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Vol. 3 | 2009
The Role of Assets: Insights into How The Chronically Poor Cope with HIV/AIDS1
D. Lawson
Abstract | Index | Outline | Text | Notes | References | About the author
The paper extends the combined research methods literature with an investigation of the impact of ill health on assets and consumption behaviour of the chronically poor. Focusing on Uganda, and using national household panel data for 1992-99, the study extends the survey by visiting the same households and collecting both life history and further quantitative data. By adopting such an approach we are able to further explain a number of important issues that underly the role ill health plays in the lives of the chronically poor. In particular we find a clear association between sickness and descents into poverty. Asset smoothing seems to be very common amongst households that encounter general sickness, with food consumption almost always reduced, for a period of time, before selling assets. In contrast households suffering from HIV/AIDS, or at least severely physically debilitating sickness, often consumption smooth.
Cet article complète la littérature utilisant différentes méthodes de recherche avec une étude de l'impact d'un mauvais état de santé sur les biens et le comportement de consommation des chroniquement pauvres. Ciblée sur l'Ouganda et se basant sur les données d'enquêtes nationales menées sur un échantillon représentatif de ménages en 1992 et en 1999, cette étude a porté sur les mêmes ménages et a collecté des données sur la vie des personnes interrogées et d'autres données quantitatives. Cette approche nous permet de mieux expliquer un certain nombre de points importants qui sous-tendent le rôle qu'un mauvais état de santé joue dans la vie des chroniquement pauvres. Nous avons notamment identifié un lien clair entre la maladie et le basculement dans la pauvreté. Le lissage des biens semble être très fréquent chez les ménages confrontés à la maladie ; ils commencent presque toujours par réduire leur consommation alimentaire, pendant une certaine période, avant de vendre leurs biens. En revanche, les ménages atteints du VIH/SIDA, ou d'une autre maladie physiquement très invalidante, lissent souvent leur consommation.
El artículo amplía la documentación existente sobre métodos de investigación combinados con una investigación sobre el impacto de la mala salud en los bienes y en el comportamiento del consumo de los pobres crónicos. Centrándose en Uganda, y utilizando datos del panel de hogares nacionales para 1992-1999, el estudio amplía la investigación visitando las mismas casas y recopilando datos sobre vidas y datos cuantitativos adicionales. Adoptando este enfoque podemos explicar además varias cuestiones importantes subyacentes al papel que juega la mala salud en las vidas de los pobres crónicos. En particular, encontramos una clara asociación entre la enfermedad y la caída en la pobreza. Suavizar los bienes parece ser muy común entre los hogares que se topan con enfermedades comunes, reduciendo casi siempre el consumo de alimentos, por un espacio de tiempo, antes de vender los bienes. En contraposición, en los hogares que sufren VIH/SIDA, o al menos enfermedades graves físicamente debilitadoras, a menudo el consumo se suaviza.
Asset Smoothing, D10, HIV/AIDS, Poverty dynamics, Q-Squared, Uganda ; JEL Classification: I32
Qualilative Data
Quantitative Insights
Qualitative Insights
Ill Health/Sickness/HIV/AIDS
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1 This research was undertaken with support from The Faculty of Humanities, General Research Support (...)
1When poor families experience shocks, such as ill health, and downward trends, access to physical assets is often seen as one the first coping mechanisms through which a family might avoid (further) decline into poverty. However, selling assets in response to shocks today risks permanently lowering future consumption, and therefore one possibility is that households may choose to smooth assets rather than smooth consumption (Hoddinott, 2006). There is a steadily growing developing country literature that looks at this question, i.e. whether low-wealth agents can accumulate assets over time or whether they are trapped in poverty.
2Some evidence suggests that poorer agents acquire a less remunerative portfolio and pursue asset smoothing, rather than consumption smoothing (Zimmerman and Carter, 2003; Moser, 1998), i.e. during bad timesthe preservation of assets often takes priority over meeting immediate food needs. This view is also supported by Dreze and Sen (1989) who found this to be an early response to the threat of entitlement failure. However, the processes that underpin this are complex and not fully understood.
3Given the high levels of extreme poverty, and pandemic level proportions of HIV/AIDS, in several sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, understanding the ill health component to the aforementioned process is very important. For this research we are extremely fortunate to be able to focus on Uganda, a country that has significantly reduced the HIV/AIDS incidence, from a peak of more than 25% in the early 1990's to approximately 7% today, but where morbidity levels remain at more than 30%.
3 Chronic Poverty refers to being persistently beneath the poverty line. In this case a household wo (...)
4There is a rich series of household data for Uganda, a country that has received much acclaim, and research attention, for the reduction in monetary-based poverty from 56% in 1992 to 31% in 2005. However, despite such impressive static based poverty figures, approximately 20% of Uganda's population remains in chronic poverty and 10% moved into poverty in 1999;3 and despite the number of poverty related papers being produced over the last two decades, still relatively little is known about the factors and processes that truly underpin chronic poverty. For Uganda, we have both national level panel data, and a follow up 'local level' sample that considered ill health – and in particular, how ill health and HIV/AIDS impact on asset changes – of the chronic and transiently poor.
5We aim to add value to the previous literature by complementing the national level panel data with qualitative and quantitative data collected from a sub sample of the same households.. This type of methodological approach follows on from theincreased focus oncombining qualitative and quantitative ('Q-squared') research methodologies to further our understanding of poverty (see for example, Barahona et al. 2004, for Malawi; Lawson et al. 2006, for Uganda). Given the relative infancy of applying 'Q-squared' approaches within a chronic poverty context, HERE WE also explain a few examples of how these methods are combined to further our knowledge of health and HIV/AIDS and chronic poverty before then providing explicit examples of key findings.
6This paper is structured as follows. The next section provides a background to the methodological approach in combining quantitative and qualitative research, before providing a descriptive analysis of the 1992/99 quantitative data and outlining the main findings in the first part of section four, before summarising in the final section.
7This study uses quantitative data from a matched panel dataset of 1,103 households complemented with local interviews, undertaken by the author in both 2005 and 2006. The qualitative data comes from the life history interviews (see below) and discussions with key informants.
4 To ensure that the panel households were the same in both periods, a two part matching process was (...)
8Specifically, life history interviews were carried out on the households that were in a nationally representative sample of 1,103 households that had been interviewed for quantitative data in both the 1992 and 1999 national household surveys, therefore forming a two wave panel.4 Based on the country's accepted monetary based poverty measures, a sample of households that are chronically poor (poor in both periods), never poor, moving into poverty, and moved out of poverty were selected (see Appendix Table 1 for a summary of the national figures of households defined as chronically poor, moved into poverty, moved out of poverty, and never poor).
9The sampling of households to be selected for further interview was based on the proportions in the panel, with 92 households interviewed (comprising roughly equal proportions of households, across several districts and 3 regions, that were persistently poor, moved into poverty, moved out of poverty and have never been poor). For logistical and budgetary reasons, the majority of the interviews took place in the Central Region of Uganda.
10The main qualitative methodology used was detailed life histories of selected households from the household survey. This followed a semi-structured format that provided comparative information about households as well as recording responses to open-ended questions that arise during the course of interviews (see Lawson et al. 2008, for a further review of the methodological considerations associated with 'Q-squared' research). The latter focused on critical incidents, events and factors identified by households, and information that households identified as important but were not part of the questionnaire design. The life histories adopted a "best practice" approach drawing from the work of others, an extensive review of life history literature, advice from life history experts, and experience of the research team. Specifically, the life histories traced an individual's life from childhood to the present day, focusing on key events. In many instances the interviewee also drew a timeline at the end of the interview to triangulate the details of the interview, clarify any inconsistencies, and identify incidents or processes not captured in the previous discussion. Interviews took from one to two and a half hours.
11We circumvent qualitative referencing problems of determining welfare levels as we 'anchor' to the money metric measure calculated in the national household surveys. However, self judgement of welfare status was also asked for.By interviewing the chronic, transiently poor and non-poor, we hoped to identify the factors causing their poverty or the advantages which protected them from falling into poverty, and to show in what way the experiences of the severely and persistently poor differed from those of the transiently poor. As previously done (Bird and Shinyekwa 2003), by conversing with a person about their life, we also hoped to learn more about path-determination in individuals' lives and to pinpoint key moments of choice – or the absence of choice –, but with the advantage of also having robust quantitative panel data to underpin this.
12More specifically, and given that the last quantitative data collection (the final wave of this panel) was 6 years prior to this life history, the data collection around the first phase in the data collection involved establishing if the households were in fact the same ones from the panel. To assess the characteristics of the household, the former heads were cross checked, along with certain asset details. However, in addition, it was also necessary to observe at least a 'rough' monetary poverty measure for the current wave of data. Once this was established, the interviewee was then asked about changes over the period 2000-2005 and then 1992-99, followed by life history.
5 Approximately 200 households of the 1992/99 two wave panel were also interviewed in the 2004 Househ (...)
13For the households that had 3 waves of panel data (1992/1999/2004), the same approach was adopted as above, which also allowed us to test the reliability of nationally based quantitative data5. We also collected data on new households (i.e. households that were not members of the original panel dataset). This was undertaken to gain an idea of the degree to which the poverty/non-poverty of more recently established and younger households was similar or dissimilar to the panel dataset. One potential problem of the panel dataset is that it shows what life is like in the middle and later life stage households but does not cover young households.
14This section first gives an overview of the general ill health/chronic poverty 'story', providing a background for the analysis that follows on asset and consumption behaviour of individuals, and particularly the chronically poor.
6 HIV/AIDS is not accurately recorded in the UNHS 2003 survey, therefore in this instance a proxy of (...)
15Using the panel data for 1992/1999, we can see from a series of fairly detailed descriptive and econometric analyses that ill health appears to be associated with both chronic and transient poverty. For example, Table 1 indicates that the initial health status of the household head appears to be associated with households that move into poverty – above average proportions (28.3%) of households who are headed by somebody who is sick moved into poverty during the period 1992 to 1999. In addition, above average proportions (8.08%) of households that were headed by somebody who was suffering from a long term sickness moved into poverty.6
Table 1. Chronic and Transient Poverty By Health Status
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7 All significant results are at or below the 5% level.
16The above finding has also been supported econometrically (see Lawson 2004) where it was found that if a household head is sick in 1992, then the household is significantly associated with an increased probability of moving into poverty (by 3.5 percentage points) and significantly associated with a reduced probability of never being poor (6.7 percentage points).7
