style of Experimental Beer (Category #16). Please don't tell the Japanese that saké is only "experimental." And, the International Style Pale Ale (Category #51a)? What exactly does 'international' taste like? And, what could the difference possibly be between an American India Pale Ale (Category #55) and an American Strong Pale Ale (Category #53)?
The business and soul of 'craft' beer might be better served if the GABF, rather than birthing or disinterring styles, were to award scores in addition to medals (as wine and spirits do, for better or worse). Thus, even if a brewery might not secure one of three medals in a style-category, it might still receive a high score, and use that number to promote its image, and thus all of 'craft' beer.
According to The Full Pint —which 'live' tweeted the results as they were announced on Saturday— the top five most-entered categories were:
American India Pale Ale (279 entries)
Herb and Spice Beer (150 entries)
American-Style Pale Ale (145 entries)
American-Style Amber/Red Ale (140 entries)
Imperial India Pale Ale (135 entries)
The Overall Champions
So ... the winners of the 2014 Great American Beer Festival —those with the bragging rights of best-beer-in-America (until next year)— are these. I'm not certain of the exact algorithm used to determine the results, but it must (I assume) involve medal count and strength of finish.
Small Brewpub of the Year
Bastone Brewery: Royal Oak, Michigan.
brewer: Rockne Van Meter
[He's hands-down the choice of Yours For Good Fermentables as the winning brewer with the hippest name.]
Mid-Size Brewpub of the Year
Brasserie Saint James: Reno, Nevada.
brewers: Josh Watterson & Matt Watterson
Large Brewpub of the Year
Beachwood BBQ & Brewing: Long Beach, California.
brewers: Julian Shrago & Ian McCall
Very Small Brewing Company of the Year
Draught Works: Missoula, Montana.
brewer: Draught Works Brew Team
Small Brewing Company of the Year
Marble Brewery: Albuquerque, New Mexico.
brewer: Team Marble
Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year
Devils Backbone Brewing Co.—Outpost: Lexington, Virginia.
brewer: DB Brewery Team
Large Brewing Company of the Year
AC Golden brewing Company: Golden, Colorado.
brewer: AC Golden Brewing Team
[AC Golden is a subsidiary of MillerCoors, itself a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Company. It operates in the former pilot plant of Coors Brewing.]
Now, the state-medal math, thanks to Jeff Alworth of Beervana:
These are numbers somewhat in a vacuum, as the GABF does not reveal the number of breweries submitting from each state. But, still, the results are those expected at the top, and interesting beneath. It's worth reading Alworth's analysis.
You can see the list of all the winners in each category this year —and every year, dating back to 1983, when the GABF was first held— at the festival website: www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com.
Now, on to the winners in the DMV —that is, the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia— the home territory for Yours For Good Fermentables.
Last year, in 2013, no beers from the District medalled at the GABF (although they have before). So, this year, hearty congratulations go to DC Brau for its silver medal, for The Citizen, in the Belgian-and French-style Ale division (Category #73).
At last year's GABF, Maryland grabbed only one medal, a bronze for Flying Dog, in Frederick. This year, the 'Free State' garnered five medals, including one gold by the Gordon-Biersch Brewpub, in Annapolis, for its Rauchbier.
In 2013, Virginia took home fourteen medals, four of them gold (two of those from Devils Backbone, in both the Lexington and Roseland locations, and one each from Port City, in Alexandria, and Lost Rhino, in Ashburn), the 5th most medals accrued by any state.
But, in 2014, Virginia won only seven medals, slipping to 9th/10th (as shown in the graph above). That's still a respectable showing, and includes two gold medals: one to Devils Backbone, for its Schwarzbier, and one to Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, for its Raspberry Stout," the first medal of any sort that a Richmond brewery has brought home from the GABF" (according to Richmond beer columnist Lee Graves).
In terms of degree-of-difficulty, brewer Kristi Mathews Griner of Capitol City Brewing Company, in Arlington, Virginia, should get a special commendation. Her Amber Waves took a silver in the American-Style Amber/Red Ale division, competing against one-hundred-thirty-nine other beers, the most of any category won in the DMV, and the fourth toughest competition, nationally.
But top honors must go to Devils Backbone, in Virginia, which not only won four medals —the only local multiple-winner— but repeated as a national champion for the third time in as many years.
At the 2012 GABF, the Devils Backbone 'Basecamp,' in Roseland, won Small Brewpub of the Year; in 2013, again, but as Small Brewery of the Year. This year, the brewery's production-only facility —which the company calls the 'Outpost'— won Mid-Size Brewery of the Year. In addition, in 2010, Devils Backbone won, globally, as the World Beer Cup Champion Small Brewpub. In a few short years, Devils Backbone has become the elite brewery of the area, and in the top tier, nationwide.
So, here they are: thirteen awards altogether in the DMV, for ten different breweries, including three gold medals. Congratulations to all!
1 medal
DC Brau Brewing Co.: Washington, D.C.
The Citizen —Category #73: Belgian- and French-Style Ale (27 entries)
brewer: Jeff Hancock
5 medals; 1 gold
Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant: Annapolis, Maryland.
Rauchbier —Category #29: Smoke Beer (55 entries)
brewer: James Sobczak
Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant: Rockville, Maryland.
Belgian IPA —Category #21: American-Belgo-Style Ale (69 entries)
brewer: Christian Layke
Union Craft Brewing: Baltimore, Maryland.
Old Pro Gose —Category #66: German-Style Sour Ale (80 entries)
brewer: Kevin Blodger
[I reviewed this beer in May. Read that: here.]
DuClaw Brewing Co.: Hanover, Maryland.
Sweet Baby Jesus! —Category #9: Chocolate Beer (44 entries)
brewer: Jim Wagner
Heavy Seas Beer: Baltimore, Maryland.
Gold —Category #46: Golden or Blonde Ale (90 entries)
brewer: Chris Leonard
Devils Backbone Brewing Co. -Outpost: Lexington, Virginia.
Schwartz Bier —Category #42: Schwarzbier (37 entries)
brewer: Jason Oliver
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery: Richmond, Virginia.
Raspberry Stout —Category #3: American-Style Fruit Beer (56 entries)
brewer: Patrick Murtaugh
Capitol City Brewing Co.: Arlington, Virginia.