17Such findings are important in themselves (and supported by previous empirical evidence - e.g. Deininger 1999) and add value to our understanding - especially if we want to calculate such things as the specific costs of ill health. However, they tell us very little regarding the consequences of getting sick and the process through which ill health might then result in a household moving into poverty, i.e. the level of asset disposals etc. All the above findings imply that health and poverty are, in some way, associated with each other. 'Q-Squared' research allows us to understand the dynamics of such down and upward mobility in detail.
18Analysing the 1992/1999 period we found that chronically poor households are less likely to own cattle, and own smaller numbers of cattle when they do (Table 2). In addition, both the chronically poor households and those that moved into poverty cultivated less land, and experienced smaller increases in land area cultivated, between 1992 and 1999.
Table 2. Asset and Poverty Dynamics
19As with the descriptive data on ill health and poverty dynamics, the data for assets and poverty dynamics are enlightening but tell us little regarding the specific processes that underpin these movements – for example, they don't inform us as to why chronically poor households have experienced smaller increases in land area cultivated, or if ill health leads to asset depletion and therefore moves households into poverty.
20Table 3 provides more detail that may enable us to understand the processes. We findcomparing healthy and non-healthy headed households (column 11) that not only are land areas smaller for the sick than non-sick (3.54 acres and 4.59 acres respectively) but land increases for the sick are almost half that of the non-sick (65.7% compared with 36.7% for the sick). Similar trends were found to also exist for other enterprise assets such as chickens and cows (data not shown).
Table 3. Household Head Health Status and Assets
21To inform ourselves further, some of the aforementioned panel data can also be complemented with retrospectively collected data. Table 4 highlights the incidence of major shocks for 1992-1999. More than 70% of chronically poor households that have had some type of shock over the period, have had a major illness shock, compared with a national average of 60%, although as expected asset sales appear lower for this group. This will simply be reflective of the fact that wealthier households have greater quantities to sell, and that, in absolute term, the poor will rely more heavily on other coping mechanism such as borrowing money. However, the above only provides a relatively scant coverage of ill health and chronic poverty and asset behaviour. The next section therefore complements the descriptive data with qualitative insights.
Table 4. Incidence Of Major Shocks To Households (In Past Seven Years)
(Source: Author's calculations, with Okidi 2004)
8 Using the consumption pae measure of poverty the household was not below the poverty line in eithe (...)
22Interestingly we found above that for the monetarily defined 'never poor' household,8 assets clearly play a major role during 'times of crisis'. However, the life history information reveals the story to be more complex than a household that simply sells assets when faced with unmanageable health care, or other costs. For example, we found that there appears to be clear preferencing in relation to the types of assets sold (e.g. luxury goods such as radios were sold first), but the willingness to sell any assets were dependent upon the age and geographical location of the household/head (e.g. older household heads were substantially less willing to sell any livestock – firmly believing that they were 'looking after the assets on behalf of future generations'). It was clear that such households realised that selling such assets would substantially reduce coping strategies in the future.
23In addition, however, it was noted that such a process also involves an element of 'Asset Smoothing' – e.g. in order to pay for medical bills/transport etc., food consumption was commonly found to be reduced for a period of time. Only after experiencing reduced food consumption would assets be sold.
24Therefore, by combining the aggregated national level quantitative finding with a, admittedly small but consistent, number of life histories, it appears that a significant proportion (see Table 5) of all households that resorted to 'desperation sales' had firstly attempted 'asset smoothing'. In other words, all such households reduced food consumption in the first instance (many from 3 to 2 meals per day, but some from 2 to 1 meal per day) prior to selling assets. However, the extent of asset smoothing varied substantially according to both age of the household head and geographical location - it was common to find younger household heads to prefer asset smoothing by obtaining an MFI loan, rather than reducing food consumption, because they felt that they would be able to earn money to repay such loans in the future.
25Furthermore it was of interest to note that, in several households, the social safety nets of Women Headed Households (WHHs) appeared substantially less developed than those of Men Headed Households (MHHs). There were several instances of this; but one example of a 'never poor' HIV/AIDS affected household probably highlights this better than most.
26"The household was relatively comfortably off, but then her husband's HIV/AIDS began to make him weak and he could not work much and she had to spend more and more time taking care of him. The wife became the main provider. As he got weaker and could not go out (and 8 months before his death he became bed ridden) friends visited and gave him a little money or gift – they never had a problem trying to get him sugar, milk, eggs, fruit, fish etc. because they were commonly given as gifts. He had many friends because he used to drink beer in the evening and when they did not see him they would call around."
27However after the man died, she found out that she had HIV/AIDS but she did not receive similar support because "… being a woman, she spent more of her time at home and did not make such wide social networks, therefore limiting empowerment….".
28The quantitative analysis in the first part of this section clearly highlighted that ill health is associated with chronic and transient poverty; however, it was unclear as to the direction of causality. For example, are households more likely to be chronically poor/move into poverty and as a result of being unable to eat then fall sick, or vice versa. The quantitative data analysis is also unable to clarify how AIDS relates to poverty – primarily because large scale data on such issues tend to be very poor.
29A number of households highlighted ill health to be a major influence in their deteriorating welfare status. We provide a timeline example, from a household that moved into poverty, to highlight some common findings regarding the impact of HIV/AIDS on welfare status (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Timeline (Drawn by Interviewee)
30For this example household, the panel data correctly suggest that the household moved into poverty after the mid 1990's coffee boom ended. In fact, when originally interviewed, the household head identified the 1990's as 'very good times'. She explains the primary reason for this as being that she '… could work for labour and brew beer'. In addition she used to dig, produce, collect and sell maize. 'Somebody next door used to buy the maize'. Several of her children used to crop the land and trade coffee. 'We could choose what to eat whenever we wanted', and 'we even owned a radio'.
31However, in the mid to late 1990's, all of the adult working children died, with this appearing to be the major cause of the downturn and subsequent 'movement into poverty'.
32Male children died of AIDS in 1999, malaria in 1996, and malaria in 1992, and a female child died in 1995 of AIDS. All worked and contributed significantly to the household income.
33In addition, since 2000 though the household head thinks her old age has caused things to get worse as 'she can't dig and she can't see properly' and 'has weakness in her hands'.
34'As much as there were good times we now no longer have a radio (we sold it for 80,000 Ug Sh (approx 40 US$) when he [the son with AIDS] was sick, to pay for the health centre drugs). After this the house started falling apart etc. At the time of death, however, a local organisation did help with the funeral costs'.
35The household head currently eats 1 to 2 meals per day, compared with 3 meals in the mid 1990's.
36Although the above focuses only on one life history example of how HIV/AIDS and general sickness can impact on a household that moved into poverty, the processes underpinning such a movement were commonly observed throughout the life history data collection. A number of households identified themselves as having done 'extremely well' - increasing their welfare levels, sometimes acquiring both productive (livestock etc.) and non-productive assets (radios etc.) during the coffee boom of the mid 1990's. It was common for such periods of increased wealth to be accompanied by an increase in family size (through both adoption of other family members and having additional offspring), then for serious sickness of the main 'breadwinners' to follow, with the main income earners being unable to work but also draining finances and selling assets to pay for health bills or food consumption. The increased household size that had previously resulted then commonly accentuated a households' reduction in welfare, per capita levels - particularly when the offspring were of a schooling age and extra resourcing demands resulted (e.g. school fees).
37Such a process supports the descriptive data that found an association between ill health and poverty, but it would seem to suggest that ill health is the major cause of welfare deterioration, at least during the high (but declining) period of HIV/AIDS prevalence in Uganda, and many households at last initially refrain from selling assets. We can see in Table 5, for example that, perhaps surprisingly and although not nationally representative, the lack of household based assets leaves the chronically poor with few options to cope other than to reduce consumption. Commonly this is from 3 to 2 meals per day – in 20% of the cases in which households are affected by ill health. More dramatically, in 10% of chronically poor households that are affected by a shock, they have reduced consumption from 2 to 1.5 meals per day. However, it is not just the reduction in meals that is important, but for how long this coping mechanism is adopted before alternative mechanisms are sought. On average those that reduced from 3 to 2 meals per day reduced food intake for 2-3 weeks, but worryingly, the chronically poor who reduced to 1.5 meals per day reduced for longer periods of 4 weeks or longer.
9 For succinctness, further disaggregated tables that associate other socio economic characteristics (...)
Table 5. Consumption Reduction9
39In summary, regardless of however sophisticated the quantitative analysis may be, we are sometimes restricted by what panel data and cross section data can inform us (particularly when there are only 2 waves of panel data), not because the data is lacking but because of insufficient detail that underpin the data. For example, in the aforementioned analysis, we found ill health was associated with chronic and transient poverty – but this does not provide a full of the issues behind such an interaction. In addition, although we were able to quantify the probability that a household is likely to be chronically poor as a result of the main productive income earner of the household being sick, two wave panel data tell us little regarding causality – i.e. does ill health, whether this be due to long or short term sickness, lead to asset sales or chronic poverty? And are assets sold immediately or are other coping mechanism first adopted. Only when we have the answers to such questions will we start to truly understand some of the drivers, maintainers and interrupters of poverty. Q-Squared' research can help in this regard, as can national household surveys that are designed to elicit greater information.
40In particular, the 'Q-Squared' approach adopted here has helped to further explain a number of important issues that underly poverty dynamics and in particular the role played by ill health. For example, there appears to be a clear association between sickness and poverty, and a direct causality between sickness and descent into poverty. There also appears to be clear preferencing in relation to the types of assets sold 'in times of crisis' (e.g. luxury goods such as radios were commonly sold first), but the willingness to sell any assets was dependent upon the age and geographical location of the household head (e.g. older household heads were substantially less willing to sell any livestock – firmly believing that they were looking after the assets on behalf of future generations) and also the severity of illness. For example, households suffering from HIV/AIDS or at least a sickness that was severely physically debilitating often sold assets immediately, i.e. without reducing food consumption first (see below).
41Asset smoothing seems to be very common amongst households that encounter general sickness – e.g. in order to pay for medical bills, transportation etc. Food consumption was virtually always reduced for a period of time, before selling assets. However, the degree of asset smoothing is highly dependent upon the age, geographical location of the household and severity of illness. For example, and in contrast to virtually all the households headed by elders, several households with younger heads were able to smooth both assets and consumption by obtaining microfinance loans. Futhermore, households where the main income earners are suffering from debilitating ill health, such as HIV/AIDS, asset smoothing occurs less often. 'Desperation sales' are commonly found in such situations, although the socio-economic attributes of the head and spouse are extremely important in determining the rate of asset/consumption smoothing experienced.
Poverty Incidence (by Region) – 1992/1999 Panel
Source: Lawson, McKay, Okidi (2006)
42Bird, K. and Shinyekwa, I. (2003), "Multiple Shocks and Downward Mobility: Learning From the Life Histories of Rural Ugandans", Chronic Poverty Research Centre Working Paper no. 36, University of Manchester.
43Corbett, J. (1988) Famine and household coping strategies, World Development, Vol. 16: 1099–112.
44Deininger K, and Okidi J, (2003), "Growth and Poverty Reduction in Uganda: 1999-2000: Panel Data Evidence", Development Policy Review21(4): 481-509.
45Hoddinott, J. (2006), "Shocks and their Consequences Across and Within Households in Rural Zimbabwe", Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 42 (2): 301–321
46Lawson, D. (2004), "How Important is Health in Influencing Persistent Poverty: Evidence from Uganda', CPRC Working PaperNo. 41, University of Manchester
47Lawson, D, D. Hulme and J. Muwonge (2008),"Combining Quantitative and Qualitative To Further Our Understanding of Poverty Dynamics: Some Methodological Considerations", International Journal of Multiple Research Methods Vol. 2(2): 191-204
48Lawson, D., A.. McKay and J. Okidi (2006), "Poverty Persistence and Transitions in Uganda: A Combined Qualitativeand Quantitative Analysis", Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 42(7): 1225-251
49Okidi J. (2004), "Trends in Ugandan Household Assets During the 1990's", Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC), Working Paper No. 38, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
50Moser, C., (1998). The asset vulnerability framework: reassessing urban poverty; reduction strategies. World Development Vol. 26 (1), 1–19.
51Zimmerman F. and M Carter, (2003), "Asset smoothing, consumption smoothing and the reproduction of inequality under risk and subsistence constraints", Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 71:233-260
1 This research was undertaken with support from The Faculty of Humanities, General Research Support Fund, University of Manchester and ESRC's Global Poverty Research Group (GPRG) at the Universities of Manchester (grant number M571255001) and gratefully acknowledge the assistance of David Hulme, Anthony Matovu, James Muwonge and Vincent Ssennono for data extraction and field interviews, and comments from Sarah Bridges and anonymous referees on earlier drafts of the paper, from several seminar and conference presentations. We also gratefully acknowledge The Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) in facilitating resources to assist fieldwork writing up and DFID Uganda for additional financing for the fieldwork.
2 The author is based at The University of Manchester. Please see authors web page http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/staff/lawson_david.htm for further details.
3 Chronic Poverty refers to being persistently beneath the poverty line. In this case a household would have been monetarily poor for both the 1992 and 1999 household surveys.
4 To ensure that the panel households were the same in both periods, a two part matching process was undertaken. The first stage matched the sex and age of the household head, allowing for an acceptable error range given uncertainty about precise ages etc. A second stage focused on those households whose head had changed over the period, for example where a household head had died and another member of the family had become the new head. See Lawson et al. (2006) for further details.
5 Approximately 200 households of the 1992/99 two wave panel were also interviewed in the 2004 Household Survey
6 HIV/AIDS is not accurately recorded in the UNHS 2003 survey, therefore in this instance a proxy of 'long term sickness' is used for HIV/AIDS and for those individuals with more severe sickness. There are obvious drawbacks to this assumption, therefore major limitations with respect to the conclusions that can be drawn about HIV, exist.
8 Using the consumption pae measure of poverty the household was not below the poverty line in either 1992 or 1999.
9 For succinctness, further disaggregated tables that associate other socio economic characteristics (i.e. age of head) with reduced food consumption, are not shown. Please contact author for more information.
http://journals.openedition.org/factsreports/docannexe/image/254/img-1.jpg
Electronic reference
D. Lawson, « The Role of Assets: Insights into How The Chronically Poor Cope with HIV/AIDS », Field Actions Science Reports [Online], Vol. 3 | 2009, Online since 24 September 2010, connection on 17 January 2021. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/factsreports/254
Lecturer, Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM, University of Manchester, School of Environment and Development, Arthur Lewis Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom2E-mail: david.lawson@manchester.ac.uk
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Because you'll basically we getting rid of most of your "estate," the word fits. Put everything you're keeping in your RV if you already have it, or in one room of your house and close it off. Then let people come through and buy anything else they see. Living in a gated apartment building, this was very difficult for us to do, but we still managed to unload quite a few clothes, shoes, kitchen gadgets, decorative items, and small pieces of furniture over our three-day sale.
4. Put important items into storage.
If you absolutely must keep some things that you won't have room for in your RV, see if you can store a few family heirlooms at a family member's home or rent a small, conveniently-located storage unit. We currently have a storage unit in Houston that are working to eliminate. This is not something I recommend, but if you are having anxiety attacks about getting rid of certain things, store them. If in your first year on the road, you never go visit your storage unit to retrieve things that you've realized you can't live without, donate the storage contents as well. After a year without them, looking back at your storage costs, you may decide they aren't as important to you as you thought they were.
Trust me, it feels good. We gave some furniture to friends who helped us move larger pieces, and took five truckloads of general clutter to Goodwill and Salvation Army. Keep an itemized list to write off!
When considering a life of full time RVing, many many factors will affect your budget.
When we started thinking about moving into an RV to pursue our dream of traveling the country, we were living in Houston, close to downtown, paying over $2000 a month for rent and utilities. So for us, finding places where our monthly costs are lower than what we were paying before has been simple. And when you factor in that the workamping jobs we've taken have all included our "rent" and utilities, we are definitely coming out ahead, as long as we are relatively stationary (ie. not moving to a new location every few days).
The cost of RV sites varies greatly, but what we've found is that, for the most part, one night in an RV resort can range from $35-$60. A basic campground is generally $25-$45 per night. If you plan to move every few days, it can certainly add up. However, we stayed at a basic RV park north of Houston for $75/week. We also found a "grand opening special" in Houston for $330/month (half the regular cost, now that they are fully open and no longer offering discounted rates).
In most places, daily rates will include utilities, but weekly and monthly rates will have an additional cost for electricity. For us, even running A/C in Texas, our electric bills have been between $20 and $30 a month.
1. How often will you move around? Will you stay in each location for a month or more, or will you bounce around from place to place, staying only a few days at a time?
Many parks offer monthly and seasonal discounts. If you want to keep your budget lower, consider staying in each place for a month or more. One benefit is that you will really get a chance to experience that town, talk to locals, and get to know the campground owners/managers. Plus, when you stay for just a short time in each place, you spend precious time setting up and tearing down, which, to be honest, gets old quickly.
And each time you move, you'll accumulate fuel costs. Depending on where you are, how far your go, and how big your rig is, these fuel costs can add up to mucho dinero, greatly affecting your monthly budget.
2. Will you stay near largely touristy areas and big cities, or will you get out into rural areas and enjoy nature?
Campgrounds in large cities like Houston and Portland have price tags that reflect the location. Okay, so your "rent" at a campground in Houston might not be the same as our rent on our apartment was, but it's still more than rural locations will be. And touristy areas like Niagara Falls and Yellowstone will also have price tags indicative of the number of people who visit those areas every summer.
3. Are you willing to work a few hours in exchange for your site?
These "volunteer" types of positions are abundant. Work a few hours a week in the office or doing yard work in exchange for a full hook up site (and often extra perks like free laundry, discounts at the convenience store, etc.).
4. Will you cook and grill at home, or will you want to eat out most nights?
Depending on your location, your food costs can be exorbitant if you don't prepare meals in your RV. We have a 3-in-1 grillet that we use most days, plus a small portable grill that's just perfect for the two of us. We typically eat out only on travel days or days we go grocery shopping. When we lived in Houston, with so many decadent food options nearby, we ate out more often than I care to admit. So by staying in more rural areas and cooking more, we've saved tons on food costs!
5. What normal expenses will you still have after you move into your RV?
We exchanged renters insurance for insurance on our travel trailer. We still have cell phone costs, but eliminated home TV and Internet services. Because we aren't driving back and forth to work every day, our fuel costs are significantly lower, especially when we are relatively stationary.
6. Will you look for any boondocking/dry camping places where you can stay for free for limited numbers of days?
Many national parks and forests have areas where you can stay for a few days at a time without any cost to you. The downside is that you have no electricity, so you'll need to buy a generator, add solar panels, or plan according to the weather. You'll also need to fill your fresh water tank before arriving at your camping spot if you plan to make use of your restroom, wash dishes, wash your hands, etc.
Obviously, you want to make the most of the storage space your RV comes with.
For under-the-bed storage, we like bins and/or crates to keep things neat and organized.
For our cabinets, we bought small free-standing shelves to give ourselves more space and keep cans and cups neatly stacked ($1 each at Dollar Tree).
Under-the-bench storage should also be utilized. We store seasonal clothing, as well as office supplies, and extra canned goods under ours.
To keep some items out of cabinets and give us easy access to them, we purchased three hanging storage bags from IKEA. Two of them hang on the outside of the bathroom door by the kitchen and store spices and miscellaneous lightweight kitchen supplies. The third hangs on the wall in the bathroom and holds everyday essentials like deodorants, hair brush and pick, etc.
Our favorite storage find were these plastic sets of drawers by Sterilite. We purchased four of them. Two hold food and kitchen items. The other two hold clothing. They are lightweight but durable, and, for plastic drawers, they don't look bad.
For our fishing poles, Marvin had a genius idea to hang them up using Command Cord Hooks. Now the fishing poles have a great home right above the window beside the bed!
And I freed up some space in my two, tiny kitchen drawers by using these Command Hooks to hang up six of my larger cooking utensils.
The best advice we can give you is to remember the old adage: "A place for everything, and everything in its place."
This is one process that's much easier to show you than to explain, so if you are unsure of which connections go where, head over to our YouTube video.
The first few times you set up and tear down your RV, you will most likely forget something. It may be something little, like closing an interior door, or it might be something big, like leaving your sewer hose connected to your RV. We created free printable checklists to help you (and us!) remember all the little things that are so easy to forget.
One general rule is to secure anything that isn't attached to something else. We have hanging bags that we take down so that they don't scratch up the walls and bathroom door. Everything that usually sits on the counters is placed on the floor or on the bed. Items inside cabinets and the refrigerator are secured with rods. Our standing, oscillating fan lays down for a nap on the bed. You get the idea.