Amber Waves Ale —Category #56: American-Style Amber/Red Ale (140 entries)
brewer: Kristi Mathews Griner
Old Virginia Dark —Category #41: American-Style Dark Lager (19 entries)
Turbo Cougar —Category #43: Bock (27 entries)
Devils Backbone Brewing Co. -Basecamp: Roseland, Virginia.
Alt Bier —Category #7: German-Style Altbier (33 entries)
Three Notch'd Brewing Co.: Charlottesville, Virginia.
"Hydraulion" Red —Category #62: Irish-Style Red Ale (60 entries)
brewer: Dave Warwick
Labels: beer festival, beer judging, Great American Beer Festival, mid-Atlantic
Pic(k) of the Week: Squirrel prepares for autumn
Squirrel foraging for food at end of summer.
Northern Virginia.
8 September 2014.
Labels: mid-Atlantic, nature, Pic(k) of the Week
Howard Hart: beer & baseball man
The Washington Post recently posted a video interview of Howard Hart, a sixty-something stadium vendor who has sold beer for nearly four decades, most of those years at Baltimore Orioles games, at the old Memorial Stadium, then at Camden Yards, and, now, both there and in Washington, D.C., at Washington Nationals games, at Nationals Park.
Mr. Hart, who counts himself as a fan of both teams, comes across as an unsung 'character' of the beer business, right at the intersection of commerce and conviviality, an observer of life through beer and baseball.
In Baltimore, the number one beer is Natty Boh. In Washington, the shandy, the IPA, the Heineken. That tells you about everything you need to know. If I were to have a big party, I could invite the Orioles and Nationals fans. There wouldn't be any fights.
I wanted to know more about Howard Hart, so I asked Charlie Vascellaro —a baseball and travel writer, based in Baltimore, who blogs at Baseball Vagabond— to tell me more. "I love this guy," Vascellaro said. "He's one of the most spiritual people I know."
Hart engages the crowd, Vascellaro told me, more than by simply selling to it. "He's a sweet and sentimental man," who seems to know what folk are thinking before they say it (and we're not talking just "beer, please," Vascellaro interjects!). "Going out of his way to be nice," he is "the true definition of an old soul."
Hart runs a constant dialogue, not a set patter, but more like an always topical stand-up routine. He will quote passages of literature, germane to the game in progress, and often recommend books he has read. He's got great stories about the teams behind the scenes, during the season and at spring training where he also works, Vascellaro added. "There's that's that one about George Steinbrenner" (former owner of the New York Yankees). And, Vascellaro marvels, Hart is always "into the game," which is a difficult thing for a vendor who's concentrating on selling his wares. "Somehow, he always knows the count."
Hart has written stories on baseball, and was instrumental in assisting with the success of the recent Paul Blair Day —a celebration, at Camden Yards, of the Orioles' great former centerfielder, who died suddenly last year— organized by Vascellaro and fellow Baltimore-based writer, Rafael Alvarez.
Only vendor Clarence Haskett (known as "Fancy Clancy" because of his behind-the-back double-beer pour) has more tenure than Hart. Both men grew up in Baltimore during a time of rampant segregation. Both men —Hart, white; and Haskett, African-American— became colleagues because of beer and baseball. Both would become friends because of beer and baseball.
"I never realised I would get old," says Hart, who has waited a long time for another opportunity to see one of his teams win it big. Well, we wouldn't dare tempt the ire of the baseball demiurges by saying more, but ...
Last night at Camden Yards, the Orioles spanked the Detroit Tigers 12-3, in the first game of the American League Division Series. Howard Hart was there, smiling and doing what he has always done, dispensing warm wisdom and cold wares, in the stands along the first base line at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. And, today, he'll be doing the same at Nationals Park, working near the home team's dugout, as the Washington Nationals take on the San Francisco Giants in the National League Division Series.
Look for the "Popeye" forearms that Hart has developed from years of lugging pounds of ice and beers. Listen for his distinctively booming voice. Buy a beer, tip him big, and tell him: "Charlie sent me."
Labels: baseball, beer business, Maryland, Washington DC
Drinking, Again: DC Brau's Oktoberfest.
"What are you drinking here today," he asked, saying hi. "I'm checking out the Oktoberfest lagers," I replied.
"Why," he asked, somewhat bemused. "Why aren't you drinking the IPAs?" "Well, I can get IPAs anyday," I explained. "I appreciate the skill needed in lager-brewing; I like the the interplay of sweet malt and dry finish in märzen/Oktoberfests. Brewers brought different interpretations of the style here, today."
He shook his head. "No, I'll stick to the IPAs."
It was a sunny, early autumn, afternoon, outside Mad Fox Brewing Company, in Falls Church, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Saturday, 27 September 2014, the brewpub had invited local breweries (mostly) to submit Oktoberfest-style lagers and India Pale Ales (IPAs) for its beer festival, Hoppy Oktoberfest. That was a smart move on its part, understanding that a majority of 'craft' beer drinkers prefer hops, no matter what; that a minority prefer malt; but that a plurality enjoy both.
Here's a description of the märzen/Oktoberfest beer style, culled from the The Oxford Companion to Beer (Oxford University Press, 2012):
Much of the base malt is called Munich malt, a highly aromatic malt with a color rating of 3 to 10 degrees Lovibond. As a result märzen and Oktoberfest beers tend to be primarily (golden) amber in color, showing sweet, almost toffee-like maltiness, combined with biscuit and bread flavors, as well as plenty of mouthfeel.
The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) adds this:
Aroma: Rich German malt aroma (of Vienna and/or Munich malt). A light to moderate toasted malt aroma is often present. Clean lager aroma with no fruity esters or diacetyl. No hop aroma. Caramel aroma is inappropriate.
Appearance: Dark gold to deep orange-red color. Bright clarity, with solid, off-white, foam stand.
Flavor: Initial malty sweetness, but finish is moderately dry. Distinctive and complex maltiness often includes a toasted aspect. Hop bitterness is moderate, and noble hop flavor is low to none. Balance is toward malt, though the finish is not sweet. Noticeable caramel or roasted flavors are inappropriate. Clean lager character with no diacetyl or fruity esters.