Close all windows and doors, bring in all antennas, unplug all small appliances, change the refrigerator to its appropriate travel setting, empty black and gray tanks, raise all jacks, raise the step(s), etc. If in doubt, secure it, because better safe than sorry. And use the checklists so you don't forget anything!
Click here to sign up and receive our free guides for setting up and tearing down your travel trailer.
Flushing the tanks is not a difficult job. It's a little tedious, but not hard. If you aren't sure how to do it, click over and watch our YouTube video.
Tip #1: ALWAYS keep the black tank closed until you are ready to flush it. Give your gray tank time to fill up before you need to flush the black tank.
Tip #2: ALWAYS flush the black tank BEFORE flushing the gray tank. This will allow the water from the gray tank to flush out the line after you've flushed the black tank.
Thousands (or at least hundreds) of ways to make money while you travel exist for those who want to live in an RV full time.
Many who decide on a life of full time RVing already participate in direct sales, like Mary Kay, It Works, and thirty-one. Because of the nature of these businesses, they lend themselves to travel. Travel to different towns to participate in craft fairs, or travel to visit friends who agree to host parties.
We've had the privilege of knowing a couple women who travel with their nursing careers. They spend anywhere from six weeks to six months in one location, working at one hospital. Then they transfer to a different hospital in a different location.
A growing number of people work in the IT field, making it easy to work from nearly anywhere. And with the technological advances available today (with more on the way, I'm sure), a growing number of people who aren't in IT can also work remotely, provided that they have reliable Internet.
If you have a job that you believe you could do just as well from home, but are currently required to drive to an office every day, talk to your boss and try to slowly work your way into working more and more remotely over the next few months, as you prepare for your full time RV lifestyle. Ask for one to two days a week in which you could work from home. Make sure you get even more work done than you normally would in the office! Then ask for an extra day, citing your amazing increase in productivity as a result of working from home. If all goes well, you'll be on your way to full time RVing, and you'll still be able to keep your current employment!
If you enjoy writing and have the necessary grammar skills to do so, consider starting (and monetizing) a blog, doing freelance writing, or writing your very own book. Though these things may not be huge money-makers, especially at first, if your expenses are low, they just might pay the bills and keep you on the road!
This is one of our favorite ways to make a little (or a lot of) extra dough. We just completed our third workamping gig. Each job has been vastly different from the others.
In November and December of 2016, we sold Christmas trees outside Memphis, TN. We worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Marvin carried and loaded trees on top of cars, I handled cash and credit card payments. We worked in the wind and the rain and the freezing cold. We priced and tagged every tree on the lot, and by the end of our six weeks, we had learned about various furs and pines, met some wonderful people, and sold nearly 800 Christmas trees.
From February to June of 2017, we worked as gate guards in the oil field in South Texas. Again we worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. The job was simple: check trucks in and check trucks out. But by May, with temperatures soaring to well over 100 degrees, we were ready for a break, and knew that the end of June could not come fast enough.
Now we are in Ontario, Canada, where we worked the month of August as helpers at a family-owned campground. Marvin does property maintenance - weed eating, tree trimming, and wood splitting. I clean the shower houses in the mornings and work in the office in the evenings, taking reservations, checking guests in, and showing them to their sites. This has been the easiest work with the fewest hours, but also the least lucrative.
To find our workamping jobs, we use two different sites. Workamper.com has been a gold mine. We did not sign up for the "Pro" version, and so far, we have not needed it. We also posted our resumes on WorkampingJobs.com, and have had a number of responses from that.
6. For more ideas, read Road Cash: How to make money while living on the road.
We have used both the RV Parky App and the Park Advisor App. Of the two, we prefer RV Parky. We have also seen Allstays mentioned several times, although we have not yet used it ourselves.
For short, one-night stays, we like inexpensive parks that offer dry camping. Many RVers also use Wal-Mart parking lots and truck stops for a quick shut-eye, and we are not opposed to this in the right conditions, and at a place that does not forbid overnight parking. RV Parky does a pretty decent job of listing places like this that allow overnight parking, but keep in mind that information can change quickly, as more and more Wal-Marts are putting an end to overnight privileges.
For short (two- to six-day) stays, we like to find parks that have options with just water and electric for a lower rate. Because these parks will presumably have a dump station, we simply dump on our way out rather than paying more for a full hook up space.
For long-term stays, we look for places that offer discounted monthly rates, and we always opt for a full hook up spot.
Websites for campgrounds are as varied as the campgrounds themselves. Some offer just the basic information about the grounds themselves; some offer information about the surrounding area as well. Some give all available rates; some give only the basic rate information; and some force you to call to find out what they charge.
So when booking a site, particularly if you plan to stay for any length of time, it's important to ask the right questions and do your research so you know what you need and what to expect.
1. What is the surrounding area like? Are there nearby restaurants? Grocery stores? Gas stations?
If you know ahead of time that the next gas station is 35 miles from your campground, you won't make the mistake of pulling into the campground on fumes. And if you know that there is only one small grocery store in town, and you need groceries to last three weeks, you can plan accordingly.
2. Will I have a full hook up site? Just electric and water? Just electric? No services?
We arrived at a campground in Ohio that had only 15AMP electricity. And we didn't realize there was no water hook up till we were already parked, unhooked, and leveled. So we ran to Wal-Mart and bought a 15AMP adapter and a water tote, and back we went.
3. What amenities does the park have?
If you run any kind of online business, or just like to be in the know and keep in contact with friends and family, especially if you are driving through another country, WiFi is hugely important. I made the mistake of assuming that, in this day and age, every campground would have WiFi access. I assumed incorrectly.
Know what's important to you, and ask. Don't assume.
4. How close will I be to my hookups?
Most parks have your hookups within a few feet of your space. But at a park in Ontario, our electric and water hookups were over 30 feet from our RV, as they were shared with three other sites. Fortunately, we had an extension cord and the water tote, but if we hadn't, or if it had been much farther, we would have been out of luck.
5. Will I have a pull-through or a back-in site?
Most people prefer pull-through sites. Some places offer them, but charge more for them. Others don't have pull-throughs at all. I like to know what to expect before we arrive at our site.
6. What time does your office close? If it closes early, and I'm arriving later, what are the late check-in procedures? Is there a gate that closes, locking me out entirely?
At a state park in Alabama, where we had made reservations ahead of time, we arrived after dark. The office was closed, but they had envelopes for late check-ins. After setting up, we decided to run back to town to grab a bite to eat. Bellies full, we arrived back at the park... and the gate was locked. In the pitch black, with only a flashlight to guide us, we walked back to the office, hoping to find a guard or some information at the office with the gate code on it. No such luck. We had passed a house along the way, so we stopped there, startled the guard when we knocked on his door, and five minutes later, were let in through the gate. Moral of the story? Find out what time they close, and if there's any possibility of being locked out.
7. Do I qualify for any discounts?
If you are military, if you have a Good Sam or other RV club membership, or if you are staying long-term, ask if you qualify for any discounts. After all, "a penny saved is a penny earned."
To plan our route, we start with Google Maps. If we have a particular destination in mind, we begin with our starting and ending points, then see what cities or points of interest are along that route. Once I have an idea of where we should stop, in order to keep my map saved, I log in to my Google account and go to My Maps. I can come back later and make changes as necessary, without having to start all over.
Many people use the 2-2-2 rule; 200 miles of driving, off the road by 2:00 pm, and stay 2 nights at each campground. We do not use this rule, but we do try to keep our driving at fewer than 6 hours of drive time according to Google. We can account for slightly slower travel and stops along the way, and still be off the road by dark. Some days don't go quite as planned, but for the most part, our system works well. How long we stay at each park depends on the location.
We also like to view alternate routes that Google offers. If the back roads will take only slightly longer according to Google, we tend to take the alternate route, in the hopes that we will stumble onto some interesting places.
Once we have an idea where we want to stop along the way, we use Google plus the various RV apps, which I mentioned a moment ago, to find particular campgrounds.
We discussed this in our Full Time RVing FAQ post. If this is a concern, definitely check it out!
This was another question we answered in ourFull Time RVing FAQ post.
By way of an update, we still have Geico, and are still happy with them. We have not yet had to use it (thank goodness!).
Another frequently asked question we covered in our Full Time RVing FAQ post is the old t.p. conundrum.
Marvin and I embrace and encourage spontaneity, but in some cases, a regular routine is needed.
1. A routine for setting up and tearing down the RV.
When we arrive at a new location and get parked, we both get out and look around. I check to see that we are generally level, and Marvin makes sure he's close enough to our hookups. Then he pulls out the levelers, puts the jacks down, connects hoses, and gets everything ready outside. While he's doing that, I go inside, hang up things we've taken off the walls, turn on the refrigerator and hot water heater, and get everything set up inside. Before we leave a location, we do the same thing, but in reverse. Just before we pull out, he looks around inside to make sure I haven't missed anything, and I glance around outside to make sure he hasn't missed anything. We have a routine. And it works.
If you are traveling with kids, your set-up and tear-down routine is especially important. Give each kid, especially the older kids, tasks to do to include them in the set-up and tear-down process.
2. A routine for sleeping and meals.
When you're living in an RV, especially when you aren't working, it's easy to get into a rut of sleeping too much, eating irregularly, snacking throughout the day, and in general letting yourself get lazy. Make it a habit to get up, make coffee, make breakfast, go for a walk or a jog, eat a good lunch, do some kind of exploring or shopping or something to get yourself out of the RV, eat a light dinner, and go to bed at a decent time. Yes, full time RV living is about having fun and relaxing, but not at the expense of your health.
3. A routine for "work."
We take workamping jobs along the way, but even when we aren't working a contracted job for someone else, we still have work to do. Marvin tends to the outside cleaning, and I take care of most of the inside cleaning. And we still have the blog, plus our photography and design work. I generally wake up first, so after I start my coffee (because I can hardly be expected to start my day without coffee!), I work on blogging, social media, editing photos, etc. Once Marvin has woken up and had his coffee, we try to get outside with the cameras, whether we're just walking about the park, hiking local trails, or driving to a destination with great photo opportunities. Afternoons are spent cleaning, cooking a nice dinner, grocery shopping, reading, or doing whatever else we feel like doing or need to take care of.
We hope this Ultimate Guide for Full Time RV Living has been super-helpful to you as you begin your journey into the exciting world of RVing! If you have questions about something we've covered, or if you want us to cover something we didn't talk about here, please leave a comment below!
And don't forget to sign up for our travel tips, travel news, RVing tricks, and more!
I'm so glad! I think you love it too!!


Discover fascinating places in Belgrade that skip the untrained eye in the new episode of the "TQAS Caravan". At the very beginning of our Belgrade story, we greet our friends in "Samardzic" service, distinct by its size and compelling look that no passerby can ever miss.
Our cheerful host Slobodan Sarenac is greeted by the owner of the service "Samardzic" who later on introduces us to the service operations and share with us some interesting anecdotes happening behind the auto mechanic curtains. In this episode we will present you a different face of Belgrade – one that will be appealing to car enthusiasts and those who seek getaways far from the city crowd.
If you like to listen to the silence whispering between tree leaves, you enjoy the sound of the engine and you don't hesitate to jump into a time machine that brings you back through centuries of car industry, we are sure that you will enjoy the pictures we have prepared for you.


Fire services however have dealt with the matter and confirmed it was not considered serious.
Thumb up or thumb down or place a comment below.
1. Ernie 08.10.2018 19:53 Cairns Get 0ver your worries Betty just ring The Cairns SHOCK JOCK he will sort nothing out for you!
2. Richard Lavender 08.10.2018 17:44 Oak Beach Nothing screams as loud as an Ice lab exploding.


Was that even being changed??
After we've had so many threads here in the support forum about it, I had hoped it wouldn't be ignored again by the developers.
(05-16-2010, 09:45 PM)PHP_Paul Wrote: [ -> ] After we've had so many threads here in the support forum about it, I had hoped it wouldn't be ignored again by the developers.
We explained it before. Fixing many of these issues in the parser issues requires an entire rewrite of it, which is not going to happen for 1.6.
Yes I can see this sort of thing coming up a lot. 1.6 has been public via the SVN since August 2009, 9 months, there's been ample time to test and fix/suggest fixes for bigger issues.
I'm just an end user o.o Just the average run of the mill person who downloads and uses MyBB. And as that person, not someone who goes and checks night builds of 1.6, I was simply hoping a long running problem had been fixed.
Wait. So what did you want me to do then?
My logic was that if you've known about this issue for a long time it wouldn't have been unreasonable to have checked out the status of it before, that's all.