Mouthfeel: Medium body, with a creamy texture and medium carbonation. Smooth. Fully fermented, without a cloying finish. ABV [alcohol by volume]: 4.8 – 5.7%
Among several tasty specimens at Hoppy Oktoberfest, I found one märzen that I was particularly impressed with ... that is, that I drank a couple samples of.
The Oktoberfest from the Washington, D.C.-based brewery, DC Brau.
Brewer Mike McCarthy told me the beer was 5% alcohol-by-volume, lightly hopped with the German noble hop Hallertau Mittlefrüh, and brewed with German Pilsner and 'Munich' malts from Wyermann Maltings. That was evident. The malt imparted a depth of toasted bread, melanoidal flavor, characteristic of the style, but avoiding the caramel flavors of caramel malts, often used by American craft brewers in their Oktoberfests. Untraditionally (but successfully), DC Brau added Belgian 'Abbey' malt to the grist. 'Abbey' malt is also called 'brumalt' or 'honey malt.'
Malt sweetness and honey like flavour and aroma make it perfect for any specialty beer. The closest comparison is a light caramel, but Honey Malt has a flavour of its own: sweet and a little bit nutty. Made by restricting the oxygen flow during the sprouting process, Honey Malt is essentially self-stewed. When the oxygen is cut off, the grain bed heats up, developing sugars and rich malt flavours. The malt is lightly kilned for a color color profile of 25 SRM and is devoid of astringent roast flavors.
So: DC Brau's Oktoberfest.
Dark orange in hue. An aroma of sweet malt, with herbal notes in the background. Toasted biscuity malt body and dry finish. Less sweet than others: deep in malt character, but not cloying. What wasn't to like? I didn't miss the hops.
P.S. I did also enjoy a very hoppy 'wet-hopped' India Pale Ale that afternoon.
Labels: beer festival, beer review, drinking again, mid-Atlantic, Oktoberfest
The Great American Beers of 2014: across the U.S. ...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Wisor is developing a product to help loan officers and mortgage brokers to close more deals and reduce the cost of handling leads. It is a SaaS platform that utilizes data to create better engagement with potential customers, create personalized loans, and increase retention using proactive monitoring.
Omri has over 10 years of experience in Mortgage lending and consulting. Before founding Wisor, Omri was a "Shaliah" to the San Francisco Jewish Federation and worked with students and young adults to educate and advocate for Israel. Omri grew up between San Diego CA and Haifa and is a Black-Belt in Karate.
Streamlining Loaning, to Stop You Groaning.
Omri Dotan, CMO of Wisor, wants to make your life easier. He wants you to make the right decision when embarking on one of the most important financial decisions of your life – getting a mortgage.
Wisor uses data aggregation to optimise loans for companies and individuals. Lenders who use 'adaptive lending' can make all sorts of changes and specific requirements depending on things like lifestyle, the state of the economy, family life, or work progress.
This, the company claims, will reduce costs and lower risks for all involved – it is expected to completely change the way the economy functions.
"It's about communication," he believes. "When you look at someone during a meeting, the relationship is set." This results in highly tailored loan portfolios, with Wisor changing the way we manage and service our money.
For young people seemingly stuck in a financial battle, loans may have never looked sexier.


When Scooter Surgery opened in 1996 in a small unit in Tooting there was a noticable lack of dedicated Lambretta specialists in London; no one was working on 'tuned' scooters at all!
Patrick Hood (Patch) left his previous career as a professional ballet dancer to concentrate on one of his other passions - Lambrettas.
16 years later Scooter Surgery maintain a reputation for high quality attention to detail using only the best quality components. By exploring ways to improve upon the established norm - we strive to keep our customers riding the best engineered scooters on the road.
As a main agent for Casa Lambretta, Scooter Surgery has a comprehensive parts department run by the ever cheerful Maude. As well as supplying every part needed for home restoration, Scooter Surgery is also working with manufacturers in the UK and Italy to improve upon and develop previously unavailable components.


Does Repo Stress Indicate a Coming Market Crash?
On today's edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson is joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss the Swiss government's negative bond issuance, stress in the repo market and if it indicates a future market crash.
The hosts and guests of Coffee and Markets speak only for ourselves, not any clients or employers.


If you are reading this article, it means that you have to write expository essay on racial profiling and need assistance with ideas, formatting, or writing process. Our professional writers have prepared a well-written sample expository essay on racial profiling for you. It is posted below. If you want to get a custom written expository essay, you may confidently rely on experience of our writers. We have already helped thousands of students throughout the world and we can help you with writing as well. Moreover, we provide free cover page, outline, bibliography list and plagiarism report. Upon your request, we also deliver copies of all sources used for essay writing. We guarantee high quality writing, on time delivery, and original content!
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The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s made great strides in eliminating the racism that the government practiced against minorities in America. Despite these accomplishments, the success of eradicating racial discrimination under law is far from complete. Jim Crow laws are still alive and well. Discrimination practiced by the government has only shifted to an area of "justified" racism. The new arenas for state-sanctioned racism are the highways and interstates across America. Local and state police pull over minorities for minor traffic violations only intending to search their cars for illegal drugs. Police stop African-Americans solely because of their race. In other words, they have committed the crime of "Driving While Black." These legal acts of discrimination are executed in the name of the war on drugs campaign by federal and state governments. Hoping to find minorities in possession of illegal drugs who fit the "profile" of drug dealers, police officers stop people for ridiculous probable causes. The practice of racial profiling is the modern form of Jim Crow laws for a "politically correct" America, justified on incorrect statistics of minority drug use, and supported by recent Supreme Court decisions to serve as a perverted spin-off of the war on drugs, a war that has disastrous consequences for all of American society.