J WUIDART & CO. This vase, which was made in Sweden is approximately 155mm tall. Typically for Swedish vases the stem is the same colour as the base (smokey grey)and has a slight flare being approximately 17mm in diameter. The base of the ball is 'ground' flat, with evenly spaced medium sized bubbles in a spiral pattern. The original label which is still attached (see close up image) has a black background with silver lettering. It bears the words J.WUIDART & Co.Ltd LONDON EST 1869 MADE in SWEDEN and a logo of a stylised stem glass.
J WUIDART & Co. of 26/28 Bartletts Buildings, Holborn-Circus, London EC4. was established in 1869. They imported mainly Scandinavian glass for retail. In the 30's they also commissioned James Powell and sons (Whitefriars) to supply Barnaby Powell designed Wealdstone glass for resale. They traded with Kosta and Orrefors as well as other import/export companies. In the 50/60's Ronald Stennett-Wilson, joint Managing Director was active in designing and making glass for them. The last date I have found for them existing is 1968 but they may have continued after that. Stennett-Wilson left and set up Kings Lynn Glass from 1967-69 and then after several takeovers etc was swallowed up by Caithness Glass.


text:
Fiction - Contemporary
Author(s): Anthony Doerr
Fiction - Contemporary | Short Stories
From the author of ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, a collection of stories about memory: the source of meaning and coherence in our lives, the fragile thread that connects us to ourselves and to others. In the luminous title story, a young boy in South Africa comes to possess an old woman's secret, a piece of the past with the power to redeem a life. In 'The River Nemunas', a teenaged orphan moves from Kansas to Lithuania, and discovers a world in which myth becomes real. And in 'Afterworld,' a woman who escaped the Holocaust is haunted by visions of her childhood friends in Germany, yet finds solace in the tender ministrations of her grandson. The stories in Memory Wall show us how we figure the world, and show Anthony Doerr to be a master of the form.
'It's fair to say that Anthony Doerr is doing things with the short story that have rarely been attempted and seldom achieved. The stories in Memory Wall have such scope and depth that they hit as hard as novels three times their length. Doerr has set a new standard, I think, for what a story can do.' Dave Eggers 'Ambitiously wide-ranging and inventive, Doerr's six stories movingly investigate the ways in which we are nothing without memory.' Sunday Times 'Doerr is a lusciously good stylist.' Guardian 'If this book's wisdom can be summed up in a single line it is this one, from 'Afterworld': 'Within the wet enclosure of a single mind a person can fly from one decade to the next, one country to another, past to present, memory to imagination.' That thought informs Memory Wall many times.' Janet Maslin, Scotsman 'rewarding collection!he movingly looks ar the ways in which we are nothing without memory' Sunday Times 'Like Proust, Doerr understands that reminiscences are prompted by the most mundane things..In doing so, he shows us that memory can transform the terrain of everyday life into something rich, charged, magical' Independent on Sunday
Anthony Doerr is the author of three books, The Shell Collector, About Grace, and Four Seasons in Rome. Doerr's short fiction has won three O. Henry Prizes and has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, and The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Fiction. He has won the Rome Prize, and shared the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award with Jonathan Safran Foer. In 2007 Granta placed Doerr on its list of the '21 Best Young American novelists'. Doerr lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife and two sons.
Publisher : HarperCollins Publishers Australia
Imprint : Fourth Estate
Availability date : March 2012
Author : Anthony Doerr

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Latin America and the Caribbean >
Costa Rican Political Geography >
San José sän hōsā´ [key], city (1989 pop. 287,535), central Costa Rica, capital and largest city of Costa Rica. San José is the economic, political, and social center of Costa Rica, dominating the Central Valley and the nearby towns, Alajuela, Cartago, and Heredia. During colonial times, the main industry of the region was tobacco raising; by the mid-19th cent., the city had become the center of a coffee-producing area. It is the national distribution point for imports. San José was founded (c.1738) at the beginning of the westward expansion from Cartago; with independence from Spain (1821), it became the center of the country's liberal element and, in 1823, the capital. A modern city, with parks and fine public buildings, including the elaborate National Theater, it has a mixture of Spanish and North American architecture, with many houses set back to have lawns and gardens fronting the street. San José is a stop for international airlines, the hub of the highway system, and the center of the Pacific and Caribbean railroads. It has several universities.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Costa Rican Political Geography


Kalari is a family owned boutique vineyard set on the banks of the Lachlan River, an easy four minute drive from Cowra's town centre.
Award-winning wines may be tasted in its stylish Cellar Door, nestled amidst the vines. While sipping on their delicious wines enjoy the art exhibition by local artists and breathtaking views.
The range of wines include verdelho, late-picked verdelho, fortified verdelho, chardonnay and shiraz.
The Cellar Door is open for tastings and sales.


text:
Abbott unable to rein in Hawke
This was published 11 years ago
By Andrew Clennell and Phillip Coorey
February 4, 2010 — 12.00am
THE federal opposition leader, Tony Abbott, attempted to warn the right powerbroker Alex Hawke off making a move to topple his fellow powerbroker David Clarke a fortnight ago in a private meeting - to no avail.
The Herald revealed yesterday that Mr Clarke's place in the Legislative Council was under threat with Mr Hawke pushing numbers behind a preselection challenge against Mr Clarke, which Liberal sources say could trigger ''World War III'' in the party.
Opponents of Mr Clarke said yesterday that the Hawke-backed David Elliott, chief executive of the Civil Contractors Federation, looked good to win preselection for Mr Clarke's spot on February 20, and that Mr Clarke might only secure 30 of the 90 preselectors's votes for the seat.
More candidates to topple Mr Clarke emerged yesterday, with at least six people likely to nominate for the seat, including Robyn Preston, a Hills councillor, Tony Issa, a Parramatta councillor, and Nick Tyrrell, a Blacktown councillor.
The Herald has learnt that Mr Abbott met Mr Hawke about two weeks ago and in a broad discussion about attempting to end right-wing intrafactional war in the Liberal Party asked him to lay off Mr Clarke. It is understood Mr Abbott did not want a war in the NSW Liberal Party in a federal election year. Mr Abbott is also a friend of Mr Clarke.
The left powerbroker and former MP Michael Photios has promised to support Mr Clarke in return for ''peace'' in the party and for getting Catherine Cusack support for an upper house spot.
But some left numbers are understood to be already splintering off from the Clarke-Photios deal and many sources said Mr Elliott, who put in his nomination form yesterday, had a strong chance of winning the vote.
Enemies of Mr Clarke, 64, argue that he no longer lives in the north-western metropolitan area of Sydney he represents, and that supporters of the Liberals in boardrooms across Sydney want him out.
The state opposition leader, Barry O'Farrell, is backing Mr Clarke in the hope that it will lead to continuing party unity, after Mr Clarke had shown leadership in negotiating more with moderates in the past two years.
Meanwhile, for three ''at large'' preselections for the upper house there is likely to be a bitter fight among: Ms Cusack; Dai Le, the former journalist and Cabramatta candidate backed by Mr O'Farrell; Pat Daley, a former Salvation Army spokesman; Natasha MacLaren-Jones, the right-wing vice-president; Peter Phelps, another right-winger; and the Clarke-backed Fairfield councillor Frank Oliveri.


First Union Lending is a private lending firm that offers flexible financing options for small businesses. They have formed the types of strategic partnerships that allow them to have a broad financial product line. Regardless of their needs, we can always put our clients first because we can always find a solution that fits instead of forcing them to fit ours.
We created branding and website / hosting to easily allow new clients to find useful information. Clients can also quickly and easily fill out an application for finance options.