Motorists along the New Jersey Turnpike have experienced repeated abuses of police brutality. Although racial profiling occurs across the nation by law enforcers everywhere, New Jersey has had a disproportionate number of documented cases of excessive force by police officers and an absurd amount of targeting of minority drivers. In April 1998, four young minority men, one Latino and three African-Americans, were driving on the New Jersey turnpike on the way to a basketball tryout in hopes of earning a scholarship. Not long after departing, two state troopers stopped them for a routine traffic violation. The men believed the officers stopped them for their race and denied even driving above the speed limit. The van accidentally began rolling backward causing one trooper to fall down. Both troopers then fired on the unarmed minority men seriously wounding three of them. One of the racist cops had been involved in at least nineteen prior incidents but managed to stay on the force. Recently the four men were able to settle with the state ("Rights for All"). This act of racial profiling was unlike most; the victims were able to document the case and prosecute the racist officers. Thousands of human rights violations through racial profiling occur across the country and go without justice. Although they usually are not this brutal, using excessive police force and targeting minority motorists is commonplace. For example 42-year old dentist Elmo Randolph claims to have been stopped more than fifty times since 1991 along the New Jersey Turnpike. It is not because Randolph is a constant speeder, it is because he drives a gold BMW and police are looking specifically for wealthy blacks along this road. In fact, he has never received a ticket. This type of occurrence cannot be just a coincidence; it is another example of the rights-violating policy of racial profiling.


Richard Stone. I am a married man in my forties with a passion for understanding human behaviour, the interactions we do every day in such different ways; and for those inner workings, the mental processes on the inside that form our habits, behaviours and beliefs. It is this, the stuff on inside of our heads, which can take us on to greatness or deep into despair.
Over the years, I have taken many training courses with some great teachers, and I have explored different therapy styles. In my clinic in Carshalton, I use hypnosis, because it is the most effective, and I use humour. I will occasionally use some of the better bits of NLP or I will use IEMT as is appropriate to you. Therapy can and should be fun. I always want my clients to laugh as much as I want them to be honest with me; I guarantee I will be honest with you.


For the third consecutive time, the Americans have won the Solheim Cup after earning the 14 points necessary to prevent the European team's bid to capture the title in Sugar Grove, IL.
Morgan Pressel was the American golfer that officially earned that last match point to reach 14 after scoring a 3-and-2 victory over Europe's Anna Nordqvist. The American team erupted and embraced Pressel after Nordqvist missed the 8-foot putt needed to extend the match.
Perhaps the biggest story of the week, however, was the performance from Solheim-rookie Michelle Wie. At a staggering 3-0-1 record, Wie had the best performance for an American by far and definitely silenced any critics she may have had coming into the tournament.
Both teams entered the final day tied at 8 points apiece, which may have been a surprise for many American supporters who were expecting a blow-out. Earlier in the week, American captain Beth Daniel was also questioned repeatedly by various pairing decisions over the three-days which many saw as a possible opportunity for the Europeans to make a charge that otherwise could be avoided. The critics were in full force again Sunday afternoon as the European team lead the majority of the matches late. However, the turning point of the matches came when Juli Inkster and Brittany Lang caught fire and evened up their respective duels.
Congratulations to the Americans for a well-fought victory.


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How to Download YouTube Videos with Spartan on Windows 10
Windows 10 is coming, and it'll be a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8 users! What a great news from Microsoft today. Apart with many great new features, a new web browser named Spartan would come with Windows 10. It's a brand new Internet browser, more effective, more simply, clean-looking, lightweight browser built around a new rendering engine, better than Chrome and Firebox!
Spartan supports Flash and HTML 5 very well. If you are a fan of YouTube, there must be many YouTube videos you want to download and add to your collection. And here is a step by step guide will show you how to download YouTube videos with Spartan. The guide also work for Facebook, VEVO, Metacafe, Dailymotion, Vimeo video.
The tool you need is this Online Video Downloader. It's optimized for Spartan. You can also use it with Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Only one click to download online videos.
Step1. Install Video Downloader
Download and install the Video Downloader, and then launch it. Check out the browser option you often use, e.g. Spartan, Safari, Firefox, Chrome during the install process.
Step2.Download YouTube Videos with Spartan
Open Spartan Browser and go to youtube.com, find the video you want to download. When you play the YouTube video, you will see a "Download" button on the top right corner of the video. Click it, and the Video Downloader will download the YouTube video automatically. This program supports batch download, you can download up to 30 YouTube videos at a time.
Tips1. If you don't want to go to youtube.com but you already get the YouTube video URL. You can use "Paste URL" to download the video.
Tips2. This Video Downloader built-in a video converter, you can use it to convert the downloaded YouTube video to AVI, MP4, MP3, MKV, MOV, WMV, MPG, etc.
Tips3. The program comes with a video player too, you can use it as an alternative to Windows Media Player, QuickTime or VLC.
Free Websites to Download Music, Videos, Movies and Songs
How to Play MP4 MOV MKV FLV TS HD Videos on Windows…
Suunto Spartan Sport Smartwatch Review
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To God, the joy of my youth."
Contrary to the never ending gobbledygook, fantasies and compromises of the liberal promoters of "evolution theology" who are all too successful in spinning the world today – God is God, the same yesterday, today and forever. Truth, like God, is also the same yesterday, today and forever. In like manner, the True, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church is the same yesterday, today and to the end of time – for the One Church of Jesus Christ was founded and appointed by Him as the guardian and defender of Truth – and the Soul of the Church is the Holy Ghost, Who changes not. For over nineteen hundred years, through every storm and persecution, the "Rock" of Catholic orthodoxy was obvious to the world. For nineteen centuries countless true popes, holy councils, great saints and learned Doctors of the Church defended, guarded and proclaimed the Truth throughout the whole world. For the sake of Eternal Truth they lived, fought, suffered and died. Only one war truly mattered, the war fought to raise and preserve the banner of Truth – the war fought for God's glory and the salvation of souls.
from unjust and deceitful men deliver me."
But during the twentieth century, while men were obsessed with economic chaos and the wars of nations, another war – the "great, great war" Our Lady predicted – was raging more violently than ever. The war that the Holy Fathers, particularly Pope Leo XIII, had been fighting and warning the world against was at its peak. But then, 55 years ago, a bizarre aberration occurred, the voice of the general of the armies of God in the Church Militant called for a truce. The voice of him whom everyone considered to be Peter, changed – and what could never be changed, was changed. Slowly at first to be sure, but change it did. The promulgation of heresy under the title of "ecumenism" was proclaimed from the very Chair of Peter itself. The slight addition to the Canon of the Mass, that was previously forbidden and condemned, was made. Then, the horrendous errors of Vatican Council II flooded the earth with new definitions of everything Catholic, and the "Syllabus of Errors was reconciled with the modern world." Then came the greatest tragedy of all, "the abomination of desolation in the holy places" predicted by Our Lord and Daniel the Prophet – the complete destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Under the guise of renewal and with the command of "obedience to the holy father", the Novus Ordo became the law of the land. Even though clerics had been warned for hundreds of years – and the exact words used in its "consecration" had been condemned by the Catechism of the Council of Trent, which was approved by Pope Saint Pius V and many other holy popes – the new mass was embraced. Those who dissented were bribed and threatened, coerced or retired, forcibly committed into mental institutions or suddenly died in the all too frequent "accident". Sadly, before most Catholics even realized that a battle had started, the great war for the Church was over without a shot being fired.
And why do I go about in sadness while the enemy afflicts me?"
While there were some few prelates, priests and laity who complained or resisted to a point, there was one man in the known world that would have none of it. While prelates who would later grumble and call themselves traditionalist were at the Vatican signing the Council's heretical decrees; one man would not so much as remain in the church he grew up in, lest He be present for the reading of the mutilated scriptures. While priests were debating whether to obey the Church of All Ages or the church of the Council, the 260 Popes prior to Vatican II or its impostors; one man already knew that Council to be heretical and "pope" Paul VI to be no pope at all. Like another Athanasius, one man stood against the world and said, "No, the Church does not change Her Sacraments, Her Doctrines, Her infallible Truth." Only one man was heard across the globe who truly believed in Papal Infallibility to the extent of sacrificing all for the love of this solemnly defined Dogma of Truth. Only one man was heard saying what was so simply the truth... No true pope can contradict another true pope on matters of Faith or Morals.
to Thy holy hill and Thy dwelling place."
It is incredible how clear and obvious it is now, 55 years later: but then, darkness and violence, chaos and uncertainty enshrouded the world. In addition of course, there were a litany of excuses for going along: it is only a little compromise... we must obey the holy father... what will happen to my pension?... they have all the churches... everyone else is going along – they can't all be wrong... they will ostracize dissenters... they will destroy opposition. It does sound eerily similar to the reasons of 2,000 years ago. But then, as in the crucifixion of His Church, how many men were standing beneath the Cross of the Crucified? One, and only one. For all of the "Johnny Come Latelys" of the last five decades; one man was first, one man was alone, one man's voice was clearly heard when no other voice was clear, complete or even raised. That man was the Most Reverend Bishop + Francis Konrad Maria Schuckardt, ihm. He it was who never compromised with the new church of Vatican II, submitted to its errors, altered His faith, or preached heresy. He was (and in prophecy still is) the only one to fully expose the serpent of Vatican II; the back door to the Vatican of many supposedly "traditionalist" groups; and the chaos and deception of the other traditionalists who have no master but their own will and worldly wisdom. His alone was the voice that remained uncorrupted by heresy throughout His life even unto His dying breath.
"I shall yet praise Thee upon the harp, O God, my God.
Why art Thou sad my soul, and why dost thou trouble me?"
So, a question... Why is it that the crosses and contradictions in the lives of the saints, mystics and instruments of God are a reality only for times past? Is God somehow obliged to use a new dummied-down method of instruction and sanctification – lest we be forced to exercise faith? When God gave to the world messengers, whether before Christ or after Him, were they not almost without exception a grave contradiction in their time, the stumbling block to men with weak or little faith? Then, just as in our own times, did not/does not God, through His most Holy Mother, give to the world exactly what it needs, precisely when it needs it? How often through the centuries and even to this day do men repeat the same tragic sins of the pharisees? They become comfortable in and with the world. They begin to esteem creation over its Creator. Life takes on a life of its own and comfort, security, control and conquest rule the day, and once again the maxim is stifled or forgotten... "All who want to live piously in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." 2 Timothy 3: 12 And so, the message is ignored and the messenger is held in contempt.
the salvation of my countenance, and my God."
"I will go into the altar of God.
A second question... What qualifies someone to judge? Is it simply the right of every man to guess at the truthfulness of the gossip of the day and then broadcast those assumptions to a gullible, sinful world – a world looking for justification to remain in darkness and continue in sin? On the contrary, according to Catholic Saints and theologians, like Saint Thomas Aquinas, to be a just judge there are three prerequisites: to judge, one must be appointed; to judge, one must be unbiased; to judge, one must have all the facts. Would that those who have said and written so much about Bishop + Francis Konrad Maria, ihm had even one of these essential requirements. Hopefully, this article will serve at least as a balance, lest more join in the chorus shouting before Pontius Pilate.
"Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Who has made Heaven and earth."
Would you like to hear the other side of the story? Do you really have any idea who the man was, or what He tried to, and did, accomplish? Have you been told of the most courageous man of the twentieth century, whom we had the privilege to know, to love and to serve? Do you know the Founder, the Father, the Friend – the Fool for Christ? Can you distinguish the mystery, the miracle and the martyr? In the following lines you will come to understand why He is either loved or hated – no place for middle ground here. Just like Jesus Christ said, "He who is not with Me is against Me." Matthew 12: 30 So too with this man – he who does not love Him, only too quickly and clearly proves he either does not know Him, does not understand Him, or that he hates Him.
absolution, and the remission of our sins."
Into a world that had received its last warning at Fatima, a gift was given. From the One Holy Church of Jesus Christ, a blessing was prepared. Out of an age consumed with itself, a sacrifice was offered. On July 10, 1937 a pillar of faith and fidelity was born the likes of which America had never seen. Franz Konrad Schuckardt was gifted with a Catholic ancestry that traced back to Charlemagne. Far more importantly though, He was blessed with a depth of faith, conviction and understanding that was as pure and profound as the blessed Apostles. While yet a child He organized all of the children in the neighborhood for May processions to honor Our Lady. He even went so far as to baptize the Protestant children with a garden hose, lest they be deprived of entering Heaven. Needless to say the non-Catholic parents weren't amused by His zeal for souls. But from the beginning, with Our Lady of the Snows as His dear Mother, Whose shrine always graced the back yard, Francis was marked for great things – and set as a sign of contradiction.
and bless this sacrifice prepared for the glory of Thy holy name."