CHECHESMITHNATION : Chrissy is Simply Chic in this Ensemble!
Her royal sexiness Chrissy-Teigen, is simply Chic in this hawt black skinny jeans.
The leggy model, paired up her look with this long, loose white ensemble, and a Zanotti Giuseppe ankle design open-toed buckled heels.
She sure nailed this slightly ripped at the knees jeans and she looks hot.


text:
Health.com Health.com
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Shannen Doherty Reveals Stage 4 Breast Cancer Diagnosis—Here's What It Means
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"I'm petrified," the actress said when she shared the news that her breast cancer came back. Here's why a stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis can be so frightening.
The 8 Best Diets for 2022, According to Experts—Plus, the 3 That Ranked Lowest
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'Big Penis' Supplement Contains a Potentially Dangerous Ingredient, FDA Warns
The supplement is so powerful, it could do serious damage.
By Samantha Lauriello Updated July 19, 2019
Size. Doesn't. Matter. We could scream those words from rooftops, tattoo them on our foreheads, and attest to them under oath, and men will still obsess over the size of their manhood. But like any obsession, it can get dangerous—particularly if a guy relies on a supplement to make his penis bigger.
On Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about a "male sexual stimulant" called Big Penis, noting that the over-the-counter supplement may have serious health consequences.
"FDA laboratory analysis confirmed that Big Penis contains sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, an FDA-approved prescription drug for erectile dysfunction," the agency stated in a release. "This undeclared ingredient may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs, such as nitroglycerin, and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels."
The FDA tested samples of the supplement during a routine examination of international mail shipments, according to the release, which didn't specify if complaints have been made about the product. But here's the worry: Medications containing nitrates are often taken by people with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease, and Big Penis could put anyone on these meds at risk.
RELATED: 9 Things to Know Before Buying Another Supplement
Viagra has also been know to have side effects such as headaches, heartburn, flushed skin, hearing loss, vision problems, and prolonged erection, which if it goes on too long can damage the penis.
Unfortunately, supplements aren't regulated by the FDA nearly as carefully as medications and foods. In fact, manufactures are only required to reveal their ingredients if there's a complaint and investigation. "FDA is unable to test and identify all products marketed as dietary supplements that have potentially harmful hidden ingredients," the release stated.
This isn't the first time ingredients in Viagra have been found in OTC supplements. Between 2007 and 2016, the FDA issued warnings about unapproved pharmaceutical ingredients in 776 dietary supplements, according to a 2018 report in JAMA Network Open. The most common hidden ingredients were sildenafil, sibutramine (generic Meridia for weight loss), and synthetic steroids or steroid-like ingredients. Less than half of those 776 supplements were voluntarily recalled.
The FDA's release about Big Penis included this statement: "This notification is to inform the public of products marketed as dietary supplements or conventional foods with hidden drug ingredients and chemicals. These products are typically promoted for sexual enhancement, weight loss, and body building and are often represented as being 'all natural.'"
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How A Robot Queuing At The Apple Store Grabbed Global Media Attention
By ERIN MARY Doyle
Last week an employee from Sydney creative media and research agency Atomic 212 queued up in front of the Apple store on George Street waiting for the latest iPhone 6S. the only difference was she wasn't physically standing in line, a robot called Lucy saved her spot. The CEO of Atomic 212 Jason Dooris chatted with B&T about how this robot came to be and why Atomic 212 didn't need to spend money promoting the campaign.
Lucy the Robot is a 'telepresence robot, which means she is essentially a screen on wheels, complete with microphone, camera and video screen. Lucy is created by Double Robotics from Sunnyvale, California.
"The robot is a combination of the technology, the hardware and Lucy the human, together that is the personality of the robot. It's a humanoid; half droid, half human fused together," Dooris told B&T.
Lucy The Robot
According to Dooris, at 7am last Friday the story of Lucy the Robot had been translated into over 26 separate languages across the globe. Dooris believes Lucy has been so damn popular because the campaign tapped into something much bigger then the robot itself.
"With social media campaign you very often focus on your idea or product and who you are trying to reach in the market. But they very often ignore 'currency' or 'topicality', if you ignore what's going on in the world then you're not really connecting with the things that are most important and relevant to your everyday person at that specific moment in time.
"This campaign really tapped into what was going on at Apple and the release of the iPhone 6S, it just had that secret ingredient."
Here's an exclusive video from Dooris of Lucy the Robot leaving the Apple store with her latest purchase:
"You've got a phenomenal amount of energy around Apple and their iPhone, and Australia represents the first iPhone sold anywhere in the world," Dooris said. "The energy starts outside the doors of the Apple store in Sydney, so if your campaign starts right there in the queue there is an incredible amount of energy and you can positively leverage that energy.
"From a pure media spend we decided not to invest in any traditional media or any digital media. The idea being that from a traditional perspective it would be picked up by national and global television, radio and newspapers. And from a digital side, it was a nice piece of content so we wouldn't have to support it through that either."
"Apple have really embraced it, they've been amazing throughout the process. It's been amazing, it's really energised the whole agency, and everyone is getting behind it. It's superb."
Advertising Standards Bureau Luke Starr Simon Jarosz Troll


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Al Gore: Meeting With Ivanka, Donald Trump Was 'Extremely Interesting'
By Esme Cribb
Al Gore met with President-elect Donald Trump and future first daughter Ivanka Trump on Monday for what he described as an "extremely interesting conversation."
Former Vice President Al Gore walks through Trump Tower lobby to meet with Ivanka Trump on climate change pic.twitter.com/HSL6qsBKQp
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) December 5, 2016
Gore was originally scheduled to meet with Ivanka Trump to discuss climate change, the former Democratic presidential candidate's signature cause.
Transition spokesman Jason Miller told reporters on a conference call earlier Monday morning that Donald Trump was not scheduled to meet with Gore, but Gore told reporters that he spent "the bulk of the time" with the President-elect after meeting with Ivanka Trump.
Gore said that he and the President-elect had a "lengthy and very productive session," according to a transition pool report.
"It was a sincere search for areas of common ground," he said as quoted in the report. "I found it an extremely interesting conversation, and to be continued, and I'm just going to leave it at that."
The President-elect claimed in 2012 that climate change was a hoax perpetuated by the Chinese government in order to undercut the American economy. He later called this claim a "joke."


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Hegerl ist der Familienname folgender Personen:

 Gabriele Clarissa Hegerl (* 1962), deutsche Klimaforscherin und Hochschullehrerin
 Ulrich Hegerl (* 1953), deutscher Psychiater

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Senegal Demba Diop: Football stadium collapse kills eight
July 16, 2017 admin 0 Comment
Media captionA survivor describes how a wall fell directly onto the crowd
A wall collapsed at a football stadium in Senegal on Saturday, killing eight people and injuring almost 90.
It fell in after fighting began between rival fans and police responded with tear gas, with a stampede ensuing.
Stade de Mbour were playing Union Sportive Ouakam at the Demba Diop stadium in the capital Dakar.
The country has suspended all sporting and cultural events for the rest of the month.
During the clashes, come fans threw projectiles including stones at others. Pictures circulating online appear to show people scrambling over a low wall amid clouds of gas.
Passions were high at the game, the League Cup final.
With the score 1-1 after 90 minutes, Mbour took a goal in the first period of extra time to win 2-1, and violence broke out at the final whistle.
Cheikh Maba Diop, whose friend died in the incident and who helped move people out of the stadium, told AFP news agency: "All of a sudden when the wall fell… we knew exactly that some of our own had lost their lives because the wall fell directly on to people."
A spokesman for President Macky Sall said campaigning for upcoming elections would be suspended on Sunday as a mark of respect, and that there should be "punishments serving as a warning".
There are also suggestions that the stadium itself was in a poor state of repair, BBC Africa reporter James Copnall says.
An enquiry announced by the government will no doubt examine all this, he adds.
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Vietnam to consider teaching Japanese in schools
Vietnam may start teaching Japanese in public schools because trade between the two nations is booming and demand for language training continues to grow.
English is the most commonly taught foreign language Vietnamese public schools. French, Chinese and Russian is also taught.
But a pilot Japanese program in the Hanoi schools has proved so popular that the Ministry of Education and Training wants to introduce the language in schools across the country, a ministry official said Thursday.
Dang Huynh Mai, the vice minister of education, said the ministry will ask Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to approve the plan soon.
"Demand for Japanese classes is growing as the two countries expand trade and investment as well as tourism," Mai said.
Japan is one of Vietnam's top trade and investment partners. Two-way trade between the nations grew by 17 percent last year, reaching US$10 billion (euro7.5 billion).