It is sad how few understand the folly of the Cross. Greater still the tragedy that so few embrace it. As a boy the Most Reverend Bishop + Francis Konrad Maria, ihm learned the purpose, the joy, the value of suffering. All one had to do was glance upon His radiant soul, glittering through His bright eyes and it was enough to know that this man was not merely acquainted with grief, but a true lover of the Cross. Who but those who have experienced prolonged, excruciating pain understand the wisdom, the grace, the great privilege of suffering? When the shadow of the Cross drapes over a soul a decision must be made – to swim in the tepid waters of self-pity, to blame and complain; or, to break free from selfishness, to embrace the gift and lovingly offer oneself in sacrifice. The beauty of sacrificial suffering is no longer appreciated for the divine gift, the rare and refulgent blessing it is. Our sorry world glories only in those who accomplish that which can be quantified, admired, sold – or sadly, envied.
this incense and to receive it in the odor of sweetness."
Pity our sorry world which has lost the gift of wisdom – the wisdom of the cross. But, never for a moment did Bishop + Francis Konrad Maria, ihm. From the beginning He embraced the cross, for from the beginning He had consecrated Himself to Our Lady – Our Lady of the Snows. She was to ask much; He would give Her everything – always. From before the first recorded miracle when He was 12 (of the priest's blessing leaving his hand as a radiant cross of light, passing through the window and crossing the quarantined room to rest upon what was then thought to be His dying body), to the last miraculous Communion just 12 hours before His death, Bishop + Francis Konrad Maria, ihm was for the Immaculate Queen of Heaven a victim soul, stamped from head to foot with the sign of the cross.
and may Thy mercy come down upon us."
His mind was brilliant, simple and humble. Brilliant, in that He thoroughly understood the ways of God and the Teachings of the Church, so much so that He was able to make them understood and appreciated by all. Simple, in that all things tended towards God and the glory of His Immaculate Mother Mary. These are not just some pious sentiments wrapped in flowery words, THIS IS THE MAN. Humility and meekness were stamped upon Him as if they were the two sides of His coin. What He suffered from us and others still fills us with shame, regret, remorse and astonishment. But that He endured it all humbly and without complaint fills us with hope of forgiveness. Sorrow and horror still invades the mind and breaks the heart whenever we recall reading His gentle complaint after having gone for days without food, "Have you given up trying to feed Me?" Yes, we were distracted – just focusing on keeping Him alive – but distraction and omission it was... and it must have hurt Him... It still hurts His poor friends that remember, and we are truly sorry beloved Father for being so, so very stupid.
my uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice."
His heart was holy, immense and generous. Holy, so that those who came in contact with Him were drawn to a love of God, His most Holy Mother Mary, the Church, the Sacraments – the pursuit of virtue. Immense, in that God was truly His all in all, and Mary was truly His Mother – the love of His life. Is not the best proof of generosity forgiveness? Forgiveness was the way of His heart. If He were angry it wasn't because He was offended, it was because God was offended. If He showed anger it was to teach us the importance of God's Law and things divine, not to vent bitterness. He never held a grudge, even for those who betrayed Him, persecuted Him, lied about Him. It was a joy to be close to a heart so warm and giving – that heart is truly missed.
and a guard over the doors of my lips."
His spirit was on a higher plane than one dare examine. What can be said is that He knew as only saints know the value of suffering, the love of the Cross of Christ. One can only imagine what that spirit must have been in the eyes of God, and is now forever. Who can know the anguish of being wholly deserted at best (but more often than not betrayed) by most of those one held so dear; by the bishops and priests who called themselves friends; by religious and laity of numerous Orders and Third Orders who had worked for the same Beloved Queen; by friends and family that had not then the faith to see the vision that is so clear today? Who could bear nerves that are, from head to foot, frayed to a point of sensitivity that the touch of a feather feels as if one were being flayed alive? Join that with the excruciating pain of migraines that last for an interminable length of time. And again, that are endured while one's body is racked with countless other pains that would make strong men weep, throw up, scream, or commit suicide. Yes, His spirit was the sweet embrace of the Cross – but at what a cost! Only those who are well versed in mystical theology have any worthy idea what a victim soul suffers. Would that everyone who thinks they know Bishop + Francis Konrad Maria, ihm had read "She Wears A Crown of Thorns" by Father Boyer on the life of Rose Ferron. Maybe then they would pause in silence before the Mighty Hand of God.
with men who work iniquity."
The Most Reverend Bishop + Francis Konrad Maria, of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was wont to say that miracles, visions and revelations were not a work of God if they weren't accompanied by humility and Catholic orthodoxy. Without humility there is no virtue. Without fidelity to the Teachings of the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church miracles are rather a proof of the power of the devil. He certainly wasn't one to talk much of Himself or of the miracles and graces bestowed upon Him or given through Him. That was God's work and for Our Lady's honor. He was simply here on earth to know, love and serve the Queen of Heaven for a time all too short, and then go to be united with Her forever. But now, after so long a silence and with the trepidation that a foreseen typhoon would bring, it is time to reveal some of the secrets bestowed by the Immaculate Queen of Heaven on Her little Francis.
and the flame of everlasting charity. Amen."
There are so many stupendous miracles to relate that choosing only a few and writing of them briefly becomes a challenge. As this article is already far longer than intended, please excuse the brevity below. Maybe someday a book can be written, but not today.
As mentioned above, Bishop + Francis Konrad Maria, ihm was brought back from the point of certain death from various illnesses not only when He was 12 – but four times (that are recorded), twice before becoming a bishop and twice after.
While behind the wheel in 1965, Brother Michael Marie, CMRI had a seizure and drove Him through (yes, through) a 6' x 4' x 4' transformer. Though the tire tracks showed that the car should have been destroyed and both of them reduced to memories; neither they, the transformer, nor the car were injured. Only the officer who witnessed it was in shock, and Brother Michael Marie, CMRI was never supposed to drive again.
In 1976, all of the pilgrims were in for a pleasant surprise. After climbing on their knees up the hill of Tepeyac to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe through water, mud and other things that it were best not to mention; men, women and Religious were stunned to find their slacks, dresses or habits clean, dry and pressed as if they had just been purchased.
He saw things that could not be seen and so saved Denis Chicoine's life in Israel in 1979 (this gift was needless to say, at times startling and/or unsettling to those with Him, but to Him it was nothing exceptional).
In 1982, in the middle of a hurricane that had howled for the greater part of a day He made the Sign of the Cross – it instantly veered to the north and there came a great calm. That miracle the meteorologist could not explain, but it made us all wonder and feel rather like the Apostles on the Sea of Galilee.
It regularly happened that He exorcized demons and the possessed that no one else could. Frequently, these exorcisms were enough to make even hardened skeptics exclaim that there was no doubt as to His holiness and the power of His Orders.
His "friends" and enemies tried on numerous occasions to drug, kidnap and even kill Him, but each time Our Lady protected Him. It is sickening to enumerate the details and, as it would be wrong to expose identities, much will go unsaid that could be said. One thing only... He would never let on as to His sorrow or disappointment in those sad souls, or lose hope for their conversion.
This is but a sampling and a poor one at that. There are two other miracles though, that it seems important not to omit. One can be a source of comfort to all, the other is a source of consternation to many.
and will walk around Thy altar, O Lord."
His last months – comfort of the Cross, the sorrow and joy. The last couple of years of His life were rough ones for Bishop + Francis Konrad Maria, ihm and all those who knew and loved Him. The man and the priest that had always condemned smoking was battling throat cancer. It would be no surprise if the cause wasn't the 12 – 18 paraffin vigil candles that constantly burned in His room before Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints. You may already know that it was Our Lady's miracle, as the surgeon loudly proclaimed throughout the whole office, much more than any human remedy that restored the use of His right arm as well as His speech in the spring of 2006. In Her mercy and with the blessing of Divine Providence, time was given Him to consecrate a successor and set things in order for the last Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel that would find Him on earth. It was on Her Feastday, in the year 2006, that the Most Reverend Bishop + Francis Konrad Maria of the Immaculate Heart of Mary started His long goodbye. He had always worn Her scapular, He had always shown a tender love for Her under this title. So it was, that on July 16 He closed His eyes. At first we didn't think much of it. He had fallen asleep for over 24 hours just a couple weeks before. Especially for Him this was a very long time. But, He woke up and everything seemed as normal as normal was. But this time, He didn't wake up.
and to tell all thy wondrous deeds."
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass had been regularly offered twice daily in His room for quite some time before this took place. He had said a couple of weeks before, with what would seem to be a prophetic foreknowledge, "You will have to help Me with My thanksgivings." It all seemed so normal to witness miracles on a daily basis that only in retrospect does the magnitude of the grace shine in its proper brightness. From July 16 until the morning He died, our beloved Father in Christ would be lying in bed as if He were sound asleep. It was as if He could hear nothing, move nothing; nothing could nor did "wake" Him. His eyes were closed, His body all but lifeless, but pain still radiated from His face. There were only two times during the day when He could be responsive – when it was time to receive Holy Communion and during the Holy Rosary. Not that He could open His eyes; but every time for sixteen weeks, when told it was time to receive Holy Communion, He did open His mouth. The miracle was not so much that only then could He hear and respond; the miracle was His awe inspiring countenance. It is as bright and vivid before our eyes today as if it were today. His whole countenance would change when the Most Blessed Sacrament was placed upon His tongue. It was overwhelming at times, and daily brought tears to the eyes of those present for the sheer beauty of something so transcendent. Then, when the Holy Sacrifice was over, the thanksgiving prayers would be prayed in common with two hearts but only one voice.
and the place where Thy glory dwells."
The Holy Rosary was the other time when comfort from above was surely given to Him and comfort in His presence was given to others. During this devotion so dear to His heart at least two of us would be in His room, normally sitting on either side of Him. We would squeeze His lifeless hand and say, "It's time for the Rosary." He would squeeze back and not let go until the prayers were over, completely over. This was a tiny cross and a daily joy. The cross was the lack of blood and sensation in our hand – His hands were strong and He would not let up. The joy was that His grip remained no matter how long the prayers lasted. Soon, fifteen decades were the exception. We would make up new mysteries in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Guadalupe, La Salette, Fatima, and on and on. Finally, after the litany and hymn and all was done, His hand would go limp again. Then, nothing – no amount of prodding or encouraging – could bring back the least sign of consciousness or response.
nor my life with men of blood."
His death was calm, peaceful and beautiful. So calm that it was hard to believe He had died: no struggle at all. All was peaceful as the two of us watched over Him: none of that battle which terrifies so many nurses (no bloody mess as the doctors had foretold). It was beautiful to see Him finally in Our Lady's arms. He had received Holy Communion only 12 hours before. Four hours after that He had opened his eyes for the first time in over three and a half months with a comforting look of gratitude. It was only for about ten seconds, but seconds never to be forgotten. Eight hours later His soul was before His Maker. There He could return the ring of His episcopal consecration to the Eternal High Priest and say what few bishops could, "I return Thy Immaculate Bride to Thee without spot or wrinkle." Truth be told, He never did compromise His Holy Catholic Faith. He was faithful, full of Holy Faith unto death, even the slow martyrdom of His many crosses.
and in honor of Blessed Mary, ever Virgin..."
These fond memories can be appreciated by all. But, the graces enumerated were in general, only for a few. There was a gift, an incredible grace offered for all, that would be a stumbling block for more than just the many. That, and the rest of the history, will have to wait for another time.


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Store of the Future / March 6, 2019
As competition heats up, retailers focus on implementing ship-from-store capabilities
By Anna Hensel
Kohl's is equipping more of its stores with enhanced ship-from-store capabilities, as it seeks one more way to one-up competitors like Target and even Amazon to improve customer experience.
On its fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday, Kohl's announced that it's equipping 135 stores with "enhanced ship-from-store capabilities" this year, up from 10 that had the capability last year. These stores are equipped with "technology and process enhancements that allow them to be more efficient in fulfilling digital orders," according to CEO Michelle Gass. Gass said that Kohl's wants to push more customers to pick their orders up in stores in order to cut down on shipping costs, but that ship-from-store still helps them "keep up with digital demand."