Kuroo wishes to stay like this forever, Daichi serene and next to him, only the two of them basking in comforting silence, in each other's warmth.
Related to these two fics.
Though the inspiration really came from one of the prompts in the #ManilaEncounters thread on twitter.
Kuroo spends the early hours of the morning staring at Daichi's peaceful sleeping face, tracing the slopes of his nose and jaw, the curve of his cheeks and lips, welcoming the slowly brightening rays of the morning sun as it shines across the rest of Daichi, lighting over caramel skin with blotches of bruises littering the expanse of collar bones and chest.
Everything is perfect inside this little cottage, their home, their space away from fearful but prying eyes and hateful, judgmental whispers; their little bubble of happiness, untouched by darkness.
Kuroo wishes to stay like this forever, Daichi serene and next to him, only the two of them basking in comforting silence, in each other's warmth. But as soon as he whispers that in the deepest recesses of his mind, Daichi's eyelids flutter, blinking open, sleepy haze giving way to clearing brown pools and as if the affection in his eyes isn't enough, Kuroo is even gifted with a slow upturn of lips.
"G'morning, Tetsu," Daichi rasps, the sleep roughened quality of his voice is offset by the soft whisper of Kuroo's name spoken like a prayer.
Like clockwork, Kuroo leans down to capture Daichi's lips with his own before returning the greeting.
"Still early," Kuroo mumbles, lips bumping against Daichi's. "Stay," he adds, knowing that just like yesterday and those that came before that, that the answer will remain the same.
The hand on his cheek is rough but the touch is light. "I need to work, Tetsu," is the simple, but loaded reply, before he untangles himself from Kuroo with an apologetic smile to begin his morning routine, as Kuroo just silently watch just like he did yesterday and the days that came before that.
Simple, because it's the truth of it. Loaded, because they both know that with the knowledge and power that Kuroo possess, Daichi wouldn't have to lift a finger to work for the rest of his life. He just needs to say the words and Kuroo will take care of it. But he's always been a proud man, wanting to reap what he sowed with his own two hands, wanting to work hard for the things he wants to deserve. Kuroo likes that about him, even if it sometimes frustrates him.
When Daichi's done, looking fresh and ready for work, and love bites hidden from the world, he sits back on the bed and cards a hand through Kuroo's hair, giving him a loving look and a light, parting kiss.
"I'll be back," he promises.
Kuroo watches his retreating back, even long after he's gone, even when he's just really looking at the wooden door that leads outside, that leads Daichi away from him, wondering if Daichi will still fulfill his promise and enter their home once again or if this is the day that he finally breaks it, the day he finally leaves. The day he finally runs away from Kuroo.
With a deep breath he centers himself. He always finds out later.
It's not uncommon for Daichi to take odd jobs or go wherever he thinks there's work. Being the receptionist in the village's inn pays nicely, but he's only ever needed during the peak season. He is on his way home, tired but satisfied from his day of work, carrying a small net filled with mackerel that he got from helping in the fish port and a wicker basket with at least three jars of sweetened plantain and jackfruit from the kind, old lady that hires him to chop some much needed firewood for her hearth. He happily looks down on the wicker basket, thinking of how happy Kuroo would be to get more jars of the dessert. It's become his favorite as of late.
His thoughts about what to have for dinner gets interrupted when someone steps into his path and blocked his way.
"Michimiya," he says, smile waning and mouth setting into a neutral, restrained cautiousness. He politely ignores the way she flinched at being addressed in such manner.
"Dai- Sawamura, can we talk?" She hopefully smiles up at him, even though the wringing of her hands are telling of something otherwise.
Daichi looks around, noting that she caught him in a relatively secluded section of the village, where the few shops around are the ones that close early for the night. He'd wanted to avoid any confrontation altogether, but as it is, it's better that they don't have much audience. And maybe she did just want to talk, so he sighs and nods.
Despite the way she behaved around him a few months ago, Michimiya is still a childhood friend, after all. She still deserves his benefit of the doubt.
"What about?" Daichi asks, willing himself to remain calm so as not to trigger something untoward.
"I just-" Michimiya starts to reach out, but Daichi quickly leans away from the incoming touch.
It's pitiful, the pained look Michimiya is giving him as she slowly retreats her hands, but Daichi doesn't understand why she would look so.
"Sawamura… Daichi, please… please come back. Please remember me. Remember that you love me." She begs, tears catching on her eyelashes, eyes wide in imploration and glistening with sadness.
Daichi can't help but sympathize with her grief, and even feels a pang of guilt for being the cause of it, but Michimiya's got it wrong, even after all these past months.
Daichi struggles to pull his arm away without causing Michimiya any harm, but she soon gives and steps back, defeated, when she realizes that Daichi clearly doesn't believe her. Her sad, pretty face then contorted into something he doesn't think he'll see in her usually sweet demeanor.
Daichi wisely bites his tongue. They have had this conversation before, though conversation is a kind way to put it. Michimiya, as regretful as Daichi is to think of his friend like so and admit it, had gone mad when he came to Kuroo's defense back then, as she blamed him for their current predicament. She only stopped, completely not expecting when Daichi made it clear that he knows who Kuroo is, what he truly is, and declared that he still loves him despite of that. He thought that'll be the end of that. He even heeded Kuroo's advice of staying away from her from the meanwhile, even though he's not someone who deserts a friend like that. But admittedly, he got terrified of Michimiya then and he doesn't want a repeat of that.
He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Michimiya," he says, because he can't think of anything else to say to calm her down without lying to her and giving her anymore false hopes. He leaves, ignoring the ominous muttering of "You left me with no choice," coming from Michimiya as he pass by her.
Caught off guard, Michimiya yanks his arm hard enough to make him turn around and flinches in surprise as something splashes on his chest, even getting on his neck and chin. A sweet, dizzying smell wafts into his nose as he looks down on his wet tunic.
"What is this Michimiya?" He asks, horrified. For himself, but more so for her, especially at the sudden thought of what Kuroo would do to Michimiya if whatever she's thrown at him is something harmful.
"Stop calling me that!" He almost loses it, because Michimiya is just giving him an expectant look, but he doesn't think there's anything good she should be expecting from his frustration and increasing anger. His betrayed glare must have given it away because Michimiya's expression starts to pull down, turning her confused eyes from him to a vial in her hand.
It's unbecoming, the way her emotions are twisting her face, the way she resorted to something like this just to get what she wants. She's become someone Daichi doesn't recognize, doesn't know.
"No! Enough. This is enough. Please, while I still have an ounce of respect left for you and for our friendship, stop. Don't do this again." Daichi doesn't linger and leaves her screaming, crumbling down on the ground to wallow on her misery.
Daichi's later than expected that Kuroo almost tells himself that the day that Daichi will not come back has actually come. But as soon as the first knock sounds, he's up the stool and instantly by the door, the tightness in his chest completely loosening when he sees Daichi, looking rather worn down than he usually is and wet, but importantly, back and here with him.
"I'm home," Daichi says with a wane smile, stepping inside the house.
Daichi winces at his exclamation and looks up at him guiltily. Kuroo gets antsy.
"I ran into Michimiya and she… uh…threw a potion at me" he bows his head and gestures to himself. "I tried to wash it off in the stream, but I guess you can still sense it." He rubs a hand along the back of his neck.
The water did help in washing the scent off, because he would've smelled it on Daichi as soon as opened the door. Nevertheless, Kuroo's enhanced senses were still able to pick up on the stronger notes of the ingredients used in the potion, the ones that stick too long to clothes and are hard to wash out.
After an incident that injured Daichi when his palm caught on one of Kuroo's horns and sliced it up, Kuroo'd taken to appearing in his human form to avoid any more incidents like that, no matter how much Daichi assured him and how much Daichi asked him to show his true form. But in his anger, Kuroo forgets himself and his hold on his glamour spell slips, as his eyes turn from steel gray to molten gold and slits, and his horns slowly protrudes out of his head.
"Daichi, I told you to stay away from her," he says through gritted teeth.
Kuroo glares at him, but Daichi maintains eye contact until Kuroo breaks it first and stands down with a harsh exhale. Daichi tentatively reaches out to his head and slowly tangles his fingers on Kuroo's hair, taking care to avoid the horns that are thankfully receding. He slides his hand down to Kuroo's cheek and angles it so their eyes can meet. It's back to gray, although still a bit stormy.
Kuroo huffs after a few moments signaling the end of that conversation. "You got a nice haul," he nods to the fishes still hanging on Daichi's arm.
"Not going to join me?" Daichi bats his eyelashes in subtle flirtation.
"We're going to have a long night tonight and you'll need your energy to keep up," Kuroo promises with a dangerous glint in his eyes that sent a small shiver down Daichi's spine.
Even though Kuroo said that, they don't get into it right away after dinner, as Kuroo opted to massage a knot loose in Daichi's shoulders, one he'd gotten from hauling up nets and crates of seafood earlier, using a special cream he'd mixed that instantly heals up any sore muscle.
"Don't fall asleep, darling," Kuroo whispers on his ear once he's done massaging Daichi.
Daichi hums, though his eyes are closed. "You'd make a fortune being a masseur. Have you ever thought of that?" He says loud enough for Kuroo, who'd gone into the kitchen to fix them up some tea, to hear.
Daichi opens his eyes to level Kuroo an amused look. "Magical hands," he snorts and mumbles against the rim of his mug.
Kuroo watches on with a small smile as Daichi laughs at the scenarios he'd presented. "You're crazy," he says, a few chuckles still spilling out. "Why do I love you again?" He takes a sip of his tea, closes his eyes and sighs in contentment as the warm liquid travels along his insides, not noticing the way Kuroo stills or the panicked look he gives him.
"Magical hands and exquisite tea. How did I get so lucky?" Kuroo schools his expression and exhales slowly and deeply when Daichi looks at him again, obviously adoring.
"It's just dried leaves." He shakes his head. "I think I'll make an even better treasure if it's my head on the platter," he says, taking a sip of his own.
"I know." He feels Daichi's warm hand cover his own.
In the corner of the cupboard where Daichi doesn't usually look for anything and where Kuroo keeps the jar of tea leaves, hidden in plain sight is a small bottle of clear, seemingly unassuming liquid, with a quarter content missing.
Anyway... did the red herring work? Or maybe you caught on? Do tell me which part of the story gave the twist away in the comments section!