The ability for consumers to buy and order online and pick up in stores has been a critical component of Target's growth as it tries to keep its customers from being lured by Amazon Prime's two-day shipping. Target also offers ship-from-store capabilities, and that fulfillment option has been growing steadily alongside the option to buy online and pick-up in store. During the third quarter of this year, Target CEO Brian Cornell said that ship-from-store volume doubled year over year.
Retailers have been turning their stores into fulfillment centers for the better part of the last decade in order to keep up with Amazon. But as shipping costs continue to eat more and more out of retailers' profits, more of them, like Target, are pushing customers to buy online and pick up in store.
Kohl's proves that that rolling out ship-from-store capabilities is still a slow-going process — even with the 135 stores that will have enhanced ship-from-store capabilities by the end of the year, that will represent just over a 10th of Kohl's total stores.
"A true omni-channel would allow shoppers to choose how they receive their items — so no single option is going away any time soon," Laura Behrens Wu, the founder and CEO of Shippo, a multi-carrier shipping software provider for e-commerce companies said. "This will require planning for demand on both physical and online channels, and tracking inventory, in real time, across all locations where goods are stored."
In order to successfully pull off ship-from-store, companies have to figure out the right way to split the number of employees who are helping with checkout in the front end of the store and fulfilling orders in the back end. And they have to figure out whether to build an inventory management system in-house or which third-party solution is right for them.
"The smart way to use ship-from-store is to designate certain stores the hub, and others the spokes," Charles Dimov, vp of marketing for order management software provider OrderDynamics, said. "Designate certain larger stores the hub. From these, you use ship-from-store, because there is an area designated for packing and storing goods for shipment." Behrens Wu also said that some stores in dense urban areas can lend themselves well to ship-from-store. Target's chief operating officer John Mulligan said during the company's investor day on Tuesday that using stores as fulfillment centers in cities allowed the company to "ship online orders at least a full day faster than we can ship from an upstream fulfillment center and we can deliver same-day orders within hours."
Juozas Kaziukėnas, the founder and CEO of e-commerce research firm Marketplace Pulse, still thinks that retailers should push consumers more to buy online and pick-up-in-stores — not only does it cut down on shipping costs, but it helps increase foot traffic in a time when retailers are still worried about sustaining all of their existing brick-and-mortar stores.
Ship-from-store is only going to get more complicated as retailers feel more pressure to compete with Amazon's convenience by offering consumers more ways to receive their order. Walmart CEO Doug McMillan mentioned on the company's last earnings call that in the future, for example, they may give customers more options to customize their delivery windows.
Still, turning stores into both a fulfillment center for customers to pick up orders and a shipping center requires similar investments. And retailers can't afford to completely ax one type of fulfillment option when they're competing with Amazon's endless offerings. So long as the ability to buy online, pick up in store continues to rise, so too will ship-from-store.
"If a retailer is going to use one technique, they might as well do both," Dimov said.
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As the pandemic continues, gyms are pivoting to virtual corporate perks
While gyms rush to build out virtual workout products to retain members, seeking out corporate clients has become a growing trend within the industry. From nationwide players like Equinox and Gympass, to regional studios like Fhitting Room, the race to be featured in employers' wellness offerings has begun.
In 2020, retail workers could no longer be just salespeople
In 2020, retail workers could no longer just be salespeople. They also had to be safety officers, virtual stylists and shepherds of buy online, pickup in-store orders. The job of the employee changed every single month," said David Marcotte. senior vice president of cross-border retail at Kantar Consulting. In 2021, retail workers shouldn't be pulled in as many different directions -- but the lines between roles will likely continue to blur.
How Walmart became an integral part of the DTC playbook
2020 was a big year for Walmart. Not only did the big box store benefit from essential bulk shopping throughout the pandemic, it also overhauled its image as a hub for not only big CPG brands, but young DTC labels. With an aggressive strategy to appeal to every type of consumer, Walmart is proving that at the end of the day, millions of Americans end up turning to it for their needs.


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HomeUncategorizedThank you for ending Saraki's dominance – APC tells Kwarans
Thank you for ending Saraki's dominance – APC tells Kwarans
February 25, 2019 Yomie Uncategorized 1
The All Progressives Congress ( APC ) has commended the people of Kwara state for voting to end the era of dominance and political slavery in the state by coming out to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari and all its candidates in Saturday elections.
The party asked the people to complete the political revolution they have started by coming out to cast their vote for the party governorship candidate in the forth coming governorship elections.
In a statement signed by the National publicity secretary, Mallam Lanre Isa Onilu, the party said it was full of "appreciation to the good people of Kwara State for the tremendous and overwhelming support shown to President Muhammadu Buhari and all candidates of the party in the Presidential and National Assembly elections that held last Saturday.
"For our party and to Kwarans, this victory is special in so many ways. But most significantly, is how the people showed uncommon resilience and determination against all odds to kick out a man that had stagnated development and held the fortunes of the state hostage for the past 16 years.
"The people of Kwara have shown clearly that they will no longer fraternize with their oppressors neither will the state representation continue to be a sign post for thuggery, embezzlement, feudal lords, misuse of power and opportunism.
"The people of Kwara have shown commitment to the kind of change that will empower the people while reclaiming the lost glory of Kwarans. The dawn of intellectual capacity, integrity, accountability, fair and progressive representation as well as respect for people and institutions beckon.
"We equally note with utmost satisfaction the total and unequivocal victory given to our party, as we not only won the Presidential election, but also all the Senate and House of Representatives seats in the state.
"It is, indeed, a new dawn for our dear Kwara State. The APC would not take this victory for granted. Service to the people would be our watchword, as our Representatives in the National Assembly are fully conscious of the enormous responsibilities now placed on their shoulders.
"However, we want to remind our people that the work is not done yet. Come Saturday, we humbly ask every eligible voter in the state to come out enmasse and vote for our governorship candidate, AbdulRahman Abdulrazak and all our candidates for the House of Assembly polls.
"To accomplish this task is imperative in order to uproot all the vestiges of the retrogressive political servitude that has held our dear state backward amongst the comity of states in Nigeria."
I will wait for INEC results, not rumours – Buhari
Atiku beats Buhari in Ondo State
suny says:
Inability to manage power is big danger